The Challenge ~ To complete 1,130 minutes of exercise in the month of November.

Goal ~ 1,130 Minutes

Total Minutes Completed ~ 1,225

Total Minutes Remaining ~ 0 (over by 95 minutes!)

11/1 ~ Off

11/2 ~ Training for 30 minutes, treadmill for 30 minutes = 60 minutes

11/3 ~ Training for 30 minutes, treadmill for 60 minutes = 90 minutes

11/4 ~ Treadmill = 45 minutes

11/5 ~ Bowling = 30 minutes

11/6 ~ Off

11/7 ~ Off

11/8 ~ Off (migraine)

11/9 ~ Training for 30 minutes, treadmill for 60 minutes = 90 minutes

11/10 ~ Treadmill = 55 minutes

11/11 ~ Treadmill = 45 minutes

11/12 ~ Bowling = 30 minutes

11/13 ~ Treadmill = 60 minutes

11/14 ~ Off

11/15 ~ Treadmill = 60 minutes

11/16 ~ Training for 30 minutes, treadmill for 60 minutes = 90 minutes

11/17 ~ Treadmill = 80 minutes

11/18 ~ Training for 30 minutes, treadmill for 40 minutes = 70 minutes

11/19 ~ Bowling = 30 minutes

11/20 ~ Off

11/21 ~ Off

11/22 ~ Off

11/23 ~ Training 30 minutes, treadmill for 60 minutes = 90 minutes

11/24 ~ Treadmill = 80 minutes

11/25 ~ Training 30 minutes, treadmill for 40 minutes = 70 minutes

11/26 ~ Off (Thanksgiving)

11/27 ~ Off

11/28 ~ Treadmill = 80 minutes

11/29 ~ Off

11/30 ~ Training 30 minutes, treadmill 40 minutes = 70 minutes

I worked out with Sgt. Fitness last night after he weighed and measured me. According to his calculations I've lost another 5 pounds, 2.50 inches and almost a whole percentage of body fat since the last measuring.

The funny thing, to me at least, was where I lost the inches ~ my neck, waist, hips and bicep. My bicep alone went down three quarters of an inch! It's interesting to see where I'm losing weight on my body. My clothes don't fit me right at all. My boss made the comment this morning that my pants are really baggy on me now. I'll take that as a compliment, thank you.

I have to admit I would have liked to see more of a drop in my weight, and according to my scale at home I'm about 3.5 pounds lighter than what his tells me. I suppose my clothes and shoes account for a bit of that. In general though I'm really happy with what I've accomplished.

Want to see the stats of the total inches I've lost so far?

Body fat percentage: -2.40%
Neck: -1 inch
Chest: -2.25 inches
Waist: -4 inches
Hips: -3.75 inches
Bicep: -1.5 inches
Thigh: -1 inch
Calf: - 1/2 inch
Weight: -20 pounds (my first weigh in at the gym was 201 pounds)

According to the gym scale I weigh 181 pounds. So from my highest weight of 212 that means I've lost 31 pounds since the end of June. Not too shabby! My home scale said 177.4 pounds this morning. Either way, I'm making a lot of progress and I just feel so much better. I still have 50 pounds to lose but I've made quite a dent.

After the measuring, Sgt. Fitness had me on the mats doing exercises with those giant body balls. I always feel so goofy on them. At one point he had me laying with my thighs on top of the ball and then my hands were on the floor and I was doing push-ups.

Not. Easy.

Well, the first set didn't seem so bad but the second set was tough. I also did this other exercise, where I was on my hands and knees on the mat and then had one arm propped on a body ball and....okay, I cannot come close to describing this right, but I loved it. It was strangely relaxing.

Today my arms, shoulders, upper back muscles and legs are all letting me know they were used and abused. I like it.

