Lost a kilo!

Unbelievable!

But true!

I was feeling defeated when I wrote the last post....I didn't WANT to give up... but....I was sure close to it!

Then this morning...as the drum rolled in my head (for dramatic effect)...I approached the 'scale' to torture myself yet again.

I found, however, a loss of 1 kg!!!!

Yes!

The diet worked despite all the hiccups (uhmmm....chocolate cake and yummy stuff at a b'day party the second day into it and then noodles and brownies at the zoo during the second cycle....alas!)

Oh! It's like a dose of CPR!

There is hope!

I do know for sure that the workouts are essential!

The feeling of your body firming up is the best!

My goals this week is to take baby steps with the workouts: will aim for three this week and will continue the diet!

Here I go....

Gettin' Down with the Fanny Lifter!

A quote from Emily Walsh's FIRM workout, pictured left. AWT.

Aerobic Weight Training.

I've been working out with an AWT focus this week. Mostly FIRM workouts , new and old.

Sometimes, like yesterday, it has had to be a short workout. 30 minutes, as we were going to be out all day. Mass and Kumon Awards Ceremony at Darling Harbour.

Sometimes, a nice longer AWT session.

What is AWT?

Aerobics and weight training together.

Aerobics and toning fitness video workouts include both fat-burning cardio and body-sculpting in the same program. The balance of techniques creates a fitness video format that's both varied and effective.

They also involve interal training - as does kickboxing and Taebo. Interval training videos are also called circuit training videos. One type of interval training fitness video has alternating intervals of aerobics and toning. This keeps your heart rate up as it burns fat.

So, I'm having fun working out. Hope you are, too!

Well.....

Well...I've just proven to myself again this week that 'walking' and I just don't mix!

It sadly just does not give me any motivation...I struggle with it...don't know why but I do!

Consequently, most of this week I forfeited any significant workouts because one way or another the avoidance of the walk managed to take over!

As you can well imagine the result is just a feeling of stagnancy! Frustration! Despair!

I did manage to do the diet for the most part of the week yet over the last days I feel...bloated and having taken some pictures on an excursion yesterday I notice my face looks like its got cellulite! EEEEWWWW!

Sigh!

I can only try again this week.

Very disappointed that I failed myself with the unfulfilled promise of losing some weight and feeling fitter by the end of the year...(head dropped)...but I can't deny that the changes that I did start have made a significant difference in my day to day activities.

Feeling very run down this week and beginning to think it really has got a lot to do with not doing the intense workouts, however, the legacy of having done them those consecutive weeks has allowed me to have a lot more energy and endurance, without being 'out of breath' all the time!

It's just that I have sooooooo much weight to lose...It gets to me....

Heavy aaaaannnnnnd Heavy Laden!

Hi!

It's been a non-eventful two weeks in terms of exercise and I can FEEL it..(frustration...snarl...snarl...grump!)

Whereas I was beginning to see and definitely feel the benefits of a more exercised, firmer midriff...I can now feel the 'bulge' sensation that I so detest!

Why do I do this????
Why do I let myself lull into complacency so QUICKLY!

Well...the fight is not completely lost!
I still have tiny reserves of enthusiasm left, though I seem to fighting an enemy which I can at least now identify......The Sedentary Militia!
Looking back critically at my whole weight gain experience...I can see how it has managed to ambush me! It creeps in....

Ok....I've been extremely busy...emotionally more than anything else and the subliminal message was 'take a break...you need a rest'....which I could identify straight away, so I fell back into the old "comfort zone" of research and reading...which relaxes me....but forgot THE ALL ESSENTIAL BALANCE!
Before I realized it, I could feel the difference in my body again, not the good change, only the bad!

My initial reaction was.....give up!
My second thought was...No! Not this time!

I've really been feeling 'weighed down' with everything so as I stopped to reevaluate things, I made the decision to buy a Leg Master which I had been wanting for ages and which was on special...my new toy kind of....since last week I have been doing sporadic jumps onto it and that helped me feel better!

Similiarly, I decided to take the plunge and start the diet!
I've actually lost one kilo which proved another incentive! Yes!

And since for some reason, I am finding it sooooooooo hard to do a workout, I've set my goal this week in terms of walks! My daughter has been begging me to start taking her down to the beach of an evening to walk..... Thinking perhaps this is the counterstrike I need, in order to break that sedentary mindset that I've adopted...to actually get out there and get a change of scenery, take in the fresh air!

Been really trying to come face to face with the 'excuses' that have underminded me in past efforts to lose weight! But....oh boy...is it a labyrinth!!!!!

Workout log

Saturday I did Taebo Advanced Live 5 - killer glute work to the song My Sherona.

Sunday was Turbo Jam Cardio Party 1 - good kickboxing cardio, esp to some Brittney Spears songs and to Don't Blame it on the Boogy.

Today? Not great music but a different workout - no kickboxing, just cardio and some light weights. The FIRM TransFIRMation Cardio Overdrive.

Anyone want to update re workouts - or lack thereof? :-)

Feelin' Fat and Chubby

Been feeling fat and chubbby lately. You know, losing weight and being healthy is not only a physical thing. It is also mind thing. An ongoing mind thing for me.

Taebo helps. First, it is cardio, sometimes hard cardio.

Secondly, it is resistance training and toning. Those kicks. Those punches. That floorwork.

