Workout Playlist for April 2011

While I'm sitting here watching Save the Last Dance (don't act like you don't love it) and waiting on my laundry to finish drying, I decided to revamp my workout playlist. I use my cheap little Sansa MP3 player to workout since it's tiny and if I drop it, it's no big deal because (a) it's flash-based so the chances of it breaking are minimal and (b) if it does break, it cost about $20.

I am not a person that can workout without my music. Seriously, if I forget my MP3 player I just turn around and go home, because there's no point. I won't push myself as hard, and I get so bored that it's miserable, and I don't want working out to be a miserable experience. Usually music solves this problem, but I've been listening to the same playlist for the last month and I'm starting to get bored with the same 10-12 songs I listen to every workout. I need to mix it up, so I've taken to the internet to find some new workout tunes.

I've settled on the following songs for my April playlists. Enjoy, and feel free to give me any suggestions!

1. Ridin' Solo - Jason Derulo
2. Better Than Revenge - Taylor Swift
3. Born This Way - Lady Gaga
4. Cowboy Casanova - Carrie Underwood
5. Dancing on My Own - Robyn
6. Evacuate the Dancefloor - Cascada
7. Right Round - Flo Rida
8. Sexy Bitch - David Guetta
9. Beautiful - Akon
10. Miss You Being Gone - The Band Perry
11. Somewhere with You - Kenny Chesney
12. King of Anything - Sara Bareilles

UPDATE: Now the Scale Is Just Messing with Me

And I'm down another 2 pounds the day after I'm supposed to meet my goal....oh well. :)

Monthly Weigh-In: March 2011

March's Goals:
Weight: -4
Work out at least 15 days



March Progress:
Weight: -2.8
Days in calorie range: 15/31
Days worked out: 18/31

Total YTD Progress:
Weight: -19.8
Days in calorie range: 52/90
Days worked out: 42/90



April's Goals:
Weight: -7.2
20 days in calorie range
20 days working out


So for some reason even though I was below my goal a few days ago, I've gained back a little under 2 pounds. Who knows what my body is thinking - I've been eating at my calorie levels and working out every day since I posted that I met my goal. Go figure. 


Now. Considering that I went on vacation this month for a week (after which I weighed six pounds more than I did at the beginning of the month), I did pretty well. That said, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed. 


Don't get me wrong, I'm glad I've been doing really well with working out. (At least 5 days a week at the gym! Me! Crazy!!) I definitely need to learn to manage my time better now though. Before the gym workouts, I had plenty of time to come home, cook a delicious meal, eat, and then write the recipe down for all of you to enjoy. Now, as I'm sure you've noticed, I haven't had time to do any of that since I've been staying at the gym until at least 7 every night, sometimes later. I've been getting takeout more (usually healthier choices, but still, it makes it difficult to track calories exactly) and I've also been hungrier, so I've been allowing myself to flex more with my calorie intake. 


I think the theme for my April will be balance. I was watching the A&E show Heavy the other week and I wrote down a phrase that one of the girls said about her time at the weight loss facility: "Creating new normals." Sort of like how people always say weight loss is a "lifestyle change," but her phrasing didn't make me want to roll my eyes. I need to just get used to working out and cooking well for myself. It's creating my new normal. 


So my official April goal will be to work out at least 20 days and eat within my calorie limits at least 20 days. I have no vacations planned for April, so there shouldn't be any sudden weight gain. The only big plans that I have are Cathy's birthday (when we will go out to eat at least once) and Easter, but I think my mom is going to come down to visit and we'll probably eat mostly healthy stuff, so that shouldn't be an issue. 


To end on a positive note, the consistent working out has really made a difference in how I feel, how I look, and how my clothes are fitting, even if the scale isn't reflecting the changes ... yet. That's why I'm not too down about this month's outcome, because I think once I build a little more muscle the pounds will start coming off again. 

Goal Met: New Charm AND Early Reward!

