Over the last couple of months I have visited and revisited the website for a Crossfit gym located a few miles from me. I sigh when I look at the price, but I have come to realize:

I would be receiving 1:1 training.

I would be challenged.

I would meet new people (aka friends, of which I have none here…).

Best of all, I would get in wonderful fit shape. I can run to my heart’s content. I can walk for miles. I can do planks, I can do situps, I can do pushups, but I lack the core strength and quite frankly, I lack the attitude that would force me to strengthen my core. I have poor posture, due to weak lower abdominal muscles and back muscles (thank you, pregnancies; thank you self, for not trying to stay in shape).

I have seen the before and after of people I KNOW personally. I realize it’s a lifestyle change. I realize that on top of 16 credits (5 classes) of homework, I will be working my tail off to be in better shape.

$100 a month doesn’t sound like a lot to many people. In the grand scheme of life, it isn’t. I/we can afford this. I called the gym, left a message, and am hoping for a call back soon so I can figure out when I can go in for a free session. If I like it, then I plan to join the gym. I figure that even if I join only for a month, I will learn a lot from it.

However, it’s going to be interesting to convince the husband. He’s completely supportive of me and honestly I think he’s surprised I stuck with working out for this long. Believe me – I am too. I am just not feeling challenged at the gym anymore. I feel like I CAN do more, but I need to be pushed to do so. I have no one to go with. I have my friends who live on the East coast and while it’s very motivating and supportive, it isn’t quite like having a group of people to go with.

So, let’s see how this goes. I’m thinking I will LOVE it!

I remember when I started, I could not run very fast, even on the elliptical. Could not fathom ever going faster than a 12 minute mile. Just a couple of weeks ago, I beat that goal and I ran a mile in 7:45! Now that I know I can reach my goals in exercise, I have changed it up a bit. After a fast mile I am usually too shaky and tired to keep going, so, I have slowed down and go for longer periods of time. Instead of just 15 minutes (max) on the elliptical, treadmill, or bike, I spend at LEAST 25 minutes doing cardio! It does get boring, though. Today was a day where I just was not in to it. I had stretched nicely, lifted weights and performed lunges. I started on the elliptical, reading a book and working at a level 4 or 5, and got bored after five minutes. I went over to the treadmill. 5 minutes, I was bored again. I sighed and was frustrated because I had barely worked up a sweat! I didn’t want to go home, and I definitely didn’t want to skip my workout!

I decided the bike was the best bet since I don’t use it often. I then biked for 20 minutes; 4.33 miles, level 5 incline.  Afterwards, I was able to do two planks for thirty seconds each, which is SO great! I could barely hold a plank for 10 seconds just a couple of weeks ago .

Another aspect that helped me keep going today was the mirror. In my apartment community’s gym, there is a floor-to-ceiling mirror on one wall. It is next to the bike. I noticed my legs are so toned now! My calves are more defined and my thighs… well, they need work, but they, too, are more toned! My arms are showing more definition!

Best of all? I tried on a pair of swim shorts I wore over the summer. They were snug over the summer. There is now about a two-three inch gap between my waist and the shorts now; I doubt I will be able to wear them this coming summer.

I am SO close to being in a size 14! I think I will be in a size 14 in about one more month, maybe six weeks.

I have changed my eating habits and it is not easy, but I know it will assist in the inches lost.

I am proud of myself for arriving at my goals and for the weight I have lost. To date I have lost 31 pounds since 4/28/2011. My youngest daughter is 29 pounds! That’s crazy!

I can do pushups now!

I can run a mile in 8:05, though I don’t expect that time every day. That is 9:44 off of my original time.

I can lift weights! I could before, but my arms are getting much stronger.

I can say I weigh 200 pounds instead of 227! I will be very very very ecstatic when I see 199! I seem to have plateaued, so…

Now I need to:

Learn to run on a treadmill without aggravating my left shin.

Get a pair of Vibrams (end of the month)

Work on “core” exercises, such as planks and squats. The rest of me is toning pretty nicely but I need to work on my belly – Pilates, perhaps? I know that is probably what is keeping my weight from dropping any more.

I have cut down on dairy intake because dairy tends to make me feel bloated and yucky. Trying really hard to have at LEAST one to two meat free meals per week while still incorporating protein.

My workout routine is still mostly cardio: one mile on the elliptical, one mile (or more) on the bike, then another on the elliptical. Breaking it up keeps me from getting bored. I have been lifting weights before working out and that seems to work better – I’m not jello-like before I run, only after!

Going to look in to Pilates and see if perhaps the gym my kids attend swim lessons at offers Pilates.

I can run a mile and a half in about 15 minutes, which is the standard for the US Navy.

I weigh about 30 pounds more than the highest weight a female of my height is allowed to weight in the US Navy.

I have lost overall about 1.5 inches from my hips in the past six weeks. Body fat percentage is still 4% too high for Navy standards.

So what’s my goal?

Today I ran my fastest mile since high school: 9:12!

I biked 2.63 miles in 10 minutes.  (this was all today)

Yesterday I ran 2.1 miles in 20:10, and biked 2 miles in 10 minutes.

My goal for the week is to run every day, except Sunday, hopefully totaling in at 20 miles for the week. Sunday, we are going hiking at Costa Noa.

