I'm not planning on doing lots of tracking on this log, as I track my eats at Sparkpeople, and now track lots of new fun info on the GoWearFit site.
I'm going to post my weekly results here, in case anyone else in interested.
And I'll try to write something on occasion.
About me - I'm a 46 year old fat and frumpy hausfrau, and I'm tired of it. I've exercised regularly all my life, yet off and on also. I had a pretty decent injury some time back and now have lots of degenerative disc issues in my neck.
I'm changing my fitness goals. I just don't want to hurt, get rid of this big fat tummy (which has come from the last year of eating too much, no exercise and drowning my pains in wine.) Yes, the wine is out of the diet, fear not.
I've started this new fitness venture at 182 on May 31, 2009 (I will consider June 1 my start date.
And hopefully this image will post, my first full week of GWF data.
I'm motivated by good photos of myself, not fat ones. Though I will admit it was the fat ones that truly opened my eyes to the weight I had put on this past year (about 20 lbs.)
About 10 years ago I was at a really slim and nice weight for myself. Others might look at the following photos and say I have no muscles, but I have done weights, though not consistently, since my early twenties.
I love the look of muscles on a woman (within reason) but at this time of my life have limitations due to disk damage in my neck. Heavy weights are not going to be part of my future, ever again.
I've been devouring the FatLoss Troubleshooter books by Leigh Peele and listening to her podcasts. It has opened my eyes to weightloss with out such strenous workouts. In the past, to me, a diet meant exercise and lots of it. Which really was great, my body would love it.
But not anymore.
I'm enjoying my daily walks, sometimes twice. I'll do a harder cardio session a couple times a week on the ArcTrainer at the gym. I'm still in the process of figuring out what I can do with some weights. But most importantly I have to figure out the recovery work, like the foam rolling and such.
Today I go for a massage.
Okay, so here are my pics from about 10 years ago at my best weight and look ever. If you want to see it better, you'll have to click the pic.
Annette, are these spreadsheet straight from GWF in Excel, or did you edit/style them in any way. ... I just looked in GWF and didn't see this table/spreadsheet anywhere; in export data, generate report, etc.
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They call me Amanda, that being my real name, and "They" being people who know me in person as I don't go around introducing myself in real life as "scribess." 'Cause that would just be strange.
It's neat that someone actually had a peek inside my log.
Etana, the spreadsheet is something I'm working on myself in Excel. I "think" I have my formulas right. I keep tweaking it as I go, thinking of new things I might want to track as I read more of Leigh's work.
Juleske, the neck is definitely an issue and will continue to be one. I keep telling myself NO WEIGHTS, yet I have a strong desire to do them. Plus, it feels good at the time, just horrible after.
The problem isn't only the degenerative issues of my neck, it's that my traps fire the moment I do anything related to the upper body. When I do activity during the day, I often touch my traps and tell myself to relax them.
I did do a lot of physical therapy to work on that, but its difficult.
I plan on starting to go back for regular massage therapy as I think it is most effective, just most expensive also. I am trying to learn self-massage techniques and such.
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It's so darn hot outside that I decided to hit the ArcTrainer at the gym. I did a good 60 minute workout on it, starting with a CardioCoach workout (number 3) and then I continued on with easier cardio to finish up the 60 min.
My gym is full of beautiful buff babes working out in the morning. I will admit the twinge of jealousy over their youth, muscles, and tight skin. Heck, I'm only 46, but I have a lot of fat to lose.
But they are fun to watch, and the trainers are busy with their trainees, and the whole thing just makes me want to push some weights.
I forced my feet to walk out the door instead.
Later today I will try some easy exercises with my bands, my 5 lb DBs, and my stability ball.
I'm thinking I will see a 12 lb drop for June. That's an awesome start.
Over the years I've alternated between different tracking programs. I would use Fitday online, later bought the PC version (though you can't share with others that way) and lately have been using SparkPeople.
I opened up my old Fitday online and it has my bodyweight going back to 2002.
Eek.
12/4/02 - 150 lbs
I know that in the summer of 2001 I weighed 130 lbs because I had joined WW in the spring of '01 and lost 25 lbs and looked great for my 20th class reunion.
I also know I weighed 120 the holidays of 1998 because my husband died the spring of '08, I had just started to go to the gym right before, and with the "death diet" and the gym, I basically lost gobs of weight, about 45 lbs total.
I plugged the Fitday data into a graph (but it will only allow me to go back to '04.
The summer of '07 I had an accident that messed up my neck and back, though the ramifications of that didn't manifest until the spring of '08, when I had started on the NROL4W with other ladies here at JP Fitness.
