806 WW & 316 FF - On fire, I am on fire!

Anybody know a sure way to manage my schedule?

-grins- No, don't bother telling me, I am loving every second of it. I would however love to have about 30 hours in a day. That way I can have my 8 hours sleep, AND some time at home blogging, chatting or just reading a book.

I am now in week 9 of my excercise program with my own personal trainer. I am loving every flippin' minute of it! And am up to 6b times a week. Usually 2 x Cardio, 2 x muscle/cardio, 2 x swimming. I never thought working yourself into a sweat till the droplets fall of my armas could be this much fun! But it is. And I drive myself harder every time. Longer, harder, and going deep real deep. It boosts my self confidence to unprecedented heights!!

What do I do, well here is an example............

Floor excercises
1. Lift 10 lbs ball from ground to shoulder, lunge then throw to my training partner, Margret, step back while she rolls it across the floor [20 x each]
1. Sit on step, 15 lbs ball in front of chest, stand up, making sure I keep back straight, push ball all the way overhead, sit back back to starting position [10x - 10 seconds rest - 10x]
2. On the matrass on my back, bring feet to my ass, bending knees. Then lift shoulders from the matrass, tightening abdomen muscles, and touch with left hand, left ankle in a sideways motion.(15 x left - 5 seconds rest - 15 x left) - 10 seconds rest - (15 x right- 5 seconds rest - 15 x right) - 5 seconds rest - (20 x left - right alternately)

Muscle machines
1. Shoulderpress 2 x 20, 35 lbs-15 kg
2. Torso rotation 2 x 20, 74 lbs - 35 kg
3. Triceps 2 x 20, 74 lbs - 35 kg
4. Biceps 2 x 20, 53 lbs - 25 kg
5. Shoulderpress 1x 20 - 1x15, 35 lbs - 15 kg

Cardio
I top it off with 15 t0 30 minutes of crosstraining, changing the level every 3 minutes, the speed somewhere btween 4,5 and 5 miles an hour.

Swimming
2 x 30 laps with a 2.5 minute period of rest. Total is about 47.5 minute swimming at a steady pace which keeps my heart going nicely. My goal is to go for 60 minutes of swimming with 2 x 2.5 minutes of rest, which is 2 x 30 laps followed by 1 x 16.

All of the above takes about 2 to 2.5 hours. It includes steam room, sauna, topped off by alternating hot and cold showers.

- Oh yes and there is the little matter of losing weight.
I lost near 24 lbs in the past eight weeks. Good or not!! -

I promise to try and post at least once a week. In fact I'll pencil it into my schedule somewhere. Sunday morning sounds like a good plan, AFTER fitness. Although I have to admit, sunday is usual my non fitness day, a day off. But usually if I am not too pooped I get on my bike and go anyways!

Keep up the good work all. And eventhough I missed it, I am so proud of you FLG. You made the 200+ mark before me. The race is on, and I am nearing the 300 lbs mark too. Another 12.4 lbs!!! Watch me fly!!

768 WW & 278 FF - A small break needed?

Water, water, water

It is simple, I have been drinking too little water, and there were days when I did not get close to 2 glasses of the stuff. BUT, in order to lose weight I have to drink. So I am trying to focus on that. I try to empty one container, worth 5 BIG glasses of water before I leave for the gym in the morning. And then when I am working out I empty another bottle worth 2.5 of those glassed. In total that means, IF I do as I say and want, that I have taken in 2.5 litre, or 2500 ml. enough for the day, and anything extra is a bonus.

Do any of you look at yourself in a full sized mirror, ever? I do, and though what I see needs a lot of hard work, I notice some very small changes, as in more muscles, better posture, and better skin condition. Weightless is erratic, as I am struggling to find the right recipe in eating and exercising, but I do feel muscles which are stronger, more toned, and much more than relying on mr. scale, I rely on how I feel.

This week I had a session with my personal coach twice, and she worked me hard. By now we have gone through all the muscle machines, did 3 exercises at the wall, and 4 ground exercises. I notice that many of these exercises include balance as well, because that way you force the body to strengthen the muscles in your abdomen, stomach, hips, and legs. And it is like an added bonus, while working on arm and shoulder you also train the others, just by changing your stance.

I find I wish to understand what I am doing, wish to understand what muscles I use, how to eliminate possible injuries. I want to be able to make my own half hour to an hour exercise program, and use my time and effort as effectively as possible. The next week, I have one session booked on Thursday, and one of Friday. THAT will be a challenge, as muscle fatigue or even soreness will be a factor to take into account.

Margreet and I have taken up swimming as an "easy” work out at some days, and I just feel that it takes care of any serious muscle ache before it even starts. Yesterday after the training I had very tired upper leg muscles, and biking was more strenuous than usual. Today that is nearly gone and I only feel my chest muscles.

