I’m trying to get today’s weigh-in on time instead of late like last week. I didn’t really know what to expect this week. I’ll explain more in a minute, first on to the numbers.
Previous Weight — 284.0 lbs (on 01.17.2013)
Current Weight — 281.2 lbs
Change In Weight — -2.8 lbs
That makes me happy and sad at the same time. I know, weird right? Let me explain … you see last Thursday I was 281.6 lbs. I know, that’s only 2 days after last weeks weigh-in but I was down a lot. My body has a weird ebb and flow to losing the weight this time around.
Heading into Thursday, if you read my last weigh-in, you’ll know I had a awesome work dinner that night. The next morning I was up nearly 4 pounds after the steak and all the fixins. What followed was 4 days of eating great and within calorie budget (which was awesome) but 4 days of being tired and not motivated which meant no workouts (not awesome). This obviously didn’t bode well for getting rid of that 4 pounds of water so it went down very slowly.
The past few days we’ve had great workouts even though they’ve been hard. I’m really not the best evening workout person, especially after a long day at work or at home with the kids. Despite all of this crazy water gain after Thursday I still managed to lose this week so that’s amazing and I’ll take it!
I’m looking forward to some killer workouts this week and seeing if I can’t get into the 270′s by the end of January.
How was your week?
Well the week got away from me and if you follow me on twitter you likely already saw this but I weighed in on Tuesday. I took a picture and everything, just like I usually do, I just haven’t had time to post it, sorry.
Straight to it, here it is:
Previous Weight — 287.8 lbs (on 01.08.2013)
Current Weight — 284.0 lbs
Change In Weight — -3.8 lbs
Pretty awesome progress for my second week, I can’t complain at all! What’s weird about it though is that most of that was lost at the end of last week and then I flattened out over the weekend. My losses are definitely flowing differently now without free meals or anything which is taking some getting used to.
Yes, I still get on the scale every day. It’s something I’ve always done and always will. I feel like it helps me to be honest with myself and I don’t go nuts if I don’t lose. I do question the changes though, be they too dramatic or not at all because I really do care how my body is effected by what I do to it.
My food has been dead on, like I always want. My wife’s to thank there as she continues to make some amazing meals every day. We plan the whole week out on the weekend and then she executes most of it by the time I get home from work each day. It’s been awesome for her and me as we’re both seeing great progress on the scale.
I’m consuming around 2,000 calories per day through 6 small meals usually consisting of 3 traditional meals (smaller though) and 3 smaller snacks. My staples are things like greek yogurt w/granola mixed in, hard boiled eggs, fruit, trial mix (usually at night), quinoa (in random dishes), chicken, turkey, and peanut butter mixed in random things. I honestly have trail mix almost every night as my last snack, it’s weird. Yes, it’s the kind with raisins and chocolate mixed in, I won’t lie. It is however only 1/4 – 1/3 cup so that helps. That little bit of sweet helps cover my cravings so it’s win win all around.
I’m not planning on changing anything this week to be honest. Tonight (as I’m writing this) I’m returning from a big work dinner downtown. It’s the first time I’ve eaten bad this year … and by bad I mean the food was absolutely fantastic but I’m stuffed and likely shouldn’t have eaten so much. It’ll be interesting to see how my body adapts to the food over the coming days. This is by far not a regular occurrence so it’ll be nice to get back at it tomorrow.
How was your week? Hopefully as good as mine!
I know it’s hard to imagine someone making that statement. I mean, they’re just clothes what’s the big deal, how can I possibly hate them?
As someone who’s lost, gained, lost, gained … and repeated this a number of times (15 and counting I think) clothes are my arch nemesis. I only once reached a weight where I was starting to feel comfortable in gym clothes and that was nearly 2 years ago when I reached 249 pounds. I still have those clothes and try them on often, sadly they don’t yet fit.
Part of my hatred for gym clothes also comes from the fact that when I workout at the gym I’m very self conscious. I know, that’s weird for a guy to say but it’s the honest truth. I’m not so self conscious that I wouldn’t work out but that doesn’t mean I’m comfortable while I’m there. I find it best to just put my headphones on, put my head down, and just knock out a killer workout … to ignore everyone and everything around me and just focus on the exercises.
Because of this I usually try to find the baggiest shirt & shorts I can to wear into the gym. That way I’m not worried about wearing clothes that are too tight and make me feel fatter than I am. The problem with these baggy clothes is that they’re usually cotton which is one of the worst materials to wear when you’re sweating and really pushing yourself. Cotton is ridiculously hot and clingy and shows sweat marks instantly. That’s not exactly flattering when you’re trying to not increase attention to yourself yet you’re covered in sweaty patches.
