Fighting For Fitness – Progress Report – Aug. 15th

Welcome to another edition of Fighting For Fitness, brought to you by Pro Fitness of Cranbrook and independent Isagenix Consultant Rick Voisey.

Fighting for Fitness chronicles my journey to better health through GameOn and GameNTrain. Last week’s article introduced us to the Isagenix program. A lot of the terminalogy the Isagenix uses was described in there.

It’s Wednesday, August 15th and we are now on Day 9 of the Isagenix program and my work-out routine.

One thing that I learned over the first week of the program is that every scale is different. This applies to both your traditional gym scales and your digital scales.

I say this because I’ve learned my accurate weight over the course of last week. In last week’s article, I documented all of my various stats that needed to be taken in for the start of the Isagenix program. After using a properly balanced scale, I realize that my weight is not 258 pounds like I reported, but was actually 260 pounds.

What I’m getting at is showing my current weight, as of Day 9 of the Fighting For Fitness program.

Day 1 – 260 pounds
Day 8 – 256 pounds
Total Weight Loss – 4 Pounds

To me, this is a pretty good start. Four pounds over one week sounds like a pretty small number, but remember that this program is a 13 week program. If that weight loss is consistent for the entire program, you are looking at a 52 pound weight loss, putting me around 208 pounds.

There’s nothing guaranteeing that my weight will continue to go down in the same amount each week, but it definitely has me optimistic.

The Isagenix Plan

Over the course of the first week of the Isagenix program, I was introduced to Cleanse days, which I go into detail about in this week’s edition of GameOn. Be sure to check out my reaction to a day of no food.

Below is my diet for the Isagenix Program so far…

Day 1  – Tuesday, August 7th
breakfast – IsaLean Shake
lunch – 14 mini-carrots (140 calories)
dinner – IsaLean Shake

Day 2 – Wednesday, August 8th
breakfast – Isalean Shake
lunch – 14 mini-carrots and half a slice of banana bread (300 calories)
dinner – Isalean Shake

Day 3 – Thursday, August 9th
breakfast – IsaLean Shake
lunch – half a bag of mini-carrots (140 calories)
after workout energy boost – Powerade (130 calories)
dinner – IsaLean Shake

Day 4 – Friday, August 10th
breakfast – two waffles with blueberries (400 calories)
lunch – IsaLean Shake
after workout energy boost – Powerade (130 calories)
dinner – IsaLean Shake

Day 5 – Saturday, August 11th
breakfast – IsaLean Shake
lunch – IsaLean Shake
dinner – Chicken Ceasar Wrap (700 calories – 200 OVERLIMIT)
after workout energy boost – Gatorade2 (60 calories)

Day 6 – Sunday, August 12th
CLEANSE DAY – NO FOOD INTAKE
(Cleanse days are balanced out by supplements added to your daily water intake. This in turn provides you with all of your needed nutrients for the day.)

Day 7 – Monday, August 13th
Breakfast – two waffles with blueberries (400 calories)
lunch – IsaLean Shake
after workout energy boost – Gatorade 2, half an Isagenix snack bar (180 calories)
dinner – IsaLean Shake

Day 8 – Tuesday, August 14th
breakfast – IsaLean Shake
lunch – half of a pre-packaged bag of baby carrots, one Crispy Minis Rice Cakes (200 calories total)
after workout energy boost – Powerade, half an Isagenix snack bar (250 calories)
dinner – IsaLean Shake

Day 9 – Wednesday, August 15th
breakfast – IsaLean Shake
lunch – half of a pre-packaged bag of baby carrots, one Crispy Minis Rice Cake (200 calories total)
after workout energy boost – one cup of 1% milk (120 calories)
dinner – IsaLean Shake

That has been my meals for the past nine days. The interesting thing about this plan is despite the little food intake that you see above, I have not felt hungry. As mentioned in earlier articles, the IsaLean Shakes contain the essential nutrients you need to get through your day and my body took notice.

I also very rarely ran low on energy. A few days into the program, I noticed I would be drained after finishing a day at the gym. I consulted with Kathy Voisey about this, an Independent Isagenix Consultant in the Cranbrook area.

Kathy said that when you are doing intensive workouts while on the Isagenix program, you have a little more wiggle room for how many calories you can have in a day. That way, you don’t put yourself at risk of being too drained or causing your body harm by depraving it of needed energy.

At that point, I added in the Powerade and the Gatorade2 as an after-workout energy boost. Both drinks are great sources of electralytes, often used to help rejuvenate someone that is dealing with heat exhaustion.

I honestly prefer Gatorade2 over regular Powerade, due to the number games the two drinks play. A bottle of Powerade contains 130 calories, but upwards of 41 grams of sugar. That’s a lot of sugar for the body to take in! A bottle of Gatorade 2 contains only 60 calories and only 15 grams of sugar. That being said, G2 has less of a taste to it then normal Powerade, so pursue what sounds more appealing to you.

If I could, I would simply stick to water after a workout, but if I need a quick energy boost after being drained from a workout, water is just not going to cut it.

Exercising at Pro Fitness in Cranbrook

I have managed to maintain my five day a week workout plan, performing various exercises at the gym from Tuesday – Friday of last week, actual physical work on Saturday, then back to the gym Monday and Tusday of this week. My goal is to do some form of physical activity every single day, while hitting the gym at least five days a week.

Aside from the initial work-out routine I described here last week, I’ve added a few more exercises, primarily focusing on legs and core. That way, I don’t become a slave to habit and allow my body to climatize to my workout routine.

These new additional exercises are listed below…

Leg lifts (Raising your right knee to your chest, then your left knee. Repeat this 10 times each leg for three sets)
Step-ups (Step up onto a platform, step down onto a platform. Repeat 10 times for three sets.
Leg Press (Standard gym leg press, found in gyms everywhere)
Hip sways (with or without yoga ball, I prefer without)
Push-ups and crunches (basic exercises)

Again, the goal is to get the body moving. Whether you are exercising outdoors or indoors, it doesn’t matter. That being said,  a gym like Pro Fitness offers many different pieces of exercise equipment all in one place, creating the convenience factor.

That about does it for Fighting for Fitness this week. You can listen to my thoughts on Week 1 of the program in the GameOn podcast, airing Thursday, August 16.

Fighting For Fitness documents my results through Pro Fitness and Isagenix to show just what this program can accomplish.

Now Remember, if you are planning to begin any sort of dietary program or exercise routine, always consult your physician first. Make sure the program you are doing is the right one for you.

What may work for me may not work for your own personal weight goals, so be sure to research the options that are available to you.