May the 4th be with you! It's time for another update on my progress. I know it's been a while but these have been extremely busy months for me so even the few minutes this takes to write are tough to come by. The good news is, I have continued to make progress towards my goals. In my last update I celebrated losing 100 pounds, which was quite the benchmark. As of my last weigh in, I am now down 111 pounds! So in three months I have lost 11 pounds, which doesn't sound like a lot, but I like steady progress. I'm not trying to set any records for weight loss. Slow and steady wins the race and all that. I began working out not long after my last post and not only stalled, but gained about 6 pounds as my muscles began retaining water to combat the change in lifestyle. It took about 4 weeks for the weight to come off and my body to adapt, but then I began losing again at a quicker pace.
My workouts have been varied but enjoyable. I started off with HIIT training which is basically cycling intervals of high intensity effort with intervals of rest. I started on the stationary bike with high intensity for 30 seconds, then resting, (not completely, just low intensity) for 30 seconds. I did ten intervals like that at first and really felt wobbly afterwards. I am now up to 25 intervals of high intensity for 30 seconds and resting only 15. With my warm up and cooldown that means I am on the bike around a half an hour and feel terrific when I am done. When I first started my heart rate spiked around 180 beats per minute (BPM) in the first 5 minutes. Now, I don't get up that high without sprinting right at the end of the 25 intervals. I am also doing core workouts with crunchies, sitting medicine ball twists and upper body lifting as well. In addition, I am playing racquetball twice a week for 2 hours as well. I love this routine! But unfortunately, my muscles and 48 year old body don't always love it. In the past month I have incurred the following injuries:inflamed shoulder, sore left knee, strained oblique, strained hamstring and the latest just Wednesday, a pulled calf muscle. I am very frustrated that I keep breaking down when I want to ramp it up and do even more. On the other hand, I don't want to be stupid, push through a strain and turn it into a significant tear or do damage, so I am trying to be smart. I have backed off the workouts to let myself heal as much as possible. I believe once I get a baseline of strength, I'll be able to handle more strenuous activity more often. In the meantime, I have to be patient. For anyone that knows me, you know just how hard that is.
My meals and food have grown more and more simple as I progress. I am finding I don't need elaborate meals and recipes like I used to. I love the simple, easy meals that fill me up, are easy to prepare, and don't take much effort. I do love my pizza and my fat bombs. I am also in love with Robin's mug cakes, although I don't have them near as often as I used to. Once I get to my desired weight I'll probably switch to a little more carbs per day, making sure I don't go above 50 per day. For now, I am fasting until noon most days, then having two meals and making sure to be done eating around 6 pm. So technically I am intermittent fasting for 18 hours and eating twice within a 6 hour window.
So here are the numbers:
Weight - 256 lbs, started 367 lbs
Chest - 46 Inches, started 60 inches
Stomach - 44.0 inches, started 64 inches
Waist - 39 inches, started 54 inches
Mid Thigh - 19 inches, started 25 inches
Total pounds lost - 111 lbs, Total inches lost - 40 inches
Goal weight - 195, 61 Pounds to go
