The MIA Work Out Wagon...

Yeah, I bet that you’ve all been wondering what happened to my work out wagon, huh? Well, it hasn’t disappeared, but to say that it went on a short hiatus would be accurate. I can’t really say what happened, but I looked up the other day and it’s been almost three weeks since I went to the gym. That’s not entirely accurate, I did go by the gym one day the week before last...only to find that although B did bring my clothes for me to change into he forgot my shoes. It was a short visit that day...because although this bride loves to wear heels...they don’t work in the gym so much!

But seriously, I was still working out and doing well. And then I can’t really tell you what happened, but I think that life got in the way. School started, Labor Day weekend rolled around, and somewhere in all of that I started feeling bad. And although I wasn’t sick enough to be SICK, I didn’t feel well enough to go to the gym and pump iron, or ride the bike...or even just walk on the treadmill.

Then for the past week and a half, I’ve been suffering with a bad back. I don’t know what I did, but I did something to it while B was out of town and I went on my DIY-binge weekend-fest. It must have been embossing those drink tags that just ruined things for me! LOL. Either way, last week I actually left work early one day because the pain was so bad, and I sat with a heating pad on my back the rest of the week...but I’m all better now. Or at least not bad enough to use it as an excuse anymore!

The good news is that I haven’t backtracked or lost a lot of the ground that I had gained. In fact, I haven’t lost any ground. But that’s the problem too...I’m at the same place that I was three weeks ago. And now I have less than 4 weeks until my big day. The dress fits (don’t worry about that), but I would feel a little better about how it fits if the back cleavage wasn’t there.

So here’s my mission:
To work out five days a week at the gym
To incorporate a little bit of arm/back exercises every single day
To do Ab Ripper X (shout out to P90X fans!) every other day...because let’s face it...I’ve got two EXTRA weeks to work on the bikini body!
I’ve gotten away from all soda again, and am really trying to make good eating choices (those choices haven’t been the best lately, truth be told).
Get plenty of sleep.

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(And don't worry, I don't really think that three weeks of working out will make me look like her, but a bride can dream, right?)

That last one seems like a big one to a bride about three and a half weeks out from her wedding, but amazingly enough, I’m not feeling that stressed. I’ve been working hard on projects all along, carrying my To Do List around daily and trying my best to cross items off of each day’s list...so I am on the “home stretch” for most of my projects, which feels good to type! I’m sure that there will be craziness at a later point in time (week of the wedding, anyone?), but for right now, I feel good.

So that’s that plan. B’s on his own plan...and it’s much more involved than mine is, but he’s got a little more free time during the day than I do. So we’re both working away, doing our best to ensure that we look our best on our big day.

Where are you in your fitness goals for your wedding? How are you keeping up with it all? I’d love to hear some last minute tips from brides that have gone before me...

Work Out Wagon Results – Week #14

I haven’t written a post about this in a while, so I thought that it was time for an update. It wasn’t that I wasn’t still working on things, I am…but it seemed like I had SO much to share there for a bit and these posts about my work-outs seemed like fluff.

When we left off, these were my stats (that was at Week #9):
Weight – 148
Tummy – 31.5 / 37 (true waist / “tummy”)
Thighs – 23.25

And since I’m a good bride, who’s been working in the background, even though I haven’t been holding myself as accountable as I had been, here’s my stats as of this morning.

Current Stats:
Weight – 145
Tummy – 31.25 / 36.5 (true waist / “tummy”)
Thighs – 22.75

Progress, much? Looking at things each week, it seems like I wasn’t really going anywhere. But take a month off of looking at it so closely, and I am really making progress! I’m SO proud of my progress, even when it doesn’t seem like all that much.

Let me give you some cumulative stats:
Starting weight – 158 – 13 (THIRTEEN) pounds lost!
Starting Tummy – 34 / 37 – Almost 3 (THREE) inches off of my true waist!
Starting Thighs – 24 – Almost 1.5 inches off of my thighs!

Yeah, so I’m not as excited about my “tummy” measurement. But that’s ok. The other numbers really speak up louder and help me be ok with it all. And my clothes? They’re fitting SO nicely! Nothing is tight anymore, and some things are even starting to look a bit baggy on me.

So what is it exactly that I’ve been doing? I watch what I eat – ALL the time. I try to have one or two cheat meals (LOVE me some pizza!) each week so that it’s not all watching all the time. I’ve done a great job of sticking to my “no sodas during the week” rule, and it helps. I also have a sweet tooth, so instead of fighting it ALL the time, I found candy that wasn’t super high in calories…just a piece or two will calm the sweet tooth and not totally wreck my day as far as calories go.

I’ve also changed my work-out. Before, I concentrated solely on running to burn some carbs. That’s all well and good, but it was starting to wear on me a bit. I injured my knee a few weeks back and was forced off of the treadmill for an entire week. That’s when B introduced me to the stationary bike, his new best friend. I rode that solid for a week (and yes, my legs were totally rubbery the first day when I got off of the bike!) and now mix up my work-outs to include both the bike and the treadmill. Instead of struggling to run between 2-3 miles 3-4 times a week, I run twenty minutes on the treadmill and then spend my remaining 20 minutes of the workout on a bike. I wasn’t sure about it at first, but the proof is in the pudding – my thighs are noticing the change!

I’m getting really close to meeting my goals for the wedding, and there are still two months to go. So I’m going to keep doing what I’m doing so that I don’t get off track, but not completely stress about it all anymore either. Is that a good plan? I know that the last few weeks will be stressful and since I don’t eat when I’m stressed, I know that more will shed just by sheer lack of time…so I don’t plan on stressing about these last few pounds right now.

What I do need to start focusing on is toning some muscles that will be shown off at the wedding – like my arms…so that’s what I’ll start to focus on these last nine weeks. Less focus on calories and burning and maybe more time on the weights.

How are your fitness goals coming along? Have you found taking a break from focusing on things helps you, or does it hinder you to not have that focus? I’m curious to know…

Work Out Wagon Results – Week #9

I’m not really sure how I feel about this week’s results.

Last Week’s Stats:
Weight – 148
Tummy – 31.5/37 (true waist / “tummy”)
Thighs – 23.25

Last Week’s Goals: (I’ve once again put my actual results in BOLD)
Increase my running length of time and speed, following the Couch Potato to 5K running plan – running at least 3 times Ran Sunday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday – Woo Hoo for an extra run
Take only one day off of SOME form of exercise – do a P90X workout or swim on “off days” Did ONE ab ripper X workout – YEA!
Continue with no sodas during the week, and making good diet choices. I rediscovered a love of cherry vanilla limeades from Sonic this week when I REALLY wanted a coke, that was a good choice.
Work on smaller meals, more often. Did MUCH better on this!

