Misu successfully dodges another wall of fire!

[robert da strongman]

Good work!

Sent from my KFTT using Tapatalk 2

[Misugrrl]

DAY 10!

 

This is actually my second attempt at getting this all typed up.  My first attempt was abruptly interrupted when I received a frantic phone call from home, informing me my dog had run away at about 10am earlier that morning.... I got that call at 12:30, during my lunch break. Needless to say, I was quite upset and flew out of the office. But all is well. I scoured a different section of the neighborhood my family had not checked during their 2.5 hours of desperately driving and searching for him, and when I turned down a street I had never even noticed before, screaming my dog's name at the top of my lungs, a man came running out of his house to ask me if I was looking for "a little poofy white dog?"   All I could do was nod and cry, and the nice man pointed me to a house at the end of the street and told me his neighbor had been driving around all morning with my dog in his car, looking for his owners. I pulled up, and the man was waiting for me at his door.  I gave that man and his 3 little children the biggest hugs, I was so grateful. They took wonderful care of my butthead dog, and I am so grateful the amount of energy they put in to finding me. They even put pictures of my Charley up on Facebook.

 

Here's the little bastard:

 

It was an emotionally draining afternoon, but thank goodness I found him, brought him home, cleaned him up because he got himself all dirty in something, and now all is well with the family. Shaken up, but extremely grateful.

 

With that said..... 

 

DAY 10 !

 

Today is my rest day from working out. I have a hot date later, and we're going to the comedy club (lord knows I need to laugh!)  I worked out hard yesterday (see previous post for photo of my notes), used some pretty heavy weights during my strength training. I am sore. So I need to rest.

 

I am happy to report that the intermittent fasting that I have decided to implement in my challenge seems to already be paying off. I had my last meal last night at about 8:30 or so, and did not eat again (except for coffee and water) until about 12:15 this afternoon.  I was hungry, yes, but I wasn't experiencing crazy hunger like earlier weeks. I have always maintained that breakfast, for me, opens up some mystical hunger floodgates, where I am starving all damned day.  I feel like I am eating much more quantities of food, because I'm hungry all the damned time. I am happy to report, I did not experience that crazy ravenous hunger today.

 

Also, I had brought a small amount of left overs from the night before with me to work for lunch. I am happy to report that halfway through  my meal, I was good. I wasn't full, I just wasn't hungry anymore and no longer wanted to eat. I'm about to eat a little something before I leave, because I don't want to eat out tonight and I don't know if I'll feel like eating dinner later.

 

This is how I used to eat before, and it worked for me. I understand that now I am incorporating a lot more physical activity, including strength training. And I understand that I need to fuel my body. I think with intermittent fasting, I am going to see better results - not that I wasn't seeing results already, because I have, and I am pleased - but I feel intermittent fasting will work better with my style of eating. It took me a long time to control portions and meals, and I did not like experiencing hunger all the time. I was feeling out of control, and it led to me obsessing about every freaking pound gained or lost.  I lost 84 lbs over 2 years and 8 months, and never once experienced those crazy OCD feelings like I did over the last few weeks, when I switched my eating style because I was following conventional wisdom.

 

I'm going to give IF the rest of this week, and see how I feel. But so far, today at least, it's worked out quite well.

 

• Breakfast:  coffee with sugar in the raw (I can't do black, and I refuse to do artificial sweetners) and some cream
  
• Lunch: take a deck of cards and cut it in half - about that much left over steak from the night before, and maybe a tablespoon of home made potato salad.
  
• Snack: cereal bar (I wanted something sweet) about 90 calories.
  
• Before I leave here, I might have either a bowl of cereal with some fruit, or just some yogurt and fruit. I haven't decided yet. Still thinking. hehe
  
• Dinner: might just skip it, since I won't be home till late tonight. Not sure. If I do eat, I'll report that during day 11's battle log.
  

That's it for today 

[Misugrrl]

Dinner last night - plans changed. Ended up eating half a chicken breast, made Parmesan style, with about a cup of pasta with marinara sauce.  Dinner was about 5:30pm, no food for the rest of the day, until this morning about 10:45am. 

 

Day 11 !!!

 

So, I was *starving* this morning by 10:45am, because the last time I had eaten anything was about 5:30pm the day before.  I fasted a good 17 hours before finally just having to eat something.  My original plan was to hold out till noon, and then eat my yogurt with fruit salad and granola. That was not to be.

