I did my bedtime moves last night and my abs were SORE this morning. My legs are still sore from Sunday. I had an early taco salad lunch today and didn't feel like working out. By afternoon the guilt kicked in so I fed the kids an early dinner and we loaded up the double stroller for a walk. 2 miles. The last half mile was straight uphill pushing not just myself but the 60+ lbs of children and stroller. I was dying. I kept thinking, "This is worse than any crazy cardio...as soon as I get home I'm sitting in a chair and not getting up." lol
We made it and I'm proud of my 2 miles. It took about 43 minutes. It would have been faster if I was alone but I'm not worried about time. The kids were better because they could look at so many things in the neighborhood. The track is easier of course but boring for them. I'd like to do 4 miles a week so maybe I'll do 2 miles on the track one day and 2 miles around the neighborhood another day. Note to self: Load up the stroller with books for track days. I like the walking. It works muscles I don't use doing workouts at home and it's a different kind of sore. It's also getting fresh air for me and the kids without actually getting dirty. ;-)
So tonight I'll do some stretching before bed and some more ab work. I've been guzzling water all evening and didn't even have dinner. I'll be starving in the morning for sure I bet. I'm already looking forward to my amaretto coffee (not liquor, just flavored cream) and natural peanut butter on wheat for breakfast. The rest of the taco salad fixins' for lunch and who knows what for dinner. Oh! I have stuff to make soup. My mother-in-law gave me a recipe for a vegetable puree soup with orzo and I found a simple potato leek soup recipe that I want to try as well. I'm wondering what will happen if I add the potatoes and leeks to the vegetable soup recipe. You can pretty much add whatever you want into it. We shall see....;-)
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Monday, October 10, 2011
I'm smiling...
Well...I started blogging about my weightloss on September 26. I didn't want to weigh myself...but I got curious last night. So I pulled out the scale. I'm down 5 pounds. :-) Not bad for a little over 2 weeks right? Could it be more? Absolutely. I had splurge days. I had soda. I wasn't drinking water. I took days off from full workouts. There's definitely room for improvement...and there's plenty more weight to be lost.
I'm crazy sore today. I'm exhausted. I was up all night, my legs were KILLING me. I had an electric blanket on me all night trying to heat up my legs. I got out of bed at midnight to heat up my gel pack to put under my legs too. It wasn't enough. I'm pooped. I still have my legs wrapped and they feel a little better this morning but my eyes are burning. Just want to close my eyes for a bit...but no...the children are up. It's not going to happen.
Today will be a Stretch Armstrong day. Morning moves, pilates chair, arm weights on the balance pods, some ab work and then I shall rest. I need to do more ab work so I'm adding in "bedtime moves" to the daily schedule. Before I get INTO bed, I lay down flat on my bed and do leg circles in the air, bicycle, crunch twists and reverse crunches. You get the idea. Doing it on the floor kills my back, even with an extra thick yoga mat so I do the ab work on my bed. I use my yoga mat for actual yoga. lol If I feel better by this evening maybe I'll do the Bar Method Body workout...or I'll save it for tomorrow. Lots of water drinking today. My growing muscles need water!
I'm crazy sore today. I'm exhausted. I was up all night, my legs were KILLING me. I had an electric blanket on me all night trying to heat up my legs. I got out of bed at midnight to heat up my gel pack to put under my legs too. It wasn't enough. I'm pooped. I still have my legs wrapped and they feel a little better this morning but my eyes are burning. Just want to close my eyes for a bit...but no...the children are up. It's not going to happen.
Today will be a Stretch Armstrong day. Morning moves, pilates chair, arm weights on the balance pods, some ab work and then I shall rest. I need to do more ab work so I'm adding in "bedtime moves" to the daily schedule. Before I get INTO bed, I lay down flat on my bed and do leg circles in the air, bicycle, crunch twists and reverse crunches. You get the idea. Doing it on the floor kills my back, even with an extra thick yoga mat so I do the ab work on my bed. I use my yoga mat for actual yoga. lol If I feel better by this evening maybe I'll do the Bar Method Body workout...or I'll save it for tomorrow. Lots of water drinking today. My growing muscles need water!
Sunday, October 9, 2011
Owww......
I'm in pain. My legs hurt. I wouldn't normally be this miserable but my legs get these weird pains for no reason and something like walking and running around my neighborhood will definitely lead to crazy leg pains. I wrap them in ace bandages and a few hours later they'll feel better. I'd like nothing more than to lay down on the couch with my legs covered with a heating pad watching TLC or Bravo but no, the grandparents are here.
