I could do that. I thought that wasn't as effective for building the muscle though.

That is probably the easiest way that's for sure - half hour of strength training doesn't go very far in terms of # of exercises when you're doing 3 sets of 15 reps each.

Well, if you're trying to drop weight I think the goal should be just not to lose muscle for now. 90 minutes a week should be plenty for that I think. Like you were saying, when you get to 180 if you want to go for bulk you can go back to what you're doing currently.

Oh, forgot to add that I've read it can take up to 5 days for muscles to fully repair if you max out, so just working each group once a week helps get the most bang for your buck so to speak because you get the full benefit from each workout.

Lately, I've been doing three 30-minute full body workouts each week where I only do reps half my max. My only goal of lifting workouts is to make sure I don't lose muscle from running, but not wear me out too much for my running workouts.

Cool - good thoughts TargetPractice.

It's not just simply the act of resistance training that causes weight lose. You might not have seen results if you weren't lifting the right amount weight with the right amount of reps. Could have needed less weight but more reps, or heavier weight with few reps, or maybe more of both. I would imagine the right amount of weight/reps/sets (without hurting yourself) would take a bit of time. You're probably better off sticking to what works until you reach your goal or until you are comfortable enough to take the time to experiment with it to find the right balance that works for you.

Anyway, in other news, I hit 227.2 today. A new low for me.

Exactly my thought. Sticking with what works until I'm more comfortable taking the time to figure it out.

Hooray for new lows!!! Congrats!!:D

I was looking over the thread from several months ago when I was losing 1-2 pounds a week steadily. Most of that was during the time I tried running. I was 240+ and my knees hurt when I upped the intensity and had to stop.....and then I stopped losing weight consistently. Now that I'm in the just under 230 area, I'm going to give it another go, but definitely will be taking it slow and easy and just start with 2 runs a week instead of 3, and doing a little less than Week 1 of C25K (Week 1 is run for 60 seconds, walk for 90. I'll do what I did before and do 30 seconds of running with 60 seconds of walking and see how that goes).

I hope my knees hold up because I actually like running in the park while listening to music on my iPod.

If I get the same problems in my knees, I'll push my social anxiety down and force myself to join a gym so I can use bikes and ellipticals. I used to have the self-discipline to work out at home every day, but I've become a pro at making excuses and if I'm paying for a gym, well then I'm pretty sure I'll use it. At least for awhile....

200.4 MOTHAFUCKA!!!!! :party:

Eat shit fat. I'm coming for you!!

Nothing like paying for something to make you use it! I've definitely found that to be true.

200.2!!

Fuck this Mendoza-line bullshit.

Congrats man! You just need to start swinging for the fences like Dave Kingman and that should bring those numbers down.

Thanks!!

:lol:

Nice one!!!

Weight at end of day (prior to dinner) 200.2.

So unless I absolutely blow this thing tonight (which given that I'm having a 230 calorie dinner will be hard to do), assuming I lose any weight at all tonight while I sleep, I should be under 200 in the morning.

I really want to go to bed right now so I can wake up thinner!!! :D

Haha! It's like Christmas eve.

Exactly! But better!!

Is that weird?

199.0!! :party:

Not weird at all.

199!!! F-YEAH!!

Hehe

Way to break that glass floor!

Good job, DT. I know you've been chasing that number for some time now so congrats on the accomplishment ... even if it is just a pit stop on the way to your final destination.

Thanks hoops!

198.8 this morning.

blip up today.

199.6

A little pick-me up for today. I tried on the suit I wore to my brother's wedding (15 years ago) maybe 4 or 5 years ago. Not even close to fitting. Today, I tried the pants on. They fit. The shirt is still a little too small, but size-wise, I'm almost back to what I was 15 years ago. (A lot higher in weight still, but I also have a lot more muscle now)

whoa - nice pick me-up sab!!

Nice! Keep up the good work!

That's awesome DT, not sure if I've mentioned it but, you look great!

So last night, I went out with a couple of friends and ate a bunch of no-no food. We started talking about meeting up for Zumba and decided to text our Zumba instructor with the following text, "Hi Jamie, we need to know if you're gonna be there tomorrow. Trish, Lorena and I are sitting at a table with donuts, cupcakes, chips, and pie. Lorena just had some bourbon and soda... we need you there to whoop us into shape!" The following morning (today) we were in the middle of a song and she looks at me and says, "Were you eating cupcakes yesterday?" I laughed and said yes. lol Waita call me out, hahahaha. This is the same instructor that when I asked for diet advice I wrote it down on a Krispy Kreme hat. I have no shame.

So yeah, same stuff different day. I've been really lagging on both the diet and sadly the exercise front. Something about this hot ass weather that makes me not wanna do a thing.

triple dola,

So my friends talked me into taking a Body Pump class. It's a barbell class, check it out:



I've only taken the class once and I was shaking and crying at the end. My galpals have been trying to talk me into it for months, but I've been scared. It's time to finally get rid of this fear.

End of month update - weighed in at 180.5 this morning. That is down 3.6 for the month, almost identical to the 3.7 I lost in my first month of dieting.

