Still Going...and Going

If I'm being completely honest, I have to admit that when I started this latest journey to fitness, I never thought I'd end up where I am right now. Where am I, you ask? Well, that would be at the minus 48.75 pound mark, that's where. Yep, you read that right:

Almost 50 pounds!

I really can't get my mind around that. The good news is that it doesn't seem to be messing with my drive at this point, so I'll just leave the questions out there in the background until they become an issue.

In other news, I've been playing around with my cardio goal for a few months, and I've finally reached a weekly target that works: 210 minutes per week. In the event you are math challenged, that's 30 minutes a day, every day. Now, I don't want to walk every day, so that means I have to absorb the extra 30 minutes in other walks throughout the week. Also, on strength-training days (M,W,F), I'm only scheduled to walk for 15 minutes, so I have to make up that time, too. Sometimes I do an extra 15 minutes after I work out; other times I add 10-15 minutes to my other daily walks. So far, it's working pretty well.

Another thing I've been doing is going through my closet and getting rid of what doesn't fit. Which is damn near everything. Several people have suggested I box things up and store them, "just in case." I can see some sense in that, but at the same time, it feels almost like a sign that I don't believe in myself. And I do believe in myself, but I confess to a swirling fear somewhere in the background. Maybe the answer is to pick ten favorite things to keep, but get rid of everything else. I'll have to ponder that, but not for long. This stuff has to go sometime soon.

Why am I making this a sad thing?

42 and Counting

Today was my second assessment at Fitness Together, and 42 is the Big Number. That's how many pounds I've lost since February. Giving credit where it's due, 32 of those pounds have been shed since I started working with the trainers 3 months ago. (Trainers, take a bow!)

Of the 32 pounds lost, 11 were muscle pounds, meaning I replaced 11 fat pounds with 11 muscle pounds. More good numbers!

One of the best numbers was my active heart rate: 91 after a 3-minute step test. Six weeks ago, it was 117, I think, but to be fair, last time we used two steps and this time only one. Still, it's a good number. :)

I moved from below average to average in a couple of categories, and in one, I moved from well below average to the simple below average. Woo-hoo!

The only other thing I remember is that my pinch tests for body fat came out in the 20s for triceps and hip area, but is still in the low 30s for thighs. My thighs were not pleased as they have been tortured with all sorts of contortions these past few months.

And I still can't do a real push-up. But I did 20 Cammy-ups and I think I only did 5 during my initial assessment.

So overall, I'm Very Pleased. In total, I lost only 2.75 more inches (my shoulders even measured bigger!), but the weight loss and other numbers more than made up for it. Great momentum for the vacation I embarked upon today.

Not to brag or anything, but I'm pretty damned proud of myself. And more than a little grateful to my wonderful trainers.

Sunday: Started Soggy, Stayed Soggy

I suppose this morning was the ultimate test of my commitment. For about 50 minutes, Fran and I slogged through a pouring rain to complete our Sunday morning walk on the Greenbelt. Puddles that were minor pools when we first saw them were minor ponds on the return trip. At one point, it even appeared to be raining tiny frogs. They were everywhere.

This had to happen on the day I decided to wear a fitted t-shirt. Usually I wear baggy shirts (body image + all my shirts are too big), but today I decided to wear one that actually had shape. Needless to say, by the time we finally got the cool breeze Fran anticipated, I had turned the Greenbelt into my very own wet T-shirt contest. The frogs didn't seem impressed.

I had planned to go to Target after our walk, but considering that I had to wring out my clothes before I could even get in the car, I detoured by the house, peeled off to the skin, toweled off, combed my hair and set out again. A normal person would have showered first, but considering that it was still raining steadily, I figured, what the hell.

At Target, I bought the prize I won for making my challenge of 500 minutes extra walking in August. It's a teeny tiny iPod Shuffle (the silver one, so that it doesn't clash with my workout wear.) I'm now busily searching the web for walking/workout songs to download while it charges. And since I didn't get the iPod nano I had originally planned on getting, I added a heart rate monitor watch to the prize pool. It was on clearance for $36. It says my resting pulse rate is 77-79, but I don't know how accurate that is. I have an assessment with the trainer this week, and I'll try it then to see how the results compare.

For my September challenge, the definition of extra walking is changing. Part of my lifestyle change is a commitment to a minimum of 30 minutes exercise six days a week. Three days a week is trainer time. The other days, I walk and do some floor exercises outside the training studio. Since 30 minutes is my minimum (15 on trainer days), I'm only going to count what I do beyond that in September. My goal is 300 minutes for the month. That's truly extra time. The other is my new lifestyle. I had 70 minutes extra for the first week of the month, and I feel like that should have been 75, but I'm sure I'll make it up on my Chicago trip, which begins this week.

And now it's time for my last trip out into the wetness. Might as well end the day the way I started it.

