Caught Again!

I got caught again on how things were going. I haven’t even written in my blog since Wednesday, and since I’m usually a daily, it means one of two things: either things aren’t going the way I want them to, or I got busy and things aren’t going the way I want them to.

Wednesday- workout, good eats
Thursday- no workout, fairly good eating
Friday- Ate two bowls of Lucky Charms, got way too much fiber in all the other food I ate Thursday and Friday and suffered the ill effects, no workout
Saturday-went to a Renaissance Festival, decided to survive off a lack of food rather than eat through $100 ($5 for a hamburger or a soup!), walked all day
Sunday- still not really eating on target

Does this mean that I’m eating too many or too few calories? No, it doesn’t, since I often eat at maintenance when I’m not thinking about it or don’t have a plan. I will admit to A LOT of munchie feelings yesterday though, which is why I just generally didn’t eat anything beyond Shredded mini wheats for breakfast, a popover for morning snack, a hamburger with lettuce for lunch, and a fish/baked potato/green beans/oreo shake for supper. So, four meals yesterday, likely totaled to be 1800-2000 calories (the shake )

So, goal for this week (and October, since it starts tomorrow- wow!) is to plan meals again, this time, I’m going to see if I can get a day or two of 8 meals per day. Workout-wise, I’m trying to decide if I want to do my own, or continue with Turbulence Training, which I'm leaning toward. As seen above, I've been trying to get my fiber content up, and that includes a dose of FiberSure, lots of beans, and the inclusion (key: hiding) of veggies in my meals.

My brain is trying to work itself around some information that's been presented to me time and time again, and that's the fact that nutrition makes so much of a difference in weight loss that it may not matter if you're at the requisite caloric deficit, what matters is that your body is working at its most efficient and capable (Berardi's G-flux), which means mostly that the body is getting its fiber and nutrients and that the nutrition is entering into the cells without too much trouble. There are different theories out there as to why so many people are not processing their food very efficiently anymore (my thoughts lean to the processed food, high GI carbs, and trans fats that are so predominant in today's food). Part of the reason why I'm thinking about it today is the article Tom Venuto wrote in his Burn the Fat blog. Brad Pilon also presents some interesting thoughts on why 3500 calories isn't always what it seems. Anyone else for renegade nutrition? So here's the real kicker: IF I'm starting to believe that calories are not just calories, how do I present that to clients? Especially if it has taken me so many kicks to get my own head wrapped around it? Another reason I'm thinking about it is the fact that I basically lost 5 pounds in three weeks by doing one thing different from usual (besides the Turbulence Training workout): planning for- and eating- 6 times per day. Don't get me wrong, when I usually have meals planned, they are better than the meals I eat when things aren't planned, but not that much different. So that means I'm generally taking in the same amount of calories, planned or unplanned. However, the composition of meals may be a bit different, and I don't have the days of "up" calories that I have when unplanned. Oi.

So specific goals for October:
Hit 150 by October 15
Plan meals each week, inserting at least two days of 8 times a day meals
Work out 5 times per week
Decide on and make a costume for Halloween

Sugar!!!

Today’s Priority List:
Workout Today? Yes/No
Planned workout today? Yes/No
Planned meals for today? Yes/No
Followed plan for meals? Yes/No
Healthy food choices today? Yes/No _90___% (__5__ out of 6 meals) *skipping meals denotes unhealthy food choice
Enjoyed my family today? Yes/No
Succeeded for school today? Yes/No *Homework? I’ve got a house to clean

Today went much better than yesterday. I’ve got a lot of people holding me up, and it’s great to have some shoulders to lean on when I need them. Thank you! (You know who you are.) I did a workout, didn’t push myself to the absolute max but still got the muscles pooped. I’m beginning to realize that here are two VERY important things for me: 1) plan the menu 2) eat often. I tend to crave sugar when my blood sugar’s been dropped at any point during the day, so I can’t let that happen. Good thing to know!

