1800
I had, at one point, been able to say that I worked out all my adult life. About 7 years ago, that stopped being true. In the past 7 years I have worked out on and off, but there have been periods of years between gym time.
Recently, my buddy Todd (who works at the plant with me) got serious about losing weight. I told him that once he got under a certain weight I would join him. Sure enough, he made it and then some. So I’m working out after shift with him now.
When you have the exercise history that I do, it’s a very simple task to look in the mirror and think, “this is the fattest I’ve ever been”. As soon as I started working out, the old feelings (good ones) that I associated with being physically fit started coming back. That certain hardness in my muscles when I pick something up, the energy that comes with exercise, the way my clothes fit just a bit better. Until I felt that again, I didn’t realize how much I missed it.
I’m sticking with this.
The exercises that Todd has me doing are absolutely ridiculous things that superheroes would weasel out of. He got them out of Men’s Health (that is the actual workout we are doing) with some super skinny, super muscular guy doing them with ease. Heh. The thing about these exercises is that they look simple. Let me tell you now- they may be simple movements, but they are not easy. I have about 5 more weeks of them before we move on to another 6 week program. I’m bound and determined to master them before we move on.
To go along with the exercise, I have decided that some of this lard needs to go. I have adopted an 1800 calorie diet. That’s not much food for a grown man. Again though, once I started pushing away from the plate sooner and skipping some of the junk I had become accustomed to gnawing on, I immediately started feeling better. I don’t even know if I have lost any weight yet, maybe not. But I darn sure feel better. And that is at the heart of it all, isn’t it?
October 8th, 2007 at 9:39 pm
If your workout is as intense as you are suggesting I would not advise reducing your overall caloric intake initially. Your body will need the calories that it is used to consuming just to maintain your muscle mass let alone repair it after a new routine. If anything I would say cut out some fat or sugar (my bad, you do that) and eat more often … once your body gets used to your program your metabolism will catch back up. Oh, don’t forget the cardio!
October 8th, 2007 at 11:12 pm
Every other day we do the treadmill. It’s not that intense on a relative scale, just for an old fatass like myself. I have spaced the eating out so that it is every few hours to keep the fires stoked, so to speak. We will see how that goes for now and make adjustments as necessary.
October 10th, 2007 at 12:45 am
Just keep in mind that a relatively intense workout, is well, relatively intense. It might not seem like much compared to what you used to do … but that is indeed the definition of relative in this sense.