Today I’ve completed 8 weeks of Peak Body Transformation with 2 more weeks to go. Looking back over the past 2 months I’m somewhat disappointed that my overall progress has been snail-slow. While I admit some (half) inches have been lost on this journey, the scales haven’t moved terribly much…I guess I was expecting earth-shattering results. After all, I’ve been working out consistently 6-7 days a week and to be rewarded with a 6 lb deficit…well it’s anti-climactic.
To be sure, I’ve observed very noticeable gains in fitness. Holding a plank as long as a minute or two was something I would never have accomplished back in October when I started my very first bootcamp. I was also slacking off during that first bootcamp–going at my own pace, so to speak–but nowadays I’m able to reasonably keep up with sustained exercise over 45-50 minutes long.
I’m dragging my arse out of bed every morning at 5:30am…something I would NEVER have done before my journey to fitness. Back in those days, I’d hit snooze on the alarm and sleep until I was about 30-60 mins late to work. (Of course, I’m late 1-2 hours to work nowadays, but at least I have a more compelling reason than just oversleeping.)
Bands training at PBT has progressed to green, though I’m still using the newbie yellow bands now and then when some stubborn muscle groups are getting a workout. Today, I was informed that we should be trying those red bands for squats, but with the squat-and-lunge heavy workout, I was just glad I could keep near-perfect form on those green bands.
Just this week we’ve been doing some crazy ab twists and bicycle crunches in class that have caused me some dire back pain…I thought these things were supposed to exercise my abs, but for whatever reason my lower back was screaming in pain. Normally, I can do regular ab crunches without setting off any alarms, but lately, the lower back has been bothering me…to the point that it aches when I sleep at night. Trainer indicated it may take another 3 months before those muscles stop complaining.
But I’m still getting that morning jog in there…well, I call it interval jogging. After the first 2-3 minutes, I try to sustain a heart rate in the 150s. I wish I could push my limits and sustain the 160s, but at that point, I’m wheezing and my limbs stop cooperating with me. Jog, walk, jog, walk…I try jogging to my next reasonable landmark whenever I can, even going as far as downloading an interval timer app to my phone. One of these days I’ll jog 10-15 minutes non-stop. But I see that in the far future. I was never a big runner to begin with.
So now we come to the topic that I have to be a little grumpy about: diet. Lately, I’ve been getting annoyed reading about folks who are complaining they can’t make their calorie requirement, that they’re finding it challenging just to get to 1200. Really? I just canNOT empathize with these people. I’m still a foodie at heart, and I don’t see myself losing interest in food to the point of losing all sense of taste and flavor. So I don’t get it–I don’t get how these peeps can rant about not being able to eat. Are they too busy to make time for food? Are they just eating some terrible food? Are they on drugs? Are they sick, too stressed? Have they lost their marbles?
I don’t think I’ll ever ditch my hearty appetite for good food. Which is probably why this journey will be a long one.
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