Fall Fitness Reset!

Hi Gang! Can you believe it’s August already??? If you read Monday’s post, you know that I’m flipping out a little with how quickly life is moving right now. I know that I will come to appreciate the schedule and structure, but dang the anticipation of all of the changes is about to kill me. Speaking of chaos, Summer is always SO hard when trying to maintain my weight. I never want to come across to you guys as a yo-yo dieter, because I absolutely take health seriously, but Summer is truly always a struggle. It’s in my DNA to battle against the bulge. If I don’t watch it closely, I can easily pack on 10lbs within 6 weeks no problem. I always feel especially susceptible in the Summer because schedules are off, margaritas are flowing and it’s so hot that I tend to retain more water. This Summer was no exception and here I am thinking about fitting into my skinny jeans as Fall looms and I’m not feeling my best. I feel fluffy. Does that feeling resonate with any of you? Like things are moving that don’t normally move, there are some areas sticking and touching and overall it’s just a funky feeling knowing that you are packing a few more pounds than necessary.

Please know that I write this post with moderate hesitation and share these photos with great sensitivity. I by NO means think that I am overweight. I am within the range of my “ideal weight” as calculated by whomever invented the formula of 100lbs at 5ft (x 5lbs for every inch thereafter). But I know where I feel my BEST and that’s about 5-7 lbs lighter than where I am now…my waist trimmed, my thighs leaner and my behind trimmed. Those are the first places that I gain weight and they are definitely showing the signs of a Summer well indulged. My mindset is that I don’t want to waste any time not feeling my best. I never want to look back and think that I felt less than 100% confident in my body because we only get one chance, right? If that means that I have to push myself a little harder for a few weeks to get back there, then that’s what I’ll do. Doesn’t hurt that I have something MAJOR happening in 8 weeks. Stay tuned for that 😉

I’m blogging this journey only because so many of you have expressed interest in these types of posts, so I hope that they are well received because I am HELLA nervous talking in depth about stuff like this. So here we go…I am giving myself 8 weeks. That means at the end of September, I will be ready to slip into my skinny jeans and be feeling confident, stronger and in great shape.

Fall Fitness Reset | The Fitness Plan

If you follow along on Instagram, you know that I reached out and gave you guys a few options as to what you wanted to see me do. I want to take you guys along on this ride with me and have this be sort of a social experiment. You can just follow along or you can dive right in with me and we can do this together!

The vast majority of people voted for Orangetheory Fitness, so that’s what I’m doing. The other votes were split this way (in order):

BBG

BeachBody

Aaptive (in the App Store)

Faster Way to Fat Loss

Obe

I was secretly happy that Orangetheory won because I have actually tried it once before and LOVED it! When I knew that we were actively trying to get pregnant with Lawson and I wanted to be in the best shape to kick off my pregnancy, I started Orangetheory. I can definitely tell you OTF got me there, but I did hang up the towel when I found out that I was pregnant because the first few months were rocky. I am excited to get back into it because I know that it will push me beyond anything I could do alone or at home. I see my personal best results when exercising in a group setting that offers a competitive edge. Its definitely extra work to leave the house for a workout, but for me its 100% worth it because I know that I push myself way harder with others around me and an instructor in my ear, which is especially good when I am trying to achieve a specific goal and not just maintain.

I’ve been doing either the 5am or 6am classes because that’s what honestly works best for our family as a whole and I’m sure most of you can relate. I sneak out to class when everyone is still asleep and am able to get home and showered before the girls are up. It’s definitely hard to adjust to the 4:30 wake up for the first day or two but it’s absolutely manageable and I feel like a million bucks afterward.

I opted for the unlimited plan and signed up for 2 months. This is in NO way sponsored by Orangetheory (although I would love to work with them in the future) and I paid full price for the classes. I disclose that because I understand that boutique fitness studios do charge a premium for classes, but for this 2 month experiment I thought that it was definitely worth it.

My goal is to do at least 4 classes per week, with one other class or a long run outside of OTF. So I’ll be working out 5 days per week with two “off” days sprinkled in depending on schedules and how I feel.

What is Orangetheory Fitness?

