A Week of Unrecorded Progress

Well, it's been a long and active week... so active that I haven't had time to sit down at the computer to record any of it!

This past weekend, M and K and I went out to the coast for a few days.  On our getaway weekend we helped to spiff up K's beach house with some painting and closet cleaning, as well as a nice walk on the beach.  The weather was gorgeous, and the company was divine.  We came home rested, worked out and ready for a nap!

Then Monday was all about helping M move into her new apartment, so Mr. Kawaii and I spent the morning running up and down a flight of stairs with our arms full of boxes and the afternoon unloading, unpacking, cleaning and lining the shelves of M's new place.  It is a great little apartment, and once we helped to get her unpacked it felt like more of a home than her last place.  So happy to see her growing her independence with this move!

Yesterday we were back in the office, trying to get some work done between naps... and today... well, I am going to do my best to get a walk in but I certainly am not in a position to make any promises!

Walk This Way....

There is nothing that calms one's nerves after a long day at the office like a walk through the neighborhood with a friend.  Something about the combined movement of body, and the ability to vent unencumbered about annoyances big and small brings a sense of relief from the daily grind.

T and I walked about 2.5 miles (she also walked to my house and back home - she knows how to show that sidewalk who's boss).  The weather was nice, although the spring blooms did start to get to our various allergy senses near the end of the loop, and I was glad to retreat back indoors to escape the terror of pollen.  It was a beautiful evening, and I am resolved to have more of these walking excursions to keep my momentum.

I'm also feeling a little high today because I was able to bring my new belt down one more notch.  Score.

Family Paintball Fun

Our family has been blessed to be able to connect with one another over a game of paintball now and then, and yesterday was certainly one of the most enjoyable paintball days we've had together.  We headed up into the back side of J&A's property and several of us pulled logs, branches, wheelbarrows and other odds and ends out into a field to set up bunkers.  As soon as we had a manageable paintball field set up, we all geared up and played together for a couple of hours until the daylight started to creep away and dinner was ready to be eaten.

Doing active outdoor things, like paintball, with our family is one of my favorite ways to get a workout in.  Not only does it expend calories, but we all get to catch up with on another and pat each other on the back for a job well done.  Vive la paintball!

The Garden Is Growing

I spent a couple of hours out in the yard this morning with M, doing our best to chop through the overgrown bushes and rake up the leaves that have been hanging out on the ground since... October.  The time flew by, and before we knew it, it was time for lunch!  Although the dent in the yard work isn't a huge one, it is finally Springtime and so no longer is foul weather a valid excuse for failing to go outside and be in nature.

Today the bushes were conquered... tomorrow we head back outside for some paintball! :)

I'm ALIIIIIIVE!

I was feeling a bit like Frankenstein's monster this morning (you know the feeling - you wake up after a fitful night of dreaming about overdrawn checking accounts, your ex-husband dating Kenny Rodgers and flying puppies), and in a rare moment decided, "what the heck - I already feel like crap, a run won't make me feel any worse."

Where the heck did THAT come from?  I decided not to question the intricacies of my brainwaves too long, fearing that the inspiration to get up and get outside might be fleeting and so within minutes of getting out of bed I found myself walking and jogging with Pooch around our 2.5 mile loop.

With a continued feeling of, "this is going to hurt but let's just do it anyway", I found myself jogging about a third of the loop, making it a goal to jog at least a portion of each block before dialing it back and walking to catch my breath.  Somewhere over the last few weeks of doing squats while reading and checking out Netflix's exercise videos, I have magically increased my stamina.  It's an odd sensation, and maybe I'll try for a repeat tomorrow... maybe.

Just In Time

I walked across town to do my errands today, a nice 3.5 mile loop around town with a couple of short stops at the bank and post office.  The weather was pretty nice when I first set out, but the longer I walked the grayer the clouds got.  I lucked out - it didn't start raining until I was back in my own driveway!

