Angela with her first tattoo (not!) on her girls' trip celebrating her first 10-lbs of weight loss. Rock out, sistah
by Angela Wright, Real Richmond Mom (click here for Angela’s first story, I Don’t Want to Be A Fat Mom)
90 day update. I am a third of the way through. I have expanded my goal from not being a fat mom to wanting to be a strong and fit mom. The results make me think it’s working! On day 36 we took another physical fitness test identical to the one we took on day one.
Here are my results:
- I lost 10 lbs.
- I lost an inch in my hips, butt and around rib cage (i.e. back fat)
- Ran 1.5 miles 4 mins 31 secs FASTER
- Can now do 15 military pushups, increased from 4
- Can now do 38 full military sit ups, increased from 18
- Can get to sleep and sleep soundly for SEVEN hrs a night
* Completely supplement free; no metabolism boosters, fat burners, energy pills etc. And I even gave up all caffeine.
The Seal Team PT 90 day workout challenge is for 90 straight days. Monday through Friday we workout for an hour a day as a team, and on the weekends we have a Saturday run option or we can workout on our own for 30 minutes a day. That increased to 45 mins in February.
The workouts are intense and they are non stop for an hour. The instructions like to remind us we can walk when we’re at home. It is team based fitness program which I really enjoy. I need the “Hoo Yah Angela” from my team mates as they circle back to last at the end of each run. I am really concentrating on form and I trust that the speed and strength will come. I was nervous at first about working outdoors in the winter but thankfully it’s been a mild winter. I have four pairs of gloves in my car and depending on the conditions I grab-and-go. I have never been cold past the first 3 to 4 minutes of each workout.
I was really overwhelemed w/all the things I need to “fix” when I started: food, lifestyle, sleeping, menu planning, etc.
I finally narrowed in on the biggest problem was my lack of sleep. So sleeping was my focus for first 30 days. I viewed my lack of sleep as a vicious cycle. I went to bed really late because how I self medicated all day with caffeine and sugar to trying to create some kind of energy. I woke up each morning tired, my biggest “old” excuse to not work out was because I was too tired and had no energy to make it through a workout. I lived for my daily vanilla iced latte (185 cal.), and with after school activities some/most days it was two!
I craved sugary snacks and chocolate when kids got home from school so I’d have the energy to keep going. Then since I stayed up until midnight I ALWAYS had to eat again late, I was starving since I had eaten dinner around 6pm. I really felt trapped. I can’t function well on limited sleep.
One of the benefits of exercise is better sleep. I was blindly trusted it would kick in soon. Giving up the daily latte was the first step; it was rough but not as bad as I feared. I was so tired of being tired, I know lack of sleep plus the extra weight was really aging me.
I physically stopping what I was doing and making myself get in bed at 10pm was harder than giving up caffeine. I also had the added “mommy issue” of my toddler waking up at 5:30 to nurse and start his day. 5:30 just can’t work in our family so he learned to sleep until 6:30. Once those things came together I was asleep so no need for that late night snack. As a night person it’s still amazes me the difference I feel every morning when I wake up.
The focus for February is meal planning. The list of other food related problems are still there but I’m going to tackle them one at a time. It’s a journey that I’m starting to enjoy.
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