firecracker*fit

okay, so i'm taking week 1 as more of a test week. i was planning on going straight through for an extra week anyway! so anyway, i pretty much failed at the sweets & budgeting during the test week. this week is going better so far! the snooze button thing and warm-up/cool down have definitely already become habit, which is awesome! the budget is going pretty well too! now i just need to get a handle on that sugar thing...bother

(Tee hee, get it? Punks are used for lighting fireworks...oh it's been a long day!) Okay, so I took the last challenge to orient myself and try to get back into the swing of things. Now I've started my half marathon training and I'm back in the gym! Woo hoo! Health/Workout Goals: 1. Only 1 snooze! I realize that sounds more like a "life" goal, but since I hit the snooze button and end up having to shorten my workouts, it kind of fits here. 2. Only 1 dessert/sweet each day Kudos to all of the Paleo people, but I'm more of an everything in moderation type of gal. Although, it seems like lately I've been far more moderate w/ the veggies than the sugar! 3. Do the warm-up and cool down for EVERY workout! Kind of goes along with #1, but lately I've just been rushing through things and I know that's bad for me and any potential progress. Life Goal 1. Stick to my $20 week budget! That's just for misc. little items throughout the week (eating out, etc), not for scheduled expenses like groceries or gas.

Wow, that was fast! didn't exactly end on a super high note (stress and hormones were no bueno) but all in all not bad! 1. tracked most of my food for the week. I wanted to start listing everything on sparkpeople again b/c i was slipping into bad habits. now that i'm pretty much back on the right track, i think i'm going to go back to just the occasional tracking. I don't want to be counting calories for the rest of my life (and i can get a bit obsessive if i do it for too long) so I want to work on healthy habits w/out the numbers. 2. this was probably my worst goal. i still only rarely manage to eat veggies on the weekends! i really need to keep focusing on that one. 3. well, i got to 6 miles at 10:1 intervals! however, it was very slow and my legs were pretty much dead for the rest of the day. i need to work on jogging 3 x a week now in order to get ready for half marathon training! woot! 1. yeah, definitely slacked off on this one too. sometimes i just don't feel like i have anything of value to say...eh, i'm a work in progress! i haven't weighed/measured myself to see if anything changed over the last six weeks, but i know i feel better regardless!

Week 5 (um, yeah, no comment about the fact that Week 6 ends in 3 days). Well, this was kind of a stress cluster%#$% of a week. I test drove a car on Monday and bought it on Friday (with several steps in between). I also went on a job interview on Tuesday for a position that i would LOVE! I was one of three candidates and they were supposed to decide last week...well then i got a call at the end of Friday saying that they were sorry, but they were going to decide this week...yeah, still waiting. Anyway, that pretty much led to me freaking out about everything for a solid 5-6 days and od-ing on sugar...not exactly the best coping skills, i admit. 1. i'd say i tracked about 50% so not terrible, but not awesome. 2. I don't actually remember the weekend at this point, but i'm guessing i didn't eat any veggies... 3. I did manage to accidentally jog 6 miles though! i went on a trail run and missed my turn so I ended up doing a bit more than planned. I'm actually excited about running again and have signed up for some more races. 1. pretty much disappeared on nf except to post my run on the group spreadsheet...

Week 4 (even though it's almost the end of week 5...my bad) 1. tracked most of my food, but definitely skipped a couple of dinners. breakfast through lunch is usually pretty standard, but i hate trying to round up all of the ingredients for dinner. 2. got sick on thursday and had a lot of tomato soup over the weekend, which i am totally counting for my veggie intake. 3. even though my head was still a bit fuzzy, i went for a jog saturday night and it was AMAZING! the weather was perfect, i was doing a fairly straightforward route without a lot of hills and it was one of those "this is why i run" kind of a runs! 1. okay, yeah, not so much. i was on nf several times and read a lot of other peoples blogs, but i didn't really feel like i had anything of value to contribute.

