Fitness

2015 A Year in Review Pt 1 (maybe)

2016 is just around the corner, and I am back to pore over recent posts, diary entries, and app/Keep notes to see how far I’ve come in personal growth, including health- and strength-wise.

So far the biggest most obvious change in life and circumstance is being a new home owner. As of July 2015, I moved out to a semi-country setting within a recent surburban neighborhood just east of Denton, far north of Dallas. This change re-introduced many challenges and responsibilities of being an adult, including paying higher bills ontime and staying on top of general household maintenance duties. Trying to stay organized on top of longer drive times to-and-fro also introduced a lot of stress and time-management issues.

We adopted 3 furkids this year, two babies and one 100+lb adult, all of whom demanded extra care and attention, not to mention medical expenses. Keeping a household full of sane well-behaved furkids required us to continuously engage these kids physically, socially, and mentally–sometimes to the point of exhausing our patience with them.

Moving to a new place encourages a natural curiosity of what the environment offers, and so the attraction to explore the restaurant scene in and around Denton, Little Elm and Frisco was hard to resist. The lack of shopping variety in our immediate neighborhood also invited unhealthy food choices at times. There were plenty of excellent discoveries with the side effect of expanding waistlines and increased scale poundages (not to mention lighter wallets).

With my diet straying far from ideal for the rest of the summer into the fall, I was not surprised to gain 8-10lbs in such a short time, which essentially returned me back to my starting weight in late 2011-early 2012. Despite that I was doing more low level cardio this year than in previous year, I could not out-walk my fork. A not-so-drastic change in work circumstance didn’t contribute much to weight loss..and in a couple of instances, made healthcare somewhat more difficult to obtain.

I had also hit my 5RM with the StrongLifts program and couldn’t get past the physical and mental barrier. It seemed the heavier the weights, the more my balance and form suffered; and in my head I just couldn’t focus on the needed corrective actions. When I resumed lifting after my move (sometime in latter half of August), I was more interested in quickly regaining my losses, and was inattentive to the detail of low and slow progression. The expensive upgrade to my squat rack didn’t really do much to increase my strength (though it was easier to store and organize my equipment).

Speaking of upgrades, I picked up a new optical HRM (Scosche Rhythm Plus) and a few more apps to inject some variety in my record keeping and fitness tracking. These discoveries allowed me to easily jump back into a somewhat regular schedule of exercise. The gadget geek in me craves the new and the novel, but the sober me realizes that I need to see measurable improvement before investing in more fitness toys. This elevated my expectations of my tools, increasing my affection for my newest apps (Instagram and Wahoo in particular) while decreasing my satisfaction with the MFP app (lack of tech support and the UA acquisition being of primary excuse).

I’ve come to end of recounting the most visible and impactful laundry list of things and events in this posting. I may have more to say before the last days of 2015 draw to a close. Stay tuned.

Fitness

June check-in and review

May was a complete bust as far as goals went. Being a birthday month, I gave myself full license to eat, and eat badly I did. I still kept up with my lifting routine and incorporated some morning cardio while the mild weather held out…but those goals I planned back in January didn’t happen.

So let’s review the report card:

CHALLENGE JAN 1-JUN 1: 5×5 SL 3x Weekly 

I did fairly well with this challenge, missing a few days and at least one straight week that I could remember in recent memory. I enjoy lifting in general, and I do notice that my weaker, less motivated days tend to coincide with those TOM hormonal periods…yech!

CHALLENGE JUN 1: Sz 4 by June 1

This pairs up with my lose 15# in 15 weeks challenge which was a bust. OK, didn’t happen, not really…except for that one size 4 dress I bought at Dress Barn that fit me fabulously (which means I’d wear a sz6 petite)…otherwise, I’m still wearing small shirts, medium sweaters/cardis for outer layers, and size 6 jeans. Still a vast improvement from a couple of years ago. 

CHALLENGE JUN 1: 15 Unassisted Pullups by June 1

Well I had thought that I could belt out 15 pullups in one set, but this is a much harder challenge than I originally believed. I can do 3×2 sets/reps of pullups, and belt out 10 total in a day, but never came close to 15 yet. I believe I still need a lot of upper body strength and lower bodyweight to achieve this.

AND THE OTHER CHALLENGES… 

Some minor tasks like reading a book a month and attending an opera/musical kinda fell to the wayside. I did get the Doggy Dentals done in April–no doggy dentures for my pups!

