2011 challenge

Alright to all my friends, relatives, people who read this, friends of people who read this acquaintances . . . basically any one who wants to . . .

1000 Mile Challenge 

 Sometimes in order to get yourself moving you need a goal set for yourself . . . I'm setting that goal for myself, and you should set it for yourself as well. And a little competition never hurt anyone :)

Whats the goal ????  . . . to walk/run/bike 1000  miles through the 2011 year. This a not a resolution you can fail the first week of the year (and be honest, most of us fail at being consistent with our resolutions). I really highly encourage people to participate in this . . . its not difficult . . . just walk, go to the gym, take a bike ride . . . simple right. Just track what you do . . . . make it a goal to reach 1000 miles within the year (that's 20 miles a week . . . which seems a lot . . . but its not :) )

There are 4 people I want to do this with  me . . . I'm not gonna say names but you better believe I'm gonna ask you if you read this.
Theres one person I think should pass this along to others . . . again no names ;)

Doing this does not mean that you have to workout and kill yourself everyday, it just means you gotta put a little effort towards getting a little bit of workout in your day . . .



Believe me some days I feel like this . . .

 . . . the second I get out to workout.

However . . . 

If I wanna look like this . . . 

. . . I better get my booty going ;)

I love . . .

Things I love . . .

1. Being able to post in this that I accomplished a mission (which I did . . . read on and I'll explain)
2. Knee High Socks . . . I love them, I love how they keep you warm, I love how they look with my workout pants, I love them :)
3. My puppy and how hes so excited when I come home, probably more to go to the bathroom than to see me, but I"ll take what I can get
4. Home cooked meals, having enough food in the fridge or cabinets in order to make something (right now chili is cookin)
5. Baking and then giving what I made to others . . . I just like the activity, I dont so much like having the sweets all over my apartment. 
6. Compliments . . . whether its someone tellin me I did a good job, or saying I look good, telling me my baked goods are awesome, or whatever . . . compliments directed towards me are things I love.

Just felt the need to focus on the simple pleasures of my life today.

Soooo accomplishment . . . this is from Dec. 1
"Tonight my trainer gave me a decent cardio plan . . . something that he honestly thinks I can do (if i can really do it . . . we'll see), I've decided to make it my goal . . . mark my words by Dec. 31 I will be completing this goal

Run 1600 meters ( 1 mile)
Rest 3 minutes
Run 1200 meters (.75 mile)
Rest 2 minutes
Run 800 meters (.5 mile)
Rest 1 minute
Run 400 meters (.25 mile)"

Today is Dec. 28th and I was able to accomplish this mission . . . :) Smile for me . . . I added my own little twist, but alas I ran the 2.5 miles required for this act :)

What I did . . . 
Jog 1 mile @ 5.0
Rest 5 min walk @ 3.3
Jog .75  mile @ 5.0
Rest 5 min walk @ 3.3
Jog .5 mile @ 5.0
Rest 5 min walk @ 3.3
Jog .25 mile @ 5.0
This got me to about 3.3 miles . . .
The remaining mile uphill downhill @ 3.6
Calories burned: 775

What I ate . . . 
Hand full of dark chocolate
cheese sandwhich
protein bar
oodles of water
(i'm about to go eat me some chips and chili . . . yummmm)

I KNOW I didnt eat enough today b/c at like 6:30p I felt like I was going to pass out I even told my mother who's comment was "wanna get some fries" . . . I would have, but I have chili cookin at home and i LOVE my chili. :)

I did it :)

Well sorta . . .

10:30 this AM i debated over going to Lifetime . . . this is what happened in my mind . .

I should go to Lifetime, I wonder what time they close, maybe they close at like 1, if they close at 1 then theres not really that much time for me to go. I'll call . . . . oh they close at 3, thats cool that they open tmr at 3. I was pretty sure they wouldnt open again until Sunday. That means I could work out tomorrow. MMMM my body is sore from the last two days, I sorta need a day off . . . but will I really workout Christmas night, its not like I'll be at my parents all night. Well maybe I'll be at my parents all day Christmas. Man I really dont want to workout today. However, if I go in today, then I dont have to go in again until Sunday. Bah! Nope I"m going in before 11.

Then some huge drama happened that lasted for about 20 minutes and that really motivated me to go in.

I'm pretty proud of myself, I was able to jog a whole mile. I havent done that since Aug. so . . . go me!
What I did . . . 
2.5 miles jog/walk
- 1 mile jog @ 5.0 then 4 min walk @ 3.3
- 5 min jog @ 5.0 then 3 min walk @ 3.3
- 3 min jog then 3 min walk
- 3 min jog then 3 min walk
1 mile uphill/downhill walk @ 3.6
35 min elliptical
total calories burned: 950
(If you've been keeping track that makes 3500 calories burned this week)

Alright I'm off to go celebrate the holidays . . . .

