I'm Back, Bitches!!!

Yes, I'm back, with a NEW program to whip my fat ass into a less fat ass. If you haven't heard of the awesomeness of TurboFire, go HERE. Go ahead; I'll wait. Done? Good.

So you probably noticed two things. One, it's from my favorite fitness guru, Chalene Johnson. Secondly, it's an amped up version of Turbo Jam...and you know how I love me some TJ! I'd made my way about halfway through the prep schedule before I started slacking (yeah, yeah, I know. It's a theme), but tomorrow I start doing TurboFire proper. I got the TF Warriors to keep me on track, homework done early to keep me from being up late and missing workouts, my mom alongside me to make sure I get up at 5:00 AM to workout and Results and Recovery Formula to get me through the soreness. Also, I WILL do yoga (also known as Stretch 40). I know I hate it, but flexibility training IS important and will allow me to do things that I couldn't do before. In addition, I now bowl in a league Wednesday nights, am going to start going to Zumba classes and (possibly) get up early on Wednesday mornings to go run before class (haven't completely made up my mind on that, yet).

So let's get on to my monthly measurements:

Weight: 198 lbs
Chest: 47 5/8 in
Left Arm: 14 3/4 in
Right Arm: 14 3/4 in
Waist: 46 3/8 in
Hips: 45 1/2 in
Left Thigh: 25 5/8 in
Right Thigh: 28 7/8 in

No body fat measurements or pictures this go around because you've seen the other pics. You know I'm fat. I'll take pics at the end, though, before I go to the TF/CLX Hybrid.

Oops...

Forgot about those measurements (and the rest of this phase's workouts, but I'll add those after I finish week 2 tomorrow).

Neck: 15 1/2 in
Chest: 47 in
Left Arm: 15 1/2 in
Right Arm: 14 1/2 in
Waist: 44 in
Hips: 47 in
Left Thigh: 26 1/2 in
Right Thigh: 28 in
Weight: 206.6 lbs

I know it's been almost 2 months, but...

I'm still around and I'm still pushing play. Saturday, I finished up an advanced rotation of Turbo Jam and took measuments on Sunday. I've been using my weighted gloves (K-Mart, not the blue Beachbody ones) for those workouts. Monday, I started my very first round of ChaLean Extreme. For that workout, I used my old 3-pound weights that I got for either 4th or 6th grade PE. I ordered some Reebok adjustable weights from Amazon for the program, but they didn't arrive until I was in the middle of the first workout. Next post will be measurements. But first, let Robert Harden tell you about Monday's and today's workouts:

Monday, Burn Circuit 1
Today, Burn Circuit 2

Also, I STILL fucking hate push-ups.

Still Standing

So I'm still pushing play, despite this virus that has either never left or is making the rounds through GNB again still ravaging my system. (Seriously. It's not pretty. You can ask the people at Olive Garden.) I did Punch, Kick  & Jam earlier in the week, and my sweats fell down. Awe-SOME! I also did Cardio Party with my mom later that night. How'd she like it? Well, she was really feeling the music and the routines. What she didn't like was the water break after the Turbo section. According to her, it was just another 30 seconds that she could've been done sooner. Either way, I burned her a copy, and she's considering getting a pair of weighted gloves, as well.

The only REAL issue with doing TJ is that my eating habits have changed - not the fault of Chalene, of course. It's that I've had NO appetite since being sick (constant cravings of OG breadsticks, notwithstanding) and it's begun to affect my metabolism negatively. Despite the sweatpants incident, it feels like I haven't been getting anywhere in my weight (fat) loss journey. I eat decently at dinner - one serving, where I used to eat three or four - but for the rest of the day I don't eat anything. I was starving at work one night and ordered jalapeno poppers. Eight come in an order, and I ate three before tossing the rest in the garbage. My job is moderately demanding physically - moving up and down lanes, and carrying weights (balls) that range from 6 to 16 pounds - and with no appetite, I'm not bringing in the fuel needed for it to actually BURN anything. And vomiting immediately after finishing my ravioli definitely isn't helping.

I've also been deliberately NOT weighing or measuring myself, as a result. Next set of measurements and pictures will be up next month.

For the Record

I HAVE been keeping up with my workouts, even though there's been an embarrassing lack of posts lately. Well, until last week, anyway. Unfortunately, last Monday was the only scheduled workout that I did, because I've been struck down with a virus. Stupidly, I continued to work with a fever until Saturday morning when I bit the bullet, called out sick for the first time EVER, and went to the doctor. While I DID get a few miles worth of walking in, I may have made myself worse. I'm not allowed to return to work until Wednesday (well, TECHNICALLY, it's Tuesday, but I'm off that day) as per Dr. Mebane's orders. Seriously. She even had the administrative assistants draft a letter to to give my bosses.

My intention was to ignore last week and return to Turbo Jam today, but I still feel pretty shitty. So much so that I can't sleep for extended periods of time without choking on mucus. Today, I'm up to an hour and forty-five minutes. So tomorrow I'm going to be doing a double-shot (really, a triple-shot) of TJ and I'm going to make up yesterday's workout on Saturday (my rest day). Hopefully, that'll get me back on track.

I'm Back! I'm Back!

So the holidays are over and I'm back to working out on a regular basis.  For the last week or so, I've been doing Leslie Sansone's Walk Away the Pounds (the original) 2-Mile with my parents. Today, I started Turbo Jam for the first time in my two years of owning it. I also bought a new pedometer and some weighted gloves. I almost bought some speed weights, but they were more than I wanted to spend. I KNEW I should've bought those 25-pound (12.5 each) ones that I saw at Tar-zhay a while back. (I'll see if they still have them before I start Chalene Extreme in two months.) 
Food-wise, I've started limiting my alcoholic beverages. It wouldn't be so hard if I drank beer (besides the VERY occasional Blue Moon) since I could have a light one, cut down on calories and satisfy my craving for both alcohol and bread. But I don't drink beer - it tastes awful and looks like piss, so I avoid it as much as necessary. Alas, my weakness is for hard liquor which packs MORE empty calories in a SMALLER amount than either beer or wine. If I can drop to one adult beverage a week, I should be able to dramatically reduce my caloric intake.

As for Turbo Jam, I did the "Learn and Burn." I learned the "Elite Eleven" moves. Think the 3Ts of Hip Hop Abs + the punches and kicks of Power 90's Sweat * 3. Add "Let It Whip" and "A Night to Remember" as workout tunes and you basically have L&B. The punches and the kicks were harder for me to pull of while staying on balance than the ones in P90, though.

See ya on Wednesday, when after I do "20 Minutes."