Mastering My Goals and Dreams

I weighed in last night up another pound.  Last week was more because of TOM but I believe this week's gain is because I'm not burning as many calories doing NROLFW as I've done with previous workouts.  So, even though I had another 5 lifting workouts on the schedule I've opted to discontinue NROLFW, at least until I can get heavier dumbbells.

Boy, did we freeze on Halloween!  It kept alternating between rain, freezing rain, and snow.  We walked about 1.5 hours in that mess and my feet were frozen long before we got home.  Austin got a pretty good haul of candy despite the weather.

Posing after Yoga Saturday Morning

Week of Workouts

Friday and Monday were NROLFW Stage 1 Workout A.  Both days I did 75 squats, pushups, & rows, 60 reverse crunches, and 48 lunges

Saturday I did BeFit's Yoga Transformation Strength and Energy workout.

Tuesday I completed David Carradine's Shaolin Cardio Kickboxing workout.  It wasn't as intense as I'm used to with kickboxing but it was still therapeutic!

This morning instead of NROLFW I did Kelly Coffey-Meyer's 30 Minutes to Fitness Lift in Full Throttle Workout One - Olympic Lifting.  OMG I don't know how many squats I did but had to squat with just about every move!  This was definitely more my style than NROLFW.  In the shower I thought for sure my legs would be jello!

Staying on Track for the Holidays

This was the topic at the Weight Watchers meeting last night.  We had to come up with the What (our goal to accomplish by the end of the year), as well as the Where, When, How, and Who can help us achieve this goal.

Last year between November 5th and January 2nd I lost over 9 lbs.  The win I want to have this holiday season is to reach my goal weight (whatever actual number that ends up being) by the end of the year (January 6th weigh in).  If I can lose about the same this year as I did last year I will be in that goal window (130s)!

The places that will be the most important to me this season are the Weight Watchers meetings, this blog, online resources, my own home, and my family's homes we'll be visiting.  Since I won't know when we'll be heading to Ohio until after Thanksgiving I don't know how many days could be considered risky.  As of now we have no plans to attend any other holiday parties.

To help me achieve my holiday win I must make a decision on what program I will be doing.  This may be what I end up going with...

Building an Exceptional Life

I'm glad I held off on posting the second part of the first step of building an exceptional life since it sort of ties in to the Weight Watchers meeting topic - fine-tuning your goals.  A general direction (i.e. helping others to improve their overall health and wellness) isn't the end game.  The vision is there but I need to break it down into smaller goals with clearly defined milestones to measure my progress and keep me on track.  This is where I often struggle.

My Goals & Dreams

I had just written out my goals in September during Mindy Wender's 21 Days to Thrive.  If there were no limitations I would....

• Travel the world.
• Pay off all my bills, having just a little debut to maintain good credit.
• Buy a new blue Ford Fusion.
• Build my dream home and live there.
• Be financially fit.
• Finance Austin's education.
• Have restorative sleep.
• Be healthy fit (not buff, skinny, etc.)
• Host a monthly get-together with friends.
• Volunteer regularly.
• Hold monthly fit clubs.
• Have a social life.
• Have something special we do as a family every month.
• Find a church again and attend weekly.
• Obtain group personal training and wellness coaching certifications.
• Bring Benny's mother here and have her and my mom nearby so we can keep an eye on them.

The Devil's in the Details

What does success look like? How will things change moment to moment?  What emotions would I be feeling living my dreams?  What do I smell, see, hear, feel, & taste?  These are all the things I must think about with these goals.  I need to also make a new vision board with these detailed goals.  For those who already have vision boards do you prefer a physical or online one?

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Trick or Treat

The forecast for trick-or-treating is frightful with rain and possible snow flurries!  I am going to freeze in my costume :/

I weighed in Tuesday night up 1.2 lbs because of TOM.  Over this journey I've often had a gain during this week so I don't expect a loss.  I don't believe that I eat more or differently but I think I have water weight almost every time.  So in a way my body tricks me every month.

Since I don't have the heavy weights like you're supposed to be using with NROLFW I'm looking for another program once these 6 weeks of Stage 1 are up.  So I'll be ready for something new to start November 17th.  It was recommended that I check out Jen Sinkler, ZuzukaLight, & Neghar Fonooni on YouTube because of my limited equipment.  Are there any others I should be checking out?

