Shaeon Puts Down Second Breakfast and Begins an Adventure

[shaeon]

Here's my current stats:

 

Age: 41

Gender: Female

Height: 5'3"

Weight: 257.4 lbs (as of 9/20/2014)

 

Weight goals:

Short term goal: lose the next 27.4 pounds. This would put me at a 50 pound weight loss since I first started Weight Watchers quite some time ago.

Mid term goal: Get below 200 pounds.

Ultimate goal: 140 pounds, which is Normal for my height according to the BMI.

 

Strength/performance goals:

Do a pull up.

Do a chin up.

Do a standard push up (not a kneeling or inclined push up).

 

I'm currently not able to sign up for challenges because I have a surgery scheduled for mid-November - I think it's safe for me to assume that the next challenge will intersect with that. According to my doctor, the surgery is fast recovery for most people - two days of rest and then back to work. But of course, she was talking about my sit-at-a-desk-all-day job, and not my ability to do squats or High Intensity Interval Training. She and I have a pre-op appointment in a month, and I will discuss my exercise regiment with her then and make sure I take all necessary precautions to ensure that I don't do ANYTHING during the recovery period that harms me physically or damages my ability to get healed up properly and get back to pursuing my goals.

 

In the meantime, I plan to start a progressive weights and cardio program, and continue with the Weight Watchers food tracking program with an emphasis on increasing nutritious whole foods and reducing fakey chemical crap. Partly, this is because past experience has taught me that being as fit as I can be prior to surgery is one of the best things I can do for my healing process. Partly, I think it would be really easy to be a lazy bum until mid-November because why bother exercising if I'm going to be down for a few days? And that just leads to more lazy bumming after surgery. Bad habits lead to more bad habits.

 

Goals for the remainder of this week (10/2/14 - 10/5/14):

1. Do the daily quests that are sent to me by Nerd Fitness email.

2. Design my weight-training program and decide which days my weight days are going to be.

 

Dietary goals for the month of October:

1. Kick this soda habit I've developed for some stupid reason.

2. Track everything I eat, at least 5 days a week.

 

Lifestyle goal for the month of October:

Get at least 7 hours of sleep, at least 3 days out of the week.

[MegaShe-Ra]

Love the title of your battle log!

Good luck with your start. Looks like you've got sone solid plans, good luck!

[shaeon]

Thank you MegaShe-Ra!

[Granny Nogg]

Applause!!  You go, Shae!  You can kick that soda habit-- one not-soda-but-water at a time.  Don't forget to reward yourself with non-food rewards!

[shaeon]

Thanks, Cat!

 

So I'd planned to start the Beginner Body Weight Workout today, and combine it with my plan for building towards a pull up. I had to modify it to my own ability, so that it looks like this:

 

10 Body Weight Squats

10 Incline Push Ups

7 Lunges

10 Dumbbell Rows

15 Second Plank

10 Jumping Jacks

 

3 Circuits of all of this!

 

I'm happy to say that I accomplished this! I completed this modified version of the BBWW, including a warm up before starting. I also had already been doing rows (on a machine; boo!) before, so I'm working on increasing the weight that I can do on dumbbell rows. Currently that is 25 pounds. Wooo! I also used the Smith Machine at the gym for my incline push ups, and lowered the bar from waist level to upper-calf level for the last set.

 

I had also decided that Sundays would be my days for training to do a pull up, by doing inverted rows on the Smith Machine, along with some back strengthening work. The inverted rows take a lot out of me and leave my shoulders feeling it for DAYS, so doing this once a week is my plan for now.

 

Well. About the time I finished my 3 circuits of the BBWW, I started feeling a little nauseous. Because I goofed up big time - I didn't have breakfast before working out. No food whatsoever. I didn't really think about exactly how hard the BBWW was, and how bad an idea it was to do this on an empty stomach.

 

So I tried to power through, and I did get 15 inverted rows in with the bar set just below my chest level, as well as 20 back extensions. But then I was done. Just couldn't go on.

 

So I stretched (not surprisingly, the minute I stopped doing hard stuff and started cooling down, I stopped feeling nauseous), and went home and tore through an apple like it was the best apple on earth. Now I'm munching on a few walnuts and a piece of cheese while I update this.

