I'm back again.

A

AgitatedPancake

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I am back again, trying to find a balance for myself. A little over a year ago I was a regular here and dropped a massive amount of fat because of all the support and info from all of you here. Well some things changed, and i slipped back into my old lifestyle. It's the worst feeling ever gaining back so much of the weight I once dropped. At the very beginning I started at 265lbs or so. In a little less than a year, I was able to get my weight all the way down to 199 (I hit 199 on the scale ONE time before I let myself slip). At 199 I was so close to my goal it hurt but once I started to slip I started to gain weight back. I stopped going to the gym and my healthy eating went out the window. I got all the way back up to 245 before I said enough is enough. That was two weeks ago or so. Right then I started going back to the gym and getting back into my old routine. So far I'm down to 239, but once again my goal is 190 or so. I am more determined than ever, and I'm ready to go.

I started slowly for the first few days to just get my body used to the idea of working out again, but now i'm doing it full force. For my workouts I've been doing a mixture of cardio on the treadmill and hitting the weights with full body workouts. I don't have an exact schedule for what days I'm doing what, I'm just going with how my body feels. Basically I switch off cardio days and weight days (which i still do cardio in) and then throw a break in every few days.

Now for my cardio, I've never liked running and always been crappy at it, so I've thrown a twist in my cardio work compared to most treadmill users. Instead of turning up the speed to get my heart rate up, I crank up the incline. It feels MUCH easier (impact wise) on my body and I am still able to acheive a heart rate around 150 constant for as long as I go. I set the treadmill at between 3.5 and 4mph, and crank up the incline. Now I don't know how the incline is measured on the treadmills but I crank it up to 9 (12 is max) and just go. Now because I don't rely on speed, I also dont rely on distance for my workouts, but on time. I average about 30 mins of this high-heartrate cardio per workout. Now I know I HIIT is really the way to go, I just have yet to try to throw that into the mix using incline instead of only speed to mix it up but hey what I got worked for me before and its definately working for me now.

As for weights, I'm not doing a true FBW as I am skipping legs. I have reasonably strong legs, and I am happy with how they are. I would rather keep their strength for cardio anyways as its more important for me. What i've been doing is kinda supersets of opposing muscle groups. I set myself up the bench, and a row (machine) at the same time. I do a set (8 reps) of benching, then a set of Rows, then a break for a min or so. Then go back. I do that for 3 sets per excercise, then move to a completely different muscle group such as abs or lower back to let my arms, chest, and back cool down. From there I start on my shoulders with a seated military press. I haven't yet done any opposite excercises like lat pulldowns, but I think I could throw in assisted pullups as a nice combo. Other then that, I've bene throwing things in like Dips and such to change things up.








Holy crap that was a long post. Sorry for making you read through it, but like I said i'm determined this time! :rolleyes:


*EDIT* as a side note, during my time of weight gain, I noticed something very strange. Without doing any weight work our anyting, I actually noticed more definition in my arms than I had ever had before. I know its a bizzare concept, but my triceps are more prominent then they have ever been before. I don't understand why but im not complaining.
 
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What's up. Glad to see you are back on track and working towards a goal. I have a couple of thoughts I will share.

First and foremost, I would think about what made you fall off track in the first place. Think about what went wrong, and why. What you really want to strive for is something attainable, no matter what. Either you were eating in a manner that you hated, working out in a way you hated, or both. Then, maybe life got busy, school, work, women, whatever. You just need some kind of program that won't become a hassle or something you can only do short term. You don't want history to repeat itself and end up reversing hard work again!

Also, I highly advise against skipping leg work, it's just not a good idea. I don't care how much cardio you do, nothing compares to squats, deadlifts, and lunges. A workout isn't complete without leg work!!! Other than that, you say you're doing dips, bench, rows, pullups, and that's great. Shake it up, do variations, keep it fresh.

