Phase Two: Week 2

So it's Sunday and the end of week 2, which means it's time for a weigh in and picture update.

October 5th when I weighed in I was 229lbs. Today I weighed in at 231lbs. Granted that is a gain of two pounds, but I was expecting at least a gain of 5 pounds so that is a win.

Here are the comparison shots: (I don't really see a whole lot of difference but then again it's only been two weeks)

Working out this week didn't really happen like it should have and I only made it to the actual gym twice this week because of job interviewing stuff and a charity event, but I did walk the dog quite a bit this week to get some kind of movement in since I didn't make it to the gym as often as I'd like. 

Good news this week though on the lifting front for leg day. I think I have figured out why I was getting so sore...doing intense cardio after. We skipped it this week and there was no major leg soreness. This makes me both happy and sad because I have figured out why it was happening but I use to do cardio all the time after leg day and now what 4-5 weeks later I can't. What's up with that? I think I am just going to try to build it back in see how it goes. 

I also think that my food plan is changing for the next two weeks and I am doing more of a cutting diet, but I am still waiting to find out exactly what will be on the menu from by brother so hopefully I can update the new two week food plan tomorrow. 

Phase Two: Week 1

Well not much to report from week one. 

The new diet has me feeling really bloated, and I am not sure what exactly is the cause but I have a feeling it might be the black beans. 

Workout wise leg day kicked my ass and left me sore for about 4ish days which is an improvement from the last leg day but still odd that I am left that sore for so many days afterwards. 

All of my other lifting days have been going well. It's odd not doing an hour of cardio every workout or doing a second workout a day. I have a feeling the lack of cardio is going to hurt me weight wise but my brother did say that I would probably gain 5ish pounds my first two weeks but to stick with it as it will pay off, so I am trying not to worry too much about it. 

Next Sunday is weigh-in/measurement/picture day and lets just say I am not looking forward to it because I know I am going to see set backs, but I have to remember that they are just numbers and there is a reason for it.

Phase Two Starting Weight and Measurements

I haven't weighed in and measured since August 17th and going off of the program for about a month I knew that when I stepped on the scale and measured today I would see a definite increase in numbers but I was hoping it wouldn't be that detrimental to my weight loss goals.

Here are my measurements from August 17th:

Weight: 224 lbs              

Chest: 44 1/2"

Biceps: 14 1/2"

Waist: 37"
Stomach (around the belly button) 40"

Hips: 44"

Thighs: 26 1/2"

Calves: 17 1/2"

These are my measurements from today:

Weight: 229 lbs              

Chest: 46 1/2"

Biceps: 14 1/2"

Waist: 38 3/4"
Stomach (around the belly button) 43"

Hips: 44 3/4"

Thighs: 27 1/2"

Calves: 17 1/2"

Here are my photos from August 17th:

   

Here are my photos from today:

So in about two months I have gained 5 pounds and 8 1/4 inches. Needless to say that I am disappointed in the gain, but the minor set back just makes me even more motivated to start this next phase and to keep myself on track as I now can see just how easy it is to undo all the hard work that did. 

Phase Two-Get Fit Challenge: Game Plan

So technically I'm not supposed to to another cut for six months buuuutttt I discussed it with my trainer aka my brother and he's agreed to let me to continue with the program. However for this next 14 week phase things are going to be a little bit different not only in training but also in eating. 

Here is the Meal Plan for the next two weeks:

MEAL #1

6 Egg Whites

1 Cup Malt-o-Meal

2 Rice Cakes

MEAL #2

6 oz Lean Meat

2 Cups of Veggies

MEAL #3

6 oz Lean Meat

1 Cup Legumes 

1.5 Cups of Veggies

MEAL #4

6 oz Lean Meat

2 Cups of Veggies

MEAL #5

1 Scoop of Protein

1 Banana

MEAL #6

6 Egg Whites

1 Cup Legumes

My new Training Schedule consists of 6 days of weight training and three days of cardio with one of the days of cardio being my off day from weight training. Cardio wise however I will be starting over from the beginning of the program with 30 minutes per session for the next two weeks with a 5 minute increase every two weeks until I reach an hour per session again. Another change will be that I will not be doing two-a-days this phase. 

I have been warned that I will more than likely gain up to 5 pounds my first two weeks as my body adjusts to not only the addition of carbs but also the increase in food and decrease in exercise with the loss of a workout a day and less cardio to start with. Hopefully I can keep this in mind when this does happen and remind myself that it is part of the program and there is a reason for the gain. 

Tomorrow morning I will be weighing in, taking measurements, and pictures. Every two weeks I will be taking photos that will be submitted to my brother for evaluation and possible alteration to my program.  I will do monthly weigh ins, measurements and photos that will be posted here to track my progress.