Computer Haze

Yesterday's Priority List:
Workout Today? Yes/No
Planned workout today? Yes/No
Planned meals for today? Yes/No
Followed plan for meals? Yes/No
Healthy food choices today? Yes/No _75___% (__4__ out of 6 meals) *skipping meals denotes unhealthy food choice
Enjoyed my family today? Yes/No
Succeeded for school today? Yes/No *Monday's are class day. Did I survive class today? Just barely

Today's Priority List:
Workout Today? Yes/No
Planned workout today? Yes/No
Planned meals for today? Yes/No
Followed plan for meals? Yes/No
Healthy food choices today? Yes/No _10___% (__2__ out of 6 meals) *skipping meals denotes unhealthy food choice
Enjoyed my family today? Yes/No
Succeeded for school today? Yes/No *I spent 3 hours on the computer composing essays

Well, today disappeared into the void of a computer. I do believe I've melded into this chair and I will no longer be able to disengage myself from the black leather that now surrounds me. I have no more cognitive ability to type (I keep hitting backspace more than going forward while writing).
It was crazy. I don't know how it happened. Okay, so I do know. Instead of spending 3 hours in class this morning, I spent 3 hours writing essays for the class on WebCT. After that was finished, I actually ate something, picked up my daughter, put her down for a nap, then proceeded to work on the website for my gym (it's almost ready to go Live). Somehow the afternoon and half the evening disappeared while doing that. It's amazing how the computer can completely suck your time away, even if it's legit work that is being performed.

I have absolutely no motivation to create a menu for this week, and that also means I have no motivation to: cook, prepare, or really even eat. Sigh. I WILL do this! Tomorrow. Of course, it's Wednesday by then. Eh. I have a huge hankering for protein pancakes (EFL style) so perhaps they will kick me outta my funk.

A Little Bit About Me...

I realized Friday that I've never really given a good profile of myself on this blog and where I've come from. Some quickies:

• I was a lean, mean, kid-machine when I was little. By the time I hit puberty, my body did a complete 180 and became soft, likely due to the move to another town with a lack of kids to play with, and those who were there were unmercifully evil. I was thenceforth an overweight teen, and my self-esteem took a number.
• I discovered a love for fitness (without knowing much) my Senior year of high school and participated in weight training, cardio, and a dance class for the first time ever. Lost 30 pounds or so (by not eating and then also moving), but gained them all back when I moved to college (I started eating and stopped moving).
• In college, I stayed semi-active in karate, working toward a black belt and never losing the gained 30 pounds, although there was a short one-half year period where I was a camp counselor at a canoe camp for a summer, lost 20 pounds, and kept them off, until...
• Upon graduating college with a black belt, I had regained those pounds and was now weighing in at 193 (which put me in a tight size 16). Remembering my love for weight training, I joined a gym, got a personal trainer, followed the Body-for-Life method of training and The Zone method of eating, losing 20 pounds by my wedding the next summer. (I thought I looked awesome, by the way- I was then a 14, tight 12.)
• Upon getting married, I got preggers and gained 35 pounds with the pregnancy. This took me up to my all-time high of 205, and boy, was I depressed upon coming home and discovering that I was back to 193 (which I retained for a year, despite getting back into the gym).
• After finally getting my life in order, a different job, and no longer having my sleep interrupted, I dropped those extra 20 pounds at the same time my daughter turned one.
• That put me at 173 in January 2004.
• I have since been working hard on performance and nutrition and getting down to my ultimate lean goal of 145 and 20% bf (whichever looks better). I am currently weighing in at 154, wearing size 12's that are too big, and medium and large size shirts.

And that's the (really long) synopsis of weight and struggles. Mentally, I've come a long way, from working out being a burden and not knowing what a vegetable was, to generally eating 3-7 servings of fruits and veggies a day. Actualization-wise, I've discovered a love for fitness and wanting to guide others toward a life of health and happiness through fitness. I'm nowhere near where I truly want to be yet, but that is a life-long journey and I'm working as hard toward it as possible!

I am currently pursuing a Sports Science Master's Degree at a University in the midwestern states, with the goal of preventing other teenagers from knowing the evil of having to be an overweight teen (unless they LIKE being that way, in which case I'll leave them alone).

