My Workout Journey

Thanks for that advice. It always seemed to work out well for me in the past. In the past I could tell that I would lose weight faster by doing elliptical exercises in the mornings on an empty stomach as opposed to after work and eating through the day. I know the majority of that 6 pounds that flew off in the past few days may have been water weight/salt retention but it's still nice to see it coming down. I'm trying to keep it in my head that the 383 is the highest I'll ever see it. I'm going to try to just take it one day at a time and make that lifestyle change again. I vividly remember in the past after I started exercising and got into pretty good shape before it would almost make me physically ill to eat a fast food cheeseburger or french fries after being off of them for awhile. I want that to come back - and then when I do get tempted to eat one and I put it in my mouth it makes me sick and not want it.

 

2/29/2012

2 Apples (200)
Fiber One Peanut Butter Bar (90)
Chowder Soup (200)
Brown Rice/Tuna (250)
Glass 1% Milk (100)
1 Banana (100)
Billy Club Jimmy John Sub (730)
Pretzels (150)
20 Oz Powerade Zero
50 Oz. Water

Total Cal: 1820

20 Min Elliptical Morning - 250 burned

30 Min Elliptical Night - 360 burned

1820 - 250 - 360 = 1210 calories total

Ate a little more yesterday than I planned. I guess it's good when a 700 calorie sub makes me feel a bit guilty for eating it - makes even thinking about a Whopper head spinning. Feeling good so far.....

 

good thread and I'm impressed with the public accountability piece of this. It will work, even on the days you don't want to do it.

 

For me there's no better accountability than the scales. When I'm thinking I want to pig out on pizza, I weigh myself and change my mind. Something it means just eating less pizza, but you get the picture. Set aside some cheat meals. I think cheat days are detrimental, but cheat meals, or maybe allowing a cookie or ice cream twice a week or so are needed to keep your morale up.

 

For most days on breakfast (at least through the week when I'm working) fruit or oatmeal will always be my meal of choice. On weekends I may do hard boiled eggs with maybe turkey sausage or turkey bacon and whole wheat toast one day of the two. My lunches through the week are set to be healthier for the most part. Trying to control dinner as well through the week at least most days. So I basically eat 2 larger meals a day, a fruit and grain breakfast, and trying for a sensible dinner. So I'm basically eating what would be equivalent to 21 "meals" a week in theory. I saw some article recently basing it on 28 meals a week but they basically said you could have 2-3 meals a week that may be less healthy or you can eat some ice cream, a couple of pieces of pizza, etc. I think I'm going to attempt to go with that principle and optimally cheat only 1-3 times a week max and keep everything else on the healthier level.

Maybe I'm tricking myself into "buying in" to this whole lifestyle change but I swear I feel alot better as the week has went on already and have had tons of energy today. I've been dragging lately and always feel tired. Today I had to bring something home at lunch so I hammered out 30 minutes and 372 calories on the elliptical. Tonight I put the new weight bench and weight stand together and then messed around with the weights for about 30 minutes. I feel great - not tired at all like normal. Hopefully I continue to keep feeling better and getting that energy back. I'm going to probably take photos each Saturday for reference weekly to see where I am losing weight and how it's coming off. I'm hoping that this time next year I can say that don't even begin to look like the same person.

Thanks for you guys contributing good ideas and following along.

 

one key thing I've always heard (but never been able to practice for a long enough time to determine effectiveness) is that we as Americans are eating backwards. Breakfast should be the biggest meal of the day. By theory, working out in the morning, then eating a good, solid breakfast will boost your metabolism throughout the day and make you less hungry. Eat a medium sized lunch and make dinner your smallest meal of the day. "Breakfast Like a King, Lunch Like a Prince, Dinner Like a Pauper" is the theory. Most people have gone almost, if not over, 12 hours since their last meal. Your blood sugars are low and it makes concentrating harder. It also makes you more likely to go for a mid morning snack. Again, I think I should practice it, my breakfast typically consists of a bowl of honey nut cheerios and yogurt and lunch is usually my biggest meal, so I fail. But, I figured it's worth mentioning here.

 

I agree.

 

I usually do it backwards. Bowl of cereal for breakfast. Light lunch to keep me from getting sleepy. Then huge dinner. And honestly I usually eat another bowl of cereal right before bed.

 

I was going to ask you if/when you planned on incorporating weight training into your routine. My body responds really well to a weight workout, or even a workout that has a mix of cardio and weights. The best thing I can do for myself is a weights workout in the morning. I feel good all day. I have gotten out of the habit of doing it in the morning, but I am trying to get back in that habit.

