Week 1 of lifting

I just finished one week of adding weights to my routine. I actually started a week ago today and since I had Monday off I did weights Tuesday and Thursday this week even though my routine for lifting is going to be Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

I've increased my squat weight to 75lbs. Lateral pulls are at 70 lbs. I'm also doing none weighted lower back extensions and abdominal lifts, which I really do not like and I think I'm swapping that out for bench pressing starting next week. I figure I feel my abs working when I squat and do lateral pulls. I was doing them because someone suggested them, I could care less now. Maybe I'll do them later. I just hate that I'm all sweaty and I keep slipping from the pads.

I weighed in today. Let me tell you I am not happy about it. I went up almost 4lbs!!! I felt so defeated. I know I didn't do the greatest with my eating this week. I went over my 1750 limit a few times but I don't think it was enough to gain 4lbs. This is what I really dislike about lifting 3 days a week. You can't really track how many calories you burn so I feel like I'm not doing any good for myself and plus I'm hungrier and go over my calorie intake! At least with doing the elliptical I knew I was burning something and ate some calories back so I wouldn't feel so damn hungry.

I did measure myself this morning though. That was a surprise. I lost inches all over, waist, hips, thighs and arms. I don't know how accurate that is since I measured this morning vs in the evening. Does that make a difference? I'll keep measuring in the mornings. I'm taking a picture tomorrow and comparing it to the first one I took 6 weeks ago. I'll continue doing lifts for three more weeks. If I don't see progress I might just kick it to the curb. It feels very defeating when you don't lose any weight. Maybe if I continue to lose inches I'll feel better.

The girls on MFP say it's normal and I should just focus on my measurements and not at the number on the scale. I've been weighing myself every day the last couple of weeks. I want to see how much my weight really does fluctuate especially around the time of the month. There was one day, I didn't log it in MFP where I had lost another pound, I was at my lowest ever in a long time on that day but now I'm up.

This is very frustrating.

Weights?

I've been debating on if I should starting lifting weights. It seems that people get great results by lifting weights. When I was a teen I remember having to do weight lifting for gym class. I really liked it then. I remember how the coach was impressed by how much I was able to lift with my legs.

When I went to college I lifted weights with the boys. It was fun but schedules and motivations got in the way and I never lifted a dumbbell again. That was over 10 years ago. Now that I've been doing the elliptical for 5 weeks now I think it's time I start lifting again. I'm a bit sheepish about it though. There is a weight lifting area in the gym but it's users are usually really young and fit men. I feel a bit put off. My own self judging makes me imagine what they could be thinking of me. It sucks really. It sucks that I'll let what a stranger may or may not be thinking of me get in my way. It shouldn't.

I'm going to give it a try. Monday, Wednesday and Fridays are going to be my lifting days. I'll do the elliptical on Tuesday and Thursdays. I'll start next week. My friend suggested I do full body lifting, that way if it won't be a big deal if I skip a day. One set of 10-12 reps. I'm all for that. Get in. Burn. Get out. I don't want to stay they longer than I have too. I have a womens lifting book. It tells you want lifts help which parts of the body. I'll be taking a look at that today to get any idea of which exercises I'll should be doing.

I'm afraid of it getting boring and slowing down my already slow progress. Who knows, maybe this will be good for me?

Motivations

I've been working out for the past 4 weeks now. It's amazing to be able to say that. This is my fourth week of exercising 5 days a week. My workouts consist of three things:

1. 35 minutes on the elliptical
2. push ups
3. squats

So far there have been very few days where I've had to drag myself to the gym. Yesterday was one of those days. My normal routine is to hit the gym then work. Yesterday I had to work then hit the gym at 5pm. It sucked. I was tired by then and my co-workers were heading out to a bar for drinks. I knew I definitely did not want to go out for drinks but I was really wishy washy on wanting to hit the gym.  I forced myself to go. I was not happy going or while working out and I felt it. My workout on the elliptical was tiring and I just wanted to get it over with.

This morning on the other hand I hit the gym and did pretty good. I didn't get as tired as I did yesterday, I did break a sweat but I felt good. I have to say, I'm really proud of myself for coming this far. I really do like working out on my own. I set my own pace and I don't feel like I'm being held back. My driving motivation right now is the fact that I listen to audio books while working out. Only while working out. Which means if I want to find out what happens next I need to hit the gym or go for a walk home. So far I've been pretty good and doing that and it's kept me moving at least 5 days a week. I'll go for long morning walks on the weekends at home, just to hear the next juicy bit of audio book. Now that the weather is nice, I might hit the gym during the day and then go for a walk when I get home. We'll see how that goes.

