Day 48 - Weigh in, Alpha Showdown, Stats Update

Well friday is here, another week and 48 days. When I get to the gym I approach Maria and ask her if we are weighing in.  She says sure and grabs her papers.  As we walk over to my little friend, she says that she can see the change in me from my picture.  Well, wait, is she reading my blog???  I say thanks and yes it is quite a difference.

I hop on and grab the wands, the numbers go round and round and end up at 173!  But that's not the best news -

Start                      Day 19          Day 26      Day 34     Day 41   Day 48

Weight - 190         181.9             179             179         177        173

BF% - 47.8           41                                     39          40           37.9

Waist - 40.5"         38"                 36"              35.5       35           34

Bust - 44"              42.5"              42"              41.5       41           41

Hip - 46"                44"                 43"             42.5       42            41

Upper Arm - 15"     12.5"             12"               12         12            12

Calf - 18"                 16.5"             15.5"           15.5      15,5         15.5

Thigh - 25 or 26"      23.5"             22.5"            22        22             22''

Yes finally my body fat percentage is down enough that I am now on the measurement chart. Down another inch in the waist and hips too.  I guess the arms, calf, thigh are pretty much where they are going to be. So since the beginning I have lost 17 lbs (by this scale), 10% bodyfat, 5.5 inches off the waist, 3 off my bust, 5 off my hips, 3 off my arm, 2.5 off my calf, @ 4 off my thigh.  A total of 24" overall lost.  Wow - 48 days....  Listen if I can do this anyone can.  Trust me.

Ok so this is the first time I am posing a picture with my belly showing.  And I am smiling :).  I also want to say that I have also been tracking my weight on my scale at home.  I weigh myself first thing in the am.  For the most part it has been more or less the same as the one at the gym.  However, this one says 170 this morning.  The gym says 173. Whichever is fine I am happy with both. But...I made a promise to myself that when I reached 20 lbs, or 170, I would attempt to put my belly button ring back in.  I did it.  You can't see it in the picture but it is there.  It hurt a little bit as there was a bit of a covering but really it wasn't much.  I can't even remember when I took it out it was quite a few years back.  So I am smiling... and showing my belly.

Back to class, today is more Alpha showdown and we have quite a few challenges.  In no particular order, 2 minutes of burpees, 2 minutes of kettle bell swinging,2 minutes of pushups,  2 minutes of pull/chin ups, 2 minutes of situps and a standing broad jump.  We all do the burpees kettle bell and pushups together. Then tell Maria how many we did in that time.  Lynn is next to me and she does 89 pushups then grimaces in pain holding her head.  She has sudden onset of an exercise induced migraine.  It is intense and she is not well.  Maria gets her a cool compress for her head and I ask her if her eyesight is compromised and ask her questions to see how she replies.  It seems it is just a headache and we move on to the chinup area.  Lynn stays behind and says she is done for the day.  I do not blame her, I am glad she is more or less ok.  There is only 2 chinup machines so we take over one and take turns.  While waiting for our turn there is also situps to do.  On my turn I manage 30 pullups in 2 minutes and 60 situps. After all of us finish (except for Lynn) we go to where the broad jump is laid out and take turns.  I manage 56 inches but fall back on my buttocks.  I joke about my bum making only 30".  As each person jumps (and don't fall) they come back to me and say "I only did 48 " and I'm like that's farther than my bum went.  Its a silly joke but we all laugh.

Maria tells us how proud she is of all of us and how well we are doing in the showdown.  It's always good to hear positive words whether or not it may be true.  Today was a good social type day while doing the challenges and I like our group dynamics.  Some people are notably missing (just over 14 minute rower for instance) and I wonder if the Alpha showdown intimidates some.  I am not finding the challenges difficult as I think Maria is tempering them for us.

Tonight Drew is up north finally finishing the hot tub so I am on my own for dinner.  I think I will go to the pub as it is Fajita night and have some chicken.  Maybe..some white wine too, maybe...

Tomorrow is Saturday and I am going to return to the Barbell Strength Class.

Debbie

I borrowed this from a friend's facebook post - Thanks Sonia!!

