Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Day 30 July 22 30 in 30 The END ???or the beginning?

WOW, can you believe it? 30 days has flown by and here we are at the end of the ride. My total inch loss was 14.5 inches overall, and my weight loss was 8 pounds. I know there were 50% of my time was traveling for work and working out and eating in or around airports is a challenge...99% of the time I stayed ED friendly, if anything my downfall was not being able to eat consistently during the day. As crazy as that sounds keeping the fuel constant as your body handles the workouts is a big factor in a program like this.

In my perfect world, here is what would have taken place...Dax I hope you read this..I would have taken a 32 day vacation, and flown to London, where I would have rented a flat or something...I would have joined a group of 30 in 30 challengers and we would as a group worked out, eaten, and been in a controlled envirnment. Either we cooked or better yet someone cooked for us and then I imagine all of us would have seen even greater results than we did.

Congratulations to each of you for your personal success, maybe the biggest success is that you started this journey and here we all are right up to the end. Not everyone had the same results but I do believe we all learned a lot about ourselves along the way.

Since I have not moved to my perfect world yet, not quite sure when that will happen, but it is one of my goals in life, I am very happy with my results. Simply because I weigh 8 pounds less than I did 30 days ago and I am physically stronger. My biggest challenge now will be to continue for the remainder of August in an ED friendly envirnment and continue to work out at least once a day and ideally same as LGNC group twice a day.

Due to the type of work I do getting that third work out in often times meant having to do it just before eating and then another just after. Sometimes it was either fall asleep or workout and I always chose sleep. When faces with those choices, I tried to plan the day and pick the two workouts that best hit all body parts... I think the best overall workout for a tight schedule and out of hotel rooms is the Power Circuit...sometimes I added a couple of items from other workouts. I chose this one because it does not require any additional equipment other than you and your ability to count.

It's 5 am here in So CA, I am sitting in my hotel room, and need to fit in my morning workout before I have to shower and leave for my day's appointments. I am working with a team of people and not completely on my own, this week. Meals are catered in during the day, and I am with senior management people for dinner every night this week.

Last night was out for Mexican Food, and my choices were slim, orders carnitas ( that would be pulled pork), a bit of rice, and corn tortilla and fresh pico de gallo( chopped tomato, onion, cilantro) I drank nothing but water...The margaritas were quite the temptation, but after no alcohol for the past 45 days not sure what would have happened.

Lunch was salad and cold cuts no bread...Breakfast was eggs and fruit...No snacks available during the day as I was in a room with clients all day. This entire week wil be more of the same.

Thank you to all for the support and the encouragement to succeed. I have enjoyed everyone's story along the way..

Warmest regards, Margot

PS go check out this site: Go to Google Maps and search for DAX MOY there is a bunch of great information. If I could imbed the link and make it work I would have done that.

Saturday, July 18, 2009

July 18th Day 27 30 in 30 The Journey so far.

As I typed the title to this post I have a hard time believing that day 27 of the 30 day challenge has arrived. There have been many little benchmarks along the way and it is amazing to me how a random group of people from around the world have been able to form a tiny community with a shared goal. We are male, and female, we are all body types, we are young, and not so young. Some started out more fit than others, some of us have participated in other programs before, while some of the team were complete newbies. We even had a few that were chosen and decided to drop out before the fun really started. The common denominator is that we all took a chance that DAX MOY had a plan and we all wanted to see what would happen if we implemented his plan.

Here in beautiful Southern California, I woke up this Saturday to an absolute gorgeous beach day....Sun is shining, birds are chirping, and I thought Oh Lordy what is my first workout supposed to be?... I am sort of laughing to myself...because normally I would think, hmmmm what do I want to eat this morning. I feel kind of thick and not exactly bloated but not light..so I am imagining a 5 pound weight gain. Went to the scales to face the music and wouldn't you know it I dropped 2 pounds... there is absolutely no rhyme or reason that I can think of to attribute this loss. Unless of course it is a constant regime of sensible eating and excercise. That I suppose would be the time honored method of weight reduction.

Confidentially, I have no idea any more if today is a low carb day, a high carb day, or a fast day...My work schedule and sense of time is completely out of synch.. I can honestly say my major goal is just to stay ED friendly and get as many of the workouts in each day as my brain and body can handle.

There are only a couple of the workouts that Dax has introduced where I am physically unable to complete as demonstrated...They usually stem from lack of core strength. This is particularly frustrating to me as in an earlier version of myself...I spent 12 years as a synchronized swimmer and even taught beginning gymnastics to little ones. There was a time that I actually had a midriff that was a hard as a washboard. I digress in my walk down memory lane.

