America's Fittest Update

In October I meant to post updates...I really did but time just came and went. I hardly remember much of October.

Thinking back about it I realize why it flew by. Right after my last post we received notice to renew our gym membership. Our plan was to go ahead and do it because it was great for the boys. Then I walked into our sunroom and got an idea.

We had 3 weeks to research, buy, and assemble our new home gym. And we did it...with a few hiccups along the way. Actually the gym part was the fun and easy part of our process, it was the unexpected (should be expected) things that happened of course.

Our time became quite busy. We work out 5 days a week. On Mondays I started going to an exercise class with a friend after working out. This has been great yet painful. Tuesdays I have a Bible study, Wednesdays I teach Bible class, Thursday was my oldest sons soccer practice, Friday we spent time as a family, Saturday my husband had Bible study and then each son had a soccer game. Sunday was more relaxing with worship followed by a much needed nap.

After cleaning out and adding horse stall mats

So after a week of research we decided on our squat rack and barbell weights. It wasn't a cheap option but knowing we have put in the time and we don't plan to back off from our goals we decided to buy through Rogue. We have started a list of what we want to add as money permits but we have a good base now.

Rack (dip station, pull up bars, options to add)
Olympic Barbell with bumper plates
Rubber Mats
Bench
Exercise Ball
Bands
Whiteboard
Nike Metcons

We have a total gym that is currently in our basement and will be moved once we finish our dressing room since we store the materials in the sunroom.

A couple days after we ordered I came home from my exercise class to an awesome husband making dinner. Unfortunately as soon as I sat down we were all thrown into a panic because he cut the tip of his finger off. Guards on mandolins are VERY important. We spent some time at the ER trying to get the bleeding to stop. He is doing much better now but it also caused him to not be able to join in on the workouts for a couple weeks.

While still sore my dear husband was able to finish our last week at the gym and assemble our new rack just in time. The best part has been being able to workout as a family, and the boys have LOVED being able to join in.

In the first 4 weeks he has lost 17 lbs and I have lost 11 lbs. We been very pleased with the progress. The food has been really good but is tedious to be in the kitchen.

Weeks 5-8 we took the macro nutrient recommendations and applied them to our normal eating. We slowly have consistently lost weight but we did find ourselves not being as strict. We plan on getting back on track after Thanksgiving...or maybe Christmas. Our goal is not to gain weight during the next few weeks.

Until next time... Keep smiling and pushing forward.