Here It Goes Again

In almost all of the titles of my other blog (Finding the Comfort Zone) I use lyrics to songs. One of these days I'll go through all of the past entries and credit the songs

I mention this because in this blog, I rarely do unless I KNOW what song I want to do. Today, it's OK Go's "Here It Goes Again." (video here!)

Last night I was spending my last few waking moments looking up the band's videography and was having a great time You Tube'ing the videos. Most of the songs were so upbeat and catchy, I decided today's playlist was going to be just their stuff and I would vary my pace accordingly. I must say, it worked rather well.

Today's workout was only 15 min (plus the walk time to the gym and back, which is basically just a warm up/cool down), but I wanted to do at least a little instead of none at all. My result:

Shake of the day:
-Strawberry Shakeology
-Vanilla Special K To Go
-Frozen strawberries
-Banana
-Spinach cube
- 1/2 c coffee

Just a short entry today to keep me honest, engaged and from thinking of the bug that was crawling on my neck for who knows how long until I flicked it off thinking it was sweat. **shudder**

A mix of something I love and something I hate

I hate. HATE. HATE working out. I really do. I find very little enjoyment. So, I force myself to find some enjoyment in the process by making playlists for my iPod. I've looked over suggestions from Pinterest and I've thrown in some of my personal touches and here's what I've come up with - and please forgive me for not going through the tedious labor of proper capitalization. (Incidentally, these playlists are what I also play while cleaning, another thing I hate.)

Playlist #1: "Get Up and Move" (1hr, 34 min)

Rhythm is going to get you - Gloria Estefan
Bizarre love triangle - New Order
Just can't get enough - Depeche Mode
How will I know - Whitney Houston
Get outta my dreams - Billy Ocean
Sports & wine - Ben Folds Five
Save a horse (ride a cowboy) - Big & Rich
I like it, I love it - Tim McGraw
Into the groove - Madonna
What I like about you - The Romantics
Jump around - House of Pain
Rock your body - Justin Timberlake
Alone - Robin Thicke
Party rock anthem - LMFAO
I gotta feeling - Black Eye Peas
So what - Pink
Dance, dance - Fall Out Boy
All my life - Foo Fighters
Lust for life - Iggy Pop
Man, it's so loud in here - They Might Be Giants
Are you gonna be my girl - Jet
Higher ground - Red Hot Chili Peppers
Long time - Boston


Playlist #2: "More Get Up and Move" (1hr, 7 min)

Behind these hazel eyes - Kelly Clarkson
Blurred lines - Robin Thicke
Boom boom pow - Black Eyed Peas
Don't stop the music - Rihanna
Don't phunk with my heart - Black Eyed Peas
Good vibrations - Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch
Hey mamma  - Black Eyed Peas
Rumour has it - Adele
When i grow up - Pussycat Dolls
Hate to say I told you so - The Hives
Last nite - The Strokes
Walk this way - Aerosmith
Harder, better, faster, stronger - Daft Punk
Jumping, jumping - Destiny's Child
We built this city - Starship
In da club - 50cent
We got the beat - Go-Go's


Playlist #3: "Sweat" (1hr, 4 min)

Addicted to love - Robert Palmer
Holiday - Madonna
Drum trip - Rusted Root
Ecstacy - Rusted Root
Send me on my way - Rusted Root
Good time - Owl City (Carly Rae Jepsen)
Break my stride - Matthew Wilder
The middle - Jimmy Ear World
Weapon of choice - Fatboy Slim
Ray of light - Madonna
All she wants to do is dance - Don Henley
Little rock - Reba McEntire
Under pressure - David Bowie and Queen
Dreams - The Cranberries4
SOS - Rihanna
Word Crimes - "Weird Al" Yankovic


Playlist #4: "Workout" (1hr, 35 min)

