A Follow-Up With A New Doctor (or I’m Just Going To Keep Doing What I’m Doing)

Posted on January 10, 2023 | Comments Off on A Follow-Up With A New Doctor (or I’m Just Going To Keep Doing What I’m Doing)

A few months ago, I had my first appointment with a doctor in bariatric medicine. That appointment went as well as I could have hoped and that’s when I started the new injectable medication I’m on. I felt so lucky that the doctor I met with understood where I was coming from and wasn’t trying to push other options, such as having surgery. I was nervous going into that appointment because I knew I might have to do some additional steps to try the options I wanted to try. But when that wasn’t the case, I knew that I would have the best chance to test this out. When I left that appointment, I knew my next follow-up would be a few months later to see how things were going.

And since that appointment, I think things have gone pretty well. I have been dealing with side effects and I had to deal with a medication shortage, but I am seeing results and I know that this is giving me the chance that I’ve been wanting. So I was expecting that when I had my follow-up with my doctor, things would go just as well as the initial appointment. But when I got the call to schedule my follow-up, I learned that the doctor I had seen before wasn’t there anymore and I would be talking to a new doctor.

Even though I had such a good first appointment, I was nervous again about what this new doctor might say. You never know how they might feel about progress or different medications. But I tried to just hope for the best and remind myself that this was another doctor in bariatric medicine so they likely had a lot of patients like me and it wasn’t like my case was an oddity. And I knew that having it be a phone appointment would hopefully be a bit less pressure and easygoing.

I’m so glad that my fears were wrong and everything went just as well with this new doctor as it did with the first. We did discuss the side effects I’ve been having and how it might still take some time before they really get better. Although I have been doing my injections in a different location and it seems to be making things easier for me, so that was helpful. And this new doctor seemed fine with me doing the injections in my leg instead of my stomach as long as I was still following the recommendations in the instruction packet. And even though I haven’t had insane results, I have been seeing results and that’s what matters the most. The first week I was on this, I had a lot of change, but I knew that wouldn’t be sustainable. Since then, it’s been a lot slower but it has been steady and that’s what my new doctor was happy about. There is a higher dosage I could take, but since I’m seeing results with the dosage I’m on, there’s no need for me to change things yet. Possibly in the future I would need to, but I’m not going to worry about that until that time comes.

And the new doctor said that could still be a chance I have to deal with medication shortages, but that hopefully if that happens they can be resolved as quickly as possible so I don’t have to miss too many weeks. If it becomes a bigger issue, I feel comfortable enough messaging this doctor and asking what the best options would be for me. But I hope that the medication company understands that there is a high demand for this and they will continue to increase production.

My follow-up appointment ended with us deciding that in a few months, I’ll have another follow-up. I don’t know if that next one will be another phone appointment or if it will be in person. I guess when they call to schedule it I will find out. And hopefully over the next few months before I have that next follow-up, things will continue to go as well or better than they have these last few months.

I know this medication isn’t a miracle drug and that I still have to put in the work myself, but it’s helping in a way that nothing else I’ve tried has. I’m so grateful that my first doctor allowed me to try it out and that this new doctor is going to let me continue with it so I can see even more results in the future.

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Default ThumbnailA Fast And Easy Doctor Appointment (or A Simple Follow-Up) Default ThumbnailA Just Ok Doctor Follow Up (or These May Be A Part Of My Routine For A Little While Longer) Default ThumbnailMy First Doctor Appointment In A While (or Not Everything Can Be Done Over The Phone) Default ThumbnailGoing In For A Doctor Appointment (or Making A Plan With My Dermatologist) Default ThumbnailA Dermatologist Follow-Up (or I’m Not Always The Best Judge Of Progress) Default ThumbnailI Guess Not All Doctor Appointments Can Be Good Ones (or I Don’t Think I’ll See This Doctor Again)

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An Unexpected Workout Week (or Starting Off The New Year With Workouts)

Posted on January 9, 2023 | Comments Off on An Unexpected Workout Week (or Starting Off The New Year With Workouts)

I knew this past week of workouts would be a bit different because of my schedule, but it ended up being even more unique than that. I still got in my workouts, but it was also a bit of an adventure.

On Sunday, I went to a late morning workout since I wasn’t sure how tired I’d be after New Year’s Eve. I probably could have done an earlier class, but I’m glad I didn’t have to rush around that morning.

For cardio, we had 2 blocks. In the first block, we started at a base and increased the speed/resistance level every 30 seconds, ending at an all-out. And then we had a 3-minute distance challenge. For the second block, we started with the distance challenge and then did the progressive one after

On the rower, we started with a 250-meter row. Then we rested as much as needed and did another 250-meter row, with the goal to beat the time from the first time. Then we had chest presses with a medicine ball. We repeated that pattern, but the row was decreased by 50 meters every time we did it.

And on the floor, we had 2 blocks. The first block had lunges, reverse flys, and leg raises. And the second block had squats, rows on the straps, and plank dips. It wasn’t as intense of a workout as a lot of the past ones, but I was glad to have something easy for once since I knew I’d be working hard in a lot of other workouts.

Monday’s workout was a tornado class, so we switched between sections about every 4 minutes. And this workout was definitely a new one for me.

