I'm busy. You're busy. We're all busy. But we've all got the same 24 hours in the day. How we decide to use them is up to us.
Last winter/spring/summer and into the early fall, I was so dedicated, getting up at 4:45am to get my workouts finished before anyone else was awake. That still needs to happen -- if I start work, I KNOW I won't stop to workout -- but I've definitely been pushing the limits, staying in bed just a little bit longer, running just a little bit later, having to fast forward through some parts of my workout. I hate that. When I commit to something and put a workout on my schedule, I like to follow through. Plus, when I don't get up and get moving, the whole day feels rushed and running a little behind.
I've talked about how I'm training for a triathlon, and now I realize it's time to recommit to my goals. Over the past few weeks, sports channels have been running recaps of the Ironman that took place in Kona, Hawaii. The Ironman is a triathlon on a HUGE scale. I always enjoy watching it, but this year I've watched with greater interest because next summer, I will swim, bike, run, but on a much smaller scale.
The professional Ironman athletes are amazing, but it's the everyday citizens who are INSPIRATIONAL. Twice I've sat through the show that follows some of the "normal" people who choose to compete in the Ironman. There are cancer patients (yes, patients!), cancer survivors, a fire fighter who ran the marathon portion in full gear in honor of comrades killed on 9-11, people my age (which makes me think I need to ramp it up!), and even people in their 60s and 70s! Each time a competitor crosses the line, the announcer welcomes them saying, "You are an Ironman!" How cool is that? From the first person to the last.
If you're a P90X aficianado, you know who Tony Horton is (P90X creator). But what you may not know is that his sister, Kit, is a Beachbody coach. In a recent blog post, she wrote about all of the excuses about exercise she'd had in her head over the years. How familiar do these sounds? So familiar to me!
-I work long hours, I can’t get the workout in
-My travel schedule makes it difficult to eat healthy on the road
-My family won’t eat what I make and I’m tired of making two separate meals
-P90X workouts are an hour long, most days, I just don’t have an hour to workout (or 90 minutes for Yoga !!!)
-The holidays are coming and it’s challenging to eat well this time of year with all the temptations around
-It’s just not normal to eat healthy all the time, you should be able to indulge once in a while
-Before I know it, the day gets away from me and I haven’t got my workout in
-Cooking healthy meals takes too long and it’s so expensive
-Or how about the infamous, "I'll start on Monday."
When you watch the Ironman, you realize it's time to throw all those excuses out the window. The Ironman competitors made a choice to take on the most difficult athletic challenge and many other daily choices to commit to their training and fuel their bodies in the best way to be able to compete. Plain and simple: this race became their priority.
Do we all need to start training for the Ironman? No, of course not. But it's time to start making our own choices -- nutritionally, physically, mentally.
What does making exercise and healthy eating a priority really mean? It means more than doing the workout when you really don’t feel like it and saying no to the birthday cake at the office. It means getting back on track the day after you’ve had a bad day. It means feeling good and feeling good about yourself and your accomplishments for the first time in a long time. It means saying no to crappy food not because you have to talk yourself into it, but because you truly don’t want it AND because you've learned how badly you'll feel afterwards and you're tired of digging back out of that hole! Making conscious, consistent good decisions about your nutrition and fitness will give you the strength, perseverance and determination to make the right choice every time you’re faced with one.
You'll be surprised how quickly it will be a good habit. You'll soon wonder how you ever lived any other way!
Showing posts with label Goals. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Goals. Show all posts
Monday, November 12, 2012
Saturday, July 21, 2012
Hey There and New Fitness Goals
I haven't felt like blogging lately. How obvious is that? I'm sorry. I left you hanging high and dry near the end of Ultimate Reset.
So here's a quick rundown of how that turned out, where I've been, how I'm eating now, and what's next for me in terms of fitness.
Ultimate Reset
I think Ultimate Reset might be my favorite detox program ever. Just like when I finally found Shakeology and said that I'd kissed a lot of whey protein frogs to get to the love of my life -- Shakeology -- I feel like I went through a lot of detox hells to get to the point of Ultimate Reset. The food was yummy. Yes, there was prep work and I had to think and plan ahead (not always my strong suit), but I felt amazing after it was over, and I think I look pretty darn good. When I was in Ohio, I had a lot of people ask me what I was doing to lose weight. When other people can see it, that tells me something is working.
I have stayed mostly vegan after Ultimate Reset. Mostly, not totally. I have found that how I feel best for now. I did eat ice cream in Ohio. I did eat some meat. I find I mostly crave meat (or eggs) when I have PMS (sorry if that's TMI), but other than that, right now I can take it or leave it, and I mostly want to leave it. I have, of course, eaten popcorn. And always will.
