Thin Mintz: Week 31: Happy New Year

PJ Weight: 158.2
Week Gain: +0.4
Cumulative Loss: -33.4

Seth Weight: 169.6
Week Loss: -1.0
Cumulative Loss: -29.5

As it turns out I have a lot to say this week, so I'll break the entry up into sections.

1.) Regarding this week's weigh in

So this past week I gained back my Christmas miracle weight, leaving me precisely where I was before the holidays. Given the number of dinners and celebrations from the past 2 weeks, I'll take it and be happy with it.

But Seth - Somehow he managed to lose a pound this week and break into the 160's. Go Seth! I know that I often complain about the fact that men have an easier time dieting than women do since they get to eat more for their height, and their weight doesn't fluctuate during the month due to wild hormonal imbalances. Even though it may be somewhat easier for guys, he's working hard. He's making good food choices and is putting more into his morning workouts than I am of late. Seth is doing an absolutely fantastic job and I'm proud of him.

2.) Changing up the Workout

Last Friday we tried the bonus DVD that came with the Power 90 workout. I think it's called Power 90 Fat Burning System. It's a 35 minute cardio routine that they recorded in Hawaii during 2006, so there's random shots of the ocean here and there, and the wireless mic Tony has leaves much to be desired as far as sound quality goes (this from Seth), but as a workout it's far superior to the cardio in the standard Power 90 package.

Many of the moves are the same as in the standard routines, but the arrangement of them makes all the difference here. In the standard workout, there's stretching then yoga for about 5 minutes, then low impact for 5, and high impact jumping for 5, then some low/high impact for 5, some kicking for 5 and punching for 5. (Times are very rough guesses.)

The 'Fat Burning' workout mashes it up, so that you have 5 minute blocks with a little bit of everything in each block. So even though I can't jump for any period of time, I can do it for 30 seconds, and then we're on to something else. My heart rate was higher for longer during this workout, but despite that I felt it was much more doable, as well as more enjoyable.

3.) Why ladies with bunions shouldn't run

And this would be the story behind why Seth is working out so much harder than I have been these past few days. Sunday we took the girls and dogs out for a walk because it was a nice day. Sunday's our workout rest day and I had lots of energy. The dogs wanted to run, so I ran with them for a little while. Very little. Perhaps a minute of running total, during the 30 minute walk. I'd only run for a few seconds at a time now and again when the pups would want to go fast.

For this minute of canine joy I've been treated to shin pain for the past 3 days. Mr. Internet has all kinds of helpful things to say about shin pain encountered by beginner runners and what you're doing wrong if you get shin pain. As far as I can tell, it's because I have bunions, which makes me... under pronate? over pronate? who the heck knows. My gait is wrong, and that means I'm not running with proper form, and that leads to shin splints. I've known i have some kind of pronation problem for years because my heels of my shoes wear *very* unevenly.

All this serves to tell me is that I'm not built for running, which I already knew. I just hate to have the lesson reinforced in such an uncomfortable manner. (Yes, yes... I know there are all kinds of things you can try, or special exercises you can do, or special shoes... bah. If I need to go fast I'll take a car.) But in any event, I've had to take it even easier on the jumping because I need to let the shins heal up, so I've not been going whole hog in the cardio workouts since Sunday.

This too will pass.

4.) A picture? It's about time!

Another big reason I'm not upset with my weight gain this week relates to this picture. The before shot (left) was taken October 31st. The after (right) was taken January 1st. Now, there's a 5 pound difference on the scale between those two pictures, but it looks to me like a lot more than 5 pounds. So I'm not all that distraught over a 0.4 pound gain. I'm packing on muscle.

5.) And while I'm sharing pictures: