20/20 week 2

I've started my second week in the 20/20 program. As I posted in my last entry, I lost almost 6 pounds in my first week. I will weigh-in again on Thursday afternoon and see what kind of progress I've made in the second week.

I worked out with my trainer again on Friday, and I did a good 35 minutes of cardio and finished up the hour with weights and core work with the exercise ball. I cooled down while bicycling and watching a video on the importance of sleep. It's crazy how important sleep is to not only weight loss, but overall health. Since I've been working out, I've been sleeping a lot better and a lot more soundly.

On Saturday I met up with my friend J. for swimming. She showed me some cool tricks with a kick board and flippers. It was a really good workout.

For my diet, I added back in non-starchy vegetables this week. I'm still doing the shakes four times a day, plus lean protein twice a day, and now four to six servings of vegetables a day. It was really nice to have a salad with my chicken breast today, and to be able to snack on crunchy carrots.

I rescheduled my training appointment from today to Thursday because of the snow and road conditions today and tonight. I'm actually bummed because I really look forward to my workouts now. And once you start losing several pounds a week, you really want to keep that momentum going. So, tonight I'll have to figure out some way to get in a little cardio workout.

First weigh in

As of today, I am nearly six pounds lighter than last week! I met with my nutritionist this afternoon, and was delighed to see the numbers on the scale go down from where they were last Thursday. She was really happy for me, and was impressed when she reviewed my diet and exercise log for the last week. I am now starting phase 2 of the program where I will still do shakes, lean protein, and healthy fat, but will also add back in non-starchy vegetables. I'm so excited to be able to have tomatoes, onions, and garlic again. Food just doesn't seem the same without those ingredients.

Yesterday, I worked out with J. and went back to my normal routine of cardio for 35 minutes and then weight training for the last 25 minutes. This time he had me do the upper body weights along with a couple of lower body leg exercises on the machines. I did crunches on the exercise ball again, and about died at 13, but then pressed through to 20. We ended with the plank, although he modified it this time due to my back. Instead of doing one full 30 second hold, I did the plank in two sets of 15-seconds and he had my hand placement a bit different. It helped to better support my lower back, which tends to be pretty fussy.

Now I'm just trying to work on getting in at least 5000 steps on the days that I work out and 10,000 steps on the days that I don't work out. Yesterday afternoon when I started to feel a bit drowsy, I headed outside and walked around one block at work. That added a good 2000 steps to my day, and got me to 6615 steps total. Today I did 45 minutes of cardio on the elliptical machine, but was still able to get in 7141 steps aside from that workout. I did part of that just walking around my condo while talking on the phone this evening with my mom and sister. I still have yet to hit 10,000 steps on my pedometer, although I'm fairly sure that on the workout days I hit more than that - I just can't wear my pedometer while I work out. Those steps don't count. The pedometer measures my non-exercise activity, and they are very interested in that because people tend to slow down their non-exercise activity when they start working out. This is because their body tries to conserve energy. So the pedometer is there to make sure that you keep up at least the same level of daily activity you did before starting the workouts.

Anyway, I think I'm getting the hang of all of this stuff. I'm so happy to have lost weight this week, and it will be nice to add some veggies back into the mix. Here's to phase 2!

Monday 20/20 program update

I worked out with my trainer on Friday, and we split the time between cardio (elliptical for 35 minutes at a 145-150 heart rate) and strength training. He had me do several upper body exercises, including a lat pull, chest press, curls, and butterfly press. Then he got out the exercise ball and had me do ab work and wall squats. The final exercise about killed me. It was called the plank, and it was basically supporting your body on your forearms and feet. At the end, I did the typical 10 minute cool down on the stationary bike while I watched a program video.

On Saturday, L. and I took it easy, and slept in. That evening, I went to dinner with an old friend from college at Daniel's Broiler. Luckily, I talked with my dietician beforehand, so I knew a couple of things that I could order and how to order them. So, all was well.

Yesterday, we went to my mom's house to celebrate my cousin's birthday. I brought my shake ingredients and a protein muffin to have when everyone else had cake. Overall, everything was pretty good but I did have a few cravings when the Subway sandwiches came. They just smelled and looked so good, as did the chips. But the nice thing was that I wasn't actually hungry, it was just a craving and it eventually passed. We left there about 5:00 so that I could get to the gym, shower, and get to the grocery store. I did 45 minutes of cardio work, which I find a lot harder when I work out on my own than when I work out with my trainer. When I'm with my trainer, we talk along the whole time and it goes very quickly. When I'm on my own, even with my iPod and some good TV programs to watch, I feel tired so much quicker.

Today was a badish day. I had a migraine, so I called in sick to work. I wasn't sure whether I'd make the workout and group session this afternoon and evening. I got up about 2:00 PM and took it easy for a bit. I made my breakfast shake and evaluated how I was doing. I figured that I was feeling better enough to go to my workout and the group session this evening. I met up with J. about 5:00 PM and he took it easy on me since I wasn't feeling great today. I did 30 minutes of elliptical and 10 minutes of bicycle. Then I took a nice shower and had a program dinner in the Bistro. I then headed over to my women's group session at 7:00 PM. We had a great discussion. I really appreciate the group session. It's nice to be there with other women who are going through the same thing.

