Stormie

Did a zombie mud run over the weekend. The website said 5k on it, but it was only 2 miles once I got there. I think they ran out of obstacles/cares and just stopped it early. I was really looking forward to the good burn and adrenaline rush of a tough mud run. Oh well. But I still managed to bang myself up enough that I'm not sure working out today would be advisable. I am still not losing weight as fast as I would like. It doesn't help any that I've been out of town the past two weekend and with that comes eating out and/or at the mercy of others. I tried to make good choices, but it is difficult. Definitely back slid this weekend. Thankfully, all of that food eating has me feeling very not hungry today. I have an issue with thinking "I may want this later." But I need to realize that if it has been sitting in my storage room for this long I probably have no need for it. Being a pack rat really sucks. But it feels so financially ridiculous to get rid of things that I may end up buying again later. While visitng friends this weekend I hung out with one that is very very good at letting things go. The other night I stayed at a friend's house where she and her boyfriend never let anything go. They are to a point where they actually end up having to buy things because they cannot find stuff. They have been in their 3 bedroom house for 2 years and the living room is still a 4-5ft high pile of boxes. The friend that lets things go seems to have such a better attitude towards "things." And at least if he is buying an iron to press a usually never worn shirt for the one fancy event of the year it is because he does not have one and not because it is in one of the dozen of boxes in the living room but no one knows which. Also, keeping your house clean when you have less stuff is much easier. I wish I was home right now to get rid of stuff, I just talked myself into motivation!

I have used calorie counting beneficially in my weight loss attempts. When I first started I wasn't trying to hit a large (or any) calorie deficite. It helped me to see where my eating habits were failing me. I always thought I ate pretty well, so I couldn't figure out why I never lost weight. But after just a couple weeks of keeping a food log I could look at it and tell where my extra calories mainly came from (potato products for me) and why the weight wasn't coming off. I noticed that I would eat super good for most of the week, but there would be that one day where I would eat a whole bag of chips, and that would negate any calorie deficiencies that I had earlier in the week. Paleo diet is effective in the way that it promotes only eating foods that are so healthy that you should generally be full while maintaining a low caloric intake. But just because you're eating paleo doesn't mean you aren't capable of over eating. Also, it sounds like your home life situation makes eating any sort of particular kind of diet very difficult. I would reccomend starting simple, like trying to up your veggies intake. So your parents don't like their veggies. Buy yourself a couple of bags of frozen veggies each week and add them to meals yourself. Frozen veggies are cheap and lower in sodium than canned veggies and they're not going to spoil on you before they get eaten since you will likely be the only one eating them. Maybe if you eat well and start to lose some weight your parents will see that and get on board with eating better to. Sometimes we have to be a good example for our set-in-their-ways family members. Best of luck to you!

Heath Bar, Where are you coming from? I'll be driving up from Naples. Probably going to head up Friday night and stay in a hotel with friends or at my aunt's in Tampa then head north to the race in the morning. Renegade, my workout class coach does bodybuilding competitions, but I don't think it's a so much a meet... just competing. I'd imagine if you went to most any gym and worked out in the crazy heavy weights section that you would find other people that like to power lift. If you are interested in the competitions I can ask him how he knows the whens and wheres for you. He goes all around the south part of the state for them, over to Ft Lauderdale and up to Orlando and places inbetween.

I'm further south, the Naples area. I would definitely enjoy a nerd and/or fitness meetup.

No running yesterday, it was raining. So far today the skys look clear but it is suppose to rain again later. Here is to hoping it doesn't. I keep doing body weight rows. I'm getting a bit stronger every day. Awesome! I have started logging my calories again. I wish I could do the paleo thing but I really do not feel like returning to a meat dense diet. So calorie counting it is. It has worked for me in the past so here is to hoping it works again. I did nothing yesterday towards getting rid of more stuff, but I have a couple of large items to get rid of that won't fit in the boxes, like an old bicycle. So I am wondering how to count that.

Thank you Katinka! Okay, so I've been pretty bad about updating lately. I tend to only get onto NerdFitness when work is slow. It doesn't help any when I am out of town all weekend. I managed to run my 2 miles in 20 minutes! But it was really hard and I would be pressed to repeat it. It depends on the day, if my legs are tired. There is no way I could repeat that on a legs day. Today I am going to do some intervals to work on my speed some more without killing myself as today is legs day. I can do some pretty decent bodyweight rows but only a few of them before I am exhausted. On Saturday I did an extra back and biceps workout day with heavier weights than usual. I'm still sore today. It feels kind of good though. I am down 1/4 inch in the waist. I need to start focusing on this challenge a bit more. I've not been very good about what I eat. A whole pie on 3/14 is not okay, even if it is Pi Day. I have 2.5 boxes full of stuff that I need to get rid of. I plan to drag a box into my closet tonight and try to sort through more things. Another box will go into the kitchen for getting rid of excess kitchen stuff (I have so many plastic food containers and so many of them suck).

Are you counting the bike riding as one of the four 20-30 minute workouts? I hope not. Working out five times a week is great! A little cardio every day is a good thing. And walking dogs at the shelter is an awesome goal. I wish I could do that but the shelter in my area wants people to devote more time than I can or not at all (plus to buy their shirts and aprons and name tags, no thanks). May I ask what career you are working towards where the animal shelter volunteering is beneficial? I love animals and wish I could work with them, alas, desk jokey over here. Good luck on your goals! Feel free to hit me up if you need motivation.

