October?? I guess I need an update!

So, let's get right to the point. Overall, I stayed exactly the same this month. No change in weight. Ok, really, I gained two pounds (according to my bod pod), but I weighed myself yesterday and I'm down two pounds. I'm going to mark that as "no change in weight". I wish I was really down two pounds and not playing catch up for eating too much, but I have to roll with the punches at this point. I'm trying to figure out how to live and keep a healthy weight. 

I'm still at 133 pounds gone, and it still blows my mind on a daily basis. Just the other day I was looking at a picture from my sister's wedding and I couldn't believe it was me. I was actually thinking, wow, I look really pretty. I really liked how I looked in the picture. It was kind of unbelievable, because I've spent so much time hating how I look in pictures. 

This is the picture I was looking at. 

Overall, I'm doing just fine. I'm working out 6 days a week, I'm running 3 days a week, and I'm not pigging out and stuffing my face! I'm beginning week 9 of the running program I'm following. If you don't remember, I think it's a lot like one of the Couch to 5K programs. It's been really good for me. If you are thinking about running, I suggest you find one of those programs to follow. It's not too time consuming, but you feel like you are accomplishing something!

I've been getting more compliments/advice at the gym too. It's like there's a new batch of people that want to talk to me about my weight loss of give me advice about losing weight. Most of the time I just smile and say thanks. I have to move on as quickly as possible because most of the advice is outrageous! 

One guy told me to lift less weight and spend more time in aerobics classes. I'm sure for some people that would work wonders, but I lost over 100 pounds by lifting weights, not going to aerobics classes. I'm not saying aerobics classes are bad and I have done some, but I just don't want that to be my regular workouts! 

I also, recently, had a little old man tell me to stop jumping around (doing plyos) and he told me that there was a mini trampoline for me to jump on over on the ladies side of the gym. He told me that all the equipment I needed was on the ladies side and that's why there is such a difference in the equipment on the ladies side and the co-ed side. I just stared at him! 

I've been on Pintrest a lot lately. I've been looking at recipes and there are so many on there! I've been revamping a lot of them to make them a little more calorie friendly. It's a great place to get new ideas. I've been really pumped about cooking and I'm doing better at planning meals and making dinners in advance. 

I'm hoping to make some good decisions in October and see it I can't lose a few pounds! 

Nice compliments

At the gym the other day I had a nice encounter with this really tall, big muscly dude. I thought he was watching me because he was going to tell me that I was working out incorrectly. Then he walked over and started talking. As usual, I was wrong. The guy didn't want to tell me how to work out. He wanted to give me a compliment. I really need to stop being so skeptical of people at the gym.

Anyway, he just flat out asked me how much weight I've lost. I told him I've lost 127 pounds and he is like, "I've noticed. I'm really proud of you. Keep it up; you're doing great." Then he walked away. I almost didn't have time to say thank you. 

Having a nice compliment was a nice way to start my day!

Tag....I'm it.

So, I've been "tagged". Thank you to Margene for tagging me and giving me something to write a blog about. I don't usually get into these things and it's because they usually want you to divulge personal information about yourself. I really don't like to get too personal on my blog, uless it's about weight loss. I've tried really hard to keep the main focus of this blog about losing weight and other things to do with weight loss. But, when I read Margene's questions I realized they mostly revolved around losing weight, eating right, etc, etc.

However, I know I won't "tag" anyone. Number one, I don't have time. Number two, I've seen this a lot on the blogs that I read and I'm pretty sure I won't be able to come up with 11 questions for people to answer, 11 people to tag, or have the time to notify them! (I promise that I'm not really a jerk and anti-group fun, I just look like one in print!)

First the rules:

1. Post these rules. 

2. You must post 11 random things yourself. 

3. Answer the questions the tagger set for you in their post. 

4. Create 11 new questions for the people you tag to answer. 

5. Go to their blog and tell them that you've tagged them. 

 

11 random things about me

1. I'm left handed. I'm very, very left handed and lately people have been telling me how odd it looks to watch me write or do anything with my hands.

