Rethinking My Goal Weight

When I first met my personal trainer last October, he weighed me and did a body fat analysis. I don't remember the exact results off hand, but I do recall that I commented that, after reading a whole slew of "ideal weight" articles, I'd come up with 150 pounds as a reasonable goal weight for someone who is 5'6" tall. My build is pretty large, and 150 is a good stone heavier than any of the target weights the internet came up with.

Anyway, I told my trainer my goal weight and he said that with my body fat percentage and body type, it wasn't likely, but I could certainly get to the point where I look like I weigh 150. So yesterday during our regular session I asked him what would be a reasonable weight goal, and he suggested 180 pounds.

I'm sticking with 150 as my goal weight here for the time being, but his assessment did help me feel a little bit more patient with the process. My thighs and butt will always be relatively large, especially since they're already almost all muscle as it is. But I'm looking forward to a smaller belly. I miss my hourglass figure. :)

Random note: according to the internets, I can achieve "extreme fat loss" at 1800 calories per day. On Nutrisystem I've been eating around 1400 calories per day, but except for today I haven't been too terribly hungry. (This evening I was effing ravenous.) I'm not sure what to say about that, really. Just felt like jotting it down here.

Gym Recap

Since Jeev couldn't make it today, I asked him to tell me specifically what to do today in his absence. Amazingly, he actually gave me a very detailed workout. This is what I did:

Treadmill: 2.25mi, 36.5min, 272cal
I did a warm-up of .25 miles then alternated .25-mile "laps" of 4.2mph and 3.5mph.

Exercise: reps x sets [weight]

Push-up position rows: 16x2 [10 lbs/arm]
Push-ups: 10x2
Squats: 12x2 [with 12-lb bar]
Medicine ball slams: 15x2

Pretty good work-out over all.

By the by, Nutrisystem is going pretty well so far, though I foresee today will be a Hungry Day.

Nutribears (oh my)

Nutrisystem has made a lot of changes since last year. In addition to new food choices, they've kind of restructured the program to give you more variety. Last time, the snacks were all prepackaged Nutrisystem snacks. Now the only prepackaged one is dessert, and the rest are groceries you buy yourself. And while this might mean you're receiving less food for your buck, they've also added in a daily protein shake, which makes up a little bit of the deficit. The groceries are also more varied: you have "powerfuels" (proteins, more or less) and "smartcarbs" (starchy vegetables and more traditional carb). Also, you're supposed to get at least four servings of vegetables per day but they no longer have any requirements as to what meal you have to eat them at.

The best part is that the women's plan now has six "eating occasions" just like the men. Last year, my husband got three snacks a day while I only got two, and that really made my mornings long at work. So while I'm eating much smaller portions, I'm eating far more often. The only trouble is finding the time to dash out to the kitchen between meetings!

And then there's a somewhat stranger change: as an added incentive to use their online weight tracking website/community/thingy, every ten pounds you lose you receive a Nutribear. Not just a little blog badge; an actual Beanie Baby-type plushie.

I can't decide if this is kind of awesome or just really, really weird. I guess I'll decide if/when I receive one.

Pause

Decided to solve the "what will I forget to bring to the gym today" cycle by not going to the gym at all this morning.  So there!

Because yesterday I forgot my bra.  Seriously.  So I had to wander over to Wal-Mart and pick up a "forgot my bra bra".  Luckily, I got a nice pretty one with purple polka dots. :D

Gym Recap

Elliptical, 30 minutes, 360 calories.  Kind of intense.  This is the sort of elliptical machine where when it makes a jump in resistance, I am stopped cold for a second.  But I made it.  And sweated mightily.

Aaaaand forgot my toiletries.  So guess who got to bathe with hand soap!  Hooray!  Gah, I feel so gross.  On the bright side, somebody forgot their conditioner in the shower before me, and I know people who only use conditioner (no shampoo), so maybe that helped a teeny bit.  Either way, I put my hair up in a ponytail today.

Here we go again.

