It's been a day since I took the boot camp class and the good news is that I am feeling it! The boot camp workout was amazing and today I have the tenderness to prove it. It is not quite the P90X Plyometric feeling in my legs, but as an added bonus, I can feel it in my back and shoulders and a little in my chest too. This morning at spinning, I could definitely feel yesterday in my legs. It was just that much harder to push myself and get the RPMs at each gear. I forgot my heart rate monitor today, but based on the sweat factor - I would say I was in the zone most of the workout and it was a good one. The cool down walk was a definite necessity today.
Eating was good yesterday. I finally was headache free all day, which further supports my theory on the source and I will be exploring that in a week or two when I see the doctor. Having no headache left me feeling snacky last night. I had some white cheddar cheese and some Triscuit Thins, which was fine until I had a second serving. Oh well! You will have that from time to time and it is okay. Before my snack, dinner was tasty and reasonably healthy too - Cajun Jambalaya Pasta. Full of peppers, onions and tomatoes, with some chicken breast too (we skipped the shrimp last night) - it is high in veggies, lean protein and flavor. I made sure to stick with a single serve of the pasta, but allowed a little extra of the toppings.
Tonight, I plan to fit in a Zumba class. I miss Zumba, now that it is not available at a convenient time for me at the Y.
I am not a diet or fitness expert. I am a mom, just trying to be healthy and fit. All opinions expressed are my own.
Wednesday, February 27, 2013
Tuesday, February 26, 2013
Boot Camp - Day 1
Wow! That really is the only way to sum it up. Today, I participated in my first boot camp class. It is taught by my spinning instructor and I know most of my classmates. The warm up was very reminiscent of P90X and other like programs. Some cardio followed by stretching. Then, we did a mix of what I would call plyometrics style exercises. None were too long, but all were intense. You were getting cardio, but with the associated squats, lunges, push ups and the like, it was clear that you were working the muscles too. Then, we grabbed a weight bar and a step and proceeded to do some squats, chest presses, upright rows, and more. Of course, we wrapped up with some stretches. The workout was great! I was feeling it by the end - love that feeling! I followed up the boot camp with a 1 mile quick walk at the track (around a 12 minute mile).
I am confident that by tomorrow, stairs will be a challenge. I sure hope that I can make it through Spinning with the soreness I anticipate. Now, if we can talk her into doing the class twice a week instead of just once.
Yesterday was a good day. I started the day with Spinning and a 1/4 mile cool down walk. It was a more intense spinning class, based on my heart rate monitor. I had to take some longer breaks to fully recover.
Eating was good too. I started with my typical protein (MRS) shake and a banana. Lunch was a steakhouse wedge (dressing on the side) with a wonderful horseradish cheddar cheese and apple slices. Dinner was Lasagne. I fit in a snack of a cinnamon roll, made for my manager's birthday (they are just too irresistible - so soft and so easy to make too!).
The best part, the scale responded in a positive fashion. Not much, but I was down from my previous low. That felt good.
I am confident that by tomorrow, stairs will be a challenge. I sure hope that I can make it through Spinning with the soreness I anticipate. Now, if we can talk her into doing the class twice a week instead of just once.
Yesterday was a good day. I started the day with Spinning and a 1/4 mile cool down walk. It was a more intense spinning class, based on my heart rate monitor. I had to take some longer breaks to fully recover.
Eating was good too. I started with my typical protein (MRS) shake and a banana. Lunch was a steakhouse wedge (dressing on the side) with a wonderful horseradish cheddar cheese and apple slices. Dinner was Lasagne. I fit in a snack of a cinnamon roll, made for my manager's birthday (they are just too irresistible - so soft and so easy to make too!).
The best part, the scale responded in a positive fashion. Not much, but I was down from my previous low. That felt good.
Sunday, February 24, 2013
Slow and Steady
I know that slow and steady wins the race and that the best way to lose weight and maintain the loss is to lose it slowly, but it doesn't make the slowness of progress any less frustrating. Over the past few weeks, I feel like the scale has done little to respond despite the effort I have made to be active and watch what I was eating. Clearly, the loss is more visible than the scale would suggest, because others have commented on my weight loss and the clothes that were tight are definitely fitting better.
Lately though, the most frustrating thing has been an incessant headache. Not a throbbing, debilitating type of headache, but a constant dull pain. Early on, it was at the top of my head, but as the week progressed, it seemed to be located more where I was used to having a sinus pressure or stress induced muscle tightness headache.
