I don’t know why, but lately I’ve been wanting to do these workout at 11 o’clock at night or later. I know it’s better that I do it late in the evening than not at all, but I just can’t seem to make myself do it during the daylight hours. It’s kind of strange to me.
I did my workout tonight at 11:30 pm. I got done about 12:15 and took a shower, now I’m here. I did the power yoga this time as well as I could. I did better than last time though that’s for sure. This time when I did the Sweat 1-2 I actually built up a really good sweat. I did have to stop in the middle though. During the second set of front kicks I accidently kicked my cat in the face and he ended up losing a tooth! Poor thing, I stopped for a couple minutes to comfort him a little bit and calm him down and check on him to make sure he was ok. I feel terrible. He seems to be just fine though.
I still can’t really do the jumping jacks. I try, but I’m just too large. I’m coming right out with it because it’s the complete truth. My stomach flops up and down and in order to do the jumping stuff I have to hold it in along with my boobs. I get the lower half jumping but my arms are occupied. I do what I can, but they actually hurt a little because of my extra fat overhang on my stomach. You know that scene in Click where Adam Sandler’s character wakes up at the end of the movie in the hospital and has the extra skin flap from losing all the weight while he was sick? He flaps it up and down and laughs… that’s kind of what I got going on. Heh. But, as long as I keep doing what I’m doing, it will be gone and stay gone! I just have to keep working on it!
Well, since it’s about 1 am I’m going to sleep now. Thanks for reading!
If you haven't seen the Adam Sandler scene I'm talking about it's this one: Fat Flap - Click
Monday, July 30, 2012
Saturday, July 28, 2012
Re-Do
I restarted my program today. I did it, maybe a little late in the day, but I did it and that’s what counts. Power 90 Sculpt 1-2…. it actually made me sweat pretty dang good! Not sure if that means I am out of shape even more or if that means I actually tried harder this time… something to thing about. I did manage to COMPLETE the dips this time though! YAAAY! I got onto WebMD today also. I punched in my numbers and it says I’m obese! 
But I already put in a “goal weight” at 150. Losing 1.5 pounds per week I need to moderate my calorie intake to 2000 a day, and burn 771 calories per day. These numbers are for a 50/50 diet and exercise program. I just need to watch my numbers and do my workouts every day and I think I’ll be in good shape. I’m going to try and pick up some whey protein powder for pre/post workout supplementation and add in my multi-vitamin. We’ll see how well it works out.
I dug out my good water bottle, it’s got the fl oz. on the size so I can track the necessary water intake I need also. 64 oz per day. Really isn’t that hard, it’s 2 and a half bottles. I drink that much liquid a day or more even, so I will just make sure the first half of my day is the water, then drink other stuff later is I want it. I’ve already cut out the sodas for the most part. I have one once in a while but I don’t buy them in bulk anymore. Just one when I want it and that’s it.
Next step, MORE VEGGIES! Also, I was looking at GNC ‘s website today. They have this body fat percentage calculator for only $40 and it’s the one they used on me at the gym when I started my personal training sessions. So I think I’ll buy that sucker also.
OH! And for you guys who REALLY love your Mexican food, if you’re like me and you love chorizo and eggs Wal-Mart sells cacique soy chorizo. It’s absolutely delicious. It tastes like the real thing but it’s soy! You’re still getting the protein you need but about 3/4 less fat. I suggest you look into it. It’s one of my favorite things anymore. I don’t feel guilty eating my favorite breakfast anymore
But I already put in a “goal weight” at 150. Losing 1.5 pounds per week I need to moderate my calorie intake to 2000 a day, and burn 771 calories per day. These numbers are for a 50/50 diet and exercise program. I just need to watch my numbers and do my workouts every day and I think I’ll be in good shape. I’m going to try and pick up some whey protein powder for pre/post workout supplementation and add in my multi-vitamin. We’ll see how well it works out. I dug out my good water bottle, it’s got the fl oz. on the size so I can track the necessary water intake I need also. 64 oz per day. Really isn’t that hard, it’s 2 and a half bottles. I drink that much liquid a day or more even, so I will just make sure the first half of my day is the water, then drink other stuff later is I want it. I’ve already cut out the sodas for the most part. I have one once in a while but I don’t buy them in bulk anymore. Just one when I want it and that’s it.
