Monday, February 27, 2006

Sometimes, rest is all you need....

Saturday's Workout (from home):
LBWO: lunges (8, 10, 12, 15, 10 lbs dumbells), rear lunges (10 lbs dumbells), squats (8, 10, 12, 15, 10 lbs dumbells), single leg split squats (10 lbs.), single leg raises (12x8lbs, 12x10, 12x12, 12x15), plie squats (3 sets x 12 reps x 15 lbs)
STRETCH

Sunday
REST

Today's Workout:
LEG STRETCHES
WARM-UP: Walking on the treadmill 5 minutes
LEG STRETCHES
CARDIO: 20 minutes HIIT RUNNING on the treadmill + 1 minute running to get 2 miles total.
COOL-DOWN: Walking on the treadmill 4 minutes
LEG STRETCHES
ABS: 50 crunches, medicine ball exercises, pilates exercises, back exercises

YES YES YES!!!!

I am back to running!!! I am really excited about it. I took it easy so no 2 miles in 20 minutes today. I got about 1.87 miles in 20 minutes, but I kept running up to 21 minutes to get 2 miles. So far, my knees are holding up :).

The bad news is the right palm now hurts. I think it's a carryover from all that snow shoveling 3 weekends ago. It was sore for a while and I ignored it. Now it really hurts when I put pressure on it, like when I open a bottle. Surprisingly, it doesn't hurt when I hold the dumbells. The funny thing is I bought a bottle of shelled pistachios yesterday. Well, I wanted to eat it last night but I couldn't because I couldn't open the bottle (LOL!!!). So inspite of the annoying pain, I guess there is something good that comes out of it. I took some ibuprofen an hour ago and hoping it kicks in soon.

Gotta go and study some more! Later!

Friday, February 24, 2006

Double Whammie!!!

I was lazy again yesterday and didn't work out. My heart just wasn't into it and I just didn't have the energy.

Anyways, I made it up today by doing HIIT and UBWO.

CARDIO: 20 minutes HIIT on the elliptical
UBWO
ABS: Abs Bootcamp

I was feeling lackluster prior to working out. But once I got into it, I felt energized. Hopefully, this will motivate me to continue working out this weekend. I really need to re-focus for next week. I just realized that I'm into week 8 of my current BFL challenge and I really want to finish well.

And while nearing the home stretch, I need to figure out what to do after this challenge. I am getting bored with the BFL weight lifting routine. I want to change it somehow, but I don't know what else is out there. I guess I have to do some research and figure things out.

Other than working out and cleaning the house, this weekend is going to be spent studying. I have an exam on Wednesday and I'm behind with my lectures. Wish me luck!

Have a great weekend everyone!

Wednesday, February 22, 2006

The Lazy Bug

My long President's Day weekend turned out to be 3 whole days of no workout. Both Saturday & Monday (Sunday was free day), I just couldn't bring myself to go to the gym, even the one that resides in my basement.

Oh well! Time to get over it and move on....

Workout yesterday consisted of 20 minutes HIIT + 10 minutes MISS on the elliptical, stretching, & abs (ball & dumbells).

Workout today consisted of 20 minutes HIIT on the recumbent bike, 10 minutes MISS on the arc trainer, stretching, and abs (knee ups). If I'm up to it, I might do LBWO tonight in my basement.

I'm just not into working out this week. Don't know what's up with me. I think it has something to do with the fact that I haven't been running this week to give my knees a break. My left knee is still feeling funky from shoveling tons of snow 2 weekends ago. I miss running and feeling that runner's high. I can't wait till this weekend so that I can plan & re-focus for next week.

The good news is my eating has been pretty good for the most part and my water intake has been spectacular, judging by the amount of time I spend in the bathroom (LOL).

My friend from work said the nicest thing to me today. She was walking behind me this morning and didn't realize it was me. She noticed me and thought that I looked skinny, particularly my legs (my big problem area!). She couldn't believe it was me! Of course, it could have something to do with the jeans I was wearing, but I was so happy to hear that regardless! I'm overly critical of myself so I notice it. But I guess my workout is finally paying off in terms of losing fat in the legs. I still have ways to go, but any progress is good news.

Gotta run and get that LBWO done!

Friday, February 17, 2006

Quickie...

Nothing much to say today except I did cardio HIIT & abs this morning. HIIT was done on the elliptical machine, followed by 10 minutes MISS on the stairmaster. Abs consisted mostly of medicine ball exercises and pilates.

