Adventures in Women’s Fashion

You know the fitness saying, “Don’t weigh yourself. Focus on how your clothes fit”? I tried that.

When I noticed my clothes getting tight I weighed myself and that’s how I found out I gained 30 lbs without noticing.

What kind of denial was I in to not notice that weight gain, you ask? How did I gain that much without outgrowing my clothes? My working theory is that I developed a small black hole that gained mass but didn’t get bigger.  If you have a better theory I’ll entertain it.

The point is, now when I’m losing weight I’m not having the joy of wearing smaller clothes.  I decided to try on clothes in my closet to see what fit and what didn’t in hopes of finding out that I was wrong about this. I had a bunch of old stuff so I got to try on different sizes.

We all know that women’s sizing is stupid but this was extreme. I mostly had 2 sizes. It was 50/50 if a pair of pants would fit regardless of what size it was.  What really made me mad was the two pairs of jeans I had of the exact same brand and style in different colors where I couldn’t come close to fastening the larger size but the smaller size fit fine.  That’s stupid.

I’m also trying out Stitch Fix.  It’s been weird.  I’m trying to be more adventurous.  I really am.  But I just can’t really do prints.  I told them to try to expand my horizons a bit.  Mostly it isn’t working.  So far I’ve kept one thing from each box.  Mostly I’ve kept the thing that I was sure I wouldn’t like.

(The cat is sold separately)

From my first box I kept the bracelet.  Very brave of me.

The second box had the pink denim coat.  I liked it when I saw it. I knew it wouldn’t fit.  My shoulders and upper arms are too big for coats.  I tried it anyway.  Surprise, surprise… stretch denim!  The heavens opened and sun streamed down.

via GIPHY

Then next box had the jeans. They were supposed to be boyfriend jeans. That means sort of oversized. I put them on and they were… leggings. They were leggings in the largest acceptable size in my own personal head canon. (This really was the episode that tipped me over the edge to getting super serious about weight loss.) But the weird thing was that they actually looked really good on me as long as you didn’t realize they were supposed to fit differently. The husband tried out his man of the house patriarchal muscles and demanded that I obey him and buy them.

The last box had that plaid shirt. Both the husband and I looked at it and said, “No.” I have a strong bias against western wear that comes from years of showing horses. If you are wearing something like that I feel like you better be about to head into the ring or out to count the cattle. When you return something though you need to report how it fit so I put it on and it looked really good. We were both shocked.

So now I’ve made a whole outfit. It is the most expensive outfit I own since most of my other clothes came from thrift stores. I’ve also learned that I have no judgement when looking at clothes without trying them on.

Here’s the part where if I was a good blogger I’d try to have you sign up for Stitch Fix so I get money off. I‘m not a good blogger though Wait, found it!  If you want to try it out for yourself you can use this link to get $25 your first box.  That would get you the box for free if they aren’t being tricky somehow.

On Being Forced into Body Positivity

I’ve always had mixed feelings about the body positivity movement.  On one hand, you shouldn’t hate your body and obviously you can look amazing at any size. On the other hand, being fat is hard on your body. On your magical third hand, I’m a healthy fat person who doesn’t like being fat so that colors everything.

I was going about my business not taking a side until a few days ago when I got a letter turning me down for life insurance.  You know what the reason was? My “build”.

It took me a second to reread that a few times to even understood what it meant.  Then the rage took over.  Yes, I’m overweight. I also am pretty muscular. That adds to my weight.

If they had cared about my health, they might have asked to see my perfectly normal blood work.   But, no. Height and weight only.

I don’t even wear plus sized clothing, for the love of chunky Aphrodite.

I have spent the last few days yelling that I am “too fat!” and swooning when asked to do anything. So far it hasn’t actually gotten me out of anything because no one agrees with me.

The life insurance company doesn’t care that my workout routine is going swimmingly.  I did a challenge group last month. I was down 4 lbs and about 4 inches. I’m happy about that.  I’m halfway through the course I’m using (Liift4 on Beach body on demand) and I really like it. I’ve made a routine of 7 am workouts on Monday and Tuesday and I’m actually getting out of bed and doing it.  I also work out on my day off on Thursday and as soon as I get home from work on Friday. (I go in too early for a 7 am workout on Friday.)

