Day 37 – Taking A Day Off (Sort Of)

I was hoping to see another drop at my weigh-in this morning. Actually, I guess I hope for weight-loss every day! But this morning I expected it. I weighed-in at 207 pounds, which is the same weight as yesterday.

My feet have been a bit sore lately like I’ve been walking for miles. Because of the tiredness in my feet I decided to give my feet a day off from the treadmill. Instead, I used my mid-day break to do only the weight machine portion of the workout. Normally, I do half of the machines one day and the other half the next day. Yesterday however, since I was giving my feet the day off, I decided to do all the machines. Plus, I still haven’t reached the point where I could do three sets of 15 repetitions for every machine. Yesterday, I was determined to push through all three sets for each machine. I managed to pull it off and I could really feel the “burn” in my muscles. Also, I really felt the oxygen debt build up and I was able to get my heart rate up too. All in all, it was a tough work-out and I feel really good about it. I may keep that variation in my exercise rotation.

On another note, several days ago I sent an email to all of my friends and family telling them about my new blog and my endeavor to lose weight. Several of them sent me a reply back with encouragement but one really caught my attention. As he has done all my life, my father sent me a one liner that said, “If your workout is new for you, you may be losing fat and gaining muscle, which weighs four times more than fat!” That one line was more encouraging to me than all the others. My father has been a big encourager all my life, but his words were important too. Could that be why I have plateaued? Am I building muscle? I hope that is what is going on. I also listen to him because he is someone that was in my exact position many years ago and beat his weight problem. I was in college (and my son just finished college) when dad worked hard to lose the same amount of weight I am working on. He worked hard to understand his weight gain/loss and developed his workout. Now he is in his 70’s and going strong. That’s what it is all about!

With my weight staying the same as the day before at 207 pounds and this being the 37th day of my endeavor, my weight loss averages out to a .22 pound weight loss a day. That is below where I want it to be but the trend is still down. I have scheduled a mid-day workout break today. I am planning on running on the treadmill for 27 minutes at a speed of 5.5 then boosting the speed to 7.0 for the last three minutes. Plus I will do today’s scheduled weight machines for three sets of 15 reps.