Losing the final 10 kg

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Ha, as I expected I really enjoyed the running yesterday, I ran more than 15 kilometers!

Today I have another heavy exercise day (albeit slightly less heavy than yesterday). Planning to row 2 km, cycle 30 minutes and run 10 km.

Tomorrow I will have a very light day (almost a complete break)... I will go to the gym to do 2 km of rowing and perhaps 20 minutes of cycling (my gym offers a 1 euro discount on my monthly payment every time that I go, that's an extra motivation to go as often as possible ;)).
 
Again, I don't feel like exercising. However, I planned to go, and so I should, and so I will! Because Tri does not skip exercises! :cool: (unless injured).

My future me will be thankful. Every day that I do what I plan I will lose 100-200 grams of fat (I don't care whether or not that's visible on the scale, there is too much noise from daily fluctuations to be able to perform an accurate measurement of progress). That is 1-2% of the 10 kg (at most) that I want to get rid of. To me, that is not insignificant. Especially considering that now that I am getting smaller, I can clearly see the difference that every kg that I lose makes to my body. It's very visible. So, every week I get to notice my body changing.

But: I only get that reward if I manage to stick with my schedule. Otherwise, I may still get there, but much slower.

And of course I don't just exercise for weight loss. I have tons of reasons to do it. Most importantly: to become stronger, both mentally and physically, and to have a good time.

So, after completing this post (in 2 minutes), I will run 10 kilometers, and cycle for 15 minutes (I already did my rowing (2 km) and 15 minutes of cycling earlier today). So, let's go for it again!
 
I did my run yesterday evening, just as I planned. About 12 km. Yesterday was an excellent day.

Daily rating (since 27-5-2017):
Excellent: 6 (+1)
Good: 1
Mediocre: 1
Bad: 0
Very bad: 0

Today is an rest day. I may do 30 minutes at the gym of light exercise, but I may not.

My weight today is 85.0 kg. 3rd time this year of hitting this mark, it seems there is an invisible barrier exactly at this 85.0-point. Anyways, I lost 1+ kg last week and it was pretty doable, so I expect to be able to reproduce that this week.

Today I plan to have just a "good" day. I want to have a bit of a deficit, but not a large one, because I want my body to be able to recover (and I am just hungry :p). So, let's get a good breakfast at a coffee store! :D
 
IAmGoingToTri said:
Again, I don't feel like exercising. However, I planned to go, and so I should, and so I will! Because Tri does not skip exercises! :cool: (unless injured).
Click to expand...

I love this mentality; this mentality is what goes through my head every time I think of going to the gym however it doesn't always end the way your's ends. I enjoy being at the gym when I get there but getting there is such a pain - my mentality is that I have to go out of my way to go to the gym; if I was already out it is fine but i'm not.

It's not like I have anything better to be doing either which frustrates me - why do I do this to myself...
 
Daily rating (since 27-5-2017):
Excellent: 6
Good: 1
Mediocre: 2 (+1)
Bad: 0
Very bad: 0
Yesterdays rating was mediocre. In the evening I got hungry and ate 900 grams of chicken and 2 eggs. Don't regret it, every now and then you need to eat a bit more to refuel, and it could be worse (I mean I ate healthy foods and it wasn't that much calories). I didn't exercise at all, as planned.

Today
My weight this morning was 84.8 kg, so I finally managed to get past the 85.0 point. I am happy about this, and that I am at this point where I am able to make new progress (having burned through the 1-2 kg that I gained during my downtime).

Today I will do heavy exercise again. 10+ km of running, 45 minutes of cycling and 2 km of rowing.

lrat said:
I love this mentality; this mentality is what goes through my head every time I think of going to the gym however it doesn't always end the way your's ends. I enjoy being at the gym when I get there but getting there is such a pain - my mentality is that I have to go out of my way to go to the gym; if I was already out it is fine but i'm not.

It's not like I have anything better to be doing either which frustrates me - why do I do this to myself...
Click to expand...

Thanks. I love building this mentality. I think every time that you choose to stick to your goals, you strengthen your mentality, and every time that you give in to temptation, you weaken it. The key to change (IMHO) is to decide that your done with weakness in a specific situation, and that you will do whatever it takes to change it. Focused change.

I mean I am now building this discipline in exercising (specifically, planning out my exercise and doing what I planned), and during the last months of focusing on this area I see some clear progress.

Other areas of my life still need this transformation. I am very chaotic at home & I hardly ever cook for myself (tried to change both several times). So, this mindset is not universal, though I must say that it does seep a bit through to other areas. I plan to pick up other areas one by one, give them a lot of love and attention (like I am doing for exercising right now), get them in order and really change myself in the process.

