Exercise

As I stated a few weeks ago, I was going to post something about my exercise program. Here it is. But, first a little update.

Last week wasn't my best week. I started with a cold left over from the week before, but got a little worse over the weekend. So I figured that was a good time to take a break from exercise, and just take it easy. But I also had a little slip-up on the Weight Watchers plan. I had a bit of a "binge" day, which didn't help me out any. I still lost a little under 1/2 a pound for the week, but it could have been a little more. I was losing more than what they consider "healthy" anyway, but i was hoping to have more than just 1/2 pound. I'm not worried about it, though. It happened, it's in the past, and I just have to keep going on from here. Besides, it was bound to happe3n sooner or later, and may happen again in the future. Just one of those things. And when it does happen, just consider it a little slip up and continue on. No sense in letting it bother me. That's just a sure-fire way to make me want to quit more.

Now to the exercise part: Weight lifting is a very important part of my exercise program. I like to lift, and like to have high intensity when I do. I started back in December last year, right after Christmas. I've done it before also over the last few years, but always stopped for some reason for several months before I started up again. I had a few breaks here and there this time around, but other than those, I'm still going on with it.

I started of with a type of 5x5 workout. This is a routine that you do 5 sets of 5 reps for each exercise. I try to do it at a weight that I can finish the first 4 sets, but not the 5th. If I do finish the 5th, I add more weight the next time. It's keeps the intensity high, and really hits the muscles hard. It's not a type of routine, though, that you can work the same muscles over and over in a week. I started with 5 days a week, but each day a different muscle group. It was broken down into 5 separate routines: Legs, Chest & Shoulders, Back & Traps, Abs, and Arms. Because the Chest & Shoulders and Back & Traps also hit the arms really good, I intentionally put the abs in between those and the Arms workout.

I found after a little while that it was hard to keep motivation and do this 5 days a week. So I decided to just rotate around, and if I didn't finish all that week, I would pick up where I left off on the next week. So if I started with Legs on Monday, missed one day for whatever reason during the week, I would start the next week doing Arms on Monday. But that just didn't feel right, so I tried to get a more fixed schedule, while still having the flexibility to miss a day if I needed to. I started with a M-W-F schedule, and again, picking up the next week where I left off.

I also don't stick with the same exercises. I do like the change them up from time to time. For example, after a few weeks of bench pressing (with dumbbells), I changed it to an incline bench press. Still works the same muscle group, but in a little different way. It also helps from getting things too boring. And, when I start with a new exercise I haven't done (or haven't done for a while), I do typically start with a low weight, and work my way up to the higher intensity. I learned that a long time ago. Once, I jumped right in with high weights, and paid the price: It happened to be a Legs workout, and my legs were extremely sour from it for over a week! But if I start lower, and work up to the higher weight, I still get sour, but not nearly as sour as if I jumped right in to the heavy weights from the start. And, to help me not get discouraged because it's so easy, I use it as a time where I can concentrate on form more so when I do get to the heavier weights, I'm not using bad form (which can lead to injuries).

As I stated, last week was a "break" for me, just giving my body time to recover fully. It also really helps out so when I do get back into it, I show better progress than if I had continued with it during that week. But today, I started back in with a whole new routine. Instead of the 5x5 routine, I'm now doing a variation of H.I.T. That is more of a basic workout, but still a high intensity one (H.I.T. stands for High Intensity Training). It uses the same idea of using an amount of weight so that you can't finish the set, and adding more the next time if you finish it, but instead of 5 sets of 5 reps, it's only 1 set of 12 reps. And, instead of breaking it out to 5 days to get a full body workout, it's a full body workout each day. I have it at 9 exercises that hit each muscle group: Quads, Hamstrings, Calves, Chest, Back, Shoulders, Traps, Biceps, and Triceps.

Mixed up in there is some cardio. I'm not a big fan of cardio, but I know it has to be done. It's a good thing to work your heart and lungs, just like it is to work your other muscles. But I get so bored with it. I try a lot of different things to make it not so boring, and they do seem to help some. Right now, I have an elliptical in my living room (pushed to the side when I don't use it) that I use while watching TV. I also don't like to do a high intensity cardio workout, so I keep it pretty simple. I don't have a heart rate monitor I wear while doing it, but the elliptical has one on it. Just kind of difficult to hold it the entire time and still have my arms moving the way they should. But every now and then during the 30 minutes I'm on it, I do check. And my heart rate usually gets up to somewhere between 140 to 150 bpm.

