Wednesday, June 30, 2010

workouts, sort of

I worked on pull-ups on Monday, and today I took a nice, long walk. 

I am having such a hard time getting back into routine after camping. And the week's been so busy. I am never scheduling anything again ever. I am never again leaving the house. I want to stay at home and read books all day to my children and then put them to bed for the night and then read books all by myself forever and ever and ever amen.

And we have lost the TV remote. Which means I can't do the Shred. Which means that Jackie and I have an appointment tomorrow, because her DVD just requires me to hit the "play" button on the TV set over and over.


To change the subject, and in all seriousness, Emily, you are so right to say no to stuff you are not comfortable with in karate. If I'd been mature enough to do that, I don't think I would have broken my arms.

DDR

My word, Katie, that looks like it could be a killer cardio workout. If you do decide to do it, can I come over to your house and try it, too? It looks like fun. :)

30-Day Shred Complete!

Woohoo! It feels really good to have finished this! It feels even BETTER to know that it will be awhile before I have to do plank rows with leg lifts or jumping lunges again! :) I had been feeling sick of the shred, and honestly feeling like I saw more results with Workouts 1 & 2 than with 3, but then today I was very surprised to realize after the one set each of traveling pushups and plank rows/lifts in the full-blown position, I was feeling stronger! I was not dying and groaning on the plank rows, and was actually able to do the 2nd set of push-ups in the full-blown position too! That was cool. It was also painful - ow.

I also find it funny that today I finally figured out why I've had these mysterious green bruises on the outside of each thigh just below the hip. I guess I need to work on controlling the weights when I'm doing jumping jacks with my handweights. Heh.

In other news I give my eating a B- for the Monday and Tuesday. But it doesn't matter because I get a 150% for today for working through the emotional stuff that had been behind it. I had a hurtful conversation on Monday and was unable to process it most of the day because I was mommy-ing; the stuffed feelings lingered unnoticed and by this morning I was super frustrated with how I'd been eating the last two days (still forgetting that conversation). When I finally stepped back and processed everything today, I felt much clearer and eating today was super. Overeating/snacking is the nemesis I am learning to love. I know this is probably not true for everyone, but man ... it really is my best indicator for whether or not I'm up to date on dealing with my emotions. I still can't get over how frequently that is true!

I am exhausted from the emotional processing of today, glad my girl is down for the night, and looking forward to a run (or run/walk? we'll see) tomorrow morning.

PS - I had the idea in the shower this morning of what I might do in August: Dance Dance Revolution! I'd need to borrow all the gear, but I did it several years ago for awhile and enjoyed it. I'm not sure if it would be a good enough workout - maybe I'd alternate it with something else (like the shred?) But it might be fun. We'll see how July goes.


This kid is a little young, and I think it's funny to call him a prodigy, but he sure makes it look fun! I also love how he walks away before his score even comes up. :)

Day 23

I am going to be so. very. glad. when this remodel is over. I'm discovering that "we'll be there on Wednesday or Thursday" doesn't not at all mean what it sounds like. This whole process is going to be taking a lot longer than initially estimated, and frankly, it is hard to live like this. My whole house is a mess, I'm running out of creative ways to not-cook and still feed my family healthy food, and my routines are shot, shot, shot.

Ok, I'm done complaining now. :)

Water - 80 ounces
GS - yes
Exercise - karate

I am SO sore from karate. And realizing that I'm going to have to be more careful than I'd anticipated with my old shoulder injury. I'm setting that as a goal for myself, actually: part of my return to being a black belt is to work on being confident and secure enough to say "no, I cannot do that; I don't want to hurt myself."

Not Good

Tomorrow morning we start our drive out to Colorado for Jesse's sister's wedding. Last night, Edmund slept with me because he was scared and I woke up this morning with a pinched nerve in my lower back. So, I've been spending the morning trying to work it out before we hit the road tomorrow. My grand plans for a nice long run today have been switched to rotating between ice packs and stretching routines. No cardio today!!!

However, thankfully it is getting better and not worse. It stiffens up if I am not constantly stretching it. So, I'll need to remember to stretch out frequently while driving tomorrow and Friday. Please pray it heals quickly and that I am disciplined with my stretching these next few days!!!

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Best Blender

This is the BEST blender on the market right now in my opinion. My sister-in-law Bethany has it and I am more than a wee bit jealous. It blends things up AMAZINGLY and with the polycarbonate jar, it can go in the dishwasher. Just take it off the motor and plop it in. There are less removable pieces than a standard blender too. Really, I cannot recommend it enough!

Here it is on Amazon.

http://www.amazon.com/KitchenAid-KSB465ER-Countertop-48-Ounce-Polycarbonate/dp/B001AS6YKQ/ref=sr_1_13?ie=UTF8&s=kitchen&qid=1277856666&sr=1-13

Slightly cheaper on eBay:

http://cgi.ebay.com/KITCHENAID-4-SPD-BLENDER-48-OZ-POLYCARBONATE-JAR-NEW-/270544935492?cmd=ViewItem&pt=Small_Kitchen_Appliances_US&hash=item3efdbc1a44

It is more expensive than a cheap Target blender, but oh so worth it.

re: expectations

Katie, thanks for the blender suggestion. And I'll be curious to see if your new routine works next month. I hope so! I get bored with doing the same thing everyday and find that alternating it makes it more interesting.

Yolanda--This won't be encouraging, but it took me 2 1/2 years to lose the baby weight I gained with Edmund. Granted, I never dieted, but I was running 3 times a week for a year of that time. I think one of the postpartum struggles for most women is to just accept that your body is different. I know I struggle with that. And even if you do lose the weight, your body still might not look the same. I carry my weight differently now and am still learning to adjust to it. For myself, I exercise because, yes I do want to be slim, but mostly, I want to be healthy, and set good examples for my children--both of self-discipline and healthy body image.

So, I guess I would say that unless you diet and exercise, it is realistic to expect to lose weight slowly. Given that, it is better to focus on the energy and strength you get from exercising because that is a guaranteed result!

This morning, I ran 3 miles. I had bad insomnia and was up at 4:30 a.m. My body was in a daze when I went running at 7 and just could not get going real well.

It's 10:58 am...

... and Naomi just woke up. :( Good news for her sleep schedule (1.75 hr nap!), but bad news for meeting up with the other LM moms. Sad that I missed you, and I hope it will maybe work out some other time!

Almost done with the 30 days...

... and getting excited at the prospect of possibly running. I say "possibly" because I want to really let myself NOT run if it turns out to be too much and edges me away from doing it regularly. Kelly, I like your idea of alternating: I think I'm going to try it. I've liked having one routine to fall into each day (feed baby, do wkt video, put baby down for nap, shower, eat breakfast), and going outside for the workout means I actually have to wear something decent, which puts a wrench in the current routine. But if I can slip into a new routine, it could work, so we'll see how it goes.

I did Workout 3 again today. Getting sick of it, to be honest. I didn't really think that would happen, but it is. Guess it's a good thing that tomorrow is my last day! I think doing it every other day will be good, because it won't be the only thing I'm doing anymore.

Also, I want to note to myself for later: I HATE HATE HATE doing the plank rows with leg raises in the full-blown position!! Blech! Definitely the worst part of the whole workout for me. The only thing that kept me doing the full-blown position for the first set today (I cannot do it for both sets, nor the push ups), was that I did not want to have to confess on here that I'd gone backwards and done fewer. And the knowledge that if my body is physically able to do it, that means that *I* am able to do it, even if my brain says I can't. Ok. End of tantrum.

Amie (and other La Mirada play-daters) - Thanks for the info! I am hoping I can make it, but not sure if I'll get there in time. Naomi had crummy naps yesterday and Sunday, and this is right at the end of her napping window. If she's awake in time we'll head over and see if anyone is still around. It would be fun to see you and meet your kids.

Yolanda - I am probably not the one to ask about expectations for meeting goals, because after years of being a super goal-oriented person, I am currently in a season of literally setting all outward goals to the wayside because it was putting too much pressure on me. (With postpartum hormones and lack of sleep, I couldn't handle it and the littlest thing could set me over the edge.) Hence the current plan, which is NOT to try to fit into (or try on!) any old clothes that aren't already fitting, nor worry about losing any weight. This was reinspired by Sunday morning's getting-ready-for-church, when I felt like wearing a summery dress and remembered a few in the "don't fit yet" box of pre-pregnancy clothes. Since I'd been feeling so good from working out, I figured they'd probably fit. Um, NO. It was really frustrating - I tried on 3, and even the looser one didn't fit. I think it's mostly that my figure has changed, since my weight isn't that different, but it was really discouraging. The one that did work was a sundress that had doubled as a maternity dress (since it was flow-y), and it cheered me up to wear something cute. But the whole experience sealed the deal that I will not try to fit into old clothes for the foreseeable future, but simply enjoy feeling good and fitting well in the clothes I'm currently wearing. That's partly where the "30 days" thing is coming in for me: I'm planning to try something new each 30 days, which gives me a goal other than weight loss or outward results. I'm not sure what will come after running/shred, but I guess I have another 32 days to figure that out... :)

Christa - I loved/hated hearing about your new "resident(s)." Ew! An Australian accent would get me to try a workout - that is one of my favorite accents. I think Boston accents and UK accents are just below that. I don't have tons of experience with yoga/pilates, but I do know there is a wide variation among the different forms. If it's a really relaxing form of yoga, it would probably even help with falling asleep; but there are also forms of yoga that are more vigorous and that might make it harder? Pilates seems overall more vigorous to me, so that may not work. Don't know. In high school I did a high-impact aerobics video every night before bed and never had trouble sleeping. But I was 17. Maybe try the video midday and see if you feel relaxed afterwards or not before trying it at night? I do think alternating workouts is a great idea - which is why I'm going to try it myself. I think it might help me to mix things up a bit.

