Making_A_Change’s BodyBlog

I enjoy red meat every once in a while. Normally, I’ll eat it every two or three weeks or so to get a break from the chicken. Today was one of those times when I just couldn’t get enough of the stuff. I had steak for just about every meal. I had it cold and hot, with veggies or just alone. It was so good. And I like mine good and rare–got that from my dad. My sister, dad, and I would enjoy are very bloody steaks and watch mom practically dry heave at the table. She would call us cannibals while we would talk about her very, very dry, overcooked steak. Alot of people are turned off by that. The times that I’ve asked for a rare steak in a restaurant, its usually followed by "Are you sure?" I guess they have to be covered in the event that I come down with an illness associated with undercooked meat or contract mad cow disease. I’m over it now. I probably won’t eat it for another month or so.

This morning I worked on my back and triceps and actually wrote it down. But my notebook is in the car, so I’ll record it tomorrow. I felt really good throughout and focused on squeezing the muscles and good posture. I think my arms, by far, have been the slowest to take some sort of shape.

I  was going to do legs today, but I got off of work a little later than expected so I only had 45 minutes–so cardio, it was. I was on the stepmill for 45 minutes. Thirty minutes into it I wanted off, but stuck with it. I visualized my buns being lifted with every step–whatever works! I guess the leg day will have to wait until Sunday or Monday. Tomorrow morning I’ll do back, triceps, abs, and calves if can fit them in. Hopefully, I’ll be able to wake up. Otherwise it’s an evening workout for me.

Before I got serious about working out, I kept meticulous workout journals. I still have them. I would go in with my little notebook with what I intended to do. I wrote down sets, reps, and the weight that I was going to do. If I made any changes, I would write than down. I would even rate my workout. Now, my workouts are more intense and I like to keep moving and don’t want to stop and write. I am going to have to make a better effort to do so. Today, I just couldn’t wake up. My body knows I am supposed to be on ‘vacation’. I’ll be hitting the gym late this afternoon before picking up my daughter from preschool. It’s a leg day–lots of lunges and squatting today. I have my new notebook and I am going to start posting what I’m doing. I made half-hearted attempts before, but as I look back on them, they are really helpful. It documents those moments when I improved, I could indentify the things that are working or not, and I knew exactly how often I am working parts. Right now, I have been training by instinct–what feels good, what isn’t sore, what parts I want to focus on. It is working, but I guess I want a little more structure.

So, there was this link to a women’s figure competition in Vegas next year. I have to say, that I am intrigued. I have never been to a competition before. I think I am going to find a few competitions out here to go to. I think it would be fun.

I have been alternating working my abs and calves every workout and that seems to be going really well. I am almost up to 3 sets of 30 knee raises and I love the weighted crunch machine, and doing abs on the cables. I feel my muscles working more than when I was on the floor. And because I enjoy doing it, I hang in there a little longer when it starts to burn.

I have been seriously slacking on the water. Some weeks are really good and some are awful. During the poor weeks, I can tell the difference in my skin and my body seems a bit more bloated. And my lips stay dry; I have been slathering on the Carmex all morning. And I have to admit, it is inconvenient to be peeing all of the time. Which is probably a sign that everything is working as it should be. My office reacently moved to a place that doesn’t have private bathrooms–there are stalls. So, you can’t have your moment in peace. The last office had stalls which most people used for #1 and a private bathroom that people used for other things.

I am going to finish up my work; I am trying to get out of here so I can hit the gym!!

