Trying New Things - Core Wellness GJ

So tonight at 7pm I headed over to the park right by Joe's high school - Long's Park to meet with the Core Wellness group.  I really had no idea what to expect, but I was looking forward to it.  Of course, I would choose to attend my first session with them after a "leg" workout this morning.

We met at a pavilion (which was lit up - thank goodness.)  I met Robyn - the instructor, and Melissa and Veronica.  I signed some paperwork saying I was fit enough to work out and also a liability type waiver.

Let the fun begin!

Band Shoulder Press

Our group tonight.

Our workout - number of reps according to ability.

It was a great cardio workout.  She offers a punch card - 10 punches for $50.00 or 5 punches for $30.00.  They meet on Tuesday/Thursday at 7:00 p.m. and Saturday morning at 7:00 a.m.  I actually had a lot of fun.  Thanks, Robyn!  (Oh yeah, first class is free.)

You can find them on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/corewellnessgj/?fref=ts

Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end. Seneca Read

Last week was a difficult week for sure.  I woke up Monday morning to a post on Facebook about a dear friend's daughter passing away from an illness.  I hadn't even known she was ill, so it was a hard pill to swallow.  Then later that day I found out that the Director of the NLP program had turned in his notice to resign his position.   That would be Ryan - the trainer that has helped me immensely.  He is destined for greater things for sure and we all wish him the best.

Since we still have two more weeks of training with Ryan before he moves on, we are trying our best not to be too whiny.  Ha!  That works sometimes.   I am making him take lots of pictures - I'm sure his favorite thing.  So here's our summer morning crew (minus Natasha).

We are so happy because this was BEFORE the card game!

We had to capture this moment!  I don't think we will ever do a pull-up and not think of Ryan!

Of course it is Monday morning and that does mean weigh in time.  Great news as I was down another pound and a half - making it 53 pounds since Jan 18th.   (11.5 inches gone from my waist - that's almost an entire ruler.  8.25 inches from my hips, 4.25 inches gone from my thigh.)  This is due to my hard work in the gym.  I understand that.  But it is also due to Ryan's help with my nutrition and exercise schedule.  I've worked out before with NO results and I've done weight loss programs with NO results.  So I will say with 100% conviction, my success is due to his help.

OK - next is the progress photo.

I am glad we still have two weeks left to train with Ryan.  He will be greatly missed by all the NLP members.  But everyone wishes him the best for his future.

This week I am going to try an exercise class in the local park.  It's a group called Core Wellness.  You can find it on Facebook.  It sounds fun to me and I am going to go see what it's all about.  They will probably get to know me as the crazy lady who is always taking pictures.

I have no plans to leave Gold's gym.  I'm just checking out new things too.  Just today at the gym, I spoke with three separate people who are older than me.  They are always checking in on me and they tell me how much I inspire them.  I'm happy to encourage them on their wellness journeys also.   In the end, we all just want greater quality of life and I am happy to say that is what I am enjoying -- LIFE!

Oh My Gosh, I Can't Believe It!

So if you've been following along, you'll know that two weeks ago I thoroughly enjoyed eating out several times, but especially the Texas Roadhouse cheeseburger.  Unfortunately the scale last week showed a 2 week gain for all my enjoyment.  Well I was back to the disciplined eating last week, and today my weight was down 3 1/2 pounds!!  My lowest weight to date.    That feels pretty awesome.

So I'd say I'm well on my way to losing the ten pounds during Birthday Season that I wrote about last time.

That's what I mainly wanted to let you all know in today's post.  I've got a lot on my mind today and I only like to write positive things when I write - so this was today's positive news!  Makes me happy.

Our morning group plus Kate and Mana

Today's work out - Jenna and ball slams.  (Kate working out with Mana in the background)

Today's workout - Kelly and sled push

Today's workout - Patty and the rower

I asked Ryan for the tire and sledgehammer today for me.  I needed that today!

Friends of mine at Gold's

My friend and her knee socks! But hey look at my Mohawk!

Why Wait? Do It Now!

Today is September 24, 2016 and we in the Dave Deters' family refer to this as birthday season.  It starts with Dave's birthday in September, then Jessica and Patty in October, toss in our Anniversary in October also, add Ben's birthday in November and Joe's birthday in December.  Then on top of that we have Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas.

