Here we go again...

I am horrible at trying to get into shape. I've managed to give myself every excuse to not push myself into the direction of complete happiness with myself. We have finally decided to get fit as a family and started February 17th. Our first weigh-in brought tremendous results! So, I'm back and have made it through a little over two weeks with the support of my wife, mother-in-law and sis-in-law. I started weekly emails and can hopefully motivate everyone to stay on track!

"Don't forget we have weigh-ins and pictures tomorrow. We also have a make-up walk day this Friday. I know you hate to do anything on Fridays after work, but let's get caught up. Friday's WOD (workout of the day) is the longest and hardest. We can just do the walk together and do the WOD on our own, or we can get it done together. It's not impossible for any of us to do, but it will leave you feeling sore in muscles you probably don't know exist. Don't you worry, this is a REST for you....okay, minus the Sit-up, Crunch and Squat Challenge. However, the quantities on those is pretty low for the weekend. Whatever you do, DO NOT do anything strenuous this weekend. You have to let your body and muscles fully recover to get ready for next week's workouts.

We should start seeing major changes after this week since we will be incorporating some weight training and body weight exercises. Our weight loss may slow down a little while gaining muscle but this is when the inch loss should be significant and we will keep track of it. I want all of us to do well and be happy with the new bodies we are trying to unveil.

Remember, there is absolutely no reason to be afraid to do strength training, as we don't have the hormone levels to "bulk up". Lifting will help us get lean and will create an attractive/favorable physique. That's what we all want, right? We will burn more calories while lifting. More calories=more fats leaving our bodies=quick visible results. "

Building muscle is one of the most helpful things we could do in order to speed up our bodies' ability to burn off fat, so don't second guess the benefit of strength training. A leaner body has less fluffy fluffs and we will tone up immediately instead of having all the loose extra stuff we don't want. I know you might be a little concerned about the strength training part of it, but it will stay in a challenging beginner level for all of us. Just remember, I've done this before and I'm trying to incorporate the best ways to see results fast in our workouts.