Day 71: Last Day of August

I did absolutely NOTHING today, NOTHING and you know what, I don't feel bad about it.  Wanna know why?  Because tomorrow is September first..........do you know what that means??  It means going hard without excuses.  It means working harder than I ever have even when I don't want too.  Ironically I'm not worried or afraid, I'm really looking forward to it.  I think it will be good for me to continue challenging myself to do things that I thought were impossible.

We'll see how tomorrow goes, but right now I'm about to do some homework.

Day 70: Why Stretch?

Track Date and Body Flow today.  I am going to commit to stretching before and after each Track Date because this morning my hips were on fire. I also need to come up with an alternative to running outside since the seasons are about to change and my allergies are horrible in the spring and fall.  I couldn't run one complete lap this morning, let alone a mile.  My guess the "why"is because they were cutting grass outside which sucks for me.  Mentally I was very hard on myself because I felt disappointed that I was not able to continue increasing the number of laps/miles that I'm able to complete.

But hey, this is all a process that has good days and bad days.  Today was both of those because although Track Date wasn't great, Body Flow was.  Actually the experience this time was 100% better experience. The teacher was very good as she explained every move/pose.  It was just good.

Day 67/68/69: Week 11

I have been working more, going out more and getting home later (too late to blog).  So I don't have any entries for the last few days and that's probably a good thing since my eating has been AWFUL with a capitol "A" and my exercising has been nothing to write home about either.  But that's ok because although today is a new day, so is tomorrow.  I feel bad, but not bad enough to beat myself up over my poor choices.

Week 11 huh?  I have to stop, do inventory and ask myself, "So Shelly, how do you feel about everything?"  My response even has me thrown for an unexpected loop because I'd have to say,  "I feel great!  Yeah some days are hard and frustrating, I'm still committed and excited that I haven't quit".

As a matter of fact, after much thought and consideration I've decided that I'm not coming back to this place ever again and I'm not ashamed or embarrassed to talk about it either!  I'm at a point where new clothes are just about necessary, but I've been afraid of purchasing new clothes with the thought or idea that this change may not last.  But, no more!  So, as my clothes become too big to still be somewhat presentable, I'm going to pack them up and give them away!  Ohhhh, such a big step........but totally a necessary step.

The beginning of September is during week 11.  September is the start of a new eating plan: no sweets, minimum carbs, very little salt and 1.5 gallons of water daily.  I realize that my body responds better without a lot of sugar, carbs and salt and I feel better when I get the water in.  I'm doing this because at the end of the month I need to be able to run a 13 minute mile and be able to jog 4 miles in under an hour.  Also, by the end of the month I'd like to be able to do 45 hills within 45 minutes.  Part of me things that I am setting myself up, but without goals you automatically fail right???  Here is an even bolder statement - by the end of the month I WILL weigh under 300lbs (actually I don't know how bold that is considering I'm not that far off from that).  Hey, I gotta go hard cause I'm not ready to do home.

You don't have to believe the above, just WATCH and SEE!

Day 66: Breathing Troubles

Every form of exercise today was madd HARD and instead of #goinghard, I #wenthome!  I got up on time to do to Track Date.  I got there and started, but for some reason I couldn't breath at all.  My breathing was like when I first started.  On one of the laps I felt my esophagus begin closing.  At that point I started thinking and was trying to figure out what was going on.  I realized that it was the freshly cut grass!  I'm allergic to grass and apparently the power of it this morning tried to overtake me.  But I decided that I like the idea of breathing so I got in my car and came home.  Then this evening I went to run hills.  Instead of running 30, I did 15 hills.  I had the same thing where I couldn't breath.

What in the world is going on with my breathing.  I feel like I was finally getting to a place where breathing was not an issue, I hope I'm not regressing!

Day 65: Hurt my Hamstring

I am so excited but I probably shouldn't be.  Today I overslept and missed Track Date, but when I did get up I got dressed and went over to the track.  Unfortunately they were cutting the grass and I couldn't stay because I'm allergic to freshly cut grass.  I went to the Gym and just sat in the car for a few minutes debating if I was going to go.  But I got myself together and walked in.  I was still feeling pretty defeated about the whole weight gain thing, but I headed to the treadmill to get it in.  I walked a half mile and then started jogging.  I wanted to jog 2 full miles non-stop, but while I was at 2.25 miles in, something happened.  Right below my left butt cheek but above my knee on the back side started hurting like I pulled something.  I asked and found out what it was, it was my HAMSTRING.  I hurt my HAMSTRING!!!  Like seriously that is an athlete injury that serious athletes' get.  Yeah, it didn't feel great because I started limping and couldn't jog anymore, but it's great to know that I've got athlete types of injuries.

By the way, I re-weighed myself and I was back at my previous weight, so the gain must have been a fluke.  Tomorrow is Track Date and Hills all the way.  At Track Date I'm getting in 2 miles jogging but a total of 4 miles and I am going to do at least 25 hills.

You know, I'm really starting to like this new life of exercise and better food choices.  This is my new life and I refuse to engage in a sedentary lifestyle like before ever again.

Day 64: WHAT!!!

I'm pretty upset right now actually.  This evening I just had to weigh myself because I "feel" heavier & the scale said that I've gained 6 pounds since last week.

WHAT!!  

This past weekend my eating was completely off, but was it enough to gain 6 pounds?  I guess so!  Yeah I know that 6 pounds really isn't that much, but I was only 3 pounds away from being 40 pounds down from when I initially started this journey.  But now I am 9 pounds away from accomplishing my goal for the month of August.  I'm trying not to beat myself up too much about it because weight goes up and down based on muscle or water retention, but I don't want to get into a regression posture.  So, tomorrow morning at "Track Date" I have to push myself harder and further than I ever have.  I want to do the 2 miles non stop tomorrow morning.  I have to do this.  I have to prove to myself that this whole thing has not been a fluke and 6 pounds does not define my efforts.  Also, at Body Pump I'm going to increase my weights and at Body Attack I'm going to try some level 2 exercises.

Day 63: Sort of Bored

Track Date was pretty good today. I jogged a little over 5 laps, so I know that doing 6 full laps non stop is really a possibility.  On another note, I avoided all school work like the plague! I just couldn’t get into it, but I have no choice, tomorrow I have to do everything that I committed to doing.  Today was supposed to be a "2aDay" but I didn't work out this evening and I feel sort of bad about that.  I don't know what I've got to do to get out of this small funk......I gotta figure it out. You know what it is, I’m bored again. 

I'm bored with work, bored with school, bored with working out (well not completely yet, but getting close).  I feel kind of restless.  That means it really time to pray and reconnect with God.

Sigh......