W11D3: Fly-By Quickie Update

This is gonna be a short one. We had a killer leg day this morning and I can honestly say I can barely walk. I've had some interesting moments in the gym but today....today....some random guy came up to my partner and me and asked if he could take our picture. We were, after all, superheros. :D

Of course we obliged and then continued on with our torture session. Thankfully we were done in just over an hour but I'll be paying for that hour for days! Anyway,  I just tucked my kiddos into bed and I'm ready to soak my bottom half in the tub for an obscene amount of time. But first, I want to share a little something with you. We all know progress pictures are important. As I get down to the little nitty gritty details of creating my 'new' body, it gets harder and harder to see the big picture on a daily basis. I was changing clothes earlier and happened to catch a glimpse of my back in the mirror. Whoa, baby! So I snapped a picture to commemorate the moment and compare it to late last year right before I started Operation: Unleash the MILF. The first picture was taken mid-December and I, of course, used the handy dandy 'auto-enhance' feature on iPhoto. The second picture was taken tonight and although it's not the best quality photo from my lovely iPhone, there are no special effects, lighting, or filters. All me, baby!

Before any particularly smart people comment on my tattoo moving, it's called a mirror image. ;)

W11D3 Operation: Unleash the MILF

Workout Duration: 1:00:02

Calories Burned: 544

PR-ed Barbell Squats and Deadlifts. Woot!

W10D3: Breaking Down

This is the fourth time, now, that I've done a twelve-week program and the cycle of emotions is the same every time. At the beginning, you're excited about what's to come. You're pumped for the workouts, eager to get to the gym every day. In the middle, you've really begun to see changes and that's enough to keep you motivated. But by the ninth week, you are starting to get burnt out. The workouts aren't quite as exciting anymore as you've been doing the same moves(albeit in different settings) for over two months. Your body isn't changing quite as fast and it even seems to be breaking down. It's tired. You're tired. You start to become more susceptible to injury if your form isn't spot on every time. You are willing the last three weeks of your program to fly by so that you can start something new and interesting again. I've hit that point and I've hit it hard. It's taking all the mental and physical strength I have to get through the next 2.5 weeks and to do it in a way that brings the results I desire.

And as if all this crap going through my head and body isn't enough, there was drama at the gym this morning. I walked into the locker room, opened my locker and started unpacking my bag just as I do every day. Except...something was missing. When it dawned on me what that something was I started freaking. My notebook wasn't there. It wasn't in my locker, or my bag. Hell, I even checked my partner's locker since I'd borrowed a pair of pants yesterday. I asked the janitor if she'd seen and and she said yes, she saw it yesterday sitting by my locker. I guess maybe she thought I was still there? Anyway, I'm sure you're probably wondering why I was freaking about a notebook. First of all, it had all of my workouts in it. The workouts I PAID for. The workouts I'm not supposed to share with others who have not paid for them. But most important, all of my personal information(my weight loss, body fat and measurements) from the last ten weeks was in there. I hadn't recorded it anywhere else. And then last, the thing you may laugh at me for, my prize. You see, every time I complete a program, part of the prize at the end is seeing all the folded up pages in my notebook. All the workouts I've completed. Hell, a lot of the pages even have sweat droplets on them. It may not seem like a big deal but unless you've actually followed through with an entire 12-week program, you have no idea.

So while I'm having my own personal freak out, my partner walks into the locker room with her usual chipper 'Morning!' She said as soon as I saw her I had the puppy eyes. And of course the tears started to flow. And then a couple more(very understanding) friends come in and hear my news and immediately start a search party. We checked with the front desk and they couldn't find it in their lost and found, but within minutes, my friends had signs posted all over the gym asking people to return my book. Honest to goodness, I have some of THE best friends here that I've ever had. Women that understand WHY I was losing my shit over a notebook and didn't have to ask any questions. Knowing we'd done all we could do, I marched back into the locker room and put on my shoes knowing that I was about to bang out one hell of a workout because of all this frustration. We hadn't even gotten all of our equipment set-up and the front desk was calling my name over the loudspeaker. They found my book! Apparently it was hiding under a stack of papers, NOT in the lost and found. The sheer relief that flooded over me was amazing. My book! All was well with the world for that moment.

Of course one good thing did come of my 'lost' notebook. The guys that work the desk at the gym think I'm pretty cuckoo. I'm there every day and I surely make every day count. They've commented on our 'insane' workouts before but today....today they saw my fat picture in the front of my notebook. Today, they stared at me in awe and congratulated me on my achievements. Today, I think they learned why I AM so cuckoo. ;) They didn't even believe that person was me!

W10D3 Operation: Unleash the MILF
Workouts Duration: 1:15:04(55 minutes weight training, 15 minutes rowing, 5 minutes foam rolling)
Calories burned: 507

W9D2: The Minimalist 'Diet'

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W8D1: Under The Influence Of Awesomeness

I've always been a klutz of epic proportions. How I survived eight years of dance lessons and six years of marching band is beyond me. Even the choir room was hazardous, falling down risers onto the piano. Yeah...don't ask. ;) My fitness journey has been no exception. From slamming my fingers between dumbbells to tripping over barbells to rolling my ankle multiple times during Zumba, every day is an amusing journey. Thankfully I have never seriously injured myself!

Last week I started getting a little more brave with my box jumps and put a plate on top to add an inch of height. At the moment my feet left the floor, my partner said something funny that completely wrecked my train of thought. My left foot completed the jump and landed square on the box but my right toes grazed the edge, sending my right leg behind my left. I dove to the side to avoid crashing forward into the rack of dumbbells, did some sort of mid-air spin and landed on one foot right beside the box. Best part? Didn't even knock over my open water bottle. This, of course, pissed me off. I got right back behind the box and jumped, landing solidly on top. I may or may not have yelled a few obscenities at the poor box and then raised my fist in triumph while everyone looked on at the crazy girl.

I guess I'm making my mishaps a weekly thing because today I embarrassed myself yet again. Our circuit was comprised of three different types of lateral pulldowns in a row. As we set up camp at the cable machine, I hooked the lat bar to the carabiner and didn't realize some bozo before me had the weight set to five pounds. Guess what? The lat bar weighs more than five pounds. As it came crashing down on my head I shrieked like a little girl and everyone turned to watch. Red-faced and laughing, I picked that shit up, changed the weight, reset the bar and got down to business. Take that!

Why am I telling you all this? First of all, it's stupidly funny. Second, don't be afraid to be under the influence of awesomeness. When you do amazing things with your body(like lift more than five pound weights ;)...), you're bound to have a few bumps in the road. Laugh it off and get back to it. Conquer whatever is trying to defeat you, and do it with a huge grin on your beet-red face.

W8D1 Operation: Unleash the MILF
Total weight lost: 3 lbs.
Workout duration: 1:05:53
Calories burned: ~700(My HRM cut off during my first circuit and I couldn't get it back on until my third. Boo!)

As an aside, I just wanted to share this picture. A friend took it last weekend and it's one of those that I had to do a double take to realize that's me! That's my five year old next to me and my two year old in front of me. I keep going back to this picture because it really helps get into my head that size I really am, not the size my brain still thinks I am!