Dating Sites and Lowered Expectations

Recently I decided to look around a few dating sites. While I don't have a problem attracting guys, even at my weight, they just aren't the type of guys I'm interested in. The types that tend to be attracted to me are either unattractive, have no personality, or are hot but only want sex. While the latter can be nice on occasion, none of them are what I want or need.

At first I would only add the hot guys to my favorite list. It was like collecting cards, but completely meaningless because I would never message any of them, for fear of being rejected. I did reel in one hot one, but he had no personality. I had a hard time letting him go, but honestly I need sparks. I would rather be with someone much less attractive, who gave me butterflies, than to have a trophy boyfriend.

My search picked up again recently. I concentrated more on personality than looks, although I still had to have somewhat of an attraction towards them. I began talking to 2 people, one who seemed attractive and the other who seemed to have a lot of similar interests. While not feeling an instant spark with either of them, I continued talking to them. I gave it a full week before I decided that nothing would come of it. One had no personality and the other wasn't attractive enough at his shorter height.

While I did continue chatting with both of them in passing, I found that they both brought up what I consider a sore subject; exercise. In the past few months I haven't exercised an ounce, eaten healthier foods, or weighed myself to keep me in check. I'm coming out of a depression and am in no mood to bring myself down. I began taking energy pills 2 weeks ago and I think that they are starting to have an effect on me. Although it's been more like occasional short lived spurts of energy rather than an ongoing one.

Now when they brought up exercise in their individual conversations with me, it was "do you like to exercise?" I had said "occasionally." Apparently my pictures being posted on my profile, which showed I wasn't skinny, wasn't good enough for them. They both felt the need to sorely fuel the fire. Did I mention that this one question was a complete turn off for me. Neither of these guys were that attractive and both were on the short side. None of them would be considered GTL by a long shot.

It turns out one was obsessed with health and the other was just overly healthy. If health was an issue for either of them, you think that they would search for athletic girls. If I exercised, wouldn't I be in shape? Of course overweight people can exercise, but if they were really doing a good job, they too would be in shape. I wanted to say "Are you looking to make me over?" Honestly, because if I was in good shape, I wouldn't be talking to either of them to begin with. These individuals, who wouldn't stand out in a crowd of 2, had the nerve to play the weight card knowing full well that I wasn't skinny. Why even message me? They had to know somewhere deep down inside that they could never get an athletic girl despite their obsessions with exercise.

The funny thing is that even after replying to further questions with half-assed remarks, both still continued to contact me. So is weight an issue or not? I find it hard to believe that 2 guys obsessed with health would think that I'm skinny from looking at my face and arms. I do my best to carry myself well, but I can't hide my fat altogether. It's there and it's visible.

Finally, if it's not an issue, stop bringing it up! The shorter one was smart enough to move onto the next topic. However, the guy with no personality brought it up again a few days later. Didn't we have this conversation already?! Instead of saying occasionally this time, I flat out said no. He didn't respond for a couple of minutes and then said "What are you up to?" Dense!

Now I know that being overweight means that I can't be as shallow as I may have been before. I've done my best to adjust my high standards to moderate in order to find my perfect match. I'm a perfectionist at heart so even that was difficult for me. What I don't get however is that someone who is unattractive at their best shape can be so damn judgmental when it comes to looks. I put more stock on an attractive face than I do on body type. Therefore these guys I were talking too were actually well below my moderate level of standards because they had okay bodies and less than attractive faces.

I've even talked to heavy guys that had the nerve to talk about a girls weight. My only thoughts were, you would be lucky to get a girl that is 1 lb less than you are. It really is beyond me how these people can be so unaware of their appearance as a whole, both inside and out.

When I look at myself in the mirror, I try my best to view myself with accuracy. I know that I am fat and that I do not have the self control to change that anytime too soon. I also know that I have a somewhat jaded heart and broken spirit. These are all things I factor into my search to find my perfect match. Only a few under value themselves, but most over value themselves too greatly. This is why no one can be happy. Why can't everyone be real like me?

