It's Not an Option

I'm so glad that people are excited about the giveaway! I can totally see these becoming a regular feature, its so much fun....any requests??

Yesterday was my second run through my strength routine at the gym. It pushes me! I'll be honest, I was doing leg curls and the last three reps of my 2nd set, my quads were burning, almost to the point where my eyes were tearing up. But two things came to mind- one, something I read on someone's blog about not shying away from pain. Why is it that we think we can be fit and healthy without sweat or pain? Now unhealthy pain isn't good, but the burn of a good muscle workout is exactly what's supposed to happen. I was doing plank exercises with the trainer during my program setup and was supposed to hold for 20 seconds, and I stopped at 18, saying I give up. He asked me why? I don't remember what I said, but I remember thinking because it hurt dumbass, why would I keep going when my arms are on fire and my whole body shakes because my abdominals are as strong as noodles????? I give up alot on workouts, always looking for the easy way out. But yesterday, I was reminding myself that relaxing and maybe not doing the full extension to minimize the burn, is not going to help me accomplish what I want it to! I'm working on pictures, and I have the perfect skinny picture- I'll post it soon and I think I'm going to stick a copy on my treadmill. I know what I want to accomplish, I know exactly what I want to look like and it will not happen by taking the easy way out.

The second things is something I read in a book, Secrets of a Former Fat Girl. I'm about halfway through it, and if it continues to be as good as as the first half has been, it may just be the next giveaway. She had a mantra of sorts called 'Its Not an Option' when it comes to breaking the rules. I decided to pick two reasonable rules. (No trying to hold yourself to 8 Jillian-style workouts a week or something that you know isn't going to happen!) I would so much rather be perfect on my calorie counting than exercise, so I made exercise my INO items- my 3x/week strength training rule, and my 3x/week 30-minute cardio rule. Case in point: I wanted to skip yesterday, because it was my day off and I had alot of stuff going on. But I laced up my trainers and told myself that not working out is not an option. I didn't even let myself entertain the idea of not going, I made it work in between everything else I had going on yesterday. And I went. I know it will be another battle tomorrow, but not going is not an option.

So that's my tale for today! I hope you all are having a great Tuesday, here's to a week of good choices and lots of water! :-)

Goals

I'm really proud of myself today. I went to the gym after work tonight, and did my first strength training workout. I was alternately shocked at how hard it was to do 17.5lbs with one muscle group and yet how easy it was to do 50 with another muscle group. I will admit that I had trouble with the squats- I did take it down to 40lbs, and didn't quite get through the second set. But I will be doing it all within a week, I swear. Tomorrow is a non-strength day, but I've got my gym bag packed and ready to go so that I can use the elliptical at the gym tomorrow after work.

My weight has stayed pretty steady in the past week, so after a chat with Judy (she's married to a dietician, so she's practically an expert) decided to up my calorie intake from 1300 a day to 1500. I was losing with 1300 at the beginning, but with the steady increase in exercise, the weight hasn't moved. So I started that today with the extra 200 to see if that can give my metabolism a kick in the pants. And let me tell you- after a month of 1300, 1500 feels like absolute gluttony!

I was looking back at my life so far in 2009. Its become a very quiet, but very rich life. I've declined alot of invitations for fun things that I would have absolutely done before. And I'm so glad. I've committed to creating this new lifestyle for myself, and I'm doing it. I'm not allowing other things that aren't as important to distract me. I've made the choice to have five non-scale goals be my priority for 2009, and I have the greatest feeling of freedom by not taking on extra obligations. I like this life. I feel good, I know I'm going to feel even better, and I love it.

Biggest Loser on Tuesday was good, it was great to see all the other contestants back on the ranch. Joelle is gone, I'm so ready to be done with the drama and get back to the weight-loss. And oh yeah, I seriously got chills when Shanon hauled Sione across the gym. Damn girl!

I'm totally excited about the giveaways that I posted about earlier. So much in fact, that I think I might be doing my own. Stay tuned!

Big Boobs

My dear co-worker Judy saw my goodbye pictures and progress pictures, and told me today that she could tell my stomach was getting smaller because my boobs look bigger! Gave me a big smile for the rest of the day, thank you Judy! :-)

I finished my strength training orientation with Joe today, and I'm psyched. And sore! I did some unbelievable squats on this machine, and wow. These are serious squats, I swear my ass almost touched the ground! Ok it wasn't even close, but they were the deepest squats I've ever done and it was awesome!

A major plus about the gym- its partner downtown is the It Gym, and everyone works out there with the pool, cycle room, etc. I didn't realize how much less activity that the gym here has, but I love it. Its so much less intimidating that way, and there were some majorly fat people there.

Another thing, I suddenly couldn't care what people think of me. I'm in workout clothes that I know are not flattering, and there are some skinny people there who can out-whatever me, but I. Don't. Care. Totally un-self-conscious, and I'm there to get gorgeous and buff. Very cool revelation today.

So thats what I have- how have you been doing??

Recap

Today I met with the trainer at the gym (last week had to be postponed) and that was awesome! We only got halfway through my strength building program, he's very focused on form which is great. I'm going to have a 45-50 minute routine, working the major muscle groups and the core. I go in tomorrow for the second half of the workout, and then I'm going to start my routine on Wednesday! I'm also hoping to get downtown for a Ease Into Cycling class with my sister if at all possible.

I gave the trainer guy (Joe) an abridged version of my plans for the year, the eating better, losing weight, having a regular workout routine, etc. He warned me not to burnout, that its common to have that happen. On one hand, I totally didn't want to hear it. Me, burn out?? No freaking way, I am on a roll baby! On the other hand, I hope I'm not heading down that track. I decided to try the elliptical for 10 minutes (whoa is that different from the treadmill!) and it gave me some time to think. Am I on a burnout path? My conclusion after 10 minutes of contemplation was no. The changes I'm making are small in the whole scheme of my life. Fewer calories, more steps. That's pretty much it. I haven't made any changes that I don't think I could do forever, all of them are workable- making better food choices, and a committment to daily exercise 3 days a week. They're not huge changes, they just take committment. I almost got a little irritated while thinking about it, because I don't want there to be any doubt. No burnout for me, I can totally do this!

Food choices have been a little weird today. Breakfast was my usual SF shake, nothing new there. I had half a takeout container of Indian food, which made for an interesting lunch. I know there was rice, some peas, chicken, possibly some eggplant, and only God knows what else! I couldn't even begin to guess whats in it to get a calorie count, so I'm just going to hope the curry will kill all the calories anyway. Hah! Dinner was crockpot chicken and rice, and two tablespoons of lingonberry sauce for a sweet treat after dinner.

Hope everyone is having a great Monday- its that much closer to Friday! :-)

Gym Time!

I have it all set up, I'll be meeting Bridget at the gym at 4:00 to set up a strength training program. I'm aiming for 3 days a week, and doing cardio on my own. We'll see what she says. I'm excited!

I will admit that I was disappointed that the there was only one class after 3:30pm, and it was an intermediate yoga class. The other gym is downtown and quite busy (because its new and has a pool) but I might have to venture down there for classes. I was looking at the Ease into Cycling class, the Cardio Mix and the Strictly Strength. My goal is to have tried at least three different classes by Valentine's Day!