A Long Winter

By: K 

It’s been a long while since I updated this blog and I sincerely apologize for that. This winter I was very much less than stellar in the exercise department but as of today I started jogging again! Didn’t test my time and I only jogged a mile, but it’s great to feel like I’m working again on my body. I’ve gained back about half of my weight (I’m about 185 lbs now) but the fact that I didn’t allow myself to get back to 200 lbs is refreshing to me, seeing as how that seems to happen rather often. I also couldn’t afford my gym membership anymore so I’m back to just doing it on my own and jogging around my neighborhood, so hopefully I can still find some good results!

Just wanted to do a quick update.

Still Alive!

By:K

Yes, I know it’s been forever since I’ve updated on here, but rest assured that I am maintaining myself in my health and exercise. I’ve been extremely busy seeing as how, since I’ve graduated, I’ve been spending hours upon hours applying for job after job. I’ve been working a lot for my personal studio, getting musicians and local companies to notice us and we’re doing well. I also started working at an independent film company nearby so it allows me to learn more movie making magic as I continue to pursue something more major. I don’t get paid because it’s pay system is based on when you make a movie (Which I haven’t… yet) but it’s good experience for my portfolio.

As far as my exercise goes, being so busy has indeed cut back my time for exercise, but I still make it out to the gym at LEAST once a week, if not more. I bought some new shoes that I wear specifically for running now and they’re a dream come true! I’ve also kept up with using Myfitnesspal and I’ve logged in for a good 7 months straight (Or however long I’ve been using it). I have continued to lose weight and, according to my last weigh in, I am currently at 161 pounds. That is a reduction in 39 pounds from when I started at 200. I’ve also kept up with taking relatively regular pictures of my progress. I present a before and after at the current moment (As of yesterday)

You can see a very clear and definitive difference this time around, more so than my previous before/after picture. My stomach has shrunk extensively and has even lifted itself up from it’s previously sagging position. My breasts have lost a lot of fat as well and have begun to recede back into a normal position. I’ve even lost a lot of hanging fat from my arms, as even they are thinner and more toned now than they once were. Also a quick note, I’m wearing the same pants in these two pictures, so you can see how loose they are on me now (I have to wear a belt at it’s tightest loop). I’m feeling great and I’m going to continue my path to hopefully tighten up my loose skin and develop some more muscle along the way.

Shin Splints

Sorry I’ve been offline for so long. I haven’t been able to jog lately because I’ve been getting shin splints. I need to buy some new shoes so I’m waiting to get some money so I can purchase a really nice pair of running shoes. In the meantime I’ve still been keeping up with my weight lifting and diet (I’ve lost 36 pounds now!) so I haven’t fallen out of my routine. I just need to fix this small problem. I’ll let you all know when I get back on board.

Pull Ups: April 21 2012

By:K

I am still not much of a fan of my appearance, but I have made big strides towards what I want. I decided that I’d take a look at what my body looks like when I do my pull ups. I was curious and the gym happened to be empty last night so I took off my shirt and did some pull ups. As you’ll see, there is some definition in my back and, though it’s harder to see in the mirror, my front area has certainly lost a lot of fat and I can begin to see some pectoral development. It’s interesting to see these changes and I’m excited for when it will all look even better. Until then, I’ve lost 33 pounds and I still think my skin is taking a little longer to catch up, so I have some flab. I will admit, I was so fat at one point that I now have stretch marks on my sides, so getting my skin back to a tighter state will take quite some time. Anyway, here’s the video.

April 9-15 2012 Update

By:K

April 2-8 2012 Update

By: K

Mission Accomplished

By: K

So after a little over 3 months of jogging that slowly turned into running, weight lifting and dieting, I have finally reached my goal. I have lost, as of today, 31 lbs. I have gone from 200 lbs to 169 lbs and I feel better than ever. I have gone from jogging a measly 14 minute mile at 4 MPH to running a 9:45 mile at 6.2 MPH! I have never before run or jogged a mile in under 10 minutes. At this point I’m working on just lengthening my runs now. I focused enough on speed and now I want to make sure I can get that speed lasting for longer amounts of time and over longer distances.

In the strength training realm, I started doing only a few minor exercises like 20 pound weights at 3 sets of 10 reps, 3 sets of 10 sit-ups and the vertical chest press (3 sets of 10 at 30 pounds). Now I’m using the bicep curl (5 sets of 10 at 30 pounds), 4 sets of 10 sit-ups holding a 15 pound weight, 3 sets of 10 with 35 pound free weights, 5 pull ups, 3 sets of 10 of the tricep pull down at 80 pounds, 3 sets of 10 with a weight of 60 pounds on the vertical chest press, 5 sets of 10 with the weight at 60 pounds of the back pull down, 4 sets of 10 sit-ups with a side twist at the top of each rep, 4 sets of 10 reps at 60 pounds of the bench press, 5 sets of 10 with 15 pounds of dumbell flies and 4 sets of 10 reps of abdominal crunches. It’s clear that I have made a great deal of improvement and many steps forward in my exercise.

Over the past month I’ve started noticing actual muscle growth and I finally did a pull up for the first time in well over a decade. It’s been an extraordinary few months and I plan to keep up the work cause now I have a new goal and that is to get toned. My body still has a lot of fat that is keeping it from looking much better than it did when I began this, but with effort and hard work, I’m going to get rid of that fat and hopefully my skin will start to tighten up around me and I’ll start to show some true improvement. As of now my stomach especially still shows fat (And some flabby skin from lost fat and the skin not keeping up with me) so my new goal is to continue to push myself until I get the look I want and show this world what I can really do.

To those of you that have stuck around and cheered me on, thank you so much. Liking my posts, commenting and letting me know I’m doing well has been great encouragement. Having an actual gym partner now makes it even better cause I have much more motivation (Outside of some other motivations of my own). I will continue to work hard and make updates as best I can (I know I’m not the greatest with those updates). I also will be changing my MyFitnessPal setting so that I am not losing weight anymore, which means I’ll be allotted many more calories throughout the day, but my new challenge is to try to reduce my fat intake and increase my protein and carbs. Small steps towards a greater goal.

Thanks for the support and the kind words.

Here’s a before and after from 200 lbs to 169 lbs

March 26 – April 1 2012 Update

By: K

 

March 19-25 2012 Update

By: K

I am now running a 9:45 mile! It feels great to be under 10 minutes for once!

Muscle Development

By: K

So the other night I noticed during some sit-ups that I actually have some considerably noticeable muscle development in my arms. I couldn’t believe I didn’t notice it before, but it seems this exercise regiment is certainly paying off. Take a look!

I’m pretty happy to see some kind of difference in my body. It makes me more motivated to actually have something that you can notice and see with your own two eyes. I’ll keep up the work and keep updating the best I can.