Ed's Diary

edco76

edco76

New member
So here we go. I weigh 210 lbs. and I am 6' male and 31. My wife and I have decided to both lose some weight and more importantly improve our health and fitness. We see our 2 children picking up some of the same habits we have and that is a real wake-up call for us to make some changes before is too late.

My problem:
I was always fit and athletic as a teenager. I was very active. I parlayed this into my adult life by working as a carpenter building houses. 50 hrs of hard labor in the Alabama sun affords one very liberal eating habits. It does not however afford one a steady, reliable income for raising a family (for me anyway) so I got a desk job. All of a sudden there is little time for activities and I am not getting exercise at work. One thing did not change though. Guess what it was? If you said eating habits you win the fuzzy bear. So in a few years I go from 170 lean and muscular to a pretty flabby 230.

Cure is worse than disease:
Unfortunately I found a way to lose a lot of weight quickly. I was diagnosed with a disease called ulcerative colitis. My case was pretty bad which caused me to lose about 65 pounds. However even though the scales said basically the same thing it did when I was 18. The mirror did not quite seem to agree. Symptoms made exercise pretty impossible but in all honest I didn't really even try.

God is great!:
Last January after a lot of prayer my disease went into complete remission! I have been symptom free for 15 months.

Lesser of two evils:
Now that I am symptom free, amazingly my lifestyle and eating habits have amassed the same results as they did prior to my illness. Imagine that? I am back up to 210 and it is time to "nip it in the bud" (said in best Barney Fife voice).
 
Program

Here is what I did last week on my first week in my journey to fulfilling my aspirations of being an underwear model.

Resistance:
Mon, Wed, Fri.
I have a rec center near my house that I joined. No free weights but they do have a room of 30 yr old Nautilus equipment.

3 sets of 10 reps per set of:
Leg curls and extensions. I don't remember what weight I was using.
Bicep Curls: 80lb
Tricep Extensions: 80lb
Bench: 100lb (had to drop to 80 on the 3rd set)
Crunch machine: 80 lb
Compound rowing machine: 110 lb
Overhead bring downs (I'm not sure what you call them but you sit in the machine and bring the bar down from overhead): 100 lb

Cardio:
Tue, Thur
I did what I could lol which equated to trying to jog then walking and gasping after 200 yrds until I could recoup and try again. I only made it through about 10-15 minutes but I was spent

Saturday I just did house/yard work. I was active all day but doubt I ever really got my heart rate up. Sunday I rested. I am back at it this week.
 
Wednesday

Ok, I had a pretty good day Wednesday. Felt real good. My left leg was still a bit sore from running on Monday and I almost skipped my leg lifts. I decided not to and I am glad because it actually feels better since I did them.

Food:
Breakfast-Granola Bar
Lunch-"Smart Ones" orange chicken and rice frozen meal.
Snack- A pack of peanut butter cookies. I felt bad. I actually meant to get the PB crackers out of my vending machine and I guess I hit the wrong button. I only had like 400 calories for the day though so I ate them.
Dinner- Chicken breast and black beans and corn.
Late night snack- 1/2 cup of lime sherbet

Work-out:
3 sets of 10
Compound row
Overhead pulldown
Leg curls
Leg extensions
Bench
Bicep curl
tricep extensions
Ab crunch
lateral raise
butterfly

Today is cardio day and I hope my leg holds up. I am already telling myself that if I can't jog I am going to do one of the wifes videos though and atleast get something done. I skipped a cardio day already this week and don't want to again. I also brought an apple to work to avoid anymore Freudian slips at the vending machine.
 
peanut butter cookies - -peanut butter crackers - both are pretty darned tasty -and probably not a lot of difference nutrition wise... snacky treats are goo dsometimes...

Since I'm all about saving money while losing weight at the same time (so you can affort a stylin' new wardrobe and all) if you keep ziplock snacksize baggies with snacks you can eat - goldfish crackers, nuts, some dried fruits, cereals, whole grain crackers, stuff you like -- you can avoid the trips to thevending machine.. .
 
maleficent said:
peanut butter cookies - -peanut butter crackers - both are pretty darned tasty -and probably not a lot of difference nutrition wise... snacky treats are goo dsometimes...

Since I'm all about saving money while losing weight at the same time (so you can affort a stylin' new wardrobe and all) if you keep ziplock snacksize baggies with snacks you can eat - goldfish crackers, nuts, some dried fruits, cereals, whole grain crackers, stuff you like -- you can avoid the trips to thevending machine.. .
Click to expand...

Thanks and you are right. 1 problem I run into is that it is a "Lifestyle" change. That means a lot more than diet. I am in a habit of getting ready and running out the door every morning. I grab a can of soup or frozen meal and off I go. I have an easier time going to the gym than getting up every morning and actually preparing food for the day. I can grab an apple though. I am going to get some "desk snacks" when we shop this week.
 
go back to your grade school days and make your lunch for the next day the night before... or make some extra dinner and pack the leftovers...

real food is better than the processed frozen varieties for your long term health..
 
maleficent said:
go back to your grade school days and make your lunch for the next day the night before... or make some extra dinner and pack the leftovers...

real food is better than the processed frozen varieties for your long term health..
Click to expand...

But my mommy made my lunch in grade school! You are right of course. That is definitely something I have to work at. I do have leftovers today. So maybe I am on the right path.
 