 

• (late morning) breakfast:  instant oatmeal
• Late lunch: yogurt, a couple handfuls of granola cereal, small amount of fruit salad. (edit: couldn't finish it all. Threw about 1/3 of this away)
• At about 3pm, I will prepare a full protein shake to fuel me for my workout.
• Water: absolutely none yet. None. It's 1pm and I've had nothing to drink, except for half a mug of coffee.  I am correcting that as I type this.
• I cannot remember if I had my fish oil capsules today. I guess I'll take more later when I get home, can't hurt me, right? I hope? lol

Plans today include hitting the gym after work and doing cardio.  I'm aiming for 30 minutes on the elliptical, on level 3 (maybe 4?), doing light intervals (maybe moderate?), and recumbent cycling on whatever levels my legs can handle.

 

On the non-body related side of things, I am working very hard on controlling my frustrations and aggravations at my current working situation. I am a pussy cat in my personal life, but in my professional life, I'm pretty strong willed and have a strong character, which is making it hard to bow my head and swallow my pride these last few days/weeks/months. I'm working on it, and going to the gym and pushing myself to the point of nausea and exhaustion has helped manage this stress really well. But, the knot in the middle of my chest from the stress is slowly returning, the shallow breathing, the clenched jaw, the headaches, etc.  Actively engaging in activities and planning my exit strategy.  Made the decision. Have given myself a timeline and end date to get this done. Have even removed my Master's degree from my resume in the hopes that dumbing myself down makes me a more attractive candidate.  *crossing fingers*

 

Dinner will be updated tomorrow.  

 

That's it for today.

 

 

Editted tonight, because I might not have time tomorrow:

 

Dinner was leftover chicken parm with pasta. Work out ended up being 30 minutes on the elliptical, level 3, level 4 sporadically, but mostly level 3, with light to moderate intensity intervals.   I was having some serious trouble breathing today, I'm not really sure why. Also still had some lingering tightness in my chest from yesterday's stress.  It affected my workout.  After the elliptical, I did 30 on the recumbent cycle, on level 7 and 8, doing light intervals.

 

I feel workout sucked because I couldn't breath well and had that tightness in my chest, which led to some nausea. I didn't quit, though.  Screw that.

[Misugrrl]

Day 12!

 

Today started out incredibly rough. Received some pretty stressful news this morning that has wrecked the happy mood Friday always gives me.  I've been fighting a headache all morning, haven't had anything to drink beside the half mug of coffee, and I'm in a general sad mood.  However, I'm working through the problem, have already gotten some things set in motion to correct it, and soon I'll have a resolution. I know I will. I have faith God didn't get me this far to watch me be destroyed now.  I've come too far.

 

So with that said....

 

Day 12.

 

No breakfast, because I did get a good sized meal in last night for dinner.  I may need to modify this intermittent fasting deal simply because I believe I wasn't getting enough food in for dinner, which affected me yesterday during my workout.  It was the oddest thing - I had a tightness in my chest, and I was very tired.  I mean, tired. I felt like I stepped on the elliptical for the first time yesterday, despite all the progress I'd made over these past few weeks. I powered through it, gasping for air the entire time. I felt as if I was trying to breath through a straw, it was very strange, and the tightness in my chest just kept getting tighter.  Despite that, I made it through 30 minutes, at level 3, occasionally level 4, with low to moderate intervals. I'm not going to stop progress because of a silly thing like OXYGEN.

 

After the elliptical, I took a break. Walked around the gym, sipped water. Went to the restroom, splashed cool water on my face. That helped.  I felt well enough to go back out, and use the recumbent.  20 minutes into my intervals on level 7 and 8, I started feeling super lightheaded and nauseous. And that weird breathing thing started again.  I powered through to 30, because goddamnit I said I was going to do it, and I do what I say! And I did it.  I then went to the restroom and heaved - not puked, thankfully - just heaved, until it past.

 

I believe its a combination of things. Stress because honestly, this has been a difficult week for me. And also, food. Just not enough food.  I haven't yet weighed myself since Monday, and I feel bloated. I'm also in the middle of my period (haha sorry boys, it happens!) and that might have something to do with it as well. I'm taking my prenatal vitamins to get the super dose of iron and vitamin B I need, since I tend to run anemic, but I think if I just eat a little more, I'll be ok.  I'm scared of weighing myself, because I feel like the Goodyear blimp right now.  Seriously, I feel as if I put on my test jeans, they wouldn't even go over my booty, I feel that gross.  So I'm just going to not weigh myself - total denial!

