45 Strong Challenge: Day 35

 This new phase 4 is really tough! Wow. I got up for the morning gym class but it sapped energy today rather than giving me extra. Some days are like that so I took it easy once I got home. The end of the challenge is in sight, but then as another gym member asked me, then what? She laughed and said I should just keep putting stickers on the wall once we complete the big sticker chart! 

I did:

• 28 minutes of walking and 42 minutes at F45 for a total of 70 active minutes. Today was a new strength workout called Pegasus which involved adding bodyweight reps after the weights.
• drank 3 litres of water
• did my dental care
• 15 minutes of Spanish on Duolingo. I've been less motivated in Spanish lately after that few weeks in the tournament! But I'm still doing it.

45 Strong Challenge: Day 34

 Really tired today! My friend asked if I wanted to go on a road trip, so I did since it was nice to get out of the house. But I did make sure to schedule time for a walk so I wouldn't lose my streak!

I did:

• 61 minutes of walking.
• drank 3 litres of water
• did my dental care
• 15 minutes of Spanish on Duolingo. 

45 Strong Challenge: Day 33

 Still tired today even though I managed to go to sleep a little early. Although I realized why yesterday's strength workout was tougher. I forget sometimes that where you are in your cycle (if you have one) can really take a toll! I guess that's why it was harder to lift!

So I figured I'd start off today with some carbs because I really need the energy. Breakfast was absolutely delicious- I had a serving of Kodiak chocolate protein pancake mix and I added cinnamon and 1 tbsp ricotta to punch up the protein a bit. Then I cooked it until crisp in my waffle iron (they really don't need that tbsp of oil to be waffles!) and topped with a sliced banana and 1 tbsp maple syrup. It's still got protein, but it was just what I needed to get started today.

It's going to be a busy day, and I've got to go to the evening gym class because of my work schedule which I don't love. I'm betting I'll be pretty burnt out by the end of the day. At least tomorrow is my active recovery day!

Sooo close to the end of the challenge. I can make it! Then what? I'm not sure. I'll still have the unlimited membership for now. I still want to keep working out- most of the time it feels good afterwards. The times it doesn't? Well that's what willpower is for.

Well, definitely needed the willpower today. I'm so tired! The workout was really tough. You know when the trainers are being nice that it's a hard one!

I did:

• 94 minutes of walking and 40 minutes at F45 for a total of 134 active minutes. Today was a hybrid workout called Apex. I think Apex was around before but I'm not sure I ever did this class.
• drank 3 litres of water
• did my dental care
• 15 minutes of Spanish on Duolingo. 

45 Strong Challenge: Day 32

 The burnout's getting real... but in less than two weeks I'll be finished this challenge! I know the pride that I feel will be worth the effort. I actually think I like going to the gym a lot, but once 45 Strong is over, I think I'll let myself take a break on those days where I'm really tired. I don't have to go to the gym 6 days a week! I mean- I still have my unlimited membership for at least another month now to finish off this challenge and since it's paid for I'll want to use it. Just maybe not *quite* this much!

I can't deny there have been visible changes in my body, though. I wish I had done a body composition analysis before starting the challenge so I could have seen what 45 days of intense exercise can do, but not knowing the exact numbers doesn't take away from actual results. I've still been working very hard and I'm proud of what I have accomplished even if I don't know exactly how much it is.

Today's F45 is another new program- they're all new this week since it's now Phase Four. I have to be honest I don't really understand how all that works or what is different but hey that's why I pay them the big bucks to design my workout plan, right? I just show up and do what I'm told! I know the plan sticks to the general idea of which days are cardio and which days are weight training and which are hybrid, but other than that, I don't know what the changes are based on. So I do know that today is Gemini which is your choice of working upper or lower body for strength training but I'm not sure how that differs from last phase's Two Fold workout, which I really liked.

I did:

• 52 minutes of walking and 38 minutes at F45 for a total of 90 active minutes. Today was a new strength training workout called Gemini. 
• drank 3 litres of water
• did my dental care
• 17 minutes of Spanish on Duolingo. 

45 Strong Challenge: Day 31

 Still not sleeping well, so things are getting hard again. Or more so, I suppose! Everything seems harder when you're tired and stressed.

Have to admit I'm really not looking forward to today, especially since it's pouring rain but also windy so an umbrella won't be very useful. I've got to walk both ways to the gym so hopefully it won't be too bad. It's cold out, too- supposed to turn to snow again tonight! Spring really has been such a tease this year so far.

