The New Year!!! With the new year comes new beginnings for most (even if those new beginnings only last a week or two). For me, however, I had already started, and was pretty far into, my New Year’s resolution. On the recommendation of a friend of mine, however, I decided to update the goal I had written on those post-it notes four months earlier. The new goal read: “Weigh 160 pounds by spring break.” Much like my previous goal, I never thought I would be able to achieve this one.
This month saw a few changes to my routine. First and foremost, I increased the amount of weight I was lifting across the board which caused my routine to look something like this:
Chest Day:
10 minutes of pectoral flys (10 sets of 5 reps at 145 pounds).
15 minutes of rowing.
10 minutes of weighted crunches (10 sets of 5 reps at 80 pounds).
15 minutes of rowing.
10 minutes of chest press (10 sets of 5 reps at 75 pounds).
Leg Day:
10 minutes of leg press (10 sets of 5 reps at 220 pounds).
15 minutes of rowing.
10 minutes of leg extensions (10 sets of 5 reps at 80 pounds).
15 minutes of rowing.
10 minutes of outward hip abductions (10 sets of 5 reps at 100 pounds).
This wasn’t as big an increase as the month of December, but I was also unable to go the gym as much because of the holidays.
In addition to increasing the amount of weight I lifted in almost every category, I also further reduced the amount of food I was eating. This is because, as I lost weight, my BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate) decreased. Quick aside for those who do not know, BMR is a calculation of how many calories burned by the body’s normal processes every day (breathing, heart pumping, lungs working, etc). Now, the BMR is affected by a variety of things such as diet, weight, amount of exercise in a day. Essentially, as someone becomes more physically fit, the body burns more calories by simply existing (it’s why massive bodybuilders need upwards of six thousand calories a day to prevent their muscles from losing mass).
In most cases, an increase in muscle mass means an increase in BMR and a decrease in weight means a decrease in BMR. Now, for most people who are closer to their ideal weight, they have to increase their caloric intake when they start working out. In my case, however, I was losing fat much much faster than I was gaining muscle. This led to my BMR actually decreasing instead of increasing.
I hadn’t realized this until the first week of January had passed. At this point, I decreased my daily caloric intake from 1700 to 1500 calories a day. This was awful. Not as bad as going from 2000 to 1700, but still quite awful. I felt drained and weak for the first few days while my body adjusted. After the first few days passed, I was losing weight at an insane rate. Nearly 7 pounds in three weeks.
In summary, this month was pretty educational. I increased the amount of weight I lifted across the board, severely decreased in the amount of calories I ate per day, and learned about BMR. A cheat meal on Sunday was still in effect at this point and I ended the month at 171.1 pounds. This was a 6.9 pound decrease for the month and a total weight loss of 37.4 pounds.
Right: The best thing that I did this month was take the time to learn about BMR. Decreasing the amount I ate was also a good choice.
Wrong: I should have decreased my caloric intake earlier. This would have increased my weight-loss as the first week of January saw nearly zero progress.
