STC - C2W3D16

Summer Tracker Challenge
Beginning Date: July 16, 2007
Ending Date: October 7, 2007

Workout: LBWO

Did new exercises today and am not sure what I think of them.

Quads - one legged squats. I didn't feel like these were as effective as they could have been because I was having a hard time keeping my balance with the weights on my shoulders. I may switch this to bulgarian split squats. Second exercise was extensions at 55#. I hit a 10 on them because I did them in pulses and lowered the weight very slowly.

Hamstrings - Walking lunges. Um - Ow. Could probably up the weight a bit on them. I did curls at 43# for my second exercise and it was definitely a 10.

Calves - raises on the dumbell. This was very awkward with trying to stay balanced while holding the barbell on my shoulders. I am going to have to find a different calf exercise - this one won't be happening again.

All in all it was a good workout. My thighs feel like rocks and I'm sure I'm going to be feeling it tomorrow at the stairs.

STC - C2W3D15

Summer Tracker Challenge
Beginning Date: July 16, 2007
Ending Date: October 7, 2007

Workout: HIIT - running lap: no clue... operator error on the stop watch, Sprint: 45:10

Shaved a couple of seconds off of my sprint again. I got a new water bottle that is easier to hold and I was able to pump my arms and I think that helped. I felt a little more in control with my running and not like everything was just flying all over the place.

Had free day yesterday. I'm glad to be back to eating clean today. We went out for a great dinner with Doug and Jenny on Saturday night and then out for ice cream. We have soooo much fun with them - its not just a good time, its FUN. Then yesterday we did the pancakes for breakfast and I had cereal for lunch. I don't think I totally overdid it, but by the end of the night I kind of felt like it - could have been the fact that I was eating ice cream just before bed because I could. I had a lot of strawberries and blueberries yesterday - I find it kind of funny that I have to wait until my free day to eat as much fruit as I would typically like to eat.

I'm thinking of buying Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle (did I mention this already?). I think it is a very detailed e-book about what to eat and how to figure out how much to eat, etc. Its $40 though and I'm having hard time pulling the trigger on that. In addition, I don't have a printer to print all of the pages (300+) so I would have to read it at the computer and I'm not sure I'm willing to sit and do that. I have to think about this a little more. I would definitely like the info, but I have to figure out how to be able to read it in an efficient way.

STC - C2W2D13

Summer Tracker Challenge
Beginning Date: July 16, 2007
Ending Date: October 8, 2007

Workout: UBWO

I looked at my previous weight sets last night. The weight sets that I was lifting back when we did BFL before I got pregnant with Ryann... lets just say that I was a bit embarassed at what a pansy I've been for the last 14 weeks. I increased all of my weights significantly to get into line with what I had been lifting then.

And then I wussed out this morning. I lifted those weights that I planned, but I dawdled through my whole workout and I even cut out the back exercises because I just didn't feel like doing them. I did reach my 10's, but I'm a little ashamed of myself and how wussy I allowed myself to be - even while I knew I was doing it.

I went through bodybuilding.com last night and found all new exercises for every single muscle group. I figure it is time to change things up a bit and shock my muscles out of their comfort zone. So next week I will work on figuring out what weights I should do for those exercises.

Weighed in at 131.6 this morning - another 1.5 lost. Increasing my calories to 1500/day is working, apparently. I'm pretty happy about that because I'm now very happy with how much I'm eating - although I was starving ALL.DAY yesterday - 5 minutes after a meal I would be starving again. Don't know what that was all about, but lets hope today does not repeat the same pattern because it sucked! Measurements looked good. BF% went down almost 3 points, so I'm good with what is going on.

STC - C2W2D12

Summer Tracker Challenge -
Beginning Date: July 16, 2007
Ending Date: October 8, 2007

Workout: HIIT

As of right now, I'm skipping my workout today. I have some kind of cold that I'm hoping is not turning into a sinus infection. I cannot breathe out of the left side of my nose, my sinuses are full and my head and my throat hurts. I worked out through it yesterday, but that was weights - not heavy breathing for cardio. My head hurts - ugh.

STC - C2W2D11

Summer Tracker Challenge
Beginning Date: July 16, 2007
Ending Date: October 8, 2007

Workout: LBWO

Had a good workout. I'm feeling more and more limited by the amount of weight that my upper body can support while I'm doing my lower body work. I'm not sure what to do about that.

I ate 100% clean again yesterday, but I don't think I got all of my water in. Being at the doctor for 2 hours in the middle of the day really makes getting the water in tough. I was able to drink a lot after I got home, but I don't think I hit a gallon. Today I will.

