My Journey: Positive Outlook For 2013

Mandy, the "Burn" is caused by lactic acid during exercise and takes a few hours to be cleared out of the muscles but the soreness the following day (DOMS) is not, DOMS is caused by micro tears in the muscles which then heal stronger and adapt to the level of exertion they are put under. You don't have to be sore the following day to have had a good workout or to get a little stronger. You will also generally gain some weight while you have DOMS as the body holds fluid around the muscle to help with the healing.
 
Good to know, thanks for explaining! For some reason I was thinking that being sore the day after a workout was a good indicator of how hard you worked. Glad to know that it's not true!

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My arms are a bit sore today as my abs, but not too bad. Tonight's grocery night so time is limited after work. This used to be my rest night, but not anymore. I'm determined to get in the Insane Abs workout tonight. I only got about half way through yesterday so I want to make up for it. The rest of my body is coming along nicely in terms of fat loss, but my mid section is still... very... big... I really want to focus on making it shrink! The cool thing is that I watched myself in the mirror while doing some of the ab workout yesterday and I am starting to see some, very little, definition coming when I twist. I hadn't noticed it before so I'm feeling good about that. :)

Just to say it, my weight was sitting steady at 208lb even this morning.
 
It's so nice when you start to see your body change and your hard work pay off. I can hardly wait for that feeling, myself. It's been so long.

Is the taebo difficult on your knees or not so much?
 
It is definitely nice actually seeing your body transform. When I look at my thighs now I'm amazed at how small they look. Granted, they're still pretty big compared to skinny girls, but they're a lot smaller than they were! I'm almost happy with how they look right now. :)

The taebo I'm doing isn't too bad. There are a lot of kicking moves on one of the DVDs, but so far my knees have handled them well. I do modify some of the moves to relieve some of the stress and there are a couple of moves I skip completely because of the jumping. On the moves I need to skip I still do something else, like right now where I'm focusing on my abs I'll do some ab twists while they're jumping around instead. It seems to be paying off. :)

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Last night I got VERY frustrated! I had my dr appt Monday and she called in a new prescription for me because she's upping my dosage. I went to pick it up Monday and the pharmacy told me it was too soon for a refill. I explained to them that it wasn't a refill, it was a dosage increase. They were going to call the insurance company, but I couldn't wait around so I said that I'd pick up Thurs. They said fine. Yesterday I went to pick up, was told the SAME exact thing! They never called the darn the insurance company! I sat there for almost an hour waiting while they called only to find out that the insurance company can't refill it until the 11th. Yesterday was the 9th so all that over two days? Really? That's an hour of my life I can't get back. Now I have to go back tomorrow to pick up. Argh!!

Anyway, when I got home I was frustrated and should've worked out to release some of it, but I didn't. I just didn't feel right. My lower back was sore and my stomach was cramping up again. So I ended up just chilling out all night. I'm not going to lie, it did feel good to rest. I feel much better this morning (aside from a slightly stiff neck) so I'll be back at it tonight. :)

My weigh in this morning showed that I'm still in this funk. I weighed in at 208.8lb.
 
So yesterday I came very close to not working out for no reason other than I was just feeling lazy. I was not achy, I just didn't feel like sweating I guess, but at almost 9pm I reminded myself of how I'm progressing and that sitting on my butt all night would do nothing to help me. I got up, popped in the Taebo Insane Abs DVD and got moving! I burned 615 calories which is my highest so far using this DVD. This DVD is different in that only the first half hour includes cardio, the other half is all ab work on the floor to gain strength so you're not burning as many calories. I was pleased with my number.

This morning my weight was up slightly from last Saturday's challenge weigh in. I was at 208.4lb, this morning it was 208.8lb. And, to the scale, I literally said WHATEVER! LOL

This afternoon I went clothes shopping and it hit me that I'm only a couple sizes away from being considered "plus size". I tried on a pair of size 18 shorts and they fit! I also tried on a 1X women's t-shirt and it fit! That's a huge jump from when I started really working out. At that time I was a 3X in mens shirts (could never find women's shirts big enough) and a size 26 in women's jeans. I have to say that this felt SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO rewarding!!! :)

I'm not sure what's going to happen with exercising tonight. We have company here who will be staying late. I may not be able to get it in. If not, I'm going to do my Taebo Classic in the morning and the Abs DVD in the evening. We'll see...
 
I use a modified Jillian Micheals 30-day shred warm-up before I hop on the cross trainer; good to know I'm not the only one that modifies the exercises based on what's not realistic.

Good for you for taking a day off, I know a lot of people say to push through the pain but if you're sore, don't do it. You can just make it worse. Taking a day off means you lose a day and you're back at it straight away; but if you hurt yourself and needed to recover, that could take much longer.
 
