Hallooooo!

I'm around but am trying to cut down the amount of time my kiddo spends while I sit on this contraption reading/writing/surfing on a daily basis. Today I'm relaxing that a bit and letting him eat his breakfast on the couch watching Mickey Mouse. These are not daily activities but let's celebrate Saturday, yes?
Planning my meals out for the week worked splendidly as I am sure you could have guessed before I even did it. However, it worked so nicely I am committed to doing it again from here on out. I will plan my menu and snacks, arrange the shopping list by section of the store and then proceed to be pleased as punch. Check and check.
The next meal I made after I last updated was barley with chickpeas and pesto topped with sauteed artichoke hearts in garlic and a sprinkle of shaved parmesan cheese. Lovely, meatless and my guys both liked it quite a bit. It was also very easy which does not hurt.
Workouts? Done two of the scheduled three for the week and will do the third today, I promise. The third one is an all body workout but focused towards cardio so I look forward to it the least but will not skip. I see a lot of two arm swings on the agenda, my palms are already crying-at least I get some cool callouses out of it. I am weird like that. I have to say, I really am loving the workout program and very excited about what I know will happen to my fitness level and physique-it is already happening after one week. Oh! I think I finally have the hang of Turkish get-ups after practicing with no weight added this week-I will attempt to add the ten lb KB next time, I have a serious learning/ability deficit on this one or any other lunge maneuver for that fact. I know what I need to do to make it easy on my knees and effective and I pay close attention to that but sometimes I just get all flustered and disconnected from where exactly my various body parts are supposed to be at what time. No matter, I am getting it, yay!

Early Bird

I'm still here!
School started in case you couldn't tell and though I've still been getting on this machine to read things, actually producing words of my own has definitely fallen by the wayside. In fact I can't stay long today either, I want to get my workout in before I head off to class. So in bullet points:

• I did my first workout with the KB program Husband bought for me for Christmas, and I loved it! At first the system looked too complicated to me but it isn't at all now that I got off my duff and sorted it out. Monday was a strength focused workout, today will be cardio I think (maybe core? have to check) and then Friday will be whichever today isn't. (if that made any sense.)
• I am successfully getting up at 5:30am now though I faltered over the weekend. I want to do it everyday so that I naturally adjust to the pattern, so far so good. My master plan is to get used to it and then be able to workout every single day, but as for now I'm just letting my body take in the fact that yes, I really am getting up that early now. In the past I've jumped into everything at once and did not sustain it.
• I've been cooking again. Not that I stopped preparing food for awhile but I would say I was assembling more than cooking. I've made roasted red pepper couscous with balsalmic glazed porkchops, sweet and spicy turnips, fettucine with chicken, sun dried tomatoes, fresh basil, and a white wine cream sauce (with parmesan), and tonight I will make a barley, chickpea salad with artichoke hearts, garlic and pesto. All recipes from a Cooking Light book I've had for ages and barely used. If I get time I'll talk about each.
• I planned the week's menu including dinner, lunches and snacks and despite thinking it would be a huge pain in the ass, it was not so bad. I AM trained to do this after all, but even with training it's not been my favorite thing in the world. I will just develop the skill some more.

Enough yapping, I better get moving if I want to workout, get ready for school and not be stressed out getting there like I was yesterday.

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.

Yesterday I woke up feeling out of sorts-I'd slept too late despite intentions to get up earlier and I just felt blah for most of the day. I didn't want to do my kettlebell workout for the first time since I started and it took some serious prodding to get myself going. I didn't finish, barely did two circuits and didn't really enjoy it-something that has not happened before. I finally stopped when my heart started skipping a beat-seriously. It was a terrifying, scary feeling and I sent up the white flag and said OK heart I got'cha!

I made sure to walk around and not sit for a bit in order to let my HR return to normal, which it did fairly quickly. I'm not sure what happened but I don't forsee it being a problem again. I think I was too dehydrated (something I've had problems with all summer no matter what I try) and next time I feel that disinclined to do my workout maybe I can listen to my body instead of indulging in
Musturbation. Mizfit tried to tell me!
I put the intention out there in the universe that I want to be an early riser, I want to get organized, I want to feel confident and worry free when it comes to school, I want to manage my time more etc. and Monday I came across this websitewhich is filled with invaluable information on basically everything I need to know and practice to accomplish these skills. His writing really clicks with the way I think and I am loving reading about someone else that is on a constant quest to self improve. I feel very lonely sometimes because others see me as weird for striving to do more and be better. I think maybe that is why I'm attracted to weight loss and fitness blogs-that element is present.
I've started a detailed log related to my habits for this week-I may not keep it up but it's provided insight already for me and it's only Tuesday.
Today's exercise: an hr of Wii fit, mainly the strength portion(bodyweight exercises) and some cardio.
PS Also considering being vegetarian again, this time for life. Must ponder.

