Presentation update

Got my presentation done this morning! It went okay. Actually, it went well but I made a different assumption than what the professor intended. He needs to write his descriptions more clearly!

We basically have to pick one from different hypothetical scenarios and recommend the best regulatory pathway. Mine is our company has a medical device that's already used by the military, but we want to make it available to the "general consumers". So that's exactly what I did. Except we kind of crossed paths with the term "general consumers". I interpreted it as make it it available for the hospitals, clinics, laboratories, etc. so the public, as in the general consumers, have access to it. His interpretation is that it's over-the-counter, meaning you can get it off the shelf at say Rite Aid. The kind of device we are talking about is not something one would expect to be OTC.

So basically, he said the presentation was good and my conclusion was correct based on my interpretation. But, he wants me to write my paper as if the medical device is OTC. For someone who is supposed to be a regulatory expert used to dealing with the FDA, my professor needs to work on using the appropriate language so it's specific. FDA regulations are very vague and are subject to interpretation to begin with. It's so annoying! I now have to do more work on the paper (I thought I was almost done!) and submit it by the end of the week.

Oh! The funny thing was I printed out some notes for my presentation. Turned out the last 2 pages did not print because my printer ran out of paper. I didn't realize it until during my presentation, LOL! Luckily, I had the file open on my desktop so I quickly looked at the slides and winged it! He also asked me this really difficult question which threw me off the loop. It took me awhile but I got it! Not as smoothly as I would have preferred, but I'm happy with it!

Workouts...I had to double up today. Did 20 minutes of HIIT on the eliptical (314 calories burned) + UBWO + abs. I varied my UBWO slightly today by doing 2 different exercise per body part and 3 supersets each. I also increased the weights & decreased the reps as I moved from one superset to the next. The exercises were the same as the last 4 weeks though. I didn't have time to come up with something new this weekend. I'm still feeling the burn so it's all good!

One funny thing at the gym...there were 2 guys there that I know that were sort of working out, sort of goofing off. They were LOUD!!! People were giving them the looks. I was sort of trying to ignore them by just doing my workout and listening to my iPOD - basically pretending I didn't know them. Unfortunately, one of them came over and said hi to me, LOL! Nice guys though, so it didn't bother me too much.

No running today to give my legs some rest. It's a good thing because it will give me sometime to work on my paper and do some housework.

This is me...

Okay, here's my picture.



This was taken in December, as indicated by the heavy clothing. Now I just have to figure out how to add it as my profile picture. I forgot already!!!

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Now for some treadmill update. Sears sucks! Went there yesterday to pick the treadmill up and get a price adjustment. Apparently, Sears price match everything except the Nordictracks. So I got my refund and purchased the treadmill directly from nordictrack.com last night. I still saved over $100. The only thing is I have to wait 2-3 weeks for delivery and they can only guarantee curbside delivery. I have to track the shipment and make sure I'm home for the delivery and maybe have the delivery people at least take it inside the house. Right now, I'm still okay with not having a treadmill since it's still nice enough to run outside. So overall, it worked out for the best.

I also went to the Nordictrack store at the mall to see if I can order it there. For some reason, it's $300 more at the store than online for the same exact treadmill. Wierd!

No workout yesterday, but did a lot of walking again at the mall. My mom & dad came over to help me with the treadmill, but we ended up just shopping around. My mom is a marathon shopper! I was exhausted by the time we were done! Also, I had another cup of Coldstone Creamery ice cream, but this time, my mom & I shared the small waffle cup of ice cream. I got Monkey Bites this time. My dad got the Birthday Cake Remix. Both were awesome! I have to stay away from that place - it's dangerous! Unfortunately, they bake the waffle cups right there and you can smell it from afar and it's like calling you!

Besides my treadmill & shopping episodes this weekend, my entire weekend was pretty productive. Of course socially, it was shot, but I got a lot done! I was able to work on my paper, got 3 loads of laundry done, cleaned,

Today was okay. Got my cardio HIIT done on the treadmill and got a new PB of 2 miles in 19:07 minutes - a whopping 0.01 seconds faster, LOL! I'm still happy about it. I didn't think I was going to beat my time because I could only go as fast as 6.8 mph (7.0 normally), but I started out faster so I just barely made it. I also did my ab workout - crunches, medicine ball workouts, pilates, knee ups, & back extension.

When I got home, I went out for a run. I was just planning a short run, about 3 miles. However, even that was a challenge. My legs just felt off and my left knee started bothering me a little bit. I can actually tell that my running was off and no matter what I do I just seem to land on my left leg hard, hence the cause of my knee issue. I had to have some walking breaks thrown it. I got in about 3.5 miles of run/walk, so it's still all good!

Another thing, my allergy has been bothering me all day!!!! I've had allergies for a couple of years now, but it was more of an annoyance before. I don't know what it is this year, but I've been having full blown allergy symptoms! Ugh!!!!

My paper is almost done! Yay! Tonight I have to work on my presentation slides because I have to submit it to my professor tomorrow morning. My presentation is Wednesday morning via the phone (gotta love online classes!) then he gives us additional time to re-work on our paper based on feedback from the presentation, and then the paper gets submitted on Thursday. Once I got into it, it wasn't that bad. I will work on my presentation while watching 24 ;-D.

NEW TOY!!!

NORDICTRACK

C2200 TREADMILL

SAAAAWEEEEET!!!!

Here are the specs:

• Solaris™ Illumination Console
• 2.25 CHP Commercial DurX™ Drive System
• DuraSoft III™ Impact Cushioning
• 0-10 MPH 1-Touch™ Speed Control
• 0-12% 1-Touch™ Power Incline
• 20" x 55" Quiet Treadbelt
• 10 Workout Programs
• 1-Step™ Pulse Monitor
• CoolAire™ Fan
• Carb Counter™
• Odometer with MyMiles™ Tracker and 2 Profile Memory
• iFit.com® Compatible
• 300-lb. Weight Capacity
• Dimensions: 37.6" X 64" X 71.4"
• Lifetime Motor Warranty
• One Year Parts/One Year In Home Labor Warranty

I got it at Sears on sale for $799. I still have to pick it up, which my Dad will help me with tomorrow since I need a bigger car. When I got home, I saw it on sale at nordictrack.com for $699 + free shipping. Plus I realized that I still have a $10 coupon for opening a Sears account. So tomorrow, I can hopefully get a price adjustment - Sears matches with an additional 10% off, then my $10 coupon. I have the printout from nordictrack.com all ready in my purse. Yay! This treadmill is pretty cool! It's not anything fancy, but more than enough for me. The weight limit is 300 lbs has very good cushioning for the knees (I tried it out :-D). I can't wait to get it home tomorrow!

I also bought a really nice dress for the wedding I'm going to in May. I got it at Lord & Taylor on sale for $75!!!! It cost a lot more than that regularly! It's a size 2 and fit perfectly.

Overall a great day of shopping!

Once I get the treadmill set up, I want to put a small and cheap LCD TV against the wall in front of it. I've seen some with a DVD player already built in. Should be good for distraction during long runs.

For workout today, I did LBWO this morning then yoga at night.

Eating is not so good. I had a small cup of Coldstone Creamery ice cream. I had one they call "Founders Favorite" which is a sweet ice cream with nuts, brownies, & caramel. Eek!!!! Not good, but oh so yummy!

Hope everybody's having a great weekend!

Exam Day

I just got done with my exam. I think I did at least okay. It's kind of hard to tell because the questions were subjective. I hope at I got at least a C so I don't have to reimburse my company for the tuition. My company covers continuing education 100%, as long as you get a pass or at least a C. Keeping my fingers crossed!

