Trying to get it back together...

B

breakingdown

New member
Intro - Over the years I really let myself go... and my desk job doesn't help much either. In 4 years time I went from a healthy 215 lbs to a really horrible 306 lbs. I decided in January to sign up at the gym and start working towards getting healthier again. I go off and on but haven't taken it too seriously. I also haven't taken eating properly too seriously either since then. I have done more then I used to though so I lost a bit of weight. I managed to get myself down to 278... which is still horrible but it's a step in the right direction. Hopefully by putting this out there I can keep better track of how I'm doing and push myself to do more so I can get healthier faster. After all, I have a beautiful wife and a baby boy who I need to keep up with.



Weight Log -

Height - 5'11"

5/22 - 278 lbs
1/1 - 306 lbs



The Plan - I want to get down to around 200 or 215 lbs. My goal is 10 lbs a month... so, if I can keep to the plan, in about 6 or 7 months I will have reached my goal. I want to step cardio up to every day and weight train 6 days a week... taking the 7th off. I'll start off taking it pretty easy. I used to be really into lifting and sports so I know going full bore at first can lead to injury or being too sore and giving up quickly. For food I'm going basic. I just want to keep proportions smaller and eat healthier foods. No junk food on lunches and no eating late at night. I'll edit each week's post for the whole first week, adding each day. When a new week starts I'll post a new section with that week. Before / After photos will come after I am at 256 lbs and then again at 215 lbs.



Cardio Ideas -
Jog
Box Heavy Bag / Glove Routines
BJJ
Kayak
Ride Bike (at the gym or outside)

P90X (the cardio days)
Couch To 5k



Cardio Goals -
Run a 5k (one of the charity ones).
Do a 15 mile bike ride (one of the charity ones).



Wish me luck. I'll need it! :p
 
Week 1

Week 1​

Weight Log
Week Starting Weight - 278
Week Ending Weight - 276.5

Lbs Lost This Week - 1.5 lbs
Lbs Lost Overall - 29.5 lbs


Day 1 (5/22) - I did good with my diet today. I ate generally healthy and feel pretty good. Hopefully I can fight off the late night cravings since I work until 1 AM. I had a light day in the gym to get my body back into the habit. I plan on splitting up body groups like I used to do but for now I'm just doing a couple exercises with light weights in all muscle groups. For cardio I did some walking with a tiny big of jogging. I'll keep it going easy for this week yet and then hopefully start to step it up next week and the week after.

Day 2 (5/23) - I held to healthy food choices all day which is good. I'm not weighing myself each day to prevent frustration from minor day to day fluctuation... but I'll weigh myself at the end of the week to see where I'm at. I only have one meal left (dinner) and that's packed from home since I'm at work so I know I'll eat properly then as well. For cardio today I started the Couch to 5k I wanted to try. I said I was going to start cardio and lifting off slowly and I am... the plan starts with 5 minutes of walking, 2 of jogging, and then 5 more minutes of walking. It really is a couch to 5k plan. I also had a light day of lifting and hit each muscle group to get them woken up a bit more before I start splitting up muscle groups next week. I poured out my alcohol I had at home this morning too. It's going to be hard to get used to not drinking at night or on my days off but I've quit before and I can again.

Day 3 (5/24) - Work is CRAZY tonight so I'll keep it brief. Worked out lightly, full body. I'm doing cardio after work. I'm really in the mood to eat junk food tonight after work or grab a beer or something so I'm hoping it'll help if I save my workout until then. See, this site is helping me already. When I start thinking about it, I come here and read back over my goals and it really does help.

Day 4 (5/25) - Despite the horrible day at work... I didn't eat junk and only drank water last night. Reading through my goals over and over and reading other member's successful logs helped a ton. It's the start of the day but I have a busy day. I plan on the normal eat well deal. I have off so I'll be exercising after a good bit of family time (which I LOVE) and fishing. I'll update with how I do after but I'm not really sore at all from the lifting so I fear I might be going too light. I won't go all out but I'm going to step it up a bit today.

