Swampys diary.

S

Swampy

New member
Hey everyone who chooses to read this =). I have been writing journals already since I started, but I figured it will be more motivating to put it in a public place.

My name is Ben, and I live in Minnesota. I am 18 years old for 3 more weeks. I am an Art student, and am pretty much super lazy. I am sick of being overweight and ready to reinvent myself. My journey started in November (I screwed up bad for a month in December, but that's ok.. I'm at it again). I went to go weigh myself one day after months of not doing so and was pretty much crushed when I saw it was at 273 pounds. Another big factor was seeing myself in pictures. I picture myself to look a lot more skinny, and when I see myself in pictures I'm very suprised with how I look and very embrassed. I had gained so much wait I was just pretty much in shock. The next day I started a healthy lifestyle, it was all going well.. and the Holidays owned me, and I got really off track.

I started again about two weeks ago, and It's been going better than ever. I look at my screwing up during the holidays and beyond as a positive experience, because I learned a lot on what not to do. I am now down to 159 pounds, so thats 14 pounds off already. I have been losing a pound a day, which is very fast.. but I hear it will start to slow down after a week or two. I know it's very unhealthy to lose that much weight.. but I'm eating 2000 calories a day and working out and it kind of just melts off... it's not like I'm doing something extremely outrageous to burn the fat off.

Anyway, as you can see I can type forever... so go read something else if you don't like my novels =P. I'll try to post in here at least twice a week.
 
Kind of before pictures, not offical oh my god lets pose in different angles (nothing wrong with those) but this is as close as your gonan get. Just random pictures from the past 2 or 3 months with my friends.
 
Today went pretty good... I was really dissapointed when I woke up to weigh myself because after running for an hour the night before and eating pretty decently the scale said I gained a pound... I know I did good yesterday and it was probably water weight so I decided to stop weighing myself everyday, and only once a week. I really doubt I put on a pound of fat, I was just hoping it would have gone down a little bit after my hard work for the day.

I read up a little bit today and I deffiantly need to stop eating so much random food and start balancing out my diet more. I eat almost no fruits or vegetables so I went out today and bought a bunch of random crap. I took my dog for a 1 mile walk today and still plan on doing 60 minutes of cardio, right after I write this actually. I've also been slacking in my water in take. It's all I've been drinking but I haven't been drinking much. I also have one diet mountain dew a day, and everyday they taste worse and worse. Is having just one a day really that bad? Or should I stop.. I know if it would be better if I didn't obviously, but you know. I should probably read up on that.

Throughout the day I want to go back to my old ways and just start cooking up a bunch of food and pigging out. I've been finding that if I just get myself doing something to take my mind off of it, even if it's just playing a video game, the cravings go away. It's getting easier everyday though. I have noticed a huge increase in energy. Like huge. I used to be able to sleep 12 hours if I wanted to, now I wake up without an alarm clock feeling great after 8-9 hours. That's an extra 4 hours in my day, damn.

Other than weight loss, I need to get caught up in school before Monday. I have already missed some classes this semester and do not want to fall behind again. That's my other most important goal right now.

I am having a party for me and my friends birthday on the 9th, and that will be the first time some of my friends have really seen me since I started losing weight, since everyones been up north at college and what not. I'm hoping they will notice, but it will kind of be akward to talk about it too.. for some reason.
 
Last night was so incredibly tiring... I ran for 60 minutes after taking my dog for a long walk... and this was the fourth(?) day in a row of running 60 minutes. While I was laying in bed I couldn't fall asleep because I was so hungry. I knew I should probably eat something... but I have always heard how bad it is to eat late at night. I didn't really have anything healthy either. I have to go to the grocery store today. I just drank a lot of water and that helped a little bit.

I just woke up a little bit ago, feeling extremely tired from all the running I've been doing. Today was the first day I knew for sure that I am starting to see results. I can deffiantly tell a difference from when I first started. I really want to take a peak at the scale, but I promised myself I wouldn't. I'll have to save the suprise (hopefully) for monday. That is my new offical weigh in day wheee.

I'm gonna try to make today an even more productive day than the last couple of days. I am done drinking that diet mountain dew, I ran out and I am not going to buy anymore. I'm not sure if I will work out tonight, I am really sore. Maybe I'll just take my dog for a walk or something and then be done. I'm sure I'll have new pictures after next weekend, we'll see if I look any better. K time to go eat food yay.
 
Starting off with running 60 minutes every night is almost certainly a recipe for disaster. Just so you know. In terms of both injury and burnout (overtraining). But, uh, if it works for you, right on. :D

Then I said something about Aesop's The Rabbit and the Hare, eventually getting around to pointing out that sustainability is key.

