Talk (Gym) Story

15 May

In Hawaii there is a slang called pidgin, to say ‘Talk Story’ means: to talk about something or chat. So, I have basterdized it a little for the use of my title today and I am gonna talk story about the gym…basically todays post is gonna be funny gym stories that I have accumulated over the past however many months. 🙂

They are all true, they all happened to me or at least in my viewing and they all had the end result of me rolling my eyes and laughing…sometimes while it was happening I would be more annoyed or irritated but afterwards that would always turn in to humour.  🙂 Gotta keep it light right?

(1) Back when I would use a cardio machine for 30 minutes at a time I would usually hop on to the eliptical machine, randomly pick one of the preset programs and go to town. I had chosen a program that was basically all high ramp work which means my ass and upper back thighs were being worked the most. The eliptical was at the end of a row of cardio machines and directly to the left were two leg weight machines that if a person were to use would put their eyes level with my ass…do you see where this is going?  😉 So there I am on my eliptical working my butt off and this guy sits down at one of those leg weight machines, at first he doesn’t do anything but I figured he’s taking a quick breather before starting that exercise so no biggy and I basically ignored him. But a little bit later it dawned on me that he’s still not using the machine, he’s just sitting there, what the hell is he doing? Risking life and limb (have you ever tried turning to look at something while going as fast as you can on an eliptical that is at a high ramp incline? it’s dangerous! lol) I turned slightly to look over at him and he is sitting there with his eyes staring at my ass with the same rapt attention a toddler gives the Telletubbies! What the hell?!?! Uh, ever hear of subtlety? He sat and oggled my ass the entire 30 minutes! I didn’t know if I should feel slightly dirty or flattered lol.

(2) I was in the free weight area and was using the 20lb dumbbells, I was in between sets so I had them resting on the bench I had claimed and was standing by the bench. Just as I went to go pick them back up this guy comes over, puts his hands on the dumbbells and says “women should never use over 8lb dumbbells” and he actually tried to take them away! I grabbed them and said “if I can lift them I can use them” and tugged them back, lol. I couldn’t believe it, how rude is that?! Not like he needed them, there were plenty of other 20lb dumbbells around so I guess he was doing it just to be a jerk? *raised eyebrow*

(3) The other week I was on the treadmill, just warming up in preparation for my interval run, I had my ear buds in but my music wasn’t turned on yet. There was a girl on the treadmill next to mine, she was going at a pace that could best be described as a stroll on a flat incline and talking on her phone. Now picture a valley girl voice for this: “yeah, so, I don’t get it, I go to the gym like all the time and I’m always doing cardio but I never lose any weight!” After saying that comment to whomever she was talking to on the phone she then picked up her Snickers chocolate bar and took a nice big bite! bahahahaha! walking super slow, while on the phone, while eating a chocolate bar…yeah, I wonder why you aren’t losing any weight…not! 😉

(4) I’m in the free weight area (I spend a lot of time there lol) and it was fairly busy so all three benches were being used (one by me) and many of the weight machines that are also in that room were in use. I am the only girl (as usual) and all the guys there that day were the big beefy guys. Then this kid comes in with his Grandfather, he is maybe 13 years old or so and has that rangy scrawny look boys have around that age. The Grandfather is trying to teach him proper form for when he is using the free weights so he tells the kid to grab some 5lb dumbbells and copy what he is doing, the kid gets all “what? I’m not using 5lb dumbbells, I’m stronger than that!” and grabs the freakin 20lb dumbbells. So Grandfather shows him a bicep curl and the kid goes to do the same and has to put the force of his entire body behind it so he can get that dumbbell lifted up to his shoulder, his entire body! lol Grandfather tries to explain it is too heavy but the kid looks at me and says “if she’s using 20lb dumbbells than so can I!”. I’m like wtf? I’m not using them for bicep curls moron, they are for my back muscles, eesh. So I smirked a bit but refrained from laughing…oh, I should point out I subtly paused my iPod so I could hear their convo cause I could tell this was gonna be good teehee. Then the Grandfather tries showing him some other moves and again the kid insists on using weights way too heavy so he’s looking like a fool but he thinks he’s looking awesome, he’s got this “I’m the man” attitude going on, too funny! Grandfather then takes him to the stretching/ab area and shows him how to sit on one of those huge exercise balls they use in yoga so that his body is braced/stabilized and then he does sit ups. The kid goes to do it and is trying to show off how awesome his abs are so he’s going super fast but not actually stabilizing at all so he’s rolling all over the place and I think his legs got a better workout then his abs. *rolls eyes* The entire time I, and all the guys working out, keep taking subtle glances over at this spectacle cause it’s just too funny to miss but at the same time nobody wants to get caught staring right? Well, Grandfather decides they are done and they go to leave, the kid walks past me then comes back, stands just to the side and behind me, faces the mirror, lifts his shirt with his left hand and with his right he rubs his abs and says “oh yeah” while nodding, then he goes strutting outta there like he’s king of the world! I couldn’t help it, I laughed right out loud, I tried to make it sound like a cough but I didn’t succeed all that well lol. The guys working out were all smirking or quietly chuckling but I was full out laughing, how could I not?!  😛

(5) This is another one where I was kind of annoyed but it’s still kinda flattering/funny. I was in the stretching/ab area of the weight room and shockingly enough working on my abs and then stretching, weird huh? lol. I had finished my mat work and had stood up with my feet together and I kept my hands on the floor (I’m kinda flexible, shrug), so basically, my butt is in the air, but whatever, it’s a good stretch! From that stretch I always put my legs wide, then pivot so I can do a deep lunge (I don’t know the actual name of the stretch…look at the image below…it’s like that except I take it a step further and my forearms are resting on the ground beside the foot that is in the forward position…) so I do that stretch for both sides and then kinda chill with my legs together and my hands resting on the ground before rolling back up to standing. For some reason, this one day I looked up while in the middle of these stretches and three guys all at one time whipped their heads around super fast cause I guess they had all been staring and they thought they were caught when I looked up! lol I didn’t realize anyone was watching me, I just decided to look up, lol, totally oblivious am I with some stuff. It kinda annoyed me cause I don’t oggle the guys when they are working out so I feel they shouldn’t oggle me when I am working out…buuuuut, it’s also kinda nice to know guys want to oggle you, lol. 😉

put the forearms resting on the ground beside the foot that is in front and that is the stretch I am talking about…it feels really good! 🙂

I have a couple more but this post is already long enough so maybe I’ll do a part two later on.  🙂

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It Will Hurt

14 May

I am thinking of turning this in to a poster to stick on my wall so I see it everyday and remind myself everyday of what is required of me to attain my goals.

