exercise

Losing…What?

/ Wyndsong Magickal Arts / 1 Comment

I have been doing a bit of online research this morning, and I came across a blog post about weighing yourself when on a diet. A woman named Deb is featured in the post, with pictures of her at 155 in the before picture, looking very unhappy, and at 155 in the after picture, looking much more fit.

Wait…what?

Yes, you read that right. She weighs 155 in both pictures. She is on a Paleo diet.

Reading this is great for me, because my scale hasn’t budged an inch in a few weeks, which is usually pretty frustrating for me. It would be this time, too, but I feel so great eating this way that I have stopped caring about the scale. Not to the point where I won’t get on it, but I get on it less. And still it hasn’t moved.

And yet coworkers tell me that it already looks like I have lost more than the scale tells me I have. I look at them unbelievably when they tell me this because I can’t believe it. But I go on eating this way because of the way it makes me feel. And I work out, too.

But then came another blog post.

What? No cardio?

Now here is the point where my fiance is going to get a little frustrated with me. He and I are very big into researching things. I usually research along the way (hence the reason for all of the “along the way” blog posts) and he researches beforehand. He’s been telling me about the no cardio “thing” for a couple of weeks now, and telling me I need to read “Body by Science” by Doug McGuff and John Little. He has formulated a workout that he does every time we go to the gym that incorporates weight lifting and no cardio. And he finishes his workout while I am still struggling along on the elliptical machine, usually finishing his whole workout at about the same time that I stagger off of the machine, about to die – when I am ready to begin my lifting. So I am happy to report to him that the book is the next thing on my immediate reading list. I will let all of my droves of readers (ha ha, joke) know how the book was.

So Deb achieved this amazing feat without losing a pound and without doing cardio. Not only that, but one part of the post says that she counted her calories for one day and ate….(wait for it)….”slightly over 3900 calories per day.”

WHAT???

Oh wow. This Paleo thing isn’t a diet – it is a freaking miracle! One of the most wonderful miracles that I have found, and I am taking advantage of it! (Or I will be when I get myself off of that elliptical machine – I have been telling my fiance that it is no joke, and now I’m starting to be convinced that it is of the devil!) I can’t wait to be able to blog about the information I find out about these new finds of the day!

*I must also throw in a disclaimer. I am not a religious person, so any mention of devils or miracles in the above post should not be construed as religious zeal, whether positive or negative, toward any particular diet or workout machine.

*I must also throw in another note: While Deb is eating 3900 calories a day, I believe from some of the tags on the posts that she is doing Crossfit, which to me means that she is also burning a heck of a lot of calories. Using common sense, I do not advocate or think it wise to start eating calories like nobody’s business simply because Deb is eating 3900 calories a day.

Getting It Together

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So I’ve been doing well with my diet for about two months now. I’ve only had two cheat days – one last Friday and one in May. My boyfriend and I went to the beach, where he asked me to marry him. And so, since we are getting married in two years, at the beach, I need to start getting really serious about getting into shape.

I said something to my trainer about being bored with P90, the same two workouts over and over and over and over again. It gets old quick. And he recommended that I try a different program. And so I have started the Master Series today, in the hopes that I won’t get bored and it will keep me engaged long enough to accomplish something.

I have also started doing Balintawak training with my boyfriend on the nights of the week that he is home. It is very low-impact, and very fun. I have fun, anyway. I wish we had some more drills to work on, though. We work on the same ones over and over again. The only thing we have to work on with them is speed. Hopefully we will be working on that soon.

I’m tired, though. Sometimes I think that this is probably how people in boot camp feel. I have been trying to take it a little easy at work, since I’m doing so many workouts, and so far it isn’t too bad. I’m hoping I can hold out, though. I’m trying not to go too hard on the workouts, since I’m not used to doing them.

And so that is how things are going so far. I will check back soon and we will see how it is going from here.

