Marcus: The Weight Loss Chronicles

So, my schedule has changed a lot this week with summer classes starting. It's been a challenge to get to the gym, class, group meetings, and manage to eat healthy food at decent intervals and get plenty of water while I'm stomping around campus carrying all my shit with me. Basically, my workouts have been shitty this week because I've been hungry as hell before I work out because it's basically time for lunch. BUT, the gym I use is on campus and is 12 miles from my home, so I'm not going to campus twice in one day.

I'm trying to get this schedule down, but even if I struggle with it, it only lasts until the end of June. I've managed to get to the gym every day this week and eat about 1550 calories each day. Tomorrow is a high calorie day, finally. These low days have been very difficult. If my eating could be more spaced out, it wouldn't be as hard. During the day while I'm at school I start getting very hungry and almost lightheaded, then I eat a few snacks I bring to school before I workout, but it doesn't seem to help very much. It's annoying to carry a gym bag, my computer and books, AND now, tomorrow, a lunch box to school. I also have to park about a mile away from my classes and the gym, so at least I'm probably burning a lot of calories lugging all this shit around in 95 degree weather like today. I also have these irritating group meetings that I can't really plan very well for. I like to space my food out perfectly before a workout, but with impromptu meetings, I get screwed.

The other big issue is that I haven't been drinking near enough water since I've had to go to class. At work, we have a water cooler with actual cold water and a restroom I could use whenever I want. At school, bathrooms are sometimes hard to find and there is no cold water anywhere. This is really going to take some finesse to cope with this shit schedule. To top off all this extra crap, I've been exhausted constantly since Monday morning. I keep getting wrong number phone calls in the middle of the night. I feel like I'm constantly tired.

Tomorrow is weigh in. I'm pretty sure I'll post at least 0.5-1lbs lost. Although I may be retaining some water because I get dehydrated during the first part of the day while I'm at school so my body might be trying to hang on to the water I drink in the evening.

I did a full body workout on Monday, followed by 40min of steady state. I pulled my shoulder doing military press. I did HIIT on Tuesday. Today, I did a semi-full body workout with some alternatives to avoid bothering my shoulder: light weight incline dumb bell press (probably not good for shoulder), leg press, concentration curls, and lat machine- not my normal routine at all, but felt alright to mix things up a bit. I did 35 min of steady state afterwards. Tomorrow is HIIT again. I'm planning to reduce my rest periods to 60 sec next time. I started out with 90sec rest, moved to 75, and will shoot for 60 now. If my food intake is appropriately spaced out tomorrow, I should have a good workout.
 
I'm pretty happy with today's weigh in. I figure I have about 6-9 additional pounds to lose (of pure fat) until I am at about 8% body fat which is probably the goal. If I have only lost fat since I was tested, I should be at about 13% right now. Pretty exciting. If things keep going as quickly as they've been, I should be where I want to be for the rest of the summer in about 6-8 weeks, give or take. However, I am totally open to stopping when I see abs regardless of the scale number.

HIIT was much better today than Tuesday. I hit my goal of six 30 sec intervals with 60 sec rests. I'll try to maintain that workout over the following week & then step it up again after that. I'm 4 of 4 on calorie goals this week, too. Today, I bumped it up to 1750 and am looking forward to three 2000cal days over the weekend. I'm considering doing HIIT on Saturday instead of planned steady state, but we'll see. Is 3 sessions in a week too much? I've only done 2/week for the prior 2 weeks. The results I'm seeing are satisfactory, so I guess 3 might be overkill.

My shoulder feels a lot better today, so I should be ready for my typical resistance workout tomorrow. Additional calories will definitely make the workout easier.

I tried waking up at 6 this morning instead of at like 8:30 since I've been so exhausted in the mornings, and somehow, somehow, that worked. I wasn't tired because I woke up earlier. It's like my body only wants 6 hours of sleep and any more and I'm exhausted.
 
Damn, 60 and 30 sec is killer. How do you gauge the change between? Do you go faster or increase resistance or what? You do it on the ellipticore, right?
 
Damn, 60 and 30 sec is killer. How do you gauge the change between? Do you go faster or increase resistance or what? You do it on the ellipticore, right?
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I go faster and increase the resistance when going from rest to interval. I increase the resistance by about 3x and the speed by about 30% during the intervals.
 
