Day Nine

Journal Entry #9
For the Date Of: March 18/08

Food Eaten:

Another pretty good food day. Oatmeal for breakfast, priobotic yogurt for a snack. For lunch, a lean cuisine panini. When I got home, I had leftover vegetarian spaghetti with cheese sprinkled on top, and a glass of chocolate Silk. Snacked on a couple chocolate eggs, and had some caramel kettle corn Quaker minis (they’re 50 calories for about 7 minis). Also had a banana, and two ‘Fruit to Go’ bars.

According to my FitDay tracker, I consumed about 1605 calories. 27 grams of fat (16%), 304 grams of carbs (69%) and 60 grams of protein (16%- again, could be better. I was about 5 calories over my target of 1600, but I’m not going to beat up myself over it. Once again, I definitely could have eaten more protein…. I should probably just start mixing myself up protein shakes. The problem is I HATE protein shakes… ick. But you’ve got to get it from somewhere, right?

Workouts:

Well, Tuesday nights are when I watch One Tree Hill (my favorite show) so there is no way I’m going to the gym on those nights. I’ve also noticed I haven’t been doing as much cardio as I should be. Why? I HATE Cardio! It’s no fun, it’s so boring… argh! I need to find ways to make it interesting. So I FORCED myself to do only cardio yesterday, and give my muscles a break. I went for a fifteen-minute walk during the day, at a medium pace. Then last night, I played Wii boxing for about fifteen minutes, until my heart-rate was up and I was sweating! To cool off, I played about ten minutes of tennis, then two songs on Guitar Hero.

There are conflicting reports right now about how many calories are actually burned playing the Wii. Some ‘experts’ are saying that while it’s better than an X-box, you’re not really burning more calories. The problem is, these experts didn’t measure people who were standing up, constantly moving, and exaggerating their movements while playing. When I play Wii boxing, I’m constantly ducking, bobbing, weaving… and bouncing around. I through hard, aggressive, controlled punches (not just randomly flailing my arms). In fact, after an intense Wii boxing session, I’m winded, sweating- and I can feel it all the next day in the middle of my back, my shoulders and my arms. Oh yes, it’s a workout!

There have actually been studies done on the calories burned by people doing Wii sports while using aggressive movements that make them sweat and get their heart rate up. It’s been learned that a half-hour of Wii boxing will burn about 125 calories. Tennis will burn about 92 calories in a half hour, and bowling will burn 77. While this isn’t quite as good as using a treadmill at the gym or ACTUALLY boxing, it is certainly better than what the scientists have made it out to be. Honestly, the Wii workout is whatever you make it out to be. Personally, I’m really looking forward to investing in a Wii: Fit.

Anyways, according to my FitDay tracker, I burned about 2550 calories yesterday. That was about 222 calories LESS than I needed to burn in order to reach my target deficit of 1167- which sucks. But honestly, it’s not TOO too bad, especially considering the deficit from the day before. All I have to do to repeat the same results again is not eat the Fruit to Go bars or rice cakes. Next entry will be better.

Total workout time: 40 minutes

Approx. Calorie Deficit: 945

Day Eight

Journal Entry #8

For the Date Of: March 17/08

Food Eaten:

I think that this was my best day yet, diet-wise. I didn’t feel hungry or deprived all day long, I ate some GREAT food (created my own recipe!)… and had LOTS of energy to burn. It was terrific! A real triumph.

For breakfast, I had oatmeal, and iced tea (crystal light, mixed with water). For lunch, more oatmeal (forgot to pack a lunch, lol). For dinner, I had home-made vegetarian spaghetti sauce on whole wheat noodles, with a little grated cheese on top, and some chocolate Silk to drink. Delicious!!!

To make my vegetarian spaghetti sauce, I take a small package of soy ground round (about a cup) and brown it in a saucepan with some onion powder and garlic salt. I toss in a can of diced tomatoes, and some tomato paste to thicken. Chop up about a half of cup of mushrooms (you can add more, but I’m not big on mushrooms) and toss it in. Cook and simmer together until nice and hot, and serve over whole wheat spaghetti noodles. Sprinkle a LITTLE cheese on top, and it’s to die for!

