The Lovely Bones...errr Muscles?

I've found my hip bone.

I'm sore.

What could these two facts possibly have to do with each other?  Well, technically, they have my obliques in common.  Which are currently sore.  Since I've started TurboFire, I've noticed that my core has been rather sore, and when I go to massage the soreness, I'm finding less and less fat, and more and more lean muscle.  And of course, bone!  My hip bone has started to make its presence VERY clear lately.  My cat can no longer perch on my hip whilst I am sleeping without it becoming uncomfortable!  While you can see the number slowly crawl its way down, down down, and you can also see your pant size go down down down, being able to FEEL the difference in your physique makes this journey so much more REAL.

I've felt triumph, I've felt pain, I've felt fear, worry, angst, frustration, loss, gain, any number of emotions on this journey but the past few days a new feeling has been growing within me and its really new for me.

Awe.

I'm in awe of myself and my body.  I'm achieving things I never thought I'd be close to being able to do 6 months ago.  I feel more alive, excited and yes, sore than I've ever felt in my life.  It's different from being in rowing where weight training and running were mandatory, but I never clicked with it.  I never really was conscious of what working out would do for and to my body.

I think its really important for people to be conscious of what their working out does for them.  When teaching kids about nutrition in school, I think it'd be extremely valuable for them to be taught WHY certain foods are good other than just "eat this and you'll get fat".  That's negative instruction.  Rather, why not tell them that in order for their bodies to build muscle, they need to eat x amount of this and x amount of that.  Explain to them why muscle is important, why being physical is important, why doing things like yoga, is important.  Why is flexibility important? Tell them!  And I know there will be folks out there who will say "kids won't understand or won't care".  You're underestimating them.  They're frakking smart.  And if for every 4 kids you only impact 1, that's 1 in 4 kids who will go on to influence their friends.  That's 1 in 4 kids who will avoid the epidemic of childhood obesity.

Placing blame on the food industry is easy.  Educating your children to make smart choices is not.  Sure, I believe that if its not in the house, you won't go out to get it, but everybody at some point has to go grocery shopping and it can be TOUGH to avoid those highly processed crap foods.  Willpower is a myth, really. What actually motivates your choices (and your kids choices) is knowledge.  If your kids KNOW what Mc Donalds will do to them, they'll think twice before scarfing down on a Big Mac.  Placing emphasis on health and fitness over being waif-model thin is also important.  We want to foster positivity, not negativity and self hatred and eating disorders.  Show them docs like "Food, Inc" or "Supersize Me".  Give them incontrovertible proof about how terrible fast food is.  Then teach them invaluable skills like how to cook for themselves.

Let's face it, this is not an easy problem to solve because of how much we've let the food industry get away with feeding the masses sh*t.  All for the bottom line, in the name of capitalism, profit and industry.  What the hell good is all of that (aka $$$$) when you haven't got your health?  Those top 1%, keep stepping on the downtrodden masses....who's going to be the respective cogs in your machines when they're all diseased and can't work?

Okay okay, rant over.  Back to work.

Battle of the Bathroom Scale!

So I've been plateaued for about 4 weeks at 209.
I thought I had been down to 206, because my bathroom scale and my wiiFit did not agree with each other, as my wiifit had me at 206lbs and the bathroom scale at 209.

 Eventually I just realized that I'm ridiculous and can't do simple math (the wii is in kg) but figured out that they do jive and that I hadn't lost as much weight as I had thought I did.  Follow this with about 4 weeks of 209 staring at me in the face each week and its enough to drive anyone crazy!  Well this past week I have started TurboFire AND upped my daily intake of calories and guess what was waiting for me on the scale this morning?

 205 baby!

Lesson be learned: When you're dropping weight and building muscle, eventually those muscles need more calories in order to keep themselves happy and healthy.  And when you have happy healthy muscles, they thank you by burning tons of calories!  Keep in mind though: you need to make sure you're eating the RIGHT calories.  Not junk food!  Keep the blood sugar as even as possible!

Operation Clean Eating is underway as well.

PS: I know many out there will do the "but you shouldn't worry about the # on the scale.  Quite frankly, at my weight, that's bollocks.  The number *IS* important because at my height and age, being over 200lbs is NOT healthy....I mean unless its all pure muscle, but that's kinda not the look I"m going for!  Once I get closer to my goal weight, I'll be able to care less and less about the number on the scale (though will be checking in to make sure I"m maintaining appropriately once my body weight levels off).  I'm already getting to a place where I can appreciate more how I feel in comparison to 6 months ago, but again that number is still very important.

