246.5

Have been a little off my game this week. My mom came to visit on Thursday and has taken us out to eat everyday since (and twice on Thursday and Saturday), so even though I tried to eat light, the scale told me it wasn't going so well. I think part of it was water weight due to the higher sodium in all the restaurant food.

So yesterday I just had a latte when we went out to breakfast and we ate dinner at home, so I feel like I'm getting back on track.
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248

Had a rough night, up until 2am with a baby that had no plans for sleep. I woke up tired, with a puffy face and sore throat, so I wasn't sure if the scale would be forgiving. Luckily it was.

I also ran 3 miles yesterday, so I'm sure that helped.
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249

I did it! This is my lowest weight in 10 years. A couple years ago I got down to 250.5, but couldn't break through that plateau.

Today is also my 32nd birthday, and all I wanted was to hit 249, so I'm a happy camper right now.

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250.5

I think this is the exact weight I got to about 2 years ago (which is the lowest I've been in about 10 years).  Then life got more complicated and my weight slowly went back up. 

The good news is that last time I hit this weight, it was at the end of a long effort to lose weight.  This time I feel like I'm just at the beginning of this effort, and 220 feels like more of a realistic goal than it has in a long time.  I also feel that fatherhood has made me more patient and better at long term planning, so I don't think my weight will fluctuate as much in the future.  If I can just get down to 220 or below, I'm confident I can hold that weight without it being a daily struggle.

Ran 3 miles again

It's not really getting easier, but it's good to know that once I start, I can keep going until I'm done. Even on days I don't want to run at all.

I finally downloaded some Spanish podcasts and got headphones, so that helped.
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251.5

Almost in the 240s! 

My birthday is in 4 days, maybe I'll treat myself to a new scale.  My scale only measures in half pound increments and fluctuates a bit.  I always weight myself at least twice, but if those 2 don't match, I weigh myself another to or 3 times until it settles on a number.  This morning it weighed me at 253 the first time, then 251.5 the next 3 times I stepped on.  Maybe it just has to warm up in the morning.  But once it settles on a number, it seems to be correct, because it doesn't jump back up to the higher number the next day.  So it works, but it doesn't always make me feel certain.

253

Still haven't figured out my schedule to be able to exercise daily, but I'm cutting calories enough that it doesn't seem to matter too much.
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254

Little by little.

Got up extra early today, but the baby woke up at the same time, so no early morning bike ride for me. I think we need to get black-out curtains for our room.
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254.5

Progress has slowed, but at least it's still moving in the right direction. I need to figure out how to jump start it again, because I do not intend to plateau at 250 like I did 2 years ago.

My workout schedule was more consistent for the first week or so, but last week the baby started waking up earlier, so I had to wait until I could find an opening later in the day to go running. I need to figure out a solution for that.
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255

I took a break from excercise (but I did go for 2 walks) yesterday.  I ran 3.1 miles two days in a row, but my weight only went down a half pound.  I suspected that I was a bitten swollen or retaining water, so I took a rest day.  And, as I had suspected, I dropped 1.5 pounds on the rest day. 

So, I'll get back to running today, but it's good to know it's having the desired effect.

I'm down about 13 lbs in 16 days.  That's probably the best weight loss streak I've ever had.

Ran 3.1 miles again

It was harder than yesterday but I made it. I need an iPod or something to help me zone out. I get about 100 feet into the run and I'm already thinking how far I have to go.

I ran from the official race start line to the finish in 36:40. Yesterday I shaved about 4 blocks off of the official route (probably because I wasn't sure I could even finish it). I actually ran a bit faster today, beating yesterday's time by 30 seconds (I checked the time when I passed yesterday's start and finish).

I'd hoped to run it faster, but I know that's being a bit impatient. I still had some of the pains from yesterday, so I'm going to take a 1 day running break and then see how I do on Wednesday.
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257

I just ran a 5k (using the exact route laid out for a fun run the city is having next month) in 34 minutes. Not a great time, but it's the longest run I've done in a couple years and that time would have had me beating about 15 or 20 people in last years race (based on the times posted online). I'm not super competitive, but I'd like to know I have a shot at not embarrassing myself if I enter the race next month.

I want to do that course at least once a week until the race and see if I can shave 5+ minutes of my time.

I got really inspired last night, out of nowhere really, and decided I need to waste less time this year. I want to work out some concrete goals and be pushing towards them at all times. If I get board or feel defeated on one thing, I can take a break and work towards another goal until I'm ready to come back to the first one, as long as I'm making progress and not losing ground on any of them.

258.5

Another pound down.  But I threw my back out last night and had trouble even getting out of bed this morning, so today was the first day I haven't run or biked in the last 10 days.  Hoping it doesn't set me back to much.

Photo

Not a great picture of me, but I haven't posted a photo in a while, so I thought I'd put one up from a recent hike in Stevenson, WA.  I think I pulled all photos from this blog a year or so ago due to some online confrontation with someone.  Now I can't really remember what that was about, so I republished all the posts that had photos. 

259.5

It's been almost 2 years since I've been in the 250s.  When my wife got pregnant, I knew it was be difficult to keep up my workout and eating routines, so I made one last ditch effort to lose as much weight as possible, getting down to about 250, then gained 30 lbs during her later pregnancy and the first 6 months of caring for the baby. 

Now Owen is a year and a half old and we've established a new normal.  For that first year, every couple of weeks you have some new change in sleeping habits or eating habits, teething, etc.  Ideally I would be able to keep myself on track through all of that, but with that added stress and randomity, it just didn't happen.  Now the pace has slowed a bit to where the changes come over months instead of weeks, and my wife and I have worked out pretty well who does what and when. 

So, hitting 259.5 was a big deal for me and I'm going to keep trucking and see how quickly I can be at 249.5 and beyond.  As excited as I am to be back on track, this is still just getting back to where I was.  Once I get below 250, that will really be exciting as that will be true progress (it's been about 10 years since I was last below that weight).

We're already talking about baby #2, so if I can get to my goal of 220 before then, I think this time around I can hold on a little better.  At least the baby stuff will not be all new and Owen should be old enough to go out with me on bike rides or other activities.

260

Sometimes things just all come together and it feel fairly easy.   I think I was more effected by the winter months than I realized.  As soon as the weather improved and we had a few sunny days, I felt a drive and commitment that I hadn't felt in a while.

265.5

It's been a long and aggrivating winter, but things are finally turning around.  Mostly in my head, but that counts more than anything.

267.5

Injured my knee, then got sick, then got a bit down on myself, but luckily it hasn't cost me too much.  I hadn't weighed myself in at least a couple weeks and was expecting to see a significant weight gain.  But I was happy to find that I wasn't far from where I left off. 

I was feeling good and wanting to get back in gear, so this was just the good news I needed to help take that step. 

My knee is still a little tweaked, but I'm going to try to work through it. 

