Treading is such a great way to shed some pounds in the summer. Your session can be as easy or as advanced as you want it to be from basic treading with arms and legs or you can work your arms by with minimal leg movement or vise versa. When you move your legs with minimal arms you can really get a good ab work out and gluts if you move your legs front to back instead of the bicycle motion usually associated with treading. Other advantages include: low level of difficulty, no equipment required, free pools mean no gym fees, and best of all no matter how hot it is outside you keep cool. It might seem like you're not getting much of a workout because you're not sweating but my heart races and I get out of breath so I know my metabolism is getting the boost I need to shred some poundage.
Friday, I missed a call from my friend, Kathy asking me to join her for a tread session since another engagement we both committed to was postponed. She said that she and Melanie were going to start treading together in addition to their morning walks and asked me if I'd like to join them. Again, letting folks know that you are committed to fitness opens the door for sharing the experience with others and adding to your routine. It also motivates you when others invite you to join them. I have decided to be a "yes Ma'am". Accepting any invitation to join others in their workouts.
Yesterday, I went to Ramsey and did my aquatics routine that I mentioned in a previous post with half laps of a variety of strokes. I did that for about 30 minutes and then got out to chat with a friend. Then, lo and behold, in walks Melanie ready to tread. There are some exercises that I enjoy doing with others and then some I'd like to take at my own pace. Treading is definitely one of those that is best done with a friend. Melanie and I treaded for an hour, chatting and treading the time away.
I saw Kathy later and we are going to try to come up with the best time for all of us to meet. You should join us if you live in the hood. I'll definitely let you know.
After an hour and half total of working out I had so much energy and wanted to keep the focus on health. My family ate at Hyde Park Bar & Grill and I got the 4 sides plate with corn and chili tamales, collard greens, roasted sweet potatoes and fresh green beans. This morning after my morning coffee I had some watermelon that I cut up on Friday, I love the ease of preparing food a head of time. Just grab and go. For lunch I cooked up some short grain brown rice, sauteed yellow squash and snap peas in coconut oil with ginger and garlic. It took no time at all and it was so flavorful. The rice cooks for almost an hour but if you cook a batch a head time all you have to do is add veggies, nuts, protein and a few spices and eat on it for the rest of the day.
Weight loss isn't about quick fixes and abrupt change. I am slowly changing my habits with a natural progression. When you feel healthy you feel like eating healthier and look forward to physical activity. If you've been reading my blog and all you have done is think about getting out there and moving your body, I challenge you to take action. Just get started and you will be so happy that you did. I know it all seems daunting, especially if you have a long way to go but every great journey begins with one small step. For months I thought about it and just came up with all the excuses I've written about before now I look back and think, "I would be so much further along if I would have just got up off my ass and did something months ago. "Luckily, Jesse lit a fire under me and I'm on my way. Now, I want to be your fire. Fire is the element of transformation. TRANSFORM!!
And if you are already working it, YOU MUST STAY DETERMINED!!!!
Sunday, July 10, 2011
Friday, July 8, 2011
Take advantage of summer
Holidays can be a joyous time to gather with friends and family enjoying food and festive events together. I know I am the happiest when I can share those special occasions with my big brood. Frankly, it doesn't happen very often because every one is so scattered and have varying schedules. I tend to shut down emotionally during those times, I have discovered. I have become quite adept at putting up walls. The problem is I go inward and kind of linger there a while. That's where I've been, lingering. Now the 4th is behind us and I can move on and embrace the summer and it's many attributes.
AHHH summer time. The season of shorts, tank tops, bathing suits, hot bodies to compare ourselves to, plunging in to our favorite swimming hole for a cool down and a large array of fresh fruit to choose from at the market. Summer in Texas can be brutal but the fresh fruit choices make it all worth while.
This week has been a great one for me. I admit though that it started out a little rough. Weighing myself is a big no-no right now. It's so frustrating when you feel good about working your program and think your obviously losing weight so you hop on the scale with confidence only to be shot down with a big dose of reality. It seems like I've been gaining like 1/2 lb a week and that really brings me down. Everybody says, "It's just muscle, Carrie" Well, you know what? on the Biggest Loser you don't see them gaining weight week after week because of all the muscle gain, you see them drop the fat and that's what I'm doing this for, dropping the fat. But, for the first time in my life I am not letting it keep me down for very long, not even a day. Like I said before, the choice is lose weight or lose out.
Amy and I have decided to change things up a bit with our work out routine. We are are doing 15 - 20 minutes of yoga in the morning alternating between two of our favorite Gaiam Rodney Yee DVDs and a more cardio workout in the afternoon at the end of the day. I took two Tae bo DVDs to work and a Jillian Michaels shred DVD. Mike continues to participate with us and no longer hangs out in the back of the class. Kendra is joining us now as well. People are seeing my body changing at work and want in on the action. I love it, it's so motivating and rewarding. When I get restless at my desk I do some arm excercises with 5 lb dumb bells I keep in my cubicle and I even follow up with treading at Ramsey when I get off of work. A body in motion certainly stays in motion.
