Exercise Recap: Week 5

Not much to report this week, as Dee injured her poor, poor shoulder/back muscles after last Sunday's attempt at being Super-Exercise-Girl!

Sunday 1/30/2011 [day off]
9:35 am - Dee - Gazelle Level 1 (20 min, 1.5 miles)

That be it! Other than some choreography rehearsals (which we have one to attend today as well), she's been resting and I've been lazy.

Awesomeness!
--Jay :)

Exercise Recap: Week 4

It's the end of Week 4, and my exercise this week is extremely easy to count... I'll give you a hint... it's a nice, round number... :) Dee kept it up quite nicely, though:

Sunday 1/23/2011 [day off]
10:00 am - Dee - Shred Level 1, Day 5 (27 min)

Monday 1/24/2011 [work day]
8:55 am - Dee - Shred Level 1, Day 6 (27 min)

Tuesday 1/25/2011 [work day]
7:20 am - Dee - Shred Level 1, Day 7 (27 min)

Wednesday 1/26/2011 [work day]
7:30 am - Dee - Shred Level 1, Day 8 (27 min)

Thursday 1/27/2011 [work day]
8:15 am - Dee - Shred Level 1, Day 9 (27 min)

Friday 1/28/2011 [day off]
9:15 am - Dee - Shred Level 1, Day 10! (27 min)

Saturday 1/29/2011 [day off]
8:25 am - Dee - Shred Level 2, Day 1 (27 min)
6:50 pm - Dee - Gazelle Level 1 (30 min, 2.0 miles)

Dee hurt her back muscles pretty badly after that first Level 2 Shred, and wasn't very mobile all day Sunday. I had to leave for a music practice at the church, and while I was gone, she decided to get up and Gazelle for half an hour! Apparently, it felt good to exercise, but when she was done again... not so much. Poor, broken Dee!

She did get in over 3 1/2 hours of exercise this week. Oy...

--Jay :)

Shredded

Dee has officially completed the tenth and last day of Shred Level 1! She had a happy, emotional moment, because it was such an amazing feeling to have stuck with this thing and accomplished a huge goal. She kicked this thing for 10 solid mornings in a row, no breaks, no wimping out! Tomorrow is her first day of Level 2, and we're sitting here watching it right now, just to see what she's in for. :)

I've been extraordinarily slack on the exercise front this week, mostly due to the fact that we slept in late on Monday after being at the party the night before, then I was cooking a pot of chicken barley soup for our lunch on Tuesday morning this week, and the other mornings I was most likely just being lazy. Ah, laziness. :-D

Dee's scale results have started swinging back in a good direction, so we think her body is getting adjusted to the new exercise routine. Hopefully, kicking it into Level 2 tomorrow doesn't scare the crap out of her muscles again! I'm down about 3.5 pounds for the week thus far, and should fall squarely on my goal of 4 pounds per week. Awesomeness.

Rock it!
--Jay :)

Motivation

We survived the annual office New Year party, rocked some karaoke, chose some pretty healthy options and portion sizes for dinner, and drank only water. Sweetness!

Dee has been doing more research and came across something that said you may gain some weight when you first start working out, due to the fact that your muscles will try to hold onto some of your water intake to stay healthy and hydrated. After a few weeks, everything should balance out. Silly muscles, making our weigh-in numbers look less than stellar! :)

Dee has been re-motivated by the fact that she can tell her clothes are fitting better, and she received a compliment out of the blue yesterday that her face and neck are looking skinnier! After struggling through her post-party Monday workout yesterday, she was right back on it in full force this morning for Day 7 of the Shred.

Whoop whoop!
--Jay :)

Exercise Recap: Week 3

All righty, we've reached the end of the exercise for Week 3 (technically Week 1 of officially exercising, but Week 3 of the healthy lifestyle do-over). Here's what we did:

Sunday 1/16/2011 [day off]
11:00 am - Dee - Gazelle Level 1 (30 min, 2.0 miles)
11:30 am - Jay - Gazelle Level 1 (15 min, 0.9 miles)
11:30 am - Dee - Core Rhythms Full Workout (38.5 min)

Monday 1/17/2011 [work day]
6:40 am - Jay - Gazelle Level 1 (11 min, 0.5 miles)
6:40 am - Dee - Core Rhythms Partial Workout (20 min)

Tuesday 1/18/2011 [work day]
6:10 am - Dee - Gazelle Level 1 (20 min, 1.4 miles)
6:10 am - Jay - laid on the couch, keeping the cat company

