Dancing

Saturday night is date night around here and quite often hubby and I just sit and listen to music as we sip some wine.  And quite often the music stirs me to get to my feet and dance.  Since hubby doesn't dance, I'm dancing solo, but with the wine - I don't care.  I'm grooving to the tunes.

I've been thinking about that some - I like to dance.  I suck at it, but I truly enjoy it when I'm just moving for myself.  Can I turn this into intentional movement?  Hmm - dancing by myself for 30 minutes?  I felt myself growing tense with the fear of boredom.  Got it - 30 minutes straight up dancing would be too much.  How can I break it down?

Back when I was exercising furiously, I remembered an exercise theme that included periods of cardio and periods of toning.  I can't remember what it was call - not circuit training, but the concept definitely came from that.  I found an iPhone app - SecondsPlus that allowed me to program a type of circuit - I called the program Dance 15:

2:00	Wake It
2:00	Rock The Arms
3:00	Shake That Thing
2:00	Ass So Fine
4:00	Groove
2:00	Wind It Down

Wake it  - obviously, waking up the body with a slower tune.  Rock the Arms - toning for arms and shoulders with light weights.  Shake That Thing - well, that's obvious, right?  And Ass So Fine - is a bunch of squats and lunges  - done carefully to not hurt the knees.  And Groove is obvious too.  As is Wind it Down.

This is a 15 minute circuit and I felt so great after doing it.  I can't wait to do it again.  Having fun with intentional movement!

Weekly Recap

Wow - it's been a busy week

First - I met my intentional movement goals and then some!  I did strength training 3x and I walked 3x. Yesterday's walk was great - fast, and challenging and it left me feeling energized.  Today's walk was slower and longer and I felt great after it too.

AND THEN.... after yesterday's walk, I helped hubby wrestle a 70 gallon aquarium down our garage steps (think steep) and then out to the road.  To be honest, that was a scary thing.  I was afraid I'd lose my balance and fall and end up under the aquarium.  It was so very heavy.  But it sprang a leak and D hasn't kept anything in it for the past 3 years or so.  And he has no interest in keeping aquaria again. So - off to the street it went.  The stand is next.

AND THEN.... after today's walk, I planted a flat of portulaca.  I'm slowly beginning to enjoy gardening.  As long as I keep it small scale, I think I'll be fine.

I could have made better food choices, but I'm feeling OK with what I ate.  No guilt, no "I should haves" etc.  And that is definitely a new thing for me.

I've had a few moments to reflect and I'm growing happy with my path.  I like that.

Weekly Recap

I should probably do my recap on Sundays - but I think tomorrow is going to be a bit busy.

I'm thrilled - it's the first time in 2 years I've actually met my intentional movement goal.  I walked 5x this week.

And I ate my planned food.  And best of all -I'm feeling really good.

Here's next week's goal for intentional movement:

Goal for 6/4 - 6/10 - General goal - intentionally move in the mornings for at least 30 minutes 4-5x


Plan
Monday - Jari Love Strength Training
Tuesday - Rest
Wednesday - Walk
Thursday - Jari Love Strength Training
Friday - walk
Saturday - walk


And for food - I'll be planning and prepping my food for the week - concentrating on different types of salads for my lunches.  I'm thinking quinoa and barley as additions.

Walked thru it

Great music is really one of my best motivators.  My walk started this morning with a catch in my left hip.  It hurt.  I told myself, I'd walk it out.  And then I concentrated on the music - first song was Soft Cell's Tainted Love and the next song was Morris Day and The Time's The Bird.  I got myself immersed in the music and completely forgot about the pain.

I'm now done with my walk, and showered - and there's no pain in my hip.  Instead, I feel incredibly energized.  This is great.

Feeling more confident

OK - I'm thrilled.  Compared to what I did before the 2-year hiatus of movement, this seems so small.  But it is great for me.  I've walked 4x since D and I returned from vacation.  And 2 of those times, this is the BIG thing, have been in the morning before work.

Starting next week, I plan to switch two of my walks to Jari Love's Extremely Ripped - with no weights for the first month.   This program uses compound moves to work the full body and is done at a fast enough pace so that the heart rate remains somewhat elevated.  Perfect for me.

And now it's time to get ready for work.

Lots of baby steps today

I left work sort of on time for once.  And when I got home, I announced to D that I was going to do something novel: workout.   A real, honest to God, sweat-making workout.

For the first time since I started losing weight, Leslie Sansone was hard. And I feel really good about sticking with it and getting two miles in.  Stupid pedometer only registered 3 miles.

And I made a decision about journaling.  It's gonna be a bit too hard to start a regular practice each morning.  So - I will journal on the weekends and do sun salutations every morning.  That's my plan and I start tomorrow morning.

Acknowledgements of what I did well today:

1.  Ate more slowly
2.  Paid more attention
3.  Reminded myself I could be hungry for an hour
4.  Worked out
5.  Really enjoyed 2 Godiva gems. (dark chocolate, of course)

For a change of pace...

... I rented the Women's Health Ultimate Fat Burn Cardio Scult workout from Netflix. It's a very fast paced cardio interval workout with some strength training. Here's my take:

The suggested hand weight to use for the program was 3 lbs. I used 5 lb dumbells, and except for one section didn't feel muscle fatigue in my upper body. There was one section that involved 'swinging' the weights that felt a bit awkward for me. Overall, though, after having done Jari Love off and on for the past year, this program felt a bit weak. It's probably great for maintaining tone, but I don't know that it's got what's necessary to create tone.