I had gotten all the way down to 154 in Feb '08, and had lost 8-9 lbs at that time.
Then whoosh, the pain, the lack of exercise, the food, the self-medicating with wine...and I was up to 182 on June 1, 09.
I've thought I'd gained 20 lbs in that past year, when in reality I had gained 28 lbs.
Twenty-eight pounds in just over a year...that shocks the hell out of me. No wonder I felt so absolutely horrible. Not only was I having pain in my neck/back/arm, the doctor put me on hormones as I was menopausal. The combo of the hormones and pain meds gave me high blood pressure (which we just discovered this spring.) I stopped all meds and the blood pressure has gone back down.
I also recently was being tested for rheumatoid arthritis as I had so much pain in joints and such. The tests came back negative and though there are false negatives I decided enough is enough.
I can either have pain in my body while taking meds and crap and no exercise, which doesn't really help....
....or I can stop all that shit, exercise, eat well, and still have discomfort.....but be so much healthier for it.
The turn around has been tremendous. Yes, as I'm sitting here, I have some discomfort, maybe that will never go away. Maybe it will when I lose 30+ lbs. I really don't know.
I'm reading and rereading Leigh Peele's troubleshooter stuff. I listen to her podcasts over and over. She's making sense to me and creeping into my head. I can't exercise hard, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts.
I still don't know exactly what I can do, but I know right now that the 5 lb dumbbells I was just using are too heavy, and I have to suck it up and buy a pair of 2 lbs ones. Geez, that's hard to do when you use to press the 45lb olympic bar.
Who do I want to look like, or how to I want to look??? I'm listening to that Hotbod series of hers. I don't have a clue. I don't know what I can succeed at yet, what I can make of myself. What I need to make to feel good.
Writing this and thinking about this all is seriously making me want to cry. I'm bitching about my "little" aches and pains when other have serious issues in their lives. Why have I allowed myself to go up and down in weight, over and over, throughout my life. I'm obviously capable of losing without too much extreme trouble, at least I have been in the past. Hopefully I can do that again this time. I'm really scared sometimes, and so sad for what I've thrown away in the past.
First off, I like your new picture, you look radiant
Second, it sounds like losing weight really shouldn't be your priority right now. Those extra 30 pounds aren't causing your joint pains, I bet. You need to get healthy and it sounds like there is a real medical issue there. And if there's healing to be done, deficits and workouts may not be the best things. If for instance your pains are fybromalachia-like, that will affect the type of exercise you can and should do. My advice would be to find out exactly what's up with your join pain etc. and devise a plan for it together with a professional. Are you still doing the physical therapy work?
I mean, what do you want to be in 30 years from now, thin and in pain all the time? Or chubby and pain-free?
First off, I like your new picture, you look radiant
Ah, thanks for the complement. That was me yesterday. Actually I'm tracking photos of my hair as I grow out the gray.
We've been trying to find the pain issues, most are related to the DDD in the neck. I've been tested for RA and that's totally negative, and I truly don't want anything like that. I do feel thing could be fybro-like, minor arthritis, etc. I was on Naproxen for a year, but it gave me high blood pressure, which was horrible, and I felt it in my head and whole body and at times felt like I would explode.
I rather take no pain meds than also take BP meds. And I was serioulsy self medicating with wine.
I'm doing tremendous on the deficit, I've never had a "metabolism" problem. My body is really craving the long easy/moderate cardio workout. I'm eating really well and only occasionally have had a sweet craving (when my carbs get a bit too low.)
Healing has been done since this past Spring when I got off all meds. Hormones, painpills, and alcohol were starting to kill me, and I felt old and horrible.
I think it all culminated in a "flare up" (when we thought it might be RA.) That was when I realized I was doing much of this to myself. People with true diseases like that are told to exercise, and I wasn't exercising. I asked my husband to force me back into the gym, and the day he did, I said that felt so good and I've kept up with it now for the past month.
When I'm focused, I'm very focused.
I think I'm starting to accept that to keep pain at bay that I have to exercise like a wuss. That's difficult as I love a muscular body (I know I have muscles hiding under my fat, I can feel them.) I use to draw photos of Arnold when I was in middle school, went to bodybuilding contests in college, lost my virginity to a bodybuilder . I'm attracted to that physical type, for both men and women (not attracted to women like "that" though....)
So thanks for your concerns, it's nice to know someone read my rant yesterday, and it was a rant. I truly was mad and sad at myself yesterday.
I feel better today, still motivated.
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Exercise for June 25
45 min AM walk
simple exercises (those bridges on the ball have killed me today)
2 hour Country dancing PM
You're burning a lot of calories for someone with pains!! I think after you work out the pains, you'll be slowly able to increase the weights. Hard to know what slow is, but your body will tell you... but slower than you think, probably...
