One Month Update
I started back to the gym in October. However, I have only been working out regularly for about a month.
The first few weeks were like a warm up. I was learning how to fit it into my schedule, what kind of workouts I am going to do and on what days. As I mentioned in my post A Change in Workouts, I was originally performing a short full body workout. I never really cared for the workout. I didn’t enjoy it, nor did I see any results. After all, I am doing this to see results.
When I began working out, my weight had ballooned back to 234. Since I have changed my workout, I have lost 10 pound!
I contribute this early success to many things including my diet. I am paying close attention to what I am eating and cooking more than I have ever while working out. Never before had I thought about the calories that I was ingesting throughout the day. Previously, I just ate things that were healthy. But now since I am making my own recipes, I am intentionally looking at the calories as well as the nutritional facts of products I am eating. By doing this, I am making simple meals that total of 300-600 calories.
I am also doing more cardio with my workouts. While I was doing the full body workout, I only did cardio on the days I wasn’t lifting. Now I do 35 minutes of cardio after lifting, usually on the elliptical. I still will go to the gym for a cardio workout when I don’t lift as well. In fact I am working on a new cardio plan for those days.
I believe one of biggest reasons for this success is because I am enjoying my workout. I switched from a full body workout to the same workout I was doing last spring before I quit. But this last week I have slightly tweaked my workout to consist of two different workouts for each muscle group. I literally have 2 separate workouts for chest and triceps, back and bicep and legs. There are so many muscles that help each group that I decided I wanted to work as many as possible, but I also didn’t want to be at the gym all night long. Mixing up the workouts makes sure they don’t become stale and keeps things interesting.
Equally as important as enjoying the workouts and mixing them up, is fitting the gym into my schedule. Like many people, I have a regular 9-5 job. Last spring, when I was doing more traveling and was a little more fit, I would actually wake up early and hit the gym before work. But I can’t do that know. I have been stressed with work (This is another reason to go to the gym; working out is a great stress reliever) and don’t always sleep that well at night because of thoughts racing through my mind. Because the gym is insanely busy with the after-work crowd, I come home after work, relax on the couch and watch some ESPN. I head to the gym around 7:00 pm and I am finished around 8:15 or so.
Of course I wouldn’t be enjoying any of this if I wasn’t seeing results. You may have to have a warm up period as well to see how you can fit your workout into your schedule. Once you do and start seeing results, I guarantee you will continue. It will become part of your lifestyle.
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