Day 9 & 10 - Rock on with my bad self!!!

Friday was "Fight.. gone bad".. holy crapola!! You know, I say that every workout, but Ben works us HARD! Believe me when I say I appreciate it more and more every day. After the workout I decided that I would pull out one of my dress shirts that is one size smaller. At first I was like, no maybe not. But then I thought "Just try it on. If it doesn't fit, then there's more work to do and that's fine." So I tried it on, this purple (big surprise! Ha!) long-sleeved shirt, and it FIT!! Whoo weren't there some waterworks!! I was a little skeptical that it was really true until I tried on another one that size just to verify!! WOOO-HOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I cannot tell you how good it feels to be able to put on a smaller shirt and feel comfortable!! Normally when I'm uncomfortable in something, I pull on it and adjust it all the time, but not this time!! After I'm done writing this I'm going through my closet and the clothes I have packed away in my basement. I'm pulling out every piece of clothing that I have in the smaller sizes and stuffing them in my closet (sorry honey, but your side of the closet just got taken over!). I don't care if it's crowded or not. Hell, I may pack up some of the stuff that I was wearing. Bye bye big clothes!! I am so SO proud of the progress that I've made, and I can't wait to make some more!!

The workout itself was pretty tough, but after Fight..gone bad, we did something even harder!! Ben had us in pairs and facing each other. He would tell us to go and one side would do push ups and the other side had to stay in the plank position. Oh and these were just regular push ups, we had to follow his directions. So he would say "down" and make you hold it there. Then "half way up" or "half way down" or "all the way up". It was SO hard!! So while one side is doing crazy push ups, you're holding the plank position. Then we switch. Ben told us before we started that if we came out of the plank position there was a penalty. Let me tell ya, I tried like hell NOT to fall, but my arms felt like they were going to fall off a couple times and I had to put my knees down. So what was the penalty you ask?? We had to RUN. Heh?! Yep!! We started at opposite ends of the gym, Missy and I were partners and Erica and Christine were partners. So we had to go down to the end & back 3 times (so 6 laps basically) then your partner went. We each did this 3 times. The cool thing was that Ben gave a prize to whomever won. Missy and I were the victors in that one. The prize is that we get to pick a Prograde product (protein shake) of our choice for free!! Cool!! =) Let me tell ya, Erica & Christine were no slouches in the race either!! There was one time where Erica & Missy were neck & neck! So kudos to them!

Today I was a little nervous because my husband & I went to a poker tournament in Westfield (my husband ran it). I knew that there would be food there, but nothing that I would be able to eat (I was right, they had hot dogs, popcorn, chips and yeah sandwiches, but not on the right bread). So I grabbed my husband's small cooler and packed everything that I would need, right down to supper if I needed it. It actually worked out great. I had plugged everything into Fitday so I knew where I was at and off I went! I had everything at my fingertips that I would need and kept on track!! I got home early from the tournament (not talking about it!! LOL) so now I've changed it up a little and my numbers are near perfect!!

One big lesson that I learned this week is to definately plan ahead. I had a hard time on Thursday & Friday with food. We have stuff we do on those nights, so I have to bring snacks, lunch and supper to work with me. That's all fine and dandy, but trying to plan out the day in the morning before work is very hard, especially if I have to stop at a store before work to get what I need! Then I'm scrambling to get myself ready and out the door early enough so that I can stop at whatever store and not be late for work! One thing I also did was plugged in food to fitday as I went along and then decided what I was doing for supper. That didn't really work out either. Then I was still having to scramble to try to get my numbers to come out right. So for everyone out there that's trying to lose weight, definately plan ahead!! It'll save you time, money & a lot of headaches!! When you buy your fruits & veggies, cut them up ahead of time and put your servings in a container. That way you can just grab & go!

Ok, so I am really really not a big fan of yogurt. Hate it actually. The kinds that I've tried are just... BLECH!! Ben, and the other girls, have been saying that the Greek yogurt Chobani has a different taste & texture than regular yogurt. I have to be honest, I didn't believe them. I was very nervous, but this morning when we were doing our grocery shopping trip with Ben (that was great and very informative! Thanks Ben!) I finally said "ok I'll TRY it!". So I had the strawberry flavor and you know, it really wasn't that bad!! There wasn't enough strawberries in it for my taste. Sometimes I had a bite with just the yogurt and it was kinda bland, but all in all it was not bad at all. I went back this afternoon and bought some more!! I also bought some fresh strawberries so I think I'm going to mix a few in the yogurt to punch it up a little. I may even cut up some strawberries & a banana and mix the yogurt with it. Hmmm.. yum.. maybe I'll have that tomorrow!! MMMMmmmm... That's another lesson.. don't knock it till you try it. You may just like it!! I was not a fan of romaine lettuce either, but it is starting to grow on me!!

