IF you give a girl some coffee...

So I'll be double posting this week to make up for missing last week, get excited! Depending on my schedule, Wednesday might be a progress pics post! =) Just got down to a size 14 bermuda short! My legs are all bruised from deadlifts so I'm trying to wait for them to fade before I show off my legs. haha. If you like pictures, I am occasionally posting some here that don't make it to the blog, so you can check that out. As of last week I am down 70lbs from my starting weight and pretty soon I will be ready to announce to the world exactly how fat I used to be. haha. I had to get pretty far away from it before I would even hint at it on Fitocracy but now I'm in a place where I'm happy with my progress and find that hard numbers are more appealing especially when those smaller numbers seem SO impossible when you feel SO fat. So yeah, coming-out-party of sorts TBA. =D

So I said I'd talk about IF [Intermittent Fasting] this post and I will GLADLY tell you about it. I also feel like at this point in my blog since I'm starting to get people reading that I don't actually know in real life, I feel obligated to let y'all know that I share all this information as stuff I have found to be helpful for me in my fitness journey, and do not claim to be any kind of expert in anything. I can only share what I've read and let you know what's working for me. Now, if you're not familiar with the concept, this is a really comprehensive overview of the science behind fasting and intermittent fasting. Basically, if you don't eat for an extended amount of time, your body responds by increasing fat oxidation, i.e. burning fat. And this is the fat that really likes you and wants to stay with you forever, the "stubborn fat". The fat that is currently ruining[read: hiding] my would-be-beautiful arms and legs. *sigh* So the optimal fat burning window I read (I think on leangains) is over 16hrs fasted. Anything over I think 8 hrs is elevated from "normal".

So since June 10th I have been doing a 16/8 split of fasting and eating. That is to say, from (roughly) 7pm to 11am I am fasting. I try to finish eating dinner by 7 and I don't eat again until lunch around 11. It's really been fairly simple. I got kinda hungry the first week, but not exceptionally so because I've never been a huge breakfast person. For a while a few months ago I was forcing myself to eat breakfast mostly because "you should" and not really because I was hungry. I found that it made it harder to stick under my calorie goal not only because I was having an extra 300ish calories first thing in the morning, but also because by lunch time I was SO HUNGRY that it made it harder to be happy with my deficit-sized meal. Now, I got to add back in something that I had cut out for a long while- coffee. It was kind of necessary when I was weening myself of caffeine and Dr. Pepper that I kick coffee as well. My poor body just craved the caffeine and I still had such a sweet tooth that after all the stuff I put in my coffee, it was calorically almost as bad as the full calorie can of DP! Now I can put a tablespoon (25 calories) of fat free flavored creamer in my coffee and It tastes just fine!

The beautiful thing about coffee/caffeine is that it is an appetite suppressant and fat-burning-motivator in one. I don't want to say "fat-burner" because I don't think the caffeine really helps burn the fat as much as it helps kick start the fat burning process. But also, because coffee is a viable substitute for breakfast, it helps you think you've already eaten and you shouldn't be hungry. And also, I just really missed coffee so this is all kinds of win for me. =) Most people who follow some form of IF usually use coffee or tea to get through their fasting periods. Drinking lots of water is also important but as I've stated in the past, that's never been a problem for me so I just keep up my good hydration habits. So, coffee for breakfast, lunch for lunch, dinner for dinner, water alll day. Stop eating after dinner. Simple.

I remember reading people commenting about IF that it was hard to get in their calories and should they be eating more and blah blah blah. I'd had some days where I had been really good- too good, you could argue- and been pretty far under my calorie goal. But I couldn't imagine having to get advice on how to eat more. What? Who are you? What is your life like? Can I have this problem? Well, I kind of did towards the end of the first week. I just wasn't hungry or didn't have enough time to fit everything in during my 8 hours of allotted eating time[the term is "feeding window" but it makes me think of zoo animals or something so I don't like using that term. lol]. I figured out that if I just added a snack that I would be okay. I actually went over my calorie goal a few times and I still managed to lose 4 lbs in the last 2 weeks. I had been losing 2 lbs pretty consistently there for a while, but over the last month or two, it had slowed to about a pound a week. This has kick started my weight loss back to where it was and I think is exactly what I needed to get me back on track to getting to where I want to be by the end of this calendar year.

