Yet another weightloss thread

[GoldenEagle]

Greetings,

Like many other posters on the board, I have made the decision to attempt to get back into shape and starting exercising again and eating a healthier diet. I just turned 24, and my weight has ballooned up to 225 lbs. (that is what I weighed at the gym this morning). That is a far cry from the 170 I weighed six years ago during my freshman year of college.

My plan is simply eat around 1800 calories a day. I am also going to try to cut out the sweets and soft drinks that I consume during the work day. I will go to the gym six days a week, doing cardio three days a week and weightlifting the other three days. I will also be doing some exergaming, with Dance Dance Revolution, Wii Sports, and Wii Fit (if I can ever find it).

I am about 6 feet tall and my ideal weight would be about 185. I have a pretty muscular frame; I just need to burn off the extra fat in my flat tire and man boobs. I would like to lose roughly 2 pounds a week, so I am looking at a total of about 40 weeks. That time frame would put me at my ideal weight around December 1st.

I will attempt to track my progress every day, providing updates on my diet and exercising I have done. I encourage readers to follow along and offer any advice along the way.

[GoldenEagle]

July Check-In

Scale

Weight: 229.0 lbs
Visceral Fat: 12
Body Fat: 34.4%
Skeletal Muscle: 31.4%
Resting Metabolism: 2080
BMI: 31.1

Measurements

Waist:
Hips:
Chest:
Neck:
Right bicep:
Left bicep:
Right forearm:
Left forearm:
Right thigh:
Left thigh:
Right calf:
Left calf:

Measurements coming as soon as I can find my tape measure.

(NOTE: This check-in was done on July 2nd, at 11:30 AM. Future check-ins will be done on the first day of every month, at 6AM)

[JeeberD]

Best of luck, bud. I've just joined a gym after our move and am hoping to lose 15lbs or so in the next couple of months while gaining some muscle mass...

[GoldenEagle]

July 1st, 2008

Please be patient while I get these formatting issues worked out. I am not use to the WYSIWYG editor and it make a take a bit to learn how to use it.

Diet

Date

Time

Food

Calories

Fat

SatFat

TransFat

Cholesterol

Sodium

Carbs

Sugars

Protein

ED

7/1/2008	8:30 AM	Large Eggs	210	4.5	1.5	0	645	65	0	0	18	1.23
7/1/2008	9:30 AM	Medium Apple	80	0	0	0	0	0	22	16	0	0.52
7/1/2008	10:15 AM	Coffee w/Hazelnut	184	7.5	0	0	0	58	35	25	0	N/A
7/1/2008	11:30 AM	Animal Crackers	250	2	0	0.5	0	180	50	14	4	4.17
7/1/2008	1:45 PM	White Bread	260	4	1	0	0	600	50	8	12	2.28
7/1/2008	1:45 PM	Honey Ham	160	5	2	0	60	1420	8	8	20	1.43
7/1/2008	1:45 PM	Munster Cheese	80	6	4	0	20	140	0	0	5	3.64
7/1/2008	1:45 PM	Mustard	0	0	0	0	0	55	0	0	0	N/A
7/1/2008	1:45 PM	Cheez-its	220	11	3	0.5	0	360	25	1	5	5.24
7/1/2008	6:30 PM	Chicken Tenders	480	21	3	0	90	960	36	3	42	1.93
7/1/2008	6:30 PM	BBQ Sauce	100	2.5	0	0	0	325	10	5	0	1.33
			2024	63.5	14.5	1	815	4163	236	80	106

I missed my goal by 224 calories. I think I cut out either the cheez-its or animal crackers to get to that. I am going to try to replace one them with a fruit cup tomorrow. I was very hungry at about 11 AM after finishing my coffee. The lunch kept me full but the dinner did not. However, after exercising I felt full but now as I type this I am getting a twinge of hunger again. My percentages break down into 16% fat, 58% carbs, and 26% protein.
Exercise

