Taking a Break

I know we have never really broached this subject but as I was working out today I really thought we should talk about it: Taking breaks and doing too much. I really want to preface this with this warning/ PA : I am not a doctor. I have no medical training. I have no training as a a personal trainer, or as a fitness type person at all. I am strictly speaking from my own experience.

As a Girl of Girth I am willing to say at some point I give up. I am a quiter. It the thing that I am very shameful of is that when the going gets tough I stop. I know that's not good but today I was working out and I did get to a point where I wanted to quit. I wanted to go home. I wanted to stop and catch my breath. I realized the latter was the real problem I was working hard and I just needed to stop and take a moment. Sometimes I forget that you can stop and have breath, or a drink of water and then go back to what you are doing. I just thought I would take the time today to say "It is okay. If you feel like you need to stop and take a breath or a drink do that and just join back in when you are ready." I feel like this is something I have heard fitness people say forever, but I just don't do it, and then I push myself to the breaking point. When I get there I just give up and don't return for days. I feel silly saying it but it is true. It is not the end of the world if you stop for a moment. 

In the same realm of thought I also want to talk about doing too much. When we started going back to the gym it was good we went a couple times and then Jay got this idea in his head that we were going to go 6 times a week. That is a lot. So without a real plan we went a couple of times and then stopped again. I think we were just taking on too much at one time. On top of that we just got a new puppy, and things are extremely hectic at our house. Today I decided enough was enough and I was going to go to the gym at least once a week if not more. But this is the same kind of thing if you feel like you need to cut back don't hesitate. If it's becoming overwhelming maybe cut back to a couple times a week or shorter workouts. You are the one living in this body do what feels right to you.

It is okay if you need to stop and take a moment. It is okay to stop and drink some water. It is okay to sit out a round, to do less reps. It is okay to cut back or do shorter workouts. In the end you are the only one that can decided what feels good, what feels like enough, and who knows maybe you will feel better and continue on till the end.  I did and I feel good. I got a great workout in and I worked hard but by stopping it was easy to gage a good finishing point for me.

Choosing a Gym

Let me set the scene for you. It was late last year and we were going to Planet Fitness, but it was costing us quite a bit since we were both Black Card Members. So we decided that we weren't going to pay to go to a gym anymore! We went on vacation and moved and I had started a new job, but still we held out and just waited and maintained, and waited and talked and waited until we could hardly wait anymore. Then we decided we wanted to go back to a gym.

There were some stand out choices and there were definitely some we said No to. Here are some of the factors we looked at before choosing:

 Crunch:

           + It is two blocks from our house
           + fairly cheap
           + lots of classes and variety of workout equipment.
           - hours did not work for us
 Planet Fitness:
           + 24 hour
           + Near where I work
           - No group classes
           - No pool

 24Hour Fitness:
           + 24 hour mostly
           - Not near home or work.
LA Fitness:
            +Pool
            - Expensive
            - Hours were ok

 Several Local Gyms:

            +Pool
            -Expensive
            -Hours did not work for us

In the end we ended up going back to Planet Fitness. While they don't have the group classes I really wanted it did have the hours that worked best with our changing schedules. Jay was hoping for a pool or sauna room of some sort. What we settled for was a gym that has a variety of work out equipment, great hours for our changing work schedules, and hydro beds. We figured that if we really want to use a pool our apartment complex has one as well as the local community college that we can utilize.

Neglect is just another word for letting everything slip away.

I know I have been neglecting this blog, but NO MORE! I have decided to reinvest in this blog and track my husband's and my health and weight loss goals, as well as our changing lifestyle.  So that being said lets do an Update type post for today and then I will do weekly post about whats happening and what we are doing.

I think one of my past post was about computer problems. We have since gotten a mac book pro so no more computer related issues. Knock on wood. We also moved recently. We stayed in the same place just a different part of town is all.

We quit our gym membership to reduce money issues. Which was ok because we had really stopped going. Since then we have started going back the the gym and I will probably do a post about how and why we choose a gym and which one won out in our decision.

As far as weight goes I have been maintaining the same weight for a while now at 300 or so. Not something that I am happy about all but I have been switching jobs and changing my routine lately. Which of course added to our gym decisions. Jay has been maintaining at 289 lately but we have not really made a whole lot of plans for the next little while. We have just really been maintaining lately. Plus he hurt his shoulder at work recently so we have been trying to take it easy on him. So we might do an injury related post as well.

