Hi everybody, my name is Jared. So this is actually the second time I'm doing a "diary" on a site like this. I did it once a long time ago when I lost a bunch of weight and I felt it was a really great way to keep myself accountable as well as participate in a community of people. The old forum I used is gone but I'm glad I found this new one!
I'm 5'10", 228lbs and I'm starting this to help track my progress, help keep myself accountable and hopefully it will help like it did last time!
My Story/History:
Short version: Summer 2009 195lbs->185>220>172>210>200>240>230>265>215>Today 230lbs
I've been on a bit of a roller coaster in terms of my weight for the past 6-7 years. So lets start at the first time I seriously started to try and lose weight consciously. My junior year of high school my friend convinced me to try wrestling. I was in the mid 190's at the beginning of the season but by the end all of the intense practices had me down to the mid 180's, I was in the best shape of my life (not the most impressive thing though given that I was 17). However after that things somewhat took a turn for the worse and between the end of the season (mid winter) and the middle of that summer I had ballooned up to 220 lbs. I remember the moment it clicked for me just how big I had gotten, I was driving to work and I all of a sudden became conscious of my sides/rolls. That's when I first started on a healthy path.
I educated myself, joined another website like this one, started keeping a food diary on there as well as being active in the community, and read everything I could on weight loss. I half-assed counting calories. I measured out my cereal and milk for breakfast, made a reasonable lunch and left a 1000 calorie buffer for dinner (mom cooked so it wasn't easy to assume). Stopped snacking completely. Lastly I began exercising however I could. I would run (I remember the first time, barely being able to do 1/4 mile), I played a lot of DDR, and generally tried to be active in whatever way I could. As time went on I was losing a lot of weight, in the beginning 3-4lbs /week (even though I knew it was unhealthy). Eventually it leveled out and I was losing anywhere from 1-2lbs/week. Having started around early August 2009 by late December I was around 180lbs, I had lost 40 lbs in 5 months. My friends made anorexic jokes because I lost so much but I felt really great and it was amazing how easy it was to turn down junk food and not eat a lot.
I continued to lose weight a lot slower and eventually hit 172 lbs in March 2010, which was when I hit my first obstacle. I got my wisdom teeth out, I had been having some slow weeks and I couldn't work out for a few days. The bad eating (because of my limited options) and the fact that I couldn't workout kind of threw me out of wack. Even after I recovered I was no longer working out or watching myself as much as I was. I started playing video games a lot again and it was easy for me to sink hours and hours into them and I didn't use the online community as much. When college rolled around I was back up to mid-180s. Freshman 15 hit me and by end of freshman year I was around 200lbs again (I think I had even been closer to 210 at one point but started working out and being careful at the dining hall). a
I stayed around 195-200 that summer, the next semester came and I gained maybe 10 lbs. I n Spring of 2012 I took on a lot of extra responsibilities on campus which increased my stress and I was a stress eater. That in combination with living in a fraternity house where drinking happened often and the food available wasn't exactly healthy I gained a lot of weight. I was 245 when the summer started. That summer I tried to work out and eat healthy. I dropped maybe to 235 but no matter how hard I tried to keep it up during the school year it wasn't much use. By winter I was 250. By the end of the following summer I had dropped weight again to 240.
Then my senior year happened and it was rough. By December 2013 I was 265, the biggest I've ever been. It was bad. I started a competition with some friends and I managed to drop down to 240 by the summer. The summer was a struggle with my internship I didn't lose or gain any weight. I got in better shape but that was about it.
I went back to school for my masters, by the end of December 2014 I was 248 again. I had another moment of clarity where I realized that after the next semester I was going to graduate, start my job and I wanted it to be a new fresh start, I didn't want my weight to hold me back and it was going to be much harder to lose weight while working. I did much more meal planning and exercised almost every day at the gym or playing racquetball. The lowest I hit was 215 but the stress of final exams/projects, shin splints and then falling into bad habits when I came back home I went back up to 230.
That brings us to today where I've been between 225 and 230 most of the time trying to get back into the good habits but also falling victim to old ways of splurging when I come home.
