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.

Sticking to the Shade

The shade has been my friend lately when running.  I look for it and seek out the side of the road that I can find it on.  Honestly running in direct sunlight is brutal right now.  Yesterday I put down 4 miles but couldn't quite do the entire run without walking some.  I got to the bottom of a large hill at the 3 mile mark and had to walk to the top of it (about 1/4 mile) before I could get my legs under again.  It probably wasn't the smartest thing I could do but I did cut the lawn before going for a run hoping to get some cooler temperatures, but cutting the grass takes 1.5 hours so it was quite a bit of exercise.  I'm pretty sure once the temperature drops down some I'll be better but that time couldn't come sooner.  If only I lived somewhere that was 60-70 all the time; Great running weather.  Confirmed the fix with my foot pod again yesterday which makes me happier about the thought of running indoors this winter.  Week 2 ends with a 3 and a 4 miler on Saturday and Sunday respectively.  Weight wise my appetite has been stronger lately and I need to get ahold of that.  I'm trying to drink some hot tea to help suppress it.  My goal is to be at 280 or near it by Labor day and hopefully into the low 270's or upper 260's by race day in mid October.

Summer Heat

It's a bit discouraging when you get out there for a 3 mile run and can only go half way before needing to walk but thats what happened yesterday.  I'm not going to let it get me down.  The temperature was in the upper 80's with a very high humidity but it wasn't too bad when I left the house in mostly shade.  However between the 1 miles and 1.5 mile (turnaround) point, there was no shade and it zapped all the energy I had in me.  It's very difficult to get back into running in heat like this, but I have no choice because I will run that half marathon come hell or high water.  And I'm seriously considering running the half marathon in Las Vegas in December.  If that means I have to walk some during this heat, thats fine but I will do the full distance and I will achieve these goals.  There is a possibly I could go use the gym track to escape the heat and I may do that today especially since I've finally got the app to correctly gauge my distance using the foot pod.  At least I don't have to count laps or guestimate based on time. 

As much as I don't want to, I know I must focus on my eating again because my weight gain is affecting my clothes.  Even though I did not gain much (5-10), my clothes are feeling a little tighter and I want to remedy that quickly.  One thing I'm struggling with is late night hunger which I never had before when I was using tobacco but without tobacco, it seems the craving for nicotine was replaced with food.  I think the running will help suppress some of my appetite because it has in the past but if nothing else I just need to make better choices as well.

First of many long runs

It was a decent start to my training week, I did miss a run due to a wedding for a friend that I was in but otherwise everything was good.  I got in my long run yesterday but instead of running outside (93 degrees) I went to the gym and ran around the track for 40 minutes which at my usual pace is 4 miles.   I didn't take an exact measurement and actually felt like I was running so I probably went over which is just fine.  I usually run a lap in a minute and its 10 laps to a mile but I was doing some laps in less than 1 minute according to the clock which was nice to see since I had been a little slower outside since I started but was pretty sure that it was because of the heat and now I know that is why.  My weight didn't do me any favors this week and I'm not 100% sure why with the increased activity.  I need to watch what I eat better so I can begin losing more weight.  On to week 2 of the 1/2 marathon training, nothing really crazy this week but I may utilize the gym until this heat calms down.