Until now, I hadn’t posted anything about the weight loss & fitness changes in my life, but thanks to a posting by my trainer, this is probably a good time to mention a few things.

First, I’m not losing weight due to some illness! Recently, a friend whom I hadn’t seen for some time asked (rather cautiously) if there was some reason I’d lost so much weight. When I realized she was concerned about me, I came to the conclusion that I don’t talk about this enough (although Harriet might argue otherwise).

About 5 years ago, I decided that it was time to start making changes to my lifestyle. I was 45 years old and 266 lbs, and according to health standards, morbidly obese. So, I joined Weight Watchers (which I recommend), and two years ago I started working with a personal trainer.

Working with Mikki has drastically changed my life. Her Fitness Transform website is a great introduction to her background as a personal trainer, but now that I’ve experienced her as my trainer, I have a much greater appreciation of the depth of her knowledge about fitness and the process of getting fit.

I mean, just look at that picture. She’s got me balancing on a friggin’ ball while lifting weights. Yeah, I thought she was nuts when she suggested it, and at that point I was already used to her wacky functional training methods. But, it works. I actually enjoy that damn exercise now, and it’s not the most difficult exercise I can do. I can’t speak highly enough about her abilities and I can’t thank her enough for what she’s done for me.

So here’s my current status (yeah, it’s bragging, but after this I’ll be done): I just weighed in at 179.4 lbs; I’ve eliminated my back pain; I still eat out and enjoy a wide range of foods (although not McDonalds); I have a lot more endurance (some day I’ll talk about running stadiums), strength (dead lifting 235 lbs), and balance (the picture is just an example). There’s more, but you get the idea.

So, that’s the story. The changes are intentional, and a lot of work. But the payoff has been amazing, and I’m still (happily) working on the changes.

Mikki, my trainer from Fitness Transform, loves to throw new terms and acronyms at me. The latest is LSD (Long Slow Distance).

Apparently, I’ve been overtraining.

No really. Who knew?

My current training schedule consist of two days of strength training (in a gym, using weights) and three to four days of cardiovascular interval training (running stadiums) per week. Oddly, I’ve come to enjoy it. And lately, I’ve been going through another anti-growth spurt, so it’s pretty effective.

However, in the last week or two, I’ve been dragging through the day. And, my workouts have been affected since I can feel myself getting tired earlier than usual. So, Mikki recommends I cut back a bit to let my body recover. Rather than stadiums, switch to LSD, and only for two days a week.

LSD is the new term for low intensity cardiovascular work, and Mikki discusses the tradeoffs between the two in another article. So I’ll go back to running around the track for several miles and see how I respond. Not as impressive as “running stadiums” but still a challenge for me.
Maybe I just need a vacation – in Malaysai!