 

I did just eat a cereal bar, though - 90 calories - because the headache was just too much.  Its helped with the headache, and soon I'll start with the water. Ugh. Water.

 

Plans for today:

• Lunch will be yogurt with granola. No fruit. 
• Half a protein shake before the gym
• Strength training day is today. I'm not going to do as much as I did Tuesday, because I don't have time. Got a hot date later tonight - BEATLES FESTIVAL - and I'm not going to miss it.
• Full protein shake after
• Dinner is yet to be determined. I feel so disgusting, I may not eat the rest of this WEEK. hmph.

That's it for now.

[robert da strongman]

rough days...hang in there!

 

and eat something before training

[Misugrrl]

So, Day 12 ended up a bit odd.  The stress of the news really messed me up.  What ended up happening:

 

The yogurt I attempted to eat ended up being thrown out halfway through. I did not put granola in. It was just a plain yogurt.

 

I did drink a full protein shake before strength training, about an hour before.  I forced myself to drink it because I wanted to do well on the few machines I had time to do.

 

My workout:

 

 

 

Skipped dinner. Just wasn't feeling it.

 

Next post will be about Day 13.

[Misugrrl]

DAY 13!!!!!

 

So, we're wrapping up week 2 of the 6 week challenge, and I'm feeling some great successes as well as some miserable failures.

 

Let's start out with the good:

 

• Now that I'm writing my workouts down and recording sets and reps and weights and minutes and levels, I can see I am progressing.  I only have a few days written down, but I can see just in those few days, that the weights I'm using are getting heavier. I also noticed yesterday that the weights I used to warm-up felt far too light. I might add 5 lbs to them, just to really warm-up.
• I stepped on the scale this morning and there was a 3.5 lbs drop from Monday.  I realize that I did not eat yesterday, so I'm certain at least 1 lb of that is due to being completely empty. However, it can't be all 3.5 lbs! SO, I think the weight loss has started again! HOORAY! I hope.  If not, its ok, because it will, and soon. It has to. I am growing muscles, getting stronger. I feel stronger. Like, I totally feel like I could kick a door off the frame if I really needed to, that's how strong I feel. And my clothes are feeling super loose.
• Speaking of clothes, I just packed 2 white trash bags full of clothes I'll be donating. I had been separating clothing into piles the last few weeks, and I finally got to packing them up. Each item I tried on, and I ended up tossing 6 pairs of slacks, 1 sweater dress, 1 skirt, and 3 pairs of shorts. It originally was 6 pairs of shorts, but 3 of them I can wear here at the house. I can't wear them out - hell no, they do fall off when I do stuff like WALK hehe - but I can wear them here in the house.  I'll have to do this with my shoes soon.  My feet also shrunk - I used to wear a size 8.5 or 9, depending on the shoe. I'm now down to a 7, 7.5  I have one pair of sandals that is a size 6.5   I can't believe I have petite little feet.

 

Now the bad:

• I'm failing miserably at drinking enough water. I do not know how you people do it, with the drinking a gallon or 2 of water a day. Seriously, I do not know how.  I am struggling getting 4 sports bottles down, which is 64 oz. Yesterday I managed to get 2 bottles down - 32 oz in total.  I mean, are you guys thirsty?  Is it thirst that helps?  I am rarely thirsty.  This is a problem, right?
• Food is still BAD in my head, and I'm struggling with looking at it for what it is - fuel.  I can't. I JUST CANNOT.  I am hoping the intermittent fasting will help me with that. It did in the past, but suddenly eating more food twisted things up in my head and now I'm back to obsessing about food.  I love food. I consider myself a foodie.  I am praying intermittent fasting will allow me to enjoy food - ANY GODDAMNED FOOD I PLEASE - the way it is meant to, without suffering a sudden 20 lb gain
• The process of trying on clothes brought back to light my mind's disconnect with my body, and how I see myself.  The image I have of myself in my head, and what I see in the mirror, isn't matching what others see, nor what I see in photos.  What I see in the mirror, is absolutely NOT the same thing I see when I take a photo of myself.  I look in the mirror, and I see a fat, perfectly round face. I take a selfie, and I see huge eyes, the hint of cheekbones, emerging collarbones - features I do not see in the mirror.  I am going to have to work on this body dysmorphia I'm experiencing. Because even though I'm doing this so I stay out of that wheelchair, I'd like to be able to see and appreciate the work I've been putting in for almost 3 years, too.  I'm a mess

 

I got my workout in for today.   Today was cardio, and I got in a solid 50 minutes on the elliptical:

• 10 minutes on level 3
• 15 on level 4
• 20 on levels 5 and 6, bouncing around between the two
• 5 minutes on levels 3 to 1, cooldown
• All of the above (except the cooldown) was done in intervals, so I was going at a speed of anywhere between 3.0 and 6.0

I've been much better with food today.

