In the Beginning...

Okay so I am going to turn into one of "those people" who talks about their exercise on their blogs. I like to read them but others may not. I promise I will try not to bore you too much and I will not post every morsel of food I eat (mainly because I eat the same stuff most of the time and I would bore even myself).

Yesterday I did walk/run with the dogs, take body combat (this class is awesome, I am pissed it is only offered once a week - and at 5:30am) and began P90X.

The overview video tells you this program is not for beginners. I can see why. You do have to have some strength to do some of the moves. Day 1 is back and chest. Between everything I did yesterday, I did 324 push-ups (none on my knees either - holla!). All different ways and at different times but I never would have thought I could do so many in a day. This journey is amazing. I am a little sore in the right places today so I think I did everything correctly.

I am still working on my plan for myself but I am not going to use the TOTAL P90X system. I am not following their diet because according to the book I should consume 2400 calories a day. I am currently at 1600 and I like that number. Especially since I am not done losing yet. I am not using their cardio or yoga dvds either (at least not now). I like my cardio classes and I am changing them up a little. I will probably do more cardio then they have in their program because I already do. Cardio makes me feel so accomplished when I am finished.

You may be thinking - what the hell are you doing then? The answer is the strength/weight training and the ab ripper X dvd. According to their schedule I should do abs everytime I do strength training but I may move that to cardio days. I will try it today. It looks kind of awful (meaning hard - 16 minutes). We will see how sore I am from it.

I was talking to one of the turbo instructors this week about changing things up and my fear of loose skin. I told her where I thought it would be and she gave me a suggestion. Wait for it.......cycling/spinning class. Dude, if you read my blog over the summer you know I have an extreme dislike for this class. I know it is awesome and burns a TON of calories but it is hard for me. Mentally. That, and I hate feeling all squinched up over a bike. I like to be up and around and free. It may sound stupid but I feel too restricted on those things. She swears it will take the fat of my midsection (and she really knows her shit). I may (cough, cough) try a class this week but I will have to give up the only Zumba class I have left. But I may have gone as far as I can (as far as body shaping) with Zumba. Zumba is still fun and it tones and gives a good calorie burn.

So for P90X, I will do their strength training which is 3 days a week (I was doing 3 days a week before but for less time and less intensity) and the ab ripper 3 days per week. I am sticking with my 40 morning push-ups and walking/running the dogs 1.2 miles daily. I have turbo kickboxing 3 days per week (my favorite class), body combat 1 day and walking/hiking 1 day. And....possibly.....maybe.....cycling 1 day.

Best bud and I are curious as to how cycling shapes that particular part of your body. It does not seem like it would move that much to do that. But, what do we know?

So there it is. My tentative plan. Oh yeah....in the book for P90X it tells you to take your measurements and 6 different before pictures. I did measurements last week. I was not going to take the pictures but I will want to compare the end results (because I am like that). So this morning I made my husband take my pics. I even did it in a white sports bra and undies (I wanted undies because I will want to compare my thighs where I think loose skin maybe lurking). I didn't even feel bad looking at them. Even wearing white they do not look too bad (I say that now, in a few months when I look back I may change my mind). I kinda wish I had done them at my heaviest just to see how far I have come. I would have never posed for the pics though....not even for my husband.

I am off to try ab ripper X. May you all have a super successful weekend!

Friday the 13th Weigh-In

doesn't frighten me.....too much. Well this week I did it again. My weight went up 3.5 pounds this time. I was beginning to think I would have to give up my cheat meal. That would be super sad. However, it was the lady troubles (yes again, thank you 21 day cycle) and my mother (a nurse) said that after an athletic challenge (say a mud run) your muscles retain fluid. So today I stepped on the scale to see....180.4. Woohoo!!! Finally. I have been in the 180s forever it seems and maybe soon I will be out (and down).

That puts me down 5.5 pounds from Sunday but an actual net loss of 2 pounds. I will gladly take that. This last bit of weight is hard to get off friends. But I am keeping true to my word about changing it up some to see if that helps. In fact, I already ran with the dogs and am on my way out the door to the body combat class. All before school. I want to try to start P90X after school today. Chest and back. It looks like about 1000 push-ups. Oh well, they do help the core.

Good luck to you all with your weigh-ins this week. I will post about P90X if I get that far today!

Loose Skin?

Is this a topic you have wondered about? Me too. I use to read people's blogs and see how much weight they have lost and wondered.....do they have loose skin? If so, where is it? Especially people who have lost over 100 pounds. It occurs to me now that I am one of those people I used to wonder about.

