Well, here we go - beginning Monday bright and early, I am starting a P90X/Insanity hybrid workout schedule. Also starting Monday is the eating clean regimen - couple the two together and I'm hoping de-toxifying results will happen quickly! I have been 'off track' for so long now, it's starting to feel ridiculous, and clothes fitting differently is getting more depressing daily. No more refined sugars and junk. Only one 'cheat' day a week (Sunday, I've decided) away from the clean eats.
From this past Tuesday, when I decided that it was going to be the hybrid workout program starting Monday. ... I gave myself free reign to eat whatever I wanted between now and Monday. The reason I do this is because I KNOW I'll get sick of eating crap by then - and be more than ready to jump into eating clean without being tempted by the crap, truly. There was a time when I really wasn't tempted by it, and I'm searching for that mindset again! How do I know allowing myself free reign for several days will work? Because I did it once before and it worked great for me. When I originally got my P90X, it arrived on a Monday or Tuesday - so I had the whole week to prepare before beginning and I did the same thing. I was sick of eating crap by Friday! So it was all that much easier to make the transition come Day One. :)
We will see how the weekend goes - even though I'm not totally eating clean yet, I will be prepping food and readying myself for the week ahead (shopping lists, shopping, prepping veggies and other meals and snacks for convenience during the work week) so I may try to wean myself off of junk a little bit (save myself some grief, maybe, in getting over the refined sugar withdrawal?). I think I might want to go for a run/walk or two, or whatever. I know I'll definitely be prepping the workout area to be sure I have everything I need to hit it hard Monday and every day following! I really need to get this habit started again - and I know that once I get going I will love it and want to stick with it. It needs to become a lifestyle. NO EXCUSES! Excuses are a thing of the past. .... because a fit body does not become fit without some work on my part. That's just the simple facts, ma'am!! Nothing works if I don't work it!
Friday, June 8, 2012
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
Guess who's back. .... back again. .. . .
Well. .. what have we here?! The long-lost blogger, that's what. WOW, talk about being M.I.A. I haven't signed in here and/or blogged for such a long time I'm surprised I remembered what my sign-in and password were! Ha
BUT. Now comes the time when I'm ready to go from fat to fit. .. .. AGAIN. After such a crazy long hiatus (broken up only by continued summer running workouts last year and another round of P90X in the late summer/early fall. ... after which I slacked pretty heavily)... . I truly feel fat again. I am not a big scale person, because I truly don't believe that when your goal is to get fit that a number should be gospel - but I would guess that I've gained anywhere from 5 to 10 pounds. The problem is that those pounds are goo - and they have metriculated to areas that I seriously don't like. .. . and all of that is seriously depressing me! Not to mention that a lack of physical activity dampens my mood - I can always tell.
The evil refined sugar and many other not-so-clean foods have made their way into my life again. Though I completely know they're bad, I somehow reasoned them through the gates, telling myself that a few of them in moderation wouldn't kill me. ... and they have gotten me NOwhere GOOD! So here I am.. .. . circling the jump-off point, preparing myself to launch into 'the lifestyle' again. I think I'm ready, truly! As I've said in my past entries. .. .. WHAT DO I HAVE TO LOSE? Nothing but fat and toxins.
So, with a combo of eat clean and lifting as much as I can (I mean really pushing it with the weights - women, DON'T BE AFRAID OF WEIGHTS!!) my hope is to get in decent shape by the end of July, when I will spend a week in a swimsuit (or, the usual dying-of heat-and-humidity/as little clothing as possible if not an actual swimsuit the entire time!).
I have the help and input of a former trainer and current CrossFit participant to help me with the weights part. .. .. and there are always my trusty P90X strength-training workouts if I don't make it to the gym. Cardio is important and I will continue to run (uhm, ahem. ... get back into running, as that has also been on hiatus!) but I will mostly focus on the strength training. Once again, I post the following as an illustration of why I seek to put on that muscle . .. ...
Um, ya. Who wouldn't want sexy strong muscle replacing the goo and taking up a LOT less space?! Yet another reason why the scale is an inaccurate representation of how fit and healthy a body is!
So here's to the next adventure. .. ... getting back into shape. Next stop. ... sore city. Because the first week is always a killer!!!
