My Goals

I've studied fitness for over 10 years and finally have decided to put together my own workout routine to reach my fitness goals.

I am not a professional trainer or a physician. I am only sharing my own plan because I figure since it is working well for me it may work well for others. I'm not selling anything or trying to make any money by sharing my fitness plan. Please consult a doctor before starting any fitness plan.

Here's my stats:

Sex: Female
Age: 32
Weight: 199 lbs
Height: 5 ft 7 inches
BMI: 31.5
Body Fat: 40%
Dress Size: 22
Very Sedentary Lifestyle
Non-smoker
Non-drinker
Not on any prescription drugs
Not taking any type of diet pills or powders or shakes and I have never taken any
Not on any specialized diet - I eat carbs, protein, fats, sugars, etc.
Not diabetic
Never been pregnant

My goal is to lose 30 lbs and several inches, especially around my midsection.

To achieve my goals I'm not going to use any gimmicks. I'm going to exercise and where possible cut back on the amount of fat, corn syrup, and calories I consume.

Goals:

Weight: 169 or less (need to lose 30 lbs)
BMI: 24 or less (need to lose 7 BMI points)
Body Fat: 30% or less (need to lose 10%)

Starting Measurements:

10-28-09

Waist: 41
Stomach: 46
Thigh: 27
Neck: 17
Head Down: 29.25
Hips: 45
Shoulders: 50
Chest: Forgot to Measure
Arms: Forgot to Measure
Body Fat: 40%

Measurement Goals:

Waist: 36 or less (-5 in)
Stomach: 40 or less (-6 in) The government recommends 35 in or less
Thigh: 24 or less (-3 in)
Neck: 15 or less (-2 in)
Head Down: 26 or less (-3 in)
Hips: 43 or less (-2 in)
Shoulders: 45 or less (-5 in)
Arms: 12 or less (-2 in)
Chest: 43 or less (-4 in)

I'm looking forward to:

wearing a bikini!
seeing my toes when I look down!
my thighs not rubbing together when I walk
being able to see my spine
being healthy overall
being physically stronger
taking photos of myself and liking what I see
getting double-takes from men
no double chin!
not looking at myself and thinking I look pregnant! lol
being able to wear different clothes (my current size 22 has very few options compared to size 14 large)
trying on clothes that fit!
liking what I see when I try on clothes at a store
not having to shop in plus size sections
not being overweight!
no longer having to consider myself BBW
having the body I've always wanted!

General Fitness Principles

I've gathered these general principles from over 10 years of personal fitness research.

General Principles:

Do not work out same muscle on back to back days, so it has time to recuperate

Do each exercise until muscle is exhausted (basically when I feel I can't repeat the exercise anymore I stop)

A program that progressively
pushes you a little further each workout
is what will produce the most dramatic results.

Each week do all 3 types: cardio, weights, and flexibility exercises

Make a complete list of each exercise you plan to do (it will become old hat after a few weeks but it's good to have the list so if you ever need it to refer to it!)

Decide your goals and time expected to complete goals

Take before and after measurements and photos

Set same time to work out every day

Basically, you have to elevate your heart rate for at least 20 minutes before your body starts burning fat, so do some weight training for 20 minutes before cardio workouts

Daily Checklist

Here's My Daily Checklist:

Exercised minimum of 1 hour per night (I exercise around 10-11pm)

Charted calories for the day - 1600 calories daily or less (did this for a few days but now instead I just register how many grams of fat I'm eating - no more than 50 gms per day)

Vit C every day - either from an orange juice or from vit c pill

3 parts on each plate:
slow carb (veggie)
fast carb (average carb)
protein

Filled out my journal (now I just do it when I feel like it lol)

Stress Relaxation (a must!)

BMI

BMI = Body Mass Index

And basically you just need to know your height and weight and plug it into the calculator on the left to find out your BMI.

The US government rates BMI of

30 or more = Obese
25-29 = Overweight
18-24 = Normal weight
18 or under = Underweight

My original BMI at 5'7, 199 lbs = 31 BMI - so obese

My goal is to get it int the normal weight range - so at least 24

As I lose weight I just recalculate the BMI with my same height and my new weight.

Journal Entry #1 Nov 9, 2009

The reason why I workout so late at night is because it's the only free time I have during the day. I've read different articles about how the time of the day you exercise matter and other articles that say it doesn't matter what time. I've always wondered about this. Since there is a theory that after a workout you continue to burn calories for hours it makes sense to do the workout earlier but since I can't fit it into my schedule I do it usually around 10:30-11:30 at night and I still am receiving tremendous results!

My general diet:

I am conscientious about carbs but I still eat 2 or more a day.

I don't drink soda - only like a couple times a month.

I don't eat fast food more than once a month (I've never been big on fast food I really love cooking so I usually prepare my own meals which is generally healthier anyways).

I basically have cereal for breakfast every day.

For lunch I usually have a sandwich, bag of microwave popcorn, and glass of milk or iced tea with 2 tsps of sugar.

For dinner either rice or potatoes and some protein like chicken or steak, and a glass of milk.

Yes I know my diet is lacking in vegetables and I should definitely add more to my diet. Sometimes I do but in general I'd have to say I eat 1 or less healthy vegetable a day - when I say "healthy" I mean "non-carb" vegetable - since I generally eat carb veggies like potatoes or corn.

Journal Entry #2 November 14, 2009

I've always been interested in fitness and a healthy diet but have never consistently exercised or eaten enough vegetables. I have done a lot of research on these 2 topics and have learned a lot. I've finally decided to implement all that I've learned into a fitness program to reach my goals.

