2018 Fitness Challenge

[DJ]

Re: 2018 Fitness Challenge

Welcome, Bard, and good luck on your fitness journey!

Just returned from a trip to San Diego area, and it was a blast. Spent a lot of time at the beach, walked a lot and ran around the Torrey Pines area, which has some great scenic views and tough inclines.

[pietasterp]

Re: 2018 Fitness Challenge

No kidding. Haha. Been on the boards for about eight years now and have been strictly wrestling and baseball, oops!

Yeah, that's right. It is all about getting healthy. That has always been something I want to achieve and not get obsessed with like I did when I was younger. Taking this slowly, decided tonight was my last night of fast food for 30 days so ate some Wendy's! I already dont drink soda pop, so thought why not give up more stuff for 30 days and do some working out and see how this goes. Limit sugar, no fast food, and at minimum 60 minutes of physical activity a day.

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If you can stick to that, you're going to have amazing results. I'm sure you can - you're halfway there anyway with the self-imposed soda ban! It's the daily activity that I find tough, but really I'm just lazy. I could find the time, I just don't. Fitness is 90% between the ears...

Welcome, Bard, and good luck on your fitness journey!

Just returned from a trip to San Diego area, and it was a blast. Spent a lot of time at the beach, walked a lot and ran around the Torrey Pines area, which has some great scenic views and tough inclines.

Guy Fleming trail between the ocean and N Torrey Pines Road, LOL.... I can picture that hellacious climb in my head as we speak. If the views weren't so spectacular, no one would ever bother. I'm always amazed by the cyclists who haul up that enormous hill - I'm not sure I could walk a bike up that hill, and it goes on FOREVER to boot...I always want to roll down my window and shout encouragement at the riders while I'm driving into work, but then I always feel like they might misunderstand and think I'm trying to harass or insult them or whatever so I don't do it. But you can see the pain on their faces as they try to get up that hill. I doff my cap to those people.

[RockinDaMike]

Re: 2018 Fitness Challenge

So my friend just setup a weight loss challenge amongst our friends. Everyone chips in $50 bucks and whoever has the best weight loss% (total pounds lost divided by starting weight x 100) within 3 months wins the pot. I thought we would get 10 people to do it and now it’s 36 guys and 50 girls (you only go against your gender) so it’s going to be a pretty big pot and a challenge.

I have to send a video to show my starting weight so I’m eating a ton right now and drinking a ton of water before I do my weigh in. Some of friends just went a buffet. Since the challenge is weight I will have to focus on getting lean than bulking up. Any tips? Like just do body weight exercises and focus on cardio?

If t works I think it’s something we can all do here at OS which could really motivate us as we are naturally competitive as gamers and sports fans.


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[Blzer]

Re: 2018 Fitness Challenge

5:08.283 mile this week.

Since the challenge is weight I will have to focus on getting lean than bulking up. Any tips? Like just do body weight exercises and focus on cardio?

I don't know if this is just because I'm already very light (150-155 lbs), but I have continuously alternated running and biking every weekday for the past eight weeks now (biking 25+ miles burning 700+ calories, running different amounts but very intense like the mile, combining over a mile each time if you include some walking portions and then some hill jogging for 3+ miles), and I am the exact same weight now as I was when I started. Obviously I'm more muscle probably now, but I'm not losing weight by doing this.

Perhaps I am eating more though. I'm certainly drinking more water, so that could be a part of it... but if you're doing cardio, you're going to have to drink that water anyway.

[Fresh Tendrils]

Re: 2018 Fitness Challenge

That is an insane pot.

I'm starting to grow restless and honestly have been avoiding this thread somewhat. I haven't slacked off on exercising at all. In fact I've been incorporating a little bit of running to compliment my workouts.

My problem, as it has always been, is my lack of self-discipline at home when it comes to snacking. Snacking in and of itself isn't so terrible, but I'm compounding poor decisions by eating poorly. Instead of grabbing grapes or carrots I'll grab chips and salsa. Most of this snacking is done while watching TV which is a hard habit to break to be honest.

