The countdown is almost complete and I’m not talking NYE! I will have my final retest tomorrow!

We rescheduled my retest from December 17 to December 28.  In some ways this is great, but it’s also kind of tortuous! I’m really happy I had a few more workouts in before my retest. Hopefully I built up more muscle and lost another pound or so which should really help with my body fat percentage. On the other hand I now had to be super careful over Christmas – no drinking, no desserts, no FUN! Why did I agree to this? I would hate for all of my hard work in the past few weeks to be ruined by overindulging in yummy Christmas treats, so this way I’m forced to be good. Hopefully it will all pay off Wednesday!

I’ve been trying to get to TMR for about five workouts a week, but that’s been really hard the past couple of weeks. I also seem to have no energy at all, is it winter solstice to account? I’m getting really frustrated with myself because I haven’t been able to finish my workouts and I’ve ended up just walking on the treadmill because I’m too tired. Part of it may be that I’m back in a type of meltdown phase – it’s a combination of meltdown (lots of reps with less weight) and core workouts. I know I’ve said this before but I find the transition from one phase to the next really difficult, especially this time around. In BUILD I was doing 6-10 reps of any exercise, so even with the heaviest weight I felt I could push through it and feel like I’d accomplished something. In meltdown however I’m doing up to 24 reps of each exercise and it feels like it never ends!*

What is clear is the connection between the energy intake of my diet affects my output. When you don’t train with committed consistency you’d never see the difference but the body is reacting to the amount of energy I spend and it’s dictating what it needs to keep up the pace…now it’s a test of wills to keep up.

I’ve been noticing now on my unplanned diet days that I simply haven’t had the energy to workout properly. If I haven’t had enough carbs or protein throughout the day I have absolutely zero energy by the time I get to TMR, I feel dizzy during my workouts and whine and complain the entire time. I’ve reached a point to re-evaluate when I eat and what I eat in relation to when I workout. I’ve learned that it is important to eat every few hours to keep your blood sugar levels consistent and this should help you maintain your energy levels. I find this really challenging because it means I’m always eating or thinking about eating or planning my next snack…but it’s time to try it again and see how I feel.

I’ve never been very good at reading my body, being aware of how I’m feeling or what might have caused it.  When I first started working out one of my goals was to have more energy. James used to ask me regularly if I felt I had more energy during the day and I could never answer the question very well – I just didn’t know. I’m finally noticing energy levels, the ebbs and flow of when I’m feeling really good and when I have no energy. Getting to know my body and the ability to feel the difference all of my hard work is making is the effects of TMR’s Results Success System. 

As I prepare for my retest I keep thinking back to when I first started working out. I’ve been working out at TMR for one year! Since starting at TMR I’ve lost 30 lbs, which means in total I’ve lost about 65 lbs from when I first started this journey to healthy living*. I don’t think I would have stuck to it if it wasn’t for being a TMR Ambassador.

At about the 50 lbs mark I was getting into a bit of a funk – I had lost enough weight to feel comfortable with myself and my achievements but I wasn’t driven to keep pushing myself anymore and I just seemed to plateau. James saw this and realized I needed some new motivation to keep me going and suggested I become an Ambassador. It has been a really good experience. It helped me kick start my weight loss again, given me more confidence to speak and write about my experiences at TMR and weight loss in general and helped me focus on my goals, both long and short term. It was great to read on Facebook about all of the people who were applying to be TMR-Ambassadors – really inspiring! The next group training session together will be exciting! I know that this will be a life changing experience for them and I can’t wait to hear about it!