Sunday, August 21, 2011

96 Days until the Reunion

It has been quite some time since I have posted. We have been quite busy (last hurrah's of summer and all that). We have also been in the midst of getting a new air conditioner, a new heater and even some new carpet. Obviously there is a whole lot of money going out which is causing a bunch of stress. Overall, I think we are over the worst of the stress part and are just excited to start getting some of these projects completed. The AC/Heater project will, hopefully, be completed tomorrow!

We also just got back from our annual trip to Sesame Place. It is always a really fun time but doesn't do much for my nutrition or exercise plans. We obviously do a great deal of walking but other than that there isn't much other exercising going on. So, when I got back for our long run on Saturday, I thought I was going to collapse. We ran an out and back route that started with A LOT of uphills. I realized just how far my conditioning has dropped over the last month or so. I haven't been lifting consistently or doing my Insanity/Asylum workouts. I've been consistently running 3 times per week and they have been good workouts but it isn't enough. Especially, when combined with the poor eating habits I've had lately.

Saturday was a good wake-up call. I've made some nutrition plans for this week (all meals, not just dinner like I have been doing) and have been doing a good job at sticking to them. I am also, when finished here, going to make up this week's exercise plan with as much detail as possible. Tomorrow I will also retake my measurements and try to come up with some short-term and long-term goals!

School is starting for the kids next week which will also help me get back into a more balanced routine. I do better with more structure but don't always keep it myself so having the drop off and pick-up schedules to keep me accountable will really help. I will also be getting back to school which will help. The only thing I need to watch out for there is extra snacking. I will work on my positive self-talk to keep myself away from the "junk".

I'm looking forward to better days and a slimmer and healthier me!!

Thursday, August 11, 2011

106 Days until Reunion

I did it! I took my measurements today and now I just need to sit down and make some specific goals. I need to get some of my books out and figure out was a reasonable drop in % fat could be. I know that a drop in 1-2 pounds per week is reasonable but that doesn't correlate directly to % body fat.

Exercise was great this morning - hard hilly 7 miler with Lori. Nutrition was also pretty good today and I will keep refining it as I go along. Tomorrow I will do a strength routine. I think I may do Back to Core because I really like that workout AND it hits my hamstrings in ways that none of the other workouts do. I've been feeling some weakness in my left hamstring and I really want to try and fix that up. I also plan on going for a bike ride tomorrow - I got a new bike computer tonight and I would like to try it out before I meet up with the group on Sunday.

One more thing before I sign off. I've been listening to Michael Phelp's audio book "No Limits: The Will to Succeed" and it is really good. I love being able to put the stories on in the car and listen as I drive. He has told stories about races and such and it still brings back chills and tears to hear about come from behind wins and Olympic dreams being fulfilled. I think I'm going to be listening to this book often during the time up to the reunion. I get so psyched to listen to stuff like this!!!

Signing off!!

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Day 10 of The Beachbody Challenge - Motivation!

Today has been a better day! It started off with some pretty low motivation to exercise but I turned that around by doing a lifting session that I haven't done in years. I did the BFL upper body lifting routine. The intensity was not super high but it got my butt in gear and I'm proud of that fact. I also had a decent eating day - again, not perfect but a whole lot better than it has been.

I think I have also come across some awesome motivation. While on Facebook today, I found a link to a page that showed I have a reunion coming up in November. The last time I dropped a significant amount of weight....was about 5 years ago for my last reunion. I would love to be able to wear a sexy black dress and knock the socks off of everyone there!

I'll be honest, fashion has NEVER been my thing. I am very much into comfort over fashion no matter what the venue but I think there is a tiny part of me that would LOVE to be able to make jaws just drop onto the floor (most importantly my hubby!).

Well there it is - starting tomorrow I have 106 days until the reunion. I will take measurements tomorrow and come up with my goals.

Positive Nutritional Affirmations

Here are some positive statements that I have come up with:
  • I love to eat healthy nutritious foods.
  • Healthy foods taste great!
  • My body is being fueled by healthy foods.
  • I eat every 2-3 hours and my body is healthy and fit.
I'm sure I'll come up with others and will add to this list as I think of more.

