Zephyr's diary take 2 -- don't think, just do it

Z

zephyr

New member
This is my second diary. I'm starting anew and this time I'm going to finish what I started!

Name: Zephyr
Sex: Female
Age: 20
Height: 5'3"
Weight: 135 lbs.
Goal weight: 115 lbs.

When I started my first journal, I was about 143 pounds or so. When I weighed myself yesterday, I was 135. That's always good news!

I met up with my personal trainer yesterday. It was like taking health class in high school again. He told me to start eating breakfast, try eating every four hours, get moving, etc. For fat loss, he told me to focus primarily on my cardio, but to throw in some strength training as well to "shape [me] up." It was a lot of fun, we laughed a lot together. I also beat him in sprinting! The first time I beat him, he just laughed. The second time, he told me he was going to beat him, but I beat him again. I guess I'm not in too bad of a shape!

I'm really, really sore though.
My whole body hurts!
 
Breakfast
Skipped (overslept)

Lunch
Homemade beef stew, not canned

Dinner
Steak and potatoes

Snack
Peachy pineapple smoothie with protein (post-workout)

Not sure what the total calories was for the day. Not really doing to stress out about it though.

I went to the gym today with my boyfriend.

Workout:

5 minutes warm up on the elliptical
30 minutes on the treadmill — varying from 3.5 walking speed to 5.5 to 8.0 jogging/running speed to keep my body guessing
5 minutes cool down on treadmill
2 sets of assisted chin-ups of 15 repetition offsetting my weight by 100
2 sets of assisted dips of 15 repetition offsetting my weight by 85

Workout summary:

Average heart rate: 163
Maximum heart rate: 188
Miles: 3.00
Calories: I forgot

Well, I think that's about it. I'm expecting to be pretty sore the next day. Tomorrow is supposed to be my rest day, but I might go for some cardio and skip the strength training. We'll see.

My boyfriend and I also made a blog together on wordpress. He is willing to do this with me, which makes me really happy. He's definitely not overweight at all. He just has a competition with his friends to see who can look the best by the end of summer. This is definitely going to be an interesting journey for the both of us!
 
Breakfast

Skipped (slept through)

Lunch

A large beef and vegetable stew with two cups of white rice (Korean)

Snack

Oatmeal with milk
Two bites of cake from my boyfriend's birthday

Dinner

Eating Right lemongrass chicken with an extra cup and a half of white rice

I should start adding up my calories.

Anyway, today was my rest day. My right arm is still sore. I tried stretching out my muscle every now and then. I hope it gets better by tomorrow.

I am planning to hit up the gym at around 6:30 in the morning. We'll see how that works out for me. If I decide to sleep though it, I'll most likely get to the gym by 5:00 or 6:00pm.
 
Breakfast

Nectarine (at least I'm starting my day off with SOMETHING)

Lunch

Dukbokki and Kimchi fried rice -- Korean
(both were shared with a friend)

Dinner

Rice with leftover beef stew

Snack

Drumstick ice cream

Yeah, that ice cream was not a good idea.

I woke up this morning extremely confused. I thought class started at 8:40 when it really starts at 9:40, so I got there an hour early. After coming to my senses five minutes into the earlier class, I left, went home, and took a much needed shower.

Today was another rest day. I really didn't feel like working out. I think I should stop making up excuses or trying to pull myself out of exercising.

As long as I can squeeze in two more days of gym this week, I'm on track.
 
Hey zephyr, you're doing great by the looks of things. Fancy outrunning your trainer, whew! You must be really fit!!

Keep it up girl! :waving:
 
10-week commitment -- WEEK 1

I'm going to commit to working out at least 30 minutes, 5 times a week for 10 weeks.

Day 1 (yesterday)
Boxing for an hour
Meal was whatever

I am sore from yesterday.