As for grains, I am really only eating rice and some quinoa. I'll probably never give up rice.
So, when people ask me to describe my diet, I tell them I call it the Crave Diet. Really, I eat what I crave (in moderation because when my body craves chocolate, I don't make a meal of it!) and that's fruits, veggies, nuts, seeds and meat when I want it. I'm not bored with that. There's a huge variety of stuff you can eat in that realm. Huge.
I'm not kidding myself -- this an easy way to eat during summer. I figure things will change when cooler weather sets in, and my body craves different foods. It will be an experiment.
Overall, I lost 6 lbs. on Ultimate Reset, which at first, bummed me out because there were people out there losing 30+ pounds and talking about it on the support threads. But for me, that was a pretty good amount. It took me below 130 lbs. (I'm 5' 4 1/2"), which has been a goal for a long time, and I feel like I'm at a good, healthy, fit weight. I never did measure on the final day. We left for Ohio the day after Reset ended and I just flat out forgot to measure.
Fitness
Summer is always sort of a weird fitness time for me. The kids are home, of course, and we're sort of schedule-less, which never bodes well for me. I always do best when I have a strict schedule to follow.
During Ultimate Reset, you're not supposed to work out, but I couldn't stand that, and I didn't feel the greatest doing that. So I ended up alternating days of walking and doing TurboFire Stretch 40, which is 20 minutes of yoga and 20 minutes of deeper stretching. I felt really good with that plan.
In Ohio, I walked nearly every day. It makes me happy to walk around my old hometown and drink it all in. It was a nice break from structured routines and higher impact workouts.
So now, what do I do?
I did set up a month-long schedule in my WOWY calendar (Beachbody's online gym) for TurboJam. It's lower impact than TurboFire. I'm working my way back to working out harder at altitude -- I was amazed at how I could feel the difference from a cardio perspective after spending two weeks at sea level!
But I'm wanting to add stuff in to make my workouts more challenging.
So here's what I've decided to do. The TurboJam schedule will take me almost until the boys go back to school. I'll stick with it, but I'm adding some RUNNING. Yes, I said it. I'm adding RUNNING. Is hell freezing over?
I know, madness. But my long-term goal is -- get this -- to do a triathlon. And if I want to do a triathlon, I need to run. So I'm starting with a Couch to 5K program. Once I finish that, I plan to add in the triathlon training program (note: that's going to put me in the fall so I may be training and not have a race to run, but the point, to me, is the training part). For the remainder of the summer, I'm also going to do some Brazil Butt Lift and P90X Legs and Back. Might as well keep hammering away on that area. I feel like I had good results doing that in the spring.
I'm writing it out so it makes sense to me...
Remainder of summer:
-TurboJam + Couch to 5K + BBL and P90X Legs and Back
Late August (when school is starting):
-Contine with Couch to 5K (note, I originally wrote "Cough" to 5K. How appropriate.)
-TurboFire and ChaLEAN Extreme
Mid-October:
-Continue with TurboFire and ChaLEAN Extreme
-Begin triathlon training schedule although this could be a curious process because it would already be snowing in Colorado...
I'll see where that gets me!
So here's a quick rundown of how that turned out, where I've been, how I'm eating now, and what's next for me in terms of fitness.
Ultimate Reset
I think Ultimate Reset might be my favorite detox program ever. Just like when I finally found Shakeology and said that I'd kissed a lot of whey protein frogs to get to the love of my life -- Shakeology -- I feel like I went through a lot of detox hells to get to the point of Ultimate Reset. The food was yummy. Yes, there was prep work and I had to think and plan ahead (not always my strong suit), but I felt amazing after it was over, and I think I look pretty darn good. When I was in Ohio, I had a lot of people ask me what I was doing to lose weight. When other people can see it, that tells me something is working.
I have stayed mostly vegan after Ultimate Reset. Mostly, not totally. I have found that how I feel best for now. I did eat ice cream in Ohio. I did eat some meat. I find I mostly crave meat (or eggs) when I have PMS (sorry if that's TMI), but other than that, right now I can take it or leave it, and I mostly want to leave it. I have, of course, eaten popcorn. And always will.
As for grains, I am really only eating rice and some quinoa. I'll probably never give up rice.
So, when people ask me to describe my diet, I tell them I call it the Crave Diet. Really, I eat what I crave (in moderation because when my body craves chocolate, I don't make a meal of it!) and that's fruits, veggies, nuts, seeds and meat when I want it. I'm not bored with that. There's a huge variety of stuff you can eat in that realm. Huge.
