It's the end of week four and, holy shit, my body has gone through some serious changes. I say changes, but they're not knew as much as rediscovered. Four weeks ago, when I first went to the gym, I got a bus there and literally couldn't manage five minutes on the Cross Trainer. Today, I walked there and blasted a full hour on the Cross Trainer, and then walked home.
Before all this lard malarkey took place, I was always able to rely on a good level of general fitness and a good recovery rate. Simply put, my body was a well-oiled machine. Of course, that all changed when I put all the weight on. I could barely walk to the shops for my daily heart attack banquet without sweating like a Yokozuna, wearing a fur coat, doing star jumps, in a sauna. But now, well I still sweat as I'm not exactly a wafer, but I can make my body do some pretty cool things and I don't feel like I'm going to die afterwards. I feel that the recovery rate and general fitness levels are making a welcomed return. I feel like a proper person, with proper energy levels.
The last week hasn't been all sunshine and unicorns though. Thursday was my 28th birthday and I went out for dinner with some close friends. Luckily, I was able to eat healthily and skip dessert without too much trouble, but I got through several glasses of wine during the meal. This, in itself wasn't a problem, but I hardly ever drink these days, so the next day, my mind took a kicking. The medication I take for Bipolar Disorder doesn't agree with alcohol, so I felt awful all day, depressed and angry. Consequently, I didn't go to the gym that day. However, the next day (Saturday) I felt great and went to the gym as normal. I just need to be careful when I drink in future.
Also, my weight loss has slowed down, albeit only slightly. I've taken the decision to not count my walking as part of my training. As I mentioned earlier, my general fitness has improved, so I'm able to do more. Therefore, my new routine will be as follows:
I'll train with weights every other day and on the days in between I'll have a cardio session. I'll still walk to and from the gym, but the walking isn't enough as I need to get my heart rate up to a sufficient level to promote weight loss.
So, on to more pressing issues, the big weigh-in and measure! Here are my end of week four stats:
Start - 12/08/2011 End of week 4 - 11/09/2011
Weight - 168 kg Weight - 157.6 kg
Chest - 53 ins Chest - 51 ins
Waist - 57 ins Waist - 54 ins
Upper Arm left - 18 ins Upper Arm left - 18.2 ins
Forearm left - 14 ins Forearm left - 13.7 ins
Upper Arm right - 17 ins Upper Arm right - 17.5 ins
Forearm left - 13.5 ins Forearm right - 13.6 ins
Thigh left - 34 ins Thigh left - 32.5 ins
Calf left - 21 ins Calf left - 21.2 ins
Thigh right - 34 ins Thigh right - 32.6 ins
Calf right - 22 ins Calf right - 22 ins
If you want to see my week 2 results again, they can be found here:
http://bellyandbrain.blogspot.com/2011/08/settling-in.html
I'm delighted with the results so far. In all honesty, the only statistics I really care about are my weight and my waistline. So far, I've lost 10.4 kg and 3 inches from my waist. For you gym-goers out there, next time you go, find a 10 kg weight plate and pick it up. Pretty heavy, right?
I may have said that my weight and waistline are of paramount importance to me, but that's not strictly true. Far more important than those things are how I feel, my state of mind, my emotional balance. There aren't any quantifiable statistics for that, but I can tell you with some conviction that I haven't felt this contented in a long time.
"The metric system is flawed, in that there isn't a unit of measurement for happiness. However, happiness can be measured by both the sincerity of a person's smile and the effect that person's presence has on another".
See you next week.
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