Friday, May 23, 2008

Warp Speed Fat Loss - Days 11 and 12 of 28!

"Dear friend, I hope all is well with you and that you are as healthy in body as you are strong in spirit." - 3 John 1:2

I have to admit that Stacey and I are very happy with the meals in the Warp Speed Fat Loss program. They offer plenty of variety, and they taste good. Mike Roussell did a great job planning the meals for this program. Stacey is a harsh critic of protein shakes and "healthy" meals, but she has been very happy with everything.

Some of the breakfast, lunch and dinners are truly delicious. The good thing is that although there are suggestions on seasoning some of the meals, you are given the opportunity to use whatever spices you prefer. It also helps that Stacey can cook well and adds flavor to the meals using the right ingredients.

I've really enjoyed the various snacks including some of the shake recipes and my new favorite snack is the undeviled egg. All you do is take a hard boiled egg, cut it in half lengthwise and then spread a little hummus over the middle where the yolk is located. To me, this is one of the best tasting snacks I've had! And unlike a real deviled egg, it's not loaded with mayonnaise or other bad ingredients.

As for day 11 (Thurs.), we seemed to do okay despite the fact that we made Day 10 (Wed.) our no-carb day since I had a work-related event that night and was unable to train. The only "bad" thing about doing this was the fact that Thursday's training was a tough weight session and not having any carbs the day before left us a little lower on energy. It was also hot and very humid on Thursday. Despite that, I was able to increase my weights and/or reps on almost all the exercises.

Our strength exercises included an incline dumbbell bench press superset with a three-point dumbbell row. I didn't increase the weight over the previous week, but I did manage to get more reps. A nice improvement.

I decided to increase the intensity quite a bit when we performed Circuit A of the routine. This is the circuit where we alternate the pushup/jackknife combo with the reverse lunge/cable row combo.

Previously, I used bodyweight-only for the pushup/jackknife combo. This time, I put on my Xvest loaded with 20lbs. That increased the intensity tremendously! I also continued to wear the Xvest when I performed the reverse lunge/cable row combo. I had increased the weight on the exercise by five pounds over the previous week, but wearing the Xvest on top of that took the exercise to a whole new level! I was dripping in sweat and really had to push myself to complete all sets of six reps on both combo movements within the 10-minute time frame.

I didn't wear the Xvest on the second circuit of exercises (squat/push press combo and lat pulldown), but I did increase the weight on all exercises. Once we finished Circuit B, we performed our intervals using a barbell complex. It was brutal! But we finished in just under 60 minutes and felt good when it was over.

Today's meals have gone great. The breakfast was delicious and really kept me satisfied all morning until lunch. Our training for tonight includes intervals and steady-state cardio. I'm actually looking forward to it because my hamstrings finally feel rested and not as sore as they had been the last several days. We should be able to push the intensity higher again today and start seeing more improvements.

Speaking of improvements, Stacey is down to 152lbs. This is the lightest she has weighed in a long, long time! Even though it's only a 5-6 pound loss in 12 days on the program, she is also seeing a lot of changes in how her clothes fit and how she looks in the mirror. That is definitely keeping her motivated to continue with the program.

I'm very proud of her for doing this. She has stuck to the meal plans and the training despite our crazy schedules and all the stress we've had lately. She is really enjoying the training and the meal plans. I'm hoping that she will begin dropping more weight during the last two weeks now that her body is adjusting. If she doesn't lose 15-20lbs at the end of the 28 days, she plans on continuing the program for another two weeks. After that, she will re-evaluate what to do next (2 more weeks on Warp Speed Fat Loss, or something else to get her to her goals).

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