Healthy Dragon

Marathon training - week 1

2009-04-02T06:40:00.003+04:00

Wanna know how bad I suck? That day I started my lemon cleanse, I had to cook all this food and feed ten people. Religious reasons. When I was ladling out the food I went into this frenzy and ate some. There went my fast.

So, a few days later the kid and I went to Hubby's track and field tournament. The sight of all those people running like crazy really encouraged us. She and I decided that she would be going for track and field next year, inshallah. She'd have to start training from now, though.

Anyways, I felt like I wanted to do some running training, too. I researched it, the method behind the training and I have to say running gets you in shape like nothing else will. I think I can do this. I'm down to my last month of membership at the gym. I let practically all of March slip by without going. I was depressed and...well depressed.

But this is my last chance and yesterday I went for the first time in ages. The training I'm following will have me walking 10 minutes, jogging 2 minutes, then walking 4 minutes the first week. I repeat that five times. The whole process takes me an hour and twenty minutes. Yesterday, around the 2nd and 3rd times I was ready to collapse, but I pressed on. About the middle of the fourth my body was resigned to the pain and the fifth lap felt fine.

I've tried running before. Usually, I just start out jogging, last 1 minute, then have to stop because I can't breathe. With this method that has me walking first, my lungs have a chance to open up and stretch so when it's time for me to jog the 2 minutes, I can actually do it. Hurts like hell (I'm really overweight, after all) but I manage.

And OMFG, such a workout! A full body workout. My legs and hip joints were sooooo incredibly sore yesterday! I limped most of the rest of the day. This morning I'm still a little sore. Don't know if I'll manage the 5 times, but I'm going to give it my best effort.

I'm really excited about all of this, inshallah I can stick with it.

Lemon Cleanse again!

2009-03-20T07:51:00.002+04:00

I've been neglecting the gym, going sporadically, and have been thoroughly disgusted with myself as a result. I blame the new regime they gave me. It's too hard to keep up with. Still, I do go. Just not every day. I've stopped getting results with my body, though. I need to introduce a new element.

So I'm doing the lemon cleanse again to help cleanse my body and get rid of all the toxins I've been eating. This time it should go better than last time because I'm exercising and have the bentonite to go with it. I started this morning after having went out and bought the ingredients yesterday afternoon.

From the first swallow I wanted the rest of the Popeyes chicken and rice that's sitting in my kitchen, but I grimly persevered. I don't have a set number of days as my goal this time, so I figure it'll be impossible to disappoint myself by falling far short of it like I did last time.

We'll see how it goes!

Man!

2009-02-23T10:39:00.003+04:00

Ok, I know I suck all kind of horrible about not documenting my makeover but... the gym really fagged me out.

Here's an update. At the end of the first month, I'd lost 12 cm from my waist, 8 cm each from my thighs, 5 cm from my hips and 5 cm from my chest. My weight was the same because even though I'd lost fat I'd put on muscle.

As of now I've missed like 2 weeks just about (consecutive!) because of my period and I was sick. I've had some bad luck. Anyways once the national holiday is over, I'm heading back in and working diligently until my membership ends in May.

Right now, since I've worked my stamina up to a nice high level I need to start eating different. As things stand, I do cardio and weights everyday. I havent swum since the beginning of my membership, it was too cold. I need to re-incorporate that into my regime and then maybe I'll see some weights results. The few kilos I've lost (3) doesn't count in my book.

More soon, hopefully!

Day 13 (supposed to be day 16)

2009-01-11T12:20:00.003+04:00

Ok I missed 3 days because of my period. I was bleeding to heavy to do a serious workout so I stayed home. Today was my first day back. I got good news and bad news.

The bad news is that my new trainer who is so totally awesome has resigned and is leaving at the end of Jan due to crap the club managers are giving her. That woman had me doing 100 rpm on the bike and showed me so many intense workouts for my target areas. She's an actual physical therapist and long time personal trainer...her resume is impressive, but I'll leave it at that. There's someone at the gym who's her protege and will take over my fitness instruction when she's gone. i met the woman and she seems great too.