This weekend, I'll be working on my paper & presentation. Once that's done, that's it until the next class which will be in the Fall. I can't wait for this semester to be over.

On to fitness...

5.5 miles run today!!!!!! WOOOOOHOOOOO!!!! I was so excited! I had to make 2 quick stops though to stretch because my right hip started bothering me, which is something new. Once I got done my run, my hip felt fine. I made sure to stretch thoroughly just in case.

After my run, I rested for 30 minutes, ate dinner, rested for an hour, did UBWO, then finally a much needed shower (LOL!).

I kind of switched my workout around around. I was supposed to do LBWO yesterday but was not able to. Today, I was supposed to do HIIT and then tomorrow is supposed to be UBWO. However, because I missed yesterday, I decided to just run today because it was so beautiful outside. LBWO will be tomorrow morning (hopefully), then shopping, then maybe a shorter run in the afternoon.

I have to admit though that I'm a very slow runner, but I'm okay with it. Coming from not being able to run for more than 2 minutes a year ago, this is indeed a tremendous progress. Since I'm fairly new with this, I decided to focus on distance/endurance rather than speed for now. Between the HIIT work on the treadmill and once I get more comfortable/stronger with running outside, I think speed work will come easier in the future. Is this a good idea?

That's it for today! Have a great weekend!

Workout, eating, & AI

Today's workout was spectacular! I didn't wake up early enough to go to the gym, but made it up by going just before lunch. Workout was as follows:

Cardio (Treadmill): 3 min. walking, 20 min. HIIT [2 miles in 19:08 - NEW PERSONAL BEST!!! 2.09 miles in 20 minutes] 3 min. running moderate pace, 7 minutes walking
Abs: 3 sets Ab Bootcamp

After work, I went out for my run - 4.5 miles.

Eating has been so so. We had a baby shower at work and I ate A LOT of junk! Oh well, it's over and time to move on.

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American Idol - interesting today.

Katherine - I thought she did great and looked beautiful! Don't know about the dress though. Is it just me or did she needed a body shaper? The judges' comments kind of annoyed me. If Katherine is as good as Whitney Houston, do you think she would actually need American Idol?

Elliott - He did awesome!!! If he would only fix his teeth! What was up with Paula's crying though? I thought she was going to have a nervous breakdown!

Kelly - If America's smart, she would be out this week. Have you noticed that she hasn't been in the bottom 3 yet?

Paris - Great voice. I don't know what's with her though, but she just doesn't do it for me.

Taylor - Not so good this week.

Chris - I LOVE HIM!!!

Laziness over

My one day break last Wednesday turned into a 4-days break. No excuse for it, except that I was LAZY!!! However, the constant rain that started Friday night and lasted to this morning didn't help either. But that's over. The sun is up and I just came back from a 4.5-miles run.

The good news is that eating has been clean. So even with no work out, I don't feel fat or bloated. :=D

Still too much to do tonight. I still have to cook my protein pancake as I am out, then clean my refrigerator since I'm getting my new one tomorrow morning. I also have to study for my exam on Friday.

That's about it! Hope everybody had a great weekend!

Taking a break

I am not feeling well today. Not necessarily sick, but I have absolutely no energy to do any strenuous activities. I was fine last night, but woke up this morning feeling crappy! I think it's a combination of too much workout and not getting enough sleep. So today, I'm taking a break from working out, except maybe do a little bit of yoga, and to try to get to bed early. I really have no trouble falling asleep. In fact, I can fall asleep at the drop of a hat. However, after getting ready for bed, I end up doing other stuff and before you know it, it's late. So tonight, I'm going to force myself to go to sleep early. I took some Tylenol which I hope will help also.

On the workout front, yesterday's was awesome. I did my UBWO supersets in the morning, then ran outside for approximately 4.5 miles after work. UBWO was great and my arms are still sore today. The running though was a bit of a struggle. My legs just felt off throughout my run. Today, my shins are a little bit sore. Hopefully, I'll be back to form tomorrow and back to working out.

One definite change I'm doing with my routine is to do 2 UBWO and only 1 LBWO a week. Originally I was just going to follow the the BFL UBWO/LBWO schedule. However, I figured that with all the extra running, my legs are getting enough workout. I have to figure out how to better schedule my running though. Since I'm technically just beginning to seriously run outside, it might be a good idea to alternate my running days instead of doing it on consecutive days. I love running though so I'll have to play it by ear.

Anybody watch American Idol? I thought Chris, Paris, Taylor, & Katherine did very well. Kelly was doing okay, then screwed up totally for the last half of the song. Ace still has to go! Doesn't matter that he pulled his hair back! I was more impressed with Rod Stewart. He's ancient and yet he's getting married to a young good looking wife. His baby is adorable!

Gas price increased again. Monday, regular was $2.75. Yesterday, it went up to $2.81. It's holding at $2.81 today but who knows how long that will last.

Good Friday

Hey all! I'm at my parents house right now. I got here last night (they're only an hour away from me) and today I'm working from home - one of my job's lovely perks :)

My mom's not too happy with me...it's Good Friday and I didn't go to church. How was I supposed to know it's required? Our company doesn't have it as a holiday, so I'm usually at work on Good Fridays. Oh well. It's not like a don't go to church every Sunday like a good Catholic.

Picture - I am working on getting an actual picture of me posted here. I don't take good pictures so I'll have to dig really deep to find a halfway decent picture. The picture I have on the profile is Jessica Simpson from a scene in "Dukes of Hazzard". I don't know why I put her up. I don't even like her songs. I do admire how she got into shape for her movie.

I got my workout done today though! I went to the gym near here, an all women's gym, and did my cardio HIIT & abs. But boy, what a hassle it was! I had it all planned out, I was going there to do my HIIT on the eliptical, then 10 minutes of the stair stepper, then abs. When I got there, one of the eliptical was taken by this middle-aged lady with a mullet & the other one was out of service. There were only 2 elipticals in that gym! I hopped on this Body Trec & I just couldn't get a handle on the pedals. I was on the lowest setting and I can barely move them! My legs were getting a great workout but my heart rate wasn't going up. So after 2 minutes of putzing around with it, I decided to do the bikes instead. I went through all their bikes but couldn't figure out how to turn them on. Besides that, the control panels were all torn up. I must have looked like an idiot going around the different cardio machines! Finally, I just had it and went on the treadmill to do my 20 minutes HIIT then 10 minutes walking on an incline. Ab workout was on the incline bench & captain's chair.

The entire time I was there, mullet-hair lady was just annoying me! While I was on the Body Trec, I saw her from the corner of my eye get off the eliptical and just stood next to it and watched tv. I was waiting for her to move off so I can use it, but she just stood there, then hopped back on. Then, when she got off, her daughter got on it. So basically, they monopolized the only functioning eliptical to themselves. When I left the gym, the daughter was still on it.

The gym today was just full of oddballs. There was a girl that was walking on the treadmill at like 2 mph while reading a magazine. She looks like she exerted more energy reading than working out! Then there was a fairly young lady that would walk on the treadmill SLOW, then would get off every 5 minutes to stretch. Then there was the mullet-hair lady. She was on the eliptical pedaling lightly while watching television, then left the eliptical so her daughter can hop on, weight-lifted using using 3-lbs dumbells, then went on the treadmill & walked SLOW. Then there I was, all sweaty, red-faced, and just about ready to pass out! It was very entertaining, actually.

