I meet a lot of people, and I talk to everyone. I met someone the other day who was so upset about his weight gain, and after speaking to me he later emailed me about his new resolve to do something about it. I explained to him it is only weight, we can gain weight and we can lose weight. To lose weight just takes a choice, and then action. Now he decided to take action, and I believe he will be a success.
Category Archives: female weight struggles
NEW TRAINING SCHEDULE
I am beginning a more specialized running format. I still need to get a fitbit or pedometer and new running shoes but for now I am just going by time and what I know the distance to be. Melissa @BenderFitness composed this schedule for me. I have already been running three times per week but starting on May 11th 2015 I am going to document my training starting with this training schedule below. I hope to eventually run in a half marathon. I am meeting one of my new running friends for coffee and inspiration soon. I am not competing with anyone but me, building my base.
PART 1:
Run 3X Per Week for 2 Weeks
Goal: Run 3.1 Miles or 30 Minutes continuously at a comfortable pace.
Types of Runs:
1. Slow Easy Run: Run Continuously without Walking. Don’t worry about pace.
PART 2:
Run 3-4X Per Week for 4 Weeks
Goal: Improve consistency and pacing.
Types of Runs:
1. Two to three Easy paced runs at a comfortable pace: 3.1 miles or 30 minutes.
2. One to two runs at a slightly faster pace. Moderate Pace: You should be pushing and breathing heavier, but able to talk if needed. Use a stopwatch, phone running app or GPS watch during runs. Complete the same run you do on your Easy days, but focus on doing it a little bit faster. Don’t go to fast, you still want to complete the run without stopping to walk.
PART 3:
Run 3-5X Per Week
Goal: Improve Speed, Consistency and Endurance.
1. Two to three Easy paced runs at a comfortable pace: 3.1 miles or 30 minutes.
2. One Moderate Pace Run per Week.
3. One to Two Speed Workouts. Select 1-2 of the workouts below and incorporate them into your week).
- 5 Minutes Easy/5 Minutes Hard:
-5 Minute Warm-up, Run 5 Minutes at Easy Training Pace, Transition into 5 Minutes Hard (Faster than your Moderate Training Pace), 5 Minutes Easy, Complete with 5 Minute Cool Down. Total Workout Time: 25 Minutes.
- In-Run Sprints:
During your run incorporate 20-Seconds Hard Sprinting followed by 40 seconds at normal running pace. Repeat this 4-6 times during a normal 30-minute run. Start the sprints at the 10 or 15 minute running mark.
- Run 25-30 Minutes at your normal pace. Complete the run with four to six 20-second sprints. In between sprints walk back to your starting point.
Get it!!
5 Things BenderFitness taught me about running
Weight loss can be slow; don’t worry if it is. The process is a journey.
January is almost over — the Super Bowl is this Sunday, which is February 1st, and I’m already thinking about how to cook healthy for that — and as you get to the end of January, a lot of people have already given up their New Year’s Resolutions — concepts they set only about four weeks ago.
You see this a lot in the fitness and dieting space. Fitness and dieting-related Resolutions are alwayssome of the most popular, and always some of the quickest to fall away due to laziness, lack of knowledge, a focus on the other things in your busy life, or whatever the reason is.
There are entire sections of bookstores about fad diets, and I briefly considered some of those when I started my own fitness journey. I say “briefly” because it was really almost no time at all; I knew I wanted to try and lose weight in a healthy, productive manner — and, at the same time, challenge myself by making sure I was tied to a bigger cause. In my case? That was contributing money to charities for every 10 pounds I lost; you can read a little bit about this here.
That all said — and this is important for anyone to remember — it’s been a slow process. It took me 1 year to lose my first 45 pounds. I thought it would be much quicker, and that year required a lot of discipline, working out, healthy cooking and eating, etc. Over time, I came to look at fitness and weight loss as akin to a journey or a road trip — which my husband James and I love to do — which means it can take a while, but along the way there are beautiful things to see, even if you’re not yet at the final destination.
I recently bought a scale, but that was mostly for tracking. I don’t want to be a slave to the scale. I’m around 165 pounds, with a goal weight in the 130s — but my next step is in the middle 150s; when I lose the next 10, I’ll be donating to a charity. Right now I’m thinking about working with a local non-profit on a raffle, but I need to do a little more research. We’ve only lived in the Bay Area for a few months — moved here from Los Angeles in the fall — and I’m still getting my footing. It’s week three of my ambassador work with Melissa Bender Fitness, though, and that’s been a strong guiding force.
Sometimes it’s all about doing the micro things, too. For example, yesterday I took a different train home from work; that allowed me an extra long walk back to our actual house. It’s a small thing, but it helps.
Why did I start My Change For A Ten?
It is amazing how often we look in the mirror. We wake up, wash our face, and get ready for our day. We look in the mirror when we check our reflection to make sure we look presentable before we walk out the door. We see ourselves constantly but do we really see ourselves as others see us?
