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bikini body reveal

bikini body reveal                

It’s been 4 months since the start of Josie’s bikini body challenge. I can’t believe that much time has gone by already. When we started the challenge, I intended to work hard and put on some new muscle, and hopefully slim out some from being consistent with my nutrition and workouts. I did that for awhile, but I’d just recently started my first semester back in college. And between the ice cream and sugar filled homework coffees, to the homework candy bars, and the my history teacher stresses me out and I have papers due and a million exams so I’m not cooking dinner meals out… Well, you get the point. I put on around 15 pounds between February and May.

And then when the semester ended in mid May, I got serious about my diet and started really working hard at working out. I walk a ton, I run some, and now I’m swimming, too… plus anything else I can find time for. I’ve lost 23 pounds since then. This challenge is NOT about pounds lost. But in the end, that’s what I needed to do to feel comfortable in my own skin again. People who haven’t seen me in awhile, or didn’t see me after the before pic will not likely notice a whole lot of change. I weighed in around 177 in February. And now I weigh around 168. That isn’t much difference. My muscles aren’t really much bigger, at least not since I stopped lifting my heart out in May to focus on losing pounds instead. People who saw me at the end of the semester, or have watched me losing pounds on a daily basis might see a pretty big difference.

To me though, I’ve gained quite a bit from this experience. Everything about me is different. I can tell when I’m truly hungry. I feel significantly more fit than I had been. I feel strong when I walk. When I run, though I may not be running as much right now, I’ve gotten faster again. Once I’m in a happy place I will get back to running more and working on my speed. For the moment I feel joyful at feeling so healthy. I feel good when I eat real foods that I cook myself. I feel amazing after a 3 mile walk. I feel incredible when I run faster than I had been even in this ridiculous summer heat. And I feel especially good about working this hard and making the right choices that influence my family to make good choices, too.

I intend to keep going, keep shedding pounds, keep working my tail off to get fit… and then I’ll get back to working on pretty muscles. I have some pretty nice ones in my legs from all the walking/running/swimming. Upper body will be my agenda when the time comes. In the meantime, I feel like a winner even if my before and after pics look nearly identical. I know they aren’t really. I wasn’t nearly this fit in February as I began sucking down the homework drinks and snacks. I’m comfortable at the park in my running clothes that are suited for 100+ degree weather. Not quite ready for a bikini yet, but I’m on the right path.

 

Thanks Josie for inspiring us and helping us work towards our goals.

I’ve lost a cat!

I’ve lost a cat!                

Well, not that cat, I lost him a couple weeks ago. That’s my kitten Mario posing with my scale. Note how he shoots laser beams from his eye!

It’s Wednesday, so let’s get on with it. I’ve lost 19 lbs in 4 weeks. My fat cat Aliera was 18 lbs at last weigh in. She herself has lost over 9 lbs in the past several months. I’ve now lost more than she currently weighs. Whoohoo! My goal for this week was to really push myself and reach 20 lbs lost by the time my mom comes for a visit on Saturday. I think I can… one more pound to go in 3 more days. Then I will tone my diet down for a couple weeks or so and see how it’s going and whether or not I need to hit it as hard again to keep losing well.

Summer classes started Monday. I’m taking nutrition online and loving it. Maybe once I’m done losing, this class will help me design a long term healthy diet to maintain a healthy weight. Mostly though, it just feels really good doing homework again. I know that makes me pretty weird, but whatever. ;)

notes

notes                

 

Written on the 2nd day of my first semester back in college, this past January.

Day two impressions:
Math yesterday was ok. Not a big fan of the small group thing we’ll be doing every other class, but I found a group of girls (in various age ranges) and it wasn’t so bad. Overall it feels pretty babyish like we’re in high school. I guess so long as I pass it, who cares. I’ll go give it my all.

Noteworthy observations from today’s classes: English teacher sitting on a bench in the hall looked like a student, if he didn’t hand me a syllabus I wouldn’t have realized he was the teacher (sneaky).  He seemed alright. I might even end up liking the class, but we’ll see if I still feel that way after an essay or two.

History teacher had the best line of the day. “I’ve never had the lake view before. That’s really distracting.” The classroom has windows that look into the pool area. Awesome! That’s all that’s awesome about this class, though. It’s going to be a hard one for me.

Sociology teacher seems ok and I think it’ll be my most interesting class, but it’s going to be hard. I’m really going to have to put a ton of work into it. In the end, that’s probably a good thing. A bit overwhelming to think about, though.

So now you know why I kept talking about staring at the lake all semester (History class with a pool view).  And now you have a partial explanation for why I called my English teacher Dr. Sweets (Looks more like a student than most of the students do).  And now you know why I’ve decided that I pretty much hate don’t get along with Sociology (it’s hard!). Oh, and that group of girls in Math eventually turned into me actually making two good friends that I intend to hang out with in my real life, which may be a first for my 11 years of living in this state.  What, no one told me I was supposed to make friends here if I planned to live here forever… I get it now.

