Fit Friday

***Warning....long, long, long post***

In search for a witty title I figured Friday would be a great place to start documenting my fitness journey.  I don't want to say weight loss, because as that is a definite bonus, my real goal here is to get fit and healthy.

Before I start, I must put in a disclaimer.  I am NOT a nutritionist or a personal trainer.  This post is meant as a personal record for myself, however, if I can help out one person in their journey as well, then great.  This is my plan, what I am trying, be it right or wrong.  If you are here to judge, please keep moving; however, if you have suggestions for exercises I can try or recipes I might like, then by all means I would love to hear them.

The Beginning:
A little background.  I am 41 years young, 5'7" and have always carried around extra weight. I was athletic growing up so I was able to keep my weight in check, but that changed during college and my early 20s.  I joined Weight Watchers in the late 90s and lost quite a bit of my college weight.  I was also in the Air National Guard so I needed to maintain my weight but I was always pushing the max limit.  My exercise was pretty limited to my yearly run.

In 1998 I was at my thinnest of my adult life when I got married.  I was able to maintain that weight and then became pregnant with my first child.  I gained 86 pounds with her (yes, 86) because well, I was eating for 2.  I think I lost about 20 pounds between my first and second child.  I only gained 13 with my son, but still....I was severely overweight. I tried fad diets and rejoined Weight Watchers.  I exercised occasionally.  I was on WW for about 4 years and lost and gained the same 10 pounds....not their fault, mine, I had no will power, no control over what I put in my mouth.  Every time I cheated I would eat out of control for the rest of the day and try again the next...it was a viscous cycle.  At my heaviest I weighed somewhere around 225 pounds, that was in 2011.  I was miserable and needed to take control. 

On April , 2011 I walked into the Key Hypnosis for my first session.  That decision changed my life.  I haven't stepped on the scale since but what I can tell you is that I went from a tight 18 to a 10 by just changing the way I ate.  I started exercising more and the changes in my body (not only the weight loss but the way it looked and felt) became noticeable.

Fast Forward to November 2013:
I was still in a size 10 and felt great.  I was working out, ran my first 5K in March of 2013 and was loving being 40.  I hadn't been off the Key program and got a bit too confident and started taking liberties in the way I ate.  Which is fine, the Key program is designed for you to be able to eat on maintenance, it isn't a diet but a lifestyle change.  (In short weight loss is meat and veggies, you start to add foods in during maintenance); however, I took too many liberties and started going back to the way I was eating pre Key....bad idea.  I was able to quickly squash that but since I started working full time I had a hard time managing everything at home and exercising, so while I was still a 10...I started to become a tight 10 and frankly felt like a stuffed sausage. 

When summer rolled around I no longer fit in my shorts from last summer....ok, back on the exercise train...I had come this far, there was no going back.  I had pretty much lost my endurance for running and needed to start building that back up.  I started running each morning and going back to the gym 3-4 times a week.  I also started eating right again.  (I won't go into the Key program in too much detail because there is a lot of reasoning and background to it.  It is very close to Paleo though.  I will share recipes and plan on posting my menu on Mondays).

Where I am Today & Fit Friday:
Things have started getting busy around here prepping for back to school and with football, fall ball and field hockey starting up.  My morning runs are continuing but I had to get creative in my workout schedule, which is what brought me to Fit Friday in the first place.  I made a 30 day calendar of daily workouts (with Sundays off).  I plan on incorporating challenges found on Pinterest, my runs and other things.  I need this to be doable for my time constraints and the fact that I probably won't be able to get to the gym all that often so I need to be able to work out in my home with minimal equipment.  I also need this to be something that I will do and that I can increase each month.

My plan is to post a recap of the week on Fridays with the workout for the following week.  My weekly workouts will consist of a run (that I try to do Mon-Sat), a few challenges (following the challenge schedule) and a HIIT workout 3x/week (I will post the ones that I did that week on Friday).  Please remember, this is just what I am doing (and hope will work).  Sunday will be a rest day.  Obviously weight loss is an added benefit but I don't weigh myself.  I go by how my clothes feel and how I look.  I am taking measurements and will post those once a month as well. If you are on your own journey, I would love for you to join in on Fridays and let me know how your week went as well.

This month I am doing a squat and plank challenge and throwing in some push ups and dips to help build my upper body strength.

Week 1 - Walk/Run (1/4w, 1/4r, 1/4w, 1/2r, 1/4w, 1/4r, 1/4w)

Monday - 15 squats, 20 second plank
Tuesday - 25 squats, 20 second plank
Wednesday - 40 squats, 30 second plank
Thursday - 30 squats, 30 second plank, 10 push ups, 5 dips
Friday - 40 second plank
Saturday - 30 squats, 45 second plank, 12 push ups, 7 dips

This is the week I am in and I feel great.  I have accomplished everything so far with the exception of the run on Thursday as I went to a Red Sox game Wed night and getting home at 2 am does not make a productive morning.

Here is the plan for next week:

Week 2 - Walk/Run ((1/4w, 1/4r, 1/4w, 3/4r, 1/4w, 1/4r, 1/4w)

Monday - 45 squats, 45 second plank, 14 pushups x2, 9 dips x2
Tuesday - 25 squats, 1 minute plank, 10 pushups x2, 5 dips x2
Wednesday - 25 squats, 1 minute plank, 16 pushups x2, 11 dips x2
Thursday - 1 minute plank
Friday - 60 squats, 1 1/2 minute plank, 18 push upsx2, 13 dips x2
Saturday - 20 squats, 1 1/2 minute plank, 10 push ups x2, 5 dips x2

HIIT 3x/week

I used the 30 day plank challenge from www.shrinkingjeans.net (the one from 12/2013 but sadly can't find the original post) and cut the number of squats in 1/2 (I know my own body....I'm on Friday of week 1 and sore). 

I apparently deleted the plank challenge from my photo stream so I apologize that I can't give credit where it is due.

For accountability my measurements at the beginning: 

Waist 40"
Hips 43 1/2"
Bust 41 1/2"
Arm 11 1/2"
Thigh 21 1/2"

Would love to hear your thoughts and any links to great challenges or at home workouts I can try.

Tracy