Back and at'em!!!

[crazycanuck]

Hi everyone! Former TT er here who let my membership lapse. I completed the 4th contest, and was known back then as canuckgal. (My entry is on page 3 or 4 of the final entries thread). As a bit of background, I am a busy mom...homeschooling 2 kids (ages 10 and 7) and work part time as a labor and delivery and postpartum/inpatient surgery/day surgery nurse. Home workouts are perfect for me!

Despite not having had a membership lately, I do pop into Craig's blog from time to time. I have spent the last almost year and a half doing only kettlebell work, and admit I am getting a bit bored and a bit aimless. I was thrilled to see on Craig's blog in the last few days a discount for a one year platinum membership. I have just been given some money for Christmas (thanks gramma!) and have put it to this use.

Here goes...I am committing to a contest. I have had a 20lb weight loss almost 2 1/2 yrs ago now and have mostly been able to maintain it, but I am experiencing some pounds creeping on (like about 8 now...due to my exercise habits slipping greatly since the summer and the diet not being so great due to stress).

I recall from my last foray into TT Craig mentioning over and over how important accountability is and the social support for weight loss. I totally agree! I really sense myself slipping in my former unhealthy habits, and I think the accountability of a contest will really help me!

Looking forward to "meeting" and working with all of you! Let's go!

Tina

[missrobyn007]

Good to see you again Tina,,, welcome back. So true about the accountability. I ended up finishing and entering TC #9 only because of an encouraging email I received from Dax Moy and a wrap over the knuckles from Jason, one of the other finalists. I'll look forward to posting with you.

Cheers for now,

Robyn.

[ma]

Hey Tina, one of my favourite people is back...Good to see you here on the boards Tina, so wish you luck with the contest I know you will do great.....
Haven't been posting much lately, soooooo busy and then last Thursday came down with the flu, it is going through the Y like crazy.....Feeling good now, so
gotta get busy and finish my Xmas baking etc.....Shopping all done, just wrapping left....

Talk soon
Cheers
Ma

[crazycanuck]

Originally Posted by ma

Hey Tina, one of my favourite people is back...Good to see you here on the boards Tina, so wish you luck with the contest I know you will do great.....
Haven't been posting much lately, soooooo busy and then last Thursday came down with the flu, it is going through the Y like crazy.....Feeling good now, so
gotta get busy and finish my Xmas baking etc.....Shopping all done, just wrapping left....

Talk soon
Cheers
Ma

Thanks Ma! It's great to be back! I'm getting excited already about the social support.

Getting ready for Christmas (off this year, mostly, except for 4hrs work on boxing day. Worked night shift on Xmas last year, although most patients are discharged and it is usually quiet).

Just deciding in the next few days what workouts to use. I've been printing off things like mad! O my, platinum membership is great, Craig has soooo much stuff! I am leaning more to a circuit type workout like March Madness or something, don't know if I want to mass build. I also need to build my legs up a bit....kettlebell work like i have been doing (some structured press and swing programs, snatches, etc) has made me pretty back and hamstring dominant and have helped my endurance, but to the expense of some of my leg strength...when I took the kids sledding last week my quads were screaming at me LOL!

I'll have to pop over to the workout journals and check out what you have been doing!

Tina

[crazycanuck]

Time to post the stats and make it official! I am going to take photos tomorrow (27th) as there is no paper today. I want to set some goals for myself here today though.


Category: female over 40 (well, not 40 yet, but b-day in a few weeks, so will be a few months over 40 by contest end LOL!)

height 5'7"
weight 136lb
chest 34"
waist (narrowest) 29"
belly (2" below belly button) 33"
hips 37"
thighs 21"

Oh. My. God. Eeek...compared to my TT 4 finish. 'Nuff said!

workout plans:
#1 TT intermediate from the main TT manual (as I have only done kettlebell work and have been away from this type of lifting for over a year now). Kettlebells and/or jump rope + bodyweight circuits for cardio with this workout as I train at home.

#2 undecided as of yet between Jacked and Lean, TT2k10, or TT circuit training (2008)

#3 Bodyweight cardio version 3.0 Looks like a brutal effective finisher!


My goals (Physical, lifestyle, nutritional)

**to get back towards my TT contest 4 end weight (about 126lb...8-10lb loss)
**2" off waist, 1-2" off hips if possible
**do all pushups on my toes by contest end in any given set
**increase the weights used for any given exercise by at least b/w 25-50% by end of the 4 week workout

**develop personal routines/habits that contribute to my success:
--I will plan my intake on paper each day.
--cut back on caffeine use by subbing Yerba Mate tea or green tea, with Stevia
--get about 8 hrs sleep each 24hr period (around my shiftwork of course)
--write out inspirational quotes and memorize mantras to help me in hard moments

--deal with impulse and stress-fatigue-on the run eating:
*eat SITTING DOWN ONLY, not out of a box standing up!!!
*brush teeth/chew gum/drink water if tempted
*have pre prepped snacks ready
*WRITE out menus for the next day before bedtime
*for cheat meal or treat must go buy it...don't keep temptation at home!

