Finding my way again

Well since my last post, I got in 1 three mile run on Friday, a personal training sessions on Thursday, and talked with a health coach on the phone.  The health coach is a thing we can do through work that I get points towards cash and I'm willing to see if it helps me on my path.  It was only an orientation call but it appears we will discuss what I've done in the previous week and set new goal for the following week.  This week my goals are to run 3 times (10 miles) and lift once.  Now the "week" runs from Thursday to Thursday since that is when the appointments are so I've only got 2 runs to go.  As for the weekend, my eating is not good right now.  I always feel hungry and I try to talk myself out of eating a snack but without fail I eventually grab something.  It wasn't terrible but I just never really feel full lately.  I'm sure the increased appetite has to do with the increase in cardio lately but I really have to find a way to defeat it if I want to make progress on losing weight.  Overall I was down  1 pound of last week but for me that could easily swing to a no loss or a gain just being that my body can swing 5 pounds a day easy, however it was a Monday morning both times so for now I'll count it as progress.  I need to find some new motivation as I don't have as upbeat of a mentally about this as I did last year but in reality,  I need to do it all over again.  I think I need to find some new blogs to read as that helped last year and most of the people I was reading are either really far along in achieving their goals or no longer blogging.  I need to find someone to identify with.  And most of all I need to quit making excuses and just do what I know I need to do to succeed.

Not the smartest thing I've done

Well I got to the gym yesterday after work and wouldn't you know it, I forgot my socks.  My choices were either to run barefoot in my shoes or with my work dress socks.  I opted not to destroy my work socks and went barefoot.  The first 10 mins were just fine but after that, it started to sting a little and by about 22 minutes, I wasn't going to run for 8 more minutes just to destroy my feet.  I had some lovely blisters on the bottom of my arches.  They feel ok today but definitely not as good as if I would have just worn socks.  I could have gone home and got some, but I since I was stopping right after work, I knew if I went home, I wouldn't end up going out and running at that point.  I'm glad I ran but my feet are not happy with me.

My next scheduled runs are Friday and Saturday, maybe Sunday as well.  Thursday is still going to be my lifting day where I workout in a group at Discover Strength and tonight I have an appointment to use up one of my groupons.  I have always hated having hair on my back and so tonight starts 1 of 6 sessions to have it removed.  Just one of the few things I'm doing to look good for my trip to St. Martin in a couple months.

It was a good year, Now I must focus not on what I've done but what I must do.

Last year was a great year.  I started out the year with a new job and a new enthusiasm for exercise.  I was running all the time and end up logging 275 miles.  I'm proud of that number but would like to beat it this year.  Since the last time I posted, I have still been working out.  Lifting weights and running a few times.  My lifting has been consistent but unfortunately so has my weight.  I've been stuck in place for about 3-4 months.  As much as I like lifting, the workout I've been doing are very hard and leave me unmotivated to go get cardio done.  I'm changing it up and will be lifting once a week and trying to run 3-4 times the rest of the week, for a total of 9-15 miles a week.  I seemed to do my best last year when I was focusing on 3 miles a run and eating better.  When I increased my mileage, I ate more and so the weight loss stopped.  Over all I was done 27 lbs last year and I would love to repeat that again this year and increase that number.  I have a vacation coming at the end of Feb. and want to lose at least 10-15 lbs by then.  I may not post on here as much but I will still be reading other blogs and finding ways to keep motivated.    The best part of my 2011 was also my downfall.  I didn't make the time to exercise but I wanted to spend every minute with her.  Now we are living together and have lots of extra time to spend with one another and with the holidays closed out, I'm starting back with a full head of steam.

On a side note, I did a Bod Pod test which uses air displacement and density to determine body fat.  I came in at 36.1%.  My goal is to be at 30% or lower by my birthday at the end of June.  I'll try to keep things updated here.  Maybe not everyday, but at least a few times a week.  I was most successful when I posted about what I was doing and I need to focus on doing that again.

4 Weeks In

Well its been 4 weeks and I'm still going strong on the weight lifting front.  I've been attending a 1-on-1 training sessions every monday and a group (3 people) training session on thursdays.  I've been getting in a few runs here and there while also trying to increase my awareness of my calorie intake.  The calorie intake has been suffering some and so I'm trying a new technique I've read about that will hopefully focus my mind on how many calories I'm eating by confining my eating window to an 8 hour period.  It's called intermittent fasting and I learned about it on leangains.com.  I've been at it for a week now and I am down some weight, not much, but it makes me think about my food choices a little more.  Essentially I just don't eat for a 16-18 hour window and then consume all my calories for the day within the next 6-8 hours.  I try to make the calories in the window have a good balance of carbs and protein.  Another thing I've been doing is consume a snack of chocolate milk right after my weight lifting as it is suppose to have a good combination of protein and carbs that your muscles are shown to have a high uptake of immediately following weight lifting and will increase recovery.  

