Good grief, but 2013 is going like a boeing! I'm finding it hard to deal with all the Easter goodies in the shops when I feel like I'm still trying to catch my breath from all the Christmassy stuff. Talking of catching my breath... last week on Wednesday, I went to my mid-week zumba fix. Shame man, Elroy was not well. He said he had a bit of a cold and his voice was pretty much non-existent. To make matters worse (for the hearing humans that is!) the sound system was giving problems and his microphone was not working. He resorted to hand signals only - something which suits me down the ground being a deaf one! Respect brother! This guy took us through the whole class, sick or not, and ensured we had our fix. As always, it was an awesome, de-stressing class.
Due to time constraints along with a dose of demotivation, I had not made it to gym on Monday evening and so Wednesday was my first workout of the week. Yikes! I would be short for my total calorie burn for the week. Friday afternoon saw me in the gym - on my off afternoon nogal - to make up for Monday. I had a quick, intense workout. I was desperately looking forward to the weekend as I'd planned to go away for Saturday/Sunday with a couple of friends. You know, leave the husband and the sons to fend for themselves for a few hours! I was delighted that we were only leaving late morning as that meant that I could still get my Saturday morning zumba fix. Yeah! I got to the gym and noticed that the queue was not as long as usual for a Saturday morning. Immediately I was concerned as I was not sure what was going on. On my way back from the water fountain where I had filled my water bottle, I saw a friend in line who said that Elroy was off sick. Oh no, I practically felt the blood drain from my face. She noticed my worry and said that there was a replacement instructor - allegedly named Sakkie. Oh dear, my heart sank. What kind of zumba class would Sakkie give and who was he and where did he fall out of? I had no hope. Fortunately, I needed my fix and so stood in line and entered the class along with the other die-hards. Well, in bounded this dude - T-shirt, track pants, tackies, and muscles. Mmmmm, nice to look at.... but would he perform? I almost felt sorry for him as to attempt to fill Elroy's shoes must be an awfully daunting task. I mean Elroy makes us laugh, he makes us feel special, sexy, positive and to top it all he gives us one phenomenal, booty-shaking, calorie burning workout!
Let me say straight off the bat - Sakkie did not disappoint! Sakkie has a very different style to Elroy. Sakkie has a fantastic sense of humour though and he can move that gorgeous body of his - let me assure you! Man, that guy can dance! We even did the zorba!! Of course without the plate breaking and ouzo.
It amazes me, how you have a simple change like a different zumba instructor, and suddenly different muscles come into play. Divine! I could feel it when my friends and I went for a walk on Saturday afternoon. Sakkie, my booty and my thighs just love you man!
I am very motivated for my Monday workout, and naturally, I'm looking forward to my Wednesday/Elroy/Zumba fix - but I have to say - I wouldn't mind crossing zumba paths with Sakkie again sometime!!
Sunday, 3 March 2013
Wednesday, 13 February 2013
Valentine Shmalentine
So tomorrow is Valentines Day. Bah humbug I say! I really don't like this day to put it mildly! I reckon it was concocted by some clever businessman to rip off all the people too afraid of being non-conformers! Ag, I suppose that's a little unfair of me, but it really irks me that there has to be one day, just ONE day, where one is socially forced to declare ones love and spend copious amounts of hard earned cash on ridiculously expensive flowers, chocolates and various other gifts. Nah! I put my foot down. I will not partake! Ok, so we're trying to do a fun thing at work and everyone is going to wear something red, but that's as far as it goes for me. I feel rather strongly that ones loved ones are to be made to feel special all the time and seriously if you can't make an effort throughout the year, don't be making any special effort on Valentines Day - that would just make me angry!
So what does this have to do with exercise you ask. Good question!! Absolutely nothing except that I suddenly realised that we are halfway through February 2013 already and I am not on track with my health and fitness goals. Perhaps that has something to do with comfort eating - ya think!! It amazes me - here I am with these great goals and I face a little bit of a challenging obstacle in my life, and what do I do, I eat. And I swing between this not caring, don't care how fat I get, life is too short to eat healthily all the time scenario, to absolutely detesting myself for being such a wimp and giving in to food!! Aaaargh!!! Why does life need to be so challenging sometimes!
On the upside, I had a great session on a spinning bike yesterday. My intention was to do a long session at low heart rate so that I could get a decent chunk of fat burning in. I was a tad short on time so ended up only cycling 20km but my Polar heart rate monitor says I was running at 55% fat burning! Yes please! I need to do at least one of these sessions a week.