Groove is in the heart - Dee-Lite
Emotions - Mariah Carey
Ain't no other man - Christina Aguilera
Gettin' jiggy with it - Will Smith
I want you - Savage Garden
Unbelievable - EMF
Two princes - Spin Doctors
One week - Barenaked Ladies
What is love - Haddaway
Believe - Cher
Eye of the tiger - Survivor
Any way you want it - Journey
Stuck in the middle with you - DaVinci's Notebook
Break on through - The Doors
Edge of seventeen - Stevie Nicks
Carry on my wayward son - Kansas
Wake me up before you go go - Wham
Girls just want to have fun - Cyndi Lauper
Footloose - Kenny Loggins
Walking on sunshine - Katrina and the Waves
Flashdance - Irene Cara
(If you're wondering if I want you to) I want you to - Weezer
Start me up - Rolling Stones
Raise your glass - Pink
Since you been gone - Kelly Clarkson



With Playlist #1, I spent 15 minutes on the elliptical and 18 minutes on the treadmill. My results on the treadmill (I forgot to snap a pic for the elliptical):

Today's shake of choice:

Strawberry Shakeology

Vanilla Kellog To Go

Banana

Frozen raspberries

Spinach

Key Lime yogurt

Onto the rest of my day!

Got to (re)start somewhere

Inspiration. Motivation. Perspiration,

Over 4 years ago I started this blog to lose the baby weight. It's fluxed, but for the most part, weight hasn't done much than sit there. And sit and sit and sit. But, that's mostly because I sat and sat and sat.

Well, this year I decided not on a New Years resolution, but a slow and painful reshaping of my mindscape. My goal will always be to put my family first. Not myself, but my family. But the more I realized that this will only happen from the inside out, I decided that there were a couple of fundamentals I needed to tweak.

I am a fairly confident person, but somewhere over the years I had it in my mind that I was comfortable in not putting myself out there. Over the past year, I've made strides to change this. There were some opportunities that would have had Susan-of-8-years ago say, "that's a headache I don't want, so 'no'." But now, I've decided for a lot of the things I have the initial thought of turning down, I'll stop and think and then make myself say yes.

Take the fashion show I just did last night. A few months ago when we first heard of this in its planning stages, I knew they wanted models, but I was going to volunteer my time as stage manager so that I didn't have to be in front of people. All 150lbs of me. (I miss the 125lb Susan, but that was in another lifetime.) So, when I spoke to the lady in charge, I found myself saying I'd be a model. And it felt alright.

I'm not going to lie - I'm looking at the pictures this morning and I'm cringing. In the realm of comparing fruit to body-type, I'm a combination of pear and apple. Or a slightly triangular watermelon.

Now, for those who are not used to my tone, I don't go to humor to be coddled. It's to amuse me while I reflect. I don't need the automatic "don't say that" or even advice. I just talk this way to get through my thoughts =)

So, why am I saying 'yes' to the things I wouldn't usually even consider? Because no matter what body type, I have to be ok. I have to act ok. I have to show my daughter that beautiful is confidence, kindness and the ability to make others feel at home. Even make myself feel at home in this body.

But, I can't just be ok with always having it in the back of my mind that I *should*:
-work out
-eat right
-treat myself better

I have to do. There is no try. (Thanks, Yoda)

I've made playlists, I've Pinterest'd, I've walked to the gym and stepped for 25 minutes. And I'll make myself go to the gym again tomorrow.

I used to not being able to move smoothly because of my arthritis. Well, that's manageable now. I used to just be depressed and a bit of a shut in. That's being managed, too.

I'll be adding the various smoothie/protein drink recipes here of what I'm drinking while typing this. Why? So that I can remember what I made and to see if I like it ;p

4/15 :
-white-cran-strawberry
-1/3 frozen raspberries
-1/3 blackberries
-3 cubes frozen pineapple juice.


Now I sign off with the song that's playing on my playlist and pray I do another good job of keeping at it tomorrow.

"....everyday I'm shufflin'"

Trying to start a new ritual

I made a new purchase on Amazon the other day. I bought this bike and it arrived yesterday. I read the reviews and checked out other sites to make sure this was a good buy, of course, and I found it funny that one of the Amazon reviews mentioned the complexity of assembling the bike. I thought, 'eh, can't be that bad' and then I saw this:

Ok, so that is a little crazy.

