14 March 2011

BRAG

Today I did something amazing.

5 miles on the elliptical. 60 minutes total. Nearly 600 calories burned.

BOOOOOO YAHHHHHHHH haters to the left HOLLER AT YOUR GIRL

/booty dance

Amazing-er? I think I'm going to head back over there in order to do a yoga class later and then sit in the sauna.

And let me say this- I've been doing the sauna at least 3-4 days a week and my skin has NEVER looked better. I slather tons of awesome moisturizer (a facial massage bar from Lush that I love: basically an oil bar for your face) and then sit in there and meditate. My nasal passages get all cleared, I get a good sweat on and then I take a rough gym towel and scrub my body down as I sit there. Exfoliating and relaxing...not bad at all.

Also, as a fair warning, I am seriously thinking about doing a mini-triathalon in the fall, maybe spring 2012. We will see...

07 March 2011

IT IS ON

So, I realize that I'm the kind of person who's fairly all-or-nothing, which sometimes works in my favor, but usually leaves me a little cold. Like the blogging, I've started countless projects where I go whole hog and then miss one session, one goal, etc and stop doing it because I feel I've failed. How limiting.

So, due to a lot of random health issues in the past year or so, I've decided that getting healthy is my #1 priority. The biggest kick in the seat is the small matter of a bulging disk in my back. The doctors basically said that pain management is out of the question (50+ years of it might not be a good thing!), the surgery is not 100%, has a long recovery time and pretty much means a life of less flexibility and screws in my back. Oh HELLLLLL no. So my new exercise plan- do it everyday- isn't really something I can slack on. It's something that will keep me from painful physical and financial repercussions. And so....


IT IS MOTHERFUCKING* ON.

I have never felt quite so energized and I have to say that marking a month of not smoking today doesn't hurt. I've lost a great deal of weight in the past six months without much effort and actually adding cardio and strength training will help keep things melting off as well. Plus, getting a strong core is imperative for me to live with a bad back. So far, it's been 4 days in a row which isn't terribly amazing until I think about this:

1) On Friday, I conquered my social fears about taking a workout class at my gym. Not only did I speak to the instructor before to let her know that I had an injury but she was really great about calling out amendments for me (and others with back issues). I ended up taking both of her classes back to back and while I felt sore the next day, it was a good sore and not debilitating as I'd feared. I also did 40mins of cardio (20 pre, 20 post) wihout feeling like I might die

2) On Saturday, a friend of mine had his annual pub crawl. Because of a late night on Friday, I got a late start on the day and hadn't gone to the gym yet by the time I had to go to the crawl. I knew I had late plans that night so figured if I made an appearance at the crawl, I'd have time to hit the gym. Pie in the sky idea? Nope. Didn't have a drop to drink (except three glasses of water which was perfect because I'm so poorly hydrated most of the time and adding lemon is also good for weight loss), stayed for about 45 minutes and then headed home so I could hit the gym. Ended up having kind of a lazy workout (30 mins of cardio), but the fact that I made a point to move my day around to accommodate it at all is mind-blowing coming from me. I'm a lazy girl who, generally, loves making "Tomorrow Sarah" do stuff.

3) Sunday I actually went to the gym with a friend and allowed him to set the tone. There was bitching and moaning about being on the elliptical for nearly an hour, but having someone next to me meant a) talking the entire time (good for passing the time AND making sure you're keeping a steady heart rate) and b) amping up my competitive nature. I don't like being the one lagging behind. The partnership should turn out great considering he and I have very similar fitness goals...and have similar pitfalls (rich food, bourbon, laziness).

4) I went to the gym at 630a with my buddy and did a bunch of cardio and am most likely going to set up my Wii Fit at the house so I can do some yoga later...we will see.

So I'm trying to couch this in a bit of skepticism, but I think that because I've been told that it's either shape up or ship out (to the surgeon in 5 years), it's going to stick. ;) Plus, I'm actually really enjoying my body for the first time in ages. I feel more flexible, I'm breathing easier, I wore leggings to the gym unapologetically...it's a good place to be a week into my 30s.