The Officialish FOFC Weight Loss Dynasty

[Ksyrup]

Originally Posted by DaddyTorgo

177.8 this morning. Go figure. Haha.

177.4 this morning. I'll race ya!

[AnalBumCover]

10/22 - 233.6
..
11/21 - 224.8
11/28 - 226.0
12/2 - 227.4
12/9 - 224.0
12/16 - 223.2

I reached -10 pounds! I'm still a ways away from my year-end goal of 210. And with the holiday festivities approaching I certain I wont make weight. But at least I'm making some progress.

[DaddyTorgo]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

177.4 this morning. I'll race ya!

LOL. Nowhere to race to. I'm right around my goal...within my range of typical fluctuation

[Brian Swartz]

Others have said it better, but great job all! Lots of amazing progress happening in this thread. In particular I'm looking forward to being, hopefully around the end of next year, in a similar place to what rowech is describing.

As for me,

12.18

Another pretty good week, a couple minor indulgences the first half but nothing major. I slept better, which is a good development.

By the Numbers

Weight: 307.3(-1.7, -25.7 overall)
Pushups(W1C1): 5 max(--), 37 reps(NA)
Crunches(W1C1): 15 max(+1), 81 reps(+6)
Squats(W2C2): 20 max(-2), 195 reps(+28)
Cardio: 16.59 mi.(-0.07), 3000 cal.(-15), 147 HR(+1)
300 Milestone: 7.3 lbs. to go

First day of pushups was a little rough, and I felt a bit low on energy today for the max tests, but still another strong week.

Two weeks left in the year now, and the holiday challenge is upcoming. The fitness center is closed for Christmas and New Year's, and only open for a few hours in the morning the day before in both cases.

[Ksyrup]

9/19 - 203.2
9/26 - 198.6
10/3 - 196.8
10/12 - 193.6
10/19 - 192.0
10/26 - 190.6
11/02 - 188.4
11/09 - 186.6
11/16 - 183.6
11/23 - 182.0
11/30 - 180.8
12/07 - 178.6
12/14 - 178.4
12/21 - 176.0

That's more like it! I better have lost some damn weight this week, seeing as though I ran 4 times and just about 21 miles.

I expect to let loose a little during the holidays, but I'll also have 2 4-day weekends coming up which should give me plenty of treadmill time to make up for it. We'll see. Definitely want to be 175 or less by January 1st.

[Brian Swartz]

Merry Christmas to all!

12.25 Summary

Good week overall. Got in a full seven days at the fitness center, including yesterday. Sleep was erratic though, a couple days I almost woke up too late to get my cardio time in. I'm hoping to tighten that up soon.

Had some problems with minor spasms/throbbing pain in my left thigh after Wednesday's squats. It's gone for now the last three days, and I'm hoping it was just a fairly random thing that doesn't return.

Last night was a significant temptation -- lots of Christmas goodies available at work. Had a little difficulty resisting but I didn't indulge. Of course today is Christmas dinner and then leftovers for a few days after that.

By the Numbers
Weight: 304.1(-3.2, -28.9 overall)
Pushups(W1C1): 5 max(--), 35 reps(-2)
Crunches(W1C1): 13 max(-2), 83 reps(+2)
Squats(W2C2): 26 max(+6), 200 reps(+5)
Cardio: 19.65 mi.(+3.05), 3520 cal.(+520), 150 HR(+3)
Next Milestone(300): 4.1 lbs to go.

Great week weight and cardio-wise, pretty non-descript on the core exercises except for a breakthrough this morning on the squats test. That tends to happen sometimes, move forward in some areas while I tread water in others. Still a strong week of results overall, no question about it.

Said goodbye to my last 44" anything this week(belt), and today is the first day I'll be able to wear my 40" pants comfortably. That's a heck of a Christmas present!

Looking forward, my schedule won't permit quite a full week for at least the next three(through mid-January). So it'll be all the more important for me to eat well, etc. For the final week of the year, any type of modest loss is a success.

[DaddyTorgo]

Woo!! My parents got me the Breville BJE200XL. Juicing here I come!!!

Any suggestions for juice recipe websites or good juice recipe books to buy??

