Dark side made me do it

Dark side made me do it

Sunday, January 30, 2011

16 pounds!

What another great week it has been, it started out with a fine that needed to be paid. So on Monday Kim put me through a workout of burpees, alternate Cleans and even more burpees, until I reached 200 burpees. After Kim kicked my ass, I ran on the hamster wheel. It was a great workout! But the week did not start out all good; I started to feel a cold coming on.

Tuesday at Alive was a learning experience, When I arrived Damir was putting together our workout plan, when Ryan arrived, he asked Ryan what he want to do, Ryan being Ryan looked at me, smiled and said treadmill! Damir was so excited he threw the writing pad he was using on desk and jumped up and look at me, laughed and said “Sam pick a number between 1 and 5” “5 of course” Sam replied. Now I knew when she said 5, this has going to be one bad ass workout. Damir pointed at the hamster wheel and “said Brian jump on. So I climbed on and he said “what speed do you run at?” I said “3.5” he set it to 3.2 and said “run at this speed for 5 mins, then jump off and switch with Ryan” now I have done 3.5 for 1 min & he wants me to go for 5mins at 3.2, I was not sure I could do it but I was able to do it of most of the session, the first time I got off we did kickboxing up and down the hallway, the second time I hopped off, Damir was Busy talking to someone so Clayton stepped in and after doing alternate cleans I had to push Clayton up the hallway, although Damir and Clayton weigh the same, but I struggled to push him up the hallway. At the end of the hallway I push press with the red kettle bells, then I had to push Clay back down the hallway, it was even harder to do, not sure why but my left knee was hurting so I kept pushing Clayton into the wall, but he was a good sport and laughed it off. We kept going on and off the treadmill for an hour. It was a great session. It would have gone a little easier, if my cold was not bothering me.

Wednesday, I was so sick from my cold that after work I just went home to bed. Thursday I had a very rough day at work. On my way out I was picking up some items, while I was going through the till I gave in and grabbed a pack of Ferrero Rocher, as I was waiting for the bus I texted Kim and told her I was thinking about eating them and taking the burpees. She talked me down from eating them and we decided that I would give them to her after my session. Ryan and I session was good, but I don’t remember much from it. There was a very hard Kettle bell set at the end of the session. After the session on the way out I hand the Ferrero Rocher over to Kim, I was thinking she would just throw them away. No she open them and handed one to me and said “ open it, Smell it now crush it” I did that for all Three chocolates, my hands were full of chocolates goo, I went back into alive to wipe it off, Kim followed me to make sure I did not lick it off. Thanks Kim for the support, I needed that.

Friday was awesome; I was off so I went in early and did a hamster wheel workout. I learned on Tuesday that I could push harder on the hamster wheel. So I put the speed at 4.0 for the program and was able to totally rock it. I was on the hamster wheel for 2 hours. After the hamster wheel workout, I weighed in. The scale was very good to me; I weighed in at 384 down 6 more pounds. That means that during January I lost 16 pounds! Or 4 pounds a week basically!! It was a great Week!!

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

250 Burpees

250 Burpees

Wow the week has not even really started yet and I am behind the 8 ball. It all started on Tuesday, I was in the locker room getting changed at alive, when Damir walked in. He had that funny grin on his face so I knew something was up. I asked him if I should grab a treadmill right away since Ryan was not going to be there tonight, also I hoping that we would spend some of my training session on the treadmill so we could work on the whole running thing. He Smiled and said no you need to talk to Holly! I said oh am I in trouble? He answered do think you should be? So he just answered my question with a question, translation I ate something that was not in the plan.

So I head out to talk to Holly about last week’s log, just than one of my support team walked in, it was Kim the one who is helping me take accountability for my health and Attitude. Thinking holly was going to call me out on eat some smart pop popcorn, I said let’s talk here about the log, because I am thinking Kim already knows about the popcorn. It was not the popcorn that I ate that Holly pointed out that. No it was Bacon, yes I forgot about the bacon! 2 slice of bacon with my breakfast I had in my first week end on the plan. Holly was great, she broke it down and showed why the bacon was the wrong choice, and she even show me a much better choice I could have made. She is awesome!!

Now this new made Kim very happy, 2 slices of bacon = 100 Burpees! Just the other day I made her do 100 burpees for a negative comment. So she was happy to hold me to my promise to eat clean or pay the price with Burpees. It works out to much more burpees, but we will get into that a little later.

Now Damir and I were just starting out my session and my bacon error was fresh in my mind and in his. We started the session with Damir saying something like “bacon, seriously Brian” or maybe it was “you know how I feel about pork.” With the bacon thing fresh in my mind I said something I wish I never said, but I was thinking I would ask Damir for a wakeup call if I started to gain weight again. I asked Damir “when I gain weight again can you put the 65 pound dumbbells in my hand so I remember where I start out. This really pissed him off, he said “when you gain again” and walked off to get heavier Kettle bells for my workout. He grabs the biggest black kettle bells and returned. Then he said something I will never forget he said “Brian you think everyone gains weight on their weight loss journey, you are wrong you can do this without gaining any weight during your journey, you could do it just like so and so they did not gain anything since they started their journey”

Ok as we started our session I noticed that all the weights were much heavier than the ones we started with. Now maybe he set up with the lighter ones thinking that I would have more trouble with them then he thought. however after our little talk everything seemed to get a whole lot heavier. It was sort of like when he found that cheesy on me. Our session as so good that it flew right by; before I knew it we were done.

