My body, my science experiment

[clevermanka]

Starting today I'm going to see how much I can change my body in two months.

What I'm letting in:
No soda
No grains (and limited high starch foods)
Limited processed foods (like mustard, vinegar, plain yogurt, etc.)
One leafy green salad per day
Only one restaurant meal per week

What I'm putting out:
At least 30 minutes of heavy cardio 30 min/day six days a week (no wimpy workouts)
Dance drills/practice three times a week
Serious strength and flexibility training three times a week (no half-assed, lazy stretching)

Current stats: 151 lbs (period bloat, boo), 29.25" waist, 40.5" hips.

Comments

[mattjustmull.livejournal.com]

Red Dog's Dog Days started today. You should show up for some good cardio. It's Monday through Thursday at 6 AM, 12 PM, and 6 PM. Pick a good time and show up for an hour.

I run at the 6 AM time slot with about 800 other people.

[clevermanka.livejournal.com]

I appreciate you mentioning it to me, but I will not run or jog. It makes me miserable and takes too much of a toll on my joints (even when I was a skinny young thing in high school, it hurt me to run).

I save my hips and knees for things I enjoy doing. =)

[chronovore.livejournal.com]

You owe me a half inch of hairline I just lost to my eyebrows shooting up too fast.

[clevermanka.livejournal.com]

Buddy, you know it. There's more than one reason I've kept up with yoga for seven years. *wicked smile*

[chronovore.livejournal.com]

Now it's a full inch you owe me.

[clevermanka.livejournal.com]

Just sayin':


Although that photo was taken in '97. I can't quite get there these days. Working on it, though.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_luaineach/]

I'm with ya. I have seriously let my weight get out of control and have gone right back to eating croutons straight out of the box!

[clevermanka.livejournal.com]

Oh, no! And you were doing so well.

Hop back on the wagon with me, hon. Snuggle up!

[theoneinblue.livejournal.com]

Wow - good luck with the experiment! But as for the body, it is beautiful as it is...don't go messing too much with it! ;)

[clevermanka.livejournal.com]

Aw, thanks. But you know, it's funny. My proportions never change. Barring some horrible famine where I starve half to death, I will always have at least a ten-inch waist/hip ratio, a big butt, and sizable thighs. Those are fine, as far as I'm concerned.

...Just as well, since they all persist, through my skinny 125-lb high school days (24" waist, 36" hips) clear up to my 190-lb pre-diagnosis time (33" waist, 45" hips).

But I want to look strong and sleek for a change. Less soft. More panther. Less lazy house cat. I'm sure you understand. *wink*

EDIT: As reference, here is a photo of me in the best shape of my life:

I doubt I'll get back to that, since it was a lot of time at the gym that I'm just not willing to invest anymore. But I'd like to get at least close.

[theoneinblue.livejournal.com]

"Less soft. More panther. Less lazy house cat. I'm sure you understand. *wink*"

Absolutely...will be attempting that myself this fall...though my proportions will have changed, at least temporarily - if things go as I suspect, I will spend at least 6 months as a 34 DD, which as you know is, ah, a huge change for me...hee hee...but what I really want is to experience that phenomenon I have seen in my family's cats, which is to go overnight from pregnant kitty cantaloupe to sleek mama hunter again...

[clevermanka.livejournal.com]

Too bad you won't be a teeny bit smaller in the rib cage, as I have some gorgeous 32DD bras I could mail you... *sigh*

[theoneinblue.livejournal.com]

Ack! and *sigh* I suppose there's no way to temporarily extend the backs of them a bit, is there?

[clevermanka.livejournal.com]

Hm. I dunno! I might just have one of those bra-extender things in my sewing junk. I got a lot of those sorts of things (including garter belt clips) at a thrift store once.

I'll look and let you know what I find. And if I think it will work with the bras. I just can't bring myself to throw away a $60 bra, you know???

[redheadfae.livejournal.com]

Don't forget that a 32DD bra is the same cup size as a 34D.
Up a band size, down a cupsize is the way they go.

[stuology.livejournal.com]

I should join you!

[clevermanka.livejournal.com]

Definitely! You are my inspiration for cutting the soda.

[rougewench.livejournal.com]

Good luck with your adjustments and may they bring you the results you hope for.


D.

[clevermanka.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

[redheadfae.livejournal.com]

I'm about there with ya.

I'm wondering however, if doing heavy cardio six times a week is wise for sustained weight loss?
From what I understand, interval training is better, with a resr in between so the body still recognized it as "exercise" and not "regular day activity" (thus adjusting to not lose as compensation).
Maybe adammaker can *snicker* weigh in with an opinion from the Energy labs?

... and I'm sooo with you on the running thing.
This girl not only can't jump, but WON'T jump either. I like to save my rack at its current location for as long as I can.

[clevermanka.livejournal.com]

Interval training is more important in weight lifting (edit: By this I mean alternating which muscle groups get worked). Most people can do cardio every day (with a day of rest once a week) without stressing their body. I'm not running a marathon, here. The idea of me over-training is pretty laughable, really. =)

Definitions took this out of context...

