5 Week New Year New You Challenge - Who's In?

OK - this is a self-created, self-regulated challenge beginning tomorrow, ending January 23rd.

Why? Well for me, its my Cayman's bikini final push. But its just as good for not gaining weight over Christmas and New Year's, and for starting the new year off with a bang.

Here's what it looks like - a next-level kind of push - working out regularly is great, and we've all been doing that. Eating well is super - and we've all been working towards that as well. But now its time to shake out of that rut and (if you've been relaxing since the race) get back into a fitness health goal and buck it up for 5 weeks. Or, if you really want to do it in 4, that's cool too.

So who's in? Here are some preliminary guidelines for gameplay.

Rules -

• You set your own goals - if you need help planning we can help, but your goals are totally self-defined.
• Accountability - you put your goals out here on the board and then update weekly
• Proof - take before and after photos - you don't have to post/share, just take so you can see the raw data. Also take measurements (weight, inches, BF, dress size - whatever is really pertinent to you) weekly and post. The proof is for you - no one is going to call you out, but its both motivating and helpful to track your progress. :-)
  
• Reward - You have to set a reward for yourself that you really want. Something that is really going to motivate you. For me, new bikini in Caymans.
  
• Any other rules? Add them here
• Other People Too - I'm going to open this up to whoever wants to do this thing - I think its the perfect time for it, and if you have a friend who wants to do it, please invite them!

Here's what my next-level training commitments look like:

Exercise -
5 days at the gym (3 weight days, 2 HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training, ie BFL type cardio)
6 evening workouts at home (3 low intensity cardio workouts, 3 Superset training workouts using compound moves and bodyweight)
1 long run (5 - 8 miles preferably outside)
1 Yoga workout per week

Food -
5 meals totalling 1500-1700 calories per day - no whole "days off" - 3 cheat meals per week
No caffeine/stimulants
No alcohol (possible exception of a glass of wine socially at christmas and new years)
No fried foods
No crazy sugar bombs
Fiber! And how - 30 grams per day as per recommended daily allowance
Water! You betcha - 3 liters per day minimum
Veggies - 5 servings per day

Goals -
Weekly - achieve daily fitness and food goals, lose 2.5 lbs per week
Overall - Get to ideal weight of 133 - 12 lbs fat lost
Strengthen and tone butt and legs and abdominals
Eliminate back pain due to weak abs and tight/weak hamstrings
Lower BF to below 30%

Rewards -
Weekly - massage, beauty treatment, bikini or clothes for trip
Final - hmmm.... all new hair including color? A little makeover from Cam... That sounds awesome.

OK, who wants in? I want you all with me for company!!! heh heh, but seriously. Are you ready to boot-camp yourself?!?!

Love and Light,
AMY

Weekend Survival Guide

I have been struggling with weekend eating. I get regular emails fro Spark People and thought that it really hit home for me.

Please read the article. I even printed out the little Weekend Survival Guide to stick in my purse.

Also, I am starting to go to Weight Watchers meetings. I've reached a lifetime goal with Weight Watchers before and I really feel like I need something to push me along.

What do you all think about this?

Although, truthfully its not any more restrictive than what my goal calories are supposed to be anyways, but....

http://www.calorierestriction.org/Home

HEY?!?! WHO'S FIRED UP?!?!

C'mon people, how are we doing?!?! This blog is not just for the good things, but for the tough times too - what's going on people? Would you share your experiences? Please? I'll start. Oy, I'm crampy. But on the other hand, I haven't been drinking any liquor for several weeks now, so I think I'm probably LESS crampy than I would have been. My period seems to be lighter which is good. I crawled to the gym this morning, but did my second official training workout. Woohoo! I do need new shoes, but that may have to wait a little while until I get more money. I'm down 7 lbs since we started the blog, but still over my old set point of 150 by 5 lbs. Slowly but surely getting there. And I'm sweating disgusting amounts every day. I guess that's my metabolism kicking up, but its totally gross. But my skin looks great. So everything's good and bad and up and down. What is going on with y'all?

A cool new documentary in production

The website is www.inspiredthemovie.com and I liked the blog section. Plus in the media section there are some interesting interviews from the movie. Cool stuff.

Where My Peeps At?

Hello sucka mc's - where are all the postings?!?! OK, I'll start.