End of Day Update - The day was good. Sadly, I didn't get to the gym today. The good part is the reason though... I spent all day enjoying family time. We did take a 1.5 mile walk though. We walked the dogs and the baby down to a local school to play on the playground and walked back. A very enjoyable day. It was pretty hard when everyone went to bed not go end the day with a bit of alcohol but I resisted :p

Day 5 (5/26) - It was a pretty good day. I got a good bit of family time in. For the gym I went pretty hard. Not full strength by far yet and not all my exercises for the muscle group... but I hit my back and biceps today. I ate healthy all day but I ate more then usual. When I'm off work I tend to realize I'm hungry and eat more often then when I'm at work. I did eat healthy all day though so it shouldn't be too much of a kink in the plan. Usually when I was off I was eating McDonalds, Pizza, etc. Today I had veggie soup, skinless chicken breasts, and eggs. I had two beers which would of been better skipped... but 200 calories won't kill me I suppose. Overall it wasn't a bad day. Also, to lose the 30 lbs I did before I started this diary... my favorite form of cardio was riding bike. My only outside bike was pretty rusty, had bad tires, and was 7+ years old so I stuck to the gym stationary bikes most of the time. I went out and picked up a nice comfort cruiser/mountain type bike from Walmart. I know, I know. Walmart bikes are far from top of the line but I just wanted something comfortable that I can enjoy riding outside with. I'm also not made of money :p I figured riding the same street I live on would get old after a while too so I got a bike rack for my car for $40. Pretty affordable, it will let me get to the different trails and tracks around where I live, and it has 2 spots so my wife's bike can fit if she decides to come keep me company :)

Day 5 (5/27) - I had a great day at the gym. I did a decent workout with chest/triceps. I ate pretty healthy but could have done better. I also went on a 1.5 mile bike ride with my wife and father in law. It was a great day all around minus the crazy storms that hit later at night.

Day 6 (5/28) - Today I'm going to do some ab workout at the gym. I have a really long day at work... to the tune of 14.5 hours... so I'm not really in a good mood and short on time. I'll weigh myself tomorrow at night to see if I lost any weight this week. Wish me luck :p

Day 7 (5/29) - Yesterday was a horrible day to say the least. I was on my way to work, at work, or on my way home 16.5 hours out of the day. I ate ok minus a snack that wasn't healthy. I didn't do much in the way of exercise due to the long hours. My hours are stable now for the next few months so that shouldn't be an issue again. Today I didn't do anything in the gym for cardio or lifting but I got both working outside. I chainsawed, split, and loaded/unloaded 3 trucks full of huge logs. I was easily 20 times more tired and worn out from that then anything I could of done at the gym. I ate steak and a potato for lunch which wasn't bad either. I'll weigh myself tonight and give the final update for the week.
 
good work on your loss so far, and good luck pushing yourself to eat better and exercise more :)
 
Thank you, Trusylver!


Free said:
Do you have a diet?
Click to expand...

None to really speak of. I lost 40 lbs before when I was younger... and 28 lbs this time so far doing what I'm going to continue doing. I don't have a named diet... I just try to eat healthy. I'm giving up fast food and alcohol (poured out what I had at home last night). For food I just try to eat healthy options instead of fatty or high calorie stuff. Eggs, tuna, steak, skinless chicken breasts, protein shakes, salads, fruits, and veggies... and just drinking water for liquids. It worked before but then I got lazy and gave up eating right... and got really over weight again. And it worked for the first 28 lbs so far... so I figure why not stick with what seems to work for me.
 
