Boy my muscles are sore!

Well, the last few days, I have gone to my normal aerobics class workouts, but both days, we worked very hard. On Monday, I started with 12 minutes on the stair machine for a warmup before class. My warmup helped me start the calorie burning process with 67 cals burned. In class we did a 45 minute BOSU workout. Here is a link to what the BOSU looks like. http://www.bosupro.com/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=bosupro/itemdetl.html?item=BP1002
I have done a BOSU workout before, but not in a while. Basically we used cardio music and did step routines, but used the BOSU as our "step". This really helps you work your core while you are getting your cardio routine in. I followed this class with 45 minutes of Pilates. We used the ball during our pilates class and did some new moves that I had not done in the past. I was feeling my obliques (ab muscles along the side of your body) today before I went to class. I was doing one of the moves in pilates that I have tried before and never been able to do correctly, but when I did it yesterday it worked! I was very excited. The instructor said I must have found the right spot to be on the ball. It was nice to be able to do the exercise instead of watching everyone else. This particular move is when you have the ball under you and you are laying over the top with your feet spread out and touching the floor. You put your hands on the side and then push your body off of the ball. It was nice to finally get it!

Today I started with a 9 minute warm up on the eliptical. Nothing too tough, just warming up for the day. I burned about 50 calories. I went to my circuit class today. We started with our 5 minute warm up and some stretches. Then we started our circuits. First circuit was football run for 1 minute 30 seconds. Then jumping back and forth over a rope on the ground for 1 minute 30 seconds. Then we did a few minutes of weights. During our weight segment, we did squats with every arm movement. Next circuit was running up and then down on the BOSU. Then cross country ski on the floor. Both of these for 1 minute 30 seconds each. At each circuit we were given a low intensity and high intensity option. Most of the time, I opted for high intensity. Back to the weight segment. Boy those squats started getting hard by this point. My next two circuits were tap the BOSU with each foot (some fast and some slow) and jump squats. So then we went back to the weight section. I didn't think I could do anymore, but we kept pushing. More squats with our weight lifting section! By now the cardio circuits are looking good. My last two circuits were shuttle run and then jumping jacks. We followed up with a move my instructor calls "Elvis Pelvis". You go down into a squat then turn to the right and lunge. You only have to do about 10 of these on each side. They are tough! We finished with a cool down and stretch. I felt good after class, but now tonight, I'm feeling a little sore. Although, it's a good kind of sore. Makes me feel glad I worked out and that I can feel my muscles getting stronger. Hope you are getting stronger and healthier too!

PS - Make sure you are getting enough water! I have been battling headaches for the last week or so and I think it may be due to not getting enough water throughout the day. So, I'm trying really hard to have more water. The problem is that the more water you drink, the more you need to use the bathroom and I view trips to the bathroom as a complete waste of time, so I don't like having to go more often. You can even ask my mom about holding it all day when I was a kid! :)

Everybody's Working for the Weekend!

Well, it's Friday! We made it through our first week of school here. So now comes the times where we really look forward to Friday. Unfortunately for me, this usually means that I don't eat as well and I don't exercise. This is not a good combo. What happens is that I work hard all week in both my workouts and eating and then I blow it all over the weekend. I haven't been putting a lot of thought into this lately, but today I realized that this could really be sabotaging my weight loss efforts. So I'm going to make it a plan to try not to overeat this weekend and to keep myself more active. Even if I just go out and weed or wash the car, at least I will be moving around. I could even play some Wii Fit!

I started my Friday with a good workout to jump start my weekend. I jogged/ran for 30 minutes. This is a great way for me to start my workouts as this 30 minutes burns about 200 calories. I only burn this many calories when I am running outside. I don't seem to get the same numbers when I am on the treadmill. I then went to a one hour aerobics class. This class was a combination of step, weights & bands with an ab workout on the end. This is a great all over body workout. At the end of the class I had burned an additional 327 calories. So I am on my way to having a great weekend. As I write this down, I hope it helps me to remember to stay on track over the weekend. Stay away from the wine! :)

Working Hard???

