A personal training & food journal. Read about our weight loss progress at Train With Ron in Chicago, our nutritional habits and the life changes we're making to get in shape and stay healthy!
January 28th
Oh Mother Nature, why do you torture me so? For me, the most difficult time to get to the gym is during that special time of the month. I stand firm against the pills that offer to stop your cycle for months at a time and let nature control my body’s cycles. Because of this, I get to enjoy each and every little nuance it offers; the cramps, the back pain, the headaches and oh yes sometimes I get a little moody. (Just a little, right?) I have to say that the moodiness and the pains last a lot fewer days since the consistent workouts but when they hit, they hit hard.
I muster up the strength and go and push through it. I really cannot even take any pain medicine because I wouldn’t have the energy for the workout. It’s just how I react to some of the pain medications out there since I try not to take them, ever. So I go and I do the workout and pray that we focus on areas of my body that still feel human and strong enough to perform. Well, my last workout with DB started with focusing pretty much all on my lower back…. Help!! I did the best I could and think I did OK despite how I was feeling. I try not to whine and complain because that is never beneficial mentally and working out has a lot to do with positive thinking and pushing through obstacles. So I pushed through and today i actually have no cramps or back pain. It’s a miracle! It’s like all of the stars aligned and Mother Nature said “ok, rather than spreading out your pain, I will have you bare it all on one day and I’m done with you” well, thank you. I hope next month you are just as kind. Maybe she was at the gym last night and heard my thoughts, who knows … all I know is I feel human and not in pain. Now if someone could just figure out a cure to this moodiness my husband would sponsor the research. 
As a final thought I would just say that exercise and eating right alwasy makes this time a much more pleasant experience and I think it’s just another way your body is telling you that you’re doing the right things with it.
January 21stHello All! Sorry for the long wait between posts, but I had to go to Orlando, Florida for a sales convention. I left on Saturday last week and just returned last night. Since I normally hit TrainWithRon on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays, this trip really messed with my workout schedule. No problem though, I figured I’d work out at the gym in the hotel and push myself with my normal warm up and a few of the basic strength and core building moves that Ron, Matt, and DB frequently walk us through.
Much to my dismay, the hotel did not have a gym in it! I was kind of aggravated. What hotel doesn’t have at least a rudimentary gym in it? (Apparently, the Caribbean Beach Resort at Disney doesn’t.) So I had to improvise. I ran 1.5 miles on Sunday, with frequent stops for burpees, push ups, sit ups, and mountain climbers. I did 3 more on Monday (but no stops) and 1.5 on Tuesday (again, no stops). I was pretty pleased with myself, especially on Monday and Tuesday since I had to walk the show those days and probably did about 5 miles walking between the two days… minimum. I had blisters on both feet and they hurt like hell but I powered through the runs anyway. I felt so good about it…
Eating healthfully on the trip, however, was even more difficult.
Just about everything served was institutional (understandable since they were feeding 4000 people) – processed meats, everything was in some kind of sauce or gravy… they had salads but the greens and tomatoes and cucumbers weren’t really fresh, lots of white bread, some vegetables (cooked and soaking in some kind butter or oil without exception) fruits from time to time (which were excellent)… there were times when I was forced to eat less than healthful fare. I tried to stick to the veggies and fruits but I found myself starving quite a few times. (Even as I am writing this, Monika placed in front of me a very green, leafy salad with bright red tomatoes and delicious, sweet cucumbers… excellent!) I had two nights where I went to dinner with my account managers to Wolfgang Pucks and I had a steak, salad, potatoes, and vegetables. It wasn’t the most healthful meal, but I needed something of substance and OH GOD was that steak delicious. If I had to grade myself on eating well, I’d give myself a C+. I could have done better, but I could have done worse.
I ran into quite a few people who I hadn’t seen in 6 months and got quite a few “whoa, are you working out” comments – very satisfying! Also talked to a co-worker who hurt his ankle and gained some weight, and we talked about changing his diet and activity level together. I hope he does it!
Tonight I returned to the gym and DB took my weight upon arriving… 250 on the nose according to the TWR scale, so I only lost a single pound since about 11 days ago. I’ve kind of hit a bit of a plateau here, hopefully I’ll break through it soon because I’ve been in this 250ish range for quite a while now. I continue to lose size though… I’m taking about 4 pairs of my dress pants to be taken IN this weekend (TAKEN IN!!! NOT OUT… IN!!! WHOOOHOOO!!!!) and I’m very excited about that. None of my jeans fit at all anymore, even the ones that I finally got back into a few weeks ago… they’re all too big. When I started this I was kind of squeezing into a 46 waist… now a 40 is about right – so 6 inches off the waist!!!
Just gotta bust through this plateau…
January 9thHappy New Year everyone! The year is new but the routine has been the same – three rigorous personal training workouts per week at Train With Ron. During the holidays we were a little bit less careful than usual with all the chocolate and what not going around, but we got right back to it this week and ate carefully. This morning, DB put us through what he called the “Body Weight Decathlon” which consisted of 30 sit ups, push ups, switch lunges, step ups, low-bar pull ups, suitcase sit ups, mountain climbers, squat thrusts (burpees), squat jumps, and dips… all with the clock running. I can tell you that after the first three movements, the clock was the last thing on my mind. It was tough but both Moni and I got through it – and that was only about 1/2 of our workout for the day. I ate well all week, the usual whole foods (rabbit food). During the holiday weeks, I only lost a pound or two, but it was MUCH better than gaining weight from eating poorly.
Today, DB started “The Biggest Loser” contest at TrainWithRon, when I was there today DB had over 45 people registered who had weighed in, gotten their body fat / BMI measured and their waistline measured, as well as blood pressure and resting heart rate. Whoever loses the highest percentage of weight over the 8 week period wins everyone’s entry fee ($25 per person) so about $1000 or so at stake… should be really fun to compete in this… I am of course going to try to win by continuing to eat healthfully while perhaps adding a day or two to my exercise plan.
Also, Matt runs a program at the gym called “Pure Steel” – its a bench press based upper body strength training program – but that’s all I know about it… I’ve been meaning to ask him more about it and will do that next time I’m there, which will be Monday. In high school I could bench about 210 (I weighed about 150)… I’d be interested to see how far beyond that I could go, if I trained for it.
This coming Saturday I am going out of town for about 5 days for work, so I will be missing my Saturday training session, but I’ll be at a hotel with a gym and plan to take full advantage of it while I’m there. I’m going to try to push myself while I’m there for a full hour just as if i was at the gym with Ron, Matt, or DB training me and see how I do.
Just to throw the totals out there: I currently weigh 251 lbs (lost 27), 32% body fat (down 10%), and have trimmed 5 inches off my waistline. I would love to drop about 10% more weight over the 8 week period (about 3 lbs per week) during the Biggest Loser contest, that would take me down to 225 or so. That’s my goal… I don’t know if losing 10% would be enough to win the contest but it would certainly be enough to be proud of…
I’ll keep you posted!
