Monday, September 14, 2015

Week in Review: 9/7/15 ~ 9/13/15

Monday
Evening Walk with the fur babies

Tuesday
Rest Day

Wednesday
90 min Bikram Yoga

Thursday
90 min Bikram Yoga

Friday
Walk with the fur babies

Saturday
Walk with the fur babies

Sunday
Rest Day

Sunday, September 13, 2015

Weight Loss Goal #2 -----> Success!

My second weight loss goal was to lose 10 lbs, and I'm so excited that I did it!

Thank You, South Beach!

I wasn't sure how long it would take me to reach this milestone, and I'm happy that it didn't take me as long as I expected.  When you hear someone talking about how much your metabolism slows down as you get older, believe them.  Seriously.

I have to work so hard these days to lose just a single pound.  Years ago I could drop a few pounds just by thinking about it.  But my trusty South Beach Diet hasn't let me down yet.  It's crazy how well I respond to it, which I supposed just goes to show that I really need to stay true to my no sugar eating habits.

My body and sugar are so not friends!

For my next goal, I'm going to concentrate on fitting back into a pair of jeans that I wore 6 years ago for some photos.  I was so depressed when I had to buy the jeans because I had gained weight and couldn't fit into any of the ones in my closet.  Six years later I'm working towards being able to fit back into them.  It's depressing how much I've let myself go the past 5 years.  I'm thrilled to finally be in a place where I can concentrate on making these changes for myself.  I'm not sure how much weight I'll need to lose to fit into the jeans, but my guess is 3-5 lbs.

Saturday, September 12, 2015

Double Digits Are Coming!

I've been watching our weather forecast like a hawk the past month, waiting for a break in our insane temperatures, and I'm excited to see that double digit temps are finally on their way!  This is definitely a new experience for me, as I really don't mind the Arizona summers all that much, but even I can admit that they are too hot to run in.

So, here's to cooler temps and attempted runs soon!


Thursday, September 10, 2015

Feeling Frustrated

Bikram Yoga is hard.  I know it, and expect it.  So, when I fall out of a pose due to poor balance or can't hold a pose the entire time due to muscle weakness, it might irritate me that my fitness level isn't what I want it to be but it doesn't specifically frustrate me.

What frustrates me is not being able to give the class my all due to external factors, and that has been the case the past two classes.  I don't know what is causing it but I've been finding myself struggling with the heat recently, and I've had to sit down several times because I'm feeling dizzy.  As a result, I'm not working as hard as I would like to be during the classes and I'm feeling very frustrated over it.

I need to figure out what is causing it and try to rectify it!  I did a little reading and found something that suggested it could be a sign of dehydration.  That would make sense because I did drink less water before the last few classes.  I'm going to make sure I get my 8 glasses of water in before class and see if it helps.  I keep half expecting to get sick, as that has always been the case in the past with my running.  I'd have several sucky runs in a row and then I'd end up getting sick a few days later.

Regardless, this seriously needs to stop!

Monday, September 7, 2015

Week In Review: 8/31/15 ~ 9/6/15

I'm still ironing out what I might want to include in my weekly exercise/health log, but until I figure it out I at least wanted to record my exercise for the week. Although, in doing so I realized I was a bit of the slacker.

Monday
Rest Day

Tuesday
Evening Walk with the fur babies

Wednesday
90 min Bikram Yoga

Thursday
Rest Day

Friday
60 min Bikram Yoga

Saturday
Rest Day

Sunday
90 min Bikram Yoga

Tuesday, September 1, 2015

Adios, August

It's hard to believe that September is here once again, and with it another birthday is right around the corner for me.  September has always felt like a time of new beginnings with back to school and my birthday falling so close together.  I always loved back to school time, with new school supplies and a new wardrobe and the promise of new things for the coming year.  And of course, my birthday always brought with it the same feeling of promise of good things to come for my next year.

Although I'm no longer in school, and haven't been for several years, I still find myself looking at this time of year as the time to set off on a new path and attempt to make some good changes in my life.  This year those changes are centered around my health and well being with this attempted return to running.  So, with that in mind, let's look back at August's goals and look ahead at what I have in mind for September.

First August...

My first goal was to drink eight glasses of water per day, and for the most part I succeeded.  I missed a few days during the month, but I tried not to let the slip ups derail me from my over all goal.  I don't know that I feel any different for the efforts, but I know it's important to be properly hydrated for running (and Bikram Yoga!) so I'm going to keep up my water drinking.

My next goal was to lose a few pounds, and I started off the month doing great but quickly fizzled out.  I gained back a few more of the pounds that I lost at the beginning of the month, but still ended the month 3 lbs less than I started it.  Not great, but any loss is good in my book.  So I end the month thankful for where I am, and refocus my attention and efforts so I can report another loss at the end of this month.

My third goal was to start building a community of online runners, and I'm still slowly working on that, as well.  I'm still diligently reading other's blogs and trying to find some runners who I feel like I 'click' with.  I haven't done much reaching out yet, as it seems silly to be connecting when I haven't really been running yet.

My final goal was to beginning running a few days a week.  I didn't run as much as I thought I would - mainly because of our temperatures.  I don't have access to any place to run inside and I wasn't realistic about just how hot it would be attempting to run in our triple digit temperatures.  But the temps are slowly dropping, so September should bring a few more days of attempted runs.

Now September...

I said I was going to reevaluate where I was after a month and decide if I was going to continue with my return to running.  I haven't done enough running to determine if my old aches and pains are going to allow me to resume running, but I do know that this past month has been good for me and I feel better than I have in a long time.  I'm slowly noticing changes in my body's abilities while walking and at yoga, and it feels good to be pushing my limits and feeling myself grow.  It also feels good to be concentrating my attention on my health again for the first time in several years.  So, regardless of if I end up running or not, for now I'm definitely going to continue on this journey.

I don't have any new goals for September in mind.  I really just want to continue with my efforts toward the goals I set in August.  The only thing I want to do differently is to figure out a better way to check in with how I am doing.  Right now I have several different apps and papers tracking my progress with different goals, and I'd like to combine everything into a single record on my blog.

And with that, all I can say is Bring on September!