Muvement – Week One

The scale moved, but only barely. I lost 0.4 pounds this week. Not bad, a loss is a loss and I’ll take it.

I’m not going to do waist/hips etc measurements this week, it’s really too soon since I only took them on Tuesday night. And it’s probably too soon for the scale, but Muvement was an increase in activity, not the beginning.

I raised my calorie count slightly to try and prevent the starvation/binging cycle I seemed to be in, and I think it’s working. I still ate slightly more on workout days, but the “rest” days were pretty compliant.

Sunday I went for a hike. It wasn’t incredibly intense, more like a long walk.

Monday I worked out on my own. 30 mins of circuit training and 60 minutes on the elliptical. It was a pretty good workout.

Wednesday I went to the 7am Muvement class and it kicked my ass. I sweat more in that 25 minutes than I ever did working out on my own. The personal training sessions probably came close, but this was the hardest I think I’ve ever worked. There were 5 stations. You did each station 8 times before moving on to the next. 20 seconds of exercise, 10 seconds of rest, and then the next station. Some stations were split, had multiple exercises, so you’d switch between the two. Michael led the class.

station one: battle ropes and skater lunges
Battle ropes weren’t new to me, massive ropes that you wave up and down as fast as you can to make them all wavy. They are tough though, and by the 4th round I was tired. Skater lunges were new and very hard for me. It’s basically a side-to-side lunge with a little jump. Tough stuff. I was pooped already and there were 4 stations to go.

station two: body weight row and leg lifts
I’ve done plenty of row exercises, so this wasn’t too tough. This is setup by having straps hanging from a beam with handles. You angle your body and pull yourself up using the handles/straps. I was hard on myself here, but I’m pretty strong under this fluff, so was honestly a nice break after those ropes and lunges. The leg lifts were really challenging. My core is pretty weak, and so I had to modify it slightly to participate. This was some WORK even with my modifications. I was a sweaty mess.

station three: tire squats
This station was the reason I had trouble walking. Basically massive construction vehicle tires, and you back up to them so your heels are against the tire, and squat until your butt hits the tire. I couldn’t get my ass all the way down to the tire, but this was a serious workout.

station four: planks
Hold a plank for twenty seconds, rest for 10. Eight times. Sounds simple, but you try it.

station five: shoulder press hop
This was my last station, and I was exhausted. Basic shoulder press with a little hop to give an extra push. This was hard. I ended up cutting out the hop at one point, and then unable to do any more I just tried to hold the weights up.

Thursday I was sore. Very sore. Took a long walk which helped, but I was still sore. Happy, but sore. Did I mention I was sore? SORE.

Friday I meant to do the 7am again, but I just couldn’t get out of bed. Made it to the 5:45 class instead. This time, Melissa led the class and it was 50 seconds of exercise, ten seconds of rest, and cycle through the 5 exercises four times.

station one: horizontal lunges
Ugh, lunges and squats are so tough for me. Hold the weights, sideways lunge. I did two 10lb hand weights each time. This is difficult for me.

station two: battle ropes shoulder press
Looks easy, but it is NOT. Hold the ropes over your shoulders and press straight up to lift them off the ground. Move closer to the wall to make it easier and lift less rope. This burned like mad on the last round and I had to move closer to the wall a couple times. Yowch.

station three: rubber band rows with a squat
Squat down, arms extended holding the rubber bands, stand up and pull bands back, pinching shoulders. This was work, but easier than the rest for me. I used the yellow bands which are higher resistance. I’m feeling this later, but wasn’t hard compared to the rest.

station four: kettle bell one-arm dead lift
While keeping your body square, use one arm to dead lift a kettle bell as many times as you can. Switch arms each rotation. This was tough, but more comfortable than a lot of other stuff. Having the other hand on my hip helped keep me square.

station five: push ups
I’m terrible at these. Melissa helped me with my form a couple of times, which was great. I did them on my knees and constantly struggled to keep my core engaged. I hate push ups.

And that’s it! Today I feel sore, but pretty great. We shall see how I feel tomorrow.

Though the scale didn’t move much, I feel skinny. And I feel like I looked skinnier in the mirror this morning. So, we shall see what next Saturday’s weigh in brings. I want to try to hike in addition to the 3 boot camp sessions this week. I should have more time now that school is on break. And I’m going to stick to the 1700ish calories goal for now.

Week two, I’m ready for you!

“Muving” Into a New Chapter

I mentioned in my last post that I’m starting a new Boot Camp class with Muvement in Manchester, CT.

So, I thought we would really put them to the test and do a new “before” picture.

This time – full body, less clothes, and with MEASUREMENTS.

Your Mileage May Vary (a slight disclaimer)

My buddy Claire re-posted my Great Advice from an Inconsistent Source blogpost on Facebook, specifically the quote about how we lie to ourselves about food and I posted a comment to thank her. I wanted to save our thread for my own records, and thought you guys might appreciate it.

“It’s so true. I still lie to myself and I may (or may not) realize I’m doing it. Sometimes I realize as I’m lying (which may or may not stop me from inhaling those chocolates) and sometimes I realize it later, and sometimes i never realize it and I accuse the scale of being a liar. (or an asshole.). But we lie! Fatties ( AND under-eaters and purgers) LIE TO THEMSELVES. Dare to be honest with yourself. It will Hurt. But lick those wounds and reap the rewards of self-awareness.”

Claire responded:

“Being aware of what I eat and how much was the step away from eating like shit. When I start eating badly I always start ignoring what I’m putting in my body. It can be hard to do because there is so much shame and guilt associated with it, but once you’re able to divorce yourself from that lets you control yourself around food.”

