Fitness is...

HARD!

By Wednesday, I started to feel some relief from the soreness of my workout on SATURDAY.  OMG.  Wednesday night I went to church and got home late.  Thursday (yesterday) was my last night to work as a "trade-out" so I scheduled my orientation/fitness evaluation right after work... putting me at the gym for 4 hours straight.  I got my official start weight... goo... 231.6.  UGH!  They also told me my BMI and Body Fat %... I can't remember exactly but I think it was 43 and 45 respectively.  TERRIBLE!  Oh well, just more to work on.  The banner at the top of my page is for a mini goal of 200 lbs.  I can't even fathom my actual goal weight right now.  I actually don't even know what it is.  Technically, it should be 130. 1.3.0! Are you kidding me??  We'll see how I feel when I get to 200 and make another mini goal.

After the fitness evaluation, Naomi (the trainer from Saturday), ran me through a 45 minute circuit in the weight area and had some great tips for using one or two machines in different ways to target different muscle groups.

After the circuit, I ate dinner (tuna salad) in the employee break room until 6:40 (trade-out work at 7). Then I got on the elliptical for 15 minutes.  Trade-out was grueling!  I was the only one there!  I had to clean both bathrooms and all the floors and a whole bunch of other stuff.  I think I sweated more doing all of that than on the elliptical.

Our Quads....

Today I have learned that the muscle on the top of your thigh is your quad and it helps you do many things...

• sit down
• stand up
• climb stairs
• squat to pick up stuff
• move quicker than molasses

Water vs. Coke

Water or Coke? 

75% of Americans are chronically dehydrated. (Likely applies to half the world population) 
 
In 37% of Americans, the thirst mechanism is so weak that it is mistaken for hunger. 
 
Even MILD dehydration will slow down one's metabolism as 3%. 
 
One glass of water will shut down midnight hunger pangs for almost 100% of the dieters studied in a University of Washington study. 
 
Lack of water, the #1 trigger of daytime fatigue. 
 
Preliminary research indicates that 8-10 glasses of water a day could significantly ease back and joint pain for up to 80% of sufferers. 
 
A mere 2% drop in body water can trigger fuzzy short-term memory, trouble with basic math, and difficulty focusing on the computer screen or on a printed page. 
 
Drinking 5 glasses of water daily decreases the risk of colon cancer by 45%, plus it can slash the risk of breast cancer by 79%., and one is 50% less likely to develop bladder cancer. Are you drinking the amount of water you should drink every day? 
 
COKE OR DIET COKE

In many states the highway patrol carries two gallons of Coke in the trunk to remove blood from the highway after a car accident.. 
 
You can put a T-bone steak in a bowl of Coke and it will be gone in two days. 
 
To clean a toilet: Pour a can of Coca-Cola into the toilet bowl and let the 'real thing' sit for one hour, then flush clean. The citric acid in Coke removes stains from vitreous china. 
 
To remove rust spots from chrome car bumpers: Rub the bumper with a rumpled-up piece of Reynolds Wrap aluminum foil dipped in Coca-Cola. 
 
To clean corrosion from car battery terminals: Pour a can of Coca-Cola over the terminals to bubble away the corrosion. 
 
To loosen a rusted bolt: Apply a cloth soaked in Coca-Cola to the rusted bolt for several minutes. 
 
To bake a moist ham: Empty a can of Coca-Cola into the baking pan, wrap the ham in aluminum foil, and bake. Thirty minutes before ham is finished, remove the foil, allowing the drippings to mix with the Coke for a sumptuous brown gravy. 
 
To remove grease from clothes: Empty a can of Coke into the load of greasy clothes, add detergent, and run through a regular cycle. The Coca-Cola will help loosen grease stains. It will also clean road haze from your windshield.
 
FOR YOUR INFORMATION: 
 

The active ingredient in Coke is phosphoric acid. It will dissolve a nail in about four days. Phosphoric acid also leaches calcium from bones and is a major contributor to the rising increase of osteoporosis. 
 
To carry Coca-Cola syrup! (the concentrate) the commercial trucks must use a hazardous Material place cards reserved for highly corrosive materials. 
 
The distributors of Coke have been using it to clean engines of the trucks for about 20 years!

Agh!!