Loose skin is not always obvious. The lady at my gym who had gastric bypass surgery and lost 200 pounds has lots of loose skin hanging from her arms (poor thing....she works her ass off). Some people have so much extra skin on their stomachs that they have to tuck it into their pants (you know you have seen it on TV). It seems to me the only cure for those is cosmetic surgery.

For those of you who do not know, I have lost my weight slowly with lots of exercise. I am down to my last 10 to 20 pounds (I think). I have lost enough weight that now I can really play with shaping my body (this is actually fun). Over the last four months I can really see toning in certain areas. I no longer have back fat or fat on the high side of my hips (it used to be part of my shelf butt). My face and neck have slimmed. My arms are looking almost normal now (a bit muscle-y but they still need more toning). My legs are athletic (but I will take that) for the most part.

As I have lost weight and thought - I want to lose another 30 pounds - I tried to think of where it would come from. That was always easy. Until now. There aren't many places left. Thighs and stomach. I thought for sure I had another 20 pounds I could shed from there. Until......I bent over the other day and saw my sagging stomach. It was wrinkled and waggily like an EXTREMELY elderly butt. This is when it occurred to me. This might not be just fat.....this maybe that loose skin people talk about. It is hard to know the difference. Also, my inner thigh has some swag to it.

I am not ready to say it is definitely loose skin (I can always have hope). So I have decided to try to work on toning those areas for a while to see if that helps. I workout daily with strength training 3 days per week. I am working on making a new routine for myself. I am going to take what I know...add in some new, harder crap.....give it a good stir.....pull it out of my ass....and hope for positive results. I am going to try some of the strength training and toning from P90X. I have heard nothing but amazing things about this program so maybe it can help me as well.

I am also going to be changing my cardio a little. I happened upon a class yesterday that was supposed to be turbo kick boxing (600 calorie/hour burn) but it was being substituted with body combat (900 calorie/hour burn). Not really what I was looking for since I am still recovering from the Mud Run but it was great! It was cardio but there was one song that had us doing 104 push-ups. Talk about dripping on the floor. I think it maybe what I need but I am may need to join another gym for it. Oh well. The results maybe worth it, right?

Do you have any loose skin? Any suggestions on how to fix it without surgery?

Also, I am looking for some good low-fat recipes for Thanksgiving sides. I have a few weight-watcher ones from the past that are great but I thought you all might have some super-tasty suggestions.

I know this post maybe TMI, however, I wondered about it so why not be honest? I will take the way I feel today with a side of loose skin over the way I felt before.

Dirty Picture

This was a picture taken after one obstacle. By the end, we were swimming through the mud. I am talking fully submerged. I am still cleaning dirt out of my ears! Ah, good times! Sorry I do not have any of the big obstacles. It was hard to take pics, especially by the end because my camera was stuck in my muddy pocket. By the end of the race, I felt so heavy, like I had put my weight back on. Glad it was only mud!

Mud Run

My muddy pictures are coming some day soon. These pictures were taken last night. I am not sure how well you can see. No, it is not after a domestic dispute. These are my marks from the mud run. Don't pity me. I think they are funny (best bud and my mother don't - husband has net seen them yet). These are earned. Hard earned. Pain is temporary, pride is permanent (at least for me).

My goals were to complete the course, try all the obstacles, not injure myself. Despite the looks of it, I did not injure myself. I completed the course and EVERY obstacle. Thank goodness I had two teammates. I had to do this cargo net thing twice before I got over. Hence the bruises. I got up to the top and was hanging from my arms because I had no upper body strength left. They felt like Jello and there was so much slack in the nets that I could not use my leg strength. Once they pulled the net tight I could do it.

I am amazed. Not only did we do it, but we made good time. I woke up yesterday with such awful lady trouble pains it was hard to stand up in the morning. Thank goodness for pain killers. However, those made me a bit sleepy before the race. I could have actually jogged the whole thing but one teammate was having some troubles so we walked it in spurts. I cannot put into words how fun it was. I LOVED IT!!! I am sore today and bruised but I still loved it. I want to do it again - after I work on getting some more upper body strength.

I could sing while I jogged. I ran in mud up to my knees and was cruising through groups of young, athletic men. I ran up and down really steep hills (quite a few times). I made it up and over pretty high (and scary) obstacles and each time I made it through something, I thought - this is the funnest thing I have ever done. I did this for over 6 miles. Now at 6 miles I finally thought - enough with the hills already and I am hungry. But for the most part I had the time of my life. I literally swam through mud that smelled like sewage and still had the best time.

