Sunday, March 31, 2013

Weight is a Number


When I was a pre-teen/teenager, the scale played a pretty central part of my life. Even now, I remember how much I weighed when I was 12 (140 lbs), 14 (98 lbs), 18 (128 lbs). I had this imaginary number in my head (115lbs). If I was over, I weighed too much. If I was under, I was safe. As I got older, I stopped weighing myself obsessively and learned to slowly accept myself. Funny enough, my weight stabilized as a result and it has remained the same for the most of my 20's. 

During my last term of nursing school, I lost weight. It was a combination of adjusting to shift work and the stress of school. I was exhausted and cold all the time. Yesterday, I weighed myself and realized I weigh 8 lbs more than I did then (3 months later). A small part of me slightly panicked because I haven't weighed this much in years. Given it's only a few pounds over my norm. And then the rational part of me took over.

I feel great. 

My clothes still fit me. If anything, my pants fit better around my legs (they used to just hang) because I'm developing muscle. I can do squats and pushups. I increased my dumbbell weights. I'm trying to make working out part of my life. I have way more energy than I did three months ago. 

And I realized, weight is a number. It's a number just like how many pushups I can do in a row, stairs I can climb, distance I can go. 

Off topic, but it's been sunny in Vancouver. No rain and it's warm. Amazing. Don't judge me but I totally drove to the gym and did cardio (20 mins on stairmaster, 40 mins on bike) even though I have a bicycle at home and I know a place outdoors that has a good set of stairs I can climb. Oh well. 

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

New Additions to my Family

Herro 10lb weights

Went out to Fitness Depot today and finally bought 5lb weights (I bought 4, so 10 lb dumbbells). I started out with 5lb dumbbells. They started becoming easy so I wore 1lb weighted gloves to make the weights 6lbs. Hopefully these 10lb weights won't be too much of a jump for me. I'm excited.

Ab gut blaster slings

My bf convinced me to buy these and I'm glad I did! Any ab exercises that doesn't involve my butt bones grinding into the ground is fine by me. You put your arms through the slings and hold on to the top bindings. You can do a variety of gravity induced ab exercises by being elevated. Like planks or pushups, you use your own body weight to add to your workout. It's fun! We attached the slings to the chin up bar my bf bought when he tried P90x. I don't bother with the bar though. I can't do anything beyond 0 :( 

I went to the gym the other day and finally figured out how to use the exercise machines hah. I love the stairmaster. I did 20 minutes on there and 20 minutes on the bike. I wanted to do 20 minutes more on another cardio machine but it was time to go. I haven't ridden a bike in years and I wanted to try spin class. I'm glad my bf suggested that maybe I should actually try an exercise bike before diving off the deep end. But I like the gym a lot! I like that there's a variety. I like that when I'm done, I'm still in the same place as opposed to when I go for a run and when I feel like I'm done, I'm still stuck outside. I actually look forward to going to the gym now! 

I seem to have a love hate relationship with exercise. It's always one or the other. 

Monday, March 18, 2013

Insanity Attempt #2- Fit Test

This blog is a little sad isn't it? I write sporadically about working out and then go for long periods without anything. At least it's honest!

My workouts since I started working have been all right. I don't do it as often as I like to. I still do my abs/legs/arms days. I go at a leisurely pace and my show of choice is Real Housewives of Vancouver to get me through. I work out 2-4x/week. I went to the gym with my bf the other week and I didn't think the machines really did much but my arms were sore the next day! It was enough of a motivation for me to pay for a card to use the gym. I'll try to go once a week with my bf.


My friend and I have decided to attempt Insanity again. We don't do it physically together but we will try to follow the same schedule as each other. I like to think that's more motivating. Not suprisingly, the cardio put my body into shock. The last time I did cardio was my one run at the beginning of this year hah. My heart was racing. I was dizzy and nauseous. I threw up 3/4's through the workout. I was visualizing my oxygen supply and demand imbalance and my body thinking wtf is this sh*t. This seems to be the norm. But once I get over that dizzy vomiting hurdle, then my body accepts cardio. The 20 minute workout was like 45 mins for me with all the breaks I took.

I found my legs and arms are actually stronger compared to my first attempt at Insanity (which I didn't even make it through 2 weeks). My workouts must be doing something haha.  My bf thinks my body's not the problem; it's my mentality that's the biggest hurdle.

Here's my first fit test:

Switch kicks: 60
Power jacks: 37
Power knees: 75
Power jumps: 25
Globe jumps: 9
Suicide jumps: 12
Push up jacks: 15
Low plank obliques: 56