Day 47 - Ohhhmmmmm

I am looking forward to yoga class today.  The instructor is the sub from last Tuesday's class and I want to see how her class goes.  First off it is very warm in the yoga studio.  Humid.  She tells us to get 2 blocks and a strap.  She tells us that we are going to work on opening up the hips and leads us through a brutal series of poses that apparently she came up with at 5:30 in the morning when she couldn't sleep.  I can not do some of them but push through the rest.  Seriously, do people actually get their bodies into some of those "poses" ie contortions?   It is much more grueling than the restorative class on Tuesday.  A few people get up and leave partway through.  At the end of the class she makes a joke about sticking it out.  I did find it hard but I will not be the one to leave partway through a class.  Unless it is spin class...

I have neglected to mention that I am tracking my steps every day.  My goal is 10000 steps or 5 miles per day.  Funnily I do it quite easily and actually on Tuesday when I did all that gardening I hit over 20,000 steps.  Drew finds this amusing and says I must just sit and run my feet on the floor since he is averaging only 6000 steps a day.  What can I say, I am a woman and I am always on my feet doing something.

I don't have any plans for the rest of the day.  I can't believe that this week is almost over already. I have accomplished a lot so far this week.  I hope that tomorrow being Friday and weigh in day I have made some progress in that respect too.

Lunch is a Very Berry Smoothie and dinner tonight I have the Salmon and tomatoes over spinach planned except I am substituting beet greens for the spinach.

Tomorrow TEAM day - Alpha Showdown and weigh in/stats day

Debbie

Day 46 - Alpha Dog - er Showdown Begins

Ok let me get this straight.  In this Alpha Showdown we are doing you vs you.  So not a competition against anyone but yourself.  Saying that we seem to have a little bit of a rivalry going on.  We have 5 rowing machines set up in our TEAM row of treadmills.  We are going to take turns doing 3000 meters.  There is no time limit it is just how long it takes to do the 3000 and at the 5th level of resistance.  The first five start out and the rest of us are on the treadmill doing sprints and pushups etc.  Every now and then Maria gives us an update on the ladies rowing and we cheer them on.  One lady finishes in just over 14 minutes.  You could guess which one.  The average is actually between 15 and 20 minutes.  Leigh finishes at just under 15 minutes so in my mind she is the leader.  When Lynn sits down at the just over 14 minute machine she finds it a tad easy to row, gets up to check and it is actually set at 2.  Maria had set them at 5....hmmm.

Anyways, we all get a go and when it is my turn I think I will just keep a constant pace and not burn myself out in the first 1000 m.  As my time approaches the 14 minute mark I find I am pushing a bit harder to see if I can at least match Leigh.  But no - it takes me almost 16 minutes.  I am winded when done.  I even tried imagining gliding down the bay on the scull saying hey to the neighbours but it was still a hard challenge.

Maria outlines what we will be doing on Friday for the 2nd part.  Burpees, pull ups, kettle ball and broad jump. I haven't done a broad jump since high school....lord help me.  We spend some time stretching out today and cooling down.

The weather today is not so good.  Heavy rain and thunderstorms.  Good thing I got the lawn done yesterday.  However, I was pretty stiff today and was worried about the rowing but once I got going I loosened up.   I may try it on one of my off days since it didn't bother my knee either.  After group Maria and I discuss my upcoming Metabolic testing and set the date for next Thursday.  I will have to fast for 12 hours and no working out or alcohol or caffeine for 24 hours before.  I remind her that the day before is TEAM day and she says that I can still do that but that is it.

Lunch today is 1/2 cup cooked pasta with cooked vegies and a bit of pesto.
For dinner Drew and I have open face burgers at the pub with salad.

Tomorrow being Thursday I am going to try the 90 minute yoga class.  I am hoping the weather will improve as well.

Debbie

Day 45 - Just Keep Swimming

Tuesday is another beautiful day, a little cooler in the morning but clear sky and promises of a warmer afternoon.  I want to do my laps today - goal is to increase the amount - and then get back to finish off the backyard planting and lawn reseeding as tomorrow it is supposed to rain.

For some reason, once again, I am the only person in the outside lap pool.  This is good of course and I have my personal lifeguard watching me....  I do my routine, 2 laps of breaststroke to warm up (the pool is lovely though - I would guess 80?) and then start my version of freestyle. Breaststroke, back stroke and front crawl.  I do 30 laps and in pretty good time.  I am winded so I know my cardio is up to at least zone 3.  I pull myself out of the pool and head inside.  I hit the hottub for a few minutes just to run some jets over my knee.  That feels really good and I am looking forward to using our very own hottub up at the cottage. (thanks Brenda and Claude for that awesome hand me over - you guys rock).

