Thursday - Day 18

My back is really not much better. I mean it's getting easier to move but I still cannot do a lot of the exercises. ED has been followed 100% - even the low carb. I felt so down yesterday. I went and got on my Gazelle but could only do little step/swings instead of the usual full motions. And moving slow.... it did make me feel a little more 'freed up' though so I am on my way down there again today.

My brother is coming in from BC tonight and I have to pick him up at the airport at midnight... so no 10:30 for me today. I haven't been able to do most of the cleaning I wanted to get done in the last few days and I think that is what is contributing to my mood issues. That and not being able to work out the stress. All I wanted to do was eat yesterday but I made sure that I waited the 3 hours and always followed ED to a tee.

Saturday is my other brother's wedding.... 3 hour drive up north to where it all is happening. Looks like I will be putting another piece of cake in the freezer for after the 30 days!! The only thing I may not adhere to is that Saturday is supposed to be my low carb day. I think I may just push it back to Sunday since friday is normal ED. Well... off to the Gazelle I go.

... wrench in the plans....

I felt a twinge while moving karaoke gear today. Probably won't be able to do some of the exercises as I can barely even straighten up. Took a hot bath which was nice but still, everything is quite tender. Focus on arms I guess. Probably no actual spidermans or walkouts or anything like that... I don't think I could.

Day 14

Well.... I wasn't quite as happy with my results for the week as I thought I would be but.... really, maybe I am just expecting too much. I have read over the tweaking blog and really, other than not being able to get to sleep by 10:30, everything else is already in check. So.... 10:30 it is - when I can. I think somewhere it was said at least 5 days of the week so... they days I work at the bar I obviously can't but the rest of the time I will.

Measurements:

...............................Day 1........................ Day 7............................... Day 14

Weight (lbs) ..........190.6 ........................186.8 ...............................182.4

Chest ......................41.75........................ 40.75 ...............................40.25
Waist ......................40 .............................41 .....................................39.75
Up Arm ..................14.5 ..........................14.5 ..................................14
Hip ..........................48.25 .......................47.5 ..................................47
Thigh 4" .................24 .............................23.25 ...............................21.5
Thigh 8" .................27.25 ........................26.25 ...............................25.25

Right calf ................16 .............................15.75 ................................15.34
Right Knee .............17.75 .........................**** ................................17.25

B/F ............................26mm (33.2%) .......**** .................................24mm (still 33.2 range)

So what is that? Since day 1 I have lost 8.2 lbs, 8 various inches (just for chest, waist, upper arm, hip, and two thigh measurements. I know that I have been losing some of the paunch below the navel though.... it's a little more jiggly. Even though I thought it would be more, it's still more than if I hadn't done anything at all so, bring on week three!!

Day 12

Today kind of not so much fun because of being low carb. I made an awesome asparagus omlette (only thing I was missing was the processed cheese) for breakfast. Had some celery with almond and peanut butters. Lunch was leftover stirfry on top of some sauted cabbage and a little romaine lettuce for extra crunch. Contemplating dinner right now and saving the 'snack' for when I am at the bar.

DB Matrix is awesome. I have to do knees bent with legovers but other than that.... I can even do full two part situp which I was not expecting at all.

I am having so much fun with all of this and I am starting to see and feel results. I am waiting until Sunday to measure and weigh though. Will write more about my findings then!

Day 11

Today was my 'high carb' day. I treated myself to steel cut oats, cinnamon, flax seed, one hard boiled egg and a cup of peppermint tea for breakfast. Snack was apple and handful of almonds (20 I think). Lunch was rice pasta with homemade spagetti sauce comprised of crushed tomato, yellow peppers, mushrooms, a little onion, spinach, spices and chicken breast. I was scared to try the rice pasta but if you put it together with a nice hearty sauce like that, you don't even notice the difference. Just make sure you rinse it really well because it almost makes a soup. I also was sure to limit the pasta to a small amount (one serving on the package) and then just loaded it up with the veggie sauce. I still have half of the sauce left so I was thinking about trying it on bean sprouts in place of the pasta - I will let you know what the verdict is on that one.

All of the workouts seem to be taking longer and the only thing I can think of is that I am being more careful of how I perform each exercise to get the maximum benefits. I just keep plugging away and get whatever I can get done done in the alotted time.