Current Stats:
Weight – 146
Tummy – 31.25 / 37 (true waist / “tummy”)
Thighs – 23.25

Here are my goals for this week:
Run at least three times a week, minimum of two miles
Take only one day off of SOME form of exercise
Start doing workouts targeting specific body areas
Continue good eating habits, keeping up with food journal, and eating small snacks throughout the day

On the one hand, I’m thrilled to be TWO pounds down…on the other hand, I’m disappointed that there was not much movement on my measurements. I’ve never been one to put a lot of stock into your actual weight number. To me, it’s all about how my clothes fit, or maybe how MANY of my clothes fit…

Like most normal women, I’ve got a size range of two-three sizes that are all housed in my closet. Pre-baby clothes, post-baby clothes, post-divorce clothes…yeah, they’re all different sizes. But I can’t wear all of them. So my goals for shaping up before my wedding were more about how I fit into my clothes than about the actual amount that I weigh.

Therefore, you can understand why I’m disappointed that my measurements really don’t seem to be going anywhere.

But if I’m honest about myself and things that I’m doing or not doing, I should be able to say that it’s all my fault. For the past two months, I’ve been concentrating solely on running, which is a great cardio workout. But it shouldn’t be the ONLY workout that I do. Especially now that I’m approaching the three month mark before the wedding and I know that I want to work on arms and abs and such…

So I think that I really need to re-dedicate myself to my other workouts. I’ve been honest about how lax I’ve been with them the past month, but now it’s time to be harsh with myself. I’m not going to see results if all that I continue to do is run. I want to keep concentrating on my running, and improving my distance, but I need to start focusing on my other workouts now that my running is falling into shape nicely. I’m good with two miles of running. Yes, three would be better, but two is great.

Does anyone else have trouble changing up their workout?

I AM getting results…but I think that I would get better results if I made a few slight changes. How did you get over your unwillingness to change? Or am I just being stubborn? Mom, don’t answer that!

Just a Quick Thank You!

I just wanted to send a shout of thanks out to all those words of encouragement that I got to stay on track with my work out wagon this week. I feel like I’ve done a LOT better with my food and drink choices this week, I’ve been faithfully working out two days on and then a day of rest off...and I’m even planning on doing a work out tonight on my off night – gotta start working on those abs and arms!

Keep the encouragement coming. I just KNOW that it will help me make it through the weekend “being good.” Just so you know, I normally weigh in on Monday mornings, but today, I felt like I needed to see how I’d done this week, so I did a quick in between weigh...the results were GOOD! Two pounds down – let’s cross our fingers that I continue to do good over the weekend!

Work Out Wagon Results – Week #8

Last Week’s Stats:
Weight – 147
Tummy – 32/36.75 (true waist / “tummy”)
Thighs – 23.25

Last Week’s Goals: (I’ve once again put my actual results in BOLD)
To actually follow the goals that I have set out to follow…I did do better on this one, no matter WHAT the numbers below say
Move to next step of Couch Potato to 5K running plan – run a minimum of three times during the week Ran Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday
Take only one day a week off of SOME form of exercise – days not running either do a P90X workout or swim Still didn’t do as good on this one…
NO SODAS during the week!!! Only cheated ONE time – YEA!

Current Stats:
Weight – 148
Tummy – 31.5/37 (true waist / “tummy”)
Thighs – 23.25

Here are my goals for this week:
Increase my running length of time and speed, following the Couch Potato to 5K running plan – running at least 3 times
Take only one day off of SOME form of exercise – do a P90X workout or swim on “off days”
Continue with no sodas during the week, and making good diet choices.
Work on smaller meals, more often.

I’m really proud of what I was able to get back on track with last week. I watched what I ate and made sure to exercise more. Yes, I should have done something for two of my three days off, but maybe I’m doing just fine with my baby steps to fitness…

I was disappointed in the numbers posting this week. Despite all of my good efforts, it seems like I fell short a bit. I’m counting on that being blamed for my monthly visitors who brings along water retention and bloating with her when she visits! Next week, I hope to continue to see my weight drop and my measurements decrease as well.

I’m almost 100 days out from the wedding right now, and to be perfectly honest, I’m feeling a bit of pressure about the “hump” that I seem to have hit. I cannot get past the position that I’m at with my weight or my measurements, it seems. So, in order to try to force myself to do better and be more accountable, I’m going back to the food journal and really watching those calories. I’m excited that my workouts are at the level now where I’m burning significant calories…I just want to make sure that I don’t undo all of my hard work with bad eating choices.

You might have noticed also that I added a new goal of eating smaller meals more often. This one is REALLY hard for me to do. Not only do I have to make good snack choices, which isn’t all that hard for me, but I have to eat at set times during the day. I noticed that when I did this when I was first starting out on my workout wagon, it really did seem to speed up my metabolism a bit. The past three weeks or so, I haven’t been doing very good with this aspect of when I eat, and I think that the numbers really reflect that.

Is anyone else out there struggling to get past a “road block” in their fitness program? I’m making progress, so I’m ok with this small set-back, but it’s frustrating all the same.

What are you doing to get over your “hump” in the road?

Joining the YMCA...

So I’ve been writing a lot about our workouts. Something that has been happening recently has really affected our workouts. Texas has been in an early heat wave. Yes, I realize that I live in Texas, and that it’s hot here a lot of the time. I get that. I really do. But it’s been unseasonably hot…in late June we’ve been hitting triple-digits on the temperature front each and every day. A cool day (read cold front) for us is high 90’s.

How has this affected us, you’re asking right about now? Well, we run outside. We don’t own a treadmill and we’re not members of any gym. So this means avoiding heat exhaustion is the most important thing for us. When we first started running, we could run right after work (between 5:30 – 6:30 at night) and have no problems. That quickly changed as May became June. We changed our routine to run about an hour after we ate in the evenings. This might mean a little discomfort while running if we ate too heavy a meal, or didn’t wait the full hour, but it was worth it to run during a cooler period during the day.

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Last week, we had to start waiting until after 9pm to run. It’s been THAT hot. And that’s just not acceptable for us working folks. Mr. CC works quite a ways away from our house, having to go right through downtown Austin to get there. Which puts him going through some heavy traffic, except that he goes so early in the mornings, that he misses it all. (So for those of you familiar with Austin and it’s traffic, you get that that is VERY early!)

So running that late at night forces us to go to bed later and later. And it’s just going to keep getting hotter and hotter. We needed a better solution. This is starting to affect our desire to work out at all, and staying on track with our goals is important to us. Especially since it's not just ME that is worried about looking her best on her wedding day...this is something that Mr. CC worries about constantly.

So what did we do? We joined the YMCA. I don’t know about the area that you’re in, but in Austin, the YMCA has some top-notch facilities for member use. Nice gyms, workout classes, summer programs for kids, and swimming facilities. An extra score for us, since we “lost” our summertime pool when little CC and I moved out of our apartment in Austin and moved in with Mr. CC. Without access to a pool, the summers in Austin can be L-O-N-G…

So just for your information, joining the Y was a simple choice for us. They offer a family membership, allowing all four of us access to all of the Austin area YMCA facilities, for a mere $75/month. There was no activation fee since we signed up the same day that we took a tour, and there is no contract to sign. It’s month-to-month on bank/credit card draft with just a 30-day cancellation policy to follow. Right now, the kids are young enough where they get in under our cards, and they must be supervised at all times. But the Y does provide on-site child care for ages 6 mos and up. Within a year or so, Mr. CC’s son will be able to roam about as he pleases when we’re there, but little CC will have to continue to go to “Hang Time” until she reaches 13.

