Adjusted Reality

Dear New Gym Goer,

First of all, let me welcome you to the wonderful world of exercise again.  It feels good, doesn’t it?  No?  Well, the first day week month is rough, but if you stick with it, I promise you will be addicted like I am.  If you are a first time member of Planet Fitness, welcome!  It’s a great deal (10 bucks a month) for a nice clean gym with shiny new machines, isn’t it?  Please eat all the free pizza you want on pizza night every first Monday of the month, because that shit is nasty and I don’t like smelling it when I’m working out.  I mean seriously?  Who thought up the idea of tempting people who trying to get fit with fattening food AT THE GYM?  The sacredest of holy-health places?  I mean, your second Tuesday bagel morning at least sounds healthy (though you are actually better off choking down a small slice or 2 of pizza calorie-wise).  The smell of pizza and sweat together is just disgusting.

Woah, I really got off topic there!  Sorry, new gym goer, I’ll try to stay on the subject.  If you have had a membership already, well, let me thank you for keeping the gym open by paying for it, and also not crowded by just staying home and eating pot pies instead of taking up a machine.  Just kiddin’.  Sorta.  I am totally conflicted here, while it warms the cockles of my heart to see all these new people taking their first step into the world of fitness, I also would like there to be less lines for the assisted pullup/dip machine.  Oh well, I guess I can work on my pushups instead in January, there is plenty of floor space!

Here’s some advice on how to make the most out of your workout time and make the gym a pleasant place for everyone:

• Start slow.  Maybe two months ago or two years ago you were able to run 5 miles at a 7 minute per mile pace.  Nothing was ever lost by taking your first workout too easy, but many a fitness endeavour was squashed by going out too hard, getting too sore, and giving up.

• Come up with a defined workout plan, but be flexible.  Decide you are going to do some form of cardio 20 minutes, 3 time per week, and do strength training for 15 minutes, 2-3 time per week (or whatever schedule floats your boat).  That way, you have a plan so you don’t go into the gym and get overwhelmed by all the machines, but you don’t have to throw a fit if all the arc trainers are taken.

• Don’t be rude.  This includes your body as well as your actions.  If you are a stinkypuss, shower before the gym.  Use deoderant.  Do NOT use ridiculous amounts of cologne or perfume.  With your actions, use common sense.  If there is a line for equipment, do what you need to do and get off it.  A short rest in between sets is permissable, but sitting and talking on your cell is just reprehensible.  Don’t spend an hour and a half on the treadmill if you’ve got people waiting.  Don’t stare at other people in the gym, even if they’re just plain interesting.  Do what the rest of us do and sneak glances at them.   See the three mats for stretching?  Take up one, not all 3 lengthwise.

• Spend the money on some proper workout clothes.  An old t-shirt and sweatpants is totally appropriate if you have nothing else.  Things I saw at the gym yesterday: a girl running in a dress and tights, a guy wearing a pair of dockers and a polo shirt, and a woman in a plastic bag looking shirt (which I think was on an infomercial touting its ability to make you lose more weight – what they didn’t mention is that it’s just water weight from making yourself so hot you want to pass out).  You can pick up something respectable from the thrift store for less than 10 bucks or from Target for less than 20.  Just do it, though you don’t have to be decked out in brand name gear…

• Try new things.  Don’t let any of the machines scare you.  Give it a chance to get used to it.  Don’t get on the arc trainer and get off a minute later, give it at least 10 minutes!  There is a free group class offered quite frequently that shows you how to use them, do take it.  Don’t be like me and spend your first month doing lat raises and the glute machine the wrong way and wondering why it was so uncomfortable.

• Don’t work the same muscles 2 days in a row.  Do arms one day, legs the next.  If you’re running fast one day, jog the next or use another machine.  Too much without proper rest is just asking for at best, lack of progress, and at worst, injury.  Rest is an integral part of getting stronger.

• 7-9am and 5-7pm are the busy times.  If you can, work out at a different time, it will be easier on you and on us poor normal-business-hour-working schmucks like me that HAVE to work out then.

• Don’t give up.  It gets rough.  I’ve been working out consistently now for almost 17 months now and there are still days I don’t wanna work out or I can’t complete my session the way I wanted to or I even just skip a day because I’m too sore, pooped, or whatever.  Don’t aim for perfection, just aim for progress.  Sure, one day you might have to stop at 1 mile instead of 1.5 you did the day before, but if you keep at it, you’ll be doing 2 miles before you know it.  If you get frustrated and give up, you’ll do no miles.

