Poll: When do you Workout?

I was talking with my girlfriend the other day about working out. We were debating the best time of day to do so. Personally I like working out first thing in the morning, it sets the tone for the day. My friend said she preferred working out at night, because it helped her work off a stressful day. This got me wondering, when do most people work out?

Shannan: Back at it (Week Number 3,256 - OK, maybe I am exagerating)

I suck. It’s true. For months I have been saying that I was going to train for a 5k and for months I have been making excuses. It’s embarrassing really. I used to be a long distance runner for crimeny’s sake! I held the record for the 1500 M at my middle school for 13 years. Why do I keep avoiding it?

The answer: Who knows. Am I lazy? Am I afraid of doing something for myself? Am I afraid of FINALLY losing this last 15 lbs (you may recall it was the “last 10 lbs”…)? I don’t know. I wish I did. I have the time – in the mornings – and I have the support and encouragement of my husband.

Well this morning I took a step in the right direction. I got myself up extra early – 5:00 a.m. – and I met my friend Phyllis at the gym. Together we walked 3 miles (around 3.6 speed) on the treadmill and damn it, it felt AWESOME!

What is wrong with me? It was so easy. I was able to workout and get back home with the boys not even realizing I’d been anywhere. Maybe it was knowing that someone was going to be there waiting for me to arrive. That I couldn’t back out. Maybe I need not only to be held accountable online, but to have one of my girlfriends there to work out with me? Maybe that is what it will take until I get over my commitment issues?

Apparently I have a lot of things to figure out. One thing I do know, I have got to stick with it this time.

For those of you working out, and sticking to it, how do you do it?

Shannan

Shannan Week 15 --- Surving Thanksgiving

I m happy to report that I managed to get through Thanksgiving relatively unscathed. I did gain 2 lbs..... (stupid, delicious cheese ball) but I feel like it could have been much worse.

As you know I've kind of been at a stand still with my weight loss - I haven't lost weight in a month! This week I have decided .... (dramatic music here.....)to return to the gym.

I started contemplating a return to the gym last week when I received a letter from Silverlake (our family - friendly gym) that they would now be allowing members to use their sister gym - Better Bodies - at no additional charge. While I love Silverlake, Better Bodies is closer to my house which means I can sleep in a smidge longer before heading out in the a.m. to work out before work (I like to work out and get back home in time to get the boys up for school).

My return to the gym was further supported when I came across a few Tweets between my friend Loree and Cincinnati Loser, Laura this week. They were talking about a program called The Couch-to-5K Running Plan. I'd never heard of it before but it's a program that helps you gradually work up to running three miles with just 2 months of gradual training. After looking at the training schedule I think I'm going to do it.

I'm hoping the Couch to 5K Running Plan will give me another form of accountability and also freshen up my weight loss efforts which have gotten a little stale.

If you live in NKY and like working out at the butt-crack of dawn (5:30 a.m.) shoot me an email at Shannanb@gmail.com. Maybe we can be workout buddies??? I would love to start next week.

Michelle: Body Image and Working Out (Week 1)

I have a million thoughts to share, so hopefully I can boil these down to something mildly coherent. Like Kate and some of the other girls, I took the weekend to go out to eat a few times and rid my kitchen of Keebler Fudge Stripes and other things (pesky elves). The "lifestyle change" started in full-force on Monday.

I have a body image problem. It's a recent thing, this dislike of certain parts of my body. But it's also really hit me that my body image issues are partially brought on by our current society. I was watching Mad Men the other night. One of my favorite characters is Joan Holloway (played by Christina Hendricks). Think about how she looks, how they dress her. She's beautiful, and she's in tight clothing and is most definitely not a size 2. She's curvy, which was accepted and appreciated in the 60s.

I've always loved Marilyn Monroe. This morning, I pulled out one of my "Marilyn Encyclopedias" and looked up her measurements. She was around 38-26-37 (bust-waist-hips). 38! Today, we clamor for 34! Marilyn wore a size 12 dress and a size 8 pants. Gee, how times have changed. If this were the 60s, I wouldn't feel overweight, I'd feel curvy.

Thinking of these women that I find beautiful is helping me adjust to my own body image. I really want to drive a point home though - on this blog, we're all trying to get healthy and adjust our eating habits and exercise accordingly. It's not about "being skinny" for us. Really. However, with good health comes a lot of benefits, and we're definitely up for that. Some of us, when we hit our ideal weights, will still be curvy girls.

