Get Your Body Back 2009: Week 2

Morning everyone!

I have been running around this morning trying to get ready for my team day. We are going over to the ‘boss‘s house for our team meeting.

I am a bit nervous about it, but I hope that it goes well. I tend to have lots of anxiety, especially about these types of situations so it can make it more difficult than it should be. Once it is over though, I always find myself saying ‘that wasn’t so bad’ so I need to keep that in mind!

We each were asked to prepare a list of all of our accomplishments this past year, our personal highlight, and what we hope to accomplish in the new year. Is it just me, or is that in itself stressful to think about? Agh. I have about 2.5 pages typed- my boss told me not to leave a thing out so I didn’t. Good grief. We are supposed to finish wrapping up today by 3pm so let’s hope that is correct and I get home early today!

Once I get through today, it is smooth sailing. I booked off Tuesday and Wednesday off work because I have lots of appointments to go to, as well as more organizing to finish at home that I didn’t have time for over Christmas week. Then it will be a short 2 day work week until the weekend! Not bad. :)

My workout this morning was a wonderful 2 mile Army Fitness Test, followed by a 1 mile easy run.

The stats:

• 0.10 mile walking warm up, 4.0 mph, 3% incline
• 2 mile Army Fitness test (9.0 mph, incline 0%, except for 2-10 sec bouts at 6.0 mph to rest)
• Max heart rate: 176 bpm (90% of max)
• Avg heart rate: 166 bpm (85% of max)
• Total duration: 13:46 (beat Army Fitness test #2 by 25 seconds!!!!)
• Feel the burn: 134 kcals

Then I ran 1 mile as a cool down:

• 1 mile run, 6.0 mph, incline 3%
• Feel the burn: 83 kcals
• Total cals burned: 217

 It felt great to beat my last test by 25 seconds! :D

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As promised, here is my sister Kristi’s second entry in the ‘Get Your Body Back 2009’ Challenge! [If you missed her first entry, you can see it here]

 My first week of “getting my body back” is off to a great start! My game plan is to keep it real so I don’t burn out too quickly or toss in the towel because I am expecting too much, too soon.

My week of Workouts:

January 1: I hit the gym for a 30 min. cardio session. I switched it up between running and walking for ultra fat-burning results. I also did ab work at the end.

January 2: I took this day off. (I know, I know, a day off already??!!) I wanted to use this day for Jillian’s 30 Day Burn, but I simply ran out of time. We were out the entire day with the kids and that evening I had a one hour massage and there was no way I was going to work out after that!)

January 3: I had an AWESOME workout!!! I did a 55 minute class at my gym called Urban Strong. It consists of weight training every major muscle group in your body with cardio in between sets. There is no breaks in this class! I sweated up a storm! 

January 4: Another 30 minutes of cardio! I did the elliptical this time to change it up. I am hopefully picking up an Ipod today which I am really excited about! I currently use a disc-man at the gym and the cds I have are so boring. Hopefully downloading a ton of new tunes will keep me pumping through the tough workouts!

I should tell you a bit about what I ate this week too! I don’t restrict or eliminate any foods from my diet. I have done this in the past and it is always short lived. I love all types of food and I find that eating in moderation is a better game plan for me. My meals this week included: steak, fajitas, chicken salad, tuna, pasta , pizza and wings…(yum yum!) and some desserts. I tried to include lots of fruits and veggies and to keep my night time snacks healthy!

I am the type of person who bores very easily during workouts. It is very important that I change it up often and find new ways to keep it entertaining. I have a short attention span for most things in life, especially working out! This is why I chose to workout at a gym versus at home. I love being able to attend different classes and to have endless pieces of equipment to chose from. My facility also has a pool, running track and skating rink which I plan on incorporating into my workouts.

Don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of days when I think working out at home would be so convenient, especially because I could fit in my workout when my kids are sleeping. However, I know myself well and I think boredom would set in relatively quickly and I would be less successful if I opted for this route. That works for a lot of people, but it’s not for the easily distracted type, like myself. 

I am not going to lie. I am not the type of person who loves to workout. There are about a million other things I’d rather do first. I must admit though, I do feel a sense of accomplishment after a workout. I feel proud of myself and I often think that wasn’t so bad! The only thing that seems to be missing is a work-out buddy. I really wish I had a good friend or family member to join me on this journey. I am a real people person and enjoying these workouts with someone else would make it that much more enjoyable for me. There are a couple of people I plan to attack in the next few weeks to join me!

I plan to do Jillian’s 30 Day Burn on Monday and Tuesday this week. These are the nights I am working and will not be able to make it to the gym. I briefly watched Level 1 and it looks like a very intense, kick your butt 20 minutes. I think this will be a great way to fit in a workout on the days that I working out at home.

If you can believe it, I can already feel a change in my body. I can feel my muscles changing, growing and recovering from my workouts. I am shocking my body back into to shape. This is a journey that I plan to stick with.

Thank you all for the feedback and comments on my first post. Angela is much an inspiration to me. Her website is so encouraging and real. There is no fluff, or hiding who she is. What you see is what you get. Like she said, there are good days and bad days, ups and down. We all go through it. 

Have a great week! Stay tuned for my next post a week from today.

Thanks Kristi! You are doing awesome! I totally agree with you that it is important not to overwhelm yourself and to expect too much from the get go.
If anyone has any questions to ask Kristi, leave a comment, and she can try to answer them in next Monday’s entry!

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See you this afternoon for FAQ’s! Have a great day!