The nitty gritty

A couple of days ago I posted about my weight and my resolution in shredding some extra pounds and I was very pleased with the response I got from my post. 

Among the encouragements and the pats on my shoulders, I also got some very good ideas and few questions. 

My friend Krystal intelligently pointed out to take measurements of my body rather than focus only on my weight and I think that is a very smart idea. 

Last time I took measurements was a year and a half ago, so I guess it was about time!

So here you go, brace yourself! 

Bust: 38" 

Waist: 33" 

Hips: 43" 

Thigh: 24" 

Arm: 12" 

I basically gained 2 full inches in my middle section from last time and it was enough to bump me a size up! 

Grrrrrr. 

Also, I got requests about what kind of exercise I do or plan to do, so I thought I'd share some here. 

What I do every day is walking 10,000 step. I usually takes me about 45-60 minutes to do about 3 miles but I'm hoping to work my way up to 5 miles. For now I had to put a pin on running as I need very good running shoes that I can't afford and my shin splints are very painful. So, walking, power walking, is the best next thing. Now, the weather her it's been crazy raining and I do have 2 children to take care of, so I really have to cut my time out for it when hubby is home and it's not raining buckets. For the last week, I wasn't able to do it every day. Those are the times I wish I had a tread mill or an elliptical machine, so I can still get my cardio in, but it is what it is. 

 I also realized that even when I was fit and thin, I always had very weak arms, so weak that I was never good at doing push ups. I think in my best form, I was able to do 5 push ups. Pretty pathetic. Since I've been so lazy for so long, now it's even more pathetic. But I started working my arms with weights (that's why I took my arm measurement too) and little bit at the time I introduced my self to this routine. 

My idea here is not to get bulky, so I use 4 lb dumb bells. I'm able know to follow all the exercises except for the final push ups and I must confess that the leaning triceps extension make me cry all the time. But I bet if I do this routine once a week I will get there! 

 Also, there is this move that I do EVERY.SINGLE.DAY as soon as I wake up! It only take 30 seconds, it stretch my entire body and takes care of the "belly pouch". I've been seeing a big difference in my posture!

 

I also tried to join an abs challenge that consisted in 300 abs in 30 days.....I wasn't able to do even half of it that I felt too much pain, not to my abs as I was expecting, but to my back. Definitely not for me!! 

I'm not trying to say that the exercises where some how faulty, I'm just trying to make a point that there are a lot of routine and work outs out there but there is no-size-fits-all. The right exercises for you depend a lot on your shape and what you body can stand and I realize that for my abs I need to start from the very basic before getting in some fancy routine. Baby steps..... 

Next time, I will have more exercises to other body parts, those above are so far the things that I do and I've tried successfully! 

My weight

Some of my followers might remember that I while ago I started a journey about losing some of my weight as a New year resolution. 

For those that don't remember, here is that very first post, where I was complaining about being 140 lb. 

After seven week, I was able to report a slow process that helped me loose 2 lb, read it HERE. 

Then it happened that I had to move to another house, I started working and lots of other changes and suddenly my weight wasn't a priority anymore. I figured that I was being active and that I would get healthier and I stopped keeping track of my intake. 

So, 1 year and half later, I'm 148 lb. 

Nope, I'm no kidding. 

See for yourself. 

I feel very ashamed and also angry about it. I walked my kids to school every day and added another hour of walking, taken tap dance classes, introduced my self to running, swimming and weight lifting and drank all the water I could during the day.

But nonetheless, something went wrong somewhere.

I think the emotional roller coaster of Gabriel school situation played a role in my emotional eating, but I'm no kidding my self, this is not excuse.

Yes, I did put on some muscles on arms and legs, but the middle part of my body it's another story and it comes only and purely from eating.

Here you go, I present you my belly rolls and my fat ass

I took and posted these pictures just as a motivation for an "after" better looking ones

(But I also wanted to show off my totally cool purple sport bra lol)

It's time for some crunches and I'd love to post daily a list of exercise that I'm taking in the hope that someone out there is willing to share the burdens and joy of this journey with me while I reach my goal of 130 lb (BMI=24.6)