Sept. 22 2012-week in review

Week in review:
I've have had a great week!  My weight is still down.  I have been very consistent with my exercise.  I am on day 10 of a 14 day T-Tapp boot camp.  I have been pretty consistent with my food as well. My weight loss is s-l-o-w but it is still going down.  Maybe I have finally gotten a good equation going on what I need to do in order to lose weight?

Going forward:
I haven't discussed karate much lately.  There is a reason for that.  Because my weight loss efforts go so slowly I start to really develop a negative attitude about my future in the martial arts.  By now, a year and a half into my weight loss journey, most people would have most of their weight off .  Right now, I only have a total of  22 lbs. down over all.  That is not enough weight to be noticed on the frame of someone my size.  And, it doesn't even get me under the 300lbs. mark (although I soon could be there).  My weight is not lost in a straight forward manner.  I lose 3lbs.  I gain back 2lbs. only to then lose 4lbs more the next day. 

The hardest part of a weight loss journey for me is keeping a positive mind set.  On the Monday night's, when I attend Tai Chi, keeping a positive mind set is particularly tough.  Walking into a room full of 20 somethings is tough. It reminds you of everything you are not.  I remember when I was in my 20's there were a few middle aged woman who came through the dojo and all of them told me they were leaving karate because it was too intimidating and embarrassing for them to workout with a bunch of young guys.  I get that feeling now.

Problem is if I keep allowing that attitude to prevail I will never get to my goal.  So, I am going to suck it up and get my butt back to the dojo on Monday nights.  Hopefully, if I keep going eventually it will lead me back to regular classes on Tuesday and Thursday nights.

The next step......

Given up sugar.......check
increasing exercise.......check
working on perfecting my kata.........check
and now, keeping a food journal .....

I never thought I would be willing to do keep a food journal.  I absolutely hate doing that when you joining Weight Watchers.  Measuring and counting make me nuts.  But, I have been doing so well with not eating sugar and generally eating healthier that now I am ready to just write down what I eat.  I am NOT counting or measuring anything.  I may never be able to get myself to do that.

I found these "Diet Free" food trackers I had purchased from Zonya Foco's website last year.  I just couldn't make myself use them last year. But, since they are focused on tracking fruit and vegetable consumption they are perfect for me at this time.  The structure of the tracker is less intense then what I remember doing at Weight Watchers.  It feels much less stressful.  Hopefully, it will really help and speed up my weight loss journey.  Wish me luck!!

kata work: starting with stance

Above is a picture of our living room floor.  Those blue marks you see are pieces of tape we put on the floor to mark the perfect stance.   We measured it out before we put the tape down to ensure we were accurate.  So, this week my goal is to daily stand in stance to get used to what it feels like. I am also doing basics (blocks, punches, and kicks) in this position.  I will also work on the first kata but mostly this week is about developing the feel for the perfect stance.
Oh and today is my 40th without sweets!

belt testing

Now that I have my diet in order (some 40 days without sugar and still going strong) it is time to get my workouts figured out.  I am going back to my T-Tapp workout since they really rehab your body in a gentle way.  T-Tapp needs to be a 5 day a week workout to be effective.  But, I also need to get regular kata workouts in.

Kata is a problem for me.  Some people can do kata and feel when they are doing it wrong.  I don't mean getting a movement wrong.  I more mean that I can't really feel when my basics, like stances, are wrong.  When I used to go into to Saturday open gyms at the dojo, one thing Sensei used to constantly say is that I should not progress to a new kata until I had the first one perfected.  I have been thinking a lot about how I can use that piece of advice here at home.  So, this is what I came up with....belt testing.

My husband is a black belt and as such, he helps with testing at the dojo.  He knows what Sensei is looking for in kata and basics.  So, I am going to work on kata here at home starting with the very first kata you get for your white belt.  After a while of practising it, I will have my husband basically test it.  If he thinks it is up to par then I will go to the next belt's kata.  This way I will just slowly but surely work up the belt rankings.  My hope is that by the time I get to my ranking (green belt with two stripes) I will have not only have mastered kata and basics but also gotten a lot of weight off.  This plan starts today!

Inspired

My husband and I spent the morning at a karate tournament.  Being a black belt, my husband was a judge.  I was a score/time keeper.  I had a really great time for some reason.  I was nervous and tense most of the time because being a score keeper involves math -not my favorite.  But, it was really great being around all those black belts from various schools.  Observing all of the different styles of martial arts and learning so much. 

Having had this experience really got me drawn back to karate again.  I think I have tried to forget about it for the last month or two.  Not being able to go to class is very frustrating and discouraging to me (even though I get that my weight is an issue).  For the last month or two I have been trying to convince myself that it is a really silly thing for a 40 something, 300 pound woman to want to go back to karate.  Today's tournament made it very clear to me that I don't really have a choice.  I love martial arts and it makes me incredibly happy.  I have to try to get back to it.  At the moment my only option is Monday night Tai Chi class at the dojo.  So, Monday I will start back.