It's been 7 days since I started paying really close attention to the whole weightloss effort.
Starting weight: 228lbs
Today's weight: 224lbs
Total weight lost: 4lbs
4 pounds in a week is more than I've ever lost, to my knowledge. I'm pretty pumped. 4lbs down, 46 to go!
Monday, June 8, 2009
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Exercise Report #1
Yesterday I ran 5K, but it took me about 45 mins. I couldn't do it all at once, either.
Today I ran 3K and it took me 24 mins and I only needed to walk once.
Turns out I hate running on treadmills, unless I have someone I can race. It's the mental aspect of the whole thing, I guess. I know I can physically do it, but I get so bored that I just feel like quitting.
Guess that's the toughness aspect of it.
Today I ran 3K and it took me 24 mins and I only needed to walk once.
Turns out I hate running on treadmills, unless I have someone I can race. It's the mental aspect of the whole thing, I guess. I know I can physically do it, but I get so bored that I just feel like quitting.
Guess that's the toughness aspect of it.
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Write-off and other things
Well, this weekend was basically a write-off. I went on a weekend retreat with the youth group I work with, and that means bad food (camp food is always high carbs, low everything else), and snacks. I managed to be reasonably active, but I definitely don’t see this as having been a positive mark on the goal.
Tomorrow, however, begins the first day of a week’s trial at one of those big-chain gyms here in Winnipeg. I won a membership in some draw, so I figure I don’t have anything to lose except gut. I had to sit through the hard-press sales tactics from the membership lady, but that wasn’t a problem; I just nodded along and declined every offer she made, no matter how innocuous. One thing that was rather interesting was their visual fitness evaluation. They generate a figure based on my body type, weight, etc. Then they generate a picture of what that person would look like given various workout regimens and diet and whatnot. Turns out that, according to their fancy computer, I’m not “allowed” to lose 50lbs. I’ve declined the invitation to buy into that. It was pretty crazy, however, to see a fat dude (looked rather like me, actually), lose it all and even get himself a decent 6-pack
So, off I’ll go to this big gym and see what it has for me, other than pushy salespeople. I don’t fault her, of course; it’s her job and I can’t afford what they want to charge. They have a number of free classes, so I’ll see about stopping in at a few to see what’s what.
I’m going to be keeping a food log. My understanding of this is that by writing down what I eat and when, as well as my mood, I can shed some light on why my diet is my biggest struggle. I’m tempted to make this as transparent a blog as possible, and include my food log as a google document so you can all see what’s being written. I’ll have to see what happens, there.
A friend suggested meal plans for the week. I’m going to be planning that out, since I suspect it will really help. I’m going to attempt to keep my caloric intake to down around 1700 or so per day, spread over more than 3 meals. Apparently, it’ll also save money. That’s a good thing.
He also suggested I just wander from gym to gym, taking advantage of their free trials. I’d thought about that in the past, but now I think that’s a really good idea. It’s free, I’ll have a better idea of the good gyms around, it’s free, and it’s free. I’ll let you know.
Tomorrow I am going to run 5K. My best time for this effort was about 35 minutes, so that’ll be my aim. I may also stop by a class (if there’s one being offered at the time I’m there), and otherwise I’ll see about some weights. Not sure what exactly it’ll look like just yet. I’ll keep you posted.
If you’ve got anything inspirational to add, feel free.
Tomorrow, however, begins the first day of a week’s trial at one of those big-chain gyms here in Winnipeg. I won a membership in some draw, so I figure I don’t have anything to lose except gut. I had to sit through the hard-press sales tactics from the membership lady, but that wasn’t a problem; I just nodded along and declined every offer she made, no matter how innocuous. One thing that was rather interesting was their visual fitness evaluation. They generate a figure based on my body type, weight, etc. Then they generate a picture of what that person would look like given various workout regimens and diet and whatnot. Turns out that, according to their fancy computer, I’m not “allowed” to lose 50lbs. I’ve declined the invitation to buy into that. It was pretty crazy, however, to see a fat dude (looked rather like me, actually), lose it all and even get himself a decent 6-pack
So, off I’ll go to this big gym and see what it has for me, other than pushy salespeople. I don’t fault her, of course; it’s her job and I can’t afford what they want to charge. They have a number of free classes, so I’ll see about stopping in at a few to see what’s what.
