Melda’s Body Blog

So today I did lower body. Leg press, leg extensions, leg curls, squats (on smith machine), & deadlifts. Felt really good hitting that lower body today. Went to do my second bout of cardio on the recumbant bike that I’ve heard is really good to do…Man am I a weakling (lol). So I’m there and I’m struggling, I was ready to get off at the two minute mark but talk to self to stay on for at least ten minutes (will have to gradually work up the time (lol)). Some guy comes over and starts talking to me out of nowhere (says life is to short and he just wanted to say hi…) That’s fantastic that you have the balls, but do I look like I want to chit-chat right now…Sweat pouring down my face and wishing that I was off that damn bike (lol). I have nothing wrong with someone coming up to me but right time & place is all I ask (lol). So finally ten minutes is up and I struggle to walk out of the gym, I really need to work on my cardio sessions…Anybody else really struggle with cardio equipment. Don’t know if it’s cause I lack that much muscle, endurance, or I’m just not used to working the equipment but same thing happened to me on the elliptical trainer too. Treadmill I can handle but everyone walks so I think my body is used to it. I can start gradual and work up on it. Now I’m an awful runner but….

On a positive note, when I was doing squats on the smith machie I had a guy tell me that I had really good form. I was so happy to hear that, always something that you are making sure that you are doing right. Always think that to myself when I am doing squats & deadlifts. Always thought I had decent form but you can’t always see yourself so it was really refreshing to hear him say that. Plus he said that he sees people all the time with really bad form too, so it made my night (funny how little things make our night (lol)).

Note to self: Do not bring dog out with you for early morning run (at least my dog). So I thought I would be nice and bring my dog out with me to try & do double cardio day. Bad idea. The first portion wasn’t that bad and I tried to let him mark his territory at first so he could take care of business. Unfortunately I have a dog who hates other dogs (except for my pit bull that I used to have, hence my pictures of the two of them) and as I finally get trucking along here comes the first pup and the two of them screaming at each other from across the street and me getting absolutely nowhere with my workout. Finally I decide to head back and some more pups and some more yelling and hooting and to home I go. I love my pup but next time it will be all about me (lol). He’s already skinny, momma’s trying to work the magic too (lol). Thinking about using the treadmill but live in an apartment and would be up at 4:30 am sometimes to do it and don’t know if it would wake them up, it might wake my upstairs neighbor up. Guess I’ll have to do my run outside then. Well back to the drawing board and finish up my sorry excuse for a run on my treadmill (neighbor upstairs off to work already yeeaaahh).

So I’m back on track today…Yippee. Started a little bit late, but stayed with it today. Back & shoulders today along with double cardio. Didn’t go to the gym but worked out at home. Missed the option of my lat pulldown though, will definitely hit the gym next time for these bodyparts. Did my BFL HIIT today, worked me as always and was able to go up a little in speed. Going up very gradually though depending on how my body is doing. Feel like a little bit more endurance is starting to set in. Did treadmill tonight with walking hills. Definitely worked my hams which I love. My legs are so weak yet I’ve got pretty thick legs and although I want to slim them out I want to have some decent size legs and keep the booty (lol).

Better with nutrition today. On my fifth meal and doing good with my water. Bought a gallon jug of water and plan to use that as my tool for how much I drink. Will fill smaller bottles to take with me as needed. Multivitamin in today and my flaxseed oil taken:) So getting back on track. Now to get things ready for tomorrow.

Question??? I was wondering about people doing double cardio days though. How often do you do them and what kind of cardio do you usually do. I will probably try and switch my cardio up while I’m at the gym but I have a treadmill at home and use it to my advantage (love my treadmill , used it more in the last month than I probably have all last year….). I was also wondering if you do double cardio, when do you do legs. Don’t want to go overboard working the legs and give them time to rest, any ideas or advice would be great.

