I cannot believe in just two weeks I’ve lost a little over 17 pounds!
Two weeks ago if someone said the word ‘core’ to me I would have instantly thought about an apple core, my close group of friends or perhaps Weight Watcher’s core plan.
Well as of this week, core equals abs. For the first time in my life, my stomach has been sore from exercising. And I’m not talking for a little tender, I mean hurting all day long sore. Last Friday I thought I might have food poisoning until my friend straightened me out.
She’s not the only one straightening me out; my Zumba instructor is constantly on us (well me in particular) about good form. At first I was really embarrassed by him coming over to me saying straighten up your back, reach straight up next time, etc. I guess it was just my fat-kid-in-gym-class mentality. But now, I really appreciate him making sure I am doing it right – and not only that, I am very conscious about making sure I am doing them correctly now too. I guess you can say I’m learning new core values.
After Zumba we do a 15-minute core class consisting of standard crunches, knee crunches, oblique crunches, hip lifts, planks and a whole bunch of other stuff that I don’t know their proper names. Well the past couple classes I have been really concentrating on my form – I figured it’s ok to do fewer reps as long as I am doing them correctly. After all, I’ve always been a believer in quality over quantity.
Well earlier this week we did a brief yoga-esque routine with lots of stretching after our core exercises that was really relaxing. When I told a friend about it she said it sounds a lot like Pilates. I’ve decided since they are canceling my Tuesday night Zumba class I will try Pilates in the Park next week, you know now that I’m all hard-core with my core.
Another reason I want to add a Pilate’s class is because I am loosing calories in more ways than one. The thing about loosing 13 pounds last week is that I am burning fewer calories doing the same activities this week, not that I am complaining! For instance, an hour-long Zumba class last week burned about 887 calories, and at my new weight I burn 852. Not a huge difference, but remember I need to burn over a quarter-of-a-million calories! Thankfully I was able to burn over 5,000 calories this week; 5,770 to be exact! I pray that an hour of Pilates will be equivalent to an hour of Zumba. Here’s what I did this week:
06/26 Treadmill for 40 minutes; 394 calories burned
06/27 Zumba class for an hour; 852 calories burned
06/27 Tennis for an hour; 992 calories burned
06/28 Zumba class for an hour; 852 calories burned
06/30 Zumba class for an hour; 852 calories burned
07/01 Zumba class for an hour; 852 calories burned
07/02 Yard work for an hour and 15 minutes; 976 calories burned
Burning calories is not the only reason I am loosing weight, although I must say it helps me stay on track. I am still very conscious of what I consume. There’s just no way I am going to eat crappy after I just worked out for an hour.
It’s pretty obvious that my core problem with food is that I over eat. One thing I am noticing these past two weeks is exactly how much I use to put away. It was so ridiculous. A couple weeks ago if I were grabbing a quick lunch at McDonalds I would not only order a value meal but an extra six-piece nuggets or a dessert to go along with it and somehow I would rationalize it as being ok cause the nuggets don’t have sugars and I did order a diet coke...
It wasn’t just when I went to fast food places that I would over-order and over-eat; I would do it at regular restaurants too. My biggest weakness is hands down appetizers. Whether it was chips and queso, fried cheese, bread baskets, waffle fries with blue-cheese dressing, yeah I don’t even like blue cheese but I would order them – damn you Barnaby’s! Seriously, appetizers, starters, hor’dourves, amuse bouche – whatever you call them, I would order them – and the funny thing is, I still can. However, I stop there. There’s no reason I need to have an appetizer, entrée and dessert every meal. Last Saturday I went out with friends to a new wine bar and I knew I would be consuming extra calories with champagne so I decided to just order the crab cake appetizer and I was completely fine. Granted I wish I didn’t have those couple extra drinks later in the night but hey, no one’s perfect.
One thing I am really proud of is I knew I would be drinking Saturday night so I did some research on what to drink beforehand: primarily, which has fewer calories, champagne or vodka tonic? It turns out champagne by adouble long shot; champagne has about 85 calories and a vodka tonic has about 170.
