I'm Stronger and Faster

I've had some great workouts for the past two days. I feel good!

First of all, I managed to do two full sets of my strength training routine. I think I could have done more but I don't want to overdo it. I'll stick with two sets for the next couple of weeks.

Next, my pace has increased. My time down Martin Rd. has decreased from 45 mins. to 33 mins. today. Yesterday I did my path along the lake. This time has decreased from 55 mins. to 46 mins. yesterday.

Plug it in, plug it in

Since I am working on increase my pace, I created an upbeat, motivational playlist for my walks this week.

1. My Day - Canton Jones
2. Golden - Jill Scott
3. Stronger - Myron Butler and Levi
4. Back II Eden - Donald Lawrence
5. I Was Created to Worship - Bishop Andrew Merritt
6. Hero - Kirk Franklin
7. Could've Been - Kirk Franklin
8. We're Gonna Make It - LL Cool J and Mary Mary
9. Real - The Tommies

Today's walk went well. I was very pleased with my time. The last time I did this particular path it took me 55 mins. Today it took me 47 mins.

Paying close attention to my food intake last week reminded me that I do most of my heavy eating in the evening and late night. This has got to change.

My plan is to continue watching my portions and limit my snacking to low calorie items like popsicles and Medifast meals.

Today's Workout

was dedicated to my mother. I got up and walked 1.5 miles. It was like a whole other world out there. People walking, jogging, cycling. There was a bike ride going right through our subdivision and along the path where I walk so there was a lot of activity. It was different. I'm not used to getting up and walking at 8 in the morning but it's starting to get warm here. I'm a little concerned that it's still taking me about 20 minutes to walk a mile. My goal is to get my time down to 15 mins. by June 3rd. Anyhow, I then came home and did some stretching and 30 mins. strength training. I'm still feeling a little tight in my lower back. The workout felt great. I've been listening to Janet Jackson's Velvet Rope when working out this past week. Everytime I hit Together Again I've been thinking about my mother and I start crying. Today was the first time I made it through that song with crying. I still feel the sadness but I felt good and strong while lifting those weights. I found myself smiling and saying...Mother, this workout is dedicated to you. P.S. I lost another pound.

The Shopping Trip

I hate shopping. I have never like shopping. Even when I was much smaller, shopping was not for me. In and out. I really don't understand people who can shop for hours. Shopping for clothes two weekends in a row was not fun, but it was a necessary. My nice summer pants are huge. I can't believe number 1 can't wear them at all and number 2 I was able to wear at all--they are huge which means I was huge. I wonder if I will ever like shopping...even when I drop more weight.

Anyhow, I finally found some things that fit. I was extremely bummed after the first visit to a store. Apparently I'm in between sizes -- 24 and 22. Pants either fit in the waist and are too big everywhere else, or they fit everywhere else and are too snug in the waist. Nice figure, huh?

Oh, by the way, despite all my binging and lack of exercise last week, I dropped one pound.

So, my lovely partner in crime suggested elastic. YUCK! Even I know elastic is usually not cute. However, I managed to find two pairs of linen pants (at The Avenue) that have partial elastic waistbands. I already know they will be too big by the end of the summer but it's okay. I'm happy and I don't plan on going into another clothing store until the fall.

Oops! I'm supposed to be buying something a little out of my comfort zone. I haven't found anything yet. Stay tuned....

Down in the Dumps

I don't know what's going on with me. I didn't exercise today. Yeah, I'm a little sore and my back hurts...but I was planning to do a little walking. It probably has a lot to do with not having any energy. I've been eating horribly. I've been stressed about about grading all these papers. I need a vacation!

The bottom line is that I CANNOT and WILL NOT use any of this as an excuse. Well, it's late. I have half of my grading completed. Tomorrow is a new day.

Stretch, Biofreeze, Rest

I'm taking today off. I'm experiencing some pain on the lower left side of my back and butt. I think I'll take it easy on the circuit training. Although it gives me a good workout and I work up a good sweat, it's kind of hard on my body. I think it was those dumbbell squats. They were pretty hard. I worked my way up to doing 20.

Anyhow, I'm taking it easy today. I haven't forgotten to write down my food intake. I just been too embarrassed to do so. My eating has been out of control for the past two days.

Affirmations

As you can probably tell, I'm a firm believer in all things spiritual. I am also a firm believer in all things that are life-affirming. With that said, I wanted to share some of the affirmations I do during my circuit training. I posted this affirmations months ago and decided to revisit them this week:

• I am a perfect example of health and fitness


• My fitness routine is enjoyable, energetic and easy.


