End of the 1st Month...

I'm back from camping!  I had a blast, once again.

I didn't do any push ups or the workout trainer.  I DID do the gangnam style dance a tiny bit and I was pretty much winded even just seconds after doing it.  How pathetic is that?  I went on a short hike on Saturday afternoon, but spent more time hunting for agates on the shore.  My thighs and back are sore...probably from bending up and down over and over again trying to balance on slippery rocks, while looking for agates!

It's the end of the month, and I plan on weighing myself tomorrow morning to see how much I've lost and/or kept off from earlier this month.  I will post my results and I'll set a new goal for the month of October.

Sore Bum & Camping

Sore Bum
Sasha and I have been doing a set of drills on the tennis court, and we played 2 days in a row this week.  All I'll say is - my butt muscles are sore from sprinting around.  I think it's from running backwards.

Camping
I'm going camping this weekend, and I'd love to bring my yoga mat and find some place peaceful on the beach where I could practice yoga.  However...I'm not that good at yoga, and I don't know what I'd do without an instructor or DVD.  This sucks.  But I will get some hiking in, and I plan on doing my push ups and workout trainer still.  I'll have 2 friends with me, and my parents...I might try to make them do it with me!!!!!

Fat Free????

I took several health classes to fulfill my electives in college.  I remember learning about how food products that advertise as "fat free," "reduced fat," calorie free," and "low calories," can be more harmful for our bodies than the regular/original items.  I've also read this in several different magazine and online articles, that backed up my textbook.  So I'm assuming many others know what nutritionists say about how these "diet" products may actually cause you to gain weight due to certain ingredients used as substitutes or fillers.

I had a conversation with a friend about this earlier today and she stated that she prefers the taste of many items listed under these categories.  We also agreed that the producers of these items probably created them to market to our large obese population, whether they knew of the harm or not.  My friend does not purchase these items because she thinks it will help her lose weight, but because she likes the taste of it.  She said about 98% of the items she buys, are advertised as these "fat free" items.  I said about 98% of the items I buy are regular/original, mainly because I'm aware of the possible harm the "fat free" items could cause in the long run.  I have 2 known items that I will always choose "reduced fat" versions of: cheez its & wheat thins.  Like my friend, I just prefer how they taste!

I think it's important for people to know what they're eating everyday.  For awhile now, I've been interested in having a more clean and whole diet.  But it's very hard to do, especially in today's world where fast and easy is the key to our busy lives.  I'd love to be able to go "raw" but that would take several years for me to be completely raw, since I'd have to slowly cut back on things, and learn new methods, etc.  But more realistically, I'd like to just make better decisions for my body, as well as my neighbors.  I think it's important to support our local businesses because it's their way of survival and less funny business in involved.  So when it comes to food choices, I'd like to try to make better decisions about where my food is coming from - meat, specifically.  The summer season is easy for me because my parents have a large vegetable garden filled with various healthy items where I can fulfill my daily nutrients with ease.

Changing my diet is also tough because I love food.  I believe that food lovers love the healthy and clean stuff  as well as the really bad-for-you, greasy stuff.  This being said, I love bad-for-you foods like McDonald's and chicken wings covered in hot sauce...as much as I love a meal consisting only of raw veggies from my mom's garden.  This is why I say I don't ever say "I'm on a diet."  I've never been a "counter" for calories, and I also don't like to restrict myself from things I love...food, being one of them.  So I try to just learn how to make better decisions.  I understand this isn't the fastest way to lose weight, but it is highly recommended by nutritionists and other health professionals because it WILL help you lose weight and it WILL be better for you in the long run.

I don't want to come off as a hypocrite because I will fully admit that I make bad decisions knowingly sometimes, and that I eat a lot of shit a lot.  But one day...I hope I can find a healthy balance and not make bad decisions knowingly.

First Workout Trainer program completed!

I finished the first free program with the Workout Trainer app!  It was a 1 week/4 workout at "casual" intensity, program.  The first 2 workouts were more cardio focused I think because I would be sweating after the first 2 minutes.  The last 2 workouts were more core and strength building I think because I didn't break into a sweat right away, but I felt sore afterwards.  I've scheduled my second free program.  It looks like Workout Trainer has only 3 free programs out of their 12 programs.  The second one is a step up from the first one, and the intensity is "moderate."  I'll start this one on Wednesday!

I've also been keeping up with my push ups app.  A few days ago, it told me I was complete with 1/3 of the program!  Tomorrow I'll be doing 36 push ups.  The sets keep getting higher (7-7-8-7-7) and the rest time is getting shorter!!!  But so far, I've been able to keep up with it with the right amount of exhaustion.

Losing my marbles!

So far, I've already lost 4 pounds since Aug 31st!  6 more pounds to lose by the end of the month, to reach my first goal.

I got this idea while searching the web for motivational quotes. It's this thing people do as a visual motivator, to help them lose weight.  So I decided to do it too.

I'm calling it, "I'm losing my marbles!"  Here it is!!!!

So each marble represents one pound.  I'm not really sure how many pounds I want to lose because I'd like to see how I feel.  I don't want to overdo it and be too skinny, if that's ever possible for me.  I didn't realize how little the marbles would look, in these bowls.  Funny thing is, when I was at the store looking at them, I kept thinking, "I need a bigger jar" or "are there enough marbles in this thing?"  I don't have a picture of the marble container...but it's big.  I barely left a dent in it.  hahaha.  I thought maybe I'd do it goal by goal.  So I put in 10 and took out the 4 pounds I've already lost.  It looked pathetic.  I KNOW I'll want to lose more weight than that...so I figured 155lbs would be a nice long term goal.  But it still looked pathetic and empty with the 30 marbles in there!  So I set my long term goal to 135lbs.  This may be un-reachable, as I haven't been 135lbs since several years ago.  I don't even know if I will look healthy at that weight.  I guess we'll find out as I lose more lbs though!