Anyways the good news started out like this. My trainer, cuz we had a F2F session today, took me over to the mirror and asked me if I saw any change in my body. I looked carefully and said none at all. She said are you sure? I looked again and told her yup. I see no change in how I look. She asked what about how I feel. I said mmmyeah...I feel increased stamina. She said good. Then she said she was going to show me something to encourage me. She pulled out her tape measurer and measured around my waiste. I'd lost 3 inches! And around my shoulders a whopping 5 inches and another 3 inches around my thigh. She did my arm then and I'd lost about an inch and a half. I was flabbergasted. I couldn't believe I'd lost such a significant amount just since she's been my trainer.

I swear, to look in the mirror I feel like I don't look any different but I did notice my clothes fitting differently. And today she gave me two new workouts and upped the weight on some of my existing workouts. I can't wait to see what results have next session!

I did 40 minuts of cardio and about 40 of weight training. This trainer says 30-45 minutes of cardio is good for me. I love her! I'm so sad she's leaving!

Day 9

2009-01-04T08:13:00.002+04:00

I've yet to go to the gym today yet. I'm about to leave in a few minutes. Finally found my swim bag with my swim suit in it.

Here's something: This morning I weighed myself on my broken scale with all my clothes on and my shoes and I still weighed less than what it was saying before I started this whole gym kick. So far I haven't missed a day at all. Except New Years, but the gym was closed. Today's my first session with my new trainer. We'll see how things go.

I haven't been as hungry as usual. Lata!

Day 6

2008-12-31T16:21:00.002+04:00

Ok, I don't know why the day 4 post says Tuesday which was yesterday and thus Day 5. Perhaps I don't need to get on here and post every single day.

I have not been able to find my swim bag since Sunday, the last time I used it. That pisses me off considering all the trouble I went through to get another suit in the first place. I distinctly remember bringing it in the house.

Today was my second weight training day. I managed to increase both my reps and the weight. I also found out that my trainer was incorrect in a lot of the things she showed me. I changed over to a new trainer today. I like her even better.

I was mad sore after my first weight session but that has almost completely faded. I did 30 mins on the bike and about 30 on the weights. I was pressed for time because of the tutoring. No gym tomorrow, since it's New Years. Lata!

Day 4

2008-12-30T02:09:00.002+04:00

Weight: 236 lbs (so far as I know)

I thought I would be weighed and measured weekly. Turns out I wont be weighed again till the end of my month.

I don't feel so good. I'm not eating right, I'm still eating way too many carbs during the day. I'm seriously considering going on the lemon cleanse for a week to jump start my healthy eating. I'm still managing a calorie deficit every day according to myfitnespal, but...I know I'm constipated because I don't eliminate nearly enough of what I eat. I notice I stay full after eating something and then I dont crap it out. Matter of fact, except for my daily morning drop, I don't move my bowels for the rest of the day...which is not good. So. I gues I know what this means. You got it: The dreaded salt-water flush in the morning. Actually, I should take it right now, it's 1:15 am.

Today was my second F2F session with my trainer. She showed me how to do all the weight machines she'd deemed suitable for my goals of shaping thighs, abs, arms, hips and butt. The squats were bad, chest presses the worst. I'm to do the weights every other day, the cardio every day. Because of the session, which was scheduled late, I only managed 30 minutes of cardio on the bike machine. I didn't use the treadmill today and right away I notice a drastic lessening of the constant pain I was walking around in. that machine is hell on my legs for some reason. It had me limping.

I have tutoring tomorrow at 11 am so if I'm going to the gym I need to do it bright and early. I didn't swim today and I probably wont tomorrow. Tutoring. I'll be glad when next week starts and I'll have my mornings free.