Some days you don’t want the hurt, you don’t want to make the healthy decisions, you don’t want to take the time or sacrifice anything. Those are the days you need to push harder, reach farther, go faster, be stronger. Those are the days that test you, that test your limits, your commitment, your drive, your passion, your true wanting of your goal.

Anybody can say they want to lose weight, they want to get fit, they want to be thin, or strong, or pretty, or flexible…but the difference between those people who say they want it and those who truly want it is what you do on that day you feel your willpower is non-existent, when you are tired, sore, hungry, bored, wanting to go out and have more of a social life then you have been having.

What do you do? Do you still exercise? Do you still eat healthy? Or do you say you’ll get back on track tomorrow, do you give yourself permission to cheat? Slack on going to the gym? Talk yourself out of the actions needed to reach your goal and instead indulge in self-sabotaging habits that will actually knock you back a step?

You are already in pain, you have already hurt, you have already pushed yourself, you have already turned down extra treats, you have already made sacrifices…don’t take away from all that you have already done by doing something that will stop or even worse reverse some of the good you have accomplished.

Be strong! Find something to inspire you, something to remind you of all you have done and all you have left to do. Be the person you want to look up to, make yourself proud.

…geez, I sound like one of those self help gurus…the power of reading that poster I tell ya! lol 😛

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A Day Of Recovery

13 May

Dragon Boat season has been happening for 4 weeks now…hmm, I should clarify, for my team it’s been happening for 4 weeks now, other teams get on the water much sooner. I wish my team got on the water sooner but we’re not quite as competitive as some of the other teams, shrug, whatcha gonna do?

Anyways, we’ve been training for 4 weeks and yesterday was our first Race Regatta, The Spring Sprint! 😀 Any race day is a good race day in my opinion but yesterday was just perfect! Sun was shining but it wasn’t too hot, there were lots of people competing but not so many you got lost in the crowd, the atmosphere was happy and encouraging. That’s the thing about Dragon Boaters, on the water during a race you want to beat the other team no matter what, it is waaaaar! But as soon as the race is over everyone is friendly and nice and we all get along, shrug. It’s a weird phenomenon that I really enjoy.

So yesterday was all about getting up early, competing in races (three of them to be exact) and being stuck outside for approximately 8 hours straight. I’m all good with the getting up early part, and I love the competing part, but the being outside in sunlight for an extended period of time part I’m not so good with.

I’m a natural redhead, we are not meant to be in the sunlight for anything over, oh, say, 5 seconds at a time? You think I’m joking but I’m not. When I walk to the gym it takes me about 3 minutes, I consider being exposed to sunlight for the 3 minute walk there and the 3 minute walk home excessive, it’s just too much sun!

Friends laugh at me all the time and make comments about how I am a vampire but hey, come talk to me when we are in our 50’s and I still have good skin and you are all wrinkled and sun spotted and having to go to the doctors every week cause of yet another early warning sign of cancer appearing on your skin. You know your tan isn’t healthy and yet you do it? pffft. I’d rather guard my natural paleness the way a fat kid guards the last slice of cake at a birthday party then attempt to match everyone else in my age bracket by cooking my skin either in natural sunlight or in a tanning bed. *shudder*

How do I deal with having to be outside for such a long period of time? Long sleeves, and pants, and runners, and a heck of a lot of sunscreen on my neck, hands and face. What? You think I forget about my hands and neck? Ladies, that is where our skin starts showing its age fastest! You can cover up all sorts of skin flaws on your face with makeup but hands and necks? Much trickier! So take care of them now so they continue to look good later…that’s my motto anyways. 🙂  Sadly, I forgot my hat (rookie mistake! ack!) so my scalp got a bit burned where my hair part is, suckfest. That tends to happen once a year no matter how careful I am so hopefully this means I won’t burn it again later in the summer *crosses fingers*

Despite all my carefulness I still end up having to take a day of recovery the day after being outside for so long. I don’t know how people can be outside all day and then spend the next day doing all their normal day to day stuff. Being outside that long in the sun exhausts me! I always end up sleeping longer the next day, wanting to nap somewhere during the day, having no energy, less mental focus, I am just all worn out. I hate it. It’s like being in sunlight drains me…hmm, maybe I am some weird vampire hybrid, like Blade! That’d be kinda cool… 😉

So yeah, today I didn’t do much, slept in ridiculously late (even by my standards!), watched some tv, did some stuff online, resisted the urge to nap since I slept so late, waited till after sundown to go grocery shopping, did some more online stuff and am now blogging before going to bed. Ridiculously lazy day (again, even by my standards) but nothing could have gotten me out of my bed any earlier and I didn’t have the energy or the desire to do anything else all day. Heck, I even let my hair air dry instead of blow drying it, that’s how lazy I was! *hangs head in embarrassment*

By tomorrow I will be back to normal, so lazy but not this lazy lol which is good cause I have Dragon Boat training in the evening, gotta be on top of my game for that! 🙂

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The Next Level

12 May

You always hear talk about going to “the next level” like it’s this big amazing goal we should all have and if you don’t at some point reach it well, then you suck lol. There is so much pressure when you say you are losing weight, pressure to be perfect everyday, pressure to have an amazing story super fast that can wow people, pressure to make it to that next level…whatever that level might be.

