WORKOUT – The Numbers – Part 2

It’s been more than a week since my first post on my workout progress. I also promised to make my best efforts to post updates often. You are witnessing my best efforts now.

Numbers and Stats

You’ve seen the pics, now let’s see some progress numbers.

The above chart that I am keeping shows how many times I went to the gym and my average weight that week. Last winter, I weighed in at just over 180 pounds. Now to get a perspective on how much that is, back in August of 2000, I weighed 155 pounds. That’s an extra 25 pounds that I found and collected over the last eight years. Doesn’t seem like a lot until you factor in that I’ve stayed the same height in those last eight years. Now look at those pictures from my first post and you can see where the extra poundage took up residence.

Since last year at this time, I’ve pretty much stayed around the 180 mark. I’ve gone down as low as 173, but nothing below. My target weight for my height – 5′ 9″ – is 165, according to my BMI and size. I’ve not done a BMI since August 2000 and that’s what I am going with since size, weight and fitness wise, that’s when I was the most comfortable with myself.

My target weight that I am shooting for in this first phase of my workout program is 165 pounds. That’s less than 15 pounds, which seems like an easy task given there’s two main spots that I can feel and see those extra pounds…. tummy and chin. As you can see from the weight column, I’m making some consistent progress. Starting at 179 and then going to 177 for the past couple of weeks [I weighted in at 175 this morning] shows that even just the minimal exercise I am doing is helping, given that I’ve not thrown any major diet changes into this as of yet. The proof will be when I see what the end result is at the end of November, adding more exercise and an third workout day a week.

Exercising

What am I doing to lose this weight and get back into shape?

I started off the first month slow. My main goal was to get some stamina back and to help reduce my “out of breath” concerns. So far, I can tie my shoes without too much effort and going out to get the newspaper in the morning produces less huffing and puffing. I’m not quite there yet, but making some minor progress, which is encouraging.

My minimal impact load of walking and stair stepping was a very smart start, as it didn’t overwhelm me, nor did it appear that I was doing nothing. I’m happy about this.

I should also clarify that even though I list the word “Daily”, my workouts are not everyday.

Month #2

I’ve taken away 15 minutes from my walking, but have added 15 minutes to the treadmill. My stamina feels strong enough to add that to the mix. My speed on the treadmill is at 3.5 [this is on one of those Lifecycle industrial treadmills] with no uphill impact at all…. just flat ground, like I’m running on flat pavement.

Free weights are 10 pound handheld dumbbells that I am doing low-impact curls and lifts with each one of my arms. Crunches are done on a leg-lift machine using 10 pounds of weights. I figured that 10 minutes to start out on each one of these wasn’t too tough and easy enough to get past, at the same time, making some steps towards muscle toning. The crunches are especially helpful to reduce my tummy. I can feel them pretty good as my stomach hurt the first week / three visits. It’s hurting less this week, but I know that’s a good sign, working out muscles that have been getting too much of a rest for too long.

How Do I Feel?

Overall, this is a good start. I feel good, I don’t have too many pains, with the exception of my right leg, lower calf. The walking and treadmill require me to stretch a bit more than normal. During my walking, if it’s really sore, I stop every 10 minutes to do a few stretches. This helps when I get back on the track to finish my walking. The treadmill doesn’t seem to produce the pain, which is most likely due to how my feet are positioned while running. Walking first then going to the treadmill is my method to keep my stamina going.

Further Progress

I will be updating the above charts in each blog post I do. I will also be adding in some diet changes, which I am working on now. I am making extreme exceptions for Thanksgiving and Christmas, as I don’t want to limit how much fun, food and adult beverages I can consume. That just means I need to work even harder during these next couple of weeks to get to a better place. I think I can accomplish that goal.