[hoopsguy]

It sounds like everyone is doing a better job resisting the Christmas stuff than I am

I got some outdoor running gear for Christmas, so it will be time to start really incorporating the outdoor running in about twice per week. I've been doing exclusively treadmill this month, but knowing that I need to be doing some outdoor running to keep my interest up and to help me better gauge my times as I start preparing for running a 5K or two next year. I'm very confident in finishing that race while running the whole way, but I've got some ideas in my head on what kind of time I would like to post. Still have plenty of work to do in order to meet those times next spring.

[Ksyrup]

Originally Posted by hoopsguy

It sounds like everyone is doing a better job resisting the Christmas stuff than I am

Well, me...not so much.

I had planned to give in a bit this past weekend, and I did. Not a big deal, although obviously I assume I'll gain some weight when I do my weekly weigh-in tomorrow.

What is a bigger deal is that I have been unable to run due to a swollen left ankle. A couple of weeks ago, I got hit on the upper left shin by a softball while helping coach during my 7 year old's practice. It put a nice knot on my shin and hurt for a couple of days, but otherwise, was OK. So I kept running on it. The following Saturday (week before XMas), Caitlin nailed me in the lower left shin/upper ankle with a 50 MPH drop ball. That one took a chunk of skin with it and left another knot. It hurt, but not bad enough to stop me from running. I ran 6 miles the next day and another 4.5 a couple of days after that. Not a biggie.

Well, the next day at work (Wednesday), I felt my ankle tightening up. Turns out it was badly swollen. I've kept off it as much as possible, taken Advil, iced it down, wrapped it, etc., and it's still swollen almost a week later. I've got that beautiful line of dead blood cells at the bottom of my foot too.

I had already set up a Dr. appointment about my shoulder for this Thursday, so I guess I'll be adding my ankle to the list. So I'm probably looking at a couple of weeks with no running, at a minimum. This ankle has been broken before and I know I have some loose pieces floating around in there, so I'm kinda worried they're going to tell me I knocked some more bone off. If that's the case, I'm fucked. But we'll see.

[corbes]

Brian, if you keep this pace up, we're going to be throwing you a heck of a party here in a week or two!

[DaddyTorgo]

Fucking juicing man. This shit seems like it's going to be expensive.

I just spent like...$40 bucks on fruits and veggies. Have to see how long it lasts me and how full it makes me and such.

Probably should have got a book and like...investigated and stuff before I went out and bought stuff I guess hmm?

I don't necessarily want to move to 100% juice or anything, but I want to make it more than like...a hobby. Maybe just juice on weekends for breakfast/lunch or a couple days during the week.

Need to figure this out.

[DaddyTorgo]

175.4 - WOO

Losing weight during holiday season...yay!!

Made some delicious fresh-juiced orange/mango juice this morning, and packed myself a nice thermos of kale/cucumber/carrot juice for after my workout/before my little lunch.

[Brian Swartz]

Originally Posted by corbes

Brian, if you keep this pace up, we're going to be throwing you a heck of a party here in a week or two!

Thanks, but you'll have to hold the phone on that just a bit. I indulged a bit more than intended over Christmas -- it seems my sweet tooth is still alive and well. The good news is that my metabolism is much higher than it was even a month ago at Thanksgiving, so it won't matter all that much. Time was eating like I have this week would have meant at least 5-6 lb. gain, but that isn't going to happen here.

Most of the leftovers are gone and the rest will disappear the next couple of days.

Also, by way of announcement, my updates are shifting to Mondays instead of Sundays starting with the next one -- at least for the time being. It'll depend on how my work schedule settles after the first of the year, but as my New Year's resolution I'll be taking a day of rest each week for spiritual reasons. It's looking like Sunday will be the day that works best for that, so I'm shifting my schedule a day: updates/max tests on Monday and core exercises on Tue/Thu/Sat.

[corbes]

7/1 168
9/1 158
10/1 155
10/23 152
11/26 146
12/31 141

[Brian Swartz]

Wow, that's pretty impressive progress there!

[hoopsguy]

167.8 today, which is up 3.4 pounds from where I was at the end of last month. Disappointing, but not catastrophic.

