Exercise excuses....seven minutes???

My exercise had been sporadic of late. I have grand plans but then they fall apart. The only thing I am consistently doing is Zumba.   Zumba on Monday and Tuesday is a habit!  Habits are a good thing.

I have dreams and goals.  I have a dream of beating my PR at my next 5k....I have a goal of a possible half marathon later this year.  I need to be working out if I want to see these goals and dreams come to fruition.  I struggle.   It's not really even excuses.  It's time. It's learning how to fit it in to my lifestyle and around my husbands whims.  

So when I saw the seven minute workout I was quite interested.  Do I think it's a substitute for a full body cardio, blood pumping workout?  No!   But would it be a quick easy addition to my day?  Yes!  

I headed into this short workout with very minimal upper body strength.  Strength training had been spotty at best.  Yes, I know I need to fix that....thus my decision to try out this mini workout!!!

This morning I prepared myself to get down to business for 7 minutes.  Basically the picture above shows each of the moves you do.   Simply do each move for 30 seconds and voila...7 minutes!    I don't know if it's important to move through the exercises in the exact order.  I can only assume so in order to let certain muscles rest whilst still moving.   

I started.....Jumping jacks!   Easy, no problem.  I was feeling quite cocky with myself at this point, thinking it was going to all be a piece of cake!   30 seconds down and I moved on to the wall sit.  15 seconds in and my legs were burning!!!  Wowzers.  

Next up, push ups.  I hit my first snag.  Have I mentioned that my upper body strength is lame at best?  Yeah, sissy push ups for me.  On wobbly arms I made my thirty seconds.  

Thirty abdominal crunches later...they weren't too bad (thank you Zumba instructor Anita for all of the an work we do).  Step ups.....and here is where I noticed it.  2 minutes of actual exercise and I was starting to get a little heated.  The squats were next, I could feel my muscles quivering a bit.  By the time the tricep dips came around it was official!  I was breathing hard and sweating!    Was totally not expecting that!  Not at all!

I finished up the rest of the twelve moves.  I could feel it.  My muscles were worked.  

I really struggled with the two push-ups.  Yikes!  At least I figured out where my issues are!!!  I do think that his workout would be one that if done consistently would be quickly outgrown.  Then I would simply need to become a 14 minute workout I guess. 

I think that this workout will be something I try to incorporate into my daily life.    Who can't find seven minutes???   

Pain in the.......

I've been doing really good with my workouts.  I've been somewhat consistent this past week.  I can REALLY tell.  Yesterday my legs were feeling tight when I ran.  This morning I walked 5 miles and from that point onward I have felt the muscles in my legs.   My body is just tired.  I am due for a rest day.  It's been a few months since I actually 'felt' the physical need for a rest day.  It's a good feeling!

My eating today was NOT spot on.  But I'm ok with it.  I am not aiming for perfection.  I am not aiming for anything other than what works for me!  I'm aiming for eating to sustain myself, to continue to enjoy my food but not go overboard!

You know...the way life goes just amuses me.  Yesterday I was looking and my eye caught the Habitat for Humanity half marathon in September.  Its in Hancock, MD....and I believe utilizes the rail trail (which means the grade is pretty easy..no obscene hills).  I tentatively made a commitment to run that half.  And whadya know??????   Today the pain in my heel has kicked into high gear.  Yeah......that's the way things seem to roll.   I'm going to see what I can do.  I know that taping my foot helps....not just for running but general usage when it's really kicking.  So I'll be taping my foot here for the next few to ease it up.  And I'm going to push forward.  :-)  As for that half.......it's still on my radar.....nothing set in stone because of this stupid heel thing...but then again, I don't have to really seriously work on training for it until July.  Hmmmmmm   I just know that if I don't do it, I'm always going to wonder if I could have completed it.

I've also looked at some possible bike rides.  That will take work and perseverance too!  This is going to be MY YEAR!

Meanwhile.....wow...a forecast of snow!   Aren't we lucky????

Crisis averted

I read a post this morning by Tim. (sorry, I haven't figured out how to put in links on the blogger app on my cell phone....so timothology.blogspot.com) In this post he wrote about binges.  I agreed with him whole heartedly when I said that my binges are much more rare and that when I have them they are not as 'bad' as they used to be, relatively speaking at least. (I binge on less caloric rich foods and usually not as much).   So imagine my surprise when just a few short hours later I found myself in the kitchen BINGING.

