posseof1's Journal

Exercise plan derailed

Jul 15 2009 12:14

Okay, here's the sitch. You may have noticed that I haven't posted in like a week. Okay. The end of last week I wasn't feeling well, so I decided to take a couple days off. This week I have a concert (Tomorrow night) and rehearsal every night. The University that is hosting the choir that I'm in is almost 2 hours away, so I'm out of town from 5:30 to almost 12 Mon, Tues and Wed, and from 4 to about 10 tomorrow. I suppose I could work out in the morning, but I just can't seem to drag myself out of bed. Maybe I'll go for a run tomorrow afternoon before I leave (I requested off work at noon.)

The plan is for me to pick up where I left off (Day 4) on Friday, and to continue from there.

Possible obstacles: We leave next Tuesday afternoon for our friends' wedding. I could continue the exercise plan while we're there, but I will probably restrict it to running since we'll be in a hotel and will not have access to any weight equipment. On Friday, we'll have a long day of driving. The BF and I are driving back home, dropping off the rest of our friends, then continuing out to the cabin for his granddad's birthday party. I am NOT going to hold myself to any sort of diet or exercise plan while we're there (Friday night to Monday night) but I will watch portion sizes and will be very active while I'm there: swimming, hiking, and maybe water-skiing (though I still don't have contacts, so I can't really see what I'm doing.)

I haven't exercised in almost a week, and I'm definitely feeling it. I feel tired, sluggish, and I really just want to move, but I don't have a chance till tomorrow afternoon.

"People often say that motivation doesn't last. Well, neither does bathing - that's why we recommend it daily." Zig Ziglar

Day 3 summary

Jul 08 2009 22:53

Cardio focus: Endurance

Ran 2 miles. The plan said to find a pace that I could continue for 35 minutes. I don't have a watch, so I picked a distance I thought it would take me about 35 minutes to run. The trail I run on has several different bridges that cross the river, so you can pick a different one to change the distance you run. I knew that crossing the first bridge gave me a run that was about a mile and a third, which I can finish in about 20 minutes at a fast jog, and I knew that the second set of bridges gives a run thats EXACTLY 2 miles, so I figured if I slowed down a little bit I could finish that in about half an hour. I was right. I got back to my apartment 33 minutes after I left it, counting the five-minute cool-down I did. Not bad.

Strength/Flexibility: Stretch

I did the same flexibility workout I did Saturday (see Day 1).

Nutrition: Calculate your Calories

I was supposed to figure out how many calories I used up today doing everything that I do. I figure that the baseline calculator on my homepage is pretty accurate, so I just added my workout to it for a total of about 2100 calories burned.

I ran 2 miles!

Jul 08 2009 00:16

That's pretty much it. I ran 2 miles tonight for the first time in 3 years, and I did it in 30 minutes, without having to break to walk. I'm so excited!

I promised myself that I'd go to bed at a reasonable hour tonight, so expect a full summary of day 3 tomorrow.

2 miles! go me!

Day 2 follow-up

Jul 06 2009 11:27

I didn't realize it at the time, but the lower-body part of that workout was WORK. My legs are really sore today. My upper-body, not so much. I could have used heavier weight. I think that a gym membership would be a good investment so I can get a good upper-body workout.

See you tomorrow!

Day 2 summary

Jul 05 2009 23:03

Cardio: Active Rest

By this, they mean move around as often as you have the opportunity, but don't go out of your way to exercise. Today, I cantored Mass, so I was standing, sitting, kneeling, and singing for an hour. I came home, took a nap (I love naps!), and did a workout (more later), then several friends and I walked the half-mile or so over to the Thai restaurant and back.

Strength/Flexibility: Intermediate Total Body Workout

The original plan calls for the Beginner workout, but since I do a fair amount of lifting at work, I thought that I would be able to pull off the intermediate, and I might get more out of it. Since I don't have a gym membership, I had to improvise some weights. I chose two quart-size bottles of lemonade for hand weights, and a large jug of vinegar for the dead lift weight. I broke a pretty good sweat in my living room, even though the air conditioner was going. I think the Strength aspect of this plan is going to be hardest for me to do, since I don't really LIKE lifting weights. When I have to pick a workout for myself, I'll either go to the gym and hop on an elliptical machine or a treadmill for half an hour or so, or run outside for 20-30 minutes, followed by stretching. I know that strength is important, though, and this plan gives me preset workouts to do, so I think I'll hopefully stick with it.

