or I that is what I keep trying to tell myself. I can't be on point and perfect in my workouts everyday. This has been the big lesson as I rounded out week one, trudged through week 2 and am keeping in close to my heart during week 3.
I have cried in frustration twice already. The first time was on Friday (2/4/10) at the end of my 1st- 6 day cycle. Up until then I had grown more and more exhausted. I know its because I worked out 6 days in a row which my body is not used to doing, but most of the time the workouts felt within reach. Weight lifting days are not the most fun, but at least I get to spend my time with my pull up bar (no, I still can't do a full pull up). On the cardio days we had done plyometrics which I had done before numerous times at derby practice and yoga which I had done in college, but Friday was Kenpo. For those of you not in the know (which was me), Kenpo is some sort of mixed martial arts and boxing. Kenpo made me cry. I would like to say that it was, at least in part due, to my period and I am sticking by my story. Bottom line was I was exhausted. Thankfully Saturday was day 7- my day off. I loved day 7. The second cry was at the beginning of week two when I realized some changes needed to be made to sustain this program.
During week 2 there were some major changes. I realized that neither Lynn nor I could sustain working out in the evenings. It was obvious by half way through the week that our workouts would continue to suffer without changing our workout times. Lynn began doing her workouts before work in the morning and I did mine during the day as a break from school. If you know me you know that I am NOT a morning person and getting up at 5:30am to workout in no way appeals to me. Oddly enough though, I missed working out with Lynn. I liked doing it together. She is better at the weight stuff and I like asking her opinion and getting her advice. In return, I am a much bigger fan of yoga and plyo so I try and make out workouts during cardio days more fun by making workout mixes on my itunes and trying to keep it light hearted. We help each other through it even if its just laughing with each other at how insanely hard the workout is.
Beyond the working out part the food continued to be challenging. The program gives you three different stages of diet. The first is tor burn fat, the second is an energy maximizer balanced and low fat, and the third is an athlete's diet which is rich in carbs. The programs encourages you to listen to your body and move through the first two levels however you see fit. There is no length of time to be on level one before moving to level two. The third level, however, is "earned" and should not be used it simply as a diet. Level one was not working for me. My body doesn't function well on a high protein, low carb diet. It never has. I was exhausted and miserable. I decided to have two carb servings a day instead of one which the program recommends as an option. The idea is to figure out how much carbs your body needs and not eat in excess of that. The carbs should also, obviously, be "good" carbs such as whole wheat pasta. Within a few days I had more energy and was starting to feel like I had the energy to expend in my workout. I have now moved onto level two, which is mostly the removal of one protein and the addition of one carb (which I had already done). The program says that most people stay on this level the entire time. I can see why. Its a good balance of protein and good carbs, good fats, etc. Junk food is just not an option, but not that its been gone for a while I don't even miss it.
The other hard part of the diet has been finding variety in eating. I owe a lot to Lynn for being able to find interesting recipes and then tailor them to our vegetarian diet. She has really saved my sanity. Eating the same things day after day would not have sustained 90 days. At first we spent a lot of meals eating the same thing and it quickly got old and annoying. Now that we can have another serving of carbs it has made a huge difference in variety at meal time. I try and spread my carb eating throughout the day breaking it down into half carb (approx. 100 calories per half) servings. It is interesting how much I have changed my ideas about portion sizes. Now 1 cup of pasta (a FULL carb serving) seems like a ton of food. The diet has really helped me learn how to fuel by body to get the best performance out of it. Although I have been strict I still have allowed myself a few beers over the last couple weeks :) A lady has to be a little bad sometimes....
That brings us to this week-week 3. I feel that we are starting to get into a routine. When I look in the mirror I already see the difference and I can see it in Lynn too. It feels so nice to know that our hard work is paying off. Beyond the looks I have more stamina endurance wise and continually lift more weight. I can ALMOST do a full pull up so expect big news soon. As soon as I can do it I will be singing it from the rooftops.
This morning was probably my biggest accomplishment. I got up with Lynn and worked out at 5:30am. Me! That's right... me. I hold told Lynn the night before I MAY try and get up, but I have said that a few times only to have her wake me up at 5am and in return she got me wining/growling at her to get out of my face. But this morning, well.... I got UP! It helped that Yoga is my favorite day, even if it is the longest. When she woke up me, my first thought was , "oh, hell no!" and then, out of nowhere I heard a little voice in my head say, "just try." It was the strangest, sort of out of body experience. I shot right up and out of bed, got dressed, found my place next to Lynn, placed a cup of coffee in front of my yoga mat and began.
I have been continually impressed with my body and my mind since the beginning. I have asked it to do things I never thought I could do even when my body screams that it can't possibly do one more minute of a workout. I believe that is where that is where the little voice lives in my head, the one that told me to get up this morning. Its the one you hear right after you tell yourself "you can't possibly lift your leg/ pull yourself up/stand in warrior one one more time" and you do it anyways. That is where that voice comes from.
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