Happy Holidays

I'm horrible about updating around holidays, mostly because I'm running around in a hectic daze. I promise to get back to a regular schedule after the new year. In the meantime, it was a great holiday for fitness (well it will be after I get away from the massive amounts of food) I got a Wii and a Wii Fit!!!! YAY!!!!

How is everyone else doing
-Meg

Back at the Gym

I stayed away from the gym yesterday, and felt it today. After overdoing it a tad on the running, I cut my strength in half with a mental promise to return to the gym Tomorow and do the other half.

I think this may be a good motivator.
-meg

Workouts v.s. sickness

With my rest day came illness. By the time I went to bed last night my entire body felt like I'd been hit by a truck. No fever, but a lot of aches and tiredness. I'm being told it's the flu. I am faced with the dilemma of giving myself another extra rest day, or going to the gym sick.

I am inclined to forgo the gym today, mostly because my test foray down to the grocery store to get cat food left me feeling like I'd run a half marathon and then lost a fight with a prize fighter.

This is a dilemma that I face more often than I'm happy about, and it makes me wonder what the traditional wisdom is on this. All of my research has come up with conflicting answers: Skip the gym, Go but go Easy, Ignore the illness, it all seems to be in there.

What would you do, stay home or power through it

-Meg

Does Window shopping count as exercise?

Well my weekend didn't go as planned, as usual. Instead of going to the gym on Saturday, we got some much needed shopping for the holidays done. Fitness wise it wasn't a complete write off, since we walked all over midtown Manhattan (for about four hours) window shopping and seeing the holiday sights.

My body is getting a much needed extra day of rest today, since we're switching our workout days from M-W-F to T-Th-Sa this week to accommodate other plans. I'm hoping to get an extra couple of workouts in Wednesday and maybe Friday.

How is everyone else handling the added time drain of the holidays? Still finding enough time to get to the gym?

-Meg

Adding in an extra workout - and a meme

I continued my every other day schedule yesterday, which was something of an accomplishment, as I had to go to the gym without the motivation of my S.O. and with the full knowledge that I would be going to the gym the next day (today) as well. Normally those two things would combine to give me enough excuse to put off a gym trip, but I was determined and so I went. I'm considering it my "bonus" work out for the week, since I didn't do my full strength set, I only did my crunches. I put off the strength training till today, to give my muscles an extra day to rest.

Sooo....I got tagged with a Meme....
I want to thank Miche at http://lastjourneydown.blogspot.com/, who tagged me.
Here are the Rules:

1. Link to my tagger and list all these rules in my blog.
2. Share seven facts about myself right here, some random, some weird.
3. Tag seven people at the end of my post by including links to their blogs.
4. Let them know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

Here we are:

1. I knit, like a fiend. I knit on the subway, I knit in coffee shops, and I knit when I'm watching tv. I say I knit so I don't kill people. ^_^

2. My favorite color is purple. I resisted this fact for most of my teenage years (during which I would emphatically claim black as my favorite color - so very goth) mostly because purple is also my mothers favorite color.

3. My mother has Multiple Sclerosis, and is wheelchair bound. This has affected my life in a lot of ways, since she was diagnosed when I was eight. M.S. is a horrible disease that steals your loved ones from you bit by bit.

4. I am a fan of the Buffalo Bills. I never used to care about football until we moved down to NYC and I was brought along with my S.O. to a bar that was run by a Buffalo native, that shows the Bill's games every sunday. On Sunday it is packed with people from Western NY, cheering and booing. I'm now hooked.

5. I have studied several forms of Martial Arts, and as soon as I have the money again I intend to find myself a new Dojo to study at again. I have a green belt in Isshin-ruy, and a Purple belt in Kempo. I briefly studied Kung-fu, and have learned a bit of a blend of Aiki and Judo. I think I'm leaning towards the more circular styles this time around.

6. I have lived on both coasts. I spent a year and a half living in San Jose back around 2000/2001. I had spent the previous summer living in Mountain View (also in the bay area), and while I miss Cali terribly sometimes, I have come to realize I am an east coast girl at heart.

7. And to make this fitness related: I am a recent convert to running. A year ago my favorite saying was "I only run when chased." Now I've come to love the way my mind can relax when I run, and the way my body actually feels like I worked it when I'm done.

Now I'm not a big one on tagging people for these things...so instead I'm going to change it up a bit. If you want to participate in this meme, tag yourself! Leave a comment saying you're doing it, so I know to come look and see what you've said!

-Meg

Tired muscles

My body is starting to protest my workout schedule. Last night was the third workout day of my "every other day" regimen. All of my muscles are sore. Frustratingly, my weight is up, although I'm being optimistic and claiming it's because of muscle gain.

Strangely enough I was only able to get through my basic set of crunches (20 Sensei Mark specials, 15 side crunches on each side, and 15 ab choppers on each side) before my abs more or less gave out. I literally could not do another sit up. I had to rest on the floor for almost a full minute before I could get myself to sit up. It wasn't overly painfull, it was just...not happening.

Hopefully my muscles will be recovered by Friday ^_^

Every Small Step Forward Counts

Yesterday I had a fantastic gym session. I was able to up my speed on the treadmill significantly. Running felt natural and exhilarating. When I ran out of time on the treadmill I even felt like I could have run longer. (There is a strict 30 minute maximum enforced during peak times at the gym.) I did machines for my strength set, since the gym was packed and the free weights were mobbed. Both me and the S.O. were feeling a little worn out so we skimped a tad on the sit ups but I managed to get my normal set done, but without the new set of crunches I had added on Saturday.

It feels good to be moving in a positive direction again.
-Meg

Weekend warrior

I managed to go to the gym on Saturday. It was the first time in a long time that I got myself to the gym on a weekend. It was interesting to see the different mix of people.

I plan on steping up my game this week. I've been in a slump and I want to be under 145 by the new year.

I wonder how all those people manage to motivate themselves to get to the gym on the weekend. I could use some of that.

Any ideas?
-Meg

Fitness Gear Cravings

Yesterday was my first day back at the gym after Thanksgiving (which had resulted in almost a week away from the gym) and boy did I feel it. I pushed myself hard and got in a solid workout with a little extra, but my body isn't too happy about it today.

Since the major gift giving holiday is coming up, relatives and friends alike have been asking me what I want them to spend money to give me. This resulted in me looking long and hard at what I would like to have with me at the gym that I don't have.

So here are a few things that I would think would make any fitness buffs Christmas:

Sherpani Blaze Sports Duffel : Has lots of room for everything you need to carry, and looks darn good too.

Sigg water bottles : Awesome reusable water carriers with cool interesting designs.

Adidas Adissage Slides : Because the shower floor at the gym is icky, and you might as well get a foot rub while you walk!

Garmin Forerunner 50 : It's like a pedometer and heart rate monitor and exercise tracker and sports watch all in one sleek little package. Covet.

Lucy Art Hoodies : I have one. I covet it. Perfect for throwing on over your workout gear to keep out the chills.

Iris Sports Top : perfect fit, perfect support. Again, I have one and I covet it.

Now I know I haven't put any actual workout equipment or videos or anything in that list. The reasons are a) I don't want to recommend anything I haven't tried, and I really haven't tried out many things outside the gym and b) What equipment and/or videos you choose tends to be a very personal choice.

I would however like to make a special note that everyone should get a Wii and Wii Fit. Just because they're fun, and any way to make movement fun is a bonus!

What's making your list this year?
-Meg

Seeing Daylight

I've gotten my sleep/wake schedule mostly sorted back out. I've forced myself to wake up with my S.O. in the morning to get myself up, out of bed and moving. In the future that "moving" bit will include going to the Gym for some A.M. workouts, but as today is a "workout with the S.O." day, it just included walking a few blocks to pick up breakfast.

One of the benefits (short lived though it may be) of switching my schedule around has been a change in my appetite. I am not nearly as hungry now as I normally am. Part of it might be linked to the fact that I am now sleeping when I was used to eating, and awake when my body is now used to sleeping. I am however, grateful for whatever biological weirdness is causing this lack of appetite, as it's keeping me from just sitting around eating mindlessly to take my mind off my lack of work.

Instead I'm actually getting some of my gigantic to do list finished! One big item on that to do list has been getting this blog back to the active state and focusing on my health again (which got back burner-ed in the past few months.)

So! Since I've been out of the "fitness loop" for a while, what new and exciting things have you all been following/blogging about/doing?! Update me!
-Meg

Appologies for the silence

The axe fell on me as well, so I spent the past week getting my ducks in line in regards to Unemployment and applying to new jobs.

The good news is that now my schedule will be closer to what most people consider normal, and I will be able to once again attain a regular workout schedule.

Although I did not manage to fit in any workouts when I was visiting with the 'rents, I did manage to eat at least close to healthy. I'm looking forward to getting back to working out and hopefully finding a good job in the near future.

How is everyone else surviving so far?
-Meg

Use the anger as fuel

A few friends of mine recently got laid off, this fact upset me greatly. Today I focused all of my anger and fear and uncertainty into my run. I ran fast, I ran far, I ran hard, and I managed to reach that state where there is no thinking, only moving.

I needed it. I needed that moment where everything else drops away and there is just existence and breath and heartbeat. It's moving meditation. It makes me miss other places that I could attain that state, the Dojo, Yoga, Swimming.

This weekend I was also unpacking a box of work type clothes and put on a skirt that had fit me decently the last time I had worn it. It gaped. I had a good six inches of extra fabric in the waistband. It felt amazing to realize I had lost that much size, and horrifying that I didn't realize just how large I actually was.

Tomorrow we pack it up and head home for Thanksgiving. I'm hoping that I can stick to my guns and get some exercise in at some point, and not over indulge on the tasty foods that will be placed in front of me this weekend.