This evening of course we had a zumba class. Awesome!! I burnt close to 900 calories in the space of an hour - so it was only 45% fat burning, but it was such a laugh and so good for the soul! I had my two entertainers in front of me again today. They are young girls in their early twenties. One is blonde, tall and has bright blue eyes and her friend is a short, curvy brunette. They are clearly best friends and they laugh and joke around and take nothing seriously! I love them to bits. Some people look far too serious in the zumba class. I had Miss Speedy next to me tonight. She is very enthusiastic, knows all the steps to each dance, but doesn't feel the music. For me you need to feel the latin rhythms, not just hear the music. She does everything she should, but she always seems to be on fast foward and slightly ahead of the beat. Hey, but she is having a great time, and that's what counts. Even the dude with zero rhythm has fun. I think that's what I love most about zumba... you add your own flair and flavour and make it yours.
I spoke about dates and goals in my previous post. I am determined to get to Thailand this year. I have no clue as to how I am going to achieve this, but I just need to believe that I will. If you can dream it, you can do it. I think I will take this thought and use it to fuel my workouts and say no to those carbs. I need to imagine myself snorkeling in a little bikini.... ooooo e e!!
And on the Valentine's front - write a note on a sticky and put it on the bathroom mirror so that tomorrow morning when you get out of the shower, you are greeted with "good morning gorgeous"!!
So what does this have to do with exercise you ask. Good question!! Absolutely nothing except that I suddenly realised that we are halfway through February 2013 already and I am not on track with my health and fitness goals. Perhaps that has something to do with comfort eating - ya think!! It amazes me - here I am with these great goals and I face a little bit of a challenging obstacle in my life, and what do I do, I eat. And I swing between this not caring, don't care how fat I get, life is too short to eat healthily all the time scenario, to absolutely detesting myself for being such a wimp and giving in to food!! Aaaargh!!! Why does life need to be so challenging sometimes!
On the upside, I had a great session on a spinning bike yesterday. My intention was to do a long session at low heart rate so that I could get a decent chunk of fat burning in. I was a tad short on time so ended up only cycling 20km but my Polar heart rate monitor says I was running at 55% fat burning! Yes please! I need to do at least one of these sessions a week.
This evening of course we had a zumba class. Awesome!! I burnt close to 900 calories in the space of an hour - so it was only 45% fat burning, but it was such a laugh and so good for the soul! I had my two entertainers in front of me again today. They are young girls in their early twenties. One is blonde, tall and has bright blue eyes and her friend is a short, curvy brunette. They are clearly best friends and they laugh and joke around and take nothing seriously! I love them to bits. Some people look far too serious in the zumba class. I had Miss Speedy next to me tonight. She is very enthusiastic, knows all the steps to each dance, but doesn't feel the music. For me you need to feel the latin rhythms, not just hear the music. She does everything she should, but she always seems to be on fast foward and slightly ahead of the beat. Hey, but she is having a great time, and that's what counts. Even the dude with zero rhythm has fun. I think that's what I love most about zumba... you add your own flair and flavour and make it yours.
I spoke about dates and goals in my previous post. I am determined to get to Thailand this year. I have no clue as to how I am going to achieve this, but I just need to believe that I will. If you can dream it, you can do it. I think I will take this thought and use it to fuel my workouts and say no to those carbs. I need to imagine myself snorkeling in a little bikini.... ooooo e e!!
And on the Valentine's front - write a note on a sticky and put it on the bathroom mirror so that tomorrow morning when you get out of the shower, you are greeted with "good morning gorgeous"!!
Sunday, 3 February 2013
Coming up for a year and a half
Well, yes, I have been away for a very long time haven't I? More than a year!
You know, right at the beginning, I promised to be honest so here goes. When at the age of 43 I boldly joined the gym, being overweight and with a body composition that was just so wrong, I had this incredible positivity and I imagined that within three to six months I'd have the body of a fitness model and all my problems would be over! Yeah, I know. Slap me. Hard. For being so naive!
I tried really hard. I've worked incredibly hard in the gym and still do. I tried various eating plans and the craziest thing is that nothing seemed to work. My weight dropped a little, my body fat dropped by an insignificant percentage, I lost quite a few centimetres and yes, I did go from a size 14 bordering on a 16, to a 12, BUT that's where is ended. My body fat is still dangerously high, and I am still around, or should I say a round (lol) 10kg overweight. I got to a point where it was embarrassing to actually blog because I just wasn't able to report any further progress. I felt I was failing miserably.