So my morning after getting out of work wasn’t exactly the best start (lol). I decided to stop at Wal-mart because I had to get a few items (cat litter, cat food, papertowels, etc). and I also wanted to get some Lipo 6. I’ve heard how great it works for some people so I wanted to implement it into my plan. I know nutrition is 75-80% but it works for some, so I’ll give it a shot. While there, I noticed some cute summer dresses and figured I’d try some on. Wanted to get one a little bit smaller so that I could wear it for the summer (will lose the weight, will lose the weight, lol). So I walk in with 4 dresses, three medium and one small. One of the dresses had the stretch bandeau style top, kind of hard to explain. The other one had that same material but only in the back. So I try the second one on in a medium and it barely came over me but I got it on. I go to take it off and the damn thing WOULD NOT BUDGE. I was horrified. Why do I try on smaller clothes hoping to find something to wear later. I tried and tried and could not get out of the damn thing (lol). All that went through my mind was …Melda, you fat a** better continue on losing this weight because I can’t do this again. Plenty of clothes sitting in your closet that you can wear. But I wanted the excitement of buying something new and small. Finally I had to unsnag a few of the stitches and with incredible and repeated effort I finally maneuvered the damn thing off (lol). Point of story, no more trying on smaller clothes for me. I did end up getting the first dress though (lol). No worries trying that one on in a small and medium. Go figure.

So as much as the stuck in dress episode increased my motivation for getting back into shape and dropping these pounds, my biggest motivation today has been through reading Making_a_change’s blogs. Great blogs girl. You can see the transition from when she started to become healthy to seeone who was a gymrat and it was a way of life for her. I can’t wait to get to that point. One of the biggest things that I love about her blog is how disciplined she is and how she integrates everything into her daily life. I tend to get very focused on certain things and don’t combine this change of lifestyle into my daily life but instead focus solely on it or something else. I’m sure that this is partly because I’m starting new at this and as time transitions it will also become my daily routine and I am progressing there. Today is about working on that discipline and figuring out my routine and planning my life out for the next two months so that I have everything in place for the most part. Understandably there will unexpected situations or events and I will just have to adjust to fit them in.

I have decided to alter my workout plan a little bit starting tomorrow (today is usually my off day due to class). Although, I will still follow the BFL plan, I will split my Upper body workout into two (back/shoulders & chest, arms) & work on my legs the other two days. I will stay with cardio 5-6 days a week adding some added double sessions in when I can. My biggest componenet will be becoming more strict with my diet. I have heard it from so many people about how much diet plays a role, so it’s time for me to truly becomed disciplined with it. I bought a new journal today to log entries that has enough room for my workouts & my daily intake for meals. I like the online ones too but websites become addicting and distracting for me. I need to set aside time for play on the website and use my working out and watching my nutrition as my learning tool instead. Make sure I have my multi-vitamin, water intake, protein sources, and watch the carbs that I intake. I will stay with more carbs (oatmeal & brown rice) during the day and decrease as the day goes on. The most difficult part for me is when I work nights, it really messes me all up with my meals. Any advice or ideas from graveyard workers would be great. I also get damn hungry when I’m at work even though I bring in food and try to eat every 2-3 hours.

So here it is…TIME FOR ME TO BECOME DISCIPLINED

Just finished my "official" first week on BFL last friday and posted my pics. It has also been a month now since I have started working out again. Unfortunately, I have faltered a little in my progress but I have not jumped off the bandwagon though. I am instead reviewing things that I need to change and going over the plan for the week to come. Friday into Saturday was the beggining of my difficult night shift into day clincal rotation (thankfully only once a week until the end of April). It started off with a good sleep on Friday evening and off to the hospital for 11pm. Work was alright and later home to change and off again to my clinical in Brockton (about an hour away). The actual clinical portion wasn’t too bad. Got to do a dressing and and a couple of IM & SC meds so it was all good. Got home around 4:15pm and my father was at my apartment. He and my stepmother are going to Jamaica to pick up her kids (my step-brother & step-sister whom I have never met, very excited to meet them) and to drop my dog off (they were babysitting or dogsitting I should say for me). Needless to say by the time I actually got into the bed it was after 6:00pm. About 3 1/2 hours of sleep and off to work again. I was hurting. All I could think about was crawling in my bed. Funny as it sounds, I get home and can’t sleep. Around 10am though, I was out like a light. Didn’t do a thing all day and was exhausted. Up at three and watched a little tv and back to bed again for night shift again. Weekend gone by with no weekends completed. Diet wasn’t exactly up to par but didn’t go crazy either. Tonight is fantastic though because I am well rested so no tiredness. Need to be awake tonight because I am doing a one to one so basically I have gotten to be on the computer on bodybuilding.com all night (lol). Going through Making_a_changes body blog and loving every minute of it. Her first month sounds just like how I feel along with trying to figure out what works for you in the realm of diet, changes in training, and figuring out the whole thing in general. The blogs are very motivational though as well as her pics. Gives me an idea of what a year can accomplish. Her body structure is very similar to mine so it gets me very excited of what’s to come in the future…So dieting and workouts need to come up to par so I can look forward to the new me or I should say "GETTING BACK TO ME".

