Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Exercise Log 5/31/11
Back to the gym today after four days off... did a circuit training group class and loved it. A good workout. Ate dinner at 4:30 and tomorrow is a fast day.
Monday, May 30, 2011
The IF Life
This is a great primer on the benefits of intermittent fasting and the research is cited at the bottom of the page.
Monday Measurements: One Week Update
My weight this morning was 117.4 lbs. I also started my period last night and you will see that the measurement at my navel actually went up. THANKS bloating. My leg measurements went down a bit in a couple places. Not sure if it is just because of how I measured or an actual decrease. I don't think weekly measurements will tell much until I actually get SEVERAL weeks behind me.
Bicep 11.25
Chest 36.25
2" above navel: 29
AT navel: 33.0
2" below navel: 33.5 (aka the muffin top!)
Hips: 36
Upper thigh: 20.5
Mid thigh: 18
Top of knee: 13
Calf 11.75
Chest 36.25
2" above navel: 29
AT navel: 33.0
2" below navel: 33.5 (aka the muffin top!)
Hips: 36
Upper thigh: 20.5
Mid thigh: 18
Top of knee: 13
Calf 11.75
Friday, May 27, 2011
Fast Day #3
I have decided to fast up to 3 twenty four hour periods in a week depending on my schedule and plans. Since it is a holiday weekend and Mark and Katie are here and Mark's sister and her family will be too, I have decided to fast 3 days this week and enjoy the weekend without guilt!
So fast day #3 will end in about an hour with a date with my hubby to a local asian buffet. Today was not as bad as the other two in terms of hunger... perhaps because I have been really busy, but I still got the afternoon headache. It's not a bad headache but it is a dull ache that comes about 1pm each fast day. Hoping it is temporary. :-)
I probably won't get to the gym today or again until Monday, but that is the whole point of this new lifestyle... you get to go with the flow of your plans, schedule and life... all without guilt. YEAH.
So fast day #3 will end in about an hour with a date with my hubby to a local asian buffet. Today was not as bad as the other two in terms of hunger... perhaps because I have been really busy, but I still got the afternoon headache. It's not a bad headache but it is a dull ache that comes about 1pm each fast day. Hoping it is temporary. :-)
I probably won't get to the gym today or again until Monday, but that is the whole point of this new lifestyle... you get to go with the flow of your plans, schedule and life... all without guilt. YEAH.
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Exercise Log 5/26/11
Super busy day today and I almost didn't make it to the gym. Pulled it together after the littles were in bed and did a 25 minute workout on the elliptical of fairly high intensity. Then stretched and a cool down, followed by a soak in the hot tub, a visit to the steam room. NICE. Tomorrow is another fast day.
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Exercise Log 5/25/11
Today is another fasting day for me. Just like Monday it really wasn't that hard. The most discomfort was the passing hunger pain and a slight afternoon headache. We eat dinner early so I just broke the fast with our typical Wednesday dinner... Little Caesar's Pizza.
Even though I was fasting I still had a really good workout... 2 minute warm-up on the recline bike followed by 8 minutes of the following intervals: 15seconds of 100% effort and 45 seconds of rest
I have decided to do my HIGH intensity intervals on the bike because I think it is nearly impossible to get hurt on it! No slipping and falling when I am pedaling like a crazy woman. But I prefer the elliptical so after those intervals I switched to the elliptical for 22 minutes of steady state cardio followed by 3 rounds of one minute medium high intenstity intervals and one minute of low intensity. All together it was 40 minutes of cardio followed by some good stretching. Surprisingly I did not feel that my fasted state affected my energy level during the workout at all.
Even though I was fasting I still had a really good workout... 2 minute warm-up on the recline bike followed by 8 minutes of the following intervals: 15seconds of 100% effort and 45 seconds of rest
I have decided to do my HIGH intensity intervals on the bike because I think it is nearly impossible to get hurt on it! No slipping and falling when I am pedaling like a crazy woman. But I prefer the elliptical so after those intervals I switched to the elliptical for 22 minutes of steady state cardio followed by 3 rounds of one minute medium high intenstity intervals and one minute of low intensity. All together it was 40 minutes of cardio followed by some good stretching. Surprisingly I did not feel that my fasted state affected my energy level during the workout at all.
What is Intermittent Fasting?
Until 4 days ago I had never really heard of intermittent fasting, so I am by no means an expert. However, I have been doing a lot of reading and I think this is a pretty accurate "primer".