When you file a complaint about a neighbor's dog barking (see my post from two weeks ago) this is the letter you receive.  Finding 3 witnesses will be tough.  With the layout of the neighborhood I don't know that anyone else hears the barking when they're inside.  We purchased one of those anti-barking devices on Amazon and put it in our bedroom window since the dog's often at that corner barking but so far it hasn't had any effect.

Week of Workout Treats

Friday was NROLFW Stage 1 Workout A.  I completed 60 squats, pushups, rows, & reverse crunches, along with 48 lunges.

Saturday I completed the Total Body Yoga workout with Tim Senesi.  It was the annual Halloween festival in Irvington so we had to park about a half mile away from the library and walk.  I turned on the walking apps but silly me forgot to turn them off when I got into the car.  I got my fastest speed that day! LOL

Monday was NROLFW Stage 1 Workout B.  I threw in another set, completing 75 deadlifts, pullovers, shoulder presses, & crunches, along with 48 lunges.

Tuesday I wanted to do a kickboxing DVD but woke up with an upset stomach.  So I did the 21 Day Fix Pilates workout instead.

(Ha! I just realized while writing this post I did the wrong workout yesterday LOL)  Yesterday I used the 8 lb dumbbells for the whole NROLFW Stage 1 Workout B.  Because of the weight I could only pull off 47 shoulder presses (15-12-10-10).  I still was able to complete 60 deadlifts, pullovers, & crunches, along with 46 lunges.

Yesterday afternoon I took my final trip to the farmer's market for the season.  I picked up 4 bunches of Swiss chard for $2 and thanked the ladies, telling them about my weight loss.  I don't know what I'm going to do until the market reopens in May.  Without a destination to visit along the way the walk just doesn't seem interesting to me.

This morning I did Kelly Coffey-Meyer's 30 Minutes to Fitness Kickboxing Workout 1.  The DVD kept pausing and skipping to the next section so I missed some of the workout.  Kelly was a little too fast for me with the moves, especially since some were different than what I've done with Les Mills Combat and Jillian Michaels.

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Workouts & Halloween

Tuesday I weighed in down a whole 2 lbs!  I figured that I would just have another small loss at this point.  So I must be doing something right with NROLFW even though I'm not using heavy weights.  Ladies on the Weight Watchers message boards say that this program was designed for women to lift heavy.  Unless the lady that wanted me to be her "personal trainer" figures out a schedule I won't be going heavy.  I told Benny the other day that I needed heavier weights and he looked at me as if I was crazy.  We just got the 8 lb dumbbells for my birthday!  I told him I may be nearing the time to switch to use the 8 lbs for the upward exercises and would need the heavier ones for the lower exercises.  He just walked away LOL

Week of Workouts

Friday was NROLFW Stage 1 Workout B.  I did 4 sets of everything - 60 deadlifts, shoulder presses, pullovers, and crunches with 46 lunges (12-12-12-10).

Saturday I found a yoga video on YouTube (actually I'd spotted it on Grokker first but went to the YouTube app on my bluray so I could see it full screen LOL) - Yoga for Weight Loss: Strengthen & Lengthen.

Monday was NROLFW Stage 1 Workout A.  I did 5 sets of squats, pushups, and rows (75 reps of each) along with 4 sets of lunges (48 each leg) & reverse crunches (60).

Tuesday I tried to find another YouTube video but gave up and just did the 21 Day Fix Cardio Fix workout.

Yesterday morning was NROLFW Stage 1 Workout B.  My HRM went funky before I even started the warm up reflecting my heart rate at 213!  I did 5 sets of deadlifts (75 reps) with 4 sets of everything else (60 shoulder presses, pullovers, & crunches; 48 lunges).

In the afternoon I did my regular walk.  I picked up lettuce, radishes, and tomatoes at the farmer's market.  Next week is the last opportunity for the market this year; I don't know what I'm going to do until May!  The ladies at my regular booth said they're dressing up in Halloween costumes next week; I plan to take pictures of whatever they do.

Halloween

Austin is dressing up as death so what am I doing?  My theme is something along the lines of exercising to run away from death.  So I'm going with an 80s workout outfit.  My aunt sent me a leotard and tights to borrow.  I'll wear my Victoria's Secret footless tights over her tights (but under the leotard) for added warmth.  I won an ivory colored headband from Listia that I'll wear.  I won a Victoria's Secret sweatshirt on eBay to wear over the leotard; I'm trying to decide if I'll cut it up to make it a crop top or not.  All I need now are the leg warmers!  I saw some off white ones at Dollar General for $4 the other day so I might just get those (unless I see red ones that'll bring out the red stripes in the leotard).

