Routineis Interruptis

Disruptions in the routine. It’s what I fear and loathe when I’m in the diet-and-exercise mode. It’s what threw me off-track last time. I was doing well for two months, went on vacation for a week and BOOM! Even the weekends I’m finding are a little less productive this time around, though to my credit it was colder than the proverbial witch’s tit this weekend so going outside was pretty much out of the question. Well, if you’re a wimp like me it is.

This coming week I have two situations where I’ll need to keep my head about me a little and maybe even test my powers of will.

The first, not so bad – a pizza lunch at work. My office, like many, is a place where many naughty treats find their way in and brings everyone crawling out of their offices as if we were woodland animals coming out of hiding to forage for nuts. Or something. Why is food so exciting at work? We had a meeting Friday where the boss brought in fruit, cheese & crackers, a chocolate cake and doughnuts. I was good, but let me be honest here: I don’t really like heavy sweet things early in the morning, so they were easy to pass up. However, when the meeting broke around noon I had to ninja my way out of there quickly or I knew all bets were off.

The second, well; I know some things will happen that aren’t conducive to weightloss. I have a good friend coming to visit from Florida. She’ll be here Friday through Sunday. Here’s what we do whenever we’re together. Go to the movies. Go sight-seeing. Go out to eat. And where we go to eat always involves a diner chain, such as your Denny’s or your Village Inn, or some such approximation. And I always like to take people from out of town to the best Columbia has to offer in Southern cooking and if you know anything about Southern cooking you know that will mean fried things. In gravy. She leaves Sunday, the day of the Superbowl. And isn’t the Superbowl National Let’s Eat Nothing But Snacks All Day Day? Brian has already asked about my nacho dip is what I’m trying to say.

However, I have a gift certificate to a seafood restaurant I’m using when she’s here, so that’s one meal out that won’t be too bad. And she’s usually watching her weight as well, so she’s not going to be wanting to go too crazy either. It’s just that for me, celebration and vacations and friends coming to visit always equal food. And food SHOULD be part of celebrations and fun times, without sitting there, mentally couting calories or berating yourself.

I’ll be honest – I’m more worried about breaking my soda fast more than anything else. But no matter what happens, I’m not letting it derail me this time. Whatever damage is done, I’ll deal with it accordingly and move on.

Realization hits hard

I was so happy to lose another almost-pound when I stepped on the scale this morning.

Then I remembered. I got a haircut last night.

Shed drool

According to my grandmother, my mother once lamented to me when I was a little girl that I had too much going on. Dance lessons. Cheerleading lessons (short lived, that one). Brownies (also short lived). I was five years old and running around more than most adults already. She said, “Your schedule is way too busy!” To which I allegedly replied, “What’s a shed drool?”

You’re welcome for that little explanation of the title.

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Now that I’ve gone through the “break-in” period of rebandwagoning, it’s time to settle into a real routine. Which will be thus for the foreseeable future:

Cardio 5x/week – bike, elliptical, jump rope, Jillian (damn her), walk/jog, or sub one non-weight training day with yoga, plus daily walks at work (doesn’t count toward daily cardio)
Weight training 3x/week – upper and lower body, core, 3×10 minimum, free weights instead of universal machine whenever possible (work on my form, dammit!), balance ball incorporated where possible

Sundays – 45-60 minutes cardio
Mondays – 30 minutes cardio, 30 minutes weights
Tuesdays – break
Wednesdays – 30 minutes cardio, 30 minutes weights
Thursdays – 45-60 minutes cardio
Fridays – break
Saturdays – 30 minutes cardio, 30 minutes weights

I’m finding that the best way to work weights in is to do 15 minutes of cardio, do my weight sets, then finish off the remaining cardio. Helps to break things up, my muscles are warmed up by the time I start lifting, and my heart rate remains more elevated throughout.

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I went clothes shopping yesterday. My jeans size is a more comfortable 6 (as opposed to the UNcomfortable 6 it was not too long ago). Dressing room light would be unflattering to a size 2. Thank you, that is all. Carry on.