At first I considered joining a gym because I thought paying money for a membership would make me finally "commit."

So I went down to my local gym thinking I could just sign up for 3 months, reach my goals, and it would be worth $150.

But I found out that it required an 18 month contract (of $40/per month) plus $120 up front = $840!!! Are they serious?? That's all I could think - I mean I want to get in shape but I don't have that kind of money and even if I did I wouldn't spend that much when I know I can reach my goals without any exercise equipment at all.

So I sat down and went through all the research I had collected over the years on fitness and health and devised my own routine to lose weight.

And so far it has been highly successful! After 2 weeks I've already lost:

4.5 lbs
19 total inches (on different body parts) - see: my progress chart

Which is why I felt compelled to share my fitness plan and results with the world. If people only knew they could reach their fitness goals without spending a dime then they might give it a try.

As far as I can tell the only reason I'm obese is that my lifestyle is very sedentary and I didn't exercise and I ate a lot of fat in my diet and I had a tendency to eat seconds servings regularly for dinner which added a lot more calories and fat into my diet and I didn't eat very many vegetables or fruit - only a couple per week.

I do not have any digestive problems. I'm not a binge eater and do not have any issues with food (such as bulemia).

I anticipated that it would take 3.5 months to reach my goals but after the 1st week's results I think I may be able to accomplish it in 6 weeks - hence the name of my blog - hehe I guess I'd better do it in 6 weeks for my blog title to remain accurate! lol

I want to add that I always think for myself and listen to my body. I don't do anything which I think is unsafe (such as eating too few calories) or exercising beyond what my body can handle. I think as long as people use their common sense they can lose weight. A lot of information out there has "limitations" written in them - such as you can only do this and do not do that - instead of worrying about what other people say do what you think is best for your body. There's no hard and fast rules, each person's body is different, and the "ideal" weight described for each height is not set in stone, in fact:

"When you lose fat and gain muscle, you can weigh more than the Ideal Body Weight tables say is right for your frame...because muscle is heavier than fat...but with a lower percent of body fat, you'll be leaner and fit smaller sizes." pg. 99 The Fat to Muscle Diet by Dr. Vash

You can find out more about this in my post: Eating Too Much Fat

My Workout Routine

Soon I will post links to explain the exercises I do.

I workout for 1 hour every day making sure not to work out the same muscles 2 days in a row.

DAY 1 CARDIO 1
DAY 2 FLEXIBILITY 1
DAY 3 WEIGHTS 1 and 10 min cardio
DAY 4 FLEXIBILITY 2
DAY 5 CARDIO 2
DAY 6 FLEXIBILITY 3
DAY 7 WEIGHTS 2

On Week 5 I added walking for 15 mins 3 days a week, find out why here.

B4 Each Workout:
chi kung
visualize burning the calories

At End of Each Workout:

Back stretches
open your mouth as wide as you can hold for 10 sec, repeat.
jaw movement
lip bbbbbbbb
humming
tall stretch
side stretches
shoulder stretch
forearm stretch
chest stretch
leg stretches


CARDIO 1:
5-15 min Standing Meditation [ENDURANCE]
reach each hand to opposite knee in between knees [ABS]
Pretend you have a bag in each hand then lift bags up bend elbow [CHEST & ARMS]
Outstretch arms to side then do bicep curl [BICEP]
horizontal bird flap [SHOULDERS]
Standing: do karate hand heel punch alternate each hand in front of chest [SHOULDERS]
swinging tennis racket - forward and backhand [CHEST, SIDES]
sit and contract the abs for 30 sec [ABS]
Standing hold vertical situp for 10 seconds then Stretch back [ABS]
30 min cardio video [CARDIO]
Sprint [CARDIO]

SPA 1:
high leg kicks
upper body stretches
arms clasped behind back and pull up as high as possible
ROM
Face Massage

WEIGHTS 1:
5-15 min Standing Meditation [ENDURANCE]
Standing Thigh lifts - inner [THIGHS]
Standing Thigh lifts - outer - cross leg in front towards other leg
[HIP]
Standing Butt crunches [BUTT]
Standing Back leg lift straight out [BUTT]
Sitting Knee lifts [KNEES]
Standing Ankle lifts - lift up on balls of feet [CALVES]
Resistance band exercise video 5 MINS
Vertical Swim [SHOULDERS]
Tennis serves [UPPER BACK & SIDES]
Standing Cross over alternate one arm higher one lower across chest - like swimming [CHEST, SIDES, WAIST]
Lay across bed's width on your stomach with legs hanging over side kicking repeatedly as if you were swimming [LEGS]
Lie on back, Place your hands under your hips. Lift your legs 6 inches off the floor and begin walking, raising each leg approximately 36 inches off the ground. Keep your legs straight and moving. This is a four count exercise [ABS]
Lie on back with knees bent tilt knees to one side then the other keeping your shoulders on the floor [ABS, BACK, HIPS]
Standing pump both fists down (just like you would do a situp lying down) [ABS]
Standing slightly lean back from waist [WAIST, ABS, BACK]
Standing tricep kickback [TRICEPS]
Sprint [CARDIO]

SPA 2:
5 tibetans
Sitting contract the abs for 30 sec while breathing naturally [ABS]
lower body stretches
back stretches
ROM
massage

CARDIO 2:

Standing pretend to pull lawnmower string do both sides [ABS & TRICEPS]
Wall pushups, 2 types [CHEST & SHOULDERS]
Wall sit with tiny arm circles
Shrugs - arms center pull up imaginary bar with shoulders
[SHOULDERS]
Standing push each arm up to ceiling cross over alternate one arm higher one lower [CHEST SIDES YEAH!]
Stand in weedeater position - then lift arm out to side as though holding dumbell [ARMS, CHEST, SIDES]
Side bends [WAIST]
Tae Bo - 25 MINS [CARDIO]
Sprint [CARDIO]

SPA 3:
5-15 min Standing Meditation [ENDURANCE]
All stretches - upper body AND lower body
ROM
massage

WEIGHTS 2:
Resistance band exercises 5 MINS
Military arms [SHOULDERS]
Standing simulate chopping wood over head fists together [SHOULDERS]
Standing fold arms over chest and do a situp [ABS]
Swing outstretched arms across torso to right then to left
[SIDES]
Standing backwards rowing [UPPER BODY]
mini waist crunches [WAIST]
*transversals
Butt crunches [BUTT]
5 tibetans

Corn Syrup

I didn't know much about Corn Syrup until about a year ago when I saw a documentary on Netflix called: "King Corn" - boy did this open my eyes! First off I never gave it a second thought but now I do. If you get a chance watch this documentary - as they say seeing is believing.

The negative effects corn syrup has are numerous. Things I most appalling are:

1 - It's in almost every food in our grocery stores (so it's in all our diets)

2 - It is known to make people fat

3 - It is dangerous to our livers

4 - Some of it even contains mercury - a known poison to man

5 - It is linked to causing diabetes

6 - It is linked to causing kidney disease

Here are some articles with more information on corn syrup:

Why Corn Syrup is Worse than Sugar - explains why it makes us fat!

Mercury found in Corn Syrup

List of some food products containing Mercury from Corn Syrup

Corn Syrup causes High Blood Pressure

Corn Syrup can cause Kidney Disease

Corn Syrup causes Severe Liver Damage

Corn Syrup linked to Diabetes

Soda Warning Corn Syrup linked to Diabetes

Here you can Sign a Petition to Get Corn Syrup out of our Products

After watching the documentary I went to my local grocery store and read the labels of the foods I was buying - I was overwhelmed corn syrup was everywhere! Even in products I didn't expect it like my yoplait yogurt. I made a conscious decision then and there to limit the amount of corn syrup in my diet. I stopped drinking so much soda and only drink a couple a month now. Also I read the labels in the store - because sometimes the exact type of food on the shelf right next to the item I'm buying does not have corn syrup - even sourcream! The brand I used to buy had it but the brand I buy now does not. So read your labels! Even plain white bread has it!

It's an eye opener just to go into your local grocery store and read the labels and see that corn syrup is usually within the top 5 ingredients of nearly every product on the shelves. If it is in the top 5 ingredients I don't buy the product.

Eating Too Much Fat!

We're getting fat by eating too much fat and too much corn syrup.

Yesterday I came across this book: The Fat to Muscle Diet by Dr. Vash

I definitely recommend checking out this book! It's really inexpensive and contains a wealth of information. I never thought about how much fat I eat because I consider myself a fairly healthy eater. This book was an eye opener!

I'll admit I had low expectations of the book because the cover looked like a "fad" diet. And since I've mentioned I don't do "diets" but just try to eat a healthy diet of food I was just glimpsing at the book because in the introduction it had a way to measure your body fat. I've always wondered how to do that without one of those weird fat squeezing gauges they used in school.

It's very simple actually. The book contained a chart to calculate your body fat.

Here's the chart for women:



Here's a link for the Chart for Men

What you do is take a piece of paper and diagonally line up the size of your hips to your height in inches.

My starting hip measurement was literally off the chart - at 45 inches - and when I "drew" a line up to my height 67 inches it showed that I had a body fat of 40% - yikes! I never knew that.

To figure out your height in inches just do this:

12 inches (this is the number of inches in a foot)
x 5 ft (assuming you're at least 5 ft tall)
---
60 inches

then add the number of inches you are past 5 ft

For example I am 5ft 7 inches

so: 60 inches + 7 inches = 67 inches

If you're over 6 ft tall just replace 5 with 6 in your equation.

So with my height and hip girth I ended up having 40% body fat

What's interesting is that I lost 1 inch around my hips after 1 week of exercise - and that brought my body fat down a whole 2% to 38% body fat! I'm excited!

My goal is to get to 30% body fat or less - means I need a 40 inch hip girth. Normal body fat for a woman is about 25% body fat - for me that would be 38 in.

Now that I'm going to keep track of how much fat I'm eating each day I'm very aware of the grams of fat that I'm eating.

Today I charted as I went:

5 gm milk in my cereal
10 gm 1 tbsp mayo for my sandwich - I actually measured it!
7.5 gm 2 oz. ham in my sandwich
4.5 gm 1/2 oz. of cheese in my sandwich
----
27 gms so far today - and I haven't eaten dinner yet

so with my glass of milk for dinner I'm already over 30 gm!

So I need to try my best not to go too far over

For dinner I ate:
27 gm ate so far
6 gm Steak
0 gm Onions
11 gm Olive Oil they were fried in
0 gm Rice
5 gm Milk
----
49 gms - my current goal is to be under 50 during my 6 weeks - and I'm aiming for 30 but I don't know how I can possibly meet 30! At least I was still under 50!!! :)

I know that the majority of fat in my diet comes from mayo and margarine and occasionally red meat.

