Jan
24
Fitness
So, being a new year, and being a sucker for that whole “new year, new you” thing that everyone gets into this time of year, I’ve decided it’s time for me to bite the bullet, and really work on improving my fitness. I definitely have the weight to lose, and I’m really starting to keep track of what I eat. I’m doing some Shakeology meal replacement shakes. I do like the taste, but I find myself hampered by having to keep the blender clean at all times, and having to find the time in the morning to make them. I really like the chocolate, with some frozen strawberries thrown in, and I’m happy doing that for breakfast. It’s harder for me to do for lunch. I bought some blender bottles, to see if that would make it easier for me to do on the go–the taste will be different without the ice and “shake” feel, so we’ll see.
I’m also using an App on my Iphone called Losing It. You’re able to set it up for what degree of weight loss you want, and it tells you how many calories you can have. You can also add exercise, which increases the net calories you can consume in a day. I’ve NEVER been a fan of calorie tracking, but it is very enlightening to see how many calories are in a lot of foods. I’m sure I’ve had meals that exceeded that calories I should eat in a day. So just increasing that awareness has been helpful. And it helps me think, ok, I had a bad lunch, I need to make up for it at dinner. Not go, oh screw it, today is a wash.
But for me, more important then the weight, is really my overall fitness level. Ticket has done nothing if not illustrate that I have GOT to move faster. I mean, I have been late REAR CROSSING her! And if I truly want to be considered for the World Team, I think my fitness has to improve. To that end, I’ve started the Couch to 5K plan. Essentially, it’s a plan designed to get anyone running a 5K in 9 weeks. You start alternating jogging with walking, and gradually the length of the jogging increases, and the walking decreases. It takes about 30 minutes, 3 times a week. I have an App for it as well, which tells you when to jog, when to walk, and plays your music off your Iphone. I’m doing the running on treadmill, and it’s working out great. I was initially hesitant about C25K because my knees aren’t the greatest anymore after years of soccer, but so far, no knee pain, so hopefully that will continue. Once I feel like my cardio is improving, I’ll add some cross-training, but I just can’t seem to manage it yet. I just feel so out of shape, it seems silly to add in other exercises until I improve overall. I’ve just started Week 3, and so far, so good. My plan is to make use of my time to myself when I’m stuck at the Ft. Collins La Quinta for 10 days for acupuncture training to try to do even more–maybe alternate days on the treadmill with the elliptical, so I’m doing more then 3 days a week? We’ll see how it works out.
