Fitness Challenge 2.0 - The (sort-of) End.

I've been putting off writing this last "Fitness Challenge 2.0" Update. I feel like every time I finish a challenge it just gives me license to go back to doing whatever I want. Mainly, eating whatever I want. So, I've been gradually extending the challenge in my head, week by week. Every day is a new day. I try not to beat myself up if I eat something bad, but instead try to make up for it in the gym and by making healthier choices the next time.

I haven't been weighing myself, so I don't know how much I've lost, but it's something since all my clothes are fitting better/looser. So, while I don't think I lost a huge chunk (not that I have a HUGE chunk to lose anyway, in my opinion) I have lost something and I'm feeling good.

So, I guess this is the last update for Fitness Challenge 2.0, although it's never really over. I think I'm just going to take a break from writing about it for a while.

Fitness Challenge 2.0 - Week 4 Update

I finally buckled down this week and lost almost 3 pounds! Whew! I was going to be really mad if nothing happened. 

I just ate lighter lunches and dinners and tried to squeeze in a little more cardio. Apparently it did the trick. I plan on doing more of the same this week!

I also signed up for my next race.  The 7th Annual Kansas City Zoo Run on September 18!

This one is a 4 miler.  It goes all throughout the zoo and even has some trail portions. I've heard from people in the past that it's a fairly difficult race, so I'm looking forward to it.  I've got to get in some good training runs though. I'm a little rusty right now.  I did a couple nice long runs through the neighborhood this weekend since it was SO nice out and hopefully the weather will cooperate for the next two weeks so I can do more.  I hope I finish with a decent time. Not just because that's cool, but because I totally forgot that I have a baby shower to be at WAY up north at 12pm. Oops! I'm going to have to do some hustling to get there on time, that's for sure.

I hope everyone had a great long weekend! Mine was fab!

Fitness Challenge 2.0 - Weeks 2 and 3

Yep, still trying to get back into post-fitness-challenge shape. Hows it going? Well, I'm working out 6 days a week, so I'm tired and sore, but have I lost any weight? NO. No, I haven't. Awesome huh?

It's the carbs. Damn those carbs.

I need to get it together! I KNOW exactly what I need to do, but for some reason I'm not letting myself. It's so frustrating!! I'm a pain in the ass, I tell ya. (funny aside: I just spelled "frustrating" wrong and the first suggestion my spell check gave me was "frosting". Seems fitting.)

So, I've wasted 3 weeks. I now have 3 weeks to make it up.

Bah.

Stupid, stupid, stupid.

Week 1 Update : Fitness Challenge 2.0

So, I'm one week into my self-proclaimed fitness challenge.  So far, so good!  The first week wasn't quite as hard as I had thought it would be.  Now, don't get me wrong, I'm following my diet pretty closely, but not QUITE as strict.  That being said, I did eat really well Sunday through Thursday. I ate mostly eggs, chicken, lean turkey meat, low carb bread and tortillas, fruit and some jello.

Friday through Sunday I was a little more lax and I wish I wouldn't have been. I didn't really go OVERBOARD (well except for the cookie incident last night), but did let myself have some pizza on Friday and ice cream on Saturday. I'm not sure what's up this summer, but I cannot get enough ice cream!!  Don't get me wrong, I love ice cream, but I usually don't CRAVE it like I have this summer (and no, not pregnant, nice try). I'm going to blame the extra hot temperatures outside. At least I've stopped buying cartons of the stuff, so I don't have it at home anymore. I think the occasional ice cream trip is a summer requirement, so I'm trying not to feel guilty about it.

Working out has been going great!!  There's really nothing new to my routine there. Just trying to push myself a little harder each time I'm at the gym.  I am looking forward to some cooler temperatures so I can start running outside again though.

So that's week one!  I didn't weigh myself the first week because I always get frustrated when I don't see immediate results. So I'm waiting until week two.

Healthy Thoughts!

Sugar = Bad

I will update on my Fitness Challenge 2.0 progress tomorrow. Right now I can barely even function well enough to write this post, but I'm doing so to prove a point.