This whole situation is becoming quite addictive and I am starting to think about how I am going to continue on this path after Dax is done and not setting things up for us anymore. It's really beginning to become Fun Fun Fun!!

Day 9

I have been so busy the last couple of days and I just haven't had the time to come on here so I am going to squish Sunday, Monday and today into one message. I did my first low carb day yesterday (Monday) as I went to a bridal shower on Sunday. I knew what the 'menu' was going to be to some extent. We were in a restaurant and we had a breakfast buffet. This is the first time ever that I have actually made special requests regarding meal items. I had scrambled eggs (no milk), 100% rye toast with butter, a piece of bacon, a fruit cup and peppermint tea. I passed on the banana pancakes, french toast (my fav), freshly made chocolate chip banana bread and orange juice (don't know if it was sugar free or not so...). Then the bride-to-be (my future sister-in-law)'s sister brought out a cake. I figured with all of the sacrificing I was doing I could at least get the cake put in a to-go container and it is now sitting in my freezer waiting for the day that I can have it. Not bad for me. The toast, by the way, was the first bread that I had had at all since starting ED and is obviously the only time still.

Saturday and Sunday nights I hosted karaoke shows with my husband and managed to do the water only thing all night. Very easy to get all your water needs in when you are singing all night and can't drink anything else. ;)

I had a really hard time working myself up to the new workouts... for some reason I underestimate myself with everything and just assume that I am not going to be able to do it. That is what makes me a procrastinator. It's not that the motivation isn't there but it's the fear that if I try I will disappoint myself. That being said, when I started the meltdown I was pleasantly surprised at how much I COULD do. Same thing when I did the pyramid. I only got up the one side so far but when I looked at 10 pushups I though 'after all the dips and other pushups and presses, I'm not going to be able to do that...' but I did! So, if I learn anything from this 30 days it is that I DO have the ability to persevere, I CAN live without bread and crappy food and coffee, and I SHOULD NOT underestimate myself. And all three of those things are VERY big for me.

And I keep reminding myself that even if I don't get as far as I would like with any of the workouts, I am still doing more than I was 10 days ago and that's what I think EVERYONE should take away from this.

Not much has happened with the scale still but mentally I am feeling awesome and so motivated not only for this but many other things in life! Thank you so much, Dax!

Day 7 & Frustrated

Just beginning the day.... I have to go to a bridal shower today as well so that should be fun.

I hope this week does what I need it to do because I am just lost here. I have lost couple of pounds...

190.6 to 186.8

Chest 41.75 to 40.75
Waist 40 to 41 (??)
Up Arm 14.5 to same
Hip 48.25 to 47.5
Right Calf 16 to 15.75
Thigh 4" above 24 to 23.25
Thigh 8" above 27.25 to 26.25

Honestly, I couldn't say whether I measured my waist in the EXACT same spot as I did the first time..... but really.... it hasn't moved at all.

I know that I have been eating when I am hungry but not at the 3 hour intervals all the time. I am going to start keeping a more exact food journal. All I can say is that I have been eating the oatmeal for breakfast every day (maybe shouldn't be) and I had rice with my dinner a couple of days in a row so maybe doing the low carb thing will help. Also, maybe upping my cardio a little bit to 20 minutes or something...

Any suggestions at all would be awesome or even just to know that I am not the only one who is not getting all the results yet.... that would be cool too!!

Beginning Day 6

Well.... I weighed myself this morning.... I have been losing .5 lbs here and there and the one day the scale didn't move at all. I have lost 4 lbs exactly as of this morning. I am a little frustrated by that but I will keep pushing. Speaking of pushing.... the backs of my shoulders are killing me. Could be either from some of the incline pushups I was doing or from scrubbing the walls in my bathroom.... whatever the case, I really thought that with all the work that I put in this week, things would be a little more on the plus side. I have not measured anything again yet. Going to save that for tomorrow.

I think maybe I need more water. I manage to get just about 3 litres in throughout the day plus one or two cups of herbal tea (peppermint) but maybe that is all I need to just get my body to let go of the excess. At a 190 lb start I should really be getting to 4 litres though. We'll see.

