My Month Long Goal Is A Bust...Yet Succeeded!

     Well it is time for my challenge wrap up. I have had a rather interesting month as far as my challenge is concerned and in my personal life. I essentially ended my challenge in the middle of the month, but not by choice and not completely

     For the a little bit better than a month I have been battling an infection that has occurred in one of my toes. It is a type of staph infection and it has been rather persistent. I am currently on my third round of antibiotics. With each new prescription the antibiotics have become stronger and stronger, the procedures on my foot are becoming more and more invasive.

     With that said my goal of 125+ beats per minute for 40 minutes has done rather well and I believe that my exercise plan can be labeled a success. This  can be verified by looking at my weight loss for this time period. On April  1st my weight was 218. During the first two weeks while still working out I was able to loose 10 pounds, bringing my weight down to 208. That is where it stayed for the rest of the month. This correlates directly with my exercise to no exercise month. With the exercise I lost 10 pounds and then leveled right off when the exercise ended.

     I have not completely abandoned all exercise though and have still maintained a consistent calorie intake to allow for weight loss ans maintenance. I have managed in the last two day to drop and additional two pounds bringing my weight down to 206 pounds and a total weight loss of 12 pounds. I believe that this is because of watching calories and walking. I make sure to walk everyday and am getting in between 4 - 5 miles in per day. This does not end my quest. Instead it is strengthened and I hope to very soon be able to rigorously exercise soon.

Set Back still result in Success

     So I have had some setbacks this week, and yet I seem to be succeeding. My setback is that I managed to have a foot infection resurface this last week. I ended up returning to urgent care to have it dealt with. After a minor procedure things seem to be improving but the foot is a little soar. So that means there was no biking this week. I would like to continue and I hope to do that starting on this coming Monday.

     Even with all of that said I have managed to drop even more weight. I weighed in at 208. That means I have dropped ten pounds since April 1st. What is more exciting is that I have managed to start using a Fitbit and I have been able to manage my calorie and water intake much better. Not only that I have set my goals to allow for less calories than my body is consuming. Thus allowing for weight loss. Since I started using the Fitbit I dropped four pounds. That is four pounds since last Sunday. Feeling great!

     I have a desk job so I do not move around a lot during the day. That is why I manage to carve out some time during the day to go for a walk. I walk around the medical center that I work for which encompasses several blocks. I will do this twice. I am not sure how far it is and will be using my gps to measure out the distance. Also, several times during the day I will get up and just walk for 5 to 10 minutes. This allows for some calorie burn and to get the blood flowing which helps keep me awake.

     I am really liking the Fitbit. We had it laying around the house for awhile because my wife received it from her former employer but we never set it up. I was looking for something better to track my healthy life style. What I did not realize is that we already had a great health tracker available. My wife let me use it and I have not looked back. Pairing the Fitbit with its app there is nothing, so far, that I have not been able to do.

     When I finally start exercising this next week I plan on changing it up by using the rowing machine instead of the bike. I have always wanted to add a rowing routine because of the total body workout that I cannot get on the bike. I am anticipating that I will loose some more weight during the upcoming week. With just one week to go for my challenge I am really happy with the results. Now it comes down to pushing for the finish line. I cannot wait!

The Race Is On To Loose Loose The Pounds

     This is the half way point in the month and I am making great progress. The hardest part of the progress is the hungry feeling that comes over me about half way through the day and yet I keep pushing. I will be pushing through the finish line. Not to the finish line but through it. I do not plan on stopping when I get there.

     If I can push through and double what I have lost so far I will be well on my way and can consider this project a success. Then I suppose that no matter what happens I have already succeeded because of the weight that I have already taken off. As of my weigh in last night I was down to 209 pounds. That is down 9 pounds from the 218 pounds that I started with.

     That's right. If by the end of the month I double the weight I have lost so far I will have lost 18 pounds. Not bad for a plan that I have put together myself. Most people would say that I am very successful with having already lost 9 pounds. I am not most people. I will push to the end for even more.

