Today, after work, I went straight to the gym. As usual, it was packed, despite being about 7:30 on a Wednesday. I'm beginning to think that there are some people who just sleep at the Y overnight, then get back up in the morning and position themselves on the machines just to take up space.
Yesterday when I went, they were out of lockers in the women's room, so I had to use the all-ages locker room, which was full of little girls. I can't explain how creepy that was. Although there were older women also in the locker room, most of them were with their children, and here I was, 25, alone and getting naked in front of children. All the sinks were super low, with stools for the kids to stand on as they washed their hands, and even the lockers were half the height of the normal ones. I could see clear over the tops of them as I hurried to shove my clothes in so I could get out. After my workout, I decided that the shortened shower heads were just too weird, so I went home without showering. I smelled terrible.
Today, at least there were women's lockers available, so I was quite content as I went to the cardio room and got on the only remaining treadmill, which-- quite unexpectedly-- was one of the four treadmills that had a personal television above it. Usually, these are the first to go, and I had not yet had the opportunity to try one out. I was not pleased when I found out that the headphone jack on it did not work, but I turned on the news, played music from my phone (also a walkman) and stared at the talking heads while I ran.
I know there are a lot of experts that will say not to watch TV while working out, and I agree. But since I had the sound off, I merely stared at the closed caption words and let my mind drift. Before I knew it, I was turning the speed up higher on the machine, and running steadily at a faster pace than I had previously achieved. Including my 3 minute warm-up, I ran 1.9 miles in 20:45 minutes-- a new personal record! If I had warmed up, and then reset the distance, I'm sure my time would have averaged well under 10 minutes a mile. The girl who passed out after running the mile in high school can now run two of them without even inducing an asthma attack.
After the run, I went to the weight room and decided to try the prescribed WOD- thrusters. For a video of the exercise, click here. The idea of the WOD was to increase your weight with each thruster, until you couldn't handle anymore. You got 7 tries. I've never done a squat with weight before, so I decided to try with the bar alone first (weighs 45 lbs) and go from there. As soon as I picked up the bar, I knew I was in trouble. 45 pounds of a long bar combined with terrible balance was not in my favor. I practiced the arm portion first, then tried to squat with the bar. I wobbled and almost fell over. It was obvious that I was not going to achieve the desired form today, so I opted for learning the moves and working on squatting with a weight. I ended up doing 4 sets of 5 squats and working on getting the bar comfortably on my shoulders. I didn't really even try to get it over my head after my first two tries. Obviously this move is way out of my comfort zone and will require more practice.
It's now waaaay past my bedtime, but I really needed to get all of this down before I got too far behind.
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Monday, January 26, 2009
Hell Hath Frozen O'er
The headline refers to the fact that I posted twice in a day.
Today's workout was short, but rough. I decided to try some new moves. The WOD called for something called "glute-ham situps," which look really fun, but aren't, combined with back extensions, which always remind me that my back is really weak.
To start, I decided I had enough of running for a few days and I decided to learn how to use the rowing machine. There are about 50 treadmills, 30 elipticals, four stair climbers, and various other nonsensical cardio equipment scattered about-- but only one rowing machine. It is placed dead in the center of the room, almost as if to humiliate those who dare to use it. It looks extremely old, but that could be because it's covered with a layer of dust. I perched on it, trying to look like I knew what I was doing, strapped myself in, and set the timer for 10 minutes. The machine was misleadingly easy to begin, and tons of fun, at first. I was immediately amused by the gliding effect of the seat, which felt that it belonged on an amusement ride rather than a peice of gym equipment. However, after the fourth minute or so, the excitement began to wain and the actual work was getting more and more difficult. The machine seemed to have an instinct that correctly gagued how hard I was pulling and set the difficulty accordingly. So as I pulled harder, it became more difficult. This quickly became a difficult battle to win, so I settled for trying to keep a steady force going. Despite the issues, I would use it again. It burns calories like nothing else and it is more entertaining than running in place.
On to our feature of the day. Glute-ham situps are performed on what I'm going to refer to as a pummel horse with foot anchors. Imagine you are sitting on a pummel horse, both legs on the same side. Your feet are extended straight in front of you, where they are bound by two padded rollers. One roller on top and one on the bottom of each ankle. Now, you lean backward until your back is parallel to the floor, looking strange and worrying that you will fall off the horse because your workout pants are slippery. You then return to a sitting position. But that's not all. Once you have determined that you will not fall off the horse, you are required to bend backward, one arm extended over your head until your head nearly touches the ground. Instead of returning to a sitting position, you use all your force in your glutes, hamstrings and abs to propel you past a sitting position until you are touching your toes. Quite an excrutiating exercise, I assure you.
For a better, more visual description, you can watch the video here: http://media.crossfit.com/cf-video/CrossFit_GHDSitupElements.wmv
I also decided to try my luck with elevated push-ups off an inflated ball. I'm not the most graceful person in the world, and I misjudged the distance between myself and the ball when I attempted to wedge it under my hips for a sea-saw effect push-up. I ended up bouncing around on the thing, looking positively hilarious, I'm sure, and causing the indian man who was sitting near me to abruptly decide to find another place to stretch, even though the gym was to capacity. It was worth it, I was able to do the push-ups.
Total workout time: 30 minutes. Current mood: exhausted.
Today's workout was short, but rough. I decided to try some new moves. The WOD called for something called "glute-ham situps," which look really fun, but aren't, combined with back extensions, which always remind me that my back is really weak.
To start, I decided I had enough of running for a few days and I decided to learn how to use the rowing machine. There are about 50 treadmills, 30 elipticals, four stair climbers, and various other nonsensical cardio equipment scattered about-- but only one rowing machine. It is placed dead in the center of the room, almost as if to humiliate those who dare to use it. It looks extremely old, but that could be because it's covered with a layer of dust. I perched on it, trying to look like I knew what I was doing, strapped myself in, and set the timer for 10 minutes. The machine was misleadingly easy to begin, and tons of fun, at first. I was immediately amused by the gliding effect of the seat, which felt that it belonged on an amusement ride rather than a peice of gym equipment. However, after the fourth minute or so, the excitement began to wain and the actual work was getting more and more difficult. The machine seemed to have an instinct that correctly gagued how hard I was pulling and set the difficulty accordingly. So as I pulled harder, it became more difficult. This quickly became a difficult battle to win, so I settled for trying to keep a steady force going. Despite the issues, I would use it again. It burns calories like nothing else and it is more entertaining than running in place.
On to our feature of the day. Glute-ham situps are performed on what I'm going to refer to as a pummel horse with foot anchors. Imagine you are sitting on a pummel horse, both legs on the same side. Your feet are extended straight in front of you, where they are bound by two padded rollers. One roller on top and one on the bottom of each ankle. Now, you lean backward until your back is parallel to the floor, looking strange and worrying that you will fall off the horse because your workout pants are slippery. You then return to a sitting position. But that's not all. Once you have determined that you will not fall off the horse, you are required to bend backward, one arm extended over your head until your head nearly touches the ground. Instead of returning to a sitting position, you use all your force in your glutes, hamstrings and abs to propel you past a sitting position until you are touching your toes. Quite an excrutiating exercise, I assure you.
For a better, more visual description, you can watch the video here: http://media.crossfit.com/cf-video/CrossFit_GHDSitupElements.wmv
I also decided to try my luck with elevated push-ups off an inflated ball. I'm not the most graceful person in the world, and I misjudged the distance between myself and the ball when I attempted to wedge it under my hips for a sea-saw effect push-up. I ended up bouncing around on the thing, looking positively hilarious, I'm sure, and causing the indian man who was sitting near me to abruptly decide to find another place to stretch, even though the gym was to capacity. It was worth it, I was able to do the push-ups.
Total workout time: 30 minutes. Current mood: exhausted.
A Bit of Hope
Today, I found the following on the CF website.
So, is this what's going on with me? I sure as hell hope so. Tomorrow morning I will have to do my measurements and find out what's really going on. I suppose I should have done this from the very beginning, but at least I know now, not six months from now.vallone02 - 26 January 2009 08:25 AM
Today’s as Rx’d. Question to fellow novice crossfitters: I started doing the prescribed WODs a few weeks ago in relatively good “soccer shape”. I’ve put on an unexpected 6
to 7 lbs. Anyone else notice this?Ron B - 26 January 2009 08:33 AM
In the back of the Zone book, there is a chart to estimate your body fat percentage. It is just an estimate, but you can notice a trend. It compares your
weight, waist (for fat), and wrist (for bone). (different chart and measurement for women) It may not be totally accurate, but if you track yourself over time, you can definitely notice a trend in your lean muscle mass versus body fat. In my past 6 months, I’ve put on about 13 pounds of muscle, and lost about 19 pounds of fat. If I hadn’t been measuring, the scale alone would tell me I have had almost no results at all.
Sunday, January 25, 2009
I'm so excited to see the comments on the last two posts. They indicate that there are still people reading this! Hooray! All is not yet lost.
Now, where did I leave off? Oh, yes.
Friday was rest day, hence the reason I did not make a post that day. I got a severe talking-to by Tony Thursday evening about how I was overdoing it and I was going to hurt myself. I've been so proud of pushing myself that I have sometimes forgotten that I can in fact injure myself. Friday I still felt sore, so I was quite grateful for my rest day, and I resolved to take it easier on my workouts so I could ramp up without risking injury.
Then I got on the scale Friday morning. I still weigh 155.5 lbs. What. The. Fuck. I worked my ass off all week, and for what? I tried to tell myself that I could be putting on muscle weight, but that didn't help stop me from feeling like I had been defeated. I looked in the mirror. I still looked the same, my pants weren't that much baggier-- it was indeed possible that the entire week of working out had done nothing for me. If that was true, then I needed to be spending more energy working out, not less.
There are other things that may have contributed to this lack of weight loss. Today, Tony and I had a discussion about Lean Cuisine. Apparently, just because it has the word "Lean" in the title, does not imply that the meal is good for you, nor does it mean that it has any magical slimming qualities. I need to eat more real food. Food that I make at home and take with me when I go to work. That means more time in the morning for eating breakfast, more time spent in the evening making my lunches. More salads, food with vegetables and lean meats for protein. I need to focus more on eating well and less on just looking for the easiest option that has a green box to indicate weight loss.
Today, I ate well, just not regularly. I had cereal and grapefruit for breakfast, followed by homemade beef stew for dinner. No lunch. I also did the CF WOD today and LOVED IT. I started by running 1.2 miles for a warm-up, then did a scaled down version of "Barbara". Some of the more difficult workouts have girls' names to define them. They are used as benchmarks. When you post your times, you can compare to the previous time you attempted that particular workout.
