Okapi Weight Loss Program Phase 2

So, as many of you know I've been doing my workout program for two weeks and have lost a few pounds. I'm sure I've also gained a little bit of muscle, so all in all this okapi is happy. Now comes the fun part: phase 2. 

Have you seen the movie "Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead"? Yeah, well I hadn't either until one of my best friends, The Ewok, came to my house after watching it. She told me all about this movie with this guy who juice fasted and lost weight and turned his life around and cured himself of a debilitating auto-immune disorder and helped save others and...well you get the picture. At first I was extremely cynical, but after several hours of The Ewok banging her spear and drilling in the gospel of the juice, I was intrigued.

I told "Fancy" about the juice fast and we streamed the movie on Netflix that very night. It turns out that everything The Ewok said was true, so "Fancy" and I decided to try it. I did extra research on juice fasting and we picked a date to begin: July 17, tomorrow. 

Juice fasting is when you eat only fresh fruit and vegetable juice for a period of time (usually at least 10 days). It cleanses your body of all the crap built up from years of eating terrible "food". You can only drink juice and water the whole time; no coffee, tea, cigarettes, booze, or food. I'll miss tea and food, "Fancy" will miss coffee, cigarettes, and food-plus she'll be working. This is going to be goddamn tough.

I went to the downtown public market this past Thursday, which by the way was rated #1 in the country last year, and bought $70 worth of produce. I have green leaf lettuce, celery, red peppers, cucumbers, zucchini, lemons, ginger root, peaches, and two kinds of apples. We're ready to juice! 

We will juice fast for a minimum of 10 days starting tomorrow, so I won't be able to do any restaurant reviews this week which is totally sad for me, but I will post about other stuff. I should have lots of energy after the first couple of days, so I'll be able to check out some sweet nature spots to throw on here for you guys. 

Lastly, please excuse my tone over the next several days: While my body is cleansing, detoxing, creating new cells, losing fat, and clearing up my skin I will probably be at least a little miserable. I'll probably be like Stan Marsh from South Park in that episode where everything seems like shit to him. On a totally unrelated note I think I'm a lot like Stan Marsh in other ways, like always wear a blue hat with a red stripe along the rim, I swear, I'm cynical...screw it, I'll just do a post about this sometime. I clearly have a complex.

Okapi Workout Program Phase 1 (update week 1)

*Disclaimer: You should contact your physician before starting any new diet/exercise program*

So, I did my week 1 weigh in this morning and I'm down 5 pounds. That is a great week 1 loss, but that's not what I'm most excited about; I'm excited that I'm still really motivated by the plan. I like the fact that I'm upping the amount of body weight exercises that I'm able to do (two push-ups in a row day 1 was rough, five in a row day 3 was easier), I have more energy, and my muscles are sore in a good way. The soreness is one of the best parts because it makes me feel like I'm actually getting somewhere and encourages me to keep going.

The reason that I lost so much weight week 1 had a lot to do with my lifestyle prior to the workout plan: I did nothing physical and paid no attention to what I was eating. Also, more muscle means more calories burned doing nothing, so there is that.I have been on weight loss programs before where I lost this much weight if not more in the first week, but none that I was excited about after the first week, so I'm making progress.

I love working out at home because I can wear whatever I want, make as much noise as I want, hang out with the dogs on my minute long rest breaks, and break up the work-out if need be. This is great because it makes all of my excuses disappear. I'm also happy to announce that "Fancy" will be joining the program this week :)

It is awesome that I can do this with minimal equipment (laptop, timer (I use Mr. Droid), small dumbbell, exercise ball, long stick, and chin-up bar). I had all of this stuff prior to starting the program, so I spent no money. Even without the exercise ball, chin-up bar, and dumbbell I would still be able to do 75% of this workout plan, so it can be free for pretty much anyone. Oh, and I can move all of it out of the living room once my workout is complete.

Next week starts Phase 2 of my plan, so stay tuned!

Okapi Workout Program Phase 1

*Disclaimer: You should contact your physician before starting any new diet/exercise program*

This okapi is overweight and under active. I've decided that since I'm lazy going to the gym doesn't work for me; there are just too many (imaginary) excuses not to go. I also decided that I really want to lose some weight and gain some muscle before I start law school. Unfortunately, being an overweight woman can hurt your  career. (Good news, boys: The same is untrue of men, so have all the burgers and beers you want!)

Of course this really pisses me off and it should piss you off too whether you're fat or not, but I digress. My career is of course one reason I want to take off some pounds, but another is that I feel like crap. There's nothing worse than a fat, lethargic, okapi. It sleeps a lot and eats a lot, but feels icky.So, I've enacted phase one of my workout plan this week by ditching my gym membership (!) and developing a workout program that thwarts my weaknesses.

First, I researched workout ideas and found this article from Men's Journal. It reminded me of something I had heard a long time ago about body weight exercises being the most effective. Now, I won't rehash the whole article here (you're welcome), but I will say that it makes sense to have your body work as a unit and use your own (sometimes unnecessarily heavy) weight as the resistance. Next I researched that concept and came up with the a workout plan.

Have you ever heard of hundredpushups.com? Well, it's a free six week guide to go from doing 1 or 2 push-ups to 100. It only takes 10 minutes three times a week, so I can't bitch about it. Hell, I can even watch TV while I do it, so I have no excuses. The same people who made the push-up site also did the same for squats, sit-ups, and dips. So, I do all of them three days per week. I also added chin-ups and since I have to use a chair I just do them in the same amount of reps as the dips and call it good. The different workouts don't have to be in a row, I just have to do them.


*UPDATE: "Fancy" pointed out that I should do 2 minutes of jumping jacks to get my muscles warmed up before these exercises to avoid injury. As usual, she's probably right, so you should do the same and for Jeebus sake, don't forget to stretch afterward!!*

Another thing I learned from the Men's Journal article is that four simple exercises can help you avoid common injuries. I do these as well.

Two other days of the week I have to do some sort of exercise, but it doesn't matter what it is. It can be creek walking, biking, tennis, hiking, or just walking around the neighborhood, but I have to move for at least 30 minutes.

As far as food intake, I track my calorie and fat intake at fatsecret.com which is free and has a huge database of foods to track. There's even an Android app which is awesome! My goal is 1600-1800 calories per day.

This is phase one which is a 6 week plan, so I'll let you know how it works out. Stay tuned for phase 2!