But, it looks worse than the actual action of putting it together and I was able to get it done and test it to make sure I wasn't going to fall onto ouchy metal while I'm trying to get a good sweat going.

Finished product.

So, tonight I gave it a whirl. But first, I was distracted by Violet who had a very congested nose and was crying because she was having trouble breathing, and as I was waiting out another 5 minutes before going to get her, I received a phone call from my sister who was a little bit stranded with a dead car battery. Since Vi was already awake, I grabbed her, went to the parking lot and helped the Roses out.

By the time I came back, used the nasal bulb on Violet and rocked her to calmness, I sat back on the bike and flipped on Jeopardy. I figured I would get warmed up during the segment before the first commercial break, and keep it to the next highest setting for the rest of the show.

It worked out pretty good, though I would LOVE to know if the calorie burning counter was at all accurate. If it was, hot diggity, I'm really happy with the purchase. But I have a feeling that it may be a bit more generous than accurate.

Pin it down!!

Oh, and btw, I'm trying to be 'productive' in my newest time-suck. Pinterest, which is a super-mindless-fun-activity to do while watching tv (since I don't have a husband to talk to during shows), is giving me ideas much like what I used to rip out of magazines for workout ideas. Starting next week, I'll be implementing some of these routines, however I will have to YouTube several exercises, like trying to find out what a "Russian Twist" is.

My "Workout" Pinterest board

My hatred of exercising < My hatred of looking chunky in pictures

I have done 4 days of workouts. The first day was before Violet got out of her crib in the morning and again during her morning nap. The second through fourth day was only in the time before getting her in the morning. (Though, today is the fourth day and I want to try to get another workout in during her afternoon nap.)

And, man, the Ab Fat Burner workout I did yesterday morning was weird. I couldn't get ANY of the moves right and kept flubbing. And today, the tops of my thighs hurt enough to make it difficult to walk up and down stairs while carrying Violet and my abs are not in pain at all. I think I did something wrong there....

Inspiration and encouraging words

Here's me spot-blogging once again. July was a super crazy month that allowed me to spend 12 days with Scott (more on that on the other blog just as soon as I sit down and write it!!), which also meant a whole month at my Mom's place, where the word 'no' has zero meaning.

I've weighed myself this morning at 137.8 pounds. I've been pretty much at that standstill for a month and a half and I need to get off this plateau. My goal is to lose another 10 pounds and I would LOVE to do this for Tara's wedding (and directly following that, my trip to Greenland). That means I have all of August and all of September.

Can I do this? I hope so!! Not quite like the "Bob the Builder" song, but that's why I need your words of encouragement!!

Weeeee! Progress report!

About a year ago, I was 170 lbs and a size 16 jean according to Old Navy sizes.

I am now 141 and a size 8.

Still more to go, but in the meanwhile, I'll say....

Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!!!

It's been so long, let me reintroduce myself.

Hello to the people who read my 'other' blog! It has been months (and months and months) since I last posted here and I'd like to start up again. Here's a quick update:

-I've moved to the mountainous country of Pagosa Springs, Colorado, where everyone shops from REI and LOVES the outdoors. Do I feel like a fish out of water? Most definitely. People talk of their usual activities and hardly ANY of it is just sitting. Hiking, snowshoeing, skiing, rafting, biking - all of the healthy, crunchy, granola-and-energy-drink guzzling activities you'll ever find in Adventure Magazine. And I mostly just stare blankly at them. However, as out of place as I feel, I do want to use some of my free time to huff and puff alongside of their easy stride to try to get back on the hors... I mean, treadmill.

-I have been weighing myself occasionally, and this morning it read 146.6, which is the kindest the scale has been since the end of my first trimester. Yay =)

-I took a pilates class this morning. I thought it was going to be yoga mats and resistance bands. What it turned out to be was a big, fat, serious workout on one of these:

 I will be going back again, but probably not until I can settle into ANY kind of routine. This won't happen until after I get back from NJ in April.