From my last March check-in (yes, I neglected to post April and May), I did obtain some fractional plates which I’ve implemented in my training. Because of difficulties pushing past my bodyweight in squats, I’ve gone back down in weights to work on my form. 

Certifications and other learning: somewhat on hold. I briefly picked up some Duolingo and Codecademy courses, but haven’t really progressed far. One thing about all the craziness at work (company is splitting in two) and sticking to a workout plan is that there aren’t enough hours in the day to get a full night’s sleep. 

One major life change that may have an impact on my workout schedule: I’m moving to a new house. The house hunt in April probably caused my infrequent blogging…but I’m happily anticipating getting my own girl-cave which I’ll be outfitting into a kickass home gym. Woot woot…I’m already filling out my wishlist at Rogue Fitness!

More posts to follow! 

Fitness

End of February review, March challenge

Feb 16-Feb 28 Challenge goals:

  • SL5x5 3x weekly: check
  • 5×20 pushups daily: check
  • 3×5 assisted pullups daily: check
  • 10k steps on non-lift days: inconsistent due to weather restrictions
  • Calorie plan 1221 kcal non-lift, 1526 kcal lift: first week did great, 2nd week went off plan.
Mar 1-Mar 15 Challenge goals:
Fitness

21 day challenge review…and the next challenge

Upon reflection, cleaning up the 21 day diet of processed and mostly-industrialized foods didn’t gain me much (I ended the challenge with a 3 day binge). My hormones kicked in during the last week and my skin began its dreaded breakout cycle. Avoiding added sugars only lessened the severity to one or two patches, but it’s annoying nevertheless.

What was beneficial was again the eye opening revelation about some of the junk that goes into store-bought food. Preservatives, industrialized seed oils, high fructose corn syrups, and gluten ingredients are in there to cheapen the quality of the final product and negate any nutritional benefits that food might have. In cases where individuals are particularly sensitive, these fake ingredients can be harmful. My man, who washed out in one week, was enjoying some normal blood sugar readings. When you’re diabetic, maintaining glucose levels are absolutely important.

Jan 31 marked the end of my 5 assisted pullups daily. I’ve been doing 1 set every morning to gauge my upper/core strength. While I switched to a new set of bands for the latter half of the month, I realize I still have a long way to go. And dropping some poundage will hopefully aid in that endeavor.

Feb 1 to Feb 15 challenge goals:

  • Stick to a calorie plan: 1221 kcal non-lift, 1526 kcal lift. with 1 free-feed day a week, and Feb 14 free day
  • 100 pushups daily
  • 2×5 assisted pullups daily
In addition, I am sticking to my 3x weekly StrongLifts sessions.
Fitness

7 down, 14 to go

I successfully achieved 7 days good, healthy eating this past Thursday. My man celebrated his 7th on Friday, due to a error reading labels early on.

Takeaways from the first 7 days:

1) Little to no rosacea. Any redness on my cheeks have pretty much disappeared. (But some breakouts are still occurring, which I’m attributing to hormonal changes.)

2) Dropped the 5 extra lbs of holiday weight that I gained in December. I’m back to my pre-holiday weight, holding at the 145# mark.

3) Hewing close to my calorie cap. Yes, it’s only a number but it’s getting me where I need to go. I’m working on my macro goals and starting to plan and log my meals ahead of time.

4) Spent more time shopping at Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods and discovered a wealth of cool snacks and foods. Grass fed and pastured products at TJ’s? Heck yeah!

5) Spent more time reading nutrition labels and researching different additives and ingredients. Definitely learned to stay away from industrial and seed oils, sugars and many of its various forms, embraced more raw foods, and got more selective our current “artificial” sweetener, i.e. stevia.

6) While nearly most of December was spent dining out, the first 7 days was conspicuously marked by eating in. Cooked lots of food, ate lots of fruits and vegetables.

7) Job stress and life stress are major contributors to cravings. When those cravings aren’t satisfied; people get cranky. Trying to get my mate to recognize that when the “meenies” hit, recognize it and do something about it (create new coping mechanisms). For me, I’ve been diverting my energy to exercise and shopping!

8) More sleep!

9) Getting a chance to catch up on my book reading. 

10) Took the StrongLifts Android app for a whirl. So far so good–but what’s with all the annoying pay-for-addons crap?? 

11) Added a new goal to my 2015 objectives: lose 15# in 15 weeks (130-135 by mid-April). I think it’s doable!