I’m going to be keeping a food log. My understanding of this is that by writing down what I eat and when, as well as my mood, I can shed some light on why my diet is my biggest struggle. I’m tempted to make this as transparent a blog as possible, and include my food log as a google document so you can all see what’s being written. I’ll have to see what happens, there.
A friend suggested meal plans for the week. I’m going to be planning that out, since I suspect it will really help. I’m going to attempt to keep my caloric intake to down around 1700 or so per day, spread over more than 3 meals. Apparently, it’ll also save money. That’s a good thing.
He also suggested I just wander from gym to gym, taking advantage of their free trials. I’d thought about that in the past, but now I think that’s a really good idea. It’s free, I’ll have a better idea of the good gyms around, it’s free, and it’s free. I’ll let you know.
Tomorrow I am going to run 5K. My best time for this effort was about 35 minutes, so that’ll be my aim. I may also stop by a class (if there’s one being offered at the time I’m there), and otherwise I’ll see about some weights. Not sure what exactly it’ll look like just yet. I’ll keep you posted.
If you’ve got anything inspirational to add, feel free.
Friday, May 29, 2009
Fitness Strategy #1
There are a million different workout programs out there. You can find one for every mood, really. It's been really difficuly to find one that I want to stick with, so I'm going to try to mix as many of them as I can, and see what I come up with.
Everyone's agreed, though: physical exertion is profitable. Now, they'll disagree about ratios of cardio to weights, heavy lifting vs light weight, etc. But everyone agrees you need to move your body to get in shape.
I'm not really in a position where I can afford a gym membership. My employment status is a little up in the air, so I don't want to lock my income into something I cannot sustain. But it's summer, and that means there should be a lot of opportunities for me to be active.
I play football, but that's really only once a week. Some help, but it's not really something I can build my weight loss goal around.
I have a nice bike, so I can ride that.
I have a pullup bar that fits into the doorway. That'll work.
I have many free-weights. I can use those too.
I have legs. They can run.
So, my plan is to try to be intentionally active for 40 mins in the morning and 40 mins in the evening. If I can eventually afford a trainer, then that's great. In the meantime, I'm pretty sure I'm on my own, here.
I'll do 40 mins of cardio each day, and 40 mins of weights. I think I'll split that up in to 20/20 and 20/20 for variety's sake.
20 mins of running is about 2 miles for me. I've also discovered that if I do 20 mins of pullups, pushups, crunches, and squats, I'm usually pretty tired. Those sound like they'll do for now. So, that's my plan for this first week. Any other thoughts?
Everyone's agreed, though: physical exertion is profitable. Now, they'll disagree about ratios of cardio to weights, heavy lifting vs light weight, etc. But everyone agrees you need to move your body to get in shape.
I'm not really in a position where I can afford a gym membership. My employment status is a little up in the air, so I don't want to lock my income into something I cannot sustain. But it's summer, and that means there should be a lot of opportunities for me to be active.
I play football, but that's really only once a week. Some help, but it's not really something I can build my weight loss goal around.
I have a nice bike, so I can ride that.
I have a pullup bar that fits into the doorway. That'll work.
I have many free-weights. I can use those too.
I have legs. They can run.
So, my plan is to try to be intentionally active for 40 mins in the morning and 40 mins in the evening. If I can eventually afford a trainer, then that's great. In the meantime, I'm pretty sure I'm on my own, here.
I'll do 40 mins of cardio each day, and 40 mins of weights. I think I'll split that up in to 20/20 and 20/20 for variety's sake.
20 mins of running is about 2 miles for me. I've also discovered that if I do 20 mins of pullups, pushups, crunches, and squats, I'm usually pretty tired. Those sound like they'll do for now. So, that's my plan for this first week. Any other thoughts?
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Diet Strategy #1
I read a lot. Actually, one of my biggest problems when it comes to losing weight and increasing fitness is that I have too much knowledge; much of it contradicts. I know so much that I get confused and compromise one regimen with another one.
However, I read "Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More than We Think" by Brian Wansink, and he suggests a couple of strategies for weight loss, purely centred around food intake.
First, reduce your intake by a mere 300 calories per day. More, he says, and your body will begin to crave. Less, and you won't do much good. 300 calories X 7 days = 2100 calories/week. Not bad.
Second, choose three behaviours that you will change. Putting too much on yourself will almost certainly result in failure of your goals. Print out a sheet and keep track of your successes in these three areas. Succeed regularly in all three, and you'll almost certainly notice significant change.
