Healthy Fit Blog
My weight loss journey beginning the 1st of January 2010, going through the Body for Life fitness and diet plan.
Well, I finished up my last challenge pretty well. I'm happy about it, having lost 18 and a half pounds total and 22 inches in all. It was an eye opening time and I learned a lot about myself.
One thing I was concerned about was building muscle too fast, so for the first two weeks of this challenge I did not do a weight workout and just walked for exercise. I feel like I can do so much better than that though. Maybe I think I should just stop worrying too much about building muscle and do the workouts regularly like they're supposed to be done.
I had a great workout last night and worked really hard on the legs and back day with my home gym. In case you haven't heard yet, I'm using the Tower 200 Body by Jake door gym and I just love it. The weights are easy to adjust and I can move up in weight fairly quickly. It's easy to use and put up on your door, so the versatility is a real plus. I also did two a days on Saturday last week, sort of trying to do some last call workouts like they do on the Biggest Loser. I'll keep it up throughout this challenge. It's another 12 week challenge, although now I'm into the second week and only 10 more to go.
I weighed in this morning and dropped another 2 pounds and 3 and 3/4 inches as well. I'm very happy about that. Last week I was unable to weigh reliably so I did not have a loss. But this week I'm catching up and working on my goal of 24 pounds in this challenge. I think it's a reasonable goal considering that I didn't work out the right way for the first 4 weeks of last challenge. I'm hoping to beat that and then some this time. I still have a lot to lose, so my hopes are high.
Overall, I did notice a big increase in my energy and mood with the diet being a balance of portions between proteins and carbs. That was really a god send for me to find out that tidbit of info for my health now. I used to deal with fatigue and dehydration a lot. Also I no longer get too hungry like I used to, it's like the food is going straight to nurture me and give me energy, love it! I'm sleeping well and I feel strong when I workout, that's another thing I really love about this plan. I'll stick with it until I lose all my weight this time. I don't have any real hangups with this plan.
I'm now in the last week of my 12 week challenge so now I'm making this week count. I'm very encouraged about my inches lost moreso than the pounds lost, but the pounds are coming along also. Just not quite as well. But my goal was to lose 20 pounds or 20 inches and I've already reached the inches goal! This week at weigh in I lost another pound and a half, bringing my total to 17 even pounds lost. That's almost the 20 I set my goal for. And I have one more week to try to reach that. Since the inches are already that, I won't be upset about the amount of weight lost this challenge. I'll begin another challenge at the end of this one too, but first, I want to finish this one strong.
Last week was the biggest pounds lost I have had in this challenge. I learned a little about myself, like what they mean by the term burning fat like a furnace. I say that because my free day was my birthday and I went out and also went shopping later so I had not only lunch with my family, but got some chocolate at the store and made some potato fries at home that night. It was a full day of eating what I wanted and I thought there was no way I'd lose that week because I was so full at the end of the day.
I managed to work in a walk that night after eating so I got my heart rate up that day. I upped my walking time on the trampoline to 30 minutes instead of 20 and it's making a big difference. I feel very warm and it's not only a great warm up, but it helps me burn some sweat off and keep my heart rate up for one time that day. Sometimes I wear sweatsuits to burn off more sweat and lose more weight.
So, the rest of the week I did my regular two weight workouts and went heavy as planned. I also did two a day workouts using my trampoline and my punching bag. The cardio workout in the Body for Life plan really maximizes your time spent working out. You really get the most out of a shorter workout and I love that. Someone at my weight can do a workout like this, it's just great. But staying on the diet for the rest of the week and working out on schedule managed to help me lose 3 pounds last week. I happened to measure also and I lost a total of 8 inches, except I had to add the 2 inches to it that my arms grew. My arms were an inch bigger each, but you still can't see my triceps.
That was a great experience to have lost 3 pounds last week at weigh in, especially when it seemed like I would not be able to lose it. This past week I lost 1 and a half pounds and I measure next week, not this week. Next week I'll take new pics as well. So, at weigh in this morning I was down another pound and a half bringing my total loss to 17 pounds. As of last week when I measured, my inches lost were 20 inches total. I measure again next week for the last time so I'll have to make this week count. Wish me luck!