Garmin Forerunner 305

I bought a Garmin Forerunner 305. One thing I love to do is to go for walks, hikes, and bike rides outside. The one thing always missing was I never knew my pace or how far I went... only how long I've been going. With this it charts calories burnt (estimate of course), how far I've went, the pace I've went, etc. It also comes with an awesome computer program that breaks down the workout. It will show you how far you went total... you can also mark points and it will show you the distance from a point you set (point A) to another (point B) so that you can make your own workout course. Then you can do that each day and compare the workouts in the program to see how your pace has increased, how your time is improving, places where you slow down or speed up, etc. It also maps it on Google Maps for you which is pretty cool. It can store a ton of data. They say up to 2 years of data... but if you plug it into the computer to transfer the data to the program you never have to worry about that. It's really awesome. On the Garmin site it's $200 or something like that but I got it on Amazon for $130. It also is chargeable by USB which is nice. It's also waterproof which is good since I love kayaking. The one I got is here ->



I'm not sure if other companies have other ones that people enjoy. If so, let me know! Now that I know how useful they are I'll definitely pick up a different kind if there's a better one out there that isn't like $500.
 
Things I'm Trying To Eat

Someone asked about my diet before and I said how I don't have a named idea but just try to eat smaller portions and healthier foods. I used to always eat wings, pizza, McDonalds, fast food, etc. Here's a list of what I'm trying to eat more of recently, while completely avoiding the things I've listed before. If you have any suggestions I'd love to hear them! I try for semi-low calorie food, low fat content, and high protein. Carbs are neutral but the less the better while I work on losing weight. I'll carb cycle after I lose weight to put muscle back on.

Steak
Eggs / Egg Whites
Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts
Ham
Lean Beef Burgers (Fat Free Cheese)
Ham Sandwich (Fat Free Cheese, Fat Free Mayo, Wheat Bread)
Tuna / Tuna Sandwhich (Fat Free Mayo, Wheat Bread)
Protein Shakes (Skim Milk)
Vegetable Soup
Potatos
Misc Vegetables and Fruit

Turkey Sandwich (Low Fat Turkey, Fat Free Cheese, Fat Free Mayo, Wheat Bread)
 
Week 2

Week 2​

Weight Log
Week Starting Weight - 276.5
Week Ending Weight -

Lbs Lost This Week -
Lbs Lost Overall -


Day 1 (5/30) - Today for cardio I sawed, split, loaded, and unloaded more truck fulls of wood. It was the low 90s today outside so it was pretty rough. For strength I only did a bit of back and bis.

Day 2 (5/31) - I hit the gym pretty hard today. I did chest and Triceps at the gym. It was a good workout. I went about 3/4 strength and did about 3/4 of my exercises I used to do for it. I ended up eating like crap late last night... and I feel bad about it... but there's not much I can do about it now. Hopefully I learned my lesson. I do a lot in my cube during work anymore. Instead of just a chair I sit on an exercise ball. I hear it's better for your back and core. I also have resistance bands to do curls, tricep extensions, and flies. They aren't that much weight of resistance but it lets me do them throughout the day and it's better then just sitting on my butt with my feet up all day. I highly recommend resistance bands. They're easy to use, portable, and only cost about $8 for a band and $12 if you need the handles too. You can buy one set of handles and a bunch of different level resistance bands... then you have a whole set for about $40. It's the best investment I can remember doing yet. I also rode my bike 1.8 miles on my lunch break just to keep the metabolism going.

Day 3 (6/1) - Today I'm going to do some back/biceps at the gym before work. I'm planning on eating well but we'll see how that goes. For cadio I'm going to start doing BJJ (Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu) again tomorrow. I'll do it on my days off. I used to go to classes before but when my schedule changed I ran out of time. Now I have time again. I missed it. If you never tried some form of martial arts, I recommend it. It's an amazing cardio workout and is so much fun. I'm a mighty white belt (the very first belt, lol) but I'm learning and it really does build up your endurance. The guys at my gym are awesome as well. It's a Gracie Barra gym. And yes, I do wear one of the Gis. Feel free to make fun of me :p For cardio today, since I work, I'll be riding my bike on my lunch.
 
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