What's What Wednesday

I oftentimes find myself wanting to write a post during the week, but I either struggle to come up with an interesting subject or feel like anything I actually want to say will take far too long to get from my head to the computer screen. It’s a gray zone somewhere between writer’s block and straight up laziness.

So, I’ve been thinking that it would be cool to have regularly scheduled “theme” postings assigned with a couple days of the week. That way, I’ll know what I’m supposed to be writing about during the week, and hopefully, you’ll be entertained by my particular brand of crazy. And I’d like to start trying this out now with…

What’s What Wednesday—where, on Wednesdays, I’ll aim to share random thoughts, facts, stories, and other tidbits that come to mind. 

And without further ado, off we go.

1.     One of my goals this week was to reduce my sodium intake. This seemed doable this past weekend, but then, I was hit with Saint Patrick’s Day. Otherwise known as the Day of My Peoples. So, of course, I had to pay my dues. In salt. From corned beef. From boiled vegetables. And beer bread. And soda bread. And butter. All the butter. The salt bloat that I’ve got going on since Monday is just impressive.

2       A while ago, I shared that I purchased the course materials to study for my personal training certification. I haven’t started studying. And I have no plans to start yet, either. Oops.

3.     Last week, I jumped on the treadmill for the first time since October. I ran 1.5 miles without stopping and without much effort. It was the longest I’ve ever run without stopping. Until today, when I ran 2 miles without stopping, and then promptly thought I was dying. But I’ll take the personal record, regardless! Looks like T25 is excellent cross-training!

4.     Whenever my cat meows at me, I almost always answer her with, “Oh, yeah? Then what happened?” She doesn’t appreciate my insolence. I’m pretty sure she’s planning on smothering me in the night.

5.      I learned to knit mittens. It took forever, but I made these cool things.

Mittens.

Fingerless mittens.

 

6.      I really suck at impressions. Mainly because they all come out as Southern, no matter what I do. There is ONE exception. I can do a pretty okay Liza Minnelli. I particularly support my rendition of Liza singing “Rubber Ducky.” It’s the next Broadway smash.

7.      I like to paint my nails—I find it soothing. Except for if I mess one up, because then, I’m compelled to remove the polish from ALL of my nails and start over again. It’s a high risk/high reward kind of situation. I believe this could also be filed under “neurotic.”

8.      My guilty pleasure TV show of late is Teen Mom 2. Basically only to see my girl Bahbrahhh (Barbara).

9.      I make up beats in my head using the rhythm of my feet when I walk places. I am also that person who makes up songs for just about every activity I do.

10.  This weekend, I set out to change up some stuff up on the blog. I wanted to center my page banner and add in a blank space. It took me about an hour of Googling before I figured out how to do it by adding in some lines of HTML code. I’m pretty sure this is very basic stuff, but I feel like the Code Whisperer.

11.  It took me twenty minutes just to come up with the title for this post. I went through many options before settling. And truth be told, I’m still not entirely satisfied. There are not a lot of “w” words that mean “random stuff that’s in my brain meat right now.”

That’s all I’ve got for now! Happy Wednesday, here’s a cat.

Not-So-Secret Lair.

Food = Math + Science

Over the past few posts, you’ve heard me touch upon my current weight predicament. It’s been a very frustrating couple of months, so I’ve decided to take the time and space here to hash it out a little bit more.

I would like to throw out a disclaimer right now that, yes, I know that weight is just a number. I’d go even further as to say it can be a fairly arbitrary number when comparing it to the other arbitrary numbers of your friends, family, celebrities, etc.  This number fluctuates, it does not take into account your fitness abilities (like how fast or far you can run or how many ninjas you can take out with one punch), how you feel in your own skin, and it certainly does not define your worth as a person. What that number on the scale can be, however, is a reference point. A measure of where you are at relative to yourself only. I’m a person who likes to weigh myself every day. Not because I’m masochistic, but because you then collect a lot of data that can help inform a story over the course of time. It can show you trends, patterns, and progress…and also makes one hell of a line graph. And who doesn’t love line graphs?!

So, no, my weight does not define me—and most of the time, I feel a fairly positive relationship with the scale because I know that I’m doing my best to take care of my body, and doing so takes into account far more than three numbers on a screen. But I’d be lying if I said that I don’t struggle from time to time when I don’t see the numbers I’m expecting (or hoping) to see.

