DivaInPink’s BodyBlog

The weight loss hit a plateau again. So this time I’m upping the cardio to six days a week. Yep six days in the gym.  Not a problem. If I wasn’t at the gym I would just be sitting at home staring at my computer.  Might as well be in the gym.

As I looked at my picture I realized my leg routine needs major adjusting. I’m hitting my legs like I’m trying to grow them which is one of the main reason my legs stay so thick. My DNA gave me thick thighs anyway so there is no need to hit the weights heavy like I have been on leg day. I need to lean out my legs. So I’m doing lighter weight with more reps with less rest time in-between sets. I’m also hitting the stationary bike for 45 to 50 minutes and reducing the resistance speed so I can peddle faster.   I got to thinking about cyclists. They have lean legs and it comes from lots of fast peddling. So I’m going to train my legs like a cyclist and keep training my upper body in a bodybuilding manner. Not too much weight. I like the upper body so I’ll maintain that training routine.

Well bedtime so I’ll finish my update tomorrow.

 Funny cartoon.

Upped my bench press yesterday. Whoo Hoo!  My goal is to bench a 45lb plate on each side and I’m working my way up to that weight. I’ve been benching a 25lb plate on each side but yesterday I was able to do one set of five reps of 30lbs on each side. I’m so excited. I’m increasing in increments of 5lbs when I am able to bench three sets of at least seven reps of a weight. So when I can bench 30lbs at three sets of 7 reps I’ll increase to 35lbs.  45lbs I’m on my way. Watch out!

Yesterday was leg day at the gym. When doing leg presses I normally do two 45 plates per side. After looking at my stats from my previous workout two weeks ago I decided it was time to up the weight. So I did three 45 plates per side. 270lbs on the leg press.

Today, I’m sore. REALLY sore. As in I’m walking like my legs are made of jell-o kind of sore. 

I was talking to someone in the office and he noticed how I was walking and asked if I was ok. I explained I went to the gym yesterday and his response was “are you trying to get some muscles?” He had that tone of voice that said to me a simple answer would be the best. So instead of saying “Actually, I went from 180lbs on my leg press to 270lbs” I just said “oh I’m just trying get fit and loose weight”. 

Later I thought about that short conversation. I gave him what I thought was a simple answer but in truth it was a girlie answer. “Ohhhhh no Mr. Manly Man, I’m not trying to grow musclesssss. I’m just trying to loose some weight and get fit”.  That’s exactly how I sounded. In truth I am building stronger muscles and a toned well defined body.

I don’t like having to justify myself when it comes to my gym workout and I tend to give dumb down answers to people when I get the sense that a more complete answer will have me in the middle of a conversation explaining myself.  For example. I’ve already lost 20 lbs and I’m still 190lbs at 5’5”.  Since a LOT of women down south are over 200lbs then I look smaller in comparison. But I know I still need to loose about 30lbs to be toned and well defined. So when I explain to people who have commented how they notice I’ve lost weight that I still have more weight to loose I get the “how much MORE weight you are trying to loose?” When I say 30lbs they look at me like I’m stupid. Therefore I now give the dumb down answer. “Oh just a few more pounds.”

Anybody else answer folks this way?

My fitness goal is to loose weight and gain strength. I want to be fit, strong yet feminine. In other words I want the athletic look. Therefore fat burning is a major component to developing the body I seek. I used to jog many months ago but started having problems with pain in the arch area of my right foot. I stopped wearing heels, got inserts for my gym shoes, wore an ankle wrap for a few weeks and got off the treadmill. After a few weeks my foot was better and there was no pain and I’ve been pain free in my foot ever since. Until this week.

I got a bit full of myself. Since I’ve been pain free for so many months I thought all was well.

So what did I decide to do?

Bought a new pair of gym shoes about a month ago and forgot to get the inserts from my older gym shoes and never bought new inserts, bought a pair of everyday dress shoes with a one inch WOODEN heel, went dancing the other evening in a pair of heels, went jogging over the weekend and on earlier this week and the next day got on the treadmill.

And guess what happened?

Yep, my arch on my right foot is in pain. Simple me. What DID I think would happen?

So I pull out my ankle wrap, put back on my flat work shoes with the cushion heel and insole, bought some inserts and made a vow to never jog again. I’ll walk on the treadmill but I’ll never jog on it again. 

I have not been in the gym since Tuesday and I could kick myself. If only my foot was not hurting.

