The Quest: Week 3

Survey says...

Weight: 193.8 lbs.

Bodyfat: 27.4%

Notes: This is undoubtedly the dreaded plateau I keep reading about. I haven't included my body measurements for this post as they probably haven't changed much. This week will be possibly the most challenging. Thanks to the girlfriend, I am now fighting your classic case of the sniffles, on top of the fact that most exercise routines fail around their third week. On several occasions I've found myself arguing against whatever reason I can come up to skip tomorrow. I've already decided to take it down a notch on the cardio each week, limiting the sessions between 3 and 4 per, which means I would be best advised to start exploring weight training and isometric options.

Isometric training involves keeping the body stationary to incur resistance on target muscle groups of the body. This is the cornerstone of Pilates which involves slow, controlled movements between poses that place tension on different areas of the body. Weight training benefits fat loss by stimulating the larger muscle groups, such as the back and legs, which in turn enact a "slow-burn" effect on the body. Long story short, as the muscle groups begin work to repair themselves, they utilize calories throughout the day in the process. Most sources I've read that advocate this method advise using moderate weight and high repetitions. I guess we'll see how it goes!

Overall it doesn't seem like I'm getting lighter, but I definitely feel healthier and energized. Its hard to tell if my appearance is changing any, but I feel like it is. My weight will only be so relative to a point, between reducing my bodyfat ratio and reclaiming some muscle mass. I guess time will tell. For those of you considering getting back in shape, psychologists agree that it takes three weeks to make or break a habit.

This week we'll find out who breaks first: my will, or the habit.

The Quest: Week 2

Weekly Stats:

Weight:192.6

Bodyfat: 27.5 (down from 28.3)

Chest: 42.5

Waist: 41.15

Biceps: 14.75

Comments:

No, this venture is not sponsored by Nintendo. It just happened to be the shirt I had on at the time of the first post, so it only made sense to stick with it for the sake of continuity.

The first thing of the top of my head would be mentioning the mental "plateau". Similar to its physical counterpart, the mental plateau I'm referring to is the barrier I always encountered about a week or two weeks into working out. It is usually much more subtle, beginning with the thought "Sure, I can skip a day or two. Yeah, I'll have some of that." This mentality lends itself to the risk of completely derailing previous efforts to lose weight or get fit. It begins with the idea that a little of this or that won't hurt, or that maybe skipping a day or looking for excuses to avoid the gym would be okay.

I encountered this circumstance today. Wednesdays are usually my rest days, but I decided a little more cardio wouldn't hurt. Yesterday I incorporated some weight training for the first time in this whole regiment and boy am I paying for it today. In terms of heart rate training, it doesn't do a lot- a single set of dumbbell curls would put me above 170 or so bpms for a few seconds, but that was it. Even then the exertion behaved more like spikes then an extended burn.

Livestrong.com has been a serious asset as well. Lyndsey turned me on to the idea of using the website's calorie tracker. Why not, I thought. Little did I know the utility was surprisingly addictive. It lets you track exactly how many calories you have consumed with a google-like search bar that has just about any food product or menu item you can think of. A few times I've even avoided eating something off the sheer fact that I was too lazy to track it! Hilarious.

Well, that's it for now. See everyone next week!

-Antonio