End of January Reflection

I ended up taking 6 days off from the gym. I still am not sure how I injured my back, but it's definitely a pulled/strained muscle. Getting up after sitting or turning while laying in bed send a painful twinge across the left side of my lower back. I guess the one positive thing I learned about myself by taking time off is that I really DON'T like to be away from the gym. It's nice to realize I do enjoy fitness.

By yesterday afternoon, I was getting really crabby. I felt like I was losing all my progress by missing the gym and was starting to "feel fat" again, which I haven't felt all month. Sorry to my boy, Nels, who had to put up with my crabbiness...

Today, Robin and I went to the gym with the intention of a light workout followed by the HOT TUB! We've been members of LA Fitness for about a year and a half and have never stepped foot in the pool or hot tub area. I did 30 minutes on the Stairmaster starting at Level 6 for 8 minutes and then stayed at Level 8 the whole time; on the "Fat Burner" workout option.

We changed into our swimsuits and eagerly walked to the pool area...only to find...the hot tub is out of service! Are you kidding me?! Of course the first time we decide to use it, we can't! So we went into the pool and did 3 full laps and realized, "Damn...we have a LOT of training to do for this triathlon!" It was fun though and was nice to have a different workout, I look forward to getting better at my swimming!

Overall, looking at January, I am very pleased with my progress. Usually I go into eating better and exercising too hardcore at the beginning - go 6 days a week, hardly eat anything...and I fail halfway through the week.

This time I built myself up slowly and made small changes day by day. I started eating oatmeal mid-day every morning and it has really stabilized my hunger for the workday. I'm no longer starving and shaking by 2 p.m. at work. I eat grilled chicken-something for lunch M-F (chicken tacos or chicken salad). And I worked out 4 times every week, usually Sunday through Wednesday. There hasn't been a huge change in pounds, but definitely in inches, which is a huge plus, and I feel more toned.

I just have to have patience...something I definitely have trouble with ; )

My goal for February is to work up to 10 swimming laps (1 lap is down and back across a swimming pool), which is what I will have to do for the triathlon. My weight last weigh-in was 143.5, I'd like to get to 138 by end of February.

Here's to February!

Standstill.

So this week I've been at a standstill. Thank you very much, lower back.

I ended up taking 3 days off from the gym, and I feel awful and lazy even though I was skipping for a legitimate reason. Since the start of the month, I've gone 4 days every week! I am going to go tonight (I will be careful and do something light! My back feels 98% better at this point) and tomorrow. That means I only got 3 days in this week, but it's better than giving up for the whole week.

I lost half a pound this week. I don't even think that really counts! Still, it was nice to see a "143" on the scale even though it was really a "143.5."

Good news is, despite lack of exercise I've been keeping up with my eating. Had my salad and grilled chicken for lunch every day and small, healthy portions at dinner. I haven't even had any sweet snacks all week! Monday night I went to Max & Erma's with my parents and I was very happy that some nutritional content was available on the menu. I ordered the hula bowl salad, which was mixed greens, grilled chicken, mandarin oranges, and pineapples and if my memory serves me correctly it was like 550 calories and just 9 grams of fat. So I was proud that I ordered that even though I really wanted my favorite thing - a cheeseburger. : )

I can't wait for the weather to warm up so I can start jogging outside again and work on my biking for the triathlon!

Seriously, what the heck did I do to my back?!

Bump in the road. I seem to have strained something in my lower back. It's been aching for about a week now, and I've been ignoring it. Yesterday I had a good workout and spent 30 minutes on the treadmill doing an alternating speed/incline workout. As soon as I stopped, I realized I only aggravated my back more. I now have a huge Bengay patch on my lower back and it seems to be helping. But I will unfortunately have to skip my boot camp class tonight = (

Here is my "Turn up the Burn" treadmill workout that I did yesterday. I got it from Fitness magazine. It's really great and challenging:

MINUTES SPEED INCLINE PLAN

2 4.0 mph 0-2 Warm-up

5 4.5-6.0 0-2 Increase speed by 0.5 mph each minute until you reach

6.0 mph; maintain for 2 minutes.

7 4.0-4.5 2-10.0 Increase incline by 2.0 each minute until you reach

10.0; stay there for 3 minutes.

1 6.0 mph 2.0 Descend

4 Varied 2.0 Sprint (your best effort) for 1 min., then jog (4.5 mph);

repeat combo, trying to sprint faster second time.

1 5.0-6.0 4.0 Climb

4 6.0-7.0 4.0

1 4.0-4.5 0 Recover

1 5.0-6.0 0 Jog

2 Sprint 0 Best effort

2 2.o-3.0 0 Cooldown

It's been awhile since I last did this workout, and I made it through the whole thing exactly as written out and felt great (besides my back, of course). It really showed me how much improvement I've made by going to the gym regularly for the last few weeks. Cardio-wise, I'm stronger than before and able to handle more in my workouts.

