My next 20 weeks

I've mentioned that I've started a new program.

I'm using a hybrid schedule developed that uses both ChaLEAN Extreme and TurboFire.

I don't know about you, but I have a difficult time just looking at something and grasping what it means. Words come in, words go out, and I'm left just looking at each day as 'what am I doing today' rather than 'how does this fit in with the program'.

And so, I fixed it.

First I color coded it, so that I had some idea of what groups go together, and planned out my tracking days on the rest days closest to the 30 day marks.

This helped, but it's still not exactly where I just know what the clear themes are and how the time is broken up.  ChaLEAN Extreme was very clear cut with weekly repeats and the three phases.  This is a whole different beast to me, and I like to know what I'm aiming towards and what my focus is, and where the phases are, so that I can get in the right frame of mind.

So I broke each program and day down. Was it cardio? Was it stretching? Was it a ChaLEAN circuit? Was it TF strength? Was it abs? Was there a clear pattern?

YES!

Weeks 1-3:      Burn Circuit & Abs workouts alternate with one day of Cardio a week

Week 4:           Cardio with one HIIT and one Abs day

Weeks 5-8:      Push Circuit & Cardio+Abs workouts alternate

Weeks 9-12:    HIIT+Strength & Cardio+Abs workouts alternate

Week 13:         Abs+Stretch & Cardio+Stretch workouts alternate

Weeks 14-16:  Cardio & Lean Circuit+Abs workouts alternate
Week 17:         Cardio with 2 Abs days
Weeks 18-20:  HIIT+Strength & Cardio+Abs workouts alternate

The big blocks are:
Burn
Push
HIIT
Lean
HIIT

And Abs 3 times a week, almost every week.
Cardio gets added in as a regular occurence in the 4th week.

So, look out! I'll be ripped by the time I get to my 31st birthday! All those Abs and cardio combined with strength training? I'm excited!

And now, the plan makes so much more sense to me, I can look forward to it!

~Katie

Deleted

I have been having trouble waking up. Mostly it's because I need 8 hours of sleep. I forget this at night & go to bed at midnight. So the cycle goes. I'm making changes. Creeping up my bedtime so I can naturally wake up earlier & still get the sleep my body needs.

So yesterday evening, I did Burn Circuit 1. It was the first video I did during ChaLEAN Extreme, so it was a nice to go back to my notes and see what weights I was using then & adapt to my strength now. Some exercises, I am leaps and bounds ahead on (chest and legs), others (deltoids) I am pretty much the same as when I started. I thought that it would not be challenging. I thought that I'd been there, done that. I was SO WRONG! The challenge comes from a better form now, and heavier weights. I can actually complete most of the exercises now, even though it's a struggle. I'm not afraid to 'dial it up' and go as heavy as I possibly can.

This morning, after going to bed at 11, and falling asleep at around 11:45 pm, I knew I had about a 30 minute workout in the morning. I also knew that the bug man was coming at 7:30 am and that I needed to leave the house clean-ish for the the cleaners to come by today. With my ideal leaving the house time at 8:35, I needed to get with the program. And I totally didn't.

6:15 my alarm went off
6:30 I started making some grunting about needing to actually get out of bed
6:45 I said I'd do my workout in the evening
7:00 I realized that I could still get my workout in before the bug man arrived
7:15 I was getting in my workout gear, choosing the socks that James got me. Oh yes, those are Cybermen!

7:30 I started my workout, TurboFire Core 20
7:40 the bug man shows up, so I take a break
7:50 I finish my workout while the bug man sprays the house, but don't do the Stretch 10, may double that up tonight
8:00 start drinking my Shakeology and doing the dishes and cleaning up the kitchen
8:15 shower
8:30 dressed and actually ready to start feeding the animals, and gathering my stuff for work

What What!

Yep! I rocked that short workout! Even though I totally procrastinated and said I'd do it later, I still did it this morning!

DELETE, DELETE, DELETE
YOU WILL BE UPGRADED (to a person who wakes up early enough to work out in the morning)

~Katie

April Progress Report

It's that time again!
Lots of pale flesh on the interwebs!

Tracking day.

Overall, I lost inches everywhere except my arms.
Why?
Because this girl has GUNS!

BOOM!

I can see the difference this time, I'm a few pounds down and I've really toned up. Comparing the way before and the now is HUGE!

