Making_A_Change’s BodyBlog

My family and I are bringing in the New Year with my parents. Of course, I hit the gym like a bandit. I was surprised (and proud) to see that I was the most muscular -looking female there. I was feeling really strong and I noticed a bit of growth over the passed few weeks; so, I was proud. The gym was definitely divided with the women in the cardio section or the with the machines and all of the men were in the free weight section. I was hogging the cable machine–doing my thing when  man came to work in. I oblidged, since I had it for a while and continued to do other things. Not to sound too ‘gym snob’ but I don’t ‘work in’. It interrupts the flow, and besides, there are just too many other things that can be done to work each muscle group. And while it may be incovenient, the change in routine is good. And sometimes you come up with something a little different on the flye. I have to say, the ‘functional training (a term I found in one of the old Oxygen magazines in my Lavatory Library) has completely changed my body and my focus. I am noticing more definition in my legs, arms, and shoulders. And in the morning, when I am at my lightest, I can now see where abs will go. The best part of today’s workout was getting to go with my husband; I really hope that we get to do that more often. He doesn’t care for weights, but I at least hope we can manage to get a walk a week in and/or start running. We can put the little one in a stroller. And it looks like I am going to have to add yet another meal before working out. It is amazing, the way that the body adapts and changes. I am contantly amazed and appreciative. I also really appreciate this community. The sharing of resources, knowledge, and support is really like no other. It looks like some of the best things in life CAN actually be free!

Happy 2008!

This morning I did 45 minutes on cardio on the elliptical followed by some abs. I pleasantly surprised to find that they were already sore. This afternoon, I am going to see my parents and I am really consdering paying the day fee to visit the local gym–In Shape City. That is one corny name. I would like to do by chest while I am away, plus it gives my parents time alone with their grandaughter-the apple of their eye. I have one sister and she has proclaimed that she isn’t having kids. I am on the fence about more. It is expensive, especially here in the Bay Area. You almost have to choose–another kid or private school for the first child? Live in a nearby city that you can barely afford to get a decent (and free) public education for both chidren? It’s perverse to even have to think this way since a public education is a right. Ugh. Don’t get me started.

Mu husband has been my biggest cheerleader in all of this fitness madness. Last night, we went to his best friends family birthday party. There was this amazing spread of Mexican food. Cheesy, saucy, carby goodness. I didn’t want to be rude, so I had already scoped the table and settled on a spoonful of rice and a small helping of enchilada. Enough to be a ‘good guest’ and get my eat on. My husband says, "She can’t do too much. It’ll put her over her carbs and calories for the day." Unless it is really close family, I don’t say anything about my preferences, I just make due with what’s there. But he was right there, being the carb police. It was really funny. He even refered to me as a ‘bodybuilder’ to his friend. That was a riot. He supports this mad, mad way of being becuase he knows that I feel better. No more complaints about how I look, or what doesn’t fit, or how terrible shopping is, or an obsession with shoes because nothing else looked decent. Losing this 30 pounds or so has taken so much pressure off of some mundane everday stuff. I can throw on jeans and go. I can wear a knit shirts and not worry about bulging out of it. I can get in front of a crowd and have just one less thing to think about. I like it and I know he does, too. His only complaint would probably be that a trip to the store to get milk and bread turns into a major affair with assorted meats and cottage cheese–but the trade off is that I rarely eat out on my own. And I don’t miss it.

Lately, I have been experiencing some lightheadedness at the gym. Like today, I had a pretty intense cardio session (my long one for the week) and I stopped to get to the treadmill for a cool down and I felt like I was going to pass out for a moment. I think I am doing things right–I eat before working out, I drink during the workout, I eat after I workout. Do I need even MORE calories? Maybe I need to play with my carbs a bit. I did lose another 2 pounds putting me at 152 from the last time I logged it in. I am losing about 1/2 a pound a week. That is perfectly reasonable and fine with me. At this point, with the exceptions of my abs being visible and just generally becoming more defined, I just don’t know what to expect. The initial goals was 150# and I am two pounds shy of that. I guess now would be a good time to find out what my body fat is and start monitoring that. And I really have got to get something started with this jiggly butt off mine–looks like a loaf of bread–all in good time.

