In Search of New Awesome Pants

I don't mind getting in better shape, and that muscles actually make you smaller...but I am down to one pair of jeans that will stay up on their own free will. It makes it very hard to put on your awesome pants when you don't have any.

So I went on a mission to find a new pair of awesome pants.

The challenge: dark denim, no saggy bottom, no pancake butts, no unfortunate wrinkles, not overly tight but tight enough to work with my (17 pairs of (I might have a problem)) boots, no holes (work appropriate), waist height appropriate, survive the sit/squat/bend-over test, loose enough on my thighs but tight enough at my waist, and good quality.

I failed miserably.

I am completely bamboozled by womens' pants sizing. Some size 6s were too big and some 8s to small. I tried juniors and misses, stretch and non-stretch, bootcut and skinny. You'd think being a smaller size would mean shopping for clothes is more fun... but it was an exhausting and frustrating experience.  

There was also an unfortunate incident in one dressing room where the "skinny" part of the skinny jeans got stuck on my calf muscle. It's a good thing I do yoga because that took some serious effort to get off. I was worried I'd have to hobble out with a pair of jeans around my calves and ask for help...or scissors. Yet ironically that pair looked good on the upper half of my legs. So apparently you can have quads but not calves.

I have tried on 35 pairs of jeans in the last week. I bought one pair. It was #25 of the Great Jeans Try-On of 2011. I wore that pair today, and I'm irked because by the end of the day they had stretched out and I had to walk around the store holding them up with my thumbs in the belt loops!!! The whole point of getting new jeans was to get a pair that wouldn't fall off. Erg.

If I had more pumpkin pie I would eat it to curb my frustration. And make my old awesome pants fit. But I don't and I won't. And I won't give up just yet...after all, there are 17 pairs of boots in my closet that need wearing...

My Nutrition Experiment

I've enjoyed eating "normally" again...but I've noticed something. My tummy hurts. All the time. 

As a result, I'm conducting two experiments on myself.

The first one is tracking my body's reaction to foods as I try them again. This is how the doctor figured out I'm allergic to Splenda (nasty chemical stuff anyway) but since I've eaten pretty darn clean for the last few months I'm noticing a lot of reactions upon reintroducing those old foods. Wheat seems to be the worst for me - a combination of stomach pain and bloating. And what woman likes that? 

So far on my bad list: 

• Wheat bran and flour - I baked muffins this week. It was not good.
• Pizza - same as the muffins
• Mike & Ike's - I broke out in a rash
• Bread (I'm sad that the delicious pumpkin bread did not like me as much as I liked it)

Maybe I reacted this way before I started dieting for the competition - I just ate it so regularly that I thought it was normal to feel that way. Actually now that I think about it, I know I had the same reactions before. They're just markedly stronger now. 

 

On the plus side peanut M&Ms seem to be ok. As do rice cakes and peanut butter and my morning oatmeal. Phew.

The second experiment is carb cycling. This article kind of gives you an overview: Bodybuilding.com Carb Cycling. Basically you have high, low, and no carb days each week. As the article says, we are always "battling homeostasis" and cycling carbs keeps your body guessing. I'm kind of at a sticking point so I know I need to do something different. 

My diet is going to look something like this: 

• Monday/Thursday = No carb (green veggies only)
• Tuesday/Friday/Sunday = Low carb 
• Wednesday/Saturday = High carb 
• Every day must have 1g of protein per lb of bodyweight

Of course this week I'm going to make Thanksgiving a high carb day. What I like about this cycling idea is it doesn't cut out any main food groups for a long period of time. I think variety is important in your diet. In addition, while I know my body responds better to low carb diets but that can get mentally exhausting after a long period, so knowing that I'll have a high carb day soon (instead of 3 months from now) should make it easier to stick with the plan! 

So those are my experiments in a nutshell (good thing nuts are ok in small amounts!). Applied science is fun! 