I have two doctors (long story), and both of them were holding my prescriptions hostage until I did something for them: one of them wanted me to get bloodwork done and the other wanted an in-person visit.  So I paid the ransom and the good news is I've freed all my medications.  The bad news is twofold:

First, I've gained 30 pounds since July.  This is not okay.  Second, the bloodwork came back with "elevated liver function" and much higher cholesterol levels.

I know the problem: I eat too much.  My biggest issue is breakfast.  I go to the gym every weekday morning and pass by about half a dozen fast food restaurants on my way to work.  I'm starving after going to the gym, and often (way too often) I buzz through the drive-thru for a tasty treat.  See, I really love fast food breakfast.  Any other time of day I can take or leave it, but McDonald's sausage burritos and Burger King's croissanwiches.  Man, I'm drooling just thinking about them.

But the fact of the matter is that I weigh 226 pounds.  That's a BMI of 36.6, well into the "obese" range.  My goal is to get down to 150 pounds, which is at the upper end of "normal" for someone of my height.  And hey, I might not get there, seeing as I do go to the gym so much and am a bit more on the muscular side than many women my age, but I'd like to at least look like I weigh 150 pounds.

So, long story short, I'm back on Nutrisystem again.  It helped last time - I lost 25 pounds in about three months - and this time I'm going to keep going to the gym at the same time, so maybe I'll progress at a somewhat more satisfying rate this time around.

I won't lie - I'm totally bummed about this turn of events, and I'm going to be the crabbiest of crabby for the next few weeks.  Let's hope I like the new selection of foods they've added since the last time I was on it.  The protein shakes in particular look like they'll be helpful for my post-gym commute.

An hour on the bike is hard on the butt.

Activity: Stationary bike
Time: 61min 20sec
Distance: 24 miles
Calories burned: 1155

Tired now.

meh

1. Ran on the treadmill: 2.27 miles, 40 minutes. Pain in my right calf during, and pain in the ankle later on. The machine said I burned 81 calories; MapMyRun says 174. Whatever.
   
2. Universal Soldier: Regeneration has taught me that the only colors in Russia are white and navy. What a terrible movie, but I'm not sure why I'd expect much from anything starring Jean-Claude Van Damme.
   
3. I always feel so miserable after working out, no matter what I do. I don't know why that is.

Slogans and Quotes

I so need this shirt.

I was going through my Self magazines yesterday and actually jotting down things I wanted to remember and/or check out later. Like One More Mile, above. I sweat so much when exercising (or doing pretty much anything, really), that this shirt is perfect for me. One day I might even buy one.

Some quotes I particularly liked:

"You are only one workout away from a good mood."

"Sweat is fat crying."

"You won't get the ass you want by sitting on the one you have."

I've been hitting the gym regularly. One particularly awesome victory was going a full 20 minutes on the stair climber. Sure, it wasn't the fastest 20 minutes ever, but I started at level 1 and ended up pumping it up to level 7 well before the end. So there's that.

Striving for escape velocity

Gah, my muscles are killing me from yesterday: arms, abs, legs, butt - you name it, it's sore. So today I went in for my regular cardio. 20 minutes on the ArcTrainer (240 calories) followed by some messing about on the inclined treadmill. I'm not sure how long I was on it because I kept changing programs, but I know I burned 300 calories total, so it was probably in the area of 25 minutes total. I did a little running, finding a steady 4mph pace not too bad, but quickly discovering that I cannot run at 7mph. Well, I probably could in short bursts - like while tumbling down a flight of stairs.

Today's Cardio Cinema movie was Little Nicky, which I haven't see all the way through but looks basically just like every other Adam Sandler film ever made.

PT Session

Finally had another session with Jeev today. (He cancelled again yesterday.) This was definitely a full-body workout, full of running and push-ups and squats and planks. I did real push-ups and never again will I take girly push-ups for granted (though Jeev tells me we're all done with girly push-ups - more's the pity). The planks weren't normal ones either: once I was pulling on a weight with each arm, then later I was kicking each knee up to my shoulder. So it was pretty exhausting, but I made it. More importantly, I did three minutes straight on the endless ladder machine and didn't die! Which led to a strange conversation:

Me: I don't think I've ever done 3 minutes before.
Jeev: Actually, you did, a while back.
Me: Oh yeah, but I think I died.
Jeev: Yeah, you did.

