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Started today with coffee at Cafe Bixby. I thought about ordering something but couldn’t think what I wanted so in the end I got nothing.  I spent most of the day chillin in front of the computer.  We were supposed to have Fish and chips (I had planned a salad instead of the chips) instead we went to Taco bell.  The best thing they had was the rice and steak bowl and nothing to drink.

Went for my walk late. Seems like the numbers are a little screwy tonight.

Immediately: 32X4=128
2Minute: 29X4= 116
5 Minute:28X4=112

I was going to do squats and planks today, but I just didn’t feel like it. :/  Am feeling lazy apparently… No Wall Pushups.  Tomorrow is another day.

I had a big salad when i got home. kale, spinach, romaine, tomatoes, and brocolli. I toipped the salad off with the beet, carrot and turnip mixture from the other night.  It tasted surprisingly good. 

First thing this morning, I wanted food.  I had a tomatoe.  Ron and I went to Cafe Bixby for coffee this morning (Ok it was around 1:00pm) At Cafe bixby I had 2eggs pover easy and toast.   I had no snack after that until dinner.  We went to Carl’s JR…  What the heck does one eat at Carls? I ended up with a 5 piece of chicken strips and coffee…  no french fries.

As I was waiting for Ted and getting ready to go walking, Ron asked me if Taco Bell sounded good tonight.  (What the F…huh?!)  It was 11:00, he knows I am trying to eat better and lose weight and he has the nerve to ask about Taco  Bell :(  Of course it sounded good but I didsn’t have it.  I had something else when I got back from our walk.

My Heart Rate entries:

Right after the walk 38×4= 152  (was a little fast tonight)
2 minutes after the walk 34X4=136 (Not sure why it stayed up there tonight)
5 minutes after the walk 23X4=92 (wow…)

I did 3 sets of 25 Wal;l Push Ups tonight.  I am thinking if my arms feel ok tomorrow, I might try counter push ups. 

I took the rest of the salad in the bowl today: The ingredients were the usual: Kale, cabbage, Romaine Lettuce, Bean Sprouts, and some gound flax seed thrown on top. Oil & lemon juice was my dressing of choice.  I took an apple as well.  At some point this morning someone brought donuts to share.  It seemed like there were boxes of Yum Yum donuts everywhere :/   God at a couple times they sounded sooooo good.  I was good and stuck with my apple and salad.  

Wasn’t too awful sore today but was horribly busy.  For somereason lately I have been feeling the desire for junk.  *sighs* I suppose it is a mind game I am playing with myself, though not a fun one.  At one point Miguel offered me candy.  I was this close *holds fingers together* to taking a piece.    Another co-worker asked if i was on a diet.  

This got me to thinking about the whole diet concept.  If you are “ON” a diet and you lose weight, doesn’t that then set you up for what happens when you go “OFF” the diet.  Equal and opposite reactions no?  I wonder if this might be why so many diets don’t work. 

For me it’s about changing my life and the way I live it by the choices I make.  That’s what is so great about Rick’s program.  It’s about incorporating small baby steps of changes into your life until you integrate them and make them part of you.  Then he moves on to the next step.  It’s like he is coaxing you out of a closet. he allows you to run back and hide for a time before he begins to coax again.  Once you become familiar and comfortable, he coaxes you a bit more.  before you know   it the closet has disappeared.

Foe dinner we went to cafe Bixby and I had a hap and asperigus omelet with a light holedaise sauce.  Instead of the potatoes I had ascoop of cottage cheese.  Was yummy

Went for a walk again tonight.  My heart rate immdeaitely after i stopped was 33 X4= 132 (slghtly low)
2 minutes after was 28X4=112
5 minutes after was 23X4= 92

Stopped at the store and bought a bunch of beats, some more Kale (was .50 a bunch!!) milk, oj and Ron wanted some Hostess cupcakes *rolls eyes*

I mixed beets with half a turnip and some carrots.  I think i added just a tad too much turnip.  I sliced the rest of it and added some salt. Now that is how to eat a raw turnip!  The taste reminds me of a raw potato.  I have beet soup or juice or whatever for tomorrow.  I did 3 sets of 20 WallPushes and npow I am off to bed. Am thinking Saturdays and Wednesdays for squats and planks.  Oh and I bought my Caltrac today!  Just waiting for it to arrive…                                                                                      

I took a salad to work today. The ingredients were the usual: Kale, cabbage, Romaine Lettuce, Bean Sprouts, and some gound flax seed thrown on top. Oil & lemon juice was my dressing of choice.

