The weeks are flying by and we’re smack-dab in the middle of October already. I can’t believe it! It seems like summer was only a week ago. Today’s weather tells me otherwise, though – the rains have started and it’s windy and pouring outside. I love this type of weather, although it take a bit of extra motivation to go outside and get to the gym. (I don’t know how those of you who live where it snows do it!).
This is going to be a bit of a mish-mosh post. I have a couple of different topics to cover, so here goes…
On Friday I received my much-awaited Biggest Loser game for the Wii. I was too wiped out on Friday to try it out, but it’s one of the first things I did on Saturday.
After setting up the user profile (I chose Ali as my BL contestant), this was one of the first screens I came to. It allows you to start the fitness program they’ve designed for you, based on your goals. My goal was to “lose a lot of weight,” but they have different settings like toning up, losing a small amount of weight, etc. I chose to do the fitness program, and I chose Jillian as my trainer (for now) as well as the beginner setting. Saturday was upper body day, and the workout was fairly intense – 3 sets of boxing moves (cardio), 3 sets of plank and push-ups (on the knees, rather than “real” push-ups), and 3 sets of something else that I’m forgetting (old age is bad, I’m telling ya). I really liked that each exercise went straight into the next one, with only 30 seconds in between. It allowed me to get my heart rate up and according to my BodyBugg, it helped me burn 262 calories in about 30 minutes.
After the main workout, I decided to check out some of the other offerings.
It weighed me, of course. This was actually done first, and my next weigh-in (which I’m assuming will be in one week, next Saturday, should prove interesting).
In the Health & Lifestyle section, they have 1000s of recipes to choose from. I am always looking for interesting breakfast options, and saw this recipe for lemon mini muffins. While it’s cool that they offer this, I wish there was some way to email yourself the recipe, because copying the info down from the t.v. screen seems sort of clunky. Still, I do think it’s nice that they have this as part of the game. It goes with the idea that weight loss really is a lifestyle change, and not just about diet or just about exercise, but as a combination of the two.
One “fun” aspect of this “just do it” game is the challenge section. You can do the different challenges (just like the BL contestants). I did one where I had to get my Mii (Ali) across a tightrope. The Mii was on top of the tightrope, clutching it with her arms in front of her and her legs behind her (kind of on all-fours, but suspended from the air). I was wondering what sort of movement they’d have me to do get her across, and then a little pop-up window came on the screen with Jillian showing that I should run in place, raising my knees and pumping my arms. The faster I moved, the faster my Mii made it across the tightrope. It was a fun way to get me to run in place for two minutes. The next part of the challenge was to help my Mii release some balloons. She was supposed to nail a board into a basket (or something like that), and to mimic this, they had me doing overhead ax chops, which actually got my heart rate up. Both parts of the challenge were really fun.
Overall, I think I’m going to like this game a lot, and although it’s not “fun” like the Wii Fit Plus, it does get the job done. Just like on the show, the trainers on the game are really down to business. Your motivation comes from them telling you you’re doing well or that you need to step it up. I think this would be a great compliment to anyone’s normal workout, especially if they didn’t have the money (or the time) to hire a personal trainer, because many of the moves are similar to ones that I’m doing with Jimmy in the gym.
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I went to two different WW meetings over the weekend (go me!), and while both of them were OK, neither of them really knocked my socks off. The leaders were both sweet, and the groups were fine, but nothing that made me say to myself, “this is the meeting you belong at.” Ever since I decided to do personal training 3 times a week and I realized I’d have to change my Thursday meeting, I’ve been really debating about whether or not I even need to go to a meeting at all anymore.
Seeing Jimmy that often provides me a ton of motivation and keeps me very accountable. He always asks me how my food is going, and I am always honest with him, even when he gives me a hard time about eating one of my mom’s enchiladas. (He was so upset with me for eating this, even when I told him she made it in a much lower calorie way, he just kept saying, “that’s not how you get to goal, Bella!” And boy, did he take it out on me with my workout that night!). I’m always going to be honest with him, because it seems silly not to. After all, he’s helping me with my goal, but if he wants it more than I do, it won’t work. So there’s really no point in not being honest. Plus, I know that my food can’t be perfect all the time, and as long as I factor the points (calories) in, I’ll stay on target.
So, I’ve decided to end my WW Monthly Pass and start doing WW Online instead. It will save me $20/month, and I’ll still have access to all the tools I use everyday. Plus, I feel that between this blog, personal training with Jimmy, and the support I get from my friends, family, and you bloggers, I’ll be just fine.
Since I can now weigh myself any day I’d like, I’m going to begin with Weigh-In Wednesdays. It feels like the perfect day – middle of the week, not near the weekend, and after a night off from personal training. When I was weighing myself everyday (just to see trends), I noticed that my weight went up a bit each morning after I had had a personal training session the night before. I’m not sure if this is extra water weight, or what. Since I don’t go to the gym on Tuesdays, Wednesday morning is the perfect weigh-in day.
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With my decision about not attending WW meetings, it means that now I have to look for motivation and accountability within myself. I don’t think this will be hard to do, because once I have a goal, I’m like a dog with a bone. Although, once in a while it’s difficult to get myself “amped up” to keep up the pace I’ve set for myself. And that’s when I look to others (like you) to support me.
How do you stay motivated?
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