My Exercise Plan 2015

Exercise Monday: My Exercise Plan 2015

Work it Out!

Hello People,

This is the big doozy. The part of my plan that is really pushing things into high gear. I posted a few weeks ago about the diet portion of this plan, which isn’t really ground-breaking news but what sets this time apart from the other times I have attempted to lose weight on this blog is my exercising combined with eating lower calorie.  Let me explain a few unfortunate things.

I lost and reached my goal weight twice before in my life.  Once I did it  on Weight Watchers and the other on a little known diet called Prism.  Both of those attempts had me eating extremely low calorie, 1000 to 1200 a day, with no cheat meals EVER. Due to the low calorie nature and the choices of what I was eating then (lots of processed foods) I was unable to exercise because I had zero energy.  Yes, I lost weight, I had no energy, but I lost weight. The unfortunate thing about losing weight is that when one loses weight or is in a fat losing state the body will lose some of its lean muscle tissue in the process. It is just what happens and you can’t stop it; even if you are lifting weights during the process of losing.  Muscle is what keeps your metabolism humming when you are young.  It is often easier to lose weight when you are young because your fat to muscle tissue is usually different than when you are older.  I am older and have lost weight twice losing lots of my lean muscle tissue twice; up to 25% of it both times!!! Therefore, at a certain weight, like 130 pounds, I can weigh the same today as then, but I may be far fatter now at that weight than when I was younger because I just have more fat than muscle on my body. Aging also causes us to lose muscle over time if you are not diligent to keep it from deteriorating over the years.  I did not want to lose weight again and not exercise. This was in the hopes that I could protect some of that lean tissue and at the same time change the shape of my body, not just lose weight. Note: this is one reason health experts say that weighing yourself is only a fraction of the truth.  A really healthy person has a healthy BMI. Weight is just a number that is not really telling you what it is like on the inside.

I was also noticing that weight was not coming off of me at this age (43) as easy as it was when I was younger (20’s and early 30’s) without exercise. In some instances I didn’t lose weight at all even eating 1200 cals a day.  In other words, I have to exercise now in order for true weight loss to happen especially as I get closer to my goal weight. My calories aren’t too far off from those former diets but the difference now is what I eat. It makes a huge difference in my energy and performance output. Eating lower glycemic and having a balanced fresh Macronutrient diet is a world of difference to eating fake food out of boxes heated in the microwave.

You may be surprised to find that I am pushing myself to exercise a lot.  I am. It’s because I want the weight gone and don’t want to wait around for it to happen. It is not a quick fix, it is discipline and determination. I am not perfect and this is only an outline.  If I can accomplish it all then bravo.  Recently I had a bike accident and sprained my hand and cut up my knee so I had to make adjustments and not lift any weight for a week. I try to follow this program to the best of my ability and it is making a huge difference.

My Program:

Mon: Jog/Walk Intervals 1 hour, Walk Dog uphill 1 hour, Arms/Back, Yoga 30 min

Tue: HIIT Cardio (such as jump rope) 16 min, Legs/Butt, Walk Dog flat route 1 hour

Wed: Day Off

Thurs: HIIT Cardio, Arms/Back, Walk Dog flat route 1 hour

Fri: Jog/Walk Intervals 1 hour, Walk Dog uphill 1 hour, Legs/Butt, Yoga 30 min

Sat: 2 hours Medium Intensity Cardio of choice (such as Bike Riding)

Sun: 1 hour Cardio (such as Tae Bo Kickboxing), Legs/Butt, Yoga 30 min

NOTE:

• Cardio is medium intensity unless it is HIIT, then it is full out.
• Strength Training is done with and without weights, depends on the routine
• Strength Training varies in time; 20 min to an hour
• I often am not able to walk my dog due to time constraints, so I do my best

Exercise Plan

Exercise Monday: My Current Exercise Plan

Hello People!

