Monday, June 29, 2009

I'm back

Looking for some new motivation. Not sure about the Marathon/running thing.

Does anyone know anything about the P90X system? Some friends who were with us on the trip did it, and raved about it. Wondering if anyone else has any experience with the program?

Friday, June 19, 2009

T minus 1 day

We leave tomorrow. I'm just about packed. The kids seem slightly better today. At least they seem to be in better spirits anyway. We'll see what the rest of the morning brings. They both just finished eating their breakfast, so hopefully they'll be able to keep their food in and down, repsectively.

I got in a great workout this morning. I did 50 minutes of Jillian's "Boost Your Metabolism," 30 minutes of Yoga Sculpt, and 20 minutes of Pilates. There was a thunderstorm going on during the first part of my workout, and my little one woke up scared and crying, so I had to settle her down and hope that she'd go back to sleep.

I mentioned to my husband that I would probably check out the fitness center soon after our arrival. We arrive so early in the morning that our room probably won't be ready for us, so I may try to get in my workout then. He said that I could find him out by the pool with a drink in hand.

Confession: Against my better judgment, I stepped on the scale this morning. Let's just say, I really wish I hadn't. While the number has gone down since the last time I weighed myself, it has not gone down as far as I feel it should have in relation to (a) how hard I've been working and (b) how much thinner I actually feel and look. Oh well, I feel pretty good about the shape I'm in right now, I hope I can keep this up and meet my goals, eventually.

My goal during our trip is to continue make time to workout everyday. This may sound funny, but I think I'll enjoy myself more if I get in my workouts. I hope to not gain any weight while we're gone, but I won't be surprised if I gain a pound or two. I'm brining my 30 Day Shred video, but I'm not packing any weights. I'm hoping to hit some Yoga and aerobics classes and see what else the club has to offer.

Not sure if I'll check in while I'm gone. If I don't, have a great week.

Thursday, June 18, 2009

Pants

Before I talk about the title of this post, let me tell you something. Two days to go before we leave and what do I have, 2 sick kids. I'm not kidding. One has diarrhea and the other vomited in the parking lot at CVS this morning and has been lounging pitifully on the "comfy chair" alternately watching "Caillou" and asking to be rocked by her mama. I swear, these kids have not been sick in months, and yet they chose now to pick up some virus. Thankfully, kids are resilient and hopefully they can knock these viruses out before they go off to grandma's house. We'll see.

Bad mom that I am, I did manage to go to my training session this afternoon. The little one had perked up a little bit, and I made sure that she kept some crackers down before I took her to my mom's house. My mom took them both to the park (which is what they normally do while I'm working out), but my mom said the little one wasn't "into it," so she took them back to her house.

My daughter and I are skipping my son's T-ball game right now, but Gram and Papa promised ice cream after the game so we'll see if she can rally enough for ice cream, that'll be a test of how lousy she's feeling.

Now, back to "Pants." Before the morning turned gross, I tried on a pair of capris that I wore 10 years ago on my honeymoon. A year ago, I could not get them up over my rear end, let alone zip them up. Today, I slid them up and over my rear without a problem and zipped them up without blinking (or sucking in.) I was, to say the least, amazed. Even though they're 10 years old, they're not too terribly out of style. They have a blue, white, and black small block pattern on them. I think they'll be cute with a solid white collard sleeveless shirt and sandals. We'll see. I'm going to try them on again in the morning, just to make sure it wasn't an aberration.

Tomorrow morning will be my last workout before we leave. I doubt I'll get up on Saturday morning before we leave. The plane leaves at 6:30 a.m. I may be able to get a workout in once we arrive in Cancun, though. I checked the hotel's website again, and they claim to have a world class fitness facility. They also offer yoga classes (and other ones, too which are all at no extra charge) which I may have to try, seeing as I love yoga, but have never taken a class.

I think that's all for now. I'm off to try to rouse my little one, and see if the promise of ice cream can perk her up.

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

T minus 3 days

Had a great workout yesterday, probably the best one since I started. Nick had me do pyramid sets which entailed doing sets of 10, 8, 6, 4, 2, 2, 4 6, 8, 10 and then a "burn out," (doing as many as I could until I felt like I would die). I did these pyrmaid sets with 10 differnt strength training moves, like bicep curls, squats, dead-lifts, tricep kick-backs, lunges, etc. The ab work was also a pyramid scheme where I squeezed a medicine ball between my knees and crunched forward while raising and lowering my arms. It was killer, but it felt so good when I was done.

