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.

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 83 Get Fit Challenge...taking it up some knotches

So in the final push before the wedding I called my brother for some advice about how I could ramp up things to help me lose at least another 15 pounds in 5 weeks. It's always good to challenge yourself and switch things up so your body doesn't get use to a routine and hit a plateau regardless of the soreness that will ultimately ensue. However after working out today I think I might regret that decision for this first week. 

My diet has been changed for the next 5 weeks. Instead of chicken I will be eating lean seafood like tilapia, mahi mahi, tuna, cod, and shrimp (hopefully if I can find them). Veggie wise I am eating mostly green vegetables like broccoli, green beans, brussel sprouts, spinach, celery, you get the idea. Also no more egg whites...woohoo! Instead I will be doing a half serving of my morning protein shake as well as a couple of celery sticks for my last meal of the day. 

Workout wise my workouts are being flip flopped and I am weightlifting in the mornings and doing my HIT workout at night. I'm maxed out for my cardio at an hour each session so that will not change, but the weight training and HIT have been amped up. Weight lifting wise I am adding in drop sets to every other exercise and trying to really push myself to increase my weight every week. For HIT the times of the majority of the exercises has been increased by 15 seconds and weight as been added to a few of the exercises while the exercises that did include weight has been slightly increased. Needless to say the intensity of the whole workout has been ramped up to about level 50.

Weightlifting this morning was good though it is weird not having a lifting partner. The drop sets totally kicked my ass and by the end of my leg workout I didn't know if I was going to make it through the hour of cardio I still had left to do. After I got home and ate I immediately jumped in the hot tub in hopes of  cutting down some of the soreness that will follow in the next two days. 

This evening's HIT workout killed me. I was completely exhausted by the middle of my second cycle. Not to mention that I went through two towels and my whole shirt was soaked by the end of it. Also note to self it is a very bad idea to switch up a leg weight day and then follow it with a switched up HIT workout...all the pain! I was so fatigued by the end of the HIT workout I could only muster up enough energy to do a half hour of cardio because I couldn't feel my legs. 

Hopefully tomorrow goes a little bit better as it's chest day and hopefully the legs won't hurt as much and I can get through all my cardio.

Day 57 Get Fit Challenge...a little bit of progress

Today I woke up and didn't feel like I had to drag myself to the gym this morning which was a win. The HIT workout went pretty well this morning. Cardio went well today too. In the 25 minutes I was on the rower I managed to row 5,000 meters which was an all time high record for me. I also upped the intensity of the stair stepper to 15 for the 20 minutes I was on it. 

Tonight was leg day for the weight workout and we worked hard. So hard in fact that I think I pulled something in the left side of my rib cage while I was doing incline leg presses and my knees are already sore. 
I decided to print out a log to record the reps and weight for the weight lifting as I keep forgetting what weight we start each exercise out at. This will also be good because now I can track my progress and increase my weights every couple of weeks (well if I can). 
Since it was so nice today we decided to forgo the cardio cooped up in the gym and instead went home and took Max for a walk around the lake. 

Day 56 Get Fit Challenge...I can't put my arms down

Ever noticed that when the weather is meh outside it's really hard to get motivated to do anything let alone go to the gym at 8:30 in the morning? That was this morning for me. With all of these storm systems that have been rolling through the Midwest these past couple of weeks it has been making it really challenging to get the energy to go to the gym for my morning HIT workout and cardio. Once I'm there it usually takes me about halfway through my first HIT cycle before my body starts to wake up and get going. 

Tonight was biceps and triceps for the weight workout. I don't know what it is about working those muscles out but whenever I do I always feel like they are so puffed out that my arms don't go all the way down and I'm walking around like a gorilla.

Also I don't know what it is about the gym but for some reason they always have the Food network on in front of the cardio machines and tonight it was all about fried foods. Deep fried mash potato balls stuffed with ground beef, deep fried cheese balls that had 5 different kind of cheese in them, a PB&J sandwich that was dipped in french toast batter dredged in frosted flakes and pan fried in a cup of butter...A CUP OF BUTTER! You're killing me over here. I've never had my mouth water so much during a cardio session. And it's not like you can change the channel because they are all preset and my only other options for the other preset TVs were Fox News (hard pass on that) or some show about people that kill alligators for a living. Needless to say I was good and hungry when I got home. Granted it wasn't for the chicken and veggies but hungry none the less. 