My body feels more toned and even though the scale isn't showing a huge loss, several people are telling me I look thinner. I feel stronger when doing weight lifting too; I'm now at 25 lbs. for the overhead press - started that one at just 15 lbs.!!!

I will have to make my workouts lighter this week while my back gets better. A friend told me I should rest for a full week, but there is no way I could stand missing the gym for an entire week. Sorry, just not happening!

That's another thing I've noticed - I'm really into a routine now. I read somewhere that it takes 30 days to form a habit. While I'm not quite at 30 days, but I can tell things are already sticking. I generally go to the gym Sunday - Wednesday and then throw in a 5th day somewhere. I feel awful if I don't make it to the gym. I've also noticed that I've stopped thinking about food so much - the first week, it was all I could think about and kept thinking about how I felt hungry or wanted some junk food. After forcing myself to stick with eating healthier overall, it's become a lot easier.

I'm happy with my progress thus far and am sure I'll be where I want to by summer! : )

Finally, a loss!!!

Today was my weigh-in and I'm proud to announce...down 2 pounds! I weighed myself 3 times and even moved the scaled to the kitchen floor for one of the weigh-ins just to make sure! It's a little scary to know I have to keep this up now to see more pounds go, but at least I know it's working!

Been doing a great job with the gym this week. Last night I really didn't feel like going and when my dad asked me to go around 8 p.m. (my dad and brother belong to my gym as well) I said, "I don't know...I have to work at 6:30 in the morning," my dad replied, "I have to work at 6, what's your point?" Haha, fine. I went. I was so glad I did because I felt MUCH better. I did some weights and then the Stair Master for 30 minutes. Heading out to meet Robin at the gym soon and that will make 4 days in a row!

That's really all I have to say for today...I haven't been logging my calories like I meant to, but I have been staying on track! Let's hope I at least don't gain any weight for next week's weigh-in!

$11 lunch for the week and raw chicken phobia

Today seems a bit backwards. I hardly ate and worked out a lot. The fact that I barely ate all day is not really a good thing, I am sure my metabolism slowed down a lot. But I was so busy at work I didn't really have time to think about it.

I had Special K for breakfast, then had 1/2 a packet of plain oatmeal mixed with 1/2 a packet of brown sugar oatmeal with walnuts around 1:30 p.m. Then I had some Select Harvest minestrone soup around 3:30 p.m. Came home and the family had thin crust pizza (my portion is cheese only) so I had about 5 pizza squares and then a cookie...not saying that's a good thing, but do have to be honest.

I went to boot camp class at the gym and either I'm getting stronger or Nicole (the instructor) went light on us today. I didn't feel like passing out at the end like I usually do. So I went and did another 26 minutes on the "Cardio Death Machine" increasing the cross ramp from 10 to 14 and the resistance from 8 to 13 in random intervals.

THEN...even though we did some weight lifting in class...I did a set of:

- 25 lbs chest fly (machine)

- 20 lbs overhead press

- 20 lb dumbbells chest press

- 15 lb dumbbells bicep curls

-15 lb dumbbells tricep extension

After that, I was pretty wiped out.

Last Thursday, I didn't feel like making dinner and just wanted to get home and relax. I swung by Taco Bell and ordered 2 tacos off their "diet menu." Now, I think the fact that Taco Bell is marketing a diet plan like Subway did is completely ridiculous; but I do appreciate the "healthier" option. This was the first time in my entire life I ordered tacos without cheese. You see, they just substitute salsa for the cheese on your taco. Last week was my 2nd week of salads for lunch and I was growing pretty tired of them. Also rather sick of cleaning the Foreman grill. So this week, it's safe to say Taco Bell inspired me. Scary, isn't it?

There's what I bought. Shredded lettuce, reduced sodium taco seasoning, chicken, salsa (hiding behind the seasoning) and some whole wheat tortillas. Cooked up all the chicken in the seasoning and threw it in a container to bring it all to work for the week!

Now, as many of you may already know, I have a serious problem with raw chicken. It completely grosses me out. I freak out about it touching other things and am always scared I didn't clean anything that touched it enough. And, to top it all off, I have to wear latex gloves while handling it and those are still not enough of a barrier for me. So I think next week I should put up a video of myself cutting chicken up just so you can all have a good laugh. This was my first time having to cut it up (I always cook it in one whole piece or make Nels cut it if he's around) and it was not fun.

Tomorrow I'm going to start writing down my calories for a few days, because I'm not seeing weight loss results and don't have a grasp of how I'm doing in that area. So, hooray for measuring everything I eat...yeah that's sarcasm.

