Saturday, February 25, 2012

A long awaited update...:)

Well peeps, I know it has been awhile between updates. So I thought I would wander by to do one. so my weight loss journey has been successful so far. I'm really happy with how things are going. Im down 8 kg (18lbs, for you non metric folk) so far and exercise is on track!

But today...I started the 8 week challenge at our gym. 8 weeks of gut busting,  supplements ( a new lean chicken and salads- Im sorry I love my steak!!  So at this stage I plan to cut night carbs, Increase my protein and introduce some supplements into my day as well. The workouts will step up a notch too.
 
I'm starting this at 85.5kg and looking to lose at least 10-15kg out of this process. It will be full on and intense. But I want to make it worthwhile. It is ONLY 8 weeks. I want to challenge myself and be fitter at the end of this. Im VERY Excited about it!!

Tomorrow is my first ever "Bootcamp". Im not afraid to admit...Im terrified. Eeeep. Another new thing for me. But Im gonna give it all I got.  So Im sure the following weeks will be full of exciting updates and info. will try to get some new Pictures up too.  i WILL get here more often...I know i have dropped the ball. But hey..Im here now. ;)

What doesn't kill us makes us stronger...Right?!


Monday, February 20, 2012

week 7

Week 7 was mainly about trying new foods and things like that. I have tried many many new things in the past few years and at this point have tried everything new that I'm willing to. So I haven't really participated this week, but I thought I'd add in my usual stuff anyways.

Push ups Last week 30!!! Didn’t do them this week

Intermediate/Advanced:
Monday: rest/ill
Tuesday: rest/ill
Wednesday: work high activity, 42 mins 5km run
Thursday: 50 mins Jillian Michaels trouble zones circuit video.
Friday: 4.12 km in 35 mins run 1.2 km 5 min bike 10 min weights =50
Saturday: ill
Sunday: 4.13km run 35 min, 50 mins weights, 11 min bike=96
Sunday after my run. I felt like I was going to die!

Total minutes = 238

Lost .6 kg on 06/02/12 Lost 1kg 13/02/12 (total 1.6kg) Gain 20/02/12 0.3kg (was throwing up night before previous weigh in and ate 500 calories that day) (Monday in weigh in)

I started week 4 of C25K this week. 2 3 min runs, 2 5 min runs. I can do the first three intervals no problem but I struggle around halfway through the last interval.

I also started back at uni today, so back to studying and fun fun fun. (notice the sarcasm). That is all for today.


Sunday, February 12, 2012

Mel's week 6 Challange..and Update!

 So this week has been a tough one for me. I have been full on at work and at home. I gave blood again on Monday, but this time did my first PLASMA donation ( I donate to Australian Red Cross for the record. It is Illegal to be paid for this donation in Australia)! Which I have to say was kinda weird and somewhat educational! I have a somewhat rarer blood type ( Ab+), so I am a great choice for a plasma donor. I also learnt that while plasma generally is a bright yellow colour,  mine looks more like a darker yellow/olive greenish ( due to my birth control apparently). haha  Sketchy. So while this meant I had to rest up for Monday, it has not slowed me down workout wise at all!
Later in the week I was feeling pretty run down. I had two long shifts (one late night) this week back to back and on top of working out and home commitments I was feeling a bit burnt out. But I rested up Friday night. Pumped an extra dose of Vit b6 sups on Saturday. And I was good as gold. 


been working hard at getting in my net calories too. Some days ahve been harder then others. i struggle to cover what Im burning off. 


But Now Onto the Challenge!

WEEK SIX CHALLENGES:


Focus on your excuses again. Write them down and defeat them. 
 -Work: Been working out BEFORE. And If not before. Getting it in at night. :) 

 Commit to exercising all seven days even if it's just active recovery.

-  6/7 this week due to plasma Donation. But Im pretty happy.


Get outside the box. One day, do an exercise routine you've NEVER done. Go to Zumba, try a swim class, go rollerblading. It doesn't matter what it is, but give it your all and push hard.

- Got this one done by chance!!  Thursday's Light and Lo class = Surprise circuit class! ZOMG, That Instructor is TERRIBLE!! 
Surprise Circuit we walked into!


Intermediate-Advanced: Do your scheduled routine but add a workout from your partner. 
 - Regular workout CHECK! Late Night extra Run CHECK! Workout from Buddy...Um. No. But we did convince each other to NOT chicken out of the Circuit class. So that Counts ...right?

Message your partner telling them to give you an assignment.
Stay connected with your partner.

- Melissa And I check in with each other daily ( living together it is rather handy!)  But we always make sure that we are not over doing it and Push each other when we need it. :)



Send the Men in Black to my apartment to zap out the Super Bowl. Do not want to remember.