I was very busy today. It was probably good that I was :p I had a package of peanuts, which was quite the nice little treat. I received an email from Ron (my hubby) that Ted (my son) passed his high school equivalence test. This has what he has been waiting for. Now all he needs to do is complete his course work and then he is gone. I am glad for him but I am feeling quite exanimate over the whole ting. It’s a good thing there was no “comfort food” around. It would have been gone.

Got home and went out to dinner. I had Pot Roast which consisted of this super delicious beef covered in gravy (what did i say about comfort food? LOL) a baked potato with a teaspoon {appx} of sour cream and a teaspoon {appx} of butter (or other butter like substance :p) and mixed vegetables. The meal started with coffee with sugar (no cream) and a salad. I am guessing you can all guess what I topped it with LOL I couldn’t finishe the whole meal. I ate maybe 1/3 or perhaps 1/2 not sure. I only ate until I was ful. Go me!

When I got home from dinner i found an email from Rick answering the one question I had about his previous email. It is posted below. (My question is in red)

On 18/01/2008, at 10:52 AM, Becky Rhone-Nowlan wrote:

I only have 1 question which I have posted below.

If you can double the distance then test yourself at this level. Doubling my walk would put it at nearly 2 hours… Do you want me walking for that long at 80%?

Thanks.

If you have been walking briskly for an hour most nights for 3 years then you are already reasonably fit lol.

So lets test the HR for a week at 80% or so during your walk

and do the two minute 5 minute thing over say 2 weeks

if I see a falling heart rate over that time, then we can ramp it up…

Also if you feel you want to do a 2 hour walk every now and again to test yourself, be my guest but vary the pace 65% up to 80% back to 70% up to 90% etc.

Thanks for the feedback.

Don’t forget to write these HR numbers into the diary

On the comments line is ok.

Cheers

Rick

Yes, he has me filling out a goals form :p I am going to see if I can figure out a way that I can post it. maybe as a seperate page so anyone reading can see my progress.

I spent some time online, visiting with friends on Second life and checking email.
At 11:00pm I decided to go walking. I checked my HR 4 times along the route, trying to get it to the correct rate. Here are my results:
1st stop: 38 beats in a 15 sec period X 4 = 152

2nd stop: 38 beats in a 15 sec period X 4 = 152

So a little too fast on the first leg.

3rd stop: 35 beats in a 15 sec period X 4 = 140

4th stop: 35 beats in a 15 sec period X 4 = 140
80% of my max (177) is 141 so the second leg was right on target. I paid attention to how I felt as I walked so that i culd mimic it next time. It was kind of a rolling gait that seemed to work well.

At the end of the walk I immediately measured my heart rate, at 2 minutes after stopping and at 5 minutes after stopping. The reults are below:

Immediate: 36 (beats in a 15 sec time period) X 4= 144 {A little fast there at the end but not bad}
At the 2 minute mark: 34 (beats in a 15 sec time period) X 4= 136 {Not sure where I should be on this yet}

At the 5 minute mark: 28 (beats in a 15 sec time period) X 4= 112 {Not sure where I should be on this yet}

Oh and I am walking appx 2.30 miles each evening in about a 1 hour time period.

I did 3 sets of 20 Wall Pushups tonight and now I am heading for the hills… erm, the bed :p

I have been given more extensive information regarding why I am being asked to keep track of the heart rate. I found this all very interesting. below is an email I received regarding Exercising and heart rate.

Some Physiology behind Exercise and keeping track of the heart rate

The more exercise you can do at the highest HR possible, the more fat you will burn. Not so much during the exercise

but because for some reason the metabolic rate of the body stays elevated long after you quit exercising.
That said, I don’t want you (yet) going all out and doing max HR workouts for long times.