Well, I'm not experimenting anymore. I read in Bill's book Body for Life that it sometimes happens that people build muscle and not lose the pounds faster. So I'm one of those people. What Bill recommends is that you do 2 weight workouts per week and the rest cardio, that would be 4 cardio workouts and none on your free day. It's been two weeks since I've written, not because I didn't get results, but I've been busy with other things. Also, the Olympics were on and I couldn't miss those either. Last week, I luckily lost a pound and it was a good time to measure again. I found out that I lost another 6 and a half inches in the past two weeks. That was at 8 weeks into my challenge. Which made my total loss 10 and a half pounds and 14 and a quarter inches! That's just great, no? This week I weighed again and I'm so excited to say I finally lost 2 pounds in a week with the workouts correct. I may be catching up from when I was building muscle, since muscle burns more calories than fat does. So I'm finally starting to lose more. It's too soon to measure again, being just a week, but I'll do that again next week. Now, my total loss is 12 and a half pounds. How fun! :) Also, last week, I started watching The Biggest Loser on Tues. nights. It was very encouraging and motivating. They lose a lot more than most of us guys at home do. First, they had this challenge and two people were competing to find two tickets. Each of them kept losing at the game and having to eat chocolate chip cookies and donuts, peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and all kinds of cheats. That made me think about the strategy behind the free day and eating what you want on that day. They both ate about 1,200 calories and 2,100 calories to win the challenge just to pick teams to try to lose weight again. That seems very backwards doesn't it? But the guy that ate over 2,000 calories went on to lose 15 pounds the next week. He set a record for the Biggest Loser. I was amazed and I'm learning now how to feed myself for energy in order to fuel my workouts and weight loss. It's as though they know how to make the body burn fuel like a furnace and give it a rest on one day. I was definitely motivated to do my two a days and even worked out on my free day, although I did take 2 days off at the end of the week, remembering not to eat as much when I don't workout. Eating for energy is balancing the proteins and carbohydrates, and those are the good carbs too, the multi grains, whole foods, fruits and vegetables. I need to remember to eat, sometimes I forget to eat and get interested in something else. I don't get hungry as often as I used to so I just forget sometimes. I have to remember to eat and eat a balanced portion meal. That makes the workouts go better, which they are getting much better in that I'm a lot stronger and they aren't quite as hard as they used to be. After the workouts I get a little tight in my muscles, but not sore anymore, which I'm very happy about. I'm still eating very good meals, with good choices for proteins and carbs, not cheating at all. Except maybe that I drink a lot of coffee, but the milk counts as protein as well, so that would be more protein per meal. Plus a little more fat I suppose. And I use a little swirl of chocolate in my lattes. That's the only desert or chocolate I have and it keeps me satisfied. Other than that, no snacks or cheats. I have three more weeks to go to finish this challenge, so I only have three weeks to get to either 20 pounds or 20 inches loss. Then I'm sure, I'll keep going and lose more of my weight because I like the plan and it's not difficult to stick to. I actually like the food and the workouts are fun. I'm having a good time on this plan so far. The workouts are not more difficult than I can do them. More good news next time I hope.
Well, I weighed in today and have good news for you. I dropped another pound so I'm up to 9 and a half total. That's encouraging for me even though it's not falling off too fast. I said before that I noticed adding muscle and it's very good that I'm keeping my muscle tone. I'll tell you how I concluded this.
When I started I was cautious and wanted to go slowly. The second and third week, I experimented with my workouts and weight loss. At first I was very sore, it had been a while since I had worked out at all. So I took one week to see if I would lose on just the eating plan, and found out that week I lost 2 and a half pounds even without exercising much, just 2 cardio workouts. The next week, I did two weight workouts and that's all the exercise I did. That week, I didn't lose any weight at all. Since then, I've been doing the weight workouts and the cardio workouts regularly. That's when my weight loss slowed down to 1 pound per week. I suppose I should be very thankful that I'm losing some and still keeping the muscle. I realistically wouldn't want to lose all the weight and have loose skin and no muscle tone so I'm really happy about losing some and building muscle.
