My body's Factory Warranty must have ran out

I know, it's been FOREVER since I blogged. I will do better cause starting in June I'm going to have more time to do so.  That and I'm also reviving my YouTube channels too

But anyway back in very late Feb I went in for my Well Woman doctor visit.  Oh boy.  Just the thrill of my life.

Then a few days later, cause I needed to be fasting, I went in for lab work.

Well, all my results came back and they SUCKED.  My fasting blood sugar 131. My A1C, 6.7 Both high enough to put me on the WRONG side of the Type 2 diabetes line.  Ok, not by much but still WTF.

Then my pap results came back. I tested positive for HPV and a kind that has been shown to cause cervical cancer.  Great. 

I went in for a biopsy just to make sure the results were not a false positive and they were not a false positive, but a real positive.  Yippie. We'll talk about what to do about all this at my follow up in early June. 

So I'm now on Ozempic for my blood sugars, and to help me lose weight cause I'm quite overweight.  Or I was.  I'm now down 17lbs which is great.  Still overweight, but I'm seeing numbers on my scale I've not seen in over 3 years, closer to 4years.   Lost over 2inches off my waist, which is so great.  And today I put a shirt on and I didn't have nearly the bra roll. I mean it was so nice. I felt like "I don't look half bad"

So now I'm like "just wait until I get another 2-3 inches off my waist, I'm gonna be a hot grandma"

I also had a uterine ablation done May 8.  I'll spare you the details but I hope I am done with the "am I gonna bleed to death" periods.

And I'm also trying to be patient as I wait for the USPS to deliver these to my mailbox.

Cathe's STS 2.0  Heavy weight training and mobility work all in one set of DVDs.  Been waiting for them for a while, like since Dec.  But they are in the mail now and I'm trying to be patient.  Watched the preview clips from her YouTube channel several times.  Here, I'll put in a link to her channel in case you want to check it out.

Cathe's YouTube channel  She's really a great fitness instructor and I love her videos. 

I promise you'll be seeing me blog more often.  

New Year, New Shoes, Same Me

Yep, it's a new year, but the same me.  Only I'd like this same me to be smaller in a year than I am starting this year.  Been spinning my wheels for a while.  Lose 5lbs, gain it back.  Lose 4lbs, gain it back.  Workout 2 days, take 5 off.  Repeat for a couple years. 😞   

And all this time, I'm not getting any healthier, if anything I'm getting LESS healthy.  Cause being overweight like I am is not healthy.   I want to be around for a very very long time.  I'm 52 now.  I'd like to make it well into my 90s,  And not just alive.  I want to be active vibrant 95 year old.   

While doing some reading online about starting over for fitness, staying motivated, setting good habits, etc. I found these for sale.

 

Yes,  Wonder Woman Reebok Nanos.   I already have these.

But I just had to have the new ones too.   

SO...

I got them.   And they feel great on my feet when I wore them the other day.

I also did this:

It's time to start really tracking calories, macros and use this as a tool to get healthier.   I've used the free version a long time ago, but went back to MFP cause.  But MFP ticked me off putting the barcode scanner behind the paywall so I quit them.  

And now comes the "what workout to do"  I know it really doesn't matter as long as I do something, but really, it always comes down to these two programs

Year One Challenge for Women or

Cathe's STS

I need to really decide.  I'm leaning towards doing STS, then maybe Cathe's STS 2.0 will be out when I'm done so I can move into that, then this summer. maybe around the time I turn 53, I can start YOC.

And I'll change my mind 100 times between now and the weekend. 😜

I've got 2 months to get my sh*t together before the end of the year.

 Where has 2022 gone?  How did it become

already?  I mean maybe June but not November.

This year has just flown by or I sure think so.

So I've got about 2 months to get my shit together and try and get a few pounds off.  Cause I tried to put on my jeans I wear while out riding my horses today, and I couldn't get them on. 😭  And they were always just a little loose cause I prefer looser jeans while riding horses cause they are more comfy.

