Ouch!

Yesterday I did my chest workout after my hour of cardio. I am feeling it today. I can definitely tell that I had slacked off the last two weeks. It brought me to the conclusion that starting from the beginning and starting over after two weeks, are equally as hard. That is a good thing to keep in mind when you start a workout routine. Why would you want to make it even harder for yourself? From now on I will think twice before skipping my workouts. 

My legs are still sore from my training session and now my shoulders and chest are sore as well. Keep in mind, sore is good. My body is still getting used to getting fit. It is a good hurt that I am feeling. 

I am still toying with the idea of getting a heart monitor watch. I know that I don't get an accurate number of calories burned from the treadmill that I use.  At least I found the equation that is used to figure out how many calories I burned during my cardio. 

Compute the calories burned if you're male. You can accomplish this with the following equation: calories burned = (0.2017 x age in years + 0.09036 x weight in pounds + 0.6309 x average heart rate - 55.0969) x elapsed time / 4.184.

Calculate the calories burned if you're female. This is given by the equation calories burned = (0.074 x age in years - 0.05741 x weight in pounds + 0.4472 x average heart rate - 20.4022) x time elapsed / 4.184.

For an example calculation, I am a 28-year-old female weighing 226 pounds exercised for 60 minutes with an average heart rate during the session of 150 bpm: (0.074 x 43 - 0.05741 x 143 + 0.4472 x 141 - 20.4022) x 45 / 4.184 = 513 calories during your exercise session.

Make sure you use Order of Operations when doing this equation. If you try to go from left to right, you won't get the correct number.

I am going to start including my workouts in these posts. If anyone would like to use them, you are more than  welcome to. Just remember, you may need to adjust the weight amount. Ideally, you want the weight to be light enough that you can complete a full set of 15 reps, but heavy enough that you should be really pushing to finish the last 3-4 of your set. 

7/21/12 Workout

Cardio: 60 minute walk.

            3.2 Pace

            7.0 Incline

Strength: Chest

Machine                      Weight       Reps     Sets

Incline Chest Press         60              15            4

Freemotion Pec Fly        25              15            4

Freemotion Shoulder      10              15            4

Overhead Triceps           30             15            4

Lateral Raise                  35             15             4

Ab Crunch                       75             20            4

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Is My Scale Right?

I weighed myself this morning and apparently, I lost 8 pounds. I really, really, really, hope my scale is right!

On the days that I have a training session I try to get to the gym an hour before my session so that I can do my cardio first. That was the plan yesterday, but it didn't quite work out that way. I was running so behind all morning. First, I couldn't find my headphones. I hate doing cardio without my music. I realized that I left them in the other car so I started looking for a pair of my husbands; No luck. I sent my husband a text message to ask him if we had any spares. He recommended that I check our daughter's bag. Thank god, she had some. I grabbed them and headed to the gym. I pulled into the parking lot and realized that I had not had breakfast.  Briana highly recommended that I go somewhere and grab a quick bite so I wouldn't get sick. I went to Burger King and ordered a fruit and maple oatmeal. There was only 1 person in front of me at the drive through, but it still took FOREVER. Of course there were issues with his order. I finally pull up to the window and I am told that they are out of the oatmeal that I had ordered. Are you freaking kidding me?! So, I got a plain oatmeal and a couple packets of Splenda. They threw in some complimentary hashbrowns because of the long wait. I offered the hashbrowns to Mike, he didn't want them so I left them in the bag (and later threw them away). Normally, I LOVE hashbrowns, but I know they aren't good for my diet. I ate my oatmeal and finally made it to the gym.

By the time I arrived to the gym, I only had 20 minutes to walk before my training session. I jumped on a treadmill and at 11 I headed to meet my trainer. Turns out, my session was scheduled for Thursday. Oye! Luckily, his 11 o'clock did not show up. We went ahead and did my session. He decided that we would do legs. We did a lot of high rep leg workouts along with some squats. By the end of the session, my legs felt like jello. I could barely walk, but I knew that I needed to get some more cardio in. I pulled myself up the stairs and manged to walk another 20 minutes. I would have completed the full 40 minutes that I had left but the kids klub was getting ready to close. I ended up going for a walk with my husband and my son later in the evening. I only ended up missing about 8-10 minutes of cardio.

Today I went back to the gym. I had planned on doing my chest workout today but was short on time again. I had to take my dog to the vet to get her shots updated.  I was only able to do my cardio today, which is still okay. I can make up my chest workout on Friday.

I am going to check my weight again tomorrow to see the numbers are the same. I would love it if my scale is right! 8 pounds in a week, I'm very happy with that!

