Starting over starting over

It's funny when I came here I noticed I did the same thing this exact time last year. What is it about spring that makes you want to get in shape?  I really hope to keep motivated this time. I have 10 pounds (rather than 15 at least) that I want to shed. I also just want to keep in the habit of making being active a regular part of my life. So for now I will try weekly check ins just to keep myself accountable.

I am off to a good start this week, so far I have worked out on Tuesday, Wednesday and today which is Thursday. I also went for a walk on Monday, but it was a casual walk with the family rather than a cardio workout.  Still, it was certainly better than sitting at home on my couch.

It's been too rainy to do too much outdoors and since my daughter has special needs trying to walk with her outdoors is difficult because I always have to slow down to keep her close to me. So I pulled out the DVDs I love best.  My workouts this week have come from the following DVDs.

Couch to 5 K Running Plan

I was sharing with my friend that I had a desire to run a marathon, or at least a 5K and she shared this website with me. It's called Couch to 5K and is a great running plan from Cool Running to get the average person ready to handle a 5K run. I have just completed my first week and did it fairly easily though the first time really taxed me quite a bit. I am really excited to think that in 9 weeks I may be able to run 3 miles!
This plan is really nice for people, like myself, who have never really been much of a runner. They encourage you start slow and not get ahead. It is alright if you slow it down and take more than a week to move ahead, but they discourage you from moving ahead before the plan recommends that you do. If you try to do too much too fast you can actually hurt your body making it appear too daunting of a task. That seems to be why most people quit and give up.
In starting the program you only do a 20 minute circuit after a 5 minute warm up walk so it isn't any more difficult than any other workout you might do. If you have not given running a try, this may be a great starting place for you. Granted if you do not currently work out at all it may take you some time to build up to where you can complete week 1, but that is OK. Just keep going at your own pace until you can do it successfully. Whether you are starting from literally sitting on the couch or you are someone who does work out but you have never really tried running, I think this is a sensible place to start. I am hoping that I will be running my first 5K this fall!

Thinking of Running a Marathon

I am sorry it has been so long since I have blogged but I have to find time to exercise and it has to come from somewhere. I am just not online as much as I used to be. So far I am maintaining my goal weight just fine. TOPS gives me a 10 pound leeway (3 pounds over and 7 pounds under) and I have been in it each week. I have yet to go over my goal weight as I have been staying 1 to 2 pounds under each weigh in. I am really excited about it.
Well, I am thinking about training for a marathon. I don't know if I really want to do it. Every time I saw them do one on the Biggest Loser or anywhere else I would tell my husband, you know, running a marathon is not appealing to me at all. But now that I am walking about 3 to 4 miles I am thinking of giving it a try. I will start a with a 5 K this fall I think, but then I would like to train to run a half marathon next year. I am not really sure how to train for that, but I am thinking of doing it. Has anyone out there run a marathon, half marathon or anything like it? If so please share you experiences, training tips, etc. Let's see if you can give me that final shove to say yes, I will do it!

Exercising While Watching TV

I was watching the Biggest Loser last night and feeling guilty about not getting in enough exercise lately. I have not been feeling well this week and so far all I have done is get on the treadmill Sunday afternoon. So, while watching the competition of the show I got an idea.
Past contestants were offered an opportunity to get back on the show. In order to do that they had to compete. The first one to reach 1000 steps won the opportunity to go back onto the Biggest Loser ranch. So I watched them doing nothing but stepping onto a step and then stepping back down. 15 minutes into it the one in the lead was half way there at 500 steps. Of course we were not watching in real time, they sped the things up and hit just the highlights, but I thought, if they are sweating that much and going that long I could do that for exercise too.
I had planned on at least getting on the treadmill since I still was not feeling well, but the only problem with it is that it is so loud. Not only is it loud, but I have to crank the TV to hear it over the treadmill so the noise level really gets high. However, I happen to have daughter that is very sensitive to loud noises and she was enjoying the show with me and I didn't want to run her off. Since I had no step of my own I just stood at the end of my treadmill and started stepping. I did 500 steps and was really feeling it by that last 100. It took me just under 20 minutes and then I did 30 sit ups and 2 minutes worth of reverse curls to tone in on my abs a bit.
I think I will get me a step. I know they sell them for exercise but I might even have my husband just make me one, he is handy that way. When I finished my steps, my husband decided to do the same only he didn't count and went for about 45 minutes! My daughter then did a few, bless her heart it was so cute. It felt good to be setting a good example for her.
So the next time you are sitting there watching TV and thinking, I really need to exercise, just do it! Grab a step and just start going up and down, or do some crunches, curls, sit ups, push ups, jumping jacks, whatever sounds good. As Bob says in one my videos you just have to get your body moving. There is nothing magical that is going to make it happen, you just have to get off the couch and move!

