Week 1: TBT- This is no joke.

As I sit here writing to you, I’m using about the only part of my body that’s not sore…my fingers. Literally there are so many muscles that have just been lying dormant in my body for probably the past 5 years and this week…they have awoken.

Tuesday , I had my first workout with Jen and it was a doozy. Every five minutes, I felt like I should apologize because I must just look so terrible doing these exercises. I’ll give it to Jen though, she stayed positive with me through the entire workout and was there to say, “It’s OK. Catch your breath and have some water.” Sometimes you think that you just need to be able to power through every exercise and on day one, that just wasn’t the case. On a positive note, I did have a burst of energy at one point doing Box Step Ups where I just powered through the set and felt mildly like an athlete again. Hopefully those burst become more sustained over time.

By my off day on Thursday, I was finally regaining use of my body and this day off from exercise could not have come at a better time. By Friday morning, I was ready to get back on the elliptical and it felt pretty good but the big meeting on Friday was with Linda.

As part of the TBT, I am also enrolled in the Take It Off weight loss program. I had been giving the food diary last week to look over and surprise!…I’ve been loosely following the diet since last week and let me tell you, I have been hungry. This is the first concern I aired to Linda and she explained to me that I shouldn’t be hungry on this program. I had been following the plan that involved the least food (makes sense, right? Less food, lose more weight! Wrong.) Since I’m doing 5-6 workouts a week, I need a plan with more food. Let me tell you, this was music to my ears! I love to eat. Love, love, love it. While following the TIO regimen means I’m cutting out a lot of the good tasting stuff (and by good tasting, I mean loaded with as much fat as humanly possible), I’m replacing it with good, clean eating. I was given 20 recipes to try out and I’ll be honest, some of them look absolutely delicious and totally not something you’d expect to eat while “dieting.” I was also given TIO protein bars, shakes and pasta which all look great! I need 2 protein snacks between my meals every day so these bars and a good-tasting, quick way to get that protein and they’re very portable, especially when I’m at work. I’m finding that it’s pretty easy to just stick a bar in my pocket and munch on it during my afternoon med pass. If I do this, I’ve been finding I’m not ravenous at dinner like I have been. I look forward to trying all of the different flavor options that TIO makes.

I will be meeting with Linda twice a week to weigh in and track my progress. I can already tell just from one week that I have an enormous amount of support in and out of the gym. Everyone has been extremely positive and uplifting. I’m glad some of you out there have confidence in me…give me a couple weeks and I think I’ll have it too! One of the first recipes I’ll be trying is the Beef Broccoli Stir Fry which looks delicious and I will be able to try the new TIO Fusilli High Protein Pasta with it! (Honestly thought I’d be saying goodbye to pasta…this is fantastic news!) I’ll keep you posted as to how it comes out!