Lucky for us, we’re pretty flexible and one of us doesn’t mind sitting watching little CC swim while the other works out and then taking turns. It’s a win-win situation for us. We get to run on treadmills (better for our joints on shock absorption) in the A/C (MUY importante in Tejas!) as well as full access to the rest of the amenities that the YMCA offers.

We’re thrilled with our choice, and just to be certain that I did a good thing financially, I did a break-down on the cost. I figured out that if we go to the Y three days a week (which is how often we’re SUPPOSED to be running each week) the cost is a mere $3.13 per visit. I will GLADLY pay $3 to run in the A/C any day of the week!

Check out the new YMCA that just opened last year, and is the closest one to our house:

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What new expenses did you incur to meet your fitness goals for your wedding? Was it worth the money that you spent?

Work Out Wagon Results – Week #7

Last Week’s Stats: Weight – 146
Tummy – 32/37 (true waist / “tummy”)
Thighs – 23.25

Last Week’s Goals: (I’ve once again put my actual results in BOLD) Continue to Couch Potato to 5K running plan – moving on to the next week’s workout – run three times during the week Ran Sunday, Monday and Saturday – LONG break in between runs – more on that down below
One additional ab workout during the week Yeah, I’m a stinker - NONE
NO sodas during the week! I broke down and had a soda several days this week – BOO!

Current Stats:
Weight – 147
Tummy – 32/36.75 (true waist / “tummy”)
Thighs – 23.25

Here are my goals for this week:
To actually follow the goals that I set out to follow…
Move to next step of Couch Potato to 5K running plan – run a minimum of three times during the week
Take only one day a week off of SOME form of exercise – days not running either do a P90X workout or swim
NO SODAS during the week!!!

I feel really badly about my progress, or lack there of, for last week. I don’t really have an excuse, except maybe lack of willpower. You see, my birthday fell during the week last week…and although typically a birthday only covers ONE DAY…I feel like I celebrated all week long. Maybe you didn’t catch that…let me say it again. I celebrated all week long. All. Week. Long.

Yeah. So I was a bad little bride-to-be…and I GAINED weight this past week. I started off the week right…running the first two days of my week (since I count Sunday as the start of the week)…and then I’m not really sure what happened. A break on Tuesday since I had run Sunday and Monday turned into a four-day long break. Not really sure what all happened. I know that on Wednesday it was Mr. CC's last baseball game of the "season" and I didn't want to miss it. The weather probably also attributed to my lack of wanting to run - it's been in the triple digits everyday here in Texas. It's even still hot at 9 o'clock at night...and we're running later and later each night just to avoid death from heat stroke...

Oh well. It’s done. It’s over and there’s not much I can do to change what happened.

The good news? I had a GREAT birthday – ate cake for breakfast…followed by a cupcake after lunch…and another half after dinner. Yeah. Maybe I can understand why there was weight gain! LOL. The surprising thing is that my “true tummy” measurement finally changed, which was shocking considering that my total weight measurement went UP…but I’ll take what good news I can get.

I feel like I need to hit the program really hard this week. Rededicate myself to it all. You’ll notice that my first goal this week was actually to FOLLOW the goals that I lay out for myself. To be perfectly honest, I feel like I’ve let you all down with my lack of dedication last week. I know, I know, it’s not that big of a deal…but still. Being open and honest with my good days and bad days here on this blog holds me accountable. Not just with myself, but with you all.

Is it easier for you to stay on track with your goals if you tell someone else about them? Does that help you stay accountable?

Work Out Wagon Results – Week #6

Here we are at the beginning of Week #7, and that means that it's time to report how I did for Week #6...I am really struggling to get over my standstill on my measurements lately...

Last Week’s Stats: Weight – 148
Tummy – 32.5/37 (true waist / “tummy”)
Thighs – 23.5

Last Week’s Goals: (I’ve once again put my actual results in BOLD) Concentrate on my running – run three times each week completing week #5 on Couch Potato to 5K training plan Ran on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday – YEA me for getting one extra workout in!
One additional ab workout during the week None – BOO to me
Continue to make good food choices I think that I did ok…splurged a lot compared to the last few weeks – with two cokes during the week (not just on weekend)

Current Stats:
Weight - 146
Tummy – 32/37 (true waist / “tummy”)
Thighs - 23.25

Here are my goals for this week:
Continue to Couch Potato to 5K running plan – moving on to the next week’s workout – run three times during the week
One additional ab workout during the week
NO sodas during the week!

So, even though I fell behind (AGAIN!) on the ab workout…I made some progress this week. I was really worried about stepping on my scale this week and running the tape measure around myself…I felt like I ate really poorly this past week. But the numbers don’t lie, and I guess that just goes to show that the workouts (running) are burning off the extra calories that I’m taking in.

This was the first week in SIX WEEKS that I haven’t kept a food journal. It’s not really a journal, just a post-it note on my desk each day, detailing what I eat during the day while I’m at work. (I noticed that I tended to snack the most at my desk while at work, not as much while at home.) So I just detailed what I would eat during working hours and total those calories. Knowing what I needed to consume for the whole day, I would leave work knowing that I had just dinner to worry about if I stayed within a certain range during the day.

It was a way for me to hold myself accountable and keep myself on track. It also helped me keep on track with eating smaller portions more often during the day. Everywhere you look on fitness and weight loss websites, all of the trainers preach and preach about eating less more often during the day, and that trick being a key to speeding up your metabolism. I find this really hard to do during the weekends while I’m at home, but during the work week it’s easy to eat every other hour, or every hour, whatever works best for you. So, not keeping that “food journal” this past week was a struggle for me. I wanted to write down my intake…and total up the calories.

But part of changing my lifestyle, not dieting, is forming better habits. After watching my snacks so closely for 5 weeks, it was easy to take a step back and still retain what I had learned in the past weeks. I’m proud that I still made progress.

This past week was also the first week that I haven’t used meal replacements. I ate full meals, and small snacks all week long. I cheated and had two cokes during the week, instead of just on the weekend. I also went to a party and had sweets. But at no point did I feel too badly about any of it, because I know that I’m running my little tootsies off every other few nights, paying for those sweets. I might still choose to have a meal replacement for breakfast for ease of scrounging up breakfast, but I see now that I can do it without meal replacements too.

I’m SO proud – when going back and checking my official starting point, that makes a grand total of 8 POUNDS DOWN!!! Can I give myself a WOOT?!? Yeah? I can? WOOT!! And if you’ll remember way back when back in February when Mr. CC and I officially started this working out journey, I was actually an additional 4 pounds heavier than my latest “starting point” so that actually brings the total to 12 pounds…YEA ME!