So, if I can recommend something: start small. Start by planning the days that you want to be at the gym, and then just do that - make sure you will be there and give judge yourself on what you will or won't do when you are there. So, make it a rule never to not go when you planned to (except obvious emergencies... but they must be very extreme, not things like "I'm tired" or other feelings). Then, after a few weeks, you want to start planning a minimum amount of exercise that you will do once you are there. Not too much, something you can always do. And then you can build it up from there. I just think it's very important to plan in such a way that you will be successful >95% of the time. If you build it up gradually, you will become stronger (both physically and mentally) and you will be impressed by what you will be able to do. But you will need to start small and feel great about that! It's much more awesome to be able to be consistent and disciplined in the small things than try to do big things in a very inconsistent way.
 
Today was good. The gym closed earlier than I thought (it's a holiday today), so I couldn't go. Valid excuse, right ;)? I did go running though.

Also broke my weight record again: I now weigh 84.0 kg (SW 106 (2014). If I remember correctly, that's the lowest weight I have had in decade. It feels good to see some real results! :D

Daily rating (since 27-5-2017):
Excellent: 6
Good: 2 (+1)
Mediocre: 2
Bad: 0
Very bad: 0
 
IAmGoingToTri said:
Today was good. The gym closed earlier than I thought (it's a holiday today), so I couldn't go. Valid excuse, right ;)? I did go running though.

Also broke my weight record again: I now weigh 84.0 kg (SW 106 (2014). If I remember correctly, that's the lowest weight I have had in decade. It feels good to see some real results! :D

Daily rating (since 27-5-2017):
Excellent: 6
Good: 2 (+1)
Mediocre: 2
Bad: 0
Very bad: 0
Click to expand...

Tut tut, going to slap you on the wrist for taking the day off :p haha

Anyway good job on hitting that goal - that's great work!!! Can you take 84kg off of me now? :rolleyes:
 
lrat said:
Tut tut, going to slap you on the wrist for taking the day off :p haha

Anyway good job on hitting that goal - that's great work!!! Can you take 84kg off of me now? :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

Haha, thanks for disciplining me... I deserve it :p

Anyways, I will not take your weight off ;). I don't want to take such a great opportunity to build the a STRONG mindset and discipline away from you. You may think that weight loss is a physical process... but let me tell you, it's a SPIRITUAL journey!

Ha, the way I say it may be jokingly, but I actually mean what I say! Weight loss was the start for me to get my fucked up life together a few years ago. It helped me practice control over my life.

/end guru rant ;)
 
Just woke up and weighed myself... 83.5 kg. Interesting how the weight suddenly falls off.

Now I can look forward to entering the seventies, probably before the end of June. During my twenties (and now early thirties) I have not weighed <80.0 kg. So, when I do, I can say that I weigh the same as I did as when I was in my teens. If I weigh >76.0 kg (if I get there, I mean I know how the losing process works and I can keep doing this indefinitely, but I have decided to quit losing before my body fat percentage is too low, but because I haven't measured that yet it's hard to say when that will be) I can say that I have my pre-college weight back. That will be before the end of July (again if I want it/if it's responsible to go that far).

I expect that 75.0 is the absolute lowest that I could possible want to go, so assuming that is accurate, I have lost 1.5 out of 10 kg to get there, so I am not 15% on my way to getting there (since this thread is called losing the final 10 kg it's good to know what I am talking about). So, let's just set 75 as as a target. Again, read above for all my disclaimers, from here on I will stop defending these assumptions, I hope that I am coming across as a rational person who does not make stupid decisions with his health :p.

Today I plan to have another excellent day (the last days were mediocre -> good). Meaning, I plan to have a 2000 calorie deficit, which I will achieve through eating healthily and exercising a lot. So: 12 km of running, 45 minutes of cycling and 4 kilometers of rowing.

Off-topic: yesterday I bought a second-hand 2009 iMac, so that I can use applications such as Pixelmator and Sketch for graphic design. I am starting up another Android development course and another course on software development process. Why? I have found a few customers who want me to build an app for them and I want to be able to build something good.

You see, I am not only wanting to lose weight, but also lose debt. Both weight gain and debt have been consequences of the period in life that I was struggling through, and I have accepted the responsibility for that now and I am working to fix all that. I am talking about a 50000+ euro debt from my studies. It's not small, but having grown used to it and looking more rational to it, I think it could be worse. I intend to pay it back by getting another source of income: my own web/app development company.

