Last Workout & Weigh In

Well we did it! We finished the program and didn't quit even with the ungodly hours and no sleep! I met my goal and lost 10lbs - so proud of myself! Garrett ended up losing 36lbs in the 6 weeks. That was 10% of his starting weight - very impressive. The final ceremony is at church on Sunday and then this will all be behind us. Garrett is planning on continuing with the personal trainers for another 2 months (at cost of course), but I just can't deal with that schedule for another 2 months. Not to mention I just cannot put my son or parents through this ordeal any longer - everyone is too sleepy.

I'll post our final challenge post on Sunday after the final awards. I know at the very least we all get free shoes from Run-Tex, so that is worth it alone. Even though I know that Garrett lost more weight than anyone else in the program, I am very doubtful that he will get the final prize. He never went to church, only went to one life coaching session, and won't be at the final ceremony as he is on our family fishing trip this weekend, so they will probably give it to someone who did more of the program and will be there. Crossing my fingers that he wins one of the other prizes - we'll see. I posted my beginning and ending weight side by side below for comparison.

2 more weeks

Sorry haven't posted, but its been a hectic few days around here with Max starting up his "school" and the end of the month.

Went to my first and probably only Saturday workout with the program group - Krav Maga. I have wanted to try this for years, so stashed the boy with his dad and went. Boy did it kick my ass! Great workout, but lots of hitting, kneeing, and moving. They would have us hit a pad for about 30 secs and then tell us to do 3 pushups and get back up again. Very cross training oriented, but loved it. Unfortunately, my arms suffered the rest of the weekend for it.

Then came Monday. They changed our workout again and this time its all arms. Isn't that great! My weekend workout kills my arms and then a day later, I am trying to do bench presses and push ups at our workout. Well, no one ever said having fabulous arms would be easy (although I secretly was hoping that was the case). Garrett suffered as well, so at least I'm not alone in my pain. I guess I wasn't grunting enough or something on the squat deadlifts of the kettle balls we were doing, as one of the trainers moved me up to the largest kettle ball for that exercise. Not that I don't like being a buff momma, but not sure I need bigger thighs after this experience, muscle or not! We shall see how tomorrow's workout treats us.

Regarding my weigh in on Friday, I think it was a fluke. I am still weighing less and less on the scale at our house, so I don't think I really gained weight. Now, I don't think I lost more than a pound, but at least I am still loosing. Most likely I did put on muscle weight, but at least I didn't put on 4lbs of it.

Changes

Well our Wednesday workout was interesting. They tossed it up by including about 10 minutes at the end of sprinting. Woohoo. I definitely got my wish for more cardio there, but my shins are killing me today. Must make a note to do some shin stretches tomorrow before working out.

Garrett and I went for our walk today to get in our cardio and he just can't get a good heart workout if he stays at my pace. Such is the tribulations of having a husband  who is a whole foot taller than you. I just can't keep up with him at his fast speed by walking, no matter how fast I go. They don't want us jogging, so I went ahead and did some sprints to try and keep up. In the end, we worked it out by him walking an extra 15 min without me so he could go at whatever speed he needed to. Anyone else with this issue that has suggestions?

On another more annoying note, they are moving our weigh in time again! Now we can either weigh in tomorrow or on Saturday at the optional workout. For the past 2 weeks we have been weighing in on Sunday morning before services. I know it doesn't make a difference in the overall weight lost and  I know they are bending over backwards for us to make time for these things, I just hate inconsistency. Now I won't know exactly how different my weight this week is from my weight last week. Sigh.

Well here's hoping my weight at 6:30am is better than it is at 9am. I'll let you guys know tomorrow.

Weigh in Day

We weighed in today and I lost 4lbs this week. Garrett lost about 8. I am proud of both of us for sticking to this and losing the weight. Garrett keeps waiting to hit his plateau. He has lost 22lbs since we started (I have lost 8lbs). If I hit my plateau at this little amount of weight loss that would be depressing, but we would work through it.

Had a great workout on Friday. I think the temp was up a little in the weight room, so everyone was sweating bullets. It was like Bikram yoga. The nice thing was that due to the hotter room, I really didn't strain any muscles - which is always a risk with my attitude. Still doing well on the diet and Garrett is still being very good at following his. We'll see how next week treats us.

Feel the power

I can feel myself getting stronger each time we do the workout and that is awesome. Even though I am not losing weight as quickly as Garrett (surprise, surprise), I am inspired by at least knowing I am exercising and getting healthier in that regard. I keep telling myself that as long as I keep that up and keep on the meal plan that I am bound to lose weight eventually. We will see if that thought process pans out.