It was quite good that I'd been to a dietician shortly after getting this whole fitness kick on the road. I saw her a year later at which stage she compared my stats with those of a year earlier. This was quite enlightening. She said that my bone density was better and my muscle mass was more which proved that I was not talking nonsense about working hard in the gym, but that my body fat was still high. This pointed a great big red warning arrow in the direction of the problem. Insulin resistance! Yikes! Sounded bad. And yes it is bad as it's a step before diabetes type II! Alright no need to panic - the situation can be remedied. In laymen's terms, a person who is insulin resistant has a body that says the following when you consume carbohydrates, and here I am referring in particular to high GI carbs: "hell no girlfriend, I've forgotten what to do with this carb stuff so the safest is going to be to store it as fat". Right. A "normal" person's body upon receiving carbs says: "ah, energy, ok you carbs go to the muscles where this gym bunny will need you for fueling that sexy, booty shaking zumba class". Ok, so how does one reverse this situation and "remind" the body that storing carbs as fat is really just not on? Mmmmm I see you have it - you remove the carbs!! Yebo! I went to see an incredible dietician who is extremely witty, practical and so inspiring! This respect is mainly because she says I definitely should not give up my glass of red wine at night! She says it should take a cycle of about 6 - 8 weeks of this low fat, low carb eating plan to wake up the body's insulin sensitivity. Ah, I saw light at the end of the tunnel.
Of course typical to me, I started this shortly before the Festive Season. Why they ever started calling it Festive is beyond me! I tried to maintain, but eventually succumbed to the carbs in my three weeks I had off. Doritos became my carb of choice followed closely by an ice cold ale. I suppose it's silly really as I really do feel better when I eat less carbs. Suddenly I don't have a bloated tummy and I haven't had stomach cramps for ages. I figured pretty quickly that bread, low GI or not, does not like me at all! So we've just hit February and I am now back on track with the low fat, low carb eating plan. I have various dates that I am using as motivation.... Valentines Day, first weekend in March (I may be going away with friends), 26 April, the first week in May (a challenge with Ashley and Maryjane), and of course the end of May when I shall be hitting the big 45 and the start of my next 5 year plan!!
My current exercise of choice is zumba. Zumba I can honestly say has changed my life! It's the most fun, the sexiest, the most de-stressing form of exercise I have ever tried. I think, no I know, this is due to having the most awesome zumba instructor that was ever born! He is an amazingly positive energy and just inspires and motivates and makes one feel special and amazing! Of course it helps that he has thee hottest body I have seen in ages and when his T-shirt clings to his sweaty six pack, it just fuels me to keep going!! My husband says this guy could get SO much action from the ladies!! I can't argue with that! The Kick class also does it for me hey. I genuinely feel as if I'm going to die during each and every kick class, but the endorphins and good stuff that's released when you're near death is just too fabulous. I do say a prayer before each class asking that I do survive it and I just keep going back for more!
I can tell you emphatically that I am so much fitter than I was when I started this blog. I have a way to go to get the body fat down, but now that I know what the problem is, I can start working on the solution and hopefully I will keep you updated now that I am all fired up again.
You know, right at the beginning, I promised to be honest so here goes. When at the age of 43 I boldly joined the gym, being overweight and with a body composition that was just so wrong, I had this incredible positivity and I imagined that within three to six months I'd have the body of a fitness model and all my problems would be over! Yeah, I know. Slap me. Hard. For being so naive!
I tried really hard. I've worked incredibly hard in the gym and still do. I tried various eating plans and the craziest thing is that nothing seemed to work. My weight dropped a little, my body fat dropped by an insignificant percentage, I lost quite a few centimetres and yes, I did go from a size 14 bordering on a 16, to a 12, BUT that's where is ended. My body fat is still dangerously high, and I am still around, or should I say a round (lol) 10kg overweight. I got to a point where it was embarrassing to actually blog because I just wasn't able to report any further progress. I felt I was failing miserably.