Good luck. :)
 
[Focus];391906 said:
Starting off with running 60 minutes every night is almost certainly a recipe for disaster. Just so you know. In terms of both injury and burnout (overtraining). But, uh, if it works for you, right on. :D

Then I said something about Aesop's The Rabbit and the Hare, eventually getting around to pointing out that sustainability is key.

Good luck. :)
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Well, I have been working out for about 2 months now... I started at 20 minutes for a week, then 30 minutes... then this week I've been doign 60. Maybe that is to fast, I'll slow down. Thanks for the advice. I should also mention its running on a treadmill, and its not like sprinting. I read somewhere that if you are running to the point where you can't talk... it's to fast for weight loss. I also take a couple 5-8 minute breaks and go slow throughout that hour.
 
Swampy said:
I just woke up a little bit ago, feeling extremely tired from all the running I've been doing.
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Hey. You were probably also tired because you were hungry. You can eat at night, just make sure you stay within your calorie range.
 
Heyitsmike said:
Hey. You were probably also tired because you were hungry. You can eat at night, just make sure you stay within your calorie range.
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Yeah.. I stocked up on fruit today for when that happens again. All I really had left in my house were like lean cuisines and what not haha, nothing good. Also.. if I weight 259 pounds, and am just around 6 feet what should my calorie range be? Is there a calculator or something that will help me find this out.. my guess is around 1,800.

I also started using fitday today too to log my food, cause before I was just kind of winging it.
 
Swampy said:
Yeah.. I stocked up on fruit today for when that happens again. All I really had left in my house were like lean cuisines and what not haha, nothing good. Also.. if I weight 259 pounds, and am just around 6 feet what should my calorie range be? Is there a calculator or something that will help me find this out.. my guess is around 1,800.

I also started using fitday today too to log my food, cause before I was just kind of winging it.
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Vegetables are good to have too, for times when you are hungry. 2k -2.4k calories should be fine for you for weight loss, with your current height and weight (checked a calculator).

A great part about when you first start losing weight is how quickly the pounds disappear. All the extra weight on your body is helping you burn more calories when you exercise.

Also, just want to throw this in if you are looking for motivation. I read earlier about taking pictures of your progress on a monthly basis. I wish I used this concept during the earlier stages of my weight loss, because seeing progress is an awesome feeling. Today, I'm going to start taking a photo once a month, and compare it to the previous month.

Try it; it should be fun.
 
Heyitsmike said:
Vegetables are good to have too, for times when you are hungry. 2k -2.4k calories should be fine for you for weight loss, with your current height and weight (checked a calculator).

A great part about when you first start losing weight is how quickly the pounds disappear. All the extra weight on your body is helping you burn more calories when you exercise.

Also, just want to throw this in if you are looking for motivation. I read earlier about taking pictures of your progress on a monthly basis. I wish I used this concept during the earlier stages of my weight loss, because seeing progress is an awesome feeling. Today, I'm going to start taking a photo once a month, and compare it to the previous month.

Try it; it should be fun.
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Thanks for the reply, yeah.. I think I will take even more 'offical' before pictures instead of just random ones with friends. I have a camera, why not.


I ate 1830 calories today, but am going out drinking tonight (I'm bad I know) so I figured I wouldn't go any farther than that. The whole 1830 calories was probably the most healthy I've ate in months too. It mostly came from fish and dairy products. I went crazy on lettuce today too. No soda either, so woot. Maybe I'll resist the temptation to not drink tonight and just hang out. I'll see what I can do =P.
 
So I didn't resist and had a couple (a lot) of drinks last night at my friends house. I still haven't ate anything today because hang overs suck and screwed up my sleeping schedule. That deffiantly wasn't worth =(. I'll still try to do as best as I can today, I doubt I'll be able to run. That's two days without running because I went out last night.

Time for the famous quote "I'M NEVER DRINKING AGAIN !!!11one!!"
 
Hey,
well done on wanting to change your life around! I have the same problem with my body image. I see myself as smaller (in fact I see myself as this spunky little creature) and then when I see pictures I am like OMG that can't be me!! I am neither spunky nor little!
My man is an avid photographer and he has pictures of me in every single possible and impossible position (hanging from his walls... ick) and so I have the "correct" image in front of me a lot, which I guess is good because it motivates me. I want to become the spunky little person that lives in me...

If you think you will be fine running 60 minutes that is good and fair and I think you should keep it up. Personally I have nowhere near that energy!! I do 30 minutes of crosstrainer, sit ups, stretches and swim 2 to 3 times a week.
I think it is also important that you give yourself a rest. I always say "even God rested the 7th day", that really gives your body and your muscles a little break to regenerate.
For me, it is sunday because that is just convenient since the gym is closed, but for you it could be any day you pick!

