About a month ago, I was frustrated with the fact that my quest for fat loss kept stalling. As I lost weight, my body burned less calories, which meant I was having a harder time losing weight. If you want to constantly burn more calories, you basically need to weight more. This is often why people will wear weight vests. As I was contemplating my options for burning more calories, I realized there was another: build more muscle. And as I looked over my workouts of the past few months I was shocked to see that somehow I had transitioned to Barbie (lightweight) weights. I had gotten caught up in the fancy "core training/balance" workouts that require you to stand on one foot, thus guaranteeing I could only lift Barbie weights.
So I made the decision to begin lifting heavier weights. The kind that require me to rest for a minute between sets because they are that heavy. (I always, always err on the side of safety. )
After only a week, I started to feel a difference. My back was stronger and I immediately thought of the scene in the movie, X-Men: Origins, where Wolverine is injected with the (fictitious) metal, Adamantium.
Because I could now feel a strong network of muscles, tendons and ligaments holding me up. But, I kept snapping at my poor husband before our meals. So for the second week, I decided to add an extra 100 calories of protein to each meal of the day (400 calories+1200 calories I was already eating) and that both quelled my snapping and fed my muscles.
My weight has gone up a bit, which can be nerve racking when you have been focusing so much on wanting it to go down, but I keep reminding myself of my goal: strength and fat loss. I know for a fact that I have built muscle, because I can lift more weight than I could in the beginning. And I can see it in my biceps, shoulders and back. I seem to be losing weight in my back and butt, as there are now craters where fat used to be.
My hypothesis is that eventually, I will lose enough fat so that my total weight goes down to the range I have been shooting for. I don't know how long that will take, so I am focusing on enjoying the current positive changes in my body.
2 comments:
Awesome plan. But if you would like a weight vest, I have one that I will never use. Picked it up at Goodwill because I know a bargain when see one! More than happy to meet up and let you have it! PS your dedication to your healthy lifestyle is absolutely inspirational :)
Thanks Shana! Being healthy makes me awfully happy. It's a lovely vicious cycle. Thanks for the offer of the weight vest. I will be in touch!
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