Coming up with a fitness plan

I need to come up with something that a. I will enjoy and b. is easy to do with my schedule.

When I did this thing eons ago, I did fitness videos and that worked great (all VHS). I threw in a bit of running toward the end of that too.

This last time 4 years ago, I started with walking video game, then I started hitting the gym for various cardio and weight training classes. I had a lot of free time and flexibility so it worked well. Now I don't have as much flexibility.

What I "think" I want to do fitness at home. I love step aerobics, so I want to get some step videos and maybe some zumba videos. For strength (I'm a bit hesitant with that yet as I'm still dealing with some injuries) I would like to try to do TRX mostly, but maybe my husband and I could fit in going 2 times a week to the gym for that. Once on Saturday and maybe once some other evening or early morning. That one is "iffy" as I have to be careful.

I can "say" I want to walk, but I freaking hate the humidity. Doing it midday at work would be icky as I would get so hot. Mornings are so rushed, that it would be tight and by nighttime, I'm tired.

To do workouts at home though, we have to fix up our basement. That initially will have to be the first workouts as we pull up carpet, pads and then lay cork flooring. Having a home gym would be great though! And for working out is about the only thing I would want to do in the basement. I hate dark, windowless rooms!

All of this "thought" is good though. Means I am getting back in the groove and wanting to move more!

Restart 5/18/15:
Down 11 pounds

I wish my habits didn't rub off so much on my husband

I've been married for a long, long time - or so it seems. We've been married 20 years. Over that time, when I'm active, he gets active. When I'm inactive, he gets inactive. It's kind of strange as he is a super, duper independent fellow - like really independent minded, but when it comes to exercise (or cleaning) habits, he totally follows the leader.

At work they do a weekly weigh-in with a bunch of colleagues. They had a contest where everyone put in $100 and whoever reached goal (which they all agreed on first) would get the whole pot. No one won the first year, so they all added another $100 each to the pot. So, now there was a truly sizable kitty!  Hubby didn't join that challenge the first year, but did the second year - contributing $200 to the pot. If you know my husband, you know he doesn't throw away money. He meant to win it.  This was  when I was dropping weight like crazy and exercising like crazy. It motivated him to do more too. He got into swimming laps. He started to join me with weight training. And, little by little he lost the 25 pounds or so that he wanted to lose - winning the weight loss challenge. He looked great and was the fittest I had ever seen him.

But then I started suffering from overuse injuries. I would rest one and injure another (just thinking about it now still makes me frustrated and sad). I was slowly slipping with exercise and weight loss. My husband tried doing it on his own for awhile, but soon he stopped.

The last two months I've been walking and I have changed my eating. He weighed himself today and he's the heaviest he's been in 4 years. Now, to put that in perspective, he is NOT heavy and still within a normal range, but it's not his comfort level and he feels better when he's thinner, and he definitely feels better when he's fit.

He hasn't gone into a weigh in for months. Hmmm..... kind of like me? He's also been inactive for months and months..... kind of like me? And now that I'm getting back on track, it's motivating him to.  While I am glad for that fact, I wished it worked the other way around too - that his working out motivated me!

I do miss us working out together though. It was great couple time and it was for our health. However, I don't think I can go back to weights without addressing my neck and back issues and possibly the knee issue. Before that, I want to get a head start on walking and weight loss and not worry about the details of healing other parts of my body. I don't want to get disappointed or frustrated now, so I'm keeping to what I can do and thank goodness, I can walk!

That little voice in your head

You know what I'm talking about. That voice that tells you to turn off the alarm and just sleep in. The voice that tells you it's OK to eat a cookie. That voice that tells you that you can just exercise tomorrow.  That voice is so strong and so convincing.

Have you ever had a whole conversation with that little voice? I have them all the time. Here is the internal dialogue from today. It kind of reminds of Gollum talking with Smeagol (the same creature talking - one is good, the other is bad from JRR Tolkien's Hobbit and Lord of the Rings trilogy).

Edited to add: It's a smallllll world. I wrote this post around noon. At 5 pm-ish someone posted this photo on the weight loss forum I frequent. See, exactly.

Rational voice, "You should get ready for the gym to get there on time."
Little voice, "Why not just do Zumba today instead. Your two teammates from Biggest Winner are going to be there and you talked one of them into yesterday."
Rational voice, "Yes, but you also told them you weren't going to Zumba because of taking a strength class instead, remember?"
Little voice, "Yes, but your one teammate has been slacking a bit and could use that extra support. Go to Zumba."
Rational voice, "OK, maybe I'll go to Zumba, but only after I've done strength training. I need to get at least two days of strength training and you've only done one this week Melissa!"
Little voice, "Well, you are still sore from Wednesdays strength training. Take a break."
Rational voice, "You aren't that sore. Get ready to go. You need to go."
Little voice, "You know, you've been working hard this week. You could take today off and do it tomorrow with your husband."
Rational voice, "No, you know that your knee is still bothering you and BodyPump is what caused that injury."
Little voice, "Well, how do you know it won't be OK? You can try it and see."
Rational voice, "And then injure myself some more? And then what?"
Little voice, "You could stop if you start to feel pain."
Rational voice, "And then I would have skipped today and a good chance tomorrow. That's not a good plan. I need to get ready for the gym now."
Little voice, "Then just do Zumba, then you aren't skipping a day, right?"
Rational voice, "I am getting ready right now!"

