Garbage That GOO!

Calorie control worked!

Well, if you've been by, you've seen that I lost 1.4 pounds for the week. The change was getting my exercise in and really watching the calories. And drinking my water. It feels good.

Unfortunately, I felt so good Friday that, after water aerobics, I started my usual quarter mile swim. For once, my shoulder wasn't bothering me. Nor my knee. I was in a rhythm, so I kept swimming until I'd done a half mile. Tired after, but otherwise fine. Then I walked, slowly to cool down for a quarter mile. The swim shouldn't have been a problem, but it was.

I was EXTREMELY sore Saturday. In fact, today, Tuesday, is the first day I haven't felt sore. And though my legs were normal sore, my shoulder felt aggravated sore, not muscle sore. That's not so good. So, Saturday I rested. Sunday I managed a little Nordic Track as fasted cardio. Monday I skipped water aerobics. Oh, I wasn't so sore leg wise that I couldn't have gone, but I was worried about making my shoulder worse. It was cooler outside and I decided to do a bit of housework and yard work instead.

Today, natch, my feet were hurting. But the yard remains.

I made the decision this past week that I need help. I simply can't prune the trees that need pruning, take out assorted shrubs that are taking over, dig for edging, etc... etc... etc... myself. Oh, if I didn't have the foot and shoulder and arm and knee issues I do, I could do a lot of this and would. Shortly after we moved here, I managed to take out an entire dead tree by myself!

But right now, I can't cope. The yard got bad last year when my feet were bad off and it is only worse now. I called a landscape company. They are going to do some of the badly needed pruning and cleanup. Then they will install some things like a retaining wall where a wooden one is breaking down and some edging so we can keep the grass out of areas we don't want it. There's one little catch. $$$$

So today was cool again and overcast, so I thought maybe I could help keep costs down if I started working on some of the cleanup myself, at least with weeds and stuff. My feet are starting to feel painful. Turns out digging isn't only bad on my feet, but makes my cranky knee hurt too. I found that out after discovering some new, noxious looking, THORNY VINE.

I'm going to get my frozen water bottle and ice. Don't know about dinner... maybe pizza. THREE HOURS of yard work should've burnt a few calories.

I did better with my eating and exercise goals, but hardly perfect.

Fruit cravings

Yesterday, I blasted into water aerobics for a really good interval style workout. Actually, the instructor wasn't doing any such thing... I just did that on my own by taking a particular move up a notch then going back down to recover, then up again. I swam too, but I was pretty wiped after the class and my knee was bothering me. I also water walked.

But all day, I was craving fruit. I normally eat 2-3 servings a day... yesterday, I ate fruit with EVERY meal! Oddly, my carbs were still in reasonable check even with all the fruit and veggies I ate and I did not bloat further like I might have thought. Instead, my weight was down.

It may have been a water issue. I was drinking plenty, but pool exercise just seems to suck the water right out of me. I drank water and green tea, close to a gallon and a half of liquids yesterday! It doesn't help that it's hot here. Maybe the cravings were just my body telling me it needed even more fluids as fruit does tend to have a lot of water content.

Sometimes a craving is a bad thing... but not always!

I literally dropped from 231.2 to 227.4 pounds overnight. Water, I know... that kind of large loss is never fat. But once I put the water losses behind me this week, further losses should be goo.

Every day is a new day

Well, last night came the realization that, if I want to meet my goal of getting under 200 pounds by January, I've got to get cracking! There's really no room for messing up or slacking off anymore. So I'm taking it a day at a time and trying to get back on track with both eating and exercise.

One of my recent strategies is less computer time. I was posting on several forums, but now am sticking to just a couple and less of those. One, less computer time means less aggravation of the chronic tendinitis in my forearms and two, it gives me more time to work on projects, chores and exercise. Oh, that doesn't mean I won't be reading blogs and commenting and stuff like that, but I'll probably be doing less of it.