Weekly Weigh In: Feb 25, 2010

I had a really great weigh in this week but it sure did not come by accident. After my silly 1/4 pound gain last week, I made sure I hit the exercise extra hard this week. I exercised 5 days for an average of 30 minutes each time and most of them were pretty high intensity. I bought another Biggest Loser workout tape (Cardio Max) which helped keep me motivated because I was trying something new. Anyway, all the hard work paid off and I lost 3 1/2 pounds. That means I only have 6 1/2 pounds to reach my goal! I am so excited!
I am still eating 1400 calories a week, which is another reason I really vamped up the exercise. I just can't seem to eat less than that. I have tried cutting back even another 100 calories a day but I still don't seem to be able to do it. If I cut it at one meal, I make up for it at the next. Oh well, I am still losing, so it does not matter. I hope to have another heavy workout week and another great weigh in next week, but we shall see. I just can't wait to finally be there!

The Biggest Loser: The Workout Video

When I first started to make exercise an integral part of my lifestyle, I had trouble finding something that didn't drive me absolutely crazy. You have to agree, walking on a treadmill several times a week gets really old, really fast. While Richard Simmons is an exercise icon and helped me out many moons ago, I just can't hear or watch another Sweating to the Oldies video. Trying to find modern exercise tapes was also discouraging. I am sorry, but I am a conservative, 42 year old woman and I don't do Latin dance moves or worse yet, Hip Hop very well. Sure, they look so cute on the screen but that doesn't come naturally to me. I just wanted something like the old Richard Simmons tapes. Not disco dancing and funky music, but REAL people, doing REAL exercises.

About that time I got into a conversation on exercise and weight loss with some ladies at church. One of them was doing and exercise video form the Biggest Loser. She was currently watching the show for the first time and they were sharing a bit about it with me. Having never seen an episode, I was certainly willing to give it a try. I went home and added the Biggest Loser: The Workout to my Netflix Que and waited for it to arrive.

From the first time I put it in I was really glad I did. There on the screen were real people doing sensible exercises and each one of them had a weight loss to show for it. These are exercises anyone can do! After the first day my husband even started doing them with me. That was a big clue there that this was not some dorky exercise video. If he can tolerate it, anyone can! It wasn't long before I purchased my own copy of the video. I am now also a fan of the show The Biggest Loser as it inspires me to see how much work these people put in to shed those pounds.

This particular video - Biggest Loser: The Workout has 4 different routines as well as a warm up and cool down segment that I do each time I workout. I started with the Low Intensity and did that for quite some time before attempting any others. The next one I tried was Tone and Sculpt, then on to High Intensity and then finally, I braved the Boot Camp workout. Now I change it up depending on my mood, the time and how much or what type of exercise I want to do. This is a great workout video that I highly recommend. I will be trying some of their other videos soon.

Below is an excerpt to show you what it's like. This is not an endorsement for the place that is advertising it as I know nothing about them. I got mine for just under $9 from Walmart.com but the NBC Store currently has it on sale for $8.11.

Weigh In: February 18, 2010

I had a lousy weigh in yesterday. Ok, so it wasn't lousy, but I did gain...a whole 1/4 of a pound. Still, it was discouraging since I still only ate 1400 calories a day. The problem, I believe, was the lack of exercise. I had some spring cleaning to do, both at my mom's and here at my house. That sort of kept me from exercising and unfortunately all the cleaning and moving furniture obviously did not do much for burning fat. That's alright though, I am hitting the exercise hard again this week and we will make it all up. It's not really about how fast I get there anyway, it's about getting there and then STAYING there. I am just so close that I am getting a bit anxious to finally see it through. Instead I need to continue to be patient. I have exactly 10 pounds to go to reach my goal!
Sorry I didn't get any posts up this week. With the spring cleaning and other catch up things I had to do coming off my cold from the week before, I just have not had the time. I hope to post some more entries this week.