I think I have a cold - am having a lot of sinus pressure and drainage. I"m going to take it easy today and finish my laundry and then read/watch movies with the girls (and maybe take a nap). It's raining out now and should threaten all day, so its a good day for pajamas and movies.

STC - C2W2D10

Summer Tracker Challenge
Beginning Date: July 16, 2007
Ending Date: October 8, 2007

Workout: HIIT - bike: 5.30 miles in 20:00

Had to do the bike this morning because I got up too late to go to the stairs. My mom and dad were in town and Cornbread and my dad went to the White Sox/Tigers game and came back and we all chatted until 1am. Made for a not so easy to get up morning - in fact, I didn't even hear the alarm to go to the stairs (I was going to try).

My legs were burning while riding the bike. It is a good/decent workout for your legs, but just a mediocre workout for your cardiovascular. I'm glad we're back to the stairs.

I ate 100% clean yesterday, but I did end up missing M6 due to the situation. That means I had a very low calorie day - 1261. I'm aiming for 1500/day, so this was quite low. It does make up for the extra calories I had with that beer the night before, so I'm not going to worry about it.

STC - C2W2D9

Summer Tracker Challenge - Challenge 2

Beginning Date: July 16, 2007
Ending Date: October 8, 2007

Workout: UBWO

First half of my workout was good and I hit 10's, the second half (tris & bis) could have been better. On my next ubwo I need to really push myself a lot harder. I think I need to switch up some exercises, too.

Ate clean yesterday, but also had a beer while we were out with John and Michelle for the Chamber Bean Bag tournament. I'm not too upset or worried about it, just can't make that a regular thing. It was good, though:)

STC - C2W2D8

Challenge 2 - Summer Tracker Challenge
Beginning Date: July 16, 2007
Ending Date: October 8, 2007

Workout: HIIT - stairs... run: 41:07, sprint: 49:27

Shaved seconds off of my times - awesome! I thought I was going to die after I ran the stairs for my last lap. My legs were jello. So good.

Done with my free day and onward to another 100% clean week. I ate 100% clean last week until 3pm on Saturday - I went to IKEA with Michelle. I don't think I did bad - open shrimp sandwich (1 pc rye bread, hardboiled eggs, shrimp, mayo, dill), caprese salad (tomatoes, fresh moz. & balsamic vinegrette) and 2 meatballs. Not too bad, but not totally clean. A little protein heavy, too. I was proud of my efforts last week. I ate right around 1500 calories every day. I didn't lose any weight, but we'll see where this goes.

I'm going to hit my 10's with a vengeance this week.

Day 82 / STC C2W1D5

Beginning Date: April 30, 2007
Ending Date: July 22, 2007

Day 82 / Day 5

Workout: HIIT - running lap = 44:06; spring to tree = 50:29

I think I've got the stair workout down pretty well. It takes 30 minutes from the time I leave my car to the time I get back. I walk to the stairs as a warm up, then I do 6 rounds - regular, toes, right side, left side, two at a time, run - and I sprint back to the car. The running lap and the sprint are both definitely 10's.

It may not be the traditional HIIT, but it is definitely interval cardio and includes 10s.

I thought I was going to puke today after the two sets of 10's.

I've done well on this challenge so far - I've eaten 100% clean this entire week. I've thought about taking a bite of this or that when I'm giving the girls a snack, but I've refrained because I want to be 100% clean. I've been successful in that regard and I'm proud of myself. I want to be one of those people that sees amazing changes - I see changes, but not amazing yet. It will come, though. I'm working hard, I'm preparing for the week, I'm eating clean and I'm pushing to hit my 10's always. I'm proud of myself with this thing. And I'm proud of how I'm ending the first challenge - working it harder than I did in the beginning.

Day 81 / STC - C2W1D4

Beginning Date: April 30, 2007
Ending Date: July 22, 2007

Day 81 / STC Day 4

Workout: UBWO

Had a rough night last night. A big thunderstorm knocked the power out at around 9:45 and it didn't come back on until 5am. So the air was off and it was hotter than blazes in the house - and humid. In addition, Nora cried every 20 minutes. She has such a loud cry and even though I was sleeping downstairs on the couch where it was cooler, felt like she was right next to me every time. She finally calmed down after a while, but then Georgia must have had a nightmare because she was screaming at around 4. Went back to sleep, the power kicked in at 5 and woke me up. I finally got up at about 5:55 and went and worked out. I'm proud of myself for getting up and doing it even though we had a miserable night. Today I'm going to drag - I can feel it.

