The Officialish FOFC Weight Loss Dynasty

[Radii]

1/10/14: 323
1/10:15: 255
1/17/15: 253.8
1/24/15: 252.6
2/12/15: 249.6

Didn't update the last couple weeks. I got off the prescription that was fucking with me so much that I mentioned in my last update, and feel like myself again. I had gained a bit, and anytime I significantly increase my exercise it seems like it stalls things, at least briefly. I'm trying to stick with the increased cardio in addition to my normal 3 days at the gym. Going 2 extra days for 30-45 minutes of medium intensity cardio (elliptical or treadmill depending on how the foot and knee are feeling that day) seems easy now, so it seems like 5 days a week of solid exercise is now closer to being a legit habit, since I am still mostly inactive outside the gym I am aiming to go pretty darn close to every day, but 5 days and trying to push for one or two more is another step up.


My physical therapist on Tuesday complimented me on my weight loss and said she could see a difference (and because I'm an oblivious moron who isn't exactly used to compliments yet, I didn't realize it and replied with "eh, I'm up a little lately" instead of "oh my god thank you". I rectified this with an e-mail once I realized!). A random dude at the gym on Wednesday asked how long I'd been going there. He said he started there in November and could tell I've lost weight since then. I recognize a lot of faces of people not in the class stuff that I do, mostly younger heavy weight folks who are regulars, so I've seen this guy around the general area doing his own thing frequently. To have someone who isn't in the classes with me, who isn't someone that I interact with at all, notice and go out of his way to say something nice felt really fucking good.

Today was the first day under 250. My initial goal remains 220, less than 30 pounds to go now!

[Radii]

1/10/14: 323
1/10:15: 255
1/17/15: 253.8
1/24/15: 252.6
2/12/15: 249.6
3/2/15: 248.4

Things continue to move, but slowly, and that's ok. I have bounced above/below 250 for most of the month. Today was a new low though so I figured I'd cherry pick it and write it down.

Weight loss is just very far from my #1 focus right now. I'd love to rush to 220 and hit that first huge goal, and maybe at some point there will be another quick drop, but it seems unlikely right now. I skipped the gym yesterday, first time in 14 days. Most of those days are just moderate impact cardio, but whenever I up my activity level I have seen stalls. I am also supposed to be doing a 20 minute stretching routine given to me by PT twice a day (though in reality its happening once on most days right now), and am trying to re-focus on my posture work for PT, which means more standing and more time sitting on my stability ball. These things I continue to find have an unreasonable impact on my hunger at times.

Anyway, overall my health is slowly but surely improving and I am making a lot of positive changes. Too many at once to do them all anywhere close to perfectly, but I think I have most everything pointed generally the right way so I will get there

[Radii]

I'm curious to see how others are doing. It's gotten a bit lonely in here!

[sabotai]

I got out of the habit of weighing myself (which is why I haven't updated), the crappy weather has kept me from going to the gym and I haven't been as good with food as I should be. I've still lost a few pounds last month though, which was honestly a bit of a shock to me.

Weighed myself today and I'm at 219.8, 3 pounds lower than on Jan 18th.

[hoopsguy]

Well, 171.0 for my birthday (#43) weigh-in today. Down a pound from last week, when I had a race weigh-in at 172.2. So I'm up about 5-7 pounds from where I was at last fall.

Had a relatively sluggish January/February on the running front. Cold and snow kept me on the treadmill, and having a move (about 30 minutes away) was a bit of a distraction. But I've had a pretty good routine over the past couple of weeks, getting about 5 runs in per week between 30-45 minutes each.

I've got a pretty aggressive run schedule this year, with 14 races that I'm targeting between now and December 1st. Lot of running goals to hit, and at some point I might even broach out to some broader fitness goals. I've only been talking about that for 7-9 months now ...

[hoopsguy]

Also probably worth noting, I picked up a Fitbit for Christmas and that is keeping me more aware of my step counts, stair counts, and sleep patterns than I had been last year. I don't know that I'm doing a great job of acting on that information just yet, but I'm definitely more focused on step counts than I was when my tracking mechanism was an app on my phone.

[Radii]

Originally Posted by hoopsguy

Also probably worth noting, I picked up a Fitbit for Christmas and that is keeping me more aware of my step counts, stair counts, and sleep patterns than I had been last year. I don't know that I'm doing a great job of acting on that information just yet, but I'm definitely more focused on step counts than I was when my tracking mechanism was an app on my phone.

Are you aiming for 10k steps a day eventually (or do you get there already with the running you do?) I got a pedometer, simpler than fitbit, but haven't tried to incorporate it yet. I know that when I hit the elliptical at the gym I end up between 3000-4000 "strides" most times.

Is the sleep pattern thing on the fitbit working out for you in any way? I looked at getting one of those but I have a hard time falling asleep and have frequent wakes some nights lately, I got the feeling that the fitbit would really not register much of that and I didn't feel confident I'd get anything out of it.

[hoopsguy]

Steps - if I don't get exercise, it is rare for me to hit the 10k steps. I'm normally in the 5-7k range, depending on how much walking I do. If I have a day of bouncing between clients, I'm sometimes able to get 10k without hitting the treadmill.

The 3.4 mile run this morning was worth about 5k steps.

I've also got a couple of friends who have Fitbits who send me daily/weekly challenges from time to time. That nudges me a little bit more than I would over the course of a week/weekend, depending on the challenge duration.

Sleep - I'll see if I can post some stats from the last couple of weeks. I consider myself a pretty sound sleeper, so I'm not sure I've got the same concerns you do. But I'm still interested in tracking overall amount of sleep and having some measure of "restfulness" to correlate with my alertness when I wake up in the morning.

[Poli]

I picked up a fun calf strain last year that has kept me from running for about the past 8 months. I'm certain it's healed now, but I'm a wuss and haven't gone out to brave the cold yet. I've added a sizeable amount of weight during that time. I like cheeseburgers, fries, and cheese curds. It might be an addiction.

I have picked up a role in "Meet Me in St. Louis", where I'm dancing (Dancing!) with the ensemble. I'm also one of the bad dancers that dances with the leading lady...which is a role I was truly meant for. On rehearsal nights, I'm at about 8k steps when it's over.

We started Weight Watchers nearly a month ago and I'm down over 5 pounds. My wife is down much more than that.