• Breakfast: I ate breakfast because I barely ate yesterday.  1 bagel with a small bit of creamcheese, coffee
• Snack before the gym: piece of bread with a healthy amount of peanut butter. I probably globbed on there 2 tablespoons. I do love peanut butter.
• Post work out/lunch: yogurt mixed with 1 scoop of my protein powder (30g of protein per scoop), and a couple of tablespoons of homemade fruit salad. It was like a custard topped off with fruit, it was amazing. Why haven't I don't this before?
• Dinner, up in the air. We'll see how the day progresses.
• Water: I'm doing much better with water.  1 bottle in the morning (17oz), 1 bottle at the gym (34 oz) and now I'm about halfway through a third bottle (46ish oz).  If I can finish this one, and get 1 more in during the course of the day, I think I'll be ok. 64 oz is my goal. *crossing fingers*

All in all, I feel the workout/physical progression of this challenge is on schedule. I feel I'm doing super well with it, and I'm not showing any signs of waning. This morning I was a little "meh I don't want to go to the skuzzy planet fitness" but then I put on my sneakers, and suddenly I was Pavlov's poodle, all antsy to get to the gym.  The food, body image part is where I need major major maaaaaajor work.  I think next week I'll be focusing more on the internal changes I need to make.

Ok, that's it  HAPPY SATURDAY!

[wideeyed]

The reflection part is really important. Journal, blog, talk to the moon, whatever, but take the time. It is that inner voice crap that causes us to give up.

You don't have to do IF every day. Maybe experiment with doing it on rest or non strength days?

I get really pissed at my body when it doesn't cooperate, but I don't ignore it. Price to pay for that is too high. Remember that exercise also triggers adrenal response, so if you are already dealing with a bunch of added crap from work/life, AND adding heavy cardio, it doesn't have a chance to regulate.

If you don't want rest days, walk the dog Try yoga. Just calm the cortisol down a little.

[Misugrrl]

So, Day 13 ended up being great. For dinner, my guy and I went to a burrito shack on the beach, and each of us ordered their 'insane burrito' - no lie, this thing was as large as my head, and I got a big head. I hate a good 2/3 of it.  I don't even think we could consider it a 'cheat meal', simply because it was packed with good nutritious foods like black beans and rice, tomatoes, cabbage, fresh cilantro, onions (I think, I honestly was in heaven how yummy it was). I had the beef one, with a 20oz bottle of water. 2/3 of it was all I could eat, and I enjoyed every single friggin' bite. It was delicious.  I will definitely be hitting them up again some day, but not before trying out the little wing shack right next door to them....

 

Day 14 (Sunday) was a great day.  Because dinner was ginormous, I skipped breakfast. I wasn't yet hungry before hitting the gym with my guy, around 1:30 pm, so I didn't eat. So technically, I was fasting (I am really liking intermittent fasting).  He had me strength training in a circuit. Warm ups, then cycling through all the sets on each different machine without stopping.  I nearly died. But I did it. I didn't think I would make it through when he first presented the idea, but I kept my mouth shut and tried it, and did it.  And it was a great workout. Afterwards, we did 25 minutes of HIIT on the elliptical, originally I was supposed to do it on level 4 but I was so tired, I dropped it down to level 3 when he wasn't looking about 3 minutes into it, and did completed the 25 minutes at level 3.  Sorry babe   

Here's his notes from Day 14's strength training. I find it easier to post a photo of the notes than to sit here and write it all out.

 

Day 14's dinner consisted of half of an amazing burger that had bacon, onion rings and pulled pork on top.  The burger was so large, half was all I could physically fit. The bread was far too small for the burger, which in my book ='s perfection, since I'm trying to cut down on white carbs.  We also shared an order of chips and salsa before the entrees arrived, which were out of this world.  Seriously, I don't know if its because of the fasting, or the hard work out - but yesterday's dinner was the tastiest in recent memory. It was divine. 

 

Next post, I'll talk about today (day 15).

[Misugrrl]

DAY 15 !!!

