BosFit

Sadly, I think I’m through with attending BostInno events for a while.

This is the 2nd event I’ve attended that they’ve hosted – that I’ve paid an admission fee for but felt it wasn’t worth it. (The other was BostonFest back in August.) My friend who asked me to join her at BostonFest said, “They market events so well that we assume they’ll be great – but then are disappointed.”

The 1st strike against BosFit was when I pulled up to the garage that they told us to park at and it was closed. The check in for BosFit started at 9 AM but the garage didn’t open till 10 AM. I put my car at a meter and dumped in quarters for the max 2 hours allowed. Now, in addition to the $24 to attend – I was out another $2 in quarters. $26 dollars for two 30 minute fitness classes just wasn’t worth it. A 1 hour BollyX class is $12.

The BollyX sessions lead by Fen & David were wonderful!

Here’s a photo from the 2nd session:

After BollyX, I attempted to try the Core Fusion Barre class.

I’m in the gray tee shirt just in front of the instructor

I’m on the ropes farthest away from the camera

The instructor for the barre class decided to stick her foot under mine and push up to move my foot higher. (Actually it was probably seconds after the picture above on the ropes was taken.) My brain channeled Mythbusters Grant Imahara and internally shouted “Something just touched me!” I was so upset that I jumped over the ropes, put my sneakers back on, and joined the BollyX session already in progress. I wouldn’t have minded if the instructor asked permission to touch me or verbally corrected my form but what she did instead bothered me.

The second BollyX session was so fun (and intense) that my glasses slid right off my face from all the sweating. I think it scared the instructor (David) more than me. The glasses were fine so I just laughed it off and put them right back on my face.

After the 2nd session, my time at the meter was up, so I decided to go home instead of moving to the garage.

Weight Watchers – Staying the Same This Week

I earned 50 Weight Watchers Activity Points this week. I was expecting to gain weight when I weighed in today – despite having a really good week (food wise too!) – because my muscles tend to retain water after high weeks of activity. This week was my most intense activity wise ever (that whole literally walking a marathon thing).

Much to my surprise – my weight stayed exactly the same as last week – and I consider that a victory.

Hopefully next week will have a weight loss.

Unfortunately, I’m still searching for a Weight Watchers meeting to be my new regularly weekly meeting. I’ve tried the Friday lunch break meeting at the Framingham Center (that the receptionist for the canceled Tuesday meeting suggested) but I am just not jiving with the Leader. She’s a nice woman & she definitely cares about the members. I just don’t do well in meetings where the leaders go rogue and give their own theory on nutrition instead of sticking to explaining the Weight Watchers endorsed program or weekly meeting topic. She was also mean to the Receptionist on staff that day – rudely asking a member who came in late to go find the receptionist in the back storage room to ask her to come out front. (The same woman who recommended this meeting to me!) As a former WW staffer – I notice small things like that and it really bothers me.

Next week I may see if I can take a very early lunch on Tuesday at 10 AM to try out that meeting at the Framingham Center.

Are any of my readers Weight Watchers members in MA that have a suggestion for a meeting to try?

SkyRobics Class at SkyZone

Thanks to Yelp Boston I tried a wicked fun fitness class on Wednesday night – SkyRobics Class at SkyZone in Everett, MA.

It was a fitness class on trampolines! I had a great time and did not do anything to injure myself.

Here’s how SkyZone describes SkyRobics:

Burn up to 1,000 calories an hour on our wall-to-wall trampolines! SkyRobics is low-impact, healthy fun that combines calisthenics, core exercises and strength-building aerobics. SkyRobics is one of the most dynamic, effective and active workouts you can get! Don’t worry, any level of athlete will feel rejuvenated after this workout.

It was a fun workout & I’d definitely take a class again if a friend asked me to join them.

Group shot – I’m in the red “I love Yelp” shirt

She asked me to take a jumping picture

I Did It! 26.2 Miles – Boston Marathon Route – Jimmy Fund Walk

Checking in at the Hopkinton start

Sunday was the Boston Marathon Jimmy Fund Walk.

I completed the whole 26.2 mile route in 10 hours. I walked with my father-in-law and as we crossed the finish line he said “Now you have a personal best for the Boston Marathon course. Who cares how long it took! Not many people can say they’ve done that!” I was ready to cry (tears of joy).

It was an amazing experience & I’m so glad I did it! Hopkinton to Boston – and all the cities & towns in between.

