D.Tox - Day 1

If you're new to this blog at the suggestion of someone recommending the Lifetime D.tox, here is an introduction to me and how I got started.  I also did one blog entry on my first go around with D.tox here.

I'm starting D.tox again today.  The last time I D.tox'd was in June of 2013 and I lost 8 pounds.  I am doing D.tox again because it's a good idea and I am in a plateau.  I need to get the scale moving down again (not that the scale is the only thing that matters).

I plan on doing day-to-day blogging of the D.tox to give people thinking about doing the Lifetime Fitness D.tox a better idea of what it is and what happens.  Now, these are only how it affects my body and everyone will react to it a little differently.

I made my shakes for Day 1 a day in advance.  The Vegan Fast Fuel is awful.  There's no way around it.  I find that adding a scoop of Chocolate Dynamic Greens makes a world of difference.  I didn't do it last year and getting the shakes down was rough.  It was a little easier with the DGs.

Here is how I make my D.tox shakes:  2 scoops of Fast Fuel, 1 scoop of Fibermend, 1 Tbl. of chia seeds, 1 Tbl of EVOO, some strawberries and blueberries, 1 scoop of Dynamic Greens, 1 scoop of L-Glutamine, ice, and 12 oz. of Unsweetened Coconut Milk.

After my shake and the supplements, I immediately had to go to the bathroom.  TMI, but you should be prepared for lots of pooping especially the first day.  I went more last year than this time around.  It's funny how the body works.

I ate an early lunch (like before 11) because I had a noon training session with Sarah.   Sarah and I have been working together for a few days shy of a year.  She's wonderful.  If you're interested in training sessions I strongly suggest working with her.

For lunch I had a salad and a turkey burger.  I ate some of the Spring Mix by Earthbound Farm Organic, which is available in most grocery stores.  I jazzed up my salad with some cucumbers, red onions, chia seeds, and baby bella mushrooms.  I used some EVOO and Organic Balsamic Vinegar as my salad dressing.

The turkey burger is a recipe I made last week and the recipe and my review of it are here.  The burger patty itself is D.Tox friendly.  The Taztziki sauce needed some modification to make it D.tox approved.  I substituted the regular Greek Yogurt for Goat Cheese yogurt.  I got it at Trader Joe's, but I'm sure you can find non-dairy yogurt wherever you shop.  Don't freak out about Goat Cheese.  I didn't find the taste to be any different.  The only difference is the Goat Cheese yogurt was a little runnier than regular Greek yogurt. Obviously, I ate it without the bun.  I had some tomato slices on the side.

Before I train with Sarah, I drink some Generation UCan.  I usually have the Cran-Raspberry flavor, but just last week LTF started carrying the Tropical Orange flavor.  Sarah bought me a sample and I drank it this morning.  I loved it.  When I am done with my current container of UCan, I'm going to switch to this flavor.  One weird thing is that it was white.  I was picturing it to be orange.  Color me surprised.

For dinner I had Crock Pot Balsamic Chicken Thighs  and Roasted Brussel Sprouts.  Both recipes are D.tox friendly in their original form.  I actually found the chicken recipe on this Pinterest D.Tox Board.

How did I feel on Day 1?  I felt pretty good.  I did have a mild headache for most of the day.  It would go away and come back, but it wasn't painful enough for me to have to take anything.  I found myself craving sugar in the afternoon.  I was also very thirsty.  My concentration was strong and I got a lot of work done at home.  I tried to take a nap, which I usually do on the weekends, but I couldn't fall asleep.  I didn't experience the hot flashes that I did the last year.

Workout.  As I said earlier, I had a training session with Sarah.  This week is our recovery week, which we do every 4 to 6 weeks.  I think I did all right.  I did find myself sweating while I was doing the lunges/shoulder press combo.  I'm not sure if the D.tox had anything to do with it, but I usually don't sweat that bad when I do lunges.

See you tomorrow for Day 2.

Just Keep Swimming

Well, it seemed like I didn't do much, but the 10,000 steps a day Fitbit challenge definitely kept me moving.  While I didn't go to Lifetime a lot this week, I did get my 10,000 steps in every day.

I worked out with Sarah this week on Monday and Wednesday.  I have two posts about the workouts here and here.

Sunday, I went to Martina's Vinyasa Flow class.  Linda, my Pilates classmate, was in class and we were next to each other in this class.  I like Linda, she's a cool broad.

Speaking of Pilates, Tuesday was my class.  We did half the class as a jumpboard class!  It was a killer!  This was Linda and Maureen's first time doing jumpboard and they loved it.  I think they were a little hesitant/nervous, but they did great.  It definitely felt a lot harder than when I did it solo.  I've also been thinking about possibly adding a second day of Pilates for the summer months.  I'll hopefully make my decision after Cassie's wedding in less than a month!

Thursday and Friday were says off from the actual gym, but I got my steps in.  I went home to visit my mom on Thursday afternoon and stayed until noon on Friday.

Saturday I was awake and almost went to the 645 Spinning, but I decided not to.  My legs were still a little sore from my Wednesday training session on Friday and even though they felt fine on Saturday morning, I thought it was best to not go.

