Friday, August 31, 2007

Quickupdate before the long weekend

Things are going GREAT!

Not perfect, but I'm really pleased with my progress. I'll try to recap on Sunday but for now know I'm pleased with the way things have gone.

Had my second RT workout yesterday and again I'm aching from Head to toe. It's kind of nice :)

The biggest news is that I now have ANOTHER bit of motivation.

October 10th we're taking off to spend a few days in cancun mexico! Every day includes swimming and sunning so anything I can do to make wearing a bathing suit a bit less painfull will be top of mind for me. I've downloaded a bunch of pictures of Cancun and I'm going to print them and post them around my house and office. I've also have them popping up on my computer as my screen saver. Maybe I'll even hang my bathing suit on my fridge! lol

I just know I'm really excited about spending a few days in the sun and surf with my hubby and helping him to celebate his 40th birthday.

Alright - I'm outta here - going to enjoy a three day weekend yay!!

Wednesday, August 29, 2007

Day 3

Hey Shane...

I didn't really mention the program because I'm beyond thinking there's a magic pill. That there's one program that's going to 'make it all happen when everything else has failed'. One program may make getting fit a little 'faster' or one might be less complex then another, but in the end none 0f them do anything if I don't stick to it.

I've also found that the 'shelf-life' for any program (even if it's working) for me is about 18 weeks. So my focus right now is a nutritionally and scientifically sound program and follow it for a set period of time. The program I am using right now is "Afterburn" by Alwyn Casgrove. http://www.afterburntraining.com/

Is it 'magical'? no Does it have some sound principals? yes

After two days though I have figured out that tracking my food so closely (down to the micronutriants) was really stressing me out. Although I have a lot more time on my hands then I used to, I don't have a LOT of time and spending so much time out of my day thinking about food does me no good what so ever. So, I've modified my food plan a bit. Let's see if I can explain my stratagy.

I'm still working toward my 1450 calories a day 5 meals a day
that gives me 290 calories per meal
What I don't want to stress about is the micronutriants, but still want to make sure I'm getting enough protien and I'm keeping my fat intake to a moderate level. So I've taken some of the concepts of BFL and applied them...sorta :)

In my mind I've placed 'most' foods into a catagory: Protien, Carb or Fat

Bread - Carb
Fruit - Carb

Chicken - Protien

etc

Then I made an 'executive' decision that 60% of my calories should come from a 'protien' and 40% from a carb. So - when I plan a meal I pick a protien and eat about 175 calories of it, and pick a carb and eat 115 calories of it. "But what about fats?" you say. Well, as long as between the two of them, they don't have more then 6 grams of fat.. I'm good.

As for the 'types' of foods I eat. I'm not grabbing 115 calories worth of chocolate chip cookies and calling it a 'carb'. I know better then to delude myself that way. I try to keep my selections to whole grains, raw fruits and pleanty of veggies. For this I try to go back to the LL program. Eating 'unprocced' (as in not from a package) foods as much as possable, avoiding 'fast foods', Eating one servinging of fresh fruit a day, eating at least four cups of veggies and at least three different 'kinds' a day.

As long as I continue to lose weight this way, I'll continue to eat this way. I'll let you know when I have to modify it.

As for the mental (and most important) side of things. Honestly, I'm still struggling. By the end of the day I feel exhausted from telling myself "No, you can't have that!". Maybe the first thing I need to do is figure out what I'm going to tell myself "You can't have that" may be half the issue. But still, having to say "No" (what feels like) hundreds of times a day really wears me out. When I think about it, I realize that it's just my 'adictive voice', my 'brat' my 'feast beast' that's talking. I also realize that the more I say 'no' and mean it, the less I'll have to listen to the little winer. I'm not going around hungry. I'm not depriving myself. I'll get through this, I know I will. For me, the first two weeks are usually the hardest - when I get through these, things will settle down, a lot.

As for excercise... I'm not too happy with myself there. When we got home last night it was 91 degrees. So I talked myself out of going for a run. After dinner, then going to the store to pick up lunch stuff, then cleaning the kitchen, making lunch etc. I sat down for a few minutes and before I knew it, it was midnight. *sigh*. So not only did I not run last night, but I missed my 4:00am wake up call and didn't make it to the gym this morning.. bleh. I thought that only having three 'gym' days a week would make things easier - but here I am in the first week, already missing workouts. The positive side is that with only three 'workouts' planned a week I can easily make one up. the only 'rule' is that I don't do RT on consecutive days. So tomorrow I'll do RT and push the last workout to Saturday.

