Finding My Way Out

(Picture found on internet.)

So I've hit that rut that I new would be coming. I'm bored with the cardio machines at the gym and can't do the classes since I have to be at school in the late morning. I need to change it up so that I don't give it up. I would love to start running, as my friend Em has started doing, but the fear of dropping dead within 2 minutes flat keeps me from attempting it.



The Rock Island Trail is not far from my house, but I've feared walking it alone because it can get pretty isolated. The trail is gorgeous right now with the trees beginning to change. So, this morning I hauled my neighbor out of her house and dragged her there with me for a half hour long hike and it was exactly what I needed to find my way out of this cardio machine rut I've found myself in. I'll be going again tomorrow morning. Might as well take advantage of this fall weather while I can.

I Worked My Butt Off Moment

This week's challenge for HFH over at Baby Tea Leaves was to PUSH IT past my comfort zone at least once. So I did. Yesterday. And I survived. It wasn't a big thing, really. You see, normally I power walk on the treadmill for 10 minutes, then hit the elliptical machine for 10 and follow it up back on the treadmill for a final 10.

I get bored easily and changing it up keeps me from quitting. OK, it's also easier in 10 min increments. I don't want to get stuck in a comfort zone though and decided it was time to change it up - so I did 15 min on the treadmill and then 15 min on the elliptical and have every intention of upping the times more as I go along.

I use to take the group classes offered at the gym, but that is no longer an option when school is in session now that I'm working part time at one of the schools here. It's the only way I can actually work out for an hour without losing my mind. I miss those classes and am going to have to figure out how to survive the cardio machines in their place. (On days when there is only a half day or no school, I WILL spoil myself and make it to the classes on those days.)

So, that brings us to today's weigh in. I'm a nervous wreck because my weight has been bouncing around all week. While I've been working out most mornings during the week and have cut out fast food and am trying to eat right, I'm still struggling. I suspect that it may have something to do with too much sodium and building muscle. We'll see - I may have to get serious and starting counting calories or weight watchers points or something soon if I don't start getting the results I want.

Today's weight loss: 0 ugh. gained 1.5 pounds
Total weight loss to date: 3 pounds

What the???

MVP and Indecision

Summer is in full swing over here. Last night was Ashley's second Softball game and while they did end up losing (thankfully the game didn't count), Ashley was voted MVP by her team. All three times she was up to bat, she had great hits. She had a double, a triple and then a home run! It got pretty exciting because right after Ash hit her home run, her teammate up after her hit a home run, too. You rarely see any home runs in this age group so that made it all that much sweeter! She was very proud of herself!

She somehow managed to turn into a mini grown up over the past few months. I gave in and let her go to the pool at the Y with just her girlfriends yesterday. I was a nervous wreck, calling her cell phone and checking in on her frequently. I'm just not ready to let go yet, but am finding that I don't have much of a choice. She's growing up and I'm so proud of her.

I trust her, but we may have to rejoin the Y so I can keep track of her and what she's doing - instead of just letting her spend the summer there as a guest of her friends. We'll see, because if I do this I'll have to give up my Gold's Gym membership and work out there instead. I love Gold's and their classes, but let's face it - summer is so busy for us that I'm not sure I'll get to the gym on a regular basis. If I transfer my membership to the Y, then I won't feel so guilty when I can't find the time to get there to work out, because we'll still be using the facility for the pool.

I love Gold's though. Their classes are what keeps me going back and they have the best equipment around. Plus we love the other pool that we usually go to - there's more there for Ryan to do. However, that pool is a bit of a drive and gas is at $4 a gallon. Ugh, I can't decide!

