Hello friends (if there are any friends out there still reading this!) ,
It's been over a year since my last post, how embarrassing!
I have decided to start this blog up again, so stay tuned.
xoxo
amber
Friday, December 17, 2010
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
I love boxing!
My newest craze...boxing!
The bf and I are taking boxing classes together now. I am going 3-4 times/week, and so far every class has been really fun and really hard. There are several different instructors, and each instructor has his own format for the class (they are all somewhat similar) and a favorite method of torture ;)
A few of the new things that I have been doing are below:
The burpee- this seems easy the first couple you do, but they quickly become very tiring
http://www.rosstraining.com/articles/burpeeclip.htm
The two-person medicine ball sit-up-this isn't too bad, but I don't use a crazy heavy medicine ball
http://www.ehow.com/how_4617126_person-medicine-ball-sit-up.html
The next thing, I don't know what it's called, but imagine you are in a downward dog, then you sort of swoop down into a very short plank (just a few inches off the ground, so your elbows are bent, and your arms are tucked in very close to your body), then swoop back up into the downward dog. We do 50 of those, as fast as we can. Well, shit.
Sorry, no link for that one, although if I do find one, I will definitely post it. My first class the instructor demonstrated and then said, ok everyone do 50 of those as fast as you can. I have to fake them b/c I can't do them, and I just do my fake version as many times as I can until everyone else finishes theres, I think last time I did about 35, so I was pretty happy with that.
Push-ups...yep, I do those all the dang time now! I do the girly ones, where you are on your knees, but guess what, they still count and are challenging for me, especially when the instructions are to do as many as possible for 1 minute (that's a LONG ass time, believe me!).
Mountain Climbers-I have done these before, so I guess they aren't new, but still something you might like to see
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSTK0XzbFN0
I highly reccommend boxing to anyone who wants to try something new! It is fun, hard, and a workout unlike any other.
I am thinking (maybe) of getting into sparring, but if I did want to do something like that, I won't even start the private lessons until after the new year...but I'll keep you posted!
The bf and I are taking boxing classes together now. I am going 3-4 times/week, and so far every class has been really fun and really hard. There are several different instructors, and each instructor has his own format for the class (they are all somewhat similar) and a favorite method of torture ;)
A few of the new things that I have been doing are below:
The burpee- this seems easy the first couple you do, but they quickly become very tiring
http://www.rosstraining.com/articles/burpeeclip.htm
The two-person medicine ball sit-up-this isn't too bad, but I don't use a crazy heavy medicine ball
http://www.ehow.com/how_4617126_person-medicine-ball-sit-up.html
The next thing, I don't know what it's called, but imagine you are in a downward dog, then you sort of swoop down into a very short plank (just a few inches off the ground, so your elbows are bent, and your arms are tucked in very close to your body), then swoop back up into the downward dog. We do 50 of those, as fast as we can. Well, shit.
Sorry, no link for that one, although if I do find one, I will definitely post it. My first class the instructor demonstrated and then said, ok everyone do 50 of those as fast as you can. I have to fake them b/c I can't do them, and I just do my fake version as many times as I can until everyone else finishes theres, I think last time I did about 35, so I was pretty happy with that.
Push-ups...yep, I do those all the dang time now! I do the girly ones, where you are on your knees, but guess what, they still count and are challenging for me, especially when the instructions are to do as many as possible for 1 minute (that's a LONG ass time, believe me!).
Mountain Climbers-I have done these before, so I guess they aren't new, but still something you might like to see
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSTK0XzbFN0
I highly reccommend boxing to anyone who wants to try something new! It is fun, hard, and a workout unlike any other.
I am thinking (maybe) of getting into sparring, but if I did want to do something like that, I won't even start the private lessons until after the new year...but I'll keep you posted!
Friday, September 18, 2009
Half Marathons, Triathalons, Boxing, Oh my!
The summer is over, and so is all the craziness.
The bottom line as far as weight loss goes for the past 2 months...NO CHANGE :(
However, my % body fat did go down a little over 2%...so that means that (not to get specific) 'several' pounds that were fat are now muscle! Yeah!
Am I disappointed...no. Should I be...who knows. I will say, that this summer is ranking high on the list of busiest summers EVER! This summer I went on 3 personal trips (2 to Seattle, 1 to Philly) and 3 work trips (1 to Anaheim, 1 to San Jose and 1 to Albuquerque). This has meant that almost every other week involved some sort of travel. I missed tons of WW meetings, and had to cancel many sessions with Alyssa, ate out tons, and often didn't have the opportunity for PA. But, the summer is ending on a high note, I did go to WW last week and I lost 1 lb! Yeah!