My knee is feeling MUCH better - finally. I went for some long walks and a strenuous 3 mile hike with Lisa when I was in San Diego and that helped push things along, and then yesterday I went on an 8 mile/3 hour very steep hike with my friends Sandra and Annette and that was great. It kicked my butt, but totally doable and I was able to get up and go to the gym this morning and do my first upper body workout in forever. Then I did 3 massages today in my new studio. So lots of exercise!

My back is a bit sore, but my legs feel good - tomorrow I'm gonna go for a run outside with Tom in the am. I'll let you all know how running goes. BTW - official start of the training program is I think next week - where are we all at? Teresa and Michelle have both been struggling with some injuries, how are those coming along? Lisa, how's running when its hotter than hell? Tom, wake up and post! I'm looking forward to hearing from you ALL.

PS - I had a really good time in San Diego with Lisa Lisa (formerly of Cult Jam). It was very healing for me and we had a great time together being girlie. Just what I needed and I got to get firmly anchored in my not drinking. I've been feeling really toxic and the fall I took was a big reminder that I have goals that are not furthered by drinking, overeating and being hungover. I'm really enjoying the subtle and not-so-subtle differences in my body and sleep and mindset while not drinking or drugging. So that's where I'm at. And thanks Lisa!

my new motivation to get up

i'm making a deal with myself that if i don't get up and exercise in the morning, then i must bring workout clothes to work and go at lunchtime. way more painful - its hot, for one thing, plus i'm not that keen on my coworkers seeing me all sweaty and in my stretch capri workout pants --- and --- it messes up my hair for the rest of the day! i was able to rinse off, since we have a shower.
i'm on day 4 of tracking food intake and exercise on sparkpeople!! there's something about this site that really drew me. i'm not really doing their plan, but there's all sorts of ways to make sure that my diet is balanced - it breaks out the fat/carb/protein and gives me a range to shoot for -- also a range of calories, which really helps.
i registered for the paloaltoweekly moonlight run - its only $20, and you get a T-shirt.
next step - conquer my fear of Gold's Gym!!!!

The Hacker's Diet

Cause sitting on your ass all day in front of a computer totally contributes to fatassidous...

some good links though

Article is here

also, don't do the Master Cleanse diet. See here for why not.

Past Week

So here are my stats:

• Monday: Overall my eating was pretty good.  I didn't get enough water or protein though.  It was a rest day, so I didn't do any training, except for a 20 minute walk in the park for the doggie.
• Tuesday: Eating was a little higher than my upper limit.  I did do a 2.25 mile run and then did an upper body weight session.
• Wednesday: I ate too many fats and not enough protein.  I went to the gym and did 30 minutes of cross training on the bike.
• Thursday: A little high on the calorie intake and again, not enough protein.  I did 2 miles of running and a lower body weight session.
• Friday: Way too many calories.  Kevin came home and surprised me with In-N-Out for dinner!  I should've just had the cheeseburger and I would've been fine, but no, I ate the fries!  I found out the burger and fries were almost 1000 calories. I ate too much and I felt bad, but was ready to go to the gym on Saturday.
• Saturday: Eating went well.  Kevin and I went to a BBQ and I didn't stuff my face!  Sometimes awkward social situations make me eat more, but I refrained and made myself talk to Kevin's labmates.  I started out the morning with a good workout.  I did 30 minutes of biking and 10 minutes of rowing and finished off my gym session with an upper body weight session.

Next week's goals:

1. Drink more water!
2. Eat more protein.
3. Don't eat In-N-Out

I also wanted to let you guys know of a really great site that I've been using: sparkpeople.com I have been using it to track my caloric intake and exercise session.  You can set a lot of nutrition goals and exercise goals and it's has a lot of valuable information.  I am using it to track my calorie intake, fat, carb, protein, fiber and water intake.  You can even get weekly meal plans and exercise plans based on what you like or don't like.  So if you're vegan, you can get a weeks meal plan made for you that is in your calorie intake range and the other ranges you've set your for yourself.  I really think you guys should check it out if you want to keep track of what your eating and in my case, not eating (damn protein).

How was your week?

So I'm spinning positive on this one

And saying that if it works one way, its gonna work the other - I'm really glad my friends are totally fit and active peoples that inspire ME to get fit and active! Thank you dears. :-)

When one person LOSES weight, their close friends tend to LOSE weight, too, Amy found.

Monday Check In

Hello Everyone!
How was your weekend? What are your training goals for the week? How is your training going?

I went on a long hike Saturday with Tom and Chris and Shelly - fun. Hot. Ate pretty extravagantly all weekend.