266

Yesterday I did the math to see what my calorie deficit is based on the weight I've lost.  It looked like my deficit was about 25% lower than my daily count had showed, but this morning I was surprisingly down another 1.5 lbs, which puts me closer to my daily deficit I was shooting for.

It was the first time in a while that the scale was nicer to me than I was expecting.

267.5

Slowly but surely.

Based on my count, I'm coming out with a 1100 to 1300 calorie deficit, but based on the weight I've lost, it's really closer to 900 a day.  That's still pretty good.

268.5

I guess from an outside view, I'm losing weight pretty fast, but considering how strict I'm being about my diet and exercise, it feels pretty slow.  But I'm keeping at it this time.

269.5

Lets hope that number keeps dropping this fast.

270.5

Looks like I'm on th right track, moving down pretty fast now.

272

Feeling good.

273

The best part about having kept this blog (even if it's been fairly inconsistent) is that you can look back on the reality of things and not fall for your own misconceptions.  I felt good having weighed in at 273, but didn't realize that this is the lowest weight I've gotten to this year.  It felt like just another few pounds lost in my ever fluctuating weight, but the record shows slow but continuous progress. 

For the first time in a while, I'm back to counting calories, while keeping up with CrossFit 3 times a week (and trying to get in some cardio on the off days).  Obviously that isn't too hard, but it's really about the mental state I have to be in to get all of this lined up and going at the same time.  That's really the key.  I'm fully aware of what works and what doesn't, but I'm not always able to keep myself doing the things that work. 

No matter how good it feels when you have everything going in the right direction, it's still hard to keep yourself doing that.  Not sure why that is such a common issue for people.

274.5

I've been on the road a lot since the last post, spent 3 weeks in LA and took a few days in Washington for Jenny's b-day.  My weight jumped up to about 282 at the peak of all that, but it has been coming back down.  Finally back to CrossFit.  I was going 3 times a week without fail before the LA trip, but have only been about 3 times in the last few weeks.  I also got sick after the Washington trip, so there have been a lot of distractions, but I think I'm back on the right track.

275.8

The last couple weeks on a fairly strict calorie counting diet has paid off.  I'm in LA, staying at Damien's house, so it's been a bit hard to keep to a strict diet, but we're doing a decent job. 

277

Since my last post, my weight had gone up to 280 to 282 and stayed there for a while.  For the last week I've been trying to eat strictly on a calorie counted plan, which seems to be finally making a difference. 

It's the obvious answer, but it's still somehow very difficult to get all the pieces in line at the same time.

Crossfit is still awesome.  The first 3 weeks I loved it.  Then I wanted to quit for the next 3 weeks.  Now I'm back to loving it. 

The 3 weeks in the middle that I was hating it, I felt like I was getting weaker and weaker, with pain/injuries after each class and it felt like it was going nowhere.  I skipped 2 classes and that seems to have helped me get back on track.  Other than those 2 classes I skipped, I've gone 3 times a week for 2 months.  Finally starting to see improvements in strength and cardio (not sure if it is cardio exactly, but some of the annoying things like burpees are getting easier). 

I know 31 isn't old, but it definitely feels like things only get harder as I get older, so I need to get my weight under control as early as possible if I want to have a chance of not being fat forever. 

The short term goal is to get down to 250 again.  Then make it to 220.

278

I'm into my 2nd week at CrossFit.  So far, I love everything about it.  I see why people get so into it. 

281 - Started CrossFit

Just went to my first CrossFit class, we'll see how this goes.  Didn't really do the real CrossFit workout on the first day, they didn't want to kill me.  I could have done more, but I'm not sure I could have made it back for another class in 2 days if I had done more, so it was a good start.

280 - Recent runs & rides

5/6/12 - 2.84 miles at Joe Dancer Park (trail run)
5/8/12 - 1.75 miles pushing jogging stroller
5/12/12 - about 2.5 miles on treadmill (I think I had another treamill run the day before but can't remember)
5/13/12 - 2.53 miles run/walk in hills around Damien's house
5/14/12 - 1.13 miles run at Deb's house before flight back to Portland
5/17/12 - 2.86 miles pushing jogging stroller
5/17/12 - 9.59 miles bike ride (first ride in a long time)

My weight is holding steady at 280, so I'm just focusing on getting my strength and cardio back up, then I'll focus on diet if the weight still doesn't change.

Almost didn't go for a run because it was raining pretty hard, but glad I did. The rain stopped a few minutes after I left and I felt better running than I have in a year or so.

282.5

Haven't been able to get it in gear, but I feel like I'm rounding a corner.  Went for a 45 minute run today at lunch.  Trying to do this a bit slower than my usual all-in or all-out approach.  We'll see how this goes.

I'd like to try CrossFit and eventually sign up for BJJ at Impact in Newberg, but want to get my basic fitness improved first.

280.5

It's been a busy 6 months since I last posted. Our baby was born and we moved to Oregon.

The baby being born had the effect on my weight that I had feared, but has also been the greatest thing that ever happened to me, so I guess putting on almost 30 lbs isn't the end of the world. Now I just have to get it back off again.

The last month of my wife's pregnancy kept me around the house and on-call, then the arrival of Owen kept me fairly sedentary for the last few months. I could have gotten back in gear a couple months ago, but by then we were traveling back and forth to Oregon, then packing up our house and moving. Yes, these are all excuses and obviously they could have been overcome, but they weren't.

I've been feeling like getting back into a good diet/exercise rythm, but with the house needing work, I spent most of my free time painting and unpacking. Today I decided to just start with a daily run at noon (it's been snowing for several days and has now switched to raining, so noon gives me a good chance of decent temperature).

I ran 1.06 miles today in the rain. I felt great but also killed me. It sucks how quickly you lose your cardio fitness. I'm going to eat a reasonable diet and run every day and see what happens on the scale. If it doesn't start moving in the right direction, I'll have to step it up a notch.

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.

Cycling to work

Started back on the bike today. I thought I'd be much slower have lost the legs for it, but I did OK. I also wasn't pushing myself as hard as I could because I want to make sure I'm not too sore to ride in every day.

259.2

Signed up at 24 Hour Fitness again. Well, I got one of those 3-month-free passes in the mail from a class action lawsuit related to their continuing to charge people after they tried to cancel their membership. My wife and I cancelled our memberships months apart, but both had a month or two extra show up on our billing. It's funny when you get one of those legal letters in the mail and it describes something that you thought only happened to you.

Anyway, maybe I'll continue my membership after the 3 free months, but I'm thinking of hitting the gym as much as I can in these next 3 months, then signing up at a BJJ place again.

260.8 I'm back...

Hello. My "one month in Aurora, IL", turning into 2 months in Detroit. That was 2 months of working all day, every day (16 hours a day, 7 days a week). I just about lost my mind, but I made a lot of money which will hopefully allow me to focus back on my exercise program.

I'm back to my regular desk job and trying to restart my routines. I got sick about 2 weeks ago, but had to work through it, so the effects of it are still lingering on. I was trying to get completely un-sick before hitting the gym again, but I don't want to wait around any more. It is supposed to rain all week, so I can't start my bike commuting back up just yet.

