Revising the Workout?

Today's a bit cooler and less humid than it's been lately. It felt pretty good although the locker room seemed downright frosty this morning. I slogged through my 45 min of cardio and only got 5.21 miles. I hope tomorrow's Leg Day fares better. Today is Back and Biceps but I feel tired already. However, I get through all my weight sets, including a dozen close grip chin ups during Cage Stretch & Kicks, without too much angst.

To keep everything in perspective, I remember that I used to be able to do only 5-6 reps at 90 lbs at the seated cable row when I worked out intermittently at the Bally's Gym next door to my job in the City. But that was over two years and twenty pounds ago. I'm not quite sure why I'm heavier now than I've been for the last few weeks. Part of me says it's the heavier weights I'm lifting. Part of me worries that it's menopause killing my metabolism and making me fat. I'm definitely gnoshing more. That's bad. But I'm stronger. That's good. Hmmmm.

Today's Total Workout: 
45 min cardio = 5.21 miles
Rows: 1 x 12 @ 75 / 1 x 12 @ 90 / 3 x 12 @ 105 / 2 x 12 @ 90 lbs
Lower Back Extensions: 2 x 25 @ 90 lbs
Torso Twists: 2 x 25 @ 60 lbs
Cage stretch & kicks & 12 close grip chinups
Lat Pull Downs: 1 x 12 @ 75 / 5 x 12 @ 90 lbs
60° Inclined twisting situps: 125
Dumbbell Bicep Curls: 1 x 12 @ 15 / 3 x 12 @ 20 lbs
Reverse Grip Barbell Rows: 6 x 15-12 @ 50 lbs
Torso Twists (again): 2 x 25 @ 60 lbs
Lower Back Extensions (again): 2 x 25 @ 90 lbs
Reverse Grip Barbell Curls: 3 x 20 @ 30 lbs
Mat Stretch for hams, calves, back, shoulders & neck

The scale reads 108.4 lbs and I'm a bit surprised. Wow. I really am heavier. My thighs look a little different as well. I can actually see the quads move as I walk to the shower. Maybe I should modify my leg workout, as in lessen them. After all, I just got new pants and shorts and I still want to be able to wear them!

I reread an excellent NYTimes article called The Fat Trap that was first published last December. Personally, I'm a firm believer in doing a lot of cardio to get your metabolism up, and then weight lifting to keep those fires burning. Today's article in the Science section of the NYT regarding kidney donators needing to lose weight first, mentions specifically a case where a man dropped 90 lbs by running for an hour every day and then lifting weights. And I mention this all because I really believe that calorie counting and nit-picking meals just makes a person obsessive-compulsive, and really doesn't help to change the body makeup, which is what really needs to happen to lose weight and keep it off.

But of course, you can also do all the calculations with the newest formula, which takes into account the fact that one's metabolism does slow as one loses weight. Click here for the link to the Revised Weight Loss Calculator. Unfortunately, my ancient Mac laptop doesn't seem to have the appropriate plug-ins to display this page correctly so I can't actually say what I think of it.