March Medium Madness: And Spinning

WOoooooooooooooooooooooooooOOT! I’m a Medium.

Just got in from pants shopping - my jeans that I bought last time around no longer fit, so I figured it was time get some new ones (and a pair of work pants) to avoid saggy crotch syndrome. I am down a couple of inches in the waistline so I picked up a medium-sized belt. I don’t think I have owned a medium belt since like high school.

In other news, I tried fartleking for a different type of cardio activity: biking. That is, I went to my first spinning class ever this morning. MAN was it ever hard! It is basically an hour of interval training on a stationary bike lead by a boot camp like instructor and you sweat out every bit of moisture in your body until your legs feel like burning and or you fall off your bike. Okay, so it totally isn’t nearly that scary, but I enjoy being melodramatic. Anyways, it was awesome, despite the fact that I was easily the heaviest person in the room (including the boys), its a good change from running. I like running, but I think I should throw in some lower impact cardio in my life so my knees last past 40.

**Updated: Note: Biking after not having done so in a long time hurts you in your lady parts a few hours later. 

finding the right excercise for you

I arrived at the gym 45 minutes before it started, so I could get 30 minutes in on the elliptical - nothing overly strenuous, just enough to get some blood pumping cardio in for the day. I had a great time at it last week and was really looking forward to starting off my Saturday with it again this week.

But they changed it.

Fuckers.

I’m talking about a low-impact aerobic class which involves a weight lifting component at my gym. (Note: you can show up at any class at my gym, it is included in the fee.) I have never felt more uncoordinated in the whole of my existence than I did this morning. Like, I could do it last week. I was all excited about how it was working my volleyball muscles. But my gym changes the choreography of the classes every 3 months  or so and it was completely different today. I stuck around for a solid 45 minutes of the hour-long class, but then he started adding steps and arm flailing and I had no idea what the deuce was going and certainly wasn’t getting any health benefit from standing there looking confused.

And so I left.

And it was good.

Actually, at first I felt really shitty about it.

Then, I realized step-like classes really aren’t for me. I don’t like them. I have no eye-foot coordination,  particularly when you ask me to do something with my arms at the same time.

I do, however, love yoga, running and the weight lifting class I have been attending. Why fuck with a good thing? Why go to the gym only to feel completely useless and defeated? I have found the right exercise for me and it does not include step classes. I write this not to dissuade you, reader, but instead to encourage you to try different things out to see what does and does not work for you.

p.

day 52: I DON’T WANNA (Part Deux)

What the deuce was I thinking? I like sleeping a lot. I especially enjoy sleeping in on weekends. It’s amazing I am awake right now. In fact, if I didn’t have asshole pigeons on my balcony I would probably still be in bed. Fucking pigeons. So the whole me going to BodyPump this morning at 9:15am plan was clearly doomed to fail. I am going to go listen to a couple of chapters of Harry Potter whilst ellipticaling. I may or may not pick up a BB gun on my way home to kill the pigeons. I sometimes wish it was easier to acquire firearms in Canada.

day 51: gearing up for Core

I have yet to try Core because one of my big eating issues is not recognizing when I am full and over-eating. I especially have a deep undying love for pasta and I could probably eat a shitton of it if left unchecked. So, this week, although I have been on Flex, I am gearing up for Core. I now have the Core foods list taped up to my fridge and have been acquainting myself with my stomach. We’re old foes, really. Nemeses even (in the Klostermanian sense of the term). I started getting ulcers when I was like 8 and have been having communication issues with it ever since. Now that I am again conversing with my stomach I realized I am not actually hungry during the first few hours of the morning (when I would generally force food down my throat to avoid muffining at work). So, I brought some dry cereal and a banana to work and munched on my breakfast - get this - when I was actually hungry. Weird, eh? Waking up earlier could also probably help this issue, but then I would have to wake up earlier, which seems unlikely given my track record on that thus far (I think I am 0 for 5 or so attempts at reclaiming my morning-time).

Speaking of my track record, I totally sold out my non-crappy actually-reliable gym buddy after work yesterday. I was hella-tired from working after a week or so of holidaying so I cancelled. I still went to the gym, mind you. That particular gym buddy doesn’t live near me and getting to that gym requires busing and whatnot. And I live in Canada so it is like minus 20 (Celsius) here. AND I DIDN’T WANNA!

*Cough*

Please excuse the outburst.

Anyways, I ellipticalled for 45 minutes despite how difficult it was to drag my ass to the gym, proving the following truism of gyming: getting there is the hardest part. I was aided in my pointsboosting efforts by listening to Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows (the audiobook) on my ipod. I had a nice bath when I got home and put on some food in the slow cooker I received for Christmas. It is freaking awesome; it has a base that heats up and 3 pots to choose from: 2 Quarts, 4 Quarts and 6 Quarts (or something). I am single so the 2 Quart one is perfect-sized for making dinner and having non-ridiculous amounts of leftovers.

I think I am going to like Core but I suspect it will be hard adjusting. Sometimes, on Flex, I find I eat when I am not hungry to use points. Eating when you aren’t hungry isn’t the greatest idea and Core will help me work on this, I hope. I eat considerably less crap than I did prior to joining WW and it seems Core is also going to make me make good food choices more often. The 35 points for non-Core foods seems like it will be a positive (albeit annoying) reminder of when I am consuming junk instead of the good stuff. At least 7 of those 35 points will be devoted to sugar of my tea.

Any suggestions for how to spend the rest of the 35? Or like, vegetable soups that are delicious?

day 50: creating an activity calendar

There’s something about breaking that threshold of double-digit weight loss that is just really awesome. I’m still pumped about having lost my first 10 (11!).

I spoke a bit yesterday about motivating myself - especially with respect to activity. To keep myself on track exercise-wise I made a Wednesday to Wednesday calendar (Wednesdays being my meeting days) with activities I plan to do. It has boxes with activities I intend to do that I can check off upon completion. It’s not totally filled in as I might have gym buddies on one or two of the days, so I left those blank for now. I included my walk to/from work every day on there so I have something to check off 5 days out of 7. When I do something I hadn’t planned to - like going for a walk yesterday at lunch or taking the stairs - I put a little plus sign and jot down the activity. So, yesterday I checked off the box with “Run” written beside it (and the walk to/from work box) and jotted down a + taking the stairs (@ work) and a + 20 min walk under “Wednesday”. I guess I could toss this in my Quick Trak Guide thing but I kind of like having it up where I can consult it. I should probably add a column or something to keep track of points boosted. And get some markers. Or crayons!

One of the reasons I joined Goodlife (my gym) was to attend their exercise classes but I haven’t really bothered about any outside of Bodyflow (a yoga/Pilates class) so I am finally going to their BodyPump (aerobic/weight lifting) class Saturday. It is hard and I know I am going to be embarrassingly bad at it (which is why I haven’t gone) but it’s on the calendar so now I have to go.

My gym buddy totally cancelled on me last night so I went by myself and ran 8 km. Technically I ran 7 and walked 1 but whatever it is the farthest I have run ever in the whole of my existence. I might even try training up for a 10 km. The whole reclaiming my morning time thing totally did not happen today - quite the opposite actually, I slept in. My less crappy more reliable gym buddy decided we are going after work today, so I will attempt my reclamation tomorrow morning. This also means that by tonight I will I have already broken my resolution to go to the gym during off times. I suck at resolutions. As such, I am definitely not resolving to train for a 10 km run because then I will forsure not do it.