After a LONG month with very little progress, I finally hit my goal for this month this morning!! My total loss right now is at -21.4 pounds, so I've officially crossed over the 20 pound mark. It's very exciting! I can't wait for the -27.5 mark, which will mean I'm halfway to my birthday goal. I decided I get a large reward (like a new nice purse or something) when I hit the halfway point, so I'm trying to decide what that will be. 

Anyway, this month has been really long and I honestly wasn't sure if I was going to make it to goal or not because of vacation and building muscle while working out 5-6 days a week, but I'm so glad I made it. In the past, I might think that this month was a failure because I only set a goal of -4 pounds, but the whole point of this system is for that to be okay, as long as I stay on my long-term target. Six pounds a month will get me where I want to be in September, so there's no reason to be down on myself as long as I stay on track. Even though people always say you can lose 1-2 pounds a week, that doesn't mean you should set your goal to make that 2 pounds every week. I have faith that this will work if I just stick to the goals I set for myself and celebrate those. 

Now for the fun part...I'm going to order a charm for my bracelet and I also get a mani/pedi this month (which is really, really necessary). As part of the Memorial Day Challenge with Cathy, we also will get a new outfit to go out out in uptown, have a nice dinner, and go dancing next weekend. Can't wait!

PS I promise I have some recipes to post once I get a chance to sit and write them all down. They are coming!

Mid-Month Update: Even More Workouts

I haven't been updating as often with my recipe posts because I haven't been cooking that much (which is bad). Because I'm going to the gym a lot after work with Cathy, we either get something to eat on the way back or have something at her place. She did make delicious pork and vegetable wrap one night that was delicious and low calorie. Since my last post, I went to a lot of workout classes and had my first personal training session.

FYI: You don't look like this while spinning.

I went to spinning on Monday, which was the class I was most terrified of taking, but I ended up LOVING it. I even got a thumbs up from the instructor about forty-five minutes into the class. It was as if something just clicked and I got in the zone and just pushed myself. It was awesome, and I really want to make that a weekly class. On Tuesday we took zumba, which was just ok. It was fun, but I feel like I didn't get as good of a workout as I would have on my own.

The personal training session was on Wednesday. The trainer was very nice, and the exercises we did were good, but I just wanted a more kick-my-ass type training session, and this wasn't it. She did show me how to use a few of the weight machines to target the places I most want to work on toning, but other than that, it wasn't anything special. I have two more sessions left in my package, but I'm not sure if I'm going to buy more or not at this point.

Thursday was an off day, but I did walk a couple of miles downtown for the Blackhawks game on St. Patrick's Day! So much fun. I also ate delicious Mexican food at Chuy's and went WAY over my calorie range. Friday and Saturday were just plain ol' elliptical days with some abs and weight machines thrown in for good measure.

So I'm pretty proud of myself for actually making it to the gym five days this week, but the problem is that I need to reign in my calorie counting. I haven't lost any weight this month (although to be fair I did gain a few pounds while in Rhode Island, and I did lose that) and there's only eleven days left. I definitely think I'm gaining muscle from working out, and I've gotten way more comments about my weight loss from people at work this past week. Even so, I am really going to have to buckle down to meet my goal this month.

Back from Vacation!

I haven't posted in a while because I have been on vacation! I went to visit Alicia in Providence, RI for almost a week and had such a good time. It was definitely a last-minute trip planned about two weeks in advance, which is something that I never do since travel is the one thing I do get crazy anal retentive tendencies about, but I'm so glad I did. Full disclosure: I didn't stick to my calorie limits (and didn't intend to do so - not what a vacation is for), but I did log all my calories every day. Still up a few pounds from where I was before vacation, but I'll get it back down.

Did I mention the Lady Gaga concert in Boston? And how she had a giant fish puppet that she called the Fame Monster? And how we had floor seats about ten feet away from the stage? Best. Show. Ever.

