A while ago, a friend said to me, “This is it, girl. You get a do-over. Julie Two. Point. Oh. (Julie 2.0!?! I was quite sure it will be far more successful than Windows Vista! Heh.) I made a promise to myself to get back to where I wanted to be, and I’ve decided to share the journey with you: the good, the bad and the ugly, and, hopefully, in the end… the Victory.
I had been running with a friend twice a week for the last five months, but it wasn’t enough. It was maintaining my current level of fitness, and I was making small improvements in cardio strength, but I wasn’t really seeing other results. My food was crap. My sleep pattern was crap. And my clothes fit like crap. I’d had enough crap. It was time to get serious, get through the holidays, and get back on track. (Pretty much the same new year’s resolution that half of the modern world makes to themselves.)
I began by finding a month-long exercise challenge (See “Guns, Buns and Abs” pic). I did the scheduled exercises on each day, but decided to hold off on weighing myself until Monday. I’d get to the grocery store, stock the pantry with good food, and start a schedule at the gym.
Monday, January 4th: Weigh-in day. DEAR GOD. That number can’t be right?!? Can it? Well, fuuuuuddddge. Shoulders slumped, I considered banging my head on the toilet, but that would just leave me with a headache. (And, a cracked toilet.) Okay, it’s worse than I thought. Pull up your big girl pants and move on! That number doesn’t own me. I’ll kick it’s smarmy arse to the curb. *Defiantly sticks out tongue at bathroom scale* I GOT THIS. I’m ALL IN.
The food part wasn’t too hard. I simply paid more attention to eating higher protein and fiber filled meals, and a little less carbs. I used the same concept I had used in the past: Eat 4-5 times a day featuring a plateful of good, non-processed food like fruit, veggies, chicken, fish, beef, potatoes and rice. Seems simple, eh? Yeah. it’s a pretty basic, straightforward concept. Eat real food, often. Fuel your body to function at it’s highest. (*More on the food part later.)
January 8th: How many times should a person have to use the bathroom? With all of the water I’m drinking, I feel like I’m there every hour. Geeze, man! How the heck is a person supposed to get anything done?
Monday, Jan 11th: After one full week of eating right and working out, the verdict was in…I was down over 4 lbs! WOW! I was soooo motivated! I checked my calendar and got to work. Dear God, my knees sound like a bowl of rice krispies…snap,crackle, POP. Yep, I’m pretty much dying by the end of 30 squats. Come on. Breathe. Just 15 more… 10… (gasp-crackle…crunch) 5… AND DONE!
Being inspired by the number on the scale, I decided to amp up my workouts.
January 13th: I think may die doing these exercises. My core is so weak. So very, very weak. Ouch. Owie. Sweet Jesus, I've had three babies ripped out of my uterus and I wasn't this sore.
Sunday, January 17th: A planned cheat meal out! I was meeting friends at a Mexican restaurant and I was going to enjoy a margarita, too! YUM! I forgot how good tequila is, and, it how nicely it pairs with the melted cheese-covered fajitas and salty tortilla chips… Mmmm…. I was in food heaven.
It was after midnight by the time I got to bed. And, sadly, I slept horribly. DAMN THOSE TWO MARGARITAS! I woke up three times that night – versus ZERO times the previous week. I also woke up with a terrible headache at 6 a.m. and desperately needed ibuprofen. Arggghhh. Lesson learned. (Maybe.)
Monday, January 18th: Crossing my fingers, I get on the scale hoping to see another drop in the number…and…. NO CHANGE. What the hell??? Six of the last seven days, I had increased my workout time and went from burning an average of 400 calories per day to 600-750 calories, and my food and portion sizes haven’t changed. Grrr. This vexes me. However, it is common that the second week of a weight loss program is typically and historically a plateau week. Perhaps I’m not eating enough? I have to stay the course and remind myself that it took 12 months to put these extra pounds on, it’s going to take more than 12 days to take it off.
At this point, the other immediate effects of my hard work, however, are obvious.
- A notorious HORRIBLE sleeper, I was now falling asleep by 11 p.m., and the big change – I was STAYING asleep for a minimum of 5 hours. This was a very good thing for someone who was used to struggling to fall asleep and waking several times a night.
- I wasn’t having cravings for anything in particular…sugar, bread, etc. I was eating, and although sometimes felt hungry at bed time, about 95% of any kind of cravings were gone.
- My clothes fit better.
January 19th: I’m still pissed at my lack of progress on the scale. I mean, I could've been bloated, or retaining water, or whatever else... (COME ON! There HAS to be a reason, right?) I decide to weigh myself again, and finally the number reflects a loss. Perhaps there’s something to all of this water I’m drinking…
Saturday, January 23rd: Damn leg lifts. The entire time I was doing them, all I thought was, “Ow…. Ow... Ow…” I only did half-sets, except for the push ups. My body is just freaking TIRED. TIRED, I tell you!