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I'm Back, Full Throttle!

I am disappointed in myself. Two weeks ago, when I got back from vacation, I made any excuse to not go to the gym, or to leave the gym early. Last Monday, I went back to the gym, hoping to redeem myself. I  was not going to make any excuse that week. The next day, my tire was flat. What has 2 thumbs and did not have a spare tire? THIS GIRL RIGHT HERE! *sigh* Our appointment to take the truck in, was not until Saturday. I wasn't able to go to the gym anymore that week. That is not true. I could have went in the evening, when Matt got home. I just didn't. I hate that I let myself get to that point. That is 2 weeks of weight-loss that I lost out on! The truck is fixed now and I am not going to let anything this stupid stop me or slow me down again. I am pretty upset with myself. I will have to work my butt off for the next two weeks to make it up.

I was back at the gym this morning for cardio. It wasn't even an option for me this morning. I went as if it was second nature for me to go. I did my hour of cardio with my new numbers. My usual 7.0 incline, but my new 3.2 pace. I am hoping that in a couple of weeks, I can bump it up to 3.4 or maybe even 3.5. I was sweating like crazy during my walk. I'm glad I brought my towel.

Tomorrow, my friend is joining me for my workout and my training session. She swears that I am out to kill her with my hour of cardio, but I have faith that she can do it. I am hoping that she will like it and decide to work out with me regularly.

My gym has a new manager, he is a lot less intimidating than the old one. I talked to him today about adding guests to my membership. As Briana said, for $20 a month, I can bring 2 guests whenever I want. The other manager told me that that sort of membership did not exist. This new manager was a lot nicer and knew exactly what I was talking about when I asked about it. I'm thinking about adding it to my membership.

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Back At It!

I'm back from vacation. Actually I have been back for a week. I have a lot to catch this blog up on.

First off, we had a great time on our vacation. We spent a couple days in a cabin on the lake, went to Fort Sumter, and then to Holiday World.

Secondly, I did not work out. I know, I know! I had planned on working out and had the things I needed at my disposal, but I didn't.  I have several reasons (excuses) for not working out while I was on vacation.
1. I wanted to sleep in. It is vacation after all.
2. I was way to exhausted at the end of the day.
3. Certain times, I didn't have any equipment available.
4. We were just to busy.
I know, just as well as everyone else, that these were just my excuses. Point is, I did not work out and I paid the consequences for it. I gained 2 lbs. Everyone keeps telling me, "Oh, that's not bad". At first, I thought they were right. After thinking about it, I realized, yeah, it is kind of bad. I have been busting my butt 5 days a week to loose weight and it is going rather slowly (slower that I like). I had only lost 12 pounds before I went on vacation. That is 6 pounds a month. So when I think about it. The 2 pounds that I gained so easily is a week and a half of hard work. If I hadn't gained the 2 pounds, I could be working on loosing additional weight rather than going back and loosing MORE. I am not being hard on myself about it, although it kind of sounds that way (I am just disappointed). It was my own fault, I could have at least watched my eating better.

I went to the gym on Monday for my hour of cardio, surprisingly, it wasn't hard to pick back up. I thought that the incline and speed would be harder and I would feel like I was just starting; It wasn't.

On Tuesday, I had a training session. A "back from vacation session" is what my trainer called it. He started me off with quick side-steps followed by  lunges and running.  I HATE lunges (more than squats). We followed with some chest workouts (machines) and ended with stairs and bicep curls. At least he didn't make me climb the stairs with the barbell.

I did not go to the gym on Wednesday. We had early afternoon plans and I would not have made it back in time to shower and arrive at our destination on time. There was no reason that I could not go in the evening but I didn't.

Thursday (yesterday), I went back to the gym and began my usual cardio. I was about 15-18 minutes into my walk when I decided that I needed to start increasing my speed. I know that 3.5 is a tad bit to fast, so I needed to start a little slower. I put the speed up to 3.2 and finished my walk (incline still at 7.0). After my cardio, I went to the locker room to get my workout journal so I could hit the machines. I did not have a pen, great! How was I going to log my workout? I convinced myself that without a pen, it would be pointless (stupid conclusion, I know). So, I headed home.

I am starting a very bad habit. This is something that I am stopping, TODAY! No more stupid excuses!

I have a follow up doctors appointment on the 10th. The appointment has nothing to do with my weight. It is mainly to follow up on the migraine medication that I started taking. I do plan on talking to my doctor about my weight at this appointment. I am hoping that there might be something that can help me with my eating.

Now, it's time to get ready for the gym. Today, I complete my whole workout. AND, I am bringing a pen! No excuses!

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