Pain for Gain?

I am sure that everyone has heard that expression, no pain, no gain.  This is true!  I am not describing injury pain, but when I workout it hurts.  My muscles burn and I sweat!  My face, neck and extremities all turn a blotchy red.  Usually, the pain is worst the first 10 or 15 min of my workout.  Blessedly, my body loosens up and it feels...good.  I though I would post more detailed descriptions of my workouts today.  I just started doing Crossfit (which is HARD!!) but also do circuits in rotations. 

Crossfit: 
60 kipping pull ups (or jump pull ups)
60 ball-toss squats
60 full sit ups
100 lunges (broken into 25's with different arm/ball movements)
50-60 dead lift+over head
100 Mt climbers
30 min Cardio interval

Circuit 1: (as many as possible in an hour)* Right now I can do a circuit in 3:20-3:40. 
10 burpies
20 lunges (two types of arms)
10 ball toss squats
20 sit ups
30 seconds jump rope
25 punches
rest 30 seconds, do it again

Circuit 2: variation
10 burpies
10 mt climbers
20 lunges (two types of arms)
20  long jumps
20 sit ups
30 seconds jump rope
25 punches
rest 30 seconds, do it again as fast as possible

For interval cardio days I try for 5 min on medium and 5 min at an all out run.  I also alternate cardio with the elliptical and P90X cardio videos at home for at least an hour.  I have a "consultation" with the nutritionist tomorrow for a recheck.  I may also purchase an exerspy which should help me keep track of intake/outtake more accurately.  I am debating taking before/after pics...Yuck. 

Currently..

One of the many things I need to learn is that input/output need to stay a priority despite the changes that come along in my life.  Several years ago I weighed 205 lbs.  I was eating wrong, not moving, and ignoring my PCOS.  Obviously that did not work well for me.  I started working with a trainer at Gold’s Gym named Steve.  Together we worked on nutrition and an exercise regimen.  Over about 6-8 months I dropped down to 143 lbs.   I felt great and could easily maintain that weight with exercise and a healthy diet.  I maintained that weight for several more years, and then I started at ISU and quit serving.  I basically went from disciplined to not and big surprise gained weight.  My weight was back up to 179 lbs (ouch!) and 36 days ago I decided to really do something. 

I am working with a nutritionist from Boise who is helping me eat for PCOS.  I am amazed at how many foods slipped back into my diet that I once knew not to eat.  Potatoes, butter, processed foods ~ come on!! I know better than that, or did at one time.  I have no excuses.  I just got lazy about watching my diet and regularly exercising. 

So here is my current plan:

Eating: 4*day, 1400 cal, divided into strict categories: 10 g or less of fat, 30g carbs per meal and 35g protein per meal.  What does that look like?  3 oz sweet potato and 6 oz of chicken breast, 4 oz of long grain brown rice and 6 oz of chicken, 6 egg whites and 1/2 c oat meal.  I can have coffee w/ no sugar or milk and water.   I have mostly cut lactose from my diet, too.  Amazing how much better I feel!

Exercise: 6*week: 2 days regular cardio, 2 days interval cardio, 2 days crossfit.

Results to date: two weeks ago I had lost 11 inches around my body and dropped in body fat % by 5 or so percent.  My next “check up” is in two weeks.  I am hoping for similar results.

Speaking of which, I need to go move!

PCOS and why I am writing

2009, MT, gained some lbs, but not as many as I now need to drop.

I have to start some place, so of course I stole someone’s story.  Well, actually just the tag line in their story because it fit me.  I am the token cute cubby girl in the room of "normal" women.   I have always been “that” girl.  Reader, you know the one; nice, fun and cute, part of the crowd but no one is sure why.  

Top of Mt Beirstadt, CO

You see, I am different from other women and always have been.  When other little girls played dolls and dress up, I played Lewis and Clark adventures or built castles in willows.  Anything they (boys) could do, I could do better, or at least keep up.  Girls were fine companions, as long as we played the games I wanted.  But boys, they did things, which was so much more exciting than play with dolls.  The types of physical movement that define boys and men fascinated me and I imitated their glorious, free physicality.  I played softball, soccer, volley ball, lifted weights, swam swim team, fenced, danced hip hop and tap, and XC and downhill skiing.  My closest friends throughout my youth were boy and then young men.  My comrades nicknamed me “Tuff” and slapped me on the back. 

          

Around that same time I noticed that my male friends were interested in girls as more than “buddies.”  So I watched and learned to imitate this new social behavior.  I remember thinking of myself as a chameleon.  I had some great boyfriends, but none I could compete with and keep.  I pulled back and joined the rank and file of Femininity.  I denied myself the greatest pleasure, movement.  

While on the surface I was all that a feminine girl should be, I longed for physicality.  In my young twenties, I noticeably began grow dark hair in places I did not want it and lose it in places it needed to stay!  I also gained weight.  The Doc chalked it up to genes and funny syndrome called PCOS.  The most important thing about PCOS is that a woman’s body produces testosterone which interferes with, well everything.  Here are just a few of the fun side effects: facial hair, dark body hair, alopecia, insulin resistance, IBS, infertility, acne, weight gain, and slow metabolism.  For most women this syndrome is something they “manage” and “overcome” or “beat.” I am managing the side effects, but I love me just the way I am, whiskers and all. 

2010, Me looking perturbed about holding a fussy kiddo.  What do you do with them?!

So, bottom line this blog is about me because I need an outlet.  I adore my female friends, but I crave adventure, physical movement, and lots of other things to which I choose not to subject my female friends.   I am different, which is ok.  I am louder, have more testosterone, and tend to like activities that are decidedly un-domestic.  I admire and sometimes envy other women living within the space society advocates for women.  I know there are lots of other women that feel as I do, and I recognize that every woman is an individual.  No one fits in a box.  However, this is blog is about my perspective and about how I feel I fit or do not fit into stereotypical roles. (So if your offended, too bad.  This is not personally about you). This is my space to write about my very real struggles with weight and fulfilling myself while still fostering growth with others.