Okay, been reading a lot of the other journals in this segment, and have found them to be very inspiring. Most of you guys are so far above and beyond what I am even interested in it's crazy. But I commend you all for setting, and then setting about reaching those goals. Bravo!!
This is my attempt at a journal of my own. A little background to start off. A year ago I weighed 215 pounds. I started my weight loss plan very casually, and without even thinking about it. I started by simply cutting out my morning bag of Peanut M&Ms. This gradually morphed into also cutting out my afternoon snack, and changing the snack that I got on my way home from work. The result, between January of last year, and June, I worked my way down to 190 pounds. This is when I finally got serious. I cut my calories down to around 1600, drastically changing my diet, ridding it of junk food, cutting fats, increasing my intake of fruits and vegetables. I also added a walking routine. In the beginning, I walked for no more than 30 minutes, every other day. This gradually increased in both time and intensity.
This resulted in my reaching my current weight of 135 pounds by the middle of October. In the last couple of months, I have added body weight exercises to my routine. In the next week or so I will be back at work, (laid off since Nov.) and will be joining a local gym to add weight training to my routine. At this point I have upped my calorie intake to around 2100 per day, which seems to keep my weight steady.
My current exercise routine is as follows:
Push ups 10 sets of 20
Crunches (or Ab Scissors) 10 sets of 20
Lunges (Holding no weights) 5 sets of 20
Abdominal Side Planks 10 sets of 10
DB Curls (10lb is all I got) 8 sets of 25
DB shoulder Presses 8 sets of 25
DB Tricep Extensions 8 sets of 10
DB Squats 8 sets of 20
Chair Crunches 5 sets of 5
I do this routine every other day. My cardio pretty much consists of walking. A minimum of 5 miles per day, up to a maximum of 14.5 miles. Recently have started a program during my walks, every other day, of adding some running during my walks. Basically I start off walking, then start running, basically until I can run no more, then slow back down to a walk, repeating the process as my breathing returns to normal. A runner I am not, but I can tell by the way my legs feel when I'm done that it definitely adds to my workouts.
Have noticed something curious lately that I would welcome input on. For the past few months, I have consumed about 2100 cals a day, weighted a little heavily toward fats. Good fats, mostly from nuts and seeds, but fats to be sure. Average of about 100 grams per day. During this time, my protein intake was around 75 grams per day. For the last couple of weeks, I have switched this up and added protein and cut down on the fat, so that my fat grams are around 65, and my protein is up to around 115 grams per day. But my overall caloric intake has not changed. However, in the past two weeks, since this switch I have noticed my weight creeping up. Slowly to be sure, but I am up about 2 pounds since cutting down on fats, and upping protein and I am wondering why this might be. I suppose I could be adding muscle, but it just seems odd.
As mentioned above, I will begin hitting the gym in the next couple of weeks, which means my whole routine will be changing, but for now I will be sticking to my routine.
Current Weight 133 pounds first thing in the morning.
Miles walked in January 2009 193.5 miles, with two days missed.:confused4:
Will be updating this when I get to the gym, and figure out what my routine will be.
This is my attempt at a journal of my own. A little background to start off. A year ago I weighed 215 pounds. I started my weight loss plan very casually, and without even thinking about it. I started by simply cutting out my morning bag of Peanut M&Ms. This gradually morphed into also cutting out my afternoon snack, and changing the snack that I got on my way home from work. The result, between January of last year, and June, I worked my way down to 190 pounds. This is when I finally got serious. I cut my calories down to around 1600, drastically changing my diet, ridding it of junk food, cutting fats, increasing my intake of fruits and vegetables. I also added a walking routine. In the beginning, I walked for no more than 30 minutes, every other day. This gradually increased in both time and intensity.
This resulted in my reaching my current weight of 135 pounds by the middle of October. In the last couple of months, I have added body weight exercises to my routine. In the next week or so I will be back at work, (laid off since Nov.) and will be joining a local gym to add weight training to my routine. At this point I have upped my calorie intake to around 2100 per day, which seems to keep my weight steady.
My current exercise routine is as follows:
Push ups 10 sets of 20
Crunches (or Ab Scissors) 10 sets of 20
Lunges (Holding no weights) 5 sets of 20
Abdominal Side Planks 10 sets of 10
DB Curls (10lb is all I got) 8 sets of 25
DB shoulder Presses 8 sets of 25
DB Tricep Extensions 8 sets of 10
DB Squats 8 sets of 20
Chair Crunches 5 sets of 5
I do this routine every other day. My cardio pretty much consists of walking. A minimum of 5 miles per day, up to a maximum of 14.5 miles. Recently have started a program during my walks, every other day, of adding some running during my walks. Basically I start off walking, then start running, basically until I can run no more, then slow back down to a walk, repeating the process as my breathing returns to normal. A runner I am not, but I can tell by the way my legs feel when I'm done that it definitely adds to my workouts.
Have noticed something curious lately that I would welcome input on. For the past few months, I have consumed about 2100 cals a day, weighted a little heavily toward fats. Good fats, mostly from nuts and seeds, but fats to be sure. Average of about 100 grams per day. During this time, my protein intake was around 75 grams per day. For the last couple of weeks, I have switched this up and added protein and cut down on the fat, so that my fat grams are around 65, and my protein is up to around 115 grams per day. But my overall caloric intake has not changed. However, in the past two weeks, since this switch I have noticed my weight creeping up. Slowly to be sure, but I am up about 2 pounds since cutting down on fats, and upping protein and I am wondering why this might be. I suppose I could be adding muscle, but it just seems odd.
As mentioned above, I will begin hitting the gym in the next couple of weeks, which means my whole routine will be changing, but for now I will be sticking to my routine.
Current Weight 133 pounds first thing in the morning.
Miles walked in January 2009 193.5 miles, with two days missed.:confused4:
Will be updating this when I get to the gym, and figure out what my routine will be.