I'm going back for one more session before we leave. I had hoped to get in 2 sessions, but (a) I can't afford it and (b) the times he had available just didn't work with my schedule, so I'll just keep doing what I've been doing at home.

I woke up incredibly stiff this morning. When I workout at home, I like to start with cardio and then finish with Yoga and Pilates. I do this so that my muscles are nice and warm for all the stretching, but today I did the Yoga and Pilates first in an effort to stretch out my stiff muscles. I ended up crapping out before the end of the cardio routine. I did a different workout today from ExerciseTV that I didn't care for, so I quit when we got to the ab section because I had already done a lot of ab work with the Pilates. I'm not too upset with myself, I did great with the Yoga and Pilates which, for me, is a great workout.

Monday, June 15, 2009

T minus 5 days

Our Anniversary Vacation starts in 5 days. We have been looking forward to this vacation for over a year. While we have been away on short vacations numerous times over the last 10 years, this is the first time we're going away for 8 solid days. Eight solid days of sun, pool, ocean, food, drink and fun. We're taking 3 other couples with us, and we're all looking forward to a great time. The only thing that has dampened our spirits is the "Swine Flu" outbreak (we're going to Cancun, Mexico), but my best friend scored me some Tamiflu, so I'm not going to worry about it, much. (By nature, I am a notorious "worry-wart," so I have to worry.)

When we booked this vacation, over a year ago, I set a goal for myself to be back at my "wedding day weight" of 117 lbs. I am not going to make it; I'm not even close. I had a 3 month set back from November - January, but I'm not sure I would have made it even if I hadn't been lazy during the holidays. I feel bad that I won't achieve my goal, but I'm not devastated. I know how hard I've worked, especially since February. I'm strong, I'm pretty fit, and I can wear some of my size 6 clothes. I bought a (skimpy for me) bikini, and I plan to wear it proudly.

This vacation has provided most of my motivation for the last few months, so I need to come up with a new motivation. I like the changes I'm seeing in my body, so that is definitely motivating. Recently, I found out my neighbor signed up to do the relay portion of the Detroit Free Press Marathon in October. He thinks they need 2 more people to round out their 5 person team, and I volunteered to do a 5 mile leg. We'll see about this. As I've written before, I hate running, but I want to be a runner. By volunteering to be a part of a relay team, I think it will help me stay motivated. It's only 5 miles, and I won't want to let anyone down by not training or completing my portion of the race. I don't actually have confirmation from my friend that I'm "in," but the more I think about it, the more I think it's a good idea for me.

Friday, June 12, 2009

As predicted

I did not get up early to workout. I have the second act of my root canal this morning, so I'm not sure if I'll get in a workout this afternoon. If I feel the way I did after last week's episode, I'm not sure I'll make it.

Whatever happens, I have to rally by 4:00 this afternoon so I can make my way down to Game 7 tonight. GO WINGS!

Updated: Ok, the second part of the root canal was, relatively speaking, a piece of cake. I was only in the chair for about 10 minutes, and now it's done. I still have to go back to my dentist for a crown, but for now, I'm all fixed.

I felt good even after the numbness wore off, so I came home and worked out. I did just under 60 minutes of Jari Love's "To the Core." I haven't done any of her workouts in several months, and I'm not sure why I felt like doing it today. The pace of her DVDs is so slow which I usually find annoying, I guess I just wanted a slower pace, and I know I didn't feel like jumping around.

Promised the kids I'd take them to the pool for a few hours, so off we go.

Thursday, June 11, 2009

In a funk

Not quite sure what to say here. I have found myself in an exercise and eating right funk. Sure, I'm still working out; I even had a really great training session this afternoon with Aaron. He fianlly pushed me beyond my limits, and it felt good. I have not, however, been watching what I'm eating. We had pizza for dinner last night, and I had it again for lunch this afternoon. I'm also going out with friends tonight, so I know there will be wine and lots of food.

I've had to really fight with myself to get my workouts in on the days when I don't have a training session scheduled. Like tomorrow morning, I know I'll have to drag myself out of bed.

