Getting Functionally Fit

Oh the drudgery of a plateau...

Been stuck between 401.2 and 402.2 for the last week now. Go figure it would have to happen just short of my first progress point. Couldn't have gotten to 399 and then plateaued... lol

I have no intentions to give up, but at this point I feel I really have to do some self-evaluating and look for any possible flaws. My calories have been consistantly at 2400 each day. I have actually lowered my cholesterol and sodium intakes well under what they had been averaging in the first month or so. My fat intake hovers around 23-25% of my daily calories, with saturated averaging 5-7%, my carbs are about 40-45% with an average of 37g of fiber each day, and my protein is between 30-35% generally. I am drinking plenty of water and my micros are all in check.

Part of what saddens me is that I often see so many people who say "My diet is in check but yet i cant lose weight" and then come to find out that they arent tracking what they are eating and dont really know if it is. Then they start tracking, find out they were way off and things start working for them. Except here i am, having tracked every single thing that has gone into my body in the last 2.5 months, giving an honest self-eval that I am on target, and yet, I seem to be doing something wrong. And it is aggravating to not be able to pinpoint what needs change. Do I lower my calories further? seems like a bad idea since my maintenance is already supposed to be around 4000 and i am at 2400. Has my metabolism already down-regulated that much? I cant imagine that at my size it could have done so in only 2.5 months. Im not holding water and i know im getting enough of all the vitamins and minerals that are neccesary for proper metabolism.

There is one thing that may be my current downfall, and that is exercise. I have still not yet managed to maintain a steady program. Getting down to the gym in the high school has proven more difficult than I had thought it would be, both for psychological and physical reasons. In all honesty, doing all my workouts completely alone in the basement of an empty high school just isnt very motivating. None of the kids are coming down to do extra workouts, which is disappointing in itself, but a seperate topic as well. And then, there are the times when the exterior doors are locked and the ID card passes are locked out as well, and then I have driven down there for nothing because I only have a key to open the doors to the basement from the inside of the school.

Could my diet be so far off that I have lost so much lean tissue in 2.5 months without a steady weight lifting program so as to completely kill my metabolism? my knowledge and common sense says no, which is why i will continue to do the reasonable things I am now, but ill be damned if my brain doesnt just love to pull out all the "what-if" scenarios it possibly can.

In the meanwhile I am contemplating resigning my voluntary position to open the weight room in the school. I havent had one single student show up yet outside of the normal voluntary practice times (which is only twice a week). It is a lot of fun getting to work with the entire team in the weightroom (note that I do not actually get to workout myself, I have to get down there early to get my own workout in), but all of the other days i am down there, no one else is. I think I might be better off in my own goals if i was to obtain a gym membership and go somewhere that has a full weight room, and other like minded individuals in it. Somewhere that I actually felt like I was being productive and in an environment that would be encouraging. I know in the past I always used to look forward to everyday's workout down at the gym...

Guess I have some things to think about, and some decisions to make. Thanks to everyone who has come by and said nice things.
 
(steve and I spoke through PM about his inquiry and my situation, so people dont wonder if I am just ignoring his response, lol)

Anyways, oddly enough, today I have a slight drop, and enough to just get under my progress mark. I have a few scenarios developed in my mind about the possibilities of what is going on in my body, Ill have a better idea in the coming week or so when I see what it decides to continue to do.

so, here it is, 399.2. progress mark number 1 reached, no longer in the 400's. sadly enough it is the first time i can say that in over a year now. i think ill really be ecstatic when I can say im in the 200s, as i havent done that since i was in high school (bout 9 years ago now).

Next progress mark is set for 350, as that marks what my working athletic weight in high school was. I also have a secondary goal to be stronger than i was in high school at that weight. I think I have already achieved that though, as all the years of training since then have given me a strong base. I did some testing recently to help me get started on some periodization, and my bench is low 300s with my squat right about 500. If i can maintain those numbers, and perhaps get stronger, then I am on target. I also need to set a goal for cardiovascular health, as I was much more active in high school in that matter, and havent maintained that as well through the years. Football tends to keep your heart in pretty good shape. Since leaving high school, track became my obsession, and ironically enough, lol, my segment of track and field doesnt require much running at all. I wont set any specific mileage or time status for cardio goal, just a general overall feeling. It isnt my nature or desire to be a long distance runner, so that doesnt mean much to me. what I care about is quick recovery after breaking the anaerobic threshold, so that I can train harder in the segments that are what I enjoy.
 
