Sunday Comes Afterwaaaaards

Yesterday was free calorie day, according to Mom and Chris. I was not allowed to count up all the ingredients in the crepes and pizza that we had and mom insisted I have a Pepperidge Farms Milano cookie. We went on a long bike ride on my new hybrid, 21-speed Marin, and I tried to keep my portions small, so I'm hoping that not much damage was done, but sometimes you just have to live and my mom coming to hang out would have been dampened by my obsessing over food and diet. So I gave in.

Today I'm going to start running again. I was fitted at Fleet Feet and they suggested some motion control shoes by Mizuno. They weren't as cushioned as the other ones they had me try on, but they felt a lot more stable. I'm going to keep doing the two-minute run, three-minute walk because I still have shin splints, which,according to Fleet Feet, is more of a results of being out of shape than the condition of my shoes. I have to keep working and the pain will go away as I get stronger. However, I can't help but remember the girl on my softball team last year that had permanent damage and scarring from shin splints. Of course, I don't know the full story and don't have all the facts of that case, so I'm just going to stay alert to what my body is telling me.

Everyone is still asleep, but it's time for breakfast so I'm going to wake these sleepyheads up! Time to get moving!

Saturday, August 13

I'm up, I'm up.

I did absolutely no exercise yesterday if you don't count the walking I did on my community outing (which was about a half hour under 3 mph, pushing a wheelchair). I stayed under my calories, but I really didn't count on my - how do I put this? My monthly curse to pull me under like this. It's not that I don't know what they are like; all the women in my family have really, really bad cycles and I've been dealing with it for years now, but I thought maybe my new exercise routine would lessen it or I would at least feel more energy to be motivated. Not so, it actually seems the opposite.

Today, my mom is coming up. She wants to go on bike rides, and thank goodness because it's feeling like another curl-up-on-the-couch kind of day. She'll be here in about an hour and I still need to take a shower. Ugh. I feel like crap today. Here goes.

August 11, 2011. Mom's Bday, Seven Pounds, Biking, and Work-out Friends.

I took it pretty easy yesterday, walking on an outing at work and then swimming with Chris. My scale at one point this morning said I was under 164, but I'm not recording it because again, the drop seems to large since my last weigh-in and after I got out of the shower, it was 164.3 which is .1 lb less than yesterday, which makes more sense. I'm just saying I've lost seven pounds, because it's close enough. I really, really need a new scale.

This weekend I'm getting running shoes, and my mom wants to get me a new bike, too! Even though it's her birthday. I've been using Chris's 21-speed Diamond Back and the gears are horrible. I can't shift to go up hills because it doesn't stay in gear or it sits there and clicks. It's all messed up. It probably just needs a new derailleur, but I want something faster, too. It just won't keep up with Chris, even in gear 21, and at that point, I'm practically standing on the thing to get it going. It's also too big; I have to have the seat so high that I am uncomfortably far from the ground when I stop or else I have to ride it with my knees in my chest. There's no happy medium.

What I don't want is a girl's bike. I don't want the curvy little wimp bikes I see all over the place. I want one with speed. I don't think I could live with one of those cruisers these college students are riding around on these days. My bikes going to have to be fast if I'm going to be happy. Unfortunately, no matter what style I get, it is looking like it's going to be over 300 dollars for a new bike. On the bright side, it should last a long time.

Tonight, my stomach isn't feeling too well, so we cut our ride short and I don't know if I'll be going to the apt. gym or not. I look some medicine and am staying hydrated, but I might just call it a night. I burned over 200 calories riding through the arboretum with Chris. We found a whole new section of it we had never explored before-didn't even know it was there (how long have we been hanging out there? Years? And we never knew). Hopefully, tomorrow, we'll get to explore some more.

What an incredible journey this is. I'm getting advice from people who have already changed their lives or who have always incorporated being active as part of who they are. I even was asked by someone at work if they could get together with me after work a couple of times a week to do something active and fun (but not exercise, because exercise sucks) and so we're looking into some of the trails in Sacramento. I'm excited! I love doing this stuff with other people because then it doesn't feel like work, it feels like fun!

So here's to another incredible week. I will post again soon.

The stairmaster was easier today. In just a couple of weeks, I went from barely getting through fifteen minutes to doing the entire thirty without stopping. That last two minutes were the longest, but it was worth it when I stepped off the machine, victorious. There's almost no greater feeling.

I also did some work on the resistance machines. Lat Pulldowns and the like. I was forced to stay away from the treadmill due to my shin splints, but I did some more crunches on my fitness ball, as well as some other work. I'm really thinking about Yoga lately, and despite my own lack of confidence after having only taken one class two years ago, I think I should start doing some at home. I could use the stretches. Simple stretching isn't really doing it for me.

I may take tomorrow off to give my body a day to rest. I'm down almost seven pounds since I started. It's incredible, it hasn't even been a month yet. All I want to do is more. As soon as I'm done working out, I want to go back. It's like a high, but I have to be careful because overdoing can cause injury and throw a wrench in the whole thing. Pushing myself too hard could have contributed to my shin splints, after all.