And now for a peak at the new bathing suit from the drawer that I picked for tracking for this next round. I start tomorrow with the TurboFire/ChaLEAN Extreme hybrid schedule. It will be exciting! I know that I'll tone up a ton and also shed some of this fat that's staying on me. Why? Because it's more cardio intense. Looking at the schedule between now and September, it's a huge amount of ab work, cardio, and with some of the weights still thrown in there. Not too much, but enough to keep me on track.

Push-ups: 7 continuous on toes followed by 7 continuous on knees before I felt I needed to pause.

Squats weights: 30 lbs

Biceps: 17.5 lbs

Triceps: 10 lbs

Delts: 10 lbs

Row: 22.5 lbs

Shoulder Press: 17.5 lbs

Woot!

~Katie

A Small Effort

Today, I am going to an event after work.

I knew I needed to wake up early so I could work out.

I forgot that my workout was 45 minutes today.

I did 20 minutes of it.

Then I realized that I didn't just have to shower and get ready, I needed to wash the dishes, unload the dryer, and leave the check for the cleaners, and gather the errands to run at lunch. And still get showered and ready.

So I left off Lean Circuit 3 at the pushup to side plank. I may try to complete the workout later tonight when I get home, but that may be a bit ambitious.  Perhaps I'll finish the Fire it up video for extra cardio.

Regardless of cutting my workout short, I was DRIPPING sweat for at least another 10-15 minutes while I was getting the kitchen ready to actually be cleaned.

I reviewed my ActiveLink last night, after doing both of the workouts.

This is my output during Burn Intervals, notice the periods of low intensity when I'm lifting weights, and moderate intensity when I'm doing things like lunges and squats. I was doing this from 0 to 45 minutes before I took a break and cooled down and watched the Fire It Up intro.

 Now, this, from 8:00 pm to 8:20 pm, this is when I was doing the Fire Starter Class. Followed by sitting down and blogging. There is barely any moderate intensity activity after the warm up.

WOW! What a difference, huh?

I know that I'll probably be throwing one of the TurboFire Workouts in every so often in this last few weeks of my challenge before I start the ChaLEAN/TurboFire Hybrid program. And that my workouts will be taking a lot longer to do. I need to start actually waking up when my alarm goes off. And that may mean going to bed earlier than midnight, as much as I hate it.

~Katie

Cardio day!

Today, I did yesterday's Burn Intervals.

Yesterday, I needed rest & relaxation. Took a bath & went to bed early. Woke up feeling much less like I could not move from lack of motivation.

So I pushed my workouts by a day. My rest was Monday instead of Thursday this week.

After Burn Intervals, I felt like I needed to move a bit more & tried out the Fire Starter class for TurboFire. Well, 20 minutes in, and I'm glad I started with strength training. It will be a challenge to get my uncoordinated self moving along just right, but I think it will be a great follow up to ChaLEAN Extreme!

~Katie

Happy Easter!

I took a nice lie-in this morning before heading to Sugar Land to have Easter brunch & go to Mass with my family. I knew we'd have some "dead" time between Mass and dinner, so decided to bring the resistance bands, DVDs, & workout clothes with me.

I'd never done Lean Circuit 2 with the resistance bands, so today was a challenge to try to get the workout in effectively. I ended up working up a good sweat, regardless, so I'll count it as a win!

I didn't take off my eye makeup & it ran a bit, so I was a pretty Sweaty Betty at the end.

~Katie

My shoulders!

Delts
Delts
Delts

Lean Circuit 2 is all about the delts!

I definitely worked those muscles hard today.

~Katie

Progress Report

Today's going to be a busy day at work, so I'm trying to get this all up and ready before I leave so I can focus on the presentation I'm giving tonight at a University on what I do at work and what opportunities there are for physicists.

Today was tracking day.

It has been 60 days since I started ChaLEAN Extreme, and 4 weeks since I started Weight Watchers.
The Push Month mostly focused on building muscle, and my legs, butt, and arms definitely benefitted. I can actually do real push-ups, now! I can do at least half of the burpees in Burn It Off without modification. I outlifted my set of weights and needed to go up a notch or two or three.  And I'm planning on starting TurboFire/ChaLEAN hybrid after this next coming month. I think that this was a great program to start with, since I've never focused on building much muscle. The weightlifting progress is a great Non-Scale Goal for me. The slimming will come with more cardio, but the power, and strength can only come from resistance.

I have been busting my buttocks since Monday to make it a successful tracking day. I'm talking taking walks. Going RUNNING, for heaven's sake. And watching every damn thing that I eat and drink since I'm out of weekly points until Friday. Because I wanted to see the results that I feel. Because I feel the results. I know that I'm looking better and slimming down. I'm also building muscle, so some places are actually staying the same pretty much.

