Cycle Day 21 – Boosting, Weight 138.0 lbs.
With another less than perfect week in the books, I didn’t lose any weight this week. I didn’t gain either. Thank goodness. I’m really struggling in the food area.
I’m back to Boosting through the end of the cycle and into the first 4 days of the next cycle. I LOVE the weight workouts. Just love lifting!!
On to week 4…
Cycle Day 14 – Buffing, Weight 138.0 lbs.
I seem to be having somewhat of a negative trend… my weekends are hurting my weight loss goals. I was actually down by 2 pounds during the week and things were looking pretty good for a rewarding week on the scale until Friday night, when I went to eat pizza with my family. Saturday, I spent the day at home doing some housework and found myself visiting the Easter candy. As it turns out, I was down by 1/2 pound for the week. I’m a little agitated at myself. But, tomorrow is a new day… and I’m going to try to refocus again.
My workouts were great this week. I really enjoyed the circuit workouts. I’ll be continuing circuit work through cycle day 18.
I know that planning is everything. I need to work on planning out my menus again. There is little room for mistakes when a menu plan is in place. As for the weekends, it may be better to invite guests to eat in than to deal with eating out. (The pizza was SO good, though. I did opt for thin crust – Canadian bacon and pineapple with a salad and no dressing.)
On to week 3…
Cycle Day 8 – Buffing
Today, I am back in the saddle after a long weekend which involved way too much food that is NOT good for me. My workout was an upper body circuit:
Pushups (x10)
Bent over rows (x10)
Dips (x10)
Shoulder press – palms in (x10)
Bicep curls (x10)
Tricep overhead extension (x10)
Ab knee ups (x15)
Side raises – alternate sides (x10)
Ab roller (x8) – first two circuits / Side bends (x15 each side) – last circuit
(for a total of 3 circuits)
Jodi’s been on vacation since last Thursday – she’ll be back for cardio tomorrow. I’ll be glad to have my workout partner back!
Cycle Day 7 – Buffing, Weight 138.5 lbs.
I am not very proud of week 1 of this challenge. (Not to blame anyone but myself, but) Kale and Kayla came in on Friday evening and all six of us (K & K, Tyler and Courtney, Dave and I) all went for pizza. I stayed home on Good Friday and did some Spring cleaning most of the day, so I didn’t get my weight workout in either. Saturday, Kayla, Court and I went to Branson – and we ate at The Olive Garden (Kayla and I even split a chocolate dessert that was really good! Courtney passed it up!!). So, the fact that I broke even on the scale this week is actually amazing, but I am still up 3.5 pounds from my low a week or so ago.
As for soreness – OMG!! My calves are STILL screaming. I haven’t been this sore for this long in a LONG time. Seriously, those babies feel battered and bruised.
I hope everyone had a blessed Easter.
On to week 2.
Cycle Day 4 – Boosting
Today is the last day of Boosting phase. On to Buffing. Goal during Buffing is to lose as much weight as you can in the two week period. Workouts will change to circuit style. Kayla is coming this weekend, I’m kind of hoping she brings her 30 day Shred (Jillian Michaels)… that may be a fun Buffing workout.
Jodi left for a long weekend vacation today, so I HAD TO DO cardio by myself. Which is not my favorite thing. It looked like this:
| Minutes 1-3 | Warm-Up |
| Minute 4 | Hard |
| Minute 5-6 | Recovery |
| Minute 7 | Hard |
| Minute 8-9 | Recovery |
| Minute 10 | Hard |
| Minute 11-12 | Recovery |
| Minute 13 | Hard |
| Minute 14-15 | Recovery |
| Minute 16 | Hard |
| Minute 17-18 | Recovery |
| Minute 19 | Hard |
| Minute 20-21 | Cool Down |
Cycle Day 3 - Boosting
Today’s workout was lower body weight training:
Straight Sets (3x10)
Dumbbell Squats
Leg Press
Dumbbell Split Squats
Stiff-legged Deadlifts
Calf Press
Calf Raises
Swiss Ball Crunch
Ab V’s
We haven’t done strictly upper/lower body workouts in a long time. We’ve been doing a lot of compound moves and combining upper and lower in each workout… so this workout (and our upper body workout on Monday) really exhausted our muscles. We’re both SORE today from Monday’s workout.
I haven’t been counting calories… a bit tired of that after 12 weeks of uber-monitoring!
Cycle Day 2 – Boosting
Today was cardio day. We did intervals. Since we’ve been off for a week, we did 5 min. warm-up, then for the next 10 minutes we rotated 1 minute at 9 mph, and 2 minutes recovery… then we cooled down for 5 minutes. Felt pretty good since I had my new running shoes on.
Tomorrow, lower body weight training.
Cycle Day 1 – Boosting, Weight 138.5 lbs.
Today begins our second challenge of 2009. I believe in 12-week challenges. Each 12-week challenge is designed to focus on reaching a certain set goal.
This challenge, I’ve set my goal to lose 8.5 pounds. I’ve updated my ticker at the top. It now shows my actual weight and my goal for this challenge (130 pounds). I finished C1 at 135… and this last week (off week), I gained 3.5 pounds. (Today is also cycle day 1, which is responsible for a portion of that.) I’m not worried about the gain. My body has been on a caloric deficit for 12 weeks… so the increase in calories is good for my system.
During this 12-weeks, I’m working with my cycle days (hormonal timing) as per Michelle Berger’s “Hormonal Timing” book. Each month will be broken up into two two-week periods based on the cycle day. Two weeks for “buffing” (getting lean) and two weeks for “boosting” (building muscle).
During the buffing phase, we’ll be doing circuit type weight training, and during the boosting phase, we will be doing slower, more traditional weight lifting methods. I’ll be changing the weight lifting workouts each month as well.
Today’s workout was an upper body straight set workout (3 sets of 10). As we’ve been off for a week, we definitely felt the workout… our arms were spent by the end of it.
Chest: Flat bench press, incline flyes
Shoulders: Military press, lateral raises
Back: Lat pulldowns, middle back rows
Biceps: Seated bicep curls, EZ curls
Triceps: Tricep extensions, skull crushers
During the buffing phase, I will be eating at more of a caloric deficit (around 30%). During the boosting phase, I’ll be eating more toward maintenance calories (about 20% deficit). As I’m TIRED of counting every morsel in my mouth, I probably won’t be counting calories as much as just combining meals in protein, carb, and healthy fats.
I’ll be posting as I go.
Have you set a fitness goal for yourself? What are you doing to obtain it? I hope you’ll join me for a 12-week fitness challenge.