My Workout Log

Week Four:
Tuesday: 30 minute brisk walk on Rock Island Trail

Week Three (Oct 2008):
Sunday: 90 min walk through corn maze
Thursday: 30 minute brisk walk on Rock Island Trail
Saturday: 2 & 1/2 mile hike up and down steep hills, 20 minute hike - normal terrain


Week Two:
Monday: 10 min treadmill (3.2), 10 min elliptical (4.8), 10 min treadmill (3.2)
Tuesday: 10 min treadmill (3.2), 10 min elliptical (5.0), 10 min treadmill (3.4)
Thursday: 15 min treadmill (3.2), 15 min elliptical (4.8)
Friday: 10 min treadmill (3.2), 15 min elliptical (6.0)


Week One (Sept 2008):
Wednesday: 10 min treadmill (3.0), 10 min elliptical (4.5), 5 min treadmill (3.2)
Thursday: 10 min treadmill (3.2), 10 min elliptical (4.8), 10 min treadmill (3.4)
Friday: 10 min treadmill (3.2), 10 min elliptical (5.0), 15 min treadmill (3.4)


Finally getting back into the gym again! The plan is to take is slow and ease back into the high intensity classes and weight lifting classes when my schedule allows it.

Trim Up Tuesday

I'll admit it. I've spent the last week eating whatever I've wanted while I stayed away from the gym due to my leg injury. Yet I still lost one pound. I'm delightfully surprised. Let's just call it one last hurrah before cracking down and getting serious again. It's on!

My leg is much better, although I haven't tried doing anything other than cleaning with it. Tonight Ashley has volleyball practice, so I'm going to walk the track and see how it feels. If all goes well, I may try Body Step tomorrow. I *need* to get back to the gym - it's what keeps me on track. We'll see how it goes.

Today's update:

Weight

• I have lost 1 pound(s) since I started!
• I lost 1 pound(s) this week!

Exercise

• I worked out 0 time(s) this week.
• I did 0 hour(s) and 0 minutes of cardio this week.
• I did 0 hour(s) and 0 minutes of strength training this week.
• I did 14 hour(s) and 0 minutes of brisk activity this week. (Spring cleaning may be what saved me from gaining this week.)

Goals

• I did meet my last goal.
• My Last Goal Was: To heal and get back to the gym. I'm ready to give it a go again!
• My new goal is: To eat out less this week, which means I better crack down and plan some meals for my family that work with our "busy kids in sports" schedule.

Trim Up Tuesday - Week Two

Here we are at week two and I haven't given up yet. In fact, I'm more motivated now than ever. My mom and I took our before pictures when I was at her house this weekend. I'd like to believe that the camera adds on what you don't see when you look in the mirror, but you can't argue with something that's sitting right in front of your face.

Since quitting smoking, I've now put on 20 pounds and it's time to lose that plus more. I've done it before (right after Ryan was born) and I can do it again! As of now I want to lose 80 pounds. (Don't see it? Look again at my midsection and thighs. OMG, I can't believe I'm being this honest.)

Before:

(because putting your hands on your hips makes you look a lot thinner - lol)

I'll be printing this picture off and hanging it on my pantry door. And just in case that still isn't enough to keep me from opening the damn door, I may hang a picture of my backside inside the door, right on the snack shelf. (Thanks for the idea, Grandma!)

Now that brings us to today's reality check... Please hold while Lynda goes and strips of anything that may add any extra unwanted not really there ounce and then weighs herself... Ok, I'm back (and yes, I'm wearing clothes) here we go...drum roll please...

Trim Up Tuesday, April 1, 2008

Weight

• I lost 1 pound this week! (I wasn't expecting to lose any, so yay for me!)
• I am 79 pounds away from my ideal weight.

Exercise

• I did 2 hours and 15 minutes of cardio this week.

Goals

• I did not meet my last goal.
• My Last Goal Was: To eat healthier and snack less. (I blew it by going to Chicago for the weekend.)
• My new goal is: Let's try this again. To eat healthier and snack less.

So there you have it. One pound gone, even on top of all that bread I ate last night. You cannot put bread in front of me and expect it to stay there! Especially if it's from Avanti's.

Want to join the fun at Trim Up Tuesdays?

One Of Those Days

I was super excited to go to my favorite class at the gym this morning - until I got there and it started. Holy cow! My legs just didn't want to move and I was counting the minutes until the torture was over.

