Jackie and Dan’s Journey – Update 1

Hey all, Jackie and I finished our first week of new fitness goals of the New Year!  We’ve each done a writeup on how the week went, which you will find below!

Jackie:

(last update here)
My first week has sucked (really sucked). I have hated every moment of it and I equated myself to a drug addict at times. I was very confrontational and cranky. I yelled at Dan (a lot). I was extremely reluctant to begin any sort of exercise, thinking up every excuse under the sun for why I was unable to do any of the routines I had planned out prior. Basically, I acted worse than my 4-year old step son having a tantrum about taking nap. However, I mentally bitch slapped myself, also apologized to Dan, and managed to get in 3 workouts so far.

I purchased a Stability Ball and loved playing around with it (not actually exercising). I went for a slow, meandering, 30 minute walk with Dan on January 1st. On January 2nd, I decided I would have to actually use the Stability Ball for what it was purposed, exercise. I LOVED it. It was amazing. Example: I always do sit-ups when I have an exercise routine. In the past I have had issues with posture, hurting my neck, and hurting my back. When I tried the sit-ups on the Stability ball, it was like I became a new person and I actually enjoyed the exercise and had no pain from bad form!

My third form of exercise was Kinect Training, it was phenomenal. I yelled at my trainer the whole time, called her a bitch quite a bit (and enjoyed it). If you’ve never tried this method of exercise, like me, it was new, exciting, and made me work up a sweat. There is also no judgment. I had set-up a schedule a week ago and did not stick to it. When I logged in the first time, my trainer didn’t guilt me or mention it. She was focused on the exercise only and the results, it was also exciting to hear her tell me when I did something right or was doing better. Awesome investment for my new life.

In regards to food, I have struggled here as well. Side note: this has not been a very easy or gracious transition, I have been kicking and screaming the whole way because honestly, this lifestyle takes work, effort, and thought, and I have allowed myself to sink into very bad lifestyle where excuses rule supreme and I did whatever I wanted out of laziness. Ok, back to food. I am using Weight Watchers to track what I eat and how much. It has been going pretty ok. I have managed to stay on task and not over eat, which is what kills my weight loss attempts.

Right now I am going through the withdrawal phase where my body/brain thinks it is hungry simply because it is sued to over eating. I am not actually hungry and do not require more food so I have to constantly remind myself of this fact and not cave into the base instinct to keep cramming unneeded food into my system. Weight Watchers has been good in keeping me honest. As for the no sweets goal, totally failed it. I will never again make that goal, it was stupid. I should have made a more realistic goal of cutting back on sweets and only having two treats in one week.

This is a work in progress and I do not feel bad for failing at a goal I set. My goals are not rigid, they will not yell at me, and I cannot allow inner me to beat me up either. Instead, I’ve learned and I will adjust for round 2!!! I’m determined to make a health change and every step I learn something new about myself. Now I just have to take what I learned and applied it and tell the 4-year old inside to shut the F**k up because she is unwanted. Also, this is the first time I have ever volunteered to put myself out there for people I do not know (I don’t really even do it for those I do know), it is scary but I think it also helps keep me honest.

Starting Weight: 193.5
Current Weight: 192.4

Dan

(previous update here)
Week one was kind of fun for me!  Living unhealthily for the past few months has been easy, but also guilt-inducing.  It’s not my normal mode, and I honestly didn’t feel at my best throughout the whole time.  Starting to slip back into old habits this week felt kind of freeing, and good.  I’m coming at this from a different position than people trying to lose weight for the first time in their lives, so I think I had a bit easier time of it than Jackie did.

This is not to say, of course, that the week without its hardships.  Diet-wise, my goals were skim milk on my morning cereal, and oatmeal for my second breakfast.  The skim milk decision wasn’t that hard.  I honestly think skim milk tastes nasty, but I didn’t notice it much in my cereal, so it wasn’t that big a deal.  The oatmeal was much harder, because to get it, I go into my work’s cafeteria, and to get to it in the cafeteria, I have to walk past yummy hand-made breakfast sandwiches, breakfast platters, and assorted meats and cheeses.  The smells and sights were quite hard to resist, but I stuck to my guns and didn’t get anything but oatmeal the whole week!

On the workout front, working out for the first time was REALLY an eye opener for me.  I don’t think I’ve been this out of shape in a while and I was not expecting it.  I ran through the Ezio strength workout(level 2), and went for a walk on my first night.  Holy crap, next day my legs were so sore it hurt to walk!  Extra rest day was needed!  Before the end of the week though, I had gotten in another brisk walk, and a walk/run(Ezio cardio workout levels 1 and 2).  My goal was one strength and one cardio, and I surpassed that with two extra cardio sessions, which I’m very happy about.

Going forward next week, I’m going to start cracking down on my liquids and lunches.  Liquids-wise, I drink WAY too much calories and crap.  I average an energy drink, a couple sodas, and a beer every day, which is a whole lot of empty calories when you add it all up.  I’m switching to sugar-free red bull, one diet soda a day, and water for the rest.  Beer I’m going to wean myself down to 2-3 a week, which is actually good because they I can justify spending more on tasty high-end craft brews since I’m drinking less!

Starting weight: 210 lbs
Current weight: 208 lbs

That’s it for us for this week.  We’ll continue to post updates every week, to chart our progress for you nice folks, and keep US honest.  We’re also going to do a photo comparison update once a month!

Dan “DaRatmastah” Wallace