Ana's Frog Pond

BFL Day 5 & 6

Yesterday was a upper body workout.  My legs weren't hurting as bad as the previous two days.  Overall the day went well.   I'm not going to say much about Day 5 since it's pretty much over and done with.

Today is Day 6, I started this morning by going down the basement and doing my cardio workout on my treadmill.  I am not too happy with that treadmill but it'll have to do for now.  It has a lever button that adjusts the speed of the belt.  That makes it hard to exactly control the speed.  The basement was a lot warmer than the gym.  I am not sure if it was from being too warm or just being a bit worn out.  I couldn't quite complete the last jogging burst.  However, my heart monitor watch said that I burned 223 calories.  I guess that is going to put me at over a 1,000 calories burned for the week.

After, I got done with my workout, I fixed breakfast and got dressed to go to my Weight Watchers meeting.  I have dropped .8 lbs.  It was a bit of a disappointment after all the hard work that I had done last week.  But hey, it's a weight loss right so that is good.  My hopes are that at some point during this challenge that I will see a bit of a bigger weight loss at the scale.  I would be absolutely thrilled if I could get back to my goal weight by the end of this challenge.

The Weight Watchers meeting was about self-control this week.  So that made me do a bit of thinking about my past week.  I did exercise a lot of self-control.  It could have so easy to give in to all the temptations.  I think what helped was knowing that in just a few days I will have a free day and I can enjoy myself to a point with certain foods.  I am just trying to figure out what I want.  Might be a pizza night.

While I was at the meeting, Deb the leader, had a certain quote on her flipchart that really hit home.  I wrote it in my pocket guide so that I'll remember it.  The quote is "Forgive the past, accept the present, and embrace the futrure." What this means to me, is that I need to forgive myself for allowing myself to gain over 20 lbs back to the weight that I lost.  I need to accept the way that I am and my future, well that is going to be a new, healthier and stronger me!  It is just going to take a lot of hard work and time to get there.

BFL Day 4

Well it's Day 4 of the challenge.  My glutes and hamstrings hurt like hell today.  Even though they hurt I still did my cardio workout.  It was kind of funny but while I was walking and running the pain wasn't that bad.  Today was the second workout of the Couch to 5K Running plan.  I am having no problem with running the minute and am able to recover enough to run again in the 90 seconds.  I should keep a calorie burned count with for this whole challenge.  Maybe I'll add that to the end of the email. 

As for the nutrition part, I am a bit hungrier today than I was yesterday.  I am coming to the conclusion that it is my desk that is causing my hunger (well actually boredom).  I also think that I didn't get the right combination of protein and carbs with my meals. 

I am writing in my journal a lot more than I did with the first challenge mainly because there is room in the journal to write.  I am recording my heart rate during exercise the average and the max, how many calories I have burned.  I am getting this information off of a heart monitor that I wear.  I couldn't see myself holding on to the rails the whole time I am either walking or running.

Interesting thought, how can people get a good cardio workout when they are reading a paper or magazine?  I don't know about you but I couldn't do that, I think that would give me motion sickness.

I am still working on Baudelaire.  I am almost done.  I have a few more repeats on the leg to do then the ribbing and then I will be done.  I figure they should be completed by the weekend. 

I believe that I have picked out my next pattern but can't decide between two yarns.  This next project is for my Loopy Swap 4 Pal.  Hey at least I managed to figure out the pattern.

I still need to get some goodies from Kenosha here for my Loopy Spring Fling pal.  I will get to meet her in about two weeks time.  I am pretty excited about that.  And of course I get to meet Laura who was from one of the earlier swaps.

Calories burned

Day 1 = 210 calories - upper body workout
Day 2 = 217 calories - cardio workout
Day 3 = 208 calories - lower body workout
Day 4 = 226 calories - cardio workout
Total calories burned = 861 calories

Tomorrow's workout - upper body.  At least I can give my legs a rest.  You should see how I have to sit down in my chair at work. 

Day 3

Well folks Day 3 is almost done.  I'm doing fairly well with the challenge.  I got my lower body workout in this morning but do have to tweak it a bit.  I'm still learning what amount of weight is going to be a challenge for me.  Would you believe that the only thing that I like in the lower body workout is the ab work. 

Food wise, I am doing good.  If I can not go with what I have planned I do know what to substitute.

I am also starting to use my journal a bit differently.  It has one full page where I can write notes.  So I am using that to record things like how many calories I have burned, average heart rate and my highest hheart rate.  That should be interesting as the weeks progress.

Today we had to take my daughter to the doctor for her follow up to her endoscopy.  After the appointment, we took a trip to the cafeteria and of course I was noticing all the foods that I can't eat while I am on the program.  If I want to eat any of that I will have to wait until Saturday which is my free day.

I am looking forward to my free day.  Since I have started the program I have gone cold turkey on the diet soda.  The only thing that I am drinking is  skim milk and of course water.  I need to figure out what I want for my free day meal.  I am thinking pizza (since that is my favorite).

Yesterday, I did manage the bowling alley really well.  I brought my dinner with me to the alley and ate it at the appropriate time.  However, I did not have my last meal.  I was not really that hungry but my stomach was sure growling on the way into work.  I did wait until after my workout to eat my breakfast.

Since Sunday is Easter, I am not going to be able to go to my Weight Watcher meeting.  I am thinking about going to the Saturday morning meeting instead just to weigh in so I can get a bit of a gauge as to how I am doing.  Hopefully the pounds will come off this time.

Day 2

Day 2 of what you ask?  Body For Life, that's what.  I decided that I needed to do something about the extra weight that I have put on.  The solution, Body For Life.  The nutrition part is basically Weight Watchers except concentrating on all the filling foods.  The exercise part can be the killer.  I am still sore from yesterday's upper body work out.  Today was cardio.  I can feel it in my legs.  For the cardio portion, I am starting something called Couch to 5K Running Plan.  In about two months time I should be able to run 5k (well maybe jog.) 

Last night, I took my measurements.  I should see if I have them written down from the very first Body For Life challenge that I did.  I just want to see how much damage that I did by stopping my workouts.  It'll be interesting to see how long it will take me to get back to those measurements.

I am feeling a bit tired at the moment and have a monster headache.  I have no idea why I feel like I haven't gotten any sleep.  I did sleep fairly well last night but obviously my body is telling me otherwise.  I need a nap.

I am still waiting on my first comment to my new blog here. 

I am currently working on a Cookie A pattern Baudelaire.  I have the first sock finished.  I have posted a picture of it on my Ravelry page.  I am currently on the leg of the second sock.  This shouldn't be finished before long.  Then there is the issue of what am I going to knit next.  I am totally stumped.  I signed up to do Loopy Swap 4 and I am completely drawing a blank as to what I am going to knit my partner.  I have an idea but I am not sure if the yarn and the pattern will work well together.  I don't want to post a question on Ravelry about it on the off chance that she might see it.