Day 35

Super late night so gonna make it quick...

This morning I did 20 minutes on the elliptical. I did an additional 30 minutes on the elliptical this evening.

One day at a time. One choice at a time.

I can do all things in Christ who gives me strength.

Day 28 (If I can do it, so can you!)

Today was another workday. I guess I mention this because I want to show people out there that it is possible to work full time, have a family and fit exercise in, even if it is just a short amount. I work 12 hour shifts, have a mentally taxing desk job and can do it. If I can do it, so can you!

My family is very supportive in that they (my 4 year old son and hubby) let me exercise when I get home from work. It's truly a blessing because I get to take care of myself, and get to show my son, by example, how important exercise should be, and how important it is to make time for, no matter what's going on in your life.

Today I wore a special pedometer that I bought in 2009 during my first challenge. It keeps track of steps, calories burned (don't know how accurate this part is though), miles, time and length of time that you are moving. Today I only did 4987 steps, and was in motion for a total of 49:54 (out of 12.5 hours, isn't that sad?). It said I burned 151 calories.

I got home and put in EA Sports Active. I like that I can speed through it. Today's workout only took me 11 minutes, and I burned 74 calories. It was a lot of jumping. Jumping that I couldn't do when I first got this game in 2009. It's amazing how much of a change I see in myself over the last 2 years. It's great.

I also discovered that a co-worker that did the HCG diet recently (with his wife) has a website that he sells it on now (the stuff my other friend from work gave to me, that I mentioned here previously)! More on this later... very exciting stuff though.

Off to bed. I'm off from work tomorrow so I plan to get this done earlier than later (lol we'll see).

I can do all things in Christ who gives me strength! (Phil 4:13)

Day 261 (day 2 / week 37)

I've been procrastinating all day. Not with exercise, but entering it on sparkpeople and here.

I finished exercising, got all showered up and ready for the day (to do nothing lol) all before 8am. I did my 2.08 mile route and jogged maybe 1/2 of that. I can feel that I am getting faster :). Including my cool down it took me 50 minutes total and I burned 621 calories.

Not bad.

Off to spend some more time w/ my family. Hope you all had a great day!

Have an awesome weekend. Make it count! The earlier the better... (for me anyway).

I can do this. I am a star.

PS Did I mention that I got my hair cut?

Day 254 (day 2 / week 37)

Today I guess is sort of a (non)rest day. I used cleaning again as a form of exercise. I zoomed around the house, speed cleaning, to make sure that my HR stayed elevated. I did this for 50 minutes, and burned around 300 calories.

Every Friday my bloggy friend Erin does a Friday Flashback photo thing with her bloggy friend, and I thought this week I would join in, because I found something appropriate.

I am almost ashamed to post this, but I am not, because this is not me anymore. I remember how it felt in this picture. I remember taking this picture and trying to stand up tall so I looked thinner (didn't help pssht lol).


This picture also cleared up a bit of confusion for me. I have been saying that I lost about 50 lbs since Jan 2007, but that's only because that's one of the last times I remember getting on the scale (had to--was at the dr's office after I had The Monkey Boy). In this picture, I am no smaller than I was in 2007. In fact, I think I look larger than I did after I had my son. I think this is pretty awesome because I can put an image/weight to a date that wasn't too long ago--September 28, 2008, the day my son got his first hair cut (they gave him a cute certificate and a snipit of hair). I guess it doesn't matter how long ago it was, but it makes me happy that that me is in the past. For good.

This next picture is the most comparable picture I have I think, to the pose, and of something somewhat recent (July 2009)



Anyway, that's my Friday Photo Flashback :).

Be back tomorrow, bright and early (I hope).

Make today count! It's not over yet. Start over now if you must! Why wait until tomorrow? Now is a perfect time!

I can do this. I am a star.

Day 220 (day 3 / week 32)

There many different ways to measure exercise. You can measure with distance, intensity, duration, RPE (ratings of perceived exertion) with caloric expenditure (and others). I have done all of these at some time in my life. Currently I am doing the later, because the others remind me that exercise is work (ironically--b/c the expenditure shows the work done! lol). My brain is strange, and I understand that, so it's all good. I know what works. I always have my RPEs in the back of my mind though, because I use those as a red flag for doing to much.

