Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Meet a Member - Melissa T., Week 2

Week 2
February 18, 2014

Successes
·        After my first official 10 days, I can proudly say that I’ve lost 8.8 pounds so far! My work pants are feeling a little looser.
·        We rank ourselves each day for the previous week with a star, a smiley face, or a sad face. A star means I stayed within my calorie range to lose weight. A smiley face means I stayed within my calorie range to maintain weight. A sad face means I consumed enough calories to gain weight. I had ALL stars this past week!
·        The quote I added to the bottom for this week’s “Ponder this…” sure has a lot of meaning. That being said, I have been completely honest in my food journal (and to myself) in what I’ve eaten and stayed within my allotted calories for weight loss. It seems to be working!

Difficulties
·        I’m still getting use to the amount of time it takes for me to preplan what I eat. I sit down each night and start to plan my next day.
·        If I feel hungry, I have to stop myself from going to the cupboard and grabbing some Cheez-its. I have to remind myself that they really aren’t worth the 180 calories! It makes me wonder how many calories I was actually consuming each day before I started keeping track. I probably don’t even want to know!

Wednesday Workout
·        I work out with a group of teachers after school on Wednesdays and Fridays. I want to share this with those of you who work out on your own for something different that you may not have done before.
·        Here’s one of the workouts we did this week:

o   50-40-30-20-10 (one round of 50 each then run, next round of 40 each then run, etc.)
§  Goblet squats
§  Sumo dead lift high pull
§  Run a lap between each round

Ponder this...

Monday, February 24, 2014

Meet a Member - Arianna P., Week 2

Week two... on the grind. So far, this week has been the toughest. I had my first "Train Your Brain" and accountability classes. Marty talked about recognizing when we overeat, "jumping off the cliff," and saying "no" to foods. I tend to overeat when it's sitting in front of me, whether on a table or on my plate, or if it's in between lunch and dinner when too much time has passed between the two. Usually, these are the times when I also jump off the cliff -- those moments when you're hungry, stressed out, sad, angry, whatever, and you say "I've had three cookies already, forget it," and you eat the rest of the package. I've had two of those moments this week -- Valentine's Day and the day after (my best friend's birthday party). I realize those moments when I'm about to jump off the cliff and belly flop in the ocean, but I don't stop myself. I just let it happen, feel like hell, and hate myself the next day. That needs some fixin'. After accountability, my calories have shrunk way lower than the calorie app I use says I can eat and lose 1-2 pounds a week. That also came into play for why I overate. It'll take some getting used to to not overeat during the day.

As far as working out, it's been going good. I had three different trainers the three days I went and every workout was different. Marty likes the ropes, straps, and cords to do various exercises. The new trainer, Kim, introduced me to wood chops. With this exercise, you take a weight and slam it down on a giant tire like you are chopping wood. This is probably my least-favorite exercise. Becca threw in cards, ladders, and yoga balls. I found out there are stomach muscles under my belly -- I had some rolling abdominal cramps for about 10 minutes after doing crunches on the yoga ball (those SUCK!). They went away, and I was able to finish the workout though.

I hope the rest of this week I stop being so sore and tired (who said the soreness goes away after one week?!?) and that I lose at least 1 pound (last week it was 0.2 lbs, but I hadn't started my new calorie intake yet).
Want to know more about Square One? Check us out at www.square1club.com or give us a call at 402-333-0706. You can also find us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/square1club .

Want to know more about Arianna? Follow along with her weekly blog posts here at the Square One blog! 

Tuesday, February 18, 2014

Meet a Member - Melissa T.

Before joining Square One, Melissa shared a piece of her current journey with us: 

Growing up I was always “a big girl”, “big boned”, “overweight”, “fat”…whatever you want

to call it. The teasing began in Junior High and continued through High School. Teasing by people,

who at that time, I thought were my friends. The memories of those “friends” going passed me

muttering “Buffalo”. That was my under the breath nickname. Once you hear something over and

over, it becomes what you believe…I believed it and still do.