I started on cardio where we had a 1-minute push pace, a 1-minute base pace, and then we had rounds of a short distance challenge with recoveries between each one. Then we switched to the rower. We had just started with a 2-minute row when I noticed that someone two rowers away was on the ground. I thought at first that they fell off the rower, which is something I’ve done before, but everyone in the class realized it was something more serious. They had fainted on the rower and we were lucky that there was an ER nurse in the class who was able to help them out. But because it seemed like they had hit their head, the paramedics were called.

Everyone else in the class went into the lobby to wait and see what would happen, and because the paramedics were called, the class was canceled. Almost everyone left because the workout ended, but I decided to put myself on the waitlist for the next class to try to take that one. And while I was waiting for the next class, the person who fainted came out to the lobby. They were ok, and I’m glad nothing more serious happened. I think they might have just been embarrassed at that point, but I know everyone who was in that class was just happy to know they were ok.

When the next class started, technically there wasn’t enough room for the 2 of us on the waitlist, but since we both came from the last class we agreed to share a station so we could at least do some of the workout. So I didn’t do more rowing because I used the bike for both cardio and rowing. But I was just grateful I got to finish my workout. And we shared the floor space which was ok since the exercises didn’t take up that much room. We had the same exercises every time we were on the floor which were lunges, plank pops, squats, bicep curls, and uppercuts. Since I had done some of the first workout as well, I figured it was like I had done 1.25 workouts that day.

Tuesday was a bit harder since I was back to my early workout and it was my 4th day in a row (although not my 4th workout for the week). But fortunately, I wasn’t feeling super nauseous, which I was worried about. I still had some nausea, but it was much more manageable.

We had 2 cardio blocks that had the same pattern. We had a 2-minute push pace, 1-minute base pace, 1-minute push pace at an incline, 1-minute base pace, and 90-second push pace at an incline. The inclines/resistance levels were higher for the first block than the second block, but they weren’t too high for either block.

On the rower, we also had 2 blocks with the same pattern. We started with a 2-minute push row before having a series of 1-minute intervals. In each interval, we had to do 10 reps of an exercise, and then whatever time was left over was spent rowing. In the first block, we had front and back steps and in the second block, we had butt kicks. Getting on and off the rower so frequently was tough for me and I usually only had about 10 seconds left to row each time, so I didn’t get a ton of rowing in outside of the first part of each block.

And on the floor, we had one long block. It was a bit complicated. We had 3 different anchor exercises and 3 normal exercises. We started with doing the first anchor before each of the normal exercises. The next round had the second anchor before each of the normal exercises. And so on. The anchor exercises were shoulder presses, reverse grip low rows, and chest presses. And the regular exercises were walkouts to plank shoulder taps, back extensions, and bicycle crunches. I only got through some of the exercises with the third anchor exercise, but it was still a lot of work.

Thursday’s workout was my last workout of the week, and it was a benchmark class. This time, we had the 200-meter benchmark. I knew I had made a lot of improvements with my rowing recently, but my PR was from before the pandemic when I know I was really strong. So I went into this workout just wanting to do really well on the benchmark but with no expectations.

I started with cardio and for the first two blocks, we had a 4-minute distance challenge. And in the third block, we had rounds of a push pace and base pace with an all-out at the end. But because the benchmark would be after cardio, we were told to go a little easier than normal.

On the rower, the first block was to get us warmed up. So we had rounds of a 200-meter row at a push pace with squats to calf raises after. But those 200-meter rows weren’t supposed to be too crazy because the second block was the benchmark. We had the full 4 minutes to do the benchmark, and it usually is between 30-60 seconds. So I took a few extra breaths before starting just to get calm and ready. I tried to use all the new techniques I’ve been picking up recently and also had to make sure I wouldn’t gas out halfway through. I didn’t look at the time on the screen, only at how many meters I had left. And when I was done, I was shocked.

I took about .4 seconds off of my last PR. I really didn’t think I would PR, but I guess this is proof of all my hard work! For the last block, we had the chance to redo the benchmark if we wanted to, but if we didn’t want to (and I didn’t), we had squats to calf raises and lunges before rowing until the end of the block.

And on the floor, we also had 3 blocks. In the first block, we had high to low rows on the straps and hip hinge swings. In the second block, we had pike to planks and superman planks. I did the pike to planks modified to be like blastoff push-ups. And in the last block, we had single-leg deadlifts, plank pull-throughs, and lateral lunges. I tried to go hard on the floor since I was already done with the benchmark, but I also was a bit tired from pushing myself so much.

For the first week of the year, I had a lot happening in my workouts. I don’t know if this is a sign of things to come, but I have also learned that I can never expect what will happen over the year in my workouts and I guess this really represented that well.

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Default ThumbnailLast Regular Workout Week Of The Year (or I’m Almost To My Workout Goal) Default ThumbnailA Tough Week And A New Challenge (or Starting Off The Last Month Of Workouts For 2022) Default ThumbnailFinishing Up My 2022 Workouts (or I Think I Really Ended The Year On A Great Note!) Default ThumbnailJust A Normal And Good Workout Week (or Using My Workouts To Get Out My Stress) Default ThumbnailRinging In The New Year With Workouts (or A Rare 5 Workout Week) Default ThumbnailA New Year Of Workouts (or Finally Starting To Feel Like Myself Again)

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Another Low-Key New Year’s Eve (or At Least I Made It Until Midnight)

Posted on January 6, 2023 | Comments Off on Another Low-Key New Year’s Eve (or At Least I Made It Until Midnight)

I continued my tradition of having a low-key New Year’s Eve again. I know that some people love going out or going somewhere fancy and festive, but that’s just not who I am. I do love occasions where I can dress up, but not when it’s going to be super crowded and likely overpriced. So doing something that isn’t too fancy is much more my speed. And pretty much every year I do the same thing, hang out with my friends and just have a very easy evening.

