Back on Track

Alright, so as I had said before, if I started to slip I would just get back on track and start over. Luckily I seem to have caught myself before slipping too far otherwise it would have been harder. Because of my recent lack of motivation and inability to get myself off the couch and workout when there wasn't the Boot camp classes looming in my near future, I have created a workout schedule that I have so far been pretty good at following (granted its been three days). It almost like a punishment for not working out, but mostly to keep me motivated and moving in between classes and hopefully get myself into the habit of working out on my own so I wont always have to pay to have someone kick my ass. I will show you what I plan on doing, so far… its not so easy (even if it looks it.)

 

Mondays: Boot camp from 6:30-7:30 pm – this is a crazy workout 

Highlights from  first class:

• she had us run the room a few times going down the stairs, ten squats at the bottom then back up then when you returned to the room 20 “warm up” push ups on the wall and repeat. This was just the warm-up
• She set up minute long stations including the basics like a bosu ball to do exploding push ups one hand on one hand off, bands attached to a door for twisting, an exercise ball to twist 4 times throw at the wall then do a sit-up (but reverse because you were already up), and a step to do as many as you can BUT
• See, when you sign up for boot camp in a small town, the equipment gets a little… different. TIRES! She had up hold a car tire above our head and do squats then military press the tire up. Then there was the enormous Tractor tire that in teams of two you had to flip it end over end. The tire weighed as much if not more then me…

This class was actually pretty fun. Everyone else seemed to already know each other so I felt a little awkward but in general the actual exercising was great. A minute passes surprisingly fast and by the time your at the point where you want to give up because it hurts and your exhausted she's counting down the last 10 seconds so you can push through. I enjoyed that part of it because I was able to give my all for the whole set instead of getting exhausted half way through. It was really hard to get water but at random points she would take a “walk around the room” break where you jog/walk fast to get your heart rate up again.

Biggest Accomplishment: I somehow got myself pulled off the floor in the side plank position. Granted my knees were bent so its kind of like cheating but before I never could get off the ground, so if I have to cheat a little to get my muscles to focus then I can work on getting my legs straight as I get stronger.

Tuesdays: Walk Outside OR Trampoline [minimum 20 minutes]

Now, this in no way sounds challenging or like a lot of effort. BUT trick is, the day before caused so much muscle building that moving is such a challenge the concept of walking to the bathroom was daunting let alone walking for 20 minutes at a reasonable pace or even trampoline-jogging. I made a commitment though and even though I literally put it off until 9:00 pm and was so tired, I couldn’t not do my first self inflicted workout. So, because Mother Nature thinks its funny to tease us with spring weather then make it snow in April, I decided to do the trampoline jogging. I turned the TV on and luckily bulging brides was on. I like that show and watching them do much harder workouts then my measly jogging was motivation to keep going and going and going.

I got to my 20 minutes and with the television show not over, I thought, Why don’t I keep going? And I did. I jogged with random spurts of high knees and faster jogging for an additional 10 minutes. So really, I ended up with a 30 minute jog even though my muscles were sore. The thing I love about the trampoline is even though it is a really great workout and you do feel it the next day, it doesn’t hurt while your doing it.

Biggest Accomplishment: Pushing myself an extra TEN minutes even though I was tired and needed to go to bed but decided looking good in a bathing suit was a thousand times more important.

Wednesdays: Elliptical OR Trampoline [20 minutes minimum]; Weights- Arms; Abs [100 crunches/moves – varying types]

Now, I gave myself a harder Wednesday either because I forgot how boot camp kills, or because I am mentally challenged. I was MORE sore on Wednesday from boot camp (maybe some of it was trampoline pain) but sitting into chairs was hard. My thighs were dead. So obviously I kept trying to ration it in my brain, your sore you can’t work out! But then at 9:30 I got mad at myself and was like, seriously It is only day 3 of this and your giving up? And I pulled out my Trampoline and began jogging. This time I only did 20 minutes because I had other things to do.

Arm weights are important to me because I like to feel strong. Maybe its because I am so short that I always have to justify that I am as strong –if not stronger- then all those tall girls but I hate that my arms jiggle. I used my 5 lb weights and worked each muscle until exhaustion. I wasn't counting but I did each one until it wasn’t able to do it with proper form again. This I hear is how you get the lean long muscles instead of the super big bulky ones you get if you use super heavy weights.

Abs were fun as always… By fun, I mean awkward and painful. I know crunches are not the BEST type of exercise but its something to help and I do a whole bunch of different ones to work the different core muscles.

Biggest Accomplishment: I will probably say this a lot but the biggest accomplishment was to actually start. I am a notorious procrastination. HENCE, I am blogging when I have 4 days until my 3 exams that I have in no way begun to prepare for. So the fact that (even though I could be studying) I got myself to workout for 30-40 minutes is fairly impressive. I am hoping that this schedule helps motivate me to want to workout on my own so the fact that (even though its two days) I was able to do it is impressive just on its own.

Thursday: Pilates [6:45-7:45]

This starts tonight. I am really nervous because I have never done a Pilates class before. I have done body flow at the good life gyms and LOVED it, but I have a feeling this will be really different and really hard. I am excited because it should be an amazing Abs-Core-Back workout and that is my biggest trouble area. I am that disgusting-and-dangerous-to-your-health APPLE BODY SHAPE. It is so bad to have all your fat in the middle and that's exactly where mine sits. And I have a lot of it. I have like… 35 pounds of fat that can just vanish and I would still be healthy sized. On someone who is 5foot 2 that is bad. I am working on it though! I will let you know how Pilates is!