According to my FitDay tracker, I consumed about 1150 calories. 17 grams of fat (15%), 233 grams of carbs (73%) and 34 grams of protein (13%- could be better!). That’s well below my target maximum calorie intake of 1600. I’m thinking that I could have eaten a little more protein, for sure. Otherwise, I did awesome! Good self-control.

Workouts:

After doing that intermediate Pilates workout on Sunday, I was soooooore! I couldn’t believe how well-exercised I felt in my thighs (though my arms and shoulders and abs still felt good). Despite this, I dragged my sorry butt to the gym last night for the first time with my son, since he’s feeling better. He LOVED playing with the toys and the other kids.

I did three sets of 15 on all of the machines, and a total of 10 minutes of cardio on the bike. I should have done more cardio, I know… but after the intense pilates workout from the day before, I was BEAT! Headed home feeling great, though!

According to my FitDay tracker, I burned about 2632 calories yesterday.

Total workout time: 45 minutes

Approx. Calorie Deficit: 1482

Happy Weight?

So, as I’m surfing the Internet looking for insight into the world of weight loss, I’ve stumbled across the following website, that will not only tell you what your ideal weight range and BMI are but your ‘Happy Weight’ as well.

http://www.self.com/fitness/nutrition/calculators/happyWeight

Here’s how they describe the ‘happy weight’:

“What's your happy weight? Eighty-seven percent of normal-weight women wish they weighed less. Stop aiming for an unrealistic goal and use this formula to get a healthy number that's easy for you to maintain without obsessing. Click here for details on why this formula works. To find your happy weight you'll first need to determine your frame size. Wrap a tape measure around your wrist and consult this chart.”

Now, having filled in the answers to all their questions, they have calcuated my ‘Happy Weight’ at 141.1 pounds.

That got me to thinking, how happy would I be if I weighed 141.1lbs? Happier than I am now, certainly- considering I currently weigh 148. But in relation to my TARGET weight, would I feel happy? I don’t think so. As I’ve mentioned previously, before I got pregnant with my son I weighed between 115 and 125 pounds at different times. I was happiest THEN when I was at about 119-121 pounds. To reach that weight again would be ideal for me.

But I’m realistic, and I know that I will probably never get down to that weight again (though, who knows? If I get to 130, maybe I’ll set it for my new target!). That being said, I feel that 130 is a good weight because not only would I be able to wear all my cute tops again, I wouldn’t feel self-conscious in a bikini. I think I’d still feel lousy at 141.1 pounds. Better than I do now? Certainly. But definitely not ‘happy’. During the summers, my family is very active. We go to the beach, boating, camping, etc. I have WAY too many people around when I’m in a bikini to have any sorts of random wobbly bits flapping about. I wind up feeling so insecure that I’ve always got a towel or wrap handy to hide my gut. NOT fun!

I find the concept of a ‘happy weight’ to be interesting and really, a good idea. Doesn’t work for me, personally.

Week One- Summary

I’ve decided that at the end of every week, I’m going to create a post to discuss how I did, what I’ve learned, and do my official ‘weigh-in’. This is very important, I think, to make sure that I’m staying on-track.

Week One Summary:

Starting Weight: 150
Ending Weight: 148


Successes:

Every day this week, I managed to get in some form of physical exercise. I did four consecutive days of work-outs! When I noticed I wasn’t being challenged enough in my pilates, I moved forward to a more advanced work-out. I have been eating healthier, trying new things (chocolate Silk = GREAT!) and cooking more. I’ve also given myself a ‘cheat day’ which I think will really help me curb those binges. Also came up with great fitness plans and diet plans. Oh- and I've been really good about keeping up with this blog!

Challenges:

I won’t call these ‘failures’ because failure is such a negative word (ha! Like that’s stopped me before!). Let’s call these challenges. I didn’t work-out very well at all on Tuesday and Wednesday, aside from a brisk walk at work during the day, I did jack-diddly-squat. My son was sick, so I couldn’t go to the gym (which was very frustrating for me). I fell off the wagon a couple of times and indulged myself in deep fried foods (though I did very well during the days and afternoons). I definitely could have done more cardio throughout the week and, instead, focused more on strength-training and pilates.

