Week Six, days one, two, and three....

Another week started, and another week halfway finished already (and no updates, for shame!)...here's what's been happening:

Day one, Monday....today I had to work my Monday double at the restaurant, and it was actually quite busy for a Monday! Which meant I was there until almost ten...so it was a long day, but I made more money than I expected :) No workouts planned for today, but I did do well on the eating plan. I did the stir fry bar again (minus the tummy-upsetting tofu this time) and I loaded up on the green veggies and didn't eat much of the rice. Very good, filling, and pretty healthy!

Day two, Tuesday....today I had to work the lunch shift, and again it was pretty busy which was nice!! Although by today, my feet/legs/knees were feeling kind of worn down and I was just feeling generally exhausted. Monday night I fell into bed and had one of those black-out sleeps that is somehow not very refreshing. I think I am just really tired and my body is a little maxed-out from so much work Friday-Tuesday. I have to remember that for me, Tuesday is like normal people's Fridays, so I can't get too down on myself for feeling droopy. After work I went out and got new running shoes, an early Christmas present from my parents (thanks mom and dad!) I was LOOONG due for a new pair, especially with all the running and stuff I'm doing now. The pair I was using I bought before I went off to freshman year of college which was many moons ago!! Then, though I really just wanted to sit in a chair or crawl into bed, I forced myself to do my workouts...started with my pilates which is always a good warm-up/motivator for me to get my head into workout mode and wake up my body, then did my weights at home, and then ventured out in the snowstorm to the gym to do my running! Who ever said this girl isn't motivated is WRONG!! Ha ha. Anyway, by the time I got there and got on the treadmill, my knee which I injured last spring during a show (and which had been flaring up on and off since Sunday) really started bothering me. So I only did about 2 miles, about half of what I was supposed to do today. I was feeling pretty discouraged about this, but at least I went and got some exercise, on a day when I just felt like being lazy. I got home, iced my knee, and reclined in a chair for TWO hours and watched So You Think You Can Dance, and went to bed early :)
I know that all I can do right now is get as much rest as I can, when I can, and take care of my body however possible because I am kind of putting it through a lot right now with work and training. I just need to tell myself that my knee will be fine, and it will. Getting new work shoes, which is on my to-do list for the week, should help things.

Day three, Wednesday....today I had a training session, and when I woke up from a nice nine hour sleep my knee felt much better :) After shoveling the driveway (ick) I went off to see my trainer, and we had a great session! She told me I looked great and was making really great progress :) After that, I did a half hour of cardio....six minute intervals on high elevation, with two minute rest/walk inbetween. It really got my heart going! It was either that or the fact that 17 Again starring Zac Efron was the movie of the day in the Cardio Theatre ;)
By the way, I am starting to see results on the scale again...it is moving once more! Here's hoping those two pounds will be off at the end of the week.
I have been good at eating healthy, but slipping a little when it comes to making sure I am eating at two to three hour intervals. I need to incorporate more small snacks inbetween meals, so that is going to be my focus for the rest of the week. I have also been slacking a little on recording what I'm eating faithfully every day, so I need to get back on track there too. Things to work on....old habits die hard indeed.

So far this week:
Cardio: 2
Resistance: 2
Pilates/Yoga: 1

Week Five results!!

Well, I think I hit that plateau :( My body is quite comfortable at it's current weight of 140 apparently, and I didn't lose any pounds over week five. Which I guess is ok because I'm still on track, 140 was my goal for this weigh in. I started to tell this week though that I am getting stronger, and think maybe I am starting to build more muscle tone and since I have less fat to lose, things are kind of equaling out. Though I am still seeing and feeling results like my clothes being looser, my endurance and strength increasing, etc...maybe I won't necessarily see those results translated into rapid weight loss for the time being. I am going to talk to my trainer to see what else I can be doing to see those results. I have beenfaithful to the eating plan, doing all my workouts and doing harder workouts this past week, so we will see what she thinks. It might be time to change up my workout plan a little and start incorporating other things like spinning or something to kick my butt into gear again! I need to see some more loss in order to be down to 138 by next week and stay on track....I'm going to make it happen.

Week Five, days six and seven.....

