No Sweat… wait, actually a lot of sweat

I found my new favorite group exercise class!  It’s called “Accumulator” and it stacks exercises up one after the other so that it just grows and grows.

For example:

Burpees

Burpees + Jump Squats

Burpees + Jump Squats + Clean/Press

Burpees + Jump Squats + Clean/Press + Single Arm Lifts

They kept adding up until we were doing burpees, jump squats, clean/press, single arm lifts, reverse flies, high knees, and bent over rows.  THEN! They had an ab-specific portion where they started with plank and added one after the other until we were doing plank, overhead lift, flutter kicks, crunches, reverse crunches, donkey kicks, and Russian twists.

It was INTENSE and I worked up SUCH a good sweat.  The awesome thing, though, is that there were sufficient modifications that I could complete the class at my own level.  For burpees, I had a riser to add an incline. For the plank step-outs I just held a plank or used the riser. For high-knees, I marched when I got too fatigued.  I did 6″ leg raises instead of flutter kicks…. My shirt was soaked, my face was red, I was completely out of breath and I *LOVED* it.

I’m definitely going to carve time out of my schedule for that class.

When I’m not working out at class, I’m working out with Little Elfkin.  We go for walks and she leads me on a merry chase.  It’s probably good for my back if I remember to keep good form 🙂

I’m still working on getting my diet cleaned up.  I have a sugar fiend that keeps sabotaging my efforts.  Slowly but surely I’ll wean off of that.  Caffeine too.  Eventually.  It’s quite difficult to go from so much sugar and monster + daily to nothing–and I’m not great at quitting cold turkey.  Yesterday I had a doughnut for breakfast, today I had cookies for a snack…. The stuff is entirely too accessible either on my commute or at work.

Little Elfkin had her check up recently and she’s my little chunky monkey.  She’s proportionate, but she’s proportionately *big*.  The pediatrician basically said that genetically she’ll have a double chin and a little belly because she was shaped that way from the start.  She even had a little double chin when she was a hungry baby before we figured out how to breastfeed or use formula.  Still, though, I want her to have a healthy relationship to food and fitness, so we’re still having our meals together 🙂 she eats what I eat when we’re together and I won’t give her junk, so that cuts down on the junk I have! 🙂 It helps that we got rid of so much of the junk from the pantry.

She loves spinach, eggs, sweet potato, strawberries, cherries, peaches, pears, carrots, peas, beans, etc. 🙂 She’s an adventurous eater and not picky at all. As more veggies come into season, I’m excited to share more of the flavors with her.

True Gamers Don’t Quit They Respawn

I haven’t written an entry since FEBRUARY!  I know you all believe it because I go through fits and spurts of blogging and doing really well with a set schedule and then just fall away without warning.  Well, here I am for the latest spurt of fitness blogging!  Little Elfkin is 9 months old now and *so* adventurous.  She loves her Mama and Daddy but she also wants to explore any and everything in her little world.  She has been helping pull weeds, enjoys the swingset at the park, and has boundless energy.  She isn’t quite independently mobile yet, but when she is, you can bet that we’ll be on our toes.  She’s my inspiration for getting fit again.  She’s been my excuse, but now that she’s gotten so much bigger, I know that I really need to focus on getting stronger so that the day I set her down and never pick her back up again is as far away as possible.  Ahem!  I’m not crying, you’re crying! Moving on.. 

I’m going to be following NerdFitness guidelines for mindset, nutrition, and quests, but I have group classes available to me at work too.  I went to bootcamp on Monday and only made it through about half the class before getting completely winded, sore, and super-duper sweaty.  I said I’d be back on Tuesday for the next group class, but here it’s Friday and I haven’t gotten away from my desk for any amount of time that matters.  I’m so *busy* that I just don’t feel like there’s time to go.  I got stuck in meetings over the time that the group class was offered, but then I didn’t make up for it after-the-fact either.  Instead, I went to a happy hour with my colleagues where I ate chips and drank beer.

I need to revisit the mindset module to document the Big Why in an official format, and I need to figure out what my first challenge is going to encompass.  I cannot just hit the ground running and expect to be where I was back in 2012 by next week.  3 words: Not gonna happen.  There are changes I can make though, that will make a huge difference in my health and wellness, so I need to explore what changes I can make NOW that will help lead me towards the end-game.

Coming up on Saturday–The Weigh In and the Big Why.

MegsFitness on Nerd Fitness – Battle Logs!

