Ha! The 10 week weight loss challenge is over, and guess what? I am SMILING!
Sorry I stopped blogging there for a while. Seems like I spent so much time exercising and being, well, tired and hungry that a lot of things got put on the back burner.
Would you like to know the results? Well, they haven't announced the winner yet, and honestly, I doubt that it will be me. The $1000 prize is probably going to some young dude, darn him. Testosterone gives an advantage in terms of rapid muscle developement and fat loss--this according to Mason, my personal trainer. But lemme brag:
So, over the 10 week period I exercised 1 hour to 1 hour and 45 min. on almost every day (not Sunday, of course). Usually about 45 min. of cardio (jogging, intervals, walking in the beginning) and 1 hour of weight training. There has always been at least one or two (or three!) muscle groups that are quite sore. This for 10 weeks!
And then there was dieting. Actually, I felt really good about the food plan Mason set up for me, until the last 2 weeks when he really crunched down my calories in the hopes of really shedding a few last pounds before the hydrostatic measurement that marked the end. But oddly enough, reducing my calories that much had the opposite effect. Basically, on both weeks I started out really good for a few days, then got super tired, hungry, demoralized, followed by eating all kinds of junk and too much of it. So these last 2 weeks I didn't loose an ounce! Darn it. But I consider it a blessing to learn this about my body: there really is a happy medium. Pushing too hard against my body's natural limits is self defeating. I remember feeling similarly demoralized when I was trying to break 1:50 for a half a year or two ago. Anyway, I still exercised and everything those last 2 weeks, and basically felt like a failure that I couldn't keep to this impossible diet. I wasn't really looking forward to the results of my hydrostatic measurements. But they were good!
In 10 weeks I
1. Gained 3.9 pounds of lean mass (muscle!). That's 1.7 pounds per months, which Mason says is *Bleepity* good for a woman over 30.
2. Lost 18.7 pounds of fat, which is an average of about -1.9 pounds of fat per week. So think about it people. One pound of fat is 3,500 calories. 2 pounds is 7,000. So every single day for ten weeks I averaged about a 1,000 calorie deficit. 1,000 calories. That's like half a gallon of the 1% milk that I drink. (Who can handle the nastiness of skim? NOT ME!) It's also 14 of the omega 3 eggs that I eat. It's like a whole loaf of the whole-wheat-5 grams-of-protein-per-slice bread that I eat. Every. Single. Day. (on average) I ate that much less than my body was burning up.
So I am rejoicing today. Partly because I lost 18 pounds of fat, partly because I don't have to exercise so darn stinking much. I still want to loose some more weight, but gradually, kindly, without going crazy about it. My plan is to just continue running 30 min. a day (wonder how far I go?) and then take the weight class 2 times a week and yoga once. Only 6 hours of exercise. *Sigh* So lovely. I have so much to be grateful for!
P.S. I will let you know if I win, but don't hold your breath... | 