When we got done and I was signing in on the computer Sgt. Fitness asked when I would be seeing him again. I told him it would be almost 2 weeks because his schedule for next week is full with the Thanksgiving holiday. Well he was having none of that so he went in and added me to the end of his schedule for Monday and Wednesday. I'll be there later than usual, 7:30 on Monday and 7:00 on Wednesday, but I thought it was really nice of him to offer to stay longer for me. I realize, of course, he gets paid for this, but I appreciate it anyway.

I've been eating pretty well this week (since Monday anyway). Breakfast every morning, I've had spinach salads for lunch every day with different things thrown in them (carrots, cheese, etc.), basmati rice or baby red baked potatoes for dinner with chicken and whatever else I have handy. I've been drinking tons of water, plenty of tea. I need to get more veggies in with dinner. I have to tell you, headache aside, I can't remember the last time I physically felt so darn good.

I worked out with Sgt. Fitness last night and my legs are feeling it today. We did all legs and core stuff. Before we even started he informed me my legs would hate him by the time I was done. Nope, no hating going on, but I'm betting tomorrow I'll be even more sore.

I got on the treadmill after our workout and only stayed at an 18 incline for maybe 10 minutes, then I wimped out and put it down to a 15 incline for 40 minutes. I have now completed 655 minutes of exercise. Tonight I plan to go get on the treadmill for awhile, and then I have another training session tomorrow.

Oh, one thing that was funny last night at the gym. The last exercise he had me do was what's called a Superman. For those who don't know, you just lay down on the floor on your tummy with your arms straight in front of you and your legs straight out behind you. Then, when Sgt. Fitness tells you to, you lift up your arms and legs at the same time and hold it. It sounds simple but crap, it's hard! So I do this 10 times, holding it for 10 seconds each time, and the finally flopped on the mat to rest.

I informed him I felt nothing like Superman.

The weekend is here and for once I'm actually thinking about what I'll be eating for the next 2 days. Usually I don't give it a thought until I'm actually home but that's the problem. I eat like crap on the weekends. I constantly have food in my mouth, whether I'm hungry or not.

Meal planning is something I've been wanting to do for months. I've talked about it, blogged about it, and have yet to make any progress. I'm making it more difficult than it really is, I know that. How hard is it to decide, okay, I'll have turkey tacos on Monday, chicken salad on Tuesday, etc. etc. etc. All I have to do is take maybe 20 minutes out of my day to sit down and make a list. That's it! Yet instead of making this list, I complain about not doing it. Hmmmm.

I'm reminded of my parents bickering over what's for dinner.

Mom: What do you want for dinner tonight?
Dad: Oh, I don't know. What do you think?
Mom: I don't know, that's why I'm asking you.
Dad: Well I'm sure you'll think of something.
Mom: That's no help.
Dad: You could run up to the store and see if something looks good.
Mom: Okay, what kind of something?
Dad: Oh, I don't care.
Mom: So nothing sounds good to you?
*pause*
Dad: Let's go to Pizza Hut

That took care of that.

Okay, to be honest this exact conversation only happened once when I was in junior high, but I remember similar discussions happening more often than not when it came to dinner. When I think about it though, I can see where some of the problem came from, which helps explain to me why I have the same type of dialog in my head. I very rarely crave any certain foods, and my Dad was the same way. We were generally fine with whatever my Mom put on the table. Don't get me wrong, there are days when only a meat lover's pizza will hit the spot, or when a giant steak is calling my name. But those times are few and far between, so when I get home and look in the fridge it will take me half an hour just to decide what to have because nothing jumps out at me. So really, meal planning should be a breeze. I won't have the problem of having planned something for dinner and then coming home and changing my mind, because most of the time it doesn't matter.

And if a pizza happens to be calling my name, well, the turkey tacos will be there for tomorrow.

I was supposed to have a training session last night but Sgt. Fitness called me right after I left work and said he couldn't make it, thanks to the lovely sheets of ice that were coating the roads. It was nasty.