Here was "Barbie", the lowest impact version available on the website:
Five rounds, each for time of:
5 Pull-ups
10 Push-ups
15 Sit-ups
20 Squats
I scaled it down further, due to the conversation I had with Tony. I ended up with:
Four rounds, each for time of:
4Pull-ups
8 Push-ups
12 Sit-ups
16 Squats
Three minutes rest in between each round, for all difficulties.
My times:
1:52
1:43
1:33
1:48
Here's the best parts: 1. I did most of the push-ups on my toes, not my knees. I haven't done full push-ups in almost a year. 2. My times beat most of the people on the CF site. Yes, they were less reps, but man I kicked some ass. 3. My squat form is improving dramatically. I don't falter nearly as often as I had.
I'm proud of myself for today's workout. Even if my weight didn't change this week, I'm going to stick with this until I see results. Like any major change in life, there are going to be a lot of ups and downs, and I need to figure out what's going to work. I think I'm going to start putting a little more cardio in my workouts to jump start my metabolism. Also, it will help as a warm-up, instead of just going into the WOD.
You may notice that I didn't mention what I did for a workout on Saturday. That's because I didn't do anything. I won't make excuses. I know I should have and I didn't feel like it. Some things happened on Friday with probate that I've felt pretty shitty about all weekend, but that's not a reason not to go. In fact, I should have gone for that very reason. I'm back in the swing of things now though, and I'm going to stick with it. You can hold me to that.
Now, where did I leave off? Oh, yes.
Friday was rest day, hence the reason I did not make a post that day. I got a severe talking-to by Tony Thursday evening about how I was overdoing it and I was going to hurt myself. I've been so proud of pushing myself that I have sometimes forgotten that I can in fact injure myself. Friday I still felt sore, so I was quite grateful for my rest day, and I resolved to take it easier on my workouts so I could ramp up without risking injury.
Then I got on the scale Friday morning. I still weigh 155.5 lbs. What. The. Fuck. I worked my ass off all week, and for what? I tried to tell myself that I could be putting on muscle weight, but that didn't help stop me from feeling like I had been defeated. I looked in the mirror. I still looked the same, my pants weren't that much baggier-- it was indeed possible that the entire week of working out had done nothing for me. If that was true, then I needed to be spending more energy working out, not less.
There are other things that may have contributed to this lack of weight loss. Today, Tony and I had a discussion about Lean Cuisine. Apparently, just because it has the word "Lean" in the title, does not imply that the meal is good for you, nor does it mean that it has any magical slimming qualities. I need to eat more real food. Food that I make at home and take with me when I go to work. That means more time in the morning for eating breakfast, more time spent in the evening making my lunches. More salads, food with vegetables and lean meats for protein. I need to focus more on eating well and less on just looking for the easiest option that has a green box to indicate weight loss.
Today, I ate well, just not regularly. I had cereal and grapefruit for breakfast, followed by homemade beef stew for dinner. No lunch. I also did the CF WOD today and LOVED IT. I started by running 1.2 miles for a warm-up, then did a scaled down version of "Barbara". Some of the more difficult workouts have girls' names to define them. They are used as benchmarks. When you post your times, you can compare to the previous time you attempted that particular workout.
Here was "Barbie", the lowest impact version available on the website:
Five rounds, each for time of:
5 Pull-ups
10 Push-ups
15 Sit-ups
20 Squats
I scaled it down further, due to the conversation I had with Tony. I ended up with:
Four rounds, each for time of:
4Pull-ups
8 Push-ups
12 Sit-ups
16 Squats
Three minutes rest in between each round, for all difficulties.
My times:
1:52
1:43
1:33
1:48
Here's the best parts: 1. I did most of the push-ups on my toes, not my knees. I haven't done full push-ups in almost a year. 2. My times beat most of the people on the CF site. Yes, they were less reps, but man I kicked some ass. 3. My squat form is improving dramatically. I don't falter nearly as often as I had.
I'm proud of myself for today's workout. Even if my weight didn't change this week, I'm going to stick with this until I see results. Like any major change in life, there are going to be a lot of ups and downs, and I need to figure out what's going to work. I think I'm going to start putting a little more cardio in my workouts to jump start my metabolism. Also, it will help as a warm-up, instead of just going into the WOD.
You may notice that I didn't mention what I did for a workout on Saturday. That's because I didn't do anything. I won't make excuses. I know I should have and I didn't feel like it. Some things happened on Friday with probate that I've felt pretty shitty about all weekend, but that's not a reason not to go. In fact, I should have gone for that very reason. I'm back in the swing of things now though, and I'm going to stick with it. You can hold me to that.
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Death by Exercise
When I used to go to Bally's, I would occasionally see an ambulance coming to rescue some poor person who overdid it. On those occasions, I would think to myself how idiotic it was to exercise to the point of utter exhaustion and even past that.
Then I started doing Crossfit. Now, every time I do a workout, I feel like I'm about to die. My lungs are still burning, and I finished 15 minutes ago. I don't think I've ever sweat so bad in my own living room.
Burpies are a creation of the devil. I think somewhere in hell, people who did unusually heinous deeds are forced to do burpies for all eternity. What's that, you don't know what burpies are?
A single burpie consists of the following:
Today, burpies were combined with walking lunges. Tomorrow I'm going to be in a world of pain.
Tomorrow is also my second judgement day. Once again I am nervous. Very nervous. A friend told me I may start gaining weight due to the muscle that I'm putting on. I don't want to put on weight. Lets hope that doesn't happen.
Then I started doing Crossfit. Now, every time I do a workout, I feel like I'm about to die. My lungs are still burning, and I finished 15 minutes ago. I don't think I've ever sweat so bad in my own living room.
Burpies are a creation of the devil. I think somewhere in hell, people who did unusually heinous deeds are forced to do burpies for all eternity. What's that, you don't know what burpies are?
A single burpie consists of the following:
- Stand straight up
- Drop to the floor, flinging your feet behind you into a push-up position
- Do that push-up
- Once you're in the "up" position, jump your feet into your chest
- Stand up, flinging your arms above your head
Today, burpies were combined with walking lunges. Tomorrow I'm going to be in a world of pain.
Tomorrow is also my second judgement day. Once again I am nervous. Very nervous. A friend told me I may start gaining weight due to the muscle that I'm putting on. I don't want to put on weight. Lets hope that doesn't happen.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Outa My Way, Fatty
I've never noticed before how lazy people are at the gym. I know that sounds hard to believe, but if you belong to a gym, do me a favor and look at the people around you. Observe how fast they pedal on the exercise bikes. Are they really sweating, or are they staring at the TV screen above them, eyes glazed over, not a drop of sweat in sight? Do they mill around the machines, pausing in the middle of the isles, talking to friends, or are they moving with a purpose? Chances are, they're being lazy-- at the gym.
It's unbelievable. If you belong to the Y, count the number of fat people in the locker room over the age of 50. In the ladies' locker room, most of them will be wandering around slowly, fully nude, or congregating in the hot tub. Now, I understand that the gym is where overweight people go to lose weight. But none of these people are exerting any effort to do so!
This morning, our new president talked about responsibility. Every day, I realize more and more that my weight problem is just that-- my problem. No one ate those cookies for me, and no one will go to the gym for me to work those cookies off. That goes for the rest of this country too. We are dealing with obesity rates skyrocketing in our children, and we aren't setting an example in ourselves. We don't take responsibility for our weight problem. We assume that it's the desk job that made us lethargic (yes, I'm guilty of this), it's the holidays that encouraged us to eat more, it's our age, our genes, our... whatever. All of those reasons may contribute in part, but it's just pure fact that our bodies are not designed to hold extreme amounts of excess weight and no one wants to do anything about it.
By going to the gym and peddling slowly while watching The Biggest Loser may make some minor changes, but as I've learned, it's not until you put in the amount of work that those guys on the TV are that you're going to see any changes.
In part, I'm talking to myself. I am the "you" I keep referring to. These posts help to organize my thoughts and keep me motivated, hence the reason I keep writing them. However, I am beginning to be disgusted with the lack of motivation I see in others. Perhaps this is the start of something bigger.
Also, just to fill you in, the Workout of the Day that inspired this post was the following:
Buttercups:
Three rounds for time of:
Run/walk 200 meters
10 Sit-ups
10-35 pound Deadlift, 10 reps
I modified it slightly as I ran from station to station around the gym. My running around gained the stares of most people in the gym as I navigated the milling throngs of people like shoppers at a farmers' market. I didn't time myself, but what I ended up with was the following:
Four rounds (forgot to time):
Run/Walk .20 miles (almost 1.5x 200 meters)
20 crunches
24 pound deadlift, 10 reps
It was worth doing the workout just to see the looks on all the faces around me as they tried to figure out what I was doing. I felt great afterward, although I worry that it wasn't hard enough. WOD for Wednesday is posted, I'm afraid to check out what tomorrow has in store. ;)
It's unbelievable. If you belong to the Y, count the number of fat people in the locker room over the age of 50. In the ladies' locker room, most of them will be wandering around slowly, fully nude, or congregating in the hot tub. Now, I understand that the gym is where overweight people go to lose weight. But none of these people are exerting any effort to do so!
This morning, our new president talked about responsibility. Every day, I realize more and more that my weight problem is just that-- my problem. No one ate those cookies for me, and no one will go to the gym for me to work those cookies off. That goes for the rest of this country too. We are dealing with obesity rates skyrocketing in our children, and we aren't setting an example in ourselves. We don't take responsibility for our weight problem. We assume that it's the desk job that made us lethargic (yes, I'm guilty of this), it's the holidays that encouraged us to eat more, it's our age, our genes, our... whatever. All of those reasons may contribute in part, but it's just pure fact that our bodies are not designed to hold extreme amounts of excess weight and no one wants to do anything about it.
By going to the gym and peddling slowly while watching The Biggest Loser may make some minor changes, but as I've learned, it's not until you put in the amount of work that those guys on the TV are that you're going to see any changes.
In part, I'm talking to myself. I am the "you" I keep referring to. These posts help to organize my thoughts and keep me motivated, hence the reason I keep writing them. However, I am beginning to be disgusted with the lack of motivation I see in others. Perhaps this is the start of something bigger.
