two dolla

this last week made it seem easy (or: suck it, five pounds)

Last Monday’s proclamation of shaping things up health-wise seems to have worked. We watched what we hate. We monitored calories. We drank a lot of water. I’m down to only Sugar Free Red Bull for my caffeine intake. The General just bought decaffeinated coffee this weekend. All that work and I’m down 5 pounds over the last week. I’m crediting losing some water weight and also getting 4 pounds of hair cut off yesterday.

We ate at home most of the week, but when we did go out, we made better decisions, weighing our options of every damn choice. We had beer at bowling. We took The Kid out for dinner Friday night. Clearly we’re not depriving ourselves of anything. I think when you do deprive yourself of everything in your diet and lifestyle, you’re setting yourself up to fail. And we’re not so much in the mood to fail this time around at this. We’re ramping up this health thing for a reason.

So, here are the totals that you better get yourself accustomed to every Monday, boys and girls.

Total since 7/12/2010:  -22 lbs
Total since 10/31/2011:  -5 lbs

I kind of can’t wait to get back to the gym

It’s on like Donkey Kong in our house. It might have something to do with this whole baby thing.

Last night, The General and I pulled out the measuring tape to take measurements. THAT WAS GREAT FUN. And I hope our weird neighbor observed it all, which was entirely possible because we did it in front of a window. If he didn’t have cable before, I’m sure he does now. Ain’t nobody want to watch that kind of thing!

The General hit the store last night and brought home so, so, so much fruit, which makes us both very happy. I started my day off with four cups of water before cracking open a Mountain Dew. I brought leftover Subway for lunch and a container of yogurt for a mid-afternoon snack. My co-worker brought cupcakes today and I’m going to partake, because I don’t turn down a cupcake.

I’d lost 29 pounds and ended up gaining 12 back, so I’m down 17 from the first of last year. I can explain it with lots of soda and bad food choices. I’m cool with that and happy that I didn’t gain it all back. It’s all about making good choices all the way around and the first choice I’m making is to get my ass healthier!

won’t you be my cheerleader

Back when I started being all healthy and crap (in July 2010), I impressed myself a lot: watching what I ate, being aware of how different choices throughout the day could effect how I would feel, tricking myself into drinking water. You name it and I, without the exception of fad diets or diet pills or whatever, gave it a try. I did a pretty good job over the course of time and slowly lost 30 pounds. Slowly’s the way to go with something like this, so I was happy.

And then things started happening like we forgot to go grocery shopping for several days in a row, I wasn’t feeling well, my gym membership expired, so I just didn’t go back. Obviously they were just excuses, but they worked as far as taking a toll on the ol’ beltline. The three sizes I’d lost changed to only losing one size and even that was starting to get a little snug. I didn’t gain back all of the weight, but enough for me to notice and not exactly be thrilled about it.

I had a doctor’s appointment last night and there’s just something about a doctor’s visit that makes me always want to get all healthy. Again. I’m sure it didn’t help that last time I was there I was all bragging to Dr. P. about how I’d been going to the gym and eating healthy, etc. and had lost all this weight. And then yesterday happened. She didn’t say anything, but she didn’t have to. I already know.

So, this morning, I pulled out the oatmeal packet, which required bypassing my American Pop Tarts (they’re seriously red, white and blue) that are in my bottom drawer at work. I went to the break room and filled up a plastic up full of water that I’m finishing before I let myself get a soda. We’ll work on breaking the soda thing, but that kind of thing ain’t happening overnight, my friends.

Tell me your good fortunes of losing weight, of getting healthier and just feeling better about yourself. Motivate me. I have a feeling I’ll need it!!

i’ll never have crazy zumba clothes

I am crapping the bed when it comes to going to the gym. I know I need to and, more often than not, I want really to. I’ve been working 10 hour days, which doesn’t allow for time to go in the morning since my gym doesn’t open until 8am. And then I’m usually in clean/freelance mode when I get home in the evenings, which means I gots stuff to do before I go to bed. With my gym closing at 9, I get a limited!

I’ve been talking and talking about getting the Zumba Fitness Bundle for the Wii, but haven’t been able to justify it. And by justify, that usually means I can’t convince myself that spending money on a video game is going to contribute to my health in any way whatsoever.

