The whine, the squat witch, and trotting the globe

For all the big words I had here, I’m afraid I had very little action.

But not none. So, let’s catch up on life, liberty, and the pursuit of de-fluffification, shall we?

The good:

I have now completed week three of strength training with the Squat Witch, otherwise known as Brie, our personal trainer, who earned this nickname on our first leg day together. I can and do keep up with strength on my own, I know what to do, but gosh I get stuck in a rut and will do the things that are a little easier for me when working muscles instead of seeking out true gains. Having someone else tell you what to do takes away any of that temptation.

For posterity, our workouts right now are:

Leg day:

3×20 bosu ball squats, 3×15 stepback lunges to knee raise w/dumbells, 3×15 step ups on the box to knee raise w/dumbells

Back and biceps:

2×30 assisted pullups (10×3 different grips), 3×12 wide pulldowns, 3×12 narrow pulldowns, 3×15 wide rows, 3×15 low rows

Chest and shoulders:

(first four while balancing shoulders only on the ball) 3×12 bench, 3×10 alternating bench, 3×12 champagne lifts (arms together), 3×12 reverse flys

(standing) 3×15 front raises, 3×12 lat raises, 3×15 shoulder presses

I have ranked them in terms of difficulty. Leg day is a killer. It’s only three things but you only need three things. It takes 30 mins to do these three things. I feel like a baby deer after. Back and biceps are challenging but doable. Chest and shoulder day is my happy fun day since these are strengths for me and I probably could handle more weight but we’re working our way there.

The okay:

I have also done a pretty decent job sticking to cardio. Oddly enough, when I’m not faced with the need to do super long and challenging sessions, I seem to be better at fitting them in and not actively avoiding them.

The general “cardio” is ~30 minutes on the elliptical. I’m not trying to push myself to go brave the heat and run or bike outside this summer, and while I’d like to have more swims logged (hello, it’s right outside my door and I can go do it for 5 minutes if I only have that much time), this is good progress to be regularly doing SOMETHING instead of actively avoiding it. I think it may be at least three times per week that I comment to Joel, “I’m SO GLAD we took this summer off long distance triathlons”. It’s just stupid outside, even for Austin, and I’m not here for it this year.

I intend to get back to running on the treadmill a little, maybe splitting my time half and half on the elliptical, but there’s no rush. I just need to remember how to run a 5k off the bike in 2 months.

The bad:

I know how to lose weight. It is no secret to me. It involves tracking all the food that goes in my mouth with consistency and accuracy. It involves 1200-1400 calories most days. It involves sucking it up, buttercup, and I just haven’t been able to bring myself to do it. I’ve had many fits and starts lately where I’ve begun tracking on Monday and by Wednesday life is busy and the habit goes *poof*. Then, I get grumpy and stop weighing myself and then all of a sudden, it’s 3 months later and I’ve gained weight.

I’m not letting myself get to that point. I got back on the scale this week, even if I haven’t been tracking my food like clockwork, and each day I’ve been either 189 or 190. This means that July has trended about half to one lb up from June. It’s not ideal, and I wanted to LOSE weight, but in hindsight with my intake, it’s what I deserve.

So, I leave for a 3.5-week trip to Europe in 3 weeks. I could say eff it and I’ll get back to it when I get home, but I’m not. I’m going to at least try. If somehow, things go amazing, I could be 5 lbs down when I leave and that would make me feel happy and confident. So, starting today, I track all the things and I shall aim to have 100% logged for the next 3 weeks. I refuse to spend my first trip abroad dieting, and look forward to trying all the German, Belgian, and French foods and beverages, but maybe I can be a reasonable human being with the quantities. Also, I imagine that I will spend a lot of time on foot seeing the sights, and I’ll be trying to keep up with strength even if all I can do is bodyweight exercises in the hotel room.

So, for the millionth and first time, I start again. If anyone reads these entries, I’m sure you’re sick of hearing this, and I’m sick of saying this. However, when you get off track, even if it’s often, even if you feel foolish doing so, it’s important to be stubborn AF patient and persistent and get up at least one more time than you fall down.