Covers days 22 28

Four weeks ago I weighed 197 pounds (97.5 kilos) and my aim was to lose weight at the rate of one pound (450 grams) per week until I was down to 180 pounds; without giving up any food that I like. That is a reasonable weight for a man who is a little over 6 feet (1.83m) tall. At my Friday evening weigh-in my weight was 190 pounds (94 kilos) and that puts me three weeks ahead of schedule in only my fourth week.

Health wise I have regained much aerobic fitness and my muscles are firming. I now wish that I had recorded waist, hip and thigh measurements before I started and was able to give news on what I measure. Unfortunately Im not a scientific person and only work by my waist belt the news on that is good. At the end of week two I was able to suck everything in and take my belt up by a notch, today that extra notch is very comfortable and maybe just a little slack. My feelings are very positive about deciding to go on this program and it is no trouble to keep up with, as my weight loss to date indicates. In fact I doubt whether the program will run for seventeen weeks because weight is disappearing at the rate of one and three quarter pounds each week rather than the one-pound I targeted at the start.

During the week I received an email from a follower of the program asking me to clarify the method of taking your own pulse when exercising. You will recall that we exercise three times weekly for ten-minutes or until our pulse rate increases by 50%. Here are the rules for taking your own pulse.

- You cannot take your pulse with your thumb; it has to be with a finger.

- Place the back of your left wrist into your right palm and curl right fingers around to the inside of your left wrist. Feel for the pulse.

- When you have located your pulse count how many beats in six-seconds.

- Because six seconds is one-tenth of a minute you just add a zero to the number of beats counted in six seconds and this will give your rate per minute. For instance: If you count seven beats in six seconds your normal pulse rate is 70 per minute.

- To increase your pulse by 50% from 70 per minute you need to increase to 105 beats per minute which is between 10 and 11 beats per six-seconds. Easy isnt it?

As you get fitter you will find that it takes more than ten-minutes to raise your pulse rate by 50%; you just keep exercising until you achieve the required increase. In the early days you may find that you only need to exercise for 5-minutes to achieve the required pulse rate. Thats fine, dont push it, and just stop exercising when you have achieved the 50% increase.

Im going to make my bacon sandwich now. Like I said I give up nothing that I like for more than one day.

This article is copyright David McCarthy 2006.