"It was a bad bad dream, Superbowl hasn't been played. In fact the game was cancelled. Due to a Pocket of Swamp gas exploding and knocking out the Satellites."




Push hard, guys. We have to stick with it even when it's getting monotonous. 

After the Class On Thursday.





Work Out breakdown for this week!: 
Monday: Plasma

Tuesday: Run (treadmill) - 34 mins 4.03k. Weights 35 mins, Bike- 7 mins. 1.85k

Wednesday: Outdoor run!! 5 k - 37mins ( 07:24 pace)

Thrsday: Surprise circuit Class- 65 mins 

Friday: Treadmill run - 4.22k  35 mins. Stationary bike -3.59k 9;10 min.

Saturday: Bike- 8.56k  20mins. Body balance class -55 mins.

Sunday: Run- 35mins - 4.52 k , Weights- 55mins - Bike 13 mins. 5.48k

Total: 400 mins!!

Push Ups- No idea how many. Just kept going till I couldn't do any more. 

Till next week Do lifers! 


Sa's week 6, 12 week challenge

So here is my week 6. Half way though and I'm feeling good and way more active. Building up my endurance and getting out to classes.
This week, we went to go to our usual Tuesday class on Thursday morning, and not only was the instructor different (sadly) but she had changed the class to a circuit class. Here's our something new and different! We haven't done one of these before and it nearly KILLED me! I got through it well, but for the next 3 days my calves were so tight and sore it was painful to walk. It's only just let up recently.

Identify your biggest excuse:
-I'm tired.
Conquered
Getting out and just doing it gives me more energy and more desire to keep going. Awesome run on affect.
I'm not pushing myself 7 days. My body needs at least one day of rest, and I'm giving it that. If I don't, I will wear myself out and make myself sick. I'm not willing to do that. So I WILL have a rest day.
Push ups
Last week 24 This week 30!!! Which btw, is twice as many as week 1.
Intermediate/Advanced:
Monday: rest
Tuesday:34 min 3.86 km. 35 strength 5 bike 1.4km =69 mins
Wednesday: (high activity work) Mowed lawn for 60 mins
Thursday: Light and lo? No, Surprise Circuit class!! Guess that fulfils our something new requirement. 65 mins
Friday: 4km 35 mins run. 2 km 5 min bike =40 mins
Saturday: 8.7km bike in 20 mins, 60 mins body balance = 80 mins
Sunday: 4.14km 35 mins run, 5.12km 13 mins bike, 50 mins strength =98 minutes
Total minutes = 407 minutes!!!
Also, I only have one pic this week, Just see the previous blog, it's up there.
Lost .6 kg on 06/02/12 (Monday is weigh in)

Saturday, February 11, 2012

Update

Hello. It's been a while since I posted other than part of the 12 week challenge, so I thought I would.

Since Jan 1st, I have lost 12lbs (as of mon jan 6th), feeling better about myself and working on running. As you know we've been working on the couch to 5km again. I am currently on week 3, which is 90 seconds of run, 90 sec walk, 3 min run, 3 min walk repeat. Some days I get through this ok, and some days I struggle. Here's a pic of me after my last run Friday. (please excuse the sports bra peeking out the side).


I ran hard and did over 4km in 35 mins, which is a LOT for me (my 4.5km was 39 mins for the fun run). The picture does not clearly show just how red my face was and the sweat dripping off me.

Anyway, it's going to be a few more runs before I can move up to the next week, which is 3 mins then 5 mins run. I'm not quite ready for that yet. I haven't had side stitches in a few runs, I seem to have been able to rewire my breathing without thinking too much except for right at the beginning of trying to fix the issue. Also, my knee is not too bad as of late. I've been icing it as soon as I can afterwards and it seems to be helping.

We have been counting calories for a month now, and it's going pretty well. I don't so much like rest days though. I always feel like I'm not going to have enough to eat.
We've also been doing more classes. We're going to a light and low class, which is really neither, and have been to pump and zumba and a surprise circuit class (was meant to be light and low). I think we've been doing really well with eating and being active and I'm happy with my running improvements. I feel like my endurance is slowly increasing and I don't always feel like I'm going to die if I run for 3 minutes straight. YAY.

That's all for now.

Sunday, February 5, 2012

Mel's week 5 Do Life challenge post.



It has been a good week work out wise. And even my running has been on track!


But now for my submission.


