Life as I know it is about to change.....
When changes come into my life I tend to run at them FULL speed. Once I have my head wrapped around the change that needs to occur there is no stopping me, I will give it my all. This can be viewed from the outside as an obsession, but I call it passion and determination.
When I announced on 1/31/11 that I was going to change up my workout routine so I could start focusing on becoming more toned I had no idea what was fully in store for me. My workouts were going to be cardio and weights, just heavier weights and less reps-no problem this is pretty much what I was already doing just needed to be more intense about it. WRONG!
This past week has been tough for me, not because of the routine but because I was looking at my new goal with the wrong rose colored glasses on! EVERYTHING that I have learned, enforced, tweaked and have been preaching about for the past year is over. I am making not only a physical shift I HAVE to make the mental shift as well.
"I am no longer trying to lose weight."
Let me say it again.... "I am no longer trying to lose weight."
No, I still don't understand those words. "I am no longer trying to lose weight."
For the past year I have counted, calculated and tracked everything that went into my mouth. How much calories, how much fat, protein, carbs, fiber the list goes on. If one week of eating a certain way didn't work I tweaked my plan. If my body got too use to the caloric intake I switched it up the next month. It was and is a full time job. Every day I start my day off with downloading my bodybugg. How many calories did I burn, how many steps did I take, how effective was my workout the day before. All these things became apart of my life and the way I lived and the way I got healthy and lost weight. My goal weight was 135 and then it went to 130 and that is where I stand today.
The calories are STILL important for my new goal of gaining muscle but they are viewed differently. The goal as a weight loss person is to have a large deficit everyday. Calories in vs calories out to get that 500+ deficit everyday. That is no longer the goal for me. Sure, I will still monitor what I eat and when I eat it but gone are the days of having to achieve a huge burn. This has really been the hard part for me to get on board with, especially the past two days of this week.
I shared my frustrations with Joe and asked him to listen to what I was saying and help me understand the new path I was starting down. When I was done telling him the way I felt when I was at the gym and how I was frustrated I was no longer running 3-6 miles a day, this is the email he sent me:
Michelle, athletes do not look the way they do because they ran 3-6 miles a day 6 days a week. Athletes got that way because they bulked and then they cut, that is what YOU have to do. Cardio is for two reasons- cardiovascular health, and weight loss. You have achieved your weight loss goal. If you have not, you should spend the next week doing your cardio and get to your goal BEFORE worrying about muscle but I think you are good at your current weight.
BUT IF YOU DON’T FEEL THAT WAY, stop lifting and finish your goal. Otherwise, you will keep confusing in your mind what your primary goal is, and you will reach neither (or it will take three times as long).
So now what? Now, you want to tone and define. Tone and define is a fancy way of saying you want to target certain areas of your body and build muscle and lose any last scraps of fat so you can walk around lean and trim.
TREADMILL will NOT do this for you. You can not shape your body on a treadmill or doing aerobic exercise. Body shaping is with IRON.
“Aerobic training such as walking, riding a stationary bike, or running is a good way to accelerate the fat burning process, as long as it is not overdone and as long as it is used only in addition to a good weight training program. It should never be used as a substitute for weight training since it does not permanently increase your metabolism and since it does not has the ability to re-shape your body.”
IN FACT, too much aerobic exercise will deplete muscle.
"unless you are a competitive bodybuilder with a perfect diet and a superb supplementation program designed to protect muscle mass, aerobic exercise should not be performed for more than 6 sessions a week of 20-45 minutes a day for males and 30-45 minutes for females since this would put you at a risk of losing muscle mass."
Weight Training
Various forms of it. Low reps, high reps, medium reps. What do you do? What your body is not used too. You are trying to overload and shock the muscle. 100 reps of a 20lb barbell will shock the muscle. So will 6 reps of 55lb barbell. Until you keep doing one or the other, and then you switch it up.
You need to be lifting weights 4 times a week, and then EITHER doing cardio after weight training and resting 100% on off days, OR cardio only on non-weight training days, OR BOTH (cardio up to 6 days a week, either in am or after weight training, no longer than 30-45 minutes a day)
Remember, weight training is for weigh training. You should be resting in between sets so that you can tax your muscles to the fullest on your next set. If you do back squats and spend 60 seconds doing something else, you are back to trying to burn calories in your mind when really, your muscles need to rest so they can recover and be taxed to their fullest on the next set.
This was a lot for me to take in. Later last night he continued to share with me the changes I needed to make with my food intake, I could feel my head spinning and knew my eyes were glazing over. He was talking about how I needed to eat starchy carbs in the morning, increase my protein consumption all to feed the muscles I was trying to build. All of which I know is true and I will have to do, but for now I want to work on baby steps.
"Baby step onto the elevator... baby step into the elevator... I'm *in* the elevator." -Bob Wiley
"I am no longer trying to lose weight."
I CAN end my day with a caloric deficit under 500 and still be a winner!
I WILL still be healthy!
I WILL continue to be thin!
I am NOT on the road to gaining weight again!
I HAVE achieved my goals I started out with!
"I am no longer trying to lose weight."
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