New exercise for today: 20 mins a day spent writing in my journal. I really have dropped the bomb on this. Which I remarked about in my last posting. Not that anything is really changing, well I have been sticking to my ever constant struggle of losing weight. I am out of the 220's. Which should give me cause for joy and want to do my nerdy geek dance, but alas, no. I am in some sort of rut or depression (wow, what a big surprise). I am also very physically tired. This started about two to three weeks ago. I put it off to maybe I was overtraining. So I took a week off from exercise and just stuck to watching my food intake. Now that was a successful week, I lost 5 lbs (which is way too much to lose in one week, which is why I pretty much maintained this week). Last week I got back to walking and running, but not the weightlifting.
In the past weeks/months, I have just been working on my diet and exercising, but sometimes I feel I am obsessing over this. I need to be able to work on more than one thing at a time. Maybe not twenty things, but at least more than just concentrating on my diet. I don't want my life and thoughts to be revolving around food and what I eat and when I eat it. Food needs to be a natural process and focusing solely on it is not natural. I came across these neat planners that you can use for planning your week and your day, I plan on ordering them and trying to find a support group for accountability for working on and meeting my goals. It is way too easy to sweep this all under a rug and forget about what I am suppose to be working on.
I am still doing my running, I finished week 5 day 3 of the C25K program and tomorrow am heading straight on to Week6 Day 1. I am pretty ecstatic about finishing the 20 min run today. It was not as bad as I remembered it being. It wasn't terribly boring or draining. I was not dying for air nor was my body tired, in fact I was able to do another 35 minutes of walking. I do hope I can continue with the running, not just to finish the program but also so I can work towards a healthy body and be more fit.
Well I rambled on for more than 20 mins today. I will continue to work on doing this on a more regular basis. Hopefully I will have something to post tomorrow.
Monday, September 20, 2010
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
She's Alive!!!!!
I have not been good about journaling. It has been a long time (19 days) since the last time I wrote anything. I have stuck with using Calorie King to journal my food intake, although there have been a few days I have not journaled everything I ate. I have been following the C25K plan and finished W4D1 today. I was really doubtful I could finish the 5 min running period but I did. I have to say it gives me a real sense of of accomplishment to have done that. I have also been weight lifting following the ChaLean Extreme program. I did two out of the three days last week due to having a slight injury problem last Monday. As of yesterday morning I weigh 222.2 lbs. So for the month I have lost 8.6 lbs. Next Sunday I will do my measurements and determine my body fat percentage.
So let's talk about the goals that I set up at the beginning of the month.
**1. Lose 5 lbs..... this is doable** I achieved this. In fact I lost 8.6 lbs this month. I would be ecstatic if I could keep that up, but I think sticking with 5 lbs a month is better.
**2. Exercise at least once day (walking)** I haven't done this every day, but I have done it 6 days a week, with the exception of last week, but that was because of back pain.
**3. Drink 8 8oz glasses of water a day** I have been pretty close to target with this one also. I have cut down on the soda alot. In fact I don't think I had a one soda yesterday. Yay me!!!!
**4. Get through 3 chapters of C++ Programming** Ack, I failed at this one. Need to work harder on hitting those programming books and put my nose to the grindstone.
**5. Keep a food journal daily** Again, I was close to hitting this one but I didn't do every day and on some days I didn't get every meal. I can only be so perfect *smirk* But I will continue to strive to do this better.
**6. Last but not least, try to blog at least once a week** Ack, another failure. Nineteen days and no post equals to two weeks (almost three) that I didn't post. I can't keep myself accountable and have something to look back at, if I don't journal and blog. The time that I spend doing this is me time (although I would rather be sitting in a hot bathtub soaking) so I must work a little harder to remind myself that I need to do this. The problem seems to be finding the right time to do it. I find in the evenings after everyone has gone to bed, I pretty tired myself and would like to hit the hay. Mornings are busy with breakfast, getting the youngest spawn (Brennen) off to school and then getting in my workout.
My goals for this next month are the same with the addition of following C25K and ChaLean Extreme to the best of my abilities. Meaning...... if I get injured or just too worn out, I'ma going to take a rest day despite the schedule. Oh, and I want to add some flexability training (either doing 20 mins of basic stretching or yoga) three times a week. I think part of my recent pain that I have been experiencing might be from lack of stretching.