Anyone want to join me?! :)
BUT. Now comes the time when I'm ready to go from fat to fit. .. .. AGAIN. After such a crazy long hiatus (broken up only by continued summer running workouts last year and another round of P90X in the late summer/early fall. ... after which I slacked pretty heavily)... . I truly feel fat again. I am not a big scale person, because I truly don't believe that when your goal is to get fit that a number should be gospel - but I would guess that I've gained anywhere from 5 to 10 pounds. The problem is that those pounds are goo - and they have metriculated to areas that I seriously don't like. .. . and all of that is seriously depressing me! Not to mention that a lack of physical activity dampens my mood - I can always tell.
The evil refined sugar and many other not-so-clean foods have made their way into my life again. Though I completely know they're bad, I somehow reasoned them through the gates, telling myself that a few of them in moderation wouldn't kill me. ... and they have gotten me NOwhere GOOD! So here I am.. .. . circling the jump-off point, preparing myself to launch into 'the lifestyle' again. I think I'm ready, truly! As I've said in my past entries. .. .. WHAT DO I HAVE TO LOSE? Nothing but fat and toxins.
So, with a combo of eat clean and lifting as much as I can (I mean really pushing it with the weights - women, DON'T BE AFRAID OF WEIGHTS!!) my hope is to get in decent shape by the end of July, when I will spend a week in a swimsuit (or, the usual dying-of heat-and-humidity/as little clothing as possible if not an actual swimsuit the entire time!).
I have the help and input of a former trainer and current CrossFit participant to help me with the weights part. .. .. and there are always my trusty P90X strength-training workouts if I don't make it to the gym. Cardio is important and I will continue to run (uhm, ahem. ... get back into running, as that has also been on hiatus!) but I will mostly focus on the strength training. Once again, I post the following as an illustration of why I seek to put on that muscle . .. ...
Um, ya. Who wouldn't want sexy strong muscle replacing the goo and taking up a LOT less space?! Yet another reason why the scale is an inaccurate representation of how fit and healthy a body is!
So here's to the next adventure. .. ... getting back into shape. Next stop. ... sore city. Because the first week is always a killer!!!
Anyone want to join me?! :)
Monday, January 31, 2011
After a long hiatus. ...
Obviously, someone took a break over the holidays. Not naming names, but you know who you are! ;) Or rather, you probably know WHO it is! ME. Yep, I COMPLETELY got off track. Though I got derailed with working out regularly around October, from that point on I had moved on to avoiding refined sugar. ... until approximately Christmas. Ah, yes. The Christmas candy, the goodies, the eggnog and all the sugar-laden, poisonous 'bad' foods (that all taste so good) that inevitably come with the holiday. SIGH. I admit it. I was weak. I let myself slip.
So, the white poison made its way back into my body. I have no one to blame but myself. No one forced me to consume it. .. I did it all on my own, thank you very much. At first I'm pretty sure I was firmly in denial - 'Oh, this little bit won't hurt me - I'm on a break, I'll get back on track right away'.
OOOOPS, sorry. A month later, I'm still struggling to get back off of the stuff! I don't even know how to explain how insidiously it has worked its way back into me and made it so difficult to 'kick' again, but here it is and here I am - and I don't like it one bit! I feel bloated and fat and just, well. .. .. .yukky about myself.
So today comes the first day of a new (but not entirely new) way of eating and lifestyle change.. .... Clean Eating. Some of you may have heard of it and others may not. ... but I'm here to tell you it's some powerful good stuff.
Here's the deal. For my first round of P90X I was clueless about sugar and the harmful effects it was obviously having on my ability to lean up. The simple fact is. ... . this craptastic anti-nutrient keeps the body from utilizing (aka: burning) stored fat for energy when you work out. FUN, huh?! So all that huffing and puffing and bringing it and hopes and dreams about looking better.. ..are all for naught if you're still consuming too much (or any, for some of us) of the white poison. It wasn't until my first round was done and I saw a disappointing lack of major changes that I somehow (hallelujah!) discovered the horrors of refined sugar and how awful (yes, truly awful!!) it is. My eyes were open - I cut refined and added sugars out of my diet and read labels and ......... dropped 9 lbs of bloat in 8 days! How's that for powerful?!