Day six, Saturday.....Today I went to the gym to do my fourth cardio workout of the week, which was the last day in the running plan....and today it asked me to do a five minute walk, 20 MINUTES of running, five minute walk, ten minutes running, and cool down with a five minute walk. I wasn't sure about that 20 minutes straight, but I guess this program is working because I did it no problem! So that was like 2 miles straight there! For someone who is not a runnner, this is real great progress :). I also did some weights/resistance training before my run. So that brings my weekly tally up to my goal of 4 cardio workouts, 4 resistance workouts, and 3 sessions of yoga/pilates.

Day seven, Sunday....rest day! I am long due for a day off too...though I stuck to my diet plan today, it was nice to give my body a well needed break (well besides working 8 hours straight on Saturday and Sunday night ha ha) my knees were starting to hurt a little from all the running I think, so it's a good thing I hadn't planned to do anything today or tomorrow besides work my long hour days. That is quite enough, and I will be ready to hit it hard again Tuesday! I want to try to go to a yogalates class at my gym Tuesday morning before work.

Week Five, day four and five....who's getting toned?? I am!!

Day Four, Thursday....today I woke up and was feeling kinda sore from my hard training session yesterday. But I decided to work through the soreness and go to my trainer's Pilates class at the gym. It was really intense! Much more so than when I went two weeks ago. I think she's trying to break me, ha ha! But I need it. After class I ran three eight minute intervals on the treadmill with a two minute walk in-between, about a half hour all together. Then I went to teach my dance/theatre classes and by the end of the day was feeling pretty wiped out! I had been feeling unusually low-energy all day and I think I just need to sleep more and let my body recover from what I'm putting it through. Also I was feeling down because it had been five days since I'd had any word from Eben and that really started to wear on me! It's surprising how much his letters inspire me and comfort me. But, on my way to teach class this evening I checked the mail and had TWO letters waiting!! Apparently they just kind of stop mail service from Thanksgiving until the following Monday, which means he didn't get anything from me for those days either :( At least he knew why he wasn't getting any word though, whereas I was just sitting here starting to worry :( Welcome to military life.
Eating is going well...it's starting to become habit and routine so I'm not really having to think about it, which is nice. Now I want to get some healthy cookbooks so I can make some more exciting healthy food!! There's only so many more weeks I can eat a chicken breast with broccoli before I get real bored.

Day five, Friday....today I listened to my achy body and slept in!! I slept a total of ten hours last night, it was pretty awesome :) Then I did pilates and weights at home. It's cool...I'm starting to see the pilates become less "challenging" as all my muscles strengthen. It still feels like a great workout but I think as I build muscle the exercises become more quality as I refine my form and concentration/breathing. The combination of pilates/yoga for flexibility, stretch, and tone...weights to build muscle...and cardio to burn fat and increase my endurance--it is all coming together to make a big difference!

Here is the running tally for the week so far:
Cardio: 3
Weights: 3
Pilates/Yoga: 3

So far I'm right on track! I think I'm going to hit the gym tomorrow and do the running day six training and do some weight stuff on the machine. Then I will be right at my goal for amount of workouts in the week!

Week Five, days one, two and three!

Another three day recap....

Day one, Monday.....I worked a double at the restaurant and didn't plan on doing any exercise. I did plan out plenty of snacks and brought stuff to eat during my shifts though so that was good. I thought I was closing lunch which means I would have pretty much gone straight through, but I wasn't so I actually got a little break and went home between for an hour or so which was nice! One of the bartenders at my work knows a lot about nutrition, so for my free shift meal I asked his advice on what I should eat. We have a stir fry bar where you pick your own veggies kinda like a salad bar, and pick your sauce, etc. So I did that and he recommended I do chicken and tofu, with lots of green leafy veggies. I got the healthiest sauce we have (on the side, and I used it very sparingly) and substituted brown rice, though I didn't eat much at all of the rice since I find it fills me up real fast these days. So all in all a real healthy meal with lots of veggies, and the best part was it's free! :) I think the tofu was a little much for my digestive system though...the stuff we have is pretty dense and it was only steamed. So I might skip that if I do the stir fry again. After my night shift though I was feeling really hungry and had a cup of soup....broccoli cheddar...so rich....so good. So that was a little naughty. Oh well. I guess I will have to keep grading myself on the eating...today would get a B.