So there your have it Phase Two...wish me luck I am at this point pretty excited to get started.

Wedding Madness and New Goals

Well kids it's been awhile since I posted any updates so hopefully this one makes up for it. 

I am not sure if I mentioned this in any of my first posts but right before I started this program I went wedding dress shopping. I was at my heaviest and definitely dreading the whole trying on dresses experience. Thankfully the staff at the bridal salon I went to (Hope's Bridal) was so amazing and had plenty for me to try on and really made me feel comfortable. It only took 5 dresses before I found "the one." I was the first person to try this dress on and it was a brand new designer to the US from Australia. I kid you not when I say that this dress fit me like a glove. Even the owner came up and looked at it and said, "It is like it was made just for you." Now if that is not a sign I don't know what is. The other great part is that I would have been happy wearing that dress even if I didn't lose any weight and that was a very been thing to me since I didn't know how successful this program would be.

I had my mom take a picture of me in the dress so we could use it as another way of seeing progress since you do in fact try on the dress multiple times before it's finished. 

So this was at the end of April:

If you've been following from the beginning you will remember that I spent my first month of the program down in Missouri with my brother and his fiance to help me through and give me that extra support and at the end of that month I had lost 11 pounds and 12 inches. Shortly after arriving back in Iowa I went back to the bridal salon to try the dress on again to see if there would be an issue with alterations. 

This is a picture from the beginning of June:

I was amazed at how big the dress was on me. I actually had to have someone hold the dress together in this picture because it just kind of hung on me and it was laced up tight. Needless to say you could say I was really happy with my progress.

Fast forward to end of August and my first official fitting for alterations. At this point I knew that I had to stop with the major weight loss because once the dress is altered it get's expensive and time consuming to continue to alter it. At this point though I was down 36 pounds and 32 inches (took 4 months) and pretty pleased with that. 

Here are pictures from that day:

At this point I could really see and feel a difference in the dress but it wasn't until Shelby (my brother's fiance) sent me this picture that I put it all together and had that wow moment.

So there we have it. The wedding of course was amazing and Blair and I had a great time. I am still in awe of how many people came from all over the world to celebrate with us we are truly blessed with a great group of friends and family. 

What's next you might be asking? Well after my hiatus from the program I am gearing up to jump back into things on Monday. 

My new goal is to lose 45 pounds by January 18. That's a goal of a loss of 3 pounds a week for the next 15 weeks. It's going to be tough but it's going to be so worth it. If I do reach my goal I will be at 179 pounds just in time for our trip to New Zealand. I don't promise that the posts will be pretty these next few months but hopefully they will be amusing and maybe  even inspiring. LET'S DO THIS!!

Day 132-138 Get Fit Challenge...Oh the PAIN!

Monday

Morning lifting did not go well today. Being leg day it's never going to be an easy day, but something went really wrong today and I'm not really sure how. Leg day always starts with squats and since they were getting to be a bit easy it was time to step it up so I added five pounds to each side...no big deal right? Well apparently I was wrong. I got through my 4 sets no problem, but then halfway through my superset of leg press and buddha squats my legs started to get a bit shaky. I just figured it was because of it being Monday and the start of the week so I pushed through and finished the superset and moved on to the next superset which I struggled through as well. Leg day finishes with 100 walking lunges. However my legs were shaking so bad I couldn't even attempt to do one as my knees were ready to give out so I decided to skip it and just do my hour of cardio. 

That night when mom and I went in to do the HIT workout I was really feeling the morning leg work out but I got through it and another 30 minutes of cardio hoping that it would help stretch things out and I wouldn't be so sore tomorrow.

Tuesday

I woke up so sore that it took me a good 2-3 minutes to physically get myself out of bed. I have not been this sore since my first week of working out on this program. I spent the day between sitting in the hot tub, stretching, and trying to get comfortable. 

Wednesday

I did not sleep well last night as my legs were just so sore I couldn't get comfortable. The majority of the day was spent in the hot tub and stretching to try to be able to move more like a normal person instead of a 100 year old in need of new knees. However this was not good enough for my mother so that night we went to the gym and lifted and I walked on the treadmill for 40 minutes. While chest day was fine to get through as my upper body was not sore, walking on the treadmill killed me. 

Thursday

Did not sleep well again tonight because of sore legs and I woke up to them not feeling any better. More stretching and hot tub time during the day then went to the gym this evening for back day with mom. I ended up doing an hour on the bike with no resistance which felt pretty good. For good measure I sat in the hot tub when we got home to hopefully speed things along as I am really just done with all of the leg pain.

