lilly_julia’s BodyBlog

So today I got the hubby and I to the gym for a body pump class.. basically, a ton of squats, a ton of lunges, shoulders, biceps, lats, chest, triceps, abs.. I think I covered all the bases. It’s a fun class, CHALLENGING, but today I lifted a lot of weight! Also the movements are done in time to music and, as a former drum and bugle corps and marching band member, that really works for me. The only thing that worried me was my knee.. I injured my knee skiing about a year and a half ago (on my honeymoon, no less!) and the actual injury was never clearly diagnosed.. so I sort of play it by ear. The pain has improved significantly since the accident, but the last week has not been very easy. It really cramps up when I’m driving. So I wore my knee brace, took some advil, and did the squats and lunges. I’m really hoping I won’t regret it tomorrow, I know those are the two most important exercises if you want overall improvement in strength and fat burning. We’ll see, I guess!
My food choices today were also good.. finally got my husband to try whey protein. He liked it! It’s hard, motivating him to go to the gym. Basically, the only way he will go is if I’m going, so I sort of have to work around my schedule so that its convenient and enjoyable for him.. i know, annoying. But I should be thankful that he’ll even do that much… I used to date someone who smoked, drank coke all day long and had mcdonalds daily. He grossed me out after a while. My husband loves healthy food and being active, but he also loves to eat chocolate and drink beer in front of the television at night. Its okay though. i think once we really get into the habit that he won’t think twice about going by himself. Gotta get over that hump if that will ever happen!

Today I ate:

some awesome oven-roasted walnuts.. probably 1/4 to 1/3 cup.. that’s a lot..
1/2 c. oats with 1 teaspoon raw honey, cinnamon and 5 raspberries

1.5 apples with 1 tablespoon natural p.b.

spring green salad with chicken breast and pita chips

1 oz. almonds

whey shake with soy milk, splash orange juice and blueberries

brown rice and chicken with a low-fat curry sauce (made with vegan mayonnaise and fat free yogurt)

3 oz. red wine.

compared to a lot of the journals I see on here, I must look like a pig or something. But really, that feels like a totally reasonable amount of food to me and I feel good because of it. So there.

I don’t know why, but my energy levels are crap. I’m not very motivated these days. I do drag my ass to the gym, and I’ve been very consistent lately, but I need so much coffee to get me going! It’s almost noon, 4 cups of coffee and my eyelids are still heavy. I want more energy, actually my mother was just diagnosed with Crohn’s disease which is genetic and has extreme lack of energy as a side effect. I don’t think there’s a direct correlation, but who knows.

I can’t remember when and why I had more energy than I do now. Maybe I need a cleanse to get my out of my caffeine in the morning and wine at night rut. Huh, here I am wondering why I have no energy and the answer is staring me in the face. I’ve been able to break bad habits many times in the past, but these two stick like glue.

so the workouts over the past few days have been consistent. I’ve been using Nutridiary to track my calories. Its hard, still, to pass on a glass of wine at night.. and as for last night, a glass of wine and two hunks of dark chocolate! Kind of negates the fact that I worked out on the elliptical for 40 minutes yesterday. Ho-hum.
But I’m going to the gym this morning and that makes it three days in a row. What would be fantastic would be going tomorrow morning, too. Let’s see if I can make it!

Well, the past week has been hard as I’ve had a huge school project to work on, so I’ve had little sleep and have been eating whatever’s there… which is not totally a bad thing, but I have been eating TONS of nuts, fruit, and crackers.. not inherently bad foods at all but in the amounts that I’ve been eating them combined with not going to the gym for the past 5 days, progress has been stunted.

I am trying to graduate at the top of my class (I’m getting a Bachelor’s in Visual Communications) so I am obsessive about my projects being as close to perfect as possible… so I lose sleep and sit hunched over in front of the computer and drafting table for 12 hours at a stretch… my project got rave reviews from the teacher, at the cost of very sore shoulders and back and close fitting a little bit tighter than they were last week.. its depressing but, oh well. I’ve got to do what I can when I can. So I’m getting back on Fitday today to record my calories and then I’m going to the gym later for 45 minutes of the elliptical and 45 minutes of pilates.. that should get me started on the right track again.
Another problem I can’t seem to escape is drinking wine every night.. not when I’m working on projects, because that would just slow me down, but when I feel like a job well done and I just want to relax and forget about all the pressure, I drink one, two, sometimes three glasses of red in a night. Which is really bad on the waistline, not too mention the brain. I have to be aware of this issue and address it. Or else all my efforts will be in vain.

Today I wanted to get into a body pump class at 9:30 am but I have to finish geometry homework instead. Its not so bad seeing as how I am still aching from my first Vinyasa flow class that I took on Tuesday. Seriously, this was not the relaxing, take-your-time focus on your breath - oneness with the universe type of yoga I was used to. It was more like, stand on your head, do a backflip, wrap your pinky toe around your eye socket type of yoga… I like a challenge, that’s fine, I would rather multitask a sort of strength, flexibility, relaxation and cardio all in one type of routine. But it has definitely left me hurting and I wouldn’t imagine doing squat after squat after lunge in the body pump class this morning. I don’t have time to get in any type of exercise today (well, maybe I would if I forego the Celebrity Gossip Blog bullshit I always waste sooo much precious time indulging in). But I am 27 years old and struggling with the high-school level geometry that I was given for homework, Its soooo frustrating, its really something I want to be good at. Ugh.
Another challenge for me, body-wise, is that I quit smoking pot. I had been smoking for 8 years everyday, hence I can’t learn geometry very well, and I just quit three weeks ago. I’m really cranky and stressed out but hey, at least I’m not eating as much!
I’d like to use this blog to record how I’m feeling and express myself about how I feel about the whole weight loss/gaining strength/getting healthier thing is going. It feels better to get it all out, but of course I can go off on tangents. Oh well.

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