This morning was legs and yesterday’s rest paid off. I warmed-up and did leg presses (moderate weight/high reps); immediately followed by short pulses until it burned, then calf presses. I did this for three sets. I felt a little lightedheaded by the third set, but walked that off. Then went for some bent over rows (?) for glutes and back supersetted with set ups/shouloder raises with a 15#db, that feeling returned and I drank some water and walked it off, again. I headed over to the leg extension and did damage–heavy weight/low reps–>light weights (90#) and high reps. Okay, now I knew I was going to puke. I don’t like throwing up–who does? I didn’t throw-up once during my pregnancy! I think I dreaded that more than delivery itself. Months of being sick? That’s very unappealing.

I headed outside for some fresh air until I felt better. I am hard-headed and wanted to do hamstrings. That queasy feeling was there, but with more intensity-okay, I got it. No more. I walked that off outside, came back in and stretched. As soo as I got home I made a double protein shake with almonds. I am still a little wobbly, but at least I can say that I worked it. I did some abs, but when I do cardio tomorrow, I crank out more.

Damn, it feels good to be a gangsta.

Yesterday, I did manage to make it back to the gym and hung in there for about 30 minutes. I was still achy and couldn’t squat for nothing. So, I took this for what it was, I needed to rest–badly. Today, I stretched and have eaten really well. I made the bomb chicken and tofu with swiss chard as a side–so good. I will be gassy later and would like to apologize to my husband, in advance, for tonight. On a good note, the water retention has continued to get better, the little definition I have is back, and my knees feel good. I am looking forward to tomorrow morning’s workout–leg day and lots of abs! What a great way to kick off the next 7 days.

I am so excited about the New Year and all that it holds. This whole practice of bodybuilding and the discpline that goes with it has put some things into perspective. I have just been thinking about all of the things that I would like to do and the small things that I should be doing everyday to achieve my goals–just like in the gym. I am so close to earning my MA and want to pursue a doctorate degree in Literacy Studies to support struggling readers at the middle school level. Not that I know what my focus and goals are,  I just need to take the small steps to making the work that I want to do central. One of my first challenges is getting organized. I slack on that and then find myself buried under stacks of papers, which in itself is frustrating and stressful.

I’ve written how doing a long cardio sessions after sessions with Bill really help with the soreness. Well, with the gym closed on Christmas evening I didn’t get to do cardio like I wanted. This morning I was at the gym for all of 20 minutes. I was so sore and stiff–I haven’t felt like that for a long time. It made me wonder if I was just stiff or am I coming down with something because I feel so weak. I decided to go home and get some more sleep and I will try again this evening. Last night, though, was awesome!  I did 15 minutes on the stairmill and a 30 minute run at 6.5 mph on the treadmill. The gym was packed–that is why I don’t like going in the evenings. I could be sore from that. I really pushed. I felt heavy and super jiggly. It is really weird being able to actually feel the water/fluid shaking in your butt and back. I got a good sweat going and by the end the jiggliness had been reduced a little bit. I also keep peeing. When you have alot of water retention, do you pee it out? Where does it go? Does it just get absorbed back into your body?

All I want to do is feel ‘normal’. Periods suck. From the time that I got my period in 7th grade, no one could convince me that they were ‘beautiful’ and a ’signs of womanhood’. I thought they were gross and pains then and they are pains, now. The plan for today is to eat well, drink plenty of water, stretch, and see what happens. I have been taking my multivitamins and glucosamine diligently. That should help a little. I bought myself a new cooler–Merry Christmas to me! It’s a little bigger than the last one, and the last one was pretty big. It holds all of my waterbottles, vitamins, blender, etc. Once you get used to carrying all that stuff around, you can’t imagine not doing it.

December 26

Imagine my horror and disappointment as I drive up the the front doors of my gym only to find them ca-losed. I guess they were going to open at 6:00 a.m. Booo-oooo. Now, I have to wait until my husband gets home from work and do an evening workout. I guess the extra cardio session is pushed to tomorrow. But, on the positive side, I was able to go home and get an extra hour of sleep.