So right now I’m feeling super skinny from the inches off the waist.  I might even be feeling body positive.

My Fitness Challenge

Molly, who used to hang around here but now we are Facebook friends, sent me a test workout video a while ago.  I liked it.  It was a combination of lifting and cardio. I decided to sign up for BeachBodyonDemand.com to be able to access it. 

I mentioned doing that on Facebook and I got swooped onto by some of my ex-4Hers.  They are BeachBody coaches and they were doing a challenge group.  Did I want to join? 

1. I have to check in on the Facebook post every day.
2. I have to post a picture after my workout
3. I have to post one meal picture a day
4. I have to make a video once a week of a non-scale victory.

I’m competitive.  I raised these children from pups.  (Ok, they were maybe teenagers when I met them.  Same thing.) I can not let them beat me.

I’ve been doing my workouts when scheduled.  They are all on 6 day a week workouts. Mine is special and is only 4 days a week.  I enjoy posting rest day selfies. 

I made a video of a 5K run I did on Sunday for my non-scale victory.  I hate running.  I hate video.  I figured it was a perfect combination.

My Yesfit Challenge

I’ve heard of people tracking how far they run/walk on a map to see your distance this year.  That’s cool if you run to Brazil or something but at my rate I’d spend a month just trying to get out of my neighborhood.  Still, I like the idea so I was excited to find something similar on Yes.fit.

This is a site for virtual races. You sign up for  race, pay your entry fee, and then do it on your own time. There are short races that you could do on one day up to races hundreds of miles long.  That’s what I’m going to do.

I’m doing the Tortoise Creep.  It is 155 miles long. The route is in Thailand. As you enter your workouts you get moved along on your map. You can even go to streetview to see where you are running.

You can have a fitness tracker upload your info but I’m entering my data manually. I’m only counting actual workout miles. Miles I walk for other reasons don’t count in my race. Let’s see how long it takes me to earn my medal.

Linking up with Readers’ Workouts.

Reader’s Workout

I haven’t done a Reader’s Workout post in forever.  I’m pretty happy with my fitness routine right now though so I thought I’d update.

I signed up for Strong by Bret.  This is a monthly service that gives you 3 – 4 weightlifting workouts for a month.  You do the same workout each week but increase the weight each time.  If you want more there are optional additional workouts based on your goals:

• You can pick additional full workout if you want to work out your whole body more days (rest days are recommended though)
• You can add on a supplemental glute workout to your workout days or your off days
• If powerlifting is your goal there are additional strength-building workouts

I’ve just been doing the main workouts.  I keep meaning to do the supplemental glute workouts on off days but I forget.

I love, love, love this program.  It is exactly what I’ve been looking for.  It is all weight lifting.  No explicit cardio but I’m dripping sweat when I’m done.

I’m just starting my third month now.  I haven’t lost any weight but I have made strength gains.  There is a big emphasis on pull ups.  I use the machine in the gym that lets you offset your body weight on pull ups.  When I started I was only lifting 45 lbs for a few reps.  Now I’m doing 55 lbs for sets of 5.  It is still super wimpy but it is better.  I can see changes in my shoulder muscles.

The other nice thing about this is that it is planned with women in mind.  Most weightlifting plans have women as an afterthought.

The husband and I did the Biking Spree at our local MetroParks.  We had to ride 5 of the designated trails.  It is designed to get people out and exploring all the Parks.  These were all simple paved trails. It turned into a saga.  I bought a pretty pink bike.  Long painful story short – it was horrible. 

This was a bike that should have been bought by someone who rides only on level roads in Florida on the way to the library to get a basket full of books.  Despite having enough gears and only riding on fairly level ground, it was the hardest bike to ride I’ve ever met.  It would just stop if faced with a hill.  Not a mountain.  A long, slow incline was tough.  I’d be in first gear and pedaling for all I was worth and all of a sudden I wouldn’t be able to move the pedals anymore.  I took it back to the store and am having them try to sell it.  If I wasn’t anti-littering I would have left it on the side of a trail.  At least I wouldn’t have had to push it while walking back to the car.