Well even though I haven't posted in a few days, I have still been busy with my workouts. On Friday I did a 30 minute run and then went to an hour aerobics class. I got a great workout, but my watch was not working with me today. Every once in a while, I have trouble with the watch taking my heart rate correctly. Today it kept saying that I was at 190 beats per minute which is over 100% of my maximun heart rate. I know that it was actually not that high, but since the watch doesn't know that it starts counting calories much faster than it should. Usually I can get a good reading eventually and then I can get my calorie count figured out from there. But, on Friday, it did not want to work with me at all. I eventually took the watch off and stopped trying to get it to work. Sometimes I have to remember that even though I do not have my calorie count, doesn't mean I didn't actually burn the calories.

On Monday, I did my 45 minute step class and 45 minutes of pilates. During step I burned about 275 calories and I burned an addtional 139 calories in pilates. My total for the day was 414. During my pilates class, Miss Mary from daycare came into the aerobics room with Morgan and asked if she was allergic to bees. Morgan got stung by a yellow jacket while she was outside playing. The site was raised just a little bit around where the sting occured, but I'm not allergic so I figured she would be fine. Miss Mary said that she didn't even cry. She just came over to Miss Tammi and told her that her elbow was hurting. I let Morgan sit next to me while I did some pilates and then she wanted to go back to play with her friends. I took her back to daycare and she played for another 20 minutes while I finished up class. By the time I picked her up the swelling had gone down and she was fine. Now, I was lucky that it was Morgan that got stung, because if it had been Kaylee we would have had to go home immediatly!

Today was a very interesting day at the gym. I have a PTA Executive Board meeting today so I was not able to go to my normal class. Since I don't like to miss a day, I decided to get to bed early last night and get up and go to the 5:30 am class today. Can you believe it??? I was actually up and at the gym at 5:30am!!! The class is called BOSU, so they use the BOSU ball thing. This is the piece of equipment that is flat on the bottom and like a ball on the top. It is great for working your core. Sometimes you can use the BOSU and do a step type routine. You can also use it for ab workouts and strength workouts. After a brief warmup and some work with the barbell for the first 15 minutes, we went out into the gym to work on the cardio equipment. This part of the workout was like being on The Biggest Loser! She put each of us on a different machine. We spent about 5 minutes on each machine. I started on a stairclimer at a medium level. After about a minute we had to let go of the machine and push ourselves for the next minute. Then relief for a minute, back to pushing and then back to start. Then we moved on to the next machine. I then did 5 minutes on the elliptical, 5 minutes on another stair climber, followed by the last 15 minutes on a stationary bike. The bike was the toughest. I was working at level 8-9 on the "easy" segments. Then I had to crank it up to 18-19 and stand up on the "hard" segments. During the hard segments, we would take one hand off and then switch to the other hand off. This was extremely hard and the teacher was like Jillian, coming around and making sure you were doing the hard levels. After we finished on the equipment we went back to the aerobics room and finished up with about 10 minutes of abs and stretching. This was a really tough class and I was able to burn 312 calories in just 1 hour! It was good for me to get a different type of workout that my body is not used to. I'm sure I'll be feeling it later and hopefully the scale will reflect it tomorrow. I am trying to get back down to my pre vacation weight!

Good luck with your workouts this week. I'll keep you posted on mine. I'm also working very hard to cut down on one of my new favorite foods! I have started enjoying bread (any kind will do) dipped in olive oil with seasoning. It is the best! I have been telling myself that it is good for me because it is olive oil. Well, at each sitting I was probably taking in close to 2 tblsp of olive oil. I just looked at the olive oil bottle the other day and 1 tblsp is 125 calories!!! Ouch!! So, I'm trying to only have this once a week instead of every day and to keep it to a small amount. I don't need to drown the bread, just get a dab to get the flavor. So, even though we think we are eating healthy, it can be sabotoging our weight loss efforts. So make sure you check those labels now and again.

Update on the Last Few Days

Well, I know I have not updated this blog in a couple of days, but it does not mean that I did not work out. Here is an update on what I have been doing this week.

