VP Health & Fitness

So, week two is finally done!  10 more weeks to go. 

Things I did good this week:

1. Continued to with my Turbulence Training Workouts and went up on weight in all exercises!
2. Have done something “active” every day.  Majoring in Kinesiology & having classes like Team Sports & Basketball make it a lot easier to do this! =)

Polar HR monitor tracker:

Exercise: 8 times
Total minutes: 5:40:01
Total calories burned: 5,264

I think I’ve lost another pound on the scale but I haven’t really had time to take measurements so I don’t know were I stand inch wise.  Someone that I had not seen in a couple of months told me that I looked skinnier, so I must be doing something right! 

Things I need to improve:

1. Getting all my workouts in!  Again, I missed 1 TT workout.  I need to plan better, and i’m thinking that morning workouts are the best thing for me because I can get them out of the way and not have to worry about something “coming up” in the evening.  More dicipline here. 
2. I’m still over eating and when I do they are NOT clean eats.

Lessons to be learned this week: 

I was reading a blog this week that said something that really made me think… it’s better to eat 1800 calories a day of clean food than 1800 calories of JUNK.  I totally agree.  I’ve been really analyzing my eating patterns and hunger cues and I’m still eating a lot of JUNK during the day and then I justify it by saying that i’m burning up a lot of calories, so it must be OK.  I know i’m wrong and I need to change this way of thinking in order for me to see some good results with this challenge.  We should eat to live, NOT live to eat.  This has always been a struggle for me because I enjoy and love to cook all different types of food and plates.  I need to be more consistant and practice self control cause I just love food… good tasting food too!

How do you all deal with this?

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Week one is DONE!  Yes!

I like to rate things from 1 to 10 … I don’t know why, but I just do. 

So, if I would have to rate my nutrition & exercise for this first week of the challenge, with 1 being poor and 10 being perfect, this is how it would go down:

Exercise: 8
Nutrition: 6

Not bad, but there is room for improvement.

Things I did good this week:

1. Lifted some iron!  Finally, I got my butt into the gym and did some serious lifting.  What I just LOVE about these TT workouts is that they are quick and effective.  I was out of the weight room in less than 30 minutes.  My intervals took about 25 mins.  In an out of the gym in 1 hour!  AWESOME!
2. I’ve stopped my late night snaking.  I’ve realized that if I space my meals out correctly (about every 3-4 hours) I am not famished by the end of the day.    

Polar HR monitor tracker:

Exercise: 8 times
Total minutes: 6:11:43
Total calories burned: 5,538

I think I lost 1 lbs on the scale. Jeans and clothes are fitting better. I will have a report on inches lost next week.

Things I need to improve:

1. Getting all my workouts in!  I had my 10 yr reunion this weekend, and I had planned to do a workout on Friday.  However, things just got in the way & I was not able to make it up. 
2. Over eating.  I’m burning up a lot of calories on my basketball days.  They range between 1200 - 1600 per workout.  Yes!  Crazy, but true.  I think over indulged just a bit this past weekend eating nachos, pasta, and hot dogs.  I could have made better nutritional choices, for sure!

Lessons to be learned from this:  Sometimes things don’t turn out as planned, so we have to just learn from the experience, pick ourselves up and try again the next day.  Having a plan is KEY to success.  It’s OK to indulge sometimes but we need to have a limit and be able to work it off through exercise or eating just a bit less the next day.

Looking forward to getting back on track for week 2!

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Monday is the first day of Fall, my favorite time of the year!  The weather is changing, the leaves are falling & football season is upon us.  Time is also flying by and we have officially 100 days left in 2008. Where are you at with your life? Would you like to end 2008 with a bang? 

I challenge you to take a look at your life today and where you want to be on Jan 1, 2009.  Wouldn’t it feel good to make a New Year’s Resolution to keep up the good habits of a healthy lifestyle rather than piling on another 100 days of poor choices?

Take a little time this evening and come up with a list of specific things you want to finish before Jan. 1st.  Print it, hang it up in front of your computer and cross off stuff in big red ink as you do them. You will feel so good about yourself and accomplish more than you would if you just keep on dreaming.

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I should be sleeping as it’s 1:30 AM right now and I have a 7:30 AM class.  However, I am wide a wake as a BAT!  So, naturally, I decided that I would catch up on my blogging. 

Before I forget, I wanted to tell you all that it’s still not to late to join the 3rd Turbulence Training Transformation Contest.   According to Craig you can join today, tomorrow, or two weeks from now.  However, you will not have the full 84 days to transform your body and try and win some money!  You can find out more about the contest HERE.

I submitted my pictures on Sunday night at about 11:50 pm.  You know, this time around I didn’t think they were too bad.  I mean, I know  I need to get fitter and I would like to for my love handles, cellulite and junk in the trunk to be gone forever, but i’ve realized that those thoughts do not consume me any longer.  I don’t know when the switch happened… maybe a couple of weeks ago. 