When it was over, the fire department hosed us off and I tried changing in the parking lot. Let's just say I drove home in a towel and t-shirt (no shoes) and prayed I did not get pulled over. Then when my gas light came on, I just hoped I would make it home. Not really how I want to be seen at a gas station.

I think perhaps I found this experience more enjoyable than others because it lets me appreciate just how far I have come. There were times when I was heavy that it was hard to get up from the floor. I could have never done anything like this. I feel so accomplished. I feel so proud. I do not think I have ever felt so proud. I was not this proud of completing my masters degree. Maybe because this did not come as easy. I need to find more things like this to do. It is a feeling I cannot put into words and I wish everyone could feel this way at least once in their life.

I feel like a warrior. A health and fitness warrior. I can never go back. Things like this prove to me that I am changed forever. I am now looking for my next adventure!

Wiegh-In and Measurements

Oops, I did it again......182.4 - EXACTLY. Two weeks ago I had gained 2.5 pounds and then lost it landing me right back at 182.4. Now, this week (due to an unfortunate candy and binging incident) I gained 3 pounds and lost it landing right back here at 182.4.

I have to stop doing this to myself. It is too much work to stay the same (essentially). However, I will take it and be grateful I did not have a net gain. I just hope next week it moves down again.

In other news, I took measurements this morning. I did so because I have not since September 20th and I want to start P90X in the next week or so and I wanted a starting point. I say in the next week or so because it depends on how long it takes me to recover from the mud run. Dude, I was reading the obstacle list last night and it is crazy! The 2 that sound the easiest to most people of all the craziness worry me the most. One is jumping hurdles. I have never done that dry or in running shoes, let alone covered in mud and in hiking boots. The other is crossing 5 wooden logs....that are purposely wobbly. I have bad enough balance stretching my ham string standing up. That, and I am clumsy. I do have to say, I was laughing out loud thinking about me on this course.

Let us pray I come out with no injuries. And some funny pictures to post.

On to measurements:

Neck: 0 change
Chest: - 1.5 inches
Arms: - 0.5 inch
Forearm: - 0.5 inch
Waist: - 2 inches
Hips: - 2.5 inches
Thigh: - 1 inch
Calf: - 0.25 inch
Weight (since 9-20): - 8 pounds

Not too bad. At least the measurements are still going down. Well I am off to drag the dogs around the neighborhood to poop on everyone's lawn. Have a great day. I will post again sometime this weekend about my grand adventure. Hopefully I will not eat my way back up the scale so much.

Big NSV Today

Please do not fret. I have not been injured in anyway. I know this blog is all about me but I am getting sick of seeing my own face on this blog (that and the picture made it look like I had some weird growth in my neck and I did not want to frighten you). But the picture has significance.

As most of you know I teach 1st grade. Well the student council is selling a new shirt. So after school, I went to the teacher's room who is selling them and told her I would like to buy one. She looked me dead in the face and said "a size medium, right?"

Now I wanted to laugh outloud. I refrained. Sidenote - this is a new school for me this year and most of the people do not know how big I used to be, especially this teacher because she just got back from maternity leave.

I asked to see a medium. It looked a little small but I decided if I tried it on and it looked like a fat girl in a little shirt, I would exchange it for a large. She agreed.

Here is the wild-ass part....wait for it.....it fit! And it was not even skin tight. I CANNOT BELIEVE THAT I CAN WEAR A MEDIUM T-SHIRT!!! Now I am not totally delusional, I am convinced they run at least a little big. However, I have been a teacher for 6 years and buying these shirts for 6 years. The ones I just cleaned out of the closet were 2X (one was even a 3X but it was big on). Me. I went from a 2X to a medium. How whack is that?

Okay, I am over myself. So that is the picture. My new medium shirt. Giddy up! Kinda makes me want to wear it everyday.

In other news, I have a new obsession. Dried mango. I am a self-proclaimed fruit hater. I eat it once a day because it is "healthy" but that was before I tried the dried mango. Most delicious food on Earth. Holy crap is it good. Kinda high in calories but no fat and full of vitamin C. I gave up my Chex Mix bar that I eat after dinner for it. And those things are super good. What has become of me? This is how I know I am a changed person. A medium shirt and craving dried mango. Miracles do happen!