weekly report

Weigh-in
Monday morning weigh-in: 271 lbs
Starting weight (Jan '10): 293 pounds
Weight loss/gain since last weigh-in: 0
Net weight loss since beginning my journey: -22 pounds

Exercise since 1-24-11
23.4 miles tracked
1 hours, 35 minutes logged
1,641 calories burned
4 tracked workouts (dailymile.com synopsis)


How do I feel?
Two weeks ago it was the sinus infection that got the best of me. This week it was the allergic reaction to the penicillin that got the best of me. I DO NOT like hives... let it be know, I DO NOT! It felt SOOO good to get back in the gym this morning. <--- And THAT feels weird to say... I'll do better this week...

High Intensity Interval Training

What is HIIT?

For a short blurb from Wikipedia: it's a form of sprint interval training ... "it is an exercise strategy that is intended to improve performance with short training sessions. HIIT is a form of cardiovascular exercise which is beneficial to burning fat in a short and intense workout. Usual HIIT sessions may vary from 9–20 minutes. The original protocol set a 2:1 ratio for work to recovery periods. For example, a runner would alternate 15-20 seconds of hard sprinting with 10 seconds of jogging or walking." Additionally, "The number of repetitions and length of each depends on the exercise. The goal is to do at least six cycles, and to have the entire HIIT session last at least fifteen minutes and not more than twenty."

About two weeks ago I tested this out... and what a workout it was! I have talked with a number of people who use this type of training and they love it too. After talking with a fitness friend of mine I decided to give it a go after understanding it a bit more.

When I "HIIT it" here is what I do on the recumbent bike.

I warm up for 2-3 minutes at the lowest resistance setting on the cycle. At the end of the warm-up I change the resistance to a setting of 3. For the next 10 mins or so I switch back and forth between sprinting for 20 seconds and riding at my normal pace for a minute. After 10 mins I ride at my normal pace for 3-5 minutes... and then increase the resistance to a setting of 5. Then I repeat the 10 min cycle of 20 sec/1 min intervals. After the 2nd set of 10 mins I will again ride at my normal pace for 3-4 mins... and then increase the resistance to a setting of 7. Before I finish up I will lower the resistance ... and it's VERY important to have a cool-down time at the end of at least 3-5 minutes.

HIIT is where it's at for me.... I love this!

My workout goes by so much faster. I'm a bit more focused and can push myself harder.

Currently I am doing this 2 times a week... with mixed upper body weights and ab exercises. On "off" days (the other 2-3 days a week) I just do a normal ride on the recumbent bike.

I can't wait to see the results... but I will.

weekly report

Weigh-in
Monday morning weigh-in: 271 lbs
Starting weight (Jan '10): 293 pounds
Weight loss/gain since last weigh-in: 0
Net weight loss since beginning my journey: -22 pounds

Exercise since 1-10-11
29 miles tracked
1 hours, 51 minutes logged
2,154 calories burned
4 tracked workouts (dailymile.com synopsis)


How do I feel?
Well, my sinus infection got the best of me ths week... I got meds. And I'm feeling like crap. I did what I could... that's the best I could do this week. I'll do better next week...

weekly report

Weigh-in
Monday morning weigh-in: 271 lbs
Starting weight (Jan '10): 293 pounds
Weight loss/gain since last weigh-in: 0
Net weight loss since beginning my journey: -22 pounds

Exercise since 1-10-11
44.1 miles tracked
3 hours, 18 minutes logged
3,187 calories burned
8 tracked workouts (dailymile.com synopsis)


How do I feel? Feels great to be back on track...And yes, it's slow... a bit slower than I would've expected. But every week is a learning experience. I'm learning to be healthier... learning to take care of myself... learning to set aside the bad habits and come up with good/healthy ways to celebrate life.
It may take the rest of my life... at least I'm moving in the right direction!

switching up the morning routine...

I tried something new today... I stepped up the workout efforts...

My typical morning ride: 45 minutes on the recumbent bike, gym at work. Here's how...
- In the first 15-20 minutes I work my heart rate up by increasing in resistance from 3-9, in two level increments.
- At the mile mark I increase resistance.
- Once I get to res9 I hang there for 2 miles and then slowly decrease resistance.
- The last 25 mins of the ride is at res3, moving rather fast.

I'm able to get my heart rate up pretty quickly, work those lungs and then hang out and focus on cardio.


How I changed it up today... today I focused on sprint intervals.

I followed the same format (increasing in resistance from 3-9 right up front). But ... after 1 1/2 minutes I would sprint-cycle for 20 seconds. Then I would go back to my normal speed (attempt to catch my breath), for about 1 1/2 minutes. Then sprint again. repeat...

According to dailymile.com (after punching in my weight, heart rate, effort level, etc) I burned approximately 953 calories!!! WHAT?!


And to think... when I walked into the gym this morning I almost turned around and just hit the showers.


It sure felt good to "show the morning who was boss" {Sara - thanks for the inspiration!}

two flights, three celebrations, one realization....

{celebration #1}
I walked a flight of stairs today...


{celebration #2}
I walked a second flight of stairs... and didn't realized I had walked the first flight until I got to the top of the second flight. (for the last 5 years or so I have avoided stairs and used my lack of knee cartiledge as an excuse... but the heavy breathing was the real embarrassing part.)


{celebration #3}
When I got to the top I wasn't out of breath!!!


one realization... I should walk more flights of stairs!

weekly report

It's a new year... so I'm starting a new way to share my weekly report. Once a week I'll do one post with both weight and the weekly exercise journal...


This week's weigh-in brings good news... the holiday weight is coming off! That makes me happy!!! Yippee!!!


Weigh-in
Monday morning weigh-in: 271 lbs
Starting weight (Jan '10): 293 pounds
Weight loss/gain since last weigh-in: -3
Net weight loss since beginning my journey: -22 pounds

Exercise since 1-3-11
37.2 miles tracked
2 hours, 47 minutes logged
2,799 calories burned
6 tracked workouts (dailymile.com synopsis)


How do I feel? Feels great to be back on track...
And yes, it's slow... a bit slower than I would've expected. But every week is a learning experience. I'm learning to be healthier... learning to take care of myself... learning to set aside the bad habits and come up with good/healthy ways to celebrate life.


It may take the rest of my life... at least I'm moving in the right direction!

She was proud of me!

Today I had the annual appt with the OBGYN... one of the first things she wanted to talk about was how I was losing weight!


When I started this journey I was 293 lbs! Yes, nearly 300 lbs. I remember the feeling of despair I felt when I first went over 200 lbs. Well, I was fearfully close to 300... and I was in denial.


Briefly I told my Dr what I've been doing and she was proud of me! SHE WAS PROUD OF ME!!!


Then we went on to talk about hormones and other fun things... I'm sure you wanted to be there.

weekly exercise journal: 12-27-10

Nothing much to say... just that at least I'm at the gym. With all this eating I've been doing I'll be lucky if I don't put all the weight back on. Sheesh...


28 miles tracked
2 hours, 50 minutes logged
2,165 calories burned
8 tracked workout (dailymile.com synopsis)