Surprisingly enough, after the intrusive exercise conversation, I hopped on the treadmill for 20 minutes. Let's see if I keep this up so I can reel in a better quality of guys.

REPOST: Former 'Biggest Loser' Contestant Calls the Show 'Dangerous'

By PopEater Staff Posted Jun 21st 2010 04:20PM

Kai Hibbard, a finalist on the third season of 'The Biggest Loser,' reveals how dangerous she feels the show really is to its contestants.

"I have people that come up to me and talk to me and ask me why they can't lose 12 pounds in a week when I did. When I didn't. It didn't happen. It's TV," she told the CBS 'Early Show.' "I need to take blame and responsibility for the fact that I helped perpetuate a myth that's dangerous."

When asked to clarify about her "a week is not a week on TV" comments, she said, "I'm saying that it would be, most times, longer than a week and I believe once, in my season, it was less than a week." (Contestants weigh-in on the show every week to determine who may get voted off.)

Hibbard also claims that the techniques they were taught to lose weight weren't always healthy. "The weight loss for that show is for ratings. People have to remember that 'The Biggest Loser' isn't a weight-loss camp that happens to be filmed for TV. It's a TV show that's made to look like a weight-loss camp. So there was pressure from production and everybody involved in the show to make sure you had as big of numbers as possible every week."

"I could tell you that before I went on the show, I never learned to dehydrate to manipulate a scale and I left knowing how to do it better than some fitness competitors I know," she explained.

But that wasn't the only thing she took from her time on the 'Loser' ranch. "I left with a very poor mental body image," she said, after dropping 118 pounds during 12 weeks on the series. She has since put 70 of those pounds back on.

"I found myself loathing what I looked like the more weight I dropped because of the pressure on me. And I found myself doing things like considering coffee a meal. And because of the mentality that I was surrounded with, and the pressure that was given at that show, it was considered acceptable to behave that way," she added. "I take full responsibility for everything that I've done. But you can't understand it unless you understand the pressure that was there," she continued.

Her husband added that all she would eat at times was coffee with Splenda and would always special order food if they went out for a meal. "She came back with her hair falling out and we all finally all sat down and were like, 'This isn't healthy for you,'" he said.

"My best friend and my mother are registered nurses, and along with my husband, they staged an intervention," Kai admitted.

Hibbard just wants people to be aware of what really goes on during 'The Biggest Loser.' "I participated in something that I feel is harmful to so many people, so I own responsibility to make it better. I'm not making any money off this. I am not getting anything out of it except for the fact that maybe I'm redeeming myself a little bit for being too much of a coward at that finale."

Article Link: Kai Hibbard - Biggest Loser - PopEater

Update 02-25-2010

Today I walked for 20 min at 3.3mph, completed 50 crunches, did 2 sets of arm workouts.

• Updated my progress bar. I think now that I placed this bar at the top of the page it will help to register in my mind better than when it was buried at the bottom. Before I was putting too much stress on how much exercise I had to do. Now I'm going to put the stress on how much weight I have to lose. Honestly, that chart doesn't scare me. It's a challenge I'm ready to take on.
  

• Created a WEIGHT HISTORY page. I hope that in posting my weight throughout the years, 2003-present, that it will make me more accountable for my actions. Along side of the data, I wrote a brief account of how much I gained each year and what my stressors were. Finally, I added a conclusion section listing things I've learned about handling weight issues in the future.

News That Makes You Move

TRUTH FIRST then NEWS

I'll admit that I haven't started exercising yet, despite my post saying I was going to. I feel guilty about that and I know this guilt will weigh on me and get me moving soon hopefully. I've been somewhat successful in prolonging the time between my meals, but I'm still eating more than 3 meals a day.