Day 3

2008-12-28T20:00:00.003+04:00

Weight: 236 lbs

My god, did I actually say I'd spend 6 freaking hours in the gym? 6?! Well the heart is willing and the body is on death's door. three days straight of intense cardio for an hour is killing my legs, but I have come to find out that the bike has become the easiest thing for me. The treadmill is actually worse than the elliptical right now and I didn't even attempt the elliptical today. Still, I logged 50 minutes of cardio time today and thanks to my successful foraging last night in crowded Salmiya, I was able to swim for an hour today. I got to the gym late or I would have swam longer. I had tutoring.

I made a nice huge salad with lettuce, olives, tomato, green pepper, raw broccoli, liver and chicken. it was awesome. It's amazing how many hours that salad kept me full. Fresh food really does satisfy your appetite better than processed foods.

Day 2

2008-12-27T12:02:00.003+04:00

Weight: 236 lbs

I am sooooo pissed, it's not funny. I had plans to go swimming today at the gym and what do you think happened? Couldn't find my bleeding bathing suit, that's what! I looked high and low, made myself 45 minutes late to the gym and the damn thing is nowhere to be found. This means now I have to go out and by another one, today, because I am not letting another day at the gym go by without precious, calorie-burning swimming.

Today, I decided to start by trying to run on the track, not the treadmill. Late as I was, I was still there before the trainers so there wasn't anybody to see, thank god. I managed one lap without stopping, 200 meters. Maybe tomorrow I might manage a little more.

I was still sore from yesterday and today only compounded matters. I did the bike, treadmill and elliptical again. Managed 60 minutes of cardio, then had to call it a day because MY DAMN BATHING SUIT IS LOST.

Ok. I'm over that now.

I have to say the elliptical is the worst machine. Or best, depending on how you look at it. After 30 secs on that thing my thighs are killing me. I made myself do the 10 minutes on it today though, which is 5 minutes more than I did on it yesterday. Watching the final minutes, then the final seconds tick by is absolute torture. It's all I can do to stick with it for the full alloted time without quitting. Then when the last second finally turns to zero I just about collapse off the thing in relief. Same goes for the bike. That's another hellish machine, just not as bad as the elliptical.

Looks like my weight loss sticker is back to zero. Wonder what it will say at my next weigh in? Can't wait!

Day 1 (late, sorry!)

2008-12-27T11:47:00.004+04:00

Weight: 236 lbs
107 Kg

Thursday, I hauled hubby and the kid down to Flex and finally signed up. I couldn't sign up before because first I was on my period, then I was sick, then I injured my ribs somehow. So. Yesterday, Friday, was my first day. I had an appraisal done which measured my body fat, water retention and some other stuff. I'm still waiting on the results. Then I had a Face 2 Face session which is when a trainer tells you what machines to use to achieve the goals you have specified on your form. She then tells you which classes would be good for you, how often you need to do cardio and for what duration, how often you need to do weight training and for what duration, your target heart rate while working out and what intensity you should do your workouts. She also measured my flexibility and declared me quite flexible.

Basically the results of my F2F session was this: I need to do cardio 4-5 times a week for 60-90 minutes and weight training 2-3 times a week for 20-45 minutes. I need moderate intensity in all things. However, she said I can throw in swimming for fat burning and massage and sauna for the same purposes. I really like my trainer.

Anyways, I have this fitness log where I write down what equipment I used, how long I used it, what my avg heart rate was, etc. Every little thing is documented in that log. Yesterday I used the treadmill, bike and elliptical machines. I managed 55 minutes of cardio and I wanted to die afterwards. I was so sore! I didn't bring my bathing suit so no swimming.

All in all, I good first day...except my scale at home is clearly broken. I was weighed during my appraisal on a digital scale and obviously I weigh more than I thought I did. Sucks. Oh well!

Lata

Some results

2008-12-13T17:56:00.002+04:00

I didn't hit Flex today. I'm still recovering from the turn for the worse that my 'sickness' took yesterday. I was really laid low. I'm going to try and sign up tomorrow, but I'm already behind in stuff I wanted to get done.