After a quick shower and dressing, I head out.  Since I am basically done or I should say since I AM done with all my costumes etc. for the year I have decided to take this week off and have a week at home working on stuff like the garden.  Yesterday I purchased more plants and dirt and seed so today will be the push to get it in the yard.  I forgot to mention in yesterday's post that I spent a few hours with my daughter in law and granddaughter and didn't get to do much in the garden before my husband arrived home for dinner.  So today my plan is to just finish it.

It is back breaking work but always satisfying to get the yard looking tidy (er) and I even mow the few remaining tufts of grass we have left.  I also mow the weeds down in the passageway between us and the neighbours and clean up the debris left there from trimming trees.  After planting a few new perennials and some annuals, I take a break to have lunch.  It is hot out here.  Lunch is ham and cheese on a wholewheat english muffin and some greens with a bit more ham.  It's nice to eat outside again.  The plan is to have dinner back here as well.

After lunch I take down the old rope lights that have not survived the winter and put up new clips and a whole new rope light in its place.  Looks so much nicer.  Then lastly, I rake up the whole yard to break up the hardened dirt, spread out and rake 4 large bags of topsoil and then sprinkle on the "grow anywhere including in the dark and on pavement" lawn repair seed.  Well, lets see if that holds true.

Drew helps me when he gets home to set up our patio lanterns and once again the Gabura Oasis is ready for the summer.  It is a small yard but it is our yard and we love it.  Looking forward to cards and tv under the summer night sky.

Dinner is grilled chicken on the BBQ with roasted brussel sprouts and spring salad.

Tomorrow - First day of Alpha Showdown

Debbie

Day 44 - Catching Up is Hard to do

I honestly have the best intentions.  I want to blog everyday, I think about blogging everyday but then I do something else and that leads to another thing and next thing you know it's a whole week later.

Monday Day 44 is TEAM Day.  It is also a beautiful sunny summery day.  Regardless (yes not irregardless Drew), I have committed to this journey and I will not miss a day.  Monday's are also Nutrition consult day and Maria squeezes as much as she can in the 30 or 35 or if she really pushes 40 minutes of cardio to get our week started.  It seems that our group is up and down with attendance and I am sure with the better weather that will be a constant change.

Today the challenge is to increase both our speed and our incline by 2 points every 30 seconds til we reach a max of 15% incline and whatever speed that takes us to.  I end up at 5.4 and even though it is only 30 seconds, running that speed at that incline is taxing.  Then she challenges us to run at the max we hit for a minimum of 5 minutes.  I do 7!  That is the longest I have run at any one time and at 5.4?  Nuts.  But somehow I get into some zone running thing and find it is not as hard as I thought.  Only thing holding me back from trying to push that envelope more is this nagging uncomfortableness in my right knee.  It's not a "hurt" or sharp pain, just a complaint more or less from joints and tendons and muscles that have never done this before.  Afterall, it still is only 44 days since I started all this.

Maria informs us that we are going to participate in the Alpha Showdown being held in the month of June at the gym.  What?  I know it is you vs you but the challenges sound intimidating. She thinks as a team we will rock it and we can cheer each other on.  She has us fill out and sign a waver though.  First thing will be Wednesday, rowing 3000 m at 5 on the resistance and weight work.  oh boy.  I don't think I've done 5 on the rowing machine nor have I done more than 200 m as it is part of our circuits we do Fridays.  Well, should be challenging that's for sure!  I note on the form a tshirt offered.  I check off Medium ;).

After 35 minutes we head upstairs to join Sara in the education room.  I always find her talks interesting and informative.  She talks about adding more vegies into our everyday meals and which ones are better than others and how the colours tell us what the vegetable offers us.  Interesting.  I mean we all know vegetables and fruit are good for us but which ones are better, which ones you should limit, which ones do what for you is something we should all know more about rather than I just like to eat asparagus for instance.

After nutrition we all head downstairs and part of me thinks maybe I should do something else since 35 minutes doesn't seem like enough but the other part of me is more practical and says you have already cooled down and the garden awaits!