This past week, I did two weight workouts and the rest cardio and two a days. So this week I lost a pound and I'm happy about it. When I noticed that I was building, I decided to change around my workouts as you may have read already.
After looking at my eating plan, I decided to eat a little less to not build too much muscle either. If I stick to my regular workouts I may keep building muscle and it's a little soon to have bulk, so I noticed the effects of the balance of protein and carbs and adjusted my eating plan. The balance is really what I think is making the difference. I had always planned to lose weight slowly and keep my muscle tone, and it's thankfully working out that way.
Before starting the Body for Life plan, I was eating larger portions and mainly carbohydrates, although it was a lot of vegetables compared to the rest of the food. I was eating good foods, but too much and not the right balance. The equal portions of protein and carbs is just the right mix for energy and muscle tone I think.
Taking a look at my eating plan, I actually have a lot of really good foods. I always cook with whole grains and make my meals from scratch. My easy prep meal is my macaroni and cheese with tuna and that's store bought but it's a good balance of protein and carbs. When I make whole grain zucchini bread or corn bread it's with the best ingredients, including flax seeds and graham flour, oat bran and corn meal. I also like to make salads with beans and salmon, pepperoncini and canned or steamed vegetables. That's a good way to use lima beans or french green beans, brussel sprounts or other fun veggies. There's a lot of protein comparatively in whole grains and beans, even though they are a carb on this diet plan. Also, I'm eating sort of a lot of cottage cheese with fruit or a baked potato as a balanced carb and cottage cheese is a complete protie. That's a combination of 9 amino acids in one food. I think that's why my protien radar is going so high and I'm building more muscle as opposed to losing more weight.
That's how I made my decision to cut back on a meal a day or so and do more cardio workouts at least until I get rid of most of my fat and can see the muscle tone in my body.
My plan now for working out is to do one weight workout and 5 two a day cardio workouts, taking my free day off or walking to the local restaurant that I want to eat at. This should be a good combination to lose more fat and build less muscle. I honestly already had very good muscle tone from previous exercise. I did a half marathon as you can see from my picture on the High Energy Fun page. I've done some resistance bands and the exercise ball for weight workouts and keeping my heart rate up with calesthenics and yoga.
These days I'm particularly into my trampoline. It's actually called the Urban Rebounder and it's made my a man that's been a mixed martial arts pro. This type of workout is one that's like swimming because of the resistance you get from bouncing up and down and pushing back off to do the next move. My workouts consist of kickboxing moves, punches, kicks, turns and punches and back kicks, front kicks and knee raises. There's a handle bar that's removeable if you're that comfortable with the rebounder, but I leave it in position and turn to the side to kick out front. I just love it, it's more fun than going outside in the pollution and heat or cold and suffereing from asthma attacks like I used to. The heat would actually drain me of energy so much that it was hard to rest enough for the next workout. I live in Texas, so we have lots of sun and humidity here.
The other workout for the day I get on the rebounder and step, step, step and turn in rapid succession so as to simulate a slow or light jog and work my hip flexors at the same time. Trying to get my sides and mid section down as soon as possible. :) The Urban Rebounder is a way to protect my joints from the constant pounding and the workout is actually better when you do it for less time than walking or jogging. So I'm really sold on my rebounder.
