Playing the Numbers Game

The results are in on my six-week fitness assessment:
Inches lost:
neck -1.75
shoulders - 0
chest -4.25
waist -4.5
hips -4.5
thigh -2.5
calf -1.25
upper arm - 0 (all those weights!)
forearm -1

Total = 19.75" gone.

Weight loss was only 10 lbs. for the six weeks. I kind of expected more, but while I've cut out the unhealthy snacks (no-mo Li'l D Swiss Rolls), I haven't exactly starved. I've been averaging about 1200-1300 calories a day and I've stayed in my fat/carb limits every single day. I have to feel good about that. I'll just presume that the extra weight I feel I should've lost was actually converted to muscle. Yeah, that's it. Plus, it makes me feel pretty good that I lost 10 lbs. on my own before I started training.

The best news was that my resting heartrate went from 80 to 72. The goal is 65. I hope to get there by the end of August. The trainers (a.k.a. Satan's Grrrlz) are having some sort of cardio contest in August with prizes for the most cardio minutes racked up. I hope it's extra sessions, especially if I should win. :) Wish me luck!

Like a Bad Penny

I turn up again. I didn't realize until today that I had completely forgotten to post a progress report. Or two.

What's a real pity is that there's definitely progress to report. My blood pressure has gone from being high to being too low. For weeks now, it's been fluctuating between 80/50 and 94/60. My Before BP was usually high 120's/80's, and that was with the medication. So apparently they weren't lying when they said regular exercise and a healthy diet will help your blood pressure. :)

Because my energy level was so low, I went to see my primary care physician last week, and---*drumroll--- he halved the dosage on my medication! I think I might be on my way to getting rid of the prescription all together, which would be so very cool.

Dr. S. also informed me that I've lost 21 pounds since February! What's so especially wonderful about that is that I suspect I actually gained some weight in March and April, so it's possible I've lost more than 21 lbs. since May 8th. I have my first "fitness assessment" with the personal trainers next week, six weeks after starting this exercise program. I'll be sure to post a report. I've lost a size for sure, and am well on my way to being another size smaller.

I really can't believe how easy this has been. There have been moments here and there that have been difficult, but overall, the combination of sparkpeople.com, the trainers, and the support of truly wonderful friends has made this transition to a healthier me so much easier.

If you're one of those wonderful friends, I love you and I thank you from the bottom of my healthier-already heart!

Sunday Pondering

Another week, another series of goals achieved. It has me wondering why this seems to be working now. It's not like I haven't tried most of this (excluding the trainers, which is a new thing completely) before. Why am I now able to eat healthy and exercise regularly? I've been thinking about it off and on today, and I've come up with a timeline, of sorts, that got me here:

1. In 2005, I learned that a new friend had, over the past several years, lost weight by exercising and changing her diet. That's not so unusual, except that she didn't work her way down to a size 2. She's a double-digit size, she looks great, and physically, she's the strongest person I know. She's also the first person I've ever known who recognized when it felt good and said, "I'm here." That's not to say she quit working at it. It's an everyday thing for her now (and it shows!) Everyone else I know keeps going for the lower numbers, and it occurs to me now that I don't know anyone personally who made it.

2. A little over a year ago, I started walking regularly. I tried to upgrade my eating habits, but it was kind of hit and miss. It seemed as though I couldn't get the diet and the walking/yoga working together. If I did one well, I let the other slide. A few times (dark days/weeks), I let them both go. But I always circled back to one or the other.

3. At the beginning of May of this year, I hit the treadmill again. At the same time, the Style Network kicked off a Make Me Over May campaign. Now, you have to know that this time last year, you could not have made me watch this channel if you had promised me a lifetime supply of Little Debbie's. I think my exact words were, "This is the worst excuse for a network I've ever seen." Fortunately for me, those words are fat-free and non-caloric, because Style's airing of The Biggest Loser was life changing for me. Here were fat people setting goals and meeting them. People my size exercising hard...and not dying from it. I decided to play along in my own version of a home game and cut out all the junk food from my daily diet.