What makes it worse is that I’ve tasted the forbidden fruit of airy & comfortable gym clothes that actually match! Now I just kick myself even more for gaining some weight back and being miserable in my heavy cotton shirts again.
I don’t say all of this to scare you away from working out or to confine you to your basement. I still get out there and and make it happen, it’s all a part of the process. You see, the thing is that all of this fat self talk is just me being in my own head … at times I’m my own worst enemy. No one has ever given me a look nor have they made a comment at the gym. Quite the opposite actually, if anything I actually get support and respect for working out and getting healthy. Because of this I know it’s part of the learning process to accept myself and accept what I’ve done to my body. It’s part of the process of gaining better health and confidence in my own body.
It’s a hard thing to admit and an even harder one to accept, but most important lessons aren’t easy. If you’re letting your clothes or self confidence get in the way of working out, don’t! Get out there and just make it happen, give yourself a chance … you might be surprised with the results. Even if you do end up a sweaty cotton mess at the gym, at least there’s the microfiber light and the end of the tunnel 
I know I usually weigh-in on Saturdays but with the new year on a Tuesday and with me changing everything up this year nows as good a day as any to jump on the scale.
In the interest of full disclosure and transparency, and even though I mentioned it the other day, here’s my weight information going into January 1st.
Last Year Weight — 266.6 lbs (on 10.20.2012)
First Of The Year Weight — 294.2 lbs (on 01.01.2013)
Change In Weight — +28.6 lbs
I know it’s even more crazy when you think about it only being around 2 months that I gained that weight in. I don’t think I was eating that crazy but I was eating bad, there’s no doubt there. My body doesn’t handle bad food combined with no workouts at all.
Now on to this weeks weigh-in, hopefully with a more positive message. One thing to note about today’s weigh-in, again in the interest of full disclosure, is that it’s in the morning after sleeping and is not after a workout (like previous years). I try to be very consistent in when and in what conditions I weigh-in in order to get comparable numbers.
Without further ado:
Previous Weight — 294.2 lbs (on 01.01.2013)
Current Weight — 287.8 lbs
Change In Weight — -6.4 lbs
That feels really good, I have to admit. I know a lot of that was water but I also worked out really hard and ate great. My wife and I both worked out hard this week and did a vast majority of our cooking at home. My workouts for the week consisted of primarily circuit training and elliptical. We ate out a few times (2 if I remember right) but I picked healthy options like chicken kabobs with a pita and broccoli.
Heading into the second week I’m excited to see how things play out without any type of free meal. I’m hoping my body keeps on burning and I keep on losing without the ups and downs I’ve had in the past. I’m starting to feel my endurance and strength coming back. It amazed me last week how weak I felt in some of the workouts, it’s only been 2 months and I felt like I was starting over again. I actually had to stop a few workouts short because I just didn’t have anything left. That’s fine, I still had a killer workout and this week I’m hoping to push even further. In time I’ll be back to where I was and hopefully hit some new levels.
How’s your weight loss and workouts going in the new year?
A friend of mine on Lose It! posted a question the other day asking if they should re-friend someone they removed from their friends list due to inactivity. Almost everyone (including myself) said yes, why not? Unless they’ve disrespected or angered you then what harm could it do? In fact, you might be the motivation they need to keep it going this time around.
In the beginning of any new or restarted workout program even the smallest things can keep you motivated. A comment by a friend about how good you look, how your clothes start to feel looser, seeing a change (any change) for the better on the scale, sleeping better at night, that sore feeling after s workout, or even playing with your kids and not getting winded.
Now in this crazy social age where everyone is interconnected via mediums like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, LinkedIn, etc there are even more ways to get (or lose) motivation. I know it doesn’t always feel as good as someone you know IRL saying how good you’re doing but a virtual high five, kudos, or even a Like can add up. Sometimes even just posting and staying on track yourself can motivate others to say “me to, I can do that”. Just because they aren’t being social all the time doesn’t mean you’re not impacting or motivating someone.
Motivation comes in many different forms to many different people. I always enjoy congratulating people with their progress and helping talk them through their mistakes. It helps me to help them as much as I hope it helps them to realize that mistakes are natural. Not everyone is perfect at recognizing others progress but that doesn’t mean you should stop following them.
I’ve received many random messages from people just thanking me for showing them that they can do it, they can lose weight to. Often I get them at times when I to am struggling. Just because I track on things like LoseIt doesn’t mean I’m making progress toward losing. Sometimes I’m just staying accountable and other times it’s me trying to be consistent. What you find sometimes is that other people can often see more positive in your progress then you can, especially when you’re beating yourself up for something. That alone is reason enough to keep or re-add a friend.
That one time they launch the application after not using it for months and still see you making an effort, and perhaps even seeing your successes, could be the final push they needed to get them back on track. Sometimes it’s the smallest things that are the difference between success and failure.