I gained 10 lbs in the 2 months, but that was actually pretty good considering the working conditions. Most people in my line of work eat fast food 3 times a day when working on the road and I only ate fast food once in the 2 months.

My 30th birthday is in March, so I have plenty of time to reach my original goal weight of 220 before then. With any luck, I'll reach that and have enough time to re-evaluate my final target weight and then reach that before my birthday.

But I'll be OK with just reaching 220.

250

I cut my hand on Monday, so I've not been riding my bike this week. I thought I might "balloon up", but so far I'm still slowly losing.

I have to go to Aurora, IL for a month starting Monday, so I'm going to try to use that time away from home to workout a lot.

250.8

I've been holding steady for a while, trying to get it together for an attack on the next 10 lbs.

Still riding my bike to work every day, doing about 350 to 400 miles a month for the last 3 months.

252.6

Cycling totals for June:
414.90 Miles in 29h 01m 23s

I also ran 6.13 Miles

I'll have to start running more sooner or later. I'm still feeling lazy.

252.8

Slowly but surely.

253.4

255.4

The weight isn't flying off, but based on my cycling commute times, I'm getting in much better shape.

A month ago I had to really push it to get under 45 minutes for my 10.2 miles commute. Then I tried a little harder and set my new best time of about 42. For a few weeks I routinely had 42 and 43 minute commutes. But I crushed that time a few days ago, with a 38:26 and have made it in under 38 minutes every day since. It's weird how you try to do something and fail a bunch of times, but when you finally do it then seems routine.

Of course, I could probably shave a lot more of that time if I wasn't commuting over 100 miles a week (like if I only biked in every other day), but the cardio/weight loss is still my #1 priority. Once I get closer to 220 I'll consider shifting towards a performance based program.

256

I just got some Braggs Apple Cider Vinegar, we'll see if I notice anything from taking it daily.

256.6

Dieting is funny. I'll cut way back on calorie intake and lose a bunch of weight. Then it stalls. So I exercise like crazy and lose a bunch more weight, but then it stalls again. So I eat more and exercise less and lose even more weight.

I'm sure in 5 lbs or so it will stall again and I'll have to change something to get it going.

I'm sure there are ways to slowly and consistently lose weight, but I'm too impatient. Even when I try to do it the slow and easy way, it doesn't seem to work for me (but that's probably because I only give it a couple weeks before deciding I need to workout 3 times a day).

257.8

Well I guess eating more was the right thing to do.

260

I was feeling more and more run-down over the last couple weeks, and I figured I was either over-training or under-eating. Probably a bit of both.

So I've toned down the exercise to just my daily commute (about 1 1/2 hours of fairly high intensity cycling) and will run at night maybe once or twice a week depending on how I feel. I'll still have a hard training day on Sunday.

I also tried eating a high carb item just before my commute and I destroyed my previous record for my return commute last night and my ride in this morning.

Previous best time commuting in (10.2 miles) - 42:33
This morning's commuting time - 40:14

Previous best time commuting back (same distance but slightly more uphill) - 48:32
Yesterday evening's commute time - 43:30

My goal is to get both of these times into the mid-30s.

But those huge improvements (considering I've been done this same route 37 times and always push myself to beat my best time, suddenly shaving several minutes is huge), I have to admit my nutrition was the main factor.

So I'm eating a bit more, but my weight is holding steady. However, my weight was holding steady for almost a week before I started eating more, so I'm going to keep at this level of exercise with the increase in calories and see what happens.

I do seem to do best with a few weeks of extreme diet and exercise, then a week or two off, then back on. Ideally I'd like to find a middle ground though.

258.8

I've taken the last few evenings off, as my legs were having a harder time making the commute each day. Or I was just looking for excuses. Either way I'm going to start running again, maybe do another in-gym sprint triathlon tonight. My gym membership expires in 2 days, so I'm trying to get the most out of it.

Then I'll be looking to get some swim practice in the ocean. I've been researching the recommended spots and it seems Santa Monica beach, around guard tower 28 is the place to go. I haven't decided if I'll get a wetsuit now or try to just tough it out.

259

I took last night off (still biked to and from work). Will probably do another Sprint Triathlon tonight at the gym.

My weight is holding at the moment, but I expected it to go back up over 260, so I'm OK with holding at 258 or 259. I'll just have to ramp up the exercise.

258.8

Did a bike-to-run training session last night.
12.7 miles in 51:43
1.5 miles in 18:19

Total for May:
Swim: 710.85 Yd - 30m 25s
Bike: 345.76 Mi - 27h 51m 06s
Run: 29.57 Mi - 7h 41m 30s

258.6 - w/Photo

Just finished a sprint triathlon in the gym (just the distance, not competing with anyone).
.4 miles swim
14.1 mile bike ride
3.3 mile run
(above are the distances for the LA Triathlon - Sprint Course in October. I'm considering entering, but I'm very likely going to be called to work out of state during October).

Total time 2 hours 8 minutes (that includes the transition times, which were taking the elevator up two floors, since the pool is on a different level than the rest of the gym).

I'm guessing it was at least 25% easier in the gym than it would be outside, but it sets a starting time to work on improving. Swimming was harder than I remember.

Here's what I looked like at the end.

Exercise log for the last 4 weeks

There's some info missing, and the full 4 weeks doesn't end until tomorrow (that is my rest day though), but here are the numbers from my first 4 weeks of tracking my exercise:

Bicycle: 318.66 Mi - 25h 25m 23s (all while commuting to and from work)
Run/Hike: 24.77 Mi - 6h 41m 11s (about 10 miles hiking, 14.77 running)

Not bad for a fat guy.

Actually, last night while I was running and convincing myself to keep going, it occurred to me that running continuously for 5k (3.1 miles) would have seemed impossible. I knew I could build up to it, but the first time I tried running around the block, I made it 1 block. Not once around the block, but one length of one side of the block, before I had to take a walking break. Then there were weeks of only being able to run to the corner and back before needing a break.

I've been fairly active most of my life, but have never been near the condition I'm in now. The last time I ran continuously for 3.1 miles was when I was 12 or 13, and I think I only ever did it once without having to walk large portions of it.

So, as much as it sucks to feel heavy and slow, I occasionally have to remember how far I've come and how quickly I'm progressing.

Here is my 5k route.

259.6

Crossed into the 250s. If I can hold below 260 through the weekend, I'll consider it official.

I ran 3 miles last night, it went way better than the last time I ran the same route.
Here is my GPS info from the run:
41 mins, 00 sec
3.1 mi
Average speed: 4.5 mph
Max speed: 9.1 mph
Pace: 13:13 min/mi
Altitude gain: 43.0 m

I changed my blog format...

Some people find it annoying to read white text on a black background, so I'm trying a more "normal" setting. Also changed the font to the one that appeared easiest to read.