To be honest, I didn’t think I had a next level, I have my level, the level of H. 😉 lol I didn’t see what was wrong with that. I’m not an athlete, I’m not training to compete in some huge iron man competition, I’m not trying to prove to others how strong I am or how skinny I can get (well, ok, except for my agent, I have to prove to her how skinny I can get since she’s ordered me to lose another 20lbs but that’s a whole different can of worms lol). I’m not trying to find some elusive next level, I like my level. *stomps foot*

The only problem with my level is that it wasn’t getting me anywhere, stupid level, grr! 😉 I didn’t know it but I wasn’t exercising effectively so the time I spent in the gym was not as productive as it could have been, in some ways it was even counter productive! Lame! Also, the food I was eating wasn’t giving me the needed fuel to accomplish what I wanted *rolls eyes* Oy!

Well, once I learned the eating plan and exercise plan I am now on I was taught more about levels, ah geez, it’s like you can’t get away from them. On this exercise plan you can’t just coast on one level, every week you are pushing to get better, by better I mean stronger, faster, more flexible. My endurance should be increasing, my muscle strength should be increasing, the types of weight work I do should be getting changed…let’s just say there are a lot of freakin levels to keep track of!

Even though I hate cardio I have been preferring my cardio days because at least on those days I for sure know what I am doing and am not so worried about fucking something up…by something I mean me! lol 😛  I know I’ve mentioned my cardio before but just as a recap here is what I do:

20 minutes of running on a treadmill, set the treadmill to an incline of 1 – 2 to stimulate being outside (I started at 1 and am now at 2), jog for 3 minutes (I start at a fast walk for 30 seconds, then go to a light jog for a minute then a slightly faster jog for the remainder of that 3 minutes), then you sprint like a crazy person for 30 seconds, then you jog for 1.5 minutes, then you sprint like a crazy person for 30 seconds, then you jog for 1.5 minutes…tell me you see the pattern here and I don’t have to keep writing those same two sentences over an over? You sprint a total of 8 times, after the 8th sprint you cool down, sooooooo back to a light jog and eventually down to a walk. Now, for pacing, my jogging started out at a speed of 4 (sorry, I’m blanking if the machine measures in miles or km…) and my sprints started out at 8, but! you don’t do all your sprints at just one speed, oh no no no no no, cause see, that would be not pushing to the next level! You do a couple sprints at 8, then do some at 8.5 then maybe your 8th sprint is a 9…something like that. Every cardio day you have to at least match the sprint speeds you did the last cardio day but what you are really supposed to do is get better, so maybe swap out an 8 for an 8.5 or an 8.5 for a 9, get the idea?

Now that you see where I started let me tell ya where I’ve been stuck at. And boy do I mean stuck! I now do my light jog at 5.5 or 6 and my sprints are divided into 4 sprints at a speed of 9 and 4 sprints at a speed of 9.5…and that is it. I’ve been there forever! Every time I have a cardio day I swear I am gonna increase one of those sprints, either do 5 at 9.5 or maybe swap out a 9.5 for a 10…10 is like an elusive goal for me. It’s so freakin close but juuuust far enough away I can’t do it yet, so annoying! Well, everytime I get on that treadmill and swear I am gonna up my sprints I just can’t do it, I don’t have the stamina, the endurance, the capability, the elusive whatever the hell it is you need to get you to that next level. I was barely making it through the sprints I was already at and I knew if I tried to go at a speed of 10 I’d fall off the treadmill, I also knew if I did 5 sprints at 9.5 I’d not make it through the last one and I personally think it’s better to make it through all the sprints then have to jump to the side rails before the end of the 30 second sprint time cause your legs can’t keep going or you’re gonna fall or ya know, just expire right there from sheer over exertion. lol

Now, having said all that, I actually made it to dun-dun-dun: The Next Level!!!! *ding!ding!ding!*

My last cardio day which was Wednesday I was soooo not in the mood to be dealing with any aspect of life, let alone the working out part of it. I didn’t want to be there, I couldn’t bring myself to care, I was tired and had eaten very poorly the day before so I felt icky, I was full of excuses and reasons to not go…and yet, somehow I found myself in the gym on the treadmill…I’m still not really sure how I managed to get my butt there but right now I don’t care, I’m just glad I went. 🙂

I wasn’t even planning to attempt bettering my sprints, frankly, I was prepared to be impressed if I managed my run at all lol. Well, somewhere during the third sprint I thought “meh, fuck it, might as well try doing 5 at 9.5 instead of the normal 4 at 9.5” and that is what I did. My fourth sprint was at 9.5 and so were all the rest after that. I upped my sprints! wOOt! 😀 *happy dance* While I was doing it I was a mixture of “am I actually doing this??” and “meh, I don’t care, just get it done so you can go back home and get away from people”

I think what got me over that line to My Next Level was not caring, the apathy, the complete lack of fear regarding my possible failure to succeed. Normally I am so focused when running and my brain is calculating everything my body is doing and feeling to try to figure out if I can push to the next level of sprints that I don’t just let go and try. I don’t trust my body to be able to perform at the next level, I don’t trust it to not fail. I’ve had my knee collapse under me due to over training and it took a year to be able to walk without a cane or crutches or some sort of aid, it took even longer to be able to take stairs and jog and then run, hell, I still limp sometimes from that stupid injury. I am terrified to go back to that spot, to be so injured I can’t walk, to be that helpless again. Combine that fear with the more normal fear of just not accomplishing what I decide to attempt and without my even realizing it I had crippled my ability to get to My Next Level.

