Sparty On

S

Sparty

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***Posted this in the wrong section last night. Weighed in this morning at 268.9 lbs.***

No time for BS or execuses or feeling sorry for myself. I graduated college in 07 and was in top notch shape. 6'0'' and 165 lbs. I was a runner and active basketball player. I ate healthy. And then I entered the real world and did a terrible job of taking care of my body. I moved to a new city and stopped playing basketball. That led to working out less and fewer and fewer runs. Long hours at the office meant an easy execuse for getting take out at night.

I never thought I would become fat. I mean, I was an athlete! That can't happen to athletes right? Well, of all the great success I have had since college, I have failed completely in terms of my health.

I don't have any excuses. I gained weight because I stopped making time for the gym and I used food as a way to deal with stress and to motivate myself through long hours at the office. Since 2007 I have gained about a 100 lbs (man does it hit home when I right that number down). I am guessing right now I am about 265 - 270 lbs which would be the highest I have ever weighed. I will get an official weigh in tomorrow.

There is no magic plan I have to lose weight. I know what I need to do and the habits I need to change and improvce on. It is going to be a lot of hard work but I am ready. I know how to eat healthy and I know what a "good workout" consists of. It is simply a matter of doing it. I just turned 30 years old and my wife is pregnant with our first child due to be born in August. I refuse to be that fat dad who can't keep up with his children. My hometown just had a marathon today. So my goal is that over the next 12 months I am going to get back to my college weight and next May I will completel my first marathon. If you a person is going to come up with goals, then why not come up with your "ultimate goal"?

I hope this journal helps hold myself accountable and that I find support from other members in this community who are embarking on a similar journey.

Cheers.
 
Welcome to the forum, I'm sure with hard work and dedication you'll definetly achieve your goal. :D
 
Welcome. Everyone is on a journey here and you'll receive plenty of support. Dedication and patience is key - then you can do pretty much anything. Keep us updated!
 
Thanks everyone. I know it is a long journey and the biggest key for me is not getting frustrated. I've put on all of this weight since 07 and have constantly tried to get it off but end up getting frustrated b/c when I start working out again that is when I realize just how out of shape I have become.


I think the biggest key for me is the first 2 - 3 weeks. If I can stay dedicated and focussed I think losing the first 15 lbs or so will make me realize that, "hey, I CAN do this". I have been above 220 since about the end of 2008, which means I put on 50 lbs in about a year after college. So If I can get this first 40ish lbs off and get back to 220 that will feel GREAT. It is great to have this goals in sight but I know it is going to be a day by day struggle to beat all of the bad habits I have formed over the last five years.

Yesterday was a good day eating wise and I did go for a short walk outside when I got home.

Food 5-6-13:
Slimfast
Coffee w/cream no sugar
Turkey sandwich on wheat
Yogurt
Carrots
Grapes
Banana
Power bar
Grilled chicken sandwich, cheese & grilled veggies on top
 
Well had a minor success tonight but baby steps! Wife had to work late so on my own for dinner. Planned to get subway on my way home. Then I started thinking about oh how good some pizza sounded or maybe McDonalds.....it's ok you can start your diet again tomorrow. That is the terrible mindset I have developed. Anyways I overcame those urges and made it to Subway where I got a chicken breast sub with lots of veggies. I know it is a small win but it feels good to finally make a good choice. I realize I need to make about a million more good choices before reaching my goal but gotta start somewhere right??
 
Good day yesterday. Wife had to work late so I couldn't go to the gym but I did take the dog on a decent length walk.

Food 5-7-13:
Slimfast
Coffee w/cream no sugar
Turkey sandwich on wheat
Yogurt
Carrots
Grapes
Banana
Power bar
12" grilled chicken Subway sub on wheat, no cheese, lots of veggies, regular mustard
Bag of baked chips
 
Oh...and in terms of weighing in....I obviously weighed in on Monday (268.9 lbs) but I am going to try to wait a few weeks to weigh in next. I want my initial weigh in after starting this journey to actually show a decent loss. I have so many LBS to lose that I don't want to be stepping on the scale every day or ever couple days and get frustrated by the results.
 
Welcome sparty!

I understand being frustrated with the scale. I would recommend getting a measuring tape. You can measure your waist (at or just above the navel). It's a better indicator of potential health risks than BMI or weight alone and I have had periods while getting into shape that the scale didn't move, but the inches went down. <40" is the cut off for significant decrease in risk for weight related health problems. There are also various measures you can take to estimate body fat and other ratios to determine your weight category. Let me know if you want specifics or sources. Good luck!
 
Food 5-8-13:
Slimfast
Coffee w/cream no sugar
Turkey sandwich on wheat
Yogurt
Carrots
Grapes
Banana
Power bar
White tortilla, chicken, rice, veggies & salsa (no cheese or sour cream).

Yesterday was golf league so no exercise but I did walk instead of riding in a cart. Baby steps.
 
