Booya, I Bought a Bodybugg

I have wanted one of these things for such a long time. I have longingly watched the Biggest Loser contestants wearing them and making a statement, to me it it yelling out the the world - I am fat, and I am getting fit - and just because I'm fat, doesn't mean I should be ashamed to do so...... ok so it doesn't really say all of that to me, it's just what I think about at the thought of wearing the armband all day long and what people will think.

So anyway, yes I bought it and can't wait to get it. It was totally expensive, way out of my price range, but I turned down two trips to the Caribbean this fall plus my scheduled car maintenance was actually quite a bit less than I thought it would be, so I splurged and bought it brand new on e-bay..... Merry Christmas to me and hopefully thinner I will be....... 7 mos until I have to squeeze myself into a wet suit to do a try - a - tri, and I need to lose minimum 50 lbs, but more likely 70lbs...... I think I may need to cut off my left leg in order to make that happen, but never say never is my new motto.

Onward and downward

Boxing

Today I did a boxing sequence at the gym. The first half I was balancing on a (darn, I forget what is called) but it's like half of a ball- (lol, I had a couple of bellini's tonight- can you tell :) )

Anyway the second half when I was back on the ground I found myself punching so hard, I shocked even myself.... I was literally pushing my trainer back..... I am getting stronger and feeling so much better...... but now I am only sleepy!


NOTE: Sorry for the crazy post last night- haha, and Thank you Nicole, yes it was a bosu ball, that I was balancing on - lol This morning my legs are so sore from that darn thing :D

Back to basics

Gym today-

- 10 min warmup, walking at incline 6 on the treadmill
-bonsu ball exercise, working on that balance
- stair climber 10 floors
-bike- 5k in 10 minutes
-treadmill - 3 x 1 minutes running at 5mph, total 0.5 mile
- 50 crunches holding a 15lb weight in front of me.

Food today-
- cream of wheat for breakfast with a bit of milk and 1tsp light jam
-coffee with milk (morning break)

- lunch will be corn and shrimp chowder with cukes and tomatoes on the side

-dinner will be pork tenderloin with carrots and potatoes(with sour cream)


Off to work I go.

Newly Inspired (possible Biggest Loser spoiler)

I was surfing the web and came across this after photo of Rebbecca from the Biggest Loser. I so want to look like this by next summer, and her weight in this picture is 157 lbs - My weight watchers goal weight is 159.




This made me very excited and I am ready to recommit to healthy eating (says the girl who hasn't worked out for 5 days and had burger king for dinner)

I have purged all the coffee cream, sugary drinks etc from my kitchen and I am going to commit to 1 FULL WEEK of healthy, low total calorie eating. I will definitely stretch it out over more than one week, but that is all I can commit to at the moment. My goal is to lose 20lbs by Jan 1 with will be 50 lbs gone in a year- Phew, there, I said it, now I am going to do it. Anyone coming along for the ride?

I took a quick picture of tomorrows food, I haven't written out the calories yet so I may need to add a protein shake to this or something but I was trying to work with what I have in the house, which isn't much I'm afraid- lol

Gym update and Remembrance Day

"At the going down of the sun and in the morning. We WILL remember them" Remembering all those who have died for this country, and also those who have and continue to serve.



I had the day off work today but still had to get up early to go to my training session. So I weighed in and I at 245.4 lbs, which is down .2lbs from my last weigh in two weeks ago, but down 4lbs from my weight last week (when i didn't do an official weigh in) I will break into the 230's very soon.

I should note I did go to the gym yesterday and ran/walked on the treadmill for 1/2mile and then walked at incline of 5 for 1/2 mile, then rode the bike for 5k, so a 50 min workout in all. This morning my workout looked like this:

-weightlifting, using a 60lb bar (no extra weights) clean and jerk lifts 25 x 4 sets
- squat and lift circuit (25 reps) then lean against a ball, against a post, squat and do chest press (25 reps) I did the cycle 4 times.
- lift and squat circuit with lower weight bar (25reps x 4)
- sit on a step, lean back legs off the floor, doing chest presses with a medicine ball for 30seconds, followed by Russian situps(or Russian something or other) for 30 seconds. I did three reps of this.

Then my hour was up BUT.....

- did the step up (stair climber) machine, 15 floors at level 1(easy level)
- walked on the treadmill for 40 mins at 3.5mph and incline of 4. (did 50 mins total)

So at 11:00 I turned on the Remembrance Day ceremony from Ottawa, and well, it really hit home that my Nephew will soon be a soldier. He just passed his aptitude test with flying colours and just needs to pass his physical, and fitness test and then he will be gone.... I am glad he is finally going to be living his dream, and I am so very proud of him, but I am terrified and sad at the same time.

Trying to be a cool Aunt though, so I will be taking him soon to get his first Tatoo, and am trying to figure out something special to give him to remind him that his family is always thinking about him, since he will not be living at home! Any ideas would be appreciated.

Smoke Free- The year in review

All day today I was thinking about the ways in which my life has changed in the last year, since I quit smoking. Now there is the physical things, my skin, which was once pale and grayish, is now pink and healthy looking. My hair is shiny and much healthier, I was at the very beginning stages of having gum disease and had a lot of pain in my mouth because of this - my teeth are now totally healthy. Of course the biggest changes are on the inside. I no longer wheeze after a weekend of chain smoking, I no longer feel exhausted at the end of the day, and of course I was able to run a 5k a month ago, which was nothing more than a dream last year. Today at the gym my workout was definitely something that I never could have done a year ago. Here is what I did:

- 1/2 mile walking warm up on the treadmill.
- the step machine- the equivalent of 30 flights of stairs, non stop
- step up cycle where I had to do exercises on the step, and jump over and then do kicks and modified burpees in between and throw a medicine ball.
-boxing - 100 reps each of, jab, then cross, then jab cross, hook, and finally uppercut. (yep, that is 500 reps!)

