Introduction

Hello, my name is Anna.

My starting point, September 2013

... I'm pretty sure that's how introductions are supposed to go.

This blog is intended to be a log of my journey from fat (current state) to fit (desired future state), ideally by the time I turn 40 so that I can successfully complete a 4- to 7-day hike to Machu Picchu.

A bit of background:

I seem to have been struggling with my weight my entire life, gaining an average of 5-10 lbs a year from the time I was 18 until today (2013 - current age, 36).

I have managed at various times to successfully lose some weight, but have never been able to successfully keep it off, leaving me at 4 years short of 40 with 95 lbs to lose. Given my desire to hike up to Machu Picchu the year I turn 40, this is not an ideal state to be in.

Enough background. On to current events.



In September of this year, I decided: Enough playing around with dieting and what-not, and I joined Weight Watchers meetings. Mid-September, I found a Challenge on the Weight Watchers site to complete the Couch to 5K training program by the end of November.

For anyone reading this that doesn't know, the Couch to 5K (C25K) program takes someone who is currently doing no exercise (Couch) to being able to jog for ~5km in 9 weeks. I like the program - I had completed it last year when I decided to train for a 1/2 marathon (which I eventually gave up on running) - and so decided to take up the challenge, and started training... quite ambitiously, for someone whose fitness level was at "Couch."

My schedule looked something like this:

Run, Gym, Run, Gym, Run, Gym, Rest

Mid-October, I found a "30-day Plank Challenge" on Pinterest, and it had a very strange effect on me. I got irritated. I was fairly sure that having done no extensive ab work (my gym workouts contained two ab exercises - leg raises and crunches, 2 sets of 20 reps each) there was no way I would be able to go from doing a 20 second plank to doing a 5 minute plank in 30 days.

I decided to prove that people who posted workouts like that were crazy by forcing myself to do the challenge until I was physically no longer able to do so.

(I did say strange effect, right?)

Beginning the last week of October, I added a daily plank to my workout. I use Jefit.com to track my exercise, and the first time I went to add a plank exercise, it prompted me to complete three sets. Instead of taking the 15 seconds to figure out how to remove the extra sets (I have since done that) I just did three 20 second planks.

And so it went. For the first week, 5 seconds were added to my plank every day. I dropped down to two reps at the 1:20 mark, and gave up on multiple reps at the 1:45 mark. The day I did a 2 minute plank, I had my roommate time me, and so I couldn't see the timer. At 45 seconds, when I started shaking, I informed her that I had to know how much time was left, and I would need to be kept updated at least every 30 seconds. By the time I reach 1:30, I was VERY vocal (i.e. yelling) about how I needed to know how much time was left, and when she calmly commented that I was doing great, I had 30 seconds left, and I could do it, my response was not polite. To put it mildly. I made it through the 2 minutes, and lay there on the floor in a quivering heap for at least 20 minutes, unable to move. Luckily, when I collapsed, my arms ended up under my head, or I would have done a face-plant into my yoga mat.

I decided I had proved my point.

I also noticed that my waist and hips shrank dramatically while I was actively participating in the Plank Challenge, and so I didn't want to abandon the exercise completely. Added to my daily routine is now a plank exercise: 1 minute, 3 repetitions. The plan is to add 5-10 seconds to the plank every week, with a vague end state of 5 minutes. I'm still not sure that a 5 minute plank 3 times is something I want to do, but I'll see how it goes.

Here is my current planned workout schedule for the first week of December:

Next up, I'll post my measurements, my weight lost to date, and my planned vs. actual workouts this week.

Spoiler alert: It hasn't gone exactly as planned...