Here I am – a little over 10 miles in – entering Natick (the city my office is located in)

My father-in-law Marcis & I – still smiling at the lunch rest stop

Curing cancer is a cause everyone can get behind. It was inspiring to see all the teams walking – each with their own personal connection that brought them to walk day.

Every mile marker has a picture & story of someone who has fought cancer at Dana-Farber. It’s tradition for walkers to touch every mile marker as they pass it, as a way of passing on hope to the person pictured.

Nearly finished! Just 1.2 miles more to go!

Finish line – woo-hoo!

My husband surprised me at the finish line with a bouquet of flowers. He purposely chose blue & yellow flowers because they’re the colors for the Boston Athletic Association. (BAA manages the Boston Marathon.)

My husband Dave & I

I earned 42 Weight Watchers Activity Points Plus values for the 26.2 mile walk.

I’m still short of my fundraising goal so if anyone is interested in making a donation, my personal fundraising page is http://www.jimmyfundwalk.org/2014/daniellekempe

Weight Watchers – Loss this week

As I suspected in my last post about Weight Watchers – I lost weight when I weighed in today & am down 1.4 pounds. Yippee!

This brings me back to 24.4 pounds lost total.

Quite possibly I’ve lost more – I wasn’t wearing the same dress I normally weigh in wearing & this one is heavier (fall dress vs. summer sleeveless very light dress)

I’ve resolved to not be upset if I weight in next week and the weight is back up from my muscles recovering from the Boston Marathon Jimmy Fund Walk.

Thank you also to Dani, Weight Watchers Leader & the blogger of Weight Off My Shoulders, for offering to look at my tracker for me to offer advice. I didn’t take her up on the offer because I wanted to work on making sure I really was tracking every single thing I ate and not forgetting to track tastes of something. It was my own personal “reset button” and it seemed to work.

I’m still seeking a new Weight Watchers meeting to be the weekly meeting I attend since the Tuesday lunch hour meeting I used to attend was canceled by Weight Watchers for low attendance.

I tried out a Friday lunch hour meeting at the same center but I didn’t like the Leaders meeting style. I may have caught her on a bad day but she seemed to cut off members telling their weight loss journey stories to share her own & that’s not cool in my book.

The only other lunch hour scheduled meetings at this center are on Wednesday & that doesn’t work with my adjusted work schedule on Wednesdays to attend November Project stair climbing. (I work through lunch that day since I’m getting to the office about an hour late.)

There is a meeting on Tuesday at 10 AM so I may try taking a very early lunch hour soon to check that out.

Tapering – in Anticipation of the Jimmy Fund Walk

On Sunday, I’m walking 26.2 miles for the Boston Marathon Jimmy Fund Walk (supporting the Jimmy Fund & Dana-Farber Cancer Institute).

I’m walking with my father-in-law (and he’s done this route for many years). He wisely advised me to lower my activity level for the week prior to the walk – so I have fresh muscles on walk day and don’t accidentally injure myself.

This morning I skipped stair climbing with November Project. While I missed the smiling faces of the tribe, it was definitely the right decision.

It hit me yesterday – this is my way of tapering before marathon day! I may not be running the marathon but I’m still getting in the distance while supporting an amazing cancer fighting institution.

Why do I walk? One of my husband’s cousins had his life saved by Dana-Farber when he fought cancer as a child. My husband’s family has had a team in this cousin’s honor since the Boston Marathon Jimmy Fund Walk was founded.

My goal is to have at least $500 raised by walk day. If you’d like to support me, visit: http://www.jimmyfundwalk.org/2014/daniellekempe

Boston Festival of Indie Games

On Saturday, I spent the day walking around MIT for Boston Festival of Indie Games.

My husband was media covering the event for Gaming Symmetry. I had a fun time acting as his photographer/social media consultant.

I earned 10 Weight Watcher points from all our walking that day. (And stair climbing – ouch!)

Here’s me hanging out with Arthur at the WGBH booth

The event is 2 floors of game demos – digital games on the 2nd floor & tabletop (think board games) on the 1st floor.

There are also presentations throughout the day at another building. I attended 2 sessions – one on player agency in game design and one on improv and game design. Both presenters were great!

Thank you to Yelp Boston for getting me a VIP pass!

Weight Watchers

I was up 1.6 pounds when I weighed in today. This was disappointing – but not unexpected.

I’ve noticed a pattern that when I change up my fitness routine. I have a week were I gain, followed by a loss the next week. My theory is it’s my body retaining water while it builds muscle in response to the workouts.