 

2. I've been blogging for over a year now. I said some things about myself and personality in that post.

 

3.  Before Zach and Janelle, which I like to abbreviate as BZJ, I never really tried to lose weight. I would just tell everyone that I was "trying" to lose weight and it was hard. (People would leave me alone about my weight if they thought I was struggling and trying to lose weight. People are strange.)

 

4. I say  "take a tub" instead of "take a bath". I've said it my whole life and my family has as well. My friends make fun of me.

 

5. Purple is my favorite color and I have a purple couch and over sized chair. (I'm sure that's no shocker if you look at this blog on a regular basis)

 

6. I've been driving for well over a decade now and I'm still on my second car. I'm just too cheap and poor to get a new(er) one.

 

7. I truly love my jobs. I love teaching and helping people.

 

8. I don't like to be touched. I don't like PDA of any kind, from anyone. There are a few people I hug, but for the most part I don't hug. There are rules to hugging me and I have to tell people about them when I meet them or if they are a friend that wants to move into a "hugging friendship". (I'm sure I sound like a freak show now.)

 

9. I am a cancer survivor. Almost 7 years remission now. I was only 22 when diagnosed. It sucked.

 

10. My family and friends are the most important things in my life.

 

11. Most of my friends can read my thoughts based on the expression on my face.

 

 

11 Questions for You to Answer:

1. What would be the greatest piece of advice you would give someone at the beginning of their weight loss journey? ** Forget everything you thought you knew about weightloss! Trust your doctors, trainers, friends who workout, nutritionists, etc. Oh, and losing weight takes time. Don't freak when you don't lose weight as fast as you want to.
2. What is your biggest fear in life? **Painful death.
3. What or who has inspired you the most? **Wanting to be a better person and wanting to make people proud (and that includes people dead and alive).
4. If you had $1000. right now with no strings attached - what would you do with it?  ** I would like to say I would put it toward buying a new car, but I would really buy new clothes.
5. If you could do anything you wanted to one day what would it be? ** Go back in time and make some changes.
6. Do you have a BFF and if so - how long have you been friends? ** I have a lot of people I consider to be BFFs. One I've known for over 10 years and one of the others I've known since I was 2. Most of my closest friends have been around for many, many years.
7. What does friendship mean to you? ** For me it means being there for someone when they need you and a lot of other things. I could go on for days about friends and friendship.
8. What is your favorite healthy food(s)? ** Hummus and veggies. Yum.
9. What is your favorite exercise or activity? ** I lift weights, heavy weights, but lately I've been liking this pilates video for beginners.
10. How do you stay motivated? ** I look at old pictures and I weigh myself every 2 weeks. That always keeps me motivated.
11. Where do you want to be next year at this time? ** Skinny. Still blogging. Maintaining my weight.

Some people have no clue what they are talking about!

So, this happened to someone I work with....not me, but if it had I would have had a few things to say to this guy!

Ok, basically, someone I work with asked me if I do oblique exercises. I tell her that I do as much ab work as I can, including obliques. Then she wants to know if I use weights on some of my oblique exercises. I tell her that I do use weight on a lot of my ab work, including obliques.

Then she tells me this: She was at the gym doing some oblique exercises with weight. She said it was no more than 10 pounds and it was a workout she has been doing for over a year. The owner (male) of the gym comes out of his office and tells her to stop the exercise that she is doing. He then tells her that she is wasting her time doing that exercise because it won't make her waist smaller. Instead if will make her "bulky". She told him that she had been doing it for over a year. His response was something about how she shouldn't even use weights to workout because she will just get big and she doesn't want to get bulky. Doesn't she just want to slim down??

What a friggin' jerk!!

I told her that he might be the owner of the gym, but he clearly doesn't know anything about working out. There is NO WAY that she or anyone will get "bulky" from using weights. For that to happen you would have to take steroids. I've been lifting and lifting heavy for over 2 years and I have yet to get "bulky". Actually, I've done the opposite of getting bulky. I've lost an entire person from lifting heavy!

