Shape It Up!

[MJ4H]

Last summer I started working out seriously for the first time in my life. I was lazy and ate poorly. My weight was 217 lbs. and I was out of shape.

I worked out for about 4 months steadily and then it dropped off. I had lost weight down to 190 lbs or so, though. I was proud of this and I felt good about myself. The frequency of my workouts dropped down to the point that I was basically maintaining my weight instead of losing more.

About 2 months ago, I bought 2 DVDs from The Biggest Loser Workout series. I started the first workout and hit it hard-core. When I started that, I was at 194 lbs. After 2 weeks, I was down to 184 lbs. Then I slowed down to maintaining again. Then I stopped altogether and got lazy. My bad eating habits have come back in full force.

Now, the reason this has all happened is stress from work. There were severe budget cuts for our school, and I was very worried about being a casualty. Plus, school was ending and all the end of the year stuff is pretty stressful. I could've worked out through all of that, but I folded a bit.

Summer is here, which is great for teachers. I have lots of time and little stress. I am absolutely disgusted with how I look and feel, and I'm ready to change it. Tonight, I kick it into gear.

In this thread, I will record my weight (as measured in Wii Fit) EVERY DAY. I will record any workouts I do. I will also estimate my caloric intake. If I do not do any of these things EVERY DAY, PLEASE GET ON MY TAIL ABOUT IT.
I know it isn't your job to do that, but I am asking you nicely (in all caps, bold, size 7 font) to help me out here.

Any encouraging words are appreciated, too. This will all be started soon. In a few minutes soon.

[MJ4H]

Day 1: 6/9/2010

Wii Fit Weigh-In: 192lbs.
Meals: KFC with large Mountain Dew, 2 bowls of Honey Nut Cheerios with 2% milk.
Workout: Biggest Loser Last Chance Workout

Notes: I just took a front and side photograph of myself. I am absolutely disgusted with what I see. I will not be posting these publicly until the end, if then. Trust me, this dynasty and associated workout is very necessary, though. I mean, I'm not Jabba the Hutt, but I am not in shape.

[Izulde]

Arkansas just makes people naturally fat, I swear. I've gotten huge down here.

[Greyroofoo]

Does Arkansas make people fat? Or do fat people make Arkansas?

And what the hell is MJ4H doing eating KFC anyways?

[MJ4H]

Originally Posted by Greyroofoo

Does Arkansas make people fat? Or do fat people make Arkansas?

And what the hell is MJ4H doing eating KFC anyways?

It was soooo good.

[Poli]

I'm with ya, MJ.

[Kodos]

It's true. One of my buddies in college was from Arkansas, and he had a weight problem. And his brother was COLOSSAL!

[MJ4H]

Maybe I should just move instead of all this working out crap.

[Poli]

I was 300 pounds when I was a Razorback fan. When I turned to the Vols back in 1990, I lost 150 pounds just like that.

[MJ4H]

Day 2: 6/10/2010

Wii Fit Weigh-In: 189.2lbs.
Meals: Chicken/Basil Cream Sauce Lean Cuisine, Bread, 100 calorie Little Debbie snack, Lasagna Lean Cuisine
Workout: Biggest Loser Boot Camp 1

Notes: Did a little geocaching today, which usually involves lots of walking, but today was mostly driving instead of walking. Sat around following conference realignment a lot, so more sedentary than normal.

[Dodgerchick]

Following along, good luck!

[Poli]

You including the EA sports fitness thing?

[MJ4H]

Doubtful. We don't really use that stuff anymore. These Biggest Loser workouts are much harder and faster paced. Now that we can keep up with these things, we use them almost exclusively. Unfortunately, as usual, my wife and I disagree on which one to do most nights, and even how to use them. It mostly doesn't matter to me what we do, so I just let her decide.

Myself, I would rather stick with the Last Chance Workout which has a 6 week program to work through. We will probably switch a lot because she doesn't like doing the same thing every night (even though LC is not the same thing every night).

[Poli]

Originally Posted by MJ4H

I just let her decide.

Good man.

I'll take a look at the biggest loser stuff.