How to Win a Plank Off

I've woken up every day since Monday thinking it's Friday...I needed a break. So tonight was yoga time! I broke out my P90X Yoga dvd, which is one of my all-time favorite workouts and rolled my mat out in the living room.

Now, don't think yoga is just sitting with your legs cross-legged and meditating. There are different types of yoga. Hatha is the gentle kind that most people think of as yoga. Then there's Bikram, which is done in 90 degree rooms. I tried a Hatha class in college once but it wasn't for me. I spent the entire hour thinking about how I wasn't getting a decent workout and about everything else I had to do. But that's my fault. I have a hard time sitting still. My favorite kind is "power yoga" which is a series of poses that require a great deal of strength and balance. It's fast enough to keep me from getting bored, and yet still relaxing. You will notice your results pretty quickly if you're doing it regularly - and I love to do it after a kickboxing class - get those muscles warm and then stretch them out.

Dogs...demonstrating Downward Dog and Upward Dog

It is NOT girly at all - if you're doing it right, you'll break a sweat. Even my husband will do it with me. I also believe it contributed to my win in last week's bootcamp plank-off over Jose. If you can do a series of power yoga poses for an hour, you can do a 5 minute plank.

Sorry, had to pop that picture in there for Jose. I've been giving him a hard time all week. LOL.

Try to hold the plank for 5 minutes. It's hard. My arms were shaking so hard for an hour afterward I think I scared the checkout girl at the grocery store. Think of your body as a board (or a plank really, hence the name), nice and straight. Squeeze your glutes and make sure your bum's not sticking up in the air (that's dolphin pose, not plank). If you can't do it on your toes, use your knees, but again, you should be super straight from your shoulders to your knees. It's an amazing total body exercise- arms, back, abs, butt, quads, calves...and a lot of it is mental strength to hold it! Do it during one commercial break a day.

Namaste and plank away. :)

A Post for My Legs

I'm dedicating today's post to my legs.

They've been kicked, bruised, skinned, scraped, torn, sprained, strained, and broken. They’ve held me up for hours each workday in 3+ inch heels. They've carried the rest of me for miles and miles on the soccer field, on the running trails, on my spinner, on my mountain bike.

And what have I done for them?

Made them run harder, ride farther and spin longer. Hidden their soccer war wounds under long pants. Worn higher and higher heels. Walked on broken bones. And they keep taking it.

Worse, I’ve been ashamed of them! I’ve never ever had what you would call thin legs. I am what is fondly called a “pear.” I’ve had some serious calves and quads since kindergarten. I ended up in physical therapy in 8^th grade because my quads were so much stronger than my hamstrings that they were pulling my kneecaps off track. I wore baggy pants and long shorts to hide them. I got in the back row of pictures so they wouldn’t be seen. Then while I was looking at the pictures from the competition, I suddenly realized that they were the part of me I am most proud of. 

My dear legs, I apologize.

I’m proud of you.

You are full of dedication, power, and strength.

You look good in a skirt, in jeans, in tall boots and in dress pants.

You can kick a soccer ball 50 miles an hour and roundhouse kick someone in the head.

You help me move furniture at 2am when I get the urge to rearrange it.

You help lift laundry, vacuums, and groceries up and down the stairs.

You keep getting stronger at squats, leg presses, and deadlifts.

You can jump the 3-foot plyo box, lunge a football field, and sprint with a weight sled.

You help me dig in clay soil, carry trees, and haul bags of dirt so my garden can bloom.

You held me up for 5 minutes to win the “plank-off” challenge today.

Even if you aren’t what some would call the perfect legs, you are perfect for me.

I’m sorry it took me so long to realize that. 

Be kind to your body, even the parts you don’t think you like. It’s all you’ve got. 

How to Be Amazing...step one

11/11/11...the 93rd anniversary of the end of WWI. Armistice Day, Remembrance Day, Veteran's Day. Thank you to those who have served, past and present. I cannot wait to see my hubby again. I teared up at every picture I saw online today.

