Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Workout 120228: Attitude Adjustment.

Today workout:

Hip Warmup Stretches
28 min Treadmill (top speed 3.2 mph; total dist 1.3 mi)
Hip Abductors - 20 each leg with a 30 sec hold on the 10th lift
Bridges - 10 reps with a 5 sec hold
Butt Muscle Stretch
IT Band Stretch
Hamstring Stretch
Butterfly Stretch

This morning was about as close to perfect and I could hope for.  I woke up on time at 4:50am.  I packed lunches and made it out the door without any toddler interference.  Arriving at the gym by 5:30am, I walked on the treadmill until 6am.  At 6am I headed downstairs to do my PT exercises and stretch.  At 6:15am, I headed to the showers.  By 6:45am, I was in my car headed to work.  On time!!!  It really does make a difference getting up in the morning on time.  I just need to get better at it.

As I was walking this morning, I thought about my running goal.  I have really been down about not meeting that goal.  REALLY DOWN.  The demotivating kind of down that makes it hard to get out of bed and do anything.  Some might say depressed.  I want my body to be better and I want it to be better now.  But I can't have that.  It's something I have to accept and deal with.  NOW.

So as of today, I am through with that goal.  I completed a 5K.  I know I can do that.  I have independent verification proving that I can do that.  Goal met.  I made that goal while trying to find an intermediate step in my 100 pound journey.  Looking at 100 pounds as a goal is too much.  It's too long and too hard.  I need another goal.  A smaller goal which still gets me in the right direction.

I don't know what that is yet.  I'm going to workout 5 days this week, either in the gym or at PT.  When my brain is idle I'm going to think on what I'm doing and come up with something.  Some motivating goal to get me through the next 2 months or so.  I'm thankful I have this time.  I'm hopeful that I can get better and reach my longer term goals.  I love that I've got this challenge to overcome.  This is something I can do.

PT: Day 11

Yes. I'm skipping Day 10.  It was a bad day for me.  My attitude was bad and it took me a couple of days to recover from PT Day 10.  Summary of the day - I have 6 more weeks of physical therapy in front of me.

Workout on Day 11:

6min Elliptical Warmup on level 3
Hip Rollout and Butt Muscle Massage
Butt Muscle Stretch
Modified Side Plank - 15 Reps
Backward Lunges - 10 reps each leg
Side Lunges* - 10 reps each side
Side Steps - 75in each direction
Swiss Ball Bridges - 10 reps with 5 sec hold
Kneeling Leg/Arm Extension - 10 Reps each leg
Leg Extension - 20 reps each leg
Cage Stretch

*Side Lunges are done by placing the feet 2 - 3 feet apart with the heel of one foot level with the toe of the other foot.  Then lean onto the forward leg.  Hold for 5 secs.  Push back up through the foot of the bent leg.

The hardest part about all these exercises is figuring out what muscles I should be using.  I can perform all of them incorrectly.  The frustrating part is recognizing that I am doing something incorrectly and learning how to correct it.  Yesterday it was the Lunges.  Last week it was the Side Steps.  The week before, Leg Extension.  Which, by the way, are going to be called Leg Kickbacks from now on.  That is what the physical therapist is calling them, so I'm going to latch onto the terminology.

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Why 100 Pounds

Ever since I posted my goal of losing 100 pounds, I've wanted to follow it with a post about why 100 pounds.  Or maybe what 100 pounds means to me.  They are to different questions and I have been able to decide which one deserves attention first.  I am prone to analysis paralysis and the area of weight loss is no exception. Tackling these questions, one at a time, will hopefully lead me down the road to a healthy, well-balanced, skinny me.  So now for the question.

Why 100 pounds?

The facts are that I am a 5 foot 5 inch woman in my thirties.  My healthy weight range is 120 - 150 pounds.  With a start weight of 240 pounds, losing 100 pounds is a reasonable and healthy goal.