Also, just to fill you in, the Workout of the Day that inspired this post was the following:
Buttercups:
Three rounds for time of:
Run/walk 200 meters
10 Sit-ups
10-35 pound Deadlift, 10 reps
I modified it slightly as I ran from station to station around the gym. My running around gained the stares of most people in the gym as I navigated the milling throngs of people like shoppers at a farmers' market. I didn't time myself, but what I ended up with was the following:
Four rounds (forgot to time):
Run/Walk .20 miles (almost 1.5x 200 meters)
20 crunches
24 pound deadlift, 10 reps
It was worth doing the workout just to see the looks on all the faces around me as they tried to figure out what I was doing. I felt great afterward, although I worry that it wasn't hard enough. WOD for Wednesday is posted, I'm afraid to check out what tomorrow has in store. ;)
Monday, January 19, 2009
Run, Forest! Run!
Saturday was a rest day for me. I ended up going out to eat with friends. Apparently, Taylor's has opened a new location in downtown Waukesha. It was fantastic. Beth and Matt ordered sweet potato french fries (I think I had 5) as an appetizer. I got the tilapia sandwich, which was amazing. I highly advise going there.
Enough about food, more about working out!
Sunday I decided to try the previous WOD from Crossfit. For buff people, it was to run 10k. For me (buttercup level... haha), 2.5k. Now, here's the interesting part. If you're smart, you'll notice that it says "k", short for kilometer. If you're me, you'll run 3 miles and nearly die trying.
I got to the Y, hopped on a treadmill, and set it up to 3 miles, so I could get a warm-up going for the first half mile before I started running full speed. I hate running, so I figured easing into it was a good idea. I decided after the warm-up I would run the first mile, then rest, then run the rest. Well, the first mile came and went and I was still running. I was starting to think that I could do this thing, so I began to push myself. The treadmill was on a .5 incline (whatever that means), and I was running a 10:56 mile. Not bad.
I cranked it up a bit and set into focusing on the wall ahead of me, which, if I blurred my eyes enough, it looked like it said "Nilles". Don't ask me what it really said, because I started telling myself that I had to finish that last mile and a half without stopping to show Tony. I got the second mile under my belt and lo and behold, the machine went into cool down mode. I was so pissed, I wanted to meet my goal! I cranked it back up to speed, and increased the time until it wouldn't let me anymore. Every minute from that point on, it decided to decrease my speed because it wanted me to cool down. I got through about .35 mile before I started to notice a weird swelling feeling in my head. My blood was pounding in my temples and my brain felt like it was twice the size it was supposed to be. I decided it was time for the treadmill to have it's way, and I let it slow down until I was at a walk.
When I stepped off the treadmill, I still felt like I was moving forward, and my legs were shaky beneath me. I hobbled over to the towel bin and grabbed a fresh one, supporting myself against the wall. I wasn't sure what I was looking at, so I chugged some water and began to feel better.
So, Sunday's lesson was: always pay attention to converting kilometers to miles or you'll kill yourself. Still, I'm glad I did it.
Today (Monday) is my rest day. I am now back on track with the WOD, and I'll have to start doing it again tomorrow, if my arm feels better. I'm still sore from pull-ups. :P
Enough about food, more about working out!
Sunday I decided to try the previous WOD from Crossfit. For buff people, it was to run 10k. For me (buttercup level... haha), 2.5k. Now, here's the interesting part. If you're smart, you'll notice that it says "k", short for kilometer. If you're me, you'll run 3 miles and nearly die trying.
I got to the Y, hopped on a treadmill, and set it up to 3 miles, so I could get a warm-up going for the first half mile before I started running full speed. I hate running, so I figured easing into it was a good idea. I decided after the warm-up I would run the first mile, then rest, then run the rest. Well, the first mile came and went and I was still running. I was starting to think that I could do this thing, so I began to push myself. The treadmill was on a .5 incline (whatever that means), and I was running a 10:56 mile. Not bad.
I cranked it up a bit and set into focusing on the wall ahead of me, which, if I blurred my eyes enough, it looked like it said "Nilles". Don't ask me what it really said, because I started telling myself that I had to finish that last mile and a half without stopping to show Tony. I got the second mile under my belt and lo and behold, the machine went into cool down mode. I was so pissed, I wanted to meet my goal! I cranked it back up to speed, and increased the time until it wouldn't let me anymore. Every minute from that point on, it decided to decrease my speed because it wanted me to cool down. I got through about .35 mile before I started to notice a weird swelling feeling in my head. My blood was pounding in my temples and my brain felt like it was twice the size it was supposed to be. I decided it was time for the treadmill to have it's way, and I let it slow down until I was at a walk.
When I stepped off the treadmill, I still felt like I was moving forward, and my legs were shaky beneath me. I hobbled over to the towel bin and grabbed a fresh one, supporting myself against the wall. I wasn't sure what I was looking at, so I chugged some water and began to feel better.
So, Sunday's lesson was: always pay attention to converting kilometers to miles or you'll kill yourself. Still, I'm glad I did it.
Today (Monday) is my rest day. I am now back on track with the WOD, and I'll have to start doing it again tomorrow, if my arm feels better. I'm still sore from pull-ups. :P
Still trudging along
Friday after work, I packed up my gym bag and drove my fat butt to the YMCA. I was excited to try out the Crossfit workout I had been researching all day. I was pretty sure I knew how to do a sit-up, but after watching this video I was reassured that everything I know about fitness is wrong.
In the interests of making everything 8 billion times more difficult, the Crossfit sit-up is done by sitting on an elevated padded stool, locking down your feet, bending all the way backward until your extended arm hits the floor and coming up again. It reminds me of a Jackie Chan movie where he was forced to do sit-ups while his feet were bound to a pole and he hung upside down. Insane. I decided I would work my way up to those, and I subsituted crunches.
After the sit-ups, you were to do hip and back extensions. Well, I couldn't find a machine to do those on, so I skipped them. You can see the video on how to do them here. I suppose if I had found said machine, I would have been able to do both the sit-ups and back extensions, but I didn't see it.
After my crunches, I found a nearby assisted pull-up machine and tried it out. I was curious to see if I could even do one pull-up, but seeing as I haven't done any strength training in the longest time, I decided it wasn't worth hurting myself over. It's probably a good thing I decided not to, because I ended up pulling my inner elbow anyway, even with 50 lbs of weight "assisted". Taht means I was lifting approximately 100 lbs on my own. I did three sets of 10x, 5x and 10x respectively. By the end, I didn't think I could pick up my water bottle.
Filled with adrenaline and inspired by my pull-ups, I walked down the stairs and into the dreaded free-weights room. Upon entering, I quickly surveyed the area and found no one too threatening. An older man and some punk kids were in the main section, but the area that I wanted to use was primarily empty. Score. I went over to the smith machine (squat/press rack) and found that it was already set up with a stool for your bum to touch when you do squats. I was super excited. Someone else in the gym was trying to do the same things I was! That just gave me more encouragement, so I adjusted the machine to give me an idea of where to keep my arms above and started squatting. It was so difficult at first, but I paid attention to my feet and kept my core muscles tight and it became more natural. I could tell by the time I was finished that I would be sore the next day. And I was.
The best part about it all was that I walked fearlessly into the forbidden section of the gym, confident with the knowledge that I was there to do something right. I wasn't just going to try to see what I could do with some dumbells. When some guys came in while I was doing my squats, I continued what I was doing, feeling like I belonged there as much as they did. I wasn't going to let any of them intimidate me into leaving. I got in about 40 squats before my legs felt like they were on fire, so I decided it was time to go.
I know I haven't been posting foods here lately, but I've been eliminating that laundry list of what I did and what I ate and I'm trying to keep it fresh by tackling other issues, like how these workouts are impacting me, misconceptions I've had about working out and all the information I'm learning. I'd appreciate your feedback, let me know what you'd like to hear about!
In the interests of making everything 8 billion times more difficult, the Crossfit sit-up is done by sitting on an elevated padded stool, locking down your feet, bending all the way backward until your extended arm hits the floor and coming up again. It reminds me of a Jackie Chan movie where he was forced to do sit-ups while his feet were bound to a pole and he hung upside down. Insane. I decided I would work my way up to those, and I subsituted crunches.
After the sit-ups, you were to do hip and back extensions. Well, I couldn't find a machine to do those on, so I skipped them. You can see the video on how to do them here. I suppose if I had found said machine, I would have been able to do both the sit-ups and back extensions, but I didn't see it.
After my crunches, I found a nearby assisted pull-up machine and tried it out. I was curious to see if I could even do one pull-up, but seeing as I haven't done any strength training in the longest time, I decided it wasn't worth hurting myself over. It's probably a good thing I decided not to, because I ended up pulling my inner elbow anyway, even with 50 lbs of weight "assisted". Taht means I was lifting approximately 100 lbs on my own. I did three sets of 10x, 5x and 10x respectively. By the end, I didn't think I could pick up my water bottle.
Filled with adrenaline and inspired by my pull-ups, I walked down the stairs and into the dreaded free-weights room. Upon entering, I quickly surveyed the area and found no one too threatening. An older man and some punk kids were in the main section, but the area that I wanted to use was primarily empty. Score. I went over to the smith machine (squat/press rack) and found that it was already set up with a stool for your bum to touch when you do squats. I was super excited. Someone else in the gym was trying to do the same things I was! That just gave me more encouragement, so I adjusted the machine to give me an idea of where to keep my arms above and started squatting. It was so difficult at first, but I paid attention to my feet and kept my core muscles tight and it became more natural. I could tell by the time I was finished that I would be sore the next day. And I was.
The best part about it all was that I walked fearlessly into the forbidden section of the gym, confident with the knowledge that I was there to do something right. I wasn't just going to try to see what I could do with some dumbells. When some guys came in while I was doing my squats, I continued what I was doing, feeling like I belonged there as much as they did. I wasn't going to let any of them intimidate me into leaving. I got in about 40 squats before my legs felt like they were on fire, so I decided it was time to go.
I know I haven't been posting foods here lately, but I've been eliminating that laundry list of what I did and what I ate and I'm trying to keep it fresh by tackling other issues, like how these workouts are impacting me, misconceptions I've had about working out and all the information I'm learning. I'd appreciate your feedback, let me know what you'd like to hear about!
Friday, January 16, 2009
(A Minor) VICTORY IS MINE!
This morning, I dreaded getting onto the scale, but I got my butt out of bed and did it anyway.
*Drum roll please*
New weight: 155.5
Old weight (last Friday): 159.5
Total weight loss: 4 lbs
Percentage of weight loss: 3%
Today's Crossfit workout: insanity.
