Kicking It Into High Gear

So.

I said I was recommitting, and I totally am!

Yesterday, I got back into the Shakeology habit, and I really must say that it helps to have that kick of protein, nutrients, and the awesome sweet tooth abatement in the morning.

Last night, I went to the grocery to pick up some much-needed food and healthy snacks (like fruit), then I came home and did some dishes, shaped up some of the house, and got my butt into gear.  Last night, the workout was Fire 45. I was supposed to have done it on Saturday, but we were on 'vacation' and so I did HIIT 15, instead, and took Sunday off (when I was supposed to do HIIT 15). Yesterday was my rest day, so I used it as my makeup day and did Fire 45.

Wow.

By the end of that workout, I was more flailing than following the routine. It will definitely take me a few more times of doing it with the breakdown to get the hang of it.  My roundhouse kicks are pretty pitiful right now, but I'm putting in the effort, and not quitting halfway through. By then end of the workout, I was at 125% on my ActiveLink!

Yes, my face matches my tee-shirt. This is what my body does when I work out. I can't help it.

James and I ate dinner, which was back to routine. Eggs, scrambled and split between us, salsa, and I had two pieces of Ezekiel Raisin Bread with a bit of butter. I had had two pieces of whole grain Ezekiel bread with melted cheese and 97% fat free mesquite smoked jalapeno turkey breast slices before my workout. I also had a banana on my way home from the grocery store. And I had a beer. I love the Shiner summer seasonal Ruby Redbird. It's only 4.2% ABV and it has a bite of ginger and grapefruit, so refreshing. I know a lot of craft beer nerds turn their nose up at it, but even when compared to other craft beers made with ginger, it has the BITE that I crave from a good ginger beer without the sugar bomb.

So that was last night.

I went to bed around 10:30 pm. I've been getting really tired lately. I don't really know why, but I know that I operate best with 7.5-8 hours of sleep. That's what my body needs, or I just start shutting down in weird ways. I also knew that I wanted to start getting my workouts done in the morning. This means getting my rump out of bed before 8 am. Yes, I normally wake up at 8 am, quickly get ready and am out the door by 8:35 to get to work at 9 am. Why? Because I don't get to bed until midnight, and getting myself vertical after only 6 hours of sleep is near-impossible. I have learned this in the past 31 years. I have stopped being surprised by it.  So, even with my boyfriend mercilessly making fun of me for being old, I conked out at 10:30 pm. And guess what? When my alarm went off at 6:30 am? I was actually ready to wake up. I did laze about for another 25 minutes before getting to my workout, but I totally felt refreshed and ready rather than wanting one more hour in bed.

So I did my workout! Okay, I did part of my workout. On the slate for today was Fire 30 & Abs 10 from the TurboFire program. Since it was another new workout for me, I did the Fire 30 with breakdown promts, which makes it last a bit longer than 30 minutes, and so I really needed to get showered and out the door rather than do the Abs 10. It's 10 minutes. I can do that this evening after I run my errands.

This time, I ended up doing the low-impact workout modifications half-way through, and my roundhouses got about 2 feet off the ground. BUT I DID THE WHOLE THING!

I'm beginning to think, that with TurboFire, I need to work on fixing up the garage for workouts sooner rather than later. My old 1920's hardwood floor on pier & beam is not made for jumping around constantly. I'll have to look into getting a portable air conditioner for the garage and really putting in the time to fixing it up so I can workout out there and free up some of the living room space for James' things when he moves his things out of the apartment.

Not really down to pre-weekend weight, at all, but moving in the right direction!

~Katie

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

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

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

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?

Food

So.

Food.

For me, this is difficult. I love food. I also love filler.

You know, filler. It's the extra. It is not food, but you put it in your mouth, and eat it, and it tastes good. But it's not good for you?

Candy.
Cake.
Ice Cream.
BURGERS.
PIZZA.

I've been doing quite well for the past week and a half on my eating.  I've found that I really do like the food that comes from My Fit Foods. It encourages having 5 meals a day. And most meals are gluten free and have a significant ratio of protein, and always a green veggie.  I've been going for 4 meals lately. But sometimes. Sometimes, I still fall back into the old habit of stopping by the CVS after lunch and grabbing a bag of candy and pretty much hoovering the whole thing in less than an hour.

Yes. It's a horrible habit. It's stress caused and just causes more stress. But I have figured out that I do still crave my sweets and my desserts. But I don't want them to have as much influence on my waistline.

So. Planning. I've been able to stick to the plan for the mostpart.

My schedule for the past week or so has been:

7:30 am Wake up.
Get Ready.
8:30 Shakeology while headed to work
Noon: Lunch.
3 or 4 pm: Snack.
5:30 or 6 pm: Home.
15-20 minutes later: Workout.
7:30 or 8 pm: Dinner.

Sometimes I munch a protein granola bar in between getting home and working out. It depends on how I feel. I'm trying to only do that when I feel that I would not be able to complete the workout.

And then after dinner, I'll have a beer or two while reading or watching some TV with my boyfriend before bed.

Now, I've moved my workout to the mornings so that I can do events after work. These past two weeks, I've tried to keep all of my BeerSox work on the weekends, but that didn't last long. Tonight, I have a Pub night. Hopefully, I'll be able to focus on what portion of food I want and focus on meat and a bit of green veggie and maybe a small amount of starch. But can't let myself go full on burger mode.  I cheated last night with dinner because I knew it'd be easy and I'd been craving it for a couple of weeks. French Toast. There's a little bit of egg, right? But seriously, I could have made something else. I just need to plan ahead and make sure that I have the right ingredients on hand.

Food. I dream about it. I love it.
I just need to remember that I also have goals and physical fuel needs that go beyond grease & carbs.

I got jello (sugar free and fat free) to make to keep a little dessert on hand for when I want to have that something extra. I just need to make it and store it so that I grab it rather than go down to the corner store.

Right?

~Katie

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

Off day

So today was my day off. But after brunch and yesterday's anniversary celebration, I felt the need to sweat it out.

I got Best of Turbofire HIITs with my challenge pack, so I did that & AB Igniter for 30 sweaty minutes.

~Katie

On the schedule!

Today, I knew I needed to be showered, and at Buffalo Bayou Brewing Company to set up my table to sell at their anniversary party.

So I woke up early. On a Saturday. And got my workout in! Burn It Off and Recharge! I only got halfway through Recharge though before I needed to get into the shower & ready, so I'll have to make it up later, or tomorrow on my off day.

I noticed also that this morning's rally happened much more easily for us!

~Katie

Burn Intervals and AB Burner

Tonight was the long workout & aerobics workout. I didn't get home until 8 :30 pm since I had my first therapy session tonight. I think it will be a good relationship.

The workout. Let's see, lots of plyometrics and lunging and high rep/light weights in between. It wrung me out. By the end, I was doing the lower intensity moves because I was all over the place.

And then had to take my inhaler at 20 minutes left of the 45 minute workout. Then a small break and on to ABs!!! Or as I should name them UGHs! I stink at them now.

Interesting point: Riley the dog was hyper before I started, and when I took breaks, but when I started moving, she just laid down off to the side and watched & waited. It was like having a cheerleader.

~Katie