Fridays: Just Dance 2 OR Trampoline [minimum 20 minutes]; Abs [100 crunches/moves]

Just Dance 2 is basically my favourite work out EVER. Not only is it crazy cardio-tastic but I get to play with my favourite ladies Chels and Colleen and we are getting really good! Well they were always good, but now I am getting better. Most Fridays I spend with them but I gave myself the option of subbing in trampoline because Chels has competitions and I have exams and stuff so sometimes it doesn't happen. Also, Abs are important even though I will be in crazy Pilates pain because it is April, in roughly two and a half months I will be expected to wear a bathing suit. That is no good. So before the humiliation happens I would like to get as much fat off me as possible with my cardio plans and it would be great to have some muscles waiting underneath that thick layer of ick so that when I can get it off I will be bathing suit ready!

Saturday: Elliptical [20 minutes]; Walk Outside [15 minutes]; Arms

So weekends I need to focus because that's usually when I eat pizza or other wondrous weekend food. So Saturdays have these three steps including taking the dogs for a walk. If its ever raining I guess I will sub in trampoline jogging but the doggies enjoy walking so on nice days I will take them out for a stroll through the forest.

Sunday: Elliptical [20 minutes]; Walk Outside [15 minutes]; Arms; Abs [100 crunches]

As said before weekends are bad so I have to exercise a lot and then Sundays add Abs so that 4 out of 7 days a week I will be working out that Food Baby.

 

 

So that is the plan! Hopefully I can stick to it. I am making a binder to record my “Actual” accomplishments. So that when I jog an extra ten minutes or do extra crunches or miss a day I have it recorded for review later if I don’t lose weight or if I lose a lot in one week I can look at why.

 

Now! BACK TO STUDYING! (I would rather jog for a month straight than study for finals…)

Forgive Me Food Baby....

For I have sinned. It has been weeks since my last workout and out of shame, since my last blog post.

I know I should be better, but the lack of motivation while at home has consumed me. The energy and motivation for not failing at boot camp has dwindled and thought my next class would start sooner but because of the location chosen it starts tonight. It is time to recommit.

Not only will I be doing a Boot camp class on Mondays (Fitness Hooping was cancelled because not enough people signed up) I will begin my first ever Pilates class on Thursday! It is an inconvenient week for classes to start because its EXAM WEEK next week but I have to get back on the horse before I gain any more weight back. I am pretending like its just water / PMS weight but its probably the bag of baked lays I devoured almost entirely on my own, alongside the half a pan of brownies that was my supper last night.

I don't know why its so hard to stay motivated. I did it for two months straight, lost 12 ish pounds, now I can only say I lost 10 pounds and haven't done measurements in weeks. I assume I am losing muscle though because my legs are getting jiggly again.

However, through it all, my weekly JUST DANCE 2 battles with my girls have happened. I even crack 10000 points on Hey Ya which if you have ever played you know how tricky that is. Me and Chels even played Rasputin this Friday. Have you played this level yet? Hardest. Song. Ever. Especially for someone whose knees don't bend like that and crack if you turn to quickly. I cant squat as low as Chels but I kept up nicely! A few weeks ago I played with Colleen also and I believe she has a potential career as a Tina Turner impersonator. <3.

The worst part about these last few weeks is money issues. The way my pay checks fall, I ended up getting all three days I missed of work off one check and then with some really high bills including a 200$ bill to repair my poor virus infected laptop that basically broke my heart on Thursday, followed by a 200$ vet bill to help my poor baby eat her food on Friday, I have no money left over for groceries.

I got a bit of stuff [Thank Freddy I got my Tax cheque otherwise lord knows what would happen] last night at the grocery store but I need my computer back so I can pay off my credit cards and get back on track.

I think I jinxed my computer. I have been contemplating buying a new one because I tend to get bored of my technology quickly and so was looking into a desktop so I could have a nicer keyboard for my writing endeavors, but as soon as I look into getting a new computer, even though I can't afford it, my laptop crashes costing me half as much as a new computer. I was tempted to just buy a new one instead but then I would have to transfer all my pictures myself and that's a lot of work and I would probably end up transferring the virus alongside them.

Anyways, back to relevant information. Workouts! Resume tonight. now at 6:30 I will re-enter the hell that was boot camp. It is in a different location and has a different teacher so maybe the exercises will be different. If not, tonight will suck. Day one literally almost killed me even by the second time we got to it. Stepper-things are not fun. But they gave me great legs really fast. These legs have since turned back into tubes of cottage cheese. But Tanya's wedding is in Three weeks from Saturday and I am wearing a strapless dress that hits just above the knees so I need to look good.

I am excited for 2 classes a week. I think that will make a big difference. Especially because they are two such different classes. I have heard only amazing things about Pilates and I know from experience how useful boot camp is in muscle and cardio building. I am excited for the mixture and I will keep you updated on how it goes!


PS! Bought the new Britney CD and had a dance party with the girls. It's fun to dance like a fool !

Laziness is the Enemy

SO, its now MARCH! Two full months complete and already two weeks into March. Crazy. I think I have been doing pretty well so far. Granted I have cheated and eaten so many Delicious things, but overall I have been pretty good.

