Progress!

Ok. Just in case I (and all you avid readers out there) didn't know, I am making progress toward better health and fitness. Yay! This evening, Erica and I both had fitness assessments with my old personal trainer, Kim. I love these assessments more and more as the months go by. I've had one about every 2 months since last September. So, anyhow...here's the overall picture in a nice mathematical format. It's kind of embarrassing to admit my "before" state but perhaps I can encourage someone...?

Last September, I was at a whopping 41.7% body fat. I was officially considered "obese." As of this evening, I have 28.1% body fat. That falls in the "Moderate" % body fat range. At this point I'm striving to go down another 5% or so to be in the "Good" range. That seems pretty attainable, as I went from 33% to 28% since the end of May...perhaps by the end of September or something I'll be in that range. Overall, I've lost 29 lbs according to their scale - that includes a loss of 35.3 lbs of fat and a gain of 6.3 lbs of muscle.

With the skinfold test: I lost 9 mm of fat hanging on my tricep, 27 mm of fat around my waist, and 20 mm of fat on my quad, the top of my leg...

Other stats: My cardiovascular fitness has improved from "Poor" to "Fair", my bicep strength has gone up from "Poor" to "Average," as I can lift 18 more lbs with my biceps. I can now do 17 more pushups in a minute than I could 10 months ago. I can also bench press 36 more lbs than 10 months ago. My flexibility remains "Good" (yes, that's all I had back then...).

My body age was 30 in Sept and is now 24, which is my actual age. So, I'm really pleased with that. The trainer says that I can attain a body age of 18, so I guess I'll keep striving for that!

Anyhow, I am really pleased with the results I'm seeing. It doesn't happen overnight, but then again, I didn't gain 60 extra lbs overnight either. :) That happened over the course of about 6 or 7 years... I'm just happy that I am making changes that I believe will stay with me for years to come. I have integrated new habits of exercise and healthy eating into my life . Over the past 10 months, I've worked out at least 2 times a week all but about 3 weeks. That is so much better than any other year in my life. I am so encouraged after this assessment to just keep at it. About 20 more lbs to go and I will be at a healthy weight. Yes!