How do you all get your moments of Zen through exercise?
-Meg

Holidays are in full effect

This week begins the disruption of my schedule represented by the Holidays. This week I will be traveling on Wednesday, and out of town until Monday. This means trying to make myself exercise without the motivation of the gym. Even in the craziness that always proceeds travel plans, my S.O. is making sure we get to the gym on Tuesday, as usual, as it's the only day this week we will be guaranteed of getting a workout in.

We will be staying at my Parents, who own an elliptical machine and weights (that I left there) but while there, we'll be fighting against what we refer to as "The Detox Effect." This happens whenever we head out of NYC and find ourselves somewhere with a slower pace, or anywhere that doesn't require deadlines of us. Almost immediately after arriving we both find ourselves sleeping extra hours and generally loosing any motivation to do anything except relax. I have managed a grand total of one successful workout while staying at my parents. I fully plan on working out while there on this trip, but I'm being realistic in that I may not actually do it.

Right now my weight is bouncing between 152 on the high end and 148 on the low end. I'm hoping somehow to get back to a regular workout schedule to get the numbers to start heading down again, but I realize that may not happen until the new year.

How do you cope with travel disrupting your schedule? Do you work out at the hotel or do you take a "workout vacation"?

-Meg

Some days are better than others

I feel much better today, having gotten a decent workout in this afternoon, and having re-evaluated a few of my goals and priorities. The next week is going to be all about getting myself back on the right track.

What do you do to keep yourself on track, or to get back to it when you go astray?
-Meg

Slacking

Ok I admit it, I've been lazy. Mostly in regards to this blog, although my workouts have stayed firmly at two a week.

One of the big problems I'm running into right now is the depression that comes from a lack of sunshine. Since the days are getting shorter, the time that I actually see daylight has become practically non existent. I'm thinking about buying myself a full spectrum light bulb to try to help combat the overall fatigue and depression that's been creeping in around the edges.

In general I'm stuck, unwittingly, in 'maintenance', since I haven't been able to make it to the gym more than twice a week, weight loss is, for all practicality , out of reach right now. I could cut back on my calories, which I plan on doing, but the effort involved in calorie counting and meal planing is beyond me most days right now.

To be honest, I've thought lately a lot about giving up on a bunch of the projects I have going. I want to devote more time into growing this blog, and to creating more informative, well written posts. I want to devote more of my time to eating healthy and working out, and I fully intend to do these things as soon as I can get my schedule more towards something human and sane.

I'm not giving up or quitting or anything like that. I'm just tired and a tad depressed. I'm going to continue posting and keep this blog as active and helpful as I can. One of the things I'd like to start including is something that a lot of the other blogs I find helpful do. Posting healthy recipes and time saving cooking tips. I think I'll make that a weekly thing. We'll see.

How do you all deal with the seasonal changes?
-Meg

I would just like a schedule I can stick to

No gym yet this week, owing mostly to my S.O. Having caught my sickness. I feel lazy and chubby, but hopefully tomorow I'll be able to go to the gym.

Eating wise I'm doing ok, sticking to the four meals of 200-300 calories, although that's only over the past two days. We'll see how long I can keep it up.

Money isses are affecting my ability to make healthy food choices. Why is it so much cheaper to eat badly?

How is the economy affecting your health/weight loss plans?
-Meg

Every Day is a New start

At least that's how I'm trying to look at it right now. The sickness seems to finally be giving up and vacating the premises, and so today I am going to go back to the gym for my first real workout in...um...well lets not talk about that shall we?

The worst part of it was that it wasn't like I was even doing *anything* useful with my time. No, I did not catch up on art, or knitting, or even *reading*. No I was too out of it for that. You know what I did yesterday? I slept, and I watched bad TV.

So, like the subject says, today is a new start. Back on track, back to the To Do list. First To Do: Get my Butt on a treadmill!

One question, see, I love running on the treadmill (which is new for me) and I love the results i get from H.I.I.T. sessions on the elliptical machine, but the treadmills at my gym have no "interval" setting. Any ideas on safe ways to combine treadmills and H.I.I.T. (preferably without blowing out my fragile knees?)

Danka!
-Meg

Sickness and visitors

Two things that totally derail my fitness efforts, and I've had both of them this past week. First was a house guest that ended up staying longer than expected, and now the sickness of doom.

I did manage to make myself go to the gym yesterday, but the workout i did was so minimal i can't even call it a workout in good conscience. I think I ran on the treadmill for ten, maybe fifteen minutes before slowing to a walk and then hitting the showers.

I'm planning on being healthy by tomorrow and adding in an extra gym day this weekend to make up for the weak workout on Tuesday, but we'll see. Hopefully after this week, with a couple weeks of relatively open schedule, I'll be able to get back to normal workouts and updates again.

How is everyone else?
-Meg

Shifting the schedual

I was so worn out yesterday that I skipped the gym. Awful I know, but I just couldn't muster up enough energy to hit the treadmil and still stay awake for work.

Instead of letting that totally trash my healthy goals for the week, me and the S.O. decided to go to the gym today, and I'm going to try to get in at least two more workouts this week.

I really felt my workout today, which makes sense since it's been almost a week since I was last at the gym.

It also was a rather wimpy gym session, all I did was a 20 minute HIIT session on the eliptical. No time for strength or a run, but I did push myself on the HIIT.

Hopefully I'll stick to the plan and weights will be tomorrow.

-Meg

Entering the "tough days" of Dieting

It has begun.

The season of challenges, between traveling, holiday parties, availability of tasty treats, and a lack of time and money, the season of "holidays" has started.

It started early for me as my S.O.'s brother was coming in to town with his wife this past weekend. Showing people around NYC, while good for the exercise portion of your life, is not so good for the dieting endeavors. But I did ok, managing to somehow keep myself from ballooning up this weekend.

Between now and New Years is the gauntlet. Halloween next weekend, Thanksgiving in a couple more weeks, then the lead up to Christmas, with its gamut of parties and shopping.

How do you deal with the "holiday eating madness"?
-Meg

Diet breaking day

Today has been one of those days where you suddenly find yourself completely derailed from your diet. All of my food choices today have been comfort driven, which means almost 100% of the time that they are bad for me.

My goal today, now, is to stay around 1500 calories, and to not let today derail me tomorow.

Today is the last day if my work week, so Tomorow I should be able to get a full night sleep, and face the weekend with a healthier viewpoint.

-Meg

Moving forward again

It seems my rededication to watching what I eat has payed off, and my weight-loss has resumed.

I've also figured out a more reasonable eating plan for myself. I eat small meals/snacks if around 200-300 calories every 4 hours or so. This keeps me feeling relatively satisfied throughout my 12 hour work day.

I did a HIIT session today, but I honestly wasn't in to it, I kinda phoned it in. I had a hard time even getting myself to the gym today. I've been having a general lack of energy, and it's catching up to me. I did the HIIT session and a set of 30 Sensei Mark Specials, and hit the showers.

I'll try to make up for it Thursday.

Any ideas on boosting energy?
-Meg

Short update

Life is full and busy right now, resulting in me not having time to devote to much of anything other than what needs to get done,

I managed two workouts last week, suplimented by a ton of walking. I upped the resistance level on the HIIT sessions and I'm felling it still.

I figured out why I'm hitting a weight loss plateau, but even knowing didn't help, I just hope the weight loss resumes soon..,

More later,
-meg

The importance of watching what I eat.

Watching the weight come back has been depressing for two different reasons.

First the obvious, I am not progressing towards my goal, but instead am getting further from it, and all that represents.

Second, since I am still exercising, just not watching what I eat, it make obvious the fact that if I want to maintain my weight loss I will never be able to eat without attention to what I am eating.

The good news is that as soon as I start watching what I eat again, the weight starts coming back off.

I realize that this is a lifelong change, but I think somewhere in me is still this little girl whining that it's not fair. That once I reach my goal weight I should be able to eat anything I want and look fabulous.

-Meg

The monetary value of health

One of the things I've talked about a lot, especially recently, is the impact my job has on my health. Besides the long hours (12 hour shifts) the odd hours (7pm to 7am) , and being constantly surrounded by bad food, I have discovered that I have an inability to call in sick. Besides the fact that as a "temp" (long story) I do not have "sick days" and therefore will not get payed if I call in sick, there is no one to cover my job should I call in sick. And I don't mean that in the way that other people would gt over loaded, I mean that in the way that there is no one else trained that would be available to cover my shift should I call in sick.

This brings up what is to me at least an interesting point. The monetary value of health, and the value to a company of the health of it's employee's. It seems to me lately, especially with the downturn in the U.S. economy, that more and more companies are expecting their employee's to put their health and well-being aside in the interest of maintaining their employment.

I've been debating whether there is a point at which my employment will impact my health so negatively that I am forced to find another job, just to stay reasonably healthy.

How do your jobs treat the subject of employee health?
-Meg

Backslide

It was bound to happen, what with the way I've been living lately. Stress and Lack of motivation have been keeping me from the gym, and between celebration and bad planning, my food choices have been somewhat lacking in the health range.

Still, seeing the numbers on the scale tick upwards instead of steadily down is disheartening.

Today I will head into the gym to make up for a missed session yesterday. After seeing the numbers on the scale, I may push myself a tad harder than normal.

We shall see.
-Meg

The Content of Fitness Magazines.

I work in magazine publishing, sort of, and as such I get to read a ton of magazines. It's a perk, and a downside. I read a lot of good stuff, but I also read a lot of trash that hurts my body image and clogs up my recycling box.

My favorite magazines are the fitness magazines. New workout tips, healthy recipes, information about how my body works. All good things.

Lately however I have noticed that a large chunk of these magazines has started being dedicated to things that I am used to seeing in the pages of Glamour or Allure. Relationship advice, Articles on Beauty products and lifestyle. Not that I'm complaining, mostly because the articles are well written and sometimes helpful, however when I pick up a copy of, oh, say, Woman's Health I expect at least 75% of the content to be fitness related.