Which is precisely what has been going on since the start of 2014.

Over the holidays, I threw caution to the wind and gobbled up every cookie, dip, pizza, and pasta dish in sight. Of course, I knew this would tell a tale on the scale, but after quite literally weighing my options, I decided that a fun, relaxed holiday was way worth some extra lbs. I also, historically, had the ability to take weight off rather quickly once I returned to a clean-ish diet and exercise habits. So, holidays came and went, and an eight pound gain remained. I launched into the new year ready to get back to my routine, and expecting to see those eight pounds slowly, but surely, slip away as I returned to my average weight.

Well, it didn’t go down quite as I had hoped. Returned home? Check. Stopped eating ALL OF THE COOKIES? Check. Back to the gym for regular tushie whooping? Check. Starting a friendly competition as motivation to shave off some extra lbs? Check. Actually shaving off those extra lbs? Not check. Not check, at all.

I think we’ve all figured out that, most of the time, a successful equation for weight loss is proper nutrition and exercise. Mainly because if your calories out is greater than your calories in, you have to use some of your…eh...rainy day stored energy...to help power that lovely body of yours.

Obviously, something in my equation is off. And it’s very frustrating. Especially when I know I am busting my butt at the gym five days per week, and feel like I am making responsible decisions around my eating for the majority of my meals.

Let’s break that down even further. Here’s what a typical week looks like in terms of exercise and eating.

Exercise (energy out):

·        Tuesday-Thursday: One T25 video per day followed by 35 minutes of intense cardio (running, stairs, spinning, etc.)

·        Friday: One T25 video followed by one hour Zumba class (where I go all bananas and flail around real hard. That is to say, it’s definitely cardio intensive)

·        Saturday: Two back-to-back T25 videos

·        Sunday-Monday: Rest days

Nutrition (energy in):

·        Sunday-Thursday: essentially clean Paleo/Primal for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Maybe, maybe two open meals during this timeframe, due to my work schedule or getting stuck in a pinch.

·        Friday: Paleo/Primal breakfast and lunch, open meal dinner

·        Saturday: Paleo/Primal breakfast and/or lunch (depending on when I actually get motivated to eat), open meal dinner

That seems relatively reasonable to me. So where is the problem? Well, let’s return back to that weight loss principal: weight loss occurs when energy out is greater than energy in. Okay. That said, I very rarely flake out on the gym. We’re besties. In combination with the energy it takes just to exist every day (basal metabolic rate), plus my general activity level at work, plus my ninja gym routines, I would think that my energy output is pretty on point.

As it stands to reason, then my nutrition is likely the culprit. No, I am not a Paleo, green machine all of the time, but I assumed I was working out hard enough to overpower some of my less healthy meal selections. Clearly, this is not the case. So even though I think I’m doing a pretty okay job making healthy and helpful choices concerning my food, I am clearly missing something. Now I just have to find it.

When I started this blog, I mentioned that I was going to be tracking my calories as a tool to help me lower my overall percentage of body fat. I did that rather consistently from January until September of 2013 and then gave it up around the holidays. Mainly because I was having a hard time logging all of the homemade cookie and cheesy dip recipes. In hindsight, that should have been my first hint to cool it, huh?

Anyway, I decided to return to food logging for a while to see what I’m overlooking. I started tracking my nutrition about two weeks ago, and intentionally did not modify the foods I would regularly eat, as I wanted to get a clear picture of the possible dietary factors that could be contributing to my weight loss plateau. If I know what’s throwing me off, I can make an informed decision about what needs to change in order to see results.

I’ve looked over the past 10 days of noms, and it’s definitely been enlightening. In case you’re interested, here’s the average nutritional breakdown per day:

·        Carbohydrates: Under maximum recommended amount. I don’t typically consume grains during the week, so these amounts likely come from fruits, veggies, added sugar in coffee, etc.

·        Protein: Almost always 2x the recommended amount. Not surprised by this at all, as high protein is essentially a commandment of a Paleo diet.

·        Fat: 1.5-2x greater than recommended amount. I’m guessing this is also related to my protein intake, since meats, nuts, and eggs also tend to have higher fat content.

·        Cholesterol: Overall, within normal range per day. Exceptions were on days when I ate eggs.