I have a VO2max of 38.7 ml/kg/min (up from 33 ml/kg/min in April), which puts me in the 50th percentile (average) for maximum Oxygen consumption, my actual max heart rate is 184 bpm (predicted is 193) and I've been known to maintain a work rate at 90% of my max for 20 minutes, can maintain a plank and side plank for over a minute, can dumbbell benchpress 30 pounds each hand for 3x8, squat dumbbell with 25 lbs in each hand for 3x8, do 2 chinups unassisted, and do 5 single-leg squats on the weak side while holding a doorframe for balance and a little bit of help. Is that complete actualization? No way. In fact, many people wouldn't even consider being a personal trainer at that "level" of fitness. However, its the best I've ever been, and it's 1-3 steps ahead of most females in this country.

And here's the important part: I'm still working toward becoming better. How many personal trainers, who were high-level athletes in high school/college and never a fat day in their life (except those 5 years post-college), can say that? Okay, so there's a little bit of a superiority complex in that, but really. This is where I'm at now, and you can read how much better I've become as the days and months go by. I do intend to show others by example that health and fitness are not a burden, but a wonderful way of life! And that most of success is the fact that you not only fell down, but got back up. Again. And again.

Some Good News

I leave this number for Marcol, and will answer it in a few days: 38.7 ml/kg/min-1

Good or Bad? You be the judge (and look back to this post if you want the previous number now). ;)

Other numbers:
Weight: 154 (down from 159 August 27)
Height: 169 cm (5'7")
Right arm: -.25" since May
Chest: -.75"
Waist: --.5"
Hips: -.75"
R leg: -.25"

So I measured today, and boy those numbers look happy. The last time I measured was at the end of the Afterburn program. Yippee!

Ow...

I didn't even want to write a blog post today. What's that tell you? It means I'm sick AGAIN. Yesterday's workout was hard to get started because I was sinus-y, today's didn't even happen because I was light-headed and nauseous today. Wow.

I hate fall.

On a more upbeat note, when I'm sick I generally don't like to eat, so that means that while I've been keeping to at least 4-5 meals a day, they're quite small and I have been drinking a small lake in water. My pants are falling off today. Tomorrow's going to be another day of rest, just so I can kick this cold in the butt as quickly as possible. I have to. I've got a VO2max re-test for class on Friday (I took it on Monday, but the prof started us out too quickly, no warmup, and maxed us out by 6 minutes- It's supposed to go to 10-12 for the avg. person, up to 14-16 for the elite athlete). So here's to a good helping of rest. I'm thinking I'll have to make an effort to find the gym on Sat and Sunday.

I lied...

Yesterday's Priority List:
Workout Today? Yes/No
Planned workout today? Yes/No
Planned meals for today? Yes/No
Followed plan for meals? Yes/No
Healthy food choices today? Yes/No _90___% (__5__ out of 6 meals) *skipping meals denotes unhealthy food choice
Enjoyed my family today? Yes/No
Succeeded for school today? Yes/No *it seems I should outline what success in school means. That may be a bit too abstract. Here's this: did I do needed homework today?

Today's Priority List:
Workout Today? Yes/No
Planned workout today? Yes/No
Planned meals for today? Yes/No
Followed plan for meals? Yes/No
Healthy food choices today? Yes/No _60___% (__4__ out of 6 meals) *skipping meals denotes unhealthy food choice
Enjoyed my family today? Yes/No
Succeeded for school today? Yes/No *it seems I should outline what success in school means. That may be a bit too abstract. Here's this: did I do needed homework today?

Okay, so I lied earlier when I said I probably wasn't going to get a great workout in today. Believe it or not, I managed to get Intermediate TT workout B done. It was difficult to get going, but I finished strong with 1-minute side planks for 2 of the three sets, and 45-sec for the third set. I lightened up some of the weights, as I was feeling somewhat weak (sinus-y today-- I swear, my daughter...). I didn't get the intervals done. However, since Intermediate TT only calls for 20-sec side planks, I figure there's a little give there :) (I've been above the 20-sec mark since the first week, starting out at 30 sec, then moving up to 45, and now at 1:00).