Wednesday 1/19/2011 [work day]
6:10 am - Jay - Gazelle Level 1 (11 min, 0.6 miles)
6:10 am - Dee - Shred Level 1, Day 1 (27 min)

Thursday 1/20/2011 [work day]
6:40 am - Dee - Shred Level 1, Day 2 (27 min)

Friday 1/21/2011 [day off]
7:50 am - Jay - Gazelle Level 1 (11.5 min, 0.6 miles)
7:50 am - Dee - Shred Level 1, Day 3 (27 min)
1:45 pm - Jay & Dee - Zumba Express Workout (20 min)

Saturday 1/22/2011 [day off]
9:00 am - Dee - Shred Level 1, Day 4 (27 min)
2:15 pm - Jay & Dee - Zumba Express Workout (20 min)

On Shred Day 4, Dee started using the proper 3 pound hand weights, and finally tossed my ghetto soup & tomato sauce can idea to the curb.

Whew!!! I tried to do something productive at least every other day, and worked in a total of about 1 1/2 hours of exercise for the week. Dee went the "every single day" approach, and got in just over 4 1/4 hours of exercise this week!

Weigh in tomorrow morning!
--Jay :)

Weight A Minute...

Well, we did it. We broke bad yesterday, made the trip to our nearest "city", and plopped down six whole bucks for a pair of 3-pound hand weights. Oh yeah! Dee was feeling the pain, using those bad boys for Day 4 of Shred this morning. They don't feel all that heavy until you do multiple reps of multiple exercises...

Now, all we have to do is saunter over to my aunt's house, as she has graciously offered up a yoga mat for us to use in this whole adventure. Once we procure that, we'll have a veritable home gym over here. :)

We've just finished a late lunch and are about to hit up some Zumba again... another 20 minute "express" Latin dance session, and we should be pretty good on exercise for today.

Tomorrow is weigh day, and we'll see how things turn out for the week!

--Jay :)

"Zum" Went The Strings Of My Heart

You may have guessed from my lame attempt at a pun in the title of this post... and actually, more people are probably familiar with "Zing Went The Strings Of My Heart" by Judy Garland or the Coasters, than "Zoom Went The Strings Of My Heart" by the Cadillacs... but I digress...

My point? We decided to finally give Zumba a go.



That's right... it's the Hottest Latin Dance Workout!!! Actually, it's been around for about 10 years, but Dee had read all sorts of good blog entries around the web about it, and it still seems to be quite popular. We picked up the newer version, which features female teachers along with the program's creator, Beto.

We just finished the 20-Minute Express workout, which has four 5-minute sections of Latin dance. I found it remarkably easy, but I was doing some simplified versions of the moves. We both broke a sweat and felt like we were doing something, so it makes a good addition to our normal exercise routine that we did this morning.

Dance on!
--Jay :)

Can You Love Her & Hate Her Simultaneously?

Jillian Michaels.

Dee popped Day 2 of the Shred yesterday, and Day 3 this morning. Sometimes I think she'd like to run up and plant a fist into the television at points during the workout. Of course, Jillian has usually drained all her energy by then, so it's not even physically possible. Good thing. I like our TV. A lot. :)



On a serious note, Dee has been rocking her way through. I joined the exercise fun on the Gazelle both Wednesday and today, stifling the urge to yell "You can doooo it!" like Tony Little on the commercials.

We're both feeling remarkably good. I remember this happening last time we started exercising too, but it's so easy to forget that sometimes, getting your fitness level headed in the right direction... feels good. Dee has been less winded during workouts and theatre rehearsals, and she's been having more energy, which is a surprise. You'd normally think you'd feel worn out, beat down, smashed in the mud. Surprisingly not.

So, Jillian Michaels. Sometimes you want to rip her face off. But then, you realize that good things are happening. (Plus, you'd probably get arrested, or have to pay a fine or something. Pick up trash on the side of the highway in an orange jumpsuit.) We're not losing a ton of weight this week so far, but we're attributing that to the fact that maybe... just MAYBE... the exercise might be building some muscle. Who knows if it works that quickly?

Keep it up!
--Jay :)

Crunch Time

Well... she survived. Jillian Michael's 30-Day Shred Level 1, Day 1, that is. :)

27 minutes of pain that looks oh so easy from the outside, where I happily stand at the moment... looks can be deceiving.

Dee has learned that crunches are evil. But she has also learned that she can stick to this thing. Maybe not EVERY day, like they suggest... we should be throwing some Zumba and Core Rhythms in there too.