The only really large issue is, since boot camp ended a few weeks ago and before it ended the last class was cancelled. I haven't really had a good work out in weeks! I have had almost no motivation when it counts. The only time I feel like exercising are when I am bored at work. I get home, I sit down and I don't move. Or like last night I spent my evening in my office jotting down notes but really could and should have taken 20 minutes and gone for a run.

I weighed in this morning and despite my three weeks of laziness I have still been losing weight. The only thing is I have probably started to lose muscle and that is the last thing I want. I won't become a super hero if I jiggle. Super heroes do not jiggle.

Tonight I will be going for either a run on the elliptical, a jog on the trampoline, or perhaps I will go outside and go for a brisk walk as it is finally starting to warm up. I think I might do the elliptical today but who knows. Apparently I can make these plans now and get home and eat muffins all night.

I need to get re motivated... Usually I receive monthly motivation when I receive my Women's Health Magazine. I love the tips they have and the exercise routines always seem so great, however I haven't received it in months and I am getting cranky. I have updated my address and emailed them twice so they better send it soon.

I believe I am resigning up for boot camp. The next session starts soon and I think I really need to be in it. I might sign up for a Pilates class also but that doesn't start for a while so I have time to decide and figure out if I have enough spare money. I know its good to invest in myself and all, but its also good to have electricity and food. I really need the classes to motivate me. Because I always am so out of shape when I start the classes I am motivated to work harder in between because I hate being embarrassed by the super fit perfect girls in the class. I want to be the super fit girl, not the one that's turning purple with a charlie horse in her calve and a stitch up her side.

Any type of class is good though... There is also a fitness hooping one that sounds interesting? I read in Shape magazine that that is how Marissa Tomei stays fit and shes in great shape so maybe something to consider?

Weigh in this week surprised me, I expected to have not lost any weight this week but I was down 1 pound... Based on the pattern of my weight loss since I started, the last three weeks have been surprisingly good. I wonder if its because its muscles that are dissolving... I hope not. I have been really good with my food. I discovered these individual packages of turkey and chicken that are pretty good which are only 100 calories. It is so much deli meat and really I shouldn't eat it all but for 100 calories, may as well. I have been putting it on a weight watchers whole wheat bagel that are only 140 calories. so total 240 calories for lunch? I usually have a muffin as well but that still only brings me up to 355 calories. And I am full until I get home from work at 4.

My muffin kick is still going strong. I love them and they are so good. Its probably going to be an issue because I keep eating too many and not letting them make me full. I really need to do groceries and get a wider variety of foods. Cannot live off of muffins. (However if I could I probably would...)

Dear Walmart

Your pants are ridiculous.

So, as a student/recent home buyer/dutch girl I have never been fond of spending exuberant amounts of money on silly things. One of these silly things is clothing. Mostly because the clothes that I absolutely LOVE do not look good in sizes 12-14. So I settle. I settle with the riff raff sale bins at walmart. I know the clothes don't really look great but I figure why spend money when I don't intend on staying this size forever.... I have been this size for four years and still haven't thought to splurge? Oh well.

My problem is this, my pants that I have been wearing to work are a size 14 from Walmart. Their dress pants fit unusually and uncomfortably small. So when I started my job my pants we crazy tight. Now that I am down 11 lbs and 17 inches, these pants now resemble that of a 14 year old boy in 1996 with their under pants hanging out. Not really work appropriate.

A few weeks ago as these pants started to fall down I tried to squeeze back into my other dress pants I bought without trying on and have never ever fit. They are a size 12 also from Walmart's "I only fit tiny people with obscenely long legs" collection. So when that didn't work I just made sure to wear long shirts to cover any peaking undergarments.

Today, I figured I would try again as yesterday was embarrassing as my old size 14 dress pants are pretty much not attractive and I had to drop off a paper at school. I do not like being at my school when I am in my "normal" 22 year old clothes, let alone in my "grownup" dress pants while everyone else seems to dress like fashion models. So this morning, after facing the humiliating trek at school wearing my baggy old lady pants, I decided to try on my less embarrassing black size 12 pants.

These pants now will go up, and my legs will actually fit so that's good, they are mildly tight on top but I think within the next two weeks they will fit much better, or even once they stretch out a bit from being worn. They are WAY too long. I think Walmart only makes pants for giants... I get that I am short but they are moderately excessive. I need to go get them tailored if I intend on wearing them more often. All in all I am pretty happy that I can now get into these pants as two months ago no amount of Crisco would have gotten these to button.

I need to exercise tonight. I have fallen off the wagon per say with my exercise habits. Stupid essays and midterms. No more excuses! well not until the last weekend in March because then its another paper but hopefully it wont be too awful.

What I have been working on is my food! I have been trying to figure out healthier snacks/breakfasts to eat so that I am full and happy all the time. My friend Emme has given me her excellent recipe for Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Muffins. Holy yum. I like them so very much! I am so impressed by how easy and fast they were to make as well. I could make them healthier next time by buying whole wheat flour, but I wanted to make it easier this time and I already had regular flour at home.

The recipe is really easy, I will post it soon...assuming its not a secret family recipe, I would assume not. But they are fast and if you use the "medium" cups as I did you end up with 24 muffins at only 115 calories. I am testing today to see how long one muffin keeps me full. So far its 8:25 I ate mine at 5:30 so pretty good? I am not starving as I usually am by this time. I could eat but I could almost always eat. I brought an extra muffin with me because I had originally assumed it would make only 12 muffins so accounted for 230 calories. I am super pleased with them. I think it must be the oatmeal filling me up?