Aside from the migraine today, things have been going really well. I do feel better when I workout. I'm amazed at how often I have to eat, and actually at how much fat I have to add to my diet. I'm learning a lot about my own body in this process. I'm not sure how the rest of the week will be. Because this is my first full week of the diet, I'm coming off of a lot of the sugar and other stuff that I'm used to having, which I think may have contributed to the migraine today. My trainer and counselor said that this may be a bit of a difficult week or two, but then things should stabilize. Makes sense, really. And it will be so worth it in the end when I feel better!

Exercise log - Thurs, Jan 17

I went to the gym tonight and met with my nutritionist for the first time. She got me all setup with the information for phase one of the dietary part of the program and gave me some tips for a dinner I'm having with an old friend on Saturday evening.

Following my nutrition appointment, I headed down into the cardio theater to do my workout. The cardio theater is a cool part of the Pro Club that is relatively dark and slightly cooler in temperature than other areas of the gym. It has an abundance of cardio equipment, thus the name.

I hooked up my heart rate monitor and hopped on the elliptical machine. I did 45 minutes of total cardio at a rate of 145-155, with a short warm up and cool down.

Tomorrow, I meet with my trainer, J., again and we'll do more cardio and he'll start me on some weights.

Finally - a good explanation about mucus

Every time I get sick, I wonder why I'm suddenly drowning in mucus. Turns out that it actually has a purpose. From Dear Science in The Stranger.

First personal training visit

I met with my personal trainer, J., for the first time today. We hit it off well and I think that he'll be good at keeping me motivated and on a good workout routine. Today we spent the first part of the session going over my background and he followed up on any questions that he had before getting me started with the exercise part of things. We spent the last 40 minutes on the elliptical machine and I tracked my heartrate with my new handy-dandy heart rate monitor. The kind that I have actually transmits to the machines, so I can see my rate at all times and my monitor beeps if I go over my high point. J. talked me through the workout and it went by amazingly quickly. I finished up by bicycling while watching a program video about getting started with the program.

I'll meet with J. again on Friday, and this time we'll add the weights into the mix, since we're through with the intro stuff. I meet with my nutritionist for the first time tomorrow. Tonight, I had a couple of pieces of toast with butter and jam. It will be my last grain serving for some time - until phase 7 if I remember correctly. I also had an orange. I won't get oranges back for a few phases either. They say that once you get balanced on this, a lot of your cravings go away, so I'm counting on that. I'll probably be a bit crabby for the first week while adjusting, so I've warned L. and he's prepared for things to be a bit touchy in the beginning. But, I'm optimistic that it will be worth it and at each phase, it will be a treat to add small things back into my diet.

Initial 20/20 Lifestyles Doc visit

I had my first appointment with my 20/20 Lifestyles doctor today. He spent a lot of time answering my questions and went over all of the test results from my lab tests and initial fitness appointment.

First the good:
I do not have sleep apnea.
My blood pressure is normal.
My cholesterol is awesome.
I do not have diabetes or early stages of diabetes.
My strength and flexibility are normalish for women of my age group (20-29).

Now the not so good:
My body fat percentage is 40%.
My cardiovascular health/endurance is very poor.
And of course, my BMI is too high (33).

All of these factors add up to why I'm there in the first place, which is to get back in shape, lose weight, and fend off any obesity-related diseases. My actual chronological age is 29, but based on these factors, they say that my actual body ages is 35. With the plan that they have set out for me, I can get to a body age of 21! Of course, this isn't guaranteed. I'd be happy to just have my body age be the same as my chronological age for a start.

Tonight, L. and I went to the grocery store and I stocked up on bottled water (I'm very picky about water), frozen berries, and lean proteins (chicken and turkey breasts). For phase one of this program, I'll be on a diet of high-protein shakes mixed with frozen berries, lean proteins, lots of water, and some supplements (multi-vitamin, calcium, omega-3 supplement, and fiber). Then in each phase (of which there are seven), I'll add back in various other food groups until I stabilize on each one and see what I react to. I actually think this will help me find some other food allergies that I'm not aware of. I already know about dairy and strawberries. So, we'll see what else there is. I basically cleared out my pantry, fridge, and freezer of anything and everything that might be remotely tempting. L. took most of it to his place so that it won't be wasted.

Last night I went to the first women's group session. Because of the snow, it was a slightly smaller group than our counselor expected. But that made it cozy and we all bonded pretty quickly. A few of the women are a couple of weeks into the program, so they all offered up some good advice for those of us just starting.

Tomorrow evening I meet with my personal trainer for the first time, and we'll go over the basics of my exercise program. I got a new gym bag and awesome workout shoes as a sort of incentive. I wore the shoes to my initial fitness appointment, and they were great. At any time, and especially at this weight, it's important to have good, supportive footwear. I got a good heart-rate monitor and pedometer to keep track of things as I go along. I've been wearing the pedometer for the last several days, and I've ranged from between around 4500 steps to 7500 steps a day. They want me to hit at least 5000 steps a day, so I'll need to work on the days where I fall short. This, of course, does not include steps in a workout which don't count toward the regular daily activity that is tracked by the pedometer.

More updates to come :)

Bill's last day

This is pretty funny :)