They stress me out man. Thank goodness they brought over some margarita mix because after a Sunday with them I need something for sure to kill the mental anxiety. It's not so much that they're crazy...it's a combination of things. My son turns into the biggest brat around them. He orders them. Gives them demands. Requests activities, toys and outings he knows I normally don't allow. And he screams the whole time. It's chaotic. My daughter searches for bits and pieces of attention where she can get it. She finds ways to play and occupy herself and usually that means hanging out with me or playing by herself. My mom floats between my son and my daughter, all the while complaining to me about something. It's non-stop complaining when they come here. "The house is too cold. He's sneezing..is he getting sick? Take her hair clip out and fix her hair. You never let them go outside, let me take him to Costco to get gas. Why did you give him a haircut like that? He's hungry, what's wrong with you, why don't you feed him?? See, you're nicer to her. If he threw that book what would you have done? I thought you wanted to make tacos, should we just wait until we go home to eat?" I'm not exaggerating. My brain is FRIED. The last thing I want to do is make friggin' tacos for these people. The kids won't eat tacos and I don't have much of an appetite right now.
They took the kids out for a walk and I could have A. Washed some dishes or watched tv or B. Put on my shoes and go for some exercise. Since I slacked this past week I decided to get my butt into gear by starting this week off right. I started off running and walking for the first 5-7 minutes. I should have warmed up with straight walking first but I wanted to get away from the zoo crew so I ran past them. I walked the remaining down hill and then around the neighborhood and then up hill. I don't know how far it was exactly. Somewhere between 1-2 miles. Next time I'll wear my pedometer. It took me 25 minutes. I felt it going uphill on the way home. I'm pooped. I'm washing my bed linens and taking a shower as soon as the kids go to bed. I'll be sleeping good tonight I bet.
Tomorrow's workout will be The Bar Method Body. Ballet moves with some strength training. I previewed the dvd (from the library), it looks good. Tomorrow I'll make myself a taco salad and use the rest of the ground beef for bolognese sauce for the kids' dinner. Kill two birds with one pack of ground beef. ;-)
They stress me out man. Thank goodness they brought over some margarita mix because after a Sunday with them I need something for sure to kill the mental anxiety. It's not so much that they're crazy...it's a combination of things. My son turns into the biggest brat around them. He orders them. Gives them demands. Requests activities, toys and outings he knows I normally don't allow. And he screams the whole time. It's chaotic. My daughter searches for bits and pieces of attention where she can get it. She finds ways to play and occupy herself and usually that means hanging out with me or playing by herself. My mom floats between my son and my daughter, all the while complaining to me about something. It's non-stop complaining when they come here. "The house is too cold. He's sneezing..is he getting sick? Take her hair clip out and fix her hair. You never let them go outside, let me take him to Costco to get gas. Why did you give him a haircut like that? He's hungry, what's wrong with you, why don't you feed him?? See, you're nicer to her. If he threw that book what would you have done? I thought you wanted to make tacos, should we just wait until we go home to eat?" I'm not exaggerating. My brain is FRIED. The last thing I want to do is make friggin' tacos for these people. The kids won't eat tacos and I don't have much of an appetite right now.
They took the kids out for a walk and I could have A. Washed some dishes or watched tv or B. Put on my shoes and go for some exercise. Since I slacked this past week I decided to get my butt into gear by starting this week off right. I started off running and walking for the first 5-7 minutes. I should have warmed up with straight walking first but I wanted to get away from the zoo crew so I ran past them. I walked the remaining down hill and then around the neighborhood and then up hill. I don't know how far it was exactly. Somewhere between 1-2 miles. Next time I'll wear my pedometer. It took me 25 minutes. I felt it going uphill on the way home. I'm pooped. I'm washing my bed linens and taking a shower as soon as the kids go to bed. I'll be sleeping good tonight I bet.
Tomorrow's workout will be The Bar Method Body. Ballet moves with some strength training. I previewed the dvd (from the library), it looks good. Tomorrow I'll make myself a taco salad and use the rest of the ground beef for bolognese sauce for the kids' dinner. Kill two birds with one pack of ground beef. ;-)
Saturday, October 8, 2011
Motivation
I needed some motivation heading into this coming week. I want to amp it up and move it hard this week. I'm starting to see a change in my face and my stomach and I have to keep it up. It's only going to be as good as the effort I put into it. I can do better. I'm stronger and I can do more..and so I will. I need constant motivation. It helps me to see how far people have come. It helps to see the visual changes in transformations. So I turned to Netflix.
