Red's Room

C

chihiro

0
Time for me to start my journal. I also keep a fitness journal in a notebook and track all my calories online. I think starting one here will be good to keep me motivated and hopefully have some helpful comments and encouragement!

In 1995 I weighed about 165lbs and eventually dropped down to 150lbs then by 2003 I was 138lbs. I lost weight by dropping bad carbs (I read the Zone Diet), hiking for 90 minutes 3 times per week, and did some lunges & squats at home with db's. The last several years I stopped exercising and gained. Last summer we spent ten days in Spain on holiday (Ibiza & Barcelona), when we got home I weighed 152lbs. Blah! I immediately started counting calories again and slapped myself around for not exercising sooner. :boxing_smiley:

I stopped eating meat almost 2 years ago so I've had to learn about being a healthy vegetarian. I'm an excellent cook and still cook wonderful meat filled meals for my husband and friends, I just can't eat it anymore! I increased my protein the last 6 weeks and immediately started seeing a difference in my energy levels. I cook all my own foods, don't eat fried or much processed foods. I love my dark chocolate but don't eat it often.

My current stats: 5'8", 139lbs...looking to lose a few more pounds but mostly it's time to start gaining strength! I am moving back to the US in 3 months, so the gym is not an option until I get home. I currently have 8.8lb and 11lb dumbbells which will have to do for now. I swim laps at the local pool, jog/walk for 60 minutes and do yoga dvd's several mornings per week.

So, I started with my dumbbells 2 weeks ago, Mon-Wed-Fri...here is the routine I'm doing so far. Still using the 8.8lb bells (I know, I know it's not enough weight) :( This takes me about 70 minutes including stretching.

Seated Shoulder Press 3x12
Flat Chest Press 3x12
Reverse Flies 3x12
One Arm Row 3x12
Bicep curls 3x12
Lying Tri Extension 3x12
Tri Kickbacks 3x12
Dips 3x12

Stiff legged deadlifts 3x12
1 leg calf raise 2x12
lunges 3x12
squats 3x12

Reverse crunch 1x25, bicycle crunches 2x50
Stretching for 10 minutes

Brekkie: steel cut oats with 1 tablespoon crunch peanut butter & 2 tbs ground flax seed (I usually add vanilla soy protein powder but I ran out)

Lunch: 2 soy sausages (good brand, low sodium/salt) sauteed in a teaspoon olive oil with red bell pepper, asparagus and a splash of tamari. 1/2 cup of low sodium/sugar baked beans (not my usual choice but it was left over)

Dinner: Lentil Veggie Loaf (homemade, great recipe!) with steamed broccoli

Not enough calories today, only 1200. 56g protein, 45g fiber, 156g carbs and 45g fat (7g saturated). 100 ounces of water today which is great.

So there is me in a nutshell! Sorry for the long post and thanks in advance if you took the time to read it! :) I promise not to be one of those one-post-posters, I plan on stickin around! :p
 
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Red's Room is goanna ROCK!​


Knock, knock!
Who is there?

Its Red's Room and its going to flat ROCK!

Knock, Knock!
Dang! Who in the heck is this time?!

Its Reds Room and its going to SHOCK chihiro AROUND THE CLOCK!

Knock Knock!
GEESH I am getting tired here! Who the hell is it?!

Its Red's Room and its a LOCK to ROCK because chihiro is the DOC of all mental BLOCKS!

Yes, this room is goanna ROCK!


Wish you much luck with your journal.

I hope you meet all of your goals, and then a lot more!

Cheers to you!


Best wishes,


Chillen
 
Hi,
First of all, nice job on the weight loss and I wish you good luck.
Secondly, about your program
Seated Shoulder Press 3x12
Flat Chest Press 3x12
Reverse Flies 3x12
One Arm Row 3x12
Bicep curls 3x12
Lying Tri Extension 3x12
Tri Kickbacks 3x12
Dips 3x12

Stiff legged deadlifts 3x12
1 leg calf raise 2x12
lunges 3x12
squats 3x12
Click to expand...
There is too much isolation in the upper body days. No need to do curls and kickbacks, if all you want is to gain strength, you would be better off putting more energy into the compound lifts.
For general health, it can be very effective simply to do a full body workout each time you lift. With those exercises I would break it down into 3 workouts.