Tuesday - 45 Minutes Walk/Jog/Run/Lunges
This was a good workout for me. I started out walking for a few minutes then went to running/jogging. I ran for a total of about 3 miles. Once I start running, I go for about 7 minutes or so then I walk so that I can check my heart rate on my watch. It is hard to do while you are running and you don't always get an accurate number. So I walk just until I get my reading which takes about 20 seconds then I go back to running. I kept this up for about 35 minutes and then I finished with a 5 minute cool down and 5 minutes of walking lunges. I forgot to write down my calories, but I believe I was around 300 total.

Wednesday - 30 Minutes Cardio Aerobics, 30 Minutes Yoga and 20 Minutes Elliptical
The cardio part of class today was on the floor. The teacher puts together some combos and we repeat them several times over the 30 minutes. I was able to burn 150 calories during this portion of the workout. We then move right in to the 30 minute yoga portion of the class. As this is the only yoga workout that I can go to right now, it will have to do. I would really love to go to a yoga studio and take class several times a week. I love the breathing and connecting with your body and mind part of yoga. During this portion of class I burned 66 calories. Then after my class, is the FitKids class that Morgan goes to. While she was in class I went and did a 20 minute session on the elliptical. I started at incline 15 and resistance 5. I stayed here for 5 minutes. Then I moved to incline 10 at the same resistance for 5 minutes. Then I went down to incline 5 for 5 minutes and finished up the last 5 minutes at incline 10 pedaling backwards. This added an additional 145 calories burned. My total for the day was 361 calories.

Thursday - Well, I did not want to get up and go to the gym today. So I just decided to take it easy this morning and go into the gym a little later. In a few weeks when Kaylee goes back to school, I won't have that option so I thought I would take it today. I couldn't decide if I wanted to attend the Cardio/Core class today or work on my own. I ended up working out on my own, but I had a really good workout. I started on the stationary bike (regular). I set it for interval training for 30 minutes. After a warmup it went to 2 minutes at level 10 to 2 minutes at level 4. You can adjust your level but this was a good starting place for me as I don't use the bike very often. When I was at level 10 I would stand and pedal for the first minute then sit down and pedal for 30 seconds. Then I finished up the last 30 seconds of the interval standing. Then when the bike went to level 4 I would sit, but pedal faster. On the level 10 intervals I kept the rpm's around 72, on level 4 I bumped it up to 95. After 30 minutes I had burned 200 calories. I stayed on the bike for another 5 minutes to cool down. Then I took 10 minutes to do some leg strengthening. I put a band around my ankles and then with my feet out wide did two sets of 12 squats. I then walked side to side for two sets of 12 with the band around my ankles. I finished up with 1 minute of jump rope, 12 squats on the BOSU, another minute of jump rope and my last set of squats on the BOSU. My total workout time was 45 minutes and my total calories burned were 286. Not too bad for a quick workout.

Well, tomorrow is Friday, so I'll probably do a hard day! Have fun!

Pilates Class Today

Well, after a nice weekend away from home, where I ate too much and had too many liquid calories, it is back to the gym for me! Luckily, Monday is a day where I do a tough workout to get me ramped up for the week. Please see my routine below and calories burned:

45 Minutes Cardio Step 288 Calories Burned
45 Minutes Pilates 105 Calories Burned

Total calories burned 393

One of the things I really love about Pilates is how it works your whole body, especially your core. However, one of the keys to working your whole body and your core is to squeeze all those muscles tight during your entire workout. If you don't engage each muscle group when you are using it, you will not see the results that you want. It is also important to remember to breathe during your pilates workout. My instructor is good about letting us know which part of the move we should be inhaling on and which part we should be exhaling on. I think most home DVD's will give you the same information.

Good luck this week with your workouts and eating healthy. I'm going to work on getting lots of fruits and veggies. Some of my veggies will even come from my garden!

Happy Friday!!!

Welcome to Friday! I know how we all look forward to Friday, but for me Friday is my hardest workout. I think I do this to compensate a little for not working out over the weekend. Today I started my workout with a 30 minute run. Well it is a combo of walking, jogging and running. I have been doing my Friday run outside. There is a good run near the Y, so I am able to drop off Morgan and then go for a run. This run is kind of hard as there are a few hills. For me, running is really the only way to get my heart rate up and get a great workout in a short amount of time. At the end of my run I had burned 217 calories. Then to up my workout for Friday, I attended a 1 hour aerobics class. This was another 20/20 class like yesterday, so it was a combination of floor aerobics, weights, step and abs. We also did some kick boxing stuff today in class. I didn't used to like the kick boxing, but as I have gotten stronger, I do enjoy having this added to my classes. During class I burned 324 calories. So my total for today was 541!! One of the great things about starting with the 30 minute run is that it really gets my calorie burn going so even when I slow down a little in class, I keep burning lots of calories.