261.6

Last nights bike ride home was the hardest so far. You would think that 4 days off the bike would have rested me up, but it didn't work out that way. I also probably didn't eat enough carbs yesterday. I was only 12 minutes slower getting home, but that translates to a lot of slow, exhausted peddling up even slight inclines.

This morning I had oatmeal (1/2 cup of dry oats), 1 egg on a small piece of toast (60 calorie per slice), 2 tbsp of low-fat cottage cheese and about a 1/4 cup of 1% milk in my coffee/tea blend (I mix coffee and tea 50/50 to get a light but not weak sort of coffee). My ride in this morning was one of my fastest (maybe the fastest, but I started my timer and then messed around with something before leaving).

Here are my GPS stats for the ride:
43 mins, 35 secs
Average speed: 14.0 mph
Max speed: 28.1 mph
Pace: 4:16 min/mi

262 - w/Photos

Got back from a 2 day trip to Dallas last night. The first day I spent with my grandparents, the second day was a business meeting.

Usually when I visit my grandparents I just give in to eating unhealthy, and try to manage portion sizes. They only know one way to cook and that is to fry as much as you can. Anything you can't fry can be soaked in butter or sugar. And nothing should be eaten without a biscuit. Actually, by southern standards, my grandparents are reasonably healthy as they don't add gravy to every meal.

By my significant weight loss, combined with my grandma watching a lot of The Biggest Loser and my grandpa being told to stop eating fried foods, I was able to talk her into baking catfish. The funny part was that catfish has been a large part of their diets their entire life, with it being a daily food for the last 30+ years (when they moved to a lake-front property and kept their deep freezer full of catfish at all times), but in all that time, my grandma had never baked it. She had never tried preparing it in any other way than fried in a cornmeal batter. Considering how good it is like that, I guess I don't blame her.

But I couldn't stop her from serving french fries, but she did bake them as well. And I'm not sure what is in her coleslaw, but she also insisted that there was "nothing bad in there".

My plan was to eat somewhat large meals, because it is hard not to without upsetting my grandma, but then keep myself busy so I only eat 2 main meals a day. I only spent 1 day there, but I did so much I felt like I'd been there for a week. I replaced some missing boards off of the dock, cut dead limbs of of a large tree and trimmed the trees/bushes along the 100 yard driveway (which required a ladder for the trees). I probably ended up doing 6 hours of manual labor. I also caught 3 fish, a turtle (which I was able to get off the hook unharmed) and a 4 foot piece of metal chain. The biggest fish I caught by accident, throwing in the net to catch bait fish and I hauled up a 3 or 4 lbs catfish. I would leave my hooks in the water and then run around doing other things and come back to check on it.

I also saw my first water moccasin. I was at the end of the dock and saw it moving in the water closer to land. I walked down the dock to get a closer look, but lost sight of it while walking. I was standing looking out into the water when I looked down and found the snake had swam right up to the rocks below me and was looking right at me about 3 feet away. He then ducked back into the water and I didn't see him again. It gave me plenty of reason to never go swimming in their lake again.

After the meeting the next day, I had about 4 hours until my flight. I had cancelled my 24 Hour Fitness membership, but they make you pay a first and last month when you join, so when you call to cancel, you still have a month. It doesn't expire until May 5th, so I looked up the nearest location in Dallas and got a good workout in. I did 15 minutes on the eliptical, then a 3 mile run on the treadmill at about 5 mph (I fluctuated between 4.8 and 5 for most of it, then did a couple minutes of 6 mph). I wanted to go longer, but I didn't want to push my luck with my flight time. It was good I left when I did, because I hit heavy traffic and got to the gate with only 15 minutes until they started boarding.

Anyway, with all that going on, I still managed to lose weight. I think there is still some extra sodium and other junk in my system, so I'm thinking I'll be below 260 before the end of the week.

Here is the turtle I caught.

262.8

Went out to eat and then to a bar. Only had one (large) beer, but the combo of the dinner and beer probably made this the highest calorie day I've had in a while. Decided to punish myself with a 3.3 mile run at midnight. The first half was a lot of walking to keep from throwing up, but the 2nd half went pretty well.

263.4 - w/Photos

No change in weight today, I also didn't run last night. My legs needed a mid-week break (translation: I was feeling lazy). I put together a better comparison photo, wearing the exact same thing. Still not the best, because the starting photo sucks, but you get the idea. I think the window light is also helping my chin look thinner than it is, but I'll take whatever I can get.

263.4 - w/Photos

I thought a photo comparison was in order. Both of these photos suck, but I think it gives a general idea.

The photo on the left is me at around 320. The one on the right is from today (263.4). I know they don't make the best comparison because the 2nd one is from much closer, but I didn't have anyone to hold my cell phone. I'll do a better photo later.


I only look like a glass-eyed pig half of the time. The rest of the day I'm beautiful.

263.6

New lowest weight in many years. Although I'll have to stop saying that, because with any luck that will be every day.

Had a rough time getting home last night. Each bike commute is getting harder and harder. I thought it would get hard, then I would get used to it. But after 2 1/2 weeks, it seems I need to adjust my diet a little to be able to make it home each day. I don't mind pushing myself past my comfort zone, but I find it gets a little too dangerous in the last few miles of my return trip each night. I start trying to make moves around cars in traffic, but my reaction time and judgement aren't at their best. I've had a few close calls in the last week (not that close, but I've had to slam on my brakes or pull to the sidewalk suddenly).

So I'm going to start the day with a higher carb breakfast (probably oatmeal) and have some high carb item before my return trip. I'm not certain what the return trip item will be, I'm considering chocolate milk or some sports drink. Chocolate milk is popular as a high carb & protein beverage that's a lot cheaper than the various pre-package protein shakes. For people looking to lose weight, the recommendation is to get 1% fat, instead of non-fat, as your body needs some fat to properly process and get the most out of the chocolate milk.

That's a topic I haven't fully researched, but there seems to be a growing theory that non-fat products aren't the best idea. Low-fat items seem to get the best combo of lower calories but still having the benefits of the item you are eating. I also read an article a while back that found increased cancer risk for people who eat a lot of non-fat foods.

I'm sure it's not the end of the world either way, as the one thing I've learned from all the studies I've read, they are all a little misleading unless you understand every factor that goes into the results. And as a casual reader, you never do.

264.4

Got rained on a little on my last two bike commutes, but that's supposed to be the last of the rain. I plan to ride regardless of the weather, but if it rains really hard it will make for a nasty ride since I don't have fenders. For anyone who hasn't riden in the rain, you get a continuous spray of black water whipping off your front tire. It always leads to a spray of road water getting in your mouth.

265

My current plan is to do as much cardio during the week as possible (minimum of 1:40 of cycling just to get to and from work every day), then take Saturday as my rest day, then a run/hike on Sunday. On Saturday I also eat a bit more, still healthy but larger portions and ensure I get enough protein to help with recovery.

