Ooooooh, Ima be sore tomorrow!

I can’t believe I actually did it.  I went to the gym today for an  hour and a half and did the first workout in my “Around the World” challenge.

Part of why it was so difficult to get motivated to go was that last night I sat down and read all of my previous entries on this blog.  I started almost two years ago and I had really made some excellent progress.  It was so depressing to see my patterns and to know what I had earned and let slip away time and time again. 

Today I couldn’t figure out how I was going to continue.  What’s the point?  Well, I guess the point is to keep learning from mistakes even if that means I learn again and again from making the same mistakes over and over.   At some point, something has to click.  Or, at the very least, even if I repeat this pattern to the end of my days, at least there are several times each year when I eat more healthily and work out hard and well and that is better than being a couch potato all 365 days.  That actually must be the reason that even though I lose and regain, I have never gone back up to my highest ever weight–I’m always left hovering within a 25ish pound range.

So, today I decided that if I didn’t start now I would be setting myself up to find excuse after excuse straight through the holidays and what good is that?  So I went.

I did 1 mile on the treadmill (alternating walking with jogging,) 1.5 miles on the bike, 10 sets of leg circuit machine work and 10 sets of arm circuit machine work.  Not bad for day one when I didn’t have a whole lot of time to be there because of other commitments.  My arm and leg muscles are laughably weak post workout and tomorrow I am going to feel it for sure!  But that’s a good thing for me.  That, I hope, will motivate me to go back as soon as I can (Monday) and add more to my total miles and sets!

In the meantime, I really want to eat gorgonzola crackers and coke but I’m making yam soup instead.  It’s one small choice.  I think I need to concentrate on making one at a time.

The Challenge

Okay, figured it out and here are my “Around the World Gym Challenge” goals.  First of all, “Around the World” was loosely based on a Tour de France type of event blah, blah, blah it’s just a good way to set up something to reach for.

The original one that I tried required that I worked out at least 3 hours per day.  I don’t have 3 hours per day and even if I did, in order for it to be effective for my body I would want to break that up into two chunks and really?  Who has that kind of time?  Also, I do not have time to go to the gym 6 days per week–I do have other obligations which are more important than myself   So, this time I am cutting the challenge down. 

I am setting the time limit to 6 weeks which puts me right around New Year’s Eve for the finish line.  That seems about right

Without further ado, here is the challenge all laid out nice and official like:

• North America Challenge–circuit machines:  upper body          145 sets
• South America Challenge–core strength activities                        120 sets
• Australia Challenge–circuit machines:  lower body                       145 sets
• Asia Challenge–elliptical                                                                              40 miles
• Europe Challenge–bicycle                                                                           35 miles
• Africa Challenge–treadmill OR rowing machine                                 25 miles
• Antarctica Challenge–stair machine                                                     750 floors

Seven challenges. 

Six weeks. 

Bring. It. On.

Constant reminder

It’s a good thing I took a minute to go back and look at the last couple posts I made because already the Leavenworth/snowshoeing/backcountry skiing goal has slipped to the back of my mind.  What kind of short attention span is that????

Yesterday was not a horrible day, nor was it good.  I did not go to the gym.  My eating wasn’t fantastic, but wasn’t so awful that I hate myself either.  I recognize I have a seriously difficult time balancing on that line between not being a fanatic about my goals and feeling like a failure followed by sabotaging myself.  I’m trying to let it be okay that I didn’t go to the gym yesterday and I’m trying to let it be okay that I’m not following any sort of diet or eating plan or anything right now except trying not to go too overboard.

I did go to the gym today.  I did the treadmill for 25 minutes of interval walking (adjusting both the incline and walking speed) without holding onto handrails.  I am much less likely to hold the treadmill handrails than the elliptical, I now realize.  It was a good workout as far as cardio goes.

Tomorrow is essentially my Monday.  I am reluctant to begin my “Around the World” challenge tomorrow (I don’t go in to work until late in the afternoon) because I am afraid to immediately lose momentum since I can’t get to the gym on Saturday or Sunday (work schedule interferes.)  On the other hand, I think if I *do* go tomorrow and really work hard at both cardio and weights, I will be sore at work on Sat. and Sun. and that will be a motivating factor.  I love that post workout soreness!  I think it might give me enough of an incentive to go back to the gym on Monday no matter what my work schedule is. 

Goal for tonight:  Decide the parameters of my “Around the World” challenge so I can begin to implement it tomorrow.

Go team!

Note to self:  For goodness sake–remember the goal for next year!!!!