Meals were good - not perfect, but I'm still happy with it. Water intake was much much better. I haven't been paying attention as to how much I consumed, but I made sure I always had water handy throughout the day.

Best of all, its FRIDAY!!!! TGIF!!! Also, it's a long weekend for me because of President's Day on Monday. Yippeee! Might do some shopping this weekend to take advantage of the sales.

Oh, and here's a blog filler....

Your Stripper Song Is

Dirrty by Christina Aguelera

"Too dirrty to clean my act up
If you ain't dirrty
You ain't here to party"

You're so dirty, you make Christina look clean.

Thursday, February 16, 2006

You know you had a good LBWO when....

...your butt is sore (LOL!)

That's exactly how I feel right now so I'm really psyched. LBWO today consisted primarily of lunges & squats with dumbells. I also did 3 sets x 12 reps of the hip abduction & adduction. I then walked on the treadmill for 30 minutes on a high incline. My LBWO totally wiped me out that I had no energy to run. Overall it was a good day workout-wise.

I was reading some blogs today and came across a couple great articles by Skwigg. Definitely must reads for BFLers.

The Body for Life Anti-Challenge
Body for Life for Cheaters and Binge Eaters

Wednesday, February 15, 2006

Gallstones??????

I got my ultrasound result and it came back normal. The good news is that there's nothing seriously wrong with me. The bad news is I'm still clueless as to what the hell that 4 days of agonizing pain for?

I still think it's gallstones. I had all the symptoms - excruciating pain in the upper abdomen, pain comes in waves and travels all over, nausea, low-grade fever etc. Plus, this is the third time it happened. The first time was in December 2003 and the second time was last year around April. Both times happened while it was my TOM so I attributed it to just really bad cramps. But now that I think of it, all three episodes had similar symptoms and the feelings were the same.

Here's another thing...for the recent incident, the first onset of pain happened 2 Saturdays ago at night and it lasted until Wednesday. By the time I woke up Wednesday morning after my night in the emergency room, the pain was gone except for some soreness. The earliest appointment I could get for an ultrasound was Friday morning. Well, that's 2 whole days pain-free already! I'm sure by that time, the gallstones have passed through my system already. I have to call my doctor and schedule a follow-up appointment and see if she has other theories.

I did some research on this and it appears that typically, it's common among obese people, particularly those that have experienced fast weight lost. It could also run in the family. I'm not obese and never has been, but according to my mom (much to my surprise), there are people in her side of the family that have this condition. And apparently, it comes & goes and is often triggered by eating fatty meals. I was at my parents house that Saturday and eating extremely fatty food, so that was probably what triggered it.

There are some things one can do to avoid an incident (although not guaranteed):

- Avoid food with high fat content
- Increase fiber intake
- Plenty of water
- Caffeine
- Exercise

Basically, gallstones are a mixture of bile from the liver & cholesterol, so it's obvious that the items above would help. I'm doing most of it already, but I guess I have to be more diligent, especially with the fatty food & water. I have to admit, I'm not too good with water intake. I sometimes get caught up with work that I forget to drink my water except during meals and workout. Also, I'm thinking of doing some fiber therapy such as Metamucil or Citrucel. It couldn't hurt. And how about this for extra motivation to avoid fatty food? ;)

One thing though, next time this happens, I'm not even going to think twice. I'm going straight to the emergency room and this sucker's coming out!

I went back to working out the BFL way this week. Finally! It's like coming home!!! However, all the shoveling I did last Sunday messed me up BIG TIME!!! My whole body was sore! My siatic nerves (both sides) were acting up. My left side was actually shooting some tingling sensation to my knee! Not too bad, but I stretched the hell out of it just so it doesn't get worst. My left knee was a little bit sore. And I could go on and on....

My running has been compromised. I think the combination of last week's abdominal pain, topped off by the snow shoveling this Sunday just took a toll on my body. Monday for my running HIIT, I could only do up to 15 minutes before I gota stitch on my right side (around where the gallbladder is - ANOTHER SIGN!!!). I guess you could say, that was when I felt my 10 (LOL). I had to slow down to walking on an incline. However, I did a total of 30 minutes of cardio, mostly just due to sheer will.

Yesterday, I did UBWO, which wasn't too bad. For my cardio, I walked 5 minutes, then ran 20 minutes at 5.2 mph max! That's pretty pathetic considering I normally go 5.7 - 6.0 mph steady state. I had to stop running coz I started feeling some sensations on my left knee. I cooled down 5 minutes at the end. Basically, no 3-milers for me yesterday :(

Today, I was able to do a full 20 minutes HIIT on the elliptical before I started feeling a stitch on my right side (guess where!!!). I then did moderate steady-state intensity for 10 minutes. I also did some abs, which is the first time this week.

I'm going to continue working out this week. I'm going to take it easy and hope I last until Saturday. I have to remember to WALK for my extra cardio session and not run. I get over-exuberant when it comes to running. Anyways, once I get through to Saturday, I plan to do absolutely NOTHING on Sunday to give my body a much needed break. Hope it doesn't snow....

Sunday, February 12, 2006

SNOW!!!

And we got A LOT of it. It was predicted to be 8-12", but I swear it was more like 2 feet. I started shoveling at 9:30am and didn't get in until 1:45pm. Thank God my neighbors helped me out once they were done with their driveway, or I would have been out there until night time.

I feel like I more than made up for the 5 days of missed workout this week! My whole body is sore! I've been stretching all day just so I don't stiffen up. But, the best part is no abdominal pains! I think I'm going back to running tomorrow. I figured if today's activities didn't trigger any attack, then running shouldn't also. I might take it easy in the beginning and build up the intensity as I go along.

One thing though that annoys me with winter storms is the television reporters, especially the weather people. I swear, they're almost orgasmic in their joy! I'm dreading all the snow shoveling and they're all in glee. It's really aggravating.

Gotta go and get some sleep. Till' tomorrow...

Saturday, February 11, 2006

Fighter

I finally figured out how to put a video on the sidebar. Yay! It's been driving me crazy for weeks now! Actually, I have to thank the other BFL bloggers who posted the instructions in Godessa's blog :)

"Fighter" by Christina Aguilera is my favorite workout music. I make sure it plays in my iPOD as I'm getting into level 10 of my 20-minutes HIIT. It never fails to push me through.

Speaking of iPOD music, I just found out that Evanescence is finally recording for their upcoming album. I am sooo excited. I love them! I play their CD "Fallen" all the time, particularly in my car while driving or during LBWO & UBWO. I cannot wait to hear their new stuff. I hope it's as good as their last album.

Well today, I started easing my body into working out again. My stomach has been pain-free now for 3 days. There are some minor twinges here & there, but it is more of an annoyance than actual pain. So my workout today consists of housework, particularly laundry. The bedrooms are on the 2nd floor and the laundry room is in the basement and top that off with doing 5 loads of laundry, and you have some pretty serious stair climbing going on. I also did a lot of modified push-ups all throughout the day when I got the chance. Plus, I did Leslie Sansone's Walk Away the Pound 3 miles video. I feel really good. I think I can do more, but I don't want to shock my body after the stress of this week.

It started snowing early this afternoon and it's supposed to last until tomorrow morning. It's predicted that we'll be getting 6" - 12" of snow. So tomorrow, I'm getting some upper-body workout & maybe some cardio from shoveling a 3 car length driveway.

And here's my blog filler for the day. And wouldn't you know!


You Are Amy Lee!

Gothy, expressive, woman-in-pain
Who looks damn good in a corset
"When you cried I'd wipe away all of your tears
When you'd scream I'd fight away all of your fears"

Thursday, February 09, 2006

Saturday workout & stomach pains

Well, I haven't worked out since Saturday. Workout went like this:

LWBO: quad, hams, calves - BFL style; hip adductor 3X12; hip abductor machine 3X12
CARDIO: 30 minutes brisk walking on an incline (treadmill)
STRETCHING

Workout was great and went downhill from there.

Saturday night, I experienced intense abdominal pain w/ nausea, cold sweats, feverish, etc. It calmed down a bit later on, but there were still a lot of pain. I thought that it was just a bad case of stomach flu, but Sunday comes and then Monday, and the pain was still there. It literally hurt to even just walk. I was at my parents house and didn't get home until Monday, so the earliest appointment I could get with my PCP was Tuesday afternoon.

My doctor examined me and thinks its gall stones. She recommended that I get an ultrasound as soon as possible. Unfortunately, by the time I left the doctor's office, the ultrasound place was closed. Anyways, that night the pain intensified and I had to go to the emergency room. The ER doctor also think it's gall stones, and maybe esophageal inflammation, and treated me for the symptoms, but reiterated my need to get an ultrasound.

