My good days, my bad days, my random thoughts

Nice bike. I like the disk breaks. My bike doesn't have that. The hard tail is nice, too, because you lose a lot of energy from that rear shock. Someone was telling me 30% but that seems like a lot. Sometimes you can really use that extra oomph. Have you thought about clip in shoes, since you are changing the peddles anyway? There are some big pluses and minuses to them.
 
Yeah, I've been debating on that since I saw the pedals... I'm not sure what I am going to do with them yet. I've never used clip-ins before so I have no frame of reference or insight with them.
 
I have the clip in shoes, and I've had more wipe outs from them then anything else. It's a constant source of humor for my wife. There is nothing funnier, I guess, then seeing your husband on his back with his bike still clipped on, kicking ans swearing like a sailor. I imagine that there is nothing funnier, since I've never seen this from a perspective that one can experience the humor, but this seems to be my wife's opinion.

On the other hand, I can go faster and up steeper hills because of it, so there is that.
 
Holy shitballs!!!

Look at you, your already down into the 180's! Way to go!

That's great to hear about the bike and playing tennis and stuff.
I feel like I need to broaden my exercise spectrum a little bit too.

Great job and keep up the good work!

-Sam
 
Trops said:
There is nothing funnier, I guess, then seeing your husband on his back with his bike still clipped on, kicking ans swearing like a sailor.
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I literally laughed out loud at that as I can absolutely see myself in that exact situation very easily. When I rollerbladed I had at least one awesome wipe out each year without fail. My luck on my bike was not much better.

Thanks, Sam! The 187 I have now in there is a little bit of a false number I think as it's since been correcting itself but I'm still in the 180s so that's awesome.

Now it's time for the 2nd monthly progress report (since tracking weight loss progress by weighing daily and averaging numbers weekly)

Apr 18 2008: 206.8 lbs, 31.9% bf, 140.8 lbs lean
May 15 2008: 196.6 lbs, 29.1% bf, 139.4 lbs lean
Jun 12 2008: 189.4 lbs, 26.2% bf, 141.7 lbs lean

Difference: 17.4 lbs, 5.7% bf, 1.7 lbs muscle gained

The 1.7 lbs muscle gained there is probably not accurate. The last few days both my weight and body fat % has been fluctuating (had some hydration issues :D) so I need to make sure I get enough water and get it all balanced out. On top of that I had a couple/few weeks of weird numbers before that so really most of last month's numbers could be funny. We'll find out next month. Either way I am happy with my progress thus far.
 
As I've mentioned before, my wife is being good along with me. She's not measuring her food, but she has been, by extension, eating better and walking to work when weather permits.

As of this morning, she's 15 lbs lighter than she was when she started weighing herself. I remember when she started paying closer attention to her food choices/portions. She rattled off a number and said she'd die if she ever saw that number on the scale again. Well she's beat that number by 5 lbs so suffice it to say she's having a good morning. :D

I also realized today that I'm wearing the exact same thing I wore while in Mexico (white shirt under white button up and plaid shorts). I bought these shorts for Mexico because none of my other shorts fit me well. I would not be able to wear these today if it weren't for my belt. It's amazing how loose they are.
 
Very cool. :coolgleamA: My wife complains that when I'm watching my weight, she ends up gaining because I'm always cooking up these very tasty healthy dinners. Usually she'd just skip if it was crap, but she can't turn away the good stuff. Her problem, not mine. She used to me exactly half my weight before I started losing, even though she's taller then me. I don't think she's actually gained an ounce, but she'll still say that she's gaining.
 