I've thought about a fitbit or something along those lines, haven't pulled the trigger.

When the weather starts to change in my favor, I plan on getting out to run again as well.

[hoopsguy]

3/2: 171.0
3/9: 170.6

Ran six straight days, but still not up to 75K in FitBit steps for the week. Little hard to swallow with just over 20 miles of running, but with my distances going up week-over-week I'll see those FitBit numbers grow as well.

Nice to get some outdoor running in this weekend. Did a 5 mile run, while babying my aching right ankle, in about 45 minutes. I'm hoping to shave about 5 minutes off that time 20 days from now during my first real (non-stairs) race of the year.

http://www.shamrockshuffle.com/

[hoopsguy]

3/2: 171.0
3/9: 170.6
3/16: 170.6

Running numbers stayed pretty steady in terms of days and total miles, but had my biggest FitBit number with around 23k last Sunday. Weather was great this weekend, did a trail run across some very muddy hills, and spent several hours outdoor with the family that afternoon.

Health is 100% good, just looking to make some better eating choices this week as I'm angling towards the Shamrock Shuffle. I'll be disappointed if I'm not in the 160's for good on race day. Having some level of control over the two NCAA days will go a long ways towards making that weight this week.

[hoopsguy]

3/2: 171.0
3/9: 170.6
3/16: 170.6
3/23: 171.2

Not a good trend/month, but there is at least one extenuating factor in the week-over-week weigh-in. Normally Sunday is my long run day, but this weekend I ended up going longer on Saturday and having to skip Sunday. The weigh-in after long runs usually is good for 0.5-1.5 pounds lighter than the previous day. That, coupled with some questionable NCAA-related eating on the back half of the week pulled me away from the sub-170 range.

Six days until my Shamrock Shuffle run. I've set a goal for 40 minutes for the 5 miles. Not sure how that will work out, as the area I'm living in has a lot more hills than the very flat Chicago roads. I've set sub-8 mile pace for 3 miles so far, but have yet to stretch that pace out over 5 on my training runs. Still rounding into shape, both from weight and cardio perspective. There will also be a TON of people at this race, which normally is not the best scenario for chasing after challenging times.

I had set three goals for my running this month, and I'll list a 4th goal that I had for weight:
- Run at least 110km. Currently at 98.
- At least 5 outdoor runs. Mission accomplished, have had warm weather.
- Run sub-40 for 5m run.
- Weight under 170 for 5m run. Was 172.2 on 2/22 for my "Hustle Up Hancock" race.

Next week is going to be terrible for working out. Between taper for run and a really aggressive work/home schedule, I'll be happy with finding two workouts during the week along with my run. Which means that diet needs to compensate a little bit to help me hit goal weight.

[Radii]

Originally Posted by hoopsguy

I've set a goal for 40 minutes for the 5 miles

Good luck!



My weight remains stagnant, usually a little under 250, but occasionally bumping back above it. I'm still doing 100 different things right now and find it very difficult to put a huge focus here. Staying low carb is easy, but cooking for myself instead of "screw it, lets get wings" and tracking how much I'm eating, not so easy at the moment. I remain mostly ok with this because I am doing so many different things right now, pretty soon though I think I need to have a week or two where I weigh/count everything, don't eat out any, at least make a push for 245 to see things move a little again

[hoopsguy]

3/2: 171.0
3/9: 170.6
3/16: 170.6
3/23: 171.2
3/30: 170.0

My scale is very determined not to give me a weight starting with "16."

Still, overall pretty happy with this weight after what ended up being a low exercise week. My evenings got high-jacked by family commitments and I was deliberately taking off a couple of days to rest for the Sunday race. So all in all, I only had 3 days of working out last week, which is 2-3 less than normal for me.

As far as the race, I smashed my 40:00 goal. Ended up at 37:44, and was left wondering at the end if I could have gotten down to a 7:30/mile pace (5 mile race) if I had started just a little bit stronger. That said, I'll take that kind of post-race regret every time It was very satisfying posting that kind of time after struggling a bit with my running performances, from a time perspective, the last few weeks. I moved at the end of January, and my new neighborhood has a lot of hills. So many hills, in fact, that I have yet to really map out a "flat" run for days where I want to simulate Chicago race conditions. So I knew that was impacting the times on my runs, but until yesterday I did not really have a benchmark to measure how much impact the hills had on my run times. Turns out, quite a bit ...

So, time to get my weight back into the 160s. At the beginning of the year I had set a goal of 160 for weight, which is a number I haven't seen since my freshman year of college. Which was 25 years ago. I'm not 100% sure that I'll want to hit that goal, but I do want to be putting in the right effort with exercise and diet to be in position to hit that weight if I can do so without looking and feeling unhealthy. So I've got to start putting together sustained months of weight loss rather than the fits-and-starts that have marked the first quarter of the year.

[hoopsguy]

3/2: 171.0
3/9: 170.6
3/16: 170.6
3/23: 171.2
3/30: 170.0
4/6: 171.8

Well that was a disappointing weigh-in. It was a full pound heavier than at any time during the week. There was no long run like I do on most Sundays, but Saturday was pretty punishing instead. Still, I suppose that and having some Easter candy (nothing super excessive) may account for part of the number. The rest I'm calling a weird weigh-in until proven otherwise the next couple of days.

Realistically, I need to make some better attempts at diet changes for lunch and be a little more consistent on my breakfasts. This round of weight monitoring has yet to involve much in the way of portion control, relying almost exclusively on exercise. Exercise alone isn't going to get me down another 10-12 pounds this year. And if by some miracle that was to happen, I would not have high hopes for keeping that weight off.

Next race I'm angling for is a 10k in 13 days. I'm expecting to set a new personal record (PR) that day because my current time isn't terribly impressive, but after some light research on the course (pretty hilly) I may need to adjust my goal time up a bit from the current 48:00. Will probably figure that out next weekend after my final training run at distance, as the vast majority of my in-week runs are in the 3-4 mile range.

