blabbery: accomplishments fitness flabbery guilt gym jogging life running weight loss
by Blabby
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I am running 2 miles!
I haven’t given a fitness update in sometime - mostly because it’s depressing. I had to stop going to the gym for a couple weeks because the baby was sick and on two different rounds of antibiotics. I didn’t want him in the daycare, so we walked and jogged around the neighborhood. It’s crazy how much harder jogging with the jogger is than jogging on a treadmill. One problem is that my jogger lists to the left, so I constantly have to pick up the front end and turn us. Pain in the butt. But I also think it’s the sun, the asphalt, the Santa Ana winds, my bad attitude, etc.
So anyway, back to the point. I’ve been going to the gym a little less regularly (3-4 times per week vs. 6-7), and I try to go when my husband can watch the baby, so he doesn’t keep getting sick from the gym daycare. Even with all these interruptions, my jogging is improving, and I’m up to two miles straight (at 5.0 speed) on the treadmill! The Airborne Ranger cadences on my iPod truly make all the difference.
To keep up the good work, I’ve stopped weighing myself. I plan to weigh in once a month, and that’s it. I’m also hoping to do a 5k in May - something to shoot for. And if I walk, I walk, but I’m still healthier. Who cares if my butt is as big as ever, as long as my heart can sustain it?
The secret to fitness…
…must be proper motivation. I’ll be the first to admit it - I’m no runner. I’m hardly a jogger. I’m best categorized as a waddler. That’s right, it’s a sort of sad version of March of the Penguin (minus the belly slides, if I’m lucky) every day on the treadmill. But today, I ran 1.5 miles! That’s right - I ran 1.5 miles because I changed the music in my iPod.
So here’s the secret to my success - CADENCES! I don’t know if it’s just bringing back happy memories of my time on Active Duty (wait, I don’t remember happy times…), but there is nothing more motivating to me than someone yelling, “C-130 Rolling Down the Strip…” and hearing a bunch of tired voices repeating. I can run to Georgia just like that. (That’s also a cadence. That was just a joke. I really can’t run to Georgia.)
So my new iPod mix is this:
- Dance Dance by Fall Out Boy
- Candy Man by Christina Aguilera
- Run to Cadence with the Army Rangers (about 40 minutes of different cadences)
- Dear Mr. President by Pink with the Indigo Girls
- The Wood Song by the Indigo Girls
It worked perfectly. The first two songs got me warmed up walking, then I put the treadmill at 5.3 and jogged to cadences for 25 minutes. Then I did situps and pushups to my girls Pink, Emily and Amy sticking it to George in the best way. That last song, The Wood Song, is just my all-time favorite Indigo Girls song, perfect for stretching, and it always makes me happy.
Now if you do that math, 1.5 miles in 25 minutes is pretty terrible. But jogging for 25 minutes straight? Without walking? Without quitting? I smell accomplishment, and it smells great!
Last week, I bought a $50 iTunes gift card at COSTCO for $44.90 - excellent deal. I highly recommend it if you purchase a lot of music. That’s five free songs!
lethargy smethargy…
I thought I’d write an actual post, and not just book reports. I have no interest in any of my interests this week. I don’t want to look at homework. I can’t find my disk with all my web designs saved on it, so I don’t want to work on my websites, because I hate doing stuff from scratch that I already have - and that crap took me a long time to make. Here I was thinking, “oh, I’ll back these up on a CD, and take them off my computer so they’re safe,” and then I can’t find the box with the CDs in it. Annoying. All of my illustrator designs are on that same disk. Also annoying.
All I want to do lately is read fiction. Hence, the numerous book postings in the last few days. I don’t even really want to watch TV (if you know me at all, this is really a big shocker.) My TIVO is almost maxed out with weeks worth of shows I haven’t watched. I even gave up a few shows and erased my Season Pass (DIRT, Apprentice LA, Shark).
Perhaps I need more sleep. I have been going to the gym, though. I’m doing pretty well there. The other day (Friday?), I walked/jogged on the treadmill for a whole hour! It’s because my new gym friend showed up right as I was going to get off (30 min.) and I ended up staying on and talking to her. It was also the first time I ran a half mile straight. Normally, I’ll walk for .25 miles, jog for .25, etc. But that day, I walked .5, then jogged .5 miles at 5.5 and 6.0. That’s pretty fast for me. Then I walked another .25, then ran .25 at 6.5! This is almost a fitness miracle for me.
