Alright, I made a decision. I'm going to keep working out and counting calories. I assume I'll keep losing for a while and I'll plateau at some point in the not-so-far future. If I had to guess a number, I'd say somewhere around 138. That'd be about 7 lbs lower than I am now and about 6-10 lbs more than I was in HS. Solidly in the healthy range. (Side note: Steve and I were talking about this and he said, "so you think BMI is BS but you're still going by it?" Um, yes. And no, I don't have a great reason why. The closest I could come up with is because some doctors go by it and I don't want to be happy with me just to have a doctor tell me I should lose a few lbs. I know, who cares? I do.) So that is my plan. Nice and ambiguous, lol.
Okay, week 4 is back to TF cardio! I'm sore but so happy. And then I looked at the schedule for the next few weeks...after this week, there's only one TF WO each week until week 9! Most of the cardio is Burn Intervals or Burn It Off. They work, they're effective, they're not my favorite. My wonderful friend Amy suggested subbing a Fire or HIIT WO for some of those, because she did CLX and it does get repetitive. Brilliant!
In other news, one pair of jeans that I wore at goal last summer are getting a bit loose. So are my favorite pj pants. Nora almost pantsed me this morning. This is exciting news! But I'm a little sad too, when I'm shrinking out of favorite clothes. Looks like I may need to go shopping again soon. Or at least pull more old clothes out of my closet to see what fits. Um, confession: I have clothes packed away from HS. I think one pair of jeans is even from 8th grade. I doubt I'll wear most of them now, but it'd be nice to see if they fit. I'm apparently looking younger now too. My baby sister is 22 and beautiful. She went to a girls' night out with me and people were asking if we were twins and which one of us is older! I'm 27, a full 5 years older than her, plus I've had 3 kids. Talk about an ego boost! Want to look younger? Eat healthy, work out, drink tons of water. I also recently started using face lotion consistently. I think it was a combo of getting older and dry winter skin, but I have this persistent line across my forehead that is getting deeper. The lotion seems to have helped a bit. But the biggest thing that makes me look younger is definitely that I'm much thinner and more confident now.
Go work out! It's an endorphin rush, burns calories, relieves stress, and so many other good things! And it just could make you look younger. ;)
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Pre-pregnancy weight and healthy BMI!!!
Yesterday the scale said 145.2! I was so excited to be that close to 145.0 or below. But I did check my notebook and technically my pre-pregnancy weight was 145.8, so I did it! Not by 9 months, but by 9 months and 10 days. :)
Yesterday was a rest day. I did fine on my calories but honestly expected the scale to be up a bit today (sometimes it teases me with a pretty number and jumps up the next day). Plus I weighed myself earlier than normal (MOPS this morning), which sometimes means the number is slightly higher. To my shock and utter excitement, it said 144.8! Eeeeee!!! Let me explain. 145.0 or below means my BMI is healthy. You know how I feel about BMI. But it's still a victory to be "healthy" or "normal."
So I met both goals. Now what? Well, I'm not going to quit working out or start eating fast food all the time or anything. I'll stick to my exercise schedule (which takes me through May 22). I'll still watch my calories. From there it gets a bit fuzzier. Do I want to try for a lower weight? If so, how much lower? One person has already told me if I get any thinner I'll blow away. I'm firmly in an 8 right now, so a healthy normal size. And I have a good amount of muscle. And I don't want to get too wrapped up in the scale and get obsessed. I know my body image issues still need work and if my goal is a number rather than health, I know I could be getting onto a slippery slope. I haven't decided yet if I'm good here or if I want to try to tone up a bit more (which will happen with CLX anyway) or what. Maybe I could be a size 6! Idk. If I focus on fitness, what's my goal? How do I measure it? Or do I try to maintain where I am? So much to consider. What I decide to do weight-wise will affect what I do as far as diet. If I'm maintaining, I'll probably keep counting calories for a bit, maybe slowly increase them so I know how many calories I need to maintain. I'll probably loosen my tracking a little but still try to make smart choices. I don't think it's sunk in yet that I met my goal. I'll let you know what I decide. Ah, decisions! ;)
Yesterday was a rest day. I did fine on my calories but honestly expected the scale to be up a bit today (sometimes it teases me with a pretty number and jumps up the next day). Plus I weighed myself earlier than normal (MOPS this morning), which sometimes means the number is slightly higher. To my shock and utter excitement, it said 144.8! Eeeeee!!! Let me explain. 145.0 or below means my BMI is healthy. You know how I feel about BMI. But it's still a victory to be "healthy" or "normal."
