Climbing The Mountain....Again

S

SportObsessive

New member
You can find my uninformative introduction in the intro page :). I can also be pretty wordy. Aside from that, here's some background information to better understand where I'm coming from...

I'm a 21-year-old male. I played volleyball and tennis in high school, along with doing recreational swimming. I'm currently a junior/senior in college, who works 40 hours/week (homework is done in those 40 hours...it's a great job) and is a leader in a local fraternity.

I'm getting a YMCA membership tomorrow and starting a swimming/stationary cycling routine. I'll be mixing in other excercises, obviously, but those are my main two categories. My motivation for (aside from getting in better shape) is both shallow (looking better for more relationship opportunities) and deep (I lost my father to a heart attack not too long ago).

Being that I go to school in the afternoons and work nights, I'll be attempting to work out 3-4 early mornings per week. I have a very easy swim plan set up and will be doing some easy cycling as I start going. I need low-impact workouts because I don't seem to have good knees (though, weight is obviously a large factor) and flat feet (which makes it tougher on the ankles).

I don't really have any specific weight loss goals, but I'd like to get back down to a 36 waist (I'm 6'4, so this is rather slim). I'm currently a 44 waist I'd like to do this by christmas time, but I'm not sure if that's a realistic goal.

In regards to dieting, it's probably amazing that I haven't gained more weight than I have given my lifestyle. Aside from typical dieting guidelines, I'll be replacing diet sodas with flavored and carbonated water. I'm going to replace frozen pizza (personal vice I have the most trouble shaking) with pastas. I'm a sucker for italian food.

I'm going to try to update this daily to put it into a routine. Even though I won't be online until evenings and nights, posts here are still very welcome. I'll answer any questions that come my way.

Good luck to everyone else!
 
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I'm going to replace frozen pizza (personal vice I have the most trouble shaking) with pastas. I'm a sucker for italian food.
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Pasta has a lot of calories in it - while whole wheat pasta gives yo the fiber bump that the body needs.. one - two servings on a plate is pretty sparse looking (Ok, so I admit I have a big appetite...) However by adding in a bunch of vegetables and some protein you can make a small portion much larger...

If pizza is what you love - don't give it up... adjust it so that it's healthier for you... be a little experimental in the kitchen if you can... Pizza dough isn't hard to make and freezes well (and guys who know their way around the kitchen are really H-O-T HOT!!! :D and you can make a healthier pizza and enjoy it...

Welcome to the site... have fun while you're here :D
 
I had all kinds of trouble getting to sleep last night (I'm an insomniac, this'll happen), so I put off getting that Y membership. I keep remembering how much I used to love swimming and biking, so I'm a little excited to start.

I did eat better today, though. So far I've had a little pasta (before I saw the advice here) and a skinless, boneless chicken breast with some red pepper. Also had a strawberry Dasani to drink with it. Tonight will be more chicken/pepper (I made 2, but only ate 1).
 
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So, after reading through some other journals (Big Mac's seems especially relevant and motivating....I look like his before with more hair), I've noticed how important eating more than 3 meals/day and keeping a detailed journal is. I think we'll try to start that tomorrow.

It's going to be tough to eat so many small meals after 21 years of 3 big meals. Is there anything I can eat that will satisfy my italian craving without hurting my diet too bad? There's going to be a lot of chicken in this diet too (unless I shouldn't...?). Really, I feel like I'm just winging this thing, but hopefully reading these other diaries will keep me from making the same mistakes.

I'm funny, too. I swear you'll see it one day.
 
SportObsessive said:
So, after reading through some other journals (Big Mac's seems especially relevant and motivating....I look like his before with more hair), I've noticed how important eating more than 3 meals/day and keeping a detailed journal is. I think we'll try to start that tomorrow.

It's going to be tough to eat so many small meals after 21 years of 3 big meals. Is there anything I can eat that will satisfy my italian craving without hurting my diet too bad? There's going to be a lot of chicken in this diet too (unless I shouldn't...?). Really, I feel like I'm just winging this thing, but hopefully reading these other diaries will keep me from making the same mistakes.

I'm funny, too. I swear you'll see it one day.
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There is nothing wrong with eating 3 meals a day, it's really about overall calories rather than when you eat them.

