Time to finish the job.

dg2009

New member
Beginning stats:
sex: M
age: 22
Height: 5'8"
Current weight: 202
Max weight: 280
Goal Weight: 180


Background Info

Well, first, a little background since I am new here. My road to weight gain began in high school. I played O-line and D-line on the football team. Since I am not particularly tall (5'8"), I had to pack on some weight to stay competitive. During senior year I weighed about 250, though at the time I was still in pretty good shape. Exercised a ton, and had to eat a lot to maintain weight.

Well...after senior season, I stopped working out near as much, the eating habits, however, continued. Then dorm food was added once I got to college in fall 04...I am sure that there are some who see where this is going. After first semester at a doctors appointment i hopped on a scale, 280. It's funny, because I never really even realized that it was getting out of control until that point. It was time to begin my weight loss journey. The goal: lose 100 lbs...

Started out easy, getting slowly back into cardio and lifting, but the largest immediate change was the types of food i would eat...not even necessarily less food, just a lot healthier food. (turkey sandwich at lunch instead of cheeseburger and fries etc). I was lucky, the weight fell off with out trouble at first, by the end of summer I was back down close to my football weight of 250ish, though it was a much higher percent fat I am sure, but things were slowing down so I had to step it up a notch.

Fall 2005 was the pinnacle of my weight loss thus far in terms of motivation and success. A friend and I were at the gym 3 days a week lifting, I was active in the cardio department (jogging, biking, a lot of racquetball which i quite enjoy, etc). And the greatest change of all...I switched to the "5 small meals" routine. It was amazing how much it curbed my hunger, and at least appeared to jumpstart the metabolism. My roommate at the time was trying to drop some pounds as well, and though he wasn't really into working out like me, we did a good job keeping each other eating reasonably healthy. I logged ~2200 calories of food/day and dropped 1-2 lbs a week pretty much without fail. By the end of 2005 I was down to 225ish if i remember correctly. It was a great feeling.

The next semester I switched majors, so my schedule became out of whack with the guy I had been lifting with, and I kind of lost a bit of motivation. Due to some additional stress over the last few years and me being a "nervous" eater, I have run into a few roadblocks. Basically, long story short (well, its already a wall-o-text..but yea), from spring 2006 to the present I have been on and off of diet, and progress has been slow. I am proud to say that there have at least been no major setbacks during that time in terms of regaining weight, so I am confident that I can maintain weight without relapse.

My biggest current concern is the good ole college binge-drinking, for 2 reasons. Not only does the booze have quite a few calories on its own, but i tend to get the munchies after a night of drinking....and it can kill a day or 2s worth of calories right there >.>. Therefore, lowering my alcohol intake is a sub-goal of my diet. Plus binge drinking is generally not good anyway haha.

Why I am here
I currently weight in at 200-205 depending on the day, and it is time to finish what I started 4 years ago. Its a new year, and a new beginning. I come here for additional motivation, hoping that the fact that I will be chronicling my "final push" will keep me motivated, because I know that it is not going to be as easy as it was that first year. And now that I am letting everyone know what I am doing, I feel I will be far less likely to be one of the people that makes extravagant new years resolutions, doesn't tell anyone what they are, and then forgets about it within a month... From reading around, it is easy to see how supportive the community can be, and I hope that I can be a part of that.

So, on to my goals.....


ST goal
190 lbs (~10 lbs)

The time frame:
by mid march (spring break)

The exercise
3 days weight training, 4 days+ cardio per week

The food
~2000 calories/day, hopefully can schedule back to 4 or 5 meals instead of 3. I have never been super crazy about what I eat, but I try to be reasonably healthy.

The kicker
Alcohol only if I stay within my calorie limit. This will easily be the most difficult part for me, its hard to go out with friends and not drink >.>

The prize
If i reach my goal by break, i will allow myself to drink and be merry for a week, the family is going on a cruise =D...if i don't make it, then I guess it will at least be a lot more relaxing vacation hah.


LT goal
180 (for a 100 lb total woo hoo)

The time frame
By graduation (mid-may)

The method
Similar to ST goal food/exercise/booz-wise

The Prize
Idunno...I will probably be plenty happy if i just make the goal, I wont need anything else to make me happy hah


Bonus Goal
6 pack
Time frame
No idea.....


I plan to chronicle my efforts at least on a weekly basis, possibly more often.

Now, on to a question. Am i allowed to post pics in my diary here or does that need to go in one of the other sections?

Anyway, that be it for an intro, will begin keeping track of stuff over the next few days. I would like to thank everyone here ahead of time for the motivation you will surely provide, and hope that possibly I can help provide motivation for others as well :D

Weigh in round 1: Still needed- 9 lb in 6 weeks.
1-7: 201
1-14: 202.5
1-21:199.5
1-28: 199
2-4:
2-11:
2-18:
2-25:
3:4:
3-11:
 
Last edited:
wow, only a couple days and i am already on page 5 heh, gonna have to be more active here or I'm gonna lose my thread haha o_O...

Anyway, recap of the weekend. Saturday was my first test, and while I didn't quite meet my drinking goal, I did a lot better than i likely would have not long ago. Left myself enough calories for 3-4 drinks, ended up with 5 beers and a shot (hard to turn down free drinks...something I'm gonna have to learn to do). However, I did manage to keep myself from eating half the food at my house when i got home, so a large amount of the potential damage was averted....small steps >.>

Yesterday I made up for my 400ish calorie mistake with a killer workout at the gym (20 min warmup on the bike and 10X10 burpees...ugh, they suuuuck) and going a bit lighter on the calories. I have tried in the past to make up for setbacks by going cold-turkey on food the next day...horrible idea, I do not have the willpower to not eat for a day (and its probably not that healthy to do anyway) I have to remind myself that setbacks are gonna happen, I just have to deal with them and limit them as much as possible.