Gonna be sore in the morning! Good night!

Be prepared!

Haven't blogged for a few days, things have been a little bit crazy!

In a couple hours, Nels and I will be meeting my friends Rachel & Carlene for Rachel's birthday dinner, which she is having at P.F. Chang's. I've never eaten here, but I remember this restaurant name popping up quite frequently on the "worst" lists in the "Eat This, Not That!" e-mails I get. So I checked out their website and searched the name.

Thank goodness I am checking out this information first! Nutritionally, this restaurant gets a D+. Eat This, Not That says that with a few exceptions, you will get at least a full day's worth of sodium from any dish or soup at this restaurant. Many of the dishes have over 1,000 calories.

I was eyeing the Ginger Chicken & Broccoli when looking at the menu online and it turns out that nutritionally, this is a pretty good choice. The dish has 660 calories and 22 grams of fat. I plan to eat only half of this dish and take the rest home.

So when it comes to places like this - be prepared!

My first weigh-in was on Wednesday. I am disappointed to report that my weight stayed exactly the same. I thought at least one pound would be gone. But there is a huge difference in how I feel. Last week I went to the gym 4 days out of the week, and the same thing happened this past week. I am doing a good mix of exercises, which is important because it prevents both you and your body from getting bored. I am also already noticing my jeans are already fitting more comfortably. To me, that is more important than the number on the scale. And I am feeling more toned as well!

In addition to the mini-triathlon and 5K's I plan on doing this summer, I'm going to be doing a "Scavenger Dash" in Chicago in May with Robin. (Robin is doing the mini triathlon with me too!) The Scavenger Dash is like an Amazing Race, apparently. You run around Chicago collecting a bunch of items. Sounds fun!

On Wednesday, Robin and I did some weightlifting and then this machine at the gym for an entire HOUR that I like to call the Cardio Death Machine:

I had the ramp set at 10 most of the workout and the resistance alternating between 10 and 12. According to the machine, I burned 600 calories. Awesome! When I got home, the smell of chocolate chip cookies baking in the oven hit me as soon I walked in the door. Not awesome! Thanks, mom. However, I only had ONE cookie so that was good.

Thursday night was my rest night to watch the trashy but addicting show Jersey Shore. I am sad to report that I had two cookies that night...and a (small) brownie.

Friday morning I met Robin at the gym at 5:30 a.m. and we did the Cardio Death Machine for 45 minutes. I did a better job with the workout this time, but it's definitely a tough machine and a good one for building cardio endurance.

All week long, I had my salad with grilled chicken for lunch. Ate dinners at home and had small portions. (By now, I can't even remember what I ate for dinner throughout the week). Friday I had a 6-inch whole wheat sub at Subway with turkey, spinach, tomatoes and pickles.

Overall, not a bad week in terms of eating. Had a few shortfalls with sweets at home, but I am hoping they do not make too much of an impact. It was easier to avoid these things when I had my own place because I wouldn't bake or buy such things. Living at home, it's a little harder.

Brownies, frustration, and a triathlon

This entry is going to get right to the point of its title.

I ate 2 brownies today. They were relatively small and thin. Homemade ones. I couldn't resist. Beating myself up about it now.

Frustrated because a girl I know posted on Facebook that she already lost 5 pounds with Weight Watchers. I just don't buy diets like that. I think they are not sustainable long term. Still, annoyed...and jealous...

So, I can't believe the words I'm about to say: I'm going to do a mini-triathlon this year. It's right in my neighborhood in August. My mom's friend did this very race last year, and through just 2 e-mails she's already given me so much helpful information on training. When it gets closer, she will also show me the course and explain the transitions from swimming to biking and biking to running, which I was curious about.

I'm excited and terrified at the same time! I just don't want to fail. It will be interesting to blog about my training for the triathlon once that starts. Robin (a friend of mine from grade school and my current workout buddy) wants to join in on it too. I think that will help a lot to have someone at my fitness level to train with!

Here are the distances:

250 yard swim (10 down and backs of a swimming pool)

6.5 mile bike ride

2.1 mile run

Looking at this now, I think the swim will be the hardest. Swimming laps isn't something I've practiced much. My gym, LA Fitness, has a pool so I need to start practicing. I'm not very concerned about the biking. I think my legs are really strong and I biked a LOT with my dad when I was younger. I was planning on buying a new bike in the spring anyway, so that will be the perfect time to work on building up endurance. Still, it just doesn't sound like a lot...I mean last summer I ran 5 miles a few times. This is just biking it.

Right now, running 2 miles is a piece of cake. But I know that I have to build up my strength, because it's not going to be such a piece of cake after the swimming and bike ride!

I also found a 5K in the area in May, so I'm going to do another one of those and maybe another in June.

Eek! This will be a journey, that's for sure!