It was quite good that I'd been to a dietician shortly after getting this whole fitness kick on the road. I saw her a year later at which stage she compared my stats with those of a year earlier. This was quite enlightening. She said that my bone density was better and my muscle mass was more which proved that I was not talking nonsense about working hard in the gym, but that my body fat was still high. This pointed a great big red warning arrow in the direction of the problem. Insulin resistance! Yikes! Sounded bad. And yes it is bad as it's a step before diabetes type II! Alright no need to panic - the situation can be remedied. In laymen's terms, a person who is insulin resistant has a body that says the following when you consume carbohydrates, and here I am referring in particular to high GI carbs: "hell no girlfriend, I've forgotten what to do with this carb stuff so the safest is going to be to store it as fat". Right. A "normal" person's body upon receiving carbs says: "ah, energy, ok you carbs go to the muscles where this gym bunny will need you for fueling that sexy, booty shaking zumba class". Ok, so how does one reverse this situation and "remind" the body that storing carbs as fat is really just not on? Mmmmm I see you have it - you remove the carbs!! Yebo! I went to see an incredible dietician who is extremely witty, practical and so inspiring! This respect is mainly because she says I definitely should not give up my glass of red wine at night! She says it should take a cycle of about 6 - 8 weeks of this low fat, low carb eating plan to wake up the body's insulin sensitivity. Ah, I saw light at the end of the tunnel.
Of course typical to me, I started this shortly before the Festive Season. Why they ever started calling it Festive is beyond me! I tried to maintain, but eventually succumbed to the carbs in my three weeks I had off. Doritos became my carb of choice followed closely by an ice cold ale. I suppose it's silly really as I really do feel better when I eat less carbs. Suddenly I don't have a bloated tummy and I haven't had stomach cramps for ages. I figured pretty quickly that bread, low GI or not, does not like me at all! So we've just hit February and I am now back on track with the low fat, low carb eating plan. I have various dates that I am using as motivation.... Valentines Day, first weekend in March (I may be going away with friends), 26 April, the first week in May (a challenge with Ashley and Maryjane), and of course the end of May when I shall be hitting the big 45 and the start of my next 5 year plan!!
My current exercise of choice is zumba. Zumba I can honestly say has changed my life! It's the most fun, the sexiest, the most de-stressing form of exercise I have ever tried. I think, no I know, this is due to having the most awesome zumba instructor that was ever born! He is an amazingly positive energy and just inspires and motivates and makes one feel special and amazing! Of course it helps that he has thee hottest body I have seen in ages and when his T-shirt clings to his sweaty six pack, it just fuels me to keep going!! My husband says this guy could get SO much action from the ladies!! I can't argue with that! The Kick class also does it for me hey. I genuinely feel as if I'm going to die during each and every kick class, but the endorphins and good stuff that's released when you're near death is just too fabulous. I do say a prayer before each class asking that I do survive it and I just keep going back for more!
I can tell you emphatically that I am so much fitter than I was when I started this blog. I have a way to go to get the body fat down, but now that I know what the problem is, I can start working on the solution and hopefully I will keep you updated now that I am all fired up again.
Friday, 25 November 2011
Week 17 - I've been a bad girl...
I have been SO bad.... in the sense that I have neglected my blog! Let's say that I've had a bit of a block. That happens sometimes - I just find the information in my head won't flow out of my finger tips. However, I think Jack's back so to speak!
One thing that I'm very happy to report is that even though I have neglected my blog, I have certainly not neglected myself! I have been consistently going to gym and consistently watching and experimenting with my nutrition. It's been a very confusing experience! I have lost a total of 3kgs! Yes!! THREE kilograms! I mean how ridiculous is that! BUT, people keep asking me what's going on and how much weight have I lost, etc. My clothes are feeling way better on me than they used to and in fact two profound things have happened.... there are actually pants that I've had to pack away as they are just too big now and the other thing is that, ummmm, I've had to buy smaller underwear!
On the gym front, I have been having an absolute ball. I'm loving it more and more and the fact that I keep challenging myself and that I can feel I am fitter - probably fitter than I've ever been in my whole life - keeps me going back for more and more! It's become my drug of choice! I am still doing a combo of cardio sessions and strength sessions. I throw myself a curve ball every now and again like a kata box class or anything that my body has never experienced before! You know just to shake it up a bit and keep it away from becoming too relaxed about this exercise thing. Keep it guessing and keep it awake and keep it producing results.
