Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Decisions, decisions....


It's bad enough that we're faced with tons of decisions every day - what to eat, what to wear, which website to visit instead of working...er... I mean which project to start on first, who to vote for (I'm still thinking Mickey Mouse!), etc.


But next week will be the end of my first 12 week 'cycle' of fitness aka the attack on my body fat and am trying to figure out what to do next. I'm really proud of myself for all I've done and learned, and I'm surprised the time went so fast. I focused primarily on cardio and have done a lot of it, and I've even incorporated actual weight routines thanks to the SP workout generator. (OMG do my abs hurt today!)


What I learned is that my body has it's own cycle (aside from /that/ cycle) of about 1-1.5 weeks of good, productive energy, followed by .5 weeks of no energy, then another 1-1.5 weeks of decent energy, then .5-1 week of nothin'. And I've learned that it takes about 2-3 days for things to happen, like for a consistent fiber increase to 'kick in', or to feel the effects of a decrease. A big meal doesn't really 'show up' for about 2 days on the scale, and increased cardio/weights/consistently clean & healthy meals take about 3 days to have a positive impact as well. On the same note, it takes about 3 days to feel sleep deprived and takes about 3 days to get back to a normal sleep schedule.


So where does all that leave me? Well, a lot smarter about how my body works today than a few months ago. I still have about 20-25 pounds of fat to lose, and want to increase my lean body mass by about 5-10 pounds overall. I'm a month away from my first goal (aka The Birthday) and I'm thinking that instead of doing another 12 week cycle of focusing on fat burning, I need to break it down more. So for the next 4 weeks, I'm still going to focus on fat burning because I have my calories sort of figured out for now.


So here's the plan that I have worked out:


This week - 2 HIIT workouts, 2 moderate cardio workouts, 2 days of strength training.
Next week (9/21-9/27) - 3 HIIT workouts, 2 moderate cardio workouts, 2 days of strength training


That finishes up the 1st 12 weeks. Now for the 1st part of the next one:


Week 1 (9/28-10/4)- I'm thinking this needs to be a lower intensity week as it falls in the 'low energy' zone. 2-3 moderate cardio workouts, 2 days of full body strength routines.
Week 2 (10/5-10/11)- 2 HIIT workouts, 1 moderate cardio workout, 2 days of full body strength routines
Week 3 (10/12-10/18) - [another low energy zone and around my birthday... depending on what plans we have this may or may not happen] 2-3 moderate cardio workouts, 2 days of full body strength routines.
Week 4 (10/19-10/25)- 2 HIIT workouts, 1 moderate cardio workout, 2 days of full body strength routines (increase weights)


Think I can live with that. And it gives me enough time to see how the weight thing will effect me over all.




Technorati : , , , , , ,

No comments: