Weight Loss Journey for Feeling Gooder

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Hey feelinggooder,

Thanks for dropping by my diary again...it's always good to see you there! So, Mr. Triathelete..you are now definitley above my level by about a zillion notches...brick training etc. Whew...makes me exhausted just reading it! I did a biathelon many years ago (bike + run) and it about wore me out...of course I didn't really train up for it correctly. I could run and bike...but never did them back to back, and now, 15 years later, I vaguely remember the feeling! Way to go on the committment to do the triathelon...I'm at that point and while living here in China, probably won't be signing up for anything like that..I really get motivated by your posts and will keep on going!

Thanks and keep up the great work...you will be built like the imfamous "brick $#!t house" before long!


Sarah
 
Hey Sarah,


Wouldn't say I'm all that far along in any fitness level, with triathlon I seem to have found three sports that I suck at equally ;)


Did another swim session yesterday and then attempted to jog to the bus after work. Note to self: don't try jogging with 10-20 pounds of wet clothes on my back. Hard to believe that when I started I was carrying around an extra 60 lbs.


Been looking at the training schedule for the half ironman which is very intense and not sure it's something I can commit to this year. Consists of 7-10 hours of training each week as preparation and squeezing 1.5 hrs of exercise into a workday can be kind of challenging. Will follow the training plan as long as I can manage as it's good to have a plan for what types of activities to do on a regular basis.
 
Today's workout was almost derailed by my lack of planning as I found myself at work with all the makings of a workout session minus the workout shorts.


Luckily:


the pants I was wearing were kind of old and didn't really fit all that well anymore...

I also happened to find a pair of scissors...

Also lucky as cutting the legs off the pants meant that:



there was one less item of dirty laundry to do after the workout session

the item that did survive was only half it's original size as I tossed the legs away.


4. I was also lucky that my hair brained explanation to my wife was accepted with a smile and a shake of her head.
 
Gotta say feeling gooder, you made me laugh! You are really committed to this!! Even it the pants didn't fit too well...to take the scissors to them is a pretty drastic step! You are obviously married to the right woman! I'd like to think I would have had the same reaction if my husband did the same thing!! Way to improvise and overcome!

I like to think I can run (and I will run again one day..but I'm just not in a safe position to here in China...too much smog and sidewalks have too many cars and motorcycles to make room for runners!), and I can bike (same note as above), but swimming has never been a strength for me...my husband can swim like a fish...I can swim and certainly survive in the water, but I am not at ease, so I rarely go swimming for exercise...one of these days I may, but not in any hurry to!


Keep up the good work feelinggooder..you continue to give me inspiration!

Sarah
 
Thanks Sarah! I am very thankful that the wife is so understanding to put up with my shenanigans. I guess over the years she's had no choice but to become accustomed to the strange way my brain functions...


I consider myself to be quite lucky when it comes to the clean air and trails in the area. Makes it much easier to get outside for training sessions and I know I wouldn't have the same opportunity in a crowded city.


Happy to report that I didn't have to sacrifice any other articles of clothing to the workout gods this week and can't believe I'm at a point where I consider myself lucky that the last two days of workouts only consisted of one session in the pool on Wednesday and today was merely a 60 minute run. I used the RunKeeper app on my iphone to track my progress and after getting a little turned around on a section of the run, my planned 9.8km route turned into a 10.7 km route. Was thrilled to see that I hit a 56:57 time on a 10km pace which was faster than my planned goal pace for the 10km run at the end of the month.
 
Good job on the overachievement Run..sub 1h on a 10k! Woohoo!! This whole world of apps is incredible to me. I just recently got an iphone and I'm really hooked on them. Love it and all the apps that can go with it! Have a great wekeend and keep up the good work!

Sarah
 
Thanks Sarah,


Have been enjoying the iPhone so far and the apps are pretty amazing. Used RunKeeper for the run last week and the 40k bike ride I went on today and really enjoy the nerdery and data it tracks for you.


Did my weekly weigh in and updated front post. Down to just over 230lbs but the body fat percentage hasn't been moving much. Have read that increased cardio can cause muscle loss but also haven't been making time to work out with weights lately as the cardio sessions take up my workout time.
 
Been looking through the diaries on the dreaded page two, kind of a the place where motivation goes to die *shudder*. Guess that's the way the forum goes at times.