That's one way (of many) that I'm lucky... my wife is a fantastic cook and she's more than happy to cook up something healthy so long as it tastes good. There are more than enough healthy recipes out there that both her and I enjoy. Made up some sloppy joes this week, macaroni and chili last... all kinds of good stuff. Some have their nutritional information given some I have had to figure out. I don't mind doing it because I only do it once and I've got a spreadsheet that calculates most of it for me. Easy peasy.
 
thedarwinfish said:
That's one way (of many) that I'm lucky... my wife is a fantastic cook and she's more than happy to cook up something healthy so long as it tastes good. There are more than enough healthy recipes out there that both her and I enjoy. Made up some sloppy joes this week, macaroni and chili last... all kinds of good stuff. Some have their nutritional information given some I have had to figure out. I don't mind doing it because I only do it once and I've got a spreadsheet that calculates most of it for me. Easy peasy.
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lol, you and your spreadsheets . . . .

Congrats on the NSV. Very cool! :D
 
I told you I was a spreadsheet nerd. Budgets, time sheets, weight loss, nutritional data... I track it all with glooooooorious spreadsheets.

So today I'm going to be over in calories. And I'm going to go ahead and not care. :D I've been good for a few weeks now without any major slip ups. Today we're having a BBQ fundraiser for a co-worker that is currently battling cancer. $10 and you eat. A worthwhile $10.

Then it's right back on track. Just lunch. Afternoon snacks and supper will be proper and as planned.

Hope everyone has a great day.
 
Hey fish, I saw you had those BF%s listed earlier along with lean body weight. Do you use calipers or a scale that measures BF or wha? I got tested by air displacement a while back and am just crunching the numbers when I lose weight (assuming I haven't lost any lean body mass) to come up with current BF%, but I would like to be able to track it more often without having to visit the exercise science department at my uni and pay $20.
 
I bought a Tanita scale about 7 years ago (my last 'healthy' era). It measures body fat as well through bio-electrical impedance. They say their accuracy is +/-2-3% of the DEXA method.

It's by far the most volatile number in my measurements. Hydration levels affect the reading. So you want to try and maintain as many constants as you can. Weigh in at the same time each day (me, immediately when I wake up), make sure you are well hydrated when you do, make sure you're dry (wet feet affects readings), etc.

But even if it's inaccurate itself, it's useful for tracking. As I said, my first week was 31%. This past week 26.2%. So clearly you can track progress with it.

It wasn't that much... I forget now. Probably around the $100 mark, but mine still works 7 years later and showing no signs of tanking so I would highly recommend one. The Fitness Depot has Tanita scales between $50-110 CDN.

I've been thinking about buying some calipers to use as a supplement to the scale. Maybe doing those bi-weekly or monthly.

Anyway, if you're paying $20 for tests now, I'd say a scale is well worth the money spent and the time/convenience that it affords you.
 
Coffeebro said:
Hey Brad it looks like Im starting to catch up to you again. 5 pounds behind you.
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Hey, bud... you're closer than that. My 188 there is mildly impostorish, I believe. Weighed in at 189.4 this morning (though with a much nicer body fat % than I was expecting, but that's likely an impostor as well) and I had a cheeseburger and sausage at today's work BBQ. Meh. Shit happens, eh?

I need to hit some trails and pick up some extra exercise to work that shit off hehe. As I said, I'd not cheated/slipped up in a while and it was for a good cause. Gotta live a little.
 
Well, it's been a helluva weekend. My poor dog had his nuts removed (that's he and I in my avatar before we took him... his last picture with his balls in tact. :D).

I ate breakfast that day (Friday) at 7:30am and took him to the vet, started running some errands and didn't get a chance to eat again until after 5:00pm. Ended up grabbing a sub, and having a few beers that night. Horrible macros, and still ended up a couple hundred calories low on the day because of the 10 hour stretch without food. Not good.

It didn't end there. Saturday wasn't much better. Didn't even manage to get breakfast. First ate around 1pm. But that evening was my wife's grandmother's 80th birthday party and we were having a party for her at some restaurant. I had Caesar salad, ribs and garlic mashed potatoes. Ugh. And a piece of cake. I hadn't had cake in literally years and it was an 80th birthday. What the hell. I didn't stay within my calories for the day but the way I figured it I was only a couple hundred calories up.

Probably should've cut my cals a bit overall for the few days as I wasn't walking like I have been thus far because of the dog's 'situation'.