On pg. 29 It suggests not to eat fat before noon so you body has time to get your metabolism up - and since I normally eat cereal for breakfast this is no sweat.I guess it would only make a difference to people who eat bagels and cream cheese or bacon or eggs/ham cooked in fat.

Generally I'd have a potato with this dinner with 2-3 tbsp of margarine and on the broccoli I would add 2 tbsp mayo - but that would make it: 53 additional grams of fat!!!! - so if I hadn't watched the fat intake again today I would have consumed twice the amount of my daily requirements!

This is going to take some getting used to - my sandwich today tasted so dry I had to literally choke it down!!! I love mayo! And I won't touch mustard - yuck! So I guess for people who like mustard it wouldn't be too hard to avoid those fat calories from mayo.

I won't eat low-fat mayo either so I've gotta find a way to make my sandwiches more moist without adding more mayo!!! I just looked up alternatives to mayo and plain yogurt seems to be it - 3.5 gm of fat for a whole cup of it! Wow! So a few tablespoons would be no fat really - just wonder if I can stomach the taste??? I'll have to buy some and find out! I'll let you know. I wonder if I mix 1 tbsp of mayo with 2 tbsp of yogurt if I can "retain" that mayo flavor!!! I'm gonna try that! I love mayo!!! I don't want to give it up entirely - to me it's worth the 1/3 of daily fat gms!

It's now Sat and my measurement day is on Sun - so tomorrow I'll be able to see if I lost any more body fat! Yippee! I'm looking forward to it!

The diet found on pg. 28 in this book consists of eating daily:

2 servings protein - for me this is one for lunch and one for dinner 2 servings dairy
4 servings starches
4 servings veggies
3 servings fruit

Basically I get the top 3 but not the bottom 2 on this list. So I need to add 2 veggies to lunch and 2 to dinner (this is the biggest challenge for me) and add 1 smoothie for a snack - using 3 fruits: orange, banana, pineapple - easy and yummy - my favorite! Here's the recipe for the smoothie.

4 starches:

1 slice of bread for half sandwich for lunch
popcorn for lunch
rice or potato for dinner
1 dessert

The key to the diet according to the author is to exercise - because it's what keeps the body's metabolism up. Eating less calories without exercise results in "muscle loss and cause an imbalance in your body composition." pg. 23

So the body has to deplete the carb calories before it will burn the fat calories I ate for the day, then when it's done with those if it has any more energy left to burn calories it'll burn the stored fat calories. So obviously the less fat I eat during the day the faster my body can get to burning the stored fat calories.

Instead of your all that hard work I'm doing in my exercise being "wasting" on burning the fat I ate that day it can get to work burning my fat reserves!

On pg. 80 he says that cutting too many calories can cause us to "stop losing weight or to lose very slowly" because the metabolic rate drops. So it's imporyant not to eat too few of calories.

The goal is to lose fat weight. And since most obese people like me have more fat weight than muscle weight it's not a problem to gain weight by building muscle while exercising because the amount of fat weight lost will far "outweigh" the weight gained. Dr. Vash says:

"When you lose fat and gain muscle, you can weigh more than the Ideal Body Weight tables say is right for your frame...because muscle is heavier than fat...but with a lower percent of body fat, you'll be leaner and fit smaller sizes." pg. 99

You will notice the difference in how you look - this is true! After one week of exercise I could visually see the difference in how my body looked! And now almost two weeks into exercising (not changing my diet at all) I see a totally different body - it's really amazing! I mean I still have a gut that seems stubborn but the rest of my body really looks like a person who works out! hahaha!!

I can tell you just one day of eating less fat I can notice major differences - like I know this sounds weird but I feel lighter and trimmer and like my body is working more efficiently.

The goal is to "Plan realistic fat loss of 1 percent of your body weight per week. Remember: you are losing fat, not weight...that fat loss 'looks like' more weight loss than the scale will register." pg. 100

Here's the fat in the foods I eat:

5 gm Steak
21 gm Hamburger
1 gm Chicken
6 gm Pork chop
1 gm Tuna
7.5 gm 2 oz. Ham
4.5 gm 1/2 oz. Sharp Cheddar Cheese
5 gm 1 cup 2% Milk
10 gm 1 tbsp Real Mayo
11 gm 1 tbsp Margarine
14 gm 1 tbsp Oil

So paying attention to the amount of fat calories I eat is important but I need to remember that "Anything eaten in excess will store as fat." pg. 22

Another important element is to make sure you eat enough protein, because "If your body does not get enough protein in your diet, it will go after the protein in your muscles to burn for energy." pg. 22

The book recommends we eat low-fat proteins like: fish low-fat milk chicken without skin eggs soy turkey

Instead of high fat proteins like: beef nuts cheeses pork

Many foods that we eat have fat in them, so we've got to read the labels because 30-50gms of fat add up quickly! Especially because I'd rather have a little bit of fat throughout the day with each meal rather than eating it all in one meal - because it's virtually impossible to eliminate all fat from a meal, so I need to make sure I allot some fat for each meal so I don't feel like I'm "giving" up anything.

So you can use this calorie/fat gram chart or you can get the grams of fat for the foods you eat right off the labels. Just remember the fat given is for the serving size listed.

I wrote down the amount of fat I eat on a normal day and it ended up being approx. 95 grams! Yikes! So that's twice the amount of fat I need daily!

Cutting back to under 50 should really make a difference in my fat burning results!

