Category Archive

WOOHOO, I so need to stick to this. I realized yesterday that I have shrunk and I’m finally starting to see the skinny me again instead of the fat me that had moved in temporarily. The only problem is that I noticed the skinny me is also a squishy me. My legs are great, doing stairs daily has really made a difference, and my arms are slowly toning back up thanks to belly dance but I have a soft center and it ain’t pretty. I had on some yoga pants and a fitted tee on Wednesday and felt a little sausagy which I hate. I hate seeing my belly button through my t-shirt. I rally hope that I can stick to doing abs 3x a week. It really isn’t very much so we shall see.

As for my personal monthly goal for the challenge. I want to do 1850 minutes of cardio. In March I did 1783 minutes and in April I did 1612 (the husband was sick so we couldn’t take any weekend walks) but I went and had a New Leaf Test done at the gym on Wednesday and am supposed to add 3 days of cardio to my routine, 15 minutes each day and I need to track my heart rate so that I can burn more fat longer. As of right now my Active Metabolic Rate is good as long as my HR stays between 110 -139, at that rate I am bu ring 3.5 fat calories for ever 4.5 minutes worked, which is pretty good, especially since I seem to stay in that range for most of the exercises I do (walking, stair climbing and dance), but the higher my HR goes the lower the ratio goes so the goal is to get me burning the most fat all the time in order to lose more weight. I still don’t get what all the numbers mean but I was glad to know that for now and the exercise that I am doing, that I am burning fat the entire time I am working out. This definitely explains why I can eat crap and not really gain but it also explains why I haven’t been able to loose anymore. So I need to cut the crap and sweat some more LOL.

The exact numbers from the Active Metabolic Training test were:
HR: 110-139, 3.5 cal fat for every 4.5 mins = good
HR: 139-151, 4 cal fat for every 6.6 mins = pretty good
HR: 151-159, 3.7 cal fat for every 7.3 mins = eh
HR: 159-169, 2.1 cal fat for every 8.9 mins = not so much

And just in case I haven’t already bored you with my stats, here is my food from today…

And of course my exercise. I’m a little bummed that for an hour and a half hula class the teacher decided to talk about Lei Day for like an hour and so we only got to dance for 30 minutes. I did learn something new, but I wanted to DANCE! Good thing I decided to be crazy and do 3 sets of stair climbing instead of the usual 2!

There is still one more day to sign up for the May Exercise Challenge! Once you sign up be sure to vote for the May body part to work. Majority wins so be sure to leave a comment if you want a vote.

The May Exercise Challenge begins exactly 1 week from today!
So far we have the following people signed up;
Anna-What’s the Skinny?
Bonita-My Best Life Now
Briy-Bikini-Bound
Donna-Losing the Fluff
Happy Blog Chick-Look, a fitness blog!
Kara-12 Weeks to Fit
McJourney-On a Journey
Melanie-Melanie’s Journey
Michelle-Losin’ It!& learning to love ME!
PattyLite
Steph-Where the hell is Barbie?
Suchagirl-My Body for Life
Swizzlepop-I AM a size 6 again
The Tippy Toe Diet
Tina-Battle of the Bulges
Zanna-Stress, Binge, Diet

If you are interested there is still time to sign up! Please go to our Exercise Challenge Blog and leave a comment if you are interested and I will add your name to the side bar. Rules and FAQs are posted there if you have any questions.

Okay people it’s time again. We were successful in December and January and even February but seem to have fallen off the exercise wagon in March when I moved it over to Spark People. So I’m going to try something else for May. An exercise blog to check in weekly. This way I don’t have to to all the work like in Dec., Jan. and Feb. and we don’t lose people who don’t want to deal with SP like in March. I have already created the blog and will post the link once people have signed up. This is open to any blogger who reads my blog the only criteria is that you must also have a blog, and you must check in weekly (via comment). Those who are familiar with the previous challenges know how this works the only difference is that instead of emailing me weekly you would post your results in a comment for that week’s check in post (similar to the HYC but different).

I am calling out the following fellow logger buddies who have joined me in the past. You have no excuse so I expect you to join me again :).

Steph
Tina
Anna
Becky (this would be your first time but I know you want to do it too ;))
Jodi
Bonita
Melanie
Happy Blog Chick

For anyone else who would like to join us please leave a comment with your blog URL and name (what ever name you use for your blog). The challenge starts May 1st!

I’ve started so many posts in the past week, but then I never finish them. So this one may be really random but I’m going to try and just post a couple things.