I HAVE HAD SOME SUCCESS THOUGH! Since my last post I've been drinking water throughout the day and am only having diet soda at dinnertime. I don't know if I feel healthier, but I have noticed a difference in the way I drink.

Well, let me start by saying that this is the first time I'm drinking water over soda since as early as I can remember. I switched to diet soda, pepsi, when I was about 17 years old. I basically have lived a dehydrated life and there have been times when blacking out was more common than not. There were a few years where I had blacked out maybe 4 or 5 times in a year. It was a mixture of heat exhaustion, dehydration, and stress. I don't know why I hated water, but I did. When I exercised on and off over the years, I would only drink the absolute minimum amount of bottled water needed to get by. This is why I'm shocked that switching to tap water, not even bottled water, doesn't feel so wrong to me. I think I might actually stick with this.

I've always chugged soda and would manage to drink about 2 bottles of soda a day. This hasn't changed, I'm chugging the tap water but I'm not having 2 bottles worth of it. For some reason I'm not quite as thirsty. When drinking soda at dinnertime, the glass takes much longer to empty. Even as I type this, I have quite a few sips left of soda from earlier in the day and it's taking me forever to get through it. I'll admit it it's a hard craving to kick, but I like this change and hope there are more to come with my new beverage of choice.

NOW FOR NEWS

Within the matter of minutes, I came across 3 health inspiring news articles to get even the likes of me motivated (tomorrow)...


DRASTIC HEALTH CHANGES CAN KEEP YOU FROM LOSING WEIGHT

According to Dr. Holly Philips from CBS news, when it comes to exercise, "we might start out too extreme, from not exercising at all to exercising too intensely." These drastic changes can be the reason why you're not losing weight. She suggests that scaling back on your efforts might yield bigger results. One small permanent change each week will help you lose 4x the weight in 4 months.

• A food diary forces you to keep honest about what you're eating.
• Eat slowly so you enjoy the meal and a result of that will be eating less throughout the day.
  
• Go to bed and hour earlier.
  
• Brush your teeth after every meal to get rid of the taste of food.
  
• Stop drinking soda.
• Walk 5 minutes extra each day.
  
• Chew gum while cooking.

VIDEO LINK: http://wcbstv.com/video/?id=139195@wcbs.dayport.com


BLOGGING THE WEIGHT AWAY

Australian born Shauna Reid, then 23, weighed 351 pounds when she started her blog, DietGirl.org. She posted full body photos, blurring out her face, and posted her weight loss journey earning herself international popularity with over 500,00 readers. She originally turned to blogging because she felt it was a forum for "anonymous group therapy."

"All my friends were skinny, so I didn't want to talk to them about how scary and lonely it is to be fat. They're lovely, but they just wouldn't understand -- they don't know what it feels like to not be able to walk down the street -- it is out of their realm of experience. I had always written my secrets in a diary, but I knew the task ahead called for more than a journal. So I would go online and tell anyone who was listening how much it hurt to be this weight -- and every blog entry started with my exact weight. Readers started to cheer me on when the number went down, and encouraged me to stay with it when the number went up. I'm blogging now about how hard it is to maintain a healthy weight."

Five Tips from Reid for Diet Blogging

1. Share your statistics
2. Get involved with the blogging community
3. Keep writing through the tough times
4. Have fun with your writing!
5. Beware of blogger butt - Don't forget to switch off the computer and get your exercise done!

ARTICLE LINK: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/01/26/earlyshow/health/main4753425.shtml


WAKE UP LOOKING BEAUTIFUL! Apparently washing your face before you go to sleep every night will keep your face looking young and healthy 5 years down the line.

• Take the pressure off your eyes and avoid wrinkles by sleeping on your back.
  
• Use 2 pillows to drain puffiness from your eyes.
  
• Too many carbs will make you look puffy in the morning.
  
• Use a humidifier to keep your face and hair full of moisture.
  
• Keep your hair frizz free with a Satin pillow.