Hey there,

I need to sell some old jeans on Ebay too. I just need to get the motivation to list them on there.... Hope you got what you wanted out of them. Your schedule sounds totally shitty. I gotta work on my water intake too. This past week was a week of laziness, and I gotta turn it around. Now I have money to go to the store and get some decent food, and no excuse not to make it to the gym.... I really need the gym right now, I feel like it is something that keeps me sane, and helps me from being a such bitch :)....

Have a great day,
Sam
 
Hey there,

I need to sell some old jeans on Ebay too. I just need to get the motivation to list them on there.... Hope you got what you wanted out of them. Your schedule sounds totally shitty. I gotta work on my water intake too. This past week was a week of laziness, and I gotta turn it around. Now I have money to go to the store and get some decent food, and no excuse not to make it to the gym.... I really need the gym right now, I feel like it is something that keeps me sane, and helps me from being a such bitch ....

Have a great day,
Sam
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What's shakin sam? Ya know what's funny, I didn't have the motivation to list them either, but I conned my little bro who is an ebay-guru to do it for me- all I had to do was put them in a box and take to the post office. I got $100 for 4 pairs (including shipping)-- way more than I expected and they aren't like designer jeans.. regular express stuff, not shitty either nonetheless.

I know what you mean about the gym keeping you sane. I get pretty pissy if I don't get to go. I was out of town this weekend and ended up getting the friend I was staying with to plug up some old treadmill in his garage so I could use it. If you saw all the shit food and beer I consumed this weekend, you would understand why I had to get the blood flowin even under trying circumstances. I consumed the first hamburger I've had in over six months and the first milk shake in about a year. And you know what? Neither was very good either. I would have assumed have my home-made tuna wrap.
 
Glad to hear ya made some decent money on them. I got some old True Relgions and A&F's that basically fall off me that I need to get rid of. I will miss them dearly, LOL. I'm hoping I can get a decent amount out of them, there still in pretty good shape...

It's funny. I had some pizza the other for the first time in like probably a month or so. It tasted good, very good.... The next morning it wasn't really agreeing with me, we'll just leave it at that. Pizza used to be my binge food, the food of all food for me, and honestly I'm sure it's part of the reason I found myself at almost 250lbs. last year. No more. Some foods definitely don't hold up like they used to. Now it's crazy, I get excited to go eat sushi, or big salad or something....

Glad you got out of town and have some fun hopefully.

Take it easy,
Sam
 
Weight this morning: 163lbs
Weight lost this week: 1bs

Really surprised I lost anything this week after such a shitty weekend and given the fact that I weighed 165.5 on Tuesday. On the other hand, Thursday is historically my lowest day of the week, so that's why I take my weight on this day.

Hey Sam, where do you get TR jeans? I've piddled around online and found there is some price variance among vendors...kind of wondering if some of them are rip-offs, but also don't want to spend too much $$$. I'm gearing up to buy my first pair...
 
Nice job managing to lose by the end of the week. It's not easy. And now you've made me wonder if I have a historically 'low' day. Unfortunately, I don't have my spreadsheet handy. I will have to check that out.

You're so close to your goal. I'm so jealous. I'm going to pass out when I get within 10 lbs of my (first) goal.
 
Hey Marcus,

I actually got my True Religions off Ebay. I was very very careful though. I ended up buying them through a boutique online or something, I was careful to make sure they still had the tags, plus the seller had lots of amazing feedback and they were guaranteed authentic, so I got them. Once they arrived they were the real deal. You just have to be careful when buying stuff online, and I never ever ever buy anything that doesn't have awesome pictures and if it's located out of the country I don't even touch it. If I remember correctly I spent about 100 or 120 on them... That's pretty decent considering if you go to Nordstroms or other places they usually retail for upwards of 250 or so. I would recommend you go into a store, if you can find one and try some on. They tend to run big, at least imo. The pair I'm going to sell are a 34x33 and I swim in them, and have for awhile, and from the way it sounds (and looks) your pretty skinny, so you might be a smaller size than you actually think you are. I just purchased a pair of the William Rast jeans as well. I like them a lot, still a smidge tight, so that's my goal to drop another 10lbs or so and they will fit me like a glove. Jeans are really one of my favorite things to shop for, especially with all the awesome designer ones that have come on the market in the last few years or so. Diesel makes some amazing jeans as well, if you've never owned a pair of Diesels I would say look into those as well. Awe man, I could seriously talk jeans all day, LOL. If you buy anything online just be careful, and make sure they have a return policy, and if it's on Ebay make sure they have great feedback and the pictures look good, thats jmo...

