Daily Plate

I love this site. I love graphs and pie charts. I love seeing my progress in black and white (and red and blue and green) I love that I record what I eat even if I shouldn't have eaten it. Numbers don't lie. I love that even though I am on a little plateau this week and haven't gone down the 2# I have in the weeks before, that I still feel good and know that I am making strides in the right direction.

10

10 things that are motivating me right now:

1. I like that my pants have the saggy butt thing going on- I want to keep that up
2. I was able to run and sprint more without so much effort at the last soccer game
3. Running a 5k with Jessie in July when she comes to visit (AND that she is shrinking- I want to show progress as well)
4. I have lost 7.25 inches since March 27th! (and 13# since the start of the year)
5. A buddy of mine is losing weight and I just can't let him surpass me- I have a 4# lead that I don't want to give up!
6. Running with Linc again
7. Swimsuit season is a comin' (I never think about swimsuit season until it is here)
8. I teach kickboxing on Saturday mornings now
9. The warmer weather makes it easier for me to eat cleaner- I am busier and crave lighter fares
10. I feel good! Really good :)

I really have been pushing the activity and am focusing on my daily consumption. I had the opportunity to run twice on Sunday, and I took it! I could have walked that second time, but had a push in the right direction that I am grateful for. I think I need to live somewhere without a harsh winter- it just takes it toll!

Rest?

I made myself rest today. It wasn't hard, but it was. I get into the mindset that I eat everyday, so I need to workout everyday. Then I get sore, which there is good sore and bad sore for me. Good sore is that I go about my day with those reminder feelings of the hard work the day before. Bad sore is when I struggle to go through the daily motions, grimacing from the pain. That is a wake up call for me that my body needs some repair. 

We did mega legs on Tues at kickboxing (yea!) and so Wednesday most of my strength training was upper body. Then last night at kickboxing we did mega arms and legs (swimsuit season is coming after all) and so today I am really, really feeling it. While I planned to do the bike today, I opted to use it as a rest day to recover so tomorrow I can get the full benefits of my workouts (kickboxing and then soccer in the afternoon) instead of having a mediocre workout today and then following suit tomorrow. 

I am always plagued by the thought of missing a workout day and losing my momentum. At this point I am still in pendulum mode a bit. Mind over matter. I can sacrifice today for a better tomorrow!

Did It

Sometimes laziness gets the better of me. At the end of the day it can be so hard to muster a workout, even though once the decision has been made to workout, well it is easy to carry through. I have a hard time being awake enough to get a good morning workout- and it isn't feasible (I don't go to bed early enough) to get up at like 4:30 so I can be awake enough by 5:30 to be done working out by 6:30 (when life starts around here)

Last night I had the night to myself. A pile of laundry to fold, dishes that needed washing, floors picked up and swept and on and on (because housework isn't my forte). And a movie (free RedBox Wednesday and all). And a neeeed to workout. I am a multi tasker by nature, so I popped in the movie, did the stationary bike for 30 minutes, strength training for 20, serious stretching for 10, and the finished the movie off with a rousing round of laundry folding and TV room picking up.

Who is this person? Where has she been hiding???

I am so glad I didn't give into laziness and just watch a movie and knit. How cool would that have been?

Balance

A test, ala MizFit:

Stand next to a piece of furniture upon which you can steady yourself should you need to.

Fold your arms across your chest, raise one leg and bend it at the knee approximately forty five degrees.

Check the second hand on your watch and close your eyes.

How long can you hold this position without uncrossing your arms, tilting sideways, moving your standing leg or touching the bent leg to the floor?

Repeat this test on your other side and compare your results with the norms:

*twenty-forty nine years: 24-28 seconds

*fifty-fifty nine years: 21 seconds

*sixty-sixty nine years: 10 seconds

*seventy – seventy nine years: 4 seconds

*eighty plus years: typically cannot complete test.

I am please to say that I held it for 30 seconds on both sides, and probably could have gone longer. Kickboxing and yoga are working. My core is feeling stronger. Closing my eyes really made me aware that what I am doing is working. Hooray!

This week's workout schedule...it's a busy week, so I have to fit it in where I can:

Monday: Brisk Walking (delivering flyers for 2 hours tonight)

Tuesday: Yoga for Athletes DVD during naptime

Wednesday: Bike Ride (weather permitting) or delivering flyers if I don't finish tonight

Thursday: Kickboxing

Friday: strength training

Saturday: kickboxing and soccer

Sunday: REST

One Day

This last week I have been saying, "Today I will make good choices."

Bite sized pieces. 24 hours of good behavior (well really less than that since there are no deamons to fight whilst I sleep).

Each overall successful day, I have this urge to put a notch on the cupboard so I don't forget that one day. Little by little.

My brother commented back to me over on his blog,

"I believe in "Easy come, easy go" and also that what comes at a great sacrifice and with steady persistent effort will be around for a long time. Like saving money, you could save a ton of cash really fast, but by making a habit of saving a little, over time, you could have many many more times the money that you would have by saving briefly then quitting. You could lose a lot of weight with a crash diet really fast, but you could lose even more with smaller changes and persistent effort over time as long as you track progress and make adjustments."

I like the cut of his jib! Steady persistent effort is what I am shooting for!