I’m glad I got to spend time with my friends and it was a smaller group than normal for a few different reasons. But we all still had fun and a nice time being together. It was a little crazy getting there because of the rain storms, but at least I wasn’t in a rush to get there and could take my time while driving. And I lucked out and found a parking spot very close to my friend’s house so I didn’t have to walk too far in the rain.

Since it was storming, we all pretty much spent the evening inside. We sometimes went outside to get fresh air, but it was cold and windy as well. So I’m glad it was a smaller group since we were inside a lot more than normal. Everyone there also were people I knew so it wasn’t like I was around a lot of new people who I couldn’t be sure took as many precautions about things as my friends and I do.

And like many times when I’m with my friends, we just enjoyed spending time together and we didn’t need to do anything crazy. Most of the time I was there, I was just talking with my friends about various things. One of the friends in our group just moved back to LA so we were talking about their job hunt and move. We also occasionally would glance at the tv and joke about how we all must be old because we didn’t recognize the different performances going on. There was also some karaoke happening, but I don’t usually join in for that since I don’t sing. But I do love seeing my friends having fun.

Once it was closer to midnight, we started to play a new card game my friends got for Christmas. It was called Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza and it was really fun! There were some moments when we were all confused about a rule, but most of the time we were playing we were laughing and making fun of each other for some of the silly mistakes we made. I was shocked that I did well in the game, but I ended up not winning in the end. But that’s ok.

I was a bit tired while I was there and there were moments when I wondered if I would have to leave before midnight. I knew I didn’t want to drive if I was tired, especially in the rain. But after the game was over, it was only a few more minutes until midnight so I managed to stay late enough. And when it officially became 2023, we all celebrated together. A lot of people in our friend group have had a rough year (or a few years) and we could celebrate making it through another year and still all of us being in pretty good health.

Only a few minutes after midnight, I decided to head back home. There was a bit of a break in the rain so I wanted to drive before the next storm started. And I never like staying too late since I’m less likely to be on the road with a drunk driver right after midnight compared to an hour or two later. Maybe one year I’ll stay later, but I don’t mind leaving earlier than many of the others since I do have one of the longer drives home.

Once I was home, I realized I took no photos while I was at the party. Usually, I’ll take at least a few, but I guess I was more focused on spending time with my friends and enjoying the moment. So that’s ok with me. Even without photos, I know I had a nice New Year’s Eve and I have fun memories from that night. And I’m sure that in a year, I’ll be doing the same thing again with another low-key night and enjoying it just as much.

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Default ThumbnailA Very Low-Key NYE (or I’m Glad I Don’t Have To Impress My Friends) Default ThumbnailA Chill New Year’s Eve (or Getting To Have A Little Celebration) Default ThumbnailNew Year’s Eve In PJs (or I Think This Is Finally My Last NYE Post) Default ThumbnailLow Key Labor Day (or Just A Regular Weekend) Default ThumbnailA Very Chill and Low-Key Birthday (or Being Ok With Not Doing Much) Default ThumbnailLow-Key Halloween (or A Work In Progress)

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Still Setting Myself Up For A Good Year (or Transitioning From One Monthly Challenge To Another)

Posted on January 5, 2023 | 1 comment

My monthly challenge last month was to do what I needed to do in order to have a good 2023. This involved several different things, but the main ones I focused on were around setting up my living space for success. This included going through my clothes to see what I could get rid of and going through my kitchen to take an inventory and make sure I don’t have anything expired.

I know this wasn’t too crazy of a monthly challenge, but I’m glad I did it because sometimes the simplest things are the things you seem to put off the most. I really needed to do these things and I’m happy I had a push to do them. Even though I went through a lot of my clothes when I moved, there were still so many things I didn’t need and were taking up space. Since I want to redo my closet and I’m looking for a new dresser, getting rid of things I don’t need will help me figure out how to set up my clothing storage. And going through the stuff in my kitchen was very helpful too. Since I’m trying to cook more, I really don’t want to think I have a spice in my cabinet only to discover when I’m about to use it that it’s expired. I know that not all expired spices are bad, but I don’t want to use something that could make the food I make taste off. I still have more that I want to go through in my kitchen since I know that I have other things that may have gone bad, but at least I got through the things I’m expecting to use more frequently.

After getting some things set up for the new year, I wanted to continue that trend with my monthly challenge for January. This is a variation of something I’ve done before, but my challenge this month is to create a good weekly schedule for myself to get certain things done. What this means to me is to create a schedule that will help me figure out when I should do certain weekly errands, what days might be best for different cleaning tasks, and what days are best to try to cook. I know that doing this will help me not only stay on top of the regular things I need to get done, but it will make it easier for me to find where I do have free time to do other things.

The only regular task I’m good about doing on a schedule is doing laundry. I used to do laundry every Sunday, but now I do it every Saturday. I rarely have to do laundry other times, but now that I have my own washer and dryer I do sometimes do non-clothing laundry on other days. But having that routine makes things easy since I don’t have to think too much about when I can set aside time to make sure I have clean clothes each week. But I want to feel that way about other things that need to be done regularly like vacuuming and mopping. I know for some things like cleaning my bathroom and dusting, need to be done more frequently so it might not be as easy to schedule.