OK, I don't like Wednesdays lol. That workout made me feel like it was my first ever. Totally blown out exhausted afterwards. But, it's on the program for now, so I'm doing it.

I did:

• 25 minutes of walking and 40 minutes at F45 for a total of 65 active minutes. Today was a new HIIT cardio workout called Triple Double. It was awful and I'm dying lol.
• drank 3 litres of water
• did my dental care; in fact I also went to the dentist today for a cleaning!
• 15 minutes of Spanish on Duolingo. Feeling a little Spanish-ed out!

45 Strong Challenge Day 30

 Yup, still tired this morning... but when I get through today, I'll be 2/3 of the way through the challenge! It's no time to give up!

Starting to get bored of my high protein breakfasts though. I'll have to start looking around to find something new. The problem is when I'm tired I've got less energy to experiment and play with my food- I just want something quick and easy. And normally I love eggs but I just wasn't feeling eggs. But- tired wins. I had eggs cooked my usual way over two slices of carved ham leftover from thanksgiving, with a slice of black pepper cheese melted on top. Hopefully that will give me a boost for my workout today!

The new workout format is pretty neat. It's a full body strength workout divided into two pods- one upper body and one lower body. Longer work times and longer rest times, so we were encouraged to push for higher weights. I did my best!! The person sharing my station commented about me choosing bigger weights and I told her that the trainers tried to get me to increase weight each set so I always tried, and so she tried too! I got to be a bad/good influence lol!

Still trying to push protein today and looks like I'll be up to 142 grams which is great. Gotta feed that muscle!

I did:

• 52 minutes of walking and 47 minutes at F45 for a total of 99 active minutes. Today was a new strength training workout called Tokyo Disco. 
• drank 3 litres of water
• did my dental care
• 16 minutes of Spanish on Duolingo. 

Week 73 Weigh In & 45 Strong Challenge Day 29

You know, it's been strange. I've been hungry lately, but it doesn't feel worrisome or like the medication isn't working. It feels like maybe all this physical activity has kickstarted my metabolism into working the way it should again. I mean maybe this trend won't last- I'm still only down 10lbs in the last 20 weeks, so it's nothing quick to say the least. But I at least have this positive feeling that maybe my body is going to work properly again. We'll see how it goes!

Also, I had no idea that sea turtles weighed so much! I guess they are very large!

So I've generally had my new calorie goal around 1800 lately to compensate for the additional exercise I've been doing. I could eat less, but realistically the goal when losing weight is to eat as much as you can and still lose, so that your metabolism doesn't slow to accommodate the small portions. So if I can lose a pound or two a week eating 1800ish calories, I feel like I'm on the right track. That's quite a bit more than I was eating before I started F45 and I was mostly sitting stagnant. I've definitely gained a lot of muscle too, and muscle burns more fat as long as you keep moving and consume enough protein for muscle growth! I've just got to keep being creative and finding more snacks to eat so I don't get bored with my food.

I did:

• 59 minutes of walking and 39 minutes at F45 for a total of 98 active minutes. Today was a new hybrid workout style called Quarterbacks. It was pretty good actually!
• drank 3 litres of water
• did my dental care
• 16 minutes of Spanish on Duolingo. 

OZ Year 1 loss: 68lbs (click here to see the week-by-week tracker!) 

OZ Week 53 gain: 1.4 lbs continuing dose at 0.75mg

OZ Week 55 gain: 1.6 lbs

OZ Week 56 loss: 0.6 lbs

OZ Week 57 loss: 2.0 lbs

OZ Week 58 loss: 2.4 lbs

OZ Week 61 gain: 5.4 lbs

OZ Week 62 loss: 1.4 lbs

OZ Week 63 loss: 3.0 lbs

OZ Week 64 loss: 1.0 lb

OZ Week 65 loss: 0.4 lbs

OZ Week 66 loss: 1.8 lbs

OZ Week 67 loss: 0 lbs

OZ Week 68 loss: 1.4 lbs

OZ Week 69 gain: 0.2 lbs

OZ Week 70 gain: 2.2 lbs

OZ Week 71 loss: 2.4 lbs

OZ Week 72 loss: 2.2 lbs

OZ Week 73 loss: 2.2 lbs

Total loss on Ozempic so far: 78 lbs