I know I should have updated you guys much sooner and much more regularly but it’s been a bit of a trial getting myself to focus on keeping up the blogging. However, I’ve been keeping records of my weight loss progress on my iPhone Touch every time I remembered to do so.
So, check this out:
Oct 29 vs Dec 3
I’m at week 5 and I’ve dropped a net total of 9.2 pounds. It’s not quite the 10 I would like to have lost by tonight but the week is not technically over and a lot can happen between tonight and tomorrow morning. Of course, tomorrow morning would be the time this blog post has published and by the time you’re reading this, I’m out enjoying my Cheat Day to the furthest, carbiest, fattiest, cheesiest extent. I’ve been looking forward to having a wild game burger all week at Over the Top and you can bet your sweet cheeks that I’ll be posting pictures here for you to enjoy.
But, I’m not here to talk about a fricken elk burger!… juicy, moist… elk… burger. No, we won’t talk about that… today.
The Workout
A month before I started dieting, I had joined a workout studio, but with much skepticism. The boyfriend had bought me a Groupon for a local aerobic/pilates/yoga studio. Funnily enough, the studio is named Pil-oga-robic. They had a variety of yoga and pilates classes, along with a couple strength circuit classes. Lastly, but not least, comes their famous bootcamp class which is also called “pil-oga-robic” because it combines elements of all three exercises while also involving weights. All of these are taught by two trainers, Ishbel and Hannah. I would later call them gods.
The trainers also insist that you meet with one of them one-on-one so you can talk about your goals and any injuries or physical concerns. They also take your measurements every month, without disclosing them to you, as a means of keeping track of your progress.
Recent workouts. You can also tell when Thanksgiving week was by the calorie overages, lol.
I started out working out several days a week. At first, even that felt like a lot because the workouts were super intense. I usually don’t sweat a lot but these classes make me leak out of all my pores like a soaked sponge. I was taking one pil-oga-robic class, one yoga class and one strength circuit class. I gradually added on more classes and shifted the schedule to be more and more intense. For the past several weeks, I’ve been taking two pil-oga-robic classes, a strength circuit class and a yoga-pilates class. Next week, I’m going to attempt a third pil-oga-robic class on top of that.
Why has this worked for me?
The biggest problem for me, when it comes to exercise, was staying committed and staying consistent. I once started a gym membership and didn’t go in since, except for many moons later when I went back in to cancel the membership. Two Christmases ago, the boyfriend bought me a gym membership and a pair of running shoes and let’s just say the running shoes are the only things that stayed in my life. I started out pretty consistent at the gym for the first month but that passion quickly fizzled out. I was doing at-home yoga maybe once every other month and, each of those time, I was thinking, “I’m going to do this every week from now on!” I tried running for about a month but I seriously hate running and could never understand those people who say you get addicted. I’d sooner get addicted to bell pepper (least favorite vegetable).
Stole this photo of my training studio from their Facebook Page
This is my third month with Pil-oga-robic studio. This is the first time I’ve been consistently passionate about any kind of work out.
Maybe it’s because I pay the high price for unlimited classes at the beginning of every month and I don’t want any of it to go to waste.
Maybe it’s the variety of workouts or because how involved the trainers get with every client. It could also be that my measurements for the next month showed considerable progress.
Maybe it’s because my range of motion has improved on my sit-backs and that I can finally do a few real push-ups.
Maybe it’s because my daily net calorie budget is so damn low and, if I don’t want to starve, I have to burn at least 300 calories a day to make room for food. Both the formula on the Volumetrics book and my Lose It app were telling me I could only eat around 900 calories a day if I wanted to lose 2 pounds per week.
Maybe it’s all of the above.
It was so uplifting to hear Hannah tell me how my measurements had changed especially because I hadn’t been losing any weight. This really goes to show how the number on the scale shows only one dimension of your entire weight loss progress. Even if that number doesn’t change, your body is still experiencing impact from consistent exercise.
However, if I hadn’t started counting calories, the progress would have been minimal. The intense workout alone wasn’t enough for me and three days per week was certainly not cutting it. I was eating a lot more than ever to make up for the energy lost from the rigorous exercise. During the first month, I did not think about calories at all. So, as great as it was to hear that my measurements had improved, I knew I needed to start changing my eating habits.
Dieting: The REALLY Tough Part
Because I enjoyed it so much, the working out aspect quickly became the easiest one to adhere to. Even with the moments of nearly passing out and enduring entire weeks of soreness, I had quickly grown comfortable with this new routine (I still can’t believe I’m saying that!).
Controlling my diet, however, was the toughest thing ever. The easiest thing would have been to just live off of pre-packaged dinners but I wanted to make this into a lifestyle change and figure out how to cook the meals myself while measuring the servings and calories. Thanks to the Volumetrics book (I’ll be posting a review on this later), I was able to train myself to maximize the portion of food while keeping calories low. However, it took a lot of discipline and a lot of initial learning.
This is what I wrote to my friends on Monday:
Trying to lose two pounds a week is super hard, not just on my body, but emotionally, as well. I had no idea I’d be getting THIS upset about food or missing a workout. Today, I almost burst into tears when I realized I had missed bootcamp class.