Well as I look at my upcoming schedule between work, school, and working out, I realize….something has to give. Between my preceptor’s schedule & mine and the amount of hours that I have completed, I need to do much more in the future. Financially I can’t cut back on work & the BFL program is supposed to be six days a week….but bottom line something has to give. It’s kind of difficult for me because my motivation has been more towards changing my body, eating habits, and trying to lose weight right now. School has basically taken a second place. That can’t be. I need to involve both into my life right now. I’m supposed to graduate at the end of May….So basically I need to restructure my workout schedule to what can fit in. I need to make sure that I do workout when I can and may just have to stick with the fact that maybe cardio & weight training will have to be completed on the same day and not be able to do my six days a week. Up to now, my hardest days have been Sunday into Monday. The next six weeks are going to be a test of discipline and motivation. I need to get it done and that is that. So there will be some more stocking up of the fridge and freezer before the weekend and some chores will have to take a backseat as well as my blogging and time on Bodybuilding.com but I will still be here to post my pics (lol). That will be my motivation. After the start of May, you will see my a** (many pics of the actual thing to come (lol)) a lot more though…

That said. Core exercises (Abs & lower back) + cardio completed today

As I go onto this track of getting into shape and entering into my first BFL contest/challenge, I noticed something really strange on another website that offers the challenge. Obviously not that many of them were overweight and trying to change their lifesytle,…but instead that about 80% of them had lost a great amount of weight on the challenge and toned up their bodies but gained it all back and then returned to enter the challenge again (not that I’ve never lost & gained, but these were drastic losses & gains over and over again). I know it’s not unusual for people to go back to the vicious circle of getting fat again but seeing that the BFL is supposed to be a challenge that changes your way of life (hence Body for Life), it really bothered me to see people get fit and then let it all drop, get fat and then enter a challenge again. It was almost heartbreaking because these people got into really good shape and all that progress was lost. This is general keeps me motivated to make sure that as I enter into the initial stages of this challenge and begin to make some changes that I do need to look at this as a way of life and not as a competition or challenge that ENDS at the end of 12 weeks but that needs to continue on or I also will continue on with the vicious circle of getting Fat.

Another Upper Body workout today. Decided to work out at home today. Didn’t feel like going to the gym. Minus will use those dumbbells sometime. Poor things are lonley. Also did 20 minutes on treadmill. Added all my goals on my profile page for the year. Including graduation, both my BFL challenges (12 wk & 26wk), possibly running in the Falmouth Road Race & possibly competing in a figure comp. in October. The last two are going to require getting my body into really good shape because well #1. I’m an awful runner but I’ve always wanted to run the Falmouth Road Race, so it should be amusing. #2. I have quite a lot of work to do to compete in a figure comp. A lot of adding muscle and building a good physique for myself and also losing a lot of bodyfat. In general, I like my body structure and I think it fits me so it’s adding everything else into place. They are goals that I will like to complete but if I’m not ready at the time then I will chose another race or competition to enter when my body is up to par. So hopefully I will have enough time to work the magic. The motivation is getting there, need to work on the discipline with my training & diet:).

