Week One: The Weigh-In

Alright Gang!  I have officially started my challenge;  here are the deets:

I weighed in at 199.4 pounds. With five days of pure gluttony during my pre-weigh in, I hadn't gained weight.  So the day of my weigh-in I chugged tons of water and gained five to six pounds.  I ran into the gym doing the pee pee dance and begged them to weigh me quickly.  So here I am and here is my plan (PS, I did research on past winners to create my goals):

Previous biggest winner: Won with 33% weight loss
Previous lowest winner: Won with  17% weight loss
Starting weight: 199.4 lbs.
My target weight percent: 30% weight loss
Target weight: 140 lbs.
Weekly target:  That's about 4.53 lbs. per week

Here is what my weekly plan looks like.

Week 2:  2/1-2/7

Weigh in: _(4.53) __________________________________________________

Day	Run	Gym	WW Points	WW Additional	WW Activity
Monday		Recovery
Tuesday	3 miles	PT
Wednesday		XIT
Thursday	3 miles	PT
Friday		Swim or Yoga - Active Rest
Saturday	5 miles	PT
Sunday	3 miles	XIT

This weekend my workout is two days of skiing at Rib Mountain in Wausau, WI.

The Pre-Challenge: The Plan

 

Here is a collage of my weight gain from 2007 until now (well the picture of me at 140 might be from 2004).  But nevertheless, I have a couple of reasons why I am sharing these pictures.  One is to remind myself that I have been beautiful all along, regardless of my size.  And the other is to see my progress now as I go backwards through this challenge.

I want to talk about something else as well - body shaming.  As I enter into this challenge, I have had TONS of support.  People are excited to hear about my dedication and about what crazy exercises I am doing with my trainer.  But I also face an awkward moment with many people telling me "you don't need to lose weight" or question "is that healthy?" I am thankful that nobody has shamed me for my weight gain.  But YES, I do need to lose weight.  My family has history of obesity, cancer, and diabetes.  The alternative is to ignore the fact that between the ages of 25 and 32, I have gained about 50 pounds, that's not healthy.  And the thought of my neglecting my body to the point of illness is scarier than getting my booty to the gym and sweating under the supervision of a trained professional.  

I am not ashamed of my body where I stand now.  As I mentioned in my last post, I have earned this body through years of hard work & good food.  I am stronger and more in shape than most people I know and I am very proud of my strength.  

For those of you wondering how hard I have to work, here is my plan.

• Weight Watchers (with the addition of no refined sugar or refined flour, no bad fats, no fried food) 
• three days personal training
• two days XIT class (it’s a high intensity circuit training class)
• and half marathon training

So there you have.  I am going to EAT!  I am going to sleep!  I am going to work out five days a week and rest two days per week.  And I have paid professionals to monitor me throughout this challenge so now it's time to CHEER ME ON! 

The Pre-Challenge: How I got here

That's me, Lis. I feel amazing!  I feel healthy.  I can lift, run, jump, kick, drop, punch, press, and sing through my gym. I can put on a pair of leggings and a crop top run into the streets.......wait, not a chance in HELL would I be caught dead in leggings and a crop top.  

The thing is that I do feel great. But somehow in the last seven years of my life, where I have become a work-o-holic, chef, manager, wife, friend, daughter have binged myself into a woman 55 pounds heavier.  I look at each pound of weight on my body and say I earned that weight! I earned it in the courageous two years of national service to my country as a corps member with AmeriCorps. I was busy, poor, and getting fed free pizza in the schools I volunteered at on a regular basis.  Then the next pounds were the heavenly sauces, roullades, French boules, cakes, and all the foods covered in cream that I ate through culinary school.  The next set of pounds had come in a wave of trying and tasting every dish and wine that came through the restaurants I cooked in and managed.  And finally, in the last year as a sales woman to the finest restaurants in Chicago, I sometimes get the red carpet to the city's hot spots.  I get asked to try everyone's food, most importantly my husband’s food.  He loves to treat me like a queen and especially through his cooking.  So you see, out of love, passion, and gluttony I have earned my 200 pound, 5 ' 6", hearty stature.

During this summer, I hit my heaviest weight of 205 pounds.  I was feeling lethargic.  My skin was always breaking out.  I was sad, tired, and not feeling well.  I decided to start going to the gym and the membership manager somehow talked me into purchasing trainer sessions.  I felt that in all the time and money I spent on food this year, I should certainly invest in taking care of my health for once and for all.  So I got a trainer and I got intimidated.  I stopped going to the gym immediately.  But some fire inside coerced me to go back and this time they gave me a new trainer.  

Ryan my trainer and I hit it off.  He is very committed to helping me and he really likes to kick my ass. After one and a half months the pounds began to shed, 2 pounds a week and now I am down 10 pounds.  One day I got a message from Ryan telling me that he wanted to talk to me about a challenge at the gym.  It is a four month challenge that he wanted to enter me into, and get this, the prize is $50,000. Whoa!  Get in shape and win $50,000.  I figured it's a win/win even if I just lose the weight.  So here I am, 2 weeks until the start of the competition.  I am trying to maintain my weight as I cannot afford to lose anymore weight before the big day. 

All the work I have put in, I really do feel amazing, but I feel like I am wearing someone else's body.  I am wearing a pear-suit.  And in this challenge, I will work to find my confidence & better health in my pear-suit to happiness.