How are you with step ups, lunges, squats? Are your quads and gluts strong? That's where I wind up feeling weak when I don't exercise for months: going up and down stairs... I get creaky and weak
Etana, I'm guessing if I do no exercise in a day I burn around 2200 cals. Plus that's pretty consistent with that harris benedict formula. Until I got that GoWearFit I didn't realize how active I really am, and that's taking out any extra exercise. I'm a homemaker but I'm up and down all day long, doing errands. I dance a couple times a week pretty hard too.
So far this past month my exercise has consisted of daily walks. I started at 30 min, 1x a day and have worked up to 45-60 about once a day with generally a 2nd "exercise" of sorts in the evening, either another walk, bike ride or dancing. A few times a week I do a harder cardio workout at the gym, easy intervals for 45 min on the ArcTrainer (70-85% HR.) I've done a little bit (maybe 1x a week) of weight work on machines to get the joints moving. Nothing serious. Leg presses, extensions, curls. Back work is machine row and lat pull-downs. Any chest work has just been very light flies (mostly for stretching.) Some shoulder presses, very light 5 lbs dbs (I'm not allowed to do that any more.) A few light bicep curls. I've done no ab work. No lunges or step ups yet.
That's it, and I definetly have a slow recovery rate these days. My deficit is averaging right around 1000 cals but my cals are averaging 1600, so I don't think that's too low.
I'm trying to move into things slowly and learn to tailor my workouts for the body I have today, not what I had 10 years ago.
I think I'm starting to accept that to keep pain at bay that I have to exercise like a wuss. That's difficult as I love a muscular body (I know I have muscles hiding under my fat, I can feel them.) I use to draw photos of Arnold when I was in middle school, went to bodybuilding contests in college, lost my virginity to a bodybuilder . I'm attracted to that physical type, for both men and women (not attracted to women like "that" though....)
Don't stop now, keep on talking! I like this blog!
But yes, exercising like a wuss can be great for people once they accept it. You should look up Deserve's workout log. Due to a few surgeries he can't put stress on his core, yet he goes to the gym and tries to make the best of it, doing the exercises people laugh at, just cause it's better than not doing anything. Kudos for you, as you're doing the same!
MissJane, yes, I've just recently started taking fishoil, aiming for 6g a day, 2 capsules at each meal. I've read it takes 12 weeks to start feeling the results. Let's hope that it gives me results.
And I can that Juleske likes to read about the dirty type of stuff. I don't think I have much more to share than what I wrote before....except that for having a big muscular upper body, he had those little stick legs. But we all know how hard it is to get the "younger" men out there to train those legs...
I'm seriously wobbling around on my sore legs from those stability ball butt bridging thingies....if you haven't tried them yet, you gotta do them now.
Maybe I'll try concentrating on the perky butt rather than the lovely shoulders myself...hmmm
But we all know how hard it is to get the "younger" men out there to train those legs...
Yup, just like the myriad guys I'd see in the weights section of the gym all the time...Always trying to outdo each other on the bench presses, but hardly engaging in any squatting or deadliftin' action, LOL. At the last gym I worked out regularly, the only males who regularly did squats and cleans were on the powerlifting team.
Yup, just like the myriad guys I'd see in the weights section of the gym all the time...Always trying to outdo each other on the bench presses, but hardly engaging in any squatting or deadliftin' action, LOL. At the last gym I worked out regularly, the only males who regularly did squats and cleans were on the powerlifting team.
Hehe, one of the guys I chat with at the gym only does upper body stuff. Everytime I see him it's like: Me: Heya! Are you having a lower body day today? Him: No, not really Me: How about tomorrow? Him: Probably not. Me: Come on, a little deadlift never hurt anyone! Him: I'm ignoring you!
Good morning all. Glad to see you ladies commenting. Makes me feel good (like I have real friends or something .) I wanna be part of the in-crowd too!!!
I'm going to ramble a bit more today. I'm trying really hard to contemplate the part of Leigh Peele's program of "what I want to look like" and finding it very difficult.
Yesterday I did some internet surfing to find bodies I find attractive. Truly, I'm not picky, I can find all sorts of lovely bodies out there. What I pick out is more what I don't like.
I don't like skinny, I prefer fat to skinny. Now I'm not talking mega obese, but skinny isn't my thing. And I really hate big fake boobs, they just make women look fat and top heavy.
That's it for my dislikes for the most part.
So I tried typing into google "45 year old actresses." Not a good start, got some porn, and I really don't like porn, and I don't want it on my computer. It just has a way of sneaking in on its own though.