Day 2 (today)
Will head to the gym in about thirty minutes to get some running in -- DONE
Will head to the gym again later tonight for strength training -- DONE

Cardio summary:
3 miles
3-minute warm up at 3.5
2-minute cool down at 3.5
Varied between 5.5 and 8.0
Sprinted the last 1 minute at 10
Average heart rate - 157
Maximum heart rate - 181

By the way, I went up to 145 lbs. I need to quit sitting around and doing nothing.

Strength Training summary:
1 full hour
Did a whole lot of resistance band exercises
Involved my upper body, legs, and butt
Multiple core exercises using a 4-lb medicine ball (HAHA, weak; it's a start though)
Plank, sit ups, crunches alone and with medicine ball

Today's workout was somewhat frustrating. I felt like I wasn't pushing myself as hard as I should have for both my cardio and strength training. I have to remind myself that it's just the second day of my five times a week for 10 weeks.

Hopefully it gets better.

Food
Breakfast: Oatmeal with milk
Snack: Peach
Lunch: Freshens Acai Energy Smoothie with protein booster
Post-workout: Peanut butter sandwich
Dinner: Beef curry over rice
Other: Multivitamin/mineral supplement

Total Calories: 1468
 
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Week 1

Day 3

Cardio summary:
Instead of going to the gym to run on the treadmills, I went for a nice long walk with the boyfriend. It was a total of 3 miles downhill and uphill. Not really "cardio," but I think it counts as exercise.

Boxing summary:
I worked out again about two or three hours after the walk. I did some leg works for boxing which included one Muay Thai style work. I tried to do pushups but could only do 20, but that was my goal, so I'm happy with that. I did 78 situps; 75 was my goal. Did some other boxing stuff. Was wiped by the end of the hour.

Today's workout was a lot better than yesterday. I felt like I did pretty well. The only part I'm frustrated about is my eating habit. I need to stop eating after a certain hour. I think I'll figure that one out tomorrow. I also need to stop eating to the point where I am full, but instead, eat until I feel satisfied. The other thing is skipping meals, especially breakfast.

I need to work on those.

Food
Breakfast: A little bit of curry over rice
Snack: Nothing
Lunch: Sushi
Snack: Jamba Juice Carribean Passion with energy booster
Post-workout: Luna Bar (Lemon)
Dinner: Pasta

Total calories (NOT including sushi): 1475

I went OVER including the sushi. I'm pretty sure it was the rice in all the sushi that I ate and the pasta that I had for dinner.

Tomorrow will be a better day in terms of food.
 
Week 1

Day 4

Cardio summary:
2.50 miles, 30 minutes
5-minute elliptical warmup
5-minute cool down at 3.5
Jogged at a steady pace of 5.5
Average heart rate - 140
Maximum heart rate - 167

I notice that I am struggling with getting myself to start something. However, once I get going, I go. I really didn't feel like going to the gym to get my cardio in, but I forced myself to just go and get it done with. Now, I don't feel like strength training. I still feel sore from the day before yesterday. I'm going to do it anyway because I have to do it for myself.

Today's food is going A LOT better than yesterday.

Food
Breakfast: Oatmeal with milk
Snack: N/A
Lunch: Ramen, 1 cooked egg
Pre-workout/Snack: Peach
Post-workout/Dinner: Peanut Butter sandwich


Total calories: 1264

Might make a healthy snack, but it depends on how late I'm staying up for.
 
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I'm super frustrated.

Thanks you guys, that was just what I actually needed!! I got frustrated today all throughout and after my strength training.

I HATE STRENGTH TRAINING! I always feel so frustrated afterward. I always feel like I was half-assing it. Maybe it’s the perfectionist in me, but I get so frustrated if I can’t fully extend my arms using the resistance bands or do a certain number of reps. I just hate thinking I wasn't putting enough effort.

I’ll feel better about it all if I can barely move tomorrow. That’s how I measure how I did the day before.

GOD.

I made tomorrow to be my resting day, but I think I might throw in some running. Maybe strength if I feel like I'm not sore enough. :banghead:

Maybe I'm being too hard on myself. I need to chill out. At least I'm exercising. Man, I don't even know.
 
