07 January 2012

Time to get serious


I need to lose weight. I don't like the way I look or the way I feel and I'm concerned about my health. I want to lose weight to fit into the clothes in my closet. So I have need and I have want. I have desire and motivation. I just need to do it.

Weight Watchers was this morning and I am up .6 lbs from where I started. Now, yes, in the overall scheme of things that is not much at all. But for someone who is trying to lose weight that is not the right direction. So I need to get serious.

School starts on Monday and that will be good in many ways. I'll be back on a schedule and back to a routine. It will also require more discipline since I will need to get up early to workout.

Too much running through my mind right now to write. I need to work some things out before I try putting them down.

05 January 2012

I want to be a success


Perhaps I should first define success. To me success is doing what I set out to do. It does not mean being the best or being first, it means doing it. So if I say I'm going to workout in the morning and I do - that's a success. It doesn't matter that it took me forever and I had to stop 3 times to rest. I did it and therefore it's a success. That means that the next time I want to do it better or faster or something in order to be a success. But it does not have to be earth shattering. If I do 5 push-ups one day that's a success. The next day I do 6 - huge success. The following day I do 6 with perfect form - another huge success. See where I'm going here? I'm not judging my success on anyone else's, I'm basing if firmly on my own self. I am the gauge and the meter stick by which I measure my success.

Now, having said all that, I don't feel like a success and I want to. I think the first thing I need to do is set some goals so that I can define my successes.

Two days ago I started this boot camp program that I really like. I found it at FitStudio and they given you 28 days of workouts and tell you what to do and how. I really like it and I am left in a giant puddle of sweat after every workout so that's good. So my first goal is to complete this workout. 28 days of boot camp. Every day I do a workout will be a success and completing all 28 days will be a big success.

Second goal, track my eating. I h ave not been eating right and I have not been tracking in any way, shape, or form. I need to track. In my head I am justifying what I eat. For example, yesterday I worked out then had an egg sandwich for breakfast. I went to school to work on my classroom and by 3pm realized I hadn't eaten any lunch. I stopped at Safeway and got a turkey meatloaf sandwich. I had no idea of calories or points but my justification in my mind? Well, I've been working and I'm sure it's not that bad. So I ate the whole thing. I need to stop this. I need to take control of my eating and be accountable to myself. So that's my second goal; Track!!!! Every day that I track all food will be a success.

I guess that's really it for now. I just want to develop these habits so that I can then move on to other goals and success. Workout and track. Doesn't sound very hard does it???

04 January 2012

In a past life


I worked in a medical office. I also worked in a vet's office but that's for another post. Anyway, I worked in a doctor's office and I was in charge of the records. Yes, this was my domain. This was a time when computers were just becoming ubiquitous, yes, I'm that old, and I really did envision a day when medical records would be keep on computers. I actually used to dream about that because do you know how hard it is to copy x-rays?? Anyway, I digress. I could see how this could work. Record info directly into the computer and all the data is kept there. Since this was the beginning of the Internet, I could also see how you and your doctors could all access the information without having to photocopy charts and mail things all over the place. I could see how much easier things could be.

Fast forward a few years decades and my vision is a reality. It was a year or so ago that I noticed my vet moving to Electronic Medical Records. Then I noticed Kaiser was installing computers in all the rooms. Now they are completely electronic. I recently signed up with their website and saw that I could see all my Electronic Health Records. It's kind of cool. I can see all my test results and keep track of everything they've done to me. I can also schedule appointments and such, it's awesome.

This really is cool and everything I thought it would be when I was searching for records through all those rolling shelves. The hours I spent copying and mailing charts and x-rays. It's a great idea. I can see the implications for other places too, like Long Term Care and nursing homes. It's so much easier to have all this information in one place to cut down on flipping through papers and taking the chance on missing something.

I really can see a time when there is little to no paperwork. When everything is done electronically and paper is basically used for record keeping. I myself am moving towards that. I do almost all my stuff online and keep almost everything on my computer. I think soon most everyone will be doing that... Of course, that is assuming the world doesn't end at the end of this year. But that's a post for another time.

Back to it


After the flooring blitz of Monday I was sore. Very. Very. Sore. I ended up taking yesterday off and working on school stuff. About 2-3 hours after I got up I felt fine. I actually considered working out then but it was really hot and humid and there was not a breath of wind. Also, we have vog. Vog is volcanic fog and it is miserable. So I didn't workout yesterday but did get a bunch of stuff done.

I am trying to decide what to do today. I'm going to workout first but after that I'm not sure. I may take some stuff up to school and do some work up there for a little bit. Or I may stay home and do that tomorrow. Not sure. Right now though I am off to workout. Public schools are back today and we are back on Monday. Oh Joy!!!

03 January 2012

I'm sore


This is how I spent about 6 hours yesterday. I was either on my knees scraping old tile up or laying new tile down. Ouch!!! My back, legs, neck, arms, everything is sore. Last night I hurt so bad I could hardly lay down. Or sit. Or stand. It was pretty back. I took some ibuprofen and went to bed. Luckily I fell asleep pretty quickly and slept good. Woke up this morning feeling better but still sore in places.

During this whole event yesterday I hardly ate. I had 1/2 an egg salad sandwich about 1 pm and that was it. When we finished at 5pm I was a mess. I had a headache and felt like crap. I went to the store to grab something quick to eat and to get something for dinner. We ate 3 pieces of fried chicken between us and felt a whole lot better. Later on we had dinner and that helped even more. Bed helped the best by far though.

I'm sitting here now thinking about the workout I have planned and wondering if I can do it. I really am sore. Also, it's overcast and looks like rain. A good day to just hunker down and do some desk work. Maybe I'll work for a little bit and then see about working out. Sitting in this nice comfy chair feels good for now......

02 January 2012

I have a plan


So I've been a little bit lackluster about the whole New Year only because I could not seem to latch onto exactly what I wanted to do. Fitness wise anyway. I know that I want to work on organization and financial health and those are actually pretty easy. But for my health goals, I was dragging my feet and could not seem to focus on what I want to work on. I don't want to get caught up in numbers and goals that are really insane. I have to remain reasonable about this.

I have been doing Bob Harper's Ultimate Cardio Workout and Karen Voight Personal Best and I love both of these but I am already getting bored with them. Also, each one takes an hour and once school starts I may not have an hour every morning. I will be taking the bus and I need to be out there early, earlier then when I drive. So that's to be considered. I will need to be amazingly organized and do things at night so I don't have to mess with them in the morning. I want to wake up, feed the birds, workout, shower and leave. That's it.

As I was looking through the ads in the Sunday paper, I came across an ad that said I could win a NordicTrack Incline - I want one so bad.... Anyway, I went to the website to register and came across a very cool BootCamp Workout. Hmm...It's just a list of exercises that I do in a certain order and a certain number. For example, one curciut has 20 squats, 20 burpees, 20 squat kicks and you do it 3 times. This is awesome for a number of reasons. First, I don't have to follow along at a prescribed pace. Sometimes that is the hardest part. Second, if I'm running late I can do 2 sets instead of 3. Then on the weekends I can do longer, harder workouts.

So I'm excited once again. We have some serious upgrading planned for the next week and I'm back to school next Monday so I'm starting this program tomorrow. It's a 4 week program with a different workout every day. I'm looking forward to it.

My goals for January are to workout 5 of 7 days each week. Track my food 4 of 7 days. Remain consistent in whatever I do since I know that consistency pays off in the end.

Conversation with Hubby

 So yesterday morning I presented my idea of working out at home to the Hubby. Once I presented it to him, he said he was in. I told him I h...