GPP Fitness

Here's the deal with GPP Fitness.

I asked my mother-in-law for the gift of some time with a personal trainer or gym membership (thank you Candace!!!). I did a lot of research and decided that GPP Fitness was the best fit for me. Think of it as small group personal training.

The same exercises are done no matter what time you go to class. These aren't your traditional exercise classes full of jogging and jumping jacks and aerobics. No, these classes are full of pull-ups, weight lifting, sit-ups, and jump roping, to name a few.

The theory behind this type of exercise is that, combined with low calorie intake, you will actually increase your resting metabolism if you train with resistance as opposed to training with strictly cardio. Don't think for a second that my heart rate doesn't get up and that I'm not dripping sweat nearly every day just because I'm not running all the time. The body can't tell the difference between the exercises are far as the breathing goes, but the benefit is you are building more muscle this way.

What I signed up for was their Crash Course Challenge. The basics of this challenge is you put $50 dollars down. You then define some goals. If you meet your goals at the end of 6 weeks you get your $50 dollars back. To meet all the goals you have to commit to coming in to the gym 5 days a week and following one of their 3 diet plans.

The diet plan I chose was the Burst Cycle Diet. I didn't want to do any of the 3 diets, but this one was the most logical for my life. With this diet I am 3 days on (up to 1000 calories) and 1 day off (as close to 2000 calories as I can get without going over and eating whatever I want).

When I am on my on days the diet is very strict. If I cheat I have failed the diet and must discontinue it. My on days go like this:

Breakfast: 2 eggs, 1/2 cup fruit

Lunch: 3-4 oz of meat --any kind, 2 slices of bread, 1 oz of cheese, mustard, lettuce, tomatoes

Dinner: 4-6oz of meat---any kind, 1 cup veggies.

Nothing but water in between and no snacks.
I must drink 64 oz of water every day and take a multivitamin.

The first two days were incredibly hard! I cried a LOT. Physically, I was fine, but emotionally I was STARVING! But now, I almost prefer my on days to my off. I'm finding I like the control I have. Almost too much....something that I am highly aware of.

I know that when the diet time is over I will struggle adjusting to the reality that 800 calories a day (my average daily caloric intake with ON days) is not a healthy level.  I mean to combat this potential problem by one, telling a lot of people that I know that this will be a struggle for me so I can have a good support network. And two, committing to eat at a healthy level just as I have committed to this diet.

I foresee it as more of an internal struggle as opposed to me having physical behaviors to modify.

The good news? After two weeks I have lost 4.6 lbs and have started to see my body change. I have earned every last inch and pound. I am extremely pleased to find strength within me that I was unsure that I had.

It's nice to know you really can define your own future.