·        Sodium: 1.5x-2x greater than the recommended amount. Hey, hey, water weight.

·        Sugar: Again, over by at least 1.5x per day.

·        Fiber: Typically, a few grams under the recommended amount per day.

·        Calcium/Vitamin A: Not nearly enough, as it barely registered as visible on the graphs. Oops.

·        Water consumption: Typically met recommended amount on days when I went to the gym only. Which probably shouldn’t count, since I was sweating it all out, anyway.

Ahah! Despite feeling like I was doing an okay job with my nutrition, it looks like there are some definite areas for improvement! Next step: battle strategy.

1.      Focus on lowering sodium and sugar intake to see if that gets the scale moving. This will be really interesting, seeing as both salt and sugar hides in EVERYTHING.

2.     Emphasize hydration. I’m basically not going to count water consumed while at the gym—since I sweat it all out anyway. This means I’ll really have to pay attention throughout the day and keep that water handy. Flush out, body!

3.     I am also realizing that, for a diet that focuses on high protein AND lots of plants, I’m really only acing the protein part. Time to add in more veggies, and ease up a little on the fruit. That will likely round out my fiber intake, give me a vitamin/mineral boost, and help cut some of the sugar.

I’m planning on giving these goals a trial by fire over the next week, and observing any effect—both on the scale and on my energy level/mood/general feeling in my own skin. Am I a little disappointed that I’m not as much of a clean-eating machine as I thought? Yup. But I sure am glad to be aware of it now! It certainly beats feeling disempowered and frustrated, and I’m very optimistic that forward progress is on the horizon!

Now, time to start this week out right. Pass me the chips and cookies!!!

…Or some broccoli. That’ll work, too, I suppose.

Happy Weekend, and LOOK AT THIS CAT!

Seems like a reasonable pillow.

Let's Talk Workouts

In the spirit of catching up, let’s talk workouts.

Last you heard, I was in the beginning weeks of T25. Since that was forever ago, I’m happy to announce that I “successfully” completed the Alpha cycle of the program. I say “successfully” because this five week series is designed to completely and totally annihilate you. And it did. Every. Damn. Day. By the end of the training schedule, I still felt like I couldn’t do all of the moves either at the speed of the people in the video or without modification.

For that reason, I considered repeating the Alpha videos in order to master all of the moves. I didn’t feel right moving forward without being an expert at the “foundation” videos. On the other hand, I did have some hesitation about what would be ten weeks of doing the same exercises—albeit in different order. I didn’t want my body to adapt too much, and despite the difficulty of the moves, I wanted to avoid plateauing in some weird, super sweaty but stagnant sort of way.

So, after some consultation with my T25 support group (yes, we exist), and for the sake of muscle confusion, I decided to move on to the Beta phase. And I’m now wrapping up my third week!  Woot.

But back to Alpha.

Many of you have seen the infomercials, and therefore, you’ve seen the crazy body transformations of some of the participants. Well, I’ll be the first to tell you—that’s, unfortunately, not been the case for me thus far. Not for lack of the intensity of the program or applied effort on my part. Just because my body is as determined not to change as my mind is determined to force it to. It’s seriously World War III up in here.

So while I don’t look all skinny minny and jacked (yet), I can still say that my fitness has progressed immensely since starting this program. Alpha is designed to be your “foundation,” from which you build strength, increase coordination, and gain stability and flexibility. I think it’s safe to say that it’s mission accomplished on these fronts. Here’s what I think were my greatest challenges and victories pre-and-post Alpha:

Challenges: Early Alpha

·        Modifying half of each video due to exercises being too fast or too demanding of strength to keep up.

·        Jumping! There is lots of jumping in these videos, which would physically hurt my body (read: knees and feet) by the end of each workout.

·        Damnit, stop asking me to keep my knees above my waist on all these moves. It. Sucks.

·        Flailing around like an idiot. As the exercises in Alpha are designed to work multiple muscle groups simultaneously, these moves require a relatively high degree of coordination, and thus mental focus. For the first few weeks, I felt like a puppy trying to learn how to run—my hind limbs crossing over my front limbs…tipping over instead of landing gracefully…just a hot mess.

Fail.  Source.

 

Victories: End of Alpha

·        Modifying only some parts of some moves. Probably no than 15% of each video. Pace still slower at times, but clear increase in strength. Particularly chest and core.