Sugar is the devil.  I've been cutting wayyyyy back on my sugar intake the past week. Until tonight. When I devoured a few too many pink and white frosted animal crackers (you know, the ones in the bag with the sprinkles...yeah). Then I had 3 pieces of chocolate and a rice krispie treat.

WHAT WAS I THINKING?!

I feel like death. 

So, yeah. The challenge is going well, I just need to mental note how I feel right now so I don't do THAT again.

G'nite folks.

Fitness Challenge 2.0

That's right everyone, I'm doing it again!  Except, this time I have to do it on my own. No magazine covers, no personal trainer, no pressure of all of KC watching, no nothin. Just me, my meal plan, the gym and sheer willpower.

I'm starting on Sunday and will go for 6 weeks. I hope to do everything the same as I did last time and get the same sort of results.  I've still been doing the same workouts since last fall, but my diet has slipped.  So, farewell sugar and carbs, it's been fun. 

I have gone back and re-read all my fitness challenge posts and emails I sent back and forth with my trainer and the journalist, and I need to get back in that frame of mind. The first week is the hardest, so once I get past that, I should be good.

Wish me luck! I'll be sure to post weekly updates!

An Announcement:

I have officially signed up for my first (and quite possibly my only) Half Marathon!

I went ahead and selected probably one of the hardest Half's to do in KC while I was at it.  The Hospital Hill Run.  Why? Because I apparently like to torture myself. That's why. They don't throw "hill" in the name for no good reason.  It's going to be hard.  But I figure this is my 3rd year in the race, I did the 5K in '08, the 10K in '09, so why not just go for the gusto? 

Zach has no idea, but this is totally his fault.  We were at dinner on Saturday night after I did the Rock the Parkway 10K (Minsky's at the Rivermarket - it does not get any better than that for post-race fare) and I was talking about how crazy it is to me that there are so many people in KC that run half marathons! Every race I've been to that includes a half is always jam packed! It blows my mind! Who are all these runners!? The people look like "normal" people, how do they do it? I casually said "I dunno, maybe it's not THAT hard". To which Zach replied "Well I think they are probably doing some more serious training".

Say wha?  More Serious Training? What does that mean!? I didn't say anything at the time and I know he absolutely, positively did not mean it to be that my training "isn't serious", but it was just enough to spark the "OH YES I CAN!" fire.

So, I thought about it for a few days, checked some training schedules and even though I'm slightly behind on the "official" training schedule, I'm right where I need to be distance wise, so I think I can just pick it right up.  I'm not going to lie though, the distance is daunting. 13.1 miles.  THIRTEEN MILES.  Holy hell.  I can do it though. I can.  I will just keep repeating that to myself.  I will make it.

Fitness Update

Well, it's been a few months since the fitness challenge has ended. It sure doesn't seem like it. I feel like it was just yesterday I was being told I was "skinny fat" and having my stomach pinched by a stranger in front of a photographer and journalist....

I am not going to lie to you all, the holidays were rough. Real rough. I was doing pretty well up until the actual holiday. Then it all went downhill-ish.

Hospital food + Christmas +Fast Food+ New Years + Blizzard + No Gym + Stress Eating = 5 pounds.

I was LUCKY it was only five pounds.

Last week I kicked it back into gear and lost two of those pounds and feel like I'm back in control. It was sketchy there for a while.  It's just crazy how fast you can go back to the way things were. At first when I'd eat junk I'd feel bad and sick and disgusted with myself. After a while that goes away and it all becomes normal again. I had to really knock some sense back into myself and throw out all the junk. Let me tell you, throwing perfectly good Christmas cookies in the trash is hard!  But now I'm back in the gym 5-6 times a week and eating my normal food.  The weekends are still iffy, but not nearly as gluttonous as they were there for the past 3 weeks.

So, here we go again.  I know I can lose those other 3 pounds no problem and I'd really like to add a few more after that too, since summer will be here before I know it. Plus I have that race coming up in March that I've got to get ready for (which is a 10K by the way. I kinda forgot to mention that in my initial post! Ha!), so getting my cardio in has a little extra motivation behind it.

