Archive for the ‘Health and fitness’ Category

Get Shredded

February 23rd, 2012

I’m one month from my LAST spring break ever, which means I’m one month away from bathing suit season and about 6,000 months away from the super-bod. Plus the set back of the fatty footy really put a kabosh on my exercising. I’ve been itching to get back to sweating, but A) I was lazy and B) my foot hurt (mostly A though…) Then like some sort of mind reading thing, this lovely Southern Belle put a bat call out there for Jillian Michael’s 30 day Shred – again. I’ve done Jillian’s a few times and have always had success with her. The last time I was hanging with her, I was able to whip out 30 REAL pushups and a 2 minute plank. Since then I’ve definitely gotten the loose chicken arms again and can only do 10 pushups without becoming wobbly jello or about 30 seconds of a plank before I collapse on the floor.

So when Jenna said she’s doing the 30 Day Challenge… I sighed, shook my head (cuz I really DIDN’T want to do it!), and decided to put on my  big girl panties and get “serious” about working out again. I took my measurements and got to shredding. Again.

I’m excited about the virtual group aspect of working out together, but I’m really not too excited about Jillian. I’ve seen her videos so many times, I’ve memorized all her cheesy lines plus I get bored (note: NOT the same as unchallenged!). But the thought of my spring break has me flailing around in my living room, cursing at the screen, and cringing at my 5 and 8lb weights (yup, weak little chicken arms). I won’t be doing it in 30 consecutive days because the Hus and I have a standing workout date Sunday.Tuesday.Thursday where we jog on adjacent treadmills and try to outrun each other for 30+ minutes. And since they say, “The couple that exercises together…. well they get to eat bon bons together because they just worked out!” (they Do say that, right?) I won’t be giving up my bon bon gym dates with my main squeeze. Plus Tuesdays and Wednesdays I definitely don’t have time for a two-a-day workouts, so I’ll be hanging with Jillian about 4-5x/week.

So here’s to shredding. Again. To getting rid of the chicken arms. To hating Jillian again. And to strength. And to being able to lift those damn 8lb weights up to my eyes in the last shoulder movement.

3 days down, 13 real pushups done, 40 second plank. Boom. I got this.

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Womp Womp

January 27th, 2012

So remember when I was on a workout streak? And said I was gonna power through the entire month of January?

Ha yeah… ’bout that. Womp Womp.

I made it 16 days in a row from the end of December to middle of January (WOOO!), took a much needed break and then got back on. I gave myself a few more rest days and was on track to power through this month. Until the Fatty Footy happened. And we’re still a few days from the end of the month, but I still can barely move. Waaahhh! So no more workouts this month.

We’re calling it a wash on January 24. :(

Despite not hitting my workout every day goal, I’m pretty proud of myself – I still got 18 days of sweating in this month and only 4 rest days from December 28 through January 23. And so far since my birthday (August 5th), I’ve worked out 100 days of the 175.

So BOOM. 2012, Ima own you! But please give me my foot back so I can get back to it in February… OR... I can keep milking this no workout thing which will just give me more reasons for Fro Yo…
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Who’s the boss?

January 15th, 2012

As ya’ll know, I went on my “long” run with The Boss last week and I picked her smart runner brain to fix me. I’ve had this weird pain going from my right lower back through my butt and upper thigh area that’s been getting worse. It started out a couple weeks ago as just an annoying little nag, not particularly painful, but just there. It’s slowly changed from just a nag to more of a dull ache, but still tolerable. Then a few days later, it started hurting during a 2 mile walk. So I talked to the Running Boss during our long run to see if she had any magic running powers to fix me.

So the diagnosis: It’s probably a growth that’s going to turn into elephantitis (a real disease, but I’m not linking cuz the pictures are pretty gross) and I’ll probably have to lose the leg.

Actually… nobody knows what’s wrong with me. I have a sneaky suspicion my “I don’t really stretch” thing I’ve had going on might have had something to do with it… but I guess nobody will ever really know ;)

But the Running Boss did reprimand me (they say nurses make the worst patients…) and gave me some good stretches with strict instructions to rest and stretch and take a few days off running.

This happened at a perfect timing because it was during this long, more painful run with her that I realized I don’t actually love running (I know, blasphemous! I’m so sorry Janae!). So I broke the workout streak. It lasted 16 days with one rest day and then back in the saddle with some strength training. And since that realization, I’ve kind of struggled to figure out what types of workout activities I actually do love. I realized I love biking and swimming and gym classes. So there ya have it… now if only there was a “Skinny Biker” who would kick my tail in training…

So now that I’ve got a whole extra HOUR in my life because I’m not allowed to run, I’m gonna go hang with my Boss, Minion… (we all know I’m the boss ’round here)
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Thoughts on food and exercise

January 6th, 2012

One of my goals this month (and every month…) is to work out every day. Everyone’s talking about this “Running Streak,” but I cannot commit to running every. single. day (I’d shoot my eyeballs out), so I’m trying to do my own kind of streak – a workout streak. Just to move and be active for at least 30 minutes every day. I’ve had this goal for a number of months and I’ve never been able to fulfill it. The closest I got was in October with working out 17 days of the month.

