Living It

It's the start of the sixth week in my 2nd twelve with Revelation Fitness. It's different this time around....

For starters the first twelve week was a challenge with these really aggressive goals hanging out there. I knew everyday how many calories I had eaten, how many calories I had burned, how many pounds I had lost and how many weeks, days, and workouts I had left to reach those goals.

With my goals met I signed up for another twelve weeks. No reach out goals this time. This twelve weeks it was about keeping up a lifestyle I'd spent twelve weeks building. There are also those great friends who I trained with who are still working hard toward their goals and I want to be there to help them reach them.

So it was a bit surprising this week when I looked up over lunch with two of the ladies and asked, "Just what week are we in anyway?" I wasn't sure how I felt about that. Something I had such acute awareness of the first twelve weeks had slipped off my radar.

The answer... I'm more than ok with it. It reinforces that while I certainly respond well to the structure of the original challenge I've also successfully made enough changes to my lifestyle, to the way I live each day, that I am no longer counting down the weeks, the days, the workouts but living them.

I'm not counting calories anymore and I don't wear my heart rate monitor for every workout.

What am I doing? I am eating breakfast. Every day. Oatmeal with dried fruit, cottage cheese, low-fat yogurt, a protein boosted smoothie, maybe a fried egg on whole grain breads on the weekend. I'm taking my lunch to work. Grilled venison and mango salsa, roasted chicken, thai steak and cucumber salad, and leftover salmon tacos are waiting in the refrigerator for my lunch box. I am working out twice a week with Keith, the best mornings of my week, and working out on my own at least another two days. Saturday morning on the trail with the girls, a spinning class at the gym or just a run around the neighborhood.

I don't track what I do anymore but I do make it a priority to do it.

This morning I ran a 5K for time. 36 minutes, a little under twelve minute miles. Not speedy I know but a nice even pace for me. And it inspired me enough to set a new goal. When I told Mariah I ran a twelve minute mile she set a goal to run a 5K in under 32 minutes shaving my time down to 10 minute miles. I found I really run something closer to a 15 minute mile these days and I never did run that 5K after bruising my knee. I'm stronger now. I just did 3 miles at 12 minute miles again. I'm going to run that 5K in under 32 minutes.

Loving "After"

Breaking Up With "Before"

So this is a little out of the typical flow for a blog that was meant to track progress through a twelve week challenge but I think it is time I post my "Before" pictures.

Why now? For those of you who know Mariah you know she is persuasive. She's also an incredible business woman and marketer which is why in a town already crowded with fitness programs Revelation Fitness is thriving. One of the things that makes the program a success in my opinion is the time spent up front in really setting out not just goals but aggressive goals and explaining to you how you are going to be able to meet them. She backs it up with a long list of impressive success stories. No matter how crazy she may sound at that moment the stories give her credibility and plants that seed that says, hmmmm, maybe I can do this.

In addition to the weight, body fat and overall fitness goals she also stresses heavily the vanity goals. Within 24 hours of your orientation you are out shopping for clothes that are 3-4 sizes too small for a photo shoot that you just signed up to do twelve weeks later. Not everyone signs up to do or follows through on a photo shoot but they are fundamental to the Rev Fit business model. Every other week Mariah posts another Revelation Remake to the Rev Fit blog and their Facebook followers, a success story that is really told through before and after photos. Watching for these became a favorite past time as they were hugely motivational but more importantly, at least for someone as competitive as me, they also served to push me toward my goal. You don't want to be the one that just doesn't measure up, the one whose photos are just filed away, who's photos aren't inspiring to yourself or others. So you stick to your diet, you work out like mad and you maniacally watch that scale, your heart rate monitor and that calendar.

Then the day is here. You finished your twelve week challenge, you've met your goals and you are hanging out with a photographer in your new bikini. A week later you get the first five photos back and you are relieved. You do look good, you aren't a fitness model but that isn't what you set out to do in twelve weeks is it? It was at that point I realized I didn't have my "Before" pictures that she snapped during orientation. I was curious to see the transformation in pictures for myself.

I send off an email to Mariah and 5 minutes later I have those "Before" shots along with the first of several emails, facebook messages and phone calls asking if they can use them in their upcoming ads. I think I remember one text from Keith that joked, "Think about the people you could help, do it for the people!" Release them? To that crazy marketer Mariah? My photo shoot is already all over Facebook, their blog and now she wants my "Before" photos?

