Cord's Quest

Heh, I ended my post in the "Plumpies" thread with something very similar. It's true and it's important to remember.

You entered it into FitDay, yeah? Only 100 calories over, give or take? Based on your weight and the fact that you've been exercising, I'm assuming that the target calories is after subtracting hundreds of calories from the amount your current body needs to maintain its weight. If so, you are almost certainly still under that number, so you might have not cut as many calories as you would have liked, but you still probably lost some weight. Just not as much as you would staying on target.

It was still a good day. You restrained yourself. You didn't guzzle cola all day. Your habits are still on their way to changing for the better and for good. So, pat yourself on the back and get that chin up.
 
heya just want to say great job on the changes you are making! if you compare your diet now to the way it was the difference is huge!

as for the push ups and sit ups... don't worry I have a fitness test even few weeks when I first started i could only do 12 push ups and 16 sit ups in a minute 8 weeks on I can do 29 push ups and 40 sits ups.... so you'll be surprised how quickly the number goes up..

I find trying to sent yourself little goals like that and testing yourself on them ever few weeks really helps as you have an incentive to beat yourself everytime!

good luck and keep it up!
 
April 8

Okay, it was actually a pretty good day, even with a little deliberate indulgence.

Food

Breakfast - 1 square of cornbread with butter, 1 orange

Lunch - 1 slice meat pizza

Afternoon snack 1 - 1 Kit Kat Chunky chocolate bar ( I decided that I wanted it, could afford to eat it, and that it will not in fact kill me. Then I ate it and felt guilty about it afterwards.)

Afternoon snack 2 - 1 apple

Afternoon snack 3 - 1 slice bread with almond butter, 4 oz. milk (just got hungry again)

Supper - 3oz mennonite sausage, 9 homemade perogies w/margarine, a big-ass salad (lettuce/tomato/carrot/celery/dried cranberries/sunflower seeds/splash of lime juice for dressing), 6 oz. cranberry cocktail

Midnight shift fuel - 2 slices pizza (I have decided to count the pizza into today's log, even though I'm not eating it until later tonight. If I don't eat during the night shift I get sleepy.)

Total calories - with the midnight pizza it comes out to 2769, which is just a smidge over my daily target. I'm deciding to be okay with that today.

Exercise

Morning - 20 minutes out with my daughter, helping her learn to ride her bike (lots of me walking along with her as she rode).
Afternoon - 30 minutes at the playground with my daughter (pushing her on the swing, running around after her)
Evening - 45 minutes nordic walking

Going to have my first weigh-in tomorrow - feeling a mix of anticipation and trepidation.

FitDay tells me that my diet this week has been 15% protein. That sounds a bit low to me. What do you all think?

FitDay also tells me that my average caloric intake this week has been around 2200, which is 500 less than my suggested target (said target being an intake designed to lose 2.16 lbs/week). Interesting. I haven't been feeling like I am starving myself at all.
 
Cord the Seeker said:
1 Kit Kat Chunky chocolate bar ( I decided that I wanted it, could afford to eat it, and that it will not in fact kill me. Then I ate it and felt guilty about it afterwards.)
Click to expand...

That made me laugh so hard. I think it's a reaction that everyone can relate to. Imo a small treat is important now and then but boy you always feel guilty after it heh.

Good going on the work been lurking in your journal for a while so thought it was about time to say hi.
 
I think the guilty feeling is a reaction we've learned to have from being big. It's almost a part of eating. When we eat a salad, we think "that was healthy". When we eat candy, we think "oh, you shouldn't have eaten that, fatty." Now that we're taking conscious control, that latter reaction is not relevant. If we plan for it and count the calories from it, why should we feel bad about it? :)
 
Okay, had my first weigh-in today.

Drumroll........

Anticipation rises........

The crowd holds its breath..........

Are you ready?..........

The scale says........

Ding!

308 lbs

We're 3 lbs down! Yes!

Feels great to get a positive result.
 
great job!

good job on the 3 lbs! i'm gonna ramble, but not that much i promise. When it comes to eating, look at it like this. if you weighed your goal weight, would you feel guilty about it? If not then don't sweat it. i never feel guilty when i eat bad, we are human. i know we want the weight to come of NOW, but the reality of things is that isn't..well not all at once. It would be silly to deprive yourself of the things you absolutely love. its torture! i still go to starbucks and get me a low fat venti mocha frappachino once a week. because i absolutely love them, and its my treat for managing so well. i also have a not so great meal once a week as a treat as well. Fast food is something i have given up completely and don't miss it. i've had kfc once and it was so heavy on my stomach. I mean don't listen to me completely, you have your own way of doing things as well. after all i go off instinct. I didn't want to be attached to something like counting calories or logging because i felt i would be tied to it. lucky for me what i do works. but i also took 2 years to get it right, but hey i'm here now! In all, i say never feel bad about treating yourself respctively. there are times when i want a brownie, but then i see its almost 800 calories for one and i just leave it be. but i do say you know what. i'll hit the gym an extra 10 min a day to burn it off or something hhahahaah. ok ramble over. sorry. i just love readin about people's success and tossing out what worked for me. i mean we all started around the same place, (i was at 330) so i feel more inclined to help my fellow 300 peeps. seeing that 2XX will bring a tear to your eye. and i can't wait until you guys get there!
 