It started mid-week and just left me unmotivated and trying every combination of ways to address (I'm not one to take medicine, but I did eventually have to take something to see if it would make a difference). I have tried slowly drinking water all day, to ensure that I was evenly hydrated - I almost always drink more water than the recommended amount, but I have a tendency to drink 16 oz before 7 and then a little more before lunch, 16 oz at lunch time and then a little in the afternoon, 16 oz on the drive home and then some in the evening for about 64 oz each day. I was drinking about 8 oz each hour to make sure it wasn't being caused by dehydration. That didn't seem to have an effect, so I decided to cut caffeine - not that I have much, usually a cup of coffee (16 oz cup) and a handful (or two) of M&Ms account for 99% of the daily caffeine I consume. The first day, I made my coffee half regular and half decaf. The next day, I skipped it altogether. I did maintain the chocolate though. This didn't have much effect (I know, caffeine is supposed to help headaches and cutting it can cause headaches, but I needed it gone to make sure it wasn't impacting my headaches), so I tried to eat at regular intervals. I started to spread out my meals. Instead of eating it all at once, I would eat my banana and then have the oatmeal an hour later. I would eat the main course of my lunch and then have the yogurt and then the fruit across the span of the afternoon. This didn't seem to help. I was trying to get to bed earlier and because I didn't have class this week (the break week between classes at the Y), I opted to allow myself to sleep in. This didn't seem to help.
Finally yesterday, it just seemed to be better. I got up and got laundry folded and put away. I got the dishwasher emptied, the dishes in the sink cleaned and put away. We drove to my son's soccer game and my head bothered me a bit on the drive. I was fine during the game. We drove to roller skating and my head was bothering me again. I roller skated for two and a half hours and was fine. We drove to dinner and my head was bothering me. I was fine at dinner. We came home and my head was bothering me. I rested on the couch and watched TV. I felt fine when I headed to bed. This morning...we are a couple of hours in...I am doing fine.
Based on timing, I have a sidebar theory that I will explore at my next doctor's appointment. If it comes back before then, I probably will head to the doctor to try to understand the headaches.
Classes resume tomorrow at the Y, so I am hopeful that I will continue to feel good and can return to regular activity this week.
The good news is that despite all of this, the slow and steady race continues and I haven't lost ground, just haven't gained much either.
Lately though, the most frustrating thing has been an incessant headache. Not a throbbing, debilitating type of headache, but a constant dull pain. Early on, it was at the top of my head, but as the week progressed, it seemed to be located more where I was used to having a sinus pressure or stress induced muscle tightness headache.
It started mid-week and just left me unmotivated and trying every combination of ways to address (I'm not one to take medicine, but I did eventually have to take something to see if it would make a difference). I have tried slowly drinking water all day, to ensure that I was evenly hydrated - I almost always drink more water than the recommended amount, but I have a tendency to drink 16 oz before 7 and then a little more before lunch, 16 oz at lunch time and then a little in the afternoon, 16 oz on the drive home and then some in the evening for about 64 oz each day. I was drinking about 8 oz each hour to make sure it wasn't being caused by dehydration. That didn't seem to have an effect, so I decided to cut caffeine - not that I have much, usually a cup of coffee (16 oz cup) and a handful (or two) of M&Ms account for 99% of the daily caffeine I consume. The first day, I made my coffee half regular and half decaf. The next day, I skipped it altogether. I did maintain the chocolate though. This didn't have much effect (I know, caffeine is supposed to help headaches and cutting it can cause headaches, but I needed it gone to make sure it wasn't impacting my headaches), so I tried to eat at regular intervals. I started to spread out my meals. Instead of eating it all at once, I would eat my banana and then have the oatmeal an hour later. I would eat the main course of my lunch and then have the yogurt and then the fruit across the span of the afternoon. This didn't seem to help. I was trying to get to bed earlier and because I didn't have class this week (the break week between classes at the Y), I opted to allow myself to sleep in. This didn't seem to help.
Finally yesterday, it just seemed to be better. I got up and got laundry folded and put away. I got the dishwasher emptied, the dishes in the sink cleaned and put away. We drove to my son's soccer game and my head bothered me a bit on the drive. I was fine during the game. We drove to roller skating and my head was bothering me again. I roller skated for two and a half hours and was fine. We drove to dinner and my head was bothering me. I was fine at dinner. We came home and my head was bothering me. I rested on the couch and watched TV. I felt fine when I headed to bed. This morning...we are a couple of hours in...I am doing fine.