Fear…it is such a little word for such a strong, over powering emotion. I hate that I let fear have any control over my exercising and yet, it does, it has a strong crushing grasp on my exercising because anytime I do something that strains my knee and could cause me to reinjure myself I take a half step back mentally and try to find a way to minimize the risk, but maybe the risk doesn’t always need to be minimized. Maybe my knee is already stronger then I give it credit for? Hell, it was only last summer I started being able to jog again and look at me now? I run freakin sprints! I may not have kicked fear in the teeth and made it get out of my way, but I think getting to my next level of sprints has at least helped me nudge it to the side a bit… 🙂

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The Long Walk

11 Apr

I walk. Not for exercise, although that is a nice side benny, I walk cause I am trying to save on gas usage in my suv (don’t ya love the irony of a mid-sized suv owner trying to be environmentally friendly? 😛 ), and cause I think having the ability to walk should never be taken for granted. In my old neighbourhood it wasn’t practical, or all that possible, to walk when doing errands cause everything was so far away but here, this neighbourhood, it’s like it was designed so people who live in the neighbourhood could get all their stuff done without ever having to go outside of walking distance. How great is that?

There are times when I have to drive to get my errands done, usually cause I will be carrying something really heavy or I have a massively short time limit to get everything done in but meh, once every now and then (and only when it’s for a legit reason) doesn’t seem soooo bad. Then I have days like today, where I end up driving cause of sheer laziness coupled with poor time management and well, more laziness lol. Hey, don’t judge, everyone has stupidly lazy days! I just happen to have the balls to admit it online…in my fairly anonymous blog…lol 😛

After I got home and was actually thinking about it I realized how dumb I am sometimes lol. I have walked in the rain, in the snow, when the ground is so slippery I was sure I was doomed to getting at least a sprained ankle, when the wind is so strong it actually pushes you back a bit, when it’s really late at night and the crazies/annoying drunk people are out an about…I’ve walked this neighbourhood while doing errands in every type of weather imaginable…well, except for nice weather, I moved here beginning of November so I’ve only experienced winter so far lol. But today, on a lovely spring day where it was warm with a mild breeze and I had the time and physical ability to walk to Safeway, did I walk? Nope. I drove. That whole entire 3 minute drive which is maybe a 10 minute walk? I’ve never actually timed it…that little walk seemed too long today for me to bother with. How lame is that? *rolls eyes*

After the gym and shower and protein shake I made the horrible mistake of sitting down, epic fail right there people! One should never sit down “just for a minute” after just getting outta the shower after being at the gym. Your body is all nice and loose and limber, you’re cozy from the shower, you’re feeling good about your exercising and that maybe you deserve a little rest…this is a recipes for disaster! Disaaaaaster! 

I, instead of getting presentable and going to Safeway, sat down, on a comfy chair, within reach of my laptop…do you see where this is going? I ended up going online and doing all kinds of stuff and then all of a sudden *bam!* it’s hours an hours later, I haven’t had dinner and I still need to go grocery shopping before coming home and doing laundry…isn’t my life just oh so exciting? *rolls eyes*

I almost broke one of the cardinal rules for people trying to follow a strict eating plan and went to Safeway without having had my dinner, oh geez, but never fear, least I didn’t wimp out on that lol. I made a quick dinner and then off I went…in my suv. Why the suv? The weather was still great, still nice and warm, I bet it would have been a lovely walk, buuuuut, I convinced myself the bags would be too heavy to carry all the way back (ya know, those whole freakin 7 blocks, oy!) and that I didn’t want to take too much time because I did still have all that laundry to do…I think I might of even had a third equally lame excuse in my head at the time which has since fled the confines of my brain, pretty much proving what a pathetic “reason” it was lol 😛

In the end, my grocery bags actually were heavy (yogurt was on sale so I got 2, and it was also my almond milk and meat purchasing trip) so it would have sucked to carry the bags back to the apartment, but not like I haven’t carried heavier ones, in worse weather, that same distance before…sigh.

So now, it’s 1:32am and I’m sitting here typing away, feeling a bit lazier then normal, all because I drove 7 blocks instead of walked it. If it wasn’t the time of night it is I’d go for a random walk just to make it up to myself but I am tryyyyyying to get back in to a normal sleep routine so I want to be in bed by 2am at the latest…guess I’ll hafta go for a walk tomorrow as well as have my cardio day at the gym to balance this all out. Ya know, I’m starting to think being lazy always comes back to bite ya in the ass! 😉

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I’ve Been Corrupted!

8 Apr

I feel like a computer program that has some bad code, or a box of crayons that’s missing a couple colours or even a Big Mac without the special sauce – something is not right!

If asked to describe myself I am naturally lazy and my stomach and digestive system can handle eating anything…seriously, anything! You know those people who are all “everytime I eat McDonald’s an hour after I eat I have to go running to the bathroom, or, I have the worst stomach ache, or, I feel so sick/bloated/gross etc” – you know what people I am talking about, the ones that eat something we all know isn’t good for you and their bodies make them feel like crap cause of what they ate but they still eat it? Right, ok, so, I’m not that person, never have been. McDonald’s? Bring it on! Taco Bell/Taco Time? No worries there! Any kind of chocolate/candy/sweet? Gimme more! It never makes me feel gross/sick/in desperate need of a bathroom and I never have any troubles digesting.

Well…apparently something has changed in my innards and I am not impressed. Grr to my changing innards! 😉 I went to a lovely Easter dinner last night at a friend’s family’s place. My friend’s Aunt made a tonne of totally delish food, Mmm! Now, my plan was to eat mostly protein (of whatever variety was made) and have itty bitty amounts of whatever sides happened to be there…I was gonna stick to my eating plan darnit! I would have stuck with that plan except the only protein was a cooked ham *gag* I don’t eat pork in most of it’s varieties and a cooked ham is most definitely one of the ways I won’t touch it, blech. So there went my eating protein for dinner plan lol. I ate only the sides and ended up eating these potatoes that were sliced then baked in the oven with some kind of cream sauce and lots of cheese (holy crap soooo good!), super soft butter buns that were heated up so you could put more butter on them (bread! I got to eat bread! *happy dance*), a spinach salad that was super yum and some mixed veggies. Soooo, my dinner was carbs, carbs, oh and more carbs covered by a home made vinagarette dressing lol. Then of course there was dessert. 😛 I made a Strawberry Rhubarb Crumble and the other dessert was a Kraft recipe that had philly cream cheese, cool whip, graham crackers and coconut, all layered and put in the fridge to set, holy crap it was tasty!

