Week 1 Weigh-in

After one week, I wouldn't say I had a Biggest Loser-esque start, but it's definitely promising. Tonight I weighed in at 234.2 lbs, a 4.0-lb loss from last Sunday. Here's a recap of what I've done in the past 7 days.

Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday: Run

It was basic treadmill run for 30 min and 5 min cool down, increasing the distance from just under 3 miles on Sunday to just over 3.5 miles on Thursday. The Thursday run was split up into the first 3 miles in 29:00, and the last 1/2 mile at a 5 mph pace. Eventually, I want to get a 3 mile run down to a 8:15-8:30 pace, and maybe 8:00 flat if I get ambitious enough. In high school my best mile run was a 7:56, so it would be a big accomplishment to get a 3 mile pace under that.

Monday/Wednesday: Lift

Monday's lifting could only be described at spitballing. I went for muscle groups that I had felt the most "flabby," my quads, triceps, and abs. I was probably in and out in no more than 25-30 min. Wednesday was a completely different story. I met with HealthTrack's Marc Woodcock for a personal training session, and it was extremely beneficial. We worked on 5 core lifts (bench press, inclined lat pull down, bicep lift, front squat, and abs), while working on a different muscle group between sets of each lift, and doing a little cardio running between lifts. The actual sets were 3x12, basing the weight on what would make the third set on a scale of 1-10 be a 7.

I'll definitely base my lift workout on what I did with Marc, slowly working on increasing the weight. I'll be focusing much more on toning down than bulking up given where my body is at right now.

Four pounds is a decent start, and hopefully I can repeat that effort this week.

Measurements

Thought I would put this in as a start point, but yesterday I didn't have a tape measure.

Neck: 16 1/2"

Bicep/Tricep: 14"

Wrist 6 3/4"

Chest: 45"

Waist: 41"

Thigh: 24 1/4"

Hips: 47 1/2"

And the big number is 238.2 lbs.

I currently wear, or I guess at this point the more correct term is squeeze into, size 38x32 pants. Recently I've found that I feel the most comfortable wearing a comfort flex waist, and I guess that makes sense, because I haven't know my actual waist size until now.

I'm not too sure about what the "ideal" measurements are for each body part, but a rough goal I have is to get under 200 lbs and have a waist in the 34-36" range.

Hello World

....That's usually the first thing they'll teach you how to display in a computer language class, or at least the ones that I've taken.

In the coming days (and hopefully months if I can be persistant in updating), I'll be tracking my progress as I try to get down under 200 pounds for the first time since high school. I can credit Groupon for getting me started, with a combination of a 2-week trial membership to HealthTrack Sports Wellness and a deal on supplements at GNC. The trial membership included a 1-hour session with a personal trainer and a 1-hour massage.

My inspiration for trying to lose weight was the fact that not 8 months after graduating college, I had put on about 25 pounds. I went from walking a couple miles everyday to class/work to a sedentary life of driving a desk for 40 hours a week. I had tried running once or twice a week to try to offset the weight gain, but all it really was doing was maintaining. Commitment probably isn't the right word, but it was the fact that I couldn't commit to running for than once a week that basically forced me to join a gym.

I kinda planned to join a gym after the New Year's resolution people ran worn off, and the Groupon was what chose my first one. Monthly dues there are pretty high for someone in my position ($71/month), plus the fact that they aren't even open 24 hours, but for the 2 weeks at a deep discount, I'll take it. I pretty sure I'll be able to find a cheaper place for my quite basic needs in a gym once the 2 weeks are up. Leaning towards XSport Fitness.

So there you have it. I'll try to update at least on a weekly basis to track my progress and come up with new goals and workouts.