We Kin Get Thin!

Good day yesterday. I tracked my food without getting all anal on it, I got a good workout  in, and even Joel worked out!! So nice :-)

I had a disappointing run, though. I set out to run 15 minutes straight. I made it 14 minutes and 30 seconds. Can you believe that? So close, so frustrating. I could not push through that last 30 seconds.  It was pretty rough, I had to hop right off and lay flat down on the floor, before getting back on. I did 13 minutes relatively easily before, I was sure 15 minutes would be cake!
Well, it was rough... but, I got close so....  next time!! :-)

After my treadmilling, I fixed Joel a sandwich, and convinced him to come upstairs and get on the treadmill himself. While he did that, I did 500 rotations with the jump rope, and about 15 minutes on the agility ladder.  My ankle is a bit mad from all the jumping, but, it was good!

Two days ago, I had the inclination to let everything go to hell until after New Year's. Typical. I thought, it's only a few more days, why not just laze around and pig out!? Sounds lovely.
But I won't. Heck no, I won't!
I want to finish this year out as strong as I can so I can feel proud about all the work I've put in in 2009.  Set a good example for 2010 to follow, you know? :-)

Happy Humpday everybody. It is supposed to be weigh in day today...but I am still just not in the right mind-set for it. I'll have to ask the Fall Into Fitness challenge ladies if they should just kick me out! My fantasy, has always been to wait as long as I can, and step on the scale and have some huge number, like 12lbs or something!
Something significant, and WOO-HOO worthy! I'm still waiting :-)
But I'd at least like to get one week of these double work outs/smoothies under the bridge before I weigh in.

That means, yes, I did my treadmillin' this morning. It was not as successful as yesterday morning, assuredly because it is still tired from my training session last night. My back and knees were killing this morning, and despite having some new awesome music, I just couldn't seem to push myself very far. But, whatevs. I still did it. They can't all be shiny gems :-)

I won't be home until late tonight, so I am trying to figure out what kind of workout I should do just before bed...I don't want to jog again, if I'll be getting up to jog in a few hours after. Eh, I'll figure it out!

Soooo, yah. The smoothies are good! I inadvertently started myself on a smoothie diet. lol. I fell in love with these cups, as you know. And so I just HAD to make a smoothie. Then I had leftovers, and it was sitting there ready for me for breakfast. Then, I had nothing for lunch, so hey, why not? I told Joel - "hey, I had a smoothie for breakfast, and a smoothie for lunch!" And he said "now, you just need to have a sensible dinner!" Hehe. And so I thought... yah, why not!
For 3 days now, I've had smoothie breakfast & lunch, sensible dinner, and one or two small snacks and I rather like the way it goes. So, I will continue for awhile, (until I get so sick of smoothies I can't bear it) hehe!

Morning workout - CHECK
Morning smoothie - CHECK

My day is starting out as planned, and that is always a good sign!

Day one, and I do already hate a morning workout. :-) Fatty and I used to get up at 4:45, and hit the gym at 5am every morning, back in the day! How did we do that?!
Let me break it down for you -

Pros :
• Its good for me

Cons :
• Get up earlier
• Need longer to get ready, cause I never stop sweating!
• Go through 3 outfits a day instead of 2
• Wake up Joel
• My legs SO creaky and sore in the morning

The choice, is CLEAR!
I have to keep doing it.

Today was a long day. Work was annoying, but fine, as always. Then I was off to a wake for my Great Uncle Norman :-( He was a popular guy, and it was nice to see SO many people paying their respects. I had dinner with my Mom & Dad, went grocery shopping, set up my clothes for tomorrow/packed my gym bag, and now here I am! Ready for bed :-)

So, since there is nothing wrong with me, so says my blood...I have no choice but to shut up and work harder. Tomorrow starts day one of 2 work outs a day. I'll be getting up an hour early to work out in the morning. And then training at night. Nearly doubling my exercise sucks, but it obviously had to be done. Getting up early sucks. Working out sucks. Making Joel wake up early sucks. But know what sucks the most? Having 3 outfits worth of laundry every day! OI!