I'm not kidding myself -- this an easy way to eat during summer. I figure things will change when cooler weather sets in, and my body craves different foods. It will be an experiment.
Overall, I lost 6 lbs. on Ultimate Reset, which at first, bummed me out because there were people out there losing 30+ pounds and talking about it on the support threads. But for me, that was a pretty good amount. It took me below 130 lbs. (I'm 5' 4 1/2"), which has been a goal for a long time, and I feel like I'm at a good, healthy, fit weight. I never did measure on the final day. We left for Ohio the day after Reset ended and I just flat out forgot to measure.
Fitness
Summer is always sort of a weird fitness time for me. The kids are home, of course, and we're sort of schedule-less, which never bodes well for me. I always do best when I have a strict schedule to follow.
During Ultimate Reset, you're not supposed to work out, but I couldn't stand that, and I didn't feel the greatest doing that. So I ended up alternating days of walking and doing TurboFire Stretch 40, which is 20 minutes of yoga and 20 minutes of deeper stretching. I felt really good with that plan.
In Ohio, I walked nearly every day. It makes me happy to walk around my old hometown and drink it all in. It was a nice break from structured routines and higher impact workouts.
So now, what do I do?
I did set up a month-long schedule in my WOWY calendar (Beachbody's online gym) for TurboJam. It's lower impact than TurboFire. I'm working my way back to working out harder at altitude -- I was amazed at how I could feel the difference from a cardio perspective after spending two weeks at sea level!
But I'm wanting to add stuff in to make my workouts more challenging.
So here's what I've decided to do. The TurboJam schedule will take me almost until the boys go back to school. I'll stick with it, but I'm adding some RUNNING. Yes, I said it. I'm adding RUNNING. Is hell freezing over?
I know, madness. But my long-term goal is -- get this -- to do a triathlon. And if I want to do a triathlon, I need to run. So I'm starting with a Couch to 5K program. Once I finish that, I plan to add in the triathlon training program (note: that's going to put me in the fall so I may be training and not have a race to run, but the point, to me, is the training part). For the remainder of the summer, I'm also going to do some Brazil Butt Lift and P90X Legs and Back. Might as well keep hammering away on that area. I feel like I had good results doing that in the spring.
I'm writing it out so it makes sense to me...
Remainder of summer:
-TurboJam + Couch to 5K + BBL and P90X Legs and Back
Late August (when school is starting):
-Contine with Couch to 5K (note, I originally wrote "Cough" to 5K. How appropriate.)
-TurboFire and ChaLEAN Extreme
Mid-October:
-Continue with TurboFire and ChaLEAN Extreme
-Begin triathlon training schedule although this could be a curious process because it would already be snowing in Colorado...
I'll see where that gets me!
Thursday, April 26, 2012
Fun Fitness and Nutrition Website: Slimkicker.com
OK, so you know by now how overly competitive I am. Set anything up as a challenge, and I'm all over it. I'm mostly competitive with myself, but I have been known to over-celebrate when I crush my kids at board games or air hockey. And don't ask Eamonn about the enduring grudge over Trivial Pursuit. (Nancy Drew's hair was TITIAN, not blond!) But I digress.
Anyway, the developers of Slimkicker, e-mailed me ages ago and told me that the site was underdevelopment and would I be interested in taking a look at it when it was finished.
I said yes.
Flash forward to a few weeks ago when they e-mailed that the site was up and running.
It's really fun! You create a profile and can track all sorts of things like your exercise and your food intake, but you can also participate in challenges, which appeals to my overly competitive self.
Before I had my Bodybugg, I used MyFitnessPal to track my calories, but Slimkicker is pretty slick and cool looking (yes, I'm shallow and love things for their looks), and I dig those challenges.
Please note, while the site developers did ask me to check out the site, I'm not being paid to promote it or anything. I just think it's cool. I just joined the Mix it Up Challenge to try something new each day for seven days. On Sunday I'm starting a raw food detox/15 day raw eating challenge so there will be lots of new things on my horizon in the next two weeks!
Anyway, check out Slimkicker if you're so inclined. I'm on there as Roontoo!
Anyway, the developers of Slimkicker, e-mailed me ages ago and told me that the site was underdevelopment and would I be interested in taking a look at it when it was finished.
I said yes.
Flash forward to a few weeks ago when they e-mailed that the site was up and running.
It's really fun! You create a profile and can track all sorts of things like your exercise and your food intake, but you can also participate in challenges, which appeals to my overly competitive self.