[Radii]

1/10/14: 323
1/10:15: 255
1/17/15: 253.8
1/24/15: 252.6
2/12/15: 249.6
3/2/15: 248.4
4/8/15: 248.0

I fully admit I'm cherrypicking a new low here just to make a post, I haven't updated in awhile now. I've had some days where I really felt a strong urge to cheat, which hasn't happened in a long time. Remember that "cheating" for me means carbs, not calories. I ended up with a little "half cheat" during a binge day Sunday where I bought a ton of snack things, and for something sweet got a box of Atkins chocolate-coconut bars. For super low carbers, Atkins products are basically bullshit and to be avoided for most people. They use Malitol as a sweetener which has a really high glycemic index compared to every other sweetener out there (I prefer Erythritol/Stevia). Anyway, I ate the whole box (5 bars), knocked myself out of ketosis but b/c I've been keto-adapted for so very long now, and because even a shitty Atkins product is way better than buying some candy bars, I probably was back in ketosis by the end of Monday. I am still not cooking for myself nearly enough, something that I've been in a serious rut with for a few months now. Its silly because I know if I just do that I could very likely rush down to 240 and make some more progress.

On the exercise front, I got a cortisone shot in my knee yesterday. I've been walking with some regularity, 30-45 minute walks a few nights a week, but I've only been hitting the gym once a week for the slightly heavier training that I pay for, and just telling them that I can only do upper body work. The more cardio focused classes that I go to just feel impossible right now, there's more people at those, and some of the workouts I'd have to tell them that I can't do 50-75% of the exercises b/c of the knee, so I just haven't been going. Hopefully the shot does something, but I went through this last fall with my foot... different problem, so there's no reason the result needs to be the same, but my hopes aren't high that the cortisone shot will be anything more than a temporary boost. I did it though, because the next step is an MRI which will eat up most, if not all of my insurance deductible, so might as well try the cheap option first.

I'm glad I posted here today, I can see my progress from earlier in the year. Even though its been slow, I thought it had been 100% stagnant since last November or so... I forgot that I was still as high as 255 going into 2015. And, as always, a year ago I was still over 300, so I'm thrilled overall. But I've been talking about this stagnation for awhile now, and saying that its ok b/c the weight isn't going up, and that its ok because I have other major focuses in my life...that's all true, but I'm starting to feel like I need to make a shift to make this *the* big focus again.

[hoopsguy]

3/2: 171.0
3/9: 170.6
3/16: 170.6
3/23: 171.2
3/30: 170.0
4/6: 171.8
4/13: 168.8

I had suggested that the weigh-in last Monday was an aberration, but then proceeded to have a day of eating everything including the kitchen sink and saw my number blow up to 174.0 on Tuesday. But from that point on, the weight dropped off quickly and I was below 170 again on Friday.

I've been having some issues with getting 5 days of running in per week for the last month. This is largely due to needing to re-arrange my schedule to work with my daughter on her karate. She tests for her black belt on 5/2, and the past 4-6 weeks have involved practice of some sort just about every evening. I've had some challenges with getting motivated to be on the treadmill 3x during the week, or else some kind of complicating event that has robbed me of one of the two days on the weekend. That trend continued this past week; March 9-15 was the last time I had 5 days of running. But the distance on the runs is moving upwards as I continue to prep for a half marathon this summer/fall. I'm over 20 miles/week now and should be in the 25 mile range in May.

10k coming up in 6 days. Will be dialing back the workouts mid-week to make sure I'm well rested for that day. I'll have a few friends running that race with me, and I'm hoping to stay close to a friend who was about 4-4.5 minutes faster than me over 10k last July.

[Radii]

Its awesome to see a number under 170 hoopsguy! Good luck on the 10k.

[hoopsguy]

Originally Posted by Radii

Its awesome to see a number under 170 hoopsguy! Good luck on the 10k.

Thanks! I'll legitimately be excited if I can get under 165 and sustain that number. I've been under 170 a few times over the last five years, including late last year, but 165 has been a pretty hard number for me to sustain.

10k ... on the one hand, it is a check-point on the road to my first half marathon race. I've done these before, I'm comfortable with the distance, it isn't the primary objective. I care more about the half marathon times and my 5k times. But on the other hand, it is my first time racing against a buddy who has blitzed me in runs the past couple of years. I'm looking to beat him in at least one run this year, and I know I've been training harder than him on running/cardio so far. Ditto hills, as my new neighborhood has some while his neck of the woods has virtually none. So I'm hoping for some early bragging rights

[The Jackal]

Originally Posted by The Jackal

I need to get back to lifting some weights, will have to invest in a kettle bell or dumbell or both sometime soon. Gotta rebuild that shoulder/neck strength.

Weight is still hovering between 187-190, had another weekend of traveling/picnic food. And today I've been making guiness braised lamb shanks .. so I'll be better starting tomorrow.

Looks like this was the last post I made about my weight (July 2011) - since then it went back up into the 205-210 range. Never back towards 220-225 which was my peak weight, but in the past 6 months or so I've really wanted to get back under 200, and more like 190 as my baseline weight.

Started the insanity max 30 workout a couple months ago, tomorrow's actually the last day. Combine that with playing hockey most Sundays and I'm on the right track.

Weighed in at 197 today, down from 205ish before I started insanity. And that's with the muscle I've been building, too. Good direction! Trying to eat right most of the time and cut down on alcohol, that definitely helps.

Not sure if insanity has been discussed in this forum, but I recommend it. It's a pretty intense program, but it's nice to be able to get through it quickly and boy is it a workout. I've never had this much upper body strength and you don't even use weights.

[Radii]

1/10/14: 323
1/10:15: 255
2/12/15: 249.6
3/2/15: 248.4
4/8/15: 248.0
4/16/15: 246.2

No cherrypicking of numbers here, had a good week and things are definitely trending in the right direction again!

[hoopsguy]

3/2: 171.0
3/9: 170.6
3/16: 170.6
3/23: 171.2
3/30: 170.0
4/6: 171.8
4/13: 168.8
4/20: 169.6

No surprise on the weigh-in, as I ate a ton of food yesterday after the 10k race. Including deep dish pizza for dinner; it would have been almost impossible to maintain weight. I was at 169.0 for my race, after three days of no running prior to the race. All in all, no complaints at all about being up a bit compared to last week.

As for the race, I posted my best 10k time to date. I started in front of my friend and stayed in front of him for about 5 1/2 miles, but when he passed me I did not have enough in the tank to stay with him. 48:39 was about 25 seconds slower than him. Nice progress compared to last year, where he beat me by 5:29. I'm guessing the hills helped me relative to him, but they likely added about 90 seconds to my overall time. At the end of last year, as part of my 15k race, my estimated 10k time was 47:03.