3 meals a day works well for me because i need to be satisfied, I wouldnt be full on 5-6 meals a day so I would eat more - tried and tested. So it is really what works for you. 5-6 meals a day has SOME benefits, like controls insulin and blood sugar, can control cravings, etc. But studies has shown it doesn't affect metabolism.
 
SportObsessive said:
I did eat better today, though. So far I've had a little pasta (before I saw the advice here) and a skinless, boneless chicken breast with some red pepper. Also had a strawberry Dasani to drink with it.
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What's wrong with pasta!?

Pasta can be VERY good for you! A lot of my lunches are pasta. I have 1 and a half cups of cooked spaghetti, and bolognese sauce and it comes under 400 calories. Just as long as you skip the creamy and cheesy sauces it's a pretty healthy meal!
 
austin_88 said:
What's wrong with pasta!?

Pasta can be VERY good for you! A lot of my lunches are pasta. I have 1 and a half cups of cooked spaghetti, and bolognese sauce and it comes under 400 calories. Just as long as you skip the creamy and cheesy sauces it's a pretty healthy meal!
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Hmmm. Those differing opinions are good to hear. I think I may, seemingly as always, may wind up in the middle of everyone's suggestions (a little bit of pasta, 4-5 servings a day, maybe?). Thanks for the insight.
 
So, today I hit the gym for a little under an hour. Here's what I've eaten so far...

Breakfastish - 3/4 cups spaghetti, one chicken breast with red pepper and seasoning salt, gatorade, dasani
Snack - Cheese popcorn, carbonated water

I've never been much for breakfast food and worked out before I ate. I'm just not hungry when I get up. I ate the first meal around noon today and had my snack at 3.

Since I forgot my cold-cut meats at home today, I'm thinking of going to Subway for my evening meal (close to work, fairly healthy?).

I felt great after working out today. I biked a total of about 7 miles, rowed 2500m (meters?), and did a stairclimber/skiing thing for about 5 minutes. Tomorrow I'm going to the pool, but apparently they're closing it soon for a 2 week(!!!) cleaning. Hopefully only being able to go for a few days and then having to stop for 2 weeks will make me want to do it more. At least, that's what I'm telling myself, anyway. :D
 
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Thanks, carinna!

For my working meal tonight I chose the 6" ham and turkey breast (double meat) on wheat with american cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, green pepper, and red onion with a baked cheddar and sour cream lays and raspberry dasani from the pretentious high school girl working the subway.
 
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Alright, so I did good and bad things this weekend.

Good - I stayed away from my friends' burgers, chips, etc. Most of the time, I stuck with my diet (which has expanded to include lettuce, tomatoes, yogurt, string cheese) and I've found it's easier than I thought to not eat tons of calories. I did get a frozen pizza, but I'm only eating 2 pieces in a sitting, so I don't think it's a huge deal.

I also stuck with my excercising Saturday. I made Sundays off days, mostly because I'm obsessed with the NFL. I think I should have one more off day each week, but I don't know where to put it in the week. One of my best friends said he's looking at starting at a gym, too, so if we start going together, he's going to teach me weight training.

Bad - I drank a lot of Jack Daniels Saturday night (with Coke Zero, but still...). I also got talked into, after drinking, a 2am burrito. Ugh. I don't know how unhealthy that was, but I can't escape the feeling it was 2 steps back.

But, I'm back this week. This has become more of a lifestyle change than a diet. I'm enjoying the foods I eat (and I used to hate tomatoes) and I'm not eating as much of the foods I used to enjoy. Each day I'm thinking more and more that I can stick with this. And knowing I'm going to have to come back and report my progress is helping to keep me from saying, "Ahhh, screw it."
 
Monday

I biked 10.56 miles in 35 minutes, rowed 2000m in 12 minutes, and walked half a mile. Along with whatever I walk while I'm at work.

Post-workout breakfast - Gatorade and yogurt.
Lunch - Two pieces pepperoni frozen pizza
At-work-snacks - 2 string cheese, 2 yogurt
Dinner, later - Chicken-lettuce-tomato sandiwch on wheat bread

All drank with Aquafina Raspberry. 3 six-packs for $4? Hell yeah!
 
You're on a roll man, you're doing great!

Btw, I use to hate tomatoes too.. well I still do. Just not as much. :)

V
 
Thanks V.