I also told her that if working out with weights made you "bulky" then Janelle should look like the Incredible Hulk! I just don't think that Janelle is anywhere near Incredible Hulk status.

Are Ashely and I posing with Janelle or Hulk?
It's just so confusing! All that weight
made us all so bulky!

From Google Images.
The Incredible Hulk or Janelle??
I just can't tell!!

   





Pictures from the show

Janelle's show was yesterday. I think she placed 6th. I've never seen her not place in the top 5, so it was a little strange. Anyway, she looked flippin' great. She was bigger than she was last year. I guess I just don't know what the judges are looking for. She looked better than the girls she was competing with. Well, there are more shows to come, so I'm sure she will do better next time!

So, here are some pics from the show.

Workout buddies! Please ignore the competition
spray tan that Janelle has to have for shows!

Janelle and Ashley

Janelle and I

This picture isn't really good, but it looks cool.
Janelle is right in the middle.

After the show

Yea! Workout buddies.

Finally, someone that works at the gym that I like!

So, at my "favorite" gym today one of the employees came up to talk to us. At first I was trying to figure out her angle. She kept asking questions about what I've been doing and if Janelle is training me.

I just looked at her and told her all the issues that Janelle, Ashely, and I were having with the employees there. I told her that the trainers were accusing us of training each other and making money while we were working out.

She kept assuring us that she was not trying to get us in trouble or anything sneeky. So we talked with her for a while. She was asking a lot of questions and I didn't really want to get into specifics. I just had a bad vibe about the whole thing.

So we kinda changed the subject to talk about Janelle's upcoming show. She's less than 2 weeks till her show and I can't wait to post pictures! We told her that Janelle competes in figure and that is why we've been pulling all the two a day workouts.

Even though I was skeptical, she was really a nice lady. She asked if she can point me out to potential members. I told her that she could and I think that may have been her angle for talking to us.

Now I don't feel so freaked out at that gym. She was nice and seemed genuine. Hopefully all of the crap at that gym will stop now that we are talking to more of the employees and finding out that they aren't such jerks.

Oh and, I have had no time to upload pictures from that wedding. I have a few cute pictures of me in my cute, borrowed dress. I don't even have time to type this! I think later in the week I will find some time to get myself updated!

Time to pump some iron!

            I've been reading health and fitness articles again! I know you’re all excited! I found one that I really, really, really had to share with everyone! This article, Lose Your Fear of Lifting, is really a testament to what I’ve been doing for the past few years.

            A lot of women don’t want to spend a lot of time lifting because they feel like they will get bulky. I tell them all the time that they won’t get bulky! This article gives 12 benefits of lifting. I know the things in the article are true; I’m proof that they are true. Here is a list of the 12 reasons you should be lifting.

1.      You'll lose 40 percent more fat.

2.      Your clothes will fit better.

3.      You'll burn more calories.

4.      Your diet will improve.

5.      You'll handle stress better.

6.      You'll be happier.

7.      You'll build stronger bones.

8.      You'll get into shape faster.

9.      Your heart will be healthier.

10.  You'll be way more productive.

11.  You'll live longer.

12.  You'll be even smarter.

So, when I got to number 6, it mentions yoga…of course. You all know I have my love-hate relationship with yoga, but this time it made me laugh because it is seriously creeping into every aspect of my life!

            If you have time, check out the article. I believe what it says because I’ve seen these things happen to me over the past few years. I will admit, it can be difficult to start lifting. You don’t always know what you should do, what order to do it in, if you have good form, or if you should use free weights or machines. There is a lot to find out. My suggestion, find a personal trainer that is willing to do a few sessions to show you correct form and different exercises. If you can’t do that there’s always the internet! Everything is on the internet!

Which one is that again?

