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Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Too Much!!! Not Enough!!!

Do you still remember your New Year resolutions?
I do, because I put them in practice right away on January 1st .

Resolution #1:


To balance my life and organize my time in a reasonable way, I mean a way that seems reasonable to others--because my schedule always seemed extremely reasonable to me. So what if I spent twelve hours glued to my chair in front of my computer. As long as my neck or fingers didn’t hurt, I saw no reason to stop writing.


But my family didn’t agree, and I finally listened to their complaints. My dear husband felt neglected. He is very supportive of my writing, especially when I receive a check or a good review, but apparently there are limits to how much a good hubby can take. Apparently, I focus so much on my monitor screen when I write that I don’t even hear him when he talks. Huh?

So to please my husband and soothe my conscience, I cut on my writing, devoted more time to my family and exercised to improve my health. I wrote my New Year resolutions. Same resolutions as last year and the year before. But this year I took action and signed up with a trainer for twenty-four sessions, or three months of supervised exercise. There was no escape out of my commitment.

Where do I stand two months later?

I went to the gym four times a week, for an average of an hour and half to two hours a day: half an hour of cardio followed by half an hour of weights with my trainer, and finally another half hour of cardio. My family and friends admired my determination at losing weight.

You would think that after this hectic program I should have slimmed down, become fit and felt happy with my perseverance.
Except that, I was exhausted after every session and hardly able to walk. My muscles ached, my right elbow was sore, and after four weeks I developed a serious back problem.

Not to worry. My trainer dragged me to the chiropractor who has his clinic in the gym itself. He asked me to inhale and exhale, pulled my legs (seriously) and then pressed them with all his strength. I heard a crack and thought my vertebral column snapped into two pieces, but after an hour of therapy, lying on a hot moving waterbed, and other relaxing methods, I was back in shape. To be safe, we cut down on the tougher exercises for a week, repeated the therapy four times and I went back to my routine.

After two months, my trainer pinched my waist, thighs, back, …with some measuring tool and proudly announced that I lost five pounds of fat. Unfortunately, I gained one pound in total weight. Huh???

Therefore, trainer and weights are not the right way to lose weight. At least for me. Once I finish the four weeks I still have on my package, I will need to find myself a different exercise program.


Any suggestions?

12 comments:

Skhye said...

LOL! That's so my story without the back problem. Good thing. I've had back surgery. I've been riding an elliptical 45 minutes every other night. One would think I'd have lost 10 pounds by now. NO! I'm definitely shrinking a bit. But forget weightloss! Of course, muscle weighs more than fat. Fat takes up more space than muscle... You've heard the drill. I can see the exercise working up my legs/thighs to my waist now. And my arms are more toned. So, how long am I going to have to ride this machine to LOSE weight? I don't have time to do this every night like when I was young and skinny.

KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK!

Mary Ricksen said...

There is only one way to lose weight and that is to cut your calories. Eat no more then 1,000 a day and you will lose it.
Like Skhye says muscle weighs more than fat. So you really have lost fat and gained muscle.
It's all about intake and output.
Intake food-outtake, using the calories you have eaten.
No matter how they package it, you have to cut the calories. I remember you Dr telling me I could eat a banana split, which he said was 1,000 calories, or I could eat things like chicken and salad and have more to eat.
I have been dieting my whole life, and even when I was thin, I saw a fat person in the mirror. Go figure.
Now I eat less then I ever have, and stay the same. Ugh!
But to me Mona you look perfect as you are.

Emma Lai said...

As a general rule I don't make New Year's Resolutions. I make daily, weekly, or monthly resolutions to do things as it is. Why add one more to the mix?

As for weight loss. I long ago gave up on trying for the ideal weight. My ideal weight would have had me 20 lbs lighter and sick all the time. (At least that was the result the one time I managed to achieve it. All it took was having my wisdom teeth surgically removed and being unable to eat anything except broth and jello for a week. Not something to recommend.)

I've actually found I lose weight if I eat more small meals throughout the day. This gives my body a chance to burn the calories rather than store the extra as fat.

Breakfast: cereal
Mid-morning snack: yogurt
Lunch: Salad
Afternoon snack: granola bar
Dinner: Whatever I want

And a walk around the block to keep the circulation up!

Mona Risk said...

So I'm not the only one killing myself for nothing? I'm glad I can compare notes with you Skhye. I have four more weeks--they are paid for--and then I stop the weights and trainer and go for swimming. I have my granddaughter(almost 3 y) here for a week. She made swim and run after her. If I keep her for another week I bet I will lose 2 pounds.

Mona Risk said...

Mary,

I have been dieting my whole life too. Now I wonder why. Compare to now, I was great.LOL If a 1000 calories is the trick, I will count and report to you every day. I have to feel accountable to do it.

Mona Risk said...

Emma Lai I copied your diet. I am going to go for it. Actually I used to follow a very similar one ten years ago and it worked, but that was ten years ago when my metabolism was not in recess.

Today I was frstrated I let go and ate a big bowl of ice cream, and regretted it two minutes later.

Skhye said...

I used to eat 1000 calories or less a day. That's when I was a size 3. I've got to have energy to keep up with a 3 yr old now. So, forget the 1000 calories. I went into the year thinking if I just lost 10 pounds this year, I'd happy. I've really lost 2 since I started exercising a few weeks before Christmas. So, I guess I'm on track without a diet change. :)

I was a size 3 until I turned 30. I had to eat no fat, no salt, no sugar, no caffeine all those years and exercise on a ski machine an hour a day with the tension as high as I could get it on the foot slats. So, I'm going with slow weight loss and just dealing with the rate of change.

Beth Trissel said...

Wow, Mona, what a tale. All that workout stuff you did makes me hurt just to read about it and not to actually lose weight. Not fair!

I can't remember what my goals were but I'm sure I made some. I'm trying to get into better shape too.
And stay healthier this year.

Rebecca J. Clark said...

Hey Mona,
As a personal trainer myself, I can tell you you're on the right track. If you've gained a pound of scale weight yet lost 5 lbs of fat by your trainer's calculations, then you've gained 6 pounds of muscle. That's a good thing, sweetie.

You are a success story!

Muscle and fat weigh the same, but muscle takes up way less space. Who cares what that blasted scale says if your body is shrinking? i've had clients lose just 3 scale pounds but two pants sizes.

I know it's tempting, but please don't eat just 1000 calories a day. That'll backfire. Your body will think it's starving and will cause your metabolism to slow WAY down. Eat at least 1200 cal/day, more if you're active. I won't let my clients eat less than 1500, and most of them eat 1800. Or more. Food is fuel. You can't drive your car when your gas tank is empty. Your body is the same way. You have to eat to lose weight. Seriously.

Becky

Mona Risk said...

--Eat at least 1200 cal/day, more if you're active. I won't let my clients eat less than 1500, and most of them eat 1800. Or more. Food is fuel.--

Becky that is exactly what my trainer told me. Thank you for restoring my trust in her and my self-confidence. I am back to the gym tomorrow.

Rebecca J. Clark said...

Good for you. You're doing great!

Molly Daniels said...

I've cut down on my portion size, and started walking 3-5 miles twice a week. So far, I've already lost 3 pounds. Haven't been on a scale in two week, though.

My goal is drop at least one pants size; I'd actually like to drop 40 lbs by July, but I'll be happy with whatever results I get by that time.