·        Jump endurance! Still rough toward the end of each workout, but my body developed an ability to sustain high impact movements.

·        Whuddup, hip flexor flexibility?!?!

·        Some degree of coordination. Mainly because I became super familiar with each video’s moves, so I was able to predict and prepare for whatever exercise was coming up next. I’d like to think that I now look like a T25 gazelle. But I actually probably look like an adolescent puppy, who figured my sh*t out enough to actually get from point A to B. Even if you look like a bull in a china shop doing it.

·        SURVIVAL. The ultimate victory.

All said and done, Alpha was, and still probably is, a complete ass whooping. While I suffered through most of it, it’s pretty cool to look back and see how my body gained ability super-sneakily. I have a tendency to focus on what I didn’t do, rather than what I accomplished—especially because set backs are immediate and progress is gradual. And hey, it’s hard to see the forest through all these damn trees! GET OUTTA MY WAY, TREES!!!!

So now, I’m now bushwhacking my way through Beta. I’ve got another two weeks to go, and it’s full-on beast mode up in here.

Speaking of, it’s off to the gym for me! Cheers to the weekend, and here’s your cat photo du jour.

Come hither and pet my tummy. You might also get your hand chewed.

Catching Up

I’m returning to the blog-o-sphere after a busy month! I feel really crappy about my absence—especially as every time I sat down to tell you all about something new and exciting, I found myself with an oreo in my mouth and a nap on the horizon…

Priorities, am I right?

Anyway, a lot’s been going down! And luckily, that means I have lots of stuff about which to post! Over the next few days, I’m hoping we can catch up with one another and maybe have a couple of laughs over the crazy shenanigans that are disguising themselves as life around these parts.  

Let’s start where we left off.

Folks—I lost the first round of the Five Pound Beatdown. About a week after my last post.

It was an expected defeat, but I’d be lying to say it didn’t hurt. He beat me by a lot. 4.8 pounds to be exact. I’ve still got more to figure out regarding why, but my body is not cooperating with weight loss recently, and I am getting rather frustrated. While I am happy for the success of le boyfriend, I’m simultaneously plotting my revenge licking my wounds, assessing my current predicament, and adjusting accordingly. In the meantime, le boyfriend still has his “ask” in his pocket, so I’m still waiting to pay the piper. 

Since doing this iteration of the Beatdown, I’m convinced that something is going on with me—and it rhymes with, and induces, rage.  That’s right, I’m talking about age. I don’t know if I’m experiencing a hormonal shift or if my body is prematurely preparing for retirement, but I’m convinced that I’ve hit a mid-20’s metabolic collapse (which, I hypothesize, could rival that of Black Monday’s). In previous beatdowns, agreeing to lose a specified amount of pounds was fair. We were both able to gain or lose weight quickly, and in equal measure to the other. Beatdowns were anyone’s game, lasted for a few weeks at most, and life was good.

Post-metabolic crash, however, I’m feeling like this system is a little skewed toward my man friend. After some discussion, we’ve agreed that next Beatdown, we will aim to lose a predetermined percentage of body weight instead of a specific loss of pounds to level out the playing field. Maybe I’m just a sore loser, but I feel like I’m doing everything the same as I would have in the past, but not yielding the same results. Previously, hitting up the gym and reestablishing healthy eating 80% of the time would have done the trick. Now, that’s just a recipe for weight management at best. And it’s driving me crazy. I SHOULD BE ABLE TO WORKOUT AND EAT A FEW OREOS WHILE LOSING POUNDAGE, DAMNIT. Obviously, my old practices aren’t working anymore, so I’ve got to do something differently. 

More on that later.

In the meantime, phase two of the classic Beatdown is still on: the first one down 10 pounds from our initial weight wins a fancy date from the other. Le boyfriend has already made quite clear that, should he win, he wants Popeye’s. And he’s not kidding.

The starting bell of round two rang about three weeks ago, and since then, both of our weights are all over the place--likely due to the insane amount of instability in both our weekly routines and eating habits recently. Though, le boyfriend is managing to hold his five pound lead, so I'd better figure out this slump soon! No amount of delicious fried chicken will taste as good as victory...

Happy Thursday to you! May your day be filled with delicious coffee and cute kitties. 

Hatch love-hates laundry day. 3 seconds post-photo, she chewed a hole through that sock.