So there was that, which was great. P90X had opened my eyes to food as fuel, and quality foods to fuel the body, and then I discovered the sugar thing. Thinking back, from time to time the thought had occurred to me. .....why not just eat all natural foods and only those kinds of foods and see what happens? It HAD to be healthy, right? I couldn't even say exactly what led me to think that, other than the absorbing and filtering of years of information about healthy diets and the vitamins, minerals, enzymes and nutrients that are found in vegetables and fruits and whole grains and well, NATURAL foods. Up until P90X, my diet hadn't ever really been too much of any one thing (except lazy and inconsistent and downright bad at times!) and I hadn't really felt the effects of eating good and eating for fuel versus eating to eat. That's not to say I didn't know somewhere, deep down, that I could improve upon my diet by a lot. .. . but I had never done it consistently for any length of time.
So hallelujah, it all makes sense now. Really! On a Christmas visit I saw a copy of Oxygen magazine, and thumbed through it a little. My attention got hooked on a little something mentioned in one of the articles about "Eating Clean", a way of eating and also a book.... .I remember trying to commit the name of the author to memory. .. Tosca Reno. Not a usual name, so I was able to remember it. Then a week later while doing a little shopping I happened to be in the health and fitness section of books... .and there it was. "The Eat Clean Diet - Recharged!" by Tosca Reno. I bought it, of course. But in the midst of my other reading and activities I didn't get too far into it for a while. But the idea of it stuck in my head. ... Here I've been struggling the last few weeks with starting another round of P90X and fighting yo-yo'ing motivation again (sooooo frustrating) and also fighting the constant battle of resisting the white poison. Just when I thought my mind was on track to cut it out again, I would feel sluggish and lazy and unmotivated and slip up - and be eating something I knew I shouldn't be. One day good; the next bad. Frustration was setting in. Again. And again. And again! I was getting pretty fed up with myself and my inability to just take the bull by the horns and just get it DONE! What was wrong with me? I had done it before hadn't I? and it really hadn't been hard! What was the deal this time?
So this past weekend, amid my self-labeled 'last hurrah weekend' with sugar and snacking when I wanted to (which doesn't end up being a ton for me - I'm not a true binge eater, thankfully) I really sat down and read the book. And I looked at the website and the success stories. Turns out this gal is awfully popular! And she's definitely onto something.. .. . . 80% of the the battle for a healthy, slim physique is nutrition. 10% exercise, and 10% genetics. The biggest chunk of that battle is COMPLETELY within my power!! So I gotta tell ya. .. . I finally feel that I'm ready to be back on track. For real. This Clean Eating thing has got me excited, motivated, determined, and ready to commit.
What the heck do I have to lose?! FAT. Toxic fat and toxic buildup in my body from the poison I've consumed.
What do I have to gain? Health, vitality, getting lean, energy!
Gee, tough decision, right? A whole lot to gain AND a whole lot to lose as well - but losing in a wonderfully good way.
So I'm fired up!! This isn't a 'diet' in that it is not a 'temporary' way of being. ... . it's a lasting, permanent change. A change in thinking, in viewing what I put into my body, a change in patterns and HABITS and viewpoints. All this time I've been struggling, it's like the truth has been slowly but surely sinking in... . what IS the good in eating the crap I've been eating? It's a SHORT, SHORT-LIVED satisfaction, tempered by guilt and frustration a millisecond after it passes my lips. What, then, is the point of it?! Seems there's more negative than positive - and giving in certainly isn't getting me anywhere at all. It's not helping my health, my body, my weight, my overall outlook on my appearance. It's sucking the life out of me and depositing globs of disgusting, toxic fat in all the places I hate already..... WHY would I want to do that to myself?!
I DON'T. So there. Time for a revolution!!
1/31/11: Day 1 of Eating Clean has gone GREAT so far!! I am FIRED UP. No loss in energy. It's like my body eats this stuff up (literally as well as figuratively) and is telling me THANK YOU, for not poisoning me anymore. :)
So for anyone who is curious, this has been the menu so far today... . .clean, nutrient rich foods and lean proteins. And ALWAYS combining complex carbs with lean protein.... .