Workout A
Deadlift (in place of straight leg deadlift)
Military Press (in place of seated shoulder press)
Pullups

Workout B
Parallel squat
Bench Press (a.k.a. flat chest press)
Bent Over Row

Workout C
Lunges
Dips
Chinups
Stepups

If you stand and do a military press, you will be forced to use much more stabilizing muscles than if you had your back braced in a seated psition, therefore, it is in my opinion better to do so. Deadlift is a better compound exercise than the more isolated version of straight leg deadlift.
I'd pair the bench press with a Bent over row because I tihnk it's important to be balanced (row similar to what you bench), but it is also impotant to do unilateral exercises (only one limb) or exercises with dumbbells requiring stabilizer muscles.

Isolation is not very effective for muscle gain (not for the general non body building population or myself for that matter) or weight loss (I used a program very similar to the one I presented to you and I've lost 52 pounds int he past year).

Anyway, there are others on this forum more knowledgable than me, but I know a thing or two from experience ;).

Good luck, and ask if you have questions
 
Hey thanks for that Dave. I will definitely stand and do the military press. Not sure about chin ups & pull ups, I have no where in the house to do them. And by workout A,B & C you mean doing those grouped together but still all in one session right?

I had insomnia something awful last night and only slept for 3 hours. I still forced myself to get out and walk fast for 30 minutes. I'm sore from yesterday and that feels good! I will cry if I can't sleep tonight...such an awful feeling when you are begging for sleep and it never shows up. :bncry:

Did pretty good with food today, brekkie same as yesterday and lunch same as yesterdays dinner (gotta love leftovers!) Tonights dinner will be a Quorn stir fry or tofu...haven't made up my mind yet.
 
Thanks again for the reply Dave. I spent some time reading exrx.net yesterday (such a great site). I am interested in doing 3 full body workouts per week (M,W,F) which is what I was doing years ago. I used the site to help me put this together which I did yesterday:

Bent over row 3x12
Push ups 3x12
Military press 3x12
Tri kickbacks 3x12

Lunges 2x12
Squats 2x12
Deadlifts 3x12
Single Calf Raise 2x10

Crunches 2x50 bike crunch & 2x25 rev crunch
Stretching 10 minutes

I need to get back to 3 sets for the lunges & squats but over all I think it was better than what I was doing. Not the best eating day yesterday, I actually got take out with the boy! But I only had a few bites of chow mein and veggie thai coconut soup. But I had some sugar after... :(

I slept for 8 hours and woke up tired.
Crappy eating and I don't get along. :argue:
 
You're welcome, the only thing I would suggest is to split that workout into 2 days (otherwise you are not using as much energy as you could on squats, if you did say deadlifts first), and always begin with the exercises that would end up using the most energy. so deadlifts and squats would go first and unilateral exercises such as lunges and single claf raises would follow.
 
Yesterday was a good day. I went for a jog/walk for 60min/4.5 miles. Tried really hard to jog more than walking but the stupid 40mph wind was making it difficult. Then walked down to Sainsburys (we don't have a car) for groceries. It's a 2 mile round trip, so 1 mile of it I was carrying 23lbs in my backpack!

Good eating day but I think a little to much fat due to the nuts and nut/fruit bar I ate. Total cals were 1500, 60g protein.

I ordered my vanilla soy protein powder, can't wait for it to show up. Not adding that in my steel cut oats every morning has made it difficult to reach a good amount of protein. Oh and I tried Holland & Barretts soy protein powder and it was the most awful pp ever! Horrible taste and didn't dissolve well. You certainly get what you pay for. Although the cost of Nature's Plus Spiru-Tein vanilla soy pp that I love it so expensive here! But I'm worth it. :D
 
I woke up Friday morning and came downstairs to open the curtains and smashed my foot into my dumbbell! I heard little bones crunch...pretty sure I broke it. But fortunately its the bones towards the end of my toe and not going up into my foot. It's turned 4 shades of red/purple/blue! I hobbled around on it all weekend and didn't do any exercising. I also drank loads of sangria (I make the most amazing sangria!) and ate way to much. Woke up Sunday morning and had a nice long pep talk with myself about how the drinking (even when it's just a few) really sets me back. So, no drinking for Red for a while....

I got in a 4 mile walk today and will do only lower body weights later. Might take Dave's advice and split up my days instead of just doing 3 full body workout per week (thanks Dave). My toe was a bit sore after the walk but not so bad.

The sun is actually shining in Bristol today! :)
 
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Today was a great day! The sun was out THE ENTIRE DAY. This is totally shocking, tomorrow is rain again. Blah. At least we got one day!!!