Anyway, I went home and had dinner first, then went to the gym later. I kicked ass on the treadmill last night ~ I did an incline of 17 for 40 minutes. I was debating going for 50 minutes when Kelly came to talk to me, she'd just gotten off work, so I stopped. It was odd though, the first 5 minutes were a little tough, then it wasn't too bad. When I got to around 30-35 minutes I was feeling it quite a bit, but it still wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Don't get me wrong, it was far from easy and I was sweating up a storm, but I had more energy at that point than usual.

What was funny to me was walking at an incline of 10 for 5 minutes to cool down. It wasn't that long ago I could barely last 30 minutes at 10. My speed isn't very high. Last night I was at 2.2 or 2.3 the whole time. I'm really not sure how fast I should be going, or what I should aim to get up to. I'll have to ask Sgt. Fitness. When I first started it seems we were more concerned with increasing the incline than the speed.

My scale this morning said 179.6. From my highest weight of 212 that means I've lost 32.4 pounds a little over 3 months. I'll take it.

(Originally written 11-11-09, forgot to post)

November Challenge:

Goal ~ 1,130

Total Minutes Completed ~ 370

Total Minutes Remaining ~ 760

I'm happy with my progress so far. Last night I was on the treadmill and did an incline of 16 for 50 minutes! I started with a goal of 35 minutes, as that would be 5 minutes longer at that huge incline than I'd done before, and once I got there I decided to push myself more and see if I could make 50 minutes. I'm so glad I did. It never ceases to amaze me what my body can do.

I worked out with my trainer Monday night, we did arm stuff and also worked on my sides, and I loved every minute of it. We did one exercise where I was standing holding a handle from a cable machine thing on one hand and I would lean the opposite direction, so it would use my side muscles....I'm not explaining this very well, but anyway Sgt. Fitness did it with me so we looked like mirror images. I like that he does some of these exercises with me. Especially when they're ones that make me feel dorky and uncoordinated. At least I won't be looking dorky alone.

I was telling him that it really makes me happy I'm not at all bored with this stuff yet, I'm still excited about going to the gym and I hope it stays that way. I know he works hard to keep it interesting for me and I appreciate it. I don't think I've been losing much weight this month, I haven't checked. I can't remember when my trainer will do the measuring thing again, I'm thinking next week but I'll have to ask him. My clothes are definitely fitting differently though, they're getting baggy and loose, and I just feel better.

I have tiny leg muscles again! You know those thigh muscles that will show up right above your knee? Mine have reappeared, just a little but enough to notice. My arms also look a bit better. Probably not enough for anyone else to notice but I can see (and feel) the difference. There is a lot more work ahead of me as far as getting into shape and having a healthy body, but I can't believe how much better I feel already.

Should bowling count as exercise? I can't decide. As close as I can figure, I spend about 30 minutes on the lane throwing the ball. The rest of the time is spent socializing, of course. I'm moving around all the time, I rarely sit down the whole 2 to 2 1/2 hours I'm there, but I don't work up a sweat and those 30 minutes aren't all at once. It happens maybe 30 seconds at a time. I'm leaning towards no with this one.

I'm not happy with myself. After bowling last night Nathan wanted to stop at the store so he could get lunch stuff. I wanted to go home and go to bed, but he was persistent so we stopped. I should have just stayed in the car. I walked out with a bag of Ruffles and a small container of French onion dip, and when I got home I proceeded to eat a bunch of it. I say 'a bunch' because I really don't know how much I ate. I'm guessing probably half the bag of Ruffles, not a clue on the dip. Let's just say a lot.

When I went to bed my stomach let me know in no uncertain terms that it was not happy with my choice of a late night snack. It tossed and turned and my reflux was acting up. This morning it still wasn't entirely settled.

