Today I celebrated hitting the 70 pound weight loss mark in my heart health journey! In my most optomistic hopes I did not think I would ever reach this milestone! In fact, the last time I saw this weight on my scale was before I became pregnant for my second daughter...and she will be 30 in November!! I have moved from the morbidly obese (how I hated that phrase) to obese, to overweight categories. I am beginning to believe that I can go the distance - only 15 pounds to go and I will be in a normal weight range (haven't seen that since 1979)!!
The downside is all this loose skin! I have flabby arms (mom calls it the "french" arms), flabby thighs, and I'm not even going to try to describe my abdomen. Last week I took action to try to battle the situation. I signed up with a personal trainer, Amy Williams, to begin to develope a routine that will tighten and strengthen. Although it is unlikely that exercize will completely solve the problem, it will help.
I should point out that my gym routine usually involves all cardio with some stretching and situps at the end. I really don't like doing weights and floor exercises..so I need to change my mindset!
Amy and I concentrated on my triceps and abdomen for my first set of workouts. For triceps, I have a series of sets that involve few reps but heavy weights. I am not very strong so I find them very challenging. Amy told me to go three days between the workouts to give the arms the ability to recover. I have done the workout twice and I am tracking them on a new sheet I created in my fitbit program. The ab exercises are more traditional, but challenging as well. I could really feel them the next day. Once again, the series of sets that I have been given are to be done only every three days.
I have changed my gym routine to incorporate the weight and floor exercises. It means doing no more than 30 minutes of cardio and lengthening my workout by 15-20 minutes. It means I have to rush a bit more to get to work in the morning. Feeling a bit more toned will be worth the effort!
Sunday, July 29, 2012
Sunday, July 15, 2012
Joggin the Noggin event : Keeping an eye on the Finish Line
Yesterday, over 150 women, and about a half dozen men, gathered at QVCC for a Follow the Fifty event that was called "Joggin the Noggin"! The agenda was a presentation by Division 1 Athletic alumna Monique Wolanin on the four "P"s of walking/running: Pre-warm up, Position, Pace, and Post -stretching; a brisk one mile walk/run, and a program on nutrition and its effect on good health.
The speakers were very good and the program was a lot of fun. I felt completely reassurred that I was doing all the right things and that gave me renewed enthusiasm and commitment. I have to say, however that the most poignant part of the day for me was during the one mile run.
I can now run a mile and felt confident that I would be up to the challenge for the course. I took my position beside two of my QVCC co-workers who are also FTF models. The course was explained to us, spotters were at each 1/4 mile mark, and the signal was given to start. We all started with a slow jog using the position info that we were given. We hit the 1/4 mile mark when I noticed that one of my co-worker was breathing shallow and fast. I wanted to keep running, but I also wanted to help my friend. So I told her we were going to walk a bit so our breathing can recover. Our other co-worker stopped too saying "we are going to do this together". For the remainder of the course, we alternated jogging slow and walking. We kept encouraging each other and before you knew it we had hit the mile marker. The instructors told us since that we could do the 1/4 loop again - AND WE DID!
What was so incredible was watching all of my FTF "sisters" along the route. Some were jogging, some were walking briskly, and others were slower in the back of the pack. Everyone had a smile! It wasn't important to anyone who was running, jogging, walking, or at a snails pace because we were all moving in the right direction and we were all keeping an eye on the finish line. This is true of yesterday's event and it is true as we move towards our goal of heart health. Some are off and running, others are struggling but courageously continue to move in the direction of the finish line. And no matter how fast or slow, we are cheering each other on, shouting encouragement, and taking each others hand to "do this together!" I plan to reach the finish line, and I will be in wonderful company when I do!!!
The speakers were very good and the program was a lot of fun. I felt completely reassurred that I was doing all the right things and that gave me renewed enthusiasm and commitment. I have to say, however that the most poignant part of the day for me was during the one mile run.
I can now run a mile and felt confident that I would be up to the challenge for the course. I took my position beside two of my QVCC co-workers who are also FTF models. The course was explained to us, spotters were at each 1/4 mile mark, and the signal was given to start. We all started with a slow jog using the position info that we were given. We hit the 1/4 mile mark when I noticed that one of my co-worker was breathing shallow and fast. I wanted to keep running, but I also wanted to help my friend. So I told her we were going to walk a bit so our breathing can recover. Our other co-worker stopped too saying "we are going to do this together". For the remainder of the course, we alternated jogging slow and walking. We kept encouraging each other and before you knew it we had hit the mile marker. The instructors told us since that we could do the 1/4 loop again - AND WE DID!
What was so incredible was watching all of my FTF "sisters" along the route. Some were jogging, some were walking briskly, and others were slower in the back of the pack. Everyone had a smile! It wasn't important to anyone who was running, jogging, walking, or at a snails pace because we were all moving in the right direction and we were all keeping an eye on the finish line. This is true of yesterday's event and it is true as we move towards our goal of heart health. Some are off and running, others are struggling but courageously continue to move in the direction of the finish line. And no matter how fast or slow, we are cheering each other on, shouting encouragement, and taking each others hand to "do this together!" I plan to reach the finish line, and I will be in wonderful company when I do!!!
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