Passacaglia vs. lurker: A weight-loss dynasty

[Passacaglia]

Hello and welcome! Starting Monday 8/23, lurker and I are competing in a 'biggest loser' challenge on another forum. For those reading this who don't know, lurker is my wife of 4 years today. I don't know if she'll see this thread -- she doesn't read the dynasty forums. I'll put a link to this in my signature, but she might have signatures turned off, unless she's heard that she can selectively ignore them. Maybe she'll see the title of this thread on the main screen, but I think she has Off Topic bookmarked, so she might not even go there. Anyway, if she does read this -- hi lurker, happy anniversary!

So here's the formula used to determine the winner:

(% weight loss * 100)/(BMI @ game's start) * 1000

It's made up by a bunch of actuaries, so I figure they know what they're doing. It's also needlessly complicated -- the times 100 and times 1000 are just stupid IMO, but whatever. I guess they make the numbers larger and more fun. When this was done last year, the winner had a little under 500 points. There was a side bet that went along with the contest, everyone put in $50, and everyone with over 300 points would end up getting some of the money, depending on how far over 300 you were (the 300 goal was set before the contest started). I played last year, and participated in the side bet, and lost -- I actually gave up fairly early on. And lurker was going to participate, but she found out she was pregnant on the day of the sign-up, so she wisely decided not to.

Weigh-ins are on Monday. The elimination schedule is not set, but it'll probably be that for a few weeks there's no eliminations, then after that, the people who have lost the least, or don't report their results, will get eliminated. The contest ends either 12/13 or 12/20. The guy running the contest seems like kind of a flake, and hasn't decided that stuff yet. No American will be eliminated the Monday after U.S. Thanksgiving, and no Canadian will be eliminated the Monday after Canadian Thanksgiving. At least, that's what the guy running the contest says. Then he goes on to say no Canadian will be eliminated October 11, which is the day of Canadian Thanksgiving. That doesn't seem helpful to Canadians, who will probably weigh-in in the morning anyway. And do Canadians pig out on Thanksgiving like we do? No matter -- I'm not as concerned about the contest, the point is to have more points than lurker when the contest ends.

Now me. I weighed in at 191.8 pounds on Monday. That's probably higher than it had been recently -- the week before, I'd been eating a lot of crap, partly as a last hurrah, and partly to gain a little more weight and skew the results. However, looking at the data I kept when I weighed myself often in 2009, I was at 191.8 or more on 81 out of 168 days, so almost half the time -- so this weight isn't crazy or anything for me. Combined with my height (5'8") and this calculator Healthy Weight: Assessing Your Weight: BMI: Adult BMI Calculator: English | DNPAO | CDC, that puts my BMI at 29.2. I know better than to put lurker's info up here, but I figure it will be okay to post her score, so y'all can know how I'm doing against her.

I'm starting by using that 300 number as a goal, and working from there. Based on my weight and BMI, it looks like I'll need to lose 16.8 pounds to get it, which puts me at a nice round 175. Seems good. I can of course adjust it based on how well I'm doing, too.

I'll also be using this thread for advice and support -- I figure I'll enter in what I've eaten, maybe count calories when I can, and what kind of workout I'm doing. I really have no idea what kind of workout I should be doing, so if anyone can help there, it would definitely be appreciated!

[Passacaglia]

So Monday and Tuesday were pretty good starts -- I had salad for lunch, but also some junk food too that's leftover in the house that I didn't want to go bad. But I also drank a lot more water than I usually do. I worked out both days -- 20 minutes of cardio then upper body weights on Monday, then 22 minutes of cardio on Tuesday (it was going to be 30, but the baby got fussy).

I'm not sure if it was my strategy of chowing down last week or what, but very good results so far.

Tuesday weight: 190.0
Wednesday weight: 190.0

That gives me 32 points already. I can't get too excited about that, though -- a lot of that is probably just random, and the rest is not really from actually doing anything -- just a nice little head start.

[Poli]

Nice.

[molson]

How can I bet on the outcome of this?

[Passacaglia]

Originally Posted by molson

How can I bet on the outcome of this?

I guess the first step would be to find someone who cares enough to make a bet with you?

Anyway, here's what I ate yesterday:

cereal -- 350 calories
banana -- 105 calories
granola bar -- 100 calories
coffee -- 50 calories
salad -- 250 calories
rice cake -- 35 calories
cookie -- 50 calories
scone
chicken masala
ice cream cake
2 glasses of milk -- 180 calories

I was probably doing okay until the end there -- but the scone and ice cream cake were part of my "don't waste food" thing -- I'd rather miss out on losing weight instead of letting food go bad. Same with the cookie actually, but that was partly because they were out on the counter.

Workout: 30 minutes of cardio, plus 2 sets of 8 reps on the ab crunch, 55 pounds, my plan is to increase the number of times and the amount by one increment each time I do it.

