Rest Day

Yesterday I did a killer back and biceps workout before running the reservoir.



I started with a 16 minute warm-up on the elliptical (burning approx. 200 calories) then went straight to the weight room.



Something about the pull-up machine is equally daunting and sexy to me. While I love the feeling that I'm super-strong by doing pull-ups, the machine is weight-assisted, so I actually look okay performing the exercise, and get a pretty good workout in the process. The way it works is your knees rest on a moving bunch sort of thing and the more weight you put onto the machine, the more of your actual body weight you are lifting. So... I pulled (negative) 120 pounds which would equal only 65 pounds of weight while I was doing the exercise. I did 3 sets of 8 on this machine.

Between sets of pull-ups I did 3 sets of barbell curls. 40 lbs X 10 reps each set.

I then moved to the cable row machine.
75 lbs. X 12/12/10

V-ups (between row sets) @
50/35/25

July 27, 2008 Active Rest Day

Well, we're in beautiful Lake Tahoe (actually Olympic Valley if you want to be technical about it) and I love the smell of the forest in the summer. Something about the pine trees that really awakens my senses and gets me relaxed. We fell asleep last night with the plan to go running in the morning. We got all ready and headed out on our run around 10 a.m. with Reese in the jogging stroller.
Unfortunately, the smoke, from all the wildfires ripping through northern California, was against us! We barely ran for a mile and we were huffing and puffing with burning lungs. Partially from the elevation (6200 feet!) but also from the thick smoke that lingered in the valley. Well, at least we got out of the hotel room, which was amazing, by the way! We met some friends for lunch (a salad to make up for my lack of exercise this weekend) and headed home. It was a great weekend with friends that are more like family, great scenery, delicious food, and the serene feeling of getting away from the daily grind and city life. Why don't we come up here more often!?!

Rest Day - July 20, 2008

I hate rest days. I am very aware that in order to make progress, we must have these rest days in our workout routine, however, I am not a fan. I feel like, once I've hit my stride, I need to stay with it, or my enthusiasm is going to start fading. I've started to see results, which is great. It makes me want to keep going, push harder and workout longer.

In fact, my glutes are still sore from all the lunges and squats I did a few days ago. Now, I know that I need to rest them, but I absolutely love this soreness. I call it my sweet pain. Make it hurt so good! Call me crazy, but I love the feeling because it is the mark of a sincerely serious workout that is helping me to build muscle, in turn boosting my metabolism, which burns more fat when I'm doing sedentary things. You know, like typing on a computer!

So even though I hate rest days, I am well aware of their importance. Because, while I love the "sweet pain" I need to be able to walk up my stairs to go to sleep, eventually. Besides, that just means I'm resting my muscles for another serious beating!

July 19, 2008 - Cardio

Well, 40 minutes on the elliptical at 485 calories burned, then another 15 minutes on the treadmill with almost 200 calories burned. at this rate I can burn off a pound every five days in the gym!

Unfortunately, this victory over my evil caloric enemies was short lived when I failed to plan time for making lunch and came to work starving. Only to ruin all my hard work in the gym with a Sirloin Bacon Cheeseburger from Jack-in-the-Box. Complete with medium (um how is 32 oz of anything considered "medium"?) Dr. Pepper and curly fries. Evil temptress that you are, cheeseburger. I will live to fight you another day, cravings!

Chubby Hands: A Name That Says It All

On an "extended camping trip, at an undisclosed location in the Middle East," I hiked to a little store ran by just one man, with a thick Turkish accent. The man was selling gold jewelry at a discounted price. I decided that I wanted a gold ring for myself and was determined to puchase one. My right ring finger is a size 8.5-9. A size that I never thought was abnormally large before. Well, the gold-guy had me try on every women's ring he had in his store, but none of them fit me. This is when I started to question whether or not we had a situation.

When I got back to my tent area, I engaged in a conversation about my ring buying excursion to some friends and my boyfriend. They all decided that this was the funniest thing they had heard in a very long time. They even went so far as to ask me if I had tried on any of the bracelets instead, so that I might still leave with a finger adornment.

They then proceeded to think up a song for my newfound disability. The name- Chubby Hands. The song, to the tune of "Smelly Cat" from Friends. The lyrics, forever burned into my memory:

Chubby Hands, Chuuuuubby Hands
What are they feeding you?
Chubby Hands, Chuuuuuubby Hands,
It's not your fault!

And thus my persona "Chubby Hands" was born. As the name has stuck over the years, My hands have not gotten less chubby. Unfortunately, I believe they have added some chub. I have a six and a half month old daughter who should never know the shame of her mother's knuckle friendly padding. I gained 50 pounds during my pregnancy, bringing me up to a whopping 225 pounds. At 5'8" I was bigger than a house! And even though I have lost 36 of those pounds, I'm determined to lose the remaining weight, and then some! I'm using this as my diet and nutrition journal. I'm hoping that anyone in my situation (heinously chubby extremities not required) might benefit from my trials and tribulations throughout this experience.

My problem with losing weight has never been a lack of knowledge. With the Internet, everything we ever wanted to know about losing weight is right at our very fingertips! No, my obstacle isn't the absence of knowledge, it's the absence of will-power. I'm finally trying to overcome this horrible battle with my fat cells over my will-power. I'm giving it a good solid year.

My goal is to lose 29 pounds in the next 12 months.