I think I'm going to do an experiment this week. I think I'm going to up my calorie intake this week & see what happens.
SparkPeople suggests I stay between 1200 - 1550. To be honest, I rarely go over 1200 & many times, have a hard time reaching it at all. This has not been a problem but I get the feeling my weight loss may be slowing down. I'm not certain of this but I thought I might try a bit of calorie cycling anyway just to see what happens. I think I'm going to aim for my upper limit of 1500 this week.
I know that I need to work on getting more veggies & lean meats into my diet & cutting back on carbs & sodium. However, according to SP, I'm actually doing pretty well on my carbs. I'm doing okay on fats but I could increase those a bit. Mainly my sodium is what is a bit high. All the same, getting in my veggies has always been a huge problem for me.
I think I may pick a few meals to start cooking &, on Thursday, run over to Sprouts & get the ingredients. I know you ask why wait, but getting over there during the week can be a bit difficult for me & I don't know when they open. I've got a great chicken & veggies recipe from my friend Shanti that I've made several times & love. I also need to get back into the habit of making my cod recipe. I've got several cookbooks that I need to start using. I want to start cooking a couple of meals on Thursdays, Fridays, &/or Saturdays that I can wrap up & eat all week. That would definately help me in moving to a less processed foods diet.
This is my last week with my trainer so I've started planning on what is going to happen next. I've ordered a couple of books & videos from Amazon to help me (I know I already talked about this in my last video but here it is anyway). I have ordered but haven't received yet, The Ultimate Guide To Weight Training For Triathlon. I'm kind of excited about this book because I hope it will help guide me as to what I should be doing. I know what I've been doing for the last 6 months but it is important on how you combine these exercises & that is something I haven't quite figured out. So, I think this will be a great book...I hope. Nat also mentioned a great idea in her video this weekend about not only keeping a record of what, how many reps, & how much weight you use but also recording how you feel during the exercise. For example, if it was extremely difficult or if it wasn't that bad & that way you can go back later on & remember your progress. I think that is a great idea. I also got two videos, Freestyle: Made Easy & O2 in H2O: A Self Help Course on Breathing in Swimming, to help me with my swimming. For a bit of inspiration, I also got a book called Slow Fat Triathlete: Live Your Athletic Dreams in the Body You Have Now. It is about a girl who was not your typical "triathlete" but decided to do it anyway. I'm really excited to read this book & it is next on my list.
I have also come up with a plan that I think will help me. I will do my C25K program on Mondays, Wednesdays, & Fridays. On Tuesdays & Thursdays I'll do the elliptical. On Thursday afternoons I'll have water aerobics & swim laps then too. I may also do laps in the pool on Tuesdays too. I'll try to do strength training of my arms & legs on Tuesdays & Thursdays & do at home ab work on Mon, Wed, & Fri (if that fits in with the book). I may add a spinning class to the regimen later on when I get up the nerve & maybe a yoga class if I can find one that fits in my schedule.
7 comments:
In response to the comment you left me on my blog:
Machines overestimate calories burned. All the time. Do NOT go by the calories burned on machines. Heart rate monitors are always a much better assessment of that. Also, no, ellipticals do NOT burn more calories than running. Running is more high impact, and no matter what anyone says, ellipticals are not a replacement for training. They are good for recovery from injuries and for people who have knee/joint problems, but otherwise they are kind of useless.
Sorry, Sars. I meant to say that I burn more calories on the elliptical right now because I can get my heart rate up quickly & keep it high for the entire time I'm on the elliptical. However, since I can't run for more than like 5 min at a time right now so my heart rate doesn't stay up for as long so I don't burn as many calories, yet. "Yet" being the code word. Hehe.
I do love the elliptical though. I feel like I get an amazing workout when I use it. I believe that that is the main reason my legs have become so muscular & my butt actually has some shape to it now.
I'm not really sure how to use a heart rate monitor to calculate my calories but I will certainly look into that. Thanks for the suggestion.
I would be careful with the elliptical because I read somewhere that it can actually alter your running gait. That may not be true, but I'm still wary.
In a running magazine (Runner's World) I read that running doesn't tone your booty. One woman wrote in complaining that her butt deflated. From what I have read so far, running strengthens your hamstrings, calves, and abs (since your abs do the work to hold your running form). Bicycling is deemed good crosstraining because it works on opposing leg muscles like the quads and glutes.
Anyway, keep it up and you'll be a running machine. :)
Good to know about the gait thing. Interesting. I can kind of see that, though.
I don't know about the "running machine" thing. Hehe wouldn't that be hilarious. I do want to run a 5K one day & maybe a 10K but I don't think I'll ever be "in love" with running. However, I'm surprising myself every day, so you never know. You may pull me over to the dark side. :)
I've been trying to get the motivation to lose some weight. Thanks for the encouragement with what you're already doing.
Thanks, John. I'm hovering right around the 50 lbs down mark. Half way to my goal. I believe whole heartedly that I could not have done it if it hadn't been for our Lord. I've prayed for years for God to make me thin but about a year ago I started praying for Him to give me the motivation & desire to exercise, eat healthier, & a disgust for the unhealthy.
I'll be praying for the same thing :-)
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