APPLIED Knowledge IS Power...

Once again focused on ME and trying to lose the weight that I've been trying to lose for two years now..of course I did lose some of back in 2011 and then 2012 happened- the year of taking care of others and paying very little attention to myself.  Although, indirectly my lack of activity did help my foot recover and there is no way I would have voluntarily took a backseat to being active if I could have helped it in any way...so foot feels good, but at what cost- extra weight that does not feel good. Ok, enough of the history lesson.

I have read every darn weight loss article I could find, compared options, and it still comes back to Weight Watchers for me.  It has worked in the past and worked quite well for me, I just needed to jump start it and see what I could do differently, while still following the program.  I started to peruse over the WW website and noticed a new device they were selling- the Active Link...it's a little thing that can attach to the waist of your pants, you can wear it in your pocket, on a chain or attach to  your bra or workout shirt..so lots of options and it will tell you how many activity points you are earning.   Figured this may be the perfect thing for me because let's face it- I've "followed" the program and logged my points and been active and used some activity points (not all of them) and still did not see the results that I should have.   Now some would say it is "what" I'm putting in my body and yes, I agree with that to some degree.   But I wanted to see what input this device would give to me.

You have to wear it for a week and it evaluates how active you are.  Now I may have picked a week that basically "screws" me, because this is how they determine your baseline of activity.  What week did I evaluate?  Last week, the 4th of July holiday week where I taught 9 classes as opposed to my normal 4.   But in reality, I SHOULD be getting the activity of 9 classes per week just for my own "feel good" and my own workouts.  I need to add in at least 5 workouts that are MINE, not teaching. Granted teaching you are active, you are working out- but you're not focused on YOUR workout, you are focusing on the CLASS's workout.   So maybe my evaluation week screwed me, maybe it didn't.  We'll see.

I do think 9/10 of this equation is mental and the games that get played on ones mind.  I was very irritated the first day that I worked out this week and didn't have any activity points.  In fact, for all of last week the darn thing credited me with only 4 activity points for the week!!!  Now prior to this device, according to the Activity Log, a 45 minute weight lifting workout with vigorous effort would warrant 4 points- just one class - I teach 4 of these per week.   A 50 minute spinning class would give 8-9 points- just one class.  I won't even get into a night of line dancing.  But this is a HUGE difference in "extra points" that one could conceivably eat.  So clearly there are some discrepancies and what to believe.  Well since I was not losing weight when I was earning all of those activity points (and using a good portion of them)- I'm going to assume that the device is accurate and that less is more, more accurate that is.

Today is day one of my 3rd week with the device and it has credited me with 4 activity points today- but that is after teaching one Spin class and one Body Pump class with a little extra practice of Body Pump afterwards.  If I were using the previous point systems I would have logged about 12-14 points today- BIG difference!

So what has the scale said- well I started this new journey on June 21st, 3 weeks ago and I am almost down 5 pounds.  I am paying attention to eating when I am hungry, paying attention to when I am bored and might wander towards food.  I am taking my late night "work" to my office because if I sit on the couch, I will wander to the very close kitchen at the hint of hunger or supposed hunger.  I am trying to not eat after 9pm.  I am trying to limit the alcohol intake to no more than 3 days per week and am really looking ahead at my calendar to plan accordingly.  Enjoying wine almost every night is just not worth the extra weight anymore.  Thanks to a Beachbody Coach who sent me samples, I have tried 3 flavors of Shakeology and they are pretty OK- they aren't to die for, but I can live with them and I think that doing one meal replacement shake is a good option for me.  To get the nutrients that I am missing and have a very low point meal.  I am still going to try different veggies, but may go back to just starting with salads- I did pretty good 13 years ago with my Caesar Salads with light dressing, it did get me to eat the green leafy crap!  At a recent cruise line seminar, they had a pre-planned menu and it was a Cobb Salad- well that was not so bad actually- but then again it had hard boiled eggs, bacon bits and chicken breast that was warm (I hate cold chicken on a salad)...but I did eat a fair amount of the romaine as well.

I have started taking Body Combat classes in an effort to prepare for the training in two weeks.  TWO WEEKS!!  Starting to freak out a bit, especially since I have not received my DVD/CD & notes yet- hopefully tomorrow.  Although, probably better that I have not received it yet- with Body Pump launch tomorrow, my head is already focused on the one class.   Class last night was good- it felt good to be doing some cardio and my foot held up which was good news.  I am sore today in places that I have not been sore in a long time.  The teacher is a new Combat instructor, it was her first class actually and she did very good- but it also made me feel like "I could do this".  In talking with her and a few members after class, I was telling her that the Gold's members were great and very forgiving and then one member piped up "We don't have to forgive you for anything, you're perfect everytime."  Boy, that sure made my day and I know that I'm not perfect- I make mistakes, I just know how to cover them up. :)   I'm definitely getting anxious for the training and very nervous of the unknown.  I know that Les Mills is famous for having "the challenge" during their trainings and with Body Pump 13 years ago the challenge was to run x miles- I can't remember it may have been 1 mile or 3, it didn't matter at the time I was not a runner (still am not) and I was petrified that I was not going to be able to do it.  But I did.  So freaking out a bit not knowing what the challenge with Combat training will be.  As I am typing this, I just realized something coincidental- my Body Pump training 13 years ago was a two weekend deal but it finished up the last weekend of July.  My Combat training is the last week of July- how weird is that?  I'm thinking that is a good sign.

Alright, guess it's time to start this weekend.  I still have some work to finish up, must review Body Pump a few more times before 815am launch and try to plan my weekend meals to be point friendly.  We have 3 eating out functions this weekend- it will be challenging for sure...but hopefully I will counteract the effects with lots of activity.  This weekend calls for Body Pump x 2 and Body Combat x 2 and hopefully some dancing tomorrow night.  I am reconnecting with another fitness instructor next week for a walk at the Dish, so I am really looking forward to that also.  It's ME time, no excuses- the time has come and I'm doing it!