These make me feel like I am powerful. Fit. Losing weight. Slimmer.

It's all psychological with me.

Thirdly, doing Taebo helps me with endorphins. Working out hard with many pushups and squat thrusts on yesterday's Bootcamp 2 made me feel tough and happy and invincible. And a bit sore, but that's another story.

Worked out with Advanced Taebo Live 2 today. The killer floorwork with the song Simply Irresistible, made me sing. Out loud. Be happy.

Finally, Taebo helps me with that mind thing. Billy' s words of wisdom, his little motivational talks at the end, help me. His words act as affirmations or slogans. Remind me I can keep on keeping on.

Hopefully feeling fitter will stop that chubby feeling.

Affirmations

Affirmations?

The act of affirming or the state of being affirmed; assertion.
Something declared to be true; a positive statement or judgment.

Affirmations have helped me on my weight loss and fitness journey. They help me now, as I try to learn to eat normally, to maintain a reasonable weight.

What affirmations have helped you?

Some of mine -

W.I.W.M. ( what I want most)

Discipline is remembering what I want tomorrow not what I want today

Every day above ground is a blessed day

Where I am today is where my mind put me; where I'll be tomorrow is where my mind'll put me

If she can, I can!

I'll show him! ( lol!)

Never give up. Ever. Ever.

Just Do It!

I.N.O. ( it's not an option)

I don't do that anymore

...ON THE LOOSE....NEEDING TO LOOSEN UP!

What a relief to be on this side of the week!

Troubles abounded and workouts were zilch!

However....I did get to do some abdominal work, keeping that section on notice just before 'blacking out' most nights from mere emotional and mental exhaustion....

On the positive side: I've been really encouraged by the 'loose fitting' of some of my clothes!

YES!!!!!

It's happening...deep down there...something is going on! I do find it funny that although most of my workouts have been focused on my midsection, it's actually my legs and shoulder area that are showing the quickest results! No matter...I will continue until I get that middle bit right!



I must add that my nightmare week did end with many miracles! God is amazing...He really does turn our mourning to laughter and never misses a thing!

My husband ended up booking me into the Stamford at the Airport for a night...to take some time on my own...to take a breather...and OH BOY...it took my breath away!

My room had the most awesome view of Botany Bay and both the Domestic and International Airports...Now...the significance of this goes back a loooong way...my dad was in the Peruvian Air Force and since I lost him when I was only one, I have always had this love of being near planes! So here I was...graced with being spoiled and nestled in a place that gave me a sense of security and peace! I was like a kid at the candy store...sat there and just took it all in! It was such a great experience!

Now....4 weeks ago when I started the exercise commitment I had spent many years with a 'supposed' stress related anxiety and claustrophobia that I could not shake off...couldn't be in enclosed areas (like elevators..a no no) or even situations that put me in a place that I could not control...my throat would grow dry and I would get a desperation to swallow, which it seemed I just couldn't do! That brought on panic...feelings of faint...like I was dying!

Now....here I was...4 weeks on...having begun to confront an old enemy of mine that has played me for a FAILURE for soooo many years (that is, my inability to get myself in shape...to be a healthier me..to take control of my body!) Never thought or gave this area of my life so much significance but you know what, the damage WAS being done!...

Now, here I was on the 11th floor!

No panic!

No stress... DESPITE the nightmare week!

Just a sense of awe!

Thanking God for his healing and my awesome family and friends who have been helping me thru this!

And guess what! The hotel had a gym!!!!!

Although I really did not feel like exercising...I did get myself down there and did some walking on the treadmill and workouts on three other machines! Any other time this would have been an exercise dream! There was even a pool, a spa.. a sauna...could have done so much...but there were other things that God was dealing with in me that were just as important!

I found it really hard to relax completely...kept feeling guilty about not having the kids and hubby enjoying this experience with me! Go figure....that's a mother for you!

In the end, I walked away with many a revelation that I think was important for my continued success in Operation Fitness for my life....I even thank God for letting the things that did happen last week happen because they were trying to lead me to realizing that somewhere along the line with the guilt and personal failure regarding my self-esteem and perception, I had lost my joy! My zest for life! My joie de vie!

Where did it go?

I don't know!

When did I lose it?

I didn't THINK it was missing!

But it is now obvious....I have to loosen up!

I have to forgive myself for my failings and get back on the starting mark and run the race with renewed strength, outlook and vision!

It's the sense of failure and accompanying regrets, frustration and anger that have left me empty...thinking I could never be what I really wanted to be ....which at its most basic level...is happy and give my family a happy life!

I've been, in real fact, alienating myself on many levels because I was out of control and felt deep down that I could do nothing about it! I've been contradicting the very foundations of what I have wanted to achieve in my life! And I've been sending the wrong messages! Confusing those I love the most, without even realizing it....because of ...shame! Shame from my own failure in this...a failure which I could not hide or even cover up!

This failure and anger does not belong to me and it's time

to get rid of it too, just like the fat! I don't want it!

This weeks goals:

1. To continue the ab workouts and tae bo training

2. To initiate an ongoing workout for more laughter and joy in all areas of my life!

To loosen up just as my clothes are loosening up... as the fat gives way...now its time for the disappointments and failures to give way and let the new Julie emerge!

Have a great workout week....and don't forget to get rid of the 'failure' mentality wherever and if ever it rears it's ugly head!

God bless!