Congrats on the weight loss. Your very disciplined, much more than me. Sometimes I feel kind of like a weekend warrior or something, hehe. Getting down to 8% bodyfat is amazing. Right now I would settle for 12 or 15 percent and be happy. That picture a few posts back you had showing your abs was awesome, thats how I want mine to look, eventually...

-Sam
 
Man, I'm a weekday warrior. Weekends are my downfall. Thanks for the info on hunting for jeans... I'm the only man I know of that's really into fashion, so I end up figuring everything out for myself (and making a lot of mistakes). I'm about to come into some money, so I'll follow your advice and try some on at the store & then go online.

I'm not at 8% yet, more like 12.1% from a rough calculation. I'm really happy with how far I've come, but I imagine you'll feel the same way once you get to my point- why not see how far I can go? It's almost become a hobby. I think I'm about 6lbs away from true abs. If I got down to 155, that would be 7.7%...not sure if that's genetically possible for me & if so, my rib cage might be protruding in an ugly way. I always tell people it's not hard to gain weight back if I get too skinny. That...is not a problem. I also want to get down to single digits so when I gain weight back, maybe it will be distributed differently (and not all in my midsection); I've read how there is some correlation between stress and midsection weight gain, I'm about to be at a very low level of stress in my life after the next two weeks of school, so maybe I can gain weight in the right places the next time around while putting on a bit of muscle.

HIIT this week was really good. I managed 7 intervals on Tuesday and today with the 30int/60rest split. I think I know what Steve was talking about in a different thread how you eventually have to choose between weight lifting and HIIT...my resistance training has stagnated badly on shoulders and chest. I am struggling to do the same weight every week. However, squats have continued to improve.

I feel pretty motivated/in a good mood today. This is the first summer I have been able to spend any time outside with my shirt off in about 5 years, so I think all the sunshine is doing good things to my head. Also, I only have 2 weeks left until I officially have my master's, and after that I will be done with school forever. 18 years of this school crap is finally going to end.
 
I've had a lot of stuff on my mind this weekend. This week is going to be crazy busy. I've got a lot of work to do today actually.

Diet was pretty bad on Friday and Saturday, but maybe my shitty weekends have been actually helping my weight loss through the "zig zagging" effect. Not sure/don't care, because I've still been losing at the exact rate I want to. I've been doing 1500cal on Mon-Wed, 1750cal on Thursday, and between 2500-2700 on Friday/Saturday, back down to 2000 on Sunday. It's a pretty haphazard calorie schedule, so it probably works to "keep my body guessing."

I'm still having some problems with military press. On Friday I decided to do military press with dumbbells and it seems like I couldn't do the same reps/weight that I could the last time I tried it with dumbbells (I usually use barbell). Squats, on the other hand, went great and I did a set at 165 for the first time. Pretty cool that I was only doing 95 on squats a few months ago. Dumbbell bench press was better and I was able to do more reps with 70lbs dumbbells than usual. So, all in all, it was a better workout and I think I'm finding that better resistance workouts are correlated to days that I eat more calories. I still haven't started doing deadlifts. I've been assuming that this back machine I use covers the same muscles as deadlift, but I know it doesn't. The machine I use hits lats pretty good, along with traps, rhomboids, and biceps secondarily. I guess next week I'm going to suck it up and give some meat head in the gym an ego trip and ask to show me how to deadlift. It seems like no matter how much I read or watch someone else do an exercise, I really need someone to critique me when I'm starting out because I can't really watch myself very well in the mirror while doing an exercise because I get off balance.

I know this is silly, (and I also know I'm not the only one that feels this way), but I hate looking like an amateur in the gym & doing some compound exercise with puny weight & struggling. I'm finally doing weight I don't feel embarrassed about on squats, but I still get looks from the roid-monsters like "what a poor, weak specimen this guy is." It's irritating seeing some guy that's 6 inches shorter than me and looks like he's 40lbs lighter blow me out of the water on squats.

