Month Two, ? Workouts

Lat week I did my fitness testing again to see the progress that I’ve made in the last month. This month was more challenging since I traveled, gave birth (see www.windspireenergy.com, my baby), delved into full on wedding madness and had some emotional ups and downs. I’ve I lost track of how many workouts this would be, but I’m guesstimating that it is around 30?

I still absolutely love working out at MRI and with Camie, my trainer. She is truly one of the most inspirational, genuine, and kind people that I have ever met. It also helps that she laughs at my jokes. Like this morning when I could hardly breathe. I told her I was going to come at her like a Spider Monkey. She laughed and came back at me with a southern drawl. Anyone who gets references to Talladaga Nights is A-Ok in my book.

Anyhoo, here are my results for this month:

Measurement	3/10/10	4/1/10	4/13/2010	5/14/2010	Change
Chest	43 inches	42 inches	41 3/4 inches	41 1/4 inches	1 1/4 inches
Arm	13 3/4 inches	13 1/2 inches	13 1/4 inches	13 1/4	1/2 inch
Waist	40 inches	40 inches	39 inches	39 inches	1 inch
Hip	47 inches	45 1/2 inches	45 1/2 inches	45 1/2 inches	1 1/2 inches
Thigh	28 1/2 inches	27 1/2 inches	26 3/4	26 3/4	1 3/4 inches
Calf	17 inches	16 inches	16 1/4	17	??? Probably all those stairs!
Activity
Push Ups	29	37	40	45	16 more!
Sit Ups (the real kind)	22	26	33	36	14 more!
Mile Run	13:55 minutes	11:45 minutes	N/A	10:54 minutes	3:01 faster!

I have to tell you that originally I was disappointed that I hadn’t lost more inches. It was so motivating last month to see those numbers drop. It got me down for a bit and then I started thinking about other things that I’ve noticed are changing. For instance, my jeans are too big. MY JEANS ARE TOO BIG. My clothes fit. I’m not squeezing into anything. I sleep like a rock. Emotionally, I feel GOOD. Taking that hour or so every morning to move and sweat puts things into perspective, makes me let go of the things that are on my mind. My overall fitness and strength are improving. I ran a freaking mile this morning and I almost did it in 10 minutes. I haven’t done that in years. Really. Years.

I’ve lost 14 15.2 pounds! At my first wedding dress fitting the seamstress had to take in inches from each side. She tried to convince me not to lose anymore weight. My wedding dress zipped up with no problem. In December I had to suck it in to get it on. My body fat is down 4%!

I always find it funny how the universe sends you little signals and signs. After I got done running my mile and could hardly breathe this woman at the gym came up to me. She’s in excellent shape and I can tell she’s an athlete. Maybe a runner or something. She said, “You were busting it on that treadmill. I wasn’t even sure you were breathing.” I kind of giggled, brushing off her compliment like I do so often. Then she said, “No, I’m serious. You were really moving.” Made me feel so good to hear that. Then later another girl who works out at the same time as me said, “You get here earlier than me every morning and you are always busting your ass.”

Yep, I am. Or Camie busts it for me.

So despite the fact that I am not so happy about not losing any inches I realize that this is a journey and part of that journey is gaining confidence and feeling good on the inside. These compliments at the gym mean more to me than these strangers will ever know. And the results that I feel on the inside are almost as good as losing lbs. and inches.

11 Workouts In

Seven years ago I was diagnosed with Hashimoto’s Thyroid, an auto-immune disease that caused my body to start attacking my thyroid gland.  The thyroid gland controls a lot of really important functions of your body including – metabolism, making proteins and how sensitive the body should be to other hormones. When I was 18 and heading off to college I started to gain weight drastically – putting on 30 pounds in my first semester of college. My parents thought I was eating too many bagels. I thought I was just getting lazy and being an overachiever on the Freshman 15.

Alas, that was not the case. Three years into college and at an annual exam my doctor thought my neck looked swollen. She felt around and was pretty sure that I had a goitre. I had blood work done and it came back that I was hypothyroid. Off to the endocrinologist I went.

Years went by and I tried my hardest to lose that 30 pounds that had now become more like 50. I’ve written about some of my attempts at weight loss before so I was a little hesitant to share my new endeavor with you. After all, what if I failed? What if I wrote another post about eating vegetables, going to meetings, jumping on the scale and you thought, “Oh here she goes again talking about losing weight.”

Instead I’ve kept this latest try a secret. Until now.

About four weeks ago I started working out at a place called MRI. My friend Jill had been attending boot camps there and she really recommended it. I could tell from her results – she looks A-mazing (shout out Jill!) that it was a different kind of place.

And after four weeks of the hardest training I have ever done I can attest to it. I’ve been working out with Camie Cragg, who is one of the most beautiful people inside and out that I have ever met. I’ve tried the personal training thing before and I have to say that this is the first time I have felt like I have a Champion who is as invested in my health and fitness as I am. She is always available when I need to ask nutrition or fitness questions, she’s positive and there is just something about her spirit that makes me feel excited and privileged that I get to work out with her. She really makes it fun and the variety is what keeps me going back. I never know what the next day is going to bring!

Anyway, now to the guts of it. I’m working out four days a week in the morning. I get up at 5 a.m. and haul my butt to workout. I’m going to state this for the record – it is NEVER easy to get out of bed. I NEVER think, “Oh I can’t wait to go and get my butt kicked by Camie.” But I do it – every morning. I have not skipped a single workout yet. And it has paid off.

Here are my RESULTS after 11 workouts:

Measurement	3/10/10	4/1/10	Change
Chest	43 inches	42 inches	1 inch
Arm	13 3/4 inches	13 1/2 inches	1/4 inch
Waist	40 inches	40 inches	None – whatevs
Hip	47 inches	45 1/2 inches	1 1/2 inches
Thigh	28 1/2 inches	27 1/2 inches	1 inch
Calf	17 inches	16 inches	1 inch
Activity
Push Ups	29	37	8 more!
Sit Ups (the real kind)	22	26	4 more!
Mile Run	13:55 minutes	11:45 minutes	2:10 minutes faster!

I’ve also stayed fairly true to the Eat to Live philosophy, although I have been craving more meat. I’m being really careful about what goes in my mouth, which means when the office is swarming with sweets I have to be THAT girl. Yep, the girl who says no. Sometimes multiple times. Sometimes in a very firm way. Sometimes using swear words. Meh.

One more thing – in the four weeks that I have been working out at MRI I have met some of the most amazing people. First, Camie, who is so awesome. Then I meet my friend Page’s mom, Martha, and she became my new workout partner since we are both preparing for weddings (her daughters are getting hitched, not to each other of course, shout out Page!). In addition to these lovely ladies I also have become gym friends with a few of the people who work out at the same time as me. They are so motivating and friendly, which helps when the sweat is pouring and  you can hardly breathe.

Sometimes I’m in the middle of doing some new torturous fabulous fitness move and I look around the gym. I see athletes, moms, dads, high school students, girls like me and I think, “Wow everyone in here is sweating and breathing hard. Everyone is working it.” It motivates me more than anything to see the people who are true athletes in the same kind of pain I am. Is that sick?

What are you doing to stay in shape? Do you ever WANT to get out of bed to exercise? Do you have gym friends?