So I met both goals. Now what? Well, I'm not going to quit working out or start eating fast food all the time or anything. I'll stick to my exercise schedule (which takes me through May 22). I'll still watch my calories. From there it gets a bit fuzzier. Do I want to try for a lower weight? If so, how much lower? One person has already told me if I get any thinner I'll blow away. I'm firmly in an 8 right now, so a healthy normal size. And I have a good amount of muscle. And I don't want to get too wrapped up in the scale and get obsessed. I know my body image issues still need work and if my goal is a number rather than health, I know I could be getting onto a slippery slope. I haven't decided yet if I'm good here or if I want to try to tone up a bit more (which will happen with CLX anyway) or what. Maybe I could be a size 6! Idk. If I focus on fitness, what's my goal? How do I measure it? Or do I try to maintain where I am? So much to consider. What I decide to do weight-wise will affect what I do as far as diet. If I'm maintaining, I'll probably keep counting calories for a bit, maybe slowly increase them so I know how many calories I need to maintain. I'll probably loosen my tracking a little but still try to make smart choices. I don't think it's sunk in yet that I met my goal. I'll let you know what I decide. Ah, decisions! ;)
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Week 3 TF/CLX
Yesterday started week 3. I bought new weights (yay!), which cut way down on my workout time. The old ones I was using were the threaded bolt kind (not sure if that's what they're really called but I think you know what I mean) and the nut didn't spin smoothly. Although it probably helped me burn way more calories, twisting those off and on between each set added a lot of time to my WO. The new set has the squeeze clamps, which are so much quicker. But the set came with 4-2.5 lb weights and 4-7.5 lb weights. Which only meant 5, 15, or 20 lbs using both dumbbells. Not real helpful for me. So I bought two sets. It was still less expensive than a bigger weight set with weight combinations better suited to me. But I bet I looked funny pushing a shopping cart with 80 lbs worth of weight sets around the store and parking lot. Think anyone thought they were actually for me? ;)
I also bought a pair of weight lifting gloves in medium. Uh, they're too big. I took them off before I got them sweaty and I need to exchange them for small. I'm realizing I am small. I also had to get my wedding rings resized. I was afraid I would lose them otherwise. That was unexpected, since I'm not much smaller now than I was when we got engaged and married. Apparently my ring size is now 5 1/4.
I have to say I'm starting to enjoy CLX a bit more now. I did add two HIIT drills to last week's schedule and I'm not quite as sore now. I also began to wonder if I was building enough muscle that I need more food to fuel my metabolism. So I decided to eat at the upper end of my calorie range instead to staying in the lower end where I have been. Low and behold, I lost weight! I'm down to 146.6 now and eating more. Awesome! I love food. I'm trying to be smart and make sure I'm eating more good calories (fruits, veggies, not just sweets or junk). It's freaking awesome though that I can eat more and still lose weight.
Now, I need to address an issue. Obviously my take on the program so far has been contingent on what the scale says. That's not good. The scale is a poor indicator of anything other than body weight. It doesn't tell you if you're carrying extra water, if you gained muscle or lost fat, or if you've lost inches or increased your endurance or flexibility or anything. It's not good to be so hung up on the scale. This leads back to my rant over the BMI. Plugging just weight and height in doesn't really tell you much at all. Waist measurement or body fat measurement is so much more telling about your health. Yes, weigh yourself. But don't let that be the only thing you look at to measure your progress. I'm guilty of this. I discount all the other good I've done if the scale stays the same or goes up. It's something I'm trying to work on. Honestly, I'm currently 1 lb overweight. Once I'm down one more lb and in the normal range, I'll be happy. Or will I? Does that 1 lb really make a difference in my health? Probably not.
