Results at the end of Month 2

Today ended Month 2. At the end of the second month, I've lost 7.5 pounds and 7 total inches. Although the body fat % didn't go down that much, Jovonn was quite pleased to see I'm still losing significant inches, especially in the waist & hips, which is a difficult place to lose.

So only 6 more weeks to go, as I leave Carlisle on May 16. At the end of month 3, I'm hoping for another significant loss to rocket me into summer where I'll be doing this all on my own. With the days getting longer and warmer and my increased energy, I am trying to stay focused on my long term goals and not get discouraged by where I think I should be versus where I am. Let's just hope I can keep up this trend until I take the bar at the end of July.

One Step at a Time

It's been a few weeks, so here's the update.

Spring Break was the week of March 7. I went back to Tennessee with good intentions of getting out everyday & at least walking 30 minutes. Well... that just didn't happen. First, I was mentally exhausted. Second, it rained the majority of the week. But, I did keep to my goo eating habits and when I got back to Pennsylvania, I had lost a pound. A week off sometimes does you good.

Then back to working out regularly... well... again that didn't happen so well. The first week back, I did have 3 strength training session (an extra one to make up for my week gone). But I didn't make it into the gym on the other 2 days to just do cardio. But no worries. I still lost another 1.5 pounds.

So this week has been back on the bandwagon. I didn't make it Tuesday because of meetings and errands, and I hate going after 4:00pm because it gets so crowded. But I did go today and did my 75 minutes. The best part is I ran a 1/2 mile without stopping - and that's saying something since I run slow. Yep, I felt pretty darn awesome, especially considering 2 months ago I could barely run one minute. Plus, I'm doing low, mid & high incline intervals now. Here's what I did:

0-4 minute: 3.7 mph @ 5% incline
4-9 & change minute: 5.3 mph @ 1% (my 1/2 mile)
10-15: 3.7 mph @ 5%
15-20: 3.5 mph @ 7.5%
20-25: 3.7 mph @ 2.5%
25-30: 5.3 mph @ 1%
30-35: 3.7mph @ 2.5%
35-40: 3.7 @ 5%
40-45: 3.5 mph @ 7.5%
45-47.30: 3.7 @ 2.5%
47.30-50: 5.2 @ 1%

Then I did 20 min on the eliptical. And although incredibly sweaty (I don't glisten, I sweat), I have felt fantastic since - almost hyper. It's incredible how much energy I have lately, then you add a runner's high on top of that. Oh man, what a great feeling.

Next Wednesday is my 2 month measurement. I'm a little nervous, but at least this time, the scale is starting to reflect my hard work. If you remember, my first month, the scale didn't move AT ALL! But I still lost 15 total inches and 2% body fat. So never go by the scale alone. But it is nice to see the scale move.

Until next Wednesday...

Triggers and Motivations

Two post day!

First, a hooray moment - I've made it to 90 minutes of cardio (20 eliptical, 50 treadmill, 20 eliptical). I started at 60, worked up to 75, and now 90. And the runner's high kicked in very nicely today.

Second, just a quick stat in case anyone is interested. I'm doing a 5K (~3.1 miles) in 44.04 doing the intervals (walk, 2 min run, walk, 2 min hills).

Okay, so now for the real topic, triggers and motivation. I thought a lot about this while on the treadmill today. When folks normally talk about triggers, usually it's food related and a negative thing (sugar, caffeine, etc.). But triggers for me, or at least how I've started thinking about them, are things that trigger me to feel better - about myself, about exercising, about life in general. Today I was triggered by my runner's high and completing 90 minutes of cardio. I felt fantastic and ended up happy, even though earlier in the day had been crummy. The Legally Blonde quote came to mind (slightly modified: "Exercise gives you endorphins. Endorphins make you happy. Happy people just don't shoot [people], they just don't." Heehee. YAY for endorphins! So what triggers you?

And even if you give in to a negative trigger, so what? It's not the end, just a road bump. Like today, I had a really crummy morning - 2 job rejections, to add to the growing list of rejections. To make myself feel better, I went to my fave Italian restaurant for lunch and had a calzone with sausage and a large mountain dew. Later, I started feeling guilty. But I stopped. I did nothing wrong to feel guilty for. Should I have choosen a salad over a calzon? Probably. But I thoroughly enjoyed the calzone. It was one meal on one day when the rest of the week I have eaten very healthy. So, what's the big deal? NADA. So my advice is allow yourself to give in once in a while. It made me feel better, I'm less likely to binge later on (if I keep denying myself), and it was a one meal deal. So enjoy your calzone or whatever floats your boat (yum, floats).

I also use music as a trigger. My playlist is all music that typically makes me smile or start tapping my foot. So between that and the BPM are the main reasons I picked those songs. Think Pavlov's bell - use the same songs over and over again for your cardio routine. Sooner or later, when you hear those songs outside the gym, you'll instantly want to start moving.