The point of this long winded post...Dax had a plan, and he implemented his plan with a randon ragtag bunch of volunteers. We had to take responsibility for our plan each day to implement his program. On Tuesday we will all be reporting our success....will any of us lose 30 pounds in 30 days, honestly I do not know, I too will have to wait and see...Personally I am not sure I really care...that is not to sound harsh, but in a 30 day timeframe to handle 3 different workouts a day, stay true to an ED friendly diet and change your body shape completely I think is pretty amazing.

The 30 in 30 group of people has shown courage, determination, and a willingness to make changes in their lives.

I am writing this post today because I travel tomorrow and will be out of town the remainder of the week. I just do not know how much time I will have to blog my thoughts. I will do my best to stay current, but I just do not know what the week has in store for me.

To anyone out there wanting to make a change regarding your weight, and fitness level, I wholeheartedly reccommend that you look at any of the programs DAX MOY puts together...they work. Remember that nothing in life worth having or doing is going to be easy, you have to work hard to get what you want.

Warmest regards for everyone's success.

Thursday, July 16, 2009

Tuesday and Wed & Thursday am...30 in 30 day 23,24,25

Fairly uneventful day.. up early for 7 am conference call had two more of those and a sales presentation did a workout and packed and went to airport early afternoon, traveled to Denver CO and did not get to hotel until 8 had dinner...with an associate and then crashed.

Workouts for the day were minimal as I am just beat...not sleeping well and sick to my stomach a lot...not sure why but it takes a lot of energy from me. I have been having to take an over the counter med to settle my insides....but by the time I get to that point I have been visiting the Loo a lot. that has a nice ring to it... " LOO a LOT"

I am in the mile high city and the altititude does seem to impact me a bit.

food for the day..

B oatmeal and banana
L seared ahi and avocado and tomatoe
D Filet and salad

Poor plannning I packed my snack but operative word packed and couldnot get to it on the plane. So I just drank water. I do drink all my water each and every day.

It is quite early here on Wed morning... I will post later what my day turned out to be. I do feel like I am letting Dax down this last week.... and this plays heavily on my mind. Making adjustments and modifications are part of my learning curve as well. Understanding what I can do mentally as well as physically is a big part of this process. My friends and co workers have all been very supportive, and I am greatful to them.

With that I will do a morning PC,( I did 80 on Monday so I will shoot for 85 today) as I have no other equipment with me...I will then pack and prep for today's appt and then fly home tonight. Quick turnaround trip but it does mean that getting a mid day workout may be tough.. Try to get meltdown done tonight. tomorrow another weigh and measurement day...Who know what will be.

WEDNESDAY UPDATE

Up at 5 am worked on computer prepping for day's sales presentation...did a quick morning stretch and hotel lost hot water so had a cold shower, had a small bit of scambled eggs and 3 bites of fruit...then downstairs to meet a co worker and off to client site...

We set up and did the presentation from 9 to 2... had a bite to eat... Cobb Salad and then taxi to airport where I sat for two hours working...and then 2.5 hr flight home... Got home about 8:30 pm ....had a bite to eat and then bed..I was beat...

Up again at 5 am...to prep for today's 3 presentations and currently catching you all up on my happenings...

I did the new workout that Dax gave us yesterday afternoon, it is a challenge in and of itself...some of you wanted to be chosen for the 30 in 30...I think now one of my favorite sayings would apply, "BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR:IT JUST MAY HAPPEN) I am wonding why I ever decided to do this...Oh yeah I know, just to see if I could. Seriously,it's been a couple of hours since i did his latest excercise movement and my arms are still talking back.
I can't give out the detail, but I will say that the movements look like they are sooooo simple, but in reality they are really hard. Your core is tested to the max....Unfortunately my core is in bad shape, working to improve that part of my body along with weight loss and better health.

I almost forgot...today was weigh and measurements...Not a lot of change...6.5 pounds and 13.5 inches...overall only change is 1/2 pound more lost since Monday.

That's it for now.... I will finish up later this evening with the rest of the story..

I attribute my lack of loss to not staying on a constant eating program...While I am staying ED friendly, I am not eating as often as I should. In this shortened time table 30 days I can only figure that is the reason I have not lost more.. My schedule has really changed in such a short time, and I thought for sure I would not be traveling quite so much...Oh well it is what it is.