[MJ4H]

Day 3: 6/11/2010

Wii Fit Weigh-In: 190.7 lbs.
Meals: 2 Mini-Club Sandwiches with chips, 2 bowls of Honey Nut Cheerios, 1 serving of Hamburger Helper Stroganoff with bread.
Workout: Biggest Loser Last Chance Workout

Notes: Conference realignment, world cup, super-regionals = sitting around all day.

[MJ4H]

Day 4: 6/12/2010

Wii Fit Weigh-In: 190.5 lbs.
Meals: Leftover Stroganoff, bread, 2 Chik-Fil-A sandwiches, waffle fries
Workout: Rest day

[Poli]

Lay off the fries and chips!

[MJ4H]

Yeah no freaking kidding. Wasn't my first choice, but where I was today that was kind of what I had to eat or starve. Not strong enough to choose starve here, yet. As long as I don't freak out and do this more than once a week or so, I think it won't be too bad.

Back on wagon today.

[MJ4H]

Day 5: 6/13/2010

Wii Fit Weigh-In: 189.6 lbs.
Meals: Chicken with Basil Cream Sauce Lean Cuisine, bread, Lasagna Lean Cuisine.
Workout: BL Last Chance Upper Body + Lower Body (2 separate 15 min workouts)

Notes: Mowed the lawn today. Not much activity but we have a big lawn and a push mower, so about an hour's worth of activity there.

[Dodgerchick]

Yeah, keep up the good work!

[MJ4H]

Day 6: 6/14/2010

Wii Fit Weigh-In: 189.8 lbs.
Meals: LC Pizza, Cracker Barrel Meatloaf Dinner
Workout: fail

Notes: Work meeting tonight snuck up on me and I didn't get to snack or eat at the right times today. Wound up starving on the way home and stopped at Cracker Barrel to meet the wife to eat. Kind of ruined plans to workout tonight. Will try to make up for it tomorrow. About to weigh-in now. Should be a horrendous number right after I ate.

[Poli]

Come on, kid! Get with it!

[MJ4H]

Yep. Yesterday was a big fail. Shouldn't hurt the progress too awfully much. It wasn't the worst day ever, but it wasn't anywhere near consistent with my goal. Today should be better.

[MJ4H]

Day 7: 6/15/2010

Wii Fit Weigh-In: 189.8 lbs
Meals: Hamburger with chips, 2 bowl Frosted Flakes, Grilled Chicken Sandwich with chips
Workout: Biggest Loser Max Cardio Level 1

Notes: Went to the park for a picnic today. Burgers were the only option, so I had a small one. Walked 2 miles on the track at the park after we ate. Bought a new Biggest Loser DVD that kicked my tail pretty hard tonight. I deserved it.

[MJ4H]

Day 8: 6/16/2010

Wii Fit Weigh-In: 190.7 lbs.
Meals: LC Chicken w/ Basil Cream Sauce, 2 bowls of cereal (FF)
Workout: BL Cardio Max Level 1

Notes: Cutting out sodas 90%. I'll still have one occasionally, but not with every meal. Also, limiting to one piece of bread per meal. Bread is a major weakness of mine.

[Poli]

Leave the chips in the bag!

[MJ4H]

I actually have really low calorie chips. They are like 60 calories per serving. And delicious.

My weak spots right now are bread and dr. pepper/sprite. I'm going to cut way back on both. Starting now.

[MJ4H]

Week 1 (Days 1-7) Stats:

Workout Days: 5 of 7 (71%)
Weight Loss: 2.2 lbs.

[Poli]

Diet anything is about my only soda right now...I have one can in the morning on my way into work. I need to cut that out.

[Dodgerchick]

Originally Posted by MJ4H

Bought a new Biggest Loser DVD that kicked my tail pretty hard tonight. I deserved it.

Which one? Just got Jillian Michael's Cardio Kickbox that I haven't had the opportunity to try yet.

[MJ4H]

This one is called Biggest Loser Cardio Max.

[CleBrownsfan]

Poli- you crack me up. I just started following MJ4H - good luck.

I do have to say - try substituting chips with a crispy veggie. And soda with a crystal light... try it for two weeks and you'll see a huge difference in the way you feel.

Again, good luck man

[MJ4H]

Originally Posted by CleBrownsfan

Poli- you crack me up. I just started following MJ4H - good luck.