So every Sunday or Monday I expect to weigh a pound or so more than I did on Friday, then go down about 3 or 4 lbs during the week.

Here's a photo from yesterday's 7 mile hike. This is at the top of the Burbank hills, at the radio tower.

264.4

This marks a new lowest weight in about 8 years.

To explain that, about 10 years ago I joined a volunteer group that had a military-esque schedule. Working just about all hours that I wasn't sleeping and eating 3 meals a day in a cafeteria. I didn't really exercise, but the constant general activity and strict eating schedule (I could eat as much as I wanted within 30 minutes during those 3 meals a day, but by just limiting the opportunity to snack it kept my diet fairly low-calorie). I lost about 130 lbs in under a year. I stayed with that group for 2 1/2 years, keeping my weight right around 200 most of that time (I'm 6'3", so that's about the right weight for me with average muscle mass).

Then I left, got married and slowly gained the weight back. I had never been in a relationship before, so it was easy to lose myself in doing whatever you think will make the other person happy. So we ate out a lot and both gained a lot of weight over the course of a few years.

So, with the exception of those couple years where I was in a circumstance that is very unusual outside of the military, I've always been 100 lbs overweight. I hit 200 lbs when I was 12 or 13. I hit 300 around 17 years old. My mom said she first noticed I was significantly overweight when I was 4. Oddly enough, I was a very active kid. I went to a boarding school where a retired Marine drill sergeant came each morning and made us run 3 miles (while he drove behind us in his Cadillac yelling various drill sergeant things) and do sit-ups, push-ups, etc. Through all of that I gained weight continuously.

I'm now trying to truly change my lifestyle to that of an active adult. I think my downfall as a kid was improper diet (not unhealthy, as my boarding school didn't allow sugar or any kind of junk food, but allowed me to eat as much fruit as I wanted, which I think was the main factor in my weight gain). Having experimented with a wide range of diets and found what works for me, I think I can maintain this for the rest of my life.

Not that my new level of activity isn't without challenges. I thought the hardest part of riding my bike 11 miles each way to work every day was going to be just convincing myself to do it each day. So far that's been easy, but I've been running into mechanical problems. I broke a spoke a few days ago, had that replaced. Broke a spoke again the next day, found that the whole wheel is going, had that replaced yesterday. This morning right after I got into work, a co-worker came to tell me that my bike had just scared her half to death when the tire exploded. I checked it out and found the valve stem had just about blown off on the new wheel. I'm hoping that these are all related to the original problem and once I replace that tube, I'll be all set for a while.

-Mike

266

The biking to work every day is paying off. I also went to the Burbank Highschool track last night and ran 1.5 miles then power walked .5.

Time for some photos

Here I am getting close with nature on a hike last weekend.



This is me kayaking by myself in the Everglades about 2 weeks ago.

My fastest time yet...

I wanted to see what my best time would be if I pushed myself the whole way. I hit an average number of red lights and other delays, but I stayed in a semi-tucked position for the entire LA Bike path section and much of the streets. I bought longer climbing bars that point forward so I can lean forward farther. I thought this would mainly be for reduced wind drag, but that position seems to help with peddling faster/at a higher RPM.

Wednesday, May 12, 2010 10:33:41 AM
42 mins, 33 secs
10.4 mi

Average speed: 14.7 mph
Max speed: 29.3 mph
Pace: 4:05 min/mi
Altitude gain: 186.0 m
Altitude loss: 263.0 m
Altitude change: -77.0 m

267.4

My bike is repaired and I gave it a thorough cleaning last night, so hopefully it appreciated all that. I'm back to commuting by bike.

Not the best day so far...

I bicycle commuted to work every day last week and was planning on doing it again this week, but this morning I broke a spoke on the rear wheel. I'm going to try to fix it myself, but if I have to take it to a bike shop it will probably have to be there a day, which means I'll be driving most of this week. I can go to the gym to make it up those days, but I'm trying to establish the bike as my only mode of transportation.

268.2

267.2

I've got "The Look"

I like to dress like an idiot a lot. Most people in LA have never seen a real-tree camo hat, and definitely wouldn't wear one, so it's extra funny here.

266.4

Almost back to my lowest weight from about 2 months ago. The bicycle commute to work seems to be doing the trick.

267.6

Moving in the right direction.

Hopefully I can keep this up...

Round-trip bike ride to work (10.4 miles each way). Then got home and ran 3.5 miles. Hope my legs work tomorrow.

I shaved a few minutes off my commute already...

• Wednesday, May 05, 2010 9:28:31 AM
• 47 mins, 55 secs
• 10.4 mi
• Average speed: 13.0 mph
• Max speed: 26.0 mph
• Pace: 4:36 min/mi
• Altitude gain: 232.0 m
• Altitude loss: 309.0 m
• Altitude change: -77.0 m

Some of my recent routes...

Here is the GPS map of my bicycle ride into work this morning.

Total time: 50 mins, 25 secs
Length of route: 10.3 mi

Average speed: 12.3 mph
Max speed: 24.5 mph

http://www.sanoodi.com/routes/work-commute-268432/widgets/map/

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

Here is the route from my 7 miles hike/run on Sunday:

Total Time: 1 hr, 43 mins, 22 secs (this and the distance are a bit off because I couldn't get cell reception for the first part of the hike to start the GPS tracking).

Length of Route: 6.1 mi (I estimate it was about 7 miles total)

Average speed: 3.5 mph
Max speed: 7.1 mph
Pace: 16:56 min/mi
Altitude gain: 987.0 m

http://www.sanoodi.com/routes/stough-268172/widgets/map/

(The green marker is where it started tracking my route, but the red marker at the end of the hike is where I started from)

269.2

After gaining back a few pounds while traveling, my weight is moving in the right direction again. I'm back in LA and will be home for a month.

I did another crazy hike/run last night. It was only about 7 miles, but I ran 4 and hiked/speed walked the other 3. I ran whole way down (which accounts for most of that 4 miles of running), which is easier than running uphill, but seems to actually be harder than running on flat ground. My knees started to ache pretty bad and the continuous jarring motion of trying to keep yourself at a resonable pace made my stomach unhappy.

But I made it and saw a family of deer (a rare sight in LA). I definitely pushed myself a little too hard, as I almost fainted (or maybe actually did) when we went to dinner after. I started to feel really light headed and sick, so I went to the bathroom so I wouldn't puke on anyone at the dinner table. I just sat in the bathroom for what seemed like a minute or two, but after dinner my wife asked where I had gone for so long. But I lived, so I'll chalk it up to a learning experience. I need to bring water and a snack to keep everything working right.

I want to run a few times a week, then do a hike/run once a weekend. Maybe mix in some kayaking too.

Back on the road...

I'm in Miami (Weston at the moment). I've been on the road for 8 days, the first 4 days were in Miami Beach with Jenny. We ate and drank a lot, but didn't go crazy. We walked a lot, so hopefully we didn't set ourselves back (at least physically. Financially we set ourselves back a good $1,000).