Jay and I have decided recently that we might want to entertain the thought of having a baby. My sister just had her son and we love our nephew so much that we now have baby fever, I guess. So that is another reason why we would like to get going again on our weight loss goals.

Now that you are all caught up on things. Looking forward I am going to try to post by Wednesday because that is my last day off so it seems like a good thing to shoot for. I am thinking of all kinds of post now not just ones related to weight loss and workouts, mostly because this page is called "Shaping Up Our LIFESTYLES" not "Shaping up on our bodies alone." I just feel like there is so much more to our lifestyle than just working out and working on weight loss. Jay and I are people of course and we want you to know that if we can do these things you can do them too, even if you fumble, stumble, and sometimes trip and fall. We are too and that's ok. So lets just be our clumsy selfs and go on this journey to improve our lifestyles together.

Dead computers

Sorry  I  have  missed some posting  days recently  mine and my husband's computers both died. They are not taking on charge so its time to start looking at and starting saving for new ones. Unfortunately  that mean sfor now I am stuck posting from my phone and tablet.  So I  will post the 2 week challenges  that I have been working  on as well as next week's  challenge.

Challenge 5 and 6

Challenge  5 was bettering my relationships. I feel like this has been a good challenge I have talked to friends that I have not spoken to in a while. We recently reconnected with Jeff sister and have been having a good bit of conversation with her. I have also made time to call my parents and talk to  them.  As well  we have been trying to make real effort to go visit Jeff's mom since she had knee surgery.  All in all I feel closer to my family and friends all around.

CHALLENGE 6: Motivation & goals
This probably should have been first but no time like the present.  I am going to go back and look at my motivation and really focus on making some  goals.

New year New me

Recently I had to have some biometrics done and the nurse also had to take my weight which is kind of a sore subject with me. I know I'm a big girl and that I am not at my ideal weight but I was not prepared to see that I am almost 295lbs. I never thought I would sneak up on 300 lbs.

I am not one to have a bad body image. I actually really love who I am. Am I a little heavy? Yes. Would I like to lose some weight?  Sure, who doesn't? But I am more concerned with my health rather than those things. The questions I ask myself are: Are you living a life that you are proud of? Are you eating the things you would like to? Are you as healthy as you want to be? To these questions I would answer No.

I would like to be healthier.  I would like to excerise on a regular basis and eat healthier, better and do all the things I should do as well as all the stuff I want to do. I think this is something we all relate to. 

These luckily are things I can change
I can choose to eat better, excerise more, and do those things I am supposed to do.

So every 2 weeks I'm going to give myself a challenge and I will try to keep to it.  I will let you know what  it is so if you want to join in you can. I will do regular updates on what happens and how things are progressing.

The wedding, the honeymoon, and the gain.

           So the wedding was amazing but stressful. I actually ended up losing 7 pounds right before the big day. So for our honeymoon we knew we would be doing a lot of walking and we definitely did. We flew from the Pacific Northwest to Ireland and toured around southern Ireland, kissed the Blarney stone, saw several  castles, and spent some time touring around Dublin.
         Then we flew to London UK where we spent the majority of our trip. We walked and took the tube a lot and even had to walk back to our hotel once from a neighboring station which was about1/2 a mile or so but after walking back and forth probably  turned into about a mile. But we also went on tours and visited galleries, and museums, and I had a fantastic time with my husband who is also my best friend. We were definitely reaching our walking goals while abroad, but we weren't as concerned with what we were eating  while we were there. We were going for more of a cultural experience  which included trying a lot of things we had never eaten  before. Also as a huge  Harry Potter fan we found platform 9 3/4 and bought several things and totally geeked out
         After London we flew to New York City where we explored and walked the city.We went to several of our bucket list places. And I got Jeff to go to a Broadway show. We saw Wicked. Which I had seen when it came to Portland a few years ago but I was so excited and we sat in the 8th row. Which is magical if you ever get the chance to be close to the stage it is absolutely worth it.
          More too it and closer to what this blog is about, when we got home we  completely went off our diet and exercise  program.  In fact we might as well have thrown it in the fire and said we were done with it. So I know for a fact that we gained back EVERYTHING  we lost and all the progress  we made.  We went directly  back to eating fast food 4 or 5 times a week not exercising any more than what we do at work. Luckily we both have active jobs that involve walking.
So in this time of Resolutions and new beginnings  we have deciding  that we are going  to  start over. Not only are we going to try and get our finances in better order, but we are going to start meal planning and exercising more. Be on the look out for new updates, news and words of fellowship as we like so many embark on this journey again.