I lift regularly. Always lifted heavy weights; but I’ve been backing off on my normal routine and been using lighter weights and higher reps. Been doing some bike riding and spending longer on the eliptical machine too. When I left football; I also pretty much left doing a lot of cardio-work.
This is not unlike the loss I experienced from my football-playing days. Back then, our coach called it the “steak and water diet”.
I have a fairly high BMI and, as of my last measurement, I’ve lost no muscle mass.
I also know it’s not “water loss”, because I keep VERY well hydrated that ketosis doesn’t register on the pee-strips. I’ve been taking a lot of supplements too, just to make sure I keep my necessary mineral and vitamin levels up.
I started this with the blessing of my doctor. He saw me again when I was down fourteen pounds and he could find that I’m suffering no ill effects.
Lots of green veggies, meats, cheeses, and a generous helping of ground flax-seed on my salads.
Like I said, I know that I can’t keep this weight loss at a pound-a-day for much longer. I’ll hit a plateau and change a little of my dietary habits and my workout routine; and that usually pops me right through it.
At each short-term goal of weightloss, I’ll raise my carb-intake just a bit and do something different cardio-wise.
That’s good to hear. I just worry because of what some doctors and nutritionists say, and because of what happened to my friend.
The thing was, his diet looked really awful to me. He had to buy all of his food from them, at the tune of about $75 per week, and that was back in the late 80s. For that money, he got little wafers and other stuff, and he was “allowed” to eat maybe two wafers and a grape for an afternoon snack. And when he lost the weight he wanted, he was allowed to go back to his old way of eating.
Welcome GrizzRich nice to have you here. I’m a former low-carber and still believe in the basic principles of the low carb lifestyle. These days my diet looks more like the maintenance phase of Atkins with plenty of veggies and whole grains. I still don’t eat any white food, no white sugar, pasta, rice, potatoes. Looks like you’re doing everything right in terms of getting plenty of veggies and fiber.
My experience with low-carb is that most people hit a third week stall after the initial fast weight loss. That plateau may last a couple of weeks but if you keep doing what you’re doing you’ll make it through.
tdn you do have a way with words. In my mind I’m imagining you working out in front of your TV set, screaming for sweet mercy. Of course in my mind you look like a chubby John Travolta covered in sweat so it’s a pleasant enough image 
Today (and yesterday) I weighed in at 171.5 I’m currently at about 179th place in the challenge so I haven’t made it back to the top 150 and the thing ends on April 5. I’m not sure I’ll be able to get enough steps in to make it but it’s been a good month. 4 days a week of 20000+ steps have caused me to lose weight without really changing my eating habits, just like they said.
I’m cool with that. Just hope I can keep up the momentum once the challenge is over.
Like I said in that other thread, I’m more like a chubby Ian Anderson.
UPDATE:
I am a 43 year old, 6’-3" man, who weighs:
July 1st: ~310#
Aug 1st: 297# (-13)
Sep 1st: 287# (-10)
Oct 1st: 281# (-6)
Nov 1st: 269# (-12)
Dec 1st: 263.5# (-5.5)
Jan 1st: 260.0# (-3.5)
Feb 1st: 253.2# (-6.8)
Mar 1st: 248.8# (-4.4)
Apr 1st: 247.8# (-1.0)
Last month, I was eating normally, but not exercising normally. And it shows on my April 1st weigh-in. This weekend, on March 31st’s weigh-in, I was at 245.8# (a new low), but then I went out to dinner with the wife at Johnny Carino’s, and loaded up on steak, pasta, yummy bread, and nearly a full liter of wine, I paid the price on Sunday morning at the weigh in…+2. :smack:
On the other hand, last night was cool and the moon was full, so I went on a walk with my wife. She was already in her evening loungewear…floral print tights and a cami, but she was game to go; I was wearing just a pair of shorts and a t-shirt. As we walked to a vista overlooking the city lights, she felt a little chilly, and I did something I had not done ever before, I took off my tee and gave it to her to wear and I didn’t feel overly conscious about how I looked walking in public…(at night). 