So after getting the remaining pizza and beer out of the house, I'm looking forward to a good week of running including a 10 mile run on Sunday. I've got a 10 mile race in a little over a month, and I'm about halfway through my half marathon training plan. With some disciplined eating over the next 30 days, I think I can get my weight down around 165-166 for my Memorial Day weekend race.

Radii, keep up the progress! Despite feeling like you've been stagnant, you've lost about 2x as much weight as I have this year

Jackal, what kind of equipment do you need for the Insanity program? If no weights, are there items like a pull-up bar or other similar accessories?

[corbes]

Originally Posted by Radii

1/10/14: 323
4/8/15: 248.0

awesome work radii!!

[corbes]

Originally Posted by corbes in August 2014

We've fallen off the exercise wagon over here . . . . alcohol . . . in the name of healthy living here is a renewed commitment to prioritize exercise over chemicals rather than the other way around.

GRUMBLE GRUMBLE SHAME RENEWING COMMITMENT AGAIN DAMMIT

[Radii]

Originally Posted by corbes

GRUMBLE GRUMBLE SHAME RENEWING COMMITMENT AGAIN DAMMIT

Good luck! Keep posting, you got this




1/10/14: 323
1/10:15: 255
2/12/15: 249.6
3/2/15: 248.4
4/8/15: 248.0
4/16/15: 246.2
4/23/15: 246.2

Vrey up and down week here, I'll take an update where the weight is the same and be happy about it.

[corbes]

Aside from the issues referenced above, a real problem is that I tend towards VERY low blood sugar between 3pm and 6pm and eat far too many calories during that pre-dinner time period than are truly needed. If I could have dinner at 4pm I would be fine, but, not feasible. I need to focus on eating something during the pre-dinner blood-sugar low that addresses the glucose problem without adding unnecessary calories.

[hoopsguy]

3/2: 171.0
3/9: 170.6
3/16: 170.6
3/23: 171.2
3/30: 170.0
4/6: 171.8
4/13: 168.8
4/20: 169.6
4/27: 1708.8

Oops. Despite having my heaviest week of running so far this year (about 25 miles) I saw my weight go up due to a bad weekend of eating. We hosted a party, which involved a lot of sweets around the house and too little discipline.

165-166 for Memorial Day race isn't impossible, but it is going to require some real discipline with eating. I should be poised for a good week, but the week of 5/4 involves a conference downtown and a lot of social events around that to challenge my food/alcohol decision making process.

Sunrise is now getting early enough to think about morning runs. I'm focusing this week on changing my bedtime routines so that I'm ready to make that transition come 5/1. I enjoy the morning runs enough to try and change my natural inclination towards being a night person.

[Alan T]

Originally Posted by hoopsguy

Sunrise is now getting early enough to think about morning runs. I'm focusing this week on changing my bedtime routines so that I'm ready to make that transition come 5/1. I enjoy the morning runs enough to try and change my natural inclination towards being a night person.

For me that was one of the biggest improvements that I made to being able to be more active. For decades (almost as long as I can remember it), I was going to sleep when I was exhausted, maybe 2-3am and then sleeping until I woke up. It just did not give my body enough regular sleep though.

Now, making sure to do things like go to bed earlier every night as part of a routine, not watching tv before bed, etc it has made it far easier for me to be able to exercise longer without running out of steam.

[hoopsguy]

3/2: 171.0
...
4/6: 171.8
4/13: 168.8
4/20: 169.6
4/27: 1708.8

5/4: 166.8

So a big dip between weeks. And I only got two short runs in, with my total distance between runs dipping by something like 300% compared to the week leading up to the 4/27 weigh-in.

The secret? Stomach flu. Hit hard Thursday night, and it both cleaned me out and killed my appetite. Something tells me that is not a sustainable trick for losing another four pounds by next week or five pounds month-over-month ...

So, heading into May have a couple of thoughts:
1.) That 165-166 weight for my 5/23 race is entirely in my hands at this point.
2.) With my daughter having passed her black belt test on Saturday (freeing me up from nightly prep activities), I'm now going to have some more time on my hands. Hopefully a decent portion of this goes towards my fitness goals.
3.) Temp increases really hit me hard on run yesterday. I'm sure part of it was from lack of hydration, coming off being sick, etc but I'll need to make some adjustments to deal with higher temperatures during runs. Particularly the longer ones. Early morning runs mentioned last week have to start ASAP.

[hoopsguy]

3/2: 171.0
4/6: 171.8
...
5/4: 166.8
5/11: 168.6

Weight slid back up to a "new normal" as my appetite returned. Kept the weight low throughout the week, checking in at 167.2 on Friday morning. But a weekend getaway with the wife and too much dessert around Mother's Day nudged the weight up again despite getting a ton of exercise over the weekend.

I've started making the commitment to going to bed earlier, which has been good for my nightly sleep. Now need to translate that into the earlier wake-up calls and the "pitch black" outdoor runs over the next couple of weeks. Still have a hard time going out for a run when I know that it will be complete prior to dawn.

Also dipping the toe in the water on making healthier food choices. This will start with lunch, with things like foregoing chips but hopefully evolve into a few more greens and less red meats over time. Food journal starting today, although I'm not going to count calories just yet. But hopefully the act of recording foods will make me a smidge more accountable on the random Tuesday/Wednesday back-to-back burgers and Chipotle lunches.

[Radii]

1/10/14: 323
1/10:15: 255
2/12/15: 249.6
3/2/15: 248.4
4/8/15: 248.0
4/16/15: 246.2
4/23/15: 246.2
7/8/15: 269.0

Time for some serious accountability. Over the last 6 weeks or so I started cheating once or twice over the weekend. Probably frustration w/ my weight loss slowing down/stalling out, I was still hanging around 250 and couldn't seem to stay below it.

The once a week cheating was ok, not good, but ok. I'd gain some water weight b/c that's how keto works, then a few days later drop most of it back, so I was bouncing between 250-257 or so but it was mostly water weight coming and going. Then in the last 2-3 weeks something snapped and I went crazy, binging pretty damn hard and eating a ton of shitty fast food, and SO MANY DOUGHNUTS. Holy shit the krispy kreme.


