Update on fitness journey

Quite a lot has happened since I last posted about fitness....
J and I had a challenge - most weight/total body weight lost by 12/24....winner gets $100
I won!!! I lost 12 lbs, he lost 14. My weigh in was 158!!! I broke the 160 barrier.

Having said that, since that day I would love to say I have been on the straight and narrow.

I can say, I have been in terms of workouts! In fact, J and I won a team challenge...
see the posting for 12/26/08 on this site... http://www.crossfitvallejo.com/

We also did this one...
December 24 2008
Three rounds for time of:
21 Knees to elbows
21 reps - 1 1/2 pood Kettlebell swing
21 Push-ups
3 reps of 15 foot Rope climb
21 reps Box jump
21 Back extension
150 ft Walking lunge
My time was 27.24/J was 35.54 (some of what I did was modified)

THEN - last night it was dead lifts.. 5 reps of 3 each.
I lifted 95 lbs twice and 115 lbs 3 times!

BUT straight and narrow in terms of diet - some struggles like -

Christmas dinner

Homemade biscuits

Christmas cookies - my fav of all time

Peppermint bark

last night's Zac pizza (2 slices)

have NOT helped

Anyway, back to yet another WOD tonight, then Wed, then Fri and Sat. Have been able to get more workouts in with J here (he is a motivator) and no work. Saving grace.

Altho I have had some struggles with diet - most of my meals are Paleo. Like two of the day - it is just the third that is the killer. Will definitely get strictly back to it no later than 1/5.

Will post new challenge then.

My first quilt....

Was one that I made using Georgia Bonesteel's Lap Quilting technique and patterns. I used fabric from my stash as well as some fabric I inherited from my mother. I made it about 10 or so years ago - I will have to really think (and ask) about the actual date. It has both handquilting and machine quilting as I had been working on it for so long - and when I heard about machine quilting, I decided to finish it up that way. It belongs to my son and daughter-in-law and I was able to get a picture of it during their current visit.

take a guess ... I don't have the answer

How many flannels have I made over the years?

A clue for us all...what year did I start to make them?

Nyia in her first pair.

Holiday funnies

when you shop....and please DO shop

pick up after yourself.

Goldie gets this and so do I.

These frenzied few days before the holidays, I am working at a store..

specifically in the entertainment section.

Amazing what people do -
even with me right there

straightening,

filling,

organizing,

picking up,

putting down.

So do a few harried retailers a favor -

if you pick it up...

decide against it...

treat yourself to a bit of exercise and
walk back to where you found it up and
put it back.

You do not even have to put it back precisely as you found it

(although that would sincerely be appreciated) ...

just in the general vicinity.

If you are looking for ways

to be generous this holiday,

this is an easy one.

we thank you

Goldie...

do I

hear an

Amen????

Squattin

After the usual warmup
Did Back Squats today
5-5-5-5-5
45-45-45-45-65
coulda done more
but this was the first time.

Food
b - turkey, tomatoes, pineapple, cantaloupe, mango
l - apple, nuts
d - cornish game hen, green beans, greens

of course, coffee with creamer

because....

there is a little crazy in every house

and

when one realizes

one understands

and

forgives

the crazy that is in everyone

working on...

many small and not so small projects...


Flannels for Christmas - many flannels for Christmas. actually flannel pants of every shape and color for those on my list. Been doing it for years. It is now 12/13...12 days left (actually maybe 3 relatively free weekend days - today is devoted to the grands so not much sewing takes place) to make at least 9 pair. 3 pair a day for each of the weekend days - doable.


Various BOM*...not sure who will get some of them, but moving them forward...

These are BOMs from the guild - in addition to the one I turn in, I am doing two others - one of batiks and one in black/white with some primary colors thrown in.

This one below I purchased on-line (they come each month) and will be for friends who recently married ... one never gets one's quilt within a reasonable time of the ceremony.

Another on-line BOM - one that my neighbor is also doing.

All curves and batiks.

*BOM= block o the month

Did the Jason

161 and holding....

Did the Jason (actually I called mine the mini Jason)

50 squats
10 each Pull up and Dips
40 squats
20 each Pull up and Dips
25 squats
35 each pullup and dips
10 squats
50 each pullup and dips

did them in 16.57 minutes
I learned that I do not like any exercise that increases in number as you do them.

Other than that, things are going well... probably did not eat enough during the day

scrambled eggs with sausage, mushrooms, red pepper
apple
nuts
coffee, of course
fish, eggplant, squash with onions

Ha ah!

161.6...need I say more???