Anyway, I’m still as fat as ever. I can feel some muscles in my legs under the layer of winter blubber, but I can’t see them yet. And my pants aren’t fitting any better…so, who knows. Perhaps I shouldn’t have eaten a strawberry shortcake this evening :)
Aah, who cares. At least I’m going everyday. Eventually, that has to make a difference. I mean, I was doing NOTHING for a whole 2 years…so I’m sure progress will happen soon.
Props to my friend Spankratz for making it to the final round of interviews. Soon, she’ll be free from her overworking-drag of a job and onto the new and exciting world of magazine editing!
Down with Starbucks
It’s official. I’ve given up Starbucks. I’m not saying I’ll never drink it again, but I’ve given up my once-a-day habit. I’m taking a Personal Finance class and all the annoying 18 year olds were like, “just get your coffee at 7-11″ “just buy it at Costco and home brew”, etc.
If I was only in it for the coffee, then that’s what I’d do.
First of all, they’ve obviously never had to deal with the logistics of getting a not-walking-yet fourteen-month-old out of the car seat, into a convenience store, filled a hot cup of coffee with one hand while holding the baby with the other (not recommended). Here’s how that would go down: still holding the baby, setting coffee on counter, try to open Splenda and creamer with teeth, “no baby, that’s not for you.” Baby drinks a little creamer on accident. Get lid on coffee with one hand without spilling it. Head to counter to pay. Set coffee on counter. Crap, money is in the wrong pocket, switching baby to other hip, getting out money, “no baby, don’t put that money in your mouth!”, switching baby back to other side, shoving change in pocket, picking up coffee, attempting to open door with back, some stranger takes pity on us and holds door, set coffee on roof of car, put baby in carseat, get in car and leave coffee on roof.
Now, here’s the Starbucks version of that scenario.
Mommy and baby in car, jamming to Indigo Girls. There are 5 cars ahead of us in the drive through, so I flip through a magazine. Baby drinks some sippy cup and races his Hotwheel along the carseat. I order my drink (venti soy chai, no foam, no water, with an add shot), “that’ll be $4.55, please pull forward.” I hand the girl my handy Starbucks card that (until this week,) I always kept loaded. She hands me the best drink ever. We drive off into the sunset.
If Starbucks would just sell the concentrated chai, and not the watered down version that’s in the Tazo box, I could make it at home. But here’s what happens instead. The whole point of me getting “no water” is that the vanilla soy milk mixed with just the chai concentrate and a shot of espresso becomes this wonderful, creamy, spicy creation. The home version is a little like Eddie Murphy’s home burger…terrible. (That was a Raw reference, folks.)
But I digress. A lot. I have given up the perfect joy-bringing drink to save that $4.55 a day. Now, instead of loading my Starbucks card with $50 a couple times a month, I’m going to deposit that money in our savings account. I’ve been making a half pot of coffee at home every day and using vanilla chai spice creamer, but it sucks.
Also, my home version is only about 60 calories whereas the Starbucks drink is around 350. Since I usually burn about 200+ calories at the gym, this is an added incentive for me to give up my high-calorie chai. But that doesn’t mean I’m happy about it.
confession time
I am a whopping 180 lbs. I have gone up TEN sizes since I got married - six before my pregnancy, and four more after I had my son. At first I didn’t want to buy any new clothes, convinced I would quickly lose the weight, so I continued wearing maternity clothes. Then my friend got pregnant, and I felt bad, because I still had most of her maternity clothes, and I wanted her to have mine also, so I finally gave in and bought a few size 18 jeans and XL shirts. Ridiculous. The funny thing is that I still have my shape - it’s just bigger. I’m kind of blind to my size until I see a picture of myself and have to count my chins.
Well, really, enough is enough. This is why I’m so proud of my daily gym attendance. I’m up to 3 weeks straight.
Here’s problem one - I don’t love exercise. I’ve always maintained my weight by my activities. First there was cheerleading in high school. Then there was the dance team in college. I’d gain weight all spring and summer and lose it all during band camp - that’s right, band camp. I freakin’ loved band camp. I’d get skinny and get a tan all in one week. Then, after college, I played flag football and softball on teams with my coworkers. I love flag football. I’m a hell of a corner back. Not too bad at first base either. Then I joined the Army. I think this was my downfall.