Try not to get fustrated with the strength training, it takes time to slowly improve, pushing to hard to early only leads to injury. you want to be feeling a little stiff/sore but being barely able to move is not generally a good sign.

it does not take long for your body to adapt and feel very little the following day so long as your not over doing it and do not have too many days between sessions.

plotting your strength/rep changes on a graph helps to visualise to progress your making even if you don't feel like your getting anywhere when your at the gym.
 
Stregth training DOES suck! At least you are doing it though! Trust me, it's working. Even if it's not perfect. Don't be so hard on yourself, you are doing great. :) Keep it up and don't get yourself down. You are getting closer & closer to your goal. If you stop, or didn't do any stregth training where would you be? lol Well...Good luck, I will check in on you. :)
 
Semi-rest day

Thanks for the support, Trusylver and GetFitNik! I'll just keep at it. This IS the first week of working out. It will get better. I can't let that stop me from incorporating strength into my routine.

Today was supposed to be my rest day. However, I couldn't help but debate on whether I should hit the gym up for a quick run. I was arguing with myself the entire day until my brother decided to visit me and wanted to go to the gym, so that provided me with an answer.

I had a pretty bad headache today and I was this close to telling my brother I didn't want to go to the gym. Glad I didn't call it off though; running made my headache go away!

I was only able to squeeze in about 20 minutes of running. It felt a little weird not doing the full 30 minutes, but that's okay.

Cardio Summary:
2 miles, 20 minutes
5-minute elliptical warmup
5-minute cool down at 4.0 and then at 3.5
Jogged between 5.5 and 6.5
Average heart rate - 157
Maximum heart rate - 175

Food:
Breakfast: homemade breakfast burrito with a glass of milk
Lunch: Special K fruit and yogurt cereal
Dinner: Rice, rice, rice

Total Calories: 1800

Hmm, honestly, I don't even know how much calories I should be taking in, so I can't tell if that's good or bad. I think that's a little too much for me.

The breakfast burrito killed it. Next time, no tortilla, haha :)
 
Day 6/7

Day 6

Yesterday was some friends' housewarming party and I had a few to drink, but not too much that I was being stupid. I don't want to get into it too much, but basically I was the one who cleaned up their apartment so it looked bearable the next day. I also took the trash out for them. I sobered up by the end of the night.

I made a TON of mistakes though in terms of my calorie intake. First, the drinks. Second, I ate and ate and ate at a bad time. For example, we went out to eat at a Korean restaurant at three in the morning! A full meal! By the end of the night, I wanted to throw up not because of the alcohol, but because my stomach felt like it was going to explode.

Day 7

Today, I was focused on myself. It was a detoxify-the-body-a-little-bit day. I woke up at one something in the afternoon (LATE!) and immediately had a full glass of water. I made myself some oatmeal and green tea and let it sit in my stomach for an hour before heading to the gym. Today was supposed to be my complete rest day, so I went to the gym with the intent on using the sauna there to sweat out last night, but when I saw the treadmill and the elliptical, I just had to do them.

Cardio summary:

Elliptical:
5k, 30 minutes (3 miles)
Level 7
Average heart rate - 150
Maximum heart rate - 170

Treadmill:
2 miles, about ~20 minutes
Jogged between 6.0 and 7.0
Sprinted at 10 every 2-4 minutes for 30 seconds each
Average heart rate - 150
Maximum heart rate - 179

Food:

"Breakfast/lunch" - oatmeal with green tea (woke up at an odd time) & multivitamin
GYM
Dinner - Korean rice cake soup with rice

Total calories: ~940

I know that's too little especially with the cardio so don't freak out on me about eating more. I just really wasn't in too much of an eating mood until after my workout and even then I couldn't really finish my dinner. I ate ~90% of it though.

College life.
 
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Week 2

Day 8

So I woke up super late today, so I couldn't eat breakfast. I ate two burritos at home for lunch and a multivitamin supplement.

