Fall and winter are wonderful here in the RV park as I have a number of American and Canadian friends who come down for 5-6 months every year. The cool season is my social time! It's also the time when I can take long walks outside, which isn't sensible when morning lows are 100 or above.
The weather here is gorgeous right now, with morning temps around 56F and mid-afternoon highs in the 80s. Unfortunately, though, some friends have left already and others are getting ready--the last will leave by May 1st.
The park will be a sleepy little desert village for the summer, which has its own benefits. The warm season is for recharging and serenity. I tend to focus on myself a little more with physical/diet challenges. We have an equipment room and one challenge this summer will be to use the treadmill and cycling machine to reach a higher level of fitness so I can walk longer distances next fall--or at least be up to my 4 mile standard. Last summer, I suffered a lower leg injury that put me out of action for months and it felt like I spent the whole cool season just trying to get back to normal. Which, thankfully, I did.
I deeply believe there's no one "standard" daily routine that maximizes my health and strength. For me, the long-term goal is to vary my eating from day to day but establish and "set" a desirable weight level. Between now and May 1st I will focus on my friends and attempt to follow a maintenance plan, with an overall goal to have my weight about the same as it is right now. If I happen to lose a little more or gain a few pounds back I won't call that failure--rather, it will be a typical training result won't it?
I have never been very successful at maintenance--my history being a yo-yo pattern with no stability--so this next month's test of a maintenance lifestyle is as important for me as the past ones in which I gradually or quickly lost fat. After all, if I succeed in dropping another 20-30 pounds this summer I'll be approaching a weight I'd like to keep and maintenance skills will be my primary need. I've already proven at least 4 times that a lack of preparation/training for maintenance produces rapid weight regain.
If something else surfaces I'll blog about it; otherwise, my intent is to post weekly progress updates about my maintenance training results before buckling down in May for a final campaign of fat loss.
How about you? If you're currently in fat-loss mode, do you have a set of maintenance principles and techniques ready to go or are you just hoping for the best? What will YOUR maintenance routine look like?
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