1/4/2013: Moving on

Morning Weight:  154.0
This Morning's Exercise: Strength Training - Upper Body
Yesterday's Calories: 1675
Vitamins:  1-A-Day, D, B-Complex, Calcium, Glucosamine

I worked out with Jeremy Walters today and we focused on upper body.  My strength training regimen will change to reflect my new goal to decrease % of body fat.  I will alternate upper body workouts and lower body workouts, working each muscle group harder than I was working it before and giving them a longer break to recover.

We did measurements today.  I'll update them on my blog tomorrow.  Jeremy measured my body fat with calipers and got 28.7%.  But even that number fluctuated a lot, depending on the age that he entered into the calculation.  Because I am fit and have been working out a lot over the last 10 months, he put in 30.  If he had put in 50 it would have calculated my body fat at about 33%.  The reason for the disparity is because the formulas assume a larger % of fat around the internal organs as you age.  Because of my fitness level, Jeremy believes that is an inaccurate assumption.  It's just another example of how measuring body fat is an inexact science.  I would like to get my body fat tested using a submersion test or a Dexa scan, but I have only been able to find one place in the Kansas City area that does a Dexa scan and it is a men's health center.  I haven't been able to find anyplace that does a submersion test.  Jeremy and I talked about it this morning and he said that he thinks I can get it done at KU in Lawrence.  He is going to check into that for me.  I would like to get an accurate measurement now, and get it measured once a quarter.  It is difficult to have reducing body fat % as a goal if getting an accurate and consistent measurement seems to be almost impossible.  I will do more research on finding a place that does a submersion test or Dexa scan this weekend.

My gut hurts and it has hurt ever since Monday night.  I guess my body is not accustomed to the amount or richness of the food I ate.  Or perhaps it was the wine.  Either way, my belly is not happy.  The gas is painful and my belly feels hard and bloated.  I hope that it won't be much longer before it all gets back to normal down there.  I am open to suggestions on how to get my digestive system back on track. 

1/3/2013: Quick Update

Morning Weight:  154.0 - OK, I'm a little frustrated with myself, now.  Shoulda, Coulda, Woulda...was it worth it?
This Morning's Exercise: None, Day Off
Yesterday Evening's Exercise:  Bowling
Yesterday's Calories: 1604
Vitamins:  1-A-Day, D, B-Complex, Calcium, Glucosamine

Just a quick update to keep myself honest.  Yes, I ate and drank too much on New Year's eve and now instead of being 2.2 pounds from goal I am 4 pounds from goal.  It is frustrating that it is 3 days later and I am still seeing the repercussions of my indulgence on the scale.  We leave for China on the 14th.  I want to reach goal by then.  I have some work to do.  I really am hoping that tomorrow I will be back to my NYE morning weight of 152.2.

1/2/2013: And the Year Begins...

Morning Weight:  154.2 - Still heavier than I was prior to our New Year's Eve dinner by two pounds.  I am hoping the rest flushes out today and I will be back to my pre-festivities weight before I have to mark my charts, tomorrow.
This Morning's Exercise: 53 minutes on the tread mill.  15 minutes at 5mph, 15 minutes at 5.5mph, 15 minutes at 6mph, 5 minutes at 6.4mph, and 3 minutes walking at 3.5mph for a cool down
Yesterday's Calories: 1404
Vitamins:  1-A-Day, D, B-Complex, Calcium, Glucosamine

I feel a little foolish because of my indulgence New Year's Eve.  We did have a great time, but I was so close to goal and now I have to fight to get back to where I was before I can get to goal.  I know I'll get there, though, and we did have a lovely evening.  I am scheduled to go back to China sometime in January.  I want to be to goal before we leave, because I know the trip will present its normal challenges.  Also, I can't mark my chart while I'm away and I want to be able to complete my Phase I chart before January 28th.  Perhaps today we will find out what day we are actually leaving and I can start planning for the trip.