Date

Activity

Time

Distance

Calories Burned

Weight

Reps

7/1/2008	Stationary Bike	7:00	?	?	N/A	N/A
7/1/2008	Treadmill walking	20:00	?	?	N/A	N/A
7/1/2008	Stationary Bike	10:00	?	?	N/A	N/A
7/1/2008	Wii Sports	30:00:00	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
7/1/2008	DDR	60:00:00	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

I hit the gym up this morning at 6:30 AM. I rode the bike, walked the treadmill, then road the bike again. Next week, I am planning on beginning the couch-potato to 5k program on the treadmill. I spent some time playing Wii Tennis and Wii Baseball, but did not do any boxing which is probably the best workout. I played DDR for about 30 minutes with my wife on beginner level. I then did solo for another 30 also on beginner level. I just got the game today so I am not very good at it. I did one round on Expert though and I can see how that would be one hell of a workout.

[sabotai]

I'm following. And one of these days I'm going to start up that Couch-To-5K program too. I have to find a place to run first. There's one park that's about a 25 minute drive (50 minutes round trip) from me that has a dirt path that's just over 1 mile (3 times around = 5k), but I'm trying to find a park that's closer to me with no luck so far (plenty of parks, but all with concrete walkways. No asphalt or dirt walking/running paths).

[GoldenEagle]

July 2nd, 2008

Diet

Date	Time	Food	Calories	Fat	SatFat	TransFat	Cholesterol	Sodium	Carbs	Sugars	Protein	ED
7/2/2008	9:15 AM	Medium Apple	80	0	0	0	0	0	0	16	0	0.52
7/2/2008	9:30 AM	Rice Krispy Treat	150	3.5	1	0	0	170	28	12	1g	4.05
7/2/2008	12:15 PM	Chicken Tenders	480	21	3	0	90	960	36	3	42	1.93
7/2/2008	12:15 PM	BBQ Sauce	100	2.5	0	0	0	325	10	5	0	1.33
7/2/2008	6:00 PM	Chocolate Milk	270	10	7	0	50	128	34	32	16	1.33
7/2/2008	7:30 PM	Spaghetti Pie	483	21	7	0	110	447	30	5	40	1.33

1563 58 18 0 250 2030 138 73 98

Exercise

Date	Activity	Time	Distance	Calories Burned	Weight	Reps
7/2/2008	DDR	20m	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

It was a strange day. I was so sore and tired from Tuesday's workout that I slept right through my alarm and did not get up till 8. Then, I discovered that I was locked out my car and that my spare key was with my wife 30 minutes away. I had to call in sick. I also did not have a way to get to the gym, so I did not get to go today. I was also only able to get about 20m in on DDR. I am having to clean up the house for some in-laws visiting this weekend. Yuck.

The good news is I ate better today. No animal crackers, cheez-its, and coffee will help with the calorie count. Spaghetti Pie is my wife's best dish and I have been known to over indulge myself in it. This time I only managed to eat a fifth of the pie and will get to have some more tomorrow for lunch. The dish is just noodles, meat (93/7), spaghetti sauce, and mozzarella cheese.

Percentage break-downs are: Fat 20%, Carbs 48%, Protein 32%

[Subby]

My advice would be to replace those refined sugars with fresh fruit as much as possible. Eat some vegetables.

[kingnebwsu]

I had an awesome month of June where I lost 16 pounds. The keys for me were to avoid snacking, avoid fast food, avoid cheese, and avoid chips or snacky items of any sort. I guess those are "duh" things, but it made a huge difference for me. Early in the month I bought 2 bags of baked potato chips (cuz they are "healthier") and me and my girlfriend went through them in 3 days. I will never make that mistake again.

I haven't really been exercising or skipping meals, either. Gotta have strong will-power though, cuz I'm hungry a lot.

Anyway, good luck to you

[Subby]

Cheese isn't bad for you. Not exercising is.