I pick up these magazines for motivation and inspiration. I want new workouts, new exercises, not "the top drugstore beauty picks" (although truth be told that was a useful article...I am so buying that.)

Perhaps I'm biased because I do read so many magazines...I expect them all to be nicely compartmentalized with their own specialty.

Or, maybe they've just run out of new ways to do sit ups?

-Meg

Why is it always doughnuts?

Someone brought in doughnuts again last night. I had one, then went back for a second six hours later. Now, I realize I shouldn't be eating two doughnuts, but keep in mind all I had to eat before that was a Fresh Mozzarella basil and tomato sandwich, and a mocha late. So yeah, I was hungry.

Upon picking up the second doughnut, and attempting to abscond with it to my desk, one of my bosses walking by goes, "Don't DOOOOO ittttt....." I'm like 'Huh?' "Ooooonly eaaat haaaaalf!" So I blithely tell him I will be going to the gym tomorrow anyways so I'll just put in an extra ten or something. He gives me this look and says "Everyone says that." See now I'm mad because he's implying that a)I am too fat to eat the doughnuts that everyone else has been chowing down on and b)Yes I am going to the gym thank-you-very-much just like I go EVERY Tuesday.

The worst part was when I told him my workout regimen (he asked) he said "you should do an hour of running after that."

Either this guy is a serious workout-arexic or I need to punch him on principle.
I haven't decided yet.

-Meg

Weekends

I always go into the weekend with high aspirations. Lists of to do's and goals to accomplish before Monday rolls around again. You would think, that since I have a four day weekend, these lists would go like cake. However, Monday always rolls around and that list is still there, collecting dust on the metaphoric desk where I left it.

My problem is two fold. The first problem being a total lack of motivation once the weekend rolls around. Stress and lack of sleep often conspire to leave me exhausted by Thursday, and to be honest, I sleep through most of Thursday.

The second part of the problem is a sense of entitlement. The weekend is for fun, and I worked hard all week and I'm tired. So I end up doing only what has to get done and sleeping/loafing/going out with friends for the rest of the time.

Any motivational tricks out there I can try?
-Meg

Keeping pace

Got myself to the gym just fine yesterday. Did a 15 minute run on the treadmill. I'm keeping the runs short for now, trying to avoid a repeat of the ankle incident. Although I've adjusted the way I run, landing mid foot instead of on my toes, and that seems to have fixed the problem.

I did my strength training and realized I was too tired for the H.I.I.T. session, so I'll just have to go this weekend to make up for it.

There was one of those moments today where you realize something is a total fluke, and will adjust itself later on, but some part of you really hopes that it's somehow not. I stepped on the scale and the numbers blinking up at me? 147.6. Seeing as that would be over a pound drop since yesterday, I know it's most likely going to come back by tomorrow, but still, it'd be nice if it didn't!

This week is all off kilter due mainly to me having to work an extra day this week (yay for giving up my Friday night) to cover someone going on vacation. The extra money in my paycheck will be good, and much needed, but the extra time at work, and the extra stress, is definitely not something I need.

Ah well. I'm off to work. Hopefully the mental wellness will catch up to the physical fitness soon!

-Meg

Small gains

My workout yesterday was again time crunched. I just can't seem to make myself get up early enough to have a relaxing time at the gym on the days I work. I did manage to do a 10 minute run on the treadmill to warm up before doing almost my full compliment of strength exercises. I did do a full 20 minute H.I.I.T. session on the elliptical machine, and I still think that these are keeping me from backsliding all by themselves.

I am noticing with the H.I.I.T. sessions that I'm having to up the resistance on the "go so hard your heart feels like it's going to explode" intervals, and that I recover faster on the "try not to feel like everyone is wondering why someone going so slow is sweating so hard" intervals.

The numbers on the scale continue to say that it's working. Although I've run into the "I don't feel like I'm loosing weight" problem again. Part of the problem is the new Jeans. See, the new Jeans are smaller, and therefore fit more appropriately. However, having gotten used to wearing Jeans that were two sizes too big, the new Jeans feel tight and make me panic about gaining weight.

Stress from work is continuing to be a factor, to the point where I did the most embarrassing thing and broke down and cried last night. Not much, but enough that a coworker noticed and that's bad enough.

I've also come to the conclusion that, stress or not, working the night shift is slowly damaging my health. I'm just not built for it. I end up not getting enough sleep, not getting enough exercise, not getting out enough, and eating like crap. One day this will no longer be an issue, in the meantime I'm trying to find ways to compensate, like multivitamins and Vitamin D Supplements.

Any suggestions on how to deal with the Night Shift?
-Meg

Magic Numbers

Everyone has 'Magic Numbers' somewhere in their head about something. It might be how many calories they can eat at a meal, or total in a day. Or it might be a weight they're trying to reach, or a weight they're trying to lift. Maybe it's how much money they need to be making, or how much money they can spend. These 'Magic Numbers' might have been reached through careful calculation, through consulting online calculators, or by simply picking a number out of the air. But once we have these numbers in our heads, they seem carved in stone. No matter what speaks to the contrary, these numbers are truth.

I tend to have a lot of 'Magic Numbers'. One for every problem. Recently I needed to buy new Jeans. The ones I had were starting to get a little baggy, and they were developing holes in embarrasing places. So I created a magic number in my head. Once I reached 150 lbs I would buy myself new Jeans. I reached 150 lbs and went and bought myself new Jeans, and found myself wearing another 'Magic Number'. Or rather, the size smaller than it. I was wearing size 8 Jeans. This took a full twenty minutes in the dressing room to fully comprehend. Jeans came off, size 10s went on, size 10s came off, size 8s went on. I did this three or four times. Checking the tags six or seven times to make sure I wasn't just mistaken. I walked out of the store with two pairs of size 8 Jeans, feeling a little heady about the whole thing. Sure, a size 8 is larger today than the last time I could squeeze into a size 8, but that number, as illogical as it sounds, made me happy.

Today I stepped on the scale and saw that I had dropped below 150 for the first time in almost 5 years. Sure it was only 149.9, but that .1 lb made a difference! I was under 150.

And then I sat down and thought about it. I am not happier with my body because it fits in a size 8 Jean. I am not happier with my body because it is under 150lbs. Sure they are milestones, signs that I'm doing the right thing, but these numbers aren't the goals.

The goal number I had in mind is still there, blazing in fire in the back of my mind, tauntingly out of reach for now, but the real goal, once I get past all of these issues with numbers and image, the goal that we all nod our heads at but no one puts up on the wall in a chart or in a list to check off, that goal, is a healthy body.

-Meg

Overdoing it

Yeah I overdid it yesterday. Not on the cardio, I only ran on the treadmil for 15 minutes, but on my strength training. The problem was there was this fit little girl next to me on the mats who was just powering through a HUGE long set of strength moves. Situps, bridges, planks, just everything. So I felt the need to push myself. I upped the weights I normally use from 10 lbs to 12.5 lbs. I added in extra exercises. I powerd through roughly twice the session I normally do.

And today I pay for my vanity. Ow.

-Meg

Avoiding workplace food-pushers

Recently one of my biggest diet pitfalls has been the "workplace food-pusher". You know that person. They *love* to cook or bake, and they're usually really good at it too. They also don't ever seem to care that you are trying to eat healthy, or, worse, seem to think that eating healthy is some sort of punishment or is in some other fundamental way, wrong.

So there you are, Just starting your day, having had a healthy breakfast with a healthy lunch packed neatly in your bag. You went to the gym that day, and so you're feeling good about yourself. Little do you know you are about to be faced with a *dun dun dun!* emotionally charged food crisis.

Last night, after going to the gym and only getting in a short session before work, I was faced with a colleague holding out a tray of "banana cake". I was hungry, as I usually am after a workout, and the really expensive, not so good for me mozzarella and pesto sandwich I had just demolished had not filled me up. Then the kicker. He needed people to try it to see if the recipe was any good. "Sure, I'll try it." I said, thinking, naively that "trying it" involved a small taste. He dished out a two inch thick, three inch long "slice" of the cake, and proceeded to top it with whipped cream. All the while talking about presentation being important. "OK, I thought, just eat a little, declare it amazingly scrumptious, and move on." But then emotional issue problem number two entered the situation. The chef of the dish happened to be talking to someone else in the room, and mentioned that someone else had "tried" the dish, declared it delicious, and then proceeded to not finish her piece. "If she liked it so much, why didn't she finish it?" Was the conclusion. So in the interest of saving egos, I ate the whole piece. It was alright, nothing amazing, and if you believe the chef, not too bad for me (but it was cake come on lets be realistic.)

Now normally this wouldn't be an issue. One day, one cake, no problem. However, one of the key traits of a "food pusher" is consistency. This is becoming a two to three time a week problem.

Luckily for me (and all of us since this post is now helpful instead of just whining), Ali over at The Office Diet wrote This post, appropriately titled "How to refuse a cookie".

Anyone else have any advice on keeping "food pushers" from destroying your diet?
-Meg

Walking

This is one of those topics that people talk about a lot. Especially when they're talking about either adding a little more exercise into your life or about saving the planet. Usually people talk about walking instead of driving, or taking the stairs instead of the elevator.

Fortunately, I live in NYC, and as such, don't own a car. I walk everywhere, except when I take the subway. As far as elevators go, my apartment doesn't have one, but at work, it's mandatory. I mean there are stairs...somewhere...but I work on the 14th floor, come on people!

So I tend to end up just skimming the walking articles, nodding my head and thinking "wow I'm so Eco-friendly and healthy! Go me!" Then I was walking around the city on Saturday, just hanging out with friends and generally wandering the lower end of Manhattan, and my feet started to hurt. This made sense, as I had stupidly chosen fashion over comfort and was wearing heels. I ignored the issue, they only hurt a little, but it got me thinking about walking in general. Were there proper ways to walk? Could I actually be doing damage to myself by ignoring the fact that it was starting to feel like I was walking on sharp rocks? How bad are heels for you?

