That's awesome Scott, I bet you are one of the few that has taken advantage of your new facility. That day you look in the mirror I like to call the day of Disgust that turns your life around.
I do agree that looking in the mirror instead of at the scale initially is the right idea. Once you find a work out program and stick to it until you have reached the peak fitness level for that workout, weight does come into play. You aren't gaining muscle anymore, simply maintaining your level of fitness. That's when you need to start seeing the scale come down. How long that takes really comes down to how out of shape an individual was to start with. I would estimate that someone starting from scratch should get to that level with consistency in no longer than 3-4 months.
When a plateau is hit, you aren't getting in better shape and the scale won't budge, it's time to look at your nutrition and calorie intake. It's much easier to improve your diet than double your work outs. That's where most go wrong, they try to make up for poor nutrition in the gym, it's nearly impossible and leads to the towel being thrown in the ring. You must enjoy the work outs and if they become to long, it's easy to make an excuse not to go.
Scott, your work out routine is perfect. 25 minutes, 5 days a week is plenty to keep you fit.
I also think that decreasing your portion size is smart. Just don't go overboard and start consuming an unrealistically low amount of daily calories that will lead to the towel being thrown in the ring and the weight going right back on. It's my opinion that everybody should track their daily food intake through a journal or myfitness pal for a couple months to educate themselves on food content. It also allows you to find the daily calorie intake that will maintain your weight. Then it's easy to decrease the daily intake by say 300 calories to start sucking the fat off. Once you have tracked your diet and have found foods that are healthy and you can eat repetitively, you don't need to track anymore. You'll be in the ball park from experience.
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Todd
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