Before I had my Bodybugg, I used MyFitnessPal to track my calories, but Slimkicker is pretty slick and cool looking (yes, I'm shallow and love things for their looks), and I dig those challenges.
Please note, while the site developers did ask me to check out the site, I'm not being paid to promote it or anything. I just think it's cool. I just joined the Mix it Up Challenge to try something new each day for seven days. On Sunday I'm starting a raw food detox/15 day raw eating challenge so there will be lots of new things on my horizon in the next two weeks!
Anyway, check out Slimkicker if you're so inclined. I'm on there as Roontoo!
Thursday, November 17, 2011
The Goal
I just used that as a title because it's the title of a book that I read when I was in grad school and I saw it on the bookshelf this morning when I was working out. It's good. You should read it. If you feel moved to read about transportation and logistics, that is.
Anyway, goals are on my mind lately because...I don't really have any. And when I don't have specific goals, it usually means trouble.
There have been some good milestones lately. I tried on some pants in a store the other day and they were in a size that I never envisioned I would wear. Ever. Never ever. Ultimately, I didn't buy them so I WON'T be wearing them--they were snug (but the fact that I could even put them on and button them is cause for a NEWS ALERT) and I didn't feel they were an appropriate expenditure of money heading into the holiday season where I need all of my funds to buy Christmas gifts and all of my calories for Christmas cookies. Bottom line: they probably wouldn't fit my bottom after a few Christmas cookies anyway so that size will wait for another time of year.
(FYI: I'm going to write about "vanity sizing" on my other blog because I feel certain it's why I could pull up and button pants of "that size.")
Anyway, last week I was all motivated and gung ho and then I totally hit the wall. Don't know what my deal was. I did make it through the week with my workouts, but my eating wasn't the greatest and I think that's probably contributing to fatigue. In the end, I had to take this past Tuesday off.
A day off! Right at the start of the week! I know! Crazy.
And then yesterday, I wanted to take the day off again, because sometimes I get lazy. I told myself to just get the DVD in the player and start and it would all work out. Which it did. I'm guessing I gave about 40% effort, but some days, 40% is better than 0%.
That's what I tell myself.
So a few points/lessons for myself today and maybe they will help you, too:
-I need a specific goal. Always. If I don't, I start floundering and a skipped workout here, a cheese stick there--and it all starts to come unglued. That may sound obsessive to some people, but I have definitely learned over the years how my mind and body operate. And I know that for me, it's a slippery slope that I'll descend very quickly if I don't keep things in check. Yes, I certainly loosen up and enjoy food and skip workouts, but it can't be more than a day or two in a row or then I struggle with my motivation and getting back on track.
I'm really writing this to wrap my own head around it, not to lecture to you, by the way.
Anyway, because my weight had popped up two pounds or so in late October/early November, I had a really agressive goal to lose 5 lbs. by the end of this month. I've decided to scrap that. It's just not realistic for this time of year when I do, indeed, want to indulge in some cookie eating. Instead, tomorrow I'm revamping my Bodybugg program to reflect maintenance until after the holidays. Whatever I weigh tomorrow, that will be my goal to weigh on January 2 or 3 or whenever the Christmas cake and cookies are gone (somehow those actions and my goal seem to be divergent, don't they???).
I am going to do as many Christmas treats as possible gluten free this year. That's another goal. Clearly not a goal that will contribute to weight loss, but one that will make me feel better, nonetheless.
-Another point for today is learning to listen to myself. Something else I've learned is there's a big difference between being so tired/exhausted/sick that you NEED and SHOULD take a day off and just being tired and not getting your butt out of bed day after day and skipping workouts. We're all tired, but that doesn't give us license not to workout. Tuesday? I needed to skip. I traveled for work on Monday and then stayed up very late trying to get caught up on all of the work that didn't get finished while I was traveling. My body told me I needed to rest on Tuesday. I didn't like it, but I did it. I hate getting off my WOWY schedule. Now that is something I'm OCD about, and I readily admit it.
Unfortunately, I felt like I was getting the same message on Wednesday. Hmmm. But after a little more soul searching, I realized it wasn't my body telling me not to get up, it was my brain and THAT is the voice that we all need to overcome--the one that tells you you're too tired, too sore, that bed feels more comfortable than your workout clothes. It was unpleasant to overcome that mental hurdle, but I did it and I'm glad. I did compromise--I did my workout a little later in the morning versus 5:30am, but talking over that voice in my head was key. My body was fine, my mind just wasn't in the right place. That's what I needed to fix.