Part of the problem is how I've conditioned myself during the day to eat every 2-3 hours. So by the time I eat dinner around 7:30 or so I'm "hungry" again at 9:30.

But the other problem is a hurdle no one really speaks of when exercising and dieting and that is changing the way you think about food and being able to discipline yourself BEFORE you make poor decisions. Something I've been realizing the past couple of months - especially as I get older and my body isn't as quick to "snap back" to form after some drinking or snacking - is that I'm working my butt off (quite literally my fiancee would tell you) during the 60-90 minutes I'm working out, but I'm not putting in the work mentally to support my physical exertions. What's the point of doing crunches if I'm just going to bloat myself with chips and crackers later?

It's a tough hill to climb and one I've always struggled with particularly as a husky, over weight teenager who would go through at least 1-2 gallons a milk a week and limitless portions of spaghetti and ice-cream throughout the week. Changes in diet have gone a long way (I can't remember the last time I had actual milk and I eat spaghetti less than once a month now), but some poor foods have remained.

I'm not sure what the solution is. I can not put those items in the pantry, but to me that's not really solving the root of the problem which is my lack of will-power and self-discipline. I am a lot more responsible in the company of others, but left alone it's way too easy to open those pantry doors and grab a bag of Cheetos.

My thought is to try an experiment in acceptance of responsibility. It's an easy cycle of feeling guilty, getting over the guilt, then snacking, and feeling guilty again. I've done food/eating logs before, but I want to capture more than just what I'm eating and when.

So I'm going to start a diary of sorts (or I guess journal is the more masculine term) in hopes of capturing my thoughts/feelings/moods, what exercising I'm doing, etc. Along with this I'm going to start tracking different food challenges for myself (ie: seeing how long I can go without certain foods) while increasing my exercising outside of those daily 60-90 minute sessions. An example of this would be to do some pushups instead of raiding the pantry or substituting a boiling pot of tea for a bag of chips. I also want to do some legit challenges (ie: pushups).

I'm not really sure if this will work, but I'm not really sure what the process is for adjusting the way you think and the habits I've developed over 20 years. I have goals that I feel are obtainable, but in my moments of weakness I forget about them or ignore them altogether. My attempt is to do better to constantly remind myself what I'm working for - Why am I working out? - and what obstacles stand in the way of those goals.

[doubledeuceR6]

Re: 2018 Fitness Challenge

The discipline on the nutrition side is something I struggle with to. I also love to snack. Chips and salsa being one of my vices as well. I really have to avoid just buying that stuff or I'll just wreck a jar of salsa. Then I'll feel so sluggish and miserable afterwards.

I'm at a healthy weight and in better shape than I've been my whole life but I know my diet is holding me back from making the fitness goals that I would like to achieve.

[DJ]

Re: 2018 Fitness Challenge

5:08.283 mile this week.



I don't know if this is just because I'm already very light, but I have continuously alternated running and biking every weekday for the past eight weeks now (biking 25+ miles burning 700+ calories, running different amounts but very intense like the mile, combining over a mile each time if you include some walking portions and then some hill jogging for 3+ miles), and I am the exact same weight now as I was when I started. Obviously I'm more muscle probably now, but I'm not losing weight by doing this.

Perhaps I am eating more though. I'm certainly drinking more water, so that could be a part of it.

That's good mileage on the bike. Speaking of, what are you riding? I've been casually looking at upgrading my road bike, which is a little over 5 years old now.

[RockinDaMike]

Re: 2018 Fitness Challenge

I know what you are going through Fresh. My cravings and sweet tooth killed me. I was addicted to food and could not snap out of it. Even when I was vegan I still over ate on stuff like overly eating fruit which isn’t good for a diabetic. I would also have stupid binge days where I ate a whole pizza. Things have changed dramatically for me in the last month.

