Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Goal Setting and Body Image... and Other Stuff?

So. I've signed myself up with my personal trainer again. Andrea is amazing and gives me exercises that seem easy at first "pffft I can do that" but after 3 sets of them- I can't even laugh the next day. Or. The. Next. Ha. But she even has incorporated Shawn's kijiji Bowflex find and kettlebells so I'm kept entertained. She has also organized a schedule for me to do that is really working for me. I alternate between running, weights, and swimming each week now and I'm on week two and still loving it. I'm finding checking the boxes on my schedule very, very satisfying! I showed her a dress I bought in Vegas when I was 25 and how tiny it was. I used to just fit into that dress. Now I can't even get it over a thigh. I asked her if she thought it was realistic that I fit in it again? She looked at me and said "you did at one point?"... and I said "yes..." and her respons? "Of course".... And I was so happy. I've really been down on myself/my goals- just thinking because I'm older that it might be unattainable to be that fit again.... but that really made me feel better!

The other thing I've done is get myself a dietician. Thank Shawn's benefit plan for that one! I was actually kind of shocked that massages and naturopaths are covered under my plan but not something I'd deem equally if not more essential, a dietician. It goes right back to our health care culture of reaction instead of prevention. Sigh. Oh well. So her name is Kelsey and she is awesome. She is full of amazing ideas and even works with the Oilers too... so that makes me feel pretty special... We are working on breakfasts for right now. Apparently I have not been eating any/enough protein in the morning which is what makes me starving for lunch and sets me up poorly all day! I did not really think of this- I have been solely focusing on fruit and fibres. But she gave me a really good recipe for these egg muffin things that seems fantastic and I can make them ahead of time instead of taking too much time in the morning...

But the best part about seeing Kelsey so far has been the body composition we did. I knew going in what my weight was and so that number didn't surprise me, and I was ready for it. What I DID love is finding out I have 62.4lbs of lean muscle mass- which according to the charts/Kelsey is far above average. I have 18 lbs of pure lean muscle in each leg alone! She said that was super impressive and it's a good thing we found out because otherwise she would have probably put me on a diet that was too low in calories! So currently because of my lean muscle mass my resting metabolic rate (the calories I absolutely need to survive during the day) is at 1450, which means that is the minimum amount of calories I need to eat everyday. Wahoo. I also found out that I am bare minimum 110lbsof water, skeleton, brain, organs, and muscle. Which means I could NEVER weight that. If I did weigh 110lbs I'd be 0% body fat and I could never weigh 100lbs. I'd be dead. So that actually made me feel really good... It means I can have a much more realistic goal and vision of myself and what I can become. Not that I would ever want to weigh 100lbs- but it makes my 18 year old self feel better about going shopping with my size 0 friends and feeling down about myself. It means I should be PROUD I have so much muscle and strength. Now my goal is not a weight but a vision for my body to be a lean, happy, muscular machine. Weight doesn't matter. And that's not something I've actually thought about before. The batteries in my scale are dead. And I don't think I'll replace them...

The one other thing I want to add is I signed up myself to volunteer at the Death Race this year. One of the girls at my swim training last night (who does Ironmans and has the bright pink cap to prove it) was wearing a Death Race jacket and I was teeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeming with jealousy. This is a goal I've had for years, then gave up when I got fat, but now realize I can do it. I realize it is not attainable for me to run it this year and get a team etc. as the deadline is Feb 1 for registration and I think it sells out within 10min. But this year, I'm going to go, volunteer, and hopefully get an idea of what it's like so it's not this horrifically intimidating thing. So three things this year... The sprint triathlon, the half marathon (which I just found out are within a week of each other... eep) and the death race volunteer. I think the volunteer work will also be good motivation... I read a poster the other day that's been going through my head all day "motivation doesn't last, neither does bathing". Which took me awhile to figure out but it means you need motivation as much as you need bathing. Every. Single. Day. And that's where my crazy long blog writing comes in. And hanging that Vegas dress in my kitchen. And reading Runners World. And signing myself up for goal races. And just simply imagining the impact my lifestyle has on my kiddo...

So that's it for now. If you read it this far-congratulations. But I won't blame you if you stopped halfway. I would have :)

Wednesday, January 9, 2013

New Adventures of Old Kristie...

So. This has been a week of firsts. My son went skating and NAILED it first try AND he went to the bathroom in a toilet this week for the first time (let me tell you that was better than Christmas).

First for me- hot yoga. I've been begging everyone I know to come with me on this because I've been very scared to try it alone. It mainly has to do with my body image issues. I just want one form of familiarity there with me so I don't feel so exposed I guess... Well, I was worried because, well because hot yoga sounds scary. The websites have all kinds of tips to prep and things to bring so it got me a bit worried. But Jill showed up and so did I! I have never sweated so much in my life! It kept dripping of my nose and falling on my towel. I noticed it running off my shoulders and even my knees were sweaty. It was phenomenal despite what you're thinking- but physics how??? It was very stretch based and slow with lots of rest breaks just like I like it. And no, I didn't get all the poses- some moves were akin to folding a tennis ball in half for me- science just hasn't reached a level of physics that can make them happen yet. Just impossible. I need to lose some guttage, and boobage area to make a lot of them plausible :). I was so tired after, I just went home and crashed! I did really miss my nightly bedtime ritual with the kiddo though so I'm not sure how many times I can go. He's only this incredibly cuddly age once :(

That being said, I started my swim training again tonight. The pool close to my house has a swim training program 8:30-9:30 Tuesdays and Thursdays where a coach will train you to swim. For the cost of pool admission- or if you have a membership. Which is pretty damn good if you ask me, and the class sizes are small (>10 usually). I used to go quite regularly- when I broke my leg and tore my tendons - my surgeon asked me if I swam... I said no, I barely passed red as a kid. "well you do now" he said. I did it for 3 months- and I attribute it to my ability to have a completely normal ankle right now. And I learned to rotate my body, kick, bring my elbows out, switch breathing sides to avoid kinks and see better, and that I love swimming. It is another one of those sports where the only person I have to prove myself to is myself. I fail miserably at team sports because I get to feeling bad about myself because I'm not the 3rd batter, or centre, or whatever the beat player is. I don't let anyone down by missing a shot in swimming, running, or biking. It's just me, the water, the pavement, and the distance. I love distance because I can go at a nice pace (for now) and let my mind wander. I think about work, my friends, my family, projects, the KIDDO, and I find i get in a groove and it's all mental. I love it. And i forgot how much I loved it. So anyway, I went back swimming tonight. So much fun. I've got a rest day tomorrow and back at it swimming Thursday and a bike ride to work! Yay! Until then...