For time:
10 GHD Sit-ups 10 Hip & Back Extensions 95 pound Thrusters, 30 reps 50 Pull-ups
30 GHD Sit-ups 30 Hip & Back Extensions 95 pound Thrusters, 20 reps 35 Pull-ups
50 GHD Sit-ups 50 Hip & Back Extensions 95 pound Thrusters, 10 reps 20 Pull-ups
The scaled-down version is unavailble at the moment, so I will post later tonight (hopefully) and let you know how it went.
*Drum roll please*
New weight: 155.5
Old weight (last Friday): 159.5
Total weight loss: 4 lbs
Percentage of weight loss: 3%
Today's Crossfit workout: insanity.
For time:
10 GHD Sit-ups 10 Hip & Back Extensions 95 pound Thrusters, 30 reps 50 Pull-ups
30 GHD Sit-ups 30 Hip & Back Extensions 95 pound Thrusters, 20 reps 35 Pull-ups
50 GHD Sit-ups 50 Hip & Back Extensions 95 pound Thrusters, 10 reps 20 Pull-ups
The scaled-down version is unavailble at the moment, so I will post later tonight (hopefully) and let you know how it went.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Doing It Right is HARD
Today at work I spent a lot of time reading up on Crossfit training and where to begin. I have written about Crossfit and the high-intensity workouts before, but I want to explain a few things thoroughly before I tell you how today's workout went. And so commences a history of Lynn's hate-hate relationship with physical activity. For those of you who just want the workout stats, scroll to the bottom of this post. I tend to be long-winded when telling stories about my history.
In grade school, I hated anything athletic. For some reason, we never ran "the mile" like other kids did, but I remember running laps around the outer ring of the gym and hating every second of it. The only sports I was ever any good at were volleyball and hockey. I usually got stuck playing goalie, but I never minded because it meant I didn't have to run around after the puck.
Middle school was a whole new form of pain and suffering. The Brookfield school district believed in pushing their students to train them for high school sports. I remember the anxiety and disbelief I felt the first time I was told we would be running a solid mile. I think my jaw hit the floor. This was also the first time I was introduced to a set of dumbbells and told to lift weights. High school was more of the same. I discovered I enjoyed tennis-- I had a killer serve, which no one was ever able to return, so the actual amount of energy expended was incredibly low.
I remember one summer my mother decided that I should sign up for intramural sports. She decided volleyball was a great idea for me, and carted me around to eight solid weeks of volleyball. The first week, we were told to do push-ups as a warm up. I was humiliated as all of the other tan, gorgeous Brookfieldians did their push-ups effortlessly and bounded to their feet as I was still struggling to catch my breath. Somehow (seriously, I have no idea how), I ended up pulling a muscle in my stomach, which hurt so bad that every time I tried to go for the ball, I felt such pain that I was useless. I barely made it through the eight weeks, and every day when I got into the car with my mom, I reminded her how angry I was at her for making me go, and reminded her never to sign me up for classes again.
My last year in high school, I didn't have to take gym, so I opted for two study halls instead. Pure lazy bliss. Remember, this was when I weighed about 105 soaking wet, and every morning in first period I ate two cookies (fresh out of the cafeteria oven) and a 20 oz. Mountain Dew for breakfast. I never gained an ounce. Life was fantastic.
Somewhere around my sophomore year of college, I decided I should probably join a gym. I walked into Bally's and got roped into a year long membership at $56/ mo. At the time I made about $10/hour at Marshall Fields, so after I realized what I had done, I tried desperately to cancel my membership. Anyone who has dealt with Bally's knows that they are a bunch of assholes, and unfortunately I lost that battle. I finally started to go to the gym, sticking mostly to the elliptical machines. I saw little success.
Until, that is, I threw down an extra $600 and hired a personal trainer for a summer. Anthony can attest- that summer I was in the best shape of my life. I had toned arms, I had started to loose some fat and replaced it with lean muscle, and I had more energy. I was back to eating what I wanted. When I couldn't afford the trainer, however, I began to loose the muscle. My biggest two problems when it comes to gyms are that I can't push myself, and I feel like I don't belong when I walk into the free weights section of a gym.
Let me explain for those of you who don't go to a gym or have never been inside a gym, there is a section full of comfortable cardio machines--easy to use and non-threatening. Then, as you work your way deeper into the gym, you'll find a section of weight lifting machines. These are a little more intimidating, but they all have instructions, and I can usually encourage myself to sneak over to one and try it out when no one is looking. Then, you get to the darkest area of the gym. This section will be lined with mirrors and full of large men with arms the size of your head. If you aren't scared off by the grunting noises coming from this area, and you peer inside, you will find the free weights section. The machines here are minimal, they don't come with instructions, and there are enormous weights stacked everywhere. I love it when I get to a bench with a long bar across it (gotta love how technical I get with the names here), and the bar still has some dude's 200lb weights stacked on either end. How the hell am I supposed to get those weights off of there so I can use the damn bar? I typically avoid this section.
And there's my problem. I'm so intimidated by the equipment that actually will help me the most that I don't even bother to use it. The few times I entered this area of the gym at Bally's, I was accompanied by my trainer, so I felt like anyone who was looking at me would assume I was being forced in there against my will. Which I was, kind of.
Well, according to what I've read on Crossfit.com, that is the only section of the gym I should be spending any time in at all. In fact, what I should do is forgo having any gym membership, and I should turn my garage into a workout heaven, complete with springy mats on the floor, weights, pull-up bar, bench and long bar that I mentioned earlier (really, I need to learn this terminology so you know what the hell I'm talking about).
Based on what I've described so far, you're probably beginning to realize that something isn't right here. Why do I keep coming back to Crossfit when it's obvious that I've never been that serious about working out anyway? Several reasons: 1. Nothing else has worked. I've spent weeks on the treadmill with no results, and same for the other cardio equipment 2. I'm really impressed by the website's adaptability for people like myself who are unfamiliar with exercises, working out in general, terminology, and just how to do it right without trying to sell me a protein powder, a t-shirt, or a membership.
Today while I browsed the site, I found TONS of great resources, videos and articles on where to begin, how to do things properly and even (get this) live trainers who will answer your questions. No shit. There are some sections of the website which are paid only, but there was more than enough information for me to get started without having to pay. Besides, when I do decide that I want access to those extra nutrition and fitness articles, it's only $25.00 for a one-year subscription to the journal, which gives me access to all the back articles as well. That's about the same price as my subscription to Self, and it's twice as useful.
I watched so many videos today on how to do a squat. A squat. I thought I knew, but I was wrong. In fact, I remember asking my trainer if it was okay that my heels came off the ground when I squatted, and he shrugged and said it was normal. Apparently, doing squats right will not only make me less prone to injury, but they will also exponentially increase the results I get from them.
So that's what I did tonight. I tried to squat correctly. After watching a video where a girl had a block put under her butt and a bar in front of her to keep her arms raised as she tried to squat for what looked like the first time, that's exactly what I did. My TV has doors that come out at just the right height to use as a barrier to keep my arms raised, and I put a plastic bucket under my butt. When I sat on the bucket, I my knees were at a 90 degree angle to the floor. Crossfit advises even going lower, but I didn't have a shorter bucket and I was unsure of how well I would do even with the higher bucket.
With my feet in line with my shoulders, and my arms above my head, I locked up at the 45 degree mark about every time, so I decided to take a break and try again. My break was push-ups to failure. I made it to 18 on my knees. Better than yesterday. Then I went back to squats. I discovered that with my feet a little wider apart, I could get far enough to eventually fail about an inch before my butt hit the bucket. Once I was sitting on the bucket, the challenge was to get back up using only my legs, meaning that my back moved little, if at all. Just about every time I would have the energy to get up, but my balance would fail and I would wobble. This shit is hard, let me tell you.
I lost count of how many squats I did, but after I felt like quitting, I told myself 10 more, and when I failed on some of those, I made myself do them over until I was satisfied with my progress. I have definitely improved a bit, but I'm sure I have a long way to go.
Push-ups (untimed)
18 (failure)
5
5
10
10
That's all for today, guys. Thanks for reading. I can't wait to see some results here!
In grade school, I hated anything athletic. For some reason, we never ran "the mile" like other kids did, but I remember running laps around the outer ring of the gym and hating every second of it. The only sports I was ever any good at were volleyball and hockey. I usually got stuck playing goalie, but I never minded because it meant I didn't have to run around after the puck.
Middle school was a whole new form of pain and suffering. The Brookfield school district believed in pushing their students to train them for high school sports. I remember the anxiety and disbelief I felt the first time I was told we would be running a solid mile. I think my jaw hit the floor. This was also the first time I was introduced to a set of dumbbells and told to lift weights. High school was more of the same. I discovered I enjoyed tennis-- I had a killer serve, which no one was ever able to return, so the actual amount of energy expended was incredibly low.
I remember one summer my mother decided that I should sign up for intramural sports. She decided volleyball was a great idea for me, and carted me around to eight solid weeks of volleyball. The first week, we were told to do push-ups as a warm up. I was humiliated as all of the other tan, gorgeous Brookfieldians did their push-ups effortlessly and bounded to their feet as I was still struggling to catch my breath. Somehow (seriously, I have no idea how), I ended up pulling a muscle in my stomach, which hurt so bad that every time I tried to go for the ball, I felt such pain that I was useless. I barely made it through the eight weeks, and every day when I got into the car with my mom, I reminded her how angry I was at her for making me go, and reminded her never to sign me up for classes again.
My last year in high school, I didn't have to take gym, so I opted for two study halls instead. Pure lazy bliss. Remember, this was when I weighed about 105 soaking wet, and every morning in first period I ate two cookies (fresh out of the cafeteria oven) and a 20 oz. Mountain Dew for breakfast. I never gained an ounce. Life was fantastic.
Somewhere around my sophomore year of college, I decided I should probably join a gym. I walked into Bally's and got roped into a year long membership at $56/ mo. At the time I made about $10/hour at Marshall Fields, so after I realized what I had done, I tried desperately to cancel my membership. Anyone who has dealt with Bally's knows that they are a bunch of assholes, and unfortunately I lost that battle. I finally started to go to the gym, sticking mostly to the elliptical machines. I saw little success.
Until, that is, I threw down an extra $600 and hired a personal trainer for a summer. Anthony can attest- that summer I was in the best shape of my life. I had toned arms, I had started to loose some fat and replaced it with lean muscle, and I had more energy. I was back to eating what I wanted. When I couldn't afford the trainer, however, I began to loose the muscle. My biggest two problems when it comes to gyms are that I can't push myself, and I feel like I don't belong when I walk into the free weights section of a gym.