What went wrong:
1.) "Special events" - between dinners + parties, I had seven dates out of the 31 days that were going to be more difficult to maintain good diet discipline. The normal month has 2-3 such days.
2.) Between being sick early in the month and having family medical issues late in the month, I had two stretches of not getting regular exercise. Only 6 workouts recorded on my spreadsheet, which is at least 50% less than I would like to be getting.
3.) Presence of massive amounts of junk food the last half of the month. I don't have a huge sweet tooth, but I definitely do better when it isn't in the house. I did have at least one binge day that wasn't helping the cause.
4.) New Years Eve meal - I normally hit the last couple of days of the month hard to try and get my number. But my wife made a good/big meal last night, and we definitely had a couple of drinks last night, which isn't helping me get my best possible number for the first-of-month weigh-in like I do most months.

Anyway, stuff that should happen in January to get back on track:
1.) Exercise - I'm starting to ramp up for running a 5K this spring, likely looking at finding a date in May. I want to have a minimum of 10 days running either on the treadmill or outside. I've got times in mind for each of the next four months, and I'll be tracking against those. I'll also be joining a Dodgeball league at work (sounded fun) so I'll have a couple of days doing that later in the month
2.) Cut down on booze - too much alcohol this month. Lots of social events, and that number should be cut in half for January. But I want to have less alcohol than I did on the non-event nights. The last 3 weeks of December featured a little more regular wine consumption than I need when trying to manage my weight
3.) Looking to make 10% better decisions around meal choices. Up until now, there have been very few meals eliminated from my diet. It has been predominantly about portion control. But I'm looking at making some small changes in my diet to introduce more vegetables and less meat. Nothing dramatic, but maybe one lunch per week to start where I get a salad instead of a burrito. If I make small changes like that, I find I'm a lot more successful than trying to make sweeping changes.
4.) Hard line on soda - I eclipsed my 5 Coke limit by 12/10 or so last month, and will only drink it when I feel a caffeine headache coming on this month. No "hey, a Coke sounds good right now" choices, even if my wife is determined to have 3-5 Diet Cokes a day. I was pretty weak about that last month and that is the area that I'm most disappointed in from the previous month.

Time to get the weight back under 165. That was the goal for when I turned 40, and March 2 is just a couple of months away. Thoughts of hitting 160 by that time are probably dead, but if I take care of my business I should comfortable meet the goal I had set last year.

[Brian Swartz]

Good, self-aware plan there hoopsguy!

1.2
Summary

Well, my first day after the 'rest day' experiment, I've tentatively got to lable it a huge success! I was more flexible, felt more limber with more energy, and the max tests speak for themselves. I think I was probably overworking myself, if today is any kind of indication.

As mentioned I did overeat this week, but that's over with and I'm back into rhythm now. Full steam ahead, this is the year for me to break the vicious cycle!!

By the Numbers

Weight: 303.5(-0.6, -29.5 overall)
Pushups(W1C1): 6 max(+1), 36 reps(+1)
Crunches(W1C1): 17 max(+4), 83 reps(--)
Squats(W2C2): 33 max(+7), 211 reps(+11)
Cardio: 17.05 mi(-2.59), 3070 cal(-450), 146 max HR(-4)
Next Milestone(300 lbs.): 3.5 lbs. to go!

So yeah, new highs across the board on the core exercises, and it looks like a couple weeks left till I hit 300. As I've mentioned, I'm right about where I have been the last few years weight-wise, but in such better shape overall.

I expect a lot to drop off this winter/spring the way my body's burning it right now. It's gotten to the point where as long as I keep exercising, it's literally just as easy to lose weight as it is to gain it. On the other hand, that actually makes the little temptations to eat more harder to resist in some cases, because I know it won't take me a week to get rid of the calories in a candy bar(or whatever). But I'm committed to staying strict until I hit my goal ... which is about 95 lbs. away yet.

[TargetPractice6]

It's been a while since I've checked in with this thread. It's awesome to see all the great progress you guys are making.