Today, I am finding that eating clean and small feels good, so far. I would just like to get rid of the ‘watery’ feeling. So far, I’ve had:

Meal 1: protein shake with 3 oz. skim milk/ 3 oz. water

Meal 2: cottage cheese and mango, string cheese

Meal 3: Boca burger patty, spinach and tofu

Meal 4: TBD

Meal 5: TBD

Meal 6: TBD

I went to my in-laws Christmas Breakfast with the intention of staying with the proteins and a complex carb (red potatoes). I ended up eating about 4 biscuits which in itself isn’t horrible. Then several hours later I ate about half a doze peanutbutter cookies. I enjoyed the holiday festivities, but I am not enjoying the current feeling of bloat (holding 5 pounds of water, now) and discomfort. I headed to my 24 hour gym for an hour of cardio to ease the feeling but it was closed–darn them!! Tomorrow, it’s back to the grind, very, very low carbs tomorrow (I’ve already plotted my meals on fitday) and I am getting to the gym 20 minutes earlier. Tomorrow is also my double cardio/abs day, so I am sure I’ll be feeling better. In the meantime, I have been super thirsty. It feels like my body is doing what it can to send everything through ASAP. It also doesn’t help that I am on my period.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas, today!!

I really enjoy doing calistenics. It isn’t about the weights, so much as working with your own body, rapid pacing, and hard breathing. Although, Billy did have me stand on two steps and plie squat with a dumbells held between my legs–heavy dumbells. Imagine my surprise when I did that with a hundred pounder–could I rock any harder? My butt is going to be sore tomorrow. I came home and had an egg white omelette with onions a coupe of mushrooms, tomatoes, and a spoonful of cheese. My next meal is going to be a protein shake and some natural PB. I have started using fitday.com, again. I am going to add a little bit more to the daily eats, but I don’t want to overdo it. I like the function that allows you to see your intake and expenditures; it has nice little graphs and tables–I like that sort of thing.

I am sitting here watching MTV’s Made, the show where they take young people and help them reach what they thought were unachievable goals. On this episode, this young lady wants to get fit for her Sweet 16 party and Alicia Maria is her Made Coach. That woman has a body on her–geez! She is muscular and curvy to boot! I don’t know what my body is going to look like over the next 3, 6, or 12 months, but curvy and muscular would be nice.

Well, off to clean and eat…again!

The husband took us for a great brunch. I had an egg white omelette, 3 shrimp, a few cubes of watermelon, 1/2 chicken/apple sausage, 1/2 a waffle, and two cookies over the course of 2 hours. Way more than I usually eat at one sitting, bit I’ll adjust throughout the day. I also took into account that it was early in the day. Plus, I meet with Billy tomorrow, this will work to my advantage. So, no double workouts until Tuesday or Wednesday, I want to be fresh for tomorrow.

Prior to brunch, I worked chest, abs, and shoulders. It went really well–I pushed hard. By the end of the workout I was starving and couldn’t wait to eat. I ate 1/2 a protein bar while we all got ready that held me until brunch.

This 2008 is going to be great! I get to enter the year with family, good friends, and a few swells!

Today, while at the in-laws my husband got the kitchen professionally cleaned. This apartment has been a thorn in my side for weeks. My cleaning efforts have been futile and I have been determined to take this weekend and get my act together. We come home, and the apartment smells really good. I think–Hmm. I guess taking out the garbage helped. I look at the kitchen and it is sparkling clean–the oven, fridge, everything. It was just a really thoughtful and wonderful gift. He has always been that way. When we first starting going out in our early twenties, I didn’t have a phone. His first gift to me was a calling card. He is a practical one–so I married him! He is also taking us to a brunch tomorrow. He said, Don’t worry, I checked it out. They have seafood; so you’re all good.

Today, was a leg day. Plyometrics, leg presses,ect. I got on everything except the hack rack. I did my ten minutes of cardio and wanted to quit at 5 minutes. I pushed for the last 5 minutes then felt sort of nauseous. I went outside for some fresh air. I felt fine after that and went home and had some oatmeal. So, I will be tightening the up the diet over the next two weeks. I am sort of on vacation. We will be working at the school, but the students aren’t there. My workout schedule will remain the same. I am over my carb hump, I can feel the difference. Today, could have been a complete disaster, but I stuck with my lunch. For one of my meals I had cottage cheese with mango, kiwi, and some Kashi cereal. It was really good and filling. The extent of my sweets was the feet of a gingerbread man. We bought a kit so that the little one could decorate them. We had alot of fun with that. She’s still at it.

I am going to go do pirouettes in my clean kitchen and go to sleep. Tomorrow may be chest, shoulders, and triceps followed by 10 minutes of running–or the stairmill. I haven’t done that in a while. If my legs feel okay, I’ll throw in some hack squats. I am really enjoying the ON Vanilla Protein shake. I just stick stuff in it and it tastes good.