One big drawback I find to lifting the heavy weights is that my shoulders take a beating from it. A lot of the exercises, even if they are not targeting the shoulders, are still putting a lot of pressure on them. And a couple years ago, it got so bad that I went to my doctor, who sent me to an orthopedic, who sent me to a physical therapist. What she told me was that the weight lifting worked the larger muscles of the shoulder, but did very little for the smaller muscles. She gave me some exercises to do to strengthen these muscles, which consist of very light weight (bands or 2 pound dumbbells), but high rep exercises to do. I've now incorporated those into my workout. I don't do them at the same time as the weights (which is in the morning), but do them in the later afternoon (after work) when I do my cardio.

So this week, I'm hoping to have a much better week that last. Of course, I'm not planning on any binges, and since I got that one out of my system, I can't see any reason to have one. I'm just hoping that my workout keeps going strong. I've done H.I.T. workouts in the past, and I have been bored with them kind of quickly. So I'll have to watch it closely, and make some modifications as needed if I start to get bored.

Diet is a 4 letter word

Over the last several years, I have seen my weight gradually creep higher and higher, until recently it was close to 300 pounds! During that time, I have tried dieting and exercise to lose the weight, and tried a few different plans. None of them worked out very well, and I would lose interest very quickly (like in a couple weeks).

But, about 3 weeks ago, I decided to give Weight Watchers a try. And after 3 weeks, I'm still going good. I'm very motivated to stick with it. I think it has to do with the fact that you don't have to eat any "special" foods on the plan. I can eat the same things I've always eaten, and when the kids are over, I can eat the same thing I serve them for dinner. I don't have to eat cottage cheese if I don't want to. I don't have to make special recipes for me while everyone else eats something else. And I don't have to buy special foods.

Which brings me to the meaning of the title of this post: "Diet is a 4 letter word". First off, it's quite obvious that it's a 4 letter word. Count the letters. There are 4 of them in the word: D-I-E-T. But the meaning of it goes beyond the obvious. It's not just a 4 letter word - It's one of the naughty 4 letter words.

What makes it so naughty is the entire nature of the word, and the thoughts it is connected with. When you go on a diet, or hear of someone else going on a diet, what's the first thing that comes to mind? Losing weight. That's not a bad thing for some people (myself included). But you get it into your head that you are losing weight, and you set a goal for yourself. But what happens when you reach that goal? You stop the diet. And for many people, the old habits start up again and you start adding the weight back on.

This time around, I'm approaching this with a different attitude. I'm not on the plan to lose weight. Yes, it's a very positive side effect of what I'm doing. But my main goal is to re-teach myself how to eat. As I stated before, I don't have to buy special foods or prepare special recipes. If I want pizza from Pizza Hut, I can have pizza from Pizza Hut. If I want a burger and fries from McDonald's, I can have a burger and fries from McDonald's. And if I want a beer or two while watching the game on TV, I can have a beer or two while watching the game. You can have all this figured into the plan. But it doesn't allow for you doing so every night. And that's just fine: It's enough to keep the craving at bay, while I continue the plan and eat more healthy the other days.

How does it work? You are assigned so many points a day you can consume. Everything you eat has a point value, based on the nutrition information for the item. These daily points are only good for that day, and you cannot carry them over to the next day. But, you also have weekly points that you can use if you go over your daily points. These are good for the entire weeks. And, on top of this, you can also earn activity points that you can use to add more points to your daily total you can consume, which are also good for that week. So the idea is that if you have points left over at the end of the week, you've done good. And the more points left over, the better. They also encourage you to try to use up all your daily points each day. This is to ensure you are eating enough and not starving yourself.

So that's my approach: Learn how to eat properly, and not eat too much too many days. I need to learn how to supplement the foods I use to eat with healthy choices, and learn what the proper portion size should be. This way, once I'm at a healthy weight (which I'm not setting a number on - just using the mirror to tell me when I reach it), I (hopefully) will know how to eat properly, and I can keep it from creepy back on.

I'm also doing an exercise program with it, but I'll write about that some other day.