Let me explain for those of you who don't go to a gym or have never been inside a gym, there is a section full of comfortable cardio machines--easy to use and non-threatening. Then, as you work your way deeper into the gym, you'll find a section of weight lifting machines. These are a little more intimidating, but they all have instructions, and I can usually encourage myself to sneak over to one and try it out when no one is looking. Then, you get to the darkest area of the gym. This section will be lined with mirrors and full of large men with arms the size of your head. If you aren't scared off by the grunting noises coming from this area, and you peer inside, you will find the free weights section. The machines here are minimal, they don't come with instructions, and there are enormous weights stacked everywhere. I love it when I get to a bench with a long bar across it (gotta love how technical I get with the names here), and the bar still has some dude's 200lb weights stacked on either end. How the hell am I supposed to get those weights off of there so I can use the damn bar? I typically avoid this section.
And there's my problem. I'm so intimidated by the equipment that actually will help me the most that I don't even bother to use it. The few times I entered this area of the gym at Bally's, I was accompanied by my trainer, so I felt like anyone who was looking at me would assume I was being forced in there against my will. Which I was, kind of.
Well, according to what I've read on Crossfit.com, that is the only section of the gym I should be spending any time in at all. In fact, what I should do is forgo having any gym membership, and I should turn my garage into a workout heaven, complete with springy mats on the floor, weights, pull-up bar, bench and long bar that I mentioned earlier (really, I need to learn this terminology so you know what the hell I'm talking about).
Based on what I've described so far, you're probably beginning to realize that something isn't right here. Why do I keep coming back to Crossfit when it's obvious that I've never been that serious about working out anyway? Several reasons: 1. Nothing else has worked. I've spent weeks on the treadmill with no results, and same for the other cardio equipment 2. I'm really impressed by the website's adaptability for people like myself who are unfamiliar with exercises, working out in general, terminology, and just how to do it right without trying to sell me a protein powder, a t-shirt, or a membership.
Today while I browsed the site, I found TONS of great resources, videos and articles on where to begin, how to do things properly and even (get this) live trainers who will answer your questions. No shit. There are some sections of the website which are paid only, but there was more than enough information for me to get started without having to pay. Besides, when I do decide that I want access to those extra nutrition and fitness articles, it's only $25.00 for a one-year subscription to the journal, which gives me access to all the back articles as well. That's about the same price as my subscription to Self, and it's twice as useful.
I watched so many videos today on how to do a squat. A squat. I thought I knew, but I was wrong. In fact, I remember asking my trainer if it was okay that my heels came off the ground when I squatted, and he shrugged and said it was normal. Apparently, doing squats right will not only make me less prone to injury, but they will also exponentially increase the results I get from them.
So that's what I did tonight. I tried to squat correctly. After watching a video where a girl had a block put under her butt and a bar in front of her to keep her arms raised as she tried to squat for what looked like the first time, that's exactly what I did. My TV has doors that come out at just the right height to use as a barrier to keep my arms raised, and I put a plastic bucket under my butt. When I sat on the bucket, I my knees were at a 90 degree angle to the floor. Crossfit advises even going lower, but I didn't have a shorter bucket and I was unsure of how well I would do even with the higher bucket.
With my feet in line with my shoulders, and my arms above my head, I locked up at the 45 degree mark about every time, so I decided to take a break and try again. My break was push-ups to failure. I made it to 18 on my knees. Better than yesterday. Then I went back to squats. I discovered that with my feet a little wider apart, I could get far enough to eventually fail about an inch before my butt hit the bucket. Once I was sitting on the bucket, the challenge was to get back up using only my legs, meaning that my back moved little, if at all. Just about every time I would have the energy to get up, but my balance would fail and I would wobble. This shit is hard, let me tell you.
I lost count of how many squats I did, but after I felt like quitting, I told myself 10 more, and when I failed on some of those, I made myself do them over until I was satisfied with my progress. I have definitely improved a bit, but I'm sure I have a long way to go.
Push-ups (untimed)
18 (failure)
5
5
10
10
That's all for today, guys. Thanks for reading. I can't wait to see some results here!
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Yoga is Fancy Torture
It's -5 degrees out today and I just had one of the most stressful days of my life. Needless to say, I didn't make it to the gym. You can yell at me if you want, but I think I made up for it. Am I rationalizing? I don't know. Is it ok to subsitute one workout for another? I would think so... this is very confusing.
I ate pretty well today, with the exception of snacking on cereal (about two cups) throughout the day. Also, in a fit of nerves, I snuck over to my cubemate's desk and stole three small pieces of chocolate. They were wrapped in foil, and I tore the foil off, ripping it into bits as tried to get to the sweet, sweet goodness inside. The unfortunate thing was that I barely enjoyed it, I just scarfed it down like an addict. After I was done, I didn't feel super bad about indulging, only that I had chosen the food out of stress and not because I really wanted it or enjoyed it.
Tonight, I got home late, walked in the door and started ripping my clothes off, all the better to get into my workout gear faster. I've adapted Kevin's way of thinking. "Don't think about it, just do it," is what I repeat in my head over and over when I don't want to do something like go to the gym or call someone at work. I got myself pumped for my workout and had just gotten the DVD running when my phone started rining. Just my luck.
I had just a few moments before I left, and I've been thinking a lot about starting Crossfit training, so I decided to try doing a few pushups. Tony had instructed me to do them with an intense push from the ground, then come down slowly-- all the better to make my muscles atrophy and scream from the punishment. I did two sets of ten on my knees, then stopped because I couldn't push off from the ground anymore. How pathetic, but at least I did it.
Tony wanted to go out to dinner with his mother, so I couldn't say no. I did give him some shit though, because I feared I would go home after dinner and just lounge around. However, I ate sensibly at dinner (a steak and veggies) and came home immediately where I repeated the clothes removal process from earlier.
My yoga workout has several levels. Last time, I started with the targeted legs toning, this time I did the cardio/strength workout along with the cool down. Typically I stare aghast as Denise Austin contorts her body into impossible poses, but this time, I just kept breathing and did the best I could. I'm exhausted now, and my whole body is shaking from the impact.
One thing I do like about working out is how the stress seems to melt away if you focus on what you're doing and nothing else. For just a few minutes every day, I have me time. I'm doing the workout for me and no one else.
Also, going to bed early and waking up early is starting to get earlier. Today is the first day that I've made it past 9pm without fighting to keep my eyes open. Even though I went to bed at about 1am yesterday thanks to the Metallica concert Tony and I went to, I wasn't feeling too terrible this morning and I was even able to get to work on time.
I have a lot to be stressed out about right now. Tony and I are maxed out on our budget, we've lost $3,000 to a business that no longer is in business, and we still have people to pay and things to get done. We have a plan, which makes the stress slightly less, but there are also other things I worry about. I won't go into detail, but now is not an easy time for me. However, I keep telling myself, in regard to the house, my workout, or anything else for that matter, if I can make it through this, I can make it through anything.
I ate pretty well today, with the exception of snacking on cereal (about two cups) throughout the day. Also, in a fit of nerves, I snuck over to my cubemate's desk and stole three small pieces of chocolate. They were wrapped in foil, and I tore the foil off, ripping it into bits as tried to get to the sweet, sweet goodness inside. The unfortunate thing was that I barely enjoyed it, I just scarfed it down like an addict. After I was done, I didn't feel super bad about indulging, only that I had chosen the food out of stress and not because I really wanted it or enjoyed it.
Tonight, I got home late, walked in the door and started ripping my clothes off, all the better to get into my workout gear faster. I've adapted Kevin's way of thinking. "Don't think about it, just do it," is what I repeat in my head over and over when I don't want to do something like go to the gym or call someone at work. I got myself pumped for my workout and had just gotten the DVD running when my phone started rining. Just my luck.
I had just a few moments before I left, and I've been thinking a lot about starting Crossfit training, so I decided to try doing a few pushups. Tony had instructed me to do them with an intense push from the ground, then come down slowly-- all the better to make my muscles atrophy and scream from the punishment. I did two sets of ten on my knees, then stopped because I couldn't push off from the ground anymore. How pathetic, but at least I did it.
Tony wanted to go out to dinner with his mother, so I couldn't say no. I did give him some shit though, because I feared I would go home after dinner and just lounge around. However, I ate sensibly at dinner (a steak and veggies) and came home immediately where I repeated the clothes removal process from earlier.
My yoga workout has several levels. Last time, I started with the targeted legs toning, this time I did the cardio/strength workout along with the cool down. Typically I stare aghast as Denise Austin contorts her body into impossible poses, but this time, I just kept breathing and did the best I could. I'm exhausted now, and my whole body is shaking from the impact.
One thing I do like about working out is how the stress seems to melt away if you focus on what you're doing and nothing else. For just a few minutes every day, I have me time. I'm doing the workout for me and no one else.
Also, going to bed early and waking up early is starting to get earlier. Today is the first day that I've made it past 9pm without fighting to keep my eyes open. Even though I went to bed at about 1am yesterday thanks to the Metallica concert Tony and I went to, I wasn't feeling too terrible this morning and I was even able to get to work on time.
I have a lot to be stressed out about right now. Tony and I are maxed out on our budget, we've lost $3,000 to a business that no longer is in business, and we still have people to pay and things to get done. We have a plan, which makes the stress slightly less, but there are also other things I worry about. I won't go into detail, but now is not an easy time for me. However, I keep telling myself, in regard to the house, my workout, or anything else for that matter, if I can make it through this, I can make it through anything.
Sunday, January 11, 2009
I feel I should take a moment away from my incredibly boring list of things I eat each day to acknowledge some of the advice and encouragement I have received so far. The advice I have gotten has been diverse and at times a bit overwhelming. I feel there are so many weight loss choices that it is hard to choose which plan is best.
Perhaps I should rewind a bit. When you come to that point in your life where you look at yourself in the mirror and realize that you have to change something to see the results you want, it is unavoidable that you wonder exactly what it is that you have been doing wrong to make yourself gain all this weight. As an avid reader of magazines like "Self" and "Fitness", I can't help but hate the editors, who push making small changes like switching from whole to skim milk (did that 4 years ago), eliminating soda (haven't drank it in eons), cutting back on saturated fats (what saturated fats?) and forgoing creamer in your coffee (right) because, according to them, these small changes will add up to "BIG RESULTS!" Oh really? Then why am I still gaining weight?