Monday, July 13, 2009

Week # 3 30 in 30 aka Good News Bad News

Last week was far more challenging than I ever imagined. I was sent to our Corporate Offices because I have been the Sales Engineer for this large account. in two weeks we have a week long onsite program with this account and last week the team going on site worked to put the entire program together. While I will not be doing the actual training, I am the conduit between Sales and Training... anyway...it was a successful week but at a cost to me personally.

Good news each day...I did my morning workouts...Bad news never got a middle of the day workout done. Good news Each day I stopped at the grocery store and brought in to the office a healthy lunch...as none are available at the office.
Each day started at 7:30 in the morning and we usually got out of the office by 7 or 7:30 each night...Bad News on 3 of the days I ate ED friendly dinner and got home by 8:30 and fell into bed...NO evening workout..

To add to the weeks degree of difficulty, I was reassigned to a different sales team, which translates to a new boss and while technically the job is the same thing, the level of complexity is way higher.. some would think this is a feather in my cap, I however, was very happy doing what I do, and staying out of the limelight. I am now in very high profile accounts and that add to the stress. On top of that for three nights I awoke at 2 am and could not sleep for 2 to 3 hrs thinking about the ramifications of this change, so my rest was seriously affected.

Thusday I started out the day with every intention of going with the Fast... I got to about 1 pm and found that I could not focus on the data entry that had to be done and when I got up I was light headed...Bad News did not plan on eating and did not have anything handy...so one of the team members handed me a roast beef sandwich and I ate it... felt so much better when there was food in my stomach... Long story short....I did not handle that experience very well.

So let's fast forward to Friday Sat and Sunday....Friday I worked until 2:30 drove to airport made my flight by skin of my teeth, got home around 8:30 PM got two workouts done and stayed ED Friendly, Sat same thing but slept most of the day.....I was really beat. Sunday I have misplaced my folder with all my workouts printed....and still cannot find them so did the workouts that I remembered...spend the majority of the day after buying groceries sitting out in the sun reading a book.

It is now Monday July 13 the start of week # 4... I weighed in this morning and my weight "Big Surprise" did not change...I am down 6 pounds but my measurements were also the same...a total of 14 inches...I did try on clothes that I was able to wear a few years ago when I weighed less than I do now, but the measurements were different and the great news is they all fit.

Summary of Workouts:

I am up to 70 in PC takes me longer than 20 min but that's OK, I still can only get up to level 5 on Pyramid,within the 20 minute time constraints, I am able to complete two full sets of DB without crying, and all this is still using 10 pound weights. I still have problems with Russian Twists, I CAN DO LEGOVERs big yahoo..., and lastly my situps are getting better, more movement from crunch position to more sit up position...not yet perfect but better. As for Spiderman well as far as I am concerned a couple of those goes a long way..I can do them but for some reason i just hate them, I guess cause I feel like a klutz...not very graceful if you know what I mean.

My goal for this week is to Fast today...so far so good, but I have only been awake for an hour...it's 7:am. Complete three workouts, and finish the last week strong.

This 30 day challenge is not for the faint of heart, and it takes a great deal of planning to be successful. I think that there are many factors that come into play per individual that participates. Age, shape, level of fitness at the start and of course many others....Mostly it is digging deep inside yourself to pull the desire to accomplish something that ordinarily most people would just blow off after a couple of days.. Congratulations to everyone that is still hanging in after 3 weeks. That is a statment in and of itself as your character and desire to do something special. No matter each persons individual accomplishment, I hope that we have given Dax the information for his trial. I will be interested to know what his goal for this 30 day trial is and how he measures it's success.

Good luck all with Week # 4.
Margot

Be sure to Check out Dax Moy Personal Trainer.
www.mylondonpersonaltrainer.com

Monday, July 6, 2009

Day 15 & 16 30 in 30

Yesterday was a bit weird...in that I slept till 9 am and had a late breakfast after I did morning workout..had a ton of things to do to get ready to leave for airport at 2:15 in the afternoon. I ate a smoothy before I left. Arrived at destination and hotel around 7:30....had a salad for dinner with some chicken and did my last workout. Not much time to blog, I chose to go to bed instead of stay on the computer.

Today is Monday Day 16...Do not have a scale here at the hotel but I did weigh in yesterday and I am a 1lb lighter..So that would be 6lbs for two weeks.. I was able to measure and I have lost another 2 inches overall, which brings me up to 12 total. All in all I am a happy camper... My clothes are certainly looser, and I am inching down to size 10s. Not too sure about the weight loss, but am certainly more toned...

Workouts this week are going to be a challenge..as i start work at 8 am and will be in our corporate offices until around 6 or later for the next three days.

