The bike will not win.

I hate doing any exercise for 60 minutes.

I do 60 minutes cardio at least 2 times a week (for the moment) and I always switch it up.

• 60 minutes split evenly between treadmill/elliptical/bike
• 60 minutes split between treadmill/bike or elliptical bike
• Uneven split between treadmill/bike/elliptical

All of this just serves to keep me entertained while I'm working out.  (I get bored easily.)  It also allows me to work my butt of on each for X amount of time, stop, go get a drink of water, and then start on something else and work my butt off - again.  But as any of you who have been reading, I've got a stress fracture on my left foot and the doctor has forbidden me from all forms of cardio (including long-distance walking) except for the stationary bike.  

I'm not a big fan of the stationary bike.

After the doctor's recommendations, I immediately hated the stationary bike.  Of all the things to "allow" me to do, the bike?  Why not the treadmill - which I can switch up for an hour no problem?Well, I can't change anything now, and I surely don't want a boot put on my leg.  So I biked Monday for 30 minutes before doing some weightlifting.  Not bad, I'd done this before as well.

Yesterday was going to be the test.  60 minutes of cardio depended on it.  I got on, not excited about the programming on tv - baseball, I hate watching baseball on tv.   The first 30 minutes were no problem - I've done that before.  By 40 minutes, I was ready to quit.  So, I started playing games - when a hit was made, I'd pedal like crazy for 15 seconds.  (also made the game more interesting)  By 50 minutes, I didn't think I could sit on the seat any longer - my butt was very sore!  But by 55 minutes, I was counting down!!!  I got a surge of energy and pedaled away.  I finished my 60 minutes.  Monitor said 12 miles.  Yeah!

My spirit will not be broken, even if my foot is.

Mizfit, you are so right - no more negative talking, especially now. (I went back and reread my post and decided to... do away with a lot of that negativeness. Thanks!)

Yep, if you've read my Week in Review, which I posted late, you'll see that my foot is broken. In order to prevent getting a boot - which will be absolutely useless in driving a stick shift - I have to take it easy.

I've been given permission to do my daily routine, but I've been forbidden to even think about walking long distances, run - at all, or jog - at all. Let's hope no one comes chasing me in the next few weeks!

This is a serious bummer, because I've been trying to get myself back into running. I love running and I feel thinner just doing it. I'm also a calorie whore. I want to do the exercises that burn the most calories and running is one of those for me. I went onto this calories burned estimator and these are the results for 30 min at my weight: 243 lbs.

Activity	Calories burned
Stationary Bicycle - moderate	386
Elliptical Trainer	627
Jogging	386
Running 12 mph	1,232

Although I can't run 12 mph yet, I know that I burn more calories doing something between running and jogging. I can do 30 min - even longer - but I normally switch it out with stationary bike and elliptical because I think it uses different muscles and I can tell that I work out differently.

Even so, it is what it is and all I can do is make the best of this situation. Stationary bicycle is a challenge for me to do for long periods of time, but that just means I can improve with it. I will try to devise some interval training amongst other stuff to make it more interesting. Besides, now I have another goal for myself. 60 min on the bike. That's a long time for me so that's the first thing to tackle. Then I can tackle speed, and distance. :) I'm just going to have to ignore the calories and know that they will follow once I get stronger on the bike.

At least my doctor didn't take away the stationary bike too.

Week in Review

Thanks for the encouragement Chubby Chick and Mizfit! I did good this week! :)

Weigh-in
Last week: 245 lbs.
Yesterday: 243 lbs.
2 lb loss!!

Food
I feel good about heading in the right direction. I bought groceries and managed to stock up on some good stuff. Breakfast was good - mostly Raisin Bran with skim milk and a banana for breakfast. Lunch - not bad. I brought my food all week, either a sandwich with carrot sticks, or leftovers. I also brought an apple and some cheese (pepper jack, my favorite!) for snacks. Dinner - I ate out 1 time but I cooked at home otherwise. Thursday is "Wings" night and though we normally don't go get wings anymore, we still go out. I've been planning for this now and I just try to get something that's a little "healthier" than my usual. Even if I get something greasy (which I still like to eat) I just try to watch my portions. Got frozen custard a few times but this is not usually the case, I usually only go once a week. Drank water and milk all week - no tea since my labmates are both out of town and I had no one talking me into going to Starbucks for a break.

