I'M SCARED!

My heart just fluttered a bit when I looked at the time... less than one hour to go!

I am scared...

EEP!!

Welcome to the hardest workouts you'll ever have

It's approaching rapidly and I'm ready for it!! I have a cocktail party tonight - drinks and appys with friends - and then IT'S ON!!

Here is the welcome e-mail I received last night. I have X'd out the names & telephone numbers for privacy.

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It's Finally here and we are all ready for you!

YOUR TEAM CLASS TIME IS 5:30 AM, (ugh) so you should be here between 5:00 and 5:10 am (double ugh) to do your cardio warm up before the class starts.

This may not be the exact time that you wanted but hopefully it's close. If you can try to make this time work, it is a logistical nightmare to do the scheduling of all 6 teams and the least amount of changes that I have to make would be very much appreciated.

YOUR TRAINER IS [NAME] and her email is [e-mail] and her cell phone # is [phone #] please make sure you contact her if you can"t make your class.

The Mandatory classes are Monday, Wednesday, Fridays and Sundays. You will be assigned a Cardio Buddy for Tuesday and Thursday, hopefully this new support person works out to help you stay on track if not let your trainer know and a new arrangement will be made for you.

If you will be away, make sure your trainer knows to put together a plan for while you are away.

I have attached your teammates email addresses in the "To:" line for your contact between yourselves.

THE SEPTEMBER BIGGEST LOSER CLASS TIMES AND TRAINERS ARE AS FOLLOWS:

5:30 AM [TRAINER NAME]

6:30 AM [TRAINER NAME]

9:00 AM [TRAINER NAME]

4:30 PM [TRAINER NAME]

5:30 PM [TRAINER NAME]

You may substitute your class for any of the following times as long as you inform your trainer and please try to stay in your time and team for the 12 weeks but please use these other times so not to miss a class when your schedule does require changing.

The START DATE IS THIS SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 12TH, in case you didn't know!!!!

YOU CAN ATTEND ORIENTATION AND YOUR FIRST SESSION WITH YOUR TRAINER EITHER AT 10 AM till 12 NOON or 5 PM to 7 PM. Normally you attend either session on Sundays, but for this 1st one please reply back with which one you will be attending on the 11th so I can let your trainer know and be ready for you.

The First hour on Sunday, you will be orientated with Team, and Trainer, the Biggest Loser Handbook, you will receive your BL Shirt and be orientated on the level one Cardio options that start each workout here. Then as a group we will all be participating in the first workout. Please be ready to workout, sweats or comfy pants, and runners etc. We will be outside for these Sunday workouts so if you want to bring your "outdoor" shoes, feel free.

I have attached the first week of food and the shopping list for you to get prepared before Sunday to start the eating plan Monday September 13th

THE dreaded "Before" Photos, will be take an hour before and during and an hour after each session time and take 2-3 minutes. Please bring or wear your before outfit and try to wear the same clothing again in 12 weeks. Ladies please sports bra and shorts showing mid-section and upper thighs (Oh Good Lord, are you kidding me?) and guys shorts and no shirt will give you the best result for visual gratification as to how far you have come and how all your hard work paid off. The photographer will take good and private care of your photo's and will be back in 12 weeks to do them again. (WHAT! I have to wear short shorts and a sports bra for a PHOTOGRAPHER? Yikes!) Again, we do not use them, see them, put them on our website or photo albums they are for you and you only. They are not done in front of anyone else, and we really encourage you to step outside that comfort zone and do it as they will blow you away to show how much you changed. (Okay that doesn't sound SO bad. It will be uncomfortable though.)

Please reply to my email or I will call you to confirm. I want to make sure you are #1, ok with your session time for mon/wed and fri and which session time you will be attending on Sunday!

If you would like to bring a friend or spouse to Sunday, please feel free, we will try to rope them into the first workout though, so maybe give them a warning!!! (Oh yes, I am going to try to drag my boyfriend!! It'll give him a taste of what I'm in for these next 12 weeks!)

Thank you from all of us for being part of the coolest fitness program Nanaimo has to offer! We are looking forward to the transformations ahead of us and riding along this journey with you is going to be amazing!

I have met and spoke with each and every one of you and you are such an amazing group, I know the success will be off the charts. Please feel free to contact me throughout the program anytime for any reason to make your program better for you. I have the time to reply to an emails, questions and concerns you may have.

Welcome to the Biggest Loser SEPTEMBER 2010 and Fitness Edge!

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So, that's it I guess!! I've bought my new running shoes, a big container of vegan protein powder, I'm stocking up on healthy groceries this weekend. I have a little party tonight and that's the last I'll see of my dear friend alcohol for twelve weeks, and my even more dear friend, sleep.

I have actually put in a request to switch to the 4:30 pm group, simply because being at the gym at 5:00 am sounds HORRIFYING, I really don't know how healthy that would be for me. I suck at going to bed on time and I know sleep is very important for weight loss, stress management, and to keep me fresh for all my classes (as student AND teacher!) We'll see I guess!