Do you have your nutrition nailed down? Eating the right number of calories, and in a safe deficit? This is really the most important factor in weight loss and even muscle gain. Diet is everything.
 
Thanks for the input man, really appreciate it. The reason I fell off last time was the eating. I wasn't strong enough to hold against my cravings. I ate something bad, then "oh one more time wont hurt" then I just continued doing so. I really enjoy and did enjoy my workout both now and then so that was never a problem. The eating, I really had it down for a while (4 months or so), but like said, I just caved.

About the legs, The main reason I was skipping them is because I didn't want to completely kill them so when I do the cardio at the end of my workout I cant push myself as hard because my legs are dead. I may have to experiment with some lightish leg workouts, see if I can find a balance between a good leg workout and not killing my cardio.

As of right now I don't have a perfect diet, I won't lie. Because the diet is what killed me last time I am easing into a better eating style. I have already started cutting out some extra crap I used to eat, and ordering better foods when I go out so thats a start. As I get deeper into my "rythm", I will dive into calculating my caloric intake.

Also, I just noticed I forgot to mention height in the top post, I'm about 6'1-6'2
 
Congrats on restarting your regimen!

I, too, am battling against a very high starting weight and terrible eating habits. It has required daily effort to stave off the cravings like the ones that made you fall off your wagon!

What has worked best for me is to make sure that I am eating smaller meals throughout the day. I know that this is a very regularly repeated suggestion, but I have found that it's the only way to keep the hunger and the cravings under control. As soon as I get too busy and skip a meal or snack, the hunger that comes at the next one is very hard to satisfy! I drink lots and lots of water to fill the void, and it really helps me to keep consistent.

Good luck!
 
See I have a slightly different problem. I don't have a hunger craving, where I feel like I need to eat, I have more of a sweet tooth craving where I want something sweet like ice cream after dinner. Thats what I gotta fix
 
I get that too! Sometimes I eat a couple of grapes if I just can't stand it, but to be honest, it doesn't really help....:(

Let me know if you figure something out :)
 
Yeah I actually have odne that in the past tony. The problem is that eating ice cream after dinner was almost a daily routine for like 6 years (hence my original starting weight), so not only do I crave it, I have always had it there so my stomach is expecting it. There is always ice cream in my house too so that makes it difficult too, but I iwll find what I have to do to make it work.
 
Nothing wrong with eating ice cream. Only when you forbid it, then there's a problem. The more you think about it, the more it becomes a problem. When you give yourself unlimited freedom to eat ice cream, it will not become a problem because the food is no longer restricted in your mind.

You said yourself, when you got into your cravings, you thought, "well one more won't hurt." You should change that thought to, "that was good, do I want another?" When you start thinking like this, you begin to understand your internal hunger drive rather than thought driven hunger, which is why cravings are so intense and why you feel the way you feel when you give into your cravings.

Do note that I'm not saying eat ice cream all you want, and all day. What I am saying, is that when you understand there is no such thing as "forbidden" food, you will begin to understand balance, moderation, and variety. You can eat ice cream if it fits "you." Just don't make it a habit to "forbid" a food you like. The idea is to phase it out slowly. Start by eating ice cream, then substituting it out with another food that you consider healthy and equally satisfying. A good idea is to sit down after dinner, put all thoughts about healthy eating, and so on into the trash, it's "you" time. Ask yourself, "Do I really want an ice cream? Do I have a hunger for it?" If the answer is yes, have some ice cream. While eating it, think about the flavor, the taste, etc. Pause during eating and ask yourself, "Am I fully satisfied with this?" If you are, then put it down, and get on with your life. If you are not satisfied, continue eating it until you are satisfied that you fulfilled your desire. If your thoughts are like, "Man, I can't believe I ate this!" Then you will give into your craving more and you might just "blow" the diet and eat it like crazy and then you have an upset stomach and left with your own guilt that you could have avoided had you just given your full attention to the actual eating, rather than creating a conflict of interest by considering the health benefits, or weight implications.
 
