Monday April 11, 2011

My return home from the resort, put me right in front of a pile of back logged work, bills, pissed off employees, and customer’s which required “special attention”.  The funny thing was I didn’t feel stressed; I did my best to stay calm, I used breathing techniques to bring my mind at ease every time internally I wanted to commit homicide.  I’ve learned that stress is a major inhibitor of weight loss, so I am trying my best to not get pissed off, I can’t control the activity around me but I can completely control my reaction to those activities. 

The implantation of my game plan on day one was tougher then I thought.  My original session which was scheduled for 6:30 PM had to be moved to 8:30 PM which completely screwed up my eating schedule.  I never had an ounce of procrastination or doubt about working out but such a change in the time not only changes the session but the rest of my evening.  I am trying to get to bed around 10:00 PM so I can get up at 5:00 AM to hit the gym for my morning cardio session.  Most of the time I am amped up by the post workout adrenaline high (I can’t help it I’m a soda crack whore), so a 9:30 PM finish time made it tough to go to bed.

The following is what I ate my first day back, I am using a food journal to stay on top of my eating, hopefully by the end of the year I can stop using it and eat intuitively. 

Breakfast 7:30 AM

Go Lean 1 cup                                                                              120

Almond Milk 8oz                                                                           60

Banana                                                                                          100

Total for Breakfast                                                                      280

Lunch

Wendy’s Go Wrap                                                                        260

½ Apple & Cheese Salad                                                                            180

   No Dressing and No Pecans

Total for Lunch                                                                              440

Snacks spread out through the day

Fuji Apple                                                                                       80

Orange                                                                                            62

Pecan ½’s about 10                                                                      98

Fuji Apple                                                                                       80

Orange                                                                                            62

Fuji Apple                                                                                        80

Total for Snacks                                                                           542

8:00 PM

Stuffed Chicken Breast with Sun Dried Tomatoes & Rice

W/Mixed Vegetables & Sicilian Salad                                      360

Salad Total Calories                                                                    165

1 Cup Mushrooms                                                                  15

1 Cup Broccoli                                                                         31

3 oz Grape Tomato                                                                25

Green Mix                                                                                3  

2 tbsp Salad Dressing                                                            35

7 Shrimp                                                                                  56

Total for Dinner                                                                           525

Total for Day                                                                                1787

I think I did a good job with my first day of meals.  I was surprised to find out how filling 1787 calories can be after eating 1200 calories for 3 weeks.   This week I need to review the cookbooks I bought at the resort to do some meal planning for next week.   Further, I am ordering meals from Bistro MD to supplement my meal plan.  By using Bistro MD I will be able to have readymade meals I can eat at any time, and a very easy way to have my lunches taken care of, lunch is one of the hardest meals to get right, I am constantly on the go, and often times I don’t realize I have to eat until almost 5 or 6 hours after breakfast.  In the past this lead to binging on crap, I am also purchasing a small cooler to keep in my car where I will keep several pieces of fruit and water.  In order to slay the dragon of fat I have to prepare to abate hunger at any given point in the day, and do so with high fiber low calorie snacks.

During my morning workout session I used the Precor Elliptical Machine, there are two in my building one with the arms pushing, the other without.  When I entered the gym someone was using the Precor machine with the arms which forced me to use the one without the arms pushing.  The one with the arm pushing is clearly a less difficult workout.  I found that because your arms have nothing to do it was easy to just place your hands on the heart sensors, which further reduces the intensity of your workout because you are taking pressure off of your legs. 

I was short on time this morning so I used one of the machines preinstalled programs it’s listed as “Weight Loss”.  Essentially it’s an interval program 4 minutes off, 4 minutes on, 4 minutes off, 4 minutes on, 4 minutes off, 4 minutes on, and 4 minutes off.  During the session on the off periods I kept the resistance at level 12 and the incline on 5.  During the on periods I kept the resistance on 20, and the incline at 5.  I did get a decent workout but this machine is nowhere near as challenging as the Arc Trainer.  If the Arc Trainer is an 18-wheeler, then the Precor Elliptical is a Mazda Miata.   What’s funny is that before my 3 week fat rehab the Precor was my primary machine.  What a joke, and what a difference three weeks of ass kicking’s makes, I am going to have to change more than just my eating.  The types of machines I choose, and the places where I choose to workout all need to be changed now. 

During my personal training session which started at 8:30, my trainer and I got into a bit of a scuffle because he wants to work with weights, and I told him I need to work with body weight resistance.  Towards the end of the session we came to a clearer understanding or a happy medium.   We will work through a combination of weight training and explosive cardio activity.  Hopefully it works and I won’t get frustrated, but the muscular development which I experienced with Zap prior to the resort is the reason I was able to handle the work load.   

I started the session with a warm-up on the Precor Elliptical; I did a Miracle Mile which took 8 minutes and 59 seconds.  Once the session got underway we worked on a series of small circuits.

Circuit one included dumbbell rows with a 16kg Kettle bell, 15 – 20 reps per side, station two 30 kettle bell swings with 16kg Kettle Bell, station 3 squats holding 16kg and the fourth station included step-ups using the 16kg Kettle bell.  I performed 15 step ups per side.   Each station as repeated 4 times. 

Circuit Two included the bench press bar with a 45lb plate.  I think they call this a Cowboy Row because you have to straddle the bar and row it between your legs; I did 15-20 reps.  The next part of the cycle included 1 handed kettle bell swings 15 swings per side, the third part included box jumps 10 reps for the first 3 sets on the regular bench, and then on the 4^th set 20 jump ups on a step, and 10 on the regular bench.  The third part of the set was hand walking up and over the Reebok Step for 1 minute.  I actually stayed up on my legs the entire time and didn’t need to balance on my knees.  Again this circuit was done for 4 sets.

The final circuit included 1 handed row using the same Cowboy Bar and weight, ten reps per side.  I then had to use the bench like a wall, and throw my legs over the bench for ten total hops.  The final part of the circuit was a jump up, to burpy, to jump up.   We repeated this circuit 4 times.

We finished with five 1 minute cart pushers, with 1 minute rests between cart pushers. 

I think the work out was challenging, but from an intensity stand point it’s nowhere near what it was like with Sam.  I don’t know how to get that same type of intense workout; I am hungry for these workouts.  At the end of every one of Sam’s workouts I felt powerful, and felt as if I had accomplished something that day.  How do I find that place at home?

At the end of my first day I am realizing how crucial the environment was to my success at the reservation.  Trying to dig deep everyday on my own is going to be tough.  I am planning on dedicating a big portion of my day tomorrow to figuring out the rest of my plan.  My regular gym not the personal training studio that I workout out at offers classes in various areas and I plan on visiting it tomorrow.  There is also a Cross Fit around the corner from my building so I am going to check that place out too.  The most important thing in my development is going to be finding the right mix of classes to keep the entire process interesting. 

As difficult as the Biggest Loser Resort became the hard part is really just starting.  It’s going to be a day by day event.  One workout at a time, one minute at a time, one meal at a time, one pound at a time, what could have I done wrong in my life that I find myself in such a predicament, what sin did I commit which requires me in such daily strife? 

Or should I look at this like a challenge, the challenge of a lifetime.  Is this not the ultimate test of a man’s character?