Thanks!

I also don't want to be a slave to the calorie counter or food log, but I am trying it out now and finding it useful as a tool for understanding what I'm eating and what it all means nutritionally. Once that knowledge turns into new eating habits it will be less useful, I think.

My instinct is just to go with my gut, and eyeball things, but that is precisely why I am using a more structured approach right now, to shake things up.
 
So, I have decided to reduce my base activity level on FitDay from 'mostly seated' to 'seated all day', which is probably a more accurate description of my default state.
This gives me, accounting for my desired rate of weight loss, a caloric budget/target of 2245 per day.
That works for me because my average intake has actually been right around there.

So, here is April 9:

Early early morning snacking (working midnight shift so was up all night) - 2 girl guide cookies, 2 cups of dry mixed breakfast cereals.

Breakfast (after waking up early the next afternoon) - 1 orange

Lunch - wrap (whole grain tortilla, 3 slices of deli roast beef, light cream cheese), 10 oz. vegetable juice

Supper - 1tsp sugar in my tea, 2 scrambled eggs, brown rice, stir-fried veggies (carrot/celery/asparagus/broccoli/kale)

Late night snack - 1 orange

Total calories: 1568

Exercise: in between working the midnight shift (where I am pretty much tied to my operating position all night) and the fact that my wife is painting our daughter's room (meaning I'm taking care of the house and our daughter while she paints), I failed to make time to get a real workout in.
What I did do was some basic calisthenic-type stuff done while working the night shift. It wasn't much, but it helps me not feel like a slug during the night. I'm going to find more things I can do at work.
I did 3 sets, each about 1/2 hour apart.

Set 1: pushups (2x10)
squats (20)
crunches (20)

Set 2: pushups (2x10)
crunches (20)
squats (20)

Set 3: pushups (20)
crunches (20)
squats (20)

It's better than nothing.
 
Just the way it turned out when I added everything up today. I certainly didn't feel unusually starved or anything.

As for a reason - possibly the fact that life is a little upside-down at the moment. Midnight shifts mess me up at the best of times, plus my wife is painting our daughter's room, and that is just throwing any kind of order out the window in our life right now.

Back on days tomorrow, and expect that things will start straightening up again.
 
April 10:

Not too bad, considering that I was working the midnight shift and everything is a bit chatoic. Also note that due to the night shift, today's entry also included the night before, and covers about 24 hourso f waking time.

Midnight shift - 2 wraps (whole grain torillas and deli roast beef, 1 with lt. cream cheese, 1 with hummus), 2 handfuls of mixed dry cereal and pretzels.

Brunch (more of an extended nibble session) - 1/2 a whole grain tortilla (daughter's leftovers) with lt cream cheese, 2 girl guide cookies, 1 piece of Purdy's chocolate (daughter got some easter goodies in the mail), 1.5 cups milk.

Supper - 2 wraps (whole grain tortillas, caesar dressing, cheddar cheese, tomato , lettuce, M&M chicken strips), 1/2 cup milk.

Cals: 2307

Main problem today was no fruit and very little vegetables, which often happens to me when life is chaotic, like on midnights. Must try to consciously eat more veg.

Exercise: I brought some 10lb dumbbells to work for extra stuff to do on night shifts. Did 4 sets of weights and calisthenics scattered throughout the night.

Set 1: 10 curls, 3x10 arnold presses, 10 lateral raises, 10 triceps extensions

Set 2: 3x5 lunges, 3x5 curls, 3x5 tricep kickbacks, 3x5 overhead presses

Set 3: 20 crunches, 20 shoulder shrugs, 10 bench dips, 2x20 squats

Set 4: 3x10 hammer curls, 10 arnold presses, 30 crunches

Before going to bed last nigth, I did 60 min. on the stationary bike.

Today is a day shift, so things should be more on track.
 
I should really get into calisthenics and weights... all cardio and no strength training makes Jack a floppy boy. Plus, muscle mass burns calories like crazy.
 
SakanaUshi said:
I should really get into calisthenics and weights... all cardio and no strength training makes Jack a floppy boy. Plus, muscle mass burns calories like crazy.
Click to expand...

And it feels great.

I went on a similar odyssey back in 2005, and lost 40lbs in 4 months. In addition to watching my food intake, I was doing a lot of weight training, alternating with cardio and calesthenics. It really helped, I think. I know I felt really good, and was definitely a lot stronger, faster, more flexible and had greater stamina.

I'm not doing a lot of resistance training yet - still getting my body used to moving. Also, I sold most of my weights, and my custom built rack. All I kept was dumbbells ranging from 5 to 25 lbs.
Nordic walking gives me a bit of upper body exercise, and I also like to pound on the heavy bag for a nice all-over workout.
 
