Weight for It...
So, after exercising fairly regularly for about a year now(!) and eating less, feeling more fit, being sick less often...basically feeling healthier than I have for a good deal of my life, I finally stepped on the scale again. I have made 'losing weight' not a goal at all, and have intentionally not weighed myself; mostly this is because I think it's a poor goal, in general, but also because I want to motivate myself, and losing weight just doesn't motivate me. Feeling more trim, yes. Feeling stronger, yes. Fitting into my clothes better, yep. Being lighter? Nope.
Still, I was curious. I had a hunch that I had either stayed around the same weight as a year ago or that I had actually gained a little bit (muscle weighing more than fat and all of that). Sure enough: I weight exactly what I did a year ago. And yet I still have friends and family telling me that I am looking much more fit, even having them tell me I look like I've 'lost weight'. Which just, you know, sort of proves that I'm on the right track, strategy/motivation-wise.
I have, however, stopped doing weight work for the most part. Mostly this is out of a combination of mental/emotional laziness (it takes very little mental effort to hop on the stationary cycle, vs. keeping track of a little weight routine, of doing that one last rep, etc.) but it was also because my body felt beat up. I think, even though I wasn't doing that much weight work, I was doing too much too quickly--and perhaps not supplementing my diet enough (not enough protein, perhaps?). I was constantly having achey and tired muscles, despite the fact that I was feeling better. So today I hop back on the weight bandwagon, but I'm only going to do 15 minutes of weights and then do my normal cardio stuff. I'm going to try this for a while and see how it works...and maybe a year from now when I weigh myself I'll weight 5 or 10 lbs more and feel all that much stronger.
Filed under:Health
So, after exercising fairly regularly for about a year now(!) and eating less, feeling more fit, being sick less often...basically feeling healthier than I have for a good deal of my life, I finally stepped on the scale again. I have made 'losing weight' not a goal at all, and have intentionally not weighed myself; mostly this is because I think it's a poor goal, in general, but also because I want to motivate myself, and losing weight just doesn't motivate me. Feeling more trim, yes. Feeling stronger, yes. Fitting into my clothes better, yep. Being lighter? Nope.
Still, I was curious. I had a hunch that I had either stayed around the same weight as a year ago or that I had actually gained a little bit (muscle weighing more than fat and all of that). Sure enough: I weight exactly what I did a year ago. And yet I still have friends and family telling me that I am looking much more fit, even having them tell me I look like I've 'lost weight'. Which just, you know, sort of proves that I'm on the right track, strategy/motivation-wise.
I have, however, stopped doing weight work for the most part. Mostly this is out of a combination of mental/emotional laziness (it takes very little mental effort to hop on the stationary cycle, vs. keeping track of a little weight routine, of doing that one last rep, etc.) but it was also because my body felt beat up. I think, even though I wasn't doing that much weight work, I was doing too much too quickly--and perhaps not supplementing my diet enough (not enough protein, perhaps?). I was constantly having achey and tired muscles, despite the fact that I was feeling better. So today I hop back on the weight bandwagon, but I'm only going to do 15 minutes of weights and then do my normal cardio stuff. I'm going to try this for a while and see how it works...and maybe a year from now when I weigh myself I'll weight 5 or 10 lbs more and feel all that much stronger.
Filed under:Health
posted by Jeff Pollet at 7:39 AM
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