Sometimes, I wanted to cry because I was so sick of thinking about calories all day. I hate having these numbers floating above my head at every waking hour but it’s the only thing helping me lose weight. Mere exercise wasn’t helping and simply choosing healthier foods wasn’t doing anything for my weight if I wasn’t measuring, calculating and planning the calorie intake.
But it’s so rewarding, seeing the numbers on the scale and hearing my trainer tell me my measurements are improving. When I see the fruit of my labor at the end of the day (or, in my case, the morning after), it’s all worth it then.
So, it’s definitely doable but it takes a huge amount of commitment. I learned that it really helps to have a buddy system and to keep a record of your progress on something like Lose It. Even if you’re not proud of what you ate that day, I held myself accountable and logged it all in. This motivated me to do better the next day.
I want to talk more about my eating habits but I’ll end it here for now since this post has already gotten pretty long.
I’m leaving this last image for those who get discouraged by minor setbacks. You can see I’ve had my share of setbacks, too. However, consistency and discipline has ensured a decline in overall weight, even if it hasn’t been steady.
So, if you ever thought you couldn’t do this because you lacked discipline, wasn’t the type to commit to working out or because you hate dealing with calorie-counting, I do hope this motivates you because I was singing that same song last season.
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congrats
it really does take a lot of power of the mind to control the eating part. i dont need to lose weight, but i still think of my calorie intake each day. im very prone to gaining weight (gained 5 lbs in a week on a cruiseship cuz of the buffet =X thats a pound a day! x.x ) so i feel like i still do need to watch out what i eat. it does get annoying when you see friends gobble down everything mindlessly and i sit there blotting the greasy pizza or picking out a blob of fat from the chicken.
and thank you for pointing out the set backs you had because like you said, lots of people end up feeling bad when they gain the 5lbs back, but it doesnt mean it cant be dropped again and doesnt mean that even more weight can be dropped after that.
looking forward to your next post!
thanks so much for writing this encouraging post. i just went through a similar experience as you did as I was trying to get in shape and lose weight before my wedding in september, the few months before then was so tough but I was so glad i stuck to it and did it! but now I am slacking off again, and I want to continue this until I reach my goal weight, and you just totally motivated me to pick up what i left off and go back to all the good habits (such as going to work out more often and eat healthy everyday) that I had before. Good luck to both of us!!
congratulations dear!!! I am quite proud of you for sticking to your diet plan :] I can’t count how many times I’ve tried to lose weight, but gave up because it was too hard to keep myself accountable for exercising regularly… I always did the starve thing :X So bad :/
Wow, it sounds like you’re making some great progress! I really wouldn’t agonise over the number on the scale, if you’re losing fat while gaining muscle you’ll be improving your body composition, but not necessarily losing the kilos/pounds.
hi! congratulation on your weight loss. knowing someone who in a same path with me, which is diet and try to loss weight, it makes me more exciting to lose another extra pounds. ^__^ good luck dear.
Hooray! I’m so proud of you for making so many changes. Don’t you feel good? Keep up the awesome work!
BTW, I think it’s kinda funny that you and I are somewhat opposite of each other in the sense that I do a lot of running and consume a lot of bell peppers. I know the bell peppers I eat are “sweet peppers” or “mini sweet peppers,” but they still taste like bell peppers. I’m sure you can see it as one of my “top foods” on Loseit.
First: Congrats on the weight loss! I know calorie restriction is tough, and you’re doing a great job.
However, looking at your Caloric intake, I’m noticing they’re actually below healthy levels. Even if you’re trying to lose weight, it isn’t recommended that you dip below 1000-1200 calories because if you do for extended periods, you can risk malnutrition and while you may be burning fat and everything it can trigger the formation of ketone bodies and protein degradation (i.e. you’re degrading muscle for energy).
I’m not trying to rain on your parade; I’m just concerned that you might be putting your health at risk.
If you want to increase your caloric deficit while maintaining at least 1000-1200 calories a day, try adding in some simple exercises like squats, jump rope, or walking.
Thanks, Charlene. I didn’t mean to alarm anyone so let me be clear that the figures above are net total calories, including those burned from exercise. I’m too fond of eating to ever give that up lol so I work out like crazy to make room for more food. You can see, also, under the bar graph, that there are always “overages” for previous weeks.
There is no way in hell I could ever commit to actually consuming less than 900 calories every single day. I’d give it up even before starting it because I value food way too much.
I admire your discipline, and how much effort you are willing to give. I’m lucky enough to obviously have a fast working metabolism, but I can already tell that I cannot rely on it any longer soon enough. I love hard workouts, and when your muscle feel all sore afterwards. It’s a gratifying feeling, and makes one feel good about oneself. But then again, I feel almost discouraged by accounts of how much more work one has to put in to yield results like you do
Well, not that I plan on losing 10kg.. I still don’t get the people who get “addicted to running” either, and whenever they say things like that, I would with much pleasure like to punch them in the face.