Nutrition: Calculate your BMR

I found this nifty website the other day, where you can calculate your BMR as accurately as possible based on the measurements that you give it. It will factor in EVERYTHING (or so it seems) to give you the most accurate reading. It provides lots of other cool bits of information, too, but I haven't had a chance to read it all yet. Go explore for yourself!

This is a link to my calculator, if anyone is interested. As directed, I found that my BMR is 1396.

In related news, I have a friend who just graduated with a degree in exercise science and is about to go to grad school for physical therapy, and who has agreed to test my fitness stats for me, or at least as many as we have access to equipment for. This will require me to purchase a gym membership for the summer ($30 isn't really that much, but I was trying to see if I could go without till August). I think I'm going to suck it up, buy the membership, and have her test me. I also hope that she can get access to the Ex Sci department equipment so we can test my max output blood pressure and my vO2 max.

I'll be taking off tomorrow (and next Monday) because I have a time conflict on those days. If I had planned this better, I would have started the program on a Tuesday and not had a gap in the middle of the week. I think in 3 weeks, when this conflict is over, I'll eliminate the gap and have my rest day on Friday, but till then, I'll post again on Tuesday!

A Plan: Day One summary

Jul 05 2009 15:41

I have been in a planning mood the last couple days. Someone mentioned to me once that that might be related to hormone levels, as many people she knows get urges to clean and organized right before their time-of-month. Anyway, no matter why, I have decided that a plan is in my best interest for not only losing weight, but beginning to change the shape of my body. I was looking up numbers on-line yesterday, and was upset to find that all of my body numbers place me overweight or above, and that several classify me as "Obese." What a shock! So I need to lose, not just weight, but body fat as well.

The aforementioned plan is the 12 week exercise plan offered by Calorie Count. It's pretty cool, every day they prescribe a cardio component, a strength/flexibility component, and a nutrition component. This plan recommended that I take base measurements before starting the program, so I could know how my fitness and health are improving as I continue. Here are my measurements, taken yesterday afternoon.

Height: 5'5"

Weight: 172.6 lbs

Body Fat %: 36.5 (I am always shocked by this number. I have a digital scale that automatically calculates this, so I have to look at that ugly number every time I weigh in.)

Resting Heart Rate: 89 bpm (Maybe a little high, since I took it in the afternoon, though I had just been sitting most of the day.)

Hip: 46"

Thigh: 27.75"

Waist: 31.75"

Bust: 39"

I wish I had a functioning digital camera so that I could also take pictures of myself every four weeks to share with you guys. Maybe I'll have to borrow one from my friend, because that seems like it could also be a very good motivator.

This is a summary of the plan for yesterday, and my experiences with it.

Cardio: Interval training

The plan recommended an interval training of about 20 minutes for a beginner. I have re-taken up running recently, so I did this outside on the "short loop" by our house (there is an urban trail that runs along the river on both sides and down through the park over several different bridges, one can alter the distance of the run by running over different bridges.) The "short loop" is about 1 1/3 mile, and my first running goal, which I hit a couple weeks ago, was to be able to run the loop without needing to walk. At my normal jogging pace, I can run this in a little over 20 minutes, so I figured this would be a good track to run on for this challenge. It's also a little hilly in places, which provides some fun variation to interval training, requiring that I push myself harder to stay at my flat-ground pace. To make the run a bit longer, (and to avoid the fireworks-watchers who were already camped out on the field) I ran up the hill past the art building, around the corner of the building, and down to the street before stopping, rather than stopping at the top of the hill and walking across the field as usual.

This was a rather long explanation to say that I did it, I did it pretty well, and I enjoyed myself. Although, I borrowed my boyfriend's running socks because all mine were in the wash, and I have to say it was AWFUL. He has heavily padded, ankle-length running socks. The length wasn't SO bad, though I prefer my crew-length ones, but they were so heavy that my feet felt heavier, and they made my feet SO HOT! The whole run was uncomfortable. I'll stick to my socks with breathable waffle-weave on top, light padding on the bottom, and a light compression band around the arch, Thank you very much.