So, to satisfy my curiosity about walking, and yours, A slew of links.
Enjoy!

walking.about.com - Walking for fitness, weight loss, half marathon and marathon training, racewalking, recreational walking, tour walking, and volksmarch walking.

TheWalkingSite.Com - A resource for walkers of all fitness levels.

the Walking wikipedia entry - because wiki knows all!

Aolhealth.com/fitness/walking - AOL Health's entry on fitness walking

- Walking, by Henry David Thoreau, reformatted for the web (HTML format). Just for a little inspiration ^_^

Do you walk?
-Meg

Treadmil fashion show

Somewhere around a week ago, I saw something that made very little to no sense to me, which subsequently got me thinking.

I witnessed a woman, a relatively attractive, and in good shape, enter the locker room at the gym, stow her stuff in a locker, take a shower, change into her workout gear, then proceed to do her hair and makeup before heading out to the gym to work out.

I observed this as I pealed myself out of my own sweaty gym clothes, took a shower and dressed and brushed my hair ( I don't usually wear makeup ) along side her. The entire time I was thinking about how little sense it made to me. I was taking a shower because I was heading to work, and because I had recently finished my workout, smelled slightly better than the inside of a hockey bag. Why would someone bother to worry that much about how they looked when they were heading to do something that would make them look like, well like they had run a few miles.

Then I started thinking, and noticing my own behaviors and emotions. I realized that what I wear to the gym is a source of some anxiety to me. I spend a lot of time convincing myself that it doesn't matter what I wear, I am there to work, not to show off. I have stood in front of the many full length mirrors in the gym, evaluating my outfit, Do I look frumpy? Is it weird that my shoes don't match? Why is that lump showing up on my stomach and how can I tug my clothes to hide it?

Or worse, while I'm on the treadmill, or standing on the mats doing my strength workout and some very fit or very tiny, or because I live and workout in NYC very chic, girl comes over to run/lift/stretch/be generally cooler and better than me, I start the mental comparison check list. There really isn't any conscious decision that goes into this process, it's virtually instinctual. It usually lands me firmly in the "not as good as her" category, but that's my issues talking.

What has been occupying my mind lately is the fact that we, as women, feel this need to be "presentable" at all times. That even in the gym, where we are supposed to get sweaty, gross and generally work our butts off, we tend to play the "fashion game".

Why is that?
-Meg

Roadblocks

I've been thinking a lot lately about what stands between me and my goals. Mostly it's myself, or rather my reactions to things.

When presented with difficult circumstances in life, my tendency is to withdraw into things that are comfortable to me. Mainly, staying home and watching TV or messing around on the computer, doing things I consider "relaxing".

Working out, for all the good ways it makes me feel, is not something I consider "relaxing".

My roadblocks are mostly mental. Getting over that feeling that going to the gym is an "obligation", "work", something I "have to do" vs. something I "want to do".

I am, for instance, sitting here currently trying to convince myself that I *must* go to the gym today, seeing as I did not go yesterday due to having not gotten to sleep until around 3pm - after being awake for a total of ... 23 hours strait. Good excuse, yes, but now I'm sitting here, still tired and stressed and *really* not wanting to go to the gym, trying to convince myself I'll feel better afterward. Which I will. But for some reason that doesn't help get me there.

In fact the reason I'm most likely going to go is because my S.O. is expecting me to go. In fact he's meeting me there. So I have to. And because if I don't go, what am I going to write about here except about how I've been slacking off?

So it's firmly in the "obligation" and "have to" category. Any ideas on how to fix this?

-Meg

Food and Figure

My recent brush with Olestra has me thinking a lot about the crazy things we do (eating and other disorders aside) to try to fit into this societies view of what our figure should look like.

Just the fact that there are still products on the shelves with this noxious ingredient in them is an indicator of how ingrained in our society the "thin at any cost" idea is.

Backstory: A couple weeks ago I saw "Fat Free Light Pringless!" splashed across an inviting pale blue can in the Duane Reed near where I work. "Woo!" I thought "They'll most likely taste funny, but I'm craving salt and chips and that can is just what I need!" Foolishly the only part of the label I read was the Serving size and Calories per serving. "Sweet! I get to eat 14 whole chips for only 70 calories! Score!" Later, around 3 or 4 am, close to quitting time anyways, and after ingesting about half the can, I happened to be looking at the packaging and noticed in tiny print "Product contains Olestra". My stomach sank, literally. Since then I have been trying desperately to get my system running normally again.

From crazy small portions to add-ins that cause you to lock yourself in the bathroom for weeks, food shopping has become a dangerous prospect for the dieter.

What kinds of crazy things have you encountered?

-Meg

A weekend of ups and downs

One of my biggest problems right now has been finding time to get to the gym. It's not that I don't have free time, it's that my free time is all clumped together at one end of the week, which is also my free time for getting everything else I have to get done, done. Add in a little stress, the fact that it's football season (GO BILLS!), a boyfriend that you want to spend some time with, and a serious video game addiction...and yeah there went my weekend.

I am however grateful to whomever it was that first pointed me in the direction of H.I.I.T. (it was either tokaiangel or MizFit, I honestly can't remember), they are saving my life right now. With two H.I.I.T. sessions this week, I am actually still loosing weight. Which is amazing.

The low point this weekend came when we finally managed to get a hold of the pictures from my S.O.'s brothers wedding. I was shocked at how big I looked. In fact, I honestly think I don't look like I lost any weight. It was overwhelmingly disappointing to see those pictures, and realize that my body is nowhere near where I thought it was. You'd think after loosing around 25 lbs that I would be able to look at pictures of myself without cringing. The facts are that Yes, I'm wearing a much smaller dress size in that picture, and Yes, there aren't any weird stomach lumps or hip rolls, but my god my arms are huge and flabby and I'm just so wide.

*sigh* I think I need to work on my body image at some point...

There were a lot more high points than low points this weekend, although none of them are fitness related. The Bills won, we're 2-0 for the season ^_^ We got some shelves installed in the apartment, and quality time was spent with people.

I also went grocery shopping and got enough stuff ready for my work week. So I should be able to just grab and go, and not end up buying expensive stuff to eat for "midnight dinner".

How's everyone else hanging in through the little ups and downs?
-Meg

Let's hear it for the H.I.I.T.

Yesterday was my second (official) attempt at H.I.I.T. training. Here's how my workout went:

I tried the treadmill for a warm up, walking for five minutes, then running for ten. My ankles started bothering me by the end of ten minutes, so I promptly removed myself to the stretching area for a good long stretch/strength session.

For my abs I did several sets, 20 sensei mark specials, 30 ab choppers, 30 toe touches, and 30 side crunches. For the arms I did a short set, just 30 push ups, 30 kickbacks on each side, and 30 hammer curl/overhead presses on each side. I did all weight requiring exercises with a 10lb hand weight. I did a lot of stretching interspersed between those, and my ankles were feeling better by the time I was done.

Then it was time for the H.I.I.T. portion of our evening. I did it on the elliptical machine again, to spare my ankles further punishment. I set the hard session to a lvl 10, but when that didn't feel hard enough half way through the workout, I upped it to 11. I did a 20 minute session, with 2 minute intervals. By the end of the 20 minutes I was completely whipped out, however by the time I had showered and changed, I had mostly recovered. I started wondering if I hadn't pushed myself hard enough.

Later however, my butt muscles decided to voice their opinion. I am sore.

Today is a rest day, then tomorrow I plan to try to up my time on the treadmill by a few minutes, but not too much. I'm trying to build my ankles up, not sideline myself again. Then it'll be time for another H.I.I.T. session. I'm aiming for two a week, with a normal workout in there too.

How's the H.I.I.T. going everywhere else?
-Meg

Rebooting the fitness routine

My work hours have gotten even crazier than they were. M-W I work 12 hour days, from 7pm-7am. I'm still not into the swing of that schedule, and it's been keeping me from a consistent gym schedule.

Having started the H.I.I.T. sessions will help. I do one 20 minute H.I.I.T. session on the ellipticals on the days that I work, which helps keep my time in the gym down, and allows for a shower afterwards. This is however extremely frustrating to my S.O. who isn't doing H.I.I.T. and therefore feels gypped on gym time.

I'm hoping I can find a better balance in my life again. I had a good schedule going there for a while, and was managing three full sessions a week at the gym. Now...I've been getting one, maybe two a week. True, some of the reasons for not going to the gym have involved some major activity (Moving, Moving friends, Walking the entirety of the new *giant* Ikea here in brooklyn) but nothing gym level.

While the H.I.I.T. sessions are kicking my butt (literally, I feel it a lot in my behind) I'm gaining weight again. I have to be honest a lot of that is due to mostly poor food choices lately, and very little physical activity, but it's frustrating none the less.

So, any ideas on ways to fit workouts into an already crammed schedule?
-Meg

Getting back to the gym...finally

The hardest part, for me, of trying to get in shape is getting back on track after an injury or illness. The longer I am away from the gym the easier it is to slip into old habits, and the harder it is for mr to convince myself to go back. At a certain point it is almost like starting over, and in some ways it I'd worse. Workouts that were easy are now greuling.

Butniugh whining. I am back on track, mostly. Internet gets restored Friday, so posting should be more regular then.
Meg

Moving forward

The good news first: I am still employed, still alive and mostly moved.

The bad news: we have yet to set up Internet at the new place, and my ability to post from work has been restricted.

The fitness news: My ankles are almost completely healed, and I will be returning to the gym tomorow. I retested my pushup max and am happy to say I will only have to slide down to week three in this fitness reboot. I am also happy to note that I managed to keep myself from gaining any weight through all of this. While I didn't do any formal exercise, I believe two solid days of moving boxes and furnature from a couple of second story walk up apartments to one third flor walk up counts for something! And never fear, I'm still planning on my triumphant return to aquatic exercise soon, hopfully very soon!