I think the majority of us probably modify some of the moves to fit our abilities. The people used in those videos are far more experienced and in much much better shape so of course things are a lot easier for them. Even the "out of shape" people they use are already in far better shape. I'm at the point now with the DVD's that I'm using that the only moves I need to modify are the really bouncy ones to protect my knees. I'm able to keep up with them for the most part now. :)

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So last night our company left at around 9:30pm. I was tempted to just call it a night because I was tired, but I made the smart decision (if you want to call it that) to tough it out and do the insane abs workout. I burned 678 calories, my new high. I was also able to do a full rep of jack knifes which are very difficult for me. They probably do about 6 reps, but there's no way I can keep up with that just yet. I was thrilled with my one set. LOL

This morning I woke up feeling pretty good. I didn't get to do my taebo early as I'd hoped, but I did later on in the day. I did the full body workout this time and burned 1037 calories. I pushed myself and sweat more than I think I've ever sweat working out. The temps here are starting to get warm which worries me. I just don't want it to interfere with my working out. This is about the time that I more or less quit last year. I really don't want a repeat this year.

My food intake was horrible today. Not that I ate bad foods, I just didn't eat enough. I haven't felt hungry and I don't like force feeding myself to hit a magic number. For breakfast I had a strawberry nutrigrain bar and for lunch I had some sharp cheese and crackers. Dinner was roasted chicken and a small portion of mashed potatoes. I don't really do desert on a regular basis, but tonight I may give in and have a bit of frozen yogurt if I'm in the mood.

Hope you all had a great weekend. Back to the grind tomorrow... On a good note, I just have to get through this week and hopefully this Saturday I'll be on the ocean after what was a VERY long winter! Hopefully mother nature cooperates. :)
 
Last night I ended up having some popcorn instead of frozen yogurt. I was in the mood for something crunchy and had a choice of potato chips or popcorn. I chose the better of the two.

Today my weigh in surprised me. After fluctuating between 208-209lb last week I hopped on the scale and it showed 207.8lb. Not *that* much of a drop, but I'll certainly take it! I did finally "start" Saturday so I'm hoping the water weight will come off once again. I hate our bodies play these little tricks on us.

I hope you all have a great Monday. I'm usually dreading Monday's, but this week nothing is going to get me down. I have my ocean to look forward to on Saturday. I can not wait to see my friends who I haven't seen since October and to just be able to relax on the boat. Oh, it'll be pure heaven! :)
 
I did my insane abs workout last night. I was somewhat distracted by the tv (Boston Bruins playoff game) and didn't push myself as hard as I should have. I only burned 557 calories, but still felt the burn in my abs so it was good. I don't know if any of you watch the NHL playoffs, but last night's game was absolutely insane! The Bruins (my team) were down 4-1 in their deciding game 7 and within the last 10 minutes of the game they rallied to come back to force overtime. In overtime they ended up scoring to win the game to move on to the next series. My favorite player Patrice Bergeron got the game tying and the game winning goal. I was PSYCHED to say the least. I probably burned another 500 calories just cheering and celebrating! LOL What a comeback for them!

Today I'm not sure what's going to happen. I have to bring my cat to the vets to get a checkup done on some dental work she had done last week. Between getting to the vets and back along with the actual appointment it's going to eat up about an hour and a half of my night. Either I'm going to get in a DVD or I might just do some cleaning (mopping my floor, dusting, etc). Will have to see how the day goes I guess.

This morning's weigh in was lower than yesterday's at 207lb even. So that's 1.8lb down from Saturday's weight in. Definitely water weight I'm thinking due to my TOM. I'm glad to see it starting to go down finally. :)
 
You know what I forgot to mention. Have any of you seen the commercial for Lipozene? I keep seeing commercials for that drug and it's driving me insane! There's one lady in the ad that says something like "you just can't do it on your own". It makes me wonder how many people actually buy into that type of thing. For me personally, I'd MUCH rather do this on my own. Having surgery (unless you're in a really bad situation where it is life threatening of course) and/or taking medication just seems like the easy way to me. Sure I'd love to lose weight/fat much quicker than I am, but with determination and hard work you can reach your goals. There's a much bigger sense of pride and accomplishment in doing it on your own too. Just a mini vent I guess.
 
Yay, your team is the Bruins! I don't exactly follow hockey but given my location they are "my" team, too. And hockey fan or not I had to pay attention to last night's game. I didn't watch it all but I caught all the good stuff :)
 
Yeah, it was insane last night! I admit I gave up on them when they were down 4-1, but I'm glad they proved me wrong and fought back. Next series will be a tough one too. :)

I didn't realize you lived in MA until you now. We're "neighbors". I'm up in NH. :)
 
Hey Mandy, thanks for stopping by my diary. :)
I just realized we have about the same amount of weight to lose to our goal weights. I have 60lbs & you have 58lbs to go!
We both be around here for a while!!

MandyH said:
There's one lady in the ad that says something like "you just can't do it on your own". It makes me wonder how many people actually buy into that type of thing. For me personally, I'd MUCH rather do this on my own. Having surgery (unless you're in a really bad situation where it is life threatening of course) and/or taking medication just seems like the easy way to me. Sure I'd love to lose weight/fat much quicker than I am, but with determination and hard work you can reach your goals. There's a much bigger sense of pride and accomplishment in doing it on your own too. Just a mini vent I guess.
Click to expand...