It is great you feel comfortable going higher and higher.

But your body might not be quite ready just yet.

So i want you to do around 80% for 2 weeks in as many walks as possible

If you can double the distance then test yourself at this level. Here is what you do…

Take the HR a couple of times during the brisk walk and see if you are on target. At the end of the walk immediately you stop, test HR again (number of beats /min). After 2 minutes test HR again.

After 5 minutes test HR again.

Write these numbers down every time you go for a walk.

You should find that over time, the 2 minute and 5 minute numbers will decrease as your fitness levels and heart fitness get better.

Once we see a decrease of say 5 bpm in those two numbers, THEN up the HR during the workout. Say by 10 or 15.

Note the numbers again. As the resting HR numbers go down, we up the exercise again rate again…

See the point?

You are safely upping the rate of work in line with your hearts capabilities to recover…

Now for the strength training.

Do the squats twice a week. 3 sets of 15 should be a good start. if they get too easy lift it to 4 sets. Remember good form and to take a deep breath

before you start the squat and tighten all your tummy muscles. HOLD your breath as you go down and bounce off the bottom of the squat. About halfway up and as you get to the top “whoosh ” the air out as fast as you can. Rinse and repeat.

Do the plank 2 times a week until your muscles don’t hurt very much. Then do it 3 times a week, for longer and longer.

Remember this is progressive. As your muscles get used to the work, and stronger, you have to work them harder and harder. But please be patient with yourself. Rmember the muscles actually get stronger and rebuild during the resting period. This is why trades like bricklayer and carpenter get injuries and wear and tear. they are physical all day, but because it is 5 days a week, they don’t have enough recovery time.

Do the wall pushups daily though. Once they are way easy, progress to the bench LOL.

and throttle back to 3 times a week until they get easy

For pushups build up to 3 sets of 10.

Then go onto the floor.

Eat your veggies and fresh fruit.

That’s all for this post. I will add a seperate post for my day Thanks for the great infor Rick

The mixture I had from last night thickened up but tasted pretty darn good. My son said last night it tasted of freshly mowed grass. LOL I woke up to some sore muscles. Legs: thighs. back of the legs and buttocks. (I know that is a result of the squats) The Wall Pushup have the chest sore and of course the Plank has the abdominals sore. In addition to that the lower bacl muscles are sore. I think that is because my basic core strength is so weak.

For dinner tonight we went to Jack’s (Cafe Bixby and Pizza) I consideredwhat I should eat for a very long time. I bounced back and forth between baked chicken, a charbroiled chicken breast (boneless and skinless) and fried chicken. In the end the fried chicken won out.
My son said “Mom, take of the skin and that chicken will be ok”
I answered, “I’ll take it off all right”
My husband returned, “It’s like having dinner with Jenny Craig”
My son said, “That’s right if she want’s to lose weight”

He has his heart in the right place.

With the fried chicken, instead of the baked potato with butter and sour cream, I opted for Cole Slaw and veggies, so not great, but not as bad as I would usually do. A little back slide this evening. I haven’t had fried chicken in months and the temptation was too much. *sighs*

We came home and I hopped on the computer for a bit. We went walking around 11:00pm and it was chilly! Yeah, I am a weather wimp so I bundled up and off we went. My heart rate at the end of the walk was 39 beats in 15 secs) x4= 156. Quite a nice raise from my last walk which was 132. Since I got home, I have had some sunflower seeds and some water.

I got a new form to keep track of my walking and such… today, so I will be keeping track of heart rate. I will need to maintain at about 80% of my Max Heart Rate so tonights walk was a little faxt. I should be maintaining at about 141 and Rick advises to walk farther- perhaps doubling my walk.

