100 crunch challenge completed!

The other day I challenged myself to complete 100 crunches straight by the end of June. I succeeded tonight! I even ended up doing an additional 40 reverse crunches afterward! I am so proud. I've decided I am going to keep right on doing this, even though I still have a lot of fat to burn off before results will really be apparent.

"Crunches, sit-ups, the plank and other core exercises primarily serve to tone, develop and define core muscles, including upper and lower abdominals. It's logical to think that they could make your entire stomach hard and big, by extension, but since those muscles are underlying and covered by fat, that's not the case. If you are slim, by contrast, those muscles will be located closer to the outer layer of your skin and the movements may help tighten and harden your midsection." Taken from here.

What do you think - should I keep doing the crunches or wait until I've lost another 30+ pounds? I am about 70 pounds away from my goal. I think I need to keep doing the crunches. It can't hurt, right?

I make sure that I not only do regular crunches, but I also do reverse crunches, oblique crunches, & bicycle crunches.

My new plan for the next week is really simple. I am going to do 20 minutes of intense walking/running, and then follow it up with some strength training. I will alternate back and forth for 80 minutes. I'm really concerned with getting my arms back to a respectable size & my belly, but I know lifting weights & doing crunches isn't enough. I need to make sure I am burning the fat off as I am toning my muscles in order to see the best results.

I screwed up a lot with my diet today. I did eat lots of fruit, but I also had a movie day/ mini celebration for my daughter's kindergarten play which involved quite a few sugar cookies & almost a full bag of popcorn. Ouch. It's okay though, I can learn from this. I won't let myself go as overboard as I did today. One interesting thing is instead of making multiple bags of sugar cookies like I used to, I only made one bag. We ended up with just under 30 cookies. The kids each had about 6 or 7. Laurin & I had the rest. Oops... Really sad thing is that's a lot less than we used to eat, haha!

I am working on that exercise I mentioned in a previous post, where I answer those 4 questions from my counselor.... It's a lot more difficult than I would have expected. I will post it on Monday, maybe sooner if I am not too busy this weekend. We'll see. It is Father's Day weekend, after all & I am hoping to make it a good one for Andrew. As far as the blog is concerned, I am making no guarantees.

Woohoo!

You know the challenge I mentioned yesterday with the crunches? Last night I did 54 & had to stop. Today I made it up to 75! It's getting easier & easier! Andrew, my boyfriend, said I might as well make it 200 at the rate I'm going. We'll see ;)

I think it's funny/cute how concerned my friends are with me over-doing the exercising. I wish people understood that 90% of what I do is walking/running! It's not hard, and I don't think walking every day could be bad for anyone. I do devote at least half an hour a day to workout dvd's & occasionally a bit of strength training on the side. The crunch challenge is just something new to keep me motivated & see what I am really capable of.

Don't worry so much, people! I'm fine.

My counselor gave me tons of homework today, and I'm thinking I might share it on the blog. I have to answer these 4 questions with the first things that pop into my head & then try to rationalize the answers. I had her laughing her butt off earlier. One question was, "What is your motto or slogan on how you feel about life?" I laughed and said that, "Kurt Vonnegut said it best! Life is no way to treat an animal." She laughed but looked very concerned after. Oops?

Anyway, I think it might be kind of fun to share with all of you. It's kind obviously going to be really personal but I think it's going to help a lot. She says if I can be  honest and upfront with my feelings life will be easier. If life is easier, the weight will come of easier, too. It's all connected. Strong mind, strong body.

Challenge!

I was watching Cars with the kids tonight after already walking a few miles so I decided it was crunch time. Literally.

I am trying to get to 100 crunches straight by the end of June. Tonight I got to 54 & had to stop. I wonder if I can do this? I used to do 200+ crunches a day in 2004! I want to get to that point again. Of course, in 2004, I wasn't trying to do all 200 at once, I did all sorts of different crunches over the span of a lengthy workout.

I know that physically, the crunches won't do much good since I have so much weight I need to lose. You won't see abs through belly fat, after all. It's more of an ego boost for me. Just knowing I can do it would mean a lot to me. The next thing I want to work on is REAL push ups, but that will take a while.