Changes, All the Little Changes

Before I get to the actual post, today, I slept in. So my workout will be between work and girls night. It will be Push Circuit 2, so it's 35 minutes and weightlifting-focused, so I think I can do that, shower, and walk to the restaurant in time after work today. The front room rearranging has taken a toll on my bedtime.

Okay, on to the Changes.

I've been documenting the daily stuff on here, but sometimes, I like to make a retrospective.

Today, I realized that there are a lot of little changes that have been adding in to the big changes.
And some of them aren't so little. But all of these changes have been since the beginning of this year.

• I see a therapist every other week. We are evaluating different possibilities of the root of my high anxiety issues & panic attacks as well as my scatterbrained-ness and overall mental health. I want to be able to have a plan of attack that is appropriate to what my brain is doing rather than guessing and worrying about it. 
• I am following the ChaLEAN Extreme 90-day Challenge. I'm following the schedule, and while I may have missed a day or workout here and there, I have been very good about giving it my all every day. I'm glad that I chose a program with workouts close to 30 minutes each day rather than over an hour. It's manageable, and I can fit that in to my schedule. It's a small commitment, but I'm seeing the results. (Dude! I have BICEPS!!!!)
• I'm taking a daily multivitamin.
• I'm drinking Shakeology every day, which I didn't quite realize until yesterday how much it has been working for me. When you drink something that filling every single morning and then you have to fast until 11 am one day, let's just say that my sweet cravings were off the charts yesterday. I wanted to eat everything in sight! I have really been loving the chocolate flavor with a healthy dash of Cayenne Pepper added to it.
• I am attending Weight Watchers meetings and tracking my intake as well as my activity. We'll see how ActiveLink works for me once I get past the assessment phase. This has been a really good change. I've been dropping pounds since starting this. It has been the impetus to cooking at the house more, drinking less beer and alcohol, and focusing on fruit, vegetables, and protein sources to fuel my workouts.
• I'm cleaning things up. I'm making places for everything. I'm getting rid of clutter. I'm removing the excess (but I'm not getting rid of my jeans. My jeans will stay in my closet forever. I think I still have maternity jeans somewhere.)

So lots of little and big changes. They are all starting to add up. I can see muscle in my body. I feel better. I feel happier. I feel less like the world is going to crash in on me. I am getting stuff done. And I am moving forward. Little changes. They make for big leaps.

~Katie

Failure

Failure.

What does it mean to you?

In ChaLEAN Extreme, failure is the point at which you've worked your muscle so hard that you are unable to do another rep in form.
This causes your muscle to rebuild through the rest period and grow stronger.

I have been working most of my exercises to failure in 10-12 reps. I have been trying to make sure I try the next weight up for exercises that I did the week before.  If I was using 5 lbs, I'll use 10 lbs. If I was using 10 lbs, I'll use 15 lbs. Sometimes, I realize that I made a mistake and switch back so that I can actually complete more than 5 reps.  This is one of the issues I'm trying to work through. For some of the moves, I am stronger than 5 lbs, even going super slow and flexing the whole time, but I can't go past 5 reps with the 10 lbs. So what can I do to push past that? What can I work through to get up to the weight I know I can tackle? Perseverance.

This morning, I felt like a failure, despite what my body has been telling me, I felt like I had not achieved anything.

So taking a lesson from weightlifting, I'm taking it as a sign that I can get stronger. Still. I am still capable of continuing. I am still capable of succeeding.

I often feel like I've failed at tasks at work or with my business. But maybe I'm just working myself to breaking? I need to work a different "muscle group" and let the one I've failed at rest a tiny bit. Not ignore it and never address it again, just work on something else, focus on another aspect for a little bit. I have lots of balls in the air right now. I need to give them each their due attention for cycling amounts of time. Not work on one at the detriment of others, but work on one until I have worked it as much as I can for the day and then switch to the other.

I can do this. I will take a cue from this. Failure is not the end, it's just the beginning.

~Katie

Week 2 Burn 1

Still trying to switch to morning workouts. But I think Wednesday is the first day I really can. This morning, I had to bring my cat to the vet to get bloodwork done so he can get a couple teeth removed Friday. Being ready to go at 7:30 am is difficult enough without making time to workout beforehand. Tomorrow is the morning the bug man comes over. So for now, I will continue working out as post-work decompression.

Contemplating cleaning out the garage to make a workout room there. Ceiling fans and wood floors don't make for enough room for 2 people jumping around. We'll see what Saturday brings.

Decided that I like making sure I have My Fit Foods for lunch, afternoon snack & dinner. Helps to know that I'm eating well rather than springing for a quick fix. Relearning portions.

Workout this evening went well. Tried pushing it up a notch & then backed down to 5 lbs on some that I probably should have stayed at 10 lbs with.

DID WAY MORE PUSH-UPS!!!!

Woo!

~Katie

A bit on weights

For ChaLEAN Extreme, you need weights or resistance bands.

 I wanted to be able to travel with it, but also prefer weights, so I got both. I haven't done a resistance band workout, but it was within a dinner out pricing, so I added it on. It will be nice to not have to rely on a hotel gym having the equipment.

These are the bands that I got

But I prefer to use weights when I'm at home, because I feel the resistance the whole way and not as a gradual increase like the bands.  I had a pair of 2 lbs and 5 lbs dumbells at the house already, and I've found that the 2 lbs is WAY too light for me. The 5 lbs is something that I will quickly move beyond, as well. What can I say? I carry a laptop bag and a heavy purse every day. Dumbells are EXPENSIVE! Especially to have the range of weights that I'd like to have. I wasn't ready to commit to buying lots of sets for over $100, so I got this modular set that I could grow with.

The 1 lb weights don't come with the set

 

I am a bit underwhelmed by it. The securing mechanism doesn't stay tight and the post gets in the way sometimes. It'll make do, but with the options that are available, the bar with the two screw caps are 4 lbs, then you need to be balanced, so you're options are pairs of 4 lbs, 10 lbs, 14 lbs, and 20 lbs or singles 26 lbs, 30 lbs, and 36 lbs, which is fine, but not great when it's slipping and sliding and you have to pause and reconfigure the weights in the middle of the program if you want to jump up or down with them.

So I've now gone and invested in 10, 15, and 20 lbs free dumbells so that I can easily switch between.  I may sell the modular set, or I may play around with loading it up to over 20 lbs for when I just need to use one HEAVY weight. We'll see. If you have dumbells, use them! If you aren't sure what weights you need to start with, go to a store or gym and see which weight you need to not be able to any more after 12 reps.

Quoting Chalene Johnson "Muscle Burns Fat!"

Katie