Monday, January 25th: (I was dreading this … knowing what I ate the night before for a cheat meal...surely the salt and sheer calories affected me negatively. I was actually thrilled when I saw that I was only up a half pound. That’s not so bad! This didn’t deter me. I was certain I’d see a drop by mid-week. Ahhh…the power of consistency!
Wednesday, January 27th: Okay, surely it has been enough time. I stepped on the scale, closed my eyes, whispered a prayer, and then slowly cracked open my eyes to peek at the numbers. HOORAH! Down another 2.2 pounds! I sooooo have this! I jumped off the scale and did the cabbage patch dance out of the bathroom.
Friday, January 29th. I met my friend for a run. Brrrrrr! It was COLD outside! I was reallllllly tired, and I really didn’t want to meet her. But, I made the commitment, so I was going to get up, make the coffee, and get dressed like a big girl. We ran, and the wind bit our skin. Ears and cheeks stung in the bitter cold. As we ran, we chatted, and at one point, my friend said, "I can’t really feel my legs." I agreed. My legs were not just cold, but COOOOOLD. They were numb and burning with a tingling sensation. Overall, it was a cold, crappy, slow run. We were both tired, but we did it. We survived.
Saturday, January 30th: Hi ho, hi ho, it’s back to the gym I go. I climbed onto the elliptical and plugged in to watch one of the many televisions… drat. Saturday afternoon programming sucks. I alternated between Sherlock Holmes, the movie (snore fest), and Giada on the Food network. Both were only mildly interesting and rated just slightly above watching the weather channel or (ick) golf. (Shudders.) It was the longest 45 freaking minutes of my life. I finished and got on the stationary bike. Oh, and did I mention that I had started that lovely monthly annoyance that women go through? Yeah. That was awesome. Not. My body felt jacked up on a special kind of crazy, hormone levels were at an all-time explosive high, and my angry uterus was being a complete jerk. I felt utterly crappy and I couldn’t wait for this work out to be over. Ten more minutes…just ten more minutes. You can do this, Jules.
Nope. I can’t. Screw this. I’m outta here.
Some days, you just can’t talk yourself into it.
Monday, February 1st: It’s been four weeks since my first weigh-in and my attempt at my new year’s resolution, and here’s where things stand:
- I worked out every day, except for two.
- I completed the daily exercises on the calendar, with the exception of three days in the last week, due to knee pain.
- My meals stayed on track and within the allowed calorie range every day of the month, with the exception of four allowed cheat meals (one per week).
- Although I always felt better after a workout, there were many days that I didn’t really feel like going to the gym. I even tried to come up with reasons not to go… but in the end, I gave in and went. Because, even though it’s sometimes hard to get out the door, I always, always felt accomplished and proud that I did it.
- Total pounds lost: 9.9 (Over 28 days, that's an average of 2.8 lbs. per week.) My goal was 10, and I came pretty damn close to that, so I'm still going to give myself a pat on the back and move on to the next level of my Jedi training.
I’d like to point out two things. First, If you noticed in the numbers posted above, I started out each point in the affirmative. Instead of saying, “I missed two workouts.” I said, “I went to the gym every day, except for two.” I think it’s important to think and word your thoughts in a positive manner. Positivity breeds positivity. Thinking you can, instead of saying that you can’t is a very important key to success in anything you do. Second, this will be perhaps the truest thing I can tell you: even though you may feel you had a horrible, awful, achy workout, (and, you may have that feeling 70% of the time), I can honestly say that you will feel better about yourself, and you will BE PROUD of yourself, 100% of the time, no matter how the workout went. Life is full of ups and downs. Whatever it is that you dream, or wish for yourself, I can tell you this: you will not regret doing it. You will only regret what you didn’t do.
If you've been wanting to try something, change something, start something or quit something, what the hell are you waiting for? It's a new year. A new beginning. Will it be scary? Maybe. Will it be hard? Maybe. Will you have successes? Absolutely. Will you have failures? Most likely. Will you feel like crap? Probably. Will you feel empowered? Definitely. In the wise words of Dustin Hoffman's Kung Fu Master character in Kung Fu Panda 3: "If you only do what you can do, you'll never be better than what you are."
If you’d like to learn a bit more about the food part of my resolution, stay tuned for the next post. I’ll feature what and how I ate. And, the biggest question on your minds … am I going to continue this journey? Hell yes! I've only begun to hone my Jedi powers and quest for inner peace. (Heh.)
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