Food is not so much a problem...I have a store right near me and this morning I bought packaged salad, an avocado, a tomatoe and made my lunch in the break room. The rest of the team ordered Thai Food..however since I am not a big fan and who knows what the ingredients are, I politely declined... Of course they were curious as to why I was eating the way I was, it could be a result of my bringing out out my own vingear, olive oil, and seasonings that I have in a zip lock bag in my purse. ( yes BIG PURSE).

Anyway...it is interesting when I explain the basics of the ED diet, how everyone is agast at no cafffein, sugar, sodas etc... Ironically I don't miss that stuff.. After a year and a 1//2 of staying pretty true to ED eating, it's just no big deal.

Tonight I went to an Italian Restaurant next door to the hotel.. Those in the States will know Olive Garden Restaurants,..I had a grilled piece of Salmon and steamed veggies... It is pretty easy to order from menus I just asked that they not use any seasonings, just plain jane for me.. I will admit Spagetti and Meatballs were tempting, but this is such a short two weeks left, why mess with success?

I believe I stayed pretty well on the wave, except for eating every three hours....

The team brought in bags of snacks and absolutely nothing ED friendly... I had my cashew and pistacios...I even had a bag of carrots and snap peas...but no real time to eat it.

In closing, workouts are fine...sore as the dickens after DB matrix, all other workouts are OK... Russian Twist is a killer to my lower back, but I am using a bent knee. Food is good and I will be anxious to see weight and measurements in another 3 days..

Have a great Tuesday all.

Friday, July 3, 2009

July 3rd Day 12 30 in 30

Another great day...Slept in till 7 am almost unheard of in my world..that was a treat. I did my Dumbell Matrix this morning completed 2 sets using 10 pound weights. I maybe could have done three, but as the day wore on I am really glad I left it at two. By mid afternoon my neck and shoulders were on fire.

I think I was supposed to start another wave today, but I just had to have some oatmeal and bluberries for breakfast...then I did my workout. Did some domestic goddess stuff around the house then had soup for lunch...Spent the afternoon out running a ton of errands that I suppose I should have run during the week, but I was a bum at home this past week.

I also made some homeade Gluten Free Bread, it was done by the time I got home and I had to slice off a bit to taste, It wasn't horrible, but I did not want to devour the entire loaf ( something I would have done with regular bread ) anyway as a replacement toasted or use some avocado and tomato for a sandwich it's edible. Next time I think I will throw in some rosemary for added flavor.

The soup I made yesterday is full of veggies and chicken, tastes great and is completely ED Friendly.

Dinner was big salad and grilled salmon. Again very ED friendly but not what I consider comfort food.

I just finished another workout PC x 60. After Dumbell this morning my arms really feel the squeeze. All good...

That's about all for today..Have a great rest of the weekend.

Be sure to Check out Dax Moy Personal Trainer.
www.mylondonpersonaltrainer.com

Thursday, July 2, 2009

July 2 Day 11 30 in 30

What a great day...Yes I got to eat the type of food I love..Remember when I said I can't wait to get my oatmeal and blueberries? Well this morning I got up measured and weighed and posted those items early...then went to make some breakfast and wouldn't you know it I did not have any....I also ran out of my gluten free waffle mix. So I ate a hardboiled egg and did my morning workout..

Pyramid I managed to finish layer 5. Cannot seem to get down the other side in the time allotted.

I went shopping for my waffle mix and had myself a great lunch. Then because I could I fixed myself a smoothie for afternoon snack, and could not eat it all now I have half for dessert.

I did my meltdowns and my density was greatly improved except for those pesky spidermen. Most likely a result of power from my smoothie.

Then we went out to dinner for Sushi...OH how I love my sushi... I am in heaven... home again to blog and to finish my third workout. All in all a great day..I am rested and relaxed and a tiny bit sore... the third excercise on the pyramid really make my arms scream, but since that is a trouble spot for me I endure with a smile.

My clothes are looser...that would be due to my 11 day total of 5 pounds gone and 10 inches overall.

We got our new workout schedule for Friday thru next Thursday, true to form Dax is going to make sure we "feel the love" The Dumbell Matrix is a real gem, I remember from last year when it was a part of our LGNC. This addition will continue to mix up the type of workout we get and the different muscles we are working out each day.

On that note I wish you all a great Friday...here in the states we are preparing for our big 4th of July celebration, otherwise known as Independence Day...Yes that would be our Independence from our "Friends across the Pond".

Be sure to Check out Dax Moy Personal Trainer.
www.mylondonpersonaltrainer.com