In the meanwhile, I'll be busting out the two sets of dumbbells (both very lightweight), the balance ball and the balance board, and all of my workout DVD's. This time, I'll try to do more than just give a slight glance at them and actually get off my patootie and do any of the workouts.

Here's to finding the motivation.... again!

I wish I could say it was MORE of the same

Life just never stops. And for as many times as I've learned this lesson, I forget it all over again and constantly am in a state of shock when life gets in the way and my goals seem to slowly come to a stall.

Well, the last several weeks have been no exception. Between visiting my family in Montana to adjusting my mindset to the move we'll have to go through in January, my visits to the base gym have been few and far between. I've been telling Scott more and more often lately to help motivate me by kicking me out of the house in the evening once we've got Violet's last bottle feeding under way. And his attempts have been successful for the few times I request his actions. I guess I'll have to have him do this EVERY night (or at least every other) rather than just when I remind him. But motivation comes slllllooooooowww.

Last night I did go out to the gym and spent half an hour on the bike, which, sadly, is the longest time I've spent doing cardio in a very long while. The media distractions helped tremendously. There are tv's available at every bike, elliptical and treadmill and I was able to flip on the Raiders/Broncos game.

The last little boost I got was the last song to play on my iShuffle. I love Weezer already, but this song really makes me happy =)

Get on your bikes and ride!

During yesterday's workout, I decided to change it up and try out the stationary bike rather than the elliptical machine. After that, I did some ab crunches and something that can be compared to a row machine, without the sliding back and forth and only works the arms/back. I feel pretty good about the hour workout, being that I REALLY didn't want to go. I'm not a emotional eater, I'm not one who can run or bike for miles to work out whatever inner turmoil I've got - what I am is someone who wants to just be still and be left alone when I'm down. But, being that I didn't want to derail my idea of going only twice to the gym this week, I channeled my inner personal trainer and got my butt to the base.

I've been slowly refining my workout music and I've found the most motivating music I've got can also be labeled under 'guilty pleasures'. Along with a whole bunch of songs by Black Eye Peas, Daft Punk, early-to-mid-90's dance music and a handful of Pussycat Dolls, I also rock to:
- Avril Lavigne "Girlfriend"
- Erasure "A Little Respect"
- Ace of Base "Beautiful Life"
- Bjork "Big Time Sensuality"
- Missy Elliot "Get Your Freak On"
- Red Hot Chili Peppers "Higher Ground"
- Brittany Murphy/Paul Oakenfold "Faster Kill Pussycat"
- Crush "Jellyhead"
- Blu Cantrell "Hit 'Em Up With Style"

What music goes with your workout?

Mama's got a brand new goal

I no longer have the wedding celebration in the spring of 2012 to lose all of my weight, but I do have to keep in mind a goal of some sort in order to keep myself motivated. There is a wedding in Austin for one of Scott's old high school buddies that takes place in October. That gives me 3 months to lose as much weight as I can.

I just got back from a week in Kentucky while we visited my in-laws. Now, it's literally crunch time. I have been running around paying visits and moving our home. Far too many things have been distracting me and giving me excuses to not going to the gym. Now I have to get myself disciplined.

Comment on the run

Moving is hard work. So is doing a massive top-to-bottom-clean-up of the house.

But at least I don't feel bad that I haven't gone to the gym. I've still managed to lose a little bit of weight!

Back to the boxes....

Back from the land of no portion control

I'm back from my week long stay in Colorado and I am happy to report that I didn't loose my battle of the weight (by much) while at my mother's house. She has a hard time not over-preparing for meals, so I was thankful there were 6 other people in the house to help eat 'my' share of the food.

I did not get any time to go to the hotel gym as I had imagined. It was a foolish pipedream and I should have recognized the fact that my sister, her two girls, my parents and my brother would take up much more of my time and energy than I thought. I mean that in a good way.

We did get to walk around all over creation, and I did a fair share of walking up and down the flights of stairs in my parents' house. It doesn't sound like a lot, but I generally don't need to climb stairs being that I live on a single floored house (at least for now - details on our move to a house-to-be-determined can be found on my other blog.)