MERRY CHRISTMAS to all that read this blog :)

Just the facts

Boring post today but i'm only posting the facts.


What I did . . . 
2 mile jog/walk (a little run, a little walk, a little jog)
30 minute bike
35 minute elliptical
total calories burned: 950

What I ate . . . 
2 bagels
fries
veggie corn dogs
ravioli

I'm super tired and annoyed with snow and men, i'm saying good night!

Productive!!!!

Yesterday was way not productive, I think I took like 3 naps, woke up late in the day, convinced myself not to go workout and then ate whatever I felt like.

Today however was productive . . . my deeds today
1. Worked out
2. Christmas shopping
3. Wrapped Christmas gifts
4. Made butter cookies
5. Attempting to convince myself to make hockey pucks

Ok so #5 hasnt occured yet . . . but still those 4 are tedious things and to accomplish them between the hours of 10:45 and 7pm is a big task.

I bought myself a cookie press today and made butter cookies, I'm pretty proud of them so I'm going to display some picturage.

cookies before

new cookie press

cookies after . . . delicious!

cookies prior baking

What I did . . .
10 minute elliptical
training (totally need to try doing what I did today once this weekend )
2 mile jog/walk (5.0/3.3)
- 9 min jog/3 min walk
- 6 min jog/2 min walk
- 3 min jog/ 2 min walk
1 mile uphill/downhill walk @ 3.5

I need to get to the jogging goal I had . . . I have about two weeks . . . eeek

What I ate . . .
Lucky Charms (they were so good)
Wendy's Fries (these were not good)
Chips and Dip

I didnt eat well today at all . . . I dont know when I'm gonna get back to eating regular. We'll see if that'll happen soon :)

5 things

Today is my first day of vacation. I can tell ya that its 4:30pm and I'm already bored . . . I dont do well with unstructured time and sometimes I go off the deep end and do stupid stuff.

Heres what I did today . . .

1. I worked out. I woke up and my ankle hurt badly when I walked so I avoided running, however I still made myself do a decent workout.
What I did . . . 
30 min bike (7.5 miles)
40 minutes elliptical (2.5 miles)

2. I had a new protein bar. It had the brand snickers on it so i assumed it was going to be good.

Not bad . . . the bar was really thick and fudgy . . . took me about 20 minutes to eat it. I bought a 6 pack so I'll be eating them again :)

3. I called it off with a guy. I was going down a track that Paul had laid awhile back and it just dawned on me today that I was going down that track again . . . as much as I think it'll work with this guy, I cant let myself go down that track again. You cant start to like someone based just on phone conversations, at some point you actually have to follow through with a date. I'm just tired to being the one walked all over and dealing with the cancellations. So I decided to take charge and say . . . "no, this isn't happening, have a good life" . . . its taken all my will not to call and try to justify my reasons.

4. I spent hours on the phone with a best friend trying to figure out how to change my life and trying to get her to not be so pessimistic . . . . shes still pessimistic but I'm still gonna work on her to turn it down ;)

5. Took a shower. I dont really have a 5th, theres a few things I should do . . . go shopping, help my folks shovel, make hockey pucks . . . however I'm not entirely up to doing any of that :) I kind of want to go workout again, however I think I'll be doing lots of that this week.

What I ate . . . 
protein bar (280 - 21)
3 giant onion rings (no idea)

I'm not really hungry today. Hopefully that keeps up these next two weeks and i'll have lost the 10lbs this month that I wanted to lose (I'm about 4lbs done ;) )

5 am

I'm pretty proud of myself. This morning I woke up at 4:35 in order to get in a 5am workout. It wasn't all that hard :)

What I did . . .
2.5 mile jog/walk (3.6/5.0 2min/6min)
1 mile uphill/downhill walk @ 3.6
Total Calories burned: 600

I entered myself in a 12 week Biggest Loser deal at work back in the fall. Today is the last weigh in and I'm pretty sure throughout the 12 weeks I've lost 4 big ones . . . not a significant loss :(
Theres talk about doing it again in the spring . . . but not sure if i want to invest $20 again to lose a small amount of weight . . . . we'll see.

oy vey

No complaining tonight, just giving cold hard facts :)

What I did . . . 
15 minute elliptical
training
2 mile jog/walk (3.5/5.0 . . . 2min/6min . . . thats right, i jogged for 6 min :) )
.5 mile jog/walk (5.3/3.5 . . . 90sec/60sec)
1 mile uphill/downhill walk @ 3.6
Total calories burned: 950 :)

What I ate . . . 
(wasnt good, but guilt trips always get me)
Super America coffee (that ended up being 325 calories, it was good, but not worth the calories)
salad (carrots, lettuce, croutons, egg, cranberries, dressing, cheese)
about 20 yogurt covered pretzels (tis the season)
cheese pizza (single serving)
a few fries
I didnt count calories . . . I'll get back to that tmr . . . promise!

