Still here and still trying to loose weight!

I can't believe how long it has been since I last posted. I would be surprised if anyone out there still reads this blog because I wouldn't be! I am still going to post because as much as I love the friends I have made through blogging, this is also a semi-diary to myself, a way to look back and see where I've been and how I've grown. Especially in regards to fitness.

Work, motherhood, and class pretty much consume me and have since Sept. I am enjoying it all but it takes a lot of time management and discipline (which I am still working on!). Unfortunately when I'm tired the first thing I skip is exercise. I have been working on this habit because I do feel better when I workout, but man, it is so easy to skip it.

I was working out with my friend/trainer last I blogged. We met once a month. He gave me a months worth of training, emailed me once a week, and that was that. What I realized was I NEED more commitment or accountability. I was not loosing any weight, wasn't running any faster and really wasn't doing the workouts. At this point, I am just not self-motivated enough to get things done. I was still frustrated but it was all my doing.

A coworker (who lost a ton of weight after her baby) recommended a local training group called Real Results Fitness. She RAVED about them. So I checked it out. It was pricey, a little scary and just what I needed. So November 11th, I started my training. It's hard. We meet 3 times a week and I am suppose to do 6 more hours of cardio a week (hasn't happened!), the only time I can go to the location closest to me is 5:30 a.m. and I have to get up at 4:30 to get there and get my warm up in. Have I ever mentioned I hate to be up before 7 in the morning.

But it has pushed me in a way I needed. If I don't show up my trainer, Denny, is texting me. We also have to keep a food journal, eat very clean with limited starchy carbs, and bring the journal to each session to be critiqued.

I have lost weight and inches, though it would be better if I did more cardio, but I am happy with the results. My next challenge is getting in more cardio and setting up an easy training plan for a sprint tri. I want to do this but I can't feel like exercise is taking up all my free time or I will be stressed. The best part is my trainer is a speedy triathlete so he gets it. He gets it too much and wants everyone to be speedy too!

We did a fitness test at the beginning and 8/9 weeks later. I am happy with the results. Overall I have dropped my body fat down to 29.75%, lost 12 pounds, and lost a total of 13.5 inches in total body measurements. Not too shabby! I still have a little ways to go but I am now at my pre-Kian weight and fit into all my clothes again. Although. I still am thicker in the middle than I used to be!

The best thing though- I can now do a 2 minute plank core test versus 1 minute the first time, I can do 30 girl push ups in a minute and 30 sit ups. My flexibility has increased and my resting HR has dropped. I am also eating healthier than I have in a long time. However, I want junk food most of the time still!

Got out of that one

I mentioned that I might be considering doing a little super sprint tri coming up. Since then I have managed to talk myself out if it and talk a neighbor into it! Izaac and I have managed to have a fight or two over this tri and had to come to terms with not discussing it anymore. I had almost talked myself back into doing it (peer pressure) and decided to check the website to make sure it wasn't sold out (wishful thinking).

What I saw was even better (for me) - it was cancelled. Now that sucks for anyone really looking forward to the event or already had travel arrangements. For me, it's a weight off my shoulders. I temporarily thought about telling everyone I signed up and how disappointed I was that it wasn't happening!! Just kidding! That would be very naughty...besides Izaac would rat me out ;-)

I've also tried to figure out why I refused to go practice swimming but back out of the race because I was afraid to swim in a lake (again). Sigh. How many years till swimming just isn't an issue anymore?! In my defense though, I have really great excuses for not being able to get to the pool: a baby at home, a husband that I want to spend time with, work, 2 online classes, running (training for a half marathon), life, laundry, a glass of wine, "insert your favorite excuse here"! But I believe it boiled down to "I just didn't want to" :-).

One of these days, I will be able to view swimming like I do running and biking. That I will know without a doubt that I could enter a sprint tri tomorrow and get through it. I have this confidence with the other two sports but not swimming. BUT I WILL, someday.

