First Friday Fitness - April Edition

I've spent another month in zig-zag mode weight wise - still struggling with that same two pounds, but in the last few days before weigh-in, managed to actually fall below the 170 mark!

Compared to last month's post, I'm down a whopping one pound. Not much progress for an entire month, but I'll have to take what I can get.

My routine with exercise has improved as well. I've managed up to twenty minutes each on both the treadmill and the stationary bike.  Although that has kind of fallen by the wayside over the last two weeks as I've been battling yet another head cold.  I will be so happy when Spring well and truly settles in and all this nonsense comes to an end!  And my ankle continues to bother me off and on.  It really is true that the older you get, the longer it takes to heal.

The most notable change from last month is the abdomen measurement - down a full two inches!  And I think I finally discovered the trick on that one.  I need to keep my sodium intake well below the daily allowance.  Which can be difficult when all of the processed and fast foods that make my life easier are so high in sodium! But now that I know, I am really trying to keep that on the "watch" list as well.

One little glitch in my big plans.  Remember how I told you last month that I wanted to weigh less than my hubby by my birthday?  Well, he went and got himself all stressed out with changes happening at work (that may or may not signal the end of his employment) and has lost five pounds over the last few weeks.  So not fair!  I gain weight when I am stressed.  My goal weight remains at 164 by my birthday, but given the very very very ridiculously maddeningly horrifyingly slow pace at which I am losing, I am not sure that is realistic anymore.  Won't stop me from trying though.  Just shy of eight weeks to go....

First Friday Fitness - March Edition

February was a really tough month for me.  I battled gaining and losing the same stinking two pounds the entire month.  Up one week, down the next, then back up... all month long. 

And I was so NOT motivated.  I didn't want to go to the gym, and for the most part I didn't.  I scheduled an appointment with my personal trainer, Lori,  for Friday the 18th.  And then fell down the stairs on Tuesday the 15th and sprained my ankle. 

Despite the total lack of motivation and sprained ankle, something deep down held it together (don't ask me what, I'm still trying to figure it out!) and I went to the appointment.  I have incorporated some of Lori's exercises into my regular "routine" here at home.  Tricep dips off the window bench.  Standing push ups off the kitchen counter. Leg lifts that seriously make my gluts burn.  And some of it is just for the gym.  The inner thigh machine, hamstring curls, lat pull downs, rows... but I wasn't going to the gym, so I wasn't doing so much of those.

Then came March.  And something clicked.  Maybe it was the sunshine.  Maybe it was Ali Edward's assignment for One Little Word to do "just One Little Thing" for March.  Maybe it was that email from Kai.  Whatever it was, I felt hope for the first time in weeks.  I decided that my "one little thing" would be to make exercise and creativity a priority in March. Okay, that's TWO things. Yes, I can count. Two BIG things. So sue me. It is where I need to be right now.

And then came today - weigh in day.  Let me start by saying, I know that the number on the scale doesn't really matter. And I'm not obsessive about it. At least not usually. But after a month of up and down and up again, I was so nervous about what the scale would say, that I went a bit off the deep end. 

I shaved my legs. I trimmed my finger nails. I tinkled. Twice. Hey, water weight you know. Have you ever tried any of these tricks?  I would have taken off all my jewelry had I been wearing any. And as I stepped on the scale, I exhaled every ounce of air out of my lungs.  And seriously, I know none of this makes a bit of difference.  Because my scale weighs in half pound increments, not in ounces. 

 Measurements are all the same as February's weigh-in, but I am down two pounds from February's weigh in.  I didn't reach my goal of the downside of 170, but I am soooooooo close! So stinking close I can taste it.

And as the big 5-0 looms ever closer, I want to give myself a huge gift for my birthday.  I want to weigh less than my hubby. The man is disgustingly healthy despite a penchant for chips and cookies. If his weight climbs, he lays off the junk for a few days and is back to where he needs to be. Don't you just hate that? I do! He is a solid 6" taller than me, but weighs in at 165. On my birthday I WILL weigh less than him! Just under three months.  I know I can get there.

First Friday Fitness

I acknowledge that this post is a tad bit late... but I have plenty of reasons justification  excuses.  Want to hear them?  No, I didn't think so.  I'm just glad I'm finally posting it...

Although I "lost" three pounds in just a single day in January, I posted an actual two pound loss for the month.  Once my appetite and digestive system returned to normal, some of the weight did go back on. I expected that.  It means I'm still losing at the disgustingly slow rate of a half pound a week.  But slow and steady is easier to keep off, right? 