Next week I'll measure again, since Bill Phillips recommends not measuring every week, but every other week so you don't get too discouraged. Well, see you then to tell you about my progress. Until then, stick to your plan too. :)
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Well, that's a good question actually. Since I started this diet plan, or should I say weight management lifestyle plan? I'm having a great time on my weight loss plan already. It's just almost 7 weeks into the 12 week challenge now. I mentioned that I've always avoided dieting when I can and I'm sure I'm not the only one. I looked around for plans with more food on them and bigger portions so I could "manage" the hunger attacks and such. Well, I've learned some things about my own body recently that I'm surprised I never knew. I guess I put it off to my youth or being unable to know what was the culprit for giving me such a high metabolism and low weight in the past because of a spuradic eating strategy. On this plan, the Body for Life plan, we get one free day a week. I've tried plans where you can fast, and I like them because the fast was just short, and then you had a day you could cheat also. So I'm an advocate of a hassle free plan where you can eat more occasionally so it doesn't work out to be really strict. That happens to me because I'm an emotional eater to some degree and I have mental anxiety problems so I don't like the stress of hunger and fatigue and boredom. Which was just what other diet plans worked out to be like. Boredom, fatigue, and too much hunger! The Free Day is just out of this world to me. Last week I went to Taco Bell and had a five layer burrito with a glass of water and it was sooo satisfying. Bill says this strategy is to mix up your metabolism so the diet can do what it's supposed to and you don't get into ruts as far as fat loss is concerned. This is a super idea to me especially. But to know I can eat like this on my diet plan is very fun and exciting. For my second meal I roasted some potatoes (3 of them) and cut them into wedges with olive oil and bacon bits, chives, and cajun seasoning and then ate them with ranch dressing. Talk about a meal to die for. This was it. He says if you want to eat chicken enchiladas on your free day, go ahead, and even have a second helping if you want to. Just don't go too far with the changes. So it doesn't seem like I'm restricting myself and then the next day, I was not hungry at all so I could very easily cut back on some calories. That's what I call hassle free. I said I was learning things about my body. Well, as far as that goes, it's slow learning, but I have experimented enough now to know the differences in my system when I eat protein and carbs and exercise the way I am now. My body has always been one to adapt and make changes very rapidly. My muscles build fast and get bigger without much work at all. Maybe that's the way I lift weights though and I'm following Bill's method now, so I'm noticing my shoulders are getting more bulky and I'm much stronger all over my body. I've always been strong, but it wasn't my goal to bulk up, especially at my weight, so I'm taking it a little slower now. Bill's advice is very effective and successful, so I'm adjusting the way I workout to suit my own body's changes. Which means that I started two a days, and then decided to do the cardio workouts more than the weight workouts. Since I build muscle so fast, I want to do cardio workouts more days and weight workouts about one day a week. I decided to go back and forth between Bill's cardio workout and my trampoline workout, which is like a slow 20 minute jog. The way Bill's workouts go is that you really max out your muscles and your body has effective training for that reason, you experience a training effect. I'm using my punching bag now or just punching and kicking in a space in my living room the way Bills plan designed it every other day. For one day a week, I'll do a good weight workout Bill's way. And for the other days, I'll use my trampoline to do a light jogging workout, which is actually fast stepping and then turning to the side to give my sides a twisting effect. It's a little like jogging or brisk walking, but it gets my heart rate up at least once during the day. The two a days were a good way to experiment with my fitness and see how fast I could lose my fat. I weigh in on Monday, two days away now, and I'll see about the fat loss. Last week I weighed and didn't lose a lot of weight, but did very well in losing inches. This is one of the reasons, I am cutting back on the lifting until I lose some more fat. I need to reapportion my body slowly and build muscle later when I've lost a lot of the fat, so it will show my muscles and all then. I hope this works out. I'll keep on doing the challenges until my weight gets down there to the right weight for me and then I'll work out harder to tone up the muscle I already have to look better. If it doesn't work out well, I'll change it along the way.
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Right now I'm looking at my three lists that I made and put up on my fridge to motivate me while I was on my workout plan. Believe me, I have found it to be very enlightening and encouraging. I'm learning loads more than I knew even when I was working out every day. Maybe the times have changed a lot or we have better knowledge now than we used to, but I'm so glad to know the great things that are in the Body for Life book.
Bill Phillips recommends that you start out your plan knowing exactly what your goals are and documenting what you would like to accomplish. These goals and changes in your normal routine can then be referred to each morning and as you're going about your day to bring you a consistent encouragement and motivation you would not otherwise have.
