Showing posts with label The Hill. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Hill. Show all posts

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

LOST: 10 lbs. If you find it, please discard.

04/21/10

286.0 lbs

I held my breath and got on the scale twice this morning. 

I've lost 10 lbs since picking up this whole exercise thing!  It's been a lot slower than I would have liked.  On March 23 (and even before I started blogging again to be honest) I had hit 296.+ lbs.  That's horrible.  I don't ever want to have to say that or think that or write that again.  Ever. 

It's been a month.  A month of walking up hills, facing fears, working out with friends, hating those friends, loving them again, trying to watch my food intake, really watching my food intake, getting up at ungodly hours to exercise in the mornings, exercising at night, taking mini-walk breaks at lunch, buying new foreign things, joining a gym, and finally, me actually making me do all these things. 

This is a milestone. And I'm happy to celebrate it.

I'm loving the morning time even though I despise actually having to wake up to expeirence it.  I am loving the feeling of wanting to wretch after a workout like I did last night on the circuit weight machines.  I love that I've increased the weight resistance (almost doubled!) becuase where I began isn't enough anymore.  I don't care about looking a fool in HHH class, although, it's still hard to walk in there even now.  This past month has seen a lot of changes.  W00T!

I have had an accountability partner which has made a world of difference.  I truly would not have gone this far if it hadn't been for that precious little BB and her upcoming Nuptials. 


I'm going to write her a thank you note.  I wonder how many calories are burned with old fashioned writing.


-jafg



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Monday, April 5, 2010

The Kicker.

04/05/10

291.2 lbs

We'll talk about weight in a minute. 

Hello My Lovelies!  I've missed the hell out of you.  I've been tweeting my little heart out since last we met because it's so much easier to type 144 characters than to sit down and commit 30 to 45 minutes to blog writing.  Or even an hour.  First, let me start with the good news. 

That quarter of a mile measurement was a total crock of bull-arkie.  I drove our walking track and discovered that it's actually just at one mile!  I so deleted that tracking app. 

Second Good News.  I've been a workout mama!  I was off on Friday and even worked out!  AT MY OWN GYM!  That's right.  I walked into my own Concierge Gym and me and My Fat got on an ellyptical and rocked it for 20 minutes!  WOO-FREAKIN-HOO!  Oh and get this, BB and I also worked out on weight machines for another 15 minutes!  That's right, I did it, I did it, I did it!    I also went last Wednesday and worked out at the YMCA with SAG and BB.  We were going to do this hip-hop class, but chickened out at the last minute and worked on the ellyptical for 30 minutes.  After that we played basket ball.  Or something resembling basket ball.  Mostly SAG ran circles around BB and me.  I mean that literally. 

Thursday BB came to the abode and we did my Wii Jenny McCarthy Your Shape workout.  I hadn't used it yet and thought the change might be kinda fun. 

Holy. Crap. 

This little Jenny avatar pops on the screen all cute and blonde and full of perk.  Alright...It's in a gaming system after all.  She starts out with a warm up which consists of marching in place.  I was thinking "What a freakin waste of money and time".  WAS. 

Then the Jenny Avatar starts with all sorts of things like Plies (that is PLEE-YAY...I'm not quite sure how to spell it) and arm lifts and some wicked up-down-forward-back-leg-arm-thing that I still don't get.  Evil She-Devil!  Then she makes you get on your back.  You do this thing called riding a bike.  Uh huh.  I thought I was going to die.  It's not a quick motion thing, it's a move your leg and hold it in that position until you die thing.  And then you move your other leg and start over.  Oh wait.  It gets worse. 