These numbers record from where I was in late September 2010, at which point I had already lost the first five pounds, so if I wanted to be truly accurate, I have lost 17 pounds since I began.  Even my doctor noticed today that I was down 15 pounds from my August visit! My new short-term goal is to see the down side of 170 by the end of February.  I know that is reaching, but I'm going to try! 

My measurements were down 1/2" in the waist and hips and a full 1" in the abs which is the number that really matters to me right now.  That is where the unhealthy fat sits, so I'm really happy about that number! 

What is frustrating at this point is that my February photo looks no different from my January photo, or from my photo last April when I was a full 12 pounds heavier.  No, I'm not making it up - and this is painfully honest for me to post - but see for yourself:

Okay, my hair looks different.  It is brushed and I'm wearing makeup instead of being straight out of the shower!  My husband tells me if it is any consolation, he has noticed that my belly has really gone down.  In his very nice and helpful way, he tells me that last August I looked pregnant.  Thanks dear.

On the exercise front - once I got beyond the nasty virus I really wanted to go back to the gym. But every time I had the opportunity, we had snow. or ice. or freezing rain. And I didn't want to venture to the gym on bad roads.  So I got back on the dreadmill at home.  

I started where I had left off in PT - at 8 minutes walking at 3.0 mph.  I added on one minute for each time I got on the dreadmill.  Which meant as of Saturday I was up to 15 minutes!  Today I finally hit the gym.  I went 15 minutes, but was able to go at 3.2 mph on their treadmill.  It does feel slower there - and smoother.

I'm still doing yoga and/or PT stretching exercises almost every morning.  I'm still tracking calories and exercise at My Fitness Pal.  A fitter, healthier me is emerging.... slowly but surely.

What I Did At The Crop - Part 2 of 3

My apologies that this has been so long in coming, but you all know why. :(  Anyway! A little more about the crop...

The crop I attended was a full weekend retreat. Held at the Inn at Reading, it hosts about 200 croppers in the ballroom of the hotel from Friday noon to Sunday mid-afternoon.  If you buy the full package it includes two nights lodging and some of your meals.  So it is a fairly sizeable event. But so well run... by three sisters who do this twice a year - once in Reading, once in the Poconos. 

Back in the "biz" days, I was a vendor at this crop - first for Scrap in a Snap, then for Top Line Creations and my own line of scrapbooking clothing.  But after these start-up direct sales companies went belly up back to back, I called an end to my eight year scrapbook "career" and went back to scrapping for myself.  But I digress...

One of the major sellers of this event is that each cropper gets a full eight foot table all to herself!  Yes, room to create is important.  Some of the larger more commercial events around here cram you into a three foot space - which for me just doesn't work!  And it is one of the best priced crops around.  If you are ever interested in attending, you can check out the details HERE.

Still interested in what I accomplished during my mini-vacation?

My Reverb10 album!

Now, before you get all excited, please understand that I had done all the computer work BEFORE the crop.  I had copied and pasted all my Reverb10 posts into a word document, cleaned it up and printed out each entry.  I had also chosen a half dozen of my favorite photos from 2010 and printed them out at 7x7 on 8x10 photo paper.  The album itself is from a kit I had leftover from my Top Line Creations days.  So using only what I had on hand... 

My work at the crop was actually trimming down all the pages and assembling the whole thing.  And I won't reprint all the pages here... just enough to give you a flavor.

For the most part I tried to keep one prompt to a page.

And every four or five pages I would add a photo just to keep it interesting.

Some pages already had photos included from the post, or photos added from some 4x6 prints I had on hand.

And in some cases, where I was particularly verbose, a single prompt could go on for FOUR pages of the album! 

Overall, I was quite pleased with the finished product and glad to have this glimpse into my life in 2010. 

Next up - my new "Move More Eat Less" system. Again, I had printed off most of the content at home. So this work involved trimming down the papers, filling out the templates, and assembling the album. The album itself is a 5.5 x 8.5 WeR Memory Keepers Album.

For the cover of the album, I actually recreated Cathy Zielski's title block in Photoshop (from scratch) and printed it on a 4x6 photo paper.  I'm amazed at how vibrant it came out! The photos actually don't do the colors justice.

The "Move More Eat Less" journal templates are from Cathy Zielski and are available at Designer Digitals.  Of course, I recolored the entire thing... I can just never leave well enough alone!

