UPDATE!!!...again

Alright, so this week that Ive taken off has been pretty tough. Ive stuck with eating healthy but the fact that I havent been exercising at all has been really bothering me. I decided to do my 3rd weigh-in a day early. I did it this morning. Im down to 258lbs. That means Ive only lost 2lbs since my last weigh-in. It bothers me that I didnt lose more...but I have to stay in the mindset that Im 2 steps closer to my weight goal. The past 7 days have not been a vacation though. As I said, I kept up on my diet, and I have been researching, thinking, and speaking with my "fitness advisor" to change up my routine a bit, improve upon some things, and get my body ready to lose more weight. When you first start a fitness routine after being idle for many years, your body isnt used to it, so it melts calories, and thats why at first, I saw a big loss in the first few weeks. The trick is to not let the loss slow down.

If you start a fitness routine and you never change it up, you will see results at first, but soon your body will adapt and the results will start to slow. Exercise is exercise and you wont stop losing weight all together, but you'll lose very slowly. Since I started, I have been running/walking 2 miles each night, 5 nights a week. Tomorrow, I will start a new routine involving interval training. Here's what it will look like:

Warm-up: 5mph (slow jog) 5 mins

Work Interval: 8mph (run) 1 min

Recovery Interval: 3mph (walk) 3 mins

Work Interval: 8mph (run) 1 min

Cool-down: 3mph (walk) 5 mins

Total: 15 mins

This will happen 3 days a week (Mon, Wed, Fri). Then light cardio (probably 2 mile walk/jog) 2 days a week (Tue, Thur). Now for the interval training, 15 mins doesnt seem like a long time but its tougher than it sounds. And as time goes on, it will get harder. It moves up in levels. The reason it works is your endurance and metabolism increases. It burns a lot of calories in half the time. So instead of burning calories during and shortly after the workout, it burns calories all day. If it seems to easy, I will reevaluate with my advisor and we will jump up a level, but apparently those work intervals are no joke, and this type of workout can be dangerous if you do too much before you're ready.

I will still incorporate push-ups and situps in my routine. Before a workout and before bed. I will also be adding a few new workouts to this portion of my routine. Here's how it will look before a workout and before bed:

Push-ups: 15

Sit-ups: 15

Flutter Kicks: 15 (counted: 1-2-3-1, 1-2-3-2, etc.)

Squats: 15 (feet shoulder width apart, hands on hips, bend at the knees keeping back straight and put hands out in front of you as you bend, hands back on hips as you straighten your legs.)

These exercises will increase by 3 reps every week. I will also be adding stretches into my daily routine. Instead of listing them all, you can find them at these 2 sites:

http://www.military.com/military-fitness/workouts/stretching-plan (all stretches listed)

http://www.military.com/military-fitness/health/new-lower-back-plan (Hamstring stretch 1 and 2 and Hurdler stretch)

These stretches will be performed first thing in the morning and immediately after a workout. This will increase flexibility and decrease the chance of injury.

My diet for now is good. I just need to add more protein. I will be doing that immediately. I also want to incorporate more veggies into my diet.

These are the changes being made, some will be permanent, others will only be around for the next 3 or 4 weeks until my routine gets switched around again. Lets see how it works. Regular Monday night entry will still be done tomorrow evening.

UPDATE!!!!

As I said in my previous post, I was going to wait until next week to take my break. After starting out on my usual 2 mile walk/run last night, I quickly realized that it may have to happen this week. I was so uncomfortable while running that I could only do 1 mile. One of the main reasons I was going to wait until next week was because I have a weigh-in coming up next Monday morning and I wanted to see some results. But one thing I have learned so far is you have to listen to your body. You can tell the difference between a healthy burn from exercise, and actual pain. I was really feeling it in my knees and my upper thighs. The reason I got right out there and started running in the beginning was because I have never been a strong runner and I wanted to get used to it for boot camp. But when you're as heavy as I am, running can be hard on the knees and ankles and the legs in general. So unfortunately I have to stop this week and rest my body, let it restore, and get it ready to lose some more weight next week. I will use the rest of this week to research weight loss, try and find some things I may be able to do differently, change things Im not doing enough of, or doing too much of, etc. See if there are any aspects of my routine I can improve upon...anything I can do differently that may benefit me more. So we'll see what happens. I may have lost some weight, I may have gained a little, I may see no change at all. But that's what all of this is about...learning as I go along. As impatient as I am and as much as I want the weight gone, I have to do this the right way and I may take a few steps forward one week, a few steps back the next week, and no steps at all the week after that. The key is, not letting anything discourage me and remembering "there's always tomorrow." So we'll see how it goes. I'll update Sunday to list all the things I plan to do differently for the next 3 or 4 weeks. Then after that we'll probably move into a whole different routine. Always keep the body guessing. Then Monday we'll get into my 3rd weigh-in, etc.

