Results

Breaking Patterns

Posted on by keepingupwithkate91

I’ve been struggling with balance since starting my new job in June of last year.  The balance has been a combination of eating and exercise.  I’ve been hit or miss on both.  It has been frustrating to say the least.  The biggest challenge has been my travel schedule.  I knew going into the job it was going to be a challenge – I just didn’t realize how big of a challenge it would be.

I’ve actually done better during my travels with eating – no time for grazing as I’m constantly on the go.  However, being constantly on the go and driving everywhere makes a girl TIRED!!  I’ve really struggled with it and at a bit of a loss as to what to do.

Rewind to last Thursday and I had the opportunity to attend a 30 day check-in from The 8 Week Body Project Program (I am a past member of the program).  The timing was PERFECT!!!  It was my own personal 1:1 session as I was the first and only one on the call for the first 15 minutes and that is all we needed to come up with a plan.  Here is the question that started it all – “What patterns are working and empowering me (and what patterns aren’t helping me)?” – My answer to that was – “I have no patterns and I’m struggling.”  We discussed my biggest challenge was getting my exercise in when I’m on the road (I was just coming off a trip when I didn’t exercise at all except walking through airports).  There are some things that I fly by the seat of my pants on but for most things I need structure – and this is one of them.

We discussed if having a travel bag with some equipment and exercises would be the answer  and committing to at least 15 minutes in the morning – I JUMPED at it!!  We agreed to a 30 day accountability program that I would either text or post on Facebook.  I picked up my travel bag with a golf ball, lacrosse ball and exercise bands (one with handles and a smaller one without) (I’d like to think I’m a beta test for this program – so the exercises weren’t quite ready in time for me to travel the following week – I got my exercises this week though).  No time like the present to try it out!

I left for Boston on Sunday – unbeknownst to me was also the last day of vacation for MA spring break – a 4:30 hour drive took me 6 hours!  Not a good start to a week of travel!

I started my 30 days on April 25th – I’m journaling my food, water, exercise and notes.  I’m also posting my exercise programs on Instagram to stay accountable  I’ve done something every day this week – here is a look at what I committed to doing this past week:

  • 4/25:  5x5x5:  5 exercises, 5 times, 5 rounds:  Squats, Bicep Curl, Back Rows, Triceps, Dead Bug and Cardio Finisher:  10 Jacks, 20 High Knees, 10 Total Body and 30 Punches
  • 4/26:  5x5x5:  Squats w/OH Press, Hip Ups, Superwomen, Side Lat Raisers, Front Raises and Cardio Finisher – like above and lastly – 1 mile run/walk
  • 4/27:  5x5x5:  Squat w/OH Press, Lunges (RS), Bicycles, Lunges (LS), Hip Bridge; Squat w/OH Press, Bicep Curl, Triceps, Dead Bug and Toe Touches and Cardio like above 2xs
  • 4/28:  Crazy 8s (8 times; 3 rounds), Cardio and Ab Finishers
  • 4/29:  6 am Pilates / Barre Fusion (and I was the DJ)
  • 4/30:  Pilates, Restore Yoga and 90 minute recovery massage

I was super pleased with my commitment to the 30 day accountability but also how I felt throughout the day!  I felt AWESOME!!  It wasn’t easy getting up every morning but I gave myself a pep talk – I only need to do 15 minutes (workouts ranged from 15 – 45 minutes).  Prior to leaving for my trip I stepped on the scale and I was up 4 lbs – I’m pleased to announce that I’m back down those four pounds.  I’m back on the road next week and looking forward to see how this journey progresses for me.  And tomorrow is a REST day – I’m looking forward to it!!

To breaking patterns – “When patterns are broken, new worlds emerge” ~Tuli Kupferberg

Challenge Workout Results

Posted on by keepingupwithkate91

On our second workout of our Spring Transformation there was a challenge workout. The purpose of the challenge is to set your baseline and to see how you’ve improved over the 6 weeks. I’ve done the challenges before and knew it was coming, but I can tell you I was kind of nervous for the challenge (4/17).

The challenge exercises were as follows:

  1. Push-ups to exhaustion on toes and knees – with a requirement to go down to a weight on the mat
  2. Wall Sit
  3. Burpees (the full body workout – I used to despise – now not so much) (timed 2 minutes)

April 17, 2013 Results

  1. Push-ups:  17 (toes)
  2. Wall Sit:  1:14 minutes (with a massive headache that lasted for about 2 days)
  3. Burpees:  28

May 15, 2013 Results (not as nervous – just anticipation)

  1. Push-ups:  25 (toes) and 13 (knees)
  2. Wall Sit:  1:41 minutes (no headache – yeah!!)
  3. Burpees:  27 (bummer)

Overall Results

  1. Push-ups:  32% improvement on toes; overall 124% improvement 🙂
  2. Wall Sit:  24% improvement
  3. Burpees:  3.5% decline
  4. Overall Results:  48% Improvement – wahoo!!!

I’m very pleased with my results.  Wish I had at least gotten to my baseline on my burpees – but it isn’t the end of the world.

The energy in our class was a little blah at the beginning on May 15th – post warm up we had a visit in our class – a squirrel – I think he helped get our adrenaline up.  Everyone had great results and were cheering everyone one – particularly our last two standing (more like sitting) on the wall sits.

Really happy and proud of my results!!