Anyways, my point about the food, I ate a lot of carbs in that meal, then had a bunch of sugar in the dessert, and don’t forget all the random chocolate that was floating around since it was an Easter dinner lol. Normally a meal like that wouldn’t have given me any problems, I’d eat, digest, it’d be all good. Well, um, it was not all good today…*pout* today I feel heavy, and gross, and like my stomach has a rock in it or something…I keep craving some unknown substance that will flush out the sugar and carbs I ate (even though I don’t actually believe in flushes). So I spent my day drinking water and tea and going back to my high protein high healthy fat eating plan. I think, after such a long time without eating high amounts of carbs and sugar my body is struggling to handle the amounts I put in it yesterday…Corruption! 

The second corruption I noticed the other day. You know those people who are all “I get so energized from going to the gym/working out, afterwards I feel like I can do just about anything blah blah blah” Those people! Argh! Those people annoy the fuck outta me! lol I go to the gym, I come home, I have a protein shake and a shower and I want a nap, an 8 hour nap! I’m not energized, I’m exhausted! Working out takes what little energy my body has and uses it all and then I am somehow expected to get through the rest of the day? How do people do that?!?!

Well, after the gym the other day (where I had a greeeat workout) I made my protein shake, drank it (duh) and was heading for the shower when I realized I was kinda dancing/bouncing…what the…?? Nothing too extreme or anything but definitely more then my normal walk…and I had a realization…I was…energized…Energized! How did that happen?? As soon as I realized it I came to a complete stop and tried to figure out exactly what and why I was feeling like that. What was I thinking about? Was I just really happy about whatever was floating through my brain and that had me dancing? (hey, don’t judge, that happens lol) Was I listening to music? Nope. Was I having a nervous system spasm and it wasn’t really dancing but some kind of muscle freakout? Didn’t appear to be…So, what was causing this energy and dancing? I’m still not completely sure what it was but I worry it was, *shuffles feet* feeling good about my workout and that feeling good combined with some sort of freak energy burst that came about also due to the workout…I think *clears throat* I became that person who got energized from working out…I’m not sure how I feel about this one…except…Corruption!

My very being has been corrupted by extended healthy eating habits and extended (and often) exercise habits to change my lazy-able-to-digest-any-kind-of-crap-I-put-in-to-it-body into a…into a what? I’m still not sure…into a body that likes to exercise? Prefers to have healthy food put in to it?

I’m gonna admit, it’s freakin me out a bit…you can’t spend a bunch of years as one way and then not freak out a bit when you realize you’re changing and becoming something else…what will I become? What colour crayons were taken out of the box that is me? Will I miss those colours? What if I need them back? Will I still be me? I mean, a Big Mac isn’t a Big Mac without the special sauce right? So whatever it is that is changing in me, will I still be me even though something is missing/changed?

Guess I’ll find out…

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A Day Of Thwartation

25 Mar

Ok, so sure, technically ‘thwartation’ isn’t a word, ya know, in the dictionary sense of what is a word but hey, I make up words all the time so going by my rules, if I use the word then it is a word…and who wants to only use words that are technically words, that’d be so boring! 😛

I’m not a huge going out drinking partying type of girl, I go out, don’t get me wrong, I have fun with friends and do my thang but that doesn’t usually include hitting up nightclubs every weekend in a month…that is for when you are in your late teens early twenties, somewhere around 25 I figured out I wasn’t having as much fun as I used to and I moved away from that being my regular social scene. You’d never know that though judging by this month! Last weekend was St. Patrick’s Day so I was out partying for that, took a whole day and a half to properly recover lol. Then this past Friday I was out doing the hotel party and bar scene in honour of a friend’s birthday, didn’t need quite as much time to recover from that one, phew! 😉 Aaaand next weekend I am going to my roomie’s berlesque show and I am fairly certain after the show we will all be hitting up a bar or two to celebrate her awesomeness.  Can I say how much this is screwing up my eating plan?!?! Oy!

Not only is it messing up my eating plan but this weekends festivities also messed up my gym time, and that I am just not happy with!

On Friday I was s’posed to workout with NC but plans changed and we ran out of time so we ended up seeing The Hunger Games and then he had to go to work and I had to go get ready to go out. I ate a whopping half an apple that day, pathetic huh? I know a lot of girls that when going out somewhere in the evening that requires dressing up they will severely limit their food intake that day to ensure they look good in their outfit that night, come on, admit it, you do it to don’t cha? I know I sure as hell do, I’ve been doing that since high school lol. Well, I mentioned to NC on Friday I was thinking of not eating that day to compensate for the calories I’d be taking in that night in the form of alcohol…apparently that is one of the dumbest things he’s ever heard me say…he needs to hang around me more often cause I’m sure I say way dumber things on almost a daily basis 😉 lol He says you should still eat normally even if you know you’re going to be eating or drinking something not good for you eating plan wise cause it’s not just about calories per day, you have to look at it on a weekly basis…I will admit, I’m having lotsa trouble with that, I keep looking at my food on a daily basis, hmmm, something to work on I guess, sigh.