[GoldenEagle]

July 3rd, 2008

Date	Time	Food	Calories	Fat	SatFat	TransFat	Cholesterol	Sodium	Carbs	Sugars	Protein
7/3/2008	8:30 AM	Cheerios w/ 2% milk	496	14	6	0	40	680	78	36	24
7/3/2008	8:30 AM	Orange Juice	220	0	0	0	0	0	52	44	4
7/3/2008	9:30 AM	Coffee w/Hazelnut	184	7.5	0	0	0	58	35	25	0
7/3/2008	12:45 PM	Spaghetti Pie	604	26	9	0	138	559	38	6	50
			1504	47.5	15	0	178	1297	203	111	78

The above table does not tell the whole story though. My wife's aunt came into town and took us out to dinner. I had a pepperoni pizza that was thin crust but I am sure it still contained quite a few calories. I also some bread with butter and some shrimp that was covered in bread. That probably pushed over the top and in to the 2200-2400 range.

Date	Activity	Time	Distance	Calories Burned	Weight	Reps
7/3/2008	Wii Sports	30m	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
7/3/2008	DDR	30m	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

We got home and showed the visiting aunt the Wii. I did some Wii Tennis and Boxing as well some DDR. I did not make it to the gym as I was having to clean the house that morning.

[GoldenEagle]

July 4th, 2008

I spent the day umpiring baseball. I usually get free food when I am umpiring. I had a twix bar for breakfast. But then they cut off the free food. I did not eat again until I got home, when a 1/2 a quesadilla from Taco Bueno. We then went to a cookout and had some bratwurst, corn on the cob, and some banana split thing for desert. I also had a large java mocha chiller from Sonic, which I do not event want to know the amount of calories in that.

July 5th, 2008

This was a bad day of eating. I can't remember what I had for breakfest. But the brought us food to the umpire room and I had a ton of brisket, hot wings, and pulled BBQ. I also had another java chiller from sonic as well as half a sonic blast. Blah.

July 6th, 2008

I ate better this day. I had a ham and cheese sandwhich on wheat bread. I also had some steak, corn on the cob, and baked potato. I snacked on some pinwheels which had ham and cream cheese. I also umpired most of the day.

I did not do cardio or weightlifting during this time. But I was out at the ballpark moving around and calling ball in the middle of July in Arkansas. It was pretty hot so I bet burned some calories that way. This should be the last time I umpire for quite sometime so hopefully I will remove the temptation of eating unhealthy to, from, and at the ballpark.

[GoldenEagle]

July 7th, 2008

I am going to stop with the detailed calorie reports as i simply don't have time to do them. I am going to right a computer program that allows me to track it a bit easier when I have the time. Here is the food I ate today:

3 cups of cheerios, 3 cups of 2% milk, 1 tbsp of sugar
Coffee w/ hazelnut
Left over spaghetti pie
Fruit Bowl
King Size Reeses
20 oz. Mountain Dew
Cup of orange juice
Two cups of chocolate milk
Half of a chicken with rice and cream of mushroom soup
Pinwheel

A rough estimate would put that at about 2950 calories for the day. Ouch. I gave in to the temptation of hunger and went and bought the junk food. If I would have not done that and replaced the junk food with a fiber bar and water, I would have saved about 500 calories. If I cut out the orange juice, chocolate milk, and coffee then I could also save another 500 calories and get down to a respectable 2000 calories a day.

The good news is I did some dancing for about 30 minutes and burned off about 160 calories. I rode the stationary bike for 10 minutes to burn off 50. I also worked out my chest and triceps, doing eight different exercises.

It has been a rough past 4 days as far as dieting goes. I hope to get back doing well again tomorrow. I will begin the running program as well as do some soccer training. I am sure also get some DDR in.

[GoldenEagle]

Originally Posted by Subby

My advice would be to replace those refined sugars with fresh fruit as much as possible. Eat some vegetables.

I have always had a problem eating vegetables. I have never been a consistent at eating them. My dad always teased me and told me I was going to get scurvy.

I had no idea how much sugar I was taking in until I started jotting down. That is something I definitely need to cut back on.