One thing I want to give you to think about over the weekend is something I have been hearing about more and more. It is eating more to weigh less. Sounds perfect, doesn't it? Well, I read an article in a running magazine this week that talked about an overweight women who had cut her calories drastically (around 1200-1400) and was working out a lot. She was seeing no progress on the scale, so she cut her calories even more. Still nothing on the scale. Then she talked to the "professionals" and one thing they said was that she wasn't eating enough to sustain her body through her workouts. They talked about eating breakfast (first thing in the morning) to get your metabolism going. This is so important. Our bodies do things even without us telling them and one of the things is to go into starvation mode when we don't feed them in the morning. What this means is that if you don't eat something in the morning, your body thinks it isn't going to get food so it starts storing fat and slowing down your metabolism. Plus you are even hungrier when you do eat and then eat more than you should at lunch. The woman in the story ended up changing her calorie intake to over 2000 and finally started to see the numbers come down on the scale. Now the thing is you can't just up your calories with french fries or cinnamon rolls. The idea is to get more fruits, veggies, whole grains, etc. So just a little something to think about this weekend!

Have a great time and do something fun outside this weekend. I'll be walking around the Valkyrie (Craig's motorcycle) yearly shindig and checking out all the cool bikes.

Proper Form and Technique

I want to mention today how important proper form and technique are to your workouts. I have noticed over the many years that I have been working out that sometimes you can do a move without actually engaging your muscles and working out properly. As I have lost weight and do not have as much body fat, I am more aware of my muscles and when and how to squeeze them. This is a very important part of every workout. I would suggest that if you are not sure about your form try looking in the mirror (or sliding glass door). This will help you to see what you are doing. Another good trick is to start with no weight or small weights until you are sure your form is correct. Once your body is used to doing exercises with the proper form then you can increase your weight. You can also check online to find pictures of correct form for many different exercises.

My workout for today was 20 minutes on the treadmill. I did a 1 minute warm up at 3.5 speed and 1.0 incline. After the warm up, I changed the speed to 5.5 for a nice jog. I stayed at this pace with the 1.0 incline for 19 minutes. Then I went back to 3.5 for a 1 minute cool down. For this 21 minutes I burned a total of 110 calories. I then went to a 20/20/abs class. This class consists of a 5 minute warm up and stretch followed by 20 minutes of cardio which we did on the floor. Then we did 20 minutes of weights. The weight segment was medium to light weights while we were still moving our feets and working our arms, shoulders and back. The last 20 minutes of class were devoted to abs and legs. We did the old school leg lift workout. It reminds me of Jane Fonda, but I think they really do work (or else we wouldn't still be doing them!). During class I burned 251 calories. So my total for the whole workout was 361.

I have another thing I would like to discuss today and that is the scale. If you are trying to lose weight and you still have a way to go, my suggestion is to weigh yourself once a week. I would pick one day and a specific time and I would always weigh at that day and time. This gives you a better idea of how your weight loss is progressing. If you are at your goal weight or close to it, then I would suggest weighing more frequently. This helps you monitor your food and workouts better. I still suggest weighing at the same time every day. The other thing to be aware of is that our bodies fluctuate daily with weight. So don't be discouraged to see little gains in between the loses. This could be water retention or any number of other things.

Good luck with your workouts!

Cardio/Yoga

Today I went to the cardio/yoga class. I like this class because you get a good cardio workout and then you get to relax with the yoga portion. I am a big fan of yoga, but I really feel that you should take classes from a yoga instructor that will really teach you how to do the poses correctly. I worry sometimes that when we do yoga without the proper training that we do not get the benefits and that you can get hurt. I took many classes with a yoga instructor when I lived in Portland that really taught me about breathing and how to do the poses. When you do the poses correctly you will really feel your body working hard. Yoga should not be an easy workout. It should be relaxing, but if you do it correctly you can really work your body. So that is the end of my soapbox about yoga. During the cardio portion of the class we did hi/low (on the floor). This consisted of things like hustle up and back, step touch, grapevine, etc. I was able to burn 162 calories during the cardio portion of this class. When we started the yoga portion, I made sure to take my heart rate as it went down quite a bit once I stopped jumping around. I burned an additional 88 calories. The total for the whole class was 250 calories.

