WORKOUT, AND HEART RATE MONITORS

I'm back!!   I'm feeling better, not 100% but better, and wanted to do a great workout, so here is what I did today:

Elliptical-683 calories, 6.23 miles.  I did this in one hour.  

Now, I have been told by several people as well as read that these machines are not correct when calculating calories.  In fact, several people and articles have said that these machines, especially the elliptical, over calculate calories burned by 40%!  So, freaked out and thinking I wasn't doing as much as I thought I was, I got a heart rate monitor that calculates calories burned..... and this is what I did:

According to my HR monitor, I burned 687 calories, 4 calories MORE than what the machine said I did.  So...which should I go off of?  I'm so confused.  I was not expecting them to be so close.  At first they were not.  For the first 20 minutes of my workout there was a good 100 calorie difference between the two.  But, I then raised the resistance on the machine and the HR monitor caught up to what the machine said as far as calories burned. 

Any input anyone?  I just want to make sure I'm actually burning these calories!!!

THIS IS GETTING OLD...

Still sick :(  

I have an upper respiratory infection and mild bronchitis.  I'm on an antibiotic, hopefully it kicks in soon.  I hate it.  I was feeling better today a little bit and wanted to go the gym earlier, however had to wait.  Now I'm feeling shitty again and am all tired so I guess tomorrow hopefully I can get back into things.  Hopefully a good nights rest will make all the difference.  

We shall see.  

Until tomorrow...

UGH, STILL SICK

Well, I'm sick, and it's bad.  Sore throat, congestion, sneezing and aches.  So, no gym :(  I need to rest and get well.  Then, back to it.  I did stay below my calories on Loseit! and all is well.  

I'll post tomorrow.

WHAT AM I DOING WRONG?????

OK- So I had to do a health assessment for work.  Everything was great....except my weight.  I GAINED 3 POUNDS!!!  What the hell!!!!!  

I'm so disappointed!  After all the hard work at the gym I've been putting in.  I just don't understand what is going on!  If you remember I raised up my calorie intake last week...maybe I should bring it back down again.  I dunno.  I'm seriously thinking that my body just hates me.  I've made a doctors appointment to see what options I have.  I'm fed up.  I've busted my ass and it's all for nothing.  I'm so pissed today. 

That is all.

PS- I did 42 minutes of circuit training here at home because Adam is at work.  Not like it will matter anyway :(

Yeah, I'm bumming today.  BOO

I Guess Today is a Day of Rest.

I took today off from the gym.  I think I'm getting sick.  I felt fine this morning and kicked butt at work, but about two hours before my shift ended I started to feel it.  Sinus pressure, no energy, headache, and just an overall "blah" feeling.  So, this is my day of rest.  Hopefully tomorrow I'll feel better so I can get to the gym. 

I did stay below my Loseit! calories for the day.  I will report more tomorrow.  I'm going back to bed.

Saturdays Workout and a Pet Peeve!

Heres what I did at the gym today!

Elliptical- 6.05 miles, 718 calories burned.  I did this using the "rolling hills" program and on an incline of 6 in 60 minutes exactly.  

I'm feeling so good!  I love the fact that my clothes are already getting looser and are fitting better.  I do have a pet peeve though.  People that are also overweight, aren't doing anything about it, telling me what I should and should not be doing.  Like, I told someone today about what I was doing to lose weight and how I work out and they were like, oh I heard that wasn't good for you.  I heard you shouldn't do it that way, blah blah.  I HATE that.  If you aren't doing anything to try to get slimmer, don't go after my routine and try to negate my efforts!  So annoying.  Doing SOMETHING is so much better than doing nothing at all, like they are.  This person just eats all the shit in the world and doesn't care what it does to their body or how bad it is for them.  So, yeah, that's my peeve!  

Other than that, a great day and a wonderful night planned.  Getting together with some friends for cards and a few beers (yes, I planned those calories in for the day!).  I work in the morning again tomorrow so the routine will be the same.  Work, gym.  Fun fun!!  

 “If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.” ~Wayne Dyer

Alright, see you all tomorrow!

fridays workout and adjustments to loseit!

Here is what I did today at the gym:

Elliptical-6.22 miles, 711 calories burned.   I felt very good during this entire workout.  I did it on a resistance of 6 the whole time. 

I also lifted weights for about 10 minutes.  My arms are sore now lol.

Also, I had to adjust my Loseit! settings for my caloric intake.  After discussing what my calorie intake daily was with several "fit" people, they all said I wasn't eating enough.  I was hungry a lot.  So, I came home and did an online calculator for how many calories I should eat for weight loss for my activity level.  My activity level is moderate (between work and working out 5-6 times a week).  All three of the calculators I used said I should be eating about 200 more calories a day than what Loseit! had me eating.  So, I went back to adjust my plan and I clicked on a link that I never bothered to read before about how they calculate my caloric intake.  They based it off having a SEDENTARY lifestyle!  Which, is SO not what I have.  So, I adjusted my caloric intake to what the other online calculators said to do.  We shall see how it goes.  I am not hungry tonight though, and I'm still 299 calories below my new target.  So, hopefully that makes me feel a little better.

The next few days I work in the morning and I think Adam only works tomorrow night.  So, I will be posting gym pics for the next few days for sure.  I think my next "day of rest" will be on Wednesday.  Maybe, it depends I guess. 

Ok, well, that's all to report for now.  I'm feeling happy, strong, energized, and motivated!

not much to report for yesterday

I stayed below my calories on Loseit! yesterday, but no gym.  I was exhausted after work and didn't want to go and hate it the whole time because I was so tired. 

So, when the hubby wakes up and gets some art done I will go around 3 today.  I have the day off so I'm going to be well rested for a nice workout!!

I'll report back later!

wednesday's workout!

I busted ass at the gym tonight.  I'm feeling it now!  Oh well, at least I know I'm working the right areas!

Here is what I did at the gym:

Elliptical- 7.09 miles, 857 calories burned!  I was doing a resistance setting of 6-10.  That was done in 65 minutes.  Awesome!

Treadmill-.81 miles, 172 calories burned.  This was my cool down.  I walked on an incline of 10 most of the time.

So there you have it!  I'm feeling strong, yet tired!  I wanted to quit so many times on the elliptical tonight because I was getting tired but I kept telling myself "don't you dare give up!"  That helped me make it through.  I think tomorrow I will do a lighter workout.  Lower resistance and not so strenuous because I can already tell I'm going to be sore tomorrow.

I ended up being 400 calories over on my Loseit! today because I miscalculated my dinner.  We went to Chili's and I got the chicken fajitas thinking they were good...but not so much.  They were over 1,200 calories!!  The tortillas killed it!  For one tortilla it was 260 calories and the fajitas come with four of them!  Ouch!  So that was my driving factor in kicking my ass at the gym tonight, I wanted to burn as much of that off as possible.  And it burned 1,029 of it off!  Sweet.

See ya tomorrow!

weigh in day. i'm frustrated, but i'll be okay.

Well, I weighed in today.  I only lost 2 pounds this week.  I'm frustrated.  Frustrated that the week before I had lost 10 pounds and didn't work out as hard or eat as good as I have this week.  Frustrated that it was only 2 pounds.  ONLY TWO POUNDS!  After only eating fruits, veggies, seed, nuts, and lean protein like fish or turkey.  After not drinking pop AT ALL only water.  After being so positive that this week I was going to lose more.  I ONLY LOST TWO POUNDS.  

I was very frustrated this morning.  I wanted to just give up.  I told Adam, well fuck it, I'm going to see if I can qualify for gastric bypass.  I was convinced I couldn't do it.  I was so pissed I even went through McDonald's drive thru this morning and bought breakfast not caring at all about the calories.  But then, something happened.  I opened the wrapper to the sandwich, looked at it and.....fuckin' tossed that thing out the window!! Yup! I did.  I just was disgusted with it.  Just ewwwww.  

I also realized...wow, I'm an emotional eater.  And that's the reality.  I turned to food for comfort.  All of my life, food was my friend.  It stems back from my childhood I guess, when I started turning to food for comfort.  I had a rough childhood.  Very tough.  My parents were alcoholics.  My parents had financial troubles all the time that put much strain on all of us.  The fighting, being without gas (aka no heat, hot water), the cars being repoed, the bankruptcies.  My parents were never THERE.  Sure they were there, but not.  You know what I mean?  They were there for some basic things.  But, alcohol took more importance.  They were always gone.  My sister and I were always alone.  From the time we got home from school to the time we went to bed, my parents were at the bar.  No shitting.  They would come home and argue all night keeping us awake and making us terrified.  My nerves were shot.  My life was hell.  I turned to food.  Food always made me happy.  It calmed me down.  I was so terrified when my parents fought that I literally shook from the time I heard the car door slam when they got home to the bar all the way until they stopped arguing.  It terrified me!  A child should never have to go through that.  EVER. 

Then something even more terrible happened.  My rock, my best friend, my sister, left home.  Just left.  I don't blame her.  I never did really.  She had a lot of pressure on her.  She was 17, and acting like a mother to me.  Pleading for attention and praise from my parents that she never got.  So, that was rough.  Suddenly I was alone.  I just started talking to her again about two years ago.  We are fine, but not super close anymore.  We have our own lives. But, I'm grateful in some way at least we are communicating again.  But man, that sucked.  And that's when I really started turning to food.  I was alone in this.  The crazy world of fighting, alcoholism, and just hell.  I turned to food every time I wanted to get relief from the stress of the fighting or just try to get happy.  