Anyway - I'm hanging in there - still dropping the initial weight which is a nice way to start a program.

Thanks to those of you who are checking up on me!

Tuesday, August 28, 2007

Day 2

I have to say - I had kind of forgotten what a pain in the butt counting calories is. bleh! Oh well in a few days I'll have my meals all tuned up and then it'll be no worries. I didn't get my meals completely planned for today. I had dance class last night and didn't get home until 10:00PM. I have to say, after the killer morning workout we did - and then 1.5 hours of bumping and grinding (in class) I was completely worn out! I hit the bed the moment I got home. As for the rest of my goals yeseterday:

Food - I was a little short. As I said, I got home really late and completely exhausted. I didn't get a fifth meal in. So I finished the day at 1153 Cals 103C/122P/29F. Yes, that's pretty low, but I wasn't hungry at any point of the day, and I didn't wake up starving this morning either. I think my body is still processing the food from the weekend :)

Excercise - Hit my RT first thing in the morning and had an excellent time at dance class, burning a few extra calories.

Water - 1 gallon + (I have a 1.5 litre water bottle that I filled up and drank 3 times - plus the water I drank during my morning workout. I think I more then nailed that goal)

And the goals for today?

1450 Calories 129gC/161gP/32gF
1 gallon of water
20 min HIIT Cardio (already done)
2 mile Steady State Run (this is my 5k training run planning it for when I get home)
a soak in the hot tub (I honestly ache from head to toe!)

Have tomorrow's meals planned out before the eod today

And that's it - for the numbers

Mentally, I'm doing ok. There's a lot of other things I need to do to sew up my motivation.

Create my 'why'
Create a vision
Set some leverage

I've got some things in place now.

I've got a 5K on 10/7 - the goal, of course, is to finish, and to do it faster then last time, but that'll require some training on my part. I've got to get those evening runs in! Plus I already know how much easier it is to run when I weigh less.

Halloween is always a big deal for my friends and I. My goal is to be back below 180 by then. Although I won't be wearing the 'sexy' costume I had hoped to be wearing this year - I will be a lot happier below 180 then above it!

The next big deal is Thanksgiving. I've set myself a goal of 174 before thanksgiving. If I reach that goal then I'll allow myself to eat whatever I want that day. Total FREE day.

Lastly is the final goal of this 16 weeks - 170 just in time for Christmas.

I've also started a list of 'rewards' for myself. Simple things like a manicure/pedicure. And more elaborite things like a sewing machine - so that I can make myself clothes that fit as I get thinnner.

Weekly I've told myself that if I reach my goal for monday 'early' in the week then That day I'm allowed 1 splurge.

Oh! - and one 'long term' motivation I've created for myself: I've signed up for Jenny Hendershott's Phat Camp in Feb. When I exicute my plan (the way I know I can) I'll be in the low 160's when I go to Camp! That's really exciting to me.

I'll continue to post these kinds of things when I come across them. It helps to make them into a 'real' commiment when I do.

For now, have a great day everyone!

Monday, August 27, 2007

One more goal

For today - that is to be much more orginized tomorrow.

meal planning will be done! :)

Starting a new program today!

That's right - I got my new book in the mail and I'm jumping right in :)

So - I start a 16 week phase today.

The biggest difference here is in the workout. I'm doing super sets for weights, and High Intensity Interval training for cardio. Weight workouts are three days a week and HIIT is three days a week.

This is a BIG difference for me, but it's kind of exciting and I'm looking forward to seeing how it plays out.

I got through day one of my workout today. Though it nearly killed both my husband and I :)

Set 1:

{Squats: 20 x 105 & T-pushups: 8(each side)} x 3

Set 2:

{Step-ups: 20 (each side) & DB Shoulder Press 20 x 20} x 3

Set 3:


{SHELC (supine hip extension with leg curl ) x 20 & Swiss Ball Crunches x 20} x 2

The T-push up is a regular push up, but at the end you end up in a variation of a 'plank' position.









I can't to full pushups right now - so I did them from the knees, but managed the "T" part ok.


SHELC is a swiss ball excercise like this:






My Hamstrings were cramping by the end of the first set - wow!!

The scary thing is that I have dance class tonight and my legs at the moment are so tired that I could hardly walk down the stairs!

This is going to be a fun 16 weeks!

And now onto the most important thing - my goals:

In 16 weeks I will weigh 170 lbs.