Next step, MORE VEGGIES! Also, I was looking at GNC ‘s website today. They have this body fat percentage calculator for only $40 and it’s the one they used on me at the gym when I started my personal training sessions. So I think I’ll buy that sucker also.
OH! And for you guys who REALLY love your Mexican food, if you’re like me and you love chorizo and eggs Wal-Mart sells cacique soy chorizo. It’s absolutely delicious. It tastes like the real thing but it’s soy! You’re still getting the protein you need but about 3/4 less fat. I suggest you look into it. It’s one of my favorite things anymore. I don’t feel guilty eating my favorite breakfast anymore
Thursday, July 26, 2012
It's hard to jumble...
So, I've been having a hard time keeping up with this blog and with the exercise. Having family consistently coming and going and wanting to be out and about while here visiting, plus mix in the job interviews, and now the process of starting a new job, I've gotten behind in my routine. (Not to mention I feel gross working out during 'that time of the month') So I'm struggling a little bit. Tomorrow I'm going to wake up and start over. I refuse to give up. I don't think starting over is the same as giving up. When you fail you gotta pick yourself back up, dust yourself off, and persevere, right? That's what starting over is to me. Perseverance. Once I collect my first pay check I think I'm going to pick up some supplements to add into my workout. Maybe clear the kitchen of the junk in the cupboards and start with a fresh perspective. My mom needs this too so I think she'll be alright with it.
It's hard to begin something so new and so daunting especially when I have SO much work to do to reach my goal. But, one step at a time right. Sometimes we fall but as long as we get up and keep going the end will feel less and less impossible to reach.
Perhaps my lack of employment gave me a bout of the depression that helped to de-motivate me, and now the excitement of starting a new job is giving me back what I was losing.. who knows. I do like the idea that my new job is a little more physically demanding than my previous one. I'll be on my feet all day as opposed to being on my ass like the last one. Plus, once I get myself out of this financial slump from my month of unemployment then I'll be able to get back into my gym and back with my personal trainer as well! Something I'm really looking forward to!
I hope that I can keep this mood going for as long as possible.
It's hard to begin something so new and so daunting especially when I have SO much work to do to reach my goal. But, one step at a time right. Sometimes we fall but as long as we get up and keep going the end will feel less and less impossible to reach.
Perhaps my lack of employment gave me a bout of the depression that helped to de-motivate me, and now the excitement of starting a new job is giving me back what I was losing.. who knows. I do like the idea that my new job is a little more physically demanding than my previous one. I'll be on my feet all day as opposed to being on my ass like the last one. Plus, once I get myself out of this financial slump from my month of unemployment then I'll be able to get back into my gym and back with my personal trainer as well! Something I'm really looking forward to!
I hope that I can keep this mood going for as long as possible.
Thursday, July 12, 2012
Day 2: Power 90 Sweat 1-2
Alrighty, folks. Day two! It’s cardio or die time! The beginning of this video is yoga. I love yoga, don’t get me wrong, but I am having a hard time with this. They go a little too fast, and I’m a little uncoordinated. So, I’m going to try and figure out some modifications or substitutions to make this a bit easier, because they wouldn’t put it in the video if it weren’t important right? I’m sure with time and progression I’ll get better at the moves and my strength will improve to make it easier but I’ll have to work my way into that gradually. I mean, I’m outta shape here, so I didn’t expect it to be EASY!