The Push month has been good to me, overall.

Here's the photos:

Front View Progress

Side View Progress

Back View Progress
SOON, There won't be any of those rolls at my waist! They are going, going, going, (soon to be) GONE!

Measure it up

 I am quite pleased with this month's progress! Down 6.3 lbs from the last weigh-in! My waist is down 2 inches, too! And that's the waist around the belly button. My natural waist is shrinking, too!

Okay, off to work!
~Katie

REAL push-ups!

I haven't really been pushing myself to do push-ups on the toes. It has been hard enough to complete them on my knees.

But today, today I decided that I was going to try it. At the end of Push Circuit 1, there are 8 push-ups followed by 3 extreme ones. Well, I did 6 out of 8 on my toes!!! And then all of the extreme ones!

So wahoo!!! I did it! I can do it!

Can I have a beer now?

Oh, and I bought myself a gift since I was on the verge of buying all the fill-in weights AND heavier ones. Yep, advertising works on me. And so does all of the really good reviews. I got the Selecttechs from BowFlex off of Amazon. I still have to get used to dialing in the right numbers quickly, and had to pause the video a couple times, but I used 30 lbs for all of the squats today!

I leave for the funeral on Friday, so I'll be using the bands. This time, I'm staying at my aunt's house, so I can go outside & exercise if I need to.

~ Katie

Changes, All the Little Changes

Before I get to the actual post, today, I slept in. So my workout will be between work and girls night. It will be Push Circuit 2, so it's 35 minutes and weightlifting-focused, so I think I can do that, shower, and walk to the restaurant in time after work today. The front room rearranging has taken a toll on my bedtime.

Okay, on to the Changes.

I've been documenting the daily stuff on here, but sometimes, I like to make a retrospective.

Today, I realized that there are a lot of little changes that have been adding in to the big changes.
And some of them aren't so little. But all of these changes have been since the beginning of this year.

• I see a therapist every other week. We are evaluating different possibilities of the root of my high anxiety issues & panic attacks as well as my scatterbrained-ness and overall mental health. I want to be able to have a plan of attack that is appropriate to what my brain is doing rather than guessing and worrying about it. 
• I am following the ChaLEAN Extreme 90-day Challenge. I'm following the schedule, and while I may have missed a day or workout here and there, I have been very good about giving it my all every day. I'm glad that I chose a program with workouts close to 30 minutes each day rather than over an hour. It's manageable, and I can fit that in to my schedule. It's a small commitment, but I'm seeing the results. (Dude! I have BICEPS!!!!)
• I'm taking a daily multivitamin.
• I'm drinking Shakeology every day, which I didn't quite realize until yesterday how much it has been working for me. When you drink something that filling every single morning and then you have to fast until 11 am one day, let's just say that my sweet cravings were off the charts yesterday. I wanted to eat everything in sight! I have really been loving the chocolate flavor with a healthy dash of Cayenne Pepper added to it.
• I am attending Weight Watchers meetings and tracking my intake as well as my activity. We'll see how ActiveLink works for me once I get past the assessment phase. This has been a really good change. I've been dropping pounds since starting this. It has been the impetus to cooking at the house more, drinking less beer and alcohol, and focusing on fruit, vegetables, and protein sources to fuel my workouts.
• I'm cleaning things up. I'm making places for everything. I'm getting rid of clutter. I'm removing the excess (but I'm not getting rid of my jeans. My jeans will stay in my closet forever. I think I still have maternity jeans somewhere.)

So lots of little and big changes. They are all starting to add up. I can see muscle in my body. I feel better. I feel happier. I feel less like the world is going to crash in on me. I am getting stuff done. And I am moving forward. Little changes. They make for big leaps.

~Katie

Guns

I has them.

For the first time ever, let me introduce you to my guns!

They may seem small to you, but this is the most definition & muscle I have EVER had in my arms. Including when I was a weight training high school athlete.

Thank you ChaLEAN Extreme! And thank you Jennifer for introducing me to this program!

~Katie

Cardio-O!

Today's schedule was Burn It Off & Recharge. I am doing so much better at Burn It Off! I did almost all of the Burpees with good plyometric form! Yay! I'm really curious to see what my heart rate gets up to. I think I have a heart rate monitor around here somewhere, I just have to figure out how to use it!

