Limax's blog

I've not been as regular about posting.. sorry about that.  To date, I've lost close to 80 lbs and am hoping to hit 100 lbs lost by my one-year anniversary.  I also have a new photo to share, as soon as it's mailed to me.  I'll put all three side-by-side when they come.  I just finished doing the walk for Cystic Fibrosis last Saturday, and I will eventually share my experiences... so look for that (most likely it'll be on my LiveJournal page).

Also, I did another fitness assessment this week.  If you want to see the results of my last one, they're blogged here.  So... let's get started, shall we?

My resting heart rate is still in the "normal" range (60-80 bpm), and in fact, it hasn't changed at all.

My blood pressure has improved immensely.  Both figures look really good.

My body fat is about the same as last time (28.5% on this one), however my fitness person is much more confident about these results than the last ones because I'm much easier to pinch now.

My Aerobic Endurance (Maximal Oxygen Intake) is still in the "poor" range.  However, it's now 26.7 VO2max instead of 25.47... so it's getting better.  This time, I'd be in the "Fair" range if I was over 60!  :P  (Before, I was poor no matter what)

Muscular strength and endurance have increased, since I've been exercising regularly.  I managed 42 partial curl-ups, as opposed to only 12 the last time.  (That's still average, though... if I'd done four more, I would have been in the 'Good' range)  I was able to manage 15 push-ups this time, although my goal was 20.  Oh well.  :)  That's considered 'fair' instead of 'poor', though.

All in all, I'm seeing improvement which is making me ecstatic.  I've got more confidence that I can really do this now.  Next challenge: the Rock & Roll Half Marathon in October!

I have officially reached 70 lbs lost.  I still have about 90 to go, but I'm beginning to close in on that 100 lbs lost mark.  I just got my RMR (resting metabolic rate) tested again, and it went down from 1900 calories to 1880 calories, which is in line with losing weight.  As a result, we've changed my goal from losing 2 lbs a week to losing 1.5 lbs a week.  So, as a result, I actually get more calories per day than I used to... close to 200 more.  I'm thinking I won't be reaching that goal too often since I've been getting by with less for a long period of time, but it's nice to have breathing room if I need it.

In the meantime, I'm still getting to the gym on average of 4 times a week and have added at least one group class for karate per week.  All is good and I'm enjoying the improvements.

Did you order Girl Scout cookies this year?  What kind?

Nope.  It's not in line with my current weight loss goals.

I posted a while back on Livejournal about my friend Charlie passing away.  This year I'm doing a couple of things in his memory.  I'm going to be participating in the Great Strides walk for Cystic Fibrosis on the 5th of May (no margaritas for me, thanks).  Anyone who wants to sponsor me and "Team Charlie" can visit my website on the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation homepage.  My goal is to raise $500 for our team.

Also, I have posted in the past about participating in the Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon in San Jose on October 14th.  There's a few of us from our high school class participating in that as well.  I'll probably be one of the last to finish since I will be walking the 13.1 miles, as opposed to running.  There's no sponsoring for that... except for moral support.

Thanks to all of you who read my blog.  It means a lot to me.

I've noticed a few things when I go to the gym lately.  I find that I'm able to walk faster on the treadmill (as recently shown by my performance in the triathalon), and my settings have changed on some of the weight machines.  Of course as I continue to work out, the amount of weight that I'm lifting will increase.  That's not what I'm referring to.  There's a machine that they call the hip adduction machine where you spread your legs apart and then squeeze them together to lift the weight as show in this little video.  Well, I found out that where I had the machine set that I wasn't working my full range any more.  So, I have to set the machine at a wider stretch to begin with in order to feel like I'm working completely through my range of motion.  It appears that I'm starting to get more flexible.  Also, on the leg lift machine, there's a bar that comes down to keep your thighs in place as you lift from the knees.  I used to only go down one notch in order to hold them in place.  Now, I go down three notches.  As my weight loss slows (but not stops), I can look at these little victories and it will help me realize that things are still changing in a positive way.  I have an appointment next week to start working medicine balls into my exercise, which will help me with my karate and continuing to make my body more flexible.

If you could have one superpower, what would you choose?
Submitted by J.T.

The superpower that I always wanted was the ability to change shape.  It's the same reason that I always played magic users in D&D and wanted to be a chemist when I grew up.  (Blame Robert Louis Stevenson)

After the weekend I just had (mainly being sedentary and eating too much pizza), I'm happy that I didn't have too adverse a result on my weight... and in fact I lost a little.  Probably would have been more if I'd actually exercised and ate better, but never mind that.

I saw the results today from the indoor triathalon, and there were some positives in it.  Overall, I finished fifth out of about 12 or 13 people (I forgot to count).  On the rowing, I had the 3rd best time and on the bike I had the best time.  So, what killed me?  That's right.  The treadmill killed me and that's due to the fact that I'm unable to run.  I had the 2nd worst time on the treadmill.  Only the person who came in last had a worst time than me.  This means I'll never be a contender, but I might be able to move up a little... provided the competition doesn't as well.  I'm still out of shape and as my fitness improves, I know that I can get faster on the rowing machine and the stationary bike.  I can probably also shave some time off of the treadmill.  I did one mile on the treadmill in roughly 14.5 minutes.  That works out to about 4.1 miles per hour.  I could probably increase to 4.5 miles per hour, which would get me to a little over 13 minutes for a mile.  However, I'm not going to start worrying about that until next November or so.

In the meantime, I'm going to work on getting ready for the half marathon (which I still have to sign up for) and get into better shape as I continue to lose weight.

What method do you use to prepare your coffee or tea? 
Submitted by AgentBouche.

I grind the beans of the flavor of coffee I want (~four tablespoons) in the magic bullet, and then I use my drip coffee maker to make it.  Makes 12 "cups"

I went at did the indoor triathalon today and was very happy with my performance.  I actually broke 25 minutes for the circuit.  It's not award-winning by any stretch.  Considering that a year ago I would have not even considered competing, I say I did very well.  The times on the individual legs broke down as follows:

Row 1000m: 4:16

Bike 1.5mi: 5:43

Walk 1.0mi: 14:36

I had never been on a rowing machine before a month ago.  I'd been afraid of it with my back and knee problems, but I'm coming so that I can do it for at least a little while.  And yes, the first one is metric while the other two are English measurements.  This is also the first time that I've broken the 15 minute mark walking a mile.  I don't think that I would walk a 12 minute mile, but it might be something to shoot for.  (Yeah, right... :P)  So, all told, the cycle took me 24:35.  The last time that I timed myself, it was more like 28 minutes so I'm quite pleased.

I just found out that one of the fitness people that works at my gym is also going to enter the Rock n Roll Half Marathon that takes place in San Jose this October.  So, she's going to help me train and get in shape for that.  She will also be walking it and pushing her son in a stroller, who will just be a little over a year at that time.

I also attended the 'Are You Ready?' session for the next weight loss program cycle, which is set to start at the end of February.  I was there as one of the "poster children" of the event.  I got some good gasps since I've lost 60 lbs since first starting on the program last fall.  (There's always going to be an asterisk by my name... results are not typical)  I signed up to do the course again because I really like the group environment and the feedback from others.  It's something to thrive on.  For now, I'm still working on my own and I'm going to start turning in weekly food logs again because it helps me to have a watchdog and I have a tendency to be a bit better behaved that way.  Eventually I'll be able to control myself better but I'm not there yet.  The journey is continuing and I see little improvements every day.

Who taught you how to cook?
Submitted by Donna.

 It was a combination of my mother and home economics classes.