Tuesday, August 09, 2011

Day 9 of the Beachbody Challenge

I have a confession: my eating has been pretty poor lately. I feel like I have lost some focus and drive with the nutrition part of the equation. My exercising has been consistent but as we all know, performance suffers when you aren't feeding your body well. I think I try to hide behind excuses like: "this run was tough because of the high temperature and humidity" and "my lifting session was light because I'm sore". Now, I'm not saying that these aren't actual factors that can and have impacted my sessions but......my nutrition hasn't helped the matter either.

All of the above is plain and simple fact - the hard part is figuring out how to fix the problem. My husband would say: "so just stop" but I find that much easier said than done. I don't usually have trouble getting myself psyched to exercise and when I have a race that I'm training for, it is that much easier. Food seems to be a totally different subject. Even when I have been training for events, I've struggled with maintaining good nutritional habits even when I KNOW it will help me attain my race goal. So what do I do now????

Lately, I've been trying to listen to motivational audio books as well as read similar books. A common theme in these books is listening to you self-talk. This is what you say to yourself. Keeping in mind that "You are what you think about most" this type of inner conversation is extremely important. I'm often telling people that I'm a stress eater or boy do I struggle with my nutritional habits (see above). This is the wrong type of self-talk. So, I'm trying to change that habit and as you can see it is a huge work in progress. I need to start turning the negative statements around and stating them in positive ways. So my negative nutritional statements may become something like "I eat to fuel my body" or another common one is "I eat to live not live to eat".

These are not new ideas to me. I have heard and tried all this before. I believe that it works but I've never stuck with it long enough. This time my positive self-talk will be productive (see I'm working on it already - LOL). I am going to start my writing some positive statements on some cards and carrying them with me so that I can pull them out throughout the day. I'm taking responsibility for myself and I will not use others as an excuse. Will this be a perfect process? No. I am not a perfect being and I will not be striving for perfection. But, I know I can do a better job than I have been doing and that will be my initial focus.

Wednesday, August 03, 2011

Day 3 of Beachbody Challenge

Day 3 workout is in the books and boy was it HARD!!

Today was Asylum Strength - I haven't done this workout in a while. I am sometimes amazed just how quickly you can lose conditioning when you don't do something for a while. That is the beauty of cross-training. Our bodies adjust to the stresses that we submit them to so when we are constantly changing things up, our bodies continue to change and progress!

I'm feeling really good about this week has gone so far. I know it is just the first week of this challenge but I am encouraged by how things have gone so far. I know it won't always be easy and that I will face unforeseen challenges but I am confident I can and will make it through!!

Tuesday, August 02, 2011

It's been a while and a new challenge!

I haven't been posting recently and I'm not sure why I stopped but I'm going to start back up - starting today (obviously).

I entered The Team Beachbody Challenge today. I'm going to follow my own P90X/Running hybrid for the next 90 days and submit my results. There are daily and monthly awards as well as a $100,000 grand prize. I have done challenges like these before (Body for Life) and haven't really made much progress with them. However, I have learned a lot since the last time I did one. I know what my biggest mistake was with the other program so I'm already a step ahead!!

I have my initial pictures and measurements for the challenge and I will be updating progress here on my blog. My hybrid program will include lifting from P90X and Insanity the Asylum as well as my running. I will also include yoga and plyometrics from P90X. I'm really looking forward to not only completing this challenge but excelling at it as well!!

I've also signed up for Chalene Johnson's Car Smart Program. My hope is that it will help me follow through with this challenge all the way to the end. I received my first installment yesterday and it dealt with confidence and stopping negative self talk. The funny thing is, it isn't anything that I haven't heard before - this time I will actually take it to heart and follow through on the actions.

My exercise sessions have been very good this week. Yesterday I did P90X Shoulders and Arms. I love that workout!! I didn't do Ab Ripper because I was afraid I had strained a muscle the last time I did it so I did a modified ab routine instead. Today was a fartlek workout with my running group. We did a total of 6 miles with about 4 of it being the fartlek section (1 mile warm-up and cool-down). We did the same workout last week but we were a bit faster this time around. I will be upfront right now - exercising usually isn't my problem. Nutrition has been my problem in the past but this time I will be using the concepts outlined in the Car Smart program. I will be using Positive Self-Talk to help change my attitudes about food.

There it is! My plan for the next few months!! Clean eating and intense exercise. I will do my best and not expect perfection. The important part is to commit fully - this was one of my biggest problems with the Body For Life challenges. Sure I told myself that I was committed but I know better now. I did not discipline myself to follow the program and took too many shortcuts. This time nothing will stop this time!!