Four months have passed since I started this program. This last month has been the toughest, in terms of losing weight, at least the first few weeks were. On October 25th, I weighed in (on the heavy scale) at 239.5. It would take me 21 more days to dip below 230 pounds and another six days after that to fall below 230 for good. So, it basically took me 28 days to lose 10 pounds. At one point in the month, my 30 day loss had fallen to 7.3 pounds. In other words, I had kind of slowed as would be expected.
Then, I finally took brianS's advice. Well, yes, that, but what had been happening is that I hadn't been working out all that much. This last week or so, I've been hauling my carcass to the gym and riding the bike. When I got to the point where I could ride for 45 minutes at 80% and feel like I had left too much in the tank, I switched to intervals. I am doing a hill ride that changes resistance every minute. I can set the average level, so there's a lot of room to increase the intensity, I'm at 13 of 25 levels. Man, am I making gains.
I've heard it said that adult men will lose 10 pounds of muscle in their 40s. I believe that's happened or something approximating that. My body fat level is still pretty high, even as I start to zero in on my goal weight. There's no doubt but that I've lost a lot of size -- my belt has five notches, spaced one inch apart. I was on the second notch (i.e. one from the biggest) when I started. I've moved in from that notch and have cut four more one inch spaced notches on the belt. I am ready to cut a fifth notch. The blue jeans that I bought a month ago are starting to show a healthy amount of room. However, I still have a lot more belly at this weight than I remember. That indicates to me that the composition of my body has changed; I've lost muscle. I need to weight train.
I think that I'll keep with the aerobics only until the end of the year. The gym has strength classes and my wife suggested yesterday that maybe we could both take one of those. That sounds good. I guess I'm getting closer to making the shift. That's a good thing!
Oh, and not only is today the four month date of this journey, but I have one other thing to report: as of this morning, I'm now down SIXTY (60) pounds. w00t!
Day 124
Weight: 224.4
Total Loss: 60.1
Loss since 25 October 15.1 <-- Okay, not really, that was on the heavy scale, but still, w00t!
Awesome, boss.
Strength training is definitely a key component of a long-term exercise program. Sounds like you probably have your heart in much better condition now, so you are in a good place for this shift. Good luck.
I have made tremendous progress, no doubt. I think the hardest part of a weight loss program is not getting discouraged. I know that I've been doing well, but some days I just feel like quitting. I had a period of about two weeks where I hardly exercised. This is definitely a pick yourself up and dust yourself off business.