• Do what YOU can do.  Don’t focus on me on the treadmill next to you, killing myself with interval stupidity.  It’s taken me 17 months to be able to do that.  When I started, I could barely walk a mile.  If you take no other advice, take this – just start where you’re just a little (tolerably) uncomfortable and work up from there.  You, the girl who took 25 minutes to walk a mile on the treadmill in front of me and got off and looked disgusted with her self, I’m talking right to you.  I really hope I see you back again and you see that with some time, you’ll be going much faster very soon!

If you heed some of my advice, maybe a lot of you will make it to February.  Maybe some will even make it all year.  While it’s nice to have my run of the place, it gets lonely in November and December when everyone is eating Christmas Candy and sitting on their asses.  Good luck, and may this be the first of many of your sweaty days!

Sincerely,

Quix (the crazy, sweat-stained girl on the treadmill next to you)

So I had this whole, complicated plan where I was going to work out twice a day, three days a week to test the “cardio is better in the morning, weights are better at night theory” I stumbled upon on Charlotte’s blog last month.  Over lunch one day recently I was explaining my plan to Zliten, and he said, quite simply, “Aren’t you just eating up more time by having to go to the gym twice?”

Well, duh.  Why didn’t I think of that?  The reason I liked December’s plan so much was it felt like during the week, I had much more time overall.  Adding 15-20 extra minutes per workout was pretty insignificant while getting a whole day off was huge.  I would be essentially adding three sessions of getting dressed, driving to and from the gym, showering, and getting dressed again, when I worked so hard to eliminate ONE.  So not efficient.

After having that realization, I pondered what I was going to do for January.  My big huge plans to shake it up just didn’t make sense.  Then it hit me…my big change this month is…. wait for it, wait for it…

Do the exact same workouts I did in December.

Yeah, you heard me.  I am changing (almost) nothing.  Two days a week, intervals, cybil, and full body strength.  One day, a long run and yoga.  One day, a marathon DDR session and yoga.  The exact same stuff.  For me, this is actually pretty revolutionary.

Why change up my monthly changing it up?  Well, I think I finally found the perfect workout schedule and elements.  I’m doing 3 different workouts a week, challenging different muscles and levels of endurance.  I’m using fast twitch and slow twitch muscles.  I think I found the perfect balance of cardio and weights (2 hours weights, 3.5 hours cardio, and 40 mins yoga) per week for me right now.   I saw real, tangible results last month for the first time since August.  I am all about not messing with something working perfectly, and for right now, this is working perfectly.

Awww, who am I kidding.  I LOVE messing with a good thing.  I do have to throw in one curveball, and I picked a hell of a month to do it – but it must be done.  My poor, pampered tootsies are so used to the treadmill and they need to start getting some tough, street lovin’.  Sounds dirty – I know.  But if I’m ever going to finally run in my first 5k (which is my first fitness, non-scale related goal to tackle this year), I need to get used to pavement.

So the new/old plan is:

-Day 1 and 3: 30 mins interval run, 15 minutes on Cybil, full body strength.

-Day 2: 60 minute run, yoga session

-Day 4: 60 minute DDR session, yoga session

Looks familiar, right?

Food-wise, I am going to change it up a little bit.  Ya see, I’m ready to be done losing weight, like I said in my resolutions.  I am envisioning being done somewhere between 13-30 lbs from now, and I would really, really like to get back to losing 5 lbs a month like I did until September last year, when my body decided it hated my weight loss goals and was going to defy logic and not lose weight no matter what I did.  So I am back to tracking every calorie that goes in my mouth, back to analyzing my daily intake vs output, and back to being restrictive as I can, without being completely miserable.  I’m willing to go through a little bit of inconvenience if I can be done with this by the summer.  I’m not willing to be too drastic about it, but I definitely see room for improvement in my diet that is simply common sense (like, no mowing straight out of the evil christmas popcorn tin like last night, after having other sweets and some hot cocoa).

I think that’s about it for now, I’ll keep you posted on how things go!

It’s Friday, it’s my first day back at work, and I’m not feeling the small talk.  So, let’s just get down to it and look back at December and see how it went…

Change #1 – Going back to tracking food, mostly.

As a reminder, I decided to resume tracking my calorie intake, which I had stopped for the entire month of November.  I did pretty well at this – though I do realize I am very ready to STOP doing it once I’ve lost the weight I want to lose.  Also, it opened my eyes to the fact though what I was eating comfortably in November without gaining weight, I need the reminder to lower my calories a *little* below comfortable (1300-1400) if I want to lose weight.  I stopped tracking the last week of the year because I needed a break and was on vacation.  I plan to get back to it on Monday, once I have groceries and the leftover holiday crap out of the house.

