My thoughts today...

I've heard several people tell me that my body will do what I tell it to do. I am in charge of my body; it is not in charge of me. These amped up mantras always sounded nice. However, often they came from people that were at a fitness level I've never dreamed of nor desired: triathletes, distance runners, athletes, body builders, etc. In the back of my mind, I thought: "Yea that is easy for you to say....look at you! All I want to do is get back to a size 8."

Well.

They're right.

We all are more responsive to those we can identify with through our personal experiences. I tend to be more interested in advice from people who have struggled with their weight and/or lost a significant amount of weight and succeeded, but I realize I should be more open to advice from others.

Advice is a funny thing. Someone can tell you the same information for years...and sometimes it takes years for you to TRULY understand the meaning behind it. I know we've all had those moments in adulthood when we say: "Ohhhh! THAT's what momma/daddy/uncle/aunty meant shen s/he said..."

About a month ago, I began to exercise again and put in cardio at about 3 - 5 days a week for 30 minutes. That was a good start. Unfortunately, I did not lose any weight. I felt great, but we all know that, despite all fitness advice about inches and how our clothes fit, as women the numbers on the scale do matter, if only to us. When my friend told me that I needed to put in an hour of cardio to lose weight, I balked; I made excuses; I put up a good argument; I whined. AN HOUR? Really? I am not eeeeeven trying to be like those skinny girls in the gym that sit on the cardio machine for hours. I have a life. Please!

But something strange happened.

That same night, I had every intention of putting in maaaybe 40, but I did it. I went the extra 20 and put in an hour. It was not so bad. And for the past three weeks I have put in an hour of cardio (I also include a separate strength training regiment) 5 - 6 days a week with a goal of burning 500 calories. I started tracking my food intake again, and I am glad to say I have lost 9 pounds.

All this is to say, if you are not seeing the results that you want, at the end it's YOU (c) Q-tip. We are not meant to be overweight. We are not meant to be thick (if thick means flab and cellulite). We most likely don't have Oprah's thyroid condition (I got the tests, I don't, lol). Every time I whined about not having results, I blamed it on something else. I want to live life. I love food to much. I thought that language was okay.

Now that I am getting older, and I get flashes in which I truly feel my mortality, I realize, I want to LIVE. I love myself and my one body too much. Now, I am at the point where I can burn 600 calories in an hour, and sometimes I even go for another 20 minutes. Instead of being in pain, it is starting to feel good (not easy...but good).

All this is to say, is that if you are a 20 minute 30 minute girl walking on the treadmill, knees hurting, back hurting, out of breath, giving the chick running at 7 mph next to you the side eye: keep at it YOU WILL SEE CHANGES and IMPROVEMENTS, and it will get easier. Keep pushing yourself. Try to run for a minute, try the incline, try a different machine. It will never get easy, but your body will listen and respond. Just don't stop. We can ascend if you're committed (c) Q-Tip

I never go to the gym without it...

If there are three things that are contributing to my weight loss right now it would be my Sansa mp3 player, livestrong.com (and the corresponding app on my blackberry), and my Polar FT4 Heart Rate Monitor (HRM).

If you are counting calories, I STRONGLY urge you to get a heart rate monitor. It has been INVALUABLE in terms of showing me how vigorously I work out and tracking burned calories. When my heart rate dips below my fat burning zone, it beeps at me, and I know to step my game up! Sometimes I challenge myself to stay within a higher heart rate for a certain amount of time (see: HIIT). It also beeps when your heart rate gets too high.

In order to burn fat, you need to get your heart rate to a certain level (fat burning zone) and keep it there from 30 min. to an hour depending on your fitness goals. This means that 5 minute warm up and cooldown does not always count. After my workout, my HRM shows my average heart rate, highest heart rate, and the amount of time I've stayed in my fat burning zone (you input your height, weight, age, and the watch determines your zone for you). If that is not enough, most gym cardio machines will pick up your HRM signal and display your heart rate on the machine. It's amazing to see how off those machines are in terms of your heart rate and calories burned.

Here are some pics of the results from a spin class I took the other day:

539 calories                                 Time in fat burning zone        Average and max heart rate           Chest strap and transmitter
(I've burned as much
as 650 before)

How does it work? Well, the watch comes with a strap and an attached transmitter. On the strap are two strips that work like an EKG machine. After you place the strap around your chest, hit start on your watch, it activates the strips, and Voila!

This particular design is really cute, I've gotten a lot of compliments on just the design (It almost matches my skin tone, lol), and people's faces light up when they find out it is also a HRM. I paid $99.00 for mine, and it was worth every penny. Fortunately for you, Amazon now has it for $73.95, and since it is over $25 you don't have to pay for shipping and handling. What are some items that you take to the gym? What are some tools that you are using to help with your weight loss?

P.S. Whatchu think Ray Charles would say about my wrist???