So far, I have lost (from my highest weight of 185) around 17 pounds. Every so often I am surprised at how taking the steps to change and reclaim my body makes the little things that you take for granted a different experience. Yesterday, I had to go on campus to return a few books and get ready for the upcoming semester. The campus is beautiful, but hii-ii-illy. I remember being thankful that graduate school confined you to one building, because as an undergraduate you would be hauling tail across half an acre of land to get to the next class and then have to sit there all moist and musty! Anyway, I had my backpack full of books to return, my purse and my laptop–things that I would typically carry during the semester. I’ll be darned if it didn’t feel like I was flying. I was hitting hills like it was nothing. I wasn’t out of breath. I stopped by two libraries in record time. It was such a wonderful, liberating feeling. This may sound silly, but it was a little emotional. It was just last semester that that was a bit of a struggle. I would try to find a parking place that was a bit closer to my buiding so I wouldn’t tire myself out getting to class. Prayed that I wouldn’t have to park at the top of the hill. When I would get to class I was all out of breath. I am just so thankful for those moments that tell me why I eat stank tuna, gave up blue cheese dressing, no longer eat bread by the loaf, and wake up at 5 in the morning when I clearly don’t want to. I think it is going to be a very different semester.

Sunday, August 11

This morning I had an aimless workout. Just one of those mornings when I didn’t have a plan, per se. I was there. I wanted to sweat and I wanted to get home. I did biceps/triceps (a split that I haven’t done in a while), chest and shoulders. I was so happy to find that I can do the seated bicep curls (@ 30#) without any pain from the elbow. I am tired of tiptoeing around this elbow, but I guess that is what you have to do. I have been doing cables and occasionally bb curls, but the feeling just wasn’t the same. Now, I am going to milk that machine for all its worth. Unfortunately, it is in an entirely different section of the gym, so it’s a bit of a ‘walk’ and that makes it inconvenient to superset. On Friday, I did some leg work, I think. Whenever I did legs, they’re still sore.  I’ve gotta start writing this stuff down.

Sunday, August, 12, 2007

I ran around the lake with my daughter in the jogging stroller. I was feeling kind of week today and managed to eek out 2 miles, but that was it.

Monday, August 13, 2007

I am going to listen to my body and take the day off, maybe just a long stretch tonight and lots of water. I was thinking that I was coming down with something, but I think it’s just a time for a break and recover. So, your girl decided to try upgrade the chonie collection to reward myself for a job well done. I am ‘moving past’ (but not moving on from) the 6-pk Hanes Her Ways (they will always be a staple) but just trying to change it up a bit. And I realize that I don’t know how to buy underwear or what size I am outside of the Hanes realm. I guess it’s just a trial and error thing. I mean, you can’t try them on in the store, right?–eew. I settled on a 3-pk (I just cant see paying alot for one pair) of reasonably priced, cute, unergarments, bought them, and thought I was really doing something. I put them on and had to pull them up passed my navel to keep them from looking like I had an accident. I guess I don’t have to buy size large underwear anymore. I swear before browsing this site, I didn’t pay much attention to all of the styles and colors because if it didn’t come in a 6-pack, have full coverage, or cost more than two bucks for a single pair, I wasn’t interested. Just another stop on this here fitness journey…

I stepped on the scale this morning and it said 168.6. I could be down another pound, I am going to wait until next week to see if this new number holds steady. I am really excited about all of the progress that I’ve made over the last four months. The support has been nothing short of amazing and really serves to keep me encouraged and motivated. But I have found that my progress has also caused me to be somewhat complacent and more suseptible to regressing to the very behavior that caused me to be 185 pounds. While my overall diet remains solid; I tend to make more allowances. I will have a two, three, four, okay five cookies because, hey, I’ll make it to the gym. I can have that slice of cheesecake, or brownie, or scoop(s) of ice cream because with all of the muscle that I’m building some of it is going to be burned off anyway, so It’s really not like eating the whole thing, right? I can have this or that because I don’t want to completely deprive myself of some of the truly wonderful things that life has to offer. Now, I know the importance of moderation and the healthly allowances that help us to now over-indulge or binge, but tiny daily cheats add up! I don’t confine my cheats to a single meal once a day, they have been more frequent. And I rationalize them away by saying that I look better than I have in years so it’s okay. And husband had no problems with the way I was before and he certainly is diggin’ me now.

