Keeping it real.

I'm about to tell you a story that is Too Much Information. But, we like to keep it real around here at The Final Fifty, so consider yourselves fairly warned. 

I think I told you guys that I was road tripping this weekend to photograph a wedding in Colorado. It was 13 hours in the car yesterday. We did stop off for a little hike that involved circumventing three rattle snakes. I was less than impressed. I am determined not to fall behind in my running or workout programs while travelling so this morning I got up early and went for a run. Yesterday we were playing trivia in the car. One of the questions was to define homeostasis. It is a biological state of equilibrium. I'm my world and in laymans terms, it is pooping daily. Needless to say, travel can disrupt my homeostasis. I was about halfway through my run this morning when I was presented with a definite problem. I was going to return to a state of biological equilibrium whether I wanted to or not. I was fortunate in the fact that at that very moment a ditch and a tree presented itself. All I can say is don't judge me. I would like to think that each of you would make the same choice if you were faced with pooping your pants or shamefully dropping a deuce in a ditch. My deepest apologies to the state of Colorado. As it turns out you can't outrun biology. Happy Saturday!!!

4 Week Measurements

Hey-o! As promised, I measured up on Sunday (the end of 4 weeks on P90X~Mass). Here are the stats:

Weight        233.0 (down 4.5 pounds)
Waist           43.0 inches (down 1.5 inches)
Hips             50 inches (same)
Chest           44 (same)
Right Arm   16.5 (same)
Left Arm     16.0 (down 0.5 inch)
Right Thigh 28.0 (down 1.5 inches)
Left Thigh   28.5 (down 0.5 inch)
Body Fat %  30% (same)

These are not STUNNING results. Having said that, I am not unhappy with them. First of all, it is important to remember that I started this program after finishing a different program. I did not start it from ground zero. You always see more drastic results at the very beginning. I also just came off of a less than stellar week in the eating department. I ate clean, but I ate too much. Secondly, I lost my FitBit. While I might think that I am stepping the same, I was not really tracking it. GOOD NEWS!!! My FitBit was found and returned yesterday. But I forgot to put it on this morning. Tomorrow, I am back on the FitBit track. Look out all my FitBit friends... I'm stepping again! Lastly, everything either went down or stayed the same. Nothing went up. I do feel like my arms and legs are getting more toned, so if that means that I am replacing fat with muscle, I'll take it. I skipped yesterday, which means I am going to have to double up this week some time, but I had company from out of town, I partied too hard Sunday night, and it was a holiday (how's that for a bunch of worthless excuses). But I plan on finishing this program in the allotted time and I am excited to see what the new workouts are for this month.

My running app is not allowing hardly any walking time. As in there are two walking stints that last 45 seconds each for the entire run. I now lap my starting point which means that I am covering more distance in the same amount of time. I am scooting right along. I feel like I could run a 5K with relative ease right now. How's that for a big deal? 6 weeks ago I couldn't run longer than a minute and a half without walking. BOOM. Here is a weird fun fact for you... When I run I can spit like a guy. If I was standing still I'm lucky if I don't drool on myself. Not that I spit a lot or anything. I had a little bit of a head cold last week, not enough to stop me, just enough to annoy me. But I get a little phlegm when I run still. Gotta get rid of it somehow. So, I spit, but I can spit a long, long ways!

At the end of this week I am travelling to Colorado to shoot a wedding. We will see how I do sticking to my workouts on the road. Wish me luck. I'll do my best.

In other news, I have a puppy sleeping in my lap. I bought him in the parking lot of a KFC (no, I didn't eat there). He is a dorkie (dachshund x yorkie = dorkie). His name is Slack. He is the cutest thing I have ever seen. I super duper love him. Happy Tuesday!! Drink your water!!

Gut Check

Lately I have been doing a lot of little re-posts to keep things going on the page but I haven't really checked in for a while. There has been A LOT going on and I just haven't had a chance to sit down and organize my thoughts on all of it. 

