My current workout regimen:

Lower Body Workout (twice each week)

Seated Leg Press – Pyramid from light weight to my working weight as a warm up, then 4 sets of 8

Leg Curl – 4 sets of 8

Leg Extension – 4 sets of 8

Calf Raises – 4 sets of 12

Crunches – 3 sets of 20 and then one set until exhaustion

Upper body Workout

Chest Press – Pyramid from light weight to my working weight as a warm up, then

4 sets of 12

Shoulder Press – 4 sets of 12

Dumbbell Rows – 4 sets of 12

Hammer Curls – 4 sets of 12

Tricep Pull Downs – 4 sets of 12

Crunches – 3 sets of 20 and then one set until exhaustion

Keep an eye out for labels.

For instance, many peanut butters advertise themselves as "Low Fat." But are they?

Often they just replace fat with carbohydrate and sugar rich fillers. There may be less fat, but the calories are about the same, or even more than "regular" peanut butters.

Lesson: compare labels for additives, portion sizes and calories. You'll be surprised!

Today I’m reviewing my week’s work.

EXERCISE

Because of a couple of emergencies in my life, I missed a couple workouts, but I made up one of them later in the week.

Sunday: Off Day
Monday: Cardio: 12 min Stationary Bike & 13 min Treadmill
Tuesday: Cardio: 40 min Power Walk
Wednesday: Resistance Training: Upper Body Workout (Light – free weights)
Cardio: 25 minute Power Walk
Thursday: Off Day
Friday: Resistance Training: Lower Body Workout (Madium - machines)
Saturday: Resistance Training: Upper Body Workout (Light –free weights)
Cardio: 30 min Treadmill

One of the concerns I have to deal with are my physical limitations caused by my past injuries. The two places where I am held back the most is in the Upper Body exercises and the cardio.

A few years ago I had a partial tear of the patella tendon in my right knee. Not enough for surgery, but I was still in a full leg cast for four months. Also I’ve had a history of knee injuries, so as I’ve come back I’ve had to be very careful about how I stress my legs. My resistance training is a slow process since I’ve mostly had to lift lower weights than I’m capable of to favor the knee. I’ve counterbalanced that by exercising with a higher number of repetitions – 12-15 instead of the 6-10 I would do eight years ago. The good news is the knees are responding well, and the doctor has given me permission to go heavier on my knees.

Not so with my elbow. I tore a tendon there in October ’05 and surgery and rehabilitation took me through March of ’06. So while I can work out, my elbow can only handle so much weight. So for my upper body workouts I’m still left with light weights at high repetitions.

Finally, like most terribly overweight people, I had a limitation as far as what cardio I could do. When I started I was 305 pounds and doing anything but no or low impact was too much stress on the legs. So I was left with elliptical machines, stationary bikes and walking. As the weight has dropped I’ve graduated to Power Walking and some limited jog/walk sessions. But now, when my weight dips below 250, I’ll be cleared to start easing into some more challenging cardio, like Stairmasters, jo0gging and the like, which will take my program up a notch.

Overall, I’m pleased with this week. I handled a few problems when I couldn’t make all my workouts, but I won’t let the lost exercise time discourage me. I’m near to reaching one of my mid-term goals, 250 lbs. I hope to reach it within the next week.

Next week I’m going to add another cardio session and increase the intensity of one of my Upper Body Workouts a little (to see how the elbow responds), capped by a long cardio session Saturday morning:

Next Week’s Plan:

Sunday: Off Day
Monday: Lower Body Workout (Machines, medium)
Cardio: 30 Min Treadmill
Tuesday: Upper Body Workout (Free Weights, medium)
Cardio: 40 minute walk/jog
Wednesday: Cardio: 30 min Stationary Bike
Thursday: Lower Body Workout (Machines, medium)
Cardio: 40 minute Power Walk
Friday: Upper Body Workout (Free Weights, light)
Saturday: Cardio: 60 min walk/jog


DIET

This week I discovered some new food combinations. I found a local natural food store that makes their own low-sugar/fat-free granola. It’s reasonably priced and tastes good as cereal with fruit and milk, or is great added to yogurt. It has become one of my breakfast staples.

This week I want to continue a sensible diet, heavy on high-fiber fruits and vegetables and lean meat. Keep snacking to nutritional alternatives like carrots and apples.

A challenge is I have two meals to eat out for some social occasions. I’m going to allow myself a little freedom from the diet, but I don’t want to go crazy.

THE FACTS:

Starting weight: 305 lbs.
Starting Pant size: 48
Current Weight 253
Current Pant size: 42

Total Pounds Lost: 52

Long Term Weight Goal: 220 lbs
Short Term Weight Goal: 250 lbs (3 lbs away!)

The best meat to eat...

Not all meat is created the same. As humans we do need to ingest ample amounts of protein, and while my vegetarian friends will disagree, the best way to do that is with lean meat. But not all meat... and protein... are made the same.

The best proteins are low in fat, or like some fish, have Omega-3 fatty acids which are good for you. A great breakdown of what the best protein sources are for a healthy diet is on the WebMD website. Click here to find it.

The protein sources I try to use most often are boneless, skinless chicken breasts (white poultry meat), fish (salmon or some white fish like talapia) and yogurt.