[Logan]

Best of luck with all this. I recently started posting in the "officialish" thread again as I try to lose weight myself. So knowing that I'm a tubby bastard myself, please don't think I'm being overly-critical with the following comments...we're all in this fight together.

First of all, starting a diet around July 4th just sucks with all that great food around , so hopefully now that it's gone you can stick to your calorie goal a little better. The good thing I see in your daily reports are a bunch of things that can be cut out/down easily, at least from a calories/fat perspective.

- Coffee with hazelnut (184 calories, 7.5g of fat, 25g sugar). This should go. Can you drink black coffee with Splenda/Equal (5 calories, no sugar, no fat), or maybe coffee with non-fat/skim milk and splenda?

- Similarly, can you switch from that 2% milk with your Cheerios to one with less fat/cals? Seems like a lot of fat early in the morning that you could do without. The chocolate milk you're drinking...necessary, or could that be adjusted down? And a tablespoon of sugar with your Cheerios...have you tried it without? Maybe you'll be able to handle it without all that sugar.

- Your lunch/dinner chicken tenders with 21g of fat. I'm guessing this is some kind of fried chicken. Do you like grilled chicken? Thankfully I like it a lot, and it has much less fat than what you're having here. You could probably get a fairly large grilled chicken sandwich that would be more filling, have about the same amount of calories, but much less fat.

- You clearly have a sweet tooth (we won't get into the multiple desserts at Sonic or the KING size () Reese's). Obviously there's a small sample size here, but I would guess that if you deny yourself anything sweet, that's when you cave in and go a little too far. Luckily these days there's a ton of snacks out there that are geared towards the dieter. The 100 calorie packs are awesome and you can find them in a ton of different varieties, from the salty chips to the sweet stuff. I just bought a box of chocolate covered pretzels, individually-wrapped for 100 calories per serving, 3.5g of fat, 7g sugar. I fucking LOVE chocolate covered pretzels, and this is a way for me to indulge that side without going through half a bag of some brand that is much higher in calories and fat. Portion control is a huge part of trying to lose weight, and these 100 cal things are great. I also really like rice cakes -- the caramel and chocolate varieties are both very good. About 80 calories each, maybe a gram of fat.

Again, not trying to nitpick your habits, as you're clearly aware of where you can make changes, but hopefully this helps a little more. Good luck.

[GoldenEagle]

Originally Posted by Logan

- Coffee with hazelnut (184 calories, 7.5g of fat, 25g sugar). This should go. Can you drink black coffee with Splenda/Equal (5 calories, no sugar, no fat), or maybe coffee with non-fat/skim milk and splenda?

Coffee is a weird thing with me. I can't drink it black. I also only drink coffee at work. I rarely drink it at home and could probably get by without it at work, assuming a good night rest. I think one of my goals for August is to cut back on coffee, maybe as little as twice a week.

Originally Posted by Logan

- Similarly, can you switch from that 2% milk with your Cheerios to one with less fat/cals? Seems like a lot of fat early in the morning that you could do without. The chocolate milk you're drinking...necessary, or could that be adjusted down? And a tablespoon of sugar with your Cheerios...have you tried it without? Maybe you'll be able to handle it without all that sugar.

If I tried 1% milk before. It was okay but you have to eat it fast or it will turn the cheerios into mush. I could do without the tablespoon of sugar and I will attempt to cut that out as well.

Originally Posted by Logan

- Your lunch/dinner chicken tenders with 21g of fat. I'm guessing this is some kind of fried chicken. Do you like grilled chicken? Thankfully I like it a lot, and it has much less fat than what you're having here. You could probably get a fairly large grilled chicken sandwich that would be more filling, have about the same amount of calories, but much less fat.

Yea, this is just a store bought thing of Tyson fried chicken that you heat up in the oven. I have had grilled chicken before and its not bad at all. It is probably another thing that I can change.