I guess I have to keep in mind that my gym is not like other gyms. It's a university gym at a brand name school of 25,000+ where some of the top athletes in the country work out. I see basketball players or football players that I see on TV every now and then (without saying the name of the school, we were ranked #1 in men's and women's ncaa basketball at one point this past season). So, I get down when I'm working out next to guys like that, but then I go out into the real world and realize I'm doing great & shouldn't feel inferior, but rather should feel proud for the progress I've made.

I've mentioned before that I'm relocating to another city in about 3 months. I got some great news from a close friend from where I grew up that he is trying to work out transfering to the same city with his job & if all works out we will be able to share a place (and save about $500 a month in rent). Why this is relevant to my health is that this guy has gotten really into working out/healthy living & has been sober for several years. It would be so good to have someone like that around that I could actually work out with and do social things/sports that don't involve drinking. I don't really have anyone in my life that is a good influence on me right now & I feel like that's all I need to get some other areas of my life on track.

Well, that's enough psychological commentary & extraneous rambling for one day. I'm going to be extremely busy this week, so I probably won't stop in again until Thursday.
 
Hey, since you are leaving in three months, you don't have to worry about embarrassing yourself. None of these people are going to see you again in your life. You could work out in a pink leotard and tutu, and all that will remain is the stories.

If you see one of these guys kicking ass, ask for some assistance with your form. Ask to work in with him and ask some pointers and very likely you'll learn a lot.

What city are you relocating to?
 
Hey there,

Don't get too into comparing your workout to other people's. Everyone is different, and your workout works for you. I lift weights that aren't super heavy but, since I usually do 3 sets of 20 or 25, I always get a great workout and see the results I want. I'm not trying to get super huge or anything. I'm mostly trying to burn fat off and get leaner. I could care less if I'm the biggest guy at the gym, in fact I would prefer not to be.

I agree with Trops about the pink leotard and tutu idea. If your relocating to another city here in a few months, more reason to not give a fcuk... :)

That's awesome about your squats at 165. I haven't been doing squats and I need to get back into them. I remember I strained my back a little bit the last time I did them and it scared me. I'm sure my form was off, or maybe I was being a little too liberal with weight I was putting on them. I can't afford to get a gym injury, and I've always kept that mindset, so I've never gotten one, except for that lower back strain that was back to normal within a day but still wasn't fun at all....

That's great to hear about your friend, and wanting to get better influences friends wise in your life. I'm still surrounded by a lot of bad ones myself... I'm doing very well inspite of that though... I look at some of my friends and see how much misery they live in with their daily drug use or drinking and I just hold myself to such a higher standard now, more than I ever thought I could or thought I was worth... It's been nice and I feel a lot more clear than I have in years.

-Sam
 
You could work out in a pink leotard and tutu, and all that will remain is the stories.
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Ya know, I make it a point to never use the term "lol," but I gotta say it would be appropriate in this case. I had a great mental image of that.

I took your advice and started asking some of the serious looking meat heads for help on deadlifts. Only 1 out of 4 claimed they knew how to do a deadlift correctly & he took like 10 minutes to show me how to do it right. I'm sore in some weird places today, but mission accomplished. I was pretty shocked that these 2 morons I see every day doing endless isolation exercises had no idea how to do a deadlift. No wonder they look so out of proportion.

O yea, I'm moving to Atlanta-- really, really looking forward to it. I spent a few months there last year and loved it.

I'm not trying to get super huge or anything. I'm mostly trying to burn fat off and get leaner. I could care less if I'm the biggest guy at the gym, in fact I would prefer not to be.
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That's really cool; I've got basically the same goals. I wouldn't mind adding a small amount of muscle, but I don't ever want to be bulky in any sense. "Lean" is the short description I'm looking for. I think there's probably only a few handfuls of men at gyms that have that goal.
 
Very cool that you asked those guys about the dead lift. Now instead of you looking like a fool, they are because you exposed their ignorance. Now that you know the right way, they'll be coming up to you for help. I hope that you do help them.

Also very cool that the one guy did spend the time with you to get it right. I'm sure that someone helped him the same way at some point. Karma, baby.

I have some friends in Atlanta. Very cool people. Have heard some very good things about the city, too.
 