So all in all, decent day. Made it into a size smaller pants, had a Delicious muffin for breakfast and will have another for snack and finished my essay on time and handed it in (despite the awkward walk through the halls). I believe tonight I will do some "rebounding" and then use my dumbbells and work on my arms some more. My biceps are getting plenty big but if this little waddle underneath doesn't go away soon I am going to be displeased....If anyone in the world knows how to get rid of the "Bingo Wings" or as I call them "Oprah Waddle" please tell me... I have to go to a wedding in a few months and most dresses do not have sleeves...

Multitasking is not fun

Especially when all of your tasks are undesirable. So this week I haven’t been around much. Sorry! I seem to have had a midterm and assignment within two days of each other as well as working and exhaustion and trying to find time to exercising… and failing at every last one of them.

My midterm was impossible to study for and I did awful, my paper is terrible, work was pretty whatever, I couldn’t sleep in on any of my days off as that now seems to be the norm and exercising, short of jumping on my new mini trampoline a few times I did not complete any kind of challenging goals. I think the longest I “rebounded” (as I have been informed its called) for was 10 minutes. I guess I need to build up my endurance but it is a really good work out.

I need to plan out times to work out and make commitments until I get back into an exercise class. Registration begins tomorrow night so I really need to get the guide and pick a class to take. I would enjoy taking the boot camp again, or maybe a Pilates/yoga class to help with flexibility. I wouldn’t mind an aqua class but I don’t think I am really ready for a bathing suit just yet.

This week I have been focusing on my eating as it was getting a little bit ridiculous. I have decided that my little addiction to fruit snacks is absurd. I really love them and they are the PERFECT snack, but for some reason if I have one, I must eat 17… packages that is. Its really too bad because they are low cal and not too bad for you and taste delicious and are portable and fast. However I will honestly eat the entire box in one day if given the opportunity.

I need to find healthier snacks. It proves almost impossible for me as I am the worlds pickiest eater. It is so inconvenient but I just don’t like so many foods and the ones I don’t know if I will like I usually just don’t try them in pure fear that it will be disgusting and also I don’t like to waste food so why eat it and hate it when someone else loves it? That would be selfish of course.

I just made some low cal brownies! They come from a box and are the easiest things to make but they are so good. I also was given a friend’s recipe for oatmeal chocolate chip muffins. I am pretty sure I ate them at her house when I was little so I am almost positive I like them. And who doesn't like muffins? When I make them I will perhaps post a picture if they turn out yummy looking. I am not the best cook so its likely they will turn out looking like cups of vomit, but we shall see? I plan to buy the ingredients tomorrow.

I don’t think I will lose any weight this time as after my exam and before Chelsea’s dance show I ate more then necessary quantities of pizza followed by dairy queen I didn't even want but bought out of habit. It didn't even taste great… and the girls at the counter were super bitchy. I understand the displeasure of working until 10 on a Saturday night ladies, but if you don’t give the 12 year old her Oreos, she’s going to pout and it is no fun for anyone.

I really need to focus my exercising. I am starting to think that you lose pounds based on eating habits and inches on your exercise habits. Because the weeks where I work out hard core I end up losing inches every where but never much weight and then if I ever have a good food week (oh so rare) I tend to go down in weight by the .2 lbs I get to watch. It is getting frustrating, I kind of hate the biggest loser as it creates these false hopes in your sub conscious. Even though I know there's no humanly possible way to lose 22 lbs in a week, some guy on biggest loser did so it is in my brain that 1 lb is useless. But, that would be scary if I did lose 22 lb in a week… unless I cut off a leg which is not really on my to do list.

Anyways this was just a random I AM STILL ALIVE post. I will post something much more relevant when my brains not fried from writing a useless paper on random theories I pretend to understand. So have a good night!

OH! P.S. While I was writing my essay I didn't feel like citing the same thing three times for each point so I tried to figure out semi colons and Google brought me to this:  http://theoatmeal.com/comics/semicolon holy moly that site is so funny. The semi colon ones not even the best one. How to ride a pony had my laughing pretty good.  Go check it out. I promise you will enjoy it. If you don’t… you are no fun.

The Flu?

So, my upset stomach may be turning into something 100 times worse. The flu. I hate the flu. I haven't thrown up in years and I don't intend on it now.

I am mildly worried how this will impact my exercise routines. I have been slowly increasing my elliptical days, currently up to three, and I try to balance on the exercise ball the other days for a few minutes and work with hand weights. But, I am all "woogly" as we say in our family and I don't think a mile run with this is a great plan. I think I could still play with my hand weights, I will lose the Oprah jiggle-Bingo Wings if it kills me, as long as I stay sitting I should be fine.

I was at work today, I left at lunch because I am not feeling well and an office job is so different from a retail job in that they don't want you to be there when your sick. I am sure its because they don't want to get sick, but I would rather be relaxing anyways. When I worked in retail I had a flu during the whole "Swine Flu" bonanza, may have even been THE Swine flu as I don't think I have ever been sicker and the retail job still made me come in for the second half of my shift. I was apparently a chump going in but when they say "No one else can come...PLEASE" you have little choice in the matter. Should have coughed on the manager but I didn't.

