Category Archives: Health

Week 3 Of Orangetheory (or Pushing Myself Even In Extreme Pain)

I’ve successfully completed week 3 of my Orangetheory challenge. And this week was definitely a challenge for me. My body is starting to realize how tough it is to work out really hard 3 days a week. Hopefully my body will adjust to that soon (I think it was in shock for the first 2 weeks).

This week, I had the same trainer every class, Ashley. I think Ashley is pretty awesome. She does push me hard, but she understands that there are times that my body is just not able to do it. And she’s more than happy to give me modifications for all the strength workouts (sometimes without me having to even ask for them).

Monday’s class went really well. I had a great calorie burn that day and I didn’t hurt too much during the workout or after (which is a victory for me). I post photos on Instagram, twitter, and Facebook after every class and I want all my pictures to be different, but I’m starting to run low on ideas. After Monday’s class, Ashley suggested that we show off how crazy my calorie burn really was in those 60 minutes.

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It’s a little hard to tell from the picture, but I burned almost 500 calories in that class!

Wednesday’s class had a really tough cardio segment. It was another run/row day. In my case, it was a walk/row, but that really didn’t make it much easier. I have a tough time with the transitions between the treadmill and the rower. I have to take a minute to step down from the treadmill (I feel like I’m going to fall off) and when I stand up from the rower my legs are a little shaky. I’m hoping that there will be some more run/row days soon so I can work on feeling more comfortable with that.

But I am feeling much better on the rower now. In the beginning, that was a challenge for me. It was uncomfortable and I had weird leg pains while on it. But with Ashley’s help, my form is getting much better and I’m really starting to enjoy rowing now.

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My Friday class was a big challenge for me. Typically in class, we split into 2 groups and one group does 30 minutes of cardio (typically treadmill) while the other group does strength work (plus rowing) and then half way through we switch. I always do the cardio part first because when I’m tired and walking, I’m much more likely to have hip issues. So that plan has been helping.

But on Friday, things were switched up. I started in the cardio group. We did 15 minutes of treadmill time and then we switched with the strength group. Then after 15 more minutes, we went back to the treadmill. And after 15 minutes on the treadmill, my group finished with 15 more minutes of strength.

I was fine for the first 30 minutes. But as soon as I stepped back onto the treadmill for my second treadmill time, my hip popped out. And what that means is my femur bone is not where it’s supposed to be. So instead of things feeling okay in my hip joint, my bones were grinding against each other (it feels similar to when you grind your teeth but much stronger). I tried to walk the best I could, but it hurt so bad. Every few minutes I stood on the side rails of the treadmill and attempted to pop my hip back (I can do it on my own, but I need to have a good wall to brace myself against). I wasn’t able to pop it back during class, but I was able to finish the workout. It wasn’t pretty and it wasn’t my best day, but I did it.

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Fortunately, as soon as I got home on Friday, I was able to pop my hip back in and took some painkillers right away. It helped, but I was still pretty sore all weekend (which is typical for when this happens to me).

I’m excited to see what the next week brings, Ashley will be my trainer on Monday and Friday and JZ will be my trainer on Wednesday. And after next week is done, I’ll be half way through my challenge! Time really has flown by!

Cheating With Pie (or Trying To Splurge The Right Way)

In the past, I’ve been an all or nothing dieter. Either I’m on track or I’m going crazy. I’ve never been able to find a good middle (or what most people would call “normal eating”).

I’m really working hard at changing that right now. I am trying to stay under my calories every day as well as not trying to eat my exercise calories. So far, that’s going pretty well for me. Although I am eating almost the exact same thing every day. But I do get into food ruts occasionally and I think that that’s ok.

My big thing right now is each day for lunch I’m eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. It’s not too bad in calories and it’s easy for me to portion control it (one piece of bread and the peanut butter is a single serving packet). And having that as my lunch every day has helped with the afternoon snacking. So I’m not planning on changing my lunches anytime soon (it’s also pretty cheap so that’s another plus).

There are so many diet books that say that you can splurge every once in a while. Lots of sources talk about having a cheat day, but I know that if I let myself have a day, that’s going to end up really badly. So I want to allow myself a cheat meal every once in a while.