• My daily fitness routine gives me excellent results.


• During my workout routine, I feel healthier and healthier by the minute.


• I enjoy exercising and my fitness routine gives me unfathomable results.


• My physical fitness clearly shows that I have a fitness regimen.


• It is obvious that I enjoy working out daily.


• My body is firm, healthy and metabolically fast.


• My metabolism speeds up by the minute during my fitness routine.


• I have a fast metabolism, a healthy spirit and friendly personality.

Circuit Training - Benefits

I decided to do circuit training again today after reading about the benefits:

1. It's personalized
2. You get a total body workout
3. It's time efficient

The number one reason I will continue doing it is due to the minor soreness I feel. I'm obviously working some muscles that haven't been getting much work. I need to make this a part of my fitness routine. However, I can't wait to get back on the road. I do enjoy walking.

Let's see, my food for the day.

breakfast bar and tea

slice of whole grain toast, peanut butter, and a banana

32 oz. water with Crystal Light

16 oz. water

turkey and cheese sandwich, handful of chips

Then it goes down hill:

1/2 large veggie pizza from Dominos

Boy, writing this down is really scary.

I had another good cry after my workout today.

Circuit Training

I didn't feel like walking today. Well, I did but I felt pressed for time.

Anyhow, I did circuit training. I did this for a while when I first started exercising. I had a good workout. I worked up a good sweat and I can feel a little soreness right now. I'll do some more stretching in a few.

Anyhow, here's what I did:

Warm up stretching

Stepups - 5 minutes
Dumbbell curls - 15 reps
Stepups - 5 minutes
Dumbell lunges - 20
Stepups - 5 minutes
Overhead press - 15 reps
Stepups - 5 minutes
Dumbbell squats - I was supposed to do 20 but I could only do 5

Cool down stretching

Then I did about 25 crunches

******

As promised, I wrote down what I ate today:

--breakfast bar and coffee
--1 slice whole wheat toast and peanut butter (fresh ground)
--1 orange
--32 oz. water
--a few walnuts
--green salad with tuna, bleu cheese dressing
--handful of chips
--two slices of cheese
--two bowls of chicken and gnocci soup (Olive Garden)
--1.5 breadsticks (Olive Garden)
--two servings of salad (Olive Garden)
--water
--10 oz. Vitamin Water
--2 Andes Mints (Olive Garden)

I'm done eating for the day. I need to drink more water.

Tightening my belt

I'm not pleased with the way my training for my next 5K is going. Although I have been walking on the regular, my healthy eating plan is not where I would like it sooooooooo I am coming up with a different approach this week.

Write it down!

Blogging about the exercise has helped tremendously so I will begin blogging about my eating.

Saturday I walked for 55 mins. An hour later I went out with friends for sushi and had three glasses of wine. Then the four of us came back here and eat a whole dessert. Not good....healthwise.

Tomorrow is a new day.

I don't think I have been increasing my pace. I think it will help if I could be at least 10 - 15 lighter by June 3. So, this is also goal. I believe it is a realistic one.

Stay tuned.

Woman plans her way, God directs her steps

Today has been a great fitness day. I left on my way to Azalea Park and ended up walking around Martin's Lake. The first thing I noticed when I got out of the van was a beautiful blue heron. I stood there and watched him. It was so awesome to be about four feet from this beautiful bird.

So, I start my walk. The next thing I know I decide to go around the lake. Why? It's something I always wanted to be able to do so I decided spontaneously to make a milestone. Wow! The nature trail was pretty rugged. I don't think I will do it again. However, I did it. It took me 50 minutes. Hooray for me!

I came home and had a nice salad and my favorite black bean/kidney bean side. Yummy! Then, I did my strength training.

I really need to focus on hydration. For almost a week, my urine has been darker than usual. With the weather warming up, I need to stay on track with this.

I can't remember the total mileage around the lake. As soon as I find out, I will update my post.

UPDATE: The walking path encircling the lake is 2.4 miles.

*****

One thing I want to share is my emotional state. I am noticing that there are times I just start crying when I am walking. One of my friends told me it is just my body releasing cellular memory. Well, I've been releasing a lot lately. It's all good.

My Walking Is Not In Vain

To paraphrase the famous quote...

If I can help somebody as I stroll along, then my walking will not be in vain.

Today has been a good day. One of my friends sent me an email to let me know he started a couch to 5K program and invited to join him in June for his first 5K. Pretty cool, huh! Even though he's planning to run, I plan to join him for moral support.

Then, one of my coworkers sent me an email letting me know he's was inspired and had just returned from the gym. Pretty awesome!

Happy Easter!

