14 July 2012

The Plan


I am a firm believer in signs and the universe and karma and all whatever you want to call it. While I believe some things are worth fighting for, I also believe that things you are supposed to have/be will be the easiest path open to you. I'm not sure that makes sense, but I fought hard to get into and through teacher education, yet a job dropped into my lap before I graduated. See? It was hard but the easiest path. I also believe that you have to find what works for you. What works for one person will not work for everyone, yeah, I hate that whole one size fits all. I also hate when there's a program of some sort, workout or eating, how the person promoting it says you have to follow it exactly. Really? If I don't run every other day for 6 weeks I won't be able to complete a 5k?? I think you may be exaggerating a little bit. Everything in moderation.

With all that in mind, a few weeks ago I tried to go vegan. I could not do it. I found that by going a couple of days without meat or dairy I craved it. Seriously craved it. So I stopped trying vegan and went back to my old way of eating. I'm not thrilled with that either. There are times when I feel that fat, stuffed feeling again and I do not like it. So what to do? Also, my workouts have been sporadic at best. There is a number of possible reasons for this: 1) that's kind of the way I do things, sporadically, 2) because I'm not feeling so great because of the way I'm eating I have little to no energy to work out, 3) no reason, just lazy. Then the other day I caught about 20 minutes of Dr. Oz and he was talking about weight loss (isn't he always talking about weight loss??). Since I missed most of it, I went onto his website to try and find it. Instead I come across this 7 day crash diet by Dr. Joel Fuhrman, actually the book is called Eat to Live. What caught my eye you might ask?? Well, he espouses the 90/10 rule. 90% of your calories should be from fruits, vegetables, legumes and nuts. 10% should be from dairy and meat - animal products. That right there got my attention because I thought, I can do 10%. I feel 1000% better when I eat mostly plant based foods, but I got so discouraged that I had reverted back to my old ways. So, taking this as a sign from the universe, I'm back on track. The plan is to eat vegan breakfast and lunch and have a little bit of meat for dinner. That's all. I can live with that.

So looking at the signs, I believe that the universe is trying to tell me how to eat, I just need to pay attention. Along with that comes moving. I need to move. Every single day. So this morning I'm off to the gym in a bit to run, then I will be doing the Bodypump class, and then riding over to Kailua to meet Hubby to go to Whole Foods. It really is not that hard at all. It just takes a little thought, planning, and advice from the universe.

Being realistic or fooling myself


It's hard to decide sometime. I have been telling myself that I'm working on my thesis and that's why I haven't been as motivated to work out. That is true to a large extent but it's not the complete truth. I have been working on my thesis, that absolutely, positively must get finished within the next few days, but I have not been working on it so much I could not exercise. I have been using it as an excuse to not exercise if I didn't feel like it. The truth of the matter is, I must spend 4-5 hours a day on Facebook and playing games. I don't do it all at once, but I'll jump on for 20 minutes here, 30 minutes there; oh, I need a short break, let me play a game; I'm waiting for XXX so let me play a game; I can't find what I'm looking for, let me play a game. The next thing you know I've been playing games all day and not only have I not worked out, I haven't gotten as much of my thesis done as I'd hoped to. So I think we I have a bit of a problem. So, as Dr. Phil says, time to get real. Starting tomorrow I am on a computer diet. No computer until the thesis is done. I will only use it for research. That is all. No Facebook. No games. No nothing. I will check my email on my tablet and that is it. Until this thesis is done, there will be nothing but that.

So here is the plan. Tomorrow I'm going to get up and ride over to the gym. I'm going to run. Then I'm going to take the Body Pump class. Then I may ride over to Kailua and meet hubby so we can go to Whole Foods. Then home for lunch and thesis. Later on we'll walk the dogs, have dinner and maybe watch some TV. But that's it. No hours wasted in front of the computer. That is done for the next few days until this thesis is pau. I am excited and committed.

13 July 2012

Not as far off the mark as I thought


Since school ended - 2 weeks ago - I feel like I've been spending a lot of time doing nothing. I have been finishing up my thesis and working on lesson plans for the new year, so that means a whole lot of time spent on my butt in front of the computer. I've been working out but it doesn't feel like it's as much activity as I normally get. But I'm wrong. Turns out I'm almost hitting my target burn everyday. Right, well almost really isn't good enough, but in this case I thought it was much worse so it is good enough. My target is 2350 a day and I've been hitting 2100 or 2200. Not bad. Not great, but definitely not bad. Just a little push and I could be making my burn every day.

