Progress Report of Sorts

My ankle keeps flaring up.  Every time it feels good, I try to work out and then BAM, swollen, painful to walk on....it's pissing me off.

On the upside, I am monitoring my food intake pretty well.  Have I "cheated" yes.  Of course.  You need that IN MODERATION and only ONCE IN A WHILE.  I try to allow myself a "cheat dessert" once a week.  Yesterday it was some peanut clusters.  I still went down in weight.  :)

The big thing I've noticed is having a calendar to countdown to something (in this case, my own wedding) that I can cross off every day, mark how I FEEL I did with my food (I never put calroies, etc.  If I feel like I ate healthy I put a smiley face) and see the countdown.  I have 120 days until my wedding.  :)  And, the other benefit, is that while I do log my weight on myfitnesspal.com I mark it on my calendar every Monday and I can see a growing trend DOWNWARD.  Is it as much as I'd like?  No, but at this pace I'm set to lose about 16 pounds before my wedding and while I feel like I'm losing at a snails pace, it's really nice to see just how much I may lose if I continue this up and that there is a downward trend, and that I'm not just floating along.

And that was my problem before, I felt like I was just floating along, up and down up and down, and then I'd give up because I didn't feel like I was losing, and in reality, I probably was.  Wish I hadn't given up now, I'd be slimmer already!!!

Doing my best

I'm losing weight at a snails pace right now.  .5 pounds or less a week for the past few weeks.  At this rate, I'll only lose 8 more pounds before the wedding, which is NOT acceptable.  I think I can do better.

Eating has been a main issue, though I can't say the ankle injury is helping at all.  It still is pretty bad and is limiting my choices of exercise.  I can do elliptical for a bit, I can bike for longer.  I can't really walk as much as I'd like, no lunges, no jumping jacks, no jump rope....you know, those things that are pretty much staples of Jillian Michaels' 30 Day Shred...I did start it again this morning.  I eliminated the things I couldn't do and did substitutes.  It definitely doesn't make for as good a workout but whatever.

I will attempt to try and do 30 minutes on the bike when I get home tonight. Problem is, I leave at 7:40 in the morning and don't get home until 7:40 at night.  It makes the motivation a bit more difficult when you've been gone all day and up since 5:55 am.  And you have to fit eating sometime in there too!

Anyway, I can just try to be 10 times better with the food and hope for the best!  At least weight loss is weight loss and NOT a gain!

Ankle Update

Just a quick update:  Just a .2 pound loss this week, lol.  With my ankle being the way it is I tried to stay as much on food as possible and I did have one REALLY, REALLY bad day, but it seems I've made up for it.

I can't do much walking or anything or my ankle flares up and I have even been wearing a brace.  I can't decide if I want to just push through the pain or what.

Staying on track with food will be my best choice at this point because I really don't want to screw up the ankle but I'm frustrated that I can't continue with the 30 Day Shred the way it was meant to be used.

30 Day Shred - Day 10 - More ankle woes

After staying off of my ankle almost all day yesterday and wearing a damn brace on it, I was truly hoping it would be better.  However, just standing on it for the duration of my shower and morning ritual it was starting to get irritated which leads me to admit defeat.  I can't continue this program and hope to see results.  I just can't do the cardio portion or some of the compound moves.

I'll have to do some other video for now, maybe just the strength training portions of the Women's Health Wedding Workout.

It's really quite disappointing.  I've seen amazing before and after pictures and was really hoping to propel myself to some stunning changes, especially with only 136 days left to my wedding, but an injury will never heal if you don't let it.

Whatever the case may be I am watching my food really well and have gone from the 212 I was at to 208 as of today in 10 days.  I'll take it!  No complaints as I knew that food was my biggest battle but I don't want to be fan skinny I want to be fit.  We all know the difference!

30 Day Shred - Day 9

Day 9 = total disappointment.  Yesterday my ankle swelled so bad at work when I took my shoe off you could see where the top of it had been.  It was disgusting.

So I kind of HAVE to stay off of it.  No jumping jacks or lunges for me.  :(  Really pisses me off because seven days in a row was really good and I was feeling really motivated.  Now I'm worried that once healed, I'll have a hard time going back at it.

I am continuing my eating on pace, and can honestly say I'm quite pleased with myself.  I'm home today because my car broke down (4 1/2 months until my wedding, REALLY????) and I haven't managed to eat everything in the cupboards. That's good.  Really good.

