The general belief/school of thought/whatever you want to call it is weight loss is 80% diet and 20% exercise. No I'm not saying this isn't true, because I do believe it. What I'm saying is, it sucks! Why can't it be the more you workout the more weight you lose?
Now when I started this journey to finding the healthy and happy me I know is buried somewhere under all these layers of fat I was working out 5 days a week. Three days a week I was doing 60 minutes of strength training and then two days a week I was doing 30 minutes of cardio. I was losing 2lbs a week like clockwork and I was loving it. This continued for about 8 months. Then I signed up for the 12 week challenge. My trainer (at the time, I have a new one now) and I worked out a plan, kicked up the cardio, tightened up the diet and away I went. At the end of the 12 weeks I had only lost about 10lbs. What a disappointment!
Enter the new trainer.... I was a little freaked out by my old trainer leaving and abandoning me, but he made it his mission to find me a replacement. I was worried the first day that I met with my new trainer, "what if we didn't get along, what if she was mean, etc". My fears were silly, because my new trainer Ashely is awesome!!! We get along so well, and she had made me into a runner. I look forward to our workout sessions each week. Fast forward 9 months and this is my workout schedule Monday: Run 4 miles, 30 minute X Series Class, 45 minute Les Mills RPM. Tuesday: 60 minutes strength training, 60 minutes on the treadmill, 55 minute Les Mills Body Pump. Wednesday: Run 6 miles, 30 minute X Series Class, 45 minute Les Mills RPM. Thursday: 60 minutes strength training with trainer, 50 minutes on the treadmill, 55 minute Les Mills Body Pump. Friday: 6 to 8 mile run. Saturday: 60 minutes strength training. Sunday: Run/Walk 4 miles. So on average I was working out 3 hours a day and not losing a single ounce. My thought was the more more I worked out the more I would lose weight so I just kept adding exercise, but I wasn't seeing any results. No inches lost, no weight loss, nothing. I was spending every spare minute I had working out without seeing results and I had it in my head that I must not be working hard enough so I added pilates and athletixs (a new class taught twice a week) to my already full schedule. I was having severe hip and quad pain on my left side from a pulled and a torn muscle and yet I kept going. I even ran a half marathon.
About a week and a half ago I was chatting with my trainer and she said that she had brought up my weight loss problem with the head trainer. He said that with my workout schedule being so full I was keeping my cortisol levels high and therefore preventing my body from shedding fat. Did you know that your body sees exercise as a stressor? I didn't know that!!! So I was in effect over stressing my body and my body in return was doing the exact opposite of what I wanted it to do.
This week we (my trainer and I) have changed things up and my schedule isn't as crazy as it once was. I've dropped a couple of classes and am only running once per week. Sunday is my rest day and I take it seriously. I weighed myself today for the first time in 2 weeks. My weight hasn't changed yet, but I do have more energy and hopefully soon I will start seeing results.
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