Exercising & Complaining

Size 14 is the new 10

2009-07-11T09:39:00.000-07:00

"Size 14 is the new 10"

That was the headline I saw on CNN.com yesterday. Apparently, the article says, "in recent years, as the American population has become generally more overweight, brands from the luxury names to the mass retail chains have scaled down the size labels on their clothing. You may actually be a size 14 and, according to whatever particular store you're in, you come out a size 10."

I ruminated about that all day long. Does that mean that a few short months ago, when I was a 14, I was really an 18? Does that mean that now that I am a size 10, I am really a size 14. Does the same go for shoes? Have the shoe manufacturers decided to make us feel better by changing the shoe sizes? Are my (already big) size 9 feet actually a size 11??!! and, what have they done with bra sizes?! I don't even want to think about it! This is so scary - how many things have 'they" done this with. And who is "they" who decides to change sizes so as to make sure that we feel better about ourselves? And after the first "they" does it - how do all of the other "theys" know to get on board and do it too? So many questions, so few answers. The newest conspiracy.

I hate bear crawls

2009-07-07T12:40:00.000-07:00

This is a bear-crawl. Or at least, this is what it is supposed to look like if its done right. Usually, my butt sticks up more in the air when I am doing them.

I hate bear-crawls - really, really hate them. I think they have surpassed all other hated exercise in terms of hatred. I am sure they are very good for your body, in terms of exercise - but they are hard and I am positive that I look ridiculous doing them!

Oh ya, and remember less #1 about not wearing thongs whilst doing squats? - Bear-crawls don't go with thongs very well either!

So, if you're going to do bear-crawls, make sure you aren't wearing thongs and make sure you keep your butt down - and don't expect to like them!!!

Decided not to change my blog name.

2009-07-06T21:58:00.000-07:00

Well, I was going to change the name of my blog and the address to
www.thongsandsquats.blogspot.com

But then I realized that with the word thongs in the title, many peoples filters might block this address - I supposed it sounds a bit pornish (is that even a word?) So, I think I'm sticking with this one and I will continue to blog here - even though the "12 week" challenge is officially over and I am still going. Hope to start getting comments again.

Tell me how your work out is going - post your success and/or your grumbles.

Tell me if it has been hard for you to keep going during the summer - it has been for me!

Just tell me something! :)

2009-04-30T21:04:00.000-07:00

This was taken on our vaca at Zion National Park. It was three days of hiking up lots of mountains - wonderful! The first pic is a storm that came up on us when we were hiking Angels Landing.

Dr. Randy Horn in Anthem Arizona

2009-04-30T20:30:00.002-07:00

Oh, I forgot that I wanted to give my new doctor a plug.
Dr. Randy Horn in Anthem is awesome. He is a very good doctor, easy to talk to and he takes his time with you. If you need a good doc in Anthem Arizona, I give Doctor Horn a big thumbs up!!

I'm baaaccckkk

2009-04-30T20:24:00.001-07:00

Oh my gosh, I haven't blogged in sooooo long!! First I was on vacation and then I got a sinus infection last week. I am finally back working out again after taking a two week break. I signed up for SWEAT's "maintenance plan" - it is a pretty good deal. I was amazed last night how hard it was to get back into exercising. After only two weeks, my endurance was very decreased.
My official weight at the end of the 12 weeks was 157.2. I am not sure how many total inches I lost, they are still looking for my beginning measurements (couldn't find the sheet) - but I know for sure that I lost 5 inches in my waist. I haven't been a 30 inch waist for YEARS! Yaaa
On the downside, most of my pants look like clown pants, I only have about 5 pairs that actually fit me now. Will have to save some $$ to get new pants and/or alterations.
Now, on to the flu-- is anyone else concerned or do you think it is being overblown. This is how I figure it -- if it is being a bit overblown, maybe that is for the best right now when we don't know how virulent this flu is going to be. I mean, if they had instituted these kinds of measures at the beginning of the 1918 epidemic, it probably would have saved some lives, right?

2009-04-04T22:16:00.000-07:00

I have been trying to find a pic of myself at my largest. This comes pretty close. This was taken in August, 2008 at Petrified Forest in Arizona. I'll try to get a good "after" pic of myself to post soon. I'm now about 2 sizes smaller than this. :)

I trained on Friday night instead of Wednesday night this week and I met some new people. I was talking to a fellow "SWEATer" named Rick (you have to tell me if I got your name wrong) and he cracked me up and made me feel good at the same time. We were doing lunges outside from wall to wall and I was, of course, complaining. Rick told me that he learned from my blog not to wear thongs when doing lunges. I had forgotten about my lunge+thong post, so it made me laugh. And, it made me feel good that a few other people (other than my family and close friends) actually read my prattle. Rick, I have to say that lunges+thong on a male would probably be way more uncomfortable then lunges+thong on a female, wouldn't you agree?! LOL

The end of my 12 week challenge is approaching, I am done on Thursday, April 16. I think (if I can find the money) I am going to do SWEAT's maintenance plan. I can do 2 personal training sessions per week and I can go to any of their group classes. I think its a good deal.

