Getting in better shape

I've recently reignited by quest to improve my overall fitness, with my current goals centered around shedding excess bodyfat, especially around my mid section (yeah, who isn't?). As part of my new efforts I've decided to do something I've never done before. In an attempt to keep myself accountable and hopefully ensure I stick with it, I'm going to post my progress to the world. It's pretty scary actually.

Some background is necessary so you can get and idea about where things are. Pretty much all of my adult life I've tried to stay relatively fit and active, and regularly went to the gym and did lots of outdoor activities. But like everyone else I know, I slowly gained fat anyway. Little by little, year by year.

When I was 38 years old I suffered a life-altering setback. I had emergency surgery for a ruptured disc in my lower back. The surgery went fine and I began the road to recovery. However, after that I was really paranoid about my back because I didn't want to go through that again. So for about 2 years I didn't push myself. Then the back pain started coming back. I went to a PT and was given some really good advice and some exercises to stretch out my back, glutes, and hamstrings. That did wonders and I felt a lot better. But it also got me thinking about doing more long term. I started working out more regularly and getting more serious.

I started racing with my dogs in 2007 and quickly realized I was not in nearly as good as shape I thought I was in. I got winded fast running up hills, and was up to 168 pounds at a touch over 28% bodyfat. For those who don't know me, I'm only 5'6" tall and have a very thin frame. So that amount of fat was significant.

In the Spring of 2008 I started a pretty agressive training program with the goal of getting in better shape for the fall racing season. I managed to drop about 20 pounds and got down to about 17% bodyfat. I was in much better shape and was able to handle the hills without much difficultly.

This past summer and fall we moved. With the high stress of that along with the huge amount of time it took, I fell off my program. Added to that, the gym I was using was now a 40 minute drive. So I managed to gain back about 10 pounds and went up to 24% body fat. Again during racing season I struggled with the hills.

So in November I started to get back on track. I switched to a closer gym and started training hard again. As of about a week ago I had gotten down to 151 pounds and 20% bodyfat, with a lean body weight of 121. That last number is really important because I don't want to loose muscle in the process of loosing fat.

Now I'm going to try and crank up the intensity to try to get in the best shape of my life. The goal is to get down to 12% bodyfat in 12-15 weeks, while maintaining or increasing my lean mass. I'll post my week to week progress (or lack thereof) here.

So wish me luck!

Starting numbers 1/31/2010:
Weight 151
Bodyfat 20%
LBW 121

Randy