Morning weigh-in: 190.8, taking me down to 18 points. Oh, and lurker saw the thread, but she held so true to her lurker philosophy that she didn't post -- she said I could post her info, but I don't know it. So she's free to do it if she wants! She said she was at about 12 points yesterday, but it's way too early to derive any meaning at all from these numbers.

[Alf]

coffee -- 50 calories <-- how do you get calories from coffee ?

[Passacaglia]

Calorie Count gives it 5 calories Calories in Coffee then I added some for sugar and non-dairy creamer.

[Alan T]

How many calories are you aiming for daily? Just eyeballing it, that seems a little low to me in addition to cardio workout daily.

Do you know how many calories your body needs roughly to maintain weight vs lose it? At your height, I'm guessing you are aiming for 1500-1600 calories?

My fear is that you are still eating some empty calories (the not wanting to waste junk food) plus under-eating, plus working out and your body might enter "starvation mode" after too many days of that and start being counter productive.

[Passacaglia]

Originally Posted by Alan T

How many calories are you aiming for daily? Just eyeballing it, that seems a little low to me in addition to cardio workout daily.

Do you know how many calories your body needs roughly to maintain weight vs lose it? At your height, I'm guessing you are aiming for 1500-1600 calories?

My fear is that you are still eating some empty calories (the not wanting to waste junk food) plus under-eating, plus working out and your body might enter "starvation mode" after too many days of that and start being counter productive.

I forget what my goal was -- I think it was 1800, though. eyeballing the calories probably seems low because I didn't put down a number for the biggest thing, the chicken masala. I got this link from lurker Calorie Count Recipe Analysis -- she entered the ingredients in, and we're figuring 725 calories from that. It would have been 387 without the rice!

But yeah, obviously the junk food is no good. Hopefully I'll be able to cut that down -- but then again, even though I made it seem like it was some big excuse, that's probably better than the typical day for me!

[Passacaglia]

Food so far today (I'll edit when the day is over):

Cereal -- 350 calories
Granola bar -- 100 calories
No salad today, at the caf they had cheese tortellini with a bunch of veggies, freshly made and it's really good
Rice cake -- 50 calories

Workout: 20 minutes cardio, 2 sets of 10 reps on the ab crunch, 60 pounds, and lower body weights
I did 2 sets of 8 reps for weights this week -- my plan is to go up to 2 sets of 10 next week, then 3 of 8, then 3 of 10, then 3 of 12. And each week I'll choose whichever machine seemed easiest and move the weight up an increment. Today I did:

hips abduction/adduction -- 6
prone leg curl -- 40
leg extension -- 25
seated leg press -- 70

I'll bump the seated leg press to 75 next time.

[Passacaglia]

I've had a cold the last few days, so I didn't work out yesterday or today, and I don't feel like keeping track of what I ate.

Friday morning weight: 189.8
Saturday morning weight: 188.2

Being sick has some advantages, I guess. I just need to make sure I don't gain it back once it's over! Meanwhile, lurker said she has negative points, but she worked out today while I didn't. But it's obviously way too early for me to get complacent!

[Passacaglia]

Sunday morning weight: 188.0

Being sick kind of forces you to eat healthy -- a lot of clear foods. Cereal in the morning, some leftover chicken masala and a hot dog for lunch, chicken noodle soup for dinner (I was at Panera, and it came with chips, oh well), plus an orange and a lot of juice and water throughout the day. No workout though. This is all nice now, but I'm going to have to make sure I don't gain it all back in one big lump once I get better.

[Passacaglia]

Monday morning weight: 189.0

Gained a little weight back as I'm starting to feel better -- I guess that means it's time to get back into the workout routine, too. 50 points for the first week, though. Standings will probably come out sometime this evening, but more likely tomorrow morning. EDIT: The guy running it is out of the office tomorrow, so a greater chance he'll get it done today, but my new guess is Wednesday.

[lurker]

Yep, I'm at -5.4 points this week. Passacaglia kept saying stuff like "let's pig out right before the contest starts" and "let's have ice cream cake!" and then cutting me a huge slice. Guess he's being competitive!

I don't think this weight gain will last -- it's really from eating a lot a week ago and it takes it that long to show up for me. I brought 3 pieces of fruit and was all planning to have a salad for lunch but then I remembered we're having pizza in our office. D'oh! It'll probably be crap Giordano's and I'll eat it anyway.

[hoopsguy]

Originally Posted by lurker

D'oh! It'll probably be crap Giordano's and I'll eat it anyway.

I'm officially rooting for Passacaglia from here on out.

[Passacaglia]

Sorry hoops -- I don't like Giordano's either, actually.

[hoopsguy]

Then this may be like rooting for the earth to swallow up the stadium during a Notre Dame/Michigan game.

On the positive side for you guys, not liking Giordano's gives you one less option for gaining weight. But that is really reaching for a silver lining ...

[lurker]

It ended up being Lou Malnati's, which is a little better. I just had 1 1/2 slices and still feel really full hours later.

There's plenty of other options for gaining weight -- even other pizza options! I guess we won't be getting any pizza from My Pi for a while...

