227.8 - 102.8 pounds to go!

So clearly Sunday was a great day! I was really hoping that the scale would wiggle down to 227.6 so I could lose 3 pounds even, but oh well!

The bigger part of my week was the class we took at the gym on Friday. The sign for the class showed kettlebells, so I was a bit excited thinking we'd be getting to play around with those. HA! Not even close! Here's a list of the exercises we did (all done twice except stretches):

• circuit 1: jumping jacks, push-ups, planks
• circuit 2: pelvic thrusts, stiff leg lifts, shoulder touch push-ups, kneel to stand drills (or kneel stand kneel drills)
• circuit 3: long stride sprints, squat thrusts
• circuit 4: traffic cone leg/arm swaps (we basically put our left leg out and touched the cone in front of us with our left hand, then jumped and swapped to the other side), Bosu ball arm thrusts (quickly), stability ball arm squeezes
• stretching: hamstring stretches, forward arm circles, backward arm circles, arching side stretches, camel/cat stretches, butterfly stretch.

Everything was extremely difficult for us. The first jumping jacks were fine, and then it all went downhill. I could maybe do 3 modified push-ups, and I held the plank for maybe 10 seconds. Pelvic thrusts were fine even through the second set. The stiff leg lifts I had to modify. He wanted us to lift our legs up straight and alternately lower them down and back up. Instead, I bent at the knees and kicked straight out. The should touches were brutal! I can't stay in a push-up position, let alone on one hand as I slap a shoulder. Ugh! And the kneel to stand drills hurt my knees.

The sprints were difficult only in that he wanted us to run to a cone and back, then across the room and back in long strides. "To the cone should be 3 steps!" HA! I think I was taking like 6-7. In comparison to the squat thrusts though, it was easy. I could at least just run. The thrusts made me feel like a frog and all awkward.

Come stretching time, I suddenly felt sick. I remember giggling during the arm circles as the instructor explained that in the military he was called "Giggles." He was telling us about a time when he challenged his instructor and I noticed my arms were super tired. We moved in to the arching side stretches and I recall feeling really tired. He came over as I put my arms down and forced me to stretch over toward my husband. I remember him explaining how it should arch like a bridge and made us into a bridge. And then I felt ill. The room was spinning, my eyes couldn't focus, I felt like I would be sick. I stood there, not sure of what to do. Was I going to puke? Could I walk to the bathroom? The sick feeling left but the urge to pass out was creeping up on me. Thankfully the instructor noticed and brought me a glucose tab while the others did some cat/camel stretches (of course, the one I really wanted to learn properly!) I felt a little better within a few minutes, enough to learn a lower back stretch (bend at the waist, hook fingers under toes or grab calves, alternately bend one knee at a time like walking in place). I felt sick for a good hour or so afterward.

Now the gym is asking us if we want to sign up for any of the classes on a regular basis and as time goes on, I think "we really should do something to push ourselves!" But being sore from Saturday through today makes me cringe at the thought of doing that class on a weekly basis.

Sunday Should Be A Good Day

So I peeked this morning at the scale, and yesterday morning as well. I had told myself it had to stop. Once a week, that's it! But this morning was a pleasant surprise - 238.0! This leads me to question Sunday's weigh-in. Did I really gain a pound? Was it water weight? Did taking a couple days off help somehow? Which let me tell you, two consecutive days off from the gym is BAD! I mean, it was good, but it made going back really hard. After just two days, I was tired and wanted to nap again after getting home. Once we were there though, even with my back hurting all day, it was easy to get going. I don't care for cardio days so much, but strength training days are almost fun! There are so many options, and once you start to get tired you just go swap to a different set of muscles. I get intimidated when there are lots of people and trainers in that area, but maybe soon I'll get over that.

230.6 - Not Out of the 230's Yet

Yesterday's weigh-in was such a disappointment. I worked hard all week, I ate under 1550 calories ALL week, we were even good when we went to a family pot luck. People are telling me (and I know) it's probably just muscle, as evidenced by the decreased inches, but it's still a bummer. When you work that hard and stay that focused and disciplined, you hope to be rewarded with something you can see. Even though it was a disappointment, I'm sticking with it. So here's to a new week!

