Not sure what I'm doing here, but I am attempting to start a gym log...lol.

I joined RAC (Rochester Athletic Club) about 6-7 weeks ago and have gone at least 5 days a weeks since. I have never been big into exercise, but now I seem to have found my niche. I was telling my hubby last night that it was probably because I smoked before and couldn't breathe and it hurt and that's why I used to hate it.

Anyway...I have quickly become addicted (as is my personality) and I do cardio 5-6 times a week and resistance training every other day. The treadmill and swimming laps are my normal cario workouts, although often times when I get home in the evenings, I'll do Tae Bo kickboxing or step aerobics or something. I would like to start running, but am not to that point yet.

At any rate...right now I'm doing 30 minutes on the treadmill at 3.4 mph at a 2% incline. I'm up to swimming 450 yards at this point and hope to add another 75 yards by the end of the week. That is what I do right off the bat, but I stay in the pool for a while swimming...I just have to stop to rest after 450 yards...lol.

For the resistance training, I don't know enough really to tell you what I'm doing. There are a lot of machines I use and I vary the weight from 20 (to work back muscles...this one makes me sore!) to 40 depending on what muscles I'm working.

I resent the time I have to be at work because its time I could be at the gym...lol.

Anyway...that's my story. Will post again after I get weighed and measured either this coming Saturday or next Saturday. Have to check the calendar.


Laura <img src="http://www.whyspers.com/upload/files/treadmill.gif">

It seems that everyone is posting daily in their gym logs, so I am going to give that a shot. I'm not the best in the world about documenting things (I do that at work ALL day long!!!), but we'll see...lol.

Went to the gym as usual this morning. Did my resistance training sans the machine that works the lower back because my back is still bothering me a bit and I was afraid to reinjure it. I don't know what all the machines are called, except I know I do the leg press. My guess is that all of the places that have these machines have the same ones....so that's what I am doing...lol.

After, I swam as usual. This morning though I increased the distance to 750 yards!!!! Wow...I'm getting to the point where I can get focused and not even think about what I'm really doing. I'll be thinking about the weather, or what I have to do, and am able to do much more. Less than two months ago I could only do three laps!!! which is 225 yars. That was a stretch...lol. I would swim a lap and then do the breast stroke for a lap and then rest. Unbelievable.

I can feel my body getting more toned, but the problem is, its all underneath this layer of fat! I am losing quickly, but really cannot wait to see the toned muscles. Unfortunately, that's probably a year or so away. Oh well...I'm not going anywhere and my Hubby has been trying to teach me patience for years


L

I forgot to mention...I have been trying to add in a workout in the evenings as well. Last night I did about 30 minutes of a step aerobics video and about 20 minutes of Sweating to the Oldies (I just couldn't take anymore of Richard Simmons...lol). My neighbor brought me a bunch of her workout tapes, so I'm mixing them up and giving them a shot. Hey...if I'm moving its helping my body, right?

Tonight is some kind of Cheryl Tiegs HBO workout...lol.


L

Did the Cheryl Tiegs HBO workout last night and I think that was the best one yet. It incorporated some step, weights, crunches, etc. AND I was able to do it all the way through and follow everything pretty well. That is my gripe about most workouts of this kind....it takes me months to learn the moves and I usually only try it once before moving on. Not this one...I'll have to make a copy of it and buy my own step it looks like.

I was sweating after and feel it this morning in my muscles. Feels great! Definately a keeper.


This morning I was at the gym at 5:30 a.m. Did "aerobic walk" on the treadmill, which is Course 4 for those with this type of machine and thought it was a piece of cake. I had been doing it manually and just varying the incline and speed, along with doing a set time of 25-30 minutes. Course 4 was only 20 mintues and I hardly even broke a sweat, so heeding my trainer's advise, I moved over the elliptical machine and MAN!!!! it kicked my butt!!!! I worked out on it for about six minutes and couldn't go anymore! This is the first time I've used that machine since learning how it works. I think I'm going to start doing it first and then moving to the treadmill because I know I can do the treadmill when my muscles are screaming...lol.

Also, I did my regular swim...750 yards. Its getting easier and easier do make this distance and I feel like I could add another 150 yards soon. We'll see. Don't want to overdo it.

Today is the first full day of taking an ECA stack. I'm *very* curious on what the results will be. I get weighed and measured tomorrow morning and am very excited. Will post the results.

Hard time sleeping last night and I think it was from the ECA stack. May have to cut out the evening dose. We'll see.