Yesterday, I got in a good 90 minutes of exercise, kept the calories on target and got my water in. Unfortunately, my knee was bothering me pretty badly in water aerobics and after, and I realized that when I mess up on the eating, I also sometimes forget important supplements that help my joints out, like fish oils and glucosamine chondroitin. Oops! Well, I got those in yesterday and have had my first dose today as well.

Today, the knee is still bothering me. I thought about NOT doing my little bit of fasted cardio on the Nordic Track this morning, then I thought about my goals and got up and did it anyway. 15 minutes was perfectly do-able, even with my knee not entirely happy. I'll try and add a bit more later.

I cooked up 4 oz. lean ground meat with a pile of onion, carrot, mushrooms, cabbage and zucchini for breakfast. Next... I want a cup of green tea. And our fuzzy girl cat Sister wants some play time. Funny how the cats are ALWAYS ready to play and get some exercise. I should be like that!

Will head bump for TOY...

For those who wonder why Luna gets all the camera love, well, Luna is just THERE, she is the aggressive one of the bunch and involves herself in everything. Sister and Tablet are a bit more shy.

We refer to Sister as "royalty with a price on her head". Sister is a bit paranoid about things like assassins, paparazzi and the like. She is very loving, playful and social with us... but heads straight for the basement at top speed should anyone else come into her house! Luna and Tablet like to aggravate Sister, they can make her snarl like a bobcat!

Quickie weigh-in & bike update

OK... I'm not avoiding y'all... but the BIKE arrived yesterday!

Sitting at the computer writing a post vs. unpacking a BIG EXCITING BOX. Hmmm... the box won that battle handily. Can you blame me?

The bike, she is beautiful! Only the frame is clearly too large for me. I have not yet been successful getting on the bike. Well, I can, but only with the aid of my couch and only with the seat in the very lowest position, which probably would not be the ideal position for my legs to pedal in.

I have to take it to the bike shop anyway, as though I was able to successfully assemble most of the stuff that needed assembly with the included tools, I have not been able to connect the front brakes, a sort of essential item. So maybe they can teach me how to get on. More later... I took pix while I was unpacking.

Monday's weigh-in sucked. 230.6 pounds.

Exercise... well, I did two sessions on the Nordic Track Sunday, each lasting about fifteen minutes.

Yesterday, given I needed to stick around to receive the bike, I missed water aerobics. But I did get up early AM and skiied 20 minutes on the Nordic Track. All other exercise involved bike assembly and attempts to get on. So at least I'm starting to get back in a bit of an exercise groove. My feet hurt this morning, so I will have to ice tonight.

I had a smoothie this morning and am going to eat a Jack in the Box salad hubby brought me last night. Then it's bike shop errand time!

Onwards, new DVD workout…

I'm not feeling up to tons of posting right now... getting my feet flared up meant I did a lot of sitting at the computer the past couple weeks, with the result that my chronic tendinitis in my arms is a bit flared as well! Particularly my right arm. Ugh. Pain makes it lots less fun to be typing and posting.

I did try a new workout DVD today... Power 90 by Tony Horton. (Bought off eBay to save a few $$.) It arrived right at the point I had my workout gear on... so instead of getting on the Nordic Track for some semi-fasted morning cardio, I put the DVD in the player instead. I did the Sweat 1-2 cardio workout. Well, the power yoga portion didn't go so well, I obviously need to learn those moves separately before trying to put it all together! That's OK... I have a couple new yoga DVDs to try out, so those might help me.

But the rest or the workout was simple enough, though tiring. I had to substitute non-impact moves like marching in place and side- stepping for some of the high impact moves done in the video. Very do-able, no problem. And I was able to keep pace with the DVD quite well. Moves were simple, no fancy choreography. Knee raises (w/arms), running in place, jumping jacks, fast feet, boxing, kicks, stuff like that.

