2022 Fitness Adventure

[weightsandgames413]

Re: 2022 Fitness Adventure

Welp, update.

I went all the way through May 12th, two workouts a day, was down to 216. Just enjoying the ride etc.

Then, life. My knee swelled up like a softball at the end of April for some reason, my Mom got sick and passed away May 6th. I battled through some personal and physical pain until the 12th, then stopped. My knee couldn't take it anymore. Knee was drained twice with 40 plus cc out of it. Ends up just an arthritic knee after an MRI.

Since then it's been a battle to get back to my routine, everything was going so well and then bang. I worked out a tad bit more towards end of May, but just didn't have it in me. So we went all of June, July, and now August without doing a thing and now I feel miserable again.

Maybe posting this update will get me back on track, but I wanted to share that since I saw this post got a bump.

Hey man keep at it. Wishing you the best.


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[EUBlink]

2022 Fitness Adventure

This is just a tidbit I have learned since beginning to work out a lot more after slacking when I left my former career. Most of you may already know all of this. If so, I apologize and don’t mean to come across as dismissive.

Many supplements are sold in pill form and claim to do this or that with a creative/secret mixture of things; you should take the time to dive into the ingredients and see what is in them. Notably, the brand Onnit is one I would recommend doing this with. For instance, with Alpha Brain, I could get all of the active ingredients separately and take them that way rather than the formula it is sold in, saving me a lot of money long-term.

Fenugreek is one of the ingredients, or was. I don’t see it listed on the active ingredients anymore. You can buy it from reputable stores online, and I have even seen it at box stores like Target and Walmart, where they carry their own health brands and other brands. Fenugreek provides many benefits for the body and mind, notably helping with testosterone and encouraging the body to produce more naturally. Anyone in their late 30s or 40s likely has heard from their general doctors that it isn’t unusual for our bodies, as men, to slow down with testosterone production around this age, most likely due to our consumption of American-produced preservatives and GMOs, and the unwelcomed side effects they cause to our bodies.

[Bard]

Re: 2022 Fitness Adventure

Alrighty fellas, yet another year of suckage, lol.


I'll be real. I fell off around the end of March, begin of April due to being a little depressed. Some work stuff happened, and our school was shut down. Deep funk until around the middle of July. Got up to around 332lbs.

August I started to feel pretty good, got into my groove with my new school. And now I have decided to start intermittent fasting.

Now, I know this is not sustainable, and won't continue... But I started this at 334.6lbs on Monday. It is Thursday and I weighed in at 307.1lbs.

Obviously lot of water/beer weight shedding. I quit sugary soda and alcohol unless a splurge day. I will never lose 30lbs in a 4 day stint again, but to say I feel refreshed is honestly just right. I feel good today.

I wasn't supposed to weigh in today, but I hopped on that scale and was baffled. I even put new batteries in it, and a gallon of water in a pitcher to make sure it was calibrated correctly.

I figured I have been consuming probably around 7,000 calories a day the last few months. I am doing 1,700 starting earlier this week.

I have been around 25,000 steps a day. And have been going to the gym for roughly an hour doing some weight workouts.

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[TripleCrown9]

Re: 2022 Fitness Adventure

I'm not really on a dedicated "fitness journey" and I'm not incredibly active or anything, but I decided to weigh myself this morning and I'm officially 70 pounds down from my known heaviest.

Still hate the number that came up, but it's a hell of a lot better than it used to be.

[Master Live 013]

Re: 2022 Fitness Adventure

It seems whenever I reach 212 pounds something in my life happens that I can't go below that weight. Two weeks ago I reached 212.7, then last week I was waiting "to finally do it" and instead added 0.5 pounds, ok no biggie. Then this week something happened that seldom happens, I got sick, just one day, but still. So I couldn't work out on Sunday plus had to eat more to recuperate so at best I will be at 213.2 again or 214/215.


Mother****er.

[Bard]

Re: 2022 Fitness Adventure

Alrighty fellas, yet another year of suckage, lol.