I've been eating 1500 calories or less for the past few days and as you can see it's paid off with 5 pounds lost. That's without exercise. Wish me luck with the gym.

Getting started

2008-12-12T08:55:00.002+04:00

Obviously, losing 70-some-odd pounds in one month is dangerous...if I were just losing fat. However, I have started my Tao-he cleanse, and will shortly start the liver cleanse. I expect a good 1/3 to 1/2 of that weight I lose to be waste. Already my cleanse has loosened up toxins and I am suffering a mildly runny/stuffy nose. I've been eliminating like I haven't in a long time too. And I've only been on the cleanse a few days. I stopped the soda as promised. I haven't really be hitting the juice either, because of those hidden calories.

Hopefully I'll start at Flex Tomorrow, after signing up today. I've restarted my fitness pal and have been monitoring my food intake. I even went and bought a gym suit so I can kill myself in style at the gym.

Lata!

Flex, here I come, inshallah!

2008-12-02T09:15:00.004+04:00

Yeah you heard right. I'm going to shell out the 150Kd for one month and work my ass off. I plan to go 7 days a week for 4-6 hours inshallah and just lose this weight once and for all. My goal is to lose between 30 and 35 kilos in that time period. it will be grueling but the result should be spectacular.

I'll be cutting out all the junk I currently consume: soda, chips,fast food. I'll also be cutting back, but not eliminating entirely, my carb consumption. Other than that I plan to eat normal whole foods.

During my month in hell-I mean at the gym- I will come on here and post my experience for that day. Should make for some entertaining reading.

So when's the big day? I think I'll start this Saturday. Not sure yet, but definitely within the next ten days, inshallah.

Pray for me!

Ramadan's over

2008-10-10T07:33:00.002+04:00

Therefore, I can try and do something with my mornings. Something fitness-y. I'm going to unearth my Billy Blanks Tae-Bo vids and start with that. True, the tapes are in Arabic, but I understand Arabic and what I don't understand him saying is fine because I just need my eyes to copy his movements.

Last week I took the kid to Flex gym and OMG. That place is an amazing, sumptuous wonderland of a gym. They have two pools, a spinning room, squash courts, studio, dozens of high-end cardio machines with their own tv sets, complete with headphones, trampolines, a rock-climbing wall about 3 stories high and a gyro-gym. They also have a basketball court, track, and various classes ( tai chi, karate, pilates, yoga). I heard they have a room called the de-stress room, with a punching bag in it and other stuff, but I haven't seen it. I want to enroll the kid. I'm seriously considering enrolling myself. Place is deliciously clean and virtually empty on mornings. And it's huge.

Of course, such a place isn't cheap. I think it's 125KD for the month, but they give you a complete physical and tailor a program for you. I really want to go. I'm going to try and make it happen.

Uhhhhh...

2008-09-13T13:20:00.004+04:00

Well, it looks like I won't be working during the day anytime soon, since I haven't landed a job. As bad as that sucks (and I can't begin to tell you how bad it does), there is a silver lining. I now have the time to devote to exercising that I didn't have before. If I had a car to drive, that is. Since I don't, gym membership is out. So is going for my 5-mile walk by the marina. What's left then? Walking around here in my neighborhood. I don't really want to do that for a few reasons:

no sidewalks
reckless drivers
I could get lost

However, I really don't have a choice. I don't exactly have the energy to do it while I'm fasting, not to mention I now have housework and cooking to do. But I'll see if I can't work out a compromise somehow.

Ramadan

2008-08-31T10:52:00.002+04:00

Ramadan starts tomorrow. I have to make sure to drink plenty of water during non-fast times and eat plenty of fruits and veggies, no matter how bad my craving for carbs and sugars is. I expect to lose a few pounds at first then stabilize.

Still plugging away

2008-08-25T14:37:00.002+04:00

I had a delicious fruit smoothie this morning. Here's the recipe:

1 mango, peeled and sliced
1 peach, peeled and sliced
1 plum, peeled and sliced
1/4 cup of uncooked oatmeal
3/4 cups of milk
1 tbsp of honey

Blend all ingredients in blender until smooth.

