Monday, September 7, 2009

Day Twenty-Two

Today felt pretty doggone good.  I woke up at 6-ish and did my Lower Body Workout.  I will give you a general rundown of what a BFL workout is like.  First off, it is based on a scale of intensity, from one to ten, with one being the lowest (like sitting there, breathing) and ten being the highest (jumping three feet up into the air, over and over).  There are two exercises per muscle group, with reps of 12, 10, 8, and 6 before launghing into the "high point", where there are two sets of 12, one for each exercise.  Confused yet?  Let me illustrate:

This morning, I started with my quadriceps exercises.  I chose the Dumb bell Squat, where I basically bend over and straighten back up, with dumb bells.  I want to aim for an intensity of five with my first set of reps (12 reps for this one).  So I pick a weight that will give me some work to do, but not kill me.  Not yet.  :)

Then I pick a heavier weight and commence doing the same exercise, except with only ten reps.  The intensity I'm shooting for is a six.  Then I go up in intensity again, doing eight reps, and I'm shooting for an intensity of seven.  See where this is going?  The next set of reps (six times), I want to be feeling a bit of a burn with an intensity of eight.  Then comes the high point.  This is sort of where I work until I have muscle fatigue.  I pick a weight that will really make me work, and I do twelve reps for my Dumb Bell Squats.  I'm sweating, I'm having to think a little too hard about what I'm doing, and I'm using my mental strength to go the distance instead of thunking the dumb bells down and saying "close enough."  I want an intensity of nine here.  But I'm still not done.  Then I immediately (with no break) switch into my second exercise (for instance, the Plie Dumb Bell Squat) and do twelve reps again.  This time, I'm feeling it at about the third rep.  I'm even maybe a little shaky by the tenth rep.  And I really feel like I can't go any further by the time I do the twelfth one--here's my intensity of ten.  Then I take a break for a couple of minutes and then prep my next muscle group exercise...for the hamstrings.  And I do it all over again.

The Lower Body Workout covers my quadriceps, my hamstrings, my calves, and my abs.  It is supposed to last about 42 minutes (how they figure this is beyond me), but it is definitely not supposed to last longer than this.  With this level of intensity, I can understand the idea of not overworking too much. 

The Upper Body Workout covers the shoulders, the back, the triceps, and the biceps.  This one, because there are more muscles involved, is supposed to be no longer than 46 minutes (why 46...seriously?).  I'll be doing the Upper Body the day after tomorrow, because I alternate the weight lifting with aerobic/cardio workouts that (fortunately) last twenty minutes, tops.  Those are kind of my favorite days....wonder why?

So anyway, I woke up and exercised and dusted off my meditation routine again.  It was funnier than ever to try to meditate because, this time, my brain had no chance at all to screw up, because of my cat, Peach.  Peach is very friendly, and pretty much figures we're all here on this planet to pet her.  She doesn't care if I'm me, Steve, the weirdo down the street, the Dalai Lama, or Stalin.  Just pet her.  I'm sitting there, trying for some conscious contact with the God of my understanding, and Peach is rubbing her head all over my folded hands, stepping all over my lap.  I couldn't decide if this was a message from God (like, "hey lady, good job this morning, have a cuddle") or just His sense of humor ("think you can get back into your old routine that easily?  I'll show you!"). 

After that, since there was no jobby job to be at (thank you, Labor Day!), I went back to bed, sweaty and all.  I was just too tired.  Andrew got up at almost 9:00, and we had a pretty regular day.  Nothing too exciting happened.  We played outside, we watched (too much) TV, we had a family dinner together.  It is really nice to be able to sit together as a family and eat, especially a healthy meal.  What's even better is that we have four new-ish matching dinner table chairs that I am still so grateful for.  We had chairs, but they were secondhand and broke, and we didn't replace them until one day, recently, when I realized that I had scooted a rocking chair up to the dinner table, and Andrew was using a ratty old computer desk chair.  Steve and I ate in shifts, since there was no third chair.  So now we have four (!) matching chairs, and I'm still so glad for them.  Andrew likes to sit right between us at the long side of the table, with our chairs so close together they touch.  He was sitting at the table's end, but he likes to be right next to us, and we find it's much easier to keep him at the dinner table, instead of wandering around, munching on a handful of peas.

I feel so much better already, having decided to go back to my early morning routine.  To start the day knowing that I am already done with most of my self-care is a good feeling.  Much better than the dread of last week, knowing I still had yet to do it, and then the self-flagellation when I would decide to skip it.  I'll have to work harder at getting to bed sooner (instead of after midnight!), but the rest of my day is on a much more even keel. 

I made some food in advance for my week this week.  I cooked up a bag of chicken breasts very simply, just olive oil and salt and cooked them through in a pan.  Once they're cooled, I cut them in strips and put them in a tupperware container.  I just reach in and get what I want, when I want it.  It's very easy.  Steve is actually going to the grocery store right now, and he's going to bring me home some apples and string cheese and stuff like that.  Love that man!  He was only going to get himself a notebook, but then he asked me if there was anything else I needed.  I just expanded his shopping list by about 200%, and he didn't even grumble...what a rockstar!

I have yet to decide what this week's report might be about.  Does anyone have a preference?  Does anyone care?  Shall I skip it?  I was toying with a bit of a look into eating disorders, maybe just one disorder, such as anorexia or bulimia alone, rather than together.  I don't know...maybe the thyroid?  I guess I'll have to sleep on that one. 

I better go.  I have to plan my menu for tomorrow and my workout, too.  Then I can go to sleep!  I'm so glad I did my self-care today;  my workout, my meditation, and ate well today, too. I'll be doing it again tomorrow!  See you then!

2 comments:

  1. That's so great that steve is being supportive - it can be hard on a foodie ;)
    hmm, topics? I relate most to the overeating without purging - it's also a diagnosis, but I forget the term...

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  2. Binge eating! I totally do it still. That would definitely be a good topic. I have given myself until Wednesday to write it. Thanks for the idea.

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