It is also a shocking goal.  I need something shocking to get me moving.  I'd rather the reality of 100 pounds shock me into action than a heart attack or diabetes.  I have high cholesterol.  Heart Disease and Diabetes run in my family.  But my parents and grandparents worked active, physical jobs.  Their weight didn't begin to be an issue until they moved into more sedentary management positions.  My weight was first addressed as an issue in Middle School.

When I was 11 years old, I remember hearing that I had high cholesterol.  I wasn't an obese child.  My parents were healthy, but family history on both sides showed reason for concern.  We changed our diets, limiting eggs and beef, eating lots of fish, swapping out butter for vegetable oil and whole milk for 1%.  The dietary change was really irrelevant to me (I liked seafood and never had a taste for butter), but I became aware that I was different and possibly not quite right. That was the beginning of my weight issues.  There is no blame; I just recall that being the time period when I went from being a naive happy little kid to knowing about stuff that naive happy healthy little kids just don't know about.  And I began to struggle with my weight.

By the time I was 22, I was 100 pounds overweight.  I can't tell you when it happened.  I quite honestly only noticed it happening peripherally.  At this point, I graduated college, got my first job and felt I like I was an adult.  I have been approximately this size since then, my entire adult life.  How would my life have been different if I hadn't gained the weight?  I wasn't idly munching chips for 11 years.  I studied and loved and experienced and succeeded.  I  have succeeded at this weight.

Which brings me back around to the question.  Why 100 pounds?

I want to be healthy.  At 100 pounds above my ideal weight range, doctors look at my through an obese filter.  Many, but thankfully not all, of them can't or won't help me with problems unrelated to my weight because EVERYTHING is linked to my weight.  I spent 6 years in pain before finding the right combination of doctors to understand that the pain in my legs was treatable at my PRESENT size.  In the process of finding those doctors, gastric bypass was offered multiple times, arthritis was diagnosed without reason, and I was simply written off.  Regardless of all tests and symptoms, both of my pregnancies were considered high risk because of my weight.  I want to remove this one unhealthy characteristic of me.  Then the medical industry to be able to treat me based on my symptoms, not on my size.

The 100 is a bit of a magic number.  It is 3 digits which makes it much more impressive than 99.   Honestly, if I lose 99 pounds, will I be disappointed?  Hell no!  If I lose 100 will I just stop?  I hope not.  If I lose 100 pounds, I will be solidly within my weight range for my age.  I will have overcome the stigma of being 100 pounds overweight.  I will have proven to the world that I am not lazy.  I will have proven to myself that I can.  And for the first time I will just be an adult.  No weight-related adjectives needed.

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

PT: Day 9

Monday's workout:

6min Elliptical Warmup on level 3
Side Steps - 75in each direction
Hip Rollout and Butt Muscle Massage
Butt Muscle Stretch
Swiss Ball Bridges - 15 reps with 5 sec hold
Modified Side Plank - 15 Reps
My shoulder has been getting upset by this exercise.  Next time I'm to make sure that my shoulder blades are pulled back while I'm performing it.
Bosu Squats - 20 reps with 5 sec hold
Leg Extension - 20 reps each leg
Cage Stretch
One Legged Squat and Place - 10 cones so 20 squats per leg 
Backward Lunges - 10 reps each leg
Step back into a lunge.  Then using only the front leg stand back up again.  This works the gluts.
Kneeling Leg/Arm Extension - 10 Reps each leg
The Kneeling Leg Extension was modified this week to extend the arm forward opposite the leg being extended.  It's HARD.  And I still have to keep the bar balanced on my back.

This week's workout was hard.  For the first time in a month my knee actually hurt.  And it is continuing to hurt today.  I'm a little concerned, but I know how to take care of a hurt knee and I'll do that until Wednesday when I get to go in and figure out more.

Additionally, my coccyx is still hurting.  It is strange in that I feel it all the time now.  I suspect that some of this is my own awareness.  Apparently the Butt Muscle Massage should be helping this.  I'm not really sure yet, but I'm happy to try.  At least it did feel better for the hour or two after my PT appointment.  I'm glad to get what relief I can.

