191 lbs.  8lbs lost.  $450 raised.

 Realizing that I am not progressing that far beyond the original chunk of weight that I lost, gained some back during the holidays and my evening with 70%, and then lost again.  I now have to face the fact that exercise is a big factor. This week I stopped eating at 7pm and I also started going back to the gym. 

I had with me an article I ripped out of O, Oprah’s magazine.  My mother keeps all the bathrooms in my parent’s house fully stocked with Good Housekeeping, O, and Ideals (which is an odd magazine that I swear is published by mythic creatures like the Littles)  When I need some ‘private time’ in the bathroom, I leaf through the magazines inevitably going straight to the Lose 5lbs in way less time than any normal being should be able to lose 5lbs article.  Even though I never really follow any of the purposed diets in there.  I just keep waiting for the day I flip to that page and it says something like, go eat 12 cloves of garlic and 6 tootsie rolls and the chemical reaction will cause your thighs to explode, quiver, and shrink.

I did find this article however on a work out based on an exercise program called Ready, Set, Go!  The idea is that mixing in short intervals of high intensity exercise within your cardio will help boost your metabolism, make the workout more effective, and ultimately give you more energy.

This is what I have been doing on the treadmill so far, although you can use a stationary bike, or elliptical also.  Warm-up for 2 to 3 minutes (I warm up to 5 minutes just because I always have) then if you measure your speed or intensity on a 1 to 10 scale with 10 being the hardest you can push yourself, go for 30 seconds at an 8.  For me, this would be pumping the treadmill up to 6.2.  If you can’t run, you can also use the incline feature to make things harder.

Then recover for 1 to 2 minutes.  Repeat this cycle of 30 second sprints with 1 to 2 minutes recovery 8 times.  However, on the last two sprints push yourself to a 10.  For me, that is 7.1 on the treadmill.  Then cool down and recover for a couple of minutes, again 5 minutes in my case.  The article lists the time for the workout at 20-25 minutes, but I’ve been averaging about 30 with the extra time.

My thighs have not exploded, quivered, and shrunk.  But I already feel much more energetic and this new routine makes me a little more eager to go to the gym and challenge myself.  This week I would like to try some of the classes at the gym and add this short cardio before or after a Pilate’s or body sculpting class.

There are two other versions of the workout in the article, to vary things up. But I think I actually have to go to the gym more than like 4 times to get bored with the routine.  Hopefully, I’ll be looking up those other two versions in the next few weeks.  I tend to get very excited about something and then just lose interest quickly. So it is my goal to make working out a steady regular part of my life instead of going whole hog for two weeks, then once I have pulled every muscle in my body using that as an excuse to just skip a few days.  Until a few days becomes months and I’m wearing my pants with long sweaters so I can keep the top buttons unbuttoned making room for my muffin-top tummy.

My gym has also become a mecca for incredibly hot boys.  Both gay and straight.  Although their preference doesn’t matter to me when they are covered in sweat and lifting heavy things.  While I still am able to clean up into an attractive woman, at the gym I feel like something that fell off the State Puff Marshmallow Man as he lumbered through the streets of NYC.  So I feel like a spy, able to admire the mens without ever having to worry about attracting their attention.  Cowardly, maybe.  But it’s winter, and the nights are long.  Sometimes a WGWaFA needs a few sweaty images to get her through. 

Ready, Set, GO!