I mostly agree with Claire. (but I think I totally agree with her intent.) Shame is counterproductive. Guilt can be okay though. Guilt is I did something bad. Shame is I AM bad. And I think that it’s important to separate the two.

Guilt should pang you when the scale doesn’t move for a month. I feel guilty I only lost two pounds. Guilt is obviating the mistakes I made. but I am NOT ashamed. I just didn’t achieve all of what I wanted, and that’s okay! I have my whole life ahead of me to work towards that.

Also, one of Claire’s friends brought up a good point. Life is not as black and white as I sometimes make it. I am a black/white thinker though, and so that’s how I communicate. It’s not this simple, and I think people who read me regularly know that deep down. Advice is just easier to take when it’s bite-size, even though fortune cookie-sized messages cannot be absolute. Apply it to your own life as you want (or not at all if you don’t want.) but this is just my experience.

I am one of billions, and not an expert. This is my story, and these are my truths (and lies) as I discover them.

So yes. There are genetics. Thyroids. Hormones. Injuries. Disabilities. Metabolisms. Hives. There are tons of factors that will alter how accurate (and helpful/hurtful) my advice is for you.

I am overweight. I will always be bigger than average, I think. But right now, I’m 75 pounds smaller than I used to be. And I refuse to believe that 75 pounds can be 100% attributed to my surgery, since there are countless stories of people who gain 100% of their post-op weight back, and some.

So, I’m pretty confident I’ve got something to offer the world and I’m not just completely full of it. Your mileage may vary.

Progress (or: slow and steady better win this race)

So, my highest weight of the backslide was 221. I’m now 215.

This is progress, but it’s not really going fast enough for me.

Cutting out booze didn’t do as much as I thought, but it still needed to happen. I think that the body craves sugar more than I thought, and I replaced booze with carbs. Random observation: I’m REALLY sensitive to refined sugar since quitting booze.

But…

Calorie counting works. you just have to be consistent. And that’s tough. But I’ve been doing it and it’s taught me something. My food diary clearly reflects that I was starving myself and then overcompensating on less-active days. In response I’ve upped my caloric intake slightly. We will see how this pans out.

Also, I’m so excited the warm weather is here. I LOVE BEING ACTIVE! I can’t even believe how long I lived on my couch until recently. I love hiking. I want to go kayaking. I need to get back on my bike. You have all heard me say that I love the gym, but I love the outdoors more. and I want to spend as much time as possible exploring. I’m so thankful that the hives are under control and I can get out there and enjoy it.

(sidenote: the free drugs are going to run out next month. Anyone have any ideas on how I can get Genetech to give me a discount/more free drugs? If I have to pay 100% out of pocket, it’s going to be $1,400 a month.)

I’m also trying Muvement‘s 4 week Groupon deal for unlimited boot camp classes. I went to orientation tonight and it seems like it will be a blast. I was excited to finally meet the guys, and I’m hoping to sneak in my first class before work Wednesday morning. More to come on that.

So, I only lost 2 pounds in the last month. That’s pretty frustrating. But it took part of last summer, fall, and winter to pack 62 pounds back on. It will probably take me through next winter to shed it all. But it is the constant effort that I’ll need my whole life to keep it off, anyway. Might as well start now.

Adressing a Problem

Denial is the biggest obstacle between you and your skinny jeans.

If we could just stop lying to ourselves we wouldn’t have to utilize gravitational tricks and witchcraft to shimmy into our Levi’s.

Great Advice (from an inconsistent source)

I got an email today, from a great friend I haven’t seen in a long time:

Hello M’dear –

I always see your posts about your weight loss success and I was wondering if you could give me some advice. I’ve always had a bad relationship with food – I have no self control when it comes to it. Whenever I want to get healthy, I stick to it for a month or so, and then right back to my bad habits. I have lots of friends who eat healthy, but it’s difficult to get advice from someone for whom healthy eating comes easily, as opposed to a constant battle. I really want to make some serious, long term changes – lifestyle changes.

Any advice? Are there any support groups or online resources that you’ve found really helpful?

I really appreciate any advice you can give. And as always, congrats on your success thus far, and I hope it continues!

Hugs,
Me

Didn’t you see the posts about the 40 pounds I re-gained in 2011???

Not Pretty.

I’m not sure I’m an expert on this topic. It is a constant battle for me, too.

The End of the Setback, The Beginning of the Rest of My Life.

Hey folks. Long time no blog.

A lot has happened since my last post.

I’ll start with the most exciting news:

I’m cured.

Hive Update

Okay, so a lot has happened since my last hive post.

And yet….not a lot has happened since my last hive post.

This is a picture of my arm after only an hour of sun exposure in 75 degree weather.

That line is actually one big hive because I made the mistake of keeping a hair elastic around my wrist for too long.

Impulse Buy : Weight Watchers Online

As most of you know, I’ve gained some weight dealing with this whole hives thing.

And I can’t work out. Any sweating results in immediate and long-lasting super-itchy hives.

So, after hearing a few co-workers raving about Weight Watchers, I joined the online program.

They had a “buy three months and don’t pay the sign-up fee” deal, so on Thursday afternoon I pulled out my credit card, and began tracking my points.

I had eaten more than double my allotted points.

Whoops.

Cinnamon Fortune Buns: Fail. OR….is it?

Well, because of the hives I’ve gained some weight. Been cooking a lot, and therefore eating a lot. But I made these for a party…I’m only going to have one. (Well, two if you count the one I tried before I brought them to the party.)

Improvised from multiple recipes. The fortune inside is probably a bad idea, but for sure, your future is gonna be SWEET if you make these babies. I used splenda instead of sugar in everything except the glaze.