First, you would list all of the reasons that you want to get fit and lose weight. Next, you list 5 specific actions to take that are not normal for you or may make the difference in your results throughout the 12 week challenge. You list only the actions you will take for the current challenge you're on this time. And lastly, you make two different lists of 3 patterns each that would both hold you back from your goals, that you may be doing now or have done, and then 3 patterns that will cause you to improve and make the difference in your challenge.
I'm looking at my goas right now and some of my reasons to lose weight were to be stronger and get fitter for the reasons that I had trouble moving around and experienced some joint and back pain. Now, in the 6th week, I'm already noticing major improvements in my back pain and my knee and foot pain has completely gone away. Thankfully my strength is increasing with my fitness and the exercises are getting more natural to do. I really wanted to strengthen my core, as there are so many reasons to have a good strong core, not to mention the health problems associated with excessive upper body weight.
Another goal of mine was to develop my mental strength and optimism for the reason that I deal with depression and anxiety. I can really say that the changes that have happened have made me more optimistic and my mood is a lot better already.
I may still have a way to go as far as getting down to sizes of clothes that are more flattering and earning more money this year, but I'm off to a good start. I may be able to change sizes by the end of this challenge. My hopes are to keep starting over and challenging myself to lose all the weight I need. With me, it may take 4 or 5 challenges to do that, I don't know yet, but I'll keep you informed.
Also, good news is that I've started doing two a day workouts to increase my results and reach my goals faster. I thought about how long it would take and got more motivated by deciding to do two workouts a day on most days. There is always the free day where you can eat what you want and take the day off working out, that's always fun to do. But on the other days, I am doing a cardio workout in the afternoon that is a good 20 minute workout that gets my heart rate up and gets me breathing hard, quickens my mental energy and gets me more prepared for the quality workout I do at night. That workout I do by the book Body for Life and it's very important to do that right to increase your fitness. He swears by these workouts and assures you that these 20 minute cardio and 46 minute weight workouts are all you need to be in your best fitness.
That's very encouraging for me that I can start right away and even at my higher weight I can do these workouts. I'm having all kinds of fun and hoping to make a difference in my overall wellness. I'll keep you posted on future achievements.
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I've never been a big fan of weight loss plans. I have in fact, for the most part avoided them or seen how to work around the religious rules of diet plans. I once went to a weight loss class where the Nurse that was teaching the class used to say, "Don't use the word D-I-E-T" because the word DIE was in it. haha
So we all used to say weight management plan, or liveit as we saw it at the time. :)
She recommended some very good ideas and while I lost a lot of weight, I did not keep it off for long. I used to be very fit and exercised regularly, so essentially I could work off what I ate and could indulge sometimes. That was the way I liked it, I could cheat every now and then. But I have to say my portion sizes were too big for any kind of weight plan.
So when I read this book Body for Life, I was cautious and wanted to take things slowly. I guess it's understandable, but I wish I had been more successful at it.
This new year, I wanted to make a new start, have a new plan, and change my lifestyle so that I would keep the weight off. That's pretty much the plan we had back in weight management class too. Change your lifestyle and you'll change your health and fitness. But the committment has to be a lifestyle change.
I'm so glad they thought of these things when they wrote this book. Bill Phillips and Michael D'Orso were very perceptive about the strictness of most weight plans and why people fail at them. So I found out on this plan, that you can definitely eat enough food and the exercise was very reasonable. You don't have to workout for hours, or deprive yourself of good nutrients either.
The portion sizes are very reasonable and the balance is what I've found helps my energy a great deal. At first it was hard to remember to plan and eat all 6 meals, and for a while I managed to get in 4 or 5. I usually top it out at 5 or 6 now and enjoy not being hungry all the time. The balance of carbs and proteins seems to be just what I need to have the energy to exercise and not be hungry.
The workouts I must say are my favorites. The cardio day is no more than 20 minutes, you just need to change your levels of involvement so that you gradually max before you stop. You reach a level 10 and then cool down for a minute before stopping. That's an exercise plan I can stick with and get used to.
