Bad Blogger

I think I started out with a vague goal of posting something about once a week. Yeah...

My workouts have been fairly consistent. Getting up to 25-30 minute runs of varying speed in the C25k program. Still making it to weekly yoga and strength (Body Conditioning) classes. 1 or 2 days rest in a typical week. Sort of suffering from the winter blahs though. My eating has been ok, but my tracking of said eating has fallen a bit by the wayside. 

Just typing that makes me want to log into my Bodybugg software and put in the 2 pieces of wheat toast I ate for breakfast today. At least I've been wearing the Bodybugg gizmo on my arm and meeting my activity goals most days. The contraption works on the basis of calorie deficit. Mine is currently set for a 500 calorie daily deficit. My caloric intake goal is 1900 and my caloric Burn goal is 2400. (I also have a 10,000 daily Step goal and a 60 minute daily Activity goal.)  There is a watch that syncs with the armband and beeps with a happy little message when you meet each of your set goals. The cool thing I have been monitoring is the breakdown of the physical activity after I sync it up on my laptop. There is a graph that captures the caloric burn throughout a given day. So I can hold the mouse over the time I was doing yoga and see I burned about 3 calories a minute on average (which is cool, caloric burn not being my main motivator for yoga) and sometimes I hit 15 calories a minute on my runs.  Which is probably why yoga lasts an hour and a half and I can usually run 20 minutes before I need a walk break!

I know I need to focus on both sides of the equation - the calories in as well as the calories out. I also know the perfectionist in me gets caught up and bogged down in the details of calorie tracking. "If I don't know exactly how many ounces of turkey were in that sandwich I ordered, why bother tracking...?"  And once you skip tracking one meal, the whole day won't add up, will it?? One day last week, I just overestimated everything. That was a little depressing. I need to just do it and make peace with entries being a best estimate of what I consume on a given day. And stop overthinking it!

I'm also editing the layout here, since this will likely be a loooong journey (and I'm ok with that, really!  ok, mostly...) I weigh in every Tuesday and track it here and on my own spreadsheet and on my Bodybugg software. I've decided to track it here monthly. I think that will help me see the forest/big picture more than the smaller, weekly ups and downs. I need to get a better feel for the trend and this seems a good vehicle for that.

Running on empty

I find this photo inspiring. There's water behind her, greenery. She's got her water. And it doesn't look very hot outside. When I do encounter "optimal" running conditions outside, I don't think I appreciate them. I was running on vacation in London a few months ago, but instead of experiencing it as a fit and fun way to see the sights and take in the local vibe, as a fitness magazine might suggest as a tool to not gain weight on vacation, instead I just felt like everything was really far away. Or had thoughts such as: When will this song be over? How long have I been running? How red is my face? Look at how fast that dude is! 

I always enjoy it afterwards. And am glad I did it. Honestly it does help me when traveling. At least it clears my head and sets me up to want to eat fairly well the rest of the day. I think I just have this idealist vision in my head of effortlessly running among the landmarks that I never experience in reality.

I've been doing this about a month now and seem to have fallen into a groove.  Running via the C25k program 3 times per week. (Just started Week 6 today.) One strength class and one yoga class per week, typically. And lots of walking added in whenever possible. Foodwise, I'm just eating and drinking (ahem) as consciously as I can. Tracking calories. 1900 per day on average, sometimes more or less. Not putting any food on a "Do Not Eat" list. Slow going. Which is what I say I want. Until I step on the scale. Then I have to talk myself off the ledge and remind myself about the marathon versus sprint, living on a plan I can live with for the long haul, weekly weigh-ins only data points, blah, blah, etc. Knowing all that intellectually is all well and good. I need to feel it and live it intrinsically though. 

One final note. If I really want to avoid a funk, I should not compare my weight or weightloss (or lack thereof) with others.  Like, I should not, for instance, have my boyfriend get on the scale so I can see that I've got a good 12 lbs on him! I really did not need that information today!