-Meg

Holy Life Change Batman!

Ok, I realize that I'm being kinda criptic with some of this, but it's an ongoing problem that really can't be talked about. So. Suffice to say that my employment situation is unstable. I am also moving this coming weekend.

My best intentions for going to the gym have been back burner-ed by the current situation coupled with my traitor ankles.

The ankles are feeling much better today. One of the major obstacles to my recovery has been the fact that I live in Brooklyn and work (for now) in Manhattan. Not walking is not an option.

I'm going to attempt swimming again this week, once I have a better idea on where things stand in the rest of my life, and start back on the Hundred Push Up Challenge, although I do believe I'll have to drop back a few weeks.

I'm trying to see this as a positive thing, change is inevitable, and I was unhappy with my situation as it was.

I've also lost about two pounds from this. It's not that I haven't been eating, although I've been having to force myself to eat. I just haven't been eating much. And the things that I can stomach right now are very lite fare. Like I mentioned before, apparently my body reacts to this kind of stress by imposing a forced diet on me.

Things will be a bit more settled and clarified after today.

Change is inevitable.
-Meg

The Stress Diet

I'm sorry I've been awol. There is a lot of changing happening in my life right now. Not much I can talk about at the moment, but a lot of upheaval and destructive forced change. Once things settle down I'll be back to normal updates, but for now I'm going to be a bit distant, sorry.

I'll attempt to keep the update schedule normal, but I'm almost positive that there are going to be quite a few missed days.

That said, apparently my body reacts to extreme amounts of emotional stress by deciding that food is not exactly what it wants. I'm almost literally having to force myself to eat, and to keep it down.

Meh.
-Meg

H.I.I.T. me with your best shot!

In preparation for when my ankles decide to play nice again, I've been researching this trendy phenomenon people have been calling H.I.I.T.

I am most definitely going to try this, however much I think I will hate it.

There seems to be pleanty of resources out there, like HIIT source, to help a poor newb like me along. And this HIIT stuff has been talked about plenty recently, like Crabby McSlacker's post on the Cranky Fitness version S.H.I.I.T. ^_^

This is going to be another ongoing fitness experiment ala MizFit or The Great Fitness Experiment.

Anyone else up for this?
-Meg

Facing Workout Phobias

After a quick self diagnostic this afternoon, I have decided that I should be able to try swimming tomorrow. I hemmed and hawed about it, tried to convince myself that I really should give myself another couple days of rest, bartered with myself (I'll go to boxing on Sunday instead!) and ultimately decided that I need to face this.

So tomorrow I will face the fear and don a swimsuit in a public place. Once I'm in the water I will be fine, it's that walk of shame from wherever you leave the towel to when you hit the water that bothers me. Never mind that I picked the gym I signed up for (NYSC btw) because it had locations with pools. Never mind how much I love swimming (I had a brief career in competitive swimming cut short by my inability to focus on anything enough to actually train for it in elementary school) or how much I just enjoy being in the water (I also used to teach swimming). I haven't been able to get past that walk yet. I swim like a fish in my parents pool (which is located in their back yard, nicely screened from the outside world by a fence ) but ask me to put a swimsuit on in any kind of public location (beach, party, you name it) and that clenchy panicky feeling grabs me just below my solar plexus and I use every neuron in my creatively trained brain to come up with a reason, any reason that I just can't, so sorry maybe next time.

The last time I swam for fitness was back in 2000, when I was living in California, and had a pass to a 24hour gym with a huge pool and hot tub. I was overweight then, around 160, but I had been making strides towards loosing weight. I had purchased a very unfortunate silver tank suit, which I thought was The awesomest thing evah, and was all about getting my swim back. Until I realized that As I stood there on the deck, people could see me, and I came to the sudden realization that I looked like a shiny tube of paint. Totally cylindrical. So not hot. I panicked and plunked myself down in the water as fast as possible. I didn't go back.

The major contributing factor, this time, in my decision to face the pool again, is injury. I can barely walk right now, let alone get a decent workout on a treadmill or elliptical machine. I must find an alternative. The state of my body today is the direct result of a previous injury. Back in 2004 I was in decent shape, nay I was the hotness. I spent four or five days a week at the dojo. I kicked many butts. A knee injury ended all of that. Waking up one morning unable to walk, let alone kick, jump, roll, and knee people in the stomach, I totally freaked out. For a while I kept up doing modified exercises. I did all my upper body basics sitting in a chair with hand weights. I did massive numbers of sit ups and crunches and other exercises. But I slowly petered off, as I gave up hope that this was a passing injury. It ended up requiring surgery and totally incapacitated me. It's still not 100%, and I've learned to be nice to my knees, but it took me this long to get over the injury, and my subsequent failure at fitness.

I will not let this injury do the same thing to me. I will face my public swim suit wearing phobia down in the name of my quest to regain my fitness and eventually return to the dojo floor.

But I'm going to bring the biggest towel I own and I will be wearing it up to the very last second I can. One step at a time here.
-Meg

Modified Workouts

I couldn't face the gym today. After waking up and trying to walk to the bathroom, I wrapped my ankles, downed some Advil and decided to shoot for a Thursday return date at the gym. In the meantime I'm going to try and modify my workout so that most of what I do does not involve my ankles. I've been researching strength moves I can do to work various parts of my body with little to no equipment and without standing or using my ankles in any way.

So Far My list includes:
Push ups
Planks
SuperPeople
Sensei Mark Specials
Ab Choppers
Bicycle Crunches
Hamstring Ball Curl

If you've got any ideas on various workout moves I can try please let me know...I'm desperate here!

Of course I'm going to try (and I stress the try) to hit the pool to get some Cardio on Thursday. It's not that I don't have the time, or that I don't love swimming...it's well, er....it's the swimsuit issue. The idea of wearing a swimsuit in front of people I don't know makes me get slightly panicky. But since almost all forms of Cardio exercise that I can think of in some way involve my ankles, I may be forced (once again) to embrace a form of exercise that I've been avoiding.

I'm still bummed about the fact that I'm basically sidelined right now. Just when I was starting to catch the running bug, I manage to break myself.

Calorie counting is now of paramount importance. I'm terrified that if I'm not very careful I'm going to erase all the hard work I've done. Especially since I'm upset, and I'm an emotional eater.

Like tokaiangel said "Think like a surfer - 'stay stiff and ride the black wave'."
-Meg

Dreaming of exercise

Ok, so I think it's official. I'm broken. I tried resting my ankles all weekend (minus the requisite walking - I do live in NYC after all walking is a requirement for life) and it's still like there are thousands of needles stabbing me in the ankle every time I step. None of the usual R.I.C.E. stuff is working. I've got prayers out and fingers crossed that I'll be ok for my work out tomorrow.

I am once again at that "enough!" stage with my life. My work schedule got changed, which is causing me to loose four hours a week off my paycheck. I'm working my tail off trying to keep up with everything. Not being able to walk is adding to my stress. I need a pause button. Hopefully things will be better by the end of this week. The apartment stuff will (hopefully) be squared away, the freelance assignment will be finished, and hopefully (again) my ankles will be working properly so I can focus on the running again.

Part of the stress factor is the fact that the S.O.'s brother is getting married at the end of this month. I will once again have to face both wearing a dress and having my picture taken. Both things I hate. Add into that the money stress of having to pay for plane tickets around t he same time that we're dropping butt-tons of cash for deposits and fees on the new apartment, and moving around the same time....lets just say that I've been trying really hard not to think too much lately.

-Meg

Hit Like A Girl

I was raised in as close to a gender neutral environment as my parents could manage. Oh I knew that there were differences between girls and boys, but none of those differences had anything to do with ability. I truly believed growing up that I could do anything I wanted, and no it didn't matter that I was a girl, I could still be a baseball player.

This afforded me all sorts of amazing self confidence growing up, and allowed me to do all the cool sporty things I wanted to do. In short, I grew up a tomboy. I remember hearing the phrase "You hit like a girl!" for the first time and not understanding why that was supposed to be an insult.

The only major disadvantage that I've learned about growing up the way I did is that I have very little sense of "girly". I don't wear makeup unless absolutely necessary, and when I do I feel awkward, like I have a ton of paste smeared all over my face. I don't wear a lot of jewelery, only sentimental pieces occasionally.

The worst part however is my inability to dress myself. My default outfit is Jeans, a T-shirt, a Hoodie if it's cold, and sneakers or Doc Martins. This is fine. I honestly wouldn't want to change what I wear day to day. For dress up however I am hopelessly lost. I resort to collecting "women's magazines" and gleaning outfit ideas from there.

These are all minor inconveniences however. I am proud of my Tomboy status. When I was active at the dojo, I was proud of every bruise, every scrape, every hit. I loved the fact that I could go toe to toe with the guys and fight just as hard. It bothered me when then pulled punches.

The most annoying thing I've ever been told is "I can't spar you, your a girl, I can't hit a girl."

Ok, fine, stand there while I pummel you then, if it makes your macho ego feel better, but I honestly think that behind every time that I've gotten that statement was a truer one: "I can't spar you because if I loose, I'll have lost to a girl!" Which of course is somehow the worst thing ever. Because girls are Less then guys, and a guy should never loose to a girl, especially in a physical contest.

Well you know what? No. It dosn't work that way. Girls are not less than guys. We can hit hard and we can fight hard and we can run hard. In fact I've seen studies that prove that we can handle pain better, so I figure that makes it so we can work harder than you. (Ok so that study was about arthritis, but I think it applies to the "day after a workout" ache too.)

I'm proud of the fact that I "Hit like a girl" because you know what? I am a girl, and I'll still kick your butt.

Teh Pain!

The ankle pain is back again. I woke up this morning (afternoon for normal folks) and can barely walk. The pain is in whatever it is that is required for standing on ones tiptoes, or pushing off with the ball of ones foot. Now some background info, I did get new shoes this week, as my knees were aching something fierce from the instability in the old ones. Could this be the culprit? And if so why?