Tuesday, Day Two....today I did my pilates and weights at home, and then did my running at the gym. I am on to the next phase in my running plan, and the first day is ten minutes of running followed by three minutes of walking, and you do that three times. That kind of scared me at first, since as I said before I am NOT a runner at all and the thought of running for ten minutes straight kind of intimidated me. A year ago I would not have been able to do this. But the program must really be building my stamina, because though it was challenging I totally got through it! I also think I am growing out of my asthma or something because if I had tried to do that ten years ago I would have not been breathing any more. So that's pretty awesome :) I was really good with the eating plan as well, though I did eat some chips later on in the night but kept it really small. Oh and I had dessert after dinner (a chocolate chip muffin top) at Panera. But I didn't feel too bad about either and it didn't seem to matter much. I find that about an hour after dinner my body has burned it all up already and I get ravenous even though I just ate a substantial dinner. So if I eat a little something sweet then it seems to get burned up quickly. Anyway, that's a B+ for the day there :)
Here is the running weekly workout tally:
Cardio: 1
Weights: 1
Pilates/Yoga: 1


Day Three, Wednesday.....today I had an appointment with my trainer and she kicked my butt again! We did some pretty intense leg stuff. Which is the area I need the most toning in so that's good :) Then I did high intensity intervals on the treadmill with a pretty steep elevation for 20 minutes to finish up. I feel like I'm going to be real sore again tomorrow...and I'm planning on taking her pilates class in the am. Which I'm excited for, I just hope I'm not super sore and can do it! Unless I'm dying I'll go. Eating for the day is right on track! A!

So far this week:
Cardio: 2
Weights: 2
Pilates/Yoga: 1

Week four results!!

Drum roll please.....
So my goal for this Monday's Week Four weigh-in was 142.....and I stepped on the scale this morning and I'm 140!!!! Wowza, even with Thanksgiving in there I managed to lose 3.5 pounds last week!! I'm feeling pretty damn awesome about that. I think the nutrition plan is really helping...at first when I started I think I wasn't used to eating that much and I felt like I was eating a LOT...but it's totally the combination of eating the right things throughout the day depending on time of day/activity, and eating small amounts every 2-3 hours that really does the trick. At some point over the week it all seemed to kick in and start working for me...maybe my metabolism was jump-started back to life or something!! Anyway, I was really good this week on both accounts, and it shows.
This also means that after four weeks, I am down ten pounds! Which is halfway to my goal already!! I know the next ten are not going to come off as easy. My goal for this week then, since I have already met the end of week five weigh-in goal, is to maintain that loss and maybe lose an extra pound or so. I would LOVE to be at 138 by next week but I'm not sure how long I'll be in this phase before I plateau..I'm going to just keep working my butt off and being steadfast to my eating plan and hopefully that won't happen for another ten pounds :) If I keep going at the two pound a week rate over the rest of the 9 weeks, I will be at 126 which is actually I think my optimum weight. I would be delighted with 130 (my original goal) but thrilled with 126!! Or maybe I can get the rest of my goal weight off over the next four weeks and work the last four on maintenance and building muscle/stamina and toning up certain areas. I will just see as I go I suppose.
If I continue to lose at the rate I am (avg. 2.25 lbs. per week) I could theoretically be down to 123 even at the end of week 12. But I think that will probably average out to two lbs. per week as I get leaner and am building more muscle. We shall see!
It is kind of funny how much this little project is providing a lot of focus for me in this 13 week period without Eben. It is really teaching me the value of taking things one day at a time...because if I set out at the beginning thinking that I can never eat carbs or sweets again, or that I have to lose twenty pounds, and have to go to the gym EVERY day, it would get really discouraging. Just like the best way to cope with not having him here is to just take it one day at a time, and do the best I can with each day in front of me. It has also been wonderful to devote this time to myself, because I really needed that I think. Not only am I getting in better shape physically and starting good habits (and weeding out the bad ones) for my future, but I'm thinking a lot about what I can do today to improve myself in lots of different areas, for example, looking hard at how I spend my money and figuring out little, everyday ways to alter my spending habits to save for our future. Making little changes each day, in lots of different areas, that add up to something much bigger. Just like those measly two pounds a week will add up to 24 pounds before I know it!