Anyone out there by the way?  I'm curious to know if anyone cares?

Day 8 30 Day Shred Challenge- Rest Day.

My ankle HURTS.  Bad.  And since I know I'll be on it all day, I didn't do the DVD today.  My muscles probably would like a rest anyway but I do feel really guilty for not doing the workout.  Thank you Jillian.

On the upside, I'm at 208.8 pounds, so I've definitely lost some weight with it as when I started I was around 212 probably (again, I had a bad food weekend before I started so I didn't weigh myself but only guessed how much I was at)

30 Day Shred - Day 7 complete!

Last night I felt bad because we ate at Sweet Tomatoes and I went JUST over my calories, so I did do some extra elliptical work as well.

Day 7 went well today.  No complaints.  I got up and worked out right away without really thinking about it so that's good.  My endurance is getting better but as far as other physical changes I'm honestly not sure if anything has happened yet, but I mean, with this much layer of fat, if there ARE changes I find it hard to believe that I'll be able to see them.

I took before pictures though, so at Day 10 I'll take pictures again and compare, see if I can see anything.  Just three more days left!  Then I get a rest day if I choose to do so!

30 Day Shred - DAY 6 DONE!!!!!

So I woke up this morning with a serious upset stomach which included severe stomach cramps and other nastiness.  I did my workout anyway.

And I actually made it through pretty well.  My ankle didn't hurt so bad so I was able to do the jumping jacks and butt kicks.  The only thing I didn't do was the jump rope move (you don't actually use a jump rope and I should have clarified this earlier) and the side lunge as they tend to activate the ankle.

I was able to do most things without rest, AND I did EIGHT count 'em EIGHT push ups in a row.  Granted I still can't lower myself all the way to the ground and I am on my knees, but on day one I could only do maybe two without rest.  So, SOMETHING is improving.

I felt bad for not doing all the moves, so after the workout was done, I popped in another DVD, Women's Health: The Wedding Workout and did the Arms and Abs & Core portion of it.  It's just strength training but some of it still makes me work up a sweat and I'm really tired of having weak muscles.

Nick, my lovely fiance, went running with his dad this morning.  His whole family are runners and Nick doesn't exercise anymore though in high school he was in track and did pole vault and high jump. He went running last week or the week before I think, but only the once with his dad.  He managed to run over a 5k today, and then they walked some.  It really makes me jealous that he can just up and do that after years of not working out.  It would take me months to train for a 5k I feel like, and to top that off, my knee and ankle really wouldn't allow it I don't think anyway.

What are some of your fitness goals?  I'm not talking weight, but actual fitness?  I'd love to be able to move my weights up from 3 pounds to 5 pounds!

30 Day Shred - Day 5

My ankle is REALLY messed up today.  So I did what I was able to of the workout, minus most of the cardio portion other than the punches, so that I don't mess it up more.  Usually the jumping jacks don't bother it but today it was sharp pain so I figure better lay off of it.  I also didn't do the lunges.

Otherwise, I found that most everything was easier for me to do all the way through including the dreaded bicycle crunches!  So yay!  Though because of my eating I'm pretty sure I haven't seen any changes but I'm so tired of defeating my hard work that I swear to god I'm going to stick with my food program and I've laid out a menu for myself for all week.  I'm also going to try and eliminate most dairy other than yogurt, and bread, pasta, and rice.  So it's chicken breast and veggies all the way!!!  And fruit.  I won't give up fruit!!!

Anyway, because I wasn't able to do the cardio portion and it's my day off, I went to the gym at the apartment building and did 33 minutes (that's the program) on the bike, which added up to 7.51 miles and 275 calories.  I figured that will make up for lack of cardio with 30 Day Shred.

Otherwise it's still a go, as long as my ankle holds out.

30 Day Shred - Day 4

When the alarm went off this morning, I had second thoughts about getting up.  Then I thought to myself "are you really going to work out tonight after work?" and the answer was no.  No I was not, so I got up and did Day 4.

I was able to do the cardio a bit easier, without stopping for breaks.  I really wanted to try and push myself today but my left calf started cramping up which is super annoying.  I have weak ankles from severe foot pronation, and I recently was walking a lot so my ankles were getting pretty sore, but I kept walking.  And then I tried running for a train in Chicago, and twisted it.  It was swollen for several days and I thought pretty well healed but it does still bother me.  So it's not making some things easy, like the jump ropes or lunges.

