singer1961's BodyBlog

Back to work

singer1961 — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 21:34:55 +0000

Started back on an exercise program. I’m just lifting twice a week to give my body a long recovery time. I think right now I need it. I’m only doing upper body weights and then adding more intense cardio the rest of the week. Nothing real ambitious yet.

The diet isn’t going as well. I can’t seem to get them both going at the same time.

Happy 4th!

Diet is going well

singer1961 — Mon, 18 May 2009 22:29:28 +0000

I’m back doing Phase 1 of the Fat Flush Plan. I always lose a lot on that diet. I got off track for a while when I was sick, so I gained some even during our "Biggest Loser" competition at my husband’s work. It’s over today. I was hoping to lose lots more, but I did well at the beginning and at the end.

A friend made a deal with me that if I go strictly by the Fat Flush plan for 2 weeks, he’d lift weights for 3 months! Well, I’m going along perfectly, so he’s gonna have to hold up his end of the bargain. My 2 weeks is up on Thursday. I can make it easily!

I’m planning on going on Phase 3 after Thursday, with 1 cheat meal a week, for a month or two and add weights and more intense cardio, then go back to 2 weeks of the Phase 1 if I’m not losing enough weight.

Have a great week!

I’m on a roll

singer1961 — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 22:36:59 +0000

The weight loss is going better. I’ve really gotten back into good habits. I’ve been steadily losing about 2 pounds a week. I’m in a Biggest Loser contest at my husband’s work. I started out slow, but now I’m being consistent. My daily diet has been good enough that I even have room for a couple of treats here and there.

The only exercise I’ve been doing is our long walk. It’s a pretty hefty walk (3.2 miles) with some serious hills. My neck is healing really well, so I could probably get back into some lifting, too, but I hate to mess with success. I’ve been eating pretty low carb, which wouldn’t work well if I were working out really hard. Two years ago when I lost so much weight, this is what worked for me - diet first, then work on building muscle. I gain muscle pretty easily, and I don’t feel like I’ve lost very much, but it’s hard to know for sure.

I hope you have a great week!

Getting Steadier

singer1961 — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 22:47:17 +0000

Okay, I’m not doing great with weight according to the chart. I gained a little. But it’s really better than it looks. I’m getting back into good habits, more good days than bad and the bad aren’t so bad. I had an exercise set back, too. From all my injuries, I sometimes get relapses for what seems to be no reason. My neck has been really hurting lately. It’s bothers me at night the most, so I don’t sleep very well. But it’s getting better.

I can really tell the difference the longs walks make in my weight. It’s pretty challenging with some serious hills. We even ran a little up the steep part. When my neck is better, I’ll get back to weights, too.

I look forward to the next week. I feel very confident about my diet! My goal is 3 pounds this week!!! I can do it. I still have some water weight from too much salt on Saturday, so I think it’s realistic.

Have a great week.

Progress?

singer1961 — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 18:51:24 +0000

My goal of getting back to work and losing the rest of my weight is proceeding in fits and starts, more fits than starts! But I just entered a "Biggest Loser" contest at my husband’s work and I think that will help motivate me. The progress is listed as percentage of weight loss with a username. I intentionally gave myself a user name that people at his work will recognize. That way I’ll really feel pressured to perform!

I finally got the courage to post my weight. I have gained almost 10 pounds since my last posting. Oh dear!!! But I just think how nice that chart will look when it goes down again. I look at myself right now and I’m not real happy with what I see, but I weighed lots more than that in the beginning of 2007. I don’t want to go back there again! Gaining this weight has really shocked me into action.

I’m going later this morning to my trainer to get help with designing a program that I can do with the equipment that we have. We have a lot of the basic stuff, so I think we can work out a solid program.

I’m enjoying doing my cardio outside. We lengthened our walk to include a long, steep hill. Now it takes about 70 minutes to complete. There are several places that are hard enough to make it very difficult to talk because I’m breathing so hard. I enjoy the time with my husband and sometimes my son, so I’m more likely to stick with it. Now just to get consistent with weights, but more importantly I need to fix my diet - back to journaling everything I eat.

I hope everyone has a great week!

