Ladies (and Seth)... Another Record Bites the Dust

A few weeks ago, I reported that I had lost my mind and had done 210 floors on the StairMaster. Self reflection as I was typing that post uncovered the fact that I had taken Midol before heading to the gym... therefore, my body had no idea what I was really doing to it. During that session, I did 10 or 15 minute blocks with a minute or two break in between to recover.

Well tonight that record fell!

No pre-workout painkillers!!

No "recovery" periods!!!

New record is....

302 FLOORS!!!!!!!!

302 floors of continuous motion.

Do you realize that is equivalent to walking (or climbing) over six miles straight uphill with NOOOOOO breaks???

If you're wondering, I burned over 1200 calories during this bout of insanity. Floors to 250-290 were really brutal. I slowed it down to a cool down pace for the last 12 floors. Honestly, when I pressed stop on that machine I was elated that it was over and that I had broken the 300 floor mark... and crazy as it sounds, I felt like I could have kept climbing.

Now the question remains, will I be able to move when I wake up in the morning?

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On another note, I made a discovery when I was getting dressed this morning. There is definition in my lower abs that I have NEVER seen before. I can't even pinch fat in that particular spot!!! After making this little discovery, I must have stood in front of the mirror staring for a good five minutes... I just couldn't believe it. All of those core sets for the Challenge must have done what their designed to do. Now, I'm ultra motivated to keep up with the core sets, even though that part of the Challenge is done.

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With less than a week left to go in the Challenge, its time to start thinking about how I will challenge and push myself when its over. I'm tossing some ideas around in my head... and will share soon.

What do you do to push yourself in your workouts? What motivates you to keep going when you'd pay money to stop?

Explosion Imminent!!!

Sorry this isn't going to be a happy post... so if you need happy you might wanna stop reading now. :) Seriously, I am ready to burst!!! Out of frustration? Regret? Unhappiness? Discontent? A combination of them all?

Today was predetermined to be an out-of-the-ordinary day. Normally, I babysit just on Tuesday, Wednesday & Friday; but my friend had a meeting today, so I knew I'd be baby sitting. In my mind, I planned around that and knew that in order to make both the gym & grocery shopping today one would have to be done this morning. But I was soooo tired that I fell asleep on the sofa after my son got on the bus; next thing I knew it was 10:30... oops. So trying to regroup, I decided I could squeeze both in after my son's therapy sessions tonight. Wrong again! He forgot his coat at the hospital; one of his therapists offered to drop it off & by the time she got here it was too late to attempt both since I have to be home for the night by 6:30 for family responsibilities tonight.

Honestly, I don't know quite why I'm upset to the level I am. Some level of irritation I could rationalize... but really I'm ready to scream , cry or some combination of the two... and its ridiculous. Maybe its because I'm mad at myself for sleeping this morning, knowing it was going to be such a busy day. Maybe its because I procrastinated on getting meals planned & the grocery shopping done. Maybe its because my workouts have been so minimal this week & missing another day is frustrating. Maybe its because I feel myself slipping back into the pattern of letting everything & everyone else come before doing what I need to do to live a healthy lifestyle... and while I know I can't let that happen, finding the balance is feeling totally overwhelming at the moment...

After I'm done with my family stuff tonight, I'm going to spend some serious time trying to figure out a solution... or at least some strategies to try for the next few weeks.... I used to be so much better at this part... I don't know what the heck happened!

Where's the "Do Over" Button???

Can this be Saturday afternoon? Could yesterday have been some sort of sick, really long, dream? Please??? Hmm... no chance of that happening... so I guess its time to fess up here. I slept in just a little bit, but the husband was anxious to get going for the day. For some reason, he wanted us to go shopping together... wondering what the heck is wrong with him. He rarely wants to go shopping with me, pretty sure he'd rather go to the dentist & have them forget the Novocaine.

In an effort to take advantage of this rare opportunity, I made some regrettable mistakes. I decided that I could skip the gym & failed to pack along snacks for the day. As if that's not all bad enough, when we were off on our shopping trip, I ended up eating Chinese food, ice cream and regular soda. And then when we got home, I ate a freakin hot dog. Seriously, what the heck happened to me???? I really don't know...

On the bright side, I found some awesome deals. Old Navy had the cutest little t-shirts on sale for $5 & an extra half off all of their clearance. It was nice to be able to get some clothes for my constantly growing child & a few t-shirts that will actually fit me well. At Ross, I found some Fit & Fresh containers for really cheap; hoping they will help with packing along quick foods for my busy days (and ones like yesterday). Last find of the day was The Biggest Loser for the Wii on sale for about half price. I hear mixed things about it, but thought for the price it's worth forming my own opinion.

Looking Forward

Today is pretty much my day to prepare for the week ahead - meal planning, gym schedule, family obligations, kids group stuff, a little "me" time - prep day needs to be preloaded with extra hours. :-)

Tomorrow, I get to go shopping at Trader Joes. I love shopping there, but since the nearest one is over an hour away from our house - off the island & north - I don't get to go very often. I have my basic list for there, but if anyone knows of something particularly yummy I'd love to hear about it.

Thank you everyone for the quick & easy food ideas. I'm looking forward to trying them & kicking this Around the World Challenge in the tush!

Surprises: Pleasant & Otherwise

Wednesdays are always crazy busy for me - babysitting midday & kids group at church in the evening, plus all of the prep work for kids group and the hour long drive each way. This one was no exception, but thanks to all of the cooking I did earlier in the week I was able to eat well all day. On the hour long drive home, I started feeling hungry but proudly bypassed all of the drive-thru's because I knew there was salad waiting for me in the fridge at home. Well... guess what... NO salad in the fridge when I got here!!! The Husband (yes, that's what I call him quite often lol) has been helping himself to all of my "convenience" food & leaving the crap food he insists on bringing into the house sitting there. Sometimes, I swear he's secretly trying to sabotage me... sigh.