I am currently sitting at my moms work counting down the minuted until we drive home (we car pool in together because she lives 5 minutes up the road so I take a bus from her work). Its pretty awkward sitting at some strangers desk in an office filled with people you don't know.

I guess I will look up some other interesting blogs. They have many fun ideas. I found one that had her 101 reasons why she wanted to lose weight. I tried to think up 101 reasons but I only got to 50. I will maybe list them next time and try to work my way up. I will try to link the blog in here if I can find it again. I believe it was linked in the one I posted last time. I will start typing up my list soonish!

Bittersweet Sundays

I like the fact that Sundays are sleepy days, HOWEVER, Mondays are stupid and Sunday is right before Monday.

This weekend is okay, I was supposed to study all weekend and catch up on my classes, instead, I watched TV… Ya I know, useless. But on the exercise front I managed to run both days this weekend! (Well when I say run I mean elliptical). I ran a mile on Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday. For me that is already pretty great. I started tracking how long it takes me to run it. Each time I have run, I have done it about 20-30 seconds faster. I know that its in no way impressive just yet, but seeing as how 8 weeks ago I couldn’t even breathe after 5 minutes, I am working on it.

I need to stop procrastinating on school work, even if it is for exercise. I still need to pass even if I do lose 40 lbs.

I started looking up some fellow bloggers to read and get ideas from. I found one I really like http://www.myallnaturalweightloss.com/category/about-me/. She seems like a genuinely nice person and its very easy to read. She also has links to a few other blogs, some are no longer used but I started reading a few others and they were also interesting.

So now its Monday, and because it is “Family Day” there is no Boot Camp. I am pretty disappointed because it got cancelled two weeks ago also, however I have been sick all day so really a whole but of skipping and squats might cause some puke-age. I haven’t really been sick since I started this whole “healthy-living” ordeal so I don’t know how to exercise when nauseous… I don’t know why but sometimes milk just tries to kill me? I hate it so much. I ate cereal all weekend (recently discover honey bunches of oats: YUM!) but today when I had my cereal for breakfast I just got really sick and progressively worse all day. Oh well.

My plans for tonight, with Boot Camp being cancelled I have an exciting evening of How I Met Your Mother and its Monday night sitcom extravaganza.

I think I will try to balance on my balance ball that may make me icky but even a bits better then nothing.

I don’t think I have lost any weight again. I am getting… sort of concerned? I know I haven’t been perfect food wise and maybe snacking too much, but I really have been trying. I don’t know for sure because I forgot to weigh-in until after breakfast and since I learned the difference from before food to after food (I tested it once: In one day my weight fluctuated 3-4 lbs.) I do not really want to count the after eating weight. But, I haven’t lost anything in at least two weeks, maybe three. I can’t stay at this weight forever, I am still too jiggly.

<—This episode is on TV right now. Legend- wait for it – DAIRY

 

I do not want to look like fat Barney.

So that’s all for today. If anyone has any suggestions to get moving without starving myself or eating rabbit food let me know.

Have a good week everyone!

Procrastination Station aka My Couch

It is a super blistery Saturday in which I have much to do. Dishes, vacuuming, tubs & toilets to scrub, but instead I am situated in the comfiest location on my couch watching a movie on TV I own and have seen dozens of times. Not only is there all this house shenanigans to do but I have a midterm in two weeks and I think two papers due as well, one may even be due the same day as the midterm one the Thursday before.

On top of all of this I really need to go exercise.

This week is… mediocre. I have been mostly okay food-wise, despite the realization the the secret ingredient for goulash (hamburger in macaroni to anyone not directly related to me) makes it SO addictive. Especially with cheese on top! YUM! Except its not so great for you. probably not the worst thing I could eat but really not going to help me lose those pounds that so badly need to go away.

Exercise-wise this week is better then last week mostly because Boot Camp was not cancelled this week. It was again BOSU BALL week. I am a total-super-fan of the Bosu Ball. I have found one online that I likely will be buying but I need my pay check to stop being in hold status and get into my bank account.

I love the Bosu Ball. Its that half exercise ball and then flat on the other side. It works out your core like to tomorrow. At Boot Camp she has us jog on the round side so it is squishy and doesn’t hurt my old lady knees so bad. Its so hard to stay on, the instructor (Vivian) pointed out that my feet don’t face fully forward when I run. They always are a bit turned out. I don’t know why they do that, if its from my pathetic year and half of dance or what ever else but they were then the top of my attention as I ran I focused so hard on keeping my feet straight I kept almost falling off. Either way you use your core muscles the entire time trying to balance. Even just simple things like bicep curls and other dumb bell exercises become great ab exercises because of the balance factor. 

Also, lunges off the ball, squats on or half on the ball really add to the pain factor. Then, she has you flip the ball. Then its a flat surface to stand on but the round side is on the ground making it the wobbliest, unbalanced, spooky thing to try to get onto. Once your up and balanced its not so bad but trying to get up while holding hand weights its damn near impossible. Its pretty embarrassing but then when you attempt to squat it just becomes seventeen times more humiliating. You legs start to overcompensate and wobble back and forth working you bum so much harder then any normal squat could even hope to.

