challenge – Page 3 – Sweat & Sparkle

Hello, March!

March Hello, March! You’ve kind of sneaked up on me. We are already starting the third month of this year? Maybe I should consider getting a start on my New Year resolutions, then.

I’ve set some things in place to motivate me and keep me on my toes this month. I have joined two challenges on LoseIt, a weight loss challenge and an exercise minutes challenge. I signed up for a free trial of Leslie Sansone’s Your Daily Walk app, so I have 31 days’ worth of free workout videos, just waiting for me to take them for a spin. I have a brand new, blank, shiny workout log posted on the fridge, and a stash of colored star stickers for the calendar, for each day that I work out.

I’m excited to see what I can accomplish this month. My husband keeps telling me he has no doubt I will kick ass once I feel I am damn good and ready, and it’s about time to do just that!

Good Hair Day

Well, I didn’t work out yesterday, but here I am, writing on my blog, so I’m not entirely, completely sucking at my weekly goals. Oh, and I logged all my food and drink yesterday. Okay, I actually didn’t wrap up yesterday’s food log until this morning, when I finally remembered I set a goal of logging each day, but it’s still finished, and today is filled in through lunch too.

“Work out” is at the top of my to-do list for this evening. I don’t want to, for many reasons, not the least of which being I am having a good hair day and don’t want to mess it up (seriously, it’s all fluffy and bouncy today), but I will sacrifice my hairdo to burn a few calories tonight.

I need a long-term goal to go with my weekly goals, not just something vague like “reach my goal weight eventually, at some undetermined point in the distant future”. I have been kicking around ideas and really like the thought of setting a goal to correspond with football season. I love football games, especially my younger stepson’s games, and every year I like to get a new team shirt. I’d like to be able to get a new one in at least one size smaller this fall. I will keep brainstorming and nail down my personal challenge, hash out details, and post it here soon.

11b4c21ff7d447c1ba29d07137eaa6162fc35f474711a1b41e6bbfe650c00851 — *Okay, okay, I’ll go anyway!*

All Caught Up

fa9ad-24337328_1503343043095198_1458872097_n All caught up! Yesterday I did my 45 squats for the Holiday Squat-A-Thon, then later in the day I tacked on 45 more to make up for the first two days that I missed by starting the challenge late (20 and 25 squats, respectively, for each day).

So now I have each day crossed off from December 1st until today, which I haven’t done yet (50 squats).

When I do those squats tonight, I think I will add some light hand weights. Even after doing all those squats yesterday, my legs weren’t sore later. They were a bit shaky when I first gone done, but no muscle soreness that says “Hell yeah! I worked these sexy muscles like a beast!” And who doesn’t want muscles that scream sweet nothings like that? 🙂

Bury Them!

Day #2 (yesterday) of Weight Watchers went well, and I finished the day under points again. I’m surprised my body hasn’t gone into shock from me actually eating fruits and vegetables! Most fruit and vegetables are zero points, so when I went grocery shopping over the weekend, I stocked up for my snacks. I’ll be honest, I would still prefer soda and a candy bar, but Weight Watchers frowns upon those and assigns them a ton of points, the sadistic bastards.

Yesterday was the first day in a loooooong time that I didn’t have so much as a single drop of soda. Soda is just too many points, and it’s not worth it.

The nitwit who questioned my miles in the wellness challenge at work has no idea that he or she lit a fire under my ass like they wouldn’t believe. Last night’s workout was weights, but after I finished that, I decided to tack on two miles of Leslie Sansone walking workout, purely for spite. Then I walked two miles during my lunch today. If they want something to complain about, I am more than willing to give it to them!

My husband was angry as well. In fact, I think he was cursing about it even more than I was last night. He sees me pack my gym bag so I can hit Spinning class after work, and he sees me come home sweaty and stinky. He sees me drag myself off the couch when I’m tired but still need to get a workout in. He wakes up when the alarm goes off in the pitch black when I have no choice but to work out in the morning. (I would say he suffers silently, but anyone who knows him already knows that is most definitely not the case!) Even hinting that I have not fully earned each and every one of the miles I have reported for this challenge did far more than just irritate him. He is offended by it, as am I.

But if it can serve a positive purpose, then so be it. All I keep thinking is, “They shouldn’t have pissed me off.” Before, they were just going to lose. Now I am going to see to it that they are absolutely, positively buried!

A Little Drama

Yesterday was my official day #1 of logging Weight Watchers points instead of counting calories, and I did pretty damn good, if I may say so myself. I have 30 points per day, and I finished the day at 30 points exactly.

I showed my husband the app, explained the points, and showed him how I had used 30 of my 30 points and didn’t have any left for the day. He was polite and pretended to be interested, ha ha. A few minutes later, I asked him to toss me a caramel from the candy dish on the table beside him, and he said no. He told me, “I am not going to contribute to the delinquency of your diet!” So thanks to his diligent police work, I did not go even one point over for the day. (For the record, I looked it up, and one caramel is one point.)

Today I had hot tea with my breakfast, because my usual breakfast-of-champions beverage, Coke, is 9 points, and that’s just way too much to use at one swoop. I have had no soda today at all. I don’t know what it is about the points system vs. calories that motivates me so much more, but whatever it is, I will take it!

Remember that wellness challenge at work that I mentioned, where we are tracking our miles? This morning the person in charge of the challenge came to my office and, looking embarrassed, told me that he had gotten some questions about the number of miles I’ve been reporting on our chart. I showed him my workout log, where each and every mile is accounted for.

He told me that a co-worker (he didn’t say who) complained that I should be converting Spinning class time to miles. That makes no sense. The Spinning bikes have little computers that track rotations per minute, time, and miles. So I know precisely, to the hundredths of a mile, how many miles I cover during one class. I told him the bikes track miles, so why would I convert time to miles? If someone is walking on a treadmill, they are logging the miles from the treadmill, not converting time to miles. Why would Spinning class be any different?

I can understand converting activities that don’t easily measure in miles, like yoga or weight training or Zumba. But walking, running, and biking are easily measured in miles already. There is nothing to convert.

Since he had no explanation, argument, or rationalization for me, I am not changing a thing. To be honest, I am irritated. If I was in dead last place, how I track Spinning class would not even be an issue to anybody. But I’m winning, and pretty soundly spanking everyone’s butt at that, so now I am under the microscope, with jealous co-workers trying to find ways to discredit my hard work instead of stepping it up themselves.

Don’t like that I am whipping your ass in the miles challenge? Then beat me. Simple as that.

In honor of the sissy coward punk who complained and couldn’t even do that to my face, I did a 2-mile walk during my lunch today instead of the usual 1-mile. Consider this game on. Didn’t like how many miles I had last week? Oh, wait until you see what I rack up this week!