Rage against the 30-something spread

J

jia-ren

0
In the past year I've completely lost focus of my fitness goals. The progress that I made in 2006 has been completely erased and I am back to the frightening weight that I was at before I lost 30+ pounds on the weight watchers program.

I'm closing in on my 35th birthday, it's 82 days away. It's time for a change. I can't continue to neglect my fitness and feed myself junk. My own laziness is my biggest problem.

Today I started a 6 week weight lifting program - 5 days of lifting with specific muscle groups each day. I'll be walking every morning for my cardio until I work back up to running - I cannot believe that a year ago I could run a 5K and now the thought of it seems impossible again.

It amazes me how quickly fitness slips away when laziness takes the reigns.

Friday was day 1 - Chest + Tricepts lifting & 40 minute walk
 
Goals to reach pre-35th B-day

Exercise:
1. Complete 6 week lifting program.
2. Walk dogs every morning (for their health and mine).

Nutrition:
1. Drink all of the water I should be drinking.
2. Eat balanced meals / 5-8 veggies a day.
3. No eating when I'm not hungry.
4. Write down everything I eat even if it's junk.

Stats:
Current weight - 198 (ugh!)
Goal weight - 150 (wont get there before 35th, but I can be on my way).
Current BF - 40.1% (ridiculous!)
Goal - 20%
 
Hey there, just wanted to say good luck with your goals. I hope that it all goes well for you. Just remember that the forum is always here if ya need to vent or grab some advice.
 
Ah, the dreaded 35!! I passed that particular hurdle 2 months ago and, like you, decided it was time to fight back against gravity and mother nature!!

Welcome and the very best of luck :D
 
Thank you for the support. I'm a refugee from another forum that shall remain nameless that was less than supportive of old people like me. :p

My mom turned 64 two weeks ago and (nothing against her personallity or emotionally) but her body is a snapshot of how I'll end up looking if I don't start TCB.

Women supposedly lose 1/2 a pound of lean muscle each year and gain 1 pound of fat just due to aging (factoid from 20 questions about fitness from the Firm dvd's back when they 1st started). So my lifelong goal is to fight that muscle loss (mother nature) and make gravity my itch-ba.

Weekend goal - keep to the workout and eating plan even with DH and DD at home.
 
Day 1 (yesterday) - 10 reps per set (^ = need heavier weight nxt time)
Chest
Bench Press - ^10/^20/^20 - Incline Bench Press (bowflex) 25^/35^/50
Flat Bench Dumbell Fly (bowflex) - 35^/50

Tricepts
Pressdown (bowflex) - 30^/40^
Overhead ext (bowflex) - 25/30
Kickback (bowflex) - 20/30

I started out light b/c it's my first lifting workout in months. But the weights were too light on most reps. I really must get my dumbells back, I couldn't do this properly with the light weights on hand.
 
Day 2 - Walked dogs 40 minutes
Lifting - 10 reps each set
Legs
Squats 30^/30^/30^
Leg Press 200^/200^/200^
Leg Extension 60/60
Leg Curl 50^/55^
Roman Dead lift 30/30
Calves
Standing Calf Raise 0/0 (I don't need my calves to get any bigger)
Seated Calf Raise - I don't think I can do this at home.
Abs
Crunch 0/0
Reverse Crunch 0/0

Not a bad workout, but I think this is going to need to be done at the gym next time since the boflex is pretty crap when it comes to leg press and calves.
 
Weekends are the worst for my fitness goals! They totally throw me off. Saturday was fine. My mom and sister went with me on my walk and I got to do my lifting. But Sunday and Monday (since it was a three day weekend) were terrible. DH was sick with some sort of awful stomach flu and DD refused to do anything other than insist that I play with her ever second of the day. I couldn't get her to walk the dogs with me so I missed walking both days and missed lifting Monday.

To top off my lack of exercise I ate like I was trying to gain 50 pounds in 2 days. So today I have the honor of catching up on the lifting that I missed yesterday in addition to the scheduled workout for today. At least yesterday was a relatively short wrokout so it's not too much to catch up on.

Today I'm starting my food diary and cals tracking. I'm not going to set a target yet for cals - I know that the shame of putting everything I'm eating on the board with help curb what I eat initially and the target can get set in a couple days. Okay off to lift some weights.
 
