No More Playing Around...Time to Reach My Goals!!!

Lyadeia

Of course Christmas cookies are nothing but lean weight! That's why I was able to have so many!!! :laugh: :happy: :laugh: Seriously though, I think I was doing good maintaining from Thanksgiving until Christmas, and then for Christmas I decided to bake pound cake, peanut butter cookies, and a Greek pastry called tsoureke made mostly of butter and sugar...and then my mom made fudge, cheesecake, and chocolate chip cookies...and then Justin's mom made fudge...and ALL OF IT ended up in my kitchen and in my mouth daily. I am not proud to say it, but after Christmas, I was eating that garbage for breakfast and at every snack. I can guarantee that the reason my weight went up instead of maintaining after Christmas was all that mess. :sad: :sad: :sad:

I guess I should add my height too. I am 5'5" tall...or 5'4" if you listen to the previous doctor I used to see. He insisted that's how tall I was even though everyone else measures me an inch taller, lol.

Today's workout kicked my butt so bad!!! I have lost so much muscular strength and endurance that it makes me want to cry. I struggled with assisted pull-ups of every kind, I couldn't do any more than 20 push-ups of any kind, and some of them like the diamond push-ups were far less (I only did 10 of those the first time, and 8 the second round), and I didn't make it to 25 reps on ANY of the moves in Ab Ripper X. OMG, I used to be like a little powerhouse and I let it go away. :mad: It makes me really mad at myself. But, that is just MORE motivation to keep on doing P90X every single day and never miss a workout because I want to get back to where I was before.

My heart rate monitor said that I burned 722 calories...but that seems a little high? I want so bad to get a Bodybugg, but haven't been able to save up enough money for one yet. I think those are more accurate than my cheap-o HRM, but at least it gives me some idea of calories burned. At the very least I can use it to keep track of where my heart rate is and compare it to my perceived exertion and make sure that I am pushing through as hard as I can. Does anyone know where I can order a Bodybugg that doesn't cost $175 or more? I might check ebay later on.

I am going to go cook dinner now. It is a new recipe for me, but it sounds sooo tasty! I am having halibut with black bean relish and Greek salad from the ChaLEAN Extreme nutrition book, only I couldn't find fresh halibut so I am substituting with cod instead. (I don't like buying frozen fish, I prefer fresh from the seafood market so my fish recipes send to have lots of substitutions in them, lol). Time to go replenish the energy that was sucked out of my body. I mean, seriously, I literally ran out of energy during Ab Ripper X. It was crazy. I didn't realize I let myself slip back THAT much. :ohwell: :sad: :blushing:

Lyadeia

Wow, I just updated all my stats, and then my little fishy on my ticker swam backwards. How depressing. But, it's forwards and only forwards from now on!!!

And I looked at the other calculator for body fat using my new weight measurement and it says 30%. Still too high, but I like that number much better than 35.5%. I will be recording BOTH, though. :bigsmile:

pamp1emousse

722 is high, but perfectly possible! Especially if you haven't been exercising for a while? (I'm assuming it was like a 60min workout?) When I'm working hard I usually burn 10-12cals a minute - if you've got a normal burn you could always substitute than in instead? Either way, well done for getting back on the exercise wagon!!

So I weighed in today and horror of horrors - it's still the same as my xmas weigh-in. That's SIX POUNDS!!! :sad: :sad: :sad: That's a lot for someone working on the last 14 Anyway, I hope you all don't mind but that's just too heartbreaking for me to enter into MFP so I'm going to weigh myself everday for about a week, praying that the number miraculously goes back down to something reasonable like a 2-3lb gain.. I took my measurements again today but I'd actually stopped doing it for ages too (I'm with you PJilly) - I don't think it's reliable when I do it on myself seeing as I'm looking at 0.25 inch losses. Anyway, this is what I got...

Left arm - 9.5"
Left thigh - 20.5"
Bra line - 32.5"
Waist - 27.5"
Lovehandles - 32.3"

Lyadeia

OMG, it has been 12 hours since I worked out and I am already SORE!!! I haven't gone to sleep yet cause I work third shift and try to stay on that schedule on my days off too, but I can already feel my back, biceps, chest, and abs. Oi! :ohwell: I can just imagine how much more sore they will get when I wake up later on cause it always seems to get worse for me overnight. But, after the warm-up in my cardio routine, I am sure that the soreness will lessen. Cardio always seems to ease the pain for me.