To recap the last couple of weeks...
Disneyland Half Marathon: The Happiest Race on Earth
That's their slogan, and if it's true, then I'm definitely never doing another! The race started at 6am on 9/6. N and I attempted to carbo load the night before, although we had a hard time finding a restaurant with any pasta dishes that sounded good. We ended up at McCormick & Schmicks to get a seafood fettuccine Alfredo thing...not bad. Oh, and of course bread! Also, you are so supposed to drink for the race the day before, so I attempted to drink a gallon of water...not sure if that happened or not.
We had to catch the bus to the start line at 4:30am, so we tried to go to sleep early, but neither of us could really sleep. Nerves. The alarm went off way too early, but we did manage to catch the bus on time.
The race started in waves, and we were in the 3rd wave. Racers are required to finish the race in 3.5 hours from the time the LAST person passes the start line. So, as long as you are not the last person, you have a buffer of sorts. The pace to complete the race in this time is a 16 minute mile. Actually, there is a slow bus that will pick you up if you can't keep the pace. For you runners reading this, you might think this is no problem. I run/walk a 15 minute mile...but I had never actually done the whole 13.1 before so I was pretty nervous.
But, we started out strong doing a 12 minute mile to start. The course starts out going around the outside of Disneyland, then going into the park through the old main entrance (which takes you into CA Adventures now), run through there, run through the Esplanade, through Disneyland entrance, around D-land (through Cinderella's castle!), then out of the park...that's about 4 miles. We were doing good and easily meeting the 16 minute mile requirement. The next 4 miles are running through Anaheim...kind of boring, but they have stuff set up all along the route (ie: cheerleaders, hula dancers)...so far doing good but starting to feel tired and legs getting sort of tired. Mile 9 we ran through the Angels Stadium and got to be on the big screen! That was pretty cool, but I was really starting to feel TIRED at this point.
OK, well then things got really tough. Pretty much mile 10 to mile 13 were HELL! My feet gave out. I heard (after the fact, of course) that it is common for your feet to swell some when doing distance running. So, what I think happened is that my feet swelled so that my shoes were too tight and circulation to the bottom of my feet was significantly slowed/stopped. The result of this is that the bottom of my feet HURT SO MUCH! Each step was agony. I shed a few tears and was definitely (secretly) hoping the slow bus would catch me, but I didn't see it. I literally do not know how I completed those last couple miles. When we finally saw the finish line we started running again, and the next hour is truly a blur, we got our medals, a bagel, sat down for a while, and then hobbled back to the bus to get to the hotel, took showers, packed up and headed back to SD. Oh, and when we did get back to the hotel I finally got to look at my feet to try and see what was wrong...they didn't look injured (no blisters, etc) but they were totally gray, like the color of a dead person, so this further confirmed my hypothesis that somehow the bottom of my feet weren't getting blood.
During the car ride down all the acid settled into our muscles. I still shudder at the memory of walking up to the apartment. I burst into tears when I walked into the apt because every, yes EVERY muscle in my entire body below my shoulders was SCREAMING IN AGONY. I can't even describe. I couldn't move, I couldn't breathe, it was terrible! The next day was similar, but I started feeling pretty normal within a couple days.
Next events: November 22, Mud Run (5K), May 16 Triathlon (750 m swim, 20K bike, 5K run)
And, the final bit of info (I will write more about this later) is boxing!!! Yes, I started taking boxing classes and they are an awesome, FUN workout! I'm kind of wanting to fight someone now!
adios!
The bottom line as far as weight loss goes for the past 2 months...NO CHANGE :(
However, my % body fat did go down a little over 2%...so that means that (not to get specific) 'several' pounds that were fat are now muscle! Yeah!
Am I disappointed...no. Should I be...who knows. I will say, that this summer is ranking high on the list of busiest summers EVER! This summer I went on 3 personal trips (2 to Seattle, 1 to Philly) and 3 work trips (1 to Anaheim, 1 to San Jose and 1 to Albuquerque). This has meant that almost every other week involved some sort of travel. I missed tons of WW meetings, and had to cancel many sessions with Alyssa, ate out tons, and often didn't have the opportunity for PA. But, the summer is ending on a high note, I did go to WW last week and I lost 1 lb! Yeah!
To recap the last couple of weeks...
