Losing the final 10 kg

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IAmGoingToTri

IAmGoingToTri

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I though it was time for a new journal, because I feel like I reached a new phase: I came here to lose weight, and my "higher purpose" at the time was to do another triathlon. Well, yesterday I finally did and it was awesome! I did a 1/8 tri, which means 500 meters of swimming, 20 km of cycling and 5 km of running. I did it in 1 hours and 10 minutes, faster than I expected, especially given that I had no wet suit (only person without one, got some respect for that! ;)), normal pedals and no click pedals (my gear could use some upgrades :)). It was a very enjoyable experience and I decided to schedule my next triathlon straight away: in 5 weeks I will do another 1/8 triathlon.

That also gives me motivation making and sticking with the lifestyle changes for losing weight. Weighing less means going faster (that is, if you don't lose muscle). Five weeks is enough time to lose 5 kg, perhaps 6 or 7 if I do my best. That should make a significant difference. If I combine that with some gear upgrades, proper training, improved techniques (especially for cycling more efficiently and for faster transitions) and a slightly better preparation, I know I can do it in less than 60 minutes.

So, that's what I will do! :)

For context, here are some facts and stats

Weight history:
2005: 76 kg (muscular, athletic, 18 years old)
2013: 106 kg (gradually gained weight, lost control over life, including diet and exercise routine)
2014: 84 kg (time to change. did not reach my GW, but got close)
2016: 98 kg (gained a bit, but not all.)
2017: 85 kg (now. dedicated to making sustainable changes, going for GW of 76 kg).

Goals:
Reach GW of 76 kg
Doing a lot of triathlons. Do a 1/8 triathlon in less than 1 hour, and an Olympic Distance in less than 2 hours and 15 minutes.
Gain some muscle
Improve my looks in the process, attract girls (also by working on other aspects of myself, such as my character and social skills)

I will write about my experiences here. I hope to make it interesting to read, and you're welcome to leave a comment! :)
 
Hey lovely - nice to see your new diary and congratulations on your tri! Good luck for the next few weeks -would be amazing to beat your last time!
 
2500 calorie deficit-day today (12k run, 30 minute intense bike ride, 1500 meter rowing), 500-1000 calorie deficit yesterday (12k run). Going to get the most of the 5 weeks that I have before the next triathlon. I will weight less than 80 kg by then. The time of slow progress is over.

That said, I will take good care of my body in the process. Don't worry about that! :) Healthy foods, break days, enough rest, etc... those good things will stay part of my routine.
 
It's a new day, and since it's a bit of a different day, because I will travel halfway through the country, work in another town and then travel further and stay at a friend's place. I know these kind of days can cause me to lose my healthy lifestyle routine, because I can't go to gym and I have to get food elsewhere. I want to continue making progress, so let's take a moment to come up with a plan:

First, exercise. I won't run/cycle/swim and/or row today. It's harder to do that elsewhere (though I could run, if I take my stuff, but I don't want to do that now) and it's good to take a break day anyways, because I have had 3 intensive exercise days in a row (including the triathlon on Saturday). Instead, I will just do more walking than on a normal day. I will start by walking to the train station (so I have to collect my stuff quickly after finishing this post and go to the station). That's a 1.5 km walk. Later I will walk from the train station in my friend's city to his place, which is also like 2-3 km. Then I will do a walk with him of 6-8 km (unless he doesn't want it, but he does like long walks), so I will walk 10 km in total.

I will eat 3 meals and I will not eat fast food this evening, my friend will cook a healthy meal. In the evening, I will not get chips or any other snack, however, I plan to have a few beers (not too many though).

Planned result: a 1000 calorie deficit. Let's see how it goes. If something works out another way, I plan to see what I can learn from it. My main goal is not to make this day successful, but to learn how I can live a healthy lifestyle on days like these, meaning I want to be able to reproduce this. That would be very valuable, because as I have mentioned, these kind of days often break my healthy lifestyle (and demotivate me on the days after), let's say at least 9 out of 10 times. So let's start changing that.
 
IAmGoingToTri said:
Planned result: a 1000 calorie deficit. Let's see how it goes. If something works out another way, I plan to see what I can learn from it. My main goal is not to make this day successful, but to learn how I can live a healthy lifestyle on days like these, meaning I want to be able to reproduce this. That would be very valuable, because as I have mentioned, these kind of days often break my healthy lifestyle (and demotivate me on the days after), let's say at least 9 out of 10 times. So let's start changing that.
Click to expand...

^^^^^THIS!
I love this!
There are days that are going to break our healthy lifestyles, it's learning how to live with and around them without demotivation or derailment. Excellent goal!
 