Goals for next week:

-Do more cardio, overall
-Stick to diet plan
-Get to the gym more often

Day Seven

Journal Entry #7
For the Date Of: March 16/08


Food Eaten:

Yesterday was my free-for all, no keeping-track day. The first one I’ve had all week. I started off well- having special K red berries for breakfast, an apple for a snack, and leftover chicken breast with rice and asparagus for lunch. Then I baked a pie, and had a slice of that. For supper, I had two taquitos from 7-11, another piece of pie, and a bunch of kettle corn. Yikes! You know it’s funny, even though it was my ‘cheat day’, I still felt like crap for eating that stuff, like it was undoing all my hard work. I really shouldn’t torture myself, but it bothers me. Still, I know I could have done a lot worse than I did- and it’s okay, so long as I stay on track for the rest of the week, until next Sunday.


Workouts:

I know that Sundays are supposed to be one of my ‘rest days’ but I just couldn’t bring myself not to exercise. I’m addicted! Plus I had that one day during the week when I didn’t do anything so I had to make up for it!

I’ve noticed lately that I’m hardly sore at all after doing my Pilates workouts. It occurred to me- I’m getting too advanced for the DVD I’ve been using! So I switched it up and put a harder one on. I’m going to alternate days now, doing the intermediate pilates one days, then the easier one the next. When I stop ‘feeling the burn’ from that, I’ll change it to strictly intermediate pilates- then maybe combine it with some advanced pilates. It feels GREAT knowing that I’ve worked myself to next level!

I spent 30 minutes doing intermediate pilates, targeting my buns and thighs, arms and abs. Also took a 10-minute walk with my son, to get my blood moving. Felt GREAT! Weighed myself, saw I’d lost two pounds. Yay! What’s even better is that, though the scale isn’t saying that I’m losing weight, I can feel it. My thighs and arms already are feeling a lot harder, and I’m gaining strength.

Total workout time: 40 minutes

Additonal Comments:

As of this day, I’ve officially been on this diet/exercise for one week! I know this is going to sound bad but it’s the longest I’ve ever been able to focus on my goal. I’ve spent the past two years trying to lose weight and it’s always been a yo-yo. I’ll do good for two or three days, then fall off the wagon. I feel like I’m just always trying to ‘climb back on’. It’s been a constant struggle. While I’ve ONLY been working out for a week, it’s also a huge milestone for me, personally. I’m going to take this opportunity to give myself a huge pat on the back and congratulate myself on the hard work and remind myself to keep it up! Probably one on the most important things about losing weight is having someone to cheer you on- even if it’s just you!

Diet Plan

Having already outlined my fitness plan in length, I thought that I’d talk a little bit now about my diet plan. After all, exercise is meaningless if you’re just eating up all the calories that you’re burning, right?

I weighed myself yesterday and I was at 148 pounds. Yay, I’ve lost two pounds! I know that I should be happy with this, but about two months ago, I weight 145. I had a bad week where I ate WAY too much fast food, and I gained 5 pounds. I’ve been trying to lose it since. The lesson I learned from that is that it is a lot harder to LOSE weight than it is to gain it. I mean, at this rate, it’s going to take more than a month to lose the weight I gained just in that one week of bad eating. Tragic, isn’t it?

Moving forward: Let’s discuss my targets. My starting weight, as of March 10/08 was 150 pounds. My target weight is 130 pounds, and my goal is to reach that weight by June 1/08. That deadline, as of today is 77 days away, and I have 18 pounds left to lose. To meet that goal, I’m going to have to lose, on average, 1.64 pounds per week. So far, I’m right on track.

Now, according to my research (I’m a very research-orientated person. I Google EVERYTHING), I have to create a deficit of approximately 3500 calories in order to burn one pound of fat. Ideally, I’d like to lose 2 pounds per week, so that would be a deficit of 7000 calories per week- or 1000 calories per day. Translation: I need to burn 1000 calories per day more than I eat.