I'm home now, obviously, and am hurting like a .... I'm off to take a quick shower and possibly take the kiddos to the zoo since the temperature has already broken 50 degrees. We'll see, but I need. to. get. out. of. this. house! Maybe I'll have some zoo pics to share later.

For now I'm going to go stand under a hot stream of water until the pain goes away.

Trim Up Tuesday - Week Two

Well, here I am at week two of this journey and while I'm still at the same weight that I was at last week, I'm not panicking yet because earlier in the week I was down two and a half pounds. I know where I went wrong. It was the Easter ham, yummy corn casserole and that Chocolate Bunny.

I made it to the gym 4 days over the course of the last week and even power walked for 45 minutes on the indoor track while Ashley had Volleyball practice.

My problem is the darn eating. It seems like the more I work out, the hungrier I am. I've even bought a bunch of those 100 calorie snack packs, but like I said - that Chocolate Bunny may be the culprit.

Here are this week's stats:

Weight

• I am the same weight as last week. (Hey, that's better than gaining!)

Exercise

• I did 195 minutes of cardio this week
• I did 45 minutes of brisk activity this week

Goals

• I did meet my last goal
• My Last Goal Was: To make it to the gym at least 3 times.
• My new goal is: To eat healthier and snack less.

I Burned My Booty Today

Wow, that got your attention, didn't it now? More on that later...

*

This morning I left the house before anyone else was out of bed and did the 9am Body Step class with my friend, Teri. It was my fourth time doing the class after a lot of time slacking off. The first time I did the class, I barely got through it. This time? It was a totally different experience. I felt like I actually had some lift while I was doing all the moves. It was such a blast that I'm planning on going back and doing it again tomorrow morning.

*

Doesn't it look like it'd be a blast? This is one of the tracks we did. (I'm a You Tube addict.)

After the class I found out that I still had 3 tanning sessions left from when I bought a 10 tan package deal two summers ago. Yes, I know how bad it is for you, but I only go a few times in the Spring to get a base tan so I don't fry the first time I'm out in the sun. So I laid in a warm sunny state of bliss for 10 minutes. I'm now fried and my backside is as red as a tomato and I'm starting to itch like crazy.

Trim Up Tuesday - Week One

It's time for me to get serious here. I can no longer use quitting smoking as an excuse for gaining weight. Since quitting, I've gained 15 freaking pounds on top of what I already need to loose. I don't consider myself grossly overweight, but I don't consider myself as being at an average weight. I'm scared though. I've never tried to lose weight as a nonsmoker before so this could prove to be the most difficult thing I've ever done.

I'm going to set small goals for myself that will lead me up to the final result. First up? Losing that 15 pounds that I put on since quitting smoking.

Time logged in to the gym over the past week: 3 hours, 30 minutes

Pounds lost since last Tuesday: 0

Pounds gained since last Tuesday: 0

Total pounds lost: 0

0? *Screams* Are you kidding me? Is this someone's idea of a bad joke? Please tell me that the scale not moving has something to do with building muscle because this is sad. I've sweat my butt off and nearly killed myself at the gym over the past week and have been trying to eat healthier.

Guess this just means I'm going to need to buckle down and get serious. Trial week is over!

Body Attack

That's it! I'm taking a trip to Paris. Body Attack looks way more fun there! Click here if video doesn't work. Thanks for the idea, Em!

So She Says

I met my friend Shawn at the gym again this morning for another grueling workout. This morning's class was the new release of Body Attack. The new release is always hard because it's new, but throw in the fact that you haven't done it in over a month and that equals hell.

The class ends and my face is redder than it's ever been and I can hear my heartbeat pounding in my head. Then Leslie, the instructor who is tiny, very buff and has more energy than the one year old I take care of during the day, leans over and puts her hands on her knees and says out of breath, "Wow, that was the hardest release I've done yet." And you thought I was exagerating. Ha.

Someone Finally Heard My Prayers

It is a beautiful 56 degrees and sunny outside right now. I can't wait for my kids to get home from school and for Chloe to get up from her nap so we can head on outside until the sun goes down. (I guess I'll have to feed everyone at some point, though.)

