Cruisin' Along...

I've been actively watching my calories and exercising three times a week for about two and a half months now, and am down 11 pounds from my rough starting weight of 208. I've probably lost about 15 pounds of fat though in that time, with a few pounds of muscle added back on. I feel good. I feel strong, and determined, and that's a nice change from the past two years. I still don't really know what woke me up and got me back in control of my body, but I'm grateful and quick charged up for the future.

I've been focusing less on running this time around, and more on body composition through resistance training. I still look to devote about 30 minutes each workout to cardio, but I'm more mindful about keeping my knees and my leg muscles strong and injury free. It's four years since I first lost weight, and I definitely feel as if age is starting to play a factor. My body needs more stretching and just a little more patience I'm finding. I'm okay with that though, since I'm seeing great results despite not pressing as hard in the running department. Resistance training leads to greater muscle growth though, which is a huge calorie burner both in muscle recovery as well as muscle maintenance. In that sense, I feel as if my pushing harder in that area is bringing equal results and hopefully a more muscular looking body in the long run. All my running last time around left me quite lean, but lacking much definition, so that's something that has stayed in my mind as I've picked things back up again. Honestly, all I care to have is somewhat defined chest, biceps, and shoulders, with a touch of that V shaped back. They're all coming along relatively nicely, so I'm excited to see how I look come Christmas time.

An interesting parallel that I've been observing the past couple of months is that when I first lost weight years ago, it happened around the same time of year. I started a bit earlier last time around, and weighed a lot more, but I'm finding that I'm now lining up pretty close with my weight and weight loss week to week compared with four years ago. I think I'm just a bit lighter this time compared to four years ago, so I'm kind of doing a little race against myself to see if I can get back to 185 quicker than last time. I reached goal weight just into the new year last time, so I'm hoping to beat that this time around, lol. We'll see.

People are starting to notice the weight loss now... well, they're starting to say something at least, not sure if people noticed earlier. It's nice. It's not as important to me this time around, but still nice to hear. I'm finding that last time I really soaked in all the ooohs and awes around me, but this time losing weight I really don't care about or crave any external recognition. I think first time around, my ego was basking in the sunlight of all the new-found and long-absent attention. Even these blogs for example, I don't have many active followers anymore, and most of the people that were once active when I also was, have since moved on from Spark People, so I truly feel like I'm journaling for myself now - and it's oddly freeing.

That's it for now. Time to get back to work. :D