Now, given my current age, height and weight, I burn approximately 1495 calories per day just living. That is my ‘basal’ calorie level. Based on my lifestyle (I have a desk job and get a limited amount of exercise from household chores every day), I burn an additional 972 ‘lifestyle’ calories per day. In total, my approximate daily calorie consumption is 2466 calories.

So, theoretically, if I were to cut my calories to 1466 per day, I would lose 2 pounds per week. However, I would also not be getting the tone and energy I’m currently getting from exercising in addition to dieting! So what I’d like to do is cut my daily calorie intake by 700, and burn AT LEAST 300 calories per day through diet and exercise.

That is, if I were to diet every single day.

However, one of the things I’ve learned while dieting is that the more I deprive myself of the unhealthy foods I love, the more I crave them and therefore, the more likely it is that I’ll ‘fall off the wagon’ and binge. After trying the ‘5 factor diet’ for a while last year (I had moderate success, but found it difficult to eat 5 meals a day. When you have a full-time job and only get one break a day to eat, this diet is nearly impossible) I learned that you should work out 5 days a week and have one ‘cheat day’ a week where you eat whatever you want. Well, I like that idea! I’ve decided that for one day a week, I will forget about counting calories and eat whatever I want. I’ve decided my cheat day will be Sunday.

Since I’m going to have a cheat day, it means, I’d better get my calories down even more during the 6 days per week I AM counting. So I need to cut down my calorie intake by 1167 per day. Or, with 300 calories burned through exercise, 867. Have I lost you yet? It’s a good thing I always did well at math in high school…

To sum it up:

Starting Weight: 150
Target Weight: 130

Daily Calories Burnt:
Basal: 1495
Lifestyle: 972
Total: 2466
Target Deficit (Food): 867
Target Deficit (All): 1167
Target Total (Food): 2466-867 = 1599

1599 calories per day, I’m allowed to eat. Now, in the interest of making this easier to remember, let’s round that up to 1600 and set that as my target daily calorie consumption. 1600 calories per day. A reasonable enough goal.

From here on out, I’m going to do my best to start counting calories (I haven’t been, up until this point. I’ve done my best to make good choices, but I haven’t been keeping careful track) and recording them here. If I don’t record them here, I’ll recording them in my FitDay account (http://www.fitday.com).

The next question is, how am I going to do this? To start out, I’ve set the following goals for myself:

1) I will not drink my calories. If I’m thirsty, I will drink water (0 Calories). If I get bored of water, I’ll allow myself to consume Crystal Light or other diet drink singles (5 calories per bottle). I’ll also allow myself one glass of real fruit juice mixed with water per day, or one glass of Silk soymilk with dinner.
2) I will avoid chocolate, sugar, or deep-fried foods during every day (other than my ‘cheat day’, which is Sunday).
3) If I need a snack, I’ll look for fruits, vegetables and whole-grain crackers, or lean meats.
4) I will eat breakfast every day- as this keeps me from getting hungry and then ‘binging’ on something unhealthy later on in the day.
5) I will plan my meals ahead of time, so that I don’t wind up cooking something unhealthy for lack of options

I will add other goals later, as necessary, but these are the ones I’m trying to stick with for right now. I find the more complicated I make things for myself, the less likely I am to stick with it.

Day Six

Journal Entry #6

For the Date Of: March 15/08

Food Eaten:

