Thursday, April 28, 2011

Intimidating Turbo

"We watched your Turbo class for a little while and I have to admit, it looks a little intimidating.  But I will try it sometime." 

This was said to me by my friend and co-worker who has heard of practically nothing from me other than Turbo talk since I started in October.  (You guys think YOU hear it from me!  Imagine sitting next to me for 8 hours a day 5 days a week!)  She joined the Riverplex within the past month and is loving it.  She is working on the eliptical and a few other machines, as well as taking advantage of the pool with her fiance and son. 

She new what the first thing I was going to say was because she immediately followed it up with, "I know that you can do it at your own pace, but I don't think I'm ready yet." 

And while I will encourage anyone who wants to try it but is a little intimidated to come on in and give us 3 chances, I do completely understand the need to feel comfortable.  I think that you need to be comfortable in order for it to 1) be fun and 2) avoid injury. 

I think I have said before that in order to be successful at diet and fitness you really have to be ready for the change.  I think being ready for it includes being comfortable, and that's going to come in phases. 

But please know, that if you think that you would be even a little bit interested and maybe aren't 100% comfortable but the curiosity is getting the better of you, please come join us!  We LOVE it when new people try it out.  We LOVE to get new people addicted! 

And, with the group that I Turbo with at the Riverplex, we are really excited to encourage each other to work towards their goals.  And we travel from gym to gym together.  It is great to have a network of friends who are working towards the same goals as you.

Hope to see you soon!!!!!

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Running is against my religion

That used to be what I would say when people would suggest such an activity.  Running?  Yuck!!!

I can not believe that I'm becoming a runner.  And I feel like I'm REALLY becoming a runner.  It feels fantastic.

I have had some pain lately.  Not really any that I've been terribly concerned about, until I started researching online!  I have really been thinking that it was just about doing a new activity.  But, when I read about shin pain, most things say that it is the beginning of a stress fracture and that you should speak to a doctor.

There is a doctor at Building Steam every Wednesday.  He taped up both legs.  They immediately felt awesome!  I couldn't believe the support I got just from that!  And I ran so much better.  I was able to run longer between walks.  I felt soooooo goood!!!!

I took a pictures of my legs taped up so that I would be able to do it myself.



Very excited to run again!  :o)

Saturday, April 23, 2011

Weigh In

If you will recall, last weekend I went to a murder mystery dinner with 3 of my friends and my sister.  That night the 5 of us shared 3 bottles of wine and our dinners were outragous!  A crusted chicken stuffed with sausage and mozzarella, beef ribs in an amazing sauce, potatoes in another amazing creamy sauce, and then vegetables.

On top of that night I also was very obsessed with popcorn.  I ate a bag of Indiana Popcorn - Movie Theater flavor and then I also ate a bag of Skinny Pop.  Popcorn isn't the worst thing you can snack on.   If you are going to eat a lot of one thing, much better it be popcorn than chocolate.  But, I definately wasn't following any sort of plan when I ate all of that!

I went into the week knowing I had a lot to make up for. 

I ran 2 miles on Monday.  Dug really deep for some hardcore energy for Tuesday night Turbo.  Ran 1 1/2 miles on Wednesday.  Then on Thursday being the night before weigh in I did a full class of Turbo and a full class of RIPPED.  I really fought every minute of my Thursday classes, but I showed up and I did them. 

On Monday I went to bed with 7 daily points left that I could have eaten.  Tuesday was 4, Wedensday 3, and then Thursday 12 points left over when I went to bed.

So, knowing all of that.  How do you think weigh in went?

I broke even.  Exactly the same this Friday morning as I was last Friday morning.  Apparently the universe said, "Jennifer worked really hard this week so we are going to let her break even.  But she was still really bad and must be punished, so there will be no loss."  But I'm okay with it.  Better than having gained.  And at one point I was 3 pounds up.  So, I really did lose weight from all that hard work.  Just not enough to get me ahead.

I didn't end up running yesterday.  I know that I had posted on facebook that posting it would make me accountable to do it, but I was just too tired and after my trip to Walmart it was all over from there.