Breakfast: 2 scoops Chocolate whey protein powder (very low sugar content) in water
MidMorning: 1 slice Ezekhial bread with sugar free/natural peanut butter, 1 small apple and sf PB, water
Lunch: chicken breast with spinach (2 servings of spinach) and grape tomatoes, water (wow, hello full)
Mid Afternoon: 1/2 c oatmeal (old fashioned oats), apple, boiled egg, water (not even hungry again but now I'm full again)
And. .. that's all I've got so far for today. Dinner will most likely be Talapia or maybe shrimp and a potato (gotta find me some sweet potatoes - yum!) with more green veggies. ..... and of course, water. :)
One thing that sticks in my head about this way of eating is this; (paraphrasing) you will lose weight eating as much as you can eat of clean, nutrient-rich calories from natural clean foods - while you can easily gain weight eating LESS calories of anti-nutrient, empty and processed foods. How's that for boggling your mind? Yet it MAKES SO MUCH SENSE!!
I hope this will be helpful for someone who may be striving to make a healthy change in their lives, both for health and physique (my motivation for doing it is both of those, of course). I highly recommend checking out Tosca Reno's website: http://www.eatcleandiet.com/ and all of her books too! The woman is on to something. . .. .
Til next time... . happy Clean Eating!
So, the white poison made its way back into my body. I have no one to blame but myself. No one forced me to consume it. .. I did it all on my own, thank you very much. At first I'm pretty sure I was firmly in denial - 'Oh, this little bit won't hurt me - I'm on a break, I'll get back on track right away'.
OOOOPS, sorry. A month later, I'm still struggling to get back off of the stuff! I don't even know how to explain how insidiously it has worked its way back into me and made it so difficult to 'kick' again, but here it is and here I am - and I don't like it one bit! I feel bloated and fat and just, well. .. .. .yukky about myself.
So today comes the first day of a new (but not entirely new) way of eating and lifestyle change.. .... Clean Eating. Some of you may have heard of it and others may not. ... but I'm here to tell you it's some powerful good stuff.
Here's the deal. For my first round of P90X I was clueless about sugar and the harmful effects it was obviously having on my ability to lean up. The simple fact is. ... . this craptastic anti-nutrient keeps the body from utilizing (aka: burning) stored fat for energy when you work out. FUN, huh?! So all that huffing and puffing and bringing it and hopes and dreams about looking better.. ..are all for naught if you're still consuming too much (or any, for some of us) of the white poison. It wasn't until my first round was done and I saw a disappointing lack of major changes that I somehow (hallelujah!) discovered the horrors of refined sugar and how awful (yes, truly awful!!) it is. My eyes were open - I cut refined and added sugars out of my diet and read labels and ......... dropped 9 lbs of bloat in 8 days! How's that for powerful?!
So there was that, which was great. P90X had opened my eyes to food as fuel, and quality foods to fuel the body, and then I discovered the sugar thing. Thinking back, from time to time the thought had occurred to me. .....why not just eat all natural foods and only those kinds of foods and see what happens? It HAD to be healthy, right? I couldn't even say exactly what led me to think that, other than the absorbing and filtering of years of information about healthy diets and the vitamins, minerals, enzymes and nutrients that are found in vegetables and fruits and whole grains and well, NATURAL foods. Up until P90X, my diet hadn't ever really been too much of any one thing (except lazy and inconsistent and downright bad at times!) and I hadn't really felt the effects of eating good and eating for fuel versus eating to eat. That's not to say I didn't know somewhere, deep down, that I could improve upon my diet by a lot. .. . but I had never done it consistently for any length of time.
So hallelujah, it all makes sense now. Really! On a Christmas visit I saw a copy of Oxygen magazine, and thumbed through it a little. My attention got hooked on a little something mentioned in one of the articles about "Eating Clean", a way of eating and also a book.... .I remember trying to commit the name of the author to memory. .. Tosca Reno. Not a usual name, so I was able to remember it. Then a week later while doing a little shopping I happened to be in the health and fitness section of books... .and there it was. "The Eat Clean Diet - Recharged!" by Tosca Reno. I bought it, of course. But in the midst of my other reading and activities I didn't get too far into it for a while. But the idea of it stuck in my head. ... Here I've been struggling the last few weeks with starting another round of P90X and fighting yo-yo'ing motivation again (sooooo frustrating) and also fighting the constant battle of resisting the white poison. Just when I thought my mind was on track to cut it out again, I would feel sluggish and lazy and unmotivated and slip up - and be eating something I knew I shouldn't be. One day good; the next bad. Frustration was setting in. Again. And again. And again! I was getting pretty fed up with myself and my inability to just take the bull by the horns and just get it DONE! What was wrong with me? I had done it before hadn't I? and it really hadn't been hard! What was the deal this time?
