It's been YEARS since I was here! I was doing great - walking 45 mins each way to work and back, 5 times a week, had my eating and snack routines down. Then within the space of a year, A.I. came along, our human-powered company was closed, my landlord died and I had to move, threw out my back for three months, got covid, the flu and four more colds (after four years of nothing), and here I am, needing to lose 15 lb. Since I first logged on here I have gone from late forties to late fifties, and it's a whole new bodily challenge (not to mention looks) ballgame, and I need a community to report to. Even if nobody reads this! That's fine y'all, seriously. I just need a place with a potential audience to help me stay accountable to myself.
I do love the older-fitness-ladies circuit on Instagram (Wonder Women Official, and Joan MacDonald for example) and considered a (very!) anonymous account to post progress photos to keep me accountable, but that's not really my thing. I'd rather do the work in private, get to the end (hopefully, finally) and post a bikini pic on the beach that's far enough away for everybody who knows me to go "that's pretty impressive!"
. I don't need to post weekly progress shots, etc., although I truly admire the ladies who CAN do that, as they really help me feel less self conscious. But it's not for me. Neither is counting macros, or anything for that matter. Immediately triggering for me.
I'm excited to start this journey again here. Since I ditched the corporate world rat race, I have far more time on my hands. I am cobbling a living together by a handful of fun jobs I like to do (movie extra work, for example) and thankfully right now have relatively low living expenses. So I am hoping that I can now better do for myself what I always wanted to do, which is make time for working out.
This journal will be primarily a place to report that I did my workout(s) for the day. My goal is to do my carefully-curated and assembled-by-me at home workouts daily, as much as possible. I don't need to build in rest days because sometimes I work all day and can't fit it all in anyway. So I will do it as often as I can, but at least one at-home workout a day. I've separated them simply into upper body, lower body, and abs. LOL. I am not going to join a gym (yet) until I prove to myself I can and will do these at home, and that gym equipment will be the next natural progression. No forcing it.
For me, the workouts need to come first. They need to be the priority over my spending lots of time meal-prepping or obsessing about my diet. I also have a history of binge-eating so cannot even threaten myself with restriction without going into a binge/scarcity mindset. However, on the days I work out and the 24 hours following, I naturally crave whole foods. Keeping the sugar out of my house is actually the number one dieting aid for me. If I dare use that word.
I don't have a single problem getting enough cardio, due to my chosen preferred fun sport. If anything, from what people say, I guess I should cut down on that. But my brain needs it so, no. I won't be cutting down on that.
My main motivation (other than the bikini thing) is also being able to wear shorts again. I have an idea of how my legs should/could look so that I could do that and feel good about it again. I understand that I could, and damn well should wear whatever I please, but I don't want to wear shorts out in public right now. Also, my arms, which were always long and slim, need some care and attention. I think the combo of losing 15 lb plus my workouts should fix it to where I'm happy again. So it's not a whole lot, but apparently this year I have been unable to keep it all on the rails.
I am just finally getting over virus #6 in 10 months, so will be taking it easy for the next few days.
Here we go, day 1:
- Walk (try for 1 hour but 30 mins is good - still wheezing like crazy due to bronchitis)
- Lower body workout because my large muscles are craving it like anything, and this is somehow also linked to my brain
- Lots of fruit, lettuce type greens (had a big protein breakfast), try to avoid white flour
I do love the older-fitness-ladies circuit on Instagram (Wonder Women Official, and Joan MacDonald for example) and considered a (very!) anonymous account to post progress photos to keep me accountable, but that's not really my thing. I'd rather do the work in private, get to the end (hopefully, finally) and post a bikini pic on the beach that's far enough away for everybody who knows me to go "that's pretty impressive!"
. I don't need to post weekly progress shots, etc., although I truly admire the ladies who CAN do that, as they really help me feel less self conscious. But it's not for me. Neither is counting macros, or anything for that matter. Immediately triggering for me.I'm excited to start this journey again here. Since I ditched the corporate world rat race, I have far more time on my hands. I am cobbling a living together by a handful of fun jobs I like to do (movie extra work, for example) and thankfully right now have relatively low living expenses. So I am hoping that I can now better do for myself what I always wanted to do, which is make time for working out.
This journal will be primarily a place to report that I did my workout(s) for the day. My goal is to do my carefully-curated and assembled-by-me at home workouts daily, as much as possible. I don't need to build in rest days because sometimes I work all day and can't fit it all in anyway. So I will do it as often as I can, but at least one at-home workout a day. I've separated them simply into upper body, lower body, and abs. LOL. I am not going to join a gym (yet) until I prove to myself I can and will do these at home, and that gym equipment will be the next natural progression. No forcing it.
For me, the workouts need to come first. They need to be the priority over my spending lots of time meal-prepping or obsessing about my diet. I also have a history of binge-eating so cannot even threaten myself with restriction without going into a binge/scarcity mindset. However, on the days I work out and the 24 hours following, I naturally crave whole foods. Keeping the sugar out of my house is actually the number one dieting aid for me. If I dare use that word.
I don't have a single problem getting enough cardio, due to my chosen preferred fun sport. If anything, from what people say, I guess I should cut down on that. But my brain needs it so, no. I won't be cutting down on that.
My main motivation (other than the bikini thing) is also being able to wear shorts again. I have an idea of how my legs should/could look so that I could do that and feel good about it again. I understand that I could, and damn well should wear whatever I please, but I don't want to wear shorts out in public right now. Also, my arms, which were always long and slim, need some care and attention. I think the combo of losing 15 lb plus my workouts should fix it to where I'm happy again. So it's not a whole lot, but apparently this year I have been unable to keep it all on the rails.
I am just finally getting over virus #6 in 10 months, so will be taking it easy for the next few days.
Here we go, day 1:
- Walk (try for 1 hour but 30 mins is good - still wheezing like crazy due to bronchitis)
- Lower body workout because my large muscles are craving it like anything, and this is somehow also linked to my brain
- Lots of fruit, lettuce type greens (had a big protein breakfast), try to avoid white flour
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Oh how I have missed these emojis! 
. I hope I can start posting some progress reports soon. Right now I'm eating enough food as if I were still walking to work and back, 5 miles a day.
. Long story short, I ended up with some furniture polish on my hardwood floor. I threw the toothbrush away of course and washed the toothpaste tube with scalding water and soap. I'm even throwing away the container. The good news is, I just mopped up the cornstarch I sprinkled onto the hardwood floor as it had become dangerously slippery (even for a skater like me) - and I still have plenty of energy to spare! No fever yet. So in spite of only having 4 hours sleep last night due to coughing fits, I feel pretty good.