Post by lost180 on Mar 24, 2009 23:33:12 GMT -5
This is going to be long in case anyone has the drive to actually get through it.
I am and always have been my own worst enemy. I'm a horrible procrastinator and I know I don't push myself as hard as I truly can when I only have myself to hold me accountable. I've definitely made some good steps in the right direction and I'm sure with more progress that I see I'll make even more. This site and Brians advice has definitely been one of the biggest helps in this process. To hear advice from a professional and to finally know I'm doing things right instead of
trying something for a week or two sometimes half assed and then trying something else because I was never sure I was doing the right thing. That's always been my biggest struggle. Over the last year and a half I've some how managed to lose about 30 pounds but because I was all over the place and very inconsistent I never knew what I was doing to actually make it work. I'm sure it wasn't any one thing. It just came off super slowly because I wasn't always focused.
Another problem I have is impatience and doubt. It's hard to not want to see big results right away but I've been doing a good job at not letting that throw me off course anymore. I used to say oh I'll start tomorrow. But everyday it was tomorrow. I don't do that anymore. Right now it's doubt. I've seen the weight come off slowly over the past month but every weigh in I still have doubts that it's going to work and I worry about when it'll stop. Maybe a few more weeks of seeing the scale go down I'll start to believe it's not all a fluke.
My eating the past month or so has definitely been the best it's ever been now that I know and see that it works. It's still a struggle finding ways to eat healthy and not giving in to eating the bad stuff. America has made it so convenient to be unhealthy.
I say now though that eating is probably easier for me than cardio. Cardio is my biggest demon because I suck at it. I know to not suck I have to just keep doing it but that doesn't make it suck less. And I always feel I'm not making much progress. One of my mini goals is to be able to run at least 3 miles.
Lastly there's my weight training. I definitely enjoy it better than cardio because it's much easier to see progress. Best thing I ever did in regards to that was to split my training up into 3 days. Two body parts a day. Before I was getting in two full body work outs but they were just all over the place and unfocused and just not doing any good. I can definitely feel that I'm stronger even if I can't exactly see it at the moment. Another one of my mini goals is to be able to do pullups.
Now the specifics. As far as eating goes my weeks are pretty much the same. It's only my dinners that vary really.
Breakfast - 2 cups of cheerios with a cup and a half of milk. I try to throw in some almonds usually so I can get some fat in my meal
Snack - Apple or banana with almonds
Lunch - Turkey on whole wheat with a half serving of mayo. I know mayo is bad but I just can't eat a sandwich dry. Half a serving is only 45 calories and I've grown to hate lots of mayo so the little bit is good.
Snack - Apple or banana with almonds
Dinner - Like I said it varies all the time. We have a lot of chicken and fish. When the dinner prepared isn't something I'm comfortable eating I'll usually make a tuna sandwich or scramble up some eggs and have some whole wheat toast. I've been having some pretty random dinners lately.
After work out - I have a scoop of protein powder with a cup and a half of milk.
Now for my work outs. Sunday, Tuesday, Thursdays are cardio days. In a perfect world I get them all in. I don't do long sessions of cardio. I've been doing interval training. I warm up for 5 minutes and I've been doing sprints at 8mph. Today I did 5 since I'm easing myself back in from being
. I was only on the treadmill for 25 minutes.
Mondays are back and biceps. I did some negative pullups this past monday and I'm definitely feeling it in my lats. Lately in my work outs I haven't felt much soreness in my biceps. I had read it wasn't good to over train them because they get worked during other exercises but I think I was under training. I kicked it up some this week.
Wednesdays are chest and triceps. I've been focusing a lot on just doing pushups and dips.
Saturdays are legs and shoulders. Sometimes I have issues with legs because I get pain in my knee. Not sure why. I did hit it really hard once years ago when I was very young. Maybe I did some damage I don't know about. Anyway legs are a challenge because I work out at home and I don't own a squat rack so I can only do squats with as much weight as I can lift over my head. Not ideal but you make due with what you have. So far there's been no issues. In fact this past saturday was my first leg day in 2 weeks because I've been ill so I've been sore and limping slightly. I enjoy the soreness though. It's how you know you've done the job right.
That's it for now. That was a lot. I applaud anyone who actually bothered to read it. I'll do my best to update it regularly with what I've been doing and how things have been going. I think it'll be good to write things down and hold myself accountable. And if anyone has any advice on how to switch up my weight routines and any good exercises I can do I'm open to suggestions. The equipment I own is two barbells. One for curling and the other for my leg work. I own a set of 15 pound dumbells but I plan on buying some collars for the dumbbell bars I have so I can increase that. And I also own a bowflex.
Okay for real I'm done.