Strength/Flexibility: Lower body flexibility workout

This was a pretty easy and enjoyable stretch workout that I did shortly after the run. Since it was the first time, I followed the instructions to the letter, but when I do it again I'll alter the stretches a little to get more out of it. For example, the last two stretches on the program. The last stretch is a lying quad stretch, which I did exactly as prescribed and it didn't feel like my quads got stretched at all. The next-to-last stretch was a lying spine twist, and I just thought that their instructions were a little awkward. I'll do it the way I learned it next time, as well as possibly adding another lower-back stretch since my old back injury has been acting up a little bit lately.

Nutrition: Keeping a food diary

This was pretty easy, since I found the program through Calorie Count, which is an on-line resource for counting calories. Sarcasm aside, though, I've found in the last few months that I log on here and keep track of all my consumption and my weight starts to go down. After 2 or 3 pounds, I get all "Well, I don't need this anymore" or maybe I just get lazy, but in either case I will begin tracking my food less and less diligently until I'm not tracking it at all. Then one day I hop on the scale and I'm 5 pounds heavier and I start the cycle over. So the point of this day was less to START a food diary, and more to commit myself to keeping with it until the end of these 12 weeks, for better or for worse (probably for better).

That was day one of my plan for a healthier, lighter, fitter body. I will try to post a summary of every day, with updates of my stats every four weeks. Hopefully later articles will be more succinct. :D

Okay, here goes nothin.

Jul 03 2009 23:40

So I've been reading everywhere lately about the benefits (weight-related, mental, spiritual, etc.) of reducing the amount of "stuff" and clutter one has. To this end, I decided to start de-cluttering my (very small) apartment, starting with the bedroom. I have a LOT of clothes, including a lot that I never wear because it doesn't fit, some that just doesn't fit RIGHT (too short, odd shape, etc.) and some, including t-shirts and sweat-shirts, that I need to start phasing out of my wardrobe as I gain more clothes that I can wear for my student-teaching (and, hopefully, my eventual teaching career).

So now that I explained that, here's the plan. I went through all my drawers and closets and made three piles: things that I actually wear and that fit (a lot of these were in the laundry... I haven't washed in a while), a pile of things to take to Salvation Army, and a pile of clothes that either don't fit anymore but that I would like to fit again someday or that I don't wear but can't bear to part with for sentimental reasons. These clothes I folded carefully, put in a box, and sealed it with a label that says "Open at 165 lbs." (I'm currently 174 and trying to lose.) When I hit 165, I will open the box, try all the clothes on, take out what now fits, and reseal the rest with a note to open at 160. Diet, exercise, and repeat every 5 lbs until I hit my goal (130 and that hot-pink bikini I have from when I used to weigh 130). If I can stay on track, I should be hitting that goal about time for next year's bikini season.

So what do you think? Does this sound like a good motivation?

Blargh.

Jun 15 2009 14:43

Argh. My BF got his debit-card situation sorted out, and was so happy that he offered to buy me lunch. Did I say "Subway" where I could get a (relatively) healthy sub loaded with veggies? No. Did I say "Sushi.com" where I could get healthy fish-and-rice deliciousness? No. What did I say? "Jack-in-the-Box." Blargh. And there was traffic on the way there and the line moved really slowly, so by the time we got our food and got back home I had to scarf half a large order of fries and my Spicy Chicken sandwich to get back to work in some semblance of timeliness. So now I have a stomachache, and I've eaten 300 calories more than my goal, and I still have dinner left. Argh.

Noticing Improvements!

Jun 11 2009 13:12

I'm really excited! I'm starting to notice that my pants are fitting better. Only the pants that I bought 2 months ago, at my heaviest weight, but still! Next goal: get back into my Levi's (which I bought last fall, and they looked AMAZING) I can't believe I've gained so much weight so fast: at least fifteen lbs since last August, and at least ten in the year before that. I weighed 135 when I entered college, and was no more than 145 going into Junior year. I just finished my Senior year, and I was 176 the week I graduated. Oh, man. But I'm down 5 lbs since then, and so far I've been doing good.

Back on the train.

Mar 30 2009 14:59

I stopped tracking my food consumption about 2 weeks ago, at the same time as my fast food consumption spiked. Yeah, my weight reflected that, I'm almost back to where I was when I started (I'm at 169.6 this morning, I started at 170!) My goal is to start tracking my food again, and to get back down to 167 by the end of this week.

The plan:

Whole-grain cereal (oatmeal, bulgur, or raisin bran) with milk for breakfast

Sandwich for lunch

one serving size of entree for dinner- Veggies if I'm still hungry

2 full bottles of water per day

To the gym twice this week.

Go, me!