I don't have much else to talk about today.  I am excited about my 2013 fitness goals and feel good about starting out on track with my new chart, a scheduled date for my first triathlon, and goal to reduce my body fat %.  I need to give some serious thought as to how, exactly, I am going to make that last part happen.  I am guessing that it will be a combination of further modification to my diet and strength training regimens.  I don't know how sophisticated I have to get with my program in order to achieve 24% body fat.  On the published charts, 24% body fat for a woman is on the high edge of fit and the low edge of average.  I've seen this chart in a few places:




This one takes age into consideration:




Right now, with a body fat % between 31% and 32% (my best guess until I get measured again by Jeremy) I am in the average range for a 50 year old woman in the chart that factors in age but I am border line obese (that is hard to believe) on the ACE Body Fat % Chart.  It's hell getting old!  This will be an interesting year.  I wish there was an easy, effective, and consistent way to measure % body fat. 

On March 7, 2012, 1 week after I started my Get Fit Initiative, Jeremy Walters calculated my Body Fat % at 39.9%.  I weighed 220.4 pounds that day, so I would have had 87.94 pounds of fat on my body.  Oh Dear!  Today I weigh *Sigh* 154.2 pounds.  I estimate my body fat % between 31% and 32%, depending on the method of measurement I use.  I think we are doing measurements at the gym on Friday, so I hope to get a more accurate measurement then, with the calipers.  Also, Jeremy Walters will be doing the measurements again, so it should be consistent with the first measurements he took.  Assuming I am at 31% body fat, at 154.2 pounds I have 47.8 pounds of fat on my body.  That means in the 10 months that I have lost 70 pounds I have lost 40 pounds of fat and 30 pounds of something else.  I find it hard to believe I have lost 30 pounds of muscle with all of the strength training I have been doing.  I am curious if the volume of blood/water decreases as one gets smaller.  That would account for some of the lost body weight.  I obviously don't know the details, but I need to work hard over the next 12 months to get rid of more fat and replace it with muscle.

At 150lbs and 24% body fat, I would have 36 pounds of fat on my body.  That means I need to lose 11.8 pounds of fat to get to my goal by year end.  I want to lose this last 4 pounds.  Assuming most of that is fat, I'll need to replace an additional 8 pounds of fat with 8 pounds of muscle in 12 months.  That sounds doable. 

Here's to new adventures!!

1/1/2013: New Year, New Goals

Morning Weight:  Too Much - I don't even want to talk about it!  You'll learn why, below.
Today's Exercise: Strength Training with Jeremy Wallen.  I have two or three sessions left with him
Yesterday's Calories: Too Many
Vitamins:  1-A-Day, D, B-Complex, Calcium, Glucosamine

Jack and I went out to dinner last night for our New Year's Eve celebration to the Avenues Bistro in Brookside.  It's a restaurant I like but we don't go there often because it is more expensive than our normal meal out.  It was perfect last night, though.  They had a special 5 course menu with wine pairings, so I broke all of my rules last night.  I ate too much, drank some wine, and totally indulged in the meal.  We had a great time and a wonderful conversation over a long, leisurely meal.  No regrets...except that I don't want to talk about how much I weighed this morning.  I hope it comes off quickly, that's all I have to say about that!!

Here I am on the morning after!!!

January 1, 2013

As you know, my goal is to reach 150lbs by January 28th.  I don't think I'll have any trouble reaching that goal and completing my chart.  But with the new year I was ready to set new goals and make my new chart, even though I have not quite completed my original chart.  So for four more weeks I will be maintaining two charts. 

Here is a picture of my new chart for the first quarter of 2013:

1/1/2013:  Weight and Body Fat % Chart, 1st Quarter 2013

My first goal is to reach 150 lbs by 1/28/13 and then maintain that weight for the rest of the year.  My second goal is to reduce my body fat % to 24% by the end of 2013.  I measured my body fat today using three different methods. The first two used tape measure measurements of my neck, waist, and hips and the the third was with my scale, which measures body fat % by running an electric current through your body.  The first two methods came back with 31% and 32% and my scale read 31.8%.  The scale reading will change rather dramatically depending on the time of day, when I last ate, etc... but since it was between the other two, I decided it was probably accurate enough.  I will measure body fat % on my scale once a week, always on the weekend and always right before lunch.  I figure if I do it at the same time of the day each time I do it, I should get fairly consistent results.  I think Jeremy Walters is planning on doing measurements on Friday, too.  We'll see what he gets with the calipers.  I want to go down approximately 8% points by year end, from 31.8% to 24%, so my goal by March 31st is 30%.