I read Billy's interview with Craig Ballantyne (here) and it was very revealing on how to work on mindset. It can be easy to put others on a pedestal sometimes and start to believe they are no longer real (or hero worship...), therefore they have no weaknesses and aren't really having to try. That's not true, though. I've definitely got my weaknesses, and so does Billy and Craig, and even Alwyn (although he and Dax hide theirs pretty well). I prefer to keep things real. I'm human. So's everyone else. That's important for me to remember!

Goal Accomplished!

Well, besides the fact that the beginning of this week has been thrown completely off, I managed to weigh in yesterday at 154! Woohoo! I have officially made my 5 lbs goal for this month.

Here's a synopsis: daughter has strep (yes same one I had) along with bronchial "stuff" (possibly about to turn into bronchitis but they couldn't pin it down). Been lucky to make it to class, let alone check my email, write a menu, or even workout *blech*. I am still continuing to make many healthy choices, but definitely not 100%. I hope to get back to this later today to do a full priority-check. Workout will likely be at-home bw.

Yesterday's Priority List:
Workout Today? Yes/No
Planned workout today? Yes/No
Planned meals for today? Yes/No
Followed plan for meals? Yes/No
Healthy food choices today? Yes/No _90___% (__5__ out of 6 meals) *skipping meals denotes unhealthy food choice
Enjoyed my family today? Yes/No
Succeeded for school today? Yes/No *it seems I should outline what success in school means. That may be a bit too abstract. Here's this: did I do needed homework today?

Today's Priority List:
Workout Today? Yes/No
Planned workout today? Yes/No
Planned meals for today? Yes/No
Followed plan for meals? Yes/No
Healthy food choices today? Yes/No _50___% (__3__ out of 6 meals) *skipping meals denotes unhealthy food choice
Enjoyed my family today? Yes/No
Succeeded for school today? Yes/No *it seems I should outline what success in school means. That may be a bit too abstract. Here's this: did I do needed homework today?

Hmm... not a great day priority list wise. Off all day, although I was definitely busy. These days happen. It's not great, but I can move on. I made some vinegar cucumbers today but they're very strong, I'll have to see what I can do about that- sugar and water maybe?

I've kinda felt lazy this week. Who knows why. But all I want to do is lay around and do nothing. It may be a sign that I've been hard on myself again, pushing too hard against a lazy personality. I'm one of those crazy, perfectionist Type-A types but I'm also a lazy person. One of my friends has termed it Lazy Perfectionist. Pretty much he means that we feel like we should be perfect, but are too lazy to do anything about it. I may just be tired. Eh. Whatever.

See?

Best Treadmill Workout Ever

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edY3HaVRS_Q


Yesterday's Priority List:
Workout Today? Yes/No
Planned workout today? Yes/No
Planned meals for today? Yes/No
Followed plan for meals? Yes/No
Healthy food choices today? Yes/No _90___% (__5__ out of 6 meals) *skipping meals denotes unhealthy food choice
Enjoyed my family today? Yes/No
Succeeded for school today? Yes/No *it seems I should outline what success in school means. That may be a bit too abstract. Here's this: did I do needed homework today?

It would be fun to have treadmills like this in our gyms, along with community competitions. I'm sure there's a huge waiver that would need to be signed, something along the lines of: "I realize that this may be an idiotic activity, that looks fun and easy but may have the risk of breaking my neck. I accept any and all liability in connection with this activity. Signed, _________________"

Wouldn't more people be physically fit if we just made it more FUN?!

I'm Here, I'm Here!

Yesterday's Priority List:
Workout Today? Yes/No
Planned workout today? Yes/No
Planned meals for today? Yes/No
Followed plan for meals? Yes/No
Healthy food choices today? Yes/No _90___% (__5__ out of 6 meals) *skipping meals denotes unhealthy food choice
Enjoyed my family today? Yes/No
Succeeded for school today? Yes/No *it seems I should outline what success in school means. That may be a bit too abstract. Here's this: did I do needed homework today?

Okay, I'm here. I've been a bit busy lately, what with school starting and all that. Strange how time can fly...

