Self Discipline Needed

Up until this weekend I have done really well - hitting the gym 5 days a week - not leaving until I burn 400 calories.

I am afraid this weekend that I completely undid all the work I have done. I was at a convention. There was so much food, and for some reason I kept cleaning my plate. I was exhausted and never went looking for the fitness room, even though I took my workout gear with me.

The weekend included a lot of networking, that I am really to shy to do properly. I had to speak in public on a panel with people I highly respect and are somewhat in awe of. All self control went out the window. I let the stress and uncomfortable feelings overwhelm me.

Now I am home. Feeling squishy and watching The Biggest Loser from a chair instead of a treadmill like I usually do.

Who knew that confidence had so much to do with taking that step to get healthy.

Chick needs to eat more Chicken

Two weeks since my last blog post. It just doesn't seem interesting for me to write about heading to gym and trying to watch what I eat.

The hardest part about watching food intake is that I do not eat all the time - I probably eat too little. From what I have read we need to eat low-cal things all day long...I prefer a high cal meal and a low cal meal.

I cannot live on skinless boneless chicken breast and salad! Who wants to live thin if it means eating dry tasteless food. If you have anyway to cook a chicken breast so that it does not taste like the same chicken breast you had the night before - I would love to hear the recipe.

Biggest Loser

Holy Cow! - All I can say is these people are incredibly courageous. For those women to stand there in bike shorts and sports bras to be weighed publicly...I can't even begin to imagine doing something like that. I wear a baggy t-shirt and worm up pants to the gym...as brave as I get is changing in the locker room.

I haven't been on the scale for a while - I will check it out in the morning...but the progress I have seen is in my heart rate - I no longer go crazy high. So big yeah! I am not only doing this to fit into smaller jeans. I am also doing it because my Dad died at 52 of a heart attack and my Mom is fighting developing full blow diabetes. I want to be around many years like my 90 year old Grandmother who likes to help the "old" people at the local retirement home.

oh yeah, I ate a cupcake today...it was coconut and awesome. it accompanied a roast beef sandwich for my lunch and a bowl of Special K for dinner...so I'm not complaining.

I like to Move it Move it

After 4 days away from the gym, I was back at it today. I felt quite smug when I walked in and saw the place filled with people trying to maintain their New Year's resolutions....knowing that mine was not such a trivial membership, after all I have ad mine 2 whole weeks longer than they have....now if they would just get off the damn machines so I can listen to my music.

I have put together playlists designed to keep me moving on the elliptical and treadmill. Probably pretty generic for a child of the 80's.

Part of my workout playlist is below:

Can't help but move to:

Bruce Springsteen - Pink Cadillac
Lynyrd Skynyrd - Sweet Home Alabama
Def Leppard - Pour Some Sugar on Me
The Knack - My Sharona

For obvious reasons:

Poison - Unskinny Bop
Queen - Fat Bottom Girls
ZZ Top - Legs


What's playing in your ears on the treadmill?

Lessons from the Gym

Today I went crazy.

I went to the gym TWICE! I had a lot of energy and did not want to fold laundry or vacuum.

A few things I have learned in the last week. Do not use the 'Fat Burn' setting on the treadmill. This setting automatically adjusts the pace and incline to keep your heart beat at about 55%....well apparently I would have to come to a complete stop to do this and tripping over your feet on a treadmill is not safe.

the second thing is that when you are doing the weight circuit, just because you are following a woman 15 years older and very tiny does not mean that you will not have to adjust the machine to a lower weight.

I believe I mentioned before that I believe I was born without stomach muscles and a metabolism...well we can add triceps to that list too.

I wonder if I will be able to get out of bed in the morning.

I think I may have obliques!

I have gone to the gym everyday (except Christmas) - have done 30 minutes of cardio and the machines that work my core - so 7 workouts later I think I am feeling a change is my obliques (the sides of your waist).

I haven't hurt or been sore, I can just sort of feel some things that I haven't felt for a while - I'm not sure how I feel about that whole hurting like hell the next day thing anyway. I do know that my eyes do not like sweat in them, but I like it! - means I am actually doing something. The scale hasn't moved - but I am so excited about how I feel that it really doesn't matter!

I have a speaking engagement the first weekend in February..the skirt to my suit is 3 inches smaller than my waist. I cannot afford a new suit..or a new skirt...can I do 3 inches in 5 weeks? Dear God I hope so...or else that nightmare about standing in front of everyone in you underwear...It'll will be coming true for me!

I managed to hit the gym twice in 2 days. *round of applause please* Probably the most miraculous thing about this is that yesterday I went right after work. Normally I need a 20 minute power nap to recover from the day. The gym was closing early for their Christmas party and I wanted to develope a habit of going so in I went.

Day one I did 15 minutes on the treadmill, 15 minutes on the elliptical, Abs and back, pretty good for day one. I like to mix up my cardio so I don't get board...so switching machines, watching TV, listening to my iPod, and playing with the buttons makes the time go by.

Day Two - Forgot my iPod at work, so I watched Bones and challenged my self during commercials. I did the whole 30 minutes on the elliptical...I wish I could start at minute 10...because those first ten make me crazy.

Then came the magic...after the work out there was grocery shopping (no sweets purchased thank you), laundry (folded & put away), vacuming, trash removal, very little TV and I actually slept when I went to bed!

Now I expected changes...but on day TWO...I feel so good about my energy level and improved mood that the waistline barely matters...barely

Oh yeah...that no judgement thing, all I can say is it is a good thing that Planet Fitness cannot read my mind...because there are evil thoughts running around in there.