53 Days

Yes, there are only 53 days left until demf. This give me just over 7 weeks to lose the 15 pounds that I want to lose. I believe there is a strong possibility of this happening if I can just focus. This morning's weight was 138 (136 after work). I would honestly be happy if I got down to 130 for demf, but 123 would be oh so fabulous.

Last week went quite nicely on the diet front. I seem to have gotten back to the whole weekday routine...breakfast bar, Lean Cuisine, a couple of snacks, and a decent dinner. I've also greatly increased my water intake.

Unfortunately, I missed the whole last week at the gym. Some days were unavoidable. Other days I looked for reasons to get out of it. However, Saturday was sunny, so I decided to go out for a run. This was the first outdoor run for me so far this year. I decided to just take it easy and enjoy the run rather than timing my miles and everything. I ended up doing 4 miles in about 45 - 50 minutes. Not bad considering I ended up walking for about the last half mile. My foot started to get a little cramp, and I didn't want to risk an injury.

Tonight, I went back to bootcamp. Bootcamp is bootcamp. Not much to say there.

Basically, things are looking up.

Training Days

So, I was a little hesitant when Melissa brought up the possibility of some Michigan FATers participating in the Detroit Free Press Marathon 5 person relay in October...but after a couple of minutes, I started to get pretty excited about it. Now I'm all in. I'm looking at taking a 5+ mile portion of the route.

I'm still being cautious of over-training, since my ankle was giving me trouble for a few months. It's not acted up in a while, so tonight I decided to do 3 miles. I did it in 33 minutes including the warm-up. This is a really good start anyways. I plan on doing this kind of run once or twice a week, but maybe adding in an extra quarter mile every week.

I'll continue to do HIIT and bootcamp on other days of the week. Or something like that. We'll see. It just feels good to have some real fitness goals again.

Oh, and I absolutely can't wait to run outside when it's just a little warmer.

Perceptions

About a month ago, I wore one of my regular outfits to work, and I noticed how tight the top was. I didn't think it was a big deal at first, but then I weighed myself. Ouch. Up about 7 lbs.

So, it's been a month, and I haven't really lost too much weight, but I decided to try the top on again last night (especially since I'd been sick all weekend). I thought that maybe it would be acceptable to wear again. It was sooooo tight still. Then it hit me that maybe, just maybe, the shirt had actually shrunk. I couldn't have grown THAT much bigger from just 5 or so lbs. I have an identical top in another color, and voila...it fit perfectly. I think that it accidentally got thrown in the dryer once.

I am soooo relieved, and I feel confident again. I feel like this is going to be a very controlled week in terms of eating and exercise.

Isn't it crazy how something like that can totally throw you off. It seriously put me in a funk when that happened. I haven't even attempted to wear anything size 8 to work since that day. My wardrobe just got much larger (in a good way).

So, I had planned on going to the gym this weekend, but I got the weirdest sickness on Saturday. My husband, daughter, and I all had very similar symptoms - flu like stuff (maybe food poisoning?). I basically ended up sleeping from about noon on Saturday until 10 the next morning. I was still pretty weak all day yesterday, so I thought it was best to just rest. I'll be back to bootcamp tonight though.

Seriously

Look at these numbers.

I know that we sometimes get caught up in the visual aspect of weight loss, but this is a great reminder that it's not all about the size of clothes we wear. I seriously want to give myself the best possible odds of having a long, healthy life.

Quickie Post

I went to bootcamp last night and tonight. I'm tired and a little sore, so I'm taking a scheduled day away from the gym tomorrow. I'll go back on Saturday and possibly Sunday as well.

How's everyone else doing? Seems to be a very slow blog day...

HIIT again

Just a quickie post tonight. I did some HIIT tonight at the gym... one minute intervals of 7.5 mph, 3.0 mph for about 20 - 25 minutes. Went a total of 2.55 miles in 30 minutes, including warm-up and cooldown.

I have bootcamp the next 2 nights.

Eating was fairly sucky today. No good excuses come to mind.

So bad, so bad...

I had my first bootcamp assessment tonight since I've been back. I knew my weight would be up, but I guess I thought my bf% wouldn't have gone up as badly as I feared. I can't even type how stupid it is.

On a more positive note, my fitness assessment stuff went a little better than expected. The most notable item was my pushup counts. In one minute, I did 50 real pushups. I don't go down super far, but still...the last time I was assessed, I did 31 real + 19 modified in the same fashion. So, I must have gained strength.

