Dotfit

Oh and about the Dotfit problems, that's strange! I don't know what to tell you other than if you have a Mac, the website doesn't work with Safari. Try using Firefox. And about the erasing past input, the whole system just went through a revamp overhaul and hopefully that is what caused it when they switched to the new set up. They should be done with that until June when they do another one. Hopefully the problems ceases. Sorry about that!

Frustrations

So from the sounds of things, the scales are not producing the results we all thought they would. I would like to post this blog to relieve some of those frustrations, hopefully. The female body is full of hormones that don't react well to change. It takes about 12 weeks for the body get used to any big change, whether that be eating less or working more. 12 weeks! Remember that. We are just coming up on 10 weeks of the workout change, but when did you start changing your diet? So give yourselves a break. The illusion of the biggest loser that the first few weeks are the best time to lose a ton of weight is absolutely rediculous. Do you workout 8 hours a day and have every calorie you consume specifically made out for your specific needs by a medical professional? So you have other stresses in life to think about besides weight loss? ... There you go. Tat show puts people in a lot of discouraging situations because of the false illusion it creates. HANG IN THERE! It takes 50-60 consecutive days to forma a habit, so if the eating thing is not going well, just give yourself time. If the scale is not your friend yet, give yourself time.

As for change, look at inches. Look at how you feel at the end of the day. Look at your energy level, your mood, your interactions with other people... If any of those are better than before January, you are making progress!

Weight is made up of 4 parts: fat mass, muscle, bone, and blood. As you workout, three of those increase and one decreases... thus making weight change more difficult, but making health more attainable. Don't stress out so much about the numbers. Try focusing on how you feel, your energy, your self esteem, etc. Give yourselves a break! You're all making change in the right direction. By next month, results will start coming. At the end of April when we retake the fitness tests, you'll see results. At the end of March when we re-measure, you'll see change. Just be patient. You are doing all the right things. Just keep going. DON'T GIVE UP!!!

PS~ We will not be having a workout this Saturday (March 13) or Saturday March 27 in order to avoid extra fees. Speaking of fees, only one person has paid for March. Just FYI. Also, next Tuesday (March 16) we will meet at the rec center.

No Pain, No Gain

So I've started doing the 30 day Challange on Active for the Wii (thanks sunny :)) and it is kicking my butt! Between that and our workouts on Tuesday's & Saturday's I'm always so sore! It feels good though because it means I'm working towards something better, no pain-no gain, right? :) I just can't seem to get a firm grasp on the eating part though! I've been tracking calories for a week and trying to eat 500 calories less than I normally do. But yet when I get on the scale and see the numbers going up instead of coming down I feel so discouraged and totally go a carb & sugar rampage! I try to just jump back on the next day but I just keep feeling more and more discouraged! Ugh! One of these times it will get easier, it's just so hard to hang in there.

Tuesday night Episode

I LOVE the new goals we've set for our little group. But I must say I'm REALLY nervous for weigh in on Saturday this past week has been horrid for me. My 3 year old has not been sleeping well so I've been up with her which makes it hard to stay up during the day. On days like that I end up resorting to caffeine pills to help me make it through the day and loads of snacking. Let me just say that eating a well balanced meal when taking those is a must. I found out the hard way later Tuesday night at our workout group. I'm so glad we have an amazing trainer and an amazing group to help me get through Tuesday night I seriously did NOT feel well. All that caffeine in my system plus no food and some major exercising really made me sick. I really need to focus on eating properly and just really not take caffeine pills! :)

100 in 8

Ok so we briefly mentioned a group goal last week but nothing got decided. So rather than waste time and money dilly dallying... HERE IS YOUR GROUP GOAL:

100 pounds lost in 8 weeks.

The starting weigh in was last week - January 30th, and the final weigh in will be Saturday March 27th.

Let's talk rewards and numbers. Here's the current status of the training payments: at the end of January, you as a group are $40 over what was required. If we carry that over to February, you as a group will only be $12 over since we're losing one and a half "payers." Then, looking forward, March has 4 Saturdays and 5 Tuesdays... If we carry over the $12 over and add in all your monthly $25, you will come up $46 short. SO, your reward for making 100 pounds in 8 weeks is that $46 deficit. If you work hard and lose the weight, I will give you 1 and ahalf FREE sessions... BECAUSE YOU DESERVE IT!!! However, if you do not lose the weight, you will each owe me $5 on March 30. So, get motivated by health or by money... whatever works.

Here's the break down: 100 pounds in 8 weeks means 12.5 pounds a week as a group. That means 1.4 pounds each of you MUST lose EACH WEEK!!! In order to lose 1.4 pounds each week, you need to have a calorie deficit of 700 calories EVERY DAY, 7 days a week for 8 weeks. In order to do this, you can burn 700 more calories each day, or eat 700 less, or some combination of the two. NOTICE: this is not a 5 days a week change... This is EVERY DAY including weekends. 700 calories REALLY isn't that much. YOU CAN DO IT!!!

