The Halfway Point!

Finishing week four


At the end if week four I feel both weak and strong. My leg muscles are coming back, my arms are starting to get a little somethin somethin! But my jumper's knee is getting bad. I find myself not being able to push through a lot of the plyo moves and slowing down on some of the moves that have high knees or jumps. I put in a call to the physical therapist that worked in my back in hopes of getting some advice on how to manage the pain for the next month and see about getting orthodics. But I will say that I'm getting to point where I can do some real pushups!! I may not last a long time with a good form but I can knock a few good ones out!

I was also got sick Monday so I didn't do my weakday workouts like I was shooting for. I even skipped Wednesday's class so I can rest. In the end, I think it was a good movie because I felt much better Thursday.

I'm learning that I really need to diversify the types of food that I eat. I need to figure out some substitutions that I can introduce at home. If I can work on that than I can stop excluding myself from dinner. Unfortunately, i wasn't able to make it to the cooking tutorial - that would have been a great learning experience!

Looking back at the last weigh in I am nervous about my weigh in tomorrow. I remember that Maia said don't let the numbers get to you too much, but I lost one pound last week and i felt disappointed. I'm not too sure what a reasonable weight loss goal would be for each weigh in but one pound felt like I failed, even though my goals have to do with loosing inches not loosing pounds. I'm trying to take Maia's advice and take it in stride. I'm very interested to see what the scale shows tomorrow.

My goals for this week are to work out twice during the week outside of class and try a new healthy recipe that doesn't taste "healthy".

Completed Week Three...

Looking back on week three my body feels good! After tweaking my back in week 1, I finally feel like I'm back to 100%! I could tell that there is a difference in my ab strength! Woo hoo! Getting rid of the pooch! (picture above at KZX on Saturday)

I was not able to fully complete my goals for this week, I was shooting to work out 3 times during the week outside of class - I only did two weekday workouts. One of those workouts was supposed to be yoga... didn't happen. I think I may have set my expectations a bit high for my weekday workouts. Sometimes I have to stay longer than expected at work and that throws me off. I think I can fit in 3 or 4 workouts a week just maybe trying to squish them into the work week is a mistake. This week I had 4 workouts outside of class. I lifted weights for my legs and did Kazaxe during the week then i did Kazaxe and had a lacrosse game this weekend... I hope that puts a dent into my cheat meals!

I feel disappointed in myself because I this week I put in the extra effort during the week outside of class to get more workouts in but made some bad food choices. I had four cheat meals this week! On my birthday I made good choices for my lunch - ordering asparagus instead of fries! But then I went crazy at night with southwest rolls and cold stone cake! I went a little overboard with dessert at two get togethers during the week and my last cheat meal was a lazy pizza hut dinner on Friday night. Looking back these slip ups were due to lack of planning and lack of self control. I've realized that it's easier for me to give in to the tempting choices when I don't have the healthy choices easily accessible.

Here are my goals...
- workout 2-3 times during the week outside of class
- make one workout yoga or pilates and one lifting for my legs.
- have a PLAN for dinner every day so I don't fall into temptation.

Am I Really Doing my best?

At the end of week two I ask myself... am I really doing my very best?

I have to say that my food choices have been the best they've ever been. I've been much better about rejecting bad foods. When I do make choices that aren't the best I make it a point to work out harder/longer than I normally would. I feel like I've learned a lot in this department because of Maia and my test groupmates.

But what am I doing about my FITNESS outside of bootcamp? Other than working out on the weekends... nothing. I know that I can add at least two or three extra workouts in outside of class during the week. I'm in awe of my test groupmates that have already shown that they are going hard outside of class during the week... I'm going to do that too!!

At this point my body feels STRONG! I feel like I have more upper body strength that I've ever had. I'm so excited about it! I will say this - my left knee has been giving me a lot of pain. I need to get back in the weight room to work on my leg muscles to help the old knees out.

I find that my friends and family have been very supportive. They have complimented me on the physical changes they see and that type of acknowledgement makes me want to push more to reach my goals!! Some have even asked me how I did it and it feels good to share the knowledge that I've gained throughout this experience.

So here is my goal for this week! Fit in THREE workouts outside of bootcamp during the week. At least one of those workouts will be lifting weights - quads, hammies, etc - to help out my knee. I will do yoga at least once by the end of the week (I'm very injury prone and my body needs as much help as it can get!)

Why am I doing the 60 Day KZX Test Group?

In 2008 I got up to 178 pounds. When I realized I was that heavy I thought to myself... that is practically 180 pounds, what is going to stop me from getting to 200 pounds? I went from being a college athlete running several miles a day in practice and games to struggling to make it to the gym more than twice a a week. It was a slippery slope.

Then I hurt my back pretty badly and went through physical therapy for months. That's when I became even more scared that I was going to get even bigger.

Over time, as my back got better, I paid attention to my portion sizes and tried to keep active through coaching, playing in lacrosse leagues, going to the gym and going to Kazaxe. In about 2 years and change I lost about 20 pounds.

I started to see the scale creep up again. I was scared I was going to spiral back to that woman who had gotten to the point where almost no outfit made her feel pretty because she was unhappy about her body. I had just purchased the Beachbody Brazil Butt Lift (BBL) DVD program and ordered Shakeology but I felt and extra kick to my workout routine couldn’t hurt! SOO I decided to participate in Maia's Birthday challenge with my cousin. In 6 six weeks I lost 2 inches in my waist and was ECSTATIC about the change! I felt so empowered by what I was able to do for myself.


I heard about the test group during bootcamp class and thought to myself... that's crazy! Going to bootcamp 4 days in a row? That's just too much. But then I took a step back and though about the commitments that I have in my life already. I coach high school lacrosse... that's committing to hours of work every Monday - Thursday and weekends for fundraisers plus even more hours of planning and administrative work. If I can make that commitment to the sport that I love and group of girls that I didn't know before the season then WHY can't I make this 2 month commitment to myself?


There is no good reason as to why I can't! SO here I am.... test subject #10! My goal is to loose 4 inches in my waist. I'm going to give it everything I got!

-Cindy

Day 3 of KZX Bootcamp Test Group

I am SORE! It's harder than I thought it would be to push this hard without having a recovery day in between. Last night was our 3rd night of bootcamp and I was really feeling the burn. Before I was doing runs or a workout DVD on my no bootcamp days but it doesn't really compare.

I will say that I'm nervous because I tweaked my back on Tuesday. I really don't want to get back to the place where I couldn't bend and had pain just from standing. Since starting bootcamp in July my back has gotten stronger but maybe i pushed to hard on Tuesday. I'm glad I spoke to Maia about the situation and hope that modifying the lower back moves will help me. I'm going to have to book a massage!!! Good excuse to indulge :-)