I think it’s the transition from downward dog to plank to upward dog that that has me struggling the most. It’s basically asking me to do a push up.I can’t. Well, not tin this capacity. Plank alone is hard for me. It’s like rolling my body from a position where I’m sticking my ass up in the air, to have it hovering just above the ground. I’m not very limber right now so downward dog is actually limited. I can get into the position, but it’s not exactly right because exactly right isn’t so stable. Kind of a hard thing to explain but if you were to try it you might understand. Then try it with about 100lbs of extra belly and 30 lbs of extra leg an arm too. For any skinny people reading this I’ll give you an example. Imagine opening and closing a hardcover book. It’s easy right? Opening it, then closing it, when it’s closed its flush the pages it’s supposed to be protecting. Now, between the cover and the first page, put 2 or 3 marshmallows THEN try closing it. See the problem? Too much junk in the way to close the book it just kind of closes, but it’s still partially opened. That’s what it’s like trying to do downward dog for me. I’m essentially putting my body in an inverted V shape but with marshmallows in the middle.
Anyways, now you get the picture.
I’ve been trying to do better about my eating also. I made some Cornish game hens and veggies for dinner last night, I tried to use as little oil as possible. Steaming and baking instead of frying, using fresh herbs and cutting on salt and things. I know that my eating habits are better when I just put in the time to cook. The problem was when I got home from work after working for 10 hours I was too drained to cook. Sometimes I would make myself do it, but I’d end up eating so late then going right to sleep because I had to be up so early. Work was over throwing the balance of my whole schedule. When I went to the gym, I would have even LESS time. My old schedule, 6 am wake up for work, 6:30am BE at work, get off at 5:30pm-ish, then gym for an hour or 2, get home by 7:30pm, make dinner, eat at 8:30pm, in bed by 9:30 pm to do it all over again.
Not an easy lifestyle to live. I am happy I’m not doing that job anymore and I have time to focus on ME for change. It’s not easy. I got so used to laying around, being lazy, and just sitting like a piece of furniture. I don’t want to spend my life just getting by, I want to LIVE it. Problem is, when I’ve got no one to help me make things easier or to take some of the burden away things get sorta cramped together. I have to shoulder the responsibility of it all and that makes things kind of difficult, then depressing, and then I just stop caring. So from now on, I’m going to just stop being depressed. I’m going to stop being lazy, and I’m going to take all this responsibility and rearrange it into a manageable form. It’s going to take time and effort but as long as I’m willing to work, I’ll get through it.
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
Day 1: Power 90 Sculpt 1-2
Ok, so I actually got up and made myself press play on that good ol DVD player and get myself through my first workout. It really wasn't that bad. I made the mistake of taking a sleep-aid last night and didn't wake up until 12:30 pm but I still got up, and I pushed through! It's day 1 of 90 and I know the end seems to be too far away but, darn it, I can make it! I'm taking my mom out later this evening to take a walk around the block. It's about 3 miles. We've done it before and it's really nothing, but it helps.
So, last night I ended up staying up a little later than I intended because I got myself so fired up to get started. I made a workbook on Excel to track my weekly progress. I'll share the stats with you in a bit. I decided that I would do starting measurements, weight, and BMI, I'm going to figure out how to get an accurate body fat measurement, but I do know my starting percentage because I got that done when I went to the gym for my first personal training session about 3 months ago, and I know nothing has changed since then. If they have, not drastically. So without further adieu, my stats for Day :
Starting weight: 269 lbs. (In my last post I guessed 270, pretty damn close)
Starting measurements:
Chest: 48"
Waist: 46"
Hips: 55"
R-Mid-thigh: 30"
L-Mid-thigh: 30"
R-Upper arm: 17.5
L-Upper Arm: 16.5
Resting Heart Rate: 79bpm
Blood pressure: 142/88 (I have a monitor for home use!)