As an adult now, I know I need to train my brain to think differently. Here are the top 3

reasons why I need the help from Square One to become a NEW ME:

To be a better TEACHER…I feel that I need to be a good role model to my students by

not only teaching academics and the importance of them, but also teaching students the

importance of having a healthy body and mind. How can I teach the importance of having

a healthy body, when I clearly do not have one myself? I believe Square One can help!

To be a better PARENT…when I look at my two beautiful daughters I begin to see how

they are so much like me. It makes me sick to think that someday someone could hurt

either of them with just a word or two, and eventually believe that it’s true. How can I

teach my children that it is okay to love yourself how God made you, despite what other

people say when this is something I struggle with myself? I believe Square One can help!

To be a better ME…like I said before, I need to train my brain to think differently. How

am I able to train my own brain to think differently when it’s never thought differently

before? In order to do this I need help, support, encouragement and to be taught how to

think differently. I believe that Square One can train my brain!


Here is what she writes after one week at Square One:
Week 1
February 8-15, 2014

Successes
·        New Year, New ME! I’m excited to say that I’ve joined the Square One team! With their help, I am going to become the best ME I can be and in the process hopefully inspire others to do the same.
·        On February 8, Marty weighed me in and did all of my baseline measurements. He gave me a daily calorie range. I have been tracking my food every day and have stayed with in my daily range!
·        They say this place is “not your normal gym…it’s different”. At first I thought, “How can it be that different?” I soon found out. I have learned that at Square One members work as a team. It’s encouraging…it’s like a family…and I’m proud to say that I’m a part of it now!

Difficulties
·        The only downside to this week is that I didn’t get to workout as much as I had planned. Tuesday night was a late night with conferences, so no evening workout at Square One. Friday we didn’t have school, so no workout after school.

Wednesday Workout
·        I work out with a group of teachers from school on Wednesdays. Here’s what we did this week:

o   5 Rounds
§  24 kettlebell swings
§  24 box jumps
§  3 minute run
§  24 burpees
§  24 wall balls

Ponder this…


Monday, February 17, 2014

Meet a Member - Arianna P, winner of our 6 Month Membership Giveaway!

Original entry essay:
I am a 30-year-old stuck in an 80-year-old's body. I've been a "big girl" almost my whole life, but haven't really felt the effects until after recovering from pneumonia, a two-week coma, and physical rehabilitation in July 2011. Ever since then, my weight, pain, and ailments have increased to the point where it hurts to do anything. My quality of life frankly sucks. The four most problematic health issues I have are severe obstructive sleep apnea, osteoarthritis in my knees (and potentially other joints), and chronic back pain and fatigue. These could be greatly helped or go away altogether if I lost weight.
Despite working full time, I also go to graduate school full time. My finances do not allow me to pay for a gym membership or trainer. I sorely need an expert's help to lose weight the right way and keep it off. I need to lose weight. So I can live, not just exist. 

First Impressions of Square One - Week 1:
Hi all you people out there! It's been one week since I started from square one at Square 1 Club. It's been scary, crazy, wonderful, tiring, inspiring, energizing... Phew! Last Monday, I was super excited to find the place. I pull up to the building and was a little surprised. It wasn't what I expected to see. I thought Square 1 was like a "regular"club or fitness center: rows of equipment and people just doing their own thing. I sat in my car for a minute, all of a sudden nervous and scared to go in. "What am I doing here? They're gonna know I'm a phony, totally out of shape..." all those kind of self-depreciating talk. But then that voice kicked in and said, "Get your butt out of this car right now!" And boy, am I glad I did! After filling out paperwork and touring the club, everyone lovingly talked me into working out. I had to take a break about every 5 minutes, but I finished that first workout and felt good. My back was killing me, but I felt good. Wednesday was workout #2 and it was just as wonderful as the first. The best, hands-down BEST thing about Square 1 is the people. All of the beautiful, wonderful, caring, hard-working, just ahh! There aren't enough positive adjectives to describe all the people of size at Square 1. Even on those days (a little like today) when I don't want to come in because I'm tired, people like Keshia, Kerri, Karen, Marty, and Becca, just to name a few, will keep me coming back.
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Want to know more about Square One? Check us out at www.square1club.com or give us a call at 402-333-0706. You can also find us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/square1club .

Want to know more about Arianna? Follow along with her weekly blog posts here at the Square One blog!