{Readers' Workouts} Don't Forget To Eat Your Protein!

Once again, I've decided to join in on Joy's Readers' Workouts link-up. I keep hearing that one of the best ways to ensure that you stick with a weight-loss habit is to talk about it with others, and since this blog and my readers are important to me, I thought that I'd try sharing my progress with all of you.

As I mentioned in my last post, I've been going to a gym for fitness boot-camp. So far, this has been the longest that I've ever stuck with a particular workout routine. Here's a look at some of what we did  yesterday:

Lunges, with & without dumbbells

Squats, using a 25lb weight

Lateral Raises

Front Raises

Upright Rows

Flutter Kicks, with dumbbells

Plank Walks

Running Laps

I know we did more, but I honestly do not remember the names of most of the exercises we've done. Sorry, but I just suck at that! Anywho, my biggest issue yesterday was just keeping up - I felt so light-headed during the workout, which I know is a direct result of what I ate (or didn't eat yesterday). I haven't had money for grocery shopping lately, so yesterday I had coffee for breakfast, popcorn for a snack, and udon noodles for lunch (the packaged kind - like ramen). Obviously, that's a pretty terrible meal plan for a workout day, but I definitely learned not to do it again! (Darn you, student loans!!!)

Results Thus Far: In addition to dropping a pant-size since I've started working out, I've noticed that my muscles have been toning up a LOT. When I flex my calves, all I feel is hard muscle, which is getting me pretty excited! Sadly, I haven't been seeing the numbers on the scale decrease too much, so these visual results are what have been keeping me going.

My Homework: While I'm glad that I've been sticking with my commitment to attend boot camp classes, I know that I really need to start making exercise a true habit by doing it on my own, as well. My current homework is to incorporate exercise on my "off days." Since I only have boot camp Monday thru Thursday, I'd like to try doing something on Fridays and Saturdays (I haven't yet decided if I want to keep Sundays off for rest, or do something light, like stretching). Maybe I'll just go for a jog in the park on those days. I also would like to browse through Pinterest for a 30-day challenge to complete (but nothing too strenuous, as I don't want to burn myself out or create an injury.)  I'll try putting together a plan, and I'll share what I come up with next week.

If you know of any great 30-day challenges you'd like to recommend, or have ideas for workouts I can do when I'm not at the gym, please let me know in the comments! Any ideas are greatly welcomed :)

{Readers' Workouts} My Thoughts On Fitness Boot-Camp After A Month In

So, I've seen this feature when lurking around Joy's Book Blog and decided that now that I've finally incorporated steady exercise into my life, I should give it a try and join in! For the literally years my New Years' resolutions have always been to lose weight and become fit, but I honestly have never really made any steady attempts to incorporate regular exercise into my schedule - either I'd try something for a little while and then give up, or I'd put it off in the first place.

Since it was becoming pretty obvious to me that my discipline was lacking, and I was tired of wanting to lose weight but not really doing anything about it, I decided to take my supervisor up on her offer to sign up for a Fitness Boot Camp together at a not-so-nearby gym (it's really far, guys!). The class meets four times a week, Monday through Thursday, for one hour (6 pm - 7 pm), which means that I can change right after work and go straight there (work ends at 5 pm). 

So far, I've been going for about five weeks, and I've been seeing some results! The class is mostly strength training with a bit of cardio thrown in to mix things up, and it's ladies-only, so I don't have to feel too self-conscious about myself. Even though the numbers on the scale aren't dropping as much as I'd hoped they would, I've discovered that I've gone down a pant-size, and can run further than I could when I started before running out of breath, lol!

Here's a breakdown of what we did during yesterday's workout:

Ran laps around the building

Jump-roped

Side-squats with hand-weights

Lunges with hand-weights

Flipped large tires

Performed Toe-Taps, Mountain Climbers & Push-Ups against the tires

I don't know if I left anything out, but we did a nice mixture of the above exercises, switching back and forth between each one until the hour was up. So far, my biggest challenge would be push-ups, since my form is terrible and my upper-body strength is still greatly lacking. But before this class, the only form of exercise I did was cardio (if any), so strength-training is completely new for me. I'm glad to be gaining some muscle, though - my legs already look noticeably better, haha! Now if only I could improve my diet....

Are any of you fellow readers out there incorporating exercise into your schedule? If so, how do make yourself stick with it? For me, I really need the scheduled class with a trainer that tells me what to do, otherwise I'd give up too quickly. Also, if any of you have any recommended reads for health & fitness related books, please share them in the comments below - I sure could use them!