We are getting ready to go to the movie.  Josh and I have started sharing a small popcorn.  Then we are going to go to TGI Fridays.  Mostly because we still have a gift certificate that we got for Christmas.  With me being on this fitness journey, we haven't used all the gift certificates we got.  So, I went online and looked at nutritional facts and have my plan.  Chicken Tenders and fries.  I know some will say I should have the fries, but I would remind them that on Weight Watchers, I CAN HAVE the fries, as long as I've tracked them.  I've put everything that I plan on eating this evening into my tracker and I still have 2 points left. 

I am hoping to lose 3 pounds this week.  Anything 2.5 and over I'll be very happy.  4 pounds and I'll be extatic.  That will mean I can eat a Chinese dinner.   ;o)

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Living and Learning.....Learning and Living...

We will start with Learning.....Tonight I learned that what I wore to run in on this cool evening was WAY TOO MUCH.  I was very uncomfortable and I think that it effected my running.  Not horribly.  I think I did okay tonight.  But, I was sticky hot with all those clothes on.  So, I will not worry so much about the cold next time, knowing that I'm going to get warm.  Tonights run was not timed.  It was a run 3 minutes walk 1 minute run for 1 mile and a half.  Working on my own for another week and then we run 2 miles next week as a group.

Now for Living......It is obvious that I love food.  Couldn't have gotten this size if I didn't.  And, just because I'm trying to lose weight, I'm not going to decide that I don't like food.  I like food as a source of entertainment and celebration.  What I need to change is the way I think of how I eat.  I don't have to be entertained by food every day, and everyday doesn't have to be a food celebration. 

But, holidays are another matter.  They are the special occasions to celebrate and be entertained with food.  But, because I still need to keep some kind of control, here is my plan:

I am going to take my food scale and I'm going to eat what I want.  But I'm going to eat what I REALLY want.  I'm going to fill my plate once, measuring what I ate so that I can log it accurately.  Only one plate but it will be full and tracked.  I also will allow myself one dessert. 

We'll see how I do  ;o)

Monday, April 18, 2011

Jennifer from the gym......

That's right.  No Jenny from the block here.  To my friend Nikki's 4 year old, Madelynn, I'm Jennifer from the gym.  I'm love it.  Never would I have thought that my name would automatically be associated with the gym.    ;o)

My goals for the Steamboat Classic are to run the whole race and to loose 20 pounds during the training of it.  I have 9 weeks to make sure both of these things happen. 

I'm not good with follow through.  Never really have been.  Take that and the fact that I've never been very athletic and you have the reasons why accomplishing this is going to be a BIG DEAL.

So, here is my schedule for this week.  I'm putting it out here for everyone to see so hopefully it will make me more accountable.  You will probably laugh and say that I'm being too regimented and maybe for some people, this may be true.  But I know myself, and I know what I need to do to be successful with this.  I also know how GREAT it is going to feel when I can say I did it.  Plus, I like to organize and plan, I think it's fun  ;o)

Workout Schedule

Monday
4:00  Run 2 miles

Tuesday
6:45  Turbo

Wednesday
6:00  Run (Building Steam)

Thursday
5:35  Turbo
6:45 RIPPED

Friday
5:00am  Run 2 miles

Saturday
10:30am  Turbo
12:00pm  Run 2 miles

Eating Schedule

Monday
6:45  Dinner
9:00  Yogurt

Tuesday
5:00  Dinner
9:00  Yogurt

Wednesday
4:30  Dinner
9:00  Yogurt

Thursday
4:00  Light Snack
7:45  Smoothie

Friday
5:30  Dinner
popcorn at a movie

Saturday
12:30  Lunch
2:30   Snack
4:30   Snack
6:30   Dinner
9:00   Yogurt

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Working the Plan

I've been working towards my goal hard core since October.  Sometimes harder than others.  And sometimes, I am working the eating part harder than the exercise part and then vise versa.

This morning I decided that I have been working the exercise part harder than the eating.  I haven't been eating horrible...I mean, I've still been losing.  Last week I lost 3 pounds.  So, I'm still burning more calories than what I'm taking in.  But I can say that I think my weight loss would be more substantial if I evened out my focus.  Gave a little more love to the WW plan (which I really do LOVE) and see what happens.  But at the same time, I want to continue my workouts at the same intensity as planned.

I've said before that for me to be successful, I have to plan.  And I still stand by that.  I would say that I have been laxed in my planning.  Last night for the first time in maybe a month I actually entered in advance all my exercise and food for the week in my WW tracker.  I haven't quit tracking, but I was doing it as I ate.  I am better if I put it in in advance.