Breakfast today was 1 cup granola with almond milk and 1/4 cup fruit
Lunch tuna salad with avocado and greens
Dinner grilled steak with spinach salad, homemade blueberry dressing, sprinkling of feta cheese & blueberries

Tomorrow - Tuesday Swim Day

I'll leave you with a smile )

Day 43 - Sunday Funday gonna Bike Day

I prepared last night for my early bike ride.  My bike is poised at the end of my car in the garage and I put my bike gear out before I went to bed.  Glenn says he should be finishing around the 45 minute mark which would be 8:45 am.  I figure out how far it is via the wonders of google maps - which also shows the bike paths and how long it should take by bike - and figure I need to leave by 8 am.  The weather is threatening to rain today, since I didn't end up gardening yesterday it looks like I probably won't be today either.  I hope it holds off til I return at some point later in the morning.

Its amazing that there isn't anyone on the roads at 8am on a Sunday.  For the most part the ride is flat and straight forward.  However there is a big hill going down onto the bridge over the Credit River and back up again.  I do it though at a fairly slow pace.  I got into Streetsville and see the participants walking and/or running the route.  I pull into the finish line area at 8:35 figuring that gave me a few minutes of leeway.  First thing I see is my SIL's (who I was with last night) sister.  She has just run her first 5k with her youngest daughter and some of her friends from school in Oakville.  Saying hello and catching up I am still listening to the announcer to see if Glenn is coming into the finish line.  Fiona says her goodbyes and I move closer to the actual finish line.  8:45 comes and goes, 8:55...then 9.  I must have missed him - he must have done better time than he thought.  Damn I was wanting to be there for him.  I saddle up and head back home.  Now I am trying to beat the weather, which I do.  I text Glenn and he finished right when I was talking to Fiona.  So sorry we didn't connect but it was a bit crazy there.

Streetsville and back by bike is just under 12k.  I did that in 30 mins each way.  I can feel the difference that working out is making on my endurance and ability to power through.  I got up that difficult hill both ways on the bike.  (yay spin class)  I am psyched to do that 30k ride the end of the summer.  I think I will be able to do it!

Lunch is a fried in coconut oil egg on 1 slice of whole grain toast with a few slices of tomato and a thin piece of cheddar cheese. Coconut oil does not give any flavour to the egg at all surprisingly.  Dinner tonight I have some shrimp in a quick and easy low cal, no carb thai sauce that I found online along with some brussel sprouts.

Tomorrow - Monday - TEAM Weight Loss

Day 42 - Saturday Gonna Try something New

Since Maria has suggested I do more weights in order to burn more fat (ie get that BF number down), I think I will check out the Barbell Class at 11:00.  I have no idea - per usual - what this is about other than weights and barbells.  I get there about 10 minutes before class starts in order to see what this is about and maybe talk to the instructor.  I introduce myself to her and she goes through what I need to set myself up and advises me to start with 10 lbs and perhaps, even though she will say add on, stay with that for the entire class.  She doesn't want me to hurt myself so she tells me she will pay attention to what I am doing and either show me or help me to do it the right way.

Well, this is barbells on aerobics.  There is music and we do lifts etc. along with the music.  I find this an interesting way to do weights.  Not boring at all.  10 lbs is more than enough weight to start with and some of the moves or lifts it quickly feels like 50 lbs.  I pay close attention to her body placement and she spends a few minutes at the start of each part explaining it and showing how to do it correctly.  The music she selected is very upbeat and of course there are some obvious choices, ie the Eye of the Tiger and Rocky's theme lol.

We do so many things over the hour and I am surprised when it ends that I have actually done most of it.  I think I will try this class again, however, I am anxious to see how much I hurt tomorrow.  I could definitely feel each and every thing we do and I concentrated very hard on doing it the right way in order to get the most benefit.

I think I will probably do this particular class again.  The timing is perfect for a saturday class and I didn't find it overwhelming, this time anyway.

I have no plans for the rest of today, I have some errands to run, one of which is to clean my car.  Being a nice day, its lovely to have a clean car with the convertible top down.

For lunch I make a little pasta (1/2 cup cooked) with cooked red pepper, onion, garlic, mushrooms and some celery.  I mix a little pesto into this for a bit of added flavouring.  It is good and filling.  Dinner time I meet up with my SIL and BIL for a bite at their local pub and I have 1/2 a chicken quesidilla.  It is very good and I do not have any avocado or sour cream.  I do have a glass of white wine though.

Tomorrow - my friend is running a 5k in Streetsville so I am going to Bike over.

Debbie