Peaks and Valleys

I did not want to work today. I was tired, and didn't eat too well yesterday...which meant that my defenses were down. There were candies and doughnuts in the breakroom and I indulged. A lot. I don't even like doughnuts!

I was feeling all guilty and gross after work. But I pulled myself together and ate healthily before my workout and weigh-in...at which point I found out that I am

198lbs!!

Apparently, despite all of my little indulgences and over-working, I balanced it out! After I weighed myself, I had a FANTASTIC workout. Pushed myself, felt the burn, and was accompanied by the soundtrack for "Songs for a New World."

At which point, I came home (in the snow!) and ate 3pieces of pizza, drank some pop, and had some Peppermint Jo-Jos. Damnit!!

I keep flip flopping between healthy and not healthy behaviors! Why isn't this easy? Calming down. breathing in and out. Those choices are behind me. I can make a better choice in the future. What do you do when you find yourself having health highs and lows?

I'm feeling like a natural woman...

You know what I love about being a woman? Okay, there are a few things, but one of the great bonuses of being female is the curves. Not the curves of my excess weight, but the natural curve of the hips and chest.

I have gotten into the habit recently of standing with my hands on my hips, because it is so exciting to me to have a waist again! For so long all I had was rolls of fat at different heights. But this is great. I feel more confident and capable, like a super woman! (Now all I need is a phone booth and a bodysuit/cape...on second thought...hold the body suit...not enough confidence for that yet:)

You know what else is great? My WEIGHT!

ahem.

I now weigh 211lbs.

211lbs! Or, in caps, @!!LBS! (1 more pound until I get 2 new DVDs...dare I start thinking about which ones I will get?)

In the past week of losing 4 pounds, I have had food poisoning and a cold, so circumstances were not primed for eating a lot, but wow. I feel like I am constantly (happily) surprised at weigh-ins. Every week I wait for something to go wrong. I step on the scale dreading a higher number.

And then I see results. Results for the hard work I am putting in. Results for bashing through the excuses, choosing to move, and moderate eating. These results are fueling my journey, and will hopefully inspire me when I hit plateaus. So here is to green tea with honey, rainy days, long walks with my dog, and curves!

Being Sick

Last Thursday I got intense food- poisoning. The next 24 hours were an unexpected detox that left me a little weak. Saturday I felt great again, and was able to do a workout at the gym that went something like this: 20min fast walking on the treadmill, then 15 min on the StairMaster, then 15 min on the reclining bike. ( intense, right? I'm calling it my mini-trinity:)

But Sunday I woke up with a sore throat (after a night of drinking with my brother and sister:). That sore throat steadily progressed into a cough/cold that kept my home from work for a day, and has me a little tired.

Now, the problem is, what do you do about working out and eating when you are sick? Most of my exercise lately has been dog walks of 1-3miles long. I take it at my own pace and slow down when I get tired.

When I get sick though, I crave not-so-healthy food. So I have had some M&Ms, ice cream, chips (gasp!), and some bigger meal portions than necessary. (I also made Moroccan Chicken Pot Pie! I love it so much, but the crust is butter and flour times one billion! Oh well...it tastes like moroccan air:)

What's funny is that I was feeling down about some of my food choices, and then I realized that my choices now are still SO MUCH BETTER THAN THE CHOICES I WOULD HAVE MADE 2 MONTHS AGO.

I forget how far I have come (33lbs, to be exact). I am not perfect. I am a work in progress. Aren't we all?

GOALS

1) Fergie Work-out....I don't know if I can last a full hour at a 15% on the treadmill, but I am going for 30 minutes.

2)Add 5 minutes to every workout....it's like doing an extra exercise session every week! This might mean extending my cardio, but I might also take that time to fit in some extra abs time, or try the rowing machine again. Try this out yourself, and let me know how it goes!

"I love to see a young girl go out and grab the world by the lapels. Life's a bitch. You've got to go out and kick ass." -Maya Angelou

How to burn like Earth, Wind and Fire

So how do you burn 500 extra calories? Every person burns a different amount of calories during exercise, depending on weight and intensity. I know that if I walk on the treadmill for 30 minutes at an incline of 6% going 4mph, I will burn 351 calories. But someone lighter would burn less.

Here are 2 calculators you can use for figuring out how many calories you are burning: http://www.hsc.edu/fitness/calculators/calories.html or at: http://www.self.com/calculatorsprograms/calculators/

Playing Frisbie for 49 minutes can help me burn 501 calories! The question is, do they mean ultimate Frisbie, Frisbie toss, or Frisbie golf? I need details!

And if you are more of a chart person, check out this one: http://www.nutribase.com/exercala.htm

The chart is by weight, and the calories listed are per 30 minutes of exercise. It’s nice to know that playing ping-pong for 2.5 hours would burn 500 calories:)

Or you can just find three 500-calorie burning workouts in this article: http://www.fitnessmagazine.com/workout/cardio/no-treadmill/workouts-burn-500-calories/ There is one one the Stairmaster, one for the stationary bike, and one on the treadmill.

Remember that the less you weigh, the harder you will have to work to lose a few pounds. Try upping intensity or duration a few times a week from where you are right now, and being a bit more nit-picky about what you eat.

And how do you Excuseproof your workout? An article I read recently (from the February 2009 Self) recommended this strategy: Grab a few index cards and write down your biggest get-fit barriers on the front of each card. Then flip the card over and brainstorm all the ways you could bust those blockades. For example, if your top card reads, “I’m too tired,” the flip side might read, “I can go to bed earlier. I can play ‘Stronger’ by Kanye West really, really loud. I can treat myself to a shot of espresso. I can call my honey for a pep talk.” Now stash those around you and pull them out next time you feel the big “but” coming on (because that but might lead to another, bigger butt...I’m just saying:)