And that is a key point when you're sore from a prior workout. One of the worst things you can do is to then skip a workout. Do something different when you're sore--stretch, walk, something lighter and more forgiving, but your muscles need to warm up and move a little to get through that soreness/stiffness.
That's my opinion.
So to recap in a slightly shorter format: I will be trying to maintain my current weight for the next 6 weeks.
The end.
Anyway, goals are on my mind lately because...I don't really have any. And when I don't have specific goals, it usually means trouble.
There have been some good milestones lately. I tried on some pants in a store the other day and they were in a size that I never envisioned I would wear. Ever. Never ever. Ultimately, I didn't buy them so I WON'T be wearing them--they were snug (but the fact that I could even put them on and button them is cause for a NEWS ALERT) and I didn't feel they were an appropriate expenditure of money heading into the holiday season where I need all of my funds to buy Christmas gifts and all of my calories for Christmas cookies. Bottom line: they probably wouldn't fit my bottom after a few Christmas cookies anyway so that size will wait for another time of year.
(FYI: I'm going to write about "vanity sizing" on my other blog because I feel certain it's why I could pull up and button pants of "that size.")
Anyway, last week I was all motivated and gung ho and then I totally hit the wall. Don't know what my deal was. I did make it through the week with my workouts, but my eating wasn't the greatest and I think that's probably contributing to fatigue. In the end, I had to take this past Tuesday off.
A day off! Right at the start of the week! I know! Crazy.
And then yesterday, I wanted to take the day off again, because sometimes I get lazy. I told myself to just get the DVD in the player and start and it would all work out. Which it did. I'm guessing I gave about 40% effort, but some days, 40% is better than 0%.
That's what I tell myself.
So a few points/lessons for myself today and maybe they will help you, too:
-I need a specific goal. Always. If I don't, I start floundering and a skipped workout here, a cheese stick there--and it all starts to come unglued. That may sound obsessive to some people, but I have definitely learned over the years how my mind and body operate. And I know that for me, it's a slippery slope that I'll descend very quickly if I don't keep things in check. Yes, I certainly loosen up and enjoy food and skip workouts, but it can't be more than a day or two in a row or then I struggle with my motivation and getting back on track.
I'm really writing this to wrap my own head around it, not to lecture to you, by the way.
Anyway, because my weight had popped up two pounds or so in late October/early November, I had a really agressive goal to lose 5 lbs. by the end of this month. I've decided to scrap that. It's just not realistic for this time of year when I do, indeed, want to indulge in some cookie eating. Instead, tomorrow I'm revamping my Bodybugg program to reflect maintenance until after the holidays. Whatever I weigh tomorrow, that will be my goal to weigh on January 2 or 3 or whenever the Christmas cake and cookies are gone (somehow those actions and my goal seem to be divergent, don't they???).
I am going to do as many Christmas treats as possible gluten free this year. That's another goal. Clearly not a goal that will contribute to weight loss, but one that will make me feel better, nonetheless.
-Another point for today is learning to listen to myself. Something else I've learned is there's a big difference between being so tired/exhausted/sick that you NEED and SHOULD take a day off and just being tired and not getting your butt out of bed day after day and skipping workouts. We're all tired, but that doesn't give us license not to workout. Tuesday? I needed to skip. I traveled for work on Monday and then stayed up very late trying to get caught up on all of the work that didn't get finished while I was traveling. My body told me I needed to rest on Tuesday. I didn't like it, but I did it. I hate getting off my WOWY schedule. Now that is something I'm OCD about, and I readily admit it.
Unfortunately, I felt like I was getting the same message on Wednesday. Hmmm. But after a little more soul searching, I realized it wasn't my body telling me not to get up, it was my brain and THAT is the voice that we all need to overcome--the one that tells you you're too tired, too sore, that bed feels more comfortable than your workout clothes. It was unpleasant to overcome that mental hurdle, but I did it and I'm glad. I did compromise--I did my workout a little later in the morning versus 5:30am, but talking over that voice in my head was key. My body was fine, my mind just wasn't in the right place. That's what I needed to fix.
And that is a key point when you're sore from a prior workout. One of the worst things you can do is to then skip a workout. Do something different when you're sore--stretch, walk, something lighter and more forgiving, but your muscles need to warm up and move a little to get through that soreness/stiffness.
That's my opinion.
So to recap in a slightly shorter format: I will be trying to maintain my current weight for the next 6 weeks.
The end.
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Goals, Schmoals
I haven't done crap on my goal achievement this week, people.
Yes, I've worked out, but my eating has been marginal at best and I haven't been recording my food past about breakfast each day. And how about that goal to blog here 3 times a week? Not happening.