I was quite happy to see that the Life Cafe restocked my Generation UCan Cran-Raspberry.  I grabbed some before I ran the risk of it selling out again.

I took Rickita's Ashtonga Vinyasa class.  This very well may be the last Saturday Ashtonga class since the schedule is changing next week with the opening of the new yoga studio.  I'm kind of bumming.  That's my FAVORITE yoga class at Lifetime.

Class today was great.  Not very full, but I'm guessing it's because of the Easter holiday.

So that was my workout week.  I just keep plugging along on this journey.  Things have slowed/stalled but I just keep swimming.

Training 2014 - Week 15

I worked out on Monday and Wednesday this week.  It was back to business as usual after last week's recovery week.  Actually, this week ended up being PR week.

Monday was upper body.  It was my basic, tough upper body day.  I did set a new bench pressing PR which I blogged about here.  It was quite exciting to set a new PR.

Wednesday was legs.  Wow, talk about tough.  I actually forgot to take my UCAN before the workout but I still did really well and that's not why it was tough.  It would have classified as a tough workout either way.  I set two PRs on Wednesday.  220 pounds during my squatting on the super squat machine.  I'm not sure if it was one or two sets at that weight because Sarah increased the weight after one of the sets.

I also did a PR on the prowler push with 265 pounds.  I did the higher grip on the one way and the lower grip when I returned the prowler to the starting location.  I think I was slowest on my first round of the low grip.  I had never done the low grip before and I was a little unsure of being that low and pushing.  That was my last exercise for the hour.  I'm glad I still had some wind in my sails.

I was tired when we were done.  Tired.  Tired.  Tired.  I can't wait to get back at it on Sunday!!!

My First Boxing Class

Today I used the first fitness Groupon I have ever purchased.  It was for two weeks of unlimited classes at TITLE Boxing Club.  TITLE is a chain in many states and they are growing fast in Michigan with new clubs coming to Novi, Livonia, and Canton in the near future.  I went to the location in Farmington Hills, which is just up on Haggerty a few miles from me.

I was a little nervous, but there were three other newbies there.  We all worked out close to each other so that the instructor could  help us more easily.  Everyone there was really friendly and helpful.  The club was very clean and I loved the set up.  There is no front or back section where the punching bags are.  Just plant yourself in front of a punching bag and class starts.  I was given wrist wraps and a pair of gloves.  The gloves were just for borrowing, but the wraps are mine.  I got rainbow striped which is great because I do love my gays.

The set up is like this picture I found on tumblr.com

The class consists of a 15 minute warm up, then 8 3-minute boxing rounds with a minute between rounds of active recovery, and then a 15 minute core workout to finish the class.  Big props to Sarah for getting me prepared to handle a workout like that and survive.  I handled it quite well and I was proud of myself.   (I did drink my Generation UCan before class).

I absolutely LOVED the boxing portion.  I didn't hurt my hands, they felt very protected.  My only issue was my footing.  You have to be light on your toes and not be on your heels.  I admit I was nervous with the moves, but I think I loosened up a bit and really got into it.

The Core workout at the end of class was a killer!!  Holy crap!  My lower abs were feeling it.  None of the exercises in the core section were impossible, just challenging and definitely made my abs burn.  And we did Russians, which I LOATH!!!!  I modified one of the exercises with some leg raises we've done in Pilates.

I just :LOVED this class.  I can't wait to go back.  I'm debating joining or not since I already do spend a lot at Lifetime with PT and Pilates.  TITLE isn't very expensive, but when you consider everything else I'm doing it is.  I so enjoyed myself and I wasn't on my deathbed leaving.  I was sweaty and challenged.  The only downside I would say is the smell of my hands from being in the boxing gloves.  It reminded me of driving my cousin home from football practice....all the sweat in those gross football pads.

LOVED, LOVED, LOVED TITLE Boxing Club.  I'm going back on Thursday.

This isn't me.....yet.  LOL

Training 2014 - Week 11

I finally came out of my funk on Saturday.  I got my hair cut and I hung out with friends.  I still let myself have a cheat day on Saturday (along with Thursday and Friday), but I knew that I was going to get back on track on Sunday.

Sunday I met with Sarah for our first session of the week.  She totally beat the crap out of me.  We did an all-body workout but it was very squat/lunge heavy.   I am so glad I grabbed something to eat in the Life Cafe before the workout and drank my Generation U Can.  Holy crap!  I couldn't wait to crawl home and drink my protein shake.  I thank my lucky stars that I got a close parking space!  That'll teach me to get down on myself and feel like quitting.

Wednesday ended up being another total body day.  We did the leg stuff work and the upper body at the end.  That definitely felt weird.  Lots of squats and lunges today, too.  We did TRX reverse lunges which I actually like doing.  I LOVE doing the squat machine, too.

After my session today, I met with Leesa to discuss my routine including diet and try and figure out how I can get out of this plateau.  I'll write more about it in my weekly workout thread that will be coming up on Saturday or Sunday.

I have to say I am feeling way better than I was this time last week.  I'm glad that's all over and I've moved on from all the negative things.