All in all, I'm pretty happy with this given some of the challenges I had this month:
- messed up my heel on first Sunday of the month, wasn't able to work out for three weeks.
- very heavy work + personal life schedule this month hampered getting good sleep, working out as much as I wanted once I could work out again over last 1/3 of month.

I did have significantly more discipline with foods I ate, particularly over the past couple of weeks. I had hoped this would be a heavy exercise month and then start working on food/portion discipline this summer, but the injury slowed me down so I adjusted in order to avoid having a "fatty" month.

Just a little bummed that I didn't get down to 170-something. I weighed in at 180.3 a couple of days ago and never could get the number down 0.4 pounds. It doesn't matter at all in the long-term, but I thought it was a realistic goal for this month to cross that barrier.

I've got one shirt that I'm using as my weight loss measuring stick ... got it as a gift for Christmas and it was too tight but I liked the shirt and told myself that I could lose some weight rather than trying to return it. I first wore it at the start of March and then again at the end of April. I'm happy to report that it fits significantly better now than it did then (still a bit tighter through midsection, but not as much across the board), but I don't think it will really fit properly until I've gotten down to 165-170. I'll keep breaking that out once a month to gauge progress by something besides the scale.

198.6

Lil bit pissed that I did the 20 mile Walk for Hunger on Sunday and it didn't result in burning off anymore weight. Then again, after doing it I was actually heavier yesterday, and just woke up today back under 200, so maybe there's still some excess hydration that's working its way out and I'll see a lil dip down from it. Regardless, 198.6 is back on track (only a smidge above my previous low), so it's all good.

*cough* 196.8.

Weighed myself 3x because I could hardly believe it. First time was 197.0, 2nd time was 196.6 (based on where/how I was standing on the scale?) and third was 196.8. So since that's in the middle I'm going with that. It also felt like the stance that I most commonly use on the scale (then again so did all 3 of them).

Awesome Hoopsguy and DT!

I've been stuck on 235 for a few weeks now and I'm finally below that. Only 3 more pounds to go and I'm finally in the 220s.

Hooray for milestones - and booo for plateaus!!

Keep up the hard work Jedi - you'll bust through it.

What are you doing for exercise? A 10% increase in your cardio can help to move the dial when you're stuck...

Thanks DT. In all honesty, I have been doing very little to no exercise. It's all been about my eating habits and portion control. I am ready now to start throwing in some exercise, but, I'm having a hard time doing it. Part of it's laziness and the other part is, I'd really like to join a softball team or basketball team but can't find diddly in the area that I live in. I'm not a gym person or a runner, I hate both of those things. I love playing sports and before I busted my knee, that's how I stayed somewhat fit.

Well hey - that's even more damn impressive then! Doing it with just eating habits + portion control I mean.

Well that sucks - what about other potential things that are high-energy...hmm. Will ponder that.

Home fitness stuff? PX90 or whatever? Have friends (well okay a friend) that thinks it's awesome.

196.6 - so more-or-less flat from yesterday. Good stuff.

You guys are going to miss me when I drop the next 20 or so pounds and stop posting my weight in here daily, aren't you?

It's been hard, but, I felt that was the most important thing to change and get used to. Once I tackled that, then I wanted to throw in some exercise, however that has been more of a challenge than I thought it would be. I wanted to join a rec softball or basketball league, but, I just can not find any where I'm at. So the search continues. I think the P90 stuff requires weights and I don't have any.

EDIT: And going into the city (San Fran) is not an option for me. It may be 'only' 5 miles from where I live, but, with the bridge, traffic & lights, that 5 mile drive is usually a 30 to 40 minute excursion. Plus, this is something I'd do after work and I work up in San Rafael except for Thursdays.


Yes, we will.

You're right. Food is definitely the most important to change and get used to.

Could you work exercise into your commute somehow? Could you take an hour long walk after you get home (and gradually work up the intensity of it)?

I'm not sure what P90 requires...I honestly haven't looked into it myself. There's got to be something...hmmm

I've followed this thread, but rarely posted in it.

As of today, I weigh 215...down no less than 50 pounds from March, 2010. My 48" chest is back and my waist has gone from 44" to somewhere less than 36". :banana:


Oh yeah, P90 requires weights. P90X requires weights and a pull up bar. If you're at all in shape or just willing to work *really* hard, I'd strongly suggest going the P90X route.

Dude - that's great!! Congrats!!!

I know for me, tossing the old 40 pants and buying a pair of 36's (which are already starting to be a bit loose to be honest) was like...the best day ever!! I still have my 40's, and I wear them when I'm lounging around at home at night for fun, but literally when I stand up in them with no belt they fall straight to the floor like I'm not even in them. It's hilarious. Try it!

Can't wait to get down to like 34...hell...maybe even a roomy 32.

Awesome, Blackadar. Really good work, and great to hear people are able to have that kind of success losing weight.

I'm planning to do P90X sometime in the next couple of months as one of the future steps in losing some weight. Right now my exercise is treadmill and outdoor soccer. But when soccer ends I'll need to keep the routine fresh and that is when I'm hoping to introduce the videos. Hopefully I'll be able to pick someone's brain around here about the program before getting started.