Studies show that it takes 50 to 60 days to form a habit. If you eat better and work hard to be healthy for the next 8 weeks, you will form a habit. Once you form a habit to be smarter anbout health, it just gets easier from there. Sandra's son Glen said after he lost a bunch of weight that he can now eat whatever he wants because what he wants is different now." WORDS TO LIVE BY. Good luck to all of you. Remember... it's already been 5 days and we don't weigh till next week. That means that next time we weigh, all of you need to lose just 3 pounds from last week to next week. You can do it! Three pounds is NO biggy and it is difinitely a perfect way to start! 8 to weeks to better lives starts 5 day ago! Good luck and have fun. See you all Tuesday at the church for aerobics. You don't need to bring anything unless you want to bring weights for extra caloric burn. It's up to you. YOUR WORKOUTS WILL BE WHAT YOU MAKE OF THEM!!! You are all doing wonderfully. I'm having a lot of fun and hope you are too! Thanks for letting me be a part of your success!

Sorry!

I feel bad that I haven't attended for the last week. My foot has been really hurting me. I went to the doctor on Feb. 1st and found out that I will have to have another surgery. He will remove a bone that I broke in a fall. Hopefully I can get back into the swing of things in a month. Keep on going! I can tell that things are better with the exercise. Good Luck!

Saturday

The plan for Saturday is Ball Exercises again. If you want a little more intense workout, bring a resistance band or some weights that are between 5 and 15 pounds. Hope to see you all there. Also, I would like some feedback if you want to give it. Let me know if the workouts are what you expect, if you want more or need less. Thanks. My e-mail address is stodsuza@gmail.com if you want to send me private feedback. Thanks. See you all Saturday.

Overcome the URGE!!!

Food is a curse. We all want to eat so many things for so many reasons. Here's the key to successfully abstaining from sweet break downs:

1. Start by getting rid of the sweets that are in your house. If you have the ingredients to make sweets, don't throw them away... give them away. Bake whatever you would have for yourself and give it to someone else. Just get it out of your house.

2. Next time you're in the grocery store picking up goodies and snacks , pick them all out at the register and add up how much they would cost to buy... Write that number down and take them out of your cart. Within a month, you'll be able to see some saved money and it will make it more worth it. It might just be a dollar here or there so it seems harmless, but the numbers add up over a month's time and you'll see the value in NOT buying crappy food.

3. To deal with cravings, eat a piece of flavored gum or mint gum. Flavored gum will give you the sweet taste with only 5 or 10 calories and mint gum, as Sunny pointed out, will put a flavor in your mouth that clashes with other foods.

4. If you must eat some snack... try fruit or yogurt or something a little healthier but lower calories and lower fat.

5. THIS IS THE KEY: to fill yourself up so that you don't want to fill yourself with snacks, DRINK WATER!!! Seriously try it. Next time you have a craving, FORCE yourself to drink 2 full 8 ounce glasses of water and you will feel like you're going to pop, so there's NO ROOM for sweets. But in 30 minutes or so, you'll be back to normal, no craving, no calories, no guilt. Just more hydrated and feeling better. This takes a few tries, so don't give up. Do it over And over if you have to.

6. Have patience in yourself. Once you can build up a habit - which takes 30 to 60 consecutive days - you will want different things. You will be a able to eat whatever you want because what you want will be good food, not garbage.

Take it a step at a time, a day at a time. You CAN overcome the food curse. See you all tomorrow for some serious work and burn!!!

Cravings...

"Who knew that a rubber ball could be so lethal!" My friend Kelci said. I have to agree, our workout on Saturday with the exercise ball has me hurting all over today! It's a good hurt (if there ever could be a "good" hurt). It means that I'm working out, using muscles I haven't in a long time, I'm doing something about my health! Now if I could just make all these sugar cravings go away! Today I've had such a craving for sugar!! I finally broke down and made some No-Bake cookies... now I need to practice some self control and not eat them all. Last week was a bad week for me. I tend to be an emotional eater, a "I'm bored" eater, a "I'm stressed" eater. Do you see a pattern here? Any excuse to eat, I'm all over it. I'm fully aware of this and I really need to start working on it. So for me to have sugar, treats or any form of snacks is not a good thing! I need to learn some new ways to deal with things besides "eating" them away all the time. I feel miserable for eating so much and giving in, so in turn I eat more because I am so miserable already, *sigh* such a horrible way to deal with things. What do you all do? How do you handle the cravings and the emotional eating?

The Plan

I felt that our first group went well, considering that none of us really knew what to expect last Saturday. So in order to prevent wasted time or inefficiency in the future, I'm going to put our tentative schedule on the blog a week or two in advance. This week, Tuesday will be at the gym, you do not need to bring any equipment, but be ready to work out very hard! This is a wonderful opportunity to be able to train at this gym and I hope we can continue to do so.

From the payments I've received, I will do a 45 minute session at the gym tonight and a full hour session the rest of the Tuesdays and Saturdays for the rest of January.

We will be working with the exercise balls this Saturday and the next 3 Saturdays as well, so please bring one. They are $9 at Walmart and come with a pump and exercise pamphlet. The size you want is 65 cm. Again, please bring your ball this Saturday and every Saturday for the rest of January.

Great job on our first workout ladies! I want to congratulate those of you who have already lost weight! I also want to congratulate all of you for putting forth the effort to change your lives. That is one huge first step and you should all be proud of yourselves. I look forward to our future sessions and our future successes as well! See you all tonight.

Quotes

Favorite quotes from our organizational meeting of Tuesday night:
"I've always been an observer. I would like to be a player."
"I found out I have muscles, besides the sitting down muscles."
"I'm an inspiration for others."
"The minute I don't have to weigh, I don't have to be good anymore."
And my favorite:
"I want it to be a fun torture."


Thanks! I love you ladies!