Now that I'm back, my co-worker/friend Cathy and I have decided to combine forces in a Memorial Day Challenge. Our goal is to lose six pounds a month (minimum) until Memorial Day, but the focus is on going to the gym five days a week and doing something active the other two days (going for a walk, dancing, whatever). This ties in with my Lenten promise - working out at least five days a week at the gym until Easter. I've decided to join 24 Hour Fitness so Cathy and I can easily work out together, and all the group classes are free!

I'm focusing mainly on cardio, so I have been working on the elliptical for 40 minutes doing intervals. I try to get an elliptical with the arm movement - it's funny how much of a difference that makes! That puts me at about 450 calories burned according to the elliptical machine. We're also alternating strength training for abs, arms/back, and legs/glutes. This is where Cathy comes in handy - the first day we were doing abs, she had us do 30 reps of front, left, and right crunches (that's 90 total) and then looked at me and said, "Okay, now let's do two more sets!" I almost murdered her, but I would never push myself that hard on my own. Same thing with actually getting to the gym; it's so much easier to talk yourself into going when you make plans with someone. 

We even went to a class this morning called Kickboxing Boot Camp. The instructor was probably about 7 or 8 months pregnant and bouncing around the gym like she didn't have an almost fully-grown child in her uterus. I kept that in mind when I felt like I was going to die during the workout. I really liked the class though and I'm definitely going to try out the other classes available to keep me from getting bored. I'm still a little intimidated going into the gym, but everyone seems so friendly that it makes me less nervous every time I go. 

One other change since I posted last time - since I burn at least 400 calories per gym session, and I've found that my 1200-1500 calories a day wasn't cutting it while I'm burning all these calories at the gym. I haven't been grazing for food like that all year, and I was going nuts trying to find something that would keep me full after dinner. So in order to avoid a mental breakdown, I've decided on gym days, I can eat up to 1800 calories if I feel like I need it; with the exercise factored in, that still puts me at 1400 total for the day. We'll see how that goes over the next couple of weeks and I'll adjust it if I'm not seeing the results on the scale. 

To leave on a happy note, I celebrated St. Patrick's Day at the Greenville Ave. parade yesterday, and it was so much fun!! Lots of green, ridiculous costumes, and pretty much the only day of the year when morning drinking in the streets is socially acceptable - what's not to love?

I wish I could wear this headband every single day.

Monthly Weigh-In: February 2011

February's Goals:
Weight: -7.2
Track budget


February Progress:
Weight: -9.2
Days in calorie range: 18/28
Days worked out: 8/28
Budget Tracked: 28/28

Total YTD Progress:
Weight: -17
Days in calorie range: 37/59
Days worked out: 24/59


March's Goals:
Weight: -4
Work out at least 15 days 


I've done really well the past month, but quite a bit of that can be attributed to the fact that I was sick for two weeks, so I didn't eat. I did do well tracking my budget and actually saved money this month even with buying a $300 plane ticket, so I say that is a success! I will continue to track that for the rest of the year. 


I didn't work out the whole time that I was sick, so that number was really low. I want to make up for it this month by working out at least 15 days. Especially now that I'm working out at the apartment gym; I think it will make a big difference this month. I will be going on vacation during March, so that will present an extra challenge as well. 


For my rewards I got a new pair of shoes, a pair of pants, and two floral shirts for spring. Since I kept the weight off after I met my goal early, I also get to pick an extra reward. I haven't decided what that will be yet. Maybe a new food processor since I seem to have misplaced the blade attachment for my old one. 


The goal seems small for March, but I've decided to stick to the monthly goals I set for myself at the beginning of the year. The main point is to stick to reaching my goal by my birthday. If I do it a month or two early, great! If I get a few more rewards up front, great! I set small goals at the beginning of the year for a reason - they are achievable. It would defeat the purpose to change them all just because I did well this month. (Remember last month? When I didn't meet the goal? Yep.)