I wanted to update you all on what I am doing in the exercise department.  I told you a while back that I was doing an 8 week challenge series that was really toning up my body.  I finished that one and am on to the 2nd one and love it!  It is by FitnessBlender and here is a video showing the results of people who participated in these programs:

Basically, it is a lot of strength training and cardio alternating days with different body parts.  They include about 3 days worth of high paced interval training (hard!) and alternate with days of not so strenuous stuff, like, standing abs, or kick boxing routines.  It has really changed the shape of my legs and butt as I can see in the mirror and the fit of my clothes.  I have not lost weight doing it, that is my fault – not theirs, but if I had, my body would be smokin’!  It is average about 5 days on, 2 days rest, although they give an alternate 6th day of pure cardio.

Also, I have not been walking my dog as much due to the extreme heat of the summer lasting well into the night (he has a weak heart and gets overheated easily).  But I did add walking myself at night briskly for one hour.  I usually do this on days I’m not doing the FitnessBlender workouts or if I am up to it, I do it in addition.  That was the summer though, and I was not working as much as I am now, so that may change soon.  Time will tell.

I am not disillusioned to the fact anymore that exercise will keep my weight down.  I have written numerous posts on why that is, but the fact is, I love the feeling of exercise and I feel better about life and myself when I move around.  Plus, I love the shape of my body better.  Having more muscle does help the metabolism, but that will not take the weight off – it will be diet alone that does that officially. Remember: 85% diet and 15% exercise is the recipe.

Cardio Mash-Up

Exercise Monday: Cardio Mash-Up

I recently joined a local gym! Yay me!  It was because I yearned for spin classes and yoga but I’ve been mostly just using the equipment doing my own thing at my own time, ya know?  There is nothing wrong with the classes except for the fact that they are always at the butt-crack of dawn, but other than that, it just comes down to what I’m in the mood for.

If you like to use the machines but want a new routine, here is a mix of the treadmill and recumbent bike to spice up your calorie torching sessions.  I wear a heart rate monitor for this but you can guesstimate if you don’t have one by feeling how hard you are breathing or exerting.  It uses a scale called RPE or Rate of Perceived Exertion.  It ranges from 1 – 10, 1 being easy-easy to 10 being not able to keep up longer than 30 seconds at a time.

I got this from: December 2013 Shape Magazine

Burn 300 in 30

Time (minutes)             What to Do                        RPE

                                         CYCLING

0 – 5              warm-up: pedal at an easy pace       3 – 4

5 -7                       increase resistance                      5 – 6

7 – 8                     decrease resistance                      4 – 5

8 – 12       sprint for 30 seconds, then pedal at an easy pace for                           30 seconds. Repeat 3 times.                    4 – 8

12 – 14         increase resistance; pedal hard           7 – 8

14 – 15                  pedal at an easy pace                    4

15 – 18                 repeat minutes 12 – 15                 4 – 8

                                       TREADMILL

18 – 21                 jog at a moderate pace                5 – 6

21 – 23             increase speed by 0.3 to 0.7            7 – 8

23 – 25                 increase incline by 1.0                   8

25 -28              sprint for 30 seconds, then jog at a moderate pace                              for 30 seconds. Repeat twice.          5 – 9

28 – 30           cool down; jog at an easy pace        3 – 4

 

 

 

 

Know When to Say “When!”

Hello People!

Long time no post.  I have been in diet limbo for the past near month.  On a whim, I ordered a long forgotten diet that had worked for me in the past, The Prism Diet, and had started it with full enthusiasm.  It is based on Christian principles that when applied, are darn good.  It requires a mentor to monitor your progress.  This is very important.  So, I called the number listed extensively throughout the book and the-all-important Curriculum Binder to ask the headquarters if they could find me a mentor.  The number sent me to a recorded message that wanted to send me on a “FREE CRUISE!!!” Also, when searching for the diet and a basic website on Google, one is lead to a series of dead-ends mostly with people asking on chat rooms if the diet works or not (most decide that it is too rigid, to this I LOL’d a few times).  There isn’t a website or a headquarters.  Apparently, the diet is now defunct and the creators of it don’t care about you or their precious diet that was created for the masses.  To be honest, I couldn’t even find an entire Curriculum (each section of the diet is grouped by 6 weeks of time, this is contained in the Binder as a whole; mine is missing the last 6 weeks) and only ordered a partial from Amazon; used of course.  Then, I got bored. Then, I got angry.