L

Copying this from the main board so I have a record when I look back:


My six week evaluation was today and the results are in Keep in mind that my starting weight shown here is from when I joined the club. My actually start weight was 231.5. Also, I did not start Atkins seriously until almost a week after I joined.


Weight: Start:229.5 Current: 211 (I still say 210...lol) Change: -18.5 lbs.

Inches lost:


Chest - 6!!!!! She said she had never seen anyone lose that much in their chest in such a short time...lol. Wow!!!!

Arm (Relaxed) -.5 and -.5
Arm (Flexed) -.75 and -1
Waist -3.25
Abdominals (Navel) -3.75
Hips -2.25
Thigh +.25 and +.25 (This was the only area I went up in and the only thing I can figure is its muscles gain...shrug)
Calf -.5 and -.5

My body fat percentage went from 41.1% to 38.9%.

My Total Body Fat Weight went down by 12.3 lbs.
My Lean Body Mass went down by 6.2 lbs.

My resting heart rate went from 84 (geez) to 78


Sooooo...does exercising while doing Atkins help???? YES!!!!!


L (who's a very happy camper today!)

Based upon the advise I have been given on the exercise boards, today I increased my resistance training. Going to get a list of the machines I use and start doing some research on them so I know what muscles are being worked and why I am doing what I'm doing (I hate being ignorant about something that is important to me...lol).

Anyway...I'm lifting between 30-40 lbs depending on what part of the body I am working. For example...my leg presses are done at 40 lbs. but my abductors (outer thighs) are done at 36, while triceps are done at 30. I start with a set of 15 reps. Today I did them all and then started around a second time. Some of the machines I couldn't finish the second set of 15...like with the triceps, I was only about to complete 12. I guess the goal is to work up to three sets of 15 before increasing the weight any.

I hope I'm doing this right...lol.


L

Whew...had a tough time getting going this morning. I got up fine and was off to the gym, but felt so sluggish. When I was walking from the parking lot to the gym (about two blocks) I noticed that I was *really* dragging. I did my 25 min. on the treadmill, skipped elliptical and ended up only swimming for 300 yards. My body just felt soooo tired. This is the first time since I started working out almost seven weeks ago that this has happened to me.

Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day. I think I'm going to take the ECA stack prior to working out rather than waiting until afterwards. Perhaps that will help somewhat.


L

Today wasn't much better than yesterday energy wise. I did manage to do my three sets of 15 reps on all except the triceps. For some reason, I seem to be getting weaker rather than stronger in the triceps. Oh well...I will keep working.

I did write down the ones I'm doing and plan to start researching each area so I know more about what I am doing, etc.


Leg Press - 3 sets 15 reps - 55lbs (I thought I was doing 40, but realized that that little add-on thingie adds 15 lbs...lol)

Hip AB - 3 sets 15 reps - 36 lbs.

Hip AD - 3 sets 15 reps - 36 lbs.

Low Back Ext. At the moment I am doing none as I think this is what is causing my lower back problems. Was doing 1 set of 15 at 20 lbs. May add this back in once the problem clears up altogether. I do want the muscles in my lower back to get stronger so I don't have that problem.

Chest Press - 3 sets 15 reps - 36 lbs.

Back Row - I do this both overhand and underhand at 30 lbs...3 sets 15 reps each for both ways.

Biceps - 3 sets of 15 reps - Not sure of the weight

Triceps - 1 set of 15, 1 set of 13 and 1 set of 10 is all I can manage at a measly 24 lbs!!!!! I was doing 36 lbs and 1 set of 15 and now I have a hard time getting through the first set of 15 at 24 lbs. I can't figure out why.

Anyway...oh...there is one more but I don't know what it is called. Its like doing crunches. I do 2 sets of 15 reps at 24 lbs. and 1 set of 15 at 36 lbs.

I really feel my workout now that I have started working to potential...lol.

I also managed to swim 300 yards after. Didn't do anything as far as treadmill, elliptical, etc.


L

Day three of lousy workouts. All I did this morning was swim. I spent about a half hour in the pool swimming, but only the first 300 yards were really worth anything. I just kinda "strolled" the rest of the time. Its depressing. I don't know what's wrong with me. I just feel exhausted. I thought about sleeping in this morning, but figured doing something was better than nothing.

What could be causing this???? Should I take both Saturday and Sunday off and start back fresh on Monday? Is trying to do six days a week of cardio and three days of lifting just too much for me at this point? I felt like I was really making progress and now I feel like I did better when I first started working out than I am doing now.


