A Quarter Pound of Fat

I recently read an article that said something along the lines of you needing to do at least 30 minutes of cardio at least four times a week in order to lose 15 pounds of fat in eight weeks. Now, it typically takes me longer than "average" to lose weight , so I decided to adapt this four times a week notion (which I am already supposed to be doing). I am now using the "quarter pound of fat" mantra as I work out. As I do my cardio, I push myself, reminding myself that this workout is helping me to get rid of a quarter pound of fat. I also will push myself to get the four workouts in (I now average three a week).

So if I do this like I am supposed to, I will lose at least a pound of fat a week, and hopefully in two and one half months, I will be down 15 pounds!!! This would mean the weight would be off by the first week of February. This is realistic, even though I would like it off by the end of the year. But breaking it down to a pound a week and a quarter pound a workout, makes it manageable and makes me thing really hard about what I do to and put into my body.

On another note, I have five weeks until my first race, a 5K! I run that much or more a few times a week already, but I am working to get a bit faster. I can run, but I am not very fast, nor do I have the endurance that I want. That's okay though, cause this time next year I will be fitter and faster! Operation "Best Body Ever!!" is in full effect!!!

On purpose,

Mae

One to Grow On

Life is a good teacher and a good friend. Things are always in transition, if we could only realize it. Nothing ever sums itself up in the way that we like to dream about. The off-center, in-between state is an ideal situation, a situation in which we don’t get caught and we can open our hearts and minds beyond limit. It’s a very tender, non-aggressive, open-ended state of affairs.
Pema Chodron

Workout Summary: 10/03/11-10/10/11

The first week of October was a bit of a stressful one. It started with me having to take my son to his yearly emergency room trip (I swear, at least once a year we end up there!). After that, I had a number of challenges at work, had to pay over $1,000 in repairs to my car, and Steve Jobs died. My son is a huge Jobs and Apple fan so he took it pretty hard. However, I did get my workouts in!!! Consistently working out probably helped me keep my sanity. They were not the scheduled workouts that I had planned, but I still made it happen, and I am proud of my perseverance. So this is what I accomplished:

Wednesday: Walked almost 4 miles (to and from work)...part of the way back was with six bags of groceries...uphill!

Thursday: 30 min. morning walk/run around the neighborhood (This was a test to see if I could workout before work...I can!!)

Saturday: Black Girls Run DC run: 3 mile run, then 2.2 miles walk/run (4 min. run/1 min walk). I hurt my inner thigh/hip flexor running up the hill around the U.S. Capitol.

Monday: (Because of my injury on Saturday and since I had Columbus Day off, I did my "Sunday" workout on Monday):  1 hour neighborhood run/walk. Rough estimate is that I ran about 3 miles and walked about 2. Nice and easy and fun!

So, I got four workouts in...maybe not the best workouts, but I got up and moved on four separate occasions.

This week I plan on getting in a Spin class, my Saturday run, a treadmill and upper body/abs session, and a neighborhood run and upper body/abs session. I have also decided to walk to and from work on days when I don't work out at the office gym...so at least twice a week. That will give me 8 additional miles of exercising on non-workout days. That may not start this week, but by the next week for sure!

On purpose,

Mae

On Mission Setting

I've been busy these last few months getting settled into my new job, my new state, and my new role as mother of a high schooler. Needless to say, its been tough. But I am making it a point to take breaks when I need to and to regularly practice acts of self-love, self-awareness, and self-compassion. And since I am a woman who functions best when I have goals, I've been busy trying to figure out what's next.

I recently attended the National Book Festival at the National Mall in D.C. (so cool to be surrounded by books and authors!!!) where I happened to "run into" author Toni Morrison and NBC's Hoda Kotb speaking. Now of course, Toni Morrison was very interesting and inspiring to an aspiring writer like me (more on that later), but Hoda Kotb really surprised me! Now, I like her on Today and watch it when I can (which is not often), and I really admire her strength as a cancer survivor, but listening to her talk!!! She was hilarious, so energetic, and even profound! One thing she said really spoke to me...you change you life by changing your days. You have to really examine your life, figure out what changes need to be made, and do a little something each day to make that change. (I plan on getting her book, once I buy my Nook.)

I have already started doing that. Actually, the main reason that I was on the Mall that day was because I had just finished running with Black Girls Run, DC Chapter. Every Saturday, a group of Black women can be found running around the monuments and the Capital (Actually, there are about three groups, beginning, intermediate, and advanced...I straggle between the beginners and the intermediates, but I am moving on up!!). I have been running with them for about a month. Getting my health and fitness mission on track has already started. A later post will highlight the goals for October 2011.

So now I am thinking of the other changes that I want in my life, and I plan on doing something every day to make them happen. The first step is to think about what missions I want to accomplish in the next five years and even after that. So in no particular order here are the things that I want to accomplish:

In the next five years:

• Revamp my wardrobe
• Make my home a domestic haven
• Write 1-2 novels
• Become a running diva
• Become a weightlifting diva
• Travel to Europe
• Move up to at least a GS-14 level at work
• Get my son into college 
• Become much more financially comfortable 

Long term goals...well there is one that I have right now. Once my son is settled into college (maybe after his 1st year) I want to start doing work rotations overseas. A long time ago, I envisioned a life where I traveled and lived all over the world. I got a taste of that while living in Brazil, and while it was not all that I envisioned, I think that living abroad as a professional  will be a different and (for me) better experience than living abroad as a graduate student and single mother of a young child. My career is positioned in such a way as to make this a reality...in the interim, I am happy to work in DC (with maybe short jaunts out of state or overseas for work). But right now, this is the "next step" in my career progression...

I feel good about my life right now, and I feel much better about where it is headed!

On purpose,

Mae