Now food is another story. I haven't been eating a lot, just not great stuff. I really wanted to go completely plant based and I just can't do it. I don't know what it is, maybe it's all in my head, but two days of no meat and I literally can not get enough food. The plant based stuff fills me up but I end up with a headache and feeling like I haven't had enough. I just thought of something. What if that headache is from withdrawals? I've never heard of anyone withdrawing from meat but maybe there is something else I'm not eating that is causing the withdrawals. Hmmm...something to thing about. I will have to look into that further.

Today was weigh-in and I totally forgot. I usually weigh-in before I put anything inside my body. Too late. Guess I'll have to weigh-in tomorrow. Maybe I'll go vegan today and weigh-in tomorrow ;P

My Spiras arrive today. I'm very,very excited. I can't wait to try them out. I also can't wait to have no excuses for not running. Tomorrow I start Couch to 5K - again - and I'm running every other day no matter how it falls. Exciting....

Hubby just called. Someone told him to get a goldline salt cell for the swimming pool at the club and he had no idea what it was. Neither did I....

Guess that's it for today. I have to go workout, but I was pretty hungry and had to eat something first. It's been almost an hour, should be safe to workout now.

11 July 2012

I did a handstand


This is kind of what I looked like, though that is not me. I was a little closer to the wall and I held it for about 40 seconds. Awesome!!! I've been doing the Designer Whey Summer Shape-up Challenge and I am so enjoying it. Monday was a lower body workout. Tuesday was upper body. Today was cardio and core. It was provided by an MMA trainer and it was strange but I liked it. There were a lot of planks and sit-up type things, along with turkish get-ups, wall sits, and handstands. As I watched the workout video I thought there was no way I could pull this one off. It looked hard. And it was, but I decided to give it a go and I did it. The only move I could not do was the elbow - heel bridge. You rest on your elbows and heels, with legs straight, and raise yourself up. Yeah....not so much. I could only get about an inch or two off the ground and could only hold it for a couple of seconds. But hey, everyone has to start somewhere. But I was most excited about the handstand. I have not even attempted a handstand in probably 40 years, but I decided to give it a go. And I did it!!! Woo Hoo to me!!!!

Also, Designer Whey is having drawings for those registered in their Summer Shape up challenge and I won the first day!!! Woot!!! Don't know what I've won but I won!!! Woo Hoo!!!!

09 July 2012

I need a program


I know myself well enough to know that I need a program. Some people can wake up everyday and think, what will I do today? I can not. If I do that nothing gets done. If fact, in almost all areas of my life I work better if I have a list. If I sit and make a list before I go to bed at night, the next day is usually much more productive. If I wake up and have to figure out what to do - forget about it....nothing and I mean nothing, gets done.

With that in mind, my workouts have been haphazard at best. I like the whole Tabata training thing but I only had one workout for that. Either I would need to do the same workout day after day or I would need to make up my own. Can you guess what would happen? That's right. Nothing. I saw a commercial for P90X last night and really considered getting it. Then it hit me why I wanted it so bad. It tells you what do for 90 days!!! 90 days of not having to think what to do!!! 90 days of having your workout planned for you. That is extremely appealing to me....

Then I read about the Designer Whey Summer Challenge. It starts today and runs through August 31st. Everyday they post a different workout by a different trainer. No heavy thinking or planning or anything. Just log on and play the video. This sounds like a good deal to me. And with everything else I have going on; thesis, prepping for next year; I think this will work exceptionally well for me. I don't have to think just do. I'm also adding in biking and running as I want to do both. Today it's running tomorrow it's biking.

Anyway, here is today's workout and how I did:

You do each move for 45 seconds then 15 seconds rest. Complete a circuit and take 1 minute rest. Repeat 5 circuits.

Pylo Jump on box (I actually did step-ups)
15
18
20
19
18
Straight Leg Deadlift w/10lbs
13
16
20
17
18
Air Squat
29
28
33
30
33
Bridge
30 - This is the only set I did completely in the air.
37
33
34
35
Forward Lunge w/10 lbs
20
23
22
23
23

Couple of notes. Right knee felt a little shaky at the start but was fine. Developed weird pain down side of left leg from hip almost to knee. I have never felt that before and it was very strange. Seems fine now.

So there you have it. A great way to start the day and I liked the workout. Let's see what they offer up tomorrow.

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...