I mentioned a while ago that I have been working out with a friend who also does personal training on the side (btw, if you are a Nashville reader, she is doing a boot camp for the next few months - email me for details). It is going well, I think. My endurance is better and I am noticeably stronger than before. I have put away my scale in an effort to not focus on numbers, but instead to focus on feeling good about my physical health.
In doing so, I am getting a glimpse into what kind of legacy I am leaving for my children. Guess who I caught using my two pound weights...
Even if I don't drop a pound, I love that she is learning the importance of exercise!
You have to have that song playing in your head while you read this post.
I'm trading these...
...for these...
Between prolonged morning sickness and pregnancy and life in general, I have definitely let exercise/activity fall by the wayside. I pretty much allowed myself to eat whatever I could keep down, which meant a lot of carbs and ginger ale and slushies from Sonic. But now since I am nursing, I need to go gradually with any diet/exercise changes so as not to affect my supply (hoping to make it to at least one year this time). But I have gotten a friend to work with me (omigosh, I have a personal trainer!) on getting back into fighting weight. It is great to have a little more accountability with fitness.
And you can bet your arse that I am thrilled I get extra calories in my diet for nursing - about 500 a day! One thing that has really helped is using the free iPhone app My Fitness Pal. I've never counted calories before and it is very eye opening to see how snacking and portions make a huge difference.
I've learned I am NOT a low calorie food person. We don't tend to eat out a ton and make most of our meals at home. I do like fresh fruits and vegetables and am not particularly picky. I would rather have a small bowl of full fat whatever than the reduced fat version. And red wine has 120 calories per serving... ahem.
If you have any tips on low calorie snacks or your favorite way to stay active, chime in below!
#Zumba
If you have been reading my blog in the past 6 months, you will notice references to Zumba. I love it. I only wish someone had warned me what to wear and not to wear. And what to bring along, just in case.
Black pants: ESSENTIAL. I have several pairs of cute army green or purple cropped jogging pants but to be honest, the best fabric for Zumba is a pair of black pants or cropped yoga pants. You sweat a LOT in Zumba and let's just say that the black color hides sweat that otherwise makes you look like you peed on yourself (note to self: never wear hot pink shorts to Zumba EVER again). My other alternative is a mesh gym short, like you would wear when playing basketball.
Sports Bra with Support: How much support depends on how well endowed you are. There is a lot of jumping that happens in Zumba and you will be far more comfortable with a good sports bra.
T-shirt or Sports tank: I personally like wearing layers for Zumba so that I have a longer outer layer (like a tee or tank) to wipe the perspiration off.
Tennis shoes that don't have too much tread: Because of the sliding that happens during a Zumba class (lots of step-slide motions) a shoe that doesn't have a ton of grip is ideal. I have dance sneakers from when I used to dance more seriously and those (for me) don't offer nearly as much arch support as a regular athletic shoe.
Water bottle and towel: Otherwise you look like you are having an anaphylactic reaction to exercise. Or an pseudo-asthma attack because your poor body is so deconditioned. Not that I would know or anything.
I finished #C25K this week and I never thought I would. It took a little longer than the 9 weeks that I originally had set out to do, but boy was it worth it. I rewarded myself with a long overdue pair of kicks.
Final Tally:
60-ish miles of running (and some walking, let's be honest) three days a week
Six pounds lost (I didn't diet - if anything, I was eating more because my appetite went up)
Looser fitting clothes
Feeling more physically fit - which for me is AWESOME!
Resting heart rate went down by 15 bpm and decreased blood pressure - even AWESOMER.
The challenge now is to keep it up. I may sign up for a fun, non-competition 5K once the heat index gets below 100 - which in Nashville will probably be in late September - aaargh!
Congrats to my friends Amanda, Cara and April who have pretty much kicked butt with motivating me over the past few months as we did this.
What, just me? On our way back from the wedding in Pittsburgh this past weekend, we stopped halfway down in Cincinnati to visit one of my college best friends. Why did stop? To catch up? To play Parcheesi? NO.
World Cup 2010. (I am a very good wife, MrDrama.)
I know most Americans are sick to death of hearing the darned vuvuzelas of it and the constant commentary. The Drama family and my friend and her husband went to a pub in the Clifton area in Cincinnati and watched 90 minutes of soccer. Plus stoppage time. Plus almost 30 minutes of overtime. I may have been simply ecstatic to have the game over when Spain finally scored and I screamed, "VIVA ESPAÑA!".At the top of my lungs.
And promptly lost my voice. Overuse laryngitis, if you will.
I sound super hawt.
If you need somebody to make Scream-like calls to anyone (a la, DO YOU LIKE SCARY MOVIES?), I'm your girl.
Any dance fans out there remember a little movie called Centerstage? It was a cult classic for dancers and dance wannabes that came out when I was in med school and is always on ABC Family or TBS at least once a month. I went to a class at the Y recently that made me feel like I was stepping into this scene (minus the Mandy Moore music).
And now I hurt in muscles that haven't been used since Clinton was in office. The class I went to was Zumba and I had visions of old ladies in wrist bands working out a la Olivia Newton-John in the "Let's Get Physical" video. And I am sure there are classes like that. Not this one.