I've been kind of up and down since last spring:



(to the people nearing your goal weight: don't let this happen to you)

Thanks to the ubiquitous supply of cookies and sweets in December I managed to gain weight despite running six miles a day. For the new year, I'm resolving to get my diet under control. My goal is to run my first marathon in early May so I'd like to be back below 170 by then. I've yet to run a race that far, but I think it's safe to say 15 lbs would make a huge difference over the course of 26 miles.

[hoopsguy]

So my 5K goal is to run at a 7 minute mile pace for the 5K. I'm not sure exactly how fast I can do it now, but I know that I was at about 9.5 mins/mile on an outdoor course a couple of months ago. Since that time, I've been working on running faster on shorter treadmill stints. Hopefully five months or so is enough time for me to be able to improve ... guess I'll find out in the coming months.

Last week I ran my first 6:30 minute mile since high school, although comparing treadmill vs outdoors feels like apples and oranges. Still, a 6:30 minute mile felt like a good time for me and was pretty challenging. I hope to be lowering that to 6 minutes sometime next month.

Today I ran a 5K on the treadmill at 9 minute/mile pace. Pretty easy, overall. I'm planning to try and lower that number by 15 seconds each week until I can't do it anymore. If I have the opportunity to run a 2nd 5K during the week (instead of just 1-2 mile runs focused on higher speeds) then I'll do one of the runs with an incline of 1 at a little slower pace to see how I hold up.

[Radii]

Hi again. I've posted in this thread probably 3 or 4 since it started back in 2006, but in retrospect its always been at a point of fright or desperation about my health, feeling like I have to make drastic immediate changes which of course never last.

In September 2010 I finally accepted completely that I'm not gonna fix my problems on my own and went back to my family doctor after avoiding him for ~2 years. I'm 6'4" and weighed 350, a weight I've stayed at pretty much since post-divorce weight gain. My blood pressure and cholesterol were slightly high, vitamin D levels low, and I was diagnosed as a diabetic, something I knew was coming with my diet, weight and genetics. My A1C at the time was ~9.5%, indicating an average blood sugar of 250 which is not good at all! I also had low testosterone which is apparently common in male diabetics and even more common in obese male diabetics. Add all this up and I basically just physically felt like shit all the time and have no energy at all.

We didn't really specifically talk about weight for a long time. It took awhile to find the right meds (testosterone and shitty insurance don't mix well at all) but by July 2011 all of those levels were back to normal, for all of 2011 my A1C's have been between 6.1% and 6.3%, indicating very well managed diabetes. I didn't really make any changes other than sticking with doctors appointments and making sure I stayed on top of things, learning how my blood sugar fluctuates and when things aren't quite right.

After July though 1-2 pounds a month started coming off, again without me doing anything but having all of this stuff properly regulated/managed. At the start of December I'd dropped 10 pounds and was at 340. December itself really pretty terrible in almost every other way... combine not being as hungry + taking lots of walks to try to clear my mind/fight off depressive feelings and I'm now at 330. So:

7/1: 350
12/1: 340
1/3: 330


There's a TON of things I can do to continue improving, but honestly all I'm doing right now is just dealing with one decision at a time and not caring past that, which is something completely new for me. I've been doing a little better at saying "Why not go for a walk right now" instead of "oh man I should go for a walk sometime today" and never doing it. Or grabbing a water instead of a Dr Pepper, or taking an extra few minutes to add some veggies to a meal, etc.

I'm not quite sure why I feel compelled to post this now, in part b/c some other stuff has been so bad and I want to focus on some positives, and in part b/c I'm so happy to have gotten a little momentum going without being completely obsessive about it. I'm taking the lowest doses available of almost everything I'm on for blood pressure, blood sugar and cholesterol. There's pretty good chance I could get off of all those meds. I'm self employed and paying a severe premium for really poor insurance b/c of my weight, with more progress I could request a review and potentially improve my rate/plan/both. So those are things to shoot for. I intend to keep updating this time, whee!

[Dodgerchick]

Originally Posted by DaddyTorgo

Fucking juicing man. This shit seems like it's going to be expensive.

I just spent like...$40 bucks on fruits and veggies. Have to see how long it lasts me and how full it makes me and such.