I'll be real. I fell off around the end of March, begin of April due to being a little depressed. Some work stuff happened, and our school was shut down. Deep funk until around the middle of July. Got up to around 332lbs.

August I started to feel pretty good, got into my groove with my new school. And now I have decided to start intermittent fasting.

Now, I know this is not sustainable, and won't continue... But I started this at 334.6lbs on Monday. It is Thursday and I weighed in at 307.1lbs.

Obviously lot of water/beer weight shedding. I quit sugary soda and alcohol unless a splurge day. I will never lose 30lbs in a 4 day stint again, but to say I feel refreshed is honestly just right. I feel good today.

I wasn't supposed to weigh in today, but I hopped on that scale and was baffled. I even put new batteries in it, and a gallon of water in a pitcher to make sure it was calibrated correctly.

I figured I have been consuming probably around 7,000 calories a day the last few months. I am doing 1,700 starting earlier this week.

I have been around 25,000 steps a day. And have been going to the gym for roughly an hour doing some weight workouts.

Sent from my SM-S908U1 using Tapatalk

Minor update on Bard.

Down to 287.3lbs!

Going on a vacation in the middle of March, and the goal is 250lbs!

The intermittent fasting has been doing WONDERS for me. Limiting my eating time, and mixing in some physical activity has been very good for me.

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[Erenabaas]

Re: 2022 Fitness Adventure

<style type="text/css">td {border: 1px solid #cccccc;}br {mso-data-placement:same-cell;}</style>I started focusing more on strength training, and it really helped me not just build muscle but also feel more energized throughout the day. One thing that made a difference was making sure I had a balanced approach—good nutrition, consistent workouts, and a little support when I needed it. I’ve even looked into options like supplements and the right recovery aids—some people even buy steroids online to boost muscle growth, though I always recommend being cautious and doing research before trying anything new. What kind of training or routines are you focusing on this year?

[Blzer]

Re: 2022 Fitness Adventure

I think it was right around the beginning of October when I decidedly started to do it, but I'm slowly ramping up a pushup routine, very slowly as to not get too sore, discouraged if I falter, or escalate beyond reason.

I started just by doing 10 pushups, then each day adding another pushup.

Once I hit 20 pushups, I alternated between days of adding a pushup and doing three sets of 10 (with 30-second rest periods):

- Standard
- Wide
- Diamond

Once I got to the day I hit 25 pushups, I ramped the other days up to five sets of 10, including:

- Hands inward
- Hands outward

Once I hit 30, I added a rep of 10 pushups with hands at the waist (these are frickin' hard, especially after doing the other 50 beforehand).

Once I hit 35, I added two news reps of 10 pushups:

- Standard (30° incline)
- Standard (30° decline)

After hitting 40, I've added two more sets:

- Diamond (30° incline)
- Standard

That puts me at 100 on the days that I'm not doing consecutive sets. I will continue those ten reps, but after certain consecutive milestones I will either do some two-a-days or I will start the first standard set with like 20-30 pushups before doing the others in intervals of 10.

I don't have a target consecutive value, but I'm currently at 43 in a row. It would be awesome if I could actually hit 60 by the end of the year.


- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -


All this said with pushups, once I hit 30 in a row, I started adding sit-ups as well, so I just did 30 in a row on that day and will keep increasing one more a day if my body permits. Once I hit 40 pushups, on those alternate days I've been doing a 60-second set of bicycle kicks.

I'm hoping that at some point next year I can bring running back into the mix, and I'm considering getting another treadmill bike. The running is contingent upon my time and my head (last time I tried, I started to get post-concussion syndrome issues flaring up again).

[Master Live 013]

Re: 2022 Fitness Adventure

Taking stock of what happened this year; it was a success.

