Six pounds down for January - only 44 more to go! I feel better, my pants are fitting better, I just need to learn to stay off the scale.
Many thanks to the fabulous Dopers here and at SparkPeople - I don’t post a lot, but I definitely feel the group support and it makes a big difference. Just knowing that other people have to drag themselves to the gym and struggle with refusing the junk food lets me ease up on myself:)
My goal for February is to work in some strength training, since I’m doing some cardio most days of the week. I’m a bit intimidated by the weight machines at the gym, so I may start out with some of the SparkPeople at-home exercises to build some confidence.
Aren’t those videos great? I downloaded an ab exercise one and I tell you what…it wipes me out! (Naughty ivylass, though, I haven’t done it in a few days. Yes, I want a nice trim tummy to go with my bikini for my Key West trip in June! I must get back into it.)
How does this work? I mean, I understand the density difference between muscle and fat, and all the good scientific stuff. But if somebody says, “Hey, I lost ten pounds!” I know exactly what they mean. But when somebody says they lost an inch or two inches or whatever, I have no clue what that really means. Little help?
Santo, it’s kind of odd that you can squat more than you deadlift. Are you doing free squats from a rack or stand, or smith machine? Or do you have a prior back or hamstring injury?
Illuminatiprimus, don’t worry too much about what other people are doing. It’ll come. You’re competing against yourself, not others. Even if you’re looking at competitive sports, you’re still working against yourself primarily, striving for improvements over the last time you did that exercise or activity. A more useful mark than pure weight is the weight of the load vs. your body weight.
When I first started getting back in shape I was pathetic. I ran across my old workout notebooks the other day when I was going through old papers and throwing stuff out. I initially started out with a bare bar to get used to doing the exercises again, but even a month later I was still having a hard time with light weights. For example, I looked at one workout where I was doing 3 sets of 15 reps; benching 30 kg (66 lbs.); squat 50 kg (110 lbs.); deadlift 60 kg (132 lbs). I had failed reps on the last set for most of those exercises! That was a little over two years ago, at a body weight of about 85 kg (187 lbs.) I couldn’t do a pullup, had never tried a clean or jerk, and 1–2 km on the elliptical was the most I could handle for cardio. Running had me gasping in no time and my joints hurt because I was too heavy and unconditioned.
Now, my max bench press is about 115% of my body weight, squats are at just over 150%, and after a couple of months of creeping up on it, I reached a personal best 2x body weight deadlift a couple of weeks back. I can do about 12–15 strict pullups per set, and I just ran a 5k yesterday. My clean and jerk is still pretty bad, though. I’m sure I need a coach to correct my form because my slow lifts are good compared to the dynamic Olympic lifts. My max jerk is only at 75 kg, which is what I weigh now, and my clean is only 90 kg. Some people whose strength is about equal to mine on the slow lifts are putting more than their body weights over their heads, so I’m obviously doing something wrong. (That’s where comparisons are helpful.)
It didn’t happen overnight, and it took hard work applied wisely, but that’s where I am now compared to what I started out with. I fully believe that just about anyone is capable of the same kind of progress. Heck, I don’t even work out as much as I probably should. If I were doing 4–6 days a week instead of 2–3, I’d probably be a lot stronger and faster. One of you guys might beat me in a year or so if you’re more disciplined than me!
She probably means that you can start measuring your gut for loss, and start measuring your arms and legs for increases. Bodybuilders go for size, so you’ll often see stats on bodybuilder forums with neck, chest, arm, waist, thigh, and calf measurements along with more basic stats like height and weight.
I personally measure performance above all. If I did a certain weight last time, I want to go up a bit this time. If it’s a timed exercise, I want a faster time. If it’s rounds for time, I’m going for one more or at least a partial more than what I could manage before. I weigh myself maybe once or twice a month now, and the last time I measured anything was when I was looking for new clothes. My wife started taking some pictures a few months back, and those are interesting because I could see some definite changes despite my nominal body weight being about the same. For me, it’s more about what I can do, though the aesthetic changes follow anyway. Not that I’m complaining, mind you
This has not been a good week. I was just really getting into a groove last week, and was weighing under 88kg for the first time in a while, and then it snowed.