Not saying you should try this but since I have been in this carnivore diet, all my cravings are gone for the first time in my life. Now I’m at the point of just eating once a day because I’m just not hungry so I’m fasting 23 to 24 hours every day. It’s sooooo weird. It did take 2 weeks for me to adjust but now I don’t think about and I eat the same time everyday now.

I’ll probably switch to keto after a couple months doing this but I know for sure cutting out gluten and carbs has been a huge push for me.

I was at a Texas Roadhouse a couple weeks ago and I normally would devour that fresh baked bread but it didn’t faze me one bit. First time ever going to the movies and not buying popcorn too. A lot of weird stuff happening the last month and it’s been really positive after the first couple weeks.

Good luck though bro, it’s going to be rough when fall hits and it’s all about football snacks and the holidays.




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[Blzer]

Re: 2018 Fitness Challenge

That's good mileage on the bike. Speaking of, what are you riding? I've been casually looking at upgrading my road bike, which is a little over 5 years old now.

Oh sorry, it's a recumbent exercise bike. That's how I know I'm getting those numbers (or at least it says that's what I'm getting).

I go for an hour straight, plus a five-minute cool down. I always stay at 95+ RPM. I don't know what the number levels mean (as far as being consistent across the board to say what I'm pushing), but I slowly up it for the first six minutes to Level 12, then I do this weird thing where when my calorie count "matches" my minute count I up it to 13 (so normally I get to like 180 calories by 18 minutes), and then I go to level 14 for the 55-60 minute time.

[KG]

Re: 2018 Fitness Challenge

So my friend just setup a weight loss challenge amongst our friends. Everyone chips in $50 bucks and whoever has the best weight loss% (total pounds lost divided by starting weight x 100) within 3 months wins the pot. I thought we would get 10 people to do it and now it’s 36 guys and 50 girls (you only go against your gender) so it’s going to be a pretty big pot and a challenge.

I have to send a video to show my starting weight so I’m eating a ton right now and drinking a ton of water before I do my weigh in. Some of friends just went a buffet. Since the challenge is weight I will have to focus on getting lean than bulking up. Any tips? Like just do body weight exercises and focus on cardio?

If t works I think it’s something we can all do here at OS which could really motivate us as we are naturally competitive as gamers and sports fans.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

That would be a nice chunk of change!

Try intermittent fasting. I started ~May'ish and weighed ~180. Before I caught this stomach bug from my kid I was 170 a few weeks ago (got down to 166 after the bug went away).

Basically I try to only eat from Noon-8pm which means no late snacking and since I work out in the morning I'm working on on empty stomach using the food I ate for dinner as fuel. It took me a few days to get used to it in the beginning (and now since I just came back from vacay) but my workouts while fasting are much better. I'm able to focus more and I sweat like crazy.

Here's the crazy thing though, I haven't really gone strict on my diet either but by stopping snacking late, i'm reducing my caloric intake by at least 500-1000 calories (I'd have some chips, something sweet, and usually a beer since I love carbonation). If I went strict on my diet I'd probably get down to 155-160 at 5'11.

Just a suggestion.

[tdawg3782]

Re: 2018 Fitness Challenge

That is an insane pot.

I'm starting to grow restless and honestly have been avoiding this thread somewhat. I haven't slacked off on exercising at all. In fact I've been incorporating a little bit of running to compliment my workouts.

My problem, as it has always been, is my lack of self-discipline at home when it comes to snacking. Snacking in and of itself isn't so terrible, but I'm compounding poor decisions by eating poorly. Instead of grabbing grapes or carrots I'll grab chips and salsa. Most of this snacking is done while watching TV which is a hard habit to break to be honest.

Part of the problem is how I've conditioned myself during the day to eat every 2-3 hours. So by the time I eat dinner around 7:30 or so I'm "hungry" again at 9:30.