Later Tuesday night I looked over my log and notice that we went out for breakfast on Sunday and I ate 3 more Slices of bacon. That is when I took a deep breath and did the math, which is another 150 burpees on top of the 100 Burpees I already have to do. So I informed Kim that we need to do another 150, I think she was stunned, but was going to hold me to it.

When I got to Alive tonight I let Damir know that I had 250 burpees to do, He smiled and said he would talk to Kim about how I was going to pay for the burpees. Kim arrived and Damir had a word with her and we went to the Back and started to do the burpees, Kim said to do 20 burpees and she put down the med size black kettle bells, after I finished the 20 burpees without really stopping, A personal best for me, she had me do 20 each arm Alternate Cleans with the Kettle bells, Damir had made a work he said would count toward my burpees fine. As I did the Clean Kim said “Brian I think you may have really pissed Damir Off, this is not an easy workout” well it was something along those lines. I just smiled and kept going. What I think Damir did was he set up a workout with the kettle bells that is very difficult to do, but I am sort of good at so it made the overall burpees count not seem so Daunting.

After Kim kicked my ass for about 20mins or so it was time for kickboxing boot camp. My regular partner was there so it was awesome to work with her. Like I said before when you work with someone more than a few time you get into a rhythm. She went first and I pushed her a little. In fact I think there was point where she was punching really hard because she was a little angry with me, for making her do a burpees when she mess up the combo a few times. It was awesome! Now when it was my turn, I was still a little winded from Kim and I workout, so I was not hitting as hard as I usually do. So Lisa said “stop hitting me like I am a girl” it was awesome that she called me out, I love it. So I try a little harder. Boot camp Rocked!

So this is what I learned so far this week, I can do my weight loss journey 100% of the time or Kim, Holly and Damir are going to hold me accountable, and beat it into me. This is what I think I need right now, so thank you Holly for keeping me on track and thank you Damir and Kim for holding me to my word. Also I learned that Bacon is not worth it!! It may taste good, but it is not worth it at all!!

Saturday, January 15, 2011

A week of many firsts

A week of many firsts

This is a week I don’t think I will soon forget. It was a week of many firsts. I lost my fist 10 pounds of 2011, I ran my first running program on the hamster wheel, and I did my first set of spider planks. It was a great week to exceed some of my short term goals

I wish I could say that I did not worry too much about my weigh in this week, in the beginning of the week I was not even thinking about it but Thursday came and I started to panic, what if all the work I did this week inside and outside the gym was not enough. But when I stepped on the scale on Friday I was down 10 pounds! It was awesome because over the Christmas break I gained 10 pounds. So it was nice that two week in the New Year and I have taken all the damage I did to my body off.

Wednesdays night’s kickboxing boot camp was very awesome, to start off my regular partner was there. Damir had us doing some awesome, harder than normal combos. It was intense, got my heart pumping. In one of the breaks between combos he had us doing the usual, Burpees, than punching with light weights. While we were punching with the weights I could near Damir throwing down mat on the ground. The timer beeped and he said Spider Planks as I put my weights down I notice I had a mat too, normally I would have to do dirty burpees while the class does spider planks and Damir doesn’t usually give me a mat for that. So I Dropped down and tried to do them. As I did the first one I almost fell down on the mat, because I was amazed I could do it so I pounded another one off and he said switch arms, I thought for sure I was not going to be able to do it leading with the other arm. But I did it. I stood up very excited that I was able to do it. I asked Damir “did you see that?” he said “see what” “the spider planks I just did” he said “no I missed that” and I am the thinking you have to be shitting me. So in the next break we do the same and I pounded them out again. This time he saw me do them. The next day I asked him if he wanted me to do them when he gave me the mat. He said something like “I sometimes forget that I do everything in class and I just put down a mat for you as well” this was awesome as I can now do them.

Friday Hamster wheel workout I tried out a running program, a simple program, but it was hard for me to complete. I ran on the hamster wheel for 30mins for the first time, 1 min running and 1 min walking. Now I have heard Jenn, Kim and Jocelyne talk about how they love to run. Before Friday I thought they were full of shit. But now that I have done it, i could see how this is so great. I have decided to add this program to my Friday workouts and see if I can build up enough to run the 5k in May that would rock.

I am off to a good start this month, and I am excited to see what my next weigh in on the 29th will BE

Sunday, January 9, 2011

What the Hell!!

What the Hell!