It does still feel really good starting 2010 off to such a good start!  As I keep telling myself : Snacks-Bad. Skinny-Good!

Fitness Challenge - The Final Issue

I'm not going to lie, it was a little lackluster. I was expecting this big grandiose issue with full articles about each participant and lots of pictures of everyone.

Apparently I've let fame go to my head.

What there was: A two page spread in the back of the magazine with a small before and a small after picture along with a couple sentences for each person. Really?! That's it? I knew I shouldn't have brought my wedding dress. You can't even really tell how much weight I lost because it's a huge ballgown. The picture I posted here is much more telling. But, what can ya do.

Everyone I've talked to about it is seriously impressed and I feel great, so that's really all that matters right? Except people keep asking me "when's the wedding". Then they look at me like I'm an idiot when I tell them "two years ago". So I have to go into a big explanation about how MY goal was to "Be back to the same weight I was when I got married" THEY spun it into "fit into my wedding dress". Eh. Whatever.

I'm thankful I had the opportunity and it was just the kick in the pants I needed. Now if all these holiday parties could stop, things would be great! It is so tough right now with sweets at every turn. I will say, I've done really well so far. I think this might be a successful Christmas after all! I've also had a few people tell me that I've inspired them, and honestly, that's really cool. I've shared my plan with a few people and maybe they'll jump on board, but like I've always said, you have to do it for you. So, good luck! I'll be sure to keep the blog updated with my future endeavors. I gotta keep the momentum going!

Click HERE for the "full" article.

Fitness Challenge - FINAL RESULTS!

The fitness challenge is over! I met my goals!! I've been meaning to write my recap for the blog, but this week has been pure insanity. The dogs are on a total rampage right now. Their mission: Destroy my house. It exhausts me just thinking about it, so I'll save those stories for now.

I had to provide a recap to the journalist for her final article (coming out December 2nd..watch for it!!!) so I thought I'd just re-post it because it really sums up what I have to say.

I think the challenge has been a really positive experience for me. It has taught me that if I really want to achieve something I can. I just have to put my mind to it and do the work.

Biggest surprise: How easy it was. Sure, the first week was pretty hard. I had to totally change the way I was eating. I suddenly had to start eating right and at first I missed all my favorite foods. It got to the point where I hated eating because what I had to eat didn't sound good. However, after that first week of shock (hell week as I call it), it got so much easier. I started getting creative with my meals by adding different spices or switching out one healthy option for another so I wasn't getting bored. Now, it's just become how I eat. The cravings for all the bad stuff went away for the most part and it started actually being less stressful planning my meals because I ate so similarly every day. Now I don't dread my meals, but look forward to them. Sure, I still get cravings here and there, but it's never anything I can't get past! Before I started the challenge I figured I'd be "starving" all the time, as is typical with most diets. However I was pleasantly surprised that my meal plan was balanced so that I am really never hungry! I feel like I have more energy as well.

Challenges: Making time was the first challenge. I'm constantly being rushed around and finding time to cook meals and fit in longer workouts took some planning. After a couple weeks I started getting the hang of it and settling into a routine. I frequently make meals ahead of time and always try to go to the gym at the same time each night, so it just feels like it's a part of my normal routine. It was also hard for me to openly talk to people about my challenges with weight. I'm a pretty reserved person so it took a lot to get used to people I hardly knew seeing my "fat picture" then coming up to me and asking "so, how much weight have you lost?" I was really put off at first, but realized that by being a part of the challenge has opened me up to these sorts of questions. Now after finishing the challenge I feel like I am more comfortable openly talking about what I'm doing to achieve my goals. People keep saying they are really impressed an that's a huge confidence booster.

Advice: My biggest piece of advice to anyone wanting to lose weight is to get in the right frame of mind. The only person responsible for your body is you. You have to make the decision to get up and go to the gym every day. You have to make the decision to eat chicken instead of pizza. I'm always thinking about my long term goals for my body and have gotten in the habit of weighing the pros and cons of each decision before I make it. Sure I can have that slice of cake if I really want it, but do I want to spend an extra 45 minutes at the gym burning it off? Probably not, but sometimes I do! Also, my schedule is really busy, but I've managed to find time each and every day to get in that gym. There's always time!! You just have to make it work for you!