Congrats on making the decision to get back on the road. If you're interested in a good book on lifting, I'd suggest looking at The New Rules of Lifting, by Lou Schuler and Alwyn Cosgrove, or the forthcoming (just after Christmas) The New Rules of Lifting for Women, by Lou Schuler, Alwyn Cosgrove and Cassandra Forsythe.
 
Thanks stingo - I'll probably wait for the chic specific book to come out.

I had a good workout this morning and although I can tell I'm going to be sore it's put me in a good mood. I made it to the gym to workout for the first time in probably 10 months. It's been so long I don't remember exactly when I was there last. I couldn't even find my membership card not that it really matters - I finally gave up and just borrowed a loaner.

Cardio - walk dogs 35 minutes (getting faster)
elliptical 40 minutes (10 pre-lifting 30 post)

I did my Day 4 and Day 5 lifting workouts:
Delts:
Over head Press 15/15/15/10 (5 reps)
Upright Row 10/20/20
Lateral Raise 10/20(3 reps)/15/10
Reverse Pec Fly 10/20-15-10

Back
Bent Over Row 10/15/15
Lat Pull Down 60/75
Seated Row 40/55
Shrugs 10^/20

Bicept Curl 10/20(7 reps) 15(5 reps) 10(5 reps)
Abs - crunches/reverse crunches - 3 sets each
 
Wednesday's workout:
Chest
Bench Press (bowflex) 50/55/55
Incline Bench Press (bowflex) 55/50/45
Flat Bench Dumbell Fly (bowflex) - 45/45/45

Tricepts
Pressdown (bowflex) - 50/50/50
Overhead ext (bowflex) - 25/30 (hum... no improvement)
Kickback (bowflex) - 30/30

Cardio - walked the dogs 1/2 an hour.
 
Thursday's workout:
Walk pups - 30 minutes
Weights at the gym so can't compare to last workout - Legs & Abs
Legs
Squats 20/30/30
Leg Press 90^/119^/130^ (40 reps)
Leg Extension 55/55/70
Leg Curl 55^/70/70
Roman Dead lift 20/20
Calves - skipped the calves
Abs
Crunch on the ball - 3 sets of 10 (not really enough of a work out here)
Reverse Crunch - 2 sets on the hangy thing, whatever it's called.
 
I forgot the cardio after lifting -

30 minutes elliptical

My back/shoulders from Tuesday's workout are so sore. But it means progress in the right direction. I've been trying to stretch them out today as much as possible, but I'm really feeling it.

I took progress pictures today - unfortunately they are technically the before pics since this is rock bottom by my estimation. OMG - the pics look absolutely terrible. :eek2: This is the damage that I can do to my body in one year of not working out and eating poorly? How frightening.
 
Good luck, girlfriend. Consider cycling - burn a lot of calories, get shapely legs, get great cardiovascular workout.
 
I ate like I was trying to gain 50 pounds in 2 days
Click to expand...
lol u crack me up girlie.
i am worst on weekends too though i am a SAHM but still.
u are doing great and i am highly motivated to move my bum around after reading your posts..keep up the good work
 
gr8r80 - back when I had a 'real' job I used to bike to and from work (7 miles each way). It was a great way to start and end the day. I agree - biking is awsome. I really need to check out the spinning schedule at the gym.

Slim - I'm a SAHM too. My daughter is in kindergarden and we are in the process of adopting from China. (My little sis is from China too, she's now 7.)

Actually the girls are a big reason why it's so important in my mind to get back into shape. I don't want to be one of the fat mom's. To that end - my weight was up 2 pounds this morning! GRRRRRRR!

I expected this upswing so I'm trying not to panic. This always happens when I start working out hard - initial bloat which clears up after about 2 weeks when my body gets used to the work. I'm taking deep breaths and repeating that explaination to myself every time I start to panic and think that I should just stop eating entirely (which never works).
 
jia-ren said:
Actually the girls are a big reason why it's so important in my mind to get back into shape. I don't want to be one of the fat mom's. To that end - my weight was up 2 pounds this morning! GRRRRRRR!
Click to expand...

Tweak this motivation into your intense desire to get to shape! ROCK WITH IT!............

Keep on trying---dont ever give up on yourself!

Good luck with this journal.......I just noticed it......LOL :rolleyes:


Best wishes to you


Chillen
 
You're spot on Chillin. I powered through my walk with the dogs so fast my lab was about to fall over.

Now starts the hard part for me - calorie counting. If I'm going to reach my goals this is the key for me. I know from experience that my weigh wont budge if I'm not on top of cals every day.
 
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