And then it felt like this scene with dance moves that would have left me weeping on the floor if I hadn't had the advantage of years of dance when I was younger. Lord knows how I would have made it if I hadn't already built up my cardio resistance with running for the past month!
Our Zumba teacher is a Julliard and Alvin Ailey trained dancer and she was making us shake what our mamas gave us like nobody's business.
I used to be one of those people who was naturally thin all through high school, college and med school. Physical activity was built into my day. Walking 1.5 miles to junior high and high school (our lovely posh suburb touted itself as a "walking community"), dance classes 5 days a week and drill team in the afternoons, musicals in the spring kept me active. In college, you walked everywhere. My undergrad campus lack of parking meant you almost never moved your car except for when absolutely necessary. In med school and most of residency, I lived in the city and walked daily.
I would kill for those legs again...
And then the "creep", as I like to call it, started.
Late nights in residency ordering junk from whatever pizza and sandwich joint is open. Collapsing in sheer exhaustion after working an 80-hour week (not a typo - 80 hours). Not getting enough sleep or nearly enough exercise.
Forget the Freshman 15. I got the Post-Marriage 10 and Post-Baby 15. And back fat. Please understand that I am not one of those people who obsesses about her weight. Through some miracle of good parenting, having been a dancer and probably a little bit of ego, I usually think I look pretty good. I just buy whatever looks good and the numbers be damned. But then when you start feeling a little squishy around the edges and noticing that you just can't eat like a glutton all the time without consequences, you need to have a reality check. For me it was either restrict my diet (pfft!) or get my tushie off of the couch where there is usually an imprint of where I sit.
Enter Couch to 5K. It is a gradual program to build up your endurance so that you eventually, after 2 months are up to running 3 miles or more. I have been doing it long distance with my friends from Pittsburgh. Running is a weird thing. Some people love it. Some (like me) think it is a necessary evil that tests your mental and physical abilities. Here's why we run.
From a mom of two turned runner: "I was merely motivated by my friends who were chatting it up. That inspired me along with wanting to be healthy and being unhappy about how my clothes were fitting." She has a lot more to say here.
From a friend who never would have called herself a runner: "I was more interested in challenging who I thought I was. And whatever I had classified myself as, it certainly wasn't someone who ran. Let alone a "runner". To take better care of myself, and to push myself to try something new. Rather than complain that my butt is flat and legs flabby I could do something about it. It just so happened that thing was run."
I run so that I can eat cookies. BTW, I will be doing a health-related giveaway coming up soon...
I have been "shredding" for about a month now, mixed in with actual physical activity (and if anyone knows me, my normal exercise includes 10 reps of lifting a margarita glass to my lips...works those biceps). I really have a love/hate relationship with Jillian Michaels. I heard about the 30 Day Shred from word of mouth, and I will say it has been a while since I have found a workout that is only 20 minutes that kicks your butt like this. I mean, soreness and muscles-I-haven't-studied-since-first-year-of-med-school-are-hurting kind of pain.
While I have the selfish motivation of wanting to look good in a bathing suit, I am also trying to become more active as an example to my daughter that regular physical activity should be part of your daily routine, as much as I hate it. It was so much easier in high school when I had to walk 1.5 miles back and forth from school everyday (uphill both ways, naturally), took 4-5 days of dance weekly in school and was on the dance line in the fall and musical practice in the spring. It was also a breeze in college when I walked to all my classes on campus, almost never drove (because you might never find a parking spot again) and was too poor to afford to eat junk food.
Post-wedding = 10 lbs (those "love pounds" as I call them). It's funny how everyone warns you about the "Freshman 15" but never about the "Post Wedding 10".
Residency = another 5-7 lbs, just from eating bad takeout at all hours of the day and night
Post-pregnancy/post-breastfeeding = another 5-10 lbs that refuse to budge and are the genesis of my favorite thing, back fat.
I guess as you get older, you have to schedule activity into your day, just as you schedule things for work, family, etc. As for results, I will keep you posted and if I feel brave enough, some before and after pictures. Now if only I could figure out how to work in margaritas and chips into a healthy diet :-)
Pardon the initially shaky camera work. I was trying to teach her what to do with the Terrible Towel while trying to record. You gotta start 'em young!
...No one (including the Kid) is getting to bed earlier than 11 pm because of the gymnastics competition.
...We are afraid the next door neighbors may call the police for domestic disturbance when we are yelling and jumping up and down during a Michael Phelps race.
...I have changed all of the "favorites" on the TV to those stations covering the Beijing 2008 Olympics (NBC, MSNBC, CNBC, USA, Universal HD... the list goes on and on). I have also exceeded the capacity of the DVR memory by recording too many events.
...I will actually watch sports like boxing (which I normally detest) and equestrian matches.
...When I get blocked from browsing "Sports and Entertainment" on my work computer and try to find sneaky ways around it.
...When the Kid's most recently acquired vocabulary includes the words "awesome!" and "nice!" (apparently used repeatedly during the synchronized diving competition).