I started a complete purge of all my belongings. I called it, “Simplifying Life.”  I let go of so many things: clothes, papers, stuff… almost everything.  This also included my skinny jeans.  I was so tired of comparing myself to how I used to look.  Living in the the past is not pretty and I think that is what had been holding me back for so long in so many areas of my life. Coming back to the present, I have decided that there is more to life than just counting calories, obsessing over how I look or how many little rolls I have.  I think God has finally freed me from a low self esteem!  Wow!  That’s sooo amazing!  I’m finally feeling beautiful for the 1st time in many many many years. Even if I am wearing a size 14/12.  That is such a HUGE break through for me!  I know that this contest will only help my self esteem more and help get my body back into tip-top shape.

Since June I have already shed 22 lbs and many many inches all over my body.  So my goal for the next couple of months is to lose another 15-20 lbs and fit into a size 6/8 jeans by December 12th, my birthday.

Well, it seems like i’m finally getting sleepy so it is, as my nephew calls it, “nighty nite time” for me.  I will post up my contest plans this weekend and a review of my 1st week of Turbulence Training as well.

Until then…

Be fit, be healthy & God Bless!

~ Vilma

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First, I would like to say “thank you” to all of you who wrote your well wishes & advice in my last installment of Vilma’s World.  For those of you that don’t know, it’s been just a little bit over two weeks since I severely sprained my ankle.

Here is day one:

And here is another one about a week after the injury:

I’m happy to say that I am back on my feet again, and playing b-ball.  My sister says i’m crazy, but I just couldn’t stay away!  I am truly feeling about 80% better and am taking it easy for now — I know my limits.  My ankle has also lost a lot of it’s range of motion, so before I get on the court to practice and play, I have to rub it down with ICY HOT for a good 10 minutes, wrap it up and do some ankle exercises. 

According to About.com

Immobilization can cause significant problems after ankle sprains. Patients will feel better if placed in cast or a walking boot, but this can lead to a stiff ankle, delay rehab, and make their ankle prone to re-injury, if the immobilization is carried on for too long.

Injured ankle ligaments will form scar tissue while healing. This scar tissue is tighter, and less organized when patients have their joint completely immobilized. The ligaments heal with tissue that is the appropriate length and of better quality when ankle movement is initiated earlier. When the ligaments scar excessively, normal movements can become painful, and the ankle can be prone to re-injury.

Even if walking is painful out of a boot, patients should remove the boot several times a day to work on mobility exercises. These simple exercises and stretches can help the ligaments heal properly.

So… I guess it’s pretty good that I am back on my feet again.  Motrin and ice have helped a lot too and I went out and bought some new basketball shoes for added support.  I am also swimming once a week and doing daily exercises such as toe to heel walks, to get it stronger.

Here are two websites that I found which explain, in detail, ankle sprains and we can do to treat them and prevent them in the future:

http://www.conquestchronicles.com/pages/The_Ankle_Sprain
http://familydoctor.org/online/famdocen/home/healthy/physical/injuries/010.html

On an educational note, i’m back in school - part time for now.  My classes are:

1. Statistics & Measurement in Kinesiology - which will help me access my students/clients and see how they are doing with their fitness programs.  I will be dealing a lot with Math in this class…. UGGHHH!
2. Team Games & Sports - an analysis course on teaching team sports.  A lot of sample lesson plans here.  My partner and I have, yup… you guessed it… BASKETBALL! 
3. Basketball - this is by far, my most favorite class!

A part-time job opportunity has presented itself that will work with my school schedule, so I am waiting for word on that.  Besides that, I have completed my file organization which is #17 in my 101 in 1001 project - I will be posting up before and after pictures of that soon.  Simplifying life has been great and I have now purged my closet of many things that I was holding on to… clothes, books, papers, etc.  4 Large bags of it gone from my life! 

The gym is calling… gotta go for now!

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I’m a bit frustrated.

This past Wednesday I sprained my right ankle really really bad playing basketball.  Severely stretched ligaments to be exact.  Ouch!

I have not exercised in 4 days and I am just going crazy because I do not want to gain weight.  I have been watching what eat, but from past experience, nutrition is just not enough for me.  My body needs to exercise.  P90X will have be put on the backburner, yet again… because my ankle will not be able to endure all the jumping around and stuff.  So, right now i’m trying to think of how I can get a good cardio/hiit workout without engaing my ankle (ehm…) I mean, kankle as much.  I wonder if weights will be enough?

School starts tomorrow, and I will be registering for two classes this fall semester.  I will let you all know how that goes and what classes i’ll be taking as soon as I get settled in.  It’s been a while since i’ve been to school, so i’m looking foward to it.

Besides that, it’s been pretty quiet and peaceful around here. Off to ice my ankle before I turn in for bed.

Peace,

Vilma

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