I am going to be starting a new weekly post. So even if I cant come up with anything to post, I can find at least a couple of things each week that went well.
There were a couple for this week.
1. I stopped biting my nails cold turkey on December 29th. I haven't bitten them since. This is a great thing. I have been biting my nails since I was 2 when I stopped sucking my finger. The last time I quite was in Fall of 2011. The best post I have about my nail biting can be found here. I'm happy about having 10 days of no biting behind me.
2. I went to the gym this week. Spinning on Monday, intervals on the treadmill on Wednesday night, Tabata work out on Thursday. There was the treadmill on Friday, and some more spinning on Saturday morning. I had some pain in my left leg on Sunday so I took a rest day. That was 5 days of exercise out of seven. I am ecstatic! I changed it up this week with my workouts. Last year, I was finding that I was just sticking to the treadmill to get ready for my half marathon. I like doing different things for my workouts. It keeps my muscles guessing what is going to happen and it keeps me from getting bored.
It was a good week!
Monday, January 7, 2013
Sunday, January 6, 2013
Done with the Scale
I am done with getting on my scale every day...even every week! I hate the scale. I hate the scale when I gain weight but I hate the scale even more when I lose weight. This seems counter intuitive. Most people despise the scale when it shows a weight gain. I will not deny that it frustrates me. The gain makes me want to just give up. It's been frustrating me this last week when I have worked out so much but still showed a gain on the scale. I have to be honest and say my eating has not been on target at all but I wouldn't say that I have been eating any worse then normal so I would think the scale would go down. I am going to blame it on doubling the amount of water I daily drink as well as the muscle gain from my workouts.
But why do I hate the scale more when I lose weight? Because I get content. I see that lower number on the scale and my brain says "Ok, you lost weight last week, you can take a vacation from watching your calories and have a free-for-all day." Yippie! A free day where I can eat anything I want and I can sit on the couch all day long. Yippie.
Well that one free day turns into two free days which turns into a free week. When the time arrives to get back on the scale a week later, I've gained back that lost weight plus then some. See above for reference to weight gain.
So this is why I am done with the scale, for at least until my annual doctors appointment that usually shows up in March. That gives me three months of not getting on the scale. I did get on the scale this morning.
I'm sad about that weight. Up 10 lbs since October is pretty lame but I am done with the scale until March.
But why do I hate the scale more when I lose weight? Because I get content. I see that lower number on the scale and my brain says "Ok, you lost weight last week, you can take a vacation from watching your calories and have a free-for-all day." Yippie! A free day where I can eat anything I want and I can sit on the couch all day long. Yippie.
Well that one free day turns into two free days which turns into a free week. When the time arrives to get back on the scale a week later, I've gained back that lost weight plus then some. See above for reference to weight gain.
So this is why I am done with the scale, for at least until my annual doctors appointment that usually shows up in March. That gives me three months of not getting on the scale. I did get on the scale this morning.
 |
| Last weigh in for three months |
Thursday, January 3, 2013
Mr. Pukey and Tabata
No worries. I am not going to write about vomiting. Nor have I actually vomited to bring up this subject.
On Sunday night I was craving a work out on the spin bike. I NEEDED it. I hadn't gone to a spinning class since early November. I really NEEDED it! I needed it because we haven't gotten my bike up on the trainer yet this year. (Yes, I do know that it is already January and the bike should have been put on the trainer in early November when the first snow flew.) Thank goodness there was a spinning class at 5:30 on Monday morning because I had to be at work by 7:15. I yanked my body from the bed at 4:30 to make sure I had ample time to get some food in me and get to the gym early enough to secure a bike under a fan. I was thinking class would be full but it was only about half full so I was able to get the bike I wanted. I was nervous about this class for two reasons. One was that I had never taken a class with any other instructor except Erin. I was used to her. This was led by someone new to me. I had no idea how she structured her class. The second reason for my nervousness was because I had always skipped the gym on the mornings I have to open at work so I wasn't exactly sure if I would be able to make it to the gym and make it to work on time. Showering at the gym alleviated that problem.
The first worry did creep up on me in class. I wasn't sure how this instructor was going to do things but when she said we were going to do adjusted Tabata Intervals, I was lost. She explained what the intervals were. She adjusted the intervals from 20secs/10secs to 1min/30 secs. She also switched up the type of hard riding we were doing during that 1 minute on. We did a warm up, did intervals for most of the hour and did a 8 minute cool down. She said we should be close to "Mr. Pukey" when we were pushing ourselves hard. Oh boy! What did I get myself into that morning? I pushed myself on the work intervals. I pushed myself harder than I had ever imagined I would push myself at 5:30 am on a Monday morning before work. I did NOT throw up! Maybe I should have pushed myself a little harder?
I felt amazing after that class. I barely made it to midnight on New Years Eve. I was exhausted that night. I was happy to have New Years Day off from work so I could watch the Badgers play in the Rose Bowl, even though they did not win.
The "Mr. Pukey" phrase has come back in my thoughts during my other workouts this week. I did get to the gym last night for an interval work out on the treadmill. I ran 1 minute at a sprint and then slowed it to a jog for another minute and then a two minute walk. Rinse, and repeat. The gym was packed with the "resolutioners". NPR was saying yesterday morning that most people stop going to their gym by the end of March. This is why I go in the morning when I can, it's quieter. If I go at night, I want to be there before 4:30.
