Trying to get in better shape by mid December!

Red_Panda said:
I like to do a quick cardio to jump start my day; the bosu is a good half hour combination of cardio and things like squats and crunches at the end, so its something to fit in before I to go to class. Its also pretty fun. I don't think I'll be at the gym that much? The Bosu I have at home, the circuit I train on is down on the street, and the machines at the school gym won't take too long. I never really liked the idea of free weights somehow, machines are just easier for me to use, I wouldn't know what to do with free weights at all.
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I dunno - I consider any workout longer than an hour to be a long workout. That said, you can do just about anything with free weights that you can do with machines (certain exceptions might be back work), and you'll get a better workout. You'll be using more of your stabilizing muscles to keep the weights from moving around. Compare a chest press on a machine - your arms moving along the track the machine dictates - as opposed to a bench press - your arms moving through your natural movement pattern, using auxiliary muscles to balance the weights left to right and back and forth. How many times in real life does something you lift come on a track? This instability is why some people (like me) enjoy using kettlebells, for extra challenge in that area.

Consider this too - (taking a page from NROL) if the point of your workout is exercise, when you're using machines you're nearly always sitting down... With a little research and questions here I'd think you could come up with an equivalent or superior free weight option.
 
Looks like you're really on track for success, Red Panda. I haven't been tracking my progress here because it's in my blog. Maybe I should start posting it here too.
 
Well ok just as I start to get on track, I'm afraid there will be a pause in the working out. I spent most of today in the hospital with some pretty bad symptoms possibly related to my tumor (vision problems, dizziness, nausea, half my face and one arm all got tingly and then went numb), so I'm staying with my fiance's parents until my room mate comes back so that won't be home alone while I'm sick. And of course I have to take it easy for awhile. Sigh sigh sigh.
 
I should be going home later today, I'll continue to rest tonight, and then tomorrow I'll start a light workout and see how it goes. Hopefully I can get right back on track fairly quickly.
 
Alright, first day home and I felt just good enough to go to my class at the gym (an hour of crunches, lunges, squats, and other such fun). I didn't do as well as I'd like, but better to take it easy than to push myself too soon and end up taking more days off right? I jumped experimentally on the scale and weighed in at 165.6. Yay! Might be partly because I was so nauseous yesterday I only ate a sandwich and some pasta. Ah well. Tomorrow I'll start to ease back into my normal level of workout and see how I hold up bit by bit.
 
Got up nice and early, and now eating my two boiled eggs for breakfast, and then a nice long walk with the dog. If that goes well I'll continue on to some cardio or something and just see if I'm back to normal yet. Wish me luck!
 
Ok, so I did my walking and I did my circuit for the day. Still kind of sore from the workout I did yesterday actually, it was inteeeense. So here's my weigh in (and my measure that was actually due Monday):

Weight: 168.6
Fat: 36.4%
Muscle: 27%

Sooo apparently fat went up and muscle went down :( I blame the two days I didn't work out at all due to illness. Sigh. And measurements:

Bust: 36in
Waist: 31in
Hips: 41.5in
Thigh: 25in
Arm:11.5in

So most of its the same. The waist got smaller by 2 inches my thigh and arm both went up by half an inch. I would like to think thats muscle mass and not fat... Well, I'm going to be pushing much harder now that I think I'm fully recovered. Today was a tentative return to working out but I feel confident enough to go on tomorrow with my usual level. Yay.
 
Well I weighed in today at 169.2, but apparently my muscle percentage went up to 27.8 and my body fat went down to 35.3 so maybe its just muscle weighing more than fat? Or maybe I'm just optimistic. Keep in mind I'm weighing myself at night, I'll bet I weigh less in the mornings...

At any rate, I'm seeing my doctor tomorrow to discuss my strange migraine attack and for my physical, so maybe she'll have some ideas how to counter the depo thats still in my system. Sigh.
 
Alright, I'm feeling back to normal so the dedication resumes! So far today I've had: 2 hard boiled eggs for breakfast, banana for a snack, and a big bowl of brussel sprouts for lunch (Maybe I'm in a minority here, but I looove brussel sprouts. This is a delicious lunch in my world!). I'll probably have fish for dinner. I went for an hour long walk with the dog, and did some cardio on my Bosu.

Starting Monday the school gym will be opening up their cardio sculpt, kickboxing, pilates, yoga, etc. classes that are free for students. I've drawn up a little schedule of which ones I'll be attending. The college running club should also start meeting soon, and I'm going to join up - its so hard for me to run alone, its hard to stay motivated. Then in September hopefully I'll be doing some dancing. So from now until Monday is all warm-up for the real work to come! :D
 
My advice would be to only check the scale once a week. Yes, I know it's hard, but it will be for your own good. You can't get excited when it drops a pound, then bummed when it jumps a day later...it will do no favors for your motivation.

If you have a solid workout plan, with lifting weights, cardio, etc. combined with a healthy deficit diet, you will suceed in the long run.
 
In prep for my the workout intensity going up on Monday I've been waking up earlier and breaking up my food intake into little meals as suggested earlier. So I had my eggs for breakfast, now I'm having a power smoothie, then I'll do a sandwich for lunch, then some sort of snack between now and my fish dinner. Workouts for today will probably include a long walk, some Bosu, and some work on the home gym. And I will try to weigh myself less often ;)
 
As planned I had my sandwich, then a bowl of veggies after my Bosu workout and home gym reps. I also did some crunches, leg lifts, other pilates-style things like that (I use my big inflatable ball for the crunches and such, I find it helps). Now I am having my one tiny piece of dark chocolate (I let it melt in my mouth so it lasts a good 10 minutes). And if anyone reads my "moment of realization" thread, you'll see that right now I'm feeling pretty good about myself after some reflecting. I feel like it was a good day.
 
Today: Woke up at about 6am, ate my two boiled eggs, walked with the dog for an hour, came back and had a power smoothie, followed by an hour of heavy-sweating (a combo workout that has a minute of something like lunges or pushups, then 30 seconds of cardio, sort of a circuit style workout video). I then had a tuna sandwich for lunch (yummy!), ran my errands, had a cup of apple sauce, walked for another hour, came home to a bowl of mixed steamed veggies (peppers, green beans, carrots) and watched some TV while pedaling on the recumbent bike. Tomorrow I'll do a weigh and measure.
 
Ok, add to todays food intake some reduced fat triscuits with pineapple salsa... Mmmm. I have to snack a little, or sometime I'll snap and down a bag of doritos! Haha. But I checked, in small quantities this combo is not terrible.
 
So yesterday I had one egg, a little oatmeal, a chicken sandwich, and some triscuits (I had a tummy ache by evening and couldn't bring myself to eat more). I did the Curves circuit, pilates, and a heck of a lot of walking out in the heat (at least two hours worth, there was a problem with my college ID card activation and I got bounced from office to office all over campus). I weighed in at 164lbs last night and all my measurements are the same except for my thighs which are an inch smaller! Woooo.
 
Today: zone bar for breakfast (I was out of eggs, I ran and bought more this afternoon), a banana, a tuna sandwich, a bowl of mixed vegetables, some chicken, and a tiny piece of dark chocolate.

For exercise I did my half hour of Bosu training, half an hour of walking, and some reps on the home gym. I'll probably throw in some crunches before bed too.
 
Hey Red-
Just popped in to say hello and was happy to read a new journal. Looks like you have quite a commitment going on! Good for you! You have a really healthy diet and exercise routine-just be sure those calories don't go too low or you'll have your body working against you! Good luck and good job!
 
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