Finally getting into my goal jeans....

Today, after 4 long years, I could finally zip up my "goal" jeans.  These are a pair of 20+ year old jeans that have no stretch in them, are the wrong style (remember when pants were bell bottomed and "high" waisted???), and a g*d-awful shade of blue that could only have worked for Steve Erkel (remember him from the 90's too?). They've been hanging front and center in my closet since the birth of my first child nearly 4 years ago. Since then, I've run two half marathons, had another baby, walked a third half marathon, spent hundreds of hours in the gym, joined a program to finally fix my broken eating habits..........

And today, I was finally....FINALLY........able to zip them up.

Of course.......I'm ignoring the muffin top :).

BMI dropped!

Good news--BMI has dropped down to 23.51 since I last blogged about it! As I've blogged before, I've joined a weight loss group that conducts weekly meetings and encourages food journaling  and excercise. What I've found through journaling is that I haven't been doing enough carbs, and that I've been doing too much dairy--I fixed that and it seems to have been working!

Wearing Work-out Clothes to the office!

As a work from home attorney, a mom and an aspiring writer, I've had to get creative in order to make time for my workouts.  And never has that creativity been more tested in the wardrobe department than this morning.  I had a conference to attend in the morning, and I figured I'd try to make a late morning abs class.  I was sure that there literally wouldn't be enough time to go home and change from work wear to workout wear, so, I just did something crazy--I turned workout wear into business casual.  I found one of my work-out shirts that had a blousy-looking V-neck collar.  Then, I found a pair of yoga pants that honestly could double for dress pants. Then I threw a complementary necklace on, and threw a blazer on over the whole thing and voila! Multi-tasking attire. The shoes, of course had to change, but I just wore my dress shoes with my outfit (bonus that the dress shoes matched my blazer!), and tossed my sneakers and socks into the car. 

And no one was the wiser.

Forget About the Protein Bars...........

A little while ago, I blogged about trying out different energy bars as a pre-workout snack.  At the time, I felt I needed something to get through some of my more high-energy classes.  I even went through a phase of trying different ones out, just for that extra shot of energy.
Well, fast forward a few months, and I don't need them anymore!
Really. Really, really.  I find that doing a few things, when done routinely, actually help maximize my workout:
1) making time to eat breakfast with my kids (I find that either oatmeal or toast and almond butter alongside some fruit works beautifully to fuel everyone),
2) hydrating well, not just the day of, but the day before, and the day after (heck--everyday!)
3) eating well (see my post on eating for nutrition and not calories!)
4) not giving up on your workouts! You have to work out enough to actually get your body conditioned to being exercised.  It will be painful at first, but stick with it, make a routine out of it,  and it will eventually pay off.

The Tabata--a "Fitness Miracle"

At one of my classes a few weeks ago, the instructor put us through a four minute segment of high-intensity interval training, which is also known by it's acronym-- HIIT.  Another name for it is a Tabata--named for the Japanese scientist that proved that this interval training method is as effective as 60 whole minutes of moderate exercise on a treadmill.  The Tabata involves doing one or more moves at high intensity for 20 second intervals, and then taking a 10 second break.  Repeat the whole process for 4 minutes, and voila! a whole hour's worth of moderate exercise in 4 minutes. You can pick whatever move you want, or you can do multiple moves. The catch (and there always is one--there's no such thing as a catch-free short-cut in fitness and weight loss!), is that you have to be working at very high intensity and literally empty your tank by the last interval.  If you're not gasping for breath and begging for salvation by the end of it, you're doing it wrong.  And, of course, you've got to time the intervals exactly, or you will likely end up doing shorter intervals than you need to. Luckily, there are Tabata "songs" available on online music stores that provide audio signals for when the intervals begin and end. Some even come complete with motivating shouts from coaches.  

Eating more to lose weight?

Can you really eat more to lose weight?  Well, I've been experiencing a weird phenomenon. I've been trying to eat all the recommended amount of foods in the food pyramid, which I'm finding is more food than I can handle most days--and I've been losing weight!  It's the most counter-intuitive idea in weight loss--but it's one that works. The foods that the food pyramid recommends--the foods that we are supposed to be eating--are rich in nutrients. Quite literally, every calorie that's consumed has nutritive value--and no food group is vilified. Presently, carbs are considered "bad", but the truth is, even after eating a generous 6-8 servings of whole grain carbs everyday, I've been losing weight.

Go figure.  

Finally--movement!

Well, I've been remiss in posting....but it's good news! My BMI is down this week--down to 24.2! Yeah! This past weekend, I was actually able to get into a blouse that I wasn't able to close since I got pregnant with my first child. Woohoo!