TurboFired UP!!!!

So I'm about a week into my new TurboFire system and phewf! I never worked this hard on Jillian Michaels Body Rev.  My heart rate monitor shows me working out well into my anaerobic zone (@ 80-90% of your max heart rate...I'd be lying if I said I never went above 90%) and man oh man its crazy!  I can't work out that high intensity forever, its just impossible for the body to be able to do that, so I do have to take quick breaks, but I always jump back in when I've caught my breath and managed my heart rate a bit (10seconds max).  Chalene KILLS your abs while just jacking up your cardio intensity.  Even if I did everything low low impact, I'd still get a killer workout!  Tomorrow's a Core class, which I haven't done yet so I'm looking forward to and yet slightly dreading the pain....
....wait wait, what's that?

"Pain is just fear leaving the body!"


...Thanks Jillian, you'll always have a place in my workout schedule ;-)

TURBO's ON FIRE!!!!

For those of you who know me well, and maybe even not so well, know that my nickname is Turbo.  Fitting then, that I should try TurboFire as my next exercise system.  Distributed by Beachbody, the same folks who bring you P90x and TurboJam, its headed up by Chalene Johnson, trainer to the stars.  She's energetic, she's supportive, she's blonde.

She's kind of the complete opposite to Jillian in that she's motivating with a chipper attitude and "feels the endorphins" and loves feeling the burn, etc.  Jillians Body Revolution was fantastic to start out with.  It's half an hour a day, which is totally awesome, and you are always able to mod up and down (as you are, admittedly with Chalene's system too) to your fitness level.  Jillians strength lies in being able to motivate someone (me) to keep going and push themselves after an extended amount of time of relative inactivity (i.e. years! Although I had been biking quite a bit, actual "working out" hadn't been done since highschool).

Her little phrases

"It's only 30 minutes a day, you can do ANYthing for 30 minutes"
"When you have a WHY, you can tolerate ANY HOW"
"Nobody likes working out, the only good thing about working out is the skinny jeans at the end!"

It was the "I totally hate to work out, I feel ya, but let's just bang this out real quick I swear you'll see changes, I'm only asking for half an hour a day, you can TOTALLY do this and change your life!" attitude that kept me going with her.  After doing the Body Revolution for the full 90 days and then another half way through, I was feeling a bit bored.  It wasn't that the system was no longer challenging, as I said you can always mod up, I just felt like doing something different.  I had been following someone's fitness page on Facebook (Hard Work & Dedication) and she had started doing a system called TurboFire.  I checked it out, and liked what I saw....a bunch of really sweaty folks having FUN while pushing their bodies to their cardio limits!

I dug a little deeper and was pleased to find out that TurboFire is based on an incredibly effective mode of exercise called HIIT, or High Intensity Interval Training.  By boosting your cardio and mixing it with strength training, your body creates something called an AfterBurn effect (both Jillian and Chalene swear by it) whereby it burns 9x more calories for HOURS afterwards.  Usually using plyometrics (can be a bit painful if you're a plantar fasciitis sufferer like me, but if you take care of your feet by stretching throughout the day, and icing, the results are so worth it!) and bursts of high intensity followed by a lighter recovery period.  Its hardcore, and the results speak for themselves.

So TurboFire it is, and my first experience with the class was challenging, mainly because of the choreography.  I'm not very coordinated so it was a huge challenge for me, and I look forward to getting better.  I'll go through my impressions on TurboFire and how it measures up to Body Revolution after my first week on the program!

Also, to come, skinny jean pics!!!

Body Revolution Redux

Hello folks out there in internet-world!

It's been one heluva month, let me tell you!  I've made it to the 45lbs lost mark, and I've been working like crazy!  I took a month to try out some of Jillian's other DVDs whilst I waited for the end of August for a second round of the Body Revolution.  Today marks Day 2 of the KickStart week, where you follow a rather strict meal plan and do two workouts a day.  I just finished my second of the day and man am I tired!

For those of you who are wanting to know, here's a brief blurb on each of the DVDs I tried out:

J.M. 6 Week 6 Pack

Yowza!  Even though Jillian's got a new Abs workout DVD that is JUST about to be released, this one is not that old (2010) and its a heluva good workout!  Jillian takes you through all sorts of crazy ab intensive moves, that also happen to be cardiorific for max calorie burn.  She helps you build that core up while blasting the fat away because really, what's the use of having a 6 pack if there's a bunch of fat getting in the way of showing it off?  Two workouts that are roughly 30 minutes (we all know she likes to sneak in an extra min or so here and there!) and yes the Level 1 is damn challenging and Level 2 will knock your socks off!