I don't know how often I'll be able to go to the gym on base int he next couple of weeks being that I have to now concentrate my thoughts and energy to packing up and moving (for those who want to keep count, this will be the 3rd move in the last year and a half), but luckily packing will be exercise enough for me.

Long time, little progress

I haven't had a chance to blog in a long while because things got a little hectic around here. Ever since the beginning of April, there have been trips out of town and visiting family that has prevented me from really concentrating on blogging.

But I am happy to say that with the light exercising and the better care I've been taking with what I eat, I have lost 7 pounds since I've really kept an eye on my weight. It's not a miracle shedding of pounds, but at least it's going the right direction.

I'll be going down to visit my parents again and I get to go with my husband this time. I'm going to make sure to take advantage of the fitness room at the hotel and I'll continue to be very good and stay away from my Mom's temptation drawer (she has a kitchen drawer full of chocolates and other snacks, mainly for my sister's kids.)

Hopefully after this next trip, I'll get back to the daily exercising and blogging here and on my other online journal. I feel like I've been neglectful of keeping both conversations going.

Found a possible routine

Found the following suggestion here:

Workout #1 (Day One) Exercises
Chest Press Machine: 8-10 Reps for 3 Sets
Pull Ups (Can be performed on a pull-up station with assist or a traditional pull-up bar): Perform as many pull-ups as you can for 3 sets.
(Substitute Exercise: Cable or Lat Machine Pulldowns)
Seated Overhead Shoulder Press Machine: 8-10 Reps for 3 Sets
Seated Leg Press Machine: 8-10 Reps for 3 Sets
Seated Calf Raise Machine: 15 Reps for 3 Sets
Bicep Curl Machine: 8-10 Reps for 3 Sets
Tricep Pressdown Machine: Perform as many dips as you can for 3 sets.*
Back Extensions (performed on 45 degree back extension bench): One Set of 15**
Swiss/Stability Ball Ab Crunches: 20-25***
Rest and Recover for at least 48 hours.

Workout #2 (Day Two) Exercises
Dips: Perform as many reps as possible for 3 sets*
Cable Rows: 8-10 Reps for 3 Sets
(Substitute Exercise: Seated Machine Rows)
Cable Front Shoulder Raises: 8-10 Reps for 3 Sets
Smith Machine Squats: 8-10 Reps for 3 Sets
Smith Machine Standing Calf Raises: 15 Reps for 3 Sets
Cable Bicep Curls: 8-10 Reps for 3 Sets
Cable Tricep Pressdown:  8-10 Reps for 3 Sets
Back Extensions (performed on 45 degree back extension bench): One Set of 15**
Hanging Leg Raises/Roman Chair (Abs): Perform as many as you can for 3 sets***
Rest and Recover for at least 48 hours.

Workout #3 (Day Three) Exercises
Pec Deck Machine: 8-10 Reps for 3 Sets
Lat Cable Pulldown: 8-10 Reps for 3 Sets
(Substitute Exercise: Lat Pulldown Machine)
Cable Side Shoulder Raises: 8-10 Reps for 3 Sets
Smith Machine Lunges: 8-10 Reps for 3 Sets
Seated Calf Press (Performed on Leg Press Machine): 15 Reps for 3 Sets
Reverse Bicep Curl Machine (Palms down): 8-10 Reps for 3 Sets
Cable Press Downs (performed with palms up on the bar) 8-10 Reps for 3 Sets
Back Extensions (performed on 45 degree back extension bench): One set of 15 **
V-Crunches/Jack-Knife Sit Up (Abs): Perform as many as you can for 3 sets.***


*  As it becomes easier to perform dips with your body weight, add additional resistance by holding a light dumbbell between your feet (in the case of parallel bar dips), or have someone place a light plate across your legs on bench dips.
** Increase resistance on back extensions by holding a light plate or dumbbell over your chest during the movement.
*** Increase resistance progressively during ab crunches by holding a plate or dumbbell across your chest. For hanging leg raises/Roman Chair leg raises or V Crunches, place a light dumbbell between your feet.