As far as motivation, the sky's the limit. Anything can be a motivation, as demonstrated by the 10001 books on motivation, dieting, working-out, etc. I think the key is to figure out what motivates you and then tap into when are you motivated. Many people view working out as a chore. It takes time out of your day, time that you could be doing something else. When I had my very first session, I had to rate on a scale of 1 (not) to 10 (very) how motivated I was. If you're not motivated, you won't do it. It's just that simple. For some reason, this time around I was motivated. And for me, working out with a trainer helps that - I have a specific appointment 2x a week that I'm paying for, so I'm super motivated to show up. Then I'm not only showing up, I'm putting 110% effort into that work-out because I like getting my money's worth. For some folks, weighing on the scale every day or every other day is motivation. For me, weighing does the exact opposite - I see the scale and it doesn't tell me what I want, so I say forgedaboudit and then go back to bad habits. But when I'm working, I can see the changes even if the scale isn't currently reflecting it. Then I love to strength train, so that helps my motivation. But if you don't, then maybe look into other options.

So find out what motivates you and tap into it. Then get some good tunes and get off the couch and join me at Disney World January 2011 for the marathon weekend!

New Cardio Playlist

So back in December, I had to reinstall the operating system on my Mac, which meant I had to do a complete wipe and reinstall. I thought I had everything backed up on my external harddrive. Well, I plugged in the HD and it started smoking. Not a good sign - it was fried. I lost almost everything, including all my music, which meant I had to recreate my running playlist. I took this as an opportunity to improve it. I did keep many of the original songs, but I've changed some out. This one is the 60 minute list.

Just to quickly explain - I do mine by the beats per minute (BPM). I start off low and gradually pick up until I peak at 160 BPM, then slowly come back down. I also include 2 dialogue clips from the movie Run Fat Boy Run. If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it. I love Simon Pegg, but moreover, the movie just really inspires me. So the first clip is just for fun and the second one indicates the 10 min mark, so you can stretch if you so choose before getting into the higher BPM songs. The (#) indicates the BPM.

1. Dialogue Clip
2. Girls & Boys In Love by The Rumple Strips (95)
3. Single Ladies by Beyonce (98)
4. Story Problem by The Envy Corps (103)
5. Move Along by The All-American Rejects (113)
6. Dialogue Clip: Motivation
7. SexyBack by Justin Timberlake (120)
8. Get The Party Started by Pink (130)
9. According To You by Orianthi (132)
10. Viva La Vida by Coldplay (136)
11. Little Of Your Time by Maroon 5 (144)
12. Chelsea Dagger by the Fratellis (152)
13. Everyday I Love You Less & Less by the Kaiser Chiefs (160)
14. I Like That by Air Traffic (160)
15. Perfect Day by Hoku (155)
16. The Magic Position by Patrick Wolf (133)
17. Keep on Running by Goldspot (131)
18. Clocks by Coldplay (129)
19. Everybody's Changing by Keane (96)
20. Sugar Water by Cibo Water - cool down

I tried it out today and it works pretty well. There are a couple of places where the song ends, but the track has a few extra seconds on it... I'm going to try to fix that. Also, there's one or two songs I'm not completely happy with, but they do work. If you'd like a copy of it, just send me your mailing address & I'll mail you a copy.

I'm working on a 90 minute version that will increase, then slack back off, then increase again. I'll let you know when it's ready.

Month 2

This week officially started Month 2 of the Get In Shape extravaganza. And we have kicked it up a notch . . . or three. Apparently my 15 inches have motivated Jovonn as much as it motivated me, because he was no-holds-bar, kicking butt yesterday. I did like 6 different types of squats, plus the leg extension and seated leg curl. Then, at the end, I had to do 2-45 sec. wall squats - one with feet shoulder length apart, then one with feet together. My legs were already jello - I tell ya, he's showing no mercy.

So, this morning I went to do my regular cardio (75 min). Oh man did my legs feel heavy. So heavy, in fact, I only did 2-min fun intervals. By the end, my legs felt like lead. But hey, I was there & working it & that's what counts. I did my 75 minutes, stretched & went home. Now, when I sit too long, it's hard to get up! My tushie & quads are definitely feeling it, but I keep thinking that it's all good - pain just means things are getting tight & small!

While I was at the gym today, I ran into my friend Noff, who's such a total gym rat (he has beautiful arms - I mean, really, really gorgeous, big, strong arms). He congratulated me on the lost inches & body fat. He told me that a lot of trainers & health nuts are following The Abs Diet. Apparently it's the new cool thing. Amazon also has one that's specifically for women. I don't know if it's any better/worse than anything else. But it seems reasonable. I think the key is portion control and moderation. Americans have just gotten out of control with portions - we think bigger = better. Yet that's not necessarily true with food (unless you're talking about having more veggies). I read that the average Italian restaurant plate is really equal to 4 servings. Plus, free bread, salads, free re-fills - it adds up, quickly.

Then Noff told me the best news ever - for every pound of muscle you add, you burn like extra 400 calories. Isn't that fabulous motivation? And the reason why I don't look at the scale. In fact, this time around, the scale didn't move down that much - only about 5 pounds. But that's because my body is balancing out between fat & muscle. So I refuse to weigh every day - I might weigh once a week. Always in the morning and never after working-out.

So keep in mind when you hop on the scale, muscle weighs more than fat and the number on the scale isn't the best measure of how healthy you are. The number you really want to see is your body fat %. I aim to lose 12% body fat. I've already lost 2% and Jovonn figures I'll lose more than 2% this month, so I could be close to half-way to my goal at the end of this month. That gives me even more motivation to eat better. Nutrition is 70% of the battle.

Now, I'm more motivated than ever. And I'm looking at doing the Virgina Beach Rock N' Roll Half Marathon in early September - who's with me?