And in the same way, knowing what days I have free time after work to cook will help me plan what to make and what groceries to get each week. I also like knowing when I’ll have leftovers so I have easy things to make for lunch or get ready for dinner. I don’t always plan out leftovers well when I have them, but this will almost be a way to do some meal planning with less effort. If I know I’m cooking on a Monday and will have 3 meals of leftovers, I will know when I need to cook again or when I might have to have something easy to make. I also can use this planning to start stocking up my freezer with leftovers again, which I haven’t done much since I moved. All of this will help me not feel like ordering food because I should have options available for me.

I’m not sure if there are other things I want to figure out for a weekly schedule, but I feel like these are good things to start with. And as this month goes on, I guess I’ll see how it goes and if it works out to do this idea with more in my life. The more that I can get into a routine where I don’t need to think too much about it, the better.

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Default ThumbnailFirst Monthly Challenge Of The Year (or Setting Up For The Year And Self-Improvement) Default ThumbnailAlmost Through A Year Of Monthly Challenges (or Picking A Good Challenge For November) Default ThumbnailA Failed Monthly Challenge (or I’m Possibly Going To Fail Again This Month) Default ThumbnailAn Isolation Monthly Challenge (or Just Trying To Keep Things Going) Default ThumbnailDecember Monthly Challenge (or Wrapping Up For The Year) Default ThumbnailTaking A Month To Reset (or This Doesn’t Really Feel Like A Monthly Challenge)

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My Word for 2023 (or I’m Ready)

Posted on January 4, 2023 | Comments Off on My Word for 2023 (or I’m Ready)

I try to put a lot of thought into the word that I pick for my word of the year. I want to pick something that really does represent something to me and what I’m trying to achieve, but it also can’t be too specific. For a while, I was also getting a bracelet with the word I picked each year so I tried to limit what I was considering as my word to what was available from that store.

In some ways, having that limitation was good because it made me focus on only a certain number of options. But as I’ve had more and more words of the year, that has also limited me in what works. And over the past few years, I haven’t worn the bracelet (or ring like I got last year) when I’m out so that didn’t seem like a good way to pick something anymore. So when I was thinking of what I wanted my word to be this year, I didn’t have any restrictions and I allowed myself more time to think about it so I could be really sure of my choice.

There were several options that I went back and forth on because they all represented different aspects of things I wanted to see in 2023. But I think I finally found the perfect word to not only represent this year but what I have done in the past. And that’s why I chose my word for 2023 to be Ready.

I feel like this is exactly what I want to use as a guideline for what I do this year. I have spent a lot of time working on myself in different ways and I am ready to see what comes next or what I can accomplish. And I am ready for so many different things in my life to happen.

I’m ready to see changes come in my physical health this year. I’ve been doing a lot to work on different parts of my health, but I think that things will go to a new level this year with all my various health concerns. I also feel like I’m ready to take steps to improve upon what I’ve been doing at Orangetheory. I know I have a lot of struggles because I have so many bad weeks, so I haven’t made a lot of improvements with what I can do. But I want to try to track things better and really see some improvement this year.

I’m ready to put myself out there more, both in dating and my social life in general. I do still want to be cautious because Covid is not over and there are other things to worry about, but I want to stop allowing other fears to stop me. I won’t put myself in situations that feel dangerous or that don’t sit right with me, but I also want to accept and say yes to offers that maybe I’m not 100% sure about. I need to take more risks and I think I’m ready to do that.

And I feel like I’m ready to see what happens with my job. I have made a lot of changes with my work situation the past few years, but especially this past year. And I want to continue to see how I can make my job the best situation possible. I want to stop worrying if I can do something if I’m asked because I know they are asking because they believe in me. I remember reading something about how typically women will not apply for a promotion or accept more responsibility unless they know they can do that work. But men typically will apply or accept something greater if they believe they can do it. I want to switch my mindset from needing to know to believing I can.

There are other things that I think I’m ready for in my life and I just have to be open to what comes my way. I know not everything will be positive and that there will be some setbacks, but I also know the work I have been doing on my own and that I really am ready to take a lot of forward steps in my life this year.

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My 2023 Goals (or Some New Goals and Some Repeats)

Posted on January 3, 2023 | Comments Off on My 2023 Goals (or Some New Goals and Some Repeats)

As I have done each year for the last several years, I have set some goals for myself for 2023. I look at goals and resolutions as different things. Goals seem to have more of a concrete idea of what you want to get to versus resolutions that feel more abstract. I still have some goals that don’t have an exact thing to get to, but I still feel like there are better ways to track my results with goals than I do with resolutions. This might just be wording and the idea that resolutions typically are broken, but for me, I think whatever works is good. And for 2023, I have set 4 goals for myself.

The first goal is something I’ve done quite a bit. I want to make sure I do 200 Orangetheory workouts this year. This goal is the one that I feel is almost a guarantee I will be successful unless something crazy happens in my life. And if something does happen in my life that will prevent me from working out for a few weeks, then I’ll probably reevaluate this goal and make sure it’s still something I can get to. 200 workouts means I go 4 times a week for almost all the weeks of the year. I don’t have to go 4 times every week and I could have a few weeks of just going 3 times. But my plan is to go 4 times a week unless something comes up that make that impossible. But that’s why I have a bit of flexibility with having some weeks where I could go 3 times and still make it to my goal. Even though I look at this goal as something that should be accomplished with very little extra effort, I do like to have accountability.