I was sitting here thinking about the amount of fat that probably exists in fast food when it occurred to me that one night this week I ate at a local hamburger joint.

I did not know that each french fry has 1 gm of fat! OMG! Yikes-a-mama! I know we all eat at least 50 french fries if not more when we eat them. So a order of fries would be the maximum amount of fat we should have in our ENTIRE day! Who knew? I certainly did not! I never would have given it a second thought! The place I ate at gives huge portions of fries and I ate probably about 100 without thinking about it!

And that's not all! Here's what I ate for dinner that night:

Fat:
21 gm Hamburger
4 gm Cheese (on the burger of course)
4 gm 2 slices Bacon (on the burger of course)
22 gm 2 tbsp mayo
100 gm French Fries
----
Total: A whopping 151 gms of fat just in my dinner alone!

Yikes - that's 3 times the amount of fat we should be eating each day! Thank God I only go to fast food once a month, I can't even imagine how much fat people are consuming who eat there once a week? every day? more than once a day??? An outrageous amount of fat!

And to make things worse I looked back at what else I ate that day in addition to my fast food dinner:

Fat:

14 gm 4 double stuffed oreos
6 gm 2 tollhouse choco chip cookies
15 gm 3 cups of 2% milk
44 gm egg salad with 4 tbsp mayo
----
79 gms of fat
+151 gms from my fast food dinner
----
230 gms of fat for one day! OMG! That is 4.6 times the amount of what a person should eat in one day!

I just read the label on a bottle of cinnamon pills and it said that taking 2 of those a day will help the body with sugar and fat metabolism! So I just took two. I'm gonna try this for a week and see if it seems to make a difference or not and then I'll report back.

Think about what we eat vs. what our ancestors ate.

They probably ate mostly:
Protein
Vegetables
Potatoes
Bread

Whereas what we mostly eat is:

Fat
Corn Syrup
Salt
Protein
Potatoes/Rice
Bread
And little or no fresh vegetables/fruits

How does it get into our diet?

Well Through:

Fat - oils, margarines, butters, cheeses, bacon, hamburgers

Corn syrup - nearly every product on our shelves

Salt - all the canned goods and condments we eat like soy sauce and ketchup

If we simply cut back on these things we'd be able to finally lose weight and get out of the obese level.

So the ticket really to burning stored fat is to simple eat only 30-50 grams of fat total for the day, and to exercise, and then the body will burn up that day's fat calories and get right to work on burning up the stored fat calories! Yippee!!

The book says that once you meet your goal you can maintain your fat loss by simply not eating more than 50 grams of fat per day. This takes diligence because fat is hidden in a lot of foods we generally eat - so an awareness of where the fats are located gives us the ability to select the sources of fat we want to eat. So I guess if I want a piece of chocolate cake I'll have to forgo my mayo for the day!

Measurements Week 1

11-08-09

Waist: 38.5 LOST 2 1/2 INCH
Stomach: 44.5 LOST 1 1/2 INCH
Thigh: 26.75 LOST 1/4 INCH
Neck: 16.75 LOST 1/4 INCH
Chin Head Down: 25.5 LOST 3 3/4 INCH
Hips: 44 LOST 1 INCH
Shoulders: 45.5 LOST 4 1/2 INCH
Chest: 47.5 FORGOT TO MEASURE FIRST WEEK
Arms: 13.5 FORGOT TO MEASURE FIRST WEEK

Weight: 194.5 - LOST 4 1/2 lbs!!!

BMI: 30.3 - Lost 1.2 points!

Week 1 - Nov 1-8, 2009

Here's the results from my 1st Week:

The week is up and at weigh in I lost 4.5 lbs! OMG!!!

I'm curious if I will lose as much next week! I'm thinking it may go down only by 3 lbs but if I actually hit 5 lbs weight lose each week that means I'll meet my goal in 6 weeks! That would be half as long as I anticipated!

I didn't alter my diet - I ate a lot of friggin' rolls! LOL! Which I guess means that even without changing diet by simply doing these exercises I lost weight - sweet!

It is a pain in the butt to track everything I eat and write down the calories. But if it didn't take so much effort I would have done that. Anyhow I did it for 3 days and then basically just stopped because I got lazy - but I'm not worried because the exercise seems to be working fine.

So I'm very pleased overall with my measurements and inches lost during the first week - way more than I expected!

I lost 4.5 inches on my shoulder width - amazing! Incredible even! I definitely did not expect that! I've always had "football" shoulders and am excited that these are fading! Yippee!!

I still need to lose about 3-4 inches on my upper back to fit into my bridesmaid dress from 1996

Oh and I lost 3 3/4 inch from my double chin whoopie!!! That's a whole lot! I have about 2-3 inches left to lose on my double chin to look "perfect" but that is a LOT of progress for only one week of exercise!!! I know it's the cardio that burned that double chin off since I didn't change my diet or do any "chin" exercises to speak of.

I also lost 2.5 inches on my waist! Yippeee! That's just great! What an accomplishment!

I lost 1.5 inches from my stomach! I can visually see a difference in my stomach size! So yeah 1.5 inches! WHOOPIE! That means I can meet my 6 inch stomach loss goal in 6 weeks!!!!

So the first week tally is terrific I just hope next week is just as good!

Arm and Shoulder Exercises

There's no greater proof that you don't need any special exercise equipment than these military arm and shoulder exercises. A few times over the years I've done these and each time I've had immediate and fantastic results! I highly recommend these exercises. Afterall if you think about it military people are required to have excellent fitness.