Are you helping motivate or making a difference online?
You may already know this but I’m an avid user of Lose It for the iPhone … they also have an Android client and a great website as well. A few years ago I created a web page to track all of the available Lose It badges because at the time there wasn’t anything nice out there to help people figure out what badges there were and how to get them.
Since I first put together that page it’s been one of my highest trafficked pages on this blog. Next to my Nike+ iPhone review it’s my second most visited page.
Well late last year Lose It released a huge new Premium update to their application and along with that they added a ton of new features and badges. I hadn’t updated the Unofficial Guide Lose It badges to badges until now. So if you’re looking for info on the new badges go check it out! If you’ve never tried Lose It then I highly suggest you give it a shot, it’s free!
I don’t normally post a new blog entry each time I update the guide but because this time there were so many new badges introduced I wanted to add a new posting. Here’s a look at some of the new badges.
Enjoy, and don’t forget to check out the complete guide!
I know entering into the new year it’s a stereotype to set health & fitness resolutions goals but I’m doing it anyhow. In the past 12 years of working to improve myself and having lost over ~160 pounds I’ve set a lot of goals but this year I’m going somewhere I’ve never gone before. Here’s my first goal of the year:
Goal 1: Lose 80 Pounds
I know, that’s a lot of weight but I’ve also never set an annual goal of weight loss, never in 12 years. I’ve always just said I was going to eat healthier and work out more consistently. Never have I set a weight loss goal, until now.
I’m weighing into the new year at 294.2 which is pretty much where I was at the start of last year. By the end of October I was down to about 266. I’m hoping that a bit of my gain is water weight but I’ve got my work cut out to lose my goal of roughly 20 pounds per quarter in 2013.
No big goal like this would be successful without an equally big plan and here it is.
- Better Family Meal Planning — The first pivotal part of losing weight is eating right. As a family of 5 that’s very challenging with the smallest thing throwing off not 1 or 2 people but all 5. Heading into 2013 Amy and I are going kinda old-school with our planning. We bought a nice new calendar whiteboard and are using it to plan out meals each week. We usually plan on some loose paper, go shopping, and toss the list. We then randomly follow or don’t follow that schedule as the week progresses. The further we get into the week the less we usually hit that plan. That’s ending heading into 2013, we’ll be planning out meals and our workouts …
- Workout Variety & Planning — With Amy also getting back on track it’s even more important (and challenging) that we both get our workouts in. Much like the family meal planning above we’re setting up a schedule for workouts well in advance and sticking to them. Getting into a fitness routine and making it priority for this “me time” is going to be instrumental to both of our success.
- No Free Meal / Day Craziness — Heading out of the holidays and into a new year I’m sweet overloaded. I don’t want nor do I care to see a cookie or a sweet any time in the near future. I also don’t want any other bad foods. In 12 years of eating healthy’ish I can honestly say I’ve never not had a free meal or free day after ~1 week. Think about that, every week I was on track I ended it with some kind of free food something. I can honestly say I have no idea how my body is going to react not having to recover for a few days after eating bad (look at my October progress graph to see what I mean). I could lose a crazy amount of weight or I could hit an instant plateau.
Goal 2: Cycle The Triple Crown
I love cycling (as if you didn’t know that already) and last year I set a pretty crazy riding goal of 6,000 miles which I did not reach (I was over 1,500 but under 3,000). I know now that’s not realistic at this point in my life but that doesn’t mean I can’t set a big goal this year for cycling. To keep my goals interesting, yet still practical for my family, I’m thinking that the Wisconsin Triple Crown sounds awesome.
No, it’s not a horse race though I am a clydesdale cyclist so it is kinda a horse ride of sorts. Anyhow, it’s actually 3 different rides in May, June, and August. To qualify for the Triple Crown you must choose distances of equal or increasing length for each subsequent ride. I’m not certain on the distances I want to do yet but I’d like to shoot for either 50 km, 100 km, 100km, or 3 x 100 km rides.
My success in these rides is going to be primarily driven by my weight. I’ve shown it time and time again but the less I weigh the easier the rides are. Obviously the more I work out and the better I eat the more I can lose and as such the healthier and fitter I am. Thus it makes sense that when I lower my weight these rides won’t be as difficult. So the greater my success getting healthier the easier the rides will become.
Other Goals
I debated on adding other goals but to be honest, I can’t think of anything else. I’m happy in so many ways with parts of my life. Sure there are things I need to work on but are they worthy of a new year resolution goal or are they just things I need to improve on? To me New Years goals are usually things people want to be accountable for with concrete measurable timeframes, not necessarily things they need to improve on. If that were the case my list would be a mile long and they might not even be something I could measure success or failure with.
Anyhow, those are my 2 huge goals for 2013. How about you, have you set any goals for 2013?