Since moving to Grand Junction in August of 2003, I have consistently put on 10 pounds every "birthday season."  No lie!  I even have some photos to show the awful progression.  Part of this reason is because for about 20 years prior to moving to Grand Junction, Dave and I had been in an educational setting and we just had to show up at the dining room for our meals.  But when we moved to Grand Junction, it was time for me to really learn how to cook.  Obviously I didn't do very well with that.  But that is all changing now.

2003

2004

2005

2007

2006

2008

2009

2010

2013 (conveniently hiding myself)

2015 (right when I started NLP)

The 2015 photo was taken in August of 2015.  I began working out daily with the NLP program in August of 2015.  From August 2015 to January 2016 I gained zero weight.  I did not lose weight, but I did not gain 10 pounds.  This year from August 2016 to January 2017, I hope to lose at least 10 pounds.  But it is a decision and that decision is made daily.

I have learned a lot these past 9 months about nutrition and exercise.  I have a great support network of people to share/swap recipes with and I have a trainer (through NLP) that i can check things with.  Back in August I would go to one NLP class a day and then I would walk.  When I started, walking to the mailbox and back was difficult.  But I did it - almost daily.  Then I expanded to around the block.  Then Dave and I would walk the neighborhood.  And now I walk to the school and back (about 2 miles) when I need to.  I know a lot of the neighbors this way, and they encourage me along the way.  

So if you are like I was - gaining weight every holiday season (or Birthday season as we refer to it), why not start now!  Why not make 2016 the year you don't gain 10 pounds or whatever your number may be.  Get out and walk.  Get to the gym.  Whatever works for you.  I loved and still love my Fitbit.  When I was first starting a year ago, I asked all of my family members that owned Fitbits if they would participate in step challenges with me and encourage me along the way to meet my step goal.  At first my step goal was 5000 steps a day and that was difficult for me.  Now - most days I can reach 10,000 steps without hardship.

We have yet to take a 2016 holiday photo but most likely we will use one of these from May.  I can already see a difference and I plan to have my next ten years of photos showing the weight progression decreasing instead of increasing.  As always thanks for reading and thanks for encouraging me.  I always knew this would take longer than one year and it's friends like you that encourage me that help me stay at it with a positive attitude.  

Do Trainers Have a Sixth Sense?

OMG when I think of this morning, I still smile.  Every morning we gather near the trainer room waiting for our session.  This morning was no different.  I have to be honest here, sometimes I fear (in a good way) Mana's workouts.  So I was voicing my concern to the other ladies.  I said, "Oh gosh, I wonder if it will be a leg day.  It's going to suck if it's a leg day AND it's Mana."  Jenna ever so casually replies, "Oh, Mana.  I'm not worried about him.  I know how to be sneaky and get away with things when he isn't looking."  Just to set the scene here, Mana was NOT around when she said this.

We head to the FTC (Functional Training Center) Room.  He tells us to do 10 sets of 10 pushups.  Well hey, at least it's not legs, I think.  We are all kind of in that transitional stage of we really should do a true push up, but we sometimes find it much easier to drop to our knees.  I'm on my knees and look over at Jenna who is on her knees.  Mana notices Jenna right away, "Jenna, get on your toes.  Jenna, get lower."  He leaves me alone.  He continues watching Jenna.  I am dying laughing inside.

After our 100 push ups, we transition to the ropes.  A plank with a rope slam - 10 each arm - 10 sets.  We are kind of like, WHAT?  Where do you come up with this stuff?

Kelly and Jenna - Doesn't that look like fun?

We notice that people are arriving to the FTC or FUN room.  We are like praise God, there's a class coming in.  Not to worry, Mana has much more fun planned in the way of "bear crawls."  He was thinking perhaps Jenna needed to run - so he grabbed some bands and we headed to the Racquetball courts.  I HATE bear crawls.  Ryan was running the class.  I was like hey, don't you want me to stay for class?  Uh, basically that answer was NO!

We pair up for the lovely bear crawls, but since we are not sure how this will feel on my leg I get to try it without a resistance band leaving Jenna to pair with none other than Mana.  I'm thinking "How's that being sneaky thing working out for you today Jenna?"

Kelly and Tori - bear crawling - Good times!

Jenna - she ran so fast Mana was like "Whoa!"

We had to do 10 burpees in between running back and forth and we had to do that five times.

Poor Jenna!

By the way my leg was fine, but I never said anything because I was kind of enjoying having the attention on someone else.  For the last set, Mana was like -"Hey you were just supposed to try it once without a band."  Oh, I say, I didn't know.