Common sense tells all of us that there is NO easy way to drop weight... unless you are Tony. If there was a magical weight-loss supplement, fat blocker or fasting plan that really worked, don't you think everyone would just do that? Small changes may make some difference, but in order to reach your goals, you're going to have to work for it, just like anything else in life. This sad reality is what I am struggling to accept.
As a friend related to me, there's a type of panic that sets in when you begin to try to make "life changes" to your diet. Without a paid nutritionist or having a degree in nutrition yourself, it can be very difficult to distinguish which options are better for you. Just observe some of the questions I and other girls like me are faced with when trying to comprehend these options: "I'm thinking of Alli, but heard some nasty things about it. What kind of a diet do I go on? No carbs? How do I prepare the food? Can I use olive oil in the skillet with my chicken? Or do I have to grill everything? What dressings can I use on my salads? How do I get used to thinking about exercising? Is cleaning my room exercise," and so on ad infinitum.
What kinds of major changes does one make to overcome the inevitable pounds that come with age and decreased physical activity due to sedentary work or massive amounts of stress? The first option that was offered to me, and has received the most amount of "votes" so far is the Weight Watchers program. According to some, it's the flexibility and ease of use that is so compelling, to others, the group meetings that encourage and offer support. Still, I found a third reason to be the most interesting: Weight Watchers is an RPG.
For those of you who don't play video games, RPG stands for Role Playing Game. Apparently, the point system is set up to encourage you to ration out your points to allow for larger meals and snacks throughout the day. Just as in a game where you save money and resources to purchase bigger items, points can be saved up for a great dinner or desert, and supplemented with zero point options like raw veggies throughout the day. If I didn't explain that well enough for you, check out the article here: http://www.wired.com/gaming/virtualworlds/commentary/games/2008/08/gamesfrontiers_0811.
Although I love gaming, something tells me that this time, limiting my choices and snacking on veggies isn't going to give me the results I want. Especially since I want those results fast. So, how do I go about doing that without ruining my body?
The option that obviously would work, but scares the hell out of me is Crossfit. These people are insane. No offense, Kevin. I wouldn't want to be on your bad side. Crossfit is a super high-intensity workout that's done on a 3 days on, 1 day off schedule. The Workout of the Day is typically about 10 minutes long, but for those ten minutes, you bust your ass and push yourself past your limits. For example, today's workout was "Virtual Shoveling" and pull-ups in reps of 30, 25, 20, 15, 10, and 5 http://media.crossfit.com/cf-video/virtual-shoveling.wmv. I really encourage you to click on that video. It's only about 30 seconds long and the chick is hot. It will give you a small idea of what kinds of exercises are expected. From the videos I've watched and the info I've read on the website, Crossfit sounds like something that would be wonderful, but would also cause me a lot of pain and suffering.
For Crossfit, you really need to be in control of yourself. You can go ahead and do 10 pull-ups (well, you can't if you're me), and not really have any effect on your muscles. Crossfit encourages you to do the work as efficiently as possible, which sometimes means doing it very quickly. I'm not sure I have the drive to do that. This is why I need a personal trainer.
Another option I've heard a lot about, but thankfully no one has encouraged me to do, is fasting. According to Oprah, fasting can eliminate toxins from your body and help you loose weight. But anyone with half a brain knows that seriously restricting calories puts your body into emergency mode, where your metabolism slows down and burns less energy because it doesn't know where its next meal is coming from. Some detox diets can lead to serious side effects, since they rely on laxatives to "cleanse" your body. Some of the effects can range from vitamin deficiencies, muscle breakdown and blood-sugar problems — not to mention frequent liquid bowel movements. Doesn't sound the least bit appealing to me. If Oprah likes to poo liquid, that's just fine, but to me that sounds like something that happens when you're sick.
So I've covered three diet plans, but I still haven't explained what's right to eat or what to do at the gym. The truth is, I don't know exactly. I know that I'm lazy and even when I go to the gym, I always feel like I should be pushing myself harder. When I eat, I crave things that I know aren't good for me, like deep fried items and cookies. So far, my plan is pretty vague- eat lots of veggies, lean meats and avoid candy, cookies and over snacking. Eat when you're hungry, not for emotional reasons, and get more active. It's not rocket science. If I question an item, I think "would I want to post on my blog that I ate this?" It doesn't work for everyone, I'm aware, but since I can't make those decisions on my own, I rely on public humiliation to make them for me.
As for those of you who have expressed interest in going out and getting active, or working together at the gym, or exchanging recipes, or trying out new ones-- I say YES to all of the above. I don't have the answers any more than you do, but I'm willing to try. I'm tired of being sluggish and tired, and I'm ready to step up and start doing something.
Perhaps I should rewind a bit. When you come to that point in your life where you look at yourself in the mirror and realize that you have to change something to see the results you want, it is unavoidable that you wonder exactly what it is that you have been doing wrong to make yourself gain all this weight. As an avid reader of magazines like "Self" and "Fitness", I can't help but hate the editors, who push making small changes like switching from whole to skim milk (did that 4 years ago), eliminating soda (haven't drank it in eons), cutting back on saturated fats (what saturated fats?) and forgoing creamer in your coffee (right) because, according to them, these small changes will add up to "BIG RESULTS!" Oh really? Then why am I still gaining weight?
Common sense tells all of us that there is NO easy way to drop weight... unless you are Tony. If there was a magical weight-loss supplement, fat blocker or fasting plan that really worked, don't you think everyone would just do that? Small changes may make some difference, but in order to reach your goals, you're going to have to work for it, just like anything else in life. This sad reality is what I am struggling to accept.
As a friend related to me, there's a type of panic that sets in when you begin to try to make "life changes" to your diet. Without a paid nutritionist or having a degree in nutrition yourself, it can be very difficult to distinguish which options are better for you. Just observe some of the questions I and other girls like me are faced with when trying to comprehend these options: "I'm thinking of Alli, but heard some nasty things about it. What kind of a diet do I go on? No carbs? How do I prepare the food? Can I use olive oil in the skillet with my chicken? Or do I have to grill everything? What dressings can I use on my salads? How do I get used to thinking about exercising? Is cleaning my room exercise," and so on ad infinitum.
What kinds of major changes does one make to overcome the inevitable pounds that come with age and decreased physical activity due to sedentary work or massive amounts of stress? The first option that was offered to me, and has received the most amount of "votes" so far is the Weight Watchers program. According to some, it's the flexibility and ease of use that is so compelling, to others, the group meetings that encourage and offer support. Still, I found a third reason to be the most interesting: Weight Watchers is an RPG.
For those of you who don't play video games, RPG stands for Role Playing Game. Apparently, the point system is set up to encourage you to ration out your points to allow for larger meals and snacks throughout the day. Just as in a game where you save money and resources to purchase bigger items, points can be saved up for a great dinner or desert, and supplemented with zero point options like raw veggies throughout the day. If I didn't explain that well enough for you, check out the article here: http://www.wired.com/gaming/virtualworlds/commentary/games/2008/08/gamesfrontiers_0811.
Although I love gaming, something tells me that this time, limiting my choices and snacking on veggies isn't going to give me the results I want. Especially since I want those results fast. So, how do I go about doing that without ruining my body?
The option that obviously would work, but scares the hell out of me is Crossfit. These people are insane. No offense, Kevin. I wouldn't want to be on your bad side. Crossfit is a super high-intensity workout that's done on a 3 days on, 1 day off schedule. The Workout of the Day is typically about 10 minutes long, but for those ten minutes, you bust your ass and push yourself past your limits. For example, today's workout was "Virtual Shoveling" and pull-ups in reps of 30, 25, 20, 15, 10, and 5 http://media.crossfit.com/cf-video/virtual-shoveling.wmv. I really encourage you to click on that video. It's only about 30 seconds long and the chick is hot. It will give you a small idea of what kinds of exercises are expected. From the videos I've watched and the info I've read on the website, Crossfit sounds like something that would be wonderful, but would also cause me a lot of pain and suffering.
For Crossfit, you really need to be in control of yourself. You can go ahead and do 10 pull-ups (well, you can't if you're me), and not really have any effect on your muscles. Crossfit encourages you to do the work as efficiently as possible, which sometimes means doing it very quickly. I'm not sure I have the drive to do that. This is why I need a personal trainer.
Another option I've heard a lot about, but thankfully no one has encouraged me to do, is fasting. According to Oprah, fasting can eliminate toxins from your body and help you loose weight. But anyone with half a brain knows that seriously restricting calories puts your body into emergency mode, where your metabolism slows down and burns less energy because it doesn't know where its next meal is coming from. Some detox diets can lead to serious side effects, since they rely on laxatives to "cleanse" your body. Some of the effects can range from vitamin deficiencies, muscle breakdown and blood-sugar problems — not to mention frequent liquid bowel movements. Doesn't sound the least bit appealing to me. If Oprah likes to poo liquid, that's just fine, but to me that sounds like something that happens when you're sick.
So I've covered three diet plans, but I still haven't explained what's right to eat or what to do at the gym. The truth is, I don't know exactly. I know that I'm lazy and even when I go to the gym, I always feel like I should be pushing myself harder. When I eat, I crave things that I know aren't good for me, like deep fried items and cookies. So far, my plan is pretty vague- eat lots of veggies, lean meats and avoid candy, cookies and over snacking. Eat when you're hungry, not for emotional reasons, and get more active. It's not rocket science. If I question an item, I think "would I want to post on my blog that I ate this?" It doesn't work for everyone, I'm aware, but since I can't make those decisions on my own, I rely on public humiliation to make them for me.
As for those of you who have expressed interest in going out and getting active, or working together at the gym, or exchanging recipes, or trying out new ones-- I say YES to all of the above. I don't have the answers any more than you do, but I'm willing to try. I'm tired of being sluggish and tired, and I'm ready to step up and start doing something.
Saturday, January 10, 2009
It was a long day today. I woke up early, at my scheduled time, which was difficult. I think changing my sleep schedule and getting used to not sleeping when I want to is going to be the hardest part about all of this. As you'll see later, I had some difficulty with just that later in the day.
My breakfast was the same as yesterday. I left the peaches in the microwave for longer than yesterday, and as a result the bowl was warm. When I added the milk, it instantly warmed to a lukewarm temperature, which was rather disgusting. I won't make that mistake again.
I went over to the house. Tony was off visiting his grandpa, so I was alone for awhile, and unsure of what to do. I finally decided to paint the ceiling in my office since we were supposed to have the crown molding installed this weekend. Turns out our carpenter's wife was sick, so he never showed up.
