The 2009 SELF Fitness Challenge

So, yesterday, I somehow ended up on SELF.com. Most likely on some Google train of thought - I honestly can’t remember how it started. Once I was there, I noticed they have a SELF Challenge. I hadn’t heard of it before, but apparently this is the 13th year they’ve done it. It’s a three-month exercise and eating plan designed to help encourage people to get active and stay healthy. There are online tools - meal and exercise logs - and Daily Newsletters you can sign up to receive with tips and tricks, and even community groups and discussion boards where you can share success stories or get more tips and tricks and lend advice. I decided, what the hell, why not?! So I signed up. It’s not like I’d have to change much of what I’m already doing. I eat great and exercise at least 3 times a week. So, when I first signed up I thought I’ll probably just keep doing what I’m already doing, but maybe keeping track of it will hold me accountable. And I also noticed there are a few giveaways for participating such as athletic gear or a trip to Antigua (yes please!). And then after I started to look around SELF.com I noticed there are SO many workout ideas, and I’m definitely going to have to try them.

See, I recently finished a 1-month boot camp that was hosted at a local athletic club. It consisted of hour long workouts a couple times a week where we’d run back and forth across a gym with lunges and jumping jacks and wall sits and obstacle courses and the whole works. It kicked my butt pretty hard, but it always felt really great afterwards.

They host this boot camp every month, and theoretically I could just sign up and start all over again. But I have a membership at another gym that I’m already paying for - so I decided that I’d try and take the habits I got from boot camp and carry them over to my personal workouts and just go to my gym for a while. At least, if this ends up not working out, I can always go back next month and sign up for their boot camp again.

Now, my main thing with workouts is they can get boring if they get too repetitive.  And I haven’t been a consistently active person for very long, so I’m always looking for new workout ideas (pretty much everything is “new” to me, but still). But boot camp was great because the stuff we did gave me new things to carry over into my personal work outs. But by the end of the month, I could see myself already exhausting them and I started to worry that maybe I shouldn’t try to do this on my own - that I should just suck it up and fork over the $90 for boot camp again. But then I found out that SELF.com has a plethora of articles and videos for people just like me! So, with a new found motivation, I started sifting through their ideas and suggestions.

I’ve been on my diet now for a little less than 9 months. So it’s hard to stay motivated and it’s definitely easy to fall into a slump where it feels like I’ll never be able to lose any more weight. I’ve lost 60 lbs altogether, but I’d like to go for at least another 10-15 more. I’m very happy with how I’m looking (I’ve gone from a size 20 to a size but I’d just like to tone and lose a few more pounds. I’ve been basing most of my weight-loss goal on the Body Mass Index, and figure if I can get to a 21.7 BMI then I will be perfectly average. The “healthy-range” of the BMI scale is between 18.5-24.9. Which means 21.7 would be right in the middle. To get to that BMI, I would need to lose 15 lbs. Granted, I’m in the healthy-range right now, but it would feel so much better to be in the middle of it, instead of on the side closest to being overweight. And, that’s why I need to stay focused and motivated!

So, today I set out with the goal to try out a few things I learned from some of the Fitness videos and articles on SELF.com. I decided to start my workout with Sizzle Calories. You warm up with a walk, then a few minutes in sprint for 30 seconds, then take it back to a jog for a couple minutes, then sprint again for 30 seconds. Rinse and repeat. It proved to be a very long 18 minutes for me. But man I could really feel it.

Side note: I am not a runner by any means. I usually do my cardio workouts on the elliptical because it’s so much easier for me.

After I finished that, I took some hand weights and did 3 reps of 12 of the Reverse Squat, Prime Climb, Take a Bow, and Flye Crunch - as detailed in the Great 1-month slim-down.  Even after the month long conditioning from the aforementioned boot camp, this workout - the Sizzle Calories, paired with the Great 1-month slim down - had me sweating like it was the first time I’d worked out in months. It felt great!

I finished the workout with the Balance Crunch, as described in the Flat Belly Bonus Video, and some simple rowing squats. According to my log, I burned something close to 300 calories. I’m thinking that tomorrow I’ll try the rest of the exercises detailed in the Great 1-Month Slim-Down and the Flat Belly Bonus Video. I thought breaking them up might help with muscle confusion and also help me keep from getting bored.

So, here’s to staying motivated and getting (more) fit, especially with bikini season encroaching!

Adventures in Clothes Shopping

Image via Wikipedia

I hate clothes shopping.  My attempts at clothes shopping usually goes something like this; go to the shops, look around, get depressed that there is nothing in my size that I like and come home again.  However, this time I had to buy something as none of my clothes, especially my jeans, fit me anymore.  They are hanging off me and I look like some ghetto kid, which may actually be the fashion these days, but isn’t entirely appropriate for the office.

So I steel my resolve and go to what is truly hell on earth - the mall. I find some men’s long sleeve shirts (I don’t venture into the women’s section, way too much pastel and frills for my liking) that look pretty good.  I am pleasantly surprised that I now fit into a men’s medium whereas before I was a large to extra large.  I also confuse the crap out of some guy on my way out of the dressing room as he is no longer sure whether this is the men’s or women’s dressing room and me telling him it was the men’s didn’t seem to help the matter.

Then I move onto buying jeans.  I used to fit into a men’s size 38.  I try on the 36’s but they are too big, however the 35’s crotch is way too small, who are these men that seem to have nothing between their waist and the top of their thighs?  The shop assistant then tries to get me to try on women’s jeans and in desperation I do so.  I am shocked that I seem to be a size 15 (US size 13) or in some styles a 16 (US size 14).  Before I moved onto buying men’s jeans I was around size 18 (US size 16) and that was a good 5 years ago.  The problem with women’s jeans is that the style is to have jeans fit really tightly around the thighs.  Who the hell designs these things?  I don’t know of any woman who is happy with the size of her thighs, so why on earth do we want to wear jeans that fit extra tight around them?  Fortunately the shop assistant goes and finds some men’s jeans in a different style where the 35s were designed for normal people and they fit perfectly.  I am so happy that I buy two pairs.

I also then buy some yoga style pants for Kung Fu from the women’s department, that’s right, I buy sporting clothes from the women’s section and they fit me.  Another first!

It is a very different experience buying clothing when you actually fit into clothes that you can find on the rack.  Now all I need is for stores to start stocking clothes I actually like and I might start enjoying the experience.

KIMMY'S GREEN PLANET REVOLUTION

hello everyone!! i hope this reaches you happy and healthy!!  

 

I just put the word out that i am involved with two product lines that i really believe are high quality, enviromentally friendly and of course very people friendly.

first is wowgreen

a completely natural, chemical-free- aka non-toxic, enzyme based set of cleaning products for the whole home (and workplace) enabling us to eliminate this exposure to toxic fumes and chemicals from the cleaning products we now use indoors.

yes, i, as some of you i hope, have used the all natural products and paid a little more because it is important- but i can admit the efficacy was nothing to rave about- although i felt they worked, there was scrubbing and rescrubbing involved.

this is why wowgreen products are better. they work. really well. being enzyme based the trick is to leave the product on for one minute then wipe away. these products really struck a chord with me not only because of the environmental consciousness of the company (call or write me or see website for details) but because they are completely non-toxic they are ok for us, our kids, and our pets.

traditional chemical cleaners are not.

i would love to send sample bottles to anyone even slightly interested.

and please see website to get more info: www.wowgreen.net /

yourjunebugs@yahoo.com

Second is monavie

a high-antioxidant beverage with 19 special whole food ingredients like acai, acerola, grape, bilberry, …(also more info available on website: monavie.com) i am not as eager about selling it, but i joined to get a discount on my one bottle a month. so if anyone hears about it and wants it i am a distributor. the blend i get has added glucosamine and i have trouble getting that from vegetarian sources.  it is great to have to supplement my own juicing at home and trying to eat right.

please let me know if you have any questions or answers:)

i hope to communicate with all of you soon enough through the avenue most available!!!  love always, kim

Kim’s Contact

yourjunebugs@yahoo.com

Neuromuscular System

When training, our neuromuscular system adapts to specific movement patterns.  It is advisable to change the training exercises occasionally to obtain optimal results.  I keep a list of all the exercises I perform and which body-part they target.  This helps when switching up exercises and saves time.

Also, different movements require different muscle-fiber activation patterns that may stimulate further strength development.  For example: if you do chest press (flat) the first time you do chest, if only performing one-exercise per workout, then do incline press the next time.  If performing multiple-exercise sets, then the rotational pattern of exercises works well.

