Monday, July 11, 2011

OverTraining/OverEating/UnderEating

Continued from last week...

Many of you read about my 28 day DoBCx online workout program with Bonnie Pfiester's. You all commented, e-mailed, texted, facebooked, and messaged me with great responses and advice. I can't say thank you enough! As if you couldn't tell, I was bummed. I was bummed about the lack of weight I wanted to lose, but found the positive in what I had gained. However, I wasn't really sure where to go from there. After several e-mails back and forth between Bonnie and I, we decided to crack down on my eating.

Previously, I had mentioned I was stuck on what to eat and what not to eat. Cutting out grains and dairy really threw me for a loop! I sadly had to admit that I was under eating. If couldn't find something to eat that fit in the category of 1.healthy 2. easy to grab & go (w/ my busy work schedule) 3.cheap. I would opt out of eating if it didn't fit into the 1-3 categories. I wasn't consuming enough calories for my body to release fat.
Bonnie described it nicely and so I would like to quote our last conversation.

"When someone starts working out and dieting (and they have a lot to lose like you once did), it's relatively easy to lose weight. A heavy body burns a LOT more calories than a skinny body. IT takes more to run an overweight body. Because you burn so many calories and you cut back your calories by eating healthier, you lose weight relatively easily. BUT as you get thinner, your new body doesn't take as many calories to run so the margin gets smaller - meaning your daily deficit is smaller. As you close the gap, you have to be more purposeful about making absolutely sure you are eating a certain amount of calories in order to be in a caloric deficit for weight loss. (It takes 3500 calories to burn one pound of fat). That means you must be in a 7,000 deficit to lose 2lbs a week. I hope that helps explain your body a little more. :)"

For this post, I felt it was important for readers to understand this mathematical equation. If you're not getting the results you want, you have to take a step back and look at what you are or are not consuming.

Diet can't compete with exercise... exercise will lose every time. And this is where I went wrong this last week. I was upset with the lack of weight I lost, I went back at the gym in full force. But, my body wasn't quite ready. 3-4 hours at the gym doing double early morning workouts and double late night workouts left me exhausted and injuring myself. And of all workouts, in yoga! I wanted to push myself, but my body was exhausted. I hurt my shoulder going into a back bend and was left with a numb right hand and a shooting pain through my right forearm all through the 4th of July weekend. After talking with my friend Francisco, we decided I should not set foot in the gym for a couple days. I had the hardest time doing so, because I'm really great at over training! Resting during that time helped significantly though to refocus. My should is getting better: still getting adjusted, sonogram treatment, and stem 3 times a week. But I've learned my lesson... an expensive lesson to say the least! I need to rest.

This week's 'My Success': Learning that Over training is Counterproductive, Under Eating is Counterproductive, and Over Eating is Counterproductive. There has to be a balance in my life. Too much of anything is bad. I was filling my time with God, with working out. He's my number one and I can't do that. I've found that the more I focus on Christ, the more my life is balanced. My priorities had gotten off track, but I'm back and at it full force. (Never failing, always trying)

Your challenge: Find the balance. What is important to you and decide what your willing to give up or walk away from to achieve the goal you desire?

Want to check out Steve and Bonnie Pfiester in Florida?
http://www.fitstudios.com/ Or find them both on Twitter! They also have facebook :)

BeBlessed Family!
-A

3 comments:

  1. Great post girl! I always say "it's not what you DO in boot camp, but what you LEARN from boot camp that really matters" and you have done that. Some of us learn the easy way, some of us learn the hard way. Our success is in the learning part.

    The truth is though, if BCx wasn't so hard, you wouldn't have been NEARLY as upset about not reaching your goals. The intense training raises the value of a calorie and makes you want it to pay off BIG.

    I'm proud of you for doing BCx and proud of you for continuing to search for answers. Like Albert Einstein said "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result". We are nothing but GREAT BIG SCIENCE PROJECTS! It's all about trial and error - but you're gonna get it right!

    Keep up the amazing work! You are an inspiration to many!
    Bonnie

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  2. Hey girl, first off happy to hear the shoulder is getting better. You make such excellent points about balance. I'm happy you are finding yours and have complete faith in you that you will persevere and see the results you want!! Also big thank you inspiring me to star BCx!!

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  3. Alison this is great! I'm in the same shoes right now.. Being fit Str8fit is not easy. Ever since I took that week off from my Str8fit sundays its been hard for me to refocus. I injured my ankle this sunday I felt like I didn't train right and I lost my balance in life. Now I'm stuck in my room wondering what's going on lol. Proud of you for taking that break. You needed. Your a great team mate Str8fit team. Have a great night.. Francisco

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