So, the rational voice won. Or did it?

I started to get ready for the gym. My sports bra (a must), a wicking shirt, a pair of workout shorts/capris, longer pants over top, the zip up fitness shirt, socks, shoes. Huh... I need to go to the bathroom. OK, I still have time.

Now, while on the toilet, which as we all know, we can't control how fast or slow we will be on the toilet.

Little voice, "You aren't going to have time to get there. You might as well not go to the strength training class and just go to Zumba an hour later."
Rational voice, "I still have time."
Little voice, "I don't know. You've never been to that strength class before. You should get there a little early to talk to the instructor to find out what you need to know for class. You don't have time for that now."
Rational voice, "I have time."
Little voice, "Ok, just go to Zumba, and then, like the earlier plan, do BodyPump tomorrow."

Upon getting up and checking the clock, I see I have time.

Rational voice, "See, I have time. Let's go!"

So, I drive there, get there in time and had a great workout. The entire workout (which is from 9:35 to 10:35) I kept thinking, "If I get out of here quick enough, I'll be able to get to Zumba at the other gym too." I kind of wanted to get to that as my Biggest Winner teammate was going to be there and I think I had talked another into going as well. I wanted to be there to support her.

But, I was TIRED when I was done with the class. This is how the class went: We did 5 stations of strength, 3 times. We had pushups on the ball, planks elbows up to hands on the bosu balls, squats with kettle bells, triceps dips on the step and then biceps curls with the bands. Then we had 5 stations, 3 times of cardio: jumping jacks with bouncing the ball, alternating foot taps on the bosu ball, kettle bell swings, next was stepping fast while straddling the step, lastly jump rope. We ended with 5 stations, 2 times of core. Crunches on the ball, planks and stepping out on the bosu ball, on our tummies feet up in the air while holding the kettle bell, lifting up to reach to the feet, on our backs on the step, lifting and lowering our straightened legs, and finally on our backs doing bicycle crunches.

It was a LOT and I was tired. I looked at the clock when we were done: 10:35. Zumba started in 10 minutes at another gym.

Little voice, "OK, you are tired. You worked hard. This class wiped you out. Go home."
Rational voice, "I don't know."
Little voice, "The goal is an hour a day. You did an hour. Go home. You have errands to run today anyway."
Rational voice is silent.

I start to drive home. To get home I have to drive right past the other gym. I hit the lights well. I was passing it at 10:45, just as the class would start.

Rational voice, "You know, you've had time to recuperate a bit. You could total go. You would only miss the warm up and you're already warm."
Little voice, "You don't need to do more today."
Rational voice, "It would be really nice to support your teammates by being there today. Go."

So, I go to park. The lot is full. I will have to park far away, making me later.

Little voice, "See, you are late. Just go home."
Rational voice, "You will only be five minutes late. You are already warmed up. It's OK. Plus, in this class people join late all the time."

I park and go on in. The irony, the one teammate wasn't there. When I got home I see that her daughter needed her car, so she was car-less. My other teammate was there, but she was surprised to see me. She said, "Oh, what happened. You didn't make the other class?" I told her I made it but decided to come to this one too.

And I'm glad I went. It loosened up the tightening muscles. This instructor is so much fun and it was good for my head.

But was the little voice silent during class? Heck no.

Little voice, "You don't have to work so hard. Remember, you've already worked out an hour."
Rational voice, "If I can do it and it doesn't hurt, or feel too hard, I should do it."
Little voice, "You'll be more tired tomorrow because of it."
Rational voice, "Tomorrow is step. Sunday is a rest day. You can totally do this full out. Just do it!"

And I did it with full range of motion as always, not wimping out.

I'm looking at my gizmo and I've already taken 10,000 steps today. I've done 1 hour of vigorous exercise and 30 minutes of moderate exercise. And that's pretty good considering the gizmo doesn't count all strength very well.

Today the little voice didn't win. It didn't win because I had enough sleep, so it stayed a little voice. Sometimes it turns into a loud, bossy voice that totally smothers the rational voice. So, I try to keep it at a little voice as much as possible because even as a little voice, it's mighty convincing and hard to keep in check.

