Success on the treadmill!

Woot!!  I did the aerobic workout on the treadmill today and was able to jog for 4 consecutive minutes!   What's more - I did the full 40 minute cycle, plus an additional 20 minutes!

That was a nice surprise since I haven't really worked out since the fall from the bike on Sunday.  Not to mention that last Friday when I tried to jog, I just couldn't do it.....  apparently, my body needed a rest and wasn't going to be pushed any further.

Weight-wise, today I was down over 2 lbs., so we'll see what Sunday holds for me.

I hope everyone's doing well - I'll be by your places soon!!

~ Shannon ~

a little clarification on the bike fall

I know some of you are concerned for my safety...lol....  I WAS wearing a helmet.  I'm way too old, fat, uncoordinated, and unbalanced to forego a helmet.  I just got confirmation on Sunday as to why we should all wear helmets when bike riding, that's all.      

Today's a "funk" day.   My body's really putting up a fight now..... I was at 216 this morning.  So.. hell....  It's frustrating, that's all.  It just makes me want to cuss like a sailor.        I know a lot of it is just water retention from TOM and probably something funky from my fall on Sunday.   I've got bruises all down my leg and my knee's still acting up.  

I'm going to try to stay off the scale for a couple of days so that this doesn't just send me right over the edge..... those GS cookies are suddenly very tempting, especially the Caramel deLites (Samoas).    LOL  

Going the wrong way on a one-way street!

Oh, man!  How cruel is TOM?   

Yesterday, I got on the scale and it read 213... I was hoping for less today since Saturday was my first day back on the JC food plan and I followed it to the letter.   BUT, I got on the scale this morning and it flashed a very nasty 215.8!   Aaarrgh.   'Nuff said.

Today, I walked 20 minutes and I also took our dogs for a bike ride.  

So, yeah.   I took the first dog out and not 5 minutes into my ride, two little yappy ass dogs charged at my dog from their yard.  (Their owner had apparently let them out in the front yard for some unsupervised Sunday R & R.) 

The rest  was physics in slow motion.   Seeing what was about to happen, I tried to brake.... but couldn't do it fast enough.   My 45-lb. dog came to a full stop so that she could deal with the little hooligans who were barking and running at her. 

The dog stopped.  The bike stopped.  My right arm stopped.

The rest of me, however, kept going.  I crashed down on my left knee and hand, over my left handle-bar.... and slid... not far, but it seemed like forever.  And as my eyes suddenly became level with the ground, I thought, "now here's a good reason for a helmet!"

The owner apparently heard some commotion outside, came out, called in her dogs, asked what happened, then said, "sorry!"... and closed the door.    She didn't even ask if I was okay!  Biatch.  

Anyhoo, I wasn't about to let that end my ride.  I adjusted my saddle, fixed the chain, and we got going again.   I ended up riding just over an hour and burned close to 600 calories.  

Tonight, I'm freakin' sore.  Some of the soreness is from the push-ups we did in Jazzercise yesterday, but most if it's from the impact of the fall this morning.  Ouch!

By the way, if you ever fall and slide, be sure to check your entire body for abrasions.   I can tell you from experience that "discovering" new abrasions because you've inadvertently sprayed hairspray on them... is not fun.   

I did it again!

A double work-out day!  I went to Jazzercise and did a the 40-minute aerobic workout on the treadmill!

This time during the treadmill workout, during the jogging portions I made myself jog 3 minutes, rest 1, then jog the last minute.  I did great, if I do say so myself!  Next week, I continue pushing the 3-consecutive-minute jog and the following week I'll see if I can bump it up to 4.   Part of me feels like it's really pathetic that I can only jog 3 minutes.... and for most people, the speed I'm jogging is no more than a brisk walk.... but, hey, we've all got to start somewhere!

