fitness – The Shrinking Jeans of Thea

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September 28, 2011 By thea

So, I’m going this one alone. While I want the team thing to work for me, I usually do a really bad job of keeping up with everybody ON my team.

Half the time, I feel like I need to Outfit, Outlose, and Outlast myself, you know what I mean? My mind just gets in the way too much.

I’ll be rolling along, doing the challenges, weighing in…and there has been talk of a side bet among a few of us ladies not on a tribe this time. We’re still hammering out the details. We’ll see what happens with that one.

Every challenge needs some goals, right? Right. I’m big on goals. Just not always so big on following through with them. It’s a real issue I have.

  1. I’m about 6 pounds over where I’d like to be. My starting weight is 161. I will lose those 6 pounds and get down to 155 by the end of the challenge.
  2. I will do at least 30 minutes of cardio and 15 minutes of strength, 5 days a week.
  3. I will cross the finish line of my first ever 1/2 marathon on October 16 UNDER the 3:00:00 mark.

I used to be in the habit of rewarding myself when I reached my goals. I should get back into that habit. I’m not sure what to do, though. I would like to come up with weekly goals and an overall goal. Gotta have something to work towards, you know? Do you have any suggestions?

August 31, 2011 By thea

Well, I didn’t quite make my goal of 2 pounds down from last week, but I am down 1 pound so I’ll take it. Overall for the challenge, I’m up a pound or two. What’s done is done, so there’s no use worrying about it. Time to move forward and make good choices THIS week.

But I’m not going to lie to you. I really, REALLY want to be back in my healthy weight range (2 pounds to go!) and start moving that little slide rule thingy over on my sidebar. It’s been sitting still for far too long.

Here are my specific goals:

  1. Dessert only once a week – Um… One time… Three times… Who’s counting, really?
  2. No snacking after 9pm – This is the one thing I’ve been able to keep up consistently over the course of the challenge. I haven’t had anything after 9pm for several weeks.
  3. Complete 7 out of 8 4 out of 5 cardio workouts a week – Nailed it! I need to get back on the bike though, and soon. I haven’t been on since by tri at the beginning of the month (it was traumatic, yo) and I have my last tri of the season in about 3.5 weeks.
  4. Follow Boot Camp plan Get in 3 strength sessions a week – I got at least two in, I know that. But I forget to keep track. BAD, GOAL SETTER!

August 24, 2011 By thea

Goals? What goals? Did I make goals?

Wait. What? I did make goals?

Well, crap.

I’ve kind of let the goals go by the wayside. Which might explain why I’ve been gaining weight since the first week of this challenge. I’m technically a non-loser, but  seem to be confused because I’ve turned that from “not trying to lose” into “actually gaining”.

I’m disappointed. But not discouraged. I know why I’m gaining. It’s like my mind, will power, and better judgement kind of checked out over the summer.

But I’m going to follow through with the mini-challenge this week and finish out this challenge with a bang. I’m going to put a one-week goal out there that I will be at 158 or below by next Wednesday. That’ll be a two pound loss. While that won’t put me quite back into my healthy range of 153-157, it’ll put me closer than I am now.

And just to refresh your (and my) memory, here’s the goals I set out for this challenge:

  1. Dessert only once a week
  2. No snacking after 9pm
  3. Complete 7 out of 8 4 out of 5 cardio workouts a week – I’m amending this one because my training schedule doesn’t have as many workouts any more.
  4. Follow Boot Camp plan Get in 3 strength sessions a week – Again, another amendment since I never really did the boot camp plan.

August 3, 2011 By thea

While I’m still carrying around the same attitude about summer as I had last week, I think it’s safe to say that I’m in a bit of a slump.

While I did lose a bit of weight this week, I’m still in a number range I don’t want to be in.

My ice cream/shake/dessert consumption has been off the charts.

My new found desire to track my food so I can properly fuel my body for triathlons has had a head on collision with my age old desire to not care about crap like that.

My cardio sessions have been cut way, way down out of pure laziness and lack of oomph.

My weight/resistance training has…well…I never really had that so I guess you can’t miss what you’ve never done.

My inner “I DON’T WANNA!!” is definitely rearing her ugly little head.

I’m going to try to knock her out this week. She’s quite the annoying one.

July 27, 2011 By thea

I’ll be the first to admit, I haven’t been very faithful to my goals and to any kind of healthy eating this summer.

Which why it isn’t too surprising that I’ve gained 5 pounds in the last month or so. That dreaded 160 is back on the scale.

But you know what? I’m cool with it. I’ve really been enjoying my summer. And I know that the weight will come off.  I just need to buckle down and stop the slippery slope. I’ll get back to where I want to be. I’m confident of that.

About the only goal I’ve kept up with is the eating after 9pm. I seemed to have kicked that one to the curb, which pleases me greatly.

We were gone on vacation last week and there was a lot of desserts. Like, every day. But they were really good, and I don’t regret it at all. Also, since we were gone, I didn’t get a few of my training swims in, but I did pretty well with my biking and running. I completed a tri on Sunday, the 24th, and I was able to take 11 minutes off my previous time so I must be something right, right??

July 13, 2011 By thea

Summer is kicking my butt, guys. Last week in particular was pretty rough food wise. Based on my confessions yesterday, it’s no surprise that the scale showed a gain this week.

I’m a good two pounds out of my goal range, but I’m not discouraged. It’s just time to get back to the program…do what I know works, eat what I know fuels me, and relax about the whole thing. My stomach has not been happy with me lately, and I can’t blame it.