Double workout

Today I went to Lifetime 2x . . . I love days that school is closed :)

School was closed today . . . i'm pretty sure its because of the sucky plowing job that St. Paul did over the weekend. It didn't help that the windchill was like -20 or something crazy like that. I feel that they should probably cancel school again tomorrow . . . for the kids ya know. Its probably more exciting to teachers when school is closed than parents. I wonder what you do when you work a full time job and your 4th grader's school is canceled . . . hmmm, who cares lol.

OK so my double workout. Today I went to lifetime at 3 . . . mainly b/c I was bored. three days in my apartment doing the same thing and watching movies doesnt really leave me very happy. I'm sure I consumed about 6000 calories this weekend, so going to lifetime had a high ranking on my list of priorities. I then went to lifetime again at 6:45 so I could do my training, however that didnt pan out, but I was a trooper and worked out for another hour ;)

What I did . . .
@3
2 miles jog/walk (5.3/3.6 2min/1min)
1 mile uphill/downhill walk (@3.4)
Calories burned: 500

@6:45
45 minute elliptical
calories burned: 515

Total: 1015 (go me!)

I have a pretty light schedule this week, so Tuesday I'm going to try to make it into lifetime after work . . . we'll see if that happens.

The truth and nothing but the truth

I'm not going to make 3500 calories burned this week . . . it just wont happen. I want it to happen however it wont. I'm not listing excuses .. . I'm not stating why, I"m just telling you it wont happen.

I'm off to go shovel this out of the snow so that I can get into Lifetime . . .

 I probably wont stay long, and honestly I dont want to go at all, but I do want to be able to say that I tried.


Worst day to go to lifetime, not because of the place its self but the fact it took me 10 minutes to drive the 1 mile it takes me to get there, and it took me 45 minutes to drive the 1 mile to get home.

What I did . . . 
30 min bike
30 min elliptical
calories burned: 410
(not a lot, but my heart wasn't there)

Not satisfied

This week I feel has been a busy week . . . with work, and 2nd work, getting to the gym and PM school responsibilities I feel like I've had little to no down time. Poor Sammers whos stuck at home solo for most of this week.

Good to know hes content right now scarfing down a bone.

I dont think I've worked out hard at all this week, each time I leave the gym I've only burned 600 calories, I swear I'm gonna do 3500 even if it kills me on Saturday :)


What I did . . .
mile 1 jog/walk (5.6/3.6 1 min ea)
mile 2 walk (3.6 uphill/downhill)
25 min bike
5 min stair master (that stuff is hard!)
Calories burned: 625

I'm not posting what I ate . . . it wasnt good.

However a few nights ago I made lasagna (soymeat, cottage cheese, cheese, noodles, sauce) it was about 475 calories a serving and about 31 g of protein . . . not too bad. :)

Mheh . . .

So because of what I did Sunday night the day was really good, until I finished work. When I got home thats where it all went down hill . . . :(

What I ate . . .
Banana (100 - 2)
Bread (400ish - 13)
Spinach dip (200 - 4)
Soup (320 - 8)
Breadsticks (300 - 4)
Candy (boo!) (300ish)
Total Calories : 1620 - 31

I cant believe how many calories I took in today. Thats horrible, its wasnt until I wrote it all down just now that I am 400 over what I have been. Whats worse is that I had so much bread . . . tricky little bugger.

What I did . . .
(not so much, for some reason had no energy at LT tonight)
10 minute elliptical
personal training
15 minute bike
1 mile tread (just walking, i'm a whimp)
Total calories burned: 575

HOLY HANNAH . . . I could NOT get it together today at Lifetime, everything seemed like such a hard task. Not cool! I have no excuse for it . . . all I can say is that I have to work harder now the next few times I go in.

What I saw . . .

I went to life time this morning. Yey me . . . I did decent, hit my goal and did more that I expected myself to do.

What I did . . . 
miles 1,2,3 jog/walk (5.0/3.6 2min/1min)
miles 4,5 uphill/downhill walk @ 3.7
20 minute elliptical
Total calories burned . . . 950 (total for the week 3750) :)


What I ate . . . 
cold pizza (225 - 3)
corn dogs (280 - 16)
tator tots (320 - 4)
1/2 a protein bar (135 - 10)
Total (as of 3:30)  : 950 - 33
however i'm going out tonight, so it'll be alot higher


So when I was at lifetime heres what I saw . . . things tend to surprise me there and i'm not sure why.
1. A man jogging at a 4.0 pace, 20 minutes he only did a little more than a mile, and he was jogging like a girl.
2. A woman watching pro-woman muscle contest . . . just found it odd
3. A woman using a tape deck walkman . . . I havent seen or used one of those in years
4. A guy in a suede jumpsuit . . . he looked soooo fake . . . tan/plastic/ugly . . . 
There were more . . . but they seem to slip my mind . . . its a crazy place that attracts many different type of people.