I forced (no exaggeration there) myself to go to Body Step at the gym this morning. It was 60 minutes of pure evil torture. OK, it wasn't that bad, but by the end of the class I was in a world of hurt. I never thought I'd see the day that I did classes like this. Two years ago my friend (hi, Em!) joined and somehow managed to talk my stuck in a treadmill and elliptical routine butt into going to one of these classes. Now I'm hooked. There's no way I could go and work out for an hour on one of those machines and not drop dead from boredom. So, now I'm back to going and hopefully won't start slacking off after two weeks again.

I came home and had a banana to tide me over until lunch, which consisted of 2 chicken ceasar wraps with grated parmesan cheese - oh so yummy and only 8 points. Yummy, but not all that filling. I'm now eating Girl Scout Lemonades straight from the box from the freezer where I thought they'd be safe. Hm, who knew they were so good frozen?! I am in so much trouble here. Thank, God the box isn't full!

No More Excuses

I have been a nonsmoker for 3 months and 1 week. It sure seems like it should be longer than that though - a good thing, I'm sure. I really don't keep track much anymore. The only reason I knew I had passed the 3 month mark is because the little ticker over there to the left told me so. I'm down to taking just one Chantix pill in the morning and am ready to go off. I still can't remember to take the darn things and I'm tired of the headaches, nausea, moodiness and being tired. It's time to get back to being myself again.

So now with 3 months under my belt, it's time to stop making excuses for gaining weight and not taking care of myself. I've put on 15 pounds (and trust me, I didn't need it to begin with) since I quit smoking. It's been forever since my last visit to the darn gym. Between sick kids, school carnivals, time changes and being sick myself, it's time to go back. Body Step tomorrow morning at 9am. No excuses.

To give myself a little jump start and some motivation, I dragged out the stack of Weight Watchers books from the back of my kitchen cabinet, dusted them off and recorded my points for today. I've been watching what I've been eating today and was pretty excited to see how I was doing. Apparently, not so well. I have 3 points left for dinner. Not good.

Yippee!

I wasn't feeling too motivated this morning to take my butt to the gym. It was freezing cold outside and a bit icy, plus I was tired. It had been two days since I had been there for Body Pump and my right knee has been killing me - stupid lunges - so I was prepared to talk myself out of it, even though usually once I get there I end up enjoying it.

Then I got on the scale and saw that I have lost 7.5 pounds since I started working out 3 weeks ago. I'm not really eating differently, but I've cut back on the lattes and am trying to cook us meals at night so that we don't end up resorting to fast food at the last minute. I had been discouraged because I had put on nine pounds since quitting smoking and the number on the scale hasn't budged - until now.

Usually I would notice a 7.5 pound loss, but it seemed like it just went away overnight. Finally all my hard work in those hour long classes at the gym have started paying off.

So, 1.5 more to go until I'm back to what I was before quitting smoking - and then I can work on losing what needed to come off before then. Yippee.

Hiding Out

I may be doing too well at this school carnival planning stuff. They want me to do it again next year. NO!!!! HELP!!!!

Went to Body Pump this morning...Lord, am I out of shape! I'll be soaking in the tub while Chloe naps is anyone needs me.

Blame It On The Mojito

We had our monthly PTO meeting tonight and I sat down here to work on that, but Teri (my co-chair) took me out to Friday's for an Ulitmate Mojito (Man, is it going to take awhile to finish this with how slow I'm having to type.) and I'm probably not going to get much done....um....correctly?

I made myself go to Body Attack at Gold's this morning. All by myself with out my little gym buddies. I told myself that if I could get through the first half and make it to the running track that I'd let myself leave if I wanted to. Of course I didn't end up leaving. I pushed my way through it and let me tell you - there's a reason they call it Body Attack. By the time an hour was up and we had made it to the last track, I could barely lift my leg up to kick and forget the freaking knee repeaters. But I did it and have lived to tell about it.

