Challenge End! Results!

click to enlarge

Starting weight: 212.0

Waist 41.5

Hips 53.25

Bust 45

Underbust 36.5

Thigh L 29 R 28

Bicep L16.5 R 16

Ending weight 204.4

3/17/12

Waist 40.5

Hips 51.5

Bust 43.5

Underbust 35.5

Thigh L28 R27

Bicep L16  R15.25

I missed more than five days, but I feel I made up those by adding in the kickboxing workouts.

Level 1 is decent, good for getting your feet wet again. I don't like Level 2, it kills me. I never mastered it, but I found myself hating it every time I did it. I love Level 3, it's fun. Sadly, it doesn't keep my heart rate up as much as Level 2 because of all the floor work.  I love most of the moves in it though, and I shall continue doing both the levels until I've mastered them.

I failed utterly at doing all the advanced moves days 6-10, but I was able to start to add in a few reps of advanced, or some moves I could do the advanced, but I couldn't do the whole workout advanced.

I would recommend this to anyone, eve those with knee problems like me. Anything I knew would aggravate my knees, I did something alternate. I marched, I squat-and-punched, etc.

So as you can see I got tiny results, and it makes me happy. 

Wednesday Weigh-in, Yadda

Today's Weight: 204.3
Difference: +0.8
Total Difference:  -6.9
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Eh, the weight gain was mostly my fault this week. Whole new week to try again :)

Ok, so Jillian's kickboxing? Frickin awesome. I did Workout 1 yesterday as a second workout, and when I was done I was so pumped! Workout 1 focuses on upper body, and my shoulders are sore today. I love a good workout sore. Also, for the first time, it is a true 20 minute video. Not that I mind her other dvds where you have 20ish minutes of workout and 7ish minutes of warm up and cool down. But in 20 minutes  I burned 200 calories, and that was with taking breathers because my heart rate was soaring and because I would need a moment to watch the combos. I am not sorry at all that I got this dvd. Today as a second workout I will do Workout 2, which focuses on lower body.  I hope tomorrow night I can squeeze in 3, which is abs. I work on Friday so I'm not sure if I'll get to workout then.
This Saturday is the new end date of my 30Day Shred challenge. I'm excited. Even though it has been kind of disastrous, and I'm now adding in extra workouts [but hey I started after my original end date], 
 at least I didn't give up on it completely. I will write more about it sometime this weekend. Saturday night I will be going to a concert so it looks like Sunday for picks and summary.

:D Happy Hump day everyone!

Wednesday Weigh-in, Getting back on track

Today's Weight: 203.5
Difference: -3.5
Total Difference:  -7.7
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There's still crud in my lungs, which means I need to take it easy while exercising. 
Yesterday I started my job that I will have for the next few months.  Last year I held this job for 2 weeks at the end of the season and I enjoyed it alot. However, reflecting back, I can tell I wasn't eating enough during my labor-intensive days. I think this contributed to my first tachycardia/arrhythmia event [and the exlax... let's not go there]. Which led me to making a semi-idiotic food choice for breakfast. I did not want any kind of repeat so I got  a chili burrito. It was sinfully delicious, but I knew I should've picked something else. I will look at the menu online to find something a little more healthy.
I'm also excited because yesterday my email notification came saying my Jillian Kickboxing DVD is on it's way. Since the MIL's first month is going to be a a week longer than it should be, I have time to do the kick boxing on it's own. I find it funny how I'm now trying to figure out how to do all the programs I'd been planning on, now that I have the 3-month Body Revolution program to go through.  I will be doing the kettle bell month after my BR is done, or maybe I can  figure something new.  I have tons of options so I can always do something. I'm liking being on programs right now, gives me something to look forward to. For some reason in my mind August is the cut off point. I'll be exercising then too, I plan on it for the rest of the year, well, life really but I'm thinking small-term right now. Maybe it's because I have a fitting in August.

Ok, enough rambling...

So...

My challenge has been extended 5 days to make up for the fact that I've been too sick to do them.
I'm not sure I'm 100% but it's driving me nuts not to exercise.