Not what I expected

singer1961 — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 22:45:38 +0000

Hi
February was my month to get back to work. I really tried - honest. But I had an unexpected response to trying some supplements that made things worse.
I bought 3 supplements and my husband suggested that I try one at a time, gradually. Well, I tried the first one - a really big seller here on bodybuilding.com - and I felt awful! I decided to buck up and see if my body would get used to it. I gradually increased the dose, like the bottle said and it didn’t get worse, but certainly did not get better. I felt dizzy and had a very upset stomach, which kept me from working out very much, or sleeping well and I constantly wanted to eat to ease my stomach because it hurt the most when my stomach was empty. I gained about 2 pounds. Sigh……..
So, I put those on the back shelf and went to the other supplements. I had similar problems with those, but at a less severe level. I still don’t feel back to my normal self again.
I do really well with whey protien and MSM for my arthritis, but I was hoping to be able to use a fat-burner to work along with diet and exercise, but it made diet and exercise harder, so I was losing ground. Bummer.
Hopefully, I’ll be back to my normal self in a couple of days.
On a positive note, our new house is on a quiet road that is great for taking walks and the hills keep the heart going. We take 60+ minute walks in addition to HIIT on the elliptical. That’s going to help!

No, I haven’t dropped off the face of the earth

singer1961 — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 22:50:40 +0000

My last post mentioned that we put our house on the market. That was in the end of October. We got a cash offer in three weeks, dickered for another week and a half, then only had a month to move our family, the farm, my father-in-law, and sell and remove his manufactured home from the farm! We closed on December 17th. Oh my, that was quick! I thought we’d have 6 months before our place would sell. I put everything on hold - including eating right and exercise. Then we moved during a rare period of snow for this part of Oregon. We never did get the moving van up the hill to the new house. We took trips with a couple of 4×4s.

But we’re in the new house now. It’s a great place! Big, newer (not a fixer-upper like the farm house was), cool deck, really close to my husband’s job, about the same commute for me, has a nice barn (that doesn’t need a new roof like the old one), fewer acres (we don’t want to do as much farming as we were doing before), a great view, quieter neighborhood. And our mortgage is only a little bit higher. Wow, we are truly blessed!

We were able to take some money from our sale to buy exercise equipment, and have the room to have it in the house - where it’s warm! We don’t have everything yet, but I am enjoying working out at home. I’m just getting back into it. We have a really nice elliptical, dumbbells and an exercise ball. We’re going to buy the rest of the stuff used, so we’re scouring craig’s list.

The diet part is harder. I got back into some bad habits that are proving hard to break, but I’ll get there. The music stuff is keeping me busy and that seems to be the biggest obstacle. I really need to plan ahead to eat right.

Well, that’s enough for now. I’m eventually going to post my weight again, but ……. just fill in every excuse you can think of here!

Weight update

singer1961 — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 01:22:35 +0000

Okay, I didn’t post my weight when I was supposed to. I didn’t think the weight after having stomach flu was a fair thing to record. Our whole family got it - miserable!!! And now I’m finally recording last Friday’s weight. As you can see, I have gained some weight, but I’m back on the wagon and will get back to recording my weight every Friday.

Life’s going to be crazy for a while, so it will be hard to keep up with the workouts. We just put our house on the market and I need to keep up with the housework better than I have been! Plus, we’re decluttering and putting some things in storage in anticipation of moving. We’re hoping to be able to take out some money from the sale and buy some gym equipment so we can workout at home. That will save us some money on gym membership and certainly some time not having to drive into town everyday.

Wish us luck!

I’m back

singer1961 — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 09:43:59 +0000

It’s been over a month since I’ve posted a blog. I think I was overtraining and needed a break - so I took one. I have been working out really hard since April. Then I took two weeks and worked out very lightly (but that’s more than a lot of people do!) and was just starting a medium workout schedule when I hurt myself. I wasn’t doing anything stupid, I just have to be super careful because of old injuries from my numerous accidents. So, I got to take another break. I’m back doing cardio every other day and may be able to lift light weights next week probably.

I can really tell I’ve lost strength, but that’s okay. My body needed a break. I’m ready to start up again.

I have gained a couple of pounds, okay more like a few, well, maybe several. But I’ll post my weight on Fridays again starting this Friday. I don’t think I’ll be back down to what I was, but I gotta start somewhere!

I haven’t quit, because healthy eating and exercise are a lifestyle, not something I do for a while and then go back to old, bad habits.

Check back on Friday for the weigh-in, that could be scary!!

No pics yet!

singer1961 — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 10:52:16 +0000

Another block to taking new pictures - the weather! We went up to Mary’s Peak again to take "one year later" pics, but it was too cold to even think of wearing shorts. We had a nice hike and enjoyed the scenery, but the weather was unseasonably cold with a biting wind. Sigh…..

I’ve been on workout and diet vacation, but tomorrow is my day to get back to work. I’m actually looking forward to it. My new workout and diet program was really working, so I’m jazzed about the potential. Hopefully, my Friday weigh-in will have me back down to my last, lowest weight so I start making progress again.

Have a great week everyone.