Tomboy post forthcoming. I got swamped with work last night...
-Meg

The girl hit hard like a barracuda baby

Last night I tried an experiment. Since I only have one ace bandage I wrapped up my right ankle and not my left ankle, took some Tylenol PM and went to bed. This morning, surprisingly, my left ankle felt better than my right ankle. I have no clue. In the process of getting myself up and mobile and to the gym I determined that stairs were no longer trying to kill me, and therefore I would be fine on the treadmill. So I laced up my sneakers and hit it.

I ran for half an hour and felt ok. I even pushed myself to run a little faster. My ankles started aching a bit towards the end but I figured I was alright.

I did day two of week six of the Hundred push up challenge, or rather I tried to. My arms gave out at push up 38 out of 42 in the max set. Part of my problem I've realized is that my palms get sweaty while I'm doing my push ups and my hands start to slide outwards slowly, making for progressively difficult push ups. Anyone got any suggestions? But anyways that means I'm redoing week six next week.

I kinda ran out of time for my strength set unfortunately. All I did was a set of 20 sensei mark specials. I'm planning on doing some more sit ups and squats on my lunch break to make up for it.

Then it was time for Treadmill Round Two! Yeah, no. Running produced a decidedly unhealthy shooting pain from both ankles. So I walked. I put the incline up to 5 and kept my heart rate up above 150. It was a fast walk, but it was most definitely a walk. So I sucked at the workout today.

I really need to figure out this ankle problem though. It's slowin me down.

I had this big long introspective post about me being a tomboy that I was writing in my head while I was doing the first half of my workout, but I've forgotten most of what I wanted to say...I'll try to remember and post a bonus post later.

-Meg

Draggin along

oooft. I woke up this morning and my ankles were on FIRE. I'm talking I can barely walk and stairs exist only to mock me. It's an odd feeling, because it's not really in the ankle so much as it's all the muscles attached to my ankle that hurt.

No walking for me today pleasekthnx.

SO I did the sensible thing and rubbed tiger balm all over my lower legs, and sat in a chair and worked on my art and made appointments to see apartments, and generally tried not to stand up or walk very much.

It helped some, but right now my ankles are still rather stiff, and unpleasant. I'm going to rest them for the rest of the night, and hope and pray that they're up to snuff in the A.M. I'm thinking I'll end up sticking to the elliptical machine tomorrow to give the poor ankles a break. I am however vastly amused that it is not my knees being the first to give out for once.

I am finding it increasingly hard to squeeze a good workout into my schedule. How do you guys do it?

Take a deep breath, babe, cause we've just started

It seems like I just can't get myself to exercise on the weekends. I make grandiose plans to do boxing and hit the gym and then *bam* real life interferes. After getting a grand total of 6 hours of sleep Saturday morning so that we could get up and traipse around Brooklyn looking at apartments, there was no way my body was letting me get up in time for boxing. Now mind you, normal people wouldn't have a problem getting up for a 12:30 class, but being the night dweller that I am, that's early.

I got myself back into the swing of things today (Monday was spent looking at more tiny overpriced apartments), and man do I hurt from it.

I did the half hour on the treadmill, with my body complaining the whole way. Then I did Day one of week six in the Hundred push up challenge. Ow. Just. Ow. I'm in the lowest bracket this time, and I barely made that last couple of push ups in the max set. I foresee redoing this week in my future. I did a wussy strength set, just the crunches I usually do, stretched and then tried to hit the treadmill again. My body was having none of that thank you very much. So I spent the next 25 minutes alternately walking and then jogging for a couple minutes, walking again for like 10 minutes, trying to run for a couple minutes, repeat.

And yet I feel like I ran a half marathon at this point..
-Meg

Check in the appropriate box for Boy or Girl

First things first, I would like to apologize for my recent foul mood. I did a very silly thing, and agreed to work overtime on a week when I already wasn't at my best. Being overtired, PMSing and getting almost no human interaction outside of work? Not good.

I've considered taking down my last post, because honestly I could see how it might offend someone with or recovering from an eating disorder, however I feel I need to leave it up, for me, because sometimes I'm afraid I'm starting to develop *very* bad habits and thought patterns.I need to be careful, because I have a highly competitive nature, not to turn my food journal into a competition with myself to see 'how low I can go'. Let me say instead that I was speaking out of frustration and hormones, and I'm sorry.

I had a short, but good, workout today. The S.O. gets out early on Fridays so I met him at 3:00 for some gym time. I talked him into the treadmills and proceeded to fly. I had been feeling tired and out of sorts when we got there, I had only gotten 6 hours of sleep and was cranky, but let me tell you, after the two minute warm up, I cranked the music and just ran for 30 minutes. I even did an 'interval' for the last two minutes, pushing myself hard, sweating buckets, and hitting that 'no room for any thoughts' zone.

I did my Hundred push up Challenge set, day 3 of week 5. Again I barely made the last set. Those last few push ups were done teeth clenched and making my "I will KILL this" face. (Coined so by one of my Sensei's back at the dojo as it is the face I make that scares people ^_^)

I did Abs (25 sensei mark specials, 10 each side 'ab choppers', 10 each side side crunches, 15 toe touches with 12 lb weight), and a little extra arm work, just 2 sets of 15 tricep kickbacks with the 12 lb weight. Then I did a full stretching set for once (since I had time) and hit the showers.

One thing I noticed while running is that the appropriate music really helps me go. A small sample of my "I will kick @$$" music (and yes I'm weird so sue me):
"Infrared" by Placebo
"Boy or Girl" by Electric Six
"Mystery Girl" by Yeah Yeah Yeahs
"Come out Swinging" by The Offspring (or really most songs by them work)
"The Libertine" by Patrick Wolf
"Machete" by Moby

Yeah there's more...I have a huge workout playlist...but that's a good sample for now...

So what do you listen to?
-Meg

The Diet Dilema

How does one "Diet" healthfully?

I am trying to "Diet" in conjunction with my exercise with the goal of loosing weight and trimming down my clothing size. The only way that I've ever known how to "Diet" is to count Calories and Fat. I have no idea what a healthy number for either of these is...I've always just tried to eat as few of both as possible when I diet, which is most likely not a good idea.

What is a girl to do when everything that "works" for people isn't healthy? In my head when I'm reading posts from people who are recovering from eating disorders, part of my brain is berating me for not having the willpower to do that. That yeah it might not be healthy, but it'll get you there, you can always start eating healthy once you loose the weight.

When I count the calories I eat on a normal day of "healthy" eating, the number shocks me. And I'm not talking a ton of food here, I'm talking small meals with maybe one or two healthy snacks. And yet somehow those numbers are always huge.

This is Day three of keeping a food journal and I'm already wanting to quit.
Yesterdays totals (Wednesday July 30th): Calories- 1412 Fat-31.9 Carbs-161.5 Protein-38.6

Exercise today was walking the two point something miles from Battery Park to Union Square. I really need to start hitting the gym more.
-Meg

Workout, with a vengeance!

I feel much better today. Later last night, after posting I had a wicked vertigo attack, so I do believe that my negative state of mind was in part associated with the oncoming attack. Gotta love the human body. I would like to thank tokaiangel very much for her kind words about my state of mind last night , it's always good to know that there are people out there pulling for you. ^_^

Today I hit the gym hard. With a Vengeance!! I got there earlier than usual, and jumped on the treadmill. I warmed up for two minutes then ran steady for a full 30 minutes. No stopping, No slowing. I even managed to run a little faster on a little bit of an incline for the last two minutes. I cooled down for 5 minutes then hit the mats for strength.

This is my second time through week 5 of the Hundred Push Up Challenge, today was day 2 redux. I'm still just barely making it through the required sets. I feel fine up until the last "max" set. Then I BARELY eek out those last few push ups.

After the push ups I did a set of 25 "sensei mark specials" (I'm trying to work my way back up to sets of 50 of them) a set of 15 "toe touch crunches" with a 10 lb weight in my hands, 2 sets of 10 "ab choppers" (one set on each side), 2 sets of 15 side crunches (again one set on each side), 2 sets on each side of 15 triceps kick backs with a 10 lb weight, and 2 sets in each direction side squats.

I stretched for a while until the S.O. showed up then we hit the ellipticals. One thing I'm noticing now that I'm doing running on the treadmill before I get on the elliptical machines is how freaking tired I am by the time I get to the ellipticals. But I managed to keep myself moving at a respectable rate with the resistance up at 10 for 30 minutes, even if every minute felt like I was trying to run in knee deep snow.

I hit the showers and then we headed to Starbucks for my daily indulgence (a tall iced skinny vanilla late...mmmm.)

I started keeping a food journal yesterday, and over the course of the day I racked up a total of 1606 Calories, 47.7g Fat, 188 Carbs, and a measly 58g Protein. I'm going to report my daily totals here and hopefully that'll help keep me accountable.

The word for today is Rededicated.
-Meg

I'm trying to stay positive

I'm so frustrated right now. I feel like most of my life is conspiring to keep me from reaching my weight loss goals. I try and eat healthy, and I try to work out and stay active, and yet, I'm still not loosing weight. I really don't want to resort to cutting my calories drastically, and I really don't have time to go to the gym more than I do, but I have to do something.

A friend posted pictures taken at my 30th Birthday Party back in May. I had lost weight by then, from my original weigh in of 178. I was down to around 160, which coincidentally is about where I'm stuck now. ( I'm at 157.8 lbs )

It was all I could do just to not burst out crying at those pictures. I look chubby, chunky, out of shape, fat, horrible. I put a picture down at the bottom left side of the page for reference...the best of the bunch.

And I know that's just how I would look if those pictures were taken today instead of back in May.

Two months and no progress. Two months and I still haven't had to go another notch in on my belt, and my clothes still don't fit well.