Kelly - You could look on Craigslist. And, this is definitely not under $30, but if you want a really good powerful blender the least expensive, good-quality one I've found is the Magic Bullet (technically a food processor but works like a blender with one of the blades). I love mine, although I think all their techniques for chopping are ridiculous and don't work (ie. chopping fruit just produces mush). But if you want something completely blended (like a smoothie), it's great. It's $100 at Costco.

Katie - I love that you poured water on your head before heading out for your walk - smart! Last summer Daniel and I took a hiking trip along the coast of Italy and although you'd think coast = cooler, it was so humid I felt at times like I couldn't breathe! I was concerned about Naomi (I was 6 mos pregnant), but I found that frequently dumping water over my belly kept me from getting heat rash. :)

Monday, June 28, 2010

Days 20, 21, 22

Saturday:

Water - unknown
GS - yes
Exercise - karate

Sunday:

Water - 48 ounces
GS - yes
Exercise - no

Monday:

Water - 96 ounces
GS - yes
Exercise - walk, 3 hours of painting kitchen walls (oh, my aching arm!)

Yolanda, managing expectations is hard for me as well. Sometimes I have to put away the scale and the pants I can't quite fit into, and not get them out again for two months. That can help, in that it takes it all out of the spotlight a bit. :) Also, remembering that (in terms of pregnancy, anyway) it took 9-10 months to gain the weight, and it really is reasonable to have it take around that long to lose it.

Christa, I think it is likely that your yoga dvd would be fine for the evenings. I used to do my yoga in the afternoon, and a couple of times I fell asleep right on the floor during the "corpse pose" in the final stretch/relaxation routine. Maybe try it a few times and see what happens? And be sure to always do the relaxation part at the end.

Expectations

I was wondering how all of you manage your expectations when it comes to work out results. I've been working out consistently for about 2 weeks now, and I feel like I should look like a new person. Not quite sure why - after all, it did take me a pregnancy and about 10 months of inactivity after that to get me to my current state. Can any one else relate?

On a happier note, I do see results from my brief stint of working out, and they are encouraging. My body is responding, and running is getting easier each week. What I really need to work on is getting myself into the mode of understanding that "getting my body back" will be a long process - I can't expect magical results!

Humor and Questions

Everyone's talk about yoga, pilates, and alternating workout types/dvds reminded me that I have a yoga and pilates dvd (Louise Solomon's Yoga & Pilates Total Body Toner--complete with Australian accent) that I bought about a month before getting pregnant the first time. So, I pulled it out this evening, and discovered that an insect had crafted a 1.5 inch long, white, filmy nest on the underside of my DVD. As you can see, it's been a while since it's been in use.

Being inexperienced in the realm of yoga or pilates, I have a few questions. If I do this DVD in the evenings will these forms of exercise energize me and keep me from sleeping? If this is a good evening option, would this DVD be a good companion to alternate with the Shred? I have both the most time and desire to exercise in the evenings, but usually when I exercise in the evening I have a difficult time falling asleep.

new workout

Katie P--Have you thought about alternating your workout instead of doing both in one day? I switch every day between running and Pilates and have found that to be great.

Emily--I have been dreaming about smoothies the last couple weeks, thanks to you! I so want a blender. Do you have any recommendations for one that isn't too expensive? We are on a very tight budget and I would say that $30 is the max we could afford.

I didn't exercise yesterday because we were gone all day, however, Saturday and today I had a great 45 minutes workout. I did the ab and thigh workouts from my Pilates video and the upper body sculpt and yoga stretch from the new video Jesse got me. I really love finishing up the workout with the yoga stretch and it has been fun working out with weights.

Feelin' Good

Friday: Can't remember what I did, but I know I did something- Prevention DVD?

Saturday: Nearly didn't work out because I was busy all day disciplining Luke and was zappe dof energy. Luke played with a "wildish" friend of his and then began displaying similar wild behavior at home. Biting? Hitting? Screaming? Yes, all of the above!

I finally threw on a DVD, Wiggledancing, in the evening when he was doing better. I danced with him for almost an hour. It made for a positive ending to our day.

Sunday: A relaxed day- I did some of my favorite moves from the Shred while watching some classic BBC with Nathan.

Monday: 2 mile walk with Luke, Shred Level 1. I poured water on my head before going on the walk and it REALLY helped me deal with the heat. Also, I think that level 1 is my least favorite.

Park Day info (for Katie!)

Katie-
We are playing at Gardenhill park tomorrow (Tuesday) from 9:45 "ish" to 11 "ish" or when we are too tired to play any longer it would be fun to see you! Vacationing with little ones is exhausting but I am now at Joe and Conchie Henderson's (whom I lived with for a year) and it feels like "home" and is a nice respite before we continue on our adventure!

I had all my college chicas do an ab ripper x video with me which was such fun I love exercising together!

Amie

Habits can be great things

Just did Day 7 of Workout 3. Tough again, though mentally I think it's a hair easier now that I'm in a habit of doing it. I have to say, that is the "result" I find most precious out of this 30-day shred: it is changing the overall rhythm and direction of my daily life. Building the habit of making myself do something unpleasant like that, first thing, (followed by making myself head straight for the shower, which makes it really easy to just get dressed and ready for the day) just makes it easier the rest of the day to keep the house straightened up, pick up the toys when Naomi goes down for a nap (even though she'll just get them all out again in a couple hours), put that onesie to soak rather than just let it sit on the changing table, etc. It has also been helping me to think about doing chores because I want them done and feel better when they are done, rather than because I am afraid I will be an inadequate mother if I don't do them, or because I am afraid of what people would think if they came to my house and found it messy. So not letting fear be my motivator, but giving myself space to find another motivation that is already there. This seems to make chores much less exhausting, I guess because it eliminates the internal kerfuffle the fear causes. Those are some of my demons, and it's neat to see them less and less.

Christa - YAYYY! That is good news indeed! Honestly, I believe that perseverance is the key to seeing change happen, not necessarily blowing it out of the water from day one. I think the fact that you are still working out is huge.

Beginning Week 3

Well, last week I only got in 2 workouts, repeating my frequency in week 1. It's now week 3, and the good news is that I'm still exercising. Today's exercise routine began by picking up a playmate for Kate at 8:30 am so that she could be entertained while I exercised. I did Shred Level 1 again with my spaghetti sauce cans, which seen to be the right amount of weight for now.

Sunday, June 27, 2010

Weeks 2 & 3 Summaries for Jess

Week 2:

-30 Day Shred, Level 3

-Personal Training with Jackie (all of it)


Not great, but at least they were both hard workouts. And a big reason I didn't work out much in week 2 was because I was running around getting ready to go camping! Which leads me to . . .


Week 3:

-No official workouts, because we were in the Sierras all week! So, nothing official, but lots of activity - walks and stream hiking and carrying water and all that sort of thing. Lovely.

I have to say that one of the nice things about working out regularly is that when we do something like going camping, it's not hard to transition into that more active lifestyle. It's not hard to walk at altitude or to carry lots of things or just to do all the extras that come with living without modern conveniences.


I also wanted to say welcome to all of you who've started posting since I left! It was fun to come back from vacation and find almost 30 posts from this blog in my feed-reader!


And, Kelly, I changed the display so that it shows a week of posts at a time, instead of 7 posts at a time. Let me know if that looks okay to you.

Saturday

I did my workout, but forgot to post it. Daniel was gone all day shooting a wedding, but the day turned out surprisingly great. Naomi had a pretty easygoing day, but I also did well at handling the stress at different points and doing things that really refreshed me (ie. doing things other than snacking!) Yay! Plus we took a 1+ mile walk. Bonus.

Still wondering what I want to do after this 30 days is up (30-day shred). I'd like to run, but I also don't want to lose what I'm gaining from doing the shred... doing both running and the shred each day sounds like it might be too much for me (mentally). I might try it, and then try to let myself reevaluate after a few days, to see if it really is too much or not.

Kelly - I too have often sent Daniel to work with a bag of whatever-is-calling-my-name (to get it out of the house ... he somehow has this uncanny ability to not eat something yummy simply because it is there - go figure!). Sometimes, like after Christmas, it's pretty hilarious how much stuff he is taking with him! :)

Emily - Yay! So glad you're enjoying the blender. And I am the same way about eating "healthy" foods in unhealthy ways.

Amie - It made me smile to hear that you are on vacation in SD. (I love to live through others' vacations/honeymoons/etc vicariously... I love trips and it's half as good to just hear that someone else is enjoying a trip or vacation. :) ) I also glanced at your new profile pic on Facebook, which I think is from your vacation - so cute. :) I really admire you for traveling alone with kids. I find it hard to travel TOGETHER with one child, so it will be awhile before I have the guts and internal calm to do it alone! I too find it actually easier to exercise when on vacation. For me, the new location usually makes it all new and interesting to go running (when I was running). But our last vacation I found out why most people struggle to exercise on vacation ... sleeping in and having lazy mornings is really nice too! :) I might be able to meet up Tuesday - what time?

Katie J - props for not letting the sweat get to you. When I am in the tropics (my husband's folks used to live in SE Asia, so we'd visit for several weeks at a time), I always have to consciously focus on trying to ignore it because I don't enjoy sweating that much! And I would exercise before the sun was up to avoid even more sweat (but that's not really as virtuous as it sounds when you consider that I would just make jet lag work in my favor...)

Friday, June 25, 2010

thurs and fri

I just got back from a 6 mile run (and only 11 months ago I could barely run a mile!). Yesterday, I did the abs/waistline and thigh segments in my Pilates video.

