Week Six, Day Seven! Bring on Week 7!

Well, my progress is quite noticeable thus far. When I started this process six weeks ago, I made a promise to myself I wouldn't live tied to a scale or constantly pulling out a measuring tape to measure progress. Instead, I just wanted to be able to see real differences in my body. I also wanted to use the Princess test - If she says I'm looking better, then I'm just that much closer to my ultimate goal.

At this point, my stomach is getting pretty flat. I've lost most of my love handles. My current area of concentration has been my lower back to get rid of the "back fat". So, I've really been killing the lower back extensions and lower back crunches. I also do my core (abs & lower back) every strength training day (alternating legs and arms). I have a few exercises that have really helped me re-shape my core.

#1 - I hold a medicine ball over my head with my arms fully extended. Contracting my abs, I lean to one side and the use my abs to straighten. I do 30 of those on both sides every day.

# 2 - I put one arm straight in the air and hold a 30 pound dumbbell in the other at my side. I then contract my abs, lean over to one side, and straighten my body using my abs. This one is a real killer on my love handles! I do 15 of those on each side every day.

#3 - I use the crunch machine regularly.

Today, Princess and I did Cardio because I took Friday as my day off instead of today. The Cardio is really working, as it takes me longer each time to get my heart rate up and I have to work harder to do it. The purpose of Cardio is just that... working your body to make it capable of longer and more strenuous exercise. When I first started, I was lucky to burn 180 calories in a 20 minute Cardio session. Now, burning 350 is normal for me. Although I do extend my Cardio on the day after arms to 30 minutes, I become too fatigued to do that after working legs (which I did yesterday).

As far as other updates: Yes. She arrived. Those of you who know me, you know exactly who I'm talking about! She's beautiful and has met all my expectations. Princess and I spent quality time with her this weekend. Definitely worth the wait!

The other delivery was the furniture for the dining room. (See future blog entry coming soon entitled "The Saga of the Hutch").

I also got wood. No, this is not that type of blog. I picked up our 54" x 18" solid mahogany that we will use as our bar table. We also finally got delivery of the table legs, which are chrome and match my bar stools perfectly. So, last night after dusk, our neighbor laughed at us while we were outside sanding the wood and installing the leg bases. I told him, "Hey, we're on a schedule over here!"

Here's the new bar table the next afternoon (day two!):


Peace. :D

JH