 

So lesson learned. My first battle was not the best, but that's fine. Bilbo Baggins wasn't exactly the best burglar in the world when the dwarves and Gandalf took him on his first adventure.

 

And here's where I stand in terms of my goals for this week:

1. Do the daily quests. Check!

2. Design my weight training program and decide which days my weight days are going to be. Check!

[Granny Nogg]

Awesome, Shae!! Sounds like you attacked your goals like you attacked that apple. Way to go!!

[shaeon]

Today: ow, ow, freakin' ow, I am really sore.

 

I was on a program previously where I did squats and lunges, and so I figured I would be good starting up the BBWW. But now it occurs to me I haven't really done that steadily since before DragonCon. And that's been over a month now.

 

You know what the best reason is to keep doing squats and lunges? If you've been doing them, even when you add more, add modifications, add weights, it doesn't hurt so much. If you haven't been doing them at all, when you start back up the first week is a KILLER.

 

Ow.

 

Sooo. Today I'll be walking, just to stretch the legs out some and relieve some of the tightness in my quads.

 

Also on my agenda: lots of water.

 

Which leads me to:

Goals for the current week (10/6 - 10/12/14):

1. No more than 5 sodas or other sugary drinks this week (I sometimes get Hi-C Orange when I get food out - artificial fruit flavored drinks are a weakness of mine, and just as bad as sodas where calories are concerned).

2. Drink at least 40 ounces of water daily.

3. Do low-intensity exercise (walking) to assist in recovering from leg soreness.

4. If at all possible, do the BBWW again on Thursday and Sunday - modified if needed.

[Granny Nogg]

You can do this, Shae! You're highly motivated and you don't let obstacles become excuses!

[shaeon]

So this week has been a bit of a fail due to hurting my legs on Sunday. Need to ease off and recognize my limits.

 

I ended up not walking as much Monday and Tuesday, because it hurt. Hurt a lot. Hurt so much that when I would walk, my leg muscles were so out of whack that while taking a step my leg might lock and I was in pretty clear danger of falling. So I would swing my arms wide for balance while walking, and take these weird long steps, and as I told a friend last night, it sort of looked like I was miming speed skating as I walked around my place. Fortunately, there were no witnesses.

 

Today I feel much, much better though. I went for a good 30 minute walk at the gym, grooving the whole time to one of the two new Prince albums, both of which are currently my jam. Tomorrow I'm going back to the gym, and being careful to not over-do again, but get back into the body weight training.

 

On the positive side, I have a checklist of how many sodas I've had this week, because I want to meet my no more than 5 goal. There was a time I was off sodas completely, for years. They have the potential to make me feel pretty bad, so every time I drink even one of them I risk getting a nasty case of acid reflux. I have a terrible weakness for sugary sweets, but honeycrisp apples are in the stores now, and it's time to get rid of this habit again.

 

And as Cat said, I don't let obstacles become excuses. Well, I'm trying really hard not to, while also being forgiving of these early mistakes and getting psyched about getting back into it.

[SevenofSeven]

Looking good Shaeon, it made me laugh reading about your DOMS walk, secretly I think we have all been there!

[shaeon]

DOMS = ?

 

Yeah, it was a funny sight to behold.

 

I agree, we've probably all been there. It's normally a thing I try to avoid, because that level of soreness is just preventing me from exercising. But it seems that if I haven't done squats and lunges for a while, whenever I take them back up, this happens. Clearly I need to just never stop doing them.

[shaeon]

BBWW today at the gym. Did the following:

 

8 Body Weight Squats

10 Incline Push Ups

6 Lunges

10 Dumbbell Rows

15 Second Plank

10 Jumping Jacks

 

3 Circuits of all of this!

 

Warm up before; stretch afterwards. Added 5 minutes on the treadmill afterwards for good measure, just to make sure my legs are good and stretched out.

 

I backed off on squats and lunges to keep my legs from getting hurt so bad. On Sunday, my legs felt like jelly after the work out. It's not like that today, so hopefully that's a good sign. I worked out on my lunch break, so to guard against stiffening and soreness I'm going to make sure to stand up, walk around, and dance to Prince now and then.