In all I am having a ball, sat in the sunshine yesterday, and had lovely sushi. Just in time as today it is raining again! Hope you are all doing well!

763 WW & 273 FF days - Determination and Motivation

Off days - what to do about them?

Frankly, I have no clue. I was reading merry Mary's blog yesterday. The topics were determination and motivation. The question for me is how are these two interlinked, or are they. Mary was having a bad day, motivation non existant, out to lunch, and still on hindsight as I read the comments to her post today again, she had a good day excercise and caloriewise. How, by sheer deteremination, the will to do what is good and healthy at that moment, despite the lack of motivation. Now how would this work, for me that is?

Motivation: the reason or reasons behind one’s actions or behaviour
Determination: firmness of purpose; resolutenesss.

Motivation exists because there is a goal, an end result. Motivation is linked with that end result, it is fed by the promise of something highly desireable. And as such it is when we loose faith in the possibillity of that end result, however desireable, i.e. whenever I stop believing that is is possible to lose 190 lbs in weight, and feel that nothing will ever really change, motivation evaporates, ceases to exist. Why motivate myself for something impossible?

Determination is the strength to go beyond what our bodies, minds, mood, energy level, friends and foe tell us. It is sometimes sheer pig headedness. To hang on without a clue why, may be even a clear purpose? And this is part of the key why determination does work when motivation has ceased to be effective. I think determination does not focus on the end result. At the bare minimum it just focuses on the action, the here, the now; to keep running, keep reading, keep caring. Because if we would focus on the end result, the goal, given the state our mind, our heart is in, for instance, a formidable or even an all time low, we WOULD just stop!

Today I have an off day energy wise. I had 6 hours of blissful sleep, but made the mistake of hitting the snooze button about 8 times between 5 and 6 AM. Not a good idea. My legs were like lead. In the end I did just 20 minutes cross training and some 10 minutes kinetic wall. I may go and swim this afternoon after work. It was determination which mmade me even get on the cross trainer, coupled to the coaxing of my training buddy, Margreet. Without her, and a good dose of determination, I WOULD have stayed in bed.

I wonder how you see this determination/motivation cunundrum?

762 WW & 272 FF days - Muscles galore!

Ever felt muscles you did not know you had?

Well, I did! Though I must say, the regeneration period is fast.Yesterday I had my second day of training. A formal introduction to the various muscle machines. This sesssion I do together with my friend Margreet. As Nanda, my personal trainer explains all the various contracptions, I listen carefully, try to understand what muscle groups they train, how to use them effectively, and avoid injury. She focusses on the BIG muscles, stomach, legs, back, arms, explaining that these can take quite apounding. And immediately she proceeds to make us do so -groans-

I find the whole subject fascinating, and I find myself eager to understand and learn. It is sunday now, and as it stands, is the one day this week where I would not go to the gym. But I am thinking of going anyways. All is packed so...... I will go.

I did a copy of the raining yesterday, leaving out the leg press, and legg curl. After that 15 minutes of intense cross training, alternating speed and level, then 30 minutes of swimming, just to iron out themuscles, and relax them while doing some easy swimming. Then to totally relax the muscles and start regeneration and recuperation fully, some sauna and steamtoom time. In all a one hour training session, focussed, concentrated and intense. I can feel my myscles, but it is not bad, just very much aware of it.

As for weight loss, I have not reported on that at all. Strange is it not. I am so focussed on the fitness regime it seems less important. In the last two weeks I have lost near 12 lbs. I know a massive amount and it even amazes me, but what I have noticed more than anything is a change in body shape. My waist is reshaping most of all, tighter, and there is less of it. somewhere in my files.

14 days , 11 lbs less

The thing I just realised is that I have not made any mention of how much weight I lost in the last 2 weeks since I kickstarted the whole process again. In all I lost 11 lbs in 14 days. Not bad !! Not bad at all.

This morning, monday 8 june, a leisurely swim, 30 laps, just to keep the muscles going. And for tomorrow I have some resistance wall scheduled, as well as a cross training, together about an hours worth of excercising. The past 4 weeks I have not been able to train much longer than an hour in the mornings as I had to be at the office as of 08:30 AM. Mary, secretary to the chairman is on a holiday, and I try to keep things going as best I can. BUT only 4 more days!

759 WW & 270 FF days - Synergy in loosing weight

Gone, Goner, Gonest?

No, no, no!! You could not be more wrong! I am still here, still doing my darnest, and though I admit I have been all over the place foodwise and dietwise, I have never lost track of what I want to achieve. At the moment I weigh 146.8 kg/323.6 lbs. Which means I HAVE gained weight. That weight is fat but above all muscle. With more weight than about 6 months ago, I have less inches/centimeters to show for it.