They are surprisingly expensive these Bosu Balls. I have been looking them up for a few weeks now, from Amazon to Kijiji nothing seemed right. Good ol’ Costco came through. Still more money then I really had thought they would be but shipping is included and it looks trusty enough. I will think about it a bit longer before I spend almost 100$ by the time taxes get through with it, but I really enjoy them. Even the jogging is a great help and could be easily done in front of the TV.  Any thoughts on the Bosu?

Bosu Ball Link - Costco

Other then the Boot Camp, Thursday before school I was proactive and ran on the elliptical for and episode of How I Met Your Mother. The thing with this is the hardest part is the first five minutes. After that point you start to get motivated by the fact that you already did five, why not another five, then another then why bother stop because there’s only five more minutes until the end of the episode.  This time I was interrupted a few times and I was at 0.93 miles at the end of the episode and thought to myself, “I would like to have run a mile today, that sounds impressive and then I can have something to improve on.” So I kept going. I ran one mile in 22 mins and some amount of seconds. I should have noted them, I believe it was like, 39 seconds or something like that. Now, 22 minutes is not a fast time for running a mile in the least I am well aware, but it is a starting point for sure.

Back to my procrastination.

I have been sitting here for over four hours now, four hours of sitting. I have checked Facebook multiple times only to remember each time that its pretty boring because I don’t really get the appeal, and there's always stuff on YouTube but I am really not in the mood. So TV and me are having a lazy Saturday morning. However, my elliptical is probably lonely and if I want to beat my three days in a row of cardio record from last week then I really need to go use it soon. Maybe after this movie… Maybe after lunch. I really need to do it today though. I will beat this food baby despite all my goulash is really not going to help.

On a more exciting note the recreation guide is out for Spring-Summer. I plan on enrolling in one or two classes. I would reallllllly enjoy a Pilates/yoga class and an aqua fitness one sounds like fun also. I believe Chelsea wants to sign up with me, not sure if my mom wants to do either of those classes but its nice motivation to join with people you know. I am extremely shy so even walking into a gym or exercise class really causes a lot of anxiety. Having someone with me instantly lowers my stupid anxiety and makes me focus on what I need to, breathing. Exercise classes make me focused and work hard, too hard to worry about people looking at you because your too busy gasping for air as your told to do three more stupid squats. Although, maybe another Boot Camp would be good. I wonder if it will be the same patterns? Even if it is its gotten me 16.5 inches and 8 lbs smaller in 7 weeks, so I would be alright with that. I think everyone should try a Boot Camp sometime in their life. It is a total body workout that really (I suppose it depends on your class) works you out more then you thought possible. So, go try one! Even for just one class just to see how it is. You probably will almost die, but its so worth it.

Standing Still

Why is it that when on this crazy path towards healthiness, standing still is the worst thing that could happen? Well maybe going backwards is worse, but standing still sucks.

This weigh-in I did not lose any more weight. Boot camp had been cancelled on Monday causing a huge lack in muscle building exercise , but even still I used the elliptical twice (better than usual and for longer) and did crazy cardio dancing on Friday night with my cousin playing Just Dance 2.

If you want a crazy fun cardio workout, I highly recommend Just Dance 2. I don’t know if I would use it alone, maybe if no one in was home because unless they are playing with you its goofy looking. But, if you can get passed feeling like a spaz and like you are making a fool of yourself it is crazy. Many good songs are available to dance to from Hey Ya by Outcast (Cardio-tastic) to Ra Ra Rasputin (very challenging) to the Monster Mash (super cute). You can even buy more songs then included through the store and using Wii points. It is not the most complex game, and I am sure that crazy gimmick-savvy gamers prefer the version for X-Box Kinect but to me, the holding of the controller is no big deal. I will link it here so you can take a look. I play it at my cousin’s house with them. My Wii is not working but as previously mentioned it is much more fun to play with others, especially when they try just as hard as you do to do all the moves, not just wave around the one hand with the remote.


So after completing a pretty intense 40 minute dance party and another 40 minutes of stretching, followed by a weekend of elliptical craziness I was hoping to have lost at least 1 pound. Nope. Nothing. Technically I gained back .5 of a pound but I don’t really feel like it’s necessary to record that ... unless it’s in my favour. But I will because I am trying to be honest with myself.
I blame my weekend of food choices. I had been craving pizza all week and finally caved and my boyfriend brought home a lovely STUFFED CRUST cheese pizza. Bastard. How can you only have one slice of that? So two slices and still wanting more I managed to stop it for the day but then the next night I seemed to have a late lunch only to eat an early dinner. Another slice of pizza on top of the frozen mini pizzas I had just eaten for ‘lunch’ (it was already 3:00 by the time I had lunch). That is WAY too much for one evening.

My fault, It could have been a week with great progress. I was so proud that I was able to elliptical through an entire How I Met Your Mother episode that I somehow just kept eating? I don’t know why I did it, maybe I thought I worked really hard so I can eat more, but I did not burn enough calories to eat that much pizza. Or maybe I just didn’t think and let my cravings get the best of me. So now I haven’t moved forward in the least. 

It was supposed to be a great week but now I feel like I disappointed myself. I guess I can use this as a motivation towards the coming weeks. I have a wedding to attend late April and I really would like to look SO much better than I do now. I want to be able to wear a dress and not have to feel self conscious about my Bingo-Wings and Food Baby sticking out and wobbling around.

Hopefully by next week I will be down AT LEAST one pound. I am contemplating a second weigh-in either tomorrow or Wednesday to see if it changes once I can get the pizza out of my system from boot camp tonight.