This blog is really a note to myself and a reminder to not forget where I was and how good I feel. And to stay focused and not get too caught up in my own ’success’. I want to remember that this is a lifelong challange, not a short term project that ends when I am wearing a size 10 and have a few muscles. It is something that I want to become an integral part of my life. Newchamp (who may not know that I consider her words and physique to be one of my motivations) wrote about making sacrifices and pushing past your comfort zone to reach new levels of success. I made a few August goals, but I would really like to keep this in mind this month.

This morning I decided to get back to doing cardio in between my strength training. I have gotten away from that a bit. I saw the greatest change in my legs when I began doing the recumbant bike regulary and thought it would be nice to get back to it. It felt so different from when I did it 15 pounds ago. My thighs were burning (expected) and my glutes were on fire (unexpected). I did 45 minutes. After around 36 minutes took several water breaks. But kept going. Tomorrow will probably be back, abs, and calves. That’s a new combination for me. And if there is time, I’ll do a 20 minute run afterwards. I think this split will allow me to do more sets, we’ll see.

Last night, I discovered some pecs. I think they are pecs. I have little humps right over my chest that I can flex. My husband caught me posing in the bathroom mirror. He just shook his head. It was exciting, though!

 This morning I worked legs. I did walkiing lunges twisting a 10# plate, another run without weights but lifting the rear leg, and regular walking lunges. I did donkey kicks in between sets. I tried to end it with some squat jumps but almost fell on my face, so I let those go for now. Next, seated leg presses (70#) and calf raises; leg extensions (drop sets 105, 75, 45) and leg curls at 45#. I did some cable curls (3 sets @ 100#) and 2 sets of hanging knee raises to finish it off. Not bad, I wanted to do more but I had to go and get ready for work. I neglected legs this week and did 2 cardio sessions instead. I would like to get my butt a little firmer and I still needd to get crackin’ on my back. I get to eat in about 30 minutes–probably cottage cheese and strawberries.

This morning’s workout was a bust and I think I know why. Yesterday’s eats after around 1 p.m. or so were off. I ended up having my second and third meals within 1 1/2 hours of each other to accomodate and training we were having and the breaks that were set. The result was that I was feeling overly full and then super sleepy. Then a co-worker made the BOMB homemade chocolate chip cookies. I have been settling for okay treats, but these cookies were so good. I had about 4 of those. I try to eat a snack or a shake for the ride home when I get off at five to carry me until I can make dinner. But I didn’t. I was so hungry on my way to pick up my daughter that I had what was left in my lunch–a few strawberries. I wanted to do an art project with her so we went to Long’s to get some paint before going home. By the time we finished shopping, I was famished. There is a hot dog stand in the store, so we ate there. I downed two Louisiana hot links, including the buns. That evening I had around 8 chocolate chip dunkers (these oval cookies from Trader Joe’s) and some milk. So, when I woke up this morning to workout, I had no energy. I tried to pump myself up to no avail. I thought, I can either go home and sleep for another hour or try to get through this. I went to sleep. Today, our school staff is doing yoga together, so I figure that will be my workout for today–my second chance. We did yoga last Thursday too, and it is great. I felt DOMS coming on from one of my workouts last week and the stretching helped to alleviate that completely. I felt really relaxed and loose at the end. My body has been craving carbs for the last couple of days. It got it and I’m done. Today’s lunch is lots of tuna an drinking lots of water to cleanse my system. Ah, it was just one of those days….

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I decided to post a few goals for the month of August to push myself a bit:

(1) Do a second cardio session 2x per week (this will probably Saturday and Sunday)

(2) Consistently drink 3/4-1 gallon water

(3) Include 1 long stretching session every week

(4) Increase the number of sets to 4-5 on legs and abs

(5) Get bodyfat measurements done by a professional

My hope is that these very reasonable things will put me squarely in the mid-160’s by the end of the month.