nightflower99’s BodyBlog

So after our short underway period where I was working nights, I’ve been struggling to get back into the daycheck routine again. i have no problems getting up for work, as I usually wake up by about 0200. But by about 1300, I’m exhuasted, and I usually have three hours left in the shift. This has just been for the last couple of days, but after working out twice daily underway, to receed to not working out at all in the past three days is sheer blasphemy. I’ll get back into it, but I feel like I should be on an episode of cheaters for not hitting the gym. I have managed to ease my way back into my carb-restricted diet. I know, I know–low-carb diets aren’t a long term fix. At the moment, I’m just trying to do what i can to lose as much weight as i can in the next 60 days, and counting carbs has worked wonders for me the past two years when other techniques failed miserably.  I don’t half step when I get to that gym though, and I won’t set foot in there if I’m as worn out as I have been these past couple of days. I hope to be able to resume my routine tomorrow.

Last night i incorporated some major changes in my routine. I’m always so hesitant to use heavier weights because i defintaley don’t need any more mass. I just need to increase my lean muscle mass, and it’s been a true struggle trying to find the happy medium in my training that works for my body type. I went with a comfortable muscle group for me to mix it up with–bi’s and tri’s, and went up to (using dumbells)4 sets of 20 reps with 15 pounds on the basic moves–concentration curls, overhead triceps, and 7/7/7’s on the curl bar with 20 pounds added to the bar. Felt great. Saw veins popping that usually just surface whenever i’m at work carring something too heavy. But, I liked the way I felt last night…it hurts today, but i’m ready to get back in the gym right now! Im in between ship and shore a lot more right now than i care to be, but i get a great workout no matter where i’m at!

Every January for the past three years, I’ve been on some type of plan to lose weight and always succeed. I just never go all the way and try to make it to my dream weight of 150 pounds because I’ve always thought it was unttainable. But losing 34 pounds in four months last year got me thinking that I might actually be able to get to that goal weight of 150, and I have to admit that I’m hesitant to set my goals that high due to fear of massive failure. I got from 207 to 173 between January 2008 and Aprill 2008, but I’m still not satisfied. I just see the potential in my body when I’m at home passing by the mirror or when I do my light routines in my home–I see muscles in my legs that I never thought were there….I’ve never had any definition in my thighs at all, and it’s awesome to see the beginning of what might actually be what I really look like under this….shroud. This afternoon i weighed in at 179, and though I’ve been kicking that cardio up since I’m finally settled in my new place and new duty station, I haven’t gotten the diet back on track. I’m not worried about the little six pound weight gain since my big loss because i went for a couple of weeks without working out during the holidays when I was home on leave –I’ll get that off in two weeks, easy.

I found out that 1) it’s possible to have more than one heart murmur and 2), i have three small ones. Not sure exactly how to take that. I don’t feel any different–in fact, i think i could run all day long if my knees and ankles would cooperate. I have the beginning stages of arthritis in my right knee, and I feel that right ankle surgery from last year every time I hit the treadmill. But jogging seems to be the way to go to help me keep my weight down. I like to use the elliptical to mix things up, but something about even being able to complete a four mile jog is just so…liberating. I’m in the process of re-thinking my resistance routine too, because I think it’s dated and needs to be more challenging for me to see the kind of results that I really believe I can get.

This year is going to be a challenging one, but I think it’s going to be a very rewarding one as well and I am looking forward to making things happen in 2009.

I am not dieting right now, but rather just watching my food intake. The workouts are still going great and I still see alot of definition that was flab four months ago. My weight fluctuates between 174 and 178 week to week, so I’m still on the right track. I just need to buckle down and resume with the carb cycling to help my numbers drop. Nothing is more motivating than watching that scale number decrease. I actually believe I can make it to my goal of 153; for the first time in my adult life, I can actually see myself attaining that goal. It keeps me motivated on days I don’t feel like working out.

I haven’t trained in 7 days and it’s killing me! I had my wisdom teeth removed last Friday June 13th. The top two came out easily but my bottom one was large and resistent and is healing slowly and painfully. The doc has already treated me for dry socket so I’m walking around with tobacco packed in the painful socket. The slightest movement of my head or neck is excruciating, so I haven’t seen the inside of my gym since last Thursday…..I do NOT know what to do with myself! I’m trying not to dope myself up more than neccessary in hopes that I’ll be well enough to just get myself to the elliptical if nothing more. I wake up early enough, so I hope I’ll be able to hang in the morning.