But my weakest moments are in the evening.  I am fine during the work day.  I take my breakfast. lunch, and snacks to work and that's what I eat.  Even when other people bring snacks for everyone else.  I am not tempted.  Okay, maybe tempted, but I don't give into it. 

I think the key to why I'm successful during the work day is that I'm pretty much scheduled as to when I can eat.  I haven't been given that schedule, but I basically eat every 2 hours or so.  Now that my schedule has changed I eat breakfast and lunch a little later.  More like 2 1/2 to 3 hours apart. 

I've decided to implement that same strategy while I'm at home.  Today I wrote out a schedule for the rest of the week.  Taking into account what time my workouts are planned, I scheduled what time I would eat snacks and dinner. 

I got off work today at 3:30.  I ate my scheduled banana at 4:00.  Dinner at 5:00 (a little early after a snack, but had to give it enough time to digest before TURBO), and I will have a serving of yogurt at 9:00 when I get home. 

So far, with knowing what time I am scheduled to eat, I haven't thought about food outside of those times.  Now, I realize this is only day one trying this out.  But, I know myself, and I'm pretty sure this is going to work. 

I'll keep you updated.   ;o)

P.S.  Turbo rocked tonight!  It was great!  I'm super excited to do this routine for the next couple of months!

Sunday, April 10, 2011

2nd Attempt

I learned last night that the slowest group for Building Steam will be a 13 minute mile.  I got to thinking that my 17 minute mile wasn't going to cut it.  And I also felt like I could do better than a 17 minute mile. 

I wondered if I tracked my mile in the neighborhood wrong.  I really didn't think so, but I was surprise by the 17 minute mile.

So I got up this morning and went to the gym to run on the track.  I also decided to skip to the 3rd week of Couch to 5K. 

My first mile was still 17 minutes.  So, I guess I did track the distance correctly in my neighborhood.

But, it still didn't feel right.  I guess I didn't feel like I had challenged myself enough if that's the fastest I could run it.

I decided to run another one, but this time I was going to do it with music that makes me bouncy at work.  With Couch to 5K I was running when it told me to and walking when it told me to.  I decided to run when I felt like I could run and walk only when i really needed to.

That got me a 14 minute mile.  Now that I'm happy with.

Just finished icing my knees.

Saturday, April 9, 2011

It's Been a Week!?!

Has it really been a whole week since I've blogged!?!  Well, I guess that means I should have been busy enough to have something to say.  ;o)

Okay...had planned on starting my 3 times a week running schedule this week, but weather didn't cooperate and as a new runner, I'm not at a point that I can just brave it.  So, ended up not running on Monday night. 

We had the most AWESOME Turbo Kick class on Tuesday night.  We came ready to PARTY  and we did!  It was super loud.  And that 32 finale kicked my a$$.  I not only hit the puke stage that night, I really had to concentrate on NOT puking.  It was touch and go for about 10 minutes.

Wednesday night was Orientation night for Building Steam.  Could be described as a pep rally for running and the event.  Over 700 people showed up to take part.  Several of the leaders spoke and talked about starting Building Steam and now they've ran multiple marathons.  Maybe that will be me one day!  There was an optional run afterwards on the trail on the riverfront, but after sitting on a gym floor for 45 minutes, my back wasn't having it!  So we ran a little bit, but walked most of it. 



After Building Steam on Wednesday, I learned that a family of a friend of mine had their home vandalized.  The vandals wrote horrible hate speech directed at my friend's two young (4 and 5) daughters who have down syndrome in red spray paint all over their home and car.  Not only did this happen to a friend, but it also happened in my home town.  So when I heard that people were getting together to hang blue ribbons in Central Park I had to go. No workout on Thursday, BUT, I also was not home to eat a lot.  But I really do plan on getting back to RIPPED this coming Thursday!  I miss it!



Another note about Thursday, I had hit the 30 pound mark when I weighed myself that morning. 

However, as far as my Weight Watchers tracker is concerned, I've only lost 28.8 pounds.  Because that's what the scale showed on Friday morning, my official weigh day.  I was disappointed about not being at 30 pounds lost; however, I had lost 3 pounds this week, so that is a success. 