Change #2 – 4 Day Work(out) Weeks

I love love love love loved this.  This was probably my favorite month of exercise this year because it felt like I was getting all the workouting I needed – but somehow compacted into a shorter amount of time invested.  Honestly, I did dread the workouts a little bit, they are generally a 2 hour endeavour when everything is said and done (driving to, changing, etc), and that’s a long time!  The first two weeks, I was just plain exhausted after each and every day at the gym.  But after a few week cycles, I realized how completely and totally nice it was to only have to make time to sweat four times a week, and I do believe I’m used to it (though I did waver a bit and worked out more often during the break from work).  Now if work would only cooperate and let me do 4-day work weeks.

Change #3 – It is not ok not to lose weight this month!

Good thing, because I lost somewhere between 2-3 lbs this month.  The lowest I saw on the scale in the last week was 162.6, and I was bouncing between 165-166 at the beginning of the month.  It’s not quite as much as I was hoping to accomplish, but with the holiday craziness, I’ll take it.  I can definitely say that I made visual progress this month, as my father, who last saw me on Thanksgiving, said that I looked like I had lost 10 lbs on Christmas Day when they visited.  In reality, I had only lost the 2-3 lbs, but I can actually visually see a difference between pictures from the cruise and our pictures from Christmas Eve.  And my dad does not just say nice things to be nice – to get a complement from my parents you need to actually earn it.

So what is the new, big hotness for January?  I have something incredibly crazy (for me) this month, so you’ll just have to come back on Monday and check it out! 😉

Every New Years Eve I spend some time pondering on the year past and the year to come.

Here is drunken little me on December 31st, 2007 toasting the new year.

2008’s resolutions (pulled right from my LiveJournal):
1.  Will take off at least another 45 lbs by continuing the healthy eating and exercise habits I’ve developed this year.

How did I do?  Great, actually.  Even if you count it from my January 1st weight of 210, which took me about half of January to get back to, 45 lbs lost would be 165, which I am below right now.  I have definitely at least kept up on the “eat good most of the time” habits and expanded on the exercising.

2.  Will finally figure out what my goal weight is, even if I don’t get there in 2008 yet.  I thought the 45 would take me to a place where I was happy before, but I think it was just because I was afraid of failure I didn’t want to hope for a lower weight. So somewhere between 45 and 85 down from where I’m at now, I find the happy place where I’m 100% comfortable in my skin and just need to continue building my muscles.  (FYI for anyone concerned with my safety, I can lose another 100 lbs before I’m underweight, so it’s not like I’m trying to be a supermodel or anything – I just tend to carry weight well.)

How did I do?  In technical terms, not so good, but I feel differently about the journey than I did last year.  I have no idea what my goal weight is, but I’m not in as much of a rush to get there.  I know I want to lose at least another 12-ish lbs and get to 150.  Beyond that, I think I will just keep going, slowly, and see where it leads me.  So somewhere between about 12 and 30 lbs should find me there.

3.  Will figure out what I’m going to do when I get in shape – is it dance classes or water skiing or running or underwater basket weaving?  What do I want to do so badly but I’ve repressed it because I think I’m too out of shape?

How did I do?  Well, I guess I found running, but I still feel like I need to finish the weight losing before I can “reward” myself with “fun” workouts (besides DDR).  It’s not the best attitude – I know.  But I can’t quite shake it yet.  I’ll have to keep working on this.

4.  Will start planning our wedding and set a date.

How did I do?  We sort of set a date, started thinking and planning and then *bam*, unemployment and crunch time happened.  We’ve talked more and are looking into alternative, cheaper options that are just as cool.  However, I can’t really say I’ve done enough with this to call it a success.  Considering the original date is in May 2009, I should really get on this, or give up and hire a wedding planner (though the inner jew is screaming “But that’s money you can spend on the wedding and you can do it yourself”).  Again, something to work on next year.

5.  Will be open and receptive to all the good that comes into my life and share it with others.  I will celebrate my successes but not rest on my laurels!

How did I do?  I think this is an ongoing type resolution.  I tried to make a conscious effort to dig myself out of bad moods quicker than before.  With everything that happened this year – it certainly put things in perspective how lucky we had it (and still have it).  While it wasn’t all GOODTHINGGOODTHING one right after another like 2007 seemed to be, there was way more good than bad and if I felt 5 years younger after last year, I feel 10 years younger now.