For lunch, I went to Applebees with my friend Kristin. Don't start yelling at me just yet. I stuck to the Weight Watcher's tilapia. It was so hard, because from the moment I walked into the restaurant, I was hit with the smell of fried, buttery, delicious comfort food. I wanted to order the fattiest thing on the menu so bad. I was practically salivating. When my plate arived, I was so disappointed. The fish was tiny, thin and not enough to satsfy my rumbling stomach. When I finished eating, they could have taken my plate and served another lunch on it without even washing it.
When I got home, I was starving. Dinner was a few hours away and I wasn't sure what to do, so I whipped up a protein shake with raspberries and mixed tropical fruit. I LOVE Bally brand chocolate protein shake mix. It's the best tasting protein shake I have found yet. There was a time when I drank a shake for breakfast every morning. After ahwile, you start to crave that protein in the morning.
Aaaaaand that's when I screwed up. I went upstairs to check my email, and I was just exhausted. I had a pounding headache from a mixture of caffeine withdrawl, fumes in the house (it's enough to kill small animals at this point) and stress. Within moments, I was asleep. I slept for just under an hour, when I was awakened by Tony, calling to find out what I wanted to do tonight. Aparantly, naps are against the rules. He tried to explain to me that after a few weeks (A FEW WEEKS!?!?!) of waking up at the same time and going to bed at the same time, I wouldn't be as tired. By taking a nap, I was tricking my body into thinking it was bedtime, and screwing up my metabolism. I have now added being tired to the top 5 things I hate in life. For a complete list, just ask.
For dinner, I had another Lean Cuisine with steamed rice and broccoli on the side. It was... food. I can't wait for the cravings for things smothered in cheese and other comfort foods to go away. I feel hungry all the damn time. I also want wine like none other. I passed up an opportunity to go out to two different bars tonight. Hooray for Saturday nights at home.
Since I didn't get to the gym today, I did my Denise Austin yoga video. Denise is my hero. That woman is something like 60 years old and she looks fantastic. I want to look like her now, much less 35 years from now. Her yoga video is pretty challenging, especially since I don't have any balance. I hope by doing some this I will be able to improve my balance. I've heard a lot about how balance can help you loose weight more easily.
I'm exhausted, but it's almost bedtime. I just have to tough it out for a little while longer. I can't belive I'm trying to stay awake until 10pm. I know exactly what's going to happen too. I'm going to get into bed and not be able to fall asleep.
Oh, also I lost two and a half pounds when I weighed myself this morning. I know that's probably just water weight, but it was exciting to see the dip in the numbers on the scale. :)
My breakfast was the same as yesterday. I left the peaches in the microwave for longer than yesterday, and as a result the bowl was warm. When I added the milk, it instantly warmed to a lukewarm temperature, which was rather disgusting. I won't make that mistake again.
I went over to the house. Tony was off visiting his grandpa, so I was alone for awhile, and unsure of what to do. I finally decided to paint the ceiling in my office since we were supposed to have the crown molding installed this weekend. Turns out our carpenter's wife was sick, so he never showed up.
For lunch, I went to Applebees with my friend Kristin. Don't start yelling at me just yet. I stuck to the Weight Watcher's tilapia. It was so hard, because from the moment I walked into the restaurant, I was hit with the smell of fried, buttery, delicious comfort food. I wanted to order the fattiest thing on the menu so bad. I was practically salivating. When my plate arived, I was so disappointed. The fish was tiny, thin and not enough to satsfy my rumbling stomach. When I finished eating, they could have taken my plate and served another lunch on it without even washing it.
When I got home, I was starving. Dinner was a few hours away and I wasn't sure what to do, so I whipped up a protein shake with raspberries and mixed tropical fruit. I LOVE Bally brand chocolate protein shake mix. It's the best tasting protein shake I have found yet. There was a time when I drank a shake for breakfast every morning. After ahwile, you start to crave that protein in the morning.
Aaaaaand that's when I screwed up. I went upstairs to check my email, and I was just exhausted. I had a pounding headache from a mixture of caffeine withdrawl, fumes in the house (it's enough to kill small animals at this point) and stress. Within moments, I was asleep. I slept for just under an hour, when I was awakened by Tony, calling to find out what I wanted to do tonight. Aparantly, naps are against the rules. He tried to explain to me that after a few weeks (A FEW WEEKS!?!?!) of waking up at the same time and going to bed at the same time, I wouldn't be as tired. By taking a nap, I was tricking my body into thinking it was bedtime, and screwing up my metabolism. I have now added being tired to the top 5 things I hate in life. For a complete list, just ask.
For dinner, I had another Lean Cuisine with steamed rice and broccoli on the side. It was... food. I can't wait for the cravings for things smothered in cheese and other comfort foods to go away. I feel hungry all the damn time. I also want wine like none other. I passed up an opportunity to go out to two different bars tonight. Hooray for Saturday nights at home.
Since I didn't get to the gym today, I did my Denise Austin yoga video. Denise is my hero. That woman is something like 60 years old and she looks fantastic. I want to look like her now, much less 35 years from now. Her yoga video is pretty challenging, especially since I don't have any balance. I hope by doing some this I will be able to improve my balance. I've heard a lot about how balance can help you loose weight more easily.
I'm exhausted, but it's almost bedtime. I just have to tough it out for a little while longer. I can't belive I'm trying to stay awake until 10pm. I know exactly what's going to happen too. I'm going to get into bed and not be able to fall asleep.
Oh, also I lost two and a half pounds when I weighed myself this morning. I know that's probably just water weight, but it was exciting to see the dip in the numbers on the scale. :)
Friday, January 9, 2009
I'd like to start by saying I am amazed at all of the support so far. Thank you everyone. My biggest fear was that people would look at this as a cry for attention ("Look at me, I'm fat!") or some stupid gimic, but if you read on, you'll see that I used you guys as major motivation throughout the day.
I started the day off by actually waking up when I said I would. I only hit snooze once, and I didn't let myself make excuses or talk myself into just rushing off 10 minutes before I was due to be at work just because it was casual day. This was the first time that I thought to myself about how I would have to tell you all here how I failed to even start my first day right.
Getting up on time gave me enough time to eat a bowl of bran flakes and peaches for breakfast. It was pretty delicious, although next time I think I will leave the frozen peaches in the microwave for a bit longer.
The morning was horrible. My manager came and sat in my cube for the first hour of work, and she's extremely nosy, so when I wasn't drinking coffee, she wanted to know why. I told her I was on an all-or-nothing diet with no caffeine. She rolled her eyes and said, "Yeah, like that's going to work." She was the first person other than Tony who I told in person, and she was already predicting my doom. Fantastic.
My coworker offered me decaf lemon tea to sip in lieu of drinking coffee, which I took gratefully. It tasted like fresh lemon in hot water, which was perfect. There's nothing like switching one addiction for another. I've gone through caffeine withdrawal before, so the side effects are nothing new to me, but that didn't help the fact that I was exhausted and had a headache all day. In fact, I still have it, but it may also be from stress.
At noon, I attended a meeting in one of the manager's offices. There was a box of butter cookies perched on her desk, within my reach. Normally, I don't care much for butter cookies, but the box was calling to me. I tried to avoid looking at it, but it was right in the middle of the desk, begging me to rip it open and stuff my face. At the end of the meeting, I practically ran to the fridge and grabbed my lunch.
Lunch was a pre-made salad that I brought from home and threw a diced tomato and half a cucumber into. I topped it with light Caesar dressing (tons of sodium but I didn't care) and munched my way through the entire thing like a rabbit. The salad bowl was as big as my head, but I was starving and I ate the entire damn thing.
Near the end of the day, I wanted something to munch on so bad. I had eaten my three clementines and an apple which I had brought for snacks, but I was craving something I could mindlessly shove in my mouth and crunch on like none other. My coworker Chris was loudly snacking on tortilla chips, so I gingerly got up and went over to his cube. "Whatcha got there?" I asked. He tilted the jar of warm, gooey cheese dip that he was smothering over the chips in my direction. I stared at the cheese and thought about my blog and all the encouragement I've gotten already. After a moment of wistful silence, I walked out of his cube. "I can't," I said sadly.
"Neither can I," he replied, his mouth full of chips.
I joined the Y after work, which was great. I'm going to the one in Greenfield, which is actually the same one that I went to when I was a child for swimming lessons. I'm super excited to belong to a gym with a pool and I may even take some of those swimming fitness classes. There's nothing like working out in the water-- you don't notice that you're sweating! The chlorine may ruin my hair dye, but that's a small price to pay. I did a short 35 minute workout on the Precor. It looks like an eliptical, but it's not. It usually does a good job of toning your butt. I don't feel anything yet, but we'll see by tomorrow.
Dinner was a lean cuisine that I took with me before leaving for the gym to avoid that panic mode where eating becomes a life and death matter after a workout. Since it's so cold, I had left it in my car, where it stayed frozen. When I got to the house, I heated it up in the microwave, dancing in front of it, waiting for the obligatory 5 minute cook time to be up. It took every ounce of strength to slowly eat the tiny dinner and enjoy it rather than scarf it down and look for something else five minutes later.
I was still hungry when I got home a few minutes ago, so I ate a boca burger with a slice of cheese. No bun. Cheese is my weakness. I love cheese more than anything. I put it on everything. Cheese is something I refuse to part with, but I am eating it in moderation.
So, all in all, the day went fine. I still have this pounding headache and I'm still hungry, but I don't want to eat too late at night. I am exhausted. I'm sure my writing is suffering as a result of how tired I am.
Still, I have to come up with a game plan for tomorrow. I will be eating out at Applebees tomorrow, which is temptation city. Have you ever had one of their burgers? Oh. My. God. It's even better with bacon. Too bad I'm not doing the Atkins diet. Applebees does have a Weight Watchers menu though. I'll probably pick from that.
Dinner is going to be at Amanda's graduation party, where she has so nicely provided free pizza and beer. What a terrible thing for me to go to right now. I may have to eat before I go. I think I'll throw another Lean Cuisine in the car when I go to the house.
I've never put this much planning into dieting before, and I think that's another reason why it will actually stick. If I plan things out, I have no excuse to screw up. Except my own lack of willpower.
Wish me luck tomorrow. I'm going to need it.
I started the day off by actually waking up when I said I would. I only hit snooze once, and I didn't let myself make excuses or talk myself into just rushing off 10 minutes before I was due to be at work just because it was casual day. This was the first time that I thought to myself about how I would have to tell you all here how I failed to even start my first day right.