I have not weighed myself in over a week. And I do not plan to, for as long as I can help it.
My goal is to wait until I feel or see some sort of loss, like in my pants or in the mirror or something before I even bother to see what the number is.
Thats "the plan" anyway. We all know me and my weak weighing willpower :-)

Well, I am exhausted, and gotta get up early! Wish me luck!

So, I am sad to say that I missed my Chai-2-5k jog tonight. My left knee had been extremely angry all day. I don't know why, but even sitting was painful, so I had to skip the jog. I always try to force and guilt myself into pushing through and doing it anyway, just on principle. But this time I heard Bob's voice in my head... "you gotta listen to your body"

And I do. I've ignored it so long. I need to listen to it. Obviously it is mad, so I need to give it a little time. Hopefully, training tomorrow with loosen it up a bit. (who am I kidding? it usually makes it grumpier!) But a girl can dream.

Joel had to work late, so I made a quickie dinner of brown rice, garbanzo beans, feta cheese and tomatoes.


I also put on some soup to crock.


It smells amazing. And its working very well at eliminating the Z pewp stench.
(he's been doing much better today, thank you for your concern!)

Well, I just finished packing my gym bag, and it is bedtime now. Goodnight peeps!

Ok. So I know that technically an "athlete" means that you specifically train and participate in a competitive sport. But to me, athlete means that you are an active person. You push your physical self to improvement and strive for strength and health.

I have always fought being called an athlete. To me, I am just another fat girl trying to lose weight. But people lately have labeled me an athlete, because I am always working out. I thought I'd come up with a Foxworthy-style list of things that apply to me that might possibly make me an athlete :-)

YOU MIGHT BE AN ATHLETE IF . . .

. . . 1/2 of your underwear drawer is sports bras.
. . . you've got lifting gloves in your purse.
. . . you're no longer grossed out by your own sweating.
. . . your response to any invitation is - I gotta check my work-out schedule.
. . . boys ask you to open stuck jar lids, and carry heavy boxes.
. . . you feel your own muscles when no one is looking!
. . . you look at other athletes with inspiration, rather than jealousy.
. . . you have more than one pair of athletic sneakers, and they are both busted up!
. . . "careful, that box is heavy" sounds more like a challenge, than a warning.

You might be an athlete if . . . you're willing to do the work, and open to receiving the rewards.

Beautiful day today! Got some good errands done, stuff around the house, and Fatty and I went for an almost 2.5 hour walk!
We walked, we jogged, and we high-step jogged. We had headed to the track, but unfortunately there was a football game going on, so we drove on back to his neighborhood and resigned to just walk the block. And so we did, walked down to the lake, and took all the side streets we remembered as kids. Off one of the streets was a very inviting path through the woods, so we had to take it. It took us around the lake, up a very steep incline that Fatty HAD to run up in front of me, poofing sand in my face! lol
It dropped us off at some railroad tracks, which we followed and followed and followed, til' we reached civilization again.
I even attempted to re-assemble a dead squirrel, whose bones I found on the track. No luck, no skull!

We stopped at the stream by the old mills that we used to fish in as kids, we found $3 on the ground! That bought us an ice cold diet iced tea for our walk back home. Took a short detour to walk by our old house, the one we lived in until I was 10 or 11. It has all changed, of course... but I still like strolling by it sometimes. Good memories!

It was great exercise, in beautiful weather. Really nice, I say!

Right now, I am cleaning my room, and marinating some beef for stir fry tonight. And yes, I will take pictures!

So far, its been a very successful day on-plan and for me it means a lot, because weekends are hard. But it just shows me how determined I am! I'm not even taking my free day this week! Crazy lady I am.

Well, back to cleaning!

