Are you ready for some Turbo?

Ya'll know I love me some kickboxing, Turbo Kick aka Turbo Jam for the gym to be precise. I also have a fan-crush on Chalene Johnson. That's one small ball of energy and motivation. So when one of my fitness instructors mentioned that there would be a master class on Saturday, I was all down for the cause.  Let's just say a GREAT time was had by me, I know for sure.

I did get in Wk 2, Day 2 of C25K before the start of the class. I have shaved 1 min of my mile time (woo hoo).

While waiting for the room to clear, the guest instructor came up. Wow, she is almost a dead ringer for Chalene. The class was high energy. It was like taking the class with Chalene in person (as close as I will get until my next trip to Long Beach - which isn't planned anytime soon). Andrea Acree kicked my butt. She didn't even do the full round, but I know I was huffing and puffing and had to take 3 water breaks.

My goal is to get certified as a TurboKick instructor, so I was glad to take the class with her. Of course, it's no where near close to the day-long training, but it was a nice taste of what's to come.

Oh, an according to my HRM, I burned 1325 cals doing the run and the class! Booyah!

What was your weekend workout?

C25K what?

I know - it sounds like a curse word. Believe me, "Run" has never been in my vocab unless I'm being chased by Jason, Freddie and Michael all at once (even then, I probably would just throw shoes). When I started college many many many moons ago, I went on an ROTC scholarship. My plan was to be a biochemist (FAIL).  So in order to maintain the scholarship I had to loose weight (about 20 or so lbs if I remember correctly) and pass the PT test (FAIL, again). I HATED the weekly run. We ran by the psych ward, we ran around campus, we ran and I hated it. I never did enjoy having ppl yell at me either. That totally sucks. I was the one lagging waaaaay behind the safety guards on the runs. And now I know why. I never learned HOW to run. Yes, there is a proper way to run that includes foot placement, arm movements, and breathing. And as with many things, if we don't learn the proper way to do something, we won't do it and if forced to do it, we won't enjoy it.

Needless to say, other events took place among not passing those damn PT tests and I lost my scholarship. I also changed schools and majors too many times to count. No biggie. I did finally finish my degree (that 20-yr plan works wonders) and I became a walker.

So what's the all the hype behind Couch to 5k? Or am I just following the herd?

The hype is like P90X. You keep hearing enough about it and you just have to investigate (I'm still not sinking my money into P90X, though). It gets you moving faster than you were before.  Yeah, Yeah, slow and steady wins the race - I get ya...but going faster each time is exhilarating for me. I've recouped nicely from my ankle issues and finished out week 1 yesterday. I would have finished Saturday, but my Turbo instructor conned me into doing weights with her (let's just say I still have trouble hooking my bra in the morning - noodle arms).

I know - it's only a 60sec interval, but I am looking forward to week 2. Actually, I am looking forward to running an entire 30min interval. This has felt like a natural progression over my walking. I already have a fast pace, naturally and when I'm on the treadmill I keep my pace somewhere in the 4.0-4.2 range. So now, my first week of jogging I set my pace between 4.4 and 4.5 with a 2.0 incline so I'm not walking downhill.   My plan for week 2 is to increase my jog pace between 4.6 and 4.8 with an include of 3.0.

I still possess some sort of mental block when it comes to a food diary. Grrrr! I did find a nice undated calendar that I can use to make my daily menu - now to just pull that thing out the bag and start using it. Therein lies the issue!

Do you keep a food journal?  Do you keep it in paper format or online?

Slap on a smile...

and say YeeHaw!

I think I've gone slightly mad. Maybe mad cow has finally eaten away at what's left of my brain. Or, maybe I just really really enjoy my workouts.

It dawned on me last night as I was hooting and hollering during kickboxing, heck, even "raising the roof" while doing C25K (yeah, I'm back on it), that I really enjoy working out. I was totally aggravated on my drive to the gym (yes, I'm the overly aggressive driver who wants to go 80 mph on the highway, especially when the lane is clear) because all the suburbanites where driving at school zone speeds and it was 7PM!!! Grrr, foot to gas pedal ppl. Cars were made to go fast.

Oh damn-it I lost focus...Ok, so I get to the gym parking lot becoming more frustrated because of the non-handicapped spots in front of the door - there's always 1 person who has to park right up front and she's driving a HUGE truck that she probably had to sit on phone books just to see over the dash! Why was I in such a rush to get to the gym? Dunno. Could have been the Black Eyed Peas pumping loudly through my speaker system (man, I love my car). It's a great song when you need motivation or need to feel pumped on the last bit of a run/walk/workout!




I got in my C25K run! I had to revert back to week 1 since I hurt my ankle last week :( but it was still a fun run. So by 8pm, I was hot, sweaty (oh yeah, that's sexy) and ready for some Turbo!!! I've gym-friended a young-ish RN who I noticed was going through the motions half-assed and half-hearted.  This irked me since watching her kept me off pace. I finally started the nag.  "Come on, Girl...you can do this!" became my mantra. She was probably perturbed by the end of the class, but I didn't care. I was grinning ear to ear when I was done. I had a blast and I'm looking forward to Nightclub Cardio tonight. Time for some booty popping and party pumping!