I'm not sure where this funk is coming from. We leave on our Anniversary trip one week from tomorrow, so I should really be doing a better job of eating right and exercising if I want to get into the bikini I bought.

I think I'm down because of money issues. This root canal is costing us a fortune; I've single handedly tapped out our "family insurance allowance" for the rest of the year, so all of our cleanings and x-rays and any other dental "stuff" comes right out of our pocket. I was planning to purchase more training sessions, but I just can't justify the expense now. My husband's company doesn't take taxes out of his check, we pay "estimated taxes" quarterly, so on June 15, we will be writing a HUGE check to Uncle Sam. This expense is not unexpected, and we try to plan for it, but it's still A LOT of money. Finally, I know our VISA bill from our Norway trip is due to arrive any day now, and I cringe to think how high that will be. Sure, my husband will recoup much of it from his company in reimbursement, but that check won't get cut before we have to pay VISA, so again, another large deduction from the checking account.

What it boils down to is... I need a job, but the job market for lawyers in Michigan is not great. Most firms who are looking to hire someone with my level of experience want someone with a "book of business," and as a former government employee, I simply do not have a book of business from which to draw.

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

If no one read it the first time, does it really count as a repeat post?

Last fall, on Day 14 of my first 30 Day Shred challenge, I suffered a minor set-back involving my knee. It was nothing, it just hurt really bad when I woke up one morning, so I decided to forego that day's "Shred" and do Yoga instead. That day I wrote the following:

I used to love doing Yoga, but I fell out of the "Yoga habit" and never really got back into it. I have a video (yes, for use in a VCR, don't laugh) that I like called Cardio Autonomy Yoga. For someone (like me) who has never taken a Yoga class and doesn't really know what she's doing, I think the moves are pretty intense. I haven't done this video in about 8 months. The last time I did it I found it difficult to hold many of the poses. I kept wobbling and falling all over the place. Today, it is obvious that I have gotten stronger in the last few months. The moves were no less intense, and I am far from flexible, but I was able to hold the poses, and I didn't fall over as often, especially during the praying twist.


The post I wrote the next day was titled, "It must have been the downward dog," and I wrote:
Bad news: my shoulders are absolutely killing me. Jillian thought it was going to be the third cardio section in Level 2 that was going to kill me, but she failed to account for all the shoulder work in a Yoga workout. (Yes, I know that Yoga isn't part of her program.)

I managed to get through the 30 Day Shred without much problem (related to my sore shoulders, anyway) despite the fact that there is quite a bit of shoulder work in Level 2 of Jillian's 30 Day Shred. (Walk out push ups, plank jacks, plank twists, squat thrusts... all of these moves are hard on the shoulders!)


I have incorporated more Yoga into my workout plans over the last few months, but until yesterday, I hadn't done any yoga in over two weeks. Yesterday, I started wtih 30 minutes of Yoga Sculpt and then did the Shred. When the alarm went off this morning, I felt a certain deja vu and immediately flashed back to those posts from last fall. I could absolutely re-write the part about how much stronger I have become over the last few months. Even taking a short break from the 2 yoga routines I normally do, I could tell that I am much stronger than I was even a month ago. And, I can also report that my shoulders are killing me this morning, and I think it was absolutely the downward dog that did it!

Unlike last time, I didn't go back to my Shred workout this morning because I have a training session this afternoon, but I did 20 minutes of Pilates and 45 minutes of more Yoga instead. I'm not sure I'll be able to lift my arms over my head by the time tomorrow morning rolls around.

Monday, June 8, 2009

Most Recent set-back

If I may, I think I'll start with an attempt at a haiku... ahem.

Screaming, throbbing, pain
Tooth, why now? why today? what?
I have to go back?

Mid-week, last week I started experiencing a tooth ache. The pain mostly came and went during the day, but it was excruciating at night. By the second night, when I could not sleep for the pain was so bad, I decided I had to see my dentist. After sitting in the chair for over an hour, it was determined that I needed a root canal. I'm told that normally it does not take over an hour to diagnose a root canal, but it turns out that my teeth are impervious to hot and cold sensation. My dentist was surprised to learn that I've never experienced the sensation of "brain freeze." My teeth were also impervious to being banged upon with a metal object.

We were pretty sure we knew which tooth was the source of my pain, but I was not responding "normally" as my dentist expected, and she didn't want to perform the root canal on the wrong tooth, and frankly, neither did I.

