Progress is progress

While I was not were I wanted to be on any of my goals, I did progress on all of them.  Bought my groceries for the week.  I lifted weights.  I went to dance practice.  I just am such a perfectionist that I still see it as a loss.

I didn't do all my pushups on my toes (or any on my toes for that matter).  I didn't do all the food prep for the week.  I didn't have the choreography down.  I didn't have this blog typed up an hour ago.

What would letting those negative thoughts cloud my mind and my actions but disappointment.  If I let those thoughts take hold, I will give up.  The whole goal of this year is to not give up.  The whole goal is to see how far I can get on these plans.  The only way I can fail is to give up.  Trying each day is the success.  The results are just gravy.

I hope you are not giving up on your goals!

Second Step, Easier than the First

So day two of 2014 is coming to a close.  I can truly say that I did good today.  I met all my goals and even tried out a new dance DVD.  The Celebration Bellydance Workout with Sarah Skinner is the DVD I tried out.

I only did the actual workout so this is a bit more of a first impressions review.  First, if you are not comfortable with learning choreography on the fly, watch the video first.  Most of the moves are not repeated more than once per side.  Also, the cuing is minimal.  There are some points in which I do believe that there should have been more cuing (face down on the floor or back to the screen) or more information about what was coming next. 

Second, this does involve lots of level changes.  Those with bad knees really need to skip this.  Those who are trying to work on level changes will love this aspect.  It does build leg strength up rather nicely.  Sarah has you go all the way down to a low squat and back up right away.  There are also parts where floorwork is involved.

Third, it is rather bouncy.  If your teacher constantly reminds you not to get a head bounce going, your teacher would love you to not watch this video.  For the rest of us, this means cardio.  Traditional move are used to amp up the heart rate in a very bouncy saidi.

Overall, I did like this DVD.  It challenged me in turn with the pace of movements, shimmy combinations, and level changes.  The strength exercises were challenging enough that I truly felt them, but presented in such a way that I was rather distracted from how well they were working.  I think that the minimal cues will help me keep from getting bored with it later.  I will let you know how I feel about it down the line.

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.

Low Points and Working through Them

I have definitely hit a low point.  The bad thing about low points, at least for me, is that they tend to lead to actions that cause more low points.  I have been eating way too much and hardly working out.  This leads to me feeling just that much more depressed and also bloated.

The only way I know how to kick myself out of this is to literally kick myself out of it.  As such, I plan to have my workout clothes ready before I go to bed and go for a walk with my dog right after my first alarm goes off in the morning.  We will see how this goes as that dreaded alarm goes off at 4:30am.  YUCK!!  But it has been unseasonably warm here in Kansas and neither me nor my dog are used to the heat yet so this is the best time for any outside activity.

I got strawberries at the store today so I am planning to make these strawberry protein pancakes for breakfast tomorrow.  Cassey's recipes are always so good!  I can hardly wait.  That should get me up for the walk. lol  Then I will just try to focus on eating well the rest of the day.  Each day is a new chance to make your life better, I plan to make the most of that.

Huggs!!

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.

Starting Over for the Hundreth Time

I find that I restart more often than not. While most people might see this as a bad thing, I note that at least I restart. This restart is inspired by a phrase that Cassey Ho of blogilates came up with, "Train insane or stay the same." While she is in much better shape than me, she is a source of inspiration as she is constantly pushing herself to be more healthy. The basics of my plan is simplicity.

       Nutrition is said to be at least 80% of results. For my nutrition plan I will be following a clean eating plan of 6 "meals." Three meals will include protein, carbs, and fat. Protein and carbs will make up the remaining three meals. Fruits and vegetables are carbs. I will aim for 3 servings of fruits and 5 servings of vegetables. Most foods will be whole foods, as close to their natural state as possible. This will cut back on the prep time for meals as well as cut back on unnecessary calories. I will try to limit my grains to whole grains. For protein sources I will use mostly chicken, nuts or fish. The exception will be my morning shake that has protein powder, Greek yogurt and peanut butter in it.

       Training is the next 10% of the equation. For month one through five I will be using Shape's Bikini Body Countdown workout. Each month they come out with a different workout that is slightly harder than the month before. This will be my strength training. For my cardio training I will be alternating HIIT and moderate cardio aiming for 30-60 minutes a day. Mainly walking and running for this. I will also be continuing my yoga and bellydance classes on top of that. Also on top of that is any house or yard work. Staying moving even when I am not "working out" is part of the goal.

        Today I didn't eat so hot but it was much better than I normally do on the weekend, so I will take it as a win. I started out the day with my breakfast shake and a glass of water. For lunch though I had Taco Shop's enchilada dinner which had two enchiladas and beans all with cheese and cheese sauce on them. For dinner I did about the same, a small hamburger, side salad and jello from Spangles. I would have been fine there if I skipped the ice cream sundae, but at least I got a small one. I did my strength and HIIT workouts but only did one round of each. I give myself one week and then I am bumping it up to two rounds for each. It will be really hard for me but anything worth having is hard to get.

Starting point for this time:

Starting Point

Today I start a journey to become a better dancer. That may sound like a petty goal to some, but it is a motivation that will help me along the steps that I have to do to become better. I know that to become a better dancer I have to remove other obstacles in my way. So that you understand the journey, I will tell you about the beginning.

I am a bellydancer. I would rank my current level as beginner-intermediate. The things that are standing in my way of becoming better are; my weight, lack of practice space at home, and confidence.

My weight is an issue because I am 100lbs. over weight. As a result, I have less endurance than I would need to make it through a full set. Also, moves don't ever look sharp. I know that I don't want to ever become too skinny. That would lead to my shimmies being nonexistent. I want only useful junk in my trunk! lol

Lack of practice space at home will limit anyone wanting to make true progress with their dance. Daily studio time is not always available and practicing skills and routines daily is what makes them look flawless and effortless. My lack is just due to the clutter that is in my house.

My confidence is truly just plain not there. Now, that is not to say that I can't fake it. Faking it will only get you so far though. That internal self-doubt will show through to the trained eye. If the stress on the performer is really bad, it would not even take that.

So those are going to be my four main topics of writing about; dance, weight loss, cleaning, confidence. I will try to do two blogs a day. One with that days topic. One with that day's progress report.