Thursday, December 25, 2008

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays

I know it's Christmas and most people are snoozing or boozing or persuing their gifts but my family is partaking of the first activity and I am too caffeinated to join. I got a Bodybugg, yay! I am so curious to see how this thing does, please check out the link here if you are not familiar. One of the ladies at school did her mini presentation on this in the beginning of the semester and I immediately added that to my wish list, cool gadget (if it works, we shall see) but too pricey for me to just go and buy one outright. They had a pretty good sale on them for a bit so I am hoping my loved ones took advantage of that when they got it for me. If not? I got a bodybugg either way, yay!
Just got it set up, I am balking at the idea of anyone trying to coach me, I seriously want to cancel that since I could school most "fit pros" on nutrition but I'm trying to just be open to what they have to say. You can think you know everything and still learn if you just leave yourself open, a few people very close to me drive me up the wall in that they never listen to anyone, always know everything, and in reality that is not true. I don't want to be like that. I admit I did close the tutorial though since the info was very elementary compared to what I have studied albeit accurate at least.
So woot! I will now be using my graphics from Marla to show days I use the bugg and will update ya'll on how it goes.

OH! and my husband got me the Kettlebelle body program I wanted (sweet man) so I will be working on that as well. Awesome. Must get more kettlebells, the three we have are good for a lot but we need a heavier one for swings and I wouldn't mind having some additional lighter ones to do two armed exercises. I am in fitness nerd heaven. Picture this: iPod nano strapped to my right arm, Bodybugg on the left, and polar HRM watch on with chest band. I will be ready for war, the war on sloth? yes?

Hope everyone is happy no matter what holiday means something for you.

Saturday, December 20, 2008

Ouch

Every muscle in my body hurts, yeowch! I knew my workout yesterday felt pretty badass and I was right. I focused on the presses especially, keeping my forearm parallel to my ears and not bringing the weights to close in to my head and boy howdy did that work my back over. I keep that up and my elusive pull-up dream will become a reality, for sure.
I've gone off the rails nutrition wise and YET AGAIN I have proved to myself that strict dieting is made of FAIL for me. I simply can't do it anymore and keep my sanity. I start putting a huge importance on food and fall back into the binge/restrict cycle that I completely banished when I first read Inuitive Eating. So why did I gain weight after leaving the diet mindset? Well I turned it into a free for all, mindless junk eating lifestyle. Hmmm yeah that would do it. So my homework at this point is to re-read Intuitive Eating, slow down and enjoy my food and drink. Be kind to myself. Stop the madness.
Currently hungover and waiting on greasy food to arrive. Sigh. If I can rehab enough to not feel like crap on dry toast then I'll definitely workout-my cool graphic that Marla made me is going to be for workout days instead of being "on plan" food wise.
This is really a skim the surface of a big issue post but it'll have to do for now.

Friday, December 19, 2008

Missed me? I'm Baaaaack

When gymming it with full intention to lift weights in a manner that showcases your behind whether you like it or not, do not wear thin cotton pants and underwear apparently called "cheekies" by VS. If so, you shall resemble the picture (if you click the link, I originally had it on here but was irked to have a half naked chick on my blog, not exactly the kind of thing I support) to your horrifed eyes but with clothing over it and not the nakedness. Also that is not me. A clear outline of my undies was visible everytime I moved around at all and I can honestly say I won't make that mistake again, you think eschewing the floss wear would be more comfortable but after yanking and pulling on these suckers for thirty minutes I would have to disagree.
My muscles are so fatigued that I've sort of sat here avoiding the shower because I don't want to hold my arms up to wash my hair. Ok maybe it won't be that bad but it feels like it.



  • Today's Workout (using dumbbells with kettlebell movements, wish the gym had KBs):

    Double military press
  • swings
  • cleans
  • suitcase deadlift
  • one legged deadlift
  • front squat
  • renegade lunge
  • halos
  • good mornings
  • one armed rows
  • windmills

I may be forgetting something but I basically mixed these up and repeated moves alternating between upper and lower body exercises (which is sort of not completely true with KB movements since they tend to use your whole body, especially the core) until completely tuckered out. It only took 30 minutes but I can guarantee it was a good workout. After I get warmed up my heart rate shoots up to the 170's with every exercise, I let it come back down while pacing around and then move on to the next-strength and intervals in one.

Alright that's all I can do at the computer for now, I just have not been able to force myself on this thing since I started feeling better and can actually leave the house. Off to beautify myself and do some holiday shopping.

At least my rearview looked good, awkward or not. ha!

