staceinspace’s Focus BodyBlog

I have been looking at all of these progress pics and cannot believe how quickly some people progress. I feel like a snail in how slow I make progress.  I dont quit though.  Ever

Ran 2 miles today.

75 crunches

3 sets 12 reps 15 pounds

Was tired and feeling a bit crappy.

I hope tomorrow I can make 6 miles.

After this 12 week transformation I was a little lost as to how to proceed with my training.

Do I REST?  Rest is something i do not do well.  Never have.  I am like a shark, if I am not moving I die.  I do not know the meaning of hte word rest.  I mean, I take a rest day, even a few when I need them, but I firmly believe no pain no gain.

I have decided to up the anty.  To work HARDER.  To show myself that achieving something great requires doing something great to bring that change on.

I resolve to run faster and longer every day.  EVERY DAY.  I resolve to not walk when I get tired anymore.  I resolve to push through the desire to quit even when my body is screaming for me to. It will be all the sweeter when I break through another boundary, another plateau, and another level of my endurance to know quitting can be overcome.

Now if I can just overcome chocolate…

I did it!  I was jogging and suddenly was able to run for over 10 minutes and not stop to walk.  I got my runner’s high and then some!  I ran and ran until I no longer felt my feet or legs beneath me and ran some more.  It is truly marvelous to feel so healthy, so good and so in tuned to your own rhythm that you lose all track of time and weight.  Flow…

I achieved flow.

3 miles

50 crunches

10 sprints

Basking in the warmth of my flow…

i mile hard run

30 good mornings

30 step ups

50 crunches

20 minutes dancing (To Elvis and other fav’s)

8 sets 8 reps curls 10 pounds

15 pound weights push ups and running sprints

30 backward lunges

I feel good today. Going to orientation for kids and picking up son’s "middle school" schedule today.  Junior high is Junor High.  No matter what you call it.  Torture and uncomfortable akwardness.

Glad its not me but feel for my son.  Getting ready for my daughter’s senior year in high school and graduation and all that entails and my other daughter’s 10 grade orientation to her new high school.

I cannot believe my teenagers are this old already.  Makes me work out harder so I am sure I am healthy and around for all of their great moments!

I am pissed off.  PIIIISSSEEEDD OFFFFF!  If one more member of my family, or young girl who hasn’t given birth or had serious health problems and multiple surgeries tells me how S-L-O-W I am losing weight or asks me if I really work out I will freak the f*&^ out.  I work out so hard some days I make myself sick.  I am on my treadmill more than some people are on their toilets.

I lift religiously and do crunches and lunges and for f%$^’s sake run with a 35 pound weight sometimes!  I invent ways to make myself challenged and eat so much chicken I think I have a beak.  Whey protein, Omega’s, fish oil, flax seed oil, water, diet pop, crystal light, small portions, self debasing rants to make me run more, and on and on and on.

I try so hard it is a wonder I dont wake up 40 pounds lighter somedays. People who are not born with genetic dispositions to retain fat have no idea how hard it can be to lose weight especially after a hysterectomy, kids and six surgeries, and a major life long illness that causes me to urinate sometimes 75 times a day.  Some people have body types that cause weight loss to be incredible slow and I am one of those lucky bastards.
I work out hard.  No mercy.  No slacking.  If I am tired or hurting I work out HARDER!  There is nothing more satisfying than working out so that sweat is RAINING down my body and I am in tears.  I WANT to lose my weight more than anything right now.  IN FACT, I eat sleep and breathe my regimen and have 3 f%^&ing scales in my bathroom for accuracy.

All I do is bust my ass to get in shape and be healthy so I am here for my three kids and here as a healthy example to them.  It is not about looking like Paris Hilton or anemic..it is about feeling like me again.  Healthy, in shape and vital.  Feeling sexy and attractive for ME!  Some young people dont get it but will when they are in their 30’s and 40’s.  YOUR HEALTH is why you should exercise more than your appearance or anything else.  They should support and encourage others as someday they will be that age too.
I am 35 not dead.  I think women get more sexy as they age like fine wine.  I think having long hair, big muscles and a workout to rival a man’s is sexy as hell! I know women who go to curves and do 10 minutes and say they are taxing themselves and that women cannot  workout as hard as men. BULLSHIT!

Women are full of shit if they think they cannot push their bodies as hard as men.  I am living f%^&ing proof of that.  If you tell yourself you can’t then you won’t.  If you tell yourself after your workout is done you have nothing left-you don’t.

I got rid of my stinking thinking a long time ago.  I do because I can.  I do more because I need to in order to make progress. I will never quit or give up.  I will die on my feet trying and not on the couch eating garbage.

Not one person in my life who knows me or who comments to me who doesnt know me will deter or distract me from my goal.

Why do people put me down and make stupid comments when I am trying so hard?  Where is the love and the support I GIVE THEM?

Misery doesn’t just love company it needs to destroy others.  Not this pissed off bitch who tomorrow AM will be on my treadmill running my anger off.

I spent two hours in various stores reading magazines and books about cardio and how best to do it.  I read some say forget running fast-do power walking.  Others say slow and steady for 45-hour is the best.