VIDEO LINK: http://wcbstv.com/video/?id=139141@wcbs.dayport.com

Confession Time - 2 Week Absence

The exact moment I began this downward spiral was at my sister's super bowl party. I knew it would be a difficult day for me, but I thought it would be one day of self indulgence followed by my regiment of hitting the treadmill. The truth is I don't snap back like that. One day of failure lasts for days if not longer, of self pity, doubt, insecurities, and wallowing in depression.

The food course went as follows: snacks, appetizers, dinner, and dessert. Mind you the party started at 3pm and went until 10. In 7 hours I probably consumed two days worth of food, calorie wise. Meanwhile, when I attend any other person's party, I barely have a bite. There's something about family that comforts me into being the pig that I am. I won't even eat a chip at a friend's party because I know "once you pop, you just can't stop." Not only that, I know people are thinking no wonder why she's so fat, look at her have at it. I'd much rather the connection of my weight and food seem more like a mystery. I would rather people think, she barely ever eats, I feel bad she can't lose weight.

While the super bowl party was a set back on my weight loss goals, this was just one of many misfortunes I've had. My last week of exercise was supposed to cover 15 hours of exercise, 5 to make up for a half a week's exercise missed. I started strong going 3hrs a day for 3 days straight. Then I was feeling a little sore and just overall tired. Every day that I didn't exercise I was counting down the days I had left to meet my goal. I cornered myself into the last day of the week. At this point I've given up on making up the 5 lost hours from the previous week, I just need to complete my original goal of 10. One hour of exercise and I'm done. Instead, I decided to be lazy and I accomplished absolutely nothing. I failed 2 weeks in a row.

Now it's the end of the month and it's time for me to hit the scale, hoping that my motivation will be found in a mystery number. I wanted to see at least 179, but honestly even losing 1 lb would have done something for me. I should have never gotten on that scale. I didn't lose a single pound. In fact, I gained .5. Well, I can excuse that because I know that I'm supposed to get my period any day now. So I decided to wait a week until my period was over and the number didn't change even by a tenth.

What am I doing wrong?

I mentioned to my mom that I was following the livestrong.com suggestion of 1400 calories based on my height, weight, age, activity level, and weight loss goals. She immediately told me 1400 was way too high. I guess I should have known that, but in the past I felt the calculations were right. Now I'm aware that I don't measure my food and that's probably cause for some miscalculations, but I gave a little buffer room with that in mind.

Since I've taken my 2 week hiatus, I'm completely lacking energy. I just want to sleep all day and I don't know what's wrong with me. When I tried to take a one-a-day energy pill it just made me feel weird. This has to be depression getting the best of me. Except I don't feel depressed, I just feel exhausted. Maybe the exhaustion is me burying my feelings instead of tackling them. Even in writing this I don't feel like I'm dealing with anything, just laying out the possibilities.

I'm starting to realize some errors in my ways.

I've come to the realization that the only people who can eat 5 small meals a day are people who don't enjoy food. Small meals consist of something low in calories and unenjoyable. I enjoy food thoroughly and I need to have my 3 large tasty main meals and starve myself in between.

I'm too goal oriented, and I pushed myself too hard once again. Who exercises 3 hours a day? Not even gym buffs do that. I need to take it easy and get back into a new rhythm. Now that my phases are messed up, naming them will probably be my excuse for not working out at all. Let's hope it's not though.

I'm not catholic but I'm going to use Lent as a reason to lose weight. I will stick to 3 meals a day. I will cut back on soda drastically replacing it with water. I will be on the treadmill an hour 5 days a week. I will do sit ups and stop being lazy. Someone tell me when Lent is over.

I think that covers everything I've been going through these past 2 weeks. I might end up updating this later.