It just isn’t working anymore.  I think my body gave up on dieting and has taken the offensive against my good intentions.  It is holding onto 25 pounds of fat like white on rice and I’ll be damned if losing it isn’t the hardest thing I’ve ever done, including training for a marathon!

Sooooo….. I made a little/big video just for my blogging friends.  I’m sorry it is a half hour long, but it is straight from my heart and I could not find any of it to trim to make it shorter.  It was filmed in my backyard on a breezy afternoon.  So, if you get bored looking at me, you can watch the leaves dance behind me.  This video explains my current thoughts on losing weight, what I plan to do in the future and what I think about diets.  I’m sure you can guess, but I would be happy if you watched it anyhow.  It just might give you some ideas if you are in a rut as well.

P.S. The blog will be different from now on based on these thoughts.  I am even contemplating changing the image of this blog to reflect my new attitude towards eating and health.

The Flexible Factor

Exercise Monday: The Flexible Factor – Yoga Practice #1

Hello People!

I’m back with another exercise suggestion.  I was going to tell you all about my new exercise program that I have been vigorously following for 4 weeks, but, I’m going to drag it out a bit more for the end result.  It will be more of an impact that way.  The goal is to reveal what the plan has done to change my body.  I can tell you that it is an 8 week program designed to burn fat.  Although it is just exercise, they do recommend taking in fewer calories to help your progress…DUH!

Today I want to suggest a supplement to your workouts.  An addition, if you will, that should not be ignored.  It is often said in the weight loss community, that in order to lose weight and change your body you need to eat less and move more.  Specifically, if you want to literally change your shape your “move more” needs to include weight lifting or strength training as it is often referred to.  If you do this on a regular basis, you may find that your back, leg and upper body muscles become stiffer the stronger you get.  When I think of a Line Backer in football, I don’t think elegance and grace.  I think of a M.A.C. truck barreling down the highway.

Being bulky and muscular does tend to make the muscles less flexible; no science needed, I think it’s obvious.  Therefore, increasing flexibility in the body alongside your weight routines also needs to be a component in the working out regime.  Why? Well, I think that working on and building flexibility will help your strength increase in the long run.  They work synergistically together.  The more able you are to stretch further, the more ability to isolate a muscle for higher quality reps; perhaps because the muscle will be less apt to seize up with tension.  The muscle may not tighten and become fatigued too soon if you are flexible.  Plus, being flexy helps the recovery of the muscle to not be so sore and painful.  The next time you workout similar muscles, they won’t be aching due to excessive stiffness if you have adequately stretched them.  I also recall in ballet that if you stretch the muscle after it has been worked, it will elongate better and not create a short stocky type of build.  This is not proven as far as I know, but I do know a lot of ballet dancers who swear by this.

The core is also important to keep strong, and all movement stems from the core.  The core, to me, means the box of your shoulders to your hips.  Without good core stability, the weight workout, no matter how intense, can suffer since all limbs stem from the core. You don’t want to rely on surrounding muscles for stability when lifting weights.  This lessens the intensity of the muscle being worked.  You want to focus on the muscle at hand and isolate it without the aid of surrounding muscles to “cheat” the lifting/lowering.  If you’re bending awkwardly or having to use less weight because there is strain due to poor core strength, you should consider increasing the power through the center of the body in addition to your regular routine.

Enter Yoga.  Yeah, it’s granola-y and full of weird spiritual people in tight clothes, but it can do amazing things.  Have you ever done a real Yoga Class at a studio?  It is butt hard!  Not easy or peaceful.  My muscles were screaming for days and I took the beginner class!  I’m not suggesting that type of yoga for you, yet…. How about you start off with something like this?  I’m going to do it tonight after dinner (wait and hour though).  I think it perfectly helps correct all of those issues I talk about above. It can’t hurt you.  And all else aside, who couldn’t benefit from being more flexible?

 

Notable Quotable #1

Inspirational Sunday: Notable Quotable #1

Hello People!