I also want to start the 30 day shred (again) and will do that in the morning, tomorrow, after I run. Now that I know I can run, and I’m good at it… the stamina I have now is amazing compared to six weeks ago, I am going to work on toning up.

Not better shape as my focus, but that’s a plus, too.

Today, my mile was 9:45. A month and a day ago, 17:49. I didn’t even think I would get past a 12 minute mile… I felt that was too fast! I didn’t think *I* could actually go that fast. But, here I am. One month and one day and I reached my goal of running a ten minute mile or faster. I didn’t have a deadline, I just knew that was my goal. Maybe tomorrow or the next day, I can go faster. Now that I have met my goal, I am going to start running two miles. I suppose my goal for two miles would be 20 minutes, but I believe I can go faster than that.

I biked 3.8 miles in 20 minutes; most of that was relatively leisurely at about a level 5. I’m not sure for how long I was hardcore biking, but it felt good. I lifted weights – I only work on my arms as my legs are getting pretty toned from running. I need to do some crunches with the husband in a bit, and then my workout for the day will be done.

It’s been more than 21 days. I believe my habit has begun (began?) and isn’t going to stop. I LOVE IT.

However…

Tomorrow I will take it easy. I will not push myself so hard when my body starts hurting. Obviously, that was a sign I needed to take it slow, but I thought I was being a wuss . I will also take antibacterial wipes to the gym, since nobody else ever cleans the equipment. My mother-in-law is now sick too, so we think it’s from the gym.

I will do at least 10 sit ups and do weights.Not sure which ones or for how many reps & sets, but I will do it.

I know exercise helps a lot, and I just want to feel healthy again. I am finally feeling better and not coughing up a lung every time I breathe (no, I do not smoke). Despite exercising much less than I had in mind, I have still kept the weight off. Even with bloating, I can still tell that the weight is staying off. I am losing it weight in a healthy manner and I feel it shows. I am becoming more happy with myself because I am not giving up. Taking breaks here and there; yes. I am not giving up on myself for me – not for my husband, my kids, etc. I know for me, this exercising is helping  everything in my body function better. Seeing my pants size drop is worth any drop of sweat my body produces; people noticing how different I look from just a few months ago… totally helps!

And now I’m off to drink more water: I have taken a friend’s advice; I bought a reusable bottle of my own, fill it a few times a day with 22-24 ounces of water and drink it all.

I am 27 years old. I spent five years of my childhood living in Okinawa, Japan. I consider Japan my “hometown” place. I don’t remember anything from where I was born, and my first memories are in Okinawa.

(My stepfather was in the military for 34 years – 8 in the Army, 26 in the USAF; he was asked to work in Okinawa after he retired from the Air Force. He retired before he met my mother. He did take the job in Okinawa for five years, before we moved to Southern California)

When my husband returned from a deployment in 2005 and decided to re-enlist, he was asked what his choice was for his next duty station. He asked me my thoughts, I told him Okinawa without even giving a second thought to the other areas. Just two months after watching him give another four years of his life to the Marine Corps, we moved to Okinawa with our then one-year old daughter. We stayed there for three years, and both of us would return in a heartbeat and stay forever if it were an option presented to us.

Today I ran a mile in 12:52, which is slower than my mile on Saturday; but my chest was hurting and I kept coughing. Without those factors I could have run a much faster mile. I didn’t run at the gym yesterday since it was closed – apparently for a photo shoot for the apartment community’s website. Silly. Instead, I walked in a giant circle around the community, which was only .4 mile.

When I came back, my husband helped me with situps as usual. I have gotten better. Three weeks ago, I could not even do one sit up entirely. Yesterday, I managed to do 7 before I had to stop for a few seconds!

I hope I feel better tomorrow, even if I am feeling under the weather I will still hit the gym.

Usually on the treadmill I can go no faster than the 5.0 speed; even that only lasts a minute before I have to slow down to 4.6 or so. On the elliptical I managed to stay at 5.1 for at least a minute at a time. My mile time was 12:25. When I began working out two weeks ago, on the 17th, my mile time was 17:49. So I have taken 5:24 off of my mile time. My goal mile time is 10 minutes.

In one week I will have created a new habit; since apparently habits take 21 days to make or to break. Granted, I have not consecutively worked out for 21 days straight, nor would I (I know my limits), but I know that even when I wasn’t working out for those days I was sick, I was really pissed off at my body for allowing a germ war to start right when I started a really good workout regimen. I WANTED to be at the gym, I felt guilty for not going!

Once I reach my 10 minute goal, I will up my workout to two miles. I am not sure what kind of goal I will have for a two mile time, because I doubt it will take me twenty minutes to go two miles.

I also lifted weights, but I always forget which machines I used. Does it matter? I did it. That’s what matters.

A friend suggested that I drink more water. When you begin a workout, she said, your body releases all sorts of fun stuff, things your body had but did not know – that ranges from endorphins to colds, evidently! So the more you workout, the more water you should intake to flush out the ickies. I’ve been using my husband’s camelbak water bottle but I’m fairly sure he wants it back, so I will buy myself one today while we are out.

I’m looking forward to the weekend being here! Happy two week anniversary of working out to me!