So tomorrow is my ultrasound. I am praying that it's nothing serious.

Needless to say, this BFL challenge is a wash for me. Although I feel better now, I'm afraid to do anything strenuous in case it flares up again. The good thing is since my stomach is pretty sensitive, I haven't really been eating much. Unfortunately, I haven't been eating BFL and most of the food I'm eating is carb heavy, just because it's all I can handle right now.

I'm kind of pissed that I can't work out right now. I am pissed that all the progress I have made, especially with running, are going to waste. I am pissed that inspite of a healthy lifestyle, I still have to go through this. But I do know that things happen and that I have to get this medical issue resolved first. Hopefully, I will be back with BFL soon.

Friday, February 03, 2006

Nothing much today

This morning was a bust. I just couldn't get out of bed early enough. But, I did make it to the gym after lunch:

CARDIO: 20 minutes HIIT + 10 minutes MISS on the recumbent bike
STRETCHING
ABS: regular crunches, exercises using 2kg medicine ball, pilates based exercises for abs, knee-ups, back extensios with 5lbs plates

In addition, when I got home, I did some beginner's yoga following some video program. So other than not making it in the morning, workout was still great.

I just have to say, the stationary bikes (both the recumbents and the uprights) at the gym suck big time. I don't know what it is, but no matter how much I pedal, how hard I work, & how much I felt like I was going to die, the carlorie readers still read low. And the seats are so uncomfortable. I really miss spinning.

Meals are so-so. I'm not even listing it here since there were some cheating involved. Someone from work put some left-over food from a meeting in the kitchen. So I indulged in some carrot cake, walnuts, & cheese. Surprisingly, I don't feel too guilty about it - that carrot cake was really good. Can I count that as vegetables? (LOL!)

I just realized that week 5 of this challenge is winding down and next week will be week 6! How fast time goes! We're almost half-way done with the challenge! YAY!

Idiot at the gym

And boy, this was a REAL idiot. I don't know what is up with me. Either I'm super observant & sensitive, or I'm just lucky enough to run into odd characters at the gym. Anyways, there was a guy at the gym today doing his workout in his work clothes - button-down long sleeves shirt & khakis. I was kind of annoyed coz he had his jacket hanging on the back extension machine, which I wanted to use, while he was doing weights - heavy weights, mind you. I was polite and kindly asked him to remove his jacket. Thankfully, he was okay with it. But it just struck me as odd. He's either clueless or he's just not capable of sweating. Like I said, he was lifting heavy & it was unusually hot today (63F in February - totally unheard of!). Oh well! To each his own!

Thursday, February 02, 2006

Idiot at the Gym...

...This time it was me.

I left my gloves at home so throughout my UBWO, I was holding a pair of hand towels. I needed them because I'm starting to develop some caluses which are sometimes painful when pinched. I must have looked funny (LOL!). Thank goodness the gym wasn't packed this morning, so for the most part, it was just me and one other person in the weight lifting area. For some reason today, everybody congregated to the treadmills.

Today's workout went really well. UBWO went like this:

Lat Pulldown Machine (wide grip)
12x50lbs
10x55lbs
8x60lbs
6x80lbs
12x60lbs

Lat Pulldown Machine (close grip)
12x60lbs

Chest Press Machine (wide grip)
12x35lbs
10x40lbs
8x45lbs
6x55lbs
12x40lbs

Chest Press Machine (close grip)
12x35lbs

Tricep Pull-down w/ V-bar
12x40lbs
10x45lbs
8x50lbs
6x60lbs
12x50lbs

Bench Dip
12 very slow reps

Angled Dumbell Bicep Curl (very slow)
12x5lbs
10x8lbs
8x10lbs
6x12lbs
12x10lbs

Hammer Curl w/ dumbells (very slow)
12x10lbs

Shoulder press w/ dumbells
12x8lbs
10x10lbs
8x12lbs
6x15lbs
12x10lbs

Lateral Raise w/ dumbells
12x10lbs

It's weak compared to what other's can do, but it's good enough to hit my 10's.

