What American doesn’t come up with a new years resolution of “I am going to lose weight this year”…same thing I said last year and the year before that. We will see. With each new year I have gotten better at managing one aspect or another that ultimately helps me get closer to my goals.
For example, where as I have a horrible sweet tooth normally and hate the flavor of black coffee (especially low quality black coffee), I have removed the use of cream and sugar from my coffee. I still drink the horrible black stuff for its caffeinated properties but have found it in myself to remove the empty carbs and extra fat. One small step…but they all add up.
I have also focused quite a bit of my time towards learning more about what I am eating, when to eat it what, and what each food actually does to/for my body. This added knowledge has helped me at least know what I am doing right and wrong. This doesn’t always help me to not do the bad things, but at least I am now more aware of the big picture.
Add to this a light shoulder injury from heavy benching and you end up with a person that has more free time for aerobic workouts compounded with a better diet. This has lead to a 5lb weight loss in the first week (counting the last few days of last year) of the new year. A good start over all.
I have been looking quite a bit into more of the HIIT style aerobic workouts to get myself away from the mundane stationary bike and track running. I have tried lots of different styles of workouts. I recently came across an entry in mens health for a Spartan workout. This has been so much fun that I also implemented the routine with my kids. It consists of 10 different exercises done for a minute each back to back. A true circuit style routine. Then a 2 minute break between sets of each circuit. I will list the details of the routine shortly. It is fun!