We have to head to the store soon to pick up some 3 lb. hand weights and a nice, thick yoga mat. We were lying in bed last night, discussing plans for this morning, and she brought that up to me. I believe my response was, "Suck it up! You can use two cans of beans and a folded up blanket. It's like ghetto exercise!" (No offense to those living in ghettos. I was tired, and it seemed funny at the time.) That was good for a laugh before we passed out, happily oblivious to the outside world.

Sadly, we were out of beans, but substituted with a 15.5 oz. can of tomato sauce and a 10.75 oz. can of cream of mushroom soup. That's even funnier, somehow. :)

Breakfast time!
--Jay :)

Shred This!

Oh my... we've also added the Jillian Michaels' 30-Day Shred vid to our arsenal of pain. Dee has committed to torture herself with that bad boy tomorrow morning...

Feel the burn!
--Jay :)

A Sore Subject...

We somehow magically arose at 6:00 am today, crept past a flock of sleeping roosters, and got laughed at by a group of bats, who heckled us for daring to be awake before they'd even started thinking about going to bed!

Dee decided to hop on the Gazelle for 20 minutes, crunching out 1.4 miles, while I opted to take the morning off and lay on the couch with my eyes closed, brimming with moral support. :) I think I'll try to push for adding some exercise 3-4 days per week, and she'll be going for a bit more than that.

After dance rehearsal last night, and kicking the exercise back in, Dee has become quite QUITE sore... but I guess it's a "good" sore. It's an "I'm accomplishing something awesome" sore. Mine always seems to be an "I could have slept for HOW many more minutes?" sore... :P

In an effort to liven things up, we've gotten ourselves some uber-trendy Zumba discs to blend in with the Core Rhythms, and we may have to give them a go this weekend...

If we still have any energy left, that is...

--Jay :)

Is my alarm clock even awake that early?

We got up early this morning. To exercise. What... in... the... world...? (It was Dee's idea!) :-D

Yes, our trusty alarm clock blasted out a whine at 6:30am... a time I've become unfamiliar with since parting employment with a big-box retail outfit over a year ago. The store used to open at 6:00am, and I seem to have strange, horrible memories of waking up around 4:45am most mornings... *shudder*

She skipped and I trudged out to the den, where she burst forth with 20 minutes of Core Rhythms while I "Gazelle-d" half a mile in 11 minutes. Then: breakfast, shower, work, coffee. Here we be, no worse for wear. It's amazing what you can (be forced) to do if you put your mind to it. :)

--Jay

The Dreaded E-Word

"Food Is Health; Exercise Is Fitness" --Tony Horton

Tony who? Yeah, he's the P90X guy. No, we're not doing P90X (not yet, anyway... but it is on Dee's eventual goal list) but that's means it's time for... EXERCISE...



Okay, it's not as bad as it seems. We were watching QVC this morning, as they were hawking the P90X program, and we got inspired to kick it to the next level and start our Gazelle / Core Rhythms routine again, as we've done in the past.

Dee started on the Gazelle this morning and did 2 miles in 30 minutes. Then she put on the Core Rhythms 38-minute full workout while I plodded along on the Gazelle for 15 minutes, doing 0.9 miles. I will work up to better than that, but I haven't exercised in eons. :)

So, we're feeling good... feeling inspired... hopefully, it will last. We'll have to get our workouts in on the weekends, because between work, theatre rehearsals, and choir practice, we are completely consumed Monday through Thursday from sunup to sundown. We shall cram as much health as we can into our 3-day weekends.

Let's do this thing!
--Jay

Weigh-In Week 24 & 25

Well, we've been falling down on the blogging lately... Fortunately, we've been sticking to the eating plan well enough, with a few exceptions for family gatherings. The exercise plan... yeah, that one's still under construction... :) Here's how the last couple of weeks went:

Weigh-In Week Twenty-Four [6/13-6/19]
Jay: 331.0 (-1.5 pounds [40.5 overall])
Dee: 211 (-0.5 pounds [20.5 overall])

Weigh-In Week Twenty-Five [6/20-6/26]
Jay: 328.5 (-2.5 pounds [-43 overall])
Dee: 209.5 (-1.5 pounds [-22 overall])

Rock it!
--Jay :)

Weigh-In Week 23

Well, we've just come off a week with a couple of days celebrating anniversaries and things like that, which involved a few meals out, movies with popcorn and all sorts of fun things... :) We've learned that it's okay to splurge every now and then, as long as we come right back to the plan! Here's how we went (or didn't go, ha ha) for the week:

Weigh-In Week Twenty-Three
Jay: 332.5 (no change [-39.0 overall])
Dee: 211.5 (-0.5 pounds [-20.0 overall])

We shall kick it back into gear for next week...