I am following an exercise program (more on that in tomorrow’s post), and daily, I am given a quote to ponder.  I found this one particularly pertinent to me:

“Courage does not always roar. Sometimes, it is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, ‘I will try again tomorrow’ “.                    -Unknown

The program is rigorous. My commitment to keep up the 6 days a week regime at the start, were solid, and then there were snags 3 weeks into it…I got raging sick, twice.  I was working so hard and following the plan so well.  Pictures were being taken weekly for a before and after sequence.  It made me so mad that I woke up one day not able to get out of bed, much less lift a dumbbell.  Not following the program was hard enough, on top of that, when I get sick, for some reason my appetite rages out of control (not surprised, I’m defaulted to overeat by nature; being sick just heightens that even more) making me crave carbs like nothing else.  I suppose this is because of the lack in energy the virus is stealing from me and my body needing to fight off whatever ails me.

That Katy Perry song has nothing on me, my “Roar” sometimes is a deeper promise for tomorrow. You know my desire to lose weight has been haunting me for years, I’m not going to now let a temporary sickness get in my way.  I told myself, “take the time to heal, then jump back in full force when you are up for it.”  It took about a week and a half, and many carbs later, but I’m back in the saddle again.

It’s not just the big reasons that make me break my commitment at times, it’s also the small things that come up.  Today, I just had a lack of energy to follow through on what I planned to do this afternoon.  The plans made for the day were put aside just to listen to what my body wanted: rest and relaxation.  I don’t have a good reason why, that is just how I felt.  I did not waste my workout or good eating habits though.  These remain a part of the plan no matter what.  But if I plan a day to garden for 4 hours, but all I want is a nap, then I compromise.  Instead of 4 hours, I did 40 minutes of simple stuff out in the yard.  I’ll make up for those bigger plans another time.  No big deal.  Tomorrow is another day and I can always do more if I’m up for it.

I also want to re-state that old stand-by: Consistency is Key.  It isn’t about just today, it’s about the total addition of day to day, week to week, month to month commitments.  One, two, or even three days out of a month that get “ruined” for whatever reason don’t need to derail one’s plans permanently.  Get back on the wagon tomorrow even stronger than before. That’s my roar speaking in a quiet voice!

 

Workout to Lose

Exercise Monday: Workout to Lose

Hello People!

This is an extension of a post I did recently on my New Year’s Resolutions.  I had mentioned that I didn’t just write down on my resolutions list to “lose weight,” like I had done last year, but also included in the written goal a specific pattern or plan; in other words, not to be vague about my goal, which will lead to near or nothing being done about the problem.  Making the goal have more tangible tasks will get the job done, at least in my case.  I’m not one to be willy-nilly about things.  That type of planning is my recipe to plan to fail.  I need a plan of action that I can follow to the letter.  This is how I work best.  This may not be for everyone, however.  I thrive on being strict; any wiggle room and I get lazy.

So, to clarify the goal on my list: I not only have written in bold letters to lose 28 pounds (or what remains thereof from my losing weight efforts last year) but what each week needs to accomplish.  My ultimate goal is to lose 1 to 1 1/2 pounds a week.  This is done two ways: eat 500 calories less per day, and burn up to 500 extra calories a day in exercise.  Due to the fact that I will take two days off to “rest” during the week for exercise, I will make up the 1,000 calorie loss on other days doing active things in daily tasks like gardening, walking to the grocery store, etc. and by also choosing cardio workouts that really burn calories.  Some weeks will go as planned, and I will burn a lot of calories through exercise and activities and eating low-cal, other weeks will have setbacks like getting ill and missing a few workouts, etc.  Remember too, I’m not counting calories too exact due to my “relaxed intention” principles (post to come on that later).  I’m eating in the ballpark of 500 calories less than my BMR.

It looks like this as an example for one day of the week:

Monday – Eat: 1350 calories / Walk Dog: Burn 100 calories / Strength Train Upper Body 20 to 30 minutes: Burn 150 to 250 Calories / Cardiovascular Exercise: Kickboxing 50 minutes: Burn 300 – 400 Calories (tallying approximate calories with a Heart Rate Monitor)

I am only doing this for a short time.  I want to lose my weight by May and be done with it.  Then I can focus on the challenges of maintenance, which some say is harder than the losing weight bit. It is also important to mention, that for 2013 I had a goal to be more organized with my time, so I’m using that tool in conjunction with this new goal. I am using a day-planner to plan out what and when I will eat and exercise.  It’s almost like an appointment already made that I must not miss.  I spend Sundays creating this list of things-to-do which also includes a grocery shopping list to only buy what is needed for the week ahead.