All I can say is cheers to being hard-core when it comes to dieting and exercising (self control).
Two weeks ago if someone said the word ‘core’ to me I would have instantly thought about an apple core, my close group of friends or perhaps Weight Watcher’s core plan.
Well as of this week, core equals abs. For the first time in my life, my stomach has been sore from exercising. And I’m not talking for a little tender, I mean hurting all day long sore. Last Friday I thought I might have food poisoning until my friend straightened me out.
She’s not the only one straightening me out; my Zumba instructor is constantly on us (well me in particular) about good form. At first I was really embarrassed by him coming over to me saying straighten up your back, reach straight up next time, etc. I guess it was just my fat-kid-in-gym-class mentality. But now, I really appreciate him making sure I am doing it right – and not only that, I am very conscious about making sure I am doing them correctly now too. I guess you can say I’m learning new core values.
After Zumba we do a 15-minute core class consisting of standard crunches, knee crunches, oblique crunches, hip lifts, planks and a whole bunch of other stuff that I don’t know their proper names. Well the past couple classes I have been really concentrating on my form – I figured it’s ok to do fewer reps as long as I am doing them correctly. After all, I’ve always been a believer in quality over quantity.
Well earlier this week we did a brief yoga-esque routine with lots of stretching after our core exercises that was really relaxing. When I told a friend about it she said it sounds a lot like Pilates. I’ve decided since they are canceling my Tuesday night Zumba class I will try Pilates in the Park next week, you know now that I’m all hard-core with my core.
Another reason I want to add a Pilate’s class is because I am loosing calories in more ways than one. The thing about loosing 13 pounds last week is that I am burning fewer calories doing the same activities this week, not that I am complaining! For instance, an hour-long Zumba class last week burned about 887 calories, and at my new weight I burn 852. Not a huge difference, but remember I need to burn over a quarter-of-a-million calories! Thankfully I was able to burn over 5,000 calories this week; 5,770 to be exact! I pray that an hour of Pilates will be equivalent to an hour of Zumba. Here’s what I did this week:
06/26 Treadmill for 40 minutes; 394 calories burned
06/27 Zumba class for an hour; 852 calories burned
06/27 Tennis for an hour; 992 calories burned
06/28 Zumba class for an hour; 852 calories burned
06/30 Zumba class for an hour; 852 calories burned
07/01 Zumba class for an hour; 852 calories burned
07/02 Yard work for an hour and 15 minutes; 976 calories burned
Burning calories is not the only reason I am loosing weight, although I must say it helps me stay on track. I am still very conscious of what I consume. There’s just no way I am going to eat crappy after I just worked out for an hour.
It’s pretty obvious that my core problem with food is that I over eat. One thing I am noticing these past two weeks is exactly how much I use to put away. It was so ridiculous. A couple weeks ago if I were grabbing a quick lunch at McDonalds I would not only order a value meal but an extra six-piece nuggets or a dessert to go along with it and somehow I would rationalize it as being ok cause the nuggets don’t have sugars and I did order a diet coke...
It wasn’t just when I went to fast food places that I would over-order and over-eat; I would do it at regular restaurants too. My biggest weakness is hands down appetizers. Whether it was chips and queso, fried cheese, bread baskets, waffle fries with blue-cheese dressing, yeah I don’t even like blue cheese but I would order them – damn you Barnaby’s! Seriously, appetizers, starters, hor’dourves, amuse bouche – whatever you call them, I would order them – and the funny thing is, I still can. However, I stop there. There’s no reason I need to have an appetizer, entrée and dessert every meal. Last Saturday I went out with friends to a new wine bar and I knew I would be consuming extra calories with champagne so I decided to just order the crab cake appetizer and I was completely fine. Granted I wish I didn’t have those couple extra drinks later in the night but hey, no one’s perfect.
One thing I am really proud of is I knew I would be drinking Saturday night so I did some research on what to drink beforehand: primarily, which has fewer calories, champagne or vodka tonic? It turns out champagne by a
All I can say is cheers to being hard-core when it comes to dieting and exercising (self control).
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