I decided to try running bleachers the other day. Now that’s a cardio workout.  Since my endurance is pretty good because of my love of the elliptical I thought running up the bleachers should not be a problem. And at first it wasn’t. First let me explain my standards. Running up the bleachers and walking down I counted as a rep. Doing four reps I counted as a set. I did two sets with a five minute rest in between sets. By then my thighs felt like concrete blocks. So after set number two I decided to do “half reps”. This was running halfway up the bleachers and walking back down. I refined my set as two “half reps”. After two sets of these I was done. As a matter of fact jogging around the track seemed like resting.

I like doing the bleachers and would like to do this routine once a week now that the weather is getting nice.

When I typed that my thighs felt like concrete I meant that. I felt like I was pulling up the bleachers two concrete slabs. It was a serious development of endurance.

I watched this documentary last night and it was an eye opener let me tell you!  The documentary is about the fast food industry and how the size and portions of their food is contributing to the overweight and obesity epidemic that is sweeping this country.  Supersize Me was filmed in 2004 but it is still VERY relevant today.

Morgan Spurlock did a 30 day test on himself. He ate only McDonald’s for 30 days to see what impact the Mickey D’s diet would have on his health. So for breakfast, lunch and dinner he ate ONLY the items on the McDonald’s Menu. He had a starting weight of 185.5 pounds and by the end of 30 days he had gained 24.5 pounds. Can you imagine that? That’s insane.  He talked about how he would feel bad but as soon as he ate McDonald’s he would feel much better and not long after that he would “crash” and one of his doctors mentioned it sounded like he was getting addicted. And I know people like that. They eat fast food because it makes them feel better but within 30 minutes of eating they are laid out in a stupor. And to me that’s an addiction. When you KNOW something is bad for you and you do it anyways because of the temporary feel good and then you crash not too long afterwards. It’s an addiction. It’s a rush.

As I watched this documentary I noticed how Morgan went from being an alert and vibrant person to a very lethargic and tired individual. Granted eating fast food three times a day for 30 days is a bit extreme (and expensive) but it just shows the effect fast food can have on the body. Even the three doctors and nutritionist who monitored his trial were astounded at the impact this “diet” had on his health in just a month.

What amazed me though is how the portion sizes at fast foods have increased over the years. It stated that when McDonald’s first opened its doors decades ago they had only one size fry and that size is currently the small. So they added the bigger sizes over the years. And did you know the supersize fry they used to have (I think they discontinued that size) is a half a pound!  A half of a pound of fried potatoes at one meal and THEN you add the burger AND the supersize drink of the day!

So I went to McDonald’s website to check out the nutritional information of a large fry, their biggest burger (whatever that is) and their largest soda. (I’m sure the nutritional information for other fast food joints is very similar.) So their largest soda is a 32 oz and for a Coke that would be 310 calories. A large fry is 570 calories and a double quarter pounder with cheese is 740 calories. That’s a total of 1,620 calories for ONE meal. That’s a lot food. So here are the rest of the numbers for that meal. 1,730 mg of sodium, 196 carbs, 155 mg of cholesterol. That’s amazing. McDonald’s has this neat calculator on their website called “bag a meal” and you put the items on their menu into the “bag” and it gives you the nutritional information of that meal. Pretty neat.

So, if you have not seen this documentary you can watch it on Neflix instant online viewing if you have Netflix or you can watch if for free online at this link http://freedocumentaries.org/film.php?id=98  (the video you see is a preview. Click the watch film now link to see the whole film). No registration required. Just click on the link and the movie starts.

Whew! That’s what happened to me the last few days. First, I came down with a bad sinus cold on Wednesday and by Thursday morning I was too congested and “spaced out” to go to work much less hit the gym. I was out for the count. I was better by Friday and was able to make it to work (barely though) and by Saturday morning all I wanted to do was rest my body. I was feeling pretty good by Saturday afternoon and thought I would go see a movie Saturday night then BAM! My monthly shows up. Hey if that was too much info I’m sorry I need to blog right about now.

So that drags my body back under the radar and all I did Saturday evening was go to the grocery store. So here it is Sunday afternoon and I’m feeling like my body is in recovery mode. I’ll be glad when I feel 100% back to normal and daily routines get back to normal. I’m so far off my routines it’s just a shame. Normally, I’m in the gym Saturday, Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. So that means I missed Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday and today in the gym. My body feels like it too. But it’s the mental aspect of not being in the gym that I’m missing right now. Being in the gym gives me clarity and mental discipline. I’m in a slight brain fog right now.

And oh my goodness. My diet went out the window by Friday. It’s just embarrassing. I normally log what I eat and my daily supplements in my exercise journal. I haven’t seen that journal since Friday much less logged a single thing in it. I went out to eat on Friday and ate my cheat meal. Saturday morning and afternoon went pretty good in terms of my eating. But when my monthly kicked in later Saturday afternoon I had no energy to be disciplined with my eating. Here it was late Saturday night and I’m munching on fried tofu. Got up this morning and finished the rest of the fried tofu and then didn’t eat anything until about an hour ago. Spent the whole day sleeping and only woke up to drink a protein shake. Now I’m eating a bowl of veggies and drooling over the idea of more fried foods. Good for me I don’t keep flour in my house so I can’t fry a thing.