Do you find yourself enjoying your workout time for no reason at all? Or do you dread your workouts?

Recommitment Shopping List

Okie dokie...here's the shopping list (no deviation from my normal list). Hopefully, this will keep me from rolling through Taco Hell.

Spinach
Fresh fruit (apples, oranges, cantalope, kiwi)
Kale
Celery
2% milk
Bananas
Sweet potatoes
Mushrooms
Sugar peas (fresh)

Oatmeal
Laughing cow cheese
Tomatoes

Already purchased
Frozen fruit
Frozen veggies
Chobani yogurt

Am I missing anything?  Of course I have staples (eggs, peanut butter).

I am planning to make quinoa with mushrooms, kale and sweet potatoes over the weekend. I will substitute  couscous for the quinoa because I already have a mountain of couscous cooked!

Meal plan to be posted tomorrow - baby steps working over here!

Sloths have feelings too

Note: This was originally written in July - but still applies today...
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Or maybe I spent too much time watching Ice Age (I love that movie).

So my question for today is...How in the world do your reign in your inner giant panda?  Mine reared it's head yesterday in a really bad way (let's just agree to never speak on my drive thru party for lunch). I'm normally really good about asking for a to-go box for my meals or just eating 1/2 of what's on the plate. But lately, I've been a bottomless pit and have been shoveling food in my gaping hole like quicksand.

Case in point:

I had dinner with a dear friend last night at a posh hotel here in town.  Her and her hubby berated me (in the way good friends do) the last time we were together, because I wasn't really hungry. Mind you, they think we're in Spain and eat dinner at that super chic hour of 8pm. So this time I should have been prepared. Oh heck no! It started with mojitos (just 1 for me, but damn they are yummy), Ahi tuna tacos, mini lamp chops, enough Sea Bass to feed 2, ice wine, coffee, mango sorbet, AND slice of ice (cookies and cream ice cream made into a cake). GOOD LAWD!!!! Surprisingly the appetizers were appetizer size, the rest of the meal was true Texas-style: BIG.

Yes, I know there are tons of articles out there with advice on how to prepare for parties and generally avoiding eating with friends, but with this couple - that aint happening. And that's not really the crutch of the story...
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Current situation as of Sept 8...I've been EATING!  I'm not talking Eat Clean eating...I mean EATING just plain crap and there's no excuse for it.  Someone tried to say it was my metabolism. Ha! Yeah, right.  What I mean is as soon as I finish a meal, I'm thinking of what else can I eat (where's the pudding, the cookies, the chips, etc). I've been circling the fast food drive thrus like I'm casing the joint and I'm craving hamburgers.  WTH!

To add insult to injury, I only worked out 2 days last week, haven't done a damn thing this week except vacuum and I haven't returned to C25K.

What do you do when you find yourself in this situation? 

Well, I can tell you this...I got my butt on the scale - SCARY.  I saw a number that I haven't seen in a while = 170! WTH!!!! Where the hell did that come from?  I know some of it's salt (because this morning the scale trended down to 167), but I can't keep blaming salt for this type of behavior.

So my quest is to figure out what my problem is. Boredom? Anxiety? Stress? And to figure that out will be a food journal.  Yes, yes...I've said it before and I suck at it.  But to the food journal I am using a menu. I found the one I was using in June-July. And now that my AC is fixed (I haven't had a working AC for most of July and August - too damn hot to do anything especially cooking) I have no excuse not to cook! My grocery list will be completed today and posted for ya'll to see. I'm not sure about the 'No Sugar' diet - I'm not trying to diet, I'm trying to change my lifestyle.

Looking the part - part deaux

I keep re-reading my last post and I don't think I expressed myself clearly (a reason why I wasn't on the senior debate team in HS - I can make an argument, but have difficulty expressing myself clearly without mulling over my viewpoint).  So here I am again with the issue.

Thinking about looking the part of what you're selling leads me to think about the issue of body image. Am I wrong to say that I wouldn't chose someone who appears to look unfit as my trainer?  Then why would my workout partner chose to workout with me?  Yes motivation is different than training, but she could just as easily pick someone who 'looks' fit as her source of motivation.  We are, however, constantly cheering each other on and making sure we don't pass out during some of the workout classes.

We both talk a lot about body image and acknowledge there are certain areas of our bodies that we would like to change and are working towards changing.  However, we both say we want to avoid being super skinny - that's not our idea of beauty. Lately there has been national discussion on the issue of super skinny vs curvy in fashion mags, including many of us who follow Mad Men's favorite character.  Did ya'll know Christina Hendricks measurements are 39D-30-39? And my idea of super skinny are the resurgent of models who are so thin, you see collar bones, hip bones, knees and are poorly underdeveloped to the point they appear to look like pre-pubescent boys. Even Rachel Zoe can appear to be too skinny. That is simply my opinion on the super skinny issue.

So again thinking of looking the part and body image, I would have to say, again, we are all at different stages of weight loss - some have made it maintenance, some of us are still trying to get past those first 10 lbs.  So if there is someone a little plumper than my ideal, who's to say that person isn't the trainer/motivator for someone else? Maybe I need to get over my idea of looking the part and work towards achieving it!