Full disclosure

Today has been a fairly good day, actually.  I have made decent food choices (well, decent for my track record.)  Heavy on the carbs but it could have been much, much worse. 

Also, I had a good gym workout.  I did the elliptical for 25 minutes and made a point *not* to hold onto the handrails.  I did hold on for the first 5ish minutes until I remembered that it’s better not to.  And then I held on several times just to see my heart rate on the monitor.  It was hard work but I feel great for doing it.

Last week I went to the gym on Nov 8 and 10 and did 20 minutes of elliptical each time.  While that doesn’t sound like much, I’m okay with it because I have to start somewhere. 

I am working on a plan to do another “Around the World” type workout challenge like the one I was doing in May 2010 when it all went south.  This time I will be a little more realistic about how much time I have each day for the gym and adjust my goals accordingly.  Yes, even through the holiday season.  Ideally, I’m *not* going to work hard until 2 weeks before Christmas and then let it all slide until the 3rd week of January because time will be at a premium.  Ideally, I will work steadily right on through Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year.  It helps that I’m taking 11 days off work in the middle of December so I should be able to have a little more time not just for holiday preparation but also just for me. 

Here’s hoping!

Oh dear.

Well.  I see that it’s been a year and a half since I have posted anything for myself on here.

A year.  And a half.

I need to deal with this.  First things first:

1)  I know exactly when things changed:  it was that last McDonald’s meal I mentioned in May of 2010.  I had that one.  And then I can recall having another.  And at the time I figured I was working so hard and burning so many calories every day and gaining strength and stamina that it didn’t really matter about counting calories.  And then I went too far, as per my usual MO.  And then I felt sluggish and stupid about the food and I stopped making the effort to work out as hard.  It was one bad step after another, like I always do to myself.

2)  My grandson was born on June 6, 2010.  It was a horrible, horrible day.  One that even now I can’t think about without the tears stinging my eyes.  Weeks were spent at the hospital and many weeks and months followed giving my daughter and her family whatever kind of back-up support we could to help out.  Long story short:  Grandson is a beautiful baby with Cerebral Palsy who has major, major physical limitations but appears to be cognitively where he should be.  There was no time for, or even room to think of, following any sort of exercise or eating plan during those months.

3)  In October of 2010 I went on the HCG diet with a coworker.  It was great.  And she was an amazing and supportive partner.  We both lost a lot of weight and we both, after the 30 days of very low calorie dieting, got back into a workout rhythm.  Only she stuck with it.  I didn’t.  Again . . .   In no time the weight started to creep back up.  I *did* make an attempt to nip that in the bud, but then . . .

4) In July of 2011 my son got married.  The gym work that I had started to do in March went out the window along about April because there was much to do for the wedding and I still work and still have a daughter with a special needs baby.  Yes, I realize this is a litany of excuses, but it’s my real life and these are the things that sideswipe me off track every time.  I need to learn from this.

I *have* learned a few things, looking back on my “journaling” of my continued quest to lose the same weight I’m always trying to lose and to improve upon my health:

A)  I’ve been at this for 6 or 7 years.  If I had managed to keep 5 or even 10 pounds off each year for the past 6 or 7 years?  Wow.

B)  In photos of me 2 summers ago when I was working out regularly and effectively, even though I weighed more than I did after the HCG diet, I look really good.  I look slimmer than I did at the lower weight and I definitely looked healthier.  And I remember feeling great!

C)  I guess I need both short term and long term goals.  My long term goal of 3 workouts per week for most of a calendar year, evidently, wasn’t a realistic enough goal for me.  Or maybe it was realistic, but it was too far out in the future and I needed some shorter terms goals to hit in the meantime.

D)  I can’t make hitting a certain weight be a goal for me.  I have to let go of constantly looking at the scale or the measuring tape.  My concentration has to be on making healthy choices and knowing that I’m doing greater good rather than having a few bright spots in an otherwise bad year.

E)  Just to admit this to myself:  My weight is over 200 lbs again.  The scale at the doctor’s office says 229 lbs; the scale at the gym says 219; the scale at home says something in the range of 205ish.  I am going to use the scale at the gym as my reference.  I don’t want to be a slave to it though.  In October of 2012 (in time for my next physical) I want the gym scale to show a net loss of 10 lbs no matter what happens during the year.  Long. Term. Goal.  And I think that’s a reasonable one. 

F)  There’s probably a lot more and I may add to this list later, but for now I need to move forward.

I’m not going to be addressing myself as, “Dear Kiki,” letter-style anymore.  That seems stilted and phony.  I’m just going to log my progress. 