Day 4 update

I am getting the hang of the spidermans!! I can't do very many of them but I have got past the "on the knees" start position to full pushup start. Still having problems with lunges.... I think I am going to go back and review some video demonstrations again. I feel extremely awkward and always like I am either going to fall over or that I end up working the wrong leg - if that makes any sense. I will get there.

Little less pain today, and I only had a dull ache in my head for a little bit today. Hopefully tomorrow will be headache free!

A couple of my densities are down but most of them are up. I would assume that the couple that are down are just because I have spent myself on the others. We'll see what tomorrow says. Overall, feeling pretty good. I am supposed to be in bed right now as it is 10:36 so.... obey the rules!

Day 2/3

Yesterday I hurt a lot... both my muscles and my head. I guess that's what I get for not ever really working out in my life and then just eating crap cuz it was easier, faster and took no effort. I love my Doritos but I hadn't been eating them for a few months. My biggest downfall is coffee (I would drink it all day just like water) though I had cut down considerably for the last month to maybe 2 - 3 cups a day. Also, I love bread. I always tried to eat 100% whole wheat at minimum but I also really like grain breads. I will not be trying to get into any "no-wheat" breads for the 30 days though. I really want to prove to myself that I can go without bread all together so that when I do decide to add it back into my diet, it will not be on a daily or every meal of the day basis. I grew up knowing what was considered inexpensive and hearty and bread is definately one of those things. So I also grew up believing that it was the best thing to eat at every meal to feel full and satisfied. But as so many of you know, one leads to more so I have to erase that mental process so I am not dependant on it.

I didn't get rid of the garbage in my house either.... maybe a glutton but I haven't touched any of it. We are VERY tight on money right now and I have my husband to think about too. The foods we have in the house right now are the only foods we will have for a couple more days yet so I have just resigned to not go looking and so far has been awesome. I have dug frozen veggies out of the freezer and been making use of them. Also, I have been making salads and using chicken breast and eggs and nuts as my protein sources. This first week has been kind of bland and kind of rough but the last thing I wanted to do was let yet another 'hurdle' stop me from doing this "YET AGAIN". So I am in....

Excercising has been hard - I did not realize just HOW out of shape I was until trying to get down to do something like spidermans. I checked online for alternate ways and I am documenting everything in my journal so that I know when I have passed a hurdle. I feel like 35 going on 55 which is pathetic and will happen NO MORE. This is so much about personal growth and proving something to myself over anything else. If I get to prove to Dax that it works as well, all that much better.

Exercises

I know I am late in the day but honestly my schedule is backwards to most. I work until very late some nights (I am a karaoke host) so today, I did not plan myself out very well. Tomorrow I will get on to more normal times. Already did the aerobics part and just finished Meltdown. Lots of problems with lunges and balance and spiderman exercise a LOT hard to do. Also, does anyone have any suggestions for how to reduce pain in my right wrist while doing pushups??

At least I have a benchmark.... now I can only get better from here, right?

Here's to the next workout and Day 2!! I am going to take a hot bath.

Measurements Day 1

I am 35 years old, 5 foot 3.75 inches and these are my stats for day one:

Weight 190.6 lbs
Body Fat (by Accu-Measure) 26 mm = 33.2 %

Chest 41.75 inches
Waist 40 inches
Upper Arm (left) 14.5 inches
Hips 48.25 inches
Thigh (4 inch above knee) 24 inches
Thigh (8 inch above knee) 27.25 inches


Thigh (across both together) 45 inches
Right calf 16 inches
Right knee 18 inches

Before pictures

It is amazing how you don't realize how bad the situation has really gotten until you put it in print - pictures that is. After the weekend I had and looking at these pictures that just came off of my camera, I am not only 150% dedicated to the next 30 days but the next 30 years... and more.

Day 1 is half down and this is just the first step.

Setting Up The Blog

I have never set up a blog before, or even had one at that. The reason behind this blog is that I am embarking on a 30 Day Fat Loss Challenge through Day Moy's M.A.P. - http://www.mylondonpersonaltrainer.com/

I will be adding any thoughts, successes.... anything that has to do with my day-to-day dealings of the next 30 days. I guess it will actually be 35 days as the final phase doesn't start until June 7, 2010. Wish me luck and I will keep you posted. Before pics and more info will follow later today or first thing tomorrow.