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Body-for-LIFE: Walking the Plank

One of the hardest exercises I find about many of the workout programs I’ve been sampling on Exercise TV is plank position. Designed to strengthen your core (abs, back, legs — as well as shoulders and arms), the plank position is essentially the position you put your body into before starting a pushup, only you make sure your hands are directly below your shoulders.

Once you’ve gotten your body into that position, you can either stay there for a while, yoga-style, while your abs and arms scream in agony, or you can do any number of dynamic exercises, from plank jacks to mountain climbers to just plain push-ups…all of which are incredibly difficult for me. I am getting better at it, though, which is encouraging.

Only 13 days left in the Body-for-LIFE Challenge! I’ve got 1 more pound to shed before I get to my challenge goal, and I’m pretty confident I’ll get there. I think I’d like to drop at least another 15 pounds, so I’ll continue this same regimen until I get to my ideal weight.

In the meantime, here’s my girl Cindy Whitmarsh showing how to do the plank pose.

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Body-for-LIFE: Getting into the Groove

This will just be a quickie as I wait for some files to download onto my computer.

I noticed this morning that I was very easily accomplishing the Cindy Whitmarsh Exercise TV workouts that a few weeks ago made me feel like I was going to die. I guess that means I’m getting stronger! And I guess it also means I have to step it up a notch (again).

I have now lost 14 pounds and am continuing to lose more. Everything they say about getting fit is true: I do have more energy, and I’m generally happier (even though winter is on its way, which brings out the SAD in me). Surprisingly, I’m also noticing that I have a lot more self-confidence, which is affecting my singing and my personal interactions with people.

I still have to force myself to start exercising every day, though. And I am continuing to struggle with my nutritional choices. But it’s all a part of the process, I know…just as my friend Rebecca is going through a walkabout to discover more about herself, so my physical changes are bringing out emotional sides of me that perhaps have been buried. I know that the simple (simple? ha!) feat of losing weight is not a silver bullet for all the problems in my life, but this process is certainly putting some stuff into perspective, and THAT is why I am doing it.

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Working Out and Singing

My friend Amy suggested that I write a post about my experience trying to keep up with the Body-for-LIFE Challenge while also rehearsing and performing at the Opera Company of Philadelphia’s production of Madama Butterfly, so here goes.

This year, I have had the great good fortune to be able to make my money singing — and nothing else. That situation made this past summer very lean (and a little scary), but once September came around, I was happy to see my paycheck come in from the Opera Company. I had a small role in Madama Butterfly (I played Kate Pinkerton, the American wife), so my checks were larger than I am used to just being in the chorus, which makes the scariness of the summer a little more tolerable.

I only mention this because it means I’ve also had the flexibility in my schedule to work out every day, something that I may not have had time for a year or two ago. The Body-for-LIFE guidelines suggest working out 6 days a week, which is no easy feat if you’ve got to get up early, go to your day job, then go to rehearsal, and come home exhausted. My day job was opera rehearsals, and since my role was so small, I wasn’t even called to very many of those! So I eased into a morning workout routine that has served me well.

Being gone from the house for such a long time, especially around dinner time, does wreak havoc with one’s meal plans. I tried the best I could, bringing protein bars in my purse to help with hunger cravings and trying to buy healthy salads instead of fatty tuna melts (my kryptonite), but I’m sure that one of the reasons I didn’t lose weight nearly as quickly over the five weeks of rehearsing and performing Butterfly is that I didn’t eat quite as conscientiously as I would have otherwise.

What also didn’t help is that, as a principal artist, I was invited to receptions and dinners by the company (to meet donors, etc.), and of course there was food and wine at all these events. I think there may be something about being an actor that turns on this pig-out mentality in my head when free food is available. Perhaps subconsciously we actors think that this free meal might be our only meal of the day (and there have been times in my life when that has been the case!), so we might as well fill ourselves up. Either way, it was difficult for me to turn that sensor off in my brain, and I think there were a few days there where I ate way more than my allotted caloric intake.

My costume helped a little: I was wearing a very heavy skirt (it must have weighed about 30 pounds!), and my dressing room was on the third floor, so walking up and down the stairs in my costume helped burn at least a few of those calories. And even though I was starting to get too small for my jeans in the real world, my costume stayed on just fine…probably due to the fact that I was slowing my weight loss with all that free food!

