YMCA I was in you!

After just about four months of absence, I actually hit the YMCA for a bit of exercise this evening! I am SO thankful they have a FREE in-house 2-hr nursery facility!! Today I only did a quick 30 + 5 mins on the elliptical, but it was good to be pushing the heart again (wasn't out of breath the way I was four months ago when I started my cardio up again for what was that, a week?, before I had the PROM incident?). My quads were quietly groaning at me after just a few minutes' work, it was a great feeling to use them the whole 35mins.



^^ It's washed out, but that's fine... this is what the scale read today... In a few weeks' -- or a month's -- time, I'll take another pic, and we'll see if that needle went down any. The number is way off from my last weigh in at the doctor's office, so I'm not going to focus on the actual number, just the change. You see, I'm pretty much at my pre-pregnancy weight, which is still over 30lbs too heavy, so the journey to a less-fat me continues.

Updates on actual breastfeeding and mommy-related things will come too... when I have time!!! Even this blog post is being typed on stolen time :p Can't stay and chat. Ciao!

30 mins daily cardio!

A few months ago, my weekday morning Nia classes changed days and overlapped Zumba classes at the Y. Like rock paper scissors, Nia wins over Zumba anytime. Unfortunately, this meant that instead of having at least 5 dance workouts a week, I was down to 3. And since my hands/wrists hurt, I've retired from racquetball until after I pop and recover. So I've not been to the Y for the longest time.

That's gotta change, though. Due to genetics (thanks, father's side of the family!), I'm now having to deal with gestational diabetes. Apart from watching the food intake (quantity *and* quality) and monitoring my blood sugar levels, I need to be exercising more. 30mins of cardio daily should make a world of difference.

The weather's *finally* warmed up enough to warrant walks outside... except that the neighborhood we live in isn't that great a place to take a stroll through..

So I'm back at the Y. Wanted to bike the 30mins but the baby bump was totally in the way. I am not a fan of the treadmill. Why hello there, elliptical machine, it's been a while, eh? Wasn't planning on spending all 30 mins on my feet what with the edema and all, but what to do...

The newer silver machine I used on Thursday said that my 35 min workout took me 1.73 miles. My heartrate was slightly elevated, but I kept an eye on it and how I felt, made sure the max measured was 160 bpm.

I actually felt my body working... as in, ooops I guess I've been taking it *too* easy these past few months, being happy to just move around for an hour at a time, and not concerning myself about whether or not I was cardio-ing. My legs ACHED afterwards and the next day. I followed-up the cardio with some very basic weights on the balance ball. Didn't stretch much though, that didn't help with the leg aches, I'm sure.

The next day (Friday, i.e. today!) I had to use the older black machine, and already we're comparing apples and oranges... I put in 25 mins and took it easy. I did feel I was working a bit harder than the day before (different machine, different Level 1 settings?) but I don't believe I did 2.22 miles in 25 mins. My heart rate was slightly higher too, I think I caught it at 164 bpm a few times. Overall, however, I felt good.

I also made it a point to get on the floor mat and just do some hamstring stretches and butterfly stretches, taking my time, sinking into them, taking it easy. I think my muscles are a LOT happier with me as a result.

This weekend involves travel and limited exercise opportunities: if nothing else, I'll be back on the elliptical on Monday then.

Have a great weekend!

(image sources: diabetes and stretch)

April 15th: back on track

My Resolutions for April are two-fold: weekday daily exercise, and raw/barely-processed food consumption. Here's how I fared on Thursday, April 15th:

Exercise
Power Pump in the morning, followed by 25 mins elliptical, and 3 sets of racquetball.
In the evening, I also went for Yoga.
It was good.

Food
Breakfast: half cup of Fiber One cereal, half cup of MultiGrain Cheerios and a serving of banana strawberry yogurt. This violates the raw/barely-processed food edict, but I really wan't feeling the pull of yet another round of dhal bukhara! This was followed-up with almonds and an apple.

Dinner #1: a small bowl of dhal bukhara (yes, still!!) with a nuked bag of Wal-Mart's Mixed Garden Medley veggies and taters.

Dinner #2: a can of tuna mixed with leftover salad dressing from Chipotle from last week when I got myself a salad, plus two stalks of diced celery.

Late night/early morning snack: went to bed early, but was wide awake at 2am. Grrr! And I was hungry... ended up snacking on quite a few stalks of celery.

April 13th: Power Pump, elliptical and racquetball!

My Resolutions for April are two-fold: weekday daily exercise, and raw/barely-processed food consumption. Here's how I fared on Tuesday, April 13th:

Exercise
Power Pump with C (with light bar, was feeling a bit wimpy), followed by 20mins elliptical, followed by two sets of racquetball (I lost, again!). Was pleasantly sore all day -- and why not, I'd worked out for a total of over 4.5hrs within 18 hours!

Does doing laundry count as exercise? :D

Food
Early breakfast: (and I mean early -- 4am!) a bowl of the dhal bukhara

Breakfast: a soft-boiled egg and half an avocado with a handful of almonds

Dinner: a large bowl of dhal bukhara mixed with a can of tuna, with two handfuls of almonds

Note: Didn't drink enough today!

April 9th: oops!

My Resolutions for April are two-fold: weekday daily exercise, and raw/barely-processed food consumption. Here's the report for Friday, April 9th:

Exercise
It was my first time attending the early morning Step Blast class (last Friday I chose Yoga)... and it was also the first step class in YEARS for me. Had a lot of fun, though - I guess muscle memory does exist?! Sure I kept stumbling over one or two parts, but still... I was happy to know I easily fell back into an easy rhythm! Sweated like mad too! :)

The hubs wasn't done with work by the time I finished, so I tacked on 15mins on the elliptical: nothing fancy, the Random setting at Level 2.

Called it a day after that.

Food
Breakfast: I neglected to be very specific about what I was choosing not to eat during weekdays, so when I agreed for Kosh to get us an eggy breakfast from the hospital cafeteria, I just said "no muffin for me"... should have also said "no biscuit"... said biscuit totally violated the raw/barely-processed food goal.... I'll be quiet about the cheesy hash browns, LoL!

Snack: finished off the banana chips

Dinner: another violation of the raw/barely-processed goal... I just didn't have the mood to do anything except crack open a can of chipotle chicken chili: it contained hydrolyzed corn starch, and smoke flavoring, among other things that make it very processed :p It was edible, but wow did I pay for the beans later! Toot toot!!

Late night munchies: oatmeal in milk with ground cinnamon and honey. Also almonds.

= = =

I didn't drink as much I should have. Also, the two main meals were major violations. Perhaps subconsciously my overcoming temptation the day before twisted itself into today's behaviour? Who knows. But it's now the weekend, time to ease off the food policing. Monday starts another week :)