Monday, February 20, 2012

Workout 120220: Repose

Following my 5K, I needed a break so I took one.  Today I returned to the gym with:

20 min Ellpitcal workout (weight loss program)
2 min Rowing Machine
30 sec Rest
1 min Rowing Machine
Hip Abduction (2 sets of 10 reps each leg with 15 sec hold on the 10th lift)
Bridges (15 reps with 5 sec hold; 15 sec hold on the 15th lift)
5 min stretch

When you are visibly physically unfit (read obese), there is a lot of urgency placed on changing you.  What you SHOULD be doing is often offered to you regardless of your opinion or goals or situation.  Doctors do it.  Friends and Family do it.  Co-workers do it.  Even the occasional stranger waiting in line behind you at the grocery store do it.  Television and magazines all offer up ways to make the change happen faster.  The dialog is very urgent and demanding.  It's exhausting.

I worried about taking a week off from my exercise routine.  I've read that it takes 6 weeks to build a habit and 1 week to tear it down.  I've been working on this workout routine for 5 months.  I've taken a 1 week break one other time, over Thanksgiving.  Without deciding my opinion on the damage a week off would do, I took one.

And it was TOTALLY worth it.

I needed a break from goals and disappointments and plans for completing the next thing.  I finished the 5K which was emotionally and physically draining and exhilarating.  Just writing the post about completing it had me crying all over again!  I even took a break from PT on Thursday.  Having new pain spring up a couple of weeks ago in the form of an inflamed coccyx (tailbone) really messed me up more than I thought.

It is frustrating to move 2 steps forward and 1 step back over and over.  Intellectually I know it is progress, but emotionally I want to see the change NOW.  I want to prove to everyone, including myself, that I CAN DO THIS!  I am serious.  I am not just making excuses!

So I took my week.  And today I returned to the gym.  Habit unbroken.  Whew!

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

My First 5K

February 11th I completed my first 5k.  3.2 miles accomplished on a cold wet winter day.  To give you an idea how cold it was, here is a shot of me with my kids about 15 minutes before the race started.

I arrived at the park with over 500 other runners in 34 degree weather less than an hour after the precipitation stopped.  Thankfully the earth wasn't cold enough to let the snow stick to the trails.  All was clear and the race was on.  My husband and kids set themselves up on the sidelines to cheer me on.

As the start time approached I positioned myself at the back of the pack.  Each runner got a chip to track their exact start time and the moment they cross the finish time.  The chips turn out to be necessary as I wasn't able to cross the start line until 2 minutes after the starting bell.  I can only imagine what starting at the big marathons must be like.

Knowing that I was not going to jog I had already prepared myself for having the crowd thin out quickly.  I can't say I was prepared for HOW quickly it happened.  Within 5 minutes of crossing the starting line, I was the last person with about 10 or 15 people in sight in front of me.  At that point, I took stock of what I was attempting to do, said a prayer of thanks for yet another chance to get healthy, and promised myself that I would cross the finish line.

Starting out slow to warmup was my plan.  Being that it was almost freezing, no amount of warming up before the race seemed to help for long.  That worked for me and at that 5 minute mark I started to feel pretty good.  I was able to speed up a bit, pumping my arms and standing tall.  My pace held with the exception of my very very annoying shoe laces which had to be retied THREE times during the race.  Grr.

During mile 2, I had company for a bit.  The man was also participating in his first 5K.  He'd been training with the Annapolis Striders and shared a little of his motivation with me.  His mother at 67 years of age completed the her first marathon.  Can you imagine?  She definitely inspired her son and gave me hope as well.  And when the time came, he used that motivation to pick up his jog again.

By mile 3, my hip and knee on my right leg were hurting.  However I was striking the ground on that side I had irritated my leg and had to start modifying my stride.  All I could do was tell myself to keep moving and try to change up how I was walking to avoid hurting.  My physical therapist says that pain means you need to stop what you are doing.  After almost 3 miles of walking, I wasn't going to stop walking, but I could definitely adjust and see if I could make it easier.