Another thing to note about why IF works in a strictly calorie restriction vein- I think a lot of people experience this "falling of the wagon" happening at night. Having a sweet craving an hr or 2 after dinner, wanting to munch on something while watching a movie or being on your computer. The kind of mindless eating that can really inhibit weight loss seems to happen the most at night. So if you cut out the munchies, which you should do anyway, and then happen not to eat breakfast the next day (hello, 8am classes- we used to always skip breakfast) you've probably already done your 16 hour fast without any real effort or elaborate planning. Now you have your whole days worth of calories to eat in the time you'd usually eat 2 meals. See how much "extra" food banking those calories bought you. You've earned yourself a cookie. 

The Fitness Bug and Squat Butt

Guys, I feel like I need to re-write the lyrics to Usher's "You got it bad" or something. I've been reading and doing and loving so much stuff lately. Today was the first day of the 30-day squat challenge and I banged out those 50 pretty easy.

Easy-peasy...until next week. lol

I have to say thanks to Leah for turning me on to the squat challenge, and thanks to Lauren for introducing me to Fitocracy. My facebook news feed(when I get past posts about engagements, weddings, husbands and babies) is full of people being healthy! I have so many friends doing good things and I am so proud of all of you!! Lauren, Leah, Caitlin V, Sue, Linda, Anne Marie, PJ, Kayli, Rebecca and everyone else posting about exercise and goals and success, y'all are awesome! Keep it up, don't take your eyes off the prize! And don't forget to leave a comment if you're doing the challenge with me/us!

Today was such a great day at the gym. Finding this new community to connect to on Fitocracy which is so supportive of the workout aspect has been a breath of fresh air. I love MFP for the accountability and I'm definitely still using that, but the weight training is in its own section and doesn't log calories so it just makes your journal look cluttered because each set is its own line. It's more of just a note to keep track of the weight for your own benefit. On Fitocracy its centered on the WORK you're putting in and the people are already so supportive! Part of it is that the site automatically puts you in groups when you list your interests. So it put me in some groups like "Lady Lifters" and "No Barbie Weights Here" lol. It is really nice to see other women doing weights WAY heavier than I am and being way smaller than I am and know that if I keep going in the direction I'm going I can get there. It's been over a week and a half since I lifted anything and I didn't realize how much I missed it!

After reading so much and being so inspired I'm pretty much going to do the opposite of what I was planning. I was going to cool it on the heavy weights and focus more on a medium weight with more reps. I think I'm going to just train harder but focus more on free weights. I'm still kind of uncomfortable in the testosterone fest that is the free weight corner but if I can just get over it and act like I belong there maybe I can prove that I do. My main problem is that about half of the guys aren't there to train, they are there to show off or help their friend show off. I was trying to go grab some dumbbells and this guy was perched on the rack right over the 5 pound weights watching his friend do something fancy on one of those half-ball platform things. Now, I wasn't going to use the 5 pound weights, but anyone who did would certainly be intimidated by this jerkface. I did have to get close enough to him that he noticed he might POSSIBLY be in the way and got up and apologized unconvincingly. I think I chose to ignore him because I had my headphones on. As does anyone who is actually doing work(have you heard the music in the gym?). Anyway, the point is- it is hard to carve yourself a place in that corner of the gym if you don't have a Y chromosome. Not because it's difficult to lift, because that is implied and that's why you do it, but because if it is the least bit crowded it is almost impossible to avoid douchebags who are trying to prove their own worth in the most obnoxious and obvious way possible. I am more impressed by the guy silently slamming out 15 reps of his own weight on bench press than the guys taking up a squat rack alternating sets of 8 not-squats every 5 minutes with much to-do and grunting.