So this past weekend, amid my self-labeled 'last hurrah weekend' with sugar and snacking when I wanted to (which doesn't end up being a ton for me - I'm not a true binge eater, thankfully) I really sat down and read the book. And I looked at the website and the success stories. Turns out this gal is awfully popular! And she's definitely onto something.. .. . . 80% of the the battle for a healthy, slim physique is nutrition. 10% exercise, and 10% genetics. The biggest chunk of that battle is COMPLETELY within my power!! So I gotta tell ya. .. . I finally feel that I'm ready to be back on track. For real. This Clean Eating thing has got me excited, motivated, determined, and ready to commit.
What the heck do I have to lose?! FAT. Toxic fat and toxic buildup in my body from the poison I've consumed.
What do I have to gain? Health, vitality, getting lean, energy!
Gee, tough decision, right? A whole lot to gain AND a whole lot to lose as well - but losing in a wonderfully good way.
So I'm fired up!! This isn't a 'diet' in that it is not a 'temporary' way of being. ... . it's a lasting, permanent change. A change in thinking, in viewing what I put into my body, a change in patterns and HABITS and viewpoints. All this time I've been struggling, it's like the truth has been slowly but surely sinking in... . what IS the good in eating the crap I've been eating? It's a SHORT, SHORT-LIVED satisfaction, tempered by guilt and frustration a millisecond after it passes my lips. What, then, is the point of it?! Seems there's more negative than positive - and giving in certainly isn't getting me anywhere at all. It's not helping my health, my body, my weight, my overall outlook on my appearance. It's sucking the life out of me and depositing globs of disgusting, toxic fat in all the places I hate already..... WHY would I want to do that to myself?!
I DON'T. So there. Time for a revolution!!
1/31/11: Day 1 of Eating Clean has gone GREAT so far!! I am FIRED UP. No loss in energy. It's like my body eats this stuff up (literally as well as figuratively) and is telling me THANK YOU, for not poisoning me anymore. :)
So for anyone who is curious, this has been the menu so far today... . .clean, nutrient rich foods and lean proteins. And ALWAYS combining complex carbs with lean protein.... .
Breakfast: 2 scoops Chocolate whey protein powder (very low sugar content) in water
MidMorning: 1 slice Ezekhial bread with sugar free/natural peanut butter, 1 small apple and sf PB, water
Lunch: chicken breast with spinach (2 servings of spinach) and grape tomatoes, water (wow, hello full)
Mid Afternoon: 1/2 c oatmeal (old fashioned oats), apple, boiled egg, water (not even hungry again but now I'm full again)
And. .. that's all I've got so far for today. Dinner will most likely be Talapia or maybe shrimp and a potato (gotta find me some sweet potatoes - yum!) with more green veggies. ..... and of course, water. :)
One thing that sticks in my head about this way of eating is this; (paraphrasing) you will lose weight eating as much as you can eat of clean, nutrient-rich calories from natural clean foods - while you can easily gain weight eating LESS calories of anti-nutrient, empty and processed foods. How's that for boggling your mind? Yet it MAKES SO MUCH SENSE!!
I hope this will be helpful for someone who may be striving to make a healthy change in their lives, both for health and physique (my motivation for doing it is both of those, of course). I highly recommend checking out Tosca Reno's website: http://www.eatcleandiet.com/ and all of her books too! The woman is on to something. . .. .
Til next time... . happy Clean Eating!
Monday, November 22, 2010
Back in the Saddle Again
Well, it's back in the saddle again, starting today! Finally I'm over the 'break' of not working out.. ... 'bout time!! The No Motivation Gremlin has been visiting for too darn long. Just had to get my mind back to right on it I guess. I saw/friended a gal on facebook that made an amazing transformation (and continues to) using Beachbody products, more recently P90X - and she completely jump-started my motivation! She's got so much energy and drive and frankly, she's extremely motivational to me. :) Thanks Kim!