I am and always have been my own worst enemy. I'm a horrible procrastinator and I know I don't push myself as hard as I truly can when I only have myself to hold me accountable. I've definitely made some good steps in the right direction and I'm sure with more progress that I see I'll make even more. This site and Brians advice has definitely been one of the biggest helps in this process. To hear advice from a professional and to finally know I'm doing things right instead of
trying something for a week or two sometimes half assed and then trying something else because I was never sure I was doing the right thing. That's always been my biggest struggle. Over the last year and a half I've some how managed to lose about 30 pounds but because I was all over the place and very inconsistent I never knew what I was doing to actually make it work. I'm sure it wasn't any one thing. It just came off super slowly because I wasn't always focused.
Another problem I have is impatience and doubt. It's hard to not want to see big results right away but I've been doing a good job at not letting that throw me off course anymore. I used to say oh I'll start tomorrow. But everyday it was tomorrow. I don't do that anymore. Right now it's doubt. I've seen the weight come off slowly over the past month but every weigh in I still have doubts that it's going to work and I worry about when it'll stop. Maybe a few more weeks of seeing the scale go down I'll start to believe it's not all a fluke.
My eating the past month or so has definitely been the best it's ever been now that I know and see that it works. It's still a struggle finding ways to eat healthy and not giving in to eating the bad stuff. America has made it so convenient to be unhealthy.
I say now though that eating is probably easier for me than cardio. Cardio is my biggest demon because I suck at it. I know to not suck I have to just keep doing it but that doesn't make it suck less. And I always feel I'm not making much progress. One of my mini goals is to be able to run at least 3 miles.
Lastly there's my weight training. I definitely enjoy it better than cardio because it's much easier to see progress. Best thing I ever did in regards to that was to split my training up into 3 days. Two body parts a day. Before I was getting in two full body work outs but they were just all over the place and unfocused and just not doing any good. I can definitely feel that I'm stronger even if I can't exactly see it at the moment. Another one of my mini goals is to be able to do pullups.
Now the specifics. As far as eating goes my weeks are pretty much the same. It's only my dinners that vary really.
Breakfast - 2 cups of cheerios with a cup and a half of milk. I try to throw in some almonds usually so I can get some fat in my meal
Snack - Apple or banana with almonds
Lunch - Turkey on whole wheat with a half serving of mayo. I know mayo is bad but I just can't eat a sandwich dry. Half a serving is only 45 calories and I've grown to hate lots of mayo so the little bit is good.
Snack - Apple or banana with almonds
Dinner - Like I said it varies all the time. We have a lot of chicken and fish. When the dinner prepared isn't something I'm comfortable eating I'll usually make a tuna sandwich or scramble up some eggs and have some whole wheat toast. I've been having some pretty random dinners lately.
After work out - I have a scoop of protein powder with a cup and a half of milk.
Now for my work outs. Sunday, Tuesday, Thursdays are cardio days. In a perfect world I get them all in. I don't do long sessions of cardio. I've been doing interval training. I warm up for 5 minutes and I've been doing sprints at 8mph. Today I did 5 since I'm easing myself back in from being
. I was only on the treadmill for 25 minutes.Mondays are back and biceps. I did some negative pullups this past monday and I'm definitely feeling it in my lats. Lately in my work outs I haven't felt much soreness in my biceps. I had read it wasn't good to over train them because they get worked during other exercises but I think I was under training. I kicked it up some this week.
Wednesdays are chest and triceps. I've been focusing a lot on just doing pushups and dips.
Saturdays are legs and shoulders. Sometimes I have issues with legs because I get pain in my knee. Not sure why. I did hit it really hard once years ago when I was very young. Maybe I did some damage I don't know about. Anyway legs are a challenge because I work out at home and I don't own a squat rack so I can only do squats with as much weight as I can lift over my head. Not ideal but you make due with what you have. So far there's been no issues. In fact this past saturday was my first leg day in 2 weeks because I've been ill so I've been sore and limping slightly. I enjoy the soreness though. It's how you know you've done the job right.
That's it for now. That was a lot. I applaud anyone who actually bothered to read it. I'll do my best to update it regularly with what I've been doing and how things have been going. I think it'll be good to write things down and hold myself accountable. And if anyone has any advice on how to switch up my weight routines and any good exercises I can do I'm open to suggestions. The equipment I own is two barbells. One for curling and the other for my leg work. I own a set of 15 pound dumbells but I plan on buying some collars for the dumbbell bars I have so I can increase that. And I also own a bowflex.
Okay for real I'm done.
Then I did 4 sets of 10 tricep push downs on the bowflex, and 2 sets of 10 tricep extensions. Those were hard because I was pretty fatigued.
crackers through out the day. A handful hear and a handful there. I had a nice clean dinner though of 4 and half ounces baked chicken and two cups of green beans. Later I'll have a protein shake and maybe some fruit or something.