I had my first official cheat meal this past weekend on Saturday. I went out for lunch and pie with my friend Emily. Even though this was only a cheat meal, it ended up in a way becoming a cheat day (I didn’t eat breakfast that morning and I had my leftovers from lunch for dinner).

One thing I learned about my cheat meal: I probably went a little overboard. Not in calories (somehow I was 1 calorie under my calorie goal for the day), but in richness or something else. Not to be too gross, but my body was very unhappy for about half a day after that meal. It’s a few days later and I still don’t feel as good as I had been feeling before.

I need to be able to make cheat meals a part of my life. I need to be able to enjoy food every once in a while. But I need to balance those cheats meals better with my normal meals. And I’m still learning how to do that.

Sometimes I wonder how skinny people do it. It seems like an impossible task to lose weight (or maintain weight loss) and eat more than just lettuce all day. I know that part of my problem is that I do have a slightly slower metabolism than most people (I had that tested in the past), but that can’t account for all my trouble.

But I feel like for the first time, I really learned my lesson with eating the wrong things. In the past, I might have felt a little sick from overeating or indulging, but never as sick as I felt this time. My body must have started to get used to the good foods I’m putting in my system and is finally recognizing the bad foods as bad foods. I know that there will be another overindulgence or slip up in the future, but for the first time, I feel optimistic that my cheat meal will be just that and not a slide back down toward constant binge eating.

Second Week Of My Orangetheory Challenge (or I Guess I’m Tougher Than I Thought I Was)

Last week was week 2 of my Orangetheory challenge and I feel like I rocked the week!

I went to my usual Monday, Wednesday, and Friday class. Which if any of you want to join me for a workout, I’d love to have some blog readers there with me! Anyone who comes with me to a workout gets to go for free! Let me know in the comments if you want to come!

Anyway, back to my week. Monday was interesting. I was a little tired from the week before. My body is getting adjusted to working out so much in a week (but I know that this is good for me to go through). I’m still not loving the treadmill, but that’s why I know I need to do it.

I was able to increase my incline on the push and all out sections of the treadmill time this week. So during those times, I was at 10% or 15% incline instead of 6% and 10%. I consider that a major improvement. I’m also getting more comfortable with the TRX straps, which as I mentioned before, I had never done before going to Orangetheory. And of course, I had to take an awesome photo after my Monday workout.

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Wednesday was a crazy tough workout, but I loved it! The class was small so instead of having us workout in 2 different groups, we all worked out together. I actually liked that a bit more, but I know that that won’t be the norm.

The cardio section of the workout that day was so tough. We went from treadmill to rower and back again several times. My heart rate was so high and I was dripping sweat the entire time. But I did it and even though I felt that I might pass out from trying so hard, I didn’t.

I wish I could remember the strength section that day, but the cardio section wore me out so much that I don’t remember too much after that. I also got a picture with the cardio workout of the day so that helped me remember a little too.

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What that board means is we ran (I technically walked) .1 miles and then did a 100 meter row. Then we went .15 miles on the treadmill and rowed 100 meters and so on. Then after that we did a 200 meter row and 30 seconds on the treadmill (with me walking at 15% incline). Rowing is so hard, but I’m really starting to like it. I remember at my first class how difficult rowing was for me and how my body just didn’t want to go the right way. Now, while I’m still not perfect (my weight does affect that a little), my form on the rower has gotten so much better!

Friday was a big incline day on the treadmill. We did so many hills that I thought I would pass out. I would say a majority of my 30 minutes on the treadmill were spent at at least 6% incline. I was only down to 3% for brief breaks from the crazy incline. I’m working on getting my speed up as well, but that’s going a little slower than I’d like. I’m able to do a lot of the workout at 3mph and occasionally I kick it up to 3.1 or 3.2, but toward the end of the 30 minute treadmill section, I have to go down to 2.7 or 2.8. My goal is to do the entire 30 minutes at 3.0 or faster. Ultimately, I’d like to get it to 4.0, but I know that that is going to take a long time.

For my workout picture on Friday, I decided to put it out on social media to see what shirt people think I should get when I lose enough weight.

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Everyone except one person voted for the orange shirt. Anyone else want to vote on it? I don’t know when I’ll be able to fit into one of their shirts, but I hope it’s before my 8 week challenge is over!

