Closing in on the goals

            First things first; a shout out to my friend George who read this blog, got inspired and has started going to the gym. He doesn't need to lose any weight - quite the opposite - so is on a very different work out regime to me but I wish him the best of luck with it! It was pretty cool to be told I'd inspired someone to start pursuing their own fitness improvement plan and it only gives me greater reason to keep going.

            Secondly I am 209lbs as of this morning, so finally under the 15 stone mark. I've been struggling to lose than last bit of weight to get me under and I'm pretty damn happy that I've managed it. This means I am only 20lbs off of my goal of 189lbs - 13.5 stone. 20lbs may sound like a lot but since starting my diet seven months ago I've lost 50 whole pounds so I've definitely done the hard part. I'm making an estimate that 12 more weeks will see me reach that goal and I cannot wait!

            Now the slightly less positive side. I still have an unfortunate amount of shape to me. This is, a very brief bit of research using what are probably not professional sources and some which are tells me, because I have lost a significant amount of weight in a relatively short time and my body has had time to adjust gradually. I should continue to lose shape once I hit my goal weight and level off my diet but it is a little disappointing.

           

            All problems beg a solution, every obstacle is one to be climbed - so how do I tackle this? I could be patient and just wait. There are two problems with this; I'm pretty impatient as described earlier in this blog and it doesn't feel like a proactive response. In fact, it feels a lot like being lazy. So what is my chosen solution? More focused exercise! If I work out the areas that have the shape on them they should lose the shape faster. A genius hypothesis supported by (some of) the research I found.

           

            Now, what are the complications of that solution? Well, for starters I'm not that in shape. My half hour jog (extended to 32mins for a total of 3.5kilometres)  doesn't leave me quite as exhausted as it did before but I really do not feel up to doing squat thrusts or sit ups afterwards. My decision is to do 10 minutes rowing, increasing that as time goes on and my stamina improves but I don't know whether I can manage 10 minutes rowing on top of 30 minutes jogging. Do I cut back on jogging a little to fit the rowing in? Do I start with a lesser amount of time rowing? Do I wait until I'm in better shape to start rowing and just bring myself to do some sit-ups in the morning and evening?

            Probably a mixture of those choices. Waiting, as described above, is probably out and I don't really want to cut back on the jogging as I want to focus on my cardio and stamina - it's also better for calorie loss. So I may just do 5 minutes rowing and build on that to start with, coupled with some sit-ups before and after bed. We'll see how that goes and no doubt updates on it will appear here.

            I have also come to accept there are other things to do at the gym other than cardio. As I get closer to my goal I've started to branch out a bit and now include a ten minute weight session - obviously not continuous, exercise is staggered over that time because I know it isn't a good plan to start off by lifting continuously for whole minutes at a time. Why have I started this? Well, I did originally cast the idea out as I was focused on losing shape but now I've done 60-65% of that I want to start looking at fitness beyond not being obese. It's only a light session but a) that's the best way to start and b) it gives me a foundation to work on once I reach my weight goal. This will, as the cardio work has, increase with time and should hopefully mean I don't go through a stage of looking like a desiccated husk with bags of excess skin. Not a nice image at all, which is why I hope to avoid it.

            So all in all a very positive report, if three days late. However, while these posts are not quite regular they are becoming increasingly frequent so hopefully that'll compensate for it. As ever questions, comments and congratulations welcome! And to everyone out there who takes anything away from this please let me know and/or talk to me about it - even if it's questioning what I've said. As Descartes told us, a little existential doubt never hurt.