Started my morning with yoga and since I haven't practiced in a month I was very pleased with my strength and keeping up with the entire dvd.

Then after brekkie I went for a jog/walk and I actually jogged more than walking! I did 1 min/1 min for 2 miles then walked the rest of the way at my usual speed of 4.5mph. 3.75 miles total in just under 45 minutes. :)

Later this afternoon after lunch I did lunges, squats, deadlifts (3x12) and bike crunches, side crunches and leg lifts. I also did some other leg work with ankle weights on. Good little butt burning video I found on utube.

I didn't do any weights yesterday so today was the first day since Friday. It always amazes me how much better I feel after a good eating/exercise day. Obviously the sunshine helped too!

Really good eating day, 1400 cals, 85g protein and 155g carbs oh and 36g fiber.

The best news of the day for me was I actually gave up sugar in my coffee! It's been a long relationship, me sugar and coffee. I used to put that crappy ff vanilla coffee mate stuff in my daily mug. Then when I moved to England I couldn't find any decent creamer and gave it up completely, but added 3 teaspoons sugar to 1 cup of coffee! I finally cut that in half then cut it out all together and added a tiny bit of stevia. I've tried Splenda but it gives me horrible stomach cramps and I just don't think it's healthy. So YAY! I'm over the sugar in my coffee! Finally!
 
Another sunny day! Miracle!!!

I went for another good jog/walk 1 min/1 min for 1.5 miles then the other 1.5 miles was fast walking. Managed to push through 40mph winds even! Then after my lunch of tofu stir fry I did upper body.

dips, military press, tri extension & lying chest press - 3x12
bike crunches, side crunches & leg lifts - 125 total

I had a great eating day then wound up eating a whole meal roll toasted with honey butter!! I never eat that! I was still hungry but wishing I would have skipped it, now I don't have the nice deficit I worked up. Oh well, I'm working on the sugar addiction one day at a time. The biggest thing was giving it up in my coffee. I'm over that hump!

Back out on the trail tomorrow and lower body again.

Had a nice long shower, got me jammies on and I'm currently holding down the sofa watching Hot Fuzz with my boy...doggy passed out snoring on her scooby doo blankey! Life is good. :)
 
Blah. Done with alcohol for a good long while. Drank last Friday night (cider is the root of all evil) then had a horrible eating weekend and no freakin exercise! I can't believe how easy it is to fall off the wagon. Last night we had a dinner planned for weeks with our wonderful neighbors. One glass of Rioja turned into an entire bottle. Throw in the super tasty pizza and marinated olives and I have no clue how many calories that added up to (and don't want to know!) :(

I felt awful in the middle of the night. Super bloaty stomach combined with insomnia and I felt even worse when I actually got up (10am!) Blah!

I got my low-carb veggie book out and I'm going for a ten day carb cleanse. I already gave up the sugar in the coffee but I'm actually giving up the coffee for these ten days too. I gotta do this, I have to get back on track.

I have only 9 weeks until I move home and attend my best friends wedding. I refuse to go home feeling pudgy. Wish me luck...
 
The past 4 days I have done quite well. Kept my calories and carbs very very low and got back into exercise with walks and yoga. Actually I did a more strenuous yoga dvd that I bought months ago and I managed to get through the entire thing! I was quite proud of myself. :)

Haven't gotten back to my db's yet but I will. I'm planning on getting back into the pool next week for laps and sticking with this yoga dvd.
 
Hey Joey, my toe is healing pretty well. Broke the very top part of it under my toe nail so it wasn't so bad. Still not feeling well enough to jog on it though, so I've stuck with walking for now.
 
Today was a good day. 5 1/2 mile walk and good eating. Increased my carbs but still under 100g a day. No alcohol but I did have some chocolate tonight. I'm just happy I'm not over-eating and being stupid and drunk. That does not help my homesickness.....at all!!!

Tomorrow is yoga and 2 mile walk with the mutt. Then we are headed out to enjoy a movie and a little retail therapy. Yay. :)
 
chihiro said:
Woof woooof!!!
Click to expand...

My 110lb chocolate lab works out with me when I train in the garage.

He trains his damn tongue on my face licking me to death when I do, for example, the floor "bike kick-maneuver", and when its 4 inches friggen wide (its like a slab of wet beef); its like taking a shower, lol.

He is my buddy. Love him. He normally sits patiently until I am done, and rarely interferes, though. I can't leave him in the living room, or he whines to get in the garage, lol.

A good dog ROCKS!

Best wishes


Chillen
 
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