Yesterday...
Walked in am
Ate -
B - turkey, pineapple, cantalope, pomegranate seeds
L - turkey, tomatoes, carrots
S - apple, celery with l/o quickie guac
D - crab, kale, cauliflower, asparagus
of course - my coffee

CrossFit -
warmup
3 rounds of 15 each...for time (21 min)
rockups - not at all a graceful event
pullups
burpees - 4 pt

Feeling pretty darn good. Not hungry although yesterday I yearned for something sweet. I got through it.

A New Low....

Sunday weigh in..... 163!!!! Down 7lbs! Amazing, I tell ya! I just might have a chance of hitting somewhat close to goal by our deadline - we will see.

Worked out twice at CrossFit this past week - mainly due to unusual work schedule...worked overnight one night, had a work party another night (I was in charge of food), then had a quilt guild party (I do the coffee - not a big deal, I know), then work this morning for about 4-5 hrs.

Ate really well - even at both parties!!! Recipes from the Paleo book have all been great! If you are following this...try the eggs with shrimp/tomatoes/scallions and quicky guacomole - amazing!

This next week, I will be able to put 3 days in a CrossFit and should be able to walk every morning. Ought to be a great week.

Recent Quilt

Here is a recent quilt that I made as a prize for a goat naming contest. The winning names for the pair of goats (donation to Heifer.org) were Hope and Change. The winners were Dennis and Janet E - I could not have picked a better home for this quilt. This a string quilt that I machine quilted - fairly simple lines with a more complex border. I searched for the backing fabric and found one with quotes (I love quotes) that was the perfect very pale green color.

today at cross fit

Did 4 rounds of:

rowing machine - 40 rows
squats - 50 of em

in 21 minutes.

ate:
b - turkey, berries, pineapple
l - turkey, carrots, tomatoes
s - nuts
d - will be shrimp, broccoli, carrots

did have my coffee mit creamer tho and will probably always have that!!!

ok, Ima believer...

I just weighed in and I am down to 165!!!

So yesterday - here is what I did and ate...

walked in the am

breakfast - turkey, carrots, tomatoes
snack - nuts
lunch - rest of the turkey and veg, cutie orange
snack - apple
dinner - chicken breasts, grilled asparagus and mini bell peppers
dessert - baked apple
Of course - one cuppa coffee with creamer and then one grande soy vanilla latte - extra hot, no foam (this is what I CANNOT give up)

Did not go to CF as my schedule did not permit. I will be going today.

ha! amazing - we will see if it continues. I will say, I am not hungry on this.

you think you know me

but you don't.

and now for fitness

covered the crap
mentioned the bowls
time to talk fitness

Monday on Paleo

• brekkie - two egg omelet with red peppers, mushrooms, spinach and fruit bowl
• lunch - (dined out - see prior post) - grilled salmon with veggies
• snack - raw nuts and apple
• dinner - stir fried beef (recipe from Paleo book)
• dessert - backed apples with raisins/nuts (also from book)
• only non Paleo is my coffee with creamer - hard for me to give up

Walked in the am

Cross fit

• regular warmup
• WOD - 15 min rounds of 10 thrusters/10 pullups. Did 9 rounds.

Was not hungry all day. feel pretty good although my knees (the back part of them) still hurt from running last week.

for those interested...

December bowls are ready...

just tryin...

So, yesterday, went to the Alameda Food Bank with some folks from work. We emptied the collection bins that you see in grocery stores, sorted the stuff and packed boxes that were going to other agencies to distribute to people in need. Time well spent and highly recommended way to help but also to get and, hopefully, stay grounded.

On the way over, I caught a whif of something -

thought it was a problem in the air,

certainly not in my car.

Went to lunch with the folks from work.

Went to the Food Bank.

Chatted folks up in the parking lot after we were done.

Got back into my car to go home.

Still somewhat of an odd smell.

Got home,

sat in my office,

got on the computer,

took a call.

It was then I figured it out.

Threw the shoes away.

Back at it...

The hard earned, albeit weeny, few pounds I lost since I started this endeavor has, for the most part, returned thanks to the carb fest that was Thanksgiving week. Food was awesome and horrible at the same time. Also, there was no cross fit other than Monday and, while I would love to say that I did my CF homework, I did not. What did I do instead? Well it seems I kept busy - just not on this challenge.

Soooo, in the meantime, my son J has swooped like the veritable Nike swoosh. He laid back for, oh, 4 weeks or so and then kicked it into gear this past week and has miraculously dropped almost 10 lbs in a week!!!! How is that right??? He is following what is called the Paleo diet - roughly based upon what our ancestors ate... essentially, as he puts it:

• Eat meat and vegetables, nuts and seeds
• Some fruit, little starch and no sugar.
• Keep intake to levels that will support exercise but not body fat.

Anyway, worth a try - can't be any worse than it is.