Easter is my favorite holiday. This is the first year I haven't had any jelly beans during Easter. I can't wait to get these braces removed.

I walked in Piedmont Park today. This is where my next 5K event will be held. It was nice to walk in a different venue today. The words for today have been reflection and renewal. It's pretty fitting not only due to the Spring season and Easter holiday, but also due to my spiritual and fitness journey.

I do a lot of reflection on my walks and in this blogs. I also do a lot of renewal of my spirit, my outlook on life and my body.

I think the best part of my walk today was being able to see how strong my body is becoming, how my endurance is increasing. This brings a great big smile to my face.

Now, if I could just get my eating under control.

Yesterday while cleaning off my bed, I found a piece of paper that has my measurements dated 4/13/08. This was a few days after I purchased my weight set. I am taking my measurements tomorrow to see how much progress I have made in a year.

Whine and Wine

Today has just been one of those days. I feel so overwhelmed. I had a stack of papers to grade and my filthy office to clean. I wanted to get this out of the way so I could have the rest of the day to walk, shampoo my hair, then relax, and watch movies. Instead I spent over two hours trying to get online. Something was up with my wireless connections. Anyhow, it's now 8:19 pm and I just finished my work. I haven't walked. I did take a break and do my hair. Now, all I want to do is curl up with a bottle of wine and whine!

I know I shouldn't complain. Why am I feeling sorry for myself? There are so many people who wished they were working right now. I am grateful to have a job. However, just spent the last six hours resenting the fact that I've been working during this long holiday weekend instead of relaxing. Oh well....tomorrow is a new day.

Salud!

Fat Like Me, et. al.

Yesterday I walked this Lifetime movie titled Fat Like Me. It's a docudrama about this high school girl who did a documentary on her experience wearing a fat suit. Although most of the movie was cheesy, there were some really painful moments. I was not a heavyweight in high school. However, I could relate to some of her experiences. People who feel they need to comment on your weight. Like you don't know you need to lose weight? Or, people who I just downright rude or degrading.

Today I watched Dr. Phil. His show was about obese, I mean severely, overweight children. This 3 yr. old is prediabetic, a 10 yr. old who may have to have her gallbladder removed, etc. Now this was painful to watch. A lot of it comes down to lack of knowledge. Why would you feed your obese child hotdogs and all sorts of junk food. Now, the overweight parents I understood because they have poor eating habits. However, why would you feed your child something you wouldn't even it?

Anyhow, after watching both of these shows, I still managed to eat two cupcakes and half a blueberry muffin today. This was a stupid thing to do but I was really carving junk today. I'm not sure why. I thought about it as I walked and did my strength training today but didn't come up with anything. I guess it was just one of those days. Well, I'm off to do some crunches.

Mind and Body

The scriptures say, the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.

This was not the case with me today. The flesh was willing and my mind started giving out on me. I did not feel like walking today. My head hurt. My neck was stiff. My back ached. I did my stretching but I didn't feel any better. I spent a few minutes meditating quietly. I then put on my sneakers, grabbed my iPod and shades, and hit the road.

I started feeling pretty good after the first half mile. Then, my mind started....okay, at least you got out here turn around. Okay, go back after you get to this stop sign. This is enough. I ignored the thoughts and kept going. I told myself my body could do this.

It's so funny because I knew if I turned around I would be so disappointed in myself. I wasn't in the mood to deal with those thoughts later. I just kept pushing through and before I knew it I was done.

Pounding the Pavement

It felt really good to be back on the path today. I missed being outdoors filling my lungs with fresh air. I really pushed myself to do a mile under 20 minutes today. I felt a little frustrated. I kept thinking to myself....I can't believe this is still so hard for me after all the walking I've done. I have to work at keep up a good, steady pace.

It took me 21 minutes. Not bad considering I haven't been feeling well.

While I was walking I just kept telling myself I will get faster and stronger. My back was a little tight. I need to spend more time stretching. I will help if I keep working on strengthening my core. Weight loss is also key this time. The less weight I have to carry over that finish line the better off I'll be.

I'm really not sure why I timed myself today.

My strength training went well today. I didn't do too much...just one set.

My Healthy Directions

I forgot to mention that I received a call from a healthy living service offered through my employer. When I was having critical health issues, they were calling me once a month. They have since gone to quaterly calls. Saturday they told me they would check in with me next year. Lol! It feels good to be doing so well. I was happy to read off my latest numbers. My BMI has even gone down.

Anyhow, they set up a dietician call for me. I received the call today. While I appreciate the effort, it really wasn't worth my time. It wasn't as personalized as I thought. It sounded like she was simply reading off a chart. I've tried the recommended American Diabetes Association's diet before. It didn't work for me. My numbers were higher than usual.