Today was a 5 mile jog, roughly 7:45-7:50/mile, not too bad. I don't think i warmed up enough though, my shoulder is a little sore this afternoon. I am planning on lifting with a friend this evening...i think we are doing legs so it should be ok, but ill need to be careful.

Gonna start "official" weigh ins on Wednesday since I am most likely to be in town on a regular basis in the mid-week for taking weight. I'm kind of a "scale-aholic" which has led to some troubles in the past since weight loss is a slow process, you cant hop on the scale 3 times a day and notice immediate results. Hoping for a nice 1-2 lbs a week after this initial weigh in, this week will likely be higher from my "current weight" because i always seem to drop more weight the first week as i clear my system.

More to come soon...
 
Oh, another thing to add.

Been looking through the before/after pics around here...man there are some AMAZING transformations in there. I'm well on my way, but the hopes that I can end up with results like that certainly provide a massive boost in confidence!
 
ack, first major battle with cravings today. there's a pizza place nearby that has an awesome buffet and it took everything i had not to go down there for lunch. Makes me remember why i hate diets/calorie deficit so much :cuss:. I reaaaaaaly want it, but it aint gonna happen. /sigh. I don't mind exercise as long as i can get to the gym, in fact i almost enjoy it, but damn it i miss my fav foods. Made myself feel a little bit better by eating a bierock though, see below.

todays menu:

breakfast:
yogurt and a handful of pistachios

lunch:
bierock and a small glass of milk.

for anyone that may be reading...
Bierock are awesome, and not too bad on calories if i can hold myself to one. They freeze really well so once a year or so I have been cooking up like 4-5 dozen and sticking em in the freezer for times when i don't have long for a meal...or just cuz i like em hah (i estimate 450ish calories for one)


Snack:
Salad w/ some bread. light dressing, and half a banana... even skipped the cheese, and i love cheese!

Dinner:
Planning on a chicken and beef fajita and a cold frosty brew..

Rec today was 20 minutes on bike, 20 minutes on eliptical (was a bit sore from jogging yesterday so i decided to go low impact) and some abs.

Hopefully i can get more used to the lower calories soon. starting right after the holidays going from gorging to....getting by...makes it hard, and many more days like today are gonna kill me methinks
 
Last night ran in to some problems...ended up snacking before bed, a lot =/. Getting ready to go punish myself at the gym heh...Also planning 1500 calories today to help counter it.../sigh, i know better.

As for the weighin: 201. gonna add all my weighins to first post. Once I have enough posts gonna start pic thread as well.

11 lbs to go, hoping to see below 200 next week!

This weekend is gonna be tough though, going on a trip that i go on every year, gonna be 3 problems.
1) the meals are huge and delicious
2) A lot of the guys down there are wine connoisseurs so there is usually an abundance of good/free wine heh
3) they have this amazing snack mix that seems to be EVERYWHERE, gonna be hard to stay away >.>
 
well, just got back in town last night. the weekend did not go so well, ate a lot...i mean...a.l.o.t, even got sick from eating so much one evening, bleh... I did avoid the snack mix for the most part though! Also drank more than i needed, but not as much as i could have hah.

But even worse than the weekend is that after I got home sunday I have been off my game the last few days, eating poorly and not getting to the gym as often as I should. No excuses for that.

Classes start tomorrow, and i need to fall into some sort of rhythm, as that seems to be when I am most successful. I am stressed as of late as I work on grad school applications, and have been turning to food some again. The habit is hard to break, even though I know it needs to be, and if i can get an active routine where I dont give myself a lot of time to sit around and snack it will surely help my situation.

weighin today is 202.5, much better than I had thought it would be to be honest, but still a step in the wrong direction. Here's to getting back on track.
 
Another week closer. Today weigh in was 199.5, broke the 200 mark! Would like to vow here and now to never see the scale above 200 on a weigh in day again. I did sink below 200 for a short stint awhile ago, and let it go....boo. not this time!

Unfortunately, I already feel like i have lost a bit of motivation compared to first couple weeks of the year, though I am still making it to the rec fairly regularly. Played 4 games of full court b-ball last weekend. I'm not the best player in the world, but I totally think I was working harder than anyone else on the court, which was a nice feeling.

Need to get an eating schedule hammered out a little better, haven't been counting calories as well as i should. I do not think I have gone too overboard at any given point....hope not at least (well, mon night i did have a big snack before bed which I know i did not need). Classes are going reasonably well, so I'm not as inclined to "nervous eat" right now, which is definitely helping the cause.

Not sure the lifting MWF with my roommate is gonna work out, I may have to just get myself doing it on my own, I will certainly have the time in the mornings if I can just drag my ass to the gym. Cardio is good and all, but I dont wanna become a twig haha...yeah right.
 
199 this week, gonna need to start stepping it up. have to average 1.5 lb over the next 6 weeks. weekends are still killing me. 3 lbs net "loss" in 4 weeks isn't all that impressive, especially considering that it could all just be from day to day changes rather than actual fat loss. Still, progress is progress in my book hah. My main problem remains being pretty lax on counting my calories, but I think I have been getting pleenty of exercise.
 
Back
Top