OK, so here is the new progress mark scheduling. I would have just done it earlier, but my comp was bitchin' and it needed some love and a gentle kick to the side panel. or as normal people say, a reboot...

so, in staying consistant with what I have been doing, I will shoot to lose about 0.8% of my body weight per week. Over the course of this segment, that should equate to an approximate average of 3 pounds per week. So, to get from 399 to 350 should take me about 16.5 weeks, which I will just round up to 17 weeks. That means weight progress mark number 2 is set for 350 pounds on december 4th, 2007. This is tentative for the next week or so, as I need to gauge what is currently going on, and see if maybe i need to throw a monkey wrench in the works for a week or so. My absolute "deadline" will be under 350 by the new year. That gives me upwards of 3 weeks to reset things if i need to in order to get it all working smoothly again.

For my secondary goals, Id like to see myself test at a minimum of 350 in the bench and 550 in the squat by the time I reach my new weight mark. Those will be fairly decent marks, and set me up to really start training well for summer of 2008. Concerning cardio, as I said, I dont want to set any specific mileage or time marks. I want an overall general feeling. Id like to be able to go out and sprint and feel competent. Its a hard feeling to describe, but I know what I mean, lol. I should feel nimble again, able to move quickly, gracefully, and yet with a certain amount of formidable force. A short sprint shouldn't make me feel like my heart is going to explode, or that my lungs are going to collapse. I felt closest to this when I was between 320 and 330 a couple years back (while training to go throw for UB), so I think I may need to get back down near there to really get where I want. Obviously, the less I weigh, the higher my strength to weight ratio gets, which makes alot of these things easier anyways.

So, thats about it. December 4th, 2007 at sub 350 is the new mark to hit.
 
Well, what did Steve say about the plateau? What are your calorie and exercise goals based on this advice, or was the plateau a false alarm and you're going to keep on doing more of the same.

An absolutely amazing job on reaching the 300's, I am so very proud of you Coach!
 
Way to Go Coach!! Congrats on making it into the 300's. Keep on keepin' on and you will get there. I am also curious as to what you figured out about your plateau. Please keep us informed.
 
I believe Steve was just about as confounded as I was, since it was only a week and a half ago when i last had a little stint with maintenance intake. There really isnt any reason why I shouldnt continue to lose weight with the calories I am eating. There is a possiblity of a related health issue: borderline low thyroid which theoretically wouldnt take much to dip into hypothyroidism on a deficit. Problem with this is that a functioning thyroid doesn't just shut off, if it started a bit low, it might get into levels considered too low, but I wouldnt go from losing 3 pounds a week to suddenly losing nothing. As my thyroid went low, my metabolism should slowly decline, losing less weight each week as time went by, not going from a good steady rate to nothing at all. Unless something went completely kaput (as it did with my mother when she was about 30), but then id be gaining weight somewhat rapidly. and while i hadnt really been losing, i wasnt gaining either.

Steve's suggestion pretty much went in line with my own thoughts, going to give it some more time and see if maybe something just got sticky. As he likes to say, and i know from past experience, weight loss isnt completely linear. Too many variables involved. I am thinking it is a matter of matter, lol. In other words, 4 days or so at maintenance (which is a relatively large amount of food) literally just puts more overall matter in my system. Might have just taken some time to get it moving, get back into deficit, and back to the state i was in pre-maintenance. Basically, I give it another week or two, if things seem to stay stuck, Im going to go back to maintenance for a little reset for a slightly longer period of time, say about a week or so. If steve doesn't mind, I might look to him for some suggestions if I should need to go back to maintenance. Not really something I am used to having to do, lol.

