Wednesday, June 04, 2008

155.6 - Midweek Muscle Building

Tonight I made it to a weight lifting class, and I was the only one there (besides the instructor) for the first 20 minutes. I was a few minutes late and was surprised to see it was just the instructor in the room, but was secretly pleased because I thought, "Hey, free personal training session." And even though it might seem awkward, it was actually pretty neat to have just the two of us working the routine.

Another woman joined in a third of the way through, and I felt really good about being the one who showed up to make sure the class happened. If I hadn't have gone to class, the instructor would likely have bailed and the 20-minute-late lady would have missed it completely (and, as an added bonus, I knew her, too, from my daughter's preschool, and she said she was late because she was in a meeting at work but told them she had to leave because she had an appointment. She rushed to the gym as fast as she could. Can you imagine how disappointed she'd have been if there were no class after all that?)

I've been going to the weights class once a week for about a month, so I felt like I could increase my weight load to make it tougher. I did and it was. And it was great. I'd planned on running a bit after the class but my legs were so wasted from squats and lunges I just didn't have it in me.

Unless you count the 5 laps around the track that I "ran" with the kids. One of their favorite things to do after I pick them up from Kids Club after I workout is run the club's indoor track (a mile is a little over 10 laps). I sometimes say no because we just don't have time at the end of the night, but mostly I let them because I figure it's kind of hypocritical of me not to let them run when they want to run. And boy, do they want to run. It cracks me up. I think Luke would run a full mile if I'd let the little guy. I'm going to have to sign them up for a kiddie race this fall.

Food's been spot on the past three days. I'm writing everything down and tracking calories again, because I have got to get serious about losing the rest of this weight. I'm really close, I think, to being mentally prepared to doing what it takes to lose 10 more pounds. And it's weird, really, to think that a year ago it was almost second nature to stay on plan but now it's such a struggle.

I do recall, though, that in those losing days I often adopted a "one day at a time" mind set, because with all the days it was going to take to lose over 50 pounds stretched out in front of me, it seemed impossible. Breaking it down like that worked, day in and day out. I've got 9 food journals full of those strung-together days.

So I'm back to working the plan again, meal by meal, day by day. And I feel like I'm also building up some mental muscle along the way.

5 comments:

Vickie said...

one day at a time is a great plan. On my side bar - I added a quote that I actually saw on a local sign:

Have a Plan
Follow your Plan
Plan for the Unexpected


And this is a quote one of the high school graduates used: A goal without a plan is just a wish.

Vickie said...

It will be interesting to see how you feel today (Thursday) it sounds as if you "kicked your own butt enough" that you will have NO doubt that you are working hard enough to need the day of muscle rest in between. Remember to STRETCH a lot today.

Anonymous said...

"I'm really close, I think, to being mentally prepared to doing what it takes to lose 10 more pounds. And it's weird, really, to think that a year ago it was almost second nature to stay on plan but now it's such a struggle."

Of course the last 10 lbs are the most difficult .... once you have been on a weight loss campaign for a long time, and lost a lot of weight, and are very close to goal, it must get very difficult to lose the last few pounds.

I bet your body doesn't especially want to relinquish them either -- your body might be holding on to them for all it's worth!

You might have to do something drastic or shocking to "surprise" your body and kick start it into losing the next ten.

Anonymous said...

You sound like you are in a really good place right now - I hope to join you soon!

I've been thinking about taking a class just to add some flavor into my predictable ole routine - a strength training class would be good I think.

Good luck with those last 10 pounds - you are going to do great!!

Grumpy Chair said...

How fun all of you running around the gym. They want to do that because you do it. What a great thing to have taught your children . . . running is fun and cool.

Sometimes aerobics has only two ladies at the beginning then others trickle in. One of the instructors won't start unless three people show up, and she is always saying "I can't start unless we have three people". That irritates me because obviously I'm there to workout.

Regarding getting your mojo back: I often wonder why it has been so hard to get my act together when it was so easy and felt so awesome to stay on plan when I was losing weight the first time. So crazy.
I'm that same person, but where is the guttural drive?

Sounds like you found it and are on your way to losing.