Mowens's Diary

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Ooo congratulations on your milestone! 50 pounds is amazing work! And the belt shows you´ve been losing it where it counts, too. Also: great-looking family :)
 
50lbs lost. WOW! You should be so proud Mike. Losing off your waist is so important. Well done! That is such a lovely photo of your family. Thank you for sharing it. It really is gorgeous xo
 
Hi Mowens. I had to search for your diary. The forum is much busier than usual for December. It's usually like this in January. ( Funny about that!)
Hope you're doing well. I remember reaching a low stage after losing lots of weight & had trouble coping with compliments. I still felt the same about myself & it took a while to readjust & to learn to accept my new body. You may just be really busy, but I wanted you to know I was thinking about you.

Take care of yourself & try not to stress too much over Christmas. I know that's hard with small children. You have a lovely family & that is what is important. xo Cate
 
Hey, thanks ladies. I am still around. I appreciate you thinking of me.

I noticed that the forum seemed extra busy lately and there are a lot of unfamiliar faces.

I haven't been around much for various reasons. I usually type my posts out while at work (like this one) but we've been restructuring and a coworker I'm not terribly fond of is retiring in about 8 work days and that's kept me busy trying to figure out what I will and won't be doing until the new person comes to fill in their position.

I haven't made huge strides in weight loss. A lot of that is just me resting on my laurels. I decided about a week ago that I would begin strength training. I bought a 15 and 25lb dumbbell and I've been working out a few times. It was 12 degrees Fahrenheit outside this morning and I can't afford to buy a heavy coat or a gym membership so walking outside is out of the question.

I've been trying to squeeze in some walks around my work building because it is fairly large and square shaped, but bumping into people in the halls makes it a frustrating experience. So yeah, weight lifting is helping to fill in the gaps for these winter months. I'm also trying to force myself away from the scale and start just examining how I look and feel instead of what the number tells me about myself.

Although I haven't lost a ton of weight in the last month or so, the pictures I've been taking every few weeks tell a different story. My skin has tightened up, my gut is hanging less and overall I just look a bit healthier. That isn't to say I'm content with where I'm at, but it's still good to recognize progress where progress has been made.

We've been busy also with the holidays, traveling and getting things ready.

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I also want to publicly humiliate myself by posting my 6 month progress photo. You see, when I said in my very first post that I had a big gut, I wasn't lying. It's still absolutely enormous as far as I'm concerned, but I'm working hard to get where I want to be and hopefully with all of the strength training I am beginning to do, I'll tighten up my arms and legs:

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Good to see you again. You don't have to make large strides in your weight loss every month. Lifting is good, you're lifting more weight than me. Cute kids! You do look at lot better than you did, well done.
 
You may want to check out this guy´s YouTube.


He has quite the collection of HIIT units for beginners using nothing but a little empty space and his own body. Wonderful to burn calories and build strength.
 
Thanks for the suggestion, LaMa. I've been trying to find a couple of channels dedicated to beginner's level things. I found one called Buff Dudes who do a lot of beginner and intermediate stuff.

You can never have too much though. I have a program that allows me to download entire channels at once for offline use.
 
Wow you have come a long way. You look great! Strength training will definitely help with the toning. Besides who wouldn't want a 6 pack with chiseled arms and chest-lol.
 
Yo, Mo,
Admirable drop in those before/after pics! Don't know if you have Amazon Prime, but there are a lot of exercise videos included in membership - I started yoga yesterday, which is significantly harder work than I thought it would be. I found myself uttering "F'ing downward dog" more than once yesterday.
 
Here, doing well. Taking a brief hiatus from weight loss to get through the winter and work on other things, but the good news is I've maintained my progress thus far. I'm still sitting at 224lb give or take a lb here or there, which is a 50lb loss but I've kind of plateaued on any progress for the time being.

I'm sure those of you who are friends with me on FitBit have seen that I'm not getting nearly as many steps as I was. It's just either raining or snowing about every day here and I got a new coworker in my office I've been having to train, so getting away even for 15 minutes at a time to walk is very difficult.

I've also been appointed executor of my dad's estate. He is in perfectly fine health but I've got 2 unpredictable, not so level-headed brothers to contend with, so it's been a big stress trying to get the paperwork in order and trying to commit his wishes to paper in a manner that will minimize the chaos when the inevitable comes.

Spring will bring with it more time to exercise and more free time to focus on exactly what I'm eating so that I can lose this last 20-30lbs I'd like to lose. To make up for it, I've bought several dumbbells and I've been lifting here and there but I haven't been as consistent with it as I should.

Again, life is trying really hard to get in the way of things right now. I hope you all are doing well and I'll attempt to be here a bit more and not let my current lack of "progress" get in the way of staying focused on my goals.
 
Hey, sticking to your new weight is progress in itself! Glad you´re doing well (apart from having way to much to do).
 
Sticking to your new weight is great progress Mowens. That will be good for you long term as it gives your body a chance to adapt. Anything to do with estates & wills gives me the heebie-jeebies. My Mum's stuff is almost done & dusted. It is not fun.
 
Maintaining a good thing after a 50 lb loss, give yourself a break, just don't forget that maintenance is work, too! Good luck with your family doings.
 
@cate Is it true that your body adapts to the changes over time scientifically or was that just intended as motivational speak? :p I've often wondered if maintaining a certain weight for a certain amount of time would allow my body to somehow acclimate to itself and get easier over time or if that's just wishful thinking.

@LJ That's a good perspective to have. I never really thought of maintaining as work, but considering how easy it is to just let yourself slide, I should definitely think of it that way.

I think a big hindrance for me right now is making lousy excuses. In my last post I gave 4 reasons why I couldn't go walking... and then yesterday, I said "Screw it" and went for a 20 minute walk. I go too easy on myself and feel too much self-pity when it isn't deserved.

Our state has a health program where you link your pedometer/smartwatch to their site and earn points. It's like 1 point her 1,000 steps and then you can cash them in for prizes. I earned enough this year already to get a $25 Amazon gift card. You'd think that would be incentive enough to get out there.

I hope to make good use of it particularly once the weather improves, but I'm going to persevere with the indoor walking, as much as I dread it.
 
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