Week 6

Alright, week 6...not very exciting ha. I was going to start working with weights this week, but my "fitness advisor" said Im not ready for that yet. That will come in week 8 of training, so in blog "Week 9." Next week I will be taking a break from all exercise. I will keep eating healthy, but my body needs some time to reset, rest, and recover from several weeks of training. Not only will it help me recover, but it will "trick" my body. After a week, it will have gotten comfortable with not exercising, then, after a week and I start to be active again, my body will start to work hard to compensate for a week of no training. In turn, I should lose quite a bit of weight. But as Ive learned, losing weight is all about finding what works and what doesnt and adjusting accordingly.

Im excited to change things up a bit in a few weeks. I dont want my body to get used to what Im doing now. When your body adjusts, you wont be very effective in your efforts. Like I said, nothing very new or exciting happened this week, so...until next week.

Week 5

Alright everyone, week 5 marks weigh-in number 2! I weighed-in at 160lbs today for a total of 14lbs!!!! I am very pleased with the results. I am trying to stay patient. 14lbs is GREAT but I would have loved to have lost a lot more. But I reached my goal of losing 5lbs before the next weigh in. I have been setting small goals for myself. Doing a few more push-ups and sit-ups a night, running a little further than usual before stopping to walk on my nightly runs, taking the stairs more at work, etc. The thing that I like about setting these little goals, although small, it shows that your body IS changing and you ARE making progress. Not much change in my diet. I am still eating the same things, simply because its easy AND healthy...but I can feel myself slowly getting bored so one of my goals this week is to experiment a little bit with different foods. This week Im going to start doing weight training. I want to avoid gaining a lot of weight in muscle so Im going to lift low weight with high reps. When you weight train, it shreds calories, speeds up your metabolism, and increases strength and flexibility. Im still focused on my goal and have absolutely no intention of giving up or letting myself slip. I still have a long road ahead of me but the fact that I am making obvious progress is what's keeping me pushing on.

Week 4

Alright everyone, its officially been one month since Ive started this whole thing. And about 3 weeks since Ive actually started eating right and doing some activity. Ive seen some major changes. I compared week 1's pictures to this week's and I think you can definitely tell a difference. I feel great and I constantly have a lot of energy. I notice a difference in flexibility also. My diet hasnt really changed much. Still eating the same things. Trying to experiment with different foods but I have no knowledge of cooking so its hard. One thing I have noticed the biggest change in is my running. Every night, I go on a 2 mile walk/run around my neighborhood. Ive noticed that since my first week, I can run for longer, I dont get out of breath as fast, and when I am out of breath, it doesnt take as long to recover. This makes me happy because my biggest worry when it comes to boot camp is the physical portion...especially the run. So if its taken only 3 weeks to notice a difference in my running progress, Im hoping by the time I go to boot camp I will be fully prepared. I am however, still working on my push-ups. I choose not to listen to music when I run, mainly because it helps with the mental portion of running, and I wont have music to listen to in boot camp so by the time Im there, I'll be used to it. Ive learned that running is almost more mental than physical. Once you block out the "MY LEGS ARE ON FIRE!" or the "I CANT BREATHE!" its not that bad. I use the sound of my breathing and my feet on the pavement to pace myself. And its slowly becoming less of a chore. I feel myself getting close to actually enjoying it...which is something I never thought I'd say. Up until now I havent used any weights at all because I want to focus on losing the weight and not gaining weight in lean muscle mass. But Ive been told by a few friends that if you lift weights that arent very heavy and just do more reps, it actually helps burn fat and calories. So next week I'll probably incorporate some weight training 2 to 3 times a week. But next monday is weigh-in number 2! My goal is to have lost 5lbs. If I dont lose that much, I wont be too heart broken because you should usually lose 1-2lbs a week, just as long as I LOSE weight and I havent put any on...I'll be happy! Until next time!