Workouts are picking up again. I can tell that I'm still not level best, but I'm pushing through it. I did Intermediate TT Workout A, week 3 yesterday, and did TT intermediate bodyweight circuit-style today. I guess it does kind of bother me that I'm in the intermediate section and that it kicks my a$$, even though I'm at 30 lb dumbbells in the incline chest press, at full-body on the inverted rows, and can do 5 one-legged squats on the weak side with only some support from the door frame on the way back up. I keep wondering where I really should be fitness-wise. Do I hold myself back, or is my body really that stubborn? Was it because I wasn't active throughout some of my most formative years(age 9-18) and never participated in sports? Or do I really need to enlist the help of a personal trainer who will push me just that much harder (I would love that by the way, but the funny thing is that it comes down to $$--irony or what)?

So I'm frustrated. My journal says I'm at week three, the meals for this week are all planned, I'm now down to 156 lbs, all good things- I should give me a break! It's crazy. It's this kind of thinking that has kicked my butt before, caused me to dive into the ice cream (which I don't have in the house, and wouldn't eat anyway because it's not in my menu, and besides, I can always make the banana smoothie/ice cream), and say to heck with it. Heh.

Alright, so back to normal optimism. I'm doing great. I'm right on track, the scale moves down (3 lbs so far this month!), and school is back in session which means work should pick back up again, and I've got a great support group building around me on-line. See? It's not so bad!

Hmm.

Why ISN'T my eating where I want it to be? How is it that I allowed myself to stay off track for the last couple of days? Did I think I deserved any junk food? Yes, actually, I believe I did think I deserved it, because I was sick, poor me, earlier this week, and I was off anyway, so what was the point of "being good"?

Yeah, I just re-read my previous post after reading some of Marcol's posts and thought, what is up? I'm back to the EXCUSES! No more. At least for today. It'll definitely be a constant battle. Supper tonight is EFL meatloaf (turkey meatloaf, yum) with a veggie. I'll mix up more of my banana smoothie "ice cream" and feel good about that.

I definitely noticed how I craved sweet things when I couldn't taste anything. A couple of times I caught myself rummaging or wanting to rummage in the kitchen, and had to realize that I was only searching for something because my brain was trying to taste something. Psychology. Or psycho. Whichever is preferred.

Anything?

Strangely enough I have nothing to write about today! I'm impatiently waiting for my body to get back to it's normal spot of not getting exhausted quite so easily. I carried my daughter (~35 pounds) across a space approximately half a football field long, and it winded me! Argh! Each day will get better...

I did do a workout yesterday- light versions of TT and interval training. Hardly broke a sweat, but heart rate was up and it was better than nothing. Eating's been getting better, but still not where I truly want it to be. I'll definitely be back on track by Monday.

Getting Better

Today I felt much better. Didn't go in for a workout because I was exhausted after running errands this morning. It's just weird for me to be tired after that, since I'm used to running around all day long. I'm hoping I'll be able to get in a workout and a decent eating schedule tomorrow. In the meantime, here's some reading from Alwyn's newsletter:

Well, that's it. Summer 2007 is "unofficially over". Hope everyone had a great one.

I wrote this back in May:
----
Peaking for an athlete is essentially dialing in all the different components of preparation so that at a specified point in time, you are in the absolute best condition possible.

I'm working with an athlete right now who is preparing for the Abu Dhabi Combat Championships -- on that date - we need to "peak".

But what about a general fitness client? You don't have a fight to get ready for, you don't have a combine. So what do you peak for?
------
...[Based on following a peak for a special event, like a holiday,] New Year's is your next date to 'peak'. 16 weeks to go. Get going...

It Figures

Yesterday's Priority List:
Workout Today? Yes/No
Planned workout today? Yes/No
Planned meals for today? Yes/No
Followed plan for meals? Yes/No
Healthy food choices today? Yes/No _60___% (__4__ out of 6 meals) *skipping meals denotes unhealthy food choice
Enjoyed my family today? Yes/No
Succeeded for school today? Yes/No *school does not start until Sept 10

Well, it figures. That sore throat is Strep, which puts me on antibiotics and out of the gym for this week. *sigh* If I'm on Ibuprofen, I feel fine-ish (except for the dizziness and weakness), but once it wears off it's not cool. So, this week is just a setback. No problem, I'm still on track. Last week must've done something right, because I was down to 157(!) at the doctor's office. Now I'm not so scared to weigh myself.

