A New Favorite Cardio Machine

Hello all!  It has been a long day.  Work for some reason seemed to go on forever.  It just dragged on and on.  Traffic was awful on the way home, I think there was an accident on 405 south and so I was thankful for the exit for the gym.  For more then one reason.  First reason I was thankful was of course the traffic, AWFUL!  The second and really more important reason is I really wanted to go to the gym.  I was tired but I was so excited to kick my booty.  Test myself and see how far I can push myself. 

Well I found a new favorite machine for cardio.  The Arc Trainer.  I went so fast and hard on that machine that in half an hour I burned 517 calories, and traveled 1.65 miles.  I went so fast that the machine more then half the time kept telling me MAX SPEED and my heart rate got up as high as 170 BPM.  Beast mode was definitely enabled today.  No excuses, no "reasons".

I edited my workout play list and cut it down to 5 and put them on repeat.  They have a fast pace and a good beat and really get you in the I can't be stopped mood.  My list consists of "Bullet Proof" by La Roux, "Can't Be Tamed" by Miley Cyrus, "Roar" by Katy Perry, "Survivor" by Destiny's Child and lastly "You Gotta Want It" by Jordin Sparks.  Love it.  :)

I plugged in my ActiveLink and it only came in with 2 points burned off.  Which given my butt kicking was a little disappointing BUT it's ok.  It's definitely better then what I was doing and I'm sure it will help me weigh in less on Tuesday.  :)

Now it's time for bed, 6am comes way too quickly.  Good night all!

Meh...

Today I was a little naughty with my food, HOWEVER not too awful.  We had a potluck at work as a going away for my supervisor and there was meaty, spicy cheese, some pin wheels, some sandwiches, pumpkin cake, and of course chips and dip.  The key to today was that I had a little bit of everything, but a fairly small amount.  It did leave me full until the end of the day amazingly.

I did of course go to the gym.  I'm not going to lie, I almost didn't.  All these stupid excuses circled in my mind.  "My ankles hurt", "I'm so tired, I got awful sleep again last night", "I don't feel too good", "there are new shows premiering on TV today".  I shook off those stupid excuses and I went.  I decided; yeah my ankles hurt, but I can do a low impact workout and my tennis shoes will provide support.  Yeah, I am super tired tonight, but honestly, lately, when am I not tired?  I seem to always have a bad nights sleep, so I really can't use that as an excuse, if I did I would never workout.  Plus in theory the more I workout the more energy I will have.  Not feeling good isn't that critical either.  Usually I feel better after a workout and not doing a workout will make me feel worse due to the guilt.  And last but certainly not least, the TV shows.  That is such a lame excuse.  A couple hours of TV and relaxing on my butt doing nothing is not going to get me where I want to be and what I want to do.  Sitting around helped get me this fat, I can't allow TV to become a reason to be fat and not get what I want.

So I went to the gym, did the elliptical, did a more intense ab workout and only stopped when I thought I was going to throw up.  A good workout indeed.  Hooked up my ActiveLink to the computer to check my progress for the day, make sure I didn't need to run stairs and discovered I worked off 3 points today.  Yup, kicking butt, taking names.  Kinda proud of myself.  Feeling good, relatively.

Well it's bed time.  Time to rest up for tomorrow.  Good night all!  :)

Weigh In Time!

I forgot to post yesterday, however I did go to my Weight Watchers meeting and weighed in 4.8 lbs lighter!  My butt kicking clearly paid off!  :)  I was very excited about that.  Back on track and going strong.  

Today I'm off and hanging out with my friend who hurt her ankle.  But later on tonight I'm doing a self defense class.  What's really cool is it's free, AND a friend of mine is going to join me.  This ought to get my blood pumping I hope. I wasn't sure what the class would consist of but then I remembered the person that told me about it said I'd get to beat him up, so I think it will be a work out. Kinda excited about it. 

I also signed up for 3 martial arts classes to try that out. Always wanted to do martial arts.   I figured it will be helpful for the deputy sheriff position in a few months, hopefully in a few months.  :)

A Roller Coaster of a Day

Today was such a weird day!  I had my ups and I had my downs and I had my confusions. 

My day started out awesome!  On Wednesday I decided to measure my waist, hips, and bust, I think I posted a picture of that a couple days ago.  WELL today I re-measured myself and I was down one inch in the hips, one inch in the bust and one and a half inches in the waist!  In 3 days!  I was so ridiculous excited!  It made me believe that I can get down to a size medium in 3 months!

Then at work we were playing UNO between calls because it was pretty darn slow and a couple of friends took a picture of us playing and posted it on Facebook.  That was a bit of a wakeup call.  That was depressing.  That was frustrating.  (I'm the one in the blue print shirt, yeah no makeup today.)

 

The below picture shows how I drew myself in my Weight Watchers book exercise.  The drawing was to depict how I saw myself at the beginning of my journey.  I realize now, given the above pictures from today, how actually appropriate that picture is.  When I showed people that drawing they laughed and said "you don't look like that".  But I really do, it's not that far off.  It's a bad excuse but this is part of the reason why and how I got this way.  People always told me no, you aren't that big, you're not fat.  It really creates a false sense of comfort, it creates a false sense of comfort.  It creates denial.  Now don't get me wrong, I'm not saying people should go around telling people they are fat, but don't tell people who are size 18/20 plus, yeah you are the perfect size.  I am currently a size 18/20, I am nowhere near the perfect size.  I am not healthy.  I have sleep apnea, high blood pressure and am constantly tired.  This is where "you are not big or you are not fat" and self denial has gotten me.  Sad but true.

I went from climbing the roller coaster, feeling excitement, feeling happy and those butterflies in my stomach, to a plummeting feeling of dread as the roller coaster shot down.  I felt scared and doubtful and worried.  All my self insecurities climbing to the top. 

