Week 1 of lifting

I just finished one week of adding weights to my routine. I actually started a week ago today and since I had Monday off I did weights Tuesday and Thursday this week even though my routine for lifting is going to be Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

I've increased my squat weight to 75lbs. Lateral pulls are at 70 lbs. I'm also doing none weighted lower back extensions and abdominal lifts, which I really do not like and I think I'm swapping that out for bench pressing starting next week. I figure I feel my abs working when I squat and do lateral pulls. I was doing them because someone suggested them, I could care less now. Maybe I'll do them later. I just hate that I'm all sweaty and I keep slipping from the pads.

I weighed in today. Let me tell you I am not happy about it. I went up almost 4lbs!!! I felt so defeated. I know I didn't do the greatest with my eating this week. I went over my 1750 limit a few times but I don't think it was enough to gain 4lbs. This is what I really dislike about lifting 3 days a week. You can't really track how many calories you burn so I feel like I'm not doing any good for myself and plus I'm hungrier and go over my calorie intake! At least with doing the elliptical I knew I was burning something and ate some calories back so I wouldn't feel so damn hungry.

I did measure myself this morning though. That was a surprise. I lost inches all over, waist, hips, thighs and arms. I don't know how accurate that is since I measured this morning vs in the evening. Does that make a difference? I'll keep measuring in the mornings. I'm taking a picture tomorrow and comparing it to the first one I took 6 weeks ago. I'll continue doing lifts for three more weeks. If I don't see progress I might just kick it to the curb. It feels very defeating when you don't lose any weight. Maybe if I continue to lose inches I'll feel better.

The girls on MFP say it's normal and I should just focus on my measurements and not at the number on the scale. I've been weighing myself every day the last couple of weeks. I want to see how much my weight really does fluctuate especially around the time of the month. There was one day, I didn't log it in MFP where I had lost another pound, I was at my lowest ever in a long time on that day but now I'm up.

This is very frustrating.

Lifted weights today!

I lifted weights for the first time in years. I started light to get a feel for things again. I did weighted squats, lateral pulls and good mornings.

I'm super excited yet very concerned. I didn't sweat like when I do the elliptical. Sweat is fat crying after all. So the fact that I didn't sweat makes me feel like I didn't do anything and I didn't burn any calories. I totally went over my calorie intake and I went against recommendations by going for a long walk even though it's blistering cold for some reason. Besides I didn't listen to my audio book during my "work out" so I needed to know what's going on.

Lifted:
50lb squats
50lb lateral pulls
30lb good mornings

Weights?

I've been debating on if I should starting lifting weights. It seems that people get great results by lifting weights. When I was a teen I remember having to do weight lifting for gym class. I really liked it then. I remember how the coach was impressed by how much I was able to lift with my legs.

When I went to college I lifted weights with the boys. It was fun but schedules and motivations got in the way and I never lifted a dumbbell again. That was over 10 years ago. Now that I've been doing the elliptical for 5 weeks now I think it's time I start lifting again. I'm a bit sheepish about it though. There is a weight lifting area in the gym but it's users are usually really young and fit men. I feel a bit put off. My own self judging makes me imagine what they could be thinking of me. It sucks really. It sucks that I'll let what a stranger may or may not be thinking of me get in my way. It shouldn't.

I'm going to give it a try. Monday, Wednesday and Fridays are going to be my lifting days. I'll do the elliptical on Tuesday and Thursdays. I'll start next week. My friend suggested I do full body lifting, that way if it won't be a big deal if I skip a day. One set of 10-12 reps. I'm all for that. Get in. Burn. Get out. I don't want to stay they longer than I have too. I have a womens lifting book. It tells you want lifts help which parts of the body. I'll be taking a look at that today to get any idea of which exercises I'll should be doing.

I'm afraid of it getting boring and slowing down my already slow progress. Who knows, maybe this will be good for me?

My Fitness Pal

I joined  MFP on August 2, 2012. As I mentioned before, all kinds of issues came up shortly after that. 5 weeks ago I decided I would start exercising, but not really watch what I ate. A few days, maybe more after that I remembered how I felt when I was in Tae Kwon Do (TKD). Yes at some point my childhood dream of being "A Kung Fu Fighter" was channeled into a local TKD Do Jang. I would go to that place 3 times a week for months. It was fun, I worked out like a beast but I didn't lose any weight through the entire time. Not a single pound. That fear of working out and not losing weight gave me a wake up call this time around so I decided I wouldn't restrict my diet but I would just keep track to see what the deal was.

I found I would net under 1000 calories a day. I'm 5'6" and need at least 1500 to keep my body functioning and I was netting under 1000 every single day. I diving into the MFP forums and started looking for posts about this and looked online for some advise. The conclusion I've come to is that I need to at least net above 1200 a day to make this work. So I added a little bit of calories at a few strategic places and now I'm netting anywhere from 1500 to 1700 a day. Some days I only net 1200, but not on purpose it's that I'm just to damn full to eat any more. I think this is working out better for me. Since I wasn't keep track of what I ate while doing TKD, I think a good hypothesis would be that I was just not eating enough to lose weight. I full hour of TKD can make your burn over a 1000 calories!! And our instructor had us doing all kinds of drills and endurance trainings. I would love to go back now, now that I have MFP.

I've added a pre and post workout snack involving mixed nuts, my super hero bananas and a protein shake. My food diary is public on MFP. I don't keep much track on weekends. I do log in and try to keep track but I think my weekends are going to be a little more relaxed. I have to let myself be more flexible and enjoy the things I like. This past weekend was full of parties and I ate pizza twice, ribs and chips. I don't know how much I ate of what. I know I didn't go completely over board and that is ok.

In the past I had been very strict with myself when I would get on my weight loss kicks. That always ended badly. There was always an off day, usually on a weekend where I would go over board or freak out because I had birthday cake somewhere. That would make me get all upset at myself and I would just quit right after. This time around has to be different.

Honesty is the best policy

I started trying to lose weight last summer. I started counting calories using an app called "my fitness pal". It's an app you can install on your smart phone and there is a website with a whole community. Shortly after I started counting calories I found out I was pregnant. Not too long after that I miscarried. I got a bit depressed and didn't get back on the weight loss wagon.

Earlier this year I joined the guy and started working out. My goal was to use the elliptical. My first day I thought I'd go for as long as I could and then try to build up each day. I warmed up and got on the machine, knowing full well that I wouldn't be able to go more than 5 or 10 minutes. TWO minutes later I was dieing and back on the walking track...I could not believe it. I was upset with myself but that did not deter me. I went back the next few days adding at least a minute every time. I managed to get up to 10 minutes before I got sick with a horrible cold. I fell off the wagon again. That was two months ago.

Last Monday was my first day back at the gym. Considering I was off for so long I was afraid I would be back at 2 minutes. I did my warm up and got on the machine. I was able to stay on for 6 minutes. I know that doesn't sound like much, but for an obese person who hadn't worked out in two months that was major. I worked out all last week and today I was able to stay on for 22 minutes. I even increased the resistance. I have to say I'm really proud of myself. My goal is to get to 30 minutes and keep it there. Not so much because I don't want to work out more but because I have to get back to work. I might reach my goal by the end of the week.

I was really close to not going to today. Not sure why but I've been really emotional and I started to get that pang inside. That little voice saying "just today, take a break just today". I forced myself to go and I'm glad I did.