But so far so good! Although it’s only the 6th day of the month, my work out streak is up to 10 days, the most days I’ve worked out in a row in a long time.. I’ve worked out every day since December 28, including NYE and Jan 1st.

And I had an interesting thought about healthy living the other day… Every day I need to eat dinner. Every day, no matter what. And some days I have more time and ingredients and can put in the work to come up with a delicious gourmet meal. Other days I’m tired or lazy or way to busy to cook much. But I still must eat. Those days become the cereal or quick salad or egg sandwich kinda nights. Whether I’m making a four course meal or an instant one, I’m always eating dinner. Every day. As long as I’m eating a real meal more often than the egg sandwiches, that’s a health win in my book.

That’s how my exercising has to be. Some days I’ll have the time and the gumption to hit the cardio and weights hard; to really put in a lot and get a lot out. And then there are some other days where a 30 minute walk is all I’m gonna get that night. So as long as I’m sweating and getting my heart rate up on more days than the 30 minute walks, then it’s another health win in my book.

So here’s to another 25 days hitting it (mostly) hard in January. In the meantime, I cooked yesterday. Looks like I’m off the hook in the kitchen tonight. Sorry Hus, you get leftovers or an egg sammy. ;)

Having a fun workout buddy always makes it easier
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Reasons why NOT to run a marathon

November 13th, 2011

In recent light of my running gal pals who are super stars and run marathons like I run my mouth, I’ve been thinking about jumping on the band wagon and running another marathon. However, the little angel-devil debate in my head gave me a number of reasons NOT to run a marathon:

1. Running for 4 hours straight does NOT sound appealing to me. Honestly, running for an hour straight pretty much makes me want to poke my eyeballs out right now, I can’t imagine doing that 3 more times after.

2. $100 running shoes + $100 race fee + $0 income +$1,000,000 tuition = I’m broke.

3. Giving up EVERY Saturday (or Sunday) morning for the long runs. Not that I go out ever anyway, but Murphy’s law – as soon as I commit to giving up a weekend morning, every.single. Friday night would be filled and I’d be out too late and lose sleep and blah blah blah. But really, not digging the long run weekends.

4. Morning runs in the dark and cold. Wah wah (yeah yeah, suck it up, buttercup…)

5. I already did it and crossed it off the bucket list. The bucket list didn’t say, “run two marathons.” It said, “run a marathon.” Done and done (Chicago, 2005… which yes, I realize was like a million years ago and probably doesn’t even count anymore)

6. The marathon weight gain, which is true and inevitable (again, already experienced this)

7. Not that I’m particularly vain about my feet (cuz let’s be honest, NO ONE has nice feet), but the ripped off toenails and blood blisters that don’t EVER go away… that stuff’s nasty. Plus, see #2  as to why I can’t get frequent pedicures to fix defunct marathon feet.

8. I’m a pansy who doesn’t like anything challenging or painful. Marathon training is both.

(basically I’m just trying to convince myself in my head NOT to run a marathon because the truth is I’m totally inspired by my friends’ accomplishments and secretly want to get back into racing again. Plus, my friends are pretty cool and I just need an excuse to fit in with them and make them WANT to hang out with me.)

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Priorities

October 21st, 2011

#1. I try my absolute darndest (ps who says darndest?) to work out every day. I really try. I set my alarm to go off early or I try to mentally get myself in the game to do it in the afternoon/evening. It’s beneficial to my health and it’s a priority.

#2. I realize I need about 8.5-9 hours of good sleep per night, which I do not ever get. This is beneficial to my health and also a priority.

I’m having a very very hard time combining 1+2. If I don’t exercise in the morning, it’s put off till the afternoon/evening when I come home exhausted, starving and the LAST thing I want to do is pound some pavement. But if I do workout in the morning, I’m exhausted and want to go to bed earlier, which brings us to our next problem:

#3. I have to study. I spend most all of my “free” time at my desk with the books. Not exactly a health benefit, but unfortunately a priority.

Due to priority #3, I am unable to go to bed earlier to wake up for an early am workout. By the time I leave the books, it’s usually past 11pm and I just crash into bed.

Due to priority #2, I’m also unable to get up any earlier. Even if the alarm goes off early for an early sweat sesh, I turn it off and get up in only enough time to get ready for my day and go.

