I Get By With a Little Help From My Friends

Last night one of my favorite people, the very cool Budgeting Babe Nicole Mladic (http://thebudgetingbabe.com) told me that I need to get back on the ball with regular blogging. Everyone needs a vacation now and then (which I have clearly taken this summer) but now that fall is here and the urge to go out every night to street fests, parties, BBQs and other calorie-laden spots is subsiding, my weight loss is once again kicking into high gear.

So here I go. Blogging on the regular again. Thanks Nicole, for the push I needed to start writing more than once a month.

So while Nicole has been the push I needed to type out my feelings again, I have to give some props to one of my besties who has been the most supportive friend I’ve had through this weight loss journey, my good friend B.

B is enviably beautiful. Gorgeous, long, blonde hair, killer figure, amazing style and sparkling personality, she’s the kind of person you would meet and immediately hate because you know there’s no way you’ll ever be as amazing as her. You immediately think, “Bitch” and move on with your life. However, for some reason, B and I clicked right away and developed a close friendship. Once you get to know someone, the exterior shell of fabulousness melts away and you see a person for what they really are; and in this case, B has shown herself to be a loyal friend who also has insecurities about her weight.

When I kicked off this diet, I spoke to B about it in detail. She said something interesting. “Angie,” she said, “I’m not a naturally thin person. I can’t eat whatever I want and gain weight. I have to watch every single bite that goes into my mouth and work out a lot to maintain my figure. I have a feeling it’s going to be the same way for you.” For some reason this clicked with me. I’d always, irrationally, I might add, that just because a person is beautiful and seems to have it all pulled together that they don’t work for it. I’d always been jealous of thin girls because I thought they were all just naturally thin. The truth is a majority of thin girls work incredibly hard to maintain their figures. B is one of those girls. It made her seem so much more accessible. It also made getting down to a weight where I can be happy seem so much more achievable. It’s something you work for rather than something you’re just given.

Not only has B been honest and open with her body struggles, she’s also one of my only friends who will do any crazy work out class or diet out there without complaining. Prime example: We’ve done spin, Pilates, gone walking and incessantly discuss how to keep our calories low while maintaining our sanity. It’s cool because in our close-knit group of four girlfriends, we seem to be the only two that think about our diet plan on the regular. We joke about how we can “creep out and be diet losers together.”

B’s support this year has been priceless. I know she knows I feel this way, but the message to you, dear readers, is no one can make life changes on their own. Whether your support comes from a husband, wife, boyfriend, girlfriend, sister, or in my case, good friend, it’s very important.

Cheers to you, B, for giving me the best support I could ever need.

Making Some Changes.

It’s hard to believe, but my membership to Chicago Fitness Center expired a few days ago. CFC will always hold a special place in my heart. I lost a lot of weight in that gym. It contains my blood, sweat and tears… literally. It’s where I worked on myself and my fitness for the past 12 months.

Even though there are good things about CFC, the bad far outweighs the good. It’s dirty. Half the machines don’t work. There are no amenities and the group class schedule is laughable. I joined CFC because Rob trained me there and I was able to take advantage of a special membership fee of $18.50/month so at the time, the right decision was to go with CFC. However now that Rob has left for another gym and I don’t have a contract holding me at CFC, I too am jumping ship and heading for greener pastures.

Enter ID Gym.

Rob now works at ID Gym, which is just down the street from CFC. He does both personal training and teaches group kettlebell classes at ID. I was lucky to score a You Swoop coupon to ID, so I’ve been working out there this week and I’ve been loving it. The gym is clean, uncrowded and the group class schedule is stacked with cool things like spin, yoga, fly yoga, crossfit, and aerobic-type stuff on top of Rob’s kettlebell classes.

I was running some numbers this afternoon and decided to make a very tough decision. While I have loved my one-on-one time with Rob this past year, it makes more financial sense to join ID and take advantage of Rob’s group classes a few times per week than continue to pay him a personal training fee. I’m able to get my workouts with Rob in AND combine the cost with my gym membership. Win for me. The tough thing, though, was telling Rob about my new plan. I explained the situation and he was so cool about it. He told me that I’ve been one of his most loyal clients and he’s so proud of our hard work together. And he understands that I have to do what makes the most sense for me. Plus, I’m not ditching him. I’ll still see him two times a week.

So I have a new home at ID and a new workout plan. I’m looking forward to it!

Lame.

I now know that I absolutely, positively cannot take a week off from working out and two weeks away from Rob. Its amazing how quickly I lose my stamina, strength and coordination.

Backtrack.

Last week was bananas. I had to cancel my weekly Wednesday session with Rob due to a conflict known as Illinois Life and Health licensing classes and I wasn't able to reschedule it because the next day was my birthday and then Rob was out of town... It just wasn't going to happen for me last week. So for the first time in a year I had a full two week break from working out with Rob.

I strolled into the session today feeling pretty good. My eating has been on point, so I'm still slimming down, but my hectic schedule has kept me out of the gym for a longer stretch than I'd like. I anticipated a challenging session, but I had no idea I would be so weakened and pathetic. I needed far more rest between sets than normal and I battled through my Turkish Getups. My form was horrible on my snatches and I could barely stay up on my side planks. Sad. Embarassing. LAME!

It was a serious wakeup call that I can't rely on diet alone and that excersise is critical. It aslo made me remember what it felt like to be out of shape. I don't like it! I know I'm not actually out of shape. One week out of the gym isn't going to ruin me, but I'm not at my peak. I'm looking at a some serious gym time every day this week so I can back on my A game.

