Let's get serious again

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Thanks NicholeB! :)

I had a great day. Did all the things on my list so far (work, exercise, groceries, cook). Estimated deficit is 1500-2000 calories.

Only thing left is the hour of self-study and half hour of chores. I feel like starting with the second one, so that's what I will do!

I am loving my life now! I feel like I am being shot out of a cannon in the morning, only to land in the evening when I go to bed (with breaks in between of only a handful of minutes). Days like these are the best!
 
I need some of your enthusiasm to rub off on me Tri. I love hearing how you are loving life!
 
Haha cate feel free to take some! ;)

I just woke up and weighed myself, and I am 91.8 kg! I already suspectrfed that I was retaining a lot of water (still not sure that I lost all the surplus water). So I am already where I want to be by the end of this week. At this rate I may be sub-90 by the end of next week!

Crazy amounts of exercise are effective after all!

Today I will not go running; I am already on schedule to hit my 40k/week and I do not need to do more. I will do 30 kilometers of cycling (indoor) and 3 kilometers of rowing.

I aim at eating 1500-2000 calories, in order to stay well nourished. Today's deficit will be 1000-1250 calories.
 
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cate said:
I need some of your enthusiasm to rub off on me Tri.
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Just laughed out loud on the subway at the mental image of Tri running around town, rubbing enthusiasm on people :p

Still: doing magnificent on the weightloss side of things, buddy. Remember to eat enough calories anyway.
 
Hahaha that sounds like a nice superpower to have! ;)

Thanks, I won't forget that! Most days I eat 3 meals (even 4 today... I just ate 2 eggs and 200 grams of salmon! yummy! :D), and I try to eat nutritious food whenever I can (vegetables and stuff), while minimizing the fast food.

I did 25% more rowing (4 kilometers) and cycling (40 kilometers). I didn't do any running, as planned (I resisted the temptation... I really wanted to get a rest day :)).
 
I only took enough, I promise. Thanks for that. I laughed when I read about LaMa laughing out loud on the Subway & then I imagined Tri running around lightly touching people & sharing his enthusiasm around. Of course it was done in a good way & not at all creepy :D
 
Haha that does sound a little bit creepy! ;)

Numbers: my weight this morning was 92 kg. I estimate that I am less a week away from hitting my halfway point (91 kg) between my highest weight ever (106 kg) and my goal weight (76 kg), and maybe weighing less than 200 pounds (90.7 kg), which is a nice round number. I am less than two weeks away from entering the 80's in terms of weight (so 89.9 kg) and (perhaps the most interesting) less than 3 weeks away from my lowest weight in more than a year (which of course is also my lowest weight since signing up): 89.5 kg.

Appearances: well, yesterday I looked at myself and it became very clear to me that I lost weight. My belly is much smaller. I also noticed that my pants were also looser. I also think my muscles were bigger, but that is probably from yesterday's workout (after a workout muscles appear significantly larger... so always do some pushups before going on a date ;)).

Workouts: today I won't go to the gym! I am on schedule to go well beyond my week's exercise goals, so there is no need to. I will go for a run again, after taking a break from that yesterday. I will do my standard 10k through the town center and park after work.

Studying: Somehow I felt more tired in the evenings... exercise normally helps but I think because of the large increase in exercise volume now I got more tired instead. So I did much less studying in the evening than I intended to. Anyways, I have a personal rule that states that I am only allowed to study/work in the evening if I want to. If I plan to, but don't, I don't have anything to forgive myself for, because it is OK to do that. I am enthusiastic about my work and I usually make a lot of extra hours in the evening. In order to stay positive about it this should stay optional. That said, today I really feel like doing this. I hope to do an hour or so of studying this evening.

Chores: Yesterday I did more than an hour of chores at home, and the result is great. I think if I put in another hour or so I will be able to finish it perfectly. That means I have some drawers with mess to sort out, my bookcase could be reorganized a bit, same for my clothes, and there is some dust on remaining on the baseboards; all of these are non-essential chores, but it would get my room 100% organized, which is something I like.

Social: I may invite my brother and his girlfriend over for dinner.

Deficit: my deficit for today will be about 1250 calories. Consume: 2000 calories. BMR + exercise: 3250 calories.
 
Good to hear you really do keep your optional extra work optional! If the tiredness continues you may want to consider reducing your deficit a bit.
 
Yeah, optional should really be optional. This lesson still derives directly from what I just shared about what I learned with the psychologist, that I was very harsh towards myself and that I should not be so judgemental. Making evening work optional was one of the applications of this lesson that allowed me to finish my studies in 6 months after visiting the psychologist.

And... well I didn't work in the evening, haha! I did work all day already which was enough. I did all other things on my list though! :)

Going exercising was a challenge today. I was really tired just after dinner. However, I got a little more energy 30 minutes later and I decided to push myself to go exercising. I know that I always enjoy it within 15 minutes of starting, which was true again today. Did about 12 kilometers of running. I also cycled about 12 km through the day, and I walked around 2 kilometers.