Workout was good. I concentrated again on slower movements with slightly lower weights than I had typically been doing. My triceps made me want to cry:)

Am I really almost done with 12 weeks? I've been using the wrong end date this whole time - it is actually Sunday, July 22... We're going to PF Chang's this weekend and a graduation party on Sunday - going to live it up (but be careful...I've already started challenge 2). Yea!

Day 80 / STC - C2W1D3

Beginning Date: April 30, 2007
Ending Date: July 20, 2007

Day 80 / Day 3

Workout: HIIT - stairs & sprint

My legs did not want me to get out of bed this morning. They are ridiculously sore, but I think thats a good thing - I can feel the muscles that I've worked. Right now I can tell that I've worked my quads, glutes, inner thighs and a little bit on my calves. I also worked my shoulders putting a closet organizer in Nora's closet last night (and painting the inside).

I feel like I'm already giving this challenge a little more than I did the previous challenge. I've gotten my motivation going - my photos over the weekend really helped that out - and I feel like I've kind of spent the last 12 weeks researching, trying and figuring out what I need to be doing and trying it out. I've eaten 1500 calories for the last two days and I'm still kind of hungry at times, but I'll see how this goes.

Day 79 / STC - C2W1D2

Beginning Date: April 30, 2007
Ending Date: July 20, 2007

Day 79 / Day 2

Workout: LBWO

Oh my - after doing the stairs yesterday my legs were killing me when I woke up this morning. Still hit the lbwo with force and had a great workout. I read in one of the tracker threads that if you're not sweating while lifting weights you're not working hard enough - I was sweating - a lot. It feels really good to work out so hard and to be able to do it and to be able to see progress in what I'm doing.

I'm really pumped for this second challenge. I know I probably have absolutely no chance of winning the STC (based on the competition), but I'm still really looking forward to working hard at this and seeing some major results. My biggest challenge so far is finding a way to eat around 1500 calories each day. I think I hit about 1400 yesterday - which I'm okay with for an HIIT day. I need to get closer to 1500 for my weight training days, though, so today I'm going to need to mess around with that a little more.

Go me! I'm going to be a brand new person by my anniversary - just wait and see:)

Day 78 / STC - C2W1D1

Beginning Date: April 30, 2007
Ending Date: July 20, 2007

Day 78 (C1) / Summer Tracker Challenge - Day 1

Workout: HIIT - 6 reps of the stairs, sprint back to car in 30:00

I have all new motivation and am ready to hit my second challenge HARD CORE! I inserted my goals into my blog and am ready to work toward achieving them.

We took photos and measurements on Sunday morning and I'm stunned at the difference. I can just see that I'm tightening/toning up in my torso. I don't see the results in my lower half really, but I can see them in my mid-section and I'm pretty amazed. I only lost 2.5 pounds in the first challenge, but the difference is noticable.

I'm going to have to ban Cornbread from taking my measurements, though, since they seem to be so far off from each other every week. According to his measurements this week I lost a whole inch in my forearm - NOT likely. I had to re-measure a couple of areas because they seemed so far off - and they were. We're going to have to work on that:)

Got most of our food prepared for the week. Cornbread grilled up a 4lb bag of chicken breasts, I made 6 servings of protein pancakes (took forEVer) and I made an italian tuna salad. I need to bake some potatoes today and then we're good to go for the week. Our fridge is stuffed!

I also started the stairs again this morning. Its just going to be a better workout than the bike. I got a much better cardiovascular workout this morning than I have in the 12+ weeks I've been doing the bike.

So I'm excited and ready to roll. Today I will eat 100% clean and drink at least 1 gallon of water (32 oz done already).

Day 76

Beginning Date: April 30, 2007
Ending Date: July 20, 2007

Day 76 -

Workout: UBWO

So I had my worst BFL week of this whole challenge and my weight is down by two pounds. How in the heck did that happen? I missed two workouts and I cheated A LOT. I'm thinking that I probably do need to increase my calories to about 1400-1500 per day. I thought that perhaps doing 1350 on my HIIT days and 1500 on my weight training days would be good. When I actually sit down and figure things out, 1500 calories is a pretty difficult number to reach while eating this way. It would be very easy if I was eating junk all day, but while eating clean it is hard to hit that number.

I wonder if Cornbread needs to increase, too?

For my workout this morning I significantly lowered all of my weights and concentrated on slow reps and good form. I was still able to hit my 10's, although I don't feel as shakey as I normally do in the muscles I've worked. I think I will start this next challenge with weight sets that are lower than what I had been doing, but a bit higher than what I did today.