TTFN!

Day 7 & 8: My new Motto: Suck it up and DO IT!!

I gotta say, yesterday was TOUGH!! We did "Four Eyes".. It was all such a blur that honestly I don't even remember what we did, just that it was really hard!! (check out the Moosers Blog for a listing of what we did) But I did it, and I didn't give up!! I think that's the main thing for anyone. DO NOT GIVE UP!! That's where my new motto has come from. Even when you're hurting, tired, sweating, hot... Suck it up and DO IT! You may think you can't, but you can.

The last thing we did yesterday (that I definately remember clearly) was the kettle bell relays (Ben called it the Farmer's somethingorother). You take a 44lb kettle bell in each hand and go down the length of the gym twice then switch with your partner. I was paired up with Erica for this one. So Missy & Christine had the 52lb kettle bells. So yes, we were lugging 88 and 104lbs respectively. Once we both did our turns with the weight we had we switched to the other weight. Check out the video on the Moosers blog. Pretty funny! Holy moses was that killer! My forearms were burning by the time we were done. I think we each did each weight twice. By the time I was on the very last bit of my lap with the 88lbs and was totally done I was like: "Ok that's it" and speed walked to the end! I felt like I was going SO slow and pushed myself to finish and finish strong! Then I realized, I have to bowl tonight!! LOL.. I told Ben, "my bowling team is going to come kick your butt if I can't bowl tonight!!" LMAO.. luckily I did fine in bowling. =)

The really cool thing is that everyone has been really really supportive! Every day at work, the girls ask me what we did and how it was. Plus, one of my bosses yesterday said that she can really tell that I'm losing weight!! Oh yeah! Oh yeah!! Rock on with my bad self!! LOL. Plus a lot of the girls at bowling last night were asking how its going. Plus, people have left me great supportive comments on this blog. I can't tell you all how much it means to me to have your support in this. Thank you so much. Oh and I get extra loves from my kitties every day when I come home from my workouts. =)

Today was cardio day again. Back again was my old foe the bike. LOL. Actually, we got along pretty well today. My sneaker got a little snagged a few times but I just kept on peddling!! We also did squats, burpees & step ups. 30:90 for the first 10 and 30:60 the last 10. The only difference was that during the 90 second rest we had to walk around and lift our knees way up. Ok, no messing around today!! LOL.. Then for each exercise Ben gave us goals. 15 squats was my first one.. and I did 16! Burpees was 12 and I got darn close. The same with step ups, nearly hit my #s every time. I don't know what it was today, but whatever # Ben gave me for squats, I wanted to one up him. So the next time I did squats he said 16 and I did 17. 17, I did 18! The last one was 18 and I nearly hit it, but couldn't quite get over. Most people that know me well know that I am stubborn as hell and just as determined!

Well, time to get ready for the rest of the day! Ta ta for now!

Day 6: The bike is out to get me!!

Today we did cardio again. The bike, kettle bell swing, burpees & resistance band boxing (not what Ben will call it, but that's what it was basically).

So the bike and I are really not getting along at this point. LOL.. The first time we did cardio, I think it was the last time around, the strap on the pedal came off and the bike started making terrible noises. Ben assured me that the bike has done that before and not to worry about it. But the bike struck again today in our second cardio day. Just as I had started my 30 second sprint on the bike, the seat fell! I went from comfortable to gnawing on my knees!! I didn't have time to fiddle with it so Ben had me do high knees instead. Oh yeah, much better! Thanks! LOL. Thankfully that was my last turn on the bike so until we meet again evil bike... I WILL be watching you!! LOL..

The new exercise thrown in the mix today was the reistance band boxing. It was two resistance bands tied to eye hooks in the wall. You pull them out until they're at the end (not stretching them), put one foot in front of you, then just punch! As hard and fast as you can! Holy crap!! But it didn't hurt that Ben put his hand up so we had a target to punch!! Hee hee.. bad idea Ben!! Actually I feel a little bad though because I forgot to take my engagement ring off or at least turn it around. It's not really huge, but big enough with a little (a LOT of) force behind it!! If you have any built up frustration this is the exercise for you!!