If I was burning between 10-12 cals a minute, that means my total burn was actually between 550-660 calories. I think it was around 450 or so that I logged into MFP because I used their calculator for general circuit training. I was going to use the MFP calculation each day until I get my Bodybugg because I think it is safer to underestimate the calories burned than to overestimate them. I don't want to eat too much thinking I am doing good. I will most likely adjust one way or the other once I see what the Bodybugg is telling me, but for now I think the lower number is safe. I will just see how it goes for about 2 weeks with checking my stats constantly. :flowerforyou:

Lyadeia

Well I think I worked out most of my soreness today when I did Turbo Kick round 39. My HRM let me know my heart rate stayed between 185 and 191 the whole time after the warm-up. Yet I still find it hard to believe that I actually burned 862 calories in 48 minutes. I don't know, maybe when I get the bodybugg I will just be shocked to find out that my HRM was right all along. But until then I will still underestimate my calorie burn to be on the safe side!

pamp1emousse

Wow, high heart rate! Good for you! And yeah you're right about just logging 450 - and hopefully you'll see
One of my new years MFP resolutions is to do less cardio and spend more time on strength - at the end of last year I pretty much abandoned strength training so I could do more cardio to compensate for too much eating/drinking, but I really want to be toned - it's so attractive. I wonder if anyone knows... how often should I be increasing my weight or reps? Every week? Every month? I'd quite like to get 1 or 2 sessions with a personal trainer to make sure I'm doing this toning business properly.

So I checked my weight again today - down from 130.5 to 127.8 - much better but still way up from 124. Anyway, I'm safely out the 130s so I think I'll check in with that and hopefully it'll continue to go down :grumble:
Hows everyone doing?

Lyadeia

The best thing to do for strength training is first determine and write down exactly what exercises you will do on which days. You don't want to work the same muscle groups on consecutive days, and writing it down helps a lot.

Then, lift as heavy as possible so that you can get to between 10-12 reps on each exercise. If you lifted too light and can do more than 12 reps, pick a heavier weight next time. If you lifted to heavy and can't even do 10, then definitely pick something lighter next time. There is no set time or day to increase your weight, it is just whenever your body is ready for it. But you have to challenge yourself to stay at the correct weight for 10-12 reps. The fastest and easiest way to build lean muscle and get that toned look is to use the overload principle by lifting to muscle failure within the correct range, and then increasing weight when you feel you could lift beyond that range.

And no, this will NOT bulk you up unless you eat nothing but protein, take steroids, etc. Don't be afraid of heavy weight! It's also what keeps your metabolism up and burns more fat at rest so you can eat more food during the day. :flowerforyou:

Lyadeia

Oh, and congrats on getting out of the 130s!!! I can't wait until I reach that goal.

This morning I weighed in for the Biggest Loser contest that we are doing at work, and their stupid scale said I was 148. I guess I will believe it though since I normally weigh in right after waking up, but this time it was right before going to sleep. Plus, at home, I'm not exactly wearing anything when I step on the scale, lol, and at work I was wearing a turtleneck and pants. Even if it is just a half a pound, it still make a difference. And our bodies fluctuate so much within 1 day that the normal 3 pound fluctuation must have gotten on the scale with me this morning, haha. :blushing:

I have decided to weigh in at least once a week just to see how I am doing and compare the body fat % numbers that the scale gives me as well. I know that I can't possibly be GAINING body fat doing what I am doing and eating what I am eating, so if the bf% goes up at all ever on my scale, I will stop using that number and go with the calculator that I found online. That's a lower number anyway. I know that during the first month the pounds normally don't budge, especially for people closer to their goal (I need to shed about 20 pounds which is a lot closer to my goal than I used to be), but the body fat % should change since I know that I am losing it. :happy:

P90X Shoulders & Arms is coming up later today! I hope I don't get ultra sore from that one...

PJilly

Man, I've had such a busy week that I haven't done a very good job keeping up with this thread, and I haven't checked out the Facebook challenge. But the good news is that I've kept up with my workouts and have been doing great with my eating. I think I'm finally over that sugar-craving hump. Thank goodness for that! I just scheduled an appointment for a body comp this Friday, so I'll report that number once I know what it is. I'm pretty sure my last one was right around 23.5% fat. I'll dig that out and report it as well once I have the update. Whatever it was, I think it's going to be slightly higher now. And whatever it is now, it will be lower next time, and at this point, that's what matters most. :bigsmile:

Lyadeia

Jill, I have been incredibly busy as well! I just sit down at the computer for maybe 10 minutes at a time when I run past this room, lol. Great job keeping you with your workouts! And it's a nice feeling be over the sugar cravings. Good job!