Now, on with my actual progress. Day 1 of the Power 90 program is basically a warm-up. It's to get you accommodated with the movements, learning form, testing your strength, etc. The goal is not to push yourself too hard, too fast. So, on day one, these are the exercises and the reps I could do without trying to push myself too much:
Push-Ups (Standard): 6
Heavy Pants: 12
Military Press: 7
Bicep curls: 10
Back Scratchers: Left-9 Right-9
Lunges: L-3 R-3
Push Ups (Fly): 7
Back Flys: 10
Swimmers Press: 8
Open Arm Curls: 8
Two-arm Kick Backs: 8
Lunge/Squat Combo: L-3 R-3 (3 Standard squats between each lunge)
Push Ups (7/7/7): 7 each of Wide/Close/Standard
Lawnmowers: L-10 R-10
Shoulder Flys: 10
Bicep 21s: 7 each, low/mid/full curls
Chair Dips: None- I tried ever chair in the house and none of them were either sturdy enough or the proper height.
3-Part Squats: 8 each of Standard/Wide/Wider
So for all my reps I used the Magenta band that came with the package. It's about 30 lbs of resistance, but for the Shoulder Fly's I used a 3lb. weight, because the band is too intense for me.
All-in-all I think I did pretty good for day one! Now I just need to work on my nutrition.
So, last night I ended up staying up a little later than I intended because I got myself so fired up to get started. I made a workbook on Excel to track my weekly progress. I'll share the stats with you in a bit. I decided that I would do starting measurements, weight, and BMI, I'm going to figure out how to get an accurate body fat measurement, but I do know my starting percentage because I got that done when I went to the gym for my first personal training session about 3 months ago, and I know nothing has changed since then. If they have, not drastically. So without further adieu, my stats for Day :
Starting weight: 269 lbs. (In my last post I guessed 270, pretty damn close)
Starting measurements:
Chest: 48"
Waist: 46"
Hips: 55"
R-Mid-thigh: 30"
L-Mid-thigh: 30"
R-Upper arm: 17.5
L-Upper Arm: 16.5
Resting Heart Rate: 79bpm
Blood pressure: 142/88 (I have a monitor for home use!)
Now, on with my actual progress. Day 1 of the Power 90 program is basically a warm-up. It's to get you accommodated with the movements, learning form, testing your strength, etc. The goal is not to push yourself too hard, too fast. So, on day one, these are the exercises and the reps I could do without trying to push myself too much:
Push-Ups (Standard): 6
Heavy Pants: 12
Military Press: 7
Bicep curls: 10
Back Scratchers: Left-9 Right-9
Lunges: L-3 R-3
Push Ups (Fly): 7
Back Flys: 10
Swimmers Press: 8
Open Arm Curls: 8
Two-arm Kick Backs: 8
Lunge/Squat Combo: L-3 R-3 (3 Standard squats between each lunge)
Push Ups (7/7/7): 7 each of Wide/Close/Standard
Lawnmowers: L-10 R-10
Shoulder Flys: 10
Bicep 21s: 7 each, low/mid/full curls
Chair Dips: None- I tried ever chair in the house and none of them were either sturdy enough or the proper height.
3-Part Squats: 8 each of Standard/Wide/Wider
So for all my reps I used the Magenta band that came with the package. It's about 30 lbs of resistance, but for the Shoulder Fly's I used a 3lb. weight, because the band is too intense for me.
Post One- An introduction
I know many of you have seen The Biggest Loser or other shows of that nature. I have to, usually while eating a big giant dinner while sitting on my couch with my 2 cats weighing about 270 pounds at only 26 years of age. I'm sure some of you out there can even relate to that too!
So here's the deal, I've been doing a lot of thinking lately. I'm currently unemployed thanks to budget cuts etc, so I've been spending my free time doing what... playing Skyrim and watching Tv, of course! While I was still working I had a gym membership and a personal trainer that I was paying to see weekly, but I have since had to put a hold on my account to save some funds. But what I've forgotten in this little bought of depression I am in, is that I can do something to make me feel better about myself in the mean time and keep my ass off the couch and not have to spend any extra money.
