Fitness Check-In (Week 8)

I missed last week's check-in because I was out of town, but skipping a week makes for a more dramatic weigh-in the next! Still the slowest progress known to woman-kind, but I guess it counts as progress nonetheless.

So the first deadline I had for myself in all of this is October 22, my 10 year HS reunion. It's SOON, and I'm nowhere near the 10 pounds I wanted to lose, but I'm also not stressing about it as much. The reunion is turning into more of a super casual backyard BBQ with pretty much just the people I see considerably often anyway. Now, I'm not slowing down, I'm working at not getting upset with myself for the slow progress.

Total weight lost: 3.2lbs
Total inches lost: 4.75"

How are your goals coming?

Fitness Check-In (Week6)

*Disclaimer: Please forgive the negative bits of this post. Everyone needs to vent sometimes, and this is my time. ;)

How's everyone doing? Any fantastic results to share? Please tell me, because I'm in that frustrated stage again where nothing is happening. Clothes still fit the same, weight hasn't changed, no inches lost, calorie intake all within daily goals. I know it takes a long time but dang, I can't wait to share some excitement already. I'm like a broken record and these weekly posts feel like downers that I force optimism into. I don't want to force my optimism, I want to RADIATE natural optimism.

I already had a dream/nightmare about my HS reunion. I'm pretty sure it took place in the Hogwarts' dining hall. Snape was there. So was Danny Elfman--I almost cried. Lots of teachers, former classmates from my class and younger... and everyone was skinny but me.

On a chiropractic note, I had my first cracking yesterday. Who knew it wasn't scary at all? All those jitters for nothing. Seeing the X-rays was pretty cool. I knew I was crooked but WOW. No wonder I'm hurting. Can't WAIT to feel better from this!

Thanks to KM for reminding me the benefits of intervals while doing cardio. Wore me out this week, but I like it! Thanks to Courtney (she's a new blogger, give her a follow!) for her personal training expertise and encouragement, to L. Diane Wolfe for sharing all that great information with me, and to Deana Barnhart for needing these posts just as much as I do. You all help me not to give up, and I hope I'm returning the favor to others. 

Fitness Check-In (Week 5)

It's like I'm immune. No real measurable differences this week. I can't dip any lower than the two pounds I keep fluctuating with. And I'm not losing crazy amounts of inches either. This week, I lost .25" in ONE arm? What the double hockey sticks is that about? This slothly progress is making for one frustrated girl. But really... my body doesn't understand the concept of a week. That's a brain thing. That's a thing man created to mark the passing of time. I can't logically expect my body to do what I want each week if it doesn't work in those terms. I hope it catches on soon though, because my accountability friend is running out of ways to say, "You're getting SO close to that point where it gets easier." Oh yeah? Do you want a slap? ;)

And once again I will sing the praises of the smart phone app MyFitnessPal. It makes counting calories SO easy, I can't even tell you. Now I know beyond a doubt that I'm not overeating, which SHOULD make meeting my goals that much easier (this is purely theoretical... because, well, the goals are still very far from reach).

Here are a few changes I made this week: I'm drinking a LOT of water. Well, it feels like a lot, but it's eight cups a day, which is what we're supposed to be drinking. I haven't noticed it do anything for me yet except add several extra trips to the restroom throughout the day. I've also increased the weight in my strength training by 5-10 pounds on a couple machines because they were getting too easy.

A trick I learned this week: If you listen to music while trying to count strength training reps, and lose count easily (like I do) because you're singing along, just picture a clock. In your mind, move the clock hand to each number. I go to 13 so my hand goes all the way around the clock and stops again at the 1. Now I can mouth the words to my songs (because there really is no stopping me from doing that) and keep track of my reps!

How are your workouts coming? Any progress to share so I can slap you(r back)?


On another note, these are the books I have left for swapping if you're interested.