Week 3! Halfway point on the road to awesome-ness (sorry, i'm listening to happy music at work so i'm a bit giddy). 1. i think i tracked my food pretty much every day but saturday (i think i missed a meal or two in there). i normally snack excessively on the weekends but this weekend i focused on waiting until i was actually hungry (shocking concept) and felt much better! 2. speaking of weekends...zero veggies on this one...yeah, no excuses. 3. i only got one jog in this week (and technically it wasn't actually during week 3 since it was on my lunch today), but i got it in! I just went on the treadmill at work and made it through my 10:1 intervals. I'm a wee bit nervous for next week since i actually want to go outside for that one. 1. i ran around and commented on other peoples awesome accomplishments this week and am starting to feel more natural just chatting w/ strangers! i will have to rearrange my workout schedule to accommodate a tiesto show this week (woot!) but i'm still strangely enthusiastic about all of my goals...weird...

i confess i LOVED the body pump classes. the times that were offered were really awkward so i stopped going. They went by really fast and i was always sore the next day. they focus on one muscle group per song so you don't do extremely heavy weights (b/c you're going for like 5 minutes). pretty basic moves, mostly just using a step and a barbell. a lot of times they offer a technique class once a week or so. definitely work a try!

I'm very jealous of the adorable kitten and belly dance classes! You seem like you're doing AWESOME on all of your goals! I've toyed with minimizing dairy but haven't taken the plunge yet. Are you subbing w/ soy/almond/etc products or just eliminating all together?

I ran into the same pull-up bar issue with the body weight workouts. I finally just started using the assisted pull up machine at the gym (cheating, i know!). How are things going for you?

Sounds like you're off to a great start! i just started lifting weights this summer so i'm slowly working my way up to your numbers. Can't wait to hear about your progress!

I agree! I'm in the same boat as both of you (trying to lose weight and get stronger at the same time). I try to keep my calories around my bml every day and don't take the scale too seriously. definitely track your progress with a variety of metrics (i.e. measurements, highest # of pushups, etc) and not just weight.

so apparently i'm not so good at updating things before Monday/Tuesday ish...baby steps! oh well, at least i made it through week 2! 1. definitely only tracked half of the week and then fell face first into a giant pile of sugar. I'm blaming 25% on hormones and 75% on being lazy/bad habits. 2. on a positive note, i did eat some veggies on Saturday, just not Sunday (since i'm halfway there now i will hopefully get both days in next week)! 3. i jogged 3 very slow, flat miles on the treadmill last thursday, but they were the first 3 straight miles in forever so I'm super excited! i also got my 4.5 miles in on Sunday at 5:1. The weather is really starting to get nice around here so i'm looking forward to being outdoors! 1. i think i commented on 2-4 other people's awesome threads...but i did all of that today. still need to work on just stopping in for a bit on a more regular basis! all in all, i'm still alive and posting here so i really have no complaints!

I feel your pain rowenaaitken! i lost about 15 lbs last year and then stopped paying attention and it snuck back on. being required to sit at a desk all day certainly helped it come back! i definitely recommend trying to fit in just short breaks where you can try to walk over to visit a friend or taking the stairs (i work on the sixth floor and park 3 levels underneath the building, but it still only takes 5 minutes) makes me feel so much better. plus it's strangely easier to eat healthy when you're already feeling healthy. I think the first (and hardest) thing to do is stop beating yourself up about everything! lostintranslatn is spot on about the fact that sometimes shit just happens! you have sooooo many more years of being healthy and happy to enjoy that the crappy ones won't even matter!

I loooooooove running in the winter (ever so important disclaimer: i live in Texas...so yeah, it's not really winter). The two essential things for me are earmuffs and gloves! Having to stop early b/c your ears are in frozen pain is no bueno. I have some friends up north (i.e. the Midwest) that like to spend 10-15 minutes warming up inside so that you're already sweaty and actually want to go out into the cold!

aw man! i just typed up my weekly summary and then forgot to hit post! I keep accidentally clicking on the Reply to Thread option...bother 1. I tracked all of the days except Sunday (decided i need one day off so that i can relax and don't get too wrapped up in the numbers). 2. Yeah...not so much...zero veggies this weekend! 3. I got in a 3 mi run and a 3.5 mi run at 5:1. i was hoping to get in a longer one, but i waited too long and both the weather and my stomach were not really fans of that plan. I did run on a trail near my house that i've never done before and it was awesome! i can't wait to do that one again! 1. well, i did comment on three other posts, but it took me until monday. I also didn't get around to chatting with the running squad until today, and they all seem super awesome-tastic (and intimidatingly speedy) so i really want to get in the habit of just hopping on here for a few minutes every other day or so. One week done and off to the gym bright and early tomorrow!