I am one week into the whole 60 days eating clean thing and it is going great! I do feel I am back on track. The food tastes amazing; I forgot that when all the other processed crap is in your diet, the good health foods don’t taste as good. But wow when you cut them out boy everything starts to taste so good. An example of that is that I never like potatoes in the past. In order to eat them I would have to smother them in sour cream and bacon or put cheese on them. This week Wal-Mart did not have any sweet potatoes, so I had to get baby potatoes for my lunches. The first day they were ok, but by the end of the week that all I talked about is how great they were. I also have been having salad with Balsamic Vinegar along with chicken when we get home from Alive, and wow that has been so good as well. So far I love the food. It is awesome!

It has not been all easy, last night we went to the movies at canyon meadows theatre; if you have ever been there you know they set up the big mazes line for the concession. Last night I stood in that line for about 20 mins for 2 Diet Cokes. That was hard, the smell of popcorn was very strong and as I stood in line I stared at the big bags of M&M. As I was getting to the front of the line I was starting to think I was really good all week one bag won’t hurt! Then I remember that if I get and eat that bag, Kim is going to make me pay with at least 150 Burpees, it’s a big ass bag she might say it is worth 200 or 300 burpees! Finely it was my turn and all that came out of my mouth was 2 Diet cokes please. Besides I had an apple and a nectarine in my jacket so I was good if I needed a snack.

The workouts this week have been very intense and insane; I put 10 hours in of hard work at alive this week. It has been awesome! Wednesday I was finished work early so i was able to put in an extra hour on the hamster wheel, & I didn’t have a partner for kickboxing boot camp so Damir was my Partner so I got to punch and kick for the whole hour. It was awesome!! Thursday’s Training session we worked on Biceps, Chest, and triceps, it was intense, the next day I was not all that sore, at first, as the day went on it hurt more and more. Saturday my whole body hurt, my legs, my Chest, my arms....Everything!! My triceps still hurt today and it is Sunday! What the Hell!

Every day I put two hours in, by Friday I was exhausted and I didn’t want to stay on the hamster wheel for two hours. I hoped off for a break after an hour and about 15 mins in to pee and say hi to a few friends at the lobby, but Damir was setting up his boot camp and notices I was screwing around and quickly put an end to that, and I was back on with a feeling I better stay on here a little longer to make up the time when I hoped off.

This week is going to rock!! I weigh in on Friday and it should be a good weigh in. I am going to stick to my food plan and put in as much time sweating as I can!! I have not had this feeling in a long time; I can’t wait to step on the scale on Friday!!

Monday, January 3, 2011

Bam Back to Reality!

Bam Back to reality!

Well I guess I had fun over the holidays, stepped on the scale tonight to start my new year off to a good start, and bam back to reality! I gained some weight back, some weight that is a not whole truth, I gain 10 pounds back. This is not the news I was hoping for, but I have fallen off the wagon over the holidays. Now is the time to step up and get control of the food. Food is my drug of choice, when I am feeling bad or upset I turn to my friend the potato chips and ice cream. Thinking this is going to make me feel better, but it never lasts long, in fact after I feel just horrible. I beat myself up for eating it, but that does not stop me from reaching for it the next time.

Going into the holidays, I was just getting over the flu and I thought that I could handle everything. The last time I step on the scale I dropped 7 pounds just before the holidays. Then as the holidays began I kept saying to myself just keep on track, you can do it. However stress got the better of me and I just let go, I started with a small bag of chips and then I started to slip, eating everything I could get my hands on. It was a bad place to be; once it has started it is hard to stop.

Now before this all happen I put together an action plan for the New Year. It is a good plan and I am going to execute it well. I am going to put up some reminder around me how easy it is to fall off the wagon and start to slip back into old habits. Old habit = weight gain and I cannot have that I need to keep going. I have worked way too hard to get this far to just to throw it all away. This is not going to happen!! I am not done yet.

I start my plan tomorrow; I am excited because I am in the right head space now. I know what I have to do to have all my dreams come true. I need to step up and Do IT! I just have to Control the hard part. The hard part is not working-out everyday. No that is a lot easier than most people think. The hard part is dealing with my emotions and not turning to food for a stress release. I need to remember food is not for pleasure. It is fuel for my body. I need to get back to where I turn to the hamster wheel for stress release or maybe pound on the heavy bag when I am upset. This is the hard part!

I have to stop lying to myself, yes I have lost a lot of weight, but that is not enough! I am much stronger than I believe I am. I can eat what I need to everyday, and not put the poison in my body. I need to remind myself that junk food is really just poison! It is not ok to have a chocolate bar here and there. It is not ok to skip a meal here or there. The bacon and the sausage on Sunday morning must go, because this is why I am not doing as well as I could.

I have made a promise that if I say something negative about myself that I owe Kim 30 burpees. This seems to be working, so here is addition to that If I fall off the wagon and eat any poison in the next 60 days I will owe 50 Burpees for each item. Example (1 package of FERRERO ROCHER has 3 chocolates = 150 Burpees)

I am either doing the work or I am not. I cannot keep working this hard to just stay 400lbs, I will be in the 200’s before the end of the summer. Food is not going to stop me!!