Well, after signing up for my health insurance today at work I had a lovely little realization; I am 10 lbs away from getting $100 off my health insurance premiums. Now I can also apply that money towards a Amazon or Target gift card (the others really don’t appeal to me). Now there are other ways to I can earn more money off my health benefits and such, and I will be doing that also, but this is good motivation to lose the remaining weight.
Granted 10 lbs is not the goal, the BMI goal is 21-22, which means roughly 20 lbs. This is still doable and here is how I am going to do it.
First, the boyfriend is quitting smoking on Monday for his birthday. I have decided to quit pop too. Yes, I know, seems like an episode of news radio where I am Dave Foley and he is Phil Hartman, but the goals are valid and focus on the right thing. Make no mistake though; I am not giving up caffeine. To do that would to doom any weight loss before I start hardcore.
Second, I talked to my personal trainer at work and I have two things, a weight lifting regimen and an eating plan. From Nov 9 to Turkey Day, I will be on a caloric restrictive diet. Pretty restrictive too, considering my love of sweets, but since it is to jump start the weight loss and for a limited time, it won’t be too bad.
As for the weight training, that will be done Tues, Thurs and Sat. I already have the equipment at home so I am not too concerned that if I can’t do it at work I am screwed. On Mon, Wed and Fri, I will be doing 3 challenges: 100 pushup, 200 squat and 200 crunches.
/www.hundredpushups.com/
http://www.twohundredsquats.com/
www.twohundredsitups.com/
I know, seems like much, but I was challenged by Katie to finish the year strong and after doing the primarily test, the only one that concerns me is the pushups. Upper body strength is not my strong suit, but doing this and the weight training program will. The two hundred squats and crunches don’t worry me at all, I am in the excellent category on the testing for that, so 6 weeks to build up the endurance should be good.
Now for the last two pieces. I have a gym at work. Not just like a treadmill, like classes, fitness assessments and coaching kind of gym. I will take a class daily. Shouldn’t be that hard, I am already there. I just need to get to work a little earlier to budget in shower time and bring clothes. This will allow for 45 minutes of cardio a day. And Ginger, the one who does the majority of classes I will be aiming to do, is nuts. She works you hard.
Then there is out of work. I am starting up taking Belly Dancing Classes again, those will be on Mondays in Westlake. I can do 1 or 2 hours and that will be a nice cross training to the other class I am taking Kung Fu. Those are on Wednesday and Sundays for an hour each.
The goal is to get at least 1 hour working out a day. I know, seems like a little too much? That is why I am only doing this through the end of the year. I have scheduled a fitness assessment to reevaluate my fitness levels for New Years, and that will allow me to retool the workout plan. But, if I do this, for 6 weeks straight, I should lose the 20 lbs. I should have upper body strength. I should have endurance built. I should have an ass that looks amazing.
Before you freak, let me break down the numbers for you. 20 lbs is roughly 3.3 lbs a week for 6 weeks. That means that I need to cut/burn 11,666.66 calories a week. That is 1666.66 calories a day. Now if I work out for 1 hour a day, that will burn anywhere between 400-600 calories a day (yes, I am aware that Cardio Interval on Thursdays will burn 800). So that takes me to 1100 calories roughly.
Now I am giving up pop. I drink on the conservative side 3 pops a day (and that is really underestimating) at 150 calories a piece for a total of 450 calories. That takes me to 650 calories left to deal with. Now for the first two weeks, I am on a restrictive diet that covers that extra 650 calories.
But also, lets take into consideration I am also doing a few other things. I am not snacking all day like I normally do. So that blow pop at 2 for 100 calories, gone. Those 3 laffy taffys at 10 am for 15 calories each, gone. Plus doing normal switches, like Ranch to Balsamic which for one tablespoon saves me 85 calories, will also help. But see, I know there will be days were I only get in an hour.
That is what the classes are for. Kung Fu burns between 800-900 calories for an hour. Belly Dancing, 700-900. And those are extra burns. The challenges too are extra burns. And those won’t be killing a lot of calories, maybe an extra 100 a day I do them, the main thing is they are building muscle, which burns calories faster than fat.
Plus at the end of the day, will I be disappointed if I don’t lose 20 lbs by New Years? Yes, somewhat, but at the same time I will be back doing something I love, Belly Dancing, learning to be strong, Kung Fu, and be able to do 100 freakin push ups. And at the end of the day, that is the real goal. The BMI just gives me measurable numbers I can start with, but I will know when I am healthy and fit. My sister can bench press my son and I want to be able to do that too. But I have to start somewhere and this is a good place to start.