Why Does This Feel Good?

I'm loving this. The way my body feels after a workout is amazing. There's a slight feeling of tiredness in the muscles, but a great level of energy and satisfaction.

Tomorrow is the 45 days left to go mark. I've got to push this hard, really hard. And I've still got Thanksgiving and Christmas to get through. I need to be flawless in the execution of the program to make my goal. I have 16 lbs to go. A chunk of that will be gone in the next few days. Then I drop below 180.

At that point my basic caloric needs will be pretty low and my body could even shift over into famine mode since it will be a new low in body weight. It seems that adipose is ill disposed to be disposed of. Its like fat fights back to keep from being burned off. That's another aspect to be factored in.

Muscle seems to be willing enough to grow. I just have to keep pushing forward on increasing the weight I use. However, I have to watch out for injury. Right now there are some twinges in my shoulders that are telling me I'm pushing my limits.

I'm doing well with the resistance training, but I'm doing it every day. I'm supposed to do it every other day. And I'm not doing the cardio aspect at all. I'm trying to get to the gym most days (5 or 6 out of 7) and do the HIITs. By the way, yesterday's results were okay: I broke 100 calories at 9'30" and 1 mile at just under 10 minutes. That distance is actually .97 miles in 5 minutes. The first 5 minutes on the treadmill are for warm-up and are a series of graduated walking speeds. Then at 5:01 I start running HIITs. I get two rounds in before I reach the 10 minute mark. I did okay on the next 10 minutes, but then I slowed down the last ten. I did break 400 calories, but just barely. I think I was dealing with some dehydration. What makes me think that is the way my body seemed  bit slower getter down to a resting state at the end of HIIT rounds. Also my top speeds were lower. Still, overall, I'm continuing to show improvement in my strength for running.

Today I'm eating a meal at church while attending a meeting. I'll be good. This afternoon I need to do some painting (community service project) and once I get home I would really like to get to the gym. Or I may just try the sweat thing here (Power90). Gotta do something to make these last 45 days count.

O well, time to get ready for church. Later.

The Cost of Ditching Nutrition

Progress has been great. There have been days when my weight loss was totally inexplicable. I'm marking it up to the three front approach to fat loss: totally clean eating; resistance training; and HIIT style cardio.

From September 27th I went 12 days without watching the nutrition. Judy had "company" company in town and then we had a few days before the rush to my youngest son and his fiancee's engagement party for family. I could feel my body thickening up. And I could tell that I wasn't feeling as well. Those few days really demonstrated how imnportant my nutrition is and just how fragile the benefits of good nutrition are. In that short time the scales say I gained about 10 lbs. I didn't eat that badly every day (though there were some). The issue is that my body reacts awfully to awful food. This will come off right away, I'm sure. But even if it comes off as fast as it went on, that will be a total of one month lost on the progress.

I'm not beating myself up over this. It was factored into the plan. And I fully expectd the results. The weight loss I have seen since I took all processed foods out of my diet is amazing. My body just dosen't do highly processed carbs without the natural fiber element. Fruit is fine as long as it is in its natural state. Take away the fiber and it becomes a recepie for fat. I'm glad to know that. Randall can't do bready foods. It makes him almost instantly fat.

The goals are on track. I will easily beat the 172 goal by 1-1-10. Then I push for the cut bod. Woo hoo, doing great, even with the set backs and difficulties getting the exercise in.