I can’t go running, the gym has been closed (because the school it is part of has been closed), and it’s all been a bit crap.
I did get out wednesday for a run with a much faster colleague, and ran 4 miles at 8 minute miles. Given that some of that included walking on the slushy/iced up bits, I was pretty happy with my pace (close to 7:40ish). My aim is for a 10km in 45-ish minutes in March. But it has snowed again, and my wife cleared out my wallet last night, so I don’t have the cash to go to the pool for a swim (my new “can’t run/bike” lunchtime activity).
On the plus side, I realised a couple of weeks ago that I was suffering from Piriformis Muscle Syndrome. The piriformis muscle connects to the top of the thigh, and the sciatic nerve runs over (and in some people through) it. When it gets injured, it can cause sciatic pain down the leg, particularly when seated. I spend two hours a day commuting, and my left leg was getting impossibly painful during the drive. So, having identified the problem, I have been making changes - no locking my knees back when standing, engaging the glutes when walking/running, targeting my glutes during workouts, and stretching the whole hip area regularly. And the swimming will help, too.
And it is really working - much faster than I ever expected. So that makes me feel better.
Sorry - I think I need to clarify for everyone that I was joking in my entirety in my original point to Santo, and of course am not comparing my own progress to other people because we’re all different; I’m not competetive with anyone other than myself. Besides, Santo (and I imagine you) and I have different goals, he’s trying to bulk up and generally be a brick shit house-playing rugby dude, and I’m trying to be lean, mean and defined so I can get some high quality booty on gay dating sites.
Bob Harper, from the Biggest Loser, is answering questions over at the NY Times site. Someone asked him about losing the last 10 pounds or so. He said:
Don’t know if that helps at all, but I know you’ve lost a lot of weight, so you should be very proud. I wish I was there already.
I lost no weight this week, but I increased my workout intensity and hopefully that’ll show up eventually. I feel stronger, anyway.
Oh, I got that, just wanted to say it again so that the other people reading this thread get some positive encouragement on the right path. Our goals aren’t as different as they might seem. I’m not a particularly big guy, and right now I’m just lean and defined. Believe me, if you saw me you would not think, “Geez, that guy’s huge.” Santo Rugger probably isn’t necessarily looking to bulk up (in fact, he said that he’s going to try to lean down soon) but to get stronger, which is my priority too. The same kind of training can fulfill all our goals.
Ceejaytee, I tried another of those comcast videos yesterday. It’s under ‘most popular’ then ‘dance party’ and it’s called “Firm: Cardio Dance”. It’s a pretty decent workout. The steps are varied enough not to be boring but easy enough to pick up that you get it right away. Today I went back to Zumba because it’s still more fun than anything else that I’ve found. I’ve been doing it for months and I’m not bored yet.
I despise the Smith machine! I’ll use it for shrugs, or for military press if I don’t have a spotter, but other than that I think it’s kind of useless. My lower back has always been pretty weak, and now that you mention it I pulled my right hamstring a couple years ago. I think it’s because I’ve squatted plenty of times before, but I only started dead lifting four or six weeks ago.
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I think this is sound advice, specifically the not happening overnight thing. The hardest part for me when I get back into a routine is realizing it’s hard, and having the willpower to do it any way. And then you feel like shit afterward, and are sore as heck the next day. You don’t feel like anything improved; in fact, you can actually feel even worse when you first start. But when you keep with it, and your body realizes that you’re not going to be easy on it, it finally gets its shit together and works harder for you. The endorphins and other chemicals make it so worth it after a couple of months, though, that’s for sure!
I’ve been thinking about this since I posted it, and I finally realized that every inch of circumference difference is an inch of radius difference. So, since I feel like I should lose about an inch and a half around my spare tire, my goal should be about 1.5 * 2 * pi = 9 inches. . . wow, that seems like a lot! But, like I said, one step at a time.