Making My Television Debut

Guess what? Kettlebells are going to be featured on WCIU’s morning show this week. And guess what else? I was there for the filming!

WCIU’s morning news show (a local station in Chicago) contacted Rob and his beachfront boot camp co-teacher Jen to do a piece on their Chicago Beach Fit workout sessions held at North Avenue Beach. The TV crew wanted to tape a segment showcasing kettlebell workouts, which is pretty cool. When I talk about kettlebells with people, they tend to look at me like I have three heads because let’s face it: Kettlebells are still a fairly new workout style. I was amped for Rob to get more exposure because he’s busting his butt every day at the beach. It’ll be nice for a Chicago station to spread the kettlebell word around a bit.

Rob asked me to come to the taping so the class would be as full as possible with participants. I took a few hours off in the morning from work to support him. Heck, he has done so much for me, it was the least I could do for him! Plus, I thought it would be fun.

Turns out it was a lot of fun!

Thanks to the unpredictable Chicago weather, it was raining a bit right when taping was scheduled to start, so my two friends I had recruited to tag along with me ended up bailing out. I felt horrible because I know Rob really wanted the taping to go well and unfortunately it was NOT looking good. Luckily, though, the clouds parted, the sun started shining and our class of fifteen kettlebellers got down to business.

It’s weird to work out while being taped. On one hand, you have pressure to make sure your form is as perfect as possible, you commit to being really energetic and you pay attention to the instructor. On the other, I make ridiculous, squishy faces when I exercise, so I felt like kind of an asshole. And I know this is ridiculous, but I’m still not 100% confident in my body and there are some kettlebell moves I have to do that don’t make my stomach look its best. Not the most flattering look for TV.

In the end, I did it and I’m happy I showed up. The host of the morning show was smokin’ hot (and quite shirtless), which was fun to watch and it was cool to be in the company of so many other people dedicated to working out with kettlebells. Since I do my workouts alone for the most part, getting energy from a group was super cool.

So look for me on TV next week!

I Ran. I Mean... I Ran!

For someone who firmly believes her big ass should not be bouncing around a track, I think it’s a pretty big deal. Some people are made for running. They’re long, lean and have one important trait: Small boobs. I do not fall into any of the above categories. I’m neither long nor lean and I have a body type that’s more on the curvaceous side, even after I’ve lost weight. It’s funny that I’ve lost many inches around my rib cage, so my band size has drastically decreased, but my cup size has remained exactly the same. People say the first thing you lose when you lose weight is your bust. I have not lost the bust. Not at all.

So imagine my horror when Rob told me I was going to start running. I gave him my patented “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me” look and he explained that I’m plateauing again and we need to kick up the intensity and switch up the drills we do and running is now going to be a part of the workout routine.

I’m frustrated with my plateau. I’ve been sticking to my diet and working out really hard and have been fighting for every single pound. I’m somewhere around the 75-80 lbs lost mark but I cannot seem to drop weight quickly anymore. I feel like my body is strong and healthy but I’m definitely still a chubby girl. I need to drop more poundage. So after bitching and moaning a bit, I agreed with Rob that I had to start running to kick the metabolism into high gear.

So around the track my big butt went. About ¾ of a mile to be exact. For someone who’s never run in my life, I think it’s a pretty good start. Granted it was broken up (I took a lap around the track in between squats, swings, flutter kicks and see saw presses) so I did four laps on each circuit and did the circuit three times, but I still had to haul myself around the stinky, smelly track without stopping.

I was proud of myself. More and more I’m finding out I physically do more than I ever thought possible. It’s pretty cool.

There's No Can't In Push-ups

If I have an Achilles heel in working out it's push-ups. Can't do em. And let's be honest; I don't like doing them, either. I feel like there's a reason it's a man exercise... women just aren't built to do push-ups.

Sadly, Rob makes me do them man style, which means I'm on my toes. No knee push-ups for this girl! I'm totally pathetic when I do my push-ups. I can barely get half way down and battle the whole way up. I'm seriously sweating profusely and grunting after doing 30 seconds of push-ups. It's sad.

But every day I get better. I've gotten to the point now where I get mad at myself when I can't do something so I'm just that much more determined to get my body to do a solid set of real push-ups. I'll get there.

Summer summer summertime!

I’ve found all kinds of random things that are exciting about slimming down, particularly when it’s warmer outside.

First, I look better with fewer clothes on. I’d always been really self conscious about my summer wardrobe because let’s be honest; no one who’s as overweight as I was looks good in sundresses and tank tops. I’ve bought a few really cute strappy, short sundresses and I look pretty cute if I do say so! Along with those sundresses comes the conundrum of what do with undergarments. Last year I would wear dresses, but would be forced to wear some kind of Spanx type armor under my dress for a few reasons. One would be to hold my gut in. Another would be to prevent the oh so unappetizing inner thigh rub. Yes, my inner thighs still touch, but there’s definitely room to breathe down there, so I’m happily sporting sundresses sans Spanx and its pretty liberating.

Second, I can handle the heat MUCH better now. I no longer start sweating profusely upon stepping outside, which is nice. Yes, I still have what we lovingly refer to as the Meredith Sweating Gene, but I’m MUCH more comfortable in the heat.

Last, but certainly not least, my appetite has diminished quite a bit. I’ve been craving fresh fruit and veggies lately which has made the diet easier. And really, who wants to turn the oven on in 90 degree weather? Not me!

Yay for summer!