Disneyland Half Marathon: The Happiest Race on Earth
That's their slogan, and if it's true, then I'm definitely never doing another! The race started at 6am on 9/6. N and I attempted to carbo load the night before, although we had a hard time finding a restaurant with any pasta dishes that sounded good. We ended up at McCormick & Schmicks to get a seafood fettuccine Alfredo thing...not bad. Oh, and of course bread! Also, you are so supposed to drink for the race the day before, so I attempted to drink a gallon of water...not sure if that happened or not.
We had to catch the bus to the start line at 4:30am, so we tried to go to sleep early, but neither of us could really sleep. Nerves. The alarm went off way too early, but we did manage to catch the bus on time.
The race started in waves, and we were in the 3rd wave. Racers are required to finish the race in 3.5 hours from the time the LAST person passes the start line. So, as long as you are not the last person, you have a buffer of sorts. The pace to complete the race in this time is a 16 minute mile. Actually, there is a slow bus that will pick you up if you can't keep the pace. For you runners reading this, you might think this is no problem. I run/walk a 15 minute mile...but I had never actually done the whole 13.1 before so I was pretty nervous.
But, we started out strong doing a 12 minute mile to start. The course starts out going around the outside of Disneyland, then going into the park through the old main entrance (which takes you into CA Adventures now), run through there, run through the Esplanade, through Disneyland entrance, around D-land (through Cinderella's castle!), then out of the park...that's about 4 miles. We were doing good and easily meeting the 16 minute mile requirement. The next 4 miles are running through Anaheim...kind of boring, but they have stuff set up all along the route (ie: cheerleaders, hula dancers)...so far doing good but starting to feel tired and legs getting sort of tired. Mile 9 we ran through the Angels Stadium and got to be on the big screen! That was pretty cool, but I was really starting to feel TIRED at this point.
OK, well then things got really tough. Pretty much mile 10 to mile 13 were HELL! My feet gave out. I heard (after the fact, of course) that it is common for your feet to swell some when doing distance running. So, what I think happened is that my feet swelled so that my shoes were too tight and circulation to the bottom of my feet was significantly slowed/stopped. The result of this is that the bottom of my feet HURT SO MUCH! Each step was agony. I shed a few tears and was definitely (secretly) hoping the slow bus would catch me, but I didn't see it. I literally do not know how I completed those last couple miles. When we finally saw the finish line we started running again, and the next hour is truly a blur, we got our medals, a bagel, sat down for a while, and then hobbled back to the bus to get to the hotel, took showers, packed up and headed back to SD. Oh, and when we did get back to the hotel I finally got to look at my feet to try and see what was wrong...they didn't look injured (no blisters, etc) but they were totally gray, like the color of a dead person, so this further confirmed my hypothesis that somehow the bottom of my feet weren't getting blood.
During the car ride down all the acid settled into our muscles. I still shudder at the memory of walking up to the apartment. I burst into tears when I walked into the apt because every, yes EVERY muscle in my entire body below my shoulders was SCREAMING IN AGONY. I can't even describe. I couldn't move, I couldn't breathe, it was terrible! The next day was similar, but I started feeling pretty normal within a couple days.
Next events: November 22, Mud Run (5K), May 16 Triathlon (750 m swim, 20K bike, 5K run)
And, the final bit of info (I will write more about this later) is boxing!!! Yes, I started taking boxing classes and they are an awesome, FUN workout! I'm kind of wanting to fight someone now!
adios!
Friday, August 28, 2009
Emotional Eating and Triggers
It's been a while since I posted and also a while since I weighed in. Since my last post I have been to Albuquerque, Feasterville, and now back in SD. I have nothing to report on the weight loss front. While I was in Alb I was able to work in some cardio and weight lifting, but my activity level was definitely much lower than a "normal" week. Haha, it seems that lately a normal week has been a week where things were off, instead of on, as they were last month. Oh well, this is a long process so there will be ups and downs. In Feasterville I basically drank and ate a lot, although I did dance for several hours at the reception and later at the bar, so I can probably count that as some cardio :)
At my last weight watchers meeting we talked about emotional eating. I had a thought during this lesson that attempting to lose weight can easily add stress and increase the emotional eating. I know that the week following a gain it can be hard to move forward. Of course, in someways a gain can be a motivator to get back on track, but on the flip side, it can be very upsetting and depressing. Yes, I have definitely shed a few tears after getting on the scale and seeing a gain. I practically started laughing in the meeting when I was thinking this through, I mean what an awful catch-22! If you are not successful at losing weight one week (which as we all know is def possible b/c weight loss can be incredibly difficult) that only sabotages us from losing further weight as we try to rebound from the blow. This sucks!