Day 43 Get Fit Challenge...burning biceps

This morning's HIT workout went a little bit smoother as I didn't have to run around and collect all the different equipment from every corner of the gym. It also took me a lot less time to set everything up so I got through things a lot faster. I really like that my morning cardio now consists of 20 minutes on the row machine and 20 minutes on the step machine. Next week I jump to 45 minutes of cardio twice a day so I think I will up my row by 5 minutes and see how that goes. 

I've started sitting in my parents hot tub after my morning workouts for about 45 minutes which is really helping with the back and knee pain. Granted it's summer but as of right now the weather hasn't been too hot in the mornings and early afternoon so it's not unbearable. It also lets me get a little sun on my white white skin and a little Vitamin D does a body good.

Tonight the weight workout was biceps and triceps. I think I need to start printing out and bringing the weight workouts with me because I am getting confused about what we do on what days and I accidently added in 3 back workouts to our bi's and tri's. Oh well little extra never hurt anyone. Will be interesting tomorrow though as that is back day. My poor mom she's gonna say, "What we just did this last night." Sorry Ma! She's been doing really well with me at the gym. She already went through this program herself and is in maintenance mode so she was only going to the gym every other day. Now she goes with me for my 4 on 1 off and she does two a days with me on the weekends (which really kicks her ass as she never had to do two a days) but she's a pretty good trouper through it all especially after working all day. 

Food wise I am ready for new vegetables as I am about cucumber and tomato salad out and getting bored with finding ways to use bell peppers. Also now that the weather is warmer I really don't want to eat lots of hot foods so I need to figure out a way to do some cold dishes with the chicken and veggies that isn't salad with no dressing.

Day 42 Get Fit Challenge...why are there so many high school kids at the gym?

This morning when I got to the gym it was packed. Thankfully the area where I do my HIT workout was empty so I gathered all of my equipment and got to work. About halfway through my first cycle an older woman started working out in the same area doing what I can only assume is some kind of physical therapy. She gave me some strange looks as I moved from one exercise to the next. I really hate it when people stare at you in the gym if you are doing something other than what they know or when you are really focusing on pushing the air out of your body with each rep, but with older people I don't mind I just pray they don't start talking to me while I'm trying to get through my workout. 

Finished with my HIT workout I moved to the row machine to do half of my cardio. The row machine is located in with all of the weight machines and sits next to the track. From what I have seen it's also rarely used, so when a person is actually on it people tend to stare at them. I find it a great way to 1. get my cardio in and 2. people watch at the same time. Now I am not sure why every high school student in a 30 mile radius was at the gym this morning but man do they need some help with their workouts (esp the boys who I'm assuming are lifting for football). These guys do maybe 6-7 different exercises but it takes them over an hour because they talk and play on their phones more than they do work. And the girls lordie they are more concerned with getting the boys to look at them than doing any kind of lifting.

In short it makes to feel very thankful to be out of high school but at the same time I just get this urge to slap them all upside their heads. After almost taking 3 different guys out with the row machine because they walk by it too close (like you can't see me on it? Please) I finished my last 20 minutes of cardio on the stepper which pretty much means my legs are going to hate me tomorrow. 

Tonight was chest and when my mom and I got there around 7pm the gym was still really busy, which again odd as most of the time it's pretty dead by then so we had to create a space to get our workout in amongst the old timers, high schoolers, and Asians in jeans. I really wish they would rework this area to give people more space as all of the equipment is basically right on top of the thing next to, behind or in front of it. Lifting and cardio completed we left quite tired. We'll see how my body feels in the morning hopefully it's not too sore as it will make the HIT workout pretty difficult to get through. 