I think from here on out I am going to abandon the grading thing and just keep a running tally of my workouts in three categories for the week; cardio, weights, and yoga/pilates. My goal is to do 3 each of weights and yoga/pilates and 4 cardio. If I start to stray with the eating thing I will just 'fess up here and that will be punishment enough :) Though maybe I will keep grading my eating. Total transparency is my thing here....and so far I have been real honest and that holds me more accountable! For old times' sake though, here were my GPA's for the week!

Exercise: A-
Nutrition: A-
(funny how the best ever averages correlate with this week's loss though, huh?)

Oh, and if you are reading this (I only have three followers, sad, but lots of people have mentioned to me in person that they have been reading it) please leave a comment! The whole idea is that you can cheer me on and motivate me here :) Just click on the blog title and it will take you to a separate page where you can comment. Or just say hi so I know you're out there! And thanks to Joey, Krista, and Jennifer for following :) If you want you can all do that too!

Week Four, day six and seven.....dancing is the best workout ever :)

Day Six, Saturday....today I went to the gym to do weights and cardio....For weights I did a combination of the machine stuff I did with my trainer on Wednesday, and some other body resistance stuff we had done in our sessions (squats, abs, pushups, etc.) Then I ran for a half-hour on the treadmill doing the 1 minute intervals with 30 second rest. Next week is actually the beginning of the next "phase" in my running program so that is going to change up a little which will be good...I like variety and it's better for keeping in shape to change it up on your body as well. I am sticking generally to the running program, but also doing some other cardio stuff here and there as well like the stair mill and elliptical, or doing intervals on the treadmill with high elevation.

I like going to the gym and seeing really amazingly fit and buff women there...it's inspiring to me that I could be like that someday if I keep fitness and wellness a #1 priority in my life like I have been the past four weeks. It's also cool too to see the people who are not in such good shape, because they are there sweating it out too and god knows we all have to start somewhere! I think taking those first steps when you are already in not-so-good shape are the hardest, mentally and physically. Once you've started it gets easy and enjoyable, and once you're "there", maintaining it just becomes a part of your daily routine and lifestyle. But at first it can be really daunting. I know, because I was there once. I think the first time I went to a gym was in college, when I realized that my fast teenager metabolism had ground to a halt and I got lazy with what I was eating (a lot of junk, ick) what with being busy with school and work and non-stop choreography/performing projects, and before I knew what had happened I had gained a bunch of weight. I was starting to feel really gross about myself and knew I had to do something about it, so I cut out the crap and started doing pilates and yoga and doing the elliptical a couple of times a week. I lost about ten pounds over that summer and have stayed at that weight more or less ever since.

The measures I am taking now and the level of commitment I am at with this now are much higher, but they have to be because my goals now are much higher too. But so far I am right on track and I am so glad that I took this step...it is even making me consider (something that was actually in the back of my mind before for some reason) getting certified to be a personal trainer. Having an active, varied, flexible-hours and interpersonal job where I could help and teach people was always my ideal....I just never thought of it being this! But the more I think about it, the more it fits really well. I could see myself, before, teaching pilates or yoga, because that fits in with what I have been doing teaching dance and stuff....but I never thought of myself as "fit" enough to be someone's trainer! But now I see that I for sure can be that!! I just have to work hard and have faith that I can do anything I set my mind to!

So to recap, I give myself an A in both areas again :) I also got a little extra workout Saturday evening as it was my good friend Dustin's birthday and there was a gathering at one of our favorite dance spots. I was totally tee-totaling (ha ha say that three times fast!) and that felt good (especially since it was gonna be a late night and I had to get up early for church the next morning, which is hard enough as it is) and we danced our butts off! I haven't had such a joyous, fun, raucous time like that in a long while. It was great :)

Also, I got TWO letters on Friday and one Saturday!! Now that the letters are going back and forth regularly and there is only about a four day turnaround both ways, this is getting easier :) He is doing well but had to go to the doctor because he is having some IT band problems. But thankfully it is nothing that will set him back, he just has to use a brace for now and had to have a "light duty" day to recoup. After this coming week he will be done with Phase I already and on to Phase II which is a lot more hands-on stuff (hiking, survival/camping, rifle qualifications, etc.) So hopefully it will get more exciting for him and the time will continue to go by faster for both of us!

Day Seven, Sunday (rest day). Since it is my day to cheat (just a little) I had a small plate of Thanksgiving leftovers for lunch! YUMMY. Then it's off to work for me...results tomorrow!!