Now I’m in rehearsals for Philadelphia Singers‘ season opening concert, Bach and Beyond. I’m back to rehearsing at night, but I still have my days free. That means I can stick to my routine of a workout first thing in the morning, followed by a protein shake for breakfast. I eat lunch at home, and, if I can, I also have an early dinner at home before I go to rehearsal. I really like Amy’s idea of making sure that I have at least one salad a day; it helps keep my fiber intake up, as well as being a low-fat, low-calorie meal choice. Plus, I really like salads.

Don’t think I’m sitting around doing nothing else during the day, though! I’m trying to run a business and learn music for a recital I’m doing in March (featuring works by Philadelphia composers Benjamin C.S. Boyle and Jeremy Gill), not to mention my ever-increasing work I’ve gotten myself into for The Crossing. I’m still as busy as ever.

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Exercise TV Review: Abs of Steel

When I saw the “Abs of Steel” workout listing on Comcast On Demand, I couldn’t resist. I remember growing up with commercials for Abs of Steel and Buns of Steel on the television, and I always wondered what they did to make their abs so rock-hard. Since I’ve been concentrating a lot on abs during my workouts recently, I thought this new, updated version with Leisa Hart would be the perfect addition to my armamentarium.

At least, that’s what I thought.

Once again, I was disappointed that I strayed from my Jillian Michaels/Cindy Whitmarsh training. The workout was 25 minutes, divided up into 10 minutes of standing abs work, 10 minutes of chair work, and 5 minutes of mat work, none of which were extremely effective.

The standing abs portion was a series of fairly standard combinations targeting the obliques, mostly, but the combination of movements were put together way too quickly. By the time I actually figured out the series of moves, she was on to the next combination, so I never had any time to do the moves properly. I did get my heart pumping, though, and I was sweating by the end of the 10 minutes, so good for that.

The next part was seated abs moves, for which one needs a chair. Now, I do these exercises in my living room, and the only chairs we’ve got are soft and squishy couches — definitely not conducive to good exercise. I tried my best to keep my abs tight as I did all the exercises, but my couch kept sucking me into its vortex of comfort.

The last five minutes were for crunches on the mat, and this part actually was effective, but it was only for 5 minutes! And the last minute of that was stretches, so really it was four minutes of crunches. Very disappointing. All in all, I think if I want a good abs workout, I’m sticking with Cindy Whitmarsh. She knows how to get me into shape.

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Exercise TV Review: Slim & Sexy

I’m not sure how or why I got to this category, but I think I was trying to find something completely different. And I did. I have only tried one workout in the “Slim & Sexy” category and I was not impressed. The programs in this category (as of today) are:

  • Booty Beat (12 mins.)
  • Bootylicious Buns (11 mins.)
  • Camera-Ready Core (11 mins.)
  • Chair Dance (8 mins.)
  • Kendra’s Shape Up (11 mins.)
  • Kim Kardashian Abs (23 mins.)
  • Kim Kardashian Butt (23 mins.)
  • Kim Kardashian Step (23 mins.)

As far as I can tell, this is geared towards the Reality TV-watching, Cosmo-reading demographic — you know, the women who go out to night clubs every weekend and want to put a strip pole in their bedrooms for “exercise.” I ended up choosing the Kim Kardashian Abs program, because it was the longest program…and, sadly, because I had heard of Kim Kardashian (although I’ve never seen her show).

The first thing I noticed is that Kim wasn’t the one leading the workout; her personal trainer was. In fact, this was essentially a peek into what Kim Kardashian does when she works out…only she’s working out in full makeup, wearing a girdle (!!!) and a push-up bra. Oh, and her long, luxurious hair is down, so you know she’s not going to be exerting her head too much. I was rolling my eyes from the very first minute, but I decided to keep watching and working out.

Kim’s personal trainer (too bad they never say her name) is actually a pretty good trainer. I got a good workout on my arms and abs (not so much my legs, but the video did specify this was supposed to focus on abs), but I didn’t break a sweat because Kim never broke a sweat. I mean, if you’re going to cake that much makeup on for the camera, you can’t actually sweat it off, now, can you?

(Oh, I’m sorry. Was that my out loud voice?)

Let’s just say that although I do watch reality TV (mostly Survivor and Amazing Race, but yes, The Real World is a guilty pleasure of mine), I don’t really read Cosmo, and I am a lot more no-nonsense than the women this particular category is catering to. I’ll be avoiding the Slim & Sexy category from now on…and also anything by Kim Kardashian.