Now that I'm home it's time for some deep cleaning and a shower... although maybe not in that order because trying to walk quickly enough to outrun the rain has left me a very sweaty mess.  Fitness smells oh-so-good.

Wii Played

Mr. Kawaii and I had an unsuccessful round of house hunting this afternoon, and when we came home we had to decide if we were going to hang our heads in mopey despair or find some other way to blow off some steam. In a moment of brilliant healthy and proactive thought, we decided to turn on the Wii and play some Wii Sports games to shake the blues out of our systems.

A few rounds of tennis, 9 holes of golf and a game of bowling later, we both felt much better about the world in general.  It is amazing how a little jumping, waving and twitching around the living room makes the world seem a little brighter.

Dancing Away the Morning

This morning I was having some difficulty getting into motion (is it just me, or does it seem that most mornings are that way?) and as I scrolled through the many selections for my daily workout I struggled to find one that could inspire me to get up off the couch and up on my feet.

I finally stumbled upon some dance videos and decided, why not?  I got started with Dance Off the Inches - Tummy Tone Party Zone with Marie Forleo, intending on spending 15 minute or so moving around the living room.  Just enough time to say I gave a workout a shot.

45 minutes and three segments later, I am winded and sweaty, and surprised that I was able to keep moving well beyond what I had intended.  And my abs are KILLING me!

The Poop Walk

Mini-workout rant:

I don't know why it is that when I take Pooch out on the long loop around the neighborhood... 2 and a half miles... he insists on pooping 2 blocks from the house.  It's like he knows that we're going on a long walk and that I will have to carry his steamy gift in a plastic bag for a half hour and takes pleasure in making me do so.

If you haven't already caught it, Pooch and I did the long walk around the neighborhood this morning and I rushed through it in hopes of finding a neighbor's trash can left out and open on the curb after the garbage man drove by.

It's mornings like these when a long hot shower after the workout is much appreciated.  Yuck!

This Workout Brought to you by... Netflix

Recently, Mr. Kawaii and I joined the golden age of video rental by joining Netflix.  Although it's been around for years now, it took our local video rental store closing down for us to finally make the leap to give Netflix a try.  As we have been browsing through the instant downloads on our Xbox, I noticed that there are quite a few workout videos available to watch instantly, and DVDs available by mail.

This morning when I poked my head out the door and a blast of cold air hit me in the face, I decided to stay in and give the Netflix queue a try.  I quickly found Self: Bikini Ready Fast! and decided to give it a shot.  It was a pretty low-impact strength training workout, and I pulled my trusty Kidney Bean cans out of the cabinet to substitute for weights.  It was easy to follow along, and I was SUPREMELY pleased when at the end of the exercise the instructor gave tips on eating a healthy diet including a little bit of everything.  She spoke of the importance of including fats, carbs, protein and fiber into well-rounded eating habits as well as giving ourselves a break now and again to splurge on our favorite foods.

With all the hype of wildly popular shows like The Biggest Loser focusing on how to lose as much weight as possible - and fast - a big gap has been left for people who are looking for sustainable solutions.  Restrictive diets and hours-long exercise routines are difficult for most people to follow for more than a few weeks at a time, and it takes a big reality check for those of us who need to come to terms with understanding that eating 1,100 calories and spending 3 hours at the gym every single day is just not something we can do.

I have learned over the last year that the most difficult and rewarding part of living a healthy lifestyle is finding patience.  We need patience for ourselves so that we can move at our own pace and find long-lasting results, we need patience for others who think we aren't getting "enough" results and we need patience for our bodies to know that they will change in their own way and time.  Changing the way we live is a very difficult task, which is why so few people are able to see their goals through to the end.  The most important thing for me, and for you, is to just keep trying.  We'll get there when we get there!

Flexing Fannies

I hit the living room for another round of yoga today and managed to stay on the mat for about 25 minutes before my left knee took on a life of its own and began dancing and wiggling in a kind of muscle spasm I've never seen before.  Rather than push myself through the last 5 minutes of the workout and risk my Jello-knee going completely haywire I did a little cool-down stretching and then walked away.