I do have to say - try substituting chips with a crispy veggie. And soda with a crystal light... try it for two weeks and you'll see a huge difference in the way you feel.

Again, good luck man

My plan is to cut out soda all together (sub in: water).

[Dodgerchick]

Careful with Crystal Light or Crystal Light wannabees. They gave me a stomach ache for over a week.

[Poli]

Originally Posted by MJ4H

My plan is to cut out soda all together (sub in: water).

That's my plan as well. I'm hitting 60 oz of water a day now, but I can't resist the caffeine pick me up in the morning.

I try to avoid fries and chips, but I still have a bag or two of chips here in the house.

I eat salads like they're going out of style.

[MJ4H]

Edited post #25 with today's workout.

[MJ4H]

Day 9: 6/17/2010

Wii Fit Weigh-In: 189.1 lbs.
Meals: 2 bowls of cereal, 2 grilled chicken sandwiches
Workout: 3 mile walk

Notes: a little geocaching today, but not much. We elected to walk tonight instead of working out. We took turns pushing our son's wheel-chair, so that definitely took more effort. We looked up the amount of calories that walking burns and decided that we'd need to walk at least 3 miles to get anything comparable to the good we'd get out of a workout. Took about an hour, but it was nice.

[CleBrownsfan]

Originally Posted by Dodgerchick

Careful with Crystal Light or Crystal Light wannabees. They gave me a stomach ache for over a week.

That stinks DC - I drink Crystal Light all the time. Probably 3 or 4 pints a day. Love the stuff...

[Poli]

I have a pitcher of crystal light in the fridge now...I get a glass or two a day of it.

[Dodgerchick]

Yeah, serious bummer. I used to be able to drink it like nothing, but guess my body's just getting older Since I can't have that anymore, I usually squeeze some lemon or put frozen grapes or cherries in my water to give it a bit of flavor. Good stuff.

[CleBrownsfan]

hmmmm - I like the frozen fruit ideal in water.

[Dodgerchick]

Originally Posted by CleBrownsfan

hmmmm - I like the frozen fruit ideal in water.

OH yeah, definitely try it. I just had a big 'ol tall glass of water with frozen cherries in it just now. Yumm. Refreshing and you get vitamins and fiber from the cherries: win-win

[MJ4H]

Updated post #37

[Poli]

No soda for me at all yesterday.

[MJ4H]

Day 10: 6/18/2010

Wii Fit Weigh-In: 187.0 lbs.
Meals: Subway 6 in. Cold Cut Combo, 2 slices of pizza
Workout: 2.5 mile walk pushing wheelchair

Notes: had a feeling I would see a big drop in weight on this one. I feel lighter, I feel like I'm making progress, I feel better overall. Everything just felt right. The weigh-in didn't disappoint. The first time that number drops under 184 I'm going to throw a party and drown myself in double quarter pounders or something.

Well, maybe not that, but I will be really happy. 184 is where I was about 1 month and a half ago before I fritzed out for a good month. It is also right at the "overweight/normal" line in Wii Fit's graph. Psychological barrier for me. It's going down this time.

[CleBrownsfan]

Good job man.... Keep it up

[Poli]

Excellente!

I'm on day 3 of no-soda. Yesterday was a tough one...at a concert and had lemonade instead. Dinner afterwards I had tea...which I probably shouldn't have done.

I'm housesitting for some friends for nearly 2 weeks and they have the P90x stuff. Going to try it out here shortly.

[MJ4H]

Day 11: 6/19/2010

Wii Fit Weigh-In: 186.0 lbs.
Meals: Leftover pizza, Grilled Chicken+mashed potatoes and vegetables
Workout: none today

Notes: Busy day today. My wife is on the BOD for an organization that is conducting a silent auction today, so we will be dealing with that almost all day. I'm not as committed time-wise as she is, so I might be able to sneak in something work-out wise, but no guarantees.

[MJ4H]

Just took pictures of myself to compare with my before pictures. I can already see some big differences. The two most obvious places are visible from the side. The shape of my neck is far slimmer. Also, the shape of my stomach is much different. The bottom of my spare tire is there, but the top is a straighter diagonal instead of pooching out.

Very encouraged by the progress so far!

[Poli]

I think p90x broke me!