11.5 pounds gone and my first Strength Training
I
had another really good week -- dropping .6 kg (1.3 lb) for a total
loss of 5.2 kg (11.5 lb) so far this year. I also added a new training
class to my routine this week -- in addition to the Fit Camp on
Mon/Wed/Fri, I added Strength Training on Tuesday night. It was tough
and I could definitely feel it in my chest, arms and legs the next day
-- but by Thursday I could REALLY feel it! Wow, I was sore! Mostly my
inner thighs (probably from all the squats and lunges with a barbell
behind my neck) but also my arms (from lifting weights and tons of
push-ups). The muscle right in front of my underarms was so sore -- I
guess that's the pecs? Anyway, between that and my inner thighs, I was
feeling it for days after! So with that addition I'm now attending
group training four days a week. I'm due for my 8-week weigh and
measure so I'll schedule that next week and share the results here.
I've
improved a lot in nearly every area, though jogging is still hard for
me. I'm getting more and more comments from others in class telling me
how much I've improved and how well I'm doing. It's nice to hear. I
joined early in January and there were people in class then that I don't
see any more, so maybe they're surprised I haven't quit yet. It is
hard, that's for sure, but I'm not quitting. Every small gain in
strength or endurance feels so good, and I want to keep improving.
Sure, I want to lose weight -- but right now, I'm just focusing on
getting fit and strong.
The new female trainer conducted Friday's
class -- I like her, she does a good workout. But after class some of
the girls were asking her about nutrition. She said she'd been really
studying nutrition lately, and she recommended consuming only protein
(in the form of meat, eggs and dairy) for three days straight, then
adding small amounts of veggies and whole grains for the rest of the
week. She said this was the fastest way to lose weight. It is really
hard to bite my tongue when I hear stuff like that -- I realize that in
the fitness industry most of her clients want to know how to lose
weight, and lose it fast. Sure, we all want that, right? So did I when
I was her age. But much more important to me these days is my HEALTH.
I kept thinking, 'yeah, they'll lose weight fast in the beginning, but
they'll gain heart disease or cancer.' I wanted to help her nutrition
studies by loaning her The China Study,
but I've learned it's better to keep my opinions to myself. I'm not
likely to convince them to go veg any more than they're going to
convince me to eat meat. And that's OK, it's a personal choice; I'm not
out to be a crusader. I've got enough to do just focusing on myself.
Nutritionally
this week I averaged 1464 calories per day (66/16/18). I generally
like to keep the carbs at or below 60% so it was a tad higher this week
-- I'll try to get that down a bit in the coming week. That's it for
now -- I'm off to read how you all did this week. :)