Probably should have got a book and like...investigated and stuff before I went out and bought stuff I guess hmm?

I don't necessarily want to move to 100% juice or anything, but I want to make it more than like...a hobby. Maybe just juice on weekends for breakfast/lunch or a couple days during the week.

Need to figure this out.

yeah, that's one of the reasons why we don't do it as often, it can get pricey, especially if you go for organic fruits and veggies.. yikes. We spent over $300.00 a week once but then again, it's 4 of us and the kids drank as much as we did, they love the stuff. But juicing a big, fat, organic Fuji apple is one hell of a treat.

[Dodgerchick]

Originally Posted by Radii

7/1: 350
12/1: 340
1/3: 330

That's freaking awesome! wtg!

[Dodgerchick]

I'm starting to think my co-worker is trying to sabotage me. At the beginning of the week, I told her the holiday eating is over, time to go back to eating healthy... THE SAME DAY she comes to my desk and gives me 2 pieces of chocolate. I thanked her and left them on my desk in case I needed a treat. I kept staring at 'em, snapped myself back to reality and gave them to someone else. Today she says, "I made you an awesome stew, full of wonderful vegetables". We go to the breakroom and there's meat in it... I don't eat meat. She says, "Oh they're big chunks, you can just take them out." *sigh* some people just don't get it. It's almost as if she wants me to fail. She seemed really upset when I turned her down. She went to another co-worker and said, "I made some beef stew, it's really yummy but some people don't like it cuz it has meat in it", lol. The nerve.

[DaddyTorgo]

Originally Posted by Radii

Hi again. I've posted in this thread probably 3 or 4 since it started back in 2006, but in retrospect its always been at a point of fright or desperation about my health, feeling like I have to make drastic immediate changes which of course never last.


7/1: 350
12/1: 340
1/3: 330

That's great to hear man. Awesome progress looks like it's hitting too. Just keep taking it one day, and one decision at a time.

Since you've posted that you intend to keep posting in here now, and we've amped up the intensity of this thread, expect us to hound you all over the internets if you stop posting (only half-kidding).

Seriously though - great to hear you've got the diabetes and other problems under control.

[DaddyTorgo]

Originally Posted by Dodgerchick

I'm starting to think my co-worker is trying to sabotage me. At the beginning of the week, I told her the holiday eating is over, time to go back to eating healthy... THE SAME DAY she comes to my desk and gives me 2 pieces of chocolate. I thanked her and left them on my desk in case I needed a treat. I kept staring at 'em, snapped myself back to reality and gave them to someone else. Today she says, "I made you an awesome stew, full of wonderful vegetables". We go to the breakroom and there's meat in it... I don't eat meat. She says, "Oh they're big chunks, you can just take them out." *sigh* some people just don't get it. It's almost as if she wants me to fail. She seemed really upset when I turned her down. She went to another co-worker and said, "I made some beef stew, it's really yummy but some people don't like it cuz it has meat in it", lol. The nerve.

Way to go on not eating the chocolates DC! That's always a toughie, to resist that temptation.

[BYU 14]

Originally Posted by DaddyTorgo

Fucking juicing man. This shit seems like it's going to be expensive.

I just spent like...$40 bucks on fruits and veggies. Have to see how long it lasts me and how full it makes me and such.

Probably should have got a book and like...investigated and stuff before I went out and bought stuff I guess hmm?

I don't necessarily want to move to 100% juice or anything, but I want to make it more than like...a hobby. Maybe just juice on weekends for breakfast/lunch or a couple days during the week.

Need to figure this out.

It gets real pricey for sure if you don't use the pulp for other things. I wish I would have known about the Ninja when I started this over a year ago as it basically turns everything into a smoothie with no leftover pulp. Still you can try what we now do below with a regular blender. (no longer juicing)

2 cups no sugar added Cranberry juice combination (Pomegranate, Acai, Blueberry, etc)

1 1/2 cups of cut up Broccoli (varies I just cut it up into the blender until it comes up just above the juice line)

Blend until the it takes on a smoothie consistency.

2 handfuls of fresh Spinach (repeat blending process)

2-6 Collard green leaves (depends on the size of the leaf, basically 2 handfuls if cut up)

Blend again until smooth.