 

Woke up hungry. Not super duper hungry, but hungry.  Dinner the night before was at 430/5pm, so it makes sense that at 630 in the morning the next day, I'd start feeling a bit hungry.  Had 1 scrambled egg, and it was enough to turn that hunger feeling off.  Drank a bottle of water, headed out to work.

At work, I had my coffee and sipped a second bottle of water throughout the day. Lunch was at about 1pm, and consisted of 1 lowfat yogurt, mixed with 1 scoop of my protein powder and a handful of granola. I didn't really finish it all, I probably ended up tossing 2 or 3 spoonfuls of yogurt in the trash before washing out my bowl.  At 4pm, I refilled my water bottle and headed to the gym, where I finished that bottle.

 

Today's workout consisted of 25 minutes of HIIT on the elliptical, level 3 on the high intensity parts, and level 4 on the low intensity parts, so every minute I was switching between level 3 and 4.    After 25 minutes, I was feeling pretty good, so I raised the level on the elliptical to level 5 for a few minutes and went at a pretty consistent speed (around 3.5?) for a good 5 minutes, then kicked it up to level 6 for another 5 minutes, then upped it again to level 7, where I rode out another 15 minutes doing random intensity intervals, depending on the music I was listening to.  I wouldn't call it HIIT though, because I never really did go faster than 4.5.  

 

All in all, I knocked out 50 minutes on the elliptical, and according to the little screen on the machine, I traveled a distance of 3.25 miles and burned 500 calories. So whatever random crazy things I did, worked out quite well. lol

 

Got home, had a full protein shake with 1 scoop of powder (30g of protein).  Not sure what I'll have for dinner, but right now, I'm not hungry at all. I've also knocked out yet another bottle of water, so I'm up to 4 bottles of water (64 oz down).  My goal is to get 1 more 17 oz bottle down.  The insane heat has helped me in getting all this water in.  So hooray for that.

 

Ok that's it for now

[robert da strongman]

good work...it will be tougher next Sunday

[Misugrrl]

DAY 16!

 

Good day challenge-wise. Weighed myself this morning - down a full 5 lbs since the start of this challenge. 4 lbs down since last week.  I couldn't believe what I was seeing, so I stepped off the scale, let it shut off, turned it back on, stepped back on - and sure enough, the weight was the same as before. So, if this is authentic and true, that means... 87 lbs gone total, since the start of all these changes I have been making. 2 years 8 months in the making.

 

I had several people make comments on how good I am looking. I didn't really tell anyone at work about the scale's numbers this morning.  People were just noticing.  "Your waist is looking smaller!"  "Wow, your arms are looking really nice!"  "Girl, your face is thinning out!"  And my favorite "WOW You've really dropped a lot of weight - are you sick?" hehe

 

No breakfast, just coffee and water, and a big handful of supplements.  I've been taking fish oil, hemp oil, iron, a prenatal multivitamin (Not pregnant, they just have super doses of iron and all the B's, and I tend to be anemic and I'm trying to donate blood this week).  I've gotten 2 bottles of water in today. I know. Pretty bad, working on that.

 

Lunch, was half a yogurt with protein powder mixed in and a handful of granola. Got some pretty upsetting news today, and it basically killed my appetite. Halfway through, I tossed everything out.

 

When I got out of work at 4, I made a beeline to the gym. A friend wanted to chat with me, because she knows I'm upset, but I didn't feel like talking. I felt like strength training.  In silence.   Here are my notes from today's strength training:

 

 

 

Some of the machines I was able to increase the weight limits from previous workouts. Others, I couldn't, but did maintain the weights from before. I probably overdid it. I'll probably be incredibly sore tomorrow. But I don't care. I needed to do this today, it helped me get my mind right and clear out the junk from my mind.

 

Got home, had a ham and cheese sandwich for dinner with ovaltine (Yes I still drink ovaltine). I'll be having a small protein shake in a little bit just to get the creatine that's in it. That will help with the soreness tomorrow.  And maybe a banana.  And maybe....some chocolate.

 

Tomorrow I've got a date with my boo, and I'm really looking forward to that. Comedy club. Looking forward to snuggles and laughter.   So that makes tomorrow my off day.

 

That's it for tonight.

[Misugrrl]

Day 17 = rest day.  Food was about the same, engaged in intermittent fasting. I was an angel. I was being really good, until this morning....

 

 

DAY 18 !!!!

 

So.  Confession.   I just inhaled a sausage egg and cheese mcmuffin from McDonald's. AND I am snarfing down the hashbrown as I type this.