 

Also, with my dumbbell rows, I did 30 pounds on my last set! This is up 5 pounds from last time, and I'm able to pull the weight nice and smooth, without jerking, totally upping the weight with good form. I also lowered the bar further than before after my last set of inclined push ups, and was able to do 6 more at a lower setting. I am loving it. Overall body strength is awesome, but there's something about feeling strong in my arms, shoulders, and upper back that makes me feel great.

[SevenofSeven]

Delayed, onset, muscle, soreness. Just a fancy way of saying "ouch, that hurts today!"

[shaeon]

Ah, got it. Indeed. Considering how I feel compared with the hours that have passed since my workout today, I think this time I'm not going to have anything more than the healthy burn that means my workout worked.

[shaeon]

So, yesterday was a pretty good day at the gym. I did the following:

 

3 sets of each of these:

 

8 Body Weight Squats

10 Incline Push Ups

6 Lunges

10 Dumbbell Rows

15 Second Plank

10 Jumping Jacks

 

Also, because it was Sunday which is my Big Day, I worked on lowering the bar for my incline push ups to knee level and managed 5 push ups at that height. I also did the following:

 

10 inverted rows (inclined)

10 overhead presses

 

3 sets of each.

 

I did 2 of my overhead press sets at 20 pounds, and then one at 30. I'm really feeling this workout in my shoulders today, which I assume is the overhead because that's new to me.

 

I also did my dumbbell rows at 25 pounds, with the final set at 30. However, I realized something - I don't have to use bad form to pull that much weight, but it's too much weight for me to pinch my shoulder blade towards the other while lifting. I get to the top of the lift and try that squeeze, and my shoulder blade just says "I hate you" and it doesn't happen. So I'm going to back off on the amount of weight I'm rowing. If I can't do the full motion, I'm not truly rowing at that weight.

 

As for my goals for last week:

 

1. No more than 5 sodas or other sugary drinks this week (I sometimes get Hi-C Orange when I get food out - artificial fruit flavored drinks are a weakness of mine, and just as bad as sodas where calories are concerned). I went one over.

2. Drink at least 40 ounces of water daily. Success!

3. Do low-intensity exercise (walking) to assist in recovering from leg soreness. I didn't do this until Wednesday after my Sunday workout last week. Fortunately, as predicted, I've passed the point where squats and lunges take me out for days, so this won't be an issue as long as I keep it up.

4. If at all possible, do the BBWW again on Thursday and Sunday - modified if needed. Success!

 

My goals for the week of 10/13 - 10/19:

1. No more than 4 sodas or other sugary drinks (Icees, Hi-C, etc.).

2. Drink 48 ounces of water daily.

3. BBWW three days this week: Tuesday, Thursday, Sunday.

4. Do the "Agents of SHIELD" workout this week - this is a slower, endurance workout, where I walk or bike through an entire episode of Agents of SHIELD. It's a slower moving workout because it lasts an entire hour, but the rest of my exercise plan is based on short bursts of difficult activity (weights, HIITs) and it's beneficial to also build my personal ability to handle sustained activity. The reward: an episode of Agents of SHIELD.

5. Figure out my diet goals (other than soda elimination). I have some ideas around getting rid of "fake" food in my diet, but I need to give it some thought and decide what my actual course of action is.

[shaeon]

My trapezius muscles are experiencing some of that delayed onset muscle soreness today. I assume it's due to the overhead press, since that was a new exercise for me this week. I have no regrets about this soreness. From working on a computer all the time, I tend to roll my shoulders inwards. This causes tension that starts in my traps and refers up my neck to give me severe neck and shoulder pain, and a "coat hanger" headache. It's my experience that regularly working out the traps keeps this pain away.

[shaeon]

Had a bad day today. Lots of heavy emotional stuff. This meant no workout. Instead I had a long, much needed conversation with a friend.

 

And I'm an emotional eater too, so with all of this, I had junk food for dinner.

 

Here's to hoping tomorrow is better.

[SevenofSeven]

Tomorrow is going to be great! You're making fantastic progress.