When does school start????? Two weeks? Two weeks = eternity in my world right now.
I'm just hanging on by a thread. I know I'll be sad (well, maybe not really sad, but just sort of sad in a "oh my word the fact that they're back at school means time is passing quickly and I'm getting old" type of sad. It's always all about me.) when they go back. Declan will start middle school and we'll enter a whole new era.
Blah blah blah, I know. Whatever.
I'm just sort of flapping along and trying to stay afloat until I can get my work finished during the day again. And then maybe go to bed before midnight.
So my goal report is really kind of lame. My goal for August should really just have been: not have a nervous breakdown. That was my goal for July and I achieved it, but just barely.
Anyway, my tip of the day: Don't have a nervous breakdown. I'd be sad if you did.
I do confess I'm also looking forward to September and starting a real workout schedule again. I will be setting some pretty aggressive fitness goals for myself this fall and I'm excited to get rolling on them.
Wake me up when September comes. Even though that's not how the song goes.
Yes, I've worked out, but my eating has been marginal at best and I haven't been recording my food past about breakfast each day. And how about that goal to blog here 3 times a week? Not happening.
When does school start????? Two weeks? Two weeks = eternity in my world right now.
I'm just hanging on by a thread. I know I'll be sad (well, maybe not really sad, but just sort of sad in a "oh my word the fact that they're back at school means time is passing quickly and I'm getting old" type of sad. It's always all about me.) when they go back. Declan will start middle school and we'll enter a whole new era.
Blah blah blah, I know. Whatever.
I'm just sort of flapping along and trying to stay afloat until I can get my work finished during the day again. And then maybe go to bed before midnight.
So my goal report is really kind of lame. My goal for August should really just have been: not have a nervous breakdown. That was my goal for July and I achieved it, but just barely.
Anyway, my tip of the day: Don't have a nervous breakdown. I'd be sad if you did.
I do confess I'm also looking forward to September and starting a real workout schedule again. I will be setting some pretty aggressive fitness goals for myself this fall and I'm excited to get rolling on them.
Wake me up when September comes. Even though that's not how the song goes.
Saturday, July 2, 2011
TurboFire is History
And I have to say, I'm a little sad about it. It has been my favorite Beachbody workout, bar none. I love Chalene Johnson, she's my idol. I think I might be a groupie. I love the music on TurboFire and I love the moves.
When I finished TurboFire last week, I found myself with a little gap though and I wasn't sure what I wanted to do. Historically, in the summer, when I'm not officially doing a full-on scheduled BB routine, like not following anything, I don't do well. I need structure. I'm like a preschooler that way. Except without the nap. But I would like the nap if anyone could please make that happen.
Anyway, I knew I had missed a few workouts here and there when I was sick or when I didn't want to do one of the yoga workouts during the weight loss challenge because I wanted to crank on the cardio routine to burn more calories. Plus, I'd shuffled some things around when we traveled. I made those up, but there were "blue spots" in my WOWY schedule and I could see exactly what I had/hadn't done.
I admit I've become freakishly obsessive about the WOWY calendar. I love making the whole month green, which means completed workouts, except for the rest days. Obviously, I can't go back and fix those specific days, so I constructed a schedule of all of those "blue spots" and it was exactly 12 days--the amount of time before we left for Ohio.
Pefect. Except that I realized about three of the days were HIIT (high intensity interval training) days. Ick. I thought I was done with those. But I'm doing it.
And an interesting aside: Eamonn is doing Insanity. And get this: he can actually do it. Unlike me when I did Insanity and spent most of my time just standing there watching in horror.
It does create a bit of a logjam in the basement in the mornings, but since the weather has been so great, I do a walk while Eamonn is Insane and then when he's finished I do my TurboFire schtick.
So far, so good.
And in further news, on Friday, I hit my revised weight loss goal. Very exciting! Then, because Friday was my cheat day, I ate guacamole and chips in wretched excess and that number bounced back up. It will be back, I know it. It was fun to see it for a fleeting moment though.
Happy Fourth of July!
When I finished TurboFire last week, I found myself with a little gap though and I wasn't sure what I wanted to do. Historically, in the summer, when I'm not officially doing a full-on scheduled BB routine, like not following anything, I don't do well. I need structure. I'm like a preschooler that way. Except without the nap. But I would like the nap if anyone could please make that happen.