I was quite excited before the kata box class. I arrived about ten minutes before class started. As the people started arriving, I had a look at them - a real mix of tall, short, thin, fat, fit looking and not so fit looking and I felt a little more confident. As we started filtering into the class, I asked one of the victims if she thought I would survive this class as it's my first time doing kata box. The look in her eyes sent a shiver down my spine. There was a shadow in them and she asked me "have you NEVER done ANY kata boxing before?" in a grave tone. I smiled and said "no - never". She couldn't really make eye contact with me after that and muttered something about the instructor being hectic and the class being an hour long one and that I should've really rather tried the 45 minute Monday night class first, etc, etc. I told her that I'm sure I'd be fine but I have to admit I was a little nervous. That was until the instructor walked in. I had to control myself from collapsing in a fit of giggles! The term "dynamite comes in small packages" did not occur to me at that moment. This little, petite girl walks in, probably about 1.6 m tall, probably battles to find clothes in the adult departments, probably wears about a size 3 shoe.... I mean seriously, how could this sweet little thing give a mean class? Really!!
Oh my, how wrong one can be! Do not EVER judge a person on their looks!!! Never EVER, Kathleen!! In the space of an hour, this diminutive demon inflicted more pain on this old body that one could ever imagine. I loved it of course. When I arrived home, a dripping heap of aches and pains, walking up stairs with difficulty because my glutes were protesting severely, I realised that I may not be able to move the next day. Even just getting up from the dining room table after supper caused abs and glutes in particular to let me know that they had performed beyond their usual range! I was most upset as I'd left my chest strap at home - I would LOVE to know how many calories that class burnt!!
The next morning when I carefully eased myself out of bed, I had a rather pleasant surprise... I was ok! Yes my muscles were stiff, and there was some stiffness identifying muscles that I really didn't ever know I had, but I was not in pain, that was until I pulled close the shower door. It felt like my sternum was about to crack in half! When I moved my arms around in a "boxing fashion" my sternum and my arms protested loudly!
It didn't stop me going to gym again last night night though!! Got to keep pushing myself! I have found that going to gym and pushing yourself further than the last time is a magnificent way to de-stress. It's almost as if your problems and worries can be sweated out! It really does work for most problems anyway - not all!
And today, I'll be going back to gym yet again!! I'm loving it.
One thing that I'm very happy to report is that even though I have neglected my blog, I have certainly not neglected myself! I have been consistently going to gym and consistently watching and experimenting with my nutrition. It's been a very confusing experience! I have lost a total of 3kgs! Yes!! THREE kilograms! I mean how ridiculous is that! BUT, people keep asking me what's going on and how much weight have I lost, etc. My clothes are feeling way better on me than they used to and in fact two profound things have happened.... there are actually pants that I've had to pack away as they are just too big now and the other thing is that, ummmm, I've had to buy smaller underwear!
On the gym front, I have been having an absolute ball. I'm loving it more and more and the fact that I keep challenging myself and that I can feel I am fitter - probably fitter than I've ever been in my whole life - keeps me going back for more and more! It's become my drug of choice! I am still doing a combo of cardio sessions and strength sessions. I throw myself a curve ball every now and again like a kata box class or anything that my body has never experienced before! You know just to shake it up a bit and keep it away from becoming too relaxed about this exercise thing. Keep it guessing and keep it awake and keep it producing results.
I was quite excited before the kata box class. I arrived about ten minutes before class started. As the people started arriving, I had a look at them - a real mix of tall, short, thin, fat, fit looking and not so fit looking and I felt a little more confident. As we started filtering into the class, I asked one of the victims if she thought I would survive this class as it's my first time doing kata box. The look in her eyes sent a shiver down my spine. There was a shadow in them and she asked me "have you NEVER done ANY kata boxing before?" in a grave tone. I smiled and said "no - never". She couldn't really make eye contact with me after that and muttered something about the instructor being hectic and the class being an hour long one and that I should've really rather tried the 45 minute Monday night class first, etc, etc. I told her that I'm sure I'd be fine but I have to admit I was a little nervous. That was until the instructor walked in. I had to control myself from collapsing in a fit of giggles! The term "dynamite comes in small packages" did not occur to me at that moment. This little, petite girl walks in, probably about 1.6 m tall, probably battles to find clothes in the adult departments, probably wears about a size 3 shoe.... I mean seriously, how could this sweet little thing give a mean class? Really!!
