So the Aerial Dance workshop on Saturday... it was fun!! I definitely need to be in better shape to do well with it, but I enjoyed it! I enjoyed it enough that I enrolled in a beginner class, so I'll be doing that every Saturday in February. Who'd have thunk?
And... while we're on the topic of crazy things I did this weekend... I got up this morning and ran! It's been 6 months since I've run (I mean, AT ALL), but I decided just to get on and give it my best, so after a 5 minute warm up walk I started running... and didn't stop for 15 minutes! That's right... I ran 15 minutes straight (about a mile and a half) after not running at all for 6 months! Crazy! But exhilarating at the same time, so I hope I can keep up with it now that I've gotten that first dreaded run out of the way.
So... that's my weekend. I'm excited about running and doing aerial dance this month and hoping to get in better shape that way. I just need to work on my abs so I can roll up ONTO the trapeze without needing assistance by the end of the class. Ha ha! How's that for a goal?
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
124.4
I was down to 124.4 this morning. Hooray! Of course, that's 10 lbs over what I was at my smallest a year and a half ago, but I'm happy to see the numbers under 125! They were at 127.6 last week, so that's a great thing to see!
Calories... I'm watching, but not "counting" per se. I count for the first part of the day and then just estimate towards the end. I stay within my calorie range and think I'm at the low end at the end of the day.
Exercise... is still hit and miss, but I'm making a point to go up and down the stairs as many times as possible today. =D
Calories... I'm watching, but not "counting" per se. I count for the first part of the day and then just estimate towards the end. I stay within my calorie range and think I'm at the low end at the end of the day.
Exercise... is still hit and miss, but I'm making a point to go up and down the stairs as many times as possible today. =D
Monday, January 26, 2009
My name is Elizabeth...
... and I'm still here.
I haven't died (thank goodness!)
I've just been super busy.
But I am here, and I have been plugging away. I went to the Dr. last week, and they weighed me. Ack! I go back in a few weeks for some blood tests (everything's okay, don't worry =D) and I'm planning to lose some weight in case they weigh me again! =D That's motivation for me!
I'm still struggling with getting exercise in. But I've been working on doing yoga most mornings and improving my flexibility, which has been beneficial. It doesn't take long, doesn't take any equipment, and I can do it anywhere in the house, so that's helped me do it. For some reason I'm really tight today, though, and I don't know what's up with that. But I'm doing better, and that's what counts! I can touch my toes again!! (And can I just say, and I'm sorry if you're one of these people, that people who are naturally flexible and think touching your toes is nothing impressive because they never stretch and can bend over and grab the bottoms of their feet are annoying??! Touching my toes is huge, people, even if I AM only 5 feet tall! It's something I have to work at! - rant over.)
I guess the big news right now is that I'm taking an "aerial dance" workshop on Saturday and might join in an aerial dance class depending on how the workshop goes! I think it sounds like the coolest thing, and it's a new studio one of my friends is opening up. And hey... if I can expand my horizons AND get in better shape doing it, why not, right? We'll see. I've always wanted to learn how to use a trapeze!
So... that's where things are. Busy. Not crazy, but busy enough that my poor little bloglife has been neglected. My weightloss plans have slowed, but are still there, being plugged away at, and my craft life is nonexistent. We haven't even been leaving the house much, which is weird. And yet I seem to be busy all day long (thanks in large part to a little girl with whom I'm trying to spend more time lately), but it's good. We're getting some good routines into place that I think will make life run a whole lot smoother once the rest of life falls into place. I'm taking babysteps to get there and it's slow moving, but hopefully will have lasting effects instead of the instant change that falls apart and is reclaimed by chaos in a short amount of time. I hope so, at least!
I haven't died (thank goodness!)
I've just been super busy.
But I am here, and I have been plugging away. I went to the Dr. last week, and they weighed me. Ack! I go back in a few weeks for some blood tests (everything's okay, don't worry =D) and I'm planning to lose some weight in case they weigh me again! =D That's motivation for me!
I'm still struggling with getting exercise in. But I've been working on doing yoga most mornings and improving my flexibility, which has been beneficial. It doesn't take long, doesn't take any equipment, and I can do it anywhere in the house, so that's helped me do it. For some reason I'm really tight today, though, and I don't know what's up with that. But I'm doing better, and that's what counts! I can touch my toes again!! (And can I just say, and I'm sorry if you're one of these people, that people who are naturally flexible and think touching your toes is nothing impressive because they never stretch and can bend over and grab the bottoms of their feet are annoying??! Touching my toes is huge, people, even if I AM only 5 feet tall! It's something I have to work at! - rant over.)
