Body Back week two—a real struggle

This was a tough week for me.  I had a very difficult time keeping to a structured meal plan.  Life really got in the way.  Isn’t that the way it goes?

My first test came on Sunday night, really the end of last week, if you are looking at my Body Back cycle.  We went to a good friend’s for dinner.  The dinner (chosen by her three-year-old son, in honor of his birthday) was pizza.  When Stacey remembered my “diet” she offered to make me a special salad.  I didn’t want her to go to trouble. Besides…I’m NOT on a “diet.”  My goal for this program is not to lose weight*.  So why can’t I eat with my friends?  There is no reason.  So I did.  I also enjoyed a beer.  See how slippery the slope can be?
An interesting thing occurred at home that night.  We were watching television and I suddenly had a sweet tooth.  I have a bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips in my pantry that sounded so good.  I had already had a bad night in terms of eating.  What is one more handful of chocolate?  It wouldn’t be that many calories, right?  I decided to have a handful of raw almonds instead.  My urge for chocolate went away.  I really learned a lot about the mental aspect of “dieting.”  Once you fall off the wagon, it is so easy to justify falling off all the way.  The key is looking at each choice individually that comes your way. 

I “confessed” my less-than-optimal pizza-and-beer choice to Allison, my Body Back coach, on Tuesday morning.  She was supportive and non-judgmental.  We discussed the rest of my food journal.  I was very good the rest of the week.

Which leads me to this week.  The Body Back class was great.  It was high intensity and I really pushed myself.  I don’t think I could push myself like that without other women around me.  You just can’t dig that deep in front of a DVD. As a matter of fact, I don’t think I have ever worked out at that level on a regular basis and it feels good.

After class, I made some oatmeal for breakfast, but only ate a couple of bites.  I had no appetite.  Strange, considering I probably burned 1000 calories an hour earlier.  I made a protein smoothie instead and drank that instead. I didn’t eat the rest of the day.  I had no appetite. I wasn’t sure if I had overdone it in my workout or if I was sick.  I went to bed at 8:30 and felt the same all the next day.*  Yup, I had some sort of virus that hung on for several days.  Yuck.

Have you ever felt just “icky?”  I know many moms know the feeling, because it was how I felt when I was pregnant.** So when I tried to get myself to eat, the only things that I felt like I could choke down were “comfort foods.”  I made my spinach and egg white scramble, but added a little country gravy made from an envelope.  At one point I broke down and ate some Trader Joe’s Mini Tacos.  Hey… they are whole grain, right?  FAIL.

I have been feeling better the past couple of days. So you would think that my eating has been better.  It has been a crazy, crazy few days.  I do not have time to plan meals and eat five times a day. We are moving on Saturday.  We are moving from one house to another one five houses down. It is not a long way, but I still have to pack up the entire house, rent a truck, get people to help etc. etc.  Oh… and in the middle of all this, my daughter turns five.  Have you ever tried to postpone birthday activities for a five-year-old?  This girl has asked me how many days ‘till her birthday since Christmas. The party is the night before our move.  What was I thinking??

So week two was tough because of my health and energy.  Next week will be a challenge because of my schedule.  I hope that tomorrow’s workout will give me a ton of energy to attack my to-do list.

I know that these two weeks will make me a better Body Back (and running) coach. I will have clients who have similar issues. We are all faced with dinners with few choices. We all get sick while trying to get fit and eat right. We need to find ways to manage our lives so we don’t sink too far into the comfort food and don’t get too far off track. Most of my clients will be mothers, so crazy schedules are guaranteed.  I will definitely be able to relate to my clients and help them through these struggles. I will help them move on from the less-than-optimal choices and not dwell on them.

Wish me luck keeping on track over the next week.

*Thank goodness for Jamba Juice! It was really the only thing that sounded the least bit appetizing for a day and a half.
**I am NOT pregnant.  My 7-year-old son felt the same way for a couple of days.


postscript: Karen's comment made me realize that I should probably explain my motives regarding this program. The program is designed to show real results in eight weeks. As I prepare to offer this to clients, I wanted to commit to the program fully to see what kind of results I could get. The main reason I was feeling guilty for pizza etc. is that I didn't even last a full week into the program before faltering.  Of course enjoying a slice of pizza is fine! What is life if we can't enjoy ourselves. It is all about moderation. However, if someone is trying to see measurable results, it should be avoided during the eight week program. I learned a real lesson and the last thing I want to do is send the message that it is not ok to indulge every once in a while. The long term results of the program will be overall healthier eating, but it takes a short term commitment.

Body Back—week one nearly complete

Here are my thoughts on my first week of Body Back.
1) Thursday was our first high intensity workout.  It was a nine station circuit that took standard exercises to a new level.  For example, we didn’t do just a regular plank, we did a one-legged plank.
 
Another example is doing arm exercises on a balance ball with 25 pound weights.  The “skull crushers” and “flies” not only killed my arms, but used my core as well. 
My heart rate zoomed and I was sweating quite a bit.  As I was digging deep to push myself for the two minute intervals, I looked around me and was inspired by the other women doing the same thing.

2) I’m glad the first workout is behind me.  I was nervous and excited about it.  It has been a while since I have been able to focus on a workout that is just for me.  I’m not getting certified, I’m not instructing, I’m just focusing on pushing myself to get as fit as I can be.