For the 12 minute run, I went 6.0 mph for 11 minutes, then kicked it up to 7.0 for the last minute. I didn't feel like I was going to die, so I know that I'm making nice improvements in that area as well. I'm excited about going in tomorrow night for HIIT. I'll definitely have to do at least 7.5 or 8.0 mph for my intervals. I was talking to a new bootcamp lady tonight, and she said she'll join me tomorrow, so I guess I'm a bit obligated to go in now.

I have really got to get my eating under control this month. I'm still not eating horribly, but I'm not doing myself any favors either. Stupid, stupid, stupid...

74 more days until demf...7 lbs to go...

Weekend Stuff

The weekend has gone nicely thus far. We almost ordered pizza last night, but then we decided to hit the grocery store instead. I'm not sure what the difference in calories was, but we ended up eating hummus, chicken, macaroni & chz (not great, i know), and sweet potatoes. That's gotta be at least a little healthier than pizza. Today, we made breakfast sandwiches instead of going out for omelettes and extras.

I didn't make it to the gym yesterday, but honestly, I think my muscles appreciated the rest time. I did go up there for some HIIT today. I'm happy to report that I'm definitely ready to bump up the intensity some. No pain still. Plus, 7.0 just isn't pushing me hard enough anymore. Next time, I'll do 1 minute intervals of 7.5, 3.0 mph. I also increased the distance and time I ran today. I've been sticking to 2 miles or less, but today I went a little over 2.5 miles.

Now I'm getting excited.

Sore

I am just really sore. In fact, I think I become more sore by the minute. This is totally good of course, but I need to go to bed early tonight to rest my weary bones.

I went to bootcamp tonight, and Keith mixed it up a little more. It was pretty high tempo...alternating between cardio and resistance training. Nothing too new.

My eating was ok today. Still not stellar, but ok. I don't think I'll be doing any late night snacking.

Goals for the weekend: Run a couple of miles on Friday. Strength training + HIIT on Saturday. Dancing Saturday night. Rest on Sunday. Eating in moderation all days.

Shiiiiiitttt!

Wow. Keith the Trainer called in sick tonight for bootcamp. So, Roger took over. Evidently, Keith had told him that we were tough. Whatevah. Roger totally kicked our asses all over the place. It wasn't so much about suicides and all that, but he didn't want us stopping for anything. Once, I got done with my supersets way faster than the others, so he had me stay in a plank until they were done....like for 5 minutes...with a 10 lb dumbbell on my back. The truth is that I took a couple of breaks, but he was telling me to get back up when I stopped. He reminded me of Jillian...except he wasn't really yelling.

We did have to modify a couple of the exercises, but I was surprised to see that we are a little tougher than we thought. It's cool to work with someone new once in a while to mix it up a little. This reminded me of when Keith would only do one night a week, and I thought that was super tough. The question now is whether to have Keith push us harder.

The final exercise was to get in a pushup position (not sure what that's called...kind of like a plank with the arms fully extended). Anyways...we all had to stay in that position while one of us was doing 30 real pushups. I haven't done 30 consecutive pushups in several months, so I was really nervous about my turn. I ended up doing them fine actually. I didn't put my nose to the ground or anything, but they were real ones. Looks like all the things we've been doing so far prepared me for tonight.

Today I started noticing some more firmness back in my thighs and buttocks. All the running and bootcamp sessions are certainly paying off. My husband also mentioned that my face is starting to look a little thinner again...not that it was fat before.

My eating was a little better today, although there was certainly some room for improvement.

OK. Now I'm feelin' good...if you can't tell.

Hi again

Just wanted to give a quick update. I'm still going strong on the workouts. This feels really great. I'm still staying conservative with my speed on the treadmill, even though I can feel it coming back. Tonight I did intervals: 7.0, 3.5 mph (1 minute each). 7.0 actually felt almost like a jog, but my pants were falling down, so I wasn't able to really enjoy it. There's always another day though. I have bootcamp the next two days, and then I plan on heading up on Friday for more HIIT on the treadmill. I think I'll probably head up again one weekend day to workout with my husband. I'm really aiming to go every day, and I'm succeeding most days. My goal is to get back into it mentally, and it's working.

My diet has been a bit of a struggle, but it's getting somewhat better. I think I'll eventually get sick of working hard in the gym only to not see any results due to my eating.

In other news, I saw a glimpse of Spring yesterday. That really got me salivating for an outside run. Of course, we're in the midst of yet another snowstorm again, so that run will have to wait.

OK...lata...