I met with Jackie this week. Our last couple sessions have been a little...boring? That might now be the right word, but we (I) have struggled to find things to say for a whole 5o mins. Well, not the case this week! Jackie and I talked through a trigger that we discovered in this session...social situations. Hello, this is definitely not something that is unique to me, or even something that I have not considered before, but I have never sat and thought/talked about it with someone for an hour before, so many new ideas surfaced.
Social situations are not just a trigger for eating too much (for me). Typically in these situations I am at %110 for everything. I talk louder, faster, and more, I laugh louder and more, I get warmer, I eat more, I drink more, I am much more likely to partake in things that I would not normally take on in other situations. And, I usually don't consider the ramifications of things in the same way (particularly eating and drinking). Honostly, I didn't really like discovering these things. I have always enjoyed, perhaps over-enjoyed being in large social situaions, I often think of myself as the life of the party, but why do I have to overdo everything? Why do I have to be the center of attention, and the loudest (lol, unless Summer is there!), and eat the most and drink the most? What's funny, too, is that it's not that anyone else encourages this behavior. It's all me. I need to learn to S L O W D O W N in these situaions and remain in total control of my actions and behaviors. Think before I put the 20th fry in my mouth, reconsider ordering a 3rd beer, not feel the need to be the most gregarious person in the room. Maybe it is a self-defense thing...if I am the most fun person in the room then no one will notice/care that I'm fat.
This week I have been tracking all my points, and I will go to Weight Watchers on Sat before my flight. I have struggling to get back on track with eating the correct # of points, but that's ok. Each day has been better than the one before.
PA so far this week:
M: 50 mins w/ alyssa (cardio and weight training)
T: 50 mins walk/run
W: 50 mins w/ alyssa (cardio and weight training)
Th: 50 mins w/ alyssa (cardio and weight training)
Only 9 days til the 1/2 Marathon!
At my last weight watchers meeting we talked about emotional eating. I had a thought during this lesson that attempting to lose weight can easily add stress and increase the emotional eating. I know that the week following a gain it can be hard to move forward. Of course, in someways a gain can be a motivator to get back on track, but on the flip side, it can be very upsetting and depressing. Yes, I have definitely shed a few tears after getting on the scale and seeing a gain. I practically started laughing in the meeting when I was thinking this through, I mean what an awful catch-22! If you are not successful at losing weight one week (which as we all know is def possible b/c weight loss can be incredibly difficult) that only sabotages us from losing further weight as we try to rebound from the blow. This sucks!
I met with Jackie this week. Our last couple sessions have been a little...boring? That might now be the right word, but we (I) have struggled to find things to say for a whole 5o mins. Well, not the case this week! Jackie and I talked through a trigger that we discovered in this session...social situations. Hello, this is definitely not something that is unique to me, or even something that I have not considered before, but I have never sat and thought/talked about it with someone for an hour before, so many new ideas surfaced.
Social situations are not just a trigger for eating too much (for me). Typically in these situations I am at %110 for everything. I talk louder, faster, and more, I laugh louder and more, I get warmer, I eat more, I drink more, I am much more likely to partake in things that I would not normally take on in other situations. And, I usually don't consider the ramifications of things in the same way (particularly eating and drinking). Honostly, I didn't really like discovering these things. I have always enjoyed, perhaps over-enjoyed being in large social situaions, I often think of myself as the life of the party, but why do I have to overdo everything? Why do I have to be the center of attention, and the loudest (lol, unless Summer is there!), and eat the most and drink the most? What's funny, too, is that it's not that anyone else encourages this behavior. It's all me. I need to learn to S L O W D O W N in these situaions and remain in total control of my actions and behaviors. Think before I put the 20th fry in my mouth, reconsider ordering a 3rd beer, not feel the need to be the most gregarious person in the room. Maybe it is a self-defense thing...if I am the most fun person in the room then no one will notice/care that I'm fat.
This week I have been tracking all my points, and I will go to Weight Watchers on Sat before my flight. I have struggling to get back on track with eating the correct # of points, but that's ok. Each day has been better than the one before.
PA so far this week:
M: 50 mins w/ alyssa (cardio and weight training)
T: 50 mins walk/run
W: 50 mins w/ alyssa (cardio and weight training)
Th: 50 mins w/ alyssa (cardio and weight training)
Only 9 days til the 1/2 Marathon!