So what’s on tap for 2009?  As you know if you read my blog I like lists in 5s, and 5 seems like a manageable number of resolutions to work towards next year.

Here is the most recent pic of us, from Christmas Eve.  Wonder if I’ll think how horrible I looked in this one next year (like I think about the one last year)…

1.  Body: Will continue to eat in a manner that is mostly healthy as I do now and improve when I can, continue improving my fitness, and work on reaching my goal weight, whatever that ends up being, in 2009.  While I’ll always work on improving my muscles and endurance, I’d like to get to the point where the scale is just a double check a few times a week that I’m not way off track, and food journals are a thing of the past, by the end of 2009.

2.  Fitness: I will do at least one new exercise-y thing a month.  This cannot include running, DDR, yoga, traditional weights, or Cybil the arc trainer.  By the end of the year, I would like to transition 1-2 days per week to something like dance classes or volleyball or some other competitive sport OR seriously start training distance running/triathalons.  By my 30th birthday, I need to pick ONE of these to focus on and concentrate on it (and make ancillary resolutions/goals based on what I pick).  I guess what I’m trying to say is to start working out for a reason that is not just to make the scale go down.

3.  Soul: I will pick something creative and establish a plan by my birthday to complete a concrete goal by the end of the year.  Decide if I’m going to pursue writing (maybe actually giving a novel or book of some sort a go), songwriting/recording, pick up drawing/painting again, acting, or work on selling my necklaces.  Maybe take up web design and flesh out this site into a pretty one like I used to do and really give blogging a go beyond just using this for personal theraputic purposes.  Realize that I need to pick ONE of these and focus on it or I’ll feel as lost as I did in 2008.

4.  Get married sometime this year!  That’s about all there is to say on this one…

5.  Allow work to be on the back burner one more year. Of course, be open and receptive to any wonderful opportunities that fall into my lap, but work on enriching my personal life and hobbies instead of focusing on promotions, raises, extra responsibility, etc. Realize that having a 40 hour per week stable job right now that I can pretty much just leave at the office when I walk out the door is a blessing that is giving me opportunities to further the work on my body, fitness, and soul.

It looks like I have a lot of thinking to do before my birthday, but I definitely like where 2009 is headed. Except for the turning 30 thing. As my younger self would tell me, 30 is ancient! I guess feeling and looking better than I did since my teens is a pretty decent consolation prize, so I can’t complain. Have a happy new year, I am off to get a nice sweaty workout, and make preparations for the masque ball thingee we are going to attend. Ciao, bellas – see you next year!

So sometimes, you just have to order out.  And what’s better than a gigantic burrito?  Zliten, myself, and Mr. P were hanging around being couch potatoes on a Saturday and ordered up food to last us the rest of the day from Freebirds.  Essentially, it’s a local Chipotle-type place where you can customize your burrito to your whims.  You can actually make a great burrito there for right around 500 calories, and if you can finish it in one sitting, you’re more man than I.  Which isn’t hard.  Unless we’re talking pushups or running.  At burrito eating, I am pretty much a wuss.

So I, at the coercing of my peers, got not my usual half bird, but a full bird.  They decided to go with the monster.  There is a super monster burrito, but I think it’s the kind of thing you might put on a tray and serve at a party, or offer to an attacking tiger, not something fit for consumption by one human at one meal.  When bringing home the bag, I think it was about 10 lbs, it felt like a bowling ball.  It could have seriously injured someone if thrown properly.  Here is documented evidence of burrito party ’08.

Mine is somehow longer, but way skinnier.

The boys breaking into heaven…

See, no joke, the size of his HEAD.

Pretty much, after this, I had to drop the camera and eat my own.  It took me all through lunch and dinner, and I finally gave up on the last third of it and put the contents over a salad, which actually may have even been better, if possible.

My poison consisted of a cayenne tortilla, chicken breast, black beans, a half scoop of rice, fajita veggies, corn salsa, garlic, onions, pico, tomatoes, lettuce, and hot sauce.  Om.  Nom.  Nom.  This place wins over chipotle because they list all their nutritional info on their website, and it is possible to create a healthy and lo cal burrito.  Though, I really wish they’d do barbacoa, which is pretty much the best burrito filling ever.

One warning: never eat this burrito before running.  I’ve done it twice, and almost PUKED both times from burping up garlic and hot sauce.  Do not try this at home, or especially in your gym.