I may not blog too much this week. We are getting ready to go on a trip to Zion National Park. I'll post pics from our trip next week. Stay healthy!

only three weeks left, getting scared

2009-03-27T20:39:00.000-07:00

I trained with Josh all this week. He is really pushing every one this week because (for most people) the 12 week challenge ended this week. I still have until the week of April 15th since I started late. Last night was a tough one, I nearly fell off the treadmill and I kept having to hold on. Josh told me that if I kept holding on, he would tie my hands behind my back. I am pretty sure that isn't legal, but it was funny when he said it.

I'm already freaking out about my time at SWEAT ending. I'll be done with my 12 week challenge on April 15th and I don't think we can afford to sign up again. I am very sad and really scared that I will go back to my bad ways if I can't go to SWEAT. Going there keeps me accountable and I know I will not work out as hard as I do when I am training with the SWEAT people. ARRRGGHH. I am trying to talk my husband into letting me go on the new maintenance plan that SWEAT has - keep your fingers crossed that we can find the extra money in our budget. It is definitely worth it!!

Josh and Laura, you guys have built a great business that helps lots of people, you should feel proud!

The only thing we have to fear...

2009-03-23T21:50:00.001-07:00

It feels like I haven't had much to blog about. Nothin new. Ate bad on the weekend, like usual - and then worried about the weigh in on Monday night. I am well behaved during the week (well, for at least diet and exercise I am) but I am baaaaddd on the weekends. Not as bad as I used to be, but still bad. I bet I would have lost at least 3 more pounds if I ate better on the weekends. Oh well, at least I am in way better shape then I was 8 weeks ago.

I have another gripe, totally off topic. Listening to the news today, there is a new buzzword floating around that caught my attention and immediately started to annoy me - "Toxic Assets." As in, "the government agreed to purchase some of the toxic assets." Give me a frickin break - cant you just say "bad investments." Some histrionic reporter decided to make the term "bad investments" sound much scarier by turning it into "toxic assets." Whoooo, when you say it like that, it makes it sound so much worse, I'm really scared now. I hate it when the news gets apocolypic - they must think it will sell better if they make it sound worse in this current environment. Like FDR said, "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself" - you got that right brother.

Problems with Push-ups

2009-03-18T21:07:00.000-07:00

Had Josh again tonight, apparently push-ups were the theme. I only got a "cmon oblinger" a few times, that's an improvement! Told you I would blog about it Josh!

I don't like push-ups. Not so much because they are hard. I mean, they are hard, but not as hard as they used to be. But I still have some "issues" with them.

1st issue --- I do the modified version (the kind most women do) - so I'm on my knees when I do them. The floor at SWEAT is hard and I get a sort of cross between a bruise and a carpet burn on my knees when Josh makes us do like a million push-ups.

2nd issue --- the push up in general is not terribly attractive, it is kind of an unappealing position to be in (maybe some people feel differently about this, but I don't feel very good lookin when I'm doing them).

3rd issue --- I look absolutely ridiculous when I am trying to get up from doing a large amount of push-ups. I just look pitiful, I have to push myself up and try to get my feet under me. I look clumsy and not graceful in the least. Now, most people would not normally describe me as graceful, but me getting up after doing lots of push ups could be described as anti-graceful - the exact opposite of graceful.

4th issue --- guys look way better doing push-ups (well some guys anyway).

Ok now that the bitching is over. On the bright side, I am totally able to do many more push-ups then I could 7 weeks ago!

Oh - for those of you who live close to Anthem - SWEAT's new 12 week challenge starts on April 1st - it is TOTALLY worth the cost if you really want to jump start your path to fitness and weight loss!!! Everyone there is great, that includes Josh (even though I complain about him a lot).

Smaller clothes

2009-03-16T19:47:00.000-07:00

This weekend I had to search the house for my old size 10 shirts - I had packed them up about 6 months ago when I had given up ever being a size 10 again. I guess we must have given some of them away because I was only able to find a few. I'm not all the way into size 10 pants yet, probably another 10 pounds to do before I can be comfortable in a size 10.
I am so excited that a lot of my size 12's are too baggy on me (and all of my size 14's)!! It has taken me about 7 weeks to get back down to a 12. I only have about 5 weeks left with SWEAT, I am so scared that once I stop, I'll start gaining the weight back - I sure hope I can stick to it! When I'm done, I still plan on going to at least one weekend boot camp and the open Tuesday night workout - at least that gets me two SWEAT style work-outs per week. Hopefully that plus my treadmill will be enough to at least maintain (if not continue to lose).
Josh told me tonight that I psych myself out sometimes, I see how much weight he wants me to do and I decide that I can't do it before I even try. I think he's right, so I'm going to try to work on that. It's such a struggle sometimes, I get so tired and out of breath I want to quit, but part of me wants to keep going (the part that keeps chanting, "bathing suit season, high school reunion"). Seeing results definitely helps my commitment level
Guess that's it for now - have a great week.

