Paper Towels are for Hands, Not Bodies

...Trust me, I've done the leg work.

I was so excited to get in the pool again. With my packed up bag, I made it to the gym and happily saw that there was only one person in the pool. I was so proud of myself for not forgetting my underwear and the fact that my swim cap went on on the first try that nothing was gonna ruin my swim...that was until I was fully submerged in the water, swimming under the lane dividers to the empty lane...and realized I forgot my damn towel.



Yeah, yeah...shut up Towelie

So that was fun. I really loooved drying off with giant wads of paper towel. There are just some places you don't want paper towel to be and I found them all. If you've ever been to see The Blueman Group, at the end (or atleast this is what happened when I went) they take these giant rolls of toliet paper and start furiously pulling them out towards the audience. That was me, except my audience got the show for free, and probably would have prefered not to see it. If I had thought about it, I would have taken a picture of the pile of paper towel, it was very impressive. But I think if I whipped out my camera in the gym locker room I'd have more problems than extreme wetness to deal with. (Well that sounded not so great...Shame on you Reader! Get your mind out of the gutter please! Jeez.) Hey L.A. Fitness, perhaps it's time to consider some towel options? Towel mishaps aside, it was a good swim.

This week, we did a hour long strength training workout in my Healthy Lifestyle class. It was kind of awesome. Which I think you cannot legally say that about anything that happens at Moraine Valley, screw it! I'm not afraid to say it. I enjoyed myself for a whole hour. I sweat almost as much as I did while I did during bootcamp, with a lot less effort. I know that sounds weird but we did most exercises on the Bosu Ball. Instead of putting you through me trying to explain this bouncey half ball rubber typer thing that is flat on the bottom (oh...wait...) I'll just post you a picture.

It forces you to try and keep your balance on top of whatever else you are doing. So instead of just doing bicep curls, you are also engaging all thoses extra muscles while doing the curls. I was surprised that I kept up with the majority of the class. My face was much sweatier and redder then some classmates, but damn it I was getting one hell of a workout. It was fun too; you can bounce on the Bosu like a tiny trampoline. Hehe.

I really think having a Bosu would make my home workouts a lot more effective...and bouncy. Sadly, this awesome multi purpose piece of muscle engaging equipment is fairly expensive. One quick Amazon search crushed my excitement. I don't exactly have a few hundred dollars laying around, so my Bosu dreams are on hold. Also, there are different kinds of Bosu Balls so I'll have to do some research. Damn you Amazon, damn you. To the wishlist you go Bosu.

I should be heading to bed, I have another exercise lab tomorrow for my PEH class. We are doing flexibility and stretching. If there's one thing I'm not, it's flexible. Honestly, my heartrate is higher when I try to do yoga than when I'm doing cardio because I never know when to breathe and totally just forgot to do it. Yes, I forget to breathe. Stupid...yoga...

Well folks, think unpretzely thoughts for me tomorrow and good 30lb total vibes for me on Saturday. *fingers crossed*

 

 



 

 

 

 

 

It's Not About the Number...Right?

Can you tell this weeks weigh in wasn't awesome?

Week 2: September 22nd - Weight = 257.2 (+0.6) Total weight loss = 27lbs.

I know it's just a tiny gain and I'm sorry but I'm gonna bust out some emo crap on you... the insignificant 0.6lbs weighs heavy on my confidence. This isn't the first time I've had a silly little gain, but it has definitely been a while.

Now I know that's not even a half a pound and...that if I had taken a really good crap before the meeting I might have broke even...that I went out for EP Homecoming on Friday night and all the salty garbage I ate that day could have messed up my system...that if I had just did my tape 6 days instead of 5...

Yeah yeah, excuses excuses. Oh well, there's always next week.

Speaking of, for my PEH class at Moraine we had to set three little goals as we work towards our big semester goal. Saturday (the 29th) is my first goal evaluation day. I need to be down 3lbs this week to make it (Be at -30lbs). I think I can totally do it. I just have to track a bit more faithfully this week.

I apologize for the number heaviness of these posts. I promise that I haven't turned into some crazy person who weighs themselves after every meal or bowel movement. I just haven't been this close to big numbers...well ever and I'm just really excited.

So in a non numbers related bit of happiness, I've decided tomorrow's the day I get back in the pool. I haven't swam since the triathlon and I miss it.  Also, I get Danskin updates on Facebook and they posted that we should keep our eyes out for REGISTRATION for next year already! They don't give you much time, do they? I guess it's good because the sooner you sign up the cheaper it is and I'll be glad to have a solid non weight related goal in my brain again.

Ahh...this feels better...non weight related things....

Kait and I are going to be walking the St.Xavier Cougar 5k Saturday. I was thinking of doing it but entering all these races is getting kind of expensive so I was gonna just let it go. But thanks to some race entries from Pizzaman (Thank you Louise!) we're going to be walking now. I really need to get back into a walk/run program though. If I'm gonna be doing the regular sprint next year I need to be able to at least lightly jog 3 miles, and that's on top of the swim and the run, or else my time is gonna be crummy from walking. I'm still trying to find a training buddy this year. I'm also considering finding another sprint tri to do as well because training is a hell of a lot of work for just one race.

Well I think that's enough for now. I'm going to try and post more than once a week but if you enjoy reading blogs and you've thought to yourself, "Self, I like Carrie's blog but I really wish there was someone blogging about what it's like being an American and moving to New Zealand, so I can read about that as well", well I've got a blog for you! My bestest bravest most wonderful friend Julie has just moved to New Zealand with her equally courageous man friend/partner Andrew and she is blogging about the experience. You can read this tale at http://concerningkiwi.com/. Seriously, go ahead...go...I'm done with this post!

G'night All.

Honest Accountability

Alrighty folks.