The numbers don't lie

I can't seem to get my weight to drop below 154 which is 13 pounds heavier than before I got pregnant. Most of the time it's closer to 157. I have spent the last 15 weeks making excuses. Well really it is just one excuse, you just had a baby. However, when is that no longer an excuse? Most say around 9 months after you have the kid...you know the 9 months to put on the weight, 9 months to get it off rule. I've also spent that last 15 weeks not really paying too much attention to what I eat, probably having a few too many beers and only randomly working out. Not exactly the lifestyle that sheds weight. The problem is, I am very scared that this will become my new weight forever. That my body is going to adjust to it and I will adjust to it. That is something I don't want. I just don't feel good about myself at this weight.

So I have hired a trainer/coach. I used to take his athletic conditioning class at the gym and it kicked my behind so I know what his style is. He is also a road bike racer and has done triathlons. Basically I sent out an S.O.S. and pleaded for some help to get my butt in gear. We are only meeting once a month and then from that he is designing a workout plan for the month focusing on what I need the most to start shedding some pounds in the least amount of time since I don't have a lot of free time. The best part is he is also going to incorporate a running schedule to get me ready for the Las Vegas Half Marathon! We also discussed eating... my focus for this month is eating smaller meals more often and not eating after 8pm. We talked about supplements and vitamins. Eating more protein. All very easy things that I can handle for now.

Now comes that icky part... we did all sorts of body measurements and a body fat test. Let's just say, I am not very happy with the results. I have 38% percent body fat!!! Ughh, that is number I never thought I would see. I've always been happily in the mid 20's with my body fat percentage without any effort. Not so much anymore. I am slowly coming to the realization that it's just not as easy to keep the same body I used to have (with very little effort!) now that I am in my mid 30's (heading towards late 30's). Now it takes effort. Boo hoo! My trainer keeps saying it is just a number, a starting/focus point, a gauge on how well (or not) the program (or myself) is working.

I will do my best to incorporate all the advice he has given me, and do all the workouts as planned. We will meet in a month to see how my body has responded and make the necessary adjustments from there. Every time I want to skip a workout, eat bad or have another cocktail... I only have to think of 38%! Put the chips away :-)

Am I really considering this?

I came across info for a women's only tri that is taking place at Lake Las Vegas in a month ( http://www.uswts.com). Should I sign up?! The only, only reason I am even considering it is they have a super sprint race. This equals a shorter swim. Yes, I still am at the point where the swim is what will prevent me from doing a tri. After two frustrating and mentally hard swims under my belt, I still get a slight panic attack at the thought of swimming in open water. It's there now, that accelerated heart rate and butterflies in the stomach and I haven't even signed up. Or maybe that's excitment at the thought of doing a race. Hmm...

I'm going to think about it for a few days and get my butt to the pool to see if I can still swim or if I lost the ability sometime in the last year of NOT SWIMMING...a whole year of not swimming! Lord help me. I wasn't that great to begin with.

Also, there is the little fact that I may be too big for my wetsuit since I'm still carrying and extra 15 pounds on my behind :-)

I'll keep you posted.

New blog

I've started a new blog for the fans of Kian and my niece Isabel. This blog will be more about me, life and training and less about Kian. So if you want to keep tabs on my little guy and my niece, the link is on the side.

Enjoy!

Why not?

Well friends, I have completed my first week back to work as a new mom and am 1 day into the second week. While everything is fine, and I am glad to be back at work (ask Izaac, apparently I don’t do so well at home with no schedule ;-), last week definitely had me thinking. Thinking about my job; thinking about what I really want to do; thinking about the best way to balance a career and being a mom. Just plain thinking.

If I am honest, this thinking started well over a year ago and came to a head during my maternity leave. Last week just confirmed I was right. Every day I was glad to be working, glad to have a job and to finally have a paycheck again; however, I wasn’t so glad over my job. While I started off loving my job, something has fizzled in the last two years. Last week I caught myself thinking over and over again “why am I leaving my beautiful baby boy for a job that my heart is not in?” I do training and education, this I love, if it was only this. However, my ultimate goal is to do whatever it takes to make more product sales for the company. I am not a sales rep, but most days it feels like that. I don’t want the stress of meeting goals and budgets that are making someone else lots of money. Yes, it allows me to have a nice paycheck but there has to be more.