Another negative was that there was not a section dedicated to core work. That said, the core was being worked through out the program just by using good form.

On the positive side, the cardio was challenging and not over-choreographed. There was only one move I could not do at all, and there were alternatives being demonstrated so I didn't lose any momentum waiting for that sequence to be done. I will do this program again and again just for the advanced cardio (advanced for me, anyway)

Another plus was that I felt her cool down to be worth doing. Usually I don't and I skip that part. Yeah, I know. Not good for me. But I did it and didn't regret it.

Now for the biggest plus - I felt I got a good workout done in less than 40 minutes. That part I really like.

Keeping On Keeping On - Part 2

One of the reason I wrote about 'keeping on keeping on' last week was because I was talking to myself.  Reminding myself it's a daily thing. Automatic.  It takes time and effort - but so does brushing my teeth or taking a shower and I don't freak about those things.  Or get tired of doing them.  I just do them.  And get on with life.

What I haven't made too public - until today - is that my kinder, gentler approach to weight loss/management is not working.  Based on the numbers, it should be working.  And it's frustrating me to the point of hurdling me into a depression.

I went to the doctor today.  She agrees - I should be returning to my normal weight based on calories and exercise.  She does think my diet needs tweaking (less starch, more green) and I should consider upping my exercise time to 60 minutes a day on most days.  And I must include weight training.  Pilates is not enough.

Blood work was drawn.  A nutritionist was recommended.  And I'm still frustrated.

But - I'm going to go on keeping on.  I'm going to keep on track with my exercise and I'm going to keep on tracking my food intake.  But  - I'm going to up my calories just a bit, to make sure my body has the fuel it needs for the workouts.  

I'm going to try to be patient.  And I was reminded to look at what I have accomplished - I lost almost 70 lbs, and have maintained most of that loss for almost 3 years.  I AM on the right side of the statistics.  And I will keep on keeping on to make sure I stay there.

Remembering to be kind to myself

I dole out tons of advice on the forums @ MyFoodDiary.com and often sound like a broken record with this one particular bit: Be Kind To Yourself.

I thought I had developed an exercise schedule that would be challenging enough yet allow me to be kind to myself.   I'm beginning to have doubts.   Last night, I felt ill and achy after my workout. And today, rather sullen and moody.  I decided I didn't want to workout tonight.  At least I didn't want to spend 42 minutes huffing and puffing on the NordicTerrorist, oops, I mean NordicTrack.  I decided to give myself a break and instead did the yoga practice I should have gotten up to do this morning, but didn't.  Normally I'd feel guilty about this.  I need my cardio.  I also need the breathing and stretching and mental focus of yoga.  And I also need strength training.  Most importantly, I must find the right balance so that I am being kind to myself.

There'll be more on this topic.  

Exercise

Before I expound on the exercise DVD's I use, here's a tip...

I usually workout for a minimum of 30 minutes, but more typically an hour at a time. Today I'm playing "hurry up and weight" with the FedEx pick-up person and can't be unavailable for any length of time and I have no idea when FedEx will arrive so I'd been fretting about how I'd get my workout in. Then the lightbulb went off - I can climb stairs. It's a tough workout and I can only go for about 10 minutes at a time. So - I strapped on my heart rate monitor, put on some groovin' tunes and started climbing up and down for 10 minutes. I stopped about midway through to do some knee-lifts, which are good for the abs. I burned about 63 calories in 10 minutes. I'll do two more sessions and I'll have my cardio in for the day - and still be around for when FedEx comes calling.

The tip is to be creative when it comes to getting your workouts in. The cliche "when there's a will, there's a way" really is true

When I first started OPTIFAST, I could walk and that's about it. At first, I got my exercise by 'power walking' for about 10 minutes at a time, 2-3x per day. When the weather permitted, I'd go to the park at lunch and walk for about a half an hour. But as I got stronger I wanted and needed more of a challenge, but not TOO much of a challenge lest I became discouraged.

That's when I discovered Leslie Sansone's In Home Walking programs. I started out with a combo DVD - Walk Away the Pounds 1,2 & 3 mile program. I loved the program. Leslie Sansone is fairly perky, but so much I get irritated. But what makes her programs so good is that can be done without rearranging your living room and all you really need is a pair of light hand weights and good walking shoes. If you can march in place, you can do her program - it consists of basically 4 steps - marching, side steps, forward kicks, and knee-lifts. She does have some arm movements, but they are not complicated. If you are new to exercise or even in great shape, Leslie Sansone has a program that will work for you. Can't recommend highly enough!

This year, I discovered strength training and right now I'm using Jari Love's Get Ripped: Slim and Lean and Get Ripped: To The Core. These are long, total body workouts that emphasize repetition to get results. And in a month, my body really did show a huge difference.

The main thing about exercise is that I had to make up my mind that exercise is not an option most days. I'm short and in fairly good shape - I don't get to eat a lot (healthy or not) of food and exercising does two things for me: keeps my body strong and fit and allows me to eat a little bit more.

Back to my tip - get creative. If you have roadblocks against exercise, exercise your creativity to remove those roadblocks. If you are serious about maintaining your weight loss, then you must find a way to exercise.

Off my soapbox.... it's almost time for another 10 minutes of stair climbing.