That being said, my weekly caloric expenditure goal is 5700 calories. As of yesterday I needed only 200 more calories for the week (starts over on Sunday) and I did more. Today was supposed to be kind of a non rest day because I only needed to burn 200 calories. I walked for 50 minutes (3 miles including my warm up and cool down) and burned 545. When you burn more calories than you are set up for (to eat) on sparkpeople, you get this "warning" at the bottom of your fitness page.

*You've gone over your weekly calories burned goal by a significant amount. Your calories eaten goal will not adjust automatically. If you have increased the amount of exercise you are doing, you should update your fitness settings here to make sure you are consuming enough calories to support the additional activity.

I find this "warning" very refreshing, because if someone didn't know they were doing to much for the amount of food that they are eating, how would they know if they didn't have any background on fitness/nutrition.

Another reason why I heart sparkpeople.

I am not going to adjust it just yet, because this is the last day in the week, and next week I don't know what's going to happen as I start working. If I do less than 5700, then I will adjust it, just as if I do more, I will do the same.

Boring blog post, I know. Just one of the many things that I think about with this 365 daily challenge!

Hope you all have a great day! I'm not really sure how I can fix my blog so that people can see the text. Some people can only see the banners, and not the meat of my blog at all. *shrug* not sure how to fix it and keep my pretty backgrounds. I am (on a side note) probably going to create another blog this weekend, so I can participate in all of the fun stuff you guys have on your blogs (friday flashback, 5 for 5 and such). I have been trying to make this an "exercise journal" only and not post other stuff, but some of it is just so much fun, and I want to do it too.

Make today count! :)

I can do this. I am a star.

Day 198 (day 2 / week 29)

Someone out there thinks I'm crazy lol (maybe more than one of you!). Yesterday I called it a (non)rest day, but burned over 700 calories. Let me explain--there is a method to my madness and I'm not really surprised that I haven't mentioned it before!

Since being on my journey and recently utilizing my HRM, my goals have been changing. a lot. I think it could have a lot to do with boredom and just keeping my mind distracted from 365 days of a daily goal. I can do more exercise than I ever have been able to in the last 4-5 years, and I am playing with what my limits are. I can burn A LOT of calories in a day if I wanted to. Before my legs got sore (recently--they are feeling much better today btw), I had found that burning around 900 calories a day, according to my HRM--disclaimer: I don't take these numbers to heart, but I use them as a measuring tool...know what I mean by that?--is the perfect compromise to myself and is VERY doable for me. That being said, I recently made 900 calories a day my goal, despite the minutes (have you noticed that I have been burning right around 900 calories lately?). According to my HRM I can get up to 1500 a day, but I think that might be too much.

Yesterday I burned 700+ so I didn't reach my "goal," so I called it a rest day :). See? Also, my other daily goal is a minimum 60 minutes a day (which I'm pretty sure I did mention here). Yesterday I only did 50 so that was my other factor. I don't think any of this is that interesting, except for to me (it's the science of me!), and probably makes me look a little more neurotic than I would like, so I just don't mention it. Loree called me on it though... lol. ;)

A long explination for a short thought in my head. lol.

Anyway...

Today...today is going to be VERY hot. They have called an excessive heat warning until Saturday night, so I am trying to get up earlier (how successful I am at this is a different story) to walk earlier, so I can avoid the 90F+ temps at 8am. Today I walked 2 miles but fought with my HRM for such a long time, and was annoyed when I got home, that I forgot to stop tracking. All good though, because it took about that long for me to cool down. I got this: 2 miles, 50 minutes 475 calories. I know this isn't right, because my HR went from 145 to 75 and jumped to 117 and stayed there for a good 10 minutes. SO ANNOYING! I need to find my 3 manuals on this HRM and find out what the dealio is, because this is frustrating. It's clean and doesn't need a battery change (I don't even know how I would do that!) and I don't think we are near any radio interference (the other thing that could cause it to trip out) so it shouldn't be acting up. I'm sure a few cars driving by thought they were going to get a peep show, because I kept checking to see if my HRM was making good skin contact (it is/was). I don't know what the deal is but it's frustrating.

After I got home I did Ab Jam, and did the same thing! I totally zoned and forgot to stop it when I was done and I got 25 mins, 167 calories. I give up and I'm done for the day.