Making my (and your) tax dollars work

This morning I was up bright and early to give Violet her 6am diaper change and morning feeding and, for reasons I won't get into here, I couldn't go back to sleep. I used this early morning alertness to get a jump start on the day. Showered, found work out clothes and gathered the items needed for the trip to the base gym.

I was at the gym shortly after it opened so there were very few people milling around, much to my delight. I chose to do some cardio work first and eventually found the room with the elliptical machines. Since I was the only one there, I didn't feel at all foolish huffing and puffing and mouthing the words to the music pumping through my iPod.

I'm not completely certain how many calories I was able to burn because I got interrupted by a phone call 12 minutes in, but I do know that my average heart rate was 180 and I stayed on that machine for about 20 min total. Seems pretty good for my first chance on aerobic reentry.

I wanted to try out the weight machines and selected the ab rotation, the shoulder press, the leg press, and the ab cruncher. I'll have to really map out what to use and how many repetitions I should do, but I just wanted a small taste for today.

All in all, I think just under an hour's worth of work for my first time back is not so bad. I'm going back tomorrow morning and since the gym is open until 11pm on weekdays, I'm making a plan to go every day, except for Thursday because I have a banquet to go to with Scott. (We even have a babysitter for that night! First time... eek.) The daily visit will only be an experiment for a week since I'm planning a trip down to my parents' place for the beginning week of May.

Get real

One of the lessons I've learned (and something I keep reading in magazine articles) is to have realistic goals so that it is easier to achieve them. I am not looking to be a size 0 so that I can fit into the majority of what is sold in Forever 21, but what I am shooting for is to not look humongous in my wedding dress.

When I stepped on the scale the other day, I was happy to see that whatever little I've been doing over the last couple of weeks has resulted in losing a couple of pounds. Then, I started doing some calculations in my head.

I would LOVE to go back to being 120-125 lbs as I was about 4 years ago. However, I would be happy if I reached 130-135 lbs. That would mean I have to loose anywhere between 35-50 lbs, and seeing those numbers gives me the encouragement I need to help me think I can actually reach this goal.

One of the other reasons why I'm trying so hard in loosing all my pregnancy weight is to fit into the clothes I already own. As of right now, I don't fit into 95% of what I have in my closet and I don't want to go shopping - it's too depressing yet.

One of the new things I'll be starting tomorrow morning is using the gym located on base. Yesterday I confirmed with Scott that spouses of military are allowed to use the facility and I'm looking at using the elliptical and the weight lifting equipment. I'm not sure if I'll be able to get myself there during the work week, but I'll be making big efforts into going on the weekend.

Wii --eeee Fit

As it turns out, my trip out east didn't destroy me as much as I thought it would. I still wasn't 'good' by any means, but I didn't come back 10 pounds heavier as I feared I might. There was some exercise had by helping my brother throw out some garbage and all of the walking I ended up doing, so I'm feeling pretty good about that.

And now that I'm back, it's time to get serious....er. In packing up some of my brother's things, I asked him if it would be alright to borrow his Wii Fit board and the corresponding disc and I will give it back to him at the end of May when I see him in Colorado. He gave me permission and Scott and I set up the game today. I think Scott enjoys his first try at the various games and I have a more solid idea of what my weight loss/BMI reduction goal will be for the next 6 months.

After breakfast we'll be taking Violet on a walk since it's 10 am and already 60 degrees out (yay, warm weather!!)

Another practice I'll be adding to my weight-loss goal will be to sign up for the Weight Watchers Points system. While visiting friends, I've heard very good personal testimonies from two different sources on the success they've had with the WW program. Since I don't have a 'healthy eating lifestyle', it's time to start one right.

I'll be opening this entry up to whomever reads my blog: What have you found to be successful? What has been a complete disappointment? I'd like to hear your opinions!

A little lightness

These commercials have been cracking me up since the first one aired. The latest one reminds me of the comic strip "Sally Forth" and the yearly battle for the ears.

The original commercial still make me giggle