My legs are killing me!

Sent from my iPhone

Bootcamp Demo

After spending all night in the hospital with my grandfather (which turned out to be way more restful than I thought it could be)... I decided to go to a "Bootcamp Demo" class at my gym.  I noticed a sign up sheet for it on thursday night.  I was the first one to sign up.

There was ONE other girl there besides the trainer.  She was jumping rope.  I was handed a jump rope and of course laughed at the trainer for thinking I could propel my big hiney off the ground to jump over a rope.  I actually did really well with that!

And then came a seemingly easy exercise... hands and feet on the floor like a push-up and bring one knee to your chest... then switch... really fast.  I don't know what this is called but I don't like it.  I couldn't move my feet!  I don't know if it's all the stress or whatever of my life lately but I just lost it.  I started crying.... and the more I cried the more I couldn't stop it.  It was like a dam broke! In front a tiny little woman I had never met in my life and another girl (who is training with the tiny woman).  I'm such a mess!

The trainer was very sweet but not a push over and very encouraging.  We moved on to kickboxing, which I have enjoyed in the past.  It turns out that her main training (for herself) is kickboxing and she taught it for 6 or 7 years.

The other girl couldn't handle the kickboxing.  She ran out of the room to the bathroom.  The trainer waited awhile and went to check on her.  She eventually came back and finished the class with less gusto than before.  After the class, I ran into the Asst. Manager (who is in charge of the "trade-outs"). She was digging around in the janitorial closet.  I joked about having a trade-out do it for her. She said (loudly) that someone had puked all over the bathroom and just LEFT it without even attempting to clean it up!  It had to be the girl from my class!

So... I cried. I survived. I may do it again... but at least I didn't puke! [this time]

I needed this today...

great entry in another blog I read....

http://mandyparham.blogspot.com/2010/03/my-weight-loss-over-time.html

SparkPeople

Sparkpeople has a pretty cool app.  We'll see how I do with it...

What is wrong with me??

UGH!  I feel like crap.  I can't believe I have gained 30 lbs in 10 months!  I never thought I would be here again!  Does it make me do things differently?? NO!  I only want crap and I don't want to exercise.  This time last year, I was already planning my teaching style for the WW meetings I would surely one day be hosting. Does it ever end?  Do you ever just "get it" and not feel like this anymore??

The Beginning...

I am moving my blog from webs.com that I started a couple of years ago so that maybe I'll (1) keep up with it. & (2) get motivated again and stay motivated!


So, I'm Ashley.  I love God.  He is my Lord and Savior.  I'm 27 years old, married to a wonderful man - Dustin.  We don't have any children yet - waiting on a few things (financial, weight, house, etc...) I'm a Speech-Therapist and absolutely LOVE my job most of the time!!  I get to work with patients from 1 yr old to 100+ years old.  For once in my life work is the least stressful thing in my life.

The most stressful thing you ask?  Weight, fat, food, exercise.... If I don't care enough about myself to spend every possible minute making my future better, then who else will... right?

I've been fairly heavy all my life that I remember.  One summer when I was 13, I babysat 3 kids that were holy terrors.  I was totally unequipped to deal with them and decided that if I would just feed them all the time, they would leave me alone.  It worked - they ate, I ate... all. day. long.  (that was a 30 lbs summer!)  It seems like I have always been heavier than my friends by at least 20 lbs.  I regret that I didn't start caring about my weight until I was at my heaviest (245) in January 2007.  At that point I had given up weighing, obsessing and even trying at all.  I had NO idea that's how much I weighed.  I have a wonderful husband and wonderful family and friends that have always made me feel loved, accepted, and never ashamed of my appearance.  For a long time, I think I blamed my parents for my weight.  Now I know that it's MY problem.  I caused it and I have to fix it.

I counted calories for a couple of months and lost 15 lbs!  Then I started my first encounter with WeightWatchers (WW).  I thought... I'm determined, there's no way I will fail at this!  Yeah Right! I'm off WW for the 4th time now - Not only did I not realize how much I weighed, now I discover that I'm a complete mess when it comes to will power, determination, and emotional eating!  

This is my year!  No more excuses!  Time to leave my pity party behind and quit being the "fat friend" (how I see myself... never been called that... to my face at least :)