For the month of January 2014 I want to lose 4 to 5 pounds.  I’ll let you know at the end of the month if that happens!  Here I go…..

Resolutions 2014

Inspirational Sunday: New Year’s Resolutions for 2014

Hello People!

Happy New Year as well.  It is indeed a new year, a fresh start for those of us who like turning a new page. Last year I posted my resolutions and I must say that I accomplished about 3/4 of them to great success!*  You can read about it HERE.  The other fourth, I attempted, but for one reason or another, were not completely accomplished; hence my 7 pounds out of a hopeful 28 pounds loss.  Not a total fail, but not completely done with. My list below is a basic outline of what I hope to “do” in 2014.  I left it a bit general for you reader, but rest assured, I have them written down in great detail and posted in plain view for me to see and think about each day.

This year, my plans that weren’t accomplished are more narrowed down to be more specific.  In other words, just saying “I want to lose 28 pounds this year,” I have made the job more of a weekly task to work on gradually with actual numbers and a plan.  More on that later.

I want to discuss, briefly I hope, the fact that even though my best-laid-plans of 2013 weren’t completely conquered, there were so many important things that I realized about myself that are important to point out.  Perhaps you also realized things about yourself through my journey.  Plans are good, but growth is the most important thing to me.  Becoming a better version of myself is always number one on the list.  So here they are itemized in no particular order of discovery or importance:

1. I am gluten intolerant.  Well, this certainly cuts down on a lot of once available calories for me.  That’s been the plus side.  It is still easy to overeat (I’m baking my gluten-free birthday cake as I write this!), but regardless, this will be something I will have to contend with for the rest of my life.
2. Lots of extraneous exercise will not help me to lose weight. You may remember my posts about marathoning and walking for hours upon hours only to gain weight.  I called it the “marathon effect.”  Cardio, strength training, and stretching are great in moderation, but are only 15% of the equation in losing weight…DAMN!
3. Proper macronutrient ratio’s help me feel full.  I’m a person who needs equal parts of complex carbo’s to protein with some fat.  Too little of carb or protein and I am toast.
4. Sugar is my enemy and creates binging problems.  This one sucks.  I love sugar.  But, it is a completely useless and un-needed “food.”  It triggers my blood sugar to rise and drop, sometimes to dangerous levels and then makes me frantic to eat the first thing I see…and then keep eating.  I turn into one of those spring caterpillars before they go into the cocoon.
5. Binging can be dealt with.  Not completely done with this one yet.  The devil on my shoulder will always be there.  But I can learn to master those temptations by following the former two discoveries listed above.  Most of all, riding out the wave of greed, and always being prepared if it does strike, is key for me.
   

And now for the Resolutions:

• Find a home church to meet new people, find ways to socialize and commune with like believers. (I am protestant Christian, if you didn’t know)
• Find the best Baked Beans recipe. (I know that may sound weird, but I LOVE them)
• Financial Responsibility (this is more detailed, but that’s all I’m going to list here)
• Lose 4 pounds a month (this is also more detailed, but I’ll write more about it later)
• Visit 5 museums
• Attend 5 Art Openings
• Make 5 artworks (more specifically written down, but again…)
• Cook through the cookbook How to Eat by Nigella Lawson (sort of a Julie & Julia scenario)
• Improve romantic social life (not going to give you more on this, but I have a plan)
• Make a “Garden of Envy” (I’ll take photos all through the year for you to prove it!)

I wish you all the best if you also have set goals for yourself.  It is easy to give up and quit.  But then nothing ever changes.  If it isn’t working, what if you re-work the goal?  Good Luck!

* I successfully accomplished goals #3,4,5,6 & 7

How to Accomplish Goals

Think it Through Thursday: How to Accomplish Goals

Hey People!