I'd never seen a full episode of The Biggest Loser. I bought a couple of The Biggest Loser books from Borders before they went out of business and they're very inspiring. I was drawn to the cast from Season 4 in the books so I watched the first 4 episodes of Season 4 on Netflix today. Jillian comes back to "save" the rejects that were not chosen for the blue and red team and I cried when she showed up. I could FEEL their desperation at wanting to get help. They didn't think they could do it on their own at home. Jillian KILLED her team. She worked them harder than the other teams. It was a cake walk for the blue and red during their workouts compared to what she made the black team do.
It put things in perspective for me. The women lost a lot less than the men did. The men had pretty significant drops in weight each week with the women losing only single digits. It's no joke that it's harder for women to lose weight. So...I don't need to kill myself but the weight will come off. I'm not concerned with actual weight right now. I want to see a change in my body. I'm moving from an XL pajama pant to a L. lol As my friend Matt says, "My socks are feeling a little loose." lol I was unknowingly wearing a size 8/10 capri jean which was a great surprise (though to be honest they have an elastic waistband). I look like less of a football player with my broad shoulders and big arms. Slowly but surely, it's getting better. One day I will see my pants fall off and then I'll know it's time to get on the scale. Or maybe I'll hike them up and enjoy the feeling of too-big pants. ;-) One day I will pull out a skirt I wore senior year in high school...and it will go up past my butt. One day I will pull out a pair of jean shorts that I wore junior year in high school...and I will be able to pull them up past my thighs. And one day I will need to donate ALL of it...and go shopping. :-)
I'd never seen a full episode of The Biggest Loser. I bought a couple of The Biggest Loser books from Borders before they went out of business and they're very inspiring. I was drawn to the cast from Season 4 in the books so I watched the first 4 episodes of Season 4 on Netflix today. Jillian comes back to "save" the rejects that were not chosen for the blue and red team and I cried when she showed up. I could FEEL their desperation at wanting to get help. They didn't think they could do it on their own at home. Jillian KILLED her team. She worked them harder than the other teams. It was a cake walk for the blue and red during their workouts compared to what she made the black team do.
It put things in perspective for me. The women lost a lot less than the men did. The men had pretty significant drops in weight each week with the women losing only single digits. It's no joke that it's harder for women to lose weight. So...I don't need to kill myself but the weight will come off. I'm not concerned with actual weight right now. I want to see a change in my body. I'm moving from an XL pajama pant to a L. lol As my friend Matt says, "My socks are feeling a little loose." lol I was unknowingly wearing a size 8/10 capri jean which was a great surprise (though to be honest they have an elastic waistband). I look like less of a football player with my broad shoulders and big arms. Slowly but surely, it's getting better. One day I will see my pants fall off and then I'll know it's time to get on the scale. Or maybe I'll hike them up and enjoy the feeling of too-big pants. ;-) One day I will pull out a skirt I wore senior year in high school...and it will go up past my butt. One day I will pull out a pair of jean shorts that I wore junior year in high school...and I will be able to pull them up past my thighs. And one day I will need to donate ALL of it...and go shopping. :-)
Friday, October 7, 2011
The Big Picture
The AM/PM Tai Chi was relaxing...very relaxing. My eyes were half-closed through the whole thing. Definitely something wonderful to do before bed in the evening. I know the movements now and I can incorporate them into my "morning moves". I also added some pilates chair moves after I was done with the dvd. Nice and stretched and relaxed.
I'm high strung. I get anxious about germs. I'm raising children on my own with no emotional support, no pat on the back, no "You're doing good, keep it up." No hug at the end of the day to soothe my soul. I get crazy cranky when I'm tired. I eat when I'm tired or stressed out. The stress isn't good for my mid-section and belly fat is the worst thing for your internal system. The heart, your sugar levels and on and on. Exercise is not only necessary for me on a daily basis but should be mandatory. It doesn't matter what it is. It can be cardio, strength training, a simple walk, sweating my brains out doing something "amped up" like a HIIT workout, pilates, yoga, or Tai Chi. The goal is to increase healthy foods into our diet (the kids are snack junkies) and get Mommy moving. Yes, I need amped up cardio for now. Won't be forever but I need to get the weight down. Hopefully by the spring I'll be in better shape. When I look better and my body feels less heavy and tired, my spirit will be lifted and I'll be (hopefully) a much more calm parent. I'm working on the outside as well as the inside.