Progress

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Well, today is the end of my first thirty days of Power 90. So I had to take my measurements today. While I haven’t lost any weight (I knew I hadn’t before I took my measurements) I have lost 14.5 inches, mostly from my thighs. This is incredibly awesome, and a real, tangible sign that all of this hard work is paying off. It is even a sign that my diet isn’t causing a lot of stress or making me unhealthy. Although, due to the numbers I plugged into the body fat calculator, my BF% has actually gone up. I don’t get that, but I’m chalking it up as a fluke, because I have lost so many inches at this point. And I can’t wait to see what I will lose in the next thirty days! From what I hear, 30-60 and 60-90 are golden because I have just spent thirty days stoking my metabolism.

I am trying to do some research to find out what system I want to use next. I had been going to do P90X after this, but I have heard so many people talk about the different systems out there, and I want to take a look at them. I may post my opinions at a later date!

Progress!

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Today I finished my second week of Power 90, and it felt really good. I’m really proud of myself right now, not only for finishing two weeks, but also for not overdoing it and getting sick. I haven’t been sick yet. I can tell that I’m getting stronger because the exercises aren’t quite as hard for me to do, either. I was able to get through more of the sweat video without pausing as often, and I added the third round of the strength circuit in the middle of this week. So all in all, it is going extremely well.

I found a 5K in October that I am going to try to run. It means that I will start training in June, and that means that I will have plenty of time to get myself in shape to be able to handle the training. Especially since things are going so well with my workouts right now, I should be in great shape to train in June. And the training will be on top of whatever program I am doing in June, so that will be a great addition to my workout routine.

So as far as my plans go as far as my regular workout, I am planning on doing 1-2 for as long as it takes until I can do all of the exercises at full intensity and feel like I’m not getting any more benefits. It may happen sooner than I think, but that is the plan. After that happens, I will move on to 3-4. When I start doing 3-4, I will order 5-6 so that I have it for when I can do 3-4 at full intensity and feel like I’m not getting anything out of it. When I move on to 5-6 I’m going to order P90X so I can start on it when I get to the full intensity point with 5-6. And I am going to keep progressing through that system the same way.

On top of all of this, my boyfriend and I just ordered a Total Gym, so I will have that to supplement my workouts as well. I’m actually pretty glad that we got it because it has a way to do pullups. I was trying to figure out how I was going to do pullups when I make it to the P90X because a door attachment won’t work in this house. That will help me out a lot.

So those are my plans, and my path to achieve them. I have a lot that I want to accomplish, but I have a clear path. I also have plenty of motivation. I kind of blew my diet on Saturday, and stayed up really late, so I didn’t want to get up on Sunday and do my workout, but I did, and I was so glad that I did. I knew that if I didn’t, it would throw me off and I would quit. I felt so much better after I did my workout, and I was proud of myself for getting up and doing it. After all, being part of a team, Team Never Fail Again at that, should give me the motivation to do what I need to do!

Pacing Myself

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I have found that this go-around, I am doing a much better job of listening to my body and trying to rest when it tells me it needs rest. I am also not going all gung-ho during my workouts, when it is very obvious that I’m not ready for gung-ho anything. This is helping a lot. Last week I felt myself getting sick, and I took a day off from my workouts. I didn’t get sick! This week, I am trying to pace myself during my workouts, so that I can work out the prescribed number of days and not burn out. But before I do a workout, I ask myself two questions: How do I feel now, and How do I think I am going to feel after my workout?

I work in childcare, which is a hugely draining job in and of itself. Add to that workouts that I’m not used to doing, and I have a perfect recipe for burn-out. So I am trying to be very careful this time about what I do and when I do it. I do not want to get pneumonia again, and I think that my workout style back then, coupled with my smoking habit, contributed greatly to my getting pneumonia.

Did I mention that I won’t be weighing myself every week? Probably once every four weeks is what I will do, so I won’t see updated numbers for another three weeks or so. I’m looking forward to what those numbers will tell me!

New Blog Site, New Goals

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Just moved everything over here from blogger, so that I have everything in one place.

So the last post I did was in June? Well, I found out in AUGUST that I had contracted pneumonia shortly after that post. Needless to say, I quit doing the low-carb and the exercise because I was feeling so bad. I had lost about 15 pounds.