Phase 2: Double Time - Week 3

Last weekend I went to an event where I was trying to get pictures and video. Since I was all the way in the back I did a lot of holding my arms high into the air to get unblocked footage. Needless to say, my arms were too sore for weights. The whole day was exhausting, standing up for 5 hours straight and carrying my 16lb on my shoulder, but my legs didn't hurt a bit. So instead of being lazy all week because my arms were in pain, I kept moving because my legs were doing just fine. Come to think of it, that's probably due to all the hard work I've put in thus far.

I did have a half week of double time to make up though. All week long I had opportunities and I let them slip right through my hands. I don't know why this happened, but I'm not happy it did. I'm determined to make up those 5hrs and this is my last week before my next weigh in. This means through hell and high water, I'm going to have to exercise 3x a day no matter what.

Luckily for me I have some motivation these next few days. There are exactly 3 days left in the Nike+ Conan vs. Leno challenge. Conan isn't that far behind, and if I really work my butt off, he could even win. While this is a team effort, I know a good portion of this is depending on me. I don't want to let Conan down! There is also burning off all the food I hate at the Superbowl Party (and my sleep schedule is upside down again, eek!), but that was the start of Week 4, so I'll leave it alone for now.

Nike + Conan vs Leno Challenge

During Week 3 I did good with counting calories. On days I exercised for 2hrs, I was always in my net calorie range of 500-1000. Sometimes I managed to be even lower too! Net calories are the calories you have after you take the total amount consumed - total amount burned.

RESULTS

Week 3: 10 1hr workouts, walking 33.83mi, @ 17'52"mi, burning 4664 cal.

ONE HOUR WORKOUT ROUTINE
20 min 3.0 mph
20 min 3.1 with
20 min 3.0 mph

Physical Appearance Update:
Even though this happened on Sunday, the start of Week 4, I still want to mention it before next week's weigh-in and post just in case it is discouraging. Normally I don't wear jeans because I haven't really had a reason to. I don't like to go out much in general and since I've been exercising 10/7 (get it 24/7, lolz), I've been in nice comfy pants. However, my sister had a party on Superbowl Sunday which forced me out of my house and into a pair of jeans.

They felt the slightest bit less tight, but the real difference came in how little of a muffin top I had in my size 13 jeans. My stomach is finally starting to shrink, even if the waist band isn't. They went from unbearably tight, esp. in my thighs, to fitting. just right. On the 13th I'll be forced into jeans again for my friends low-key Valentine's Day party, but at least I can feel comfortable not having to worry about my stomach. I'll just have to remember not to eat all the chocolate.

Holidays are days for skinny people to put on a couple of pounds while us less than skinny girls look a bit lighter in the week to follow.

Phase 2: Double Time - Week 1 & Week 2

I'm really proud of how hard I pushed myself during Week 1. I made a plan and stuck with it. As each day progressed I also began to feel more confidence. My lower arms and lower legs are firm with minimal fat. I've also started to lose weight from my sides. I can place my hands on the upper sides of my ribs and move my hands straight down a bit before I hit any curves. While a great deal of my fat is in my stomach, it's still a big deal to be able to cover a hand and a half distance of flat surface on my sides. It means I'm that much closer to losing from the area that will finally allow me to drop jean sizes.

To help further my goals, I started tracking my caloric intake at livestrong.com/myplate/. In order to lose 2lbs per week, my personal maximum caloric intake is set at 1,400. Whenever I crave chocolate or need a snack, I go to my Special K Delightfully Chocolate Cereal. It has actual mini bars of chocolate in it and it tastes amazing while extremely low in calories. By immediately logging in everything I eat, I instantly know if I have room or need to pace myself.

"People that keep food journals are more likely to lose weight. Why? Because there’s a lot of calories we eat unconsciously during the day."
- 92.3 Now

If you've never heard of 92.3 Now, they're a station set in NYC. They play a great selection of music, but the reason why I like them the most is because they are real. They openly discuss weight from time to time and they embrace the normal person.