Started taking more precise records of what I'm doing:

• bought an electronic scale
• started weighing myself once a week (currently on Saturdays)
• took measurements of my body (waist, neck, chest etc.) once every 6 months or so
• started to keep records of my heart rate, blood pressure and blood glucose for comparison going forward
• records of the calories in my meals and where it wasn't available, tried to estimate them
• kept records of all my workouts (sets, reps & specific exercise) on FitNotes

On February 2nd, 2024 I weighed 262.9 pounds. And went as high as 272.3 on April 29th. As of yesterday, I was at 209.8 pounds. 62.5 pounds off from the high to now. And that's about the same number I'm looking to do this year (yeah, I doubt it too).

Gives me pause that on August 1st, 2023 I was at 222.2 pounds and then some personal stuff happened plus I hit a wall on the treadmill which is why I backslid all the way back 272.3 pounds. I'm under no illusions, I know it can go wrong at anytime, snowball and all go to hell just like that. But I keep telling myself I'm never ****ing doing this again (losing weight), so this is it, now or never.

Aside from no "personal situation" occurring this year I also was ready for when I hit the wall again (yeah, I did nothing different, once I regained the weight I lost it again on the treadmill, again). I hit the wall this year in early September, but I was confident enough in myself to both take a break of 4 weeks from exercising (while continuing my "diet") and then finally(!) switched to a weight training program.

My recurring problem, which I haven't solved and I won't solve until maybe 2026 is, of course, my diet. It isn't good, a still eat a fair amount of fast food (even if it is greatly restricted from what it used to be) and just not particularly healthy in general. I will have to keep working at it.

For 2025:

Will probably finish my current program by the end of January. Then a new 4 month program with maybe a 2 week of rest in between. Will keep trying to fix my diet even if I know I won't make the changes I truly need until 2026 at the earliest.

Most persistent obstacles are twofold and structural: 1) my work hours are **** and not conductive to how much time I want to dedicate to this. 2) Can't always workout at home when I want to (this issue is only partially related to #1) and going to the gym during the day is just a no because it too crowded.

Currently I only workout 3 days a week. I wish I could do 4, 5 even 6 days, but it can't be and it is kind of struggle doing even 3 days. But anything more and I would burnout, this isn't my whole world you know. Those fantasy teams aren't going to play themselves, those movies aren't going to watch themselves

Positive paragraph incoming:

Spoiler

At one time I was so fat, so obese that after I got to around 385 I stopped weighing myself because at that point what difference did it make if I was 385 or 395 or 425? I was in a bad place, I was beyond morbidly obese and while this a fitness thread, so I focus on my weight, it was bad all around. At one point I said to myself, look you can keep doing what you're doing, you can do something to change things for the better or you can do something else. I stared at the abyss and said, well, I got nothing to lose (except all that weight, am I right ?). You can keep doing what you have been doing and still feel like **** a year from now or you can take some small steps and feel a bit better about yourself, in time. And maybe after that year, you can build a bit more on that. That was some time ago and I'm still building. Hopefully I build some more in 2025.

[Master Live 013]

Re: 2022 Fitness Adventure

Last paragraph is meant for anyone feeling discouraged. You can do it, but you got to take the first step.

[davep]

Re: 2022 Fitness Adventure

I think it was right around the beginning of October when I decidedly started to do it, but I'm slowly ramping up a pushup routine, very slowly as to not get too sore, discouraged if I falter, or escalate beyond reason.

I started just by doing 10 pushups, then each day adding another pushup.

Once I hit 20 pushups, I alternated between days of adding a pushup and doing three sets of 10 (with 30-second rest periods):

- Standard
- Wide
- Diamond

Once I got to the day I hit 25 pushups, I ramped the other days up to five sets of 10, including:

- Hands inward
- Hands outward

Once I hit 30, I added a rep of 10 pushups with hands at the waist (these are frickin' hard, especially after doing the other 50 beforehand).

Once I hit 35, I added two news reps of 10 pushups:

- Standard (30° incline)
- Standard (30° decline)

After hitting 40, I've added two more sets:

- Diamond (30° incline)
- Standard

That puts me at 100 on the days that I'm not doing consecutive sets. I will continue those ten reps, but after certain consecutive milestones I will either do some two-a-days or I will start the first standard set with like 20-30 pushups before doing the others in intervals of 10.

