ChaLEAN Extreme Day Zero and Things Skinny Girls Don't Tell You

I set my alarm this morning for 6 AM because I had a very specific purpose for my morning. I wanted to be at my favorite breakfast restaurant at 7 AM when they opened to sit, have coffee, have pancakes and finish writing my paper for my grammar class. Come to find last week I had a super awesome case of Strep Throat, so my first week of Graduate School is kind of a blur. As a reminder, I've started a program to get my Masters in English in Creative Writing all online. I had completed everything for the week except this last paper and my hopes of finishing it last night were dashed as I kept falling asleep last night around 10 PM with my laptop resting on my thighs.

Big breakfast. I ordered two white chocolate chip pancakes that were covered with powdered sugar and this delicious mixed berry puree. Came with a couple pieces of bacon. And as I sat there, in my size 4 skinny pants, legs perfectly crossed, I caught the eye of a girl sitting across the restaurant with her basket of bread and her parfait. She's much bigger than me, though I did notice the 13.1 sticker on her car. From hearing her talk to the waitress, it sounds like she's a walker. And I wonder how I look to her. She doesn't finish her parfait, things are parceled up and she leaves the restaurant quickly.

I feel like I've become that novel person that you always see sitting in the front row of a Weight Watcher's meeting. The skinny girl that you assume has always had it easy. Maybe she joined Weight Watcher's to lose 10 pounds because she wanted to be a supportive person for her friend that needed to lose 50. The girl you wonder, “why is she here?” And then you find out she's celebrating her 6^th month at goal after losing 100 pounds. Being skinny almost sullies your street cred. How do you know anything about fatness?

I've thought of the topic “Things Skinny Girls Never Told Me” for a few weeks now in that I have really been enjoying some of the benefits that being a smaller person have to offer. There's negative things too. I think that phrase should be more accurately put, “Things Skinny Girls Would Tell You If You Cared to Listen.” It's the old adage, “Don't trust a skinny chef.” Why not? I eat more often than many overweight people, sometimes that's the problem, eating too little and too much of what you shouldn't eat. Food is still a wonderful experience and I dare say I enjoy it more now because we have an understanding. It's not here to serve the same function it once served.

I ate every last bite of those pancakes, completely eliminating the need for “Second Breakfast” today, as I was still full.

What skinny girls never tell you is how good it feels. Don't take my use of the word “skinny” as used in a way that discredits the word “fit.” I'm not at tip top athletic condition, but I can manage a lot with this little body I'm working, so I'd say I'm fit-ish. People look down upon that Kate Moss quote, “Nothing Tastes as Good as Skinny Feels” but once you rid your body of its obsession with donuts and then you eat one... you know exactly what she means. And when you're doubled over with lower abdominal distress and you wonder why you just did that to yourself, you remember when you used to buy three donuts in the Dunkin Donuts drive thru, eating all three of them before you walk into work... and how your body did nothing, almost encouraging you not to stop. Maybe skinny girls can't tell you how good it feels because it's all they've ever felt.

They don't tell you that sitting isn't the most comfortable position. I find myself standing very, very often because my ass is so tiny and my bones get tired. And if sitting isn't the most comfortable position, think of all the things you can do while not sitting. And then you have a self fulfilling prophecy. Though my plane ride was awesome because I could really curl up in the seat, my tail bone was grinding against that firm seat to the point of pain. They don't tell you about that stuff because then everyone starts playing the world's smallest violin, standing there believing that these things are not attainable. You never know what you're capable of, what you're truly capable of, until you achieve it.

They don't tell you that clothes are just as difficult to buy (ever think of what you do when a Small is too big?). That eating so often makes you tired of chewing. That sometimes you just get sick and tired of salad.

The point is that life isn't perfect. When you get to your ideal weight don't get comfortable. Life is full of challenges whether you're 217 pounds and you're trying to lose weight and get under 200, or whether you're 132 pounds and you're trying to find a way to give your body a new challenge. Everyone is working hard. Everyone has failed. Everyone has successes to celebrate. Just like that skinny girl sitting in the front of the Weight Watcher's meeting, she has lived and beat those challenges down and continues to face the challenge of not letting her old lifestyle win her over again. Skinny girls never tell you how hard it is and how hard they continue to work. Maybe talking about hard work isn't super motivating... but telling you how worth it it is should help.

Amidst my strep throat, I lost what would have been my first week of ChaLEAN Extreme. But I've been a very good girl while sick and have only done a few push ups a day and tried not to do cardio since I'm really getting some deep chest coughs out. But today, I took the 20 minute fitness test that you're supposed to take before starting the workout, watched the video about form for slow, deliberate weight lifting, and took my Day 1 pictures and measurements. Of course, I rigged up this McGyver picture taking stand that consisted of an empty oatmeal container and two different size containers of protein powder, so some of the pictures cut off my head... but I got it! I'm about 2 weeks out from doing any sort of challenging exercising, so I'm a little ashamed of my pushups, but I tried to be honest as far as marking down what I could do before my form started to get sloppy. Here's my Day Zero results:

Move	Start (4/7/2013)	Final (approx. 7/6/2013)
Pushups	10
Crunches	23
Squats	22
Forearm Plank	00:01:03
Overhead Shoulder Press	12 reps – 7 pounds
Biceps Curl	10 reps – 7 pounds
Sit & Reach	11 inches

  And here are my measurements:

Measurement	Day 1 (4/7)	Day 30 (5/7)	Day 60 (6/6)	Day 90 (7/6)
Waist (at navel)	32 inches
Hips	36.5 inches
Abductors	35 inches
Chest (at nipple)	37 inches
Right Arm	10.5 inches
Left Arm	11 inches
Right Thigh	20.5 inches
Left Thigh	20.5 inches
Weight	131.9 lbs
Body Fat %	19%

And lastly, here are my "before" pictures!

What am I hoping to get out of this program? You're plenty skinny, Katie... Well, I'm glad you ask. This program seems to be much more about building muscle and reducing overall body fat. I'm looking forward to getting stronger so that I may use that strength in my obstacle race that is now less than a month away. I'm also hoping to use this as cross training for my running for when I start in on half marathon training. I'm going to do the first week exactly as I'm supposed to, but I may end up substituting the cardio DVD for a run.

In food news, I don't know if I've ever mentioned, in the processed food that I have eliminated from my life, there is one that remains. Cereal. And I was never a cereal eater when I was overweight. My Handsome Gentleman actually turned me on to cereal because he'd eat a bowl of cereal in the middle of the night and still be all fit and skinny and gorgeous (hey, I'm biased) so I thought he was on to something. I've been eating a lot of Kashi Go Lean Crunch. I've eaten it normally in a bowl of milk, but I really like it in yogurt! It's very much like granola only with none of the fat. I eat a half serving with my yogurt. Here are some pictures of the different ways I've had it recently. 

 

I'm really proud of the way I ate while I was sick. I actually lugged myself to the grocery to get good for me foods and I only got two milkshakes (Wendy's Caramel Frosty Shake) because hey, I had a sore throat. Bite me.

I'm hoping to try some of the ChaLEAN Extreme menu foods just as something new to try. I would write more, but frankly I'm exhausted. I tried to take a nap earlier, but that didn't happen. The sun is shining on my chair next to my big, big windows and I'm going to curl up in it like I'm a cat.