Quick review since Thursday

2009-03-15T16:53:00.000-07:00

Heres my quick review of the last 4 days..

Thursday night was a 10 on the puke scale, need I say more?

Friday the kids went up to Show Low and Justin and I ate Sushi.

Saturday we sold our elliptical machine, I ran 3.5 miles on the treadmill and we cleaned the Acura to get it ready to sell.

Today, we went to our Dave Ramsey (financial peace) class, I got Justin his birthday present and I ran 2.5 miles on the treadmill. Now we are going to have Sunday dinner.

Nothing terribly interesting, but there it is. I have had to go searching the house for my smaller shirts because the ones I had been wearing look like tents now. Yaaa!

Miss the kids... :(

This week, so far...

2009-03-11T19:22:00.000-07:00

Monday I skipped working out because my son had a little league game. It was the longest little league game EVER and it was kind of scary. Although my sons team won, a boy on the other team ended up with a broken nose. Everyone felt really bad for him! I'm kind of freaking that little league can be so brutal, this is only my sons second game!!
I changed my workout to Tuesday night. So this week, I will be working out Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday night. Tonight, I got Josh. I made the mistake of telling him that I had hit a "plateau" now that I am down almost 15 pounds. Note to self, don't tell Josh that you have hit a plateau (or that you ate chocolate)!!! He put me on the stair machine (not the easy stairmaster) for 5 minutes at level 10 - it was haarrdd!! I made it almost the whole time without stopping, but I was sweating and huffing and puffing. It was a hard work out, but not as bad as last week when I was crying on the floor. He told me I was getting lazy in my workouts. It doesn't feel like it to me, but maybe he is just saying that to motivate me??? I've got about 5 1/2 weeks left of the workouts, and another 15 pounds to lose - wish me luck.

Friday cheat day

2009-03-07T22:45:00.001-07:00

So, Thursday right at the beginning of the workout, Josh told me I had done enough whining the night before and I wasn't allowed to whine! So, I tried not to. It wasn't quite as brutal as Wednesday night - but it was a good workout.

Friday, I ate pizza, ohhh nooo. I felt bad because it seems like once I blow it for the day, I keep eating bad that day. Friday was the first day I had a soda in a long time too! Yikes. So I must behave for the rest of the weekend.

I've been researching treadmills and today I found some people selling a really good Precor treadmill on Craigslist. Got a really great deal!! It was pretty hard getting it transported, but it is set up now and I just ran 3.8 miles. The treadmill hurts my knees way less than running on the street or sidewalk.

Now, about weightloss. I seem to be hovering somewhere around 161. I just can't get down into the 150's. I have been hovering between 161 and 163 for about a week now. Guess I'll have to stop the oops days if I want to drop down any further. I have about 5.5 weeks to go and I need to drop another 20 pounds - I need to start the shakes again I think.
:)
Have a great Sunday everyone.

Holy frickin crap (the curse words I want to use are way too bad)!!

2009-03-04T19:26:00.000-07:00

OH MYYYY GOOOOODDDD!!! I just got done working out. This one's for you Josh.

This was by far the hardest workout in the last 2 or 3 weeks. In fact, I have never come closer to crying during a workout than I was tonight. The fact that I was seconds away from puking most of the workout doesn't really need to be said, does it? I was laying on the floor, trying to catch my breath and not puke, my face had to be the color of a cooked lobster, and Josh was telling me to get up and get on the stair stepper. I was whimpering and saying, I can't, I can't get up - he just kept telling me to get up. I looked and sounded pretty pitiful, I am sure. At the time I was begging and whimpering, I didn't feel like a wimp... but looking back, I kind of do now.

This was a 9 on the puke scale (the only reason it's not a 10 is because I haven't puked yet, I reserve the right to update this if I do).
I can guarantee you that I would NEVER push myself this hard if I didn't have a trainer - this is why personal training gets more results than when I work out alone!!!

New Shoes!!!

2009-03-02T19:52:00.000-07:00

I got new running shoes yesterday. I did some research and then went to the store and talked to a guy who runs 40 miles per week. All of my research points to Asics for regular gait (I don't over or under pronate).
WOW, what a difference they made tonight. My feet didn't hurt at all and my knees even hurt less than normal. I can't wait to try a long run/walk and see how they do. I'm glad I listened to my friends who said that most of my problems were in my shoes (other than the problems in my head - which shoes won't help).