So now I'm in a funky mood and, if I'm being honest, a little disgusted with myself. I knew damn well I shouldn't be eating that crap, yet I did it anyway. And for what? To keep myself from being able to go to sleep because of my tummy's roller coaster ride? To wake up with heartburn as well as swollen hands and feet? Not to mention the shitty way I'm feeling? Those weren't my goals but that's what I accomplished. It also scares me that I will undo the hard work I've done so far.

I've been trying to figure out why I've been craving bad food lately. Hamburgers in particular. For the most part I've never been one of those people who craves certain foods. Once in a great while chocolate will sound good (and I am not a chocolate lover), and sometimes a giant steak sounds amazing, but overall I don't have cravings. And when I did, I ate whatever it was I 'needed' at the moment. Now that I'm trying to change my eating habits, I'm trying to figure out where the craving is coming from.

Maybe it's one of those 'you know you shouldn't eat it so now you really want it' things. Maybe my body is lacking something. How do you even figure out which it is?

One big problem I'm still having lately is not getting enough sleep. I'm not going to bed early enough, and when I do get in bed I usually read for awhile. I think 11:30 is the earliest I've gotten to bed and to sleep this week, and it's just not cutting it. I am not a morning person to begin with and lately dragging myself out of bed has become ridiculously difficult. You'd think I've climbed Mt. Everest by the time I stumble into the shower. Saying it's not a pretty sight is an understatement.

Now that I've vented and rambled about all my 'troubles' it's time to come up with some solutions.

~ Count bowling as exercise? No, for now I won't.
~ Dealing with cravings? First of all, do NOT go to the store when I'm hungry/tired/sad/upset. Keep lots of fruit around home so if I really want to eat something at least it will be good for me. Not that I crave the good stuff, but I'm hoping eventually I will.
~ Lack of sleep? Go to bed earlier. Duh. It's not rocket science!

I'll make my goal for next week to be in bed by 9:30 and asleep by 10:00 to 10:30. I also need to work on a meal plan. Keep saying it, never do it. It's mainly dinner I have trouble with, and the weekends. There are so many things I want to improve on. I worry about taking on too much and getting overwhelmed, and then I worry about not doing enough. How do I find that line?

I dropped Nathan off at work tonight and then went to the gym. I have to admit I really didn't feel like going. Instead of sweating like a beast I much preferred the idea of going home, getting into my comfy sweats and catching up on the insane amount of TV shows I recorded and have yet to watch.

But I didn't, I went to the gym and was glad I did. I got the incline up to 16 for 25 minutes! I did a total of 45 minutes and felt pretty good when I was done.

The gym's receptionist was on the treadmill next to me and was at an incline of 21. Wow. She was telling me that's about as high as she can go now, though she used to get up to 28 (!), and she still remembers vividly when a 9 incline was extremely hard for her. She's really encouraging and fun to talk to. Incidentally, her Mom is a member there and over the past 2 years has lost 180 pounds. Can you believe that?! That's a whole person! She's really amazing.

That makes 195 minutes completed, 935 minutes to go for November.

My workout went well. The first thing Sgt. Fitness did was take a good look at my eye to see if there was any lasting damage done, and then he apologized all over again. Since there's only a little lump right on my eyebrow you really can't tell I was whacked in the face with an evil resistance band. No biggie, could have been a lot worse.

Anyway, we worked on my arms and sides. The first thing he had me do, much to my amusement, was use a damn resistance band again. He swore to me it wouldn't break, but said if I'd rather not use it he would understand. Well I'm not about to let a band get the best of me, so I did what he wanted.

Something new I did was stand on a wiggly step thing while I did this arm/side exercise. It forces you to use your core to stabilize yourself so you don't go flying off. My sides are feeling it today. Wow. Didn't know those muscles were there.

I'm finding I love doing these arm exercises! He had me stand on a Bosu while I used one of those cable machine things for my arms, and I actually almost found it easy. That's a first.

Oh, there is one exception ~ I hate push-ups. Probably because I'm so bad at them. The last thing I did were two sets of modified push-ups and holy crap by the time I was done I thought my arms were going to fall off. Thankfully they didn't.