I see this as a practice exercise. The same way that weight loss is teaching me a lot of wisdom in the process, I expect debt loss will do the same. I expect that it will encourage me to get other areas of my life in order, to make responsible choices (what to buy/what not to buy, how to spend time well, etc). And of course how to build software and run a business.

Anyways, it's time to start the day!
 
Measured 83.7 kg again on the scale again today. Had a good day in terms of weight loss. Wasn't hungry all day, because I was a bit nauseous in the morning unfortunately and still not fully recovered (so I ate very little). Still planning to do a run this evening, I think that may actually do my body some good (get the blood flowing and everything).

The rest of last week was less stellar (again looking at weight loss habits). I was busy at work and generally less motivated to exercise and to eat less. So, I gave myself a week's break - or a 50% week as I like to call it, which means eating a bit more, and exercising a bit less. I like to do that one week per month, to allow myself to recover physically and mentally.

That week is over now, so I look forward to a new serious training week. I aim for about 50 km of running, 120 km of cycling and 10 km of rowing. It will be good for my endurance and strength, and it'll be good for weight loss. I expect to weigh somewhere in the 82.x next weekend (79.x is getting really close, hard to imagine!).

Have a good week everyone!
 
Thanks! :)

I was 83.5 kg again this morning. It's a good sign that I have been around this weight several days now, so that it's not just an anomaly, an outlier.

Some other results: I can run much better now. Last week I ran 2 km on the treadmill with a speed of 18.0 km/hour. Incredibly fast, I didn't know that I could do that (and I exercised the days before that (so not at 100%), so I should be able to go even faster/longer). Would be cool to do the 5k that's part of my triathlon in 2 weeks in less than 20 minutes (so faster than 15 km/hour on average). Seems like a realistic goal now.

I also notice that more girls look to me, even better, some even stare at me. Sometimes it may be because I am running like a crazy man in the park, jumping over benches, boulders and down stairs, and taking sprints up hills (jep that's my style, I like to turn my running into a bit of free running ;) - it's interesting though that as you get lighter you can jump much further, and as you jump more you become more in control of your body and less afraid to miss a jump).

Phase 1: losing weight (go near 75), build exercise routine
The challenge: losing weight in a steady and healthy way, creating an exercise routine and sticking with it.
Result: my weight will be the same as when I was 18 and my speed/endurance will be great. I will, however, have lost some muscle in the process.
Starting position: 106 kg when I was 28, 98 kg when I was 30 (6 months ago), which I treat at my new starting position because it's when I chose to start again.
Progress: 83.5 kg now, so I've lost 14.5 kg since last December. Only 8.5 kg to lose.

Phase 2: start strength training, further improve lifestyle (cooking, sleeping)
The challenge: learning how to do strength training and building a routine, start making actual gains (entire body), making cooking regularly and improving my sleep quality and quantity.
Result: muscle and strength gain, more energy due to improved lifestyle.
Starting position: Though I may start improving these aspects of my lifestyle a bit earlier, I will officially start with this goal when I am 75 kg. At that weight, the muscle that I have will be very defined, but I will also have lost some and I could certainly use some.
Progress: I have yet to start.

End goal (there will be more phases in between): I will first optimize my body for triathlon speed (I will see if I can maybe get in the top 3 of some races), and later (when I am ready to move on) I will build more muscle mass, making me a bit slower, but stronger, which of course looks good, but may be useful for other sports that I may try.
 
My weight this evening was 84.5 kg. May hit a new record low tomorrow morning (perhaps lower than 83.0 kg). We'll see.

This weight loss is a really long process. It demands a lot of courage, discipline, perseverance, ingenuity, balance, self-love, reflection, learning and willingness to change.

Fortunately there are a lot of rewards as well, in fact the traits that I just mentioned are rewards in themselves, developing and strengthening these character traits will help a lot in life (in fact it already has helped me a lot).

One reward that I got is that girls pay a lot more attention to me now. It's interesting to see. This is not just due to my physical change, but also due to the fact that I am much more confident (in part due to being more fit, but also due to my life getting more in order and myself just learning to respect my self more).

News flash: my next triathlon is cancelled, due to a dangerous part of the track. We get our money back, but still it's unfortunate. Will look for another race. Will try to weigh less than 80 kg before it. Will also start practicing my swimming, once or twice per week (hopefully the latter). Will also start strength training. Bought a fitness bench and 2 extra barbells with some weights (I have about 75 kg in weights in total now and 4 barbells - I will choose a few exercises and prepare these barbells so that I don't have to change weights (until I increase the weights for a particular exercise), making the process easier).
 
