Today was my fifth weigh-in for the body challenge. It was also the first time that we’ve measured body fat percentage since the orientation on January 15th. Back then, I was in the relatively acceptable range at 19.2% and was hoping, at this point, to have lost around 2%. I was kind of terrified that I’d walk in there, get measured up, and have lost 1% or somehow miraculously gained some body fat, but, to my surprise, I lost 3.2%. My goal for the whole challenge was set at 4%, so now I’m going to boost that up a bit. And to top it all off, since my weigh-in last Friday, I’ve lost about 3 inches around my stomach.
If you give a shit about my general health and well-being and/or have been following along with my body challenge progress, this post is for you.
My weigh-in this morning marked the end of the fourth week, which means I am halfway done with the challenge. I started off strong, dropping weight and (hopefully) body fat, but my pace has slowed steadily since that first weigh-in. This week, I lost around two pounds, bringing my grand total to somewhere around eight or nine. I was hoping for something more like four pounds per week, but this is real life and not a commercial.
We measure body fat, the main component of the challenge, for the first time at the end of next week. I’ve been sticking to the diet plan and working out for an hour a day, six days per week. Needless to say, this is a complete 180 from my normal routine.
On Sunday, there is “triathlon” at the place I work out, which is comprised of abbreviated versions of three of the classes that we offer and then a three mile run/jog/walk afterwards. This does not excite me, but I’m gonna show up and bust my ass.
In conclusion, I’m still trying, I miss pizza and candy and cake, and I almost killed myself watching my friend Dave eat a calzone last night.
Fat free whipped cream in a can is the best discovery I’ve made while on this diet. Also, turkey burgers, but mostly fat free whipped cream.
After one week (technically, almost two weeks; my team’s scheduled weigh-in day is Friday), the results are in. I’ve lost 5 pounds (more if I would’ve weighed-in in the morning), half an inch off my wrist, and half an inch off my stomach. I was told that a quarter of an inch per week is good, so my measurements are very promising. Also, I ate soy hot dogs and they are really gross. Soy is gross. Go to hell, soy. I’ll stick to turkey.
I’m two full days into the challenge, and I’ve found out that what I thought was going to be hard part (the diet) is really pretty simple. I just have to go grocery shopping a lot more and do a little math once in a while. What I thought was going to be the easier part (the working out) has thus far been pretty damn hard. I attended my first class on Monday night and woke up a bit sore in the bicep area. The soreness faded as the day progressed and I attended my second class on Tuesday night. After Tuesday’s class, my biceps were screaming. They screamed through the drive to Sarah’s. They screamed through dinner. They screamed through the drive home, through my shower, through my sitting on the couch, and through me trying to fall asleep. I sat up from around midnight until about 2am, alternately icing my biceps and trying to figure out how I could ever get some sleep with such immense pain. I managed to waddle upstairs and find some Ibuprofen PM and pounded two of those. I fell asleep sometime after, but woke up with a familiar screaming. I stopped and grabbed some Icy Hot on the way to work, and while my biceps are still sore, this cooling sensation is pleasantly distracting. I’m trying to muster enough courage to attend class again tonight.
Monday morning starts my official beginning of that whole body challenge thing. This afternoon, I went to my orientation for the program, where the HNIC, Master Gary, kind of walked us through the whole idea and assigned us our teams, all while hocking his supplements and products. Again, I’m psyched about the working out part of the program, but the diet will be quite hard for me. I went grocery shopping tonight after pub trivia, simply because I didn’t have anything in my house that I could eat for breakfast on this diet. I actually bought normal groceries. I didn’t walk into Kroger and buy a bunch of candy and chocolate milk and preprepared chicken wings. I bought yogurt and fruit and whole wheat bread and lettuce and Lean Cuisine shit. What have I become?
