Weekend Weight Loss Blues

Friday I lifted weights, climbed 31+ flights of stairs, took a 3.16 mile brisk walk, topped off the evening with some Kinect Boxing (which got me winded and sweating), all while maintaining a modest calorie deficit. Come Saturday morning, what did I have to show for it? The loss of just one fifth of a pound, weighing in at 294.2. Not the most of encouraging of mornings.

Saturday, disparaged, I overate somewhat in the first half of the day, but spent some 4 hours or so burning a lot of calories cutting up the felled trees in my yard, and ate VERY modestly in the second half of the day. Given the indiscretion I showed in the first half of the day, I suppose I should be happy that this morning I hadn't gained any weight. However, I figured that with how little change the scale had registered the day before, I would see at least some loss. Alas, not today.

3.16 mile walk in 0:52:44

I found an app for my Windows 7 Phone that uses the GPS to track and map walks and runs and the like. I tried it out for the first time today, briskly walking 3.16 miles in 52 minutes and 44 seconds. The app even puts maps up on the internet displaying the route taken, as you can see below. (No, I didn't walk as erratically as the squiggly lines suggest; looks like the app needs some improvement.) Without factoring out stops at crosswalks, this is an average of about 3.6 mph, which at my weight burned approximately 463 calories. Combined with the weightlifting and 31+ flights of stairs climbed this morning, along with the Kinect Dance Central I'll likely play tonight, it'll have been a good day of exercise!

Day Two, Week Three: Squats

Day two of week three has me doing 1 set of 5 squats at week one's weight, 1 set of 5 squats at week two's weight, followed by a final set of squats at 85% of my max weight until (near) failure, all followed up by two additional supplementary exercises. Also, hard as it was, I climbed the 31+ flights of stairs in my building when I got to my office building.

Squat Day
Exercise	2/18 2011	2/25 2011	3/4 2011	Week Four
Squat	350x5	400x5	350x5
	350x5	400x5	400x5
	350x5	400x5	425x6*
	350x5
	350x5
Back Extensions	100x15		110x15
	110x12		120x12
	110x10		130x10
Incline Situps	0x11 (P)	0x15 (G)	0x13 (P)
	0x7 (P)	0x11 (G)	0x9 (P)
	0x2 (P)	0x4 (G)	0x8 (P)
* Number of reps until near failure (P) Incline used at the PRO Club (G) Incline used friend's Gold's Gym

Day 4 Weigh-In

On Tuesday I weighed in for the first time since my last competition in December, and was discouraged to see I had ballooned to 300+ pounds, and the next morning was further dismayed to see I'd gained a pound, weighing in at 301+ pounds. Yesterday morning, however, I was overjoyed to see that I was down to 296.2, and while I may have been able to chalk losing 5 pounds up to water weight and previously eaten food making its way out of my system, the 1.8 pounds I lost in the 24 hours since has certainly got to be more about genuine fat loss. Weighing in at 294.4 this morning, I've got 52.4 pounds to go in 112 days, so I just have to lose an average of 0.47 pounds every day :S

An Encouraging Beginning...

I mentioned in Tuesday's post that I began weighing myself this week and was dismayed to see that I was up to 300 pounds, and despite carefully counting my calories, drinking lots of water and exercising a bunch, the next morning I was up to 301. Well, this morning things are looking up--down, that is. Of course weighing in at 296.2 pounds--some 5 pounds lighter than 24 hours earlier--is likely due primarily to water weight and excess food eaten before I began counting calories again. Still, it's an encouraging beginning!

Day One, Week Three: Military Press

Day one of week three has me doing 1 set of 5 military presses at week one's weight, 1 set at week two's weight, followed by a final set at 85% of my one-rep max until failure, all followed by two supplemental exercises:

180x15 (P)

Military Press Day
Exercise	2/16 2011	2/23 2011	3/2 2011	Week Four
Military Press	135x5	155x5	135x5
	135x5	155x5	155x5
	135x5	155x5	165x9*
	135x5
	135x5
16" Press	205x10	205x15	205x15
	205x10	225x12	225x10
	205x10	235x6	235x6
V-Bar Pulldown		180x15 (P)
		190x11 (P)	190x12 (P)
		195x8 (P)	195x9 (P)
* Number of reps until failure (P) Machine used at the PRO Club

Day Four, Week Two: Deadlifts

Day four of week two has me doing 3 sets of 5 deadlifts at about 80% of my one rep max weight, followed by two supplemental exercises. I followed it up by climbing 31+ flights of stairs when I arrived at my building from the gym. I need it, as I weighed myself this morning and was dismayed to see that I was up to 300.2 lbs., leaving me with 25+ pounds to lose in < 4 months just to compete in the weight class I've been competing in, or nearly 60 pounds to lose to compete in my desired weight class. I've got my work cut out for me.

Deadlift Day
Exercise	2/22 2011	3/1 2011	Week Three	Week Four
Deadlift	135x10	135x10
	225x8	225x8
	380x5	435x5
	380x5	435x5
	380x5	435x5
	380x5
	380x5
Dumbbell Walking Lunge	35x10*	45x10*
	35x10*	45x10*
	35x10*	55x10*
Kneeling Hamstring Curl	35x15†	45x15†
	45x15†	55x15†
	55x15†	65x15†
* Weight per arm, and steps per leg † Weight per leg