Overall, I think I had a pretty amazing week at Orangetheory. The best part about it for me is I’m starting to realize how tough and strong I really am. At SoulCycle, while there is a weights portion of the workout, I never felt like I was really strong. Now when I’m lifting 16 pounds while doing squats or when I’m doing pull-ups on the TRX straps, I can really see what my body is capable of. And I know that with time I’ll continue to get stronger and stronger.

I’m a quarter of the way done with my challenge and to be honest, time is flying by! I can’t wait to see how I’m able to push myself this week!

 

Unreal Reality TV (or I Need To Stop Comparing Myself)

I’ve talked about my love/hate relationship with weight loss reality shows in the past. They are still a guilty pleasure of mine. I really don’t know why I still enjoy them when they make me feel so bad sometimes.

The only weight loss show on during the summer that I watch is “Extreme Weight Loss” (I think “The Biggest Loser” isn’t coming back until the fall or winter). I was watching it last night when I started to think more about why I watch these shows.

On “The Biggest Loser”, time is condensed, obviously. You are watching one week of footage in a single episode. But each week there is only one episode on. So it’s almost like it’s in real-time.

On “Extreme Weight Loss”, each episode represents an entire year (each episode follows a single person for one year). Every week, it’s a different person’s year.

I think I’m holding myself to the standards that these reality shows are creating. It’s not normal to lose weight like that. And I think that “Extreme Weight Loss” is making me judge my weight journey really badly.

Within a 2 hour episode, you go from seeing someone who is even more overweight than I am to seeing someone who is pretty much at a goal weight. That all happens in 2 hours. But in real life, that took a year. It makes things seem so quick and easy when they aren’t. Even though the contestants on these shows have pretty much no distractions while losing weight so they are able to focus on it 24/7, you still don’t really see the struggles someone has when the scale jumps up suddenly. You only see the weigh-in where the weight is down (this is not technically always true, but the majority of the time it is).

Why should I think that my journey should only take 2 hours as well? And the weight loss goals that they reach are completely unreasonable for me. On last night’s episode, the guy features was challenged to lose 118 pounds in 3 months (he was over 200 pounds overweight). If I lost 118 pounds in 3 months, I’d pretty much be done. That’s not possible (or if it is, it is definitely not healthy).

I should not look to these shows to be examples or even inspirations. They are for entertainment purposes only.

It’s hard to find inspiring people in the real world who have gone from obese to a goal weight. Most of those people either gain the weight back (like I have several times), or they aren’t out and about sharing their story. And some of the ones I have seen are people who had weight loss surgery or have used some other method that I don’t want to do.

So I need to turn myself into my own inspiration. I need to start thinking that losing 2 pounds in a week is awesome instead of horrible (since all the people on reality shows seem to lose double digits every week). I need to start think that it’s ok if my journey takes a year, or two years, or even a decade. As long as I keep going. And I need to start thinking of all those reality shows as mindless entertainment instead of examples.

It’s not easy to change how you think, but I’m really going to try.

500 Posts! (or A Reason To Celebrate!)

Today’s post is about a lot of good things that have happened lately.

First of all, like the title of this post says, this is my 500th post on Finding My Inner Bombshell! That’s so bonkers to me! I write 5 days a week so that means I’ve been writing for 100 weeks. So yes, that also means that my 2 year anniversary of the blog is coming up soon as well.

I’m still in shock how this blog really has become an important part of my life. When I started, I hoped I’d be able to keep it going. Now when I’m not writing on the weekends, I feel like something is missing. I’ve made new friends because of the blog and I’ve become closer to old friends because of my honesty here. It’s just awesome.

The next part of my awesome news is that my mom got her BRCA test results back and she doesn’t have the gene mutation! When my mom texted me with the news, I cried in relief. This is a weight lifted off my shoulders (and I’m sure the rest of my family feels this way). When I talked to my mom that day, she said that getting these results have allowed her to relax and she can go on and enjoy life. And for me, it means that while I still have a higher risk of getting breast cancer in my life because my mom had it, it’s not nearly as high of a risk if I had had the gene mutation.

I’m still going to be monitored much closer and I’ve already talked with my gynecologist about setting up a mammogram appointment after I see her (I’m sure I’ll be writing about that appointment when it happens because I’m still crazy nervous about it).