The hardest part about the “now” is getting my mind back into a disciplined state. Monday is a rest day in my exercise week but I just might go tomorrow and do cardio. I need a jump start right about now.

My mind is getting a bit back to normal. I’m shaking off that ridiculous idea of fried foods as I realize my body needs some healthy carbs (as I’m sitting here munching on shredded wheat and wondering why I’m feigning for some fried foods).  So I’m making my protein pancakes which is made from oatmeal, a banana, about six blueberries, soymilk, and protein powder. I’m topping it with a strawberry syrup I make by putting strawberries in a bowl with a little water and then heating it up and letting the sugars in the strawberries create a syrup. I then blend it and I have strawberry syrup!

Ever seen those folks? They can be male or female because it don’t matter. I saw one the other day. This guy I kid you not walked around the gym about 30 minutes talking on his cell phone. Didn’t do a single exercise.  Would walk in the most open centered area and just stand there talking. In the way of foot traffic standing there talking. I was on the elliptical and watched him the whole time as he would stand in the middle of the area and talk. Then walk around the gym floor still talking. And I’m thinking why do people bring their cell phones to the gym floor? What is that nonsense about.  For those who are not aware this looks silly. It does not look cool. It does not make a person look important. It does not make a person the center of attention. It makes a person look like today is the second day the have ever stepped foot in the gym.

Then there is the flex prima donna. This is the one who spends more time walking from the weight section to the water fountain on the OTHER side of the gym then actually in the weight area. I see folks do this and I don’t get it. They never sweat so they ain’t working out too hard. And they never go the water fountain near the weight area. Now maybe they need a walk break but when I see the same person over and over and over again as I’m on the elliptical I got to wonder.

Then there is the “skin is in” crowd. These are mostly women. The ones who wear nothing but the sports bra and no other top when it’s 30 degrees COLD outside.  When I see women in nothing but a sports bra in JANUARY then I’m questioning their motives. And forgive me being judgmental but if your body ain’t tight then wearing nothing but the sports bra ain’t pretty.  Reminds me of a woman I saw earlier in the evening. She was wearing this backless dress and a regular bra. Yes her bra strap in the back was just as obvious as a person with three eyes. Some things are just not pretty.

A few weeks ago I decided to add interval training to my workout. I tried it a few times and let that go by the wayside. When watching a dvd about the figure competitor Jenny Lynn I was watching her do interval training on the track and up some bleacher steps. I decided to try something similar in the gym which became last night’s workout.

I started with sprint training on the treadmill. Basically, I up the speed on the treadmill to something I could maintain for no more than about 1 minute and then I slowed the treadmill down to walk for 1 ½ minutes and then repeated the process. The starting and stopping and starting again really gets the heart pumping. I’m told this really helps you develop “explosive speed”. This is the ability to go from stationary to top speed very quickly.

Next, I went to the stair climber. Anybody who has been on a stair climber (and I’m talking the one with the revolving step platform) knows this is the behemoth of cardio equipment. No matter how crowded the gym is and no matter if the wait for cardio equipment is insane you will always find a stair climber available.  This machine will get your heart pumping just by walking up the steps slowly. One day many weeks ago as I was programming the stair climber and it asked me to set the pace I noticed the pace went all the way up to 24. I was setting mine to a 5 and I felt that had the platform revolving a bit fast for me. I could not imagine how anybody could stay on that machine with a 24 setting. To me that would be like walking up an escalator and the thing shifted to supper high gear. You would just fall forward as the machine drove you downward. But I was curious to how fast the stairs on the stair climber would revolve at a faster pace. So last night I set the pace to 17, realized I was not prepared for the speed of the stairs revolving, tripped over the stairs, clung my left hand to the railing for dear life and slammed my right hand on the big red stop button. As I was standing their huffing and puffing catching my breath with my eyes all wide from shock and a few nearby people looking up at me I realized I needed to rethink my strategy. After a few awkward trials I created a system where I set the pace to 17, jogged up the stairs for 20 secs, hit the stop button and rest. I then resumed the program and dropped the speed to 1 for another minute and then put the speed back up 17 for another 20 second jog up the stairs.

I finally got my system to work and I really gave myself a workout. I was breathing HARD trying to catch my breath. But I was proud of myself that I could hold my own on that stair climber at such a higher speed.