But the other problem is a hurdle no one really speaks of when exercising and dieting and that is changing the way you think about food and being able to discipline yourself BEFORE you make poor decisions. Something I've been realizing the past couple of months - especially as I get older and my body isn't as quick to "snap back" to form after some drinking or snacking - is that I'm working my butt off (quite literally my fiancee would tell you) during the 60-90 minutes I'm working out, but I'm not putting in the work mentally to support my physical exertions. What's the point of doing crunches if I'm just going to bloat myself with chips and crackers later?

It's a tough hill to climb and one I've always struggled with particularly as a husky, over weight teenager who would go through at least 1-2 gallons a milk a week and limitless portions of spaghetti and ice-cream throughout the week. Changes in diet have gone a long way (I can't remember the last time I had actual milk and I eat spaghetti less than once a month now), but some poor foods have remained.

I'm not sure what the solution is. I can not put those items in the pantry, but to me that's not really solving the root of the problem which is my lack of will-power and self-discipline. I am a lot more responsible in the company of others, but left alone it's way too easy to open those pantry doors and grab a bag of Cheetos.

My thought is to try an experiment in acceptance of responsibility. It's an easy cycle of feeling guilty, getting over the guilt, then snacking, and feeling guilty again. I've done food/eating logs before, but I want to capture more than just what I'm eating and when.

So I'm going to start a diary of sorts (or I guess journal is the more masculine term) in hopes of capturing my thoughts/feelings/moods, what exercising I'm doing, etc. Along with this I'm going to start tracking different food challenges for myself (ie: seeing how long I can go without certain foods) while increasing my exercising outside of those daily 60-90 minute sessions. An example of this would be to do some pushups instead of raiding the pantry or substituting a boiling pot of tea for a bag of chips. I also want to do some legit challenges (ie: pushups).

I'm not really sure if this will work, but I'm not really sure what the process is for adjusting the way you think and the habits I've developed over 20 years. I have goals that I feel are obtainable, but in my moments of weakness I forget about them or ignore them altogether. My attempt is to do better to constantly remind myself what I'm working for - Why am I working out? - and what obstacles stand in the way of those goals.

Truth brother. This has always been my challenge too. Maybe it's the husky kid in us growing up lol. I'm 190 now (which is about 10ish pounds of where my ideal weight is). I feel good but could be tighter for sure.. Exercise has never been an issue for me. It's the damn snacking lol. Ironically I eat very healthy for the most part but then I'll have a binge moment (fries, chips and salas/guac, ice cream, chocolate) and I eat big portions of that. Usually it's after a long day at work or late at night when the kids and wife go to bed. Normally I wouldn't even buy this stuff. But it seems like I almost use it as a treat to myself for working so hard that day. I don't know. It's a tough thing to deal with.

[RockinDaMike]

Re: 2018 Fitness Challenge

That would be a nice chunk of change!



Try intermittent fasting. I started ~May'ish and weighed ~180. Before I caught this stomach bug from my kid I was 170 a few weeks ago (got down to 166 after the bug went away).



Basically I try to only eat from Noon-8pm which means no late snacking and since I work out in the morning I'm working on on empty stomach using the food I ate for dinner as fuel. It took me a few days to get used to it in the beginning (and now since I just came back from vacay) but my workouts while fasting are much better. I'm able to focus more and I sweat like crazy.



Here's the crazy thing though, I haven't really gone strict on my diet either but by stopping snacking late, i'm reducing my caloric intake by at least 500-1000 calories (I'd have some chips, something sweet, and usually a beer since I love carbonation). If I went strict on my diet I'd probably get down to 155-160 at 5'11.



Just a suggestion.

Oh yeah I been IF for about a month now. Now I only eat once a day and fast for 23-24 hours. I started off 16/8 but then when it was about time to eat I wasn’t really hungry, so I just let it ride. Not feeling hungry or starving actually which is surprising. I do eat a big meal like eating two steaks or pound and a half of pork belly.