           Learning the names of different exercises can be an exhausting process. I rely on descriptions to help me remember what certain exercises are; so does Ashley, but she also uses hand gestures. These different names, descriptions, and gestures have begun to stick over the past few years. Janelle, Ashley, and I have really formed our own gym language. I’m sure other people think we have no idea what we are talking about, but we really don’t care. We have to entertain ourselves somehow!

1. Roman chair knee lifts or straight leg lifts are simply called Uppy-downies with knees or legs. It is usually accompanied by a hand gesture too.

She looks way better than I do
when she does knee uppy-downies.

2. Dumbbell Military is abbreviated in the workout book as dbl. mil. One time I was looking at the book and saw the abbreviation; then I asked Janelle what the eff double windmills were. Now we always call them windmills and do a few arm circles to represent the windmill.  

This is a very buff drawing.

I think imitating this windmill
would be a good exercise. 

3. Dumbbell Row is referred to as the lawn mower.

The real Dumbbell Row

The real dumbbell row.

4. When we do Planks we do them on our elbows and hold them for around a minute. It’s supposed to be 2 minutes, but I can really only do a minute. At first we called them Watching TV because we looked like kids on the floor trying to watch TV. Now we call them Slumber Parties because we are all on the floor and facing each other. We look like little girls huddled together gossiping.

I wish I looked this good
during Slumber Party.

5. Side Bridges are called Side Uppy-downies and also accompanied with hand gestures.

Side uppy-downies and a smokin' hot dude.

6. 2 Arm Side Raises are called Airplanes because they are done lying on a bench and lifting your arms up and then down. We usually bend our legs up at our knees because it’s more comfortable, so we really look like an airplane, or a bird that flaps its arms really slowly.

Actually, this is exactly how we do our
airplane exercises too. 

    

7. This isn’t an exercise, but we complain about how things feel. Sometimes things hurt so we have to talk in terms of good hurt v bad hurt and good sore v bad sore.

     8.  We do these jumpy squat things. I think they are called Rocket Squats. Hell, I don't even know what they are called, but we call them frog jumps because that's what they look like. I hate them too!

I bet his feet make no noise when he lands.

Jump little guy, jump!

            When people hear us talking, I’m sure they think we are insane. We speak like kids and that’s probably because we spend our days with kids and when we get to the gym we haven’t completely left work at work! Because of that, we’ve really developed a little language that sounds crazy to outsiders, but totally normal to us. 

What's your heart rate?

            When I started getting serious about losing weight Zach and Janelle said I had to get a heart rate monitor. Honestly, I didn’t want to get one, but since I decided I had no clue what I was doing on my own; I decided to shut up and get one. I ended up getting a really good deal on one and it’s pink; so that made everything better. 

            Obviously the idea behind the heart rate monitor is to get an accurate reading when I’m doing cardio, since I need to be in my fat burning zone, but I wear it for everything. I started wearing it during regular workouts; to see how many calories I burn while lifting.

Janelle asks from time to time what my heart rate is after certain things or how many calories I’ve burned. Usually it’s normal, but after squats and some ab workouts my heart rate will be so high that the monitor will just zero out! Honestly, the more I work out the less that happens, but there are some exercises that still get me every time! Once I was used to wearing the monitor at the gym all the time, I started wondering how many calories I would burn during other activities.

            I haven’t worn it to work, but I want to. I would like to see how many calories I can burn in 8 hours at work. I bet some days it would be outrageous because I feel like I run around like a crazy person. 

            I’ve become pretty obsessed with the heart rate monitor. On Monday’s it totals up my total calories burned, exercise time, and time in my fat burning zone from the previous week. Then on the screen of the watch a little envelope pops up. When I click on it, it tells me all the total for the week. I tell Janelle that it sends me mail. I know she’s jealous of my pink heart rate monitor that sends me mail.             I learned that I can burn around 400 calories in a half our while shoveling snow. I can burn around 750 calories in 45 minutes while swimming. I can burn about 100 in 10 minutes of yoga. I can also burn about 300 having a 45 minute heated phone conversation.