Unfortunately as the weather has started getting nicer and my friends and family have realized that spring is quickly approaching, our group has become littered with twisted ankles and pulled muscles.  We're all in a rush to get back into our workout routines and while getting back into shape after a winter of hibernating under a stack of pumpkin pies, roasted turkeys and chocolate covered strawberries is rapidly climbing to the top of our list it is best to tread softly during these first few weeks of workout weather.

My knee has stopped jiggling, so I think it's time to hit the showers.  On to the rest of the day!

Getting the Most from My Mile

It was a pleasure to wake up this morning without any back pain for the first time in a couple of weeks.  I decided that getting back into the workout one mile at a time is certainly working without aggravating my current bumps and bruises so Pooch and I headed out for another mile around the neighborhood this afternoon during one of my breaks.

Since I knew that a mile is comfortable for me now, and I'm hesitant to do much more than that at once for fear that the twinge in my back isn't quite ready for more, Pooch and I decided to get as much as we could from our one mile trip.  Once we had walked a couple hundred yards and I was feeling in the groove, I spent a block jumping over cracks in the sidewalks, a second block doing grapevine sets on the even strips between driveways and a third block jogging at a comfortable pace.  Although none of the three exercises were overly strenuous, they sure did get my heart pumping (and kept the neighbors entertained) and I was able to focus the rest of the walk on simply maintaining the sweat that was forming and watching my breathing.  

It surely wasn't a workout to match the herculean efforts of many of you who head to the gym several times a week, but it was a great test of my activity level and a "wake up!" to all the muscles that have laid dormant over the last month or so.

I'm looking forward towards the Adidas Shamrok Run (March 15th in Portland) with anticipation, wondering if I'll be in good enough shape to participate this year.  Perhaps just the 5k to wet my whistle and make me feel accomplished?  We shall see...

ReBall!

Well, I'm back home after an evening of playing ReBall.  I got in a good six or so games; running, squatting, ducking, dodging, dodging some more... It was a lot of fun to get out on the field and fire off a few rounds with friends and family.

I also took the opportunity to help reorganize the Gearheadz Paintball warehouse, which was another workout all its own.  It's shaping up to be a pretty good setup though, and that's what matters most!

I think that's all I have to write for now.  I'm a little bruised, and a lot tired.  I think I'm going to go catch a few Zzzzzzs.

Walking and Contemplation

I haven't been doing a great job of blogging (obviously), but I have been trying to get a little activity in as my back has been healing.  Gettting in a few squats here and there, burning calories cleaning up the house after my time stuck in bed and taking short walks have helped me to feel less like a bump on a log.

During the clean sweep of the house, I managed to find a very old roll of film that has been floating around the house for years, and after many reminders from my mom I was able to finally remember to drop it off to get it developed.  After another week, I finally remembered to pick UP said pictures from Walgreens and Mr. Kawaii and I sat down to go through them last night.

The photos ended up being from waaay back during the first Christmas Mr. Kawaii and I spent together (4 years ago).  It was fun to look back to the beginning of our relationship together, but inevitably the thing that I paid the most attention to was how thin I was 4 years ago.  I've gained a solid 50 pounds from that Christmas, and at first I got a little down on myself for my "failure" but on my walk this morning I re-thought my stance.

Back when those photos were taken, Mr. Kawaii and I had only been together a few months.  Just a year before, I had gone through a terrible divorce.  I spent months walking between 3 and 6 miles a day in addition to going to the gym and doing an hour of yoga every morning... I worked out constantly because I was miserable and quite honestly couldn't afford to do anything else.  I was in great shape, but I was unhappy.  I had no friends, no money, was at risk of losing my apartment and was very unsure of whether or not I'd get another paycheck.  Life sucked, and although I fit into some really cute size 8 jeans back then, there is no way I'd want to go back.