I was really worried about being stuck on a “hump” with my measurements not changing in SO long…how did you handle getting over that in your own workout? I’m ALWAYS looking for new inspiration!

Work Out Wagon Results - Week #5

Are you ready for last week’s recap? Me too! Let’s get right to it…

Last Week’s Stats: Weight – 149
Tummy – 32.75/37.25 (true waist / “tummy”)
Thighs – 23.5
Last Week’s Goals: (I’ve once again put my actual results in BOLD) One P90X workout – chest/back or arms/shoulders along with ab workout NONE! I’m a stinker!
One additional ab workout during the week Did one Ab workout
Run three times – moving to the next week on the Couch Potato to 5K program Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday – WOOHOO an extra one!
Continue my good food choices I did ok. No cokes except on the weekend, and I actually started eating “normally” again now that I’m running more each week. The theory being that if I’m burning more calories, then I don’t have to be as “strict” with my diet.

Current Stats:
Weight – 148
Tummy – 32.5/37 (true waist / “tummy”)
Thighs – 23.5

Here are my goals for this week:
Concentrate on my running – run three times each week completing week #5 on Couch Potato to 5K training plan
One additional ab workout during the week
Continue to make good food choices.

So…here’s where I stand. I’m a total of 6 pounds down after 6 weeks. In that six week period, I’ve made several changes. One of the largest changes has been in the amount of exercise that I’m doing. But I’ve also been watching those calories like a hawk, in addition to the exercise.

Now that I’m six weeks into working out again, and I’m over the initial soreness that goes along with starting any new workout program, I’m to that point where I look forward to doing the exercise. I know, there are some out there that might find that fact hard to believe. But believe it or not, I feel better when I run. I don’t know if it’s just a little boost of confidence that I’m doing something that I know is good for me, or of achieving a goal that I’ve set for myself. Either way, I just feel better.

And this past week was a real test for me. I was coming off a hard weekend of eating whatever I wanted and no exercise, and feeling a little pressure since the scale went the wrong direction when I stepped on it last Monday. But knowing that I was increasing my running program again, I was curious to see how I would do if I didn’t follow the strict eating plan that I’ve been on the first few weeks. So I actually ate lunch out, and ate normal foods. I even had a cheeseburger, fries and a chocolate shake one day. Another day, I had a piece of cake when those "mean ladies" at my office brought in another delectable treat. But you know what? I passed the test. I still lost weight. It was only one pound, but that’s nice and healthy. If I keep that up, I’ll have the rest of the weight that I plan to lose before the wedding gone within the next month or so…

Now, this doesn’t mean that I’m back to eating whatever I want by any means. But it does mean that I can treat myself a little more often, and not feel as guilty about “cheating” when it does happen. I’m going to continue the eating pattern that I’ve worked hard to establish the past six weeks – eating smaller, consistent portions throughout the work day. It’s easy when I’m stuck at a desk all day long to eat every hour or hour and a half. It’s harder on the weekends.

So that’s where I am right now. I’m trying to still eat sensible and make good choices, but I’m going to try not keeping my food diary this week. (It’s actually just a post-it note with all that I ate during the day and the calories associated tallied up, but I can call it a food diary if I want!) This may not work for me, it might not be enough accountability. We’ll see. I can always go back to keeping that log if I need to.

Keep the encouragement coming ladies! It’s a BIG help to me…

Work-Out Wagon Results - Week #4

I had the HONOR of spending the entire weekend with my “panel” that I so lovingly wrote about the other day…needless to say, I’m exhausted! But SO happy with all that we got accomplished, and truly feeling blessed to have the wedding party of a bride’s dreams! My girls are GREAT…this past weekend just proved it.

While I’m still waiting for the rest of the pictures to trickle through to me so that I can tell you all about what all we got accomplished this past weekend, and getting my thoughts in order, I think it’s a great time to post my results for last week.

You want to know how I know that my Maids are the best? They offered me a “by” for this week. You know how in sports playoffs when there’s an odd number and someone gets to “win” that week without even playing the game? Well, my Maids told me that I didn’t have to report my work-out wagon results this week! Aren’t they SO sweet?!?! Since we were spending the weekend shopping and eating and doing bridal stuff, we had deemed the weekend to be “calorie free” and ate at most of my favorite restaurants…including dessert at several stops!

But I just can’t do it. So, a big thanks to my Maids for giving me the option, but I feel like I need to still be accountable.

Here we go!
Last Week’s Stats: Weight – 150
Tummy – 33.5/37.5 (true waist/ “tummy”)
Thighs – 23.5

Last Week’s Goals: (I’ve once again put my actual results in BOLD)
Two P90X workouts – chest/back and arms/shoulders along with ab workout I didn’t do ANY P90X workouts…maybe one ab routine – SO BAD!
One additional ab workout during the week Already answered above
Run three times a week – starting the Couch Potato to 5K program I ran twice, which was short of my goal, but I DID follow the program with no problem
Make better food choices I mentioned the no calorie weekend, right? Yeah, so that answers this one…

So, have seen the actual v. the goals for last week, you might think that my current stats would be worse than they are. Even I was shocked!

Current Stats:
Weight – 149
Tummy – 32.75/37.25 (true waist / “tummy”)
Thighs – 23.5

Not bad, huh? And actually, instead of a “by” the Maids also told me that I could post my weight from Friday. Just to be silly, I weighed myself before I left on my weekend trip (the whole trip actually almost didn’t happen…more on that later!) to see how eating whatever I wanted would affect my weight. But I’m being honest and giving you the “after” weight. My “before” weight was actually 147!

Here are my goals for this week:
One P90X workout – chest/back or arms/shoulders along with ab workout
One additional ab workout during the week
Run three times – moving to the next week on the Couch Potato to 5K program
Continue my good food choices

You’ll notice that I changed my P90X goals for this week…we’ll see if that works better for me. The good news is that I’m starting to see the difference that my working out is having on certain areas of my body…and my arms is something that I’m going to HAVE to start focusing on soon! I won’t be able to continue to put that off…

Anyway…so I’ll try to round up the extra pics that I need so that I can tell you all about this past weekend. It was LOTS of fun! The Maids all got to meet each other, and my mom even joined in on the fun…it was a LONG day of shopping, but well worth it with all that we got accomplished. And just to tease you a bit and make sure you come back for more…there was a great chicken dance…with pictures!

See you later!