A new addition to our routine is juicing. When I told Sierra and Jesse at two different times that I was juicing they asked me if I was doing steroids. Nope, we're drinking the juice of any veggie and fruit we can get our hands on. Today we made watermelon, kale, cucumber, carrot, beet, ginger and spinach juice. I think the best way to describe the way it looked when poured in the glass is polyjuice ala Harry Potter, basically muddy looking. Sounds gross, I know, but OMG it is so good and refreshing and incredibly energizing. I look forward to our juicing every day.
I have developed a routine after working out when I was hungry consequently not getting as good a work out and feeling rushed if I get started too late. A big part of my routine is eating lots of fruit. Yeah summertime crops!! I eat blueberries, strawberries, peaches, nectarines, watermelon, cantaloupe and sometime apples. I bought a bunch of not quite ripe nectarines and peaches, put them in a paper bag on my window seal at work and two days later they are perfect. If I get hungry, I have fruit right there to eat. I also cut up the melon and strawberries so I can just grab them out of the fridge when I'm ready to mix them with some low fat vanilla yogurt and Go Lean crunch. MMMMM so good.
I drink coffee when I arrive at work until about 9
9 am - mix fruit, yogurt, Go Lean (an hour before my yoga workout)
10 am - hatha yoga for a good stretching
after yoga I eat some cashews or wasabi
12 - lunch (Amy made some quinoa and veggies we ate on some and I made some grilled chicken salad with cashews, dried apricots, red onion and low fat may and added a bit of ginger mandarin dressing. I was just experimenting but it turnout out so good.
2pm - fruit from my goodie bag
2:30 - PM cardio
4PM to the pool for treading
AHHH summer time. The season of shorts, tank tops, bathing suits, hot bodies to compare ourselves to, plunging in to our favorite swimming hole for a cool down and a large array of fresh fruit to choose from at the market. Summer in Texas can be brutal but the fresh fruit choices make it all worth while.
This week has been a great one for me. I admit though that it started out a little rough. Weighing myself is a big no-no right now. It's so frustrating when you feel good about working your program and think your obviously losing weight so you hop on the scale with confidence only to be shot down with a big dose of reality. It seems like I've been gaining like 1/2 lb a week and that really brings me down. Everybody says, "It's just muscle, Carrie" Well, you know what? on the Biggest Loser you don't see them gaining weight week after week because of all the muscle gain, you see them drop the fat and that's what I'm doing this for, dropping the fat. But, for the first time in my life I am not letting it keep me down for very long, not even a day. Like I said before, the choice is lose weight or lose out.
Amy and I have decided to change things up a bit with our work out routine. We are are doing 15 - 20 minutes of yoga in the morning alternating between two of our favorite Gaiam Rodney Yee DVDs and a more cardio workout in the afternoon at the end of the day. I took two Tae bo DVDs to work and a Jillian Michaels shred DVD. Mike continues to participate with us and no longer hangs out in the back of the class. Kendra is joining us now as well. People are seeing my body changing at work and want in on the action. I love it, it's so motivating and rewarding. When I get restless at my desk I do some arm excercises with 5 lb dumb bells I keep in my cubicle and I even follow up with treading at Ramsey when I get off of work. A body in motion certainly stays in motion.
A new addition to our routine is juicing. When I told Sierra and Jesse at two different times that I was juicing they asked me if I was doing steroids. Nope, we're drinking the juice of any veggie and fruit we can get our hands on. Today we made watermelon, kale, cucumber, carrot, beet, ginger and spinach juice. I think the best way to describe the way it looked when poured in the glass is polyjuice ala Harry Potter, basically muddy looking. Sounds gross, I know, but OMG it is so good and refreshing and incredibly energizing. I look forward to our juicing every day.
I have developed a routine after working out when I was hungry consequently not getting as good a work out and feeling rushed if I get started too late. A big part of my routine is eating lots of fruit. Yeah summertime crops!! I eat blueberries, strawberries, peaches, nectarines, watermelon, cantaloupe and sometime apples. I bought a bunch of not quite ripe nectarines and peaches, put them in a paper bag on my window seal at work and two days later they are perfect. If I get hungry, I have fruit right there to eat. I also cut up the melon and strawberries so I can just grab them out of the fridge when I'm ready to mix them with some low fat vanilla yogurt and Go Lean crunch. MMMMM so good.
I drink coffee when I arrive at work until about 9
9 am - mix fruit, yogurt, Go Lean (an hour before my yoga workout)
10 am - hatha yoga for a good stretching
after yoga I eat some cashews or wasabi
12 - lunch (Amy made some quinoa and veggies we ate on some and I made some grilled chicken salad with cashews, dried apricots, red onion and low fat may and added a bit of ginger mandarin dressing. I was just experimenting but it turnout out so good.
2pm - fruit from my goodie bag
2:30 - PM cardio
4PM to the pool for treading
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