The other day, The General surprised me. Big time. ZUMBA DVDS. We won’t say how they were procured, but we’ll just say that this week, my goal is to learn those hot little Latin dance moves… or whatever they call them. And if my neighbor starts looking in the window, I’m going to be super mad at him.

my noble attempt at biking to work ended like this

Please note the dangling handlebars.

So much for being green and healthy and all that stuff! I’ll try again when it’s cooler… and I bring an allenwrench with me.

i’m like a cute little fish, just with more hair

I’ve been swimming since before I could even walk. Pretty sure I went off the high diving board at the Sedalia Middle School’s indoor swimming pool (it may or may not have been involuntary depending on who tells the story) before I finished Kindergarten. When we were kids, my mom took my brother and I to the swimming pool as many days a week as she could. We swam in lakes, jumped off fishing docks, floated around in anything we possibly could. As an adult, I’ve abandoned that hobby quite a bit and the extent of my swimming has been floating around for hours in a Caribbean ocean in the middle of winter. While I’m certainly not complaining about that, that type of swimming’s main focus is making sure salt water doesn’t get in your rum-based drink, you know what I’m sayin’?

The gym I’ve belonged to for the past five months has a gym. I’ve been super hesitant to use it because, hi. Who the heck honestly likes to wear a swimsuit in public? Nobody I know.

Last summer, we were in Chicago and I was almost more excited about swimming every night than I was about our daily 7-11 Slurpee/Big Gulp stops. Then sometime this fall, we stopped somewhere in Iowa, and I woke up at 6am just to swim before we drove the rest of the way to Missouri. And then we joined a gym finally in February and I’ve been talking myself into swimming every day. It was only recently that I did and, man, am I glad I did.

I hit the treadmill, the elliptical, the stationary recumbent bike super hard every day. I’m proud of that. But I’ve realized that swimming is the way to go. It uses muscles I didn’t know I had. I breathe harder after doing some laps that I do after doing the C25K plan. I might smell like chlorine next time we hang out, but rest assured, it’s going to be worth it.

I have a cousin who swims 3000-5000 meters a day. That’s NUTS (in a good way) and is beyond even the slightest level of comprehension for me. I’m gonna be super stoked when I eventually get to 500 meters (I’m up to ~450 now!) doing all of these strokes that I’m pretty sure are made up, because that front crawl WEARS ME OUT.

Anyway. Mainly, I needed to write this post because I took the above picture. But I also wanted to write it because, hey, if you have a pool nearby you, GO SWIM. It’s super good for you and it’s a whole heck of a lot more fun than pounding your knees on the treadmill or having your butt slide around in someone else’s sweat when you ride the bike at the gym!

my latest gym quandaries

Quandary I: I need new running shoes.

Quandary II: Why do I crave a billion bananas as soon as I’m done working out?

Quandary III: We started hitting the local community center several months ago to take advantage of what they call their “workout room” and hopes of the occasional pool time for The Boy. The General had to do a lot of convincing, but finally talked me into it. I couldn’t be happier about it. I try to hit the gym at least five days a week for at least an hour and always feel great when leaving. I’ve started running, lost some weight, toned some weird places, etc. I’m committed to it pretty hardcore. Our family membership has eventually dropped down to a dual membership, and very recently that has become a sole membership: just me. So, I started looking at other options just to see what else was out there.

I found a Snap Fitness that’s 2 miles from my house and now I can’t stop thinking about switching my membership over to there. I just paid for a full month at the community center, but am tempted to give it a shot when that expires. And here’s why:

• It’s close enough for me to bike or walk to if I really needed.
• There’s tons more equipment, so I wouldn’t have to wait in line.
• It’s open 24 hours.

Those are the only three things that I don’t like about my current gym setup. Of course, it’s ~ $8/month, but the above three things kind of make up for that.

Do you belong to Snap? Do you like it? Hate it? Would love some real opinions of it and not just ones I can find posted online, because people tend to get a little carried away with that kind of thing.

running is 54185% mental

Pretty sure that’s what running is all about. I suppose you need legs, but I’m pretty sure that’s the only damn thing that’s physical about running. Tonight marks the second time in this whole C25K process that I’m absolutely certain I’ve psyched myself out of running.

Last week, for example, I ran the 2nd day of C25K’s 5th week. That’s a brisk five minute warm up, eight minutes of running, walking for five minutes, eight minutes of running, and then a five minute cool down. I blew through that thing like nobody’s business. At one point in the final 8 minutes, I had the speed on the treadmill 0.5 miles faster than I had when I started. I was done and almost wanted to run out to the car. Almost.

