Or just whenever I want is okay too.

Despite the punishing humidity, I've still stuck to my hour long walks Monday through Friday and I do take rest days more based on what my body tells me than forcing it if I don't need to.  Keeping in mind that I do PiYo and HIIT training every day if possible, I realize I am probably overdoing it for any hope of weight loss, but my muscles are still obviously developing (lean and mean!) under the padding and the skin is tightening so despite the snail crawl and weight fluctuation/plateauing, I still feel like this is where I should be.  When you have big weight loss goals, one of the things women always fear is the hanging skin.  As long as my skin and muscle are making healthy changes, I can wait on the weight melting away.

Oh, speaking of skin, this is an added challenge for me: I'm sun sensitive so even with sunscreen, I break out in itchy bumps out in the sun.  I get a lot of strange looks from people for walking out in 90 degree heat with 90%+ humidity wearing pants and sun sleeves, but it's a necessary evil for some additional light cardio.  Coming home to air conditioning, tall glasses of ice water and a book never felt so good.  Can't say I'm not looking forward to fall though.  I love, love, love walking when hoodie weather kicks in.  I look forward to extending my walk times just to take advantage. Sometimes I bring a camera and turn it into a more leisurely walk.  Sometimes I bring along the kids' and my 3DSs just to try to hit someone on Street Pass or at least get Play Coins.

Anyways, a rundown of weeks 1 and 2 (to present) to stay accountable...

Week 1 (8/15):
Monday: 1/2 hr. Walk, HIIT (lower), PiYo (lower), floor
Tuesday: 1 hr. Walk, HIIT (upper), PiYo (upper)
Wednesday: 1 hr walk (rest day)
Thursday: 1 hr walk + floor to test muscles
Friday: 1 hr walk, PiYo Sweat, HIIT Core
Saturday: PiYo (lower), HIIT (lower), floor
Sunday: PiYo (upper), HIIT Head to Toe

*HIIT is SPRI 900 with Ashley Borden at present.

Week 2 (8/22):
Monday: 1 hr walk, PiYo (lower), HIIT (upper)
Tuesday: 1 1/2 hour walk (rest)
Wednesday: 1 hr walk, PiYo (upper), floor
Thursday: 1 hr walk, PiYo (lower), HIIT Core
Friday: 1 hr walk (rest)
Saturday: PiYo Sweat, HIIT Head to Toe
Sunday:

Since today is Saturday and I haven't done that yet, that's still just a maybe.  Sweat and Head to Toe are super ambitious in one day, especially given the humidity is kicking my ass this week.  Still, I want to kick it up as much as I can today because when I take two semi rest days midweek, I really feel like not having walks on weekends make those challenge days for pushing it if I can.  Yes, I do intend to go more gymnastics and flexibility based over time, but at present, I really want to get muscle development in a solid place.  This will put me in a better place for muscle burn that will assist in flexibility and weight loss later.  Yoga will also take more prominence over time and I may throw in pure Pilates too although I really want to research both before deciding what specific way to go with those.  I make all choices with the three important categories at heart: flexibility, strength, cardio.  I try to balance those as well as I can.  I may not have that body to prove it yet, but I am definitely serious about developing a core of healthy habits inside and out.

Partway through week one

Day One: half hour walk, PiYo (lower body), HIIT (lower body), half hour walk, floor routine

Day Two: half hour walk, PiYo (upper body), HIIT (upper body), half hour walk, floor routine

Day Three: 1 hour walk (rest needed)

Day Four: 1 hour walk (rest needed)

Issues: forgot to wear sunscreen in the afternoon (sun allergy causing itching rash), pulled quads/glutes/lower back on HIIT lower body routine

Calorie intake rules: 1900 calorie limit on high activity days, 1400 on rest days.

Floor routine: 20 each of crunches, reverse crunches, oblique crunches, leg lifts, elevated oblique crunches (20 on each side), centered lift crunches, bicycle crunches, double crunches.  I tend to go between 40-60 oblique crunches since I find them the least difficult and like to dig in and feel those.

I also add in test stretches before workout videos to test muscle groups for persistent or sharp pains and modify accordingly.  Sometimes I push out some push-ups or tricep push-ups over the day.  Upper thigh area such as quads and glutes are actually weakest areas that need more attention, with core and shoulders being strongest at this point.  Adjust accordingly.

Hoping to get back to this set for day five:

Half hour walk, PiYo Sweat, HIIT Core, half hour walk, floor routine.

Tonight, I'll stick to floor and test stretching.  Will reblog the week on Sunday with actual schedule.  I will wait until early September to do any weighing.  Still haven't started measuring which I may just start base measurements when I resume weighing.  I realize I'm slamming exercise right now so weight loss might be disappointing with the muscle I'm putting on, but damn, I'm getting better at yoga at least.  Never thought I'd see the day again where I bend to touch the floor and am shocked that I palm it without effort.  I was a gymnast as a kid though and would love to be able to build to that fitness level again.  