Done for the Day

So the day is over but I had to record what I did for a workout.

I'm not going to record what I ate, based on the fact that it wasnt very good and I dont need to broadcast that I ate crap today. However I do justify it by saying that its Friday, and typically on Friday I eat whatever is in front of me :)

Good news is I lost 2 lbs . . . two weeks ago at work we had a weigh in and since that time I've been able to lose weight ..  . go me!

What I did . . . 
mile one run/walk (6.0/3.6 75 sec/45 sec)
mile two uphill/downhill walk (@3.6)
mile three jog/walk (5.0/3.6 2 min/1min)
25 minute elliptical
20 minute bike
Calories burned . . . 950 (only 800 to go in order to burn off 3500 this week :) )

Scared

So i'm sitting here right now telling myself I'm not going to go to Lifetime . . . this is the thoughts I have at night . . . Lifetime or no Lifetime . . . Lifetime or no Lifetime . . . heres what I need for Christmas, I need a daisy that regenerates after a day so that I can pull pedals off and decide if i'm going or not. If someone could make the decision for me that would be superb. Maybe you're thinking why wouldnt Cheri go to Lifetime, well its because I"m scared . . . I'm scared of what will happen at the scale tomorrow morning and I'm pretty sure that I need to work out in the AM for the result would be better. Well whatever I'm illogical.

What I ate . . . 
- banana (100 - 2)
- Chobani yogurt (140 - 14)
- Apple (100 - 2)
- Doritos (150 - 2)
- Tortilla Chips (400 - 5)
- Veggie Pot Pie (420 - 9)
Total: 1310 - 34

The last two days my calorie counts have been over 1200 . . . I have no idea how many calories I should have consumed in one day. I know that the goal is between 1000 and 1200, but I dont knwo if I'm supposed to get at least that much in a day, or if 1200 is where I should tap out. I hate calories, I hate eating and I hate how food is the hardest thing for me. 

If I didnt already say, tomorrow morning I weigh in and I'm scared out of my  mind.

FAILURE

So today I was supposed to kick butt working out, that didn't happen . . . I'm a little bit disappointed at my achievements tonight at Lifetime. Tonight my trainer gave me a decent cardio plan . . . something that he honestly thinks I can do (if i can really do it . . . we'll see), I've decided to make it my goal . . . mark my words by Dec. 31 I will be completing this goal

Run 1600 meters ( 1 mile)
Rest 3 minutes
Run 1200 meters (.75 mile)
Rest 2 minutes
Run 800 meters (.5 mile)
Rest 1 minute
Run 400 meters (.25 mile)

What I did . . . 
1 mile jog/walk (1.5 minute @ 5.3 / 1 min @ 3.5)
40 minutes elliptical
training . . .
Total calories burned: 900

1st off . . . didnt feel like running tonight, just wasnt in the mood . . . my hips kinda hurt, and every time i started on a good pace my side started to ache. It was easier to throw in the towel and move to the elliptical than to fight it.

2nd . . . trainer had me do this crazy 9 different exercise thing . . . I have no idea what it was called. I complained all the way through it . . . and he FINALLY said what I know he's been wanting to say for the last year. I said "I dont want to do these" and his response "I don't care" . . . best thing to hear when you're struggling. I know he reads this so I'm just gonna say . . . I dont complain because the stuff is hard, I complain because of how I look doing it . . . ass in the air, sweat dripping down my face . . . bah!


What I ate . . . 
apple (100 - 2)
egg salad sandwich (150 - 11)
chobani yogurt (140 - 14)
tortilla chips (300 - 4)
tomato soup (320 - 8)
bread sticks (300 - 4)
protein drink (110 - 17)
Total: 1420 - 60

I'd love to be able to get 90g of protein in my diet . . . why is it soooo hard!

So one comment I want to make. Today when I was on the elliptical I was right next to the mirror and if you know me you know I'm so vain (that song was about me by the way) . . . so I'm watching myself use this machine and other than the fact that I have a ginormous ass I don't look too bad. There's one thing I'd really like right about now and I'd like to hear that I'm doing good . . . and not just "wow you knwo how to burn calories" but I want someone to genuinely tell me that I look like I've lost weight . . . I miss hearing that and really that's what this whole mission is about, having people notice I'm trying to literally work my ass off.