I’ve blogged in the past about how much happier and more content I feel when I am following the core strengths of health and wellness – including eating well, sleeping well, exercising, and making time for personal goals.  So, it stands to reason that now, more than ever, I need to get back into the patterns of healthy eating, getting enough (and higher quality) rest, exercising, and making time for personal goals. 

This blog has become more of a personal journal for me, which will definitely incorporate health and wellness, but it’s always been about more than that.  For me, it’s been about recognizing the fact that my journey — whether it’s to weight loss, muscle gain, social changes, or family life — is going to be completely different from someone else’s journey, even if we share many of the same characteristics.  To that end, I still have every intention of maintaining this blog and getting back into writing about things that are fun, interesting, or relative to my personal narrative.  

My day-to-day fitness narrative is going to be captured at Nerd Fitness.  It’s a community of fitness-minded individuals and I really feel like that’s the sort of encouragement I could use at the moment.  What that means for the MegsFitness blog is that I’ll be cross-posting my weekly summaries here, so that at least part of this journal can resonate with the “-Fitness” part of the name 😀

I’m ready to get back to good.  I’m ready to lose weight, gain muscle, find my confidence, and conquer the world.  If you’re interested in joining The Rebellion, my “battle log” is found here: http://rebellion.nerdfitness.com/index.php?/topic/52946-amis-last-first-post/

[Begin Crosspost]:

Name: Aminarra, aka “MegsFitness”

Occupation: Corporate Fleet Management Resolution

Previous Fitness Experience: 2 years on SparkPeople, 3 years with Weight Loss Warriors, 3 attempts at Weight Watchers, 1 attempt at Herbalife; 4 years high school strength training, 1 obstacle 5k, 10+ regular 5k Races, greatest weight loss 42lbs.

Current Level of Fitness: Sedentary.  It’s been 2 years since I’ve worked out consistently due to a severe back injury after the Warrior Dash.

“End Game” Goal: Working out 4+x/week, Settling at a healthy weight, ideally ~180, but more importantly having functional strength and physical health.

Short-term Goal: Begin working out 1-3x/week, at a beginner level to become re-acclimated to the fitness world. Begin reintegrating Paleo Lifestyle into eating plan  

Plan of Action:  Use Nerd Fitness to launch new fitness goals; integrate fitness guild with gamer guild for inspiration.  Generate weekly goals in the areas of nutrition, exercise, and personal.  Update status on goals at least weekly.

Outside of NF: 
https://megsfitness.wordpress.com/
http://www.vexxgaming.com/

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The day was hectic. By the time I sat down for lunch, I had only 5 minutes to eat. (thanks for the tortellini, Mom!!) I took 8 minutes anyway, then dashed off to my next meeting. The rest of the afternoon flew by until it was time to clock out and head to training.

I met with Jody. We started with resistance bands and really targeted the scapular muscles. I was collapsing my frame by the end of the sets and didn’t realize it, so I’m glad she was there.We also used the bands to do a rotating like motion to target the muscles between my shoulders.

We moved into the studio, and did some floor exercises. Trunk twists, guided crunches, pelvic rotations, pelvic rotations with marching motion, bridge, calf raises/flex and point, adductor and abductor exercises with a resistance bands, and kick backs.

I felt the burn, but I feel good, now. Jody said that I’ve got a better foundation than I give myself credit for, and a greater range of motion than she was expecting. I credit iaido for that.

At this point, I’m glad to be getting started.

Dedicated to Mentality, My Fitness Pal

Chiropractor – 1 year update

A week or so ago, I had an updated exam with my Chiropractor.  This week marks a year since I started seeing a chiropractor.  The first time I wrote about it was back in February of 2013 and I observed:

 I was able to get in on Friday and they did some pretty fancy scans to figure out what the problem is, where it might be, and what might be causing it.  I had to wait through the weekend to find out what the problem was, but when I got the results, they were a bit staggering

The C1 vertebrae in my neck, for example, is being pulled to the left 175% more than the right because those muscles are activated and compensating

A year ago, I was going to physical therapy, building standing stations, swearing off gaming, picking up swimming… basically anything I could to try to figure out the back pain.  I was driven to the Chiropractor when I had extreme pain in the form of spasms that were interrupting my ability to do my job effectively.

On the 24th, I had an updated scan, and I’ve got good things to report:

Changes.  Last year, there was a >25lb difference in weight distribution.  At this latest scan, it’s down to ~10lb difference.  The mid-thoracic is no longer having spasms and most of my days, my back feels good.  I’m no longer taking advil and tylenol multiple times a day, or even daily any more.  The rest of the scans were great, too:

This chart (above) is showing that the muscles that were being over worked are no longer being overworked to the extremes that they were in the past.  The T11,T12 and L1 areas are still problematic, but it’s come a long way since then.  I certainly FEEL better.