Trained with Gina tonight, still burned a ton of calories, but didn't want to cry the entire time - it was good.

Play Ball!

2009-02-28T21:14:00.001-07:00

Today we went to opening day for my son's little league. We were at BC High School up here in Anthem, so I decided while we were hanging around waiting to get his pictures done, I would run on the track. I ran/walked/ran/walked for an hour and 45 minutes, I lost track of the laps, but I figure by the time and the rate of speed, I must have done at least 6 miles. I met a new friend on the track and we talked for the last hour, that kept me going way longer than I would have normally gone. I am going to meet her there next weekend so we can run together again.

Of course, you know I must bitch about something, so here it comes. You'd think I would know better by now, being a 4th generation Arizonan, but I forgot to put sunblock on my arms and shoulders, so I am super sunburned right now. And, my feet have never been so sore in my life, the outside part of my feet feel like someone is sticking burning hot needles in them - so wierd.
So, while exercising is definitely making me feel better in general; I am also experiencing pains I have never had before. Just in case someone might know what this pain is referred to as, the place where my foot hurts is about where the 4th metatarsal meets the cuboid??? Any one heard of that before?

Banana Republic

2009-02-25T21:11:00.000-07:00

I have this pair of nice BR work pants - I always loved them because they made me look skinny. I haven't been able to wear them since first or second year of law school (3 years ago)! I wore them today, comfortably!! YAAAA I was so excited when they buttoned and zipped up and there was no "sausage" if you know what I mean (by sausage, I mean the fat that hangs over the waist band of your pants when they are too tight).

Had Josh again tonight, lots of running and spinning - but I am doing a better job at keeping up...and of course, by knees hurt - but whats new.

Hope everyone in blogland is doing great!

whats your name, who's your daddy

2009-02-23T19:31:00.000-07:00

That song is stuck in my head, don't know why.

I like training with Gina. I still get a good work out and I still burn lots of calories, but I don't feel like I'm going to drop over dead! I don't cry when I see that Gina is going to train me. Last week, Terry trained us, she is a new trainer. She was good at motivating me to keep going. It's not that I don't like Josh, it is good to have a Josh session every once in a while, but it is too hard to have him everyday!

I was down 3 pounds from last weigh in (last Monday)! I realize that I probably wouldn't have been down 3 pounds without the Josh work-outs. I'll give Josh props for being effective, but Josh - you are still scary.

:)

2009-02-20T21:28:00.000-07:00

I will be going to visit my family this weekend. I already know that there will be at least one or two unhealthy meals involved in this visit. I have read other people having the same type of issues - trouble eating well when visiting a home town or when family visits. The weird thing is, I really don't want to blow my diet - I'm seeing so much improvement (mostly in the way that my clothes are fitting). Hopefully my desire to stay on the program will help me make better choices for food. I plan on walking/running around my grandparents neighborhood so that I get some exercise.

hope everyone has a great weekend!

A funny personal training cartoon

2009-02-20T08:57:00.000-07:00

"Go blog about it"

2009-02-19T19:36:00.000-07:00

Josh was hilarious tonight. But still hard. When we first started running, he told me to do 5 laps, which is more than ever before, and when I complained he said, "go blog about it." That made me laugh so much that I had trouble running at first. He accused me of using stall tactics again when I moved slower than everyone else - but I am getting used to that.

But, my knee is really, really, really hurting now!!!

I need a break from running.

"This is going to be a blood bath"

2009-02-19T19:28:00.000-07:00

That was how last nights training session started. It was with Josh, of course. He saw that there were only 3 of us in the group and he chuckled and said, with an evil grin, "this is going to be a blood bath." And it was! Josh runs me more than anyone else and my knees hurt SOOOO BAD after a Josh work out. Frozen peas to the rescue again... and tiger balm... and tylenol... and ibuprofen.

another term for the blogtionary

2009-02-19T15:38:00.000-07:00

Heres another term for the blogtionary. Kris, this one is dedicated to you.

Snenvy - (snack + envy) the feeling you get when your co-worker, knowing that you are on a diet, walks past you while eating a cookie (and boisterously enjoying it).

My own blogtionary

2009-02-17T19:59:00.001-07:00

I was reading someone's blog today and he had his own blogtionary. New words he had made up and they were pretty damn funny. So it inspired me to start my own. I can only think of 3 words so far:

Coughnot - when you start to cough and your entire abdominal wall seizes up and you realize how sore you are from the previous days ab workout and the cough turns into a pitiful sputter, while you hold your mid section.

Thlunges - doing lunges while your thongs are creeping up into your nether-regions. Needless to say, quite uncomfortable!

Trumble - when you take a tumble off of the treadmill.

Ok - can anyone else think of some. Tell me and I'll post it and give you cred.