After Jenny flew home on Sunday, I've been trying to run as much as possible. Monday I ran 2.5 miles in the morning and about that much at night (I noted my exact starting and stopping points in the morning, at night I ran intervals between lifeguard huts on the beach).

Last night I ran 4 miles straight (it may have been 3.8 miles, I'm using Google Maps to calculate). My knees are feeling it this morning, but it was great to push myself that far. That's probably the longest I've ever run in my life. When I was in boarding school, we would run up to 3 miles each morning, but I don't think I've ever done 4. After years of thinking I was too big to run, or that it would be to high-impact to be a practical exercise for me, I'm excited to be actually running.

It's a funny activity, because I feel liking giving up about 5 seconds in, and still feel that way a couple miles later. But there isn't any one moment that is so difficult that I can't push through it. So I just keep pressing forward.

My plan is to keep pushing myself to see how far I can go. I would love to run a marathon or compete in a triathlon.

After our canoe adventure in the Everglades, I would like to get into kayaking. I'm going to check out places in the LA area that rent them and see if it's something I could do regularly.

272.2

I've been traveling for work for the past month, but fell off my program for a couple weeks before that. Not sure what triggered it, but being on the road has a way of making you wish for time hit the gym. It also gives you a great excuse to not workout, even though I could find something to do no matter where I am. I seem to have my diet in check though, I didn't really gain any weight in almost 2 months off of a strict program, so that is something.

I was in Boston for a few weeks, then Florida for a few days. I'm heading back to Florida for a week and then Texas for a few days.

I usually need a gym to workout, but I'm trying to start running a few times a week, maybe building up to a daily run. That's something I could keep up no matter where I am, but I've always hated running and found I got tired or was in pain so quickly that it was hard to get in a decent cardio workout. But I'm almost finished reading "The Unforgiving Minute" by Craig Mullaney, which goes a lot into the Army Ranger training and pushing yourself past the pain or what you think is your limit. Obviously my fat ass trying to run around in a park doesn't compare to anything in the book, but just the attitude of pushing yourself farther than you want to go.

I just got back from a hike/run in Brand Park. It was about 3 miles (the hike portion was 1.1 miles and then I ran laps in the flatter part of the park).

Photos

I keep wanting to add photos to this blog, because endless words get boring. But I am always the photographer, rarely in the photos. And when I am in photos, I usually do something weird, so who knows what people would think if they didn't know me.

Anyway, here is my Flickr page, www.flickr.com/genericamerican , with 2,756 photos. You can go comment on them all if you have a few days to spare. If you click on Sets, you can see them in categorized groups. That should make them less random. Some of them are concert/show photos, some random stuff I do, and some are studio shoots with various people.

-Mike

265.6

Getting there, one day at a time.

The BodyBugg has been a huge part of my recent weight loss success, but another factor that I don't think I've mentioned is my wife. Today is the 8 year anniversary of our first date. I figured our wedding anniversary would replace this anniversary, but I figured wrong. I just have 2 anniversaries to remember now.

She comes from a very innactive family. Her father and brother are musicians (with hippy leanings) and her other two brothers are computer programmers. Her mother is a hardcore knitter. In her entire childhood, I don't think there was a single camping trip, family hike, bike ride, football game, etc. I didn't consider my family that active, but when compared to her's, we seem like extreme athletes.

Anyway, throughout my several diet & exercise program attempts, my wife would either have no involvement, or follow along for a week or two. In her defense, I was always the fatter one, with my weight fluctuating heavily. She slowly put on weight, so it wasn't until recently that she felt it important enough to get on board.

Since I've started my program, she has followed along to varying degrees, but has lost about 30 lbs (which is very impressive considering I've lost 57 lbs in the same time, but was over 110 lbs heavier than her to start). She wouldn't tell me her weight for the first couple months, so I don't know exactly how much she's lost.

I'm looking to lose at least another 45 lbs, she has about 25 to go. At our current pace, we should both be there before the end of this year.

-Mike

267

Been fluctuating a bit, was down to 266 a few days ago. Still making decent progress, but falling behind my weekly targets. I guess its good that I'm still making progress even in the face of minor failures, I'll get there eventually.

The BB forum had a thread congratulating me (or who they thought was me) on losing 146 lbs. Turns out it was another guy with a similar sounding blog name. I don't have 146 lbs to lose (unless I drop some muscle and get down to 5% body fat), but I'm over half way to my goal of 100 lbs.

268

Now I'm getting some momentum. It's amazing how much difference it makes to get 30 minutes of cardio in before work. I also get to work fully awake, which isn't a bad idea.

I've got 42 days until my birthday, with the goal being to weigh under 240 by then. That means I need to average .69 lbs lost every day from now until then. That's not too much higher than my original plan of losing .42 lbs a day. I do tend to leave things until the last minute and then try to rush it all, so maybe falling behind will give me the urgency to get it done.

It's so crazy, it just might work.

269.2

I lost the battle (getting to 269 by last Friday), but I won the war. Took a few days longer to get myself back on track, but I got there.

I'm sure the science is out there, but I've found that cardio in the morning seems to have a bigger effect than cardio at night. Maybe getting everything going in the morning keeps you running at a higher rate, but exercising at night and then going to sleep may kill that effect. Not sure, but that's my working theory.

Right now I'm doing 20 minutes of rowing in the morning and then 10 minutes of boxing (working a heavy bag and double-end bag). The rower is great exercise, but takes continuous focus, not like an elliptical where you can zone out, so the 20 minutes on the rower seems harder than an hour on an elliptical. But I already have one at home (as well as the boxing setup), so I'm just going to have to get used to it. Doing something you don't like builds character anyway.

At night I'm doing an hour on an elliptical machine.

Anyway, the point was that I seem to see more results from the 20 to 30 minutes of intense cardio in the morning, than I do from the 60 minutes at night.

But those may be skewed statistics, because when I'm dedicated enough to work out in the morning, I'm usually also on my best eating habits. When I'm feeling lazy, the morning workouts are the first thing to go, followed by a slightly "looser" diet.

If every other month I can hit a dedicated spurt and drop 20 lbs, then maintain that weight for my lazy month, I can live with that. As long as this month is the one where I drop 20. I'm still set on making my goal of being under 240 by March 24th.

-Mike

271.8

1.9 lbs away from breaking into the 260 range. I think I can make my goal of being there by tomorrow.

Thanks to those who are following me and commenting on here. Until yesterday, the security settings at my office (where I do most of my posting) didn't allow me to respond to comments, but I figure out a way around that. Didn't want you to think they went unnoticed.

-Mike

273.4

Lost my momentum, still having some problems with my work schedule. Well, to be honest, the increased work schedule isn't helping matters, but if I was pushing myself as hard as I was before I would be in the 260 or 250 range by now.

I'm making some changes to overcome that. I told my boss that I will be leaving every day by 5:30pm, and will put in overtime from home as needed. I'll be going straight to the gym from work, so I get my gym time in as the top priority, then make time for extra work from home (instead of getting the work done first and trying to make time for the gym).