Not a horrible day, but not great either. Started taking vitamins yesterday, also green tea extract and hoodia capsules. The vitamins changed my pee to this neon yellow color, it was crazy! Going to work on taking this every day. Didn't have much to eat in the morning- wasn't hungry, but I really should have had SOMETHING- but I also slept in late (until nearly ten) and had to get some housework done (and my workout) before heading out for a birthday party. So I drank a cup of chocolate Silk, puttered about. For lunch I had a six-inch sweet onion chicken teriyaki sub on wheat and honey, and then (because it was a birthday party) a TINY piece of ice cream cake. About three or four small bites. For dinner, I had a steak, a SMALL serving of mashed potatoes, and four or five asparagus spears. We were out at my sister in law's house though and I accepted two bottles of Bacardi Breezer- Grapefruit flavored. Now, after searching online for quite a while, I can't seem to find any nutritional information on this product (the hell?) but other Breezers seem to be in the 200 calorie per bottle range. YUCK! I also had a McDonald's cinnamon melt after some pressure from my husband (ugh, I shouldn't blame him it's my own fault...) and that's another 460 right there. So yesterday I ate 860 from pure junk!!!! I feel like a total failure. I've also learned an important lesson about just how easy it is to get off-track.

Workouts:

As soon as I woke up, I did my pilates workout. Decided to give my arms a rest (my elbow joints were sort of bothering me) and so worked on the abs and buns and thighs. Then i went to the birthday party which was at the local swimming pool. I spent 10 minutes in the sauna, and 70 minutes or so in the pool swimming, walking around, lifting my son in and out of the pool, etc. Not very high-intensity, but I was moving the entire time. I am considering this 'workout time' as it was physical exercise I otherwise wouldn't have received.

Total workout time: 100 minutes

Additional Comments:

So, I weighed myself today, only to find that I haven't lost any weight at all this week. Maybe a pound, tops. I feel so sad and discouraged! I've tried hard all week!

Given though, I HAVE fallen off the 'wagon' a couple of times, for the most time my eating was healthy and I've been working out a lot.

I have to keep reminding myself that this is a gradual process, Rome wasn't built in a day, and I have to just keep on trucking. I think my stomach looks flatter, but I'm not sure weather or not that's wishful thinking.

Day Five

Journal Entry #5
For the Date Of: March 14/08

Food Eaten:

I'm actually quite happy with how I did this day. In the morning- 1 bowl of oatmeal. Lunch- a footlong roasted chicken sub. For dinner- half a roasted chicken breast, whole grain rice and asparagus. I snacked on a pack of 90-calorie cinnamon and suger rice cakes. I might have had one or two whopper easter eggs but I think on the whole I did a good job.

Workouts:

Since Monday thru Thursday are the only days I can get to the gym because of their child care hours, I was restricted to staying at home (though, of course, Joey is finally feeling better). So I did a full pilates workout at home- abs, buns and thighs and arms.

Total workout time: 30 minutes

Day Four

Journal Entry #4

For the Date Of: March 13/08

Food Eaten:

Another failure of a day, for opposite reasons- didn’t eat a whole lot of anything the entire day. Had no appetite, still didn’t feel well. When I finally ate, it was because I was craving chicken nuggets. What is wrong with me? Took the healthy route, though, and baked them. Dipped them in apple sauce. When baked, they’re only 210 calories for four nuggets- and I had eight. So I’m not kicking myself- though I know I should have eaten much better than I did! Nibbled here and there. Not a huge amount calorie-wise- but the food I was nibbling on wasn’t good at all.

Workouts:

Bah! Another day where I couldn’t hit the gym due to Joey’s cold! I hope he gets better soon. With the weekend coming, I probably won’t get out now until Monday (Mondays thru Thursdays are my work-out days at the gym, ‘cause that’s when they have the best daycare hours).

It’s okay though, ‘cause I bust out my favorite Pilates video and did ten minutes on my abs, ten minutes on my buns/thighs, and ten minutes on my arms. What’s great is that it’s also cardio, really gets my heart pumping. I also spent about ten minutes lifting free weights and doing leg-strengthening exercises with my flex band. Am definitely feeling it today- which is GREAT!

Total workout time: 40 minutes

Day Three

Journal Entry #3

For the Date Of: March 12/08

Food Eaten:

Complete and utter failure day! So much a failure that I didn’t even want to write this journal entry at all. Didn’t feel well, just didn’t want to do ANYTHING. Hense the delay in my writing this entry- I was just so ashamed. Then realized that the whole point of this journal is that I need to be accountable for my actions- and my eating habits. I had a bowl of oatmeal in the morning, a bistro flatbread meal (low fat/low cal) and one low cal four-cheese cannelloni. Yum! Once again, as I got home I fell off the wagon and had deep-fried chicken nuggets. YUCK. My problem is that I’ve been craving chicken lately- like, ridiculously so!

