I've heard it referred to as happiness weight. With the hectic schedule I have had, it can also be referred to as "stress weight" I think, as well. Still, as I have settled down into domesticity with the Baker I have revved down the workout routine and revved up the eating. Drat his good cooking and large portions!
One of my goals for the summer was to whittle down and fit back into my size 8 dress pants, of which I have several pair. Part of this is pure vanity, and part is frugality. I can't afford a full new wardrobe, and I am tired of clueless college boys asking me if I am pregnant. Right now I weigh 156 pounds, only one pound shy of my highest weight of all time. I'm wearing a 10 or 12 in most clothing, though since most of my clothing isn't fitting and I'm reluctant to buy more larger clothes, I don't wear a wide variety of outfits. Now, this may sound okay to most people, however, I am only 5'4'', and I have a small frame. The positive side of this is that the last time I was near this weight, I was a full 2 sizes bigger in clothing, so at least I'm a thinner 156. Additionally, I love to run, and the more weight I carry, the more my knee problem exacerbates, and the more I can't run and the more weight I gain. It's a lovely catch-22.
I have no weight goal, per se, though I wouldn't mind dropping to the 120s if possible. I guess I'd like to drop 30 pounds all said and done, though if I could comfortably wear my old clothing at 20 pounds less, I'd be thrilled and satisfied. I'm not sure how many inches that means I need to take off my waist, but we'll see how that goes.
The last time I tried this I started keeping records, but I always tend to lose those slips of paper I write things down on, so I decided to report on my progress here. Here are my stats, day 1.
Weight: 156 pounds
Measurements (in inches): 41 chest (no wonder my shirts won't button!)
36 waist
40 abs (around my hip bone level)
20 right thigh
11.5 right bicep
The plan is to move more, to stretch more, and to lift weights regularly,and eat more vegetables. My mileage goal is 15-18 miles a week, 2 yoga or extensive stretches a week, 3 weight training, and additional cardio (I'm going to start kickboxing soon, but I am also loosely following a variety of dvds including Power 90 and some Jillian Michaels). If I keep disciplined about my work this summer, it should be possible. I just can't sit around watching Hulu for too many free hours instead of grading papers!
Right now I'm loosely following Power90, which worked well for me this past fall- I did it for about 40 days before finals, then the holidays, a broken dvd player, and an elopement and moving all occurred in quick sucession. I lost about 7 pounds and a pants size during the time I did it this fall, but the cardio tape ("Sweat") that is part of the workout for 3 days a week tends to bore me fairly quickly, so I might substitute runs and other cardio 2 days a week to keep me from dying of repetition. I also have my eye on being able to begin P90x at some point as well, and hope that Power90 (and Power90 masters) will get me ready for that.
Additionally, I'd like to rev my running back up again. I used to comfortably run around 6.1 mph after warm up, and go as high as 7.4 mph for shorter speed intervals. I could also run 8-10 miles distance for my longer runs without too much effort. Now I'm pushing 5.5 for my regular runs, and 5 miles is about my limit without extensive walking breaks (or chafeage- I'm having a huge arm chafing issue lately that's driving me nuts.) I'd ideally like to be able to get back to that level again, perhaps with a gain- 6.3 mph comfortable speed, and a 9-11 mile long run. That really is secondary, but would be very rewarding.
For today, I finished my Sculpt 1-2 using 5 lb weights for most exercises, and have to wait until it cools off outside later today to run my 2 laps around the neighborhood with Chloe. That's a distance of 1.6 miles.
Hopefully this blog will keep me honest, and plot my progress. I promise that this set up is probably longer than most of my updates will be, but now that I've set the parameters, let's see how it goes!
No comments:
Post a Comment