I was in a huge rut before this challenge came along and didn't quiet know where to start. I've always been an active person, but my diet clearly needed to be changed. I feel comfortable now reading labels and knowing exactly what I need to eat to fuel my body and lose weight. I don't plan on "stopping" after the final weigh in either. I see this as a life changing experience and plan on living this new lifestyle from here on out. I'm so happy this happened right before the Holidays because now I feel like I am ready to face them head on and will continue to eat right because I love how I look right now, I still have a little bit left to lose and I don't want to stop this momentum! I love the new me :)

And now without further delay: The Pictures!

BeforeSeriously, I looked like this? Really? Disgusting.
~~~~
After

That's more like it.

The Stats:
Weight Lost: 15 pounds!
Body Fat Lost: 9%!
Inches Whittled Away: I can't remember!!!! Ah! I'll have to ask the trainer! It's enough so that nearly every pair of pants I own is too big. My work pants are hanging on me. So I went from looking pudgy to looking frumpy. Awesome. Haha! I'll take it though! I want to say I lost 5 inches around my waist though! Holy hell!
The Wedding Dress: FITS! Almost too big!

And I'm not done yet! The holidays might just be a "lets maintain this" period, but I'm not stopping, no way.

Fitness Challenge - The Home Stretch

I go in for my final weigh in and photo shoot on Sunday!! I can't believe it's almost over. I feel like I just started!

I gotta say, these last two weeks have been rough for me. I'm still not feeling totally better. I know for a fact that I didn't rest nearly enough as I should have, but the thought of not losing any weight the last two weeks was too much for me to handle, so I pusehd through some pretty tough workouts anyway. My lungs are angry at me, but I'll be sure to give them a rest on Monday and Tuesday. As for now, it's go time!

My scale says I've lost a significant chunk of weight. I haven't seen that number on the scale in a couple years and it feels really good to have it back. I have definitely decided I don't want to see that number go up again either. I don't mind this new way of eating and working out like a crazy lady as much as I thought I would. Sure, I miss being able to "just eat whatever" but most of the time I realize it's simply not worth it. I'm totally committed to keeping things up, even after Sunday. Now don't get me wrong, Sunday night I'm totally chowing down. I'm thinking pizza. And breadsticks. And dessert! But then Monday it's back to the ol' standard!

I randomly pulled out a pair of jeans I haven't worn in well over a year (had them almost 3 years now) and put them on this morning. MUCH to my surprise and delight they fit better than they did the day I bought them. I snuck a peek at the size and they are a size SIX!!! I couldn't believe it. I did a happy dance right there in my closet! I've still put off trying on my Most Favorite Pair of Jeans Ever. I want to lose a couple more pounds first. I look forward to rocking them very soon!

Full recap of the final weigh in will be coming next week! Fingers crossed for me!

Fitness Challenge Week 5 - I'm sick

The cold did not get better. It got worse.

I still tried to go to the gym though, stupid mistake. I went 4 times and even though I did much lighter than usual workouts, I still managed to overdo it and now I am even sicker (that's not a word is it?).

I broke down and went to emergent care today. I had to wait over an hour, but at least I didn't have to hassle with trying to get an appointment with my regular doctor and drive all the way out to Kansas. Turns out I have bronchitis. I think it's a fairly mild case, but still, not good.

I'm officially benched and can't workout until I feel much better. It. Is. So. Hard. I'm not good at "resting" to begin with. I literally can't sit still, I'm always doing stuff. So being forced to rest is even harder. Especially now that I'm just one week away from my final weigh in for the fitness challenge! I want nothing more than to be running like a crazy woman at the gym right now. Or lifting weights, or doing crunches. ANYTHING but sitting on my rear wasting time on Facebook.