I've learned that it's really hard to lose weight when you focus on how many more pounds you have left to lose.  Especially with a large amount!  However, this is the only thing that I have or will be using/looking at during my weight loss...that will remind me of how many MORE is left to lose.  And I will try to pay more attention to the "lost!" bowl and be excited about the success.  Even if it is little, like right now.

* Sasha - I have a TON of marbles, if you want to do this as well.  You could buy smaller bowls/jars :)  They're really inexpensive.  Or you could just use mason jars (I didn't think of that one before I went to the store).

Up all night

I work at a 24hr care group home.  One of our overnight staff is on vacation this week, so I picked up tonight's overnight shift.  Usually when I do these overnights, I tend to eat a lot.  Probably because of boredom, tiredness, and boredom.  Tonight, I've been good so far.  But there's 8 more hours to go!!!!!
What are some things I can do to prevent myself from eating all night at the next overnight shift I might have to pick up?

I also had a chance to do my first workout of my first "program" through Workout Trainer.  Today's workout was about 9 minutes long and it didn't take long for me to be sweating and breathing hard!  I feel good about doing the workout, even though I just want my bed...

Workout Trainer & Bollywood

I was going to try my first workout trainer workout yesterday at work.  However, I didn't get time...so I decided to force Katie to doing it with me since I was at her apartment after work.  We had a wonderful late night workout session :)

We did the Harvard Health Warmup which was a 6 minute warmup...and boy, did it warm us up.  We were both sweating and slightly struggling through some of the routines (squats).  Then we did the Beginner BlastOFF! which is a 15 minute basic body workout.  Can I just say that parts of this was hell?  There were more squats, and it was tough especially if you're already sore!  I like that there was a variety of poses because you don't get too bored.  It was really nice having Katie do it with me because I probably would've slacked a lot more if I did it on my own.

I can feel it in my body everywhere today.  I know it was good for me, so I scheduled my first "program" through the app.  It's a free one, that is a one week - 4 workout program.  I'll let you know how it goes next week.

To wrap up the evening...Katie forced me to do a bollywood body workout DVD with her.  She chose a 15 minute session and it was hilariously fun.  We definitely learned a lot of moves from it :)  I can see how people choose to get in shape through those DVDs because I could feel the pain in my sore muscles.  However, I'd choose the workout trainer over the bollywood because it's a lot more intense.

Thanks again, Katie, for doing these with me last night!

September Goal

The September goal will be our first goal.  We are hoping to lose 10 pounds, each, by the end of the month. Yes, it's a lot...however, we figured it should be do-able since it's our first month trying to lose weight.

I weighed myself last Friday August 31st, and I weighed in at 185.  I've already lost 2lbs since then!

I plan on trying out one or two of the Workout Trainer sessions today.  I'll give an update/review on how that goes at a later time.  My arms and shoulder blades are already sore from the 14 push ups I did yesterday.  It's a good feeling :)

Android/iPhone apps

I remember awhile ago, a great local artist by the name of Jeremy Messersmith, tweeted something about a new app he installed by the name of "Push Ups."  I looked into it a few days ago, and I installed it along with another one that is called "Workout Trainer."

Push Ups:

You set a goal of how many consecutive push ups you'd like to do.  Please keep in mind that the minimum goal is 50.  So that's what I selected.  You begin by doing as many push ups you can do in a row until you can't do it anymore.  I haven't done push ups in awhile, so I was pretty much exhausted after 3.  It tells you to do the push ups every other day, so I did my first day of push ups today.  Today's sets of push ups were listed as 3-3-5-3 for a total of 14 push ups.  I started with the first 3 push ups, and it gave me 45 seconds or so to rest before going on to the next round.  It even blew a whistle at me so I didn't have to look at the timer to know when to begin again.  After you complete this, you are asked how it felt doing the set.  If it was too easy, just right, or too hard.  I struggled slightly and I could feel it getting harder with each set...but it wasn't too hard or too easy so I selected just right.  It looks like my next set for Thursday is 4-3-5-5 for a total of 17.  I'm excited to see where this takes me, because my upper body strength is kind of poor, and I always need to work on my core muscles. 

Workout Trainer:

Workout trainer isn't as simple as the Push Ups app.  However, it still looks like it'd be very useful for people who don't have a lot of time to get to the gym, or who LIKE to go do things at the gym.  I have a gym membership that I haven't been using very much lately.  But even when I DID go frequently, I always liked having options to do at home without needing any equipment...even if it was just for 5 minutes.  Well, this app is perfect for that!  There are tons of "programs" and "workouts" for you to choose to work on.   A lot of programs cost money, but there are several free options as well.  From what it looks like, most of the workouts are free.  A few have "pro" written on it and those will cost money.  You can choose a workout and it will have a description of it, with options to view examples of the workout.  It lists how many minutes the workout will take, along with the intensity level.  There is a button to "add to your calendar" and it will literally add it to your phone's calendar.  This also has a social community so you can add friends or help motivate strangers.  This also syncs with your Skimble web account, where you can also chart your physical activities.

My Fitness Pal:

I've had this on my phone for awhile now, and it is very useful.  It's an app where you can chart your food intake and exercise to help track calories.  With wi-fi connection, it automatically syncs to your web account so you can view it from the computer.  My favorite feature about the phone app is the barcode scanner.  You can easily scan whatever it is you're eating, and bam!  The info is right there on your phone already and you just have to push "add to diary."  

If you want to add me to your friends list on these apps, you can find me under my email address. 

Are there any apps you know of that have helped you or that you've heard of?