Day 40 Get Fit Challenge...new leg workout

Since it's the weekend my mom joined me at the gym this morning for my HIT workout and cardio. I worked in the row machine today as part of my cardio to break it up a bit. It wasn't too bad. I did 20 minutes and felt good but I didn't want to push it too much so I did the next 20 minutes on the elliptical machine. 

My brother came in this weekend and he has added a new leg workout to the mix tonight. It's pretty intense to say the least with 2 warm up sets and 3 working sets. We started with front squats then went into leg curls then a weighted pelvic lift and we finished with bulgarian split squats. Apparently there should have been some weighted walking lunges in the mix there but thankfully he forgot and we didn't have enough time to do them and cardio before the gym closed. 

Tomorrow he is coming with me to the gym to rework my HIT workout. I have to say the last time this happened things got a lot harder, but I am curious to see what he switches out to challenge me with. 

Day 35 Get Fit Challenge...adjusting to a new gym

I signed up at a new gym today here in Iowa. I was a member there before about 6 years ago so a lot of the layout came back to me pretty quickly. Typically I find that the Y has a bad rep with over priced memberships and shady out of date equipment, but the YMCA here is definitely not that. With membership at $46 per month it's quite a good deal for all that you get. 

That being said it's still an adjustment especially with the workouts that I am doing. I've had to modify my HIT workout as they do not have the same equipment as Impact Fitness does, so instead of heavy rope work I am doing hand tests. In exchange for the tire flips I get to heave a giant 25 pound medicine ball in the air and instead of the sledge hammer I am back to overhead medicine ball throws. 

Since it is the Y a lot of their equipment is machine based though they do have a whole room of FreeMotion equipment. What is lacking though is their weight lifting equipment. I find that a lot of it is dated and needs to be replaced add the very tight space for said equipment and it makes lifting interesting especially with more than 4 people in the area. Needless to say I am excited for my brother to come in the weekend and sort out a new weight lifting workout for me based around the equipment I have access to now. 

Food wise I am trying to branch out a bit and give myself more options so I don't get so bored with eating the same things over and over. This week I've been able to add in lettuce wraps because I found butter lettuce at the Costco and let me tell you I've been pretty excited about them.

I've also found a can tuna that meets all the requirements for my protein needs so that has been a nice break from all chicken. With summer almost in full swing I've been researching some great cold veggie dishes that are light but filling. I've come up with a couple that I am curious to try out. 

Other than that I've been trucking along with my HIT workout in the morning followed by 40 minutes cardio and weight lifting and another 40 minute cardio session at night. This afternoon I took our dog Max for a 3 mile walk around the lake which was nice but I found it made me really tired for the evening workout so I might need to do it a bit earlier in the day so I have enough time to recover before my next workout. 

Tomorrow is biceps and triceps and as I was looking around the weight room tonight I think this one might be difficult to duplicate, but hopefully I'll find some good substitutes for things they are lacking.

Day 31 Get Fit Challege...wrapping it up in KCMO

Today was my last day here in Missouri training with my brother and his fiance. Tomorrow I head back to Iowa to continue my training there. 

I've really enjoyed working out at their gym, Impact Fitness. It is a great locally owned and operated gym that has friendly and helpful staff, great weight and cardio areas, and a training area complete will all kinds of fun equipment from sledgehammers and tires to TRX equipment. Another great thing about this gym is that you don't feel intimidated walking in there to do your workout. It has this more relaxed vibe unlike some big chains where everyone is strutting around going look at me look at me instead of doing work. If I ever move back to this area for sure that will be the gym I sign up at. 

What I looked at every morning

My brother making sure I'm working hard during HIT 

Moving on to my workouts today. Seeing how is was my last workout with him my brother wanted me to do my HIT workout with him tonight so he could gage my progress, so I did my weight lifting this morning. It was back day, one of my favorite weight days as I can really push myself because it's one of my stronger body parts. 