I'm on a cocktail of drugs too. Some cough pill laced with Codeine, prescription strength Motrin and Claritin-D. I took the codeine about 5 hours ago and I'm just now starting to feel the side effects. I'm so dizzy, I feel like I could fall out of this chair at any second. My thoughts are a bit jumbled too, but my mind is racing! And the dry mouth, holy lord this is torture! But at least this way I'll drink more water. I haven't quite figured out how I'm going to get through an entire work day. Luckily I take the bus, so I'll just wait to take the pill until I get to work and hopefully it's wore off enough after work to drive home from the bus stop (about a 7 minute drive). I'm so stupid. I should totally take time off, but we are in the middle of planning Christmas 2010 (yes, 2010) and it all has to be done for our buyer presentation right after Thanksgiving and OF COURSE I'm taking a whole week off to go see family in Vegas the week of Thanksgiving. So I'm effed. I have to go.

This might get intersting.

Fitness Challenge - 4 Week Check-In

Well, things with the fitness challenge are still going well. I was really nervous all week because my scale wasn't moving, like at all. So I emailed my trainer, we tweaked a couple things and I totally started watching my salt intake. I also killed it at the gym 8 days in a row (oof!)

So, I'm very happy to say that I'm now down 10 pounds and 6 percent body fat! WooooHooo!

I'm about 5 pounds away from my "goal" but I'm really happy with where I am at now. I think 5 pounds in the next 2 weeks is a pretty lofty goal, but I'm going to give it my best.

Unfortunately I started getting sick last night. It all started with this uncomfortable feeling in my throat and gradually worked up to where I could barely swallow or talk by the time I went to bed, totally exhausted, at 9pm. I woke up this morning even worse off. I called in sick (for the first time in 4 years) and went to the CVS Minute Clinic and to get checked for strep. Thank goodness it was negative! I just have a killer cold. It's now moved out of my throat and into my head. I'm stuffy, got that gross post nasal drip and now I'm starting to cough. So, I'm kind of freaking out. Ted The Great Dane got neutered yesterday, so he's not feeling the best either, so we just snoozed the day away together. I'm feeling a *tiny* bit better now, but I know I'm not out of the woods yet.

I'm going to do my best to get to the gym tomorrow and the rest of the week. I gotta finish strong! Even though it's not really "finishing", I have a feeling this whole eating right, working out all the time has become part of my lifestyle. I'm really enjoying all my clothes being a bit looser, or just plain too big. It's a nice feeling. I want to keep it.

Fitness Challenge - Week 3

Well, I'm halfway through the challenge! I lost another 2 pounds this week bringing my total to 8 pounds lost so far! I'm super excited!

I was expecting to only lose a couple pounds this past week. I've been fighting a weird cold thing and It's been hard a couple days to really kick up the cardio intensity as much as I would have liked. I'm still feeling a bit "off" but hopefully whatever it is goes away soon and doesn't get any worse! Still, 2 pounds is good with me!

I got bit by the baking bug this week. As most readers know, I love to bake (I even dream about having my very own bakery some day!) For quite a while now, Sunday has been baking day. I'd been avoiding it since I knew I was doing this challenge, but it just doesn't seem fair for me to have to give up something I love so much. I figure I can bake all I want, as long as I give away the treats instead of eating them all! Of course, I will let myself have a tiny bit! Today I made Fall Harvest Bars! They are super sinful, but very delicious! Zach took them to work tonight for his pot luck, so I know they won't be making a return trip home, so that's good. I guess all our friends, family and co-workers will just have to deal with more sweet treats from Stephanie with this new life style. I'm sure they are all just totally broken up about it too ;)

Zach and I also celebrated our anniversary at The Hereford House on Friday night. Our anniversary was actually October 13, but our schedules were too crazy to fit it in last weekend. We were going to go to Accurso's (it's "our place") and have some super yummy Italian food, but since I'm in the middle of the challenge I don't want to set myself back too far since my trainers say I'm in "transition", so I thought steak would be a good option instead. People, FILET MIGNON is on my diet plan! So I just had to get it :) I won't lie, I had some mashed potatoes and a little bit of chocolate cake too!! BUT I did way more cardio the next day than normal to help offset it. I'm still losing weight so I think it was ok. It was our anniversary!! :)
