Showing posts with label fitness community. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fitness community. Show all posts

Sunday, January 5, 2014

A New Year

I started writing this with the intention of posting it on New Years day...  Unfortunately, my Wii Balance Board decided that it did not want to cooperate with me.  I decided not to change the theme of this post because although it is January 5, I know some people have already forgotten their resolutions from last week.  Or already messed up and are saying, 'Oh well, there is always next year, or tomorrow, or next week, or...'  We are a society that likes to put off until tomorrow stuff that we should have done yesterday.  I am a member of this same society.  If I wasn't then the life I am living today would be much different, but I am, and here, and so are you, so let us continue with this belated blog about the new year.
I am not a New Years Resolution person.  I don't think that there is any difference between tomorrow, yesterday, or today, except how you see it, how you react to it.  The fact that I weighed in today for the first time in 4 months, is purely a coincidence.
It has much more to do with the fact that for the first time in years I have hope for the future, and my potential role in it will be made much easier if I can lose more of this fat that just keeps hanging around.
Up until recently, this journey has been mostly easy.  I started walking, bought a Wii, lost 30 lbs. Joined a gym, lost another 4% body fat. I might not have been right on target, but I was doing pretty fabulous.
Then I decided to get a "real" job...  I now leave my house at 6:30 in the morning and get home at 6:15 in the evening. While I don't work "in the hood", my office is close enough that it was recommended to me to not walk at my lunch hour. Actually, don't even get out of your car! By the time I get home and find something to eat, or if I am really ambitious, make something actually healthy, I am exhausted and ready for bed. Where am I supposed to fit fitness?
I know...  Make the time! It is all so much easier said than done...
I've tried getting up at 5:00 to go to the gym...  And I can do it, if I am REALLY committed, but then I feel rushed...  Literally 20 - 30 mins to work out after being used to spending hours at the gym...  It just doesn't make me feel good like it should...  Not enough endorphins released, or something...  I'd much rather just throw on my sneakers and head out the door for a long exhausting run that do a bunch of running around...  But it is dark, and the road I live on is...  well not the safest road to be running on after dark.  Not talking about the danger of walking at work dangers, but more like falling into a hole, severely injuring myself, or some other such nonsense and since I am still fighting to recover from my overly ambitious and cocky attitude from those damn tires 8 months ago...  Further injury just does not sound like my idea of a good time...
But I did finally figure out a way to wake up, put on my sneakers, and burn some calories.  Just yesterday, I finished setting up my Wii in the main house living room.  It is after all where it was set up before I moved into the city.  I did try to workout in my apartment on the Wii, I really did, but even after rearranging my bedroom to get more workout room, the best I could manage was about 4' x 6'.  Sure I can do push ups, sit ups, etc, but Zumba?  Let me tell you it ain't pretty....  So we are set up in the house...  I will have to keep it quiet as to not wake everyone up, but I lost the first 15 lbs just like this!  I know it works!  I know I can do it.  And this time around I have a lot more than just Wii Fit to get me going.  I am going to have variety in my workout!!!  EA Active, My Fitness Coach, Jillian Michaels, Zumba, Wii Fit Plus, and if I just want to have some fun then there is even Wii Sports & Wii Sports Resort.
I have been wishing for some time that my gym did classes, but I guess that is part of the price of a more expensive and bigger gym.  I still love my small and intimate gym, just wish I could get there more often.  
In the last 2 days, as I have been setting up the Wii, I have decided that I do have classes and no I cannot miss them..  Every morning I will get up for class, every night after getting home I will do class before bed.  I can do this.  I will do this.
My friends from Lose It are rallying around me once more, and in actuality, they never left.  They were there, waiting for me to come back.  Waiting to enfold me back into the love and hope and encouragement to keep moving forward.  And my Loser friends that have moved into my 'real' life???  Are more than any person should have a right to expect.  It is absolutely amazing the love that I have received as I have moved closer to this day over the last several weeks.
So today is my re-commitment to a healthier me, because after all that is what I want to be right?  Not a Barbie doll, but to be beautiful to my groom on my wedding day, to be able to present him with a beautiful and even more healthy baby?  I know that this all can't happen overnight, but someday, I want to have it all, so today, this is what I can do, this is what I will do, this is what I must do!!!!
Weighed in this morning....  Let's just leave it at this is the highest weight ever entered into Lose It....  But it is not my highest weight ever so I can come back from it!
I will start logging my meals better
I will start exercising for 1 hour a day
I will start posting more often than once in the last six months
I will keep moving forward

Thursday, June 7, 2012

10 Lbs Lost

My lost cause has already started.  I am committed to becoming a healthy and beautiful me.  In no way, shape, or form do I mean materialistically beautiful.  I mean that I will become beautiful to myself.  I have never considered myself externally beautiful no matter what my weight.  I have always believed that who I am, how I express myself, and what I represent myself as to the world, is so much more important than mere looks.  I know this goes against the norm in todays fashion model filled world, but after my life's journey, I am glad this is how I view myself.

After getting sick my senior year in high school and needed to stop all physical activity, I quickly picked up the weight, 80 pounds in 3 years.  I was able to lose about 30 pounds, but I could never get any lower.  Life happened and I gained the 30 pounds plus an additional 25.  I am now down 10 pounds from my high weight and weigh the lowest I have in 5 years.

I haven't taken full body pics in years so that I wouldn't have to see my weight gain.  If someone wanted a pic, I always tried to make sure that it wasn't evident how much I had gained. 
I joined Lose It, a weight loss and fitness community on April 23 and have found courage and support for this journey I have ahead of me.  For the first time in years, I have hope I will make it farther than I usually do.  I want to be healthy again.  I want to feel attractive again.  I want to be fit again!
As I see my friends' journeys and watch the forum on LoseIt.com, I finally found the courage to take my first full body pics showing exactly what I look like.  As I have been seeing on the scale and in the mirror, there is much room for improvement.
Good news is that I have already achieved a great milestone in 10 lbs lost. 

My June fitness plan / tools:
Monday, Wednesday - Adidas MiCoach Lose Weight Level 2 Workout & continue walking / jogging my regular route at the park. 3 miles
Tuesday, Thursday - Wii Fit using wiifitroutine.com rotating weight loss, strength, yoga & endurance workouts. Medium difficulty, 1 hour
Friday - Adidas MiCoach Lose Weight Level 2 Workout & goal is to bike my regular route at the park. 3+ miles
Saturday, Sunday - Swimming 1 lap at the pool
I may not accomplish all of these everyday and obviously all outdoor activities are weather permitting, but I do have alternate indoor plans.

June exercise goals:
Be able to jog down the entire 'big' hill at the park
Be ready to increase difficulty on the Wii to hard for July
Be ready to up my swim laps to 2 for July

I hate the word diet. I can't say that I have ever attempted a diet. Lose It is not about dieting. It is all about lifestyle changes: committing to the long haul, losing the weight and keeping it off.

My dietary commitments to a life style change:
No bad or added carbs - means limiting pasta and bread consumption
Add fruits, veggies and protein to every meal
Drink at least 4 bottles of water a day - 92 oz
Control sodium intake

Changes I have noticed:
My belt is lose
I don't have a single pair of pants that fit correctly.  Noticing loss in both waist and thighs
Shirts are starting to fit on the belly different
Fashion watch - instead of being snug to wear is now fitting comfortably
Exercise time has increase from just 30 mins up to 60 mins
Mile per minute has gone from 18+ mins to under 14 mins
Comfortable enough to start jogging while on my walk
My back injury is not irritating me as much as it used to