April Challenge - Day 1!!!!

Last night was the first night of the April Challenge. I had to do 10 squats, a 15 second wall sit, 30 seconds of burpees, 10 sit-ups, 5 push-ups and a 15 second plank. It doesn't sound like much, and took me all of about 5 minutes to do - but I am SORE today! I love this because one thing that always drove me crazy is that while yes, it's great to be able to lift x amount of pounds off the ground (lifting weights at the gym), it's not so great that I can't support my own body weight by doing a push up! I love that I am working with my own body, focusing on form, and starting low and working my way into it.

I had also decided that in addition to doing 30 minutes of cardio 3 times a week, I was going to start walking again at work. I did that last summer - I would use my 30 minute lunch and go walk in our parking garage. That way, I felt better if I was not able to get to the gym because at least I had walked for 30 minutes that day. Plus, I felt extra great on the days I did get to the gym because I had gotten two workouts in. Then today - it dawned on me - STAIRS!!! I started taking the stairs at work a few months ago. I work on the ninth floor in our building - and I was lucky if I could breath after the 4th floor! I built myself up, and was able to make it all 9 flights of stairs, then it kinda fizzled out. I started taking the elevator again, not walking as much, not taking the stairs at all, etc. I decided I wanted to incorporate both back into my daily routine at work.

Well, this morning I was curious. I wondered how many calories I'd burn doing 30 minutes of the stairs, versus 30 minutes of walking. I was shocked. Literally shocked. By just walking at a moderate pace (3 mph), I would burn 216 calories in 30 minutes. If I used those same 30 minutes, and walked the stairs instead, 363 calories. In the same amount of time, and could burn almost 1 1/2 times the amount of calories! So guess what I'm doing??? STAIRS!!!

I am sure that I am going to have to build back up to where I was - so I am going to start today. I am going to go as long as I can, and then each day add to that time. For instance, If I can make it 10 minutes today, I'll shoot for 11 minutes tomorrow. If that is the pace I start at (10 minutes) than by April 30th, I will have built up to 30 minutes, just by adding 1 minute to my workout each day. Or if I can only do 10 minutes at a time, maybe I'll try doing 10 minutes 3 times a day! I'm pretty freaking excited about this. I'm excited for a new challenge, something different that is manageable. Plus, my ass is going to look fantastic. HA!!!

On another note, I woke up this morning feeling "skinny". These days a few and far between for me. I wanted to know if there was actually a difference between yesterday and today. Since tomorrow is weigh in day - I'm not going to give it away, but I saw something today that I am pretty freaking excited about - and I can't wait to tell you guys tomorrow!!!

FatGirl - OUT!!!