I started to talk about my weight loss journey in the last post. While I do think the numbers on the scale can tell a story, a lot of the time, it is a completely inaccurate story. Take for example, a graph tracking my weight over 10 months:
If you just looked at this graph, you'd say that I keep gaining and losing weight. Which is completely true, but it is still misleading. The real story comes from measuring myself. I whip out the tape measure and measure myself at the end of every single month. It has provided such amazing motivation for me, because unlike my weight, my measurements tell a totally different tale.
I have lost a total of 1/2 inch in each arm, 3.25 inches in my hips, 3 inches in my bust, 3 inches in my waist, and 2.75 inches in each thigh. This is a total loss of 15.75 inches of fat GONE from my body! This is what has allowed me to go from a size 12 jeans to a comfortable size 8.
What has helped the inches? Definitely not the food. It's the exercise! Running has helped, but while running is fabulous cardio and I could never give it up, strength training has made the biggest difference.
I discovered a website called BodyRock TV in July 2011. In this website, Zuzana Light and her then-husband, Freddy, created workouts for people based on the theories of HIIT - high intensity interval training. High intensity interval training just means that you work out really hard for a set period of time, then have a few seconds to let your body relax, then work out again. It's proven to be amazing for weight loss and for strengthening your muscles. An average workout is anywhere from 12-15 minutes, though they have time challenges that can last anywhere from 20 - 40 minutes. I began doing these workouts three days a week, and in addition to the three days per week of running, the inches began to drop.
I LOVE working out. I have learned to love push-ups and burpees and mountain climbers. I have learned to push through 50 seconds of hard work, knowing I can have water and 10 seconds to breathe once the 50 seconds are up. I love how it makes me feel, and I love that it is a great stress-reliever. I especially love that it keeps me in my new jeans! While BodyRock's site has changed slightly, with Zuzana leaving to do her own things, and Freddy bringing in a new face of the site, Lisa-Marie (who has the greatest accent ever, might I add!), I still go to the site and workout, both with old workouts with Zuzana and new workouts with Lisa-Marie.
To give you an example of what the workouts tend to look like, here was today's workout. I did the Bikini Body Beach Ready Total Body Summer Workout, but I altered it slightly from a time challenge to a 12-minute interval training.
I set my interval timer (Seconds Pro, an app on the iPhone) for 12 rounds of 50 seconds high intensity and 10 seconds low intensity. Then, I go through 3 rounds of 4 different exercises, writing down my reps for each time. Then, when I go through the exercises for a second and third time, I try to beat my previous scores.
Exercise 1: 1-2-3 Spider Push-ups (the video on the site explains how to do these exercises)
Round 1: 7
Round 2: 7
Round 3: 8
Exercise 2: 10 Mountain Climbers // Weighted Ball Clean & Press with Back Lunge
Round 1: 3
Round 2: 2.5
Round 3: 3
Exercise 3: Weighted Ball Shoulder Press and Side Kick
Round 1: 13
Round 2: 11
Round 3: 10
Exercise 4: Side Obliques on a Dip Station (You can find a dip station here.
Round 1: 15
Round 2: 18
Round 3: 15
So the moral of the story? Working out may make your weight go up and down, depending upon how fast your body is building muscle and breaking down fat and utilizing carbs and proteins. But the measurements? They do not lie!
Today's food:
Breakfast: 3 scrambled eggs with chopped red and green peppers
AM Snack: cottage cheese and green pepper sticks
Lunch: 3 ounces ground beef, zucchini sticks, cucumbers, tomatoes, Ken's Light Ranch
PM Snack: protein shake and Pink Lady apple
Dinner: Skinny Taste Salisbury Steak, grape tomatoes, raw baby carrots, roasted zucchini, York peppermint patty
Night Snack: hard-boiled egg, carrots
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