     Remember that I have not just done this on exercise alone. In order to loose this much weight I really had to watch what I am putting into my body. That means closely watching my calorie intake. I have been watching this very closely. In fact I have only been on this plan for 15 days and I can tell that I feel as if I have over eaten if I eat two pieces of pizza (which I ate last night). Yes, pizza. I really have not changed what I eat, just how much I eat.

     I have carefully calculated my diet. I take in what I need to, not what I want to. On any diet a person must also be careful to not consume to few calories. I really do not want to make that body think that it is starving so that it starts conserving calories and starts to shut down. Once it decides to conserve calories it can actually put on fat for use later. Not only will fat be added to the body but it will not keep the muscle in healthy condition.

     So this is my ongoing challenge for the month of April. Once I have completed this I plan to continue on with my exercising. I will be moving from just a fat burn to muscle building and working on my flexibility. Yes, I will get my heart rate up to the required speed for the appropriate amount of time. I just am working out the final plans on how to do that while building muscle.

    There you have it, 9 pounds lost in 15 days! 15 days left and 9 pounds to go! Cannot wait to see where I am at on April 30th!

125+ Beats Per Minute Challenge...The Update.

     This little project is looking great now. I had a little set back in the beginning with my start date. I was originally going to start my challenge on the 28th of March...that did not happen. Instead I started on the first of April. That means the end date for this challenge is the last day of April, which is the 30th.

     I have been enjoying my little evening indoor bike rides. I have been biking for 40 minutes everyday. Actually slightly more than 40 minute because of the 5 minute warm up in the beginning and the 5 minute cool down at the end.

     I have been doing this now for one week. I am feeling great! I started out with a weight of 218 pounds. I have been closely monitoring my calorie intake and getting the biking done. As of today, I am down 6 pounds weighing in at 212. It is an excellent feeling to see the progress.

     I still have a ways to go before I reach my goal. Keeping on this pace though I am going to get there. Just think, if I can loose 6 pounds every week this month that will be 24 pounds for the month. With 24 pounds missing I should feel much better and will be tracking toward the ultimate goal of 183 pounds. I will have 11 pounds to go in the month of May if I keep on this course. I am going to do it. I desire to do it. I will do it.

     As I said, this is a combined effort from exercise and watching the calories that I am taking in. If I pig out and eat to much then the exercise will not be enough. You cannot take in more calories than you are burning from exercise and expect to accomplish any weight loss goal. Is it tough? Yes! You must have the determination to overcome the difficulties and crush the weight.

     I am doing this challenge on my own. I have the drive for success. I have a drive that will not allow me to fail and if I fail I get right back up and keep going. I do not let things get in my way and have the determination . Not everyone has this type of drive. The best thing that can be done is to create a team for yourself. Whether it is one person of 100, build a team to keep you honest and driven.

Remember every successful person has also been a failure.

Time to Move Up by Going Down...with My Weight

     Unfortunately I was unable to start my month long challenge on the 28th of March, I did manage to begin on April 1st.

     My challenge is to do 40 minute cardio workouts for the next month, from April 1st to April 30. The goal of this challenge is to maximize weight loss. My preferred method of exercise is the use of an exercise bike. This way I can set my target heart rate and the bike does the thinking for me.

     I am looking for my average heart rate to be at 125 beats per minute. It takes approximately 20 minutes of exercise at 125 beats per minute (approximately) before your metabolism kicks in and starts to burn the body fat.The next 20 minutes, in theory is to burn the fat.

    On April 1st my weight was 218 pounds. My goal starting out is to burn off 18 pounds just to get down to 200 pounds or less in the next month. Ultimately I am looking for a weight between 180 and 190. The final weight can be at 180 - 183 I will have accomplished my ultimate goal.

     Just remember though, weight loss is not accomplished by one single thing though. I must strictly maintain the correct diet in order to make this really effective. If I end up eating more calories than my body can burn during the day I will get no where. That is one thing that I have really been working on since last May.

     I had a very eye opening experience when it came to my calorie intake. I watched my diet like a hawk...until I broke my foot and all there seemed for me to do was sit on my butt watching Netflix and...eating. Yes, I did back slide and gained back the weight that I lost just by adjusting the diet. Now I am back and ready to take on this beast once and for all.

The challenge has begun and the weight will be melting. Stay tuned for updates.