Not really looking forward to Cross fit tomorrow night - eeek. I will do some of the warmup tonight just to get a head start.

average so far...

So my weigh in average so far this week is 166 which matches what I was last week. Still 4 lbs down but it is very hard to see me losing the 11 lbs I need to by 12/25 especially since we have el grande carbfesto Thanksgiving between now and then.

On Monday, I did thrusters -at the incredible weight of 33 lbs! No scoffing -this is heavy for me right now.

Since Crossfit is closed until next Monday - the homework today is...

Michael

run 800 meters

50 back extensions

50 situps

Today, R and I are going to Nyia's school for grandparent's (grandperson's) day. Afterward, Nyia and I are going to Artcentric so she can paint a statue for her other grandmother. Going to be one great day!!! Here are some fav pix of the Nypie.

quilts again....

These top three were quilts I made to donate to St Vincents which was the orphanage in which my dad and his two brothers grew up. It now has a number of group homes for young boys with abuse problems.

This is a poncho I made for Goldie. I am not sure she really ever wore it - maybe she should give it back and I will recycle it into a quilt. Always have to be careful about quilted wearable stuff - as fashion is in the eye and mind of the wearer. In my case, high fashion is anything that does not itch (Gilda Radner agrees).

Saturday with Lo and Goldie

I know, I know, it is Sunday and it is weigh in day. Well I DID weigh in and I decided, clearly because I was not pleased with the lack of results, that, before I post this new #, I would weigh in each day this week and take the average. It is not that I gained a lot, I did not, I just did not lose a lot, or a little, or any.

On a better note, Goldie had a field trip with her class to Half Moon Bay and, since it was one of the weekend's that I had the grands, she suggested we come with her. I have a friend there also, so it worked out very well. Ny had a hair appt so she did not come.

We played in a fun park, we visited with my friend, we had clam chowder with Goldie during her lunch break (a contributing factor to my displeasurable weigh in), we shopped in little shops. Weather was beautiful - I would love to live there!!! All in all, a great day. Pix below.....

Quillows and quilts

My daughter, O, played basketball all through high school. Each year, I would make quillows (quilt in a pillow - the quilt folded up inside of the pillow - pretty nifty) for each of the graduating seniors on the team. On the front of each quillow were pictures of the player, the team, the mascot, their name and jersey number. Her senior year, I think I made seven of them! I don't think I kept pictures of the other years. I finally made one for O - but it wasn't until she was in college. She gave me a hard time about that!!!

Below is the quilt I made for her coach, Mrs. Anderson - also at O's senior year. I got pictures of her when she was in high school and college from her father.

thanksgiving

is coming along... got the invite list in place (looks like an even dozen will be here)...got the menu divvied up. By then I will be soooooo ready and soooooooooo deserving of the carb fest that this holiday is.

I am in charge of taking the turkey from this....

to this.... and I can do it too!

Grumpy and the WOD

First - grumpy...

• woke up at 2am
• could not go back to sleep
• got up
• got on work email and did some work.
• So as not to give away that I was working in the wee hours, date stamped the delivery times to 8am
• only thing was, I used the wrong date!!!
• argghhhh
• tried to go back to sleep at 4am
• alarm at 5:30 sans sleep
• grumpy all day
• apologized to those receiving said grumpiness

Now the WOD

• even tho tired and grumpy
• I went
• warmups (if I did not post what they are, let me know as they are significant)
• Olympic weight lifting...impressive, I know
• Shoulder press 1-1-1-1-1 reps
• Push press 3-3-3-3-3 reps
• Push Jerk 5-5-5-5-5 reps
• of course, I used weenee weights, just working on form - but I was doin this stuff

painting and panting

Painting - the grands and I went to Artcentric as our special place this Saturday. It is a place where you paint ceramic items and then they fire them for you. The girls picked out some statues - their respective personalities came out during the session... N loves projects and the whole time she kept saying.... Grandma, I am having soooo much fun!!! L can take projects or leave them so she quickly painted hers and then spent the rest of the time playing with all of the marbles and doo dads that were at the place.

I painted a bowl pictured below. I would post pix of what the Ni and the Lo did except they intend to give them as Christmas gifts to their moms and I would not want to give away more than the girls have already told them.

Panting - yesterday I did the Elizabeth which was 21, 15, 9 each of medicine ball lifts and dips. I did em all in less than 8 minutes :-)

biking in the park

My husband and I went biking yesterday in a park at Pt Richmond. This was the same place that my son J held a walkathon some years ago.

This is my brother Mike and, in the background, my other son, Mike. If you look closely, you might just see a grandaughter in the stroller.

Yikes - it was more years than I thought.

