Even Procrastinators Can Do This

I actually still need to do day 3 of the Push program yet before I can go to bed, but other than that I have gotten everything done.  Most of it was after dinner, but I got it done and that is what counts.

I also made progress on my troupe's costumes for our big show.  I need to type out directions for them before I forget all the adjustments, but big steps where made.

Dance practice tonight was Serpentine with Rachel Brice.  I forgot how hard and rewarding that DVD is.  There are a lot of places I am tight that I am not normally tight and some places that I am looser than I remember!  My backbends were much lower.  Go me!

Well, got to go if I am to get these notes typed out and do today's Push assignment.  How are you doing on your resolutions?  Any where in your progress that has surprised you?

New Year's Refocus

       To say that I slacked off in 2012 would be incorrect.  I worked hard.  I worked out most days.  When I cooked I prepared healthy meals.  I gave my all to every troupe practice and performance.

     What I did not have in 2012 was focus.  That sharp image of what I needed to do every second of every day.  This year I am not only going to try to do what I need to in order form me to reach my goals, but I am planning them out.

     My workouts for January?  Already written, in ink, in my planner.  My meal plan is still a work in progress, but it is getting there.  I have a lot of information and recipes to go through to see what will work for me and my lifestyle.  Meanwhile, my house is stocked with healthy foods that I can throw together and know that I am eating well.

     The last part of my life that I am going to really focus and plan out this year is getting my house organized.  For this I will turn to FlyLady.net.  Using the baby steps, I know that my house will improve.  Besides  just having a cleaner house, it will also be less stress.  Since most of my workouts are at home, it will help me get fit as well.

     One hopeful byproduct of getting the house organized is getting my costumes organized.  My troupe does a lot of different types of gigs.  That means lots of different types of costumes.  With my house having a closet that would better serve as a narrow hallway and no other, organizing my clothes and my costumes has always been a challenge.

     I will be taking pictures to track the progress on all fronts.  Come along with me on my journey and maybe there will be some fun along the way.

Stretch a Little Deeper, Release a Little Sweeter

Today had its good points and its bad points.  Really every day has them.  Really every day should have them.  Workouts have never really been my problem.  I love to move in general.  I love to feel the burn.  I love to log the calories burned.  So it is no surprise that I got my workouts done today.  I did two rounds of BBC month one.  I went to yoga class and got my hips to REALLY open oup.  I even accepted the Sweaty Betties challenge for May and did 3 minutes of jump rope today, I broke it up to one minute before, during and after my strength, but I got it done!

My food intake though was bad, real bad.  Like twice my lower calorie limit bad.  1,200 calories over my upper limit bad.  I really need to get my nutritional intake on schedule and stick to it.  When I start thinking of going off it I need to really think about why I am doing that and what I could do instead.  I think the only thing holding me back is fear.  Weird enough, I think it is the fear that I will turn into the mean person I was back in high school if I loss the weight.  Still not sure how my brain came up with that one, but it did. 

Now to prove to myself that my new found love for life and the differences between people is not dependent on my weight.  The only way I can see to do that is to loss the weight.  To loss the weight I have to prove it to myself.  I'm in a canoe with only one paddle!  Now if I could just trade it in on a power boat.

Muscles That Hurt and Flying Skirts

I was so tired after troupe practice last night I forgot to post a blog.  I'll get this out before my day starts and we'll just forget that it is a few hours late.  Okay?

So I did Shape's Bikini Body Countdown workout for only one round.  I think I should be up to two rounds starting next week.  It is still kicking my behind, and abs, and back.  Okay, every muscle hurts right now, but in that delicious after burn sort of way.  I also did one round of HIIT during my walk.  Once again, I should be able to up that next week to 2 rounds.  I'm going to up it one round a week til I reach 4 round of HIIT with each walk.  Each round of HIIT I am doing is 14 sets of 10 second sprints and 30 second rests.  This happens to correspond with how my GymBoss is programed for BBC so I don't have to sit down and mess with the programing, I just have to get my dog on his leash and go.

Troupe practice was loads of fun and hard work as always.  We are working on a new piece of choreography that Ariellah started but never finished.   It will be added to our steampunk set for this year.  So far it is pretty fun and I love being able to use our gothic moves.  Up to this point, we have used a lot of West African and Romani dance moves.  As we are a gothic troupe, getting to use our foundation move excites me.

Also last night I bought a skirt from my troupe leader that she no longer wanted.  It was a normal 25 yard skirt but she had added satin trim to the bottom hem of it.  This addition turned it into a flying skirt!  A simple way to do this is to use satin blanket binding at the hem.  This is actually what a lot of belly dancers did back in the 60's and 70's for their skirts.  Right now my only other 25+ yard skirt is all satin so I don't want to add a heavier weighted fabric to the hem.  It is already an arm workout!  Any cotton skirts in the future will get this treatment for sure.

Well, off for another day.  I have to get my costume together for a preformance tonight as well as my normal Thursday.

Huggs!

Burning Can Be Good

   Today I was running a little ragged after yesterday's activities.  It used to be that this would cause me to take it easy and do nothing.  Instead I pushed myself.  I helped my mom load up her truck with downed branches between my split shifts.  After the work day was done I used Rachel Brice's Practice Companion DVD.  I did the 30 minute session.  This is where the burn comes in.

    Tribal Fusion: Yoga, Isolations and Drills - A Practice Companion is a great DVD if you have not come across it yet.  The only thing I wish is that a DVD exactly like this would come out for classical Egyptian as well.  It is broken down into time increments that you can chose from; 15, 30, and 45 minutes.  There is also a play all feature, but I don't know the run time on that or how it differs from the 45 minute practice. 

    After a yoga warm up, Rachel started in on the drills and isolations.  Since they are all done without level changes or foot movement, my thighs started to notice.  Not just notice, they started to BURN!!  I actually had so stop some of the drills because my thighs needed a break.  I guess we know where my weakness is now.  It was also not that bad in the calorie burning arena for me as well.  According to my heart rate monitor, I burned 249 calories during this session.  All in all, it will be in my regular rotation at 30 minutes till my thighs get up to par.  Then I'll try taking it up to the longer practice.

Who need sleeping aids....

...when you can just work out till your body drops!  Today, I didn't have to go to work.  Instead of sitting around relaxing I did my strength workout and then went on a walk with my dog and added some HIIT in the middle.  After that I changed my pants, for more coverage, and mowed my mother's yard.  Shower and a nap were in order after that, b.o. and all.  Yoga finished off the day. 
      To say that I am tired is an understatement.  I did fairly well on the food front.  At least as far as calories go I was good.  I was lacking on the nutritional front for lunch, but since at that point I was twice over what I plan to burn every day (500 calories, burned over 1,000 by lunch) I won't be too harsh on myself.  'Learn the lesson and move on' is the motto I try to live by.  Now to get to bed before the storm breaks so the rain can lull me to sleep.

Huggs til Tomorrow!

First Check-in

Boring old check-in with measurements and a monthly fitness test.

Bust: 46.5 inches
Waist: 40 inches
Hips: 47 inches
Weight: 246 lbs.

Monthly Fitness Test:
Pushups on Toes, max. reps in one minute: 12
Full Sit-ups, max. reps in one minute: 14
Step Test* : 94

*Step Test: Step up and down one step for 3 minutes. Sit down for one minute.  Measure your heart rate.  It shows how fast you recover your resting heart rate.

The measurement I will post weekly.  The fitness test I will do the last Sunday of every month.  The more ways you track your progress, the more likely you are to actually see your progress.