The Perfect 10

A new year and a new goal.

Steve at logmyloss.com has a new challenge beginning this week. The Perfect 10 for 2010 challenge. I was already planning on making some New Year fitness resolutions so why not call them goals and take a chance at winning a fabulous prize. Beside the Hot 100 challenge really helped keep my motivated through the years end. Boy-oh-boy do I need motivation when it is cold outside... there are always those icy mornings when it would be so much easier to just stay in bed, turn the heated blanket up to 10 and pull my comforter over my head rather than head out to Zumba class or running on the treadmill. But then I remember I have to account for these things so I pull myself out of bed.

Here are my Goals...

1) I am going to try at least one new fitness activity every week... even if it is just a new piece of equipment at the gym or some group exercise class.

2) I am going to workout a minimum of 4 hours each week... even when I work everyday.

3) I will lose at least 10 pounds.

I look forward to reading about your goals too so head over to logmyloss.com and join the challenge.

Quick update

Christmas is over and I did not weigh myself this week because on Friday I am doing a New Year Day weigh-in for the first day of 2010 (btw how are we saying this? "Two thousand and ten" or "twenty ten"? I think I am leaning toward "twenty ten"). I have done pretty well over holidays but I have to admit to eating way too many cookies over the past week. Exercise has been good so hopefully I will come out ahead in the calories burned over calories consumed department.

I have sent out a couple emails in an attempt to get a few sessions with a personal trainer in the new year. I feel like I have done pretty well on my own with the cardio, burning calories and losing weight but I want to get a little more serious about the toning and getting strong.

I have one non-fitness related new year resolution... I am going to take more pictures this year.

That Felt Great

Today was the calm before the storm... we are supposed to get hit with a big blizzard tonight and into Christmas. Today was hovering around 30 degrees with no wind and the snow from the last storm is off the roads (if not the sidewalks). One of my goals for the week was getting in at least 4 workouts (two 90 min. and two 60 min). Yesterday I had a great 90 min. workout at the YMCA and today I decided I would try hitting the road for a run since running outdoors is not going to be an option for the next few days.

I am working nights this week so when I woke up I had to convince myself it was a good idea to get out of bed... that was a tough sell. But I let the devil and angel on my shoulders duke it for a 15 minutes and I pulled myself out of bed. It is always such a struggle to get myself moving. The thing that gets me moving is how wonderful I will feel when I am done. There is a natural high I get from running outdoors that I don't get with any other work out. I love Zumba and I really get a good work-out with it but I don't get that euphoric accomplished feeling I get when I am running. I am not sure what that is but I love it.

I did another 6 miles today and I am still under 200 pounds so the "Hot 100 goals" still great! Thanks to South Beach Steve for the idea it was a great motivator during the tough holiday season.

Weigh-in Week 24

Today is a weigh in day and when I stepped on the scale this morning there was this voice in my head that told me I was going to gain some weight this week. I didn't do too bad in the eating department but I did have one meal of Americanized Chinese food (and I didn't stop at eating only half like I said I would) and I did have a couple cookies. What worried me was my lack of really tough work-outs this week. I had one really great 90 minute work out and a good 60 minute work-out but that was it for the week.

Well it is weigh day so I stepped on the scale and was pleasantly surprised to see 192.2 appear between my pink freshly painted toe nails. I little over a pound gone since last week (1.2 to be exact) and I am happy with that.

What will next week hold? I have no clue right now I am just hoping I can get in at least two 90 minute workouts and two 60 minute work outs. I am sure there will be cookies and cakes galore at work this week and my goal is to not eat any food at work that I didn't bring in myself.

BTW... The photo doesn't have anything to do with anything my blog was just feeling a bit boring this morning. I don't take enough photos which means I don't post enough interesting images on my blog which probably gets a little boring so I added a chair of puppies this morning. Is there anything cuter than a chair of Golden Retriever puppies?

Great work out night

I went to the gym for Zumba class last night and for some reason I got the time wrong... What? I have been doing this for months now and suddenly I forgot what time the class started. I was 30 minutes early for class so I decided to jump on the dreaded treadmill. I picked one in front of the television thinking the mindless chatter of a game show would distract me. I started by walking and the first question popped up... "What President comes last when alphabetizing by last name?" Hmmm... I should know this. So I started thinking and I guess drifting because suddenly I stepped off the moving part of the treadmill and stumbled a bit (you are probably wondering why I considered this a great workout, trust me it's coming). I had this image of falling and causing a domino effect across all the treadmills, which were full. Luckily that didn't happen and I decided watching television was dangerous (the answer was Woodrow Wilson by the way).

