This is the first post documenting my journey to change my body composition to be closer to what it was and to what it should be. I’m posting this here so I put my goal “out there.” I want to make this public to hold myself accountable, and to share my journey with anyone who is thinking about, or who is making the same trip.
When I was in school, I had an extremely high metabolism, was very active and could eat as much of anything as I wanted to. When I was in my 20′s I used to order 2 meals and a desert when I went out to eat, and I still didn’t gain weight. Things changed when I hit 30. I was less active and was working full time and taking 3 colleges classes per semester. I started gaining weight and gained even more weight when I stopped playing sports altogether.
I always told myself that I could lose the weight, and thought I’d get around to it eventually. I’ve made a few half-hearted attempts, but now I’ve finally decided to make a commitment to take care of my health. My total cholesterol, blood pressure and blood sugar numbers are good, but my HDL is much lower than it should be. Weight loss is the best way to raise HDL levels (drinking helps too, but has other negative side effects). It’s also the best way for me to insure a healthier, more active future.
Work and / or school doesn’t take up most of my time any more, and I have decided that there is no reason to put this off any longer. I’ve done some research on what, how and when I need to eat in addition to the type, intensity and frequency of exercise that I need to do.
Based on my research, my goal is to eat 5 small meals (approximately 400 calories each) every day, do 30 – 45 minutes of medium to high intensity cardio 4 – 5 times a week, and weights 3 times a week. I’m keeping a food and exercise diary, which is more helpful than I thought it would be. It makes it hard to lie to yourself, and I find that I consider the consequences of my choices because I know I have to write them down in my diary.
I’m still going to Kung Fu 3 – 4 times a week and continue to golf or practice golf at least 1 – 2 times a week. Kung Fu and golf contribute more to recreation than fat loss, but they also keep me moving. Inertia is a very powerful force.
I’m not following this plan perfectly yet. I’m 3 weeks into my efforts and have managed to do cardio 3 times a week, weights 3 times a week, and I eat 3 times a day, sometimes 4. I’m confident I can get more days in at the gym, but the eating is hard. It requires a lot of planning and preparation. I’m working on it and will keep making incremental improvements.
The result so far is a weight loss of 3 pounds, and a 4.5% loss of body fat. That equates to 10 pounds of lost fat in 3 weeks. My weekly goal is to lose a pound a week and my target goal is to get down to 20% body fat. I figure that will take me about a year to reach.
I’ll post progress reports about once a month. Next time, I’ll include some meals and a shopping list. In the meantime, please see the sites below if you’re interested in starting this journey too. Remember to do what you know is right. The first two weeks I didn’t lose any weight, but did lose body fat, so I kept the course. Good luck to you!
Links to resources:
Burn the Fat Feed the Muscle
Kudos for Low Carb
Building Muscle 101