Ruth and I picked our triathlon.  It will be on August 10 in Indiana.  We'll register tomorrow.  I am excited to have the event selected.  I feel like it gives me something specific to train for.

I'm tired now and I need to head to bed.  I hope everyone had a happy and safe New Year's Eve and that 2013 started off well.

12/31/12: New Year's Eve

Morning Weight:  152.2
This Morning's Exercise: Strength Training Pyramid, see below
Yesterday's Exercise:  1500 meter swim (it was very hard because it has been a while since I have been in the pool) and 75 minutes of racquetball with Jack
Saturday's Exercise:  Strength Training Pyramid
Yesterday's Calories: 1447
Saturday's Calories:  1604
Vitamins:  1-A-Day, D, B-Complex, Calcium, Glucosamine

It felt good to be home Saturday.  I drank a lot of water and kept my calories under control and lost the first of the two pounds I gained during my short stint to Connecticut.  The second one came off yesterday.  I know it was just water bloating, so it seems as if discipline and home cooking was all I needed to take care of it.

It's New Year's Eve.  Unlike "Christmas Season" this is a time of year I like.  I enjoy reflecting on the year past and thinking about the new year approaching.  It's a time of new beginnings, an opportunity to start again, a reminder that we don't have to do things the way we've always done them, that we can change, grow, and do things differently, if we choose to do so.  I believe that it is very important to remember that everything we do everyday is something we choose to do.  Most of what we do is habit.  Most of what we do we feel like we do because we have no alternatives.  But we do have alternatives, we can make different choices, we can behave differently if we want to.  New Year's Day reminds me to stop and think about what I liked about the previous year and what I'd like to do differently or accomplish in the year to come.

Yesterday Jack and I spent the evening reminiscing about the year past and setting goals for the year to come.  In 2012 two of our children got married, I started a new job, two of our grandchildren came to visit for two weeks, we had an awesome vacation, and, of course, I lost 72 pounds and improved my health and level of fitness considerably.  All in all, 2012 was a pretty good year.

In 2013 my Get Fit Initiative will continue as I train for a triathlon in June or July, get stronger, and work on reducing my body fat %.  I think Jeremy and I will do measurements on Friday, so I'll use that my starting point for 2013.  Jack has been going to the gym with me on weekends, lately, and we plan on continuing that in the year to come.  We have also decided to work a fitness/exercise related event into our calendar at least every other month.  These will be things like going on a day long hike, going to a racquetball camp for a weekend or something like that.  I don't know what these activities will be, but we are going to work on planning our first one for February.

We also talked about a lot of other goals including financial, home improvement, community involvement, etc...  All in all, I think I took 5 pages of notes!  It was a fun conversation.

Below is the strength training pyramid I did today and Saturday:
This is a pyramid comprised of 6 exercises.  The first round you do the first exercise, the second round you do the first and second exercise, the third round you do the first, second, and third exercise, and keep up the pattern until you reach the sixth round and do all six exercises.  The seventh round you do the fifth, fourth, third, second, and first exercise.  The eighth round you do the fourth, third, second and first exercise, all the way to the 11th round when you are just doing the first exercise.  The exercises are as follows:

---1st exercise:  Run 1 lap around gym (Total of 11 laps, one lap each of 11 rounds)
------2nd exercise:  16 Roman squats to shoulder press with 25lb weight (144 total, 16 each for 9 rounds)
---------3rd exercise:  30 seconds of Mountain climbers on sliders (Total of 7 times)
------------4th exercise:  20 bicep curls with 12.5lb dumbell in each hand (100 total, 20 each for 5 rounds)
---------------5th exercise:  12 pushups - on toes! (36 total, 12 each for 3 rounds)
------------------6th exercise:  16 burpees (16 total, only have to do 1 round)
---------------7th round:  Do exercise 5, 4, 3, 2, 1
------------8th round:  Do exercises 4, 3, 2, 1
---------9th round:   Do exercises 3, 2, 1
------10th round:   Do exercises 2, 1
---11th round:   Do exercise 1

The above pyramid pretty much kicks my butt!!

