Archive for March 1st, 2009

February Wrap-up

Posted March 1, 2009 * Comments(2)

Well, I weighed in this morning at 240.8, which is 117.4 pounds from where I started this time, and 166.2 from my top known weight. February could easily have been called the ‘no exercise month’, so I should easily be able to beat that in March.

  • calories per day: 2066, hr monitor: 2368 cals total
  • strength training: 4h 10m, treadmill: 2h 30m
  • avg daily exercise: 15 mins (85 cals per day)
  • weight lost: 4.2 pounds

Now I need to think about goals for next month. I don’t set weight lost goals, as I feel I would be disappointed if I didn’t meet them. I try and set goals that will push me, but I can control if they are attainable. Although you can do certain things to help, you can’t force your body to lose weight on a schedule. So, on to the goals for next month.

  • Eat within plan every day (1900 rest/cardio days / 2200 lifting days)
  • Drink water every day (4L min.)
  • Exercise (3 days lifting/cardio undetermined)
I say cardio undetermined because I’m really having a tough time forcing myself to do it.  I think I will try and throw in some 30 min sessions here and there, but I’ve restarted The New Rules of Lifting for Women, and I think at the moment I’m going to stick with the program as written.  Just perhaps throwing a little cardio in as a warm-up and/or cooldown.  Although today I didn’t, so we’ll see.  :D

Strength Training & Today’s Totals - Mar 1st, 2009

Posted March 1, 2009 * Comments(0)

(the workout first)

I was hauling in wood beforehand, and moving stuff around. So when I put on the HR monitor and saw that my heart rate was up to 124, I decided to skip the cardio warm-up. :)

A: Front Squats - 70t/15, 70t/15
B1: Push-up - 15, 15
B2: Bent-over Row - 75t/15, 80t/15
C1: Step-up - 25e/15, 20e/15
C2: Prone Jackknife - 8, 8

What I aimed at doing was to start with the weights I finished Stage 1 with the last time. I managed it on the squats (although I switched to front squats as I have no easy way of getting the bar on to my back), did regular push-ups (which is where I ended) and even managed to increase the bent-over row. Then I hit the step-ups. I barely managed the 25-lb dumbbells, so I went back to the 20-lb ones the next set. The only thing that was relatively easy was the prone jackknife. At least I didn’t end up on the floor like I did the last time I started. You know, for a 25 min workout, it was a pretty tough one. :P

From the HR monitor:

25 mins, 215cals, Max HR: 171 (97%), Avg HR: 145 (82%)

- - - -

So today, what did I do? Hmm, I repotted my geranium seedlings, started a few more seeds (which I should have done weeks ago), baked two batches of the chocolate zucchini cake, loaded up the inside wood bins, and just finishing up some laundry. Oh yes, and prepared for my electricity lab tomorrow. That’s what I get for leaving everything until the last day off. Except for the seeds / transplanting though, everything else needed to be done today.

So, when my stuff is out of the dryer I’ll be off to bed. Although I may do a little more surfing before I finally go to sleep.

Food for the day:

Total: 2194 (24% fat, 39% carbs, 37% protein)

Breakfast: two fried eggs, honey oat bread, jam, orange (373)
AM Snack: none (0)
Lunch: lentil soup with chicken, apple (384)
PWO Snack: protein shake with sour cherries (281)
PM Snack: hummus, flatbread (164)
Dinner: sirloin steak, corn, butter, salad w/dressing (708)
Late Snack: chocolate zucchini cake, fruit salad (284)

Weekly Weigh-in - Mar 1st, 2009

Posted March 1, 2009 * Comments(2)

This morning’s weigh-in was 240.8, which is 0.6 pounds down from last week. The 9-week loss is 16.0lbs (1.78/week) which is usually the ‘number’ I look at to see how things are going overall. The other little compulsive number I look at is how many days I’ve been ‘on plan’ primarily with food. I still consider a maintenance week ‘on plan’ since I accomplished what I wanted to. So this is day 9 on plan with food.

I’m actually heavier today than I was on Wednesday morning, which is unusual for me. Ah well, the month of February is over, time to get serious again. I know that the 9-week looks good, but that’s because 10 weeks ago I was off plan and gained a couple of pounds right before the weigh-in. :)

Next week’s plan is:

Back to The New Rules of Lifting for Women. Yep, why not? Part of this is because I know the Stage 1 workouts are shorter than what I’m doing now, and I think that’s probably a good thing for me at the moment. I plugged my current weight into the formulas for food and get:

No workout - 1897
Active - 2213
Strenuous - 2529

So, I think for March at least that I’ll do 1900 on non-workout days and 2200 on lifting days and see how that goes for March. If I’m not losing weight a couple of weeks in I’ll likely drop the calories. Although the last time I did NROL4W I lost picking those numbers, so we’ll see.

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