[Granny Nogg]

Keep at it, Shae. MAKE tomorrow better. Even if it's only 1% better.

[shaeon]

Thanks so much. Your encouragement means a lot. There's something in my life that has been draining my emotional energy for a really long time. You know when it's obvious that you just need to quit that thing, but it's hard to quit because you're SO emotionally invested in it?

 

Well, it is quitting time.

 

It's really hard to walk away. I'm going to have to go without someone I really care about for a while because of this, and I know I have a few bumps ahead as I get used to that. But I already feel better today, just no longer having the burden of needing to make the decision.

 

So in terms of my goals, I don't actually even want a soda today. It's weird, how with just a shift of my feelings, seemingly unrelated things like cravings can change as well (although I think I just defined what it's like to be an emotional eater). I'm at my office today, but I've got my athletic shoes in my bag, and I can't wait to hit the gym after work and do some HIITs on one of the bikes.

[Granny Nogg]

Yes on so many levels here!

But first, to back up: walking/biking to Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D: Love that show! And I do the same thing. Set my pace at 2.5 mph and walk through an episode of one of my favorite shows. It's good low intensity work and a "non-food reward" (I'm big on those) at the same time.

About the emotional investment, emotional eating, and the toll they'd been taking: consider the possibility you may have codependent tendencies. Oftentimes for women the outward sign of this is emotional eating (usually overeating of starchy and/or sugary foods) to rebuild the lost serotonin and dopamine that the emotional stress causes... It's very common.

The cure begins when we accept the fact that we need healthy boundaries that define relationships and protect the precious resource of our health. Just as we wear seat belts in the car and stay on the platform in the subway, we choose to close certain doors if we find they are endangering our health, physically or emotionally. This sounds exactly like what you're doing. The choice is a proactive one, not a reactive one. And while some consequences will be painful, and temptation to return to the old ways of behavior is likely to strike - other temptations will recede, like your dependence on soda, perhaps. Time will tell and just might surprise you.

The hardest time will be about two weeks from now, when you have success under your belt and you begin thinking, "I got this". Don't let down your guard, because that's when temptation is most likely to come out of nowhere. Make a plan for how to respond when you accidentally run into this person in public. They may likely be feeling you're "someone that I used to know" and be resentful of your absence, so be prepared ahead of time for how to handle those interactions.

[shaeon]

Wow, Cat. The degree to which you have me pegged is astonishing. Yes, I have issues with codependency. I've actually spent time in therapy for it - and this particular issue is causing me to get back in touch with my therapist. And boundaries are a big problem I'm having right now. The only thing that I had not pieced together with this puzzle is how my emotional eating tied in with this. Sugary foods and bad carbs are a huge weakness for me.

 

I'm going to personal message you about this, if you don't mind. You don't have to talk about it (I guess you know that since you have boundaries ), but if you would like to talk, it would be nice to have someone to chat with who gets this stuff. I have a close friend who also has codependency issues and we talk a good bit, but since we are both struggling with these kinds of problems, it's basically commiserating.

 

And yes, Agents of SHIELD is great. I have only done one AoS workout this season, during episode 1 of season 2. I can tell you that the last 10 minutes of that episode were not written with someone's cool down in mind. I also became aware of how very often I yell out loud at shocking moments on TV when I'm home alone, because it was a struggle to not do that in the gym.

 

As for today: no sodas so far. Probably won't be any because I don't keep them in my home and it's laundry night, so I don't intend to leave the home this evening. Did the BBWW at my lunch break. Cut back to 20 pound weights on the rows so that I could do them fully correctly.

[Granny Nogg]

Shae - oh absolutely pm me. I'd be happy to talk about this stuff.

[shaeon]

No workout today! Friday is normally one of my workout off days, but today it's extra special because I'm leaving work early and going to see Alice Cooper in concert.

 

I'll be eating out before the show and possibly snacking on the way back (the concert is in another town). I'm going to try to steer clear of my usual pitfalls such as sugary drinks and snacks. But I still haven't met my 4 soda quota for the week so if I need something on the way back, I can afford to have one soda.

[SevenofSeven]

Alice Cooper.......oh jealous much! Hope it all goes well!