The third, and technically, final good news is that I’m finally starting to get back on track with losing weight. I’ve lost about 10% of what I had gained recently. It’s not a lot, but it’s totally a start. I’m working on my eating and I’ve been working out again. My journey is still going to be a long one, but I’m happy to be moving in the right direction again.

And in other celebratory things (but not technically good news), today is my friend Kate’s birthday! I’ll be seeing her next week, so we’ll get to celebrate her birthday then, but I wanted to acknowledge how amazing of a friend she is. She was the first person I talked to when my mom was diagnosed with cancer. She kept the news a secret for a while until my mom was ready to go public with the news. And she was there to listen to me whenever I was freaking out or having a tough time. Not many friends would or could do that and I’m so insanely grateful that she was willing to be there for me.

So to recap: yay for 500 posts, yay for my mom not having the BRCA gene, yay for me losing some weight, and happy birthday to Kate!

I love how my life has become so wonderful and positive!

Going Orange Again (or Having A Successful Second Workout)

My first experience at OrangeTheory Fitness was good, but the few days after it were pretty painful. But I didn’t want to be scared of any workouts, especially because this one was so different from anything else I’ve ever done.

So as crazy as it sounds, I went back to OrangeTheory this week! I tried an after work class, which in itself is challenging for me. When I workout in the morning, I know exactly what I should eat before working out. I almost always have a glass of chocolate milk (I like the 100 calorie pre-packaged kind). But working out in the afternoon means trying to figure out what to put into my body for breakfast, lunch, and most likely a snack before working out and hoping that it won’t make me nauseous (either from feeling full or feeling light-headed).

I managed to do ok with my food this week, so I was only nervous about the class. Check in was much easier this time since they know me there now (I was even greeted by name when I walked in the door!). I got a heart rate monitor from the front desk and got ready to workout.

This time, I tried doing the treadmill workout first and the rowing and strength second. The treadmill was still tough on my hips, but I think that that is something that won’t go away (it’s similar to the pain I get sometimes doing my 5Ks). I did push myself a bit with the incline on the treadmill, but I kept my pace a bit slower than I’d like to be.

For rowing and weights, I did as much as I could. There was one round of squats that I didn’t do so well because I’m scared to hurt my quads again. And we had to do burpees, which is something I’ve never done before. The instructor showed me how to do modified ones (basically making them low-impact instead of high-impact). I did a couple, but I have to say that burpees make me feel dizzy! The instructor said that some people experience that because you are going from upright to parallel to the floor so quickly and often. But I took some breaks and managed to do my sets.

Overall, my workout didn’t burn quite as many calories as my first one did, but I still did pretty awesome.

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Again, the green zone is the fat burning zone and I managed to stay in that for almost the entire class!

And I’m happy to report that I don’t feel any crazy pain after this workout! So clearly I just pushed myself way too hard the first time.

I really enjoyed the class again and I’m planning on going back hopefully next week. If anyone wants to join me, let me know! I believe that you get your first class for free!

 

 

A Phone Call Can Change My Future (or Making Plans)

A few weeks ago, my mom did her genetic testing for the breast cancer gene mutation. This Wednesday, my mom gets a phone call and will find out the result.

My family has been very open about discussing what either a positive or negative result means for everyone in the family. And I’ve talked about it a lot with my mom.

She has her own ideas of what she wants to do in both cases (and it’s not my place to discuss what she wants to do until she tells me I can share it). And I’ve had to make my own plans.

Since I’m all about honesty here, I figured I would share my plans openly. While I really do believe that my mom will test negative for the gene mutation, everything I’ve read has said to be prepared for the worst case scenario.

First of all, no matter what the results are, I’m going to start being monitored much more carefully for breast cancer now. I’ve got a much higher risk of getting it now since my mom had it. My mom’s doctors believe that I will probably have to get my first mammogram this year when I go in for my annual exam. I always schedule my annual exam to be around my birthday (harder to forget to schedule it that way), so I need to talk to my gynecologist about whether or not she wants me to have a mammogram soon and if she’d like me to do it before I see her. I’m a little nervous to get a mammogram since I’ve never had one and I’ve heard that they are pretty unpleasant. Also, I’m a little worried that this isn’t going to be enough monitoring because my mom’s cancer wasn’t found on a mammogram.