Recently I had a heart to heart with my mom about making healthier choices like eating less meat and using smaller dinner plates. Since then she has really started to work with me. Every dinner I've had during Week 2 has been all around healthier. It meant a lot to me too since Week 2 was somewhat of a fail for me.

Here comes my list of excuses (I don't think they're half bad... but you tell me.):

I always say I have no energy, so any exertion that does not go to exercise pretty much wipes me out for the day. Week 2 was dedicated to chauffeuring my dad to different doctor's appointments, all over an hour drive each away. So 1 hr there + 1 hr back + all the waiting time in between, and then I'm asking where my day went?! After Monday and Tuesday I took 2 days of rest, and then wasted Friday because my Dad misread the date on the appointment card. Then on Saturday I went to an autograph signing which was also over an hour away and required 5hrs of standing. I know I'm using excuses here, but it was a little bit of overkill with all of that traveling I had to do this week.

I ate a bit more during Week 2 and exercised less than I had planned, but Week 2 wasn't a total fail. Instead of exercising Double Time, I only managed to fit a regular weeks worth of exercise in. On some days I ate much more than others, but my average caloric intake was balanced at the 1400 mark for the week.

My worst day this week was on Saturday. I didn't really eat all day and ended up going out to Red Robin for dinner. One amazingly tasty meal hit the 1400 mark, and over killed my fat intake for that day. I have no complaints about enjoying that meal, but it's so not worth it. I probably won't do that to myself again anytime too soon.

RESULTS

Week 1: 10 1hr workouts, walking 33.75mi, @ 17'53"mi, burning 4652 cal.
Week 2: 5 1hr workouts, walking 16.88mi, @ 17'52"mi, burning 2327 cal.


ONE HOUR WORKOUT ROUTINE

20 min 3.0 mph
20 min 3.1 with 10 mins of 2lb weights.
20 min 3.0 mph

UPCOMING GOALS

• Play Catch Up. Since I did a regular week as opposed to my goal of doubling it, I plan to add a week at the end if I don't manage to cover the 5 missed workouts in the meantime.
• No chin fat. I think I can accomplish this during the next week. I've already noticed I've lost weight in my face. No matter what, by the end of Phase 2, there will be no chin fat at all. The second I notice a fat free chin, I'll weigh myself immediately and use that as a reminder marker of why that weight is just too much.
• Sugar Worries. I recently heard that you shouldn't eat more than 15g of sugar in a day, because it's worse than eating actual fat. I don't know if this is possible, but I'm going to look further into this.

Phase 1: Results

I've learned a valuable lesson in life: Every time I quit on myself, I set myself back much further than where I started. Over the years I've tracked my weight on livestrong.com. In the last year, I started and stopped exercising twice, with months in between filled with self pity. The first time was in April at 175lbs, and again in August at 181. When the holidays came around I decided to let loose and not think about my actions and their consequences. I figured at most I'd put on 5lbs while I pounded back the sugar cookies, left overs, and anything else available in mass quantities.

I admit I have no self control, and that's why I hate the fact that my parents are fat. Fat people eat fattening food. It's a cruel cycle that I can't escape. In a perfect world my house would be limited to healthy foods in minimum quantities, so I could "overeat" without doing any real damage. As much as I beg and plead for healthier options, there is only so much that my parents can do set in their ways of over 50 years. I'm not going to even go into the fact that I should be old enough to move out... it's not plausible at this point in my life.

Alright, let me get to the results. After a month of walking an hour a day, at an admittedly slow speed, 5 days a week, with 10 minutes of 2lb weights thrown in during each workout... the month resulted in 190lbs. (UPDATE: 186lbs immediately after my period, which will be the number I use to compare.)

Now I'm not one for excuses, but I'm going to explain how I think these results occurred. I gained 15lbs between October and the end of December putting me in the 195 bracket. I exercised for a month dropping down to 190lbs. However, the results aren't even the most accurate because it was the day before I got my period and I weighed in at the end of the day, partially because my sleep schedule has been off again. Therefore you can see how these results are inconclusive.