Anyways, sure there are a lot of calories in alcohol but there is no good stuff in there, so yeah, sure, drink a beer, get your 148 calories (if it’s a Corona) but where are your proteins? Carbs? Healthy fats? Where’s all the nutrients and vitamins and all that other stuff that your body needs to function and stay healthy? Sure as shit it’s not in that beer you just downed. So it’s better to eat your food that day and have the beer on top of that instead of skipping your food and just drinking the beer. Cause sure, if you eat and drink the beers you’re gonna go over your calories but at least you haven’t skipped meals and impaired your body’s ability to metabolize, repair itself, lose weight, build muscle and blah blah blah. That’s where the weekly view point comes in to play. You need your macronutrient levels for the week to be good, not just your calories for the day. Make sense? Kinda? Take your time to wrap your head around it, I’m still working on it. lol.

So Friday I grabbed a sandwich from Tim Horton’s on my way home to get ready to go out, had to inhale the stupid (and yet oh so yummy) thing cause I was running way late, oops! Even though a sandwich isn’t the healthiest and closest to my eating plan meal I could have had it was the best I could manage since I didn’t have time to cook. This means that Friday, I ate half an apple, one Timmy’s sandwich, and ok fine, I’ll admit it, one Timmy’s maple cookie (so sue me, maple flavour is in right now and it’s my fave and I was freakin starving!), then I went out and drank. 😛  Not as much as I could have, or even wanted to cause I wanted to make sure I was sobered up by the end of the night so I could drive home, damn having to be responsible! 😉 The night started and ended at the hotel so while everyone was back at the hotel after the club getting even more wasted I was drinking pop and eating a couple slices of pizza and doing my best to sober up, which I did quite well thank you very much. 😛 lol The pizza however, didn’t help my calories for the day or my macronutrients for the week I am sure! But holy crap was it tasteeeeeee. Mmm!

Then Saturday I slept in, shocking huh? In my defence i didn’t get to bed till like 6am so sleeping in was really just getting me my normal amount of sleep…that’s my story an I’m sticking to it! lol. I had plans for that night so I had to get my butt in gear, I went and did some errands, walking instead of driving, so I could get some air and some movement since I’d been out of it for so long that day I didn’t hit up the gym. I however did manage to, get this, brace yourself…eat…healthy! When hungover! That is a minor miracle if ever there was one! lol. For me, the day after drinking is like a day out of life, I eat whatever I want (which is usually not a lot of food but it will be something way bad for me) and I do almost nothing physically, I kinda baby my body. Well on Saturday, instead of eating bad for me stuff I ate my half a chicken breast with a half a potato, and my yummy protein shake (uh, not in that order) and drank water instead of pop. I was so proud! Felt a little strange, but a good strange, ya know? Then that night I was at the Keg with JB and we split some nachos and I got a bellini so um, oops? I also didn’t get any exercise that day, except for my walking, cause of my whole recovering and feeling like crap for a good chunk of the day thing. I was sorta ok with this though cause Sunday is my normal day off from the gym but I was gonna hit it up to make up for not going Friday or Saturday and that would mean I really only missed one day last week and I’d feel not soooo bad about that. 🙂

It was a decent plan, right? I sure think it was but um, yeah, totally didn’t happen. I slept in on Sunday, *rolls eyes* you’re seriously not used to that yet? lol And when I got to the gym they had closed, I got there 5 minutes after they closed! Ack! Soooooo annoying! I’d of preferred if they had closed way earlier instead of me just missing it, sigh. So thwarted for exercising, damn! Well, I also had to go to the docs so off I went there and they had a sign saying that due to government regulations about how many patients a doc can see in a day the doc can’t see anymore patients today cause they’d reached their max. Uh, What??? The doc’s office didn’t close for another 5 hours but they weren’t taking any more patients? Who came up with that system? Lame! Thwarted again!

Seriously, a day of thwartation, ugh. On the heels of two days of eating not horrendously but not properly and with no exercising…Crap! And tomorrow is weigh in day…*bangs head against wall* I was doing so well during the week but this weekend totally undid all that work…the scale tomorrow is gonna suck! …and the gym probably will too after being away for three days *groans* Wish me luck, I’m gonna need it! lol 😛

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Harder Then Usual

22 Mar

Do you ever have a day where your energy is lower than normal and you just have no motivation to do anything, let alone exercise? That was me today, blerg.

I’m not sure what happened…I woke up, had no energy, but hey, its morning who has energy in the morning? Only crazy people that’s who! lol I figured I’d be fine once I ate but no-go with that. I ate, waited a half hour, went to the gym and I swear I thought I was gonna fall off the treadmill when running my sprints – now that would have been embarrassing! 😛

Normally my cardio days are my “better days” at the gym, not because I’m necessarily better at cardio then weights it’s more that at least on cardio days I know for sure what I’m doing and am not worrying about my form or forgetting something. Plus, I’m not having to deal with the funny looks from the guys in the free weight area who always start off smirking at me like it’s a joke I’m lifting weights and then turn to contemplation as they realize I’m using 20lbs weights for some of my moves and seem to actually know what I’m doing. *rolls eyes*

But today, even as I started on the treadmill I knew it was gonna be hard, my yawning was a good indication of that lol and the fact that getting my legs to move at even a light warm-up jog pace was seriously hard work.

Here’s what I do when running on cardio days:

I jog for 3 minutes to warm up at 4 mph, then I sprint for 30 seconds at a pace of  9 mph, then I go back to jogging at 4 mph for 1.5 minutes, then I sprint at 9 mph for another 30 seconds…it keeps repeating like that but eventually my sprints get up to a speed of 9.5 mph. After I have sprinted 8 times I cool down. In total I’m on the treadmill for 20 minutes – not too shabby, right? Well, every cardio day I have to do better then the cardio day prior, on Monday I did 4 sprints at 9 mph and 4 sprints at 9.5 mph so today I should have done 4 at 9 mph, 3 at 9.5 mph and 1 at 10 mph but it soooo didn’t happen. 😛 Since I was really having to push to stay on the treadmill at 9.5 mph I was certain if I upped the speed on the last sprint I’d be screwed…and embarrassed when I fell…and possibly injured. 😉

I was mad at myself when I got off the treadmill, mad I wasn’t able to somehow magically push myself to do that final sprint at a speed of 10 mph, mad I almost didn’t make it through the last sprint at 9.5 mph, mad that instead of enjoying the run like I usually do my head was filled with negative thoughts about how tired I was, how I just couldn’t do this today, how I felt like I was gonna throw up, how I should just skip the run cause hey, nobody will know, *rolls eyes* Sure, if nobody asked me how my run went nobody would know if I skipped it, except…I would know, and talk about screwing myself up for next cardio day…if I can’t make it through my run today then on Friday I’d have that in my head, the mentality that I can’t do it anymore, it’s too much for me, I’m too slow or too weak or too lazy or too fat or too something and then not only would I be working to keep pace with the treadmill I’d be fighting an even harder battle against my own brain and it’s negative thoughts – I’m not sure that’s a battle I know I can win.

