NoStopping’s BodyBlog

During the end of March, I felt as if I had made some real progress, but in actuality I don’t think I did. Then I don’t really know what happened but it seems I’ve GAINED again (I hadn’t done enough muscle training for the weight gained to be from gaining muscle mass..)

 So, recently I finally decided to use the school’s fitness room (this tiny room with some machines, it’s small but I think it’s more than I can ask for since it’s free! I should’ve gone sooner..). In the room there’s an electronic scale that also measures body fat. Though I know that these things can be highly inaccurate, I’m using it anyways…It says im 119lbs (sounds correct for the amount that I see that I’ve gained =/ …) and 25% body fat. As much as I hate to accept that number…it’s probably true =( So sad….because the first time I had my body fat % read was exactly a year ago, and that one said i was 19.2% or something =/ I knew I gained fat but I didn’t know that numbers could shoot up that easily =/

 Well, I’m gonna stop with the sulking, because I’m at a new beginning now. School started back up recently, along with a dance class and boxing class I’ve signed up for (once a week each). So currently, my schedule is those two classes on two separate days of the week, plus 2 other days of dance practices for a club I’m in. Dance practice is something I’ve had for half a year already, but I’m gonna be more intense about it now. Then on the other 3 days of the week, if I don’t decide to make it a rest day, I’ll jog/bike and go to the school fitness room for weight training (gotta love strength! haha). Might seem like a lot, but I’d categorize dance class as cardio, and it isn’t as intense as jogging is, though it does raise my HR. Boxing also seems a bit low-activity so far, because we just learn how to do certain punches and form, but that might change after we’ve gotten some foundation down. So, that’s why I might not have any rest days (unless my body is really crying for rest, haha), because after dance class and boxing, my body doesn’t feel too worked.

 I’ve kept this up for almost 2 weeks now. Wow, I didn’t even realize that until now, haha. However, I’ve only done the weight training part once so far. Anyways, my body feels great now, because I actually get some soreness now that I’m working with weights. I’ll try to take some progress pictures soon, so I have some ‘before’ pictures.

As I said I would, I’ve been trying to do what I can to hop back on the exercise train and lose that nasty fat and gain my strength back (and more, of course!). I’ve noticed my face doesn’t look as chubby as before, though it’s still not back to how I was before (progress nonetheless ^_^). I’ve also gotten strength back and more, it seems O.O. I’m quite surprised, but I actually broke my record for push-ups (a record which hasn’t budged in years, although I never really tried to beat it until last year or so). For several years, my record has been 20, but one day I suddenly hit 22! "Perhaps this was a very very strange fluke," I thought, but nope! I’ve been consistently getting 20 or 21 lately!!! I’m so amazed because I don’t even know how it happened. Well, 20 doesn’t count as a record-breaker, but since I had lost my strength in January, I hadn’t been able to hit past 18 for a while. This is so exciting, haha.

 Other than that, there isn’t much else that I notice to be different. There isn’t a noticeable amount of fat loss around my waist, and I’m still working on being able to resist over-eating and over-snacking. It’s slow but, it’s getting better. =)

In terms of weight, I think I still weigh the same as I did a month ago (around 113-114lbs). Can’t really tell, though, since it varies with time of day and all. I don’t really know why I still end up being curious about my weight, even though it’s not really important =P I guess it’s just a habit.

About my foot..it actually felt fine for a long time, but two days ago I started feeling remnants of the discomfort again. Then, yesterday I went sightseeing and did a lot of walking, during which the discomfort/pain really came back. =/  It seems to be going back and forth between feeling healed and feeling hurt.

Anyways, I’ll update again when there’s new progress.

So, along with not being able to exercise during the past month, I unfortunately let myself eat poorly. The result is a 5lbs increase in weight. There’s a noticeable increase in fat only belly and my face. Theoretically I’ve probably gained fat everywhere on my body, but I don’t notice it like I do for my belly and face.

Anyways, my foot was finally starting to feel better last week, and I’ve been to two dance practices. Both times, my foot ended up feeling even better than before (very odd..). But for unknown reasons, the more time I spend walking, the more my foot hurts, though it doesn’t hurt as much as it originally did.

Today, I decided to go jogging because my foot had felt almost healed, and I finally bought some wonderful running shoes. However, my foot hurt again, so I stopped my workout halfway….I’m not sure what I should do about my foot. =/

On another note, I had lost some strength during this past month as well, but about 2 weeks ago I started up my crunches and push-ups again, and I’m beginning to regain my strength. So, although I’ve got 5lbs more of fat and can’t exactly do cardio, I’m going to do what I can to gain more strength for now. Hopefully my foot will heal soon.

I had a fitness plan to test if I could stick to exercising for 2 weeks straight (which may not seem like a long time, but with my lack of dedication, 2 weeks can be quite a challenege haha). The plan was to do cardio everyday (in this case, it was 2.5 miles of jogging outdoors each time), and strength exercises every other day (consisting only of crunches and push-ups).

I started Fri, Dec 26, and I’m sad to say that I will end it today, Tues, Jan 6, but today shouldn’t even count. That’s 11 out of 14 days, well, minus 2 rest days I took because of (1) an emotionally rough day and (2) my foot started hurting. Reason 2 also why I am being forced to quit my 2-week plan =( I haven’t been using ‘running shoes’, but they didn’t seem to be so bad that I shouldn’t think to run in them(I’ll edit this post once I go check the model of Pumas they were). I’m not sure what exactly the problem is, and I don’t really feel sharp pain, but it certainly isn’t normal soreness either. I originally thought that perhaps it was just and odd soreness I’ve never felt before, and ran again the next day (always feels better after I sleep), but it just hurt even more after the run (after the endorphins went away haha).

 Anyways, it hurts when I walk, and it’ll hurt even more if I carelessly put pressure on the right side of my right foot. My left foot doesn’t feel good either, but it’s not as bad as my right. Quite  hard to explain what I’m feeling..but I have some ideas on what the cause may be,

1. I have flat feet and I’m running in shoes that have arch support
2. I’m jogging on uneven pavement; slants to one side for about 1/4 of the run, then the other 3/4 is pretty even.

I mostly think it’s #1, because it sure feels like it has to do with the arch in the shoe that’s messing with my feet. However, I’ve already used these shoes for a couple of months for casual everyday use, and felt no pain of this sort before. Does anyone have any ideas? Also, since I’m pretty sure I’m going to buy some running shoes now haha, does anyone have recommendations or tips on how to buy running shoes? I’ve never bought them before…but I haven’t that much money so I hope to find some sufficient ones that are less than $100…and if even possible, around $60….but it seems running shoes are usually pretty expensive, so I don’t know haha =P