I had to think long and hard about it but when I stepped back I realized that I didn't really mind the photos. Sure, I was a little heavier than I had thought but I was never really embarrassed by the way I looked. I did this challenge not to lose weight but to get back in shape so I could enjoy all Austin has to offer. To be that weekend warrior again. And most importantly to be sure I could keep up for years to come with the boys. My Dad ran 3 miles with me several times a week literally coaxing me along as I trained for high school soccer. Running three miles with Levi at 15 is daunting. I need twelve years to train! And there was my own desire to raise them to appreciate the Austin lifestyle. I want to teach them to love mountain biking, hiking, kayaking, and wake-boarding. I want them to wake up on Saturday begging to go to the lake or the park, not to play the PS2. You gotta walk the walk.

So the photos? They are me 16 weeks ago. A little heavier than I would have liked or even thought but still me. There is nothing embarrassing about them and when paired with the photo shoot twelve weeks later they are inspiring I think. Hopefully they will help push someone else to realize what a change they can accomplish in only twelve weeks. Maybe Keith wasn't joking when he said to "do it for the people".

I made the decision for those reasons to let them go, to release them to Mariah and let her use them in her advertisements to promote her business. To keep the cycle going as other people's photos had inspired me.

Round Two

I took a short break but I'm back.

Keith demanded everyone take a break for a week before we started back up with another twelve weeks of training. A break from strength training, a break from our diets, a break from really all things associated with the past twelve weeks just to rejuvenate a bit.

I took the break but I took it in pieces. The week we had "off" I had a Rev Fit photo shoot scheduled Thursday afternoon. That meant no break from the diet but I did take the week off from strength training. We were on vacation at the Frio so I did a bit of hiking at Garner State Park and took a morning run around the Pecan Farm but no 6am circuit training.

Then the next week as everyone started back up I headed off for Napa Valley for a quick work trip and used that as my off week with respect to diet. I found I was still pretty careful with what I choose to eat from the breakfast and lunch buffets but it was awfully nice to be able to sit down and enjoy the dinners without focusing on what I should or shouldn't eat. Really the food in the wine country is fairly healthy. I think I had a good deal of fish and lamb all grilled with veggies but I did enjoy those incredible sourdough rolls and several glasses of wine! While I ate as a I pleased I was in the gym each morning before we started doing cardio and getting in a bit of weights.

So really... no true break where I abandoned all exercise and diet but a bit of respite form both and I found that really I had developed some pretty good habits and genuinely missed my routine.

I also took a break from blogging. I set out to chronicle the twelve weeks in an effort to help me push through the difficult bits and maybe to help others who were struggling through the same. I thought I would end the blog with the end of the twelve weeks, goal accomplished. Yet here I am doing another twelve weeks with Rev Fit so what to do with the blog?

The difficult part this time around is I don't have a major goal out there. I don't really have a desire to lose more weight or shift too much my body fat. I don't care if I can run faster, the fact that I run at all anymore amazes me. But I'm doing another twelve weeks because I like being fit, I enjoy the 5am alarm and the workout with my girlfriends, and I want to make sure I maintain a healthy lifestyle as I have two growing boys I'm going to need to chase down in the coming years.

I think that might need to be enough for me. I could establish cross-fit baselines and measure them every few weeks. Not a bad idea but when I thought about it I'm not sure why I care if I can do more push-ups, run a faster mile, or lift a heavier weight 12 weeks from now. I think maybe continuing to improve my BMI is more important to me. Not dropping further weight or body fat but shifting to more lean muscle mass. That probably equates to more training and maybe heavier weights. I'm good with that and it is good for me. It's hard to measure progress on a weekly basis though.

So for now those 5am wake up calls will keep coming but this time through there aren't calories I'm tracking, measurements I'm taking, numbers I'm logging. This time it is just about me and the fact that I enjoy it.

I've decided rather than abandoning the blog I'm going to keep it up for a year. Just a way for me to journal my activity for the next 12 months and see where I am 1 year later and why. Busting your ass for 12 weeks is one thing but did I really develop and can I maintain those healthy habits I had hoped to?

