health mode v1 - results

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Hi guys!
So I have reached the end of my first health period since the start of this blog.
As you might remember these were my goals when I started:

GOAL:
bellybutton = 72 cm
weight = 50 kg

By the beginning of last week I told you guys that I would focus on cardio and fat burning exercises but after a rough start 3 hours of sleep in 72 hours I could not manage to get up in the mornings and the rest of the week I've been dead tired.
I've also had a fair amount of wine and other drinks and foods not matching the diet I set for myself. So I was prepared for the worst when I headed to the gym to weigh myself.

.: week 5 - final data :.

Female (yup, still female)
Age: 26
Height: 158.5 cm
Weight:51 kg (+0.45 kg)
Estimated BMR: 1300 cal

Measure points are taken with my body relaxed.
Problem areas are my waist under my bellybutton and lower back.

body part
chest:
upper arms:
waist:
bellybutton:
buttocks:
thighs:
calfs:

one week ago
83 cm
26.2/26.2 cm
66.6 cm
71.8 cm
87.5 cm
49.5/49.5 cm
33.3/33.3 cm

now
85 cm (+2 cm)
26.3/26.5 cm (+0.1/+0.3 cm)
66.8 cm (+.2 cm)
71.5 cm (-0.3 cm yay!)
88 cm (+ 0.5 cm)
49.5/49.5 cm (+-0 cm)
33.3/33.3 cm (+-0 cm)

body part
weight:
chest:
upper arms:
waist:
bellybutton:
buttocks:
thighs:
calfs:

final results
-0.6 kg
+1 cm (probably due to 'that time of the month')
+0.3/+0.2 cm
-1.2 cm
-3 cm
-0.5 cm
-0.5/-0.5 cm
+0.3/+0.3 cm

Analyze of the results:
If we start off by looking at the previous week only and look at my weight. My weight and measurements might puzzle some of you...because I gained weight but still lost some around my bellybutton. I was puzzled too but then when I measured the rest of my body it became clear. As far as I know I haven't done any plastic surgery and still my chest grew by 2 cm...it's almost that time of the month, so my body is probably holding on to more water.

So if we look at the big picture instead. Even though my health period was interrupted by a two week vacation I managed to reach my primary goal which was transforming my waist from 74.8 cm down to 72 cm...I ended up on 71.5 cm which is great!
I reckon it's not only the change of diet and more cardio that did it but also some of the exercises I did which tightened up the muscles in the abdominal area and back.

So what about my weight? I started at 51.6 kg and ended up at 51 kg and even though my goal was 50 kg I'm not crying rivers. First of all, you can't fight begin a woman...I'm suspecting that my body is holding on to more water as it is that time of the month. Secondly, I trust the measuring tape more than the scales, I've been planning on writing about why scales are devious and I will soon. But I think the results have proven my point enough for now. I gained weight but still lost fat around my waist...so do I trust numbers on something I stand on once per week or do I trust what I see in the mirror?

Over all I'm very happy with my results, looking back on how many times I strayed from the path I laid out for myself which includes more alcohol than usual and one or a few pizzas. I've had some side effects from being healthy too. I've gained some muscle mass and I've gotten stronger...proof of this is that when I started I could do 25 push ups and now I can do 40. I would probably have lost more weight if I hadn't added more proteins to my diet and a little bit of weight lifting...but it would have been muscles and not fat and I don't want to lose my muscles :)
So not only can I see the change in the mirror, I'm also stronger and I feel that I don't get as winded as easily as before. I've also got a much better posture...which I think you can see from the images!

I hope that I've shown you guys that it doesn't really take that much to change your body and that you don't have to be a slave under your diet or exercises...the most important step is the change itself and how your mind is set.

This is what I look like now (got 2 new bites :/):


This is what i looked like four weeks ago:

simplified fitness - part 1 - have a plan

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This is part 1 out of a series of about ten parts (I haven't quite decided yet), bringing out the basics of what you can do and things that are good to know when you try to reach your goal.

But first you need a goal, make a plan and write it down. Answer the questions, why? what? how? when?