--don't eat past 7-8pm
--get everything organized for my workout the night before...weights planned on paper,
dumbbells set up, etc

Nutrition...this was a tough one. I did Eat Stop Eat last time, but really I think I overcompensated on some of my non fasting days, thus negating my calorie deficit. I am planning to change my fast times to supper to supper so I can eat a moderate calorie meal and then go to bed...previously I fasted noon to noon, but I think the lunch-snack-supper-snack after cancelled out the fast! Sooo....plan is to do Isabel de Los Rios' Nutrition for advanced abs program for the first several weeks as a radical jump start and to assess what effect taking out most grains has, then do 2 days per week of ESE.

My overall goal is fat loss, and I am in that "last 5-10 pounds to lose" category. After TT #4 I attempted to eat more and drop intervals and "bulk up" a bit, but I didn't like how I felt after several weeks doing this. So, this focus on fat loss this contest will be interesting for me. I also have possibly a wedding to go to in Bermuda in mid spring, so it would be great to be out on the beach after doing TT!

As I said I will take photos tomorrow, and start those workouts. I'll post them into this post later this week once I can figure out how to size them down.

Looking forward to this ride with you all! Here's to the next 12 weeks!

Tina

[GillianM]

Great goals.

Good luck in TC10 : )

[crazycanuck]

(These were taken Dec 27/10)

Spent yesterday prepping some groceries for the week...making homemade yoghurt, some brown rice, hummus, and steel cut oats to use for "post workout" meals, chopping/peeling veggies, etc. I am following the Advanced Abs Nutrition for several weeks then ESE.


It may seem like a pain in the butt to plan/prep all this, but I can already see how much it will help me as I have really been doing some eating on the run/standing-in-front-of-the-fridge munching! I actually taped the following to the inside of my fridge frame..."The pain of discipline is far less severe than the pain of regret". Come to think of it, I need to tape this in my basement workout area too!

Aaaannnnd....had my 10 yr old take my photos...she was so patient LOL! To say I am mortified by these photos (when I compare this to my TT 4 finish pics, where I was almost 10lb lighter) is an understatement! WHAT an eye opener for me. Although I was still exercising quite regularly all year 3x a week, it is obvious to me by looking at these that you can't out-train a bad diet as they say...I really started gaining in the early summer and my lax-ness has caught up with me--as they say a camera doesn't lie!

Today I will do the TT intermediate workout A from the main manual, and get back to you all tonight about it. I have not done dumbell type lifting for a year now. So I'll go conservative on the weight for now.

Here we go...pushing "submit reply"....!

Tina

[crazycanuck]

Warmup 2x through, 30 sec rest between:

12 prisoner squats
8 pushups
12 stability ball leg curls.

DB split squat warmup 10lb db's x8, 15lb db's x8, then 20lb Db's 3 sets of 8
DB incline press warmup 10lb DB's x8, 15lb Db's x8, then 20lb DB's 3 sets of 8

Stability ball leg curl 3 sets 15
pushup kneeling 3 sets 15 (humbled by having to do all on knees)

stability ball jacknife 3 sets 10
DB rear delt raise 7.5lb 3 sets of 10

intervals (using Craig's 31 interval workouts for ideas...no treadmill/bike/gym access)
--200 KB swings for time (26lb/12kg bell)...sets of 25, done in 7:41

Normally, I can swing a 35lb one 20 swings at the top of each min for 15-20 min straight, but NOT after doing a TT workout! This 26lb was more then enough!

I am sure I will feel this workout tomorrow! Have used muscles I haven't used in awhile.



Tina

[minexdy1013]

Hi Tina...welcome back!!! Good to see familiar faces coming back. Great to see you here.

Wish you the best of success with TC10! Will be supporting you all the way!!

[northpolechick]

Congrats on getting those all important motivational type photos up... nope you weren't alone today :-)

Good job in getting the work out done, and redetermining your eating habits to clean clean clean!

I was quite astonished at my photos as well... knew I was a pack rat, but whoa!!! didn't know I had quite that much junk in the trunk :-D
so we begin again, and know we've done it before and can do it again!

Looking forward to getting to know you while we go on this adventure!