I am also pressed for time today due to several errands to run, so I won't be able to get in some cardio. I feel a little guilty, but I guess running yesterday (my rest day) will make up for today.

I am going to hit up the gym later on tonight though for some circuit training; I need to get something in today.

Circuit training summary:
Bag work
Footwork
Shadow boxing
Plank
Crunches
Jogging
"Circle of Death" -- consisted of a set number of punches or kicks to a bag before moving onto the next one (it was important to keep good forms and go fast at the same time because the person a bag before yours might be waiting).
All that for an hour straight and then 15 full minutes of Dhanda yoga

Timing was something like a minute or two of activity, 30 seconds rest, repeat.

Food:
Breakfast: Couldn't get it in
Lunch: 2 burritos made at home & multivitamin supplement
Pre-workout: 1 peach
Dinner: 1 full bottle of Odwalla protein drink (2 servings)

Total calories: 1097

I need to stop sleeping through my breakfast time. If I had eaten breakfast, the calorie intake wouldn't be so low. I have to fix my sleep schedule! GAHHH.

Oh and by the way, I weighed myself today and I'm 138.2 pounds according to my scale at home. The scale at my gym and my scale at home differ by a few pounds. That's a little annoying, but I'll make sure I state whether I weighed myself at home or at the gym.
 
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Day 9

I'm going to hit up the gym today for some cardio. Today is also strength training, which is going to be a little more difficult than usual because of the workout yesterday. My shoulders especially are pretty sore, but not too much that I can't function.

Food is going well so far. I actually woke up in time for breakfast.

More later.

----------

Strength training actually went well. I worked out mostly my back. The lower part is sore! But I feel great. I worked with resistance bands for my back, my arms, and my core. Oh man, I did a lot of core work, but I don't really feel anything today there. Hmm. Anyway, did the plank, bicycle crunches, worked with medicine ball, etc. Oh and I warmed up using the jump rope.

Food:
Breakfast: Special K Fruit & Yogurt Cereal
Lunch: Burrito but without the tortilla
Dinner: Subway turkey breast sandwich 6"
Pre-workout: Peach
Post-workout: Protein shake

Total calories: 1615
 
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Day 10

Skipped cardio because my legs hurt when I walk. I think I overworked them or something.

I did a lot of bag work today though. I think I tore something in my shoulder. I am actually all kinds of injury today.

Today is strength training. I'm going to see how I feel today.

Food:
Breakfast: Oatmeal with milk
Lunch: Burrito again
Pre-workout: Peach
Dinner: Ramen

Total calories: 1325

Also, not sure if I mentioned this, but I signed up for the 5k run at my university. I know it's "only" 5k, but it's a start.

I'm also thinking about trying out for this boxing team at my university. I have to attend their mandatory try-out meeting in October, so I'll go to that first and see how I feel about it.
 
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Day 11

My shins are still hurting, so I didn't go to the gym to get my cardio in. I feel really guilty as if I've been slacking off on my cardio. This is the second time I missed my cardio this week. I think I will have to make it up by walking on the treadmill (not running) tomorrow and then walking or doing the elliptical on Sunday. Both are my rest days, but I'm going to hit the gym but take it easy on myself.
 
Day 12, 13, 14, 15

I'm kind of glad not many people are reading my journal because man, I blew it BIG TIME this weekend. The boyfriend and I stayed at his mom's place for three days and two nights. It was like a vacation, food food food. We had "Minnesota dinner" consisting of pork loin, mashed potatoes, creamy vegetables, etc.. we also had pizza one night and A WHOLE LOT of blueberry muffins. And bits of other foodies here and there.

The boyfriend and I also went to visit MY mom who cooked us dinner. It was a healthy, Korean dinner. It was healthy, but I ate SO MUCH of it, so that wasn't too good on my diet.

Today is the beginning of week 3 though and hopefully I can get back on track.

I weighed myself this morning and was 137 pounds. Who knows how much I weigh now after my mom's dinner. I don't even want to know, so I'm going to sleep this off and start new tomorrow.
 
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