I'm sorry, I know I complain about these various and sundry asshats every few posts after I've had to encounter them but it is really coming to be my pet peeve. It's so distracting! Will tells me to ignore them, and I'm getting better at it, but I don't turn my music loud enough to drown everything out because my ears are too sensitive for that and I actually make myself aware of the people around me in case they get too close to me or something becomes unsafe. All that aside, I added 10 pounds to my deadlift and did 5 sets of overhead dumb bell presses in preparation for eventually doing a barbell overhead press which is apparently a big deal in the fitness world. haha I also added 5 pounds to the seated dip machine, bringing me to 56% of my body weight. Yay!

That is also because I'm continuing to lose weight[fat]: I did my bf% today and I'm down 3.2% from the end of March!! Basically this tells me that although the scale says I've lost 10 pounds in 5 weeks I've actually lost 11.3 pounds of fat! This is why you can't go on the scale alone, guys and gals. Your weight is only PART of the equation! So even though my thighs continue to stay solidly at a size 16 even if my waist is closer to a 14, I will do my squats for the rest of this month and forever. Though I think I will only do my lifting squats on actual leg days. I know I'm not gonna get huge or anything[despite every female's instinct] but It's still a concern that my thighs and not my waist will keep me from sizing down in pants. But if that's the price I have to pay for a toned lower half that looks better and better every week in shorts, than I'll have to be okay with that. 

Ohhh Namaste...okay...

My arms are so sore. I think I understand now. When all of my friends were telling me about how awesome yoga was, they really did mean it in the same way all of my friends meant it when they told be about how great spin class was. If you find the right instructor it's so great it makes you want to zone out in a hot shower afterwards because you don't want to have to move. That kind of awesome...which for all of you that don't know, is the masochistic kind of awesome that the fitness-minded people like. It took me a long time to appreciate this kind of awesome. I still sometimes have trouble with it.

Except I think I've stopped having trouble understanding the awesomeness of Yoga because I tried it again this morning. It was a different teacher and it was a lot less "explore your inner self" and a lot more "make sure your right knee is pulling towards the 'clock wall'". MUCH more beginner friendly. After we had done a rotation a couple times and understood what she meant by each of the poses, she got up and walked around and corrected people and offered very specific, VERY helpful advice. I was shocked she never came to specifically correct me, but I did feel like I really understood each pose. My first class I had more of a "fake it till you make it" mentality because there were more people and less direction, and as long as I thought I mostly looked like what the instructor looked like it was okay. This time because there were less(7) people and the instructor was giving such specific directions I really felt like I could focus on each movement and pose and get the most out of it. "Think of it as you are between 2 panes of glass, or between the screen door and the front door" Why, yes, that actually helps me a lot to focus on being aligned properly in the correct "triangle" pose. haha.

It's hard to explain if you've never had a correction to your form in doing an exercise that instantly you felt the difference. We were doing one of the warrior poses and she told us exactly how to push our knee out and when I followed her instruction I INSTANTLY felt the difference in my inner thigh just as she was saying that you should feel it in your inner thigh. It's moments like that that really focus your workout because you know exactly what you're working and now you know how to engage it properly. It makes you feel like all your energy and effort are worth it. And she offered modification advice and really made you feel like it was okay if you had to modify, she wasn't going to judge you as inept or anything. "It's okay, this is really hard". [She actually said that]. We did a lot of warrior and side plank stuff, which we didn't do very much of in the Saturday class. So after class I talked to her and asked her if each class had a focus area. Basically we just talked about how the class worked and I told her it was only my second one. She seemed kind of surprised and told me I did great and she asked me about the Saturday class. We talked for a little bit about the different classes and the different gyms. I told her she'd definitely see me next week. haha.

So get excited, all you friends who wanted me to get into Yoga. I'm officially into it. I think this is what I need to get my upper arms and thighs slimmed down. I'm excited, too. Knowing that for probably 30-40 minutes I was doing poses that focused heavily on my current problem areas is really reassuring.