Oh yeah - my turn!

From there we went to Chest Press, Mountain Climbers, Plank Walk, and a Plank jack.  Oh my gosh.  Poor Jenna - to add insult to injury she hates Chest Day.  She was a GREAT sport and I bet she loses weight this week with no problem.

After the workout - check out that clipboard and athletic stance!

It Was Worth Every Bite

Well it seems as if the trainers are quite happy that I can work "legs" again as I believe we did squats every day this past week as well as a myriad of other leg exercises.  My knee held up great and I feel really good.

Last week, I was figuring out the balance of calories in/calories out and trying to get the ratio correct.  I was pretty close on Monday-Thursday.  Friday was turning out to be a bit of a challenge as my youngest got his braces off and that took longer than we expected.  So we decided to grab a bite to eat while we waited for a retainer to be made.  I made a pretty good choice at Subway with a flatbread chicken breast sandwich with mustard and veggies.  That hit the spot.   More errands intervened and it was mid-afternoon now and I still had not been home so I went to Starbucks and got a smoothie.    I grabbed the nutrition pamplet so I could put the nutrition info in my Fitbit.  I got home so late and I was so tired, my husband asked me to stay home from the afternoon workout.  Also since it was his birthday he suggested we go out to eat for supper.  He and the boys wanted to go to Texas Roadhouse and I decided then and there I was having a cheeseburger.  I flat out stopped tracking my food in my Fitbit and ordered a beer and a cheeseburger.  But hey, I ordered a caesars salad instead of fries.

Delicious!

After this meal, I just decided to forego the tracking for the rest of the weekend.  I write a weekly e-mail to my trainer and I usually give him my Fitbit nutrition stats via e-mail (Calories in, Carb, Protein, Fat, and Calories Out per day for the week).  Instead I sent him this e-mail.

Got Nothing For You!

Sunday, it was just Joe and I at home and I was working on a project all weekend, so Joe said, "Let's go to Which Wich for lunch."  Why the heck not, right?  I wasn't tracking anymore.  Off we went.  Again I made a good choice, like I had at Subway.  But I was beginning to wonder what the scale would say.  I can't check at home, because if you've been following the blog,  Sir Ryan had my husband get rid of the scales in the house back in March.

Monday morning - moment of truth.  I decided to check my weight in the scale in the women's locker room.  It was not good.  So I went out to wait for Ryan.  He called me in the office to get weighed and I told Jenna, "Just go tell him, no thank you."  "I'm not interested in weighing in today."  Well that sure as heck didn't work.  And he was wondering about the "Got Nothing for You" e-mail.    So unfortunately my weight had gone up 2 pounds.  But miraculously, it didn't bother me.  I had not had a cheeseburger in all of 2016 and it was worth every bite.

I'm back in the green today!

I feel a disclaimer is needed.  I want my family and friends to know that I was fully aware of what I was doing this week and I chose to do it.  I have not fallen off the wagon.

A Blessing in Disguise?

You know your day is going to be interesting when your husband's first words to you in the morning are (in your best radio announcer voice), " Stay tuned ladies and gentlemen as Patty awaits the wrath of Manaman.  No one knows what might happen."

You see, last night I might have made a joke at Mana's expense, but I found it extremely humorous.  I still smile and laugh when I think of it.  However, Mana - seemingly not amused - promised a little payback today only hinting that it would have to do with a "leg day."  I reminded him that Jenna's sister-in-law was trying out the session to see if she wanted to join.  That didn't seem to phase him.

This is me after the workout.  Notice Jacob's Ladder behind me.

Want to know the greatest part of this day and why I feel so good?  I DID Jacob's Ladder.  I haven't done Jacob's Ladder since the 12 week challenge (March).  In March, I heard my knee pop.  In May, I further aggravated my knee by walking up and down the 8 flights of stairs multiple times a day for multiple days while on a cruise vacation.  From May until about one week ago, I have been "rehabbing" my knee.  Well it's working because today I did Jacob's Ladder - as well as dead treds, and The Price is Right Mountain climbers while holding a kettlebell in each hand.

On the treadmill with a 20 incline holding a kettlebell in eacch hand.  Fun times!

It never feels like quite enough to just say thank you to Ryan, Mana, and Suzanne.  I can't believe the difference in the quality of my life since January.  Thank you all for your part in making that happen for me.