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

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?

Lunkerhead strikes again!

The temp dropped 30 degrees overnight, so I was warm snuggles in bed this morning & it was a long workout day. I did kick myself out of bed in time to finish the Burn intervals workout which is 45 minutes, but not the AB burner workout.

Now I have to shower before I'm cooled off, but that's what I get for being a lunkerhead...

But hey! Morning workout!

I have an event after work, so I won't be able to do the abs until really late or tomorrow. :-/

~Katie

Week 2 Burn 1

Still trying to switch to morning workouts. But I think Wednesday is the first day I really can. This morning, I had to bring my cat to the vet to get bloodwork done so he can get a couple teeth removed Friday. Being ready to go at 7:30 am is difficult enough without making time to workout beforehand. Tomorrow is the morning the bug man comes over. So for now, I will continue working out as post-work decompression.

Contemplating cleaning out the garage to make a workout room there. Ceiling fans and wood floors don't make for enough room for 2 people jumping around. We'll see what Saturday brings.

Decided that I like making sure I have My Fit Foods for lunch, afternoon snack & dinner. Helps to know that I'm eating well rather than springing for a quick fix. Relearning portions.

Workout this evening went well. Tried pushing it up a notch & then backed down to 5 lbs on some that I probably should have stayed at 10 lbs with.

DID WAY MORE PUSH-UPS!!!!

Woo!

~Katie

A New Direction

Hi, this is me. I'm Katie.

I have gone from fit to flabby to fit again and flabby flabby flabby flabby in the past 15 years.

Exercise had always been part of my life growing up. Track & Field and basketball through middle school and high school. Sometimes working out 3 times a day to keep up with the sports. And it was always because I had to for a team. In college, I ran, and I went to the gym. Sometimes. I gained the freshman 15 easily and the summer after my freshman year, cut Snapple from my diet and started getting in a running routine again.  I lost it easily and kept it up in fits and spurts through college and maintained a pretty decent size 10 inamongst my late nights studying and blowing off steam.  Then graduate school where I was going to the gym often, finding my love of the erg machine and walking a mile with hills each day from my parking lot to the physics department. So I stayed in shape mostly.  Then came time to work. My motivation flagged. I was going through a rather deep depression and gained a bit of weight, but not too much. Started therapy and began going to the gym on a regular basis again and again, fell in love with the erg machine. Moved, changed jobs and the gym was way out of the way. But I had a neighborhood that I walked in. I walked everywhere. I slimmed down to a size 8.

Me in 2008. My goal is to be there again, just with more muscle.

This was when I started really having a social life. I finally felt like I was making friends and spending time with them. So a lot of my socializing involves eating and drinking. I transitioned to craft beer. Moved again, and started a business. So between work, settling in my home, and running a business, working out and finding the time to do anything other than grab easy food and go was difficult and I have ballooned. Surpassing any weight that I had ever been. Even while pregnant I was 20 lbs lighter than I am today. I am in the worst shape of my life. But, for the most part, I am happy. I am fulfilled. I have great friendships and am working on building my own business.  So that's where I am. My inside is still not perfectly balanced, but I'm addressing that by returning to therapy. And my physical shape is awful.

Last year, I trained and biked the MS150 and started attempting to do weigh watchers. I lost a bit of weight and was able to fit into some of my size 10 clothes well again, but I fell off the wagon when I started investing more and more time into my business. Which my business needed it. And then, then I went and I fell in love with an amazing man. And we were indulgent. No food or drink was off limits. But I gained any weight I had lost and I gained more. And I started feeling fat and sloppy and hated the way I fit into clothes. And my job has been rather stressful, so I've been stress eating when I should be doing activity to combat the stress. I started down the self-loathing path that is very dangerous for me.  So I enough. I don't want to look like this anymore and I don't want to feel like this anymore.

So I'm on a journey. I'm on a challenge. My friend Jennifer Burgess is a role model for me. She has shaped up from having twins 20 months ago and now has a 6 pack. She is a BeachBody Coach. And I have joined her February Challenge group, but started as soon as I got my materials.

So join me as I forge a new direction and carve out time for myself to be good to my body and still keep all the rest of my balls in the air.  Join me as I improve myself body, mind, and soul. So that I can love myself as much as my family and my boyfriend love me.

James & I at a friend's wedding

I have started each day with a Shakeology shake in my blenderball cup.  I am splitting between chocolate and greenberry flavors.

Chocolate is more like Chocolate/berry (either cherry or raspberry, but berry-like) and I've had it with both water plain and with coffee as the base. I like having it with the coffee as it just ups the morning wakeup factor a little bit.

Greenberry is more like banana cinnamon. REALLY. I expected greens and berries. But it's not. So don't expect it. If you like bananas (I do), then this will be great for you. It's like a spiced banana bread in a cup. I haven't tried it with anything other than water, yet. I'm thinking about brewing some green tea to use as a base in the mornings. Some suggest orange juice, but I'm trying to cut out the sugars in the juice.

The workout program I'm using

For fitness, I'm following the ChaLEAN Extreme workout regime and am just on my first week, so today is my first of the Burn Intervals and AB Burner workouts.  I am a lunkerhead. I sleep until the last possible minute, so for the moment, I'm working out in the evening, after work. But I am missing out on a lot of activities by doing this. I'm being kind to myself by first transitioning to the working out 5 days a week. Next week, I start kicking it to the morning before I leave for work. Which means that I need to wake up 2 hours earlier than usual. 10-15 minutes for water & changing, 30-45 minutes for working out (though the Burn Intervals is 45 minutes alone, so with the AB Burner, it's longer), 10 minutes to cool down, 20 minute shower, 30 minutes for getting ready.

Right now, I'm only minimally changing the way I eat. I'm getting lunch and snack at My Fit Foods and trying to focus on eating dinners that have a high protein ratio (a lot less pizza), and have so far been maintaining keeping my alcoholic drinks per night to 2 or less (I've overindulged a couple nights this January).  I'm in the craft beer business, so no, I won't be giving that up. I need to stay knowledgable and connected to the scene. This change in lifestyle has to be gradual.

Stats
Weight: 181 lbs
Pushups: almost able to do 1 on my knees. Seriously. I can go halfway down and then up.
Lower Body Weights: 9 lbs
Upper Body Weights: 5 lbs
Back Weights: 9 lbs

Scary Images!

Yes, this is me. I need to retake my before photos in front of something that's white instead of my beige wall.

Keeping Strong,
Katie