Today's deficit was around 1250 calories, as planned.
 
Another day, the final working day of the week!

My exercise plan: 20k cycling, 5k rowing, 5k running.

I will create a deficit of 1000-2000 calories.

My weight this morning was 92.5 kg. I think I will finish this week with about 91 kg (tomorrow or sunday).

But that depends on what the daily measurements say, and if I have learnt one thing about weight loss it's that your weight is rather unpredictable. So, I don't just read what the scale says, I estimate my own trend line based on previous measurements, deficits and other factors (which gets me to estimate 91)
 
I did my last workout of the week.

My goals for this week / what I actually did:
Rowing: 12 km / 15 km
Fitness: 4 times / 4 times
Cycling: 100 km / 130 km
Running: 40 km / 42 km

I did it all from Monday to Friday. I think I had a rest day on Sunday. In addition, I did 15-20 kilometers or so of walking.

It was a tough week, I mean when I exercise I am not kind to myself... I push myself to go beyond my comfort zone (and don't worry, I don't push myself beyond what is reasonable and I at take all necessary precautions to prevent injuries. Because injuries suck). Still, in a weird way I REALLY enjoy doing this combination of pleasure and pain. And no, I am not into that 50 shades of gray thing :p.

Today's deficit is about 2200 calories. Going to bring that down to 1500 calories by having 2 beers! Cheers! :)
 
Thanks cate! :)

Activity: As I said, today is break day. However, just to get around, I expect to walk at least 6 kilometers and cycle around 10 (slowly, of course... otherwise it's really not a break day). So, I will still burn more than 3000 calories.

Food: I will visit a friend in a central city in the country (Utrecht) and we'll celebrate my brother's birthday. I always find it easier to limit food intake when I am with people. So, I will just accept this as a fact and try to limit my intake with a generous 2200-2500 calories, which would still produce a deficit large enough to lose 50-100 grams.

The most important goal, however, is to prevent serious overeating (>4000 calories), because then I would not only lose today, but also one or more other days to compensate for it.

I think if you make progress on most days (considerable progress on days when you can, just a little when it's harder), that you will get used to another eating pattern (a healthier one, at least, that should be your focus; not just less calories) and that it's inevitable that you will be successful in the end.

Weight: my weight was 92.0 kg this morning. I am sure that I am retaining water in my muscles... I expect my weight to soon drop below 91 kg when this water flushes out.
 
I noticed that my pants are a lot wider... I really have to wear a belt again. Another sign that I am really losing weight.

I have been around this weight before (91 kg)... a few times even. Last time was 6 months ago. This may be demotivating to someone... the idea of doing something again. But I just thought about this, and even though I have already been at this weight, I think that I am doing a lot better than last time. I have improved my diet further upon the last time, the best part being cooking for myself. Also, I exercise much harder than I did last time, and much more consistently. In the last 4 or 5 weeks, I have run 35-45 kilometers/week. This makes a huge difference. I have also added rowing and cycling now. Last, but not least, I have quit smoking for good now.

So, my weight may be the same as last time, a lot of other things are better now, which is what matters most.

And, what makes a difference as well is that this time I won't give up. This year I will become the fittest version of myself in my life so far and, while I am sure that there will be plenty of challenges, nothing will stop me. And I won't focus on short term results... what I am building this year is the foundation of a healthy routine that I will stick with for life.
 
IAmGoingToTri said:
And, what makes a difference as well is that this time I won't give up. This year I will become the fittest version of myself in my life so far and, while I am sure that there will be plenty of challenges, nothing will stop me. And I won't focus on short term results... what I am building this year is the foundation of a healthy routine that I will stick with for life.
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I LOVE this Tri! Good for you :)
 
Thanks cate! I will be great! I will (not) be huuuuuuge! *stops bad Trump impersonation* ;)

Yesterday I had no deficit, I guess even a surplus of 500-1000 calories. I rely for my statistics on the very scientific method of "calorie guessing". No notebooks, no trackers. Just some calculations in my head. Nice and simple, and more accurate than you would expect.

So, yesterday wasn't terrible, I can ignore it. I had a birthday party, which used to lead to much bigger surplusses, as you may know yourself.

Today I will:
- Start this week's exercising routine. I will do the same as last week, no need to expand on it. At least not yet; I don't want to run into injuries by increasing to quickly. I realize that the addition of rowing and cycling to my routine has been a big increase, and so I want to take a few weeks to get used to it. So, that's 42 kilometers of running, 130 kilometers of cycling and 15 kilometers of rowing. Last week I did this in 5 days (Monday-Friday); this week, I will do it in 6 (Sunday-Friday). Saturday will be my resting day.
- Do a few hours of online learning
- Organize my home
- Plan this week
- Relax
 
So this is where it's at! Nice to meet someone else into keeping highly active. Solid plan to be sure. I can see the art of balance is on your agenda as well. :)

Just wanted to say I see where you're coming from re people who are quick to project names onto others re the whole racism thing. I guess it's all in the way people project as we humans so commonly do. Group mentality rarely helps. Negativity begets negativity.