My first time losing weight (220->172) was your typical "unsustainable" weight loss. At the peak of my performance I was working out 3-4 times per day, in the morning, depending on school during gym class, right after school (before work), and then when I got home from work. I was also eating absurdly little, and realized after I got better at estimating calories that the 1000 calorie buffer I left for dinner was sometimes as little as 300, putting me around 1000 for the day sometimes. I know now that type of progress is not only unsustainable but not good for me.
Every time after that I wasn't forming good habits and when stress increased or I had a few bad days, everything went out the window. However I still count the past year or so as a success. It's been bumpy but I'm not back up to 265, overall I consider myself on a more sustainable path to losing it and keeping it off.
Today:
Today I'm 228lbs, I'm 3 weeks away from moving to my new apartment and starting my new job, and I'm trying to work in better habits and get started again now because I know it will be much harder once I start working. I regret not using the 2 months I've had home better. I'm moving to a city around some of my best friends so I know it's going to be hard in terms of a lot of going out and drinking and eating but I really want to get back in a good mindset now to help curb the bad decisions.
I think this introductory post has gone on long enough so I'm going to throw in my goals and call it a day.
Long-Term Goal: 195lbs. Still technically "overweight" for my height but I want to get there and see how I feel.
Short Term Goals (3 weeks):
1. Start running again, the shin splints I had are gone and I miss running especially how good it made me feel. I hope to do some running 3-4 times a week as well as incorporate some stretches to make sure my shin splints don't come back
2. Eat healthy consistently, I've been back and forth where I eat good 2 days and then have 1 killer bad day. When I go off track I tend to lose control, it's pretty terrible. My goal is around 1500 calories/day, but I'm giving myself anywhere from 1300-1600. Bad days I can do anywhere from 2-3 times that much....
3. Start some strength training. I'm not going to hit the gym everyday but doing some sort of strength training 2-3 days per week.
I hope to post at least every other day, just a kind of general how the day(s) went. I'll probably also mention other things I'm working on in my personal/professional life.
If you read all that thanks, any and all comments/feedback are welcome. Here we go.
I'm 5'10", 228lbs and I'm starting this to help track my progress, help keep myself accountable and hopefully it will help like it did last time!
My Story/History:
Short version: Summer 2009 195lbs->185>220>172>210>200>240>230>265>215>Today 230lbs
I've been on a bit of a roller coaster in terms of my weight for the past 6-7 years. So lets start at the first time I seriously started to try and lose weight consciously. My junior year of high school my friend convinced me to try wrestling. I was in the mid 190's at the beginning of the season but by the end all of the intense practices had me down to the mid 180's, I was in the best shape of my life (not the most impressive thing though given that I was 17). However after that things somewhat took a turn for the worse and between the end of the season (mid winter) and the middle of that summer I had ballooned up to 220 lbs. I remember the moment it clicked for me just how big I had gotten, I was driving to work and I all of a sudden became conscious of my sides/rolls. That's when I first started on a healthy path.
I educated myself, joined another website like this one, started keeping a food diary on there as well as being active in the community, and read everything I could on weight loss. I half-assed counting calories. I measured out my cereal and milk for breakfast, made a reasonable lunch and left a 1000 calorie buffer for dinner (mom cooked so it wasn't easy to assume). Stopped snacking completely. Lastly I began exercising however I could. I would run (I remember the first time, barely being able to do 1/4 mile), I played a lot of DDR, and generally tried to be active in whatever way I could. As time went on I was losing a lot of weight, in the beginning 3-4lbs /week (even though I knew it was unhealthy). Eventually it leveled out and I was losing anywhere from 1-2lbs/week. Having started around early August 2009 by late December I was around 180lbs, I had lost 40 lbs in 5 months. My friends made anorexic jokes because I lost so much but I felt really great and it was amazing how easy it was to turn down junk food and not eat a lot.