• Short term goal:  I’m going to a concert with my daughter on December 7th.  Our tickets are for the nosebleed section.  Right now I’m working hard on cardio so that I can walk up the flights of steps to our seats without being winded.  It’s a simple, but noble, goal.
• Long term goal:  In December of 2012 I want to visit Leavenworth, WA with my hubby and youngest son.  When there, I want to be able to snowshoe or backcountry ski with my son.  I want to be able to handle 10 or 15 minutes at a time without feeling like my face is going to explode and my heart is going to beat out of my chest.

Weekly roundup!

Dear Kiki,

Didn’t do *nearly* as much exercise this week, but still got in my 3 workouts. 

Also, was horrible about food this week.  Yuck.  Makes me feel slow and fat and unhappy about my choices.  However, when I do work out I work very hard so I’m hoping there’s some counterbalance.  Hoping.  Maybe . . .

Weekly review for April 26 to May 2:

• Monday–103 floors on the stair stepper + 11 miles on stationary bike
• Thursday–90 floors on stair stepper + 9.96 miles on stationary bike
• Friday–31 floors on stair stepper + 3.85 miles on stationary bike + 15 sets on arm circuit machines + 15 sets on let circuit machines  (I had planned on going back to the gym for a second cardio workout on Friday but my personal life spiraled out of control and that was the end of that idea : ) 

The best part?  14 weeks towards meeting my resolution–only 29 to go!!  I’m so happy to have cracked the 20′s : )

–Kiki

*Way* less sore!

Dear Kiki,

My body feels so much better!  Probably because I took two days away from any working out at all . . .

I hadn’t really planned on taking two days off.  On Tuesday I was so tired and had a lot to get done around the house.  Plus, one side of my lower back was sore in a weird way and I wanted to give that a chance to rest. 

Wednesday after work I was dressed and ready to go, but my husband’s schedule changed and I had to wait until it was time to drop our son off at his activity.  But then I was on my way to the gym! 

Until I got a phone call from my daughter and she was in a jam with the logistics of her day so I spent the next couple hours helping her out.  And then I was ready to go!

Except that by that time, to be honest, I was in a bit of a bummer mood and instead of working out I wanted to go have a nice dinner and a drink with my husband. 

Dinner SUCKED.  And it took forever.  And I didn’t get the chocolatini I was hankering for because the bar tender on duty makes terrible drinks and I couldn’t see wasting my time and money on something I wasn’t going to enjoy. 

By the time we finished it was too late to work out, I was way too full and kind of disgusted with myself.  (Yes, I’m sure you noticed that I said dinner was awful yet I was stuffed.  Go figure.) 

I should also probably mention that I spent all of Tuesday eating crappy food.  Including a drive through McDonald’s for a Big Mac meal.  *sigh*  Why do I so look forward to that crappy food?  It’s not even all that good tasting when I get it.  Well, except for the fries . . .

But–and here’s the positive, affirming part of the story–today I have done pretty well with food and I spent almost 2 hours doing stairs and the bike at the gym.  Later this evening while hubby is swimming, I’ll do a little more cardio and some weights. 

I feel good.  I’m okay with taking 2 days off and I’m not all panicky about not finishing the challenge within 6 weeks.  I’ll do my best, but if it doesn’t happen it doesn’t mean I’m a failure (I’ll have to keep reminding us of that : )

Back to the grind stone!

–Kiki

Should I be this sore?

Dear Kiki,

I have to admit that it’s difficult to keep up this level of work-out intensity (2-1/2 to 3 hours daily) but boy is it paying off!  My weight is down to 198.2.  I’m happy, but too exhausted to celebrate : ) 

I would like it very much if that was the last time I ever see the 200 lb mark.  I know I’m still going to fluctuate for a few weeks so I don’t want to get my hopes up too high yet, but after awhile (maybe by the end of summer?) I want to make a new resolution–not to EVER weigh 200 lbs or higher again.  Ever.  Ever, ever, ever.

Weekly round-up:

This week I’m going to list it a little differently than I normally do.  I worked out Monday-Friday plus Sunday–so 6 days.  Here is what I accomplished:

• upper body weight circuit:  80 sets each
• lower body weight circuit:  80 sets each
• elliptical miles:  10.2
• bike miles:  28.89
• treadmill miles:  7.92
•  stair master floors:  212
• core sets:  10

So, yeah.  I’m behind the pace I need to meet the 6 week challenge goal, but I’m not concerned with that.  This is the hardest I’ve worked, it’s paying off, and there’s only so much I can do.  I hope I gain some speed as I go along (I’m *seriously* slow when it comes to cardio miles . . . )  At any rate, I am beyond happy with the results so far!