Let's start with why I decided it was important to do so this morning. Friday before last I weighed in. Just to see where I was at. I decided I was going to do measurements once a month on this new program (so, end of this week), but I was curious about my weight. I had dropped 3 pounds in the first 10 days or so of the new P90X3. Thumbs up. Not a shocking number of pounds, but it was at least going in the right direction. This morning I decided to do the same thing, but for different reasons. I have been STARVING for the last week and a half since that weigh-in. Like I could eat anything and everything in sight and not even blink an eye. I have been trying to make healthy choices, but I definitely feel my portion size creeping up to more than what it should be. My water intake has not been nearly as much as it was (shame on me) and I also feel pretty tired (insert sluggish). So, this morning, I was up a pound. Not down, not the same, UP! I haven't missed any P90X3 workouts, but I did miss my last run of the week last Friday due to torrential downpours. In this past two weeks I have had several birthday parties that I have attended which means that I have had little pieces of cake because who doesn't deserve a piece of cake sometimes, right??? With my metabolism the answer there is WRONG, not right. There have also been some chorizos eaten, even without the bun, not a stellar choice for me. For those of you that don't live in Marsing, Idaho and don't know what a chorizo is, it is a spicy hot dog on steroids. I had company come from out of town which of course meant taking them to my favorite places to eat out and cooking a feast or two at home for them. So, all of this has added up to an extra pound. A pound that I had gone and now have to get rid of again. 

So, why? Why the naughty eating when tempted? Why the not making up for the lost run over the weekend? Why the diminished water intake? Why the extra pound???? WHY????

First off (brace yourselves, gentlemen), I started my period. I don't know about the rest of you girls, but this hormonal up swing just about kills me in the dieting and restraint department. The week before it I have terrible insomnia. Like I might sporadically get 3 hours of sleep in a night no matter what I do. I end up reading a lot of books in the middle of the night. This makes me tired. Which in turn makes me hungry. Insert first deposit of extra calories. During my period the hunger factor gets cranked up by 1,000% and I want to eat EVERYTHING. I could clean out the cupboards even if they only had mustard and pickles in them. I don't even know, taste, or care what I am eating. And, now in an attempt to catch up, all I want to do is sleep. I have to make myself workout during this week. My motivation is zero. I do it anyways, but it is more of a going through the motions kind of thing. I can justify just about anything during this part of the month for me. 

Second, the stress level around my outfit is getting pretty high. Going through cancer treatments and the whole process of cancer with someone is not really all that fun or for the faint at heart. Top it off with the fact that my family is not the best bunch of communicators on the planet and you have a tailor made recipe for bottled up feelings and anger. Fits have been thrown. Fights have been had. Emotions are running a little high. This of course leads to some emotional eating because that's how you deal with feelings in my family, you stuff food on top of them until they suffocate and quit trying to surface. 

Lastly, I lost my FitBit. My little accountability friend has jumped ship somewhere. I miss him terribly. I can think that I am making my steps all I want to, but who is to know, I don't have my little buddy reporting in to me. After payday this week I plan on ordering a new one. But it has been over a week now without him, a bad week to boot (see reason #1), and I didn't realize what a darn good motivator he was. 

There have been some ups and some downs. Plateaus and small weight gains are a part of any weight loss journey. The important thing right now is that I realize it, get it in check, and get that scale going in the opposite direction. Oh, and that I drink my water. Have a great week all!! I'm gonna give it hell. 

New program... New goals.

Happy Friday!

I have two days left in my new program this week. Today and tomorrow. Sore was what I wanted and sore was what I got. While I was actively doing the workouts, I didn't think they were all that hard. Had I not already been through T25, I'm sure that I would have thought they were torturous. So far they are not super cardio based, so I am glad that I am running too. Yesterdays workout was interesting. It was nothing but pull-up/chin-ups and push ups. That's it for 30 minutes. On the bar, on the floor, on the bar, on the floor, on the bar, on the floor... You get the idea. Wednesday I was so sore that my run was difficult. Remember how I was fast of foot Monday and flying on cloud nine? Wednesday not so much. Today I fall somewhere in between.