Workouts:

As I foresaw, I was unable to take my son to the gym, due to his cold. Bah humbug! Did about ten minutes of cardio (and about 40 leg lifts, with my son sitting on my shins) at home, but honestly, didn’t feel like doing anything. A big fat FAILURE of a day! Oh how I can hear my ass growing!

On the plus side, I feel so crappy about not doing anything that I that much less likely to slack off in the future.

Total workout time: 10 minutes

Day Two

Journal Entry #2
For the Date Of: March 11/08


Food Eaten:

I’m starting to learn that I do very well during the day as far as my food choices go- but then I get home, and everything goes downhill.

Yesterday, I had oatmeal for breakfast. For lunch, a six-inch cold cut trio sandwich. Drank lots of water. Had a piece of chocolate, but that’s okay, as long as I don’t go overboard. Left work, went home- and again, I was STARVING. For lack of healthy options and to fill my empty belly, I again had French fries (Oh my god, I can’t believe I just admitted to having them two days in a row!!!) and then some chocolate afterwards. I’m finding that part of the challenge is that my son is picky and my husband has one of those crazy metabolisms where he eats whatever he wants and doesn’t gain a pound. If I eat what they’re eating, I’m in trouble.

To combat that, I’ve decided that I’m going to start planning my meals in advance so that I’m not left hemming and hawing over what to cook- then winding up so hungry and frustrated I just make what’s easy.


Workouts:

Unfortunately, I was not able to go to the gym last night. While my gym DOES have child-minding, they have a rule about bringing sick children in who will then make the other kids sick… etc. My son’s caught a bit of a cold, so he was a bit of a shlub last night, and a mama’s boy. He wanted to be by me the whole time! The goal for the day was to do some stretching, 20-30 minutes of cardio and an ab workout. Fortunately, I was able to get in a good 20-25 minutes of cardio altogether yesterday. Unfortunately, I didn’t do the ab workout.

Since my son is still sick, in all likelihood I will not be able to go to the gym tonight to do my full-body strength training and cardio. I will aim to do 20 minutes of cardio and 30 minutes of pilates, focusing on my abs, buns and thighs and arms. I consider yesterday to be a bust- but I guess it’s not a TOTAL failure, considering I still got in some good cardio and I ate healthy for the majority of the day. I am also learning from my mistakes, which is important. If you’re going to be making mistakes, you should at least learn from them, right?

Total workout time: 25 minutes

Fitness Plan

So, after much reading and discussion, I’ve decided that before I start going crazy with workouts, I need to create a plan for what I hope to achieve and how I’m going to go about doing it. It makes sense after all- I really shouldn’t go off all willy-nilly and risk injuring myself. I’ve decided to set up a 12-week plan for myself- starting off slow and working my way up gradually. I’ll move to a new level every 4 weeks, gradually increasing the amount of weight I train with and the time I spend doing cardio as I go along.

I’ve learned that my Target Heart Rate Zone (THR Zone) is between 139 and 178.2 beats per minute (BPM), and that beginners should have a heart rate between 50-60% of their THR Zone. At an intermediate level, you should try for 60-70%, and from 75-85% at an advanced level. I’ve incorporated that into my fitness plan.