I would like to thank steve for responding to my initial post and working along on this with me, and many thanks to everyone else who has left kind and encouraging words over the last few months. I don't want to name names because there are quite a few of you, and I would feel terrible if i left anyone out. I think part of what is so nice is seeing so many different people come in and sympathize with my struggle, showing that they understand what its like, and that they dont judge me for who i once was, only for who I am trying to be. I am truly surprised that I have been on this site since early May, and have yet to see one really hateful post, where someone just kinda landed, flamed, said something mean hateful and immature without any plausible reason. We are either lucky enough to have a site that doesn't get so easily corrupted (unlike many others I have seen), or we have some damn quick response mods who can zap in and remove that kind of crap before anyone else sees it, lol.

Even with a little bit of weirdness this last week, I have still hit my first mark and thats pretty cool. I am motivated and continuing in my pursuit. Thanks again everyone
 
Been awhile since Ive been around, figured Id stop in quick and leave an update...

Football started up, things have gotten busy, and life itself is being somewhat difficult at the moment. I havent really felt as though I had a responsibility to come here everyday anymore. I think thats both a good and a bad thing. Feeling accountable to this journal has helped me stay true to my goals and be honest with myself. But i also feel at this point as though it just isnt as neccesary to force myself to come in everyday and write something. I don't want to ever completely abandon this journal though, as it is a good place to come to when things get rough.
I took another short stint with maintenance intake, and even had a few days of completely relaxed food intake (my way of saying that I just ate what I wanted, lol). It was a bit of a psychological relief, to feel like i was more living at maintenance than constantly on a reduced calorie intake. Which in all honesty, starts to burn you out after awhile...

Normal life activities have now increased my average daily calorie expenditure, and by quite a bit. I spend a good 6-7 hours a day out on the football field, and even though I am not playing, its still a good deal of movement trying to coach and be in the right places and demonstrate. I don't consider it a workout or anything, lol, but its still increased calorie expenditure, and I am thinking I should take it into account and perhaps raise my calories slightly.

In the last two days or so I think I have actually had a couple of instances where I noticed the weight loss. the steering wheel in my car doesn't touch my stomach anymore, and thats a pretty big one for me.

Also, I am now at 396.4, and the weight has been coming off in a more linear and steady pattern lately, which makes things easier psychologically.

I really feel that I need to stress how important it has been to accept reality, stop making excuses, and quit looking for miracles. Accepting the responsibility that my choices are what made me overweight, and then deciding that i wanted to change those choices, is what I feel to be the cornerstone of my current (and hopefully longterm) success. That, and as I have always said, EDUCATION. i dont mean a college degree or anything, just some initiative to go out and self educate on the basics of how the body works and what it needs to work right.

Thats about all the time Ive got for now. Hope everyone else is doing well.
 
CoachCrimson said:
I really feel that I need to stress how important it has been to accept reality, stop making excuses, and quit looking for miracles. Accepting the responsibility that my choices are what made me overweight, and then deciding that i wanted to change those choices, is what I feel to be the cornerstone of my current (and hopefully longterm) success. That, and as I have always said, EDUCATION. i dont mean a college degree or anything, just some initiative to go out and self educate on the basics of how the body works and what it needs to work right.
Click to expand...

You have discovered the "magic key" to success in this battle!
 
What a crazy couple of months that was...

It funny how you can look at something and see success, but yet feel so much failure. And even funnier still how you can look at something and see so much failure, and then feel a certain amount of success.

So, I lost health insurance for a little while there, and thus ran out of medication and was unable to continue seeing the doctor and the counselor. And this all happened going into a new job. It was another very difficult time, and while I have had a hard time staying on track in some things, I was able to "survive" through it. Im getting things leveled back out now though, and really getting kind of excited again to be on track and moving towards my goals. It feels good to have some emotion and some spirit again. I am obviously set back on the timeline a bit, never going to hit 350 by New Years, but after all, last time round i learned how important it was to not emphasize time restraints.

I think I should leave this journal to die, and start a new one...
 
Hey sweetheart, glad to see you back around. I couldn't really tell from your post where you're at in terms of your weight or what sort of medication you take and how that impacts your weight loss. Update your ticker! He he. So what happened, did you eat at maintenance or go back to eating too much or what was going on during this health insurance crisis? Whatever it was that happened though, I'm glad you're back here and continuing toward your goal.
 
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