Also, quick couple words on other things: I am prying pound 50 off my body this week. I WILL. So hopefully by Friday I'll get to do that post I'm excited for. =) I might not have time for it though because I'm going back to my college town on Friday to run a 5K on Saturday! I'm really excited about it!! I was initially training to try to get a time on it but when I transferred to real life concrete instead of an elliptical I ended up giving myself tendonitis. I could've kept training in my ankle brace but I figured that was my body telling me I wasn't quite ready yet, and my sister and our friend are going to walk it anyway so I'll just walk with them. It's a color run, so I will definitely post pictures!! Also, if you want more pictures you can like the new facebook page I set up for my blog. I've been having trouble getting my blog updates to the people who want to read them, so I think I finally solved that problem. It also occurred to me that now that I'm 50 pounds down and on the right track to [eventually] get to my negative 100+ pound goal that strangers might also find me inspirational. haha. It's a really weird thing, to think of myself as inspirational, but y'all keep telling me things and eventually I'll believe it. haha. Like how I keep telling myself I don't need cookies and I've started believing it.

....

Although, in full disclosure I feel obligated to tell y'all: I did eat a slice of pizza for lunch, and later half of a cupcake and half a cake ball ...My sister made me do it! *sigh* It's ok, i'm only at 200 net calories for the day and I'm planning on having a very healthy dinner. And I am proud of myself for not having 2 slices of pizza and a full cupcake/cakeball like I easily could have and usually would have. It's the small things, guys. Baby steps, small victories- eventually they add up, trust me! It's my story, and I'm sticking to it. =)

Namaste? Que?

Last week on my facebook page I asked about Yoga and got an overwhelming response of people telling me it was great and I definitely needed to try it. Everyone loved it and thought it was wonderful, and of course we have all heard what great things it can do for your balance and flexibility, so I finally got up the courage and tried it this morning. I would say it was surprisingly uneventful, but for all of you that have done yoga, it wouldn't be surprising. 

My decision that now was the time to try it was based on my measurements from the other day, actually. One of the things that they measure is your flexibility. You sit with your butt against the wall, legs straight in front of you and they measure how far you can reach toward your toes. Well, I can reach 6" further than I could when I first started, which I decided meant that I was probably flexible enough to not embarrass myself in a Yoga class. Also the fact that all my extremities were symmetrical meant I might have an edge over my old self in balance as well. So yes, my suspicions were correct and I actually did an OK job this morning!

I walked in after a woman who was heavier than I was and was instantly put at ease. I'm still always self-conscious when I try new things that I will be the biggest one in the class, especially when it's guaranteed to be a class geared toward intimidatingly thin girls. This is another thing I don't think chronically skinny people ever think about. Anyway, so I grabbed a mat and set it up near her. I turned around and said "I've never done this before..." and she said "Oh, it's hard". ...*blink* wow, thanks. lol. She recommended I get a second mat, which turned out to be a great idea the further into class I got. We didn't talk much (obviously, yoga isn't that kind of class) but when we got our water break halfway through she smiled at me reassuringly which actually helped a lot. I was better at parts of it than I expected, and worse at others. I surprised myself at how well I did the full body flowing combinations, and was disappointed at how I couldn't do some of the stuff towards the end as well. Overall, though- definitely glad I went. 

So for those of you who have never done Yoga before, I will try to help you understand. The instructor turned on the calming music and turned off the lights and spoke very quietly so at first it was kind of hard to understand her. I'm also pretty sure she had some kind of slight eastern European accent. She focused a lot on breathing and I was kind of surprised before we started she had us close our eyes and "Ask yourself why you're here? What are you goals? What is your purpose?" which is good to do but for some reason it surprised me. I guess it shouldn't have, I knew that Yoga uses some forms of meditation and such. Anyway, so after we were done pondering our existence we did a lot of sitting stretching and then moved to the "downward dog" and "plank" type things. We did them isolated first and then did a combination a few times. I was pretty good at those. Mostly because I've been doing planks a lot more lately. Then we did some standing stuff that wasn't hard, then a lot of one-legged stuff that I was ok at. There was this one move that was surprisingly difficult, I think she called it the "warrior saint". It was one of those things that looked easy but wasn't. It was easier the second time one the other leg after I got used to it. We ended with laying on our backs and relaxing and I really liked how my body felt, because I'd just had a full body workout that had me sweating, but didn't feel punished. And when we were done, my fellow curvy woman told me "You did great!" which really did make me feel better. haha