Tonight, I got out of work late and couldn't make my 4:30 cut off time. I opted to go home. I was going to do the Biggest Loser on our Wii but that wasn't sounding all too interesting. So I found some interval training via a friend's Facebook page. Another person that lives in MN to follow. Here is her Facebook page. She posts most of her workouts on YouTube. I opted for the "24 Minute Tabata". There is that weird word again! It keeps creeping into my life.
I set up my living room, moved the tables, shut the blinds. I wouldn't want any one to see my haphazard moving around in my house trying these moves. And thank God my husband wasn't home to see the spectacle that was about to happen. I watched the whole video first, downloaded an app to my phone for interval timing. I got that app set up for 20/10. I watched the first set again, started my timer and started going. Eh, this wasn't horrible. I was able to do the first couple of rounds. Then it got hard! I mean really hard. I couldn't finish the rounds. How come she can make them look so damn easy?! How come my belly is too large for me to get my knees up to my elbows like she can? How come I can't drop my legs far enough down for a jack knife? I hate feeling like this. No wonder people quit when they can't do it. I worked as hard as I could. I worked until Mr. Pukey was trying to get my attention. I stopped. I felt my heart pounding. I stopped. I drank some water. And I just stopped, sat, and listening to my phone beep through the intervals....I failed to complete. Ugh!
But...I'm not feeling defeated. It should only get easier at some point. Or at least that's what I hear. There will be a work out at the gym tomorrow and another one some time this weekend. And then next week, maybe a week from today, I will try this again, without Mr. Pukey.
On Sunday night I was craving a work out on the spin bike. I NEEDED it. I hadn't gone to a spinning class since early November. I really NEEDED it! I needed it because we haven't gotten my bike up on the trainer yet this year. (Yes, I do know that it is already January and the bike should have been put on the trainer in early November when the first snow flew.) Thank goodness there was a spinning class at 5:30 on Monday morning because I had to be at work by 7:15. I yanked my body from the bed at 4:30 to make sure I had ample time to get some food in me and get to the gym early enough to secure a bike under a fan. I was thinking class would be full but it was only about half full so I was able to get the bike I wanted. I was nervous about this class for two reasons. One was that I had never taken a class with any other instructor except Erin. I was used to her. This was led by someone new to me. I had no idea how she structured her class. The second reason for my nervousness was because I had always skipped the gym on the mornings I have to open at work so I wasn't exactly sure if I would be able to make it to the gym and make it to work on time. Showering at the gym alleviated that problem.
The first worry did creep up on me in class. I wasn't sure how this instructor was going to do things but when she said we were going to do adjusted Tabata Intervals, I was lost. She explained what the intervals were. She adjusted the intervals from 20secs/10secs to 1min/30 secs. She also switched up the type of hard riding we were doing during that 1 minute on. We did a warm up, did intervals for most of the hour and did a 8 minute cool down. She said we should be close to "Mr. Pukey" when we were pushing ourselves hard. Oh boy! What did I get myself into that morning? I pushed myself on the work intervals. I pushed myself harder than I had ever imagined I would push myself at 5:30 am on a Monday morning before work. I did NOT throw up! Maybe I should have pushed myself a little harder?
I felt amazing after that class. I barely made it to midnight on New Years Eve. I was exhausted that night. I was happy to have New Years Day off from work so I could watch the Badgers play in the Rose Bowl, even though they did not win.
The "Mr. Pukey" phrase has come back in my thoughts during my other workouts this week. I did get to the gym last night for an interval work out on the treadmill. I ran 1 minute at a sprint and then slowed it to a jog for another minute and then a two minute walk. Rinse, and repeat. The gym was packed with the "resolutioners". NPR was saying yesterday morning that most people stop going to their gym by the end of March. This is why I go in the morning when I can, it's quieter. If I go at night, I want to be there before 4:30.
Tonight, I got out of work late and couldn't make my 4:30 cut off time. I opted to go home. I was going to do the Biggest Loser on our Wii but that wasn't sounding all too interesting. So I found some interval training via a friend's Facebook page. Another person that lives in MN to follow. Here is her Facebook page. She posts most of her workouts on YouTube. I opted for the "24 Minute Tabata". There is that weird word again! It keeps creeping into my life.
I set up my living room, moved the tables, shut the blinds. I wouldn't want any one to see my haphazard moving around in my house trying these moves. And thank God my husband wasn't home to see the spectacle that was about to happen. I watched the whole video first, downloaded an app to my phone for interval timing. I got that app set up for 20/10. I watched the first set again, started my timer and started going. Eh, this wasn't horrible. I was able to do the first couple of rounds. Then it got hard! I mean really hard. I couldn't finish the rounds. How come she can make them look so damn easy?! How come my belly is too large for me to get my knees up to my elbows like she can? How come I can't drop my legs far enough down for a jack knife? I hate feeling like this. No wonder people quit when they can't do it. I worked as hard as I could. I worked until Mr. Pukey was trying to get my attention. I stopped. I felt my heart pounding. I stopped. I drank some water. And I just stopped, sat, and listening to my phone beep through the intervals....I failed to complete. Ugh!
But...I'm not feeling defeated. It should only get easier at some point. Or at least that's what I hear. There will be a work out at the gym tomorrow and another one some time this weekend. And then next week, maybe a week from today, I will try this again, without Mr. Pukey.
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