BUT LET ME EXPLAIN!!!

 

I woke up this morning, kinda sorta hungry.  But feeling super weak. I even told my guy, I don't feel I have the energy to strength train later.  On the drive to work, I started getting really hungry.  As I was pulling off the highway onto the road my office is on, I made the decision to get breakfast.  Of all the things I WANTED to order, I feel I was ....ok.... with the choice I made.  Lunch, I plan on being much better.  I just had to get something in me.  I am feeling much better now, like my battery is charging.  I'm not sure yet what I will have for lunch - I'm thinking I might hit the supermarket and pick up a small tub of cottage cheese and slice up my peach into it. That will somewhat make up for breakfast, and the cottage cheese should help boost my energy.  Before I hit the gym, I'll also make a small protein shake with almond milk (gross) and my protein mix.

 

I'm so glad I take pics of my strength training notes, because I left my little notebook at home. I'll have to find some notepad here at the office and make my notes of what I plan to do, and then do it. I'll post the photo once the workout is complete.

 

All in all, I think I'm doing pretty well.  Today's minor slip up with breakfast is just that - minor. Not a big deal. And I'll be strength training later, hopefully with lots of energy, so it will all work out. I think I'm on track with the physical portions of my challenge, a bit iffy with the food parts, and I do acknowledge the mental/emotional parts are a serious work in progress.

 

Having my coffee right now and trying to get my day started here at the office, so that's it for now.  

[Misugrrl]

Day 18 wrapped up with lots of food. I just had to eat, and ended up eating a hearty salad, chock full of red beans, chick peas, ham and other goodies. Lots of fuel.  I needed it because today I did strength training.

 

Here are my notes:

 

Not sure about dinner. When I got home from the gym, I had a small banana and not-a-quite-full-protein shake.  I'm pretty tired.  I feel I worked out kinda hard. I'm a bit sore already.

 

Good end to the day.

[Misugrrl]

Days 19 and 20 ended up being rest days as well.  Day 19 (Friday), I had planned a special date with a picnic at the movies in the park event where we live. However, the rain decided to spoil that. No matter, had an awesome picnic in the living room!  Food was good, but no workout.  Day 20 (Saturday), was a very rough day for me. Started the day out around 430 in the morning, awakened by a raging migraine.  I finally quit trying to sleep and couldn't lay down, as laying down only made the pain worse. It was a very slow morning, with some coffee which helped some, and 2 exedrine for migraine tablets (which always leave me with a slight speech impediment).  I had an event later on in the morning, from 11 to 3, and stopped at a McD's to eat a steak and egg sandwich. WHY this sounded like a good idea at the time, I do not know, because immediately after, it became crystal that it most certainly was NOT a good idea, at all.   At the event, I ate half a veggie wrap, which settled my tummy a bit.  I managed to get back to my guy's apartment afterwards, stripped off my dress, put on my pj's, and took a good 2 hour nap. Woke up feeling semi-ok, enough to try to eat. Ate some cheese and crackers and grapes, and a half my gorgonzola/peaches tartlet I had made the evening before (part of our picnic in the living room), and felt much better.  Drank some water, snuggled, and by 9:30pm was back in bed, passed out asleep. No gym.

 

Last week was rough. Too many off days from the gym. Food was all over the place. I am dreading weighing in tomorrow. I'm thinking I may just not weigh in. Not really ready to face that.  If I had to give the week a grade, I'd give it a D.

 

Today is Sunday, day 21 of the challenge, and the beginning of the 3rd week. Officially halfway through the challenge.  Up until last week, I was feeling pretty good.  This challenge can still be salvaged, I think, and I plan on doing just that.  

Today is my sister's birthday, so the family and I had lunch at a local buffet.  I kept to protein-rich foods. Avoided the pastas and only had a few bites of mashed potato. The bulk of my food was chicken breast and small piece of steak cooked medium.  Desert, I have to admit, I cheated a little.  Had a cupcake with no frosting (it was gross) and 2 strawberries covered in dark chocolate. DIVINE. That was divine. I also took a few bites from my sister's cotton candy thing that always reminds me of Marge Simpson's beehive whenever I see it.  It was tasty as well, but I couldn't really eat much because the sugar was just intense.  Now I'm home, letting myself digest a bit before heading out to the gym. I'd like to get a good hour of elliptical HIIT training if I can. I'll see how I do, I've been out of the gym since Thursday. I'm a bit worried I'll be super out of training just for missing 2 days.  I've read it doesn't take much off time to slip back into bad habits, and I don't want that crap to happen to me.

