Its Been Awhile and My Newest Diet Endeavor

Do you ever get so discouraged that you would rather not talk about the issue at hand? Well, that's what's happened to me over the last few months. After my failed attempt at jolting myself out of my plateau with the Columbus Fitness Bootcamp, I just lost the motivation to keep on keepin' on with this blog. The bootcamp was amazing and really helped my stamina and built muscle I didn't know I could build, but it just didn't get me out of my rut.

So what do you do when nothing else is working? Go to the extreme! No, I'm not talking about an eating disorder... I'm talking about the South Beach diet!!!

I believe this diet has been given a bad wrap. Notorious for being one of those "low-carb diets," unlike the Atkins diet, SBD actually encourages healthy eating. It is broken in to three phases which is where the similarities to Atkins end. On the SBD in phase 1, which lasts two weeks minimum, you will cut out all bad carbs, fats and sugars by taking in alot of fresh veggies, lean meats and healthy fats such as nuts and olive and canola oils. Things you can't eat in phase 1 are fruits, sugars and starches.

The first week was a real rollercoaster for me. I wanted to eat carbs but couldn't. But that feeling went away quickly, like in the first three days. I lost eight lbs in the first week, five of them being between the fourth and fifth days of the diet. At that point, I had barely any appetite at all. That weekend I snacked on a few too many nuts and gained one pound back but hit the ground running in week two, worked out a few times and lost another four lbs. With the exception of two meals, I adhered to the diet faithfully. I had a short-term weight goal of 240 in mind and, with the success I was having, decided to stick it out another week. Today is the last day of phase 1 for me.

After losing 14 lbs in three weeks, I consider phase 1 of the South Beach diet to be a success. Phase 2 will involve slowly readjusting my body to carbs. I will be adding 1-2 servings of fruits, unprocessed starches or whole grains per day. Each week I will add another serving or two of these good carbs until I'm comfortable with the amount of carbs/complex sugars I'm taking in while still losing weight.

Wish me luck!

Candice K.
240.6 lbs

Boot Camp Olympics Tonight!

Tomorrow is our last night at boot camp. *tear* I will admit that I have loved it. I never could have figured out these workouts on my own. I used to just wander aimlessly around the gym but now I think I have some direction. Past all of the pain, injuries, sweat and sighs, I think it was a big success. And I finished something I started. Write it up: Me - 1, World - 0

We are doin big thangs at boot camp tonight. Main focus is back/shoulders/abs. However, we will also be engaged in a little friendly competition.

Tonight we will be doing our Boot Camp Olympics. The events will be:
1. Jump rope x 1 minute (count total number of jumps)
2. Crunches x 1 minute (count total reps as shoulder blades must clear the ground and return to the ground each rep)
3. Static hold in push-up position until failure (count total seconds)
4. Body weight floor dips (count total reps as backside lightly touches the floor every rep)

We will also have a class picture I'll post up here soon.

Tomorrow night will be the final push-up test. I did 22 the first week. Let's see how I do in comparison.

I will also try to get ahold of my before and after measurements to put some results in perspective.

So for now, adieu.

Candice K.
I will find out the poundage soon enough.

Homemade Favorites

As most everyone in the world, I'm in love with pizza. But those pizzas you get from Pizza Hut and Donatos just won't fit in to my diet or budget. So Chuck and I decided that it was time we started taking matters in to our own hands... literally. I spotted some Trader Joe pizza dough on a visit there a couple of weeks ago and grabbed it. Here's a nice little review: http://www.yumm.com/2009/trader-joes-pizza-dough/. We picked up the herb dough and some toppings like pizza sauce, onions, tomatoes, banana peppers and mushrooms in addition to 2% italian blend cheese and turkey pepperoni. I love turkey pepperoni. We decided that because our tastes are so different in pizza, we would make our own personal-sized dishes. It was hilarious watching us both flour our hands and half of the kitchen as we stretched the dough in to not-so-circular shapes. They only took about eight minutes to bake. However, with all of the toppings, the crust on that side had some difficulty baking.

Because we split the bag for the first batch, we decided to have pizza again the next night. I baked the pennant-shaped pizza for a couple of minutes before we topped it to get that top side good and done then brushed on a little olive oil. It was so good. I'm craving it right now.

Keeping in the swing of things, we make homemade egg rolls last night using chopped grilled pork chops left over from Monday nights dinner, cole slaw veggies and onions. Again, slam-dunk. We deep-fried them but because the wrappers aren't grease-soakers, it keeps this meal low in fat. They were done in 20-30 seconds and it was hilarious watching Chuck throw stuff in there like banana peppers.

I really recommend making things like this at home because not only is it more healthy than store-bought varieties, it's less expensive and you get to do something fun with the people you love... or people who don't mind you throwing flour on them. Same dif.

Candy K.
My clothes smell like fried food today. Gross.

