Exercise! That used to be a four-letter-word where I come from.  Getting up and going to the gym takes a lot of effort, takes me away from my family... HURTS!! But like the pin I posted to Pinterest says "What fits your busy schedule better, exercising one hour a day or being dead 24 hours a day?" This is truth. If we don't take care of our bodies, our life will be shortened. The chance of disease and cancer rises the more the scale rises and the longer we sit and do nothing. 

So here we are, I'm starting a 90 day challenge, and my workouts are already planned out. No time for messing around, I've got a plan for 3 days resistance training, 3 days intense cardio, and one happy little rest day per week. I've already planned out what activity I'm doing each day, and put it on my desk calendar in PEN! And I DON'T do white out or cross outs lol. 

Wondering what exercises I'm going to be doing? Well a nice mix of several things. I'm hoping to starve off boredom, and keep my body guessing. I have a kettlebell dvd for resistance, a full body weight machine routine created by my own personal trainer (Rob! he really knows his stuff if you want any advice!), Zumba in class at the gym for cardio, a Zumba DVD for days I can't get to the gym, INsanity dvd's for some intense cardio.... IT'S ON! 

I've been working out some recently, but not consistently, so I'm not starting at zero and headed to 60, but this is going to be challenging. But that's where I'm at, I don't want to spend an hour a day on a mundane treadmill walk... BORING! Of course if I choose our gym has a pretty cool cardio cinema with surround sound, usually its a "man flick" playing like the Bourne series, Robin Hood type stuff, ya know those kinds of things, but hey I can check em out once in awhile for a bit. 

So part two of this lovely weight loss challenge? DIET! Well not "diet" per say... I have no desire to launch into some fad "grapefruit diet", "no carb diet", blah blah. I'm looking to do 4 things to start... 
 1. Eliminate all fast food except Subway
2. Eliminate soda ( I will still drink sweet tea some, one step at a time folks)
3. Drink water daily... in pretty big amounts!
4. Tailor almost all of our meals around lean meats, very little "spaghetti nights". 

Sure this is only a start, but it's a pretty big change in and of itself. Currently I might drink a 2 liter of coke a day- that's 840 CALORIES!! No wonder I'm not losing weight right? Before eating I've already maxed out half of my daily allotment of calories. No good! Add to that I was eating out two meals a day:

Lets do some math: McDonalds chicken biscuit meal with sweet tea for breakfast: 740 calories
McDonalds Quarter pounder with cheese combo with tea for lunch: 1080 calories... plus the coke I drink daily, lets add 840 calories- I'm at 2660 and we haven't even added in the carb loaded dinner I usually have, plus any snacking during the day... YIKES!!! I mean my suggested daily calories now for weight loss are at 1600, I'm probably hitting 3600 or more a day... 

I tell myself I don't eat that much.. and I don't. I don't sit here all day eating ho-hos.... but what I've failed to look at is the CALORIES in the foods I'm eating. I could eat fruits all day and never get close to that amount of calorie intake. This is where I've made the mistake of thinking because I didn't eat every hour of the day that I wasn't eating too much. I mean a chicken biscuit and a hash brown doesn't seem like lots of food, but the amount of un-fulfilling, nutrient lacking calories in that breakfast just added a third of a pound to my stomach, that lunch combo at whatever burger chain just added to my thighs and didn't help my body at all. DISGUSTING!


So it's time to change this. Boneless skinless chicken, lean pork chops, a lean steak or two... you will become my staple entrees. I'll be looking for new herb combinations, and other ways to make you not so boring. I think my hardest fight is going to be the lowering my carb intake fight. I love potatoes... and pasta... and rice. I will make a combination of any of those as BOTH of my sides at dinner, that's terrible. I mean sure it's ok sometimes, but every night I have no veggie and two carbs... not ideal for weight loss! (or health) So I will be working on that too. 


I'm not expecting an overnight change here, I will probably indulge in some home made mac and cheese a time or two, eat a rice that's a little calorie dense, but the main point is that I'm trying to shift in a new direction. I'm going to be tracking EVERYTHING that way I can really see what's going on. 


I'm waiting on my replacement bodybugg, so when it gets here I'll have more information to move forward, seeing what these workouts are doing, and watching the calories and exercise try to balance out and create a deficit. This will take time and effort, and I'm ready.


If anyone wants to join me I will be working out at my house, or at Just Fitness in Lawrenceville! 20 a month membership isn't too shabby! Already have a membership you aren't using? Don't know what machines to use? Let me know, Rob has all the knowledge any other personal trainer has. He knows what you need to do!


Til next time~K