I decided to make Tuesdays my second off day for working out because I was exhausted this morning and needed to sleep in. So, I'm going to workout Wed-Sat and Mondays.

Last night I had the final 2 pieces of that pizza. Today...

Breakfast - Yogurt, string cheese, water
Lunch - 2 slices ham, pepperjack cheese, toasted wheat bread, water
Snack - Chocolate Frozen Yogurt
Dinner - Unknown

It's been tough to figure out what I want to eat all day long. I may hit up the grocery store near work and try to find something for tonight. I'm having a hard time eating 2000 calories a day now that I'm watching what I eat. Like, I know I need more calories, but I don't want to do it eating junk food either. Maybe I'll experiment fruits I haven't tried yet, since I'm not a big fan of the typical oranges and apples.
 
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Dinner is 2 meat rolls. One is turkey w/ a slice of cheddar cheese and spinach wrapped in a tortilla shell, the other is ham/cheddar/spinach/tortilla. Looks like the ham has a dressing on it, but I'm not sure what it is. Neither roll is large, caloric intake is unknown (made by Festival Foods?), but given how little I seem to be eating, it's probably not terrible.
 
Last night I had 2 string cheeses before going to bed. This morning, I practically had to pull myself out of bed to go to the gym. I did about 10 miles on the bike (level 7 of 20 so far) and 2000m on the rowboat along with a quarter-mile of walking on the track in between.

I was looking at the food I had last night, because I didn't really want to go to the store today, and found out my BBQ shredded chicken only has 630 calories in the entire bowl and there's enough to feed me for at least a day. So...

Breakfast - Gatorade (I'm out of yogurt! Ugh...)
Lunch - 2 bbq chicken sandwhiches on wheat bread with water
Snack - I bought a bag of MM's to snack on all day long.
Dinner - One sandwich with water

Still only about 1200 calories for the day and I spent 400+ in the gym today, which is a net of only 800. I'll probably grab an apple or orange from the healthy wheel of death at work, but still. And I weighed myself after my workout today (as I did last week), and my weight is pretty much the same. Frustrating, but I know it can take a little while...:chillpill:

How do I get my calories up? At my height and weight, the calculator put my reccomended calories around 3000(!!!!!) and I'm getting about half of that daily. What else should I eat or drink?
 
It looks like you don't many veggies, I suggest adding some. If you need ideas, get a cook book or look for some recepies online.
 
Did the gym this morning, did 2000m rowing in 10 minutes! Usually it takes me 12, so I was a bit surprised by that. I do have blisters on my hands from it, though, so I may take a break from that exercise for a while. I'm going to have to skip working out Saturday, as I'm going home Friday night after work (4 hour drive) for the weekend. So, I guess that means I'm working out Tuesday.

At the store today I did pick up some nut & fruit bars for breakfast food, along with more fruit and some other healthy foods.

Breakfast - Gatorade 220 calories
Lunch - 3 slices pizza, banana, water ~ 700 calories
Snack - Yogurt, apple ~ 275 calories
Dinner - 2 homemade wraps with mozzerella cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, and shaved chicken breast in whole wheat tortilla, water ~ 530 calories

Total ~ 1725 calories. I may eat something before bed tonight and up that number a bit considering I work out about 400 calories per day.

Also, I remembered this morning that when I weighed myself last week I had done it in my workout clothes and when I did it yesterday morning, it was in street clothes. So, I weighed myself this morning in my workout clothes and saw the number was 1.5 lbs less than last week. Hopefully that's not a fluke and means I'm doing something right. Guess we'll see...
 
Today wasn't a good day for my diet. I didn't work out today either. I've eaten about 1500 calories today, none of them very good. I brought 2 apples to work today, but the damage was done.

Last night, shortly after I got home, the cops came looking for one of my 7 roomates. Naturally, when my roomates were home earlier in the night, they'd been drinking. Seeing the evidence, the cop proceeded to tell us we were being labeled as a nuisance, he will be informing the university, and will inform my landlord...all because I was "being uncooperative." According to him, I knew where all of my roomates, and their friends were. This morning I then dealt with the aftermath of that. Stressful, to say the least.

I won't be on this weekend either, since I'm going home. I might even be getting a new car, if I can find the right one :D
 
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