Anyway, with the weight creeping back up to almost 270, its time for a wakeup call and time to get fully back on track. I'm not sure how much of the gain right now is water weight and how much of it is fat. We shall see.

I've been craving sweet stuff non-stop, which again is how keto works. Keto kills cravings, but only if you're consistent with it. Keto fixes blood sugar, but eating a box of donuts kinda breaks that, so I've been having some issues with that too.

Anyway, back to weekly updates, I "started over" this morning, no more cheating allowed.

[digamma]

hang tough, Radii.

[Radii]

Originally Posted by digamma

hang tough, Radii.

Thanks, I got this



1/10/14: 323
1/10:15: 255
2/12/15: 249.6
3/2/15: 248.4
4/8/15: 248.0
4/16/15: 246.2
4/23/15: 246.2
7/8/15: 269.0
7/13/15: 262.8

Hasn't been quite a full week yet but I prefer Monday morning updates. That whoosh of 6.2 pounds in 5 days is water weight coming back off as I get back into ketosis. Its expected, it means I'm doing a good job of getting back into eating the way I want. It won't go that fast back to 250, sadly.

Now that I've been back on board with low carb for most of a week, I should do fine, at least for this week.

Next week may be a big challenge. I'm going to Atlanta next week for work, I'll be in the office 8 hours a day for the week, which is something I haven't done in about 5 years. There's an office luncheon one day, hopefully its not pizza or sandwiches or something. I'm not really worried about that. I'm more worried about being on a strict schedule even for a few days instead of doing everything at my own pace. Sugar is often what used to get me through shitty work days and having to wake up before 8am.

But that's next week, I should cruise through this week and lose a bit more hopefully

[rowech]

I haven't posted here in a long while but I've reached a level of frustration. I used to be around 310 pounds and got down to 230. I'm now back up to 255 and to be honest, I'm not really sure why. I've stayed pretty active, been eating the same, etc. I started insanity two weeks ago and have put on six pounds now. I'm baffled by this. I have two possible ideas on it and curious if anybody has any thoughts...

1. Can you eat too little on such a program? I generally have oatmeal for breakfast, workout after that, have a protein shake, have a sandwich for lunch with some pretzels and unsweetened tea. Might have some crackers or something along those lines at mid-afternoon. Might throw in a greek yogurt at some point. Dinner is usually chicken or pork grilled, some sort of pasta, and some sort of vegetable. I know there needs to be more fruits/vegetables in there. Can that be the issue or is it that I need more food? If I use their calorie calculator, I should be losing two pounds a week at 2500 calories in given my weight and I'm not at that level of intake.

2. I do have hypothyroid and my doctor struggles finding the right dosage. Is it possible the insanity workout is too hard for somebody who is hypothyroid?

[Radii]

My biggest weakness when trying for accountability with weight loss is that when I'm struggling, even in the slightest, I'm embarrassed about it and just stop posting. I know that's common, but I'd really like to do better about that. But, I've done that again, and even went so far as to wait until things have been going well for a full month before checking back in. Bleh!

So my last post I was at 262 in late July. I thought I was back on track, I had a trip to Atlanta for work coming up, and I fell back off the wagon the day before the trip, and didn't even bother to try while I was down there. When I got back home (early August), I did ok for a week, then went completely off track again for about 3 weeks.

Around August 20th, I weight 281. That scared me more than a little, that's over 30 pounds re-gained from my low point, and the rate that I was gaining was terrifying. Though, not surprising. I was eating pizza and burgers every meal and having 4-6 doughnuts a day.


Maybe seeing 280 was what I needed to wake my ass up. Note that I said the same thing a couple months ago when I hit 270. But the fact that I have actually been eating the right way for a full month has me actually believing myself this time.

1/10/14: 323
1/10:15: 255
4/23/15: 246.2
7/8/15: 269.0
7/13/15: 262.8
8/20/15: 282
9/24/15: 270.4

[Radii]

I wanted to drop a fitness update in here as well. Despite the struggles w/ food, I never stopped going to the gym. But, at of 9/1 my year long contract for the classes I was taking ended, and I decided to change things up.

Strength

I've wanted to do a consistent strength training program for awhile now, the idea of it was just a little too much when I first joined the gym a year ago, so I went with the classes instead. I'm really glad I did, as it got me to stick with it. But now I'm off on my own. I paid for a 1 on 1 session with one of the trainers and went over form for all the major compound lifts in detail.

I'm doing a popular novice lifting program called (ironically given my low carb ways) Ice Cream Fitness. No idea on the name. It was the guy's youtube channel at the time I guess.

My very early progress: Ice Cream Fitness - Google Sheets

I'm only 2 weeks into that, there are a lot of sets involved, but its early and I should progress easily for awhile still. There are simpler novice programs out there, but a lot of people like this one, and thanks to my work from home situation I can easily find the extra time to spend in the gym to do this. The idea is to increase the weight on most everything (especially the 5x5 compound lifts) every session. If you fail to complete an exercise 2 sessions in a row, drop the weight by 10% and start building back up. Most novice lifters can go quite awhile doing this before they need to find an intermediate program to progress to. We'll see how my progression goes since I'm not 20 years old and my overall fitness level is still decidedly below average.


Flexibility

I've been mildly obsessed with flexibility for awhile now, since physical therapy at the end of 2014. But I've been really inconsistent as far as doing anything about it. I've changed that as well.

I'm taking a "Yoga Basics" class once a week at a local yoga studio. It completely kicks my ass. My core is weak and my flexibility is bad. The 60 year old ladies in that class have a much easier time than I do with many things :P That's ok though. Undoing a lifetime of sitting doesn't happen overnight.

Also, reddit has a really great flxibility subreddit, they recommend the following Starting Stretching routine for newbies like me. I'm doing it 3x a week at the gym after I lift, and trying to do it 1-2 days at home as well.

[Alan T]

Originally Posted by Radii

My biggest weakness when trying for accountability with weight loss is that when I'm struggling, even in the slightest, I'm embarrassed about it and just stop posting. I know that's common, but I'd really like to do better about that. But, I've done that again, and even went so far as to wait until things have been going well for a full month before checking back in. Bleh!

Man, it is tough. Sometimes it is really tough. Especially if food is your "comfort" or first go to when stressed or upset or disappointed, it is so easy to get derailed.