My second goal for the year is to work on getting more sleep every night. I have been getting very little sleep for a while and I know it’s affecting me. I get up pretty early to be able to work out before work, but I haven’t really adjusted what time I go to bed with the earlier wake-up. There have been far too many nights where I get only about 4 hours of sleep, and that’s not something to be proud of. Since I can’t really adjust what time I get up, I need to work on going to bed earlier. That involves a few different things such as actually getting into bed earlier, not reading as late as I have, and not staying up late to catch up on a tv show or something. Nothing that I do late at night couldn’t wait until the next day, so I have to be better about not feeling a need to complete something at night.

My third goal is something similar to what I set for 2022. I want to keep setting up my condo. There aren’t too many things I have to do to get things set up the way I want to, but all of those things involve money. I want to get the furniture I want for my office since that will help move almost everything still in a box out of a box. I also am looking into redoing my closet since it’s not the best use of space for me. For my closet, I’m hoping this could possibly be something I do on my own to save money, but there are a few things that need to be considered first. But my parents and I are going to look into some options soon so hopefully I can have an idea of what that cost will be and when it can be done. I would love to say that by the end of this year, I won’t have anything left in a box, but I’m not sure if that will happen. But it’s something I’m going to work toward and see how close I can get.

And my last goal for the year is something I have talked about several times and just haven’t done it. I want to rebuild my acting life. I still have been pursuing acting and have been submitting myself for projects. And if I get an audition, I do everything I need to do to have the best audition possible. But I know that things aren’t going as great as they could be. Things still aren’t exactly where they were before the pandemic, but they are much closer so I should be at least closer to what they were like before. But I’m just not there. This will involve a few different things such as trying to get back into class or finding a group to work on scripts together, getting new headshots, and maybe looking into if a different agent could be a better fit for me. None of these things will guarantee that I will get more auditions or book work, but I want to do whatever I can that is in my control to feel like I’m not just playing around at being an actor but an active participant in that career. I know for the last few years I have had my focus on other things, but I’m ready to get back to what I love and hopefully see some results from my work.

I debated about doing some other goals this year and there are other things I might set as monthly challenges or just a smaller monthly goal so I can accomplish more this year, but I think for my big year-long goals, these 4 are really things I need and want to focus on and will help me to have a successful year.

And I hope in 12 months when I’m recapping how 2023 went, I will have a lot of success to share with you all!

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Default Thumbnail2014 Goals (or Hoping To Get More Goals Done This Year) Default ThumbnailMy 2016 Goals (or I’ve Got Some Big Ideas This Year) Default Thumbnail2020 Goals (New Year, Not All New Goals) Default ThumbnailWhat I Plan To Do This Year (or 2015 Goals) Default ThumbnailMy 2017 Goals (or I Know This Year Will Be Amazing!) Default ThumbnailMy 2018 Goals (or Pushing Myself And Being Gentle With Myself)

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Posted in Acting, Fitness, Fun Stuff, Health

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Finishing Up My 2022 Workouts (or I Think I Really Ended The Year On A Great Note!)

Posted on January 2, 2023 | Comments Off on Finishing Up My 2022 Workouts (or I Think I Really Ended The Year On A Great Note!)

I think I finished my 2022 workouts pretty well! I had my usual 4 workouts this past week even if they were on a slightly different schedule. But I was able to finish the year making sure I hit my goal number of workouts! I also was testing out doing my injection in a different location which is supposed to help with nausea. I’m not sure if that worked or I just didn’t have really bad side effects this week, but I didn’t have to worry about nausea in any of my workouts!

Monday’s workout happened to be my 200th workout of the year, so that was pretty special. Since Monday was a holiday, I did go to a later class than I normally go to but it was also nice to sleep in. This workout was a 2 group class so we had more time for cardio and the floor than I normally have in a workout.

For cardio, we had 2 blocks. The first block started with a 2-minute base pace with an incline followed by a 1-minute base pace without an incline. Then we had a 2-minute push and a 1-minute push without inclines with a 1-minute base between them. And the block ended with rounds of an all-out at an incline with recovery between each one. The second block was a bit more incline work. We started with a push pace at an incline and then had rounds of push paces to all-out with inclines. I never had to go too crazy with the resistance level on the bike, but it was still a challenge using them and trying to pedal faster.

On the floor, the first block started with a 1-minute all-out row. Then we were on the floor with sumo deadlifts, upright rows, good mornings, and single-arm presses. And the block ended with another 1-minute all-out row. The second block started with a 30-second all-out row before moving onto the floor. We had front raises, lateral lunges, around-the-world raises, and regular lunges before ending the workout with another 30-second all-out row.

Tuesday’s workout was a small group, but we still kept the workout as a 3 group class so we had equal time for cardio, rowing, and the floor.

For cardio, we had 3 blocks. The first block had a 45-second push pace, a 90-second base pace, a 45-second all-out, a recovery, a 45-second push pace, and a 45-second all-out. The second block was the same except the intervals were 30 seconds and not 45 seconds. And the last block was just 3 rounds of a 30-second all-out.

On the rower, we started with a 3-minute row followed by squats to knee drives. Then we had 2 rounds of a 90-second row with lunges between each row. And the last part of the rowing was 3 rounds of a 1-minute row with squats to calf raises between each row. I didn’t get through all of the 1-minute rows, but I at least got to that second.

For the floor, the first block was supposed to be lunges, jump lunges, and a bridge row. Since I can’t do jump lunges, I just doubled the number of regular lunges we were supposed to do. And I did low rows on the straps instead of bridge rows. And the second block had bicycle presses, push-ups, and hip bridges. It wasn’t a ton of floor work, but it was hard.

I didn’t work out on Wednesday since I was going to work out for New Year’s Eve, so my next workout this past week was on Thursday. Again, this was a small class but we still had the class as a 3 group class so we worked in all 3 sections of the room.

Cardio started with a 3-minute push pace followed by a 30-second base pace. We continued a pattern of a push pace followed by a base pace and the push paces were between 1 minute and 3 minutes. But the base paces were always only 30 seconds long which isn’t a lot of time. In the end, we had a 1-minute base pace followed by a 30-second all-out, but I was really exhausted by that point so I know my all-out wasn’t that great.

On the rower, we started with a 200-meter row. Then we had lunges, single-arm clean to presses, and marching in place with a weight. Then we did the 200-meter row and the exercises again. Then we repeated the pattern with a 150-meter row. The exercises were harder than what I feel we normally have when we do exercises with the rower, so I didn’t get that far into the rows.

And on the floor, we had one long block. We had step-down toe taps (which I was able to do by lowering the bench), lunges with wood choppers, plank single-arm rows, and hollow hold single-arm chest presses. I don’t know if it was from all the work in the other sections of the room or if the floor block was harder than it seemed, but this was a tough day for me and others in the class agreed!

And I had to finish out my workouts by going on New Year’s Eve. It’s been a while since I’ve had a Saturday workout, but I knew that I would be there for the holiday no matter what. This workout was an interesting one because everything was timed together so all sections of the room had 3 blocks that were the same time. The first block was 3 minutes long, the second block was 6 minutes long, and the last block was just under 3 minutes long.

For cardio, in the first block we had 1-minute intervals with a base, push, and all-out. The second block was 3 rounds of a 30-second push, 30-second base, 45-second push, and 30-second base. But in the end, we had an all-out instead of the last push. And the last block had 3 rounds of a 30-second all-out and a 30-second recovery.

On the rower, the 3-minute block was just a 3-minute row for distance. The second block was split into 75-second segments with a 30-second recovery after. For each of the 3 75-second segments, we started with doing 10 squats before getting onto the rower and rowing until the 30-second recovery. The goal was to try to match the distance you got in the first block, and I was able to exceed that. And in the last block, we had the same thing as cardio with the 30-second all-out.

And on the floor, the first block was 1 minute of squats, 1 minute of walkout push-ups, and 1 minute of scissor kicks to crunches. In the second block, we had the same timing as cardio. We had 30 seconds of a single-arm low row on one side, 30 seconds of a single-arm low row on the other side, and 45 seconds of a hammer curl to a bicep curl. Then we had 30 seconds to have a quick break before repeating that again. And in the last block, we had 30-second intervals of doing burpees, which I did using the bench. And for whatever reason, I think my burpees went smoother this time than any other workout that I could remember.

And when Saturday’s workout was done, I was so proud of my total workouts for the year.

I know I say that this is an easy goal for me to accomplish each year, but I still have to work for it. And this year, I had more struggles than normal to deal with in my workouts. But I didn’t let that stop me and I just continued going and trying to do my best. I might not have all the results I was hoping to get in my workouts in 2022, but I still put in work and I know that will pay off in the long run! And now, I’m already working toward my workout goal for 2023 and making sure I hit that goal too!

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Default ThumbnailSome New Year Workouts (or Finishing Out 2019 and Kicking Off 2020) Default ThumbnailWrapping Up My 2021 Workouts (or An End To One Year And A Start To Another) Default ThumbnailFinishing The 12 Days Of Fitness (or Debating If I Like This Workout Schedule) Default ThumbnailA Short Workout Week (or I Would Have Ended On A High Note) Default ThumbnailThank Goodness For Feeling Great! (or I Finally Had An All Amazing Week Of Workouts) Default ThumbnailA Full Week Of Christmas Workouts (or Having Some Traditional Workouts)

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Looking Back At My 2022 Goals (or I Don’t Think I Did As Well As I Could Have)

Posted on December 30, 2022 | Comments Off on Looking Back At My 2022 Goals (or I Don’t Think I Did As Well As I Could Have)

It’s my final post of 2022! This year has been a whirlwind in more ways than one and I think I’m ending this year in a very different place than I expected. I think things didn’t entirely turn out the way I wanted them to, but in other ways, things are better than I expected. I don’t think there’s usually a good way to predict how things will go over 12 months, but I try to do what I can that is in my control. And that’s why I’m always setting different goals for myself. It’s important to try to stay on the path you are hoping to go down. Even if you don’t get things completely right, you usually have at least made strides toward that goal.

And that’s how I feel about the goals I had set for this year. I really thought I picked out some great goals for myself and things just didn’t happen how I thought they would so I don’t feel like I’m as successful as I expected to be. But I still had victories even in the failures.