Learning about my Metabolism

Posted on by keepingupwithkate91

Since last May, I’ve been seeing a nutritionist.  I’ve been seeing results – it is just slow and steady – did I mention it was slow?  I don’t miss out on things and I’m not on a diet – which is really important to me as I have a buys work and social life (so I’ve been told).  We’ve kept it pretty simple – protein, veggies and carbs – no fruit though – he is treating me as pre-diabetic.  I’ve cut out beer too (there have been a few exceptions but not many) – my cocktail of choice is Stoli Orange and Club Soda (and I cut out all adult beverages during Lent).  Just wanted to prove I’m not missing out on things in LIFE!

Meanwhile on this journey, I was diagnosed with Lyme Disease in late November 2012 (I’ll write a post on that another time) (I’m feeling much better too – I just wonder if this is playing a role in the slow and steady part of the journey).

I had some struggles with weight loss around the holidays (more like weight gain) and crazy sugar cravings I didn’t really have over the fall.  We decided it was time to do a metabolism test.  We scheduled it for 8:00 am – no food after midnight and only water in the AM.  The test is a 10 minute breathing test into a machine through a tube with your nose clipped.  I was given a gold star for how consistent my breathing was in the machine – 10 minutes is much longer than you realize when your nose is clipped.

For my height, age and weight – my predicted resting expenditure is 1,643 calories – mine came in at 2,189 calories – so my metabolism is operating at a higher rate than the baseline!  There was some other data called a RER which was at .82 (which would mean the last few days prior to the test I went into maintenance mode on my eating) (it should be more like .77 –  it is that specific – since I did lose weight from the prior mth).  

So my metabolism is doing great things – thanks to my work at BodyProject Fitness!  Yeah!!  I lost 5 lbs from the prio month – Yeah!  And I’m down 16 lbs since last May (slow and steady wins the race – I’m changing my lifestyle – my new mantra!!)  Great news – still perplexing why my body seems to want to hold onto the weight though (and the day before the metabolism test I had a BodyMetrix ultrasound test and my BF went up 5% – even more perplexing – makes me wonder if the Lyme Disease is impacting it – I’ll discuss my personal hypothesis on another post).  And what I’m doing eating / working out shouldn’t be contributing to muscle loss.  Things that make you go HMMMM!

All that being said – we have adjusted my morning breakfast to eliminate the carbs as my nutritionist believes I am insulin sensitive.  I’ve been doing this for about 2 weeks now – my go to breakfast is a 2 egg omelet (and lately throwing in some egg whites too) with veggies and cheese.  I haven’t been perfect though – on vacation I did indulge in a Thomas’ English Muffin with my 2 egg omelets. 🙂

So as you are reading this you may think I’m a super patient person.  I am anything but patient.  This journey has been a pure test of my patience – but I know I’m making long-term sustainable changes and learning lots about myself as I go.  I think that is what keeps me going – and I’ve already invested so much time and energy in it.  I’d be lying if I didn’t want to see a nice one month drop of 10 lbs to help my confidence and ego! 🙂

Happy Day – June 11th!

Posted on by keepingupwithkate91

I started this blog almost a year ago to document changes when on the Clean program for 21 days – to see if I could find my X factor. Although I learned a lot during the process – it just didn’t work for me. The blog has morphed into both my personal journey and self-discovery as well as random fun and observations in general.

I’m hopefully that I’ve found my X factor – almost a year after I started this journey.  During the Spring Transformation at Bootcamp there was seminar with a Nutrionist that I went to see (and was encouraged by my trainer to attend).  I listened, took notes and even made changes starting the next day – moving from small meals throughout the day to 3 meals per day.  I promised myself I would make an appointment to go see the Nutrionist.  It probably took me a month to finally make the call and he is in high demand so it took a few weeks to get an appointment.  My first appointment was May 7th.  I weighed in at my heaviest ever (maybe someday I’ll share).  He gave me simple things to focus on:  Hydration, 3 meals a day (and make them things I enjoyed – ‘no dirt and grass’ – things to chew), have at each meal – protein, carbs (30 mg) and veggies and no fruit (he was treating me as a diabetic) and if I was hungry between meals go for protein first.  He also wanted me to find an exercise I enjoyed.  That was easy – I had bootcamp.

The first two weeks I did pretty well – well balanced for all three meals, getting at least 2 bootcamps in a week.  I even got a workout in while traveling (historically I take my workout clothes and sneakers and never use them – the workout is the lugging of the suitcase in the airport 🙂 ).  Then I had a challenge – weekend leadership conference – I did pretty well with my food selections and still enjoyed some libations with friends in Happy Valley.  I was hit with a stomach bug that derailed me for a few days and took me awhile to get back on track.  I started noticing major fatigue in the afternoon that I just couldn’t explain – that was really starting to worry me.

Fastforward to yesterday – my appointment and review of the past month.  We talked about how I was feeling – especially the fatigue.  We discussed what I had changed in my diet – I had added bread back to my diet as I love a sandwich for lunch – think that is what is driving my fatigue.  For the next month, I’m going to experiment – either selecting lower carb bread or bread type items for lunch or swap my lunch / dinner options – dinner for lunch and lunch for dinner.  We’ll see how it goes.  The end of the appointment is the weigh-in – I’m pleased to announce that I dropped 6 lbs!!  We were both very pleased with the results.  I will never see that ugly unnamed number from above.  I’m still on a HIGH from it.  I’ve tried many things in the past (JC, WW, SB, Clean, NS, etc – it may have worked for the short-term – but always felt I was missing something).  I can honestly say I didn’t feel that this passed month.  I went out to dinner, I shared dessert, had cocktails, enjoyed a BBQ over Memorial Day, had a hot dog and beer at a Phillies game.  I enjoyed life and I’m enjoying this lifestyle change that seems to be working for me.

I go back for my next follow-up mid-July – stay tuned for updates.

Have a fabulous day!!