Regarding snacking/turning to food in stress--I became a major snacker after having kids. I adjusted my cupboard to reflect this new habit. I don't buy temptations. I do not buy chips or candy or ice cream, etc. I buy a lot of pickled items (pickles, mushrooms, etc) because 1) I love them and 2) they have no fat and hardly any calories at all. I also keep protein bars and beef jerky on hand, too. I have found that by snacking on items like this (and bananas and peanut butter), I don't feel guilty and actually feel healthier and re-energized. My husband has been willing and after I make a batch of cookies for him, he'll hide them away so I'm not tempted to snack on them when I am feeling hungry or stressed.

quick thought

Jessica, do you think you can change the settings so that more posts are shown on a page? Just a thought since so many of us are posting a day. Thanks!

Day 19

Water - 100 ounces
GS - yes! Thank you, Katie, for the loan of a blender!!
Exercise - well...I scraped wallpaper and washed walls. And since my arms are decidedly sore now, I think that counts.

Thanks for your kind comments regarding my difficult day yesterday. One of the things I like about this group is how safe it feels. Katie P, I particularly liked your thoughts on it being an imperfect journey, and that we don't have to excise our low points. Low points exist. And then we keep going!

Kelly, I've done the same thing about keeping unhealthy snacks out of the house. Not entirely, because we do like to have ice cream on the weekends, but mostly. It does help, but I've also discovered that it is quite possible to eat "healthy" foods in unhealthy ways. Ah, discipline. How I need thee. :)

Week 2-vacation exercising!

Thanks ladies I've really enjoyed reading all your fun and challenging posts! I am loving spending the weekend with my college roomies/best friends in San Diego this weekend! Traveling with kids alone is sooo hard! We've been in 5 different homes in 9 days and BUSY...exercising on vacation is usually so doable for me (I actually usually exercise more because I love love to run!) but vacation without my husband is much more challenging and I am struggling to exercise or sleep at all! I am revamping my goals for the remainder of my husbandless "vacation" to be a bit more managable :-)

1) sleep at least 6 hours a night
2) on non "travel days" (ie driving under 6 hours) exercise in some form for 15 minutes
3) drink 36 oz of water a day
4) Portion and snack control

Here are my week stats!

Mon: Swimming 2x with kids (3 hours) -sleep 6 hrs
Tuesday: Ab ripper X and walking 2 miles with kids to various parks -sleep 7 hrs
Wed: Swimming with kids (1 hour) -sleep 5 hrs
Thursday: TRAVEL DAY (8 hours in car), hiking with Chica's - sleep 4 hours
Friday: Ab ripper X and 2 mile walk - sleep 6 hrs plus 1 hr nap
Saturday: TRAVEL DAY (5 hours) and wedding
Sunday: DAY OF REST!

Any of you in the area hope to see you Tuesday at Gardenhill park in La Mirada for a play date!

-Amie

Sweating Through My Day

I have been sweating all day. The heat index has been too high for comfort lately. It is so hot and humid, but I am determined not to let it be an excuse to sit around on my bum. Ecercise used to bother me because I hated being sweaty and always having to take time to clean up afterward.

This morning, I pushed Luke in the stroller and took a 30 minute walk to the park (sweaty, sweaty) . Then I played with him there (more sweat). He likes me to climb everything with him and really play, so that counts as exercise too. I am going to be cleaning the bathroom later, so I will get sweaty again. I think I will take my shower in late afternoon so that I am at least smelling fresh and looking nice for when Nathan gets off work. :)

Emily- I was thinking about your stress eating. I have that problem too. When I am struggling, the most important thing for me to remember is that each day is a new day. If I keep thinking how badly I ate one day (adding yet more stress), I am more likely to repeat it again. When I give myself a little slack, I usually do better.

Katie P.- Nap time is always my biggest struggle too. I often associate eating with comfort and stress relief.

That's all for now.

responses

Yolanda - I haven't met you yet either, but hello. :) I think it would be so fun to have a Wii Fit. So many options! I do workouts on Saturdays, but not Sundays. For one thing, I like taking one day off a week (for physical reasons as well as an emotional/mental break). I just try doing the same thing every day (workout first thing after feeding baby), and at this point in our life it works Mon-Sat.

Katie - I do weigh myself, once a week. I have gone back and forth on this through my life, and in the present season, it seems to help me. When the numbers go up it can stress me out, but when this happens I am usually expecting it because I know how I've been eating (I tend to enjoy being active, so for me weight gain is always more about how I am eating). When I do see the number go up, I try to let it motivate me to dig into why I'm gaining (for me, almost always it's emotional stuff I'm not dealing with), and then focus on dealing with that and the weight usually falls back into place as a result. At the same time, I am consciously NOT trying to lose weight right now. A goal like that is one of those things that can really motivate me (like a marathon or triathlon), but I've found every time in the past that I do great at reaching the goal, but then have trouble staying healthy / maintaining my weight AFTER the event or goal is reached (after the marathon, or after I've lost the weight, etc, I swing into the opposite extreme of gaining weight back and having a generally unhealthy daily life).

So for the time being, I am trying to just focus on being healthy and keeping my weight where it is, which is a healthy, happy weight for me. Of course, part of me wants to weigh less! - and I could still weigh less and be healthy for my height - but I'm not actually overweight where I am so I'm trying to just stay here for now and practice loving my body for what it gives me and allows me to do. Some of my motivation in this is that my mom thinks Naomi is built just like me (and I agree). Yikes! Talk about motivation for learning to model a healthy attitude toward my own body! I so want her to not deal with some of the insecurities and body image issues I've had as she grows up, and I know that starts with my own body image.

Kelly - so interesting that you too have had great results with a waist trimmer. As I'm wondering what I will do after the 30-day shred, part of me wants to switch to running, though one reason I'm not sure is that I would miss the upper body and ab strength I am getting from the shred. Maybe a waist trimmer would be a good help with this. Congratulations on fitting in pre-Lucy clothes!! That is exciting!

Imperfect Journey

I soooo did not feel like working out today, so I just did it as soon as I possibly could to get it over with. Fridays and Sat's are definitely harder because Daniel doesn't work those days (he does 4 10's), so it is so sweet in the mornings and the last thing I want to do is go face Jillian and her mountain climbers. Ugh. BUT I did get it over with.

I realized I was not doing the shadow boxing on beat, so I stepped it up today and it was much harder! I also upped the number of full mtn climbers in a row that I do from 7 to 9, before adding in 2 step-touches. Not too much harder, but somehow mentally knowing I can add in that little break helps me a lot. I made myself continue doing half of the plank raises in the full-blown position but that is SO hard. I also forgot to add yesterday that I also began using two 5lb weights in each hand for the dumbbell cleans. They still don't feel very hard, even with the extra weight. I think it's kind of strange that in each of the 3 workouts there is one strength move that is so much easier than all the others, even with extra weight. Nice break - I always look forward to it. :)

Emily, thanks for sharing about how eating was for you yesterday. Even though my stress yesterday was admittedly much less than yours, I too came home and ate way too many pita chips after 3 hrs in the Moothart contruction zone. (And by the way you are welcome! Even if it was stressful, it also brought me joy to help you out.) I say that not only to affirm that yes, your context is stressful right now :), but also for my own personal confession. I felt tired and just wanted to escape from the stress, so when I came home and Naomi went down for a nap, food was the familiar place to go. I felt discouraged after that, because it was close enough to dinner that I was then not hungry for mealtime, which always makes me sad because I really enjoy dinner as a family. But I share about it here to hopefully help myself realize that it doesn't therefore mean I am losing the battle of taking care of myself. (I know that sounds drastic, but that's where I go when I get discouraged, and I'm a perfectionist, so one slip-up can send me there.) So I don't have to "start over" today, because I don't have to cut yesterday's incident out of the picture to be succeeding in my journey - I am going to keep moving forward after yesterday (a low point), and realize that honest human journeys have highs and lows in them.

Thursday, June 24, 2010

Day 18 ack!!!

We're remodeling our kitchen. I have no idea how much water I drank (probably not enough), I don't think I ate a single fruit or vegetable, and I most certainly did not exercise.

You can see our first day pictures if you'd like.

I ate way too much today, and of all the wrong sorts of things. I do that when I get stressed out, and today was certainly stressful. Choosing granite is so much harder than you'd think. And not having a kitchen is really throwing me for a loop. I'm hoping to get myself together a little better tomorrow.

Thank you thank you thank you to Katie P for taking care of my kids for me while I went to the granite store, especially on such short notice!

Weekend Workouts

Do you do them? I very seldom get any physical activity in on the weekends, mainly because family activities and errands take priority. If you are able to squeeze some in, how do you do it???

Back on the Treadmill . . .

. . . and no ice cream trips for me today (though we did pick up a couple of pints yesterday, and I enjoyed some mint chip after dinner) :-)

Spent 40 minutes on the treadmill:
11 minutes jogging at a 4.9 pace
9 minutes walking at a 3.2 pace
20 minutes walking on an incline; pace varied from 2.8 to 3.2
Burned 230 calories
Traveled 2.3 miles

No abdominals today, but I still have time to work them in if I remember to do it (let's be honest, I almost always forget).

On the Wii Fit:
Before I workout, I generally hop on my Wii Fit. There are lots of different activities you can do on it, but lately I've jsut been using it to trackmy progress. I can weigh in, and it calculates my BMI and log my progress. Since the last time I weighed in (Tuesday), I had lost 2.9 lbs!

Of course, you could do all this on your own, but it's way more convenient for me to let the machine do it.

I appreciate the info because, when I lose weight, I get extra encouragement to keep going, and when my weight goes up again, I try to spice up my routine, adjust my diet, or refocus on my goals.

Own a Scale?

I don't, and haven't since I have been married.

There was a point at which I was glued to a scale, so I don't have one near me now. This was particularly helpful during pregnancy. I only found out what I weighed by my Dr. visits.