Tonight I plan on making baked fish, baked potatoes and salad. I violated my rule for not eating chips or red meat. I ate chips and I had hot dogs. I yelled at hubby for throwing temptation in my face and he was properly contrite. He vowed not to bring any chips in the house for at least a month. it will have to do.

A cool site

2008-08-22T17:19:00.001+04:00

This site calculates the calories you burn doing over 200 activities:

http://primusweb.com/fitnesspartner/jumpsite/calculat.htm

I'm scared

2008-08-22T14:35:00.005+04:00

I've been having little chest pains. They aren't isolated to one spot but seems to happen in various spots around my chest and ribcage. I strongly feel these pains have to do with clogged arteries and my generally unhealthy, sedentary lifestyle. In my search for healthier eating habits, I came across Dr. Dean Ornish and his Life Choice Diet. I'm going to paste this from a website I found:

Dean Ornish

The Life Choice Diet

The Life Choice Diet is a low-fat vegetarian way of eating with less than 10% calories from fat (for most people, this would be a diet with 15 to 25 grams of fat per day). The focus is on beans, fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, with processed foods and nonfat dairy products consumed in moderation. Simple sugars and alcohols, like fat, are to be avoided.

Guidelines -- "all you really need to know"

You can eat the following foods whenever you feel hungry until you are full (but not until you are stuffed):

Beans and legumes (lentils, kidney beans, peas, black beans, red Mexican beans, split peas, soybeans, black-eyed peas, garbanzos, navy beans, and so on)
Fruits (apples, apricots, bananas, strawberries, cherries, blueberries, oranges, peaches, raspberries, cantaloupes, watermelons, pears, honeydew melons, pineapples, tomatoes, and so on)
Grains (corn, rice, oats, wheat, millet, barley, buckwheat, and so on)
Vegetables (potatoes, zucchini, broccoli, carrots, lettuce, mushrooms, eggplant, celery, asparagus, onions, sweet potatoes, spinach, and so on)

You can eat the following foods in moderation:

Nonfat dairy products, including skim milk, nonfat yogurt, nonfat cheeses, nonfat sour cream, and egg whites
Nonfat or very low-fat commercially available products, including whole grain breakfast cereals, Health Valley chili (and many other Health Valley products), Kraft Free nonfat mayonnaise and salad dressings, Guiltless Gourmet tortilla chips, Quaker Oats oatmeal, Nabisco fat-free crackers, Fleishmann's Egg Beaters, Pritikin soups.

Read labels. Some of the nonfat or very low-fat commercially available products are high in sugar, so avoid these when possible. Ingredients are listed on food labels in order of the amount contained in that food. In other words, if the first ingredient is sugar, then there's more sugar than anything else in that food. Also, on most packages you'll find the number of grams of fat, the number of calories, and the amount of cholesterol.

Here are the foods to avoid as much as possible:

Meats (all kinds, including chicken and fish)
Oils (all kinds) and oil-containing products, including margarines and most salad dressings
Avocados
Olives
Nuts and seeds
High-fat or "low-fat" dairy, including whole milk, yogurt, butter, cheese, egg yolks, cream, and so on
Sugar and simple sugar derivatives (honey, molasses, corn syrup, high fructose syrup, and the like)
Alcohol
Any commercially available product with more than two grams of fat per serving

I think I can integrate this with the My Fitness Pal. I had already concluded that the fruit smoothies worked wonders for me. This is further proof that I was on the right track. And it's not really a diet, so much as a way of eating. I'm going to try to eliminate the harmful food from my diet little by little. The first things to go will be soda, chips and fried foods. Hubby has bought groceries since my last post so there are munchies in the house. Whenever he buys groceries, he buys junk food. Last night I told him I wanted to eliminate junk food from me and the kid's diet and he was like well that's fine for you guys, but not for me. He was adamant. i don't care, he can kill himself if he wants but I am seriously going to try with this. I haven't had any soda in the past 2 days but I've had a lot of fried foods. I'm glad rice is on the list, but I think I'll keep honey, avocado and olive oil in my diet.

