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1.11.2007

Last years resolution revisited.

Well, I hope everyone is having a great new year. I have been doing the same ole thing... working out and cleaning my house. ;)

I didn't weigh in on the 5th because my gym partner forgot her journal to record her results... so I weighed myself at home on Saturday and my scale at home said 270.2 - I am trying not to get my hopes up that my weight is that low because the gym's scale is about 2-3 lbs off from mine at home. So to play it safe I am waiting until this Friday to do my official weigh in at the gym.

This is my 6th week working out. I have pretty much stuck to my schedule of 4x week @ 1 hr cardio. I am trying to be conscious of how many calories I eat along with what type of foods I am eating. Usually for breakfast I have an Atkins Shake or some type of All Bran cereal with skim milk. I have been snacking on strawberries, raspberries, and no sugar added yogurt. For lunch I have a South Beach or Lean Cuisine meal. For dinner I pretty much eat whatever I want but I try to incorporate veggies and a lean meat like chicken or turkey. I have been substituting ground turkey for ground beef.

I have been doing mostly cardio for my workouts. My usual workout is 15 mins on the treadmill, StairMaster, bike, and elliptical (in that order). My heart rate usually gets to 120 on the treadmill, 145-150 on the StairMaster, 130 on the bike, and 155 on the elliptical. I figure that is pretty good since my target heart rate should be between 120-160. I briefly spoke with a personal trainer at the gym and she told me to focus on cardio until I got a lot of my weight off then start introducing weights to reshape my body. My gym partner keeps trying to get me to do more weights - but I am sticking to what the personal trainer said... I hope I am not doing it incorrectly -- any suggestions?

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I don't go to Gold's, but that is the recomendation I was given also. CARDIO, CARDIO, CARDIO and then when I am 10 - 20 lbs from my goal I should kick up the weights.

Kimberly said...

I know absolutely nothing about how to work out, or what to work on, but CONGRATULATIONS on sticking with it. It really amazes me when people stick to a workout plan, especially as much time as you're putting into it. I'm inspired :) Now, if I could get some decent weather, I might go for a walk.

Abi said...

Well, I can't believe that I am sticking to it too! But, I have found that it is easier to go to the gym for 1 hour 4 times a week than to watch everything I put in my mouth all day everyday -- so you are an inspiration to me! Now, if I could just not eat junk food, I might lose more weight!

AAD said...

Congratulations on your progress so far!

As far as your cardio vs. weight training question, I've had two different trainers tell me two different things. One trainer agreed with yours -- you shouldn't do weights until you've almost gotten to your goal weight. Another trainer told me that approximately half my workout time should be spent on a weight training circuit -- in other words, my heart rate should go up but I need to be lifting weights. I believe the logic of the former position is that if your goal is to LOSE WEIGHT, weight training will slow that process down because you will be putting on lean muscle mass, which weighs quite a bit, while you are trying to lower that number on the scale. The logic of the latter is that 1) building lean muscle mass, while adding to the number on the scale, actually increases your metabolic rate for a longer period of time so you are burning fat long after you finish working out and 2) if you have a large amount of weight to lose (more than 30 lbs), muscle will serve to fill out the skin that has loosened while a person was fat. In other words, weight training while you are trying to take off pounds will keep you firm but it might take longer to get the scale number down. Additionally, weight training is a good thing for women especially because it increases bone density. Gonna stop talking now before I write a novel. What I'm taking entirely too many words to say is that I think the choice between weight training combined with cardio versus just cardio depends on what your goals are!