Kicking Ass

 

The last two weeks have been a whirl wind of good, bad, and ugly all rolled into one.  Last weekend was my sisters Bridal Shower.  I am her Matron of Honor and so I have been working extra hard on making these events leading up to her big day as special as possible.  Needless to say I did not attend my normal gym times/routine last weekend at all.  I made due and used my Nike App on my IPHONE and jogged all around my childhood neighborhood two Saturdays ago.  Also I have started a new habit on Sundays since I have no child care available Sundays and their daddy works. I wait until daddy gets home then I take off from my house and put in 3-4 miles jogging the country side where I live.  It's become one of my favorite things to do when I can't be at the gym.  It's safe to say I have a healthy addiction.  I can hardly stomach bad foods anymore and I'm a workout-a-holic.  I am to the point I am working out 6-7 days a week riding mostly at 7 days a week.

Last week weigh-in I lost 1.2 pounds and this week I lost .8 pounds; bringing in a two week total of 2 pounds.  Over-all I am down -35.8 pounds leaving a remaining 1.2 pounds to lose to meet my first 90 day Visalus Body by Vi Challenge.  I should be done with my last shake mix of my 3rd month supply this week.  So the grand total loss for the first challenge is coming up around the corner!  I've noticed since my last major weekly loss of over 4 pounds my weight has fluctuated between the big loss and the small loss over the last two weeks where I am now.  I am losing which is good but its been slower moving the last two weeks.  Its as though I'm riding the line of losing and hitting a weight plateau.  If I do actually plateau it'll be my second one so far in my weight loss journey.  If in-deed I do then here in the next week or two I should see a drastic drop in weight from where I am now. (based on past trends)  I weight 201.2 right now and my normal plateau is around 200.

After tracking my food diary and work out routines/results I don't see anything negative that could be a contributing factor.  Although the last plateau was a cross road for my body where I started gaining muscle which as we all know muscle weighs more than fat.  I FEEL stronger and I look so much smaller!  It's amazing how the scale is telling me I am losing slowly but I see and feel so much of a drastic change in my body!  I am 110% out of plus size clothing.  I wear a regular size Large in tops.  My bra size has gone from a 38 DD to a 36 C. I was in a plus size 1 top or size 20 pant and now my plus size 1 and extra larges are like wearing bags and size 18 pants are falling down.  I know I'm a 16 because I can hardly hold my pants up. (this momma needs to go shopping BAD!!!) My size 18 work pants are saggin and baggin and I'm rolling em up to hold em up! Two dress sizes down!!!  What UP!!!

My newest additions to my work outs are as follows.  The only time I do less than 65 minutes on the elliptical is when I have to rush out of the gym by a certain time to pick up my kids from daycare before they close.  If their daddy picks them up then I have time for a full work out at the capacity I am at now.  The ramp is at a 14 and the resistance is now a 9.  I do 65 minutes with 10 minute miles.  After the cool down I complete around 6.5 miles.  Once I finish the elliptical I stretch for 10-15 minutes and work on my stomach as follows: 40 regular sit ups; 10  Leg Ups? (Lie on back legs straight up in air ankles crossed then slightly bend knees and lower slowly toward the ground then back up) 40 sit ups rotating sides (reg sit up w/ knees bent feet flat then twist to right touch opposite elbow to opposite knee, regular sit up, then rotate cross sit up to the left side, then back center to regular sit up) I do this 40 times; 10 leg ups; 40 sit ups; 40 rotating sit ups. I stretch my stomach muscles really good afterwards.  If I am not dead afterwards I will do more on the balance ball.

  I am swimming 3-4 times a week at 1000 meters (20 full laps) doing front crawl 5 laps then 1 breast stroke lap.  I rotate this through out all 20 full laps.  It's major progress because when I first started I struggled with my breathing rhythm doing the front crawl so I built it up from doing just the breast stroke to where I am now.  My back and arms have really strengthened up from swimming and for me its like my own meditation.  If I am having a bad day I could swim way more than 1000 meters if the pool schedule and my time frame wasn't cut so short.  On Friday or Saturdays when I have extra time I cycle in the gym for a good while on top of everything else.  I still have stayed clear of the weights because I am more focused on cardio to burn more fat vs muscle gain.  I figure about 30 more pounds down and I will start focusing on incorporating strength exercises to my work out to help tone up the smaller problem areas and give my improved body a more defined look. Saving the bad for last... I bought some new running shoes some beautiful Nike's and they feel so good to run in.  My shins don;t hurt when I run in them however I am still breaking them it.  The back/heel was very stiff and now I have two awful blisters that I'm struggling with getting them to heal.  I have been putting 3 blister protecting bandaides over them with two pairs of socks to cushion them when I run.  They hurt so BAD!  I know the only way for them to completely heal faster is to not wear my tennis shoes so they won't rub but that means NO working out.  I can't do it barefoot and I can't wear flip flops SO I choose to deal with the pain!  :) But DAMN it hurts!

My next picture post will be at the end of my first challenge once I complete the last of my Vi shakes from the first 90 day challenge!

~Meredith