Here's the link to the exercises:
Military Shoulder and Arm Exercises

I do these once a week, but they can be done 2-3 times a week.

Tae Bo Free Online Videos

One day a week I do the Tae Bo videos in my workout routine. You can watch them for free online at youtube. I do part 1 through 3 in a row.

Here's the links:
Tae Bo Part 1
Tae Bo Part 2
Tae Bo Part 3

Tae Bo by Billy Blanks is an exercise that simulates boxing, and I find it a good workout.

Resistance Band Exercises

I bought my mom a resistance band from Walmart a few years ago for about $7 but she never used it. Anyhow I've always thought that these exercises are good because they work your muscles better than lifting weights. They're really easy to do and effective. If you can't afford a resistance band you can do them without it but the resistance band definitely takes the exercise to a more intense level.

Free Resistance Band Exercise Video 5 minute Workout

You might be able to make your own homemade one with a bungee cord because really that's what it is like - a jump rope length cord that has resistance to it - especially when you stretch it with the exercises.

I measured my band it is approximately 52 inches long and it looks like this one, except mine is orange:

ROM Exercises

ROM = Range of Motion

I do these exercises at least once a week, but I'm sure I could benefit from doing them every day! They're easy and only take like 5 minutes plus they are really important for joint health and flexibility.

Here's the link:
ROM Exercises

I highly recommend them for their health benefits plus their easiness - pretty much anyone regardless of their current fitness level or obesity level can do these!

5 Tibetans

The 5 Tibetans are a "stretching" sort of yoga exercise that really do have amazing effects but I admit are hard to do. I do them twice a week.

This is the book I have that shows you how to do the exercises:
The Five Tibetans, by Christopher S. Kilham

When starting out I do no more than 10 to get used to the exercise and to not fall over plus they're really hard and I can't do 21 yet!

In essence here are the five moves (each is supposed to be repeated 21 times):

1 - spin with arms out 21 times to left and then 21 times to right.

2 - lift legs without bending knees to a 90 degree angle and return to starting position.

3 - on knees lean back with hands on hip.

4 - sitting up legs flat you put your hands to your sides and then lift your body up into a bridge shape.

5 - with your toes pointed to support your body you hold you torso up and then pull yourself up to bent "V" shape.

Here's what the moves look like:

Zhan Zhuang

Zhan Zhuang is a "standing meditation" that I've found really beneficial! First off it increases my stamina and endurance which I have always had issues with. Secondly, it really challenges my ability to stay focused because standing in one position for 5-15 mins really takes effort on my part. And thirdly, it really does take my mind elsewhere - like I feel like I've traveled somewhere else - like if I imagine standing on a beach watching the ocean waves roll in it's almost like I am experiencing that even though I'm standing in my small bedroom.

How to Do Zhan Zhuang Exercise

Benefits of Zhan Zhuang

And you can always google Zhan Zhuang to learn about the history of it!

Here's what the pose looks like:



I stand like this for 5-15 mins three times a week.

Measurements Week 7

Wt: 190 - LOST 1 LB!! Yeah!
Waist: 35.5 - LOST 1/4 IN
Stomach: 42.5 - No change
Thigh: 24 - No change
Neck: 15.5 - LOST 1/2 IN
Chin: 25.5 - No change
Hips: 42 - LOST 1/2 IN
Shoulders: 41.5 - LOST 1 IN
Chest: 43.5 - LOST 3/4 IN
Arms: 12 1/4 - No change
BMI: 29.32 LOST .15
Body Fat: 34% LOST 1% Yeah!

Measurements Week 6

Wt: 191 - LOST 1/2 LB
Waist: 35.75 - LOST 1/4 IN
Stomach: 42.5 - LOST 1/4 IN
Thigh: 24 - No change
Neck: 16 - No change
Chin: 25.5 - No change
Hips: 42.5 - LOST 1/4 IN
Shoulders: 42.5 - No change
Chest: 44.25 - LOST 1/4 IN
Arms: 12.25 - LOST 1/2 IN
BMI: 29.47
Body Fat: tad shy of 35

Week 5 - Dec 1-5

Yeah I lost 2 lbs this week! What happened was I noticed I had not been losing weight for 2 weeks but during thanksgiving even though I you know ate a lot I lost 1 lb! I figured this had to do with chasing after my nephews - ahh more cardio! That made sense! So this week I added walking for 15 mins 2-3 times per week to my workout routine and I lost 2 lbs this week! Yeah!!! :)

I also met two measurement goals this week: my waist and my thighs! Yeah! So already by week five I've met 4 out of 9 measurement goals!

Also my body fat is down to 35% - I started with 40% so I'm halfway to my goal of 30% body fat!

Only one week left until my six weeks are up. I anticipate that I'll lose a couple inches and maybe pounds in this last week and that will bring me closer to my goals but not all the way there, which means I'll need to continue until I do reach my goals. No sweat it just means my high hopes for attaining my goals in six weeks was a little "too high" - my initial estimate of this taking 3 months may be closer to the truth - but if I continue to exercise and keep my fat intake down to 50 grams or less per day I think I may be able to meet my goals in about 10 weeks (or 2 1/2 months)

Here's the new chart of my progress, showing how little I have left to lose:



Click on Chart to Enlarge

Measurements Week 5

Wt: 191.5 - LOST 2 LBS!
Waist: 36 - LOST 1/2 IN
Stomach: 42.75 - LOST 1/4 IN
Thigh: 24 LOST 1 1/4 IN
Neck: 16 - No change
Chin: 25.5 - LOST 1/2 IN
Hips: 42.75 - LOST 1/4 IN
Shoulders: 42.5 - LOST 1/2 IN
Chest: 44.5 - LOST 1/2 IN
Arms: 12.75 - No Change
BMI: 29.99 - LOST .23
Body Fat: 35% - LOST 1%

Week 4 - Nov 22-30

It was thanksgiving this week - yuk yuk yuk! heeeheee! That means I ate a lot! But I knew I was going to. I still attempted to do my exercises every day - but I missed two days - so given this account I think this weeks results are fantastic!!!