At minute 3 I increased my pace to 5.5 miles an hour and on the treadmill next to me a woman (with a rocking body) gets on and starts running. She looks over and says hello. I am a pretty friendly person so I smiled and we starting chatting back and forth. She was regretting eating nachos before running and I was regretting eating that chocolate chip cookie. It turns out she runs marathons and she gave me a lot of good tips and a lot of motivation. Before I knew it my 30 minutes was up and it was time for Zumba.

I think I need a workout buddy.

I head over to the gym for an hour of Zumba (which is always a good time) and find out that on New Years Day the YMCA is going to have a Zumba-thon. FUN! What a great way to ring in the new year.

One last thing I would like to say congrats to Fat Free Me who reached her goal weight this week. That is so exciting and such great motivation for the rest of us who are almost there, or half way there or no where near there. She did it and so can the rest of us! You Rock!

160 days

This is week 23 and to recap after Thanksgiving I was up a pound hovering just below the 200 pound mark at 199.8. Last week I completely forgot to weigh myself and then decided I would skip it.

OK... now we are updated. This week I was back on the scale and it showed 193.4, that is a 6.4 pond loss over the weeks since Thanksgiving. Losing weight during December what a novel idea I don't think I have ever done that before. I am totally enjoying myself this holiday but having the ability to shop in "Normal" stores does have it's dangers. When I go Christmas shopping I tend to spend a little too much time looking for things for myself and that has put me three presents behind. How many days until Christmas? WAIT... don't tell me, I don't want to know.

I am also making the guys on my crew very happy because I have had this urge to bake Christmas cookies... I don't know why I guess I just think a house should smell like cookies during the Holidays. I have baked twice this week and instead of having the entire 2 dozen to eat myself I had one and then packed up the rest for the crew at work. They seem to enjoy them.

I bought two very cute skirts are Goodwill this week... one is a size 12 and the other a size 10. When I got home I decided I would try on the size 12 skirt, figuring I wouldn't be able to get it pulled over my butt. Surprisingly it pulled all the way up but couldn't zip it yet... next month I'll be wearing it.

The Hot 100 goals

Running 10K is happily complete... I have run the 10K route about 5 times in the last two weeks so I am considering that goal accomplished.

Being under 200 pounds also happily complete... unless I go off the deep end and eat nothing but cheesecake and potato chips this week I think I can stay under 200 pounds. I am hoping to be in the 180's by the new year.

I am off to grocery shopping and if you are looking for some great food ideas head over to A Forty-Somethings Weight Loss Journey I felt particularly enlightened about healthy food ideas after reading.

Enjoy!

Hate it Hate it Hate it

So if you can't tell... I hate "it". With "it" being running on the treadmill at the YMCA. I love having a membership to the YMCA mostly because I enjoy the variety of classes. Having the ability to take any class from aerobics to zumba has really helped me stay motivated. When the bad weather hit this week, dumping a foot snow over the area it was enough to keep off the roads (probably a wise decision). Then freezing winds kept me indoors for several more days, it was really getting me itchy for running. So I headed to the YMCA early and jumped on a treadmill before Zumba class. I could barley stand 20 minutes but struggled through 30. It wasn't more difficult, I wasn't more winded or more sore. I just hated it. I was bored and the treadmills are directly in front of a mirror so I just stare at myself running. I had my ipod on but it wasn't helping I was just plain annoyed.

When I run outside I think about things... like what my wardrobe will be like when I get to my goal weight, what I would do if I won the lottery, what it will be like to show up at my class reunion thinner than I was in high school... and I run. I don't get bored or frustrated. I enjoy it. I can easily do over an hour without realizing how much time has passed.

I either need the weather to change and the ice to disappear from the sidewalks or I need to learn to enjoy the treadmill. I don't want running to become a chore but I also don't want to stop running for the winter months.

Week Report

I haven't been around much this week I went out of town with my sister and niece on a Christmas shopping trip. I bought my first pair of American Eagle Jeans... they are a size 14 (Giddy laughter). I seem to be a solid size 14 now with every pair of jeans fitting me without cutting off the blood flow at the waist, which was where I was a few weeks ago. Shopping is so much more fun now that I can shop in just about any store. I bought several things for myself all my jeans in a size 14 and all my shirts in a size large (no W's or X's in my new wardrobe).

On Monday I got together with my parents and sisters. When I first arrived my Mom asked me how much weight I lost this week because she has been having some Internet issues and didn't get to read my blog. I thought "Wow, I didn't weigh myself this week!" Not only did I not weigh myself but I didn't even think of it. Typically, whenever I put something in my mouth I think about what is going to show up on the scale. When I thought back over the week I did have a few meals out but I didn't over do it. I worked out every day I had off and I felt good. So I decided this was a good thing and didn't weigh myself this week.

I will be back on the scale Monday morning.

BTW... shoveling snow burns calories right? Because we had a big blizzard today and the only time I left my house was to shovel the sidewalk.