When I'm doing well on my diet & exercise, my general mood improves, which makes me more productive at work anyway. So I think shifting the priorities will work out better for both.

The goal for this week is to be under 270 by Friday. I tend to drop a few pounds quickly after each leveling off point, so I think I can do that.

272.4

Still making progress in the right direction, but the increase in calories and heavy lifting have slowed my numbers down. I've decided to go back to my lower calorie range and focus on cardio until I reach my goal weight. Then I'll switch back to focus on strength. That was my original plan, but when you're a big guy and used to lifting more than 90% of the other guys in the gym, the peer pressure to "go huge" gets to you. It's also fun to leg press 800 lbs, but I'll have to hold off on that.

Back to my original plan of getting below 240 by my birthday, March 24.

After months of trying to get friends into the gym, I guess the New Years resolutions are helping me, because this week I've had 2 friends sign up at 24 Hour Fitness and a 3rd came in to check it out (she says she's going to sign up, but we'll see). My sales guy at 24 Hour Fitness loves me now.

The friends have actually ruined my last two gym visits, as I've had to show them around and then basically run them like I was a personal trainer because they don't know what they're doing in the gym. But it's worth it in the long run.

273.6

Was holding steady at 275, was just about to consider lowering my calorie intake back down, but weighed in at 273.6 this morning, so I'll keep at this 2000 to 2200 calorie range.

Received my mini-bike

Might have to raise my desk up, but I'm determine to make this work. If I can get everything setup right, I think it will help a lot to keep my legs going for as long as I'm able to during the day.

I was impressed with it's construction and resistance level, considering some of the reviews.

I'll update you if I get pulled into any meetings to address reports of strange activity in my office.

Blogs need photos, so....

Here is me hitting a watermelon with a bat at a redneck themed party (thus the customized shirt). As you can see, I'm extremely awesome sometimes.

274.6

For some reason it's more fun to see the scale pass by the 5 & 10 lbs mark (like going from 275 to 274), than all the pounds lost in between.

Did my first heavy leg day last night, then my first heavy arm day today. I was going to give it a day between the two, but I felt like lifting. I'm not even close to what I was lifting at my peak about 8 months ago, but I'm not as weak as I thought I might be. The increase in calories/protein has increase my strength dramatically in just a few days. I guess I was cutting it too low before. Maybe so, but the first 46 lbs I lost aren't complaining.

Feels good to do deadlifts and leg presses again. Not sure if I'll get into squats again, it is the only lift that I've never really felt natural or comfortable with. I know my form sucks, but even when I've tried to focus on correcting it, I still couldn't get it right.

For now I'm going to have 2 heavy lifting days (1 arm & abs/core, 1 leg & back) with 30 to 45 minutes of cardio on those days. The other 5 days a week will be all cardio.

-Mike

275.8

Back on the wagon, full force. Counting every calorie, preparing all meals at home, eating 5 small meals a day.

I ordered the mini-exercise bike, so that should arrive in a week or so. We'll see if that makes a big difference, or just makes me look like the crazy guy in the office who's always doing something weird under his desk.

(copied over from a BodyBugg forum post I made, in case anyone cares)

My job was already fairly inactive, but a recent promotion has me completely chained to my desk. I probably don't walk more than 100 ft in an 8 hour work day.

I've been thinking of ways to increase my activity and have been thinking of getting a mini-stair stepper or a mini-exercise bike. I was having a hard time finding anything like that, even though I've seen them before. Someone gave me an Amazon gift card and I remembered that Amazon has just about everything on earth.

A few minutes of searching found several options. I think I'm going to go with the smallest one, even though it isn't the quietest one. I'm tall, so it will be hard enough to use under a desk with the smalled (10" high) model. The silent model is 15" high.

I read reviews on several other models, but came down to these two. Only common complaint is that they don't offer much resistance, but the main point would be to keep my legs in motion, and most reviews said that even with minor resistance they were able to get a sweat going at their desk if they were trying to.

Anyway, I thought I'd share the results of my research in case anybody else is looking to something like this.

Smallest model:http://amzn.com/B000LGAPZI

Quietest model:http://amzn.com/B000KE8ASK

Like you're supposed to, I'm thinking about changes to make for the coming year. I rethought my diet and exercise plan. I'm going to increase my calorie intake so my recovery time will be faster and I can work out harder. I'll update the specifics later.

278.8

Getting a little derailed by life.

The new position at work has required staying late every night. I've been in the office as late as 11:30pm, and routinely until 9pm. Hoping the workload calms down, but the hours aren't optional at this point.

Due to this schedule, I've only made it to the gym about 3 times in 3 weeks. I am able to maintain weight when not working out though, so that's good.

When possible, I like to workout like crazy and diet very strictly, but in the long run, being able to maintain or continue on a slow weight loss when that is not possible is a more valuable skill than being able to drop 20 lbs in a month.

January should bring a lightened schedule and I got approval to setup a company computer at home, so I can work from there, which will allow me to hit the gym on the way home, then put in whatever overtime I need to from home. Currently I have to stay in the office, and it would take too long to go to leave work, go to the gym, come back to work and then go home.

So it's all looking good, I'm just not quite as far along as I had planned.

-Mike

278.4

I broke through the 280 mark! I know that isn't a standard benchmark, but a few years ago I stuck to a very strict calorie counting & excercise program and got down to about 285, then got stuck and gave up. I slowly put the weight back on. When I got down into the 280s again, I seemed to hit a mental block, got sick and had some other stuff happen, so I was worried I'd level off, but I keep marching on. That's the difference the BodyBugg seems to be making, it keeps it all in perspective, so I can look at the numbers and know that I'm eating too much or exercising too little, and not convice myself that things have just "stopped working".

I've started a new position with my company and am rediculously busy. I've been having to work 60 hour weeks for the last month or so. I'm the Central Property Supervisor and am reviewing all the work of 42 adjusters. In our companies history, I'm not sure anyone has ever attempted to supervise this many people. But like many things with my company, I'm young, stupid and related to the owners, so they use me for experimentation and know I can sue them. It's not so much that the hours are long, its that I was used to working out twice a day and doing all kinds of stuff in my free time, so it's getting harder to fit the gym time in. I've still managed to do it though, and reduced my calories on the days I knew I wasn't going to make it.

I'm pretty determine to make it down to at least 230. We'll see how hard that is and what I look like when I get there. At some point I'm going to switch the focus from weight loss to strength training. Ideally I'd still see fat loss during the strength training, but I would have to significantly increase my calorie intake to start serious lifting again. I'm not even attempting any lifting right now, the risk of injury is too high and my recovery time would be longer.

Well, it's 11:28pm and I'm typing this from the office after having just put in 6 hours of unpaid overtime (see earlier paragraph about new position at work). I'm going home.

283.6

I'm back.

