My frustration level was quite hight this month and I had to go back to the drawing board to come up with a better plan that will hopefully help me accomplish my wieght loss goal. I think I have a feasible plan; I have picked myself up and dusked myself off and I am giving it another try. Nothing beats failure but trying again and learning from it. I have done both of these and I am excited to see what the next 4 weeks will bring about.
This month has been one of discovery. I was quite puzzled as to why I wasn’t getting the weight loss results I wanted and thank God NTC and their experts were willing to help solve a piece of the puzzle. I went through a series of tests to test my fat burning zone and resting metabolism rate. This helped me to get a more accurate picture of how many caloris to consume. It was also very helpful providing the needed information to develop a more effective exercise program. I have been doing the new exercise routine for 2 weeks. It is not as intensive as the previouse one but I am burning almost the same amount of calories.
I spoke to two other exercise psysiologist outside of NTC and one at NTC to come up with a feasible exercise program. I am amazed at how helpful these individuals have been to me. They knew right away what was going on and have suggested a way to fix the problem. In essence, my body was burning carbohydrates instead of fats because of the intensity and type of exercise I was doing, yet; my diet was not compatible with the exercise level. I was not eating right foods at the right time nor was I eating enought calories to support the exercise intensity level. I needed to eat for the exercises I was doing. So the solution was to reduce the intensity of the exercise and the duration to no more than 1 hour 20 minutes of cardio 5-6 days a week and 1 hour of wieght training 3 days a week. This should give the body a chance to adjust. It will take about 4-6 weeks to see some result. The objective is to get the body to burn fat not carbs. I was given an exercise routine that includes walking, biking and elipitical (only at level 4). My goal is to keep my heart rate between 120-130 calories as much as possible.
I find the new exercise rountine a little boring, but I excited to see what will happen in the long run. I was told to take it slow and allow the body to adapt and not think its going to have to work a long period of time at an extremely high level. Too much high intensity exercise can and will eventually exhaust the body. So, I will see how this works and we will find out in 4 weeks.
Week 3 & 4
Kyndall my trainer has been great; she has done a great job at making me sore. She has been working on the calfs of the legs and mid-section and I feel it physically. This is a good sign. I can now do 15-20 of the lift your body by your shoulders to do stomach muscle exercises. When I first started the program; I couldn’t lift my weight with my upper body shoulders only. This is a major hurdle for me; I have always wanted use the machine but thought I would never develop the muscle strenght to do so. I have toned up a lot. Everyone in the gym thinks I have losted a lot of weight but I have not; I more toned than before. This is a wonderful benefit of the program.
I am also very grateful NTC and the magazine for allowing me the opportunity to partiscipate in the program. I didn’t accomplish the weight loss goal I wanted to, but I did learn some very important lessons. The new testing I under went and the knowledge that I got from the program will assist me in accomplishing my goal. By blindly increasing my exercise intensity, I was working against my own goals and didn’t know it. I caused the body to stall and by not eating enought calories, I made things worst. I have learned that you must eat for the activity you are doing and that everybody body burns a little different. Thank goodness I am in the program because this will help me a lot. Lets see what happens in June.
kindly,
Bonnie Oliver
Dr. Oliver
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