The first goal I had for myself was to do at least 200 Orangetheory classes. This is the goal that I felt very certain I would be able to achieve and I like having one goal that doesn’t feel like a stretch. But there were moments I was worried I wouldn’t make it to that number. After taking a week off after my foot surgery, I knew I had to limit how many rest days I took. I didn’t have that many weeks throughout the year that I only did 3 workouts in the week, so I was able to make up for that missed week in January. And I will be ending this year with 203 workouts after I do my workout tomorrow. Even though this was an easy goal for me to complete, I like having it because it held me accountable. I am in a routine right now, but I also know how easy it can be to get out of a routine and get into bad habits. So I’m glad that I was able to get this done.

My next goal was to move into my condo and get everything set up. I would say that I was almost fully successful with this goal. I am moved in and have nothing left at my old place (which is a big relief at this point), but I don’t feel like I have everything set up just yet. There are a few things that I haven’t bought that will help me complete my place. But some of them need me to save up money and some I just haven’t picked out the right things yet. I don’t want to buy something just to buy it, so I’m taking my time and being picky. But it’s just a matter of time before I can get everything done on my list. But even without having everything set up, I feel very much at home here and that’s probably the most important thing.

The next goal was to be more mindful of my time. This one was a real struggle for me and something that I will be continuing to work on in 2023. I got a bit better at managing my time and allowing myself to make plans outside of my work schedule, but I still had struggles with organizing my work time with completing tasks in the most efficient way. I’m getting better at it, but I know there is a lot of work I still need to do. And I need to be better about my free time because I also know that I’m wasting time there too. But there are other things I want to work on that I think will help with some of my wasted free time and I’ll be doing those in the new year.

One of the goals I didn’t do so well on was getting out of my house more. I was allowing myself to be more social and go out with friends, but I wasn’t being productive at making plans. I was depending a lot on others to ask me to do things and that wasn’t great. But I know I was doing things outside of my house a bit more than the year before even if it wasn’t exactly what I was hoping to do. I think there are a lot of reasons why this was a failure for me, but issues with free time and still being cautious with the pandemic are the main ones and I don’t know how I could have changed both of those as much as I needed to. But it’s not a total failure because I did do more, so that’s at least something.

And the final goal I had for this past year was to work on my budget more. This one wasn’t that great either, but it was for some things I wasn’t expecting. I am definitely doing better with my budget than I was before, but my tracking isn’t where it needs to be. I should be able to track better than I do and I’m still trying to find what system will work best for me. I was doing ok with this goal occasionally throughout the year, but then I’d have some sort of change that just brought me back to where I started. Whenever my salary changed or I went from an independent contractor to an employee, things should have been easy to change in my tracking but they just weren’t. I sound like I’m making excuses, but clearly, something in the way I was trying to do this wasn’t working for me and I just need to keep trying to see what will eventually work so I can feel better about my financial situation and start planning on how I can enjoy the money I have and not just survive on it.

Overall, my goals didn’t really go how I wanted them to go, but they also weren’t all failures or a waste of my time. I just ended up having different priorities or thoughts as the year went on that made these goals not the ones I put my time and energy onto. But I still had some progress with them all and I know I’m doing better with these things than I was 12 months ago. And I’ve got some goals figured out for 2023 that I’ll be sharing soon that hopefully will be some good ones that I will reflect back on in a year and feel a bit more successful with.

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Default ThumbnailHalfway Through The Year (or Focusing Again On My 2022 Goals) Default ThumbnailMy 2022 Goals (or Setting Myself Up For Hopefully A Productive Year) Default Thumbnail2020 Goals (New Year, Not All New Goals) Default Thumbnail2014 Goals (or Hoping To Get More Goals Done This Year) Default ThumbnailReviewing My 2021 Goals (or This Really Was A Year Of Unknowns) Default ThumbnailReflecting Back On 2017 (Kind Of Reaching My Goals)

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Reflecting On My Word For 2022 (or I Think I Proved I’m Worthy)

Posted on December 29, 2022 | Comments Off on Reflecting On My Word For 2022 (or I Think I Proved I’m Worthy)

I can’t believe that this is the second to last blog post for 2022! It feels like this month just started and we are already at the end. And since it’s the end of the year, I’ve been reflecting on the things I declared at the beginning of the year. Tomorrow, I’ll go over the goals I set for the year. But for this post, I just want to look back at my word for the year.

For 2022, I decided the best word for the year would be worthy. I don’t think I realized at the beginning of the year how much I needed this to be the word to use to guide how I got through a few things over the last 12 months. I know that I still am dealing with some confidence issues and standing up for myself, but I also think that I did better at that this past year than I did in the past.

The biggest place I think I used the word worthy was in my dating life. For far too long, I believed that I wasn’t worthy of what I wanted or thought I deserved. I had been told I should be grateful that anyone would consider me in any way, and that I should accept what is presented to me without complaints. I think I started to really rethink this during the start of the pandemic and think about who I was considering having in my life, both as friendships and as dates. I needed to make sure that I put my health and safety first and that meant setting boundaries that I wouldn’t back down from. That was great practice for me to set boundaries for things that weren’t about safety.

It would have been very easy for me to fall into old patterns and try to play cool while dating instead of stating what I wanted. But I also know that if I did that, I would be getting something that doesn’t fulfill me. I think being alone and not dating is a better place to be than being in a situationship that makes me question where I stand or what is going on. And unfortunately, there are guys that I went out with who only wanted what they wanted and didn’t want to consider what I wanted. But I know better now that I am worthy of having the type of relationship that I want and I stood my ground about this. I had to end things after a few dates with different guys because they weren’t looking for the same thing that I was looking for. Or they wanted to keep things casual for a long time and then maybe they would consider something more serious. I know that things can’t be serious right away, but I’m also not going to date someone who might not ever want something serious. If I’m going to date someone, I need to know there is a reason we are dating other than just having someone you can call when you are lonely or bored.