First off I want to compare January and February #s. You all know that I weigh every day right? Well, I also both use google15 and Roni’s graph to help with my #s obsession. For as much as my weight fluctuates day to day, it seems that I truly am maintaining. Which is great, except for the fact that I still want to lose.

Starting weight January 2, 2008 - 136.4
Ending weight January 31, 2008 - 134.8
Lowest weight in January - 133
Highest weight in January - 137
Overall +/- for January - +.2

Starting weight February 1, 2008 - 134.6
Ending weight February 29, 2008 - 135.6
Lowest weight in February - 134
Highest weight in February - 136.8
Overall +/- for for February - +1

We have started the March Exercise Challenge in our Spark Team, only this month we are stepping it up a bit with a group challenge along with everyones individual goals.
We are doing an ab challenge for the entire month which includes 10 planks a day, 5 days a week and Weighted Side Bends, 30 on each side 5 days a week. I vote for/suggested 5 days a week with 2 days off, mainly because the 2 exercises combined will take 10-15 max and everyone voted for abs so why not kick it into high gear and get ready for Summer.

The challenge starts tomorrow so if anyone is interested you can still join us as long as you comment or email me by 10pm PST tonight so that I can add you to the team (it’s a private group on SP).

Last weekend I made 2 new meals, Creamy Pesto with Turkey Balls (5 pts) and Nachos Sin Carne (7pts). Click on the links for the full recipes.


Yesterday I did over 3 hours (220 minutes) of exercise throughout the day and loved it!

• Walk to and from Flamenco class - 10 minutes total
• Flamenco class - 60 minutes
• Hula Buns & abs DVD - 30 minutes
• Approx. 6 mile walk with the husband - 120 minutes

Lastly, I’m sure everyone has seen either the latest HG’s newsletter or the commercials about the calories in Glacéau VitaminWater. Well I found a cheaper alternative at Costco. They call theirs Vita Rain and it has 0, that’s ZERO, calories per serving/bottle and it tastes pretty much the same as far as I’m concerned.

For those who have been participating in the D.E.C. and the J.E.C. we are continuing for the month of February but in a different format. Going forward we will be setting our goals and reporting our results in a SparkTeam on SparkPeople. This will make it a bit eaier on me since I’ve been having a hard time in getting hte results posted and I hope that it adds a forum of encouragement with everyone. If you are interested in joining and have an SP account email me an I will send you our link.

This past week has been okay, not great but not bad either. I got exercise in 6 out of 7 days and ate fairly well. The one thing I do need to refocus on is eating more fiber and F&V. It’s amazing how once you start to really pay attention to what goes into your body you start to notice how it all makes you feel and you start to crave it when you don’t eat the good stuff. And let me tell you that I FEEL the lack of fiber and F&V. Without getting too TMI, I almost positive it’s why the scale went up and isn’t going back to where it was just after the New Year.

I was going to try the Ab Blast class at the gym this week since I do have a free membership I should use it once in a while huh. Well it’s Monday and Wednesday for 30 minutes and it would still allow me to get home at a decent time so that we can cook dinner and eat together (we always cook dinner together so I hate getting home late since that usually means trying to find shortcuts which are usually bad). I took my work out clothes to work and even set a reminder on my calendar to go change and then sure enough about 30 minutes before it was time to change I started getting the worst stomach pains on the left side and they didn’t go away. And then tomorrow (Wed.) I have a chiropractor appt. after work because my back has been acting up again. Next week for sure though and it’s already on my calendar and I still have my gym bag packed so no excuses!
Struggles for the week, trying to get in more exercise other than my 30 minutes of crazy stair climbing every day and trying to get in more fiber and F&V. Day 2 of the week and I’m actually doing better with F&V (see menus in next post). I also found a dance class just blocks away on Saturday mornings that I will try next weekend since this Saturday is pampering day. I’m getting a facial and a massage just because, I can’t wait!

I think that’s it for now. Time to post my food

Here are the results for week 1. Please let me know if I missed you or entered your info incorrectly.

Special congrats go to Danielle is Dropping Down and Kat for working out 10 days so far and it’s only the 15th!

Here are the results for week 1. Please let me know if I missed you or entered your info incorrectly.

Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a wonderful New Year’s and that you’re ready to kick off 2008! I will admit that I have not done much today but it’s only because we were driving back from Cambria. We did walk a lot while visiting 2 HUGE antique stores, however my Pedometer did not really log the steps because they were at a stroll pace instead of a constant speed but whatever. I know I walked. Tomorrow I am ON with exercise and grocery shopping so that we can get back to healthy food.