We're on a Road to Nowhere

Today was the start of Week 5 on C25K.  It was supposed to involve alternating 5-minute runs with 3-minute walks. Siiiiiiigh.  Even though last week also involved a couple 5-minute intervals, for some reason I couldn't hack it today.  And it really p!ssed me off! It felt never-ending, as if this particular treadmill at my gym had been surreptitiously replaced with this as I ran: 

There was a stitch right under my left ribs the entire time. So there were a couple "pauses", which put me off my scheduled time. And I got very frustrated. I probably ate too soon before I left for the gym. And I could have slowed my pace a bit, but I chose to stop instead. A couple years ago, I did a running regimen, but focused mainly on building mileage. So I usually ran a 5.5 mph pace, except on longer runs where I dropped down to 5.0 mph.  Since starting C25K, however, I do the running portions at 6.0 mph (a 10-minute mile), which is pretty speedy for me.

So I'm pulling a big re-do tomorrow to see if I can do this right. If I'm really going to run any significant distance, I guess I'll have to further explore the pace thing.  Or I should just take my butt outside where I really have no idea how fast I'm running. I'm such a weather wimp, though!  On any given day, it is most likely too dark/cold/windy/rainy for a December run for this wuss. I need optimal conditions! 

The good news though, is that wearing my Bodybugg confirmed for me that at least the treadmill session was not in vain. I still burned lots of calories.  And that is a good thing, Martha. I know one cannot have the time of one's life every freaking day at the gym, but today really felt crap. And it was all I could do to remind myself that the hardest part was getting there. (Usually it is! And once there, the workout takes care of itself, often enthusiastically even!) Today was just a slog from the get-go... Grrr! Frustrated...  tomorrow's another day...

ETA: The do-over was a success! 3 non-stop running segments of 5 minutes at 6.0 mph. Now I can move on.

Pain in the neck!

This picture hurts. I should label it "Before" and put a photo next to it of myself labeled "After" wherein I'm holding my neck with a wincing-in-pain look.  I'm so there. 

It all started when I woke up early to watch my dvr of Biggest Loser, where they run the marathon. I know all the pros and cons of the show, resisted the first few seasons when it was recommended to me. ("You'll love it, big transformations, inspiring life changes..." "I hate TV, especially 'reality' TV!")  But I was hooked somewhere in Season 5. I'm a sucker for Success Stories in fitness mags too. My big beef with the show (aside from the edited-in "drama" - isn't there enough drama inherent in their weight loss stories?) is that they hardly ever show us the other side of the caloric deficit equation: the eating plans. Aside from the requisite trips to Subway. And lots of Extra gum chewing. (The product placements actually crack me up. So NOT subtly integrated into the show!)

OK, I meant that to be a lead-in to my own workout woes, but went off on a tangent. So I mentioned I've been loving my Body Conditioning class in earlier posts. I saw there was an a.m. session with another instructor and thought it'd be good to see some other versions of the class. After being all pumped up and motivated by the BL contestants running 26.2 miles, I arrived at the gym to discover I lack the ability to read a class schedule. I had the day wrong and the strength training class I thought I was attending ended up being an old-school Step Aerobics class with the new-school twist of a 3-kg ball that I had to move from arm to arm, up and down and all around. It felt like a Harlem Globetrotters try out.  Why do cardio intense classes seem so damn loooooong?  We're up, down, up, down on the step, trying not to drop the freaking ball (literally!) and keep up, come on, you can do anything for an hour, it's not a marathon for crying out loud, you're almost done....and discover 3 minutes have gone by. Sigh...

After class I took a moment to really look at the class schedule and saw there was an actual Body Conditioning class that same evening. Being all pumped up with BL motivation, I rocked back into the gym studio a few hours later to try a different instructor's take on the class. I think I'll stick with my Monday night dude. Too much focus on abs for me. I know I have weak abs. I know my core needs strengthening. I know! But I find that when you try to work weak abs in a class setting, eventually you just end up straining back muscles. Usually I'm good at ignoring the class and doing my own controlled, focused crunches or some version of what "they're" doing that I can feel in my core. (Like if they have their legs in the air for crunches, I know that is instant back spasm and I do the same crunch with my feet on the floor. If they want to bicycle crunch, I'll cross one leg and do crunches on one side and switch to the other side halfway through. Controlled.) Usually. For some reason - fatigue? - I just did whatever the instructor called out. 