Other friends who follow Weight Watchers – what do you think of this theory? Have you ever noticed a similar pattern in your weight loss?

My legs are still sore (but a good ache) from my spin class & stair climbing on Wednesday. I do not regret the workouts & I’m hoping they’ll help drop the scale number next week.

As usual though – the meeting topic made me feel better. This week is focused on re-starting & the leader gave out slips of paper labeled “reset button” that reminded us “The past is the past, I care only about my future. I will make positive changes…one small step at a time.”

Post meeting – I took a walk to the farmers market to get a bag of apples.

Moving forward – my plan is to keep the activity level up and be vigilant about tracking all of my food. (Bites, licks, and tastes of things count!) Cross your fingers for me that I’ll be happier with what the scale says next week.

Turnstyle Cycle Blogger Class

On Wednesday, I must have been a glutton for fitness because stair climbing with November Project in the morning wasn’t enough for one day! I joined Meagan for a bloggers only spin class at Turnstyle Cycle in Cambridge that evening.

I’m glad I didn’t know much about Turnstyle Cycle before the class, because I think I would have chickened out. Instead of using stationary spin bikes they use “Real Ryder” bikes. This meant the bikes moved side to side!

When I tried out the bike before the class, the staffer told me my “form was great” and I was “a natural”. He meant it, but that still made me laugh and I told Meagan that I’d try not to hit my bike into her bike during class.

Here’s what Turnstyle Cycle says about their bikes:

We use RealRyder bikes that move side-to-side. Why? Because it’s the best workout available on a stationary bike. RealRyders will build core strength and burn ~20% more calories per workout than a standard stationary bike. They will take a class or two to get used to, but the results will not disappoint.

They definitely aren’t kidding about the bikes being something you need to get used to. I still think it felt really weird but I’d be willing to try another class there.

Our instructor, Rich Downing, was great. He used to teach spin at my favorite spin studio – Flywheel in Boston – but he left to join Turnstyle because he likes the smaller classes. (28 bikes at Turnstyle versus 48 bikes at Flywheel) Rich made a big point of learning the names of all 10 of us taking the class & checked in with us by name during the class. I was impressed. (It reminded me of when I was a Weight Watchers Leader and I’d work on memorizing the names of my members. He didn’t have any name tags to help him though!)

The bike movement does add to the intensity of the workout. Sometimes, I opted not to stand on the bike when others were, because my legs were pretty annoyed with me for 2 workouts in one day. But I still felt like I got a great workout and that the instructor had purposely structured the class to do that.

One small critique, I was on a bike in the back row and it was often hard to hear Rich’s instruction over the loud music. There was a tall cyclist in front of me, so I’d often have to look at others in the class to figure out what we were being asked to do.

Thanks to Turnstyle for hosting us and Christina aka Trendy Trainer for organizing the night out!

Here’s a group shot of my fellow bloggers in the class – with our instructor Rich

I’m on the right in the green shirt

November Project – Week 12 – Fire Drills

Can you find me?

I’m on the top left – wearing a white tee – sitting next to my friend Alan

After taking an unintentional 4 week break from climbing stairs with NP Boston, it was great to be back with the tribe this morning.

My body was protesting a little because of getting used to a break – but I got in 20 sections. (A full tour is 40 sections so I’ll take my 1/2 tour and be happy!) The new sneakers I won from Saucony felt great though!

In addition to climbing stairs – today was a day with “Fire Drills”. When BG clanged his cowbell, we needed to drop where we were and do push ups, 5 or 10 depending on your self evaluation of your fitness level. I got in 15 push ups along with the 20 sections climbed. 🙂

I’m still NOT a morning person and I don’t think I’ll ever be. When the 5 AM alarm went off I hit snooze until my husband said, “You know you want to go see your friends in November Project”. He was right. It’s tough to describe to those who haven’t been to NP how people you only see once a week and become close friends – but it happens – and I’m thankful for it!

It was great to see Mike, Meagan, & Alan this morning!

Today felt a little fated to me with who I was climbing next to. It was someone who was there for their 2nd week with November Project climbing stairs. We got chatting & she’s looking for an entry level job in nonprofit fundraising. I work in nonprofit fundraising and have 6 years of experience in the nonprofit sector. I gave her some advice of events that are great for networking and we connected on Linked In. I hope I can help her with her job search and at the very least that she becomes one of my friends from NP.

 Here I’m climbing down a section – with my pink jacket around my waist