Guess this 10lbs I put on this year was the straw that broke the camel's back and put me out of my jeans. 

And now I'm feeling kind of down about it all.  Why did I allow myself to get this big?  Its just got me kind of down on myself to be honest.

So what can I expect to do in 2 months time?  I mean this is kind of the worst 2 months to try with the holidays coming up, winter coming up, lack of sunshine for a couple months coming up.

I've managed to lose 1.9lbs in Oct, which is ok.  I had plenty of cheats in Oct. And missed a few workouts.  Might have been a lot more had I had a little fewer cheats and hit a couple more workouts, but well, it's still progress. 

But I've still got a long way to go. I really want to lose about 50lbs, but in reality if I lost 30-35lbs I'd be mostly satisfied. But right now, I want to drop the 10lbs I put on. Only 8 left to go and I bet my jeans will fit again.

I really need to start doing more core work again.  No I don't think I can magically shrink my waist by doing core work, but I do think it would help my mild back ache at the end of a long day. 

So for the rest of the week I'm going to make a workout plan with using Cathe, the Firm, Les Mills  and Peloton with maybe a little Jari Love and whatever else I have laying around my workout DVD collection. I will pick a couple of them to do, plus add in a spin class or two, and get my workouts planned.

And maybe by the start of 2023, I'll be 4-8lbs closer to my goal. 

Goodbye MyFitness Pal!

 Goodbye!

Don't know if you've heard, but My Fitness Pal is trying to shoot themselves in the foot.  They have been a mostly free app for more than a decade. They had a big chunk of the app free with a paid subscription which gave you access to things like setting your macros by gram.   I've used it off and on for at least a decade.   I think I started using it off and on about 2010 or so, maybe 2011, I'm not sure.

Anyway, the point being, they got bought out by a corporation who decided to ruin it.  First they packed it with a bunch of ads, which ok, I know they need to make money but still, the ads were just in the way and would pop up in between putting  in my food.

Then the barcode scanner, which has been part of the free app since they came out with the barcode scanner, they now have it in the paid subscription.  WTF.  NO!  Bad app.

And they jacked up the yearly price too.  Again NO!  BAD APP.  Now maybe if it were really cheap, like 20 bucks for a year, I might.  But no, its like 100 bucks a year.  Again, BAD APP.  Oh, they have a  "discount" which brings it down to $80 a year.    Have you seen inflation?  Not paying that much just for a barcode scanner.

So I've been trying new apps, ones I can use the barcode scanner for free on.  

First up in a day or so, Cronometer. 

Having second thoughts.

 I'm having second thoughts on starting STS in Oct.

I've been really looking at my book that I have that came with STS and I'm pretty sure I'm not ready for it at this point.   I've just let myself go way to much to think I could do this rotation at this point in my fitness revival.  I think I'd burn myself out and I'd quit early. Esp with the first 4 weeks Meso,  It's very fast paced, with very little rest in between sets. 

So, instead, I'm going to utilize these two streaming sites, well, these three streaming sites.

This is Cathe's site where you can access pretty much every workout she's ever made, plus she puts out 1 live workout every week unless of course she's sick or injured.  And a couple hours, you can get that on demand,  She's got over 400 workouts on her demand, so I think it's worth it.

And this, which I've only used a few times since signing up.

I have a blog a few back that talks about this.

And then of course my 

I've not been using this as much as I should.  I need to get my full money's worth and then some,  Yes I've been doing a little walking on the treadmill and I use the meditation on the app  quite a bit, esp. the sleep meditation.  But I need to use more of it all.

So this week I'm going to make up a rotation that uses these.  I want to get good use of all my streaming sites, so making up a rotation that puts workouts from each site is probably the way to go.  I'll put it in my workout planner, and just do it.  

I'm also going to spend time redoing my fitness planner.  I have things I want to start tracking beyond just my workouts.  I will start tracking calories and then eventually macros and I can put my number in my planner.  I want to get back to tracking my sleep. 