Friday

Finally today the legs are feeling a bit better I guess the bike was the ticket to help getting them stretched out. Not wanting to push my luck any I did not do a morning workout and instead went to the gym in the evening with mom for bicep and tricep day but we only got 30 minutes of cardio in because the gym closes at 8pm on Fridays.  I am hoping that tomorrow my legs feel really good because I have the trial for wedding hair and makeup and really don't want to feel uncomfortable while having to sit for both of those so fingers crossed for more improvement.

Saturday

I can finally move around today like a semi normal person, and while my legs are still sore it feels more like a normal sore than an oh-my-god-i-think-i-broke-my-body kind of sore. No workout today as the whole day was spend running around doing wedding stuff. 

Sunday

My legs are finally feeling normal though they still hurt when they are grabbed, bumped, or smacked but I can walk without cringing so that's a win. Spent most of the day running errands in town with Blair but we did take Max on a walk around the lake to get some cardio in for the day since it was so nice outside.

Days 125-131 Get Fit Challenge...Minor Set Backs

This week was a bit rough and pretty busy. As there are only about 3 weeks left until the wedding there have been more and more things to run around and take care of and with Blair being gone all week it's been kind of hard to fit in everything that he needs to be a part of. Needless to say the working out has suffered this week. 

Monday and Tuesday I did HIT in the morning as mom has decided she wants to start lifting again at night. 

Wednesday I lifted in the morning as I had a hair appointment that night. 

Thursday Aunt Flo thought it would be a good day to visit and I was so miserable I didn't workout in the morning. That night I went to the nail salon for a trial for the wedding day since I never get my nails done as they chip after the first day. 

Friday Blair had the day off so we ran around all day trying to get some errands done like the wedding license, a hair cut for him, and a bit of clothes shopping before we went to Des Moines to pick my brother up from the airport. Saturday we drove to Illinois for a wedding of a family friend. They had the perfect day for a wedding and it was very nice to catch up with everyone even though it felt like I was attending a preview of our upcoming wedding as a lot of the music and decor was exactly what we are doing. It kind of stressed me out because then I started to think well maybe we should change all of these things but at this point there just isn't the time. 

Sunday we got back home around 9pm and with all of the non-diet food I ate over the weekend I was not feeling well. I felt sluggish and really fat and maybe a little bit of that is hormones but mostly I think it was the food. This makes me really nervous for how my life will need to adapt after the intense diet is over and I go back to working and having to work around a schedule again. Hopefully I can figure it all out without going backwards.

Days 118-124 Get Fit Challenge...To Maintain or Not To Maintain

Monday

Blair decided to do the same lifting workouts that I do this week to see if it is something that would work for him or not. Today was Back Day and minus a couple of exercises I think it went okay for him. Food wise he is doing well so that is good.

Tuesday

Today was Bicep and Tricep day for lifting. I don't think this workout went very well for Blair as a lot of the exercises put a lot of strain on his shoulders. I think we'll need to contact the trainer he was working with in New Zealand to see if he can set him up with something since he is fully aware of all of his shoulder, calf, and knee issues and I am not educated enough to come up with something that will work out better for him

Wednesday

No gym today as we spent the whole day meeting with our wedding vendors down where we are getting married about 2.5 hours away. While we accomplished quite a bit I think the cupcake tasting put a little bit of a dent in our diet even if we did split the cupcakes.

Tonight Blair found out he has the opportunity to earn a bit of money working with my dad so tomorrow they are off to South Dakota for the rest of the week. I feel bad that we spent all this money getting him a gym membership and additional food when he will not be here during the week to utilize either, but so is life and at this point money coming in is better than money going out especially since I cannot find a job.

Thursday

Mom texted me this morning saying that she wants to incorporate lifting back into her workouts so instead of lifting this morning she wanted me to lift with her tonight so I did the HIT workout this morning. Since mom hasn't lifted in a couple of weeks I knew she would probably be sore jumping right back into it with Chest Day. 

Friday

I was on my own today for both workouts as mom had stuff to do after work and with complications at the job site Blair wasn't going to be home until 2am. It was leg day for lifting and for some reason it's really been leaving me quite sore. Needless to say there was no evening workout.

Saturday

Between lack of motivation and wedding planning stress I did not make it to the gym. Instead all I did today was work on place cards and table cards. Who would have thought that this would take up the majority of my day but when you're creating all of it to save money you forget that saving money = time consuming. Tonight we all went out to dinner to celebrate mom and dad's anniversary and I did not make the best food choice when I decided to have a beer and split a dessert with Blair. Not looking forward to weighing in tomorrow as I know the lapses in my diet will reflect on the scale.

Sunday

Well this morning I weighed in and I gained a pound so I am back up to 224 pounds. Blair however did really well and lost 3 pounds this week even with not really following the diet for most of the week, so at least someone had a good weigh in. It rained most of the day today which added to my lack of motivation to go to the gym, so today my day was spent tackling the dreaded seating chart. Since we decided to have the place cards already at the tables not only did I have to figure out who is sitting at each table but who everyone is sitting next to at each table. After 5 minutes into this project I completely regretted this decision but as there was no alternative I sucked it up and eventually after much swearing, restarting, and hair pulling the seating chart is done...THANK BABY JESUS!