I guess the big news right now is that I'm taking an "aerial dance" workshop on Saturday and might join in an aerial dance class depending on how the workshop goes! I think it sounds like the coolest thing, and it's a new studio one of my friends is opening up. And hey... if I can expand my horizons AND get in better shape doing it, why not, right? We'll see. I've always wanted to learn how to use a trapeze!
So... that's where things are. Busy. Not crazy, but busy enough that my poor little bloglife has been neglected. My weightloss plans have slowed, but are still there, being plugged away at, and my craft life is nonexistent. We haven't even been leaving the house much, which is weird. And yet I seem to be busy all day long (thanks in large part to a little girl with whom I'm trying to spend more time lately), but it's good. We're getting some good routines into place that I think will make life run a whole lot smoother once the rest of life falls into place. I'm taking babysteps to get there and it's slow moving, but hopefully will have lasting effects instead of the instant change that falls apart and is reclaimed by chaos in a short amount of time. I hope so, at least!
Saturday, January 10, 2009
*nervous laugh*
Well, remember how I was going to do the SP boot camp and start running? Well, last week was very busy and I didn't do either! Really, except for snowshoeing with Eliana on my back one day, I haven't done much in the way of dedicated exercise. Some stretching, and a day of DDR, but I was just plain busy last week and didn't get much of ANYTHING done! In fact, my goal for today is just to get my Christmas decorations down and put away finally. It's the middle of January for peet's sake! So... I am working on finding a time that I can consistently exercise. Obviously waking up before Ellie is not working, and I'm having a REALLY hard time finding time in the day while she's here doing it. She wants me to spend most of the day playing with her and interacting, and I haven't been able to incorporate her into my workout routine very well yet. But I'm still working on it.
On the plus side, I weighed myself and I'm down to 124.6 from 126.2, so even without counting calories (which I just can't commit to right now) and exercising I've lost a lb and a half. That's encouraging!
So... I'm working on scheduling in exercise time this week. I think that's the best place to start. After that I can really get down to the numbers, but first I just have to find the time to exercise!
On the plus side, I weighed myself and I'm down to 124.6 from 126.2, so even without counting calories (which I just can't commit to right now) and exercising I've lost a lb and a half. That's encouraging!
So... I'm working on scheduling in exercise time this week. I think that's the best place to start. After that I can really get down to the numbers, but first I just have to find the time to exercise!
Friday, January 2, 2009
Boot Camp
Starting Sunday I'm going to be participating in Spark People's New You Bootcamp. It's 4 weeks of daily workouts, plus your own 30 minutes of exercise each day. And there are bonus challenges along the way. It starts Sunday, but to give us a heads up Coach Nicole posted the first day's workout and challenge already. It's a 10 minute kickboxing workout, which might be fun. No 30 minute cardio workout on Sunday, so the kickboxing covers it for cardio and strength training. As for the bonus challenge...
Your Bonus Challenge for Day 1 (optional) is to update your SparkPage or Blog with your starting stats--such as "before" photos, your goals for the month, what you hope to accomplish during Bootcamp, or any other measurements. This way, when you complete the Bootcamp you'll have a reminder of where you started and the progress you've made.
I knew it had to happen sometime... My "before" picture is still from when I was 131 in May before Eliana turned 1! And my "after" picture is from September of that same year... I guess I need a new "before" picture to keep me motivated since I have put back on a lot of that weight! So I'm going to be working toward that bonus challenge for the weekend. I weighed this morning (it was higher than I expected, too, which was not encouraging!) and took my measurements, so I'll post them at the same time. It'll be interesting to see if those measurements change in a month's time after the bootcamp.
(As I'm typing this, I realize that it sounds like I'm adding a lot to my exercise plate here... running, yoga, bootcamp... the truth is that my running will be my 30 minutes of cardio 3x a week, the yoga/stretching is really just a few minutes in the morning and nothing too serious, and the bootcamp fits right along with my goals, so I will only be doing their exercises and not my own in addition. It all goes together and should be nice having someone else telling me what to do... like when I took classes at the gym!)
Sun Salutation
When I had a membership at The Ridge, I attended a yoga class every Friday evening. It was so relaxing and a great way to stretch and become more flexible. I loved ending the work week like that!
In an effort to increase my flexibility again, I am trying to incorporate stretching into my daily routine. I don't know that I will do a lot of yoga, but I do like doing the Sun Salutation in the morning. It's easy, invigorating, stretching, and I found a great little animation to follow as I do it!
So... I did my stretching / yoga this morning. I'm counting Pilates as stretching, too, so I'll alternate between Pilates and Yoga in the morning. If I keep it up it's a great way to start the morning!
In an effort to increase my flexibility again, I am trying to incorporate stretching into my daily routine. I don't know that I will do a lot of yoga, but I do like doing the Sun Salutation in the morning. It's easy, invigorating, stretching, and I found a great little animation to follow as I do it!
So... I did my stretching / yoga this morning. I'm counting Pilates as stretching, too, so I'll alternate between Pilates and Yoga in the morning. If I keep it up it's a great way to start the morning!
Thursday, January 1, 2009
Back on track!
Here I am, back on track, tracking my calories again. It's a new year and a new start and it's been a good day!
Of course, I've been starving all day, but that's just the lack of holiday junk food talking. The first day back tracking calories is always the hardest. Tomorrow will be hard, but easier than today. And if I can make it past 3 days of calorie counting, I'm golden. The it just becomes... routine. And really, I like it once it gets to be routine. I don't feel hungry, it doesn't take long for me to remember what a "normal" portion size is like, and my food scale and I become best buds again. It's great. Once I get past these first 3 days.
But the good news is that I drank a ton of water trying to curb my munchy hunger. It didn't really help with the hunger, but it kept me busy and I logged about 3 liters of water today. That's good news for someone with a pop addiction! Of course, it helps that we got a carbonator over Christmas, so I can drink fizzy water now. It helps curb the pop craving and it doesn't have any additives, extra salt, or artificial sweeteners! It's my new favorite thing.
I managed to get up this morning and do Coach Nicole's 12 minute Pilates ab workout, followed by 45 minutes on the treadmill (at 3.5 mph at 3% incline, for a 355 calorie workout), and I even tossed in 12 "real" push ups for good measure. Mostly I tossed those in to see how many sequential "real" push ups I could do. 12's the limit it seems. I'd like to build that number up. But that's not the point right now...
The point is that at the end of the day, eating 3 meals, snacking as needed to curb the hunger pangs of a belly that's been given anything it wants for a month, drinking water at every turn, and counting every calorie I put in my (not as) little (as I'd like it to be) body, I ended the day alright. Here are today's stats (with my goals in parentheses)
Calories: 1367 (1200-1550)
Fat: 29 (32-56)
Carbs: 224 (163-236)
Protein: 59 (60-127)
Fiber: 25 (25-35)
I even ate some MUFAs today, at least with breakfast and lunch. I don't know about dinner, unless whole wheat spaghetti has MUFAs in it. Hmmm....
So, I'll take it. If I can keep doing this I think I'll be on a good path to being in better shape. And I'd like to be in better shape. I'd like to be healthy, I'd like to be happy, and I'd like to look good.
Happy New Year!
Of course, I've been starving all day, but that's just the lack of holiday junk food talking. The first day back tracking calories is always the hardest. Tomorrow will be hard, but easier than today. And if I can make it past 3 days of calorie counting, I'm golden. The it just becomes... routine. And really, I like it once it gets to be routine. I don't feel hungry, it doesn't take long for me to remember what a "normal" portion size is like, and my food scale and I become best buds again. It's great. Once I get past these first 3 days.
But the good news is that I drank a ton of water trying to curb my munchy hunger. It didn't really help with the hunger, but it kept me busy and I logged about 3 liters of water today. That's good news for someone with a pop addiction! Of course, it helps that we got a carbonator over Christmas, so I can drink fizzy water now. It helps curb the pop craving and it doesn't have any additives, extra salt, or artificial sweeteners! It's my new favorite thing.
I managed to get up this morning and do Coach Nicole's 12 minute Pilates ab workout, followed by 45 minutes on the treadmill (at 3.5 mph at 3% incline, for a 355 calorie workout), and I even tossed in 12 "real" push ups for good measure. Mostly I tossed those in to see how many sequential "real" push ups I could do. 12's the limit it seems. I'd like to build that number up. But that's not the point right now...
The point is that at the end of the day, eating 3 meals, snacking as needed to curb the hunger pangs of a belly that's been given anything it wants for a month, drinking water at every turn, and counting every calorie I put in my (not as) little (as I'd like it to be) body, I ended the day alright. Here are today's stats (with my goals in parentheses)
Calories: 1367 (1200-1550)
Fat: 29 (32-56)
Carbs: 224 (163-236)
Protein: 59 (60-127)
Fiber: 25 (25-35)
I even ate some MUFAs today, at least with breakfast and lunch. I don't know about dinner, unless whole wheat spaghetti has MUFAs in it. Hmmm....
So, I'll take it. If I can keep doing this I think I'll be on a good path to being in better shape. And I'd like to be in better shape. I'd like to be healthy, I'd like to be happy, and I'd like to look good.
Happy New Year!
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