Originally Posted by Logan

- You clearly have a sweet tooth (we won't get into the multiple desserts at Sonic or the KING size () Reese's). Obviously there's a small sample size here, but I would guess that if you deny yourself anything sweet, that's when you cave in and go a little too far. Luckily these days there's a ton of snacks out there that are geared towards the dieter. The 100 calorie packs are awesome and you can find them in a ton of different varieties, from the salty chips to the sweet stuff. I just bought a box of chocolate covered pretzels, individually-wrapped for 100 calories per serving, 3.5g of fat, 7g sugar. I fucking LOVE chocolate covered pretzels, and this is a way for me to indulge that side without going through half a bag of some brand that is much higher in calories and fat. Portion control is a huge part of trying to lose weight, and these 100 cal things are great. I also really like rice cakes -- the caramel and chocolate varieties are both very good. About 80 calories each, maybe a gram of fat.

My sweet tooth is bad. Yesterday I intended to walk over to the store and get a fiber one bar or something along those lines. I came back with a Resses and Mountain Dew. As long as I am not hungry, I am not tempted to eat the sweet stuff. But when I get hungry or when I am driving long distances, I crave it badly.

Originally Posted by Logan

Again, not trying to nitpick your habits, as you're clearly aware of where you can make changes, but hopefully this helps a little more. Good luck.

Feedback is very good. It has led me to several ideas. As a cited previously, I had no clue how much sugar I was taken in. I think the big thing with eating a healthy diet is preparation and finding out what works for you. For example, the spaghetti pie kept me full at dinner when I ate it fresh out of the oven. But at lunch, it did not fill me up at all. I was inadequately prepared and did not have any backup fruit or health bar and resorted to the junk food to take care of my hunger.

[Ksyrup]

Good luck. I've gone back and forth, highs and lows, for over a decade now. Really sucks, but I'm hoping to finally keep myself consistent now that I'm back down close to where I want to be. I say that every time, though. I have to echo Subby's comments on exercising and especially eating fruits/vegetables. I've got it down to a routine when I'm at work, and then weekends I try to stick to it as close as I can, depending on the circumstances. I eat lots of salad and fish, and right now, I'm also eating Lean Cuisines probably 4 or 5 nights a week. My biggest issue is finding a happy medium between not losing weight anymore and gaining it all back. Maintaining is the hardest part for me. Once you find a system that works, you begin losing, and you get motivated by the difference you'll see in your body, losing weight is pretty easy.

[Logan]

GE, if you're trying to cut back on coffee, you might want to give tea a shot. I was drinking a ton of coffee, probably 6-8 cups a day, but black so not terrible in terms of calories. I knew all that caffeine just isn't good for you though, so I started drinking green tea after my first cup of coffee in the morning. It still has some caffeine so you get a little pick-up, and it also has a lot of other health benefits (antioxidants and shit like that).

I don't know if it's feasible where you work...but after you eat lunch (or when you're finishing) go for a quick walk around the building/city/office complex just to get a bit of exercise in during the middle of the day. Good way of keeping yourself energized, and a little something to bridge the gap between the gym in the morning and your game-exercising at night.

[SFL Cat]

I'm doing South Beach, watching the carbs, and I've lost nearly 20 lbs. I'm down to around 220. I've also been excercising and lifting weights. It was hard as hell getting started, since I was really out of shape and in my mid 40s, but now nearly eight months later, I'm in a groove and feeling great. I've gone from a 44" waist down to a 40" now and shooting for 38" (I was a 36" in college).

I'm also taking multi-vitamins and fish oil. I'm still drinking the diet soda, but I'm trying to cut down on that too, drinking diet green tea insted.

Anyone dieting, I also recommend excercising. Like I said, it was really hard at first, and I almost quit several times. However, if you stick with it, you get stoked when you realize that stuff you are doing that was literally killing you when you started is now almost a breeze. I can honestly say I'm in the best shape I've been in for the past 15-20 years.

[MacroGuru]

Reading this plus an article on Yahoo has made me realize I need a food diary.

The minute I get one, I know I will kill myself with everything I have taken in. I am like GE with the sweet tooth, but it is mainly when I am bored.