If my mom tests positive for the gene mutation, I’ve already made the decision that I want to be tested immediately. I don’t see any reason not to know. If I’m positive, I can make plans that help reduce my risk. If I test negative, I will still have to always be monitored more than most people, but I won’t have to take as extreme of measures.

And those extreme measures do include having  double mastectomy. I know that if I do test positive for the gene mutation, I will eventually take this step. I won’t do it until I have kids (whenever that ends up being), but to me, not taking this step is just asking to be a ticking time bomb. I know that many people who do test positive don’t want to do this or have to go through such a tough surgery, but in my mind, if I don’t I will be paranoid all the time. I would also probably have my ovaries removed (since that cancer is normally not detected until it’s very advanced), but again, I wouldn’t do anything until after I have kids.

I have told a couple of friends my plans as well and I think that talking openly and honestly about it has made it all seem less scary. I really am prepared for the worst case now. But every time my mom and I have talked about this on the phone, we both agree that the chances of her testing positive are so slim that we both feel pretty confident that it will be negative.

If any of you have gone through this, I’d really appreciate any advice you can give me. My family is still going through the unknown here and I like hearing the advice and stories of people who have gone through this. Hearing other’s stories has helped me make my plan and feel confident that what I’ve decided will be the right choice for me.

Dealing With The Pain (or Not All Pain Is The Same)

After my class at OrangeTheory, I was pretty sore. My quads were shaking a lot during the class because we did what felt like 500 squats.

I figured that when I got home, I’d take a pain pill, take a long shower, and I’d feel fine. That’s not at all what happened.

The day of the class, I was sore but it wasn’t too bad. I took my prescription Motrin and that’s it. The next morning (Monday), when I tried to get out of bed I fell onto the floor and it took a good few minutes before I could stand up. And once I was standing, walking wasn’t exactly and option for me.

I took my prescription Motrin as well as one of my stronger painkillers (because of all my hip issues I’m pretty stocked up with painkillers) and did my work for the day. Thank goodness my desk chair is on wheels because I spent most of Monday getting around my house on that chair.

Before going to bed on Monday, I tried a prescription painkiller cream and hoped for the best that night. I really didn’t sleep too much. Every time I shifted in bed my legs felt like they were on fire.

Tuesday was pretty bad as well. I was very careful walking around my house and did manage to make it to the store to get some Icy Hot, which I had never tried before for my pain (since my hip pain is in the joint, most topical creams won’t help me at all). I also went to a blogger event (post to come about that soon) where I was forced to move around. It was very very painful but it did seem to help afterward.

As I’m writing this on Wednesday, I’m still wincing every time I sit down or stand up and walking is still tough for me. I’m hoping in the next day or two all the pain will be gone.

What I’m assuming happened was I completely overdid it in the workout class. Your muscles have to tear a little to build up and get stronger, and I probably tore too much of my quads in that class (which is ironically one of the things I was misdiagnosed with when my hip problems started).

This is a setback for me, but I’m not letting it get me down. I feel like I’m kind of a pro at dealing with pain and I know that I will get through this. I just have to take it easy and not push myself. That’s tough for me because with my hip issues, sometimes I have to push myself to make it feel better. But right now, rest and painkillers are my best friends.

And like I said before, I’m taking this all as a sign that I have to go back and workout more. I shouldn’t feel like this after a class and clearly I need it (or something like it) to make sure that I get stronger and this never happens to me again.

OrangeTheory Fitness (or Pushing Myself)

This past weekend, I was invited to check out OrangeTheory Fitness. This chain has been around for a couple of years, but their first Los Angeles location is about to have their grand opening in a few days. So before the grand opening, a couple of us were invited to take a free class and see what OrangeTheory is all about.

The studio is in Brentwood, so it’s not super close to my house but not unreasonably far either. There’s valet parking in the building and OrangeTheory validates your parking so you get free valet for 90 minutes (the class is an hour long so you should be able to not have to pay at all to park)!

When I walked in to the lobby, I checked in and tried to get ready for a workout that I had no idea if I could do.

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OrangeTheory is like group personal training. Each class is an hour-long and the class is split up into 2 groups. Each group does cardio and strength, but one group does cardio first and the other does strength first.