Day 112-117 Get Fit Challenge...New Workout Buddy

Wednesday

Blair finally flew in today. Since his flight didn't come in till 10:40pm I had to make sure I got through the HIT workout pretty quick so I was able to get to the airport on time. I thought the HIT workout was difficult before but completing the whole thing in under an hour HOLY COW talk about taking it out of you. I did however have to skip on the cardio part of the workout so I could pick Blair up on time.

Thursday

After such a late night on Wednesday Blair and I skipped the gym this morning. Blair has decided to jump on the Get Fit Challenge to try to lose some weight in the month we have left before the wedding. I am not quite sure if he'll be able to do the majority of the workouts because of his shoulder and knee problems. He did try the HIT workout tonight but wasn't able to complete a lot of the exercises because they put too much strain on his shoulder. I am not sure if he will try to substitute the ones he cannot do or just do something completely different instead. 

Friday

Today was leg day for me this morning for lifting. Blair came with me this morning but he did his own thing as he wasn't sure how well his knees would do with the leg workout. The leg workout definitely kicked my ass today and I felt the soreness settle in later that night. I had my first wedding dress alteration fitting this afternoon so we didn't make it to the gym as we ran a couple of errands after. 

Saturday

Today was spent running around doing wedding stuff and making a Costco run to get Blair set up with food as he is starting the diet portion of the Get Fit Challenge on Monday. We prepped all of the food and managed to figure out the puzzle that has become the refrigerator to fit everyone's food in.

Sunday

Blair and I are both ridiculously sore from our workouts on Friday as that two day delay has fully set in today. We decided to take Max for a walk around the lake to help stretch things out and get some cardio in. Monday Blair starts full force with the challenge and I hope it works out for him as I know how difficult the first couple of weeks can be without the added challenge of shoulder and knee problems.

Day 111 Get Fit Challenge...My upper body hurts

Soreness has settled into my shoulders and back today, but I did have a pretty good back workout this morning. With school starting back up again the gym has been pretty dead in the mornings which is so nice.

Nothing is more annoying than a gym filled with annoying high schoolers who spend more time taking up space and talking than actually working out. Now all that needs to change are the awful oldies stations they play that put you to sleep rather than pump you up and upgrading the weightlifting equipment and I will be super duper happy.

I have decided to change up how often I post as the day to day updates are a little lean on content as not much happens so I am going to be posting weekly updates instead starting Monday. Hopefully this will make the blog a little more interesting to read.

Day 110 Get Fit Challenge...crunch time

Friday I go in for fitting and alterations for my wedding dress, so I am really trying to push myself this week and hopefully lose another 3-4 pounds. This morning was chest day for weight lifting and somewhere during the workout I tweaked a muscle in my back/shoulder blade area...LAME. So I made sure I really stretched everything out after my cardio and took a couple of Aleve when I got home. 

Tonight's HIT workout was a bit of a struggle with some of the upper body exercises because I was a bit sore overall from the chest workout in addition to the back/shoulder blade soreness. I thought I would try a new variation for the plank since I am at the 4 minute mark, so I thought I'd try out the reverse plank. The reverse plank exercise isolates and strengthens the gluteus (butt) muscles and hamstrings. Done correctly, it engages both the abs and the lower back muscles. Also it is really hard and it really hurt my elbows to have them locked like that for two minutes. I am thinking since it's two reps of plank to fail I'll do one reverse and one on the bosu ball and gradually work my way up in time. Hopefully that will work out better.

Mom really struggled tonight as I think she is coming down with a cold but she sucked it up and finished the HIT but we had to forgo the cardio for tonight which sucked because I really didn't want to, but what are you going to do downside of carpooling to the gym right? Maybe when my fiance gets back she won't feel the need to have to work out with me all the time and I can get a more consistent evening workout in.

Day 109 Get Fit Challenge...Weigh In and Measurements (month 4)

Well it's been about a month since my last weigh in and measurements. My goal for this month was a loss of 15 pounds and 8 inches so let's get down to the numbers and see if I hit it.

Here are my measurements from July 20th:

Weight: 231 lbs              

Chest: 45 1/2"

Biceps: 14 1/2"

Waist: 38"
Stomach (around the belly button) 43 1/4"

Hips: 45"

Thighs: 27 3/4"

Calves: 18"

These are my measurements from today:

Weight: 224 lbs              

Chest: 44 1/2"

Biceps: 14 1/2"

Waist: 37"
Stomach (around the belly button) 40"

Hips: 44"

Thighs: 26 1/2"

Calves: 17 1/2"

That is a loss of 7 pounds and 8 inches. So I definitely missed my goal for weight loss. With not being able to get to the gym as consistently this month because of  my bachelorette weekend and then my grandpa being in the hospital I can see why I didn't reach my goal of 15 pounds. Inch wise though I did reach my goal so I am pretty happy about that. 

