Sunday, August 14, 2011

Sunday: 525 calories

Today, in lieu of going to the gym to take a class, I went for an hour-long hike up a steep hill. My lower calf muscles were killing me - so much for thinking those dance workouts were magic. ;) The hike burned 525 calories according to my heart rate monitor - 2/3 of those calories on the way uphill. ;)

Total this week: 7051

GOAL MET!

I don't plan to do this crazy goal again this week since I've got jury duty, but I am hoping to catch at least one class/hour-long-workout every day. :)

Saturday, August 13, 2011

YAAAAAAAAY STEPS!!!

OK, so I know I've mentioned this in the past - for the last few years, I've been wearing a pedometer every day and aiming for that elusive 10,000 steps a day (the amount that is generally considered a baseline for good health).

In 2008, I walked 3,748,400 steps - 10,241 average per day.
In 2009, I walked 3,836,700 steps - 10,511 average per day.
In 2010, I walked 3,011,694 steps - 8,251 average per day.

Clearly, I had issues last year. ;) New job, new house, surgery recovery - just a lot of excuses. I did get my butt in gear near the end of the year, but I was averaging less than 60% for the first 8 months, so that was pretty insurmountable.

This year, things were kinda falling into the same bad pattern. Got laid off at the end of March and found myself walking even less, and then thankfully a friend pushed me into going with her to some dance workout classes. And this month, I have pushed things into gear...

monthtotal stepsaverage steps per daynumber of steps ahead/behind of pace
January295,1009,519-14,900
February209,7007,489-85,200
March228,0007,355-167,200
April183,3006,110-283,900
May421,20013,587-176,200
June339,30011,310-136,900
July322,90010,416-124,000

As of today, I have hit 255,000 steps for the month (that's more in 13 days than I did in the entire individual months of February, March and April!)... and that, my friends, has brought me back up to pace! I'm actually 1,000 steps ahead of pace. ;) I have to hope that the weight will eventually fall into line with all of this working out and walking.

Hooray for catching up to pace. 2,251,000 steps done so far, 1,399,000 to go.

Saturday: 740 calories

Kickass dance workout this morning, but then got distracted into chores and other such fun things. ;) 740 calories during the class.

Total this week: 6526

Friday, August 12, 2011

Friday: 649 calories

Only one dance workout today... 649 calories.

Total this week: 5786

Thursday, August 11, 2011

Thursday: 907 calories

Did a dance workout tonight (yep, got picked for jury duty, so this will cut down on my classes next week...), but I did get out for a 45 minute walk during the lunch break. 620 calories in the dance workout, and Sparkpeople says 287 for that walk, so I'll count that (couldn't wear my heart rate monitor through the metal detectors!). 907 for the day.

It's going be tough to wrap up 7000 calories by Sunday, but I'm hoping for a dance workout Friday night, one more Saturday morning, and then a long walk Saturday afternoon, and maybe another dance workout Sunday morning if I can get my stuff together.

Total this week: 5137

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Wednesday: 1075 calories

2 more dance workouts today - 492 in one, 583 in the other. 1075 for the day.

I've been summoned for jury duty tomorrow(!), but hopefully I'll still be able to join a dance workout in the evening.

Total this week: 4230 calories

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Tuesday: 1100 calories

2 more dance workouts tonight - I'm definitely learning the classes & instructors I like the most. ;) I should've burned a lot more calories, but in the first class, I was too crowded to move a lot, and the second class, I really didn't care for the music or the moves. Ugh! At least I stuck it out?

Total this week: 3155 calories

Monday, August 8, 2011

Monday: 2055 calories

3 dance workouts today - 766, 454 and 835 calories burned (the 835 is my highest for a 60 minute class!) - so we're at 2055 for the week!

I overdid it a little today because I know it'll be a challenge to get a class in each day for the rest of the week - but I'm going to try!

New goal for the week: 7000 calories burned

Trying something different - I'm only weighing myself on Wednesdays (the day I always record my weight, back from the ol' Weight Watchers weigh-ins). So instead of focusing on my weight, I'm focusing on something I can actually impact: exercise. I joined 24 Hour Fitness last week, and made it to several classes.

This week, my goal is to burn 7,000 calories in classes (according to my heart rate monitor). Of course, if you do the basic math, that *should* result in a two pound weight loss, too (3500 calories = 1 pound). I'm going to also go back to tracking what I eat in sparkpeople.com - I'm sure my calories consumed have been out of whack lately.

Today is Monday, and I've gone to two classes this morning already! ;) 766 in one and 454 in another - 1,220 to start! Woo!