I think for now this is enough, I WILL post again tomorrow.
So let's talk about the goals that I set up at the beginning of the month.
**1. Lose 5 lbs..... this is doable** I achieved this. In fact I lost 8.6 lbs this month. I would be ecstatic if I could keep that up, but I think sticking with 5 lbs a month is better.
**2. Exercise at least once day (walking)** I haven't done this every day, but I have done it 6 days a week, with the exception of last week, but that was because of back pain.
**3. Drink 8 8oz glasses of water a day** I have been pretty close to target with this one also. I have cut down on the soda alot. In fact I don't think I had a one soda yesterday. Yay me!!!!
**4. Get through 3 chapters of C++ Programming** Ack, I failed at this one. Need to work harder on hitting those programming books and put my nose to the grindstone.
**5. Keep a food journal daily** Again, I was close to hitting this one but I didn't do every day and on some days I didn't get every meal. I can only be so perfect *smirk* But I will continue to strive to do this better.
**6. Last but not least, try to blog at least once a week** Ack, another failure. Nineteen days and no post equals to two weeks (almost three) that I didn't post. I can't keep myself accountable and have something to look back at, if I don't journal and blog. The time that I spend doing this is me time (although I would rather be sitting in a hot bathtub soaking) so I must work a little harder to remind myself that I need to do this. The problem seems to be finding the right time to do it. I find in the evenings after everyone has gone to bed, I pretty tired myself and would like to hit the hay. Mornings are busy with breakfast, getting the youngest spawn (Brennen) off to school and then getting in my workout.
My goals for this next month are the same with the addition of following C25K and ChaLean Extreme to the best of my abilities. Meaning...... if I get injured or just too worn out, I'ma going to take a rest day despite the schedule. Oh, and I want to add some flexability training (either doing 20 mins of basic stretching or yoga) three times a week. I think part of my recent pain that I have been experiencing might be from lack of stretching.
I think for now this is enough, I WILL post again tomorrow.
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Random Thoughts on the Treadmill
So today while I was doing my 50 mins of cardio on the treadmill, I mused about all the little tricks and things I think about to keep on the gerbil wheel. I am more than willing to admit that I get bored really easy. So far I have not abandoned my workouts yet, but the thought had crossed my mind on more than one occasion. If I can get through the first 15 minutes, I am pretty much set to finish the entire workout. But I do play little mind games with myself to get through the time. I am almost afraid to talk about this because it is going to reveal some of the crazy thought process goes through my head. I have not mentioned this yet, but yeah, I am crazy.
So you may ask how do I break my treadmill workout down or what games do I play to get through a workout. Well a lot of it is just grinding out the minutes. When I do just a straight 50 minutes on the treadmill ( vs a C25K workout), I break the time into 5 minute sets. Now sometimes like today there were a few 5 minute sets that I had to break down into thirds ( 1 min 40 sec sets). I try to just get through that set and tell myself that I have X amount left to do. One of the few things I have liked about the Beachbody fitness home exercise dvds is that they use a countdown timer. I really like seeing my workout time progress down and it gives me something more to focus on, I wish my treadmill had a feature like that. Once I have gotten past the fifth set, I know I am halfway finished and I imagine that the last half is just a downhill set. I still countdown each 5 min. set until I am finished. I have even gotten as bored to figure out when I am a third of the way through (about the 17 min. mark) and will remind myself I am one third done. If you are still reading this and not laughing your head off at what a loon I am I still have other tricks. These pretty much involve breaking up the time and then changing the incline or speed.
Yesterday I did day two of C25K training and ChaLean Extreme and it was tough. If I remember correctly from the last time I did the C25K program, the second day was the hardest day of the three in the week set. I was always amazed at how I was able to power through the third day. But I think doing running intervals in my Skecher Shape-Ups is a good idea. These shoes are suppose to be for walking, so I will try running with my other athletic shoes instead. As for the ChaLean Extreme program, meh, well I am doing to get some weight lifting done. I was suppose to do Ab Circuits and Burn Intervals today, but since I had already done 50 mins of cardio, I chose the lazy route today. I also have not been eating all my calories that I am suppose to eat according to CalorieKing, although today my appetite came back so it might not be a problem today.
