Week 5 Update

Week 5 was a very interesting week, so let's just get right into it shall we?

Physical Activity:
-3/2/13: ran on the treadmill for 45 minutes, then 30 Day Shred level 1
-3/3/13: 30 Day Shred level 1
-3/4/13: ran on the treadmill for 30 minutes, then 30 Day Shred level 1
-3/5/13: BODYATTACK
-3/6/13: 30 Day Shred level 1
-3/7/13: swam laps freestyle for 30 minutes, 800 meters total
-3/8/13: 30 Day Shred level 1

In honor of March Madness I wanted to kick up my workouts, so I had decided that in addition to the exercise I was already getting, I would start a workout DVD that my friend let me borrow: the Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred.  The DVD focuses on very fast, intense workouts (about 25 minutes including warm up and cool down) consisting of a mix of strength training, cardio, and ab-specific exercises.  My plan was to do the DVD every day for the month of March, and I was going to do each level for 10 days (there are 3 levels), but about 6 days in I found out that you're not actually supposed to do the DVD every single day, you're supposed to include rest days to allow your muscles to rest and repair, which was such a blessing because that DVD was seriously kicking my butt!  So now I'm going to do the DVD 3 days a week and see if that changes anything.  Also, working out every single day for 7 days was so exhausting, and definitely not a maintainable routine, and in the end it wasn't as effective anyway (see weight loss results below), so I'm going to have to tone things down again.  So much for March Madness...

Food:
Food and alcohol both became an issue last week, since it was one of my bff's birthdays and the festivities included a nice dinner out, followed by a night of drinking and dancing, as well as a Drag Brunch Buffet the next morning, and then a pasta dinner complete with red velvet cake for dessert that night (If you've never done a drag brunch, you need to!  This is the one we went to).  Needless to say, I was faced with a lot of temptation, and I may not have made the smartest choices.  I broke my 3 drink maximum rule for going out, and I also couldn't resist some of the less healthy food options on the brunch buffet.  My self-control definitely slipped, and unfortunately it had an impact on my results for the week.  I tried to make really healthy choices throughout the rest of the week, but in the end I don't think it balanced out.

Cooking:
This week I decided to break in my new crock pot, and the recipe I made was for Pesto Ranch Chicken that I found, of course, on Pinterest.  It was a bit high in calories and sodium due to the large portions of chicken and the sauce that I used, but it was delicious and I only ended up eating half a serving so it wasn't too bad.  The chicken literally fell apart and was super moist thanks to the long, slow heat of the crock pot.  Recipe to be posted separately later this week.

Raw chicken, yum!

Weigh-In:
So here it is, the moment of truth.  The results of my weigh-in for week 5 are:

I gained 1 lb!!!

As bad as it made me feel to actually gain weight instead of losing or at least staying the same, I realize that there are a few different factors that went into this.  The first, and the one that I'd really like to think is the biggest, is the fact that I was doing the 30 Day Shred DVD almost every day last week, and that is a very strength-training intensive program.  That means that I was probably building muscle by doing those workouts, which would lead me to gain weight instead of losing.  The trainer that I met with at the gym a few weeks ago recommended 75% cardio and 25% strength in order to lose weight, so I'd like to keep that in mind as the weeks continue.  Another factor might be that I had more drinks than is usually recommended for weight loss when I was out last weekend (Jillian Michaels advises no more than 2 drinks per WEEK when you're trying to lose weight!), and the fact that I ate out a few times and let myself have more of a cheat weekend than just a cheat meal or cheat day.  I'm trying not to get too discouraged, though, and I plan on going back to focusing more on the cardio aspect of things in order to drop the weight I want to.

All in all, I'm now at a total loss of 6 pounds in 5 weeks and 1/3 of the way through my program with 10 weeks to go and 9 more pounds to lose.  I'm still  slightly ahead of the game in terms of my original plan for 1 pound per week, and I am positive that I can get back on track and still reach the goals I originally set for myself.  Now I need to get to work!