03/01/11 In-home exercises

Today, I woke up super-sore! I was in no way motivated to go cycling or jogging. Heck, getting out of bed was physically challenging! My glutes were still throbbing. (On a side note, the exercises I had done yesterday exhausted me so much, that I had a decent night of sleep!) I was planning on keeping the younger monkey with me, but he became a major booger, so I ended up going to childcare along with the older monkey. I ran a few errands. Went for my weigh-in, yay, those pesky pounds that jumped back onto me are all gone. I'm back down to 132! I treated myself to a Venti size Pike's Place coffe at the Starbuck's that was across the street. Afterwards, I went grocery shopping at Sam's club. Drove home, grabbed some paperwork and then headed off to the elementary school to register my middle son for Kindergarten. Came back, unloaded the groceries, switched out cars and then off to go get the monkeys. We then drove over to Sear's to return some items that didn't work out. Dropped off a package for my hubby at a local Staples. Then, off to wait for my older kids to get out of their school. (Yup, I drove all around 3 different towns in one day.)

Once home, I started my chores for housecleaning. Vacuumed upstair, downstairs carpet & hardwood and the stairs themselves. I then mopped the hardwood and then started dinner. While dinner was cooking, I looked on YouTube for another workout routine to try. I chose the Intense boot camp routine and burned about 310 calories. I also chose the Boot camp routine by Zuzana and did 5 of the 6 exercises she does. I modified one since I didn't have the equipment, I ended burning 305 calories. Now, let me tell you this, I can honestly say... I HATE burpees! Those suckers hurt, BAD!!!! I was so drenched from these 2 routines, I had to shower right away.

If you are looking to change up your fitness routine and have some serious endurance and willpower, check out "Bodyrock.tv" or "charliejames1975" on YouTube. Zuzana really shows you how to move and she has the body to prove it. On a few videos I've watched, she's actually had to stop & catch her breath, I'm glad they didn't edit that out & make it seem like she powers straight thru from start to finish. I watch her videos, choose the ones I want to do, write down the exercise names (so I can follow the pattern, modify any that I need to and then do it. I will say now that I am not "fit", I've lost a lot of weight, but I'm working on getting my body into shape & trying to tighten things up as best as I can.

I am in NO way affiliated with "BodyRock.tv" or with "charliejames1975", I just enjoy the workouts they were kind enough to post on YouTube.

If you get the chance to do any of her routines, let me know. I love hearing from others how their weight loss and fitness journeys are going. Good luck and until next time.

Some things have changed

So, since the last time I posted on here, I've changed my daily activities a little bit. Instead of the usual sit around the house, cook and clean ONLY... I now take my younger 2 to a childcare facility 5 days/week and cycle while they are there. I have been cycling around 20-30 miles/day; sometimes more, sometimes less. I started actively trying to lose weight back in April of 2009, from December '09-August '10, I had hit a weight loss "brick wall"- I could not shed a pound. It was horrible, no matter what I did or how hard I tried, my weight just stayed on, it was so frustrating!! In August, I went back to the local weight loss clinic & started using their program again, guess what, it started working again. As of now, I've lost 55 pounds and have only 15 more to lose! WooHoo! I'm finally seeing the light at the end of the (battle of the bulge) tunnel.

Back in August, Les bought me a new bike to help me increase my speed & really get going. I didn't want to upgrade my bike until I knew that I was going to keep up on the cycling. I really enjoy getting outside, breathing the fresh SoCal air and losing myself for an hour or so. I even got a pair of cycling shoes (clip less) in September and they make a world of difference in the way I pedal!

In November, I decided that I needed to change things up again, so I took up jogging. First, I walked about 3.5 miles, but decided that was taking too long so I started jog-walking on the way back. Boy was that hard on my body! (I should mention, that I have NEVER wanted to jog before, I despised jogging/running.) But, I made it. I tried to do the "Turkey Trot" up by my mom's in Northern Nevada, but it was only 6 degrees when we were supposed to head out- nuh uh, no way, not going to happen, that's way too cold for me to go outside, willingly. In early December, my hubby treated us to a trip to Maui- it was gorgeous! I made sure to either jog on the public boardwalk or to use the gym's treadmill. I was really proud of myself. Unfortunately, for the past 2 weeks, the weather was pretty cruddy here in SoCal so I couldn't do anything outside, ugh!

Well, today, I bit the bullet. I decided that even though I'd only had 3.5 hours of sleep, that I was going to get off my rear and get on that bike and MOVE. I even got my hubby to step away from his work to join me. Amazing, I know. The weather was beautiful so the trail I like to use was a bit busy. But, that's okay, it was still usable. We rode for 19.35 miles today. We completed the ride in 1h12mins. Not bad for the first time back out in 2 weeks. My legs were sore before I could even get off my bike. Tomorrow, I plan on jogging.

So I just wanted to update this blog & say, I'm getting out there & exercising. I've got a goal and I can "almost taste it"! I have 15 more pounds to lose to reach that goal. For the most part, this blog will probably be more about my weight loss journey to lose the last few pounds. I'm really proud of my progress so far. I've lost 55 pounds, coming from 196 down to 141 so far, from a size 18/20XL- to a size 6/small. I can actually say that even some of the small clothes overwhelm my body.

That's all for now. I'll try to post more often and share what I have accomplished.