Here are the pictures from July 20th:



Here are the pictures from today:

   

Total so far I have lost 36 pounds and 32 inches in a little over 3 months. There are 41 days until my wedding day and I have my first dress fitting this coming Friday. Since I cannot lose a huge amount of weight once the fittings start my goal for the next month is to really focus on toning up my upper body and not completely stressing out. 

Day 108 Get Fit Challenge...Nauseous

Lately in the mornings I've become quite nauseous by the time I get to the gym. If you have ever tried to workout while feeling like you might throw up at any moment you know it makes things a lot tougher. I don't know if it's from not eating enough in the morning before working out or waiting too long after having the protein shake but whatever it is it is not pleasant. 

After getting through the HIT workout this morning without throwing up mom and I drove to Waterloo to get some more stuff for the wedding taken care of. After running around for most of the day we accomplished quite a bit however we did add a few more diy projects for me to complete before the wedding which will hopefully come together seamlessly for the big day. 

Day 107 Get Fit Challenge...Back to the Gym

So after a week of being away from the gym I was a bit nervous about jumping back in today. Overall it went pretty well. I did better than I thought I would this morning with the lifting and I wasn't really worried about the cardio as I've been keeping up with that. 

This evening mom and I went to the gym to do the HIT workout and I was surprised that I did so well. Mom on the other hand really struggled and though I felt bad for her I felt really proud of myself for bouncing back so well. I even did two 4 minute planks tonight...woohoo! However we did forgo the cardio tonight as I thought mom was going to keel over after we finished the HIT workout. 

Hopefully tomorrow works out better for her and fingers crossed I am not super sore.

Day 106 Get Fit Challenge...ready to get back to the gym

So I've decided that I am not the workout at home type...you know unless my home happened to have an awesome in home gym which sadly it doesn't, but it's something to put on the dream home bucket list. 

I thought since it was so nice out today that I would do the at home HIT workout I found outside on the back deck. Yeah that went ok but since there is no carpet really anywhere inside the house because it's still under construction there really wasn't any other option. It was also pretty interesting to have the dog as my supervisor for my workout. Though he got really excited when he found out the cardio portion of my workout involved taking him for a walk around the lake. 

I guess if I wasn't able to workout at the gym this would be an ok solution though I think I'd have to ramp up the cardio portion as I don't burn nearly enough by walking around the lake regardless of all the hills compared to what I burn on the stepper, elliptical, and rower. I'd also have to figure something out to substitute for weightlifting, but it might not be a bad way to break up the monotony of the gym. 

Until then...Bring on the gym again!

Day 105 Get Fit Challenge...the paddle boat is not good for the knees

So I tried the at home HIT workout this morning and it went pretty well. Cardio this morning was taking Max for a walk around the lake which was quite nice as there was a great breeze and a bit cooler this morning. 

This evening we decided that if we used the paddle boat we'd get a leg workout and cardio in at the same time. We went all the way around the lake which wasn't too bad other than the fact that the peddles in the boat were way too close which put way too much pressure on my knees than I liked and we had to stop a couple of times so I could stretch my legs because they were cramping up. I'm pretty sure that I will need to take some pain meds tomorrow to help cope with that, but we'll see how things go.

Day 104 Get Fit Challenge...at home workout

With the gym being closed until Thursday I've done a bit of research on things I can do at home as a substitute to my gym workouts so far this is what I've come up with:

Instead of 30 seconds though I'll be doing 45 seconds
 as most of my normal HIT exercises are at 45 seconds now

Cardio will be walking around the lake or paddling around it in the paddle boat. We'll see how this goes the next couple of days.

Days 100-103 Get Fit Challenge...All the Drama

The past 4 days have been a little insane and a lot stressful. My grandpa was rushed into the ER Thursday so we drove to Illinois to the hospital to find out what was happening as we were all very worried about him. Come to find out that he had a strangulated hernia and was scheduled for surgery that evening. Long story short everything went well and he was released from the hospital last night...thank God.

This morning I stepped on the scale expecting to have gained at least another 2 pounds, and instead I ended up losing 6 pounds this week...WTF!!!! How in the world did this happen? I only worked out at the gym twice this week? Maybe it was all of the hospital chicken salads I ate? Either way I am happy about the loss.

The gym will be closed until Thursday so I need to get a little creative with my workouts this week. Most of the day today was spent doing yard work and stacking firewood so I am totally counting that for my cardio and lifting because it is 8:30pm and I am exhausted.