The mission is to create a healthy body both inside and out for my well-being as well as for my children. By increasing healthy foods and WATER into my diet, daily exercise and some method of stress-release I should be able to accomplish the mission. You know when you hear people say, "I didn't just lose weight, I changed my life!" ? Yeah, I want that to be me. Are there plenty of size 12/14 women out there? Sure. I just don't want to be one of them anymore. When I look at women that are toned and it's obvious they exercise...do you know what that tells me? They care about themselves. If they care enough to exercise, they care enough to think twice about what they eat. When they take time to exercise it means they're taking the time to remember who they are, what their body is capable of. It also means they're making themselves a priority.
I've forgotten the old me. I'm trying to remember her again. The Bahar that used to warm people with her smile. Now I'm tired and cranky. The confidence isn't there. There was little to begin with and of course now it's non-existent. There's a part of the dream that's missing. I'm trying to fill that void with something positive. I messed up but now I'm trying to make it right. The only way to make it better is by improving each and every day. I see the bigger picture...now I just have to put one foot in front of the other and keep moving forward.
I'm high strung. I get anxious about germs. I'm raising children on my own with no emotional support, no pat on the back, no "You're doing good, keep it up." No hug at the end of the day to soothe my soul. I get crazy cranky when I'm tired. I eat when I'm tired or stressed out. The stress isn't good for my mid-section and belly fat is the worst thing for your internal system. The heart, your sugar levels and on and on. Exercise is not only necessary for me on a daily basis but should be mandatory. It doesn't matter what it is. It can be cardio, strength training, a simple walk, sweating my brains out doing something "amped up" like a HIIT workout, pilates, yoga, or Tai Chi. The goal is to increase healthy foods into our diet (the kids are snack junkies) and get Mommy moving. Yes, I need amped up cardio for now. Won't be forever but I need to get the weight down. Hopefully by the spring I'll be in better shape. When I look better and my body feels less heavy and tired, my spirit will be lifted and I'll be (hopefully) a much more calm parent. I'm working on the outside as well as the inside.
The mission is to create a healthy body both inside and out for my well-being as well as for my children. By increasing healthy foods and WATER into my diet, daily exercise and some method of stress-release I should be able to accomplish the mission. You know when you hear people say, "I didn't just lose weight, I changed my life!" ? Yeah, I want that to be me. Are there plenty of size 12/14 women out there? Sure. I just don't want to be one of them anymore. When I look at women that are toned and it's obvious they exercise...do you know what that tells me? They care about themselves. If they care enough to exercise, they care enough to think twice about what they eat. When they take time to exercise it means they're taking the time to remember who they are, what their body is capable of. It also means they're making themselves a priority.
I've forgotten the old me. I'm trying to remember her again. The Bahar that used to warm people with her smile. Now I'm tired and cranky. The confidence isn't there. There was little to begin with and of course now it's non-existent. There's a part of the dream that's missing. I'm trying to fill that void with something positive. I messed up but now I'm trying to make it right. The only way to make it better is by improving each and every day. I see the bigger picture...now I just have to put one foot in front of the other and keep moving forward.
Bad, bad girl
So...from Tuesday-Thursday I didn't do an official workout. Bad, bad, bad. I know. I did, however, do squats, lunges, strength training on my arms, standing crunches and my "morning moves" every day. I also utilize the minutes I'm nuking something in the microwave (or reheating my coffee 4 times per morning) by doing some trunk twists, stretches and punches. Anything to keep the body moving right? We also went for a short walk yesterday afternoon. I'd love to be able to just go out for a walk/run without worrying about what the kids are doing but nope, I'm too controlling for that.