I realized that when I got rid of that bike that I only had one ride left to finish the program.  I took the husband’s bike out and did the longest ride I had done so far in program.  It was no problem at all.  That proved to me that it was the bike and not me that was making the rest of the rides so freaking miserable.

I’ve never been able to do arm balances in yoga.  Teachers are always like, “It isn’t about strength.  It is just balance.” while I crash on the floor.  

I signed up for access to a video series teaching handstands and arm balances. There is a series of daily short practices to build skill.  I failed video number 3. I need to work on my skill in that one before moving on.  I know I have the strength to hold handstands against a wall once I get into them.  Getting upside down is hard for me.  This video series also works on fear of falling and fear of getting upside down.  We’ll see how I am able to progress.

What I Learned From Watching Olympic Weightlifting

What I’ve Learned While Watching the Weightlifters at the Olympics

I’m a Superheavyweight woman

If I lost enough weight to be down to my imaginary mental ideal weight and then lost a little bit more, I might still be a superheavyweight.  Women’s weightlifting categories start at 48 kg (103 lbs) and end at 75+ kg (165 lbs).  They need more categories.  In the 75+ category the competitors were between 89 kg and 141 kg.

On the other end of the scale, the 48 kg women lifting 100 kg was seriously impressive.

I don’t have a proper support staff for my lifting

These guys have people who hit their muscles before they lift.  I have never wanted anyone to hit me before I lift but maybe that’s why I can’t lift as much as these women.  I ran this theory past the husband.  He doesn’t want any one to hit him either, it turns out. He didn’t even volunteer to hit me before my lifts.

They get smelling salts after lifts

I’ve never been close to passing out after lifting.  Obviously, I’m not working hard enough.  Slacker.

I haven’t been showing proper respect

A lot of the Asian lifters bowed to the judges before the lift.  I’m more impressed by the people who bowed to the weights or to the woman who dropped to her knees and hugged the plates after a good lift.  I’ve never hugged the plates.  Obviously, I haven’t been friendly enough.

I love the announcer

There is a female British commentator for the weightlifting and I love her.  I have no idea who she is.  They have never introduced themselves.  They are never on camera.  The NBC website lists a team of Americans who are supposedly announcing weightlifting but that isn’t who is actually on.

So, how have my workouts been going?  Pretty good.  I’m definitely lifting more often now that we have a closer gym.  I’m still working on my meal plans from Meal Mentor.  I’m usually making 2 or 3 of the meals a week.  I miss a lot of meals it turns out.  I don’t eat much after my late days at work because I get home about an hour before I go to bed.  Usually I just have some fruit or something then.  The last time I weighed myself I was down a few pounds though.  I think having the meal plan is making me more aware of what I’m eating.

How to be a great marathon spectator

I don’t run.  I have no desire to ever run a marathon.  But, I’ve been a race spectator since birth.  My father was a cross country coach until I was five.  Some of my earliest memories are cheering on the sidelines for runners.

This weekend the Akron Marathon passed through my neighborhood.  I went out to watch.  Here are some tips for how to make the most of your marathon viewing experience if you know nothing about racing.

Know Where You Are on the Course

You can usually look up the course on the race’s website.  The course of this marathon changed this year.  My viewing spot was right next to the 25 kilometer (15 mile) point.

Know When to Get There

Elite runners cover the 26.2 miles in a little over 2 hours depending on the course. If you know the start time and where you are going to be sitting you can judge when to get there. I showed up at mile 15 about an hour after the race started.

At this race they had a car with the race clock on top of it, right ahead of the front runners. This is when they got to me.  At this race they also have cyclists with signs riding next to the front runner in each division – men’s, women’s, master’s men (over 40), master’s women, male relay team, female relay team, and mixed relay team so you know who is winning at the time.  It is sort of mean though.  The runners look miserable and the cyclists are coasting alongside them looking at the crowd and the scenery.  I’d be tempted to knock them over. 