Now, many studies I have read have proven circuit training and mixing it up along with HIIT works best.  I think ALL cardio is needed to lose fat and endurance and intensity are beneficial in different ways which is why I do all of it.

I spend 45-hour on the treadmill somedays and other days I spend 15 minutes running as fast as I can.

I also do crunches and weight training and sprints.  I think diet has more to do with fat loss than exercising.

You eat garbage you look like garbage.  You eat healthy you are healthy.

I am going to take all this info into consideration and I believe they all have some merit.

I personally believe however that intensity trumps anything else because I FIRMLY believe no pain no gain, no sweat and no proof of exertion.  If you can read and be on the treadmill your intensity is off.

So, take these with a grain of salt and realize no exercise is bad as long as it makes you break a sweat some of the time at least!

It is time.  I have been doing the same workout all summer in varied forms.  It is time to step up to more time for cardio, more weights and more speed.

I am tired sometimes of all the recording of my eating and exercise but it has been worth it to be able to go back and see patterns that develop in my regimen and how I fail in key areas.

I have been consistent in my crunches, running and sets but am lacking diversity in exercise and have been consuming too many calories lately.  My body has been tired and I have not been resting enough. By eh 31st I will have completed a 12 week cycle and will have ran almost 100 miles.  Weight loss aside I know I am healthier and more self aware of my eating habits, weak areas and cycles.

I have learned so much about myself in the process of this 12 weeks past and am looking forward to moving on to another new challenge as soon as I have a short break from the regimen being so strict.   I rested for Friday as I had to go to U of MI Dearborn with my daughter for orientation on going there for her next year.

I also feel more relaxed and more able to focus now on my weight loss goals after the summer.

I am looking forward to losing more weight soon here and not being so hard on myself every single day about every little failure.  I am still here, still fighting and still have hope that I can be down to my normal weight of around 130-150, which after three kids, six surgeries and chronic pain would be a reasonable weight range for my curvy and muscular frame.

I have gotten off all pain meds save for one, which is only sporadic and weak compared to what I was on.  The omegas I take make all the difference in my pain and tolerance of exercise.  I swear by the Omega’s and fish and lfax seed oil for a healthy and less sore body at 35.

I am on my way to a life style change forever and the ability to see exercise as a needed and integral part of my day, just as sleeping or showering is.  That took almost tow years to get back on track to but it is permanent now I know.  Working out when angry, sad, depressed, frustrated or weak is the most amazing cure.  I love the feeling of the weights in my hand and the treadmill under my feet.  I feel free and in control at the same time.

3 miles today

50 crunches

felt sick

Think I have the flu.  Slept most of yesterday.

Summer almost over thank God.  I am ready for fall.

I ran 3 miles yesterday and 1 mile today but have to lay off running tomorrow as I am so beat.  I have been upping my crunches to at least 75-100 everyday and that is making all the difference in my losing inches around the waist.

I like doing those good mornings a friend here suggested to do as they are a combination crunch and standing sit up and they work well as a squat too.

I am hoping to find some new exercises for my abdomen and sides as well as my backside.  I was reading Arnold’s book on bodybuilding and he was talking about developing your weak areas first.  I try to incorporate triceps with abdomen as they are my weaker areas.

I have been unusually tired as of late and even with eating more to compensate thinking this was the problem.  I am still very tired.  I will try and get more sleep and see if that will solve the problem.

I am dreaming of a day when I can get on the scale and see a normal weight again.  It is depressing to take so very long to lose a few pounds.  I am tired of beating myself up over my progress though.  I am doing the best I can with kids and school and all my commitments and I am glad I am not gaining weight and losing it gradually so that I don’d put it back on.  It is just exhausting sometimes to always be on a diet.

I  am just glad that I am dedicated to exercise in my life like never before as it makes me feel so good.  No drug, food or person makes me feel as wonderful as I do when I am running or pumping iron.  It makes me feel as though there is one thing in my life that I can control…my health by making healthy choices.

I saw my dad this weekend past and he and my mom noticed my weight loss and more importantly my overall fitness and toning in my arms and chest and waist and hips.  Their reaction made me feel good.  I needed a little recognition from some of my toughest critics that I am transforming.

I swear that if I can stay away from the damn brownies i will make better progress.

Tomorrow I rest and focus on my paper and let go of feeling so bad I am not progressing faster.  I think it is other people’s reaction to me, like saying things like.."I thought you would have lost more weight by now" that plagues me with self doubt.

It is a process this losing weight and becoming a healthier person who incorporates exercise into everyday so i will remember that.

I ran 2 miles yesterday and 1 mile today.  Both at top speed for as long as I could.  Then I will run tomorrow (well its my goal..we will see how doable it is) a total of 6 miles slowly.  I hope through circuit training and running I will break thru this plateau.

I did 30 good mornings

15 lb weights to do various tricep exercises

ran sprints 30 times

1 set of 30 jumping the bottom stair

75 crunches

ran 1 mile

Yesterday

ran 2 miles

did 100 crunches

8 sets of 8 reps curls

6 sets of 8 reps flys

stairs

running with weights

I try to do some dance aerobics too at the end of my workouts and do more lunges and squats on and off the exercise ball.