Intermittent fasting means to go without food, eat normally, go without food again on some sort of regular basis. The three most popular ways (and there is no "right" way, it's whatever fits your personality, goals and lifestyle) are Alternate Day Fasting, the 24 hour fast 1-2x a week, and the condensed window fast.
Alternate day fasting is just that, you eat every other day, and consequently you fast every other day. For this purpose a day = 24 hours. So you eat for 24 hours and you fast for 24 hours. You would probably still be eating something every day. If you want to know more link to the youtube video.
The 24 hour fast 1-2 x a week is outlined best in Brad Pilon's (check out his blog!) e-book Eat Stop Eat. You can pick any 24 hour window for your fast. I prefer to start my fast after dinner and complete my fast with dinner the following night, but again, it is whatever works best for you.
The "condensed window fast" is where you choose certain hours during the day to eat and you do not eat outside that eating window. The smaller the eating window the bigger the benefits. The largest eating window should be no more than 8 hours. I actually did this for 40 days this year, I did not eat before 10am or after 6pm. I lost about 5 lbs in those 40 days. I don't prefer the condensed eating window because I find that it leaves me hungry for some part of every day. And it is too restrictive for my lifestyle. But if it works for you then there is nothing wrong with it.
In the coming days I will post about the health benefits (other than weight loss) of intermittent fasting.
Intermittent fasting means to go without food, eat normally, go without food again on some sort of regular basis. The three most popular ways (and there is no "right" way, it's whatever fits your personality, goals and lifestyle) are Alternate Day Fasting, the 24 hour fast 1-2x a week, and the condensed window fast.
Alternate day fasting is just that, you eat every other day, and consequently you fast every other day. For this purpose a day = 24 hours. So you eat for 24 hours and you fast for 24 hours. You would probably still be eating something every day. If you want to know more link to the youtube video.
The 24 hour fast 1-2 x a week is outlined best in Brad Pilon's (check out his blog!) e-book Eat Stop Eat. You can pick any 24 hour window for your fast. I prefer to start my fast after dinner and complete my fast with dinner the following night, but again, it is whatever works best for you.
The "condensed window fast" is where you choose certain hours during the day to eat and you do not eat outside that eating window. The smaller the eating window the bigger the benefits. The largest eating window should be no more than 8 hours. I actually did this for 40 days this year, I did not eat before 10am or after 6pm. I lost about 5 lbs in those 40 days. I don't prefer the condensed eating window because I find that it leaves me hungry for some part of every day. And it is too restrictive for my lifestyle. But if it works for you then there is nothing wrong with it.
In the coming days I will post about the health benefits (other than weight loss) of intermittent fasting.
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Exercise
Since my goal is to lose the muffin top and lower my body fat by about 10 percentage points, I am taking a rather aggressive approach to exercise. My plan will look something like this
Day 1: HIIT
Day 2: Weights and regular cardio
Day 3: Group class of choice
Day 4: Regular interval training/Cardio or HIIT if I am feeling up to it.
Day 5: Weights and regular cardio
Day 6: Group Class of choice
Day 7: Rest
I will try to post my exercise daily but here is the catch up for this week
Saturday: Regular Cardio and weights
Sunday: HIIT
Monday: Regular Cardio/ 30 minutes of group class (Fast day)
Tuesday: Weights and regular Cardio
In the future I am going to link to research, articles, blogs etc. that talk about Intermittent Fasting and High Intensity Interval Training. Hope you will find them as interesting as I have!
Day 1: HIIT
Day 2: Weights and regular cardio
Day 3: Group class of choice
Day 4: Regular interval training/Cardio or HIIT if I am feeling up to it.
Day 5: Weights and regular cardio
Day 6: Group Class of choice
Day 7: Rest
I will try to post my exercise daily but here is the catch up for this week
Saturday: Regular Cardio and weights
Sunday: HIIT
Monday: Regular Cardio/ 30 minutes of group class (Fast day)
Tuesday: Weights and regular Cardio
In the future I am going to link to research, articles, blogs etc. that talk about Intermittent Fasting and High Intensity Interval Training. Hope you will find them as interesting as I have!
Monday, May 23, 2011
In the Beginning...
Renee was 40 years old, weighed 117 lbs and had 31.6% body fat. (The body fat is taken from my home scale which was 3% higher than the reading I got when I had a coaching session at the gym. I am going to use my home measurement because I can track up or down progress wether it is totally accurate or not)
Measurements:
Bicep 11.25
Chest 37
2" above navel: 29
AT navel: 31.5
2" below navel: 33.5 (aka the muffin top!)