I did much better today than I did Monday with my strength routine! My chest and back were still a little sore, but I was able to work most of that out. I bet my biceps and triceps will be talking to me tomorrow though!!! Just in time for some yoga. :bigsmile:

Actually, tomorrow is going to be really rough on me. I get off of work at 7am and then have to go home and get a couple of hours of sleep because I have to be back at work for a couple of hours at 1:30 in the afternoon. Then I get to go home again and sleep for maybe a couple more hours if I am lucky...and then, you guessed it, go back in to work at 11pm for my normal scheduled work day. I am a police officer, and I have to go to court on someone else's case tomorrow in the afternoon which makes me soooo mad because normally court is at 9am. And that time is just fine for me cause I stay at work, go to court, then go home and sleep and wake up and do my regular afternoon schedule after that. This 1:30 thing is going to make tomorrow hard. I am going to try hard to get that workout in, but it is a 90 minute one...I might substitute for a shorter one. I don't know yet. I just don't want to miss out because it takes 21 days to form a habit. and this will be a bump in the road on day 4. Blah!

Lyadeia

Well, today I got 4 hours of sleep then went in to work. I came home and got about 2 more hours of sleep. I am going to try to squeeze in my workout in a few minutes. Thank goodness it is just the yoga workout and not something more intense. Not that the yoga from P90X isn't intense, but I don't have to lift heavy weight or jump around like in Plyo. :flowerforyou: I am still eating on track. I used to have one cheat meal a week, but I am NOT going to have one this week! I would like to make it to Valentine's Day before going out to eat. Let's hope I make it!

Lyadeia

Yoga is done! It was quite obvious that I haven't done that particular workout in a looooooooooong time as I struggled with balance nearly the whole time. :blushing: And I didn't have the strength for those "extra" push-ups that Tony does in between plank and downward dog. But, it's OK. I still burned some calories and got through the workout. I felt my abs working really hard towards the end, so that's good news too. As soon as my body fat goes away, I just might be able to see some abs since they are getting strong. Woo hoo!!!

pamp1emousse

Thanks for the strength advice! It was really useful. I'm only spending about 15-20 minutes max on most days on strength tho. Do you think that that's enough? (I'm adopting you as my fitness guru btw, I hope you don't mind ) I see loads of women at the gym who do like 45 minutes! No idea how they don't get fed up!
Well done for doing your yoga. And I'm sure your fitness level will get back to where it was really, really fast. I didn't run for about 5 months earlier this year, got back onto the treadmill and after a week or 2 I was almost at the same level again. It'll all come back
I decided to make one of my new years resolutions to be a regular yoga or pilates goer - I think I'm going to try pilates. First lesson coming up next week, woohoo!

PJilly - wow 23.5% is great! What are you aiming for?

Lyadeia

OMG, Legs & Back really has my whole body shakin' today. I used light weights (like 15 pounds) on the exercises where weight was optional, and I wasn't able to do all 25 reps...but I got to at least 12 so I feel accomplished there. This will make my lean muscle mass grow faster, for sure! I was also better at the pull-ups today, so maybe soon I can do at least a chin-up without assistance. I'll get there! And once again I saw great improvements with Ab Ripper X. That first day was killer, but today was the 3rd time doing it so it did get easier. :bigsmile:

Xmaxine89, does your gym offer PiYo? It's basically yoga and pilates combined into one great workout. It was created by the same person that does Turbo Jam. I want to go to the training for that one and be an instructor...but mainly so I can get the DVD's for my house. I've heard it is a huge calorie burner. I've never actually done pilates, but I bet combines with yoga would just killer.

I hope everyone is having a great day and keeping up with workouts. I am so proud of myself for making it this far without one single cheat on my food! I didn't even have a peanut butter cookie last night at work when there were literally 4 plates full of fresh homemade cookies...and PB cookies are my favorite! I was so good. I think the fact that I made some for Christmas and ate them like a pig last week before starting this program helped out, lol!

PJilly

Lyadeia – I remember how sometimes those pushups in Yoga X are just too much if you’re already tired, and you had a tiring day for sure. Legs & Back was always one of my favorite X workouts because I love working legs. I’m sure that’s why I love doing Debbie Siebers, aka the Squat Nazi, workouts.

xmaxine89 – Thanks! My dream is to get my body fat below 20%. But unless I do the work, it really is just a dream!

Whew, I had a really busy day yesterday. I didn’t get my workout done until much later than usual, but I got it done. I also got my body comp done. My previous body fat was actually 22.28%, and yesterday it was 23.17%. That’s not terrible, but it’s not moving toward my ultimate goal of being below 20%, which I sort of put on the back burner these last few months. I deliberately went into maintenance mode after reaching my goal weight range. I just felt like it was the right thing to do – to give my body a rest – and I think I was probably right. But now, I feel like my body has adjusted to my new weight and is ready to go to the next level. I’m feeling super motivated to do this, so I’m committing right now to doing the work even after the motivation wears off, which it will. It always does. That’s pretty much a given. You just have to know that and have a plan for how you're going to handle it. My goal is body fat percentage, but I estimate the weight that goes along with that goal to be about 130, so I suppose I should update my ticker now. Time to cut the calories a bit, darn it. :laugh:

I hope you’re all having a great Saturday. I have an 80-minute workout scheduled (Tear It Up from Slim Series). I also have a ton of housework to do. I managed to neglect the house the last few days. It’s amazing how out of control it can get in such a short amount of time.