I went to Texas, maintained my weight, but got sick on the last day. Well, I got a little sick on the last day in Texas, but what nearly killed me was having to get up at 3am, drive the airport, fly back to L.A. (with a layover), then drive straight in to work and stay there until 8pm.

The day before that I was slightly ill, by the end of that day, I had a 102.4 temperature. It was some kind of stomach flu, I didn't have any congestion or sore throat (which I usually always get when sick), but I had incredibly terrible things going on inside of me. That's all I'll say on that. And I feel mostly better, but haven't totally recovered.

So, 2 weeks off from the gym, and I'm still holding at the same weight. Not bad. I went to the gym last night, didn't feel too bad, but I have been having continuous headaches since being sick. Hoping that goes away soon.

I like breaking it down into pieces, so my next goal is to be under 260 in 6 weeks.

Thanksgiving in Texas... - w/Photo

It comes full circle. I think the first photo on here is from Texas a few years ago and now I'm posting photos from Texas last month. We raked all my grandma's leaves into a giant pile and burned them. When you're from LA (where you can't even light a cigarette in many parts of the city), bonfires are pretty entertaining.

283.8

Had a wild weekend. On Friday I met a friend at a bar and just got drunk for no reason. On Saturday, my wife's parents rented a room at the House of Blues on Sunset and had a fancy birthday party for her dad. Free food and drinks.

I'm going to Texas for Thanksgiving, we'll see if I live through that.

282.8

I'm going to a German restaurant tonight, I'll probably enjoy a dunkel, but I won't go too far.

283.5

Still moving in the right direction, but I think I've been slacking off the cardio a little. I've been doing a circuit of 10 minutes on the rower, heavy bag work, double-ended bag work and v-slips under a rope (basically lunges with boxing in mind).

It's a great workout, but has a lot of peaks and rests, so I think a more consistent cardio workout would be better.

I still plan on doing the above circuit every morning (as I've been doing since I set up my home gym), but want to start going back to 24 Hour Fitness at night (instead of working out at home a 2nd time each day).

Here is a graph I've been keeping. I like to keep graphs because it helps to have a quick visual of your progress. Without it, those days where you go up .2 lbs can be really annoying. The general trend of the graph will show you if things are working:


The graph starts at 309.2 lbs on 10/6/09.

The last point is today, 11/19/09 at 283.5 lbs.

I keep this taped up above my scale and update it each morning after I weigh myself. That weird spike and then dip in the graph a few days ago was a glitch with my scale. The number kept jumping around, but I weighed myself several times in a row and the last few times it held steady at a weight 3 lbs heavier than I thought was correct. I marked it on the graph, but the next day it dropped back down.

285.2

My weight was holding steady around 288, so I decided to just destroy myself with as much exercise as I could possibly fit in over the weekend, and now I'm at 285.2.

I weigh myself first thing in the morning (naked if you must know), every day, for a very consistent measurement. I know a lot of the programs out there advise not to weigh in daily, as this can be discouraging, but when you are trying for a daily deficit that is equal to most people's weekly deficit, I think it's OK.

My wife was sick on Thursday and Friday, so she was still recovering this weekend and didn't want to do anything. That worked for me, because usually my weekends are the hardest times to workout because I never know what we're going to do or when. But I started working out around 2pm on Saturday and didn't stop until about 8pm. Well, there were plenty of breaks, but I would try to stay active during the "breaks", like one of my breaks was getting on the roof and clearing off a bunch of leaves that had built up. Another "break" was moving all the old stuff that was stored on our side yard to try to throw away as much old crap as possible.

On Sunday, I did the same thing, but longer and harder (no pun intended). I thought I might have over-done it, but I feel pretty good today. I think I'm finally in that mode where I can just keep pushing myself.

-Mike

P.S. - The title of each post will be my weight from that morning's weigh-in. Wasn't sure if that was obvious or not.

People love photos in blogs, so here are some...

This is me hitting a can of beer with a baseball bat at a redneck themed party.









This is at the Bonneville (is that how you spell it?) Salt Flats. I think the salt makes me look fatter than usual.

This was just a post on the BodyBugg website, but...

I ended up rambling on a lot longer than I intended, so I thought I'd copy it over here.

I'm at 288.2 as of this morning. It seems to hold for a day or two, then drop 2 pounds, then hold again.
-----------------

Slow and steady may win the race, but I can't get excited about a race that slow. I don't watch golf or sailing for just that reason.

I've been hanging out on this message board and don't see many people going on crazy "Biggest Loser"-style programs.

Just curious if I'm the only one.

I also know that I should probably keep my head down until I've managed to stick to this crazy program for a little longer, as anybody can start a crazy program, it takes a true nut to finish it.

Assuming I don't flake out, I'm off to a good start.

In the last month, I've gone from 312 to 288, which is actually short of my target, but I'll take what I can get.

I don't like to publicly admit failure, so I'm hoping the more I document my goals, the less likely I will be to quit and hope nobody notices.

I want to get back into competing in Judo or Jiu Jitsu. Maybe take an amateur boxing match.

I'd like to get down to around 225 (I'm 6' 3" and reasonably muscular, so that would be a pretty good weight for me), before I start all that training again. It is great exercise, but often leads to injuries that make it hard to keep up a really consistent weight loss. I want to focus on the weight loss for a few months, then focus on training.

Well, this ended up being a lot longer then what I had in mind when I started typing.

Anybody else want to add their plans/goals so everybody else can harass you if you don't stick to it?

-Mike

288.6

Finished the main parts of my home gym. Have a punching bag hung up and a rower. I've been able to do it really cheap because the rower was left at my house by an old roommate (who asked me to sell it, but I never got around to it) and the punching bag was my brothers.

Working out at home last night and this morning. It's a little harder to get a continuous workout, but I worked out a lot longer and in more intense bursts, so my total calories burned was actually higher than usual (for the workout period, the day overall wasn't that great).

I'm going to try to use the rower for 30 minutes in the morning (I only did 25 this morning because my shoes started rubbing the skin off my toes, I still need to work out a few kinks in the setup/attire to get on a roll). I'll then go to 24 Hour Fitness at night or do another 30 minutes on the rower and an hour on the punching bag (broken up into rounds).

290.8 - Rough weekend

290.8

Got a little crazy this weekend, had Chinese food and a few beers. My weight stayed the same, so I guess I didn't go too far.

Setting up a punching bag and rower in my backyard, so I can get a better morning workout without taking up too much time.

Additional photographic documentation of fatness

My screen seems to widen this photo, thereby maximizing my fatness, but I think I'm at least 5% less fat in person. This photo was taken about a year ago, but should be fairly close to how I appeared about a month ago (just prior to starting with the BodyBugg).

People like to see fatness it all it's glory

This photo is a couple years old, but it's still pretty cool. My brother and I were in Texas visiting our grandparents. I was trying to blend in (I'm the city-boy of the family, being the only one born in California). I don't normally look this cool/rednick-ish.



I'll add some more humiliatingly fat photos later.