Once you get past the color and consistency it actually tastes good, you can also add a handful of Blueberries too. Makes 2 10-12 ounce servings and gives you roughly 5 servings of veggies between the two.

I drink one in the morning and another mid afternoon. Has saved us a lot of money over straight juicing, plus we are getting the fiber you would lose if you don't use the pulp.

[DaddyTorgo]

Man...my weekends are rollin heavy y'all.

Was like 176 on Saturday morning, and 178 this morning.

And I didn't even eat anything out of the ordinary on Sunday.

Grrrrr.

[DaddyTorgo]

Originally Posted by BYU 14

It gets real pricey for sure if you don't use the pulp for other things. I wish I would have known about the Ninja when I started this over a year ago as it basically turns everything into a smoothie with no leftover pulp. Still you can try what we now do below with a regular blender. (no longer juicing)

2 cups no sugar added Cranberry juice combination (Pomegranate, Acai, Blueberry, etc)

1 1/2 cups of cut up Broccoli (varies I just cut it up into the blender until it comes up just above the juice line)

Blend until the it takes on a smoothie consistency.

2 handfuls of fresh Spinach (repeat blending process)

2-6 Collard green leaves (depends on the size of the leaf, basically 2 handfuls if cut up)

Blend again until smooth.

Once you get past the color and consistency it actually tastes good, you can also add a handful of Blueberries too. Makes 2 10-12 ounce servings and gives you roughly 5 servings of veggies between the two.

I drink one in the morning and another mid afternoon. Has saved us a lot of money over straight juicing, plus we are getting the fiber you would lose if you don't use the pulp.

Interesting for sure. Maybe I ought to give that a go! What is this NINJA of which you speak?

[Brian Swartz]

1.9 Summary

Good week overall -- good start and finish, I did have one bad day eating-wise in the middle on Thursday, but I'm definitely back to my normal routine. I'm sleeping much better than before as well.

By the Numbers

Weight: 301.9(-1.6, -31.1 overall)
Pushups(W1C1): 8 max(+2), 38 reps(+2)
Crunches(W1C1): 16 max(-1), 86 reps(+3)
Squats(W2C2): 21 max(-12), 188 reps(-23)
Cardio: 17.18 mi.(+0.13), 3070 cal.(--), 153 max HR(+6)
Next Milestone(300 lbs.): 1.9 to go

For reasons completely unknown, I really hit the wall on squats the last couple of workouts, basically going back a full month. I'm not sure what the issue is there, my legs were just a lot weaker for those(but not in general). Hopefully I'll start building back up again soon.

Solid to good results elsewhere. This next week I have a tournament on the weekend, so it'll be a five-day only and eating well while that's going on could be a challenge. .

[DaddyTorgo]

Maintainin.

Chillin.

[hoopsguy]

Back under 165 this morning.

Ran start-to-finish my 3.5 mile run yesterday, first time I haven't had to walk at least part of it. I'm sure it was in part because of slower pace I had, but I'm glad to have finished it. I was sick of having to walk parts of that run.

I've got the Christmas sweets out of the house now, but now have about 2 cases of beer left over from our post-Christmas party. So I will probably drink about 2/night until they are gone ... at least it will keep me from drinking wine, which is more expensive But in all seriousness, can't wait to have these gone because I know it is a handicap to my weight loss efforts.

[DaddyTorgo]

Jus maintaining.

Should be easier now that Eggnog is out of the stores (even if "Light" Eggnog tastes like crap I've basically forgotten what the full-fat stuff tastes like and have been treating myself to a glass of the "Light" stuff).

[Dodgerchick]

Checking in...

Gained about 10 from over the holidays o.O Went to the gym after not doing anything since mid November. Worked out for an hour and a half and my body feels it big time.

[Dodgerchick]

dola

190.2

[Radii]

7/1: 350
12/1: 340
1/3: 330
1/14: 326.5


Lots and lots of variance in that number with a very odd and inconsistent sleep schedule and wake times etc, but a definite continuing trend in the right direction.