I'm going to start using a food diary asap. Maybe that will help me determine where my calories are coming from. I'm going to start trying to add in extra workouts somewhere. I just don't know where...between trying to move, my job and my freelance work, I honestly don't know where I can find more time, unless I give up some sleep. And I'm kinda attached to sleep.

Hopefully the food diary will help. Otherwise I'm out of ideas.
-Meg

backpeddling

I'm repeating week five of the hundred push up challenge. Very unhappy with my workout today, just half an hour on the elip, the pushups and some various sit ups. Ran out of time at the gym.

Sigh.

-meg

Does stress count as cardio?

Today there was no time for the gym. I woke up early (for me) at around 1:00, after getting a grand total of 6 hours of sleep. I dragged myself out of bed, threw on clothes, packed up some stuff for the weekend, and headed out. After meeting up with the S.O. we went over to the Real Estate Agency to get started on this apartment hunt.

I guess everyone in NYC likes to do things at the last minute, because the agent was surprised we were looking so far in advance. I guess most of the listings they have right now are looking to get people in by August 1st.. I could never wait that long to figure out where I'm moving. The panic alone would kill me. So we have an appointment next Saturday to go look at a couple places. Here's hoping that we find the perfect place.

Meanwhile, all this stress and sleep dep is doing wonders for my weight loss I'm sure. This weekend I'm heading out to a weekend long party at a friends place, hopefully it will help add some much needed relaxation into my life.

Maybe I should shop around for a good Yoga DVD....
-Meg

Keeping myself moving forward

Yesterday, after I had posted my blog and was getting myself all set up to charge full steam into the challenges in front of me, I found out that the apartment I thought I was moving into at the beginning of September had been rented out to someone else. A few hours of anger and panic later, and we once again have a plan and a way forward. My stress level is hovering right below "I'm going to give myself an stroke" but there is a plan and this will be ok.

To say that I needed my time at the gym today would be an understatement.

I ran for over half an hour today. Well, let me be more specific. I did a 5 minute warm up, ran for 20 minutes, walked for a minute, ran for 10 minutes, walked for a minute, ran for another 5 minutes, then did a 5 minute cool down. The last two sets of running I was to the "can't think can only try to concentrate on keeping myself moving" stage. That blissful point where the exertion of your body takes away everything else in the entire world. The last time I remember feeling that was at boxing, the time before that, in the dojo.

I used to get to that point almost every class at the dojo. And then after class I would collapse into sesea and meditate with the rest of the class, my pounding heart and deep breathing the only sound in my world.

Today was like that. It was wonderful.

I did my set for the Hundred Push Up Challenge, today there are eight levels to get through instead of the usual five, but the levels had fewer push ups. I was doing fine until the last set, which is the max rep set. I BARELY made the minimum 35.

On to the strength stuff. My arms were dead from the push ups, so I concentrated on sit ups. 20 "sensei mark specials", 20 ab choppers, 20 toe touches, 20 side crunches.Then I tried doing some of these:Straight Leg Bridge With Ball, I did 15 and stopped, partially because my butt was starting to hurt, but mostly because I felt REALLY silly.

I did some stretching, then when the S.O. got there, we hopped on the elliptical machines to do the 30 minutes to end my workout. Yeah, well I *tried* to do 30 minutes. Running is so much more tiring than elliptical-ing (is that even a word?) So much more tiring that I no longer had the energy left to do a full 30 minutes on the elliptical after that marathon on the treadmill. Sensing my flagging energy I attempted to compensate by upping the resistance level to ungodly heights, figuring I would make the most of whatever time I did manage to keep myself on the machine for. I managed to stay on for 20 minutes, plus a 5 minute cool down...so only 10 minutes short of my goal. Not too bad, especially considering I was going at a level *10* resistance! (now is the part where you all oooo in admiration).

I am now chowing down on carrots, and realizing that my butt is very not happy about that resistance level...

-Meg

Makin Changes

I'm slowly learning the in's and out's of blogger's software. You'll notice I now have a list of *awesome* *amazing* *inspirational* blogs that I read EVERY DAY. (no I'm not kidding...I'm a little obsessive with the reading thing.) So! If you have, or know of a blog that's *not* on that list that you think I should be reading, let me know!

Also, you see, I'm a freelance Illustrator/Graphic artist in my "outside the gym" life (in addition to my night job working on magazine covers) and I've recently gotten offered a freelance opportunity that sound relatively promising. Not too much money in it, but tons of exposure, which could *lead* to alot of money. So I'm taking it. I'm a little worried because it's going to be taking up a lot of my free time for the next three weeks, and will most definitely eat into my time to do my *other* art type projects (I'm working on a comic for myself right now, which will have to be put on hold.)

I'm going to do my best not to fall behind on my fitness related activities, and I *most definitely* will not be giving up daily posting here. I'm just hoping it doesn't end up cutting into my gym time.

Fitness wise today was one of my "off" days, not going to they gym, but instead walking my way up Broadway from Battery Park to Union Square , which works out to be almost 3 miles.

I'm trying to get back to healthy eating, counting my calories and making sure I'm eating healthy food. I'm still plateaued at 159/158 lbs (depending on the day) and my body fat % is staying level again. So, back to watching what I eat, and hoping the weight starts coming off again.

-Meg

Keeping Pace

Back to the gym today, for real.

I did a solid 20 minute run, with a five minute warm up and five minute cool down. I topped a mile. Somehow this is much more work, and feels like a much bigger accomplishment than the same distance on the elliptical machine..

I did day one of week five of the Hundred Push up Challenge. I had managed to do around 40 strait during my last test, so I was in the middle column this week. OMG WTF, it got so much harder this week! I barely did the 35 minimum for the last set. The last couple were BARELY eked out. I'm starting to worry that I'm going to end up having to repeat this week.

After that run, and the push ups, I did some light arm work and ab work (sensei mark specials, side crunches, and ab choppers) Stretched, and then about 20 minutes on the elliptical machine before realizing I was completely out of energy and hitting the shower.

I realized that I've never explained what a "sensei mark special" is. Well it's simple really, it's basically a modified set of crunches. First you start by laying down and holding your legs strait up, and crossing them at the ankles, so you're making an L out of your body with the long upper part being your legs, and the short lower part your torso. Now, you do a twisting crunch, touching your right elbow to your left knee, then another twist, left elbow to right knee, then two strait crunches. That's one. I usually alternate which elbow I'm using first so the second one would be left elbow to right knee, then right elbow to left knee, then two crunches.

Now do as many of those as you can. Lately I've been really weak and only been able to do about 20 before I have to stop and do the "omgi'minpain" face while trying to breathe without using my abs (which I've found is virtually impossible.)

I'm working my way back up to sets of 50 of those. Someday...
-Meg

Replying to comments

Hey, I'm still trying to figure out this blogging software, and I haven't found a good way to respond to comments people leave.

Does anyone know of an easy way to reply directly to a comment?

In leiu of direct responses I would like to repost a link that was posted in my comments by Leslie from The Weighting Game

This scares me, because I do night shift work. My shift?? 7pm-5am (and they're thinking of shifting it even later)

-Meg

Overtime week

No, not in a good way. Not in a fitness way.

This week I'm doing an extra shift at work. So I'll be doing a 50 hour work week this week. Because I'm not willing to give up any of my other after school activities (drawing group on Mondays, relaxing and stuff on weekends) that means that my workout time is seriously crunched. I did not go to the gym today. I did not do my pushups today.

I will go tomorrow and start week 5 of the Challenge tomorrow..

Again, I'm seeing my numbers decreasing, inexplicably (seeing how little exercise I've been getting and how horribly I've been eating) and yet I'm still feeling increasingly bloated. I wonder if I'm filling up with air...

More tomorrow.
-Meg

Fitting into my skin

Today I woke up having one of *those* days. I was still in a funk from the night before, and I felt bloated and sluggish.

You know the feeling like you magically somehow gained 20 lbs overnight despite what the scale, which is obviously lying to make you feel better, says?

Yeah. That's how I felt.

I dragged myself out of bed and returned a voice mail from my S.O. saying he'd gotten out of work early, and wanted to meet up early. So I threw on clothes, grabbed the gym kit, and flew out the door.

I totally forgot to weigh myself this morning. *sigh*

At the gym we decided to just go for it and hit the treadmills for half an hour. I did a 5 minute walking warmup, then ran for fifteen minutes, walked for two, ran for five, walked for 30 seconds, then ran till the end of the half hour. I actually sprinted for the last minute too. I'm kinda proud of myself for that. I did a 5 minute cool down then hit the mats for strength.

I did day two of week four of the hundred pushup challenge, did 25 for my max set again. I did some extra arm work, and three sets of crunches: sensei mark specials, ab chops, and side crunches. I did some squats and then a lot of stretching.

After the workout we grabbed food and I totally blew my good work away with a turkey club wrap and a side of fries. I made up for that somewhat by walking from battery park to canal street before hopping on the subway to head to work.

It is DAYMN hot out there today folks.
-Meg

My job is bad for my health

Between the fact that I work nights, work 10 hour days, and the fact that I am constantly offered foods that are very not good for my diet, I do believe my job is working against my weight loss goals.

I wonder what studies are out there on the effects of working nights on ones metabolism. I *know* I suffer from sleep dep on a regular basis, if only so I can actually see sunshine every now and then...

*sigh* I think the depression is talking now, so Imma go back to the work I'm supposed to be doing.

-Meg

Running vs. Elipticalling

Today was my first real day back at the gym. I've been putting off going back to the gym because I was afraid of what I would find when I got there. How weak had I gotten in my time off? The fact that I have not gained a ton of weight since leaving helps, but really, that could just be loss of muscle right?

