New beginnings

So my goal was to write weekly, and here I am two days in a row. w00t go me!

Tonight was my first workout at the new gym, SquareOne. I'm feeling a little...melancholy, I guess. Maybe not the perfect word. But what I'm feeling is, I'm really going to miss our big bootcamps at other places. I've been missing the Y and Zorinsky already the past few months. Now I'll also be missing Montclair. Things at bootcamp have changed drastically since I joined 20 months ago, and although each new phase was better than the previous phase I still find myself nostalgic for the old times.

I started off coming in the mornings at the Y. There were usually around 6 people there then. I'd warm up on the elliptical, we'd do a weight circuit, and then we'd finish in the gym with basketball relays or the "card game" or bouncing medicine balls and running in circles.

Then my first competition started and there was an attendance portion, so I tried out the evening sessions. My first session felt like it would nearly kill me. Walking up the huge hill was torture. It was a different group of people (some the same, some different), it was outside, it was so much tougher. After my first day there I thought I couldn't handle it and skipped the next session because I was too scared to go back. Thank goodness for the competition, because something in me wanted to win and it overrode the fear. From then on I didn't miss another session throughout the entire summer, even though midway through I sprained my ankle pretty badly. We had Saturdays at Zorinsky, we ran the "dyke loop" (mile) and beat our times, I sprained my ankle a second time, we climbed what seemed to be a mountain, we freaked out about snakes.

A few months later things changed drastically again, and I wish I had recorded my feelings at the time. I know I was nervous. I felt scared that things wouldn't be as good. Little did I know how much BETTER they would be! The "beginners" (mostly people Marty recruited at the Biggest Loser auditions that were held here in town) merged with our "regular" bootcamp, we started having regular contests, we started having finale parties for the first time. And suddenly I had friends! We moved to Montclair, another venue, another type of workout. We added millions of wall sits, we started running to the "lonely tree", we ran a lot more in general, so many laps around the gym. The workouts at Montclair are some of my favorites. The people I got to know during that time are some of my favorites too. I'm extremely lucky to know them.

And now, the next chapter. SquareOne. Our own space. Kevin and Marty have been working like fiends for weeks now, with occasional help from some of us others, and suddenly we're in and ready to workout there. I wish I could say I'm 100% excited and happy and think that it's perfect. Instead, I'm pretty apprehensive. I'm worried. I hate the unknown, I hate change. I'm scared. Terrified, really. I'm worried that we'll lose some of the magic that is our little family. I'm worried that working out in smaller groups will make us less close. We'll have fewer opportunities to all be together. I hate that I don't know what will happen.

So, I enjoyed my first workout. I really did. And I enjoyed hanging out beforehand in the lobby with Kevin and Robert while another group worked out. And I enjoyed dinner with the guys and Amanda afterwards. But it's not the same, and I'm scared.

I'm trying to remain positive. I know I want and need to support Marty and be excited for him and his new business, and I will. I'll do everything in my power to help make this a success. But I'm scared. And I hate that.

Happenings

Well I said I'd write more later, but I wasn't specific on how much later. :) The pants challenge is almost over, and hasn't gone well. It's highly unlikely that I will fit into my pants. However, other things have been slowly changing and moving along and getting better.

The gym is taking shape, and actually officially opening tomorrow. A small group worked out there this morning, but the official big bootcamp will meet there tomorrow night and that's the first real official thing. That's pretty exciting. I can tell a lot of people are stressed and worried about it though. Worried about pricing changes, about it being smaller groups since it's a smaller space, stuff like that. So things have been a little stressful. Mostly, though, I'm super excited.

We had "prom" there on Saturday, which was so much fun. We'd been planning it for months and it finally happened. It's a little sad now that it's over actually.

Okay, so this is a lame post, but better than nothing, right? :) More later. (sooner than later)

Third time's the charm?

I’ve been super inconsistent with this blogging thing. Let me try again! Lots has happened since my last report. Here’s a summary:

Trek Up The Tower – survived, got a sweet medal

Did my first 5K

Did a bunch more 5K’s

Did a 7K off-road race

Did a 5 mile race (hated every minute)

Did a “Try”athlon

Attempted a triathlon

Completed a half marathon

Got licensed as a Zumba instructor

I think my weightloss is the same as last time I posted, and that’s the bummer part. I’ve had a really hard time with the eating, as I always have. I lost 80 pounds by February, but since then I’ve rebounded about 15 pounds. Today is the first day of another new bootcamp challenge, so hopefully that 15 will be gone soon along with some of its friends.

This challenge is different than the others. I got really good at winning the attendance part of those, but never the weightloss. This one isn’t a competition. It’s a “Get Into Your Pants” challenge. We all turned in a pair of goal pants and we have until December 21^st to fit into them. I got a pair of 24’s from Target. I haven’t been able to buy pants at Target since…sophomore year of high school? I really want them to fit. Once I’m solidly in a Target size I’ll never have to spend so much on jeans again!!! These were only $25, compared to my $60+ jeans I’ve had to buy at places like Catherines. And they’re cuter, too! Considering I formerly owned size 34/36 pants I’m pretty (read: REALLY!!!) excited to fit into 24’s soon! 

Anyway, it's bedtime now, but I swear I'll write more later. :) 

Take two

I do still exist, and I have not quit. The blogging fell by the wayside pretty quickly after it started. Time to revive it! Fresh start!
The last 12 week contest went by. I didn't win. In November I overextended myself. In addition to six sessions with Marty per week I also signed on for four sessions a week at the office (lunch hour) and three mornings a week with another boot camp. Oh my goodness that was NUTS! People told me I was nuts. And I knew they were right. But I said "oh it's just a month, no biggie". HA! Biggie. Started to get burnt out, lost momentum, started skipping sessions here and there.

Overall I did well though. I'm still pleased with my progress. I lost 28 pounds during the competition. Since starting about a year ago I am down about 65 pounds now. Slow and steady wins the race!

Our new Winter Warrior contest kicked off tonight, so I figured it was a good time to restart this blogging thing. We moved our office into the new building yesterday, so I took that as an opportunity for a fresh start. I tracked my calories and yesterday my "workout" was shoveling a bunch of snow. Burned 700 calories. Here's what I ate:  
JustCran, egg beaters and a few bites of oatmeal for breakfast (the oatmeal tasted like glue and I threw the rest away), almonds for a snack, "baked" fish 'n chips with parmesan/tomato green beans for lunch, 100 calorie creamsicle for afternoon snack, brown rice and chicken for dinner.

Overall yesterday I burned about 1500 more calories than I ate. Not quite my goal (2500) but still not terrible. That pace would put me on track to lose 45 pounds during this contest. I plan to kick it up a notch though, I'd like to lose 60 and mathematically I KNOW I can.

And here's what I ate today:

Oatmeal with walnuts

Half bag of lite butter popcorn

Caracara orange

Chicken and rice casserole

Zucchini

Pudding

Cocoa almonds

Two Hershey kisses

Chipotle bowl

Still way too low on veggies, and a few too many calories. But again, much improved from my usual average day. :)

I'm SO looking forward to boot camp starting back up tomorrow night! I can't wait to get a good workout in. I can workout on my own, but it's just never the same as when Marty is there pushing me.

Here are my goals for tomorrow:

Burn 4000
Eat 1500
Eat VEGGIES!
Drink water


And here's a little happy reminder of how far I've come so far. The pants I'm holding are a Catherines Right Fit Blue Size "12". Currently I am wearing a "6" in the same brand/style of pants. :)