Though today is Day 1 for P90X I actually started again yesterday with a run. The weather was AMAZING so I couldn't pass it up! I find it absolutely amazing that I haven't gone running for at least 2 weeks and yet I didn't struggle or seem to have lost stamina/conditioning. Same distance, even mixed it up and ran more of the big uphills than usual. .... . and no worse for the wear than if I had just gone last week, so wonders never cease!
So. Stepped on the scale this morning to get my 'beginning' weight. (Like many women, I don't really have a positive relationship with the scale.) I really do try to set my mind positively when I prepare to step on the thing, but it's a battle, considering my disappointments in past! However, for once I was pleasantly surprised! I am down about a pound and a half. *Woohoo!!* Note; even though I have been slacking on the working out, I HAVE kept up with the no refined sugars in my diet, so I believe that has something to do with it. After my initial 9 lb drop (losing the sugar bloat) when I first cut out the white poison and its affiliates I was plateau'd for a while. . . .which, in part, let the NMG (No Motivation Gremlin) in. ..... . but now I'm down a bit from what I was 'stuck' at before. This could very well be due to losing some muscle this past month ( :< ). BUT I hope the majority of this is the continued lack of white poison etc.
It's a fact that too much sugar in the system keeps the body from burning stored fat for energy (among many other things that work against you in efforts to lose weight). .... which I'm convinced was one of the factors working specifically against me in the past. So now that that has been corrected, I fully expect this round of P90X will bring about the changes that were infinitesimally small on my first round!!
I also discovered Michi's Ladder, which is all about eating clean - I am trying to stay in the top two tiers on this, definitely for the first 30 days of P90X (fat shredder phase), if not longer. This kind of stuff tends to becomes a habit, to a degree, so once I get going I have a feeling it will 'stick'. Yay!!
I am soooooo ready to BRING IT again!!!! Chest & Back and Ab Ripper X tonight!!
Though today is Day 1 for P90X I actually started again yesterday with a run. The weather was AMAZING so I couldn't pass it up! I find it absolutely amazing that I haven't gone running for at least 2 weeks and yet I didn't struggle or seem to have lost stamina/conditioning. Same distance, even mixed it up and ran more of the big uphills than usual. .... . and no worse for the wear than if I had just gone last week, so wonders never cease!
So. Stepped on the scale this morning to get my 'beginning' weight. (Like many women, I don't really have a positive relationship with the scale.) I really do try to set my mind positively when I prepare to step on the thing, but it's a battle, considering my disappointments in past! However, for once I was pleasantly surprised! I am down about a pound and a half. *Woohoo!!* Note; even though I have been slacking on the working out, I HAVE kept up with the no refined sugars in my diet, so I believe that has something to do with it. After my initial 9 lb drop (losing the sugar bloat) when I first cut out the white poison and its affiliates I was plateau'd for a while. . . .which, in part, let the NMG (No Motivation Gremlin) in. ..... . but now I'm down a bit from what I was 'stuck' at before. This could very well be due to losing some muscle this past month ( :< ). BUT I hope the majority of this is the continued lack of white poison etc.
It's a fact that too much sugar in the system keeps the body from burning stored fat for energy (among many other things that work against you in efforts to lose weight). .... which I'm convinced was one of the factors working specifically against me in the past. So now that that has been corrected, I fully expect this round of P90X will bring about the changes that were infinitesimally small on my first round!!
I also discovered Michi's Ladder, which is all about eating clean - I am trying to stay in the top two tiers on this, definitely for the first 30 days of P90X (fat shredder phase), if not longer. This kind of stuff tends to becomes a habit, to a degree, so once I get going I have a feeling it will 'stick'. Yay!!
I am soooooo ready to BRING IT again!!!! Chest & Back and Ab Ripper X tonight!!
Monday, November 15, 2010
Hmm.
