Love Your Legs Week 1

For the next four weeks, I'll be trying the "Love Your Legs" plan from Fitness magazine.  I chose this as my first Project because my bottom half has long been the bane of my existence.  There have been many victims of my backside.  From knick knacks perched on shelves, to random children on the beach, to the many many items I have accidentally sat upon, the carnage is vast and varied.  According to the Fitness article, it is possible to tone the legs and rump to make them smaller, which is quite contrary to the evidence displayed by body builders everywhere.  No, this is not to make the muscle bigger, but to make the fat smaller. 

They have some very convincing evidence, but the real motivator is the MRI comparison of two thighs, size 12.  The 21-year old thigh slice looks like a marbled steak, just a thin line of fat around the edges.  The 71-year old thigh is almost all white fat, with a bit of meat in the middle.  (I tried to find this picture to post online, but I didn't find it.)  I have a feeling I am closer to a rump roast than a sirloin.

Along with the exercises, which are focused on the legs and intended to be practiced three times a week on non-consecutive days, there is a 1500 calorie a day diet plan.  I went online to find the plan, supposedly here.  I signed up for some newsletter that is supposed to come by email, but it just wasn't what I thought.  I wanted a calendar or something I could just print out and post on the fridge, not 17 articles about nutrition with more advertisements than information.  Also, 1500 calories a day requires planning and very little fun.  There are times when I am motivated for such endeavors, but lately, I just want to eat what I want, when I want, and lose weight anyway.  Is that too much to ask?

Well, anyone who has embarked on a weight loss journey knows, it is.  I found a possible middle ground, however.  A recent study showed that women who ate low carbs twice a week, and normally the rest of the time, lost more than those eating 1500 calories a day.  This seems totally doable to me.

So here's the plan:  I'll do the "Love Your Legs" workout three times a week, and twice a week, my carb intake will be limited to 40 grams or less.

The hard part about this new blog plan is the statistics.  I kinda don't want to share the "before" info.  But the thing I really like about the Fitness workouts and articles is their focus on real people.  They often feature people who are 5'-6" and weigh 172 lb, who lose 10-15 lb over a period of weeks.  I personally find these stories more motivating than the 300 lb Losers who drop 150 lbs.  It is awesome, of course, but most of us do not have 36 hours a week to focus on weight loss, forgoing all other aspects of our lives such as Happy Hours, work, family gatherings, errands, and Happy Hours.

So, in the interest of science, my statistics, as typically reported by Fitness:

Height: 5'-8"
Weight: (gulp) 182.5 lb.  Stupid Wii...
Bust:  41"
Waist: 34"
Bum:  45"

And, since we're interested, Left and Right Thigh are both 26.5".

Boo.