About Calorie King, I really like this software. There is more to it than just keeping track of the calories that I am eating and how many I am burning from exercising. There are articles (lifestyle changes vs diet) that they suggest you read and they have other little tools (motivation) that I really like. I can get real obsessive about measuring my food and easily put off if I don't have the information about the right kind of food (like all they list is apple and I wanted the nutritional info about Pink Lady apples). Maybe if I relax a little, this is just counting calories not delicate chemical equation that might blow up in my face if I get it wrong, I might be able to do this. Did I mention that I get obsessive and am crazy.
On the knitting and girly front, I actually painted my nails today, don't let your jaw hit the ground. I put on Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Red Carpet. If I can get a picture uploaded, I might post one. As for the bat shawl, my progress has slowed down a little, I am going to go tackle that after this post. I did manage to wind the second skein of yarn into a ball yesterday without it becoming this huge tangled mess, so there won't be any deep contemplation like there was when I had to untangle the first skein. *Phew* My poor brain is still sore from all that thinking.
Hah!!! I just saw a commercial for a David Hasselhoff roast on Comedy Central for this Sunday. This could be pretty funny. The William Shatner roast was classic. Tonight is going to be a long one I predict, there is suppose to be a Friday the 13th update at Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab. My wallet is crying because it has heard rumors that there might be Weenies and I love the Weenies.
So you may ask how do I break my treadmill workout down or what games do I play to get through a workout. Well a lot of it is just grinding out the minutes. When I do just a straight 50 minutes on the treadmill ( vs a C25K workout), I break the time into 5 minute sets. Now sometimes like today there were a few 5 minute sets that I had to break down into thirds ( 1 min 40 sec sets). I try to just get through that set and tell myself that I have X amount left to do. One of the few things I have liked about the Beachbody fitness home exercise dvds is that they use a countdown timer. I really like seeing my workout time progress down and it gives me something more to focus on, I wish my treadmill had a feature like that. Once I have gotten past the fifth set, I know I am halfway finished and I imagine that the last half is just a downhill set. I still countdown each 5 min. set until I am finished. I have even gotten as bored to figure out when I am a third of the way through (about the 17 min. mark) and will remind myself I am one third done. If you are still reading this and not laughing your head off at what a loon I am I still have other tricks. These pretty much involve breaking up the time and then changing the incline or speed.
Yesterday I did day two of C25K training and ChaLean Extreme and it was tough. If I remember correctly from the last time I did the C25K program, the second day was the hardest day of the three in the week set. I was always amazed at how I was able to power through the third day. But I think doing running intervals in my Skecher Shape-Ups is a good idea. These shoes are suppose to be for walking, so I will try running with my other athletic shoes instead. As for the ChaLean Extreme program, meh, well I am doing to get some weight lifting done. I was suppose to do Ab Circuits and Burn Intervals today, but since I had already done 50 mins of cardio, I chose the lazy route today. I also have not been eating all my calories that I am suppose to eat according to CalorieKing, although today my appetite came back so it might not be a problem today.
About Calorie King, I really like this software. There is more to it than just keeping track of the calories that I am eating and how many I am burning from exercising. There are articles (lifestyle changes vs diet) that they suggest you read and they have other little tools (motivation) that I really like. I can get real obsessive about measuring my food and easily put off if I don't have the information about the right kind of food (like all they list is apple and I wanted the nutritional info about Pink Lady apples). Maybe if I relax a little, this is just counting calories not delicate chemical equation that might blow up in my face if I get it wrong, I might be able to do this. Did I mention that I get obsessive and am crazy.
On the knitting and girly front, I actually painted my nails today, don't let your jaw hit the ground. I put on Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Red Carpet. If I can get a picture uploaded, I might post one. As for the bat shawl, my progress has slowed down a little, I am going to go tackle that after this post. I did manage to wind the second skein of yarn into a ball yesterday without it becoming this huge tangled mess, so there won't be any deep contemplation like there was when I had to untangle the first skein. *Phew* My poor brain is still sore from all that thinking.