Based on timing, I have a sidebar theory that I will explore at my next doctor's appointment. If it comes back before then, I probably will head to the doctor to try to understand the headaches.
Classes resume tomorrow at the Y, so I am hopeful that I will continue to feel good and can return to regular activity this week.
The good news is that despite all of this, the slow and steady race continues and I haven't lost ground, just haven't gained much either.
Tuesday, February 5, 2013
Keep on Keeping On
I have been like the little engine lately...just sort of chugging along. Not making much in the way of progress, but continuing to be conscientious about what I choose to eat and sticking to a regular workout schedule. I may not be having a scale impact, but I think by now the one thing that I know about my body is that it will seem to not react and then suddenly, BOOM!, I will be down a decent amount and will continue to waffle around a weight for a little while again.
This morning was frustrating, I will admit. I had been out last night for a concert and got home and to bed much later than I normally do. My husband said to me, it is okay to miss a class. I said that I wanted to try and still make it to class. I got up and headed up to the Y a little late and only had time for 7/8 mile warm up (but I did run a full 1/2 of that distance). When I headed over to the group exercise room, my fellow class mate was there, but no sign of the instructor. We gave her a few minutes and when she didn't show, we figured there was no class. So, here I was - at the Y and warmed up, what would I do. I decided to walk. So, I headed back to the track. It was much more crowded than it is first thing in the morning. I wasn't sure how far I wanted to go, but decided that my workout ought to be twice as long as my warm up, so I settled on 1 3/4 miles. It seemed a bit strange to run the warm up and walk the work out, but it is what it is and I just couldn't muster up the run after having cooled down in prep for class.
I guess I will have to try to make it to another Zumba class later this week to make up for the miss.
This weekend was a banner weekend for working out. I went to Zumba on Saturday morning, because I knew the substitute would be there and she does a great workout with lots of squats and lunges and hops. Then, Saturday afternoon we went roller skating with friends. Then, Sunday, my son had a birthday party at Pump it Up and since it was small, the parents got in on the jumping and we ran the obstacle course. It was a nice little unplanned bonus exercise and certainly made me realize that I am not a kid anymore. I was very ready for a nap after playing hard.
Generally, eating has been really good. I even did a reasonably acceptable job with eating out dinner this weekend and enjoying the Big Game with friends. I tried to snack mostly on the cut vegetables and only have a taste here and there of the buffalo chicken dip and other things that I simply love. I know that I need to figure out the balance, because I want to be able to enjoy life and maintain a healthy weight.
This morning was frustrating, I will admit. I had been out last night for a concert and got home and to bed much later than I normally do. My husband said to me, it is okay to miss a class. I said that I wanted to try and still make it to class. I got up and headed up to the Y a little late and only had time for 7/8 mile warm up (but I did run a full 1/2 of that distance). When I headed over to the group exercise room, my fellow class mate was there, but no sign of the instructor. We gave her a few minutes and when she didn't show, we figured there was no class. So, here I was - at the Y and warmed up, what would I do. I decided to walk. So, I headed back to the track. It was much more crowded than it is first thing in the morning. I wasn't sure how far I wanted to go, but decided that my workout ought to be twice as long as my warm up, so I settled on 1 3/4 miles. It seemed a bit strange to run the warm up and walk the work out, but it is what it is and I just couldn't muster up the run after having cooled down in prep for class.
I guess I will have to try to make it to another Zumba class later this week to make up for the miss.
This weekend was a banner weekend for working out. I went to Zumba on Saturday morning, because I knew the substitute would be there and she does a great workout with lots of squats and lunges and hops. Then, Saturday afternoon we went roller skating with friends. Then, Sunday, my son had a birthday party at Pump it Up and since it was small, the parents got in on the jumping and we ran the obstacle course. It was a nice little unplanned bonus exercise and certainly made me realize that I am not a kid anymore. I was very ready for a nap after playing hard.
Generally, eating has been really good. I even did a reasonably acceptable job with eating out dinner this weekend and enjoying the Big Game with friends. I tried to snack mostly on the cut vegetables and only have a taste here and there of the buffalo chicken dip and other things that I simply love. I know that I need to figure out the balance, because I want to be able to enjoy life and maintain a healthy weight.
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