I weighed myself this morning and I'm actually .2 lbs. down which is amazing considering the amount of food I've been eating and non-JC food, at that!   So, I'm thinking that if I keep this exercise going, when I get back to eating mostly Jenny food, the pounds are just going to fall off.   That's how I feel, both mentally and physically... weird.... I can just feel that something's about to happen.  I hope I'm not setting myself up for a big dissapointment.  

....Oh, wait, I know.  It's probably going to be TOM coming for another visit.  Darn it! 

Exercise

That's what I'm going to be focusing on this week.  I'm going to try to bump up my game a little this week since I don't have any JC food and I still have a tendency to eat too much when it's not served to me in proper portions.  (I'm getting better, though!)

Here's my exercise for today:

Jazzercise (57 minutes) = 473 calories, 45% fat

Treadmill aerobic workout (40 minutes) = 397 calories, 40% fat

The treadmill workout I did today falls under the "aerobic," rather than "weight loss" category.  It consisted of a warm-up, alternate walking and jogging cycles of 5 minutes each, then a cool down.  I remember doing this workout during the summer of 2002 and hit a wall.   I couldn't seem to get any better at running the full 5 minutes.

This time, I ran 4 minutes of each of the 5-minute cycles.  I ran 2, rested 1, then ran the last 2 minutes.   So, that's a total of 12 minutes jogging  which is good for me!   My heart rate always shoots up within seconds of doing any joggging/running whatsoever and that makes it hard to continue.  But, I will keep pushing myself forward.  I WILL be running the full 5-minute jogging cycle within a few weeks.

This time, I will not let that machine and my body defeat me, dammit.  I will break into Onederland before April.

Enchantment

Today I hiked up Enchanted Rock,  near Fredericksburg, Texas.

It looks deceptively small here.  But, this "little" piece of granite climbs 425 feet in .6 miles.

I made sure to wear my HRM today to see if I could count this hike as "exercise" and call it a day or if I'd need to do some extra work when I got home.   In the 1.5 hours that we were hiking up the rock, walking from side to side, and then back down, I burned about 603 calories, 55% from fat (supposedly).   That's not too bad for a "walk," so I think I'll leave it at that... for today.

I wondered, though, as I was huffing and puffing up the hill, why this was called "Enchanted Rock."  I still don't know the official answer to that question, but I can say that once we reached the summit, the view, the cool breeze, and the serenity (even with other people around) were quite simply... enchanting.

Here we have Turkey Peak as seen from Enchanted Rock.  Does this peak look like a turkey to you?   Hmm... maybe. But, what caught my attention was the incline of the rock that I was standing on.  What is that - a 30 degree angle?

No weight talk for today.  My exercise is going strong and for  the next few days, that's where I'm going to keep my focus. 

Have a great week!

On the verge of a screw-up

Ok, this week has been pretty stressful.  Hubby is gone, money is tight....have I mentioned that we're paying for a $600 band trip for my son this year, plus a $1400 (or more) trip next year to be in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade?    We won't even get into the $1500 car repair in December...

Anyway, I just ate my last JC meal for the week and won't be able to get anymore until next week, if I'm lucky.   I know I can maintain and even still lose without the Jenny food, but it's so much easier for me to have that crutch right now. 

The past couple of nights I've made dinner for my kids and eaten with them....but I've eaten way too much.  I can feel myself on the verge of a backslide.   While I usually only record my weight on Sundays, I think today I'll record this one to serve as a reminder.....and, frankly, a consequence. 

Part of me would really like to just throw my hands up in the air and say "f..... it," but that's what I usually do when I get off track. And then what?  A few months later, I find myself right back where I started and needing to lose 100 lbs.

Today, I decided to do something different.  I made myself go to Jazzercise and then when I got home, got on the treadmill.  I picked a tough "pre-set" workout on the treadmill and quickly discovered that a 15-minute mile at a Level 6 incline is too much for me to sustain even for a couple of minutes, especially after all the glute work they did in Jazzercise today.  But, I did what I could, stepping off only as long as it took to catch my breath.  So, my caloric expenditure through exercise today, ain't too shabby - 183 on the treadmill and 463 at Jazzercise for a grand total of 646!  I'm going to keep pushing myself through the exercise this weekend until I get my head back into the game 100%.