I like Britney Spears' figure. When she's at her slimmest she looks amazing, when she has weight on her, she looks amazing. She's got the most gorgeous face also. Sure she can look like she needs to clean up at times, but physically I think she is gorgeous.
Can I look like her? Heck if I know, it's hard to compare my 46 year old fat body with hers.
I think Megan Fox is so hot, but I could never have her body type. But she's hot.
I could probably do a post on my favorite hot actresses. Maybe I should make a collage, that would be a fun way to waste my time.
Oh, but I regress....it's body types I'm supposed to be studying.
What actresses in their 40's have great figures? Can I look like Cindi Crawford (I doubt it as she's got the tall model figure.)
I look at Annette Benning, hey, she's cute and has a thin non-muscular body. Blah...I want some muscles and not too skinny.
~~~~~~~~~~~whoa, I remember who I like.
Jodie Foster
She's got a rockin' bod, sometimes even with muscles that show (dang, I'd have to lose a lot of weight.) I find her face attractive too.
We might be on to something here. Let me research her a bit, silly things, like height (weight?) Can she be my inspiration.
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More crap...this "womanly change" stuff is the shits. I've now had 3 periods two weeks apart. I didn't feel "this" one coming on so I know it's just hormonal crap change stuff.
Of course I'm up a pound, so I damn well better have a nice whoosh in a few days (by Monday at least, my official weigh in day.)
I'm sitting on my butt today for the most part. Not that I feel bad, but I don't feel "safe" and I do still have pain from those darn butt lifts. I will get a perky butt from that exercise I bet.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Today's goal.
Day off for me, except for dancing tonight. My burn will probably only be around 2300, so I want to keep calories low too.
I'll try to do some stretching, or work on some yoga (no downward dogs, I swear.)
Annette, Just popping in to say Hi and that I enjoy your log....Jodie Foster seems like a good choice for you. Made me start thinking about which celebrity body (of a similar age range) I would want.
Way back when I used to keep a pic of Linda Carter as Wonder Woman as my ideal. Looking at it now (I realize she was much younger than me, but similar height, hair color and general body type, but thinner), not enough muscles there. So, that leads me to my other favorite, Jamie Lee Curtis...yep, that would be the body I want.
Finally there's that anonymous muscle woman who I posted in the bulky thread - and I think, Pips log. I want her legs, ass and arms..even if they are probably 20 years younger than my own. (how horrible is that coveting body parts)
Annette, Just popping in to say Hi and that I enjoy your log....Jodie Foster seems like a good choice for you. Made me start thinking about which celebrity body (of a similar age range) I would want.
Way back when I used to keep a pic of Linda Carter as Wonder Woman as my ideal. Looking at it now (I realize she was much younger than me, but similar height, hair color and general body type, but thinner), not enough muscles there. So, that leads me to my other favorite, Jamie Lee Curtis...yep, that would be the body I want.
Finally there's that anonymous muscle woman who I posted in the bulky thread - and I think, Pips log. I want her legs, ass and arms..even if they are probably 20 years younger than my own. (how horrible is that coveting body parts)
Thanks for reading my blog, Kimikaw. I also checked out yours. We're in the same age range, so it will be good to follow your blog.
Linda Carter had a great figure in her WonderWoman years. A very traditional curvy figure, and I sure remember my dad salivating while we watched that show. She still looks amazing today.
And Jamie Lee Curtis is also a gorgeous woman. I remember I had a bit of a girl crush on her back in the '80's. I just looked up the movie I remembered when she was an aerobics instructor. I wanted to be one too. The movie was called "Perfect" with John Travolta. I'm going to see if it's on Netflix now. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089798/
GWF for Friday June 27 (rest day)
burn - 2457
cals - 1349
def - 1108 (45%)
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I can feel a fat loss, and I'm going to share something somewhat embarrassing and personal (all ears perk up .) It's not that horrible or I wouldn't go public.
I gain weight evening throughout my body, though I tend to be "H" shaped and gain in the waist and stomach. If I had continued to go much over my top weight of 182 (I keep saying it to remind myself) I would have been more and more "O"-ish.
I had gained a new fat pocket under my armpit and wasn't too happy with it. I also can't remember having it when slimmer, we're talking 20 lbs slimmer, so it's something that's come on at these heavier weights.
I've been researching it, even reading about lipo, but it turns out to be breast tissue in the armpit.
After only 1 week of dieting, the first thing my daughter said is that my breasts were shrinking. Yup, always the breast. I eventually won't have any (think National Geographic magazine .)
At now 3 weeks of dieting, my underarm breasts have NOTICEABLE shrunk. It can feel it, I'm ELATED.
