The Long Hard Journey

Well it has been a few weeks now of intense training and I can already feel the difference! I started the Les Mills RPM class 2 times a week and now have added Les Mills BodyPump twice a week and Friday is my first day of BodyCombat! I have really stepped it up a notch and can feel my muscles hating me for it!! I still am incorporating my yoga routine everyday for 30 minutes and this is has become my saving grace when my muscles are so sore I have to literally fall onto the toilet to sit! To add a little variety to my routine, I have been out running in good old Etna and Micah and I have been jogging and skiing on snowmobile trails as well.

Below is a quick video of the RPM class




I also hired a trainer for a session, Scott at USA, and worked with him last week which was great since he has done the Trek before, he knew just how to train me to get ready. I had him also address a growing problem I have run into: my weight loss has stopped.
Instead of getting discouraged, I started a food journal and I wrote down every minuscule crumb that entered my mouth. Well turns out that my 2 week plateau was attributed to a lack of food?! I was shocked! I thought that by restricting my caloric and carb intake to a bare minimum, I would certainly shed the pounds, but I was seriously wrong. My body was "holding" onto every extra calorie instead of bring it because I had put my body in a starvation mode. Now don't get me wrong, I was eating and I was eating enough to never feel hungry, but since I began adding more intense workouts, I neglected to add more food..oops! I also was told by my trainer to stop obsessing about weighing myself everyday, so I limited my weigh-ins to every Monday only and will not become discouraged when I see that I gained weight because I know it is muscle and that muscle makes me proud!

Next week I am officially signing up for the Trek Across Maine so my Donate button will be working and I will need your help greatly. I am attending my first fundraiser this weekend put on at my gym, a 90 minute RPM course to raise money for the Lung Association of America.

Lastly, I have begun my search for a road bike with no luck what so ever! I have emailed all the bike shops in the state of Maine looking for a used entry level road bike and still have had no luck. My brother in law, Tony, is looking into finding me a good deal now and I continue to check Craigslist and Unclehenrys daily. So my fingers are crossed for that perfect bike to come my way and until then, thanks for becoming a follower of my blogs and if you haven't yet, go right ahead and join, I need all the feedback and support I can get :)

Here are a few more videos of the classes that are whippin' me into shape, they are very cool with intense lighting like a dance club and the music is amazing! That is actually the biggest things about these classes is the music, you bike to the beat, you lift to the beats and the whole time the music is pumped though huge speakers simulating a dance club!