BFL Results

First of all, a big thanks to everyone who has commented here in the last 12 weeks and yesterday (I love the image of a whole field of orchids, Katy!) - your encouragement and support has meant a lot to me!

It feels a bit weird today, not having to go to the gym. But I got up and my first item of business was weighing and measuring! I did not end up like one of those before and after pictures in the BFL book; I had a rough time, especially at the beginning, figuring out how to fit the food guidelines into a mainly vegan diet. So my weight loss is not what you could call spectacular: just under 6 pounds.

But I am really happy with my other indicators! My BMI went down one full point, as did my Waist to Hip Ratio (you can figure all these measurements out for yourself at http://www.bmi-calculator.net/ ). I only took body measurements starting the sixth week of the program, but in the last six weeks, I lost 4 cm in my waist and and 4 on my hips, 1 cm on my thigh, one on my upper arm, and my back/chest measurement got 2 cm bigger (ahem - I was noticing my bras were fitting completely differently!). Not only that, but all of my clothes fit better and things that were too tight to wear comfortably are now fitting great. And I will need to chuck some things that are too big and don't look nice anymore.

Physically, I feel amazing - a lot stronger, especially in my upper body, in which I had lost a lot of strength the last ten years. Pulling the window shutters up in the morning, hauling heavy things like suitcases and baskets of laundry up and down the stairs - it has all become a lot easier. I feel firm and toned, and can't help admiring the little hills and valleys that have appeared on my arms and legs!

On a personal level, I am reminded of Marianne Willamson's advice: "If you want to become a more disciplined person, practice being a disciplined person." For me this is just one more step up from doing those half marathon training programs: with those I had the fear factor of not being able to hack it on race day to propel me forward; with BFL all I had was my own desire to finish and of course, not wanting to have to say on this blog that I didn't finish! Being disciplined and keeping promises to yourself is definitely something that gets better with lots of practice!

BFL Day 84: DONE!

Just 84 days ago I started a program that I had always considered way out of my league. Just like I never thought of myself as someone who could run (before completing two half marathons!), I also never thought of myself as someone who could follow a serious weight lifting program. And so now I have proven the contrary to myself.

It was a nippy 13° as I headed to the gym for my final workout this morning - lower body weights. It was a beautiful morning and I decided to bike a bit further along the canal to give my legs a good warm up. By the time I arrived back at the gym I had been cycling for a good 20 minutes. I really wanted to push this last workout and my plan was to increase the weight on every exercise. This is the highest weight I did for each:

• Leg press: 110 kg
• Squat: 11 kg
• Leg curl: 30 kg
• Lunges: 6 kg
• Angled calf raises: 9 kg
• One leg calf raises: 7 kg

Then it was those last ab exercises and before I knew it, I was DONE! Wow. What a great feeling to have set out to accomplish something and then really follow through and complete it.

I headed home. When I got there a surprise was waiting for me: a beautiful orchid (see pic!) and a card of congratulations from Stefaan and the boys. I just love orchids and this one is a beauty - what a treat!

Today I am going to bask in the feelings of accomplishment, tomorrow I will take my final measurements, take stock of what I accomplished and lay out my new plan for the next two months... full report to follow soon!

BFL: one more day to go!

It was just 15°C when I passed the Stella brewery on my bike this morning...brrr! I can really feel the season is starting to turn and fall is in the air. Thankfully it is still beautiful and sunny with a gorgeous blue sky.

I decided to do the HIIT run today and the lower body weights tomorrow, because I wanted to be able to really push hard for both workouts and if I did the weights first, the HIIT run would be really tough the next day. So tomorrow is my last day of BFL!

It felt like a long time since I had been on the treadmill and as always, that makes me feel doubtful about if I can do it or not. I know it's silly! But it's like I have to re-convince myself that I am capable each time I get back on. So I got started and I was determined to finish the workout with a bang - it was going pretty well and I felt good, so on the last interval I pushed the intensity up a notch for each minute. I kept telling myself this was the last HIIT run! I finished in 26 minutes, doing 4.3 km total. Phew!

I was thinking to myself as I headed home, how I used to be so intimidated about going to the gym on weekends, because I always had this idea that it would be so busy, and how I have finally gotten over that, and don't even worry about it much anymore. It reminds me of so many small hurdles I have gotten over in this fitness journey. When I think back to the person who was so scared of running, sure I was going to fly off and hit the wall behind me if I dared to put the treadmill up too fast... Truly, if I could come this far, who know where I will end up?

Running with Bears

It was just too nice of a morning to go to the gym and run indoors.

So Stefaan decided to join me so we left and did a big loop that took us to the lake where we normally run on Sundays. When we got there, we soon noticed about eight very tall and muscular guys from the Leuven Bears basketball team had also decided to run outdoors - they were doing loops around the lake as well! Go Bears!

We made a pit stop in the bathroom and then headed back home, passing through the park where they have the Finnish running track. This was a great way to end the run, because let me tell you, that track gives you a good workout! With about a kilometer to get back home we took it easy the last bit for our cool down. We ended up running 7.7 kilometers total and it took us just about an hour.

Now I just have two more workouts left to complete my Body for Life Challenge: a lower body weight session and a HIIT run. I can't believe I will be done with this by Sunday morning! Wow!

Life is full of suprises

Today was my very last upper body workout for Body for Life! So I decided to increase the weights on all the exercises and really push it for this one last time. Here is what I accomplished today, which would have been way beyond my reach 12 weeks ago:

• Incline chest press: 12x 15 kg, 10x 17.5 kg, 8x 20 kg, 6x 22.5,kg and 12x 20 kg


• Chest press: 12x 22.5 kg


• Shoulder press: 12x 7.5 kg, 10x 10 kg, 8x 12.5 kg, 6x 15 kg, 10x 12.5 kg (could not do the final two reps!)