You've gotta roll over and get on your stomach.  Stretch your arms out in front of you and your legs out behind you.  Then, act as if you're being drawn and quartered.  For those of you who don't know what that is, imagine a rope being tied to each limb and being pulled in opposite directions (arms away from legs/legs away from arms).  That is "swimming" as  She-Devil calls it.  Great.  Not only am I going to die, but I am now going to vomit beforehand.  This stretches muscles I didn't know existed.  Like, people say that, but I mean it.  I had no idea there was a muscle in this weird place on my side. I do now.  I didn't know that it was possible to hate a cartoon character that much. BB feels the same way.  We're keeping She-Devil to a Thursday night work-out.  I don't think I could handle more than that.

All this pain and sweating is a good thing.  I've been getting great side-effects too.  My kitchen is clean and so  is my room.  I've got all this energy and I just want to be moving.  I haven't felt like this in a long time.  I'm actually going to that hip-hop workout class tonight.  I even got up this morning at 5:30am (I said A. M. People!) to get to MY gym at 6:00am to workout with BB and Her Beau.

I know. "Who are you and what have you done with our belov-ed JAFG?!"  I'm pretty shocked about the whole thing too.

Now The Kicker...I've been eating very healthy for going on three weeks now (since I started communicating with  you all again).  I've been consciously active for going on two weeks straight.  I feel better about myself, I don't feel deprived, and I'm even looking forward to the workouts-somewhat.  How much weight have I lost?  NOT ONE FREAKING POUND.  Damnit.

-jafg


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Tuesday, March 30, 2010

The Hill

03/30/10

291.0 lbs

Wow.  Two days in a row.  Stability is not a bad thing.

BB and I took some "before" pictures last night.  I'm trying to see how to post them here without revealing any of my super secret identity.  Stay Tuned.

For those of you who actually read my blog, you may  have guessed from the title that I met up with The Hill again last night.  BB was quite a little motivator and made us walk half way up.  I said I would, if we did it in the early part of the walk in stead of the last part.  I also said that this time we'd have to stretch and we both remembered to get an app for tracking how long and far we'd be walking.  I was figuring that it was at least a half a mile to even three quarters.  I know that's not a lot, but I mean, come on.  The only activity I'd been getting is the walk up and down The Stairs.

We used The Stairs to stretch our legs.  I learned how to stretch that front shin muscle by a massage-like method of "pushing (or rubbing) the muscle away from the shin".  Don't get it?  Take your fingers and run them down your shin from your knee to your foot.  Now, start back up at your knee, and use your thumb to rub the muscle so you're "pushing it away" from where your fingers just were.  I don't know how else to explain it. 

Let's get back to the story.

BB and I start our fantastic new app  and begin our walk (I have a Driod phone and got "Outwalk".  It's a British company, but it really works).  The weather has been so fantastic that you just don't want to stay inside.  BB and I are greeting lots of nice people with lots of nice dogs.  A "monster" drink truck even drove by once and offered us free samples of that drink.  I didn't accept.  I will only allow people to buy me a drink in a bar.  I'm too respectable to accept one in a parking lot.

I'm in a complex which is not level at all. There are varying inclines for varying lentghs which is good. It keeps things from being boring. Plus, I think it's why I'm feeling my butt muscles while walking. This is something I'm not really accustomed to experiencing. 


BB and I are walking and talking and walking some more. Then, we're at The Hill.  As we round the corner for the beginning of the trek, I'm thinking: This isn't so bad!  Suddenly it happens.  We turn the corner and I'm looking up a freakin mountain.  And it just keeps on going.  What the hell have I gotten myself into here? 

Suddenly I hear voices behind me.  I'm already panting and gasping and foaming at the mouth.  Maybe not foaming at the mouth, but you get the picture.  Then suddenly, I hear voices in the background.  I could simply be hallucinating from lack of oxygen to the brain.  I know that BB has continued talking between my swearing but even that sounds far off and she's right next to me.   I get up the energy to turn around to see what's going on and I see Them.  Behind us is the Skinny Girl Duo. 