And of course at some point went from working my abs to just pulling on my F&#$!* neck. Idiot! Well, lesson learned, I hope. Not a sidelining injury, just a pain in the, uh, neck. But still did my C25K scheduled run for Week 4 (getting challenging, but I'm not panicking yet...one run at a time...) And yeah, one class in any 24-hour period is probably sufficient for this aspiring "Loser" - aspiring to lose weight, not be on the show BL. I wouldn't last a week. (Uh, where's the wine fridge? No thanks, I hate watermelon gum. How about a rest day??)

And the Finale??  Danny for the win. Can't decide on the At-Home winner. Rebecca? Daniel? Shay? Those nice Red Team guys? Too many to choose. Just looking forward to the transformations!

Checkin' in

Just checkin' in. I should check in more frequently, just to keep myself on track, I suppose. I worked out a bit less this past week. The Thanksgiving schedule at my gym meant I missed my favorite yoga class. Then I missed my new favorite Body Conditioning class through my own fault (as we used to say in the confessional).

I did keep on track with C25K though. I finished up Week 3 - woo hoo! And am just about to head out to start Week 4 - yaaaaay (she said unconvincingly). Each week incorporates longer stints of running, obviously. I think this week will include a 5-minute running segment. Yaaaaaaaay!

I'm pretty content with my eating over the past few weeks. Trying to incorporate some new recipes and be conscious of what I'm eating. Primarily, that means enjoying what I'm eating or, if not, trying not to eat it. Why does that sound so elementary written out like that? Is it worth it?? That's what I need to remember. I even made a semi-healthy dessert. An apple crumble thing with rolled oats and nuts and uh, apples. I serve it warm with vanilla frozen yogurt and feel like I'm having a good time. It's good, but it's not something that I would go crazy overboard with. And vanilla frozen yogurt is not calling my name like, for example, mint chocolate chip or chocolate brownie ice cream would. ("Finish me!")

Next stop - 180's! Please! I'm so sick of the 190's. Actually knowing the way I lose (up, down, up, down) I know 180's won't be the next stop. But hopefully I'm on the 180's line? If not, I'll have to switch at an upcoming station. For now, this track is feels like it's working for me.

Good Sore, Bad Sore

This past week, I've really focused on adding some variety to my exercise routine, particularly oft neglected strength training. This in addition to my entry level C25K.

Mon - Body Conditioning class at my gym (1 hour). I liked it! Basic squats, lunges, shoulders, abs, etc. Most done on an incline step. Rookie mistake: using weights that felt good at the time (mostly 8 lb dumbbells and 12 lb body bar). Could. Not. Walk. Very. Good. Frankenstein shuffle up & down the 2 flights of my apartment building stairs, possibly scaring the neighbors. But still a Good Sore in that it faded after a day or two.

Tue - C25K in Central Park, followed by a nice, long walk through said Park, because, hey, I was already out there and it's beautiful. And it felt good to try to loosen up my Frankenlegs.

Wed - Iyengar Yoga (1 hour) class at my gym. Wasn't sure what this would entail, but I was sore and figured some flexy/bendy moves would be good. This fit the bill. Loooots of Warrior II (not my favorite), but definitely stretched out my quadriceps nicely. Then walked on the treadmill since I was there.

Thur - C25K at the gym, followed by a walk with lots of inclines on the treadmill. I like to make up lots of programs to do on the treadmill, mixing up the speed and incline just to make the time go by. And keep me from falling asleep on the treadmill, which would be a lame sports injury.

Fri - Body Definition class at my gym (45 minutes). Eh. One of these classes with the Cult Instructor in short-shorts. Lots of whoo-whoo! from the class. Which I could get over were it not for the super speedy sets of strength moves. I'm not a fan of speedy lunges or speedy back rows. My knee gets wonky (Bad Sore!) on the former and my form goes crap on the latter. Another pet peeve is when the instructor offers no modifications for beginners or injured peeps. But I stayed after class and got some cardio (speed walking) in on the treadmill.

Sat - C25K followed by Vinyasa Yoga (1.5 hours) Finished Week 2 of C25K (woo hoo!) and the yoga was full of flow and twisty stretching.

Sun - Rest Aaaaaaahhhh.....

I felt good about accomplishing my goal to add variety to my fitness and exploring some strength training class options. I would do the first class again (tomorrow maybe!) I have been shooting for an hour of "activity" per day, usually lots of walking after whatever else I have slated for the day. I also wanted to write this post on a non-weigh in day to give myself props unrelated to little digital numbers on the scale.