Ding Ding Ding

So I started my period last night (TMI), so I'm thinking that may be why I didn't lose any weight last week. Lets hope its that and not that my body is just so in love with its fat that it can't bear to part with it.

Our workout this morning kicked both our asses. They tossed up all of our strength training and moved to the core. Fortunately, we really need to work on this area. Unfortunately, we are both really weak in this area, so much pain and suffering ensued. Lots of arm workouts as well, so no bueno for my one area of strength. I was going to say that arms and abs were my weak areas, but then I realized it may be easier to just say that my quads are my strong suite since I really don't have a plethora of strong areas to highlight. Good news is we are working out muscles that really need it and that is great for our long term goals.

Groin + Workout

I think I posted that I pulled my groin on Monday's workout and today was my first workout since (skipped cardio on Tuesday). I did fine. Kept myself in check and didn't do anything that felt like it was hurting me, and I kept on schedule - so hooray! Diet is going fine, still feel like I am eating all day, but whatever.Fell about 100 calories short yesterday, but at least I spaced my meals out a little better. I realized once I had eaten dinner that I hadn't logged my lunch into the software. This lead to the realization that I had actually not eaten lunch, since I took a nap with Max. So had to make that up with a 2nd dinner, but such is the life of a mom. If eating this many calories gets me results, I am fine with it. If not, well we will cross that bridge when and if we get there. Max did much better than he has been doing when I dropped him off at mom & dad's this morning- hopefully he is getting more used to the morning drop-offs. Going to do cardio tomorrow since my groin is feeling much better today, although not going to push it.

Weigh in

We had our 1st weigh in since our baseline and Garrett and I both lost weight. I lost four lbs and Garrett lost five. More than either of us thought we would in a week. I don't expect it to be a trend, but hopefully we will at least continue to drop lbs each week, even if not so much. I guess some of the contestants weren't happy with the amount they lost, so they are going to start offering the 'special water' for free (you know the no peer reviewed scientific evidence water) and then re-assess everyone's diets that didn't make progress. This will be Garrett and I's first whole week on the meal plan, so we will see how that affects our weight loss next week.

On another note, we started our 2nd week of workouts this morning. They promised more cardio, but I haven't really seen it yet. I suppose since they are increasing our weights and that makes us work harder, that we are getting more cardio, but I was hoping for more of a typical aerobics or running or something. We will see if that ever changes. I did manage to push myself a little too hard today on the Turkish Get Ups (e.g. Simone's least favorite workout) and strained my groin muscle. Don't think the damage is too bad and hopefully will be fine with some ice and stretching. Just may take it a little easier on Wednesday - we will see where I am at that point.

Made it through a week of workouts

Our final structured workout was on Friday and we made it! I celebrated by going out and lounging at the lake today, although I did get in some cardio by swimming around the boat several times and treading water the whole time we were in the water. All in all, I feel great when I am working out, although getting up at that hour is a royal pain due to my nighttime work schedule.

On another note, I have decided not to attend the services. I just can't justify it in my mind. Its not me and although part of me wants to give them a chance, nothing they can do in those services is going to change my core belief structure. I will go to the final one as required, but otherwise I am going to respectfully abstain.

Notes on the diet portion of this journey. I am fully committed to altering my diet to get the amount of protein, fats, etc they would like me to have. What I am not fully committed to is the blood type diet they would like us to be on. It reeks of fad and there just aren't enough clinical trials or reviewed scientific evidence for me to feel comfortable doing it. We are going to go grocery shopping today and stock up on everything we need for the upcoming week to really get this accomplished. Below is my diet guideline. I have found some sources online re amounts of protein in veggies and nuts so that I don't have to do meat or protein powder at every meal. I will be lacking in some, but will make up for it in other meals. Not optimal, but the best I can do.

1) Have when u wake up
-.75 of a scoop of egg protein n water
- 1 small piece of fruit
-1/3 of a cup of oats (measure dry)
-1 tablespoon of almond butter

2) 3 hrs later
-3.5 oz's of protein (see your list for options
-.5 a cup of carbs (brown rice or 3 oz's of a sweet potato)

3) 4 oz's of lean protein
-large salad w fat free dressing

4)
-3.5 oz's of protein
-.5 a cup of carbs (25 grams)
Or a large piece of fruit

5)
-.75 scoop of protein n water
-1 medium piece of fruit
-.3 of a cup of oats or 1 rice cake