[DaddyTorgo]

Jeez Radii - nicely done

[spleen1015]

Originally Posted by spleen1015

So, I had a bad weekend. I don't know how bad, but... 253.8 on the scale this morning.

There's got to be something going on. There is no way I over ate 5 pounds in 2 days. That's just not possible.

I'm back on it today, but I go on vacation starting Friday and I don't know how well I will do.

It seems like whenever my routine gets broken, that's when I revert back to some old habits.

This is the last post I made in this thread back on 6/20. Today, I weighed 275.4 so, that was a long, 22 lbs vacation.

I have struggled with trying to lose weight for a long time. I don't know what to do to make myself do what I need to do. Anyway, I thought I would start by coming back to this thread and see if I can get myself to lose weight with the support that there is here. We'll see how it goes.

[Dodgerchick]

Originally Posted by DaddyTorgo

Jeez Radii - nicely done

yes indeed!

[Brian Swartz]

1.23 Summary

A couple days ago, but better late than never. I spent most of the last two weeks having fallen half-way off the wagon, eating somewhat healthy but some junk as well and not doing much exercise.

There was a three-day stretch or so in there when it was just a total fail.

I've had some extenuating circumstances, major personal drama, etc. Regardless, yesterday was my first 'good' day of eating right, back at the club, etc. I gained a little over 5 lbs. in this stretch and feel a fair bit weak/lethargic from the lack of good activity, so it's time to get myself back in the groove.

By the Numbers

Weight: 307.4
Pushups: 5 max(-3)
Crunches: 14 max(-2)
Squats: 21 max(--)

[hoopsguy]

I haven't posted many updates this month, but overall it has been a good month for me. Getting some fairly steady running on the treadmill, diet has been pretty good, and once I got the beer out of the house (leftover from party we threw) I've been pretty strict about my alcohol. Looking forward to some good end of month numbers, assuming nothing silly happens this weekend.

[DaddyTorgo]

Originally Posted by spleen1015

This is the last post I made in this thread back on 6/20. Today, I weighed 275.4 so, that was a long, 22 lbs vacation.

I have struggled with trying to lose weight for a long time. I don't know what to do to make myself do what I need to do. Anyway, I thought I would start by coming back to this thread and see if I can get myself to lose weight with the support that there is here. We'll see how it goes.

Oh - I misread the date on your post at first.

You can do it man - we're here for support.

Hell - even though I'm maintaining...I still like to check in here and offer words of encouragement and stuff.

Let me go back tonight/tomorrow and review your posts in here and see what your situation is.

We'll get you there.

[DaddyTorgo]

Originally Posted by Brian Swartz

1.23 Summary

A couple days ago, but better late than never. I spent most of the last two weeks having fallen half-way off the wagon, eating somewhat healthy but some junk as well and not doing much exercise.

There was a three-day stretch or so in there when it was just a total fail.

I've had some extenuating circumstances, major personal drama, etc. Regardless, yesterday was my first 'good' day of eating right, back at the club, etc. I gained a little over 5 lbs. in this stretch and feel a fair bit weak/lethargic from the lack of good activity, so it's time to get myself back in the groove.

By the Numbers

Weight: 307.4
Pushups: 5 max(-3)
Crunches: 14 max(-2)
Squats: 21 max(--)

It's amazing how quick your body can be to bounce back from being lethargic and inactive once you've gotten in the habit. You've made a hell of a good start man - I'm amazed.

[Dodgerchick]

I'm so glad you're here DT

[Radii]

7/1: 350
12/1: 340
1/3: 330
1/14: 326.5
1/28: 329

When I first posted I talked about just trying to make better decisions in lots of little moments instead of sweeping change, primarily with getting exercise and choosing water over soda more often, things like that. Last couple weeks lots of drastic weather changes seemingly every day and stress over some problems with dad have made it easy to make the wrong decisions pretty consistently! I'll be working on that going into February If I don't think about it its shockingly easy for a full week to go by and to look back and say "oh shit I don't think I went out for a walk a single day last week, wha happened".

[hoopsguy]

Usually I do my monthly status post on the 1st of the month, but I'll be on the road and won't have the same scale so I'll just do it a day early.