Taking into consideration the days when I’ll most be able to go to the gym, and the physical results I’m looking for, here’s the fitness plan I’ve built:


Weeks 1-4 THR – 139-150 BPM

Monday: Cardio- 20min, full-body strength training, stretch
Tuesday: Cardio- 20-30min, ab workout, stretch
Wenesday: Cardio- 20min, full-body strength training, stretch
Thursday: Cardio- 20-30min, ab workout, stretch
Friday: Rest or Yoga
Saturday: Cardio- 30min
Sunday: Rest or Yoga


Weeks 5-8 THR – 139-150 BPM

Monday: Cardio- 30min, Upper-body strength training, stretch
Tuesday: Cardio- 45min, ab workout, stretch
Wenesday: Cardio- 30min, lower-body strength training, stretch
Thursday: Cardio- 20min, full-body strength training, stretch
Friday: Rest or Yoga
Saturday: Cardio- 45min
Sunday: Rest or Yoga


Weeks 9-12 THR – 161.4-178.2 BPM

Monday: Cardio- 30min, Upper-body strength training stretch
Tuesday: Cardio- 45min, ab workout, stretch
Wenesday: Cardio- 30min, lower-body strength training, stretch
Thursday: Cardio- 20min, full-body strength training stretch
Friday: Rest or Yoga
Saturday: Cardio- 60min
Sunday: Rest or Yoga


Now that I know what my plan is, I’m excited to work towards it. Tonight I’ll squeeze in some cardio before I make dinner, and I’ll follow that up with some nice ab-strengthening exercises. I can’t wait to go home and work out!

Day One

Journal Entry #1
For the Date Of: March 10/08

Food Eaten:

Started off pretty good. Had some oatmeal in the morning with bottled water and a small low fat yogurt. For lunch, had a six-inch cold cut trio sub, and some cranberry blend juice. Then I went to the gym, came back and was STARVING- so I had iced tea, baked chicken nuggets, deep-fried chicken wings (about six to eight) and some French fries. Booooo! Then followed it up with a little chocolate-- DOUBLE BOOOO!!

I’m royally ticked at myself but I’ve also noticed something between today and yesterday: If I let myself get too hungry, I am liable to cave and eat the first thing I see that smells good. I’m going to try to eat continually through the day, so I don’t get to that ‘I’m freaking starving!’ point again.

Workouts:

My first day at my new gym! I previously had a membership at Curves, but it didn’t work well for me AT ALL. For one, they closed too early- and by the time I’d gotten home and picked up my son from daycare, I had less than an hour to go there and work out. Plus, with my husband working weird hours, it was too hard to find someone to watch my kid while I went to the gym. On top of that, most of the women who went to Curves were older- and still pretty plump. Very hard for me to visualize getting results when everyone around me is on the heavier side- which may sound bad, but it’s just how I feel. I think Curves is GREAT if you’re an older woman wanting to keep your flexibility and continue exercising- but it’s really not right for someone my age.

I joined my new gym for several reasons. For one, they have really good hours- they open early and close late. Secondly, they have child minding services available which means that while I’m exercising, my son can being watching videos, playing with toys, and enjoying the company of other kids. Great! Thirdly, they have this great women-only area for me to work-out without feeling uncomfortable in front of the veteran body-building types. There are a lot of attractive young men with rippling biceps there- and I don’t want them seeing me looking all wobbly and gross. Even if I do have a man at home, I still need to feel attractive to the opposite sex! Don’t want them to see me at my worst!

One of the first things I noticed at the gym were how many hard-bodied, attractive young WOMEN were there. In some ways, it was a blow to my self esteem (Oh my GOD, look how skinny and tight they are! They’re so strong-looking! I’ll never be able to look like that!) and yet at the same time, it made me really inspired. I watched them work out and tried to learn something from that, and thought, “If they can do it, so can I!” It was nice to have someone to look at as an example. I really felt like I was on the right path. I’m also thinking I need to invest in some cute gym outfits and new iPod and one of those armbands that I can stick the iPod to so I can work out without dropping it…. Oy, will getting slim cost me an arm and a leg???

All day at work yesterday, I was so gung-ho about going to the gym and working out and looking hot that I thought I should make a plan for what I planned to accomplish and set some goals for myself. I did a little Internet reading and one of the first things I learned was that if you haven’t exercised in a while you shouldn’t over-do it when you’re just getting started. I’ve been doing a little bit of Pilates here and there, but not nearly as much as I should so I knew that this rule really applied to me. I made a mental-note not to over-do it. I would have a nice light workout- enough that I broke a sweat and got my heart-rate up, but not so much that I was aching everywhere the next day and couldn’t move. After all, if I was too tired and sore, I wouldn’t want to go BACK to the gym- which would kill my motivation.