--Jay :)

Weigh-In Week 22

We're still plowing along nicely, whipping some calories into submission... No exercise to speak of again this week. Hopefully, once we clear a couple of events that we've had coming up, we'll find time to hop back on the exercise bandwagon... :)

Weigh-In Week Twenty-Two:
Jay: 332.5 (-4.0 pounds [-39.0 overall])
Dee: 212.0 (-1.0 pounds [-19.5 overall])

We have a theatre picnic to attend today, but we're not planning to go too far outside the box. They usually provide veggie burgers and a nice array of veggie and fruit options.

Bring it!
--Jay :)

Weigh-In Week 21

I must apologize for all the silence on the blog lately... My poor laptop finally caught one of those malware bugs that just won't quit! I've had great success in taming them in the past, but alas... no more. So I've reordered the restore CDs from Dell and shall give 'er a wipe soon enough. It's behaving remarkably well this morning though, so I figure I'll get on here and roll out an update. :)

Weigh-In Week Twenty-One:
Jay: 336.5 (-3.5 pounds [-35.0 overall])
Dee: 213.0 (-3.0 pounds [-18.5 overall])

No real exercise to speak of again this week, but we're hoping to get back on that horse again soon. The next two weeks will be a little hectic, as I'm planning to cram five days worth of hours into four days worth of work, in order to take off the next two Sundays.

Roll on!
--Jay :)

Weigh-In Week 20

Looking back, it has been a bit of a quiet week here on the blog. If only in real life... :)

This past week was the closing of our theatre production, including tearing down the set after the last performance. There was no structured exercise to speak of for the week, other than a bit of lifting and carrying things up a flight of stairs to our group's warehouse. We did manage to eat well all week, including at the pizza party after the set strike, where we rocked the salad bar.

Here's how we rolled:

Weigh-In Week Twenty:
Jay: 340.0 (-2.0 pounds [-31.5 overall])
Dee: 216.0 (-2.0 pounds [-15.5 overall])

I think my results last week were partially due to not being as hydrated as normal, and I tried to compensate for that this week.

Rock it!
--Jay :)

Weigh-In Week 19

It's turned out to be an excellent week! Usually, "play" weekends turn horribly wrong, because Dee and I used to think we were forced to grab fast-food and eat at odd times of the day to accommodate a show schedule. This time, we packed all our healthy meals and things into a cooler... heck, I even packed some salad veggies with a knife and cutting board! I was quite the chef sitting there on my hotel bed, using an armchair for a stable surface! :)

Here's how it went down:

Weigh-In Week Nineteen:
Jay: 342.0 (-6.5 pounds [-29.5 overall])
Dee: 218.0 (-3.5 pounds [-13.5 overall])

Lovin' it!
--Jay :)

Exercise Update: Week 19

Not a whole lot to report this week... We opened our theatre production this past Friday, which always puts a bit of a damper on plans to do much of anything else. :)

Sunday 5/9 (day off - Mothers Day)
8:45 am - Dee did 1 mile on the Gazelle at Level 1 (13 minutes)
9:05 am - Jay did 0.5 mile on the Gazelle at Level 1 (10m 15s)
9:05 am - Dee did Core Rhythms "Quick Workout" (22 minutes)

Monday 5/10 (work day)
Dee walked/jogged about 1 mile with one of her "nanny" children

Tuesday 5/11 (work day)
8:15 am - Dee did 1 mile on the Gazelle at Level 1 (13 minutes)
8:35 am - Jay did 0.5 mile on the Gazelle at Level 1 (9 minutes)
8:35 am - Dee did Core Rhythms "Quick Workout" (22 minutes)

Wednesday 5/12 (work day)
7:50 am - Dee did Core Rhythms "Quick Workout" (22 minutes)

Thursday 5/13 (work day)
morning - Dee did Core Rhythms "Quick Workout" (22 minutes)

Friday 5/14 (day off)
no exercise due to theatre performance

Saturday 5/15 (day off)
no exercise due to theatre performance

I did splurge a bit on the Mothers Day dinner gathering, but made up for it by cutting small things like pudding for dessert throughout the week. :) We also did very well at remembering to pack our food while away from home for the weekend for the theatre stuff.

We won't be able to weigh in until tomorrow (Monday) morning for this week, so we shall see what we have in the morning!

Woo hoo!
--Jay :)