Anyway, I did another two minutes later in the workout and while I was panting pretty good, I didn't die then either. Life is good.

Another conversation snippet, because it made me feel a little better about myself:

Me: Are the exercises getting harder or am I just having an off day?
Jeev: The exercises are definitely getting harder.

Grumpy

I'm feeling a bit grouchtastic this icy Monday morning. I spent the last week sick as a dog (a sick dog), with fever and runny nose and congestion so bad I felt like I was drowning. I even missed a day of work, which pretty much never happens. Saturday night was my first sleep without NyQuil since the whole debacle began.

So today I had a session scheduled with Jeev. My first time back to the gym since I got sick. I'm still not 100% but I'm no longer feverish and I really need to get back to my normal routine at some point. Anyway, I'm warming up, and about 5 after 6 I went out to my car to check my text messages. Sure enough, Jeev wrote to postpone until tomorrow. Dang it! Oh well. I used the inclined treadmill for a half hour and burned 320 calories while watching Walk the Line. So it wasn't a completely wasted effort. But it still annoyed me.

Bouncy

My thighs were still killing me so I decided maybe some thigh-heavy cardio might help. So I popped into the cardio cinema to use the stationary bike for a while. The final tally was not so impressive:

40 minutes
13.5 miles
125 calories

I kind of take issue with that last one but I honestly wasn't working (or sweating) that hard, so maybe it's true. Well, it's better than nothing, right?

Oh yeah, and the movie today was The Big Bounce, which was pretty lame, but not as bad as Tuesday's selection. Two for the Money is one of the most boring movies I've ever seen. I had not idea it was possible to make sports betting any less interesting, but this film managed it somehow.

Almost, but not quite

So I showed up at the gym despite a crappy night's sleep due to pain and congestion. I sucked down the DayQuil and ibuprofen and drove on over. Only to discover, ten minutes after my PT session was supposed to start, that Jeev was home with a fever. Turns out his 5am text to tell me never went through. So I didn't do much: about 5 minutes on the ArcTrainer, 5 minutes of running on the treadmill at 4mph, a couple minutes on the inclined treadmill while waiting for Jeev's text messages. Sure, I could have stayed and worked out, but honestly I feel terrible and the last thing I need is to get sick before my big weekend with the house to myself.

Hunger Pangs

Today at the gym, I did my regular cardio: 20 minutes on the Arctrainer (264 calories) and 30 minutes on the inclined treadmill (310 calories). I attempted a few minutes on the stairclimber but holy crap did that suck. So I'm not even counting it.

I did not hit the drive-thru for breakfast this morning, but I did scarf down my breakfast sammich and banana pretty quickly, and dove into my lunch for my granola bar only about an hour later. I'm still hungry, despite having just eaten lunch (small piece of leftover chicken, orange, and small yogurt), and I'm seriously considering eating the granola bar I found in my desk drawer.

But, dammit, I did not stop at the drive-thru for breakfast. And that is a huge accomplishment.

Slips, Trips, and Falls

Today we were supposed to focus on lower body, but Jeev tells me everything is lower body from your head's point of view. Um, yeah. Anyway, there was a lot of subliminal core work, like side lunges while hefting a 20-lb weight and toe touches on a knee-high step. I fell while doing the latter, and again while doing stair runs, but I'm totally fine. You can't be as klutzy as I without learning how to pick yourself up and keep moving. The stair runs were timed for the first time: 34, 31, and 34 seconds, respectively - that last one was the time when I fell. Not bad. I also did forward and backward lunges over the step, which were the bane of my existence not too long ago, and while they were hard I was way better at them than I ever had been before. The session ended with a couple of plank positions, which I held for 30 seconds each without any trouble at all, really.