M2M said:
^^^^^THIS!
I love this!
There are days that are going to break our healthy lifestyles, it's learning how to live with and around them without demotivation or derailment. Excellent goal!
Click to expand...

Thanks, great to see your enthusiasm! I set this goal, because more and more I realize that it's not just sheer willpower that is the thing that produces success, though it is useful if you are willing to do whatever it takes to achieve your goals, but it's even better to accept that you are human and that your willpower will vary depending on the circumstances (location, energy level, time, season, emotion, company, etc).

I did have a few traveling days and I did fine. Better than usual, I would say. Less fast food, less alcohol. I am still not where I want to be, but I think I learned a few things. First, I need to take my own food with me if I am traveling. For that, I could use some containers, and I need to find some meals that are relatively easy to make (they can require cooking for one day trip/the first day, but for multiple days I need to be able to make it without cooking, so that I can go to a supermarket and prepare it in the morning). Second, I always should have a bottle of water with me. Third, I should try to have a healthy meal in the evening. That is the biggest challenge, so I will not give this priority. Fourth, I need to carry sports gear with me on every trip, so that I can go running, and I should try to schedule this in advance. Anyways, looks like I have some homework to do for the next trip.

Update: I found a sports gear shop that was doing a closing down sale - with at least 60% discount on all gear. Now I know how (some) women feel when shopping for clothes! ;) I went through the whole store, and bought a thermal shirt, some sports socks, a small backpack and some other things. I decided that this was the reward for finishing my Android course (I promised myself to reward myself, but I had not yet chosen what the reward would be).

A new thing to do to track my progress and to hold myself accountable is give myself a daily rating, answering the question: how well did I do according to my health goals?
Excellent: 1
Good: 0
Mediocre: 0
Bad: 0
Very bad: 0
Explanation: excellent means plenty of exercise, healthy food, big deficit. Very bad means inactivity, unhealthy food and overeating. The rest is in between. The goal is to have more good and excellent days than bad days. Day 1: 27/5/17.
 
I might start a rating system for my days. I'll try it for a week. You're continuing to do well Tri & constantly learning. Go you!
 
@Rebel lee - Thanks man!

@cate - Thanks, and feel free to borrow this idea. Curious to see read how it works out for you! :)

#Update: Great deficit, lots of exercise (12 km of running, 3 km of walking). Deficit of about 2000 calories.

Gear upgrade: bought some 4 airtight food storage boxes (to store leftovers in fridge/be used as lunch boxes/picknick boxes).

Daily rating (since 27-5-2017):
Excellent: 2 (+1)
Good: 0
Mediocre: 0
Bad: 0
Very bad: 0

Plans for this week:
Weight loss: lose 1 kg
Eating habits: start preparing lunch/taking my own lunch to work (don't buy (expensive) lunch)
Drinking habits: quit alcohol (at least until I reach my goal weight).
Studying: continue working through math book from university, work on Python skills and Android programming.
Organization: Organize home.
Work: be productive at work.
Finance: pay all bills, do taxes.
Fun: do a canoeing lesson with my brother. Think of one more fun activity and do it (I try to do at least one, preferably 2-3, interesting/fun/new activities per week).
-> Conclusion: I want to see growth in many areas of my life.
 
Canoeing should be really fun. I've done quite a bit of sea kayaking, it's such a great pastime. It's hard to have all areas in your life running like clockwork all the time but there's no harm in trying!
 
@Emilyrose - It is fun indeed! :) Hope to do it every week from now on!
You are right, it's hard to get all areas in life going well and I am not sure if I will be successful, but I will try my best and enjoy the process :). Almost all areas of my life have been improving for the last years - at the lowest point I would rate most areas of my life around 2-3 out of 10, and now I would give my life a 7-8 on average. I am already extremely happy that I managed to get here! I am curious how good my life can become!

#Update: Good deficit, healthy diet. 30 minutes of intense cycling, 500 meters of rowing (I have a bruised rib, rowing was a bit too painful today).

Daily rating (since 27-5-2017):
Excellent: 2
Good: 1 (+1)
Mediocre: 0
Bad: 0
Very bad: 0

Progress towards this week's goals:
Weight loss: good deficit
Eating habits: didn't buy a sandwich for lunch. Almost 4 euros saved! I will definitely not buy any sandwiches anymore, it's way too expensive.
Drinking habits: had no alcohol (streak: 1 day)
Studying: did 20 minutes of math practice, practiced programming (Python and Angular). Will go to the university library in 30 minutes to study for at least another hour.
Organization: will organize my home for 15 minutes after finishing this post (wash clothes (hang them tonight), collect and take out trash, collect dishes (wash them tonight)).
Work: I was productive enough.
Finance: I will pay at least one bill tonight.
Fun: I enjoyed exercising and I enjoy(ed) practicing math and programming. However, no activities planned today "just for fun".
 