J.M Extreme Shed and Shred

I used this for my cardio DVD for the last month.  Its crazy!  Its actually two halfish hour workouts that you can do either seperately or together for a workout that lasts over an hour.  I tried that once.  It did not end well.  'Nuff Said.

J.M. Kickboxing Fast Fix

I love this DVD (I have it in mp4 format) for the simple reason that the workouts are super short (20-25 mins each) and they are crazy in the cardio!  Its a full body blast, its short and I don't use it for my main workout but if I've got some extra energy juice at the end of the night, this is a good one to use it all up on!

J.M. Killer Buns & Thighs

So.  I did this one once this month.  I only did the Level 1 workout and well....my poor poor buttocks were quite tingly for awhile afterwards.  Definitely not for the faint of heart, this DVD will totally whip your butt and thighs into the greatest of shapes.  Can't wait till after this go around of Body Revolution to explore it some more!

Well there you have it.  Great DVDs, the workouts are just long enough and at the same time, not too long.  I'm very happy with my purchases and I can't deny the results I'm getting.  I also can't deny the fact that my journey has inspired a few of my friends and family to get up and get moving and invest some time in themselves.  Whether its Jillian Michaels, P90x, Insanity, CrossFit, Yoga, Kettlebell, Spin.....working out your body helps to keep it in top form so that it can keep working for you.  I'm unbelievably chuffed to have inspired some of you guys out there, and I know each and every one of you can achieve the results you desire.  It takes hard work and determination, but I know you have it in you.  Jillian knows you have it in you.  

It's time, isn't it?  So get off the couch, kick your own ass and find the healthy you you've always dreamed of.  In the immortal words of Michaels,

"Find your why.  Once you have a why, you can tolerate ANY how"

Remember those words, they'll help you in the Killer Buns and Thighs. ;-)

Back to Life, Back to Reality...

I got my hair cut.

Big deal? Nah, not really.  But the style I got kinda is, at least for me.  I got a bit of a graduated bob, that hits me right at my jawline.  Why do I care about how long my hair is?  

Because my jawline has resurfaced!

I can now rock this cut and have it look good.  Instead of focussing attention on my double chin, its focussing attention on my jawline!

This weekend I began to really see myself in the mirror (uh and the reflection in the glass doors of Dave's Battletech Minis cupboards.  I really need to get a full length mirror already!) and began to really take in the changes that my body is going through.

My shoulders and arms are much more square, instead of rounded and soft.  They look strong, even though plank variations still give me a tough time.  My neck is smaller, and I can begin to see the definition of my collarbone.  I'm standing straighter, with purpose and strength.  I'm holding my head a bit higher.

Full body wise, my stomach is flatter, my butt be smaller, and I can stand on one leg and do a single leg squat.  Its "cray cray"!  I can see my body shape, turns out I'm somewhere between a pear and an hour glass figure....these hips don't lie baby!

Most of all though, I feel...like "myself".  Not necessarily like what I used to be like when I was smaller before, but I feel more in touch with who the essence of me is.  She's strong, determined and totally kicks ass!  I feel spunkier, funkier, which is also reflected in my haircut.  I need some new product though to play around with it!  That *is* something I used to love in high school....getting a shorter 'do and using product and having fun with it!  Bed Head is still one of my favourite products. I'm still red as far as colour goes and I don't see that changing anytime soon, though I think I might try a bit of turquoise underneath my bangs for fun.

My perception on this journey is beginning to change.  It's not just about getting healthier because of the repercussions of what would happen to me if I didn't change anything.  Now, I'm more excited to be able to DO things.  To be able to push myself and see how far I can go.  Jump higher, run faster, do a pushup (still struggling with this!).  The clothes are gonna be fun, but also just feeling--no--BEING a healthy, normal person is going to be amazing.  I'm gaining control of my life, my health, and my future.  I can see a difference in my work ethic and my stamina.  I feel GREAT!

the ZONE!