That's pretty much the only word that can be used to describe my weekend after training Friday. Ouch pretty much covers everything from my hurt pride, to my still sore quads and back. I know I'd pretty let myself go, I've done next to nothing for exercise in far too long, but man... 15 minutes into Chai's training, and I was already humbled and shown just how bad of shape I'm in. My endurance is basically ZERO. Chai does this three times a week?!?! I'm literally still sore, from 1 hour Friday afternoon.

So yeah.... OUCH.

I am fairly certain that in my sleep last night, I got repeatedly run over by at least 3 mac trucks. Or elephants.

I am DEAD tired, sore, and my muscles are so fatigued! I realized last night, while doing my workout how much exercise I've done over the past week. It finally caught up with me! Oof.

Tonight, just going to do my jogs and call it a night. No weights, no DVDs!

I was looking for a boost in confidence last night, so I tallied up the inches I've lost since June. I took measurements of - neck, chest, waist, fat belly, hips, upper arm, forearm, and calf. Just one side. Anyway, all combined, I've lost 19inches. That sounds like a lot! I can't believe I've lost 19inches, and haven't dropped a pant size! Man, my body is weird.

Anyway.... with all this exercise... I hope a few more inches just plop right off me!

Of course I am going to keep weighing myself obsessively. BUT. I am now actively putting more emphasis on my measurements than my weight. Since, there doesn't seem to be much more I can do with my diet right now, I will put all my energy into working out as much as I possibly can. This should definitely boost a loss in inches. (right? SAY RIGHT!)

It blows my mind that I am not losing weight. So I know the best thing I can do is not focus on that. Easier said than done.. but.. I'm certainly gonna try.

Thats the worst. You're finished working out, and you disrobe, and you discover.. the sweaty underboob. Gross. Oh well, I'm sure dudes have sweaty something else that is equally, if not more disgusting.

That aside. I just finished another great workout. 20 minutes of "cardio latin dance" which was fairly useless as a workout, but could be fun sometime for actually learning some latin dance basics. Then I did 15 minutes of "weight loss yoga" and then I did my jogs. Now I am all cleaned off and laying in bed with a corgi and the fan breezing us. Just thinking about having lunch with Melissa tomorrow! I feel like I haven't seen her in forever!

Anyways... heres to another good, sweaty workout!

Had a great work out tonight, and I am POOPED! We did one of my new DVDs that Melissa gave me, it's a Jillian Michaels one called cardio kickboxing. OMG, it just went on and on at such a fast pace. So intense! But totally great. That one went for about 45 min to an hour. We're not sure. But we completed the whole thing.

Whew. Sweaty.

Then we did a full upper body work out, then I hopped on the treadmill for my jog.

Oof. Even sweatier!

Anyways, good workout!

I'm currently in between jogs . . . so I am updating!

I need to take a good 10 minute break between each 1/4 mile to let my throat stop burning. It's amazing how much it hurts, and then.. it's gone. fine. ready for more.

I ate too much today. Carb count was fine, but my calories were high, and I ate when I wasn't hungry. Not so great.
I stopped the cycle though, when I was *thisclose* to unpeeling a banana and I put it down. Whew!

It's lady time, and my weight fluctuations are through the roof. Yesterday, I was 234.5 today I was 239.5. I feel so gross and blubbery. Everyday I am hyper aware of my weight, how I look and how I must be perceived. And then, just like average sized people, I have "fat" days, when I feel even more gross than usual. Today was one of those days. Sad and twisted as it is, it was only worsened by multiple people at work complimenting me on my looks. That should boost my confidence, right?
Well, it doesn't. It just draws attention to the fact that people are looking at me. That I am not completely invisible like I wish I were.

Well, time for round 2! ding ding!

I made bacon wrapped scallops for dinner. Mmmm so good. As Fatty said... there is something very odd, and surreal about working out for almost 2 hours, and sitting down to a meal of bacon. lol. It was tasty though!


Afterwards, I made a very delicious dessert. I made a lemon vanilla mousse, with a handful of fresh blueberries, sliced up sugar free orange poundcake and a square of Ghirardelli extra super dark chocolate.


Jealous?? Yah, I don't blame you.