4. In early June, I joined sparkpeople.com. I started reading articles on health, nutrition, and motivation. I set goals and began learning how to achieve them.

5. Last week, I started recording what I ate, paying attention to nutritional goals (calories, protein, fat, carbs), and ended the week by signing on with a personal trainer. I met my triceps. They're nice, if a bit unrefined at present.

So here I am. Nowhere near the end of this journey and not even sure where I am on the map. But it's nice to be off of the two-lane blacktop and onto the highway. I think, though, that I'll stay on this road rather than look for an expressway. It will take me longer to get there, sure, but I'll stand a better chance of arriving safely at my destination. :)

Have a happy...and healthy week everyone!

Sunday, Sunday

Have I ever mentioned how much I loathe Sundays? They feel so sad. Weekend gone, another lonnng week ahead. It's a vicious circle.

Another decent week on my goal work. I still haven't managed to walk for an hour a day more than occasionally, but the toes knows. I'm pretty much screwed at the whole thing if I don't get these things healed. A half-hour walk is good enough for now.

I bought hand weights today at Target. It's a convertible set up for 1-3 pound weights. Now I can do more of the targeted workout DVD.

A couple of changes/challenges for this week:
1) I'm using sparkpeople to record everything I eat. It's got a neat tool that breaks down all the nutrients and tracks calories. It also compares them to their recommended nutritional goals.
2) I'm calling a gym. I read about this company called "Fitness Together," which has a local franchise. They apparently have private workout rooms and trainers. I think that's best for me to start out. I'm not ready for the general public yet. More importantly, I seriously doubt the general public is ready for me. LOL

A few weeks ago I made a private list of reasons I want to maintain a healthier lifestyle and lose weight. Reason number 7: To be rescued, should the need present itelf. Now, I was joking at the time, or half-joking maybe, but the joke took a serious turn when I read this article.

'Woman left to die because she was too fat'
Angry John Teague has claimed that ambulance paramedics left his wife to die after joking that she was TOO FAT to lift.

Mr Teague, 58, alleges that the ambulance crew sneered that they would need a fire crew to lift seventeen-and-a-half stone Sandra Teague, 52.

Seventeen and a half stone is a little less than 250 pounds. According to the article, there were five ambulance attendants present. I'm no math genius, but I can work out this equation. And I'm outraged. I'm not sure what rips my heart out most--the insensitivity of the paramedics toward that woman and her family, or their ineptitude in being unable to figure out, between the five of them, how to get her to medical attention.

So what to take away from this that can be used for good? The article mentions that Sandra Teague had lost around 100 pounds and was on her way to regaining control of her health. I wish she could have achieved her goal here on this earth, but she didn't.

Unless, maybe...I think I'll print out Sandra Teague's picture and put it on my bulletin board. She will be in my heart every single day, constant evidence of success, and a brutal reminder that life is incredibly, horribly, wretchedly unfair sometimes.

I think I'll print out reason #7, too, because they don't rescue fat people.

I need yoga.

A Sad Sunday Goal Check

It's pitiful when you can't remember to do the one thing on your to-do list for Sunday night, isn't it?

Not a bad week, but not a great one either. My toe problems continue. They're basically a mess of blisters and corns. I took Friday off from walking and on Saturday, I didn't do any of my scheduled exercise (I cleaned house instead!). I found these toe separator thingies at the drug store, and on Sunday I went to the zoo and walked for almost two hours. No pain until the very end! I'll try the treadmill for a half hour tonight and see how that goes.

I also tried out a new exercise DVD: Ten Minute Targeted Workout for Beginner. The idea is to work on one ten minute thing each day until I feel like I can start chaining some together. But I'm not supposed to work on any area two days in a row. I like the trainer and the abs targeted workout is tough but attainable. I'll try it out for a couple of weeks.

A few weeks ago a friend sent me a link to zenhabits, and it's now one of my favorite sites. Over the weekend I found a great link, Top 42 Exercise Hacks. It's going to help me a lot.

I'll post a pic from my zoo walk later today, but for now I should get back to work.