Struggling Through

I'm in one of those Blech! periods that seem to pop up from time to time. What makes this one marginally interesting (to me, anyway) is how I'm managing it. Once upon a time I would have used it as an excuse to eat non-healthy things in great abundance, but now my reaction seems to be...just blech! No follow-up. No angsting over the cause, the effects, the future. Just blech!

I had a horrible workout last Wednesday. There were actual tears involved. I'm not sure why, exactly, except that it seems like everything is so much harder to do these days. I wouldn't mind the struggle so much because we have added a little weight (*very* little) and a few (and I do mean few) more reps on some things, and I'm not this for the Easy Factor, but I think the combination of feeling like I'm right back where I started and the fact that the front part of my body seems to be melting into one unsightly blob in my midsection, combined with a fickle scale, was overwhelming for some reason and I had a sniffly moment.

But like I said, I didn't resort to a pity fest with Little Debbie as my only guest. Instead, I came home and tried on clothes that I was sure would be too big. They were. I smiled and went to bed happy. The next morning I had to try on even more clothes to prepare for a jeans day at work. All six pairs of jeans were too big! I wore the least big pair to work and beamed when a lot of folks mentioned the weight loss. Snifflies over.

Yesterday I went to Catherines and found new jeans. They're called The Right Fit and I love them. They only had one pair in my size, but I have another pair on order. Life without blue jeans is unimaginable.

This morning I went to walk the Greenbelt, but I was the only one who showed up. The trainers are in Louisiana on an unauthorized field trip, and I think my walking buddy was out of town as well. I walked the shorter of the two trails and a small portion of the other one, but the place was deserted this morning. No bicycles at all, and I only saw three other walkers. It was kind of spooky, to tell you the truth.

So here I am, still sort of blech-y, but not as much as before. I think we'll just have to call that Life.

It's Not the Heat...

All my life I've heard, "It's not the heat, it's the humidity" to describe the worst of summer, but I'm here today to tell you that it really is the heat. Eight days of 100+ temps have me just the teensiest bit cranky. Not to mention sweaty.

So, the folks from The Biggest Loser are in town doing try-outs for the new season. Several people who know I like the show have asked me if I planned to audition. Me, in spandex on national television. Me, in spandex anywhere. Not going to happen, folks. Evah. I do have one friend who says she's going over there, and I hope she will. She's perfect for the show, all charm and moxie.

Nothing much to report in my world. I didn't lose any weight last week, or so sayeth the scale, but I did learn that my cholesterol is looking pretty good. Total cholesterol is 141, which is really good, but the HDL is at 37. That's down two since I started exercising, which isn't what I was going for, but my doctor assures me it's nothing to worry about, given my overall low number.

Another good number: 15. That's the number on the weights I'm using for chest presses now. I'm at 12 pounds on all the others. I also increased my reps this week on several exercises. It wasn't particularly pretty, but I did it. :)

This weekend is about celebrating my birthday. I've timed it for my monthly splurge, so my family is taking me to Pancho's tonight, where I intend to have taco salad (not particularly splurge-y since I don't eat sour cream or guacamole, but it's good) and chip and dip. I refuse to count the tortilla chips for one night. Tomorrow morning, I will walk and pay the price for the indulgence.

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

Progress and then some

Yesterday was weigh-in day. Are you ready? Eight pounds! Yes, that's eight, the number after seven and before nine. I was a tad schocked, but oh so pleased. I guess the pounds were hanging on just to have a dramatic exit all at once.

The funny thing was that, while the eight pounds were exciting, the big drop wasn't the best part of yesterday. Or maybe it's more correct to say that there were other things that made me just as happy: two more people commenting about the changes they see in me, moving up five lunges in my workout, being guilted (happily) into adding 25 minutes of cardio at the end of my workout so that I'm now at 201 extra minutes for the month, doing my grocery shopping after my workout so that I would have the "right" foods on hand, when all I wanted to do was go home and cool off--all successes, too, of varying sorts. It all makes me feel really good about being me right now, and it makes me think I'm finally building a better 'big picture' for myself.

Fuel for the Fire

More people are noticing my weight loss success and mentioning it in the nicest ways. Over the past few days, four people have said something nice about the way I look. One comment came from a VP at my company, who said I'm inspiring him. Wow. That was huge. Only a miraculous surge of willpower kept me from bursting into happy tears. I think of all the compliments I've received that was the best. Not because it came from a VP, but just the idea that I could inspire anyone...

Last night when I was working with the trainer, I realized that while some exercises make me feel strong, others make me just feel fat. When I'm doing arm work, I feel great, but when we do any core work, I feel like a big fat blob. Any sort of wall sitting and planks are the worst. Jumping Jacks are a bitch too. I can hardly focus on the exercise for the chanting in my head: You'refatYou'refatYou'refat! Not the best frame of mind to build a future on. It makes the work that much harder.

I was pondering today, trying to figure out how to get myself into the right frame of mind, and I think I'm going to start substituting the last great compliment I received from someone in place of the nega-chant. I inspire, I inspire, I inspire! might be much more helpful in keeping me focused on the fight at hand. I certainly hope so!

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!