All told, looks like I'll still be down come tomorrow's weigh-in. That's good. The cheating was delicious and now it's time to get back on track.

Speaking of which... a couple changes are afoot.

1) I'm hitting the gym tomorrow, 6am. I'm hoping the gym is much less busy at this time and I can complete a proper workout. If the 6am hour works, I'm going to be ecstatic. I've got a new routine ready to go and I'm excited about it.

2) I'm changing my diet up. I'm going to reduce my carbs and up my protein and fat. Just change for the sake of change. I've been eating fairly consistently the same shit for a several months now and want to mix it up a bit. I'm going for a macro count along the lines of 33f/27c/40p

I've been feeling hungry a lot so that's why I'm bumping up the fat (good fat -- almonds, olive oil, fish) some and when I added more of those foods in my protein went up so I bumped that up as well with it and dropped the carbs some just to keep my calories in line.

We'll see how this works out. I'll keep a close eye on my weight and how I feel but I don't expect any complications.

And lastly, some good news.

Back when I started this, my blood pressure was high. Dangerously high. I was unable to give blood because of it, sitting around the 140/100 mark. I took my blood pressure this afternoon a few times and it averaged 117/78 with a pulse of ~65bpm. I'm so excited about that. As is my wife. I declined medication back when I first found out my blood pressure had gotten so high as I wanted to try and fix it myself without drugs. And I'm pleased to see that I have done it. I'm going to start giving blood again next weekend. Can't wait.
 
New avatar rocks, Brad.

Dont worry yourself about a couple of days. I dont know how it is with you but I find that if I screw around a little on the weekends it helps to keep my weight loss going the next week. If Im too strict I slow down a lot.
 
Back when I started this, my blood pressure was high. Dangerously high. I was unable to give blood because of it, sitting around the 140/100 mark. I took my blood pressure this afternoon a few times and it averaged 117/78 with a pulse of ~65bpm. I'm so excited about that.
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Those are the type changes that really hit home. When you get some solid evidence that what you are doing has changed what's going on inside your body for the better, it makes all the hard work worthwhile. Those lower BP levels translate into more years you get to be alive. I need to go have my triglycerides/cholesterol checked some time soon. I was very high when I was only 16 and have a family history of high triglycerides- my father and grandfather are both on meds for it and are not obese, so I'm hoping my levels are at least on the low end of the high scale at this point.

Keep up the good work man; you've made so much progress. I can see a difference in your new avatar from the old one. Not much further to go.
 
thedarwinfish said:
Well, it's been a helluva weekend. My poor dog had his nuts removed (that's he and I in my avatar before we took him... his last picture with his balls in tact. :D).

I ate breakfast that day (Friday) at 7:30am and took him to the vet, started running some errands and didn't get a chance to eat again until after 5:00pm. Ended up grabbing a sub, and having a few beers that night. Horrible macros, and still ended up a couple hundred calories low on the day because of the 10 hour stretch without food. Not good.

It didn't end there. Saturday wasn't much better. Didn't even manage to get breakfast. First ate around 1pm. But that evening was my wife's grandmother's 80th birthday party and we were having a party for her at some restaurant. I had Caesar salad, ribs and garlic mashed potatoes. Ugh. And a piece of cake. I hadn't had cake in literally years and it was an 80th birthday. What the hell. I didn't stay within my calories for the day but the way I figured it I was only a couple hundred calories up.

Probably should've cut my cals a bit overall for the few days as I wasn't walking like I have been thus far because of the dog's 'situation'.

All told, looks like I'll still be down come tomorrow's weigh-in. That's good. The cheating was delicious and now it's time to get back on track.

Speaking of which... a couple changes are afoot.

1) I'm hitting the gym tomorrow, 6am. I'm hoping the gym is much less busy at this time and I can complete a proper workout. If the 6am hour works, I'm going to be ecstatic. I've got a new routine ready to go and I'm excited about it.