 

The bowl of cereal before bedtime is my weakness. I'm fighting off eating a bowl right now.

 

Makes you sleep better. A hearty bowl of Cinnamon Life and I am ready.

 

There are a couple of us old school coaches on here, if you would like, we could yell at you from time to time. You know, for motivational purposes!

 

3/1/2012

2 Apples (200)
1 Banana (100)
Tomato Basil Penne Healthy Choice (280)
Glass 1% Milk (100)
Beef Roast, Green Beans, Collard Greens, Corn (705)
Pretzels (100)

Total cal: 1485

30 Min Elliptical - 372 calories burned

20 Min weights - 100 burned…guessing

Daily total: 1013 calories consumed.



Down a little more. Like I said, my first before photos will come tomorrow. I'll try to do them each Saturday for consistency.

For those that want to yell at me go for it. I work in Collections/Special Assets and can take an ass chewing from the best of them lol.

 

What day do you want us to yell?

 

Wednesdays will be good for me....

 

Wednesday it is!!!

 

3/2/2012

2 Med. Apples (150)
Shredded Chicken, Rice, Beans, Tortilla Chips (750)
Beef Roast with Toast (700)
Pretzels (150)

Total Cal: 1750

20 Minute Elliptical - 262 Calories burned

Total calorie consumption: 1488

Now, as promised, my first round of before photos. Don't like looking at them - don't like seeing it in the mirror. Haven't liked having my picture taken because I can't stand to look at myself (which should have told me something before now). I've got a beautiful 2 1/2 year old little girl named Willow that needs to have lots and lots of pictures made with her "dada" so I'm doing this for me and for her too. This summer dada won't be so lazy and I'm going to try and take her to the park and do things active with her - which will be good for both of us.

I've not been photographed without a shirt on in 6-7 years. Don't like what I see but like I said I'm trying to take steps to change things as you can see in the topic. I'll also use this as my weekly official weigh in.

Saturday of last week weight was almost 384.

Today's official weight is 373.9

I pushed through the pain and done 1 hour and 20 minutes on the elliptical this morning already and burned almost 1,100 calories. Was comforting to put on a pair of blue jeans that I barely could get buttoned a couple of weeks ago with no problems today.







Hopefully next week I will be able to see more visible changes. The way clothes fit do tell a story but the biggest story told is the way you look in pictures. So hopefully 7 days from now I will be able to at least see a bit of a difference and keep making progress.....

 

Even if you can't see the difference, you've made a difference by working to change. That is the biggest difference there is.

Keep working and keep pushing. Hardest part is over with.

 

3/3/12

1 Apple (150)

8 Mini All Beef Weenies in Barbeque Sauce (270)

Subway 12" Ham and Turkey on Wheat (Lettuce, Onion, Green Peppers, Pepper Jack Cheese) - (675)

Cottage Cheese (180) w/spicy pickles (50)

Protein Shake w/1% milk (200)

Total Cal: 1525

1 Hour 20 Minute Elliptical - 1,071 calories burned

30 minutes weights - 125 calories burned

Total (Calories - Calories burned) = 454


This morning got up and felt good so went a hard 30 minutes on the elliptical. My rule of thumb is to burn 100 calories every 10 minutes so I'm not just lolligagging on there. About 15 minutes in I decided to try to hit 500 calories in 30 minutes which was a lofty goal to set. If I would have decided sooner into the workout to push harder I may have got there but I did manage 477 calories in 30 minutes but I was completely blown up. Sweat was just puddled in the floor.

I can safely say that I feel great so far besides the obvious soreness from jumping back into the cardio. My energy is way up. I've slept much better the past couple of nights and don't still feel tired when I wake up.

I may have cheated a little a couple of times this week with takeout sub sandwiches and one trip to the local Mexican restaurant but I did not grab any other form of fast food so no burgers, fries, or any of that. I think week 1 was successful. Let's just hope I can make the next 51 weeks just as successful and make that carryover into daily habits for the rest of my life.

 

time spent isn't as important as calories burned. a 15 minute jog is likely not as effective as a 45 minute walk. You're obviously well on your way and it's just a matter of keeping yourself focused. The accountability thing on here is going to go a long, long way to helping stay focused. Realize you'll hit plateaus and valleys so keep pushing even when you don't always see the differences right away.