Staying motivated, keeping things interesting Monday, March 15, 2010

I can't say I did a whole lot this weekend. Then again, I never really do anything at this point. Clinton isn't exactly a place to go out and have an exciting time. The only real thing of note was re-arranging my bedroom a bit to hook my computer up to my TV. Past that, it was old South Park and 30 Rock episodes.

I took a day off from exercising Saturday, which put me back in the fitness center on Sunday afternoon. I decided I was going to try something different: increase the resistance on the bike. On a typical day, I bike on a level 5 resistance. Having done this for a while now, it really feels like nothing to me, and I can bike at a rate slightly faster than 20 mph.

One of the things I've gathered during my reading on exercise is that you have to change your routine on a regular basis. When you do the same thing for so long, your body becomes used to it, making it harder to lose weight. Keeping that in mind, I decided I was going to bike for 40 minutes instead of the typical 30-35. I started on level 5, as usual, but I went up to level 6 after 10 minutes. Not bad. After 20 minutes, I went up to level 7. Still not horrible. After 30 minutes, I bumped it up to level 10. Okay, now this is a workout. However, I did feel good enough to extend my time by another five minutes, putting me at 10 minutes at level 10. I sustained about 100 RPM at this rate, and I got my heart rate up to about 155 for that time.

While not as intense today, I did go back to level 10 for a bit, and I could feel the difference. I also increased my weights again. I can still do everything, but it's a challenge. I may stay there for a few weeks before trying to move up again.

All in all, I'm feeling pretty good. I lost another three pounds from last week, taking me down to 335. I'm about seven pounds away from my freshman year of college weight. If you think about it, that's not exactly great, but then again, having lost 43 pounds since last April is a good thing.

The other major challenge I find myself facing is getting up in the morning. Lunchtime and weekend workouts are easy for me, since I'm already up and moving and have been for several hours. However, I wake up during the week at a time specifically for this purpose. It can get old after a while, but I'm trying to stay motivated. I remember I got to a point when I did this several years ago where I had an amazing amount of energy. Waking up was no problem then. I hope I can get back to that.

Weight as of 3/15/10: 335 pounds
Weight lost since 1/1/10: 23 pounds