I can’t prove it, but I suspect these 2 conspired to keep me at home and away from the gym this week.
After a week of taking it easy so my ankle can start healing, I was ready to hit the gym. Albeit, in a very gentle way.
So what does life toss at me? First up, a lethargic 17-year-old cat who refused food for 2 days.
Spider has kidney disease. We know at some point we’re going to have to make the “quality of life” decision. A few days before kitty stopped eating we noticed his jumping skills declined sharply over the last few weeks. Missing easy jumps. Falling off furniture (and not landing on feet).
The next up he refused food and instead just wanted water. More and more water. Read More
With my hysterectomy, I have too much room down there and organs can start shifting, causing major problems. Good news there is an exercise to prevent that from happening.
While waiting for my doctor to give me the OK for becoming more active, I’m doing a lot of research on any changes to my workout and diet routines following a hysterectomy. I’m officially in menopause now. That means muscle and bone loss are two key challenges heading into my golden years.
Down 1/2 a pound this week. Just need to keep up the momentum. Exercising outdoors helps with that. Hopefully I’ll be able to run tomorrow with weeks of rain finally ending.
I’m down slightly this week. Or as I like to look at it, I dropped 2 sticks of butter from my thunder thighs. That’s half a pound baby. Not too bad considering I devoured a yummy strawberry short cake during mom’s birthday celebration.
Exercise Nil All Last Week
Hopefully the rain will finally stop so I can start running again. Or even go for a walk. We’ve had rain for nearly 2 weeks straight. So anything outside was a non-starter. Which means when the weather finally turns for the better I have to start my interval training from the beginning. Ugh!
Now I’ve run during sprinkles before. But this was cold, windy and sprinkles mixed in with heavy rain. Oh and puddles. Lots of big, deep puddles. Not fun if your shoes behave like a sponge.
Unfortunately I own gear for two particular seasons — freezing cold winters and hot humid summers.
I think it’s time to invest in running gear for the spring and fall rains.
Fearless In The Kitchen
This week I spent quality time working on some new recipes, including an awesomely tender pulled pork with homemade mustard sauce (with no sugars!). The husband went bonkers for it. Pictures and recipe coming later this week along with my sausage-egg bake. A casserole that the hubby enjoyed hot or cold.
I’m also working on some new recipes using my new Dutch oven as well as testing older recipes that my slow cooker ruined. With the Dutch oven I can control the cooking temperature. With my slow cooker, not so much as the “low” temperature is really “hot.” Unfortunately you can’t leave the house when cooking with a Dutch oven.
With summer around the corner I’m busy this week working on tasty, low carb breakfast smoothie ideas. I do miss smoothies. Unfortunately my favorites are loaded with carb-heavy fruits. So I’m noodling with ingredients like cacao and protein powders, avocado, coconut milk, coffee, green tea, cream, jalapenos, berries, cherries, leafy greens, flavor extracts, nuts and fresh herbs.
A lot can go wrong, but that’s part of the fun of being fearless in the kitchen.
My new workout routine caused lots of sore muscles all over. Which means up up ever so slightly this week.
Last week I jump started 2 workout routines — running and resistance training. My arms, abs and legs are feeling the burn as they say. Thanks to that soreness (a.k.a. swollen muscles), I’m up a a whopping 6 ounces. My guess is sometime this week that will fall off and I can expect better results next weigh-in day.
Why Resistance Bands & Not Barbells?
Turns out the local rec department I planned to use twice a week for weight lifting got rid of their free weights. Ugh! Who does that?
Anyway I figured I’d just dig out my resistance bands, load up the Fitness Blender YouTube vids and workout. Turns out my old bands were lacking the resistance I needed. So I gave those to my mom as she wants to start building muscle (yay!) and picked up some new bands.
That doesn’t mean I’m giving up the dream of working with barbells. Turns out my parkour gym offers weight training classes. Once I go through the initial class, I can come in anytime and workout with the free weights. I’m hoping to hit the newbie class this Saturday.
Running Again
I stopped running because I was freaked about what I read regarding cardio exercise and IVF success. But it turns out that’s more related to over exercising. That doesn’t mean I won’t stop once we start treatments. That’s a very real possibility. But for now I want to run.
