Lost Weekend
March 24th, 2008 by Rian | Filed under Miscellaneous.I’m writing off this past weekend as a “lost weekend” in regards to my diet and exercise plan. Things just didn’t go according to plan and I really slacked off. Although I did get some exercise in yesterday, but it was mostly just walking around the city (which included several stairways).
I guess the reason I’ve been slacking off is because I’m taking this last week or so in NH and “living it up” before I return to the midwest. In fact, B and I are supposed to head down to NYC for a couple days this week.
To make up for it my weekend behavior, I’m hitting the gym for an hour today.
The good news is that I took a progress picture of myself on Saturday and compared it to a couple of progress pics I took of myself in January and one in November. And… I can see a definite difference in my overall body shape, even since just January. I cannot post the pics here, as they are personal progress pics (of me not wearing very much, which I would never post.) This makes me happy because the scale is being mean once again and has indeed (as I suspected) gone back up a couple of pounds. Yes, I stepped on it yesterday. So I’m definitely building some muscle.
Well I’m off to the gym… today’s goal is to go another % higher on the treadmill incline, and a higher level on the elliptical. I’ve found for some strange reason that even when I take a couple days off from the gym, I can still push the machines to a higher level upon my return.
Later Edit:
The gym was interesting today. I forced myself - despite being tired - to go to higher levels on both the treadmill and spinning. The elliptical had to be kept down around a level 4 resistance because of my heart rate. For some reason, I haven’t made as much progress fitness-wise on that machine as I have the others. It still skyrockets my heart rate when I have it even at a moderate setting! Some guy on the elliptical next to me kept staring at me and my machine. He was cute so it was a little unnerving, but it didn’t bother me too badly. (Which is definitely a testament to how far I’ve come at the gym. Weeks ago it would have made me get off the machine or give him a dirty look). I no longer even care when someone sees me put my weight in the machines. Or when a grandpa-type next to me is running on the treadmill when I am only speed walking. 
There was a middle-aged obese (but not overly so) woman who had a trainer with her. He was really putting her through a hard workout. For some odd reason she was wearing sunglasses and a jacket with a hood. Probably didn’t want to be recognized…
Anyway, I’m exhausteddddddddddddd.
That’s great to hear that you decided to weigh yourself. I bet your weight was higher because of your weekend activities. My weight sometimes increases by 2-3 pounds the day after a big meal or alcohol.
Taking the day off allows your body to recover from your efforts. When you return to the gym you are stronger because you gave your body a chance to adapt and recover from the physical stress. Athletes always balance their efforts with recovery. In fact, they consider it part of their exercise regimen.
I don’t think my weekend activities increased my weight because to be honest, I didn’t eat much but WAS drinking a bit. Also, I weighed myself this morning (after a really good, clean day yesterday) and weighed about the same.
Rian, Even though my weight loss has been at a snail speed, I’ve definitely noticed a change too. Especially because I do so much more strength training now. My pants are looser, bras fit better, etc. But the scale doesn’t reflect a big loss. Hang in there - I can definitely tell you are FEELING better about yourself lately. And that’s great!!!
Keep blogging, we love it!
Hi Rian, I’m a physician, and I’m just curious about the comments you’ve made lately about avoiding high heart rates, and the lack of fat-burning at higher heart rates. The latter part is simply not true. As for avoiding high heart rates — did your physician tell you to keep your heart below a certain rate? If not, I would rethink your strategy. When you turn down the resistance and lower your heart rate, you’re actually doing less work and burning fewer calories. Of course, I’m not sure what heart rates you’re talking about — if you’re turning down the resistance because your heart rate is 210 and you’re short of breath, that’s warranted. But if it’s 160 and you’re feeling OK, turning down the machine to be in the 130-140 range makes little sense in terms of overall calorie burning and fitness.