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Eating cleaner (more clean?). Today:
Breakfast – nonfat yogurt, toast, peanut butter
Lunch – sliced chicken breast on 1 slice double fiber bread (no condiments, and it wasn’t bad even lacking mayo or mustard), carrots/snap peas/grape tomatoes dipped in ranch (only had the full-fat version at home, OH WOE), chocolate Silk soy milk (which is teh NOMS).
Dinner – broiled pork loin, spinach w/light margarine

SparkPeople says:
1360 calories (goal is below 1400)
62 grams of fat (goal is below 56)
138 grams of carbs (goal is around 170)
68 grams of protein (goal is around 80)

My old friend OOF

As I briefly mentioned today over on my own space, I reintroduced myself to my old friend OOF yesterday by doing curls for the first time in ages.  Now I’m in pain every time I try to straighten my arms.  And I thought I was taking it easy.  Not easy enough, obviously!

I’m going to try y’all’s patience by listing my workout.  Not that I think any of you will want to duplicate it, or critique it, or anything like that…just that I feel like listing it will make me at least live up to it later, if not (hopefully) improve it.  So I hope you’ll indulge me from time to time in an exercise in self-accountability.

Yesterday’s “working up from wussitude (I hope)” workout:

Pull-ups (weight assisted): 1 warm-up, 2 sets x 10 reps of medium weight, 3 sets x 10 light-medium weight (read:  I had to wuss out)

Bent-over rows:  1 set x 8 reps medium weight, 2 sets x 10 light-medium weight (ditto)

Preacher curls w/ curl bar:  1 warm-up, 4 sets x 10 reps of medium weight (alternating inside/outside grip)

Hammer curls:  1 set x 10, light-medium weight, 2 sets x 10 light weight

Straight-leg lifts:  2 sets x 20

Cardio:  30 minutes of hill interval on the elliptical

Result:  Asleep by 9:40 pm, next day OOWWWWWWWch.  Yeah…

Salty

Question.

Apparently not only do I have a raging sweet tooth (I could blame it on past drug use and the after-effects of not taking them anymore but sadly the tooth has been with me all my life), but I also sometimes need salty and crunchy as if my life depended on it. I know everyone is different, but for me salt has an immediate and very bloaty effect.

TB mentioned that beef jerky helps him out in times of cravings. Do you guys have any other suggestions as to what I can shove down my gullet when the salty/crunchies come calling? So far I’m dealing with it with peanuts and Chex Mix, but already those things are getting old and anyway the Chex isn’t so great in the sodium department as it is.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated!

In the meantime, I’m managing to drink oceans of water every day – wheee! (And peeee!)

Hello (Hello, helloooo)

Knock, knock…hello? Is this thing on?

I just commented on TB’s post it seemed serendipitous the very day I slinked back over here to take a peek around, he had just posted. It made me so happy to see, because I do so enjoy this place where we can all come to bitch, cry, congratulate and support each other. It makes me feel less alone in my on-going quest for self-improvement. Helps to keep myself accountable. This is a happy place and I’m damn glad to be back.

I started off about a week ago, very tentative. No exercise yet, but cutting out certain things that seem to be my albatross: sweets and soda. What an unoriginal albatross that is, but there you have it. Along with that, I got serious about upping the water intake, which is a lot easier when you’re not drinking work-day Diet Cokes and Black Cherry Kool-aid with dinner. I still feel you will pry the coffee from my cold, dead (caffeinated) hand, but I’m back to measuring the crap I put in it and trying not to go overboard with it. A little over a week and I already feel a little less bloated. Water. Who knew. (Everybody, including me)

Then Sunday I woke up feeling good and made a quick decision: Today is the official Getting Off the Ass Day. I wasn’t quite ready for Jillian (I’m meeting back up with that bitch tonight and I’m predicting pain), but I went a whole hour on the stepper and it wasn’t until a few hours later when I was having trouble walking I realized I probably overdid it a little. A very hot shower with some waterboarding on the legs miraculously did the trick and I managed another hour plus a long walk around campus yesterday. Only two days of this so far and my mood is ridiculously improved.

Another thing that seems to be helping is having fresh fruit in the house. When the ice cream monster strikes during nighttime TV, it’s helped a lot to have apple, oranges and grapes. Take THAT, sweet tooth bastard!

I’m going to try to keep my goals a little more short-term for the moment because I don’t want to set myself to fail. I don’t see the past few months as total failure and I’m thrilled that I only put back on 4 of the 14 pounds I’d lost – starting from a slightly improved standpoint does wonders to encourage me. But for now, back here at the starting gate, I’m concentrating on the next month. By the end of February, I’d like to be down another 10 pounds. That’s a realistic goal and should I lose any more than that, hooray, bonus. But that’s the goal and what I’m working toward.

