I can not tell you how many personal messages I have received on Facebook about you guys telling me that I am your inspiration to lose weight. Well, thank you. However I am not all I am cracked up to be.
I have flaws, cracks, and broken parts. For some reason, today I am feeling especially down. I do not like to feel this way...but I do. I feel like I am all alone in everything that I do. I know that that is not reality because I have my family...but at any rate that is just how I feel.
OK...but that is not the point of this blog. To date I have lost 41 pounds. That is since May 24th, 2010. OK. That's pretty darn good!
SOooo..
First off is exercise. I exercise like MAD. I am at the rec every day or every other day. If I am not at the rec I am (USUALLY) doing something. Now, sometimes I feel lazy and skip the gym all together...but! When I am at the gym this is what I do:
Right now I am doing the C25k Program. Let me tell you about this. C25k = Couch to 5 K. This program is designed for people who DO NOT EXERCISE or NEVER HAVE....and it's designed to take these couch potatoes (ME!) and get them running a 5K (3.11 miles - STRAIGHT - NO STOPPING) in 9 weeks. Crazy, right? Well...maybe! But it WORKS!
If you have never heard of it and want to try it - check it out! www.c25k.com You can download the workout sheets off of the website. There are music apps available on iTunes to where you can overlay the voice (to tell you when to run and walk) to your own music. Pretty cool.
So...how the program works:
It's interval training! Each week gets progressively harder...Week 1 you start out walking for 5 minutes...and then jogging for 60 seconds and then walking for 90 seconds and you do the 60/90 intervals for 20 minutes. Then cool down for 5 minutes. Each week it gets progressively harder so each week you spend MORE time jogging and less time walking.
Right now I am on Week 5 day 2 and today's work out is 5 min warm up then jog for 8 walk for 5 then jog for 8. Not exactly easy for an obese person. But I DO it because I CAN!
All of our lives we have been told that we can NOT do something. So...we get it in our mind that we can't and we believe it. Fighting the self talk (for me) is one of the HUGEST battles I have gone through and will go through. We have to fight our minds and we have to fight our bodies....double battle! So...when you switch the self talk to I KNOW I CAN I KNOW I CAN...and then once you finish to I DID IT! That self doubt erases a little bit. Now...I still have a LOT of self-doubt to lose...but with every pound that comes off a little bit gets erased.
Let me tell you, I saw a number on the scale this week that I have not seen in YEARS. And I mean YEARS...so that was kind of cool. :)
Ok...so I do the c25k (awesome) and then I do strength training! I do the machines (circuit training) at the rec complex on campus. I do this to build muscle...
"Wait...I don't want to GAIN weight...I want to LOSE it."
OK...well you need to do strength training! Muscle burns almost 2x if not more calories per minute vs. fat...so the more muscle you have the more fat around the muscle gets eaten. So if you have very little muscle and you have a lot of fat your BMR (Basal metabolic rate) will be very low. If you put on some muscle your BMR will be higher...without even having to do anything! You will burn more calories per minute for just being you! Now isn't that special?
So...I am doing that. My body has changed due to the "running" (jogging) I have been doing with the c25k...which I am loving! I am hoping to start swimming too because that is a great resistance work out.
I am for 10,000 steps per day (minimum).
So get out there and get UNCOMFORTABLE! A large reason that people don't want to lose weight is because they don't want to get all gross and sweaty..well..sorry you will be fat then. people want to sit in their huge comfy chairs and watch tv with air conditioning.
I have a new found love of being absolutely exhausted...yet absolutely excited, thrilled, happy, and sweaty after a good jog on the treadmill.
Yes. Becca can jog.
And no...that has never happened before.
And yes...that is exciting!
Losing weight brings new adventures to the table. This is just one of them.
More tomorrow? Maybe.
peace & love,
becca joy.
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