I graduated to big blue today and feel fantastic. The only movement I couldn't do all the reps with the 20 was the presses and I did half of the eight reps on all three sets. The one armed rows were not easy either and as soon as I noticed myself start to twist a bit to move the weight instead of letting my arm and back do the work I switched down but I only had to do that at the end. Ah yes, I'm forgetting the one arm swings, I switched down for that too but that was just a guess-I didn't try the 20 on those and so I can't say I was unable.
It was hard. I mean, REALLY hard and my core was aching almost immediately-I love how not only do you have the forward motion but you catch and slow the momentum when the 'bell comes back down.
Time to go to the circus! Enjoy your weekends.

Yet again I peeled off the couch and threw a ball of metal around by its handle for the last 45 minutes. Sweat poured down my neck and ran down my back. Considering we keep the A/C cranking, I had the fan on, and I just don't sweat that easily that's insane. I love it.
I've got the Cleans figured out, pretty sure I've got the Snatch down too but we'll see Tuesday morning. I watched even more vids earlier on youtube and finally watched some really excellent detailed ones that even showed what NOT to do in addition to explaining the correct way. I love how strong I feel and I cannot believe how sore my back is from just doing those three negatives last night, I'm glad I didn't go to failure. I'm thinking I want to incorporate something else into my weekly exercise routine at some point-considering taking a Bikram class-be good to work out the kinks and to challenge myself in a new way.
Now for a vanity report:
I actually have a butt now. For those of you that are scratching their heads and wondering what has happened to my brain let me explain. Hey, that rhymed. The women in my family either have too much adipose tissue stored and have unwieldy lumpy butts or non existent wide pancake assitis-neither of which are exactly my ideal. After only a few weeks I'm developing a nice shapely rear end and I cannot be happier about this development. My quads are rock solid again, calves are high and solid too giving me more definition there-we're also afflicted with cankles and I am not exaggerating-it's okay I'm not running myself down-just being honest. I'm pulling on most of my old stuff again that hasn't fit for a few months but it fits completely differently. Probably from my new found bootyliciousness-my former English major self is cringing while typing that-but I'm not minding the tighter fit since my legs and rear look better, are stronger, and nothing is hanging over the top anymore. All of this is happening (plus let's not forget the negative pull-ups, I'll be crowing over that for awhile until I make even more progress, which I will, is this parenthetical long enough?) and yet I have dropped like I mentioned-maybe 2 lbs at MOST on scale weight. I've lost at least a BF% according to my Tanita at the same hydration level, clothes are fitting again, and more muscle is showing so my scientific deduction (yeaaaaaah) is I must be putting on a decent amount of muscle and losing some fat no matter what Master Tanita-san says.

PS Had some fun doing some two armed swings with my son as the kettlebell yesterday, he loved it too.

PPS Eight KB workouts so far-going to definitely do a recap and more than likely post pictutres when I hit workout 36 as that will equal 12 weeks of KB workouts in my mind.

And yet another first tonight. I actually did some real negative pull ups. Three.

So what? You ask, well I’ll tell you this was huge for me. My brother had started harrassing me again to try and do pull ups on his pull up bar and I was saying no again, that I can’t do it, that I just drop like a stone even doing negatives.
You see, this is the way it’s always been for me. I dreaded the President’s fitness test in elementary school, it was never fun, always a torture and I not only failed to do a pull up but could never do the “hang test” either. Pronounce that eye-ther.
Flash forward, twenty seven years old and I decide to try to perform negative pull ups and…
I did it, no them, three in fact. I could have done more but I got all excited and I also plan to do another KB workout tomorrow and didn’t want to be hurting too much. I felt strong and amazing and can’t wait to be able to pull up instead of slowly lowering down.
I’m on my way up.
Kettlebells people, kettlebells.

So that is me 2/3 of the way through my workout. Onward.