And now that you know more about my weird life as a really old college student, let’s get to the real update because it’s Wednesday. I’ve lost 15 lbs in the past 3 weeks! I’ve been doing a lot of walking which is great because, I forgot, but I love walking! I was a little worried it would be harder to fit in once my daughter was out of school for the summer, but today we went to the park and she biked while I walked and asked if we can go every day. Now that’s the kind of attitude I like coming from her.

It’s all about the numbers.

It’s all about the numbers.                

At least today it is, because I’ve lost 8 lbs since last Wednesday! I’m going at it full force now that school is out and feeling much better already. I’m not backing down this time.

The other reason it’s all about the numbers today is that grades are in! It’s official, I got A’s in all four of my classes. So happy about that. In the meantime, I’m just trying to enjoy my 3 weeks before my summer class starts. I’ll be taking nutrition online, which I’m really excited about. I won’t be going to class in person until the fall, which is sad and wonderful at the same time. I’ll miss it there. But I also find I have tons of free time on my hands now. I guess I was fairly lazy before and I’ve become more efficient now, because I’m getting a lot more done in a day than I used to. It’ll also be nice to not have to fill my gas tank as often, I can definitely use a break from that, too.

a comfortable pace

a comfortable pace                

You know you’ve heard it… People talk all the time about running at a comfortable pace. Where you can hold a conversation. And nothing hurts. I had NEVER experienced that before this morning.

I’ve run much faster and much slower than I did today. I tend to lean towards faster because it hurts and I lose my breath, but it’s over faster and once I recover, I feel like I worked out hard, and I feel good all day. When I run slower? I still can’t breathe, and things start to hurt in very bad ways. I’ve always suspected this is because I take it more in different muscles when I run slower, for example a lot more work in the calves than in the thighs.

I’ve watched people talk and talk like they’re sitting on the couch having a chat while running. At best I’ve only been able to choke out a few words here and there between gasps for air.

So what was so different today? I’m leaning towards the switch in allergy medicine being responsible for at least part of it. My allergies were really backed up for a couple of weeks, and after switching meds a few days ago I almost feel normal again. I’m not sure if I just feel so dramatically better than I have for the past couple of weeks, or if I feel better than I have in months and maybe even years. But had I been in a chatty mood, I could have talked my husband’s ear off while we ran this morning. Because there was absolutely no difficulty breathing for the first time ever while running for me.

As far as the no pain part goes, I’m hoping it has to do with the hard work I’ve been doing lately to transform my body. I’m running a mile 5 mornings a week, lifting weights and doing some plyometrics 3 days a week, plus other workouts when there’s time that vary by what I’m in the mood for. I still don’t have a full handle on my eating, but I’m working on it and eating extremely well when I can. It’s my hope that my “easy” run this morning is due to a rise in my overall fitness level, which really is the ultimate goal for me.

If every run were like this one, I’d be out there with you marathoners.

Bring it on!

Bring it on!                

So I’m working on this here Bikini Body Challenge from Josie at Yum Yucky.

I run every weekday morning. I climb 4 flights of stairs 3 times a week. Because that absolutely KILLS me and I was thinking I need to look into the whole plyometrics thing, I was thrilled when I found Kimberly Linton’s sexy thighs video. Because that’s pretty much what it is. And so I added these moves into my workout on Monday. And I instantly found myself gasping for air just like when I climb those stairs. And today’s Wednesday and my legs are still killing me. I’m starting to recover so tomorrow we can rinse and repeat and call it just what I was looking for. (Thanks, Kim!) Something challenging that might help both my muscles and my running. And my stair climbing endurance. I’m also lifting weights 2 to 3 times a week, and fitting in anything else I can when I can.

I’m eating lots of brown rice and veggies. That’s really my lunch there. That’s typically the basis of lunch for me lately. Some fruit with it most of the time. Toast for breakfast, Something good and reasonable calorie-wise for dinner. Healthy (usually) snacks when I have the calories left for them and am hungry for something. I’m consuming between 1300 and 1600 calories a day, which has been mostly easy to stay within.

I finally took some measurements and got on a scale last week, so I’ll have something to compare it to later. Since the challenge isn’t about weight, I don’t plan to be looking at it too often. I’m building muscle so it likely won’t drop much for awhile anyway. I’m already seeing lots of new muscle definition, and I’m really happy about that.

I’m also taking this spring break thing seriously by reading like crazy in between naps because I’m so tired it hurts. Today was better because I actually got up and stuck to my regular schedule. But I still faded out this afternoon and my throat is killing me. I don’t have time to be sick, so which one of you wants it if I get it?