My goal for tomorrow is 713 calories burned, to meet my weekly goal of 5400--6days/wk @900, giving me a few days to futz around so I don't get burned out.

Today's QFCs are triceps chair dips which are easily done at work (hint, hint) 100 total in sets of 20-25 and shadow boxing for 5 mins, 3-5 times a day. I am not going to do either today. I will probably do concentration curls (100 w/ 5lb weight) and something else although I don't know what that is yet. Maybe I will do a little "done girl dancing" with the Monkey Boy as well :).

Have a great weekend and see you tomorrow! Make it count!

PS. I haven't forgotten to tell you my exciting news, but I am going to make you wait another week (until next Thursday) since I ALSO have to wait another week for any news. Hopefully I will know for sure by then! God was definitely with me yesterday so I hope I will have good news and not bad. ;) Very exciting!!!!

I can do this. I am a star.

Day 197 (day 1 / week 29)

Today I got out of the house early because I have to be out of here by 9am. I walked 2.61 miles in about 50 mins and my HRM says I burned 715 calories.

I have a busy day today and some exciting news but I don't want to jinx myself first. I am going to wait to see if I hear anything, and when I do, I'll let you guys know my exciting news.

Can't tell you what it is yet, but please keep me in your thoughts and prayers, as this news will bless the socks off of my family, if it doesn't fall through, which it so often does (we really need this--need, not want).

I don't think I am going to do anything else today, exercise wise, so I guess I will call today a (non)rest day. I will get my quickfire challenges in --100 jumping jacks in sets of 20 or 25--but that's a piece of cake! I can do them all in 1 set if I wanted (The Biggest Loser workout has us do 60 right off the bat!).

Anyway gotta go get ready for the day.

Make today count! Do 25 jumping jacks and then do that 3 more times throughout the day! Or go for a 10-15 fast walk! You've got time for 10 minutes right? Do that a few times a day as well (this is the other QFC challenge ;)).

I can do this. I am a star.

Day 191 (day 2 / week 28)

Today I got up and did my usual thing. I decided to give my ankles a rest and made today a (non)rest day by not walking/skipping before my hubby left for work. I decided to do some videos instead. As I was headed into my exercise room, the Monkey Boy greeted me in his sleep "hi mama" voice. Awe shucks, maybe I will be walking today, but with The Boy, instead. I asked him if he wanted to go for a walk and got a "no."

Since he was up so early, I thought maybe he just needed to wake up a little more and ask again later. I had already decided on this walk (since the videos were out of the quesiton now) to pass some time by snuggling with him earlier, rather than later. It was nice.

After some wake-up time, I asked him again if he wanted to go for a walk and this time got a firm, "no." Oh well. (I asked him like 4 more times after that and he still said no lol).

I was disappointed with the time passed that I could have been doing something, but it's all good. I don't want him to ever think that I would rather exercise, than spend time with him. He asked for Spongebob, so I poped the DVD in, and eventually snuck into the exercise room.

Today was more of a low intensity workout, and it was only for 50 minutes (496 calories burned), instead of 60 minutes. I totally forgot about the Quickfire Challenges (QFC) until now, as I am typing this, so by the end of today, I will probably have gotten over 60 minutes in (I just checked and today's QFC are T Stands--50 in groups of 10).

Today I did The Firm's Body Sculpt with the Fanny Lifter. The lower body segment took FOREVER. I really don't like doing the step up things (there are a lot of these, that's probably why). I guess they are kind of like single leg squats in a way or like really tall lunges. Whatever they are, I don't like doing them. My ankles and knees bother me, despite my knee not going over my toe and focusing on my muscle--I think I might just be too heavy for them to be comfortable to me. After I lose some more weight, I'm sure it will feel better. For now I am just going to stick to Ab Sculpt and Cardio Sculpt, although they are in CS also--just not so many of them.

The upper arm section was a bit chintzy too...I don't feel like I got a good upper body workout, not like my legs and compared to the other videos that I have done (Slim in 6, 30 Day Shred, etc). I feel like it was a lot shorter also, because we spent a lot of time doing stretches and junk. Oh well. That's why I am calling this a (non) rest day.

I'm glad it's Friday, aren't you? I hope you all have a great one! Go do something fun! Skip around the house! So much fun... :).

Make it count!

I can do this. I am a star.