I did learn that I need to work more grains and protein into my daily diet. She also recommended eating a few nuts in between meals. She also recommended that I did not start my day with a piece of fruit. Supposedly it spikes your sugar and causes hunger. I don't experience this. I really don't like breakfast so eating the banana or apple was really working for me. If I don't do this, I end up eating junk. Today I ended up eating the leftover frozen pizza for breakfast. Anyhow, it suggested a piece of toast with peanut butter. I purchased some low carb bread and willl try this for the rest of the week. I also got some turkey to make sandwiches for lunch.

You Look Marvelous

The mind. Tonight I ran into someone I haven't seen in years. She noticed my weight loss and for a moment I felt uncomfortable. What was that all about?

Is it because my health issues, my weight issues, my eating issues have been my "private" issues that I feel my fitness journey and lifestyle change are also my "private" issues?

This reminds me of something I haven't written about yet. My 5K pics. On some of my pictures I notice I avoided looking straight into the camera. I also didn't even turn fully in front of the camera. It made me think that I am constantly hiding.

One of my aims with this blog is transparency. I'll keep plugging along with this goal.

I was uncomfortable for a moment when Hattie noticed my weight loss. I noticed it and moved on to pride. I have worked hard. It felt good to be recognized. It also reinforced my efforts. There are days I think all this effort is in vain. I look in the mirror and I don't see it. I come across other blogs and see that others have lost far more weight. I am excited for them yet I think why is it taking me so long. Then I have to put myself in check. Stop comparing, Sheila! This is not a race. This is a journey. Enjoy the experience.

I have to admit that in the back of my mind I think about those people who have been told they changed when they lose weight. I don't want to be like that. Although, I know I will be different because I feel the shift already. Is there a way to lose a tremendous amount of weight and remain the same person? I don't think so. Yes, the essence of who you are remains intact. However, all the layers, literally, that you have used to hide and cover yourself are peeled away. There's a certain level of confidence that builds. There's also the energy level.

For instance, I was feeling pretty bad earlier. Most of this is due to the meds from dental surgery. Anyhow, now that I have exercised, I feel so much better. As much as I dreaded moving today, it was the best thing I could have done for myself.

My initial point was that I have a lot of mental stuff to work on as well.

Week Two

Well, Week One wasn't what I thought it would be like. There's really not much I could do about it. When you're not feeling well, you're just not feeling well.

Tomorrow is a new day.

I'm going to repeat last week's training plan:

Monday - 1.5 mile
Tuesday - 1 mile, strength training
Wednesday - 2 miles
Thursday - 1 mile, strength training
Friday - off
Saturday - 2 miles - timed
Sunday - off

I'm also going to start blogging more often about my eating and nutrition plan.

Today I purchased:

Bananas
Apples
Lettuce
Tomatoes
Two frozen pizzas - why?
Cashews

Step Aerobics

I'm not feeling too great. I had oral surgery on Wednesday. The pain meds are making me a bit nauseous. I'm really not up to walking because I also feel a little dizzy. Today is just one of those days I really need to honor my body and rest.

Flexibility

One of the most important things I learned from my Yoga instructor is honoring my body.

I had oral surgery today. I'm not feeling so great. So, I am taking today off instead of Friday. Truthfully, this is a huge mental struggle for me. I am so afraid of altering my training schedule. I am so afraid I will slip back into my old habit of inactivity. I am determined for this not to happen.

I had a chiropractic adjustment today. Today Dr. Gellman told me he noticed more tightness on my right side. Overall, he says I'm doing fine. This is a good feeling. It's such a big switch to hear positive things from my doctors over the past few months. It's also a big switch not to be asked to come back so frequently.

One thing I know I can do no matter how I feel is stretch. This has become a daily practice for me. Regular stretching provides so many benefits--flexibility, reduced stress, increased circulation.

During this training cycle I will focus on learning more stretching exercises. I think I'll pick a new exercise each week to practice. With that said, I'm off to pick my stretching exercise of the week.

Becoming Whole

As I was walking yesterday, I thought about something I shared with my Dean during my first year in seminary. I told her how I was beginning to realize I was not truly a whole person. Why?

Because I focused on mind and spirit and ignored my body. Well, I didn't ignore my body, yet I did not give my body the same love and attention my mind and spirit received.

Anyhow, when I was walking yesterday, I thought about this exchange. I have finally arrived at a place where I can nurture my body. It feels great to work towards the balance and vitality I have desired for so long.