I should also say that craving is a weird thing. It can be a philological or a physical desire. The problem is how do you determine which one you are currently having? Are you having a physical need for food? Or are you having some type of emotional need for some food? Your body is weird. It knows what it eats. Your internal body doesn't understand that the world has millions of different things.... it only understands what you feed it. By slowly feeding it "good" things, it will become accustom to those type of food, and soon enough you will have desires and cravings for that new set of food. However, you body remembers.... all those ice cream, candy, and other "junk" you ate. From time to time, it desires those things... be it emotionally or through a physical need.

How do you know when cravings are physical rather than emotional:
1) Your stomach growls. It sends signals to you, "Hey, time to eat." You can suddenly crave food, because well, your body needs food, and it knows what satisfied it before; be it a ton of McDonalds hamburger or healthy chicken breast. You must feed your body a balance. If you eat a ton of junk food to satisfy your hunger, you might find it hard to fulfill this hunger by eating only healthy. Best way to solve it is mixing the two. Have a dinner with half of the food you usually eat, while mixing in healthy things. Soon enough, you will begin to like and crave for the healthier options, and when you eat those new "healthy" food, your hunger goes away; if you suddenly change your diet, you might find the cravings more intense only because your body thinks somehow the food is lost even though you just fed it.
2) You get a headache or feel tired. This is an indication that your starved yourself. You need to eat all day, everyday. By feeding your body, your body no longer craves food. Hence, the cravings stops.

How do you know you're driven by emotional needs:
1) You remember a time in your childhood or with your parents or other past events. Food plays an important part in memory. By remembering events, you probably remember the smell, taste, or food that you ate. Like your memories, it's not always true in the sense that it was "that good." How does this get triggered? Many ways. Starvation, being with family, being alone, boredom, etc. How do you solve it? Well in the starvation sense, you should eat. In other sense, you should determine if you should "live" the memory by either making the food, or simply being with the people you remembered.
2) Stress. Stress triggers eating candy and other things. It's an emotional desire to eat to relieve the stress. How do you solve it? Bring a punching bag, or a box of gum. By smashing down, screaming into a pillow, or punching a punching bag, it can relieve a lot of the stress and thus, remove the desire to eat. Stress can also be brought on by the fact that you're worried about blowing your diet. To relieve this type of stress, simply remove the diet.
 
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tonymcclellan said:
Get the ice cream out of the house.
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My parents also eat ice cream, so its in the house to stay, I just have to find my way around it.

Dallen, thanks for the responses. I know its pretty much an emotional craving that I have right now. I mean last time I was going strong for a really long time. I ate it one time when I felt i deserved it, felt like i needed a treat. Then the next night came around and my body was like "mmmm that ice cream was good" blah blah blah. But after eating ice cream the next morning I always feel guilty, which has actually been pretty strong motivation for my to push my body harder during workouts. Kinda ironic there lol.

On a side note, I think I'm going to start counting calories right about now. I feel like I haven't been eating enough, even though I havent been hungry for the past couple days so I've got to see whats going on there.
 
I figured that you would say that. Ask them to not buy it except maybe on the weekends for a treat. You cant eat it if its not there.

Im also not saying to not eat it ever again. But its hard to somehting thats not in your house. You could always go to DQ one night with the family instead.
 
I tried talking my parents out of buying the flavors that I enjoy, but they like them too so they aren't going to stop =/. On a plus side though, my motivation in the past few days has gone through the roof. I'm seeing good progress on the scale, and I'm about to begin another photo journal like last time so I can visually see the progress also (more motivation). Yesterday I mixed up my cardio with some HIIT. I couldn't remember the example pattern that was in the thread about HIIT because I haven't looked at it in ages so I just kinda went with it. I started with 5 mins of warmup on the bike, then went to the treadmill and did this:
Walk
Jog
Sprint
Inclined walk
Then started over again. I wasn't following exact times, but a few mins per walk, a little less for the jog and 1 - 1 1/2 mins on the sprint. Let me just say it kicked my butt. I felt a little nauseous for about an hour after, but after that went away I felt better physically and mentally than I have in a long time so it really made me happy. Then today, I pushed myself harder with my normal incline walk, and pushed the incline way up. I found out the max is actually 15, not 12 like I thought. I pushed myself at incline 15 @ 3.5 mph for about 20 mins and it felt great. Had a good burn going for the first 5 mins or so, but it subsided to let me continue for a total of 30 mins on the treadmill today with my average heart rate around 160-170 (hand sensors, I know innacurate).