That pattern stops now.  It stops today.  Maybe some bum ate my sandwich I threw in the parking lot.  I dunno.  But I'm done with that way of thinking from now on.  Instead of me running for food whenever I don't get what I want or if I'm depressed, I'm going to have a conversation with myself.  A true internal conversation and tell myself to THINK.  Think about why I feel what I'm feeling, and how can I fix it.  It's so simple.  I just have to make that my new habit.   

Food is for fuel, not for a friend. 

So, yeah that was my day.  I'm fine now.  I have accepted that fact that I lost only two pounds.  But, hey, that's two more pounds GONE.  I'm going to keep going.   I have to.  For me.  I've lost weight before, I can do it again.  And I will.  I know that I can.  

So, tomorrow I will be posting stuff about my workouts. Today was my "day of rest" so nothing as far as gym to report.  But, I did stay on track with Loseit! and am below my calories for the day.  I ate a ton of fruits and veggies today.  I love it.  Instead of feeling tired and blah after I eat, I feel energized and happy.  That's the true sign that what I'm putting into my body is GOOD for me.  Both in body and in mind. 
 
“Everyone faces defeat. It may be a stepping-stone or a stumbling block, depending on the mental attitude with which it is faced.” ~Napoleon Hill

Amen.  

See you all tomorrow! 

Short, but At Least I Did It!

So, I'm back at work now.  I had to work the 3-11 shift tonight.  I was so super tired from busting ass all night that I almost talked myself out of going to the gym after work.....but I went.  I had to.  I am taking tomorrow off because I work from 9-6 and then Adam goes to work right when I get home.  So, I have to stay and watch the kids tomorrow night.  Tomorrow will be my day of rest for the week.  

So, here is what I did at the gym tonight:

It was a short workout.  I did the elliptical again.  Only about 22 minutes, but I still burned a nice amount of calories.  I am below my calorie budget for Loseit!.  I love that app.  I think I would be lost without it!  

Ok, off to bed I go.  I'll post my Loseit! results tomorrow. 

Sunday's Workout!

I went to the gym today pissed off and annoyed.  For many reasons.  Mostly my self judgement.  I'm so critical of myself sometimes it's crazy.  I need to change that and I promised myself to find one good thing to say about myself a day.  So, positive thinking will now be my main focus.  

Anyway, here is what I did today:

I just did the elliptical.  Burned 636 calories, did 5.45 miles in an hour.  I also lifted weights very shortly...I need to get into the habit of doing that more often but I really don't like doing it!  It's kinda boring to me.  I would much rather do cardio than weight training.  But, they go hand in hand, so I will try to do some at least a few times a week. 

I go back to work tomorrow.  So, finding time that works around both of our schedules to get to the gym is going to be a challenge.  I will do it though.  If I have to go at midnight when I get out of work some nights than so be it.  

Okay, until tomorrow, have fun!
 

YAY! I Reached a Fitness Goal!

I was feeling pretty sheepish today when I first started, but thanks to some great music (just made a new workout mix) and determination, here is what I did at the gym today:

Elliptical-65 minutes.  6.88 Miles, 795 calories.  My all time best so far!  That was on a setting of 4 for resistance and going at about 6 mph.  Sweet!!

Treadmill-25 minutes, 227 calories.  I ran 1 mile of the 1.34 miles done.  

A GREAT workout!  All together 1,022 calories burned in 1:30 minutes. Not too shabby. 

I ate healthy all day and am below my calorie limit on Loseit! by 875 calories.  I'm drinking a little tonight so hopefully by the end of the night my calories will be below limit still!  This will probably be the last drinking for a little bit, I understand it does hinder my fitness a little.  We shall see.  

 

Yesterday Was a Day of Rest

I took yesterday off from the gym.  I needed to have one day of rest.  My muscles hurt!  I ate pretty good throughout the day, but had some beers last night so I kinda went over my calories for the day.  

I will go to the gym today at some point and post pics later! 

Another Great Day!

Hello all!  Well, another great day!  Not only was the weather awesome, but my workout was awesome yet again!

Here is what I just did:

I started on the elliptical tonight.  I did 5.53 miles and burned 709 calories in 55 minutes.  I was feeling sluggish and a little sore today, but once I started I kicked butt again!  No better feeling than when you get done and you see what you have done. 

I finished with a slow cool down on the treadmill.  Burned another 120 calories in the process. 

All together, my workout totaled 829 calories burned.  I stayed below my calorie limit on Loseit!.  I'm feeling good! 

I bought a bunch of new workout pants because my others were getting too big already.  10 pounds makes a ton of difference! 

Well, that's all for tonight  I'm beat and I think I'm going to go relax. 

Stay positive, stay healthy, and see you tomorrow!!

TIME TO STEP IT UP, AND MAKE IT HAPPEN.