No outside running today, unfortunately. It has been overcast and drizzling on and off all day. I was looking forward to it too since there's a nice park close by with about .5 mile trail around it. It would have been a nice leasurely run. But since I ran on the treadmill this morning, I'm not too upset about it.

Eating has been crap. Yesterday at work, we went to this talk and they had food there. I had pepperoni pizza, ceasar salad, & brownies. Yummm. Since I've been with my parents, I've been eating more crap. They just don't have anything BFL-friendly. To top it all off, my mom bought some egg custards. You get these in Chinese bakeries and they are so yummy but not good for you. I'm trying my best to limit my portions, at least. I'm afraid that if I don't control my eating, I won't be able to fit into my Easter outfit. LOL! On one hand I'm happy to be here for the Easter weekend, but on the other hand I just want to get through this weekend and get back to my routine!

Damn Blister!!!!

Did LBWO - superset this morning. I upped the weights this time to feel the burn. I'm really happy with this new weight-lifting routine. I'm definitely getting the hang of this supersetting thing.

The weather is beautiful today. Around 70F with a nice breeze. Perfect to be outside. Definitely not to pass up for running. So off I went this afternoon afternoon. It started out rough. My legs just felt like lead, probably due this morning's LBWO. However, once I got going it wasn't too bad. Unfortunately, the damn blister from yesterday started acting up again! I already have band-aid on and I made sure I wore socks specifically for running today. Towards the end, it hurt like a (beep beep beep)!!!!! I logged in about 3.7 miles so not too bad. I think I'll have to go to CVS or something and see if Dr. Scholl's have some heavy duty blister guards. I hope it's not the shoes. I've only had these shoes for 2 weeks and it hasn't given me any problems until yesterday. I really don't want to stop running because of a damn blister!

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I'm currently watching American Idol. I think Chris Daughtry rocked! I do agree with Simon, I wish he chose a song that's more popular.

I have to admit, Bucky wasn't too bad today. I just can't stand to look at him!

Ace sucked!

Taylor drunk? I think Paula is, but not Taylor. I thought he was pretty good!

That's all folks!

Workout log & "24"

I am going to TRY to keep this short since I am exhausted!!!!

Yesterday was super BUSY! Went to church in the morning for Palm Sunday, then food shopping. After that, cooking & preparing my meals for this week. I also got some cleaning done. I wanted to run since it was BEAUTIFUL, but housework took precedence. I did get some yoga done last night though, so it wasn't all a wash.

This morning was cardio HIIT & abs. Cardio today was on the treadmill. Did 5 minutes walking warm-up, followed by 20 minutes HIIT + 3 minutes MISS running, then 2 minutes walking cool-down. I tied my personal best of 2 miles in 19:45 for the 20 minutes HIIT!!!! I maxed out at 7.0 mph but felt I could have gone faster. Ab exercise today was 3 sets of Ab Bootcamp.

After work, I went out for a run. I planned to do 5 miles, but I ended up running total of ~4.2 miles, then had to walk home for ~0.2 miles because the inside arch of my right foot started getting blisters from rubbing against my socks. Bummer! I could have gone longer, but I was taken down by a blister...LOL! However, I was so happy with it overall. This time, I roughly timed myself and came up with 45 minutes for the total ~4.4 miles, including the walking break! So I must have been doing ~10-minutes mile, which was what I was targetting for. WOOHOOO!!!!

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"24". Holy cow! They're about to take down the president! I was kind of disappointed though. I thought Jack Bauer was going to dig out the bullet from Evelyn, cure her, before going on his way :). I can't wait to see next week's episode. Maybe next week, he'll walk on water...

Saturday Shower & Shopping Spree

It's around 11 pm and while waiting for the laundry to finish, I decided to blog.

First of all, Melissa & Donna, you guys motivated me to get my workout done today! I woke up this morning late, had some issues with the refrigerator, & just didn't get my workout done. Plus, it was chilly & pouring rain all day! However, I did go to the mall around lunch time spent the entire afternoon there (more about that later). Does mall walking count as a workout? Anyways, got home, ate dinner, talked to my mom on the phone, did some stuff around the house, & surfed the blogs. Reading your blogs & your runs today just pumped me up. So there I was in my basement at 9:30 pm doing my UBWO while doing laundry & watching "Trading Spaces"...LOL! Anyways, just wanted to say THANK YOU!

Tomorrow is supposed to be nicer. If I wake up early enough, I might go for an easy run. I have to go to church though since it's Palm Sunday.

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My bank account definitely got a good workout today...LOL! As I mentioned before, I went shopping. Majorly! I went to Sephora's and bought the Bare Escentual's starter kit & an eye shadow set. I've always wanted to try out Bare Escentual's since people I know rave about it. I had one of the girls working there try it out on me and OMG! It is awesome! It's very light & looks very natural. I also had her teach me how to get fancy with eye makeup so I ended up buying an eyeshadow set. Total spent - $90.

I then went to Ann Taylor and bought a cute top & beige sandals - $100. Both of them were on sale so I was fairly pleased with the purchase.

Then off to Victoria's Secret - $25.

Finally, I went to Sears and bought a new refrigerator - $950. It's one of those 2 doors side-by-side with the water/ice machine. My current one is basic one (freezer on top, refrigerator on the bottom) with no ice maker. The refrigerator came with the house and unfortunately for me, the 2 previous owners of my house never bothered to put in a water line to the refrigerator, so I have to get this done separately. Since I want to replace my kitchen faucet & install a garbage disposal anyways, I figured I should just hire a plumber separately & get a better deal.

All I can say is, thank God for bonuses & tax refund!

Oh, and I almost bought another pair of jeans! I went to Nordstrom and for fun, decided to try one of their jeans. You know, the ones that cost $150-$200! OMG! I think I'm in love! These jeans are so awesome!!!! The brands I tried on are Citizens for Humanity, AG, & something else I forgot. All I know is that they're super expensive by my standards of jeans. Keep in mind, I usually get my jeans from Gap & Limited. Anyways, these expensive jeans make your legs look long & lean, & they somehow lift your butt. The butt part is really important to me since I don't have one...LOL! Ever since BFL, not only did my boobs disappear, but my butt as well! Anyways, these jeans give you a butt! Also, they are soooo comfortable! I contemplated getting them for a long time in the dressing room, but finally decided to hold off on it. Maybe next paycheck. The jeans are all regular length so they're pretty long for me, but Nordstrom apparently hems them for you for free. I figured for that price, they better!!!

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This morning, I looked outside and saw a bunch of people running in the pouring rain. I then remembered that there's a 5K run/walk event occuring by the high school near me. I said to myself, "Next year, I want to be one of them." So that's my next goal - run a 5K event! I'll have to find 5K run/walk around here & convince my friend to go with me.

April showers & TGIF

Wasn't able to blog yesterday since I was out last night. I was so tired when I got home that I only had the energy to read & comment on other blogs. Anyways, yesterday's LBWO superset workout was fairly successful. I hit my 10's in some of the supersets, but not all. So next time I do it, I'm going to increase the weights on some of the exercises. I'm still sore today from yesterday because I did enough new exercises to shake up my body a little bit, so I'm still very happy with the outcome.

