Belicove.Com - BeliBlog

January 26, 2004

HEALTH UPDATE: FOOD & HIGH-INTENSITY STRENGTH TRAINING

For the last three weeks or so my weight has hovered right at 175 lbs., which is around a 60 lb. drop since last summer. At this weight I can easily gain five or ten pounds, or even lose five pounds (which might happen when training for a race or something), and continue to be happy with the look and feel. But now comes the tough part--keeping the weight off while NOT exclusively eating the powered meal replacements I receive from the medically-supervised weight loss program I'm enrolled in (Lifestyle Strategies of Indiana).

For the sake of time and convenience, my weekday breakfasts still consist of two or three meal replacement packets in the form of a shake. For lunch I've been having a medium-sized chef's salad without dressing, along with a large serving of mixed/cut fresh fruit (and by large I mean four-plus cups). Weeknight dinners have been either three meal replacement packets in the form of a shake, or some other sensible low fat / low carbohydrate entree (unless it's a Saturday or Sunday evening when there's a good chance I can be found eating pizza with my roommate :-)

On the exercise side of the equation, I continue to do cardio workouts on four out of five weekdays (which burns around 3,000-4,000 calories total), and have finally started to incorporate strength training into the routine. The method I'm following, if anyone's interested, is called High-Intensity Strength Training, which places emphasis on performing one set of each exercise until momentary muscle failure is achieved. In other words, rather than 10-20 reps making up a set, and completing three sets of each weight lifting exercise before moving to the next, I'm doing one exercise very slowly--no jerking motions, no 'last one who finishes is a rotten egg'--to the point where movement of the resistance is no longer possible, which in turn has been scientifically proven to insure that a sufficient stimulus is being achieved.

I'll write more about how this phase of the program is going soon enough, but for now, for anyone who's concerned about my wellbeing, or who gains strength from my own silly little story, please know that I'm moving on, in more ways than one. (Oh, I had another round of blood tests... I'll share those results later this week.)

FYI... if you're new to my website, and would like to see other posts related to all of this, click here for one from 9/7/03; click here for one from 9/14/03; click here for one from 9/18/03; click here for one from 10/9/03; click here for one from 11/11/03; click here for one from 11/13/03; click here for one from 11/17/03; click here for one from 12/16/03; click here for one from 1/7/04; or click here for one from 1/14/04.

Posted by Mikal at January 26, 2004 5:03 AM | TrackBack