3) I’ve never really dieted, so I’m not used to paying that much attention to what I eat.  The Body Back meal plan is not a diet, per se, but a structured way of eating healthy.  It is really just common sense.  The focus is eating food “close to the source.”  It eliminates most processed food.  There is no calorie counting, no food weighing, no checking carb content etc.  Other than fresh, unprocessed food, we eat breakfast (more than my normal Luna Bar), snack, lunch, snack, dinner.

The downside is that I am suddenly obsessed with food.  It seems like once I am done eating one meal/snack, I am thinking about the next one.  Grabbing convenience foods takes so much less time!   The best thing to do is plan all meals in advance at the beginning of the week.  I haven’t figured out that part yet.

4) It doesn’t help the food obsession that adding high intensity workouts tends to rev my metabolism which makes me super hungry.  This also happens to me at the beginning of a marathon training cycle.  Even though there are built in snacks, I am pretty sure I am eating a bit more than the prescribed serving sizes.  I’m sure that my body will start getting used to the change in exercise.

5) I am proud to say that I have made healthy choices all week,* I haven’t had soda all week, which is a huge accomplishment for me.  Soda is my main vice.  I love Diet Pepsi Vanilla and Diet Pepsi Lime.  Instead, I am drinking lots and lots of water**. I am adding things like fruit and mint leaves to make it a little more interesting. Sparkling water helps a bit with the soda cravings as well.  I also have a weakness for sour candy.  My kids know this.  In fact, whenever they have some sort of sour candy (Sweettarts etc.) they always have to give Mommy a “tax.”  My son won some Sour Patch Kids this week at a contest at school.  He offered his “Mommy Tax” and much to both of our surprise, I said “no thank you.” Ack!!  I know that a couple yummy candies aren’t going to hurt me.  In fact, weight loss is not my goal,so a few extra calories might be good. But I figure if I am going to do this thing, I’m going to do it right.

I started this as a learning experience, but I am really looking forward to seeing how I move forward in my own fitness journey.
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Oh, and on the running front, I had two great runs this weekend.  I am so lucky to live here!  I was able to run in the trails yesterday and at the beach today.  Yesterday, I ran with my regular running group.  After Kelly and Kim turned back for mommy duties and Rod and Jeff took off ahead of us, Joan and I went on our own little adventure.  She showed me a way to a “secret” little road the led under the toll road toward Irvine Lake.  It was peaceful and relaxing thirteen miles.

Today, I met Alissa, who was in town for a family wedding.  We met at the beach.  Since she lives in Arizona, she doesn’t get a chance to run along the ocean very often.  We ran eight miles together and chatted the entire time.  I barely noticed the great scenery for the wonderful conversation.  We kept it at a conversational pace.  The first couple of miles seemed like a struggle, but I fell into a nice groove and we ran at a nice 9:30 pace.  We enjoyed a Jamba Juice smoothie together afterwards and chatted some more.   I love how this blog has brought me together with friends who enjoy running as much as I do.

Happy Running...


*except for some microwave popcorn last night with the kids while watching a movie.
**I have not, however, given up caffeine.  The lack of soda reduces my caffeine intake, but I still have my Zip Fizz before workouts and an occasional coffee (unfortunately, with a bit of creamer).  I’m not that good.

Body Back session #1—the journey begins

I few weeks ago, I was certified to teach a great results-based workout program called Body Back. The class was intense while being super inspiring. It was also a wake up call that my fitness could use a little tweaking.  I want to be stronger. I want to set an example for my clients (and be able to keep up with them!).

When I asked my friend, Anne (who is a Body Back instructor in San Diego) for advice, she encouraged me to take an 8-week session from someone else first. She said that I can get better results for my clients learning more than a one-day certification can provide. I agree. So I am taking Body Back!*  This is something I am doing for myself as well as my future clients.

The first session was yesterday. It was the assessment session.  We did a weigh-in and measurements.  We also did as many each in a minute of sit-ups, pushups, bicep curls, and squats.  We also had a one mile time trial* and did a plank as long as we could. I had similar results to my assessment at my certification session (some results were better, other worse). Even though it wasn’t technically a workout, I was pretty tired by the end and I am a little sore today.
  
It was a great session and I am looking forward to going through this journey with some amazing women.  I can already see that one of the women in the session is going to push me.  She smoked me on the run and she and I both did the plank for 2 1/2 minutes.  After we were done with the planks, I said, “five minutes by the end of this?”  She nodded in approval.  I think we have a mutual goal.
I know this is mostly a running blog, but for the next eight weeks, I will be also writing about my Body Back journey.

Happy Running…(or whatever workout you might be doing) 

*I am enjoying Body Back in Yorba Linda from the fabulous Allison and Kelli.
**My mile run was my fastest mile EVER.  I ran a 6:44!  Then I spoke to not one, but two other women who also ran their fastest mile ever.  When I got home, I measured it on Daily Mile’s satellite view and it looks like we actually ran around .96 miles, which is a 7 minute mile.  It is still not too shabby!  The key is that we will run the exact same route in 8 weeks to measure our improvement.  I will be extremely happy if I improve that time at all!