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!
October 23rdSo, I know what you’re thinking. What is this chick talking about? Why is she being so mean? Well, I’m not trying to be mean, just a little real I guess. I’ve had a big spoonful of my own medicine this week and I am stronger for it. Hopefully!
Let’s start with the fact that I felt like a huge whiner this week. Even while starting to write about this I think, why? Why should I document this week’s emotional and physical roller coaster? Well, as with a lot of what I share with you, it’s meant to help or inspire. At the least give you the feeling that if you’ve gone through this, you are not alone.
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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!
October 24thAnother week is in the books, and MAN am I sore. Right now it’s the quads… DB got a hold of us on Wednesday night and there was a lot of leg work. I did too much too fast and basically overheated / hyperventilated myself into a headache, dizziness, and had to take it slow from the 30 minute point on. Monika got through the whole workout, I didn’t, although I did do as much as I could.
Friday morning, as I got dressed, I noticed something. I wear a braided belt, and the slot where the notch goes through the belt is pretty well worn. Well, in my 6am haze on Friday I realized I was having a little difficulty getting the notch through… then I realized that I had a full inch of extra belt and a fresh new(ish) spot! VERY EXCITING!!!
That morning I had breakfast with my 100%+ sales representatives and my boss, I instituted this breakfast to reward them for their hard work over the last month or year-to-date. When I ordered nothing but steel-milled oatmeal (it was good!) with fruit and a side of egg whites, it raised a few eyebrows. I explained the workouts and eating changes and they were really impressed, especially my boss, who is on the heavier side himself (he’s a former offensive lineman for the Wisconsin Badgers, but got hurt). It felt great to hear their compliments and encouragement.
Our one “bad” meal this week was pizza on Friday night. It was the first time Moni and I had pizza since we started on 10/5/09… well, we did have a “pizza” but it was whole wheat crust, tomato, basil leaves, and a little fresh mozzarella very lightly sprinkled on… hardly a “pizza”. We used to have actual pizza at least once per week… we’ve cut our ordering for delivery down to once every two weeks… this used to be 3-4 times a WEEK.
Saturday’s workout went really well. It was a little bit more cardio than usual… Monika’s arms were very sore after DB worked her hard, and my thighs have been burning for 3 days… so there wasn’t a lot of weightlifting, just a little (leg extensions and hamstring curls), and a lot of running, jumping jacks, and “scissors” which is just jumping in place while switching your feet forward and back. I felt really good all day today energy-wise… as usual, after our Saturday workouts. Thighs still hurt but it’s not horrible.
I really need to do the 20 minute power walks on off days. I’ve been TERRIBLE about it and the next time I write this blog, it’s gonna include power walks because I’m losing a lot of calorie burning opportunity there… I already got an inch off the belt line… if I do the walks I know it will accelerate my progress. Still going strong with eating right, just need to involve more daily activity.
I’ll write more soon…
October 8thToday: Ate well again… right now I’m having a slice of 100% organic whole grain bread and a glass of soy milk. Not too bad… but I shouldn’t be eating this late. I did do my 20 minute power walk… outside this time (about a mile). I had to push through lower back pain and my thighs were burning but I did push through and banged it out. One more day of power walk before the trainers get a hold of me again. I need to be able to soak in Epsom salts or something because the pain in my arms was so bad last night that I couldn’t sleep, kept waking up and then couldn’t get back to sleep… I’m gonna have to clear the empty boxes out of the extra bathroom so I can use the tub this weekend! I can’t wait til Sunday, when I can watch football and have my one “bad” meal per week. 
October 3rdSage advice for any twenty or thirty-somethings recently married and eating and living like it would never matter again: IT WILL. I am 40 and Monika is 35 and we are both wishing we could return our bodies and lives to the healthy state they were in before WE started eating and living like it would never matter again.
The good news: we can… and will. The bad news: there will be a mental, physical, and financial cost, and our eating, sleeping, and exercise habits must change.
Therefore we are enjoying our last weekend of eating and living as though it will never matter again… I expect from Monday on, it will ALWAYS matter… on Monday, we will begin a seven month odyssey, much of which I will document here, to train and eat to get our bodies, health, and lives back on track. We will be training with a triad of professionals a Train With Ron in Chicago’s West Loop: a professional triathlete, a former NFL offensive lineman, and a professional sprinter.
Why? Lots of reasons. I won’t speak for Monika, but I will speak for me: every morning I get in the shower and can’t stand the sight of myself anymore. I used to be able to run 3 miles in 18 minutes… I couldn’t run a mile right now if you held a gun to my head. I used to be able to play hockey for 2 hours straight with few or no breaks… my back wouldn’t allow me to skate for 10 minutes right now. I can’t shop off the rack for clothes anymore. My energy levels are so far away from what they used to be. Most of all, I just want to be comfortable… feeling “sexy” again would be icing on the cake. I’ve developed sleep apnea – maybe I always had it, I don’t know… but I sleep with a breathing machine every night… if there was a chance that losing 70 or 80 pounds could mean I wouldn’t need that anymore, that in itself would make it totally worth it to put myself through this.
Right now, I am 5′ 8″ and weigh 275 pounds. My body fat is around 40%. My ankles roll very easily and I’ve got a troublesome shoulder issue but other than that, I’ve avoided major injuries so training HARD shouldn’t be an issue if taken in baby steps and working up to that HARD level. The trainers have assured me they have a plan to build up, they’re not going to toss me into a pro athlete routine from the start. They know their stuff. I’m going to be sore, there’s no avoiding that, but sore doesn’t equal impossible.
I have a naturally big build, so I’m not looking to achieve “skinny”, nor do I want a bodybuilder’s size… 190 to 200 is probably what I ought to weigh for my frame.
Right now I have a cup of coffee every day (loads of cream and sugar), a sandwich or burger for lunch with fries and soda or sugary iced tea, and we order dinner delivered from a local pub, chinese food, or pizza probably 3-4 nights a week. Monika cooks the other nights and she is a pretty health conscious cook, but we do kind of avoid vegetables. I also late night snack on cookies, icecream, or whatever else i can get my hands on… slices of bread, soda, milk, cereal with milk are the usual suspects. We have talked about removing all refined sugars from our diets, and eating whole foods instead of our current diet. This is a SEA change for me, and probably the part of this I fear most, but I’m putting that fear aside and focusing on the outcome… a leaner, healthier, happier, more energetic me.
Exercise… I golf each Saturday but soon it will be too cold to do that. (I ride the golf cart… walk??? HAHA.) That’s about all I’ve done… we were playing tennis a couple times a week but getting a court is tough in the city. Today I walked up the stairs (6 flights) because someone was using the elevator to move out of our building… huffing and puffing at the top… I used to RUN up stairs and not get tired.
Hell, I used to run everywhere I went. 
I just wanted to use this space to document my journey and share some of the funnier… and more painful… moments that I’m sure I’ll be experiencing.
