So, how’s it going with everyone?
I, personally, am swamped.
Wedding stuff is going pretty well. I have a HUGE to-do list of everything single thing I need to do + due dates leading up until the day of the wedding. I only have 73 tasks left, and most of the big tasks (and vendors) have now been checked off. I’ve got the venue, photographer, day of coordinator, DJ, officiant (although he’s not locked down yet), and…I bought my dress! So far everything has come in right around our budget. A few items under, a few items over, but not by much. We created our registry through Pottery Barn, and are going to create one at Crate and Barrel as well. We’re not registering for much given that we already live together and have a house together. But there are a few things we’re missing (namely towels for more than two people and serving dishes for entertaining).
Basically wedding wise I’m pretty set from now through April.
Which is good because we close on our house on March 30! It actually overlaps our lease for our current apartment for a month. Which is good in terms of cleaning and painting. I’m sure we’ll spend most of early April doing that, and then move maybe mid-to late-April.
What does this have to do with living healthy and working out?
The marathon training was really not working with my hectic schedule unfortunately. I made it up to 20 miles (YES TWENTY AND IT WAS AWFUL AND SLOW LET ME TELL YOU), but for the next three weeks my schedule was packed with wedding+house things and I was never able to get in a real long run. I’m considering moving down to the half. Why, after I had already done twenty miles? Um, because twenty miles running is terrible and I’m so slow it took me a little over 5 hours to do, and the time limit for the full 26.2 on this course is 5.5 hours. Uhh…
Yeah.
So, that may happen. I’m a little dissapointed, but frankly had I known I was getting engaged and buying a house this year I wouldn’t have signed up for it. So there you go.
So what am I doing?
As part of this whole wedding process I’ve joined a couple forums with other brides-to-be to help figure out the details of things and get opinions. One topic called: “My Dress Doesn’t Fit” caught my eye. The problem was obvious, and several brides commiserated, but one response was really interesting. She responded that she had had the same issue with her dress when it came in. She had about 3 months to the wedding so she started working out hardcore at a bootcamp, and lost a little weight but ended up on a plateau–something I really relate to. She said the bootcamp instructors told her that she was never really going to see results unless she followed the bootcamp meal plan too. She started following that, lifted weights primarily and had some cardio thrown in and lost a bunch of weight and fit into her dress perfectly. She posted before and afters and she looked amazing! Not only did she lose a lot of weight, she also put on a fair amount of muscle and just looked so toned in her dress.
I have obviously read about weightlifting to lose weight vs. cardio, but never really considered it. When I lost weight the first time I was really cardio heavy, and didn’t really get into weights until the end, and even then it wasn’t a focus.
The other reason I hadn’t tried lifting weights is that actually you have to eat a LOT during the gain period. You need tons of protein and calories to build mass. And while I know it’s muscle and it’s good for you the combo of more calories + no cardio really freaked me out.
But after a little more research I’ve decided to go for it!
I’m on day 4 of Jamie Eason’s Live Fit program, and it’s actually going really well so far!
The first thing you notice is that while you eat a lot of food on the program it’s really clean eating. Lots of lean proteins, unlimited veggies, some whole carbs, and only good fats. When I try to lose weight through calorie restriction and running I’m usually trying to hit 1200-1500 calories, and trying to run 3-4 times a week 3 miles each. On this program I’m eating closer to 2000 calories (I tracked one day and ended up at 1940) with no cardio at the moment and 1 hour of weight lifting 4 days a week.
I honestly thought I would immediately gain 2-3 pounds–both because of the increased calories and the weight lifting–but instead I’ve lost a couple! Sure, the weight loss is not a ton, and hasn’t gone on long enough really, but it’s fascinating to realize I’m eating 500-700 calories over what I normally would when trying to lose weight and I’m not gaining.
The second thing I notice is that I’m never hungry. I have to eat waaaaaay too much food to ever be hungry. If anything I can’t eat as much as she wants me to. You’re supposed to eat 5 egg whites in the morning and 5 at night, but I just cannot. I’m eating 3 and 3 right now. You’re supposed to eat every 3 hours as well to keep your metabolism revved, and that helps keep hunger at bay as well.
I still will need to do some running for the next month or so as I still have the half, as well as a ten miler I signed up for 2 weeks later. But from here on out that’s the plan I’ll be on for the next 12 weeks. I’ll let you know how it goes!