Thanks Clarissa :)

Wife just posted a couple pictures taken last weekend on Facebook. Sigh. I know how much weight I've gained obviously. But man, seeing those pics, I look even fatter than I do when I look in the mirror. Not sure why or how that is, but it is a depressing yet motivating feeling all at the same time. I need just stay on track and lose these first 20 lbs or so b/c I think that will be enough LBS lost where I can start to see a change and that will really be motivating.

I have a long, long ways to go. But I need to just keep reminding myself why I need to do this TODAY. Not tomorrow. Not next week. Not next month. TODAY. I have wasted the past 5 years in terms of my health and what I am able to do. I have given up my greatest passion playing basketball. I have stopped running and I love to run, especially on trails. I have stopped enjoying being on the beach. I used to live such an active lifestyle and I miss that. I find myself not even wanting to go out to social things on the weekend just because I feel so fat. That is a sad admission. But it is the truth. I need to just keep telling myself all of the reasons to get back into shape. #1 for me. But for my wife. My soon to be born son. I am sick of letting my weight hold me back. Maybe I've wasted the last 5 years inof my life in terms of physical activities but I might as well make the change now b/c that is better than wasting 6, 7, 8, 9 years etc.

Food 5-9-13
Slimfast
Coffee w/cream no sugar
Turkey sandwich on wheat
Yogurt
Carrots
Grapes
Banana
Power bar
2 grilled chicken legs with bbq sauce
Salad with light dressing
2 small rolls

No exercise today. Was at the office from 7 - 7 so after that I was just drained and had to catch up on email when I got home. I know I am going to have to establish an exercise routine and I will have some time this weekend to get a few good workouts in.

Step by step, day by day.
 
I love roller coasters. But I do not love the fact that my weight/health has been a complete roller coaster since 2008. And mostly similar to the first part of the roller coaster i.e. cranking up the hill instead of zooming down.

I've done great all week. Didn't get as much exercise in as I wanted but I really focussed on what I was eating. Driving home last night it had already been planned with my wife that we'd go out for dinner but were going to go to a place where I could have a sort of a cheat meal that was still pretty darn healthy. That is a win for me. A cheat meal that really isn't a cheat meal. Well, I get home, walk in the door and announce that we should order pizza. So instead of a healthy dinner I end up eating 3 slices of pizza and 3 pieces of cheese bread. Sigh. I felt awful afterwards. My mouth tasted like I had dumped a bottle of salt in it. Food - 1. Me - 0.

So I consider it at least a step forward that today I am trying my best to get back on track and not give up like I have time and time again over the past 5 years. I can't give up this time and I can't put this off any longer. I might have gotten knocked down but I am getting right back up. It is time to refocus and keep moving forward. One step at a time.

Today was a big race (5K, 10K, 25K) in the city I lived in right after graduating college. I graduated in December and I remember signing up for the 25K in January. Well, that was the beginning of me stopping running and working out. I ran one time the week before the race and ended up doing the 10K instead of the 25K. Still ran the 10K at an 8 mile pace without running in about 6 months. I probably had gained about 25 lbs at that point and weighed 180ish. I remember how FAT and DISGUSTED I was with myself at that time. And did that motivate me to lose the few lbs I had put on? No, I continued the downward spiral and put on more and more weight.

Well, I'm determined to run that 25K race next May. No more BS. It is time to do this.
 
One slip up doesn't hurt anything. You don't lose weight by skipping one meal like you don't gain weight from one 'bad' meal. It's all about the long game. You will nail the 25k if you make good choices over the long term, there isn't a doubt about that.
 
Crazy couple of days! Just busy and didn't have a chance to post. Mon & Tues were great days and I am back on track after a shaky weekend. Determined to do better this weekend. I am reallizing that eating healthy is going to be much more of a challenge on weekends than during the week.

Haven't weighed myself in yet since the start but I feel good and am hoping I have dropped a few LBS already. I definitely have more energy and just FEEL BETTER. I've stopped having to take tums. I don't feel completely exhausted at the end of the day. All positive signs.
 
+1 on the bigger challenge weekends; you've got more free time to kill and whether you go out or order in it's lose/lose. Best of luck with it.
 
This week has been great. Eating very healthy and feeling good. The challenge will be not falling off a cliff like I did last weekend. No worries I am going to kick some ass this weekend and stay in track with my meal plans and get some exercise in.

I just try to keep reminding myself of the reasons to lose weight and all of those reasons will bring me such happiness compared to what I will feel if I keep living my life as a fat man. I want to be a runner again. I want to be basketball player again. I want to feel confident in how I look. I want to be flexible again with my golf swing. I want to wear all of the clothes I haven't fit into since 2008.

I really am trying to spend time each day thinking about all of these things because it gets me so motivated and focused. Being it on! Lets do this!
 
Have a great weekend.
Planning your meals and schedule exercise sounds very clever until it becomes routine.
I do the same.
 
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