Feather Weight Challenge - Frustration and an ISO

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One measly, stinking, rotten pound down this week. That's it. I'm beyond frustrated.

The less-than-stellar weigh in happened the day after I sat at a table of people who were joyfully noshing on fresh chips, guacamole, and salsa. I, of course, did not partake. Although the salsa and guac would have gone over well with the diet, the fresh chips would not have. And how else are you supposed to ingest salsa and guac?

Thank you.

The calorie deficit on my new iPhone app says three pounds, but I'm only down one. And that is FRUSTRATING. So of course I had to contact the person who has given me the best diet and exercise advice in the past: Nikki from Nikki Fitness.



"Nikki!" I whined. "I'm at a plateau! I'm not losing like I should be losing. I'm tired, I'm hungry, and I desperately want a piece of bread. And when I'm not seeing results, I'm a lot more likely to give in to that bread craving with seven weeks of bread deprived fury behind my binge!"

Luckily Nikki - who has to be the friendliest trainer I've ever talked to and has never yet turned me down in the advice department - had five quick tips for breaking a plateau for me.

1) Multitask your workouts. Take 2 moves
and put them together. Like side lying outer thigh leg lifts? Been
rocking side planks for the abs lately? Put them together by doing a
side plank on your forearm and lifting the top leg for 20 reps.


This I can definitely do. When I started my boxing workouts I had to modify nearly every cross training move they introduced. Maybe it's time I actually attempt the burpees, even if it means I fall over a few times. Or more than a few times.


2) New cardio. If you usually run, do one week of spin, then one week on the elliptical, then stairs, then combine running, spin, elliptical and stairs in the last week. It's a month of new cardio workouts. (Make each dayof each week harder with more weight or incline, and for longer by5 minutes each day.)

OK, no more elliptical for me when I do my extra cardio while Daughter #2 is at swim team practice. I hate the bike, though. I can't explain it, but I HATE that thing. And for some reason the treadmill seems to exacerbate my debilitating and recurring butt injury. And... Oh, wait. Maybe that's part of the problem? Time to do it, like it or not, I guess.


3) Double your weight. If you are used to doing 20 reps of shoulder
presses with 8 lbs barbells, jump to 10 reps of 15 lbs.Usually work
outon a machine? Jump off the machine and get barbells then jump down
to number 4...

I guess this means shadow boxing with hand weights?


4) Get into tubing and therabands,
or cable machines at the gym. This offers different range of motion and
different resistance. Add 3 days a week and up the weight or change to
stronger tubing each week for a month. After that add stability balls, bosu, body bars and kettle bells.

Currently, the Nigerian instructor of my boxing class LOVES to use the exercise bands. I mean, he LOVES them. We do different positions with the bands every week (and FYI, my shoulders are starting to look awesome). I only end up using the bands once a week, though, so maybe I'll have to add it into my extra cardio time.


5) Switch up your fitness classes,
outdoor routines and fitness DVDs to some hard core moves that include
intervals (like my line at www.nikkifitness.com
Working hard for 2 minutes and easy for 2 minutes over and over again
for 30 minutes will challenge your muscles and your heart, help you
burn more calories during the workout and afterwords, and boost your metabolism.

Okay, I'll work on this. I'm not happy, though. I've noticed that my body doesn't have any tricks to keep from gaining weight when I have a twinkie attack. So, one more bit of whining and then the (not quite as) Big Girl panties go back on, embrace the suck, and keep moving forward.

IT'S NOT FAIR!

Okay, now I feel better.

Now for the ISO - if any of you in the Ft Hood area know of a personal trainer who specializes in boxing, I really need two days of work with someone to hold the target mitts for me while we're in the area for SpouseBUZZ Live on the 19th and 20th. The more weight I lose, the more likely Soldier's Angels is going to get the prize money. I can't skip two days of working out!

Seven weeks and 20 pounds down, three weeks to go.

Follow my progress on Twitter @afwiferuthie


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