1 Month Goals:

·       Eat well - cut down on processed foods
·       Lose 8 kg
·       Exercise at least 4 times a week
·       Drink at least 2 litres of water
·       5k in  40 mins


How did I go???:

·       Eat well - cut down on processed foods: Mostly a success. I have opted for a healthy frozen meals instead of Fast Food on days I have been at work all day. So that is a Win! Generally my food choices have been great!
·       Lose 8 kg - I have lost 6kg ( 13lbs). So perhaps I was a little Ambitious but I am happy with my results.
·       Exercise at least 4 times a week:  Most weeks It has easily been 4-6 times a week. So Im thrilled with this!
·       Drink at least 2 litres of water: Judging by the overwhelming need to pee a million times a day..This has been a success too!
·       5k in 40 mins: Yep and yep! Both on the road and In the fun run. Im currently doing c25k and did 4.3k in 34 mins today. So Im well and truly on track there!


Push ups:43 
Best plank effort was :1 minute 8 seconds.


My New goals:

  • Continue to eat well and track my food.
  • Lose 6 kg this month. 
  • Continue the C25k running program!
  • Run 5k in less than 35 minutes. 
  • Cook some more fun and healthy meals for the family.
Push up goal: 60
Plank goal:1 min 20 sec.

I didn't send my Buddy a workout. But At the gym today we did shake things up a bit. I had us doing 2 x 20 crunches with a medicine ball ( with a person standing on the feet) and rotate out with our friend Kelly.  One of us Crunched whilst the other Did Jumping Jacks x 20 and Push ups x10 and repeat.  We switched out till all of us had done each station.  


Jumping Jacks this week, I managed 150 - will try To squeeze in some more this afternoon to finish them up! 


Really enjoying thee challenges so far!!

My activity for the week was:

Monday: Serious housework 120 mins
Tuesday: Light and Lo - 70 mins
Wednesday: Run 34 mins  4.03 k
Thursday: rest Day
Friday: Run 34 mins and 4.07 k , bike 9:33 4:16 km and 35 mins of Weights. 
Saturday :worked all day - rest day.  
Sunday: Run 34 Mins running -4.3 k, 45 mins Strength and weights.

 
= 381.5 mins of exercise this week!

Sa's week five 12 week challenge



There are no real flashy pictures this week or anything. This week is pretty simple. I was ill for a few days which meant not much activity. Actually I think I had over done it, because after a day of real rest and a good nights sleep I felt 90% better.

Also, when on the bike on Saturday, sitting just in front of the glass door of the class room who were doing pump, I see this....


Sorry but I couldn't resist taking a photo... Who wears a thong to a pump class? Really? Really?


So here's this weeks challenge
Five quantifiable goals reassessed at week 5
· No more junk food. Chips, chocolate, cookies are my downfall
-This has been going pretty well. Have found alternatives such as weight watchers potato crisp things that are less than 100 calories per packet and frozen yoghurt bars which are 75ish calories…things like that, makes me feel like I’m not missing out on the yummy stuff
This goal I think I'm going to nix, as I'm doing so well I don't think it needs to be a goal any more.
· run/jog 3 x/week
-For the most part this has been accomplished. This week I’ve been ill so I hadn’t run as much as I’d have liked. I’m still striving to do this.
· Drink more than 3 bottles (600mls each) of water/day
-drinking 3 ½-5 bottles (depending on activity level) every day
This goal is going well too. Now this is my new norm, so I'm removing this as a goal too.
· Improve my 5km a little time every time I do it
-this has been reassessed as we began to do c25k and are not actually running 5km for the most part. We are running the program which is between 26-30some minutes (I’ve been running at least 30 mins). My goal now is to increase endurance and progress through the weeks of the program, 2 weeks /week if that makes sense. I know it will take me some time to be able to run the distance so I allow for longer time to adjust before moving up.
· Get out more with the kids walking (at least once a week)
-plans to do this Friday …DONE and continuing, although with the loads of rain we’ve had it’s a bit difficult sometimes.

NEW WEEK 5 GOALS

1. run/jog 3x per week continuing goal
2. 5 km changed to building endurance during my c25k. By March I'd like to be starting week 5 of the program.
3. Getting out more often (1/week) with kids. This is weather dependant and sometimes not applicable.
4. (NEW GOAL) lose 10 lbs between Feb 1st and March 1st.
5. Be able to do 35 pushups at a time by March 1st


Push ups
Last week 22 This week 24
Intermediate/Advanced:
Monday: 90 mins heavy cleaning (The type that makes you sweat)
Tuesday: light and lo class 70 minutes (INTENSE) (32 jumping Jacks)
Wednesday: (high activity work)
Thursday: (high activity work) , ill
Friday: Ill
Saturday: 35 mins 8.5km cycling, 35 mins weights =70 minutes
Sunday: 3.47km 30 mins, 45 min strength including 120 jumping jacks =75 mins
Total minutes = 305
Total jumping jacks = 152 (sorry I just couldn't get them all in)