These "numbers" are actually from April of 2010, but also roughly approximate where I was at the end of September 2010 when I started tracking on My Fitness Pal.

This template is designed to be used monthly and that is the way I intend to track from here out.  So my "Fitness Friday" posts will only occur once a month - on the first Friday of each month.  In between, I will continue to track daily exercise and calories and weekly weigh-ins at My Fitness Pal.

To keep the journal going, I will use this weekly template to summarize my daily logging in My Fitness Pal.  I need the daily logging on MFP to keep honest about my eating habits, but I like this weekly overview as a way to spot trends and keep an easy overview.  I actually think these will be more useful than the reports from MFP.

What you can't see here is that I added in my prior pages from when I took Lisa Cohen's Wellness Journey class back in 2009 and from when I was using CZ's 4x6 fitness journey templates in 2010.  So I actually have wellness inspiration and fitness documentation dating back to early 2009!  I want my "journey" all in one album... even if the pages don't all match! :)

The "bonus" to my new system is this mini-exercise album that I created.  The album itself is just a 3x5 index card thingy that I bought at Target with a totally different purpose in mind.  I took the exercises I was given in Physical Therapy, stretches given to us in Lisa Cohen's "Wellness Journey" class at BPC, and some yoga moves I had clipped from a magazine and cut them down and glued them into the album - one per page.  I can add to this when I get strength training exercises from my Personal Trainer at the gym (...if I ever get back to the gym...) or others as I come across them.  And keep this by my computer and when I need a break... just flip to a stretch and voila! I'm doing mini workouts all day! :)

I think one more thing my "system" might need is a healthy eating recipe album. So I'll have to start collecting for that one!

Fitness Friday

Tales from the Scale - 175.5  Yes, that is the wrong direction. Up two pounds from my lowest weight so far. But given all the celebrations (Christmas, New Years, Sarah's send-off dinner last night), I'm not surprised or upset. Or beating myself up over it. Just getting back on track now and looking forward to the changes this new year will bring for me!

Body Wars - I was released from physical therapy on December 28th! That's a milestone that has left me both excited and nervous. I don't want to forget the lessons I have learned over the past several months.  This week I managed to do a 1/2 hour of yoga/stretching every morning and made it to the gym to work out once.  I hope to improve on that next week.

Fitness Friday - the Short & Late Version

Tales from the Scale:    174! Yes! Having reached this number, the goal is now to maintain through the holidays. Thank goodness I weigh-in early in the morning. We had our "pot luck" Holiday Party at the office Friday. There was sooooo much food! I behaved okay and made some decent choices, but calorie wise, I couldn't even venture a guess and I know I ate waaaaay more than I would have at home!

Body Wars:    Friday morning was the first day in an entire week that I woke up with no pain in my back. Usual morning stiffness, but no pain. Hopefully that means the damage I did lifting that counter top last week has abated.  I had a wonderful PT session (albeit rushed because I needed to get to work for the aforementioned Party.

Fitness Friday

Tales from the Scale: 

Could you hear the chorus of angels singing when I stepped on the scale this morning????


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Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Haaa-leee-luuuuuu-JAAAAHHHHHHH! 

175.  Need I say more?

Body Wars:

I'm still in physical therapy and looks like I'm going until at least the end of this month.

Which is probably a good thing. I pulled my back again this morning helping Computer Geek move an eight foot long countertop. I knew it was a bad idea... But in the interest of having working printers upstairs with my computer, well, I went along.  I don't think I did too much damage, so hopefully it'll feel better tomorrow.

In the meantime, I've picked up a little more knowledge via a link from Reverb10.  One of the authors there, Patrick Reynolds, has written an e-book entitled "Survival Guide for Knowledge Workers".  It caught my attention so I paid the $9.98 and downloaded the book.

Reynolds' major premise is that man evolved over hundreds of thousands of years to be erect, bi-pedal beings. (disclaimer - I am not making a case either way for the evolution/creationism debate - just reporting) Through that process our bodies were designed to walk. In fact he estimates that our hunter-gatherer ancestors walked about twenty miles every day.

As a species we moved from that to agriculture - which meant less walking, but still being active from dawn til dusk - tilling, planting, havesting, tending.

Until 100 or so years ago. When we became an industrial society. And men spent eight hours a day in front of a machine, assembling parts of whatever. Then we became knowledge workers. And now we spend 15-16 hours a day sedentary - in front of a computer, or a television, or an iPod, iPad, gaming device, or driving a car.