Tonight's HIT workout kicked my ass, but I have made some fantastic improvements since I first started. My brother said that during my heavy rope work I made it look easy (truth is my legs were on FIRE the whole time). Tire flips were next 20 total in 47 seconds my best time yet. During my minute of thrusters I knocked out 26 where as before I was lucky to get to 20. Then we got to isolated shuffles, I hate these the most now that we've added the kettle bells and slowed it down, however I was able to keep my butt down during the 4 sets and really hold the squat. Sledge hammer swings I knocked out 30 swings in both 1 minute sets an improvement of 5 swings each set. The box step ups with crunches I did 25 all 4 sets and normally I get 20. Planks finish off the workout and today instead of doing 2 sets of 30 seconds I did 3 sets of 30 second and my last set I did till fail which ended up being at 54 seconds. 

I am really happy with where I am and all my improvements with this workout and I'm sad I won't be able to continue it exactly back in Iowa as the gym there doesn't have the tire, sledgehammer, and heavy ropes. Not to worry though this next week there will be modifications to it to make up for the lack of equipment. My brother will be coming up next weekend to revamp everything based on the equipment that I have access to, so I'm excited to see what new things he'll come up with. 

Tomorrow is an off day which works out great as the drive back to Iowa is about 4 hours so I shouldn't have a problem getting my cardio in. Here we go next leg of the challenge.

Day 29 Get Fit Challenge...they should call chest day 'squeeze your tit-tays' day

It's a standard rule that Mondays are chest day, but when chest day falls on a holiday apparently people don't go to the gym (but not me I go now regardless) so the following day becomes chest day. Needless to say today was said day. 

Now there is nothing more annoying to a woman than having to complete chest day on the same day as the guys.

First off the weight room is packed to the max with everyone basically doing the same sets all at the same time, so there is a lot of waiting around and staring and posing in mirrors (and they say girls are bad pft go to a gym and you'll find that 9 times out of 10 it's the guys checking themselves out in the mirrors). 

Why do you need a selfie right now?!?

Second when you do finally secure yourself an area in the free weights try to do a superset of like 4 different exercises as it will speed things up granted you'll want to die about halfway through but you can get out of the tosterone injected area asap. 

Third just expect to be stared at. Yes I am a woman, yes I am doing a superset, yes I am lifting half of what you are when it comes to dumbbells, yes I'm working harder than you because unlike your 3 reps of 65 pounds I'm doing 15 reps for each of my 4 different exercises without taking 3 minute long stare at my muscles in the mirror breaks, no I am not staring at you in the mirror I'm trying to look around you to make sure my form is in check.

                                       

                                                     Seriously! Do some work no one is looking at you.

Third when doing chest exercises on the cable machines repeat after me,"squeeze your tit-tays together." One this ensures that you are actually using your chest to do the exercise and two as a woman this is easier to understand than flex your chest to engage your muscles because really what woman goes around flexing their chest?

Also since I am ranting about gym etiquette here is another thing that I just don't understand: bathing yourself in cologne before working out. I don't care how good it smells when you pour it on and then sweat nothing good comes from that. Ladies this includes you too. You may not sweat profusely, but your perfume bubble that is taking over the whole area makes me want to stab you. It's a gym if you work hard enough you should smell bad by the end of it, if not go home this is not a beauty contest. 

In other gym related news during my cardio tonight after weights my legs decided to go into beast mode and I had to up the workload to 30 on the elliptical; this is what immediately happened in my head:

 Well kids one more day till an official 30 days of the fitness challenge. Tomorrow HIT and cardio in the morning followed by biceps and triceps and cardio at night.

Day 25 Get Fit Challenge...I don't want to work out

Today I think I hit my limit. Woke up feeling super tired and it took everything I had to get myself to the gym this morning, but I went and got my workout in.

It super sucked and I thought I was going to die, but I didn't and hopefully me not skipping today will reflect well on the scale Sunday. I did however come home and had to take an hour nap because there was no energy left in me. Me being tired all of the time all of a sudden is kind of worrying me as working out and eating right is supposed to give you more energy where my workouts seem to drain the life out of me, especially this week.

Tonight's weight training was for back and I have to say I'm pretty impressed with how strong my back muscles are after my legs I it's the strongest body part I have. Cardio tonight was challenging mostly because I didn't want to do it because I was tired and my legs were not up to it.