I'm challenging myself (and you) to celebrate how far I've come and how much I have accomplished rather than getting down on myself for not being 1 lb lighter. I'm much more healthy than I was 6 months ago. I feel better. I look a lot better. I like myself and am proud of myself again. I'll lose that lb. But it's more important that I take care of myself and love myself than it is to cross an arbitrary line. So look through old pictures or pull out old clothes and marvel at your progress. You're awesome and you're succeeding!
I also bought a pair of weight lifting gloves in medium. Uh, they're too big. I took them off before I got them sweaty and I need to exchange them for small. I'm realizing I am small. I also had to get my wedding rings resized. I was afraid I would lose them otherwise. That was unexpected, since I'm not much smaller now than I was when we got engaged and married. Apparently my ring size is now 5 1/4.
I have to say I'm starting to enjoy CLX a bit more now. I did add two HIIT drills to last week's schedule and I'm not quite as sore now. I also began to wonder if I was building enough muscle that I need more food to fuel my metabolism. So I decided to eat at the upper end of my calorie range instead to staying in the lower end where I have been. Low and behold, I lost weight! I'm down to 146.6 now and eating more. Awesome! I love food. I'm trying to be smart and make sure I'm eating more good calories (fruits, veggies, not just sweets or junk). It's freaking awesome though that I can eat more and still lose weight.
Now, I need to address an issue. Obviously my take on the program so far has been contingent on what the scale says. That's not good. The scale is a poor indicator of anything other than body weight. It doesn't tell you if you're carrying extra water, if you gained muscle or lost fat, or if you've lost inches or increased your endurance or flexibility or anything. It's not good to be so hung up on the scale. This leads back to my rant over the BMI. Plugging just weight and height in doesn't really tell you much at all. Waist measurement or body fat measurement is so much more telling about your health. Yes, weigh yourself. But don't let that be the only thing you look at to measure your progress. I'm guilty of this. I discount all the other good I've done if the scale stays the same or goes up. It's something I'm trying to work on. Honestly, I'm currently 1 lb overweight. Once I'm down one more lb and in the normal range, I'll be happy. Or will I? Does that 1 lb really make a difference in my health? Probably not.
I'm challenging myself (and you) to celebrate how far I've come and how much I have accomplished rather than getting down on myself for not being 1 lb lighter. I'm much more healthy than I was 6 months ago. I feel better. I look a lot better. I like myself and am proud of myself again. I'll lose that lb. But it's more important that I take care of myself and love myself than it is to cross an arbitrary line. So look through old pictures or pull out old clothes and marvel at your progress. You're awesome and you're succeeding!
Monday, January 10, 2011
Week 2 TF/CLX
Today begins week 2! I have to be honest: I don't like it so far. My calorie burn has been really slow since this is supposed to immediately follow up TF and be a recovery period. Tons of yoga and core with a little strength training. I've added HIIT WOs so I would burn more calories. The scale hasn't budged. In fact, it went up a little when I wasn't as careful with my eating over the weekend. So I'm right at 150. Sigh. This week and next week are still recovery. I like that it's easing into CLX, so I'm sticking with it and adding HIITs. I trust Chalene and know I'll get awesome results, but it's really hard that weight was falling off me and now I'm stuck because I'm barely burning anything through exercise. I didn't make my 9 month goal. And I feel like I would have if I had stuck with MY schedule. I've also realized I'm a cardio addict. I was seriously craving cardio last week. So I'll do HIITs to fill my cravings. (Wow, that actually sounds like an addict - take a HIIT!) But I am so looking forward to week 4 when the Fire and HIIT WOs are reintroduced. On the plus side, my biceps are impressive already. And I think I'm thinning out more. At least I made it into my pre-pregnancy pants if not down to the weight. Check back for more. :)
Sunday, January 2, 2011
A new decade for the new year!
Been a while, huh? Luckily it hasn't been a while since I worked out or tracked my calories, just a while since I blogged about doing it.
The plan for December was to do a mix of Turbo Jam and TurboFire. A week in, I decided that was too easy so I worked up a schedule to follow.