Day 75

Beginning Date: April 30, 2007
Ending Date: July 20, 2007

Day 75 -

Workout: HIIT - 5.39miles in 20:00

Nora had surgery yesterday morning at 7:30. We had to be there at 6:30 and got just a few hours of sleep the night before. Ugh. It was a rough day in terms of BFL. I did good with the eating for most of the day - until dinner/M5. My dinner was good - chicken breast, ww pasta and cucumbers/tomatos. Then I had a bowl of Cheerios. I was proud of myself for not having a second bowl of cheerios, though. But I did have a klondike bar before bed. I just have a hard time making good decisions when I'm that tired. My self-control suffers, big time. I did turn away from a lot of stuff though - a beer with dinner, a second bowl of cheerios, a bunch of chips, so for that I will be proud:)

I also did not workout yesterday. I was supposed to do a LBWO, but there was no way I was going to get up at 4:30 to do it and by 8:30 when I finally had a chance I was wiped and had no desire.

So today is a new day and I will eat clean, drink a gallon of water and get some sleep tonight. One week left in this challenge, but I start my summer tracker challenge on Monday. Photos and measurements need to be done this weekend. I'm going to get back to basics for the STC and hit it hard.

Day 73

Beginning Date: April 30, 2007
Ending Date: July 20, 2007

Day 73 -

Workout: HIIT - 5.40 miles in 20:00

My workout was TOUGH this morning. I think doing the 20 points/day thing is not going to work. I was hungry all day yesterday and really had to spend a lot of energy not snacking. Then my HIIT was so hard this morning - I think it was a direct result of a lack of calories for the last couple of days. So I'm going to back to basics. I'm going to figure out how to cook up a bunch of chicken breasts and go to the store to buy some potatoes and sweet potatoes and start getting back to the basics of portion size and stop obssessing about calories and such.

I drank a gallon of water yesterday and I am going to do the same today. I'm going to eat 100% clean today and get to bed on time. Need to be up extra early tomorrow for Nora's surgery.

Day 62

Beginning Date: April 30, 2007
Ending Date: July 20, 2007

Day 62 -

Workout: UBWO

Had the flu on Sunday. Felt horrible. Had some pancakes in the morning because I felt fine, but then was down for the rest of the day. Had two pieces of toast around 8pm, but that was it. No water, nothing else. It was awful. I felt better - stomach-wise - yesterday when I woke up, but I had very little energy and some of the residual aches so I skipped my HIIT. I also had little desire to eat clean so I just ate what I felt like eating. I didn't go overboard like a free day, but I just had cereal for breakfast and some chips for lunch and chicken nuggets and fries for dinner with the girls. Mostly it was an issue of not having the energy to get the food together - I just wanted easy stuff.

Back to eating clean today. I had a good UBWO this morning and hit my 10's. My arms feel pretty wobbly.

I examined my diet over the weekend as compared to my weight watchers diet. I calculated the number of points that my typical day had - it was about 27-30 points! On Weight Watchers I needed to eat 20 points per day to lose weight. So I re-planned my eating. First I tried to do 20 points in the normal 6 meals, but that was hard - it was about 3 points per meal, which is kind of difficult if you consider breakfast, lunch and dinner to be real meals - like a little more than a mid-meal. So I reconfigured for 5 meals a day and that worked out much better. I'm still eating about every 3-3 1/2 hours, I'm getting a little bit bigger of a meal with an average of 4pts per meal. I'm going to try this and see how it goes. I'm hoping I won't be hungry and that I'll remember to eat when I'm supposed to. Hopefully, by combining the weight watchers and the BFL plans I will start to lean out and build muscle at the same time - which was my original goal.

I start the Summer Tracker Contest next Monday, the 16th. I have written out my goals already, but will wait until Monday to post them here.

Day 68

Beginning Date: April 30, 2007
Ending Date: July 20, 2007

Day 68 -

Workout: HIIT - 5.38miles in 20:00

We were talking to Michelle yesterday about joining Lifetime Fitness. I'm seriously thinking about it, but I'm not sure how I would work it into my schedule. I'm thinking that lifting weights with machines might ease up on my elbow. She said that it would allow for proper form so it would probably help. I just don't know - its expensive and it would be time consuming to drive out there and drive home everyday. We're going to have to talk about it some more. It would be really nice to have other options for HIIT and for the weight lifting portion to go quicker.