I have spent most of...oh hell...all of my adult life overweight. I'm still overweight. I'll probably always be a bit overweight. As you all know, I'm working on losing weight and getting healthy. I did this triathlon because of my "quarter life crisis" but also because I thought that training would be a great way to lose a couple pounds.

Last year, I joined weight watchers and lost 24 pounds. Between August of last year and mid January this year I gained it all, and a bit more, back. I went back to weight watchers then and was really good for a few weeks and then kind of crapped out. I went back on the last day of March after making my triathlon declamation and starting this blog.

Here's the totally true and terrifying truth...

Starting weight in Jan 2012: 284.2
Of course, I went back to weight watchers. I mean holy shit I was so damn close to 300 pounds I wanted to off myself. Also I hated myself for taking all that time to lose the weight only to gain it back.

Starting weight on March 2012: 278.4
I had lost 5.8 pounds but I wasn't really trying that hard. I was loosely following the program.

So, since March I've trained for and done a super sprint triathlon and I have dropped some weight in the process. Now that I don't have the crazy goal of a tri looming over me, I was afraid that I would take the slippery slope back up towards 3hundo town. So as discussed in my last post, I have started Power 90. The 90 day program that is supposed to get you in shape so you will be able to do harder workouts like p90x (it's done by the same guy- Tony Horton).

Power 90 Day One - September 8th Weigh in: 260.6
As promised, I am posting Day One pictures. They are not flattering at all, but think of how much worse they would have been if I wore a tighter tank top...yuck.



I had some side pictures but they were really blurry so I left them out. As you can see, my arms are fairly big and I keep a lot of my weight in my middle/ass area. But I think what I'm going is going to help, I actually like Power 90. You start on phase 1-2 and its 6 days a week with one day of rest. You alternate cardio/abs (Sweat and Ab Ripper 100) and strength training (Sculpt). It's not the hardest thing I've ever done, but it is challenging. Like Sweat has "Power Yoga" and you are basically in a plank/push up position the whole time and let's face it, push ups are not my thing but I'm trying. Sculpt involves a a lot of regular push ups and I'm also pretty terrible at dips. The Ab Ripper isn't long, but holy crap does my mid section hurt.

As if posting my weight isn't truthy enough, I will tell you I only did 4 days of Power 90 this week, week one. Yes, I couldn't even commit to the 6 days for the first week. I know, I suck. But here's the crazy part, with only doing 4 days of the program instead of the 6 days, I had great results. I can only imagine how good they would have been with 6 days.

Weigh in September 15 (after week 1 of power 90): 256.6 (-4lbs)
That's right. I lost 4 pounds this week! Hooray! This brings my weight loss total to -27.6 pounds!

So I'm pretty happy. I'm so damn close to -30lbs I can taste it. Also -30 was was first goal for my PEH class, and I set myself to achieve it by Sept 29th, so it looks like I might make goal #1 early. I'm also 6.6 pounds away from being closer to 200 than 300 so that will be an awesome feeling.

On Day 30, 60, and 90 I'll post pictures and I'll keep weighing in on Saturdays and blogging my results (or at least try to) on Sundays.

So that's it. Total honesty. Total embarrassment. Total accountability.

New Semester, New Goals

I've been trying to figure out what to do with myself post triathlon. I spent the last week eating a lot of garbage, sliding back to my soda drinking ways, and not doing a whole lot of physical activity.

I am floating along, lost without a goal.

So I guess it's new goal time. I'm actually taking this class at Moraine called "A Healthy Lifestyle and You". If it sounds like a hellish kind of awful to be 25 and taking a health class, it is. Think everything you learned in high school health, but with 50 year old dudes sitting next to you. Also, there are workout units where we will exercise as a class. Just weird. It's a required course for the education program at GSU so taking it, I am.

...Yoda on your asses I went

The part I do like is that you have to make a health related goal for the semester and use the things you learn in class to achieve it. Writing about how and if you achieved your goal is even a part of the final.

I decided to make my goal... wait for it... a weight loss one. I'll pause for you to compose yourself from your obvious shock. I want to lose 25lbs before the semesters over. That would bring my total to 50lbs lost since April. I think 50lbs in one year is a pretty nice loss and I'll be really happy if I can make it.

As we all know, I am the great maker of plans but not so great on the follow through. It'll be good to have my grade being a part of my goal. I also think it'll be good because we had to make 3 short term goals leading up to the big one, creating important re evaluation points.

How do I plan to achieve this goal you may ask? You may not be asking, but I'm going to tell you anyway.

Here's a not so shocking confession, I spent a lot of money on weight loss stuff. Books, videos, "systems", "health" foods, you name it I (most likely) spent too much on it. That being said, I always wanted to be fit enough to try P90x. Of course, I am nowhere near that level of fitness. Quite some time ago I spent some money on the Power 90 dvds. It's the program they put out before and claim it will get you in better shape to be able to actually do p90x. It seems fairly simple and I think the 30 minutes a day is totally doable. Some of the reviews say that it gets a little boring, but I'll definitely give it a solid 30 day try.

In addition to my very beginnery run/walk program, it will be a nice strength/stretching component to my fitness goals. 90 days seems like a long time, but I can do anything for 90 days. Three months is nothing. I know it sounds like a lot, but I'd also like to throw in some swimming and biking for fun. I guess I'll just see where the semester takes me.

To keep up with class, I'm going to blog my progress. I'm also going to post my day 1, 30, 60, and 90 day photos. Holding myself accountable is key to preventing those treacherous back slides. I haven't decided, but I might even post my weight on Saturdays after my weight watchers meetings. I know I've given sufficient evidence for you to sleuth out my actual weight but like I said before, it's hard to really just come out and say it. I guess we'll see how courageous I am Saturday.

Until then dear readers.