Monday - Fire WO and abs or core
Tuesday - HIIT and strength training
Wednesday - longer Fire WO
Thursday - HIIT and ST
Friday - Fire WO and abs or core
Saturday - rest
Sunday - rest
That worked out well and built in a little more flexibility to accommodate crazy holiday schedules. I kept my eating (mostly) in check and I'm now down to 148.2! Well, okay, today was 149.2, but I went a bit overboard with my eating on NYE and I'm still recovering.
I have one week until Nora is 9 months old. I have about 3 lbs to pre-pregnancy weight so I think I've got that made. I'm wearing most of the clothes I did last summer. One pair is even size 6! It's totally vanity sizing but wearing those on Christmas day and knowing I was back in the 140s was the best present I could have given myself.
I've been trying to decide what to do about my LTG (long term goal). After Mia was born, it was between 130 and 140. Then last summer I was happy at 145 so I just maintained there. I'm pretty happy with my body right now but I'm wondering how much better I could look. I'm trying to find a balance between pushing myself and not letting it become an obsession. So my plan is to reach 145 and then just focus on my fitness level. Since I'm starting a round of the TurboFire/Chalean Extreme hybrid tomorrow, I know I'll keep losing weight and inches. I've never been below an 8/9 in my adult life so I'm interested to see what size I could be. And I don't think I've been below 143 since I've been out of college. I'm not sure it's realistic to try to reach 128 (my HS weight) on the scale, but I'm curious if I could. But knowing my obsessive nature, I don't think that should be the goal. So I'll aim for healthy, which is anything 145 or below (no way I could ever get below 108 which is the lowest point of healthy for my height).
I also became a Beachbody coach! So if you read this (I think I have two readers, lol) and want a Beachbody product, let me know. My site is here. I made my first sale today! I'm excited about being an active coach now, but I'm honestly more excited for my friend to get and (hopefully) love Turbo Jam and get awesome results from it. Beachbody products, specifically Turbo Jam and TurboFire, have changed my life for the better. That's the gift I want to give others.
Happy Healthy New Year!
The plan for December was to do a mix of Turbo Jam and TurboFire. A week in, I decided that was too easy so I worked up a schedule to follow.
Monday - Fire WO and abs or core
Tuesday - HIIT and strength training
Wednesday - longer Fire WO
Thursday - HIIT and ST
Friday - Fire WO and abs or core
Saturday - rest
Sunday - rest
That worked out well and built in a little more flexibility to accommodate crazy holiday schedules. I kept my eating (mostly) in check and I'm now down to 148.2! Well, okay, today was 149.2, but I went a bit overboard with my eating on NYE and I'm still recovering.
I have one week until Nora is 9 months old. I have about 3 lbs to pre-pregnancy weight so I think I've got that made. I'm wearing most of the clothes I did last summer. One pair is even size 6! It's totally vanity sizing but wearing those on Christmas day and knowing I was back in the 140s was the best present I could have given myself.
I've been trying to decide what to do about my LTG (long term goal). After Mia was born, it was between 130 and 140. Then last summer I was happy at 145 so I just maintained there. I'm pretty happy with my body right now but I'm wondering how much better I could look. I'm trying to find a balance between pushing myself and not letting it become an obsession. So my plan is to reach 145 and then just focus on my fitness level. Since I'm starting a round of the TurboFire/Chalean Extreme hybrid tomorrow, I know I'll keep losing weight and inches. I've never been below an 8/9 in my adult life so I'm interested to see what size I could be. And I don't think I've been below 143 since I've been out of college. I'm not sure it's realistic to try to reach 128 (my HS weight) on the scale, but I'm curious if I could. But knowing my obsessive nature, I don't think that should be the goal. So I'll aim for healthy, which is anything 145 or below (no way I could ever get below 108 which is the lowest point of healthy for my height).
I also became a Beachbody coach! So if you read this (I think I have two readers, lol) and want a Beachbody product, let me know. My site is here. I made my first sale today! I'm excited about being an active coach now, but I'm honestly more excited for my friend to get and (hopefully) love Turbo Jam and get awesome results from it. Beachbody products, specifically Turbo Jam and TurboFire, have changed my life for the better. That's the gift I want to give others.
Happy Healthy New Year!
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