Kosama Update

I started going to Kosama last May and I posted about my first and second eight week assessments. You may have noticed that I never posted another update again... I didn't necessarily stop going, but there were several reasons that I haven't posted about it again.

After the August update for my second eight weeks, my next update would have been in mid October. The problem with that was that during that time, Trent and I had spent about 3 weeks dealing with poison ivy rashes. So for four weeks, I had continued to work out like normal and then we came in contact with the poison ivy. After the first few spots showed up, I still went to work out for a few mornings because it wasn't that bad and I could still hide it under my clothes, but after it kept appearing all over places that I didn't want to have to cover up while working out (for fear of overheating if nothing else) and getting super itchy, I didn't want to go anymore because:

1) We weren't 100% sure what it was at first and I didn't want to be around other people if it was contagious, 

2) The thought of being super sweaty and itchy at the same time did not sound fun at all, and 

3) I didn't want people to think that I had leprosy or something...

My  poison ivy arms

So from the end of September through the middle of October, my exercise consisted of exercising my will power to not itch my arms and legs like crazy!

I resumed to working out in the last half of October and into November, but my heart just wasn't in it I guess. I only ended up going about twice a week and for what I was paying for my membership, that wasn't really good enough! So since I knew we were going to be gone for at least 2 weeks out of December and since January would be very busy with work, I didn't think I'd be getting my money's worth for those months either. I ended up "freezing" my membership for December and January and will resume going again in February. Which is next week!! Ahh!!

I am excited to get back to working out, but the thought of getting up at 4:15 in the morning again several times a week just makes me cringe... (I really love my sleep!) especially since it's so cold out at that time of the day!! Oh well, I guess, soon enough it will be summer again and that time of the morning will be very pleasant! :)

I'll post some more updates as I go along - I just didn't want you all to think I had flaked on my plans to work out more! ;)

Kosama - 16 Weeks

Last Saturday marked the end of  my 16th week of going to Kosama. To mark the end of my second 8 weeks, I did another assessment on Saturday morning to see how my stats had changed over the last 8 weeks. 

Now here's where I messed up... 

The way they do their analysis is with ne of those scales with the foot electrodes. After I did the assessment this time, I read online that the readings from these scales are pretty inaccurate, but to make them at least comparable it is important to do your assessments at the same time of day and under the same circumstances each time. 

The first two times that I had assessments, I did them the first thing in the morning after I woke up and hadn't ate anything before hand. This time, I had worked out (which they also say not to do), ate, and had been awake for several hours. I also had to go to a different location to do my assessment this time because they moved all the assessments to one place, which meant the equipment they were using was different as well. So even though I did the assessment, I'm not so confident that the numbers are accurate or comparable... I guess I'll do better next time at keeping everything as consistant as possible!

The whole not having comparable results kind of bothers me since I am all about numbers with being an accountant and all... But I guess I'll just have to go off the fact that I feel better and can tell that my body is changing rather than off of the numbers... But for what it's worth, here's the results!

I went to Kosama 26 out of 48 possible days - 54.17% 

Of the days I missed, I was out of town or wasn't able to go 9 days. 

I also just didn't go or overslept a lot more this 8 weeks, which was bad, but hopefully I can do better this time!

 
Other stats (in spreadsheet form because that's how I roll)

For the next 8 weeks, my goal is to go work out 70% of the time which would be 34 out of the 48 days. I already know there will be a few days where we are out of town and quarter close at work also falls within this 8 weeks, so it's going to be a little bit of a challenge. (And I didn't go this morning! Ahh!) I'm confident I can do it, though!

Click here to see my first 8 week results!

Kosama - First 8 Weeks

Saturday marked the end of my first eight weeks of working out at Kosama. When I started, I did an assessment to have my starting point of my weight, measurements, body composition, etc., and I was re-assessed on Saturday to see how things have changed.

While I can't really see any noticeable physical differences (even though one of the coaches told me she could tell that I looked different from when I started), I can tell that I have more muscle underneath all my fat (mainly because I feel bigger). I wasn't expecting too much from my second assessment, but I figured it'd be nice to know and nice to have another starting point for my next eight weeks of classes.

During this next eight weeks, I intend to try to eat better, and hopefully that will allow me to see some real physical changes to my body. I do feel that I started out eight weeks ago eating better than I normally would, but when I got into June, that all pretty much went out the window. With having two big parties at our house and a birthday party at my mom's, it meant a lot of not-so-good for you food and leftovers that last throughout the week. We have some leftovers at our house from this past weekend and are having another get-together at our house for the 4th, so hopefully next week and beyond, there won't be many interruptions in eating better. I am not going to pretend that I'm going to eat perfectly all the time (because I really love food!), but there are some obvious things that I can do to try to be healthier.

So without further ado, here are some stats:

I went to Kosama 33 out of 48 possible days - 68.75% 

(Doesn't include Sundays when there aren't any classes)
I went at 6:30 a.m. the first 4 days and 4:30 a.m. every weekday since then (except two days I had vacation from work, I went at 9:00 a.m. and noon). On Saturday mornings I have gone to the 7:00 a.m. class.

