Starting April 24 the fitness rooms at my gym will be closed for refurbishing for two weeks. :eek:
They’re offering TRX classes for free during this time. I’ll be able to go twice a week to the 5:30a class as Boot Camp will be over by then.
Then, after the two weeks, Boot Camp starts up again for eight weeks.
My problems with overeating are 100% emotional. When I’m feeling stressed and vulnerable, which is very often these days, I order delivery or hit up the nearest fast food place. I just ate four slices of pizza. It instantly relieves my depression, at least temporarily.
I’m generally a very behaviorally oriented person when it comes to making change. But this is an emotional problem so I’m not really sure what to do with it. This is about the fact that nothing impacts my mood as effectively and rapidly as junk food.
On the fitness front, I have very poor mobility due to low back pain. The low back pain is a direct result of being out of shape. I can’t even scoop my cats’ litter boxes right now --my husband has to help. I’ve tried doing the grok squat but those muscles are so tight and tense it usually just ends up being very painful. I started the year walking a mile daily but have fallen out of practice. Now I walk maybe two or three days a week. It’s not enough.
I had two years where I was in excellent physical condition - I could do 100 push-ups in 10 sets of 10, and pushed my car across the parking lot as a routine exercise. It was the best I ever felt, but I also had a very tough fitness coach breathing down my neck every day. Without his guidance, I seem to have gotten lost.
Hurt my wrist. Very sore calves.
So these twelve weeks were over on April 8. I did not reach my goal of less than 20% body fat. However, I did lose 8 lbs. and 4% body fat over 12 weeks, for a current weight of 123 lbs. and 21% body fat. Neat fact: I weigh less now, at 30 years old, than I did when I graduated from high school!
Awesome!
I’m getting my strength back after the two races. I had focused on aerobics at the expense of weight training, and lost a noticeable amount of straight. So, I’m back to lifting and was able to barely squeak out two reps of dips with 90 lbs. strapped to my waist today- a new PR.
The last half size I’ve lost has actually come with a weight gain, a smaller version of that teen summer in which I traded 5cm for 5kg. I’m back to the size I was for the immense majority of my adult life and refusing to look at the bedamned scale :mad:
Also finishing the move to the new house: movers come in tomorrow. The last few weeks I haven’t set foot in the gym or grabbed the bow except to move it, but I’ve also disassembled several large pieces of furniture, shuffled several of them around both houses and brought some of them to the containers. One bookcase was being eyed by someone else before I’d finished putting it down, I mentioned I was bringing in several more and she asked me to stand guard while she phoned for additional hands. Gotta love instant recycling 
I’ve also sanitized a wall which had had humidity problems and given most of the new flat a hand of white paint; the sanitized wall will eventually get some more work but what I already did needs to set first. Since this is actually affecting muscles which normally don’t remember they exist, I’m holding off on nagging myself about official exercise until I’m done with the move. There are some pieces of furniture a friend will hopefully take by the end of the month (he’s been looking for a new place for several weeks, the market here is crazy), and if he can’t, they’ll go to charity at the beginning of May. I expect to be back at the gym by May 15th.
Sounds like you’ve got a tough row to hoe there. Is there any way to focus on the reaction/behavior to your emotions? I’ve been trying to make similar changes in my life and I feel like I’m stuck in a rut I can’t get out of.
I lost my real-life diet buddy last year (she’s still alive but she regained a lot of weight and doesn’t have much patience for my stressing over going up and down 5 pounds) and it’s been really hard not having anyone to talk to. My husband is very supportive, but he’s a big-picture person and doesn’t have a lot patience with calorie counts and daily weigh-ins. He has some patience, but I find myself trying to limit my amount of diet chatter.
I ran/walked my first 5K yesterday, then came home and made gumbo.
I figured my legs would be sore, but it’s my abs that hurt. The muscles on either side of my navel are achy.
I forgot sunscreen, which was a no-no, so I will have to remember that next time. All in all I don’t think I did half bad…I ran/jogged the first mile with no issues.
I’ve been meditating more lately, so I’m trying to be a bit more mindful of how those cravings come and go, but it’s hard.
My husband… lol. He’s plenty supportive, but he’s just not fair.
Husband: I gained ten pounds in the last year. I weigh 160 now!
Husband (two weeks later): I’m down to 155lbs. I haven’t exercised at all, or tracked calories, or really… much of anything. But I stopped eating seconds at dinner.
