Month: August 2015

Complete: Last 8 Weeks of Summer Fitness

by Courtney, posted in Fitness and Health, Fitness Stat-urday, Food

It’s been a great 8 weeks! I was super focused on getting my body back into tip-top shape in preparation for the fall when I’ll have to move most of my workouts indoors. Let’s face it, running outside 5 days a week isn’t going to be doable. Bring on the kickboxing and INS.ANITY workouts!

I knew going into these 8 weeks that weight loss would be hard. I’d crept up to 146.4 in June and seemed to be hanging out there. I’d lost track of food and as we all know, you can’t out-work a crappy diet. That weight is still well within normal for my height and build (5’7 with a medium-large frame, BMI of 22.9), but it was feeling uncomfortable knowing that fall was around the corner. It was time to step it up.

I set goals for core strength, but I was meeting them almost immediately, so I dropped them. I set goals for cross training, and failed miserably. But in calorie consumption, mileage, and activity time goals, I exceeded all expectations… and they were lofty expectations! 1330 net calories a day, 5 hours a week of exercise, and 20-30 miles a week of running (or hiking or very brisk walking). As far as I’m concerned, these last 8 weeks have been very successful and I’m super happy. On top of meeting/exceeding those goals, I managed to drop a very solid 4.2 pounds (my wake-up weight today after no rigorous exercise yesterday and a rather unhealthy dinner last night) and I lost 1.0% body fat (which is 4.4% of the body fat I was carrying). I also dropped a collective 1.75 inches from my frame.

Going into the next 10 weeks, I have three simple goals… I must weigh 145 pounds or less every Wednesday, my body fat cannot go above 24%, and I want to keep doing 5 hours a week of vigorous activity. I chose Wednesday as my weigh-in day because my body has always corrected itself by then from the weekend before. Since I’m truly in maintenance mode (my rib cage is a solid 31 inches measured just below my breasts, and the doctor says it is impossible for it to get smaller, that this is how I’m built), a mid-week weigh-in makes sense. I’ll create a boring page for tracking purposes. I love tracking information!!!

Here are my stats from the last 8 weeks:

Summary (07/04/2015 – 08/28/2015)

  • Weight: 142.2 Pounds
    • Pounds Lost or Gained (started at 146.4 pounds): 4.2 Pound lost
  • Body Fat %: 22.7%
    • Body Fat % Lost or Gained (started at 23.7%): 1.0% Lost
  • BMI: 22.3
    • BMI Points Lost or Gained (started at 22.9): 0.6
  • Workout Days (goal is 48 days)/Time Spent Being Active (goal is 40 hours): 44 Days/44 Hours 35 Minutes
  • Miles Run (goal is 160-240 total miles): 199.70 Miles
  • Days within Calorie Goals per MFP (goal is 45 days with an average of 1330 or less per day): 45 days
    • 49,983 Total Calories in 45 days (average was 1110.73 calories per day
  • Measurements:
    • Natural Waist: 27.5 inches (28.25 inches on 07/07/15)
      • Loss of 0.75 inches
    • Belly Button: 31.75 inches (32 inches on 07/07/15
      • Loss of 0.25 inches
    • Hips: 35.75 inches ( 36.5 inches on 07/07/15)
      • Loss of 0.75 inches

Cross Training

by Courtney, posted in Fitness and Health

We have a fantastic trail system in our community. Finding a trail to bike or run is never, EVER a problem here. The state has been working hard on expanding our “rails to trails” system and we have a very cool one just 20 minutes from our house. We have said for years that we need to go and check it out.

Yesterday, my good friend, Emily, asked if I wanted to run it with her. I suggested we bike so that Hottie and the boys could come too. We prepped the bikes, got the kids loaded, picked up Emily with her bike, and drove 20 minutes to the trailhead. And it started to storm. Ha! So much for “no precip for 110 minutes.”

We went to dinner, left the bikes on the rack, put the car in the garage, and had Emily stay the night. We stayed up late and watched a hilariously bad movie… Just like old times!

My little guy woke up at 6:20 so we went for a 5.5 mile run while the house slept. My hubs went for a run when we got back because my older son wasn’t up yet. Once he was home, My oldest was up and the boys were fed, so we headed out once again to the trailhead.

This time, nothing but sunshine!

I volunteered to tow the boys in the Burley for the first time ever. That was easy, until it wasn’t on the way back with an insane head wind… But it was fun! They did great and we were biking for a little over an hour and went 10.4 miles.

It was worth the wait. The trail was beautiful and the bridge was, well, FANTASTIC!!! It was breathtaking, actually!

And I finally got some cross training in!

8 Weeks Left of Summer Fitness – Mid-Way Check-In

by Courtney, posted in Fitness and Health, Fitness Stat-urday

I got through the first 4 weeks of the final 8 weeks of summer with really great results with running, but totally skipped out on weight training (always my nemesis) and the 100 Pushups and 200 Sit Ups programs.  In all fairness, after one week of doing the sit ups program, I tested in at 200 in a row – so that program really wasn’t the best for me.  But the pushups were a different story.  I hurt my wrist badly after the first week and a half and had to stop.  I’ve been scared to start again.  I am going to try to start again these final 4 weeks.

As a recap, here are my starting stats on 07/07/2015:

Starting Statistics on 07/07/2015

  • Weight:  146.4 pounds
  • Body Fat %:  23.7%
  • BMI:  22.9
  • Measurements:
    • Natural Waist: 28.25 inches
    • Belly Button: 32 inches
    • Hips:  36.5 inches
  • Core Strength Starting Stats:
    • Starting Sit Ups:  105 (starting at Week 5 of the program)
    • Starting Pushups:  32 – (starting at Week 3 of the program)

Goals for the 8 weeks:

  • Completely finish the core strength programs (200 sit ups, 100 pushups) weeks 2-7
  • At least one (1) cross training session a week (this is hard for me to do in the summers because I’d rather run)
  • Bands/resistance training once a week
  • Clean eating with just one cheat day a week (I will not be logging food here though, but I will confess my sins in the notes section each week – HA!)
  • 20-30 Total running miles each week
  • At least 5 hours a week of exercise (this includes running, core strength, resistance, cross training, lawn mowing, and HARD yard work that makes me sore the next day)
  • Keep within my net calorie goals (1330 per day) 6 days per week (allowed 1 cheat day a week)

Here is where I ended up after 4 weeks – I’m quite happy considering that dropping weight just isn’t easy for me right now.  I’m at a good BMI and body fat percentage for my height and age, so I can’t expect to lose much more without a serious overhaul of what I’m doing.

Week 4 Statistics

  • Weight:   144.4 Pounds
    • Pounds Lost or Gained:  2 Pound lost
  • Body Fat %:  23.4%
    • Body Fat % Lost or Gained:  0.3% Lost
  • BMI: 22.6
    • BMI change in 4 weeks (starting was 22.9):  0.3
  • Workout Days (goal is 24 days)/Time Spent Being Active (goal is 20 hours):  21 Days/19 Hours 29 Minutes (damn – just shy of the goal!)
  • Miles Run (goal is 80-120):  98.54 Miles
  • Days within Calorie Goals per MFP: Of the 6 days a week that I tracked (allowing 1 free day a week), I averaged a net of 1,130 per day – right on par with a  1200 goal and well under a 1330 goal!
  • Measurements:
    • Natural Waist: 27.5 inches (28.25 on 07/15) – lost 0.75 inches
    • Belly Button: 32 inches (32.0 on 07/15) – lost/gained 0 inches
    • Hips:  36.0 inches (36.5 on 07/15) – lost 0.5 inches

So – I’m a happy camper right now!  My average running distance has moved from 5 miles per day to 5.5-6 miles per day, so that’s awesome!  My pace improves so I’m not spending much more time running that extra distance.  Eating is going well, but I’ve got that so figured out that I’d be so angry with myself if it wasn’t going as planned.  All-in-all, I’m happy and am ready to kick it up a bit these final 4 weeks.