Last week was hard physically but I must say staying the course and getting all my KB workouts in was completely worth it and very empowering. I meant to come here yesterday and update, even took some pictures to post and then I couldn't find the cord to transfer and life got away from me. I spent some time being a growth coming out of the couch cushion yesterday before I finally peeled myself up and got my hr in, sweating and cursing the whole time. By the end of the video (the 2nd dvd again that is harder for me)I was saying *&*&*^&*! my abs! at the end when she says, "Now let's work on some abs." I talk to the dvd sometimes but anything I say is not truly meant, I like the dvd and admire Ms. Lurie for what she has accomplished not only with her physique but also with her business. I'm also greatful that the kettlebells have been made easily available at Target for not AS expensive a price as something you would have to order online.
I've done KB workouts 7 times, dvd 1 x 5 and dvd 2 x 2 and am excited by what is to come. I know after I really get proficient I can mix things up myself but I'm really enjoying instruction and being led for a change. I've done self made, self paced workouts for several years now and this is really keeping me hooked. Another thing that is keeping me "hooked" is what is happening with my strength levels. I started with the 10 lb as you know just because I wasn't totally sure where to start and that worked well for about 3-4 workouts and then I needed to upgrade to the 15 and not only did I need to but I can DO cleans, presses, snatches, etc with the 15 now whereas I'm not so sure I was strong enough to do so before-that means a pretty serious gain very quickly. After a few times with the 15 I know it won't be long before I need the 20 and that rocks so hard. My son is about 37 lbs and I pick him up quite a bit-something that was sort of hard was slinging him into the carseat because you have to get the butt in, not hit his head and put him in sideways while bending over-a great deal more difficult than simply lifting 37 lbs on a barbell or something. I don't have to put him in the seat very often anymore but if he's having what my grandma calls a "critical day" I'll put him in there against his will and it is easy now. I can handle him all kinds of ways with NO effort really now and that is amazing to me. I'm not someone that's never strength trained before, I've done it for years and yet after 2 and a half weeks of doing this I am noticeably stronger than ever before. I am smiling right now.
My weight is also doing weird things-I'm not refering to the scale because that's not moving much, maybe a pound to a pound and a half but I look...alternately more ripped and more squishy. I know that doesn't sound appealing but I've seen my body do this before-it's like it has to adjust to fat loss before the skin sucks back in-very scientific explanation eh? I'm also showing 1% bodyfat down. in three weeks. yes.
Things are good-I'm off to eat my cheat meal-chili cheese dogs and tator tots (Hebrew National 98% fat free franks, white wheat buns, 2% cheese, 99% fat free chili, and regular ol' Ore Ida tots.) YUM! I seriously don't miss all the extra disgustingness and just think of all the toilet paper we'll save by not eating all that grease.

Upping the 'bell to fifteen lbs definitely made a difference. I can still press that weight but it is much harder and I was struggling on the last few reps each circuit. The ten pound did the job for cardio but then it became manageable after about 3 workouts. The fifteen worked my core a lot harder and made it really difficult again. I'll keep on with the fifteen until it is no longer as difficult and then upgrade to the twenty. I can do swings and cleans with the twenty but pressing that much over and over would not be a great idea I think-would lead to bad form and possible injury (my shoulders are touchy, not unlike most people's).
Couldn't get the volume 2 disc at D!ck's Sp0rting G00ds-they just simply did not have either disc even though they're on the website. I did watch the disc that came with the new bells (old one did not work when we got it)and it showed the Turkish Getup and watching the Cleans on it made it more clear for me and I did it with good form and no wrist slapping today. I was doing it completely wrong like I thought, but now I have it.
"Cheat Meal" mentality last night led me to eat about 3-4 times as much as I normally would because it tasted so good but I won't keep doing that over and over...my normal mode is clean eating and I honestly like the foods I eat. Not a hardship just depends on your perspective.