I had planned out my food for the day.  I was ok with what I had planned, all was right in my world.  It came time for lunch and I went to the kitchen to eat.  I ate part of what I had planned and then saw the bread.  I WANTED bread.  I mentally calculated and figured that I could 'afford' a single slice of butter bread.  I made it and ate it.  I opened the fridge to get out the stuff for the rest of my lunch.  And then I saw the jelly.  Now I have jelly in my fridge pretty much all the time.  Usually it is raspberry jam but every once in a while I open a jar of strawberry jam.  Strawberry jelly is a treat.  I usually only make one or two batches of strawberry but make batch after batch of raspberry.   Strawberry jelly/jam.  YUM.  I couldn't get it out of my mind (granted I really didn't try to much).  I made another slice of butter bread and added some strawberry jelly.  Ohhh it was SCRUMPTIOUS!   I was eating and I KNEW I was going to have more.  I wanted it.  I literally thought about it in my head.  I was ready to throw in the towel for the day over some more jelly bread!   I wanted it that bad.  Ohhh I tried to justify it by saying that I did burn 3500 calories yesterday (yeah yeah yeah, that was yesterday and thus doesn't count for today....but in the midst of a binge, any justification works!)   Something propelled me to wash the dishes before I made my next jelly sandwich.  I stood at the sink washing dishes and I litearlly said "I don't care....I'll take a gain this week because by golly I want that jelly sandwich!"   But then something happened.  I thought about all the hard work I've put in.  I thought about all the sweat.  I thought about all the mornings when I wake up so stiff that I just want to goan and moan (ha ha ha, oh wait, I DO moan and groan).  I thought about how far I've come and I knew that I didn't want to do it.  Furthermore, I realized that the reason that I was ready to throw up my hands with a binge was that I just really did not want to eat what I had planned.  I knew that if I was going to stop the binge that the only thing that would help me was to find something that would satisfy me, inside and out.  I opened the fridge and just happened to notice that I had a bit of lettuce and salad fixings left.  Peace settled over me and I was fine.  I made my salad.  I ate my salad and I'm sufficiently full and satisfied.   
  Crisis averted.

So I was honest.  I immediately went onto my food journal and deleted the offending foods and put in the salad and the bread, butter and jelly that I ate (thank heavens I only had two slices of bread).  I'm only 100 calories over for my day (including dinner).  I caught the binge in time.  I reigned it in.  I binged, but I won in the long run!

And yes...that moaning and groaning....yeah, it happened this morning.   4 plus hours of exercise threw my body into an achy mess!  I'm good now and I'm set to walk (in the rain...neither rain sleet snow or whatever will keep us from our walks.  ha ha ha....ok, so sometimes it does) after work with Sherry.   

My other big project.  I have been saying for quite some time that I need to work on  my upper body strength.  Todd and I have a weight machine on our screened in porch (we got it free a year or so ago....a guy that lives near my work was cleaning out his garage to be able to bring another corvette to his house...yeah, he's got three here now...but owns something like 5 of them....OLD ones and new ones....I drool over the 57!...anyway...he was getting rid of it....for free.  We took it!).  SOOOOO I'm going to go out and clean it up (it's dusty and dirty from disuse) and start using it!  Hold me to it!

A Pain in the butt

Sometimes I get so down thinking about how much further I have to go.  I REALLY want to snap my fingers and be at my goal weight.  I want to snap my finger and fit in all my smaller clothes.  I want to snap my fingers and be a thin Goddess.  I would like nothing better.  But that's not the way it works.  This journey takes time.  This journey takes persistence.  This journey takes a drive that requires focus and motivation.  Is it fun all the time?  Heck no!  Is it worth it?   Absolutely.   However, if I was able to snap my fingers I would not have learned so much about myself.  Through this process I learned and actually was able to figure out that I have an addiction to food.  In fact, I remember an 'aha moment' where I actually saw my addiction working and it all made sense to me. I made discoveries about what my body is capable of. I pushed myself further than I thought possible, often stepping out of my comfort zone.  I have learned what my body needs in terms of nutrition.  I have also rediscovered who MaryFran is.  This process is about learning.  Learning how to take care of this wondrous body that I was given.  This process is important and while I want it to speed along, I'm going to soak up every lesson I can on the way.  You see, every lesson I learn makes me stronger.  The stronger I am, the better my odds for maintaining all my results!

I'm having an interesting problem today. It started last night.  And yes, my husband had a heyday with this when I announced it.  My BUTT hurts!  OK, OK, OK....stop laughing.  It's not really my butt, but more like my butt cheeks.   I must have just pushed harder on the squats and lunges during the last few zumba sessions.  But seriously, I got into my nice firm bed last night and just the firmness on my buttocks caused that twinge of muscle pain to ripple through me.  Butt pain is very serious matter!  Will I let it deter me from zumba tonight?   Nope...I'll be there zumba-ing my heart out!

Sadistically Sore

I have been rocking my workouts. I've been trying to push myself in my workouts....push myself to the next level, really give it my all!  I can feel it in my muscles.  Muscle aches have been my constant companion of late.    Lets see, there was Zumba Sentao on Monday night.  Don't let the Zumba Sentao description kill you.  Zumba centered around a chair.  Chair exercises...easy peasy right?   NO NO NO, think push ups, planks, squats, all while you are 'dancing' around.  It's crazy hard and the muscles twinge after a session.  (you know it's a good workout when your instructor comes back the next day and says "Is anyone else sore from Sentao last night, because I sure am!"   And this is a lady that leads upwards toward 30 zumba classes a week...at age 65)  Then I went to zumba on Tuesday night.  I left my class on Tuesday night and felt vibrant and full of energy so after my quick dinner, I hopped on the exercise bike!    Therefore, since I was off work on Wednesday afternoon, I decided to go for broke.  I went to the early zumba class at 5:30.  I pushed myself through that hour and five minutes (she went 5 minutes over...and yes, I'm counting those five minutes).  I had a ten minute breather and then I started my second sixty minute class (5 minutes over again).  So 130 minutes of hard core jumping, squats, lunges, toning.  I got home and my muscles were shot!!!!  I was plumb tuckered out.      I woke up this morning and felt twinges in my arms, my legs and most of all, my abs!  Weeeeeee   I hate the pain, that first feeling of moving and just wanting to groan.  However, I just want to grin every time these twinges hit me.  I LOVE the feeling of the twinges.  It's a badge of pride that I ache.