life style change
Everyday I kick myself for not realizing this earlier... body is a good thing. Yesterday I did my workout. Currently its: 6 cybex machines (upper and lower body) + 5 free weights exercise + 15mins treadmill + 15mins bike + 5mins rower + 5mins walkin around the track. That takes about 60-90mins todo. Add 10mins in the sauna, shave shower and clean and presto new dan. Roughly 2hrs if I take my time. I'm curious what my workout will be in six months. Yesterday I weighed myself to a pleasant surprise. I've lost 20 pounds so far. Wow. I had a go buy some new clothes. Expensive but wow, that's great! Feel great, so its all good. Mentally I'm hungry to learn more, do more, work these muscles, then these over here, and those. Cardio is still a big challenge, its alot of work and its mind numbing no matter how ya slice it. TV sometimes helps, the occasional book, i suppose. Typically I will my way thru it. The rower is hard, and it does hurt my back a bit. The bike and treadmill wreak havoc on my weak knee but i stretch and massage it a bit and it seems ok. This week I'm gonna try the therapy pools and do some swimming.
But exercise alone isn't responsible for this pleasant result. Food. I've made a big change in my diet. Actually not as drastic as I thought I'd have to do. I love and crave soy milk, never thought that would happen. I go for protein as much as possible and drink a lot of water. I have to remember to drink water when I'm not thirsty. That takes a bit of time to master. I'm also off coffee yet still drink teas from time to time and the occasional red bull I love... but my caffeine levels are way down. The food routine is in. I don't feel the need to log what I think is already a nuff said. But I still do for docs. Smoothies are great, love those, need to cut back on the gallon smoothie in the morning thing heh. I need to split it up. Gensoy Bars and other power bars are nice when I miss a meal now and then. Taking the time out for lunch is good, I typically missed that. Eating veggies thru the day as snacks as been a BIG help. The thing that surprises me the most is that eating right and healthy is also very good eating. There hasn't been any of this "gah thats horrible tasting", even when my father persists on lavishly drowning asparagus spears with butter buds.. I'd like "ya know.. a little pepper and its all good pop..." i cant remember the last time I had butter or any sort.
I still cheat now and then. Not cheat but award. I cant escape my need for heathcrunch bars and bites. I love heathcrunch. A taste my mother passed to me I'm sure. That and the occasional bit of icecream. Luckily I've experimented with some soy alternates to traditional icecream.. they aren't bad really.
I've been making tweaks to the way I eat and what I eat for awhile now. Even back in early july (04) when I joined the the McConnell Weight Management program, I thought my cholesterol would be sky high.. i thought that, my folks definitely thought that.. yet I also thought.. ya know I eat pretty good. Sure enough it wasn't high. About the only thing I the docs really wanted me to do is just lose weight. No major warnings went off. After all I do have a 6'5 frame here.
So in roughly 2.3 months I've lost 20 pounds. I'm excited! For awhile there I was thinking i wasn't eating enough to keep my metabolism running, and the 1500-1800 calories a day limit was easy to meet. I've never been a big eater really. I've always disliked that. People see a big guy and they assume two things, "hmmm that guy could move our sofa..." and "hey we're getting some pizza you want me to order you a 5xl just for you?". Ahhh the bane of being big. I always thought i ate like a rabbit really. Little here, little there.
I can feel the muscle coming online as well. First in the arms, then in the legs, and you begin to want more. I want more at least. I got the frame, now I want some muscle and I want to tone it a bit. If I can do this much in 2.3 months.. baby look out... what's to come in 6 months. This is going to be good year.
Massage is a key to all of this as well. A good massage carries well. Between the workouts and eatin right and massages twice a month, stress just doesn't last long on me. Thats good. Now I need to add some additional sports to my non-existent sport portfolio. I like biking so I think I'll take that back up. I also picked up some free weights for home use and I plan to work on some mini workouts on days I somehow don't make it to the gym.
Another outside goal is to take a tai chi, yoga, qiyong class of some sort. I'd like to learn meditation and better breathing exercises.
Well on that note, things to do.. this weekend has been glorious! Enjoy the week all.