I thought I was done at this point but
- the step machine again - equivalent to another 30 flights of stairs. (I stopped a few times to catch my breath this time)
- and then mat work. 60 crunches.

At the end of this I was absolutely drenched in sweat! The best part is that my breathing was not an issue, my legs ached and my face was red, but I never actually was out of breath, and that just wouldn't have been possible 1 year ago.

Milestone reached!

Just a quick post, just home from my shopping trip in Pennsylvannia, which I will post about tomorrow, but I just wanted to get in here and write a note to say that today is the one year anniversary of the date the I quit smoking. Wow a whole year has gone by, I cannot believe it. I will write about the many changes in the year in another post, but I found an old post from last year, at that point I was smoke free for 50 days at that time, but I found it interesting to read the excitement that I felt at that time, and also the strength that I gained from knowing that I was actually able to change something that i set out to change about myself.

Here is a link to the post to anyone who might be interested.
http://journeytofindtherealme.blogspot.com/2008/12/its-all-over-i-honestly-was-not-into.html

Socializing and trying a new tactic

I have learned that I tend to have an all or nothing type personality. in the case of eating out I either don't go at all, or else I go out and just order whatever I want, and eat everything on my plate.

I was out with a couple of friends last night and decided to try a new approach, the three of us ordered and shared an appetizer sampler. There were lots of different things but I just really nibbled on the food and ate only until I was satisfied (that included the carrot sticks on the tray) I did have a drink with it, and then we ordered a dessert trio, and I had one tiny bit of each one and that was it. Now I realize that this might not be the best choice on the menu, but I feel like it was a breakthrough for me, that I could go out, have fun, have something to drink and eat, and no go home feeling like I've "blown" it.

I am off to the States tomorrow afternoon for a few days of girl bonding and shopping, so I will get to practice this concept a little bit more.

I went to the gym this morning at my trainers urging. It was funny because he asked what time I was coming and I say 7:00. So when i was coming down the escalator at 7:00, I could see him, before he could see me, and he was watching for me, and then broke out into a huge grin when he saw that I actually came.... it was funny, and made me glad that I came. So I did the treadmill for 40 mins walking st 3.5 mph, and was on the "HiLL" setting, so the incline was changing from 2 to 9. I completed 2 miles of this and while it wasn't the same as running, boy, did I work up a sweat.

I'm in the doghouse

Now, you know that I write a LOT about my training experience, but I rarely write about my struggles with eating. On the weekend I eluded to my bad eating habits when I wrote about binging on sugar and fat and lasagna, but the truth is I also had 4 beers, a bottle of wine, a huge bag of Doritos, and well that is all I can remember right now.

Anyway today was a weigh in day and on my scale at home I was up by 2.5lbs. I panicked and had my cell phone in hand to text my trainer that I was ill and couldn't make it in today.... then I caught myself and decided to go face the music. I asked if I could be weighed in next week and of course I had to be honest with my trainer and tell him why.

So I got an extension of one week and I gave him a goal that I would be in the 230's by next wednesday. He then proceeded to kick my ass big time here is what I did today:

treadmill: 1 mile in 16 minutes.
stair climber: 30 floors in 15 minutes
bike: 4k in 10 minutes
floor: an assortment of leg extension exercise
floor: 60 crunches to finish up

I have never been on that stair climber before, and well to be perfectly honest, I never want to get on it again.... I have NEVER sweat so much in my life.

I have a renewed determination today to get under 240 by next week, I am going to do it!

Note: What are your thoughts on Tracey from the biggest loser! She looks absolutely fabulous, that is exactly what I want my body to look like when I am done, She looks so strong and healthy and she killed that 1 mile run. Way to go Tracey, you are my inspiration for the day.

Reverse Tri

Just wanted to write down the results of my first tri workout.... we did the triathlon events in reverse so i didn't have to swim first then run through the gym in a wet bathing suit- lol.

run on the treadmill - 1 mile took 14.5 minutes
bike at level 5 (then down to 4) 5 km took about 15 minutes
swim - didn't really do any major swimming, just some arm and leg exercise to work on my stroke.

Not bad for a first try (a tri- lol)

Today, I slept in so no gym for me, and I have weigh in tomorrow, so I have to be really good to just break even from last weeks weight- Arrrrrgh, darn lasagna and beer!

Getting ready for a new week

This weekend has definitely not been the greatest. I have been eating Lasagna for all meals(yup, that includes breakfast) simply because it is here and I am too lazy to go grocery shopping... I also have beer in the house from my company on Friday, and although I am not really a beer drinker, I have had 3 beers in two days. Worst of all, and probably the most embarrassing thing to write was I had a binge on Saturday and I seriously don't know what triggered it. I filled a coffee cup with brown sugar and threw in lots of butter and cream and blanched almonds and nuked it in the microwave until it got all melty and gooey, and then I ate the entire cup even though I wanted to vomit from the sweetness of it!

Today this behavior stops!

I am going out to get some Cream of Wheat for breakfasts, and some fruit to make fruit smoothies. I also am going to pick up some Vega at the health food store. I really need to start making some smart food choices this week. I really want to get out of the 240's and the way I have been eating has simply got to stop.

Tomorrow at the gym I start swimming. Apparently I will be doing a brutal run and bike cycle and then its into the pool for a swim. I am excited actually and will write about it tomorrow.

Today I am doing laundry, and am going for a walk with a friend shortly and then off for coffee afterward.