Hmmm

So I just reviewed the first 2 weeks of the Body Revolution DVDs, I look forward to doing this program. of course, I have only viewed 3 of the 15 DVDs, so I may eat my words later on. However, I still have a month before I start it. The MIL will do it first, giving my time to finish my shred challenge [14 more days, wth?] and do a couple of weeks of the Kickboxing.
The phases are set up very simply:
Week 1-2
Day 1: Front of Body workout [1]
Day 2: Back of Body Workout [2]
Day 3: Cardio
Day 4: Front of Body [1]
Day 5: Back of Body [2]
Day 6: Cardio
Day 7: Rest

Weeks 3-4
Day 1: Front of Body workout [3]
Day 2: Back of Body Workout [4]
Day 3: Cardio
Day 4: Front of Body [3]
Day 5: Back of Body [4]
Day 6: Cardio
Day 7: Rest

Week 1 of Phase 1 offers a kickstart metabolism week, in which you can do the cardio dvd every day that week [which means 2 times on cardio days]

I haven't thoroughly perused the diet plans, but I did read enough in the kickstart diet [which she warns you to only do once] to know it is not for me. Don't get me wrong, I have many of her recipes, and like them, but niacin free is hard to come by. Also, I do not believe in totally omitting alcohol from diets. If you're a wine drinker, wine with dinner is fine to me. 1-2 drinks [otherwise] a week is fine, because that's, oh what? Moderation.  Alton Brown thinks so too. But the MIL is very into the kickstart diet so tonight we shall be having steak with spinach salad. Sounds good.

It's weird, in my Shred challenge, sometimes the modifications are harder for me to do then the full out move. Like level 2's chair squats with a v raise. When I was doing the modification, I couldn't make it through the 30 second sessions. But then I switched to the regular, and today I made it all the way through [yay me] In general, I feel a small raise in endurance, but I do not yet see a physical difference, nor do I feel one. Bummer. I shall finish and move on.

Wednesday Weigh-in, Level 1 Summary

 Today's Weight: 209.7
Difference: -1.1
Total Difference:  -1.5

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Level 1 was a mix of moves that were easy for me and that I haven't done in forever and therefore kicked my ass.  I still have the shin splints, so I ended up modifying the cardio moves somewhat. I think this may have detracted somewhat from calorie torching.  For this level I did not completely meet my goal of days 6-10 being no modification days [injury mods not included]. Most of the moves I was able to go ahead and do unmodified, but push-ups? I'm sorry, I suck at them. I realized the second day I was doing them at a slow and steady pace that I was barely bending my arms, and that weight shift alone killed me.  I decided I would continue those modified and become more proficient at those. I'm also considering learning pushups on my stability ball.

This is week 11, and well, time for no more excuses. I'm not losing weight because I'm doing something wrong. I can't keep saying I had lots of carbs the day before, or Vicodin backs me up and I had oral surgery and haven't had a regular BM since Tuesday 14th, etc. I don't know what, or how I'm screwing up so horribly. My diet isn't that terrible, I actually love my veggies and eat them regularly.  Since I started working  out  I've worked out 3-5 hours a week.  Sorry but that's not half-assing it. I do know that I am beyond pissed. I'm not trying to out-exercise a bad diet. I'm trying to maintain a good one. All I feel I've accomplished is  bruising my forehead on the concrete wall I'm beating my head against. 4-lb yo-yo is supposed to be a plateua, not a near three month solid effort of healthier eating and exercising.


So my MIL has decided to get Jillian Michael's new program coming out, called Body Revolution. She wants us to do it one right after the other. It is a 90 day program and looks challenging and fun. And by fun I mean I will be yelling at Jillian while sweating copiously and grumbling the entire way through and then be thoroughly impressed with myself with being able to do new moves afterwards. It should be perfect timing after my scheduled month of kettle bells and Jillian Michael's new Kickboxing DVD [that I will be doing in conjunction with my last Bob Harper DVD purchase] I'm jazzed to have all this to look forward to. Also, may consider doing Insanity.

Also, yay me, as of today, 11 days with no soda. I miss it. However I got this tea and this tea while in epcot and can I just say? yummmmmmmmmy.