Hips: 36
Upper thigh: 21
Mid thigh: 19
Top of knee: 13
Calf 11.75
Next measurements in one week!
Measurements:
Bicep 11.25
Chest 37
2" above navel: 29
AT navel: 31.5
2" below navel: 33.5 (aka the muffin top!)
Hips: 36
Upper thigh: 21
Mid thigh: 19
Top of knee: 13
Calf 11.75
Next measurements in one week!
Time to get serious...
I am a "healthy" weight. 5 ft tall and 117 lbs.
I thought if I could lose 5 lbs or so all would be good. Then I made a mistake.
I bought a body fat scale. Even giving room for error my body fat is pretty close to 30%. They have a name for people like me. (NOT "mom"). It's called normal weight obesity. Basically it means that I have the same risks for type 2 diabetes and heart disease as your typically obese person. This realization has caused me to become a little more serious about changing my body composition for the better. I am not really focusing on weight as much as getting my body fat in the healthy range.
So as soon as we moved to our new house I got a gym membership. I worked out often for 6 weeks and didn't lose a pound. You see, I love to work out, but I hate to diet. I hate the rules, the preparing, the figuring the shoulds and should nots. I want to have the occasional "BAD" food without being led to believe that I am eating toxic waste. I don't really want to think about food a whole lot at all.
I started researching how I could lose body fat without being obsessive compulsive about my diet. (Don't get me wrong... I know that healthy choices NEED to make up the majority of my diet... I just don't buy the bunk that we need to eat perfectly all the time to be healthy.) I came up with a plan of exercise and eating that I think is going to be the answer for ME. This is the plan that I feel can work as it suits MY personality, and what I believe I can maintain as a lifestyle.
I am planning to do High Intensity Interval training workouts on the elliptical every 4-5 days along with weight training 2-3 times a week. I am also going to adopt an eating lifestyle called Intermittent Fasting. I first learned about it from a guy named Brad Pilon who wrote a book called Eat Stop Eat. He has a blog and some youtube videos too. The plan is to fast for 24 hours (over 2 days) once or twice a week. I will do twice a week at first and cut back to once a week as I get closer to my health goal. You can pick any 24 hour block you want, but for me dinner to dinner works best.
I am currently on hour 22 of my first 24 hour fast. I even went to the gym today for some light aerobic exercise and a half hour of yoga/pilates. I felt GREAT working out and my hunger has not been too crazy. I have a slight headache which I attribute to no caffeine yet today.
I hope to use my blog to chart my progress and keep me focused and accountable. NEXT POST... beginning stats and measurements.
I thought if I could lose 5 lbs or so all would be good. Then I made a mistake.
I bought a body fat scale. Even giving room for error my body fat is pretty close to 30%. They have a name for people like me. (NOT "mom"). It's called normal weight obesity. Basically it means that I have the same risks for type 2 diabetes and heart disease as your typically obese person. This realization has caused me to become a little more serious about changing my body composition for the better. I am not really focusing on weight as much as getting my body fat in the healthy range.
So as soon as we moved to our new house I got a gym membership. I worked out often for 6 weeks and didn't lose a pound. You see, I love to work out, but I hate to diet. I hate the rules, the preparing, the figuring the shoulds and should nots. I want to have the occasional "BAD" food without being led to believe that I am eating toxic waste. I don't really want to think about food a whole lot at all.
I started researching how I could lose body fat without being obsessive compulsive about my diet. (Don't get me wrong... I know that healthy choices NEED to make up the majority of my diet... I just don't buy the bunk that we need to eat perfectly all the time to be healthy.) I came up with a plan of exercise and eating that I think is going to be the answer for ME. This is the plan that I feel can work as it suits MY personality, and what I believe I can maintain as a lifestyle.
I am planning to do High Intensity Interval training workouts on the elliptical every 4-5 days along with weight training 2-3 times a week. I am also going to adopt an eating lifestyle called Intermittent Fasting. I first learned about it from a guy named Brad Pilon who wrote a book called Eat Stop Eat. He has a blog and some youtube videos too. The plan is to fast for 24 hours (over 2 days) once or twice a week. I will do twice a week at first and cut back to once a week as I get closer to my health goal. You can pick any 24 hour block you want, but for me dinner to dinner works best.
I am currently on hour 22 of my first 24 hour fast. I even went to the gym today for some light aerobic exercise and a half hour of yoga/pilates. I felt GREAT working out and my hunger has not been too crazy. I have a slight headache which I attribute to no caffeine yet today.
I hope to use my blog to chart my progress and keep me focused and accountable. NEXT POST... beginning stats and measurements.
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