Some of you may remember how I started to go to the gym somewhere in august 2009? That in itself was revelation for me. For a while there I thought that that much work out meant that my food intake was not that important. It would compensate when my food intake was not.........as it should be. WRONG!! Also I noticed I lost UMPH, willpower, stamina. In short, though I loved the work outs and became a very frequent visitor of the gym, I slowly slid downhill. For various reason mentally and emotionally I landed up in "darkland", and believe me gaining weight does not help at all. It makes it worse, because you do start to feel like a failure. I thought myself hideous, horribly ugly and had serious problems trying to crawl ot of the black hole.

Then somewhere in April this year I did some soul searching. I made an appointment with my dentist for some serious dental work, and finally plucked up enough courage to go visit the dearest and most wonderful of all friends I have in Washington. Can you imagine, 10 years of talking to this man, and we had never met. So in April/May of this year I went to Washington. What a fantastic city this is! I fell in love with it, as well as with the man; a brilliant tour guide, conversationalist, a man as generous as I could have wished him to be. The best holiday I have ever had. I came back a much happier person.

And so, after having recharged my emotional battery majorly, my smile fixed, my self confidence at an all time high, I reviewed what it was what I was doing to lose weight and how I could improve on it. Mind you, not what I was doing wrong, but how I could improve.

What was I doing:

1. Weight Watchers points system, but not counting points, not going to the meetings
2. fitness, 3 - 4 times a week; tred climber and cross training
3. weighing me at the gym whenever the mood took me, sometimes not for several weeks on end.
4. falling back into old habits of eating to console myself.

What did I improve:

1. Go back to weight watchers meetings, weighing on wednesday, start counting and weighing again
2a. fitness, set up a personal instruction program with Nanda, fitness coach: 10 week programme, which will teach me in fifteen 30 minute trainings how to work my body as effective as possible
2b. a minimum of 4 trainings a week (minimum of 60 mins), training muscles, cardio and balance - these are non-optional
i. swimming
ii. resistance wall and muscle training (machines)
iii. cardio training: cross trainer and treadlimber
iv. resistance training and muscle training (weights, steps, floor exercises)
2c. 2 additional trainings (minimum of 30 minutes) swimming - these are optional
3. weighing myself at least once a week, get an overview of FFM, Body fat and TBW
4. minding the old habits, keeping the momentum going

The 10 week programme set up will demand a lot of time, but as it is all my trainings are early in the morning, so by the time I come home, I can crash and do nothing. Strangely enough though I notice I have lot of energy to burn even ate the end of the day.

The last two weeks 11.2 lbs/5 kg, and I feel envigorated. My musles ache now and then protesting as they get into the swing of the excercising. I find the swimming and the sauna help a lot. They relax my musles and allow me to recuperate, strong and healthy for the next day.

I will describe the exercises as best as I can, for it will enable me to repeat them more easily.

1. crunch
Lie down on your back on the floor, on a stepper, bring your chest to your knees, while you pull in your knees, stretch and repeat. If need be use support of your hands, just to balance your self

2. resistance wall lunge, weight 4 lbs.2 kg
Stand left of a rope (horizontal along the floor) , take hold of the rope handle with your right hand. Breath in, bring right foot back, resting on the ball of your foot, the knee of your left leg bent at a right angle, the support of your weight in this leg. Step back, and lift the weight cord straight up over your shoulder, breath out.

- mirror this for the right side

3. stand ups, ball 15,5 lbs/7kg ball
St down on high stepper, feet about 1 foot away from you, about 1 feet apart, toes pointing forward. Hold the ball in front of your chest, arms pressed close to the side of your chest. Keeping your back straight, stand up, making sure you use the muscles of your legs, buttocks to lift you. Do not curl your back to give yourself extra momentum! Push the ball up, and breath out. Breath in as sit down again, and bring the ball to your chest.

4. Resistance wall, arm press 18.5 lbs/8 kg
Stand in front of the left rope, and take it in your right hand. Pull to ensure the weights are free hanging. Then with right foot, pivoting on your left foot to come to a shallow squat at a 90 degree angle from previous position. Pull with your right hand on the cord while you breath in, a short way until the hand is level with your left shouder, then breath out slow and with the left hand PUSH the right hand on to your right. Do not move your torso, do not pivot your waist; keep the squat stationary. Keep your hands about a foot or more away from your body as you push. Push until you cannot do so any further without moving your torso, then bring the hand back slowly in reverse order, step back to the initial position, breath in. Keep the abodmen and stomach muscles tight.

- mirror this for the right side

The above is testimony to a long process, a process which makes me aware that making my goal, effectively, at a good pace with out veering of the pass needs focus, determination and will power. One of the ways to do this is to organise, something I like and am good at. To see it as a project, of which I am the projectmanager.

And so I have combines all the seperate efforts in to one big one, where every part adds to the other, the synergy of which gives me momentum, and makes me smile every day.

so I would say:

Here, herer, herest