My New Gadget

So I've been going to A's abs&core class during my lunch break. She offers it 3 times a week and I try to get there as much as I can.

Here's what I know about the class:
1. It's tough.
2. I am literally dripping sweat when it's over.
3. I luv it.

What I wondered was:
1. How many calories am I burning during this 40 minute class?

So I bought a heart rate/calorie monitor watch. It's super easy to use and there's no uncomfortable body band. You just press your finger to the metal around the read out and it calculates your heart rate and your cals burned based on that.

I wore it today during class to test it out and was amazed!



Just in case you can't see that, it reads 39 minutes 25 seconds and 683 cals burned. Pretty impressive I think.

#RI30 Day 2

Okay so it's day 2 of the ripped in 30 challenge. And you're on the edge of your seat dying to know how I'm doing. The anticipation!

Well here it is. I did NOT work out with Jillian tonight. I did go to the gym, where I spent 45 minutes alternating between running and walking on an incline. My body was just too sore after yesterday's 3 work outs. The thing I like about this vid is that it's recommended you do it 5 or 6 days a week and not 7 like the previous one. So I'm still perfectly on track!

My question is: When did I become the crazy who feels guilty for only working out once a day?

So I fell off the blog wagon.......

I bet you thought I gave up. That I was laying on a couch somewhere in a dark and dingy basement, barely visible underneath the empty bags of Party Mix and Snickers wrappers. That the shame of facing my audience of 14 followers was just too much. Or that the shame of quitting had overwhelmed me and I had moved to Russia and become an au pair ( a fat au pair), under an assumed name. Well no need to worry any longer! I'm back bitches!

And when I say back, I mean the blog because I never actually stopped my fitness journey. I've been training with A 3 times a week, working on my learn to run program on m alternate days and trying to squeeze in my new favorite work out class (Abs&Core) on any Monday, Wednesday, Friday that I can escape from work on my lunch break.

Now obviously I have days were I can't make it to the gym, or I'm too tired or busy or cranky to work out. But I try not to have those days twice in a row. That way I won't get back into the habit of just not going.

Have I lost the weight I wanted to in that time? Nope. Not even close actually. My thyroid may still be playing games with my body or I may be doing something wrong but this time it's not enough to phase me. I am in MUCH better shape now than I was when this whole journey began. During tonight's training session A and I reminisced a little about the first week of training and she actually laughed. Laughed! That's how bad it was. And admitted that she took it easy on me for a while.

Who would have thought I'd get to the point where I needed her to push me harder!

So that is where Jillian comes back into play. She recently released the 2011 of version of the Shred. It's called Ripped in 30 and is a more intense version of the same 3-2-1 of strength-cardio-abs principle.

So here I am embarking on a second 30 day challenge. I never actually finished the first one, but I think I'm ready mentally and physically to see this one through.

Week one has similar moves and I find the 5lb weight eerily light. Though I'm not struggling through this time I still find it tough, am definitely working up a sweat and am looking forward to weeks 3 and 4 where she promises to get "insane". I haven't skipped ahead to see what the work outs involves but this video of her back up chick, Basheera, has me excited and worried.

So stay tuned for days 2 through 30. Seems to me like it'll get interesting.

Tic Toc

Okay so between work and the gym, I barely have time to have a life and blog. This whole blog idea seemed so much more plausible when I had that extra time, but here I am. Back at ya for another glimpse into my ongoing fitness/weight battle.

I am still going strong at the gym! Yay! I train with A three times a week and attempt the running program 3 days a week, with Sunday acting as active rest day. Active rest you say? Well, I'm no English major (okay, it was my minor), but that sounds like an oxymoron to me. Ya know, like jumbo shrimp, little giant, science fiction, you get my drift. What it means is that I have to do something but I should break the routine of the gym and try an outdoor activity if possible. So far with rain, snow and temperatures dipping into the double digit minus range, it's been tough. I do intent to try some winter sports. I'll keep you posted on that, it should be hilarious!

So where was I? Yes, the running program. Genius that I am attempted the first few weeks wearing my easy-tones. You know the Reebok's with the built in balance ball technology to it sort of feels like your constantly walking on Bosu Ball? Them.

I wear them so often I don't really feel that instability that your supposed to feel. So it didn't even cross my mind to throw those babies on and hit the tready. That is until, the excruciating pain in my ankle screamed "dumbass!" with every unbalanced step I took. So lesson learned. Easy-tone's not for running.

I spent the rest of the week doing interval training on a bike. Keeping the cardio up, strengthening leg muscles, and resting the ankle. The ankle is now 100% better, my thighs hurt like hell from all that pedaling and I am back to running.

My first day back I was slightly scared. i thought I would have lost all my endurance, but not the case. I was actually able to run a lot more than I had before. Which is super exciting for me.

Someone told me that the key to running is to not run. Which made me think that person was a crackhead. But I get it now. The recovery days are just as, maybe even more important than the actual running days.

I don't even spend all my time staring at the timer anymore. Who would have thought?

A New Year - A New and Improved Me

Okay so this whole 2011 thing has shaped up to be insanely busy just two weeks in. That's the reason there's been no new posting, not because there's no progress to report, complaining to do, or contemplating to type.

Christmas break was just as I expected. Full of booze, food, candy, cake (there are at least 5 family birthdays over Christmas, not to mention the three cakes we had at work before we left), and did I mention booze? All my fav's were home! We had a blast partying almost every night of the break, but this meant dozens of beer (and when I say dozens I mean nightly), late night post booze binging, hangover food the next day, and then eating whatever holiday delectable that was served at whatever event was held that day. My waist line did not thank me. But I had so much that I didn't even feel guilty! It was amazing. And I am back at my pre-Christmas weight, so take that you 5lbs of Toblerone and perogies!

So where am I at now work out wise you wonder silently. Well, for Christmas my cousin's husband bought both her and I monthly gym passes to try out the newest gym that Sydney has to offer. He obviously didn't know I have a yearly membership to the Y. So I'm the girl with 2 gym passes! It's totally convenient. Sid and I are planning to start hitting the Y during our lunch breaks when it calms down slightly at work and M (the cousin) and I have been regularly visiting Ascendo Fitness in the evenings.

Not only have we been regularly working out but we've been doing it right with the help of the personal trainer we hired! She's been teaching us some new moves, showing us how to use the equipment and will be putting us on a walk-run program so I can meet my goal of learning to run, starting with 5 Km. She's also helping us lose the gymtimidation, which is huge in its own right.

Last night we did our fitness testing to measure where we're at now so we have a benchmark for when we do it again in 5 weeks. It was brutal. It was eye opening. I am not in the shape I thought. However, I am also not in as bad of shape as I thought. Turns out I'm pretty average.

Let me share with you some lessons I have learned from my trainer, A.

1. Any amount of cardio under 25 minutes will help you maintain your current weight, but is not all that helpful in losing more weight. (My goal is an hour. I spent about 15 minutes on a bike for the first time very last night and I realized that spin class people must be crazy. That shit is not easy and it is so not comfortable!However I'll definitely be making it a regular part of my cardio routine.)

2. Numbers are just numbers. Apparently what I want to do is to bring down my percentage of body fat and bring up percentage of lean muscle. (So that number on the scale will go down as I do this, but shouldn't be as scary or have evil controlling super powers like it has in the past.)

3. A may be a robot. Or some kind of super human. She works like 12 or more hours a day doing training sessions, teaching classes (One of them which is called Fire, so take from that what you will) and doing this all in a good mood. So my lesson here is really that I should not complain when I've only been suffering for one hour. Okay, you all know me too well by now, I should complain LESS.