Wrist Weights

Well I put on my wrist weights for the my routine part of my workout this morning.  So for the 26 minutes of yoga and strength moves I had the wrist weights on.  Seems to me like it did some good for the workout.  I definitely felt like it did some good for my abdominal muscles.

I also included some wall push-ups (great for the triceps), and I also did three rollovers concentrating really hard on the rollback down.  I am doing really good on the first part of coming back down, really great articulation and control.  The last bit is still a bit bumpy - not quite as graceful or fluid as I would like it to be - but it will get there.  I plan to do a couple of them every day for the next little while.

Finally I also did a round of rhythm boxing and super hula hoop - got the blood going on those ones as per usual.  I especially love the hula hoop - it feels like my best bang for my buck - 4 minutes of good solid cardio - not to mention good for the waist!

Working out here at home I work out in my shorts.  And it is very interesting to see how the muscles in my thighs have developed.  When I am just standing you can't tell - there is still some padding over top of them.  But when I do some of the exercises I can see how the muscles are developing and I am liking what I am seeing.  In time some of the padding will go away and my hard work will be much more notable.  Am definitely going to be looking to see what kind of changes my legs will show in my pictures over the next few months!

Roll over frustrations and Basketball thwarted

Okay, so in Pilates I am now at the stage where I do really well doing the roll over starting from seated and then going into the rollover.  But I know that starting that way means I am still using a lot of momentum to accomplish the move - and I really want to move forward from there.  But I just can't seem to do it from the start with the legs extended in the air.  I don't know if it is just that I still don't have the muscles to accomplish it, or if I am just not quite doing the technique properly.  Whatever it is I am a bit frustrated.  Going to ask for some homework assignment in the hopes of getting myself there!

Bought a basketball today.  Always one of my favourite sports to play - not that I have played for many many years except for shooting a bit of hoops back 10 or 12 years ago now.  So I went over to the court in the local park but sadly there were guys already playing there - and I just wanted to shoot hoops.  Oh well, at least my arms got some good exercise as I dribbled the ball around a bit on the way home.  Since I am mentioning sports I enjoy, I really miss playing squash.  Definitely need to figure out how to get that back into my life.

Background on last post

My previous post is one that got me thinking a lot.  One of my WW online friends commented about losses slowing down (which is exactly what has happened to me this past month).  I accept it but I also occasionally feel frustrated by it - especially since at the start things went so very well and so quickly.  So it got me to thinking, since I know slow loss is actually good and more likely to stay off than a really fast loss, so why does the slow loss get to me sometimes.  You can see below my exploration of that.  I could say it is just some irrational thing I am doing to myself when I think/feel that way.  But the simple fact of the matter is that I am a fairly rational person - so I thought it was very important to explore why this rational person is having those feelings.

I certainly knew lots of counter arguments for the feelings/thoughts but delving into the why was really important. What rationale was supporting my thoughts that I wanted to lose more quickly?  I definitely feel like this was actually the more important part of that process - the counter arguments are easy, the searching for rationale was more challenging (especially for a few of them).

The process must also have unlocked something in my brain because I had a dream that helped me to recognize another one.  So here is one more:

I want to lose faster because I am jealous of other women who have figures like I aspire to.  So what is at the core of this? I think it is many things - socially it seems like they probably have an easier time being accepted; they have much more selection to choose from when it comes to clothing; plain and simple I feel like they look better than I do - and I think we all often want whatever it is that we don't have.  Some of the counter arguments: when I was young and thin and in shape I never felt like it was significantly easier for me to fit in and be accepted, I had a whole host of other things that caused self-consciousness etc; I am now to a stage where I have more options than I used to have and soon enough I will have more - and quite frankly I am not in the market to buy a lot of clothes right now, so the amount of selection I have shouldn't really bother me; I may very well have some features or characteristics that those women would covet as well and I should rejoice in my own traits rather than wanting what others have - I am lucky to be who I am living where I live and with such abundance available to me - I should cherish that.