Mom's coming up to visit this weekend, so that will be fun. I am getting new running shoes and I might have to see how much money I have for some more work-out pants. It might be time for a trip to Ross. It's going to be a good week.

Shin Splints and Progress

I've tried to be careful and keep away the shin splints I was getting last summer when I was playing softball in the crappy New Balance shoes I have, but alas, they have returned in full force today. It's cut my run/walk to ten to fifteen minutes, but has pushed me to get my cardio done bike riding and on the stairmaster, (warning, Pokemon joke imminent): It's super effective!

I worked out on my exercise ball yesterday, the majority of the time spent doing crunches. I could feel it today, but not so bad as to be irritating or painful. I'm going to do those every other day and probably stick to biking this week until I get new shoes this weekend. Mom's coming up! Yay!

I was looking at myself in the mirror tonight while I was working out and I thought I looked slimmer. Wondering for a second if maybe my own self-image, improving due to my following my commitment and reaching my goals, had caused my mind to think I looked slimmer, but I realized I can actually feel it in my work-out pants. I had to be sure, so Chris measured me and sure enough, a half-inch off of my neck and waste and a whole inch from my hips.

This is progress, even more so than the numbers on the scale, because muscle mass can add pounds. I've now been at this for about three weeks and I'm still not slowing down. I'm encouraged and inspired, determined and committed. I'm already considering trying a 5k sometime this spring. Even with the progress I've made, though, I don't want to lose sight and say, "good enough," or start slacking because I feel confident. This is a life-long goal, not just a new diet and exercise routine. My goal to be 135 in January isn't the end, but the beginning. I'm ready.

A Wonderfully Active Weekend

This weekend I went on a hike with Chris and my friend Yazzy around Jenkinson Lake at Sly Park. The trail is nine miles, but we were hungry and Chris was in flip-flops, so after an hour and some swimming, we decided to hike back. We got about two hours total of hiking, which put me so far in the deficit, I was able to have some glorious macaroni salad at 300 calories for less than a cup. I still exercised restraint and kept away from the dip for the chips. Yazzy and her mom cooked Kosher beef hot dogs and chicken hot dogs, which were really good. I think I prefer the chicken, which were only 90 calories each, almost half that of regular franks.

Before our hike, we had had a breakfast of fruit, gluten and dairy-free pastries from Azna Gluten Free bakery in Cameron Park, and some plain yogurt with a bit of honey. I even found a couple of the pastries listed on My Fitness Pal. I was glad someone had taken the time to put it up.

Dinner with the MIL was a little harder. We went to one of the local Mexican Restaurants in Placerville and I ordered a two-item combo, saving half of my black beans and the second item for lunch today.

Today was also productive. I did cardio at the apartment gym and then came home and did work on the ball for forty minutes and did some hand weights. Fitpal doesn't record calories for strength training because so many factors go into how many calories are burned that the creators didn't feel comfortable giving numbers that couldn't be very accurate. Afterward, I went on a bike ride with Chris and did over 30 minutes.

I've calculated that I need to lose six pounds a month. I was 166 at the beginning of August and so I need to be 160 by the end of the month to stay on track. I need to get a new scale, as well, as the one that I have doesn't always give me the same number if I step on it twice in the same morning within minutes. I had a feeling something was wrong with it when Chris was using it and he got upset that he was going up and down two-five pounds every day, which just isn't realistic. I tried Yazzy's scale yesterday and it gave me 164. I think I'm going to go and buy one just like it. :) I need an accurate scale.

This week I have my lunches already planned and a few dinners, as well. I hope to be (if I go by my scale) under 165 by next sunday. Today I got 165.4 and 166.2 on the scale, just stepping on it twice in a row, so we'll see if I will even be able to tell if anything has changed at the end of the week if the scale really isn't working. Here's to a good week!

New Equipment

I get two ten minute breaks at work now, so I'm using them to stay active. I can get partway around the block and back in ten minutes. It's a lovely little neighborhood away from the busy streets that surround it. There's a park and everything.

I bought myself goggles for swimming. It's hard to do the crawl (my absolute favorite) wearing contacts because I try not to open my eyes under water, so I splurged for some eye protection. I also bought myself a medium fitness ball to do crunches and other back and leg work.

I'm ready to start picking up the pace of my running. I'm either going to change my intervals to three and three (it was suggested I start with two min run and three min walk) or start pushing myself to run faster. I haven't decided yet. I know I have to start slow-blah blah blah. I don't like slow, but I don't want to hurt myself.

The ball feels great. I played around on it today without doing any real exercise, just getting the feel for it and I can tell you that it felt good, stable and I was actually excited to start adding abs to my regimen. No, really. I was shocked that it actually felt good.

Next thing to get is some good running shoes. I'm starting to get some minor pain in my shins and I don't want shin splints. That will seriously impede my progress.

I'm a little worried about going to a friend's house this weekend. I want to have control over my calories but I don't know how well I can handle temptation yet. Then again, I quit drinking a long time ago surrounded by alcoholic family members and am still clean and sober to this day. If I can work half as hard at this as I did for my sobriety, I will have no problem. I just have to be willing to do the work and run through the consequences before I make that choice that one will be okay. Wish me luck!