On Wednesday, Morgan also gets a chance to workout as they have a kids class at the Y. Morgan loves it! She looks forward to this day every week and asks to go on other days of the week. Her class is 30 minutes so I decided to go and get a little more cardio while she was doing her class. I walked on the treadmill for 20 minutes.


Start 3.5 speed and 0 incline
1 Minute 3.5 speed and 2.0 incline
2 Minutes 3.5 speed and 4.0 incline
3 Minutes 3.5 speed and 6.0 incline
4 Minutes 3.5 speed and 8.0 incline
5 Minutes 3.5 speed and 10.0 incline
6 Minutes 3.5 speed and 12.0 incline
7-14 Mintues Hold 3.5 speed and 12.0 incline
14 Minutes 3.5 speed and 10.0 incline
15 minutes 3.5 speed and 8.0 incline
16 minutes 3.5 speed and 6.0 incline
17 minutes 3.5 speed and 4.0 incline
18 minutes 3.5 speed and 2.0 incline
19 minutes 3.5 speed and 0 incline

This additional 20 minutes helped me burn an additional 115 calories. So for a total of 1 hour and 20 minutes I burned 365 calories. I consider this a very good day. I try on average to burn at least 300 calories a day to help me lose weight. I can lower this a little when I am maintaining. If I want to eat more during the day then I try to keep my number of calories burned up so that I have a little more leeway with my food choices during the day.

Just a quick note from Monday of this week to Tuesday I lost a total of 1/2 a pound so this really does work! Have a great day!

Tuesday's Blog on Wednesday

I missed updating my blog yesterday as I was having some problems with my computer. My IT department (Craig) had to work on it for several hours to get everything running again. So we are back online and I'll get you updated on what I did yesterday.

I went to a circuit aerobics class. We had a substitute teacher so the class was a little different then what I'm used to but it was still a good class. We started with a 5 minute warm up and stretch and then went into our circuits. We went back and forth between several minutes of cardio and then several minutes of weights. Some of our cardio was on the step and then we did some cardio on the floor. We kept changing back and forth between cardio and weights and then finished up the hour with 5 minutes of ab work and 5 minutes of cool down and stretching. The total amount of calories I burned for this workout was 320. You can keep your heart rate up during the weight segments as we are usually still moving our feet. I also pushed hard through the cardio segments.

First Workout in 14 Days

Well, it was back to the gym for me this morning and I was so excited. After 14 days I was ready to get in there and really have a great workout. On Mondays, I usually go to a 45 minute cardio class that is followed by a 45 minute Pilates class. The cardio portion of the class today was all on the step. I love step workouts because I am able to push myself enough to get my heart rate up and really work off some calories. According to my watch I burned 298 calories during the 45 minutes of cardio. As my heart rate comes down during Pilates I don't burn as much, but I still burned 129 calories. So total calories burned for my workout this morning was 427! Not too bad for my first day back. I think I actually burned more calories today since I had not worked out for two weeks. Class seemed much harder to me than it had in the past, so I think my idea of getting a jump start might just work out.

A couple of things I want to share with you about working out is make sure to drink lots of water and eat something! I take a 16.9 oz bottle of water with me to the gym. I drink a little before class and take many breaks during class to have more water. I finish up my bottle usually on the way home after class. I always eat something before I workout in the morning. My typical morning routine is to have a popcorn cake (caramel flavored) with peanut butter on it. This is about 125 calories and really helps me have the energy to get through class. The peanut butter is great because it has protein so I don't get hungry in the middle of my workout. Plus this is light enough that it doesn't upset my belly while I am working out. When I get home after a workout, I have my second part of breakfast. This is normally a 1/2 cup of Kashi Go Lean Crunch with 1/2 cup Vanilla Soy Milk. This is 130 calories total. I am usually eating this portion of my breakfast after 10am. I don't worry about filling up too much because I know I am going to have lunch at noon. Sometimes I also have a banana with my cereal. Because fruits and veggies are good for you!