Stopped Mid-Binge

I just had the most bizarre scenario.

I have been feeling snacky all day, and I've been unable to curb it. I had been sticking to my planned menu, but when I started feeling snacky I had some extra cucumber, baby carrots, snap peas... It didn't help.

I ended up remembering that I had a 1/2 bag of popcorn leftover from the movies last night. (Now remember: Movie popcorn w/no butter is 3x more points/calories than regular air-popped!) I thought "I'll have one handful, it's salty and that might fix my snacking feeling"

One, two, three handfuls later I was still chowing down. I almost felt like I couldn't actually stop if I tried! I haven't felt like that in a LONG time. Looooong time.

I ended up dropping the bag of popcorn in the sink and turning the tap on it. I know that sounds extreme, but if I didn't do that I know I would have devoured the whole bag.

Now I'm cooking the nice healthy dinner I had planned, and I don't think I did too much damage. I have to write it down, and my trainer won't be pleased, BUT I feel kinda proud of myself for coming to my senses mid-binge instead of feeling guilty post-binge.

:)

Goodbye Beer

Okay so... I've officially signed my flab away.

I spent the greater part of the day pining over the fact that:

a) I won't be able to drink alcohol during warm summer months;

b) I have to drag my sorry arse out of bed at 5 am 3x per week;

c) No more extravagant veggie feasts that I've been cooking and enjoying lately!

I pull up to the gym. I walk in and meet the manager. We sit down in her office, where all the walls are plastered with photographs of competitive bodybuilders complete with spray tans and zillion-pack abs. I feel like I'm possibly the most gelatinous person to ever set foot in that office.

For the sake of full disclosure, I must admit I am typing this blog while eating a bowl of butterscotch swirl soy ice-cream.

We talked about my diet, and she was very vocally against vegetarianism (but also uneducated about the subject so it's not any realistic vote against it). She kept saying "WHY?" "But, Whyyyyy?" haha. She asked if I was one of those 'cute little lambs' kind of people. I said "Uhh... If you mean do I do it for ethical reasons, then yes, I am one of those cute little lamb people."

Hehehe. Whatever, I don't mind that she was ignorant about the subject. She's just concerned I won't meet the protein requirements for such an intense program, but I will. It's not hard to consume enough protein as a vegetarian, even when working out. A 1/2 block of tofu has 26 grams of protein. 1/4 cup of seitan has 22 grams. I veggie burger has 15 grams. It won't be hard.

We did a weigh, measure, and body fat analysis. We talked about my expectations, which apparently were quite low. I said I'd be happy losing 30 lbs in 12 weeks... her reply was "Pfffft! You'll lose at LEAST 30. I'd say 50 or 60 - Eaaaasy."

WHAT? REALLY?

I actually have a lot less weight to lose than I initially thought. She figures I'd be fit at around 170 lbs, which I agree with. (I'm kinda tall, and my frame isn't small). Apparently I only have abut 65 lbs of actual fat to lose, the rest is either lean mass or water. Awesome.

I will make another post with the actual statistics in it, and then update the progress from there.

Tomorrow is our first day. We meet at 5:00 pm. I'm supposed to show up in something semi-unflattering for "before" photos. I meet my team members, my trainer, go over the meal plan, and do our first work out! I'm scared, since her encouragement for the workout was "hopefully you don't puke!"

Yeah. Hopefully...

Be Afraid... Be Very Afraid!

Ahhhhhh! Ack!
I'm SO excited. EEE!

Okay, This was entirely spur of the moment, but I'm doing it and I'm SO excited!

I was out for my evening walk and I saw a poster for "Biggest Loser Nanaimo." I freaked and whipped out my cell phone and called the gym, only to find out that the registration date had already passed.

I ended up pleading with the manager and he said that it starts SUNDAY... so if I can fill out all the paperwork and initial weigh-in stuff before Sunday, I'm allowed in!!

I practically ran home and figured out my funds and schedule, and it totally works. I will have to be a bit frugal this summer, butttt I figure it's worth it. Plus I won't have time to spend my money, I'll be working out too much! haha

The Program:

There are 40 participants. We're broken into teams, with trainers, just like on the show. We have team training sessions 3x per week, and then 2x per week we are with an assigned partner. Each Sunday we meet at the gym and do an official WI!!

There is a diet plan laid out (I told her I'm vegetarian-nearing-vegan and she said we'll work with that) and our personal trainers will be monitoring our food logs, etc.

It's pretty expensive but I'm really excited about it. I checked the website and it's actually "Biggest Loser" brand name, not just a knock off... I assume the gym and trainers had to actually learn the BL program to be able to use it's name.

Aaaackkkk

The prize (which really, I'm just doing it for the weight loss, the prize would be sweet though) is a 1 year membership at the gym, 1 year of weekly personal trainer sessions, and a cash prize.

I. Can't. Wait.
:D