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The group I was in started on the rowing machines. We did about 4 minutes of rowing (which I had only done maybe once or twice before in my life) and then we moved on to strength training. We used TRX suspension bands and did some squats and lunges. We were told what each exercise was and how many times to do each one, but the number of times we did the circuit was up to us. I made it through the circuit twice before we went back to the rowing machines.

Then it was about 5 minutes of rowing and we headed back over to the strength training area. We did some arms and shoulder exercises and then ended with some planks.

Then it was time for the groups to switch. My group moved on to the treadmills (the other group started on the treadmills and when we switched they did the workout that my group just finished). On the treadmills, you were given the option to run, jog, or power walk.

Of course, I went with power walking. You started at a base level and every couple of minutes you would push yourself. The runners and joggers went faster and the power walkers made the treadmills go up in incline. It was tough.

When the class was over, we all came together to stretch and cool down a bit. Then it was time for something that I found super cool.

Everyone in class wore a heart rate monitor. This is something that I’m used to, but I only really wear mine to tell me how many calories I burned in my workout. During the entire class, there were tv screens showing everyone’s heart rate. And the heart rates were divided into zones (basically easy effort, light effort, medium effort, tough effort, and maximum effort). The goal of the class was to spend a majority of the time in the medium and tough effort zone (the tough effort zone is the orange zone, hence the name OrangeTheory). I didn’t make it into the orange zone too much, but I did do a pretty awesome job.

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I spent about 50 minutes of the class in the green, or medium effort zone. That is also known as the fat burning zone. So I pretty much spent the entire class burning fat.

That chart was also emailed to me so I could keep it for my records. And fortunately, the heart rate monitors we had to use in the class also tracked calories burned (at the front desk they got our age, height, and weight so the calorie burns are pretty accurate).

This class was extremely tough for me. My hips started to kill me toward the end but I burned so many calories in this class! And when it was done, I was absolutely dripping with sweat.

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I’m thinking that I might add this into my workout routine. It’s very different from anything else I’m doing and it totally pushed me (just like how at SoulCycle I work harder than when I bike on my own).

The only downside right now is that I pushed myself so hard that my body is having a bit of a tough time recovering. This class was on Sunday morning and I’m writing this on Tuesday evening. My legs are still a little wobbly and very sore. I probably pushed myself too hard, but this proves to me that I need to be working harder.

They are offering free classes at OrangeTheory Fitness through this weekend (when the grand opening is happening). I encourage everyone to try to check it out! And once it’s open, there are options to buy various types of memberships and class packages. I’m seriously looking into what option is the best for me.

All I have to wait on now is for my soreness to go away so I can take another class!

Honesty Time (or Going Backwards)

I haven’t talked about weight loss on here for a while. And it’s because things are going so great for me right now.

In fact, I’ve gained a decent amount of weight. I haven’t gained everything that I lost, but I gained back a good chunk of it.

And I haven’t wanted to share that on here because I don’t want to disappoint you all. But then I realized that everyone who is going through weight struggles has this moment. I’ve had it before and I’m sure I’ll have it again.

What makes this different is I stopped it (or at least realized it) before all the progress I had made disappeared. And I’m trying to take steps to go back in the right direction.

Why the weight gain? Well, lately both my food choices haven’t been great and I’ve been skipping workouts. So of course I should expect weight gain.

The thing is, I didn’t realize how long it had been since I last worked out. When I finally looked at my history at SoulCycle, I realized that I haven’t been there in a month. And my last workout was the blogger event at FlyWheel. But that was several weeks ago.

Since realizing this over the weekend, I have had a big workout (but that will come in another post). But missing workouts was only part of the picture. Food is always going to be a battle for me and I don’t want it to beat me. So I downloaded several books onto my kindle about eating disorders (mostly on binge eating but some on eating disorders in general).

I starting with a book that I saw recommended on another blog that I read. I’m about a third of the way done with it and it is eye-opening to see that other people have the exact same struggles that I do. Somehow it feels like eating disorders are a very lonely thing and nobody understands how you feel. But when you are really open and honest about it you find that there are other people who get exactly what you go through.

I’m hoping to get myself back on the right track quickly. I have another 5K coming up in less than 2 weeks and I don’t want to be unprepared for it.

But if nothing else, at least I recognized that I was slipping before I got back to the start line.