Well, I need to get back to my day, but I hope this information about one of my workouts helps you be motivated to do something today. Don't forget to push yourself! :)

Getting Back to My Routine

After spending 10 days in Oregon visiting with my family and friends, I am now back in South Carolina and looking forward to getting back to my normal routine. It can be very difficult to eat healthy when you are away from home. First of all, you spend some time eating out at restaurants which can derail all of us from our good intentions. Second, you may spend some time drinking your calories, which is never a good idea. The third problem that I have is that I am very busy so when there is any amount of downtime, I feel like I should be eating. These are not good things when trying to maintain my recent weight loss. These can be even worse if you are trying to lose weight. The good news is even with all of these pitfalls, I only gained about 2 lbs on vacation. Those should come off quickly once I get back to my healthy eating and working out.



On many of my vacations, I have chosen to bring my workout shoes and clothes and try to sneak in a few workouts. I took a different approach this time and did not bring any of my workout gear with me. I thought that it might be good for my body to have a little break. I have been working out 5 days a week for about a year and a half. I'm hoping that when I start back up at the gym on Monday that I am able to kick start my metabolism. Since I enjoy being at the gym and working up a sweat, I have missed being there. I actually look forward to going and am dissapointed when I have to cancel a workout. If you find some aerobic activity that you enjoy it makes a big difference in whether you continue to do it. So go out and find something you like, it may even be something you have not tried yet, and have fun working out!



Have a great rest of the weekend and I will start posting workouts on Monday. I usually take Saturday and Sunday off from the gym. That is what works for me and my family. It's always good to give your body a rest sometime during the week. I take the time on the weekends to do things like work in the garden or walk somewhere so that I'm not just sitting still.

Welcome to my new blog!

Over the past six months I have been working very hard to be a healthier person. I have been watching my diet and working out. All of this work has really paid off for me and I lost about 10 lbs. When I went on vacation to visit my friends and family in Oregon, several people asked me what I had been doing to lose weight. So I thought this would be a good time to start this blog and let you all in on my secrets. Well, they aren't really secrets, but it is what has worked for me. Keep in mind that all of our bodies are different and will respond differently to workouts and diet. This blog will also help keep me on track with staying healthy, working out and eating right.

One of the first things I want to share with you is my watch. It is the Mio Classic Select Petite. Here is the website so you can check them out.

http://www.miowatch.com/products/view/15

My husband bought me this watch for Christmas after I asked him if there was a device that could help me figure out how many calories that I was burning during an aerobics class. I figured that I knew how many calories that I burned when I used the elliptical or the treadmill since it gives you the calories burned. I quickly learned with my new watch that the numbers on the treadmill are not accurate for my body. I actually only burn about half of what the machine was saying. In other words, I thought I was working out hard and burning 400 calories, when I was really only burning 200 calories. The problem with this is when you are trying to track your calories in and out you need to have accurate data. With this watch, I was able to program in my age, weight and resting heart rate. When I work out I turn the counter on the watch on and while I am working out I take my heart rate periodically. The watch then tells me how many calories I have burned. This has been great for me. I find that I can go through the motions without putting much into it. So I thought I was working out and doing a good job, but I was not pushing myself enough. The other thing that you can do with this watch is enter your daily calorie goal and then when you eat something you just enter the calories into the watch. When you workout, the calories burned are subtracted from your daily total. As the day progresses you can keep on track by seeing how many calories you have consumed. I really believe this has been a huge help to me in my weight loss efforts. I find the watch very easy to use and you can take it everywhere with you. I've never been very good with a food diary so for me the ease of entering the calories into the watch was great.

Please feel free to comment on this blog whenever you want. I am happy to answer questions and give any feedback I can. In future posts, I will be sharing some of my daily workouts with you and my diet ideas. My goal is to eat in moderation. I try to keep this in mind and not ban foods from my diet, but we have to learn how to eat in appropriate portions. More on that later. Good luck with getting healthy (and losing weight)!