So with week 1 finished I've lost 4.1 pounds. Not bad for a holiday week and ahead of my goal (though the first few pounds always seem to come off pretty quickly when you stop eating all the junk food).
Today was my first day back to work from the holiday break too, which added some new challenges. I was in such a hurry running out the door that I forgot to take a lunch and then ended up with 10 minutes to grab a quick bite. Not much choice there but fast food, but I think I was able to make a reasonable choice with a grilled chicken sandwich and apples at McD's. 560 calories is reasonable for a quick lunch like this.
So far so good. I'm not happy with the level of exercise I've been getting since New Year's day, but I'm working from home tomorrow, so I'm going to try to fit in a trip to the gym again.
Getting back into the work routine without falling into the routine of Starbucks for breakfast and junk fast food for lunch will be the real key. I'm not really making any other significant diet changes this week beyond avoiding fast food and attempting to make healthier ingredients and better portion sizes.
I'd like to be down 5 pounds by the end of the week and be getting good aerobic exercise at least 3 times this week. That's my plan, time to go make it happen.
January 5, 2009
December 30, 2008
Workout Day 2
Today I had a chance to go back to the rec center again to get in a workout. This time I did about 30 minutes (1 1/8 miles) on the treadmill, 5 minutes on the eliptical and about 20 minutes shooting hoops (free throws, rebound and shoot until you make it style). Felt like a really good workout and I know my heart rate was in the right range on the treadmill. It actually felt a little high when shooting hoops, a clear indication of the 15 years since the last time I played any significant hoops.
A bit discouraging to feel so winded shooting hoops, but that's why I'm doing this right- can only get better from here.
A bit discouraging to feel so winded shooting hoops, but that's why I'm doing this right- can only get better from here.
December 29, 2008
Weekly weight loss
I have 39 weeks between now and October 1st and need to lose approximately 58 pounds, that works out to about 1.5 pounds per week, so I should drop 7.5 pounds in January and be at 275.2.
Heart Rate Goal
Ok...looks like I was pretty close. According to the Mayo Clinic website at http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/target-heart-rate/SM00083 my target heart rate range is 130-158 bpm.
Workout day 1
Just returned from workout day 1. Since I'm off work this week, I'm taking advantage of our local rec center (I actually have a multi-visit pass that's been sitting idle since last spring).
Today was as much about getting out and going as accomplishing any particular workout goal. I had my kids with me today so we got to learn about child care at the rec center and tried out a few different machines. I've used the recumbent bikes and the treadmills in the past, so I spent most of my time there. Ended up doing about 8 miles on the bike and 1 mile on the treadmill (about 20 minutes each) all with my heart rate in the 135-155 range (seemed like the right "fat-burning" range, but I'll have to research since I don't remember the formula).
I went in thinking that I would mostly use the elliptical trainers as they looked like fun, I'd never tried them and they looked low impact. They are pretty hard though....think I'll have to work up to those, only was able to do about 5 minutes on those (tried 2 different machines to see if there was a difference).
Overall, I'm really happy with how this went today. I had planned to go back on Wednesday, but the way I feel afterward, I'm going to plan on going back tomorrow instead.
Eating has gone well so far today too. Ate out both meals due to scheduling, but ate smaller portions with less fat and less white flour than I usually would, so I count both of those as successes. Even managed to get in some veggies at lunch.
I'm going to revise my goal a bit too. I'm thinking that I want to hit 225 by Oct 1 2009 for my 10th anniversary. That would put me back to the weight I was at my wedding in time for a big anniversary and also allow for me to plan on maintaining through the Nov/Dec holidays, not a great time traditionally for me to plan on losing any weight. That's still less than 2 pounds a week, so ought to be a healthy rate.
Today was as much about getting out and going as accomplishing any particular workout goal. I had my kids with me today so we got to learn about child care at the rec center and tried out a few different machines. I've used the recumbent bikes and the treadmills in the past, so I spent most of my time there. Ended up doing about 8 miles on the bike and 1 mile on the treadmill (about 20 minutes each) all with my heart rate in the 135-155 range (seemed like the right "fat-burning" range, but I'll have to research since I don't remember the formula).
I went in thinking that I would mostly use the elliptical trainers as they looked like fun, I'd never tried them and they looked low impact. They are pretty hard though....think I'll have to work up to those, only was able to do about 5 minutes on those (tried 2 different machines to see if there was a difference).
Overall, I'm really happy with how this went today. I had planned to go back on Wednesday, but the way I feel afterward, I'm going to plan on going back tomorrow instead.
Eating has gone well so far today too. Ate out both meals due to scheduling, but ate smaller portions with less fat and less white flour than I usually would, so I count both of those as successes. Even managed to get in some veggies at lunch.
I'm going to revise my goal a bit too. I'm thinking that I want to hit 225 by Oct 1 2009 for my 10th anniversary. That would put me back to the weight I was at my wedding in time for a big anniversary and also allow for me to plan on maintaining through the Nov/Dec holidays, not a great time traditionally for me to plan on losing any weight. That's still less than 2 pounds a week, so ought to be a healthy rate.
Starting Off
Ok, I'm a bit late to the party perhaps, but I'm finally getting around to starting a blog. At the risk of being one of the navel gazers, I'm thinking that this will start out being a place to discuss my resolutions for 2009 and my progress as I move forward.
I'm making the typical resolutions this year, lose weight, get out of debt, but I'm hoping to hold myself more accountable than I have in the past by putting this out in public, so here goes.
I'm a 34 year old male, 6 feet tall and as of today I weigh 282.7 pounds. My goal is to get somewhere in the neighborhood of 225 pounds by the end of 2009. This would still leave me at a weight that would likely be considered borderline unhealthy, but much closer to my ideal weight (and coincidentally my weight when I got married - 10 years ago in October 2009).
At the same time, I'm in debt to credit cards by $22,000. My goal on this isn't yet as specific as this one can't be reduced without my wife's participation, and we haven't yet set this goal. It's my plan to set a specific target with this though in the near future.
So there we go, as of today I'm starting off both goals (why wait until the 1st right :-).
I'll track progress here as well as comment on whatever else I feel like writing about. It's entirely possible that this will only exist for me, but by putting this in public, I feel like I'm creating the right atmosphere for change in my life.
Here we go.....
I'm making the typical resolutions this year, lose weight, get out of debt, but I'm hoping to hold myself more accountable than I have in the past by putting this out in public, so here goes.
I'm a 34 year old male, 6 feet tall and as of today I weigh 282.7 pounds. My goal is to get somewhere in the neighborhood of 225 pounds by the end of 2009. This would still leave me at a weight that would likely be considered borderline unhealthy, but much closer to my ideal weight (and coincidentally my weight when I got married - 10 years ago in October 2009).
At the same time, I'm in debt to credit cards by $22,000. My goal on this isn't yet as specific as this one can't be reduced without my wife's participation, and we haven't yet set this goal. It's my plan to set a specific target with this though in the near future.
So there we go, as of today I'm starting off both goals (why wait until the 1st right :-).
I'll track progress here as well as comment on whatever else I feel like writing about. It's entirely possible that this will only exist for me, but by putting this in public, I feel like I'm creating the right atmosphere for change in my life.
Here we go.....
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