Trying to find ways to increase my protein intake

I've been reading the New Rules for Weight Lifting books and other things about weight lifting and strength training and one thing seems fairly obvious. I am not getting enough protein in my diet.

Since I log everything, I can see what I get for the day on average. I feel I'm trying to get enough protein, but I am not, sadly. Time to tweak the diet some more, especially if I am exercising and weight training.

So, right now this is a typical day, on a good day and if I eat two protein bars in the morning:

Breakfast:

two cups of decaf. coffee with a total of about 1 cup of whole milk
Protein bar (sometimes two protein bars)

30-40 grams of protein for breakfast

Lunch:

Large apple, sliced sprinkled liberally with cinnamon
3.5 tablespoons of peanut butter (carefully measured)

12 grams of protein for lunch

Dinner:

Large helping of a green vegetable/salad
4-6 ounces of a protein/meat.

30-40 grams of protein for dinner

That averages out to about 1450 calories a day and 72 to 92 grams of protein a day on a good day. When I look over my charts, I tend to get about 65-70 grams of protein a day. That is way more than I used to get and I get there by eating whey proteins in the morning, without that, I would be way lower.

I should be getting no less than 100 grams of protein a day. To do that, I need to give up my lovely peanut butter and apple lunch because I just don't get enough protein with it. Sigh.


There are all kinds of recommendations for protein but most things agree that the FDA recommendations are way too low. Just like they are way too high on carb intake recommendations.

Depending on what you read - I could need anywhere from 70 to 180 grams of protein every day. I think 180 is way high and would near impossible for me to achieve. But, getting around 100-110 should be doable, maintainable and what I need for what I'm asking my body to do on a regular basis which is doing aerobic exercise 4 times a week and strength training twice a week.


But, it will be tricky.

For breakfasts, I get quite a bit of protein because of those protein bars. I wish I could eat eggs or cottage cheese or something, but I simply cannot handle meat and/or eggs in the morning and since I can't stomach many/most dairy products, those are out too. If I try to eat ham and eggs or the like, I feel like I will vomit. It's just too heavy in the morning. Brunch, OK, but not for breakfast.

I have issues with dairy products. As a baby, I couldn't handle milk (and I don't think I was switched to any non dairy formulas). Because of that, I grew up hating anything and everything that looked or tasted like milk - except ice cream. Even then, I learned early on that too much ice cream gave me stomach cramps and diarrhea. I couldn't eat/drink milk, yogurt, most cheeses, sour cream, cream cheese, cottage cheese, and similar things.

I obviously had a problem with dairy, but I think my immature brain saw 'liquid white' and thought ick! So, it was more an aversion than a problem for most of my childhood. I could eat, for instance, cheeses on pizza, or baked in lasagna (until one day I saw my mom putting cottage cheese in lasagna - I gave up lasagna for awhile). I would eat yellow cheese, just not white, and so on.

So, little by little, I developed a taste for some dairy products. I can eat yogurt now, but not by itself  - only baked in things or in things like a fruit smoothie. I can eat cottage cheese in lasagna or other bakes goods, but again, not by itself. Same with sour cream. I will now eat cream cheese (thinly spread), white cheeses (just not bleu cheeses) and such. But I still cannot handle much milk. That cup of milk in my coffee for some reason is OK, but a fruit smoothie with milk is not (gives me stomach cramps).

Mostly, I hate the taste of milky things. If it's disguised, OK, but it can still kick in a very strong gag reflex. I have tried and tried and tried to like plain yogurt (or greek yogurt) and cottage cheese as it is so good for you. But I just can't. It's too milky. Even some whey protein powders I cannot handle as they taste too much like milk (especially vanilla flavors).

With that limitation, getting enough protein gets challenging. I like nuts, but they are OK in protein, but are so high calorie (with a lot of fat) that I can't eat enough of them to make up for the protein I need without going over my caloric limit.

I like meat, but for some reason, I'm not a huge meat fan. Once a day is enough for me. Before I had kids? We ate meat like 2-3 times a week. Sure, we eat beans and lentils too, but I don't make them all the time because the little guy won't touch them. I could make tofu, but my mother in law won't touch it.

Already as it is, I feel like I am a short order cook. I don't want to be making three-four different dinners every night - no way. I just need to find more ways to sneak in protein and the most likely way seems to be giving up my apple and peanut butter lunch and either making a lentil/bean stew that I can eat for lunches or a nice big salad with eggs and or meat proteins/bean proteins.

If I switch that up, I should be able to get to the 100 grams of proteins in a day. Getting 30-40 grams of protein for lunch versus 12 would be a big change and it would mean I'm getting about 30-40 grams of protein at every meal without going over my caloric limit too.

Now, just to get over my laziness. A peanut butter and apple lunch is quick and easy. A salad lunch takes prep time! But, that's what I'm off to go make right now. My first salad with cheese, peppers, tomato and grilled chicken salad.