Oh my, how wrong one can be! Do not EVER judge a person on their looks!!! Never EVER, Kathleen!! In the space of an hour, this diminutive demon inflicted more pain on this old body that one could ever imagine. I loved it of course. When I arrived home, a dripping heap of aches and pains, walking up stairs with difficulty because my glutes were protesting severely, I realised that I may not be able to move the next day. Even just getting up from the dining room table after supper caused abs and glutes in particular to let me know that they had performed beyond their usual range! I was most upset as I'd left my chest strap at home - I would LOVE to know how many calories that class burnt!!
The next morning when I carefully eased myself out of bed, I had a rather pleasant surprise... I was ok! Yes my muscles were stiff, and there was some stiffness identifying muscles that I really didn't ever know I had, but I was not in pain, that was until I pulled close the shower door. It felt like my sternum was about to crack in half! When I moved my arms around in a "boxing fashion" my sternum and my arms protested loudly!
It didn't stop me going to gym again last night night though!! Got to keep pushing myself! I have found that going to gym and pushing yourself further than the last time is a magnificent way to de-stress. It's almost as if your problems and worries can be sweated out! It really does work for most problems anyway - not all!
And today, I'll be going back to gym yet again!! I'm loving it.
Monday, 17 October 2011
Week 12 - habit keeps you going when motivation is lacking
Amazing! I've reached week 12 already - and that without dying, but also without undergoing a miraculous transformation either! When I look at the before and after pictures on the USN website of people taking up the 12-week challenge, then I feel like a wee bit of a failure!! However, if I look at myself 12 weeks ago and how I felt and look at myself now and the golden oldies I'm digging out of the wardrobe because they actually fit and the fact that I feel fit and energetic (well most of the time anyway!) then I feel rather good. This is after all a lifestyle change and not something that is destined to last only 12 weeks. I'm also not consuming vast amounts of chemicals to help me get there. I read a Tweet today that said when motivation is lacking, it's habit that keeps us going. I realised that this is probably where I'm at right now. I think exercise has become a habit. I sure get grouchy without it! As brilliant a week I had during the holidays, I had a bit of a flop last week. This was for various reasons, e.g. my Mom has become extremely frail and unwell, my youngest has a dancing schedule that "skriks for niks" as he is dancing in the SA Nationals this coming weekend, and by Friday evening I realised I hadn't seen the outside let alone the inside of the gym. I felt tired and miserable when the husband said that I simply have to accompany him as he HAS to go so that he can take the weekend off. I imagined performing various acts of violence on him with various pieces of gym equipment, but I went along. After all, when someone is that motivated, you gotta have respect.
So we arrive at the gym at about 18h30 on a Friday night. Right. Grumpy and Mr Motivated are in da house. Well, it took me one whiff of that gym air - you know what I'm talking about - that combo of chlorine, sweat, a dash of steroids, a little blood and more than a few tears - and I was amped. I would surely show that treadmill who is the boss. I pounded away for 20 minutes on the treadmill gaining motivation from a gentleman in the pool who had a stunning style *evil grin*! I hopped off the treadmill and claimed a bicycle. I assumed the racing pose and proceeded to better my record of 10km in 20 minutes. With the sweat pouring off me making a little puddle around the bike, the husband came up to me and mouthed "YOU are SCARY" while Pitbull urged me on ever faster from my MP4 player. I just smiled!
After cleaning up the bike and floor with extra heavy duty antibacterial cleaner, I popped over to the other side of the gym and did a fantastic workout on the Powerplate. The Powerplate has become my abs new best friend! Use the right technique and those vibrations really wake up the muscles. No wonder you have to wait 48 hours between sessions! The few pieces of sushi and the glass of red I had for supper tasted absolutely awesome after that session.
Saturday I took a rest day - if you can call running around wildly trying to complete a long list of errands a rest day! Sunday afternoon it was back to the gym for a welcome workout. I find doing some hectic cardio followed by free weights on the Powerplate is my thing at the moment. We'll see what results it brings.
So we arrive at the gym at about 18h30 on a Friday night. Right. Grumpy and Mr Motivated are in da house. Well, it took me one whiff of that gym air - you know what I'm talking about - that combo of chlorine, sweat, a dash of steroids, a little blood and more than a few tears - and I was amped. I would surely show that treadmill who is the boss. I pounded away for 20 minutes on the treadmill gaining motivation from a gentleman in the pool who had a stunning style *evil grin*! I hopped off the treadmill and claimed a bicycle. I assumed the racing pose and proceeded to better my record of 10km in 20 minutes. With the sweat pouring off me making a little puddle around the bike, the husband came up to me and mouthed "YOU are SCARY" while Pitbull urged me on ever faster from my MP4 player. I just smiled!
