"Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity" ~ Seneca

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Chugging along

Now starting week two of the sit-up & squat challenges. Actually I'm on week 4 of the squat challenge and holey moley can I feel my quad muscles working! But I guess that confirms the fact that they are working, not slacking and as long as I keep using them- I should be good.
Eating has been mostly OP and I'm gearing up for a summer weight loss challenge. If I stick to it, I'm hoping to lose another 10 pounds.
It will take a lot of effort and keeping myself accountable to what I actually eat. Not sure if I want to go back to food logging, but it has been successful in the past.
Otherwidpse, I'm dealing with bouts of feeling completely exhausted. To the point where I sit down at dinner and nearly fall asleep. I'm not sure of the cause. I'm getting plenty of sleep (8 hours) though I feel I could always use more. Maybe I need more protein? I'll have to read marabout the ME(metabolic effect) diet. According to their little survey, I am a mixed burner- meaning I burn both sugar & muscle. Perhaps I'll tweak my diet per their recommendations and see what the results are.
Off to see how my abdominal muscles feel after day 1 week 2 of the sit-up challenge.

Thursday, May 20, 2010

Sore quads already?

Squat challenge. Well after the initial testing last night, I decided to jump right in. Based on my test score, I'm starting on week 3- intermediate level. This consisted of 5 sets (16, 22, 17,17, max I did 30). You get 1 min rest between sets.
To help with form & counting I downloaded the squatfu lite app for iPhone which counts the squats you do properly.

After doing this, my quads and one knee is sore and it's only been a few hours. Hope I can move tomorrow.

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Challenges

In light of the void that has been sitting heavily on me (literally), I've decided to fight it in hand to hand combat i.e.-better eating and more exercise, 'cause i need to toe the line if I want to reach the end goal.
I've realized with my new work schedule, I'm not able to attend aerobics like I was previously and it's had a direct effect on my mood. I like my step aerobics! So in lieu of going to the gym, I'm going to try the 200 hundred sit up and the 200 hundred squats challenge. If these go well, I may even try the100 push ups challenge. I took the initial tests and did great in the squats- I was able to do 60 squats and probably could have done more, but boy were my knees creaking. In the sit ups, I was able to do 25, so I have lots of room for improvement in this area. Push ups will serve me well and help me to start toning my arms (especially my bat wings).
Starting this has helped me to re-kick start my motivation to lose weight and get & stay healthy. This, combined with the upcoming summer weight loss challenge on 3 Fat Chicks and helpful podcasts from Diet Girl & Mizfit should help guide me to the success I am looking for.

Monday, May 17, 2010

Struggling

The void is back. It's a pit in the center of my chest that sits there heavy as I breathe. Always making me aware of it's presence. I'm not sure where it's been hiding for the last little while. But recently it's come back, and I'm not sure why. How do I get rid of it? Make it go away? Again, I'm not sure.
The only thing I'm sure of is eating doesn't make it go away. I tried and was rewarded with a 3 lb gain on the scale.
Trying to get back on plan-which I hope will make the void retreat or dissapear alltogether. I think it preys on my uncertainty, my low esteem. It grows and feeds off these negative feelings, making me feel smaller (though in reality I get bigger in size)- how ironic.
Time to face up to this void and put it back in it's place.

Saturday, May 15, 2010

What kind of blog is this anyway?

This is what I've been asking myself the past 2 weeks, and I haven't come up with an answer as of yet. I'm in a funk, switching to a new work schedule as the kids school schedule seems to be spinning wildly out of control towards the end of the school year.
I talk a lot about the weather, I talk about my issues with food and my half-hearted attempts to lose weight.
But where do I go from here?
Why did I change my blog from being private to open?
Does anyone read it? And if they do, how do I feel about it?
I am a lurker, I read, but rarely comment. I gather information and try to adapt it to my needs and how it will help me on my journey to become healthier.
What do I have to add to the blogging world that hasn't already been covered? That I'm not sure about, but I guess this is what this journey is about.

Friday, May 7, 2010

Here comes the sun

Today was a day off for me- hooray! And it was the first day where we had sunshine that actually felt warm. I've heard rumors that we may get more "precipitation" next week, but I'll worry about that then- and enjoy this little change. Geesh, you'd think this was a weather blog or something?
So we walked to school this morning and then I took the resident mutt on a long walk. It's always a good feeling to hit my 10,000+ steps on my pedometer before I've really done anything. The rest of the day I've run errands and puttered. While I was at the library, I always stop in and peek at the used books for sale, 'cause who can pass up a good $0.50 book?! The one that caught my eye was 'The day I ate whatever I wanted' by Elizabeth Berg. Once I read it, I'll post my thoughts.
Food wise all is going well. Waiting for TOM to rear it's ugly head. I decided not to run the Mother's Day 5k since I didn't want to worry about work schedule conflicts.
Meanwhile I've been a bit food obsessive as of late- I must feel I'm being denied something- I'll have to figure out just what that is. But my timer just went off to take these beauties out of the oven Bon Appetit's Carrot Cake Cookies . Next on my list are these Pioneer Woman's Spicy Molasses Cookies . And while I'm at it- if you have an iPhone- be sure to try David Lebovitz's new app, it's awesome!

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Sigh of relief!

I'm happy to report that when I woke this morning, there was no visible accumulation of snow- whew!
Now back to our regularly scheduled season.

Update: while the snow wasn't sticking this morning. It started sticking as i was going into work & while it isn't the big accumulations we had last week, it's still snow- in May!

Monday, May 3, 2010

Oh no here we go again!

Grrr- would someone please inform Mother Nature that 2 Winter Storm Warnings within the same week are more than enough, especially since it is technically spring and the supposedly merry, merry month of May when I last checked the calendar.
Here's hoping my world won't be covered in snow once again when I wake in the morning.