I’ve gained it all back, sad to say. But I did quit smoking around the same time that I found out that I had pneumonia. I’m ready to try exercising again. I’m doing the Power 90 program again, but this time I am modifying the schedule so that I don’t get burnt out again. I will continue to modify the schedule as I see fit until I get into good enough shape to do it how Mr. Horton intended it to be done. I am also back on the low carb. This time, I am going to allow myself to make mistakes. I actually did cheat yesterday, a little bit, but its okay. It will happen. I’m not perfect, and I’m not going to set myself up for failure by counting every carby substance that makes its way through my mouth a failure. At the same time, I am going to watch my carbs and my portion sizes. But I figure a sweet treat every now and then will probably be good for me, since that is the one thing that I crave the most, and the one thing that gets me every time. I don’t want to fail, because I have three very specific goals in mind.

The first one is, obviously, to lose weight. I am 100 pounds over my recommended weight right now, and that needs to change for SO many reasons. Anyone who has read any of this blog knows that my boyfriend is diabetic. I think my grandma died of diabetes too, but I’m not sure about that. So I think it runs in my family, and I know it runs in my boyfriend’s family. It is something that I worry about, and I have educated myself pretty well on it. The low carb diet will help in a myriad of ways when it comes to my health.

The next two goals are fitness based. I would like to be able to run a 5K marathon, and I would like to be able to enroll in and participate in a Krav Maga class. If anyone has seen a Krav Maga class, you know that it is extremely challenging and requires a lot of strength and endurance. I definitely have a long way to go before I can handle that class, but I want to get there, and I’m going to try hard.

So I started working out again on the 7th. I worked out on the 7th, 8th, and 9th. By the 10th, I was exhausted and had to take a day off. That is why I am modifying the schedule, because it is obvious to me that I can’t handle the schedule as it stands. But I am going to do what I can and get through it.

Stats as of today:

Weight:225, BF:72.9% , BMI:43.9

How It’s Going

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Well, its been a long time doing low carb – I can’t even keep up any more. But it is going so well. And I am getting ready to start on my third week of working out. I’m not sure how much weight I’ve lost, but my clothes are getting very loose, which is awesome. I’m still not feeling deprived and I haven’t had the urge to cheat. I was pretty hungry today between lunch and dinner, but I brushed that aside. At some point I am going to have to start worrying about calories. I haven’t worried about it too much so far, especially since my clothes have been feeling better on me.

My workouts have been going great. I have done two weeks and I can really tell. Today while I was on a field trip I actually jogged! It has been so long since I have felt comfortable – or able – to do that. My ultimate goals are to get into good enough shape that I can do Combat Hapkido, and after I get through that I’m going to move on to Krav Maga. I am very excited about the whole thing because now I have something that I’m working towards.

Unfortunately I can’t fit into my capri pants that I just “grew out of”.  But that is coming. That is mini-goal #1. I can’t wait to accomplish it. And in fifteen more days I can weigh and measure myself again, and see what kind of progress I am making.

Power 90 and Low-Carb

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Well, my second week of low-carbing is over, and it went just as well as the first week. This is definitely something that I feel I could do for the rest of my life. I feel so much better, I’m not hungry all of the time, and my energy level is through the roof. To think, I haven’t had any bread, pasta, or cereal in two weeks and I feel this great! I also haven’t had any milk (it has a lot of carbs). I haven’t cut all dairy – I’ve been eating some cheese. And lots of veggies. If you can’t tell, I am so excited about how well it is going. And its pretty much a no-brainer. If something makes you feel this good without leaving you hungry all of the time, why wouldn’t you do it? I even think I’ve detected some looseness in my clothing in the last couple of days, but sometimes I wonder if that’s all in my head because I want my clothes to be loose.

But it may not be in my head for long. My wonderful and loving boyfriend beat me – he ordered an exercise program before I did. I was looking into The FIRM’s new Wave program, because I LOVE the FIRM. I had planned on ordering it in a week or so because I will have the money then. But my boyfriend ordered the Power 90 system and we got it yesterday. I did my first workout with it today, and I have to say, I’m glad that he ordered it because I did a whole workout without feeling like I was overdoing it. The thing about the FIRM stuff is, I’m not in good enough shape for it. So maybe I will hold off and order that after I get through this Power 90. But after doing it, or at least my first day of it, I’m even more excited about doing it. It should be great. I took my measurements today, too, so that I can track my progress. If I ever get discouraged I can just take my measurements and see how far I’ve come. That will probably motivate me to go even farther.