I am not doing so amazing on my weight loss! LOL.  This is such a disappointment because I have been almost blogging for a year now and only have about 5 – 6 pounds lost to show for it.  It should also be said that I don’t have tons of weight to lose in the first place, but still!  This is not how I envisioned the plan working out – or NOT working out in my case.

Therefore, it has come time for a re-boot of the program; a re-setting of goals and what I want to accomplish.  This post could be used for a variety of topics in regards to going after what you want, but I’m going to use my weight loss endeavors as my example.

First of all, I will say I have learned valuable things along the way during this year process.  My gluten-intolerance realization has been a God send.  I had no idea a year ago that this was something I would have or deal with for the rest of my life.  I have also done a lot of research on health and have come across so many great pioneers on the trail to wellness.  Their insight and truths about food and our culture have been phenomenal in the choices I make towards my eating and exercise programs.  I also adore my French research on how that culture views food and health.  There are plenty of posts on all of these subjects throughout my blog.

Now, how do I propose to change my ways this time?  Well, it has come to my realization that I need more structure.  This is not going to be something everyone will agree with or even work well with.  But, over the years, when I think of how I accomplished great achievements, such as my Bachelors and Masters Degrees, learning a lead role for a musical or opera, training for a marathon, etc, there was some major structure in the program in the way of planning, rules, consequences and set-points. You know, if I don’t read the material, I can’t write the paper, then I fail the course – type of stuff.  How does this translate to losing weight?  Let me explain…

PLANNING

“Not planning is planning to fail!” Who said that?  I don’t know, but I’ve been hearing it all my life and unfortunately, this has been the mantra for my non-weight-loss this past year.  Planning takes some organization, so I suggest, if you are anything like me, you get yourself to pen and paper (or colored pens if it makes it more fun) and write your shit down!  This can be done in the form of just a plain piece of paper and then tack it onto the refrigerator or bathroom mirror; buying a daily planner and writing down to-do lists everyday and/or monthly; or composing some sort of planner on the computer or tablet that you update and look at frequently.  I prefer writing it down, because then I remember it better and I just like that tactile exercise.  For instance: I bought a cute french-looking weekly paper planner that has all sorts of goodies in it.  On one side of the planner it has a weekly outlook where I can write in what types of things I want to accomplish each day.  I mostly use this to organize my week so that I get things done, but I also use it for food and exercise planning.  I write down daily what I’m eating and if I exercised.  I also write down how many calories I burned during my workouts.  It helps me to keep track of what is exactly going on.  I also include upcoming meals I plan to make and shopping lists for those meals accordingly. This writing process gives me a sense of things to do.  It isn’t just willy-nilly so that I’ll eat whatever is lurking around the house that day.  What I’m going to eat is already scheduled way in advance.  I have definite plans to exercise that include the exact time and what activities I will do during that time.  You plan to dress each day you go out, right? You plan to brush your teeth and feed the dog/cat?  Then, try planning for the goal of losing weight.

(Disclaimer: I actually use my daily calendar on my iPad for more specific planning, so in a sense, I use two planners to keep my life in order!)

RULES

Icccckkk….rules.  But I love them too.  Nothing makes me get on task then trying to work within rules (I know, I’m a psycho.)  Children need them, they respect adults more if they have them.  If we didn’t have rules for driving how much worse would it be out there?  Some people like breaking rules, not me.  There is something self-satisfactory about making rules and sticking to them – within reason of course.  I don’t carry a whip…or do I?  I’m talking about rules like: No eating after dinner and/or 8 pm; dessert is for the weekend; Drink 64 oz. or more water a day; etc.  That kind of stuff.  I have made a brightly colored list of rules for myself and and I will continue to work on it as I see the need.  My biggest problem is not eating enough fruits and vegetables.  This is a new rule: 2 servings of vegetables at dinner.  This, in addition to other servings throughout the day.  I just never eat enough at dinner.  Another rule: Exercise 5 days a week planning what, where, how and when – again, back to the planning. And this one: No eating out – pack all meals eaten out of home.  That may not work for you, but I can make it work for me.  One of my biggest downfalls is not knowing how many calories are in food prepared in restaurants, plus, I lose all resolve once I sit down at at table.