Happy New Year!!!  Have an awesome day!!!

12/29/12: Travel = Water Weight, Again

Morning Weight:  154.4
This Morning's Exercise: Strength Training later today
Yesterday's Exercise:  5.5 miles in 60 minutes on the treadmill
Yesterday's Calories: Approximately 1500
Vitamins:  1-A-Day, D, B-Complex, Calcium, Glucosamine

I am very bloated this morning.  I can feel it in my face, hands and feet.  I hate the way it feels, I'm all puffy and my skin feels stretched.  I believe it is a combination of food and flying.  Yesterday's calories were fine.  I ate a veggie omelet for breakfast and a (large) turkey wrap for lunch.  I ate dinner at the airport so I had a Luna Bar and some smoked almonds.  But for two days I ate at diners and I know there was a ton of salt and who knows what else in the food.  I am glad to be home where I have complete control over all of the food I put in my mouth.  I am glad I don't mark my chart until Monday.  The plan is for this two pounds to be gone by then.

I did notice something interesting about the exercise yesterday.  When I woke up in the morning I did not want to go down to the hotel fitness room and work out.  I was tired and I wanted to stay in bed.  But I got up and went downstairs.  The first 15 minutes on the treadmill were hard.  I didn't want to be there, my body was resisting the movement, and I had to force myself to keep going.  I said to myself, "OK, just do this for half an hour, at least that's something."  When that half hour was up, I felt OK so I said, "I can do another 15 minutes, this is fine."  So I stayed on the treadmill for 15 more minutes.  By the time 45 minutes had gone by, it was getting easy and it was a no-brainer to stay on the treadmill for the rest of the hour.  The last 15 minutes were by far the easiest and it felt like I could easily run another 30 minutes at that pace.  By the time I was 40 minutes into my run yesterday, it was simply a matter of clicking off the minutes.  I need to remember that the first 15 minutes are the hardest.  Don't give up, just push through and it will get easier!

12/28/12

Uncle Jim's wake was yesterday and the funeral and burial are later this morning. In spite of the circumstances it was good to see family. I've seen my cousins and my aunt occasionally over the last 20 years, but not often enough. That seems to be too common, doesn't it? We got to meet our 4 younger cousins again. The last time I saw them they were very little kids and now the youngest is getting ready to start high school and the other three are young adults already. How time flies by when you are not looking. We spent a lot of time with Lisa, Patty, and Jake when we were growing up so it was fun to meet their children and get to catch up on their lives. I am glad we were able to be here for them, but I know their adjustment to their new reality is just beginning. My Aunt Penny and my cousins will be in my thoughts and prayers during the months to come.

I didn't have a great food yesterday. I now know what my biggest weakness is. Good homemade cookies. I'm not talking any cookie, I am talking delectable crisp homemade cookies made with real butter and good ingredients. I forgot how well my Aunt Penny baked. I'm a baker, so whenever I see a homemade cookie I have to try it. Usually, they are just sort of OK, so I can pass on having more than a taste. Well, that was not the case with Aunt Penny's cookies. They were good! So I had 5 or 6. Unfortunately, I did not have the calorie count, so I counted them the same as my large gingerbread cookies. I was very disciplined until we got to my aunt's house after the wake. But by the time we got there it was late, I was tired and hungry, and we were just standing around, talking. I just drank water, no beer or wine, but I ate about 3 ounces of cheese, pita chips, a piece of pizza, and 5 or 6 cookies over the course of about 3 hours. There should not be a food moment like that today, thank goodness. We have had breakfast, already. Soon we will go to the funeral and then the burial. After that, my brother will take me to the airport. I should get through the day today without any incident.

I did get up this morning and run on the treadmill for an hour. 5.5 miles. So that felt good. I did not have a chance to exercise yesterday. I got up at 3:45 to go to the airport and we were not settled into our hotel rooms until after 10:00 last night. I am looking forward to having a "normal" weekend this weekend! Routine is good!


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