6)
-3.5 oz's of lean protein
-.5 a cup of brown rice
-1 cup of broccoli or 8 asparagus spears

1 gallon of water daily

2nd Workout Day

Everything was much smoother today and less time was spent explaining form, so the class ended on time (mostly). I got a much better workout today and actually broke a sweat. I don't know if its going to change as we move forward in this program, but I feel like I could really use more of an aerobic workout. We've been focusing a lot on strength training, which I absolutely need, but I would love more of an aerobic aspect. I think a big issue is time - we only have an hour. Within that hour we have to warm up, strength train, and whatever else. Hopefully as we get better at doing the warm up faster the aeorbic will be incorporated. In any case, my arms still feel like jelly and my legs aren't far behind. I talk w/ the nutritionist regarding my eating plan today. I am hopefull he can somehow incorporate Max and Garrett into mine as there is no way I am making 3 different meals for every meal. Not only is it unecessary, but its not sustainable and that is my ultimate goal with this - to make a lifelong change. If its not sustainable, that won't happen.

Nutrition

Just a quick note, we are doing the main workouts on MWF, so the other days are off days for structured workouts. On those days we are supposed to do 30 minute brisk walks, so that's what we did today. Both Garrett and I are sore in our legs from all the various squats from Monday, so the walk helped out with that a bit.

Now that that is out of the way, we talked to the nutritionist today and should have our meal plans all set up by tomorrow night. Really excited about this aspect since I feel that I eat fairly healthy, but Garrett could use some help. No real fault of his own due to his insane working schedule, but if the nutrition guy can teach Garrett how to eat well regardless of his schedule, that will be a great thing.

What I'm not too excited about is that we are going to have to pay to get this service. Don't get me wrong, I am fine with paying for people who are working hard to help me, but I was under the impression that this contest wasn't going to cost me any money. Now granted, we could forgo this aspect and not have to pay anything, but I don't feel that we would get as much out of this experience if we did. I just don't like being surprised with additional costs. Everyone else involved is either volunteering their time or being paid by the church, but I guess that deal just didn't work for the amount of work this guy will supposedly be doing for us. Presumably we will be talking with this guy several times a day, have personalized meal plans, and will be going shopping with us for food. We'll see how it all works out. If we can learn how to eat better and afford to do that, it will be worth the money. I'll update you more tomorrow about how all the meal plans work out.

** Update - The trainers emailed everyone to let them know that purchasing the nutrition plan wasn't mandatory, so I must not have been the only person who was 'confused' by this.

First workout

Well this morning was our first workout. Had to wake up around 4:45am which normally isn't a time that I even know exists. Granted, Max usually wakes up and crawls into our bed to breastfeed around 4am, but I don't usually stir till around 7am (looking around wondering how my boob got out of my shirt and into my son's mouth). Needless to say, Max was none to pleased about loosing out the majority of his morning feeding and then being dropped off at Grandma & Grandpas, but he is going to be 2 years old next Thursday, so I'm pretty sure he isn't going to suffer too much from the loss (at least not nutritionally). Had to drive around in the dark for a bit before we located Westlake Stadium where the workout room is. I know where the high school is, but I guess the stadium is behind that and for whatever reason, I thought it was across the street from the school. Oh well.

Today's workout was essentially a big learn-to-do-all-the-moves class, so I have a feeling it will run a little more smoothly next week. Still, I broke a sweat and managed not to hurt myself, so in my mind it was a success. Garrett almost fell over on one move, but luckily he didn't hurt himself either and I think he got a little better work out than I did. I was purposefully holding myself back as my personality is such that I will push myself to injury without a 2nd thought on the matter and injuring myself this early in the game won't do me much good towards becoming the 'biggest loser'.

The session was supposed to last from 6-7am, but since there were no clocks anywhere, I think it could have easily run to 8am if someone hadn't mentioned the time to the trainers. Again, I think this will be something that will smooth out in the upcoming weeks - and then it will be over. Not sore yet, although my legs did feel a little like jelly when we left around 7:30. I'll let everyone know how I feel tomorrow morning. :) Came home and made an egg scramble with onions, mushrooms, sausage, and cheese. Who knows how healthy that was, but it sure was tastey and I got in a serving or more of veggies, which is always a plus. Planning on a meal of crockpot tamales for supper (subsituting in Rotel and Jiffy corn muffin mix since I really don't feel that Jiffy's recipe can be improved upon) and maybe some salad and a sandwhich for lunch. We will see what our nutritionist has to say when I call him later this afternoon. I figure at least I didn't eat CocoKrispies for breakfast, so that has to count for something.