Mostly, I can tell if I am gaining or losing weight by how things fit. It helps me focus more on my overall body than a particular number. I am SO into hitting numbers I want (too much so).

Sometimes I do weigh myself if I am somewhere where there is a scale, just to see how things stand . :)

Hiking and Waist Trimmers

John Tiffin and his girlfriend stayed with us a couple nights and yesterday we all went hiking in Muir Woods. It was a good workout. Especially with carrying Mary Sue piggyback for a mile!

Will hopefully get around to Pilates today and workout my slightly stiff back...

I use a waist trimmer and it helped a ton for me, Yola! I blogged about it at one point. I had a muffin top for awhile that with all my running was not going away and the waist trimmer shrunk it considerably within just two weeks of using it. I still have a slight roundness in front, but it doesn't hang over my pants anymore, so I don't care! Anyhow, I found that a lot of my water retention is in my abdominal area and the waist trimmer helped me sweat that out. I also don't have PMS bloating anymore now since working out with it either, which is wonderful. I was fluctuating up and down 5 lbs a month before I started using that thing. The thigh trimmers I have not had the same success with. So I really think it's helpfulness has to do with where your body retains water.

Well, I excitedly found out this last week that I can now fit into 2 pairs of shorts, 2 dresses and 2 skirts from my pre-Lucy-pregnancy clothes. Granted they don't fit quite as loosely as they used to, but they zip up without sucking in my stomach and with no overhanging of fat. I thought that would never happen!! I gained 60 lbs with that pregnancy.

Day 4 of Workout 3

I guess a boring title is better than no title.

Workout was great today - each day seems to get a bit better. Today I did a little bit more... now I'm doing all the walking planks off of my knees, all the side plank raises in the harder position, and I did 7 mtn climbers in a row before I did 2 step-touches, rather than 5 in a row. Yay! I really felt it (again). Boy do I hate plank position!! Gr. But I know that the discomfort and difficulty is part of why it is giving me noticeable results in strength, energy and appearance.

One thing I have noticed in the last week or two is that my baby tummy is a little flatter. That is something that has really been motivating me lately! I never had a horrible post-partum pooch, but there was always just a rounded look to it that I could never get rid of, and now it is flattening out a bit. I honestly didn't really think that would ever happen. Yolanda - that's interesting that you've seen such great results with your waist trimmer! Neat. I used a belt of sorts for the first few weeks post-partum, which helped quite a bit, but I've never tried running with something like that.

Another positive that I noticed today is that I feel like I am getting into a bit of a routine that I like, unlike my old routine which I didn't like. I feed Naomi when she first wakes up, change her, and then do my workout as soon as I can - sometimes this is while she's still awake, sometimes other things come up and my first chance is once she's down for her 9(ish) a.m. nap. As soon as I'm done with the workout, I make myself get in the shower. That shower decision seems to be important for me - the rest of the morning goes much better if I can do that, rather than sit down to eat breakfast at my computer (which just sucks me in). Funny how sometimes one tiny moment of decision can spin you into an entirely different direction.

I'm also noticing that this has been a very good week for me emotionally. We'll see how the rest of the month unfolds (ie. hormones, etc).

Now if I could work on the whole pee thing... I really miss being able to do jumping jacks or other bouncing things without wetting myself! :( I half-heartedly tried to keep doing some Kegels after birth, but I just hate those things and they didn't really seem to help at all.

Emily - I smiled when I read your "OWW". I hope that doesn't sound heartless - I personally feel somewhat pleased when I'm sore, and I hope you feel gratified too - it shows you are really doing something to get stronger! (assuming it was the right kind of "ow") Congratulations on being able to remodel your kitchen!! That is exciting and I look forward to seeing the finished product. Did you take "before" pictures? We were really glad we had ours later. The "during" process can be super hard though - if you ever need to vent, let me know. We did ours pre-baby, but sheesh... I remember the frustration! And I'd love to lend you the blender. I'm not sure if I'll be able to bring it by today, but might be able to either tomorrow or Sat. If not, I'll bring it Sunday (or you are welcome to come by if you like). And ohmygoodness, if I were you I would SO HOPE MY KITCHENAID WOULD BREAK! :) :)

Naomi is making really cute noises over the monitor, so I know the nap is over - got to go.
Tuesday: Did Shred level 2. I think that this is the hardest level in some ways. The strength section kills me, but I breeze through the aerobic.

Wednesday: I was so tired that I didn't work out. It reminded me that I need to take a small nap if I can when I am tired. My whole day is better if I get enough sleep. When I am sleep deprived (sometimes it can't be helped) I am grumpy and more vulnerable to my vices. I am going to be more disciplined about getting to be on time.

Today: Shred Level 3. I almost fainted twice and thought about Emily's advice to drink a lot of water 30 mins. ahead. I will make sure I have water the next time.

Emily- A Vita-Mix blender? Oh, I dream about that sometimes- especially after visiting Costco where the give out free Vita Mix smoothies sometimes....

Yolanda- The ice cream trip sounded fun. It is SUMMER after all- and so hot!

Day 17 - ouch!!!

Karate is one of those forms of exercise where I don't realize how much I used my muscles until I try to use them again later. This morning I tried to do my yoga workout and OWWWWW! I couldn't even hold my arms extended in warrior two - they shook and then just wouldn't stay where I put them!

I didn't get through the whole workout, and it was interrupted multiple times anyway. I had been working out during quiet time, but it isn't working as well as it did a few weeks ago. We're in the process of switching Josiah into a regular quiet time on the trundle bed in the boys' room, instead of napping in our room, and that means that I have to pop in and out frequently to solve problems and remind him to stay on the bed. I know this will pass, but it is a little frustrating right now. Isn't that always the way - find something that works and you're guaranteed that a child will change! :)

Katie, yes, we're remodeling our kitchen. We've been saving and hoping and planning to do it for a few years, and we finally can! I'm so excited. And nervous about living here while it's being done. :) I would LOVE to borrow your blender - that would really help.

Yolanda, I did find that my basic Oster blender wasn't up to the kinds of smoothies I wanted to make. For the last month I've been on the hunt for a replacement. I tried an Oster Beehive that had great reviews, but it broke the first week. Returned that, and got a KitchenAid, which broke the second week. I'm trying a replacement for the KitchenAid because they have a stellar warranty (1 year, replacement, no hassle) but if the second one breaks, Gabe says that I can get a VitaMix. Is it bad to hope that the KitchenAid breaks? ;)

Water - 80 ounces
GS - no
Exercise - 15 minutes yoga

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

No workout today . . .

. . . went to Baskin Robbins with hubby and son instead and enjoyed ice cream goodness. Will have to get back on the treadmill tomorrow. Also plan on incorporating a variety of crunches to work on the abs (or rather, to recreate the abs I had before giving birth). I wear a waist trimmer belt while I run, which, in a surprisingly short time, has helped to trim my tummy, and now I need to work on toning.

Yummy Pizza Recipe

This is mostly for my own benefit, so I can recreate it later, but I figured others might enjoy it too. One of my favorite ways to get lots of veggies in is a good, loaded pizza.

Note: I can't eat dairy right now (breastfeeding issues) and I MISS CHEESE. I found a recipe for a substitute which I like - it's more like cheese sauce than real, melt-y cheese, but at least it sates my need for some kind of cheese flavor. I bet this pizza would taste great, if not better, with real cheese too, though this sauce has a spicy, smoky flavor that adds something.


Basil & Garlic Chicken Pizza

Roll out and bake one Trader Joe's rosemary herb pizza crust at 395* for ~7 minutes. Top with:

-tomato paste
-sliced tomatoes
-green onions
-sliced mushrooms
-diced red pepper
-chicken breast, chopped and sauteed with minced garlic
-more minced garlic
-fresh basil leaves, torn
-sliced zucchini

Drizzle with cashew "cheeze" sauce. Put back in oven for ~5-10 minutes more.

Cashew Cheeze Sauce Recipe
from this site

Note: This recipe makes WAY more than you need for the pizza - I just drizzle a little on.

1 cup water
1 1/4 cup whole raw cashews
1 TBSP tahini
3 TBSP nutritional yeast
2 TBSP lemon juice
1 1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp chili powder
pinch cayenne
pinch turmeric

Blend until smooth.
Kelly - you are so right about workouts potentially being a stress issue rather than a stress help. That's one thing I've found to be thankful for about the period when I was so sick - it was so frustrating, but I do think it got me out of the mentality of working out that I had been in, which was really just stressing me out. Now I'm able to be more laid back about it, and let it be a stress help. And I'm glad you mentioned that your kids get quiet in the stroller - so does Naomi! She's only just now able to be in it without a car seat attachment, and I've been concerned that something's wrong because she's SO abnormally quiet! I think she's just relaxed, and I'm glad to hear that that was a positive "peaceful" time for your kids too. I've actually been thinking that I will try running with the stroller again after I finish 30-day shred in another week.

Did Day 3 of Workout 3 today. I liked it even better today than yesterday, which was itself much better than Day 1. I wasn't necessarily feeling eager to do it, but found that I was able to do even more today than I did yesterday, which encouraged me. Now I am only modifying: walking plank (half of them on knees), push-ups (knees), plank rows w/ leg raises (half on my knees), sit-ups, side-plank raises, and I slightly modify the mtn climbers - 5 real ones, then 2 step-touches.

Now that I write out all that I'm modifying, it looks like a lot. Oh well. I know I'm improving!

I'm using 5 lb weights throughout; while there's not as much weight-use in Wkt 3, as compared to the other 2, my shoulders were still really feeling it after doing cardio with weights. I am really proud of myself for doing all the jumping lunges! Those really challenge me. My calves felt sore today for the first time since I've quit running - I think it was the sumo jumps. Those suckers are harder than they appear!! But it felt good to feel a little sore.