Up until yesterday, my strength gains had been minimal.  Now its not that I haven't felt stronger but more that I haven't been reaching many of my goals when I go into lift.  I kept stalling out at 11 reps instead of getting 12 or something similar but yesterday I went it to work out and it was totally different.  I had felt tired all day and really not that motivated but being that I had a scheduled training session, I was going to go get my butt kicked no matter what.  This time they switched it up and I did legs first and from there on out, I either achieved or exceeded my goal reps for every single machine I had to do for the day.  It felt really great to see that progress and that had even happened on the few machine I had achieved my goal on previously.  I felt much stronger and encouraged.  Then I woke up this morning and weighed myself and saw a nice drop in weight, clocking in at 295.3.  I hadn't been expecting immediate result weight wise due to the muscle building phase that was occurring but I was hoping it would start taking affect sometime soon even if it was slower.  I also decided to take some measurements to keep track there and I'm going to do this Bod Pod to get an accurate assessment of my body composition.  My current measurement where 48" Waist (around belly button), 47" chest, 16.5" bicep, and 28.5" thigh (around upper thigh).  Hopefully keeping track of these will yield some other results that show progress over the next few months.  My goals are to lose 25-30 pounds decrease waist and chest measurements and increase bicep by the time I go for my trip in February. 

Let the Destruction Begin

Of my muscles that is.  I went in for my first 1-on-1 training sessions yesterday and although they only last 1/2 hour, they are brutal.  This training is high intesity training and in the allotted time we did 10 exercises and after each one I felt devistated.  I'm sore today but not too bad but I feel good about starting it.  I'm marking today as the start of a new journey on the weight tracker.  I'll be going in to get a full body composition assessment in a month or so and will share those results.  My weight would have been better this morning but last night we went out to watch the football game and for a friends birthday, had a few beers and eat some food so that has propped the number up some but not too bad.  It's abotu 2.5 lbs higher than it was after my workout.  I check my weight too much but I do have a healthy understanding of my fluctuations because of that and realize what certain actions will do to my short term weight.  Although I'll be tracking my weight as a tool to keep myself on track, the real goal is to fit into my clothes better and look better overall.  In 4.5 months I'll be in a sandy paradise and would like to look my best for the occassion.  I'm also trying out a new breakfast of rolled oats with milk and some granola instead of an omellete or a muffin.  Curious to see how this helps as it comes strongly recommended by many.

Far from Perfect

Well it was something I said I never wanted to see again and I saw it today.  The scale hit 300 again.  That means I've put back on 15 of the 40 I lost.  Even though I wasn't posting, I was lifting and working out during August and September but my eating habits were extremely poor.  On top of that over the last 2 weeks my activity has disappeared and the scale has shown it.  I refuse to let this stand.  I'm starting a new workout program on Sunday which entails 2 High Intensity Training weight lifting sessions with a personal trainer per week.  On days off I'm going to get in 1-2 simple cardio sessions of 30-45 mins and 1 interval training cardio that will only be 10-15 mins long. 

I used to work as a personal trainer in the weight room at my high school when I was 15-17 and worked with our strength training coach at the time who had worked for the Minnesota Vikings for a short period of time.  I enjoy these types of workout and I was in great shape.  I then found out that my coach at the time had opened a training studio and that is where I will be training.  The reason there are only 2 workouts is to ensure proper rest time from a highly intense workout for you body to recover and build maximum muscle.  I will be doing a Bod Pod session as well which uses displacement to determine lean mass, fat mass, and body fat % in about 3 weeks. 

My goals will be first to get back into proper healthy activity and diet.  I'm not going to specifically follow any sort of diet but will be consciously making smarter eating decisions and that will be helped by eating more home cooked foods with my girlfriend.  Weight wise I'm want to begin trending back in the correct direction towards 225 and hopefully get much closer by the end of next February as I will be traveling to a Caribbean island and would like to look better by then.  My cardio will be doing distance running again because the temperatures have cooled off here in MN and I can survive again :).  I'll be tracking my workouts here and some gains as well.  Starting next Monday I'll begin tracking my weight here as well.  I'm sure I will struggle in the beginning but reading through my earlier posts here is very motivating and I hope to push my weight back under control soon.

Wake Up

Didn't realize it had been a week since I had posted.  Just put up a 4 mile run yesterday which still involves some walking even though the temperatures are cooling off but it really is only adding about 30-40 seconds per mile to my total pace.  I'm progressing slowly but I feel much better in general due to the increase in exercise.  This weekend will be a big test because I'm going out of town and need to make sure I still get in my 3 mile run on Saturday and 5 mile run on Sunday.  I'm a little concerned about the upcoming long distances for training but hopefully it will start to come back to me.  On the eating front, I have been eating and cooking healthier and my weight has reflected it slightly.  I'm currently hovering around 291 and am hoping to be in the low 280's by early September.