Hah!!! I just saw a commercial for a David Hasselhoff roast on Comedy Central for this Sunday. This could be pretty funny. The William Shatner roast was classic. Tonight is going to be a long one I predict, there is suppose to be a Friday the 13th update at Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab. My wallet is crying because it has heard rumors that there might be Weenies and I love the Weenies.
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Here I Go Again.....
If you read that title and you thought Whitesnake, so was I.
Weigh In today and I am down .........3 lbs 6 oz. I can say adios to 230's and I don't ever want to see them again. EVER!!!!! Now to get out of the 220's, but that is not my immediate goal. It might take me weeks, so I need to concentrate on something smaller. Even 5 lbs seems like alot, especially when you are my age. Soooooo, I have decided to start the C25K program a little bit earlier than I had planned. I did W1D1 yesterday, plus I started weight training. I am doing an at home program because I hate going to the gym, not to mention that the closest gym right now is 40 miles away and I still don't have a car yet, so it would be totally unfeasible. I have started the ChaLean Extreme workout program from Beachbody. It is more of a second choice, I would rather do Cathe STS workouts, but I am saving away for those dvds. Maybe when I finish ChaLean I will have the STS program. I took my before pictures (my poor 15 yr old son is now damaged, poor kid) and measured my body fat percentage. I have this information stored away in a file, maybe one day when I feel brave I might share it. I am a little sore from yesterday's workout. You are suppose to really push yourself with the weight lifting and I don't think I went heavy enough on alot of the exercises, so I am surprised by the soreness. Today is a rest day, so I will just be walking on the treadmill.
I was suppose to post all of this yesterday, but I just too tired and muddled in the brain to get anything coherent written up. As far as education goes, I did manage to get through Chapter 1 of the C++ book, so this week I am aiming for 2 -3 chapters finished. I really don't want to mention my lack of looking at the PHP stuff. I tend to get distracted very easily, I have wandered off three times while writing up this blog.
I did take some pictures of the bat shawl I am working on. Unfortunately I am having trouble with blogger uploading the pictures so this will have to wait for another day. I am on the last row of bats and then I do the border, so I should finish the shawl sometime this week. Then I need to start planning on what I am going to knit for Christmas pressies. I probably should have started that idea sooner.
EDIT...Finally got it to work, here are two pictures of the work in progress
Time to go hit the treadmill.
Weigh In today and I am down .........3 lbs 6 oz. I can say adios to 230's and I don't ever want to see them again. EVER!!!!! Now to get out of the 220's, but that is not my immediate goal. It might take me weeks, so I need to concentrate on something smaller. Even 5 lbs seems like alot, especially when you are my age. Soooooo, I have decided to start the C25K program a little bit earlier than I had planned. I did W1D1 yesterday, plus I started weight training. I am doing an at home program because I hate going to the gym, not to mention that the closest gym right now is 40 miles away and I still don't have a car yet, so it would be totally unfeasible. I have started the ChaLean Extreme workout program from Beachbody. It is more of a second choice, I would rather do Cathe STS workouts, but I am saving away for those dvds. Maybe when I finish ChaLean I will have the STS program. I took my before pictures (my poor 15 yr old son is now damaged, poor kid) and measured my body fat percentage. I have this information stored away in a file, maybe one day when I feel brave I might share it. I am a little sore from yesterday's workout. You are suppose to really push yourself with the weight lifting and I don't think I went heavy enough on alot of the exercises, so I am surprised by the soreness. Today is a rest day, so I will just be walking on the treadmill.
I was suppose to post all of this yesterday, but I just too tired and muddled in the brain to get anything coherent written up. As far as education goes, I did manage to get through Chapter 1 of the C++ book, so this week I am aiming for 2 -3 chapters finished. I really don't want to mention my lack of looking at the PHP stuff. I tend to get distracted very easily, I have wandered off three times while writing up this blog.
I did take some pictures of the bat shawl I am working on. Unfortunately I am having trouble with blogger uploading the pictures so this will have to wait for another day. I am on the last row of bats and then I do the border, so I should finish the shawl sometime this week. Then I need to start planning on what I am going to knit for Christmas pressies. I probably should have started that idea sooner.
EDIT...Finally got it to work, here are two pictures of the work in progress
Time to go hit the treadmill.
