Project 185

So, Thanksgiving week, I started a plan to lose the extra fat that I've been packing around. I call it Project 185, because that is my target weight. The weight I played football at in HighSchool many years ago. Now I know that this may not seem like the best week to start a diet, or maybe it was - what better time of year to take it off, instead of putting it on. Basically, I started to track what I eat again - mostly the calories and to excercise even more. I checked out the Biggest Loser book from the library and liked what I read in there. As a fan of the show - I was amazed and encouraged by the progress the contestants showed. In the book, they suggest you reduce your calories to 7x your weight. My starting weight was 235. so 1,645 was the target. I also started to eat 5 to 6 mini meals a day of approximately 200-300 calories. I also excercise - mostly indoors during the week and XC ski on the weekends.

That was 10 weeks ago. My goal was to lose 2lbs a week and to do that I need a calorie deficit of 1,000 a day. So far I'm down 17.5 lbs. I try to workout 6 days a week. I looked back at my weekly journal and see that I've only missed 5 days of excercise for 10 weeks - and that's over the holidays. I like a lot of different activities - I mix cardio including, spinning, eliptical, XC skiing and a little running with lifting at least three days a week. I've even attended a few yoga classes - harder than I thought they would be. I really like cycling - it's great to get in a HR zone and just hold it there. Feels good and burns a lot of calories. I'm buying a road bike to go with my mountain bike so when spring comes I'll be ready.

One of my goals is an upcoming century ride (100miles) near my home in mid April. So, I'm training to build my aerobic base in zones 1-2 right now. Keeping my HR below 156 bpm through February - and losing fat in the process.

I had been using the 220-age to calculate my heart rate zones, but recently switched to using the Karvonen method, which uses the difference between your resting HR and your max. I was very surprised at the difference in the zones. For example under the 220 method my 60% rate was 109 bpm, using the Karvonen method it is 134 bpm. My research says this method is more accurate - I just know that it means I have to work harder, but judging by my own perceived exhertion I think that is keeps me working harder. BTW, a HR monitor is a great tool and I find it very motivational - especially if it calculates calories burned - I have a goal of 1000 a day minimum and the HR helps me know how hard I'm working and how that equates to calories.

I thought I'd try and write a bit about my weekly workouts and how I'm feeling about things to help keep me motivated.