Last night, I went out with a friend to Max & Erma's. Does anybody have this restaurant in their area? The food was pretty good! My friend ordered hot soft pretzel for appetizer. Of course I ate some! The meal part wasn't bad - Carribean Grilled Chicken with Mango Salsa, rice, & steamed vegetable. It came with 2 chicken breasts, so I took one home for tomorrow (can't eat meat today coz of Lent). Then I had their signature chocolate chip cookies, which are are to die for! You have to order it in the beginning so that they bake it right then & there, then they give it to you after your meal fresh out of the oven. Yummm! I had one piece at the restaurant, then another piece at the movie theatre where we saw Ice Age 2. Definitely a kids movie, but there wasn't anything out that we wanted to see! I would have seen Phat Girls or the movie with Antonio Banderas about ballroom dancing, but they didn't open until today.

Surprisingly, I woke up early enough this morning and made it to Spinning class. The Friday morning instructor is a riot! She must have had a massive dose of caffein intravenously injected into her before she left for the gym, because she was just bouncing off the walls! Really super peppy! She was pedalling really fast, even during the climbs! At one point, we had to do jumps where we had to stand then sit down, but she did it one second up then one second down - and while pedalling like 100 mph! I tried to keep up with her but I was afraid I was going to fly off my bike! I looked around and I felt better when I noticed that I wasn't the only one not able to follow her pace. Needless to say, I had a great cardio HIIT workout this morning. I don't know if it's her or the cookies from last night, but I had so much much energy during the workout! Afterwards, I did my ab workout using the physio ball & weights.

I was doing so well all morning and into mid afternoon with the eating until I went to the kitchen at work to refill my water bottle. Sitting on the coutertop was a big plate filled with brownies & cream puffs! I just about drooled! So what did I do? I took a small piece of brownie & one piece of cream puff & ate them. And the remainder of my day at work, I felt so guilty! It was raining all day, but when I went home, the rain stopped, the sun came out, and it was warm! So as soon as I got home, I went out for a run. Pretty insane, huh? After yesterday's LBWO and this morning's Spinning, you would think I've had enough! I took it easy and did a light jog to start with. Next thing you know, I just kept running without any walking breaks! When I got home I immediately mapped out my route. Get this - I ran 4 miles straight! I had to walk .1 miles each for warm-up & cool-down, but that's still frickin unbelievable! Shoot, I've never even ran 3 miles straight outside before, let alone 4 miles! WOOHOOO!!!

The funny part is, after now getting the hang of running outside, I don't think I can go back to the treadmill except for HIIT. It's just so boring! I still need the treadmill for HIIT though since I don't know how & when to change the speed on my own. Plus, I get a kick out of bettering my 20 minutes HIIT personal best. ;)

That's it for now folks! Thanks for hanging with me! Sorry for the long, boring post. Have a great weekend!

What happened to spring?

I think I may have overdid the running yesterday. This morning, I woke up early enough to go to spinning, but I felt like crap. Not necessarily sick, but just achy. I really thought I was coming down with something. So I decided to sleep for a couple more hours before heading to work. Needless to say, no workout at a fasted state today.

However, at work at least a couple hours after breakfast & after downing some coffee & Airborne, I decided to chance it and headed to the gym. My theory is that as long as it's not in the chest, you don't have a fever, & you're not hacking away or in pain, you can still work out. So off to the gym I went with the intention of just doing moderate activity. I hopped on the eliptical and it must have been automatic, but I proceeded to do HIIT. I did my usual 20 minutes HIIT (burned ~310 calories!), then 10 minutes MISS going backwards (total ~450 calories burned!). I then did some ab works (medicine ball & pilates) and called it a day. At the end of it all, I felt so much better!

I decided to take it easy today, therefore no running. Even it I was feeling good, I wouldn't run in this weather anyway. The temperature is back to the upper 30s with the wind chill, and it actually snowed this morning! I just don't know how other people could run outside year round. I was going to do some gentle yoga after work, but after doing a thorough cleaning of the kitchen, I figured I've had enough. I'm just going to chill tonight, watch some tv, surf the internet, and hopefully get some sleep. I'm back to feeling achy, so I took some Tylenol & some more Airborne. Hopefully, this will all pass.

Tomorrow is LBWO supersets. I'm pretty excited about it. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I get a great workout from this new routine. My arms are still sore, so the UBWO from yesterday was a success!

Speaking of supersets, I found this site that explains the different weight-lifting techniques: Intensity Techniques. So Donna is right, there are different kind of supersets. The one I'm doing is called "Same Part Supersetting". The one Jess referred to is called "Antagonistic Supersetting". Drop sets sounds intriguing. According to Tom Venuto (Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle author) in this article, it's an ideal technique to build mass and is therefore preferred by a lot of bodybuilders. I'll have to read about it some more to see if it's something I want to do for the future.

UBWO Supersets

Jennifer a.k.a. DreamCatcher asked what supersets are. Keep in mind I'm no expert. I heard my friend talk about this before, but never really read about it until recently. Basically, you choose 2 different exercises per muscle group. You do each exercise 12-16 reps (or whatever you decide) then move on to the next exercise without resting for the same # of reps; hence, making a "superset" ("tri-set" if you do 3 different exercises per muscle group). Once you complete your superset, you rest for about a minute, then you repeat. Here's mine, which I got from about.com (click on the links from previous post):

Chest: Pushups, Chest Press, Chest Flies
Back: Dumbell Row, Dumbell Pullover, Bent over Reverse Flies
Shoulder: Overhead Press, Upright Row, Bent Arm Lateral Raise
Bicep: Bicep Curs, Hammer Curls
Tricep: Dips, Kickbacks

So this was what I did for morning workout. I first ran on the treadmill for a 5-minutes warm-up before doing the UBWO. The verdict? It totally kicked my ass!!! Donna's right - this is a great way to fatigue your muscles. At first, I was apprehensive. But once I started feeling the burn, I was almost in tears! I only did 2 sets of each exercise & only used moderate weights and it was more than enough! This is truly a great option from the pyramid BFL routine, if you're hankering for a change. Definitely a great workout! I made sure to stretch, but I know I'll be paying for it tomorrow! Afterwards in the shower, I can barely lift my arm to soap my armpits (LOL!). My arms felt like noodles!

I hope to improve eventually, maybe advancing to 3 sets for each exercise. Also, next time I want to start at lower weights then increase as I go along.

I also ran outside when I got home from work. It was about 52 F & very windy, but sunny. I ended up running 4 miles!!! Okay, it wasn't totally running. There were some walking breaks, but I was working against 30 mph wind gusts! I felt like I was climbing, even when I'm going downhill! Overall, not too shabby, if I say so myself. I made sure to eat some protein bars an hour before running and there was no ammonia smell afterwards. However, my nose was running so much that I thought I caught a cold! I'm fine now so I think it's from the running. Does anybody experience after an intense running session?

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Television:

24 was great last night! Who would have thought the president was involved? Jack is still da bomb!

American Idol - eh!!! I think Chris & Katherine did the best. Simon just doesn't understand country! Bucky still needs to go, I don't care if he's "in his element" tonight. He still sucks and if I have to look at that face for another week - uuuggghh!!! Did anybody notice Ace's family? Him and whoever those guys are (brothers?) all look alike. All good looking though, with lovely hair!

Austin, Texas - Teresa, I don't know if you're going to read this post, but I was just watching Rachel Ray on the Food Network and she was doing a show on Austin. I would love to go there! There were so many cool restaurants and interesting artsy places to go to. I think I would enjoy going to that bridge (can't remember the name) at sunset to see the 1.5 million bats. I'm squeamish, but I would do it just for the experience.

Well, I'm beat and I want to catch the spinning class tomorrow morning at 6:15 am. Of course, I'll probably end up surfing blogland some more before I go to bed. Anyways, hope everybody have a good night!