Towards the end of mile 3, I could hear people cheering at the finish line, but I couldn't see anyone.  There was no longer anyone in my sight and I couldn't tell how close the finish line was.  I was alone.  And I started wondering if I was going to be able to finish.  My hip was throbbing and my heart was beating.  I was getting very tired.

And then this man jogged around the corner.  Up to this point I'd been passed by a lot of joggers who'd turned around and jogged home after completing this race.  This man jogged towards me, turned and jogged along side me.  He'd come back to find me to make sure that I finished.  At that moment, the tears started.  For the next 0.2 miles I wiped tears away and I tried to increase my pace.  Two more joggers came back and joined us.  I was not quitting.  I was going to finish.

And then I saw it.  I saw the finish line.  I saw my husband standing there.  My friend who'd jogged ahead of me came back to jog in with me.  There were complete strangers standing there cheering me in.  I felt supported and inspired and JOGGED the last 10 yards of the race.  I couldn't help it.  Tears streaming down my face I crossed the finish line 56 minutes 24.3 seconds after I started.  I finished the race!



PT: Day 8

Monday's PT Session:

6min Elliptical Warmup on level 3
Warmup Hip Stretches
Hip Rollout and Butt Muscle Massage
Side Steps - 60in each direction
Bosu Squats - 20 reps with 5 sec hold
One Legged Squat and Place - 10 cones now so 20 squats per leg
Leg Extension - 30 reps each leg
Cage Stretch

Though I haven't posted about it yet, I did finish my 5K.  I promise more about that later.

Following my 5K, my feet and knees were sore.  My right hip acted up during the 5K, but not afterwards.  My hamstrings were also sore.  So entering PT yesterday, I had a bit to talk about with my therapist.  Thankfully, it doesn't look like I hurt anything.  I just needed more assistance working out the knots in low under used muscles than I'd initially thought.

Something I haven't added in my PT workouts which does exist at some point is my Hip Rollout.  It's not an exercise I can do to myself as IT HURTS.  But not in the irreversible harm kind of way.  More in the this is for your own good kind of way.  It's good that I'm learning what that is.  Otherwise it would be very hard to tolerate the exercise each time I'm in PT.

To do the Hip Rollout, I lay on my side with a pillow between my knees (to protect my back).  The therapist takes a foam roller about 6 inches in diameter and 2 feet long and rolls it down the outside of my hip and leg.  She continues to add pressure using her own body weight until either it stops hurting or some amount of time has gone by.  Then I turn over and we repeat.  This exercise is supposed to help my IT band relax and alleveiate the pain in my knees.  It works!

Due to my extra sore state on Monday, she added what I can only call a Butt Muscle Massage.  Laying on my stomach, the therapist used her elbow to put pressure on various points around my butt cheek.  While she was applying the pressure, I bent the knee of the leg she was working on and moved it back and forth.  When the muscle would stop hurting below her elbow she'd move to a new spot.  This was done to both butt cheeks.  And it WORKED!!!!

Apparently part of the problem with my spasamy muscles is my inability to adequately stretch them out.  This is something I'm going to continue working on.  Of couse, I also have to get warmed up before I can stretch adequately again.  That I can do.

Friday, February 10, 2012

PT: Day 7

Thursday's workout:

6min Elliptical Warmup on level 3
Warmup Hip Stretches
Side Steps - 60in each direction
Bosu Squats - 20 reps with 5 sec hold
Leg Extension - 30 reps each leg
One Legged Squat and Place - 7 cones now so 14 squats per leg
Swiss Ball Bridges - 20 with 5 sec hold
Cage Stretch

PT was frustrating yesterday.  I guess there has to be a day every once in a while to show you how far you still have to do.  Yesterday was that day.  I went in tired and went home tired.  I didn't cry, but I wanted to.  I kind of wish that I had; it might have felt good to have a little release.  But the moment passed and I'm moving on.