Exercise
I went to work out 4 times this week! Yeah! I tried to do the whole 30 min in the morning/30 min at night thing - did not work. BUT, I went Monday and Wednesday night: 30 min cardio/ 30-40 min weights. I went Tuesday MORNING and worked out for an hour doing cardio. This may be really good time to go since the gym is practically empty after 7 AM. We'll see how I get up in the morning. And, I went to work out on Friday doing about 40 min of cardio.

Sleep
I'm still having some trouble sleeping, but I think it's starting to get better. I've slept on average 6-7 hours a night, but I could still use some consistency.

For the upcoming week
This week, I'm just going to try to keep everything up.
Food - I did better this week and I hope to do the same this coming week. I'm about to go get some more carrots since I ran out and some more salad and get ready for a new week. Drinking water has been so much nicer with the new Brita Pitcher I bought. I actually taste the difference and I like the taste of my water a lot more now. :)
Exercise - I did better last week, I'm going to try to keep it up. Surprise, surprise. I finally went to the doctor about my foot. Wednesday night I went jogging and Thursday morning it hurt to walk from the parking lot to the chemistry building. I had to stop, let the pain subside, and then keep walking. NOT GOOD. Well, turns out I have the beginnings of a stress fracture in my left foot. This means no more treadmill or elliptical. I can't even do walking for distance. I can, however, ride a stationary bike. That's it. So, all my cardio for the next few weeks is stationary bike. I'm not one to stick to one particular exercise - I usually do all three during my cardio - so this will be... different. Otherwise, if in a week my foot feels worse I'm getting a boot. I can't have that, so it's only biking for me. Weights are okay, so I'll keep doing that.
Sleep - Consistency. I've been getting into my book and that just means I need to go to bed earlier. I'm hoping to go to bed by 10:30 PM and go to sleep by 11 PM every night.

Have a great weekend!

Week in Review

I've been bad this week.

Weigh-in
Starting: 246 lbs.
Today: 245 lbs.
Not much difference, but it's in the right direction! And considering my week - yay!

Food
Again, I was bad this week in this area all around. I was okay with breakfasts all week. Lunch, well, I brought my food twice but ended up buying something the rest of the week. I ate Subway (roast beef sub) and tuna salad on wheat and then I had... TACO BELL. :( Drank water, tea, milk all week, no sodas! :) Dinner was worse. I bought take out every night, using the excuse that I had no groceries and had nothing to eat at home.

Exercise
This week, I only worked out twice. I know, I know. I was supposed to do 3 and try to increase to 4. No such luck. My ankle started hurting really bad on Wednesday - not too sure why, but I'm sure my attempt to run on Tuesday was to blame. So, I took Wednesday off to recuperate. The rest of the week, I had stuff going on at night that prevented I chose to do instead of working out.

Sleep
I have been sleeping terribly since last week. I guess it didn't help that we went out Saturday night to celebrate someone's Ph.D. defense going well. (Way to go M!) Drank too much, stayed up til 2:30 AM. All I have to say is that I don't usually drink and this event wore me out. I think the alcohol triggered my insomnia, but I'm not sure. I'll look it up and let you know what I find out. I tried going to bed by 11 PM all week, but between reading my book, my a/c going out (I can't sleep when I'm hot and sweaty), and insomnia, I slept on average 5-6 hours a night. Not good.

