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!
December 5thHi Gang,
Monika and I started this blog about 14 months ago. So much has changed since then – physically, mentally, and spiritually. We’ve made a lot of friends at the gym including – especially – Ron, Matt, and DB. We’ve settled into a routine of being at TWR regularly, taking that long climb up the steps, and sweating it out for an hour. We are glad to see new people coming all the time and we love seeing our friends and also the familiar faces of those we may not know as well – but who are on the same difficult path of working out hard and eating healthfully.
It’s gotten very comfortable – very comfortable, indeed… and that, for me, is a red flag.
Getting “too comfortable” was what got me into trouble physically in the first place. I stopped eating well and exercising because I was comfortable – comfortable in my relationship, comfortable with bad eating habits, comfortable with a sedentary lifestyle… and slowly but surely I got very UNcomfortable. Right now, I think that comfort level is manifesting itself in the lack of continual process of “body sculpting”… I’m working out twice as much and twice as hard as when I first got to TWR but have been stuck at around 225 lbs., the same waist size, and same body fat percentage for at least two or three months. When we first started I was eating very carefully at every meal – I’m still eating pretty carefully for breakfast and lunches, but with some dinners and certainly after dinner/before bed, I have gotten lackadaisical. As a result, I’m figuratively “running to stand still”.
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March 10thMy 7am workout went great! I didn’t have too much trouble getting up at 6am, walked Brady and instead of driving up to the gym as usual I ran/walked the mile up. It became the first part of my warm up. I think I’ll do that next week too.
I worked out with Ron and we did a lot of 30on 30off stuff. 30on 30off basically means you do an activity, like rowing, running, weights or anything else and you do it hard for 30 seconds and then take a 30 second rest period. Ron is so fun to workout with and really motivates me. Monday Dan and I worked out with Matt and he had us doing a combination of 1 weight activity and 1 cardio activity alternating between the 2 for 10 minutes. Then a couple minutes of rest and then another combination for 10 minutes. That was a really great workout too. Oh yeah and no stairs today! My backside thanks you TWR 
I had a fun and strong workout. The morning group is a blast! Then I walked home had some fruit and a cup of tea for breakfast and now it’s off to the trenches (i.e. work).We’ll be back in the gym Thursday night for (my) round 3. Stay tuned …
March 2ndI’ll start by saying that the last few times we’ve gone to workout in the evenings, I’ve taken a short cat nap just prior to leaving for the gym. About 20 or 30 minutes. I’ve found that it helps me a great deal. I stare at a computer screen for most of the day and even though I may not be exerted physically, mentally, I am. Some days more than others …
Our workouts during the week are in the evenings at 7pm and when we go Saturday mornings I’ve found that I have more energy. Of course, nothing ground breaking there, a person is much more refreshed after a full night’s sleep. Anyhow, since my cat naps, I’ve had a lot more energy during the workouts. If you workout in the evenings and time permits it, I suggest giving it a shot, especially if you’ve stopped drinking coffee or other caffeinated drinks as I have tried to. Dan and I talk about the foods we eat on here a lot and that certainly does make a huge impact too.
All of this is to be able to work out as hard as I can when I’m at the gym for the hour or so. It has been paying off a great deal. I’ve felt being able to push myself harder and longer, taking less time to recover, less breaks and definitely a lot less than just a couple of months ago.
Each workout is unique and challenging. I think everyone has certain moves that make them cringe just a little bit. Well, for me they are running up and down stairs and ‘push up walks’.
For those not familiar, ‘Push up walks’ consist of doing a regular push up and then walking one step left or right without getting up. You’re just walking side to side with your arms and legs while keeping the pushup position, then doing another push up and so on. Either you count how many you do or by distance.
Now, back in October, when we started, I could barely do a regular push up so I did knee pushups everytime we had to do pushups instead. Back then I was barely able to step over 2 times before falling to the ground. Those things are tough! You try it! That was October 2009. Yesterday, one of my exercises was to do push up walks for about 30 yards, and each time that I had to stop because I could not continue I had to run up and down 4 flights of stairs. Of course when my trainer DB described this task to me I immediately made a joke because that is what I do. (If not always out loud, at least in my head.) Then I started to mentally prepare myself for the task. I knew it was going to be tough but I also knew that I wanted to get through it and not let it beat me. I started out by telling myself that “I can do this“. “My goal is to do as many push up walks as I can so that I’ll have to do less stairs. And I am going to do ALL full pushups and no knee pushups.” I started out strong and continued to talk positively to myself in my head. If I had the thought of quitting I immediately started thinking about pushing through it and motivating myself. I had to stop a few time in between and run the stairs but I never quit thinking that I could and will do it. On top of that, DB was encouraging and pushing me. When I finished I felt like the toughest workout to date that I’ve gotten through.
On top of that and a few other exercises I was also proud of myself for cranking out 50 sit ups while holding a 15lbs medicine ball without stopping. Man, it felt so great! Especially because I didn’t really feel that I was struggling with it. I was done and thrilled to have accomplished it. On to the next one!
Our trainers offer so much vital information, support, motivation and experience that it is invaluable. Our personal trainers at TWR don’t just go through the motions; they bring a new level to working out that I wouldn’t trade for anything.
You have to work hard, sure, but hey, that’s what you go for. I’ve so far lost 25lbs and March is going to be a strong month for me. I can feel it.