Awesome that you are doing the deadlift now. I absolutely love the deadlift. It's a great movement that works so many muscle groups... but form is so key with it.

Back in the day when I went to the gym regularly, a buddy of mine wanted to start training so he and I joined up and started working out together. He was terribly concerned about how little weight he was lifting. He was embarrassed. I just told him that everyone in the gym started where he was or worse. Go to the gym for yourself.

This morning I did overhead presses with... just the bar. Certainly didn't make me feel like a hulk but who gives a shit. It was my first time doing that lift and it was hard to judge how it'd feel after 5 sets of 5 reps so I just left it as it is. Now I know and can adjust accordingly.
 
I remember when my trainer was trying to show me the deadlift on this particular machine they have at my gym for it. I don't know if its exactly a "machine" in the sense, but its a piece of equipment that you load plates on and stand on a platform to do the exercise... My trainer was about 8'' shorter than me and he was a trainer and he had no problem doing it... I guess my balance wasn't as good as I thought it was because I could barely handle it. I kept almost falling backwards... It was rough.

Some of the meatheads in the gym are so surprisingly dumb when it comes to form and proper technique when it comes to lifting weights. I'm no expert but I think I have a pretty good idea of form on such things as basic bicep curls with a dumbbell or a barbell, etc. You wouldn't believe the schlubs at my gym...

Congrats on Atlanta. I've never been there but it seems like it would be a fun city. How awesome it must be to be finally done with college and go move to a new city and get a fresh start at this new healthier life. That is awesome :)

-Sam
 
I have some friends in Atlanta. Very cool people. Have heard some very good things about the city, too.
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The city has its ups and downs; it's not a place you want to get lost in or visit completely unprepared. A little awareness and strategy is all it takes to navigate some of the dangerous parts. Culturally, it's a breath of fresh air for me. There are so many unique little neighborhoods throughout the city that are full of life and people with big ideas. I think I've found the perfect area for me. I've never felt I really "fit in" in the other cities I've lived, but I have a feeling I may have found the place I was meant to be (for a little while at least).

I absolutely love the deadlift. It's a great movement that works so many muscle groups... but form is so key with it.
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Ya, it's definitely going to take some practice to get the form down so I can do it without thinking. My ass and hamstrings are so sore though. I was under the impression it was mainly a back exercise (from some dumbass workout poster on the wall in the gym), and I realize it's hitting the other side of my legs now and maybe only a few muscles in the back secondarily.

Fish, about the overhead presses, that's seriously a difficult exercise (at least relative to the amount of weight being moved). I've been stalled for over a month at 20lbs on each side + the bar and I still struggle with it. Part of the problem may be that I do it after dumbbell press and my shoulders are a little fatigued from that. I've only seen another person do overhead press at my gym 1 time before and he was like 55 years old. One thing you may want to keep in mind (that I've been forgetting, but am going to add into the overhead press) is the lat-shrug that Steve recommends. After the elbows lock above the head, he recommends doing an upward shrug using the lats before coming back down.

How awesome it must be to be finally done with college and go move to a new city and get a fresh start at this new healthier life. That is awesome
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Not so fast...I have 7 more school days remaining until I'm done. Then I have to sit around and work at my old office for 3 months before my new job starts. Regardless, I'm f'n stoked. I really plan on making some changes with my social life to curb my drinking as part of this "healthy life." This weekend I'm actually going down to ATL with that old friend I spoke of & going to a 5 hour dj set, hitting up a Braves game, doing some apartment hunting, and doing some whitewater rafting. I'm planning on doing the entire thing sober (as I know he will be doing the same). This will be my first weekend without a drink in about 6 months?

I skipped the gym today for the first time in about 6 weeks. I was tired after class (and still sore from deadlifts) & had (and still have) a lot of work to do on one of my projects. It pisses me off missing a day at the gym, but if any day were to be skipped, today was the day. I'm planning on doing the full body workout/steady state cardio I was supposed to do today, tomorrow. Doing some HIIT on Friday & hopefully another full body workout at the hotel over the weekend. Hopefully I only have a few more hours of work on this project, but it's looking kind of endless. I have a lot of reading I need to catch up on as well that's pretty much a lost cause at this point. I'll do some skimming.
 
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