One of the main ideas that I've tried to follow is to eat a variety of fresh foods, with an emphasis on high-fibre fruits and vegetables and lean meats, cooked with a minimum of fat. This is a lean, healthy and satisfying diet that promotes good health and a healthy weight.

So far I've dropped over 50 pounds following these principals and a sensible exercise program. Let's hope it keeps up!

INCREASING YOUR METABOLISM Gabrielle Reece has a great article in Yahoo, today. She says, in part... 'The one thing that really does help you lose weight or stay slim is how efficiently your metabolism works. So what does resistance training have to do with your metabolism? Science. The reason an individual becomes overweight is scientific: They're taking in more calories then they're burning.' You can read the entire article by clicking here.

So how much protein is enough? A lot depends on your activity levels.

Amino acids are necessary for the development and maintenance of our muscles and many organs. How hard we work these areas will effect how much amino acids we need. For most people, 25 to 35 grams of protein are adequate to handle our needs. Men, who generally have a higher percentage of muscle then women, generally need a bit more.

People who are physically active need more. In particular, athletes who take part in stressful workouts need a lot more to help their bodies in general, and muscles in particular, to recover. The greater the stress on the muscles and organs the more protein, and amino acids, you need.

For instance, body builders taking part in very stressful workouts may need as much as a gram of protein for each pound of their body weight. At such high activities, amino acids supplements are a great idea.

Making sure your diet has enough protein is important in two ways.

First, protein takes a lot of time for the body to break down into the nutrients it uses. So it takes much more energy by the body to process it in the stomach and intestines. So all calories are not equal: 250 calories of refined carbohydrates (like eating some cookies or even some pasta) are processed quickly and with little energy expended, so you get a quick rush of energy and insulin as the body tries to cope. if you don’t have an immediate need for the energy, it becomes fat.

If you eat 250 calories in a portion of protein it takes hours to process and a lot of energy. The actual calories released to the body are much lower, because of the energy needs of processing, and spread out over a longer period of time. This also has the happy result of raising your metabolism, so you use more energy even when resting.

Secondly, if you are exercising, eating enough protein will help replace fat with muscle. Fat uses no energy in the body, it is just storage. But muscles are energy hogs. They need a lot of calories to stay healthy, and again, this raises your metabolism so you use more calories even at rest.

Of course, like anything else, in moderation is the best. Too much protein is also bad.

The majority of protein taken from food is converted by protein processing into ammonia, which, due to its toxicity, must be excreted in urine. You need lots of fluid to do this, so if you are physically active and ingesting large amounts of proteins and amino acids, also drink lots of water.

Also, women in particular may make themselves more susceptible to osteoporosis. This is due to the high levels of ammonia in the body caused by high protein diets change the body’s pH balance. The body sometimes will leach calcium from bones to help correct the pH imbalance. Over extended periods this can lead to brittle bones.

Protein is an important nutrient to the human diet, supplying the body's needs for nitrogen and amino acids, those building blocks of proteins. The exact amount of dietary protein needed to satisfy these requirements might vary widely depending on age, sex, level of physical activity, and medical condition.

For instance, when we exercise hard, our muscles get micro tears in them. Our body then repairs these small tears in part with the amino acids provided by protein. If there are enough amino acids available, the muscle will also grow bigger and stronger to better handle the next time we stress it with work.

I’M GETTING REAL CLOSE TO DROPPING ANOTHER PANT SIZE!

Clothing manufacturers being what they are, all their clothing sizes don’t always agree. Right now I have some clothes that is 42 and comfortable, but a few in which 42 is just a bit tight, but now I can see where I’m not too far into fitting into a 40. A 40! Yahoo! The fat is coming off!

Today I did 25 minutes on a treadmill and some other walking. I hope to get in an exercise session this afternoon… either more treadmill or maybe some free weights.

Four months and counting!

Starting Weight: 305
Latest Weight: 254

Total Weight Loss to date: 51 lbs.

Old Pant size: 48
Current Pant Size: 42

Two friends of mine, Justin and Helen, are a special, and challenging case to cook for. Justin is your basic ovo-lacto vegetarian – he will eat milk and some limited egg products, like cheese. Helen, though, is a die hard Vegan – which means she eats no animal products of any kind. Put a dinner party all together – non vegetarian, an ovo-lacto vegetarian, and a Vegan, makes menu planning difficult. But it can also open your eyes to the many ways you can make healthy foods work for you.

I enjoy them being over for dinner, because we can experiment on new foods, cooked in new, healthy ways.

Either approach, meat eating or vegetarian, can provide all of your protein needs. The real difference is that meat eaters can provide all of their amino acid needs through a diet including 25-35 grams of protein. Vegetarians, however, need to plan their diets around eating complimentary protein sources to meet all of their amino acid needs, like rice and beans served together.

In March of 2006 I topped off the scales at 305 lbs. I huffed to go up stares, waddled around, and was aghast that I was wearing size 48 pants. My blood pressure was out of control. This is a long way from the athletic paratrooper of my 20’s. I came to the heart-felt decision that I needed to change my life in a fundamental way.

I started exercising regularly, began a healthy diet that avoided fat and was heavy on fruits, lean proteins and high-fiber vegetables. Most importantly I worked to improve my knowledge of fitness and nutrition. While my journey continues, I hope this blog can help others, and keep me motivated.