 

I need to drink more water, I feel very thirsty. I think its still residual from the migraine from yesterday. While at lunch, I popped 2 more exedrine for migraine pills, as I can feel the migraine threatening its return.  In a few minutes, I'll be heading out to work out. I'd like to get my workout in before the pain hits.

 

This week will be better. I plan on making up for the poor week I had last week.

No plans for dinner tonight, lunch was huge. I'll have a protein shake after my workout, and perhaps make some tea later tonight before bed.  I will definitely focus on more water today.

 

That's it for now. I'll edit this later to reflect whatever workout I decide to do when I get to the gym.

 

Edit:  Worked out 55 minutes today.  30 minutes of HIIT on the elliptical, on levels 4 and 5.  Did roughly 15 minutes of various speeds (anywhere from 3.5 to 4.5) on level 8, just kinda freeforming it, and then the last 10 minutes I did a steady moderate pace (about 3.5 spd) on levels 4, then 3 to cooldown.  Burned about 550 calories in 55 minutes.   Was a little bit hard, but nothing out of the ordinary. I was relieved to find I hadn't lost any progress from missing 3 days

[Misugrrl]

I have no idea what day of the challenge today is. This week has been *insane*. IN-FREAKING-SANE.

 

So, I'm going to keep it short and sweet.

 

No workout the 19th. Yes workout the 20th. No workout the 21st. Yes workout the 22nd (yesterday). Not sure about today.  Food has been not-totally-on-point, but not terribly bad either.  It's been a really rough week.

 

Here are my notes from the 20th and 22nd.  I think I'm going to focus more on strength training, and I'll throw in cardio randomly when I have energy. 

 

 

 

Things are in flux for me again. Lots of big changes occurring, some not so good, others awesome. I'm doing the best I can to stay positive and remain cheerful as life does what it does, and not let it affect my workouts or eating. I will retrain myself to not take it out on my health when stuff goes wibbly-wobbly.

[Misugrrl]

DAY (insert whatever day of the challenge today is, I seriously have lost track), or I'll just call it August 27th!

 

What a week. Seriously. WHAT A WEEK.  Things have been stressful at home, but going really well in others.  So things are all still in shift, but I've been sticking to my guns on this challenge, which is getting easier and easier. Why? Because I'm seeing results.  Yes yes, I'm seeing results.

 

I've got my workout logs written down, but I'll have to upload them later.  I'm progressing nicely on my strength training, and am proud of how much I can do. I am still relatively weak with my upper body, but my legs are hella strong. Seriously I could probably kick down a door and tear the frame off the walls, I think.  I've been able to increase the weights on my lower body by 5 and 10 lbs, and I'm seeing lots of progress. My thighs are looking more toned, though the inner thighs are still the stuff of nightmares. But my calves are looking fan-freaking-tastic, and I'm proud to say I'm beating some guys on that calf extension machine  Yesterday's max weight? 4 sets of 10 at 140 lbs. Yeah buddy.  It wasn't easy, but I did them, and that's all that counts.

 

I've also been doing super good on the whole not-weighing-myself-daily, and I am proud to say my anxiety on the weight loss has lessened. Result? I'm losing weight again! lol  Funny how that works? I hopped on the scale this morning to a brand new all-time-low!  I won't say what the weight is, but I'm now to 89 lbs lost!  1 more lb to 90, and I'm hoping to see that next time I weigh in, which will be next week.  I'm going to continue doing intermittent fasting, which has been great, and I'm really enjoying foods and my 1 cheat meal of the week. Very low anxiety with that.  I feel I've made a lot of progress there.

 

Now, this week, because of the craziness of my schedule and my own stress, I didn't work out every day, but when I did work out, I concentrated on strength training.  Now I'm starting to wonder if going to the gym 6 days a week is something I should reconsider? Last week, I think I took 2 days off. I'll have to go back through my notes, but I'm pretty sure it was 2 days off.  I've not been doing as much cardio, either. I'm wondering if 3 days of cardio is too much?  I do miss it though. I think for this week, I'll continue doing the cardio, at a HIIT pace for about 25 minutes and then free form for the rest of the time (whatever I feel like), and see how that goes.  My goals aren't any 1 specific thing - I want to lose weight, of course, but I also want to get stronger, get lean, get toned and see toned muscles, and I also want to increase my endurance. I want to start participating in 5k walks and hopefully someday be able to slow jog or even RUN them. To be able to do that, I need to increase my endurance.  HIIT on the elliptical has been great for that, I feel the difference, and I can see the difference with the heart rate monitor.  Maybe for Christmas, I'll treat myself to a Polar heartrate monitor watch thingie. Maybe. I haven't decided yet, because its a toss up between that and a kindle fire HD

 

Ok, that's it for now. I'll update with pics of my notes at some point.