"Work Out Wagon" Results - Week #3

So…are you ready for the results of week #3? I have to be honest here and say that I was NOT looking forward to getting onto the scale this week…but I’ll get into that in a minute. Here’s a recap for you:

Last Week’s Stats:
Weight – 149
Tummy – 33.75/37 (true waist / “tummy”)
Thighs – 23.75
Last Week’s Goals: (I’ve once again put my actual results in BOLD)
Two P90X workouts – chest/back and arms/shoulders along with ab workout I did NO P90X workout this week! I’m SO bad!
One additional ab workout during the week I did do the ab routine twice
Run three times a week – starting the Couch Potato to 5K program Ran Sunday, Tuesday and Saturday
Continue with no sodas during the week and watching my sweets I did good on the first part – no sodas except for Sunday and Saturday, but I did worse on watching my sweets…nothing major, but did enjoy several birthday treats during the week

So how did this slacking off affect me?

Not as bad as I thought that it would have…

Current Stats:
Weight – 150
Tummy – 33.5/37.5 (true waist/ “tummy”)
Thighs – 23.5

I was disappointed to see my weight go UP this week…but comforted that there was still some loss on size. So I know what you’re all wondering…what the HECK was my deal this week? Several factors came together to do me in, sort of like that movie “The Perfect Storm.” Ok, so maybe it wasn’t as bad as that movie, I mean no one got hurt or died, but still…

For one thing, it was little CC’s birthday week. Which meant that we ate out two more nights than we might have normally…and one of those nights was little CC’s choice (being the birthday girl) and that means Gattitown – heavy pizza. Another night Mr. CC and I did a lot of her birthday shopping and met for dinner beforehand…at Johnny Carino’s…yes, I know…pasta is NOT on the menu when you’re watching your weight. And then Friday night, Mr. CC and I met some friends after work at a local restaurant and enjoyed a cold beverage and a hamburger as little CC ran and played on the playground. Throw in a birthday party with some IRRESISTABLE cake…and you can easily see that I didn’t make the best eating choices last week. I’m not blaming it all on little CC’s birthday or anything, but I was BUSY last week, which meant eating on the go…and those fast choices aren’t always the best.

Secondly, I have my monthly visitor. She blessed me with her presence Saturday as soon as the party was over, and I’m sure (or hoping) that her friend Water Retention is helping add a little to my weight. And my measurements, for that matter. Luckily, her best friend Miss Bitchy, left town today…and Miss Cotton Candy is back to her normal self. I’m not thrilled to be doing this right now, but let’s face it, it’s a fact of women’s lives once a month. And truth be told, I’d MUCH rather do it now, and be back to normal by the time this weekend rolls around…more on that later!

So, there you have it. Not bad, considering all the bad choices that I made last week, and the slacking off that I did on my workouts. But since I’m me, I like to focus on the positives. I DID meet my running goal, and I DID do two ab workouts…I just need to step it up and get back to working out my arms. And watching what I eat…that’s an obvious one!

Here are my goals for this week:
Two P90X workouts – chest/back and arms/shoulders along with ab workout
One additional ab workout during the week
Run three times a week – starting the Couch Potato to 5K program
Make better food choices

I know that last goal is a “little” bit broad, but it just encompasses SO much. More water, less soda, NO pasta, pizza or greasy hamburgers…more salad and eating “in” for lunchtime.

I’m crossing my fingers that I’m better this week! I need to be, I’ve got a big weekend ahead of me…and there are NO calories or stressing about what I’m eating during this time. I promise, I’ll quit teasing you and tell you ALL about it…in a day or two!
Catch you later.

On Your Mark, Get Set...GO!

Some of you might be wondering about the running portion of my workout program. A lot of people are natural runners. A lot of people are not natural runners, and must be trained to run. You would think that since I actually lettered in Cross Country in High School (WAY back in the day!) that running would be something that comes naturally to me. Well, it doesn’t. I don’t know if that’s a product of my laziness or not, but I seem to remember struggling with running even back then. I trained myself to do it and do a decent job at it, but I wasn’t the best on the team by far.

Now that I’m older (and heavier) and less active in my lifestyle, running comes even harder to me. A few years ago, when I felt like my life got a little out of control and I was over my comfortable weight, I ran. At that time, it was an escape for me, the one thing that I had complete control over. I ran as far as I could for as long as I could and worked over time to increase the lengths of time that I ran and shorten the lengths of time that I had to take a break or walk. That’s just what worked for me at the time.

This time around, I actually did some online research and found a program recommended for new runners and tried it. To be perfectly honest, I found it about a year ago, started it and never stuck with it. I’m doing better this time around. So, in case you’re interested, or you know someone else who is starting to run for exercise, maybe this will help.

The website is www.coolrunning.com, and they have several training programs, depending on the level of runner that you are. I am following the “Couch-to-5K Running Plan” and it works for me. It’s a simple program designed to combine walking and jogging in order to condition your body over time so that at the end of the program you are able to run 3 miles. That might not sound like much, but that’s probably a good number for most people who run for exercise. The greatest thing about this program, it only calls for running three days a week and it only takes two months if you follow the program.

When you first start the program, you’re actually walking longer than you are jogging, which is good for most people. This is the step that I’ve actually altered this go round. The program calls for you to follow this pattern for the first few weeks. Each session is started with a brisk 5 minute walk to warm up your muscles and another 5 minute walk to cool down following the session, making the sessions last 30 minutes in total. I did something a little different:

Program My Way
Week 1 60 sec jog 30 sec jog
90 sec walk 30 sec walk
(20 min total time) (20 min total time)

Week 2 90 sec jog 60 sec jog
2 min walk 30 sec walk
(20 min total time) (20 minute total time)

I just didn’t think that I could actually run for 60 seconds when I first started. So I altered the program a little bit, and it’s worked out for me so far. I’m starting Week 3 of the program right now, so we’ll see if I did a good thing or a bad thing. If you’re interested to know, comment below and I’ll let you know if I would recommend what I did or not. I’ll be honest, I promise.

So this week, I’ll start following the actual program on Week 3. The program calls for this week to do your warm-up walk for 5 minutes, followed by 90 seconds of jogging, 90 seconds of walking, 3 minutes of jogging, 3 minutes of walking (repeat whole jogging/walking series one more time), and then a cool down walk of 5 minutes. So we’ll see if I’m able to run for three minutes or not. This will be the furthest that I’ve gotten on the program…you can tell that I REALLY didn’t stick with it long last year when I tried it!

Actually, the other night I cheated on the program. Mr. CC and I had been “bad” and had gone to Carino’s for dinner. It wasn’t that bad, since we hadn’t been there since the week of Mother’s Day and we only ate two pieces of bread and our meals. No dessert. Afterwards, we decided that we would run to offset our eating splurge. When we started our workout, Mr. CC asked to do it differently and just run until we couldn’t run anymore and then walk for a bit to catch our breaths, then repeat for our regular twenty minutes. We did good and ran the first time for 3:39 and the last time for 3:50, so I feel confident that this week when I start on the actual “Couch-to-5K Running Plan” on Week 3 that I’ll be able to meet the goals of the program.

What tools did you find when you started your workout? Did you even think to turn to the internet to tap sources that you might not be able to access on your own? Did you follow their steps exactly or alter the program to “better fit” your needs?