Let's start with the good news - I lost 1 lb! Yippee! Really? Even eating seconds? And stuffing? And gravy? And rolls? And oh my yes! hehee!! What do I attribute this to???? Chasing my nephews around I think - which makes me wonder if I should add more cardio to my routine! I'm going to really give this serious consideration!

So other good news - I lost 1.5 inches on my shoulders - WOW! Now my shoulders are the same width as my hips! I can't believe it! This is seriously like a dream come true! As I mentioned before I always believed my large shoulders were do to family genes - but heck I was able to widdle them away through exercise! I'm curious if I'll be able to do the same for my hips - I mean I look at them now and think how could I possibly lose another 3 inches from them (my goal) by I do think it is possible and so I'm going to keep exercising and see where it takes me.

A lot of my measurements had no change this week, which is fine. what's interesting though is when I look in the mirror now I see a "skinny" girl - so regardless of what my measurements and weight are my results are visible and spectacular!

I've lost 2 dress sizes in only 4 weeks! That is a "miracle" in and of itself! My legs look shapely! And I have a "figure" now! Yeah!

Each week brings me "inches" closer to my goals! It's truly exciting! And I've already met two goals - lost my double chin and my shoulders are my ideal width now! And I'm super close to my ideal waist - only 1/2 inch to go!

The one thing it seems I will unlikely reach within 6 weeks is the weight loss goal of 30 lbs. Ah that's okay though because I'm so happy with how my body is changing and even if it takes longer to lose the weight - I know from my weekly measurements that the exercise is creating results and as long as I stick with it I'm going to reach my goals. As I mentioned above I may add a bit more cardio to help burn the fat off and lose more pounds.

So here's my new chart, from it you'll see how far I've come and how little I have left to go to reach my goals!

Measurements Week 4

Wt: 193.5 - LOST 1 LB!
Waist: 36.5 - Gained .5 IN
Stomach: 43 - No change
Thigh: 25.25 LOST 1/4 IN
Neck: 16 - LOST 1/4 IN
Chin: 26 - No change
Hips: 43 - No change
Shoulders: 43 - LOST 1.5 IN!
Chest: 45 - No change
Arms: 12.75 - LOST 1/4 IN
BMI: 30.22 - LOST .28!
Body Fat: 36% - No change

Week 3 - Nov 15-21

3rd week results are in and I'm soooo happy!

I lost a whole inch off my stomach! WHOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOOOO!!! I know this has to do with cutting back on the amount of fat in my diet.

And a whole inch off my waist! Yahooooo!! I knew cutting the amount of fat I eat in half would make a difference - and it has!

Definitely read my post on fat.

And thanks to the less fat in my diet I lost an inch off my double chin!

And I can't believe it I lost another 1/2 inch off my shoulders! I really thought that would taper off but the shoulder exercises continue to produce fantastic results for me and I look good!

I just love looking in the mirror and seeing a more shapely me! I can see the difference on my waist, stomach, shoulders, thighs - they're all thinner and I'm loving it!

Measurements Week 3

11-22-09

Wt: NO CHANGE
Waist: 36 LOST 1 INCH!
Stomach: 43 LOST 1 INCH!
Thigh: 25.5 NO CHANGE
Neck: 16.25 LOST 1/4 OF AN INCH
Chin: 26 LOST 1 INCH
Hips: 43 LOST 1/4 OF AN INCH
Shoulders: 44.5 LOST 1/2 INCH
Chest: 45 LOST 1/2 INCH
Arms: 13 NO CHANGE
BMI: 30.5 NO CHANGE
Body Fat: 36% LOST 1/4%

Stretch Marks

Today I noticed the stretch marks on my body - they've been there but now that I'm losing inches they seem to be standing out more.

My plan to reduce their visibility:

1. Exfoliate - I use a special exfoliating sponge I bought off ebay (I use it twice a week)

Here's a link to it if you're interested:
MicroDermabrasion Sponge

2. Vitamin E Oil - available at most drug stores (just rub it onto the stretch marks every day)

Here's a link about Vitamin E Oil Benefits
I'm also going to add a Vitamin E pill to my diet.

I'll keep you updated on the results!

Sharing Help

Recently I've come across some weight loss forums which I think are great where people share their tips for weight loss. Here's some of the posts I've replied to. My ID is: fitgirlsoon

http://weight-loss.fitness.com/club/1619-how-can-i-lose-more-weight-if-i-cant-exercise.html

http://weight-loss.fitness.com/advanced-weight-loss/36504-i-need-lose-exactly-100-pounds-feels-like-im-staring-up-mountain-top.html

http://weight-loss.fitness.com/advanced-weight-loss/36073-question-about-stomach-fat.html


http://weight-loss.fitness.com/club/27503-stomach-fat.html#post659487


http://weight-loss.fitness.com/advanced-weight-loss/35319-fat-only-my-stomach-not-going-away-help.html#post659490

http://weight-loss.fitness.com/advanced-weight-loss/36362-im-little-lost.html


http://weight-loss.fitness.com/weight-loss-diary/6969-relying-more-exercise-lose-weight-success.html


http://weight-loss.fitness.com/weight-loss-through-exercise/32274-how-lose-weight-exercise-consistently.html


If you'd like to share your health goals and your obstacles feel free to email me at: im@getfit.comli.com

I'll do my best to offer suggestions and share them here on my blog for all to benefit. Please remember I am not a doctor or a physical trainer, I'm just sharing information I've gathered from years of research on health and fitness.