So where does this leave me? Enrolled in school again! I am going to become a nurse. The medical field has always called to me. In fact, for as long as I can remember I wanted to be a doctor. This plan died somewhere during my sophomore/junior year of college when I realized I did not have the drive or the passion that every other pre-med student had and probably would not make it through med school without it. I did a lot of soul searching during that time, and it was the absolute right decision for me. However, the desire to help people has never left me. I have actually toyed with going back to nursing school on and off since I graduated college (almost 15 years ago!! Gasp) but was never ready to actually go back to school. Now I am.

Because what better time is there to start school than when you have a 3 month old and just started back to work full time?! I am scared, feel slightly insane but never the less, am very excited. I am taking 3 online classes now to satisfy some general electives that didn’t transfer. Start my science pre-reqs in Jan (because science credits only last 7 years) and hopefully start nursing school full time in Aug. At that time, I will have to quit my job for the next 15 months. That is another whole set of problems, one less person bringing in the money.

Why now? Why not! There is never going to be an easier time. Kian will always need me. I figure it is time to bite the bullet and get it over with. Wish me luck!!!

p.s. Don’t be offended if I don’t keep up with your blogs as much :-)

p.s.s. I have created a Kian blog for those of you that want to keep up with him. Dearestgrandparents.blogspot.com

p.s.s.s. I am 90% sure I am also going to run the Las Vegas half marathon in December. Why not!?

Back in the saddle again

Well folks, the doc said I am officially allowed to resume all activity and exercise... dang, no more excuses! I spent pretty much all my pregnancy plotting my return. Should I train for one of the late season sprint tri's, start running, biking, hire a trainer, all of it, none of it. What is going to bounce me back.

I basically vetoed any tri's, let's face it, I am not that great at summer (think HOT) training as it is. Without 6 months of any physical activity, it would be the quickest way to end my training program before it got started. Plus, it would be a lot harder to figure out with the baby.

I am still thinking about running because I would love to do the Vegas half or full marathon in Dec, but yet again we have that whole running in the heat thing going on. I would actually have to get out of the house early and while I have great ambitions, when 5 a.m. roles around and Kian has just been fed, the bed always wins! I just am not ready or awake to do anything until 10ish and by then it is already 100+. I have walked 1 mile and back to my nieces school a couple of times and thought I was going to die, and that was slow walking. Maybe when Kian's schedule becomes a little better (as in, sleeps longer than 3-4 hours).

What I have decided on is P90X. I can do it inside, anytime, and it takes about an hour a day to whoop my ass. I am actually doing the P90X "lean" version which is a little less intense (very little) on the weights and a little more intense on the cardio. Supposedly to help burn more fat. Sign me up!! I need some fat burning. I have about 12 lbs of baby fat stuck on my body to get me back to my pre-preggo weight. And that weight was about 8 lbs heavier than I want to be!

So, I have measured myself, weighed myself, taken pictures of myself... then drank a bottle of wine to black out my depression at the results! Seriously, it should be against the law to make a new mom do such things. I also had to take a fit test. Which I did great on with the exception of not being able to do a pull-up and I failed miserably on the ab section (go figure...mine were cut open 6 weeks ago)

Then I started the program...and drank another bottle of wine when I realized how bad I suck (just kidding, it was vodka this time ;-). The first day was core work, bring it on! What a joke. However, I am going to stay optimistic, and be happy that I can only get better because I just cant get any worse. Today, my arms, shoulders and neck hurt but nothing in the core region hurts!! Must have done a lot wrong. Day 2 was cardio, I decided to ride the bike on the trainer for 45 minutes. God, it sucked. I forgot how bad I hate riding on the trainer. But I did it! And it can only get better, right?!

If I develop the body of any of the girls on the DVD, I might post my before and after pictures. For now, they are safely stored away from all eyes, even mine! Yep, I still haven't looked at them. I can only handle so much in one week!