Picky Goes Hi-Tec

It's amazing what positive results can do. Yesterday was my weigh-and-measure day, and despite going out to eat TWICE last week, I still lost weight and centimeters. Not many, but easy does it, right?
As I may have mentioned, I'm still using WW Points. As we moved on to Macs last year, the CD I very legitimately copied from Gymgirl no longer works, so for the past year I've been jotting my foods and excercise points in a notebook. I finally decided I'd had it, when the charts I drew aren't accurate enough to display the downward curve I've worked so hard to achieve.

So, I put my last year's Excel skills to use, and hey presto. I now have a spiffy file with all kinds of technological goodies, including a tasteful chart displaying my progress (well, hopefully), weekly point charts calculating how much I eat, and a nice pie chart displaying what proportions of my food are eaten when. Trust me, looks better than it sounds here.

All I need to do now is make plenty of progress to warrant my beautiful charts. I somehow suspect they will look less appealing if the curves become steady or, gasp, start going up.

I increased my running speed by 0.5km/h yesterday, and was quite pleased with myself for being able to do my full 30 min without passing out or collapsing. I also walked to hydrobics which, despite my pessimism last week, was a lot better--maybe the aerobics girl will learn. We're still going to try other stuff, tonight we're going to an excercise ball cardio class. I hope I don't fall off the damn thing and end up with a concussion!

This is turning into yet another busy week, which is probably good, considering I am dreading next Monday. That's when I'm having a copper coil fitted. For those not in the know, the copper coil is the only hormone-free form of contraception barring condoms, which, when you really, really never want kids, aren't really a good choice. My extensive internet research has revealed to me that having it fitted is supposed to hurt like hell. Considering I have a very low tolerance for pain, that is not good news.

I've already resigned to my fate, and am aware of the fact that next Monday will effectively be spent on the couch in pain. Hopefully that's as far as it will go, and that I'll be able to get back to my excercise routine by Tuesday or Wednesday.

Right. I need to get back to waking up. I'm supposed to be going to the gym in an hour, and it would be nice if I were at least partially awake by then.

Have Fun in Spain (not that I'm bitter, but...)

On Wednesday I went to hydrobics, only to discover that my hydrobics instructor, the bestest of the best, has left for Spain for a couple of months. I thought she would've been replaced by the other instructor, a very militant-sounding woman who's good, but,well, not very encouraging, but noooo... She's been replaced by some aerobics instructor who's never done hydrobics instructing (or hydrobics, for that matter)before. Things would not be so bad--as she's surely going to learn and develop with time--except for the fact that she'll only be able to do it for four weeks, after which they're going to find yet another green instructor to take her place! That is going to definitely enact the proverb 'blind leading the blind'. So I and my hydrobics friends are in mourning.

Gymgirl (with whom I also go to hydrobics) and I are going to try something else. There's a women's gymnastics association that does excercise classes (bodypump, bodyboxing, fatburn etc.) at different schools' gym halls in the evenings, so we figure that might be worth trying. It's really cheap, too (55EUR for the spring term and unlimited access to classes).

The problem is that I've never been to "real" excercise classes. Every time I think of an instructed class (well, apart from hydrobics) I think of myself in 9th grade trying to follow the aerobics teacher (fortunately we only did aerobics once or twice).
I'm sure it'll be fine, but it'll be quite the experience!

Hmm... better spend the weekend getting used to the idea.
Oh, and voting (presidential elections, 2nd round) and going for a nice brisk walk on Sunday.

January is the Month of Change?

I'm back.

On the way to the airport we got confirmation from our real estate agent that an official offer has been made, and we accepted it. We will sign the papers on Thursday. Such a strange feeling, after months of fretting and worrying. We can now cross worrying about the house selling off the list.

Riga was nice. Cold, but nice. It was -25C and WINDY when we got there, and by Monday the temperatures had warmed up to -15C. Arriving in Finland on Monday to -4C temperatures felt like summer.

Excercise-wise Riga was very efficient. We spent 8-10 hours walking every day. Well, walking and shivering, and trying to warm up. I felt like the Michelin tyre man, wearing layers upon layers of clothing, and somehow the cold still got through. Maybe it wouldn't have been so bad had our hotel room windows not frozen on the inside... it was fascinating watching the curtains fly in the draft. But hey, you get what you pay for, and we did know that the room was in Soviet, unrenovated condition. One must say it added a piquant feel to the trip.

The temp agency called me when we were at the airport in Riga on our way back. I have an interview on Thursday. Not holding my breath on it (one could say I've learned from past experience), but I'd say my chances are pretty good.

Like the good girl that I am, I went to the gym yesterday. And I'm planning on going today too. And going to hydrobics tonight as well.

This week is turning out to be really busy, which is really nice for a change. My calendar is fully booked, and there are tons of things to do.

Life seems to be getting good again.

Last Day Before a Long-Awaited Holiday

So, we're off to Riga tomorrow. This will put a brief stop to my excercise plan, but I do plan on doing quite a bit of walking there, so not a complete waste excercise-wise!

So, what happened to me today?
I went to the gym. Quite the accomplishment, considering that it's -11C here--yes, you read correctly--and WINDY. That makes it feel like -30C. At least. So, I dragged my not-so-awake body to the gym, sweat like a pig (nothing like drastic differences in surrounding temperatures) and managed my routine entirely. Well, knowing I wouldn't be going until next Tuesday made me sure I did everything as effectively as possible.

On my way home from the gym the woman from the temp agency I've dealt with in the past (my huge disappointments and hair-tearing might come to mind) called, and asked me if I was interested in an Office Assistant job. Sure, I said, go ahead and send my details. They'll probably interview me next week when we get back from Riga.