Anyway, I knew I had missed a few workouts here and there when I was sick or when I didn't want to do one of the yoga workouts during the weight loss challenge because I wanted to crank on the cardio routine to burn more calories. Plus, I'd shuffled some things around when we traveled. I made those up, but there were "blue spots" in my WOWY schedule and I could see exactly what I had/hadn't done.
I admit I've become freakishly obsessive about the WOWY calendar. I love making the whole month green, which means completed workouts, except for the rest days. Obviously, I can't go back and fix those specific days, so I constructed a schedule of all of those "blue spots" and it was exactly 12 days--the amount of time before we left for Ohio.
Pefect. Except that I realized about three of the days were HIIT (high intensity interval training) days. Ick. I thought I was done with those. But I'm doing it.
And an interesting aside: Eamonn is doing Insanity. And get this: he can actually do it. Unlike me when I did Insanity and spent most of my time just standing there watching in horror.
It does create a bit of a logjam in the basement in the mornings, but since the weather has been so great, I do a walk while Eamonn is Insane and then when he's finished I do my TurboFire schtick.
So far, so good.
And in further news, on Friday, I hit my revised weight loss goal. Very exciting! Then, because Friday was my cheat day, I ate guacamole and chips in wretched excess and that number bounced back up. It will be back, I know it. It was fun to see it for a fleeting moment though.
Happy Fourth of July!
Friday, June 3, 2011
Need to Get Serious
My 25th high school reunion is in approximately 6 weeks. Why couldn't the reunion have been about three weeks ago when I was at a great weight? Angst. I continue to flounder around. I need some sort of weight loss challenge to get my rear in gear.
What happened? My workouts have been great, but PMS came around and I always let myself indulge a little in the last day or so prior. But then, there was some sort of, um, delay and the PMS just kept going. Then we went to Erin's for Memorial Day and I'm telling you, people, that girl is the WORST influence! How is someone supposed to resist Chex Mix, Mochi (or whatever that Japanese ice cream in rice paper is called), popcorn,s'mores... See! Do you see what I'm up against?
Well, in all seriousness, it's my own lack of prior planning that has been doing me in. Work is busy. The end of school is madness. Blah blah blah. I just haven't planned and the results are showing. Last night I ate pizza and potato chips at the 5th grade party. Because I'm a sadist and because it was Friday, I hopped on the scale this morning. UP 6 POUNDS from a few weeks ago!
Now, Eamonn would say not to freak out. Sodium is everyone's enemy and it doesn't get much worst than pizza and potato chips. Except maybe for popcorn.
Combine the bad eating with the fact that I'm not even logging my bad eating and nothing good can come of it.
Anyway, tomorrow, I'll be back to business: keeping up with the workouts, planning meals, logging food, making better choices overall.
Because the 25th reunion is not a time to let things fall apart. I don't know when it is I can let things fall apart, but it sure as heck isn't now.
So, tomorrow--daily reports once again. And maybe for some incentive I'll tell Eamonn I would like to have a new pair of shoes if I get back to my goal. I'm sure that will go down well.
What happened? My workouts have been great, but PMS came around and I always let myself indulge a little in the last day or so prior. But then, there was some sort of, um, delay and the PMS just kept going. Then we went to Erin's for Memorial Day and I'm telling you, people, that girl is the WORST influence! How is someone supposed to resist Chex Mix, Mochi (or whatever that Japanese ice cream in rice paper is called), popcorn,s'mores... See! Do you see what I'm up against?
Well, in all seriousness, it's my own lack of prior planning that has been doing me in. Work is busy. The end of school is madness. Blah blah blah. I just haven't planned and the results are showing. Last night I ate pizza and potato chips at the 5th grade party. Because I'm a sadist and because it was Friday, I hopped on the scale this morning. UP 6 POUNDS from a few weeks ago!
Now, Eamonn would say not to freak out. Sodium is everyone's enemy and it doesn't get much worst than pizza and potato chips. Except maybe for popcorn.
Combine the bad eating with the fact that I'm not even logging my bad eating and nothing good can come of it.
Anyway, tomorrow, I'll be back to business: keeping up with the workouts, planning meals, logging food, making better choices overall.
Because the 25th reunion is not a time to let things fall apart. I don't know when it is I can let things fall apart, but it sure as heck isn't now.
So, tomorrow--daily reports once again. And maybe for some incentive I'll tell Eamonn I would like to have a new pair of shoes if I get back to my goal. I'm sure that will go down well.
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Floundering Around
I'm not really sure what to do with myself these days. As I mentioned in a past post, I'm below the goal I thought I needed to get to. I got there, went a little below, and lo and behold, I've wondered, "Should I keep going?"