Okay, I have been slacking big-time. At some point about a month ago I just started getting away from the P90X workouts. I can't say what brought it about or what the problem is - a combination of events getting in the way of working out and then I didn't get myself back on track. It's not that I don't want to do it anymore, I just kinda hit a wall I guess. Not sure why. Not sure when I'll get that inspiration back. . .. .
I'm the first to admit that I had a tough go of it, and big challenges (emotionally) when my body refused to respond to all the hard work and effort. It was harder than I can articulate, and more frustrating also, to keep up the 'good work' when nothing much was happening. I would see these great transformation stories .. . .but it seemed I was doomed to toil away the same as everyone else without any transformation! I expected results! And my stubborn body wasn't having it.
In the time since wrapping my first round of P90X I also learned something new in regard to my hypothyroid condition & my metabolism... . after a blood draw and analysis, it turned out that I was deficient in a certain area that can affect how the body utilizes protein to build muscle, among other things weight and metabolism related .... . . and I've been on an additional medication to correct this. Coincidentally to this (at about the same time, that is) I also cut out refined sugars. Both of these have been going on for a month now.. ... but while I got these two things under control, the will to work out has been flagging. Greatly.
Who knows what my problem is. Maybe I'm not good at doing more than one thing at a time? Doing no refined sugars produced a loss of weight (all that bloat, I'm sure) at first, but now I'm plateau'd on that even. Not only b/c I'm not paying as careful attention (other than eschewing refined sugar) but also because I'm not working out so much. So maybe now that I'm used to the no sugar changes it's time to hit the 'gym' again (by gym I mean the P90X gym).
I really have a hard time finding my motivation lately. But I am loathe to get back into 'old' habits. ... aka: eating while watching tv in the evenings ( which =overeating without thinking about it) and snacking too much at night. It's sooo much easier to just. ... well, do nothing versus do something (exercise). ... but the catch to that is that then I feel bad about it (doing nothing). So there's nothing to gain there (except weight, and that's obviously the last thing I want). What's holding me back?!?!
I'm hoping that blogging about it will help me discover my motivation again. Ugh.. .
Motivation?!?! Motivaaaaaaaaaaation.. .. . .. where ARE you?!?! Please come back. Soon!!
I'm the first to admit that I had a tough go of it, and big challenges (emotionally) when my body refused to respond to all the hard work and effort. It was harder than I can articulate, and more frustrating also, to keep up the 'good work' when nothing much was happening. I would see these great transformation stories .. . .but it seemed I was doomed to toil away the same as everyone else without any transformation! I expected results! And my stubborn body wasn't having it.
In the time since wrapping my first round of P90X I also learned something new in regard to my hypothyroid condition & my metabolism... . after a blood draw and analysis, it turned out that I was deficient in a certain area that can affect how the body utilizes protein to build muscle, among other things weight and metabolism related .... . . and I've been on an additional medication to correct this. Coincidentally to this (at about the same time, that is) I also cut out refined sugars. Both of these have been going on for a month now.. ... but while I got these two things under control, the will to work out has been flagging. Greatly.
Who knows what my problem is. Maybe I'm not good at doing more than one thing at a time? Doing no refined sugars produced a loss of weight (all that bloat, I'm sure) at first, but now I'm plateau'd on that even. Not only b/c I'm not paying as careful attention (other than eschewing refined sugar) but also because I'm not working out so much. So maybe now that I'm used to the no sugar changes it's time to hit the 'gym' again (by gym I mean the P90X gym).
I really have a hard time finding my motivation lately. But I am loathe to get back into 'old' habits. ... aka: eating while watching tv in the evenings ( which =overeating without thinking about it) and snacking too much at night. It's sooo much easier to just. ... well, do nothing versus do something (exercise). ... but the catch to that is that then I feel bad about it (doing nothing). So there's nothing to gain there (except weight, and that's obviously the last thing I want). What's holding me back?!?!
I'm hoping that blogging about it will help me discover my motivation again. Ugh.. .
Motivation?!?! Motivaaaaaaaaaaation.. .. . .. where ARE you?!?! Please come back. Soon!!
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Amazing!