What are you and your kids dressing up as for Halloween?

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Weigh In Thursday

Tuesday I weighed in down .6 lbs, breaking the 105 lb lost barrier!  That means in 5 lbs more I'll be speaking with the Weight Watchers leader about whether or not to keep my goal weight at 130 lbs or not so we'll know where I need to stay.

Week of Workouts

Thursday I did two Grokker videos from Maggie Lane, one of the 21 Day Fix cast members - Basic Daily Exercise & Fat Blasting Abs.

Friday was NROLFW Workout A.  I managed to get in 4 sets of everything - 60 squats, 60 T-pushups on my knees, 60 bent over rows, 44 lunges (each leg), and 60 reverse crunches.

Saturday I was a yogi for more than an hour, completing another pair of Grokker videos - New Power: Yoga Butt & Yoga for the Neck & Shoulders.  I took a well deserved rest day on Sunday.

Monday was NROLFW Workout B.  I managed to get in 4 sets of everything but the crunches - 60 deadlifts, 60 dumbbell shoulder press, 60 dumbbell pullovers, 44 lunges (each leg), and 45 crunches.

Tuesday I did my final Grokker video (before my free Premium subscription expired) - Cardio Fusion Workout.  I don't have kettlebells so I had to figure out how to do the moves with my dumbbells.

Image Courtesy of David Castillo Dominici | FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Yesterday I was rudely woken up by the neighbor's barking dog at 4:10 AM.  Benny said one or both of the dogs kept barking off and on until about 9 AM!  Nevertheless I still managed to do NROLFW Workout A sluggishly - 60 squats, 60 pushups on my knees, 60 bent over rows, 36 lunges (each leg), and 45 reverse crunches.

When I went for my walk in the afternoon my inner thighs were a little achy.  By the time I got back my whole thighs ached....for the rest of the day.  I picked up some Swiss chard and tomatoes at the farmer's market.  They gave me a couple of radishes for free.

Because of my achy thighs yesterday I knew I needed some kind of stretching today so I did the 21 Day Fix Pilates Fix workout this morning.

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I've Started a Weightlifting Routine

Last night I weighed in down .4 lbs...not quite making up the .6 lbs gain from last week.  (I had forgotten to publish my post last week but you can catch up here.)

Monday I started the New Rules of Lifting for Women workout.  I have to admit it's kind of boring having to count my reps and not just follow along like you do with DVD programs.  This first stage is supposed to be 6 weeks long but I don't know if I'm going to make it.

Since I'm working out at home and not at a gym I don't have access to the equipment needed to do some of these exercises.  So I've swapped them for another one in the same category.

Workout A Modifications

• Seated Row swapped for Bent Over Row
• Step-up swapped for Weighted Lunge
• Prone Jackknife swapped for Reverse Crunch

Monday I completed two sets of 15 reps and one set of 12 reps for all of Workout A.  I used my 8 lb weights for the whole workout.  Will see how I can challenge myself with this on Friday.

Workout B Modifications

• Wide Grip Lat Pulldown swapped for Dumbbell Pullover
• Swissball Crunch swapped for a regular Crunch

Today it wasn't as consistent for me with Workout B compared to A....Deadlift was three sets of 15 reps with 8 lb weights.  Dumbbell Shoulder Press was three sets of 15 reps with 3 lb weights.  Dumbbell Pullover was three sets of 15 reps with 3 lb weights.  Lunge was two sets of 12 reps and one set of 10 reps with 8 lb weights.  Crunch was three sets of 15 reps.

Yesterday's workout was a total body cardio kickboxing video from Grokker.  Not a good one to follow all those lunges from Workout A; my right thigh is still aching today!  I found out about Grokker in the Fitfluential email last week.  The FFWellness October challenge is their 28 day program.  I don't know how much of it I'll be following but I'll see what all they have each week.  I'll probably do another one of the Grokker videos for my workout tomorrow.

Speaking of Fitfluential...I'm officially an Ambassador!  I think I'm in all their Facebook groups so now I just have to get on my computer at home to add my details to the documents there.  I can't wait to see what kinds of opportunities will arise from this!  (I copied the badge code from one of the welcome emails and put it on my sidebar but it doesn't come out correctly.  If anyone has the code please contact me so I can see what's wrong.)

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