Didn't eat much beyond lunch yesterday, I had a fruit/protein smoothie at 3 and then I couldn't get anything solid down the rest of the day. Otherwise, the choices I had up till then were healthy. Today I'm just living off hot cereal. I hope tomorrow I'll be feeling well enough to have an actual meal.

Back on Alwyn's Blog again!

I found this today: Your last excuse just went back to school. Yep, my testimonial is again on Alwyn's blog. I nearly fell over, really. Now, do you know how that makes me feel? On the one hand, I feel awesome- my results from Afterburn truly were real and exhilarating, and it's been easy to maintain those losses-most of my pants still really don't fit that well because they're too big. On the other, I'm still not where I want to be for goal body comp (last measurement had me somewhere between 24-25%). So in a way, I feel like I let myself down. However, it's also very motivating. I've got a really sore throat today and feel somewhat dizzy when I'm up and walking around, but ibprofen really helps take the edge off. I may go do a workout now, although I will have to see how it will go.

Menu is half-planned for this week, and there are lots of healthy leftovers in the fridge. Today's lunch was a pork chop w/ bbq sauce and a baked potato. Breakfast was only FiberOne. I believe that my stomach wants more, but my throat just can't get it down, so I stop eating more out of pain and frustration than satisfaction or full-ness.

As for yesterday, I took the day off. It was Labor day, and I had lots of fun. My food choices weren't the greatest, but I didn't eat much of anything. I spent most of the day on my feet, either standing or walking around.

Now, of course, I've been challenged by Alwyn again. Except that I'm a week ahead of him this time! ha! This month's goal is to keep my eating at 90%, with the side effect of dropping 5 pounds (of course, that would mean weighing myself. hmm). I also have the goal to do 10 chin-ups unassisted by the end of the next 16 weeks. So, with 90% in mind, that means that yesterday was included and thus makes for an interesting weekend this coming one, since we will be traveling. I think I'll challenge myself. I will enjoy the healthy food choices.

Anti-Aging Remedy?

Yesterday's Priority List:
Workout Today? Yes/No
Planned workout today? Yes/No
Planned meals for today? Yes/No
Followed plan for meals? Yes/No
Healthy food choices today? Yes/No _100___% (__6__ out of 6 meals) *skipping meals denotes unhealthy food choice
Enjoyed my family today? Yes/No
Succeeded for school today? Yes/No *school does not start until Sept 10



Josh Hillis' blog sent me to an article at slowtwitch.com today (a place for runners, it seems). I am not, and never will be, a long-distance runner (hell, training for a 5k seems to be too much for my hip), but it's always good to read up on more stuff when you're a trainer. The whole article makes one think, but here's a paragraph that's really applicable: (Click here for the article)

Generally, exercise is a great way to increase muscle mass and, hence, organ reserve. We were, after all, designed to move. The difference is that our DNA blueprints were fine-tuned to have us operating optimally when we walk long distances, sprint like hell periodically, move occasional heavy loads, climb trees and generally tap into our fat-based energy system and our ATP-based energy systems. The benefits of true low level activity are many: We develop an extensive capillary network to bring fatty-acid fuel to each and every muscle cell, we up-regulate the production of fat-mobilizing and fat-burning enzymes which take fat out of storage and present it to the mitochondria for combustion, we improve cardiac muscle efficiency and cardiac capacity and we increase natural internal antioxidant levels. As for the ATP-based system, intermittent heavy loads do increase muscle mass very effectively, also stimulating growth hormone release, as well as improving insulin sensitivity and promoting bone density. The net effect of surviving that run in with a saber tooth tiger was that you got stronger and better adapted to do it again next time.

Did you hear that? Intermittent sprints, some low-level movement (the stairs instead of the elevator, that enjoyable walk around the block/neighborhood), and weight training, in combination with good nutrition (fruits and veggies, withprotein, nuts and Omega-3's in the right ratio to Omega-6's), as the way to retard aging.