1 day until the 4 week cardio challenge

September was a Wolverine month with 5 strength/weight  trainings a week, but October will be a cardio month to get better results with the fat % and body measurements. I currently have 3 main problem areas: stomach (hardest to lose), thighs, booty. Just to make sure - no, I am after a big booty to shake, but just to get it in a better shape and state.

The routine for next four weeks:
1 hour cardio at 150-160 heart rate 5 days a week, Monday to Friday in the evenings
No more muffin top routine 5 days a week, Monday to Friday in the mornings

I will not add a Tabata routine in October, but we will revisit the idea again in November.

Starting weight: 55,3 kg
Height: 161,5 cm
Age: 28
Gender: Female
Eating: 1500 kcal per day, 7 days a week

Today I bought a pair of pants, size 36, that I almost fit in - I usually do not buy clothes that are right for my size, but whit these pants I made an exception as I will fit into them by the end of these 4 weeks.

I will take a picture tomorrow morning and take down some measurements as well (waist, hip, thighs)

My Journey: 10 pounds in a Year and 4 pounds to go

My weight loss journey: One Year overview

On the 18th September 2013 I weighed 59,1 kg and on the 18th September 2014 I weighed 55,0 kg.

The goal: 53 kg (117 pounds)

Background

I was a healthy child with a healthy weight. I started to have some weight problems in my teenage years as I was diagnosed at the age of 12 with a cyst in my left leg and I was banned from participating in the P.E. classes and e.g. was not advised to roller skate (which I still have not done even though I received the operation in 2003 and do not have any problems any longer). The heaviest I have ever been, around 70 kg (150 pounds), was in 2004, after I had to stay home for months with my recovering leg - in that summer I lost a lot of weight as well as I went from having to stay in bed for days and days to being able to cycle every day (by the end of the summer I was back to around 60 kg). I have been trying to get the weight down for a long time, but I believe to achieve my dream physical condition by my 30 birthday (1,5 year to go). 

It might not seem I have never been that overweight, but it still got me down for years as being in the same class with girls, who are actually even underweight I do understand now, was hard. Especially as it was the teenage years when appearance is more important than later in your life. And I do see what it is to be more overweight as well - my mother, same height as me, a little bit older, weighed 210 pounds. I remember I have wished my mother to lose weight for years and years, but it never happened - I think it has to come from the inside so she never had that moment. Luckily, for her and for everyone around her, she has finally started to lose some weight, but I am not 100% yet if she understands why it is important. She had high blood pressure, high cholesterol (doctor described pills for both problems), early signs of arthritis - this has always been the reason why I want her to lose weight and doctor allowed her to stop with the pills by now, so losing just 22 pounds helped. 

About me:

Gender: Female

Height: 161,5 cm (5 ft 3) 

Age: 28 

Blood pressure: 60/100

Cholesterol: HLD 1,7; overall 5,1-5,4

What have I done  between September 2013 and September 2014?

• I started to play tennis twice a week in October 2013 - I joined a tennis school and as it is quite expensive and I did like as well, I did not skip the lessons and that helped a lot as usually in the wintertime it is harder to keep the exercise routine going (tennis school had a break in Summer 2014 and started again in September 2014, but now I go there once a week)
• I did the Bony to Beastly phase 1 training in April 2014 - the routine has 3 different routines per week + had tennis twice a week as well 
• I had 5-6 training sessions per week in May 2014 - 3x swimming, 2x tennis, 1x gym (weight training)
• In March, I started to keep a food journal - I have done this before as well and my eating plan was pretty clean (I stopped eating sweets (no candy, chocolate, ice cream...) & junk, white bread and products based on white flour (no pies, pizzas, cookies, cakes) in September 2008 and do not eat potatoes nor do not use oil for frying - have a good pan instead where nothing sticks), but I guess now it became even cleaner
• In August, starting do 
• In September 2014, started the Hugh Jackman Wolverine workout plan and have completed 2,5 weeks by now (5 x a week weight training) 

The weight is coming off slowly, so hopefully it will stay off as well. I weight myself every morning (some might advise me to visit me a psychiatrist because of this, but it is just a habit and allows me to track the changes already at the very beginning and adjust my training and eating accordingly). 

Future plans to lose the last 4 pounds:

• I will have a cardio month in October and the aim is to have 5 cardio sessions a week, Monday to Friday. I will try the cardio at 85% from the maximum heart rate which is 157 in my case. Each session will be for 1 hour - one of them will be 1 hour of tennis, other four - probably will try cycling or ellipse training and intervals/HIIT. 
• Eating plan: I have to change my dinner for a lower carbs option so might just switch the pre-workout meal with the after workout meal

This is my current eating plan:

Breakfast: oatmeal (45 g of grains) + a fruit (e.g. half a banana)/berries (usually blackberries or blueberries)/home-made jam (low-sugar)

Pre-lunch snack: 300-400 g sliced carrots, 30 g of nuts

Lunch: 100 g chicken, 50 g cottage cheese, beans, salad (tomato, cucumber, spinach, capsicum, no dressing or 5 g of olive oil, sometimes some beetroot as well)

Pre-dinner snack: 1 apple

Pre-workout meal: 50 g chicken, 50 g cottage cheese, beans, salad (tomato, cucumber, spinach, capsicum, no dressing or 5 g olive oil)

After-workout meal/dinner: 300 g curd cream (Estonians know it as kohupiimapasta) with addition of berries or some fruit should I feel like it

As said before, I need to switch the pre-workout and after-workout meals to get less carbs before bed. 

When it comes to drinking calories then that is not a problem - I drink 2 l of water daily, no juice, no milk, sometimes a cup of coffee, but not often and if yes then with a small teaspoon of honey, no sodas (those I stopped drinking when I cut out sugar, sweets & junk in 2008). 

Good luck to me & everyone else on the same road!

P.S. I think I have found my calling in life as well - to help others with weight & training (some need to lose, some need to gain, some need to maintain, some have health-related problems which can be adjusted with food etc). The start of my journey: I started my studies in becoming a nutritionist.