Branching Out

Today I tried something new at the gym. In my effort to cross train and not pound on my knees I decided to give the rowing machine a try.

While I felt a little foolish, I humbled myself and asked an employee if she'd show me the proper technique, and she kindly did so. I felt foolish because what she showed me was basically what I've seen other people do. However, I wanted to make sure of proper posture and form. She basically said, "Sit up straight, pull your arms back or to the sides and stay on the seat." Stay on the seat...LOL...great...I don't want to fall off the thing...

At first it felt kind of easy and I wondered if it was really doing anything for me. The resistance seemed to be up there, so I just kept going. I figured this was a first rowing workout and I would adjust in the future as needed.

About 20 minutes into it I felt sweat dripping down my back. Woo Hoo! That means it was working me out. Yay! My arms and back were feeling it too.

When I finished and got up..my legs were shaky and I giggled to myself. Yes, apparently rowing does work the whole body like the lady told me it would. She said I'll be sore tomorrow. Good thing Friday's are becoming my rest days. :)

Anyone ever tried the rowing machine? I'd love to hear any hints you have.

Photo Credit

Exercise Identity

Well, today is turning out to be another nice day and I have a running victory to share...

My treadmill workout today, with incline set to 0.5%:

2 mins brisk walking and then stretching

5 min warm-up walk @ 4.0 (15:00 pace)

10 min run @ 5.5 (11:00 pace)

3 min walk @ 4.0 (15:00 pace)

10 min run @ 5.5 (11:00 pace)

2 min walk @ 4.0 (15:00 pace)

10 min run @ 5.2 ( 11:32 pace)

5 min run @ 5.0 (12:00 pace)

3 min cool-down walk down around 3.5

Miles walked/ran = 3.7 (before cool down)

Time: 45 minutes (before cool down)

The gym wasn't too busy today, there were always treadmills open, so I decided to stay on the treadmill running for a full 45-minute workout. There were few rough moments, and overall it was an awesome workout and I felt great!

I was nervous about those 10-minute runs since 5.5 is the fastest pace I've run at consistently. I should've known it would be okay though, because I'm in week 6 of the Couch to 5K Program and that program works.

My goal in doing this program for the second time was to run the entire 30 minutes at the 5.5/11:00 minute mile pace. So, I've been following all of the program with my running intervals at that pace, and I can see that I will reach my goal.

In fact sometime during the last 15 minutes of my run I smiled and thought to myself, "I am a runner. Me. [insert BIG grin] YES, I. AM. A. RUNNER."

I think I found my exercise identity today....

Happy First Day of Spring!

There's nothing particularly healthy for me to share with you today, but I'm having a wonderful first day of spring.

Here in North Carolina it has been reaching 80 during the day and I'm loving it. I don't love getting hot, but I have a/c in my house and I'm not ashamed to use it for a couple hours every afternoon. :) The nights are still cooling down to the 50's, so we leave the windows open at night and our house is chilly in the mornings.

Lovely.

Years ago I used to hate the thought of the winter without snow, but this year I'm liking a warmer-than-normal "winter"....because I LOVE MY SANDALS!!

Now I'm just waiting for April so I can wear springy colors more often. I do have a hard time wearing springy colors before Easter. :)

Anyway, I am on track with my food today and feeling very good about that. Plus, the laundry is getting done and my room got rid of some clutter spots that I've been ignoring for months. *contented sigh*

It's a good day.

How Full Can You Get?

Yesterday morning our assistant pastor gave a great analogy that I want to share with you today. He used fountain drinks in the analogy, but work with me here. The point of the story that really hit me to the core as a Christian, and also in my weight loss journey.

"You know how you go to a restaurant or fast food joint and when you order a large soda you realize that you get very little beverage due to the high amount of ice in the cup? Oh, so vexing!

So, you learn real quick that if you want more soda to drink you need to ask for "little ice" or "no ice".

