Friday, October 31, 2008

Ism's

How's this picture for something fun to do on Halloween??!! AND I must say that Demon Pixie was at her Demon Pixiest!!! Jeesh, pull-ups, planks, squats, the stepper, and that's just a small portion of it. Sound fun?!

Okay, really it is pretty fun (in an ouch sort of way). Jessica (Pixie mentioned above and featured in the picture) is a very good motivator. If you ever get the chance work with a trainer, it makes a HUGE difference. I owe how far I have come in big part to her. Thanks Jess.
So, the title.
There have been a couple of "ism"s that the trainers use that I stick with and really seem to help. So, in an effort to share -

One of Demon Pixie's is "shoulders back, engage your abs!". She says that to me often. Sucky posture, years of sucky posture. So anyway, wherever I am whenever I think of it I push back and engage. It's like an ab workout all through the day.

Something that Tracy (another trainer here) likes to say is that "every meal is not going to be scrumdelyicious people". So true. Sometimes we just have to eat to fuel the machine and not worry so much about every morsel being a tastebud smorgasbord. Now, I know you can eat healthy with flavor and variety and so on. But sometimes, you just have to eat. Know what I mean? For some reason her mantra helps me - especially when I am trying to choke down salad (which I am "off" right now - can't stand the sight of it, but eat it anyway).

Off for some Halloween merriment.

How are your exercise goals going?

Thursday, October 23, 2008

Updates

Hello there!
VERY naughty of me to start out this blog and then promptly abandon it doncha think?!
So here I am back again.
Still working out, still losing weight, still very connected to my "Loser" family.
Since it is hard to blog backwards... I'm just going to do a quick catch up and then move on from here okay?

So... it seems like I am closing in on 45 pounds lost (as of March of '08)!
Can you believe it?
At this time last year I was 45 pounds heavier. That's heavier then Ethan for goodness sake!
Wow, just wow.
It seems pretty surreal when I put it down in words you know.
I have a horrible tendency to concentrate on how far I still have to go, to concentrate on my failings instead of my successes, to spend too much time looking backward and berating myself for my errors. WAY bad habits. Every one of them. Anyone else do that nonsense? If so, it's time to commit to STOP. This is going to be a common theme here at the diary - so prepare yourself for some motivational "stuff" coming soon.

I've been asked lately how I am doing it.
Well - there's the obvious one... eat less, move more.
That does in many ways sum it all up you know.
Still, along the way I have improved on some other habits. The biggest part of my success is working out. By far. Just. Do. It. Move! Make yourself. Every day.

Some other things working for me:
I drink 64oz + of water. I put it in this old apple juice bottle to measure that I meet the minimum. According to some of the trainers at SWAT based on my weight I should drink 100oz a day. I don't always make it to 100.... but most days am well over 64oz.

Ever since March (and before Loser began - or was even a dream) I have made every attempt to give up these two things. So much so that when I eat anything even mildly salty I go into major YICK mode. Now, I am not perfect by any stretch. I don't go totally mental and even switch my toothpaste or anything. BUT I try to be very mindful of both salt and sugar. Salt will keep you retaining water, not the best thing for weight loss. Finally I am a big fan of the protein drink. I don't use it as a meal substitute, but as an addition to my diet. Here I am modelling the lovely "chocolate mint" version. You can buy protein powder in any store. Walmart and Sams have good prices on it. You can add the powder to anything to boost the nutrition and the calorie burn needed to digest it. More on that later, but I recommend it. Just watch out for the calories, you do need to "count" them even if you are drinking them.So, that's it for today.

Any of this stuff helpful to you? Motivating perhaps? I hope so. I'd hate to bore you all. Oh, and if you follow my other blog too and the loss of my camera you will see in the above pic that it is finally replaced. Whoo hoooo!!!

Happy almost Friday.
Leave a comment and let me know you stopped by. :)