Time to lose the weight

The Weight Keeps Dropping!

noreply@blogger.com (anasmedic) — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 19:28:00 +0000

OK, so I have been off the blog for a while but still losing weight. I am currently 22 lbs lighter, that's 10% less of me to go around!! So what does 10% feel like?

It feels GREAT! I have more energy and feel better all around. Since I have been working out at the same time, I am also feeling stronger. I finally feel like my age again and am looking forward to feeling a little younger as the weight keeps coming off. As far as my ultimate goal, I'm halfway there!! Maybe I'll have reached it by the time my trip to Puerto Rico comes along in June, then I can hit the beach with a better look- no speedo though...LOL!

Well, that's all I have. If you are reading this and you are in the process of losing weight yourself, post a comment. Let's share our success!

What happens in Mexico...

noreply@blogger.com (anasmedic) — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 18:41:00 +0000

Well, I'm back from my vacation to Mexico and I have to say, going anywhere on vacation and trying to stick to a diet is a joke...HA! The food is too good, the diet items are hard to find and, let's be honest, who wants to work out when you can just lounge around and relax... right?

Well, in all honestly it wasn't all that bad. Mind you, I didn't bother tracking any points or food intake since I knew it would be waaaaaaay over my limits. However, I did manage to put in quite a bit of exercise. See, Mexico City is a walking city. You walk to the train station, then to your destination, then back and so on. The cool thing is, the city is so vibrant and full of history that you don't even notice how much you've walked.

My wife and I decided to take a little walking tour of the city. If you are not familiar with Mexico City, just look at the map (Red= Train; Black= Taxi; Blue=Walk). We started in Col. Azcapozalco and walked about 1/4 mile to the train that took us to Polanco. While there, we walked for a while looking at stores and galleries along the way (a good 3-4 miles). We then took a taxi to Zona Rosa.

This is another, more widely known tourist destination where you can find high-end stores, clubs and bars. We walked for another 7-8 miles looking at more stores, historical markers like La Diana and El Angel, from Reforma to Chapultepec and them to Auditorio Nacional where we took the train back. Then the last 1/4 mile to the house. All in all, we walked a good 10.5 miles that day not counting the walk to the food market for dinner. Although not as much, we would walk every day.

Food choices were a little harder since everything is Mexico is sooooo good! I tried though: For breakfast I would have small, healty meals (one egg and toast or oatmeal) for lunch I would have 2-4 Tacos al Pastor. Dinner was more complicated. There were quesadillas (not what you know as quesadilla mind you), carne arrachera (skirt steak), beans, rice, fish, etc.

When it comes to food in Mexico City everything is fresh. What you eat in the evening was likely still walking in the morning. Vegetables are picked daily and the fruit is sweeter than anything you can buy at a major food outlet in the US. I have been traveling to Mexico for 4 years now and have yet to get sick off of any food or drink and I always eat wherever my friends and family eat, no "tourist traps" for me. Mexico is a great place to visit. The culture is amazing, people are friendly and the sights are beautiful, the food is to die for.

Here's the kicker, although I haven't weighed in yet, I'm willing to bet I lost weight this past week, even though I wasn't a stickler for the diet.

My point is, your vacation comes once a year and might last 1-2 weeks. If you are good about following your diet plan the other 50 weeks of the year, there is no reason not to enjoy yourself.

There is pain in Yoga

noreply@blogger.com (anasmedic) — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 15:52:00 +0000

In my quest to be a healthier and more fit person I decided to take part in the Yoga class at the gym. Now, I had done yoga some time ago and remember it as being a good workout with an amazingly relaxing ending. My memory was obviously shaded in some kind of rosy haze.

8:00pm- I walk into the classroom and immediately notice that I'm the only one there without breasts...hummm.

8:02pm- The instructor, Valerie, says hello and explains that we would be doing some stretching and some power yoga (I had no idea what power yoga was) and reminds everyone not to push it to an uncomfortable level... hummm.

8:03pm- We started with some slow neck rotations, nothing major. A little stretching to warm up. It actually felt great. We then moved on to what she called some lengthening poses whereby you have to stand on both feet, legs straight, reach down and place your hands on the floor and push your back up toward the ceiling... I will refer to this as an attempt to break you in half and it just went downhill from there... OMG!

8:50pm- Finally a reprieve. We laid down on our mats, facing up, hands to the sides, palms up. She had some really soft music playing as she took us through relaxing every muscle in our bodies. Now this... this part right here... this makes it worth it.

Seriously though, this is an excellent workout. I poured more sweat in 1 hour of yoga than I have in the last 3 months. I felt great, more energized at the end of the class. I would recommend Yoga to anyone looking for a very low impact, yet intense workout. I can't wait for next week's class. In the mean time, there's a Kick Boxing class I want to try... more pain coming this way.

LA Fitness

noreply@blogger.com (anasmedic) — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 16:37:00 +0000

Let the soreness begin! I finally decided on a place to work out. I picked LA Fitness because they have no contracts, the place looks clean and the people there seem to be more interested in working out than in staring at those not looking like Silvester Stallone as if we were from another planet.

My first day was with a trainer. If you've ever signed up for a gym, you know this routine. They "give" you a health evaluation with a personal fitness trainer to set your goals and see what you want to achieve. What they don't tell you is that this is nothing more than a way to make sure these guys get potential clients. That "one hour" really is 30 minutes of exercise on 2-3 pieces of equipment followed by 30 minutes of sales. I have nothing against this, except that the pricing is kind of ridiculous. $60.00 PER HOUR with a minimum plan of 4 hours a week... that's $240.00 PER WEEK.... that's more than the gym itself!!

Oh well, at least I found out what my percentage of body fat was. But I'm not telling. Let's just say that I'd like to get to 16% and I'm far, far away from it. Today I go back for some much needed cardio an a little upper body work out. My weight-in is this Thursday, right before my vacation trip to Mexico. I'll keep you posted on how much damage I cause while I'm there, stay tuned.

Off we go...with Weight Watchers

noreply@blogger.com (anasmedic) — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 18:56:00 +0000

After a year without smoking, I felt it was time for the next challenge in my quest to become a healthier, better me. So, two weeks ago I started Weight Watchers and working out at home. Since blogging helped me keep my focus when I quit smoking, I decided to blog my progress in this new journey. That's me on the right holding my biggest motivator, my baby son.

I have to confess, this is my second go at Weight Watchers. On my first try, I lost quite a bit of weight and managed to keep it off for almost 2 years until I re-married. For some reason the, "I don't have to impress anyone now" mentality took over and I truly let myself go. I gained all my weight back, and then some. My final draw came when I looked at the Christmas pictures and felt horrible about it. I am taking this challenge with the same focus I did on my previous one. One day at a time, one craving at a time. Hopefully I'll be able to achieve this as well.

So, if I started two weeks ago, what's happened since? On my first week I lost 5.6 lbs, even after not following the program perfectly. I think I became overconfident and relaxed a little for my second week. Had some stuff I really shouldn't have and, although I managed to not gain any weight, not losing was a disappointment.

Rather than get all upset though, it's given me more focus. Form now on I'm sticking with it. By this time next year, I'll be at my goal and feeling and looking good. In the mean time, I need to make it through today... wish me luck, or better yet, join me in my journey.