Sunday goal check

I'm feeling really frustrated right now. Mentally, I'm ready to take on more strenuous exercise, but my body keeps throwing up roadblocks. My legs just won't walk any faster! Plus, I have new blisters on the bottoms of my feet. My toes feel like they're on fire when I walk. I'm trying to push through, but I'm finding out that patience is yet another virtue I just don't have.

Pretty good week goal-wise. I walked at least 30 minutes every day, but I never did make it to an hour. I did two yoga practices. I had planned for three practices, but I came up a little short.
Got all my fruits and veggies in Every Single Day! And I made it through another week with no major splurges. Thank God for Sugar-free Fudgesicles!

Today I walked out at Shelby Farms, a park in East Memphis. I almost didn't walk outside today. We've got ugly air, due to drifting from the fires in Georgia and Florida, and we've had a gray haze for three days. You can see it, a little, in the photo below. The bison had apparently already completed their walk and were in the cool down phase.



I don't know when I'll try this park again. The trail I was on was 1.67 miles, which is perfect for me right now, but it also is almost completely without shade. Not good in the heat of a Memphis summer, though it will probably be okay for fall and winter. We'll see.

All in all, a satisfying week, and I guess wanting to do more exercise isn't totally a bad thing. It's a far cry from where I was this time last month, right? Right!

Onward and upward! Or in my case, downward! :-)

Sunday Goal Check

Okay, time for the scorecard. Overall, not too bad.

My goals last week were:
Exercise: Walk a minimum of 30 minutes per day, every day, with 3 days of 1 hour walking and 3 yoga sessions -- Almost made it, but...::drumroll::...I have an injury. A sports injury. Okay, so it's not a rotator cuff or a pulled hamstring or any number of other things that happen to us athletes, but blisters are not to be taken lightly. Especially when they're HUMONGOUS, like this one. Still, I managed to complete six of seven planned 30-minute walks, with two 1-hour walks in there. One of the 30-minute walks was at the zoo today, where I walked for over an hour, though not cardio-walking. I'm not going to let myself count that as a full one hour.

What pleases me most is that I exercised Every Single Day last week. I'm a little proud of that.

Diet: 5 fruits and vegetables a day, every day - I'm pleased to report that I was successful five of seven days, and on the two days that I didn't get the 5-count, I did manage four servings of fruits and vegetables. I'm mostly happy with my results, because I was in a class for three days last week, and I still managed to stick to healthy eating. Mostly. Also, I went to a family reunion on Saturday and despite two tables laden with starch, sugar, and animal fat, I only ate one single serving of my grandmother's fried corn. (When she started pushing her potato salad on me, I looked her in her 85-year old eyes and said, "Stop it." She did.)

Organization: Straighten out home office and master bedroom, top to bottom - I suppose if I was going to fail at something , this was the best one to let go. I straightened and neatened, but I never managed to get either room dusted or vacuumed. I think I should have started in rooms that don't have books, magazines, television, a bed, or my computer in them.

Fun and relaxation: Zoo trip! - A great big YES! I went early this morning and had a great time. My feet were screaming at the end, but I was smiling!

When I set these goals, I had no idea if they were stretchy or not. It turned out that they were a little much for me, which seems like all the more reason to just roll them over for this week. At this point, I consider myself successful every day that I simply try.

Bye for now,
Cammy

Goals 05/13/07

So here's something new for the shiny new blog: weekly goals. I'm going to try (for a few weeks anyway) posting my goals and targets for the week. At the end of the week, I'll 'fess up. Maybe the possibility of public humiliation will be a good motivator.

Or maybe not. If this little feature disappears at some point, you'll know it wasn't working.

On to the show: Goals for the coming week...
Exercise: Walk a minimum of 30 minutes per day, every day, with 3 days of 1 hour walking; also 3 yoga sessions

Diet: 5 fruits and vegetables a day, every day

Organization: Straighten out home office and master bedroom, top to bottom.

Fun and relaxation: Zoo trip!

I'll let you know next weekend how it went. Wish me luck. Or maybe strength.

Bye for now,
Cammy