An hour ago our real-estate agent called. We've had our place on the market for 3 weeks with this agent, and on Monday he called and said we'd probably get an offer on Tuesday. We didn't hear from him, and assumed the worst. Now he called to say they'd made an offer--one which we'll happily accept--and they'll sign the offer tomorrow. Now I need to somehow make it until tomorrow when it's official and they can no longer back out. I don't know how I'll manage, I'm close to hyperventilating as it is, and I'm not one to hyperventilate. Ever.

Riga is supposed to be colder than where we are right now. It's fucking freezing here, so I hope the forecasts are off by 10 degrees... slim chance, I know. But a girl can hope.

So, this is turning into a good week. I just hope they sign the offer, so that we can really celebrate in Riga.

This is Picky, signing off until Tuesday.

I'm a Believer

So I went to water running last night, right before my hydrobics class. If I were to believe in the existence of any deity, I'd be uttering their name in amazement.

It was an excellent aerobic excercise, and I thought my legs would give way from having worked them out so hard. As water running mostly concentrates on your legs (although there are some abs and arms involved), hydrobics wasn't too rough right after. I do think I won't have to go to the gym on Mondays, as that was quite a workout package. I'm glad I didn't go yesterday, as I most likely would've drowned before the end of hydrobics.

But today's gym day. We'll see how I do on the treadmill (dreadmill, anyone?) after last night's running! Oh, and I will deck the first person who says that water running/hydrobics aren't proper workouts.

Monday is here.

My least favorite day of the week. Except that this week it's actually started well, weightloss-wise anyway.

I have now managed to lose the two kilos I gained at Christmas. I was starting to worry that they might not shift at all... In addition to that, my measurements went down everywhere, and my bodyfat percentage went down by a whole percentage! Or, it went down, as the bodyfat counter isn't too likely to be scientifically accurate, but it's still indication of a positive change.

I've been such a good girl, I went for a 2-hour walk yesterday! I met up with the girl I go to the gym with, let's call her... Gymgirl. We've known eachother for a good four years, and have been working out together--I managed to convince her to start going to the gym with me back in September, and I've been working to get her to join me in hydrobics ever since. I finally did it last week, and dragged her along. I find it great to have somebody to work out with, it keeps me (and her) from making excuses and not going. We also live close to one another, so going for walks and whatnot is nice and uncomplicated.

I do work out a lot more (and a lot harder) than she does, but I find it helps when I have somebody to go with most of the time. She needs to lose a lot more weight, around 30kg, but she's also losing it fast--the perks of starting from not having worked out in a long time and having eaten wrong. In a way I'm jealous of how fast she's making progress, but I also know that I need to lose a third of what she does and I've maintained a healthy diet and regular excercising for years. Having been at her size, though, and then losing weight like crazy, makes me wish I could lose weight that fast now. Of course that's not going to happen, since I have so much less to lose.

One thing I've realized is that I'm a hell of a lot fitter than I was, say, a year ago. It's great, but the problem is that I need to work out so much harder to get a proper workout! This means spending a lot longer on the treadmill and increasing speed and elevation more often, increased repetitions with abs and so on. If I wasn't so lazy it'd be much funner, and I've realized that as much as I enjoy excercise, it's taking up a sizeable amount of time. As I'm out of work at the moment that's fine, but I just keep wondering how I'll be able to make time for it when I do get a job. Thinking back to last year, I barely did anything but go to work, then go work out, then have dinner and go to bed. But then again I also commuted for 2 hrs a day.

Oh well. I'm sure I'll figure that one out when I get there.

I was planning on going to the gym today, in addition to hydrobics AND trying out water running (right before hydrobics), but I've come to the conclusion that it might be better if I pass on the gym today--after walking to the hydrobics class AND an intense class of water running, I'd probably drown at hydrobics. So I'll give myself permission to skip gym today (and get a lot of stuff taken care of--I'd be screwed timewise if I went to the gym anyway)

But now I need to get cracking.

Bad News = No News

Wow. I appear to be worse with blogging than I am with keeping up with emails. Who would've thunk it.

I can happily blame my lack of writing on traumatic childhood experiences. My dad has a tendency to think that only good news should be reported, and if you ignore bad news they go away--especially if you don't tell anybody. It seems he's gotten the "No news is good news" line down wrong, but as his English isn't all that great I can't be too surprised. Sapir and Whorf, anyone?

It seems I digress.

Progress has not indeed been made the way I fathomed back in August. In fact, there's been very little progress at all despite immense efforts. I'm beginning to think that there is a conspiracy out there (yes, they're all out to get me), and that's why working out rigorously for 5 days a week and eating healthy is not registering on the measuring tape. Not that anything would actually register on the measuring tape, but you know what I mean, and I haven't had enough coffee to write eloquently.

There has, of course, been progress, but not the kind I wanted. What I wanted was to lose the flab, firm up and tone, and go down two clothes sizes while I was at it. And what have I gotten in the past (oh gasp) FIVE months?

I am the exact same size I was in August. I have gotten firmer and less flabby, which is nice. But I have also gained 3 kilos. Must be muscle, as nothing has happened size-wise, but still. What I wanted was to LOSE weight, not gain it. I am noticeably firmer. But that's not saying much, unfortunately. As I have a closet full of clothes two sizes smaller than I am at the moment, I am determined to get there, come hell or high water. Yes, I realize that I was able to get down to that size because I ate too little, didn't excercise enough and was losing muscle instead of fat (which, consequently, is why it didn't last), but I can tell that if I lost the flab I would get there.

So yes. This is what I haven't been posting for the past five months. You've not really missed out on much, there would've been a lot of bitching and whining about the state of affairs.

So why write now? Because I realized I've been neglecting my blog for five months; because I've made quite a bit of progress fitness-wise; and because I'm determined to shift the flab.

Picky is back, and with a whole new can of stubbornness.