Weightloss Wednesday! My Fitness Challenge Progress/Check In
Here is my original post on the whole Steemit Style #fitnesschallenge
I’ve decided to take Wednesdays and use them for my weightloss related posts. At least for now. I may write more on the topic on other days, but I need some sort of schedule to help me remember to actually update on the #fitnesschallenge on a weekly basis.
CHECK IN
Current weight 191.3 as of this morning. *I’m not doing great weightloss wise, because… holidays AND the fact that this seems to be a hard weight/number to break. I’m seeing visible differences, though, so it’s still good. I do need to really buckle down and start watching my macros a little closer, though, because I've been hovering around 195-190 for two months now, back and forth, back and forth and it's driving me batty.
Resting Heart Rate: I haven’t remembered to take this again. I suppose that’s a habit I need to develop. Note to self: Remember to take your heart rate when you wake up in the mornings!
As far as the exercise/workout goals, this is my biggest measurable progress thus far:
SUCCESS
Exercise The first thing I wanted to write about is something that has me SO freaking excited. It’s going to seem really lame to some of you, but I’m thrilled! One of my goals this year was to be able to do a pullup. I haven’t been able to do a pullup since childhood and it’s driving me crazy. I have tried many times to work up to it, but no matter how many times I tried, how much weight I was lifting, the pull up just seemed to stay wayyyy out of my reach.
This year I put some more serious research into how to build muscles specifically to get enough strength to do a pullup.
As it turns out, all of my “assisted pull ups” weren’t helping me much at all. Instead, I needed to focus on reverse pull ups. When I started this challenge for myself last month, I couldn’t even hold myself in such a way that I lowered slowly. At. All. I would climb up, go to lower myself down slowly and I would just fall, immediately. I could barely keep my grip on the bar!
So, I started WAY at the beginning. I just hung from the bar. A few times a day, when I walked through the house, I would just stop at our stall bars and hang from the bar. I felt ridiculous, because it seemed like such a TINY thing to be able to do… and I couldn’t even do it for very long! Still… I stuck with it.
Then last week I decided to try lowering myself slowly again. I was alone when I did it, but man, if I had a recording of it, you’d probably laugh. I started lowering myself and HOLY BEANS! I held it at the top for a few seconds. I was so excited, I squealed with delight. (Silly, right??? NAH! I accomplished a step towards my goal!)
A couple of days ago, I tried it again and look what happened
Still, I’m sure some aren’t impressed, but ME? I’m TOTALLY stoked. It’s a small victory, but it helps me to realize that even small steps will get you where you want to go!!!
MEAL PREP
This week’s meal prep involved
- meatballs, homemade marinara and zoodles.
- Korean Beef w/rice and green beans
- Chicken Florentine w/marinated and roasted veggies (mostly broccoli)
- More Smoothie prep from this post, because not only am I enjoying these, but my daughter has started making one before school each day as well!
*I’m happy to do more recipe/meal plan posts if anyone is interested. I have years of experience in cooking in bulk with a family of 7 and a small budget, so I have all sorts of information like that in my brain! Let me know in the comments if that’s something you’re interested in!
A favorite healthy snack of mine
And I’ll leave off with the Not So Great
Calories/Food. I have done much better this year than pretty much any other year. The problem I guess, if you want to call it that, is that this year I’m seriously trying to focus on my mental health AS WELL as the physical health. This means I’ve had to force myself to not fall into past habits of starving/denying myself then bingeing because I can’t take it anymore. I’m trying to stick with sustainable and consistent healthy choices.
For the most part I’m doing well, but I’ve still been eating too much sugar. I’m not stressing about it, but it is hindering my weight loss and most importantly, it’s messing with my sleep. I NEED my sleep or I become a mess of anxiety and the ever horrible emotional rollercoaster.
I’m hoping that once the holidays are over, that the lack of all of that stress will allow me to get back to a sane eating plan and better habits. I might do Keto for 4-8 weeks to get off the ‘too much sugar all the time’ thing after the holidays, but I’m not sure yet. It does work for me in the short term and totally takes away my sugar cravings, so I’m thinking that will probably happen. It’s just easier for me that way.
Let me know what you're up to and if you want, please comment with a link to your post if you're doing the challenge so I don't miss commenting on your post!
Small Progress is Still Progress!
Other writing of mine that you may enjoy:
Challenge: What Makes You Feel Beautiful?
And some more fictional work:
Brief recap of a serialized fiction story that I'm writing, if you're interested in my more 'normal' type of writing:
Chuck has been living a very dead end type of life, working in a derelict old, barely making it gas station in a failing small town when a priest and a tie dye wearing hippie come upon his gas station. They have a bag to bestow upon Chuck. A bag that they claim holds the power to fulfill his dreams and change his life.
Chuck, however, is more than a little disbelieving and wary of the whole idea…
Read The Beginning
Part 1: Chuck Here
Part 2: The Bag Here
Part 3: The Beginning
Part 4: The Accident
Part 5: Strangers in a Strange Town
Wonderful eccentrics on the chin up @byn. You can also use your legs to push yourself up initially. With time you'll be able to do concentrics as well. Keep it up !!
Thank you! I'm really hoping I can check this accomplishment off my list! That and all the other things on there, but for some reason the pull up has been the most elusive for me. Thanks for the comment!
That's major progress! Good for you!
It pays to remember that progress for you isn't the same as progress for other people! I have a friend of mine that is 205 pounds, and him getting to the point where he can do 5 pull ups means he is MONSTROUS. I'm very light, so I can naturally do a lot of pull ups, but I didn't have to work for it. If he and I were to compare our leg strength though... Well haha it would be a different story!
Keep at it and stick to your goals and your personal definition of success. Look forward to seeing more of this.
That is a great point! I used to think I would just wait until I weighed less, but this goal is just a HUGE thing for me, so I want to do it sooner than later.
Thanks for the comment, I plan to absolutely stick to my own goals and definition of success... because I've spent too many years making myself miserable trying to fit into other people's definitions when it comes to strength, beauty and looking/being fit!
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Looks like your doing awesome! It's funny as soon as you talked about wanted to do chin up, I was thinking in my head to start with negatives, and that's exactly what your doing. Well done and keep it up.
I'm annoyed with the holiday snacks too. I have zero will power and love any baking, and every day when I come to work, there's huge trays that someone brought. I'll just have to take it up a notch in January.
I'm glad I only have to worry about my own house and holiday treats! Unfortunately I'm a really really good baker :/ Fortunately, my grand kids are out of town until after Christmas and my adult kids who are here are mostly trying to eat healthy as well, so I got a bit of a break this year... for the most part! It's still difficult, though, because it's hard to deal with those in moderation!
I'm glad I've finally figured out how to progress on the pull ups. In the past I just frustrated myself... but now I'm actually seeing some progress.