And guess what else?  I met my resolution goal of 3 workouts per week!  13 weeks in the books, only 30 to go! 

And now, rest!  And food!  And maybe a soothing, warm shower : )

–Kiki

I’m so sore but I feel great!

Dear Kiki,

My arms don’t feel like they’re going to fall off tonight, so I think I can take a minute to tell you what I’ve been up to at the gym : )

According to The Accidental Fat Chick’s Around the World gym challenge, in six weeks I need to accomplish these things:

North America Challenge is 330 sets on the circuit machines

South American Challenge is 276 sets of core strength activities

Australia Challenge is 378 sets on free weights

Asia Challenge is 48 miles on the elliptical

Europe Challenge is 150 miles on the bike

Africa Challenge is 38 miles on the treadmill or rower

Antarctica Challenge is 2100 floors on the StairMaster

*Ahem.*  This is craziness! 

To begin with, I don’t do free weights yet.  I’m intimidated by them, I don’t know how to use them, I’m not comfortable trying them out with all the buff 20 and 30-year-old gym dudes–just not going there.  Maybe later I’ll get brave and ask for help learning how to effectively use the free weights, but not now. 

With free weights out, I decided that I’d break up the circuit machine challenge into upper body and lower body (North America is upper, Australia is lower.) 

This week I divided up all the exercises by 6 weeks and by 6 work-outs per week.  I found that covering all that territory (pun!  hee hee : ) is difficult for me to do.  But difficulty means challenge, right!  And I definitely need a challenge to keep me going. 

It takes me 3 hours to complete one day’s worth of each exercise.  That’s a whole lot of gym time and, frankly, it’s a lot to ask of my body all in one dose.  I was not able to complete all exercises on all days, but boy did I work!

I think next week I’m going to change it up a bit and concentrate on doing only one or two kinds of cardio each day rather than trying to do all 4 each day.

But here’s the “I feel great” part:  Today when I sat down on one of the weight machines to do shoulder work, I noticed my fat little thighs were just a little slimmer!  NOTICEABLY SLIMMER!!  Woo hoo! 

Also, I’ve lost 2 pounds this week!  For the girl who’s working so hard to average 1 pound weekly, that’s a *huge* success!

But wait!  There’s more!  Just because I needed a boost this morning, I measured my waist.  Since I last officially took my measurements (April 1st) I’ve lost a whole inch from my waist!!!  Did you catch that?  A WHOLE INCH FROM MY WAIST!!!!  It just doesn’t get more exciting than that!  Well, at least not for me : )

I’m exhausted and sore, but I feel just great about this! 

And now, I must sleep!

–Kiki

I’m pretty sure I’m going to die soon.

Dear Kiki,

Oh. My.

I decided the other day that Physique 57 wasn’t really doing it for me and that I needed to step up my game.  I had been reading about The Accidental Fat Chick’s success with her Around the World Challenge.  I decided, “I can do that!”

Um. No.

It’s a six-week challenge.  I divided up all the sets and reps and miles, etc. into what I’d have to accomplish each week in order to meet the challenge.  It was daunting. 

So, I thought to myself, how about if I plan to work out 6 days a week in order to spread out the workload a bit?  Still daunting.

I went to the gym on Monday and couldn’t finish everything I had to do.  I thought about adjusting my goals downward to 75% of the original goals.  But then I thought, “Heck no!  It will be tough and extremely time-consuming at first, but after a while I’ll get faster and better and I can make up for what I wasn’t able to complete in the beginning!”

Wrong again.

Well, actually, not entirely wrong, but not altogether right either.  It’s taking me between 2-1/2 and 3 hours a day and that’s without doing the free weights (sometime I’ll get into that, but not right now.)  I am okay devoting that amount of time while my husband and son are busy anyway (I only work part-time and my guys are excellent help with the house, cooking, etc.)  But I’m exhausted!!!  It feels like too much. 

On the other hand, aren’t contestants on The Biggest Loser working out 6 or 8 hours daily?  I don’t want to lose weight as rapidly as they do, but my point is that it’s doable.  It’s hard, but it’s doable.

Is this right for me?  I don’t know.  My husband is cheering me on and doing his best to encourage me to push but not push so hard that I burn out.  That’s difficult for me because my motto is, “If a thing is worth doing, then it’s worth overdoing!” 

So.  That’s where I am.  Trying to make this work but still unsure whether I should modify the goals just a little. 

I’ll let you know.

–Kiki