Drop Two Sizes!!

Did that get anybodies attention because it certainly got mine!

Has anyone ever heard of this?

Browsing the web over the years and reading pretty much everything I can about eating right, exercising, and losing weight, I've seen my fair share of programs, books and stuff.

So when I opened my email a couple of weeks ago and that was in the subject line, I dismissed it initially.  And then I immediately went back and clicked on it because darn it, who doesn't want to lose 2 sizes right?

It was an offer to try a workout program.  I usually don't go for these things and then I saw who's program it was.  You may not have heard of her but I have.  Her name is Rachel Cosgrove and over the years I've read a lot about her.  And honestly, it's all mostly good stuff.  I even already own a book that her husband (who is also in the health and fitness industry) co-wrote called The New Rules of Lifting for Women.  Anyway, long story short, I received it yesterday.

What is it?  Well, there is a book and there are DVDs.  It's basically just a workout program.  Nothing too crazy.  It focuses on primarily on strength training with some metabolic training thrown in.  It's so close to what I do I thought:  Why not?

Now about that two sizes thing.  Apparently Rachel and her husband own a gym just north of Los Angeles and they have a "Rock Your Jeans" challenge at their gym.  I believe it started out as an 8 week program to help women fit into their "skinny" jeans and what she found was that usually after about 8 weeks, all of the women were losing around 2 sizes.  So since they had such great success with this challenge, she decided to package it up and sell it.  Now, I'm not too fond of the Drop Two Sizes title ONLY because it sounds like one of those scam programs, but otherwise, I'm really excited to start this up.

The program is in 3 phases that last 4 weeks each.  You do 3 strength workouts and 1 cardio workout per week.  The book is not included but I downloaded it thru amazon just to have.  The book actually has the workouts in it as well but I love me some DVDs so I decided to only do the workouts with them.  The book also has a meal plan which looks pretty simple and doable.  Again, it's all really good, simple information so that's nice.  I just needed new workout ideas.

Oh yeah, I also needed to drop 2 sizes so there's that.

So this will be my new workout adventure.

When am I starting?

Weelllllll

I'm producing a photo shoot for a magazine right now and I'm right in the thick of it so I think I might start this Sunday or Monday.  So get ready for some new pics, measurements, and all that jazz.

Friday Weigh In

I honestly have no idea what week I'm at anymore.  I started counting weeks last September when I tried Weight Watchers (again) and I've lost track.
Perhaps a new start is what I need since I am no longer Watching my Weight.  (see what I did there?)

So, I proclaim today to be the beginning of what I will now call "Friday Weigh In".  No counting necessary.

How refreshing.  A new start!

Anyway.

I'm not sure I should even count this week as I clearly have come off of what I would like to call a minor hiccup on this journey.  Ah, who cares.  When I weigh in, I always tell you what I lost from one Friday to the next so here goes.

weigh in:  -9.0 lbs

Glory be!!!  9 pounds?  Is that accurate?  Yes, my friends, it is accurate.  I lost 9 amazing pounds of what was clearly a helluva lot of water weight. 

No wonder my jeans were crazy tight. 

I knew I had been eating some high sodium foods/naughty foods so I was expecting a little bit of the bloat to go down but I'm telling you, it's night and day how I feel.  And all it took was a week's worth of some seriously clean eating.  Food really is like medicine. 


What I did:

1.  I went on a couple of walks but nothing too strenuous. 

2.  I ate between 1300-1400 calories every day.  I tracked it one day and then just kind of ate the same foods every day. 

3.  I drank some water but more would definitely be better.

4.  I ate pretty much just vegetables, fruit, meat, eggs, some nuts and a little cheese.  Oh yes and coffee.  Precious, precious coffee.  Maybe I had some semi-sweet chocolate chips too.  Love those things.  Like little drops of heaven.  Meals included:  chicken wings with salad, steak with sauteed mushrooms, onions and red peppers and green salad, cashews with apples and slices of sheep's milk cheese, and steak omelet.  I kind of just stuck to the same thing every day so I didn't have to track too much.  Clever huh?