De-constructing my thoughts on slow losses

What is it that makes me frustrated when my loss is slow? What pushes me to want large losses each week?
Thoughts	Good things about this thought	Counterpoints
Causes me to question what I am doing, if I am doing something wrong	Self examination and examination of choices is a good thing, might help me to identify some small thing in what I am doing that isn’t a great choice for me.	-I know that even in a week where my choices aren’t all great, overall I am doing a fantastic thing for myself.  Something that will improve my health for the rest of my life. -In my heart and mind I know I am doing really, really well. I have the pictures to prove it.
I have thought about how long my next goal will take at a certain rate of loss and smaller losses will push that goal completion date back	Having goals is a good thing – they can prompt us to make an effort to achieve something great.	-This is not a race I am not in a competition with anyone. -Setting goals of losing a certain amount in a certain time is not the best type of goal I can set – because many things can influence what happens on the scale – so it isn’t really a goal I have great control over.  Therefore finding another type of goal is probably a better strategy.
I want to look awesome fast	Wanting to look good is a legitimate desire and can prompt some excellent behaviours (like getting in exercise to improve my body)	-Looking good is not the best benefit of what I am doing – the health benefits are so much more important.  Plus, the societal things that push us to “look good” are not good and drive many people to many very bad things.  So I don’t want to give too much control to that way of thinking.
A little bit of competitiveness	A little healthy competition can be a good thing – pushing me to explore my limits	-The weight loss is not a competition.  I can look for other ways to express my competitive side by challenging myself to do better at some kind of physical activity etc.
Driving urge for quick results	Wanting to achieve a worthwhile goal in a reasonable amount of time is a laudable idea.	-I know that the short term mentality that drives that kind of “quick results” thinking is poisonous in so so so many ways for us as people, for our planet, for our society etc. -Even if it takes me 5 years to reach my goal, those 5 years will happen whether I am working on improving my health and slowly losing weight, or if I am back to old unhealthy habits and gaining weight. -Research says having unrealistic loss expectations is one thing that commonly leads to failure as people give up when they don’t reach these goals.
The idea that the sooner I reach my goal weight the sooner I am done	Looking forward to reaching my goal weight is a good motivation for me.	-This is not a journey to a fixed destination – the journey itself is the thing.  I will be on maintenance for life after I reach my goal.  That is why this is about changing my lifestyle not about losing some set amount of weight in some arbitrary time frame.

Neglected Yard - and the exercise it causes!

Well my poor yard has been woefully neglected for the last couple of years.  The weeds have gotten completely out of control. But this year I cancelled the tv and am intending to be out there for a little while several days a week to slowly but surely take back some of the territory from the ever encroaching quack grass.  Did one flowerbed today.  It is a pretty small one but before judging know that the dirt in it is closer to rock than dirt and almost completely overwhelmed by quack grass roots.  So there was a lot of work involved in getting it pretty much cleared out.

Haven't decided which of the far too many flowerbeds I will tackle next.  I think the area right behind the one I just did - near the rhubarb plant.  Would like to actually harvest some of the rhubarb this year for a crisp or something like that.  So wish me a productive next little while as I work on getting some of my yard back!

Just a small note on my last two mini goals
Fitness: Physio exercises.  I did not do well on this mini goal and see that I will need to go in to the physiotherapist and see if she can give me some prompting that will help me to get to it a bit better.  I obviously am not putting enough importance on it right now - maybe something she says will help.
Eating/Food: Mindful and slow eating.  This one was a bit hit and miss. I did well on it sometimes and other times I was back to old bad habits of wolfing down my food.  The one this week will hopefully help me to reinforce what I did learn on this one.

Grateful for my decisions

I want to give myself a thank you.  I am seeing so many things on the WW boards the last little while that make me grateful that I allowed myself to fully embrace this challenge.  Going ahead and starting Pilates when I was at 230 some pounds, never letting anything the scale does really phase me for long (and in fact the only time I ever really experienced any real discontent was on the excessively high loss day).  Not being scared to try different things and really embrace this new lifestyle.  Some of the decisions are founded on ideas shared with me by others on the WW boards - like the monthly pictures.  I can tell you that it makes me feel great when I look at that progress - that is a decision I know will keep my motivation going if it ever tries to slip on me.  Here's to many more decisions that help make me a healthier person!

Mixing things up a bit

So I have been realizing that since I got better from being so sick I have gotten back to my pilates and still walking of course.  But, I hadn't really gotten back to doing my wii on the days when I wasn't at pilates.  So this morning I had to do my weigh in so I did a nice little 57 minute workout on the wii (with the Wii routines).  And it was fun and I don't know why I haven't gotten back into it more than I have.

Here's to keeping things fresh (even if it is kept fresh by reanimating an old exercise or routine).  Encouraged by someone's post on the WW boards I have decided I need to find a time to go out dancing.  I haven't done that in a really long time and I want to do it again soon!

New Pics - May Comparison

Well time for another set of new pics.  I will put it in below.  I am getting to the stage that I am not seeing quite as much difference now (the front pictures especially haven't made much change) but each little change that I spot when I look at the comparisons continues to keep me motivated and moving!

I was out at a May Day rally today so didn't get much activity in just a short 15-20 minute walk.  But tomorrow I am scheduled into a 6am pilates class followed by an equipment private session.  I don't know what crazy part of me thought it would be a good idea to do a 6am class - but I guess I will see how it goes!

Click to see full size picture