For the upcoming week
Next week, I'm trying to revamp everything.
Food, eat better for sure. I already went grocery shopping so that I can't use the "I don't have food at home..." excuse. Bought tons of fruit, veggies, lunch stuff and other things much better for me than eating out. :) I also bought a new Brita Pitcher the green pitcher(!!) so that I can drink even more water and fill it for during the day. Just so you know, I bought it at Target for $5 off, and it came with a $5 gift card to Target. If you visit the website you can register to receive a $5 coupon for the pitcher and a $1 coupon for the filters. Okay, back to me.
Exercise. I need to go to the gym more consistently and I've been devising a plan. I think I'm going to do a revised version of my workouts from 2005. In the morning. I know, I don't want to get up early. Yet. So, for the meantime, I'm going to go 3o minutes every morning (M-F) which shouldn't be a huge problem because I normally get up at 7 AM but I waste time and don't get around to getting ready until 8 AM. You heard me right, 30 minutes everyday. That will give me no excuse not to work out everyday, but this won't be all. I still enjoy my workouts on M-W nights, so, I will work out then as well. In order to not overdo it, I will do cardio Tuesday night for 30 min but weights on Monday and Wednesday. This will bump my workout time for the week from 3 - 60 min workouts to 8 - 30 min workouts. Basically adding my 4th workout for the week, but spreading the time out. Then, I can start increasing times, doing more in the morning if I get in the habit of getting up earlier, and switch it up more. Right now, I need more workout time and more consistency. The last post really made me realize that I like working out period. In the morning, in the evening, I just do. We'll see how this works out.
Sleep. I just need to force myself to go to bed and shut off the tv. My goal will again be to go to bed by 10:30 PM and go to sleep by 11 PM.

Have a great weekend!

What a week!

I've let this week get the better of me, I'll explain tomorrow.

Back in 2005, I managed to lose 60 lbs just by drinking water, sleeping well, watching portions, and working out 5-6 days a week. Just. Like it was that easy... Actually, it didn't feel as hard as it does now. I had a roommate at the time that worked out every morning. At 5:30 AM. After a few months of hearing her leave early in the morning for the gym, I finally decided to ask her a huge favor. "Wake me up in the morning before you leave." You see, I am notorious for not wanting to get up in the morning. I always have, but I hate it. If someone talks to me however, I have to think in order to respond, so it wakes me up. So that's what I did. She'd talk to me for a few minutes on her way out and I would wake up (slowly), change, and follow her to the gym. After a month or so, I would hear her door open and I'd already be up. I devised my own workout plan. It consisted of mostly cardio, but I threw in a couple of weight training sessions every week, which also involved a simple ab workout and back exercises (I think they were called "Good Mornings" but I'm not sure.) I have weak core muscles and a bad back, and I was carrying a lot of weight. Anyway, it caught on and I was losing about 10 lbs a month at the height of my working out. I was doing great, but then I started writing my thesis for my Master's and I couldn't get up in the morning, I couldn't sleep, and I stopped working out. I gained all that weight back.

These last few weeks, I've been talking about working out at night and how I was surprised I'd like it so much. But I've been slacking this week, and only fit in a couple of workouts so far. I'm going to the movies tonight (Watching the new Batman flick!!!) so I know I won't workout. So I'm starting to rethink my plan of action.

Working out in the morning

I loved, LOVED, working out in the morning. John left a comment that he loves working out at 5:30 AM. You may think it is crazy, but what a way to start off your day?

• I didn't have a good excuse not to get it done. I could get it "out of the way," which is how I thought of it at first, but then it became my first priority. It turned into my favorite way to wake up and I felt so much more awake throughout the day.
• My nights were free to socialize, study, or catch up on some tv time.
• I also didn't have to worry about forgetting my clothes or mp3 player or anything else because I was coming from home.
  
• It forced me to eat breakfast, since I was always so hungry afterward. Because I'd worked out, it also made greasy breakfast food not sound so tasty so I would reach for a bowl of cereal. (I'm from Texas, so egg and chorizo always sounds so good, but it's really, really greasy!)
  
• I didn't have to take multiple showers in a day. Need I say more?
• It forced me to go to bed early because I knew I was getting up at 5:30 AM. None of this staying up until 1 or 2 in the morning. If I didn't go to bed early, I was going to drag the next day.
  

Working out at night

Now, I have 2 precious dogs - Chiquita ("little one") and Scrappy - that I have to feed, take on walks, and spend time with. I'm still not sleeping great and I'm still getting used to working out. Working out at night has been surprisingly nice.