I already am a brick shit house-playing rugby dude. I’m trying to be lean, mean, and defined so I can get some high quality booty on straight dating sites.
First day of practice last night. My cardio was decent, even though I’ve been sick for a week. But, holy crap, were my legs on fire! No more deadlifting the day before the first time you run in nine months.
Another sigh…I stayed the same again. I hate this plateau stuff but I’m not going to let myself go under 1200 calories a day. At least the depressing Friday weigh-in before grocery shopping ensured that I didn’t even consider buying anything not on the list.
It helped cheer me up to put on my now-baggy jeans that were only a bit more baggy at my thinnest. It reminded me that this isn’t remotely a health issue, I look fine and that the only reason I’m so focused on this is the principle of the thing. I still get that panicked “what if I can’t do this?” feeling that I got back at the very beginning, though. I think at some level I’m still worried that I’m going to wake up and weigh as much as 2 of me again.
Karyn, thanks for the baba ganoush recipe. I’m going to make that for next week, it sounds delish.
I am a 4 year maintainer. After a rough Nov/Dec (death in the family, month in TX), my weight had creeped up to 137. I have been on a mission OPERATION BUSINESS SUIT to get back into shape to wear my lovely size 6 suits for a work conference on Feb 19. I was doing great, down to 133 and I got a killer sinus infection last week. I drank tons of tea with honey, theraflu with honey, didn’t really track calories (but I didn’t go hog wild either, still ate most of my normal healthy things).
Last week, I was insanely bloated. Skirts that had fit the week before were too tight. I’ve been too freaked out to get on the scale, but after re-starting on Monday, all my clothes are fitting better again.
My goal is to get back to 130 and stay there. I’m sure I will be right back here after the week-long work conference (with 3 buffet meals a day)!!
After a lifetime of avoiding exercise, I have started running on the treadmill everyday for 40 minutes (well running/walking). I’m amazed at how quickly I am building endurance, running up to 16 minutes at a time. I think I might actually LIKE running, which is pretty weird. I didn’t run last week while I was so sick, but I’ve been back on track this week.
I gained 2.6 pounds last week, but I expected it. We went to a conference (which included late nigh partying) and hosted our annual Super Bowl party, and I basically decided to take the week off from Weight Watchers. I could have been a little better, but I chose not to. WHich is all by way of saying: it was expected, more or less planned, and I’m not upset by it.
I have now officially lost 5 pounds. 5 more to my first mini-goal, which is when I get to buy myself some foo-foo spa stuff.
I am finding that I really like the Turbo Jam Cardio Party workouts. I was doing the 20-minute version, and this week stepped up to the 40-minute workout. Today I actually finished the whole thing for the first time and really feel like I accomplished something. 5 weeks ago I couldn’t even finish 20 minutes of aerobics without needing to quit early.
I do feel kind of thrashed right now, but I think that’s a combination of not enough sleep last night, weight training yesterday, and 40 minutes of moderately high impact aerobics today. Tomorrow I am taking a break.
Glory…can I have a little of whatever you’re having?
Like you I’ve never been an exerciser, and although I have been doing the requisite exercise, I just can’t say that I like it. I do pretty much what you’re doing on the treadmill, running and walking, but I only actually run for 1 minute at a time and I just can’t wait for that minute to end! It’s the Cybex treadmill’s weight loss routine at level 10, but boosted so it’s always on an incline (5-15 degrees) and a top speed of 6.5mph instead of 6.0mph. And for the love of Og, I hate it
I had a fantastic experience today. I was looking for my darkest jeans to wear to work. I put them on and, by golly, they were kind of snug. I was a little alarmed. They haven’t been this snug since I started South Beach 6 weeks ago. What gives?
So I took them off and looked at the tag, and they’re the jeans that are the next size down! These haven’t been anything looser than Public Indecency tight ever, and they were almost comfortable enough to wear to work!
I’m pretty stoked. I’m not really going by weight since I hardly ever get to the branch of the gym that has the scale, so this has been the truest proof I have that what I’m doing is working.
