January 2017 – Sweat & Sparkle

Where Did January Go?

*&^%$#@$%^&&%$%!

That, in case you couldn’t tell, was me cussing. A lot. This past weekend’s weigh-in was not a good one, as you can tell. I gained over 2 pounds and just feel so over it.

Then again, was it really surprising? Not really. Sure, I worked out a few days, but I also ate as if calories are free, and when my stepkids were dropped off Friday evening, I used them as an excuse to not go to the gym that evening. “I haven’t seen them in two weeks! Shouldn’t I stay here and spend time with them?” Of course I wanted to see them, but they weren’t going to keel over dead if I went to the gym for an hour or so.

Saturday night after dinner, the kids wanted to show me how bad their dad cheats at Red Light Green Light, so I came outside with them and played. And boy were they right! Their dad starts running before green light is called, then nudges the rest of us to make us move after red light is called, ha ha. We were having so much laughing at him and calling him out on his cheating that we played until well past dark. I should have worn my activity tracker and gotten credit for all that running!

Well, January is pretty much over, and I haven’t lost a thing the last four weeks. Not getting this year off to the greatest start. I joined an online challenge to lose 10 pounds in February. I hope it motivates me to stop making stupid decisions and get that scale moving in the right direction again.

Workout DVD Review: The Wedding Workout

I know everyone has been biting their nails, holding their breath, and practically bursting with anticipation, eagerly waiting for my review of The Wedding Workout! Okay, maybe not, but I’m going to give it to you anyway.

The cool part about this DVD is that it’s broken down into sections, so you can use the pre-programmed options, like upper body or lower body, or select your own sections. I opted to mix and scratch my own creation, so I went with the warm-up, upper body, lower body, and the cool down, for a roughly 30 minute workout.

All the sections at once make a 50-minute workout. I haven’t done the abs or cardio section yet. Each workout section is about 10 or 11 minutes long, and the warm up and cool down are about 4 minutes long.

This is definitely a beginner workout, which is fine for me right now, just getting back to exercise after a long bout of chronic laziness, but for someone already lifting weights, the upper body section in particular won’t be terribly challenging. I liked the lower body section, though. My legs burned! It’s nonstop squats and lunges, with a brief moment on the mat doing exercises like those leg raises on all fours.

The instructor’s voice sounds a lot like Ashley Judd. Why do I mention this? Just a random observation. Do with it what you will!

All in all, for about $3 on eBay, this is a much better workout than I expected, and there were actually very few comments about weddings or any other idle chatter. I will definitely be doing the legs section again. I have other workout DVD’s that leave my arms sore, so I will rely on those for the upper body work.

When I try the abs and cardio sections, I will let you know what I think of those!

Wedding Workout

With a wedding coming up this year, I decided to hunt the Internet for wedding-themed workout DVD’s. I was surprised that there weren’t that many. I figured this was a huge market, with women always wanting to lose weight before a wedding, and that there would page after page of wedding workout results, all with giggle-worthy titles, but I only found a few DVD’s.

I found a used copy of one on eBay for next to nothing, so tonight’s workout will be:

I have no idea if it’s a good workout or just a lot of cheesy workout comments, but I liked the idea of just having this around to give me a prod to remember my goals and get moving. I’ll give you a complete review tomorrow so you know if you have to storm the Internet and demand a copy of your own 🙂

Hip Hop Abs Injury

I didn’t want to work out last night, but I knew that one more skipped workout would turn into two, then three, then a few months or more. I’ve already done this to myself long enough. Time to suck it up and exercise.

I haven’t done my Hip Hop Abs workout in so long, I nearly forgot I had the DVD. I thought it would be fun, so I gave it a whirl. It was actually almost fun here and there.(Almost.)

Later I noticed that my left shoulder felt sore. It still hurts today. All I can think is that I hurt it doing some of the dance moves in Hip Hop Abs, probably Press the Floor, since I got into that one. Good lord, how crazy out of shape am I when I injure myself doing Hip Hop Abs?

Embarrassing injury aside, I am proud of myself for working out when I didn’t want to. I know that for a while, I will have to force myself to exercise, and that I absolutely, positively won’t want to do it. It will be a while before I am in better shape and have an easier time exercising. But that time will never come if I don’t make myself do the workouts now.

I Will Reach My Goal This Year!

I’ve said I was starting over before. Many times. I won’t pretend I haven’t failed at this several times, so many times I can’t even count. I’d like to leap around with sparklers and fireworks and cheer and rave about how this time is going to be different, but I’ve done it too many times already.

Does that mean I’m giving up? Hell no.

Over the last two weeks since my last post, I’ve wrestled and struggled about what I need to do differently to make sure I succeed this time. I went half-insane, deciding I would switch to a paper food diary, searching online for the perfect one, hunting down the magical exercise DVD set that would get me moving again, even eyeballing loud and colorful workout pants to spark some motivation again.

There’s nothing wrong with treating myself to new workout pants or trying a new workout, but I realized I was looking for motivation in things, objects, props. That isn’t going to work. I remember when I reached my goal weight, so many years ago. I was driven. I desperately wanted to lose the weight. I tracked everything. Back then, it was on paper, because I hadn’t discovered MyFitnessPal yet, but it wasn’t the tool for tracking that made the difference, it was the fact that I did it, every day, no excuses.

My workouts were non-negotiable. If I had something going on in the evening, I got up early and did my workout in the morning. I didn’t skip exercise because I was tired, or because I had a bad day, or because I “deserved” a break. I knew my workouts were crucial for my weight loss and muscle tone, so I did them.

Somewhere along the road, I slacked off and decided I could half-ass this and still expect results. Eight years later, I haven’t achieved those results, so obviously I was quite wrong.

If I don’t start making changes NOW, I will not reach my goal weight this year. It is heartbreaking to imagine finishing yet another year without the victory and pride and satisfaction of hitting my goal weight. I want to do this. I NEED to do this.

Maybe it just took me eight years to feel deep in my bones that I desperately want to lose this weight. Well, I’m there. But words alone aren’t going to accomplish anything.

I resolve to logging my food. I resolve to daily workouts (with rest days as needed, of course). I resolve to weekly weigh-ins. I resolve to blog more often to give and get the support so crucial to this journey.

I RESOLVE TO REACH MY GOAL WEIGHT THIS YEAR!