Turns out I've been doing the Leg Extension and Swiss Ball Bridges incorrectly.  And I'm doing something with my right hip to compensate for my weaker left hip when I side stepping.  Grr.  My therapist will be watching me closer next week.  My progress is good, but there is still work to be done.  It's good that I'm in therapy because it is surprisingly hard to tell that you are performing a motion incorrectly.  Isolating specific muscles is also strange.  Sometimes I have to pause and think about the motion I'm trying to perform for a full 10 sec before I can make my body do it.  Very interesting.

But more on the issues.  The Leg Extension is supposed to work the glut.  Using the machine, it is supposed to isolate the glut.  I haven't been performing it correctly so I've been working the quad and hamstring and hip and back... pretty much everything but the glut.  The motion of revised yesterday and for the first time I really felt it work the muscle it's supposed to work.  But I really have a concentrate on what I am doing.  All my other muscles are there ready to compensate if I stop paying attention for a minute.  Now I have to extend my leg back to where it is almost straight and then squeeze in my butt cheek.  Hopefully since I felt it Thursday I can replicate it at Monday's appointment.

The same problem exists for the Swiss Ball Bridges.  I'm working the hamstrings to exhaustion and not the glut.  When I lift my butt up off the table, I don't have to lift as far.  the focus is on getting a squeeze in my butt and not using my hamstrings to complete the motion.  This one is actually harder than expected.  I can see why they started me with the Leg Extension.

And for side steps, my right hip is cramping, but my left hip is the weaker one.  When I do the One Legged Squat and Place I can feel the weakness of the left hip.  In that exercise the right cannot compensate.  But in the side step there is something I'm doing that puts all the work on my right side and my left doesn't even get tired.  I guess it is no wonder the right is stronger if I'm working it that much harder.  At Monday's appointment the therapist is going to watch me more closely during this exercise to determine what is going on.

For the icing on the cake, my tail bone is still hurting.  I'm not sure what to make of that.  I sit all day long and it just isn't getting anymore comfortable.  I think I'm going to have to get that checked on as well.  Might as well get it all fixed while I'm at it, right


As negative as I might sound writing about all this, I am thankful to have the opportunity to get better.  My work, husband and insurance are all contributing heavily to get me healthy.  For that I am grateful.  That grateful feeling just doesn't make PT suck less.  But I'm going to stop complaining now and get on with the day.  Tomorrow is my first 5K and I think to mark the occasion I might just have to put some pictures up here. 

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Thoughts on Walking a 5K

I am 3 days from my 5K.  One of the women at work will be running it ahead of me (because I'm not running it) and told me no matter what to enjoy the experience.  "You will never have a first 5K again."

*shudder*

While the statement was meant to be supportive and encouraging, it really brought up a lot of apprehension for me.  I am walking into my first 5K under doctor's orders not to run.  While I set my goal at finishing a 5K and not dying, there is a competitive part of me that wants to do well in completing this goal.  Somewhere in my mind, I am an Olympic class athlete and I'll show up unknown to the 5K only to blow away the competition and take first place.


Not going to happen.


I know this.  It's not news, but it is a little hard to swallow.  My goal is to FINISH A 5K.  I will do that.  I just need to not beat myself up for quite possibly finishing it in last place.  That's the hard pill to swallow.  By not running, jogging or otherwise speeding to the finish, I may be the person to finish LAST.  Everyone will be there standing at the end waiting for the slow poke to finally get across the line.  My husband. My daughters. The other 499 registered runners.



Wow.  Check out my negative thinking.


My hope going into this is that there are a couple of others who will be walking.  That way I will have company at the back of the pack.  Additionally, my coworker has said that she is going to comeback and find me after she finishes and finish the race with me (she runs marathons, so this is completely within her range of ability).  That is very kind of her and not an offer I will refuse at this point.

