I weighed about 78kg in June, I'm about 67-68kg now... but that's not the point. I run not to lose weight. I run to burn fats.
Overall, the fat loss has been going pretty well but the lower abdominal fats & the "love-handles" are not showing much response to the regime. Kinda expected this since these 2 areas are the most exercise-resistant areas.
I'm also beginning to suspect my body has adapted to the jogging and the reduced food intake... I think the body is going into "starvation mode".
When the body enters into "starvation mode", fat loss comes to a screeching halt as the body tries to conserve its energy. The body's metabolism slows down. Once you go into starvation mode, no amount of increased training will help.
To get out of "starvation mode", I'm gonna increase the food intake by increasing meals (ideally 6 meals a day) but in smaller portions per meal. This should shake up the metabolism. In addition, I'm upping the ante by running all weekdays.
This means the previous schedule of running on alternate weekdays (1,3,5) is out. I've decided to run from Monday to Friday, leaving the weekends free for some R&R (Rest & Rewards). I just completed my 1st week. Yay!
To keep things fresh, I've been running this new route (see below). Basically it's an extension of the old Siglap canal route, connecting it to Upp Changi Rd, Frankel Ave & East Coast Rd. The whole route is about 2.5km. I do 2 laps per session ie. 5km. Sometimes if I'm damn ON, I do 3 laps ie. 7.5km.
new jogging route
Just incase you're wondering... I'm not ANOREXIC...
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1) My Chemical Romance - Welcome to the Black Parade (a GreenDay-like rock anthem-ish song)
2) Citizen Dog theme song (dunno what's the song name but it's from Citizen Dog, a surrealistic thai comedy i watched recently)
3) J & Howl - Perhaps Love (extremely catchy theme song from teeny-bopper korean drama, Princess Hours)
4) Matisyahu - Youth (jewish reggae rapper)
10 Comments:
wow! good job lah! looks like you're becoming hooked on the adrenalin... soon you'll be doing 10km and after that.. whee! can run 1/2 and full marathon already! very fun one!
haha
no lah, 10km abit too long already...
i think 60mins per session is the max i can take
yeah, and soon you'll run like those kenyan guys taking part in international marathons...and then you'll start to look like their ethiopian counterparts. haha.
but seriously...you're doing good. keep it up...i only wish i had your time and resilience to do it. haha. cheers. =)
60 minutes is just about right. anything more and you will need to take in sustenance. what i do if i want to run a longer distance is to bring some money and use a petrol kiosk as a halfway point. i'll buy an isotonic drink and do some stretching while i drink. then rest another 5 minutes and continue to run. can run longer distance like that.
c'mon! you can do 10km!
Saw your blog from Sky's blog. I also trying to lose weight leh. Baby weight...but how come it's been stagnant for a month leh? Got exercise and eat less carbo. Your weight loss is amazing. Wish I could lose 10kgs in 4-5mths. Sigh. Been jogging too. But not so far like you.
Hi Mum of the 2 C's
Burning fats is a very long process and it takes alot of commitment and willpower. Formulate a plan and stick to it till your goals are achieved.
The thing about exercising is you need to do alot of cardio (eg. jogging)...
In order to burn fats, you MUST maintain ur jog for a minimum of 30 mins (longer the better, of course). Less than that, you're just wasting your time. Longer than 60 mins, it's overkill. I try to do about 40-45 mins. Start off on weekdays 1,3,5...using 2,4 & weekends to rest.
Distance ran is not as important as the duration of the jog. But keep track of the distance and your timing to mentally push yourself.
Run at low to moderate intensity, depending on your fitness levels. Basically for a beginner, if you are able to carry out little conversations while jogging - you are fine. For more advanced jogger, try interval training - alternate ur jogging intensity (eg. run fast, jog slow, run fast etc.)
Nutrition is important. Cut down on the carbos but not too much as carbos do give you energy. If no energy, u'll feel weak, grumpy and unmotivated to jog.
"stagnant for a month" - u might have hit a "Plateau". If you are dieting too much, eat more as your body might be adapting to the diet and is lowering your metabolic rate to adapt.
There's no short & easy way to lose fats. Feel free to ask any qns, i'll try to help if i can...
Wow, half an hour is pretty long for a jog. I usually go for about 20 minutes before my kickboxing class starts....
hmmm...I never realised that I had to eat more to adapt to my metabloc rate. Okay, will keep that in mind and stop depriving myself too much.
Thanks. Oh, I'm Jason's sister btw.
Hi Julia!
I've read that usually cardio below 30 minutes will only deplete ur glycogen supply (stored carbo energy). The real fat burning starts after ur glycogen is gone.
I've been reading this e-book, "Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle" (pdf format). It's really useful. If you are interested, i can email it to u (2mb only) or pass to Jase to pass to u.
This website is pretty useful too:
http://www.weightlossforall.com/
Thanks Jo. Will have a good read. So many things are clearer now. Hope I'll have good news in a few weeks/months!
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