That's all for today.  Have a great weekend all.









  

Weekly Weigh In: Week ??

I can't believe a it's been about a month and a half since my last recorded weigh in.

Seriously, it felt like one week.  I was a little flabbergasted when I looked at the calendar and I realized I was many, many weeks behind.

Anyway, while I've been gone, it has been both good and bad.

First the bad.

Cause that's how I roll.

Shortly after my last post, I had a few gains and a few losses.  Then another gain.  And another.  And then I'd maintain and then I'd gain more.  And as of my last weigh-in (last Friday) I stood on the scale and accepted my fate.  I weighed my highest weight in 6 years.  And I wasn't shocked at all.   My eating habits during the last month and a half were clearly not in alignment with losing so I am happy I don't weigh more.   And let me be clear, when I say my highest weight in 6 years, it's only 6 pounds more than what I weighed in January of 2013.  But it's a big deal to me.

And now the really bad news, though I weigh just a few pounds more than I did even in September, the jeans that fit me back in September most definitely do not fit now.  That tells me something very important.  I've lost muscle and gained fat.  A lot of fat.  You know how you can't trust the scale to tell you when you have a true loss?  Well, you can't trust it to keep you on track with a true gain.  I might have only gained 6 pounds of scale weight, but the inches I gained around my waist probably sent me up two sizes.  I wish I could say this is shocking, but it's not. 

There are a lot of reasons this has happened.  First, tis the season.  Not an excuse just a matter of fact.  Halloween, followed by my birthday, followed by Thanksgiving, followed by Christmas.  It's a killer combination.  Second, the time change.  This gets me every year.  I have a harder than usual time when we set the clocks back in November.  I suffer mildly from seasonal affective disorder.  Nothing too big but it does wreak a little havoc every year.  And thirdly, well honestly, those 2 things added together equals most of it.  The SAD zaps my motivation, gets me a little down, and then the string of food related holidays usually gives me the old one-two punch.  And the next thing I know I'm sitting on the couch wondering what's wrong with me?


You know what?  Nothing is wrong with me.  I just didn't do what I was supposed to do.  That's all.  My body isn't broken, I just gave my body what it needed to gain fat.  End of story.  And the only way to get rid of it ...

Well, that's the easy part.  I know how to get rid of it, I just had to find my mojo to get back into the swing of things.  But we'll talk about that part later.


Now lets talk about the good stuff that has happened since last we met.  Because believe it or not, it wasn't all bad ;)


I ran a 5k! 

And I only had one goal.  To run it in under 40 minutes.  I know that's not a crazy fast time or anything but it's what I wanted.  I'm pleased to say that I made that goal.

I have also been exercising since I last wrote.  I continued to run 3 days a week.  It has only been in the last week (after my 5k) that I took a week off.

I signed up for another 5k on Thanksgiving morning.  I may have already told you this, but it's still something good I did. 

I surprised my fiance with tickets to his first NBA game last weekend and I was utterly pleased to find out the seats were super close.   I'm his hero now.  And who doesn't love being a hero?  That's Blake Griffith walking by us to go back to the locker room. 

Doesn't he remind you of that famous Sasquatch photo?

And finally, yesterday I went out on my lunch break to go on a walk to try to get more activity into my day.  I haven't done this in awhile so I was very happy that I took the initiative.  Sometimes taking the first step back into a healthy lifestyle (no matter how small) is the hardest.  And for something so small, it made a huge impact on my motivation because today I feel like a new person.

And wouldn't you know, the universe rewarded me for my healthy decision.

I took my usual walk up to Universal City and they were filming Extra TV up there.  So I stood by for a few minutes and got to see AC Slater.

That is Mario Lopez and Nicolette Sheridan doing some ballet.  I have no idea why, but I'm putting this in my good column because it's always nice to catch something fun.  Especially during work hours.  Plus I'm trying to be as positive as possible here folks.

Now if I could just win the lottery this week ...