Thursday, August 5, 2010
And in other news.....
I have been doing pretty good with the diet and exercise this week. I have made it to the treadmill everyday and I am still breathing, so obviously exercise is not going to kill me. Now I just need to get the weight lifting in. I also have been really good about tracking my caloric intake on Calorie King and I am surprised at how low my caloric intake can be somedays. Of course today I hit the target and maybe a little extra. I am hoping since I was a bit low on Tues and Wed. that I might just get away with the small indulgence. I hope my mother takes those cookies and muffins with her tomorrow or I might be doomed.
My new favorite low cal and low carb treat is sliced cucumbers with hummus. I bought a package of Persian Cucumbers from Trader Joe's (it had 5 of them and they are about 3 inches long and maybe 1 inch diameter) and have finished them all off. I have also been very conscience about upping my vege intake which really accounts for my low caloric total for the past couple of days.
Now in regards to the title of this post, I am trying to find a car and it has not been going well . I managed to save some money from my temp job working for the census. I have been searching Craigslist and Auto Trader. I think I need to get a bit more realistic and realize that I am going to have to settle for a car with high miles on it. My buying power is just not that great. I was really hoping (more like fantasizing) that I could get a used Prius, but I just don't see that happening.
On the self teaching phase, well let's just say I need to put more effort into it. I did manage to get Apache2, Mysql and PHP installed on the netbook today. Now to start reading tutorials and practice writing code. Tonight's mission will be to finish Chapter 1 of the C++ book. It is all introductory stuff, so this is doable. As long as I manage to not fall asleep while reading the book. Not that I have done that before. *whistles innocently*
I have also been working on a bat shawl for a friend of mine. In my first post I mentioned untangling some yarn and it was for this project.. The yarn that I am using is comprised of 2% Silver (I just love stuff that has shiny bits in it, with the exception of certain notorious Vampires), 20 % silk, 63% Superwash and 15% Nylon and I purchased it from Twist, when I was planning on using Dream In Color Starry but I could not find the colorway that I wanted. The yarn that I am using is not as soft as DIC, but I think that it is better for this pattern because it will hold the shape of the design better. I will try to post a picture of it tomorrow.
My new favorite low cal and low carb treat is sliced cucumbers with hummus. I bought a package of Persian Cucumbers from Trader Joe's (it had 5 of them and they are about 3 inches long and maybe 1 inch diameter) and have finished them all off. I have also been very conscience about upping my vege intake which really accounts for my low caloric total for the past couple of days.
Now in regards to the title of this post, I am trying to find a car and it has not been going well . I managed to save some money from my temp job working for the census. I have been searching Craigslist and Auto Trader. I think I need to get a bit more realistic and realize that I am going to have to settle for a car with high miles on it. My buying power is just not that great. I was really hoping (more like fantasizing) that I could get a used Prius, but I just don't see that happening.
On the self teaching phase, well let's just say I need to put more effort into it. I did manage to get Apache2, Mysql and PHP installed on the netbook today. Now to start reading tutorials and practice writing code. Tonight's mission will be to finish Chapter 1 of the C++ book. It is all introductory stuff, so this is doable. As long as I manage to not fall asleep while reading the book. Not that I have done that before. *whistles innocently*
I have also been working on a bat shawl for a friend of mine. In my first post I mentioned untangling some yarn and it was for this project.. The yarn that I am using is comprised of 2% Silver (I just love stuff that has shiny bits in it, with the exception of certain notorious Vampires), 20 % silk, 63% Superwash and 15% Nylon and I purchased it from Twist, when I was planning on using Dream In Color Starry but I could not find the colorway that I wanted. The yarn that I am using is not as soft as DIC, but I think that it is better for this pattern because it will hold the shape of the design better. I will try to post a picture of it tomorrow.
Sunday, August 1, 2010
Where to start, my life is a mess!!
So a couple of days ago, I was starting this new knitting project and I made a huge mistake. While rolling the yarn from the skein to a ball, I had dropped the skein. This created an extremely knotted mess. It took me three days to get the knots out and get the skein into a cake. It was a long, tedious process and I could not help but think, "if only sorting out my life would be this easy."
