Ouch

I have added strength training back into my workout schedule. OUCH. One would think that running, swimming and biking every week would keep the muscles strong. Not so much. My legs are presently shaking under my desk. You can only imagine what they do when I try to walk. Here is the leg workout I did this morning:

Squats

Dead lifts

Sumo squats with kettleball

Lunges

Hamstring curls

Leg extensions

Note to self: take some time off the strength training workouts before my triathlon next weekend! Right now I could run a mile if my life depended on it! Oh wait, what’s that? I’m doing a triathlon? Yes. Actually this will be my second. And no, it’s not an Ironman…

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Not even close! But you’ll have to wait for the details. I’m off to rest my sore legs. 🙂

Backing Out

I always hear, “Working out is better with a workout buddy.”

What do you do when it seems like people are always bailing on you? I always invite people to bike ride or swim with me. WAY too often, they back out. Then it’s a struggle to make myself continue in their absence. I don’t blame them – life gets busy. Maybe it’s a testament to my motivation, or lack thereof sometimes! I just have to keep pushing through.

This morning I had two swim buddies for my after-work swim. I am about to leave work and I’m the only one still going swimming. I’d really like to  just go home, but I’m trying to make myself swim anyway. I like swimming. I really do. But sometimes curling up on the couch sounds so much better, doesn’t it?

Not tonight. Tonight I will swim. I will channel Michael Phelps.

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And maybe someday I’ll have great abs too. 🙂

Do you find it hard to stay motivated when your workout buddy bails on you?

A Hot Mess

I have been a hot mess of emotions all day (as you might have gathered from my first post.) There is a lot going on in my life right now, and there is probably not enough sleep going on in my life right now! I am hoping to fix that in about 15 minutes. 🙂

Today’s workout – a “two-a-day”. My husband and I were on our way to the gym 5:35am. I was happy I was going to the gym – I was not happy to be awake. This was me:

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I did some strength training at the gym (back & biceps) and then headed home to get ready for work. Breakfast was a bowl of oatmeal, small scoop of almond butter, chopped pecans and cinnamon. Does a body good.

A co-worker brought leftovers for lunch – how could I refuse? We had spaghetti and meatballs. Yum. I don’t eat much meat these days (a post to come on that soon, I’m sure), but this was tasty. I have a hard time turning down food someone brought for me. Anyone else have that problem?

Snack was a chocolate chip cookie and some bbq chips that were lying around the office. You can probably already see why I blame my office for much of my weight gain. 🙂

After work, I took my bike for a ride. I think I went about ten miles, but it took me MUCH longer than it should have – almost an hour! I just didn’t have it in me. Oh well, tomorrow is a new day! The plan is to go to bed early tonight, and sleep in tomorrow. My body is telling me I need SLEEP. So here I go…goodnight!

Hello World!

Here I am. I’m 27 years old, and overweight. I am 5’6″ and I weigh 155 pounds. I know, I know. It’s not terribly overweight, but it’s enough. I have twenty pounds to lose. I want to be at my goal weight and “fit” by the time I turn 28. Hence, the name – FitBy28! This blog is intended to be my (hopefully anonymous) journey to health and fitness – and a better self image.

Like many women, I have always struggled with self-image. I have always obsessed about my weight. I want to get past that. I want to look at the mirror and be proud of what I see. Happy with who I am. I want to feel strong, fit, healthy and happy. I have a feeling that somewhere along this journey, I will learn it is more about what I don’t see – what is on the inside – that will accomplish that goal. But I”m not there yet.

I want this to be a painfully honest blog. Honest about my victories and my defeats. Honest about the things that get me down, and the things that spur me on. There are so many women out there just like me. It’s time we do something about it!

So here it is…the first step of my journey to be fit by 28, and to finally believe this…

(Source: www.operationbeautiful.com)