I've got this workout video that I bought last summer. I actually did it for quite a while and I was seeing pretty good results until I injured myself and had to stop working out. The lack of regular routine made me get lazy again. I started at 270 and went down to 245 in a matter of 30-days. That's quite an accomplishment for me! Then once I was over my injury, I started working at a new place. A great job overall, minus the fact that all I did was sit on my ass all day. I became a driver for a health care facility, transporting people to and from the facility, 5 days a week, 8-10 hours a day. So the lack of exercise I WAS getting at previous jobs became nil and I gained a little more weight back in the 6 months I worked there. So, now I'm back to 270 (actually I'm not sure how accurate that is, but I'll double check here in a few minutes and correct it if necessary).
I've noticed a lot of things in that time. When I first started that job, I was able to wake up at 6:15 in the morning every day without a problem. I'd make some coffee or tea and head off to work. The longer I worked there the harder it was for me to wake up in the morning, no matter how early I went to sleep the night before. I stopped eating breakfast or even having tea/coffee for a while. I'd get sleepy after a few hours and I'd come home on my lunch and sit on my ass even more because I was 'tired.' I stopped making lunch at home after a month or so and began eating out again. Promising myself I would only do it once in a while, but that turned out to be every day. Then I started drinking coffee again, with cream and sugar, when I used to drink it with honey only. Then I added doughnuts to my morning routine. So for the last 2 months I would have coffee and doughnuts for breakfast and fast food for lunch 5 days a week. Until finally I'd gotten frustrated, with everything!
I signed up for the gym but I didn't change too many of my habits right away. Then I started eating a little better. Order a salad at the fast food place one or twice a week, eating smaller portions, cutting back on the coffee, substituting fruit and veggie smoothies here and there. It was helping. Then I got laid-off. Now I'm pretty sure I'm back to about 265-270 from the last 3 weeks I've spent sitting on my ass, pretending to be a Dragonborn and slaying dragons.
So, I'm finally getting sick of it all! Tomorrow I'm going to try and get back on track (well I guess it's today now since it's 1 am, but you know what I mean!). I read an article tonight about exercising and the ties to sleep and sunlight and mood, etc. (http://health.howstuffworks.com/mental-health/sleep/basics/how-to-fall-asleep1.htm) If you're interested in reading it too. I was thinking, why wait until tomorrow why don't I just do it now? But I realized how late it was so I thought maybe I'll check it out and see if it'll be beneficial at all or not. Well, it's not. I read that the best time to exercise to improve sleep is the late afternoon/early evening (about 5-6 hours before bed time) and it's best when that exercise is vigorous cardio exercise. Exercising first thing in the morning is also goo to help with mood and energy levels and alertness for the day. Even better for your sleep cycle to equate exercising with daylight and time of day. So I am proposing this for myself:
So here's the deal, I've been doing a lot of thinking lately. I'm currently unemployed thanks to budget cuts etc, so I've been spending my free time doing what... playing Skyrim and watching Tv, of course! While I was still working I had a gym membership and a personal trainer that I was paying to see weekly, but I have since had to put a hold on my account to save some funds. But what I've forgotten in this little bought of depression I am in, is that I can do something to make me feel better about myself in the mean time and keep my ass off the couch and not have to spend any extra money.
I've got this workout video that I bought last summer. I actually did it for quite a while and I was seeing pretty good results until I injured myself and had to stop working out. The lack of regular routine made me get lazy again. I started at 270 and went down to 245 in a matter of 30-days. That's quite an accomplishment for me! Then once I was over my injury, I started working at a new place. A great job overall, minus the fact that all I did was sit on my ass all day. I became a driver for a health care facility, transporting people to and from the facility, 5 days a week, 8-10 hours a day. So the lack of exercise I WAS getting at previous jobs became nil and I gained a little more weight back in the 6 months I worked there. So, now I'm back to 270 (actually I'm not sure how accurate that is, but I'll double check here in a few minutes and correct it if necessary).