Dear Future Self, this was sort of a Platonic Ideal of a Week in Fitness and should in no way be regarded as a standard. C25K is good because it sets a framework for exercise that can be built upon. Just add a yoga class, a strength class and some walking and ~voila~ a clear head and caloric deficit (* assumes "Calories In" side of the equation is within desirable range) await you. Be nice to yourself, listen to your body, find exercise and food that you enjoy and this whole endeavor should be sustainable and dare I say, enjoyable??

Cheers to that, fit fans!

First Weigh-in 6 lbs, 13 ounces...How Did I Get Here?

My Weighty History

I was born long ago in a small village...just kidding. I was probably an average-sized kid, who got tall before she got fat, but around 10-11 years old was much bigger than her not-yet-tall friends. And being different (bigger) was not a good thing moving into middle school. I never dieted, ate 3 squares like a good midwesterner, but gradually moved a lot less (not running around outside as I moved into my teens) and ate a lot more junk. Some numbers I remember along the way ("weigh" ha ha): 6th grade - 130 lbs. Not sure how tall I was, but remember being very unhappy and rather annoyed that we had to be weighed in gym class! In 8th grade I weighed 185 lbs. Yikes, so that means I gained 55 lbs in (at most) 3 years?! Well I strategically avoided the scale until I joined WW at the age of 18.

WW - Old School

In 1988 I contracted a horrendous intestinal flu. I was out of commission for over a week, at one point vomiting almost every hour on the hour for 24 hours! The doctor had me on an IV at one point. Then for a week, had me slowly work back up to solid food, literally starting with a tablespoon of apple juice every hour, if I kept it down, 2 tablespoons, etc. I was so weak and miserable, but happy to be done vomiting. So fastforward a week and I returned to the crappy waitress job I had at the time, doctor's note in hand, but still not really up to solid foods yet. Well I passed out in a cloud of dishwasher steam in the kitchen and fessed up I hadn't really gotten completely back into real meals yet. A nice co-worker made me some toast and sent me home. And I recall sitting down to ponder, "Hmm, now that I haven't eaten for almost 2 weeks, what should I eat?? I wonder if I've lost weight...maybe I could lose weight...how would I do that, if that was something I wanted to do, not that I do?" And I stumbled on to Weight Watchers. I think it was in January, so there were lots of New Year's adverts & specials. So there I was weighing in at 235. (So who knows what a "high" weight was after 2 weeks of starvation mode?) And I took the pamphlets and went to the grocery store and made navigating the program my secret part-time job for a good six months. This was back in the day with "Exchanges", not Points. So I could have, say, 3 "Fruit Exchanges" in a day. There was a handy booklet to tell you, for example, 1 small apple or 20 grapes, are 1 Exchange. (I remember the grapes in particular because I used to count them out! Watch out you don't eat 21 grapes and blow the whole program!)

Finding my weigh on WW

So after my first week on WW, I gained 2 lbs! The leader grilled me on my Exchange knowledge and I was too stupid to tell her that instead of a Last Supper approach to joining WW like so many in the room, I had come to the program after a 2 week Flu Fast. I lost 6 lbs the next week and pretty much kept on keeping on thereafter, until I had lost over 80 pounds total.

Time keeps on slipping, slipping, into the future

I mostly kept it off, eventually going off program and settling into the 170-180 range for most of my adult life. Over a year ago I met, and soon moved in with, my fabulous boyfriend. For the first time, my fitness slid as I chose a.m. snuggles to pre-work sweat sessions, romantic wine-soaked dinners out to the sensible repertoire of recipes I used to live by. And soon my clothes were tight, then tighter, then unwearable. My pull-a-12-off-the-shelf shopping style became, "Do these come in a 16?" My 185-is-my-scary-weight became "This-scale's-broken-there-is-no-WAY-I-weigh-200!"

