Someone I've recently become acquainted with has organized a Biggest Loser "Blog Edition" Challenge. I decided that it would be a good way for me to stay motivated and provide accountability. But before I get to that, I know I owe you all Week 9 results. No change. Now, I'm not even upset about this because (a) I haven't been exercising as much as I should; (b) Mother Nature has come a'knockin' so I've been eating literally everything in sight. But really, it's time to kick this up a few notches.
Let's begin!
Questions for Week One:
- What are your main goals to start with?
I would like to start by having a smaller goal of getting under the 200 mark by the end of April. I mean, ideally, especially at my weight, it should come off much sooner, but with the way my body holds onto every fat cell, I don't want to push it and end up disappointing myself. So, we'll say the end of April. That's two months.
- What is your current fitness level?
I wish you could hear me laughing right now. I am pathetically sedentary, even though I am supposed to be training for the Susan G. Komen 3-Day Walk in July. Even though I've got 12 Chalene Johnson videos sitting on top of my DVD player. My fitness goal for this challenge will be to follow the schedule and work out six days a week - even if at the beginning it means I can't do the entire workout each day, at least I will moving and doing some of it. By the end of the challenge, I should have worked up to being able to complete them all.
- What is your plan of action?
- Adjust my diet to one that is higher-protein, lower carb and GI-friendly
- Remove all food triggers from the house
- Build up to doing the complete TurboFire workouts 6 days a week
- Ensure I am getting at least 8 hours of sleep per night
- Go back to drinking 64 oz. of water a day
I am up 2 pounds this week. Bringing my weight loss back to a loss of 9.8 pounds in 2 months or 1.23 pounds per week. I'm not complaining, really. I know precisely why this happened and I'm taking full responsibility for it.
For five of the last seven days, I have been with my family in New Jersey. My mother's house is a binge eater's dream. While there are plenty of healthy options around - oatmeal, fruit, whole grain cereals, there are also plenty of other things that are far more appealing: cookies and chocolate, to name a few.
Due to family circumstances, most of my meals for the last five days have not been had or made at home. They've been cafeteria and/or restaurant food. One of the first things I noticed was that there is a heck of a lot more salt in everything I was eating than there is when I cook, since I only use sea salt and very little of it, at that. But also, I wasn't feeling satiated, my schedule was totally thrown off and I wasn't strict about packing healthy snacks with me. So, by the time I'd eat, I would totally pig out.
But look, we can't control everything in our environment all of the time. We can only do the best we can do. And besides, I'm nothing if not determined.
When I came home on Tuesday evening, I ripped open the box that had arrived: TurboFire! I eagerly popped in the Get Started DVD and read through the nutrition guide and all of the materials and booklets provided. I was so amped, I decided to try my first workout - Fire 30 Cardio.
Within fifteen minutes, I was literally a dripping puddle of sweat. I also couldn't move another muscle one more inch. I fell to the floor in defeat and listened to Chalene Johnson gingerly provide direction to the fit folks on the DVD who were still kicking and punching and twisting and jumping.
In the last few days, I have described this workout like this: Take a hot, peppy blonde, put her in the blender and turn it on high. This takes a lot of coordination and grit. Stuff, that I thought I had. Stuff, that I know I have deep in the recesses of my soul. I can do this. I just can't do all of this right now, off the cuff like this.
Imagine taking a couch potato and putting them in a kickboxing tournament. They wouldn't stand a chance.
So, I took a step back, stopped beating myself up and decided to try the EZ workout the next day. I didn't fare much better. But here's what I know, logically and based on prior experience: If I can do 15 minutes today, that's better than no minutes. If I do 15 minutes today, I may be able to do 17 tomorrow, and 20 the next and the full 30 within a week, if I just stick with it.
Here are some of the things I really liked about the workouts so far:
- They are intense! I don't feel like I could do them half-assed if I tried.
- Chalene, for all of her blondeness and perkiness, is actually incredibly motivating. Not in an annoying I-Can't-Keep-Up-So-Thus-I-Hate-You kinda way, but that unlike Jillian Michaels, she's not berating you and telling how she's got people fatter than you not doing the modifiers. She encourages you to do as much as you can, as hard and fast as you can, but if you can't, it's totally okay. You just do a little more after you've recovered slightly.
- They work the entire body! When I had a personal trainer back in 2007, we did a lot of circuit training and plyometrics. It's the only way my body actually changed in a dramatic fashion in far less time than I'd been working on the elliptical and seeing no results. This workout takes all of those things and combines them with a fast pace and high energy music so that you're getting the full effect of an intense workout in far less time.
- If you need them, there are modifiers. And there's no shame in using them. You will still get a great workout. I tore my ACL and meniscus a few years ago and it required surgery. I now have osteoarthritis in that knee. I simply cannot do some of the moves, nor could I if I weighed 100 pounds less. But I don't get any less of a workout by not jumping as high or landing as hard.
I am starting to feel a little under the weather. My sinuses hurt, my head is stuffy and my throat is a little scratchy, but the plan is to go home tonight and at least get in one of her stretching workouts in. I've got to take it a little easier on my body right now so I can get better, but I also want to keep up the momentum and whip this body into shape.
No time to write a full update, but I've lost another 1.4 pounds this week, bringing my total weight loss to 11.8 pounds in 7 weeks.
