Mental games

Last Thursday, I had to go to Philadelphia after work to rehearse for my concert on Saturday, so since I didn’t want to miss a workout, I went to the gym at lunch instead of after work. Just to fill you in; my workout schedule is now Monday and Wednesday: personal trainer, Tuesday/Thursday/Friday/Saturday: 50 mins cardio. I try to do abs after every cardio session too. My cardio used to be treadmill alternating jogging/fast walking for 35-40 mins, but since I’m in this weight loss competition, I’m cranking it to 50 minutes of stairmaster or stairMONSTER (my new name for the gauntlet machine, below)! The stairmaster I do at a level 5 or 6, with a variable fat-burning workout pre-set. It’s tough, I’m not gonna lie. The weirdest part is that my toes start to go numb after like 30 minutes. Does this happen to anyone else? It’s annoying!

Anyway, back to my story…
So, I go at lunchtime, and who do I run into? My trainer. “Hey, Carmine! Doing some cardio?” “Yup, I had to come at lunch because I can’t come after work.” “Oh, that’s great! Hey, I was just getting ready to do my cardio TOO! We can do our workout TOGETHER!”

Great.

So I busted my butt on the gauntlet for 50 minutes!!! And of course, he kept looking over and pressing the buttons to increase the speed and the resistance every like 5 minutes! Agghhh!!! I was drenched! Plus, I couldn’t cut my workout short or cop out at 45 minutes. It gives him such pleasure to torture me… I’m convinced of it.

BUT… the good news is, after week 1, I’m down 2.6lbs! That’s pretty much on track for my 3lb/week goal for this competition. I’d LOVE to have a 5lb week, but that only seems possible on the biggest loser show. By the way, HOW do those women lose 15lbs in ONE week on that show?!!! It’s kind of upsetting!

Now, if before any of you start feeling frustrated if you’ve been working out or dieting and DIDN’T lose 2.6lbs, please keep in mind that it’s NOT easy for me. I’ve been eating grilled chicken or salmon, steamed broccoli, spinach, asparagus, eggs, oatmeal and cottage cheese for a week. NO cheats, no treats. Plus, I’m working out and weight training and it STILL comes off pretty slowly. The key is eating ENOUGH to keep your body from going into starvation mode, and keeping your metabolism going. I have to count every calorie and make sure I’m getting between 1250 and 1500 calories a day, or else the scale doesn’t move, even with all that exercise.

Hey, I know I can’t live my whole LIFE eating this stuff, but this is an 8 week challenge, and I HAVE to win! Anyone who knows me, understands that I am fiercely competitive, and I HATE to LOSE more than I love to win. After the competition, I’m going to adjust my diet to include more of the weight watchers approach- everything in moderation, with most of your calories coming from lean protein and vegetables.

I had a training session on Monday night, and my trainer used some good motivational tactics to push me really hard. He pointed to some people who were working out and showed me who else was enrolled in the fitness challenge. He could have been lying, and just pointing at random people for all I know, but it WORKED! Now that I can visualize my competition, it’s ON! Every time I drink a glass of water, I imagine the competition drinking TWO glasses of water, so then I want to drink THREE! If imagine my competition doing 10 pushups, then I do 12! I’ve never trained for any physical event like this before, and as you can see, I’m really getting into it! It’s exhilarating, and SO much of it is mental!