Had a good workout this morning. My legs burn so badly after doing HIIT I can hardly walk up the stairs. Thats a good thing:)

Day 67

Beginning Date: April 30, 2007
Ending Date: July 20, 2007

Day 67 -

Workout: UBWO

I did not workout yesterday due to lack of sleep. I went to the fireworks with Doug, Nathan, David and Nathan's friends on Tuesday night. We missed the train home by 1 minute so we had to wait for the 11:40 train which meant we got back at 12:40. Home by 1. Sleep by 1:30. Nora and Georgia alternated waking up every 30 minutes between 2 & 4. So I would get about 15/20 minutes of sleep and then one of them would wake up. I finally got back to sleep for good at 4:30 and the girls were up at 8:30. I was exhausted and there was no chance I was going to drag my butt downstairs to do HIIT. I dragged all day and felt kind of miserable until after I took a nap at 5pm. We cleaned out the garage in the afternoon, so I'm going to just count that as my cardio for that day.

Did upper body this morning. My elbow is really, really hurting me. I think the garage really killed it. I'm going to have to figure out how to adjust for this at some point. I don't have the energy to do it right now, but I'll have to think about it this weekend because I don't want it to slow down my progress.

I signed up for the summer tracker challenge. I'm a little scared:)

Day 65

Beginning Date: April 30, 2007
Ending Date: July 20, 2007

Day 65 -

Workout: LBWO

I had a good workout this morning and hit my 10's. I've been adding small pulses/contractions at the top of my rep for my quads and my calves and that seems to really make a difference in hitting the 10. I still feel a bit limited by how much weight my upper body can support in order to do some of these exercises, but I'm going as hard as I can do by myself in the basement without a spotter.

Had a good day in terms of eating yesterday. I probably waited too long between a couple of meals, but other than that, I stayed clean throughout the whole day. Today and tomorrow are going to be challenging. Today Nora has a doctor's appointment first thing and the other two are going to Aunt Jan's - so I'll be running around all morning. Then I'm going with Doug, the boys and their friends to the fireworks downtown. He wants to leave at 2, which means I'll be running around basically all day trying to get everything done, meals prepared, girls to Jenny's, trade cars with Cornbread. I have to pack 2-3 meals - I think I'll take a bar for sure, but I'm not sure what to bring with me for my major meal (dinner). And then I want to just have pudding when I get home, but I should probably take that with me, too, since I won't be home until around 11/12. Tomorrow is the 4th of July. Cornbread is home all day, we're going to be cleaning out the garage. Its just hard on those days to keep to the schedule and he cheats so much that its hard for me to not give in.

I need to remember that I'm not controlled by food.

Day 64

Beginning Date: April 30, 2007
Ending Date: July 20, 2007

Day 64 -

Workout: HIIT - 5.43 miles in 20:00

I went much further today in distance than I ever have before! I could tell that my legs were well rested from the very beginning and I pushed my rpms during every interval. That 10 is soooo hard, I kinda want to cry as I'm counting down the seconds to starting it:) It feels good though to see tangible progress and to know that the progress is a result of hard work, major effort and increase in strength.

Last Friday Nora dislocated her elbow by falling off of the slide (see my other blog for details). We spent the evening in the hospital and I didn't get home until midnight (she and cornbread spent the night in the hospital). I didn't get to sleep until 1:30 and had to get up early to go get them and bring them home. I couldn't workout in the morning so I did my ubwo at 8:30 that night. Holy cow - it was hard. Seems like it was harder than my normal ubwo and I'm not sure why that would be. I could feel my triceps in every exercise I did and I hit most of my 10s (my elbow still prevents me from hitting a 10 in my shoulder exercises). And I was really, really sore yesterday and can still feel it today. So I guess I had a pretty good workout:)

I had planned to take my pictures and measurements yesterday, but we totally forgot - I'm kind of bummed, actually. I can't do it today because we had free day yesterday, so I may have to wait until this coming weekend.

Free day wasn't too out of control yesterday, so I'm happy about that. I kept the snacking in check - I had one cookie for the entire day, and I had one cupcake leftover from Cornbread's client birthday party on Friday. Other than that it was just our meals and some popcorn while we watched a movie with the girls - oh and half of a DQ blizzard after they went to bed. The point is, I wasn't controlled by food yesterday and I didn't feel like I had overdone it or gorged myself - this is improvement over the previous 8 free days:)

I'm thinking of entering the summer tracker challenge. It costs $25 with the opportunity to win at least $500. I'm not sure about it at this point. I can stick with it for 12 weeks, I know that, I'm just not sure if I can compete with the rest of them. I have to take a look at the dates and figure out what my challenge dates would be. The registration deadline is July 16 which is 4 days before the end of my challenge. So I would probably start the Monday before then. I'll have to look at all of the info and try to figure it out. I would try to go hardcore, though, and try to actually win that money. We'll see.