The Recharge is nice to do right afterwards since My heart stays pumping just a bit higher than normal throughout, I'm continuing the cardio.

I'm considering getting the ActiveLink from WeightWatchers because I do so much moving around during the day since I CAN'T SIT STILL! I've never been able to. Actually, I take that back. A bath is where I can sit still.

Oh, and I went grocery shopping! And the only prepared foods I bought were pickles. Who doesn't love pickles?

But I am prepared now! Lean chicken! Fish for Friday! Fruit for when James has low blood sugar or I am wanting dessert! Veggies for accompanying meat! Flowers! Because, flowers!

Also, I jumped the gun and decided to up my BeachBody involvement. Since I am planning on doing
TurboFire after ChaLEAN, And both James & I are drinking Shakeology, I decided the 25% off was worth being a coach. So, if you are also interested in joining in these types of programs, or just want an extra cheerleader to give & get encouragement, just follow the link up at the top and go on over to my BeachBody page.

Jennifer has been such an encouragement to me, so I'd love to pass on the love. Even if you're not interested in the BeachBody programs, just a bit of exercise goes a long way!

Okay, schpeal over!

~Katie

Tomato-face!

Just finished Push Circuit 3 for the first time!

First off, yes, Chalene probably already regrets those boots.

Second, holy chest and fly and squats, batman! This is probably the circuit that will help in my quest of push-ups the most!

The one-legged sumo squat is so completely awkward, that I'm not sure I'm even getting anything out of it.

I managed to not fall over on the bowlers lunge today! Yippee! Maybe my legs are getting used to it enough that my ankles can stabilize me now. Maybe.

Otherwise, it was a great workout and I could have gone a bit heavier on some of the moves. Guess I'll be ordering the 25s soon!

Oh, and back to the title of this post. Tomato-face.
I have a skill. A talent. A superpower.
My face turns bright red after about 5 minutes of exertion of any kind. Or when I get angry, or embarrassed, or hot. Light exertion. Heavy exertion. Doesn't matter. I turn bright red.
Yay?

~Katie

Work it out!

When you come home from work,
And the pipes have gone berserk,
Work it out!
Work it out!

When you do a load of wash,
And it overflows the sink,
Work it out!
Work it out!

When the plumbers are all home,
But you can still use the John,
Work it out!
Work it out!

Tonight's ode to plumbing gone wrong brought to you by a 90 year old house.

Push circuit 1 was able to usher me out of a frustrated temper tantrum. Somehow, I feel much better after pumping some iron.

All bicep exercises used 15 lbs today!

~ Katie

The day after

Recap of yesterday:
Workout
Wrestle with website
Shower & get ready
Wedding (eat, drink, drink, drink, dance, eat, dance, drink)
Wrestle with website
Dinner
Movie
Drink
Sleep

Consumed about half of my weekly points and all of my remaining activity points.

So today, I knew I needed to work out, and may need to work out again later in order to refill my ability to maybe have a beer at some point.

And I did Burn Circuit 3, upped weights on just about every exercise, but my deltoids are very weak and 10 lbs may be too much still. But I try!

~Katie

Push Circuit 2

Today's workout focused mainly on glutes, hamstrings, and shoulders. My shoulders aren't quite super strong so I used 10 lbs on most of them. Some moves, I can go up in, others I really struggled at 10 with. I chose 15 lbs for most lower body exercises and went to 10 for some single-leg moves.

It was my first time, so I'm giving myself slack to learn the moves.

It's go texan day everywhere but my office. And it's Lent, so no BBQ.

Tomorrow morning is a tight schedule. 70 minute workout plus a wedding at 11 am. So I have to actually DO my hair. This calls for starting the workout at 7:30 am on a SATURDAY! If you know me, you know how foreign this is to me.

And we have to get out and buy a ton of newspapers since the article on me will be out & I need a bunch to send out to family & friends!

~Katie

Push Circuit 1

Well, today was the beginning of a new month of ChaLEAN Extreme. Push Circuit 1 was intense, single-muscle working. It was about 32 minutes long. No squat plus shoulder press or dead-lift plus row. This was all single focused exercises. Tricep. Bicep. Squat. In three ways each.

Since the goal is to fail at 6-8 reps, you go really heavy. I warmed up with 5 lbs, then used 10, 15, & 20 lbs weights for the rest of the exercises. I'm going to try to push to 15, 20, & 25 lbs next week. Most of the exercises I used 10 lbs on, I could have done 10 reps.

PROGRESS!

And many push-ups. Sloooooooow push-ups.