Looks like no meat. Well, I will try with that as well but gradually. For now, I'll stop eating red meat. So no soda, chips, fried foods or red meat. I didn't see pasta anywhere on the diet. Hmmm...

Also big news, I'm starting the Tao He, bentonite and psyllium cleanse today. I had oatmeal for breakfast with apple and peach slices. Wish me Luck!

ahh?

2008-08-15T20:34:00.002+04:00

See that? Just being back here in Kuwait 2 days with us on strict rations of food has brought me down 5 pounds. And if the truth be known I weighed 235 before I left my dad's house and now I'm 226 to I lost 9 pounds. The same thing happened to my dad when he came here to visit. He said in 3 days time he'd lost 12 pounds, but not for lack of food. I think he was nervous so he didn't eat much.

I can even say proudly that this isn't water I'm losing since I've been drinking tons of water to quench hunger pains. In all honesty, I'm not suffering. I'm just craving munchies I had in abundance in the States, such as doughnuts, fast food, soda and chips. With all that cut out of my diet since Tuesday night it's no wonder I dropped a few pounds. I eat breakfast and dinner with nothing in between except water and, once, a few nuts I found on the microwave. As of now there is nothing to drink in the house except water so all those juice calories I used to have are gone.

I'm content.

Trying...

2008-08-07T19:03:00.004+04:00

Ok, here's the deal. I've been leaving my computer off, because I just haven't had time to sit at it. That means I haven't been updating my food diary. Even though that's the case, I am still aware of what I eat and have a rough idea of how many calories I'm taking in. Still, it's not the same as seeing it daily or as encouraging.

My main thing now is exercise. I haven't been doing any and I need to get cracking on that if I want to lose weight. I really need to be more disciplined. Hopefully, this time next week, I'll be back in Kuwait and can then devote more time to the diary and exercise.

I have weights at home, but I want a stationary bike. I need to buy one as soon as my finances will allow.

Oopsie

2008-07-30T20:07:00.003+04:00

I went to Chuck E. Cheese yesterday and had four of their small slices of pizza and 2 large Sprites. That seriously threw me off my fixed calories. I went way over, especially since I had a root beer with dinner. I need to watch it. All had for breakfast was a bagel with scrambled eggs on it, but throw in the butter the deli put on it and my 2 cups of iced tea and that was more than half my allotted calories right there. Guess, I'll be eating light the rest of the day.

Let's try again...

2008-07-29T14:26:00.002+04:00

Ok. I'm going to try this again. I went to the site and entered my breakfast. Just that, nothing else. no exercise or lunch or anything. I'm going to start off slowly.

Wish me luck.

Off the wagon

2008-07-28T18:24:00.003+04:00

Not too long after my last post, I stopped going to My fitness Pal. I don't know exactly why I lost my motivation, but something about having to document everything I ate and not always being able to keep up with it played a part. And the fact that it's so hard for me to exercise here and without that I won't lose weight. Lastly, there aren't a lot of fruits and veggies here at my dad's house and they are so pricey here. I wanted to spend my money on fun things. It's all pretty discouraging. Anyways, I hope to get back on track soon.

Lata...

YAY!

2008-07-11T15:30:00.002+04:00

I did it! I ate the meals I said I would eat yesterday and fell well within my calorie range. I did a lot of walking yesterday with my aunt so that earned me extra calories. I actually fell short of the amount of calories they said I could have. I didn't even feel hungry yesterday! I can't wait to see results in my weight. I exercised yesterday, so today I'm all nice and sore. But that wont stop me from exercising today! I am so pumped.

This morning I mapped out today's meals and snacks and I am still below the limit. I put in what exercises I'll be doing and as soon as my dad leaves the house I'll go in there and do them. I can't remember when was the last time I was this excited about fitness.

Lata!