I know, I know. I haven't blogged my fitness progress. I've been distracted by having my purse stolen and being on national television. On the stress chart, I'm right up there! But I have been doing well since I started on Monday. When distractions keep you from exercising and eating right, just persevere!
What's going well: Exercising first thing in the morning. I have gone back to my strategy of immediately popping out of bed when my alarm goes off. I stand up before I'm fully awake and within a minute I am fine. I know this is weird, but I take my iPhone with me (I use it as my alarm clock) to the bathroom first thing and it helps me to wake up to look at the fresh emails. I was thrilled that this morning I woke up before the alarm. That means that in four short days my biological clock has been reprogrammed.
The intensity of my workouts is going very well. I have been trying lots of new approaches to fitness that I will blog about individually later and all of them are helping to challenge me.
Eating is going great. It's become more automatic for me.
What's not going as well: Drinking water. It is very, very hard for me to drink 8-11 glasses a day. I honestly hate having to constantly run to the bathroom. I am going to keep trying to drink more however.
Tracking my calories every day. The main problem happens when I am too busy to plan my meals on www.Gyminee.com. I'm still tracking some, but not every day. I want to get next week planned on Gyminee so tracking is easy.
Limiting fruit to earlier in the day. This was my plan using www.tomvenuto.com's book Feed the Muscle, Burn the Fat, but since I cannot eat any other carbs besides veggies, it's extremely difficult to do. I'm not going to worry about it as I think I can meet my goal without it.
I'm off to the gym to do lower body. I don't plan to have my purse stolen this time. The good thing is I got a really cute purse to replace it. LOL
I know, I know. I haven't blogged my fitness progress. I've been distracted by having my purse stolen and being on national television. On the stress chart, I'm right up there! But I have been doing well since I started on Monday. When distractions keep you from exercising and eating right, just persevere!
What's going well: Exercising first thing in the morning. I have gone back to my strategy of immediately popping out of bed when my alarm goes off. I stand up before I'm fully awake and within a minute I am fine. I know this is weird, but I take my iPhone with me (I use it as my alarm clock) to the bathroom first thing and it helps me to wake up to look at the fresh emails. I was thrilled that this morning I woke up before the alarm. That means that in four short days my biological clock has been reprogrammed.
The intensity of my workouts is going very well. I have been trying lots of new approaches to fitness that I will blog about individually later and all of them are helping to challenge me.
Eating is going great. It's become more automatic for me.
What's not going as well: Drinking water. It is very, very hard for me to drink 8-11 glasses a day. I honestly hate having to constantly run to the bathroom. I am going to keep trying to drink more however.
Tracking my calories every day. The main problem happens when I am too busy to plan my meals on www.Gyminee.com. I'm still tracking some, but not every day. I want to get next week planned on Gyminee so tracking is easy.
Limiting fruit to earlier in the day. This was my plan using www.tomvenuto.com's book Feed the Muscle, Burn the Fat, but since I cannot eat any other carbs besides veggies, it's extremely difficult to do. I'm not going to worry about it as I think I can meet my goal without it.
I'm off to the gym to do lower body. I don't plan to have my purse stolen this time. The good thing is I got a really cute purse to replace it. LOL
I had the chance to be on the Jim Lehrer News Hour for PBS with Gwen Ifill last night. I got to ask the second question of a state and local panel discussing Obama’s First 100 Days. Parts will air at 6 pm tonight and the whole program will air at 7 pm on Friday if you would like to check it out!
I had the opportunity last night to be part of the Jim Lehrer NewsHour on PBS discussing Obama’s first 100 days. I got to ask the second question. Parts of the program will air on KETC at 6 pm this evening and all of it will air at 7 pm on Friday. Check your local listings if you want to see me and Gwen Ifill.
I've got to be honest with you…this is a sight I thought I'd never see: my mom at a gym. But here she is in her 60s and lifting weights for the first time.
I'm so proud of her. She inspires me! Until last summer I thought exercise and eating right were mostly about looking good. That's why I wasn't as excited about exercising as I once was. I figured my "looking good" days were long past! They are, but looking good isn't the best reason to work out: health is.
I'm not even talking about reducing risk of heart disease, diabetes, and cancer–all of which fitness can do. I'm talking about not just living long, but living WELL. When we commit to strength training, we do not have to spend the winter of our lives weak and frail. Nursing homes and wheel chairs aren't inevitable. Sure, there are circumstances you can't control. But why not do what you can?
Even though I am convinced that aerobic exercise and strength training is a great use of my time, I still need fresh challenges to keep me motivated. My goal is to lose 5% bodyfat. My plan is as follows:
3 days of 1200 calories (5 meals including protein at each meal and limiting fat to 30% or less). Every 4th day, calories will be increased to 1800 with most of those calories coming from carbs.
8-11 glasses of water daily
3 days of strength training a week, approximately 45 minutes per session
6 days of high-intensity cardio a week for approximately 20 minutes per session. Cardio will be done first thing in the morning
One of the things that Tom Venuto recommends for accountability is to blog your progress daily. I will be doing that until I reach my goal. I know most of you couldn't care less if I lose a little bit of body fat at my weight. I don't blame you! But I would like to inspire you to create your own personal challenge and blog about it. Give us your blog link in the comments section and keep us posted on how you're doing!
In the meantime, enjoy these inspiring photos. WARNING: If you find photos of women in bikinis objectionable, pass on the links.
I won't bore you with my "I'm so busy" excuses for not blogging, nor will I make you any promises about how often I'll be blogging from now on. I'm just hopping through on my way to the one big speaking event I agreed to do this year to share our Easter picture. I decided to save money and recycle the brown shirts from last year. I did let Elaina pick out her dress this year. I was happy she took my advice by not buying pink. I would also like to take this opportunity to apologize to my future daughters-in-law. I gave up on insisting my kids wear uncomfortable church shoes. You will now face a major battle in getting them to wear appropriate footwear for the rest of your married lives. I will help you in insisting they wear dress shoes to the wedding, but after that you're on your own. 😉
I’m a Christian psychologist turned homeschooling mother of six. My life can be a little crazy, so I look for sanity-saving ideas to use and share. I hope you’ll read my About page to learn more.
