My body hurts...

Today was the final day of week 2 of working out 3 times a week.

Today we took Joey to the FunPlex, and Neal took him swimming while I went upstairs and worked out.

Neal has been super helpful the last two weeks.  We've worked together to figure out when he can watch Joey so that I can go to the gym.  We sit down together and look at schedules at the beginning of the week.  He's pretty awesome :)

I usually only take 30 minutes each time, so I do mostly cardio and stretching.  But I can already feel a difference (partially because my muscles still remember being tired from my previous work out).  My favorite machine is called an "open stride."  It makes me work a lot harder than the regular elliptical does.  This week I'm going to try adding strength training on my days of doing "at-home body weight" workouts.

  Neal says he can see a difference already....I don't totally believe him.  Haha.  They say it takes 4 weeks for you to be able to see a difference, 8 weeks for those close to you to notice, and 12 weeks for everyone else to notice.  But I guess Neal is more aware than that ;)

More than anything though, I can feel a difference in my energy and happiness level.  It also has been really fun to see Joey and Neal's relationship grow as they've spent more time alone together.

Things are going good!

Getting at it again

I haven't posted on this blog for a LONG time.

It took Neal and I 7 months to get pregnant.  After the first couple months of not getting pregnant, we realized that it wasn't going to "just happen" for us.  One of the things that I learned was that large amounts of exercise can throw off your cycle.  That combined with having a chiropractor work on my back caused me to slow down.

Now, however, I'm 9 months (to the day) post baby.  I lost weight pretty fast after Joey was born.  If I remember right I was back to my pre-baby weight about 4 months after Joey's birth.  About a month ago, though, I carried Joey up the stairs and when I got to the top I was huffin' and puffin' when I got to the top.

What the heck?

So, since I'm someone who still makes New Year's Resolutions, one of my goals this year is to take better care of my body.  I'm being realistic about it though.  My goal is not "I'm going to go to the gym every day for six hours" blah, blah, blah.  My goal is to do a cardio workout 3 days a week.  Neal and I have come up with a system for him to watch Joey while I work out each day.

Tonight was my first night.  Since Neal's job gives me free access to the rec center, that's where I'm working out each day.  Tonight I met Neal when he got off of work, he took Joey home while I worked out.

I FEEL SO GOOD!  I just did 1/2 of cardio, but I can already feel a difference in my energy and attitude.  I came home a much better mommy than I left :)

Here's to a new year, ya'll.

Below 130!!!

I haven't been working out at all lately (to my dismay).  I've been seeing the chiropractor, and in order to get things aligned back up, I needed to take it easy.  I've been doing some light stretching, at my chiropractors recommendation, and that's been about it.  HOWEVER, I have still been trying to be more aware of the things I am putting into my body.

Today I started doing cardio again (because I'm tired of feeling blegh all the time) and after I was done, I weighed myself.  I officially weigh 129 pounds!  My goal is to be 125, or about 18% body fat (or both would be great).

I was really excited about this and had to share!!

Slowing down a little

So I've slowed down a little on my work outs.  Number one reason?  I think doing a bunch of hard core cardio was throwing my body WAY off.  I stopped doing cardio for a month, and things seemed to go back to normal for that month.  Currently, I need my body to be in sync (you come up with your own reasons for why) so again this month, I'm slowing down and not pushing my body so hard.  I'm doing more yoga and stretching and walking instead of runing and lifting heavily.  If my body seems to be in sync again, I'm definitely going to keep doing the less intense workouts.

I've been doing a lot better with my eating habits since the beginning of the year.  It didn't start with a "New Year's Resolution" like many people's do, but it started with a conversation my co-workers were having.  The department I work for has a fitness team that offers free nutritional/exercise plans for employees, and a few of my co-workers are taking part of the nutritional side of things.  I'm not sure why, but them talking about this made me really excited to eat healthier!  My favorites lately have been avacados, chicken, and a lot of fruits and veggies.

That same night one of the fitness team members was doing measurements for body fat percentage.  I was curious so I asked her to measure mine.  I surprisingly only have a 20% body fat percentage.  I guess anything under 25% for a female is good.  I would still like it to be lower, so I will continue to exercise and eat better, but I was pretty happy that night!

Post hunting

I took a break from working out the week before hunting and the week after hunting.  My workout while hunting consisted of walking/hiking lots.  The best part about it this year was that even though there were times when I was winded, I did not once have to stop because I was in pain or couldn't breathe (which, in certain places, was a miracle).

Today I got back into my routine, starting with my leg workout.  I've been talking a lot with my dad recently about ways I can make my workout better.  He told me to start with my weights and then do my cardio.  I didn't believe him, but I decided to try it today, and he was right!

My warm up was a 1/4 mile walk.  I then had the best leg workout I've had to date!

Leg press: 30 reps at 100 lbs
Calf press: 30 reps at 100 lbs
Leg extensions: 30 reps at 50 lbs
Leg curls: 30 reps at 60 lbs
Outer thighs (machine): 30 reps at 40 lbs
Inner thighs (machine): 24 reps at 130 lbs

Then I ran a mile, and hit my runner's high WAY faster than I usually do.  I was actually pretty bummed when I had to stop to go get ready for work.  I could have kept running much longer!

TMI alert:
I think the best part about this last week was when Neal told me he has been noticing a big difference in how my body looks already, and how much he loves it.  This is the quote I thought of when he made his comment, and it made me smile:

Back into the groove

Another confession.  A semi-obvious one I think since I haven't posted in a while.  Previous to this week, I did not work out for about 3 weeks.  Life got crazy busy, my schedule changed twice, and I literally had to choose between seeing Neal and working out.  I chose seeing Neal.

However.

Now I'm back on a consistent schedule since I've "graduated" from my first part of training, I have been able to get back into a routine.  This week I have worked out every day, no matter how sore I am from the previous day.  Some of the days, since my body isn't used to my new schedule yet, its been difficult to get excited about it, but I'm working on it!

One of the things I've been trying to do since beginning this journey is eat better, even on days I can't/don't work out.  The best part?  I've lost about five pounds just changing what I eat.  Boo-yah!

Stupid shoulders and shins

Last couple weeks I've done things like yoga and rollerblading to work out.  Nothing to straining.

Yesterday I got back into my routine, just in time to leave on vacation again (I know, right?).  I ran 1.5 miles @ a 5 mph average yesterday, and worked out my legs pretty good.

Today though, was a different story.  I barely made it to a mile running because of shin splints.  LAME SAUCE.  It literally felt like my left shin was on fire and I limped the last little bit.  Then I moved on to working out my arms.  After 2 sets of going through everything, my old shoulder injury flared up (the one the Dr said was tendinitis but I'm convinced that my collar bone dislocated and my shoulder hasn't been the same since....ya.  That one).  I'm home now and can't lift my arm above my head without really pushing it.  Awesome shoulders.  Awesome.

I'll just keep plugging away.  At least, if nothing else, I'm determined.