Just in case you were interested

It strikes me that, if anyone ever did venture onto this site and read through a few posts, they might be interested in exactly what I have been doing. Since I am at 17 pounds lost in six weeks, I can offer this regiment up to anyone interested with at least a modicum of certainty that it can work.
First, I have kept myself to approximately 1,500 to 1,800 calories per day, while allowing myself a little leeway on the weekends. I am still somewhat structured and don't go crazy on Friday and Saturday, but I'll have a few beers and a few wings, or the like, and not get too worried about it.
I have gotten off of all soda or carbonated drinks, and have cut out juice as well. Juice is high as hell in calories and can be every bit the belly buster as soda I have found, only with some nutritional value.
I can't say that, as far as food, I complete have cut anything out, however, when you are counting calories you have a lot less to play with than usual. For instance, I haven't given up on fast food, but when you are talking about 500-600 calories for a burger or a chicken sandwich, that doesn't leave a lot for the rest of the day. That means that you pretty much have to cut that kind of stuff out.
Also, you have to determine what kinds of foods you can go “light” or “fat free” with. Let's face it, some things are just horrid light or fat free. For instance, I can't have light or fat free blue cheese. So, when I get myself a salad, I still put the regular blue cheese on it, I just use less and have a smaller salad. As an example, I love a local diner's chef salad, and I love their blue cheese. I get the large and use a pertty generous portion of blue cheese. However, I will only eat half the salad at a time, instead of the whole thing. So, a salad that, with all the fixings and blue cheese, was probably running me 1,300 calories (I am just approximating, might have been less) will not only yield 650 calories. On a 1,500 to 1,800 daily calorie intake, that leaves me the option of a decent lunch and a few little snacks mixed in.
On the flip side, light bread, from light white to light rye, which yields about 40 calories per slice as opposed to 80 per, is just fine with me. As is low-fat cheese slices (60 calories per as opposed to some at 75 per or higher) and I don't mind fat free bologna (25 calories per slice). So, I can make myself a bologna and cheese sandwich and not be killing my calorie intake.
I also eat a lot of cereal, preferring Special K, and I drink a LOT of water.
If I am getting a pre-made meal, or something canned, I try and get a meal that is in the 500-600 range for dinner, and I eat a good amount of fruit as a snack.
But, none of this would be possible without working out.
I am a novice when it comes to working out. I have tried to study as much as possible on the right techniques and the right regiment for optimal response. When you begin to research, understand two things: one, there is a tremendous amount of info out there, so you should be able to educate yourself with relative ease. However, everyone has a completely different idea about how to attack weight and get into shape. You'll find opposing opinions on everything, from how many times a week you should work out to how intense that workout should be to how much time should be spent on cardio versus weight training.
Having looked at everything, here is what I have come up with:
Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday are high-intensity workout days for me. I start on the cross country trainer and do 20 minutes right when I hit the gym. Usually, I do intervals of intensity, without ever really resting all that much. I will start slow for a warm-up minute, then ramp it up as high as I can go until the five-minute mark. Then, I pull it back a bit for about two minutes, then ratchet it up again until the 10-minute mark. I keep this up back-and-forth up until the 20-minute mark, then cool down for two minutes.
Then, I do my workout, alternating between biceps and triceps one day, back and chest the next. I will do two workouts for each section, three sets each time. I start doing 15 reps, then do 10 and 10, while increasing the weight for each set (I usually have a hard time completing that 10th rep on the third set). Then, when I am done with my four exercise routines, I then do a quick ab workout (hammer crunches and then either power crunches or leg raises). Then I finish up with two more routines (one for each section being trained) and then do a less-intesive cardio for 10 minutes (on some days I can only get up to five minutes).
On Tuesday and Thursday I do about a 15 minute ab workout at home after work. I do 65 jumping jacks, plank exercise, and then alternate between regular crunches and reverse crunches for three sets of each. Then I do a lower back crunch set, then another 65 jumping jacks. With little rest inbetween everything, it usually takes 15 minutes.
On Sunday, I go to the gym for a medium intensity workout on the cross country trainer (25 minutes) then two sets of leg workouts (calf and hamstring work) then two ab routines.
The only day I usually do nothing is Friday.
So far, this has seemed to work for me. I have to be much more diligent in making sure my weights stay consistent and that my technique is always right because, without that, you are really just wasting effort and putting yourself in a position to get injured.
I started out with just three days or working out a week, then added the two-day ab workout at home about three weeks in, then added the Sunday workout last week. You have to pace yourself. If you try and do too much too quickly, you'll get injured or sick and you'll end up back at square one.
I have already noticed a huge difference in the six weeks since I have been working out. My muscle are a little more defined (a shocking development considering the fat they have to fend off just to be seen) and the routine (especially cardio) that kicked my butt every week is now getting more tolerable. I was on the cross country trainer for 27 minutes on Sunday and could have probably stayed on for another 15. That is in stark contrast to when I started, where I could barely do 10 minutes and was having “you can do this” conversations in my head at about the 7-minute mark.
Also, realize that doing too much can be bad. I stopped at 27 minutes on Sunday and kept my workout light because I knew I was going to be back on Monday. Had I just let it all fly that day, I would probably be burned out for Monday's routine. When you get to a level where you can really let it all fly, go right ahead, but when you are working off a lot of weight (like me) then pacing yourself, not putting yourself in a position to be injured, is important. It's a marathon.
The hardest part?
The eating.
I have come to really look forward to my workouts even though, in the midst of one, I am dying. You end up feeling really good once your body recovers and you want to do it again.
The eating, that's tough because, if you're overweight, chances are food became a much bigger deal in your life than you ever wanted it to be. Get depressed, unhappy, even bored, and food was there for the taking. Now, however, you have to fight those urges. You also have to fight the urge to congratulate yourself on weight loss with food. Once a month, not a problem. I have a weigh-in each month with another person. Whoever loses the most that month gets a dinner. Last month, I went out, had a great steak, garlic mashed potatoes, salad, appetizer, and desert. It was a great meal. But, I don't let myself get off the routine after a good week. I, instead, hunker down, keep going.
Look, it is tough. I am only in week six. I am writing this blog to see how this whole thing shakes out. I don't know what I am going to look like in another month of two months or eight months, but I believe this way of approaching working out.........works.
Why? Because you really have to find what works for you, for life. Can you live without carbohydrates? Can you live on veggies alone? Can you live on wheat bread and give up all others?
You have to develop the things you CAN do for the rest of your life, noth six months, not 18 months. If you do, then I believe getting in shape can become staying in shape.