NC says a big part of pushing yourself at the gym is getting past all the bullshit in your head, pushing past what your brain says is your limit, he also says the days you don’t want to go are the days you have to go. Anybody can work out on a day they feel great, have loads of energy and are psyched for it. But to go and push yourself in the gym on a day where the planets aren’t all perfectly aligned and you’re not in the perfect place/mood to exercise, those are the days that show you what you can make yourself do, that’s when you see your strength and get past your mental blocks.

I don’t know that I actually got past a mental block today, I barely made it through that last sprint, and since I didn’t up the speed I feel like a bit of a failure, at the same time, I know if I had upped the speed I wouldn’t have made it through the entire 30 second sprint, so, isn’t it better to do the sprint at 9.5 and do the entire 30 seconds instead of go at a speed of 10 but only make it to say 15 seconds? Although! Maybe that’s my mental block? Maybe if I had pushed it to 10 I would have found some deep well of energy or perseverance or pig-headedness that would have helped me force my way through the 30 seconds, crap, now I really wish I’d tried the 10 mph…

I’m not sure why I bottomed out today energy wise, I have been eating according to my food plan this week, no cheating! Yah! Which means I’m getting lots of protein (119.9g today), a decent amount of fat (47.9g today), low-ish carbs (113.4 g today, ok fine, higher then they should be by 13.4 grams, so shoot me! 😛 ), I’m staying hydrated, I’m following all the rules so, what gives? If following the rules means I’m gonna lose all my energy mid week and suck at cardio then I’m screwed cause as we all know from my performance at the gym today, I’m not so great at pushing through to new achievements when I have no energy, is anybody? Maybe I’m just extraordinarily lazy, well ok, yeah I am, but I mean even more lazy then even I realized – which would be scary lol 😀

I just don’t know, I’m kinda at loose ends about what happened, about why I tanked out energy wise, about why I didn’t force myself to try the 10 mph. Sure, it’s easy to blame the not running at 10 mph on the whole no energy thing, but is that a cop out? Could I have done it if I’d tried and not let myself convince myself I wouldn’t be able to do it? I know when I was on the treadmill running, coming up to that last sprint I knew without a doubt I couldn’t run it at 10 mph, that I didn’t have enough left in me to make it…but now that it is hours later I’m filled with self doubt…I hate self doubt, it’s such a downer. 😛

Guess I’ll just have to push even harder on Friday (my next cardio day) and see if I can make it to 10 mph that day, no! Not see if I can! I Can! I will make it! Look out 10 mph, you’re miiiiine! (maybe if I start psyching myself up for it now it’ll be easier to overcome the mental block on Friday? lol 😉 )

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Chicken For Breakfast?

21 Mar

I write this while sitting on a uber comfy living room chair, laptop on my lap (shocking place for it huh? lol) with my left arm pinned to my body by my roomie’s cat…oh, and don’t go thinking my right arm is free to do as it pleases, there is a paw resting on my arm with claws lightly touching my skin – those claws start to actually sink into my skin whenever the cat decides he needs a little scratch behind his ears or a cuddle…I’m pretty sure he’s training me…and what’s sad is it’s working!

Last week I went in to my bedroom, turned on the light and started looking in my dresser for a shirt when I glanced over at my bed and saw the cat laying along the edge of my pillow, head raised glaring at me since obviously my entering my room had disturbed him…wanna know what I did/said? I apologized! Yup, that’s right, first words outta my mouth were “oh I’m sorry, I didn’t realize you were sleeping” then I gave him a little cuddle. I’m pretty sure he smirked at me and then cracked a whip. *shakes head*

What do these stories have to do with my weight loss? Absolutely nothing, lol, just thought you’d enjoy them. 😉

To the food! I am trying to increase the amount of protein I eat per day since it’s an area I have always sucked at. It’s not that I don’t like meat, I am definitely not a vegetarian, it’s just, well, I don’t like cooking meat – it’s icky, and I always think I am going to poison myself lol. With all the exercise I am doing now I really need to make sure I get enough protein per day to keep building my muscles and supply my body with energy so this means I have to actually cook and eat more meat, sigh.

At first I was eating fish steaks, bought from M&M’s Meat Shop, they are individually packaged, wild salmon, have a variety of sauce flavours, so easy to cook even I can do it, yummy, cheap and healthy…so all around an excellent choice! 🙂 However, you can’t eat fish everyday, one reason is tastebud boredom and the other is…um, hmm…I’m sure there is another reason, an actual foodie reason, something about mercury or fat or something…I dunno, I don’t feel like googling right now, so let’s stick with tastebud boredom, you can’t eat the same thing everyday, you’d get bored super fast and find yourself cheating on your eating plan!