The first I'll do starting tomorrow (as it's late now, you see), and we'll talk about that.
The second, though, I will share with you now. My three decisions:
1) I will consume only water after 9pm. Right now, I tend to be up late, and this means I eat things when I oughtn't.
2) No seconds. I eat very quickly and I'm often in line for seconds before my stomach knows it's been fed. This increases my caloric intake beyond what I want.
3) Allowance for bad food: once every 10 days. I like desserts and things like wings. I will want them pretty badly if I never eat them. By allowing a certain amount, I will have something to look forward to.
So, that's my diet strategy. I'll work on my fitness strategy next.
However, I read "Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More than We Think" by Brian Wansink, and he suggests a couple of strategies for weight loss, purely centred around food intake.
First, reduce your intake by a mere 300 calories per day. More, he says, and your body will begin to crave. Less, and you won't do much good. 300 calories X 7 days = 2100 calories/week. Not bad.
Second, choose three behaviours that you will change. Putting too much on yourself will almost certainly result in failure of your goals. Print out a sheet and keep track of your successes in these three areas. Succeed regularly in all three, and you'll almost certainly notice significant change.
The first I'll do starting tomorrow (as it's late now, you see), and we'll talk about that.
The second, though, I will share with you now. My three decisions:
1) I will consume only water after 9pm. Right now, I tend to be up late, and this means I eat things when I oughtn't.
2) No seconds. I eat very quickly and I'm often in line for seconds before my stomach knows it's been fed. This increases my caloric intake beyond what I want.
3) Allowance for bad food: once every 10 days. I like desserts and things like wings. I will want them pretty badly if I never eat them. By allowing a certain amount, I will have something to look forward to.
So, that's my diet strategy. I'll work on my fitness strategy next.
Starting Point
These are my stats, to begin.
Height: 5'10"
Weight: 228 lbs
Chest: 44"
Abdomen: 44"
Hips: 42"
Not awesome, that's for sure. But we'll get better!
My goals is to weigh 180lbs. The other measurements will follow. They are very useful because they let me know when I am burning off fat and when I am adding muscle. In other words, if my measurements decrease but my weight remains the same or even increases a little, I'm adding muscle. See?
Height: 5'10"
Weight: 228 lbs
Chest: 44"
Abdomen: 44"
Hips: 42"
Not awesome, that's for sure. But we'll get better!
My goals is to weigh 180lbs. The other measurements will follow. They are very useful because they let me know when I am burning off fat and when I am adding muscle. In other words, if my measurements decrease but my weight remains the same or even increases a little, I'm adding muscle. See?
Introduction
Today was my 30th birthday.
While I've always been thick (I'm built like a running back - low to the ground, big legs), I'm now at the point where I cannot take it anymore: I am fat.
I'm writing this blog in an effort to keep myself accountable as I attempt to lose 50lbs in 6 months (by November 31, 2009).
I know it'll be hard, and I can't even imagine what it will be like. What I do know, however, is that I need to lose this weight. I am not happy with myself, I am not treating my body the way it was meant to be treated, and I am shortening my life with this behaviour.
You are welcome to join me in my efforts, to provide tips and encouragement, and invited to kick my butt when you see me not doing what I need to be doing. As I go along, I'll post things such as my workouts for the day, meal logs, moods, goals, and other miscellanea (it's a word) that relates to my weight loss effort. And even if no one reads it, I'm okay with that.
I'm planning on writing in this thing every day, or providing a good reason as to why I couldn't. We'll see what happens.
While I've always been thick (I'm built like a running back - low to the ground, big legs), I'm now at the point where I cannot take it anymore: I am fat.
I'm writing this blog in an effort to keep myself accountable as I attempt to lose 50lbs in 6 months (by November 31, 2009).
I know it'll be hard, and I can't even imagine what it will be like. What I do know, however, is that I need to lose this weight. I am not happy with myself, I am not treating my body the way it was meant to be treated, and I am shortening my life with this behaviour.
You are welcome to join me in my efforts, to provide tips and encouragement, and invited to kick my butt when you see me not doing what I need to be doing. As I go along, I'll post things such as my workouts for the day, meal logs, moods, goals, and other miscellanea (it's a word) that relates to my weight loss effort. And even if no one reads it, I'm okay with that.
I'm planning on writing in this thing every day, or providing a good reason as to why I couldn't. We'll see what happens.
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