Day 16 - complications and karate

Complications:
1) my blender broke (after 10 days!) and the replacement won't be here for at least a week.
2) my kitchen is about to be completely torn apart, workmen will be in my house all day, and everything that currently resides in my kitchen needs a new home for the next two weeks.

I think I'm going to have to be flexible for awhile. :)

Last night was my first night back at karate. It was surprising how easily I slipped back into it. I guess you don't really forget something you've devoted 6 years to learning. I struggled with the forms (the black belt who was helping three of us "get back up to speed" ran us through NINE forms, bam bam bam. Forms were the hardest part for me even when I was in the midst of it - trying to remember them four years later was nigh on impossible. And yet there were bits where my brain just stopped and my body took over and it just knew where to go. Muscle memory is amazing.

Water - 72 ounces
GS - no
Exercise - karate

Day 15

I skipped my workout on Monday because I was spontaneous and took the kids to the aquarium. Does walking around for 2.5 hours count? ;) We had a great time and I think it was a good decision. I don't want to be so tied to a workout schedule that I can't change plans and do something fun!

Water - 64 ounces
GS - yes
Exercise - walking

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

barely got out in time!

First off, Katie, I totally empathise with your postpartum issues. I am sorry! I didn't start 'trying' exercise until I was 9 months postpartum with Mary and it helped. But, I do think you have to take it lightly when first starting out because it is easy for it to become a stress issue and not a stress help. I know a lot of moms rely on workout videos, but my kids loved loved LOVED it when I took them jogging. All 3 of them. They would be so quiet in the stroller and enjoy being outside. It is actually what made me fall in love with running. The quiet!!! Have you tried that?

So, today I didn't get my run in till 4:15 and in an hour have to go to a Parish Council meeting. Thankfully, it's leftovers night!!! I only ran 3 miles due to time constraints and the fact that Edmund desperately wanted to come with me. My single stroller is not 'technically' a jogger though it can work as one, albeit poorly--so another reason why I only did 3 miles.

I was also reminded today of why I don't run when the sun is not out and why I don't want to raise my children in Berkeley. I just sometimes get creeped out. In the fall, I had a couple episodes of creepy old men following me for a block. Today, I was running by the BART station near our home and what looked like a couple of gang members followed me in their car at a walking pace (so they were side by side with me) for a couple blocks and then turned into a parking lot and watched to see where I was headed next. It was really scary. Thankfully, I was a block away from a path that a car couldn't follow on and it is a high traffic area. But it reminded me of why it scares the crap out of me to let my children out of my sight in this town and the thought of having teenage daughters here makes my skin crawl. Oh, Lord, please, please, please grant Jesse a job in a good town when he goes on the job market!!!

excitement

The inexpensive Farmer's Market 1/2 mile from my house just reopened!! I am not organized enough to keep up with the amount of produce I was getting at one time from a bimonthly delivery service, nor to get to the regular grocery store frequently enough to get produce. But this is a 10-minute walk that I can do with Naomi in the stroller and just pick up what I need for that day. Yay!

First Post

Hello all! So glad to be a part of this group. I could use the accountability and extra encouragement.

Goals:
I'm still carrying about 2/3rds of my pregnancy weight, and my son is 11 months old. I found it very difficult to exercise as a working mommy/student, and I am still trying to find a schedule with some balance in it. Since the beginning of the summer, I have gotten into more of a workable routine.

I need to lose about 20 lbs by fall, for my health and so I can fit into my teaching clothes! Once I tackle that, I still have about 25 lbs to lose to get to my *ideal* weight (the closest I've ever been to that weight was +17 lbs, about 6 years ago). I'm not trying to do it all at once - I think a year is a good time line - and I'd like to get down to that weight before trying to have baby 2 (which I think we'll be ready to do in a year).

Routine:
We bought a treadmill at the beginning of the year so I could do a proper workout. Currently, I am trying to spend 45 minutes a day, 4 days a week on the treadmill. I run for 11 minutes (and am increasing that time incrementally) and walk the rest of the time (uphill, changing the incline each minute in the last 25 minutes of the workout). I've only been doing this for about a week or so, but have already seen some results, so I am eager to continue.

I also need to start adding in abdominal and arm workouts - my two problem areas. My hubby set up a good routine for me that I can share if you're interested. I also own a Wii Fit and like to do the yoga and strength exercises. But it can be hard to do with a little one grabbing at your ankles.

Today's accomplishments:
Treadmill: about 35 minutes, approximately 300 calories burned

hi!

Well, I've been mostly intending to join for a week, so we'll see how regularly I post!

Part of my hesitation is that while exercise has been an important part of my life - not just physically but also emotionally and spiritually - it was also something I did well when my time was my own and I could almost always follow through on my intention to do x that day. All of that has changed now - not just from becoming a mommy (Naomi turned 6 mos last week), but also from being sick pretty much constantly from the end of Feb to the end of May. I had to let go of all my old ways of going about exercise - what I did, how much I did, when I did it, etc. I actually gave up exercise altogether for awhile, so I could get better.

Now that I have eased my way back into exercising, it continues to be really important to me that I not make myself feel pressured to exercise, or else I'll go crazy when something comes up (sick-wise or baby-wise) that keeps me from my intended workout. And when I say go crazy I am only slightly exaggerating - the post-partum blues and overwhelm have been a struggle for me, especially about once a month or so. On those one or two or 3 days a month, I honestly have to be willing to throw out EVERYTHING that causes me stress, or else I will melt down and not be able to care for my baby. It happened twice and it's worth anything to me to not have that happen again!

I don't think I needed to explain that to you all, but I wanted to write it partly because that is part of what I want to hold myself accountable for: listening to my body's needs and my baby's needs, and giving myself a break if I don't do a workout. That's hard for me to do without thereafter giving up on fitness altogether.

So.

I've been feeling pretty much well since the beginning of June, so I have been able to be consistent with the workout I started trying to do in May: doing the 30-day shred daily, taking Sundays off. That means that today was Day 2 of Workout 3.

Yesterday SUCKED - Day 1 of Workout 3. I found it to be so hard, and I didn't feel like I could keep up. I felt discouraged afterwards, and did not want to do Day 2 today. I thought I was going to hate Wkt 3. Turns out that when I can go straight through it, rather than having to stop and start over the course of 45 minutes because of a needy baby, I like it a lot better. :) It also helped that today I let myself do the easier modification of some of the moves (for part of the push-up set, for part of some of the cardio sets), but I am sure that is not the only reason. So I'm proud of myself for following through with it today, even though I didn't want to, and letting myself do the easier version when needed. That never fails to then get me back into it and trying to challenge myself again.

Green smoothies

Christa, GS stands for Green Smoothie. Part of my challenge this month was to add a green smoothie to my eating habits each day. I love it. It makes it so easy to get plenty of fruits and vegetables each day, and in such a yummy fashion! So far my favorite is frozen cherries, frozen bananas, spinach, and a splash of milk. Tastes like ice cream. :) Strawberry is also great, and I really enjoy orange/banana/spinach as well. Apple/cabbage isn't my favorite because the texture is a little funny, although it does taste good.

The kids usually have some too, and the green color doesn't bother them at all. :)

Starting Slowly

Last week was my first week exercising, and I only managed to get in two workouts. I intended to start slowly, but not quite that slowly. This week is a new week and I hope to learn from scheduling attempts that didn't quite work last week. I don't think I should be working out every day quite yet, but I should be able to do every other day.

I did the shred this morning about an hour after breakfast and right before Dan had to leave for school. It worked pretty well, but this way does mean that I have to sacrifice morning mommy sanity time (tea and book) for exercising. We'll see how it goes.

For the workout, I used heavier "weights" swapping my 14.5 oz soup cans out for 26.5 oz spaghetti sauce cans. I appreciate that the movements in the workout are simple enough that I can concentrate on maintaining the proper posture and thus really working out the muscles that I'm supposed to be strengthening.

Emily, what is GS?

Monday, June 21, 2010

New workout

Today I tried out a new workout video that Jesse and Edmund gave to me the other day. I quit two of the workouts this morning. Too fast and dance-like for me to do before warming up. Got depressed because I was looking forward to it and swore off exercising for the day. Then changed my mind and went to Target to buy weights for two other segments I had yet to try. I loved the Upper Body and Lower Body Sculp workouts, but think I might need heavier weights. The 3 lb. weights were much too easy. So I might be heading back to Target tomorrow. I have yet to try the Yoga portion. My workout was cut short because I waited till 5:30 and then Jesse called asking for a ride home from school.

So, long story short: 24 minutes (12 minute per segment).

For whatever reason, today has been a panicky day for me and I had to focus really hard to keep it from turning into a full-blown panic attack. I have been so tired this last week and don't know why. The only time I've felt like I had 'control' was when exercising. I'm sure it's hormone related. I hate hormones. I am at least thankful for getting the relief I do when exercising, even if it is brief on some days.

Day 14 - Father's Day

Water - I have no idea :)
GS - yes
Exercise - no

Father's Day was pretty crazy at our house, at least for me. I would HAPPILY have exercised if it meant I could leave the house! We had a family get together here after church, and while I love Gabe's family dearly, they showed up 40 minutes early (while we were vacuuming and finishing cleaning up). Mom is always early to everything, and we had planned on them being early, but not THAT early! Mom also needed to vent about something, and for some reason I have a very hard time letting her stuff stay hers. Somehow it all ends up sitting inside my chest. So it was a very hard afternoon, and I spent most of it wishing I could run away.

But they brought cake, and it was delicious. I had two pieces. :) I'm not sure if that was because it was delicious or because I was so stressed out! ;)

Going it alone

Saturday was good- a ride on the bike, some cleaning, and 1/2 of the Shred level 2 (I was interrupted by the delivery of a new dishwasher).

Sunday- No exercise, ate lots of yummy things...