I will be able to do at least 10 pushups

I will be able to wear all the clothes in my closet

To achieve this I'm going to set goals for every 4 weeks (of course the program's set up in 4 weeks blocks as well)

Goals for this four weeks are:

about 1450 cals/day: 129g carbs/161g prot/32g fat

five meals per day
1 gallon (or 128 oz) of water/day
three days resistance training
three days HIIT cardio

And - I think that's it for now :)

So the goals for today are:

1450 Cal :129/161/32
1 gallon water
and RT

So far today I'm 1 for 3 :)

Wednesday, August 22, 2007

three days in a row!

yep - hit the gym three days in a row... And for the past two I've managed to get up and get myself ready even though my husband was being a 'lay-a-bed'. I told him this morning that I've got a new 'attitude'. It used to be (due partially to our driving situation), that if he didn't feel like getting out of bed when the alarm went off, that I would go back to sleep too. But for the past two days when I've heard that little voice say "He's not waking up - he must be too tired - I guess we'll sleep in today" The '0ther' me countered with, "Well YOU'RE awake (not really awake but awake enough to argue with myself I guess :)) so you may as well get up and get yourself dressed - if he's too tired to go to the gym you'll just have to go by yourself. And you know what? Once I'm up he gets up and gets ready too. What would normally happen is that I would use him as an excuse to sleep in, and he would use me. Now I'm eliminating that thinking and it's been great!

Tonight I'm goin out dancing with friends. That's two hours at least of hard (but fun) cardio to look forward too. the only challenge while going out dancing to to make sure I don't drink. I've already decided nothing but water! My stomach's been a little upset the past few days so that should be an easy sell to both my friends and the little moster that tempts me to live in the moment instead of focus on my goals.

I've also set myself a curfew. It's normal for me to stay out MUCH too late when we go out dancing because we're just having so much fun - but tonight I'm going to leave at a reasonable hour so that I can rest up and hit the gym in the morning. Thursdays are my favorite day anyway - Chest! whoop!

Still gathering my focus, choosing a plan etc. I've got some materials coming in the mail that I think are next 'program'. I'm going to do it for 16 weeks. set some goals - put some leverage in place. All the 'good stuff'. I'll probably even take progress pictures *gulp*.

looking forward to it all!

Tuesday, August 21, 2007

Nother Week!

ahhh, another week! Things are going well - not perfect but well. Still trying to get into a rythum. A few positives since last week. 1) we got our key fob so that we actually have access to the pool and fitness center at our new apartments! That means when we have a day like last Wednesday where we get up - drive to the gym and find out that thier early guy didn't show up and the gym is closed until 6:00AM (gah!) we'll have an alternative. 2) I started dance class!! whoo hoo! My friend and I signed up for Burlesquercise! (don't know what that is? check out the website http://www.bombshellbetty.net/burlesquercise.html) six weeks of dancing our tails off - and skimpy costumes - nothing like the idea of others seeing in your skivies to make it easy to pass up the chocolate bar. :)

Other then that not much to note. Still taking a day at a time. I've slowly been building up momentum and motivation. Although I'm not doing BFL I've been listening to Bill Phillip's BFL audio book and that's starting to get me pumped up. I've really just spent the past few weeks, 'winging it'. hitting my workouts when I could, but not setting goals for # of minutes or anything like that. Eating 'good' (so subjective) but not counting calories or using any other method of diet 'control'. While I know doing this I'm capable of losing fat (and weight) it'll hardly bring me the stunning results that could be called a 'transformation'.

So, I've got a few ideas I'm working on. when I've got my goals etc put together I'll be posting them. Until then - I'm still hitting the gym and eating healthy :) dropping a lb or two along the way.

I'll update soon!

Tuesday, August 14, 2007

Almost Forgot

193.1 today... finally dropping a little of the 'hormonal' weight that's been visiting.

Still going strong

Had my second boxing class last night. Big plus - I made it through AGAIN and this time didn't feel as if I was going to upchuck at any point! yay!

Food perfect yesterday and has been so far today. Hit the gym for weight lifting again this morning so that's two days in a row for this week. A GREAT start.

Plan is to do a bit of running tonight. I signed myself up for a 5K in about 8 weeks so I'll need to push in order to be in shape by then. the goal is to finish faster then last time... that should be no problem since I took it at pretty much a snail's pace last time.

One thing to note: I finally feel 'caught-up' enough to pay attention to my website again! http://www.boddyfitness.com so those of you who asked for accounts :) you've been approved! Anyone else who wants to join, feel free.

