Week 1 Results

I started back on Body for Life and have completed Week 1. It feels good to be back on a healthy eating plan and exercise routine. Had a good HIIT workout this morning and hit my abs afterwards. This was my HIIT routine for Week 1. This was done on the treadmill. I used a (mp3) program that I got last year called Treadmill Trainer by Yuri Elkaim. His TT#1 is great for someone just starting HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) or if you haven't done it in a while and want to get things going again. I change it up a little to suit me but this is the basic summary.

First interval is:
1 Min walking warmup
20 sec jog @ 60% of max run
30 sec fast walk (Repeat this 5 times)
Then the next interval is:
30 sec jog @ 60% of max run
1 Min fast walk (Repeat this 5 times)
The next interval is:
1 Min jog @ 60% of max run
2 Min fast walk (Repeat 4 times)
The last interval is:
2 Min jog (1st min @ 60%, 2nd min at 90%)
Then walk it out for a min, then you're done.

This was a good start for me to get back into the swing of running. I remember when I started my BFL Challenge last March, I pushed it too hard the first week and injured my knee, which resulted in missing my HIIT workouts for the 2nd week. I learned from that and haven't had any kind of knee pains thru the entire first week of doing cardio. Each week I plan to step it up a bit to continue pushing myself past what I was doing the previous week.

After my cardio this morning, I grabbed my floor mat and worked on my abs. UGH! Not fun! Lol! Someone told me if you find an ab exercise you don't enjoy doing, that's the one you should probably do more of. She's absolutely right! And at this point that includes every ab exercise out there for me! Ha! But I forced myself to get thru them and completed them. I did 3 sets to failure of Bent Knee Abdominal Hip Raises, 3 sets to failure of Barbell Abdominal Rollouts , then 3 sets to failure of Flutter Kick Oblique Crunches (bicycle crunches). Didn't enjoy any of it. But now that I'm done I'm glad I did it!

OK, my results for Week 1 are:
Lost 2 lbs.
Dropped 2.5% body fat
Lost 2.5 inches off waist & hips combined

Pretty good first week. :) I can definitely feel the wheels of motivation starting to roll!

Ashamed but Motivated - A New Beginning...

Never imagined after completing my Body for Life challenge in June 2010 and even winning 2010 Male Champion in the BFL Corporate Challenge that I'd let myself down and go back to where I was before. I'm ashamed to admit, I have. I didn't realize the negative result of going off track over the last few months until now. But this has shown me that a healthy lifestyle needs to be just that, a LIFEstyle. Something Body for Life taught me was how to eat healthy and how to exercise. I have the tools needed to live a healthy lifestyle, I just neglected them. And as I took my measurements and "before" photos today, all of this hit me like a Mack truck. But I'm not defeated. I feel challenged!

I decided a couple of weeks ago that I was going to start Body for Life the first week of 2011 and I'm excited to have started today. I'm motivated and am on the right track and will complete this first 12 week challenge. But this time I'm not looking at it as a "12 week" deal, but rather the beginning of eating clean and regular exercise for 2011.

For anyone who has had success in losing weight, becoming fit, or living a more healthy lifestyle but went back to old bad habits and eventually gained some of the weight back, or maybe all or more, don't be discouraged! Let that fuel you! I'm going to prove that you can get back to that healthy place in your weight, health, and back to loving the way you look and feel. Follow my blog over these next 12 weeks and see what happens. JOIN ME!