She ended up sending me to a specialist who performed a root canal.

Let me tell you that I have experienced pregnancies, labor, and two c-sections, but for me, there is nothing worse than mouth pain. I do not handle it well, I do not respond to it well, and I certainly do not enjoy the mouth gymnastics that one must endure while having a root canal performed.

I did my best to workout through the pain; I saw my trainer on Thursday in the middle of most of that pain, but I was not a very good patient before, during or after the experience on Friday and never got around to working out that day. I was feeling really sorry for myself due to the pain and the expense, oh the expense when you have terrible dental coverage... I'm crying just thinking about how much this tooth is costing me.

My mouth is fine right now. There is very little, if any residual pain, but the worst part is, it's not over. I have to go back for the "rest" of the root canal on Friday once the swelling has gone down and the infection has gone away, so I get to do it all over again! Yay!

Wednesday, June 3, 2009

I am a munching munchie munch monster

I have the munchies, and I can't get rid of them. I don't know what the deal is as it's nowhere near that TOM. I'm hoping that by confessing my eating transgressions that I'll embarrass myself into stopping.

In the past 3 days I have eaten an entire bag of Fritos that my husband bought for himself; I finished a bag of STALE potato chips... I was taking them out of the pantry and was going to throw them away because I KNEW they were STALE and yet I decided that chips "sounded good" at that moment. I've eaten an entire bag of baby carrots along with an entire container of hummus plus half of another one. I'm making my way through bags of sunflower seeds and craisins of which I have about a 1/4 of a bag and less than half a bag of each, respectively.

This morning I bought a bag of trail mix which is a combo of almonds, cashews, and craisins into which I emptied part of a bag of chocolate chips that I had lying around, and now I have about half of the bag left.

Let's see, what else, I know there's more... oh yes, I've munched on a few chocolate chip Teddy Grams and some Cheddar Jack Cheezits. I've also mixed in a few red seedless grapes and some cucumbers in an effort to balance the nutritious with the less than nutritious.

I got out the habit of recording my points last week, I guess I better get back at it. I'm making myself full just thinking about all the snacks I've consumed. And, in case it isn't clear, it's not like I'm skipping meals, I'm still eating 3 squares a day.

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Non-habit forming, alternate title, It doesn't take much

In an effort to not succumb to jet lag while on my too short trip to Norway, I took sleeping pills each night of my trip and for the first night upon my return home. The packaging is clear that the pills are habit forming which has me thinking about habits. Why is it that certain habits, usually bad ones, like smoking, drinking, biting nails, taking sleeping pills, etc are easy to start, easy to maintain, and hard to quit and yet other habits, the good ones like eating right, exercising, etc are hard to start, harder to maintain, and easy to quit? It always amazes me how little it takes to get out of a routine and fall back into bad habits.

I wasn't gone that long and only missed 2 days of working out, and one of those days that I missed I spent walking all over Oslo, I'm certain I had well over 10,000 steps for the day, although I can't prove it. I took my Shred video with me and used my laptop in the workout facility so I could "get my Shred on" while I was gone. But, my heart wasn't really into it.

(As a quick aside, I think I'm the only person who has ever used the workout facility at the hotel where we stayed. It was a very small facility with only 2 pieces of cardio equipment and a few weight machines, to my dismay there were not free weights, so I had to do my video without weights. The way the facility was set up made it seem like it used to be two hotel rooms that were converted. While I was working out, the housekeeping staff kept using the walkway as a cut-through to get from one side of the hotel to the other. Everytime one of them would see me, they would give me that "startled look" of "what are you doing in here" and apologize for interrupting.)

Back to my point, I've been exercising consistently (5-6 days per week) since February. I've made a concerted effort to eat right over the same period of time. In my opinion, that's long enough to establish routines and to call those things habits. Yet, since I've been back from Norway, I have not been eating as well as I was before I left, and I have had to fight with myself to get back into an exercise routine. Sure I exercised this weekend, but it was more of a struggle than it should have been. I have had absolutely no desire to workout. I made it through double sessions of the Shred on Saturday and Sunday (Level 2 followed by Level 3 both days), but I have never hated Jillian more, not even when I first started doing the Shred.

I took Monday morning off back, and I'm back with the trainer later this morning, so I'm really hoping that I can get myself back into gear.