Orangetheory is Heart Rate Based Interval Training. Say that 5x fast! Wearing a heart rate monitor the entire time, the workouts are split between treadmill, rower and weight room and are designed to target a heart rate zone that increases metabolism and energy. You can always view your progress on the screens throughout the room and really push yourself out of your comfort zone and into different heart rate zones, depending on your goals. They suggest spending at least 12 minutes of the hour long class in the “Orange” zone and/or earning at least 12 “splat” points (the time spent in Orange AND Red). I’ve been burning between 500-600 calories per class and I feel very much tapped out after the class is over. Here’s what my first class vs. my third class looked like, once I really came out of my comfort zone:

Orangetheory Fitness | How to Get Splat Points

After the first class, I was SO bummed at what my summary looked like. I’m competitive and really like to see results if I’m putting in the work, so this felt very sub-par and I wanted to know how to get more splat points. You guys gave THE BEST suggestions and they worked like a charm, so I’ll share them below.

*Biggest takeaway is that I’ll likely never get a ton of Splat points because I have a lower resting heart rate and since I run a lot, my heart rate recovers very quickly so it’s hard to maintain Orange. But here’s what did help!

-Start on the treads! When the class starts, half of the people start on the treads and half in the weight room. If you have a harder time getting your heart rate ramped up it’s more efficient to start on the treadmills

-Put in WORK on the treads. You cannot go light or it will absolutely reflect 😉

-If you are a runner, try a 1.5-2% incline instead of the 1% flat road that they suggest. I did this mornings class at a 2% incline and my heart rate spiked way faster!

-If you are a runner and cannot get your splat points, try the WALKING version of the class. Sometimes the inclines push your heart out of it’s comfort zone and that’s also a way to get some points on the treadmill.

-If you are a runner, don’t use the walking recovery if your heart rate tends to recover and drop fast. This morning instead of taking the full 1 min walking recovery, I only took 20 seconds (or right when I went back into the “green zone”), then got back to base pace.

-Up your base pace. Originally I had my base pace at 5.5-5.7mph (typically what I run outside), but I found that on a treadmill I need it to be between 6.0-6.5mph, that means my push is harder and my all out tops out around 8.5mph (hopefully I can work on increasing this as I get more familiar with the class, but I will keep you guys updated).

Fall Fitness Reset | The Food

As I mentioned on my stories, I plan to do *mostly* Whole30. It just works for my body and really takes me back to feeling 100% in the shortest amount of time. If I am being honest, I do not feel my best after eating dairy, gluten or sugar….so cutting them out always does wonders to get rid of the bloat and also clears up my skin, which is a huge bonus.

If you want Whole30 inspiration: you can find all of my posts HERE. 

I am also considering adding in 2 days of Intermittent Fasting and really scaling back on carbs in general. The science behind Intermittent Fasting is that by not eating for 16 hours (essentially skipping one meal), your body is forced to dig into its reserves of energy (aka stored fat) to sustain itself. I don’t think that it’s feasible for me to do IF everyday, but I think that a few days a week might be beneficial. I’m thinking that the noon-8pm eating window then 8pm-noon fasting window will be best for me, but I will update you guys.

I know that by scaling back on carbs (especially later in the day), would definitely help me to shred fat quicker so I am going to do my best to monitor my intake.

Fall Fitness Reset | What I’m NOT Doing

I’m not counting calories or macros. I can’t make it a numbers game because it always goes one of two ways for me…either I get really obsessed with the numbers and go overboard or I get super pissy with the numbers and then give up. It never ends well so I’m not even going to bother. If I am fueling my body with WHOLE FOODS (fruits, veggies and lean proteins) then I know that I am on the right track and really shouldn’t have to count every single macro to see results.

I’m NOT getting on the scale. I have no idea what I weigh and I don’t want to know. In the past, I’ve carried around the number on the scale like a heavy burden and it always caused me so much anxiety. This time around I know exactly how I feel and when I FEEL better I can assure you I will have lost weight.

I’m excited to share this with you guys and see if I can really achieve results within 8 weeks with a crazy busy schedule! If I can do it, then I know anyone can!

Happy to have you guys here with me! If you want to join in let me know what the easiest way is! Facebook group? Keeping up on Instagram? Blog Comments? I’m open!