15 -16 hours a day. ON. OUR. BUTTS. In bodies that were designed to walk and to move for that period of time.


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 The result, according to Reynolds, is that our hamstrings are shortening, pulling the pelvis forward, causing us to hunch at our computers... bringing us back to the posture of our early ancestors. How scary is that?

What caught  my attention most about this piece is the correlation between a sedentary lifestyle, hamstrings, and posture. As you are reading this, pay attention to how you are sitting. Are you up straight or hunched? And if hamstrings are shortened by sitting all day, then no wonder mine are so "tight" when I try to do anything other than sit!

Reynolds' advice?  SIT LESS.  WALK MORE.  and DO YOUR STRETCHES!    

Well Duh. Damn. I knew I was on to something big. Wish I didn't just spend $10 to confirm it!  And here, I've been giving this same advice away for free! ;-)

Seven Days

I have so much going on lately that I'm not even sure where to begin! Has it really been SEVEN DAYS since I last blogged?! Did you miss me???

Here's SEVEN things I've been doing in the past week:
1. Thanksgiving:

Seems my whole family was starved to death, so once dinner went on the table, everyone was ready to eat. No time for great photos.  But since I usually get NO food photos at all, I was happy to have just one turn out well enough to publish! And this is it. One single photo of Thanksgiving.

2. Black Friday:

Started off with 4 a.m. shopping at Target.  I went in, grabbed the single item I was there for, paid and left.  And while I got what I went for, I'm  hoping to not repeat that experience next year. It was insane!  I was home by 4:45 and did the bulk of my Christmas shopping online with Black Friday specials, finished by 5:30 a.m. and managed to spend some seriously big dollars in less than an hour.  Definitely doing my part for the economy!

Tales from the scale - I weighed in a half pound up from the prior week. Given the large slice of apple pie and ice cream, I'm not surprised! But I lost it by Monday and am back on track.

Body Wars - Improvement! At Physical Therapy, measurements showed that my flexibility and range of motion are definitely better.  Several inches closer to being able to touch finger tips to the floor! I've been officially discharged for knee issues and am now treating for just my back, with increased exercises. Public service announcement:  Have YOU stretched today???

3. Happy Birthday to My Guy:

Saturday we celebrated Jay's birthday (even though his birthday is actually today).  We did this early because Sarah (on the left) was headed back to College on Sunday.  Having a birthday in December wreaks havoc with shopping budgets.  Me? I combined birthday and Christmas, along with next Valentine's Day, Father's Day, Anniversary and any other gift-giving occasion that might arise and ordered my guy an Apple Macbook Pro. To his precise specifications.  He is The Computer Geek after all.  I'll be paying for it for a year. Literally. I got the twelve month financing option!

4. Blogging for Bliss Round Robin - The book is packaged up, postage paid, and will be dropped in the mail tomorrow morning on my way to work.  Participants will go in the following order:  First Bliss will go cross country to California to visit Sandy.  Then it'll do a quick tour of the U.S. via Melissa and Rachel.  A short border hop will take Bliss over to Lee in Canada.  From there it'll fly across an ocean to visit Jacky, Cheryl, and Mel in the U.K. Another ocean crossing will take Bliss over to Amy in Australia, before making its way back home.

   5. And speaking of blogs... last week (while I was MIA) Melissa was kind enough to award me the "Stylish Blogger" Award.  Thanks so much Melissa!  Since this post is already ridiculously long and you'll learn eight things about me reading it, let's just say I pass the award on to the eight lovely ladies linked to in the Blogging for Bliss paragraph above? You all deserve it! And if you want to play along properly, you can read the rules on Melissa's blog here.

6. Journal Your Christmas/December Daily/Picture the Holidays.
Seriously - is it December ALREADY?  I'm still in a dither about the way this year's album will be constructed. I have a 5.5 x 8.5 three ring binder with page protectors. I know I am combining thoughts/ideas/prompts from all three venues. But digital, paper or hybrid? What color scheme? Any unifying elements? I have no clue!  I do know that I ADORED Shimelle's Christmas Manifesto.  Here's what I did with it:

First I recolored the green background to more closely match the color of my album.  I added papers and elements from The Studio Girls "Impressions of Festivities" kit from Scrapbookgraphics.  If you are into digital, this is a huge kit for only $7.99. I've linked to it if you want to check it out.  I agree with every statement in the Manifesto, so I didn't feel the need to reinvent at all! I have printed the Manifesto in 8.5 x 11 for my bulletin board (where I will see it every day) and in 5.5 x 8.5 for my album.  Love it!

