Author Archives: formerfatkid7
Kickstarting the new fit plan
Dieting
Recently I read that if you really want to move the needle on the scale, calorie restriction (NOT EXERCISE), is the most effective way to do it. Ugh!! I know. I know. Everyone has their opinions and scientific research on what actually works but I guess it DOES make sense. It’s a lot harder to “exercise off” 1 lb of fat (=3,500 calories) than it is to cut 500 calories each day by swapping out high-cal foods for smarter (RE: veggie) choices. And all yo-yo weight loss people like me know the value of losing weight slowwwwly instead of deprieving yourself, losing a few, then going on vacation and just letting things slide…and slide…and slide.
Strength Training with a Trainer
But I like to spend time at the gym honestly. I like a good spin class, I love pilates and yoga, I think Zumba is SO FUN, and I completely love my barre class at Boston Body Barre. And I really miss my trainer Tracey – a LOT. I had so much fun (albeit grueling fun) with her, doing an hour-long strength training session twice a week. She was so creative with her routines for us and pushed me in ways I know I’d NEVER have taken myself. And she held me accountable. First of all, I always dragged myself out of bed to meet her. Always! And second: She called me out on my excuses. Why can’t I wake up early to run before training with her? Even though I resented it just a teensy bit (hello pity party, wah wah wah) she was totally right and I needed to hear it. If I had the money, I’d hire her again in a second, but I just can’t justify it when I can put together my own routines.
Strength Training vs. Cardio
Just before my wedding I had a little panic session that my arms looked big and frantically scoured the web for quick ways to lose arm fat and read that if you have a vacay on the horizon and need to lose flab fast, strength training (or rather, circuit training) is the most effective way (versus cardio). Obviously doing BOTH is best, but this is for those with a tight deadline for “get fit” turnaround. Anyways, the reason strength training works is because muscle burns more calories while resting than fat, so if you build muscle, you’ll be creating a built-in calorie incinerator that will aid your diet in helping you shed some lbs. It’s kind of the same idea as trying to improve your metabolism (fast metabolism = lower weight), but I think there is a little less guesswork with strength training.
My New Plan
So with all this information in mind, and since I want to see some changes pretty quickly, my new plan of attack to shed this post-honeymoon “happy married lady weight” is going to be:
– Re-launch my diet
– Track my weight, workouts daily
– Re-start my “Food Journal”
– 2x weekly, hour-long (self-guided) strength training sessions
– 3x weekly hour-long interval cardio
– 1x barre class (because it’s fun and I enjoy it)
– 1 weekly yoga class (because I enjoy it and it’s relaxing)
Workout – 4/14 & 4/15
Sometimes all I need for a GREAT gym workout is an inspirational picture!
Anyways, I’m so proud of myself for dragging myself out for a run yesterday. The sun was setting, it was gorgeous out and I found a pretty route– finally. I told myself: just run out for four songs and then head back for four songs and I did it and felt amazing.
I got a slower start than I wanted this AM but just had a great workout. My usual intervals for 30 minutes followed by 30 minutes on the elliptical. Yes, I was reading magazines so it wasn’t as intense as it should be but… Baby steps!
Starving now so I’m going to find something to ravage.
Status update
Weight: is…up?!
Seriously? How is this possible. It has to be that I have gained muscle. Or i need to lay off the salt and vinegar chips. A bag a day after work might be a mistake (!!)
Mid-March Status Update
UPDATE: It is 81 days until the wedding!
I have to make some changes ASAP. I’m not doing regular cardio, have totally stopped going to yoga, don’t regularly go to spinning and I haven’t followed my Scarsdale diet in ages without cheating and adding milk to my coffee, so I need to really commit. This is me committing.
It’s difficult to commit without support though. My fiance is pretty dismissive of my desire to lose lbs for the wedding and eat healthier, which makes it difficult to stick to it. He constantly brings home “treats” (a GIANT bag of mini eggs, butter-covered, garlic bread) or, if he makes dinner, gives me “just a little bit” of rice, even though he knows I don’t want to eat it. What is he trying to do to me?! No matter how often I beg him tell him NOT to bring these things home or put food I’m not supposed to eat on my plate, because I can’t control myself, he still does it.
What do I do to get him to support me? Ideally, it would be nice if we were working towards our fitness goals together, cheering each other on and supporting one another when our will-power falters, like some friends’ of ours do, but I don’t know if he’s up for that. At the very least, I need him to stop undermining my efforts!!
Anyways, so that is where I am mentally. Here’s the update…
STATUS UPDATE
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Weight:
Waist:
Hips:
L Thigh:
R Thigh:
Goal: 120
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Quick calorie/weight-loss math
A pound of body fat equates to approximately 3,500 calories. So if you have a calorie deficit of 500 calories (meaning that you burn 500 calories more than you eat each day) you would lose approximately one pound per week.