Carb Addiction

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So if ANYONE has been reading this blog, they know that I’ve been having my ups and downs with Weight Watchers. Last weekend my boyfriend and I went to the beach, and for some reason it inspired me to try to get back up on the wagon. So when we went grocery shopping I bought all of my usual weight-loss inspired products: high fiber granola bars, low fat cereal, low fat yogurt, and other things that I figured would make the journey to weight loss simple and easy.

Boy, did I think wrong. It seems like nothing about weight loss for me is easy. First of all, every time I start weight watchers on my own, I seem to get incredibly sick with a cold or something else within a few weeks to a month. I’m so tired in the afternoons and evenings that I can’t think straight and have no patience for anything – and I have to have patience at my job; I work in a daycare! So for a whole week I was tired and irritable and didn’t have much to do with my own kids. I headed for bed early every night. And I thought, “This is the kind of thing that has had my boyfriend telling me to see a doctor.” And then I remembered that the one time that I was on Weight Watchers and it worked for me, I HAD to have a nap every single afternoon. It worked out for me then, though, because I got off of work at two in the afternoon. Not so now.

I started doing some online research about what could possibly be making me so tired all the time. A lot of sites said that this tired feeling was normal – which I absolutely refuse to believe. I can believe being a little tired, maybe, but not this overwhelming, OMG I have GOT to have a nap RIGHT NOW kind of tired that I have been feeling for the past week.

Then I came across a site that said something about insulin resistance. Now this is something that I’m familiar with, being that my boyfriend is diabetic. And after I cataloged the enormous amount of carbs that I was eating every day from the time I got out of bed in the morning to the time I got back into bed (exhausted) in the evening, I realized that I was stuffing myself so full of carbs that the insulin in my system is probably not working any more.

Now I am starting a big experiment, and it will actually be the second time I am trying it. I am cutting carbs. Specifically, I am cutting anything that has wheat or other cereal grains, bread, pasta, and stuff like that. I actually haven’t had any of that for two days. And the way I am feeling now has prompted me to research carb withdrawals.

Let me be clear now, lest I be misunderstood: THIS experiment is more about health for me than weight loss. Anyone who has been tired all the time knows how much it SUCKS! I have plenty of books that have plenty of information about carbs and their affect on the body to reference, thanks to my boyfriend. I am trying to read them and gain as much information as I can from them, as well as looking for other sources online. And from what I have gathered from this information so far, this is probably going to be the healthiest decision that I have made since I decided to be more conscious about my health OR my weight. And since this is now about health more than about weight, I am going to change the focus of this blog to reflect that. I am going to use this blog to vent any frustrations, hopefully talk out any cravings I have, and keep up this amazing willpower that I have been exhibiting to myself the past couple of days (remembering how tired I am after I eat that crap doesn’t hurt – I was so tired Friday night after I ate pizza that I couldn’t keep my eyes open. I went to bed at 8:30).

Contract

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My boyfriend and I sat down on Monday night and made a contract, complete with goals and specific things that we are going to do to lose weight and get healthier. I parred down my goals to more immediate goals – to lose 21 pounds by June 19th. That seems pretty doable to me. We have a specific course of action that we will take to reach our goals, and when we reach our goals we are going to make new goals. I am very excited because he has made a commitment to eat better for his diabetes, and we both know that if he eats better and loses some weight, he can lower his dependence on insulin. We’ve been doing pretty good so far, and I’m very excited to see the outcome of this contract in a month or so when we can see if we have made our goals. I weighed yesterday and total, since I got off my plan, I’ve gained four pounds. I’m not back to where I was when I started, which is good, but I have a lot of hard work to do to get back to where I was, and to get to where I want to be. I’m looking forward to it.