Eight Week High

I started this blog because I wasn't certain how intense the 12 weeks would get. I know it helped me to read blogs from a few other people who had taken Mariah's 12 week challenge, to understand their high and low points and know that they got through the difficult weeks and met their goals. It seemed that it might help me to have a place to document my frustrations or progress and also something to look back on to see just what it took to get through the twelve weeks.

I think I've been remiss about blogging regularly because overall I have LOVED this program. Yes there have been weeks where I've been frustrated. When you inexplicably gain weight despite adhering religiously to the diet and workouts, when I bruised my knee and every workout was somewhat at least uncomfortable if not downright painful, etc... But eight weeks in the rear view mirror and I have only positive things to say.

Mariah said this would be the best summer of my life and I've had some good ones but I have to agree that this has been just what I needed. I'm back to maintaining a very regular schedule with several 5am mornings a week. I work out typically every day of the week, several days twice a day. I feel great and have no hesitation to join in whatever weekend warrior activity Tracey has currently dreamed up. I've lost 15 pounds so far and am wearing shorts again and plan to buy a new swimsuit today.

I traveled to Orlando last week for a large customer event we host once per year. I could not believe the number of people who greeted me asking what I was doing differently as I looked fantastic. Nice feedback when these are people I haven't really seen since I started the challenge. Eight weeks in and they could definitely tell a difference which was all the motivation I needed to get through the next four weeks. And really, like I said, there wasn't much motivation needed as I'm loving these workouts.

I will admit that I'm looking forward to scaling back a few days a week and I am definitely looking forward to a pizza. I think probably for lunch or dinner on my last day, July 29th!

Mid-point Reset

Last week was a whirlwind on the Revelation front and I never found the time to sit down and blog.

The first of the week I spent traveling where I tried to be very careful with what I ate and hit the gym every morning yet gained two pounds. Damn. I lost it again by the end of the week but still frustrating as that netted a pretty flat week. Not to mention the knee. What was sore before developed into visible bruising and swelling. I took to the gym and tried to stay off the streets to rest it best I could but I'm still working out 7 days a week so I can't say I'm really giving it time to heal.

After 5 weeks we got a new trainer, Keith Outlaw. How good a name is that for a trainer?

Keith dropped the excessive weights and moved to more of a continuous circuit of light weight and cardio. This week he was off on vacation so Jim Nettles, Mariah's partner in Revelation Fitness, stepped in.

Wow, these trainers are all fit but Jim was definitely something to admire and so friendly. Again our workouts changed pretty significantly as he did more core and body weight work. Today we used the TRX bands which I'm seriously thinking about buying for the house. An eye hook on the back porch and I could go to town. He also sent me good reminders and tweaks Monday night by email and spent the whole hour going through our diets with us and making sure we had all our questions answered. All of which made for a really good week 7.

So my life as it exists in week 7...
3 days of strength training and 5-6 days of cardio a week.
1000 calories a day, 5-6 small meals/snacks with at least 100 grams of protein.
No carbs after breakfast and fruit only after a workout.
Basically meat, veggies, egg whites, greek yogurt, occasional oatmeal or granola and protein shakes. Have to plan to make sure I enjoy those juicy summer peaches as soon as I get back from the gym.

5 weeks to go, already half way there. I'm loving the workouts and would be happy to sign up for another 12 weeks just to keep training. The diet...I don't mind the diet day to day but I can't say that I'm not really looking forward to the 1st of August. It was quite the struggle to turn down a beer after fly fishing in Colorado last week and on the boat last night as the sun went down.

Today is the end of week 5 and I'm still going strong.

The body camps and format of the whole challenge are great. I got the right mix of exercise and diet about two weeks ago and really began to see a faster drop in weight. My arms are even starting to get back some of their definition. Still some work to be done on my legs and abs for sure but it feels good to actually be able to see the difference!

I've quit trying to keep track of our workouts. I typically go straight from our training sessions to the gym for another 30-45 minutes of cardio and by the time I'm done I'm exhausted, racing to work and can only seem to recall the most evil of the exercises we did that morning. We're getting enough homework exercises on the weekend though that I think I'll have a good selection to pull from down the road.

We are switching trainers next week. I quite like Christina. She's cute with a perfect little body which motivates you to work harder just to look like her. Tuesday we switch to Keith who she described as a small Mr. Clean.

I did notice over the last week that my knee is starting to flare back up. Bad news as I was just starting to enjoy running again. What am I saying? I hate running, always have. But I was getting back to a good place where I could go out and run most of a 3 mile loop and feel good when I got home. I'm going to have to decide pretty soon if I need to cut it out to preserve my knee for our workouts and keep my cardio to bike, crossramp, treadmill or other classes at the gym. Shame as running is the fastest way to knock out a workout on Saturday morning.