I need to do this.  I have been considering it for a while now, and I just have to do it.  It's about me writing....getting my feelings out.  My frustrations, successes, anxiety, anger, happiness, and courage.  It's about dieting.  Not just dieting I guess, more a lifestyle change for the better.  I decided to do a blog about it because I like to talk about it frankly.  I keeps me motivated.  It keeps me thinking about the next step and what I want for myself.  And, since I don't have a work out buddy, I think this will be a great way to keep me motivated and on track.  If you hate hearing about it, then don't read my blog! 

So, here it is.  I guess I'll start with my situation.  Most of you who read this are friends, mostly acquaintances.  We see each other occasionally, but sometimes months and months go by before we come face to face.  For those of you that don't see me at all, let me just explain my situation. 

I'm FAT.  Yup, I said it! Besides a stint in college where I was starving myself for the love of boyfriends, I have never been skinny.  I starved myself to 130 pounds in college.  I had tons of health problems because of it.  Not to mention hair loss, which I never really got back.  And, well, obviously that doesn't work because I'm big again!  I weigh 230 pounds (was 240 13 days ago, so I've lost 10 pounds already!).  I am "supposed" to weigh about 150 for my height and body frame.  That is my goal.  Short term, I want to be down to 200 in about 4 months.   I have been dieting over and over again.  I just had a baby six months ago, so I'm looking at this as a fresh start for me.  By my doctor's standards, I'm MORBIDLY OBESE.

I guess I never really think about it like that though.  I don't see myself as morbidly obese.  I have no health issues.  No high blood pressure, no diabetes, no sore achy bones and muscles, no vitamin deficiencies, ect.  I'm very active.  I have a job where I'm constantly on my feet and moving, stocking, lifting, ect.  I don't wear huge clothes. I wear an XL shirt and a size 14 pants.  To some of you, I guess those measurements are considered huge.  Lol.  But, for me, they are quite small.  See, when I was a kid, all through childhood I was overweight.  By the time I was in seventh grade I weighed close to 200 pounds.  In high school, well, I had ballooned up to about 320 pounds.  I remember my senior year.  That sucked!  I was just starting to realize I was big I guess when I had to wear MEN'S jeans because I couldn't find anything in the women's department that fit me.  I had no neck.  Seriously.  I wore a size 3XL shirt.  Mostly men's again.  I was huge then.  I think of that as being huge.  I guess that's why now, it's hard for me to think of myself as being obese.  But the reality is, I was then.....I still am.  This time though, I'm actually quite fit for my size.  I do 4-6 miles every day on the elliptical when I work out.  It had been quite sporadic the workout time though.  That's what I am getting better at now.  Routine.  I have developed a routine over the past few weeks of working out.  I go to the gym.  I love the environment there.   I don't find gym's scary at all.  I find them motivating!  I love watching all the "skinny" people work out, and sometimes, I'm working harder and faster than they are and I'm kicking ass!  It's very fun for me and somewhat addicting! 

This is what I did today at the gym:

This first one is just my warm up.  I did a little walk on an incline of 10-14.  Incline kicks ass! 

This one is the main workout.  I did 6.35 miles and burned 779 calories on the elliptical.  See, I may be fat, but damn I can put in a great workout!  That was all in only 70 minutes.  Not too shabby!  














I love the look of those.  On top of all this working out, I have mostly switched to a veggie/fruit diet.  I'm also incorporating nuts and seeds as well.  I'm just drinking water.  Very little meat, and if I do eat meat, it will be lean turkey or chicken.  I have been doing Loseit!  I love that app.  It is a calorie/activity log that is very helpful.  You can set up a fitness plan based on how many pounds a week you want to lose.  You can add friends there too.  It's a nice little society for dieting.  Check it out!

This is a lifestyle change.  It is a habitual change.  It will be a journey.  I'm not going to lie, it's going to be emotional.  You are going to hear a lot about me.  Some of you have never heard it.  Some of you have heard it several times.  Like I said, if you don't like it, don't read it.  But, this is for me.  It's my journal in a way.  This is going to be a journey to a better me.  I'm healthy now, but I'm going to be healthier.  I'm going to log every day.  Even if I don't make it to the gym, I'll be on here talking about what I ate, what is going on in my head, ect.   

I invite all of you who have a goal in mind to blog with me as well.  It doesn't have to be as much as a weight loss as me.  It could be ten pounds.  I don't care.  Talk to me.  Leave comments and voice your frustrations too. This can be a community thing as much as a "me" thing.  If you feel alone and need someone to talk to about keeping motivated, join me.  Come along with me on this ride.  It's going to be a crazy roller coaster.  Full of twists and turns, probably some reversing along the way.  Full of fear and adrenaline and excitement.  But, we will reach the end eventually.  It will be awesome.  So, if you are going to keep reading... see you tomorrow!