Getting up on time gave me enough time to eat a bowl of bran flakes and peaches for breakfast. It was pretty delicious, although next time I think I will leave the frozen peaches in the microwave for a bit longer.
The morning was horrible. My manager came and sat in my cube for the first hour of work, and she's extremely nosy, so when I wasn't drinking coffee, she wanted to know why. I told her I was on an all-or-nothing diet with no caffeine. She rolled her eyes and said, "Yeah, like that's going to work." She was the first person other than Tony who I told in person, and she was already predicting my doom. Fantastic.
My coworker offered me decaf lemon tea to sip in lieu of drinking coffee, which I took gratefully. It tasted like fresh lemon in hot water, which was perfect. There's nothing like switching one addiction for another. I've gone through caffeine withdrawal before, so the side effects are nothing new to me, but that didn't help the fact that I was exhausted and had a headache all day. In fact, I still have it, but it may also be from stress.
At noon, I attended a meeting in one of the manager's offices. There was a box of butter cookies perched on her desk, within my reach. Normally, I don't care much for butter cookies, but the box was calling to me. I tried to avoid looking at it, but it was right in the middle of the desk, begging me to rip it open and stuff my face. At the end of the meeting, I practically ran to the fridge and grabbed my lunch.
Lunch was a pre-made salad that I brought from home and threw a diced tomato and half a cucumber into. I topped it with light Caesar dressing (tons of sodium but I didn't care) and munched my way through the entire thing like a rabbit. The salad bowl was as big as my head, but I was starving and I ate the entire damn thing.
Near the end of the day, I wanted something to munch on so bad. I had eaten my three clementines and an apple which I had brought for snacks, but I was craving something I could mindlessly shove in my mouth and crunch on like none other. My coworker Chris was loudly snacking on tortilla chips, so I gingerly got up and went over to his cube. "Whatcha got there?" I asked. He tilted the jar of warm, gooey cheese dip that he was smothering over the chips in my direction. I stared at the cheese and thought about my blog and all the encouragement I've gotten already. After a moment of wistful silence, I walked out of his cube. "I can't," I said sadly.
"Neither can I," he replied, his mouth full of chips.
I joined the Y after work, which was great. I'm going to the one in Greenfield, which is actually the same one that I went to when I was a child for swimming lessons. I'm super excited to belong to a gym with a pool and I may even take some of those swimming fitness classes. There's nothing like working out in the water-- you don't notice that you're sweating! The chlorine may ruin my hair dye, but that's a small price to pay. I did a short 35 minute workout on the Precor. It looks like an eliptical, but it's not. It usually does a good job of toning your butt. I don't feel anything yet, but we'll see by tomorrow.
Dinner was a lean cuisine that I took with me before leaving for the gym to avoid that panic mode where eating becomes a life and death matter after a workout. Since it's so cold, I had left it in my car, where it stayed frozen. When I got to the house, I heated it up in the microwave, dancing in front of it, waiting for the obligatory 5 minute cook time to be up. It took every ounce of strength to slowly eat the tiny dinner and enjoy it rather than scarf it down and look for something else five minutes later.
I was still hungry when I got home a few minutes ago, so I ate a boca burger with a slice of cheese. No bun. Cheese is my weakness. I love cheese more than anything. I put it on everything. Cheese is something I refuse to part with, but I am eating it in moderation.
So, all in all, the day went fine. I still have this pounding headache and I'm still hungry, but I don't want to eat too late at night. I am exhausted. I'm sure my writing is suffering as a result of how tired I am.
Still, I have to come up with a game plan for tomorrow. I will be eating out at Applebees tomorrow, which is temptation city. Have you ever had one of their burgers? Oh. My. God. It's even better with bacon. Too bad I'm not doing the Atkins diet. Applebees does have a Weight Watchers menu though. I'll probably pick from that.
Dinner is going to be at Amanda's graduation party, where she has so nicely provided free pizza and beer. What a terrible thing for me to go to right now. I may have to eat before I go. I think I'll throw another Lean Cuisine in the car when I go to the house.
I've never put this much planning into dieting before, and I think that's another reason why it will actually stick. If I plan things out, I have no excuse to screw up. Except my own lack of willpower.
Wish me luck tomorrow. I'm going to need it.
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Uphill Battle
This morning, when I went to get dressed, I dug through my clean laundry until I found the one pair of black pants that still fits me. I went to put them on, and I could barely button them. Can you say, "Muffin top"?
I have 3 pairs of pants that (barely) still fit me. Three. T-H-R-E-E. No lie. These are the pairs of pants that used to have safety pins in the sides to hold them up. The pins are gone and my stomach keeps growing. This isn't like all the other times when I panicked about gaining weight and worried over nothing. This is serious.
There's nothing like going to work every day and wearing the same 5 interchangeable outfits because you're too fat for all your cute clothes and you're too poor to go out and buy new ones.
Besides, who wants to buy fat pants anyway?
You may be thinking, "Ugh, she's complaining again," and rolling your eyes. I don't blame you. I complain quite a bit. But please, bear with me. I'm writing this for a reason, and I need your help.
I'll get to the point then. I don't want to loose your attention. I do realize there are plenty of other things you can look at on the internet.
From this day on, I will be writing every chance I get about my struggle to loose the 25 pounds I have gained until I have reached my weight loss goal.
I have tried many, many, many times to put myself on a diet, get into a fitness regimen, etc. It has never worked. As I was so eloquently told, I don't have the willpower or the drive. I am lazy and I make excuses. You can probably see how that would make it easy for me to gain weight.
The only time I have ever stuck with a program was when I paid $400 to Bally for a personal trainer. And then, I only went because if I missed a session, it cost me $60. I don't have that kind of disposable income anymore, otherwise I would just do that again.
That brings me to you: my friends, my boyfriend and everyone on the internet. I am GOING to do this thing, and I'll tell you why.
Because YOU are going to hold me accountable.
If I can't do it for myself, you have to do it for me. I expect you all to contribute by posting encouraging comments when I succeed, and (this is important) yell at me when I fail.
I can not fail.
Here's why. I want you to constantly remind me of these reasons.
For my own reference, and so you can make sure I'm keeping on task, here are the things I am going to do to turn my life around
Finally, to show I am absofuckingloutely serious about all of this, here are my vitals:
Weight: 159.5 (as of this very moment-- I am full of dinner though...)
Waist: 33.25"
Hips: 40"
Left thigh: 23.5"
Right thigh: 24"
Goals:
Weight: 130-135
I want to be in shape, feel good, and actually see muscles in my arms rather than flab.
I want to be able to look in the mirror again.
In a moment, I will post this, and I will never be able to retrieve it from the depths of the internet. At least I know that I am doing this for a good cause and I hope you all will support me.
I have 3 pairs of pants that (barely) still fit me. Three. T-H-R-E-E. No lie. These are the pairs of pants that used to have safety pins in the sides to hold them up. The pins are gone and my stomach keeps growing. This isn't like all the other times when I panicked about gaining weight and worried over nothing. This is serious.
There's nothing like going to work every day and wearing the same 5 interchangeable outfits because you're too fat for all your cute clothes and you're too poor to go out and buy new ones.
Besides, who wants to buy fat pants anyway?
You may be thinking, "Ugh, she's complaining again," and rolling your eyes. I don't blame you. I complain quite a bit. But please, bear with me. I'm writing this for a reason, and I need your help.
I'll get to the point then. I don't want to loose your attention. I do realize there are plenty of other things you can look at on the internet.
From this day on, I will be writing every chance I get about my struggle to loose the 25 pounds I have gained until I have reached my weight loss goal.
I have tried many, many, many times to put myself on a diet, get into a fitness regimen, etc. It has never worked. As I was so eloquently told, I don't have the willpower or the drive. I am lazy and I make excuses. You can probably see how that would make it easy for me to gain weight.
The only time I have ever stuck with a program was when I paid $400 to Bally for a personal trainer. And then, I only went because if I missed a session, it cost me $60. I don't have that kind of disposable income anymore, otherwise I would just do that again.
That brings me to you: my friends, my boyfriend and everyone on the internet. I am GOING to do this thing, and I'll tell you why.
Because YOU are going to hold me accountable.
If I can't do it for myself, you have to do it for me. I expect you all to contribute by posting encouraging comments when I succeed, and (this is important) yell at me when I fail.
I can not fail.
Here's why. I want you to constantly remind me of these reasons.
- My family has a history of heart disease that runs rampant. I may not live to the ripe old age of 50 if I don't start to make changes now.
- I have THOUSANDS of dollars invested in my closet. Right now, I can't fit into ANY of my clothes.
- My. Face. Is. Jiggly.
- I haven't been checked out by a guy in forever.
- I'm tired all the time.
- I feel terrible.
- When I sit, I can feel the folds of my stomach (ICK!).
- I can't lift heavy things
- I have no energy
- I'm stressed out
- Have I mentioned how much I love my clothes? Seriously, you have no idea. I don't care if that makes me a shallow person.
- I have back fat.
- Bikini season scares the crap out of me
- It bothers me when my boyfriend no longer looks at me the way he looked at the blond chick at the restaurant tonight.
- Tony says I can't do it and I have to prove him wrong
For my own reference, and so you can make sure I'm keeping on task, here are the things I am going to do to turn my life around
- Tomorrow I am enrolling both myself and Tony at the YMCA.
- Once enrolled, I am going to GO to the Y.
- I am putting myself on a schedule for classes at the Y
- I am buying groceries instead of working out
- I will make my lunch every night before bed
- I will go to bed every night at the same time
- I will wake up every morning at the same time
- I will give up caffeine (a moment of silence, please)
- I will maintain this blog on a regular basis.
- I have set notes about the house reminding myself of what is available to eat (the microwave says, "Are you steaming veggies?")
- I will abstain from alcohol except at parties
- I will eat more veggies
- I will cut out unnecessary refined sugars (sad)
- I will add to this list as I see fit
Finally, to show I am absofuckingloutely serious about all of this, here are my vitals:
Weight: 159.5 (as of this very moment-- I am full of dinner though...)
Waist: 33.25"
Hips: 40"
Left thigh: 23.5"
Right thigh: 24"
Goals:
Weight: 130-135
I want to be in shape, feel good, and actually see muscles in my arms rather than flab.
I want to be able to look in the mirror again.
In a moment, I will post this, and I will never be able to retrieve it from the depths of the internet. At least I know that I am doing this for a good cause and I hope you all will support me.
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