I must remind myself that 3 months ago when I decided to do this, I couldn't walk a 5K.  I knew I couldn't do it.  My progress is fantastic.  My outlook is improving.  My pride just needs a little adjustment right now.

Workout 120208: Guilty Pleasures

This morning's workout is brought to you by LMAFO:

Hip Warmup Stretch
35 min Arc Trainer workout (level 2 - interval)
5 min Treadmill Cooldown
5 min stretch

Yup.  You read that right.  I'm sexy and I know it!  :)

I don't know what it is about cheesy workout music, but it has my smiling ear to ear while sweating buckets on my gerbil machine hours before sane people are actually awake.  I've been listening to the Pop Fitness station on Pandora and truly enjoying it.  The music does not hold up to my normal standards, but it really gets me going when I'm working out in the morning.  I even tried listening to the station in my car ont he way to work and I would rank it somewhere between abysmal and epic fail in that setting.

This workout took about an hour all said and done.  I'm now debating about doing 35 minutes on one machine.  I may mix it up adding some rowing into the mix next workout.  We'll see.

PT: Day 6

Tuesday's workout:

6min Elliptical Warmup on level 2
Warmup Hip Stretches
Kneeling Leg Extension w/ Bent Knee - 10 reps each leg
The kneeling leg extension was modified to do it with the knee of the leg being lifted bent.  Having the knee bent makes the glut work harder if I understood the explanation correctly.  These were a little harder, but still more manageable than I expected.  
Side Steps - 60in each direction
Bosu Squats - 20 reps with 5 sec hold
Leg Extension - 20 reps each leg
Swiss Ball Bridges - 10 with 5 sec hold
One Legged Squat and Place
Side-lying Abduction on Swiss Ball - 10 reps
Cage Stretch
Modified Side Plank - 10 Reps

In preparation for my reevaluation on Thursday (I'm assuming), I had some preliminary strength tests and filled out an activity evaluation form.  The strength tests showed that I am making definite progress.  Where I was unable to hold my leg up at all using the abductor muscles before, I can lift the leg and keep it there with some resistance added!  That feels huge to me and the therapist seemed happy about it as well.  I also noticed that I'm rating a lot of things as easier on the activity chart that I was a month ago.

I'm hopeful that I will be on my own in a couple more weeks.  Hopeful and more than a little nervous. I love that I've made progress; now I just have to continue the progress on my own.  The last thing I want to do is end up in PT again having regressed after all the work we've put in and things I've learned.  My gym routine is pretty stable now so this is doable.  Much more so than when I exited PT 3 years ago.

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Workout 120206: Morning Rush

My sleep has been spotty for a few days.  Combine that with some luxurious Supwerbowl viewing and Monday morning came all too early.  Here's Monday's workout:

Hip Warmup Stretch
20 min Arc Trainer workout (level 2 - weight loss)
3 min Treadmill Cooldown
Side-lying Hip Abduction (10 reps 2 sets each leg)
Bridges (10 reps with 5 sec hold)
5 min stretch

I headed to the showers to get ready for work and realized that I'd forgotten my towels.  *sigh*  I headed back out to my car and home to get showered and changed there.  The downside was my 1.5 hours tardiness arriving to work.  The upside?  My gym bag is already packed for Wednesday morning!  I definitely need to have my bag packed and double checked the night before.  I don't have the option of being late to work that often.

Monday's workout felt good.  My heart rate stayed pretty stable.  My stretches are progressing.  The lump in my IT band seems to be shrinking.  All good things.  After last week's strong start and crawling finish (well - the waking finish on Friday was excellent, but my goal was to workout more than I did), I'm planning 3 days in the gym this week and 2 PT days.  I still want to do more than that, but life is a little in the way right now.  Five days is still excellent; no need to beat myself up over the 6th.