Great work out tonight, too. We did full upper body, I did some side abs, some treadmillin' too.
Fatty did AMAZING on the treadmill. I'll let him tell you himself, but holy cow. When he said was ready and motivated... he was NOT joking.

I know it will sound pathetic to most of you, but I did something tonight that I have never, ever done, in my entire lifetime.
I ran a quarter of a mile straight without slowing or stopping.

The first time I ever "jogged" in my adult life, I could only jog for SIX seconds before having to stop.

6 seconds.


Tonight, I did 4 minutes straight and I couldn't be more proud!

In other news... Fatty hid my scale!

Apparently, I don't get it back until at least Tuesday!

I sure want to impress it when it comes back to me! :-)

Sheesh, Fatty kicked my butt last night. We boxed a little, and then we did some ab work. Man, my arms and abs are soooooore. In the best kind of way, of course :-)

Scale was back down to 237.5 (from 241.5 yesterday). So, at least my fluctuations are going in the right direction! A few pounds down from here, and I can even call it a LOSS.

Tonight is all cardio. I put my work out pants right on the kitchen counter, so I will see them as soon as I get home. Excuses? I got none!

It was decided for me, by my inner 13 year old, that tonight's work out would be a personal dance-a-thon.

Go ahead, laugh if you want.

.......

are you done?

Ok. Listen. I like to dance. I love music. I can't help it. And let's face the facts! Adults don't get enough opportunities to shake their booties*. So I put on some Britney, P!nk, Rihanna, etc. And I danced and danced alone in my bedroom.

I worked it, and I sweated my butt off!



* At first, I accidentally typed "shave their booties"

Ok, its time to write out the rules. Mostly so that is Fatty catches me breaking one, he can beat me.

1. Keep carbs at or below 30g per day.
2. Keep calories between 1200-1600 per day.
3. Track food daily.
4. Measure foods properly, before cooking.
5. Exercise as much as possible. ** (See below)
6. Restrict Splenda (& artificial sweeteners in general) to 2 servings a day.
7. Restrict caffeine to one serving per day.
8. Restrict Maltitol (& sugar alcohols in general) to 1 serving per WEEK.
9. Allow fruit (within carb limit) once every 2 weeks.
10.Be POSITIVE. 10lbs is coming off, for sure!

** I have a new little trick I am going to try regarding exercise. I absolutely always exercise when I am wearing my work out clothes. My new rule is that, as soon as I get home from work, I immediately change into my work out clothes. I will leave them out and ready every day. When I am wearing my work out clothes, I will make everything into a work out, I will jog up and down the stairs, I will do lunges while washing dishes. Seriously, it's ridiculous, but it works. So, I'll use it to my advantage.
This also makes me do two other things I really need to do -
1. Buy some new work out clothes (& socks!)
2. Keep up with my god damn laundry!

Ok, that's all for now! Happy Monday people!

So far. . . I am the only person I've seen who is NOT cheating on Thanksgiving. I'm not judging those who are, but I definitely refuse to. I've got my low-carb stuffing mix on hand, I've got my zero sugar pumpkin pie recipe ready to go. I am prepared, people! :-)


In other news.. I did not exercise ONCE this weekend. That most definitely sucks. I really have a hard time getting it in on the weekends. And the reason is.. during the week, I feel like my schedule is so congested, that I am always aware of getting in the work out. I plan around the work out. On the weekend, I got stuck thinking, I have the whole day! I can just fit it in where I please! And then, I never have a spare moment.
So, I need to start concretely scheduling it in to my weekends.

Another good work out last night. That Biggest Loser DVD is so killer. I am still sore from doing it 4 days ago, nevermind last night! Oi. My quads, they scream!

I will thrilled when I am capable of doing some segments all the way through. I'm good until the push-up/plank series. I have to drop to my knees after one or two, it's soooo hard! But I will be able to do it someday, and that will be a very cool day!

I have a super crush on super gay Bob.


(That right there is 43 years old. I better in that kind of shape at 43 years old! damn!)