Well, that's like our lives. The ice being the "junk" in our lives and the soda being God. We want God to fill us up, become more a part of who we are, but He is only able to fill you so much. Until you rid out the "junk" - hangups, habits, attitudes - he is only able to fill in the free space. As you remove the ice/junk, then He is able to fill in more and more of your life."

This was a lightbulb moment for me as a Christian. It's like to some extent I can limit what God is able to do in my life. It's not his fault, but my own "junk" that prevents Him from doing more.

It also made me think about my healthiness journey.

I have lost just over 50 pounds. I have kept it off for a year now. I have allowed certain changes into my life that made room for weight loss, a level of maintenance and an active lifestyle.

If I want to see my healthy goal weight of 140 I am going to have to rid myself of the rest of the "junk" that is filling up my life and preventing me from going forward in my weight loss journey. Until I do that I can not complain about where I'm at. My weight will only change according to what I am allowing in my life, er my mouth.

So, if I want to hang on to certain foods or larger quantities of foods then I will stay where I'm at. It's up to me.

It's nothing new, but having the visual of a cup full of ice and beverage sure made a point with this very visual lady.

Weigh-In.. Hovering

Today's Weight: 178

Loss/Gain: +0.5 lb

I haven't posted all week and it's pretty much because of what you see today in my weight. I've been hovering around 176-178 all week. I know why I didn't see a loss this week. I haven't been eating weight-loss portions, every day. There are lots of areas where I see myself behaving very differently around food, but I have not been keepingy calories low enough throughout the week to see the pounds stay down. ( I was pretty happy when I saw 176 earlier this week)

One nice thing is my exercise has been fine. In fact, I'm happy to say the running is going well and I'm feeling stronger every time I run. My husband and I are considering doing a race in May, so I'll keep you posted about that. I can tell in my shape that the more intense workouts are paying off with some nice muscle toning.

My life has also been pretty busy with everyday things, so I haven't been blogging much lately either. I'm okay with that, knowing I had stated once I would at least check in for my weekly weigh-ins if that's all I had time for.

I am still hopeful that I'll get with the program in the area of food and the weight will start coming off again. In the meantime, I have a pretty free evening so I am going to try and catch up on blogs this evening. Thanks for checking in and I wish you all a wonderful weekend!

Weigh-In ... Non-Scale Victories

Today's Weight: 177.5

Loss/Gain: + 0.5 lb

Considering being on a vacation of sorts while my friend was here and TOM arriving yesterday (meaning this was also PMS week) I am not surprised, and only glad it wasn't more. :)

I had an awesome time with my friend, Sarah. One of the things we enjoyed the most was going to the gym on the week days she was here.

We had three good workouts together and enjoyed a few minutes in the sauna after each workout. What fun!

A few non-scale victories happened this week:

• I didn't gain lots of pounds while allowing myself to "vacation" in my eating while my friend was visiting.
• I completed my regular workouts while my friend was visiting.
• Today I ran 3 miles straight!!

I was so excited about finishing the 3 miles today that I was smiling all goofy at the gym. Had anyone asked why I was smiling I would've gladly told them it's was because of running 3 miles straight through after only getting back to running a month ago.

Super exciting!

Oh, and not exactly this week, but recently a girl at church asked if I've lost weight. I told her only about 10 from when I moved there and she said, "Oh! Well, it must've been all in the right places!" or something like that... I grinned.

I've gotten nice compliments like that and I think it's because I'm starting to fit in smaller sizes so it's getting noticeable that something is changing.

Now to get the eating to be as successful as the running has been. In the meantime I hope you all have a good weekend. I'll try and get around to reading blogs over the weekend. :)

Weigh-In ... Okay

Today's Weight: 177.0

Loss/Gain: -0.5

I'm okay with this. Any loss is better than a gain.

Today my friend Sarah is in town visiting for a couple of days. I'm off to enjoy a great weekend of girlfriend time starting out with a trip to the gym this morning after we drop of my kids at school. :)

Have a nice weekend!