I don't know how much I weigh right now. I dumped my scale almost two weeks ago. Then I found myself digging the damn thing out of the closet to weight myself. So I asked my husband to hide it from me. So now it's really dumped. I have no idea where it is and I have no intention of finding it. I have to weigh in soon, just to see where I'm at and to keep a decent estimate on calorie burn when I work out. I might ask him to bring it out for me this weekend. I'm looking forward to weighing in. I'm hoping to have some kind of loss. That will really help with my motivation.

We had a couple of friends come over for dinner on Friday and they noticed I had lost weight. Granted they haven't seen me in months so they would notice a difference even though I might not see it yet. I've been taking photos. Maybe I'll post them one day.

CROP walk 2013

Last week I found out my church was participating in the local CROP walk. I thought it would be a good way to socialize and add in some extra exercise. I had been looking forward to it all week...mostly because it was a great opportunity to get started on a new audio book.

There were two options for the walk. The main walk was for 5 miles and there was a shorter option of 3.4 miles. I was a bit reluctant at first. I knew I could pull off the 3.4 miles, I mean I walk about 2 miles on Saturday and Sundays when at home, what's another 1.4 miles? But the 5 mile....it was like a mountain I wanted to climb. I figured I'd do it in about 2 hours, this is a walk after all and I had been pulling off 2 miles in about an hour. Plus, I am far from being at a point to jog much less run anything. So a goal of 5 miles in 2 hours sounded good.

I made sure I had a bit more carbs in the morning, packed my protein shake and a banana for afterwards, got my water bottle filled, my audio book ready on my phone and I was off. At first I was doing a decent pace, I didn't want to get tired too soon and then put myself in a situation where I would turn for the 3.4 mile rather than finish the 5 mile walk. About after a while I felt the need to jog. I can't explain it, it's like I was not walking fast enough to satisfy some need I was feeling. So I started to jog. Nothing crazy, it was a very light jog. When I got tired of jogging I walked again. I started alternating, jogging then walking when I felt the need to relax. I paced my water bottle so I wouldn't run out of fluid, luckily there were a couple of CROP walk stops along the route where I got to refill my bottle. I think when I got to the last mile I stopped alternating and just walked.

I finished the walk in 1 hour and 30 minutes. I'm actually very proud of myself, I didn't think I would shave 30 minutes off my goal. I am now proud to say I survived CROP walk 2013.

Since I was doing the walk on Sunday I thought I'd take a break today from working out. I figured my legs would be too sore to work out. I actually woke up not as sore as I thought I would be and decided to continue with my daily routine of working out on the elliptical.

When I got to the walking track where I warm up there were two girls right by the elliptical I use. I like using it because it's on it's own in the walking track which is always at least almost empty. Well these two girls are there and I'm thinking to myself..."great, how long have they been there? are they going to use the machine or just lean on it for the whole hour?" I was a bit annoyed but kept doing my normal warm up laps hoping they would leave my corner of the walking track. I finished my warm up laps and they were still there. I had no choice but to get on the "other" elliptical in the other corner of the lap which I'm not used to. I've used it before, I don't like it. I got on it and just kept watching them....one doing jumping jacks while the other just sat on my machine. Finally after a few minutes, they were gone and I got to use the machine! I was happy and was able to do 30 minutes on a 9 resistance. I did get a tired a little sooner but I did it.

Honesty is the best policy

I started trying to lose weight last summer. I started counting calories using an app called "my fitness pal". It's an app you can install on your smart phone and there is a website with a whole community. Shortly after I started counting calories I found out I was pregnant. Not too long after that I miscarried. I got a bit depressed and didn't get back on the weight loss wagon.

Earlier this year I joined the guy and started working out. My goal was to use the elliptical. My first day I thought I'd go for as long as I could and then try to build up each day. I warmed up and got on the machine, knowing full well that I wouldn't be able to go more than 5 or 10 minutes. TWO minutes later I was dieing and back on the walking track...I could not believe it. I was upset with myself but that did not deter me. I went back the next few days adding at least a minute every time. I managed to get up to 10 minutes before I got sick with a horrible cold. I fell off the wagon again. That was two months ago.

Last Monday was my first day back at the gym. Considering I was off for so long I was afraid I would be back at 2 minutes. I did my warm up and got on the machine. I was able to stay on for 6 minutes. I know that doesn't sound like much, but for an obese person who hadn't worked out in two months that was major. I worked out all last week and today I was able to stay on for 22 minutes. I even increased the resistance. I have to say I'm really proud of myself. My goal is to get to 30 minutes and keep it there. Not so much because I don't want to work out more but because I have to get back to work. I might reach my goal by the end of the week.

I was really close to not going to today. Not sure why but I've been really emotional and I started to get that pang inside. That little voice saying "just today, take a break just today". I forced myself to go and I'm glad I did.