Am feeling really good so far about my progress. Not phenomenal results but I can feel a change happening. One co-worker who knows that I’m working out has told me that I look like I have lost weight in my face & middle, so that makes me happy. Plus were in scrubs so it’s kind of hard to notice sometimes unless you have drastic changes. But I can feel a difference in myself. I don’t feel as much of a big pooch when I’m sitting down bending over (lol, thank god). I feel lighter and my arms are starting to look a little bit smaller when I look at them in the gym mirrors. Plus I think I’m getting alittle bit of definition back into my biceps. Not much but there’s a little tiny subtle hint there (lol). I’m getting there. Just gotta keep on going:).

Well another Monday is officially over. it is the dreaded day of the week for me. 7 more of the dreaded night shift on Sunday to school all day on Monday and fighting to stay awake and eat clean during the day. Did not have the best diet today. Didn’t eat anything bad…But just that, didn’t eat much of anything. Was a very exhausting day. Didn’t sleep much last night before work…about two hours and then off to the night shift I go and then class in the morning. Got home around 7:30. Lord knows why I’m up right now…but I am. So scale is looking beautfiul right now but I know it’s gonna jump tomorrow when I eat. At least I’m not doing my usual self and scarfing down food because I’m starving. Plus I ate something good when I got home. May complain about my days but I know that it is well worth it in the end. I keep forgetting sometimes. I’m graduating from nursing school in less than three months….YIPPEE. I’m so excited and sometimes I forget. No more commuting for my a$$. In two months I can pick up more time at work and won’t be worrying so much about money. And hopefully by the end of the summer, I’ll get a new grad position at my hospital (God willing). So everyone put in a little prayer for me. To top it all of, I’m finally taking control of my body and working out and trying (did say trying) to eat healthier and make sure that I eat (lol). Will my crappy Monday is over and spring break is next week so no lecture (my a$$ isn’t going anywhere though & I have clinical still next week…but NO LECTURE:)). So on I go back to my workouts and diet tomorrow (today was my off day from working out) and hopefully the scale and my body will be nice to me

Forgot…Also decided a couple of things today. Decided to also enter the BFL 26week challenge (basically two challenges back to back…should give me plenty of time to get me down to my desired weight of 130-135) & also decided that I want to start looking into competing in figure competitions. Have a lot of work to do with my body though. The one that I am really interested in is The OCB Cape Cod Natural on October 11, 2008. Kind of need advice though from Fitness Competitors who lost a good deal of weight and if they competed how far out they initially started losing weight. Trying to see if I have enough time. It’s over 7 months away, so I just want to make sure that I have enough time. Plus my Monday schedule problems will be over in the middle of May also. Will check some of the transformations & Figure competitor of the week for ideas also.

Okay so I’m going back to week 1 of BFL or should I just say adding another week to make it 13 weeks. This is not in a bad way. Someone mentioned another website to me (thank you, thank you, thank you) that is a BFL tracker where you can enter challenges there. I had to post a newspaper with a date and so ended up starting again from week 1 (a little bothered though because quite a few others didn’t have newspapers & you can’t see the date anyways unless you had a magnifying glass (lol)). Anyways, this doesn’t quite bother me…I started new pics yesterday with my newspaper:) (didn’t post here though). My challenge will end on the day of my graduation, which is what I’m happy about. So I’ll have someone probably take my after pics for me instead of fuddling around with the camera and I will have a transformed (well, somewhat) body so I want be embarressed about being in a bathing suit . Went shopping yesterday, so I’m all stocked up and ready to go. So Saturday is my start day…Today I did lower body and it went much better than last time…increased weights so that I got the right intensity level and did 20 minutes run/walk on the treadmill. Did not go crazy on that though, I have enough of that on cardio day (lol). Plus the treadmill I was on sucked and you had to press the button to go up every 0.1….:(  I can just press 4 or 5 and then increase/decrease on my treadmill at home, much better.

 So the transformation challenge that I entered. The winner wins $1000, Top female & top male…I think that I have a really good shot. It’s more about transformation and not just weight lost, which is exactly what I’m looking for. Don’t want to lose the muscle . Plus it’s twelve weeks and I think that I can make some really good changes. Between the tranformation that I’m hoping for and the dough, they better watch oooouuuutttt (LOL).