"Work-out Wagon" Results - Week #2

So…are you ready for the results of week #2 on the work-out wagon? I know that I was excited to get on the scale. I’m starting to notice small changes and differences in the way that I feel about myself and how my clothes fit. So here’s a recap for you:

Last Week’s Stats:
Weight – 151
Tummy – (true waist / “tummy”) 34/37
Thighs – 24

Last Week’s Goals: (I’ve once again put my actual results in BOLD)
Two P90X workouts with Mr. CC – choosing from chest/back, arms/shoulders and kempo (following each workout with the ab ripper x workout too) Chest/back on Tuesday (no abs) and Arms/Shoulders on Thursday with abs
Run 2 times this week on other days – 5 minute warm-up then running sprints lasting 30-60 second a piece for 20 minutes followed by 5 minute cool down Ran THREE times this week following program
Cut back on Soda (one every other day, if possible) Sunday and Monday – one each day
Cut back on Sweets (possibly do a reward at the end of the day if I was “good” during the day) I kept up with rewarding myself, and had a piece of cake one day at work – (Those pesky cake-baking people!)

Current Stats:
Weight – 149
Tummy – 33.75/37 (true waist / “tummy”)
Thighs – 23.75

So…what do you think? I think that I did great! I’ve lost a total of 5 pounds since starting this go round, which just really goes to show how watching what you eat (counting those calories) can really help a girl out. I’m hoping to just need to do this religiously for these first few weeks. Once I’ve built up my running and work-outs, counting those calories won’t be nearly as important as they have been the last two weeks. That’s not to say that at that time that I’ll just eat whatever I want, but I don’t think that I’ll worry as much as I do right now about it all.

I’m thrilled to see some improvement on my actual measurements this week. Weight to me is just a number, it’s really more important to me how I fit into my clothes – and the all important WEDDING DRESS that matters more to me. So, although there wasn’t a LOT of improvement, there was some. I really need to get better with my ab ripper X workout to continue to improve those numbers!

So here are my goals for this week:
Two P90X workouts – chest/back and arms/shoulders along with ab workout
One additional ab workout during the week
Run three times a week – starting the Couch Potato to 5K program (more on this later!)
Continue with no sodas during the week and watching my sweets

I think that these goals are totally doable for me, and I’ve made some small adjustments there to try and keep these results coming in. All in all, I’m thrilled with how the first two weeks have gone, and other than some initial stiffness right after I run (those shins just hurt!) I’ve become accustomed to the physical strain again, without the major aches and pains. I can’t wait to see what my small adjustments to my goals might gain me on my results this week.

How are you doing with your own weight loss goals? Do the results that you see help to motivate you all that much more, like mine do?

Update for Week #1

Well, it’s been a week since I got back on the work-out wagon. (That sounds SO funny to type/read – does it give you a chuckle like it does me? Maybe I’m just a dork!)

Anyway. Here’s where we left off:

Beginning stats:
Weight - 154
Tummy - 34/37 (true waist/"tummy")
Thighs – 24

Last Week’s Goals: (I’ve put my actual progress in BOLD)
Two P90X workouts with Mr. CC – choosing from chest/back, arms/shoulders and kempo (following each workout with the ab ripper x workout too)
Arms/shoulders and abs – Tuesday (partial on abs)
Run 2 times this week on other days – 5 minute warm-up then running sprints lasting 30-60 second a piece for 20 minutes followed by 5 minute cool down
Ran – Sunday and Thursday
Walked – Monday
Cut back on Soda (one every other day, if possible)
Sunday, Friday and Saturday had one soda each day
Cut back on Sweets (possibly do a reward at the end of the day if I was “good” during the day)
I won’t say that I didn’t eat sweets, but there were no sweets eaten between meals at my desk all day…and I usually just had something sweet at the end of the day for “being good”

So…I think that I did GREAT! I met almost all of my goals, and eased into my workouts again. Now, that’s not saying that there wasn’t any pain…you might have noticed that the time between my runs was almost a full week. Yes, there were several days of walking (barely) around muttering under my breath with each and every step that I took. But that’s probably normal, right? And the lack of sweets that I ate was amazing to me – I’ve got a HUGE sweet tooth, so I thought that this would be my biggest challenge. Luckily, I anticipated this and stocked my desk with healthier alternatives that would satisfy the sweet urge without eating candy.

By day 4, my legs felt normal again, and I was ready to attempt another run the next day…and I was not as sore that second time after my run as I was the first! The bad news is that since it took me so long to “recover” from the first run, I feel a little behind schedule on my progress with increasing my times on my runs, so I probably just won’t alter that goal any for this week.

Anyway, all of that is just fluff without posting my current stats, so here they are:

Current stats:
Weight - 151
Tummy - (true waist/"tummy") 34/37
Thighs – 24

This Week’s Goals:
Two P90X workouts with Mr. CC – choosing from chest/back, arms/shoulders and kempo (following each workout with the ab ripper x workout too)
Run 2 times this week on other days – 5 minute warm-up then running sprints lasting 30-60 second a piece for 20 minutes followed by 5 minute cool down
Cut back on Soda (one every other day, if possible)
Cut back on Sweets (possibly do a reward at the end of the day if I was “good” during the day)

You might have noticed, but I’m not changing my goals at all for this next week. When Mr. CC and I started our workouts the last time, I noticed that it took my body about two full weeks to get adjusted to the changes that I was starting to make. So, with that in mind, I’m going to keep things status quo for one more week. By the next week, my body will be ready and able to adjust/increase some of those goals so that I see more progress.

I’m thrilled with my progress this last week overall. I made good eating choices, stuck to doing something physical almost every day, and still managed to have time “off” to enjoy myself and my family. If I’m completely honest, then I would have to admit that I’m a little disappointed that none of my measurements changed, even though there was weight loss…guess it came off of my boobs! I hope that I continue to keep up the momentum, and it’s been a lot of fun to hear from you all with your encouraging words and your own work-out plans!

Keep it coming! Good luck this next week!

My Dress Try-On Results

See? I didn’t leave you hanging all THAT long about my dress!

Just a day. Nothing to sweat over. Ok, so here’s the deal with my dress…it FITS!

After all of the drama that went into the ordering the right size of dress written about here, I have to admit that I was really worried. And then I did a trial showing of the dress when I was in Dallas a few months ago at a different Alfred Angelo store and the helpful lady there re-measured me and reassured me that all would be well, written about here. So…there was a LOT of anticipation over the fitting of the dress!

Added on top of all of that the fact that I have fallen off of the work-out wagon and haven’t done anything in about a month…LOTS of anticipation over the dress.

So, the really good news is that the dress fits nicely. It looks great from the front, and is VERY flattering to my current figure. So, even if all I concentrated on was firming and toning my arms so that they look their best in the gown, I would be happy.