Sunday, December 14, 2008

End of Day Four-This Road is Lined with Peril



Ahh day four (day one on the graphic but don't pay attention to that. Historically day four is where things go downhill for me and this time appeared to be going no differently. Deceptive.

Well that is not how the cookie will crumble this time, I did not fail because I ate more than I planned today. I did not fail because I have been sick since starting this ding dang challenge and I've only worked out once. What do these things make me? Human.

Not only human but rather predictable. I say predictable does not mean set in stone however and that is key to remember. I know what is going on here and I am staying the course to do better from here on out starting off with this challenge. Optimistic.

I read the saying somewhere (forgive me for not remembering where) that if you had a flat tire would you deflate the other three? or would you fix it and keep on traveling? I am choosing to fix the flat and keep on-the gig is not up because I ate too much Kashi oatmeal or too few vegetables today. So today I couldn't stomach the carrots when yesterday they sounded delicious. It happens, dare I say it might even be? Predictable.

Bottom line, there will be bumps in the road, that is called life and if not tomorrow then the next day I shall be better and I'll be at the gym and I'll continue to make good nutritional choices. Promise.

Teaser

I strapped on a pedometer today, let's see what I can do-sick or no.

Saturday, December 13, 2008

End of Day Three-Countdown to Slumberland

A quick update as I just took some Nyquil and I don't know how much later I'll be up. Not much activity to speak of for today but I ate very well, fruits and veggies, fiber, calcium, good fats, the whole shebang. Temptation tried to creep in towards dinner time but I stamped it down and cooked the delicious tilapia we had in the freezer and made a salad for myself and our son, Husband had rice. Some day we'll all three eat salad I hope but we've made progress on that front and so I remain hopeful but non pushy.
The temptation that reared was certainly not for any junk food, I actually wasn't craving anything in particular-sort of how it goes lately is I think about if I want hot or cold food and then proceed accordingly. Feeling poorly I just wanted something to grab out of the fridge and eat, no cooking involved. Reality kicked me in the ass though and let me know real quick that plopping some already breaded and seasoned fish on a baking sheet and preheating an oven was no biggie. Mission accomplished.
The perfusion of perfume in the gym yesterday seemed to aggravate my breathing passages, it was bad people, I don't think I've ever experienced such and the offenders were using the treadmill fans (for their casual strolls) so the fetid air was handily blown back on me while I huffed and puffed doing my darndest to raise and lower my heartrate repeatedly. P U. I am not usually a complainer about scent or personal choices but this...wow.
Alright, to end on a positive note, I am thankful I am out of school so that I am not missing class and stressing out about it and I have time to rest and get better. Despite being sick, life is good.

Friday, December 12, 2008

End of Day Two or, Original Titles, Who Needs Them?

Marla made me some awesome calendar graphics but that will have to wait until Sunday. Starting on a Thursday mucked up the artistic expression. *grin So I started yesterday and we'll just have to add on a few days mentally, good brain exercise.
Did my color coded food thing today, still have dinner to go but I am so on track it's not a worry. Despite being a veritable snot factory with sinuses so swollen it's deplorable, I did manage to hit the gym today for 30 minutes of interval cardio. I then walked down a ways to the store for a few items, used the handbasket and then walked back. Focusing on incidental activity is part of my new focus you see, so I may be chronicling that sort of thing.
The persimmon: I've eyed it everyday, thought about the bezoar hazard from unripened persimmon consumption, and kept on truckin'. I finally noticed it seemed to be in danger of spoiling so I figured the threat would be low. I read that you just peel it and eat so I tried a piece, was astonished by the taste, and ended up eating the entire thing. I can't say I would have another, I am not much of a sugar hound and that fruit was without a doubt the sweetest type I have ever had. It tasted as though it were constructed of pure white sugar, I am not kidding. I can see how if that were your type of thing you could eat too many of them and it end up with the dreaded bezoar. BEZOAR! Immediately after eating it I was convinced of stomach and intestinal pains but it's rather questionable how much of that was ye olde noggin.
Me-tired of being sick but fully fired up to knock off this bit of weight I've stacked on this year.

Thursday, December 11, 2008

End of Day One

I'm challenging myself to following a plan of my own design until New Year's Eve and day one is behind me. By no means will I suddenly sink into debauchery at the end goal but I may adjust my plan or do something different entirely. It's all well and good to live a healthy lifestyle, which I already do, but in order to feel that sense of achievement I like to have a plan to follow. Today I wrote down what I ate in different colored markers so I could glance at it and see if I was getting plenty of veggies, protein sources, and a good amount of carbohydrate. I liked this system and so shall keep it.
As for activity, no formal workout, just a lot of work around the house and at least 15-20 minutes or more of running back and forth in our yard kicking a ball with our son. So functional and fun-tional work was done today and tomorrow I take our Boy to school and will hit the gym.

