I haven’t been posting too much about my progress, because it’s been pretty much the same old thing every week: alternate cardio with strength training days, and trying to eat better. But here are some things I’ve been noticing over the past few weeks:
- As is typical in most weight-loss situations, I lost a whole bunch of weight right at the beginning, and now I have plateaued at just about 180 lbs. even. Some days I’m a little bit above, but for the most part, I have stayed at 180 for about a week now, and nothing I seem to do can make the needle on the scale move further down.
- I do notice that my pants are fitting a little more loosely, so I’m assuming I’m replacing my fat with muscle (which is heavier than fat). That’s what I hope is happening, anyway.
- I mentioned in my previous post that I was worried about eating right while I’m out of the house; well, it’s been even harder than I imagined, and I think it may be one of the reasons I haven’t lost any more weight.
- Once I start working out, I can finish it through to the end, but it’s gotten harder and harder to motivate myself to do it every day, especially after a free day.
- In that same vein, I find that it is much better for me to work out in the morning; that way I’ve gotten it out of the way and I don’t have to worry about it for the rest of the day.
To help me figure out what to eat and what not to eat, I’ve started listening to the Nutrition Diva podcast, a recommendation from my friend Adam875, who has been very supportive in my quest for a healthier lifestyle (even though he tweets about making cupcakes from time to time, which I’m convinced he does just to torture me).
And after reading about how disciplined my friend Amy is about making food ahead of time, I realize that I’m really behind the curve in the “eating right” department. There was a time when I thought just eating a vegetarian diet automatically made me healthier than most of the population, but I realize now that that is not even remotely true.
Even though I grumble and complain about getting on the Bowflex or turning on the exercise programs, I think the really tough part is taking that extra hour or so a week to figure out what the heck I’m going to eat for that week, and then sticking to it. I’ve never done it before, and frankly, I don’t know if I have an extra hour to do all that planning — especially since to set up an efficient planning system, I’d have to put in three or four hours at least.
I am currently spot-checking the calorie count on everything I’m eating. When I get around to it, I log it into my account at Daily Burn, but I haven’t done that in a week, and I’m afraid if I overwhelm myself with too many things to keep track of, that I’ll just give up the whole thing altogether. I definitely don’t want that.
In the meantime, I’m still working out, trying to keep my metabolism rate up and burn as much fat as I can. My cat, Scratchy, has gotten very curious about my visits to the Bowflex every other day, and he will sometimes try to “help” by batting at the moving parts or rubbing up against my legs while I’m working out. Ray calls him my trainer; you can see in the picture that Scratchy by my right leg, checking out my form while I do a bench press.