I reminded myself again that I haven't gained any more weight in 12 months - which is a huge improvement to where I was, gaining 15 to 20 pounds a year.  All I have to do is keep focusing on finding time in my schedule to get exercise in and continue eating appropriate portions and I'll be able to watch that waistline start to shrink.  I can do it!

Weathering the Wii

It was too crisp and chilly outside this morning to convince anyone to head outdoors for an early morning stroll, so instead I grabbed Mr. Kawaii and we worked up a sweat battling each other on the Wii.  5 rounds of tennis got our hearts pounding, and then a set of bowling helped us to cool down.

It's great to have options like Exercise TV, the Wii and workout videos to keep us moving even during icky weather.  It certainly helps me to feel like less of a slouch!

 

Rooftop Chores, Chutes and Ladders

Today's calorie burning adventure took place on the roof of my house.  As I was checking the mail a few days ago, I happened to look up and see that the entire north side of the roof was sprouting moss by the bucket load. Leaves were peeking out of the gutters, and the house magically added "home maintenance" to my weekly To Do list.

Mr. Kawaii and I headed up the ladder this afternoon when the sun peeked its head out from behind the fall cloud cover.  After a couple of hours of bending over to scoop sloppy leaves from the gutters, traversing the incline to sprinkle moss-killer across the shingles and hunting for loose or torn shingles we were left sweaty, soggy and proud that our rooftop is heading into winter prepared for Mother Nature's worst.

As much as I enjoy hitting the gym for a focused workout, I prefer the opportunity to burn calories while I work on an physically demanding project.  It makes me feel more accomplished, self-sufficient and proud of my own abilities.

So, how's your roof looking? ;)

A Return to the Living Room

Although I have it on my "Things To Do" list, I haven't yet called the good folks at Oregon Athletic Club to find out about their memberships (Mr. Kawaii was a doll last week and got me an "in" with one of the staff there for a tour and a spin on the treadmill).  I'm hoping to get to it later today, but I just never know what I'm actually going to accomplish in a given day.

I was up and raring to go this morning though, and so I decided to pop in the trusty old Denise Austin Fat Blasting Yoga DVD and give it a whirl.  I haven't visited Digital Denise in months, and haven't been practicing much yoga at all recently and it showed within the first several seconds of the workout.  I hadn't realized how tight my body had gotten until the first downward facing dog when I realized I had to really work to touch my toes!

I pulled through the end of the DVD, barely managing to bend myself into some of the poses, and decided that I need to bring yoga back into my workout focus at least a couple times a month to keep things limber.  I'm probably also not stretching enough before or after my other workouts, so I'm going to work on focusing on that as well.  Hopefully I'll be able to bend into a pretzel by Christmas!

Chasing the 4:35 Train

Adding some oompf to an otherwise computer-keying day, I decided to take a walk through the neighborhood to the local grocery store this afternoon.  On my way back as I crossed over the train tracks I noticed the afternoon train coming down the line.  I decided to try to beat the train through the neighborhood (the tracks run parallel to the road that I walk to get to my house) and held my giant bundle of toilet paper and brownie mix tight against my chest as I hoofed it across the concrete.

The train probably moves at 4 or 5 miles an hour, which is still slightly faster than I can walk and so I really had to push myself which is surprisingly difficult with 12 rolls of toilet paper filling both arms and a sack of boxed goodness pounding against your outer thigh.  The people in the neighborhood all looked at me in confusion as I peeked between the houses to see how I was progressing and trying to stay in front of the nose of the train.

Sadly the train beat me to the end of the street, but only by a nose.  I was even with the conductor's window at the end of the "race".  I take a proud second place though, realizing that the conductor has thousands of tons of steel, fuel and momentum keeping him moving and all I've got are a pair of New Balance shoes and the promise of frosted brownies in my future.

Recognizing My Own Success Story

I realized this morning that I have been blogging about my exercise adventure for just about 6 months now, and what a journey it has been.  I've seen my share of highs and lows over the last six months, have been witness to great changes in M and K, and even a few in myself.  I spent the morning on a 2.5 mile walk with Pooch, and we spent our time out on the sidewalk reflecting on where I've been and where I'm heading.