I'm watching "What the Bleep Do We Know? and am not sure what to think at this point but it's pretty interesting. I love stuff like this, quantum physics, power of the mind, what's not to love? So I can't really focus on this at the moment, I'm missing fascinating points.
I will be updating daily with my progress and any other nonsense that comes to mind.

PS I ate the persimmon today, remind me to talk about that if I forget. BEZOARS!

Saturday, December 06, 2008

Slacker

In an effort to disallow any more time to pass me by without posting you shall now get a hodge podge of mental detrius for your enjoyment. *cough. The things I intended to do today sort of either fell by the wayside, like so many solitary hitchhiking shoes, or were reimagined, a cosmic "Do This, Not That" editorial if you will.

Here it is bullet style:
  • back to the gym-did not happen. Aha! Slacker! No, I ended up doing a thirty minute kettlebell workout in the warmth of my very own living room. Part of gymming today was our son getting to play in their playroom which he considers a treat. Due to toddler noncompliance with our fascist regime (you know, going to bed and not getting up a million times) I had to revoke this privledge as well as the movie viewing outing that had been proposed the night before. A workout happened to be high on my list of priorities so when he sacked out for naptime I fired up the kettlebell dvd and grabbed Big Blue (the 20 lb 'bell). I did the first two circuits instead of pushing for all three, knowing that yes I could get through it, but it would zap me the rest of the day and I had big plans. A note on kettlebell workouts: I've been doing a modified version of various kettlebell moves with the dumbbells at the gym and yes, speaking from experience now, it is drastically different. I actually prefer the dumbbells now, something I never thought I would say when I started out learning the kettlebell workouts. I won't abandon the real deal entirely by any means and hope to get heavier cannonballs o' fun for Christmas, but I feel much more engaged when I use the dumbbells for the same motions at the gym. Several things play into that: I can use much heavier weights using dumbbells and seem to be able to gauge progress more. I really get a badass workout in a shorter time period, using the kettlebells ends up being a bit more about cardiac performance and less of a strength building experience. Don't mistake me, I did make gains and rather quickly with kettlebells, but it seems to be maybe the movements rather than the hunks of iron themselves. Before my recent hiatus that I am now having to recover from strength-wise, I was up to weights previously unknown to me. I'm digressing and becoming less coherent here, I'll just write an entire post about that bit of business. I also jam out to my own tunes when hitting the gym and when following the dvd kettlebell workout I like to hear the verbal cues and my attempt at playing music over that did not work out well. My vim and vigor vanish. I just prefer to lift heavy for a shorter amount of time and then subsequently have a nice all over drained feeling, shaking limbs etc. rather than repeating many, many reps in order to feel exhausted but not max out my potential.
  • The Persimmon Thing-I bought a persimmon just for the hell of it, I almost didn't when I copped a look at the price for just one but it seemed strange that I spotted it so suddenly and it occured to me, I hadn't a clue what one does with a persimmon. It is squatting next to our clementines and honeycrisps being very mysterious. After finally taking the time to hit up Dr. Google for the answer I see you can eat it raw but that if it is not ripe enough, it might form a bezoar! I thought bezoars were somewhat of a scary dietetics myth, used to frighten young interns. sort of, I mean I know they exist but you just don't run into them I may just wait until the damned thing is almost rotten to try it now. Bezoars! ack.
  • Posting pictures-this one will have to wait for now.
  • Additional frivolous things blog-this is also just waiting for pictures and such, it will be the address http://errysue.blogspot.com/ , titled Brocante which means "junk" loosely in French as far as I know. I l ike the idea of just being able to empty the ol' cranium of fluff and nonsense. What will be posted? Pictures of moi, my family probably, fashion related things I like (meaning what I want or wear not actually following fashion which could not bore me more most of the time), crafty things, projects, just whatever takes my fancy.
  • professional paper-about halfway written, I had to take a break to get this important update tip tapped out, right?

I really wish I had a cool mark the days off graphic thing going like Marla, we are very similarly minded when it comes to having plans and marking things off, etc. I plan to commit to x number of workouts until Christmas, just need to figure that out, but that's what blogs are for and I've got a date with Winkin', Blinkin' and Nod. Bonus points if anyone realizes that comes from something and I'm not just a few marbles short of a set.

Promise

I WILL post today. Just not now, ha.

On the agenda:
back to the gym
figuring out this persimmon thing
posting pictures
hopefully starting an additional blog for frivolous things
writing my professional paper due Monday over the presentation I just did and THOUGHT I was free of...boo.
later taters