Formula: # days x (lbs to lose x 3,500)
81 days left to go x (22 lbs to lose x 3,500 calories/lb) = 951 calories/day
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Re-Focus On: Diet + Exercise
Small changes, every day, will help me to slash about 500 calories, but I need to burn more calories when I work out, which means working out harder and maybe even longer. More cardio. Higher intensity cardio.
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Things to try
– Bi-weekly spinning classes will torch calories
– Running 2-3x weekly (two longer and one shorter)
– Aiming for 1 hour of cardio/daily 5-6 x week
Article: The 27 Rules of Conquering the Gym
This is the time of year when even people who hate the gym think about going to the gym. Many of us are still digesting whole floors of gingerbread houses, and jeans that fit comfortably in October are now a denim humiliation.
Sweating is a good way to begin 2012. Exercise, like dark chocolate and office meetings that suddenly get canceled, is a proven pathway to nirvana. But if you’re going to join a gym—or returning to the gym after a long hibernation—consider the following:
1. A gym is not designed to make you feel instantly better about yourself. If a gym wanted to make you feel instantly better about yourself, it would be a bar.
2. Give yourself a goal. Maybe you want to lose 10 pounds. Maybe you want to quarterback the New York Jets into the playoffs. But be warned: Losing 10 pounds is hard.
The New Year’s push to lose weight is bringing crowds to gyms. Jason Gay offers tips to conquering the gym. Photo: Getty Images.
3. Develop a gym routine. Try to go at least three times a week. Do a mix of strength training and cardiovascular conditioning. After the third week, stop carrying around that satchel of fresh-baked chocolate chip cookies.
4. No one in the history of gyms has ever lost a pound while reading “The New Yorker” and slowly pedaling a recumbent bicycle. No one.
5. Bring your iPod. Don’t borrow the disgusting gym headphones, or use the sad plastic radio attachment on the treadmill, which always sounds like it’s playing Kenny Loggins from a sewer.
6. Don’t fall for gimmicks. The only tried-and-true method to lose 10 pounds in 48 hours is food poisoning.
7. Yes, every gym has an overenthusiastic spinning instructor who hasn’t bought a record since “Walking on Sunshine.”
8. There’s also the Strange Guy Who is Always at the Gym. Just when you think he isn’t here today…there he is, lurking by the barbells.
9. “Great job!” is trainer-speak for “It’s not polite for me to laugh at you.”
10. Beware a hip gym with a Wilco step class.
11. Gyms have two types of members: Members who wipe down the machines after using them, and the worst people in the universe.
12. Nope, that’s not a “recovery energy bar with antioxidant dark chocolate.” That’s a chocolate bar.
13. Avoid Unsolicited Advice Guy, who, for the small fee of boring you to death, will explain the proper method for any exercise in 45 minutes or longer.
14. You can take 10 Minute Abs, 20 Minute Abs, and 30 Minute Abs. There is also Stop Eating Pizza and Eating Sheet Cake Abs—but that’s super tough!
15. If you’re motivated to buy an expensive home exercise machine, consider a “wooden coat rack.” It costs $40, uses no electricity and does the exact same thing.
16. There’s the yoga instructor everyone loves, and the yoga instructor everyone hates. Memorize who they are.
17. If you see an indoor rock climbing wall, you’re either in a really cool gym or a romantic comedy starring Kate Hudson.
18. Be cautious about any class with the words “sunrise,” “hell,” or “Moby.”
19. If a gym class is going to be effective, it’s hard. If you’re relaxed and enjoying yourself, you’re at brunch.
20. If you need to bring your children, just let them loose in the silent meditation class. Nobody minds, and kids love candles.
21. Don’t buy $150 sneakers, $100 yoga pants, and $4 water. Muscle shirts are for people with muscles, and rhythm guitarists.
22. Fancy gyms can be seductive, but once you get past the modern couches and fresh flowers and the water with lemon slices, you’re basically paying for a boutique hotel with B.O.
23. Everyone sees you secretly racing the old people in the pool.
24. If you’re at the point where you’ve bought biking shoes for the spinning class, you may as well go ahead and buy an actual bike. It’s way more fun and it doesn’t make you listen to C+C Music Factory.
25. Fact: Thinking about going to the gym burns between 0 and 0 calories.
26. A successful gym membership is like a marriage: If it’s good, you show up committed and ready for hard work. If it’s not good, you show up in sweatpants and watch a lot of bad TV.
27. There is no secret. Exercise and lay off the fries. The end.
NOTE: This awesome article by Jason Gay was sourced from the Wall Street Journal, January 5, 2012.
It’s so good I had to re-publish in it’s entirety here so I’ll remember to re-read once in a while!