I've made an unpleasant discovery, though. The shortness of breath and wheezing I get during that class weren't entirely smoking related. It was better this time as a nonsmoker, but I had to hit my inhaler half way through. Maybe that will get better over time, too. This class is tough - there were times I could feel my heart trying to jump out of my chest, but I just have to remember it was just as tough before and it got easier after a couple of weeks then, too.

So, if I'm still able to move in the morning, I'll be going back to body pump tomorrow to further torture myself. And on Friday? Body Step - yes it's step aerobics, but just as brutal in the cardio area as body attack and just as brutal as it sounds. Sounds fun, right? (I'm actually looking forward to it.)

Time to go sleep off the lingering effects of the mojito...

Inventory

Body parts that hate me for making it to Body Pump at Gold's this morning: biceps, triceps, shoulders, back, abs, quads, calves, knees and even my rear end. I think every muscle group was put through torture at some point over the course of that hour. Does anyone have a handicap bar they can install in the bathroom for me? Tomorrow is probably going to feel worse. However, if you're going to do it, do it all the way. Right?

Tomorrow I have two babies here, so I may not be able to swing a visit to the gym in. If I'm still really sore, I may go in as soon as the kids are off to school to walk it out on a treadmill before baby Luke gets dropped off. Chloe did great in the daycare there again. There was another little girl around her age that she attached herself to when we walked in. She loves other kids, so this is perfect for her. (I still wiped her down with antibacterial wipes right before we left, though!)

During my two visits to the gym this week I noticed a difference since the last time I went when I was still smoking. I'm (hang on...have to go look it up...it's amazing how I don't really keep track lately) 35 days into my quit and already see a difference. Yesterday on the elliptical machine, my heart rate was lower than it use to be when I first started and I didn't tired as quickly as I expected myself to. Then during Body Pump this morning I definitely noticed having more energy. But the biggest change since quitting? No cough and no shortness of breath or wheezing while working out. That is huge! I may just plan on going back early tomorrow morning regardless of what the day holds.

Motivated

I kept my word and dragged my butt to the gym this morning, even after both of my gym buddies had to back out. It was torture, but I got through it. I wasn't brave enough to endure Body Attack by myself (who was going to laugh with me if I made a complete idiot of myself?) but I did do two miles on the elliptical machine. I burned 247 calories. Not bad for the first day.

Chloe amazed me today. She hasn't done well being left in the daycare there in the past. More times than not they've had to come get me because she's crying and they can't console her. Because of this I've not pushed her to go, which results in not pushing myself to go, either. However, today she walked right in and didn't even notice when I left to go work out. She didn't cry at all, played with the other kids there and didn't want to leave when I came back to pick her up 30 minutes later. I am so proud of her! Hopefully tomorrow will go as well since I'm planning on going back to do Body Pump.

The kids went back to school today and were actually excited about it. Chloe and I are off to make a run to the Post Office and then I'm going to try and reclaim my house (and the remote control) while she naps.

Tuggings

I'ts been more than a week since I've had those little tuggings to smoke and they hit me a few times while I was working on planning this school fundraiser today. In fact, I had to backtrack through my blog to see when the last time I was having a rough patch was. While this wasn't really a "rough patch", I was getting frustrated and having a hard time concentrating. In her comment to my earlier post, MamaFlo helped put into words what I was feeling. (Thank you, MamaFlo.) It's so great to have people who know what you're going through. People who can put your feelings into words for you (without realizing that's what they're doing) so that you understand. In turn you recognize more quickly what you need to do to get past it. I haven't forgotten about you, either Jamie. Thanks, again for the card and the support. You made my day.

So to get my mind off of the little tuggings earlier, I made coffee. Or, um, I tried to make coffee. Three times. I've got to get off this Starbucks Peppermint Mocha thing, because I've gained 8 pounds since the holidays and quitting smoking began. (Yep, so much for that lost 5 pounds in the beginning thing - I gained that back, plus 3 more.) So now, not only do I need to get serious about losing some weight, I also need to learn how to make a decent cup of coffee that doesn't taste like wet coffee grinds. (Gag.) Can someone please teach me how to make a cup of coffee?