When I started this blog, it was with the idea that if I had some outside accountability that maybe I'd be able to stick with the whole "lifestyle change" concept long enough for it to start working.  Work it has, although not in the way that I had expected it to.  I was seeking instant results on the scale, expecting to drop 40 or 50 pounds within six months and be back to a size 8 before Christmas.

Although those aren't the results that I've seen so far, I am confident that they are on the horizon and I am taking one step at a time in the right direction.  Unfortunately, in my past I have done a number on my body through 10 years of binge eating and starvation topped off with 4 years of eating fast food roughly 12 times a week.  Because of my past diet insanity, my body is still afraid to let go of the pounds although it has started shifting things around and transforming some of those former lumps into muscle that are so real you can see and feel them lurking under my skin.

All those trips to the gym, laps around the track and yoga sessions in the living room have given me results that are frequent and substantial enough to keep me going, and through blogging about the craziness of trying to jog with a dog who wants to paint fences every 50 feet and being attacked by flora and fauna in equal doses in the back yard, I have been able to share my experience with others.

This experience has reminded me that sometimes we just have to recognize our own success story instead of comparing ourselves to others.  We might not all be millionaire-triathlete-raceway-superstars, but we are all treading the paces of our own journey to shape who we will become in the years ahead of us.  And while yes, it is great when there are enthusiastic people like M and K to encourage us along the way, there will always be those days when we just have to get up and be our own cheerleader.

So, in the spirit of cheering for myself, here are my awesome results that have stacked up over the last six months:

• Gone from barely being able to zip up my size 18 jeans to comfortably fitting into my size 16 jeans and size 14 dresses.
• Lost 3 pounds since starting this blog, and 6 pounds overall.
• Have traversed the gap in my belt, going from barely able to get into the last notch on the belt to now being 4 notches in.
• Discovered that I have "tank top arms" for the first time in years, with muscular shoulders and emerging biceps.
• Went from walking a 22 minute mile to being able to walk/jog a 16 minute mile.
• Have slimmed to a point where my fingers are thin enough to wear my wedding ring every day, even to sleep.
• Can see my wrist bones for the first time since 1997.
• No longer feel like I am "spilling out" over the edge of chairs, car seats or benches.
• Have more energy than I know what to do with some days!

Sure, I haven't met my goals of losing 40 pounds and dropping to a size 8, but look at all the things I HAVE done!  Most of the things I have achieved are things that I never even thought of as goals, but they went ahead and showed up anyway.  The proof is in the fat-free lactose-free sugar-free pudding, and I know that as long as I continue avoiding the drive-thru lane and keep finding ways to be active that I will continue to inch my way towards the smaller bottom of my dreams.

Nearing the Finish line at the 2010 Great Columbia Crossing
October, 2010

The Bottom, It IS Shrinking!

Today seemed like it was just another day at 24 hour fitness.  Basketball, weight machines, ab machines, and stationary bikes filled my morning and by lunchtime I was ravenously hungry.  All this working out has paid off though because I have finally, after months of trying, been able to fit back into a pair of size 16 pants AND BUTTON THEM.  Sure, they are still a little snug, but they fit damnit and no one can take that away from me!

M's suggestion to give Spark People seems to be working too, as it is opening my eyes to how I eat.  Most days I am well within a healthy calorie level, but earlier this week when I was having a Really bad day I somehow managed to take in almost 4,000 calories!  Although overall Spark People isn't telling me anything that I don't already know, it is pointing out that maybe my stress eating could be better handled with popcorn and sliced turkey instead of double-stuffed pizza and greasy-grimy cheeseburgers.

All in all, this has been a pretty good week for working out and exercising.  Not my most flawless week as far as consistency goes, but a week where positive changes in my body are making themselves be known.  Another few weeks and who knows... I might be able to start using my favorite belt again.