I started back to food tracking several weeks ago, but I got away from it last week. I’m not coming at it from a weight loss perspective, but rather a “fuel my body for insanely long workouts” perspective. Sports nutrition has been on my mind a lot lately.

Time to work the plan, yo.

Despite my horrible eating last week, I still pretty much rocked my goals!

  1. Dessert only once a week – I think I had dessert twice, maybe 3 times. Always ice cream, but pretty sensible portions. Let’s just pretend I imagined the caramel and hot fudge, though, m’kay?
  2. No snacking after 9pm – Actually, I nailed this every night.
  3. Complete 7 out of 8 cardio workouts a week – Getting stuff in while away last week proved a little hard. I was able to get 5 of my workouts in. I think I did something every single day.
  4. Follow Boot Camp plan – This one has definitely gone by the wayside. Time is just too much of an issue these days.

June 22, 2011 By thea

I always consider the first week of a new challenge almost like the trial run. A few days in and I forget what goals I set and then I have to look back and then there’s always that unplanned whatever that throws me for a loop.

Did I do 100% on my goals? No.

Did I gain weight? Yes. (But seriously? So what. I’m out of my weight range for the first time since FEBRUARY. That’s kick ass, yo.)

Could it have been worse? Always. It could always, always be worse.

  1. Dessert only once a week – I only had two big desserts this week. We went out for ice cream once after dinner and I had a shake when we went out to eat last night.
  2. No snacking after 9pm – I never did put the gum on the end table, but I managed to only have a late snack once last week. And really, the only reason I did it was because I realized very late that I had only eaten 1300 calories for the days. That’s way low. It may sound like justification, but it’s worth breaking one goal to not starve.
  3. Complete 7 out of 8 cardio workouts a week – I got 5 1/2 of my training workouts this week. Pretty darn good…it’s getting a little harder to finagle my time with the kids around.
  4. Follow Boot Camp plan – I was able to get it done on Monday…in my own way. I didn’t do it straight thru without breaks the way it was designed, but I did it in short little bursts while I was getting dinner ready. This is going to be a tough one. Getting one cardio session in a day is hard enough. Getting a 2nd workout in might just kill me. I’m not going to change this goal, but it is admittedly the lowest on the priority list.

June 15, 2011 By thea

Time for a new challenge!!

Now that I am a Non-Loser (I love that I get to type that), I haven’t really done a lot of the team challenges because I feel like I will drag everyone else down. But I decided to give it a whirl this time around, because I think I’m going to need a little extra push for the Boot Camp portion of the festivities.

I am very excited to be on Team 27 with Bethany, Zelma, Sarah, and Ryan.

I weighed in this morning within my healthy weight range of 153-157 pounds. That puts me within range for 18 out of the last 24 weeks of 2011. WOOHOO!!

So, goals for this challenge. I’m a big believer in goals…

  1. Dessert only once a week – Whether at home or at a restaurant, I can only have a real, true dessert once a week. A piece of candy every day after dinner is o.k. A huge ice cream sundae every day after dinner is not.
  2. No snacking after 9pm – I intend to keep a pack of game on the end table so that when I feel a craving hit, I can pop a piece of gum in.
  3. Complete 7 out of 8 cardio workouts a week – I would be doing pretty damn good if I were able to get this done. I have a tendency to fall down the slippery slope of missing one day, and then two, and then…
  4. Follow Boot Camp plan – I’ll be revising this as more information comes in about the boot camp. But right now, I plan on doing as much as I can.

So there you have it! Time to start putting that plan into action!

June 1, 2011 By thea

Yeah, so… May kind of came and went and I felt like it may have trampled me a little bit.

I definitely fizzled out there towards the end of the challenge, and that’s kind of normal for me. I wish it weren’t so, but that’s the way it is.

I weighed in this morning at 157, which puts me at 16 weeks out of 22 for the year that I’ve stayed in my healthy range. And the 6 weeks I wasn’t in range weren’t horribly off target. I’m kind of digging this year. I’m definitely feeling more in control and less a slave to the scale. ‘Tis a nice feeling.

Now, for this challenge in particular, I didn’t do too horribly. Let’s look at the bullet points, shall we?

  1. Be able to do 10 push ups from my toes – Yep. I can do it. And I can do more than 10. So take THAT, goal!
  2. My head will hit the pillow by 11pm during the week and by 12am on weekends. – I suck at going to bed early. The end.
  3. Get in one swim workout a week – I got two swims in this month. 50%. Hurrah for mediocrity!

May 11, 2011 By thea

I have to keep it short and sweet today, ’cause I’m on the GO! Not a horrible week, but definitely room for improvement.

But nobody’s perfect, right?

I maintained last week, which puts me at maintenance for the 14 of the last 19 weeks. WOOT! I can’t even begin to tell you how AMAZING it feels to hit a groove.

On to the goals…

  1. Be able to do 10 push ups from my toes – I’m done with Week 1 of the 100 Push Ups challenge, and it is TOUGH to do toe push ups. I’m going to keep on keeping on, though.
  2. My head will hit the pillow by 11pm during the week and by 12am on weekends. – I’m calling this one a wash. I was successful 4 out of 7 days. My husband is out of town and I always go to bed super late when he’s gone. So I didn’t get to bed until between 11:30 and 12:00 on a couple of school nights. But even that is a huge improvement, because when he’s gone I typically stay up until 1am…sometimes even 2am.
  3. Get in one swim workout a week – This one didn’t happen last week, but I’ve got my gear all laid out to go today and I’m headed out as soon as I hit “publish”. I’m gonna get this done! Let’s do a little cheer that my swimsuit even still fits,  yo. It’s been a long time. I went once in February, and then it was October of 2010 before that. Oy. That’s bad.