4-Weeks Mini Challenge #1

So I decided to shake up my workout a bit. It's not going to be too different from BFL. I'm still going to continue 3 days of HIIT & the UBWO-LBWO schedule. However, I am doing supersets for UBWO & LBWO per the routines I found in about.com.

UBWO Supersets


LBWO Supersets

I'm still going to make sure I hit my 10s on all the body parts. I'm going to try this routine for 4 weeks and see how it goes.

So far, today started out great! Woke up early & headed to the gym for cardio: 5 minutes walking warm-up + 20 minutes HIIT on the treadmill (2 miles in 19:57 minutes) + 5 minutes walking cool-down. Cardio was then followed by 3 sets of the Ab Bootcamp.

I so wished I could run outside after work. Unfortunately, it's been raining on & off all day. I'm hoping tomorrow is going to be better. The time change has really helped since it's still light out at a later time.

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I'm watching "24" right now. So far it's been good! The plot thickens!!! You never know what's going to happen from one minute to the next.

While waiting for "24" to come on, I discovered this new show on the Travel Channel called 5takes. It's about 5 young people travelling together (this season it's in the Pacific Rim) and they only have $50 a day to spend. This week they're at Sidney. I actually like this show. It's like Road Rules without the drama, so you actually appreciate the sights & the culture more. Their next destinations and also their activities are determined by viewers suggestions/votes on the internet. The show comes on every Monday at 8pm on the Discovery Channel. So while waiting for "24", this is a good show to watch to pass the time.

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Here's a new toy I just got :)

I love running!!!

I'm loving this week off so far! And I love that spring is here! I did not wake up early enough to go to the gym. However, I went for a brisk walk after lunch at work today for about 3 miles. Then, when I got home, I quickly changed into my running gear & went for a run - 3.5 miles!!! I had to walk for brief periods for warm-up & cool-down. I had to walk in between running twice for about a minute each just work out the side stitches & muscle stiffness. Overall, I am really excited about this. The best part is, except for the usual muscle soreness, I'm not experiencing any real pain (knees, feet, shins, hips, etc.). I'm hoping I can keep this up so I can run more.

The only thing though is that I've been expelling this ammonia smell after running. It's really noticeable as soon as I get into the house. At first, it worried me thinking that I spilled something somewhere in the house, but I remember reading about this in tracker. According to bodybuilding.com, it's an indication that I need to eat more carbohydrates and that the ammonia smell means that I'm breaking down protein, which consists of ammonia, instead of the carbs. I guess the potato chips I had just before heading out for the run is not sufficient :). Anyways, this is something I need to work out. Maybe a fruit 30 minutes before running would suffice.

To get me more motivated on running, I subscribed to Runner's World magazine. I can't wait to get the next edition!

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Thank God it's Friday!!!!

Things I would like to accomplish this weekend:

1. Work out - maybe get another running session in there, weather permitting.
2. Laundry
3. Clean the house (esp. the kitchen floor, foyer floor, & the bathrooms)
4. Shop - I'm in desperate need of new clothes. I still have pants that are too big on me that I still wear. Being 5'1, it's a pain to get pants since even at petite size, I still need to get it hemmed. I need to get pants that fit me!!!!
5. Buy more protein powder & RTD protein drinks.
6. Cook

Have a great weekend!!!

Running & Potato Chips

First, I finally went to the specialty running shoes that's near my house. I really like the store and the employee there really knows running shoes. First, he had me stand on my bare feet then bend my knees, then he had me walk barefoot. Based on that he deduced that I had neutral, low arch feet. He had me try 3 running shoes (Asics 2110, Adidas, & Mizuno) that are 1/2 size bigger than my normal size. They all felt good, but the Mizuno was lighter on my feet. He then had me running outside on the sidewalk and it turned out that while I run, my right feet kind of turn inward, which means I was slightly pronated. He recommended that I get the stability shoes instead which was the Asics 2110, which was what I ended up buying.

It turned out that the sneakers I already have, the Asics 2010, is the correct one. The Asics 2110 is the upgraded model. Bear in mind, I knew nothing about running shoes & I bought my previous sneakers based on a friend's recommendation & not thinking how my feet are. The moral of this story is, I didn't need to get evaluated at all (LOL!). However, it was still good education for me and it's better to be sure than regret it later. The price is pretty steep though - $89.99! I know, it's probably average for good running shoes. Just think, I have to get 2 new pairs of sneakers every 6 months - one to leave at the gym (I'm very forgetful!) & one to leave at home! Yikes!

The employee there was really friendly. He told me about a running club that meets in their store throughout the week. There's a beginner's group that meets on Monday nights and he invited me to go to that one. They run on the nearby trail & they make sure that nobody runs alone. He then told me that they run for approx. 3.5 miles at about 10 minute/mile pace and I just started laughing! If this is beginner's level, I must be pathetic! I told him I'm about 3 miles/32 minutes pace on a treadmill! He said that shouldn't be a problem & that I would be surprised how much I could do until I actually do it. This is something that I would be interested in, but I think I'd rather do things on my own first, evaluate my capability & build up my endurance/speed before I join. But this is a possibility for the future.

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Workout has been ongoing. Yesterday morning (fasted state), I did 45 minutes of spinning in the morning followed by abs (physio ball & dumbells). Today, I didn't wake up early enough. But I took advantage of the nice weather and went for a brisk walk at work after lunch (approx. 2.5 miles). When I got home, I put on my new Asics running shoes & went for a run around my development (~2.8 miles). I walked a little bit during warm-up & cool-down, and then for a couple of minutes in between after a hard hill run, but that's about it. Most of it was running! I could have run some more but it was getting dark so headed for home. I was so proud of myself! I want to keep doing this & hopefully improve enough that I don't embarass myself if I do decide to join that running club.

I haven't really been doing much weight lifting. I've been doing lots of push-ups here & there but that's about it.

As for my next challenge, I think I have a pretty good idea on what I want to do. I'm still reading through it, so stay tuned!

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Eating has been okay. However, I have been indulging in some potato chips. This is one of my weakness in terms of junk food and I haven't had one in a looooong time. Even during my last 12-weeks challenge! Jeez, I can't even remember the last time I had one! So anyways, I'm indulging this week, get it out of my system, then it's back to clean eating next week.

End of BFL Challenge 2

This challenge pretty much started with a bang and ended with a fizzle. I was able to somewhat salvage the last week of my challenge on the workout department. I was able to do spinning last Friday and LBWO on Saturday. However, Sunday turned out to be a crazy day so I scrapped the planned UBWO.

Eating is another story. I ended up going to my parents house (AGAIN) this weekend. Saturday night, we ended up going to a Hibachi place. I got the beef tenderloin, which was pretty lean, but the quantity of the food was just enormous. Sunday was just a day of gluttony with a big buffet brunch. It was good, but super filling. I was so full that I couldn't eat until dinner time.

Needless to say, I am glad Challenge 2 is over and done with. Even though it didn't end as strong as I would have wanted, I achieved the following notable accomplishments during this challenge:

1. Fit in a size 2 jeans.
2. Be able to run 2 miles in 20 minutes (PB of 2 miles in 19:45),

Some major roadblocks I had to overcome this challenge are getting motivated, gallbladder issues, big snow storm & getting my body out of whack from shoveling, & my brother's new house. However, overall, I am proud sticking through for the most part and finishing this challenge.