Anyways ... I was just trying to find your thread. This is it, is it not? Thanks for the encouragement re my own.

Here's to a restful week. Will you be doing a little active recovery and if so what kind of things?

Have a good day folks.
 
Hi nomorecombebacks! Thanks for paying a visit! :)

Yes, I am very active, and I want to stay that way, so I am doing it in a balanced way.

Yep, this group mentality is very much a human thing, and indeed it's creating a lot of problems. That is why I am so much about focussing on individual responsibility. To illustrate this, imagine a group in which 99 out of 100 people (all of whom did not choose to be in that group; so that could be a gender, a race, a country, a family, etc) are nasty/evil people, that does not mean that the 1 person who is actually a truly good person deserves any blame, any responsibility for the group (the matter would be different if that person chose to join that group, knowing what kind of persons he would associate with). So, someone joining a racist group like the KKK would go in my book as a racist and a bad person. That is where the group does matter. Someone of the same gender as most KKK members (or the Black Panthers for that matter), of the same race, of the same country or even of the same family should not be called racist just because there is something random that binds them together. In fact, doing so, is an act of discrimination.

It boggles my mind that people don't understand that.

Of course, I don't like to see racism and of course I think it's a real thing. There are plenty of stupid people out there. I have seen it myself, and I have ridiculed them myself, (in their face, because I am not a coward), and I have tried to pursuade them to let go of those ideas. That said, I treat these as stupid individuals, and it's something that we should solve on that level.

On-topic:
Yes, this is my thread, this is where I talk mostly about food and exercise! And yes, about recovery and rest. I did 2 days of that. Yesterday was kind of unplanned, but I have a cold and my muscles were tired and weak. I could have gone exercising, but I chose not to. Feeling better today.

I have a weekly target for my exercise (rowing/cycling/running x amount of kilometers) and I wanted to do it in 6 days, instead of 5 days like last week. My plan was to do it from Sunday to Friday, but I can do it from Monday to Saturday as well. So, today I will go again.

My weight this morning was around 92 kg. This has been true for most days in the last week. Expecting to be 91 at the end of this week. Let's start working towards that!
 
So, I have a bad cold. Worse than normal. I quit smoking 6 weeks ago, so I thought these may be related. So, what does a 21st century person do in this situation? Of course, he consults dr. Google! This is what I found:

All recent quitters need to be aware of two things thta can happen when getting cold or flu near the time that they quit smoking. First, a cold may be more annoying than normal. If anyone gets a cold within a few months of a quit, it is often a really uncomfortable one. The reason being not only are you producing excessive mucous from the infection itself, but since your Cilia are still in the process of cleaning out of the built up mucous that has been accumulated over the years and decades that never had a chance of coming out before, the amount of congestion and the symptoms can really make a person miserable.

Also, with nerve cells that have now regenerated throughout your whole respiratory tract functioning normally, you can feel pain and irritation that were dulled when you were a smoker. It may have taken you a little longer as a smoker to even know when you were getting sick. With impaired nerve cells you may not have felt earlier symptoms, or if you did you may not have been able to differentiate what was just an effect of smoking too much or of actually having some sort of infection. With nerve cells back in place you are likely not going to be overly tempted to smoke for the concept of pouring hot irritating smoke on an already irritated throat is generally not a pleasant thought.
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Well, that explains things. I already knew about that Cilia thing, my lungs have been actively cleaning up for more than a month, but now that I have a cold it's even more "fun". Anyways, while it doesn't feel good, I know that it is a good process. Clean lungs ftw!
 
That's awesome about giving up the smokes. I gave up at age 38 ... nearly ten years ago. Best thing I ever did! Life only gets better from that point on. Full credit to you. I turn 48 on the 12th of this month. I'd like to be as active as you, but need to space out my intensive workouts. ATM I have changed mixing up my exercise to mixing up what I eat. LOL because it's kind of working ... although I think I need to go back to eating really clean for two weeks running so the cycling of good cop - bad cop (re my food choices) will continue to work. Not sure if that makes sense ... but easing up on how strict I am after a few weeks running seems to keep me in good stead as long as I keep my activities/exercising up.

The trip to the city and hotel eating stops tomorrow. Despite bringing a heap of salad and superfoods ... I ended up eating like a king!!! I feel well rested and ready to hit the Gym full on when I get back as well as embark on some more long runs (about 10km for me at this stage) ... I'd love to start riding a bike but suffer with a tear in my rear end. I won't go into details on that except to say it's the result of years of eating badly and not keeping hydrated.

Let's just end on your Win Win regarding the quitting smoking! It would surely all be phycological from this point on??? The 6 month mark saw things a LOT easier for me ... then 12 months I was completely free with the faintest of urges. Two year I felt as though I had never smoked in my life. I hope it all comes together a lot sooner for you.
 
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