I decided to fool myself today instead of facing the issue head on. Instead of my normal two 30 minute sessions on the elliptical machines, I decided to take a page from my workout adventures in Maine, and do my first half on the treadmill. Now I reasoned with myself, saying that I had been gone a while, and need to ease back into this. So I granted myself a reprieve and decided I would only run for ten minutes, since that was what I had been able to do while in Maine. I took a couple minutes to walk on the treadmill to warm up and slowly worked the belt up faster to a comfortable jogging pace. I upped the incline a bit and occasionally, as I got comfortable, upped the speed by tiny increments. I almost made it to a mile.

I did my strength and some stretching, arm work and squats, a bunch of sit ups, and holding the plank position as long as I could.

Then I jumped on an elliptical machine for the second half of the workout (well more than half as I only did 15 minutes total on the treadmill including warm up and cool down) and noticed something. Running on a treadmill is MUCH HARDER than working on the elliptical machine. I have to go MUCH faster on the elliptical machine to feel like I'm working as hard as I am on the treadmill.

So my workout has forever changed now. I'm going to work my way up to half an hour on the treadmill, half an hour on the elliptical. I'm only keeping the elliptical for now because I have really messed up knees, and I need to be nice to them.

Hopefully by next week I'll feel fully back into the groove. I still feel decidedly un-groovy.

-Meg

Off my rythm

I did not go to the gym today. I did not go to the gym yesterday. But I swear I will go tomorrow. I'm just having a very hard time getting back into the rythm of life here in the city again.

I did do my push ups today. I'm on day one of week four. It was challenging, but I managed to do 25 for my final set, so I guess I wasn't that wiped out by it. I'm happy that I seem to be keeping pace with the program, despite my one week truancy from all the things I normally do that I deem "working out"

I'm still trying to catch up on everything I missed while I was away, but I swear I'll catch up on everyones blogs as quick as possible.

-Meg

Back in the Big City

The vacation is over, and I'm back to the daily routine.

Exercise wise, the vacation did not go as planned. Family obligations took over my good intentions and Kayaks were not available for rent as we had hoped. We did do a lot of walking, and ran twice.

The first day we ran, I felt my body as heavier than ever before. We ran for a good long while before I needed my first walk break. I had forgotten my watch so I'm not sur exactly how long. We walked and ran (more walking than running) for the rest of the 3.6 miles, out and back through the woods, a long the paved road across the island.

I felt the run the next day. I didn't expect the ache across my ribs. We didn't do much moving at all that day. The day after that was spent doing a lot of running around and getting stuff done.

The second day we ran, I did much better at first. We ran for a full ten minutes, and got way farther than the first time. We later measured it out on the trip odomoter in the car, and we had ran for a full mile. We ran/walked the rest of the loop, and then on the way back, I had the inspired Idea to sprint across one of the bridges. About halfway across the bridge I felt this sharp pain on the inside of my hip. Every step shot pain from the inside of my hip to the outside of my hip, and down the inside of my leg. We walked the rest of the way back, and by the time we got home I was limping to favor my hip.

Two days and a lot of Advil later the pain was gone, and I'm still not sure what I did, but it resulted in me not getting a whole lot more exercise over the rest of the trip.

I finished off week three of the Hundred push up Challenge, but completely dropped the ball on even starting week four. So, I'm going to start week four tonight, when we hit the gym.

I'm convinced running is a better workout than the elliptical machine now, and I'm also equally convinced that I am not in good enough shape to be a runner yet. I'm going to start easing running into my routine, hopefully by the end of the summer I'll be able to do some running in Central Park before it gets cold.

I weighed myself this morning to see how I had done, since I had completely stopped watching what I ate while in Maine, and found that I hadn't done horribly. Not great, but no the disaster I was expecting.

Weight: 160 (up from 158.7)
Body Fat %: 32.9 (up from 32.6)

Now that I'm back in the City, I'm getting back to the routine. We'll see if the Holiday Weight Gain goes away ^_^

-Meg

mobile posting

Just a quick post to log that I did my pushups today, but not much else. I also ate badly, so today is a minus day. But the gym kit is packed and ready to go to Maine. Running here I come!

-Meg

Perception is 9/10 of reality

Going back to yesterday I think tokaiangel made a really good point. I think it's just that I generally feel like rubbish right around now and it makes everything feel like so much more work. I also feel like I've gained a thousand pounds. I feel puffy and sluggish. My pants don't fit quite right and I swear I have a pudgy belly that wasn't there last week. The scale however begs to differ. It swears up and down that I have in fact *lost* weight, and my Body Fat % is holding steady. So maybe it really is all in my mind....

Today I did an *actual* work out, beating my time on the elliptical again, doing the 3 miles in 28:45. At the 30 minute mark I had gone 3.15 miles. Woot. The really cool thing? I did it all on a higher resistance level than I normally use. I never dropped it below 7, and when I did my "sprints" I was pumping it up to 10 for the full minute. I did mostly legs for my strength training today, since arms was yesterday, and I plan to go tomorrow as well. Reverse Lunges, Side Squats, and Calf Raises. Ab work was the "sensei mark special", sideways sit ups and bicycle crunches. I'm steadily increasing the number of crunches/sit ups I do per set as well. These are all good things.

I kinda wimped out on the second half of my cardio though, I just couldn't keep up the pace, so I compromised and pumped the resistance up to 10 and just slogged away at a slower pace. But I did manage to keep at it for the full 30 minutes, so I think I deserve a gold star for effort ^_^

-Meg

Bonus Post

Since I updated before I left for the gym this morning, you get a bonus post today.

I totally wussed out on my workout today. I was short on time and did what I could before I ran out... but it was way short of my normal routine

Also, this is my 'female issues' week, and I swear that it affects my workouts. Things seem so much harder. I wonder if there are any studies out there about this phenomenon.

Anyways, so I did a measly 15 minutes on the elliptical machine. Yes, I pushed hard for those 15 but still, it's like half of half of a work out.

I did my set for the Hundred Push Up Challenge, and I was feeling it towards the end set. I only managed to do the minimum of 20 for the "max set". Although I did feel like if I rested I could have eked out a few more sets...

I only did minimal weights, one set of kickbacks with 10 lb weights, two sets of these "hammer curl/lifts" with 10 lb weights and some lunges. I only did the "sensei mark specials" for my abs, and then I was out of time.

So I'm going to hit the gym again tomorow since I was so miserably wussy today.

-Meg

Vacation (not so)Fitness

Ok I've been MIA, and I'm going to be breezing through and out again soon. This is "Vacation Month" for me, a Quick trip up to the hometown for the S.O.'s High School reunion is behind me and a week and a half vacation trip up to Maine is looming at the end of the week. But I have a plan! While I'm in Maine I will be keeping a paper journal, and I will transcribe my Maine-y adventures in fitness when I get back.

Meanwhile, in One Hundred Push ups news, I managed to make myself do my pushups for the third day of the second week on Saturday in my parents living room (with my mother watching), and did the exhaustion test this morning. (although I think i go easy on myself in these exhaustion tests....) I did 25 strait.

Now, anyone else doing this challenge, can you tell me if I'm doing this right? I count my exhaustion test as, as many pushups as I can do with good form without stopping to rest. Is this the right way? Or am I selling myself short?

Saturday I also managed to make myself do 25 minutes on my parents elliptical machine of doom (tm) my normal sets of crunches (25 sensei mark specials, 10 sideways crunches on each side, then I did an extra set of 50 on the exercise ball they had just for fun), and a mini arm workout with 8 lb weights (cause that was all they had). The best part? I got to jump in the pool afterwards ^_^

So yeah it was a mini workout, but it counts. Unfortunately, now I'm all off schedule for this week, and we're leaving for Maine on Friday, so I've only got two good gym days available this week (I really do have to take a day off in between gym trips for my own sanity.)

The S.O. and I have been brainstorming ways to get exercise once we're up in Maine. So far we're renting Kayaks and going swimming, and I'm looking at having to face my mortal fitness enemy - Running. Any Running tips will be appreciated. Since I suck at it and will most likely hurt myself doing it.

-Meg

Because I love this girl and because I love Burts Bees ^_^

Check her out: Here

This girl is amazing.

Motivation via Cheerleaders

And no, I don't mean having a personal cheerleader (although that would be awesome). No, today, while I was doing my strength training set I was standing near a window at my gym which happens to look out over Wall Street right in front of the NYSE. There were Cameras everywhere, Lights, stages, people all dressed up in fancy suits talking to the aforementioned cameras, and the Nets Cheerleaders posing in/on/around a car. Yes, directly in my tired, sweaty, frustrated line of sight was a cadre of robotic-aly perfect shining examples of *who I'm supposed to be

*sigh*

Anyways, today I was tired again, in that "idontwannagotothegym, youcantmakeme" kind of way. But I went anyways. I got on the elliptical and that same competitiveness that used to keep me getting my butt kicked at karate kicked in again and I kept my speed up and matched my 29 1/2 minute time for the 3 mile mark. Woo! I did a different set of strength moves today, my triceps are killing me from all the work I've been doing so I tried to give them an easy day. Instead of doing the full arm workout, halfway through it I switched to doing some exercises from another FitSugar plan, doing side lunges, reverse lunges bicycle crunches (which by the way, hurt, in a good way) and I did my standard "Sensei Mark Special" crunches.

I actually got a full fifteen minutes of stretching in before my S.O. showed up for the second half of my cardio. At this point (due in part to the shiny perfectness of the damned cheerleaders) I was feeling defeatist, and exhausted. So I decided I was going to take a different tact on this stint on the elliptical. Instead of keeping the resistance (relatively) low and going for speed, I switched it up and put the resistance (again relatively) way up to 15 and just tried to keep a respectable pace. I had to drop the resistance at a couple points down to 13 as my legs started burning from the unaccustomed work, but as soon as my legs recovered I'd push it back up to 15. And somehow I managed to do close to 2 1/2 miles in the 30 minutes. Which tells me I can run faster than I've been, and should push myself next time to see how fast I *can* go.

All in all not a bad workout. Even if I didn't want to go ^_^
-Meg