[redheadfae.livejournal.com]

This (http://www.squidoo.com/interval-training-for-fat-loss) is what I meant by interval training.
A good blog on cardio myths is also here (http://thegreatcardiomyth.blogspot.com/2007/12/great-interval-training-myth.html).

I consider some episodes of rockin' raunchy sex to be GREAT for cardio. Now THAT'S interval training we can all wrap our legs heads around :)

[clevermanka.livejournal.com]

Ah! HIIT. Yes!

[clevermanka.livejournal.com]

There IS an issue of burnout for some people

Which is why I'm doing this only for a two-month period, after which I'll return to my regular habit of moderate daily cardio and alternate days of dance drills/weight combo exercises.

There's no way I'd ask myself to do this indefinitely.

[redheadfae.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the input on the training. I'd heard this from a firefighter/trainer at the gym where my mum works out, he'd suggested she only do the treadmill 3x a week instead of 6. She does an hour each day.

.. and yep, Mileage and the Comfort Zone is the diffence in jumping around and racks. I've *never* been able to be comfortable running nor jumping, no matter how high-impact the sports bra claims to be.
I'm a 34F, but my breasts are very "soft", despite having good pecs underneath them. It sounds like you're pretty lucky to be able to sleep in a bra. I'd rather die first. ;)

[clevermanka.livejournal.com]

OK, I'll pipe up and say an hour a day on a treadmill is just crazy. For a multitude of reasons.

[redheadfae.livejournal.com]

She's bored and is afraid to walk outside in case she falls, which has happened to her. We're talking a 73 yr old woman who enjoys walking, and she watches movies while she does it.

.. and yeh, mum's crazy, but we knew that already. ;)

[http://users.livejournal.com/_luaineach/]

I agree with what L & N said above. In fact, many years ago (when I was pregnant) my doctor told me that a "healthy" person should be doing cardio 3-5 days a week *irrelevant* to desire for weight loss. In other words, one should be doing 30 minutes 5 times a week just for their *heart*.

I've never heard any authority that has said heavy cardio is unwise six days a week. As already said above, I think it might get *boring*, but it shouldn't hurt your body any (assuming all regular health precautions). :)

[http://users.livejournal.com/_luaineach/]

And I should add that my rack doesn't necessitate worrying about jumping.

::sigh::

[http://users.livejournal.com/_luaineach/]

Sweet talker!

[clevermanka.livejournal.com]

Rawr.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_luaineach/]

Show off! :)

[clevermanka.livejournal.com]

Well, I can't show them off anywhere else but LJ, since they don't look like that anymore.

Boo.

I agree.

[femfataleatron.livejournal.com]

If you keep it under 30 mins you'll be pretty safe... as long as you keep up the variety.
long term adaptions to cardio include loss of muscle mass ('cause it makes you more efficient at cardio to weigh less, muscle included). If you have endurance goals that's one thing, but one's body responds most quickly to Intensity (Force X Distance over Time). So, the more work you do in a shorter period of time... http://home.hia.no/~stephens/maxpower.htm gives a pretty technical explanation of this and how it effects endurance adaptions. his conclusions can also be extrapolated to those of us who don't want to be endurance athletes: Interval train with specific intensity goals in mind, keep periods of training under 40 minutes, and vary your training so you do not make specific long term adaptions.
I can be more specific if you like... just not here.
P.S. YAY exercise good! Set goals big goals! Have fun! Good luck!

[clevermanka.livejournal.com]

If you have endurance goals that's one thing, but one's body responds most quickly to Intensity

Endurance is a large motivation, yes. I'm going to be dancing at least once a week at Smoker this year and I want to be able to finish a set without breathing hard. I did a bellygram a couple weeks ago and I thought I was going to lay down and die afterwards.

Not sexy.

[femfataleatron.livejournal.com]

perhaps you mean stamina rather than endurance... You aren't expecting to dance for two hours right? If you look at it from a functional point of view... "I generally don't dance for more than a twenty minute session. If I exercise for twenty minutes, and slowly build up the intensity to a higher intensity than I use when I dance... particularly if I use similar or harder movements." The point of Interval training is to allow you to do more work in a given period of time. Dance is functionally a lot more like sprinting (stamina) than a 10K (endurance). Getting more endurance leads to less stamina!

[clevermanka.livejournal.com]

I do mean stamina rather than endurance, then. Thanks for the clarification and pointers.

[adammaker.livejournal.com]

Interval training comes into play in weightlifting if you are doing the exact same motions again an again. So Don't!

Cardio is (or should be) much more fluid in expression.
Unless you ae utterly exhausting yourself. there is noting wrong with cardio each day.

Changing patterns of exercise will give you best results.. mostly from not getting bored and stopping the habit.

-
If you are a peak athlete, then changing patterns is key.
If you are just doing it for good health and shape, then get out there MOST days and bust that ass!

[clevermanka.livejournal.com]

If you are just doing it for good health and shape, then get out there MOST days and bust that ass!

Yes!