Hello there, I'm Scott and I'm a eataholic.
My diet has never been the best, starting when I was much younger and living at home. I played soccer from 3rd grade until my junior year of high school and had a fast metab. so I never had to watch what I ate.
Even after moving out I still worked out a decent bit and my metab was still high enough I did not have to worry. As it always does though, it caught up with me. At 5'9" I was happy at 165, and okay at 170 and 175.
However, about 4 or 5 years ago I went to stay with an injured family member for a month. While there I started eating a full 3 meals a day again, and shot up to around 190+.....the highest I had ever been. Between that and the stress of my situation (not used to getting up that early, cranky old lady yelling at me a lot, etc) I broke out an old bicycle.
A year or so later I was nuts about fitness........I worked out around 90 minutes a day, 5 or 6 days a week, rotating good cardio (bicycle rides, cross country running, hill repeats, heavy bag work, and jumprope) with solid weight training. My diet was air-tight, and I was in the best shape of my life, hands-down. Better than my 10th year of soccer (ok, maybe not better cardiovascular shape, but close, and better overall), better than my time in the airborne infantry.
Then came college. No dorms for me, but when I hit the 6 month wall/prison sentence known as MicroSoft classes I lost it. It was so stressful I allowed it as an excuse to not just stop working out, but to eat horribly again. Pizza 3 times a week? Sure, just get me through this!
So here I am, back to 200 pounds again and feeling it. My sleep isn't as good, my stamina sucks, girls quit smiling back at me some time ago. It's awful. It's my fault. And it is fixable.
At 5'9" with a medium frame (except maybe my shoulders, which are smallish end of the large frame I think) my target weights is - according to the experts - around 162 to 165. I doubt I will ever see that low, as 165 looked great on me as a teen....before my frame expanded. So, my goal is to get back to 175.
Last time I saw that weight my stomach was flat, my body was cut nicely with a little rip going, and I felt awesome. Eventually I will start worrying about body fat as well, shooting for 15% or less. As I am sure I am back up around 25% I am too disgusted to check it until I lose some serious weight. Same for actual weight. it should be 200, but might be as high as 210.
I know from the last time round that the 1st month or two the fat loss will not show (or not show much) on the scales as muscle gain easily paces it that early. So, no scales for a while - we're going to focus on duration of exercise, energy levels, and maintaining a healthy diet.
Speaking of which - my diet is slowly improving. I'm down to pizza every other week, eating breakfast again, and keeping healthy snacks around. Today I will be eating a low carb breakfast bowl to get me going (fast food as a treat, woot) and will probly have a glass of low-fat chocolate milk post-workout. I use acidopholous milk, for those of you familiar with the stuff. I plan on a balanced energy/sports bar for my midday snack, chicken for lunch, and who knows beyond that.
On the exercise front, I have been back at it for 2 weeks now. I do 5 days, staggering cardio and weights back and forth. Whichever I do 3 days of in 1 week I rotate to be my 2 session activity the next. Cardio is 45 minutes, usually a blend of bicycle and walking. The area I live in is almost all hills, so even on a walk I can get the ole' heartrate up nicely.
Weights is only 30 minutes right now, as I lack the stamina to push it beyond that just yet. I shoot for 3 sets of 8-10 doing: curls, 20 lb. free weights; tricep drops, 20. lb FW; shoulder presses on the exercise ball, 30 lb. FW; bench press, 125 lb; and either lat pulldowns at 60+ lb or pullups.
No visual changes yet, but my energy levels are decidedly up and I am sleeping much better now. When I set an alarm for 90 or 120 minutes before I work, I actually get up on the 1st alarm and work out. A week ago I was hitting the snooze or resetting the alarm so that I could sleep more, but only had time left to get ready for work and eat before going in.
Finally, today was weight day, and I feel great afterward. Smoked and tight, especially in the arms. Time to hit the showers, and sorry for the novel.
My diet has never been the best, starting when I was much younger and living at home. I played soccer from 3rd grade until my junior year of high school and had a fast metab. so I never had to watch what I ate.
Even after moving out I still worked out a decent bit and my metab was still high enough I did not have to worry. As it always does though, it caught up with me. At 5'9" I was happy at 165, and okay at 170 and 175.
However, about 4 or 5 years ago I went to stay with an injured family member for a month. While there I started eating a full 3 meals a day again, and shot up to around 190+.....the highest I had ever been. Between that and the stress of my situation (not used to getting up that early, cranky old lady yelling at me a lot, etc) I broke out an old bicycle.
A year or so later I was nuts about fitness........I worked out around 90 minutes a day, 5 or 6 days a week, rotating good cardio (bicycle rides, cross country running, hill repeats, heavy bag work, and jumprope) with solid weight training. My diet was air-tight, and I was in the best shape of my life, hands-down. Better than my 10th year of soccer (ok, maybe not better cardiovascular shape, but close, and better overall), better than my time in the airborne infantry.
Then came college. No dorms for me, but when I hit the 6 month wall/prison sentence known as MicroSoft classes I lost it. It was so stressful I allowed it as an excuse to not just stop working out, but to eat horribly again. Pizza 3 times a week? Sure, just get me through this!
So here I am, back to 200 pounds again and feeling it. My sleep isn't as good, my stamina sucks, girls quit smiling back at me some time ago. It's awful. It's my fault. And it is fixable.
At 5'9" with a medium frame (except maybe my shoulders, which are smallish end of the large frame I think) my target weights is - according to the experts - around 162 to 165. I doubt I will ever see that low, as 165 looked great on me as a teen....before my frame expanded. So, my goal is to get back to 175.
Last time I saw that weight my stomach was flat, my body was cut nicely with a little rip going, and I felt awesome. Eventually I will start worrying about body fat as well, shooting for 15% or less. As I am sure I am back up around 25% I am too disgusted to check it until I lose some serious weight. Same for actual weight. it should be 200, but might be as high as 210.
I know from the last time round that the 1st month or two the fat loss will not show (or not show much) on the scales as muscle gain easily paces it that early. So, no scales for a while - we're going to focus on duration of exercise, energy levels, and maintaining a healthy diet.
Speaking of which - my diet is slowly improving. I'm down to pizza every other week, eating breakfast again, and keeping healthy snacks around. Today I will be eating a low carb breakfast bowl to get me going (fast food as a treat, woot) and will probly have a glass of low-fat chocolate milk post-workout. I use acidopholous milk, for those of you familiar with the stuff. I plan on a balanced energy/sports bar for my midday snack, chicken for lunch, and who knows beyond that.
On the exercise front, I have been back at it for 2 weeks now. I do 5 days, staggering cardio and weights back and forth. Whichever I do 3 days of in 1 week I rotate to be my 2 session activity the next. Cardio is 45 minutes, usually a blend of bicycle and walking. The area I live in is almost all hills, so even on a walk I can get the ole' heartrate up nicely.
Weights is only 30 minutes right now, as I lack the stamina to push it beyond that just yet. I shoot for 3 sets of 8-10 doing: curls, 20 lb. free weights; tricep drops, 20. lb FW; shoulder presses on the exercise ball, 30 lb. FW; bench press, 125 lb; and either lat pulldowns at 60+ lb or pullups.
No visual changes yet, but my energy levels are decidedly up and I am sleeping much better now. When I set an alarm for 90 or 120 minutes before I work, I actually get up on the 1st alarm and work out. A week ago I was hitting the snooze or resetting the alarm so that I could sleep more, but only had time left to get ready for work and eat before going in.
Finally, today was weight day, and I feel great afterward. Smoked and tight, especially in the arms. Time to hit the showers, and sorry for the novel.