Don't beat yourself up over it, many of us have done similar things.. it is super encouraging when you see good results and then post about them and get kudos.. but when you get the bad results, you want to just find a hole to hide in and just hope things turn around.

I personally think that you have done a great job so far, and very few of us had an easy time getting off the weight and keeping it off without any bumps in the road. Good job on getting the ship back on course, and remember we're your friends here even when you have a few weeks of poor eating habits.

[Radii]

I haven't updatded in awhile, I'm still at 270. Since my last update near the end of September, the good news is that I've been on keto way more than off, though I was off for a week at a time once in October and once in November. Currently, I've been solidly on keto for about 3 weeks now, except for Thanksgiving Day. I allowed myself dressing and gravy for Thanksgiving dinner, but only had turkey for leftovers, no turkey sandwiches/dressing/gravy.

With the strength training and yoga, as I found when I first started at the gym last year, a strong increase in activity drives my hunger levels INSANE and I find it extremely hard to eat at a caloric deficit, even on low carb where its so easy to feel full and to not need to eat as much/often for me. Though I'm sure the week full of sugar each month didn't help

Anyway, the reason for the update here is yet another change in plans. I have an umbilical hernia, I've had it for about 7 years or more, apparently its rather common in very overweight folks. It doesn't hurt, but I've been way more aware of it with the huge amounts of abdominal pressure that come from squats/deadlifts, and all of the core work in yoga, so I went to my doctor to ask about it and we decided that it would be reasonable to go ahead and get it fixed now, but it was up to me, not 100% necessary right now.

I hit my out of pocket max for insurance this year thanks to all the stuff I was doing early in the year, so getting it done now will be free, so I'm getting it done now. Next Wednesday (Dec 16th), actually.

So after that surgery, no picking up anything at all for a week, then very very little for about a month, then start building back up to normal exercise. Recovery as far as going back to work will be easy though at least.

So that's what's up, for now!

[Radii]

Had my surgery today, all went well.

Its really sad how utterly shocked every medical professional is when they see someone who is able to successfully manage diabetes. I ended up explaining my diet to 3 different people today after questions that started:

"This says you are diabetic but you don't take any medicine or insulin... I don't understand?"

Its not that its so terribly hard to do necessarily, apparently its that so few people ever learn how to manage things well enough to get off diabetes meds once they get on them that it seemed a completely foreign idea and required a detailed explanation.

All hail bacon, I guess. I try really hard to not get preachy about keto/low carb because it can come across as "cult like" to many people, and its not "the way" to eat for everyone, BUT the fact that you can go to your doctor, be diagnosed as diabetic, go to classes to learn how to manage diabetes, and still come away from that thinking that carbohydrate restriction is a scary and evil thing or not even understanding that its in the arsenal of things to try... ugh

[hoopsguy]

Glad to hear surgery went well; best of luck with the recovery.

I'll likely have some kind of weight updates to ring in the new year. Right now I'm trying to establish some level of routine with running/exercise/diet that I think will be sustainable with long commute for work.

[BYU 14]

Good news on the surgery and great job on maintaining the diet.

[tarcone]

I went from 212 last February to 194, today.
All I did was change my eating habits. As in less food.
I didn't really do a lot more exercise.
It kind of worried me. I wasn't sure why I lost so much weight. I was thinking bad things. But I did gain a pound. So Im thinking Im ok. If I drop to 190, I will go to the doctor.

[NobodyHere]

I think I'll be jumping on this bandwagon. I'm currently 196ish lbs on a 5'3 frame.

[CU Tiger]

So apparently my last appearance in this thread was 2007...

What a strange 9 years it has been.

I've yo-yo'd my weight my entire adult life.
In 07 I was up to 298 then dropped down to 260 ish, maintained and slowly crept back up.

Then in November of 2011 I was back at 298 and I went fanatical.
I dropped all the way to 250 by March 2012 and bottomed out at 238 in July of '12. Then in October 12 my personal life went into upheaval and really stayed that way until January '14. It was one crisis after another, it nearly destroyed my marriage of 15 years, led to me re-entering the work force as an "employee" for the first time since I was 20. (that's a whole other book unto itself)...

Then in January of 2016 I looked at again the magic number on the scale 298... I have never weighed 300 lbs in my life and it is like a saving light everytime I approach it turns me away, each time with a blinding focus. Here we are again.

Over the years I have tried un-numerous exercise routines and diets. For me and my body a keto or virtually no carb based diet seems to be the only thing that has produced results. The up yo-yo-s havent been because the diet didnt work they have been because I didnt follow it. However diabetes has ravaged my family and I am determined not to be next. Keto will help in this regard as well.

Specifically the introduction of beer is my pitfall. This is compounded by the fact that I love beer. I have brewed my own beer for a number of years and even own a small stake in a brewery. Im not talking alcoholic stumbling drunk loving beer, Im talking has a separate fridge dedicated to beer in his basement. That fridge has over 60 different varieties of beer in it. Separately I have 2 keg coolers in my house. Both are currently empty. I rarely get drunk, cant remember the last time I did but I love beer and beer has calories and carbs a plenty. For now beer is banned. It will be re-incorporated at some point, how and when I am not yet sure. But for this to work it has to be on the shelf.

So let's get this on track. January was a month of travel for me. Miami for the Orange Bowl, Arizona for the National Championship game, then a week in Cancun for a work obligation. Diet wasn't going to work in those environments. SO I set my sights on Feb 1.

In preparation I affixed a hasp to the beer cooler and bought a master lock. I locked the cooler up and threw the keys into the dump with the packaging. When the time comes, the beer cooler is in my garage and I have a side grinder that will cut the lock. But not without 10 minutes of intentional actions instead of an absent minded slip while shooting pool.


Ive been strictly no/zero carb. Loading up on protein and hitting the (basement) gym for some free weights and recumbent bike. The gym is such a hard psychological thing for me. At one point I was a competition power lifter..now what was a warm up seems impossible to even move, not that I would attempt it. Even after a good hard workout I feel like a failure because I am using such little weight. But the endorphin rush seems to counteract much of that. So I am pushing on. Last week was especially tough as I felt arm soreness unlike anything I have ever felt before after a mild tricep workout. No joke it was a solid 4 days before I could reach my face to shave. I couldn't put a drink bottle/glass to my mouth for a full day. This getting old stuff sucks. But I have a bigger picture in mind. My heart health has to improve and I am determined to get there.