I also recommend you get a ticker! It's the best. It is my little highlight of the week to go online and change my ticker numbers. And so motivating!
Good luck, Camy
 
Thanks for the reply =). Good luck to you, too. Yeah.. today is the superbowl so there is a lot of delicous food at my house at the moment, but I'm trying not to go to crazy on them, even though it's sunday and is the superbowl =P.

I looked at one of those ticker sites, made it and posted it but then realized how bad the one I made looked. I was planning on going on making a new one that doesn't look dumb as hell once I get around to it.
 
So, the last two days haven't been THAT bad... one was perfect except I drank. And then yesterday I thought I did pretty good considering all the food at my house, I really doubted I went over 2000 calories. I could'nt count them (well I could have, but that would have been a lot of work) because it was just random food that people brought over, because we watched the game here. After they all left, I worked out for an hour. So I get on the scale today, just hoping to be at the same place... or maybe even lost a pound or something. Nope, I GAINED a pound. Sweet.

:banghead:
 
Ok, so today went ok. And when I say ok I mean just ok. I ate pretty good but made one screw up which totally sucked. I was at about 1200 calories for the day, and it was 5pm. I had left over sloppy joes in the fridge and figured I'd have two now, and then just have something really small at 630 or something. So I ate the 2, and went to go plug them into fitday. 400 calories each I find out, sweet. So that put me exactly around 2000 calories and so I didn't get to eat anything else for the rest of the day. =(. I spent the rest of the night doing homework anyway, I wasn't thinking about food. I'm done now, I'm going to go run for 60 minutes and I think I'm gonna start some weight training tonight. I have a bowflex like thing, but it confuses me and I can't ever seem to feel like I'm doing it right. I guess I'll give it a serious shot tonight after running.

PS I don't want to go to class tommorow =(
 
So I just finished working out. I was planning on doing 60 minutes of cardio, and then do weight lifting. That didn't work out as planned, but I'm pretty sure its for the better. I was running, and my left knee cap started hurting really bad, so I quit after 20 minutes. I went and figured out the neat bowflex like thing we've had but never used, and did some reps on that. It felt really good, I don't know why I haven't been doing it this whole time. Anyway, I did that for about a a half hour... taking a minute or two inbetween each rep. After I was done, my knee cap was feeling a lot better so I finished off with 10 more minutes on the treadmill.

So 30 minutes of cardio, 30 minutes of weight training. Super. I did pretty ok on the whole food thing to today, besdies the sloppy joe thing, haha. I've been stuck at the same weight for a good 5 days now, and I don't care. I am feeling so much better and am really thinking that I look better. I am over my period of checking the scale everyday, all it does is break my confidence. I'll keep my weigh in dates every monday. I love the feeling after a nice good workout!

edit: zomg page 2
 
I love how I can wake up after only 8 hours of sleep feeling completely refreshed. I used to need twelve, and I'd still be tired all day.

ha, what a loser I was.
 
ND1978 said:
I love your dedication and your humor. Keep up the amazing work!!
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thank you <3, I've been reading your diary too.

Anyways, today was again a success... it's starting to seem a lot more normal now and I don't have to think about it as much as I used to. I took my dog for a really long walk. I think my dog's falling in love with me because I've been walking her so much since I started this whole thing, haha.

Fitday ended up with me in at around 2100 calories. Which I think is a comfortable amount, a little less couldn't hurt.. but less face it I'm 269 pounds and 5'11. If I eat any less than, I get uncomfortably hungry (like, actual hunger... not emotional) And I guess that's setting myself up for failure, because I can't be like that everyday. 2100 calories is still better than like the 4,000-5,000 I used to eat everyday. So sweet. I plan on doing 30 minutes of cardio tonight, and another 30 minutes of weight training on a different muscle group, I'm gonna go do that right after this. I've been doing really good with fitday, and finding it extremely useful. Although I have to guess the closest thing to what I ate sometimes, because it doesn't have it in their database and I'm far to lazy to type all the nutritional facts in manually, but I'm guessing it is still pretty damn close.

I was thinking today, and my weight loss is the most important thing in my life right now. So anything that is going to get in it's way, is going to have to wait. I'm not sure what it means, ha, but that's what I figured... so hooray.

And holy crap, I got a new book yesterday... it's pretty much the best book ever. It's called Invisible Monsters and it is so good, I highly advise everyone to get that shit.
 
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K so I finished my workout. I feel like each night of working out I do it better.

I started off with 20 minutes of cardio, and did more weight training for around 30 minutes, maybe a little less. Anyway, I think I had a lot more success with the weight training. I busted out this huge chart that it came with and tried some different ones on there. But some of them still just feel weird, and the straps like rub agaisnt my arms on some of them and it hurts, I'm probably doing them wrong. But anyway, I feel it in my arms and legs a lot more than I did yesterday. After the weight training, I went back on the treadmill and jogged for another 20 minutes.... so 40 minutes of cardio total.

Yay for another good day :hurray:
 
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