It feels right.

On the Wagon

Okay.  Tiff’s back on the wagon, Kim’s back on the wagon, Steve’s training for another marathon, and bless her flexible heart, Crisitunity is actually getting paid to pull the wagon for some others.  (Way to go, C-Tune!  Yes, I thought that nickname up yesterday and thought it would make you cringe.)

And so, finally ashamed of my own suckitude, I’m back on the wagon with one wussy workout yesterday and more on tap.

Even though I really enjoyed Crisitunity’s post about chucking the scale and I intend to stick with it and skip the weekly weigh-ins I was doing in the fall, I did do one weigh-in yesterday just as a benchmark.  And to see how badly I sucked over the long Thanksgiving-New Year break, pigging out without a single workout.  The result?  Not as bad as I feared, but still not good.  196, or 7 pounds heavier than my lightest weigh-in in the fall.  I can do better, and I will.

SO.  I’m going to gradually try to cut back on teh nomz, particularly the Dove chocolates I tend to keep stashed in my desk, and less gradually work my way UP in the gym.  And instead of doing all cardio like last time, this time I’m starting out directly with resistance training and cardio combined.

Yesterday’s workout:

Dumbbell bench press:  1 warm-up set, 5 sets of 10 reps, medium weight
Barbell incline bench press:  3 sets of 10, light-medium weight
*I was feeling fine in my chest/triceps, but had a little twinge in my shoulders, especially the right, so I played it very safe with the weight on this set.

At this point, I’d planned to switch over and do deadlifts, but both of the barbell power racks were occupado.  So I took that as a sign that I should go back to my old split workouts, at least for a while, so I went with chest/triceps and did a light version of my old tricep workout.

Lying arm extension w/curl bar
SUPERSET WITH
close-grip bench press:  1 warm-up set, 5 sets of  10, light weight

(For those who don’t read Ads & Muscle & Ads & Ads & Muscle & Ads & maybe a little Fitness Magazine, “Superset” means you move from one to the other without resting between.  In other words, I’d do a set of the arm extensions and then just bench press the bar for a set.)

I finished up with one set of 20 straight-leg raises in the Roman chair.

Then I went for 30 minutes of cardio – all of the ellipticals were taken (the place was still pretty busy, I’ll give these folks credit for not being two-week resolutionaries!) but I didn’t cave to the instinct to wuss out, and so I parked my butt on a recumbent bike for a half hour.

So far, 15 hours later, only minor soreness.  Maybe all those push-ups during the break really did help.  Plan:  Back/biceps workout on Wednesday.  Random workout on Thursday – perhaps all-cardio, perhaps deadlift/shoulders.  Optional workout on Friday (whichever one wasn’t done on Thurs).

Rinse, repeat for the next, oh, six to nine months before I decide to change up the routine.  THAT’S THE PLAN.  YOU HEAR ME, SELF?

*Minor note:   Radiohead does not make for great weightlifting music…but it does make for pretty good cardio music.  Gracias again, C-Tune.  😉

Starting Slow

My goodness, we’ve all been slacking slackers with all the slacking around here! I foresee a resurgence of posts with the new year, though. I plan on posting over here more, anyway.

So, at this very second in time I weigh 152 pounds. My goal is 130 pounds by the time I go on sabbatical, which is the first week in June. A not-unsurmountable task. I’m getting started slowly, reminding my body what it’s like to eat healthily and get exercise. Yesterday I took the dog for a walk for about 45 minutes. Today I did the elliptical for 20 minutes and did some light hand weights – curls, flys, presses, triceps. I had yogurt and granola for breakfast, a salad for lunch, and we’re having curry chicken and brown rice with veggies for dinner.

Rather than obsessing with the what and the when and the how much of it all, I have three simple goals for this, the first couple of weeks of re-bandwagoning. 1 – Exercise every day, even if it’s only for 20 minutes. 2 – Don’t eat bread (just bread – sandwich bread, rolls, and the like). 3 – Eat fruit and veggies every day. That’s it. That’s all I expect of myself for the next two weeks. Later on I’ll (maybe) count calories and pay more attention to carbs vs. protein vs. fat. Later on I’ll come up with a specific workout routine that focuses on specific areas and goals. Oh, starting up the vitamins again, too. Multi, fish oil, vitamin D, glucosamine, vitamin C, calcium.

Right now it’s all about reminding myself of how to take care of myself.