Oh well, I need to let go. Maybe when I compare my measurements tonight I will feel less crappy about my week. I don’t think I lost much off anywhere but you never know! I need to let this go and realize that as long as I don’t slip backwards too far I will be okay. And even if I do, I can always restart, as awful as it is. I didn’t gain weight which is good as I think I have been steadily gaining weight since high school was over. So I will keep trying, perhaps weigh-in again tomorrow or Wednesday and try to stay motivated. I knew this wasn’t an overnight solution (Although we all wish it was) and I am going to have to literally work my ass off to see results.
 
UPDATE** Went home and noted my measurements and even though I didn’t lose any weight I am down another 3.5 inches. I am so glad I decided to do measurements otherwise I would have been SO discouraged long ago…Also, a really funny episode to work out to: Season Four, disk 2: The naked man. Its pretty epic. WATCH IT!

Progress Report

Well as promised, I will tell you folks (all .. one of you) about my progress so far.

As humiliating as it is I figure it might help someone eventually.

In 6 Weeks I have lost 2.5 inches off of my chest, waist, “abs” (aka food baby), and thighs. I have also lost 3 inches from my hips. The is 13 inches my friends. 13. In 6 weeks. Not too shabby huh? I think… I don’t know what’s normal but I am pretty happy with it. Of course I wish it could go faster, but unless I am some kind of super-model-actress-woman with personal trainer/chef/stylist I think 13 inches in 6 weeks is reasonable.

Now, in 6 weeks I have lost about 8 pounds. I say about because the first few weigh-ins were at night and now I weigh-in in the morning.  That is moderately reasonable however I could do better if I had been doing more cardio and eating a bit better.  Restaurants, birthdays, and Hockey game pretzels are NOT the key to weight loss. However, I now try to drink 8 cups of water a day even if I don’t succeed every day I am trying pretty hard, if I wore a pedometer I bet about 2/3 of my daily steps would be towards a bathroom.

I really need to kick up my cardio fat burning… I just am not good at getting motivated when I am home. I really need to get on that…

Also, I have been given a “reward” motivation so I really need to get moving. I have been promised a trip to Syracuse to go shopping once I get to 145lbs. 10 more pounds. That is so far away, but only kind of… hopefully it isn’t too long. I would like to lose more weight before Easter as I am going to a wedding for a friend of mine and I would like to look lovely.

 

So I wanted to show you my little “game” if you will. If you go to http://corpo.mvm.com/en/shopping/weightloss.php you can click through and create a little virtual version of yourself. What I did was make a time line of my “self” and even if 5 lb increments doesn’t look like a lot it really looks impressive when it is all said and done. I will add the next images as I achieve them. So far just down one picture, not much different yet… honestly no difference apparently according to this but you will see as it goes along it gets better. (Hopefully)

 

 

 

I highly recommend the virtual model, I find it pretty motivating and it is pretty easy to create and I like that it has different options for different body types (top heavy, bottom heavy hour glass) as well as small build, medium build, larger build. Fiddle around with it for a bit and you will find the one that looks most like you (even if, like me you don’t like it right now) and you can see how you will turn out when you get where you want.

Special Occasions are Challenging…

This week, my dad turned 50. As any normal human would do, we ventured out to celebrate via a meal. Luckily, the expensive steak place was a crazy wait so we ended up going for chicken instead. Still, the problem is, restaurants are so hard to resist things in. French fries are just so yummy and salty, and chicken fingers are all crispy and tender. Stupid birthdays.
Restaurants are such a problem for people on a diet. They serve huge portions, a lot of them refill your drink until you are exploding, and it always costs so much you don’t want it to go to waste so you just eat it anyways.
I know the tips you get on the diet websites, pack up half of your food, eat skinless chicken on a salad without dressing, eat before you go and drink lots of water to slow yourself down. All that is well and good but when your in a group of people and every one is stuffing their faces full its hard to not get caught up in the delicious excitement. So then how can you discretely eat a meal with family without screaming I AM ON A DIET at the top of your lungs?
I think, there really is no way. If you are a picky eater like me, restaurants are kind of a challenge anyways of being able to order something you will enjoy. Other than that when you are a fat kid like me its even more challenging to stop eating the delicious foods before they need to roll you away. I think that when you are changing the way you eat as I am trying to do (albeit slowly) you need to take charge and try your hardest not to be embarrassed. I still ordered what I normally did, but when I felt myself getting full I stopped. I ate my chicken fingers first and then ate the greasy fries after. I was actually too full after three chicken fingers and a few fries I ended up getting it to go. I also only had one soda and then drank water. Free refills are not necessary (despite the fact you pay for them whether or not you drink it…)
I think that part of the reason people always start diets in January is because there are not many special occasions in the winter months. Summer you have back yard barbeques, ice cream cones, and potato chips by the pool… It is impossible to resist the fatty goodness that encompasses the summer. Although winters challenges exist, they are all fairly close together… October-December then you restart in January.
Hopefully I can get my act together by summer.. It is mighty hard to find a bathing suit when you are as wide as you are tall…
Week 6 starts tomorrow. I am not looking forward to the weigh in tomorrow. Although I did okay at the chicken restaurant I then was taken out to breakfast this morning and a plate full of French toast and bacon was screaming my name. So good but SOOOO bad. I should probably go work some of it off. I need to build up some more muscle so it burns my calories for me…
On another note, I got my hair cut this week. I had originally planned to wait until I lost a lot of weight and do a make over type idea, but then I figured why wait? It will help motivate me maybe? My hairs a lot shorter now, a lot less to hide behind so I need to make the rest of me better to look at.
I will update you next time on my progress so far! I meant to do it this time but got distracted with french fries on the brain!