What these charts are showing is that in Feb 2013, there was a pretty significant problem with muscle asymmetry/fatigue.  My newest scans are so much closer to the  normal scan.  I was really happy to see this.

I got a high-five and stickers, though, for a new scan that they performed:

I’m fit as a fiddle when it comes to my heart and athletic aerobic abilities.  They were saying that the blue areas were for super-athletes like Olympians or whatnot.

🙂  Considering the type of blog I’m trying to keep here, I’m very happy to report that I am (for all intents and purposes) healthy. Special thanks go to Dr. Gary and the team at my local Chiropractor for all of their assistance in getting me functioning this well.  Especially to Brittany and Jess for fitting me in where they can, and for constantly tolerating all of my needs to reschedule appointments.

In the next year, I hope to continue seeing improvements in my overall health and wellness.  Specifically, I would like to see a reduction in stiffness in my back, and to address the pain in my hip.

In a nutshell, though, I’m happy just to be able to work out again 🙂  Now it’s a matter of getting back into a great routine now that it’s been a year and a half since really being into it.

Love: an evening walk

Sometimes love is just holding hands, picking flowers, and listening to bird song.

Third Visit – and Dysthymia

The exact cause of dysthymia is unknown. It tends to run in families. Dysthymia occurs more often in women than in men and affects up to 5% of the general population.

The main symptom of dysthymia is a low, dark, or sad mood on most days for at least 2 years. In children and adolescents, the mood can be irritable instead of depressed and may last for at least 1 year.

In addition, two or more of the following symptoms will be present almost all of the time that the person has dysthymia:

• Feelings of hopelessness
• Too little or too much sleep
• Low energy or fatigue
• Low self-esteem
• Poor appetite or overeating
• Poor concentration

People with dysthymia will often take a negative or discouraging view of themselves, their future, other people, and life events. Problems often seem more difficult to solve. (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0001916/)

I had the third visit with the counselor the other day and after telling her of the stresses, trouble concentrating at work, et al, she asked me to consider dysthymia.  I think that’s why I haven’t updated.  It’s overwhelming to consider that there might actually be something physical causing my trouble sleeping, trouble focusing, poor self-esteem, and over-eating.

I guess the light that I’m trying to consider is that if there’s a cause, there can be a cure.  But that’s something I’m still looking into.  In the mean time, I’ve re-joined sparkpeople and posted a blog about my “ah-ha” moment over there.  Since I just re-joined that site, I’m not really diving into the “Hey! I have issues..” thing, but I told of looking through our engagement pictures and completely ruining the experience for myself by being so self-critical.  So, first things first – the 3 W goals for the week – Water, Wake, Walk.  64 oz of water, 1 get-up-and-go song/day, and go for 1 walk/day.

The last time I got to good it was through sleep, nutrition, and exercise.  Maybe it can work again ❤

Getting back on track

Last week was a very good week as far as getting stress under control.  As you may have read, the visit to the second counselor went really well. After the revelation that she made, I was better able to handle the stress of the week.  One of the ways that I coped, though, was through cutting out my exercise routine.  Emily, my personal trainer, has been a champ at dealing with all of my canceled opportunities.  Honestly, when I was bogged down with everything else that was stressing me out, trying to keep an appointment with her stressed me out even more.  Why?  I don’t know.  Exercise truly makes me feel better, but in the heat of the moment, it was just one more thing that needed to be done that takes time to do.  I felt that if I took time away from doing homework that it wouldn’t get done.  I ended up staying at work until 10pm almost every night last week just to make sure it *did* get done.  Then, I just did things that made me happy.  Getting the homework off of my plate opened up the rest of the weekend where I could do things I enjoy:

(top to bottom, clockwise) – work, as I was leaving Thursday night, completed Pinterest Project (magnetic make-up holder), having Michael and Stephanie over for games, cooking healthy food, and fixing things for my grandma with my papa-bear.

To be fair, some of these pictures are older, but it captures the gist of things that make me happy.  That, and gaming.  I got together with a few people from the guild and did my first dungeon in GW2 this weekend:

Today I’m going to meet with Emily and catch her up on all of the goings on.  We’re going for a walk over lunch and then I’m going to get back into my fitness routine.  I’m starting up the C25k again, and hoping to use that in between my strength training days.

Glitter and goals, folks, that’s what’s going to get me back on track.