To switch it up I bought chicken, I buy the boxes of frozen chicken breasts that are already flavoured so all I hafta do is throw em in the oven, wait about 40 minutes and boom! Meat! Cooked meat! It’s like a freakin miracle everytime I cook it lol 😉 They also come in a variety of flavours, are healthy, not quite as cheap but I buy em when they are on sale so that helps and easy to cook. 🙂

Normally I eat my chicken or fish for dinner, cause well, that’s what society taught me is normal…we eat toast or cereal or oatmeal or coffee or something else similar for brekkie, a sandwich or something fast food like for lunch, some form of meat with veggies and potatoes or rice for dinner, and something sweet for  dessert…I mean, that is how we roll in North America, right? But who says we have to follow those rules? Why can’t people eat soup for brekkie, or a sandwich? And don’t we all love having pancakes for dinner every now and then? It’s like we’re ok with shifting some foods around and considering it a treat but not others…weird huh?

Since I no longer eat any of those foods I listed for the standard brekkie options I have had to change how I eat. My breakfast now is a protein shake and half a piece of fruit (today it was an apple) then an hour later I usually have an egg, 2 slices of turkey bacon, 2 slices of tomato and the other half of the fruit. Can I tell you how bored I was getting with that? Not only bored but kinda grossed out by eating turkey bacon every freakin day. I used to have turkey bacon maaaaybe twice a month, it was a treat, something to have on a weekend when I slept in and was making brunch but now, having it daily, it’s starting to become more and more a food I want to avoid – which is not good when it’s an easy way to get some morning protein, eek! So today I switched things around – ooooh I’m so daring! 😉 teehee

I had my protein shake and half an apple and while I was getting that all ready I put a Cajun flavored chicken breast in the oven, yeah, Cajun for breakfast was a little odd but it was either that or BBQ lol. I wasn’t sure I’d be able to actually eat it when the time came, I’m ridiculously picky about my first meal of the day, I have an over sensitive stomach 😛 but it was actually good. I had half the chicken breast, one egg, and some cheese (I melted the cheese on the chicken to try to counter act some of the spicyness – fyi, it didn’t really work)

I was quite happy with my chicken breakfast and even happier when at dinner time all I had to do was heat up the other half of the chicken breast instead of wait the full 40 minutes for it to cook. 🙂 lol

I hit a record high (for me) amount of protein for the day, I managed to get 122.3 grams. Now yes, a big part of that is because I have two protein shakes a day but I am also making food choices that provide me with natural protein. So the chicken, the egg, I had some peanut butter on a celery stick for a snack, some pistachios, cottage cheese…things like that, they all add up. No worries, I also have veggies and fruit during the day but today’s post is about protein lol.

I don’t know that I’ll want half a chicken breast for breakfast everyday, if I do that I’m sure I’ll start looking at the chicken breast the same way I’m starting to look at the turkey bacon so I’m going to have to start of thinking of alternatives…crap, more work! 😛 I miss the days of eating a bowl of cereal or having some toast, breakfast used to be the easiest meal of the day, and my favourite, now it’s the most finicky and my least favourite, so weird how these things can change on us huh?  😛

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Running On Blisters

20 Mar

I have these totally awesome boots, they are tall, have buckles (two on the foot part and one at the top outside), they are black leather, they have a two inch heel, they are hawt and make me feel sexy when I wear them. Normally I wear them with a skirt so I can dress up a bit without freezing my legs off but on St Patty’s night I wore them with a pair of jeans that went over the boots, not tucked in to the boots cause on me that just looks stupid lol. I tried getting a sweet pic of them but have you ever tried taking a pic of your own legs while wearing a pair of shoes or boots? The angle just doesn’t work lol so I have a pic of one of the boots sitting on my roomie’s futon, trust me when I say they look waaaay better on me then on the futon…

My sexy boot

I bought these totally awesome boots on my birthday in December as my present to myself, such a great present I might add lol. Each time I have worn them they’ve been super comfy, kept my legs warm and like I said earlier, made me feel sexy. I had never really thought about it but I always wore them when I was driving to my location and any walking I did in them was for short distances and usually on the arm of a man. I didn’t think about any of that when I chose them for my St. Patty’s night out, I just wanted to look good – duh. lol 😉

By the end of the dancing portion of my night on saturday I wanted to weep my feet hurt so badly, they were practically burning with pain and all I wanted to do was take off my boots that I was now cursing and never look at them again. Of course every girl knows that when you go out for an evening you make a pact with your shoes and never ever ever take them off, no matter what kind of pain they cause you cuz those random girls you see walking barefoot and carrying their shoes? Eewwww! Nasty! Nobody should ever want to be that girl, *shudder*

Once I was home and my feet were once again walking flat on the ground I quickly forgot about the pain my feet had been feeling and was once again in love with my boots lol. But something unexpected happened…blisters! That’s right, the stupid boots gave me blisters on both my feet, on the balls of my feet! Ya know, that nice cushy soft part on the underneath of your foot? That is where I am blistered on both feet, ugh. This didn’t matter on sunday as the blisters don’t really hurt and I easily ignored them but ooooh man, I sure as heck felt them when I was running on the treadmill today, not pleasant!

It was really only during the sprinting part of my run that I truly noticed them, and it wasn’t so much a pain that I was feeling as an “ick”, it’s just a weird icky feeling running on blisters, cause you know that strange squishy feeling is actually liquid sacs on the bottom of your feet that are having pressure put on them and *face grimace* that’s just gross. ugh.

It got me pondering all the other things women do for fashion, or just plain looks. We go through so many little grooming rituals that cause pain, and sure the pain is fleeting and easy to ignore but uh, when did going through pain of any kind for cosmetic purposes become so common place?? And why do we accept the pain high heels bring us, and tight restrictive clothing, and push up bras, and all those other things we do and wear as normal? Acceptable? Some kind of twisted right of passage?

Now, don’t go thinking I’m going all hippy on you, I’m not going to stop threading my eyebrows, or shaving, or wearing those boots or accidentally stabbing myself in the eye with my eyeliner (on an almost daily basis I might add! lol) cause I like the results of all those things, I like how I look (on most days) when all my grooming rituals and clothing choices come together…I just wish there was a little less pain involved…and squishy liquid filled sacs on the bottom of my feet *shudder* Seriously sooooo gross!

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