So I guess I have a few things to do that will help me work toward getting fit.  Once I kind of get my planner set up, I'll snap a pic or two and post it.

Back to Cathe I go

 Yep, I'm going to start STS (again) by Cathe Friedrich in Oct.

I started it last Nov but a death in the family threw me for a loop for a while.  Oh, I could have gotten back to it after a couple weeks, but I just didn't.  My bad.

A quick recap on what STS is.

STS stands for Shock Training System.  Cathe Friendrich, a fitness instructor who has been making fitness videos for years, decades actually and she's one of my favorite instructors ever.  STS has 3 4week mesocycles, each a little different.  Meso 1 is endurance based.  Lots of reps, light weights, very little rest time.  Meso 2 is more muscle building longer rest periods, more weight and a little less reps.  And meso 3 is strength,  Long rest periods, heavy weights, and a little fewer reps.  Meso 3 is the one I really am looking forward to.  Meso 1 not so much. 

Oh and another thing about it, there is a new DVD for every workout.  40 in all cause for meso 3 she made different leg workouts.  One set for those like me, who have squat racks or ways of getting heavy weights  up for squats and another set that's plyo based, for those who don't have squat racks, or for those who prefer that style of workout.

And yes, I'm picking STS for my workout cause Cathe is filming STS 2 as we speak, or as I right.

Here's the first picture she posted from the first day of filming she was doing today.

This is from a full body workout, and she says she's got 65lbs on the bar.  I'm excided to see hip thrusts cause it really builds up the glutes. I'm wondering if this is a high reps workout cause I usually use 135lbs for this move when I'm doing 3 sets of 8-10 reps.  But if its a lot of reps, I'll need to drop weight of course.

I low key hope that around the time I'm done doing STS that STS 2 will be about ready to go, but I doubt that will happen.  But I can hope, right?

And I'll be getting back on this.  

I'd like to hit it 1-2 times a week.

Something I have been doing that is helping me out is 2-3 times a week in the morning I get on this.

Now I only do 15-20 mins, but its enough to get the blood flowing, and my step count up a nice amount.  I do think its been good for me to get up and moving in the mornings a little more.

So in Oct, I'm taking new "Before" pictures, and we'll see what STS does for me. 

Well, I did this

I have made goals and some plans.  For the next 2 1/2 months, until Nov, I'm going to use my workout DVDs, VHS (yes I still have VHS and a player) and my streaming , like Cathe on Demand, and Peloton for my workouts.  Plus when Mother Nature decides to settle the temps down, go for a few walks here and there.  

And while on Facebook I've been seeing ads for this

About 3 years ago, I signed up for this, and used it a few times.  Then we moved to our rural home, with our crappy internet, and I couldn't ever get this to stream.   

But now I've got GOOD internet I decided to look for some great deals.

And I found one.  Pay for a year and it is literally 5 bucks a month.  If I used it once or twice a month, I figure I've got my money's worth,

So guess what I did.  Yep, signed up for a year.  Today, I'm going to do my first workout using Les Mills on Demand.  I'm thinking a Body Pump, like a 30 min workout then do 15 min or so on the treadmill. 

Now I said I'm going to do this style of workouts until Nov.  Well, in Nov I'm going to get back to heavy weight lifting. Eat a little more cause well, holidays lol, and lift heavy.  Build as much muscle as I can for 3-4 months.  Then maybe around March go back to lighter weights, eat a little less and take off more fluff.

I'm also planning on doing more outside walks.  My oldest granddaughter is going to 3 year old pre-school this year, so we'll only have the 1 year old in the mornings, so I think I'll load her up in the stroller 2-3 mornings a week and go for a walk, then pick the oldest up from pre-school, and go home for a nice lunch.  So let's hope that we have a nice fall this year cause I do want to spend time out walking. It always made me feel better.  And in the evenings, do one of my streaming or DVD workouts. 

Next blog I'll show some goal setting sheets and a new planner I might buy for 2023.