Day 99 Get Fit Challenge...rain rain go away

It's been raining here all week and I am feeling a bit waterlogged today. All of the gloomy weather also makes me just want to curl up and nap all day which is awful for motivating myself to go to the gym. However I did get to the gym this morning for lifting and cardio. Chest day was hard today and I felt pretty tired afterwards. Cardio wise I upped the intensity on the stepper from 15 to 18 and upped the ramp on the elliptical machine from 7 to 8 it's just too bad I can't up the intensity on the elliptical as I already have it at it's max.

Right before our HIT workout tonight my stomach got really upset and I was pretty nauseous. This of course made the workout interesting at certain points when I thought I was going to puke but luckily I kept everything inside my body and got through it. 

As I am honing in on 100 days of this diet I am reevaluating my weight loss goals for the rest of the year and hopefully I will come up with something for tomorrow's post.

Days 93-98 Get Fit Challenge...bachelorette weekend and hospitals

I tried to be good during my bachelorette weekend in Charleston but it didn't work out so well and the scale shows my failure as I gained 2 pounds. I started out food wise pretty well with dinner on Friday being grilled yellowtail on top of an eggplant ratatouille with grilled asparagus however the 3 ciders I had back on the yacht probably cancelled that out real fast.  

Breakfast the next day was low fat greek yogurt which broke the no dairy rule, but lunch was a homemade chicken salad chocked full of some great veggies and topped with a bit of salsa but then the vodka tonic and one can of beer along with the strawberries and watermelon threw that right out the window. Dinner wasn't anywhere near healthy as it started out with two beers and consisted of fried green tomatoes, grits and shrimp, buffalo shrimp, grilled caribbean jerk mahi, fried okra and hush puppies. All of it was unbelievably good but I haven't felt that full/miserable in about four months and really could have used a good two hour walk instead of the 20 minute one we had instead. 

Still feeling pretty full from the night before we set out to walk around as much as we could before we flew out which ended up being about 3 hours however my brunch late that afternoon before boarding my first flight was a bloody mary, a  fried green tomato topped with a crab cake and poached egg, about a half cup of home fries and one of the best buttermilk biscuits I have had since we were in Georgia. Although we did have a pretty good walk back to the car I still felt bad about not choosing something more healthy especially after the dinner I had the night before. 

Monday I was back on track food wise however I didn't get to the gym because while we were away my dad had a minor accident with the log splitter and I had to drive him up to Des Moines so he could see a hand surgeon. By the time we got back home it was 2pm and I was so exhausted from getting in so late the night before and getting up so early I couldn't muster up enough energy to get to the gym that night. Also I found out that my grandfather was taken to the ER and ended up having a pretty bad hernia that dropped out of a pocket on his right side pretty close to his intestines and THEY RELEASED HIM FROM THE ER WTF PEOPLE!!! Between all of that I just wasn't in the right state of mind to get to the gym.

Today I had to get up and be out the door by 6am to drive my dad back to Des Moines to have hand surgery. Everything went really well and he should be fine in a couple of weeks so that was good news. However we didn't get back home till about 3:30pm so I couldn't get my morning workout in. Meanwhile my grandpa threw up black blood this morning so he was taken back to the ER where they basically said they couldn't find anything that was bleeding AND SENT HIM HOME AGAIN!!! He as an appointment with a gastronomist tomorrow afternoon as they think he might have a stomach ulcer and then he has an appointment on Thursday with the surgeon for his hernia. Now maybe it's just me because he is my grandpa but I think it's pretty crazy that an 80 year old man came into the ER because he was throwing up black blood and was there yesterday where you found a hernia that will need to be operated on and you don't think that it's necessary to keep him there to monitor him just in case IDK something goes wrong. 

Mom and I ended up going to the gym tonight to get our minds off of everything that has been going on this week. It's funny how you can not do your gym workout for 5 days and it feels like it's been weeks needless to say I think my lifting tomorrow is going to be a struggle. Oh and also the gym is going to be closed this Sunday through next Wednesday for maintenance so I'm going to have to figure out alternative things to do here instead for my lifting and HIT workouts for those 4 days. Oh and I only have 3 more weeks until my wedding dress fitting so much for losing 15 pounds this month I'll be lucky if I get 10.

Day 92 Get Fit Challenge...in a vacation state of mind

This morning was back day for lifting which went pretty well. I am getting pretty coordinated with getting up off the floor for the Seated Lat Cable Pulldowns all by myself without falling flat on my face so that's a win. 

imagine this but sitting on the floor for the cable pulldowns

I've upped the intensity on the stair stepper from 15 to 18 to challenge myself a bit and now between it and the elliptical I burn about 740-750 calories in an hour.