• I get my day done and then I have time for me. Working out is such a nice way to relax at nights. I zone out during my runs (or anything cardio) and I just... relax. I leave feeling so peaceful and open-minded about everything going on.
• I can work out as long as I want - as long as I get to the gym early enough. If I get to the gym at 8 pm and I want to work out until 10 pm, then I do. There are no worries about coming in late to lab, or being in at a certain time, or taking too long to get ready afterwards.
• No after-dinner snacking. I've been really bad about snacking at night. Something about watching tv at night that I just crave bad food. Working out takes that time out and I end up forgetting I was "hungry."
• I am tired at night so I tend to go to bed about an hour after I get home. Some minor reading, play with the dogs while I'm in bed, and then I'm out.
• An evening shower is nice before bed.
  
• My dogs really love their after-workout walk around the complex which I use as a cool down.

The Conclusion

Well, for me, it seems as though both work well. Working out at night has been hindered some by my socializing. Random things get planned on a Tuesday and then there goes my workout. Morning workouts are bit hard now that I have the dogs because I have to take them out and I feel bad that I'm constantly in and out of the house. That, and my sleep pattern is still inconsistent. I think my lesson through even writing about this is that I don't have to pick all mornings or all nights as long as I work out. I think I am going to do an experiment this coming week, but I'll tell you more tomorrow, when I have it sketched out better.

By the way, when do you prefer to workout?

Week in Review

This is when I will really be tested... Life is back to "normal." No more exams, no more cramming, just research, research, research.

Food
This week has been pretty good I think. I packed my lunch 4 days out of the week and 3 of those days consisted of a sandwich with carrot sticks and celery. I ate out for lunch once. I ate out for dinner twice. I ate breakfast everyday - I can't function without it. I did not have any sodas this week, drank tons of water, juice (made from only fruit concentrate), unsweetened tea, and milk. Snacking could have been better, ate a candy bar once and had corn chips at work, but I also had salsa (homemade) and chips at home.

Exercise
So far, I've worked out 3 days this week - Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Monday and Wednesday were 60 min. cardio and Tuesday was 20 min. cardio with and then weights afterwards. Thursday nights and Friday nights are hard days to work out, since these are the most "social" days of the week for me. I've really enjoyed working out at night. This is typically my snacking time, so if I'm working out, I'm not eating. I get back by 10 pm, take the dogs out for a walk (again) and on a good night, go to bed. I want to work out a minimum of 4 days a week, ideally 5-6 days a week. This will either force a Sunday workout, which I'm usually not a fan of doing, or morning workouts on Thursday and Friday.

Sleep
I know what you're thinking, sleep? Why does it matter how much sleep she got this week? Well, all I know is that lack of sleep really messes with me. I can't get up in the morning, I get really unmotivated to do anything, and it becomes easier for me to be lazy and not work out. I know I'm getting enough sleep when I wake up before my alarms. Yes, you heard that right, alarms. I've been known to turn off alarms, go back to sleep, and then get mad that the alarm did not wake me up. I have to have multiple alarms to make sure I get up in the morning and if I need all the alarms, I'm usually pretty cranky. Well, this week, I didn't do too well. I was sleeping really well when I was studying for my exams mostly because I wasn't watching tv. I would turn on the radio, study, and go to bed. If I have the tv on, I tend to zone in on the tv. I end up wasting time in the morning before school, I stay up late at night just to watch "5 more minutes!" of a show, and I go to bed late. This week, I got to watch tv and I stayed up late almost every night. On top of that, I've been reading my book, so I stay up even later trying to finish a chapter.

For the upcoming week:
Food - Keep packing a lunch, something simple and hopefully with fruit and/or vegetables. I need to make better choices when I eat out for dinner and watch my portions.
Exercise - 3 days is good for me, let's try at least 4 days this coming week. I like alternating cardio with weights, so I'll keep that up. Ankle has been hurting, so I need to be careful not to run too much. Biking and elliptical don't seem to hurt at all.
Sleep - I'm going to aim to go to bed no later than 11 pm this week. Read a chapter and then go to bed. If I'm really into the story, go to bed earlier.

Have a great rest of weekend everyone! I'll start posting my weigh-ins next weekend.

What is your biggest health/fitness vice?

I've been tagged by Johnny at Fat Guy in a Little Coat!