I continued to lose weight a lot slower and eventually hit 172 lbs in March 2010, which was when I hit my first obstacle. I got my wisdom teeth out, I had been having some slow weeks and I couldn't work out for a few days. The bad eating (because of my limited options) and the fact that I couldn't workout kind of threw me out of wack. Even after I recovered I was no longer working out or watching myself as much as I was. I started playing video games a lot again and it was easy for me to sink hours and hours into them and I didn't use the online community as much. When college rolled around I was back up to mid-180s. Freshman 15 hit me and by end of freshman year I was around 200lbs again (I think I had even been closer to 210 at one point but started working out and being careful at the dining hall). a
I stayed around 195-200 that summer, the next semester came and I gained maybe 10 lbs. I n Spring of 2012 I took on a lot of extra responsibilities on campus which increased my stress and I was a stress eater. That in combination with living in a fraternity house where drinking happened often and the food available wasn't exactly healthy I gained a lot of weight. I was 245 when the summer started. That summer I tried to work out and eat healthy. I dropped maybe to 235 but no matter how hard I tried to keep it up during the school year it wasn't much use. By winter I was 250. By the end of the following summer I had dropped weight again to 240.
Then my senior year happened and it was rough. By December 2013 I was 265, the biggest I've ever been. It was bad. I started a competition with some friends and I managed to drop down to 240 by the summer. The summer was a struggle with my internship I didn't lose or gain any weight. I got in better shape but that was about it.
I went back to school for my masters, by the end of December 2014 I was 248 again. I had another moment of clarity where I realized that after the next semester I was going to graduate, start my job and I wanted it to be a new fresh start, I didn't want my weight to hold me back and it was going to be much harder to lose weight while working. I did much more meal planning and exercised almost every day at the gym or playing racquetball. The lowest I hit was 215 but the stress of final exams/projects, shin splints and then falling into bad habits when I came back home I went back up to 230.
That brings us to today where I've been between 225 and 230 most of the time trying to get back into the good habits but also falling victim to old ways of splurging when I come home.
My first time losing weight (220->172) was your typical "unsustainable" weight loss. At the peak of my performance I was working out 3-4 times per day, in the morning, depending on school during gym class, right after school (before work), and then when I got home from work. I was also eating absurdly little, and realized after I got better at estimating calories that the 1000 calorie buffer I left for dinner was sometimes as little as 300, putting me around 1000 for the day sometimes. I know now that type of progress is not only unsustainable but not good for me.
Every time after that I wasn't forming good habits and when stress increased or I had a few bad days, everything went out the window. However I still count the past year or so as a success. It's been bumpy but I'm not back up to 265, overall I consider myself on a more sustainable path to losing it and keeping it off.
Today:
Today I'm 228lbs, I'm 3 weeks away from moving to my new apartment and starting my new job, and I'm trying to work in better habits and get started again now because I know it will be much harder once I start working. I regret not using the 2 months I've had home better. I'm moving to a city around some of my best friends so I know it's going to be hard in terms of a lot of going out and drinking and eating but I really want to get back in a good mindset now to help curb the bad decisions.
I think this introductory post has gone on long enough so I'm going to throw in my goals and call it a day.
Long-Term Goal: 195lbs. Still technically "overweight" for my height but I want to get there and see how I feel.
Short Term Goals (3 weeks):
1. Start running again, the shin splints I had are gone and I miss running especially how good it made me feel. I hope to do some running 3-4 times a week as well as incorporate some stretches to make sure my shin splints don't come back
2. Eat healthy consistently, I've been back and forth where I eat good 2 days and then have 1 killer bad day. When I go off track I tend to lose control, it's pretty terrible. My goal is around 1500 calories/day, but I'm giving myself anywhere from 1300-1600. Bad days I can do anywhere from 2-3 times that much....
3. Start some strength training. I'm not going to hit the gym everyday but doing some sort of strength training 2-3 days per week.
I hope to post at least every other day, just a kind of general how the day(s) went. I'll probably also mention other things I'm working on in my personal/professional life.
If you read all that thanks, any and all comments/feedback are welcome. Here we go.
Cheers, Cate.
