Day 0 - Tone Every Inch

I always seem to have excuses. Sickness, traveling, etc. Geez, I need to get off my butt and start doing something again! But first, I need to get better. I'd like to stop coughing and I'd like to NOT have a husky man voice.

So the last few days have been considered Day 0 for the Tone Every Inch book. I've spent a lot of time reading and not doing. Here's what I've learned...

1. My Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) is 1560.75 - this is how many calories my body burns without exercise based on a long equation that uses weight, height, and age.

2. With my current level of exercise, I burn approximately 2419 calories a day just by living and going on with my day to day activities.

3. As early as your 20's, the average person starts losing 1/2 a pound of muscle a year.

4. Muscle burns more calories than fat.

5. Dieting incorrectly can cause muscle loss which leads to "yo-yo dieting" because of an increase in body fat. This is why only 1 in 6 dieters are successful. (Pretty crappy statistic, if you ask me!)

6. Um, chocolate milk is one of the best things to drink after a workout? That's what the book said! Specifically Ovaltine.

I'm planning to follow the exercise plan but the food plan they have seems... expensive and lacking in calories. My calorie intake was 1600 and that was difficult and the kickstart plan for this diet calls for only 1200 calories. There are some really interesting recipes that I will most likely try like Basil Pesto Salmon, Lime Cilantro Black Beans, Maple Cashew Smoothie, Savory Tuna Sandwich, and Portobello Sandwich.

After my reading and "studying" it makes sense to me why my weight hasn't fluctuated too much since the end of March. I'm eating my husband's cooking which should have packed on the pounds within hours but... I increased my muscle mass, dropped my body fat percentage, and now my body is more effectively burning calories. I figured that my metabolism had changed but I guess I never realized why!

If only today were Friday...

I woke up at about 4 o'clock, or as my Dad would say, "O Dark Thirty"/"The ass crack of dawn", and realized that it hurt to swallow. My throat was feeling funny all day yesterday in a dry, unrelenting thirst kinda way. This is pretty typical for where I work since I'm up and moving around most of the day but it was really uncomfortable. And this morning, it made the hours between four and six just drag on as I tried to fall back to sleep. To add to the misery, my left ear started to ache. To further insult my misery, my brain started it's own beautiful rendition of Taylor Swift's newest tune. Basically, my plans for the morning changed. I was planning a run through town but considering I can't swallow my own spit and it hurts to drink my coffee, running just doesn't sound like a decent plan. So now, here I am typing up a blog and playing Castleville on Facebook.

As I complained in my last post, I'm still waiting on a check for my horse. It's really frustrating to wait when you have spending plans or dreams and desires that are out of the norm. My plan from the start has been to save a large chunk of the money but like I was saying, I really wanted to start group training at the gym (which costs money) and I want to buy the next grouping of new furniture (again, money). Queue The Flying Lizards... "Money (That's What I Want)".

Since I can't pay for group training right now, I decided to actually start reading my back logged emails from Prevention and Women's Health. I stumbled upon a book offer that sounded pretty cool and instead of doing a "free" trial of the book for 21 days, I signed on to my library account, requested that the book be sent to my local branch, and I just picked it up yesterday. (It was five minutes before the library closed and I got a really nasty look from Mrs. Librarian as I walked through the door. I earned a smile and a nod when I held my hands up and said, "I came prepared, I have books on hold! In and out... I PROMISE!") The book is called "Tone Every Inch" and I figured that since I can borrow it from the library for a good amount of time, I may be able to get something out of it. And then I can blog about it. Fitness from a book... should be... interesting. :)

Might as well just start reading now since I'm not doing anything else productive! (er... I should say that all my fanfics are read, Castleville energy is reloading, Facebook is boring, and I don't feel like hopping in the shower until my coffee cup has been sufficiently drained)

More lunchtime woes

I am continually frustrated with this whole horse situation. I am still waiting on a check for my mare. This means that I had to put a bunch of plans on hold. I was planning to start group training at my gym so I can get back on track with my strength training. Then I wanted to buy some new furniture. Now, I am playing the waiting game!