The weight days are a little longer for the reason that you move up in weight so you do 6 sets and then wait for 2 minutes before changing moves. It normally takes between 46 and 55 min. to finish the workouts. The most it has taken me is on the long leg days at 59 minutes total. Those are the longest and I work in the abdominals after all the leg and back exercises. It really maxes me out and I'm sure I'm building muscle now because the weight loss is a little slow but the inches lost are a lot.
This morning was my weigh day and I stepped on the scale, finding it a little frustrating that I only lost 1 pound this week. Last week was a difficult time to weigh and get an accurate reading and it turned out I didn't lose last week. So I was a little frustrated about not losing very fast, until I decided to measure as well.
I remembered to measure all my body parts when I started including the waist, hips, butt, legs, calves, arms, bust and neck. When I measured again today against the original numbers, I found that I had lost inches in every body part so far. The weight loss after 6 weeks was only 8 and a half pounds, but the inches lost is 7 and three quarter inches! That's so exciting that I have lost the fat and kept the muscle! I'm very happy about that and I won't worry too much if the weight loss is slow because the inches lost is still happening. I have six weeks left on this challenge and I hopefully will continue to lose enough weight too. My goal was to lose between 20-24 pounds for the first 12 weeks. I really had no idea about how fast the inches would come off so I only had the weight as a goal. If I lose 2 pounds a week for the rest of the challenge, I'll still have lost 20 pounds by the end of the 12 week challenge, so wish me luck. I'll keep working out and sticking to the plan food wise and we'll see how far I can get in another 6 weeks.
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Hey, how's it going with everyone? I'm doing pretty well I must say. I have made some good success so far.
Today stepped on the scale and was upset to find out I couldn't get an accurate reading yesterday and today was no loss at all.� I'll have to see if next week it looks better.
I worked out last night and found a winner of a workout. It's done right in front of my tv. I like to workout while I'm watching some kinds of sports. Last night it was the NBA on TNT and another night it was the UFC on Spike.� I paced myself to do some kickboxing moves, I really like those because they work the arms as well as the stomach and abs, and the whole core has to get strengthened to do those moves.� But the kicks work a large part of the legs and butt too.� Kickboxing is an all around winner with me.� I'm working up to a good strong workout. It's difficult for me because my stomach is still pretty big comparatively.
I have a lot of weight to lose. But it felt good and it's encouraging to do. Believe it or not, the Orlando Magic was playing the New Orleans Hornets and Vince Carter of the Magic scored a game high since about 2006 of 48 points for the night!� It was a fun game to watch and do my workout to.
Tonight it's the leg and back day for lifting weights.� I just love my door gym, it's the perfect weight for me and the setup is perfect too. It works well on my door, which I was a little concerned about when I heard about door gyms. But I have no problems with it, the weights feel very good and I can move up as I am able.
My leg days are the hardest workout days I have.� I think my upper body is in better shape, or maybe that I have so much weight to lose it puts a stress on my lower body parts so the weight makes it heavier to lift my own body weight. I assume that will change with time.� I work in abdominals at the end of my legs and back exercises. It takes me about 46-55 minutes to do my weight workouts. That's slightly more than it's supposed to because I switch arms and legs for the exercises, just a little longer than supposed to be.
Another thing that is very encouraging is the fact that the balance of proteins and carbs the way we take them on this plan seems to give me a lot more energy than I have had in the past.� I noticed right off that the carbs and protein balanced in their proportions were giving me better energy. I was normally the type of person that experiences a sluggish period in the afternoon and midmorning hunger, but no hunger and fatigue on this plan. I feel very satisfied with the meals and my energy levels go right back up when I eat. That is very different for me and I really like that happening.
Overall though, I'm very happy with the plan and hope to keep going until I've lost all my weight. I don't know how many challenges it will take me, but I'm making a good start with this one so far. They are twelve week challenges.
Hi all, I started the new year with high hopes and great expectations of weight loss and fitness for the year. This year I actually made a resolution I am sticking to. You know how it goes right?
I got the Body for Life book for christmas this past year and read the whole thing in a couple days. �The concepts are interesting and they work out to be very convenient with the portion sizes and shorter workouts, it fits right into my lifestyle.