Pleasant surprise: There was a guy at kids group tonight that I hadn't seen in 20 years. We went to the same summer camp for 2-3 summers, but he was from a different town & camp is where our "friendship" ended. It was a goosebumps experience... I mean what are the chances of him randomly ending up in the same place I was after all these years... but mostly it made me think of my best friend from camp - Alisha - and how dearly I would love to get in touch with her again. The cool part for me was that 50 pounds ago, I would have been too embarrassed to go up and talk to him... but now, even though I still have a long ways to go weight wise, I don't hesitate out of anything other than general shyness.

Well... off to bed, so I can spend tomorrow morning preparing more "convenience" food. Does anyone else take this as a sign that I should prepare more & "forget" to buy his crap food?

Here I Sit, How I Got Here & Where I'm Headed

Here I Sit...

A little more than 43 pounds lighter than the morning I woke up driven to live a healthy life. After a year of steady loss, I got off track for several months - pretty much quit going to the gym & relaxed my food standards WAY too much. Eating whatever looks good in a restaurant is fine when you only eat out a couple times a month... NOT so much when you eat out almost daily... lol. As a result, I sadly must admit that I gained back over 10 pounds of what was lost. In the last month, I've gotten my act together... back to a normal gym routine (though way out of shape again after the "break")... making wise food choices... keeping a food & exercise log and being accountable. Six pounds and six inches eliminated in the past 30 days... pretty happy with those numbers. Now if I could just make it through more than 40 floors on the stairmaster without feeling like I'm dying! :)

How I Got Here...

Looking back - way back - 5th grade was probably the last time I was a "normal" weight (more on that in the future). In the Spring of 2008, I weighed in at the doctor at nearly 250... I told myself it was just because it was afternoon, I'd eaten a big lunch and was wearing heavy clothes. WRONG! The next morning on my scale at home - sans clothing and food - the scale read 241. For some seeing the biggest number ever might have been an immediate wakeup call - not in my case - seems I was too busy with life and taking care of everyone else.

My husband left on deployment #4, 5, or 6 - I've lost count throughout the years. My son & I settled into a routine of home during the week & visiting my mom on some weekends. It was after one of those visits that I woke up soooooo sick to death of being fat I couldn't take it another minute (which is a little strange considering how unbothered I'd always been by my weight... more on that to come too). Its weird to say and probably hard to believe, but after that day my desire for unhealthy foods greatly diminished & my desire to be active greatly increased.

During the first few weeks after that, I was eating way less food than I had been eating - not necessarily any healthier though to be honest - and started to use some of the exercise videos that had been collecting dust in my cabinet. Early in the summer, I finally caved & bought my son a Wii. Of course I had to get myself something for it too... so I bought the Wii Fit. By the end of summer 2008, I was alternating between the videos, the Wii Fit & walks on the beach and had started making healthy food choices on a regular basis. That was my basic method for the next six months.

In February last year - at 209 pounds - I finally got up the courage to go join a gym in town. This was a HUGE step... afterall, I am the girl that did everything in her power to get out of PE in school - from 6th grade on. The thought of exercising in public has always had the ability to make me go from fabulous to nauseous in the blink of an eye. Knowing that I needed to kick things up a notch if I were to keep losing... I put on a nice outfit, grabbed one of my favorite handbags, swallowed the "I wanna hurl" feeling in the pit of my stomach and marched into the newest gym in town. The staff was wonderfully welcoming & right away I felt comfortable there. Shortly after joining the gym, I competed in their "Around the World" Fitness Challenge and completed the entire Challenge. I was one of about a dozen people out of 150 to complete the entire Challenge. This was a MAJOR accomplishment for me - remember gym class escape artist here - I had NEVER done any sort of physical competition in my life. From there I was hooked... at least until I got totally sidetracked by that pesky little thing called life.

On the food front, I choose not to follow a specific "diet" or eating plan... in fact I really detest the "d" word. I firmly believe its all about making healthy food choices for life and not something you can go on or off of. At home, I make a conscience effort to make healthy choices - utilizing recipes and meal ideas from a variety of sources. When I eat in a restaurant, I generally let myself enjoy a meal without worrying too much about the calories/fat in it. As stated, this works out okay when restaurants are the occasional treat - otherwise, I don't recommend it.

I have used the Myfooddidary.com website to track my activity since the beginning. It has proven helpful in many ways, such as seeing not just the calories I'm eating, but the nutritional value of the foods I'm putting in my body. I LOVE it and think its so worth the $9 a month.

Where I'm Headed...

Looking toward life as a Deliberate Skinny Chick - aka reformed Accidental Fat Chick. I don't know what that means as far as a number on the scale or a jeans size. My current size is the smallest I've been in my adult life - I have no clue what 180, 170, 160, or150lbs will look like or what size those numbers will equal in the jeans department. Can't wait to find out!

The current game plan: Stick with the 2-4-8-10 Challenge & be prepared when the new "Around the World" Challegen kicks off. Increase the intensity of my gym workouts & find ways to add more active motion to my daily routines. Possibly do The Big Climb in Seattle... if I have a friend or two to do it with me. Fine tune my meal plans - especially to reduce the number of calories I drink.

My husband leaves for yet another deployment in May... my ultimate goal would be to finish what I started when he was gone the last time and be at an ideal healthy weight when he comes home in December. 50 pounds in 10 months... I know I can do it!

What is your ultimate goal?