You can try but never stop me
This is what I'm made of
I will never ever let go
This is what I'm made of
No one can control me
'Cause this is what I'm made of
You can hate but never break me
This is what I'm made of
Nause - Made Of
Well, apparently I am made of some type of steel that I never knew existed within my being. I am surprised by my progress every day and on a day when I would normally feel lethargic and cranky and not want to peel myself out of bed I feel completely opposite.
The old Michelle, given the opportunity for a day off, would do absolutely nothing. Not that I didn't want to get up and take care of things, but I just never had a ton of energy. My boss called me Friday evening, after we had already left work, to let me know that we may be closed Monday after all. Since MLK Day is an optional holiday for us (meaning if a session is booked we will open to accommodate the session) it was up in the air as to whether or not we would have to open. It ended up working up that we would enjoy a three day weekend.
The possibilities became endless, but one thing was certain, Monday would be an opportunity to "do nothing". Friday evening we enjoyed a raucous good time with Sarah & Bethany, 2 out of the 3 beauties who make up my cousins (whom I consider more sisters than cousins). One of the reasons we were so excited to move to Astoria is because Lisa's cousin Catherine and my cousin Sarah both lived in the neighborhood as well. Bethany recently moved in with Sarah, and Charity goes to college in Queens. So here we all are :) We started the night at MexiQ where it became extremely evident that Sarah and I are the crazies of the family. We practically got kicked out for our hysterical laughter and quoting of Ursula from The Little Mermaid. Spin, clearly our family obsession, was also a major topic of discussion. Turns out Sarah's instructor at NYSC knows OUR fav instructor from Club Fitness, what a small world! We then spent the evening comparing the amazing-ness of their classes and decided we should just become instructors ourselves. We then, of course, because this is what all normal individuals do on a Friday night out, choreographed our own Spin routine. Mob Wives was the other inspiration for the evening and incessant chanting of "Junior, I wanna go home!" commenced on the streets of Astoria. We made a scene, we danced, we choreographed Spin, we made amazing memories in the matter of one evening in our neighborhood and I love us all for it. I always knew that I was lucky growing up with such an amazing family. We spent every single Sunday of our childhood at our Grandma's house and that foundation has followed us into our adult years. I am truly blessed to have family like them <3!
Saturday we got a bit of a late start, but it was our first day in The Zone. We woke up to make our first Zone meal; eggs, salsa, slice of tomato, reduced fat cheddar & an orange. We also began our first day of one cup of coffee per day. Saturday was an adjustment to the diet, but we were sure to pound copious amounts of water and it helped immensely. We spent the day running around picking up the remainder of our necessities and then got ready to spend a fun filled evening with our bff Erin. One of the great things abt the diet we are following is that we are allowed wine and cheese as a snack! Wine (an AMAZING Argentinian Malbec that is now my favorite red wine, thank you to my Brother-In-Law Tommy), cheese, salad, whole wheat pizza w/ckn (one piece obvs), football & lots of laughs, as per usual :)
Saturday evening I noticed a bit of a difference in how I slept. I kept waking up and looking at the clock, which is not like me. Sunday we got up earlier then Saturday and where I normally would've been exhausted from an interrupted night of sleep I actually felt fine. Zone Day 2 began, we repeated Saturday's breakfast and got ready for the gym.
Finally, for the first time in weeks or even months, we were attending the gym on a weekend day. The gym was a pure dream on a Sunday afternoon and I think we are going to make that a regular occurrence. We decided on chest & triceps followed by abs and cardio. We had an awesome work out, but it was a struggle because it has been quite a while since we did our upper body routine. We have been spending far too much time in that Spin room and our upper body has suffered. I used to be able to pound out reps and I felt a serious struggle. I know I will get my strength back within a few weeks, but it was a little disappointing. After a pretty good upper body work out we decided to give our own Spin routine a try and it was probably the most amazing work out we have had in a while. We set ourselves up in the very front of the room and whipped out the iPod Touch that my amazing Godson gave to us. As much as we would've loved to have pumped the tunes through the speakers in the room, this was going to have to work for us. It was loud enough to hear over the sound of the bikes, so it definitely did the job. We set up and we were off. I told Lisa I would do my best to use the tools from Carla's routine but to bear with me. We started off with 3 warm up songs, complete with runs in both 2 and 3; "We Found Love", "Glad You Came", "International Love". It was definitely hard to figure out the beats at some parts, but over all we did an awesome job. We then did a hill to "You Da One" and I seriously pushed the resistance harder than ever and the upper body muscles we had just worked were literally trembling. We brought it up to 3 in the end and we were already ready to puke at this point. We then went into jumps from 3 to the saddle to "Where Have You Been". Next we did isolation's to "Wet" at which point Lisa was about to die, but she helped to push me along. We were running out of time and Lisa was feeling pretty sick so I decided to end with runs in 3 to "Titanium" and we then did a traditional cool down. It was amazing, I got my heart rate up to around 166-170 which is about 87-89%. Over all I was pretty happy with how we did. I hadn't sweat that much or felt that good during a workout in a while!
Sunday evening was spent filled with football and fun as Saturday had been! Erin came over for the Giant's game and it was amazing to spend quality time with her and relax at home, considering it was like 3 degrees below out! We even got to see Jacquie, which was a serious bonus :)
So here we are, Monday. I assumed I was going to spend the day in bed but apparently my body is in more control than my mind lately. Lisa woke us up at 9am and after another lack luster night of sleep I wasn't thrilled but I guess my body is just adjusting. Instead of going back to sleep or lazing around like I used to do, I was up making breakfast and getting the house in order. I notice such a difference in my energy, my body and how I feel over all and it's unbelievable in only two days. I know you are not supposed to weigh yourself daily, but I was curious to see how I was adjusting to the diet. In two days I have already lost 5lbs.
So I have set new goals for myself:
15lbs by February 13th
10lbs by March 13th
10lbs by April 13th
10lbs by May 13th
10lbs by June 13th
10lbs by July 13th
10lbs by August 13th
Making a total of 75lbs by my 30th Birthday.
I feel as though small increments are the best way to go to keep myself in check, rather than focusing on a huge number. I finally feel like this is possible for the first time in a long time. The pieces of the puzzle all fit perfectly right now and I hope that this momentum can continue over the next 7 months. I feel like I am out of the high carb and sugar induced fog I had been living in. I now realize the horrible effects sugar and caffeine were having on my energy, my mind, my mood and my over all well being. I feel clear headed, I feel excited, I feel calm & I feel awakened. I even enjoyed my grapefruit with my cheese omelet this morning! Shocker of the century, I used to HATE grapefruit!
I will be sure to keep you all posted on the progress! I am interested to see how I will do on a work day where I am used to eating every few hours, it is going to be quite an adjustment but I am glad we started on a weekend at home rather than a Monday at work! The rest of the agenda for today includes laundry, gym, cooking a Zone soup, Amber still needs a manicure/pedicure and I want to try to clean out my closet a bit because half of my clothes are now significantly too big on me and I need to make room for some new stuff :)
I hope everyone had a great weekend ... adiosssssssss amigos!
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