Posts Tagged ‘losing weight’

In just a couple of weeks I will be turning 30 years old. Since 30 is kind of a big one, I decided to try and get in the best shape I have ever been in. Though I haven’t been updating, I have been exercising.

My original plan was to take pictures everyday of my progress. Unfortunately, due to the constant changes in weather, I have gotten sick about 3 times in the last couple of months. With the first two sicknesses I had a pretty high temperature, so stripping down to just shorts wasn’t really an option (I was cold with the heater on, tucked under blankets).  I do have about 19 days worth of pictures, but I I have also skipped quite a few. I may end up just braking the pictures into a beginning, middle, end shot. Lately, I have really been getting into editing video, so maybe I will film something. I haven’t decided yet. Any recommendations?

My primary methods of exercise are ones that I took from the “Truth About Abs” program (if you decide to purchase this program through this link, I get a percentage of the sale). They are very basic exercises, but they work very well. All of the exercises in that program can be done in your own home with very limited equipment. I know a lot of people like to go to the gym, but for me, working out is something I like to do alone. It’s just more efficient that way.

I have also been supplementing this with barefoot running on the beach. I can run a pretty far and not get too tired, but running on sand is an incredible workout. Even if you don’t have a beach, find a park and run barefoot. It uses a lot more muscles.

I would love to hear about everyone else who has some ind of exercise plan. Do you like it? How is it working for you? How long have you been doing it. Leave comments below.

First off, I would like to apologize for not getting yesterdays post out. I was at a festival that ended much later than it was supposed to. It’s actually normal for things to start amazingly late here in Miyakojima, but I still haven’t gotten used to it. To be totally honest, there wasn’t much to post about. I did about a 10 minute warm up routine along with a 30 minute workout. Mostly focused on upper body strength. Sets of push-ups, pull-ups, and various sit-ups. Thanks to a tip I picked up in the workout program I am using, I am getting a much better workout out my my sit-ups.

We have all done sit-ups at some point in our life. In high school, I was able to do nearly 90 sit-ups in one minute due to my small size. Did I have a six pack? Far from it. I used my momentum and lightness to make my body go back and forth quickly. I had to be in decent shape to do that many per minute, but it really didn’t take much strength at all.

For the last several years I have been using a balance ball to do sit-ups. It definitely does a much better job than a regular sit-up, but after several days on the ball I usually stop getting the burn. So what’s the big secret?

It’s in making them as difficult as they can possibly be. The biggest difference for me has been to really squeeze my abs at the peak of the crunch and even hold it like that for a second or two. It makes your ab muscles contract much harder than they are used to. Our bodies tend to shy away from pain and so when we do a workout, the body tries to get through the hard parts as quickly as possible. A sit-up is much more effective done slowly.

This may not seem like a big deal, but it’s actually quite substantial. If I can get the maximum result out of each exercise, I can spend less time working out and get better results. I would much rather do 10 difficult sit-ups than 50-100 easy ones. Give it a try and let me know what you think.

Diet

As I promised, my diet has not changed. Not to say that I am eating fast food everyday (I rarely eat fast food), but I am by no means counting calories or going without. In addition to the three meals I eat everyday, I generally tend to have snacks and deserts. Today I had ice cream before lunch and yesterday was pudding.

Now for anyone who is really serious about losing weight or getting in shape this isn’t the smartest thing to do. Keeping a very balanced diet and knowing how many calories you intake makes a lot of sense. The program I am using actually has full details on choosing a meal plan to best suit your workout. It would help you achieve your results quicker and make sure you are burning more calories than you are taking in. I have no idea. I could be taking in more than I burn and have no progress after 30 days. I guess we will see if there is any visible difference when I post pictures tomorrow.

The challenge was to see if I could get fit without following all the rules. If I can achieve it in 30 days, then someone who does a full workout and changes their diet should be able to do even better.