Program (if you can call it that)

So, long post short: I got myself into a funk and decided fitness would be my cure. I use a Bodybugg (it was a gift, I'll talk more about how I use it in a later post.) I am doing C25K. I am not on a diet (ugh), trying not to deny myself, cut out food groups or do anything crazy or otherwise make myself miserable. Basically I want to be more active, eat less, but still enjoy the ride. Sort of like taking the maintenance philosophy into the weight loss phase. I expect it to be slow, but I like it like that. This is how I intend to eat the rest of my life, basically. I will weigh in weekly. That is really the core of my "program" - keeping myself accountable. In the past, knowing I'd had a rough week made me want to skip the scale and make up the damage to have a better weigh-result the next week. ("But now that I'm writing this week off...mmm, donuts!") Weigh in weekly and deal with it! Own your journey! (That's me talking to me.)

Hopefully that provides readers ("reader"?) with a little background for now. I'll try to add more useful info in an easy-on-the-eye format soonish!

Bubble Bath

I began Week 2 of Couch to 5K today. Decided to take advantage of another sunny Fall day here in NY and run in Central Park. (Dear Central Park, I like water all year round. Why do you shut off the water fountains after Summer? You know I'm too uncoordinated to lug a water bottle or strap one of those water-lugging belts around my waist!)

So this week's program consists of 90 second run interval followed by a 2 minute brisk walk interval. I listen to a great podcast by Suz in which she's broken down the program week by week and set it to great music, mostly hip-hop and some 80's. It really makes the session fly. And is a lot more fun than trying to program my watch to beep annoyingly at me when it's time to switch from run to walk. I have a link under my "Mojo" section.

Or I could just link to it in this post....but that assumes I know how to do that. I need to get some blog skillz! (ETA: I figured out the link situation, woo hoo!) I started this because I got so much inspiration from reading the blogs of other Fit Questers, but only finally posted something after much flailing about worrying about how wiz-bang-wow other blogs were. Yeah. One day at a time. I will make it better, flashier, more informative. All in good time.

So Tuesday is my weigh-in day. I am down 1.6 pounds today. Hooray! I know most weight loss bloggers have cool info boxes about where they started, how far they've come, and what program they're on. That's something I'll add to, eventually, I suppose. But since it's pretty much just me reading at the mo, I'll put some basics here in a separate post, right after I publish this one. (Otherwise it will be waaaay too looooong.)

One thing I'm slacking on in my fit quest is strength training. Does anyone like to do it all? It seems I know people who are all cardio, all the time or that are on a program like Body for Life and way into their strength sessions and dread the cardio. So after a week or more of trolling my gym's class schedule, I finally made it to Body Conditioning last night. I survived and have the sore quads/glutes to prove it. It's only an hour and the variety keeps me engaged. The techno music killed me a bit, but after a while, it was just a dull, thudding background and I focused on the instructor dudes cues and the apparently 17,000 muscles he has in his abdominals, all highlighted to perfection behind his form-hugging sporty shirt.

The run session was a bit rough with the sore legs, but I feel proud to have persevered! And for that reason, I rewarded myself with a soothing bubble bath...ahhhh. Hot, steamy, sweet smelling bubbly water, a good book...and me, cramped into the Manhattan mini-version of a bathtub. Oh well. It was still relaxing! For a while...

What a Difference a Day Makes

Hello!

And we're off to a smashing start! I decided to start this blog on a high note. On a day when I actually accomplished my fitness "to do" list. Unlike yesterday, when I thought fit thoughts, but executed sloth activities. I saw a couple great documentaries from my Netflix queue, but that is of little import to my cardiovascular health. Yesterday was rainy and gray and sucking the life force out of me. Today I woke with intent, the sunny autumn sky was a good sign. Before I could even say "coffee", I was out the door, armed with my iPod loaded with my fave Couch to 5K training program. (I'm in Week 1.) Usually I have to gulp coffee, play several rounds of Word Twist on Facebook, eat breakfast, read some inspirational weight loss blogs to get my mojo pumping, eat again because now too much time has transpired, repeat the whole thing because now I'm too full for exercise...and hope the timing eventually works itself out. For that reason alone, exercise in the a.m. is a good thing. Before life gets in the way.

I really wanted to start this blog today to capture in my own head how good it felt to get out there and enjoy the beautiful Fall colors of my amazing city. So maybe on the days when I feel more funk than fit, I can think back to the autumn sun reflecting on the water, the breeze on my face, and Kanye reminding me how Work it harder, make it better... that that don't kill me can only make me stronger.