This is the machine I use at the gym. You can use it as a stepper or an elliptical.
I only use it for a stepper as you can't adjust the incline for the elliptical.

Tonight there was no gym as mom and I had to run around to get last minute things for our trip to Charleston Friday. After traveling outside of the US for the past three year I forgot how many restrictions on things you can and cannot pack, and since I refuse to pay $25 each way to check a bag I needed to make sure all of the liquids I'm taking meet regulations as I'd hate to have things taken away at the airport.

Day 91 Get Fit Challenge...If you are not here to work then go home

Today was chest day for my morning weight lifting. I went a bit later this morning in hopes to avoid some of the morning crowd which worked out pretty well minus the group of annoying high school football boys who did more talking and goofing around that lifting. I just don't understand the need for social hour at the gym. I mean why would you want to take 2 hours to do something that would normally take you 45 minutes at the most? At that point you're letting your muscles cool down so much you're not really getting much out of it. Also you are REALLY annoying to all the people around you when you stand around and take up space and machines that you really aren't using.

I finally got around to finding a great recipe for the fresh brussel sprouts that have been hanging out in the fridge and man oh man is that a keeper.

Here is the recipe if you want to try it out trust me even if you don't like brussel sprouts this will definitely change your mind. 

Preheat oven to 450 degrees

Line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil

Prep brussel sprouts by cutting off the ends, peeling away any yellowed leaves and cutting them in half length wise (about two cups worth)

Dice 4 cloves of garlic

Thinly slice half of a red onion

Combine the brussel sprouts, garlic, and onions in a mixing bowl and add 1 teaspoon of kosher salt, 1 teaspoon of fresh ground black pepper, and 1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil

Give everything a good stir to coat and pour onto the cookie sheet

Give the mixture a good shake on the cookie sheet to put everything into one nice layer and put in the oven and bake for 20-25 minutes until fork tender

After they were finished in the oven I topped them with a bit of paprika and a bit of lemon juice and oh dear lord were they yummy.

The HIT workout tonight was pretty good minus all the a-holes that decided to stand around in the way not doing anything then when I would ask them to move or to put back things that we were using I would get stank face and major eye rolls. SERIOUSLY do not mess with me while I am in the middle of my workout I will drop your ass so fast. I may be a bigger girl but don't let that fool you I do work at the gym and it is paying off, slower than expected but progress none the less. Nothing pisses me off more than people that come to the gym and don't do work.

Day 90 Get Fit Challenge...Oh how I hate you leg day

So it's Monday which means it's Leg Day..uuggghhh

After yesterday's sad and disappointing weigh in I wasn't really motivated to go to the gym this morning let alone do one of the hardest workouts I have but I figured working out and hating it is better than not working out at all. 

Lifting in the mornings have been pretty interesting especially on leg day. Most of the people in the weight room in the mornings are 70+ years old, high school football players, or 30 somethings that think they are the shiz, oh and all male. Granted there are a few women here and there but they really don't do any work and stay for about 10 minutes before they jump on a cardio machine. Needless to say now that I have been added to the mix I am kind of a specticle in the gym. I am not sure if it's because I sweat more than all the men combined while I am there or the fact that I am actually lifting some pretty heavy weights. Either way being stared at is pretty awkward while I am trying to focus and get through my supersets and drop sets. 

Leg day did go better today and I didn't feel completely spent by the time my hour of cardio came around. However about 2 hours after my workout the soreness settled into my knee area. By the time evening HIT workout time rolled around I could barely move so instead of adding more pain to the mix I walked Max around the lake instead hoping it would stretch things out and help the pain that is store for me tomorrow for my morning workout. 

Day 89 Get Fit Challenge...Why is everything broken

So it's Sunday which means it's weigh in day. Sadly when I stepped on the scale this morning I only had lost a pound this week. Frustration and anger don't cover what I am feeling at the moment as it is more than that, but I just can't find the right words to describe it. I am kind of to the point now where I really feel like just saying, "F this I'm done!" You can only work so hard for so long with minimal results without feeling defeated and I am rapidly reaching that point. I just don't understand why this is extremely hard for me when it is easier for everyone else. I do so much more not only in the gym but diet restriction wise and the results I am seeing don't reflect the effort that I am putting in.

This of course did not motivate me at the gym this morning for my HIT and cardio workout and consequently it was a really hard workout. Since it ended up being a nice day the evening walk around the lake with Max was very pleasant since it wasn't so hot and humid. 

I have only part of the week this coming week to work out and really stick to the diet as I am flying to South Carolina for my "bachelorette" weekend and I am nervous about how well the diet plan will hold up there without having access to a gym or the pre-approved food. With the failure on the weight loss this week I am not really looking forward to the weekend anymore as I think all I will be thinking about is how I am not working out and eating correctly and how I am not losing weight like I should be. 