PT: Day 5

Friday was a good day leading into a great weekend.  Here's my PT regimen:

6min Elliptical Warmup on level 2
Warmup Hip Stretches
Wall Ball Abduction - 20 reps each leg
Side Steps - 75 in each direction
Cage Stretch
Bosu Squats - 20 reps with 5 sec hold
Leg Extension - 20 reps each legModified Side Plank - 10 Reps
One Legged Squat and Place
Kneeling Leg Extension - 10 reps each leg
This was a new exercise.  I kneel like in the table pose.  The therapist puts a light bar on my back similar to a broom handle.  Then I extend my leg back and up without letting the bar roll around.  The exercise itself wasn't terribly hard, but it did take my a few moments to tell my body what to do. 
Side-lying Abduction on Swiss Ball - 10 reps

So I realized that I'd totally forgotten to put my ellpitical warmup before my PT exercises.  I've done this everyday since day one.  The point of it is just to get the blood pumping and body warmed up for the more strenuous warmup ahead.

Heading home from PT, the sun was shining and I was feeling pretty good.  So good in fact that I decided to ditch the van at my house and walk over to day care to pick up my girls.  With my 5K planned for this coming Saturday, 2 miles did not seem like something I should shy away from on a nice day.  I unloaded the stroller my the van and headed on my way and...

60 minutes walking with stroller (25 mins with 25 pounds in the sroller; 5 mins with 60 pounds n the stroller)
5 minute stretch

It was wonderful!  I felt good.  My shoulders ached a little the next day, but that won't be a problem during my 5K as I'm not going to be pushing a stroller.  My girls enjoyed the fresh air and we even got to pickup some stuff along the way (gum balls, pine cones, a big stick).  I also now know that my 3 year old can run for about 15 straight minutes with only slight pauses before she is DONE.  It was very cute and I am extremely thankful I had the stroller with me.  I look forward to being able to run along side her in the very near future.

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

One Pound Down.

My February weight is 239 pounds.

I would love for it to be lower.  Instant gratification is a wonderful thing when you can get it.  However, I'm definitely not disheartened by that number.  I take it to mean that I'm headed in the right direction and still learning.  Also, one pound is one pound.  I'm going to have to lose this weight the same way I gained it - one pound at a time.  It's kind of symbolic.

Besides the number, I'm working out in the gym or PT 5 times each week.  I'm trying to get that up to 6 times (2 PT days, 4 gym days - they may overlap) this month.  I've gone from 25-30 min cardio workouts to 35 minutes.  I've increased my level on the Arc Trainer from level 1 to 2.  Waking up at 5am is definitely getting easier.  I even woke up this morning before my alarm went off.  That has happened more than once without my children's intervention in January.

Where I'm going with all that is that I'm making changes in my life.  They seem to be sticking.  And all indicators point to them being the right changes.  I still feel the need to defend the number and obsess over it a little.  I'm not sure that that will ever go away.  So I'm going to give myself a bit of a pep talk and move on.  We'll see what next month brings.

Workout 120201: 5 more minutes

Today's workout:

Hip Warmup Stretch
35 min Arc Trainer workout (level 2 - interval)
3 min Treadmill Cooldown
Side-lying Hip Abduction (10 reps 2 sets each leg)
Bridges (10 reps with 5 sec hold)
5 min stretch

I made it FIVE more minutes on the Arc Trainer today than I did yesterday!  I'm feeling pretty good, but was definitely jelly legged at the end.  However, no knee pain and I definitely got a good workout in.  I don't know if the electronic reports on the machines are accurate or not, but mine said I went a mile and burnt 400+ calories.  I'll take it.  *grin*

I'm also finding that it takes me getting off the Arc Trainer to start cooling down and lowering my heart rate.  Even then, walking at 1.5 mph on the treadmill, my heart rate stays up around 120 bpm until I get into my stretches.  Tomorrow I'm going to warmup on the treadmill and see what my heart rate does.  I'd like it to get back into normal range a little faster, but I don't actually know if that is normal or not.  More research needed!

Also, I think the time has come for me to decide what I want my cardio workout to be.  I'm still progressing, but I'm not going to have time to workout infinitely at the gym even if my body will allow it.  More thought will be going into that one.  Suggestions?