I have a few Amazon goodies coming by way soon and one of them is the Scott Cole Tai Chi for Weightloss that I tried on Monday. I really liked it. I got his AM/PM workout from the library so I'll be doing that one today. Just enough to get the blood flowing, the body warmed...but this time I'm doing it without the zoo-crew around. Not that relaxing with backround chatter. lol
I also have some belly dance dvds from the library by Rania. I've tried hers before and she's good. Some of them are too annoying. I didn't accomplish my goal of "amping it up" this week but it's not a total loss. I ate well this week and I did move my body. This weekend will be some Tai Chi and belly dancing and tacos on Sunday (all the toppings are healthy and we don't use sour cream ;-)
Lessons learned: Must remember to switch errands to afternoons now. We ran errands in the mornings all summer before it got too hot and now I have to switch. If we run errands in the morning by the time we get back and the kids go down for naps I'm too pooped to exercise and just want some quiet time. I also learned that if I exercise when the kids are napping, I'll still have some alone time before Gino wakes up. Then when he's up when can come downstairs to do his lessons before Nina wakes up. Everyone gets their special time. I also learned that it doesn't matter if you exercise in one straight period of time or you break it up. Every little bit helps. I did bicep/tricep work while I watched my movie last night. My fatso arms are looking better! lol And last...I learned that I now feel guilty when I don't work out. Guilt is good. Means I'll bug myself until I work out again. ;-)
I have a few Amazon goodies coming by way soon and one of them is the Scott Cole Tai Chi for Weightloss that I tried on Monday. I really liked it. I got his AM/PM workout from the library so I'll be doing that one today. Just enough to get the blood flowing, the body warmed...but this time I'm doing it without the zoo-crew around. Not that relaxing with backround chatter. lol
I also have some belly dance dvds from the library by Rania. I've tried hers before and she's good. Some of them are too annoying. I didn't accomplish my goal of "amping it up" this week but it's not a total loss. I ate well this week and I did move my body. This weekend will be some Tai Chi and belly dancing and tacos on Sunday (all the toppings are healthy and we don't use sour cream ;-)
Lessons learned: Must remember to switch errands to afternoons now. We ran errands in the mornings all summer before it got too hot and now I have to switch. If we run errands in the morning by the time we get back and the kids go down for naps I'm too pooped to exercise and just want some quiet time. I also learned that if I exercise when the kids are napping, I'll still have some alone time before Gino wakes up. Then when he's up when can come downstairs to do his lessons before Nina wakes up. Everyone gets their special time. I also learned that it doesn't matter if you exercise in one straight period of time or you break it up. Every little bit helps. I did bicep/tricep work while I watched my movie last night. My fatso arms are looking better! lol And last...I learned that I now feel guilty when I don't work out. Guilt is good. Means I'll bug myself until I work out again. ;-)
Monday, October 3, 2011
Ahh, Tai Chi.
I took the day off yesterday. 6 days of exercise, one day of complete rest. Well, not complete rest because I did have to deal with kiddos all day but you know what I mean. lol My dad came over today and good thing too because our heat wasn't kicking on. He had his friend stop by and they changed the thermostat and it's back on. It was a bit too chilly this morning, even for me. So after a busy morning, naps and lunch, I mentioned to my dad that he should try the Tai Chi video with me since we were talking about the art of de-stressing.
I put it on, Nina in her high chair, Gino stomping around angry that he didn't have my dad's undivided attention. My dad sat and watched it. lol I got up and DID it. It actually got the blood flowing and I really liked it. The reviews on the video had said it wasn't a beginner dvd and too difficult to follow. I really don't understand that. Following a dvd isn't rocket science. Unless you have two left feet and you're completely uncoordinated, you should be able to follow along. You're mirroring the movements. Anyway, I didn't find it hard to follow. The beginning breaks up each move while flowing into the next but he shows you how to do each move in a slower way. Then the second portion is where he's outside on the beach and goes through the entire flow of exercises. I was sweaty at the end but I felt good. I felt like I had positive movement in my body but I wasn't drained.
This week my goal is to get in some running or at least get the heart rate up significantly to get my body trained to feel the same as I do when running. That means boot camp style moves, running, treadmill, trampoline, jumping exercises etc. I have Turbo Jam's Fat Blaster as well as Turbo Fire...might get into that a bit this week. I get bored doing the same series all week long but the goal is to amp it up 3 times this week. The other days I'll do strength training and other types of cardio or yoga.
I put it on, Nina in her high chair, Gino stomping around angry that he didn't have my dad's undivided attention. My dad sat and watched it. lol I got up and DID it. It actually got the blood flowing and I really liked it. The reviews on the video had said it wasn't a beginner dvd and too difficult to follow. I really don't understand that. Following a dvd isn't rocket science. Unless you have two left feet and you're completely uncoordinated, you should be able to follow along. You're mirroring the movements. Anyway, I didn't find it hard to follow. The beginning breaks up each move while flowing into the next but he shows you how to do each move in a slower way. Then the second portion is where he's outside on the beach and goes through the entire flow of exercises. I was sweaty at the end but I felt good. I felt like I had positive movement in my body but I wasn't drained.
This week my goal is to get in some running or at least get the heart rate up significantly to get my body trained to feel the same as I do when running. That means boot camp style moves, running, treadmill, trampoline, jumping exercises etc. I have Turbo Jam's Fat Blaster as well as Turbo Fire...might get into that a bit this week. I get bored doing the same series all week long but the goal is to amp it up 3 times this week. The other days I'll do strength training and other types of cardio or yoga.
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