8/18/11 & 9/16/11 measurements:
neck: 16" / 15"
bicep: 15" / 15"
chest: 49" / 48.5"
waist: 49" / 48"
hips: 50" / 50"
thigh: 26" / 24.75"
calf: 17.25" / 17"

Gym Fears

I have no idea what my deal was yesterday. Being as it was strength training day, I was looking forward to going to the gym for most of the day. A couple hours beforehand, I started to just feel mopey. I wanted to go home and lay on the couch, all evening. No exercise, no strength training, just couch. We still went, of course. Then the issue quickly became that it was bloody busy as hell in there. We parked and knew it was crowded and I repeated out loud that I had every right to be there, more in fact since I have so much to lose!

While doing squats, the head trainer corrected me on my foot positioning. No big deal and it helped cause the way I was doing it made my knees hurt! But then I noticed my trainer, exactly where I needed to be. Ugh! I know from training with her that she watches people. And having had the head trainer correct me, coupled with doing new things on my own that she never showed me, I was mortified. I ended up skipping a few exercises all out of sheer fear and embarrassment.

Heading home, I was disappointed in myself. I was angry we went and I didn't do as much as I wanted, and we were going to be eating late as usual. The prospect of waking up at 5am to go workout first does not appeal to me though. Maybe someday I will change my mind, but at the moment, no way!

I'm also dreading the inevitable S.A.D. that is coming up. The days are getting shorter and colder. I can just feel it deep down, clawing to get out. I desperately hope the husband has motivation to get me out the door. Now is when I really wish I had some followers for support later on. Or that I could live on the other side of the globe in a few months!

229.5 - 104.5 pounds to go!

Officially under 230! YAY!

I've been really bad about posting lately due to having a week off of work and my computer at home being off and pushed aside. I really should look into an app that will let me post via my phone.

The gym has been fun. I never thought I would say that! Strength training is by far my favorite day to workout. It's nice to get a group of muscles sore and then take a break to torture some other muscles. It breaks up the monotony and there's no chance of shin splints! I was so bummed the other day when my calves hurt for the first 40 min. of my workout on the treadmill. That pain is so excruciating.

Overall, even though I'm losing weight at a slower pace than I would like, especially considering the fact that I'm eating less and exercising at least 6 days a week, I feel more energetic! I've already warned my husband that while right now I am the motivator and always excited to go, things may change and he may need a fire under his bum to get us out the door. With winter coming, I pray this keeps up and S.A.D. won't be an issue, but time will tell I guess.

Current Weight: 229.5 pounds

Current BMI: 41.98

BMI Lost: 2.83

Pounds Lost: 15.5

Pounds to Meet Mini-Goal: 4.5

Pounds until BMI is 'obese' instead of 'morbidly obese' (218): 11.5 pounds

230.8 - 105.8 pounds to go!

So I'm not sure if the weigh-in on Sunday was correct or not. The first couple times I hopped on the scale, it read 232.2, exactly one pound less than last week's weigh-in. I got kind of mad at the fact that we've been working our butts off and it went down exactly one pound, to the tenth! So, I moved the scale about a foot over and got on again, and the scale flashed 230.8. I made sure to get on the scale probably 6 more times, and moved it back to the spot it was in, and it kept reading 230.8. Obviously this is a better number and I feel more rewarded, but this coming week it may mean a gain. So far this week, it feels like we've not made the best decisions. I ate too many calories on my birthday (cause, ya know, it was my birthday!!), then we ate pizza with the sis-in-law for Labor Day, and we've gone out a couple times since even though I swore we would get better at eating at home. And jumping on the scale prematurely has put me around 232. Ugh! I really just do not understand how I can go from being completely sedentary and eating poorly, not watching what I eat at all, to exercising 6-7 days a week, tracking calories and watching what I eat AND not losing every week. I just don't get it.