fitclubmom’s BodyBlog

Last night my 9 year old was up most of the night with a bad toothache so I got her the earliest dentist appointment I could this morning.  It turns out her tooth is abscessed so she has to be on antibiotics to clear the infection before they can fix her tooth.  I feel so bad for her… it’s times like this that my heart breaks because I want to be able to take away her pain instantly or at least have the pain transferred to me. She has discovered the joys of using Anbesol to numb the area so she is comfortable .
I have gotten very used to using the gym at work in the morning to get my work out done.  I am lucky that my work has a pretty full-featured gym on the premises, and I am horrible about getting to my local gym when the weather is cruddy. Because of the dentist appointment and getting antibiotics I didn’t get to work until after 12 today and was in back to back meetings until 4ish so that means I have not done my work out for the day.  I am going to have to motivate myself to go to the gym near home tonight.

Yay… my body fat is down from 29% to 25.7%.  I know there is still a lot of work to do, but it is soooo nice to see that my efforts are paying off!

Today was a cardio day.  I did 20 minutes on the elliptical and 35 minutes on the treadmill.

Today was a great leg workout day.  I pushed myself really hard.  For legs I did pyramid sets of 12, 10, 8; increasing the weights for each set.  Exercises completed:

1. 3 sets smith machine squats

2. 3 sets one legged press downs (using the assisted pull up/dip machine and pushing down on the pad with each leg)

2. 3 sets of step-out squats on the smith machine

4. 3 sets of reverse lunges

5. 3 sets of calf raises with three different feet placements; toes straight, toes in (pigeon toe), and toes out (plie toe)

Then I ended up having to walk up five flights of stairs because they were repairing the elevator.  I usually walk up the steps anyway, but not after killing my legs!

Tomorrow I get my body fat tested, so it will be interesting to see if I have made any changes.

Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure…than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in a gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat.
       - Theodore Roosevelt

Today I worked Chest and Triceps.  I know I worked them hard because my arms did not stop shaking for hours!    I also did 20 minutes of HIIT afterwards.

I found myself struggling with the fact that I want instant results, even though I know that’s not possible.  But I keep visualizing my new fitter, healthier, sexier self and I want it yesterday! lol  I console myself with the thought that all great things take time.  I will continue to work hard and know that that new me is just hidden; waiting for the layers to come off to reveal the new me.

:-)

I will be posting some of my favorite motivational quotes:
There are admirable potentialities in every human being. Believe in your strength and your youth. Learn to repeat endlessly to yourself, ‘It all depends on me.’—Andre Gide

The idea of perfect closes your mind to new standards. When you drive hard toward one ideal, you miss opportunities and paths, not to mention hurting your confidence. Believe in your potential and then go out and explore it; don’t limit it. - John Eliot, Ph.D.

Even the great get greater by doing more of it.—Colleen Wainwright

Don’t reserve your best behavior for special occasions. You can’t have two sets of manners, two social codes - one for those you admire and want to impress, another for those whom you consider unimportant. You must be the same to all people.—Lillian Eichler Watson

Well, I finally got my "before" pictures posted.  Can I just say, "YUCK, UGH, ARRRRRGGGHHH, and OMG, is that really me?!?!"  I had posted another blog entry venting about the rude salesperson who asked me when I was "expecting" and how angry that comment made me.  Well, if I am being perfectly honest about my photos, I can actually see how someone might come to that conclusion.  I still don’t think that woman made the comment as an accident… I truly believe she knew just how hurtful the comment would be, but I still was kind of shocked in looking at those pictures.  My first inclination was to delete them all .  But I know that by having them posted where everyone will see them, I will be motivated to make improvements just so I can take some awesome "after" or transformation pictures.

I also entered two transformation contests, so I am hoping that will give me some additional motivation!

I also want to thank everyone who has said nice things about my new hair cut and color .  That was something else I did to mark the beginning of the new me.

So I got this crazy idea that since I was transforming my body (which includes eating healthy, exercising, and doing flexibily work (yoga)), I should transform my appearance too .  So I went to the salon today and cut off 7 inches of hair and took my color to a very deep red.  I look totally different!  WOW!  I am going to take my before photos tonight and they will show my new look.  I will try to get them posted tonight or tomorrow.

Yesterday was a ‘free’ day for me so I didn’t do any weights or cardio.  Today I went cross country skiing with the hubby for the first time ever.  Actually, it was my first time ever on skis at all.  (I grew up where there is no snow, and I just never really wanted to go out in the snow when I moved).  I guess I wouldn’t call it cross ‘country’ because I only lasted less than a mile and that took me an hour to accomplish .  I fell several times, but I only fell when going down hills, so I don’t feel too bad (well, minus the fall right at the beginning of the trip).  Boy, that was a LOT of work!!  I was so wiped out when I was done.  But it felt good too.  If I keep going, I will keep getting better and able to go longer distances.  Since I worked so hard on those darn skis, I decided that I was going to call that my cardio for the day!

Will you ever find the motivation to exercise unless you are actually looking for it? Maybe it’ll hit you in the face in the form of a taunting comment…"Hey, Chubs!…" or from your doctor…"Unless some changes are made you can expect…(pick one)… another heart attack, stroke, insulin dependent diabetes, hypertension, osteoporosis, the grim reaper, etc." Or maybe you look in the mirror one day and see a stranger reflected there.
Something that will convince one person to put down the bag of chips and get off the couch might not have any effect whatsoever on someone else. Realizing the benefits to be gained is good enough for some, whereas others must be scared into doing something.

Starting a new, active, healthier lifestyle is something you do for yourself, like making an investment in the future that will ensure first, that you live to see your senior years and secondly, that your senior years are spent actively doing what you like.

So try to find your motivation and get up off the couch, put down the chips, and get to working out!

Why is it that we seem to be obsessed with the number on the bathroom scale?!  I made a deal with myself that I was NOT going to get on the scale every day and I wasn’t going to be concerned with the number, because being healthy and fit was more important than a number.  Well, I obviously lied to myself!  I lost almost 5 pounds my first week of working out.  This week I was set to lose close to three pounds.  For some idiotic reason I decide to hop on the scale this morning and just about screamed in frustration when I saw that I was up almost two pounds instead of down.  Arrrrrgggghhhh!!  So of course I started the whole talk to myself about muscle weighing more than fat and how variations in the scale are normal… blah, blah, blah (I think after that part I just tuned myself out ).  Even though I know the answer as to why I am probably up (it can’t be my eating, because that has been great), it still doesn’t seem to make a difference to those inner demons.

Sorry everyone… just needed to vent a little!

Well I did 45 minutes of cardio today.  I tried something new for the last 20 minutes… I put the incline up to 15 and took the speed down to 2.0 mph and walked backwards .  I don’t know what made me think of doing that (I’m sure I read it somewhere).  But OMG did that work my hamstrings and glutes!!  Woooweee, my backside was on fire.  I may have to start doing that one more often.  It is a nice change of pace from walking forward and it really seemed to target a different set of muscles, or at least the same muscles in a different way.  Of course I got some very strange looks, I’m sure I looked quite silly, but it was a bit more fun than I usually have doing cardio.