Monday- Prevention DVD, lots of playing with Luke (this counts a exercise for me- he likes physical play). Nathan is out of town for a few days and Luke seems to have had an allergic reaction to something and has had the runs for two days now- poor baby. He needed extra attention and play time with mamma. I think he has a milk allergy. I think I will try him on some organic milk before giving up milk all together. I have somewhat of an intolerance to milk. Mostly I get my dairy through cheese, yogurt, etc...

I haven't yet stated my goals. Well, my goal this summer is to exercise 6 days a week and lose about 5-10lbs. Kelly said that exercising helps with her anxiety. For me, exercising is the primary method that I use to keep from feeling depressed. If I get depressed, I get sluggish and want to eat (hence the wanting to lose 5-10lbs). I want to be a happy wife and mommy. Also, we are hoping to have baby #2 soon, so I need to be as good of shape as I can.

Sunday, June 20, 2010

For lack of a better thing to do...

It is Father's Day and my husband is busy working. His battle with Poison Ivy put him way behind work and he is working nights and weekends again to catch up before we leave for Colorado in less than 2 weeks.

So I went running while Edmund napped to burn a little stress and get a bit more energy. I did a 2 mile run and ran as fast as I possibly could. My time: 14 minutes and 59 seconds.

I will say I prefer long distance to speed work. However, there is something sorta nice about just losing yourself in the struggle of burning lungs and muscles and not being able to think about anything but the next step. Emphasis on sorta.

Saturday, June 19, 2010

Day 13 - Well, today was a bust!

Jess, you're right, weekends are just another beast entirely. And you know, I think I'm just going to be ok with that. My priorities are totally different on Saturday and Sunday than they are for the rest of the week. I do want to work on getting more water, though, because I ended up with a headache this afternoon that was probably due to a bit of dehydration.

Water - 64 ounces
GS - no
Exercise - no

Record!

I feel totally jazzed right now. I bought new running shoes Thursday and today took them for a test drive. I ran 6 miles!!!! That is two distance records I've broken in one week. Five miles on Monday and six today! The new shoes helped. Not having tired feet makes running soooo much easier.

This is the reason I personally love exercising on Saturdays. I started out my run thinking I'd do my normal routine (4.5 miles). But I was feeling so good at the halfway point that I thought I'd push myself knowing that if I did get tired, I had the time to walk as long as I needed to get back home again. Now, I didn't need that extra time, but I love having the luxury of knowing I could use it.

Friday, June 18, 2010

Day 12

Water - 80 ounces
GS - yes, two!
Exercise - 25 minutes yoga, family walk to the park

Katie, I completely know what you mean about feeling faint during the shred. That workout is intense. One thing I've found that helps is to drink a full glass of water about 30 minutes before starting. That way it isn't sloshing around in your stomach, but you're well hydrated for the workout.

Yesterday and Today

Yesterday- did the Prevention DVD in the morning. In the evening we went over to my sister and brother in laws house for dinner. They have a new baby, so I watched the kids a while. The two kids were going to kill each other (lack of sleep?), so we ended up watching a DVD called Wiggledancing and they loved it. I got an unexpected second workout too.

The DVD is for kids, but it teaches them to dance and sing too. We all had a great time following the music and dances around the living room. I would recommend it to anyone who has small children who like to interfere in working out. (Luke actually does this often- "No, mama, no!" He likes my FULL attention!)

Today I did level one with 3lb weights of the 30-day shred, felt good, and didn't have to stop. Honestly, even though I workout often, I feel faint with this one sometimes!

Week 1 recap

Here is my weekly summery from beautiful sunny southern California (finally no rain!)

Monday: Ab ripper X

Tuesday: 15 boy 25 girl push ups; no pull ups

Wed: 25 sit ups (and packing frenzy!)

Thursday: Driving for 22 hours straight (ahhhhh!!!!!)

Friday: Trying to recover from said drive and no sleep due to children who slept in the car; afternoon swim and walk with the girls

Saturday: 1/2 of ab ripper X before being summoned to decorate wedding venue (that counts right?) Wedding until midnight and lots of dancing with kidlings

Sunday: Walked to Aunt's house and park (2 miles) Ab Ripper X and total exhaustion exercising while traveling with kids sans husband is hard work!

Day 11, and exercising to audio books

Jess, I like the idea of turning down the sound and listening to something else. I'd at least like to try it. But I can't figure out how to turn off the sound to the dvd, while still keeping the sound to itunes on. I am technologically challenged. Perhaps I should ask my husband. :)

Day 11

Water - 112 ounces
GS - yes
Exercise - no

check

Just completed my 30 minute Pilates workout (abs and waistline, thighs and power ab workouts).

Hopefully the endorphins will help my mood....

Thursday, June 17, 2010

Workout 2-Check!

I just finished workout two! It was interrupted by a diaper change and an unexpected nap, but I completed it.

As to the husband exercising, I've mentioned it several times but he doesn't seem interested. For starters, he doesn't feel like he has the time, but I know he'd have more productive study time if he took the time to exercise. Ah, well, I must tread lightly and pray.

a note on getting bored during workouts

Emily, you can't read during the Shred or Biggest Loser DVDs, but I have to admit: I've occasionally turned the sound down and listened to a podcast. It wouldn't work with a new DVD, but if you're doing one you're familiar with, it's not that hard.

I don't do it that often, because I don't really like the breaks in my concentration it seems to engender. But every once in awhile, when fear of boredom is what's really keeping me from doing the workout, it's worth it.

I imagine you could do the same thing with a book on CD.

Or music you like. But I haven't tried that yet. I should though. Most workout DVD music leaves a lot to be desired. I want to work out to Shakira! :D

btw, anyone else watching the World Cup? Now that's fitness!

done already

It's just barely 9 a.m. and I've ran 5 miles, taken a shower, had a cup of coffee and the kids are still sleeping. Ah, bliss.

Emily, my periods have been so much easier since exercising too. I retain less water, am less sleepy and moody and they are a lot less heavy than they used to be. My family is particularly thankful for the less moody part.

Christa--I don't know what Dan's particular issues are with anxiety but I have panic attacks. A psychologist (psychiatrist? I dunno. He specialized with people with anxiety issues as a result of drugs) at my church told me that exercise is the best thing for anxiety. With my panic attacks, last September he told me to try exercising as many days as possible (at least 4-5 days a week). He said to do real heart-pumping cardio for 20-30 minutes and see how that helped. At that point I was having 3-5 panic attacks a week. Within a week, they dropped to 1. After a month, I was having 1-2 a month and in the last 5 months the only panic attack I had was right before Jesse's qualifying exams because of all the extra added stress! Anyhow, you might try encouraging Dan to exercise. You could even try doing it together for added encouragement. Jesse used to run with me in the beginning to help me get going.

Day 10 and how it's going

I'm 1/3 of the way through my personal 30 day challenge (water, GS, exercise). And I have to admit that I'm really liking the results. Usually I have really miserable periods (enough so that I take pain medication to get through them). And right now I'm still feeling icky, but less miserable than usual. :) I think it is probably all the extra water and produce. But it is wonderful to feel good enough to want to do a yoga workout when usually I'd want to be lying in bed!

Water - 96 ounces
GS - yes
exercise - 30 minutes "weight loss yoga" (biggest loser)

Katie, I have to admit that I am green with envy over your exercise bike. My biggest challenge with exercise is feeling bored while doing it. I would love to be able to read a book and work out at the same time!

Christa, it can be really tough to find a good routine (and I'm sorry to hear about Dan having difficulty - that definitely doesn't help.) Keep experimenting. When I work on my routine, I always start with a list of priorities - things that really need to happen for the day to be a good one. Getting exercise into the mix required changing my focus enough to believe that it was important enough to make it on that list of priorities. ;)

Jess, about function. I think you're right about stewardship. Also, I've started to realize that the choices I make about body care now will seriously affect the choices that I get to make later. If I strength train now, and get into the habit, I'll be much less likely to end up with bone loss and osteoporosis (which would seriously impact quality of life later). I want to be able to be really active when I'm older - maybe a midwife, maybe a grandmother, maybe working at a life center - who knows - and I need to take care of the body I've been given now in order to have those opportunities to love and serve people later.

more chatting!

Katie, welcome! I envy you the stationary bike - reading while you work out sounds splendid!

And welcome, Christa! I'm glad you're here. I'm sorry Dan's having a hard time; I'll be praying for him. I hope your routine, um, routinizes again soon. So . . . how much of a habit do you have to get into for it to count as enough of a habit to buy weights? :)  If you get there, the cheapest place I've found simple 5 lbs. weights is Walmart, or, strangely enough, Marshalls. It's weird, but they often have lots of random fitness equipment there.

Kelly, good for you on the pushups! I know the arms are a lot of it, but I find they're really good for the back and abs too.  I'd have to differ from you on arms - I really like how cut arms look - but you're right about the legs making most of the difference when it comes to lifting heavy things (a must with little kids - you have to lift them and their stuff!).

Emily and Amie, I really like Rodney Yee for yoga. He's my preferred Sunday workout, when I work out on Sundays, because doing yoga with his dvd just feels so good. I reviewed my favorite dvd of his on my blog, and talked a bit about the spiritual side of yoga, and how I handle it as a Christian.

Emily, about weight loss . . . well, there's about a 5 lbs. window I like staying in, and if I'm above it, then exercise is for weight loss for me. Otherwise it's for maintenance, health and function. <-- By "function" I mean "keeping my body fit enough that it'll be able to do whatever I ask it to". I know that not everyone has that option in this fallen world, and since I don't have a disability, I want to show my gratitude for that by taking care of what I have. I'm expecting to get old and/or sick at some point, and become unable to do with my body what I can do now, and now, while I can, I want to be a good steward of my body.