She was just as surprised as I was. As we continued our uphill portion of the circuit, she got winded and I was just breathing normally…last year, it was the reverse! Thank you, Life Fitness CT9500HRR Rear Drive Cross Trainer!
My middle son has started up baseball again this season (and I am coaching his team as well) and practices are on Mondays and Wednesdays, which means I can only work out on the other 3 weekdays. As long as I stick with it and go those three days, I should still lose about 5 pounds a month and I am going to be very vigilent about it.
Welcome newcomers, and Good Luck!
~310#/247.6#/200-210#
I started eDiets yesterday. Obviously, the previous “do it myself” diets were not doing anything (while I wasn’t gaining weight, I wasn’t losing it either, and I was making horrible choices w.r.t. food). So, I’ve now put the eating decisions in someone else’s hands. I have a refrigerator full of food. Some of it is even vegetable. We’ll see how it goes for the month. (I am a bit discouraged that a number of the frozen foods that were on the list don’t actually seem to exist.)
I have one. It is my nemesis. It mocks me when I’m not using it (it mocks me when I am using it). But it does it’s job and it means that I can get bike rides in when it’s pouring down rain outside, or its too cold, or I’m to lazy to get my helmet. (Always wear a helmet outside. Always. I know too many people who were spared serious injury because of a well fitting helmet. Inside, stationary, on carpet? not quite so necessary.)
Anyway, it’s set up inside, in the living room, in front of the TV. I have mine on a $10 yoga mat instead of on a $40 trainer mat because they really are the same thing. For me, it’s better than a stationary bike - because my bicycle is fitted for me and set for me - so it’s good practice riding my bike, rather than riding a bike like object. There are also DVDs that you can use called “Spinervals”, which will kick you into shape. They have adjustable resistance. Mine was easy to set up and easy to get my bike in and out of. Mine is a fluid trainer (which tend to be quieter). Wind trainers and magnetic trainers tend to be louder (if you can try one at the bike shop - do.)
One thing - most I’ve seen are for road bikes, and you aren’t getting a road bike. Make sure that you buy one that fits what you’ve purchased.
Oh, I could probably find some way to injure myself while riding inside, stationary, on carpet. They didn’t call me “Crash” when I was a kid for nothin’. I even had a little helmet to wear that my family called my “crash helmet.” Nice, huh? My mom also called me “Pudgy” as a baby but we won’t get into that … (okay, so I was an 11-pound baby).
Anyway, thanks so much for the info. I’ll be sure to ask more specifics about what will work with the bike I plan to get and make them get some out for me to try. The shop we’re getting them from is locally owned by people who are really knowledgeable about this kind of stuff and only sell bikes/exercise equipment so I’m sure they’ll help me find the right thing. I also totally get what you’re saying about it being good practice. That’s one of the reasons I want an indoor trainer: I’d really like to improve my bike-riding skills which, frankly, have never been too great. Granted, my experience has been mostly riding a 10-speed on a gravel road (ouch!).
Ah, I missed that in the other thread. You’re talking Jethro Tull’s Ian Anderson, right? I just found their web site. I had no idea they were still kicking around. I loved them back in the day.
I never did get up off my arse and walk around the parking lot here at work today. No excuse except for pure laziness.
That’s the guy. And they’re still popular, even with kids. Apparently it’s not unusual for families of three generations to go to their concerts.
Hoo boy, it was my wife’s 40th birthday, so we went away the weekend, with lots of relaxing (no exercise) and fine dining (rich food).
Now I’ve got 9 lbs. to lose to hit my target weight. 
(It was a great weekend, though )
There are four or five types of trainers: wind, magnet, fluid, mag+fluid, and centrifugal clutch. You attach the bike to the trainer at the rear axle, and the tire rides a roller which is attached to the resistance unit. Wind, fluid, and centrifugal clutch units increase resistance with increased speed, the best units match what you’d feel on the road. The resistance of mag trainers is set by how close the magnets are to the rotor. Mag trainers don’t have good “road feel”, and due to properties of magnets when they get hot actually lose resistance as you work out.