The bad news? I STILL have back cleavage. Which I’m NOT happy about. But it’s kinda what I get for falling off of the work-out wagon. And the good news is that it’s not as bad as it was in the floor model dress which was a size too small for me. When I had on the floor model dress, not only was the “fat” around my shoulder blades and back smushed inwardly together, but it was sort of hanging over the lip of the dress. Not so in the size that fits me. It’s still smushed together, but not hanging over. So I either made some progress (which I’d like to think) or the size bigger made a difference (probably more likely!).

Either way, it’s great motivation to get me back ON the work-out wagon. And I’m going to proceed and approach things a little bit like I did before, and I little bit differently too. For one thing, I’m going to be doing different workouts. I like the P90X that Mr. CC really likes, but I think that for what I’m trying to accomplish right now, I need more cardio. So while I will be doing some of the P90X workouts with Mr. CC still, I’m going to do some different workouts too.

Plus, I’m going to increase my accountability level to you guys. Remember, you are my cheerleaders and I need encouragement from you. You need to cheer with me when I make progress and kick-start me when I’m not doing so good…so instead of just sharing my progress with you all, I’m taking it up a notch. Not only will I share my actual numbers with you (weight and measurements), but I’m also going to set weekly goals for my workouts and see if being held accountable on a weekly basis for meeting those goals helps me stick to it. You hear all the time about how good it is to write down your goals with pen and paper, making them real to you. So, maybe typing them out and putting them out on cyberspace for all the “world” to see (or the 5 people that read this blog) will help make me more accountable.

So, might as well start today, right? Each Tuesday I’ll post my progress along with my goals for the week. Then, the following week, I’ll be honest and let you know how I did on my goals from the week before, along with posting new numbers and new goals for the current week.

Think that you’re up to helping me? I don’t really need to lose much weight, as MOH pointed out to me losing too much weight now would be alterations for the dress…which might cause more problems that I want to tackle! I really just want a little weight loss, but more toning and shaping. So here’s what I’ve got right now:

Long-term Goals:
Lose 10 pounds before the wedding
Tone and sculpt my back, arms and that spot between arm and chest that sometimes looks pudgy
Feel healthier, making better eating choices and exercising regularly. Not a DIET, but a change in habits.
Current stats: (there are only three places that I’m really concerned a lot about measuring)
Weight - 154
Tummy - 34/37 (true waist/"tummy")
Thighs - 24
This Week’s Goals:
Two P90X workouts with Mr. CC – choosing from chest/back, arms/shoulders and kempo (following each workout with the ab ripper x workout too)
Run 2 times this week on other days – 5 minute warm-up then running sprints lasting 30-60 second a piece for 20 minutes followed by 5 minute cool down
Cut back on Soda (one every other day, if possible)
Cut back on Sweets (possibly do a reward at the end of the day if I was “good” during the day)

So that’s it. That’s Miss CC’s plan to start out her work-out wagon. I think that I’m not shooting too high, aiming right in the middle. I’d really like to run more than twice a week, but we’ll start off easy and see how it goes since this is the first week back in more than a month. I ran yesterday and I have to admit that my legs are hating me today…and they’ll be even worse tomorrow!

I’ll check in next Tuesday and let you know how I did and what progress I made….keep your fingers crossed for me, and be sure and send me a note of encouragement!

Workout Woes...

I know that you’re probably all wondering exactly what happened to Miss Cotton Candy’s weekly workout updates?

Hmmm…

Me too!

Just kidding. I know exactly what happened…I haven’t been working out! I know that’s horrible, but at least I’m honest. But I have a reason for being such a slacker, and of course those that know me well know that there’s always a good story! Here’s what happened…

I posted here about our camping trip. So if you read that post, you know that we took a very LONG hike on that Saturday. In addition to that long hike, there were countless trips up and down the slope just to get to our campsite from the parking lot and the restrooms. And Miss Cotton Candy being Miss CC, I wore my flip flops. No, not for the long 5 mile long hike, I wore sensible tennis shoes for THAT, but I wore my flip flops a good percentage of the rest of the time that we were at McKinney Falls SP.

Now, Mama CC can attest to the fact that getting me to wear shoes at all is a feat unto itself, so we’re not surprised to hear that I always have a pair of handy flip flops near, are we? No, we’re really not. And normally it’s not a big deal to wear flip flops…except on rocky, “gently” sloping paths that lead to and from your campsite. A place where the slope is tricky and you might step the wrong way on a big, rough rock and bruise a foot bone…maybe that’s not a good location to wear flip flops.

So, here’s the story. It’s Saturday evening, and Miss CC has to run to HEB for a quick supply run, I think it was for the Easter bunny baskets. I noticed while pushing my buggy around HEB that it was kind of hurting me when I stepped with my left foot, but I really didn’t think anything about it. So later on at the campsite, when it’s STILL hurting, and starting to hurt so much to make me not want to walk up the hill to go to the restroom I realize that the inevitable has happened.

Miss CC has gotten hurt on our camping trip. (I know for some of you this is a shocker…and for the rest of you, you’re not so surprised!)

Anyway, long story short, Mr. CC (dutiful fiancé that he is) checks my foot over very carefully, but it’s getting dark and who knows what I’ve managed to do to it. He questions me thoroughly about my steps that day and when I might have hurt it. Honestly, nothing comes to mind. Another shocker, I know. Seriously, I get injured on such a regular basis that I don’t even notice it most of the time…I don’t really see the problem here. Apparently though, that’s not normal to not remember when you might have hurt yourself.

The next day, I can barely walk on that foot without a pretty good limp. I notice that it feels better when I have my tennis shoes on and it’s laced up rather than my flip flops, so I wear my tennis shoes all day. That night, we look my foot over again since we’re back at home and can see things more clearly. Mr. CC is certain that the top of my foot is all bruised leading him to believe that I’ve broken or bruised a bone, and I assure him that it always looks that particular color, mainly because I just can’t bear the thought of my having broken something, even if it’s just a little foot bone. The thought sickens me…literally sickens me. I feel faint…

Lucky for me, my boss was out at a manager’s meeting all last week, which meant that we could all get away with wearing jeans everyday. And that was a good thing because I needed to wear my tennis shoes for the first few days and not high heels like normal. By the weekend, I’m SURE that I’ll feel better.

The good news is that I do, in fact, feel better by the weekend. The bad news? It still hurts me at times. So working out was out of the question. Did I hear a little “YEA!” sneak out of my mind…yep, I might have. The good thing, I guess, was that Mr. CC was also suffering an injury of cellulitis on his wrist and when we tried to do the workouts that didn’t involve feet, legs or jumping all over the place, he found that he couldn’t do the pull ups without hurting his wrist.

So we took the week off. And that really makes a week and a half, since over the holiday weekend we didn’t do our normal workouts. Sure, we did the 5 mile hike that one day, but hearing about my foot, now you know that we didn’t do anything else that weekend.