So if I wake up early to work out, I’m giving up priority #2. If I don’t wake up early, I usually give up priority #1. Priority #3 is cramping my style and I’m stumped. And of course the irony is that lethargy breeds lethargy, so if I give up priority #1, I’m giving up priority #2 by default, and I’ll be more tired without working out.

So the $64,000 question is -

How do I fit it all in? Which healthy priority is more important? Which one can I afford to give up without jeopardizing my health?

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Just call me “Lance”

January 9th, 2011

So I got a bike for Christmas! I got it a little before Christmas, mostly because my clinical placement this semester is about 5 miles away and will take me about 30-45 minutes in traffic in the morning. So why not take the same or less amount of time, get a morning (and evening) workout and ride to my clinical? Perfect! Plus I’m getting kinda tired of running and my other usual work outs, so might as well spice it up and ride! Even more perfect!

So I get the cool 21 speed bike, I get the nifty helmet (serious problem though… WHAT is it going to do to my hair on a day I have to look professional and presentable??) and I get a trusty dusty bike lock. I’m ready to go.

I decide to do a little practice ride a couple days before my clinical, just to get a feel for the bike and my new friend, the road. Turns out, as much as I know about running and general fitness, I know NOTHING about biking. The only thing I know is that bikers go WITH traffic (as opposed to the opposite of traffic while running). First of all, I put on the helmet and cannot get the straps right. It’s either choking me or falling off and for some reason, I can’t get it right and something’s poking my brains out.

I finally get my helmet sitch figured out and hit the road. Once I’m on the road, I’m incredibly nervous.  I’m biking the same route I run – the busy road right off the highway and on the way to the beach – but this time I can’t SEE the cars coming towards me. I’m considered a vehicle. I’m riding literally inches away from these guys who are ZOOMING by me. Plus, I’m freezing. I’m in my workout pants and a long sleeve jacket, and when I left it was sunny and about 70 degrees. Apparently biking in the shade makes you a little cooler.

Then I realize I don’t even know how to operate the stupid bike. The last bikes I’ve borrowed and ridden have been beach cruisers – ya know the ones without gears and a long wide seat and a back pedal break and a little horn? Yeah, the kiddie bikes? Those are the ones I like. So now I’m zoom-zooming and can’t control my speed, my pedaling isn’t taking me anywhere, so I figure it’s time to shift gears. So I click something up and something down on both my handle bars and the tires start making a clicking noise (not the changing gears noise, I know THAT one!), a constant little “tick tick tick” while I pedal. A noise I’m pretty sure shouldn’t be heard. And the gear shifting didn’t do anything to help me pedal. So I keep clicking and pulling and pushing my gears and eventually I’m pedaling with ALL OF MY MIGHT just to barely move… I think I switched gears to high up (or did I go too far down?)

I eventually come to the next intersection where I need to turn left. Now I’m not sure if I sit in the left lane with the thousand pound cars that go faster than me, are bigger than me and could decimate me, or if I use the crosswalks… I opt for the crosswalk. But it’s a pedestrian cross walk, I’m not a pedestrian. Hmm… Again, this is me knowing NOTHING about biking.

Now I think I’ve finally got it figured out. I keep messing with my gears blindly and am hoping for the best, I’ve kept my mouth closed so far to avoid buggies in my mouth, and I haven’t been knocked off my two wheels yet. So far, so good! Plus I’m more than halfway to my clinic! But then some big truck pulls next to me and the guy yells something, shakes his head, points his finger at me and drives off. All I heard from him was, “…Bad riding!” …or maybe I just imagined he said that…? Either way, Homeboy Trucker is raining on my biking parade. Doesn’t he know I’m pretty much like Lance Armstrong at this point?

Thankfully, I made it to my destination and I even  made it back home without anymore adventures. I’m wondering now if the side effects of running are less of a hassle than biking. And I think I’m going to drive to my clinical site next week. Hate to break it to ya, Lance, I don’t think I’m cut out for your sport.

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A side effect of running

December 5th, 2010

Running, like every form of exercise has side effects, most are the side effects people want – a svelte little bod, feeling stronger, healthier, etc. But there are also some negative side effects of running as well. Those side effects include sore muscles, pain, injuries, and on some occasions, tummy troubles.

Now I’m normally a little… prone to these certain tummy troubles and I try to nip it in the butt bud before a problem arises. This morning, I woke up about 20 minutes early to take care of business before my run. And no sooner had I finished, gotten dressed and was ready to head out, the business calls again and I’m back on the throne. I make it a point to not eat breakfast before my runs, and I never drink coffee before  because all of those exacerbate my tummy troubles.