164.5, which is down 3.3 pounds from last month. And off by 0.1 pounds from where I was on December 1st, so I more or less erased the sins of Christmas season.

Challenges this month - we host a holiday party on the first weekend after New Years. In addition to a lot of bad eating and drinking there, I always have leftover booze in the house. As a result, I had 33 beers this month - about double what I normally drink. But wine consumption was way down (9 glasses) to more or less even out alcohol intake compared to my historical patterns. More importantly over the last 10 days of the month I only had alcohol for "events" instead of mixing in 1-3 drinks multiple times per week. This is a goal for 2012, to substantially reduce my alcohol intake as part of an improved diet/fitness regimen and as a way of saving a few bucks as well.

January includes the aforementioned party, my wife's birthday, and my company holiday party. 3 events in a month is a fairly heavy rotation, and that doesn't even factor in stuff like weekend visits to the in-laws. I expect fewer in February which should help with having my meals a little more normalized and having a bit less variance in daily weigh-ins.

But my running was the biggest change this month. I ran 26 miles this month, almost exclusively inside. I'm planning to run a couple of 5K's this year and I'm running one/week while trying to reduce my time by 15 seconds each time out. I started at 9 minute mile pace at the start of the year and successfully did 8:15/mile pace yesterday. I'm not sure how many more times I'll be able to drop 15 seconds/mile before hitting a wall, but I would certainly like to get to 7 minutes/mile by April 1st. I'm also participating in a company Dodgeball team, which gives me one other outlet to break a sweat.

Caffeine - I've got 11 Cokes recorded for this month and expect a couple went unrecorded. I can and will do better on this in February.

One month left on what was my original diet plan. Down 23 pounds so far, and anything more at this point is gravy. But the main focus from here is building and sustaining good habits going forward. I think I've put together a pretty liveable diet in the past year and the exercise is progressing in the right direction. Hopefully I continue to have positive stuff to report here in the coming months.

[DaddyTorgo]

Originally Posted by Dodgerchick

I'm so glad you're here DT

How you doing DC?

[DaddyTorgo]

Wow. The trainer I just had an appointment with damn near killed me in just 45 minutes. I had to call him off early and it still took me like...20 minutes to shower and get dressed. I was so lightheaded and faint that I almost passed out in the shower, and also while sitting down and drying off.

FML.

[Dodgerchick]

Originally Posted by DaddyTorgo

Wow. The trainer I just had an appointment with damn near killed me in just 45 minutes. I had to call him off early and it still took me like...20 minutes to shower and get dressed. I was so lightheaded and faint that I almost passed out in the shower, and also while sitting down and drying off.

FML.

Wow, sounds like my workout today. Doing well, started Camp Gladiator last week and go 3 times a week. Freaking killer workouts. Diet still not where it should be, portion control.. it's always portion control.

[DaddyTorgo]

Originally Posted by Dodgerchick

Wow, sounds like my workout today. Doing well, started Camp Gladiator last week and go 3 times a week. Freaking killer workouts. Diet still not where it should be, portion control.. it's always portion control.

Portion control is just a matter of willpower. And I guess the beautiful thing I found about it was that once you have the willpower for a little while it's self-sustaining...you don't want to eat more.

Just gotta commit to it for that initial period in order to shrink the stomach.

[JediKooter]

Originally Posted by Dodgerchick

Wow, sounds like my workout today. Doing well, started Camp Gladiator last week and go 3 times a week. Freaking killer workouts. Diet still not where it should be, portion control.. it's always portion control.

I wish I would exercise as much as you do. Unless it's a sports activity (football, baseball, basketball), 'exercising' is extremely boring to me and I just won't do it. What I've found that works best for me is, be pretty strict about how much and what you eat and then pick one day where you can eat anything you want. You'd be surprised at how much you don't end up eating. My day is Fridays, eat anything I want. Trust me, you're not going to eat 10 pounds of food in one day.

The other 6 days, I stick to stuff like salads, rice, various vegetables, pan cooked (not fried) boneless/skinless chicken breasts. No soda of any kind. I just drink water most of the time, with maybe some orange juice now and then. I'll have a banana or two with a little peanut butter for breakfast or an apple.