Although I hate to admit it because I know Ben will just kick our butts harder next cardio day, it was a little easier today. We all seemed to be in good moods, laughing and joking around. When we started we did 90 second rest periods between the stations we were all able to still talk & joke. It felt good not to get so tired so fast. BUT, by the time we started doing 60 second rests between stations it was VERY quiet!! LOL! Believe me though, we worked our butts off!! As I'm sure we will tomorrow!!

Here's a couple quick tips I've learned: 1)Put a chicken breast between two pieces of plastic and hit with a mallet until flattened. Put Grill Mates Garlic & Herb seasoning on each side (or any other seasoning -avoid BBQ sauce because it has high fructose corn syrup) and throw on the George Forman Grill for 4 minutes and wa-la!! Tasty chicken in 1/4 the time!! I saw this on the Biggest Loser, tried it and LOVED it!! 2) If you want to make a healthy meatloaf, try using salsa instead of eggs, crackers & tomato sauce. It's got the tomato sauce in it plus all the veggies and tastes the same!! I'll have to ask my mom what the ratio is for pounds of meat to salsa. But boy is this yummy! My mom even used Newman's Own Natural Salsa that has all natural ingredients, no added sugar or any bad stuff!! 3) Something that may seem healthy might not be. Check the label, if it's got partialy hydrogenated oil (any kind soybean, vegetable...) or high fructose corn syrup (the comercials are WRONG) then it's not really healthy!! Try looking for foods without this in it.

Well folks, my show's coming on soon so I'm gonna hop off. Let's see who's not the Biggest Loser tonight!

Day 4 &5 - Baseball, bootcamp style!

Day 4 (Sunday): We went down to my parent's house on Lake Champlain on Saturday morning. I was thinking, ok here's a test. Can I stay on the diet away from home? The answer? You betcha!! The only thing we bought was a 1/2 gallon of 1% milk because I know my parent's don't use that. We made healthy things like hamburgers on the jenaire grill (all the fat falls to a collection cup underneath) and chicken! Lots of veggies and fruits too. I was so relieved! Sunday was also my mom's birthday so there was the traditional cake & ice cream. As much as I wanted to have even just a small sliver of cake, I didn't give in to temptation!! It's hard to believe, but it's true!! Ask my hubby who had seconds!! We had a great time and even managed to get back home to Newport before the storm got too bad. Richford mountain was, of course, lovely travelling as always!!

Day 5 (Monday): This morning's workout was KILLER!!!! We did baseball, bootcamp style! We broke into pairs, myself & Missy and Christine & Erica. There were 4 stations: sit squats x10 (squat down and touch the milk crate with your butt - but don't actually "sit"!! 10 times), side lifts (not what Ben called it, but you take a 10lb weight reach down & touch the floor on the side of your foot, then lift it across your body to your shoulder 10 each side), push ups x 10 and burpees x 10 (a good name for these would be pukees cause that's what you want to do after awhile!! These are like ones you've seen at military bootcamps. Start standing up. Go down to a plank position, pull your knees to your chest -hands still on the floor- then stand up, arms over your head & clap). So once we finished all four exercises we put a mark on the board on the wall. So it was whichever team could do the most in 10 minutes (seemed like an eternity!!). The first time it was a tie at 6 each. So we did it again as a tie breaker. Good job Christine & Erica for doing it 5 more times! Missy & I did it 4 more. After that we did wall sits, plank, kettle bell chest lifts (again, not what it's called) and squat lifts (or something like it), 30 seconds each for like 10 minutes.

I seriously thought that there was no way that I could finish, and then I did!!! I do have to admit that I cried when we finished the first part of the workout. There were so many times that I wanted to give up because I was tired or felt like my body had had enough. Then Ben was there with the encouragement, and I heard the other girls saying: "Come on Lisa, you can do it!" "Don't give up!".. they all pushed me through and there's no "thank you" big enough for that. I was also crying because I've never pushed myself so hard and never in a million years did I think that I could push myself like that. They were happy tears!!! So if anyone out there thinks that you can't do a workout like this you are wrong!! You CAN! You just gotta dig deep and find the strength in you to do it. Just do it because you know what? The rewards are going to be everything you ever wished for yourself and MORE!!

Ben had asked us what our goals were on Saturday. It was really emotional for all of us. For anyone that's overweight, you know how emotional it is. How it feels. My goals are to drop at least 2 sizes in 6 weeks, and 3 more by the time we're done. Honestly, I haven't even been close to that size since maybe Freshman year in High School. So will it be a huge accomplishment? You're damned skippy!! I'm not sure yet how I'll celebrate. I think maybe a big party will be in order. Gather all my friends & family that I haven't seen in awhile and celebrate!! Dance the night away!! Laugh talk & catch up!!! My best friend lives in Barre so I don't get to see her much. It would be so awesome to have her come up & share in my accomplishment. I miss her so much.