I just thought, I should have weighed myself before I started this adventure.  I forgot :/  I know I was varying between 150-155 I think it was hovering closer to the 155 mark for a while. I remembered tonight and weighed myself.  I am 151 pounds, I think I may have lost a pound or 2 :)  *huge grin*

Toonights workout:

Squats:
3 sets of 20 reps (ugh!  very ouchie!  But I did em! Yay)

Wall Pushups:
3 sets of 25 reps (I stood further away from the wall and upped the reps tonight. Oi, felt my arms shaking pretty good but I did em )

Planks:
3 sets of 15 seconds each (So I upped the amount of time I am holding em tonight)

I an going to do this!  *Hums we are the Champions as she goes to the kitchen for food*  (the good stuff :p)

*edit* I fixed some collard greens, spinach & brocolli steamed with water and lemon juice.  Not bad…

I made a green shake for tomorrow and put spinach, broccoli, a carrot, a tomato, Kale, half an apple, a banana, and romaine with some water and lemon juice.  This one tastes better I think, lighter than the one the other day.  We’ll have to see how it tastes tomorrow.

Interesting day today.  Not all of it good. :(  I woke up with very sore legs.  I kow it’s from the squats and that it’s growing pains (so to speak)  I knew I was going to have a very long day as I had class after work so i took 3 carrots and an apple to eat at work and for dinner i grabbed a salad of Kale, Romaine, Cabbage & Bean Sprouts.  A little oil and lemon juice to top it off and I was ready to roll. 

I started my day as Ialways do, with a cup of coffee.  I had the carrots and apple spaced throughout the day.  As I was sitting at my desk, I could feel my belly resting on my lap. :( Everytime i got up I felt fat and like I was waddling.  Today was not a good day in terms of feeling good about myself. 

I know it’s a trick of the mind, a way to convince myself that in the end it won’t bbe worth the work i have put in.  I know this will sound  harsh but it’s a mind fuck designed to keep ones self fat, dumb and happy.  I had a hand full of almonds in the afternoon.  I think it’s probably good that no one brought in any goodies because today would have been a back slider if it had been available.  These are the same emotions I associate with eating and usually it is not positive things i eat when I feel like this. 

I am goiing to have to be careful now that i am home and have access to other sorts of food.  Perhaps I will fix something good and positive to snack on tonight.  Hopefully that will be enough to sooth the emotions left raw by feeling like a waddling fatso all day. 

I chomped down a few bites of salad before class since time was running short and then finished the rest when I was finished with class.  It was very interesting to say the least- and it’s photography :)  Eating all these crunchy things is making my jaw tired :p  Okay, enough for tonight

I took the green shake to work today instead of my usual yogurt. I had a whole 20oz and i drank every bit.  However, my boss brought these awesome looking chocolate chip cookies.  God they looked good and they were put by the printer.  *drools*  I did really well and resisted temptation.  I was proud of myself :)  It is however Monday which means BSF and dinner out.  On Mondays I give myself the treat of having 1 taco.  The best (bar none) junk food tacos anywhere.  hamburger, lettuce, tomoto and sourcream…  Yummm. Last yera I was eating 2 and a cup of coffee.  This year, I limited myself to only 1 and coffee.  

Of course after BSF, we have tape timewhere Michele and i watch Miyah.  We always get goodies.  Tonight I had Doritos (100 calorie bag) and Sun Chips Harvest cheddar (also a 100 calorie bag)  ok so i slippeda little.  For snacks at work we have almonds and peanuts and cheddar crackers.  i may forgo the cheddar crackers… we’ll see

Last nights exercise:
Squats: 3 sets of 20 
Planks First rep  I held for 15 secs, the second rep I held for 10 secs & the 3rd rep I held for  15 secs. 
Wall Pushups 3 sets of 15

Results: My legs and stomache are quite sore, but my arms are not so much.  I am thinking for my next workout, I need to either up the reps or stand further back from the wall. 

I hit the store tonight with my son. The mission was to get some fruits and veggies in the house.  For $20 we got a turnip, Romaine lettuce, Parsley, apples, bananas, brocolli, collard greens, kale, spinach, tomatoes, bean sprouts, a sweet potatoe. regular potatoes and carrots.  Quite a lovely haul for $20!  I had a nice big salad tonight and made a green shake for the morning, made of kale stems, cabbage ends :p, parsley, a little OJ and some lemon juice, a banana, and half a golden delicius apple and some water.  It tastes slightly salty other than that delicious.  Did some wall pushups, squats and some planks.