Have a great day!

Lyadeia

I normally don't check my weight once a week, but I decided to try it this time. Of course I probably won't be recording anything "bad" lol so if it is TOM then that weight don't count. :bigsmile:

But I am happy to say that today I weighed in at 143.6 which is 1.6 pounds lower than last week!!! I hope that I can keep up this pace for at least a couple of weeks longer so I can see the new scale count me in at somewhere in the 130s. I also hope the scale at work cooperates because I am in the Biggest Loser contest there and I want it to be accurate so I help my team out.

Have a great Sunday everyone!!!

PJilly

I normally don't check my weight once a week, but I decided to try it this time. Of course I probably won't be recording anything "bad" lol so if it is TOM then that weight don't count. :bigsmile:

But I am happy to say that today I weighed in at 143.6 which is 1.6 pounds lower than last week!!! I hope that I can keep up this pace for at least a couple of weeks longer so I can see the new scale count me in at somewhere in the 130s. I also hope the scale at work cooperates because I am in the Biggest Loser contest there and I want it to be accurate so I help my team out.

Have a great Sunday everyone!!!

That's awesome! You've been really dedicated, so I wouldn't be surprised if you'll be on a good weight-loss roll for a bit. Congrats!

Lyadeia

Today I was planning on making my homemade cheese pizza for lunch and throwing together a Greek salad for dinner. This would have kept me at about 1200 calories for the day. But for some reason, the dough that I made for the crust did not turn out right at all. I followed my recipe exactly how I always do, but it just didn't work out. So I had to go back to the store and see if I could find something pre-made that wasn't horrible. Well, I did the best I could, but it wasn't great. I mean it tasted great, but it was really high calorie! My dough makes a medium size thin crust pizza with slightly more than 250 calories for the whole thing. The lowest calorie one I found had 719 calories in the whole thing. So I decided to not eat the Greek salad. (I am NOT and I have NEVER been or will be one of those people that can stop at just a couple of slices...when I have pizza, it's the whole thing or nothing at all. That's why I love my crust recipe, because I can make a whole medium pizza with just 500 or less calories!) When I logged in the calories and took out my other recipes, I was still over on my goal. So even though this was supposed to be a rest day, I decided to do some cardio to burn some of those calories off. For me, it is always better to throw in some exercise instead of feeling guilty for eating too much on a rest day. Thank goodness for MFP, because without this website, I wouldn't have done that! I wouldn't have even known how over on calories I was.

Hopefully my crust turns out better this coming Sunday when I try it again!

Lyadeia

I am just so proud of myself after today's workout! I did more reps on the push-ups and pull-ups than either set of last week's workout. I also increased my weights on the exercises using dumbells. And, I am getting close to doing all of the reps on Ab Ripper X. I still struggle with it, but I am progressing by leaps and bounds! I honestly feel that I am progressing so fast because of my nutrition as well as the intensity I put in to the workouts. We all love our cheat meals, but seriously, when you are training to get more fit, I have honestly found out that I just do better when my diet is spot on. Today is Day 8 without a cheat. I have been under my calorie goal each day and I have not added anything to my meal plans. I feel great!

Hmmm...that sounds like a blog, doesn't it? Might have to copy and paste that one, hehe! :bigsmile: :bigsmile: :bigsmile:

pamp1emousse

Nope, never heard of Piyo before! I went to my first pilates class yesterday - I really really don't think it was for me. I got so bored! I've signed up for yoga on Thursday so hopefully that'll be a bit more interesting.
Well done on your amazing progress! I agree - when I'm at the gym the day after I've eaten crap it's always a disaster. I find going over calories a bit on healthy food is fine, but once I've attacked the chocolate box I'm really going to struggle the next day.

That homemade pizza sounds amazing btw. How do you do it? I've been fancying pizza recently but figured it was a bit of a no-no atm. I've got 2 killer weekends coming up - my birthday's on friday so I'm having cake, a big meal and a few cocktails with my family and then another meal and way more drinks on saturday with friends, and then my grandmothers 70th bday/25th wedding anniversary party next saturday preceeded by a friday night dinner - eek! So the weekdays will be spent being v. careful - definitely no room for a high calorie pizza for a while!

PJilly - the percentage is going in the right direction - good for you! How much time would you say you put towards strength training a week? I've done lots of cardio in the past but I'm pretty new to this strength training business. Want to get really toned but I have a feeling I'm just not taking it seriously enough/putting enough time in! (ie. 40/45 mins cardio, 15/20 mins strength - I get so bored lol)