I am glad you're well and are taking great steps to get the life that you want! Thank you for sharing all of this for us! The hardest thing for me is exercise, which you seem to be kicking butt at! Way to go :hurray:
 
carrie3101 said:
I am glad you're well and are taking great steps to get the life that you want! Thank you for sharing all of this for us! The hardest thing for me is exercise, which you seem to be kicking butt at! Way to go :hurray:
Click to expand...

Thanks for the kind words and support carrie. Lets just hope I can keep it all up. I tend to be a little obsessive compulsive over short terms. Meaning when I get interested or involved in something I generally attack it at 100%. Unfortunately I sometimes (ok, usually) lose interest before I am able to accomplish all the goals I initially set for myself. Not this time though. I am hoping the results will start showing soon and I can stay motivated by that.
 
Hey,
I am definitely the same way. I get these spurts of motivation that cause me to eat nothing but broccoli (ew!) for 2 weeks and then wonder why I can't keep it up. So I end up giving up completely and resorting to fast food more than ever. I am trying to kick that habit too. Look forward to reading more from you.
 
Yesterday was another good day. No temptations and not sore.

Food:
No breakfast, I'm just not a breakfast person but I'm working on it.
Lunch - Chicken breast and black beans and corn. Diet pepsi
Snack - Apple
Dinner - Turkey and cheese hoagie and some baked lays.

Exercise:
Jog/walked 3 laps around my neighborhood, so appx 1m.


Overall I was proud of the food. I avoided the vending machine @ work. I actually had planned on having a little sherbet for late night snack but I was too tired so I went to bed early.
I was disappointed in the run though. I was hoping for 5+ laps. My lungs seem to have held up better but my legs just felt too weak after the 3rd lap. Worst part is that my left thigh pain is back this morning, I can't walk without a limp. Hopefully I can work through that because it has happened on my last two cardio days. If it is too sore to run tomorrow I think I will do the bike at the gym for my cardio.

I weighed after my run. No change but today is casual day @ work and my jeans felt a little looser so I am encouraged.
 
Hey, way to go on the food and the exercise. 1 mile is great! It's a struggle for me to do that at this point, but I think everything is difficult before it gets better....the trick is just to stick with it I suppose. I'm not much of a breakfast person either. Good luck today!
 
Sounds like you are on a good track. It's nice to have someone else from Alabama here... Do you say War Eagle or Roll Tide?

I grew up in the War Eagle plains and go to school there now, so you know what it is for me :)
 
catiew21 said:
Sounds like you are on a good track. It's nice to have someone else from Alabama here... Do you say War Eagle or Roll Tide?

I grew up in the War Eagle plains and go to school there now, so you know what it is for me :)
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Haha, too funny. I made the exact same post in your diary earlier. Only in Alabama will a random male and female meet on a message board, completely unrelated to athletics and declare a collegiate alliance before conversation can develop further.

ROLL TIDE!!
 
Weekend

Hope anyone who reads this had a great weekend. I had a very nice one myself.

I did good on the diet this weekend. Controlled my eating very well. No slip-ups and I am pretty sure I didn't bust my 2k calories on any day. I did slip on my exercise though. I shorted my gym trip Friday. I told myself I was tired and it was Friday so I would just do push lifts. I would come back on Saturday and do the pulls. Guess what? Never made it Saturday. Didn't do my cardio that day either. Gyms closed on Sunday but my wife worked me pretty hard in the yard. I guess carrying 40lb bags of top soil and mulch could be weight training. About 2 hrs. of hoeing a flower bed could be my cardio. I haven't weighed in several days. Think I will after gym tonight and post the results.
 
Couch to 5k in 9 weeks. I think I'm gonna give it a shot. I read about it online and it looks pretty doable. I would love to run a 5k and If I could do that by June that would be amazing.
 
edco76 said:
Couch to 5k in 9 weeks. I think I'm gonna give it a shot. I read about it online and it looks pretty doable. I would love to run a 5k and If I could do that by June that would be amazing.
Click to expand...

Hi there! Come join the couch to 5K club = linked in my signature line. We'd love to have you! It's been a journey, but a good one. I ran my first 23 minutes nonstop on Friday and I haven't done that in almost 8 years.
Hope to see you there.

Also, I'm glad your health is getting better and you are taking control of it to be even more healthy! It definitely is hard when a desk job is involved. I am totally there with you on that desk job thing. It's so hard going from active job to sedentary one, but financially necessary!

Welcome aboard, and I hope to see you around!

Tasha
 
photocrazed said:
Hi there! Come join the couch to 5K club = linked in my signature line. We'd love to have you! It's been a journey, but a good one. I ran my first 23 minutes nonstop on Friday and I haven't done that in almost 8 years.
Hope to see you there.

Also, I'm glad your health is getting better and you are taking control of it to be even more healthy! It definitely is hard when a desk job is involved. I am totally there with you on that desk job thing. It's so hard going from active job to sedentary one, but financially necessary!

Welcome aboard, and I hope to see you around!

Tasha
Click to expand...

Super, thanks for the invite and kind words.
 
Thanks male I will check that out.


Unfortunately my marathon dream has been slightly derailed. I had horrible back pain yesterday. So I did nothing. I did walk my dog a couple hundred yards but since he follows a strict step, step, sniff routine, I doubt I got much good out of that. Thats 3 days with no gym/cardio.

I am not going to get out of the habit!

Health first though but now that I couldn't work out Monday I feel really bad about skipping the weekend.

My diet is staying solid though. And I dropped the 2 lbs I was aiming for last week. Now @ 208. 6 lbs in 3 weeks. I am right on schedule. I think it may have even been another lb. if I hadn't take 3 days off though.
 
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