Oddly... it's not my heart that was worked hard, just the muscles for doing the moves. My heart rate stayed around 58-65%... nothing much for me. What they call fat burning zone. But that's exactly what I want for semi-fasted cardio, so it worked out well. The workout was a half hour and that also is a good length for me at present.

Unfortunately... I'm not sure my feet are ready yet for being on them so much. They were hurting after. Of course, they also do that after a pool workout, just not quite as much. I may have to put the DVDs off for a bit, do more pool work and such. At any rate, I ate after and then sat down to ice my feet. I'm going to try and ice twice a day and see if that helps. Maybe even start soaking my feet in a bucket of ice water. Something has gotta get them calmed down before I go nuts! I watched the Sculpt 1-2 portion of the DVD while icing. Looks do-able... sorta. I'm guessing I am going to have some trouble with the pushups and dips.

I think, once my feet are calmer, these will be good DVDs for me.

I really, really wish the weather would improve... it's raining again. I wanted to be gardening today. Sigh.

Why lunges are tough

I figured out the other day why doing lunges is so darned difficult.

I realized that I've NEVER done them before at any point of my entire life! No wonder it's been a struggle! It's an entire motor skill I've not used, never learned. Balance on these is really tough for me. I'm not sure I could do them at all without the assist of the TRX trainer or my fitness ball.

I'm working on it. Today, we did intervals in water aerobics and I threw myself at that, so I was wiped after. Didn't want to walk or swim. But I did take the time to get in the shallow end and practice walking lunges in the water. It's not real work for my muscles because of the water support, but it's hard balancing in the water, so I thought it would help me with that and just getting the form and motion down.

Anyway, good class, good workout.

My new 2X swimsuit (hopefully the LAST 2X) arrived yesterday. It fits! It actually looks a bit more stylish, or at least you can tell that I have an hourglass shape. Though I think the top half of the hour glass is shrinking more than the bottom half. I'm not sure how good it will be for swimming, but I expect I can live with it for the three months it will last.

I just had a smoothie of fresh pineapple, banana, coconut milk, green tea and vanilla protein powder. And spinach. Hit the spot!

First SUSPENDED plank!

I did my very first suspended plank today! Lasted all of 4 seconds. Heck, just getting my feet properly in the loops and rotated over into position without slipping out of the TRX trainer was a first!

I'd tried once before when I first got the trainer, and found it to be absolutely impossible. Could NOT do it. Worse, the DVD said that unless you could do a full regular plank for at least a minute, you shouldn't try to go suspended.

But I CAN'T do a regular plank... the position my feet are in for that stretches them in a scream provoking and painful manner. I tried briefly last fall and set my foot progress back a good while. So I had thought that with my feet suspended, maybe I could do it.

Then I couldn't because my core was too weak!

So I always substituted kneeling planks for as long as I could hold 'em instead. I don't know why I tried the suspended plank today... just did.

I was so jazzed that I managed to get my body up for even those few seconds, I rested and then tried again! I made 10 seconds. My heart rate went from 106 to 125 bpm! I know, seems so pitiful. But I was practically dancing, because I can DO it!

Oh yeah... I also managed 12 lunges on each leg with the trainer assist. Progress forward!

According to my heart rate monitor, I burned 350 calories for the 35 minutes I did on the trainer. Average heart rate 111 bpm (64%). Max heart rate 143 (83%). 25 minutes in the light aerobic zone... 8 minutes in my regular working aerobic zone. I managed Nordic Track skiing for 20 minutes after. Supposedly that burnt 275 calories... hard to believe, but my heart rate was up, so maybe. Average heart rate 137 bpm (79%) and max rate 147 bpm (85%). Had to stop after 20 minutes, my feet were going numb.

Made a wonderful Gourmet Nutrition v2.0 Pina Colada smoothie in my new Vita-Mix with green tea, light coconut milk, fresh pineapple and banana for my very necessary post-workout meal.