Day 88 Get Fit Challenge...A pretty productive off day

Today I didn't go to the gym this morning as I had an appointment at the bridal shop to find jewelry. It has been kind of nice going to try on my wedding dress about every month as I have really be able to see the difference each time I tried it on. I was able to find a gorgeous pair of earrings and necklace at the bridal trunk show, and I set the appointment for alterations for August 22nd. 

Afterwards we went out and about to find florals for the throw away bouquet and stuff to make the flower girl basket. I think we ended up with some really great stuff and it's nice to get some of the little things done and off the check list. 

After our full day of running around to all the different stores I made sure that I took Max for a walk around the lake to get at least some cardio in as I feel bad for not working out since this last month is crunch time and I really need to stay on track. 

Day 87 Get Fit Challenge...A sort of off day

My schedule has been pretty messed up this week so I am not really due for an off day but I have extended family in this weekend and wanted to be able to visit with them so I went to the gym this morning to get my lifting and cardio in as I knew I wouldn't be working out this evening. 

The new bicep and tricep workout was pretty killer and my arms felt like jelly quite a few times throughout the workout. The new superset at the end of the workout completely kicked my ass. You start out doing a close grip incline push up to fail off of the smith machine then automatically move into a 90 degree bicep curl hold to fail with 10 pounds on either side of the bar. You keep switching back and forth until you physically cannot get another set in. I made it to 4 sets before my arms just shook so much I couldn't do anything else. 

I am hoping to get my cardio in tomorrow but we have a pretty busy day planned running around doing wedding stuff but if we get back at a decent hour I could walk the dog around the lake at least. 

Day 86 Get Fit Challenge...incline push ups are my new nemesis

This morning was back day for lifting. It went pretty well with the new changes to everything and the bonus was that I didn't really feel too sore afterwards. 

The new fish diet is going ok. I really like cooking up the shrimp with a bit of this organic salsa that I found and then putting it over the cucumber, tomato, and onion salad. I don't mind the fillets of mahi mahi either. I just season them up a bit pop them in the oven and put them with some veggies. I am really excited to try cooking up these fresh brussel sprouts that I found and I think I found a pretty good recipe for them. 

Tonight's HIT workout went better but the only thing that I really keep struggling with are the new modified close grip incline push ups. It's something about being at a lower angle that really makes me struggle to reach 15 in the 30 seconds allotted. I did a lot better with the planks to fail as well tonight with both sets failing out at 2:30. However I cannot do them on the bosu ball like I'm supposed to as it really hurts my lower back so for now I am going to try to work up to that and keep trucking along. 

Day 85 Get Fit Challenge...getting back to normal

So my body was feeling less like it was being stabbed repeatedly by knives so I was able to go to the gym this morning. Adding the drop sets into chest day was as equally challenging as it was for leg day, but thankfully cardio went a lot better so that was nice. I did find that after the drop sets it was really difficult to reach my weight goals with the next exercise. This was a little bit discouraging as I've worked so hard to be able to lift the weight that I am at, but I think that after a couple of weeks I should adjust and hopefully be able to get back to that level again.

Tonight there was no HIT workout as 1. we had to go shopping for food and 2. I didn't want to push myself too much again and not be able to move tomorrow. I am hoping tomorrow to be able to get both workouts in and hopefully not feel like dying on Friday.

Day 84 Get Fit Challenge...I haven't been this sore since my first week

It's safe to say that the combination of the new lifting workout and the new HIT workout definitely took its tole on my body today. I knew the moment my alarm went off this morning and I tried to get out of bed but nothing happend I was in for a rough day. After my morning shake I sat in the hot tub to try to loosen up my leg muscles so I could maybe attempt going to the gym for morning lifting but about 20 minutes in it was so humid outside I felt like I was cooking in a big pot so that didn't work out so well. 

Two Aleve later and a lot of huffing and puffing I mustered up enough energy to get myself into the car to drive into town to get some fish and veggies. You know there is a reason people in the Midwest don't eat a lot of seafood and it's because it's EXPENSIVE. I don't even want to tell you how much I spent on what will hopefully be two weeks worth of seafood. This switch in the diet better pan out because for someone who is just living off her savings until she can find a job (don't even get me started on the job hunt situation) I need to make sure I am being as thrifty as I can. 

Tonight I did end up going to the gym to get the HIT workout and hour of cardio in. Second day leg soreness plus new HIT workout equals jelly legs all the way through the workout. By the time I was done with my hour of cardio I was hobbling around like a 90 year old ex-football player. Needless to say after I got home and ate I jumped into the hot tub to help alleviate some of the stiffness. The goal is to get to the gym tomorrow morning to do my new chest workout so hopefully the legs will cooperate  a little bit better.