This morning: 83.7 kg - no new record, but close.

However, I expect to hit it really soon. I will continue to improve my exercise routine and diet, weighing less than 80 kg is extremely close. It will be weird to see a weight in the 70s on the scale! It's already strange too see my body changing - my shape is becoming less and less "curvy" and muscles are popping up everywhere! :)
 
Morning weigh in: 84.5 kg. Still carrying a bit of water weight with me, but less. The last days were really good, I did lots of exercise and ate about 1800 calories per day. I expect my weight to drop to 82-83 kg soon.

I see that I joined this forum on July 13, 2016. In about 3.5 weeks it's July 13, 2017. On that day I may be up to 20 kg lighter than when I signed up. I thought I was taking forever, but it isn't as long. I have grown so much over the last year (or shrunken in terms of clothing size ;)). My life is much better in almost every area. I hope to keep growing like this!
 
I'm sure that you will Tri. I think that you have improved your outlook on life in so many ways. It has been a real pleasure to follow your progress.
 
Thanks Cate. Your positivity and encouragement mean a lot for me! :)

Trained like a beast again today. 10 kilometer interval run, 10 minute intensive biking and then a 5 km run on the treadmill - with an average speed of 17.2 km per hour. So, I did the 5 km in less than 17.5 minutes, at the end of my training!

If I consider the fact that I had 4 days of heavy training in a row and this was at the end of my training, and that I still have some weight to go, I estimate that I can expect to run the 5 km in less than 16 minutes, perhaps even less than 15. If I do that at a triathlon (even at my current <17.5 minutes) I am probably the fastest runner.

Pretty satisfying.

Tomorrow is a break day. My body will appreciate that.
 
Took a few break days in a row - no exercise, more food and drinks, no deficit. No issue though, it was good - I still estimate that I lost 0.5 - 0.75 kg last week, which is a fine amount, and I exercised pretty heavy in the first 4 days and I must admit that I felt some slight pains in my legs. Nothing to panic over, not like an injury, but I do want to listen to my body and I think it told me to take it easy. Now that I did, the pains are gone and I am ready to go again.

So, that's what I will do - will do a 10 km run this evening. Planned deficit to today: 1000 calories.

One other thing I would like to talk about, is that I find it pretty interesting to experience the social and psychological effects of weight loss. You have to get used to your body changing all the time, and other people have to do that too. Your habits and lifestyle change, and people notice that too. On the one hand all of this is great, it's very nice to experience the rewards, on the other hand it requires a consistent level of attention to keep making the good choices, and of reflection to stay focused. I think that's why I am writing this journal. To be honest, the whole experience is just pretty weird and I am trying to make sense of it. It's an exciting journey for sure, and I am happy that it's going well, but I couldn't have imagined some of the situations that came up, like having to deal with other people's jealousy (to the point of them sabotaging your progress), of sliding back into bad habits every now and then and having to keep getting back even though you thought you beat it (but recovering from it every time), weight loss plateaus (it really gets tougher to lose weight as you approach your goal), but also positive surprises such as athletic feats I didn't think I could ever pull of.

I expect more weirdness and challenges to come up, and let it come, I will deal with it, because this is a good and interesting process and the benefits are more than worth it.
 
It is interesting observing the different reactions to your personal weight-loss. A lot of it is weird. I'm glad you are taking positives from it all & enjoying it xoC
 
Took an almost week-long break from exercise, but yesterday I went training again. It was good.

Today I don't have time to exercise (due to work + traveling + visiting friends), but I hope to have a long walk with those friends, and I will do a bit of walking throughout the day, so perhaps I can walk up to 10 km today.

My weight this morning was 84.5 kg. My lowest weight so far is 83.5, had that a few days, that's the lower end of the day-to-day weight fluctuation (85-86 kg is the higher end). Weighing 90+ is not something that I think I will ever do again, not even for a day, so that's interesting, because that has been the norm for the last decade. Crossing the 80 kg boundary will happen this year, maybe in a month, but I find it hard to predict. Anyways, it does not matter - my weight is moving in the right direction, the rate is less important.

However, let's see if I can accelerate it a bi for one week, because I do have the time and energy to focus more on losing weight for the coming time, let's see if I can lose a kg in the next 7 days (so that I may hit 82.5). So, that's roughly a deficit of 1000 calories per day. The reward is that every kg of fat (I assume that it's mostly fat, I try to avoid losing muscle) that I lose is very visible in my body. Differences of 0.5 kg are already visible.
 
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