Tom and I took all our measurements this morning, and figured out our lean body mass and how much fat we want to lose to get to our goal weights. I have 27 lbs of fat to lose to be at my goal and maintain my lean body mass and get to my ideal BF%. That is going to be achievable provided I continue exercising AND continue to address my food intake. Small changes though - I'm focusing on frequent small meals and I am well aware that alcohol doesn't do anything good for weightloss. So, this past weekend I ate off 2 days and I really felt the difference - mainly in my attitude. One free day is enough to throw me off track for the next day, and two days off makes it really hard to motivate. Plus going back to the gym this morning felt like I was starting completely over. So, one free day from now on.

On the other hand, I DID get up this morning and went to the gym and worked my back and chest and walked a mile on the treadmill and did some ab exercises. I also am working today, so that's some more physical exercise.

Lastly, I voraciously read the last Harry Potter book, so I'm sure I burned a bunch of glucose thinking so hard. :-)

Progress and Weekly Plan

Hello all,

First off - big shout out to Michelle for yesterday! We walked 2 miles and RAN 2 miles yesterday on West Cliff!!! We immediately followed up with margaritas at the Palomar, but STILL... ;-)

As for my weekly plan - I'm doing 2 days of shorter cardio workouts, 3 weight/resistance/core workouts, and 1 long run/hike on Sunday. I'm going to be eating 5 small meals each day and drinking 3 liters of water per day, and I'm going to take a women's multivitamin daily and an Emergen-C each day. And Saturday is going to be my free day.

Tom and I are going to be fining ourselves for any missed days of workouts or eating off plan. $5/day for missing a planned workout, $5/day for eating crappy or (in my case more likely) not eating enough during the day. And I'm going to make up a box to put said fines in - and its going towards our vacation fund.

What are you all up to this week?

True Confessions Time

I ate at Jack In the Box last night after drinking two light beers. (But I ordered chicken tenders and that's it.) Then tonight, I had half a Trader Joe's pizza with Tom. My stomach INSTANTLY bloated up from the pizza tonight. I was trying on all my outfits for Chicago tomorrow (haha I am such a packing geek) and my belly had swollen to muffin-top status (extra LARGE muffin) within half an hour of eating the pizza. This isn't my stomach really, its below - where the carb bloat happens. Blech. Dejected. But I worked out this morning and gave two 1.5 hour massages today, so that's some calories. Mainly I'm disappointed in myself and also reminded of how much I dislike being overweight. It really sucks when all my clothes are binding and chafing and fit weird and hurt. I'm sad. And that sadness kinda makes me want to reach for some ice cream or chocolate or a drink. Which is really one of the core issues for me - emotional eating. So I'm gonna drink some water and finish packing and go to bed. Moving forward now.

Back On Track and Focusing on Diet and Supplements

It turns out, that taking yesterday off was a great idea - I had a really good lower body workout today and I'm stoked. Tired, but stoked.

I talked to Shelly (y'all know she's a personal trainer/nutrition counselor, right?) and we chatted about supplements, and working out, and losing weight etc. I have decided to actually apply all the vast fitness and diet knowledge I have accumulated over the years and really hit this with all I've got. While maintaining the rest of my life and leaving room to enjoy myself and support my inner little one who hates being denied anything....

The main things Shelly swears by supplement-wise are glutamine, essential fatty acids and protein. The glutamine especially is both important for muscle recovery, and it somewhat suppresses appetite, and its available anywhere. I am going to check Trader Joe's to see if they have some. She recommends taking it about a half hour before meals. EFA's (Essential Fatty Acids) are important, especially Omega 3's. She recommends switching it up now and then - Wild Salmon Oil, Flax Oil, whatever you like best. And Protein is way important for building and recovery and overall health! Plus it increases satiety without adding sugar or lots of calories. I've been using Brown Rice Protein powder which you can buy wholesale from All Health Trends online. We've been buying from them for a while and we like them. But some people like Whey Protein too (I think Teresa's been trying that again). I'm totally averse to Soy Protein cause of its hormonal effect on me.

So I'm gonna focus on regularly getting my nutrition right. I even made salmon the other night and y'all know how little I like fish. But it was alright - I thawed frozen Wild Salmon from Trader Joe's, poured on their lemon dill marinade on the fillets and cooked them on our barbecue. It was good actually. My main focus for nutrition is cooking at home as much as possible, cramming vegetables into EVERYTHING, and not eating starches at night.

What are your "tricks"?