Last night we went to dinner and a movie with Josh's family.  I had known all week that we were going to Texas Roadhouse.  All week I went back and forth on do I splurge or not?  I had even already put in my ribeye steak, baked potatoe, butter, sour cream, rolls, and ranch dressing in my Weight Watchers tracker. 

But I ended up only eating one dinner roll, with not nearly as much cinnamon butter as I usually use, and a salad.  I didn't pick the BEST salad on the menu health wise, but I'm okay with it because I picked a salad over a ribeye steak.  The salad did taste great though.  I felt good about my decision.  Can't say that I will always make that choice (can't even say I'll make it often), but I'm glad I made it last night.  And when I got off work I ate some popcorn (too much) so I decided to use some discipline and did not eat any at the movie.

Turbo was awesome this morning!  Got a sneak peak at the Turbo that we will be learning on Tuesday night...I think it looks like something I will like better then past Turbos.  No running from one side of the room to another and only 6 tuck jumps.  I'm not a fan of tuck jumps.



Then I came home and ran.  The other night when I got home from Building Steam I drove my running route in my neighborhood and determined where my start and finish would be if I wanted to time myself on a mile.  I did so today.  I'm not real excited about my time of 17 minutes for a mile, but I do have a few qualifiers of maybe why it was that high.

  • I had already done an hour of Turbo.
  • I still used week 1 of Couch to 5K (I'm not going to move up to the next week till I've actually ran it 3 times in a week - or Couch to 5K twice and then training for Building Steam).
  • There are 2 hills on my route  ;o)  I know I'm reaching......
But, I'm very excited about the potential progress.  I'm hoping that on Monday when my run is my only workout that I will already see my time drop. 

Any predictions on what my final time will be on the day of Steam Boat?

Saturday, April 2, 2011

Why?

So, while I'm icing my knees, I'll write todays blog.

I was having a conversation at the gym today after class that I thought would be a great blog topic.  Why did I fight this process so hard before?  Why didn't I start making this change sooner?

I was telling my friend Tracy about doing Building Steam and running in the Steamboat Classic.  She was giving me some tips about getting to my endorphins.  I wasn't sure what she meant.  She said that most runners (even experienced runners that have been doing it for years) will tell you that all of them have a point when running that they have to reach before they actually want to do it.  She said for her, she knows that the first 6 minutes are the hardest.  In those first 6 minutes, her body is telling her to stop, that it doesn't want to do this.  But then she hits the 6 minute mark and it is smooth sailing.  She almost cant stop.  She said I just need to find that point for myself that gets me to my endorphins.  To pay attention to when that happens and then going forward, make sure I run at least that long. 

I made the statement that I know about myself that I want to be a runner.  It will be the middle of the work day and I really have a strong desire to just go out and run.  I'll be sitting there and I'll say to myself, "I wish I could just leave and go run now."  A lot a times it's, "I wish I could just go Turbo right now."  But for someone who hasn't really started running yet, I feel like I have the urge to run a lot.  She said that shows my metabolism is up.  That my body is actually telling me that it has been idle for too long and that it needs some action. 

Nikki said how she can't miss a workout now.  Even a year ago she would think to herself, "Oh, it's just one class."  And now she wouldn't dream missing a workout unless it just couldn't be helped.

I am feeling the same way!  And so again, I ask myself, "Why didn't I do this thing that makes me so happy and that I have so much fun doing sooner?" 

I know the reasons I used before were because of money and even more because it was going to be hard.  I've found that it was hard money wise for me to think about doing it, but when I was able to and really got into it, I was spending so much less money on other things because this is what I do.  I rarely spend money on going out to eat anymore which I would say was the #1 thing I spent money on.  And the #1 thing of the #1 thing I spent money on - FAST FOOD!  I can't tell you the last time I had fast food.  I do know the last fast food I had was a chicken sandwich from Wendy's.  But, that was so long ago I don't even remember when.  I would say before now, that was where my money went.  THAT IS SAD!  Now, if I spend money, it is on the hobbies that I REALLY care about.  And I still don't do that often, because I'm too tired!  ;o)

And there are some very hard things about going through this process.  But, the friends that I'm making and the encouragement I get from them, my instructors, and my instructing friends is so incredible that I couldn't think of not doing this with them on a regular basis.  I have my hobbies that I would like to keep, but I now have just as much passion about the health of my body as I did about the health of my mind before.

What a wonderful feeling.