McElmurray's Mountain Retreat!

It is not quite a month yet, but the routine I have decided on seems to be working. It takes longer to lose weight when you exercise with weights. You burn fat for sure but you replace it with muscle which is more dense and therefore you don't see the quick results you might with another form or exercise.

So far by cutting out sugar and working out with weights - I have shed around 4 pounds. I get anxious and sometimes weigh myself to often which is not good. Your weight fluctuates and when you check it to frequently it varies. Your body can also retain water which makes your weight vary. Last time I really checked it properly I was down 4 lbs and this morning it was 2 lbs. I'll go with the four pounds. When I saw the doctor a week ago he thought 4 months was on the optimistic side, but I'm right on schedule for reaching my ideal weight in 4 months.

My weight lifting is geared to my age. I start out with a manageable weight and do 12 repetitions. Then I add more weight and after one minute rest do 10 repetitions. I rest one minute between reps and keep adding weight at each session and go down to 8 reps and then 6 reps and then get the weight I started with back on the bar and do 12 more reps.

I do the bench press, sit ups, leg lifts (hard on the knees) and pull downs. When it starts to get easy I move to more exercises or increase the weight. This workout is designed to be done three times a week. Right now it can be done in about 25 minutes and I will work up to 45 minutes three times a week.

If you are looking for fast weight loss this isn't what you want to do. Replacing fat with muscle doesn't show very fast as muscle is more dense and weighs more. I personally love to lift weights and miss the old days working out with my buddies at the gym. They were all professional and had been trained in the NFL or by professional trainers. You had not only a spotter but someone who could coach you while you were working out to see that you did it properly. I worked out one day with someone who thought they knew what they were doing and while doing squats I also blew a knee. It is important to follow the right technique and not just think you know what to do and subsequently injure yourself. After the time off for knee surgery I had to start all over again and that is hard.

Hopefully this system I have set up for myself is a good one and will achieve the objective of losing 20 pounds in 4 months. Only 16 more pounds to go...so it is working so far.