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Staying on track when sick
Oh my gosh! I am so bummed. I was on such a high after crossing the 10 lb mark...and then I got sick. This is the second time I have gotten sick since I joined WW, and it really puts a strain on trying to eat right and exercise regularly. So...what do you do? So far, I have just basically let myself go when I get sick, and try not to feel too bad about it. This week I have continued to track my points, despite knowing that I am not going to like what I see since I definitely overeat when I get sick (unless it's a stomach bug obviously). I'm not sure, but I think this is mainly due to a combo of staying at home (aka boredom eating) and not having the motivation to stay on track. I have searched online a bit trying to see if anyone else had better luck, but it seems that everyone has troubles when they are sick. Most people think that the best approach is to just take a few days and take care of yourself. I like this, although I don't want to give myself too many free passes. After my post about forgiveness, and this post, don't start thinking that I left myself off the hook with my goals!
Sunday, August 9, 2009
Week 10
Total Weight Change Thus Far...10.8 lbs!!!
That's right people, I have crossed the 10 lb mark! I worked my butt off this week and I am so glad I was able to see that work correspond to a loss on the scale. Sometimes it doesn't work out that way, and it can be very discouraging, and believe me, I needed to see something good this week.
So, what did I do this week to help me lose over 2 lbs...
PA this week:
Sat: run/walk 5 miles
Sun: 50 mins w/ Alyssa
Mon: 3/4 mile run (no walking) 3/4 mile walk
Tue: 2 mile run/walk
Wed: 50 mins w/ Alyssa
Th: nada
F: 10 minute run, 5 min walk, 60 mins weight training
Sat/Sun: sailing... (def doesn't count, I only sweat b/c I was so hot!)
I tracked everything I ate this week and worked hard to stay w/in my points. This week was also aided by re-discovering my love of cooking. I cooked 5 times this week, and brought my left overs for lunch several days, so I didn't eat out nearly as much as normal. Plus, when I cook, that means that I have planned out a meal. When I plan my meals in advance I can make good decisions rather than trying to decide what to eat when I am already hungry and the cupboards are empty.
My success this week has helped keep me motivated. Now that I have passed the 10 lb mark, my next goal (15 lbs) seem so close. 15 lbs is a lot! And then I will get to 20...! Yeah! I will be down to my pre-grad school weight in a few months, and then who knows from there.
Summer-I am going to try and keep with your gains!
That's right people, I have crossed the 10 lb mark! I worked my butt off this week and I am so glad I was able to see that work correspond to a loss on the scale. Sometimes it doesn't work out that way, and it can be very discouraging, and believe me, I needed to see something good this week.
So, what did I do this week to help me lose over 2 lbs...
PA this week:
Sat: run/walk 5 miles
Sun: 50 mins w/ Alyssa
Mon: 3/4 mile run (no walking) 3/4 mile walk
Tue: 2 mile run/walk
Wed: 50 mins w/ Alyssa
Th: nada
F: 10 minute run, 5 min walk, 60 mins weight training
Sat/Sun: sailing... (def doesn't count, I only sweat b/c I was so hot!)
I tracked everything I ate this week and worked hard to stay w/in my points. This week was also aided by re-discovering my love of cooking. I cooked 5 times this week, and brought my left overs for lunch several days, so I didn't eat out nearly as much as normal. Plus, when I cook, that means that I have planned out a meal. When I plan my meals in advance I can make good decisions rather than trying to decide what to eat when I am already hungry and the cupboards are empty.
My success this week has helped keep me motivated. Now that I have passed the 10 lb mark, my next goal (15 lbs) seem so close. 15 lbs is a lot! And then I will get to 20...! Yeah! I will be down to my pre-grad school weight in a few months, and then who knows from there.
Summer-I am going to try and keep with your gains!
Monday, August 3, 2009
A note on forgiveness
I've been thinking a lot this week about forgiveness. I think this was spurred from the fact that I was "off the wagon" the past couple of weeks d/t travel and then being kind of sick for a week. I have been trying to reconcile with myself how to recover from this fall, when I had my epiphany. Forgiveness. It's very funny, forgiveness or the ability to forgive is one of the hallmarks of a strong relationship, yet it seems that the hardest person to forgive is yourself. And, I would argue, that the relationship you have with yourself is the most important you will ever have. So, with this in mind, I have forgiven myself for an off couple of weeks and am recommitting to stick to the weight watchers and Alyssa plan. I will never be able to move forward if I am constantly looking backwards at what I should have, could have done differently. Instead I am learning from these past 2 weeks, taking away what I can so I can avoid similar pitfalls in the future.
I am very excited for the next few weeks b/c I am going to work so hard!
I am very excited for the next few weeks b/c I am going to work so hard!
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