Rather than trying for a personal best, I’m just doing intervals to help me get back into the swing of things. Last week I did 1 minute run/2 minute walk for 21 minutes. This week that flips to 2 minute run/1 minute walk for 30 minutes.
While my first run was awesome, the next 2 were more challenging. My legs were so sore from squats, lunges and mountain climbers. My leg workouts are the day before a run so my poor legs never got full rest. If that happens again this week, I may have to rethink the timing of my leg workouts.
Need to keep my fitbit charged for this month’s challenge!
Due to a lot of travel and general running around this month, I decided on something completely different for my monthly fitness challenge – walking a half marathon.
That’s 13.1 miles baby! I’m using September’s 4+ weeks to extend my bipedal travels.
Given all that’s going on this month, walking was the perfect choice. Walking relaxes me. I simply download some awesome podcasts or a great audio book on my iPhone, strap on my walking shoes and head out. For some reason, when I walk the spoken word, rather than music, keeps me going for hours. Who ends a walk mid-chapter? Read More
My reaction after conquering the final obstacle Mudderella threw at me!
I spent Saturday morning running a 5-mile obstacle course in the mud. Mudderella came to town and it was time to do my first mud run. My Healthy Bucket List includes a mud race like a Spartan or Tough Mudder. Although Mudderella doesn’t let me cross it off my list, it was a great way to gauge if it really is doable. It is!
Mudderella isn’t a race. You are not timed. No trophies are handed out. Created by women for women, this 5-miler is more about proving we’re physically and mentally tougher than we realize. Read More
No weigh in Saturday. Tomorrow morning I’m headed to Maryland for my first mud race – Mudderella! It’s a 5 mile course with lots of obstacles and plenty of mud. I’m in the 9:45 A.M. wave.
I planned to do another parkour class on Wednesday. My body finally recovered from the 2 hour session on Saturday. Then I remembered about tomorrow’s Mudderella. I know my body from experience. If I did a second intense parkour class, there’s no way I could do a mud race pain-free.
So today I’m taking it easy. After I gather my gear for the mud fest, I’m headed out for a nice easy walk. I’m making today as stress free as possible.
Holding steady after last week’s dramatic 5 lbs. loss.
After last week’s big 5 lbs. loss, my weight held steady. And that’s just fine with me. Why? I focused on something much more exciting than a number on a scale — PARKOUR!
Yep, after weighing in, I headed to my first parkour class…and it was a doozy.
My hubby took some action shots of me learning how to jump, land, roll and vault. I’ll post those later.
I won’t go into too much detail here but I will say it was the most fun and greatest challenge I’ve experienced in a gym. Truth is it didn’t feel like exercise. It was pure fun with a touch of fear. I felt like I was learning how to be a kid again. Awesome! Read More
Join me for the FitFluential 100 Challenge — 1 new exercise everyday, 100 times. Woo hoo!
I’ve settled on my new monthly workout challenge. I’m doing the FitFluential July Challenge — #FF100. It’s a new exercise everyday, done 100 times. Yesterday was squats (so thankful I’m sitting on an exercise ball as I write this!). Today crunches, tomorrow the dreaded push-up.
Nutty? Maybe, but I’m doing it smart. I’m breaking the 100 into doable bites: 20 reps every few hours.
Yay! I’m down 1.5 lbs. this week. But don’t expect numbers like this each week. I’m nearing the end of my weight loss journey and those last few pounds won’t come off easily.
After more than 3 weeks that stubborn scale finally moved. I’m down 1.5 lbs. Why now? Who knows. The body is such a mystery at times. Truth is I’m starting one of the most challenging parts of my weight loss journey. I’m within 25 lbs. of my goal weight. For my final push to goal, my body won’t give up the fat very easily.
As for the big drop this week (yep, 1.5 lbs in a week is big at this point), I noticed 2 changes I inadvertently made this past week:
I reduced the amount of cream in my coffee from 1/2 tablespoon to 1 teaspoon.
I only worked out 3 days this past week, down from my usual 6 days.
As I’ve said before, exercise has nothing to do with weight loss — it’s about inches — but clearly the amount of dairy I consume may hold the key. So now its time for a new science experiment. This week I’m limiting the amount of creams, yogurt and cheese I eat. Read More