We’re going to attempt a workout tonight. Mr. CC’s wrist is looking better and my foot has felt better the last few days. I don’t know that either of us is really ready for it, but we HAVE to start up again before we lose all the ground that we’ve gained so far…

Hopefully next week I’ll start posting about our workouts again. Then again, we have our trip to NOLA this week/weekend…Jazz Fest…Bourbon Street…visiting with our out-of-town friends over drinks…beignets…yeah, I’m wiping the drool off as I type….

What roadblocks did you come across in your work out plans? Was it easy to “get back on the horse” or a little harder than you had thought?

Workout Update - Week #5

I hear you, I hear you. I know that I’m running a day behind on my workout recap…it wasn’t intentional, I just got my days mixed up! Trust me, I weighed in and measured right on time just like normal on Monday night, but then mixed my days up when I scheduled the posts to hit my blog…

I posted last week about my concerns about being on the road and not being able to do full workouts, as well as eating out all week long. I tried to be good and make good choices about what I ate, but oftentimes when you’re on the road on business you don’t really get a lot of say about what you eat. For example, our lunches last week were all ordered in for us, and no one that I knew got any say about what we had to eat. So your choices can be limited. And those people that place the food orders obviously did NOT have my bridal workouts in mind when they ordered dessert almost every single day to accompany our lunches! Oh well, I did the best that I could and didn’t suffer any for it.

Or at least, I was hoping that I didn’t!

I also managed to work out a little bit more than I was thinking I would be able to, which was a good thing. Especially since I didn’t deny myself the lunchtime cookies! I mean, come on…what normal, woman can resist a chocolate chip cookie when it’s set right in front of you? There are some strong women out there, but I’m NOT one of them when it comes to chocolate chip cookies…

Ok – enough chit chat. You don’t care about all of that…you just want to know how it all ended up, right? Right. So here we go…

The end of Week #5 left me 1 pound lighter and another ¼” off of my waist!

YEA! I proved to myself that I can work on the road and still do good with my eating choices and my exercise. I’m thrilled with my progress and it’s really starting to show with the way that some of my clothes are fitting…I’ll be tickled pink to get back into some of my dress pants that I either haven’t been able to wear in a while, or thought that they didn’t flatter me as well (even though I can technically button them) as they used to.

So, I’m trying to keep up the good work over here. Now that I’m back home, Mr. CC and I are back to our workout routine, and let me tell you, having a week off of some of the workouts (because I couldn’t do them without the videos) has been HARD to get back into doing. Plyometrics just about killed me last night! But I did it…and I’m not too terribly sore today.

How do you handle travelling while on a diet/exercise regime? Was it difficult or easier than you thought that it would be?

30 Days and Counting…

Yep, I can’t believe it either.

What started out with the days passing SO SLOWLY…seriously slowly here, as each and every movement of my body HURT…and now the days just seem to fly by. It’s like I blinked and all of a sudden I’m at our 30 day mark. I was VERY excited to take our 30 days pictures and tally up our progress thus far.

But before I share with you how I did, I have to talk about the things that you can’t necessarily measure. I’m sleeping better, really soundly especially now that I’m no longer waking myself up when I roll over on sore muscles. I’m drinking more water now that I’m working out (which is SO good for me!) and I’m making better food choices. This is something that’s slightly unconscious on my part, but I’m enjoying this side benefit all the same. And lastly, I feel a little more graceful. I know, I know. There are some people out there (Mom CC) that might be rolling on the floor laughing right now, but I promise you that I feel tighter and more “fluid” in my movements. Which might not be “actual” grace, but a type of grace…but work with me here people!

Now for the fun stuff…

My grand totals to this point in our plan are as follows:

4 pounds lost
½” on my waist is lost

I don’t love you enough to post my Day 1 picture against my Day 30 picture – sorry ladies, that’s really for your benefit, maybe it should be that I love you TOO much to post those pics! I need you here, reading my blog, not running the other way! But I did some work in Photoshop after we took our pictures putting the before and after shots side by side, and I do have to admit to being both amazed and disappointed all at the same time.

Amazed at all of the smaller changes that I can notice, especially on my arms and back. Disappointed because I was expecting to see more results – especially around my tummy area. Oh well. Just gives me something specific to work towards in the next 30 days, right? And maybe I’ll be brave enough to post those 60 Day pictures at that point…

But I need your help with something this week…I’m travelling this week, on the road and away from my workout regime. I was a good girl and packed one set of weights and my resistance bands. I also brought along my workout notebook, where I track my reps and exercises and all…so I’m going to struggle and TRY to do my workouts this week. And being on the road means eating out three meals a day…so I’m going to also TRY to eat right. Keep me in your thoughts and drop me an encouraging line or two, if you have the time. Thanks!

How do you get through times like this? When you’re away from your program and your workout buddy?

Workout Update - Week #3

Yep, it's Tuesday...which means that you get two posts from me today! One regular post, and one to update you on my workout status.

This last week was hard. The workouts are getting easier (or I'm getting accustomed to pain, I don't know which!) but this week I overdid it a little bit one night. As a result, I've been dealing with a really touchy left knee. I'm not even sure what I did or when I did it, but last Thursday morning when I went to work my knee was all swollen and I had to keep ice on it all day long.

Because of that, I actually had TWO days off this past week! Yea me and poor me all at the same time...why poor me you ask? Because that meant that first workout back was THAT much harder! But I used a knee brace and worked through it. I did what I could and didn't worry about the rest.

So, enough chit-chat, this is supposed to be short and sweet...

At the end of Week #3, I have lost another pound and 1/2" off of my waist line. VERY COOL!

Next week, Mr. CC and I will have completed our first month. That means that we take a 30 day picture to compare against our Day 1 pictures, and we total up our progress for the month. Although I might love you enough NOT to share those pictures, you can count on me tallying up my progress for the first month!

Thank you for all of your help and support - keep it coming! It really helps motivate me to continue on the painful path of working out! Talk to you later...

The End of Week #2...

Well, it’s Tuesday, so you might know what that means if you’ve been paying attention. If you have no idea what I’m talking about, don’t fret, I’m gonna tell you anyway!

Since today is Tuesday that means that yesterday was Monday, which equals to weigh in day at the Cotton Candy household.

Yep, that’s right guys and gals, we’ve finished week numero 2…

And my mantra is no longer “it’ll be ok” or “I’m gonna make it” or anything of the sort. Yep, you read that right, I feel good. I’m still sore, don’t get me wrong, but I’ve either gotten used to a certain amount of pain and accepted it as a part of my daily life, or my muscles are adjusting to the trauma that I’ve put them through in the last two weeks.

So enough chit chat. You’re not here for that…you want to know how I did, right?

(I’m proud of myself, I have to admit.)

I’m down two more pounds and I’ve lost ¼” off of my waist.

But more than those WONDERFUL numbers, I feel better. I feel tighter, Mr. CC and I both decided it’s not that we feel buff or anything – we’ve still got a LONG way to go – but we feel “less jiggly.” It makes sense to us…but that may just be further proof that we’re perfect for each other!

So there you have it – a little bonus post on accountability day. Have a great day!