I swear every time I've lost weight, I must have gained muscle that follows me back up the weight ladder. I say this because my size-at-X-weight keeps getting smaller. When I weighed 165 in 8th grade, I wore a size 12. When I hit 180 around Christmas of my junior year, I was also a size 12, and when I got back down to 165 I was a size 10. Now I'm about 165 again, and I wear 10's, but I'm on the edge of an 8. And yet I'm still 36-37% fat?
Maybe the sizes are actually changing, like grade inflation for pants. They've certainly changed since the 60's, but do they change perceptibly over a 7-year timespan?
Anyway, school starts next Monday and it throws a whole new wrench into the gears. I've lost 20 pounds over the summer (yowzers!) and I may be able to claim 25 by the end of the 99 days. Right now it seems easy. It's never been about willpower, just ignorance - there is nothing difficult about limiting myself to one peanut butter cup when I know the exact numerical damage it will do. It's even easier to pass up the seconds of rice and beans (haha, I never get tired of this example do I?). And frankly, I'm not worried as much about my diet. I'm not living in dorms this year and won't have the money to buy a lot of on-campus food. What's more likely to go out the window is my exercise routine. So I've got a plan.
First, on the diet front - I'm in an entirely new situation. I've handled my own food before, but only while going to state school or during the summer. Preparing my own food with 26 hours a week of class and more of homework is another thing. There's also the difference of living with my boyfriend, whose body works in almost the opposite way to mine. I could go on and on, but the best example is that, left to his own devices, he would eat an enormous breakfast and an enormous dinner with maybe a few nibbles in between. On the contrary, I like a small breakfast, small dinner, large lunch, and at least 2 snacks. So, we are going to do some meal planning and weekend preparation of freezable/storable foods. I'll have to prepare my lunch, snacks, and lay out my clothes before bed because I'm terrible at getting out on time in the morning if I actually have to be creative.
Getting out on time is important because on TR, I have a 7:45 AM yoga class. If I get my ass up at 6 and don't have to do much, I can probably get down to campus at 7 when the sports center opens and get a quick elliptical workout and rinse-off done before yoga, which would be real nice. MWF I have the options of still rushing over the gym in the morning, running in the neighborhood and leaving a little later, or... sleeping in and leaving a little later.
Sleeping in will probably win a lot. It's easy to get up at 6 when you go to bed at 9:30, but when you're kept up til 11 with homework, it's hard for exercise to beat out sleep for second priority. And sleep is important to both weight loss and academic performance. But if I don't do it in the morning, school will loom in its king position for the rest of the day. So here are my goals and safety nets for exercise:
I want to keep doing cardio 5-6 times a week. This means 4-5 weekdays and 1 weekend day. First choice is running or elliptical, but if it doesn't happen in the morning, the backup plan is to speedwalk on the treadmill, 4 mph or as fast as I can go without starting to run, at least 40 minutes, whenever I don't have a specific place to be. The advantage of this is that if I'm not bouncing up and down, I can lay a book on the display and do schoolwork at the same time. It's not ideal, but it'll burn calories and not time. However, because I like being fit to run, I want to do a minimum of 2 proper runs each week. I imagine I'll go down to the local high school and run on the track for my weekend cardio, so that means I need to fit in 1 run during the week. I think I can do that.
In terms of strength training, well, let's just say it'll be a whole lot easier once I can do the exercises on my own. Then I won't have to change into gym clothes and go to the machine and wait in between sets... blah. When all I have to do is stop in at the park for 10 minutes on my way home it will be much easier. For now, I'll be happy as long as I keep doing my pull-ups 2-3x a week. At this rate, I should be able to do a pull-up unassisted by the time I reach my weight goal. I'll probably work on push-ups sporadically, but hopefully they'll improve without much specific attention because pull-ups use related muscles. Anyway, since my mornings are mostly booked, strength training will have to happen in the afternoon. I'll do it whenever I have time, in proximity to my treadmill walk if necessary, it'll be that last thing I have to do before leaving campus, and if I didn't do it Monday I must do it Tuesday.
Finally, I'm going to make an appointment with the health/counseling center to discuss ways of not getting derailed from good habits (including exercise, less sugar, less caffeine, and taking time for myself) when I am so pressed for time.
No comments:
Post a Comment