On to Stage 4

Of course, NRoLfW Stage 4 has the same workouts as Stage 2. You have the option of 2 or 3 sets of each. Today I did 3 of everything and still got out in under an hour. I didn't do all the 90s waiting periods, though. I was thinking about only doing 2 sets of the plank/woodchop combo, but I did 3. That 3rd 2minute plank was VERY tough. Going into it, I didn't think I could make 2 minutes at a plank at all! So, I'm pretty pleased with myself. I did get some knee clicks on some of the squats and some of the step-ups. I only went to horizontal on the squats.

Overall, I'm happy with my performance. I didn't back off on the weights and even increased some. I ended with a relatively strong feeling.

It was rather busy today in the gym. About half way through, others started showing up. Two women were also using the weight area then a guy showed up, too. That kind of surprised me since it's summer.

Tomorrow is my last PT appointment. Now I'll have to do the exercises on my own. I don't know if I'll be able to keep those stability ball ones up. I don't like them much, but I did improve a lot over the last few weeks. I'm still getting knee clicks, but my muscles are developing.

Monday, I ran 2.18 miles and had no problems with my knee. I'll slowly increase mileage and see what happens.

14 bunnies

I haven't posted in a few days, but I haven't been sitting on my duff!
Tuesday and Thursday I had PT. My PT on Tuesday was intense, so I took Wednesday off. Friday I mowed the lawn, which is an hour and thirty minutes of hard work, so I definitely count that as a workout. Saturday, I did a yoga session from Yoga Today. Sunday, I pulled my daughter in a trailer to church and back, which is about a hilly 6 mile trip, then we walked around the Des Moines Art Festival for 2.5 hours.

This morning, I got up and went for a jog. The PT said I should start to try jogging again. It was a slow, easy jog with an average pace of 12:10 over 2.18 miles.

I managed to see 14 bunnies today, which might be a record. I didn't count a couple that were farther away from me and didn't run away. It was a beautiful morning. Lots of tweeting birds. Not much traffic. I even got to greet someone on the path.

So far the knee is good. I ended the jog for other reasons of Mother Nature. argh.

Watching what I eat

Well, I've proven that I can't trust myself to watch what I eat long term without tracking. The scale just creeps up and up and I don't stop myself when I should. It would be fine if I were still following what used to be Weight Watchers' Core plan, but I've added back so many things that I would have to count, that it really wouldn't make sense to attempt that. It's not that I'm eating horribly, I just need to get my portions under control and start saying "NO!" to most sweets again.

Sweets are my downfall. I think they are like a drug to me. I need to stay away, otherwise I go overboard. If I stay away, I don't crave them. If I allow myself more than a tiny bit, then I won't stop myself from having more.

I've added a link at the right to my food journal at FitDay. So far, I like the simplicity and thoroughness of this journal. I actually canceled my Weight Watchers eTools subscription, although that will run until September, because I had recently renewed for three months.

I'm going to try to bring my macros more into alignment with what is laid out in New Rules. They recommend calorie distribution of 40% carbs/30% fat/ 30% protein mix. Judging from yesterday, which was typical besides limiting overall calorie intake, I'm heavy on the carbs and light on the fat and protein... and that was even after adding some cheese. The point system at Weight Watchers was nice and easy, but it wasn't able to track macros. So, we'll see how this new thing works out. FitDay has a premium option for $5.49/month. They also have a PC based version. I wonder what the difference is. I'll give the free version a while before deciding to pay. I have no problem paying if I get benefit out of it, though.

So, I weighed myself this morning and I'm starting at 154lbs. That's even considered an overweight BMI again. *sigh* I know if I build muscle, the BMI won't mean much, but my clothes are tight right now. I'm definitely not a lean, mean muscle-machine. I wore a skirt on Sunday that was a size up from what I've been wearing lately and it fit well. A few months ago, it was too big. So, back to the downward motion of the yo-yo. Hopefully, I can do one of those yo-yo tricks where you make it spin at the bottom and don't jerk it to make it roll back up.



I haven't worked out since Friday. The sun burn is finally calming down. I moved my PT appointment from yesterday to today in the hopes that it would be less painfull. Sliding my back on the wall was NOT going to happen yesterday. It might not happen today, either!

End of Stage 3

Today was Stage 3 B4, the end of stage 3. It was an ok workout, but not very exciting. I couldn't really increase the weights. I also left off the intervals.

Saturday, I got a bad sunburn, and it's still hurting. That really zaps the energy out of me.

That's all.

Balance Trainer

Because I'm soooo enthusiastic about these bikes here is a picture I took of my daughter last night:


Notice the shoes on the wrong feet. ;) With as fast as she's able to ride now, we probably need to get her a helmet!