Me: burns with the hatred of a thousand fiery suns
I have now been taking water aerobics for one year. It was twice a week until Jan 1 when they added a Saturday morning class. I’m trying to get into the gym at least one day a week for weights, but that is proving harder.
Does anyone use a Misfit tracker? I have a Ray and got it in rose gold. Which apparently is sufficiently copper colored for someone at the pool Saturday to ask me if I was wearing it for arthritis. Which I sort of am, but I’m not wearing copper for arthritis. Going to have to fix that somehow.
Can I brag a little?
Almost three years ago, I got put in the hospital with a bad bout of pancreatitis and was also diagnosed with diabetes. But we can call it what it was: big fat guy syndrome.
I weighed 315 pounds. My chart said “morbidly obese.”
Today I’m in the process of busting past the 230 mark. I’ve been on a real hot streak since the new year after a pretty long plateau - I was 255 in January.
The three-year anniversary will be in early June. I’m hoping to be at 100 total pounds lost by then. That means another 15 pounds in about seven weeks. Totally doable.
I’ve been pretty active the last year or so - a lot of biking, a lot more cardio in general. I can run a couple miles on the treadmill with no problem and my ultimate frisbee performance has increased dramatically.
My knees and (especially) my ankles aren’t happy with me, but I do my best to keep them strong and healthy. I went to PT last year and got a lot of good advice. I use ankle braces and I’ve learned how to use KT tape to prevent flareups of plantar fasciitis.
My next big push will be to incorporate a lot more weight training into my workout routine - something I’ve mostly avoided until now.
Things that have happened to me in the last year or two:[ul]
[li]For years I have had a plastic bin full of shirts given as gifts - I’ve found that when somebody buys you a shirt and you’re a big fat guy, they invariably buy one that’s way too small. I assume it’s because nobody wants to risk being cruel or callous by buying a shirt that’s too big for somebody who’s already too big. Anyway, all of those shirts have since been incorporated into my wardrobe. I pulled the last one out a week or two ago.[/li][li]I went to Busch Gardens and rode the roller coasters. All of them. Because I can fit in the seats. As a corollary to this one, airplanes are no longer an impenetrable hellscape. Just the normal sort of hell that everybody else has to deal with.[/li][li]My endocrinologist called me a case study for lifestyle change and had to turn down a physician who wanted to use me in a diabetes study because I’m too healthy. [/li][li]On the treadmill recently, my ankle started hurting at 0.57 miles, so I stopped to do something low impact. I was really irritated. Then I realized that I was irritated because I had to stop after “only” a half mile. Madness.[/li][li]I mentioned above that I play ultimate frisbee. It’s a casual weekly pickup game. Whenever a new person shows up, my brain immediately classifies them (as it classifies all men, women, and corpses) as being in much better shape than I am. But I regularly run the newbies into the ground and they go sit on the sidelines while I keep playing. Sure, I’m doing more of a rolling stagger by the time we move into the second hour, but I’m still making plays. My biggest personal goal at the moment (aside from the 100-pound mark) is to get fit enough to play in the pickup game mostly frequented by league players. Or maybe even to play in the league itself. Entry is wide open. Nothing stopping me but my own confidence.[/li][li] Last summer I biked a good-sized chunk of France’s Loire a Velo.[/li]
[/ul]
But here’s the biggest thing:
I’ve lost enough weight that not even my own psyche, wrapped in a hundred defensive layers of bad body image and humorous self-deprecation, can ignore it. I look [del]better[/del] good. I’m still a big fat guy, but there is astonishingly less big fat guy than there used to be.
15 pounds to go! And probably another 30-40 after that, but one thing at a time.
Bravo!
Good for you Johnny Bravo!
Yeah, I have so much envy for the lucky boys and their freaky metabolisms. I wish I could lose weight like that.
But we must all tend the garden we’re given, not the one we wish we had. I’ve been thinking about meditating, but I’m not really sure how to start. Can you recommend a book for a beginner who has the attention span of a crack-addled ferret?
The first book I ever read about meditation was Being Zen by Ezra Bayda. I thought it was a good introduction. There are also tons of apps (on Android, one called Insight Timer) that will walk you through guided meditations. And tons of YouTube videos, etc. There are so many resources out there these days. Start small. Start with five minutes. It’s harder than it looks.
ETA: Yayyyyy Johnny Bravo! I hope to be making a similar post someday. I can barely bend over right now. A good bit of inspiration coming from you!