I haven’t resumed hardcore dieting since the weigh-in two weeks ago, but I have kept at the cardio portion. For me to continue losing weight though, I’m going to have to get back into carb cycling and get more aggressive about mixing the resistence with the cardio. Right now I just love the deadline-free treadmill jogs. I can just get on the treadmill or elliptical, turn up my IPOD, and just drift off into my own world. I love watching the sweat bead and drip off of my shoulders…even the sting of the sweat at the corners of my eyes is refreshing in some weird way…and I don’t feel pressured at all to fall into a particular routine…i’m just working out because I want to, and because it makes me feel great. Even during those particular times of the month, jogging seems to ease my cramping and lessen the bloating. What a great natural cure for a case of the blah! My plan is to keep the carefree cardio up for another two weeks, but to resume carb cycling on Monday. We’ll see how that goes.

I made it. I weighed in at 174 pounds for the PRT. Back in January (when I weighed 207 pounds), I decided that I was going to make 176 my goal weight for the Spring 2008 PRT. Now that I’ve exceeded that goal by 2 pounds, my next goal is to keep going and take this opportunity to get below the maximum weight for my height by Navy Standards (154). I have about five months until I transfer to my next command, and I feel that I have plenty of time to take my training slower, focus more on light resistence training and less on plain cardio. I quit lifting over a month ago and focused more on cardio for the weigh in–I build muscle so quickly and didn’t want that to make my weight spike before we completed weigh-ins. Now that I’m done with that for the next six months, it’s time to work on my lower body definition for real!

Well I can’t complain at all. My weight still fluctuates, but I weighed in at 181 twice last week. The inches are a little strange. I seem to have gained an inch on my hip measurement. The Navy measures your "hips" around the largest part of your butt, so I’m already at a disadvantage right off the bat. I decided to cut out lower body resistence training until after the PRT. I run for 30-45 minutes on the treadmill and follow that with a 13% incline walk for up to 30 minutes. The speed for that is between 3.7-4.0 mph. My total cardio time is 60 minutes, and I vary that based on how my ankle is feeling. Sometimes I feel like running longer than 30 minutes, sometimes I like feeling that stretch in my hamstrings and glutes with the incline walk more.

So I’m not exactly sure why I have an extra inch around the butt with all this cardio, but I only have a week and a half left.  I still think I’ll be okay. I’ve lost 26 pounds at this point and I see the difference in my arms. I’ve gone from a size 16 to a size 12, and some of those size 12 jeans are loose now. So I’m doing something right. I just hope it’s enough.

I’m doing enough to maintain my weight loss. I’m not doing enough to lose any more weight though. I’m not doing a very good job of carb cycling like i was a few weeks ago. I keep floating between 183 all the way up to 186 and back down again. I began water pills (XPel) and a fatburner (Lipo-6X) to help break up my plateau. I’ve lost 21 pounds, and I needed to lose 31 pounds for the weigh-in. I don’t know that I can actually make it to 176 in the next three weeks, but I know that I can try harder to get my diet under control and not allow myself any reason to eat improperly. I’ve not been pigging out, but I have allowed myself to have large bowls of sugary cereal (Lucky Charms) on days when I was supposed to be eating less than 130 carbs a day. It makes a big difference on that scale. The other thing is that I allowed my meals at work to become less than planned out.This is dangerous since I consume every meal except dinner while on base during the day. I didn’t go grocery shopping on time and took whatever I could find to work–then didn’t even eat it. I don’t always take the time and eat on schedule, either. I know what I need to do–the workouts are not the problem at this point–it’s the diet. I don’t have a problem burning 720 calories with my afternoon cardio routine (this is in addition to the 400 calories I burn on the treadmill in the morning before work). This week’s challenge is to be as disciplined in my carb cycling as I was one month ago.

It’s Navy PRT season. I’m four weeks away from my official measurements and I’m freaking out. I keep getting measurements that are just within standards and my coworkers measured me just one inch over. I’m nervous because I dont know who is going to take my official meaurements during weigh ins, and I’ve lost 23 pounds since I began my diet in February, and I don’t want that to be meaningless. The problem with me is that I’ve always exceeded the weight standards for my height–which is supposed to be 156 for a 5′4 woman. I joined the navy at 165 pounds, 9 years ago! I’m at 184 now (down from 207), and hope to be 179 or below for weigh-ins. I weighed in at 176 pounds last year and was 1% under the maximum allowable bodyfat. The way the Navy determines bodyfat is based on BMI, which is pretty unfair to me. BMI doesn’t distinguish muscle from fat, and though I have a large backside and and breasts, I am in better shape than most of the kids 10 years younger than me. I can easliy perform the cardio and muscular strength tests the PRT throws at me…I just cut it close with the bodyfat every time. Always have. Then I had surgery on my ankle and gained a bunch of weight, but have managed to lose most of it. One month left!!! I have been using neoprene belts during cardio–even wearing them at work with hemmoriod cream! I have really been busting my ass and my ankle, and I just need to get through this. I already have two strikes in a four-year period—the limit is three, and I have been working too hard to fall short now. As a matter of fact, it’s time to hit the gym!