I've never been good with numbers. Ideally, I'll be replacing fat with muscle, which is heavier. So my weight may not go down as drastically. When I'm still weighing in the same and the other girls are shedding pounds, I need to remember that. I talked with my trainer on Tuesday, and my goal is to get leaner, and I'm targeting a couple of places. I've also found a solution to track my progress without, again, getting caught up in the numbers. I've cut two ribbons, one white and one black. The black measures my first target area and the white measures the second. The goal is to make sure those ribbons end up too big in the end.

Sunday I stopped at my local SteinMart, which is going out of business. I bought several skirts, all in size 8, with one size 6. At the beginning of summer, I was searching out size 10s. So there has definitely been a change. However, I've lost between 2-4 fluctuating pounds since the beginning of summer, so the difference is in body shape, not weight. This is pretty impressive considering I've only been working out about twice per week, and that includes dancing. Imagine the difference working out will make if I can force myself to do it more than twice per week!

I'm moving my workout ball and my little hand weights out to the middle of the family room, where I'm sure I'll trip over them repeatedly. Hopefully staring at them everyday will force me to use them, even if I don't make it to the gym.

One final thing: I have lousy posture. Whenever you see me, remind me to stand up straight. It makes a huge difference in appearance and, especially with all my back troubles, will keep me from being a hunched up little old woman when I'm 90.

Introduction: Michelle

I can track my weight gain easily. So easily it's embarrassing.

I used to be a swing dancer and dance teacher and I stayed thin. Thanks to swing dancing, I also had back surgery in 2002. That put an end to dancing for a while and I rapidly put on weight - but only up to 135. In 2003 I got married. The summer before my wedding I worked full time, used Weight Watchers online, and worked out 3-5 times per week. I was also incredibly stressed and easily got down to 120 by the time my wedding rolled around. I was a little too thin then, to be honest. You could see my collarbone and cheekbones. Although you know, I miss my cheek bones.

You can see my collar bone, my cheek bones. Those were the days.

After the wedding, my food "lifestyle change" changed right back to where it had been before. But I still managed to keep myself around 135 - 140. Then came 2007 - the year from hell. Kevin's father passed away in September, which was expected, and then my little sister passed away in October, which was not expected. I spent a lot of time at Cracker Barrel, inhaling comfort chicken and dumplings. And I kept eating. Our house no longer had fruit; it had cookies, cakes, and the worst food we could possibly buy. Apparently when I can't cope with something (like death), I eat. A lot.

In April, 6 months after Krystal's death, I sort of woke up and faced the world again. I went to the gym. That was one of the hardest things for me. When I got the call about Krystal last year, I was on the treadmill at the gym. So going back was a major milestone. I got myself a trainer. I work out with Jeannie once a week, but I haven't been able to get myself to the gym more frequently. We've spent the last few months working through some issues I was still having with my back injury, and just this week started really working out.

I also started dancing again in April. Inspired by the lackluster performance of Dancing with the Stars, I wanted to show I could out-dance the B-list celebrities. (Humor me here.) Once a week, I work my butt off on the Quickstep and Viennese Waltz. If it didn't cost so much, I'd be there 3-4 times a week. I jumped straight to some of the hardest dances and I love the challenge. My goal is to be competing again in 2009.

My biggest problem is dessert. I'm a picky eater. It's why I'm a wine blogger and not a food blogger. I love dessert. I love cookies. I love cake. I love sugar. It's gotta go. I have to find replacements. I've already given up soda and drink mostly water. However, I can't give up drinking. It would sort of kill the wine blog. ;-)

I also work at home, alone, and manage to skip eating all day. I need to be reminded to eat lunch and breakfast. If I'm not, I eat a gigantic dinner. That is not a healthy way to lose weight.

Past experience tells me that, having been a dancer and gymnast my whole life, my body responds well to working out. My weight is anywhere between 150 and 154 right now.

There's too much of me here.

My goals are to get to 135, a size 6 or 8, hopefully by the end of January. I want to work out more, even though I hate it. I'm going to cut out desserts and work on eating regularly instead of munching on cookies throughout the day and skipping meals. If I don't hit the weight, but lose inches, well, I'm good with that too. No complaints about packing on muscle.

I also want to mention that I've met most of the ladies on this blog in person. Having read their weights, I can't believe we all weigh as much as we do. Every single one of us knows how to hide it well - it's very impressive. But I know we're all painstakingly aware of it. I, for one, won't get into a swimsuit.

Yeah, it's time for that to change.