Food Journal – Thursday 1/12/12
Breakfast: whole wheat toast with 1 TB almond butter, 1 cup of coffee with milk and Truvia
(late-morning): 1 cup of grapefruitm 2 cups of coffee with Truvia and milk
Lunch: Progresso Minestrone soup (whole can)
“Snack“: clementine
Post-work “Snack”: 1 cup of Cape Cod Salt and Vinegar chips, 10 Dove peppermint “Bark” chocolates
(yes… 10. That is 420 calories…oh..my…god.)
Dinner: Leftovers! Tomato bruschetta made of 1/2 slices of white french bread (3 pieces); palm-sized piece of pork tenderloin, tablespoon of roasted red potatoes, cup of French green beans, too much salt.
Lesson: I need to do my own grocery shopping and make enough time for food prep in the morning! I’ve been getting to bed too late every single night and am really letting everything slide because I’m just so exhausted all the time: laundry, house cleaning, bills, and the office is a disaster. My desk is such a pile of crap I moved my work to the dining room table. Not good.
Goal: Get my act together!
-Shop.
– Prep my veggies.
– Consult a cookbook and try some new eats.
– LESS COFFEE
– Need to watch my sodium intake
– Need to stop snacking after work!
Friday, 12/30/11
Breakfast:
piece of toast w/ T. almond butter
1/4 banana
3/4 c. grapefruit
2x cups coffee, Organic Milk, Truvia, squirt of sugar-free Vanilla syrup
Snack: lg hunk of Almond pound cake; 1 pc. small chocolate-dipped biscotti
Lunch: Healthy Choice Lemon Herb Chicken, 210 calories
Snack: 1 grande Starbucks cinnamon dolce latte with whipped
Dinner: salmon with a large cranberry walnut salad
LOTS OF WATER before I go out to meet friends for drinks.
GOAL: Limit myself to ONE glass of red or white wine while I’m out tonight!
Tuesday, 12/20/11
It is SO cold here in Boston. That’s a lie, omg. It was absolutely gorgeous when I came to work. Why did I just write that? Maybe because my WORK is a dark and freezing dungeon that is killing my spirit and drive. Bah. Need to make changes. I’m better than this. Must stay focused. Eye on the prize!
My eating is out of control now that is is finally getting colder and the rolls I feel (my stomach rests on my lap.. WHAT?!) is starting to REALLY get upsetting. I’m starting to only wear my “loose jeans”. Horrifying. I must get back on track.
Breakfast: 2 cups of coffee, Splenda Peppermint syrup, organic milk
Lunch: 1 Lean Cuisine Balsamic Glazed Chicken dinner
Snack: 5-6 Hershey minis
2 clementines
Lots of water
Dinner:
ahhhh
Definitely went home and ate cake last night instead of going to the gym. What is wrong with me?! I have gained nearly 10 POUNDS since December 1st! This is nuts.
Where is my willpower? Where is my focus? I need help!!!
I have a yoga class card with 4 classes left before Christmas and tonight is my one free night. What to do?!
I need some will power stat!
I’m Still Here!
Why does the temp drop and so does my will to work towards my goals? I’m back though. With vengeance. I am 179 days away from my wedding and I’m blogging the hell out of each and every day! Screw Christmas.. I will make you my bitch!
Today these are inspiring me:
amazing use of the word epic, right? this makes me want to leave my desk at work and just sprint. I need a good playlist though. Ah!
HOLY ABS. Be mine please. I’ll lay off the carbs. Just be mine.
Yea, I can dream, but some things you have to be born with. Maybe my dancer sister can put together a little routine for me to help me shape my trunks (legs) up a bit. Curvy girls, you know what I’m talking about. Isn’t this “skinny” jean tread a killer? Bitches. Anyone who can wear them. Sorry, tangent.
Anyways, heading to the gym now after work. I NEVER do this bc I HATE a post-work workout, but here we go. WISH ME LUCK!
xo,
Former Fat Kid
Jennifer Aniston’s Yoga Workout
Yoga: Do this routine three times a week, and after about four weeks you will look stronger, longer and leaner. Hold each pose for 30 to 60 seconds, approximately 5 to 10 deep breaths, then follow each pose with two sets of 8 to 10 reps of the paired calisthenic.
jennifer aniston is my yoga idol!!
Cardio: If you want to warm up before doing the yoga poses, add a 22-minute cardio session on the elliptical before your yoga workout. Jennifer says, “It helps me warm up my muscles for the poses.” First do a 5-minute warm-up, then alternate one minute of high-intensity cardio with two-minutes of moderate recovery. When Jennifer has extra energy, she follows up with 10- to 15- minute run on the treadmill at a 5.7-mph pace on a 1.5 incline.