 Of the days I missed:

• I overslept 2 days (just last week!)
• I didn't feel well 2 days, so I didn't go (I think I was sleep deprived from staying up working on projects)
• We were out of town 9 days (On vacation for 6 days and we were gone 3 Saturdays)
• I chose not to go 2 days. (I didn't go for sleep's sake on Memorial Day and the Monday before our CPA Party)

 Other stats (for what they're worth):

I gained 4.2 pounds

My body fat percentage decreased 1.3%

Total Body Water increased 3.4 pounds

BMI decreased by 0.1

My Fat Free Mass increased 4.8 pounds

My Basal Metabolic Rate (The amount of calories I'd burn if I stayed in bed all day) increased by 18 calories

Both of my biceps increased by 1/2 an inch

My chest measurement got bigger by 1/2 an inch

My hips got bigger by a 1/4 an inch

My right thigh is 1/2 an inch larger

My left thigh is 1/4 an inch larger

(I can definitely tell that all these things are larger, not smaller)

So now that I have a good head start on the muscle part of all this (because I know I had very little to start with 8 weeks ago!) I am relying on a change in eating habits to allow my muscle to eat the fat away! My goal with this whole working out thing isn't to lose weight or to bulk up or anything, it's just to be active again and get on the road to being healthier. I mean, I'd love to look good and all that stuff, but hopefully that will be a side effect of the healthiness! ;)

I'll let you know how it's all going about 8 weeks from now!

The Weekend

This past weekend was a busy one, but sometimes, that's kinda how I like it!

Friday night, Trent and I had a little movie date. We went to Iron Man 3. I love the Iron Man movies and I love Robert Downey Jr., so it was great! AND, in proper moviegoer style, we each got our own large drinks and shared a large popcorn (I think they called it the Super Deluxe Combo or something appropriate like that). I love going to the movies and having popcorn, so it was just perfect. Talk about a nutritious supper!

Saturday morning I had my Initial Assessment at Kosama. Kosama is basically a workout program made up of high intensity classes. They have several different class times, six days a week. I had bought a Groupon a few months back because I had always wanted to try one of these places, and, now that I am not studying anymore, I am jumping in to working out each morning.

At the initial assessment they weigh you and take your measurements and go over some information about the program and things like that. It was about an hour long appointment and we only "worked out" for about 5 minutes of that time just so they could show us how a few things were done. And just from that, I was quite sore the rest of the day and through Sunday... So I knew I was going to be quite sore come Monday morning when I was going to take my first class!

Saturday afternoon, Trent and I went over to his co-worker, Ben's, house for a Kentucky Derby Party. There were eight of us there. We were the only lame ones who didn't dress up in Kentucky Derby attire, but they still let us participate. :) Before the race we hung out and ate and drank Derby-style food and drink.

For drinks, Ben had Mint Julep's. They are made up of four ingredients: mint, bourbon, sugar and water. Everyone else there seemed to love them, but I guess I learned that bourbon is not an alcohol that I like, so I stuck to the Dr. Pepper!

Other "Kentucky" items we had were Kentucky Hot Browns and Bourbon Balls.

The hot browns are basically turkey, bacon, cheese, tomato and green onions on top of a French Toast type bread... Although an interesting concoction, it was pretty good. I'm not exactly sure what makes up the whole "ball" part of the Bourbon Ball, but I can tell you that it has Bourbon in it and it's coated in chocolate. :)

Before the race started, we each picked a horse that we thought would win the race, which made it a little more intense.  One of the 8 horses we picked did win the race, too. My horse, Normandy Invasion, was ahead for a while in the race, but just couldn't stick it out. I was still proud of him, though :) After the race, we all hung out and chatted into the evening. It made for a very fun day.

On Sunday morning I headed up north to Sioux City for some fun.

My friend Bailey's husband, Josh, graduated from Law School on Saturday and her sister, Jamie, also graduated from college this past weekend, so they had a party at Miles Inn to celebrate. It was great to see Bailey and enjoy a wonderful Charlie Boy over lunch.

THEN, I went to hang out with my sister for a few hours and she just happened to be babysitting the O'Connor kids, John Paul, Anya, and Cooper. They are just putting the finishing touches on a new house that they built and it is beautiful. I was very glad that Kellsey was able to show me around the house and even more happy to see the kids again. It had been about 10 months since I had seen them!


Their beautiful new house

I got to see around their rooms and they told me all about some of their new stuff and it was just very fun to be around them again. I even got to play chess with Anya. I really don't know how to play chess, but she sure seemed like she knew how to play. She set all the pieces up correctly (I didn't even know how to do that) and she knew which direction each of the pieces should go (or at least she acted like she knew and she was consistent with it!) I was thoroughly impressed. She really is one smart little girl. And pretty cute too!

I sure hope that I get to see them again soon!! It was a great afternoon of seeing my favorite Sioux City people all at once!!

And to start off this week, I had my first three days at Kosama. And WOW am I sore?!?! The first day was rough and I my muscles were very jelly-like at the end of class as well as sore throughout the day, but overall it wasn't as bad as it could have been, so I thought I could handle it. Then came Tuesday morning, and that was really really rough. My muscles just didn't want me to do anything very well. They were so sore and weak and that made everything ten times harder... I couldn't do much squatting down or anything without my legs wanting to give out. That made the rest of my day pretty interesting as I hobbled around at work. This morning wasn't as bad as Tuesday. The class was yoga type moves, so I was happy to get some stretching in (even though the huge knots in my leg muscles kept me from stretching too far) and not have to do much high impact stuff. As I'm sitting here now, the part of my body that hurts the most is the insides of my elbows (which is a very strange pain!). It kills to straighten my arms all the way! I am hoping that gets better before tomorrow morning's kick boxing class! I know these classes are going to be rough (especially the whole getting up in the morning thing), but I'm excited to be active again and am hoping that I see some changes in my body after a few weeks of this. (And I told Trent I can't wait to show him when I can do more than 5 push ups in a row!) In the end, I know this will make me healthier and I know I'll feel good after I get done each morning!

Hope you're having a good week! Halfway to the weekend! Woot!