Apple Belly

Getting ready to workout after an over night shift. It's been a challenging week! My exercise data for this week is shockingly lower than a few weeks ago. I guess I have lost some momentum but a huge part of it (besides the overnight shifts which have been hurting, seriously!) I don't like to go outside in the cold! I get sooooo annoyed having to get in my cold car and drive to the gym shivering, that I just end up not wanting to go. I hate not having heat in my car but luckily it'll be warm soon.  I need to get back to my goal of hitting 750-1000 calories burned at the gym each day. Higher goals reap higher rewards, for me. I have read a lot that longer cardio workouts don't necessarily pay off as much as an intense 20-30 minute workout yet as I've aimed for shorter, intense workouts, I have not seen the pounds budge.

Until I can figure out "how to work out" I am going back to what I was doing before when it was working. Arguably I was eating like a rabbit (carrots/celery/chicken) and working out aggressively but I gotta beat that fat out of me! It will take a few months of really hard work and then it'll be so much easier to maintain it. I'll have the muscle, the increased metabolism, and the will power to keep that weight off for good. Right now its crunch time (no pun intended, but I do need to up the number of crunches I do daily as well).

I like to buy fitness magazines to keep me focused and motivated; this week I bought USA Today's "The Best Diet and Fitness Tips." Since I have an apple shaped body (carry the weight in my belly) it says: "Cardio is tops for frying belly flab, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't strength train. 'Strong core muscles cinch everything in at your midsection.' Core Cardio Circuit [Plank Jack / Circle Crunch / Squat-Twist Lift] For a pear shape (wider on the bottom than the top) they say: "Hormones are partially to blame for extra padding on your lower half - estrogen signals your body to hold on to fat as an energy reserve for pregnancy. But a sedentary lifestyle may increase storage in this area." Pare-Down Circuit [Pull-Down Plie / Leaping Lunge / Press Punch]