On the 8th day of no refined sugars. ... ... count me 9 pounds down! Absolutely amazing, considering the previous mutant stubbornness! This has evidently been the problem all along - the evil poison that I didn't even know I was consuming (or, if I did know I was consuming something sweet ie: candy, I didn't realize how truly horrible it was for me). I'm blown away right now - THIS is how it should be. THIS is what happens when a normal healthy person excercises regularly and eats clean/healthy. .... their body responds!! Hallelujah and praise the Lord!!! :) Clothes are fitting loose and that is a huge motivation in itself, to keep on working at it.
This journey has been an interesting one, to say the least. From excitement and hope to crazy frustration to elation over the beginning of long-awaited results. I have renewed hope that my efforts will pay off with continued hard work and patience, and that's a wonderful feeling!
This journey has been an interesting one, to say the least. From excitement and hope to crazy frustration to elation over the beginning of long-awaited results. I have renewed hope that my efforts will pay off with continued hard work and patience, and that's a wonderful feeling!
Monday, October 18, 2010
Wow!
So. I am pretty excited to report that after 5 days of doing no refined sugar, I am down 5 pounds! I am convinced this is 'bloat' weight that was being retained because of evil refined sugar. I really couldn't be happier, though, because it is SOMETHING after so long of seemingly nothing, and I can't help but be filled with the conviction that THERE IS HOPE FOR ME YET! :)
Working out went well last week. Sore, sore muscles! The lower body workout made my deep glutes so sore it was ridiculous! (How did they get so OUT of shape in such a short time??) For my eating the past week I am actually following more of a weight watchers type plan to gauge my caloric intake, while still eating clean & low fat and making sure to get my protein (in addition to no refined sugar or sugar-added foods). My energy level for working out was fine with this. .. .. BUT, I admit to feeling hungry more often. This is surely an adjustment phase and rightly so, b/c I am now consuming about 500 less calories a day than I was before. With the P90X nutrition plan, I was consuming closer to 2100 calories - now I'm down to 1600 or so. I feel like this forces me to think about my food choices more.... what will fuel me better, what will stay with me longer? And that is a good habit and way of thinking for me to adopt long-term.
I am extremely hopeful that this no sugar change will also help my body to start burning more fat while I'm working out so strenuously. In my research on the evils of refined sugar
(refinedsugarisevil.blogspot.com)
I've learned the following (among many other interesting things): Consumption of sugar causes blood sugar levels in the body to rise, which stimulates insulin production.... . insulin tells the body not to burn stored fat. Body fat can't be burned when the body is converting glucose (sugar) into more body fat. So if you have too much sugar therefore too much insulin going on, your body is not going to burn stored fat for energy. Sugar also decreases growth hormone production, which is the key to staying youthful and lean.
Such a simple concept but it explains sooooo much!!! I'm tellin' ya - Refined Sugar is Evil. BAD STUFF!!!
Keep pushing play!! :)
Working out went well last week. Sore, sore muscles! The lower body workout made my deep glutes so sore it was ridiculous! (How did they get so OUT of shape in such a short time??) For my eating the past week I am actually following more of a weight watchers type plan to gauge my caloric intake, while still eating clean & low fat and making sure to get my protein (in addition to no refined sugar or sugar-added foods). My energy level for working out was fine with this. .. .. BUT, I admit to feeling hungry more often. This is surely an adjustment phase and rightly so, b/c I am now consuming about 500 less calories a day than I was before. With the P90X nutrition plan, I was consuming closer to 2100 calories - now I'm down to 1600 or so. I feel like this forces me to think about my food choices more.... what will fuel me better, what will stay with me longer? And that is a good habit and way of thinking for me to adopt long-term.
I am extremely hopeful that this no sugar change will also help my body to start burning more fat while I'm working out so strenuously. In my research on the evils of refined sugar
(refinedsugarisevil.blogspot.com)
I've learned the following (among many other interesting things): Consumption of sugar causes blood sugar levels in the body to rise, which stimulates insulin production.... . insulin tells the body not to burn stored fat. Body fat can't be burned when the body is converting glucose (sugar) into more body fat. So if you have too much sugar therefore too much insulin going on, your body is not going to burn stored fat for energy. Sugar also decreases growth hormone production, which is the key to staying youthful and lean.
Such a simple concept but it explains sooooo much!!! I'm tellin' ya - Refined Sugar is Evil. BAD STUFF!!!
Keep pushing play!! :)
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