This week is my off week until I figure out what to do next. I'm still working out hard, but not as structured as BFL. So far this week:

Monday: OFF
Yesterday: ran 3 miles on the treadmill (5.7 - 6.0 mph/0.5 incline), 3 sets x 12 reps assisted dips, 3x12 assisted chin ups, Abs (medicine ball, pilates)
Today: spinning, Abs (physio ball & weights, knee ups)

Eating so far this week has been clean.

For my next challenge (or however you want to call it), I'm thinking of sticking with the 2-3 days 20 minutes HIIT + 10 minutes moderate cardio &/or 1 day spinning. This seems to work really well for me. I may increase the HIIT portion for an extra bit of challenge. What I'm struggling with is the weight lifting part. I am just bored with the BFL pyramiding routine and would like to do something different. I was completely clueless with weight-lifting before I started BFL so this is the only way I know. This week, one of my assignment is to start researching & experimenting with different weight lifting routines.

Also, I want to start running more. Since the weather is getting nicer (70F tomorrow!!!), I want to start running outside rather than the treadmill. Another one of my assignment this week is to get new running shoes that is actually right for me. I was able to find a specialty running close to my house so I might leave work early and go there to check it out.

Hopefully, by the end of this week, I can finalize what I want to do with my fitness routine. Luckily, I'll be staying close to home this weekend so I can hopefully start getting back into my routine.

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American Idol - last night sucked! Nobody really impressed me, even Chris. The only one that came close to being interesting was Paris. One thing though - Bucky needs to go!

A not so good week

This week has just been blah! Workout has been crap! Of all the weeks for it to happen, it has to happen on week 12 of my challenge. Talk about self-sabotage. Surprisingly, eating hasn't been too bad. Not perfect, but at least there was no bingeing.

Last week, I was able to complete my 6 planned workout. I missed Saturday's UBWO but made it up on Sunday, which was supposed to be free day. I also did 37 minutes of MISS on the treadmill. Overall, not too bad.

This week's workouts were the pits:

Monday:

• 15 minutes HIIT running on the treadmill. Knee started acting up, so I stopped at minute 15 to stretch, walked, then started running at minute 20. I was so pissed for not completing the 20 minutes HIIT that I ran until I got a total of 3 miles (~32 minutes).
• Abs (med. ball, pilates, knee-ups)

Tuesday: No Workout

Wednesday: No Workout

Today (Afternoon Workout):

• 20 minutes HIIT on the eliptical (310 calories)
• UBWO
• Abs (med. ball, pilates, knee-ups)

Today (Nighttime while waiting for my salmon to cook):

• 20 minutes yoga

Tuesday & Wednesday were just my lazy days. No excuse. Just LAZY! I was soooo lazy I didn't update my blog, nor check out other people's blogs. I was able to check the tracker a couple of times, but that's about it. I think going to my parents place 2 weekends in a row just ruined my routine. Unfortunately, I might go back this coming weekend for their anniversary.

All might not lost this week though. If I can do HIIT tomorrow, LWBO on Saturday, & UBWO on Sunday, I should be okay.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!!

And THANK GOD IT'S FRIDAY!!!

Nothing much today. Gym. Work. Eat. Sleep. Yada yada yada....

As far as workout, I did 20 minutes HIIT on the eliptical (burned approx. 305 calories according to the machine), 12 minutes MISS on the stairmaster, stretching, & abs (ball & dumbells).

Eating was okay. Not perfect, but it could be worse. I met a friend for lunch and I had crab cakes. I also indulged in a couple (or so) of Irish Potatoes. Talk about pure saturated fat & sugar! As much as I enjoy watching St. Patty's Day celebration, I cannot wait when it is over and all the Irish Potatoes have run out (LOL)!

It's late, I'm tired, but I'm still doing laundry (running out of underwears ;=)). And there's nothing to watch on tv.

God, I need a life!

PSYCHO!!!

I was feeling a "Biggest Loser" withdrawal today, so I decided to check out their website to see when the new season starts. No info on that yet. It seems they're still looking at applicants. However, it turned out I missed the Navy Wives vs. Army Wives episode :( The last episode I saw was the one about the restaurant families.

Anyways, I was surfing the site when I came upon Jullian's Sample Weekly Plan. Man, that woman's psycho! 6 days a week workout, each days consisting of 3 hours 45 minutes workout! For example, 1 hour in the morning of cardio in the fat burning zone, 1 hour circuit training & 45 minutes cardio in the fat burning zone in afternoon, AND 1 hour kickboxing at night! Is this even possible without killing yourself? Also, who has the time?

This leads me to remember a joke myself and a friend of mine shared a while ago. We agreed that given the chance and if we're lucky enough to find millionaire or billionaire husbands, we would not hesitate to quit work and just live as a trophy wives. I honestly wouldn't mind just making myself beautiful for my husband and just working out daily for hours to stay in a great shape. I guess if I'm lucky enough (and if I have enough energy), I can follow Jillian's plan. :)

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Workout today went as planned.

LBWO
Lunges: 8, 10, 15, 20, 12 (dumbell weights in each hand)
Reverse lunges: 12
Squats: 10, 12, 15, 20, 12
Single leg squats: 12
Seated Leg Press Machine (Calves): 210, 215, 220, 230, 225
Seated Leg Press Machine (Calves - toes pointed outward): 220
Hip Adductor Machine: 2x12x85, 12x90
Hip Abductor Machine: 2x12x85, 12x90

Stretch
CARDIO: on the treadmill alternating between walking (3.8mph/3.5incline) for 1 lap & running (5.8mph/0.5 incline) for a total of 30 minutes.
Stretch

Eating was great, except for a piece of brownie. Some evil person left some rich, fudgy brownies in our kitchen and it called me. Who am I to refuse? :)

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I just got the Body-For-Life DVD set. I ordered it from DPS Nutrition for about $15 (including shipping) 2 days ago, and it was waiting for me outside my doorstep when I came home. SAWEEET!!!!!

And the banana saga continues on

Check out the BFL Guestbook (may have to scroll through several pages - it was going on this morning). Looks like banana's reputation is being dragged in the mud again (LOL). And wouldn't you know, Mike Harris is in the thick of things. I'm not bashing him or anything - he does have a wealth of knowledge when it comes to BFL. I just have to laugh! Anyways, I just have to say "LIGHTEN UP, PEOPLE!". We're talking about bananas here for cripes sake! Okay, so bananas have higher calories compared to other fruits such as apples. However, it is rich in nutrients, therefore good for you. You don't see fat monkeys around, do you? And they eat bananas 24/7! Eating one a day shouldn't kill you or hamper your progress.

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Workout today was great. I made it to spinning class this morning! YIPEE!!! The instructor, who we affectionally nicknamed "Pain with Pat", had us doing mostly climbing (both standing and sitting) and lots & lots of jumps. At the end of the class when my legs already felt like lead, she had us do a session of speed work. I was like "Are you kidding me?" Thankfully, I made it, but barely. My legs are definitely feeling it. Spinning class was then followed by ab workout.

I also did some Ashtanga Yoga at home. I bought this beginner's Ashtanga Yoga DVD a while ago that I forgot about and wanted to finally try it. I got a really good workout out of it. I used to be good at it, but now I suck! I can't even keep my legs straight on some of the poses. I hope that with practice, I can get back that flexibility I used to have.

Too good to last

It was around 70 F for the past 5 days and it all came to an end today. Temperature dropped by about 20 F and now it's back to around the 40's. It looks like it's going to be cold for a while yet. I thought that was it for winter. In fact, my roses are starting to sprout some new leaves. I guess I have to wait a little bit longer.