UBWO was followed by stretching, then running on the treadmill for 27 minutes:

00:00-03:00 - 3.8 mph walking warm-up
03:00-05:00 - 5.0 mph running
05:00-15:00 - 5.5-5.7 mph running
15:00-25:00 - 6.0-6.1 mph running
25:00-27:00 - 3.8 mph walking cool-down
TOTAL MILES = ~2.4 miles

I wanted to run a full 3 miles, but I ran out of time :(

Meals are getting better:

Coffee
M1: BFL RTD shake
M2: Grilled Chicken Ceasar Salad on a pita bread w/ dressing on the side
Coffee
M3: apple, string cheese
M4: EFL Hot Stuff Chilli
M5: EFL vanilla mouse (plan - unless I fall asleep)

Tomorrow is cardio - hopefully, spinning if I wake up early enough. If not, then it's the stinky stationary bike :(

Wednesday, February 01, 2006

Size 2 Jeans and Car Trouble

Could it be?

So I put on my jeans this morning as I was getting ready for work, and wouldn't you know, it's practically falling off of me. These jeans are size 4 Drew jeans by Limited, and it's straight, bootcut. I don't know if the jeans just got stretched or what, but it's definitely loose. I can actually put my arm through it while wearing it. So I'm thinking for this weekend, I might make a trip to the mall and try out size 2 jeans. Not necessarily to buy, but just to check. I'm funny with jeans size. For regular pants, I'm a size 2, but for jeans, I can put on and zip into most size 2's but I feel like a sausage with all the fat being squeezed out, hence, I've been buying size 4 jeans. But if I can my lazy butt to the mall this weekend, I would be able to find out if this is still the case.

After this morning's revelation with jeans, I was pumped at the gym.

Workout

CARDIO: 20 minutes HIIT + 10 minutes MISS (moderate intensity steady-state) backwards on the elliptical - ~405 calories burned.
STRETCHING
ABS: ball crunches with dumbells (BFL style), leg raise, knee raise, side crunches on the ball, pilates back exercises

Meals

Coffee
M1: BFL RTD shake
M2: Turkey & mushroom meatloaf, lima beans, sauteed yellow zucchini & butternut squash (I know, too much carb. I ended up eating in the cafeteria w/ a friend & this was the only good thing they had!)
M3: apple, string cheese
M4: BFL RTD shake
M5: EFL Hot Stuff Chili

Meals are not perfect, but better than the past 2 days.

Car Trouble

After work today, I decided to stop by the gas station to fill up my car. After filling, I started the car, and NOTHING. My radio turned on, but the engine wouldn't start. So the first thought in my mind was "Oh S**T! I need a new car!" My car has TONS of mileage already. Granted, it's a Honda and it has never given me any problems before, but I thought my luck has ran out at that point. So I called AAA to get my car towed.

Meanwhile, while waiting I started worrying how I'm going to pay for a new car. But for some reason, I was calm about it. And I could have sworn I felt God telling me "Don't worry. Everything is going to be alright." Wierd, huh?

So I started thinking coming up with all these possible plans of how I would be able to manage.

I could sell some of my stocks so I have money to put as down payment. I think I have some money in my savings account that I can use. I could get a home equity loan. I need to start shopping around for the best interest rates. I guess the planned new refrigerator purchase and new kitchen floors will just have to be delayed. ETC.....

In the middle of this whole mind dialogue, I managed to get meal 4 in :).

Anyways, 45 minutes after calling AAA, the tow truck came. The guy had me pop the hood open, he attached some kind of jumper, and had me start the car. He said "We'll have your car started in no time". Of course, I didn't believe him. Anyways, the car started!!! I guess God and the tow truck guy were right!

I was so happy! The tow truck guy told me all I had to do was go to my mechanic and have the car starter cleaned out as it has a lot of corossion. He also said that in the meantime, I can pour a can of Pepsi on it and it will eat some of the corrosion. How crazy is that?

So the good news is that I don't need a new car in the near future yet (fingers crossed!!!). I know, it's wierd. Most people would LOVE to get a new car. Not me though. If I have money to spare that I could buy one at full payment, then definitely. Unfortunately, I haven't found my future millionaire husband yet ;). First, I hate dealing with car salespeople. Based on my limited experience, I'm always under the impression that they're trying to pull a fast one on me. Second, I hate any kind of loans (except for mortgage). I'm the type of person that pays of her credit cards in full each month. So absolutely no loans if I can help it!

The bad news is NO MORE SODA. What the heck is in those? If it can do that to corrosion, imagine what it can do to your digestive system!. Come to think of it, who needs Colonix? Maybe drinking soda will be enough to disintegrate those colon plaque.