7. Reverb10:


Today as I was browsing through my Google Reader, this kept popping up.  First I saw it on Ali Edward's blog. She learned about it from a twitter by Tracey Clark, teacher extraordinaire of Picture the Holidays  over at Big Picture Classes. Then Sally G. posted about it.  These are all women that I greatly admire and I trust them when they say this is going to be good! So I hopped over to the web site and signed myself up. But it didn't end there. Shortly after I signed up, I saw posts from Susannah Conway and Lee Currie who are also playing along! I feel I am in great company and this should be a wonderful journey and fit in nicely with JYC and Picture the Holidays as well!

Today's prompt is:

December 1 One Word.

Encapsulate the year 2010 in one word. Explain why you’re choosing that word. Now, imagine it’s one year from today, what would you like the word to be that captures 2011 for you?  (Author: Gwen Bell)

My "One Little Word" for 2010 was "Wholehearted".  I embraced living wholeheartedly in many ways, jumping into photography, a self-exploration journey, and fitness with my whole heart. I read books by Brene Brown and Gretchen Rubin and more, participated in the Unravelling courses with Susannah Conway and more online classes and challenges than I can count, and joined My Fitness Pal and began to seriously address my health issues. I deepened relationships with online friends, and concentrated on being more "present" in the moment at home.

I feel like it has been a banner year in terms of personal growth.  But if I have to sum up all of 2010 in a single word... it has to be GRATITUDE. Because everything I did throughout 2010 just made me realize how Grateful I am for my family, my friends, my world.  Funny I should come to that word when it also happens to be today's prompt for Picture the Holidays!  So here's me, totally grateful for 2010.

Looking forward to 2011, I haven't fully crystallized the picture of what I want to manifest next year. It definitely involves more FOCUS (but Fit and Fab and Fantastic are also good "F" words, all of which I'd like to be manifesting in 2011).  Focus means limiting the classes I take so I can fully engage in each one (which will be ridiculously difficult for me).  Focus means continuing to work on and improve my photography and Photoshop skills. Focus means single-tasking and finishing projects that I start.  And that's a good beginning to manifesting what I want for 2011. But it needs polishing, more thought, more... well... focus.

Fitness Friday

Tales from the Scale:

Funny story. I chose Friday as my "weigh in" day because I read somewhere (I think on MFP) that if you weigh in on Friday, you've had all week to correct the mistakes of the weekend... whereas if you weigh in on Monday (which always seemed so logical), all those weekend OOPS's are there in the numbers on the scale. Which may be more honest, but is definitely de-motivating. And I need all the motivation I can get! 

In theory the Friday weigh in is a good thing... except maybe when you go out for a fancy dinner with your husband on a Thursday night. Or the Friday morning after Thanksgiving dinner! Last night I met Jay for dinner at Capital Grille - a very upscale fine dining place (he had a gift card) - and I definitely enjoyed myself.  Lobster Bisque, Delmonico Steak, sauteed spinach, fresh bread. Finished off with bit of cheesecake shared with Jay. 

So, I was expecting the worst when I stepped on the scale this morning.  Imagine my elation when it held steady at the number it had been reporting for the past several days:

Horrible photo, but I was rushing to get ready for Physical Therapy.  That number is down TWO whole pounds from last week!  So I was definitely doing the Happy Dance! For real. In my bathroom. Ready to step in the shower. Happy dancin'. Oh yeah. 

I suspect I was able to get away with yesterday's off-the-chart meal because it followed an hour and a half of sprinting through the Mall and weight lifting heavy packages while shopping for Christmas gifts.  That has to have burned some significant calories!

My goal for next Friday.... To be able to say that I thoroughly enjoyed Thanksgiving dinner and all the naughty treats (Apple Pie and Vanilla ice cream, here I come!) but that I managed to hold steady with this happy number.  I'll be working on really watching myself the early part of the week and then watching portion control on Thanksgiving itself.

Body Wars:

Physical Therapy continues to go well. They've upped my reps on the leg press and added a few new things to my program.  The program now takes a full hour and honestly tires me out!  I've had precious little time to get to the gym. Need to work on that.  Just a reminder... have you stretched today?