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Exercise TV Review: Jillian Michaels

Yes, Jillian Michaels has her own category on Exercise TV. And well she should; she is a good motivator and an excellent teacher. In her 30-Day Shred videos, she’s got the same two women working out behind her: one does the modified moves, and the other one does each move to the max. The workout is only 20 minutes, but as she says, “If you’re only working out for 20 minutes, I want you moving that entire time.” And she maximizes those 20 minutes through strength and cardio intervals which kick my butt even though they’re only a few minutes each. At the end of each workout, though, I feel energized (and sweaty) and sore (and sweaty), and I feel great about myself.

The 30-Day Shred Level 3 is not up on Comcast On Demand right now (which is fine, because I’m not ready to progress to level 3 yet anyway). On Demand is funny, because it’s almost random the things you find in there from day to day…but while I’m waiting for Level 3 to appear, I want to try Jillian Michaels’ Boost Metabolism and No More Trouble Zones that are in the category.

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Exercise TV Review: Abs

Cindy Whitmarsh has a really excellent program called 6 Packs in 6 Weeks, and, just like Jillian Michaels’ program, it goes through three levels — ostensibly, you do each level for two weeks, and by the end of it, you’ll have 6-pack abs. Since I’m not doing this workout every day (or even every other day…more like every four days), I don’t think I’ll be sporting a washboard stomach by the end of this, but Cindy sure gives me a workout that exercises my core as well as your glutes, arms, and thighs. The thing I like the best about this program is that she doesn’t talk down to you but also doesn’t act as if you’re a pro, either. At the end of each 45-minute workout, I feel sweaty, exhausted, and totally pumped full of endorphins.

On one of my workout days, I tried Jennifer Galardi’s AM Standing Abs, an 11-minute program which didn’t do anything for me at all. First of all, there was no warm-up to speak of, so we started in on the crunches right away, and I felt no tightness at all in my abs (a sure sign that you’re working them). She didn’t explain how they should be done, or what to avoid, and at the end of the program, I said, “That’s it?!?” I know I didn’t get a workout with that program.

Jackie Warner’s 1-on-1 Core was the exact opposite. Instead of being too easy, it was way too advanced for me. Jackie is the trainer on Bravo’s show Work Out, and I was surprised to see 4 people working out with her on the show, and the room seems kind of crowded. All of them were majorly ripped models/beefcakes, and made me feel very dumpy. She did have one person modifying all the exercises for poor schlubs like me who weren’t as fit, but she spent more time showing off the guy who could do all the moves with 10-lb weights in his hand. Even though I was sweating by the end of this show, my morale and self-esteem were in the toilet, and there is no way I would want to exercise with her again.

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Body-for-LIFE Check-In: Week 7

Well, I’ve made it past the 6-week mark in my 12-week Body-for-LIFE challenge, and I’m finally starting to see results. Although I have only broken the 180-lb. barrier for one day (and then promptly went back up to 181), I think I’ve gone down one dress size, because all my pants are too big. This, to me, is more important than the weight loss (although I still want to lose at least 5 more pounds by the time this challenge is over!), because I know I’m building muscle as I’m losing fat — and muscle weighs more than fat.

The program I’m on has me alternating strength days with cardio days, and for my cardio days, I’ve been going to Exercise TV on Comcast On Demand for some workouts that really kick my butt. Almost every TV workout I’ve tried does more than just get my heart rate up and start me sweating, because most of the workout shows build strength training in with cardio “for maximum calorie burn,” or that’s what they keep telling me as I sweat buckets onto my yoga mat.

Because I’ve been trying to mix up my workouts (so my body doesn’t get used to the same thing every other day), I’ve been looking through the various shows on On Demand, and since I have a captive audience, I thought I’d review some of them here. I’ll write each On Demand category as a separate post so you can more easily find and read them.

As for my eating habits, I still need some work. I’ve been getting better; I signed up with eDiets.com to to tailor a meal plan for me, but I haven’t actually started following the meal plan. Sigh. A huge part of this is because I’m out so much, especially around dinner time, and I just haven’t gotten in the habit of bringing dinner with me. I also had some slip-ups last week because I went to a fancy restaurant for a friend’s birthday (and drank lots of wine), and then an opening night party for Butterfly, and then went out a few times after rehearsal with some friends. It’s the going out part that really wreaks havoc on my caloric intake…but I don’t want to be antisocial, and eating is a part of my social life.