Starting a new program always brings out new holes in my fitness. #1, as you can probably guess from yesterdays pictures, is that I cannot do an unassisted pull-up. Not even one. I can't even hang my own body weight all that long. I have to be realistic about this. I'm watching people on a video do pull-ups that are probably have no more than 10% body fat. I am trying to haul my own body weight and an extra 77 pounds up and down. #2 I am still doing push-ups on my knees. Again, I use the extra weight as an excuse. #3 My slacking in yoga has led to a decline in my flexibility. The great thing about this program is that they put yoga in at least once a week. I got up this morning and did a mini yoga routine and I felt better afterwards. Felt ready to go. This might need to be a regular thing. So, with the holes that currently exist, I have a new set of fitness goals:

1. By the end of this program (90 days) I would like to be doing unassisted pull-ups and chin-ups. I don't know how many, but from where I stand right now, I think if I can even do one unassisted pull-up, that will be kinda a big deal.

**You may have noticed that I get a little obsessed with fitness people. Natalie Jill is my new obsession. She is A-Mazing. Her blog posts are short, sweet, helpful, and to the point. She came out with a new app this week a that has her fitness routines on it. I think I will find it very handy when I am on the road (go get it!). Anyways, she has a blog post about doing pull-ups for women.... Here is the link:

http://www.nataliejillfitness.com/how-to-do-a-pull-up-women/

2.The other side of my pull-up stand has an ab leg lift deal-a-ma-bopper. I have no idea what the real name for it is, but you can visualize. Since I got it set-up yesterday I stop and do 10 leg lift ab thingys whenever I walk by it. That is how many I can do before I shamefully slide to the floor. I would like to be doing 20 by the end of this month (short-term goal).

3. I would really like to be doing real push-ups. I feel like I am getting stronger so I feel like this should be a reasonable goal. I used to do all kinds of variations of real push-ups. I am trying to be realistic and take into account my weight. I don't want to set a goal that I can't achieve. I also don't want to attempt something I shouldn't and end up with bad form and a potential injury. So, my goal is to be doing real push-ups by the time I weigh 200 pounds or less. I don't know if those two things will coincide by the end of this program or not, but I hope so!

4. I would like to get back on the yoga wagon. More than the hit and miss that I have been getting done the past few weeks. I would like to go back to three times a week. I don't know that I will make hot yoga three times a week, but I have plenty of yoga tools at my disposal at home as well. It is just a matter of making it a priority.

5. I would like to run at least 2 5K's this year. I haven't decided which two, but I want to find some good local ones that I can do. Who knows... If things keep progressing maybe a 10K is even in my future.

I have lots of goals regarding my weight, fitness, health, etc. right now, but I believe the above set of goals is the most important ones for me to work. They are more important than fighting the scale, they are more important than fitting in the next jeans. AND, if I accomplish these goals, those other things will most likely fall into line.

I have had a fat feeling week. You know what I mean? I highly doubt that I am fatter, but I just have felt that way. I'm sure some of it from starting the new workout program. You start something new and you feel more hungry. You notice new inadequacies that make you feel fat. It has been a stressful week on a personal level and that makes me want to do emotional eating. I'm not doing that, but it makes me want to and just that makes me feel fat. Almost as bad as if I just went ahead and stuffed my face. Being sore makes me feel heavy too. It makes my legs feel like heavy concrete pillars. I'm sure by the end of next week I will be feeling much better. I have a lot on my plate mentally with it being the end of my term at school, all the talking and meeting with doctors for gram, and helping out at my former employer's place. Mental weight may be some of the heaviness that I have been feeling this week.

Have a great weekend all... I am sleeping in tomorrow come hell or high water. I am also hiking sometime this weekend come rain or come shine. Drink your water. ;)