I don't have a target consecutive value, but I'm currently at 43 in a row. It would be awesome if I could actually hit 60 by the end of the year.


- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -


All this said with pushups, once I hit 30 in a row, I started adding sit-ups as well, so I just did 30 in a row on that day and will keep increasing one more a day if my body permits. Once I hit 40 pushups, on those alternate days I've been doing a 60-second set of bicycle kicks.

I'm hoping that at some point next year I can bring running back into the mix, and I'm considering getting another treadmill bike. The running is contingent upon my time and my head (last time I tried, I started to get post-concussion syndrome issues flaring up again).

Nice work. Just be careful of tennis elbow...I was doing 100+ pushups/day for several years straight (120k-ish total) and now I've been dealing with tennis elbow for the past 6 months, not fun and wouldn't recommend it to anyone!

[Blzer]

Re: 2022 Fitness Adventure

Nice work. Just be careful of tennis elbow...I was doing 100+ pushups/day for several years straight (120k-ish total) and now I've been dealing with tennis elbow for the past 6 months, not fun and wouldn't recommend it to anyone!

Oof, good to hear and know about. I gotta look into what problems could surface.

Speaking of surface, were you using a hardwood floor? Gym mats? I wonder if that kind of surface changes. For the most part, I'm on a pretty soft-ish carpet (definitely helpful for the sit-ups and bicycle kicks), but I had to shift during Thanksgiving Break being at different locations and with family often, and most flooring was harder in those locations. Definitely difficult to figure out what to do there (especially with the incline pushups).

Thanks for the heads up, though! I'm definitely going to read up on that. I normally feel my wrists would ultimately become my biggest concern, just from previous injuries and such if not that's the joint that seems most vulnerable overall.

For the "consecutive" mark, I'm at 51 pushups. I'm now increasing one more pushup every two days, and I'm throwing in use of an exercise bike coming up soon.

[Blzer]

Re: 2022 Fitness Adventure

For many reasons (using the bike some, wrist pain here and there, busy workload, trying new exercises) I'm going to stay at 50 pushups for now until they're quality enough that I can ramp up. I am working on some plank exercises, though.

Sadly, this last week my diet has gone down the crapper. It'll probably be pretty bad at least the next two weeks as well. I suppose this time of year is good for ensuring that happens!

[pietasterp]

Re: 2022 Fitness Adventure

For many reasons (using the bike some, wrist pain here and there, busy workload, trying new exercises) I'm going to stay at 50 pushups for now until they're quality enough that I can ramp up. I am working on some plank exercises, though.

Sadly, this last week my diet has gone down the crapper. It'll probably be pretty bad at least the next two weeks as well. I suppose this time of year is good for ensuring that happens!

Don't beat yourself up. Fitness, like all of life, is a balance. Letting yourself enjoy the holidays is not a crime. The point is that as a general lifestyle, you are on the right path.

[davep]

Re: 2022 Fitness Adventure

Oof, good to hear and know about. I gotta look into what problems could surface.

Speaking of surface, were you using a hardwood floor? Gym mats? I wonder if that kind of surface changes. For the most part, I'm on a pretty soft-ish carpet (definitely helpful for the sit-ups and bicycle kicks), but I had to shift during Thanksgiving Break being at different locations and with family often, and most flooring was harder in those locations. Definitely difficult to figure out what to do there (especially with the incline pushups).

Thanks for the heads up, though! I'm definitely going to read up on that. I normally feel my wrists would ultimately become my biggest concern, just from previous injuries and such if not that's the joint that seems most vulnerable overall.

For the "consecutive" mark, I'm at 51 pushups. I'm now increasing one more pushup every two days, and I'm throwing in use of an exercise bike coming up soon.

Usually carpet. I think it was just the ridiculous reps that brought on the tennis elbow over the years, just constant use. Funny thing was I didn't notice that much difference in my physique (I'm old, wasn't doing it for that, was just more of an experiment). It was fun while it lasted but I'll never do that again, I'm still paying the price!