I rather slacked over the weekend. It was cold and I didn't feel like running. Went running yesterday after my strength training. Running on legs day always is awful so I didn't bother to time it. I am the only female in my classes that can flip a semi truck tire on her own. I am probably the only one willing to try as well, though. But that is good for the upper body strength needed to do a chin-up. I need to start working more rows into my daily life. Losing an inch... meh. It is coming up on "that time of month" so my waist line is going up a bit. I am trying to focus on keeping it constant through the next week and a half and then I'll measure again and see if I've lost anything. Boxes have been assembled. A couple of things have found their way into them. I need to set aside some time one evening to focus on this goal. I'm thinking Friday for an hour after work. Or maybe Thursday if I finish my sewing project in time.

Leighanne, I think I naturally do something like the Fartleks. I don't really plan it out but I push to go a bit faster and when I get tired I hang back a bit. That is one of the benefits to running on the street instead of on a treadmill. My pace varies naturally. Ran my 2 mile loop last night, 21 minutes! I was really pushing myself though. I used 15lb dumbbells on my workout yesterday instead of the 10lb ones I use to use. It was tough but I pushed through. I plan to do the same tonight. I am still very far from being able to do a chin up. Losing an inch is moving slowly as well, but hey there are still 5.5 weeks left. I'm hoping that upping my running to meet my first goal and not increaseing my food intake helps to lose that inch. Boxes still not assembled. I went to a friend's last night instead of doing house work. But she was stuck at home while the kids slept so she can't come to me. I've got to be social sometime, afterall.

My workout class coach suggested fish oil to help my popping joints. My shoulders especially pop and crack when going through the motions while weight lifting, or even just from daily life (getting paper from the printer). I've been taking one "double strength" pill daily for 3 weeks now and still crack and pop. Any one have any experience with fish oil helping their joints? I know it reduces inflamation but my joint problems aren't arthritis related.

Yesterday I jogged a little over 2 miles with Tabata springs worked into it. I ran out just past 1 mile from home and then turned around. I got an interval trainer app and set it to do 8 rounds of 20 sec work 10 sec rest. And for the 20 seconds I ran as hard as I physically could. I only got through 6 rounds of this. At the end of the 6th sprint I flopped into the grass because my legs would not stand anymore. After catching my breath I jogged the rest of the way home. It felt pretty good. I've read that interval training is the most effective way to build cardiovascular fitness so I am hoping by adding in sprints a couple times a week that it will improve my timed 2 mile runs. I hung from my pull up bar today. Just hung there. My shoulder popped pretty loudly. Yesterday was biceps and triceps day in my workout class so they are already pretty sore. And today is chest and shoulders so I didn't want to over exert and injure myself. I have no measured my waist yet. But I am going to take Katinka's advice and measure at multiple points along my waist. I might lose from my belly button waist line faster than my natural waist line or vise versa. I did a good hour of cleaning the house last night. Putting random things away that have been scattered here or there. It is really easy to have a huge spreading of things when you've lived in the same place for 5 years and love sewing and knitting and collecting fabrics and yarns as much as I do. Seeing what all I have is the first step to seeing what I can get rid of. Tonight I plan to assemble my 5 boxes. I was going to stash them all in the spare room but I think I will put one in each room so they can collect items to get rid of more easily.

Thank you, Sumdawgtwigg. I suppose my engineering nature helps me to set specific goals. I have to do it every day. Good idea, Katinka. I will measure different points to help me keep track of changes. I was thinking of looking into the Whole30. My biggest problem seems to be that the food I already have in my house is mostly non-paleo. I don't wish to just throw good food away in order to change the way I eat, seems so wasteful.

Okay, day 1 of challenge down, only more than I care to count to go. I used day 1 to set my benchmarks. I ran 2 miles, it took 24 minutes. So I only need to shave 4 minutes off my time. I think I am going to work on interval running to increase my speed. Instead of my usual slow and steady chug I will run harder for short burts and allow myself a minute of walking when I get tired. I may just use week 2 of my C25K app to give me specific set intervals. One of my weak spots with attemptings chin ups is that my grip is weak. This morning I did a dead hang and attempted to pull myself up, knowing I wouldn't move. But at least it works on my grip strength. I need to find something I can do rows on. I plan to lift heavier than previously when doing back/bicep workouts for the upcoming weeks. If I can't curl 15lbs how am I suppose to pick up my own weight?? Waist measurement taken this morning before eating or drinking anything. 31.5" is where I am at. I need to record this somewhere so I can hold myself accountable. For my life improvement goal I went yesterday and purchased the 5 medium boxes. I made sure to be in a good, optimistic mood when going to pick up the boxes so I wouldn't allow myself to get small ones. They are 12" x 12" x 12", I think. I didn't measure but that is what they look like. Tonight I will assemble them in the spare bedroom so they are not in the way of getting things done and start filling them up over the next week, then it is just a matter of deciding what can be sold, what can be tossed, and what can be donated. My hoarding tendencies have me fearing that filling these boxes will be difficult. If I cannot do it on my own I will get a friend that I know is good at tossing things to come help me. (The box of clothes in the back of my car to go to Goodwill already do not count because I seperted them out a week ago.)

I wouldn't survive having to drink water from a tiny cup. I would go to the quickie mart and get a 32oz cup of ice to use to refill. I get irritable when not hydrated. I love that nerd groups generally contain cat people. Cats, the only creatures as socially awkward as me.

I was there! Did you guys make it?