Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Bee in my Bonnet

I love my DVR. It has seen me through countless episodes of Cardio Max, Lost, and Real Housewives. With an equal fervor, I hate our huge, clunky DVD player that accompanies 4 large baskets of DVDs. Most of them we don't watch - but you never know when my husband is going to need a Caddyshack or Zoolander fix - so we keep them. I have to admit to more than a dozen workout DVD's of my own. I'm so tired of the audio-visual gymnastics that I have to do to play a DVD on our system. That and having to replace Toy Story twice due to scratches, and did I mention the 4 baskets of DVDs wasting space on our shelves?

While we were driving to Ann Arbor over the weekend, I asked my husband if we could get a hard drive to put all of our DVD's and downloaded iTunes episodes on - to get rid of the DVD's and make it easier to access them. He said that we should, then we both promptly forgot the conversation. Then I read this post. If I had the hard drive connected to the TVs, I would definitely be downloading more exercise shows (right now I put them on my iPod and connect to the tv with av cables). The comments were helpful too, with some sources for ripping old DVDs.

Project for this weekend: price hard drives that can handle the amount of files I need, and figure out a way to get it to work in three rooms.

Exercise: Friday - Cardio Blast Push-Pull
Saturday - Gilad Bodies in Motion and Total Body Sculpt w/ Gilad
Sunday - Gilad ''

Wed - Gilad Bodies in Motion and Total Body Sculpt

Thursday, February 19, 2009

Nothing to see here...

...Just recording my exercise.

Yesterday I did an hour of yoga (almost an hour/Inhale w/ Steve Ross). It's always moderately challenging, but today my hamstrings and triceps are so sore. Didn't even realize it until I started working out tonight. Must be the extra focus I put into lowering into Chaturanga , and repeated Warrior poses.

Today, husband and I busted out some old school Gilad (Bodies in Motion) and some newer Total Body Sculpt w/ Gilad. It was okay, but I definitely need some outside exercise in the next couple of days to break the monotony.

Was sorry to miss the concert for Black History Month tonight. Husband got home a little late, and I just didn't feel like slinking in late to another function. Also, with the kids, it would have been pretty expensive - whatever - we should have gone.

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Selfish mothers

Did anyone watch The Biggest Loser tonight? I think that I just watched Helen force her daughter off of the show. While I did that, I ran 5.15 miles (can't just round down and say 5) on treadmill, then some crunches and push-ups (all of this while husband put the three boys to bed).

Oldest son returned to his 4th grade class from mid-winter break and the teachers were nice enough to welcome him with 4 hours of homework.

Ridiculous.

So much for ski club tonight. Sorry E. And felt really bad when I had to tell two of the neighborhood boys that he couldn't play because he had too much work to do. In addition the 4 hrs of work, he had his nightly reading assignment of at least 20 min. and had to practice his multiplication facts.

Monday, February 16, 2009

Check-in

So, we're back from our short trip to PA. There's so much going around in my head based on the trip that I might go into on another day. I just can't leave there without feeling worried about and disappointed in the way that many of my family members handle the challenges of normal life.

Exercise Thurs, Feb 12 - 5 mile run/walk on treadmill. Walking got really boring, so had to start running for a while.

Fri, Feb 13 - Jillian Michaels' Boost/Metabolism.

Sat and Sunday - no exercise.

Noticing the time, time to get started on my exercise for today. Gilad?

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

New DVD

Woo! Just finished Jillian Michaels' Banish Fat Boost Metabolism workout video ( just got it for $9.99 at Meier). It is seriously hard for me to need to stop for a breather while doing a video. I had to stop twice during this one - during standing mountain climbers, and just before the second set of moguls. I even think that I almost felt a little queasy about 3/4 of the way through. Another great thing about this video is that there is absolutely no equipment except for a mat - so I think it would be great to take along with me when we go out of town. Of course, for those of us who've had a few kids, pee first because there is a fair amount of jumping.

Also, I've been a bit remiss about putting my workouts up. Here's how the previous few days looked:
Sat: Jillian Michaels' 30 day Shred, Level 1 and 2
Sun: 5 mile walk on treadmill (1 hr 15min), abs
Mon: One hour yoga (Inhale)
Tuesday: off

I'll probably try to get in a bit more activity to gear up for visiting the family this weekend. My son's been asking to visit my 93-y-o great uncle for a while - so we're taking a trip to see him. The man is super sharp and seriously funny, he is a joy to be around.

Thursday, February 5, 2009

First Weigh-In

Went back to WW today, and my weight is 1.8 lbs over goal. So, hoping I can turn that around a bit by next week. The usual leader who is a really great, kind and motivating woman just had open heart surgery - so she'll be out for for a couple of months at least.

The new leader was nice. It was her first meeting (at this WW center) and she tried to get the meeting going, but was met with lots of blank stares. I somehow felt it was my job to get people talking, because I am a complete nerd. Also, Hello, when people lose weight - you clap because we're here for some f'ing support people. I hope that the duds at this meeting perk the f* up next time.

Also pretty happy that the leader gave me the week six booklet so that I can follow Simply Filling instead of spending my whole day counting points. Guess there was no reason to avoid going back.

Exercised yesterday - Bodies in Motion and Total Body Sculpt
Today too - 45 min on treadmill (3.09 mi)

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Finding it hard to resist some Flu-related pun or rhyme.

So, I guess that I can say that I'm officially over the flu. No more fever or chills despite wearing two sweaters and a fleece jacket. No headache or all-over bodyache, and no mountains of tissue lying in my wastebasket. I feel good. ....AND the Steelers won on Sunday (which I celebrated by eating four pieces of cake this week)! So now that I can obviously eat more than soup, it's back to eating right and exercising. I still weigh the same that I did when I started this blog in November. The whole point then was to work hard to get back to my ideal weight (actually just so my jeans fit right). That plan went right off the rails as soon as I rediscovered sugar over the holidays.

So, back to keeping a food journal, back to exercise, and back to Weight Watchers this week (either Thursday or Saturday will be my weigh-in). I still don't want to count points, because it almost makes my brain explode when I try to count points and make a healthy meal for my entire family - but I heard about filling foods and how it is much like CORE - so I'll try it.

I managed to get in some exercise today too - Sharon Mann's 'Pilates and Yoga' on FitTV and an hour walking on the treadmill (4.11 miles).

Also: on the Biggest Loser tonight when the contestants were walking across the gym carrying their team members piggyback-style. I do that with my husband all of the time, but just because we're total dorks, and we like to imagine what our neighbors probably think of the shenanigans that go on over here.