An Important Discovery

If you read my profile, you know that I am a Personal Trainer. When I started my journey to health, I wasn't. So my concept of "exercise" origionally included only Cardiovascular activities. After the initial 40 pound loss, I felt my rate of loss was slowing, and I didn't think it should. So I started reading about exercise and weight loss and learned that I needed to add some strength training to my workouts. I learned to use the Nautilis circuit at my Y, and strength trained 2 to 3 times a week. It made a difference, bringing my rate of weight loss back where I thought it should be. And another big bonus became apparent: as I became stronger, everything I had to do every day got easier!

We trainers now know from personal experience and research in the field that some weightlifting is essential to promote long term weight loss. Without it, some of what you lose can be muscle and your metabolism depends largely on your muscle mass. A sound weight loss program must include cardiovascular exercise and weight lifting in some form. If you are as desperate as I was to succeed, have a good talk with yourself, commit to exercise, and find a convenient place to make it part of your life. And the best cardiovascualr exercise? The one you enjoy!

Where to Begin

I started by doing 2 things: calculating how many calories a day I could eat and still loose weight, assuming I was also exercising, and yes, committing to exercising. There are many web sites that can help with the calculation, including Fitwatch.com. My calculation came to 2,000 calories a day, assuming moderate to vigorous exercise at least 5 days a week. The most logical exercise to get me started was deep water walking. I started in the summer so my own pool was available. Later, I went to the YMCA for both water walking and water aerobics. Yup, put the bathing suit on the big bod and trudged down the hall to the pool. I was somewhat relieved to see other women not dissimilar to me in the classes.

With 2000 calories, I did 500 by noon, 500 by dinner time and 1,000 for dinner and after. I know fancy diets tell you not to eat late in the day, or after dinner, but I had to do something I could live with for the rest of my life. So I "saved" some of the last 1000 calories for a snack at night. It worked. The pounds started dropping off and my fitness level imporved. By Thanksgiving, 40 lbs were gone and life was already much easier. And I wasn't struggling with the food part, which I'll explain later.