252.5

In the ever mysterious "What is going on inside my body?" department, I basically took a week off (or at least a week of not closely watching what I ate and having a few beers after dinner) and I lost 3 lbs. I have lots of theories on how/why this kind of stuff happens, but it only seems to work out that way when you aren't expecting it.

The 30th day was yesterday, so that put me 15 lbs down in 30 days. I was hoping for at least 20 lbs but I'm happy with 15.

I'm right back at the lowest weight I got to in July, 2010, when I then had to live on the road for a few months and gained back the 15 lbs. So, even after a pretty intense month of diet & exercise, I'm more excited about attacking the next 15 lbs because it feels like real weight loss instead of making up for lost effort.

255.5

I've hit a weird wall for the last 5 days. It defies caloric math, but I also can't say I've been going 100%. I'm still at a significant daily calorie deficit, so not sure how my weight could hold for so long.

But, the only option is to try harder, so I'm going to try to get cardio in twice a day.

255

I'm 4 lbs off target, but I'm pretty happy with 12 lbs lost in just over 2 weeks. I kind of fell off my routine for a few days in the middle, so I could probably be on target if I kept my focus. I still think I can recover, but we'll see.

257.5

(Copied from a post I made on BodyBugg forum. In response to someone saying the key is making the transition to a sustainable lifestyle after trying to drop weight quickly).

It's always a work in progress, but I think I've got that part down.

I got in pretty good shape about 10 years ago. Then I got married and slowly gained most of the weight back over 3 or 4 years. It took me a while to figure out how to keep myself on the right track while in a couple, but I've finally got that down. I've struggled a bit in the last few years to lose weight, but I've been able to keep it off once I did (I gained back 15 lbs while living on the road out of hotels for 3 months, but kept the rest of the 70 lbs off that I lost).

The next big life challenge is just around the corner. Our fist child is due in August, so a big part of this rush to drop some weight is to try to get my weight down enough that I'm able to just hang on for those first few months where our lives and schedules will be hectic.

By next year, I'm hoping to be one of those parents you see running buy with a jogging stroller (my wife says I can't strap the baby to my bike).

258.5

I've been posting updates on a Bodybugg forum and forgetting to post on here. So below are some of the updates posted on that thread:
---------------------------------------------------------

6/7/11
Feels good to be back in the 250s. I'm almost back to the lowest weight I reached about a year ago. It doesn't feel like I'm making progress until I get back to that weight and then get below it.
Regarding the earlier question on my diet and exercise, here is a basic answer.
I eat every 3 hours (9am, 12pm, 3, 6 & 9). Instead of trying to count the running total of my calories for the day, I assign a calorie target for each meal. Each meal is about 300 calories except dinner, which is 500.
I have 1 or 2 meals for each time slot that I usually eat, but by knowing the calories planned for that meal, I can make it up on the fly if needed. Also, if I have to eat out, this gives me the flexibility of skipping the next planned meal to account for the heavier food I'm probably going to have to eat. In other words, it's hard to find a 500 calorie dinner when eating out, but an 800 calorie dinner isn't too hard to find, then I just skip the 300 calorie meal/snack I had planned for 9pm.
Exercise has been fairly random. Part of my planning when I first started this was that a 24 Hour Fitness was opening less than a mile from my house. The scheduled opening date was 6/4/11, so I planned to get a week of exercise in before it opened, so I would be in good enough shape to hit the gym twice a day once it opened. But on 6/4/11 I went to the 24 Hour Fiteness and it looked they there were still doing heavy interior construction. That was annoying, but it does look like it will be an amazing facility when it opens (you can see photos on their website, it's the Burbank Empire Center location in the "Opening Soon" section).
There have been a few days where I didn't really exercise at all (although I'm fairly active in general). But there have also been days of extreme exercise like the 8+ mile hike/trail run last Sunday.

I'm really happy with the way the weight has been coming off. I expected to get 4 or 5 lbs easy in the first couple days, then for it to slow down. It's being going in reverse, with the weight seeming to come off faster now than a week ago.

-----------
5/31/11
264.
The fear of having to admit failure, even on an internet message board, keeps me motivated.

Just as a side note, I understand and generally agree with those who oppose this sort of dieting. But sometimes you have to give in to your personality type and work with it. If I had what it takes to go the slow and steady route, I would have never gotten fat in the first place. About a year ago I lost 70 lbs (starting at 320). Then I had to live on the road for a few months due to work (and had a 14 hour a day, 7 day a week schedule). I put back on about 15 lbs. Since then I've been hold at 265-ish. I've tried to get back in gear a few times, but never quite did it.

So, I figured a crazy attempt of 30 lbs in 30 days, coupled with some mild public humiliation if I failed, would be just what I needed.

Two other things to note: 1. I eat extremely "clean" (aka healthy), so I make every one of my 1,800 calories count. In fact, my diet is soooo healthy that on heavy workout days I have to measure out and eat straight salt since my diet only has bout 50% of the recommended daily amount. 2. I've lost about 30 lbs in 45 days once before, so this isn't something I'm competely new to.

Ok, there is the long part that I had typed out originally before the website kicked me off and I lost it all.

-Mike

266

Not as big of a result from the first day as expected, but it's moving in the right direction.

267.5

Making another charge at it. Have held at the same weight for 6 months or so.

Trying to force myself into a manic phase. So, instead of a reasonable plan, I'm going for 30 lbs in 30 days. We'll see what happens.

I think the inspiration has been slowly building, but a recent whitewater rafting trip had 2 side effects. The first was that the excitement of the activity made me want to start running again. The second was that photos were taken and in reviewing them I looked much fatter in a wetsuit than I would have imagined.

237.5 or bust.



(Here are some rafting photos. I'm in the sunglasses, bottom right)







(Broke my sunglasses by the 2nd run)

Been in Austin for a week

Haven't weighed myself in a week, not sure how I'm doing, but I'll find out tomorrow when I get home. I think I've done pretty good this last week. We've been eating all meals out, so I've been compensating for that by only eating twice a day.

264

I'm still stalled out, just going up and down between 263 and 264. I think I'm "turning the corner" though, just need to keep going. I've been doing the basic things that should result in weight loss, but I haven't been pushing myself as hard as I could. And I know that it takes that extra effort to see results in the short-term.

I was doing well when I was running daily, so on Saturday I went for a hike/trail-run. I was feeling a burst of self determination that back-fired a bit, as I did a 6 mile route, running non-stop the entire downhill portion. The result of that 3 mile downhill run was some serious leg pain. Today is the first day since then that I haven't been limping. But it was a victory in the "mind over matter" battle. It just prevented me from starting back on a daily running routine.

But, those 3 days lost will not matter in the long run, I've just got to get back out there.... tomorrow. My legs are still killing me today.

263

So, I stop counting calories as carefully and skip the gym for a few days and............. my weight goes down. I guess that makes up for some of the times I felt I should have lost weight and didn't.

264

Not sure what's going on, probably just not getting in enough cardio. For 2 weeks I measured everything and didn't eat a single thing that wasn't part of my planned out diet. I had a calorie deficit of over 2,000 every single day. But the scale didn't budge.

For the last few days I've given up and have eaten much worse, but haven't gained anything. I'm trying to get back on a set gym schedule, but having a much harder time mentally than usual.

264.5

I got a cheap new scale, so I don't totally trust it yet. But regardless, I seem to be holding at 263.5 to 264.5. I'm changing my schedule so that I get in 30 minutes of cardio in the morning, then at least 45 minutes at night. I've always found that working out in the morning seems to have a bigger effect than working out at night, but if I can get in both every day the results really start showing.

263.5

Things are moving along nicely so far. It's annoying to be working off weight that you recently regained, but it's a little late for that. I'll be very happy to be back in the low 250s and making real progress again.

264.5

Did 2nd HCG injection yesterday. I can't say I notice anything directly from it, but I have been feeling more up-beat lately. But I've also been eating better and hitting the gym for the first time in months, so it's hard to say what is causing it.

I've had a 2,000+ calorie deficit for the last few days. I was feeling pretty rough after each cardio workout, but I increased my protein intake yesterday and already feel much better. In the last several months, while I wasn't working out, I was basically eating a vegetarian diet (having chicken maybe once a week). When I first started working out this week, I was still eating like that because it was all we had in the house. So I got some tuna (which I make a very low calorie tuna salad with) and whey protein powder.

I'm pretty much back in the swing of things, hoping to see 4+ lbs a week come off.

Here's a photo update

This is from Joshua Tree in October. I think the all black outfit helps me look a little thinner than I deserve, and it makes it look like I'm standing in front of a fake back-drop, but oh well. My head also looks extra stout.

266

Looks like the "easy weight" is coming off. I need to average 4 lbs a week to reach my goal of 220 before March 24th. So I'll take this early jump start and try to keep below the line (I keep a graph by my scale with a red line drawn for the weight I have to be at or below each day to reach my goal).

Tonight and this weekend I need to get in some serious cardio, as I haven't actually worked out in a while. I've been going to BJJ classes a couple times a week for the last month, but it isn't ideal cardio.

268.5

Ok, so I've gained back 18.5 lbs since my lowest weight in mid-2010.

That sucks, but I'm getting back in full swing. My new BodyBugg arrived in the mail yesterday and I took my first HCG shot last night (I'm still not comfortable with the whole idea of it, but I'm not going to lie about having done it).

I haven't hit the gym yet, but I'm working on that next. My plan was to join the new 24 Hour Fitness that is opening up very close to my house, but they pushed back the opening date from January to March. Actually the scheduled opening date is March 25th, the day after my birthday, which has been my target date for getting below 220. So the exact date was kind of a slap in the face, but I'll live.

I'm going to try to use the gym at my mom's condo building, which is on the way home from work. If I can get back into the mind frame I was in last year, I'll soon be back to actually running outside.

Happy New Year

I've obviously fallen of the wagon in recent months. Well, I've maintained the same weight (generally speaking, as I haven't weighed myself in a while), so that's at least one good thing.

I'm around 260 right now, with 3 months until my 30th birthday. My original goal was to be at 220 before then, with hopes of being down to 205 by then. The 220 goal is still easily within reach if I focus. The 205 goal is unknown, as I don't know what I will look like at 220. I'm not sure if 205 is super-fit or just average, as I've never weighed that much while also having a decent amount of muscle on me.

Anyway, I just ordered a new Bodybugg. The last one only worked for a few months before dying on me, but in that time I lost about 60 lbs.

I've also been prescribed HCG, which I'm supposed to inject twice a week. HCG has become known recently as a diet plan, but it's original purpose (for men at least) was to support testicular function. About 2 years ago I got a blood test and had very low testosterone. After losing a bunch of weight, my testosterone numbers increased, but are still low. A recent doctors visit to address this resulted in a prescription for HCG (not HGH, which everyone seems to think I'm talking about even when I try to explain that they aren't the same thing).

I haven't filled the prescription yet. I was raised by health-nut/vitamin freak parents and never went to regular doctors as a kid. I never took asprin or cough medicine or any of the "regular" stuff that most people do. Even though I've researched HCG and feel fine with it, there is some part of me that doesn't want to rely on any supplement or drug or anything else.

But I've decided to go ahead with it for a few months. I'll feel like I'm cheating, but we'll see if the results are worth it.