Some of you have asked how avoiding the GS cookies is going.  Well, I have to say that I've had a few... I couldn't hold out any longer.  But, the interesting thing is that they don't taste as good as they used to.  I ate a (yes, A, meaning 1) Thin Mint and while I was chewing it, thought, "Is this it?  It's not as good as I used to think."  So, I think I'm going to be 'ok' with the GS cookies.  They aren't calling my name like they used to..... or maybe I'm just not listening anymore. 

Oh my gosh... what have I done?!

Right now, I'm having one of those "you should have thought before you spoke / typed" moments...  lol      

I invited txlass down for the Capitol 10K, Austin's biggest racing event.  I  didn't expect much more of a response than an, "oh, maybe.... I'll get back to you."   But, she was totally all over it and, in a matter of an hour, responded with a resounding, "Yes, I'll do it!"  

I'm incredibly excited and totally freaked out at the same time!   My husband, Kevin, and I had toyed around with the idea of participating in the Capitol 10K this year.   But, when it comes right down to it, those new activities, the ones you have the best intentions of pursuing, tend to fall by the way-side when "life" gets in the way.

Now, though, I have someone else that will hold me accountable.   Someone else will actually be expecting and "depending" upon my presence.   WOW!  That's huge.

 I've got to dust off the "Couch to 5k" workouts that I printed out months ago and get to work, lest Andie leave me behind in the dust!

Don't y'all go thinking that we'll be doing the chip-timed portion.  Andie and I are more snail-like and will be sliming up the roads during the Fun Run/Walk.   But, who knows?   Maybe next year...  we'll give all those rabbits a run for their money!  

Ok, I've got to run... literally.   Kevin's off to Canada tomorrow for the entire week, so...  

Read y'all later!

~ Shannon ~

 Edit:  Ok, the picture thing is really pissing me off.  It looks great when I try to "edit" my blog, but when you view it, the text is no longer beside the picture like it's supposed to be.    Is there some trick I don't know about??!

Edit Update:  The picture and text are still not showing up correctly.  It looks fine here, editing, but all f****** up in the blog.  I will not cave in and buy a Gold Membership since there constantly seems to be one glitch or another around here. 

Wooo!

I'm down another 1.6 pounds.   On Wednesday I was down a full 2 pounds, and I still don't know why I'm up a little today because I didn't stray from the plan this week. 

I'm going the right direction, albeit slowly.   But, I'll take it with a smile on my face 'cause down is better than up! 

Hope everyone's having a great weekend!!

Quick update

I've been really good food-wise this week.  I've stayed on plan and have been drinking a lot of water.   The scale was being merciful earlier in the week and showed me 2 lbs. down, but today it was back up a bit.  Who knows what that's all about.  I'll just wait until Sunday for my official weigh in... we'll see what happens then. 

I was tempted to "blow" it last night and today, but I didn't.  I didn't order pizza and I still haven't opened a box of GS cookies.   Those are two major accomplishments, folks!

I've done fairly well with exercise, too; although, I know I could have done more.  But, I didn't and that's just how it goes.   I went to Jazzercise twice and walked 30 minutes this morning. 

Ending on a really happy note, my clothes that are size 2x are waaaay too big now!  Last night I even wore a pair of XL sweatpants to Jazzercise.  Extra-large, with no numeral in front of it!   Now, granted, I think they are a pair of XL sweats that my husband got for himself 10 years ago, but I don't care.  I have not been able to put on a size that "small" in years, regardless of whether it was cut for men or women.  

Y'all have a great weekend.... and be sure to support your local Girl Scouts, in moderation, of course!