So I've recently hit a bit of a ...well I guess the term would be "fell off the wagon".  Not totally....more like I was dangling my upper body off the back of the wagon.  Y'know, to see if I could stay mostly on the wagon...but still be off it.  Hard to explain, but essentially I lost a bit of control in the food area.  Workouts were continuously going on, but perhaps a bit less energy being brought to them, and excuses for why I couldn't try this or that move because "I so totally can't do it".  The scale refused to budge downward, and then last week.....it went up.

The culprit?  My friend James and his kitchen/bbq wizardry.  Okay really it was also my fault for caving, but even Jillian Michaels says that willpower is "bullshit".

"Control your surroundings and purge your kitchen of all the crap and only stock healthy, nutritious options."  Of course she's also all about not denying yourself either, so long as you keep your indulgences within your daily calorie allotment.  Purging the kitchen gets a bit tricky when you're in a relationship though.  Especially with a guy who has a weekly game night with his buddies.  While I cringe and secretly want want WANT those chips, who the hell am I to make those guys have to eat the stuff I eat?  Who am I to begrudge them their calorie laden but oh-so-tempting pizza binge?

I found myself faltering, and unsure of why.  Then I gave myself a reality check:

1.  I work.  A LOT.  Mon-Fri (for now, Sept. is going to be crazy).  My days are minimum 10 hrs, and max typically 12.

2.  I work OUT.  Every morning.  I wake up at 5am, eat my 100 calories of almonds so my body doesn't cannibalize its own muscle.  Get up proper at 5:45am and work out until roughly 6:35/6:40am.  Shower, makeup/brush teeth/hair, dress, downstairs by 7:05am.  Eat breakfast and leave the house by 7:20-7:25am.  In order to do this every morning...I need to be in bed for 10pm.

3.  I have a boyfriend.  Poor guy's been neglected a bit simply because I'm exhausted from 1 & 2.

4. I have to plan/cook meals in advance so I don't eat crap at work for lunch/dinner.  This has fallen by the wayside lately, resulting in mishmashed meals that aren't all that filling, just calorie counted for the most part....leaving me unsatisfied and hungry.

5.  I have friends & family.  At least I think I do....they haven't seen much of me lately, and that's because of 1-4.

6.  I have a me.  And I forget about me sometimes.  I'm a person who needs "me" time.  More than I tend to get these days.

7. I have interests and TV shows I like to watch.  Since working in film & tv, my actual watching of tv shows and movies has fallen WAY down.  The only show I worry about right now is The Newsroom. When I *do* have spare time and control of the tv, there's usually only crap on and I find myself watching frakken Toddlers and Tantrums...I mean Tiaras.  *sigh*  But thats for a different blog.

So, I'm being pulled...seven ways from Sunday (that's a saying right?  Well it is now!) and its no freaking wonder I'm going nuts!  My entire life is being scheduled out of the wazoo!  I'm running a marathon and I'm finally hitting that first Wall.

This week though, I'm dedicated to regaining control.  My workouts are going stronger, I bought a heart rate monitor to help me keep my heart rate up there.  I'm planning my meals a bit better, and have planned out and created a shopping list for the first week of September when I'm going to be restarting the Body Revolution with some online friends.  Another 90 days, hopefully another 38 lbs.  Maybe more?  This time around I'm going to give it a full go.

Start date: Sept. 3rd, 2012.
End date: November 23rd, 2012.

Goals:

DRINK:  8 glasses of water a day
                NO ALCOHOL. (Yes, this means Turkey Dinner will be sans wine, but I'll be done before Christmas, so I'll be able to enjoy the holidays.)
                NO POP, NO EXCEPTIONS.  I've been lax with this one.  Time to stop.

FOOD:   Keep my calories at 1200-1300 a day, and make sure I work in a treat each day WITHIN my daily allowance.
                Do the Kickstart Week as planned.  Cook ahead, and PLAN SEPTEMBERS FOOD!!! (with 3 days off between sept 6 and 23rd, it's gonna take a lot of planning!)

               Work on keeping better track of other parts of the foods I eat, carbs, sodium, etc.  Stay within the recommended daily max for these.

               Use the Master Your Metabolism Cookbook.  READ Master Your Metabolism.

EXERCISE: Do the Kickstart Week exercise plan. (Extra cardio dvd in the evening.  Depending on my schedule, may do both workouts before work....getting home at 2 or 3am and then working out is NOT my idea of a good time!)

                      Work on keeping my heart rate elevated as long as possible in order to keep conditioning.

I can DO this, its 90 days, it CAN be done.

HOO-AH!!!