Now I was completely frustrated trying to untangle the mess of yarn. There was more than one point of time when I just wanted to get the scissors and cut it up. But I did manage to get it straightened out and I guess if I have patience to do that, maybe I can start sorting out my life, one mess at a time.
First on the Agenda:
Losing weight.
I have been overweight for most of my life. I have been 200+ for at least 15 years of my life. I have medical issues because of my weight. I have Type 2 Diabetes. I was diagnosed when I was 30. My ability to cope, deal and manage this has not been all the great. For the most part I am tired of being overweight and having all this flab on my body. The only person that can do anything about this is myself. So back on the treadmill I go, I am just going to start with walking, and eventually move into running. I once completed the C25k, so I know that process does work. I just got lost without a program to follow once I finished it. In regards to diet, I am going to utilize Calorie King. I have had some success with Weight Watchers, but Calorie King gives me a better approach to my nutrition. I need to analyze my sugar, carb and protein intake. Journaling my food intake and measuring food sounds like alot of work, but I know that not journaling does not work for me.
Second on the Agenda:
Education
At one point in my life I was going to college studying for a BS in Computer Science. I had a total crash while going to school. If you knew the circumstances of what I was doing at the time you would not be surprised. I was manic at the time, tried taking on too much and trying to keep up with my fellow classmates who didn't have the same responsibilities that I had. Anyways back to the subject of education. As of today I have my Acer netbook loaded with Ubuntu OS and am going to reacquaint myself with C++. I am also looking into to learning some PHP and SQL programming.
There are other things I would like to add to the agenda, but for right now I think I will concentrate on those two. Right now that seems like alot and I am getting overwhelmed just thinking about it.
My goals for this month:
1. Lose 5 lbs..... this is doable
2. Exercise at least once day (walking)
3. Drink 8 8oz glasses of water a day
4. Get through 3 chapters of C++ Programming
5. Keep a food journal daily
6. Last but not least, try to blog at least once a week. This blog is my attempt to keep myself accountable. I weighed myself and took measurements. I weighed 230.8 today. Let's see if I can post a smaller number in a month.
Now I was completely frustrated trying to untangle the mess of yarn. There was more than one point of time when I just wanted to get the scissors and cut it up. But I did manage to get it straightened out and I guess if I have patience to do that, maybe I can start sorting out my life, one mess at a time.
First on the Agenda:
Losing weight.
I have been overweight for most of my life. I have been 200+ for at least 15 years of my life. I have medical issues because of my weight. I have Type 2 Diabetes. I was diagnosed when I was 30. My ability to cope, deal and manage this has not been all the great. For the most part I am tired of being overweight and having all this flab on my body. The only person that can do anything about this is myself. So back on the treadmill I go, I am just going to start with walking, and eventually move into running. I once completed the C25k, so I know that process does work. I just got lost without a program to follow once I finished it. In regards to diet, I am going to utilize Calorie King. I have had some success with Weight Watchers, but Calorie King gives me a better approach to my nutrition. I need to analyze my sugar, carb and protein intake. Journaling my food intake and measuring food sounds like alot of work, but I know that not journaling does not work for me.
Second on the Agenda:
Education
At one point in my life I was going to college studying for a BS in Computer Science. I had a total crash while going to school. If you knew the circumstances of what I was doing at the time you would not be surprised. I was manic at the time, tried taking on too much and trying to keep up with my fellow classmates who didn't have the same responsibilities that I had. Anyways back to the subject of education. As of today I have my Acer netbook loaded with Ubuntu OS and am going to reacquaint myself with C++. I am also looking into to learning some PHP and SQL programming.
There are other things I would like to add to the agenda, but for right now I think I will concentrate on those two. Right now that seems like alot and I am getting overwhelmed just thinking about it.
My goals for this month:
1. Lose 5 lbs..... this is doable
2. Exercise at least once day (walking)
3. Drink 8 8oz glasses of water a day
4. Get through 3 chapters of C++ Programming
5. Keep a food journal daily
6. Last but not least, try to blog at least once a week. This blog is my attempt to keep myself accountable. I weighed myself and took measurements. I weighed 230.8 today. Let's see if I can post a smaller number in a month.
Sunday, December 27, 2009
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)