  

Instructions for a Broken Heart by Kim Culberson (ARC)

Liesl & Po by Lauren Oliver (ARC)

Clarity by Kim Harrington (SIGNED ARC)

 

Enthralled: Paranormal Diversions (shorts stories by popular YA authors - ARC)

Red Riding Hood by Blakley-Cartwright/Johnson (Paperback, not the cover shown above)

Shadow Kiss by Richelle Mead - Vampire Academy #3 (Paperback)

Fitness Check-In (Week 4)

How's it going everyone?! This last week has been insane. INSANE I tell you! Those of you who live in Texas know what I'm talking about. These fires are devastating. My parents live very close to one of the fires and have been close to evacuating twice since Monday, and some of our friends have had to evacuate.  These firefighters are such brave people. Prayers with them and those affected.

So this week, I stayed away from the gym Thursday through Tuesday. My back has been bothering me some (I think it's a combo of sleeping wrong and sitting at a computer all day every day), so I let it rest for a good chunk of time. I'm making an appointment with the chiropractor soon (nervous!!).

The weight is still fluctuating like crazy (I'm convinced each of my newly sculpted calf muscles are several pounds each!), but measurement wise, I'm finally seeing results! And a GREAT way to track calories and exercise is with an App my friend showed me called myfitnesspal.

It's totally free and really easy to you. You can even scan the barcode if you're eating something with one, and it has all the info already--just select serving size. You can even have friends on there and comment on each other's statuses. (I'm a nerd, I know... but it helps to have buddies!)

How are your goals coming?!

Fitness Check-In (Week 3)

I recognized a few motivating factors this week for us gym-goers. Notice all the people already in shape? The girls with the toned arms who aren't even flexing, yet you can just tell they have great muscles. The ones wearing those adorable little workout outfits I'm 30 pounds from being able to fit into. The one on the machine RIGHT NEXT TO ME that's CRUISIN with no signs of slowing. I matched her pace and kept up with her for quite a while. If she can do it, so can I.

Then yesterday I hopped on the elliptical apparently right after someone got off, and saw that she burned over 650 calories. Um, yeah. I burned 671, well over 100 more than my normal daily goal.

It's also equally motivating to look around and realize I'm the smallest one in my line of sight. Yes, they may have farther to go than me on their fitness journey, but they're going to drop that weight quicker than I am. So I push to keep up with the quick losers, and push to get to the slim and trim level of those already there.

The quantitative progress still isn't there, and now that I've finished week three, I'm still super frustrated about it, but I get it. I do. My body doesn't know what to do about me. It's definitely changing, just not enough for me to notice yet. But one day, I will notice. And that will be a GREAT day.

A friend likened it to pushing a boulder up a hill. You push and push and push and it's hard and it hurts and it doesn't seem like you're getting anywhere, then suddenly, it rolls. The weight will fall off. The work will pay off. Getting up that hill seems to take forever, but if you don't keep going, you won't get there at all.

Calories burned on the elliptical this week (assuming the calibration is correct): 2,802

How are your fitness goals coming?

Fitness Check-In (That's me in the corner)

That's me in the corner... losing my motivation. Well, not completely. But in my pattern of health kicks, this is the time (week two/three) that I start getting SUPER frustrated because the results are SO SLOW to show themselves. Nothing has changed from last week. Nothing quantitative, anyway. I'm falling asleep much faster at night, but I'm the exact same weight I was last Thursday. Two measly pounds less than the Thursday before when I started this madness. It just seems like I've done... more. Throw me a freaking bone, scale.

But this is not me giving up. No no no. I have a few things with me in my corner that keep me going.

1) My organization this time around. Physically writing things down on paper (my weight every morning, followed by the calories the elliptical machine tells me I've burned, followed by any thing else I worked out) has helped a lot. Not only because I can see what I've accomplished, but because it makes me not want to have any holes on the calendar, except for my rest day, which has been Sundays.

2) Bones. Not only the bones that create the frame for my overweight body (stay strong! I'm drinking skim milk FOR YOU!), but Bones the television series. My GOSH am I addicted. Every day I chomp at the bit to get on that elliptical so I can watch another episode on my iPhone. Yes, yes, I watch an episode or two at home once in a while, but the rule is that I can't do that until I watch while working out first. Works wonders. :)

Something I'm considering implementing today is the weekly measure. I'm hopefully gaining muscle through this experience (weighs more than fat, right??), so perhaps it would be better to measure various places of the body and keep track of those? Anyone tried this before?

How has this past week been for you? Got any progress to report? What keeps you motivated?