[Passacaglia]

Results are in! There are 34 participants -- I'm in 5th place at 50.0, and lurker is in 21st at -5.4. The #1 guy has 106.5, after going from 160.5 to 155.8, wow!

[Passacaglia]

Tuesday morning weigh-in: 189.2
Wednesday morning weigh-in: 189.0

I need to be better about reporting my food, and my exercise. I think I'm starting to get into a rhythm of 30 minutes on the Body Trec machine plus the Ab Crunch on MWF, then lifting on Tuesday and Thursday, after 15 minutes on the Body Trec and the Ab Crunch -- upper body Tuesday, lower body Thursday. But, the weight amounts I use was on my cell phone, and when I synced it to my new computer, it got deleted, so this week I'll do the weights Thursday and Friday, I guess.

[EdReedIsGod]

Don't worry about the weight you're using, drop it down and do more reps. Sets of 12 or 15 with very little rest in between burns as many calories as running.

[Passacaglia]

Wednesday food:

oatmeal -- 200 calories
naked juice -- 200 calories
orange -- 100 calories
chicken noodle soup -- 150 calories
naked juice -- 200 calories
peanuts -- 150 calories
lasagna -- ??? calories
milk -- 200 calories
chocolate -- 300 calories

Workout: 30 minutes light cardio, 3 sets of 10 reps at 70 pounds on the ab crunch. Thanks for the advice on reps, Ed Reed! My plan is to go up to 12 today, then 15 tomorrow. How many sets do you think I should do?

Thursday morning weigh-in: 189.6

Hrmm. Well the good news is that I'm not feeling any symptoms for the cold, so I can cut out all the juice and replace it with water, which I need to drink more of. The bad news, though, is that I have a fantasy draft at the bar tonight.

[EdReedIsGod]

That depends on how long you have been lifting and some other factors. I would recommend doing 4 setsper muscle group for a starter since it seems you have been at it for a while.

But there are a lot of different variables involved. Since you're using machines you can split them up into 2 days. Chest & Back one day, arms & Shoulders the next.

Light weight and very little rest in between is the key. I wouldn't want to advise you to do too much without knowing you. I find that I burn more lifting than I do on treadmills.

But 4x12-15 bench press & the same for front pulldowns or pull backs one day and then. Curls, Tricep Pulldowns & shoulder press the next would be a full upper body work out for you.

Then do your leg exercises the third day and take a day or two off depending on how sore you are. You can still do cardio on off days from weights.

[Passacaglia]

Some weigh-ins:

Friday morning -- 190.6
Saturday morning -- forgot
Sunday morning -- 186.8
Monday morning -- 187.4
Tuesday morning -- 188.2

Pretty good weight for the official Monday morning weigh-in, although I've obviously been going in the wrong direction lately. I skipped the workout on Friday since I was busy, and it's just kind of hard to work out on the weekend, but hopefully I can get back into the routine today.

Food so far:
Cereal
2 cups of coffee
Coffee Cake
Orange
Banana
Triscuits and Spinach Dip (not many)

[Passacaglia]

Wednesday morning weigh-in: 189.6, blah

Workout yesterday went well. 15 minutes of cardio then lower body weights. And I think all I had to eat after my post yesterday was spaghetti with meat sauce, and cherries.

[Passacaglia]

Remember Monday, when I weighed two pounds less than I do now? Well, that was 78.6 points, good enough for 4th place! And lurker has -5.4 points, which puts her in 26th. There's 34 people in this, and two are getting eliminated this week. She's well above the elimination zone for now, though.

[Dodgerchick]

Following along!

[Passacaglia]

Thursday morning, weigh-in: 189.0

I ended up having to sit through a surprise hour and 45 minute meeting yesterday, which didn't give me much time to work out at the gym. I had Chipotle for dinner, which was bad, but I got a burrito bowl, with only half the rice, and I only ate half of it. So that's okay, I think.

[lurker]

Back in the positive zone! 16.1 points...although that's only down 0.6 pounds and my goal by the end of the contest is to be down 12 pounds. I guess I just have to make more time for working out. I was supposed to this morning before work, but I didn't feel like eating before showering, and when I work out on an empty stomach it's not efficient. Anyone have tips on what's good to eat before a workout that gives you energy but won't make you too full?

[Dodgerchick]

Peanut butter on toast works well for me as do hard boiled eggs. If I'm really strapped for time an apple or banana are good enough.

[lurker]

Thanks for the tip! This morning, we were out of eggs and I didn't feel like the other stuff so I had cereal. It gave me enough energy to work out, but I've been much hungrier than usual all morning. It seems worse than when I exercise after work and before dinner. Usually when I do that, I eat a normal-sized dinner after and feel fine. Maybe the efficiencies of exercising in the morning and only having to take one shower isn't worth it...

Other than that, I haven't been doing great. I'm still in the positive zone (for points in the contest, but negative weight!), but I did some work traveling over the last few days and it's always hard to turn down huge meals when you can expense it. I did buy a cookie for Passacaglia at the airport and not for me, so that should help me in the contest.