Tonight, I was supposed to run 20 miles and did not do that. Hardly one bit. And it frustrated the holy hell out of me. There are a ton of variables that probably effected it. I’m so not rehydrated from the weekend. I slept on the ground for two nights, which would explain the lower back pain I felt when running tonight. The last jogging-type activity I did was almost a week ago.

I’m pretty sure I had talked myself out of running about three days ago. I know it’s all mental, because I don’t feel any pain or awkwardness or anything like that in my body; I could physically keep going. If I could just turn my brain off for 20 minutes, I could probably do this 5K thing without a second thought. But until that happens, I’ve gotta figure out how to get over this stupid mental roadblock before I drive myself insane.

’bout to kick c25k’s week 4 in the ass

I quit C25K for a while, mainly because it was kicking my ass and I couldn’t get past Week 4. Those of you not familiar with the program, Week 4 goes like this:

Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then:

• Jog 1/4 mile (or 3 minutes)
• Walk 1/8 mile (or 90 seconds)
• Jog 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes)
• Walk 1/4 mile (or 2-1/2 minutes)
• Jog 1/4 mile (or 3 minutes)
• Walk 1/8 mile (or 90 seconds)
• Jog 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes)

For me, I’m definitely focused on following the amount of time as opposed to the distance, because who has two thumbs and has never ever been a fast runner? THIS GIRL.

In any case, thanks to some advice from my cousin-in-law, I’ve slowed my roll(s) on the pace and taken it down half a mile an hour. That seems extreme, but that’s always something I can increase down the road. Besides, for me, completing my first 5K (on June 26th, in case you were curious) isn’t about time or speed; it’s about finishing it and doing it. So that’s my focus.

I knew I was feeling pretty good tonight when in the midst of my last 90 second walk, I had to stop myself from doing a little pop and lock action to Mystikal’s Shake Ya Ass. Wobble, wobble, I’m infatuated. If I’m not careful, I’m going to wind up like that little kid on About a Boy.

10 percent and a bmr calculator

This morning, I hit the scale as I’m wont to do on Monday mornings and realized I’m down 29 pounds again. That’s over 10% of my body weight and the internet seems to think that’s a BFD. It can supposedly lower my cholesterol and reduce my blood pressure, along with lowering my risk for type 2 diabetes. (All this according to WeightWatchers.com.) For me, having lost over 10% of my original body weight has lead to healthier habits, like skipping a soda at lunch or feeling like I’d rather rake leaves than lay on the couch. That’s pretty impressive for me, because yard work can suck a dirty you-know-what. Not gonna lie. It’s taken 9 months, but now it’s done and keeps on going.

I’ve recently been very intrigued at how many calories I really need every day. This stems from me doing things like eating like crap and then wondering why I can’t finish 45 minutes on the elliptical. Food = fuel, as I’m learning, and mama needs the premium stuff! I found this BMR calculator and plugged in the appropriate numbers. My BMR (Basic Metabolic Rate) is the number of calories I’d burn if I stayed in bed all day, which I am totally down for, by the way.

I can use a little formula to determine my daily calorie needs. Right now, I’m considering myself  ”moderately active”, which is considering doing a moderate exercise/sport 3-5 days a week. I’d take my BMR and multiply that by 1.55, which I’m pretty sure is just some random number that a really smart scientist made up. This tell me I need over 3000 per day to maintain my current weight. That seems like a ton of calories to me.

Here’s the scary part. I’ve been maintaining my old weight for a good three years, which means I was 1) lazy and 2) eating 3000 calories regularly! Thanks, Taco Bell, for always being there for me when I need it! Now, SparkPeople, which I’ve developed a slight obsession with lately, tells me to stay between 1600-2000 a day, which I generally do with great ease.

Watch how I wrap this whole thing up. Seeing myself lose 10% of my body weight through maintaining a healthier diet and exercising more has very convincingly showed me that the calories I do eat need to be worth something. This 170 calories of Mountain Dew I just poured down my throat, while tasting very delicious and giving me the much needed caffeine boost I needed to not fall asleep at my desk this afternoon, wasn’t very conducive to give my body some actual nutrients I’m gonna need to try that third day of the fourth week of the Couch-to-5K again.