Alright, I did it. I gave in to the pressures of the wedding day diets and workouts. I actually gave in a few months ago, and I said I would write about it, but I didn't. If I wrote about it, then I would be somehow more accountable. More accountable then just me knowing. When Tracy of
The Starshine Report announced her
Operation String Bikini, I thought, ok I'll do it too. I'll announce my goals and talk about it on my blog too. But I didn't. I didn't know if I could stick to it.
It has already been about a year since I started being more mindful of what I eat. I try to be aware of my portions and what my body needs. I grew up in a home of food = love, and 'you better clean that plate', so I have an unhealthy view of portions. This has been a big battle, especially since my Eric has a fast metabolism and does manual labor so he's working off all of those calories he eats. Me, I sit in a car/train, then I sit at a desk, just to return to the car/train to get my arse to the couch as fast as I can.
Eric started running with me last year on the weekends, but I never stuck to it consistently. Each time I would make some progress and would be able to go a little further, I'd miss a day and bam, there goes the routine and there went any progress I had made. I didn't know how to push myself. How to hold myself accountable for a goal of # of sit-ups or minutes to run, and hell no I wasn't doing any pushups or upper body work in general. But I was continuing to not be happy with my "squish" as I would call it. You know that squish in the chest area, next to the armpits? Yea, that squish. The squish that is so attractive in tank tops and GASP! strapless dresses (you know, like those wedding dress types).
So I got on the all knowing internet in search of some help. Some motivation. Guess what? There are people you can pay to motivate you to be in pain! Yup, I signed up for an all women, morning boot camp. Last month I went 3-4 days a week, getting up at 4:30am, to workout with a bunch of woman in the dark at a park for an hour. They took our measurements, weight, and then kicked our butts. We ran timed miles and counted situps, and I don't want to talk about the number of squats performed. For the first week I walked funny. Really funny. But then the second week I was able to recover more quickly, the third week it actually felt good. And then that forth week? well my brother came to town and then I went out of town and there went the diet and the working out 3-4 times a week. Seriously, chips and beer came into my house for the first time in a long time and if they are there.... I will eat them.
When I came back from vacation to New Orleans (I'll write about that later), I had my post-camp evaluation. I had lost all of 0.5 pounds. ugh. My thighs, actually went UP an inch, and everything else was about the same. But the skin fold test.... huh, I lost 2.9% body fat. Not great, but that's something right? And my chest squish? Had the biggest change of any of those measurements. So maybe I need to get back on that wagon, because although the scale may not know it, I know that I can run further and do more sit-ups, and push-ups? well I can do a few now. I have missed the first two days of camp this month, and tomorrow is the timed mile. I think I'm actually excited and want to see if I can come in any faster then when I started.
Here's to kicking some booty to the curb!
Update - DRAT! It was totally raining this morning and that was all the excuse I needed to not get up early to go run.
Right after I booked our flight to Kauai, I started rethinking that plan and wished I had booked it for a longer stay. A few days passed and I called the airline just to see how much it would cost to change our outbound flight... the cost basically doubled, so I became much more ok with 1 week in Kauai instead of 1.5. Now we're thinking we'll do something local for a few days after the wedding, and before leaving for Kauai. Maybe I'll get my time in Yosemite after all!