Halfway through Level 1

So, today was day 5, and it was easier than it has been, but that may be because yesterday I did it without being able to drink water.  I didn't end up getting to eat until about 4:30 yesterday, however as soon as they took me to Costco for my pain meds I was downing water like no ones business and making indecent noises the entire time because I was so damn thirsty.  And I must've hit 'starvation mode' yesterday because I know I didn't hit 1200 calories before I passed out last night and I fluxed up 3 pounds this morning. Blargh. But I'm not hating myself for it or anything silly like that, I know weight fluxes, I usually check to see if I hydrated enough or had too much sodium the day before, etc. I have one day a week I count as my 'weight' for the week. And heck, most of the time I don't like that number because I have better ones other times during the week. I'm trying not to obsess about scale this time.  I have a fitspiration folder on my computer that serves as my screen saver, and I'm always looking at the fitness section of Pinterest because it's helping keep y head in the right space this time around.

I know almost everybody thought I should take it easy today and not exercise, but it felt good to exercise. My swollen face didn't hurt more to do so, the only time it hurt was when I brushed it.  Tomorrow should be interesting since my goal for each levels' day 6-10 was to not do the modifications with Anita and do everything full fledged. Now, some of it I look foreword to challenging myself on and to see how far I can go, like boy push-ups. I've been taking some alternate cardio moves during the video because it seems I gave myself a shin splint while sprinting at WDW and some of the cardio moves just hurt in the bad way.  After the surgery drugs yesterday and  ice and heat therapy to it after exercise yesterday the muscle seems very happy, but I still didn't push it today. I will see how it feels tomorrow and then go from there. My point with the 'leveling up' was to challenge myself, and push farther, but I've got to make sure to not cause more injuries. Those modifications are different.
and until Saturday, It's going to be difficult for me to tell if I'm hitting 90 degrees in my squats and lunges.  I do know I'm not looking forward to the anterior raises all the way to my eyeballs instead of my shoulders. Those things kill my arms. Lately I've been alternating the arms depending on which leg is lunging.


We'll see how it all turns out for level 1 in another 5 days!

30DS, Day 1, here we go

Completed Day 1 of Level 1,  will do a full check in in 9 more days.
Today I stopped more than I thought I would, made me kinda sad. also modified certain moves for a random reason: the MIL's house has crawl space under it and the noise the jumping around makes has my brain panicking I will bust a hole in the floor.  Which will make for an interesting month since I'm here 3 days of the week.

I was so disappointed this morning when I stepped on the scale.  2.5 lb gain. the only weight I've managed to shed in 2 months was back! Suddenly, I was ashamed of feeling so proud of working out on vacation, obviously is was in vain. All day a pall hung over my head, feeling my sister sneers and superior glances at my food choices were well-warranted. Suddenly, all the lemon water and tea meant nothing because I had some drinks.  My secret week long shame of not being able to say no to potatoes in my presence [a staple in the cafeterias breakfasts], of craving carbs because of walking... I felt like an utter failure.  The fact that I split meals many days, ate a banana everyday for potassium since my muscles were being used so much more, it meant nothing. I really wanted to curl up in a dark room. I know I could've gained much more, indulged to the max. But those 2.5 lbs? I worked hard for them and I got them back in 1 fell swoop. Maybe it was because I spent most of my vacation agitated? Did I retain weight from that stress?  I have been cranky most of the day because of it. Then I was reminded:
If you have some higher carb meals, expect that the next day, you might feel more bloated than usual. And for goodness sake, stay OFF The scale! If there was ever a time to avoid the scale, it is the day after a high-carb, high-sodium feast!
Guess what I scarfed down at the airport before take off? eh-hem somepandaexpressbeefandbroccoliontopofchowmein. andthentheendofaspinachandcheesecalzone.  I was hungry. And Orlando seems to have missed out on the idea of healthy food options. [lemme tell you how tempted I was to get a Nathan's hot dog with sauerkraut. or chili cheese. or hey that Philly cheese steak hanging out there] So yeah at least I had fibrous broccoli. and spinach, and bits of cabbage and carrot. :D what, I've not convinced you? I don't believe in eating white rice and fried rice is just wrong.
But see, I couldn't stay off the scale, not today. Today is the start of my shred month! I needed the info for my before and after. I'll be amused if tomorrow I drop now that I've been pushing fluids and passed most of yesterday's food.
Time will tell and I will still do my challenge, but man did I spend most of my day in a funk.