At ~ $150, you’re probably looking at a wind trainer. I haven’t used one myself, but I’m told they’re quite loud. You might want to check into getting a used fluid trainer. I’m sure that many folks buy trainers at the beginning of the off season with the best of intentions and find that they didn’t use them.
I bought a Kurt Kinetic Road Machine, a top end ~ $300 fluid trainer, the beginning of the year and have been using it regularly since then.
Trainers, like all stationary aerobics machines can be quite boring. I use the “Spinervals” workout DVDs to keep my mind busy and my body working hard (for example, I can’t imagine trying to watch TV while working out, I’d slack off far too much).
Some tires are better than others. My Continental gp4000’s are holding out better than the bontrager race lite’s that I used to use. Continental recently came out with a tire for use with trainers and rollers that is supposed to wear well. Of course to use it you really need a bike dedicated to the trainer, or at least a dedicated rear wheel.
A mountain tire like on yellowval’s new Trek 820 may not be very comfortable. But unless the bike is going to be ridden off road, I’d probably swap out those tires for slicks anyway. I’ve done this on my mountain bike since I mostly ride it on the local multi-use trail. Performance’s house brand is pretty inexpensive.
After my Century Ride on March 4th, I tapered down my riding distance and intensity a bit, averaging about 120 miles per week. My weight increased to almost 214 mid month, but was back at 210.2 on the 1st. There’s a lot of jitter in my scales body fat % measurement, but I believe it was trending down all month. There’s more room around my waist (and maybe a bit less around my thighs).
Since my road bike’s in the bike hospital for the next few days, I’m going to try out my mountain bike on my normal tuesday/thursday loop up King’s Mountain. As I mentioned above, I’ve replaced the knobbies with slicks, so I should be able to make it up without too much trouble, but I’m wondering how well it will perform on the descent. My road bike rides as if it was glued to the road at 40+ mph, I don’t think I can ask the same of the hardtail.
Next big rides are Centuries on the 15th and the 22nd.
Report Card:
May: 295? -> 279 (-16)
June: 279 -> 260 (-19)
July: 260 -> 248 (-12)
August: 248 -> 233 (-15)
September: 233 -> 227 (-6)
October: 227 -> 221 (-6)
November: 221 -> 218 (-3)
December: 218 -> 230 (+12)
January: 230 -> 220 (-10)
February: 220 -> 209.8 (-10.2)
March: 209.8 -> 210.2 (+0.4)
295/210/195
Thanks for the additional advice, John. I really do appreciate it. The reason we’re going with mountain bikes is because we’re going to be moving to the country (on a shitty gravel road) within the next two years. It’s the farm I grew up on and as I mentioned earlier, I had some bad experiences on that road riding bike. Mountain bikes seem like the logical thing to do considering. We also plan to bring them along with us when we go to places like the family cabin where we’ll need bikes suitable for off-road driving.
Thank you John T. Conklin for the useful information. I had no idea there were so many options. I don’t actually own a bike but I might someday.
I’m down to 169.5 this morning color me happy. I haven’t been in the 60s for at least 2 years, maybe more.
I forgot my pedometer last night on my gig so my total steps yesterday are only around 11000 even though my actual steps are probably around 3000 more than that. Oh, well. There’s no where to put the thing when I wear a dress anyway.
Woo hoo! Brick wall were made for smashing.
I noticed last night that I can now pass the pencil test.
Thank you tdn I’m quite happy though I have to say that one of my goals is to weigh less than my husband and even though I keep inching closer he’s losing weight too so he still weighs 10 lbs less than me. :mad:
Pencil test???
Yeah, what’s the pencil test?
Put a pencil in the crease between your belly and upper groin. If the pencil stays there, you fail. If it falls to the ground, you pass.
It works for breasts and asscheeks as well. Double chins too, I suppose.
See, I knew about the breast pencil test. Knowing you’re a guy, you really messed with my mind there for a minute.
Well, I lost 5.4 pounds for March and I’m really, illogically, feeling disappointed. While I know that that’s a perfectly respectable weight loss, I wanted to lose more. But I wanted to eat more too. :rolleyes: This month I will be more careful!
Welcome to our newcomers, by the way!