Also, here's a peek into where I workout & my setup in my living room. I'm allergic to the animals & they cuddle on the carpet, so I have to roll out my mat anytime I put knees to floor or I get red allergy spots all over them.

~Katie

Failure

Failure.

What does it mean to you?

In ChaLEAN Extreme, failure is the point at which you've worked your muscle so hard that you are unable to do another rep in form.
This causes your muscle to rebuild through the rest period and grow stronger.

I have been working most of my exercises to failure in 10-12 reps. I have been trying to make sure I try the next weight up for exercises that I did the week before.  If I was using 5 lbs, I'll use 10 lbs. If I was using 10 lbs, I'll use 15 lbs. Sometimes, I realize that I made a mistake and switch back so that I can actually complete more than 5 reps.  This is one of the issues I'm trying to work through. For some of the moves, I am stronger than 5 lbs, even going super slow and flexing the whole time, but I can't go past 5 reps with the 10 lbs. So what can I do to push past that? What can I work through to get up to the weight I know I can tackle? Perseverance.

This morning, I felt like a failure, despite what my body has been telling me, I felt like I had not achieved anything.

So taking a lesson from weightlifting, I'm taking it as a sign that I can get stronger. Still. I am still capable of continuing. I am still capable of succeeding.

I often feel like I've failed at tasks at work or with my business. But maybe I'm just working myself to breaking? I need to work a different "muscle group" and let the one I've failed at rest a tiny bit. Not ignore it and never address it again, just work on something else, focus on another aspect for a little bit. I have lots of balls in the air right now. I need to give them each their due attention for cycling amounts of time. Not work on one at the detriment of others, but work on one until I have worked it as much as I can for the day and then switch to the other.

I can do this. I will take a cue from this. Failure is not the end, it's just the beginning.

~Katie

So Demoralizing

Yeah, so I tracked today. I was feeling so good about it.

Yes, I was a little bloated. But I've been working so hard! I've been feeling better! I've been doing so well! Right? I was going to see results!

Well, here they are, in living color. My still fat ass on the internet. The only benefit is that I don't see as much belly fat hangover. That is the one place that I see improvement.
I gained .7 pounds.
I gained inches or stayed the same almost everywhere.
UGH!!!!
---EDIT---
I wish that the waist measurement was actually at my waist. Instead, it's at my belly button. The place I feel I've changed the most is just under the boobs, on the ribcage and my belly. My haunches haven't really changed, and my thighs have gotten larger, but probably mostly because ChaLEAN Extreme is extreme on the amount of squats you do.

It's difficult to compare the before and after photos because the angle is different and so is the lighting. I decided that the orange/brown look wasn't doing me any favors & realized I had a door where I could get a straight shot.  The height of the camera is the same between the photos, though, as is the way the bikini is tied (as in I haven't been able to untie that knot for YEARS).

Forgot to add the other stats:
Push-ups: James and I did a test last night. I did 3 push-ups on my toes and then 8 on my knees. I didn't time them. I should have. Maybe I'll do that tonight.
Weights I'm using:
Lower Body: 15-20 lbs
Triceps: 5 lbs
Biceps: 10 lbs
Back & shoulders: 10-15 lbs

~Katie
PS I'm still going to continue with this. I'm feeling stronger. So hopefully I can actually shed some inches in the next month.

I'm not happy, but I'm hopeful?

Push ups!

One great thing about this program is that I'm getting results. It's tangible. So my weight has gone up a bit. That's fine. My muscles are building! I'm feeling less acutely sore every day.

While I'm increasing the weights I use, my biggest benchmark that I can see & feel changing every day and week is my ability to do push ups. When I started 2 weeks ago, I could barely bend my elbows and push back up. I could go about halfway down before my muscles gave out. On my knees.

I'm still doing push-ups on my knees, but I could do 8-10 of the push-up + leg lifts today. And then did 3 more slow push-up at the end! This is momentous! I may be able to start challenging myself to do some full ones with my feet rather than knees as the fulcrum this week!

Yesterday, I had a bad eating day. Brewed beer with friends & had pizza then had tons of Brie at the Super Bowl party. And ice cream.

This week, I'm challenging myself to work out in the mornings and cook dinner at night. And then planning on feeding my mind as well as body with my second therapy session on Thursday. I've had to go through a whole giant questionnaire & some of the questions are really difficult to answer with just yes or no. Things aren't perfect, but they never will be. However, I'm working on being happy and combatting the lows.

~Katie