If you've never come across the SG Duo, you're very lucky.  These are the super skinny girls with their flippy pony tails and their little leggings and swinging arms and little sports bra-like tanks or whatever they are.  You can find them walking around a neighborhood (or complex in my case) or side-by-side on the eliptical machines or in spinning classes at the Gym. These are the girls that you just end up hating.  Even if they don't deserve it. Which most of the time, they probably do.  I digress. 

SG Duo is closing in behind us and they're just a chirping. "I'm so tired of my dad asking when I'm going to get married or at least get a boyfriend.  He's tired of fixing my shit all the time."  Huh?!  "Tee Hee!  I know what you mean.  I've got someone you can call the next time you need something fixed."  I kind of black out a little at this point.  Upon regaining consiousness, I hear "Wow! He'll do that?!"   [I hate I missed that part.]  I can't believe they're just chit-chatting the whole time walking up this mountainous hill like it's no big deal.  No Big Deal My Ass!  I'm having a freaking coronary!  I can barely even place one foot in front of the other! 

"Okay, we make it to that speed bump up there and we can turn around".  OH THANK THE LORD IN HEAVEN.  BB has come to her senses and realizes that there's no way I can go any farther up The Hill.  We turn around.  As we're walking back my legs start to feel like they're going to just fall off.  This after all that stretching we did.  BB tells me of her trip to botanical gardens with her Beau.  She tells me of all the Asian people taking pictures of the cherry blossoms.  They're pretty this time of year.  She goes on to say that they walked around for two hours yesterday and how exhausted she was at the end of it.  She's also telling me to walk through the burn and push through the pain.  I'd hate her but she's such a cutie pie.  Damnit. 

We're back on the "regular course".  We've conquered the baby inclines and are starting to head back to my place.  My legs are on fire.  Really.  I keep looking down to see where the flames are because of the burn.  I still can't believe that I'm feeling like this.  The other times we've walked haven't been this bad. It's because of that damn hill.  I know it.  I ask (trying to refrain from begging) if we can forego the circle around the mailbox and gym and just head back.  She says sure if we can loop around the other side of my building.  It looks flat.  I say ok.  After all, I am trying. 

We loop around and finally make it to my building.  And The Stairs.  Holy.  Shit.  I forgot about The Stairs.  That's 53 steps of nightmare.  BB jogs her little butt up to the first landing and sits down.  I simply stare up at her blankly.  I decide that I must do a little stretching before I can lift my legs high enough to get to my door. 

So, after finally falling through my doorway, we decide to check our time and distance.  After 20 minutes, we covered one quarter of a mile.

Sonofahbitch.

-jafg


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Monday, March 29, 2010

Here Comes The Bride (part ii)

03/29/10

291.0 lbs

That's 5 lbs gone.  I'm pretty excited about the whole thing really.  I didn't walk this weekend, but I did make good food decisions.  I'm really working at it.  For the time being, anyway.

It's great having a "chubby buddy" to work with.  Don't know what a chubby budy is?  Well, more on that later.  What I need you to remember is that Blushing Bride is a whopping 130+ lb little 21-yr-old "I'm almost 22" young'n.  She's upset because the dresses she's tried on happen to be a size 12.  Wedding dresses are like 4 sizes too small anyway.  They do that to add to a bride's insecurities.  It's mean, really.  But I digress. 

BB is precious.  I love her.  I love them.  The Kids as I like to call them.  Cute couple.  She's not a complainer and doesn't walk around saying "I'm so fat" "I look like a horse" or anything like that.  She's a great little motivator too.  There's this hill that I'll be damned if I'm gonna walk it, but she keeps pushing, saying that we're gonna do it next time.  Bless her heart.  I'm a great rationalizer and I have a few years on her.  Giggle.  It's not that I don't want to walk the Hill.  It's just that by time we get that far, I feel like I'm D-Y-I-N-G.  My hips are killing me.  My shins feel like they are exploding.  I will conquer The Hill, but I'm not ready to do it just yet.  I am super excited about my walking though.  And the healthy eating.  It's kinda like blogging, but like, I don't know, in real life. 

-jafg



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