Shoveling Snow - A Great Way to Workout

We had one heck of a snowstorm last night. Well, it wasn't as bad as the one on Christmas but it was still pretty heavy. So, when I woke up this morning and saw all that snow, I thought, cool another way to mix up my exercise program! I got dressed in my my warm winter gear and headed out to shovel snow.
Shoveling is actually a really good workout. I remembered that on last season of The Biggest Loser one of their challenges had them shoveling sand. I thought, if it works with sand, it should with snow too. I shoveled two days in a row around Christmas and I certainly felt it the following days! You really use muscles shoveling that you don't normally use in a typical workout. It took me about 25 minutes to shovel out the front and the back. It was a lot easier this time as the snow as lighter and fluffier. Still, I was doing some heavy breathing and felt I got in a decent workout. It was just nice to find a way to change up my exercise routine. I try to do that whenever I can. The tasks I used to leave for my husband to do, such as shoveling and mowing, I find that I do them myself now. He certainly doesn't mind the break so it works out well for both of us!

Curves Gym

I was a member of Curves for one year and I liked it quite a bit. It can be a good solution for some women and offers many benefits. I enjoyed the 30 minute circuit and did like the fact that it gives you a full body workout, with a combination of cardio and muscle toning. I liked that you switched stations every 30 seconds so you never had time to get bored doing one thing for too long. The music in the background and the constant change seemed to help me stay focused on the task instead of counting the minutes until I was done.
I also liked that they took a full body analysis instead of just looking at the scale for the end of the month results. You not only knew if you were losing weight, but how much fat and and how many inches you lost as well. They had plenty of contests and other incentives to keep you motivated.
Of course some people do not like that you have to do the circuit as they line it out and some people do not like, or are not able, to switch stations that quickly. My main problem with my local Curves was their hours of operation. I am a stay at home, homeschooling mom, so I am not free to get to the gym during the hours my husband is at work. That means I have to run to the gym the moment he gets home, or sometime after dinner, yet I needed time for my food to settle before going. Because of that, it was difficult for me to make it through the week. I needed more time on the weekend. However, my gym was only open on Saturdays from 8am until noon and they were closed on Sunday. I was getting up each morning and getting there at 8 each Saturday. Sometimes I was standing there waiting up to a half an hour before the staff showed up. Eventually they started closing on Saturday and Sunday. To make matters worse, they stopped being open until 8 and started closing at 7 (the hour I would sometimes make it after my dinner had settled). They were also closed from 1-3 each day which is my favorite time of the day to workout. If I did perhaps have a sitter at that time (hubby off of work or grandma over) I still couldn't do it at that time. They just did not operate at hours that were convenient for me, so when my contract was up, I stopped going. I am sure in larger cities the hours are more flexible but the hours here made it almost impossible for me to make it just 3 times a week, and I longed to workout more than that.
I quit Curves and went to a 24 hour gym, but found that boring simply running on a treadmill and things like that. It was also not as "female" friendly. So, when we got our taxes that year we bought us our own treadmill and now I use that once a week or so to break up my exercise video workouts. At least by owning the treadmill I don't have the expense of a monthly gym fee. However, if their schedule had allowed for it, I might have enjoyed staying a member of Curves.

Tracking Exercise Progress

Exercise is a vital component to a healthy lifestyle. If you do not implement a regular exercise routine into your daily life, you will struggle to lose weight and will not be able to maintain it if you do lose it. Exercise needs to be a regular part of any healthy lifestyle. One way to help yourself maintain consistency is to keep track of how often you exercise. I have a TOPS Tracker that I use that keeps track of my weight loss and physical activity. Each time I exercise I jot down what day of the week it is and what duration and/or distance I completed. While that works alright for me, I really prefer to see my accomplishments on a larger scale. So what I did was find a calendar program that allows me to put in whatever data I choose. I made this calendar My Workout Journal.


Now I can view my progress in a monthly view and have an overall feel for how much exercise I am getting a week (this calendar has other view options as well).

My goal is 3 hours a week over 4-5 days. I usually end up with 2 hours and 45 minutes as my average. That is working really well for me and I am seeing results so I am pleased with that. I would eventually like to see more, but the realities of being a busy homeschooling housewife and mother makes it hard for me to find a consistent time each week that I can exercise. Therefore a journal is imperative to keep me accountable to myself and make sure I am making the time I need each week.

While this particular calendar program at Calendars.net is public, you have to give the URL for anyone else to be able to access it. There are several other calendar options you can choose from that are not public. My Google email account comes with one but I wanted something I was more willing to share publicly so I could be accountable to all of you as well as myself. There are also several sites online that let you keep track of various other weight loss data too. Choose whatever works best for you. The important thing is that you use something to make sure that you keep track of the amount of exercise you are getting.

If you notice I have offered access to view my calendar on the side bar of my blog. Look for the exercise image and click on it to see just how much exercise I have been getting in!