Every new year people make resolutions to get in shape. I did the same thing last year. I started in December 2010, and went strong for about 6 months. My goal wasn’t to lose weight but to build muscle. Years ago I was really in to weight lifting. I had a personal best Bench Press of over 400 lbs. I loved being in the gym. Then I just quit. I put on a lot of bulk from that time I lifted heavy, even though I hadn’t worked out for over ten years, I still had much of the muscle mass I did back then. So, when I started lifting again, I made gains really quickly. Within a few months I was doing 8 -10 reps of 305. I was well on my way to benching 400 again. Then I just stopped.
Last week I started back in the gym. As tempted as I am to go heavy and try to put on massive muscle, I am focusing this time on losing weight. It is almost impossible to lose weight and put on mass at the same time. Your calorie count must be more than you actually use, unless you have it down to an exact science. I don’t, so I would just eat all the time and consume massive amounts of protein. This allows my muscles to recover and grow, but also allows my waist to grow.
So, I am focusing on lots of cardio, some weight lifting, and eating just enough calories to get me by. This will force my body to burn fat quickly.
I started Monday the 24th at 244 pounds. By Saturday I am at 235. That is 9 pounds in 6 days. My goal is 30 pounds, in 39 days. So, at this rate I will easily reach that goal, but I know that my weight loss will slow down. Also, at least 5 pounds of that is water weight, so I have really only lost about 5 pounds, but that is still a good enough pace to reach my goal of 30 pounds.
My workout consists of burning about 600 calories in a workout. I do this through 20 minutes of running, 30 minutes of weight training, and usually about 20 minutes of swimming. I finish it off with a good sweat in the sauna. I try and make it to the gym at least 5 times a week, which means I burn 3,000 calories a week from exercise.
My diet goal is to take in less than 1250 calories a day. Along with the exercise this creates a calorie deficit of about 1500 calories a day. They say 3,500 calories lost equals a pound of fat. So, at this rate I should lose close to a pound of fat every two days. Or 3.5 pounds per week. In 6 weeks, that is only about 21 lbs., which is 9 lbs. short of my goal. So I may have to increase the cardio. We will see.
At the end of the thirty nine days, I am going to reward myself with a seven day cruise where I will eat myself into a coma. I can’t wait. Anyway, for motivation I will blog my progress.