I totally agree with you on that! I know someone who has just done gastro by pass surgery. She lost 60lbs without even exercising. It just so not the same!!!
 
Hey lady, sorry that I have not been keeping up with the diaries, but I am getting back into it. So exciting that you get to be back on the ocean soon! :) Must be a great feeling.

P.S. I totally know what you mean about this infomercials! The quick-fix of a pill is always appealing...I feel like it would ultimately create a change inside of me, which is where the weight problems for me begin! Unless something like surgery is necessary, the true change can happen if you dedicate yourself to it. Heck, I've failed way more than I've succeeded, but I've still come so far. And things besides my waistline are changing. Hah! Okay, now I ranted ;)

Hope you have a fantastic week!
 
Justina, I probably never would've noticed that our goals were so similar. I don't know how tall you are, but I'm a shorty at about 5' so I think that 150lb may still be too heavy for my frame, but it's my goal for now. When I hit, I'll assess and see if I need to keep going. :)

Camilla, I agree about the changes inside you. It's easy to go the easy route, but the change really does come from within. I'm so incredibly proud of myself for getting as far as I've come. It's been hard at times, but I do feel it's making me a stronger personally physically, mentally, and emotionally. I can't imagine doing this any other way! It's just not for me.

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Last night I did some vaccuuming and I gave my tile floor a good scrubbing. When I was done I was feeling lazy again and almost passed up on taebo. At about 8pm I made myself get up and do it, but chose to do the easiest of the two taebo workouts (insane abs). It's kind of funny that the it's my mid section that I want to work on the most and I found the insane abs DVD to be the easier one so it all works out. I did much better on the floor exercises. It's pretty amazing to not only see your body transforming, but to also feel it. :)

Today I leave work early so I'll have all afternoon to get my workout in. I'm going to do the full body work out this time. If I have time and feel up to it, I'll do the abs one later. I might just do some more house cleaning instead. We'll see.

I was pleasantly surprised this morning with my weigh in. I knew it was going to be lower than yesterday because I spent a good portion of time in the ladies room yesterday "getting rid" of some water weight. My weigh in was 205.8lb this morning, down from 207lb yesterday. I'm assuming that I was correct in that my latest weight increase/stall was due to my TOM which is right now. This is the exact reason why I choose to weigh myself every morning. I like being able to see these trends so I won't freak out when it happens again next month.

So yeah, here I am flirting with the -200lb mark again. Hopefully by the end of the month I'll get there this time. I'm working hard, I'd like to see the payoff of being below 200lb soon!
 
Mandy - Great job on doing a workout even though you initially were not feeling up to it. That shows true determination and commitment on your part! I struggle with that too sometimes and I always feel a nagging guilt if I don't just workout. Great job :)

And yay! for being sooo close to 200! Doesn't it feel great?!
 
Camilla, that nagging guilt is a big reason why I made myself get up and do it. I do always regret not working out when I skip it. I know I should and I know I need to. Sometimes it's just hard to keep motivated, but I'm getting better with that too. Being close to 200lb is a great feeling. I thought I was going to break the 200lb barrier last month, but then my weight spiked. Hopefully it's for real this time and I'll be able to break through. :)

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I had a fantastic afternoon yesterday. I did the full taebo workout as planned and burned 1047 calories. I felt amazingly well during the whole workout. Normally there's a time or two where I just get really tired and feel like calling it a day (which I fight through), but yesterday I felt like I could've gone on and on. I'm really concentrating on controlling my movements more to get the most out of the workout too. I can't believe how much better I'm doing with it now compared to when I first started.

I also did a lot of cleaning after my workout. Mainly going through my clothes. I have a garbage bag full of clothes that are just way to big for me now. I'll be donating them to our local Salvation Army. For kicks I tried everything on just to see the different, man is it huge! My jeans were literally falling off of me. It's great seeing the drastic change in such a short time.

This morning's weigh in was identical to yesterday's. I would've liked to have seen it go down, but glad it's not up!

Today, I'm planning on doing my insane abs workout. This will be my 7th straight day of taebo and I'm hoping to make it 8 tomorrow. I am using Saturday as my rest day because I probably won't have time to get it in. I'm super excited for Saturday! First day on the ocean. Ahhhh... it's going to be heavenly!
 
Hey, I am 5 feet 8. I am like - I am like you : not sure where I have to stop either. 180 sounds good. :) I know at 200lbs I looked SLIM actually - i am thinking about putting up a picture of me when I was 200lbs - and see what everyone else thinks!? hahaha!!

You are doing tons of exercise!! Good for you!!!You burn shed-load of calories with taebo!! :hurray:
 
It actually looks like I had the surgery. I had my gallbladder out about a year before I started the weight loss. So I've now lost a bunch of weight and have a big huge gnarly scar across my stomach. So anybody seeing that would think "2+2=4."

As a general rule, I've found that ignoring what the say on commercials is probably best, regardless of the product. For example, taking Viagra doesn't help me fix my car.

Great job on all the workouts.
 
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