In and Out was our last team challenge at PNP and our winner is Lauren. She recapped her eight week journey so well on the site that I just pasted the whole thing in this blog. I cannot tell you how proud I am of her and all my girls who hit it hard. We lost a lot of weight, but more importantly, I think we all bonded a lot through this challenge. You'll see how PNP goes above and beyond to be there for each other.
Her winning stats are:
Beginning Weight: 190 pounds
Ending Weight: 180.5 pounds
Total Loss: 9.5 Pounds
5% Total Loss
7.5 inches lost
So when I got Corinne's email last night, I was really astonished! I posted my results on the fat loss board, and as I told her, watching some of the amazing results come in from the other ladies, I was truly wowed by their results. You ladies are so powerful and amazing! I'm going to tell my story a bit more below, just be prepared for the novel, cause I'm a little bit long-winded. :)
Here goes:
As you know, I'm posted in Iraq on my company's small compound in Baghdad. In addition to losing the 3% that Corinne set out for the challenge, as I was just getting settled in when the challenge began, my personal goal was to get a grip on my food here. I said in the forums early on that though it might seem like the ideal, having someone to do everything for you isn't all it's cracked up to be. I started out with absolutely zero control over any of the food around me. Our cafeteria is buffet style, and the chef doesn't believe in sparing the fatty flavor butter, oil, or cheese in most of his recipes, and every meal has between 4 and 8 desserts to select. But, I started to look at it like a competition for myself (and I told the chef this, too), because at the end of the day I will always be able to control what goes into my mouth, and what doesn't. I started to look for ways that I could make every meal healthier.
For breakfast, I realized that I could dictate to the short order cook how I wanted my eggs. I ignored the wide-eyed looks every day as I asked for the grill to be wiped of oil before my three eggs were scrambled on it. After a week or so, I didn't even have to say anything. I walked to the window, and he would just smile, and happily cook up my eggs without me saying anything more than a nod. I could pair that with fresh raw cucumbers, black coffee, and a yogurt, and be set. Sometimes, I would mix it up and have 3 or 4 hard boiled egg whites and a 1/2c of oatmeal with a banana (if I could snatch one from dinner the night before).
As patterns in the menu began to emerge, I developed my own patterns. Saving fruit from dinner for breakfast in the morning. Especially bananas. Oranges make great snacks, and fresh melon is a good option for dessert. And the melon here is so sweet. I started to have a Laban (drinkable plain yogurt) with an orange or apple for a pre-workout snack. The more I got into the program and settled into life here, I noticed my body's patterns too. At the end of the workday, I always felt too exhausted to ST. So I switched it up, and started going on my lunch break. ST only. I usually saved the cardio for later. Afterwards, I would have lunch, and my recovery shake became my 3pm snack. Sometimes, I would throw in a leftover HB egg from breakfast, too.
Lunch is often some form of sandwich, burger, or cheesy concoction. I can tell you, there are many options of things to eat here, and I NEVER felt deprived. If I wanted an enchilada on "mexican" day, I would eat it. But only 1/3 of it, and I would pair it with a mountain of raw cabbage, cucumbers, peppers and onions. If it was burger day (Lamb burgers were my favorite), I would get two patties (no bread!), and top it with tomatoes, onions, cucumbers, yogurt sauce, etc. The funny thing to me was, that I was eating more, not less. And I had to, to be able to keep up with the training. Eating less meant having less energy to train, and phoning in training sessions doesn't help anyone.
I did restrict my intake of starchy carbs, especially because whole grains are non-existent here. However, that doesn't mean I never ate them. If we had Biryani (our line cooks are from SE Asia, so their biryani is awesome), I would almost always eat a cup of it, but I would pick through the pan to get at the pieces of meat and eggs, and the rice was more of an after thought. We also often have Grill Night, which is everyone's favorite. Grilled steak, salmon in pappillote, or schwarma is an easy choice, and great with raw veggies piled on top.
One thing I noticed was that the chef started to change some things on the menu (I pretended that it was for me). One day, we had canned salmon salad with parsley, onion, green pepper, cucumber chunks of lemon (with peel), and lemon juice. That became one of my favorites. If I had a double cardio session that day (over lunch, and vb that night), I would eat that salad with lunch inside of a pita.
Reflecting on the last 8 weeks:
- Training over lunch freed up so much of my evening, and as I started to realize that, I became more and more protective of my lunch training times, as well as my evening free time. Those were MY times, you know? I found that I would actually get a little bit upset if I was forced to shift my schedule around. I started blocking off the time on my calendar. No meetings from 12 - 1. Period.
- In the evenings, I started playing volleyball with the PSDs (Iraqi security guys who live on-site here) for 1-2 hours. I would do 10-15 push ups between each game. As I started getting stronger in the later weeks of this challenge, I could even feel my casual volleyball play improving. My glutes engaged more, I was faster at lateral movements, and my serves got longer and stronger, and the games got more and more intense for me. What I liked was that it was fun. Really, truly, fun. We talked trash. We laughed, and eventually I was really playing hard.
- I've always felt like weight loss is 10% what you do, and 90% what you eat. That 90% has ALWAYS been the hardest part for me. I've done WW, and lost 15 pounds, and then put 15 pounds back on when I got stressed preparing to come to Iraq.
- Knowing that I can't control what my food choices were somehow helped me to find some perspective. Even though I couldn't control was was out there, I DID have 100% control over what went on my plate, and thus into my mouth.
- I planned every day, even if it was just getting my head on straight before going to the DFAC to eat. I had to be mentally prepared to face unknown challenges with every day. Sometimes it was just as simple as saying to myself that I would walk through the buffet line without my plate just to assess what was there. Then, i would put my stuff down at my seat and go back. I could count to 5 or 10, and take a deep breath before going back to the buffet line. Just that pause made all the difference in approaching the food.
- Being hungry is BAD. I get cranky, moody, and I'm just no fun to be around. Keeping to a schedule, and planning to have snacks within an elbow's reach make a huge difference.
- WRITE it down. I don't always write down how I'm feeling when I eat, but I do write down what goes in my mouth. As a former WWer, I track everything. I have to write every BLT, because even when my brain forgets what or how much I ate, my body won't forget it.
- WATER WATER WATER. I can't say that one enough. Just get it down. 60-80oz every day. Find a way to drink more, faster. Use a straw, or a water-bottle with a straw. I like my 20oz camelBak. If you need a crystal light packet or something, use it. I like cucumber slices, or raw ginger, or citrus in mine to mix it up. All flavor, no chemicals!
- Tell people your challenges. They WILL help you be accountable.
And last, but far from least, I just want to thank you ladies for the support. Becca and the Babes, you were all so amazing, and your encouragement, excitement, and positivity really made a huge difference to me. To you ladies who sent me care packages - the nut butters, almonds, goji berries, seasoned nuts, shakes, popcorn, even cans of pumpkin - THANK YOU. Your thoughtfulness and care made more of a difference to me than you'll realize. And those packages always seemed to come right on time, in days where I really needed a little extra push. Really...thank you.
Now it's time to get ready for my first R&R home in 6 weeks for Christmas. Who's ready to dial it in even more for the Holiday Hustle?!