Week 3

So today was the first weigh-in! The scale we have here at the house is sort of wonky. I've heard you should always weight yourself twice...so I did...and got 2 TOTALLY different numbers. So I weighed myself a few times and got the weight 265lbs a few times. So for now, that's what Im assuming is my current weight. My goal for this week is to get a new scale! So that's a total loss of 8lbs! So while that's definitely progress...more so than Ive seen since I left the recruiting office over a year ago...I want more. Which is good because I'm hungry for it, but I'll go ahead and call this first couple weeks a "practice round" I know what works, I know HOW to do it...now lets ramp it up a little bit. Im gonna start working out harder. Im gonna be VERY strict with my diet. I'll admit, while I haven't been bad with my diet, I have made a few decisions that could have been better.

Also, I had my first experience with "diet on vacation." and let me tell you...its not easy. I was in a hotel with my girlfriend and healthy food wasn't just a fridge away as usual. So I didn't eat as much as I should have an my food choices weren't the best. But I worked it off tonight with a good run.

Like I said, Im gonna step it up starting this week. Another weigh-in during week 5. So we'll see how it goes.

Week 2

Alright, so I decided to update every week instead of every day. Ive learned that in weight loss, things dont get exciting or interesting on a day to day basis. The first week went really well. Im a 21 year old boy so I dont know the first thing about cooking, so right now my meals are pretty much the same day to day. In the morning I have 2 egg whites and 2 strips of turkey bacon with a glass of skim/fat free milk. Between breakfast and lunch I usually have an apple or some peanuts (unsalted). Some people prefer almonds but Im not very partial to those. For lunch I either have a ham sandwich with mustard. Mustard is a good substitute for mayo because it has 0 calories. Or a salad with fat free dressing. With that I usually have a handful of "veggie sticks" You can buy them at your local grocery store. They're like chips but they look like vegetable straws and they're not bad for you. The only thing is, they're salted, so I dont have very many of those. Between lunch and dinner I, again, usually have an apple or some peanuts. I usually alternate those snacks. If I have an apple early in the day, I'll have peanuts later, and so on. For dinner I usually have a chicken breast with some sort of vegetable. Usually broccoli. I bought a George Foreman grill. They're cheap, they cook things fast, and they squeeze all the bad stuff out of the meat. Since some of these foods can be sort of bland, I tend to add crushed red pepper to it. Gives it a little kick. You can find it in the "seasoning" section of your local grocery store. For a snack after dinner I usually have some Yoplait yogurt. They come in a million different flavors and they're fat free and only 100 calories. All I drink is water throughout the day as well. Every night when I get home from work, I go for a 2 mile walk/run. And at several points throughout the day, I'll drop down and do 10 pushups, situps, flutter kicks, and squats. I was told to give myself a few little goals every week. It'll show me that my body is changing and growing and it will help me move my progress along. So my plan is every week to do 5 more reps of previously mentioned exercises.

Since I started this whole thing a week ago today, I already feel so much better everyday. I have more energy all day, Im always in a good mood, and I feel great about myself, and even though it may or may not show in the progress picture that Ive changed in size, I feel like I have. And a few people have already told me it looks like Ive lost weight. Mainly in my face. They say that weight loss shows from the head down. It really amazes me how quickly the body gets used to healthy eating. This weekend my girlfriend ordered a few pizzas for her and I and the family for a rainy Sunday. I had a couple slices and a little later, my stomach turned sour and stayed that way the rest of the day. Its ok the have some "not so good" food once a week. Im not saying go out and eat McDonalds all day. But have a couple slices of pizza, eat a piece of cake at a birthday party, etc. That way your body says "oh no, this stuff isnt good" and it works harder to get rid of that food. But overall I think it was a good week. Im gonna weigh in every 2 weeks, so next monday we'll see how much progress Ive made.