2) I'm changing my diet up. I'm going to reduce my carbs and up my protein and fat. Just change for the sake of change. I've been eating fairly consistently the same shit for a several months now and want to mix it up a bit. I'm going for a macro count along the lines of 33f/27c/40p

I've been feeling hungry a lot so that's why I'm bumping up the fat (good fat -- almonds, olive oil, fish) some and when I added more of those foods in my protein went up so I bumped that up as well with it and dropped the carbs some just to keep my calories in line.

We'll see how this works out. I'll keep a close eye on my weight and how I feel but I don't expect any complications.

And lastly, some good news.

Back when I started this, my blood pressure was high. Dangerously high. I was unable to give blood because of it, sitting around the 140/100 mark. I took my blood pressure this afternoon a few times and it averaged 117/78 with a pulse of ~65bpm. I'm so excited about that. As is my wife. I declined medication back when I first found out my blood pressure had gotten so high as I wanted to try and fix it myself without drugs. And I'm pleased to see that I have done it. I'm going to start giving blood again next weekend. Can't wait.
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Brad, that's great! Great avatar, too! :D
 
Thanks, guys (and gal).

Matt, thanks much and about the cheating... you're right. I find when I have an out of sorts day that it doesn't necessarily mean I'll gain. I could lose a tonne. I could gain a tonne. It often corrects itself, but it does keep the body guessing and as long as it's an isolated thing, rarely does it result in any significant loss of progress. That's why I wasn't sweating it too much... rather, enjoying it immensely.

Marcus, I couldn't have said it better myself. Especially the way you said it... it translates into more years I get to be alive. That's crazy. In a few months I've gone from borderline hypertension to normal blood pressure. I was very concerned about it as well because my family has a lonnnnnng history of heart problems and high blood pressure. We're always fighting our genetics, eh?

Angela, thanks, dear! The compliments from the ladies are always good to hear -- no offense fellas!

One other note about the weekend that I didn't mention earlier:

Saturday evening's birthday party for Amy's grandmother was pretty crazy. Neither Amy nor I had seen anyone from her side of the family since beginning our little transformations. The last time 98% of them had seen us was at Christmas. I would've been easily over 220 (remember, I stopped checking after that) and with a shaved head. We walked in there (combined) almost 55 lbs lighter than the last time they saw us. They were blown away. Her grandmother did not even recognize me. It was really crazy to see that kind of reaction from some 20-30 different people.

Today I started a new program. A new routine. I went to the gym this morning for 6am and it was near-dead. Maybe 3 people in the free weight area so there's more than enough room/time to get my routine done. I managed to complete my planned routine in about 30 minutes including 5 minutes warmup on the elliptical.

The nice thing about this program is ease. I need a bench, a squat rack and a bar. Today was squats (5 sets of 5 reps), bench (5x5), barbell rows (5x5) and dips (3 sets until failure). HAHAHA Holy shit were my dips embarrassing! Oh so embarrassing. Can't wait to improve those.

So it looks like I've found a time to hit the gym and get my shit done and done right. Unfortunate side-effect is having to get up at 5am 4 days/week. But how bad do I want this? Bad enough to do it.

Since my last gym foray was sporadic and large ineffectual, I'm really excited to have a program in place and the time to get in and do it regularly like I should. I feel like my weight loss thus far will be nothing compared to the transformation that will happen if I can do this as diligently and as intensely as I think I can.

My fingers are crossed.
 
Look at those pounds keep coming off!

Yea, I did get back to the gym and did a kick ass chest/back/shoulders workout last week. I've mostly been going on runs outside though. I hated the winter so bad this past year that I feel guilty if I don't go workout in the nice summertime weather.

That is great to hear about the party you went to and all those that were amazed by your weight loss. Sometimes it's those NSVs that keep us going, and even inspire other people :)

Love the pic of you and your dog. I'm a big time dog lover and haven't been able to have one for a few years now (I'm currently renting and dogs aren't allowed, plus I'm so busy it wouldn't be fair to the dog when I'm not around) so when I see dogs I'm instantly drawn to them... I need a dog :)

Have a great day,
Sam
 
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