calories

Last week I made, what I felt, was a pretty intense laundry list of working out. Added to my work week, I was pretty uncertain about whether or not I’d be able to do it. Well, I managed to make my goals- better yet- I surpassed my goals!
Goal: 2 hours on elliptical
Accomplished: 2 hours 10 minutes
Goal: 2 weights workouts
Accomplished: 4 workouts totaling 80 minutes of weights/floor work
Goal: run 2-4 miles
Accomplished: Ran 3.7 miles in 40 minutes
Goal: Bonus walks
Accomplished: 2 walks totaling about 60 minutes of walking & spent the afternoon at a public pool
The grand total is 310 minutes, or 5 hours, 10 minutes of intentional working out this week! I feel pretty proud- and sore.
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This week’s goals:
2 hours elliptical
3 weight/floor sessions
1 run of any length
Bonus walks
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Yesterday we ran about 2.4 miles on our regular route and I wanted to work some altitude into the day so we went a different route than usual for the last 1.3. The route takes us down a super steep hill and then loops us up a similarly steep hill. We ran down the first steep hill, which was pretty intense. There was a huge amount of joint impact, and I was a little worried about my hips/knees/ankles, but I didn’t really have a tough time or pain and really just enjoyed allowing gravity to carry me down the hill while I worked my legs as fast as I could for the anaerobic power! On the way up the hill, we did a few running intervals, but my heart-rate stayed pretty high the whole time and I didn’t feel a real need to push too hard. It was a great workout that I need to repeat. My thighs and behind are SORE today!
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It just occurred to me that I get worried about working out in my anaerobic zone too much. Remember one of my New Years goals? Yeah. It’s to build muscle. When do you build muscle? Oh, yeah. In the anaerobic zone. What will happen if I build muscle? Oh, yeah. I’ll burn more calories just by having the muscle because muscle burns more calories than fat!
Duh.
I can lose fat through diet and exercise while also building muscle through exercise.
Double duh.
Just exercise. Do it, right? Good things will happen.
Sometimes I’m so silly.

Benefit number 99 of diet bet:
I don’t know about anyone else, but it takes a real fitness accomplishment for me to post a workout on Facebook without feeling like a complete tool. One of the nicest things about diet bet is that you are all there for the same reason- to lose weight! We are also all there for accountability- why else would you risk money by betting against yourself to lose weight? So the community is incredibly supportive and friendly! I posted this, yesterday (obviously before I finished everything) just to see what kind of response I would get. Tickle me pink, look what happened!
A friend I have made through diet bet (who is one pound away from a grand total of 100 pounds lost – YAHOO, Michael!) hosts a bet every month and he invited me to join the February bet. I’m totally onboard for that, so if anyone wants in on that bet, keep an eye out and I’ll post the details as it gets closer and I learn more.

I just wanted to post this link to a website that does a really nice job with a calorie burn calculator. Whenever I’m curious, I head over there to double check my burn. I read somewhere that this is a really good one, so I thought I would share it.
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Tamara Shazam is undergoing a makeover… Sneaker peek:

Coming soon!