• Side shoulder raises: 12x 4 kg


• Pull over machine: 12x 30 kg, 10x 32.5 kg, 8x 35 kg, 6x 37.5 kg, 12x 35 kg


• One arm row: 12x 9 kg


• French press: 12x 3 kg, 10x 4 kg, 8x 5 kg, 6x 6 kg, 12x 4 kg (I knew I was going to drop the dumbbells on my head if I tried this with the 5 kg, so I bumped it back down to 4!)


• Standing tricep extension: 12x 8 kg


• Biceps incline curl: 12x 3 kg, 10x 4 kg, 8x 5 kg - and by this time my arms were really shot from all the hard work and I knew the 6 reps at 6 kg was going to be out of my reach so I finished with 12x 4 kg


• Hammer curl: 12x 3 kg + total exhaustion and jello arms!

Phew!

Then, and here's the surprise, I biked over to my travel agent to book a trip to.... San Diego! I am so excited - it turns out that our family's schedules, ticket prices and the stars have all aligned to make it possible for me to attend a family wedding there this fall - woo hoo! I can't wait - I have never been to the Pacific coast, and my only foray into California was a day trip to Death Valley when we were in Vegas two years ago. So I am really looking forward to seeing sunny southern California, spending time with my parents on our road trip from Dallas to San Diego, and seeing all the extended family at the wedding whom I haven't seen in years and years. The only down side is that Stefaan and the boys won't be joining me this time...

Two Rainbows, BFL + Push Your Limits

Last night a storm blew in and cooled us down a lot - we were amazed to see a beautiful double rainbow (just like Jenny the other day!) on the other side of our street. I was also amazed at how I could really feel the Nordic Walking workout in my abs and back last night, and my legs were more sore than usual from the weights.

Normally I do an interval run on the treadmill on Tuesdays to fulfill the Body for Life HIIT workout requirement. But I was looking at the "Push Your Limits" options and one of them was to bike 10 km, so I figured that would probably take me about 20-30 minutes and if I included intervals in it, it could substitute for the HIIT run. And then I could also get a stamp on my card!

So I got to the gym and told one of the trainers I wanted to do the 10 km biking for Push Your Limits, so we picked out a bike and he programmed 10 km in and I got started. I decided to do the same thing as with my HIIT runs: increase the level of intensity every minute, five times, and then go back down to the first level and start over, and just keep doing that until the 10 km program was done. I couldn't believe how much I was sweating! I hardly ever use the exercise bikes at the gym because I figure I bike enough just to get around town, and I prefer running for the higher calorie burn, and the elliptical because it uses your whole body. But I still got a really good workout today, if sweat is any indication!

Then I got my card signed - two activites down! - and headed home. Now it's off to buy the boys some new clothes for school.

And last but not least I'm hoping to maybe win a pair of Crocs - Denise at RunDMT is having a giveaway at her blog - check it out!

BFL Day 78 & Surprise at the gym

So...I biked over to the gym, another hot day today, it was already warm enough at 10 that I could bike in my sleeveless workout top. I got started on lower body weights. As I was doing my leg curls, my Zumba class teacher came up to me and asked if I wanted to join the Nordic Walking class she was going to hold at 11. You see, my gym is doing a special program called "Push Your Limits" where they are offering special classes and activites the next two weeks and you can get a card stamped each time you participate in one. If you get five stamps, you win a prize! And I think there will be a drawing with people who do all ten activities for a grand prize.

First I was like, no, thanks, I don't have enough time, I have to finish my workout and head home... So she moved on to ask some other people and as I moved on to my calf exercises, I thought, why not? Stefaan was home today with the kids, so there really wasn't any reason not to do it. So I found An and asked her if she still had a spot, and she did! I had just enough time to finish my Body for Life workout (I was a bit concerned about my legs being super tired, but I thought, whatever!) and then An showed us how to hold the Nordic Walking poles correctly, we did a short warm up in the group lesson room and then we headed outside! We walked all the way along the Leuven canal to the big railroad bridge and back - it was so fun to be out in the sun and fresh air for a change, even though it was pretty hot. I had never done Nordic Walking before so it takes a while to get the hang of the right technique, and it is quite a workout for arms and shoulders. We were out for a good 45 minutes, and then headed back into the gym. I got my little card stamped and took a look at the schedule for the other activities - now that I've got one stamp I might as well try to get a few more, right?

Then I came home and when I saw my horoscope on my email, I thought, how true! And I was even more glad I tried something new today.

Here is what my horoscope from Daily OM says today:

Your confidence level may be high, which may encourage you to challenge yourself today. Feeling like you are able to achieve anything you set your mind to can motivate you to try things you hadn’t thought of before. Perhaps taking calculated risks could move you in a direction where you will grow, learn, and develop your talents. If faced with the decision to go beyond your usual comfort zone today, you may want to think about what you can gain from trying something new. Picture how your life may change for the better as you move forward and get away from your usual routine. Drawing strength from your abilities and your assurance in yourself could fill you with the courage you need to take on new challenges.To develop positively we must conscientiously face things that will test us in new ways. Doing the same thing each day keeps us in a routine that will not expand our knowledge or expose us to things that may introduce us to different ways of doing and being. Releasing ourselves from the confines of what feels safe, however, provides us with new opportunities to try out different things, learn from our mistakes, and grow more deeply. This allows us to gain greater insights into ourselves and the world. By taking risks and pushing your limits today, you will discover new parts of yourself and your environment that will not only stimulate you but also help you grow as a person.