I've noticed a lot of things in that time. When I first started that job, I was able to wake up at 6:15 in the morning every day without a problem. I'd make some coffee or tea and head off to work. The longer I worked there the harder it was for me to wake up in the morning, no matter how early I went to sleep the night before. I stopped eating breakfast or even having tea/coffee for a while. I'd get sleepy after a few hours and I'd come home on my lunch and sit on my ass even more because I was 'tired.' I stopped making lunch at home after a month or so and began eating out again. Promising myself I would only do it once in a while, but that turned out to be every day. Then I started drinking coffee again, with cream and sugar, when I used to drink it with honey only. Then I added doughnuts to my morning routine. So for the last 2 months I would have coffee and doughnuts for breakfast and fast food for lunch 5 days a week. Until finally I'd gotten frustrated, with everything!
I signed up for the gym but I didn't change too many of my habits right away. Then I started eating a little better. Order a salad at the fast food place one or twice a week, eating smaller portions, cutting back on the coffee, substituting fruit and veggie smoothies here and there. It was helping. Then I got laid-off. Now I'm pretty sure I'm back to about 265-270 from the last 3 weeks I've spent sitting on my ass, pretending to be a Dragonborn and slaying dragons.
So, I'm finally getting sick of it all! Tomorrow I'm going to try and get back on track (well I guess it's today now since it's 1 am, but you know what I mean!). I read an article tonight about exercising and the ties to sleep and sunlight and mood, etc. (http://health.howstuffworks.com/mental-health/sleep/basics/how-to-fall-asleep1.htm) If you're interested in reading it too. I was thinking, why wait until tomorrow why don't I just do it now? But I realized how late it was so I thought maybe I'll check it out and see if it'll be beneficial at all or not. Well, it's not. I read that the best time to exercise to improve sleep is the late afternoon/early evening (about 5-6 hours before bed time) and it's best when that exercise is vigorous cardio exercise. Exercising first thing in the morning is also goo to help with mood and energy levels and alertness for the day. Even better for your sleep cycle to equate exercising with daylight and time of day. So I am proposing this for myself:
- To exercise more. I'm going to try and incorporate what I know from my workout videos and what I learned from my personal trainer, plus what I've been reading on the internet as well.
- To eat better. I can't afford to eat out right now anyways, so home cooked meals, lean meats, lots of veggies, and more water!
- To improve my sleeping schedule. Because I'm not working I've allowed my sleep schedule to be rather poor. I just sleep whenever for however long I want and wake up whenever I feel like it. It's going to be hard at first but I'm sure I can fix it.
- Make a schedule for working out. Ideally I'm going to do 3 days of strength training and 6 days of cardio and give myself one full rest day. So that means 3 days a week I will be working out twice as much. It'll be hard, but I think I can push myself to make it happen.
- Weigh in once a week. I don't really care WHAT the number is as long as I feel better, but just to keep track of my progress I'm going to check my weight once a week. Probably every Wednesday because that's the first day of my new schedule.
- Make an attempt at counting calories. I'll do my best but that's the problem that really alludes me the most.
- Create recipes and post them up here for people to use. (My ultimate goal is to be a chef so this will mix my passion for cooking with fitness by coming up with great new items that are nutritious but delicious too!)
- Post before pictures and progress pictures. I am going to want to see how far I've come, and I'm sure you, Reader, will also as well! I'll try and do them every 2-4 weeks.
- Share this blog with as many people as I can, in hopes that I can spark some changes in others as well! After all, this type of journey is harder to do alone, so it would be nice to have someone to cheer along!
- Finally, research the internet from time to time and look for helpful articles and tips from professionals! Knowledge is power, as they say, so if I keep looking for more ways to improve myself, I'll share the most interesting things with you so you can learn as well!
I would take the before shots now but it's rather dark in my house and I'm sure I'll still look the same tomorrow when I wake up. So for now, I'm going to try and sleep, because tomorrow is the first day of the rest of my life as a reformed fatty!
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