With that being said, I know I can't continue my lazy lifestyle. I can't continue to start and stop exercising again because a yo-yo diet does too much damage on me emotionally. All those months and years wasted on self pity aren't worth the meager 6 or so months of hard work that it takes to get it off.

I'm not going to start being happy with myself until I get down to 170lbs. This number represents where I could have been last year if I didn't give up exercising at 173. It's only 20 lbs away and I have no doubt that I can get there in 2 months.

Phase 2 will be double time. Instead of walking for an hour 5 days a week, I'm going to bring it up to 2 hrs. Walks will now be at a minimum speed of 3.0 mph with 5% incline. The walks will continue to have 10 minutes of 2lb weights. I'm also going to start tracking my food intake at livestrong.com/thedailyplate. I need to be more conscious of what I'm putting in m body and this is the only solution. As for how long this double time phase will last, I don't want to give up, so I'm not going to set a time frame. I probably won't end up weighing myself again until the end of this phase for the same reason.

Phase 1: Walk 5x a Week - Week 4

I'm so proud of myself! Four weeks have gone by and I didn't miss a day of my program. This last week I even exercised 5 days straight! I'm wondering if I should bank my last 2 days or just keep exercising? In the past, I've overworked myself and ended up quitting so maybe I'll err on the side of caution.

Tomorrow I'm going to weigh and measure myself. Even though I've been doing so well with exercising, I'm afraid that knowing my weight might cause me to jinx myself. At the same time I want to know where I stand and how I am progressing. I'll just have to remember a month of fatty foods means I should be happy with even maintaining what I was prior to Dec 1st. Although I'm going to say I hope the scale says 178 or less. I'd be thrilled then!

Week 4: 5 1hr workouts, walking 16.63mi, @ 18'30"mi, burning 2292cal

My hour usually consists of:

5 min 2.6mi
5 min 2.7
5 min 2.8
5 min 2.9
20 min 3.0 (10min of 2lb weights.)
5 min 2.9
5 min 2.8
5 min 2.7
5 min 2.6

RESULTS ADDED TOMORROW...

Phase 1: Walk 5x a Week - Week 2 & Week 3

Junk food is slowly but surely disappearing from my house. I'm going to say by the end of week 3, the house should be cleared of it completely. (Yep, It's gone!) With that being said, I'm not going to bother weighing myself or measuring myself until the end of week 4. I'm considering Phase 1 my pre-exercise & diet phase because it doesn't involve any strenuous work and will probably result in minimum weight loss if any.

However, this Phase is not a useless phase as it provides me with a schedule, the rebuilding of a better metabolism, and strengthening of my muscles. Mentally and emotionally it will provide me with patience and endurance.

RESULTS

Week 1: 5 1hr workouts, walking 15.53mi, @ 19'26"mi, burning 2141cal
Week 2: 5 1hr workouts, walking 16.05mi, @ 18'51"mi, burning 2212cal
Week 3: 5 1hr workouts, walking 15.99mi, @ 18'54"mi, burning 2204cal

I would have expected all of the numbers to improve but it's not that big of a deal to me. During Week 3, I tried to resist eating whenever I was bored. Now that the junk food is out of the house, I've been snacking on Special K Delightfully Chocolate Cereal. It's just as satisfying as any other type of chocolate too.


My hour usually consists of:

5 min 2.5mi
5 min 2.6
5 min 2.7
5 min 2.8
5 min 2.9
10 min 3.0 with 2lb weights.
5 min 2.9
5 min 2.8
5 min 2.7
5 min 2.6
5 min 2.5


Right now I'm sick with an unrelenting cold, so I have a feeling that I am not going to start this week off strong. No matter what though, I'll make sure to end the week with my 5hrs accomplished, even if I have to bang it out all in one day. I'll be sure to log-in next Sunday with results.