Making sure I knew my worth and being strong about that meant I didn’t date as many people this past year as I did before, but I’m ok with that. I’ve always wanted to find quality over quantity, and this was the first year where I think I really implemented that idea. It was frustrating at times when I was hopeful about someone only to find out they couldn’t meet what I wanted, but I also know it would have been worse if I let things go on for months before saying I needed to end them.

I think I also showed my worth with my job. I have been in a new job position for a while now and getting to that position required me to show the executive team why they should create this position for me. I didn’t have to necessarily prove myself, but I did need to show them where as a company we were lacking and how I was the right person to fix that. I’m not someone who likes to brag about myself, but I had to do it in this case because it was the only way to prove to the team why this was the right move for the company. And I’m so grateful I was able to do that and didn’t just hide in the shadows. The work I’m doing now uses my skill set a lot more now and I’m much happier in my day job than I was before.

And I think the last big place I had to show I was worthy was the condo renovation. I know the contractor wasn’t trying to take advantage of me or anything like that, but there are things that aren’t exactly right and I had to stand up to say that these things needed to be fixed. There are still some things that aren’t perfect and they will need to come back to correct them. In the past, I probably would have accepted something that was less than perfect. But this is my home and we paid them to do this work. And if there are things that don’t seem right, I want them fixed before we sign off saying the project is over. My parents pushed me with making sure I spoke up about these things, and I don’t know how I would have done things without them pushing me. But I know it’s for the best and they are right because a renovation shouldn’t require us to fix things after they are done to make sure the work is perfect.

I’m so glad I picked worthy as my word for 2022. It really was the perfect word to help me have the best year possible this past year. I had to get out of my comfort zone, but it paid off. And I know that just because this year is over it doesn’t mean that I won’t be using this as a guide going forward. It’s just going to continue to help to guide me as I interact with others and make sure that I don’t forget that my worth is considered in decisions.

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A Delayed Dentist Appointment (or Still Trying To Not Panic)

Posted on December 28, 2022 | Comments Off on A Delayed Dentist Appointment (or Still Trying To Not Panic)

I feel like even though I still don’t do great at the dentist, I have been doing a lot better lately than I did years ago. I still have some tough appointments now that make me feel like I’ve had a setback, but I still think there has been some forward progress for me. So even though I still hate the dentist, I don’t put off going because I know I need to be on top of things. The only time I really was putting off an appointment in the recent past was at the beginning of the pandemic when they canceled all regular appointments and were only seeing emergencies. I did end up having an emergency so I went in for that and the cleaning that I missed. But I think having that appointment be delayed really reinforced the idea of not missing or putting off appointments because that was a much harder appointment than normal.

I was supposed to go to the dentist in November, but right before my appointment was when I got sick. I knew it wasn’t Covid and was likely just a cold, but I didn’t want to expose everyone at the dentist’s office, especially since there’s no way to keep a mask on there. I think that the staff appreciated my being cautious as well. When the rescheduled date ended up not working for me because of a work conflict that I couldn’t move. I didn’t want to have to move my appointment after already doing that once, but I didn’t have a choice. So I finally was able to go to the dentist yesterday for the overdue appointment.

I think knowing that I had this appointment about a month after it was supposed to happen made me extra nervous. I know I try to do everything right for my teeth, but my genetics make me have bad teeth compared to others. That’s why I go in 3 times a year instead of just twice. I have to make sure I get more cleanings than the average person to make up for the bad genetics. I know that this delay wasn’t as bad as the one I had at the beginning of the pandemic, but I was still worried that the appointment would be that much more difficult for me to tolerate and get through.

I also think it didn’t help that it was raining that day so I was dealing with hip pain as well as the side effects from my injection. I tried to tell myself that those would be good distractions, but it doesn’t always work out like that, and sometimes having other pain or issues just make everything else feel worse. But I did my best to not panic as much as I could and went into my appointment with a somewhat positive mindset. But as always, I was worried that I would be told some horrible news about my teeth while I was there.

When I finally got to my appointment, I encountered another delay. Another patient had an emergency and it was taking longer than expected. I told them I could just wait until the dentist was done since I didn’t want to put off the appointment any longer. I know that was the right choice even though waiting there for a while made my nerves kick up even more. By the time I was seen, I was really trying my best to stay calm but I knew I wasn’t doing a great job at that.

Fortunately, my appointment went ok. Things weren’t as great as they normally are, but I know that’s because my appointment was pushed back by a month. It really does make a difference in making sure you go on time. I know that I shouldn’t push an appointment back unless absolutely necessary, and this showed me yet again how true that is. But at least it was only slightly worse than normal and I wasn’t told any exceptionally bad news. I know that one day I’ll have another cavity or need a crown redone, but I’m grateful that wasn’t at this appointment.

I’m planning on going back again in 4 months like I’m supposed to. And I’m going to do whatever I can to make sure I don’t have to reschedule again since I think that makes things worse when they don’t have to be. And maybe if I don’t have a pushed back appointment and if there is no delay when I get to the office, things will be better for me next time.

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