I like that my upper body is slowly getting stronger. It may not be much yet but I can feel the difference.

After our workout I got on the treadmill for an hour. I didn't last as long on the 15 incline as I wanted, only 20 minutes, but that's okay. The rest of the time I varied the speed and incline. I actually wanted to try an incline of 16 and see how long I'd last but there are only 4 treadmills there that go above 15 and they were all being used.

I'm not sure I like working out with Sgt. Fitness 2 days in a row, I like having at least one day in between to rest from it, but this week and next week that's the only way I can do it. I scheduled all my appointments out from now until the end of the year. There's one week I can't get in to see him at all, I might ask him if he'll stay an extra half hour one night that week so I can still get in a workout, but I'll worry about that when the time comes.

You know what's weird? I like being sore. Okay, I don't enjoy pain, but I like that it lets me know I've pushed my body to try new things, or do things I've learned at a higher level, and it helps me feel like I'm making progress. I like it.

That makes 150 minutes down, 980 minutes to go for November.

I warmed up at the gym and then got started with my trainer. We were having a nice workout, I was feeling good. He was trying to get me to admit to him what I've been eating, since he didn't look at my food log before our session, but I wouldn't tell him. The workout was hard enough, I didn't want him making it harder! Besides, I'm working out with him again tomorrow right after work so I'll be paying for it soon enough.

Everything was all fine and dandy until he had me using one of those resistance band things with the handles on the ends. I was standing on it with both feet, had the handles pulled up to my shoulders and then pushed my leg to the side against the band, something I've done before with no problem.

Then the band broke and the end came flying up and whacked me over my left eye.

Ouch.

Thankfully it didn't hit my eye, or that could have been really ugly. Sgt. Fitness all but had a panic attack. 'OMG are you okay?? I can't believe that, I've never seen one break before!' On and on he went without letting me get a word in edgewise. I finally was able to tell him I was fine. Yes, it hurt and stung like hell, but no permanent damage was done. It actually hit me right on my eyebrow so you can't see a mark or anything, but there's a sore lump I can really feel. It took some convincing to assure him I was fine and to get him to finish our workout. He said I'm much more of a trooper than he is.

After we were done I got on the treadmill for half an hour. By that point I was tired and had a headache, so I only stayed at a 15 incline for 20 minutes. I still felt really good though, and went home a mostly happy camper.

It's not often I get maimed at the gym.

Well, before I start November, I'll write about the rest of October.

I ate badly. Oh, so badly. There was pizza. There was lasagna. Worst of all, there was liquid satan (a.k.a. Dr. Pepper).

From Friday night until Sunday night I ate whatever was handy, I didn't eat breakfast all weekend, I didn't drink much water, and I didn't go to the gym. And today I'm feeling it. I have a headache, I feel sluggish, I just feel...blah.

Oy.

Actually I did make it to the gym Friday night but Sgt. Fitness called me a couple of hours before our appointment and said he couldn't be there, so I got on the treadmill for about 50 minutes. I only stayed on a 15 incline for about 25 minutes and varied the incline the rest of the time.

I have to admit, I was really disappointed I didn't get to train. The workouts I do with him are so different from what the treadmill does. I've been doing this long enough now you'd think I could do it on my own but I never do. I could probably figure it out though. Sgt. Fitness rarely has me do the same exercise twice, which is part of what I love about working out with him, but it does make it harder for me to know what to do when he's not there. I just need to make more of an effort to remember some of what we do.

This week my goal is to eat well. That's it. I'm going to eat breakfast every day, drink as much tea and water as I can stand, and stay in my calorie range. I need to figure out what to eat before I work out. I don't think I'm eating enough, or maybe I'm just not eating the right foods, because I run out of energy fast and sometimes get jittery.

I'm also starting the November fitness challenge with Son. Tonight I will complete the first minutes of the 1,130 minute challenge. Bring it on!