Intensity

Matt and I spent some time on Sunday talking about my workout intensity. Or rather my lack of workout intensity.

We decided that for me to "lose" weight, I need to increase my intensity. I can't cut back on my calories any more and I've made my workout a part of my daily activities, so the only way to kick up my weight loss is to push myself past my comfort zone.

So I'm going to increase the difficulty on my Yourself!Fitness program 3 times a week. On the days that I don't increase my intensity, I'll do two smaller "recovery" workouts (like the treadmill, stepper or stationary bike). I started today. I over-rode Maya's choice of a flexibility workout (yes, yes, I know, I said I wasn't going to do that, but I wanted to concentrate on burning calories today) so I could do the Weight Loss workout. Dang, did she whip my butt! 45 minutes with lots of cardio (I still like the Weight Loss workout and the Upper Body workouts the best... I think they are the most balanced).

Well, there's no doubt that I increased the intensity. For the first time, I got my heart rate up to 170 bpm today. It was tough, but I now feel great (yes, I'm freakin' sore... but aren't I always). I burned over 350 calories (I love my heart rate monitor!).

Since I'm only weighing myself one day a week, we'll see if there's any weight change on Wednesday.