Keep On Keeping On

It’s been just over three weeks since the beginning of my journey (although my first blog post was a week ago from today). I’m happy to report that I am still going strong. Even though I’ve had to work my way up to a duration that might actually produce results rather than setting myself up for failure right out of the gate, I consider my journey thus far to be a nugget-sized victory.

Since November 17th, I’ve gone from a five minute cardio workout to eight minutes to twelve minutes to thirty minutes (broken down into three ten-minute sessions with ten minutes of rest in-between) and back down to twenty-five minutes (this time, without stopping).

I’ve reached my twenty-five minute goal everyday for the past six days. I even managed to complete thirty minutes without so much as a hiccup (just the occasional plea to God to have mercy on my soul) on Saturday for the first and only time thus far. I’m going to attribute this feat to having talked to my mother just before jumping on the machine. She should call more often!

In addition to daily activity, I’ve been keeping a food journal over at www.FitDay.com. It’s a free tool that allows you to enter your food, moods, activity, and weight loss goals. In my previous entry, I used Discovery Health’s BMR calculator to figure out my Basal Metabolic Rate (1,974). For some reason, Fit Day’s BMR is much higher, citing I burn 2,709 calories per day. It recommends I employ a daily caloric restriction of 902 calories, leaving me with 1,900 calories to my name.

Seems like a lot — which is why I am inclined to test it out for a few weeks to see where it takes me before adjusting to a lower number. Yum! Even with a 1,900 allowance, I’ve been averaging 1,600 per day. Why? I’m not exactly sure, but I have a feeling it has to do with knowing that I won’t starve myself to death just to get through the day. I know I can eat that small bag of Cape Cod Chips that came with my Turkey Avocado sandwich from Tossed without having a panic attack.

We’ll see.