Wednesday, December 22, 2010

It's the Holiday Season...

Happy Holidays to everyone! Sorry for the delay in posts but I was finishing up school for the semester and work has been exceptionally busy. At long last I am done with school until the second week of January & if I pass my finance final I will be a very happy girl. I'd also like to give a huge welcome back to my cousins who are back from med school in the caribbean for 3 weeks! And my best friend Danny, a CECB in the US Navy was granted leave for Christmas & got home this morning! Santa out did himself already!

Well, last week was my weigh in & here are the results with November's numbers in parentheses.

Hips: 41 (42)
R Thigh: 21 3/4 (22)
Waist: 32 1/4 (32 1/2)
R Arm: 11 (11 1/4)
Shoulders: 40 (40)
Body fat: 28.1% (30.8%)

In two months I'm down about 10 pounds, my body fat went from 34% down to 28.1% and I've shed around 6 inches. I have to say I'm pretty happy with those results. When you are overweight, you can feel like you will never lose that excess weight. Once you start to lose it, you feel pretty incredible, but most of us know that once you see results, that doesn't mean you can slack off.

Joe was concerned that perhaps I'm not enjoying my food as much as possible, but instead of sounding like a psycho I just said it wasn't so bad, when the real truth is I have to be tough on myself with my food otherwise I'll start to slip. When you're watching what you eat, the food can get boring after awhile. Joe suggested that maybe I try some new recipes, which I'm always up for and even offered some suggestions. For example, for lunch or dinner he recommended having a piece of pizza with a side of chicken and vegetables or salad. It basically hits all of the food groups and is a nice change of pace from the standard turkey or chicken and salad.

Now for anyone who has struggled with their weight, you know how your wardrobe changes throughout the battle. When you're overweight you wear things to hide yourself and not draw attention to your problem areas which to you usually feels like everywhere on your body. Once you start to lose weight you hate all of your old clothes because they don't fit you right or they make you look bigger than you want to look. Getting dressed becomes a problem not because you're trying to cover yourself up, but because you are trying to show off a little more of yourself so you just hate everything in your closet. Then there's the whole idea of "getting a new wardrobe" but how realistic is that? Most of us spend a long time piecing together the clothes that make up the closet, we can't just go out and purchase a whole new wardrobe.

My work outs have been full of sweat & pain. 15 is officially my least favorite number right now. Joe loves to make me do 15 reps of some of the most challenging exercises. Whatever happened to 10 or 12? Why should they be neglected?

Yesterday was no different. 15 reps on a chest press with my legs extended in the air, 15 on the bent over rows with the barbell and so on. The good thing is Joe does tend to decrease the reps in some of the sets, but needless to say by the 3rd exercise and all those reps my arms were shot. Then came the worst part... Joe thought it would be a good idea to do some core exercises with the upper body, which I figured wouldn't be so bad. WRONGO! I had to do forward AND side planks! No one should have to do forward & side planks in the same work out! I was shaking so much I could hardly hold myself up. My shoulder has been bothering me lately and I haven't said anything, but after you've had one cortisone shot it kinda lingers in the back of your mind that another one could always be necessary. I don't think I'm at that point, but one thing is for sure Icy/Hot patches are my new best friends.

I hope that everyone has a fantastic Christmas & enjoys good food and family and friends! I will probably post before the New Year after the Christmas feast. Until next time...

Marisa

Thursday, December 2, 2010

The Great Escape...

As the week is winding down, I am feeling extremely burnt out. I'm used to being tired, but my energy level has pretty much bottomed out. I haven't been sleeping all that well & I know that is never good for the whole health crusade. It's the last 2 weeks of the semester, which means getting ready for finals. The thought of my finance final actually gives me chest pain. It is take home, but he has made it clear that it will be the entire semester worth of material and that it won't be easy to figure out. LOVELY.

Work has been busy to say the least & we've been down a man here & there which makes it even better. (That's sarcasm in case you were wondering) The other night in my community health care class my professor asked how we handle stress... some people said they go for a run, or they sleep, or they read the Bible... my reply : Red wine (& baseball when its in season). Since drinking large quantities of red wine isn't good for my weight loss plan, I've gotta try & deal in other ways. What I'd really like to do is take a bunch of books & my notebook, go sit on a beach for a couple days and just veg out. I wouldn't mind throwing a few massage treatments in there too :)

The whole stress thing got me thinking... so many people (myself included) turn to food in times of stress. When you're stressed all you want to do is feel better. Food tends to be a quick relatively non damaging fix that can make you feel better. How many of us have drowned our sorrows at the bottom of a pint of Hagen Daaz? Or demolished a plate of fries or cookies in the blink of an eye?  It temporarily makes us feel better & eventually we're left with extra weight that somehow makes us feel worse. Logically, most of us know that eating out of stress is only gonna do more harm than good, yet we rationalize that it's okay to feel better for a little while and pay for it later. Too many "pay for it laters" & all you're left an awfully high bill.

Okay, onto the good stuff. Tuesday was my first day back in the gym after the Thanksgiving festivities. Joe came up with a new combination of stuff for the full body work out. 15 reps is honestly his favorite thing. Damn me for having good form! I can't help but think back to a time when I had terrible form. I had a hard time doing more than one thing at the same time. I could barely do a squat, I had terrible balance & my core strength was non-existent. It makes me feel pretty good to see how far I've come. I was sweating like a whore in church and I felt like I was going through a detox. It was definitely a good, worth while feeling. Tomorrow I'm going in for another full body beating & then will return Saturday for some good ole' cardio.

While I was on the treadmill on Tuesday, I saw someone boxing with one of the other personal trainers and I found that I was staring at them. I never thought I would get into boxing considering it all started out as a joke. I REALLY miss it. I loved the challenge of it, and it was a great release. I'm hoping Santa brings me a punching bag and some boxing gloves for Christmas :)

Hope everyone has a good weekend!! Until next time...

Marisa