After work I went to the gym and due to short weekend hours I had less then an hour to get in, change, work out and get out.  I used my time fairly well I thought.  Did half an hour on the treadmill and sweated up a storm.  Figured out where I'm at with my distance per minute and where I need to go.  The first picture is where I'm at now for distance per minute.  The next picture shows what I need to pump it up to.  UFTA!!!

 

 

When I got home though and plugged in my ActiveLink (which decided to work), that was another up moment in this roller coaster day.  I earned 2 points today with my exercise.  My goal per day is 1 point per day, so not too shabby.

Reflecting on this day has been mind blowing and I am ready for bed.  Good night all.  Sleep well.  :)

A Quick Thought

As I lay in bed tonight my brain is racing. Nothing really special, nothing really too important but it's not wanting to turn off.  

There's a chill in the air again tonight and I brought out my comforter to add to my fluffy blanket.  I love the feeling of a chill in the air and snuggling up with a blanket.  

Tonight I got in a pretty good workout.  Not exactly everything I wanted todo, but the gym closes early Fridays so I only had about an hour by the time I got down there after work.  I did kick my booty though.  I was driving home and felt something wet on my neck, I quickly realized it was my sweat from the workout.  Lol.  :)

At work we had a pizza and cupcake party for our training graduates.  That was hard.  I definitely went over my point allowance, but because I have been working hard I am ok with it.  :)  I indulged a bit.  

Fantastic news!  My ActiveLink decided to start working!  So excited!  For those not familiar with the ActiveLink, it's a fancy shmancy pedometer essentially.  It counts a wider range of movements and turns it into points.  What I love is that went you set it down with a little force it lights up to show your progress for the day.  It goes by 25%, up to 150%, today I maxed it out and went beyond! Over 160%!  Woot!  Love it.  

I am really looking forward to weighing in on Tuesday, getting back to my group of Weight Watchers people.  :) 

Tomorrow, willing I get off work on time I will be going to the gym of course.  I think I'm a bit addicted to the feeling.  I'm ok with it.  There are far worse things to be addicted to!  :)

I had to share this last tid bit as well.  I was looking through my new crockpots manual/cookbook.  It is funny the assembly instructions they put in there.  I mean I didn't think the first one was necessary, let alone the second one.  Check out this picture....

Scary right?!  What makes me sad is that there is probably a reason why they would put that in the manual.  Oh well.

Well ladies and gents, it is time to try to go to sleep again. 

Good night all!  :)

Butt Kicked

I think my body is trying to tell me something, I think that something is REST!  Lol!  :)  Today I set my alarm for 6 to do the video and once again I don't even remember it going off!  After work however I kicked my booty!  

I had a cup of water, at least 16 oz if not more and I drank the whole thing while I worked out, normally, even on my harder days I drink maybe half.  On my way out I had to buy a bottle of water because I was still thirsty.  

Felt so good though.  Every time I work out I love that feeling of being worn out and feeling accomplished.  When I was in college I would go to the school gym between classes during my 2 hour break and I lost a bunch of weight.  Went from a 16/18 to a 12 petites.  Then somewhere along the line I stopped going.  It's amazing how quickly you forget not only the good but bad things, the pain or the feeling of success.  

I think it's somewhere along the line of what women go through after they have a baby.  Now given, I do not say this from personal experience as I do not have children, HOWEVER, it seems that for most women child birth is very painful, a lot of them to my understanding say they will never do it again, and then a year or so later, they are craving another baby.  They have forgotten the pain it seems.  Now again, not from personal experience so if I'm wrong I apologize!  :)  Anyway, my point is, the same thing happens with the good.  I feel awesome after a workout but if I skip a week because I'm sick or whatever the case may be, it is so hard to get back into that mind set.  I forget how good I feel after a hard workout and think about the short term good feeling of sitting my booty on the couch and resting.

This my friends I will not allow to happen this time around.  My work is doing flu shots and you better believe I already signed myself up. With the nasty stuff going around my office lately I can't wait for that day to come!  I hate being sick(duh, who enjoys it right?) but I can't afford to be sick if I want to be a size medium by mid December.  No rest for this girl.  :)

Like I said on Facebook earlier today, beast mode activated.  Pumped and ready to go.  :)  Alright all, have to get to bed.  Sleep well!   :)

Good Re-Start

Ok, in all fairness I didn't wake up in time to do the video this morning.  I don't even remember the alarm going off!  However, I went to work of course and after work I went to the gym.  Kicked my butt!  Felt so good.  It's amazing how a week can make such a difference.  I left off being able to do 20 minutes on an elliptical without any issues, today I was able to do 10 minutes.  By the end of the week I will be back up to 20 at the very least.  

I have to admit, I took my measurements today and compared them with what size I want to be by my dirty 30.   To say it was daunting is an understatement.  It made me doubt myself and my ability to lose the weight I want to by 12/14.  But I know I can't let it get to me.  This is why I kicked my butt at the gym.  I have to prove to myself that I can do it.  

Dinner was so yummy today. I had only 4 points left for the day, so I had 12 mini wontons that I got at Costco.  At about a point per 4, it allowed me to stay within my limit.  I added some cherry tomatoes for a little more filling.  So delicious.  I love finding quick to make meals that are healthy.

Sadly my ActiveLink decided to go kaput.  Not sure why.  Some things on it work but not all, the most important part, the part that counts movements doesn't.  Sad day for me.  I'm going to have to call them and see if it's an easy fix or if I need a new one.  Lets hope for an easy fix.   

Now it's off to bed I go so that hopefully I can wake up in time to do the video.  Lets home for a restFULL not restLESS night.  Good night all!  :)