After cleaning up the bike and floor with extra heavy duty antibacterial cleaner, I popped over to the other side of the gym and did a fantastic workout on the Powerplate. The Powerplate has become my abs new best friend! Use the right technique and those vibrations really wake up the muscles. No wonder you have to wait 48 hours between sessions! The few pieces of sushi and the glass of red I had for supper tasted absolutely awesome after that session.
Saturday I took a rest day - if you can call running around wildly trying to complete a long list of errands a rest day! Sunday afternoon it was back to the gym for a welcome workout. I find doing some hectic cardio followed by free weights on the Powerplate is my thing at the moment. We'll see what results it brings.
Sunday, 9 October 2011
Week 11 - 180%
Well, here we are at the start of week 11 and what a week has just gone by! You know, I use a Polar heart rate monitor which is set up to improve my fitness. It gives me the amount of calories I need to burn in a week in order to do that and at midnight every Sunday night it leaves a little envelope on the screen of my watch for me to find on Monday morning to tell me how well I've done for the week! This morning it told me I achieved 180% of my weekly calorie burn! Awesome! Now, I managed to do this because it was school holidays so I could hit the gym every morning for a decent workout without the clock chasing me to get home and get the boys up and everything organised and ready for the school run. It was truly fantastic! Having a really good gym session in the morning is the most awesome way to start the day. I know I was not supposed to, but I snuck onto the machine during the week - clearly I've hit another plateau because my weight is the same and the body fat is the same as the previous time. That's ok - at least it hasn't gone UP and I've figured now that my body does this in some sort of step pattern! Just when I'm ready to give up and throw in the sweat towel, I suddenly get results!
I don't actually think I could give this up now! I have become kinda addicted to exercise now and the great thing is to realise that it's just become part of my lifestyle now. That's a great feeling. I was chatting to a friend in the gym on Saturday - this was after I'd just attained my goal of cycling 10km in 20 minutes - and saying that my results are so slow and I seem to be working really hard and being very good about what goes into my mouth. She suggested I actually add a bit of carbs to my meals before 14h00 - NO carbs after that! Now if you could see her body, you would listen to everything she has to say!! May I just mention here that she is a granny and she looks better than most of the young bokkies at the gym!
Oh ouch! Talking of bokkies.... ai shame, our fantastic Bokke were knocked out of the world cup on Sunday morning in the quarter finals. There seemed to be a cloud of depression and frustration hanging over SA all of yesterday! Look I don't know enough about rugby to criticize... but the REF!!!! I don't know!
Ok people, it looks like Summer is making a great attempt at arriving and actually staying for a while! Let's rock this week's socks off, ok?!
I don't actually think I could give this up now! I have become kinda addicted to exercise now and the great thing is to realise that it's just become part of my lifestyle now. That's a great feeling. I was chatting to a friend in the gym on Saturday - this was after I'd just attained my goal of cycling 10km in 20 minutes - and saying that my results are so slow and I seem to be working really hard and being very good about what goes into my mouth. She suggested I actually add a bit of carbs to my meals before 14h00 - NO carbs after that! Now if you could see her body, you would listen to everything she has to say!! May I just mention here that she is a granny and she looks better than most of the young bokkies at the gym!
Oh ouch! Talking of bokkies.... ai shame, our fantastic Bokke were knocked out of the world cup on Sunday morning in the quarter finals. There seemed to be a cloud of depression and frustration hanging over SA all of yesterday! Look I don't know enough about rugby to criticize... but the REF!!!! I don't know!
Ok people, it looks like Summer is making a great attempt at arriving and actually staying for a while! Let's rock this week's socks off, ok?!
Sunday, 2 October 2011
Week 10 - probably the toughest yet
I have just had to check the calendar and make absolutely sure that I really have been doing this thing for 10 weeks already!! It doesn't seem possible! On various fronts...
Ok, so today is the start of week 10. Still, I expected to be 10kg down by now and looking a whole lot different to when I started. I really haven't had a good week, so this blog entry may have a bit of a negative feel to it. I may even become whiny at some point, but I did promise in the beginning to be honest! And right now, I feel a bit like a whiny child who cannot get their way!
