My side workout

So, I've been doing good sticking to my P90X/Turbo Fire hybrid program. I did have one sick day last week causing me to miss my Wednesday workout. I tried to do it on Thursday and got through about 25 minutes. Then I decided to go ahead and push through the program doing my Thursday workout on Friday, my Friday workout on Saturday, and counting Wednesday as my rest day instead of Saturday. So, basically I haven't had a rest day since last Wednesday, when I was sick! I'm ready for tomorrow!!

Add to all that the fact that I've been seeing another workout on the side. In addition to my Beachbody workouts, I've been spending 2 days a week with the lovely treadmill. Let's be clear. I suck at running. I just can't do it, never could. My biggest problem is my knees. I get this sharp pain that shoots through my knee and almost makes me fall over. I went to a doctor and he basically told me that my joints were too flexible to keep the knee cap in place. He said that I should never run marathons (if you say so doc), but that if I strengthened my legs I could get to the point where a few miles would be okay.

Given my running suckness and knee issues, and the fact that I'm already doing a pretty serious workout program, I'm taking the running very slowly and lightly. Again, only 2 days a week and more of a run/walk interval program. I started with walking 3 min, running 3 min for a mile. Did I mention that I also run slowly?? Then I moved up to doing the 3/3 interval for half and hour, then walking till I hit 3 miles. Now I'm walking 2 min, running 4 minutes for 30 minutes, then walking till I hit 3 miles. There's a lot less walking at the end now! I'm not quite sure what the next interval will be, but I'll cross that bridge when I get there.

So, what about my knee? I've been doing a lot of reading about running techniques. The most helpful was that you should run toe-heel, not heel-toe. This creates a lot less impact on your knees. And a helpful salesman at Luke's Locker suggested focusing on keep my body centered, as opposed to leaning forward. So far, it's been going very well! You know, for a slow runner who can't run more than 4 minutes at a time. :-)

Side note, I'm thinking of doing a Shakeology giveaway. Would anyone be interested?

image from here

Getting started!!

After a physically disastrous 2011, I decided to turn the page and get things in gear. See, in 2010 I did amazing. I finally lost the last of my (twin) baby weight, and then some. At one point I was at my lowest weight that I can ever remember. {disclaimer: I'm not sure I ever weighed myself in college} I'm not a big fan of saying what I weigh, but hey we're going balls to the wall, right? If I'm doing this blog for full accountability, then I can't keep secrets. So here goes. My lowest weight was 135. Yes, I'm 5'2" so that's not skinny. But, it was acceptable. I was wearing a size 6 (I even had a size 4 jeans that fit me), and felt pretty confident. Then, it all fell apart. I have a million reasons {excuses} why I gained all that weight back AND MORE. I blame it initially on the fact that we opened a Baskin Robbins. Not that anyone forced the ice cream down my throat, but for the first month or so, the only way to see my husband was to go to the store. You try being there without at least tasting something! What I've learned (through many books and my own experiences) is that the more fat and sugar you eat, the more you want. So, as I was eating ice cream, my other meals were not going well either.

My other big excuse was stress. Let's just say that work was not going well. Anyway, blah blah blah, I gained a lot of weight. Like a lot. Add in there a pulled ab muscle (I'll save that story for later) and the holidays, and well, on New Year's Eve I weighed 150. {again, I'm 5'2" and gained 15 pounds in a year} Ouch. So, I set a goal. Yes, a cliche weight loss goal for 2012. I hate that. I don't want to be that girl. And honestly, I'm not THAT concerned about the number. It's more of a way to give myself a measurable goal. I'm an accountant. So, my goal is 130 by the end of the year, and 140 by April 12th, my birthday. Now, if I don't get to 130, but I'm back in shape, and in my size 6 clothes and feeling great, I'll be ecstatic. And yes, I want to reach half my goal in the next three months. Why? Because today I started a new workout program!! I'm doing a 90 day, P90X/Turbo Fire hybrid!

I've never done P90X, except for a few workouts, but I love Turbo Fire. I'm doing the official Beachbody hybrid rather than some of the ones I found on the Beachbody message boards. I did a ChaLean Extreme/Turbo Fire off the message boards and loved it, but for this one I'm going "official." Partially because they already have really cool worksheets I can download and print, and partially because the message board one I found said Yoga X or Stretch 40. I've done Yoga X and know that it's HARD. I don't want to give myself an out! So I'll see you Wednesday Yoga X!!!

Today was day 1 and I did P90X Chest & Back. Dear lord, my arms were still shaking when I made it to church 3 hours later! Tomorrow is Turbo Fire 45 EZ and I can't wait. I purposely haven't done many Turbo Fire workouts lately so that I wouldn't get burned out on them during the program. They are so much fun that I can't wait to get back to it!

Okay, I know this first post is wordy, but I promise it will get better, and so will this blog. It was a last minute decision to keep me accountable on this program so it may take me a few weeks to get this where I want it to be. Until then, stick with me! Going forward, look to hear about my workouts, how I improve my eating, and what I've learned. Warning: you may have to hear about my kids a little, but mostly how I'm trying to feed them healthy and instill good habits. And if anyone wants to help me with the design for this blog, I'm open to suggestions/tips/whatever!

I am also looking for a hard-core accountability buddy if anyone is interested. Seriously, like someone I can text pictures of everything I eat to. My eating has been atrocious this weekend!! You can send me your food if you want, but it's not required :)

image from here