Motivation Monday

Wowsers. My kids are on an Inspector Gadget kick. I totally blame that for my wowsers habit.

Let me just be real - last week suuuuuucked.

Sara got sick early Thursday morning with the dreaded stomach flu. All of my laundering and Clorox wiping and Lysol using was all for naught and I ended up getting sick in the middle of a fund raising event for the Y on Friday night. I'm a fun girl that way.

But even before that, I was struggling. I think my iron is low again because my energy level is in the crapper. This week in P90X-land, it was rest and recovery week.

HA! Don't let the phrase fool you.

It was neither restful or recovery oriented.

And, for the first time since Christmas, I missed my Thursday through Saturday workouts. It was awful. I do not even want to try to explain how much missing those workouts tortured me.

Time to take a deep breath and attempt to be rational. I tried to stick to the schedule, but it just didn't work out  and I did manage to drag myself to Zumba on Sunday. It was really, really hard but I gave it my all.

I'm not sure what the heck has happened but ever since Robert left, I'm all schedule oriented which has never been my thing. It's spooky.

Of course, now it's Monday but tomorrow is also end of the month. I weighed and took measurements today and my four week total is......15 pounds and 15.5 inches.  I was hoping for more since there was very minimal food intake Thursday through Sunday, but it is what it is. And 15 pounds in a month is nothing to sneeze at. For real.

I'm looking forward to the new week and starting the new phase of P90X. Unfortunately, that still includes YogaX. And Plyo. That's in addition to a bunch more different types of push ups and pull ups and all sorts of fun new stuff.

On the brighter side, I bit the bullet and registered for Zumba instructor training this week.

Because of that I actually watched myself in the mirror at Zumba this afternoon. I figure if I'm going to expect  others to watch me Zumba then I need to know what they'll see.

Have I mentioned that I prefer not to look at myself in the mirror as a whole - especially when rapidly moving so that the jiggly parts jiggle. But it wasn't as bad as I feared. My feet do this really weird floppy thing, though, which would have made me giggle had I not still been gasping for air. Also? My collarbones are HUGE. (And, um, YAY that they show up these days, right?!!?!)

See you next week if I'm still alive. HA!

Motivation Monday - BOOYA Plateau!

How's THIS for motivation?

On January 2, I started a fitness challenge. I'm doing P90X, following a basic TeamBeachBody nutrition guideline, using Shakeology and going to Zumba three times a week.

Week one: way sore, only lost two pounds. This brought me to the weight number I have been battling against for the last year and a half.  Maybe I've lost inches. ::crosses fingers:: Nope.

So I have a choice - leap of faith, trust the plan, stay on my current path or give up and be at this same weight this time next year (or heaven forbid even heavier). Yeah. that made it easier.

Week two. Last Thursday, I had a doctor's appointment. One where I knew I'd have to be weighed. Five weeks prior was my last appointment and the doctor mentioned that I'd gained a few pounds. And um, yeah, it was before the holidays so I can't blame Christmas or New Year's.

I hadn't weighed since that Monday so I really had no idea what my number would be and I was determined not to be stressed about it. It is what it is, and even if I haven't lost any more than the two pounds from Monday, at least it was two pounds down.

So I hop on the scale and move the weight to where I thought it should be. Too heavy? Sa-weet! Slide it down, slide it down, slide it down. Five pounds down.  By the doctor's record, I've lost 13 pounds in five weeks. And today when I weighed in, I was hoping that my scale  - which tends to weigh me a couple pounds heavier than the doctor's scale - reflected that same number.

Well, it didn't.

It was two pounds LESS.

::sprinkler:: ::running man:: ::MC Hammer U Can't Touch This::

Should I dare take measurements? Romi used to weigh and measure me every two weeks when I was working with her. I had a general idea of what my measurements were (mostly my waist measurement), so imagine my surprise when I had lost inches in my chest, waist, hips, thighs (TWO inches in EACH thigh, thankyouverymuch), biceps and calves. 9 inches in total. Ten pounds in total. In two weeks.

Yeah, I'll take that. I'll take that all day long. Good bye plateau. I will not miss you. Buh bye!

All pumped up that I now weigh right around what I did on my wedding day - ten years ago - I headed to the gym to do the chest and back workout.

Woooooooooweeeeee! What a struggle I had today.  Everything felt so hard, but I looked back at my records and I'm steadily improving. And the sweat was actually rolling off me. Attractive.

I went to Zumba this afternoon and was drenched in sweat after that class too. But I loved it. Tomorrow is freakin' Plyo. I do not love plyo, but I'm determined to master it.