 

How To Be a Super Hero

In the last month I have begun this journey that I have restarted at least 9 times a year. It is the weight loss journey. I have been overweight since …. ever. I have never been that skinny girl… or even average size girl. Always the chubby girl. I haven’t ever really tried THAT hard to fix it. I always think I am working so hard and then am so discouraged when one week in I am not bikini ready, but honestly I spend half of the time eating McDonald's and Pizza. This time, I am trying to take it all a little more seriously.

Within my family, we do not have the best genetics. We tend to be emotional eaters and when we eat we do it up big. We aren’t a salads and fruits kind of family. We are a fast-food, pizza delivery, greasy cheeseburger kind of family.

Then came 1-1-11. Jan 1st. Every woman in Canada pretty much looks in the mirror and says “this year, I will get in shape”, including me. Every year I do this. Every year I promise myself no more Mcfoods, no more midnight pizzas, no more late night take-out. Each and every year I fail miserably. Embarrassingly. And just continue to buy bigger pants.

The past year has created an all time high/low. Highest weight-Lowest self confidence.

2010 was a pretty important year. I got a new job which in turn evolved into an even better job. (pay wise). I bought a house. I quit my old job. I even became better friends with people I had known a while.

All of these things have amounted into the beginning of this 2011 with a thought: what else can I change? I got out of that dreadful apartment, I got out of the no respect job, and I had a few more people to hang out with, so what could be left? Only the one thing I have wanted to change since I tried my first diet at age 10. My weight.

2011 came and I made a commitment, although I had made it before this time I had made some goals. I had enrolled in a boot camp. Man I did not know what I was in for. More of that later. I had also made a list of resolutions I wanted to achieve by the end of the year, many of which related to health, including, the limiting and eventual lack of diet coke. My bubbly bff that had been with me through thick and thin, my refreshing sip at the end of a long day of work, you my friend will be replaced as you are killing me. These goals I made were actually part of a school assignment. I took a course on the psychology of motivation and emotion, in which we wrote a paper as a motivational speaker, and we had to choose someone to motivate and create a plan. I chose myself, to motivate myself to get healthy. I think it helped.

I made goals to drink more water, cut out soda, exercise way more and try to become happy with who I am.

The first seems not so hard but is actually fairly challenging. As someone with a tiny bladder it is pretty inconvenient to get the 8 cups in but as I drink more and more it is becoming easier. I am on week five, although there are some days where I only had 1glass, I still have over all done a pretty good job.

Now Soda, that was the tricky one. To lower my caffeine need slowly I began to sub out a few cokes a day for diet 7up. no calories no caffeine but has the bubbles and taste. It seems to be working. from the old 5-6 diet cokes a day now I have one. I intend to cut it out completely but for now, waking up at 5:15 needs a jolt and I do not like coffee. I am kind of sick of that excuse because in all honesty I don’t think it helps me at all however until I am ready I will allow myself the one a day.

Exercise, now we return to boot camp. Goodness. I tell you we arrived that day (my mother, sister and I) fully expecting a workout. What we got was an ass whooping. I really knew I was severely out of shape but by the second set of exercises I was done. I was purple in the face (granted I always turn red but this was worse) and panting, coughing, I couldn’t move by the end. I was feeling SO defeated and like I shouldn’t even be there. I felt like I may as well eat a tub of ice cream and an entire pizza as there was no point as I was incapable of even exercising if I wanted to, however, I had made the commitment, I had already signed up for the classes, even if it was a Christmas gift I was not about to waste 7 weeks and 60$ (especially of someone else’s money). So I kept at it. We now had our 5th class. We had done four different routines in each of the weeks. The 5th class we returned to that first weeks routine. I was dreading it. The step, the triceps dips, plank position, medicine balls… we don’t get along. But I did it. I was still exhausted, I was still red, but I did it. I stopped a few times during to get water but I did not lose hope, I did not lose confidence and even when I couldn’t do it perfectly I still tried. And in all honesty I think that is al that matters. As long as you try you will succeed eventually.

I am trying to come to terms with the fact that I am not going to exercise once and come out looking like Heidi Klum. I know I will never ever look like her. For starters I think she is almost a foot taller then me and perfect looking. However I am going to work and become the best ME I can be.

I recently had some fun colouring with my cousins, drawing all of us as super heroes as I have a deep love for them. I will post the photo I drew of myself as it is basically how I want to be. Super heroes are strong, confident, proud and able. They do not back away from a fight even though the bad guy (in my case burgers) have crazy weapons that could destroy you in a minute (bacon & cheese), you stand up to them and show them whose boss. Portion control that bitch. If you want a hamburger, go ahead, just eat it and recognize that you need to work it off. Show the bad guy that you wont take their crap anymore! I will wear a bikini one day evil burger monster!

So that is how you become a super hero ladies and gents. You need to find your evil nemesis, face him, maybe even compromise and find a solution.

I will keep you updated along my journey, as it may help me to write it all down somewhere. I will also share my progress thus far in a later post, its fairly impressive what one month can do…