20,214...my calories burned count so far for March.
My goal for the whole month was 20,000, and there are seven days to go.
Sweeeeeeet!
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Picking up the pace
March is shaping up to be my most dedicated with regard to exercise. I set myself a goal of burning 20,000 calories for the month. It's the 18th, and I'm already up to 15,527! I told my trainer that I wanted to work out every day this week, and he gave me a specific training plan.
Last night was 90 minutes of interval cardio...working hard until my heart rate hit peak, then cooling off, then working it back up again. I did it multiple times on five different machines, then in the end ran out of gas on the bike. So the last ten minutes I just rode at a good pace until my watch showed 1:30.
I'm also starting to pay more attention to nutrition. I'm doing research and experimenting, and already I can tell you that eating decent food definitely helps provide the right fuel for working out.
So far it seems my progress has been slow (23 pounds lost in nine months), but who cares? I did it without dieting (I wasn't ready) and it sure beats gaining 23 pounds! And think about this...if I had lost one pound a month for the last 10 years I would be at my ideal weight now.
My advice for whatever endeavor you are considering - start today. Start every hour if you have to. Don't get mad at yourself if you have to keep starting over. You're not failing...you are learning.
Never, never, never give up.
Last night was 90 minutes of interval cardio...working hard until my heart rate hit peak, then cooling off, then working it back up again. I did it multiple times on five different machines, then in the end ran out of gas on the bike. So the last ten minutes I just rode at a good pace until my watch showed 1:30.
I'm also starting to pay more attention to nutrition. I'm doing research and experimenting, and already I can tell you that eating decent food definitely helps provide the right fuel for working out.
So far it seems my progress has been slow (23 pounds lost in nine months), but who cares? I did it without dieting (I wasn't ready) and it sure beats gaining 23 pounds! And think about this...if I had lost one pound a month for the last 10 years I would be at my ideal weight now.
My advice for whatever endeavor you are considering - start today. Start every hour if you have to. Don't get mad at yourself if you have to keep starting over. You're not failing...you are learning.
Never, never, never give up.
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Latest official stats
These stats are from a month ago. We usually measure the first week of each month, but in February I missed the first week due to travel and the second due to illness. We are going to officially measure next the first week in April. But I can tell you yesterday the scale said 278.
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
That's just the weigh it is
How often do you weigh yourself? I've gone from weekly to daily to whenever I'm at the gym. I know women who weigh themselves twice or even several times a day.
I'm at the gym a lot these days, so I may cut back and not weigh myself more than twice a week. I can do a lot of damage in a week, so weekly is out of the question. I like the scales at the gym...those balance beam things that many doctors still use. I had a digital scale in my bathroom for a while last year, but it drove me nuts. You could get on it three times in a row and get three different numbers.
The important thing for me is to not put too much weight (pun intended) into that number I see. There are a whole lot of factors in your body weight as measured on a scale. It's not likely I gained a pound of fat since yesterday, but that's how much the scale moved UP. Could be that I ate more salt than usual today, or drank less water. Who knows? It doesn't really matter.
What I'm interested is my body fat percentage, which gets measured by the trainer once a month. And however we measure, it's not just the latest number we need to consider...it's the trend. As long as I'm trending downwards most of the time, I'm making progress.
And remember - we're going for progress, not perfection.
(I need to update my stats. Gotta find my last measurement. It's on a post-it note somewhere around here.)
I'm at the gym a lot these days, so I may cut back and not weigh myself more than twice a week. I can do a lot of damage in a week, so weekly is out of the question. I like the scales at the gym...those balance beam things that many doctors still use. I had a digital scale in my bathroom for a while last year, but it drove me nuts. You could get on it three times in a row and get three different numbers.
The important thing for me is to not put too much weight (pun intended) into that number I see. There are a whole lot of factors in your body weight as measured on a scale. It's not likely I gained a pound of fat since yesterday, but that's how much the scale moved UP. Could be that I ate more salt than usual today, or drank less water. Who knows? It doesn't really matter.
What I'm interested is my body fat percentage, which gets measured by the trainer once a month. And however we measure, it's not just the latest number we need to consider...it's the trend. As long as I'm trending downwards most of the time, I'm making progress.
And remember - we're going for progress, not perfection.
(I need to update my stats. Gotta find my last measurement. It's on a post-it note somewhere around here.)
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
This is NOT why I'm fat...
...but this has got to be one of the funniest web sites I've ever seen:
This is why you're fat. Where dreams become heart attacks.
Mmmmm....Meat Cake.
Oh, and the Sandwich Cake? We actually had one of those at a bridal shower in 1980 (with plain cream cheese as the icing).
What? It was pretty good!
This is why you're fat. Where dreams become heart attacks.
Mmmmm....Meat Cake.
Oh, and the Sandwich Cake? We actually had one of those at a bridal shower in 1980 (with plain cream cheese as the icing).
What? It was pretty good!
Saturday, March 7, 2009
I'm glad I don't know how to quit this
For the past several weeks, I have intended to tell my trainer that I need to reduce our sessions to once a week. The issue is money, and a week ago I had a car repair that cost the same as 20 training sessions.
Looking at it from a purely financial perspective, spending $100 a week on an optional service seems a bad choice. There are so many more practical things I could use that money for - I could double up on my car payments (my only remaining debt); I could save for a decent vacation or maybe a down payment on a house; I could buy new clothes, which I need (ironically) because of the work I'm doing with the trainer.
But I can't quit him. I work out several times a week on my own now, but there is no way for me to reach the level that I do with him. I'm getting stronger every week, and I have never felt this good - physically or emotionally - in my entire life.
I'll do whatever I have to do to pay for it. It is the best investment I've ever made.
Worth. Every. Penny.
Looking at it from a purely financial perspective, spending $100 a week on an optional service seems a bad choice. There are so many more practical things I could use that money for - I could double up on my car payments (my only remaining debt); I could save for a decent vacation or maybe a down payment on a house; I could buy new clothes, which I need (ironically) because of the work I'm doing with the trainer.
But I can't quit him. I work out several times a week on my own now, but there is no way for me to reach the level that I do with him. I'm getting stronger every week, and I have never felt this good - physically or emotionally - in my entire life.
I'll do whatever I have to do to pay for it. It is the best investment I've ever made.
Worth. Every. Penny.
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