So enough back story:

Goals:
Weight. - It is so cliche that weight shouldnt be the primary goal but fitness instead should. Fine. But It gives me a target to shoot for. For now 245lbs is my goal. That isn't a final goal and I plan to reassess at that weight and determine where I want to go. Side note, I have a very unusual body structure. A BMI chart would tell you that I am at 44%. However using Calipers or water suspension scales (I've done both in the past 2 weeks) the numbers were 31 and 27 respectively. Still FAT, but a far ways from 40+. In short 185 is probably not attainable for me. Nor is it even a consideration at this point. 220lb is a dream weight. I havent weighed 220 since the 6th grade. Im crowding 40 now. But I dont want to get thre the wrong way I want a solid muscular, though not ripped composition.

Fitness - Ive never been able to run a 5k. I've tried a few times and failed for various reasons. (I once ripped off consecutive 6:30 miles and cramped so bad I couldnt walk the final one)..so that seems like a goal. But I am not one to leave well enough alone. 2 artificial knees means a marathon or even a half isn't a good idea. I love to swim and love to road bike, so I have my sights set on a sprint triathlon. Swim 500 Meters, Bike 12 miles then run a 5k. Right now I am eyeing the Lake Norman Tri (just north of Charlotte, NC about an hour and a half away from me for those unfamiliar with the area) scheduled for August 27th.

I will be monitoring my progress and (possibly) adjusting my target as we go. Right now I am doing 5 miles semi comfortably on the recumbent bike with no road or run work. The progress plan is to get the recumbent bike up to 25 miles while alternating in the couch to 5k plan. Once the recumbent hits the 25 mark I will transition to the road bike (I sold my previous one so this will be a new purchase). Once that 12 mile is comfortable we will begin combo training with the hope to have the bike and run component nailed down by early June. At which time water temps should allow me to begin adding in water work again. I do not have access to an indoor or heated pool. So this will be temperature dependent. I plan to keep the weight work throughout this so hopefully build mass and shed fat simultaneously.

Diet

For now its <20g carbs per day. (many less than 10) and lots of water.

Beyond that. Who knows.

I've rambled enough
For those that have read along, thanks. I appreciate all the support you care to offer. This is my e-journal to accompany my physical written one I am keeping.

Feb 1 - 298.
Feb 8 - 288.4
Feb 15 - 286.0

Little concerned at the dramatic slowdown but not real concerned.
1 the first week was a ton of water shed.
2 I only worked out 1 day last week after the extreme soreness. I've brought fast absorbing whey protein isolate into the equation starting with this morning's workout to help combat the soreness.


I'd really love to hear some thoughts/feedback on a couple things.

Keto sticks- Radii talks a lot about being on keto also. Ive done 3 long runs very successfully on ketogenic diets, I've never used the sticks. I know by feel when my body is in heavy furnace burn mode, but not as in tune with the marginal. Contemplating giving them a trial just to see what data they add. Can anyone offer any insight?

Fitbit - Strongly considering the fitbit and scale combo to make tracking easier. My biggest drawback right now, with my current electronic scale I can get on 3-4 times and get different weights. In fact I usually keep re-weighing until a I get a stabilized number which usually happens on weights 2&3, occasionally on 1&2 and rarely it takes up to 5&6. I attribute this to 2 factors. First my scale has a range of up to 300lbs and most instruments lose accuracy at the limits. Second, I have a size 14/15 foot. Any scale I have ever tried a fair quarter of my foot hangs off either the front or the back. Placement is key. Im not concerned about absolute accuracy here as much as repeatability I suppose. So the fitbit scale is it pretty accurate? anyone else noticed the multiple steps variance thing with other scales? Basically Im trying to avoid corrupt data if I am going to invest a couple hundred bucks in data I can obtain for free, I want to make sure it is as accurate as possible.

So...thoughts on those two?

Now back to burning.

[Radii]

Originally Posted by CU Tiger

Ive been strictly no/zero carb. Loading up on protein and hitting the (basement) gym for some free weights and recumbent bike.

Just wanted to comment here, it sounds like you've done this before with success but just to be sure

Keto is intended to be high fat. A healthy "balanced" diet and a keto diet usually have similar levels of protein in them. Some folks fail on keto because they replace all their carbs with lean chicken and the like, and that doesn't really work either.

Keto Calculator - Learn Your Macros on the Ketogenic Diet

That's the best calc I know of for giving macro recommendations. Of course you also mentioned hitting the gym more, which means an increase in protein could be warranted, I just wanted to make sure that you weren't trying to do low carb AND low fat. Some folks do that and are miserable.

Feb 1 - 298.
Feb 8 - 288.4
Feb 15 - 286.0

Little concerned at the dramatic slowdown but not real concerned.

Good start! Also totally standard for keto. You can search for the acronym PISS on keto forums and you'll probably find lots of discussion. It stands for "Post Induction Stall Syndrome". Its not uncommon to drop tons of water weight the first week or two, along with a small amount of fat, and then to stop losing weight entirely for awhile. I stalled out for a solid 4 weeks after my initial loss. Most do not stall that long. I couldn't tell you the sceince behind it, its something to do with the body adjusting to burning fat for energy instead of burning sugar for energy. You can search forums for "keto adaptation" and probably find a ton more on that if you're interested. Keto adaptation can take about 2 months and during that time you'll probably find peak performance w/ weights and the bike to be a bit lower. Once fully adapted then its back to normal, or even better than before for many people (lots of weightlifters and endurance athletes who don't need to lose weight experiment with keto to improve performance). Its another common complaint that new folks have who are active.

Keto sticks- Radii talks a lot about being on keto also. Ive done 3 long runs very successfully on ketogenic diets, I've never used the sticks. I know by feel when my body is in heavy furnace burn mode, but not as in tune with the marginal. Contemplating giving them a trial just to see what data they add. Can anyone offer any insight?

If you've started keto before w/o using them, I'd probably say not to bother.

