Week 1 Recap: Remember it's only week 1
In that gym life zone!
I like the beginning of training cycles because I adapt to eating and working out rather quickly. Once I get in the rhythm, it's hard to stop me; no cheeseburger or donut will make me falter, lol. Long story short, I did great in week 1...or at least I think I did, haha. I'll explain why I think so later on in this post.
If you missed my last post Racing Weight: Day One, for the first 5 weeks of training (Quick Start Phase), the following 5 guidelines apply:
- Have a calorie deficit of 300-500 calories,
- Focus on strength training
- Increase protein intake up to 30% of daily calories
- Fasted workouts
- Power intervals aka HIIT.
The main goal during the quick start phase is to lose weight and even though I haven't met all 5 of these guidelines exactly every day, I'm establishing my routine and finding out what works (and what doesn't) in order to meet these guidelines.
The tools I've used to really help me keep track of all the numbers have been:
- MyFitnessPal: An awesome app that lets me track my calories and enter items from a massive database of food. I can search for my food, or I can scan a barcode of the food's packaging, and it recognizes it. Instead of writing down every single morsel of food that I've had, I will write down a meal or two and if you are interested to find out more detail, my username is GoJohnnyRun.
- Bodymedia link: It is an activity tracker sort of like FitBit, which I wear around my arm. It helps me keep track of how much I burn based on my day's activities and also imports MyFitnessPal's data so I can see everything on one screen.
- Grocery shopping + preparation: Having meals prepared ahead of time helped to cut any excuse or laziness of making food. I would rather miss a workout than not have any food prepared for my meals the following day.
Earlier, I said I think I did well this first week, and the reason for that statement was because of my measurements. In Week 1, I weighed in at 210 lbs and 17.5% body fat. I also measured my waist in at 41.5 inches. During the week, I continued to keep track of my progress and noticed that my body fat started dropping significantly and my weight fluctuated a couple pounds down then up. I know that during the day certain things can influence these numbers; however, I kept the same conditions when I weighed myself and by the end of the week my scale reported that I had gained 2 pounds and that my body fat had dropped by more than 3%. My waist however went down by a quarter of an inch.
After analyzing all the numbers and also taking into account how I felt in terms of getting through the workouts (how my endurance has started to go up) I believe my scale is displaying inaccurate information. I have owned it for quite a while, and I wouldn't be surprised if it was malfunctioning. I am in the process of getting a new scale to rule that out, but I think it's safe to go by the waist measurements (I believe it's tangible evidence) and state that I'm going in the right direction. Just because some initial numbers are off, that doesn't mean I should stop what I'm doing.
So to sum it all up, week 1 went well. I have my rhythm back and my body, although sore, feels better than it has the previous 3 weeks when I hadn't exercised at all. My head also feels focused and clear. Even though my numbers are a little hazy right now, quarter an inch off my waist is a good thing. It's better than not losing anything or my waistline getting bigger. Remember to reflect on the progress no matter how small because many people fail to do that. Many people work their ass off for a week and expect to see results that take weeks/months to happen, and that just isn't the real world. I've seen how long results take; they take time. Remember, it's only week 1.
Weekly Summary:
WORKOUTS:
Incline Pushups
MONDAY
Morning - 2 mile run & Form Drills
Evening - 10-20 Pushups
Dumbbell Bench Press 2 x 12
Dips 3 x 10-20
Incline Pushups 2 x 10-20
Plank 3 x 30-60 sec
Side Plank 3 x 30-60 Sec
Supline Plank 2 x 10
Superman alt 2 x 10
Cooldown Easy 1 mi.
Had trouble with push-ups could only do 15, 10, then 5 and 5 assisted. Trouble with dips also. Core workouts...I was better at it 2 months ago.
TUESDAY
Warm up Squats
Barbell Squats 3 x 10
Walking Lunges 3 x 10
Swiss Ball Leg Extensions
Bosu Ball Squats
Single-Leg Calf Raise 4 x 15
Cooldown Easy 2 mi.
It's too EARLY!
WEDNESDAY - National Running Day
Fasted 2 Mile Run
THURSDAY - REST DAY
Woke up feeling fat! Lol
FRIDAY - National Donut Day
Form Drills
3.5 Mile Run
SATURDAY
Mixed Grip Chin-ups 3 x 10
Back Extensions 3 x 10
Alt. Dumbbell Row 3 x 10
Easy 5 mi.
SUNDAY - REST DAY