Ah well…I’m still learning, and it is a process.

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Body-for-LIFE Week 4

I haven’t been posting too much about my progress, because it’s been pretty much the same old thing every week: alternate cardio with strength training days, and trying to eat better. But here are some things I’ve been noticing over the past few weeks:

  1. As is typical in most weight-loss situations, I lost a whole bunch of weight right at the beginning, and now I have plateaued at just about 180 lbs. even. Some days I’m a little bit above, but for the most part, I have stayed at 180 for about a week now, and nothing I seem to do can make the needle on the scale move further down.
  2. I do notice that my pants are fitting a little more loosely, so I’m assuming I’m replacing my fat with muscle (which is heavier than fat). That’s what I hope is happening, anyway.
  3. I mentioned in my previous post that I was worried about eating right while I’m out of the house; well, it’s been even harder than I imagined, and I think it may be one of the reasons I haven’t lost any more weight.
  4. Once I start working out, I can finish it through to the end, but it’s gotten harder and harder to motivate myself to do it every day, especially after a free day.
  5. In that same vein, I find that it is much better for me to work out in the morning; that way I’ve gotten it out of the way and I don’t have to worry about it for the rest of the day.

To help me figure out what to eat and what not to eat, I’ve started listening to the Nutrition Diva podcast, a recommendation from my friend Adam875, who has been very supportive in my quest for a healthier lifestyle (even though he tweets about making cupcakes from time to time, which I’m convinced he does just to torture me).

And after reading about how disciplined my friend Amy is about making food ahead of time, I realize that I’m really behind the curve in the “eating right” department. There was a time when I thought just eating a vegetarian diet automatically made me healthier than most of the population, but I realize now that that is not even remotely true.

Even though I grumble and complain about getting on the Bowflex or turning on the exercise programs, I think the really tough part is taking that extra hour or so a week to figure out what the heck I’m going to eat for that week, and then sticking to it. I’ve never done it before, and frankly, I don’t know if I have an extra hour to do all that planning — especially since to set up an efficient planning system, I’d have to put in three or four hours at least.

I am currently spot-checking the calorie count on everything I’m eating. When I get around to it, I log it into my account at Daily Burn, but I haven’t done that in a week, and I’m afraid if I overwhelm myself with too many things to keep track of, that I’ll just give up the whole thing altogether. I definitely don’t want that.

In the meantime, I’m still working out, trying to keep my metabolism rate up and burn as much fat as I can. My cat, Scratchy, has gotten very curious about my visits to the Bowflex every other day, and he will sometimes try to “help” by batting at the moving parts or rubbing up against my legs while I’m working out. Ray calls him my trainer; you can see in the picture that Scratchy by my right leg, checking out my form while I do a bench press.

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Body-for-LIFE Progress Report

So I finished my second (!) week of the 12-week Body-for-LIFE Challenge, and so far I’ve lost 9 pounds. Actually, that’s a little inaccurate: I’ve lost 9 pounds since I weighed myself on August 5. That’s when I started with the Bowflex and began paying attention to what I was eating.

I actually had lost a great deal right away in August, so by the time I actually started the Challenge, I had already lost 6 pounds. Which means I’ve lost 3 pounds since the start of September, but still, I’m on my way.

The singing season is now in full swing, starting with my performance at the Philadelphia Fringe Festival last Sunday and rehearsals for Madama Butterfly having started this week. This means odd hours, late nights, and not as much time at home to eat & prepare my food. I’m a little worried, to be honest. One of the things that’s kept me on track thus far is the fact that I’ve been working from home consistently; being able to just pop down to the kitchen and pull out some carrots or do a quick exercise on the Bowflex has kept me going.

My friend Amy has been blogging about her health goals as well. She is actually quite a regular exerciser (you can see in some of her comments on my previous posts that she’s been very supportive of my goals), but now she wants to eat better during the busy rehearsal season. Since the Body-for-LIFE Challenge is more about a lifestyle change than just losing weight, part of the challenge is eating better as well, so I’m following her progress just as she’s following mine!

Anyway, I have to be out of the house from 2pm to 10pm today, which means I will need to either pack a dinner (probably not going to happen) or eat while I’m out. Luckily, there are a few places near my rehearsals where I can get a healthy bite to eat, keeping in mind that I want to balance my meal with higher protein and lower carbs (more on that issue in a later post). Wish me luck!