So I weighed in at 230 lbs. Goal is to get under 200 in three months. Hopefully that’s enough to win but I’m gonna try my hardest. Definitely doable if I’m super strict which I have been the last month and I haven’t really worked out while transitioning.


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[Fresh Tendrils]

Re: 2018 Fitness Challenge

Truth brother. This has always been my challenge too. Maybe it's the husky kid in us growing up lol. I'm 190 now (which is about 10ish pounds of where my ideal weight is). I feel good but could be tighter for sure.. Exercise has never been an issue for me. It's the damn snacking lol. Ironically I eat very healthy for the most part but then I'll have a binge moment (fries, chips and salas/guac, ice cream, chocolate) and I eat big portions of that. Usually it's after a long day at work or late at night when the kids and wife go to bed. Normally I wouldn't even buy this stuff. But it seems like I almost use it as a treat to myself for working so hard that day. I don't know. It's a tough thing to deal with.

That's pretty much me to a T.

I wouldn't have such a guilty conscious if this behavior was limited to once or twice a week. It's when the days start chaining together that it gets compounded.

Saying all this I don't feel like my weight fluctuates crazily. My clothes typically fit the same every day and my stomach is still "flat", but I can still feel bloated and "heavy" which then affects how I look at myself in the mirror.

And most of the times isn't not even hunger pains or being hungry. It's boredom. That time of the night when you're not quite tired enough to go to bed, but it's too late to start reading or some other hobby that typically keeps me busy and off the snacks. I know a lot of if it just a matter of breaking the habit, reconditioning myself, and forming better habits, but that's easier said than done as you guys have alluded to already.

I'll try to post updates in this thread in hopes of maintaining some type of support system. I know that by keeping it all to myself I'm just compounding the negativity and guilt. If that builds too much then it can adversely affect motivation and other things.

[tdawg3782]

Re: 2018 Fitness Challenge

That's pretty much me to a T.

I wouldn't have such a guilty conscious if this behavior was limited to once or twice a week. It's when the days start chaining together that it gets compounded.

Saying all this I don't feel like my weight fluctuates crazily. My clothes typically fit the same every day and my stomach is still "flat", but I can still feel bloated and "heavy" which then affects how I look at myself in the mirror.

And most of the times isn't not even hunger pains or being hungry. It's boredom. That time of the night when you're not quite tired enough to go to bed, but it's too late to start reading or some other hobby that typically keeps me busy and off the snacks. I know a lot of if it just a matter of breaking the habit, reconditioning myself, and forming better habits, but that's easier said than done as you guys have alluded to already.

I'll try to post updates in this thread in hopes of maintaining some type of support system. I know that by keeping it all to myself I'm just compounding the negativity and guilt. If that builds too much then it can adversely affect motivation and other things.

Wow it's like reading my own mind on here lol. That guilt is no joke to. Body image self esteem also. And you can do good for so long but one slip up makes you feel as though you've failed at something. Then that can start a domino affect where bad choice goes to another bad choice. It's a crazy cycle. Then you'll pull yourself out, say you'll make better choices, and do great for awhile. Lather, rinse, repeat.


You don't have to have a weight issue to have an eating habit issue and a self body image issue for sure. Good share man and it's good to know I'm not the only one out there with these issues.

[Fresh Tendrils]

Re: 2018 Fitness Challenge

It's nice to know you're not in the fight alone. I have a way of isolating myself when things aren't going how I want them to go, but it's comforting to hear you guys struggle with similar issues. I've been wanting to post my thoughts for a couple weeks and I'm glad I finally did.

Body image is never something I've been comfortable with. I was heavy all through school and never felt comfortable showing my torso. Once I lost all the weight the confidence came flooding in, but as I get use to my body and start thinking (and knowing) I can do better then I start to put myself through the ringer again.

It's just so frustrating knowing there's toned muscle under that stomach flab and even seeing it on occasion, but then the snack monster makes you forget all about that.