So the verdict is that I like Yoga, but as my default favorite is Zumba and this is the complete opposite of that, it will take some getting used to. I want to try out a different class time and see how it differs. According to my facebook friend, it was probably Vinyasa yoga. So I think I'll look into the different kinds and see what they're about. I told Will, this is probably gonna be like Spin class where after the first one you're like "well, that wasn't great but I can see why people do it" and then you try it a few more times and eventually add it into your routine. I think I'm gonna start practicing my balance outside of Yoga though, because I really want to be better at the one-legged stuff. Of course I want to be better at everything, which is why I started this blog in the first place. =)

A new beginning

Let's give this a whirl, huh? This will just generally be my adventures in weight loss, I guess you could say. I posted my progress on my status and got such a huge response that I figured SOMEONE might find my experiences informational, inspirational, or maybe entertaining. So, i guess let's start at the beginning.

I've been overweight since kids were old enough to start noticing these things. It wasn't like I was exceptionally lazy- I played soccer when most kids were watching cartoons. I was always trying something new; karate, skating, I even took a drill team dance class when I was 10. I just thought it was something someone was, like some kids had freckles or glasses or were tall. As I got older I would try to eat healthier with no real results. Even as a freshman in high school playing soccer every day, 2-5 hours a day, I was STILL incredibly overweight. At some point soon after that I accepted it. Embraced it. I was a curvy Latina, and screw anyone who couldn't handle that. This mentality served me well and I survived high school and college emotionally unscathed.

In my "adult life" this attitude only served me further, and I started working at a clothing store that specialized in plus sized women's cloathing. It was here that I started seeing the many possible futures ahead of me in all the different women coming in the store. The ones that were basically like me, overweight but accepting it and trying to make it work for her; the ones who had lost or gained weight and needed to size down/up; but these aren't the ones that made me think. She was the woman who came in and had to sit after 10 minutes because she was short of breath. The one who could no longer fit into our largest size and had to leave empty handed. This woman terrified me, even if I knew in my heart I could never become her. But above all, the different stories of loss and gain I heard daily made me want to start focusing on my health.

One of the lyrics I love is "every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end". Sadly enough, this story of my weight loss begins with a funeral. My friend's mom died in October 2010. Now, in Catholic Mexican families, after someone dies, you gather for 9 nights after that and say the rosary for that person. After that there would be coffee(mostly milk and sugar) and pan dulce(bread covered in sugar). For about 2 weeks straight I was eating an amazingly comforting(read: fattening) meal, followed by sitting, followed by straight inhalation of empty calories. When my friend left to go back to work, I had gained probably 7 pounds in 2 wks. I was the heaviest I had ever been when I stepped on that scale. We challenged each other to lose the weight we had both gained before he returned for homecoming in 2 weeks.

The next day I dusted off a 10 minute Pilates DVD I had never opened and pulled out my sister's mat that neither of us had ever used. For the next 2 wks I did Pilates and made a real effort to eat healthier and was rewarded by actually seeing results on the scale and in the way my clothes were fitting. I managed to lose all the weight I had put on. I was proud, and motivated in a way I had never really been before. Had it been this easy all along and I just didn't know? Surely not. I think a lot of it had to do with being in control of my schedule and my diet. As a student neither of these things were truly under my control....Well, sure I could wake up an hour and a half earlier and work out before class, but that would cut into my sleep. And yeah, I could eat off the dubious salad bar in the caf, but who does that? Skinny people, athletes, vegitarians...Psh.

Suddenly I realized I didnt have ready excuses and I could actually DO something about what size clothes I wore. Genetics, schedule, budget- these were all things that factored in, but they didn't have to dictate who I was anymore. This was the real beginning in what is, as of this moment, a 15-month journey. So this blog is going to be the place I keep track of what has happened, my change in thoughts and lifestyle, and just generally a place for me to keep myself accountable. To remind myself what I've been through and how far I've come.