There's always time for change.

I'm a routine woman.  I wake up at the same time every day.  I get up the little man.  I do some laundry.  We brush our teeth and get dressed.  I fix breakfast.  I eat the same things at the same time just about every day.  I think you get the picture.  Lately, my workout routine has not been working.  The stress of the new house and life had me over eating; mostly snacking before bed.  I tried to compensate for that by adding an extra day for cardio.  I loved it!  Here's how the workout schedule went:

Sunday- 30min intervals on the treadmill & 30min intervals on the stair climber
Monday- 45min intervals on the elliptical & 30min intervals on the crossramp
Tuesday- No cardio
Wednesday- 45min intervals on the elliptical & 30min intervals on the crossramp
Thursday- No cardio
Friday- 45min intervals on the elliptical & 30min intervals on the crossramp
Saturday- 60min spin class

This doesn't include the strength training I was doing for 45min-60min every day.  Needless to say.  I was burning myself out.  I loved my new Sunday workouts.  I can now run a 5k in under 30 without fear of injury or wearing myself down completely.  The stair climber has become my new favorite machine.  I have never sweat so much in my life!  I kept this up and could not figure out why I was hanging onto this belly fat.  Where did it come from?  Two months went by and nothing changed.  I was slowly gaining weight.  I was struggling through my strength training.  I was barely finishing my cardio workouts.  Things were not going well.  I stopped stepping on the scale because the numbers just put me in a bad mood.  The problem doesn't just go away if you don't see it, unfortunately.  I was beyond disappointed in myself.  I knew something had to give, but I didn't have any more to give to my workouts.  Then, a personal trainer friend posted this on her Facebook page:

Why Women Should Not Run

I read it briefly.  I asked my husband to read it and tell me what he thought.  I read it again absorbing all of the attitude included in the post.  I read it a third time without emotion and strictly to learn.  I was meant to read this.  I needed to read this.  I believe God intended for me to read this.  Yes, I read it again and most of the comments.  I let it sit in my mind for two days.  My husband changed his workout after reading this article.  He just jumped right in without fear.  I decided it was time to try something new.  Bring on the change. 

I stopped lifting after I injured my shoulder.  This was almost 4 years ago.  I loved to lift, but had to let it go.  I got pregnant not to long after this.  Then, I had a baby to care for and carry around.  I could not afford to have shoulder surgery with a toddler.  My guy asks me to 'hold you' every day (He means 'hold me', but says "hold you").  Surgery was not an option!  I have been building up the muscles around my shoulder with light weights and a few exercises suggested by my personal trainer (not the same one that posted the link).  I'm ready to see how much it can handle. 

I started on June 18th and am going to stick with it for a month.  No matter what the scale says, I'm not giving in.  My routine will probably change after this month and I'm open to new information and suggestions.  Here's the NEW schedule:

Sunday- 30min intervals on the treadmill & 30min intervals on the stair climber
Monday- 20min intervals on the elliptical, 20min weight machines alternating weeks of upper and lower body, 20min intervals on the crossramp & 20min weight machines alternating weeks of upper and lower body
Tuesday- No cardio
Wednesday- 20min intervals on the elliptical, 20min weight machines alternating weeks of upper and lower body, 20min intervals on the stair climber & 20min weight machines alternating weeks of upper and lower body
Thursday- No cardio
Friday- 20min intervals on the elliptical, 20min weight machines alternating weeks of upper and lower body, 20min intervals on the crossramp & 20min weight machines alternating weeks of upper and lower body
Saturday- 60min spin class

It seems like a small change to most.  I suggest you do 45min of speed intervals on the elliptical and see how easy it is compared to 20min.  What are speed intervals?  I do equal intervals of 75-80% of my maximum effort followed by 90-95% of my maximum effort.  The goal is to push yourself as hard as you can and then recover before you repeat the process.  I firmly believe in intervals.  They work.  I just took them to the extreme.  The post will tell you, the more fat you put on, the more cardio you add and it becomes a vicious cycle.  You body is storing fuel to use for your cardio. 

It has been five days and I'm already noticing huge changes.  I'm no longer starving all the time and counting down until my next meal.  My body is sore!  Ouch!  Did you notice the exclamation points?  The cardio I am doing is getting my heart rate much higher than before.  I am able to finish all of my strength training workouts at home.  I sleep better and am tired earlier. 

I'm going to keep my eating the same for this first month and will adjust after that.  I want to see just how my body handles the new workouts.  The goal is gradual change for some big results.  It is going to take time for my body to adjust.  I took before pictures and will post them with my after pictures on July 18th.  Tomorrow, I start lifting my upper body.  Here we go!