<-- I don't think I put that quite right. But I haven't finished my coffee yet. :) Does anyone feel similarly and have a better way of putting it? What I just wrote feels incomplete, and somehow a little off.

Maybe because I left out the honest fact that I just love how it feels to have a fit, strong body. There's a strong element of pleasure in exercise, for me.

(On weight loss - I admit to being curious about what it'd feel like to be 10 lbs. lighter. And if what I'm doing gets me there, great! If not though, I'm fine with that. I don't care enough about it to do more than I'm doing now!)


On injuries - aside from the pregnancy-related stuff (which pretty much disappears if I'm working out properly and regularly), I have a knee that doesn't like running more than a mile or two and an ankle that doesn't like swimming laps. The ankle is the weird one - it's only swimming that bothers it. I think it's that full extension of the joint with pressure put on it while it's extended. It is, I think, a left-over from a pole vault injury (I missed the pit once), but it might also be helped along by the fact that I have hyper-flexible feet. 

So, swimming and running aren't good options for me, at least not any great distances.

Personal Training with Jackie

I did the Personal Training with Jackie dvd this morning. It's forty minutes of circuit training with weights.

Much as I love the Shred, it's fun to do this one sometimes because it's so orderly. She systematically takes you through all your major muscle groups, destroying them. Hamstrings, quads, glutes, back, chest, bi/tri/shoulders, upper abs, lower abs, obliques. And it moves so quickly that it's hard to get bored or to feel like you can't keep going, because you keep moving on to something new.


Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Summer Workouts

Well, out here in Texas it is hot and humid right now. Actually, it is hot and humid from about May-September. This makes it nearly impossible to do my exercise outside- which is what I prefer. I try to exercise 5-7 days a week for at least 30 minutes.

Here are the ways I usually get my exercise in:


1. Prevention DVD- Belly, Butt and Thighs. This is my absolute favorite workout DVD! There are three separate workouts at 10 minutes each. If my little one is cranky and I was not able to do the whole DVD, I can do it throughout the day. Also, it is VERY motivating (unlike most cheesy workout DVD's that mostly make me feel foolish or uncoordinated), and is a thorough workout. Sometimes I add 3lb weights for the belly section to boost the intensity.

2. We bought a Schwinn recumbent exercise bike on craigslist for $100. It is very sturdy and a great option because I can read.

3. Cleaning- scrubbing the floors, vaccuming, etc...

4. An early morning walk outside pushing a stroller. This is actually a lot of work because Houston sidewalks are SO bad! We have a lot of ground settling here and it disturbs the sidewalks. I am always pushing up, down, etc..

So, that is a basic outline of what I do for exercise. Now, if I could only get my eating in good order, I would be set!
Hi. I don't know if I'll post regularly, but my 30-Day shred arrived in the mail this week. Earlier this week I emailed Jess to thank her for the recommendation from her blog. I wrote:

I've been hemming and hawing about what to do about exercise. Even the cost of a gym membership to the YMCA with financial assistance might be a stretch for us right now--even though they have free babysitting, which has gotten positive reviews from other friends here. I thought about doing a DVD but wasn't sure I could motivate myself to jump around like a cheerleader and feel silly in my living room for 60 mins. So, I checked out your 30 Day Shred recommendation on Amazon and watched the free clip. It looked feasible. I too like weights. It didn't look like it would take a lot of coordination like all those 80's aerobics videos. So, I bit the bullet and bought it. I just finished the first workout and love it. It's just the right amount of everything. It's not too complicated, and I love the fact that it's only 20 mins! I like her pep talks, too. Hopefully I can make a habit of it. Anyhow, that's a long way of saying thanks!

My motivation for exercise: feeling alive, having energy, making the knot in my back go away, removing the slump my shoulders get from nursing, and loosing some weight.

I've done one workout. I used soup cans for weights, promising myself that I will buy some weights if I can actually make a habit of doing the DVD. I was comfortably sore after completing the workout. My second workout was supposed to be today, but I read my child a book and baked banana bread instead--we were hosting playgroup. I really need to create a new morning routine to make this work. It is more difficult to create one right now since my husband is not functioning normally; he recently realized that he has anxiety issues . . . which is why I have a knot in my back.

Right now, I'm going to go eat something because I'm still nursing.

workout

Yesterday, I ran 4.3 miles.

Today, I did a 30 minute Pilates workout (abs, hips and buns) plus 5 sets of girl pushups (only 4-6 pushups per set).

I am trying to build up a wee bit more upper body strength through the pushups. My lower body is pretty strong right now, but my arms are pitifully weak. I don't know how long the pushups will last, though, because I must confess I don't really care all that much about how my arms look and find that with strong legs, I can lift almost anything I would want to. This new attempt is more based on Jesse laughing at me last week because I couldn't do one regular pushup!!!!

Glad you enjoyed the yoga workout, Emily. I have read that the benefit of yoga is how it makes you more conscientious of your body. The workouts themselves do not burn a ton of calories, but the effect it has on your mind and body carries over into your general lifestyle...and that is what leads to weight loss.

And, frankly, the real point of exercise (I think) is to put you in touch with your body and help you feel good about your body. Whatever exercise does that for you is a good exercise. Jesse is a big fan of yoga, himself (albeit, a sporadic one!).

yoga amendment

I did a 30 minute yoga workout today, and remembered why I like it. :) It makes me feel good, even when I'm not feeling well. It certainly doesn't burn the kind of calories that the shred does in the same amount of time, but I just feel better in my body afterward.

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Day 9 and yoga

I meant to go to karate this evening. Almost got there, too. Then I stopped to get gas, locked my keys in the car, and...well, you can imagine the fun that resulted.

Amie, I've used yoga at various times in my work outs. I like it a lot, actually, but it is best if you have more time to devote to it, I think. My favorite was when I was taking a yoga class at a local gym. I personally don't worry much about the possible religious aspect of yoga. For me, it falls into the "all truth is God's truth" category. It is good exercise and teaches me a lot more about how to use my body well, and those are both good things. Good things can certainly be misused and misunderstood, and I think that is what is happening in the religious side of yoga.

Currently I have a "weight loss yoga" dvd (biggest loser brand), which I think is kind of a joke. It isn't terrible, but if that's all you're doing I don't think you'll lose any weight! :) I do it on days when I don't want to work out but feel bad about skipping.

If I found the time to do a real, solid yoga workout four times a week, I'd probably be in great shape. Seriously, don't you wish you could do this?


Photo credit: www.siteyoga.com

Since time is an issue, I'll stick with the shred for now.

Water - 80 ounces
GS - yes
exercise - no

Monday, June 14, 2010

Babies, p90X, weight loss and exhaustion, pull ups

Why I am typing this I don't know I am so so so so so very tired (in a not pregnant way)...too much to do and no sleep in sight is bad news for exercising...I did work out today though!

Thanks for your encouragement regarding babies and bodies...c-sections do a number and your right Jess about twins doing a number too...I carried those babies all the way through and I sometimes forget the effect that pregnancy had on my core :-)

As far as Pull Ups go I don't do them all in repetition or all unassisted. There is a technique we learned on P90X that enables you to do quantity (using a chair or assisted pull ups) which increases your ability to do them unassisted and a majority of mine are done using this technique for now :-)

Ab-ripper X is 15 minutes of a 1.5 hour p90x workout that just focuses on your core the worst 15 minutes of the program if you ask me...I love love that workout program but finding the time to complete it (1.5 hours a day) is a bit daunting.

In regards to Em's question about losing weight...I love working out for how it makes me feel (as opposed to weight loss) and even more important what it enables me to do (hiking, triathalons, backpacking trips carrying multiple children etc..) but this is the first time for me exercise carries with it some type of weight loss...four kids later I find that I am carrying around 10 extra pounds i'd love to lose and balancing this with a healthy self image is something I am curious about how to do well...I don't think I should be content with my weight, but at the same time I don't want to "loathe" my body or pass any type of similar message to my children.

Anyone ever put any yoga into their routine? I am in love with the yoga routine in P90X but haven't thought through that much any spiritual implications (it is a non-spiritual program so not "true yoga" but can you really honestly void that from its roots?) ANYWAY it helped a lot with my knees Em and back...

My goal for this week is to get some sleep or exercising will really fail...goodnight!

For Emily

Emily--If your knees bother you a lot, you might try Pilates. The focus is on your core (in other words, abs) and I find that the exercises don't put any stress on my knees. So, it might be worth a try for you. However, it doesn't really help (at least the video I use) with upper body strength, if that is important to you.

Day 8 and "liking" exercise

Well, I have yet to find any exercise that I really truly LIKE. :) The closest I've come to enjoying exercise is in karate. I like the effects of exercise. I like the endorphins, and feeling strong and fitting into my clothes better! But I really, really, really don't like doing it. Is this unusual??

Kelly, swimming isn't a good option for me because I have a really bad reaction to chlorine. I only swim when I feel like losing the next few hours to nausea and headache. :(

I think that your experience with Pilates is fascinating. I've never tried them but maybe I should. Right now I don't have back pain, but that's because I'm seeing a chiropractor twice a month. Pilates might be a cheaper solution. ;)

Day 8 goals:

Water - 100 ounces
GS - yes
Exercise - shred level 1, 5/3 lb weights (using heavier weights on the first set, lighter on the second.)

Notes: knees are starting to "pop" and ache a little. Will ease up on full squats for awhile and maintain static lunges instead of moving ones.

running and random discussion

So, I am here on vacation in Sonoma and my addiction to exercising ever day has become such that I ran 5 miles this morning with my friend! Yes, I am a dork.

I must confess I find it nice exercising on the weekends because I feel like I can take my time for it instead of cramming it into the day like I have to do on weekdays. But graduate students live odd hours...