The Photo Finish

When is the challenge really finished? With your last session with your trainer? Twelve weeks from the day you started? For me it was yesterday, with the "after" photo shoot.

I don't love the camera as I'm not terribly photogenic but when I set my goals at orientation with Mariah I agreed to do the shoot because it was something very tangible that I could work towards and also something very public as she is a master marketer and plasters those pictures all over Facebook, etc... so your motivation remains high to look your best.

I took the day off work but still rolled out of bed at 5:30 to meet Keith. Not to work out this time but for coffee to talk about the next twelve weeks. Besides just an awesome workout a few days a week what do I want to accomplish over the next twelve weeks? Really just reinforcing the healthy habits I've developed while easing back into a more normal social life.

After coffee I enjoyed a pedicure then met Joel for a quick trip to Nordstrom's then on to meet Keith and the photographer.

The shoot was actually alot of fun. Bikini, sports bra/shorts, and a cute sundress. Lots of weights, a bench and a bosom ball. Hopefully in the hundreds of snaps she took there will be a good one or two that I can choose from to tape to my closet wall to remind myself why I'm out there running, lifting or cycling every day. Here is a pic that Keith snapped with his camera before he left...

After the shoot I went to Hem and bought two new pairs of jeans. 12 weeks ago my jeans were a size 31/32 and the low-rise ones gave me that dreaded muffin top. Yesterday size 27/28!

Finally, to celebrate, I met Joel for dinner and drinks at Mulberry and Justine's (two of my favorite Austin spots) and enjoyed a few well deserved glasses of wine!

So let's talk about those goals...

• I didn't run the Twilight 5K as it fell when I was nursing that bruised knee but I have no doubt I could go out and run a 5K any night of the week. In 30 minutes? Probably not, I'm still as slow as ever, but the fact that I can walk out my door and run 3 miles if I choose to feels great.
• At 5:30 am the scale read 127. Down 26 pounds, 4 more than what I thought to be a ridiculous goal of 22 pounds in 12 weeks.
• The dress I wore for the shoot was a size 4, down from a typical 8/10 AND was safety pinned in the back to keep it from falling off!
  
• Body fat at the shoot was 11.5% , 14.5% down from 26% at orientation!

When I walked away from the shoot with those numbers and a photo on my phone I finally felt I'd completed the challenge. Not just completed it but knocked it out of the park.

Crossing the Finish Line

I'm not even sure where to start today. The twelve weeks are behind me as of Thursday morning at 7am. That was the last workout of the challenge. That morning I weighed in at 130, two pounds below my goal and one short of the 129 I am hoping to reach by this coming Thursday when we finish off with a photo shoot to see for ourselves the progress we've made.

Was it hard. Absolutely. The workouts themselves left me drenched and drained by 7am every Tuesday and Thursday. Within weeks we were working out EVERY SINGLE DAY, some days twice a day. I think in the 90 days I missed a workout maybe four times and way more than made up for them with all the double ups I did in the last 6 weeks when I realized that Mariah wasn't as crazy as I thought and my goals were actually in sight.

Would I do it again? I've already signed up to train for another 12 weeks with Keith. No, not to lose additional weight, really for no other reason than I enjoy it and I think at almost 40 you'll need to work almost as hard to keep the weight off as you did to lose it. I'm interested in how I'll approach the workouts without such an aggressive goal out there to chase. Must be careful what I ask for though. :-) If I go asking for advice there is no telling what kind of challenge I'll sign myself up for this fall!

Revelation Fitness Rocks!

I am down 20 pounds this morning! Same weight I was when I left college 18 years ago. Who knew it was even possible... I guess Mariah did! Shout out to Keith for keeping the pressure and encouragement coming.

I'm now 132 pounds, down from a high of 152, and am desperately in need of clothes. My slacks are literally falling off. I've defaulted to dresses everyday because my shoulders can hold them up! I'm carving out 1/2 day next week to enjoy my first shopping trip in months. I have no idea what to tell the sales girl when she asks what size jeans I wear, I love it!

132 is the target we set to maintain. My goal is to reach 129 before the end of the 12 week challenge so there is a bit of room to "bounce back". I have two more weeks. Those 3 pounds are gonna be history!