I am a Big Fat Guy way out of the league of even most Big Fat Guys. I’m not going to post my weight. Let’s say, you couldn’t even throw a rock from Johnny Bravo’s high point and hit it. And I know how I got here, from years of neglect and depression and a job with a long commute that I used as an excuse to eat garbage while driving.
Well, I’ve at least started the process to end it all. My doctor send me a letter about blood test results back in March, saying stuff like “diabetes type 2” and putting me on metformin. So, I couldn’t ignore it any more.
So. For the past, I dunno, bunch of weeks since then, I have become Mr. Low Carb. Sodas and sugary drinks, absolutely cut out. No desserts. No bread that isn’t low carb or very high fiber. Avoiding sugar in general like the plague. No eating out for lunch. A low-carb protein shake for breakfast. Bringing water to work instead of getting Dr. Pepper from the fridge. When my meals happen, they are small. I don’t count calories precisely, but I’m probably eating between 1000 and 1500 calories a day, and that’s enough. I got a FitBit (my employer, the county, has a program to get them for $30 off) and I’m moving and walking.
I noticed pretty quickly that certain things are getting easier. It’s easier to do certain things and move in certain ways. It’s gonna be a while before my dress shirts are roomier, but I’m a notch tighter on my belt. So, there’s progress. The scale is frustrating me, though; I know I’ve lost at least 25 pounds since I started all this, but the scale hasn’t budged in about 10 days.
To be honest, I can’t believe that the transition was as easy as it was. I was the guy who would not leave a dinner roll on the table. And yet, somehow, I just dropped the bread from my diet, decided I wouldn’t look back, and I’m okay with that.
That goddamn scale better get with the program, though. Straighten up and fly right!
Measurements are just as important as the scale. Don’t get hung up about the weight numbers. You’ve lost inches in your waist, so you are making progress. Keep going@!
And WOOT to Johnny Bravo!
Sounds great! I’m sure it’s encouraging seeing the changes already. Does your Fitbit show heart rate? You should incorporate heart rate monitoring as you are working out. It will help ensure you are working out with a safe and effective amount of effort. Since you are just starting out, you want to make sure your heart rate doesn’t get too high until you have lost more weight and are fitter.
I’ve never been in your situation, but hearing stories I know that it’s not always going to be as easy as this first few weeks. Keep that in mind as you work on this. Keep making positive changes and keep the long-term goals in mind. Try to look at all the positive aspects rather than just the number on the scale. Eating healthier foods means your body will have higher-quality fuel and building blocks. Exercising more means you will be stronger, have better mobility, and will be counteracting the health effects of the weight. As I’m sure you know, this is a long process and you should use all improvements as sources of motivation.
Max Torque, if you are walking more, you might adding a little muscles which can hide fat loss when you are measuring using a scale alone.
I thought I’d miss bread and pasta a lot when I dropped it from my meals, but I didn’t. It’s weird that something can go from being a staple to just gone. I miss tortillas, and eat pasta maybe once a month. But there’s sourdough bread & German pretzels in the house for my husband and I just … don’t look at it as food anymore.
Thanks for the recommendation, Spice Weasel!
Max Torque, if you’re looking for ways to jazz up your water, I recommend a trip to Dollar Tree for one of their infuser bottles. Cantaloupe and cucumber is surprisingly good. Lemon and mint is good, too. I’m from Lamesa, and when I go to visit my parents, that’s a MUST for water drinking there even with the RO filter. I’m assuming Raiderville is Lubbock? You’ve got better water than Lamesa, but the caprock is the caprock.
First of all, awesome start! Once you get momentum it becomes surprisingly easy to keep going. That weight is going to melt away pretty soon.
Plateaus are completely inevitable. Just keep on keepin’ on.
Elsewhere, 1000 calories a day might be way too little for a dude your size. Self-control and willpower failures are also inevitable. If you’re not eating enough, they come more often and it’s harder to bounce back from them. It doesn’t make sense, but you might need to eat a little more in order to lose weight more quickly. But see below, because I don’t know you.
It really boils down to this: make sure you’ve got a proper professional support structure in place. That’s not just your doctor - it means an endocrinologist and maybe a dietician. It means a physical therapist when you get to the point where you want to be more active.
If I could do one thing differently (other than not get fat in the first place), it would’ve been to start PT as soon as I became more active. My ankles, man. My freaking ankles.
On water: I’ve been big into seltzer water lately (not club soda, beware the difference). It satisfies my textural cravings without adding artifical sweeteners and syrups. Turns out I only really wanted the bubbles. Haven’t had diet soda in a couple months now.