Alig8r’s BodyBlog

Well, the new program worked pretty well and I burned some serious calories, but we all know diet is 80% of the battle, so I decided to change my diet fairly drastically and take on Lyle McDonald’s "Rapid Fat Loss" plan to drop some pounds.

Just finished week 1 and I’ve lost 6 lbs already, and somewhere around 1% BF (my scale isn’t the most accurate so give or take…)

I feel good.  My energy is fairly normal, as in I don’t feel sluggish or excessively tired or anything.  Didn’t do any workouts last week as I wanted to give myself a week to settle into the diet.  I will be getting back to the gym this week for a couple weight days and a couple cardio days.

Nice to see some results finally.  Perhaps my body just needed a bit of a dietary shock to get going…

started a new program this week in an effort to shed some serious fat.  i’ve been lifting heavy and building muscle for a while now, so to mix it up for a few weeks i’m onto a circuit program.  3 sets of 15, approximately 10 exercises.  goal being to keep my heartrate up around 130 ish for as much of that time as possible.  so basically it’s 3 giant sets of 10 exercises with 15 reps each.

thoroughly enjoyed my upper body workout today, and tomorrow will be awesome cuz i always love leg day

had kind of a rough day today… serves me right for premature weighing.  i promised myself i wouldn’t weigh myself more than once a month and so i guess this is what i get… LOL a huge gain over the last week.  now i know there are probably a number of reasons for that, but i know i shrank over the past week so i’m refusing to be discouraged and i shall plod onward like the tortoise

so this week i will continue to eat clean, track my meals, stay as close to 40/40/20 and 1800 calories as is reasonably possible without getting too obsessed over it, and i will follow my workout schedule.

consistency is key… this is my new mantra…

didn’t make it out for a run today on account of rain, but i will give it another try tomorrow.  and tomorrow i’ll get up with enough time to spare that i can go to the gym if it’s raining out (which i didn’t do today - grrr stupid weather!).

i’m looking forward to this week.  i’ve finished my 9-week muscle buildling program and now i’m doing a week of the same program at 4 sets of 10… to see how much i’m able to raise my weights from before.  so far so good with upper body day, and i expect to see even more progress today on lower body.

next week i plan to go back to a circuit program… 3 sets of 15… to burn lots of fat.  followed by cardio every day of course.  i’ll keep my 2 "extra" morning cardio sessions for a couple more weeks, but then i plan to up it to 3 per week.

diet has been going well.  i feel better, more energetic, craving healthy food more and "bad" food less, and my weight is down already after only a week of eating cleaner.  i had ballooned up to in excess of 240lbs last month (no i didn’t track that online) and this week i should easily break into the 220s… so my actual weight loss is even more substantial than what my profile says

the most remarkable thing is i’m starting to see myself thinner.  i think that Gabriel Method book and CD i bought was definitely a good investment.  i’m starting to be able to imagine myself in my "ideal body" and i have even had dreams in which i am thin and fit.  that is new for me, as up until very recently i was always fat in my dreams, probably due to the fact that i didn’t have the positive self-image necessary to view myself in that ideal shape.  and now it seems i do…

i feel like i’ve made a lot of progress in the last month, even if it doesn’t show externally.  since moving to saskatoon about a year ago, i’ve struggled to keep my routine up without the presence of the workout buddy i had in calgary.  i’ve struggled with diet as well, and i can make a lot of excuses (field work, long work hours, trying to have a social life, etc), but really it’s just due to not caring enough to put my health first.  upon reflection, i’m very proud of how far i’ve come, and i’m looking forward to more positive changes in the future.  at my biggest (about 7 years ago now) i was around 265lbs.  today i am around 230lbs and while it’s "only" 35lbs difference on the scale, my appearance has drastically changed, and so has my lifestyle. 

so it’s onward and upward for this chica… or downward… depending on how you wanna look at it

So I’ve decided to get up early 2 mornings this week to go for a walk/jog in the park next to my condo.  it’s a nice big park, with playground equipment (sand underneath), hills, paved paths, and nice, real, uneven ground. 

This morning was my first run of the week.  Got up at 6am, walked/jogged for 30 min, burned 200 calories ish… not too shabby.  But BOY am I starving right now… need food…

I’ve been doing a lot of reading and thinking lately and I’ve decided the following:

1) I think too much (to those of you who know this already, i welcome your "i told you so"s LOL)

2) It’s time to say goodbye to this sad, insecure, fat girl who took over my thin body more than 10 years ago and thinks she knows best

I know exactly how to accomplish this feat and it starts by putting myself and my program first.  So that, simply put, is what I’m going to do.  I have a program, which I’ll stick to.  I have a diet plan full of foods I enjoy eating, which I’ll stick to.  Armed with my camera and tape measure (and scale, but only once a month) I will succeed this time.  For real.  I’m not joking.  I am beautiful and strong and it’s about time that the outside reflected the inside.  So, fat girl… you and your negative voice in the back of my head can take a hike… or a jog… or maybe a HIIT workout on the treadmill… LOL

Enough said

Figured I should get a blog started…

Well, this is me.  I’ve been working out for about 3 years off and on (trouble is it’s been more OFF than on) but I’ve made a commitment to myself this time to stick with it… even when I don’t see results, and even when I feel discouraged.  Stay tuned for progress pics and measurements monthly