Let's Do It: Three-Month Fitness Program

I have an eating problem.  My problem is that I like to eat.  I have been told my appetite is like a guy.  I also have an addiction to sugar/sweets.  I have heard that if you do not drink and alcoholism runs in your family, you often are predisposed to have an insatiable craving for sugar.  I believe this.  It is truly a battle for me.  After every meal, regardless of how full I may be, I CRAVE something sweet.  I have to struggle to fight this desire.  It is not easy.

When I made the goal of running the LA Marathon last fall, I forbade myself from registering until I weighed 120 lbs. At the time, I was a FAT 128/129 lbs.  For my height, this is overweight.  I quickly dropped the weight and was down to 115/116 pounds.  I incorporated a lot of interval, high intensity Tabata style training.  I restricted my diet to healthy foods.  With the loss of the weight, my running benefitted because I lessened the stress on my knees.  Most would think that running makes you lose weight, and it does, but because all I did was run, I lost a tremendous amount of muscle mass and strength. Weight training is just as critical as cardio training.   I also began to relax on my diet, and the weight crept back up. 

Lance and I have a poor habit of snacking in front of the TV at the end of the day.  I buy lots of goodies for the house.  Honestly, if Lance never married me, he would be much thinner than he is now.  I am always buying him the things he loves:  ice cream, chocolate etc.  I want him happy and I overfeed him with everything unhealthy.  It is not good. 

With a group of friends at work, we started on a three-month fitness program.  I am beyond excited as fitness has always been a passion of mine.  When I was 18 and I entered college, I was clueless on what career I wanted. I chose to be an English major because I loved literature, but what would I do with that degree? I didn’t really want to teach.  At the time, my passion for fitness had not developed, but now, if I could turn back the clock, I would major in kinesiology.  I would be a sports physical therapist.  I would train as well.  I am so passionate about this that I love watching videos of people exercising.  It's kind of sick.  Though I am not fulfilling this goal as my full-time job, I do get to share my passion with friends. We developed a three-month diet and exercise program.

 

 

We started on May 1 with body measurements.  We intend on taking final measurements three months later.  Weight lost is not an adequate indicator of physical change/growth.  You need to focus on the inches, flexibility, and strength as well. 

Weight/Measurements as of May 1, 2014
	Lance	Liz	Mylinh	Maryam
Weight	253 lbs	123 lbs	114 lbs	129 lbs
Chest	49.5 in	34 in	34 in	36 in
Waist	49 in	33 in	31 in	29 in
Hips	50 in	39 in	36 in	42 in
Thigh	26 in	24.5 in	21.5 in	24 in
Arm	17 in	12.5 in	12.5 in	13 in

I also did an initial fitness evaluation of us with the intention of seeing how much improvement we make at the end of the three-month period.  Each of the exercises were performed until complete fatigued/exhaustion.  In terms of the push-ups, these were not “girl” pushups but the regular guy ones.  You may think these initial results are pathetic, but keep in mind, we did one test after the other with only a minute or less rest period.   As a group, we train twice a week together with me leading the exercises.  They are supposed to work out individually the rest of the weekdays.  I think twice a week will not suffice.  I have proposed a three-day work out as a collective group.

Fitness Evaluation Tests as of May 6, 2014
	Lance	Liz	Mylinh	Maryam
Plank	1 min 41 sec	3 min		1 min 32 sec
1/2 Mile Run	4 min 40 sec	4 min		6 min 10 sec
Push Ups	15	21		6
Side Plank	37 sec	1 min 45 sec		39 sec
Static Wall Squat	2 min 2 sec	1 min 46 sec		48 sec
Burpies (1 mins)	8	20		9
Squats (2 mins)	49	72		45
Sit ups (2 mins)	63	90		80

In addition to these training sessions, we are also making ourselves accountable to each other by reporting our daily food consumption.  If someone has a “bad” day, they will suffer the consequence by climbing the stairwells of our 12-story office building twice.

It has only been 7 days for me, and I have lost 2 pounds.  I am down to 121 pounds. Actually, it’s been a little more than 7 days.  I feel better.  It is not easy.  Someone brought in donuts to work. I did not have one.  Someone brought in tiny Bundt cakes (lemon, white chocolate, chocolate, red velvet). I did not have one.  An In and Out truck came by to give free double cheeseburgers to all employees. I did not have one.  I am also proud of Lance.  Yesterday, we had to go through the drive through at Carl’s Jr because we had a baseball game to go to that night.  He ordered a turkey burger and no fries.  I had a turkey burger with a lettuce wrap, no fries.  Sometimes, you cannot avoid fast food, but there is always a healthy option on the menu.

People start diets and a workout regime but oftentimes, it cannot be maintained.  I have always worked out.  I just need to focus on my diet.  My goal is to return back to 115/116 pounds so that is basically 5 pounds for me.  Lance wants to get to 210 but he would be happy being in his 220s.  I think we need to establish goals that are realistic and maintainable. 

 

You just feel better.  It isn’t about looking better. It really is about feeling better and being healthier.  Looking better is just a nice benefit.  It does help tremendously that we are doing this as a group. We support each other. We hold each other accountable. We motivate each other.

In three-months, I’ll report our final results.

 

LET’S DO IT!!!!