Till next time … Monika
November 27thMonika and I stepped it up in advance of the holidays, and did 3 workouts in the last 5 days. Monday I worked with Ron, and it was very tough… I had two other guys in my group who were younger, in better shape, and not as heavy as me… that’s a big factor when you’re doing pushups and pullups, which we did quite a few of. We also did relay “sprints” (I put it in quotes because you could hardly call what I do, “sprinting”) as a threesome… those were pretty brutal. Luckily, we beat our time the 2nd time through, and this saved us from 20 “burpees”, or squat thrusts as we called them when I was back in gym class.
We then did “team pushups” – each of us had to do 100 in two sets of 50… the angle was, when it was your turn, you did the pushup and returned to the down position and held it… utterly brutal and I couldn’t really do all of them.
We wrapped this up with some squats and wall sits… progressively longer and progressively harder. My thighs were screaming… and today, there is still an echo. Not to mention, my shoulders are still sore from the pushups… but we went again today and DB got a hold of us.
It was pretty tough… we had to run 40 yards, do 5 squat thrusts, run 20 yards, go down what amounts to about 5 flights of stairs, back up the stairs, 20 yard run, 5 more squat thrusts, and finish that with a 40 yard run. We had to do this… four times.
That was just the first 20 minutes or so. I won’t give the rest of the details but needless to say, Monika and I are both recuperating.
For Thanksgiving, we are going to eat turkey, stuffing (whole wheat, mushrooms, and apples, of course), Moni’s cranberry sauce (made from scratch, and is excellent), garlic mashed potatoes (guilty pleasure), string bean casserole (we had this when I was a kid, I make it, the only bad thing in it is cream of mushroom soup) and she is making her FAMOUS pumpkin cheesecake pie (no thanksgiving would be complete in our house without that… it is HEAVENLY!!!) So we’re going to live it up a bit tomorrow, but I plan to keep the quantities small.
After Thanksgiving we plan to boost our Training With Ron to 3X a week, and I have an opportunity to get into a hockey league again, which I think I’ll be doing… so that will amount to four active days per week… 4X as many as I used to have!
HAPPY THANKSGIVING everyone!!!!
November 21stDAY 46: 11/21/09
It’s been a while since I wrote, so I’m going to start this entry with the Facebook status that I entered this morning, followed by comments from some of my friends:
Me: “Changed my diet and started working out on October 5th – 45 days ago. I have lost 17 lbs and reduced my body fat % by about 12%, I’ve lost 2 inches off my waistline and best of all I FEEL GREAT!!!”
Paula, Philip, Martha, and 3 others like this.
Lincoln: way to go, Dan!
Dan Arturi: We’re going to be adding a 3rd day to the personal training after Thanksgiving. That should really kick things into high gear. I might be ready to play hockey by end of January… if I can get down to my playing weight by then…
Renee: You’re a rockstar Dan!!!!!!! That’s awesome!!!!
Martha: Great job!!!
Chuck: Trudge Danno! Trudge! Congrats!!
Philip: Good Job Man!!!
Dave: Excellent Dan!
Mike: Holy fitness Batman!!! Dude, that is awesome 
)
Eric: Damn dude! That is awesome. Now if only I could do that.
Paula: Totally Awesome!
You know, it just makes me feel so amazing to have my friends supporting me in this. It’s not easy, it requires some discipline because I was so used to eating a lot of sweets and a ton of processed foods. I didn’t eat a lot of fast food, maybe 2X a month, but I crave it at times. I was telling Monika this morning that I couldn’t do this without her… there are times when I’m working and really hungry and the fruits and nuts just aren’t getting me feeling full, and I want to go to Wendy’s and just say “screw it” for a day… but then I think of her and how hard she’s working too, and I just can’t let her down or cheat.
So, since my last entry, I’ve been working very hard and also I caught the flu, which took me down for about a week. I only missed one workout, but that combined with the weakness of being sick took a heavy toll on my ability to really go at it for the full hour in my workouts at Train With Ron. Today was the first day since getting well, where I got through the full hour without taking a 10 or 15 minute break.
Ron, Matt, and DB have been splitting Monika and I up lately, presumably because Moni is able to do more than I can. She’s doing some more advanced moves now, agility walks with weights, things like that. Today we were together, though, and we had some stair work. This is kind of tough, especially when interlaced with weight training and some jogging.
As far as food is concerned, we have remained very consistent – whole foods only. Moni and I haven’t been eating oatmeal in the morning, my breakfast has been a fruit (apple or banana) this week. Lunches I have done extremely well, even when involved in work functions, at staying with vegetables and salads, with very little dressing, if any. Monika has been cooking very healthfully, as usual, and once per week we go off-roading, but even then we have small portions and keep it to a minimum. No desserts, either. The only liquids I drink anymore are water and my daily cup of coffee.
So when I started, my weight was exactly 275 lbs. and my body fat was a whopping 44% if I remember correctly. Today was day 46… I weighed in at 258 lbs (in sweaty clothes) and body fat of 32.7%. I’ve lost about 2 inches off my waistline and when I put my clothes on in the morning I can see and feel a big difference. I’m not the only one though…
One of my co-workers plays a lot of hockey and anyone who knows me knows I used to play a lot too… I want to get back to it! If I can get down to about 230 or so, I think I could start to skate effectively. The ultimate goal for me is to get down to 200 lbs with 10% body fat. I think that is reasonable and very achievable.
I’d also like to get back into a band and get on stage! That would be awesome, but there is no way I’ll try that until I am comfortable with the way I look. So, my two workout goals will be a) to get back to playing hockey EFFECTIVELY (not dragging my butt around the rink) and b) get comfortable enough with the way I look that I could go on stage and not think twice about how I look up there.
I’ll keep on working on it… thanks for reading!
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