Overall I still feel it's a good workout, and I do think I'm improving my stamina even after a few days, my upper body is still super weak but I was able to get one good knee push up.  After that I couldn't lower myself all the way down, but I'll get there.

So, I'm almost halfway with my first 10 days.  I'm excited to see if I have any physical results after the 10 Days, I've seen a lot of before and afters and some people you really can see it in, I'm just afraid that I'm so fat that you won't be able to see a difference.  I'm also afraid that if I don't see a difference, that I will give up.  I do that.  I know that over time it will change but I don't have much time, I have four and a half months to my wedding, I need to do something and do it NOW.

I AM NOT getting on that plane to Hawaii with my thighs touching the person in the next seat.  Sometimes I wish his parents wouldn't have paid for it, because I'd rather just go to Disney where I had a shorter flight, and didn't have to wear a swimsuit at all.

30 Day Shred Challenge - First three days RE-Cap

Well, I finished Day 3 of 30 day shred.  I'm shooting for 10 days in a row.

Everyone says that days two and three are the most difficult because you're sore, but I didn't exactly experience that.  I feel like the exercises are easy to follow, even if I can't do as many reps as Jillian does, but hey, I'm the farthest thing from Jillian Micahels!  Lol.

Day One: I made it through the workout, I took a few breaks to take a sip of water as my mouth gets dry when I workout because I don't know how to breath, but again, it was easy to follow and I survived.

Day Two: I woke up at 5:55 and went to it.  Getting up that early was NOT easy.  The workout went much as it did on day one.  And then, after I was done, and I was at work, THAT is when I was sore. I could feel it creep into my abs and my quads, which means I'm actually doing the exercises correctly.   I have to be honest, being a massage therapist, knowing what the muscles do, how they contract, and working in a chiropractic office making sure patients do their physical therapy correctly has really helped me learn how and why proper form is so important.  DON'T HURT YOURSELVES PEOPLE!  It's better to do less reps in proper form than push a ton out with improper form!

Day Three:  Not as sore today, I don't work until 2:24 so I got up, read my book, woke up, then worked out.  I could make it through some of the cardio (the butt kicks) a bit easier and through the whole 30 sec.  Push-ups are still a bitch.  I'm 211 pounds with no upper body strength, I can only lower myself a few inches, if I tried to go further, I'd break an arm and never get back up.

Now, just to control my eating a bit better.  I do feel really positive, like I'll see results, and I'm hiding the scale as much as possible.

Tomorrow starts the next month!

One month down in my day to day tracking.  I'm almost 100% positive that I've gained this week, I had some extra curriculars with some amazing food and yes, I did choose to eat that stuff.

That being said, I still feel I'm doing okay, and most days I do pretty well, but I want to take it all to the next step. There's just over a month until Nick's sisters wedding, in which I'm a bridesmaid.  The dress I get to wear is a beautiful shade of green, however it's so not a flattering cut with my giant belly.

I recently saw some amazing before and afters of people after the 30-Day Shred and at less than $10 for the DVD, I decided that's my next goal: To make it through 10 days and go from there.  This entails me getting up at 6 am.  That's scary.  Nick has been told to make sure I get up and out of bed.  Otherwise I'll never do it.  I like sleep, and I hate the alarm.

Now apparently you don't necessarily lose weight with 30 Day Shred, you may only loose inches, so I've taken to trying to measure myself best as possible and here they are.

Arms: 14.5 inches
Thighs: 28.5 (this is seriously only 1.5 inches smaller than Nick's WAIST)
Natural Waist: 37.5
Waist at belly button: 43 (thank God I was not bloated today)
Hips (the hardest part for me to measure, as the largest part was quite low, so I just did at my leg crease): 50" (OMG....really...huge ass hips.  Or just huge ass, either way, I am not happy with this)
Under bust: 35"

So, let's hope I see results, I figure if I get my butt up early enough and do this simple less than 30 minute DVD every day, that I'll probably eat better throughout the week.  I'm currently probably sitting at 212 after this past week but was at 210.6 for my last weigh in.

Here's to hoping Jillian Michaels can do her magic through my living room!