As for the workout, I stayed true to my promise and made it to the gym first thing in the morning for cardio and abs. I ran on the treadmill for my cardio HIIT and hit another personal best - 2.0 miles in 19:45 minutes!!!! WOOOOHOOOO!!! How cool is that! I kept ramping up the speed on minutes 18 & 19 and hit 7 mph. I only stayed there for a little bit and had to lower the speed to 6.9 mph because I literally felt like I was going to puke my guts out! That would have been really nasty! Also, as soon as I hit 2 miles, I lowered the speed to 6.0 mph until minute 20. I just couldn't go fast any longer. I guess you coud say that I definitely hit my 10 :).

My last personal best was 2.0 miles in 19:52 minutes - a mere 7 seconds difference from my current personal best. However, it seems like I worked twice as hard today as I did last week. Isn't it funny how that goes?

Tomorrow morning is spinning, so I'm going to try to go to sleep early for once.

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American Idol

Tonight's show was really good. My thoughts are little peaksqueak Kevin has to go and Chris Daughtry rocked the house!

I'm still up in the air as to who will win. I think Katherine McPhee has the total package and Paris Bennett has the Fantasia factor going on. Those 2 could pull it off towards the end and duke it out in the finals. Chris might squeak in there though. Other good performers are Taylor Hicks, Lisa Tucker, Elliott Yamin, & Mandissa. This is probably the most talented bunch of all the seasons so far.

Note to self...

...get workout done FIRST THING IN THE MORNING!!!!

Today, I decided not to leave the house at the crack of dawn due to severe fogging. I planned on doing my cardio HIIT around 10 am. Well, 9:30am comes around and I ended up having to take care of something that needed to get done by the end of today! So basically, my day was shot workout wise. I had to do some creative planning. I ended up switching today to UBWO and did it at home while watching "24" (9:00 pm!!!). I was peeved having to change my plan, but I'm proud of myself for getting it done regardless.

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I came home last night from helping my brother paint his new house. I love painting, but I'm glad to be home. I can only do so much and it was just exhausting! My workouts while I was over there wasn't too bad. I only missed one workout (Saturday - LBWO). Hope all those painting and running errands made up for it though :)

Eating wasn't great. There was just too much temptation over there, and I was too weak to resist. Oh well. I'm at home turf now and I'm in control.

Last Friday, I went to this all women's gym by my parent's house (FYI - my brother bought in the same town, approx. 10 minutes away). This is the gym I typically go to while I'm there. While doing HIIT on the eliptical, I noticed there was this fairly attractive woman and a photographer going around the gym. The woman was kind of posing on some of the machines and doing some exercises (using some very light weights) and the photographer would take pictures of her. There I was, looking red in the face, huffing & puffing, all sweaty, and hair all over the place, and I swear I was probably in the line of sight on some of those pictures. I'm not sure what they're using the pictures for, but it better not be for some kind of gym promotion. I'm praying that the camera is digital and they can edit me out (LOL)! I looked HORRIBLE! The best part was right after my 20 minutes HIIT and went to the stairmaster to do my extra 10 minutes MISS cardio. I wasn't used to the machine and it took me a while to figure out how to operate it. But while doing so, and looking like a fool at the same time, there they were right in front of me taking pictures (LOL)! I would die if I see one of those pictures with me in the background. If that happens, I'll deny that it's me (LOL)!

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I'm hoping I can make it to the gym first thing tomorrow morning, so I'm signing off to get some much needed sleep...

House painting

Been helping my brother paint his new house. Everything is going well. I am just exhausted!

Workout has been going well also. Yesterday morning I made it to the morning spinning class. I also did abs afterwards. This morning, I did UBWO using my brother's dumbells.

Eating has been another story. All I can say is, I'm doing the best I can.

Spring is in the air

I can feel it....

The days have been longer, the weather has been decent. It's still chilly, but it hasn't been as bad. Actually, this coming Friday & Saturday is supposed to be in the upper 60's, maybe even 70's! I cannot wait!!!

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Today around lunchtime, I went to the mall to do some shopping. I'm in desperate need of pants that actually fit & decent tops, specifically to wear for work. Some of the pants that I have are too big and the tops are either too big or too old. Anyways, the choice of clothing was just a disappointed. I must have missed the end-of-season sales because all the clothes available are for summer. It's not that warm yet, people! I just can't get into the warm weather clothing yet. Most of the pants were capris, and it's definitely not work appropriate. There were some dress pants that I liked, but they were just too expensive. Maybe I'll have better luck this weekend.

Fortunately, a good thing did come out of this whole shopping session. I went to Gap looking around and decided to finally try on some size 2 jeans. And guess what....THEY FIT!!!! And it's not like squeezing into it, looking like a muffin top. It actually fit comfortably, like you can sit without being afraid of popping a thread. There was one pair of jeans that didn't fit, and it was the ultra low rise Curvy which sits right around the butt crack. I swear, they make those for people without hips. Oh well!!! I was happy all the same. I actually bought a pair - sits just below the waist & flare cut. Really cute and very slimming! I only have one other pair of flare jeans and it's a size 6. It's loose, but I wear a belt and it looks okay. My mom has been covetting these jeans in like forever. I told her I'll give it to her once I replace it with another flare jeans. Well, guess she'll be getting a new pair of jeans the next time I see her :).

Oh, and my new pair of jeans...on sale for $29.99...and just the right length (a big deal for someone who's 5'1)! Not too shabby!

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Today's workout was awesome! Made it to the gym first thing in the morning and did a kick-ass LBWO, followed by 30 minutes brisk walk on the treadmill at 3.5-3.8 mph & 3.5-5.0 incline. Go me!!!

Tomorrow is another attempt at making it to the 6:15 am spinning class. Otherwise, it's another boring HIIT on the stationary bike.

NEW RECORD!

Today is HIIT day and I RAN!!! And get this, I ran 2.0 miles in 19:52 minutes! WOOOHOOO! I ran until 20 minutes and got about 2.01 miles total running. This was done first thing in the morning on an empty stomach. Before HIIT, I walked on an incline 2.5%/3.8mph for 5 minutes (~.31 miles). After HIIT, I cooled down for 5 more minutes at 2.5%/3.8 mph (~.31 miles). I then proceeded to do 2 sets of Abs Bootcamp. I usually do 3 sets, but I ran out of time. I might do another set later if I have the time.

Does anybody watch other people at the gym and gauge their own performance on how other people do? Well, I do! There were 2 girls specifically that I was paying attention to. First, there was a girl that was already running on the treadmill next to mine when I got on. The last time I saw her running (~2-3 weeks ago), she was running 6.0 mph steady-state. I found that impressive as it is. Now she's up to 7.0 mph!

Then, there was another girl who was on the treadmill on the other side of the one next to mine. I didn't see how fast she was running, but she was FAST like an energizer bunny. She's a very attractive, blonde, skinny thing, and she's one of those you just know fitness comes easy to (ie: athletic, naturally skinny, etc.). Anyways, while running, she took off her t-shirt and she was wearing this cute, tight, fitness tank top. She was also wearing these really short running shorts (one that I probably wouldn't have the nerve to wear). The whole scenario reminded me of Pink's "Stupid Girls" video from Christie's blog, minus the big boobs & the cute trainer. And of course, I managed to keep my pants on :).

Anyways, I used these 2 women to push me through with my running. I may not be a natural runner, but I can sure try and do the best that I can. Hopefully, with practice (and if my knees hold up), I can be right along with them.