Another way of switching up resistance training is the type of training that is done.  The following are a few different ones:

• Supersets
• Dropsets
• Assisted Training (eccentric contractions)
• Negative Training (eccentric contractions)
• Slow Training

Keepin up with my Abs Diet

So I have been slacking in my workouts, but at least I have not been slacking on my diet.  I have been sticking to it like crazy, and now that I found out that my theory of eating whatever I want one day out of the week is cheating, I will not be doing that either.  So hopefully since I am eating better I will be able to maximize my metabolism.  I thought that I would start sharing with everyone what I am eating day by day.  Today I started off with a Fruit smoothie.  It had Blueberries, raspberries, marionberries and strawberries, I also put 3/4 cup of fat free milk, some oatmeal, a little bit of a chocolate flavored nutritional powder, and of course Ice.  It was not to bad, I have had better shakes but it was a good experiment.  I ate some sunflower seeds in between breakfast and lunch, and then for lunch I had a sandwich.  The sandwich contained two slices whole wheat bread, some mustard, turkey breast, ham, avocado, and oregano for seasoning, I also included an apple on the side.  I have not figured out what I am going to do for dinner yet, but I am thinking either steak with vegetables or chicken with vegetables, and then having fruit just to munch on.  

Although I am still waiting for my television to get fixed there are still some Chalean Extreme reviews on my other blog that you should check out, if you are interested in the Px90 workout, there are some reviews on that as well.

About Me

I am a Holistic Health Counselor, specializing in depression, low energy, addictions, weight loss, and transitioning to a more vegetarian, vegan or raw diet….I also have a very special place in my practice for pre-natal and infant nutrition.  For more info on my health counselling practice please visit my website, www.brandimaitriwellness.com I live in The Marina Del Rey, CA  and enjoy supporting my clients in their health and wellness goals, preparing  healthy vegan and raw food, volunteering at my sister’s animal rescue and The Upward Bound House….not to mention taking my very handsome dog to the beach!  I recieved my bachelor’s degree In Psychology from the University of Southern California and I recieved my training in health counselling at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition.  http://www.integrativenutrition.com/ 

A Pregnant Connection?

 

Sometimes it seems as if a pregnancy can spark other health concerns.  Certainly I have heard of how the hormones of pregnancy can accelerate a cancer something you hate to think about but from time to time it does occur.

 

Our Chai had some health issues during her last pregnancy, first a facial abscess and then a steady but mysterious weight loss.  The abscess cleared up over time and like many abscesses took a while to heal up.  I think just the combination of having an alpaca out in the elements while trying to heal an open and draining abscess makes for a long recovery.   Our vet has always advised against covering an abscess, instead preferring to leave it open to drain, he has also assured us that abscesses in livestock just take time.

 

To me Chai’s abscess was a signal from her body that perhaps she was struggling a little with the demands placed on it.  When she started to steadily lose weight we became more concerned.  We have had cancer appear in alpacas before and hoped that wasn’t the case with Chai.  Our vet examined Chai and ran some bloodwork on her but could find nothing to indicate what the problem was.  Chai’s amylase levels were a little high but not enough to cause concern.  In basic terms Amylase is an enzyme produced by the pancreas that contributes to digestion of food, so Chai’s weight loss could be connected to her amylase levels.

 

There are various conditions that can cause high amylase levels but looking at the total picture of Chai’s bloodwork our vet did not see anything significant.  To be on the safe side our vet suggested we put Chai on a course of antibiotics, if nothing else they would help with her abscess and maybe rectify whatever was causing her weight loss.    Our vet also suggested that whatever the problem was with Chai it may be related to pregnancy.

 

In time the antibiotics worked and Chai started to gain weight again, her cria was born and was healthy and beautiful.  In view of Chai’s situation we decided to give her a break before we bred her back again, our thought process being we should allow Chai’s body to regain full strength and health prior to imposing another strain on it.

 

Now Chai is pregnant and due to have a cria in June, she is about at the stage of pregnancy she was when she started with her facial abscess during her previous pregnancy – maybe as our vet said this problem is pregnancy related.

 

This time we are taking a more pro-active course of action with Chai, while I prefer not to give antibiotics during pregnancy, we feel this is a case when the use of the antibiotic is preferable to not using it.  We don’t want Chai to start losing weight as she did before, perhaps if we can catch whatever this is early enough we can keep Chai as healthy as possible.

 

We will be monitoring Chai’s weight and body score regularly from now on too.  She is a big girl and for now body scores well, but in view of our experience last year it will be good to monitor her for the rest of her pregnancy.  An alpaca’s weight can be a great indicator that hidden issues may be going on. 

 

Chai will also be treated to some photonic red light treatments to help boost her immune system and her diet will be carefully monitored.  As always we will be in communication with our vet about Chai too and will take his advice as to any tests we should run or treatments we should follow.

 

Fingers crossed Chai’s abcess is only that and come June she will present us with another beautiful cria to join our herd.

 

Rosemary