Boot Camp: Week Two Wrap Up

The workouts have gotten more intense but the soreness is relatively gone. We will be tight when we really get a muscle-blasting exercise. My favorite exercises at the moment are the ones done on a device called the TRX (see: http://www.fitnessanywhere.com/). A bracket is attached high on the wall with straps hanging from it. At the end of the straps are handles where we grab on for dear life and, using our body weight and angle as resistance, perform different exercises.

Week Three we are beginning more intensive circuits. Focuses such as "killer legs" and "killer arms" are being introduced. Most of us are working on incorporating 8-lb weights in to the exercises when possible. I really need to buy a new set. I have metal 5-lb weights and I'm deathly afraid that I will end up dropping a sharp metal edge on my person. Also, when they've been sitting in my car for 24-hours, they tend to be 30 degrees colder than the actual temperature outside. Makes for an interesting workout.

I've been doing spectacular on my eating thanks to my fellow bootcamp ladies and Chucky. At work we are watching each other like hawks. It also makes things easier when you aren't the only one making a lifestyle change instead of watching co-workers smother their toast with globs of butter or mayo all day. I come home and Chuck is working on a healthy dinner and I'll make us some salads... which he is actually eating! I'm so proud of him.

I'm avoiding the scale at this point so that I don't become discouraged if I haven't lost any weight. I know things are already fitting looser but I can also tell that I've developed a lot of muscle especially in my thighs.

Looking forward to next week.

Candy K.
Hustlin'

Day Two of Boot Camp: The Next Morning

9:36 AM - I got home last night and took a shower, had a bit of leftover spaghetti then hit the hay. Had a lot of problems going to sleep and then once I got to sleep, the achy muscles woke me up every time I turned over. It was awesome dripping with sarcasm. I took Tylenol before bed and again at 3:30 am. I'm not gonna lie, the aches and pains are the worst part.

The focus for last night: legs and shoulders. We really had a good workout. If this were an hour and a half session, I would have thrown-up. A lot of leg exercises, running and hurdles. In the oh-so-true words of Terra, "We didn't pay for nothin'."

Tonight's focus will be cardio and abs. My abs are so weak. I don't put any work in to them because out of all of the fat parts of my body, my stomach is the least of my worries. I always gain in my mid-section last and lose it first. This isn't to suggest I shouldn't exercise my stomach, I just have more pressing matters on my mind, like the fact that my right arm is a full inch larger around than my right.

All in all, things are going well. I feel great because I'm accomplishing more than I thought I could. Nicole walks up to me and goes, "I feel good. The only part that really hurts is from my shoulders to my knees." My sentiments exactly.

Candice K.
No weigh-in until the end of camp.

Day One of Boot Camp

8:21pm - Chuckles made me a nice dinner for my first day at boot camp; salad (so weird for him), spaghetti with sweet rosemary spaghetti sauce and low-carb noodles and breadsticks. It was tasty and I totally appreciate coming home to a warm, tasty dinner. As it was, I couldn't lift my arms very much. They were like jelly.

So, our first day. The theme was chest/back/arms. Going in to it, I wasn't sure what to expect. It is difficult to imagine how so many people of different sizes, fitness levels and age could all converge and work out at the same time.

We could instantly tell who were the veterans and who were the newbies. The vets had their mats rolled out against the wall and were sitting waiting for the session to begin. So we followed suit. After a quick intro, we were down to business with the warm-ups; a little jogging in place, jumping-jacks and other things to get the blood pumping. All the things that let me know I need a better sports bra.

Then we began doing exercises that focused on our arms. We broke in to groups and did a circuit of different exercises including push-up, tension band curls and pulls and kick-backs. We did each exercise for 30 seconds then rotated. On the third time around, we were DYING! We had a small water break and continued. The rest of the class we focused on standing and mat exercises mixed with some cardio. We were definitely feeling the burn.

Tomorrow, we hope to be outside to enjoy the slightly warmer weather and to get a little cardio in. Hopefully, it won't be raining too much.

Candice K.
Official Boot Camper

Today is the Day! Boot Camp!

I will be keeping a journal of our days at camp. Complete with the pre- and post-feelings of the day and the workouts. We are SO looking forward to this. I NEED this.

11:25 am - The girls and I are starting the Columbus Fitness Boot Camp today. We will be taking some before pictures during lunch. I am personally quite freaked out because Terra saw Desperate Housewives this weekend and they went to boot camp. I guess they had some sort of a drill sergeant... We have a personal trainer running this. I met her Tuesday. She's very nice, but she's there to push us so I hope I don't bring out the mean in her.

On the agenda for today: Chest/Back/Arms along with a timed mile run/walk/jog and counted push-ups. This will be fun b/c I totally have NO upper-body strength. I'm pretty sure my arms are fat attached directly to the bone... no muscle in there... just fat. Fat that jiggles whenever I wave, laugh or have a good idea. Doesn't take much.

I'm ready and equipped with my Tylenol Back and Body. Let's see how this goes.

Candice K.
251 lbs.
Ready to Rock and Roll... lots of rolls; belly rolls, crescent rolls... I must resist the crescent rolls.