I've also done no arm work, and my tricep has become visible.
The weightloss/waterloss on the upper body is showing, and I can see it.
Can someone else tell, probably not, but I can.
I've also gotten an extreme double chin lately, my jaw already looks sharper.
It's probably a lot more from bloat than I realized. I've really been working on the 1 to 1.5 gallons of water a day.
I had thought to take pics of the chin and armpits, maybe I still will. I haven't taken any "body" pics at this weight....I don't want to, but maybe I can do "parts" instead.
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Today's goal - Should be a high burn day. I want to go on a walk in a few moments, will hit the farmer's market later this morning. Am going to an outdoor wedding reception this afternoon (will stand a lot.) And tonight it dance night.
Food will be relaxed this afternoon. I have no clue what to expect. I'll do my best to eat healthy, I don't even desire cake. I plan on having the reception be my dinner, and I will allow myself 1 (1,1,1,1,1....ONLY 1) glass of wine. If I'm not feeling strong at the time I'll skip the wine.
At now 3 weeks of dieting, my underarm breasts have NOTICEABLE shrunk. It can feel it, I'm ELATED.
Isn't it wonderful to see the changes happen! I've been wearing my smaller panties, and I'm starting to try on clothes in my closet I hadn't been wearing.
Wow, I needed Etana's comment BIG time this morning as I stepped on the scale for my OFFICIAL weekly weigh in and see only a 0.2 lb drop. Heck it was at least a half pound less the day before. Yes, my armpit is NOTICEABLY smaller and that is so very important to me.
Fine fine, I'll just try to keep reassuring myself that it's not fat gain, that it's not possible when I had a good deficit all week long, never cheated, exercised, etc.
All the things I know are right.
Wow, they do hit you though at times.
Looking at my graph I can see that I have big deficits, I'm also eating at least 1500+ calories a day. I think I'll consider a few higher calorie days this week (maybe earlier in the week,) to make the deficit a bit less. I don't want to force food down though, and once I start in on the healthy higher volume foods, lots of water, vitamins, etc, I tend to not have cravings anymore or feel hungry.
I feel hungry because/when I'm hungry....now isn't that an amazing concept.
Oh, and though I only show a 0.2 lb loss, I have been dieting 4 weeks now and have a 10 lb loss overall (that doesn't show on my graph.) I have been hoping to get a 12 lb loss for June though, but I'm not crossing my fingers anymore.
Goals for Week 4:
Eat 1600-1700 calories a day (average on my graph)
Exercise the same, easy cardio to burn calories
Stretch, foamroll, a couple easy yoga sessions
Massage Tuesday
Click on the graph below to see a larger version if you are interested.
are you not taking measurement? I would have been devastated this morning if not for the measurements. I was UP .4 lbs this week AND last week, but I was down 2" this week and 13" total, with a 1.5" decrease in belly this week.
So even if you're not taking photos, PLEASE take measurements.
(I took photos last November before surgery, which were about same as 5/4 when I started OPT, and I will take (and post) photos again when I complete 12 weeks of first OPT cycle).
Even if you don't take photos or measurement every week, at least get 1 measurement in so that in 2 months you'll have something to compare to.
bust, ribcage, waist, stomach, hips, thigh, arm, neck
No, I'm not taking any "official" measurements, though I'm a sewer, so I'm aware of my measurements at anytime. I've dropped 1.5" off my waist.
Trust me, I know I'm losing, I've lost almost a band size in my bra, which actually equates to that drop in my waist as I'm round through the belly. So my bra is saggy in both the band and the cup.
Pathetic huh.
I've gone up and down enough times that pictures don't cut it for me. Right now I just want to get under 150 lbs, then I'll feel good again, and then I can work on that last "real" weightloss, at least that's how I see it in my mind.
My head is definitely still in a good place right now.
Plus, with one month under my belt, I know that I'm in "real diet" mode again. I don't usually make it past a few days. When I'm focused, I'm focused and go all the way.
Super Duper workout for me today. It's amazing what a higher calorie day will do for you. At ate 2000 cals yesterday and only had a 2500 calorie burn. It was a burger at Red Robin that fueled me so nicely.
Hit the gym this morning for 60 min on the Arc Trainer. HRM showed 535 calories burned (not sure on the GWF yet.)
Worked in my 75-80% range for most of it, did a few song intervals working up to 91% and then dropping down to 70% on the next song then recover to 75%. Did that 3 times...that was enough.
Did some weights. Not a lot, I don't want my neck/back messed up.
Annette's GoWearFit Data
. I'm attracted to that physical type, for both men and women (not attracted to women like "that" though....
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Linear Mode
