6 Weeks In…

It has been 6 weeks since I started my life change…

I have lost a total of 13 pounds…
I have gone from a 36″ waist to a 34″…
I have gone down a belt hole…
I have exercised nearly every day…
I have stopped eating junk, fast food, candy etc…
I only eat out once, maybe twice, a week…
I have stopped drinking pop (soda for you northerners, and “coke” for you others)
I have stuck to mainly whole foods and removed most processed food from my diet…
I feel better…
My clothes fit better…
I’m happier…

My goal weight is 215 pounds… I am still quite a ways away from hitting that mark, and am losing less weight now that my body is getting used to my change… I fully expected this to happen… You start out making big strides in your goals and being very pleased, then, you go from losing 3-4 pounds per week to a creeping 1 pound a week, or even staying at the same weight…  That just means I am going to have to continue to push, not lose focus on my goal, or get discouraged with my progress…

I also stated at the beginning of this that I was going to wait until I hit 215lbs before I started lifting weights… In a discussion with one of my good buddies this weekend, he explained that the more muscle you have, the more fat that you burn… That muscle requires more energy to continue to produce and maintain, which it uses the fat for, in turn, burning it up…

So with that, I am going to begin working out…

I am going to start out very slow and not try and over do it… But over the next few weeks I plan on working myself into a solid, full body work out through a week…

What experiences have you had mixing weight training with cardio?  Should I alternate days between the two?  Like lift MWF and run T Th?  What are your thoughts?

Bad News…

I had a bit of a bummer situation this morning… I did my weekly weigh in (a few days late) and it showed me at 225!  Which is great… But I weighed myself after a long weekend out of town and some poor eating (oops) and it had me at 238… So, unless I lost 13lbs in 3 days, my scale is jacked up… So now I have no idea what weight I started at, how much I have lost, and where I am now…

That’s pretty aggravating…

But… To be a half full kind of guy… Save for a few slip ups, I have maintained a 2,000 calorie per day diet and worked out 20 out of the last 30 days… So, no matter how much weight I have lost, I am succeeding at my main goals.

I am going to go and buy a digital scale and start my weight over… I will update you on that tomorrow!

Seriously, Wife…

So… Here I am… Trying to be a good, diligent young man… Eating right, exercising regularly, etc… And during the worst valley I have hit since I started this change, my wonderful, pregnant wife brings home my kryptonite…

 

Heaven help me…

Ugh…

This week has been terrible… Both for my exercise goals and dietary goals…

I have learned that a big part to eating right is positioning yourself to do so.  This entire week, I have been gone all evening long… Eating healthy at any restaurant is anything but easy… So, needless to say, my dinners have been sub par this week.  I’m still under my calorie intake for the week, but It just isn’t the kind of stuff that I want to be eating on a regular basis.  I have no problem enjoying a meal like that, I just don’t want it to be a nightly thing.

Along with that, being gone all evening leaves no time to make it to the gym… Now I know I can do some things at home, but, to be honest  when I get home at 10 – 10:30… I have no desire to do any type of exercise… 

I guess it’s all about scheduling and it not being an option… Meaning, I’m not available until 6:00, because the gym is just as much a part of my schedule as work…

On a good note…

 

That is a new belt loop hole… (Side note: I don’t walk around with my t shirt tucked in to my jeans… It’s just my undershirt…)

Weigh-In

Week 3 is in the books!  I have maintained most all of my exercises and dietary goals (save a few exceptions) and it’s becoming much easier!

I weighed in at 228 pounds this morning!  I’m continuing to drop the weight each week, and the best part about it is, I’m doing it the right way! 

It’s difficult to tell the difference in my body as I don’t feel like I have dropped 12 pounds, but I can feel the difference in my day to day… As well as the difference the exercise is making…  

Next week, which will be one month, I will post a new picture for my records and hopefully the ability to see a little bit of change!

So onward I go into week 4!  Thanks for reading and helping me stay accountable!

Just Checking In…

Today has been a bit of a droll day…. The weather is very gloomy… It’s cold (it was 60 degrees yesterday here in Oklahoma)… Just ughh…

Any who… I’m still pressing… Yesterday was good.  I ate well and got all my exercises in… I am struggling with running on the treadmill… It is SO boring… I much prefer running outside, but weather isn’t permitting this time of the year… So I have started shooting 30 minutes of baskets in the gym… With my calorie counter, that is about 190 calories burned, which is approximately the same amount as a 10 minute run at 7.5 mph… So I run my 10 minutes first, then go shoot baskets.  I have also been mixing in some elliptical, rowing and stair climber…

Headed to the gym now!

Thanks for keeping me accountable!! 

Weigh-in

I know I’m a day late, but I went ahead and posted my blog from Friday that didn’t post for some reason!

I weighed this morning and came in at 130lbs!  I’m only 15 pounds off of my goal weight!  

To be honest, I am quite surprised that I lost this week… Because my Sunday was brutal… We had family in for the weekend, and I ate.  A LOT.  I ate things I shouldn’t have (Zebra Cakes, Nutter Butters and some Ice Cream (!)) and I ate much more at meals than I have been.  Though they  weren’t bad foods, I had some ribs, brisket, round steak and chicken fajita, I just ate a lot of them!  I was 1,000 calories over my budget on Sunday!!  I had about 950 calories to spare from the week before, so I went about 50 calories over my budget for the week.  That’s not bad, but I can’t allow myself to splurge like that… Enjoying some sweets isn’t a bad thing, but not in suck quantities!

But, never the less, I still lost this week!  Today, I am going to start running 2 miles instead of 1.  That could be interesting/brutal…

I am going skiing in about a month for a few days, so my conditioning should really help me keep up on the mountain, and keep me from injury… I am a pretty experienced skier and enjoy doing some of the extreme runs, but that takes serious conditioning, flexibility and strength… Hopefully I will have prepared myself before then… The other upside of skiing is you burn and insane amount of calories!  I won’t be tracking my calorie intake during the trip, as I want to be sure I have plenty of nutrients to keep me running during the day… That being said, I can’t allow myself to be a pig either.  I still am going to strive to eat good, whole foods and stay away from the massively processed and sweetened stuff.

I will let you know how the run goes tomorrow!