I'm down to 237 =D
 
Well my scale is showing me at 235 now =D I know I can't expect these kind of results continuously, but man it feels nice to lose 10lbs in 3 1/2 weeks =D I'm checking the scale at the same time of day each time I do it, in the morning right after I wake up so consistency isnt an issue.

I have a question for you guys though. Kinda a newb question but is there any reason I can't do cardio 7 days a week? I have been splitting up my weight lifting sessions giving myself 1 or 2 days rest between each one depending on how my muscles are feeling but I've been doing cardio literally every day. I haven't been trying to kill myself on the treadmill, but I'm talkin like 20-30 mins on the treadmill with my heart rate around 150+ 7 days a week. My legs aren't showing too much fatigue so I feel it should be alright but I want to hear some opinions =D
 
Alright, small update. My scale has me down to 233 which i'm really happy to see. For my general cardio now, I now daily have the incline maxed out, and i'm starting to change speed to get the same results. For instance todays workout I was at incline 15 and speed 3.7 MPH for most of my 1/2 hour workout. My heart rate was about 175 constant, and at my weight the treadmill is guesstimating that I'm burning 1200cals an hour avg. I figure its way overrated, so I'm probably burning 400-500 in my 1/2 hour. Today I also did weights, and I am VERY suprised to see that reps/weight of my workouts are continuing to go up! I use mostly machines right now (i know i know), but My fly's have gone up 30lbs so far, rows about the same, I am actually able to do dips with my own body weight now which I'm pretty happy about. All in all I am really suprised at the progress my body is making, its keeping me super motivated! :D:beerchug:
 
=D good news time. I'm now at 228lbs, that means about 10lbs in a month. It does seem a little high for "healthy" weight loss, but I've been pushing myself to the max at the gym lately. For instance yesterday I was on the treadmill for an hour. Most of it at incline 12-15 at 3.5-3.8mph, but I threw in some 8mph running also. It claims my calories burned were above 1k, I figure I was a little less than that but man I'm feeling good and my endurance is going WAY up. Also it's nice to see my strength in the weight room is hardly suffering. I feel that I am right on track with how I want to be progressing, so I'mma keep doin what im doing!

Thanks for all the support, AP.
 
AgitatedPancake said:
yesterday I was on the treadmill for an hour. Most of it at incline 12-15 at 3.5-3.8mph, but I threw in some 8mph running also. It claims my calories burned were above 1k.
Click to expand...

My Precor Elliptical machine has a calorie-counter too. When you wear the chest-strap and enter all your data, it too projects about 1,000 calories based on a little over an hour of good work. Oddly enough, my Polar wrist HR-monitor also projects calories and it receives the same frequency as the Precor Elliptical does....so check it out:

Both Elliptical & wrist monitor show the same heart-rate.....both have my height, weight, age, etc....yet when the Precor Elliptical says I've burned 1,000 calories, the Polar wrist HR-monitor indicates only about 625 calories! What a huge difference!

Fact is, an hour of biking, swimming or other relatively moderate/high demand exercise is good for about 650 calories...so my hunch is that these machines are quite inaccurate. BUT IT DOESN'T MATTER....I just use it as a guage to know how I did comparatively each time.

Your results sound awesome, very happy for you....keep up the good work, and be sure to get rid of that spare-tire well and raise your gas tank on that rig! :D
 
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