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This post was copied from an entry on My Food Diary (MFD) during my pre-blogging days. Back then, I used the forums on MFD as my daily 'blog'. Just wanted to get my entire journey in one place.
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February 10, 2009
February 10, 2009
Based on what I'm loosing so far, here are my monthly goals till my goal weight of 120. Now I understand gains and plateaus happen so I will adjust my goals accordingly as I hit them. I just like to see everything laid out for me so I know what I have to do.
Here are my end-of-the-month goals:
Feb. - 147.0
Mar. - 142.0
Apr. - 136.8
May - 130.8
June 15 - 128.0 = BMI under 25
Jun. - 125.8
Jul. - 119.5
As I start my weight-lifting program this month, I've started to adjust my views of "weight" loss. When I first started MFD, I was a complete scale watcher and everything about me was based on the numbers from the scale: my mood, my motivation, how I felt about diet and exercise, how I felt about myself, my self-confidence, EVERYTHING! But as I've been reading up more on the subject of diet and weight-loss, I have become more concerned with getting healthy rather than just losing weight. When I started MFD I not only logged my weight, but I also took measurements so this is going to be my new way of assessing my body. I belong to a couple of groups on MFD that have weekly weigh-ins every Friday but I used to weigh myself every Monday/Wednesday/Friday for my own personal reference. From now on, I'm going to cut back to only Mondays and Fridays (I weigh-in on Mondays just to keep me in check on the weekends).
First, a brief description of the program. It's a 90-day program broken up into three phases that last 30 days each. Each week of a phase is the same schedule:
day 1: lift weights
day 2: rest
day 3: lift weights
day 4: cardio and abs
day 5: lift weights
day 6: cardio
day 7: rest (but I do cardio on this day too)
Last night was my first day in my second week of the program so I was repeating the first weight-lifting day. Well last week I didn't get sore muscles AT ALL but I know I was lifting to fatigue. The ChaLean program is about slow reps with heavy weights, aiming to fatigue at 10 - 12 reps max. So anyway, because of the lack of soreness in my muscles, I was concerned that maybe I wasn't benefiting from the weights. After reading a ton of literature I learned that sometimes people don't get sore for many reasons, some of which may have pertained to me (I did lift weights back in November '08 but stopped in the beginning of December up until last week). But a lot of different places said to try and increase the weights the next time around and see how your body responds so I did exactly that last night.
Well, I increased the amount of weights I use for all the exercises and I couldn't believe that I could still do it. I was able to keep good form and make it to 10 or 11 reps with the heavier weights! :) I have Powerblocks, so they are in increments of 5 lbs. but my boyfriend made me 2.5 increment add ons by adding a huge magnet onto 2.5 lb. dumbbell plates. So all of the lower body exercises I increased by 5 lbs. and all of the upper body exercises I increased by 2.5 lbs. except for chest flies... I was able to increase it by 5 lbs. with proper form and technique. It's good to know that I am stronger than I thought but I'm still not sore today!!
I'm not going to increase the weight any more because if I do, I'll be lifting more than anyone in the program, but I'm still not sore today either! And I really feel like it gave me a REALLY good workout so I'm really comfortable with where I am now. Think I need to read a little more on the muscle soreness to try and understand why it's not happening for me.
Here are my end-of-the-month goals:
Feb. - 147.0
Mar. - 142.0
Apr. - 136.8
May - 130.8
June 15 - 128.0 = BMI under 25
Jun. - 125.8
Jul. - 119.5
As I start my weight-lifting program this month, I've started to adjust my views of "weight" loss. When I first started MFD, I was a complete scale watcher and everything about me was based on the numbers from the scale: my mood, my motivation, how I felt about diet and exercise, how I felt about myself, my self-confidence, EVERYTHING! But as I've been reading up more on the subject of diet and weight-loss, I have become more concerned with getting healthy rather than just losing weight. When I started MFD I not only logged my weight, but I also took measurements so this is going to be my new way of assessing my body. I belong to a couple of groups on MFD that have weekly weigh-ins every Friday but I used to weigh myself every Monday/Wednesday/Friday for my own personal reference. From now on, I'm going to cut back to only Mondays and Fridays (I weigh-in on Mondays just to keep me in check on the weekends).
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So here's an update on ChaLean Extreme:First, a brief description of the program. It's a 90-day program broken up into three phases that last 30 days each. Each week of a phase is the same schedule:
day 1: lift weights
day 2: rest
day 3: lift weights
day 4: cardio and abs
day 5: lift weights
day 6: cardio
day 7: rest (but I do cardio on this day too)
Last night was my first day in my second week of the program so I was repeating the first weight-lifting day. Well last week I didn't get sore muscles AT ALL but I know I was lifting to fatigue. The ChaLean program is about slow reps with heavy weights, aiming to fatigue at 10 - 12 reps max. So anyway, because of the lack of soreness in my muscles, I was concerned that maybe I wasn't benefiting from the weights. After reading a ton of literature I learned that sometimes people don't get sore for many reasons, some of which may have pertained to me (I did lift weights back in November '08 but stopped in the beginning of December up until last week). But a lot of different places said to try and increase the weights the next time around and see how your body responds so I did exactly that last night.
Well, I increased the amount of weights I use for all the exercises and I couldn't believe that I could still do it. I was able to keep good form and make it to 10 or 11 reps with the heavier weights! :) I have Powerblocks, so they are in increments of 5 lbs. but my boyfriend made me 2.5 increment add ons by adding a huge magnet onto 2.5 lb. dumbbell plates. So all of the lower body exercises I increased by 5 lbs. and all of the upper body exercises I increased by 2.5 lbs. except for chest flies... I was able to increase it by 5 lbs. with proper form and technique. It's good to know that I am stronger than I thought but I'm still not sore today!!
I'm not going to increase the weight any more because if I do, I'll be lifting more than anyone in the program, but I'm still not sore today either! And I really feel like it gave me a REALLY good workout so I'm really comfortable with where I am now. Think I need to read a little more on the muscle soreness to try and understand why it's not happening for me.
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