So after meeting my running buddy (a little late, ya know, duty called…) I thought I’d be in the clear. Business taken care of (twice!), empty, breakfast free and caffeine free tummy. So we carry on our merry little run and about 16 minutes into it, the tummy troubles return. Now we’ve passed civilization at that point and we’re in a wooded trail area. No parks, no houses, no people, nothing. The rumblings in my tumbly were rolling and I couldn’t run anymore, and was bent over holding my stomach, squeezing my cheeks and praying to the porcelain gods that one would appear. The only public restroom was either a mile ahead of us or about half a mile back. We decided to walk the half half mile back (because I couldn’t run without the risk of… losing it) to find relief.

I thought that would take care of my little tummy problem, and it did for the rest of the run, but when I got back home, I was right back at it. Getting comfortable on my throne a few more times that day.

At least running is a natural laxative and I think was finally able to lose the last 5lbs today. But I think the real solution here is that I quit running.

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September Goals

September 1st, 2010

In my attempt to be a better person, I’m making monthly goals for this year. So here goes month 2, September:

-No more canceling on my running buddy: As mentioned here, whenever my running buddy cancels on me, I get ecstatic, using it as an excuse to not work out. Thing is, I cancel on her too. A lot. Last summer she and I were running like mad men – up to 9 miles and multiple times per week. This summer, I think we’ve run a total of 9 times and about 4 miles, while stopping and walking for most of it. But September is here and I promise you, Emily, I won’t cancel on you! (ugh, I already hate this month!)

-No chocolate: Yikes. This one’s gonna be a toughie. And I’m even going to try and take it one step further and say, no chocolate, no desserts, no extra sweeties. If you all find me stooped over the trash can crying, it’s because my husband was a meanie and threw out my secret stash. Wish me luck on my chocolate-less journey….sigh.

-No complaining: I have so so many blessings in my life that I am incredibly grateful for. However, I tend to get in the little, “Woe is me” stage and start complaining. This month will be a reflection on all the positive things in my life. Who cares that I had a really annoying day at work? I have a job that I love and that I’m good at. So what if my husband wants to watch 24 and I want to go to bed?  I married my best friend and he does so much for me all the time, I can suck it up and watch his show. This month is going to be learning about not sweating the small fries.

-No excuses: As it’s been said, there’s no excuse to not take care of my body. I’m going to continue with my goal of working out every day I’m not working (which will be more this month since I’m going part time). I’m going to try to continue to make healthy meals for my Hus and the roomie and I. I’m going to talk myself out of snacking on peanuts and grab some carrots. No excuses! (seriously, this month is going to suck! Boo on good life choices!)

And the recap of August:

-Work out 20 days this month: I made it 13 days. I missed a whole week in there, but 13 days is still 3+ days per week!

-Cook 4 new meals: I cooked 3. Pad Thai which was really yummy, just not exactly Pad Thai-y. Spinach and Blue Cheese Stuffed Chicken – AH-MAZING! And Vegetarian Mexican Lasagne which was good but a little “meh.”  I like me a little MEAT in my food.

-Stop swearing: Meh… still a work in progress. I think I was focused on the other goals a little more than this one

-Love my husband more: Oh and I looooved him, let me tell you! ;)

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Realizations

March 3rd, 2010

I’ve come to these realizations recently (or maybe not so recently, but am having a new resolution to follow up on them)

- I really just cannot eat and do whatever I want anymore. I don’t have my high school body or metabolism and therefore cannot act like I do. I’ve really not been able to eat or do whatever I want for years now. It just comes around again every once in a while when I become more attuned to my body’s needs. Sigh. The unfortunate part about this is that I love everything that’s bad for me! I love sweets and salty foods and having mixed drinks, and I love being lazy (READ: NOT working out!).

-I really can’t stay up late anymore. Long gone are my all nighters with beer and pizza. I’m definitely an 8 hours a night kinda girl and really anything less than that makes a cranky Katie (I’m sure my husband can attest) and also makes me much less productive. I do often convince myself that “I can get through one day of anything,” after a late night and then I have to work the next day. It is true, I can get through one day of anything, but at what cost? At the cost of me being exhausted, nauseous, headachey and completely zombie like and feeling like crap? At the cost of the safety of my patients, or at the cost of not loving my husband fully? Not worth it.

So here is my resolve to take care of my 20-something year old body (not my 16 year old body). This is a multifaceted resolve which includes sleep, exercise and eating right. BLAH! But the realization is that I feel better, I look better and I act better when I do take care of myself. So I guess that’s a better payout than feeling dehydrated and bloated from eating an entire bag of chips (ummm… why NO, I’ve never done that!), and it’s definitely better payout than being cranky, tired and having a horribly long day at work because I didn’t get enough sleep.

I’m not getting any younger, and it’s not going to get any easier… Might as well start now, right? again, big SIGH…

(I’ll keep you posted, cuz Friday  night is a friends birthday and I work Saturday…. hmmm, I may have to postpone my “resolutions!” (just kidding… kinda) )

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