I've used them in the past when I first start on keto, or if I've been cheating and trying to get back on track, but they're not really that reliable or necessary. Ketostix only measure ketones excreted in urine. That can be helpful initially if you're not sure you're doing things right, as seeing the sticks get a little darker is a nice sign that something is happening, but for long term use they aren't that great. As your body gets used to the high fat diet and lack of carbs it gets more effecient, and there's less ketones in waste so ketostix measures can change and you're not really accurately measuring ketosis at that point.

There is a breath device called Ketonix that measures ketones in breath, and you can check blood ketones on a meter similar to checking your blood sugar. Both are considered more accurate than ketostix. The blood ketone test strips are like $2 each though, and fail at a higher rate than blood sugar test strips. Not worth it to me, some folks that go hardcore in tracking numbers do that though.


I've never used a fitbit, so no opinion there.

Good luck! I'll have to get back to posting here more as well

[Alf]

Originally Posted by Alf

Long time lurker here, but since I got myself a droid phone, your post about this application made me try it. Let's see if I can get into a routine there and at least get "conscious" about what I eat.

I've been at 88-90kg for approx 10 years now (with a couple of years down to 85) while I am 183cm high. Since I resumed playing basketball a couple of years ago, I would be way better with some weight off.

Bumping this as the wife and I are trying to be on the same page regarding weight loss.

I have nearly hit the 95kg mark before Christmas (it scared me) so I decided to talk to Mrs Alf. As a result, we are entering a "dual" weight loss process. Hopefully, this will be helpful to have both of us doing it.

No fancy "more sports" than we usual do. We are going to focus on food first (and adjust portions). The hard part to start with is the "no cheese" for a while.

I have be tracking my weight with an app on my phone, so at least I am conscious of where I am regarding my weight. Let's see if it works any better this time.

FWIW

[CU Tiger]

2/1 - 298.
2/8 - 288.4
2/15 - 286.0
2/22 - 284.2

Had a decent week though I only made 4 workouts. 2 Bike sessions 2 weight sessions. Got the stationary bike up to 8 miles though on a very difficult setting resistance and program wise. Going to hit that same program again today and take it to 9 miles and then later in the week do a flat setting ride. My stationary has 1-15 resistance settings and this program does 20 seconds each at 5,7,9,11,13,15 repeat. Honestly 5 feels harder than my old road bike. So my plan is to try and hit 12 miles on a flat 7.

This is the point where the workout gets monotonous because it becomes a 40-50 minute affair of just peddling and listening to music. Mixing in some phone games to pass the time. I cant concentrate enough to Book On Tape or educational podcast while I ride, so its just tempo background music.

Anyway the reward is worth the boredom.


I've really been putting off the road work because 1- I hate to run and 2- I have fake knee and they have been known to flare up when I start a running regimen. I fear a flare up and sidetrack. At some point though if I am to hit this goal I have to start. So I'll add a walk jog in this week or it will be a failure for me.

Wish me luck

[corbes]

I want to experiment with keto, but I cook almost all my own food and haven't the foggiest how many calories are in anything. Anytime I've tried to calculate this, it feels like the website wants me to put in how many grams of rice I ate and all I can think is, you cannot be serious, I have no idea.

Is there a reasonable carb/fat website that people use?

[Radii]

Originally Posted by corbes

I want to experiment with keto

Dude, talk to me in daychat, I can give you more info than you ever wanted to know I should be in there all day tomorrow/thursday. Or PM me here if you have 1000 questions, I am certain I can point you in the right direction as far as resources go.

I cook almost all my own food and haven't the foggiest how many calories are in anything. Anytime I've tried to calculate this, it feels like the website wants me to put in how many grams of rice I ate and all I can think is, you cannot be serious, I have no idea.

I did spend a couple months obsessively weighing everything out of curiosity, but you have a few options here. If you go strict keto (say, 25g carbs or less a day), you can try just counting carbs at the start and not worry at all about calories. That doesn't mean that calories don't matter. But after the first few weeks, most people on keto find that they just simply are not all that hungry, even someone like myself who has huge hunger spikes and diabetes and can eat 5000 calories a day and still feel hungry... when i'm on carbs. When I'm succeeding on keto I don't have to count anything, because fat is filling and my body's hunger cues work and I naturally eat a more appropriate amount of food without trying.

There are a lot of people on keto who never count calories and lose tons of weight. There are also folks who obsessively weigh their food forever.

You should probably obsessively count carbs for awhile, at least to get a general feel. If something like a salad dressing has 4g carbs/serving, and your goal is 25g carbs a day or less, the difference between 1 serving and 3 servings on a salad matters a ton. But the difference between something that you know has virtually no carbs, like a steak, or green veggies where all of the carbs are fiber, meh, no need to obsess there if you don't want. I really don't care if my steak is 8 oz or 16, but if I decide to put a little Thousand Island dressing on a burger (no bun!), the difference between 1 tablespoon and 2 of the dressing is important to me. Its a little counter intuitive at first (or maybe a lot), but after seeing how my body reacts to things I eat, it feels obvious.

Since you cook for yourself, start looking at everything you put in your food to get a general idea of how many carbs are in things even if you aren't ready to start tomorrow, just to see.

Is there a reasonable carb/fat website that people use?

As far as getting info on specific items, I use one of three ways:

1) myfitnesspal - easy starting point since many brands/labels are plugged in there
2) google - especially for generic items like fruits/nuts/veggies. "carbs in almonds" returns a nice generic nutrition label.
3) NDL/FNIC Food Composition Database Home Page <-- USDA nutrition database. I don't end up here often, typically I end up here when I'm cooking a cut of meat and don't have a label for it. With myfitnesspal and sometimes even google looking into meat, its hard to get information I feel comfortable with. Are the numbers for cooked or pre-cooked weights, etc. USDA database seems the best for searching for exactly the type/cut of meat and making sure I get the info I want.


If you mean what types of ratios you might be trying to eat for yourself, instead of carb/fat/calorie counting in individual foods:

Keto Calculator - Learn Your Macros on the Ketogenic Diet



Anyway, feel free to ask questions here, or PM me, or look for me in chat if you want more info

[corbes]

Many thanks radii, this is all extremely helpful. I have been trying to eyeball a keto diet but some back-of-the-napkin math using your links tells me I am typically consuming about 1,000% of my daily allotment for carbs and only about 60% for fat. <--insert appropriate emoji-thingy here, perhaps the one with startled, googly eyes.