After being well and truly "donnered" by the yoga class, my entire body hurt for days afterwards. I did a power walk on the Monday after work, but on Tuesday morning when my alarm woke me at 04h40 for my early morning gym session, my body just said "forgeddaboudit, capiche". I had also not slept well for two nights in a row. I reset the alarm and went straight back to sleep! I spent the day on Wednesday at Tygerberg Hospital and when I went to drop my son at the dance studio for his hip hop class (and of course my power walk), we found the studio closed and so we assumed that class was finished for the term. I drove home - no power walk. On Thursday I had to catch up on Wednesday's work that I'd missed and so ended up working late - and missing my beloved 17h30 zumba class. My colleague is on leave, so I worked all day on Friday and therefore missed out on my usual hectic Friday afternoon workout too. Aaarrrrgghhh!!! Just like that and a whole week has slipped by and the exercise sessions are sorely lacking.
We were child-free on Friday evening and went to a movie - Friends with Benefits. Very sweet movie by the way - a fairly predictable romcom, but you know for me, I go to movies to escape reality, so I like the nice ending type movie, or the real skop, skiet and donder also does it for me, although I get a little amped and should preferably see a movie like that first thing in the morning, followed by a gym session! I digress.... Justin Timberlake and Mila Kunis are the two main characters in the movie - plenty eye candy for both the guys and the girls. However, it got me thinking and feeling like a fat, middle-aged, washed up disaster zone! Believe me, when I hit the gym on Saturday morning, I was DRIVEN! Between yesterday and today I managed to catch up on my calorie burn for the week. I am really looking forward to this coming week as I'll be able to hit the gym every morning as the kids have school holidays now and so my time is a little less hectic in the mornings! Maybe I can double my calorie burn this week and make some head way!
Again I say consistency is key as is continually checking in with yourself and finding out why you have these goals and keeping yourself motivated even when it seems that results are a far off dream.
I have only 6 weeks left to my first goal post and then 10 weeks to the next. Time to drop a gear or two and open up the throttle!!
Ok, so today is the start of week 10. Still, I expected to be 10kg down by now and looking a whole lot different to when I started. I really haven't had a good week, so this blog entry may have a bit of a negative feel to it. I may even become whiny at some point, but I did promise in the beginning to be honest! And right now, I feel a bit like a whiny child who cannot get their way!
After being well and truly "donnered" by the yoga class, my entire body hurt for days afterwards. I did a power walk on the Monday after work, but on Tuesday morning when my alarm woke me at 04h40 for my early morning gym session, my body just said "forgeddaboudit, capiche". I had also not slept well for two nights in a row. I reset the alarm and went straight back to sleep! I spent the day on Wednesday at Tygerberg Hospital and when I went to drop my son at the dance studio for his hip hop class (and of course my power walk), we found the studio closed and so we assumed that class was finished for the term. I drove home - no power walk. On Thursday I had to catch up on Wednesday's work that I'd missed and so ended up working late - and missing my beloved 17h30 zumba class. My colleague is on leave, so I worked all day on Friday and therefore missed out on my usual hectic Friday afternoon workout too. Aaarrrrgghhh!!! Just like that and a whole week has slipped by and the exercise sessions are sorely lacking.
We were child-free on Friday evening and went to a movie - Friends with Benefits. Very sweet movie by the way - a fairly predictable romcom, but you know for me, I go to movies to escape reality, so I like the nice ending type movie, or the real skop, skiet and donder also does it for me, although I get a little amped and should preferably see a movie like that first thing in the morning, followed by a gym session! I digress.... Justin Timberlake and Mila Kunis are the two main characters in the movie - plenty eye candy for both the guys and the girls. However, it got me thinking and feeling like a fat, middle-aged, washed up disaster zone! Believe me, when I hit the gym on Saturday morning, I was DRIVEN! Between yesterday and today I managed to catch up on my calorie burn for the week. I am really looking forward to this coming week as I'll be able to hit the gym every morning as the kids have school holidays now and so my time is a little less hectic in the mornings! Maybe I can double my calorie burn this week and make some head way!
Again I say consistency is key as is continually checking in with yourself and finding out why you have these goals and keeping yourself motivated even when it seems that results are a far off dream.
I have only 6 weeks left to my first goal post and then 10 weeks to the next. Time to drop a gear or two and open up the throttle!!
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