Nordic Walking is walking using 2 short poles (mine are 115cm long). You push through with the poles as you walk, which gets your whole body involved in the walking process. You get somewhat of an upper-body workout while you walk, it burns about 20% more calories on average than walking at the same speed, and it takes some of the stress off your knees.
It comes originally from Finland, where it was first used as a way for cross-country skiers to train during the off-season.

Admittedly, I feel a bit like a dork walking around with these poles, but at my weight I feel a bit like a dork just walking down the street, so no loss. :)

If I do it for about 45 min (at a speed of about 3.5mph), I can work up a sweat and I feel like I got a better workout than if I had just walked the same distance.
 
Cord the Seeker said:
April 10:


Set 1: 10 curls, 3x10 arnold presses, 10 lateral raises, 10 triceps extensions

Set 2: 3x5 lunges, 3x5 curls, 3x5 tricep kickbacks, 3x5 overhead presses

Set 3: 20 crunches, 20 shoulder shrugs, 10 bench dips, 2x20 squats

Set 4: 3x10 hammer curls, 10 arnold presses, 30 crunches

Before going to bed last nigth, I did 60 min. on the stationary bike.

Today is a day shift, so things should be more on track.
Click to expand...

that kicks ass dude, bring your workout with you, hellz yeah.
 
Trying this again - seems like if I don't write and send my post in 5 minutes I get logged out and it eats my post. Grrrr.

April 11

A pretty good day today, I think. This was the first time I had less than total control of my food, but the food offered to me was good, so all is well.

Breakfast - 2 slices ww bread w/almond butter, 1 cup milk

Mid-morning snack - 1 orange

Lunch - roast beef sandwich w/lt cream cheese, big green salad

Mid-afternoon snack - 1 apple

Late afternoon indulgence - handful of M&M's and a little Easter candy - maybe 2oz total

Supper (at a friend's) - bowl of miso soup and 3 vietnamese wraps (rice noodle wraps with various combos of rice noodles, various vegetables, tofu and smoked salmon), 1 slice of some sort of spice cake.

I haven't entered it into FitDay yet (and the wraps will be a task to figure out), but looking at the list I'm happy with the day.

Exercise - 45 min nordic walking in the morning, and in the afternoon took my daughter to the playground for an hour or so (pushing her on the swing must burn _some_ calories, right?).

Today is Easter, and the challenge will be controlling my intake of cake after supper. Maybe I can get an extra workout in before bed.

Good news - a buddy and I are going to start playing tennis together when we get a chance. That's going to be great exercise, especially as I chase down all the balls I miss!

Happy Easter, everyone!
 
Last edited:
Took a bit of a holiday from posting over Easter, so I have a couple of days to catch up on. I don't feel like I did too badly overall, although I have yet to enter the last 3 days into FitDay as of yet.

April 12

Breakfast - 2 scrambled eggs, 1oz mennonite sausage, 4oz milk
Mid-morning snack - 1 orange
Lunch - 2 wraps (whole grain tortillas, roast beef, lt. cream cheese)
Afternoon snack - 1 apple, 1 cup dry cereal
Supper - I pan-fried (in a little cooking spray) some wild sockeye salmon w/herbs and admittedly pigged out on it (didn't weigh my portions but I'd say 8-10oz.), with 2 cups of mashed potatoes and some broccoli
Indulgences - made an Easter cake that night and cleaned both the batter and icing bowls. :) Also had a little Easter chocolate - maybe 1oz. Oops - almost forgot the 1/2 cup of ice cream.

Exercise - 10lb dumbbells and some calisthenics: I made a decision that day that whatever I did I would do 30 of, just to see if I could, and as a challenge.
Set 1:
30 curls
30 arnold presses
30 lateral raises
30 tricep extensions
30 lunges
5 minute rest
30 curls
30 tricep kickbacks
30 overhead presses
30 hammer curls
30 front raises
Then I took a 45-min break (I was at work, have to do some work, right?).
Set2:
30 pushups
30 squats
30 crunches
30 back raises
2x15 bench dips (couldn't do 30 straight - they're too hard)
15 minutes of fast office walking (office only big enough to take
13 steps before turning around)
It felt like a pretty darn good workout.

April 13:
Breakfast - 2 cups cooked steel-cut oats with 1tbs brown sugar, 1tsp white sugar in my tea
Lunch - 3 egg omelet with 1.5oz mennonite sausage, 3 large slices of honeydew melon
Supper - pasta primavera with the leftover salmon tossed in - it tasted amazing with the salmon added.
Indulgences through the day - 2.5 pieces of chocolate cake, 2 small handfuls of M&M's.

To make up for the cake, I did a heavy workout: 45 minutes of steady, unrelenting pounding on the heavy bag, followed by 45 minutes on the stationary bike. Damn near killed me. :)

I think I got through Easter without going too insane for the candy. I certainly made sure to get some good exercise in.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top