<---end whine---->


L

Hiya L....

Stopping by and read your whine. If you aren't feeling good there maybe a modification that helps. Maybe you need more food... calories... ?

Other then this week which has many holidays (one I took two days to cook for) I have been doing 6 days a week on 35 carbs or under a day. But I eat ALL day!

Thanks for the suggestion, Lisa. Today I had a great workout! I don't know what it was....maybe the two days of rest? I don't know, but I am going to monitor how I feel on five days versus six day, 1200 calories versus 1800 calories, the week before TOM versus the other weeks of the month, etc. Somehow today I felt back to normal. The only thing I have really changed is I stopped taking the ECA stack the second day I started feeling bad. I thought that would give you more pep, though...not less. Oh well...just glad to be past it.

Did two sets of 15 on everything, 25 minutes on the treadmill and swam 420 yards. I felt great and could have done more, but after the past few days, didn't want to push it too much. It did feel really good to be back in the gym after a two day break

As of this morning...I am officially down by 25 lbs.!!!!! Wow!!!! When Dr. A said melt...he wasn't kidding.


L

Hi L!

I am by no means an expert so perhaps I shouldn't be poking my nose in, but I'm a bit concerned here...

I certainly don't mean to be discouraging... I think your exercising is great and your'e doing a fantastic job... it's the calories I'm concerned about. If you're trying to do this on 1200 calories that's a big no, no! You'll be just wasting your muscles away instead of building them up. When you said in an earlier post that you had lost 6.2 lbs. of lean body mass, that means you lost 6 lbs. of muscle!!! You don't want to do that. You're goal should be to lose fat, not muscle. From what I understand you should be eating around 10 x your body weight and be sure to get enough protein so it will be available to repair your muscles after a work out.

Check out this Sticky posted by Natrushka. Even if you'e not doing BFL (Body For Life) it will explain a lot of what I've been telling you. There are other great posts regarding calories/protein/carbs and weighlifting too.

Please forgive me if I'm seeming like a know it all... I don't mean to come across like that. I'm only trying to help and I just hate to see you feeling weak and all your hard work not accomplishing what you want!

Keep up the good work!

Thanks for posting, Marcia! I definately appreciate your input and think you are right about the calories. I have upped them recently (over the past week or so, although I haven't posted it onto fitday to see where I am at). Instead of eating one italian sausage for lunch, I'll someetimes have two...or eat three eggs in the morniing instead of two. I don't think I'm going to go to the 10 to 12 x body weight because I just think that's too much, but the 1200-1300 was too low...particularly since I've been working out at leat 5 days a week. I've also been trying to incorporate more veggies (or at least some) as this is a really tough point for me.

My trainer said it was normal to lose some lean body mass initially...although personally I just don't believe the calipers are accurate. I wasn't trying to do low cal...it was just turning out that way based on what I was eating. I was eating all the time I thought...lol. On the other hand...my weightloss appears to have slowed down. I know this is normal...particularly since I'm right at the two month stage and have lost 25 lbs. rather rapidly. I'm just going to keep doing what I'm doing and I'm sure it will start moving again soon

Again, thank you for your post. I think you were right on the money!

That being said...I did 30 minutes on the treadmill today and went to get ready for my swim. I left my suit at home!!!! Arrggggggg!!!! About 2 minutes later I realized I had left my towel at home as well...lol. Ended up having to get towels from the gym so I could shower, but I will say that was the start of a horrible day. The swim is my favorite part of the workout...lol. Its my reward for working hard in the "real" workout and I just can't stand it when I don't get my swim in.

Anway...that's what I did today.


L

Hi Laura,
I have nothing but admiration for all your training, well done, I hope one day to be as committed as you are!!

Graeme.

Thanks, Graeme...I kind of suprised myself. I always start out with things like a house on fire and then slow down and eventually quit because I get bored easily. Not this time. There is just so much to do and I love seeing the results. I am starting to see the muscle definition...even under this layer of fat...lol.

Today I did 30 minutes on the treadmill and swam 420 yards. Yesterday though, I had the best workout ever!!! I did a full 3 sets of 15 reps on each of machines I use for resistance training (about 45 minutes worth of lifting). I then did 30 minutes on the treadmill and swam 540 yards! I felt terrific by the time I left the gym. Its funny how I can swim further when I do weight training than when I don't. Maybe because my muscles are already stretched out, etc. Dunno, but I do like it


L