Mission accomplished 42 days

Well folks this morning I reached the goal!

This has been a very informative and eye opening experience to say the least. It is a whole different ballgame when you are tracking day to day week to week as opposed to just letting it happen over a period of time with no deadline. I have come to a new appreciation of how much 25 pounds really is to lose! I truly believe this has helped me become a more experienced and knowledgeable trainer and person. The main lesson I realized is to have people set goals, but not attach time lines to achieve it. There are many different factors at play here. Muscle gain vs. fat loss etc etc. If I can leave you all with one final piece of advice I have gleaned from this journey it would be. Don't get hung up on what the scale says. Focus more on how your body and waistline have changed! Clothing size changes mean more than pounds on the scale. Strong is the new skinny!

Thanks again to all who followed me on this journey!
My wife Kori and I have started a new permanent blog for our family, workouts, food etc. please follow us! Instead of wikipedia it's lifekipediawithdaveandkori
http://lifekipediawithdaveandkori.blogspot.com/

1 Month

Wow it has been 4 weeks already, I however will wait to post a picture until week 5. Just because it is so cliche to do a month pic. Pretty good week given a 4 day weekend with a restaurant visit Saturday night with beer. Lost 1 pound but lost 1/2 inch off my waist (which matters more than the scale) feeling stronger now. Close to the 25 lbs mark what is really good is I ran 2.5 miles on Saturday at a 5.0-6.0 pace with no prob, my cardio is getting better as well.

Sorry been awihle last week life got in my way! Lost 1 pound

Well I had a week of long training last week for the FD. Didn't make it to the gym at all until Sat and Sun. However I was cognizant of what I was eating on campus. So losing 1 pound was a bit of a victory for me, I fully expected to have gained. That struggle of food vs life vs exercise is always a huge one. I have to admit I think my body is telling me I need a break for a bit from the gym. It is hard for me to say, but I have been feeling little tweaks here and there while lifting lately. I am going to take this week off from weight training and do a cardio workout Thursday, Friday and Sunday. Sometimes you just need to get a cleansing mentally and physically!
Doesn't mean I won't be watching my diet!

Week 3-Weigh in

Wow survived Super Bowl weekend without too much guilt on the food front. I saved most of my carbs for beer. Hey it's the Super Bowl. I walked/jogged 2.5 miles Sunday morning  keeping my HR under 145 to earn my treats.
Anyway, I weighed in this morning down another 4 lbs 19 total! So I am very happy with that and I must say keeping my cardio in the fat burn level has been working physically. It is just hard on me mentally cause I want to run, but I can't deny the results!
This week should be rough I have a training class all day every day until Sat. So it will be hard to fit workouts and diet in. Wish me luck!

Day 17

Today the diet consisted of reheated chicken veggie soup and Arnold Palmer light half and half. Dinner homemade chicken chow mien with water.
My workout was arms with free weights.
My Cardio today I wanted 2 miles from a walk/jog combo never letting my heart rate break 145 my average rate after all was said and done was 128, so I kept myself within the fat burn level again. But I have a confession to make. That just out of brisk walk light jog speed was a tough speed for me. It almost felt harder than a flat out run, but just because I am not used to it. Hey, that's what this was all about for me trying workouts I have never done before. It's all about expanding my personal experiences.

Day 15

I continued today with my power walk to maintain my heart rate in the fat burn range. I walked for 20min made it 1.26 miles. It was a really new experience for me walking on a treadmill that long. I think the hardest part of it was the competitive nature I have, I wanted to race the people on either side of me. Lol I stuck to my guns I really want to have some data on fat range training.
Plus I did weight training for bi's and tri's I am really bummed about a small muscle pull I have in my chest. laying off to avoid further injury is smart but difficult.

Diet today: Lunch I got the Subway ham salad. 5 bucks and it's no different than me tossing the bread, but I get a bowl and fork.

Dinner: Yet another fabulous recipe from Pinterest. PF Chang's chicken lettuce wraps Link below! I had 4 wraps then a small plate of the chicken mixture with the hoisin sauce on it! Delicious for real!

http://www.skinnytaste.com/2012/01/asian-chicken-lettuce-wraps.html

2 weeks down 15lbs

I only lost 4 pounds last week. Why am I pleased? Well 4 lbs is 4lbs but what really matters is my waist went down another inch. I am losing fat and building muscle which will effect the scale given the fact muscle is denser than fat.

     This week I am going to try something new with my cardio. I am only going to do a brisk walk on the treadmill at 3.8 mph my fat burn heart rate range is 110-130 I am trying to lose fat not reach the aerobic level 150+ from running. Then I can tell people that it works from experience! We will see gonna hit it 4 days this week. As usual I'll let you know.

Notice how I said "losing fat and building muscle" not "Turning fat into muscle" which is impossible.

You hear that all the time, here is a little info regards to that.

Fat to Muscle Conversion is Metabolically Impossible

Fat and muscle are two completely different tissues in the body. Because they are created, regulated, and destroyed by different (and opposing) metabolic pathways, it’s physically impossible from one to turn directly into the other.

How Fat and Muscle Work

When your body creates a new fat cell, that cell is destined to become a fat cell. When you burn fat, you are actually releasing the stored fat within that cell, not transforming it into another cell.
Muscle cells on the other hand are much more active. They are almost constantly turning over, releasing and receiving amino acids, and of course, lifting moving stuff around.
Because their respective jobs in the body are so incredibly different, evolution has made it so fat cells cannot be turned into muscle. In theory, the calories you release from fat tissue utilization may someday end up as part of new muscle, but this effect is minimal and insignificant.