Happy 2 years Zach! Loves you!

*Imagine me 8lbs lighter here, this was taken a few weeks ago :)

Other than that, I've been sticking to the plan! It's not so hard any more. The workouts are fun and I love switching it up and trying new things to keep it interesting. The diet isn't so bad anymore either. It's just what I eat now, I've realized that my meals don't have to be "exciting" all the time. They just have to fill me up and keep me going. So, it's all good! Here's to my new lifestyle!!!

Fitness Challenge - 2 Week Check In

Success!

I have lost 6 pounds and 4% body fat (I think it was 4% anyway, whatever it was put me back in the 20's)

I'm feeling much more comfortable with my new lifestyle now. The food really isn't all that bad once you get creative with it and the working out is really addicting! I feel like a total bump on a log on the days that I don't work out(and there's only been 2 this month).

I'm very happy about my progress and it just excites me even more to keep pushing myself to get even more fit! Even Zach is jumping on the bandwagon! Tonight he substituted his beloved Regular Jif Peanut Butter for Reduced Fat Jif Peanut Butter AND he liked it! :)

Onward and upward!

Fitness Challenge - The First Issue

Well, it's out on newsstands. Everywhere. Me. Looking.... well, let's just say, it's not my best shot. I actually got chest pains when I first saw the pictures. I cannot believe thousands upon thousands of people are going to see this. WHAT WAS I THINKING!?

Luckily, the tidbit about me, including the ginormous half page picture isn't too terribly horrible. They do throw out the "skinny fat" terminology and give my body fat percentage, but I guess things could be worse. One poor girl has a picture of her actual scale reading (yeowsh!)

I do hate, hate, hate the way I look. It's horrible. I mean really? I look like that? Oh crap. I have a ton of work to do (including investing in some brow pencils).

I at least *feel* like I'm making progress. I've been to the gym every single day this month except for one. I've even been fighting a cold for the past few days, but I've still gone. I wish I could move into the gym and work out for hours straight, but I still try to at least get an hour in each day. I alternate between weights one day then hard core cardio the next. When I have extra time I'll run after weights too.

I'm still struggling with figuring out the diet thing. I got in trouble for not eating enough (I can't win people) so I'm trying to figure out how to balance getting in enough calories without blowing my allotted carbs and fat grams out of the water. It's a challenge.

I made the mistake of getting on the scale today. It hasn't budged since Sunday. I literally cried and then cussed it out and then went on about my day. The bottom line is that I feel like I LOOK better and my clothes already fit better, so something has to be working here.

I meet with the trainers again on Sunday for my "official" 2 week weigh in. I'm so nervous. It's time to kick it up a few more notches!

Fitness Challenge - Week 1

I am not amused.

I have stuck to the plan. In the past week and a half I have given up all sweets, fried food, junk food, basically all GOOD food. I am literally living on plain chicken breast, egg beaters, broccoli and rice cakes. I worked out (HARD) 6 days this week and what have I lost? 3 pounds. Three measly pounds. THREE.

I'm pissed.

Fitness Challenge - Official Start

Today is the "official" start day for the fitness challenge. However, I gave myself a head start. I got the list of foods I could eat last week, so I've been trying to only eat those foods. I can already tell I'm going to get really, really bored eating the same things over and over again, but I'm going to do my best.

I got my personalized meal plan a couple days ago and quite frankly it's really hard to understand. I'm going to have to ask the trainer what she means on a few things. I have to eat 6 meals a day, which sounds great, but it's a lot of work trying to get stuff ready for 6 meals and make sure that I'm eating the right amount of protien, carbs and fat at each meal. There is MATH involved! Ugh! I'm going to be doing a lot of cooking ahead I think.

The working out part seems pretty alright. Nothing really different from what I already do, just much more cardo and some more intense weight lifting. She wants me to do cardio at least 5 times a week and burn 500-1000 calories during each workout. You typically burn about 100 calories per 10 minutes of cardio so, you do the math. That's a lot of treadmill action right there. PLUS 30-45 minutes of weights 3 times a week and I'll be spending a good chunk of me evenings at the gym. Whatever works I guess.