Remember this is a short week so TRY your best to make at least half if not your entire goal. I’m still waiting for goals from a few of you. In the mean time here is the official list again.

Happy New Year!

The January challenge has begun! In the right corner we have the fat and flab that we want to be rid of, in the left corner we have our amazing challengers!……

AJ Loves to Lose
BarbieBattle of the Bulges
Danielle’s Dropping Down
Desertmama
GoJoGo
Hope Faith Love Trust Support
JanaMe - need URL
Kat - need URL

Life is good even when it’s not
Living the Core Life
Magical Shrinking Nancy
Me by Me
Melanie’s Journey
My Best Life Now
nowheretorunbaby
On a Journey
Pretty on the Outside
Swizzlepop (private) or Swizzlepop (public) (of course I can’t keep things easy)

(if you emailed me but I somehow missed you in the list above please let me know)

What info I need from you: Your goals

1. Activity(ies) that you plan to do for the month. This can be one thing of multiple things but what ever you plan to do during the month.
2. How many days a week you plan to exercise
3. How many minutes oer day or per week that you plan to exercise.

Rules:

1. Take your measurements and log them somewhere. You do not need to post them or share them with me you just need to have them written down somewhere. If you want to post them on your blog somewhere feel free but it’s not part of the challenge, only taking them is.
2. Find one pair of pants or a top or both that fit now or that almost fit but that are a little snug (not too big) and remember how it fits and feels. Take a picture if you want. Post it or just save it but something so that you can have a progress picture.
3. Recruit your hubby/SO, children, dog, BF, neighbor to exercise with you if you feel that you need company or in my case get your hubby to help remind you and push you to exercise.
4. Send me your actual exercise #s EVERY Friday evening or Saturday morning and I will post the results on Mondays.
5. Think of a reward for yourself at the end of this challenge/month. Clothing, dinner out (not that food is a reward but the dining experience with friends or family can be), pampering, YOU time. Big or small the point is to reward yourself for trying and succeeding. What ever works for you but figure it out and POST IT so that it is a constant reminder what you are going to win other than a hotter bod
6. Last but not least, check out your fellow challenger blogs and show some support and encouragement!

I think that covers it. Good luck to everyone and I really hope that this helps motivate us into getting our bootays into gear and firmer ;).
Remember no one loses the goal is to get MOVING so that we can continue to LOSE or MAINTAIN and gain only MUSCLE.
Remember the Challenge officially Starts on January 1st and since that is a Tuesday our first week will be short so you will be reporting results from the 1st-4th, that will make us either bust our butts in those 4 days to meet our goals or at least get a good kick start. Either way please base your goals on a full 7 day week.

I’m slowly but surely getting back to my usual reading, commenting and posting and one theme that I keep seeing over and over is people having indulged over Christmas or even since Thanksgiving (the US one) and vowing to get back on the wagon come January. So why not add some incentive and get the January Exercise Challenge going?

December has been going well except I now a lot of people are traveling so I haven’t heard from some of you but I am not giving up! So for anyone who is interested in joining for January please leave a comment with your blog URL and email me your name (blog name is fine) and blog URL (yes 3 z’s) so that I can send you reminders. If you don’t know what I am talking about click here to see how it started. We will start on January 1, 2008 even though it is a holiday but remember you can count shopping as exercise if you walk enough. I have tracked my steps shopping and you can really get a lot in, and even if you don’t do anything that day you’ll still have the rest of the week (at least till Friday - it will be a short 1st week).

The December challenge has begun! In the right corner we have the fat and flab that we want to be rid of, in the right corner we have our amazing challengers!……

Rules:
1. Take your measurements and log them somewhere. You do not need to post them or share them with me you just need to have them written down somewhere.

2. Find one pair of pants or a top or both that fit now or that almost fit but that are a little snug (not too big) and remember how it fits and feels. Take a picture if you want.

3. Recruit your hubby/SO, children, dog, BF, neighbor to exercise with you if you feel that you need company or in my case get your hubby to help remind you and push you to exercise.

4. Send me your actual exercise #s EVERY Friday or Saturday and I will post the results on Mondays.

5. Think of a reward for yourself at the end of this challenge/month. Clothing, dinner out (not that food is a reward but the dining experience with friends or family can be), pampering, YOU time. Big or small the point is to reward yourself for trying and succeeding. What ever works for you but figure it out and POST IT so that it is a constant reminder what you are going to win other than a hotter bod

I think that covers it. Good luck to everyone and I really hope that this helps motivate us into getting our bootays into gear and firmer ;).