In regards to injuries, I struggle with lower back problems due to pelvic issues. Having my girls a year apart screwed up my pelvis and I had a lot of major back problems as a result (for instance, the last month of Mary's pregnancy, I couldn't stand up straight and had to be wheeled around in a wheel chair if I had to walk any distance at all). Anyhow, I have found that Pilates is like physical therapy and I haven't had any back issues since doing Pilates regularly. It is amazing.

I really think it takes time to figure out which type of exercise works best when you have particular physical injuries/weaknesses to cope with. Have you tried swimming, Emily?

Regarding exercising for weight loss or not--My initial goal in working out was to finish losing the pregnancy weight (it has taken me 3 years...yep). Now, I am actually close to losing all my pregnancy weight, but that is no longer my goal. I actually work out now because I like how my body feels when it is strong and in shape. I suppose I work out for the endorphins now as opposed to for body image. I honestly like my body now. I haven't felt that way since pre-babies.

continuing the conversation

Welcome, Amie!

Jess, I think Christa I and Laurel would be great additions. My personal preference is just that we keep it to people we all know, mostly for my own comfort in actually keeping an honest log.

I like responding in post form, too, because otherwise I likely would never see the conversations!

As an exercise related question: I'm curious if any of you are working toward a weight loss goal with your exercise, or if this is a lifestyle goal. I am not quite sure which one mine is, which is perhaps why I'm curious. Do you view exercise as a joy, a chore, something to be done until you reach a goal weight, something to be done for the rest of forever...etc?

I'm also wondering if any of you have dealt with injuries, especially ongoing weaknesses. Amie, you mentioned cesarean weakness, which I can certainly relate to (although mine was a good long time ago, now). I do have knees that apparently don't like ANY exercise, and require a lot of babying to make it! :) How have you worked around such weaknesses, and/or how have you overcome them?

adding a few more folks

I think I'm going to send out invites also to Christa I. and to my sister, if everyone's okay with that.

welcome, Amie! plus weekends and sore necks and heat

First of all, welcome Amie! Glad you're joining us. :)  I'm curious: what's Ab Ripper X - is it part of P90X? Also, are you doing 10 pull-ups at a time, without rests? Or do you do sets? 'cause - wow! I'm happy to have gotten to the place where I can do two at a time! (Still working on it.)

And I hear you on the stomach surgery thing. I only had one, and I don't know if it was the surgery or the stretching from the twin pregnancy, but I had some real weakness that planks and push-ups helped with a lot. It wasn't till I started doing those that my back really stopped hurting all the time (I think my backaches were a combination of weak ab muscles and nursing position.)

I admire your goal of being a healthy role model for your girls! I don't think I've thought explicitly about that a lot, so thanks for the food for thought!


Emily, weekends are a different animal than week days, I think. They have their own pattern in our house, but it's not the same pattern as weekdays, and I don't try to fit week day stuff into weekends. If I work out on the weekend, it's because doing a dance DVD or yoga DVD sounded like fun. So . . . that's what works for me. Saturday has chores, but they're not the weekday chores, and for me, that includes working out. 

As for sore necks, I had a lot of trouble with this with the ab exercises in Shred, at one point. I just did less than they did, so that I didn't strain anything, and let it build up with time. (Because when I tried to keep up, at first, I hurt myself! So I decided I didn't want to do that again. :) ) I think there are a lot of exercises that require neck strength, but I've never found any that specifically build it, so I've just had to let it happen slowly while I did ab and shoulder stuff. With ab stuff, though, purposely focusing on tightening my abs or hip flexors, rather than my neck muscles, was helpful. Maybe focusing on the specific shoulder muscles you want to work will help your neck muscles relax a bit? Also - again, this is abs - focusing on the ceiling helped me not to yank my head up (thus straining my neck). Maybe on the forward raises picking a spot to focus your eyes on will keep you from craning your neck the wrong way? Because if you keep your eyes still, you'll generally be keeping your head level, and your neck in a neutral position. Again, I don't know if it works when you're standing, but it's worked for me when I'm lying down.


Kelly, I'm sorry about your hot run last week! Heat + exertion can just be a killer. Hope you're able to run in the cool of the day this week!


Oh, also - I'm responding in posts rather than comments because it just seems to be an easier way to keep the conversations going. I hope nobody minds, and please feel free to do it yourself!

Sore neck

My neck is getting very sore. It seems to be caused by thing like anterior raises and other moves that work my shoulders. Does anyone have any good ideas for relaxing the neck while working the muscles next to it?

Day 7 - weekends are complicated

Maybe it is just because I thrive on schedules, but I feel like I can achieve my goals so much more easily M-F. Is this just me, or do you guys experience the funky weekend too?

Well. Five days a week is better than no days a week. :)

Water - 80 ounces
GS - no
exercise - no

Summer Goals through august

Thanks for the invite guys I have never thought of a "blog" as a way to support accountability worth a try anyway :-)

I was just reviewing this today...we are leaving for vacation Thursday which marks the start of 7 weeks away from home out of 9 between now and August so I was trying to think through my fitness goals :-)

-Ab ripper X (15 minutes) 3x/week (burn onto laptop before departing)
-50 push ups (1/2 boy 1/2 girl) 2x/week (alternating with abs) and 10 pull ups if pull up bar is accessible
-Walk rather then drive as often as possible (or ride bike to locations if at home), or carry the kids in the carrier instead of the stroller to build core muscles and utilize a more strenuous workout.
-Limit sweet intake to one dessert a day
-Drink 32 oz of water a day (min)

I just finished Ab ripper X and the girls love doing it wight me (cracks me up!) They are doing it shirtless (like their dad) and Providence wanted to do it again because it was over too fast...she informed me throughout that she was not forgetting to breathe and was not feeling the burn :-)

I like exercising for the physical challenge, the way it helps me view my body image healthier and how it enables me to instill in my girls a positive way of taking care of the body God has entrusted us with...my biggest challenges are my core which I am trying to build up I feel that the three stomach surgeries have really taken a tole on my core muscles which affects my ability to exercise and lift weights as I'd like...

-Amie

on opening up the blog

Okay, hopefully my last post for today!

The blog already displays in our profiles (I think), so it's already accessible. I'd lean towards making it more public, but that's mostly because I've enjoyed reading other people's fitness blogs in the past. But that's not necessary at all, so if you'd rather just leave it unadvertised, I'm fine with that. I'd rather have it private and doing what it was meant to do than have it be public and hard for any of us to use.

about invitations

Emily, I did invite Katie P. And I'll be glad to send an invite to Amie C.

Kelly, inviting Bethany and Katie and Yolanda is fine with me, but I'm not sure I have their email addresses. If you'd send them to me, I'll send them an invite. 


I have to say, this blog is really helping me, especially after that long break away from exercise I took when I got so sick. It's hard to restart habits, and this blog is acting as a good prod and reminder to me. It's making restarting the habit less hard than it's been in the past.  Thanks, ladies!

I also hate jumping lunges

Actually, I don't. They're just hard.  

I did 30 Day Shred, Level 3 today. And the lovely thing about this level is there is actually nothing I hate in it. Almost all of the moves are hard, but I like all of them. I love all the jumping especially - it feels like nothing else works me as hard as plyometrics.  

But, once again: ow!

Week 1 Summary for Jessica

I'm going to do a weekly summary every week because I've found that I can see how well I'm doing by how often a week I work out (it seems to balance out over a week). I'm satisfied with 3 good workouts a week, I feel pretty good about 4, and if I hit 5, well, then I'm really happy.

So, Week One workouts:

Tuesday:30 Day Shred, Level 1

Wednesday: 30 Day Shred, Level 2

Friday: 4 mile hike

Saturday: 4 mile hike


Four times in Week 1. I'll take it!

Friday and Saturday

Sorry, this is a bit late, but . . . on Friday about a 4 mile hike with pack, from San Juan Capistrano down to our hotel in Capistrano Beach. And on Saturday, the same walk, with a slightly leaner pack, in the opposite direction. :)

Saturday, June 12, 2010

Day 6

Water - 76 ounces
GS - yes
exercise - none

Day 5

I'm failing dreadfully on my water goals. :( Life just gets so busy and then I forget. And it is ridiculous to try to drink half a gallon of water after 6pm just to meet the goal. Not that I've tried that, or anything. ;)

Water - 64 ounces
GS - yes
Exercise - Shred level 1, 3lb weights (I should note that I'm back to using 8lb weights for the chest flies.)

hot

Today: 10 minute Pilates Ab workout and my 4 mile hill run.

Made the mistake of going mid-day today. Got so hot and nauseous that I had to walk a 1/8 of a mile to cool down midway. Lesson learned: stick to morning and evening workouts when the sun shines brightly.

Friday, June 11, 2010

Sorry!

Posting too fast and not checking which blog I was posting to. :) And now, back to the regularly scheduled health and exercise programming.

invitations and workout

My third day back at the shred and I made it through those awful bicycle crunches at the end on pace without stopping! This is especially cool because I can't remember ever doing that before.

I think that inviting others to join us would be just fine, if they're interested. Did you send an invite to Katie P? Katie K might be interested, and maybe Amie C? As far as opening it to the public - I doubt anyone would be interested. And I guess my preference would be to keep it a smaller circle of friends who care about accountability and encouraging one another, rather than another run of the mill public exercise blog. What are your thoughts, Jess?

re: opening up blog

Hi Jess--I like this blog too, but think it is really up to you and Emily to decide what you want to do with it in regards to readership since you invited me.

And it is so true about exercise and diet--there is no one size fits all. It took me a lot of experimenting before I found what worked for me. I got very discouraged at times.

Today's workout: 30 minutes Pilates (ab, thigh and hip segments). A mile walk this morning and tonight I'll get another 3 mile walk (going to and fro the Torrey Alumni gathering).

Now I gotta go start preparing Coq Au Vin for tonight's supper. Lindsay's coming over!