Getting a jump start

Confession is good for the soul ... or in this case, the soles.

Since writing my previous post, I have been so ashamed with myself and my admission, that I've been working out just about every day! Sure, I'm not up to where I should be training-wise, but at least I'm off my seat and on my feet.

If you follow me on Twitter, you know I have a "virtual jump rope" and have been using it lots lately. If you don't follow me on Twitter, shame on you! I'm @50n50, look me up!

Say "Hello" to my little friend!

Anyway, my virtual jump rope isn't an imaginary toy. It's an awesome gadget that came as a gift-with-purchase when Kevin bought some workout thingie after Christmas. And I LOVE IT!

Literally, it is best described as two handles with strings and little weights at the end. You hold the handles like they were jump rope handles and swing the strings like they are attached as a rope. The Cardio Rope, as it officially calls itself, tracks time, number of jumps, and calories burned based on the weight you enter. Jumping for 10 minutes burns 100 calories. And I have a good burn going in my calves!

I don't just jump for ten minutes straight - I change it up and do different things with my legs: Criss-cross, high kicks, waist twists. The time flies (when a funny tv show is on) and my heart gets going. 

Last night I was even feeling it in my arms. I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror, and while I admit I looked a bit silly, my arms looked insanely awesome. The handle and swinging motions, you see, make it an upper body workout too.I felt so good last night that I decided to do some push ups. Usually I do them girly-style because Kevin says I do them wrong the real way. But not last night. I did 5 perfect push ups - twice! Maybe ten doesn't sound like a lot, but my butt wasn't sticking up and my nose was a jut a few inches from the floor. They felt good and in my head they looked good too.

I'm already seeing better definition in my legs and I've been jumping for a few days now. But it's motivation enough for me!

Clearly, I just needed a jump start!

I DID IT!!!

In case you missed it - last weekend I walked 60 miles in 3 days.  Can you believe it? I hardly can!!!

Honestly, I have never dedicated myself to a physical activity like I did with the 3-Day.  Besides raising the required $2300 (thank you for all of your help, ladies!!!!), I had to train for months in order to get my body prepared for the endurance it would need to succeed. 

My training started exactly 6 months ago, on February 15. I walked 3.2 miles that day - which seemed so long at the time! Overall, I walked 276 miles in my training - and the hardest weekend was the weekend I walked 18 miles on Saturday and 15 miles Sunday.  I burned calories like crazy, altered my eating to fuel my walks and learned a lot about long-term workouts and nutrition.

There were 1600 walkers in Chicago with me last weekend. Many, however, weren't as dedicated to walking every step as I was.  They were cool taking what's called a Sweeper Van to camp once they got time.  For me, however,  it was about proving something to myself. 

And I did :-)

I officially believe I have what it takes to be an athlete. No one up there knew I used to weigh 195 pounds. For them, this is who I am and they saw me as fit enough to finish the course. Whenever I attempted physical activity in the past, particularly in the heat, people constantly came up to me asking if I was ok (heavy breathing tends to be a sign of issues, I guess). But it wasn't until I was limping on Day Three that someone felt the need to ask me. I guess, I really have come a long way.

When I arrived in Chicago, I was shocked to hear that I would probably GAIN weight from the walk. I was even more shocked when I got home the following Tuesday and realized that they were right - I'd gained a pound!

Weird, right? I didn't believe them when they told me. I figured I knew enough about the right foods to eat to fuel my body correctly without gaining weight. I tracked the foods I was eating at each pit stop along the 22+mile route we walked on Day One. When I found myself with blurry vision and cold in 88-degree weather, I realized I was wrong.

The more I thought about it, however, it more sense it made.

1. I was drinking at least 200 ounces of water each day.
2. I was eating something salty and sweet at every pit stop to fuel my body (though I skipped the potato chips and opted for the pretzels).
3. I ate carb-heavy meals all three days.
4. I didn't have a bm (ahem) after the morning of the first day until Tuesday of this week.
5. My muscles were freaking out by Day 3 - and barely holding me up - I know they were sucking up water faster than Sadie after a 5-mile walk.

Looking at the pictures from each day, I can definitely see my face getting puffier and puffier as the days progressed.  So, it makes sense. I'm just hoping things work themselves out by next Weigh Day.

In the mean time, any cardio activity I've wanted to do this week was put on hold by a slight injury from the 3-Day. My nail beds were extremely sensitive after all that walking. When my friend's dog jumped on my foot, I nearly lost my toenail! As it is, the nail bed is very bruised and I am only just now able to walk on it without limping.

More lessons learned

In the mornings, while I eat breakfast and get mentally ready for the day, I read a lot about health, fitness and weight loss. I wouldn't call myself an expert by any means, but I have really learned a lot the past 6 months.

One thing: as you lose weight, you burn less calories naturally. The guide I've read the most says to take your weight and multiply it by ten to get the number of calories you burn in a day. For me that would be 1738. Add more calories if you are pretty active. This gives you the number of calories you should be eating to maintain your current weight. Eat less to lose.

But the most interesting fact I've learned while reading up on all of this is that cardio work isn't enough. Many people think that the only way to lose weight is to do lots of cardio, but that just isn't the case. We've got to work on muscle building as well.

Myself, I am afraid of gaining muscle because I know it weighs more than fat and I'm afraid it will make me even bigger. But that's silly talk. Every mythbuster article I've read addresses that exact myth!

The more muscle we have, the more calories we burn. So, as we lose weight, we need to be working on increasing my muscle mass through strength training. This is also important because women lose muscle mass as they get older unless they work to fight the loss.