Sunday Sunday it was not all I hoped it would be

WEIGH IN

166.4

less by a fraction

not what I hoped

but not more than

last week

I think it is in my portions

my plates do not look like this

Listen to this one

I can't figure out how to embed videos so I am posting this link.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27650743/

It is of Keith Olbermann, Anchor of Countdown at MSNBC. It is his special comments on Prop 8. It is well done and expresses most of the opinions/feelings/perspective that I consider compelling on this issue.

burpees burpees and more burpees

50 burpees - took around 11 min - and I am whooped! One is supposed to say, burpees, YAY! I did, but I am not sure I meant it.

Jason...where are you????

I have never ever had any desire

whatsoever

to run.

Not me

no how.

I marvel at those folks who run so smoothly,

effortlessly and consistently.

I especially like to watch those who seem to be born to run

great form,

barely touching the ground,

hardly breathing,

with a serene look on their faces

certainly not sweating

...not like those who plod or

who seem to be running sideways, and

whose faces are contorted

like they are dying standing up

or with their mouth gaping open.

Based upon what I know of me

and of my capabilities

if I ever ran

I would definitely

be in the second group

no doubt.

Having said all of that....

As a Crossfitter

one does not get to choose

one's WOD.

Today's WOD

was

running

running 400 meters

resting 2 minutes

for time

then

doing it

again and

again and

again.

Joanne, who usually helps me, was there

when I came in.

She told me that she was not going to help me today,

instead it was going to be

Justin

and that, I should take my time, take it easy

only do what I could.

So after stretching, here is what I did....

the first 400 meters in 2min 55 sec

the second in 2:58

the third in 3:08 and

the fourth in 2:57

THAT'S RIGHT -

I actually did them ALL

and I ran the whole time

and I did not fall down

and I did them in less

than an hour each!!!

And, since it was in the dark,

and no on could really see me

I am here to tell you....

I was smooth.

burpees and a quilt

Burpees look easy

burpees are hard.

but I did some

quite a few, in fact

This is a quilt I made for Goldie. The pattern is called yellow brick road.

She uses the heck out of it.

My bike

Went for a ride today with R. About 7 1/2 mi. my bike looks like this....the second picture is my bike folded up. I have not yet to have an occasion to fold it up, but it is comforting to know it has that capability.

Sunday Sunday

166.8

Only down a bit more than 1/2 a lb, but down nonetheless. To review the week....

• Exercise - Went Monday and Thursday, but as it turned out, on Friday, R and I got last minute Warrior tickets so I ended up not going to Cross Fit. As I had to get to work early on a few days, I only walked 3 out of the 7 days.
  
• On the eating front this past week, I did ok - probably not perfect.

Goals this week....
1. Cross Fit Monday, Wed, Fri

2. Do something physical every day

3. Zone it up and journal it down

Names and such

For the grief my son gave me on his last comment... actually, she used a woman's name on what you are calling a wall ball - she said I did 1/2. I would have remembered wall ball! there is NO WAY I am gonna remember all of the women's names.

Having said that, I do vaguely recall the term medicine ball clean. This one was harder for me to get everything together than I thought it should but then I saw this clip: http://media.crossfit.com/cf-video/CrossFit_MBCleans.mov (I did not know how to insert the movie here) and, based upon all the instruction that this guy is giving, maybe I am not so remedial as I felt.

More importantly, a cross fitter goes cross fitting! That is it!

Fitness and Fabric Bowls

Fitness - so far this week.....

• Sunday - biked with R.
• Monday - walked in the am/ went to Cross Fit in the PM - worked on medicine ball squats/lifts (I think that is what they are called). It is where you squat, lift a medicine ball with straight arms, jump up, shrug shoulders, lift the medicine ball by releasing the ball, then bending arms, and then squat again once you are under it. Did 50.
• Tuesday - worked election - that was enough
• Wednesday - did not go to CrossFit - got home too late and was way too tired
• Thursday - CrossFit - went at around 6:30 - they had a different kind of class starting at 7 so I did a short warm up and then did squats with a medicine ball - stood up and threw it up against the wall above a certain line. Did 50 in around 2.5 minutes - they thought that was great and that I could have done 100. I, on the other hand, was really not so sure. It was a very short one, but intense.
• I will be going to CrossFit again tonight. I have officially signed up for the MWF 6:30 pm session.

Been very zoned in the eating - it is getting easy and I feel pretty good about that.

Sunday will tell the story, tho!!!!

Fabric Bowls -

I have been making fabric bowls for a while. When O started working at a school, she asked for one that was school themed (I don't have a picture of it, maybe O will oblige). I then made one for Halloween for both O and Goldie. Holidays and seasons change so now it is time for a T-giving theme. Finished them this am - pix below...