CONSEQUENCES

Ok, this one goes with the rules.  If perhaps, rules are “accidentally” broken, there must be a pay-back.  This must me swift and brutal.  Don’t wait a few days to correct the problem or you will find an excuse.  For example: I ate too much the day before – next day will have a calorie deficit (in approximation of extra calories taken in) and/or extra exercise to work off said extra calories. Another one: I skipped my workout – I will add 15 minutes to the next 3 workouts to make up for it.  If I don’t want to deal with consequences, then I don’t commit crime in the first place.  Stick to the plan+follow the rules = no consequences. Brilliant!

SET-POINTS

I use this term in reference to an actual goal that is tangible and doable in a certain period of time.  In other words, you should have big and small goals for your major accomplishment.  My big goal is to lose 26 pounds.  The small goal might be: I will lose 5 pounds in 4 weeks or a month. Write these things down as well.  Put them on the calendar in bold and a bright color so that they scream out at you to be remembered.  That is your cheerleader egging you on to keep going when the going gets tough.  And the going will get tough, I can assure you. When I was training for the marathon, I set daily walking goals for myself that I HAD to accomplish because I was up against time running out for training.  If I didn’t accomplish the small goals, the big one suffered too.

I hope this gives someone hope to keep trying no matter what.  Even though I have gone another year and “failed” to lose weight, I’m not going to see it entirely that way.  I’ve learned things that have worked and a whole lot of what doesn’t.  Planning my food and exercise will make it actually easier to stay on track because it is a daily/weekly/monthly reminder about what it is exactly, in plain sight, that I want to accomplish.  Irritating, yes, but doable.

Workout Routine

Exercise Monday : Current Workout Routine (Past)

Hey People!

Here with a update on what I am doing to workout.  I change my workouts faster than underwear, well, not really, but almost as fast.  It’s just that I get bored REAL easily.  Not sure what I was doing the last time I posted about exercise, but I usually rotate through things I enjoy.  That is really the key to keeping up with exercise.  You must make it fun (new) and do things your body likes and doesn’t fight.  I know for me, climbing rock/mountains is not an enjoyable act.  So, I’m most unlikely not going to do that activity.  I do enjoy the rowing machine, so perhaps canoeing or kayaking might be fun to try at some point.

In the latest October edition of Shape Magazine it has a little 1-pager on a running program (plus 3 pages devoted to a strength training set).  The article teaser is in the largest font on the front cover: “DROP TWO SIZES! In Just 4 Weeks”  I love how that’s put.  It’s so…..convincing. We’ll see, right?  Anyways, it talks about increasing your run/jog a little at a time but unlike the other running program I have done it doesn’t go as long, only about 20-30 minutes of total time.  I add a warm-up and cool down, so it lengthens the workout, but that’s my preference.  It seems to be easier and more enjoyable than the other program to my body.

I also supplement with some kickboxing on days I am told to “Cross-Train” and do the strength training workout plans suggested in the magazine, rotating through the three total plans that they have (different ones).  I must say that the plan for those who wear high heels seemed easy as pie doing it, but MAN – the day after I was sore!  Don’t underestimate these programs put together by professionals.  The only caveat is that you must do things with excellent form or you may not be doing the exercise right.  Therefore, I try to do the workouts in front of a mirror to make sure I look like the pictures suggest.

Also, I have been going to a Yoga studio.  I think it is amazing and if you have been on the fence about really going to a proper yoga class, you should definitely go!  It is anything but easy.  And depending on what the instructor has planned for each class, you will feel it the next day.  It is strength training for sure!  Unfortunately, I have carpel tunnel syndrome in my right wrist and even with a brace, I was in pain half-way through.  If this was not the case, I would definitely continue.  However, I don’t want to strain and ruin a part of my body that I really need for the rest of my life (I am right-handed).  Otherwise, I would gladly pay the $15.00 for each class because it is so worth it.  For now, I will continue with my easy DVD yoga practices.  YouTube has some nice routines too if you are interested.

So that’s it for now!  What are you doing?