Sunday, January 6, 2013

My plan (at least for tomorrow)

So is everyone ready to hit the ground running tomorrow?   I think I've got 16 lbs to lose, but lately I feel like I've gained a little more.  I'll weigh in again tomorrow at the office.   Tomorrow my plan is to have a FAGE yogurt for breakfast, a chicken breast salad for lunch, and I'm not quite sure what for dinner.  My biggest change though is going to be the amount of water I drink.  This time of year, when its super cold outside, I find that I drink a ton of coffee and very little water.  Tomorrow, I'm going to replace all of the coffee (with the exception of the morning dose) with water. 

For the first time in about a month (Thank you holiday season) I'm going to get back into the gym.  This can be so frustrating when you realize that all those previous months making progress are lost (sort of) and now it's time to play catch up.  I'm going to do 30 minutes on the bike, a weight workout, then some cardio on the heavy bag for about 20 minutes.  My goal for this week will be to lose 3 lbs and keep it off going into the next week.   

The biggest challenge, and I throw this one out there for all of you, is nothing to eat after 7pm (I strive for 6pm, but I know some of you work 6-6 so it's tough to do when you have a family.   I guess the bigger goal should be to avoid snacking after dinner (and remember, dinner should be the "small" meal). So no cereal, no ice cream, no bag of chips, etc before bed.  Water water water!!!   Look!!! It's a mere 90 days of commitment (some of you may consider it sacrifice:) )   Stick it out!! We're all going to have bad days, but don't let a bad moment or relapse cause you to trash the entire plan.  

You as well as I know for a fact you will feel better.  Walk, Run, Ride, do something to get that heart rate up.   You don't have to go anaerobic to burn fat.  Just get that heart rate up for a minimum of 20-30 minutes.   Remember, if you go anaerobic early, you are burning sugar as energy, when you really want to be burning fat.   Workout at about 70-75% of your Max heart rate.   I'm not a fan of the 220 minus your age calculation, but it will get you close.  If you don't know what I'm talking about, to find your max heart rate, take your age, subtract it from 220 and you get your max.  Then multiply that by .70 or .75 to find out what you should be working out at to maintain an aerobic workout vs an anaerobic one.  

These numbers will vary as your body adjusts and "gets in better shape".  Typically on a bike, I can ride all day at a heart rate of 150, but now that I'm out of shape, if I tried to maintain 150,  I would be fried within a couple of hours.  This is why you can't always use these universal formulas to figure out heart rate zones.   And speaking of Heart Rates, if you have access to a heart rate monitor, use it while your working out.  As I did last year, I'll be giving a few away, so stay tuned. 

If you haven't signed up yet, hurry the heck up.  If you have and you don't see your name on roster, I'll do my best to update it over the next few hours.  I'm so loving the names you guys are coming up with.  Super creative!!!!  

Have an awesome Sunday!!!

Oh and hey, it really helps to get involved.  Email me.  Talk it up, I'll post it here.  Fit Quest will be fun team to egg on.  I know of few of you from past challenges, so expect a little grief from me:).    I think the more involved one gets, the easier it is to stay motivated.  No feelings will be hurt on this end, so bring  it!!






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