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Another thing happened at the gym, but this time in the locker room. There I was minding my own business. I usually go in, work out, shower, get ready, then leave to go back to work. Some people spend a lot more time there primping & socializing. I have nothing against that. I figured people have a right to do what they want. Anyways, the women were talking and this one girl was talking about, I believe, her nipple ring! Apparently, she had one and she ended up in the emergency room. It got all infected and looked like it was shredded. Really gross!!! It's not something I want to hear, especially first thing in the morning!

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An Embarassing Thing

So I was at my desk. The document I am currently working on is in audit so I had some downtime. What did I do? I surfed the net. And of course, I found myself in tracker. Well, I just happened to click on someone's profile. I can't remember who it was, but it was a woman and her progress was incredible! One of her picture has her wearing a bright orange bikini. Well, it just so happened that our secretary was walking outside our office, and I guess the orange bikini stood out. She just had to laughingly (and loudly) make a comment about it. I just brushed it off and just said that it was some random thing that I just happened to click into.

Anyways, this raises another point. Maybe I should make a request to tracker webbie to have people stop posting their pictures. You know, just in case other people find it offensive..... ;)

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Tonight is 2 hours of 24!!! WOOOOOHOOOO!!! I'm a big fan of this show and I am excited! This show is da bomb!!! It's an edge-off-your-seat, non-stop action. Jack Bauer is THE MAN!!! If he was a real character, I'd vote for him as president (LOL)!

For those who is a fan of the show, ever wonder when he goes for a bathroom break? :)

Checking In

I've been sooooo busy these last several days. I ended up working late last Thursday and I was exhausted by the time I got home. Friday, I tried to catch up reading up on the blogs, then left to drive an hour away to my parents' house. I didn't get to their house until 10 pm!

All day Saturday was spent shopping with my brother for his new house. He's closing on a brand new townhome on Monday :). Saturday night, I went with my dad to finally buy a dishwasher. Their dishwasher is probably original to their house (almost 20 years) and hasn't worked in about 10 years! My parents just didn't see the need to have one. But now that they're getting older, they realized the advantage of it.

Today was spent shopping with my brother for his new house again. I then drove back to my house, stopped by the supermarket for some food shopping, cooked for dinner, ate dinner, made some EFL vanilla mouse, did UBWO, made some EFL golden pancakes for the week's breakfast, then ate some of the EFL vanilla mouse. I am literally drained! It's times like these I wish I can clone myself.

Overall, my workout for the week has been great. 6 workout sessions completed! WOOOHOOOO!!!! After Wednesday, my workouts were as follows:

Thursday - LBWO

Friday - SPINNING!!! & ABS

Saturday - No Workout, but spent all day walking

Sunday - Walking ALL DAY, UBWO

First of all, YES!!! I finally made it to the spinning class on Friday. Actually, I didn't make it to the Friday morning one (6:15 am), but to the one during lunch time (11:15 - 11:50 am). Typically, the spinning classes at my gym are 45 minutes long. The class during Friday lunch time is called an "express", which means that it is only 35 minutes. However, it's like all the work in 45 minutes crunched into 35 minutes. So basically, it was a real challenge. Towards the end, I actually felt like I was going to pass out! After the spinning class, they had a ABS class for 15 minutes and that class also kicked my butt! The exercises were a lot different from what I'm used to doing, so it was a great change in routine.

As far as my current BFL challenge, I'm about to enter Week 10. That means there's only 3 weeks to go on this challenge. I am really pumped, but this coming week is going to be a challenge to pull off. I'm on vacation this Thursday & Friday to help my brother paint his house. Then on Saturday, I have an early hairdresser appointment, then a briday shower at noon. After that, it's back to helping my brother with his house. YIKES!!!

Well, I am pooped! I might read up on some blogs, then I'm heading to bed. Night!!!!

Ash Wednesday and more snow...

First, the workouts:

Yesterday:

NOTHING!!! I was too busy studying for my exam today. I honestly did not have the time.

Today:

CARDIO: 20 min. HIIT on the eliptical

UBWO:
Lat Pulldown Machine (wide grip): 55 lbs x 12 reps, 60x10, 65x8, 75x6, 60x12
Rowing Machine (close grip): 35x12
Bench Press (dumbells): 8 lbs x 12 reps, 10x10, 12x8, 15x6, 17.5x6 (extra), 10x12
Incline Bench Press (dumbells): 10x12
Dumbell Lying Tricep Extension: 5x12, 8x10, 10x8, 12x6, 8x12
Dips: 12 reps
Seated Bicep Curl (dumbells): 8x12, 10x10, 12x8, 15x6, 10x12
Angled Bicep Curl (dumbells): 8x12
Shoulder Press (dumbells): 8x12, 10x10, 12x8, 15x6, 10x12
Lateral Raise (dumbells): 8x12 (felt a little easy, may increase next time)

STRETCH

ABS: 2 sets x 12 reps and 1 set x 6 rep of knee ups

(I may do some more abs exercises later...)

Yes, I did an equivalent of 2 workout sessions today, back-to-back, to make up for yesterday's slacking. The highlight is I finally broke the 15 lbs. (dumbell) hurdle for my UBWO. 17.5 lbs!!!! I used 15 lbs. dumbells and attached 2.5 lbs platemates to each one. I am so excited about this! I was going to do the same thing for my shoulder press, but I was EXHAUSTED by that time. Maybe next week :). Next stop, 20 lbs dumbells!

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Today is also Ash Wednesday. And I was good today and got my ashes during lunchtime. Thank goodness I remembered not to eat meat! Oh, and I'm giving up swearing for Lent :)

I was watching Rachel Ray's 30 Minute Meal and saw her prepare this dish called Sea Scallops with Vermouth. It looked fairly easy to prepare, kind of BFL-friendly, and appropriate for No-Meat-Fridays. I might make the following changes though: 1) Use broth instead of vermouth; 2) Soak scallops in milk for approx. 5 minutes to bring out the sweetness; 3) Serve over rice for a portion of carbs.

I hope sea scallops are BFL-friendly. It is so yummy!

And speaking of Rachel Ray, I love her show and her recipes but sometimes she gets on my nerves! I think her enthusiasm is just way over the top sometimes. When she talks, it's like she's yelling at me or something. I think I prefer her on her earlier episodes when she was a lot calmer.

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The weather report is predicting snow AGAIN starting tonight and lasting until tomorrow. Not as much as the 18-20 inches we got 3 weeks ago, but more like 3-5 inches. Unfortunately, it's supposed to turn to freezing rain tomorrow morning, right smack in the middle of rush hour. Just as I was starting to recover (my hands feel better!), it looks like I might be doing some more shoveling. The snow will not be as much (I HOPE!), but it will feel twice as heavy with the freezing rain. Bummer!!!! Luckily, I was able to bring some work home so if it's bad tomorrow morning, I will just work from home and then go to work in the afternoon. In terms of my workout, I will have to see how much shoveling I have to do. I may just do my LBWO in the afternoon.

The good news is I'm done with my exam as of this morning! Yippee!!! The exam wasn't too bad. We were given 75 minutes to complete and I got done in like 35 minutes. I'm not really into this class. I studied for it yesterday but my interest just wasn't there. It's for a certification program, so it's not like a degree where GPA counts. My goal is to get at least a C so my company pays for the class.

Since I have nothing much to do tonight, I am hoping I can go to sleep at a decent time. Who knows, I may be able to get a full 8-hours sleep!

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!

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!

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!

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.

What Song Should You Strip To?

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

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....

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...

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"

Who's Your Inner Rock Chick?

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.

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!

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 :(

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.