Today's post is a bit early. Took a day off from work to focus on the other projects that I am doing. Started the day with a good breakfast, because I wanted to donate blood (and not faint :p). Fortunately, I didn't. I am also happy that I was allowed to donate, because I wasn't for 9-10 months, every time I tried my iron levels were too low. Made some changes too my diet to boost these levels, glad that it is working.

I went in the morning, because I still want to exercise today and I want my body to be able to recover a bit. I plan to do a good amount of exercise (10 km run, 30 minutes of cycling and 2 km of rowing), but I will do it slower than normal. I will eat enough. Planned deficit is about 1500 calories. I trust that I will be able to do this, so I will already rate my day as excellent (I will adjust this tomorrow if it went less well than planned).

Daily rating (since 27-5-2017):
Excellent: 3 (+1)
Good: 1
Mediocre: 0
Bad: 0
Very bad: 0

Planning to spend the rest of today focusing on all of this week's goals as listed in my previous posts. Organizing, studying, chores. Bascically, getting my life in order and investing in the future. :)
 
Again an early post. This time a short one, I feel the need to write down some plans. I will post a longer one later today to write about how the day went.

But first, about yesterday: it really was an excellent day. I created a huge deficit. Ran 12 km, rowed 2 km and cycled for 45 minutes. Ate healthy foods, no temptation to overeat. I think this daily review system works well (combined with the idea that I have another triathlon in 5 weeks, which gives me a deadline), it gives me the incentive to stick with my habits , to act in such a way to create deficits. I needed that, because to be honest my progress was extremely slow (and often nonexistent) for the last months.

I weighed myself this morning and my weight was 85.7 kg. Getting close to my record of 85.0 again, looking forward to passing it and going beyond.

Planning to have another excellent day today. Exercise planned is 2 km of rowing, 30 minutes of cycling and 10 kilometers of running.
 
Did my rowing and cycling. Gonna run now.

Daily rating (since 27-5-2017):
Excellent: 4 (+1)
Good: 1
Mediocre: 0
Bad: 0
Very bad: 0
Explanation:
Excellent means a big deficit & sticked to healthy habits,
very bad is big surplus and didn't stick to my habits,
rest is in between.

Another excellent day. Striving for a "good" day tomorrow (because every 3 days I want to have a 50% break day (meaning less exercise, leading to a smaller deficit. Once a week I want to have a (close to) 100% break day, during which I eat a bit more and skip exercise at all (or exercise very little)).
 
@Trusylver - Thx! :)

Short update today. As I explained yesterday, today is a "50% day", a kind of half-break day, during which I will exercise lightly and eat more. Planning to consume about 2000 calories (normal = about 1500-1800). Planning to burn 3000 (less than normal (which is about 4000/day). Will not run today (I ran 12 km on Tuesday and 10 km on Wednesday, time for a break). I will go to the gym and do 30 km of cycling there and 2 km of rowing. Also did a bit of cycling to and from work, and a bit of walking.

Btw I weighed myself this morning, and I weighed 85.5 kg. Another step in the right direction. It's nice that the progress is visible, although I will not depend on it, because I know that progress is not always visible in the scale right away.

Daily rating (since 27-5-2017):
Excellent: 4
Good: 2 (+1)
Mediocre: 0
Bad: 0
Very bad: 0
 
Ate more than planned yesterday evening. It wasn't terrible, but I still choose to adjust yesterday's daily rating from "good" to "mediocre" (which means no deficit, but no surplus either - which is still ok a 50% day):

Daily rating (since 27-5-2017):
Excellent: 4
Good: 1
Mediocre: 1 (+1)
Bad: 0
Very bad: 0

Anyways, I just weighed myself, and my current weight is 85.2 kg. Just 200 grams away from my record in the past years. So let's get the most out of today, and break that record (at least in theory - the scale may or may not show it tomorrow). Planning to cycle 45 minutes, row 4 km and run 10-12 km. Planning to eat about 2000 calories, resulting in a 2000+ calorie deficit.
 
Did 4 km of rowing and 45 minutes of cycling, as planned. It was quite heavy I must say. I didn't sleep so well, so I think my energy is a bit lower. Anyways, not gonna whine, I will sleep better tonight. I have a 10-12 km run scheduled, and even though I "don't feel like it", let's just fucking get this over with (I am sure that I will enjoy it though ;)).

Daily rating (since 27-5-2017):
Excellent: 5 (+1)
Good: 1
Mediocre: 1
Bad: 0
Very bad: 0
 
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