I did end up doing 20 minutes on the stair stepper and 15 minutes on the elliptical. Sadly the stair stepper was easier...damnit. The good news is that tomorrow is an off day so all I have to do are my two sessions of 35 minutes of cardio. Hopefully the weather is nice cause the plan is to go hiking around Weston Bend State Park which will be a nice change from the gym and cardio machines.

Day 24 Get Fit Challenge...I cannot wait for an off day

Working out is catching up with me this week and I woke up feeling sore and tired which made for a rough morning workout. Cardio is now my new nemesis which is too bad because that was the one part of my workout that I didn't mind. However, ever since my brother amped up the resistance my opinion has changed. I struggle through every second of both 35 minute sessions of cardio, and the one at night always seems to be more difficult to get through than my morning one.

My new HIT workout has been going ok. Today I could see improvement in my sledge hammer squats so that was a win. Even though I haven't lost any weight I have been improving my fitness level and I am really happy about that. I find that after my HIT workout I feel like I've accomplished something and that makes me feel really good even though I am a sweaty hot mess.

Tonight's weight lifting was biceps and triceps. Preacher curls kicked my ass as usual, but I was able to crank more out in pull ups and dips so that was a win. I'd like to get to the point with those where I can knock out 12-15 reps instead of 7-10. It would also be really awesome if I could graduate from assisted pull ups, but at this point I think I might be getting ahead of myself. 

Tomorrow is the last day of my 4 days on and it's ending with a back workout. Needless to say I am excited for an off day I'm feeling very run down and kind of over working out. Not sure if it's just my body telling me to rest or if the no carb thing is catching up to me. We'll see but for now my two hour afternoon naps will have to suffice, and honestly who doesn't like a nice nap in the afternoon.

Day 23 Get Fit Challenge...thank goodness for naps

Just a note to self here: do not by any means think it's a good idea to follow up a leg day with 35 minutes of strenuous cardio and then do a HIT workout you will die..that is all.

I had to do my cardio before HIT today because I forgot to look at the class schedule for the gym and ended up getting there 15 minutes into a group class. Because they block the whole back section for group classes there was no way I was going to get anything in, so I just thought well I just do cardio now and by the time I'm done the class will be too no big deal. Wrong it was definitely a big deal to my legs and I suffered through my HIT workout feeling every single muscle in my legs as most of the exercises for HIT are either doing a squat or holding a squat position....Ouchtown, population: me.  

Also, during my HIT workout today there was a man who started copying some of the exercises from it which is fine it's a hell of a workout and if you want to get in on it be my guest. What I don't want you to do though is interrupt me during my cycles because you have all of these questions about what I am doing, how long I do things, and how many reps/sets I do therefore delaying me and making me have too long of a recovery time in between exercises(not that my body wasn't thanking me for that though). Then he started being all chatty explaining how he hasn't workout out alone in a long time because he is more of a group class oriented person and all I could think in my head is, yeah I don't want to be your workout buddy I have a couple of really good ones already please stop talking so I can finish and get out of here. Thankfully he started working out again and I got to finish my last cycle and leave before he finished his next set. I hope that doesn't make me sound like an awful person, but you know when you're in the workout zone and you can see the finish the last thing you want is to be interrupted. Besides it's like workout code 101 not to interrupt someone during a set come on man.

Tonight's weight workout was chest and shoulders and that has yet to get any easier. The first superset we do just kills me and I feel like everything just wants to explode about halfway through. If I am weak at anything it's chest and shoulders hopefully in another month I'll be able to rock it out and see some progress. 

Food wise the elimination of carbs is still going well I don't feel too zonked. I did take an awesome nap today after my workout though which may or maynot have to do with not eating carbs either way I was pretty excited about naptime. 

I have started taking vitamin C twice a day and have added a second multivitamin at night. I need to get some B-complex and an additional Calcium pill as osteoporosis runs in my family and I'm at that age now where I need to be mindful of that kind of thing. Other than that I find that I get quite hungry now after my workouts so that is good, but I still don't get hungry from meal to meal which isn't a big worry because I think the fact that I am getting hungry at all is a good sign my metabolism might finally be starting to kick into gear.