Actually, I think that’s the biggest problem I have- I will get overly excited about the prospect of getting healthy and losing weight, so I’ll over-exert myself and spend the next day or two in serious pain. That pain is usually enough to deter me from exercising for w while, so I stop. Honestly, it happens all the time. I vowed not to let that happen again.

So I got to the gym last night and began my very first workout. After a brief warm-up (I used to take Karate back in junior high so fortunately I at least knew how to do that) I started on the exercise bike. I spent five minutes on that, getting my heart-rate up. I couldn’t believe how out of shape I was! I barely made five minutes. Had to keep lying to myself and saying ‘just thirty more seconds… then another thirty more seconds’. I debated going longer than five minutes, but decided I didn’t want to be too tired to do some strength training. So I started doing the machine circuit. I did 2 sets of 12 on every machine. Initially, I started with low weights and then kept adding weight until I got to a point where I could feel it- but I wasn’t pushing myself. My legs are already pretty strong from playing with my son (he lays on my shins and I do anywhere from 40-80 leg lifts a night), so I did 3 sets of twelve on the leg machines. After I finished lifting weights, I went back to the bike and did another 5 minutes of cardio. This was a LOT harder the second time around, but I made it! After that I did a brief cool-down and then headed home. I didn’t do any ab work, because I was feeling a little tired and I was worried that I may have over-exerted myself and that I’d be hurting the next day.

Total workout time: 45 minutes


The Day After:

Today I’m a feeling really good. Actually, I’m not sore at all. There are some places where I can definitely feel tighter (like the insides of my thighs and the muscles on the inside of my back), so I KNOW I worked them okay, but it’s a bearable sort of pain. Hardly hurts at all. Nothing else is remotely tired or sore. In fact, I feel ready to do another workout today- so my plan worked! I think I’m going to do a SLIGHTLY longer work-out tonight. Definitely want to spend some time on my abs. Now that I have an idea of what I can handle, I’m going to aim for workouts of 45-60minutes per day for the rest of this week. If I survive that, I’ll push myself a little more for next week.

The Resolution

I am going to get into shape.

I know, I’ve been saying this for a couple of years now, but I really mean it. I’m a female, 25 years old, 5’7” tall, and I weigh 150 pounds. Wow- I can’t believe I actually wrote that down, where anyone can see it! But yes, it’s the truth.

I am embarrassed by my body. I know that, technically speaking, I do not fall within the range of overweight. That being said, I just don’t feel good about myself. Less than four years ago, I was 125 pounds, much of it muscle. While my body was far from ‘perfect’, I was slender and I felt good about myself. I didn’t ‘work out’ regularly, per se, but I did spend a lot of time dancing, walking and moving. I worked housekeeping jobs, so I was on my feet during the day, constantly in motion. And honestly, I felt GREAT.

Then I got pregnant with my first child, and it was all downhill from there!

I managed to maintain a healthy weight throughout my pregnancy. After my son was born, I weighed about 134 pounds and I looked okay. I wasn’t exactly where I wanted to be weight-wise, but I knew that it was normal to be a little heavier after having a baby, and I was okay with that. Then I took an office job, and I’ve spent the majority of the past three years behind a desk. After working all day, I come home and take care of my son and do some household chores. Having lived such a sedentary lifestyle for so long has had a really negative impact on my body, and I gained another 20 pounds! I’d hit an all-time high (and low, in my self-esteem).

I’ve spent the past year or so now struggling with bringing my weight down. With slight modifications to my diet, I’ve lost about ten pounds- but I’m still not where I want to be. My target is to get to 130 pounds- most of it muscle. And I’m not stopping until I get there!

Earlier this week, I purchased a one-year gym membership to go with the modifications in my diet. This is my first ‘real’ gym membership, and I’m very nervous. Actually, I’m really a beginner at this whole ‘getting healthy’ thing. So read with me and watch as I turn from flabby to trim and finally start to feel sexy and healthy again!