Well, I'm off to do some stretching so I'm not AS sore for tomorrow!! Ben said tomorrow is Cardio day!!

Day 1-3 of my journey

My saga actually started about 2 weeks ago. I heard on the local radio station that a local trainer who runs a bootcamp was offering a huge opportunity for 4 people to embark on a weight loss journey. People had to go on onto the website and fill out the application saying why you wanted to lose weight, why you needed to lose weight. 55 people applied, Ben chose 8 finalists that he felt needed it the most. Then, people needed to vote for the 4 that they thought deserved it the most. The voting was FIERCE and I do mean FIERCE!!!! There were 2 that started out in front and stayed in front the whole time. The last two spots were very close in the voting for awhile with me and another contestant were ahead of 5th. On the last day, in the afternoon I was ahead of 4th place by around 30 votes and 5th by 100 votes. I honestly thought that I was safe. Then around 9pm, 3 hours before the close of voting, I fell behind. 4th & 5th had started battling about mid-afternoon and passed me. The panic button was thrown and I started calling every single person I know to vote. It was crazy, but I beat 5th place by 8 votes. I was up until midnight waiting for the voting to end. That night I went to bed and could hardly sleep because I was afraid it wasn't true. That I hadn't really made it in. I waited in horrible agony the next morning for the two local dj's & ben called to say that I had made it in. They finally called. I was in!! And the bonus? Ben had decided to take 5 instead of 4 because the voting was so close!! So, Ben called me over the weekend and set up a meeting for Tuesday to discuss how everything would work. We met and found out that we'd be using the online food journal fitday.com to keep track of our foods. It's crazy hard because we have a certain # of calories we can have and then Ben also gave us percentages for carbs, fats & proteins. I'm allowed 1678 calories, 45% carbs, 35% protein & 20% fat. So i'm doing well with it actually. It's really hard because eventhough I'm eating all the right stuff, lean protein, fruits & veggies, trying to find the right balance is really hard. I've hit my calories exactly the last couple days, but a my percentages are still off a little.

Our first workout was Thursday. It was SO hard!! We started off doing a few stretching things and then jumping jacks, knee lifts, plank arm raises (I think that's what they're called), and hill climbers. When we were done stretching, I was already sweating like crazy!!! Then we did 4 exercises , kettle bell swing, rows, push ups & the squat press. You can see pics & videos at www.thebiggestmoosers.blogspot.com. Also is a description of the exerciese we did. In the pics from the first day, I'm the one doing the push ups. HOLY CRAP was that hard!! And that was only the 1/2 of what we did!! One of the girls puked and another had dry heaves. I felt like I was going to puke several times. I even went home and sat in a chair for a good 20 minutes before I felt like I could move without the possiblity of puking!!! Once I finally dared to have a toast with some peanut butter on it I felt much better. About 1/2 hour to an hour after the workout I started to feel the energy boost. Felt pretty good!!! Me likey!

Planning for the meals was pretty hard this week because my husband & I have activities we do most weeknights. I basically had to stop at a store in the morning before work and buy my lunch, snacks and supper. That makes it fairly difficult to plan, but I just bought a bunch of fruits, veggies and proteins and then just played around with plugging them into fitday to get the #s to come out right. That seemed to work.

Day 2 workout was Cardio... HOLY HELL!!! We had 4 stations, the stationary bike, step ups, kettle bell swing and high knees. For the first 10 rounds, we sprinted (go as fast as you can) for 30 seconds, rest for 90 seconds and go to the next station. For the last 10 rounds we sprinted again for 30 seconds and had a 60 second rest. So basically we did each station 5 times. By the end of the first 10, I gotta tell ya, I was already dying. I was thinking.. oh my god!! I can't go another 10!! Buy I did it! It was wicked hard, but I finished it!! I'm really proud of myself for that. I really thought I wasn't going to be able to finish. Just proves that if you really push yourself, you can do something you thought was impossible. Thanks Ben!! He never stopped pushing me. He pushed us all very hard. I can't wait to see the results!!

We met this morning to discuss the diet part of it. We laughed, we cried, we bonded!!

So, I will say goodnight. Sorry that this is so long, but this covers 3 days worth so I'm sure you understand!! Back to the grind on Monday!! We will be working out @ 7am Monday-Friday.. so stayed tuned for more updates!!