Here's the thing: I feel good, I look pretty good (that's pretty much in my opinion!), I like the size of clothes I'm wearing (I've bought some new ones much to the strain of our credit card bill), and I feel like I'm in a good place.
However, as any woman does, I still notice all of those annoying jiggly bits, as they like to say in England. Pre-kids, at this weight, there would have been no fat on my belly. And yet, some remains. Can it be got rid of without completely eliminating my boobs? I'm curious.
And my thighs. Sigh. I'm a pear shape. I will always be a pear shape. I'm a smaller pear, and that makes me happy, but I do wonder if anything short of liposuction would actually make my thighs go away?
My bottom--well, it's smaller, I can tell because I took measurements when I started TurboFire, but it remains in its jiggly glory.
The thing is, I've worked really hard this winter. Darn hard. How long do I want to keep working like that?
I remember Oprah once saying on her show that there was no magic bullet for weight loss becuase if there had been, it would have been, she would have given it to everyone on her Favorite Things show ages ago!
Well, there is a "magic bullet" per se, but maybe not the one we all want. It's freaking hard work! That magic bullet is what we've been told all along: eat less, exercise more.
So how long do I want to eat less and exercise more? That's kind of where I'm at right now. Lose a little more? Maintain and continue to firm up? Trying to decide.
I know that I will always be someone who needs to track calories. I think that's just a fact of life for me. I do feel like over the course of the last year I've mastered portion control and listening to my body, especially when I'm in a situation where I can't weigh and measure my food. That has been a long time in the making. I'm OK with keeping an eye on that.
I need to avoid certain foods, probably for the longterm. Grains seem to be one of those. And, sadly, beans, which I love. Both of those foods apparently contain something that isn't so great for my digestive system, and my family who are in close proximity as a result.
I also know that I'll continue to need to get my workouts in first thing in the morning. That may be a forever thing. Maybe one day I won't have to get up at 5:30am though. One can dream.
So I'm just trying to figure it all out right now. It bugs me that I don't have a concrete goal in place because for years I've had a goal and I feel like I need one to be moving forward.
Run a 5k? Do a triathlon? Get some sort of nutrition or fitness certification? These are all things I've mulled, but come to no conclusion on. Until then I'm just keeping up with TurboFire, adding in some weight training, and eating clean.
I'll keep you updated.
Here's the thing: I feel good, I look pretty good (that's pretty much in my opinion!), I like the size of clothes I'm wearing (I've bought some new ones much to the strain of our credit card bill), and I feel like I'm in a good place.
However, as any woman does, I still notice all of those annoying jiggly bits, as they like to say in England. Pre-kids, at this weight, there would have been no fat on my belly. And yet, some remains. Can it be got rid of without completely eliminating my boobs? I'm curious.
And my thighs. Sigh. I'm a pear shape. I will always be a pear shape. I'm a smaller pear, and that makes me happy, but I do wonder if anything short of liposuction would actually make my thighs go away?
My bottom--well, it's smaller, I can tell because I took measurements when I started TurboFire, but it remains in its jiggly glory.
The thing is, I've worked really hard this winter. Darn hard. How long do I want to keep working like that?
I remember Oprah once saying on her show that there was no magic bullet for weight loss becuase if there had been, it would have been, she would have given it to everyone on her Favorite Things show ages ago!
Well, there is a "magic bullet" per se, but maybe not the one we all want. It's freaking hard work! That magic bullet is what we've been told all along: eat less, exercise more.
So how long do I want to eat less and exercise more? That's kind of where I'm at right now. Lose a little more? Maintain and continue to firm up? Trying to decide.
I know that I will always be someone who needs to track calories. I think that's just a fact of life for me. I do feel like over the course of the last year I've mastered portion control and listening to my body, especially when I'm in a situation where I can't weigh and measure my food. That has been a long time in the making. I'm OK with keeping an eye on that.
I need to avoid certain foods, probably for the longterm. Grains seem to be one of those. And, sadly, beans, which I love. Both of those foods apparently contain something that isn't so great for my digestive system, and my family who are in close proximity as a result.
I also know that I'll continue to need to get my workouts in first thing in the morning. That may be a forever thing. Maybe one day I won't have to get up at 5:30am though. One can dream.
So I'm just trying to figure it all out right now. It bugs me that I don't have a concrete goal in place because for years I've had a goal and I feel like I need one to be moving forward.
Run a 5k? Do a triathlon? Get some sort of nutrition or fitness certification? These are all things I've mulled, but come to no conclusion on. Until then I'm just keeping up with TurboFire, adding in some weight training, and eating clean.
I'll keep you updated.
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