I do have feminine issues that sometimes interfere with pain levels and hormones, of course, but I'm not setting out to be that honest.  I keep separate personal records for the specifics of my health issues, but I like to combine this blog with that to understand what might be causing plateaus or setbacks.  One thing I do motivate myself with is that I am only gaining strength and flexibility and endurance even when the scales aren't moving.  I am not engaging in drastic or dangerous dieting-- I know that protein, fat, carb, sugar, sodium intake is important with the demands that this activity puts on me and starvation increases the risk of injury or other health risks.  I understand that even if weight loss takes forever to kickstart, I am much healthier than where I started and have learned much and keep learning how to overcome my health challenges.  Even without pain management, nothing has proved impossible.

Getting this ass back in gear

Excited about the kids going back to school, ready to get my light cardio walks, back to the HIIT and yoga routines.  Ready to fly this time!  Getting more sleep in going to do wonders on stress levels and get this muscle working for me.  Because, damn, there is MUSCLE in there!  I'm nailing the tricep push-ups so much better now and the wrists and ankles are cooperating much better when I set my own pace and listen to my body.  I am excited to get this going on Monday!

I've learned a lot through failure and readjusting especially.  I've learned that stress can be a baffling plateau when you're doing all the right things and still not losing weight.  I've really learned that strength and flexibility are possible.  I thought for sure fibromyalgia was always going to be a huge obstacle.  Don't get me wrong; it is, but it's a hurdle or a wall not a prison.  I still wake up some days and feel like I'm at square one.  I get up and do my sets and suddenly, some of the impossible things become possible.  Everything is harder than it was; even being in better shape than I was when I was thin, my nerves and tendons and joints still gut kick me with the reality of my limitations.  With carpal tunnel, I have to really watch what my wrists are doing.  Sometimes I reach for a glass and my thumb tingles.  These things are difficult, not impossible.

I know that the Internet likes pictures but I don't promote this blog and I'll post a shit ton of those After pics.  Before pics don't motivate me.  Progress pics don't motivate me.  Results motivate me.  Whether it's the scale or the inches or bending without difficulty, I have been looking at everything and either appraising my results or making notes on improvement.  I keep a blog because I love to type and, hell, if I end up with a great story to tell, I'm promoting the hell out of it.

Either way, Monday begins the new phase of me.  I'm armed and ready for the real phase.  I've been slowly shuffling up to being healthy enough to pound out the more difficult moves.  I've been learning through pain and overdoing things where to slow down so I can recover and keep going without aggravating down time as penalty.

It's my time.  Mentally, physically, artistically.

Shapes are complex

As I build strength (and baby my volatile joints while I do) I can't help but feel that along the way, I might have been ignoring other big factors in weight loss.  For one, I can not wait until the boys go back to school on the 15th!  Having them around all day has been a real test on my nerves and hell on sleep.  I'll be glad to start walking them to and from school again.  I think we're all happier when we're not up each other's asses all day too.

And damn, but I can't wait to dedicate myself more fully to writing my books and illustrating again!  I've been dabbling at them all summer but at a real snail's crawl.  I realize that my weight loss completely came to a halt when I lost the joy and me time I had in doing things.  I've made plans to get my temps this week and learn how to drive.  I have this game plan to move to Vancouver and we all know that I'm not the only American who would like to execute an exit-stage-left if Trump actually cons his way in to the presidency.  No, I don't like Hilary either.  I've been pulling for third parties for nearly 16 years and I'm waiting for people to get with the times.  After all, it's the current year...  No, my plans are not centered around politics-- I've actually been mulling this over for the past couple years since I earned my degrees and I want to move to somewhere happier and more prosperous.  Believe me, my "love it or leave it" friends have debated my desire to leave for longer than that and they are welcome to keep wasting their breath.  I'll make them a papier mache decoy of me to continue the debate with while I'm gone.

It's not an easy decision.  I would have to leave my nephews here and try my damnedest to get set up, get their paperwork together and get hem moved up there.  As much as they drive me nuts now, I'm like any other person who becomes a real parent-- being away from them will be painful.  However, I need to get them somewhere where the biggest issues aren't all black/white and who is more oppressed.  They need to see the whole world isn't trying to hate the white men they will become.  They need a place where people aren't so jaded and still trying to convince the world they are free.  you know you're in trouble when milennials are setting out to create safe spaces in colleges and repeal first amendments rights because feelings.

So yeah, I'm always rattling off a sterile list of frustrations and milestones, but underneath it, I'm a people.  I want to keep being better at it and that means finding the place that makes me happiest rather than taking advice from people invested in their own happiness.  Trying to lose weight will happen again once I can find my groove.  It will start to melt away again.  I just have to accept that my shape is always going to be complex.