Can't wait to see what next Monday brings.

Motivation Monday

As part of my January fitness challenge, I weighed in this morning.

Down two pounds. I'll take it! It's not a Biggest Loser kind of number, but hey - two pounds is nothing to sneeze at. I'm trying really hard not to focus on the numbers because that ALWAYS derails me. I could write posts after post about it. Sigh. Actually, I think I have already. A-hem.

Anyway! Moving on. Where was I? Two pounds, yay me.

P90X. Let's do some talking about P90X, shall we? I've dabbled in P90X off and on for over a year. I've done all the weight routines many, many times, but I've had very limited experience with the dedicated cardio. I call it dedicated cardio because in all honesty, if you are doing P90X correctly it's all pretty intense cardio - even the Yoga....err...excuse me..Yoga X. Or as Tony would say, Yoga X, brother.

Tony and I are having a bit of a love hate relationship these days. I love him, my muscles pretty much hate him.

Why is that, you may be wondering?

I'd be delighted to tell you. Push ups. Pull ups. Squats. Lunges. Jumping. Oh how I hate, hate, hate the jumping. Especially when squats and lunges are combined with jumping. Plyo is the devil. The devil that's an hour long. Jumping jacks. Whom ever thought up jumping jacks should have been shot. In the foot.

Seriously though, it's been a week. I lived past the first full week. WOOT! On Thursday, I was so sore I wanted to cry when ever I tried to stand or sit or breathe.

BUT! Today? I was looking forward to the workout. Have I improved in a week? I certainly feel stronger. And six or seven people have told me I looked thinner or smaller in the last week. God Bless all of you, by the way. You made my middle aged self so happy!

Oh - and here's my official "before" picture. We took it New Year's Eve. When I saw it, I wanted to cry. I thought I was further along than this. I guess that just means there's more room for progress, right?

Motivation Monday - the P90X edition

I missed last Monday because we were traveling and I hadn't worked out, like, at all. But I knew it was coming so I tried really hard not to be cranky about it. I think I did okay, but only Robert and the kids know for sure and they're all asleep right now.

So today I'm happy to report that I got my slacker butt back into the Y. I've started a fitness challenge with one of my former managers, and my program of choice is P90X.

Yesterday I finally got around to doing the fit test which consisted of push ups, bicep curls, vertical jump, pull ups, in and out sit ups, and two agonizing minutes of jumping jacks. Oh, and wall squats. You are supposed to be able to pass this test before starting P90X. I surpassed the minimum requirements in everything but the jumping jacks and pull ups. I switched to running in place about 45 seconds in, but switched back for the last 30 second jumping jack sprint. I had no way to do pull ups here, but I know I can't do one without out a little help. So there's tons of opportunity for improvement. I hadn't done push ups or pull ups in months. Can't really say that I missed them.

Which leads me into my workout for today. Chest, back, and abs. Guess what that consisted of? Push ups and pull ups, mostly. Tony Horton is the devil. The devil I tell you.

I had planned to go to Zumba this afternoon, but I didn't make it. I need to be able to walk around tomorrow since Robert's going back to work and I've got to do plyo.

But I've gotta say - it felt GOOD to be back in the gym. Crap. I've turned into one of those people that likes to work out.

Motivation Monday - Free* - Week Four, Day 1

I had another doctor's appointment today and was pleased that my weight over Thanksgiving stayed pretty much the same. I was up less than a pound, and I am absolutely okay with that!

Last week I kicked butt with workouts. My 10K bike time is just under 30 minutes, my 8 lap swim so far is just around 20 minutes. If I were able to use the elliptical instead of the treadmill, I could ring in a 2.5 mile time at around 23:20. On the treadmill, my best 2.5 mile time has been about 43 minutes, but I have until almost the end of February to improve that - and all my times. I can work with that. I'm doing back to back workouts - swim and bike, swim and treadmill, or bike and treadmill. I want to get used to the distances and having to switch between the pool, the bike, and the treadmill.

I'm also diving back into P90X weight lifting. I only have one word for that - ouch! But in a good way.

On top of all that training, I'm doing Zumba as many times a week as I can - averaging about four. I'm not sure I'll be able to continue 7:30 Zumba once Robert deploys, so I want to get in as much of it as possible right now.

I was stressed last week about not getting in enough workout time, but I managed to work out Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Not bad for a holiday week and a trip out of town over the weekend. I was actually even grumpy on Wednesday thinking I might not get a chance to workout Friday through Sunday, but we made it work.

Which, really, is what you do when something is important enough to you. You make it work.