Nine Weeks = Twenty Pounds!
In nine weeks of exercising religiously, I have gone from 189 pounds to 169! I can fit into my 32" waist stuff again. And I know I've gained muscle mass, so I've lost more than 20 lbs of fat. Here's a week's sampling of what I do for activity, for those who want to try:
Monday: Gym. They have a Bowflex there, so I'll do bench press, arm curl, stationary row, crunch, shoulder raise and the fly.
Tuesday: Bike to and from work. 5 miles each way, on a hilly road.
Wednesday: Gym and bike.
Thursday: Bike.
Friday: Gym and bike.
Some weeks I'll only bike 3 times in a week. One thing I've been BAD about is working on my abs and lower back. I'll do the crunches (occasionally) using the Bowflex, and sometimes some floor exercises for abs at home; but I haven't been very good about it.
I started out my workout routine by simply doing fast walking for ~40 minutes, three times a week, for the first three weeks. The next two weeks I started the bike. At the end of five weeks, I was down from 189 to 181. The Bowflex really kicked it up a notch (they aren't kidding on their TV commercials...most of my fat was lost in 4 weeks on the Bowflex--combined with the bike--than the first five just doing aerobics). I started the Bowflex on the sixth week. I could "bench" about 140 lbs initially. Today I made it up to 200 lbs. NOTE: If you can bench 200 on the Bowflex, you will probably only be able to bench 140 or so with freeweights, simply because of the design of the Bowflex. It gets harder the further you push, so you're not ALWAYS pushing 200 lbs when you do the bench press. Lame in a way, I guess, but I can at least brag that I can now bench 200! *GRIN*
Now for my diet. A typical day goes like this:
6:30 AM:
Bowl of Go-Lean Crunch
6 oz Orange Juice
A cup of green tea with honey (IMPORTANT! Honey and Green Tea are supposed to help with weight loss)
8 AM:
1 cup of coffee (They recently concluded a study stating that coffee has the highest amount of antioxidants of any food or beverage!)
9 AM:
2 pieces of cheese, sometimes with a banana
12:30 PM:
2 tuna fish sandwiches
~2:30 PM:
1 Zone Diet health bar
1 cup of coffee
5 PM (about 1/2 hr after I get home from the gym and/or biking):
1 protien shake
7 PM:
Dinner of some kind...sometimes pasta (the reason why I still have a bit of a spare tire, regardless of my fitness level), sometimes broiled chicken with vegetables and potato. It varies. And it's usually not a big meal.
Now some people might say, "How in HELL can you lose 20 pounds eating like that?" It's because all my portions (especially as the day goes on) are relatively small. I never EVER eat until I'm "full" or "stuffed". I eat when I'm hungry and stop when I'm just comfortable. And I drink TONS of water (around 10-12 cups a day).
A final thought: This routine may and probably won't work for everyone. The diet is about 2500 calories spread over 7 or so "meals". 2500 calories alone is enough for me to "maintain" my weight, but spreading out the meals keeps the metabolism going. And doing the cycling--especially the first few weeks--will be a BITCH. It was for me. But now I've found I just can't get my morning started right unless I've biked into work. Wierd.
Anyway, if you are on the road to better health, you can use my plan as a guide, but should always confer with a doctor and a dietician.
Good health!
Monday: Gym. They have a Bowflex there, so I'll do bench press, arm curl, stationary row, crunch, shoulder raise and the fly.
Tuesday: Bike to and from work. 5 miles each way, on a hilly road.
Wednesday: Gym and bike.
Thursday: Bike.
Friday: Gym and bike.
Some weeks I'll only bike 3 times in a week. One thing I've been BAD about is working on my abs and lower back. I'll do the crunches (occasionally) using the Bowflex, and sometimes some floor exercises for abs at home; but I haven't been very good about it.
I started out my workout routine by simply doing fast walking for ~40 minutes, three times a week, for the first three weeks. The next two weeks I started the bike. At the end of five weeks, I was down from 189 to 181. The Bowflex really kicked it up a notch (they aren't kidding on their TV commercials...most of my fat was lost in 4 weeks on the Bowflex--combined with the bike--than the first five just doing aerobics). I started the Bowflex on the sixth week. I could "bench" about 140 lbs initially. Today I made it up to 200 lbs. NOTE: If you can bench 200 on the Bowflex, you will probably only be able to bench 140 or so with freeweights, simply because of the design of the Bowflex. It gets harder the further you push, so you're not ALWAYS pushing 200 lbs when you do the bench press. Lame in a way, I guess, but I can at least brag that I can now bench 200! *GRIN*
Now for my diet. A typical day goes like this:
6:30 AM:
Bowl of Go-Lean Crunch
6 oz Orange Juice
A cup of green tea with honey (IMPORTANT! Honey and Green Tea are supposed to help with weight loss)
8 AM:
1 cup of coffee (They recently concluded a study stating that coffee has the highest amount of antioxidants of any food or beverage!)
9 AM:
2 pieces of cheese, sometimes with a banana
12:30 PM:
2 tuna fish sandwiches
~2:30 PM:
1 Zone Diet health bar
1 cup of coffee
5 PM (about 1/2 hr after I get home from the gym and/or biking):
1 protien shake
7 PM:
Dinner of some kind...sometimes pasta (the reason why I still have a bit of a spare tire, regardless of my fitness level), sometimes broiled chicken with vegetables and potato. It varies. And it's usually not a big meal.
Now some people might say, "How in HELL can you lose 20 pounds eating like that?" It's because all my portions (especially as the day goes on) are relatively small. I never EVER eat until I'm "full" or "stuffed". I eat when I'm hungry and stop when I'm just comfortable. And I drink TONS of water (around 10-12 cups a day).
A final thought: This routine may and probably won't work for everyone. The diet is about 2500 calories spread over 7 or so "meals". 2500 calories alone is enough for me to "maintain" my weight, but spreading out the meals keeps the metabolism going. And doing the cycling--especially the first few weeks--will be a BITCH. It was for me. But now I've found I just can't get my morning started right unless I've biked into work. Wierd.
Anyway, if you are on the road to better health, you can use my plan as a guide, but should always confer with a doctor and a dietician.
Good health!
posted by xanadian at 2:34 PM
2 Comments:
So what will take the place of the bike in a month or so?
My mom was from Van Buren, BTW.
I have no clue what will take the place of the bike. I'm going to continue using it as much as possible. Biking in the mornings will be difficult at best (read: frigid as hell); and once the snow flies it will only get worse.
Of course, I've seen the rare brave soul peddling around in the middle of February. But I don't think that'll be me. I'll probably continue to do strength training and walk for an hour each day until the thaw.
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