Liking the YMCA

I've been going to the Y for a few months now and liking it a lot. I can now do a half mile on the elliptical in about 15 minutes and a mile and a quarter on the treadmill in about 1/2 hour. I do 3 sets of 10 with 25lbs on most of the circuit machines and feel really good when I go. I try to get my heartrate between 130-140 during the cardio stuff, so I'm still not pushing it really hard. I am really ready to see some results though. My weight on the scale at the Y is 244lbs which I think is completely out of control. That's about 20 more pounds than when I started this blog!!! Obviously, I do need to pay better attention to what I eat and quantity as well. I've switched down to 2% milk - sigh - and been trying to watch my portions more carefully. I really need to curb my late night snacking somehow...

Good Week, Getting Moving!

So, I think my new strategy is helping - I got out to the YMCA twice this week. My goal is 10 moves a week and this last week I got up to 8, which is an improvement.

Good Week So Far...

Definitely doing better this week than last. Actually made it to the gym this morning which felt really good. I think I need to set some goals. Goals are more powerful than aspirations. Plans much more effective than dreams...

My Goal is to fit into size 16 jeans again and feel healthy and active and able to keep up with my energetic girls and hubby.

My Plan is to do at least 10 moves a week and work my way up from there.

Trying again... and again...

Well, got discouraged again due to lack of success in the weight loss dept. I've decided to focus more on the moves so I have more control over the achievements I'm tracking. I made a new chart and I'm going to track how many "moves" I make each week. Here are the things I'm going to consider as moves:

Walk to or from School
Half hour of yoga
Half hour on machines at YMCA
Circuit training at YMCA
Swimming at YMCA
20 minutes of kickboxing
Riding bike
Vacuum upstairs and downstairs
One hour of laundry, loading, folding etc.
Scrub all three bathrooms
Scrub kitchen floor

Maybe this will motivate me to do a little more housework each week too :)

Got a Personal Trainer

She's very motivational, practically dragged me downstairs to do my workout yesterday. Then she shows off her boundless energy by jumping on the trampoline for, like, the whole time I'm stretching, then working, then stretching some more... Coach Stella is helping to keep me motivated when I'm not feeling motivated!

Music is the Key

So, I blame a lot of my recent work out success on my new 5 song mix CD's. They really give me the structure and motivation I need to get a good work out without a skinny girl yelling at me or a disgusting Denise Austin video to growl at.

I recently got an awesome "techno" mix CD from my friend Kristy and I made a new CD with three 5 song mixes on it. I was all excited to use it yesterday and I ran down and started it up on the second set because this "Blue" song I'm addicted to starts it out. Took me a minute to find the song, but I'm always getting the track numbers mixed up so I wasn't surprised. But, then I was going through the workout and I was really surprised by my choice of song for light boxing and weight lifting and then heavy boxing was a remix of "dancing queen" by Abba and I knew I had it messed up somehow. I opened the CD player and realized I had Kristy's original mix CD in there instead of my 5 song mix CD! Whew... I was so relieved I hadn't messed up my mix so badly! Today I worked out to the right CD and what a difference it made. I've really got it down what tempo and type of music is good for which part of my work out.

Made a Motivation Page in my "Happy Journal"