36 minutes of Wii Fit today-I did yoga and cardio mainly trying to stretch out my legs from the kettle workout yesterday-not very sore which confirms somewhat my feeling of needing to upgrade the weight. I'm going to get a fifteen and a twenty lb bell tonight along with the 2nd dvd that shows the Turkish getup etc. I really like following along with a video-I have NEVER done that with weights and it makes me feel like I'm in a class which is apparently something that really works for me. I didn't know that because I've never been able to consistently attend any fitness classes other than the handful of power yoga ones I did at night with my mom. We LOVED doing that.
On to what I've been using: Iron Core Kettlebell dvd volume 1. Here is a link to their website along with their bells and videos, etc. I'm resisting buying the wristbands because if I control the movement enough I don't get smacked that badly on the arm but then again I am still a little lost on exactly what I am doing wrong on the Clean. Still working on it-I think I was doing too much of a one arm swing motion and need to keep my arm closer to my body-watching some videos of various people doing it cleared it up a bit for me.
Speaking of videos, there are tons on you tube and something I learned during last night's insomnia episode-people are just as silly and immature about kettlebells as they are about traditional free weights. A great deal of the comments on the videos were highly irritating but such is life. Why would you watch someone do a Turkish Getup with a 45 kg kettlebell and then say, "Now let's see you do it with a barbell." RAWR makes me want to smack people.
Purchased my old standbyes of cottage cheese, Fiber One, carrots, etc and am puzzling out the eating side of things. I want the heavier KB to do my workout tomorrow-Husband brought up starting himself today and I could have danced a jig. Yay for non pressuring my spouse and him figuring things out on his own. It is a bit irksome that one of our male friends started a long time back and I think that is partially why he is receptive to it-nothing I have ever done and showed him has been any interest to him. Let's not overthink things here.

Just a quickie, I do NOT have time as I am supposed to be walking out the door in 15 minutes with my son awake, shoes on and stuff packed to go for his three yr checkup. Yesterday was his birthday!
I did all three circuits off my KB dvd and do not feel like I will die this time. Definitely still a workout but not nearly as bad as it was that first time. I'll need to upgrade to a heavier bell soon-maybe get one tomorrow and get an even bigger one for Husband. Yay that makes me excited!
I will post links about KB stuff later, like my dvd and their webpage and other blogs that have been talking about it.
PS I need to name my bell, I saw that over at MizFit and loved the idea. Suggestions?

I'm sitting up, hoping that this damned ibuprofren kicks in sometime soon so that I can go to sleep without my knees exploding. Not sure which activity I engaged in did this to my legs but they are aching, aching, ACHING. I did 35 minutes of Wii stuff today including hoola hooping, skiing, soccer, running in place, boxing against a heavy bag and some yoga and stuff like lunges and plank. I know the hoola hoop one can do a number on my knees but who knows. My appetite has gone crazy, I am sitting here hungry right now and I've had plenty to eat over the day-in fact I had a hambuger steak at my mom's and managed to lodge part of it up in my nose-back of throat-area. In case you were wondering if that feels nice...no.
I'm super excited that my husband is using the Wii and also interested in doing kettlebell workouts, the more stuff I read about them the more amazing I realize they are-so time efficient yet fun and interesting. Tomorrow I'll do all three circuits-my legs are sore but not that bad from doing the two circuits so I'm fairly confident I can bump it back up.
Hrm, legs are still hurting. Boo.

PS Regarding tattoos oh wonderous Marla-I've wanted at least onoe for years but we shall see if that happens. Part of me isn't so sure anymore-I've changed so much but I definitely want to be a badass instructor.

Just completed two of the three cicuits on my kettlebell workout dvd. Last time I did all three and was jelly the rest of the day and could barely walk for almost three days. This is with a ten pound bell even though I've read to start with a 15. Apparently I am more out of shape than I thought! Part of me says, "Why didn't you do all three even though your body was telling you to stop?" but I am ignoring that voice and taking care of myself. Wore my HRM today and burned 371 calories in 37 minutes with an avg HR of 156 and a high of 182!
I've eaten yogurt with almond slivers and had plenty of water-I got up late so don't think I am trying to starve myself.
On the sick front: almost better, well enough to workout and just take breaks to hack up stuff and blow my nose. I know that is part of why the workout was so hard-the first time I tried it I was coming down with this junk so it will be interesting to see how I progress. I have a new motivation and it came to me with the KB workouts and my desire to go further with them: I've said it before regarding being an RD, you need to look the part or no one will want to pay you lots of moola, haha, but with teaching KB workouts I will REALLY need to look the part as it is not as mainstream yet and it's a different way of doing things. People are visual creatures. That may seem depressing but for me it is actually uplifting, I can't seem to really focus when the goal is purely my vanity but when it comes to being successful in business, that I can focus on and vanity is just a side project. I don't say my "health" because despite my pudgy appearance now I am quite healthy and won't lose site of that. My arms are tired and I'm stopping now that I just sort of opened a can of worms. Love me.