you wish you were THIS cool!

Oh yeah, check out my supah-cool bodybugg tanline...

lol!

Facing fitness fears.

Fitness fears. I don't have many of 'em. I welcomed the P90X 90-day challenge. I kicked the crap out of Turbo Jam. I've also taken step aerobics, spinning, BOSU, bootcamp cardio, and various strength training classes- I've even been running a little this summer! With all of this being said, there is one area of fitness that has equally intrigued *and* scared the crap out of me. This particular area is... dance. It's a tricky thing for me, because I sincerely admire/envy those with rhythm and I get really addicted to any dancing show on TV. Sadly, I severely lack rhythm and grace. Well, I have decided enough is enough and I am going to give it a shot and not care if I look the fool. :) The first series I am doing is a fusion style dance fitness class- hip hop belly it's called. Should be verrry interesting! After this series, I may tackle ballroom. Again, something I'm totally intrigued by but have been too scared to try. It sounds like so much fun, and will be great exercise too!

My first hip hop belly class is next Tuesday (September 8th.) I'm pumped and I will NOT back out. Will not back out.... will NOT back out...

Right. I won't back out. :)

More later!

I'm deficient... (yet again!!!)

So, I went to the doctor last week because I have just really been feeling out of sorts. The weather has been gorgeous lately, and what do I come home and do after work? Sleep. I've also been getting the "you look tired" from others. My concentration has been crappy and I haven't even really felt motivated to work out as much as I used to. Yeah, that's SO not like me. Another really super-annoying thing is that no matter what I do my weight is not changing. I was very religiously body-bugging, recording every calorie I took in and uploading all of my info at night for my calories burned. My average daily deficit for my first 30 days of using the bugg was 500 calories (I ate about 1400 a day and burned about 1900.) I gained weight. I should have been losing about a pound a week with that deficit. Makes NO F'ing SENSE!! So I went to the Cleveland Clinic to discuss this with a doctor.

Anyway, the doc ran some blood tests on me for stuff she suspected... and one result was vitamin D deficiency. It's not really a huge shock, because a big source of vitamin D is from sunlight. This is bad for us Ohioans who don't see a whole lot of sunshine... I am also somewhat of a sun-avoider, even when it's out (have to preserve the skin!!) So anyway, Vitamin D deficiency is just added to the list of other crap that can make me tired and mess with my weight (hypothyroid and b12 deficiency.) My body is dumb.

I just got this result today and filled my prescription for my vitamin D supplement- and decided to poke around online to see what I could see concerning symptoms of D deficiency. Then I decided to type in "Vitamin D deficiency + weight gain." I found some interesting results. Here's a snippet:

Moreover, people who have a reduced capacity to mobilize vitamin D often weigh more and have more body fat than those with full capacity. In the past 20 years multiple studies have shown a correlation between higher blood levels of vitamin D and leaner body mass.

there seems to be a correlation between rising rates of obesity and vitamin D deficiency. If you are having difficulty with insulin resistance or weight gain — or can’t keep the pounds off once you lose them — you may want to have your vitamin D levels checked by your healthcare practitioner.

Interesting indeed. I'm curious to see if the D will help me at all with losing the pounds and keeping them off. I'm not hanging all of my hopes on it, but dang- it sure would be nice to see all of my hard work pay off by actually losing fat and keeping it off!

Bodybugg calorie breakdown

I find the bodybugg absolutely fascinating. I am constantly keeping tabs of individual activities to see how many calories I burn and how many steps I take. Here are some breakdowns of workouts:

Powerwalk/Jog
1hr 13mins | Calories Out: 461 | Steps: 5894

Turbo Jam Cardio Mix 1 with weighted gloves
44 mins | Calories Out: 344 | Steps: 4653

Ab Jam (Turbo Jam Ab workout)
20 mins | Calories Out: 64 | Steps: 734 (standing ab portion)

TJ Punch Kick & Jam with weighted gloves
50 mins | Calories Out: 358 | (Forgot to record steps)

Cardio Jam Live with weighted gloves
30 mins | Calories Out: 250 | (Forgot to record steps)

Walk/Jog with weighted gloves
1hr 40mins | Calories Out: 645 | Steps: 9204

I've been working late the past few days (and over the weekend), so I've missed a few workouts. Can't wait to get back to my routine!

I'm amazed.

The bodybugg is worth every penny. I am amazed by it and I love it. The website where you log everything is incredibly comprehensive and fantastic. When you upload the data from your armband, it even graphs your movement hour by hour throughout the day. Everything is concise and easy to understand. If I have any complaint, I would say entering the calories consumed can be mildly aggravating. It's not always the easiest to find the full nutrition breakdown for every item consumed, and the program won't allow you to just enter calories. I tried to do that with a piece of fruit I ate... it forced me to put the carbs and protein in before I could save the info. I think it may be because there is a pie chart with a breakdown of how many fats, protein and carbs you should consume based on your goals and preferences. It requires that info to give you accurate feedback.

I definitely recommend the digital display along with the armband. I love being able to glance down and see the amount of calories I've burned throughout the day, the steps I've taken, etc. If you don't have the digital display, you can't see anything in real time... you have to wait until you upload from the armband to the web site. Another nice thing is that you can gauge how many calories you burn for specific activities. Out of curiosity, I compared to see how accurate the workout mode on Dance Dance Revolution is when I play my Wii. It was 50 calories off. :P I track everything and I am constantly looking at the display. It makes calorie management so much more fun- AND I've had at least a 500 calorie deficit every day that I've worn the bugg. It makes me so much more conscious of my choices. I just love it. I'm very happy. :D

Here's a sample page from the web site. You can see in the graph exactly where I took my Spinning class in the evening. lol :)

SPLURGE!

Ok, I seriously need to stop splurging on weight loss stuff. For real.

What is this time, you ask?

A bodybugg.

Yes, the insanely expensive little device they use on The Biggest Loser to track calorie burn throughout the day. I felt almost pushed into it, because there was a sale that ended at midnight today- and I just found out at like 9pm! The sale saved me about $70, so it was pretty much now or never. My finger hovered over the "process" button for a while. It was still a pretty good chunk of money to spend and I was indecisive. But ultimately I clicked... and I know I'll be excited when it arrives. I just wrote someone back earlier today who was inquiring about my weight loss and my struggles. I specifically said I struggle mostly with finding the right balance between nutrition (calories) and exercise. The very words I typed just an hour or so prior to being on the bodybugg site played back through my mind... maybe this little device will be the answer to that very problem.

We'll see.

I ended up getting the armband, digital display, and 6 months of online access to their web site. You upload all the info from the device (calories burned, steps walked etc.) to the website, and you also enter the calories you eat. It's a basic calories-in calories-out approach, but in a high-tech, highly accurate way.

Once I get it and start using it, I'll definitely post a blog with my thoughts. :)

gripes.

Gripe Number One (non-weight related.) You know what I hate? People who constantly check their cell phone or text when they are with me. *Especially* if I don't know the person very well or it is a "first date/meeting" type situation. If the other person who is texting is THAT interesting- go hang out with them and stop wasting my time. It just seems like advancing technology has made people increasingly rude, and there's no excuse for it. If you would rather be alone in a room with your phone, go for it. Just leave me out of the mix.

Gripe Number Two (weight related.) I followed my diet plan perfectly and exercised like a beast since my last update on here and I gained. Maybe my diet plan isn't enough calories to support all of the cardio. I don't know. But I have this problem all of the time and it is beyond aggravating.