This week has been a blur. Having to cut water the day before and of the show definitely did a number on me...I've been so sleepy all week. I was expecting cravings after being allowed to eat carbs for a few days...but I was not expecting to be so darned tired. Combine that with chilly fall weather and I have been dragging myself out of bed just to jog the dog a mile...forget my usual long morning cardio session.

But having a break has been good, both mentally and physically. I hit the gym for legs tonight and was able to go up increase my weight on all my exercises. I'll be waddling tomorrow at kickboxing. The trick is making sure a "break" doesn't turn into a long sabbatical. So it's back to the gym, back to the diet, back to the blog! Consistency and accountability!

And in other news, 2012 is creeping up on us! Which means another chance for New Year's resolutions! Well if you wait till January 1st you're already behind. So I ordered Chalene Johnson's new ebook, Push Jump Start, which was just released today. She's following it up with a hard copy book in December. But for the next 30 days each "chapter" in this ebook has a life homework assignment to set and achieve your goals. It's an expanded version of the short goal program I did last January...which got me in the best shape of my life.

Because, as the picture says, Amazing People Do Not Just Happen! 

First assignment is brainstorming and deciding your life priorities, because if you don't know your priorities, how can you decide what your goals are going to be? Your priorities are your values, your principles, what you want people to remember you for. Off to work! I encourage you to do the same. :)

It Will Never Be

Reblogging this from http://nerdfitness.com/blog/2011/11/07/it-will-never-be/ because I love it! 

It will never be:

• easy
• perfect
• the right time

Nobody is going to:

• tell you exactly what to do
• drag you out of bed in the morning
• yell at you to eat healthy
• lift weights for you
• run a race for you

There will always be:

• holidays
• sick days
• sleepless nights
• early mornings
• vacations
• bad weather
• long days at the office

It will always be easier to:

• say no
• hit SNOOZE
• do nothing
• settle
• blame others
• make excuses
• give up
• say “I tried my best” when you really didn’t

Life is freaking tough - health, wealth, and happiness certainly don’t come easy.

For those reasons, you don’t need:

• The best equipment
• The best business plan
• The PERFECT workout program (it doesn’t exist)
• A super specific meal plan

And it’s okay to:

• not have all of the answers yet – NOBODY does
• not have your life completely figured out yet – NOBODY does
• get started and figure things out as you go

As Teddy Roosevelt once said, “Do the best you can, with what you have, where you are.”

Take action.  Make changes.

You will make mistakes.   You will fail. Embrace it.

You know what’s NOT okay?

• to expect instant success and gratification
• to give up immediately when life doesn’t go your way
• to keep doing the same thing while expecting different results
• to coast through life while complaining about it
• to constantly wonder “what if” without ever finding out

Tomorrow never comes. 

Eventually never happens.

Today.

Now.

Shut up and start.

-Steve http://nerdfitness.com/blog/2011/11/07/it-will-never-be/

Happiness is a Pumpkin Spice Latte

...well a pumpkin spice latte with nonfat milk and sugar-free cinnamon dolce syrup. Even better, I found out today that a tall Starbucks latte with pumpkin spices, nonfat milk, and the sugar-free cinnamon dolce syrup (and no whipped cream) is...wait for it...a whopping 90 calories! It's also way less sweet than the regular version. Woo hoo! The guy at Starbucks asked me how I was doing while I was waiting for my drink and I think I scared him when I told him I'd been dreaming about this day for 3 months.

Well my two treat days are coming to an end, and to be honest,  I'm okay with that and looking forward to getting back on my routine. As delicious as my French toast breakfast and spaghetti dinner were, my stomach is rather angry with me and I don't feel all that good. I've actually had a major headache for the last two days.

And so another 7 lbs of chicken breast are grilled, yams are sliced and baked with cinnamon, asparagus is steamed, egg whites are stocked up, and oatmeal is measured into to-go containers for work.

But I think I'll save room for my favorite pumpkin spice treat...