So I think I'm improving, at that my endurance is increasing. But for some reason I've been in a foul mood all day and going to the gym doesn't seem to have helped that any. I want my endorphins, dammit!

Rainy walk

Distance: 6.18mi
Time: 2hrs 5min
Calories: 463

Took a long walk around the neighborhood since the weather is so mild. It started raining about halfway through, which kind of sucked, but I made it.

More obnoxious: my bra strap somehow managed to unhook itself about twenty minutes in, so my back was kind of sore by the end of it. My bosoms, they are mighty.

One interesting thing was that I got some of the same pain in my right leg that I used to, but it stopped right above the ankle, right where the muscle was removed. Very strange, but eventually the pain went away and it never interfered with my walking the way it used to. So I guess the surgery can officially be declared a success. :)

Full Disclosure

As of today, the first day of the new year, I weigh 210 pounds. The scale I used may not be in total agreement with reality but it's the one I've been using for years so I figure it's consistent if nothing else. I wear a size 16 in clothes, and that's been the case for at least the last decade, perhaps longer.

I like to take long walks and hikes, though much of those activities have been thwarted due to a serious ankle injury at the end of April 2011. I am still working with a personal trainer to rehabilitate it. I have a membership at Gold's Gym in Chantilly, Virginia. I like it there. I like my trainer, too.

My biggest food issue is breakfast. I absolutely love fast food breakfast. McDonald's sausage burritos and Burger King's croissanwiches are my favorites. I try to replace them with Jimmy Dean's turkey sausage breakfast sammiches. They're tasty but nowhere near as satisfying.

I love going out to eat. I don't even know why, really, since my husband cooks delicious and interesting meals, but there is pretty much never a time when I would rather eat in than out. I could easily do it for every meal of every day.

I think that's it for now. Happy new year.

Out with 2011, In with 2012

When I first started this blog a year ago, it was part of a project from Shrinking Jeans, an online fitness/weight-loss community I've since lost interest in. I was really active there at the beginning, and many of the early assignments involved goals.

At the very beginning of this blog, I posted a few goals. Let's see how I did.

1. Be able to do 3 sets of 10 pull-ups on the machine with the full counterweight (114 lbs).

You know, I seem to recall being about to do this by about February or March, but I haven't attempted a pull-up since April so I have no idea. So we'll count it as failed.

2. Get my weight under 200 lbs.

I achieved this, but then gained it all back again.

Bonus goal: get my weight below 180.

I don't think I ever managed this.

3. Fit into my suit.

Never even tried, come to think of it.

Bonus goal: go down a pant size.

Nope, but I did manage to avoid going up a pant size, so there's that.

4. Complete First Day to 5k on Podrunner Intervals.

Nope, but I'm working with my trainer on being able to run an actual 5k so we'll count it as in progress.

A couple weeks later, there were more goals, none of which I achieved, and I don't even feel like recapping them here.

I would have done better had I not completely screwed up my ankle at the end of April. I find new year's resolutions, as well as fictionalized (and idealized!) letters from the future, to be quite discouraging. But hey, they were things I hadn't tried before, so I tried them.

I don't have specific goals this year, except for the vague intention of being able to run a 5k. I haven't signed up for a race or anything; it's just a general desire of mine.

Okay, that's enough recapping. I think I'll separate the rest of my ramblings into individual posts.

Let's go ride bikes!

Today my friend introduced me to Capital Bike Share and we went for a ride. The last time I was on a bicycle was probably about a decade ago. It was so much fun. I'd forgotten! We spent most of our time on the Mount Vernon Trail but we also wandered around a bit in DC, passing by the Lincoln Memorial and the Kennedy Center, among other things. I had such a wonderful time. MapMyRide tells me we traveled 7.24 miles and burned 542 calories over the course of our two hour journey. Not bad for my first time in so many years. And I honestly had fun, not feeling tired (or even all that cold) until toward the end. I guess I'm in better shape than I thought I was. Or maybe it was just an easy ride. :)