How Many Calories Should I Eat?

That's what I wanted to know. I only knew that I'm supposed to eat 500 calories less per day to lose 1 lb per week. But I didn't really know how to figure out the right amount and how to figure in the amount of exercise.

Then I came across an equation that works. It's called the Harris-Benedict equation and you can read more about it on Wikipedia: Harris-Benedict equation

Wikipedia says:

The BMR calculation for women is:

BMR = 655 + ( 4.35 x weight in pounds ) + ( 4.7 x height in inches ) - ( 4.7 x age in years )

Then you factor in the exercise you do:

Wikipedia says:

Little to no exercise Daily calories needed= BMR x 1.2

Light exercise (1-3 days per week) Daily calories needed= BMR x 1.375

Moderate exercise (3-5 days per week) Daily calories needed= BMR x 1.55

Heavy exercise (6-7 days per week) Daily calories needed= BMR x 1.725

Very heavy exercise (twice per day, extra heavy workouts) Daily
calories needed= BMR x 1.9

Finally an answer!

My Own Starting Equation:

BMR = 655 + ( 4.35 x 199) + (4.7 x 67.5) - ( 4.7 x 32)

BMR = 655 + 865.65 + 317.25 - 150.4 = 1687.5 BMR - calories I need to eat to remain same weight

1687.5 x 1.725 (I exercise 7 days a week) = 2910 calories to remain the same weight

But since I want to lose weight I'm going to eat 1000 calories less:

So: 1910 calories.

That sounds like a lot of calories to anyone who has ever dieted, but the body needs calories for fuel, and when you're exercising it needs enough calories so you don't become faint or dizzy.

Week 2 - Nov 9-14, 2009

Lots of good news this week! I'm still losing inches - and I can visually see it - it's really exciting to see the difference when I look in the mirror!!!

I lost a whole inch and a half around my waist - whoo-hooo! That's terribly exciting!!!

I can't believe how much closer I am to my goals after ONLY 2 WEEKS!


Click on Chart to Enlarge

And I lost almost 2% more body fat from my body! WOW! I'm stunned! I'm so looking forward to the fact the I recently came across that's going to really help me lose body fat - by eating less fat (I had been eating like 100 gms a day on average and a day ago I began cutting back to 50gms so next week's results should be rather stunning I believe! Here's some recent posts I wrote on how to lose fat:

Why Vit C

Eating Too Much Fat - this is a really excellent post that I recommend you read! And it'll show you how you can figure out how much body fat you have.

The reason why I changed my hip inch loss goal is because I learned that to decrease my overall body fat I need to get my hip size between 38-40 inches to reach 25-30% body fat - which is normal for a woman.

So now to the "odd" results

No weight loss - well that's not that odd considering I've been doing a lot of weight training - so my muscle is building up and it weighs more than fat. So I'm not sweating this lack of "pounds" lost.

Gained inches in one area - my double chin! Waaaaaaaaaah!!! Ok I'm not at all happy about this! But I think I've uncovered the culprit of this fat gain - my fast food meal last week! On that day I consumed without realizing it 4.6 times the amount of the daily recommended fat intake! Yikes! It'll make me think twice about eating fast food that's for sure! For more information on what I ate that day check out my blog posting on Fat

Ok for the semi-good news - I lost 1/2 inch around my stomach - my goal was to lose 1 inch - but considering my fast food night I'm just happy to have lost 1/2 inch there! I'm definitely going to be paying close attention to the amount of fat I eat each day. I'm not planning on making any drastic changes like switching my food products to low-fat or no-fat (God forbid!) I'm just going to eat less fat - no more than 50 grams a day. In his book "The Fat to Muscle Diet" by Dr. Vash he recommends for weight loss eating 30 grams of fat per day until you reach your goal then eat 50 grams of fat to maintain your weight. I tried to eat only 30 grams of fat one day and it was impossible for me to do. Maybe it is possible for others but I couldn't do it so I'm not going to force myself to do it. But I do believe that cutting back to 50 grams will make a difference in my weight loss!!!! I'm looking forward to next week's results! I won't lie eating only 50 grams of fat per day takes work but at least it is doable.

Measurements Week 2

11-15-09

Wt: 194.5 (no change - probably because gained muscle weight)
Waist: 37 LOST 1 1/2 INCHES!
Stomach: 44 LOST 1/2 INCH
Thigh: 25.5 LOST 1 1/4 INCHES
Neck: 16.5 LOST 1/4 OF AN INCH
Chin: 27 GAINED 1.5 INCHES
Hips: 43.25 LOST 3/4 OF AN INCH
Shoulders: 45 LOST 1/2 INCH
Chest: 45.5 LOST 2 INCHES
Arms: 13 LOST 1/2 INCH
BMI: 30.5 NO CHANGE
Body Fat: 36.25% - WHOO! Almost 2% more lost!