Exercise Overload?

Tuesday 2/2/10

So right off I will say I did watch Lost instead of Biggest Loser. And it was totally worth it! I Love that show!!

Today was good. I ate pretty well. At work they give the kids ice cream sandwiches or fruit bars once a week. So today I was totally thinking of taking one, an ice cream sandwich sounded so good. I don't think I am really supposed to take them but they offer them to me friday when we give them to the pre-K I work with at lunch time. I usually turn it down. Anyways, so I clocked out for my lunch break and they were right there in the kitchen freezer but I totally just pushed the idea aside and walked straight to the break room. I was so proud of myself!

Now for dinner I did have nachos. I know not so healthy. But I ate them in a bowl to limit the amount I ate (the plates were all dirty) so corn chips, cheese, chicken, and salsa. All in reasonable portions, I know I didn't over due it like i sometimes do so not too bad. I was just tired of chicken and rice or chicken wraps and wanted something different. This evening I actually stopped by Whole Foods. I usually buy all my stuff from Fry's. They have the different organic and nutritious foods I have been looking for. The only thing they don't seem to have is less processed meat. So I stopped at whole foods and they have some no preservative, no hormone, pasture fed beef, chicken and turkey. They have it frozen, which is how I prefer, I am not a big cook. The prices are of course a little higher which I don't mind for healthier meat. The only bad side is I can't microwave it. But pulling out a cookie sheet and heating it up in the oven isn't a huge deal. Plus they have some chicken strips that can be microwaved which will be quick when i am making a chicken wrap. I did again have ice cream tonight but measured it out so it was only a serving, again yea me!

So with my stop at Whole Foods I ended up eating dinner at 7pm so I watched the recap episode of Lost. Then the premier was on from 8-10. I had my ice cream about half way through there. Afterwards I turned the tv off so I could exercise. I again wanted to do something more than just walking. So I put in my Biggest Loser Cardio Mix dvd. There are some positives and negatives to these. The great thing is the way they have you work up your intensity. They have you start at 20 min for the first 2 weeks, then 30 min for weeks 3-4, and then 40 min for weeks 5-6. I think this is a great option for beginners because you really do have to start slow. The exercises are intense having both cardio and weights being used. I was definitely sweating within the first 15 min. Which I don't always sweat on my WAP videos. I know I have been exercising for a couple weeks now so I tried to do the entire 40 min. I am proud to say I was successful! There were a few things I had trouble with; push-ups, plank positions, jumping jacks. But it always had options for me so I could do a variation of the exercise. Now the bad part. Each section has one of the trainers and several of the BL contestants. It is clear they filmed the video half way through taping the show as they are at partial physical ability. Sometimes the trainer stops doing the exercise to check the form of the contestants. This often creates confusion with the contestants as to if they should continue or stop and then at what speed to continue at. The trainers are also not the best at communicating how many are left, when to change, when to continue. I am an avid workout video watcher so I kind of expect these things. But worse than confusing me this confuses the contestants so they are often not all doing the same thing. They may have done this to make us feel more comfortable, since they aren't perfect either, but I find it frustrating to be confused so often. I think with repetition I will memorize the exercises and change without prompts but at first it is hard. Actual it was kind of funny. At the like 30 min mark, so the last exercise of the stage 2 workout the exercise is so difficult the contestants can't even do it. A couple like really try and mostly fail and then the trainer try's to make it more difficult which is just funny to see them try to do. It is also obvious none of the 4 have even tried the exercise before. I did try but it involved balancing on my butt in like a V shape while pushing legs out. The first way has your arms down as anchors and then hard without your arms down. I don't, it was hard but funny.

After the video I wanted to a little more so I went over to the wii fit plus. I love it because I can alternate between cardio and like balancing exercises. So I get my heart rate up with stepping or something and then kind of take a break while trying to juggle while standing on a ball. I got about 15 min done or so, about 100 cal. Then I did the bike riding option. Now with this you are really just walking in place on the wii bored. Each step is a peddle and so you step faster when going up a hill and sometimes stop walking when coasting down hill. Anyways I like this because it is fun to ride around the island they created looking for flags. As you go along they add tougher rides. At this point I had 4 levels of difficult the highest being expert. I wasn't sure I really wanted to do that but I hadn't tried it yet so I went for it. I knew I was crazy when I had only gotten 10 out of 20 flags and I was already at 4 miles. As I said this was level 4 at level 2 I completed the course in 4 miles. But I kept going wanted to finish it and interested to try and find the flags. It is kind of set up like a maze to try and find them all. Eventually my brother goes "Are you still exercising?" I said yes and explained I didn't mean to be going so long. I was actually grabbing my last flag at the time and heading to the finish line. Turns out I went a little over 11 miles and it took me 44 min. It honestly didn't feel like that long while i was doing it but I can totally see why my brother asked me about still exercising. On the wii I did a total of 71 min and I think 373 calories. Even after a long shower I can feel some tension in my back so we will see how I feel tomorrow. Tomorrow is wed so I am not sure if I will get any exercise in. It is so late already maybe I will go to bed early tomorrow night.

Summary: Ate good, resisted temptations. Did a 40 min intense video and 71 min on the wii