So far I'm not feeling too hungry, so that's good. I'm eating better foods and definitely feel a lot better already. I just need to remember how good I feel whenever I really crave something bad. I'm watching the Chiefs game right now and I could REALLY go for some pizza, but I guess cottage cheese will have to do (that stuff is not my favorite, that's for sure).

Zach's been really supportive so far too. He went grocery shopping with me Friday and ate dinner with me both Friday and Saturday. We even ate VEGETABLES!! Go us! Oh and by the way Ezekial Bread is REALLY good!!! Too bad it's crazy expensive! We are still on the hunt for Quinoa though. That's not easy to find!

So, here I "officially" go! Wish me luck.

In the past week I've already lost 3 pounds and I'm just getting started!!!

Fitness Challenge - Meet The Trainers

So, a couple weeks ago a guy I worked with mentioned that his wife's friend or something works for Ink Magazine, which is a weekly free paper here in town that's kind of geared towards the "young and hip" crowd. He said she was doing a story about getting fit in KC and was looking for anyone with a specific fitness goal in mind to participate in a 6 week fitness challenge. We would be hooked up with some "experts" to customize a fitness and meal plan to help achieve the goal. I didn't even think twice before having him volunteer me.

After quite a few emails back and forth with the journalist, today was finally the day I went to meet my trainers. I was super nervous. Apparently there are 3 or 4 of us doing the challenge. Two other people where there when I was. I had just walked in the door and was already being shuffled back outside to take a few group shots. We posed with some barbells, weighted balls and I got the resistance band. I'm sure we looked super geeky. Anyway, after some individual photos, it was time for me to talk to the trainer.

She was really nice and super knowledgeable, but totally didn't sugar coat anything. She said I really needed to change a lot of habits if I want to reach my goal of dropping 10-15 pounds in 6 weeks. She asked about what I typically eat in a day and I fully admitted my carb-o-holic lifestyle to her and she said point blank "well you can't eat that stuff any more". I'm sure the look on my face was similar to what I'd look like if you kicked my dog. I'm in for it. They will be emailing me my diet plan sometime later this week. I am seriously nervous. I'm pretty sure it will consist mostly of water, chicken and eggs. Just a hunch.

After talking for a while, it was time for the dreaded calipers. I've always hated getting my body fat measurements done. However, nothing quite compares to having it done in front of 4 other people and a PHOTOGRAPHER ZOOMING IN ON MY FAT. Holy lord, I honest to God, thought I was going to pass out from sheer mortification. Then after a few quick measurements it was time for a horrific trip to the scale where a number poped up that I swore on my life, I would never see. It was like someone slapped me in the face.

That wasn't the worst of it though. Then she calculated my body fat percentage and showed me the little chart associated with it. People. I am nearly obese. O-B-E-S-E. I thought I was going to faint, right there in the chair. I wanted to laugh at first, then I wanted to cry and then I wanted to get up and run away and never look back. But, I sat there and listened. They called me "skinny fat". They said nobody would ever look at me and say "whoa, that girl is fat!!" but aparently I am. It's horrible. The whole thing was completely surreal. It was like this was all happening to someone else, because no way, this couldn't be about me, I'm not....Fat. But oh...yes I am.

So, now the entire Kansas City Metro Area will know my weight, body fat percentage, potentially see a picture of my fat and get to watch me try to drop 15 pounds in 6 weeks. I'm scared as hell.

I've been asking for help and motivation to get my ass back in gear for a while now, and this opportunity just fell in my lap one random morning. So, I'm taking it. I'm going to do my best and stick to the plan. Hopefully it works and maybe, just maybe, I can be an inspiration to someone else. I plan on keeping my progress on the blog too, but for the full scoop, you'll have to read the articles!

Now, I'm off to buy some chicken!