The best laid plans ...

The past week has been one of the longest of my life.

Last Saturday (the 18th) found me on the deck of a friend's boat, the Try\Catch, cruising around the Charleston, S.C. Harbor and surrounding areas. I donned a white tank top and shorts, feeling pretty good about myself as I'd been working out and lossing weight over the last few days. Then I saw a photo my husband had snapped.

Having fun cruising the Charleston Harbor aboard the Try\Catch ... not so happy about the fat arms, legs, face, or belly.

On Sunday, trying to shake from my mind the image of how I looked the day before, I recorded my weight and body measurements in preparation for the official kick-off of OPERATION: HOT BODY 2012.

 

Weight: 167.4
Thighs: 25"
Calves: 14.5"
Waist: 39.5"
Chest: 36"
Upper Arms: 12.5"

Ugh.

I began to plan my low-calorie, exercise-every-night routine. But you know what they say about the best-laid plans ...

School started on Monday for the kiddos and thus I had to rearrange my schedule. Instead of sleeping in with the girls, we were rudely awakened at 6:30 a.m. and forced to hit the ground running. Packing lunches, fighting morning commuters and school busses, cat naps in the late morning, sitting for over an hour in the car rider loop, then working until  1:30 a.m. did not make for a peppy girl at the end of the night. Instead of being eager to hit the gym, all I could think about was crawling into my bed.

In fact, over the last week, I've skipped the gym after work three times and fallen off my diet wagon. No, I didn't go to McDonald's, but I also didn't stick to a low-calorie menu. I had pieces of my delightful chococheesecake pie (I'll post the recipe in the comments section) and eaten a lot of pasta.

Feeling guilty, I spent an hour at the gym Thursday night working hard -- 30-minute hill climbing routine on the treadmill, stair stepping machine (one with actual stairs!), and various ab machines. I came home tired and sore but pleased with myself.

 

Friday was a day of running around, a routine doctor visit for the almost four-year-old, and a low-key dinner of rotisserie-cooked salmon filets and pasta. I crashed before 9 p.m.

So, as I arose this morning at 4 a.m., I looked at the scale in the bathroom as I would a cockroach. I stepped on it and closed my eyes. With my lax attitude over the past week, I just knew I'd gained weight. I hadn't! I was a solid 167.0 pounds. YAY!

As the weekend kicks off, I am up and ready to hit the gym early then hang out with the family at Folly Beach. I will grab my SoBe Lifewater and head to the gym. I will forgive my slips from the previous week and resolve to not repeat them.

I have a lot of weight left to lose and no time to spare on regrets.

Twas the week before Operation: Hot Body ...

My friend, Jesslynn, and I have been bemoaning our baby-and-work-related weight gain for the last few weeks. Our 3 p.m.-1:30 a.m. schedule is wreaking havoc on us as we are eating late at night and sleeping during the day.  (On top of that, I spend what little free time I find writing instead of exercising.) We have different reasons for hating out heavily padded bodies -- she is newly single and on the prowl again; I am married and want my husband and children to have a fit role model. But our personal goals are the same -- to be healthier and to have a banging, bikini friendly body in the new year. Hell, I hope to be well on my way to a hot body by my 36th birthday in November.

I weighed myself Sunday morning (August 12th) and I was 174.8 pounds. Yikes. And thus the resolve steeled for me. In an effort to get healthier and to shed the unwanted fat accumlating under our skin, we have begun to get into a routine of eating better (no McDonald's or sodas) and exercising after work. We have joined the local Plant Fitness and have been going all this week.  I started counting calories, cutting out sweets, sodas, and (gasp) cheese.  I have already seen a difference in my weight and the way I feel. As of this very moment (12:39 p.m. on Thursday the 16th), I am down to 169.6 pounds. 

I quit fast food altogether. Nothing. Nada. Not even a single french fry. No sodas. I have been eating nothing but regular old Cheerios for breakfast and Healthy Choice Steamers meals for lunch and dinner, Activia vanilla yogurt as a snack, and drinking water and SoBe Life Water since it has no calories, no sugar, and no artificial sweetners.  It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be and I actually like going to the gym. Sweating is therapeutic.

Oh, and Planet Fitness also has this redlight therapy bed - the Beauty Angel Total Body Enhancer. This thing is awesome, albeit a little SciFi feeling. You stand in this triangular structure, surrounded by non-UV emitting lights, blowing air, and new age music for 12 minutes. The floor vibrates and pulses, too. Sounds hokey, but you come out of that thing feeling refreshed and ready to work out.  Love it, love it, love it.

On top of it all, I have been joining another friend at work in an "Earthing" project. It's an interesting, yet stress relieving, thing to lie on the ground for 10 minutes and imagine all your worries, ailments, and even fat cells melting away from your body and being absorbed by the earth.

Jesslynn and I officially start Operation: Hot Body this Saturday, August 18th. We will be taking photos (yikes!) and will be posting them along with our current weights. We hope the routine we have been building this week will become second nature to us, that Planet Fitness staff will get to know us by name, and that we reach our ultimate goals. Each week, she and I will update the blog with more photos and details. We hope you'll join us as we embark on this adventure to slim down, tone up, and get healthier.

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Viva la treadmill!