I've done it before and I'm doing it again right now, so fire away with any questions.

Got below 180 today after being in spitting distance for most of the last 10-14 days. 178.3!

I'm now hoping to be around 175 at the end of this month, which would be 5.5 pounds lost this month (was around 3.5 for each of last two months). Assuming I don't have any silly injuries playing soccer I think that should be very doable.

I think I have the food part (excuse the pun), licked. Working exercise into my commute is not possible. I live too far away from work to ride a bike or something like that. Another thing I thought about, was taking some Kung Fu classes after work. There's a dojo about 3 blocks from my place.

The P90X thing doesn't seem to be what I need. I'm more interested in losing weight than building up any muscle at this stage in the game. When I'm below 200, then I'll think about the muscle part of it.

You may want to rethink that. I'm not saying the dojo isn't a good idea, but simply put you burn more fat with muscle.

I figured I'd do the extreme cardio to lose weight before I started weightlifting. I'd been working out for a year consistently and wanted to ramp things up a bit. So I did Insanity - the ultimate cardio workouts - for 30 days and didn't lose a pound. I saw good endurance gains, but nothing from a weight standpoint and no real change in body shape. I worked my ass off doing it, too. It got a bit discouraging.

So rather than go 30 more days with Insanity, I switched to P90X for my weightlifting. I've lost over a pound per week for the 6 weeks I've been on this P90X rotation thus far. The physical changes are much more pronounced - the gut is getting noticeably smaller while my chest/back/arms are getting larger.

I'm not saying P90X is for everyone or that everyone will get the same results. But personally, I see better results in all aspects - muscle definition, strength, weight loss, etc. - when I work with weights combined with some cardio rather than going with a straight cardio routine. In fact, the results aren't even close.

Another option to P90X is Chalean Extreme. Those workouts are around 40 minutes each, with fairly heavy lifting as the focus of the workouts.

Yet another option is Supreme 90. You can find this occasionally at Walgreens, Targets, Bed/Bath/Beyond or online. It's a cheap P90X knockoff, but for only $20 for 10 workouts it's pretty decent. I'd suggest that anyone who does this be at least somewhat familiar on how to properly lift because the instruction isn't all that comprehensive.

I'd say that everyone is different though, and you have to find what works for you.

I've lost 66lbs doing just cardio (5.2 miles/day at like 6.6mph on the elliptical) over the last 8 months.

I really think everyone's got to find what works for them both from a calories in vs. calories out standpoint, as well as from a motivational/psychological standpoint. Because so much of it is motivational/psychological - if you don't want to build weight you're going to work out less-hard psychologically, and thus reduce the benefits of it and all.

That being said - after I get down to my goal I'm definitely going to start hitting the weights and building muscle. And I have a friend who's been doing P90x along with serious biking (15+ miles each way to work everyday) and he swears by it.

So I dunno.

I'm just not a weight lifter. Tried it, never enjoyed it though. Another thing that makes me hesitant about lifting is, I have a bad shoulder (pulled it out of its socket) that gives me problems from time to time and don't want to make it worse. Running is another thing I try and stay away from, not only because of my right knee and having my ACL replaced, but, well, it's boring as hell. So, I'm trying to find something that still gives me a good workout, but, won't put too much strain on my shoulder or knee. That's also why I'm a bit wary of joining up for some Kung Fu.

I did just sign up for the gym here at work and hopefully will start going next week. I don't even know what they have in the gym, but, if there's a bike, I'll gladly jump on that. My normal way of staying fit was by playing sports and that just seems to be very hard to do where I live for some reason.

I'll look into the P90 stuff some more and see if there's some of it I can incorporate into my exercising. Just not sold on it. Maybe it's because of how it's marketed. I'm just really put off by EXTREME!! WORK!!! OUT!!! ROUTINE!!! type marketing. :)

195.6 this morning. I don't lose weight on the weekends anymore typically, and I also ate dinner rather late last night (like 9pm), so that was a pleasant surprise.

wow you guys, great job! Very impressive with how much you all have lost.

I'm still the same weight. I just cannot get the food thing down, I can't. I went to the gym yesterday and saw this girl that was the same weight as I was a year ago. She was wearing a shirt that said, "Austin Marathon finisher (2010 date)". I was like... wtf? We were the same weight a year ago and she freiken ran a marathon already and looks great. It pissed me off to be honest, because I can do the exercise... piece of cake. But the food... the damn food is what's (pardon the pun) weighing me down. Ugh :mad: :banghead:

Edit to add - although as pissed as I am about it, my Zumba instructor's always telling me I look great and Ant keeps saying that my face looks thinner. It's all good but I don't see much change in my waist. My butt, yes, not my waist.

and yes DT, your posts will be missed :)

Once you get yourself through shrinking your stomach so that you need to eat less it's totally just a willpower thing DC. It's totally like "nah...I don't need a cupcake/donut/whatever." Also - filling up on healthy food before you go places where there will be bad food. That way you're not eating bad food out of hunger.

What's your specific weakness with food? Maybe we can help...