Also - I'm going to revive the 'change your mind' challenge. I actually am really excited about the VAST number of tools I've found recently to help with the mental aspect of the whole food/fitness thing. It would be fun to get to share with anyone!

alright - need to run - so much to do and so little time!

Monday, August 13, 2007

It's Monday Again

and I'm posting :)

The week went pretty well. We're still trying to move into our new house/out of our old house so things are still a bit caotic, but better then before. I made it the the gym 3 days - which was less then my goal, but still better then the 0 days I've been making it for a while.

I made it to boxing on Monday night - I REALLY liked it, even though it kicked my butt - big time. I ached from head to toe for days. In fact my legs hurt as much as any 'heavy' workout I've done. I'm going again tonight.

Food was better then what's been the satus quo, but not as good as I would like. We were still eating out a lot because I didn't have the kitchen/food all settled at the new house yet. But we're set this week. In fact the fridge and freezer are STUFFED full. I've found this wonderful website that email's me weekly dinner suggestions w/a shopping list. I tried it out on Sunday and so far I'm really happy. Take a look if you're interested http://www.savingdinner.com/ I also purchases one of thier '5 for the feezer' sets.- http://www.savingdinner.com/about/dinner_freezer_recipes.html , puchased all the food and chopped, mixed and put five chicken dishes in the freezer last night. It was really satisfying to know I've got food ready to go and even though they are all chicken dishes - they are each differnt enough that it should keep things interestine. After a while my hubby and I get tired of my 'uninspired' dry fried chicken w/a little italian seasoning on it. :)

So - stats today are.. weight 195.9 - better then last week, but I've still got a long way to go to get to my 'fighting' weight. One thing about our new house, it has a LOT of mirrors. So I'm constantly reminded how far I let things slide back and I'm doubly inspired to get what I had BACK!!

I'm going to shoot for at least two posts this week!

Monday, August 6, 2007

So Much has Changed

This time it's for reals!

Oh my what a year! It's been a bumpy ride. But, after this weekend I finally feel like I've made some sense of it all.

So, recently two really big things have happend:

1) My husband got a new job - He was miserable at the old place, and it was really effecting our home life. But, there wasn't much we could do about it at the time. Well, an opportunity came up and he went for it, and my prayers were answered - he got it. The best part about the job is that we now both work in the same city. That means we commute together, or we can stay late together and all kind of 'together' type benefits. PLUS he now makes more money which is always a big help. (Oh and I finally got the raise to go along with my promotion - so a double wammy).

2) We moved!!!! I've been waiting to do this for about 6 years now. Granted, we didn't get to move to exactly where I wanted to, but we did make a HUGE move for us. There's several benefits to this change. 1- I've cut my 4 hour commute to less then 2... yes, I've added two hours to my day! whoop!! 2 - we are now less then a mile from the gym. This means that I can pop over for a workout any ol' time. At our old place it was at least a 30-45 minute drive to get to the gym and that meant any trip there turned into a 3 hour endever. Now we (or even just I) can pop over anytime we like and get a quick workout in. OR if we perfer we can workout at the onsite gym. 3 - we are 1 mile from public transit. What a huge benefit this will turn out to be. This means that my husband and I arn't tied to each other's schedule. If I want to take a class after work (like the boxing class I'm going to tonight) I can. And I'm not rushed thinking he's stuck waiting for me. and Vice Versa. 4 - there's a pool onsite. Heated year round. I'm going to be able to add swimming back into my schedule and again without it being a big pain in our necks.

So as you can see - I'm ready to start on the next big push in my journey. If anyone's still with me out there, I'm back. I've got some lost ground to make up, but, I've got more tools in my toolbox then ever. It's going to be a GREAT year.

Today's weight: 198.5 (I know I know - terrible!)

Today's workout:

Close Grip Cable Pull Down: 20 x 80 lbs x 3
Bent Over Barbell Rows: 20 x 45 lb bar x 2
Hyper-Extensions: 20 x 0lbs x 2
Barbell Wrist Curls: 20 x 35 lb bar x 2
Dumbbell Wrist Curls: 20 x 25 x 1

1 Hour Cardio Boxing

Food:

Breakfast: English Muffin, Egg and Banana
Lunch: Spinich Salad w/Turkey (No dressing) and garbanzo beans, Pineapple
Snack: Greek Yogurt w/Strawberries and grapenuts
Dinner: Spinich Salad w/'taco' turkey meat and 're-fried' black beans

Water:

3 Quarts (sounds like I'm a car!)
(I've had my one soda for a day - cut back my diet pepsi starting last week)

see you all tomorrow morning!