Day 48 - Cardio Thoughts

Today was a long day, but a good one.  It took every ounce of willpower I had, but I got out of bed at 5:15 to go downstairs and ride the bike for 45 minutes.  I’m not sure why, but it was so much harder to get out of my warm cozy bed when I knew that I had a lot of work ahead of me.  But, I did it, and I was so proud of myself when I was done.  And, as a bonus, Steve came downstairs and kept me company for a few minutes while I cooled down and had some breakfast.  That was a really nice surprise.  Then, I hit the shower and he went back to bed.

After work, I got changed and went to the pool.  I did half an hour alternating between treading water and water aerobics while waiting for the ‘real’ water aerobics class to start.  It was a great way to get the rest of my exercise in for the day.  It is tempting to discount water aerobics as being less intense than traditional cardio classes.  And, it’s true that your heart rate won’t get as high.  But, some of that is because the water is cooling, so your heart doesn’t need to beat as fast.  But, it’s still a great form of exercise.  Plus, the resistance provided by the water really gives your lungs a workout.  As I’m firming up my schedule in my head, I want to make sure to get in the pool at least 2 days a week.

I was web surfing during lunch and came across an article about why you might not be losing weight on the paleo diet.  One of the reasons listed was something described as chronic cardio, where you are constantly challenging your body with moderate to high intensity cardio workouts and not giving yourself a chance to recover.  That struck a chord with me.  Especially since it’s something Steve has been warning me about for the last week or so.  So, I am going to try doing the same amount of cardio, but at a less intense pace.  I’ll be curious to see if my energy levels pick up and maybe the scale moves a little bit more.  It couldn’t hurt, and it would really be nice to take a deep breath without my lungs aching!