Make Some Noise

When I left my house and started walking to the marathon route, I thought that my neighborhood had hired a band for the race.  It turns out that I was hearing the music from the finish line that was 5 miles away as the crow flies.  I bet all the people trying to sleep in on a Saturday morning were thrilled about that but it is encouraging for the runners.  This isn’t golf.  You are encouraged to clap and yell and ring cowbells (honestly) when runners are passing you.  Some races have the runners’ first name large on the bibs so spectators can see them and yell personalized encouragement.  Making signs and waving them is good too.

Stay for the Regular People

It can be great to see the elite runners passing by.

Actual flying runners!

But the majority of people in a race are not running to win. Their reward is just finishing. They need the encouragement more than anyone. Sometimes with these runners who get to see costumes and funny shirts and signs and all kinds of entertainment.

Fitness Tuesday

Black Fire Program on Daily Burn

Wednesday

I did the Stragetic Endurance 1 video.

• 2 minutes of burpees with a step over a small box in between each – I did 15 on round 1, 15 on round 2, and 11 on round 3.
• 2 minutes of bench dips – Ouch.  I did 25 on round 1 and 30 on the next two rounds
• 2 minutes of sit ups – I did 25 on rounds 1 and 2 and 23 on round 3.

Friday

This was a repeat of the Bodyweight Tabata workout I did last week.  It was 8 rounds of 20 seconds of work and 10 seconds of rest for each of the four movements.

• Air squats – I did 13 on my lowest round.  My quads still hurt from doing this video last week.  I think I tweaked something doing these today.  I need to roll that quad before it totally cramps up.
• Hand release push ups – I pushed hard and got 7 each time today instead of the 5 I did last week.
• Step over a box – I did 20 this time instead of 15
• Burpees – 4 instead of 3.

I didn’t do any other workouts this weekend and then Monday was warm. It was the first day over freezing in about a month. I went for a walk with Freckles and then for another walk without her. I did about 4 miles.

Fitness Tuesday

It is still super cold here.  All of my websites that I use to give me workouts are based in warmer places and they keep telling me that I should “Run 400m”.  Yeah, it is below freezing and the road is a sheet of ice.  I’m not running anywhere.

I finally decided to do something I’ve been thinking about.  I signed up for the free month trial of Daily Burn in order to do Black Fire.  Black Fire is a workout series done by Bob Harper that is basically CrossFit workouts.  There is a different one each day for 2 months.  (I’m not missing the conflict between 1 free month of the website and a 2 month program.)

I can do it inside in my basement mostly with equipment I have.  I don’t have a box for box jumps but I may be able to rig something.

I did the first workout on Sunday.  It was a tabata workout.  I did 8 rounds of 20 seconds of work and 10 seconds of rest.  There were four moves – air squats, hand release push ups, stepping over a box, and burpees.  You do all 8 rounds of each move before moving onto the next.  It was tough.  I still hate burpees!  You score your lowest round.  Mine was 14 for the squats, 5 for the push ups, 15 for the step overs (I had a punching bag on its side), and 3 for burpees for a total of 37.  Someday this workout will show up again and you try to get better numbers.

Monday

I did the ABC 1 workout.  It stands for agility, balance, core.  It is an all bodyweight workout.  We did 5 rounds of each move with 30 seconds of work and 15 seconds of rest.

• X-squats – Squat then stand up and touch opposite knee to elbow.  Switch knees on next squat.  My lowest score was 10.
• Surfer get ups – These are basically burpees but you land with one foot forward like standing on a surfboard.  Alternate forward legs.  My lowest score was 5.
• Fence jumps – Jump sideways over a yoga mat.  My lowest score was 7.
• Diamond push ups – Index fingers and thumbs together to make a diamond.  These have to be on your toes to count.  My lowest score was 5.

I’m still sore from Sunday so squats were hard.  I just looked at my fitbit dashboard.  It says I’ve had 1 active minute today.  Meanwhile, I’m shaking and sweating and climbing the stairs out of my basement was hard.

I’m also doing the 100,000 steps Challenge from Happy Herbivore in March.  This was a total math fail for me.  I thought that it was a challenge to go over 10,000 every day and then I did the math and realized that you only have to do over 3226 steps a day to finish it.

My Fitbit week – overall my step count was down.