1. Butteryfly pose: Sit on ground with feet flat, knees bent, chest lifted. Bring soles of feet together, letting knees drop to sides. Grip feet with both hands (as shown). For a deeper stretch, inhale, then exhale, and bend forward from hips as far as you can. Hold for 5 to 10 breaths. “Allowing your hips to open in this pose is about allowing yourself to be receptive,” Ingber says. “As women, we’re givers, and it’s hard to receive. This pose lets you be open to all the good things coming your way.”
Calisthenic: scissors kick Lie on back, hands under hips, and raise legs toward sky, toes pointed. Keep back flat on mat and abs contracted as you crisscross legs, right over left, left over right, to complete one rep. Repeat. Do two sets of 8 to 10 reps.
2. One-arm balance: Start in push-up position, palms under shoulders, heels pressing back. Keeping left hand planted, stack feet and pivot to open chest, extending right arm up (as shown). “When your chest is open and you’re breathing deeply, it lifts your spirits,” Ingber explains. Hold for 5 to 10 breaths; switch sides and repeat. To make it easier: Place bottom knee on ground for support.
Calisthenic: push-up: Lie face down, feet together, palms flat below shoulders. Keeping body straight, press up to straighten arms. Lower almost to ground. Repeat. Do two sets of 8 to 10 reps.
3. Crescent pose: Stand with feet hip-width apart and step left foot forward 4 to 5 feet. Square hips, extend arms overhead, palms in, and sink down until left knee forms a 90-degree angle. Straighten right leg as much as you can (as shown). Hold for 5 to 10 breaths; switch legs, repeat. “We hold a lot of emotional energy in the hips, which is why they’re often tight. As you do this, notice what emotions come up,” Ingber urges.
Calisthenic: walking lunge From Crescent pose, step left foot forward about 2 to 3 feet in front of you, keeping torso straight; lower body until both knees form a 90-degree angle. Press off ball of right foot and step forward, coming into a deep lunge, to complete one rep. Repeat. Do two sets of 8 to 10 reps.
4. Bridge pose: Lie face up with knees bent, feet flat. Press heels into ground and lift hips toward ceiling, arms beneath you, shoulders rolled back, palms down (as shown). For a challenge: Clasp hands beneath you. Hold for 5 to 10 breaths. “All back bends are heart openers, so this is the pose where you want to melt into self-love,” Ingber explains. “The other benefit is that they are energizing. If you’re feeling sluggish, do a back bend.”
Calisthenic: pelvic tilt Holding bridge pose throughout, contract abs and butt to lower pelvis a few inches off ground. Raise and repeat. Do two sets of 8 to 10 reps.
5. Cat/Dog: Start on all fours, knees under hips, palms under shoulders. Inhale, lifting chin to ceiling, arching back (as shown). Exhale, dropping chin to chest, tilting pelvis under, rounding back like a Halloween cat. Repeat for 5 to 10 breaths.
Calisthenic: leg lift From Cat/Dog, straighten back, coming to tabletop position. Keeping knee bent, lift right leg toward sky and lower. Repeat for 8 to 10 reps. Switch legs. Do two sets each leg.
6. Tree pose: Stand with feet together, arms at sides. Grab left foot with hand and place sole on inside of right thigh, as high as possible, knee out. Press foot into thigh as you raise arms overhead, palms up (as shown). “To balance, clear your mind and focus on your breath instead of whatever else is going on in life. It always brings you back to the present,” Ingber says. Hold for 5 to 10 breaths; switch legs.
Calisthenic: plié squat Stand with feet wider than shoulder-width apart, toes turned out, arms at sides. Bend knees to lower torso, keeping knees directly over ankles, as you raise arms in front of you to chest height, hands clasped, for balance. Return to start and repeat. Do two sets of 8 to 10 reps.
7. Boat pose: Sit with knees bent, feet flat on ground. Lean back about 45 degrees, chest lifted, and extend arms at chest level, palms up, as you straighten legs (as shown). Hold for 5 to 10 breaths. “When you connect with your abdominals, you also reconnect with your identity, desire, and willpower,” Ingber says. “It’s a great pose when you’re going through a breakup.”
Calisthenic: Sit-ups From Boat, place hands behind you, palms flat, fingers forward. Brace body with hands as you contract abs to bend and straighten legs in and out. Do two sets of 8 to 10 reps.
8. Chair pose: Standing with legs together, reach arms overhead, palms in. As if sinking into a chair, bend knees until thighs are almost parallel to ground (as shown). Hold for 5 to 10 breaths. “Chair is a powerful pose. It’s very grounding,” Ingber says. “We’re always in the middle of two energies. Gravity is sinking you down; inspiration is pulling you up. You settle into both at once in this pose.”
Calisthenic: Squat Stand with feet shoulder-width apart, knees slightly bent, arms at sides. Squat down, bending knees until thighs are almost parallel to ground, extending arms, palms down, in front of you for balance. Be careful not to allow knees to creep past toes. Return to start and repeat. Do two sets of 8 to 10 reps.
Former Fat Kid 