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  Figure out the reasons why you want to do this change. Is it to lose weight, lose fat, get stronger, build muscles, get definition, get fit etc
  


• 
  Get yourself measurable goals, like 10 cm off the waist or be able to run 1.5 km in 10 minutes. Set short term goals (weekly) and long term goals. Last time I had a run for it my goal was to match RFL G1 level of fitness required for all serving soldiers and officers in the New Zealand army in two months. Your long term goal should be hard to get to but not impossible.
  


• 
  Look over your lifestyle, to get quicker results you probably will have to look over both your diet (more about diets later) and exercise more including a bit of weightlifting (more about this later).
  


• 
  Try to find exercises you enjoy, there is no point running if you don’t like it…find a few different exercises that you like and alternate to keep yourself motivated. Don't start too hard out, start slowly and let your body adapt and then gradually increase the workouts and tighten up your diet.
  


• 
  When you start, be prepared that it might take a bit of time to see the results of your hard work, you might see results for a while and then it stops (more about plateaus later).
  If your plan doesn’t work as expected, tweak your plan and give it some more time. Fitness is a bit of a science and you have to figure out what works for you and your body by trial and error. Fitness doesn’t happen over night so don’t give up, just keep on going and you'll get there!
  

Ok I have a plan, now what?
Before we move on there is one thing which very important for your motivation and over all success. And that is to measure your progress because otherwise, how will you know you've reached your goal or is going in the right direction? There is another thing to it as well. When you see something everyday you tend to get used to what you see and don't really see if something has changed. By measuring you will get to see that things are actually changing.

Start of by taking measurements and write them down and then along the way you take new measurements and you will see the progress of your diet and training.
I would say that once per week is good to track your progress and I don't see any point of doing it more often than that.

The results of your measurements can be very motivating in two ways. If the results are good, that's fine and if the results aren't as good as you thought you can look over your routine and try out different things to make the results go in the right direction.

There are several different ways to do this.
When measuring your weight and changes in your body frame try to stick to certain routines and try to keep the same conditions for each measuring. Me for example: I pick Monday mornings and I use the same kind or similar clothing every time.

• 
  Use a measuring tape
  
  
  I reckon this is the best way to measure change of your body. Choose which parts you want to measure and then decide if you want to measure those parts while being relaxed or while putting tension to the part. It doesn't really matter which just remember to be consistent. I measure my chest, upper arms, waist, under belly button, buttocks, thighs and calves. You can of course do less or more.
  


• 
  Photograph yourself
  Taking photos on a regular basis is a good way of visualizing the change. You can do your whole body or pick a body part you want to work extra on.
  As you can see in this blog I took photos of my tummy, I could not see the change by looking at myself, but when seeing the first and last photo, I could definitely see the change.
  


• 
  Bioimpedance scale
  This scale or ha hand held gadget which with a very low electrical current measures not only your weight (not hand held) but also calculates amount of fat, fat free mass and water. Don't rely on it too much as the result can vary depending on how much water you have in your body at the time you use it. It is completely painless.
  


• 
  Fat Caliper
  
  
  This is probably the way you can get the most accurate body fat percentage read out in your own home. You take skinfold measurements from selected body parts and then based on the results from that you can calculate the body fat percentage.
  This requires a bit of training to get right but when you do it is every accurate. I think this would probably only be useful for people who compete within bodybuilding and fitness. The rest of us doesn't need it and I would get one for myself i would do it only out of curiosity.
  


• 
  Regular scale
  If I could I would ban this one. A regular scale does nothing good, instead it causes many people to be discourage and sometimes even depressed. The results from the scales varies too much, for example...I can step up on a scales now, get a value...then go to the toilet, step up on the scales again 5 minutes later be over 0.5kgs lighter! I think you get my point.
  

When it comes to stamina, it's about how long you can go for, how hard you can go for but also how fast you recover when you're done. You can check you pulse (manually or buy a heart rate monitor) before, during and after the exercise. After a couple of weeks of exercising you should notice that your resting pulse is lower than before and that you recover faster after the exercise. To check this, measure your pulse every 2 minutes three times directly after exercising and record the values.