It was months until I was ready to take action: months of feeling terrible about myself, months of overeating and under-exercising. It was months before I faced the dreaded scale. I let myself sink further before I was ready to make a change. The change came in an idea — an idea that came from my writer and humanitarian side of my personality.
Investigating my BMI
I like to think that through this weight loss/fitness/charity journey of mine I have become healthier, fitter, and definitely wiser. I work hard, workout harder, eat clean and treat my body as if it were the Taj Mahal. With that said, I am also hard on myself when I sometimes look in the mirror. It is as if I expect to already have achieved my goals, and for my appearance to reflect that lofty ambition.
The reality is this: I am not a before, nor I am I an after. I am a constant evolution of transition and change for the better, constantly growing, steadily shifting. I am in a far better place than I was when I began this project in July 2013, but that does not mean I am going to look as fit as my role models, at least not yet. I am damn proud of how far I have come; I am just saying I am far from done. I hope this year to work hard and earn the fittest body I have had in years, with a little help from Melissa Bender Fitness.
Stats exist for us to know where we stand — and how far we would like to go. Sometimes statistics are a bitter pill to swallow. It depends on your perspective. I am finally out of the obese range according to the BMI chart.
What’s BMI?
Weighing in: My goal weight is 135.
Good Morning — Happy Friday to all. I am excited to announce I bought a scale. My old one broke in our recent move from Los Angeles to the Bay Area — and it took me a while to replace it. I finally stepped on and I am the same weight, which means I got through my difficult transition from LA to San Francisco and the holidays without putting on any weight. I was terrified to step on that menacing glass contraption but I needed to face my fears and I am so happy I did. No weight gain after my last few months is a huge victory for me.
I am nowhere near finished, though. It has been a while since I dropped weight and I said I was going to focus on fitness and not the scale and I stick to that plan. However, I do need a way to measure. This is how I look at it, typically:
- My before weight — before I started this fitness plan and blog, etc. — was 210.
- My current weight is 165.
- My goal weight is 135.
I am very curvy, with muscular legs. I have a classic hourglass figure but I am only 5-3, so I feel 135 would be the perfect weight for my body type and height. I have problem spots I need to work on, and being a lower weight will help.
I am researching my next charity, and this time I am planning on doing an online raffle to raise money for a non-profit in my area. I am looking into ideas and touching base with the people who run the non-profits.
My brain feels a bit sleepy today; it is amazing how the sun feeds your energy. There is less sunlight here than in Los Angeles, and I really notice a difference in the way I feel first thing in the morning. The fog makes me want to stay in bed but instead I will conquer the day. It is Friday — a long day at work and a day off from my workout plan.
Back at the workout grind tomorrow on my Saturday off.
Have a wonderful Friday
Namaste’
Soaring in the heavens
I want to swim until I am sunburned and waterlogged. Fall asleep and dream under a bevy of stars on a clear night. I want to drive cross country and write poetry on top of the world at the Empire State Building, and travel back west by train, stop and sketch at the the foot of the majestic Grand Canyon. I want to be ageless, fearless, travel into space and be weightless. To journey to the ends of the earth to face my demons, and journey back and have the last laugh. I want to spend my days creating art and my nights making a difference. To dance forever, soar the heavens, snorkel the seas and live every moment like there is nothing like being totally and utterly alive.
On The Right Track
Flying High
Yesterday was day one of Melissa Bender Fitness Bikini prep workouts — it was challenging but in the best way, and I completed all three rounds.
I had to modify the jump plank because of my injured toe so I chose to just regular plank instead. I also went running outdoors for 30 minutes in the cold, but that fabulous full moon and my music made it all worth while. Nothing like stargazing to remind you we are just traces of tinsel in a vast glittering universe.
I have so much work to do to be ready to fly in three months on the flying trapeze. I admit my dream of taking a trapeze class is a little intimidating, but I am up for the challenge. I have seen the videos and imagined myself suspended in mid air dangling high above the ground with just a net to catch my fall. Exciting and liberating, this is truly going to be a high moment for 2015.
Here’s where we’ll be taking the trapeze class.
This is how I imagine it will feel to fly, terrifying and
exhilarating at the same time. It is like a metaphor for love.
WINGED GURU
My tortured soul surrenders
My resistant body to a fated flight.
Melancholic melodies of my history,
Caught between memory and reality.
My fickle heartbeat dangles,
Caught in tangled cobwebs
Of here, then and now; and then.
Escape to the rhythm of lyrical suspense,
Suspended aimlessly without a whim;
Midair swan dive maneuvering
Into the embrace of silken arms;
Whirling together, abandoning myself.
Hanging in the imbalance between
Rhapsody and heartbreak.
(c) Rose Bruno Bailey
Love and Light to all and keep dreaming