[Misugrrl]

August 30th, and no clue what day of the challenge we're on. But it's the start of Labor Day weekend, so we're definitely nearing the end of my first challenge!

 

The days continue to be hectic for me. Yesterday was so insane, with driving roughly 400 miles round trip and handling things at home, that by the time I got home and everyone was settled in, and I made dinner, I literally conked out. All I know is, it was around 7:30-ish, I was watching Big Bang Theory, it went on commercial break, I changed the channel to see what else was on, saw Iron Man 2 was just starting, so I hit RECORD on my DVR, put the remote down, and woke up at 4 am....  I don't know how the tv shut off, because it was off at 4am (maybe a built in sleep timer I had no idea existed? or gnomes....).  Needless to say, yesterday was a no-gym-I'm-taking-a-rest-day.

 

I've been progressing nicely, however. Yesterday was actually the first day of the week I skipped the gym for some much-needed rest.  I've shifted my workouts from mostly-cardio to now mostly-strength training.  When I do cardio, I keep it to HIIT at first, and then freeform for the duration of whatever energy I have that day.  On Wednesday, I was able to arm-curl 40 lbs for the first time, and it felt relatively good. The highest I'd been able to go was 35, and it was a struggle.  I've also pushed myself up to 60 lbs on the chest press machine, and I'm at 110 on the lateral pulldown.  My legs continue to get stronger, and I'm able to leg press 170 lbs, leg ext 90, and calf ext up to 140 lbs.  My back and abdominals are also getting stronger - on the ab machine, I'm up to 110 lbs and the back extension machine I believe I hit 110 lbs. My goal for the weekend workout with my boyfriend is to bump up those numbers, even if just by 5, but bump them up. The weekend workouts usually set the tone for my daily goals the rest of the week when I workout alone. I'm also thinking of bumping up the reps on my heaviest sets from 5 reps to 8. Most of the exercises I'm barely hanging on by the 5th one, but others I feel I can do more but hold back because I'm trying to keep all my sets the same number of reps (OCD like that). But perhaps its time to bump them up to 8 all around.

 

Weight-wise, I'm 1 lbs away from hitting 90 lbs gone, in total, over the course of 3 years.  For this particular challenge, I'm 3 lbs away from the goal I had set out for of 10 lbs.  I think we've got 1 week left for this challenge, the official end day being September 7th I think?  I think in the 8 or 9 days I've got left, I might be able to eliminate these last 3 lbs, to reach my goal.  

Every other goal I set out for myself, I feel I've done amazing progression towards.  I am stronger, my body is getting more toned. I've dropped 7 of the 10 lbs I had set out to lose.  Food is still a bit iffy for me, but the intermittent fasting has helped tremendously with that. On the days I am just hungry and feel I need the energy, I eat some breakfast and a light lunch, and its no big deal. Dinner is usually pretty moderate, but when I have my days where I could eat a baby cow, I'll eat more at dinner time and it's no big deal. I've been finding that lately, the days I feel I can eat the world are the days after a particularly hard strength training session, so I think I'm on the right track. I'm getting results   People are noticing the differences since I started weight training. I'm liking myself more (but not because of how I look, because I'm still having trouble seeing the changes others are seeing).   Heck, I'm even reading 2 books simultaneously !  Sure its taking a while to read them, but hey, I'm reading

 

I've got my workout notes and I've got them uploaded to link from here, but I think I'll just make one post with all of them linked, just for reporting purposes. And I'll do that some other time.

 

I had breakfast today, which was a small bowl of some corn flakes and a bit of milk, while I sipped my coffee. Lunch is yet to be determined, but I'm thinking some oatmeal. Dinner, I haven't yet decided. I'll see how I feel, because I saw this amazing bean quesadilla recipe yesterday that looked so damned easy, that I'm thinking it might be mexican night hehe

 

Ok that's it for now.  I don't think I'll post again, so to whomever is reading this - have a wonderful and safe Labor Day weekend!  

[robert da strongman]

Rest is nice.

 

Kay-sa-dillas...yum

[wideeyed]

Great progress! Enjoy the long weekend.