See, up until this point, I wasn’t actually muscelly, I was just fit. But at Basic Training, I got muscles. I was still a size 8 (birthing hips or whatever), but my body fat percentage was around 12% - this is very low for me. Then I got married to a Dominican who loves all foods - especially those covered in cheese or sauce - as much as me. Five years and minimal physical activity later - I had creeped up to a size 14. And I won’t lie here, when I found out I was pregnant, I was like, “yes! I can eat whatever I want.” Which is exactly what you’re not supposed to do. My dad was like, “make sure you’re walking…it will make delivery easier.” I was like, “okay, Dad!” as I sat on the couch day after day.
Then I had to have a c-section and they had to cut some stomach muscles. And no, not because I hadn’t been walking. Apparently the width of your hips has very little to do with the width of your pelvic opening. My kid was too big. His poor little head was stuck for 40 min. before they made me stop pushing and have a c-section. I won’t lie, that surgery took some recovery time, but not nearly as much as I took.
So here we are today…fat fat fat.
But here’s the goal. By my 7th anniversary (August ’07) I’d like to lose at least 30 lbs. and be down to a size 12/14. At least then I can fit into the closet full of nice clothes I have. If I pass that up, even better. Then I’ll sell all my nice size 14 work clothes on eBay and buy myself new clothes!
I’ve been lying to myself for a long time about how much of a problem my weight is. No more. In fact, I saw that open calls for Biggest Loser are this weekend in LA. I considered going, but I couldn’t leave William for 12 weeks. Plus, there wouldn’t be anyone to watch him.
So I’m on my own. But that’s usually how I work best. Plus, when William is ready for flag-football in a few years, I want to teach him how to be a great corner back. The key is watching the receiver’s hips - this will be a great relief from watching my own hips. :)
14 days!
Today makes 14 days straight that I’ve gone to the gym!!! Woo hoo…I have to say, I’m extremely proud of myself. Not that I’m training for a marathon or anything, but 30 or more minutes on the treadmill and at least 200 crunches everyday is bound to make a difference eventually, right?
So here’s something cool my friend Spankratz sent me: Pictaps
Which I was referred to by this newsletter:
Chris Prillo’s Picks which you can receive by emailing [email protected].
In other news, I was listening to NPR this morning, and there was a little snippet kind of pointing the finger at Gen. Casey for a lack of progress in Iraq. Along the lines of (some senator speaking), “Last year, Gen. Casey promised such and such progress pertaining to violence and insurgent attacks. Now a year later, he’s still making the same promises, only delayed a year.” This pisses me off. Why not hold George Bush accountable? Not the guys trying to do their best with what they’ve got. How far down the chain will they pass the buck?
Crap. I hate this war.
The gym
Today is the third day in a row that I’ve gone to the gym. I think we’re (me and William) are getting into a pretty good schedule. One problem is that William wakes up anywhere between 5 am and 7 am. Closer to 7am is great - for obvious reasons, but mostly, the gym’s day care doesn’t open until 8 am. If he wakes up closer to 5 am - as he did today, he’s so tired by 8 am that he cries at the day care. Also, there are some really really nice care workers that love him and hold him all the time, and there are others that do not. Basically it’s a crapshoot. I’m trying to keep my workout under an hour, so that we’re on our way home by 9 am. He’s been falling asleep in the car about a mile from our house. This is okay if he stays asleep and I put him in his crib…
Man, I think I just dozed off while I was typing that, it was so boring.
So here’s what I really wanted to say about the gym before I got sidetracked with baby stuff. There was this girl on one of the fancier eliptical trainers - the ones that move your feet so fast, you feel off balance. She had her little workout outfit on - low-rise black lycra pants, little black bra/tank with lots of boobs spilling out, huge tattoo across her back/butt showing. Hair and makeup totally styled like she was on a date. She had headphones on and was singing at the top of her lungs. Now, I know it’s American Idol season, but crap! First of all, she couldn’t sing. That was the worst part. If you can sing, go ahead. If not, well, keep it to yourself.
This is actually contrary to my normal way of thinking. I actually really like it when people can dance or sing or whatever with out holding back - regardless of talent level. BUT, there was this poor lady trying to read her book and do her elliptical workout, and I’m sure that girl’s off-key hollering was messing her up. The guy on her other side was working his ass off, literally. Sweat pouring off of him. He was easily moving his legs 10 times faster than the singer. I guess he was in some kind of zone, so it probably didn’t matter.
Anyway, my point is that she was so annoying. And for someone so obviously concerned with her appearance, you’d think she’d shut her trap and stick to looking cute in her workout clothes.
Tomorrow I’m going to take the Step class. No singers in there, I’m guessing.