My biggest health/fitness vice... well, same as Johnny, it doesn't include drinking, smoking, or drugs. I drink occasionally and at most no more than 2 drinks. I don't enjoy getting drunk and I don't think I ever really did... I smoked a pack's worth of cigarettes with a friend over the course of a summer when I was 18. Never again. It was a dirty (smelly) habit and I was happy to give it up. Drugs? Well, I never had an interest and was fortunate enough to find friends who thought the same. We figured we were weird enough without the drugs.

That leaves me with the following:

1. Priorities. I wrote a post about it not too long ago here. What it all boils down to is that I don't make working out, eating well, and taking care of myself a priority - well, I haven't before and even just a couple of weeks ago when I was working on my candidacy. I stress out and lose sight of everything and I end up with tunnel vision on the exam, thesis, or whatever is coming up or needs to be done and I forget, I mean ignore, that I was trying to lose weight to begin with. Eating becomes whatever I can find that is most convenient, which of course means fast food most of the time. Workouts... well, they become non-existent since I tell myself I have no time.

I'm still working on it. Right now, I almost have to force myself to go workout sometimes, like last night. I was all set to watch "So you think you can dance?" and saw the clock and the fact that the gym closes at 10 pm. The show is over at 10 pm. Fortunately, I have tivo and I ended up recording the show, going to work out at 8:30 pm, made it back by 9:45 pm, walked the dogs, and got comfortable on the couch to watch the show (without commercials!!). Did it hurt not to watch it live? Of course not, but it took a little convincing on my part to not want to be lazy and just watch tv.

2. Snacking. Even during the easiest of times I can get sidetracked. I tend to snack at night. I don't know if it's the random tv shows or the fact that I'm being lazy, but I start wanting whatever I have in my fridge. Unless I have exactly what I want, I end up eating whatever else I have in the fridge. I may have had the best eating day in the world... but I can and often do ruin it at night. I tend to want mostly bread and cheese, and occasionally chips and dip. I've also figured out there is a bigger likelihood of snacking if I stay up past 10 pm.

I've found ways to fight it off, even if it's only sometimes.

I try not to keep junk in the apartment - no sodas (I've only had ONE coke since I quit caffeine!) and limited chips, dip, etc. Doesn't always help, but it's a start.

Since I know that I snack at night, I like working out at night. I work up a sweat, I'm doing something I should be doing, and by the time I get home, I'm usually not hungry or in the mood to eat.

Also, I try to go to bed early. Early bedtimes are awesome because I usually end up reading a couple of chapters in my book (currently: The Gunslinger by Stephen King - awesome!!!) and of course, I find that I have an easier time waking up and I'm not as tired during the day.

Now... let me see who's read my blog... (checking comments) Okay, 5 different people - wow! I feel popular ;)

Since Johnny tagged me - I can't tag him back, right? So, that leaves the other 4 people who have commented on a post:

mizfit
Supple Mama
justtoofat
takeupyourbedandwalk

If you haven't been tagged, and you feel you want to post a response, leave me a comment and I'll check it out! (and feel better that more than 5 people read this blog)

What a great weekend

This has been one of the most relaxing weekends in a long time.

I spent the Fourth of July cleaning all day - trust me, my apartment needed it - and the night with friends hanging out. Saturday was spent cleaning again - told you my apartment needed it - and I was able to watch random tv and bad movies that I tivo-ed months ago. Today... I'll admit it, I did nothing productive. I made breakfast. I went to church. I taught Sunday school (only 3 kids!). Came home and made lunch. Watched tv with my dogs.

That's it. That's it!

I haven't had a chance to have a weekend like this in so long! I'm hoping that this will just re-energize me and get myself in gear.

This week, I have no excuses not to work out. (My foot has been hurt - is it possible to get knots in your feet? - all week and I've barely been able to walk, much less run. But it feels much better now.)

Happy Independence Day!

It's the 4th of July and thought I'd take the day off to get my apartment back in order after 2 months of stress, travel, and let's be honest... laziness. Have a great holiday!

I passed!!!!!!

Yep, that's right, I passed.

It feels so good to say that.  Relief.  Ahhh, now I can concentrate on research, research, research for a while...