First day of the week includes a swim session (completed) and a 40 minute run (coming up).


Getting into the pool for was a nice way to start the week off on the right foot.
 
Originally Posted by feelinggooder


Been looking through the diaries on the dreaded page two, kind of a the place where motivation goes to die *shudder*. Guess that's the way the forum goes at times.
Click to expand...


Guilty! I was noticing a lot of of "Whoa is me" diaries, too. As in "I wanted to go to the gym in the last three weeks, but I didn't! I'll start tomorrow!" Really, you just gotta do it.


I'm not giving up, I refuse to cuz I'm feeling great, and I get pretty cantankerous when I'm skipping exercise.


I'm with you on Special Workout Apparel. I can be a little more free-spirited at home (another benefit of the downstairs gym), so my wife will see me looking sharp with sneakers, compression shorts, too-small t-shirt, and another t-shirt wrapped around my head (I'm a sweaty boy).
 
I hear ya on the sweating... went for a run outside today and came back wetter than I was after the swim and was leaking more sweat for the next hour after showering as well...


I guess in a strange way, page two also gives us a little more motivation in a "I'm not going to let that happen to me" sort of way. Looks like you're making great progress and the weight is coming off at a great sustainable pace. Have a feeling that the too-small t-shirt is well on its way to fitting very well.


Learned a couple valuable lessons during today's run:

1. Do NOT eat liver before going for a hard run... even if it does stay down it will send smoke signals reminding you that it's still down there and isn't settling well

2. Choose your running partner with great care. Made the mistake of going for an "easy" run with one of the guys at work (who weighs considerably less than I do and is in better shape)
 
There have been days of doing yard work where my shirt's been wet enough to look like I've been rained on. I'd drink 3 qts of water over the day, and still only pee once at the end of the day (and it smelled of my morning coffee). I don't feel bad about housing some sugar-enriched lemonade or Gatorade on those days.


Oh man! I learned early on to avoid exercise on a full stomach (especially if it's full of Wendy's). Liver? That's just courageous.
 
If by courageous you mean plain silly, I couldn't agree more. It was pretty mindless at the time as I was grabbing a piece of chicken and potato from my mid morning meal and grabbed a single small piece of liver as I was waiting for the microwave. That stuff has some serious staying (and coming back) power.


I get the same sweat soaked clothes doing yard work or at times it seems like all I need to do is think about exercise and I sweat. Been keeping a 1.5L bottle of water at my desk lately to try to keep up with the hydration.
 
Got out for a long (for me) bike ride of about 37 km over the weekend and enjoyed it. Have my first triathlon coming up on Saturday and looking forward to the experience.


Weighed in on Sunday and weight is up slightly but the body fat percentage has finally dropped out of the 27% and fell into the 25% range. Will probably bounce back up some next week but as long as it's trending down I'm happy with the overall result.


First post updated with current stats
 
Looking forward to hearing reports on your first tri. My BIL and my close friend both are triathletes, with varying degrees of success (the latter being a consistent top-ten racer). Sound like a hell of a victory to finish it, let alone place competitively!


Do you have a target time, or just looking to finish?
 
Main goal is to finish. This one is fairly short (500m swim, 35km bike, 5k run) but I've started a training plan for a half ironman at the end of the summer which is 1.9km swim 90km bike and 21km run. Goal for the year is to get up to at least an Olympic distance triathlon and if the training goes well hit the half ironman.


Goal time in the back of my mind for this one is to finish it between 2 hrs and 2 hours 15 minutes.
 
So another week in the books. On Saturday I ran my first Triathlon ever and had a great time. Consisted of a 500m pool swim, a 35k bike ride followed by a 5k run. Managed to finish in slightly under 2 hours which was much better than I had planned so pretty happy with the result. Going to be looking at a longer distance triathlon in a couple months so have more training to do.


On the weight front, things are relatively unchanged, I dropped the 1.2lbs I had put on the week before but watched my body fat percentage tick back up a notch in exchange. Have been hanging out at 230lbs for quite some time so may have to get a little stricter on the eating as I'm still trying to figure out how much extra food to take in during a much heavier training schedule. Will try to tighten up the diet for the next couple weeks and see how it goes and if that doesn't see me drop a couple extra pounds I will start counting calories.


Hope everyone is enjoying their journey and finding the motivation to move.
 
That's great news! How did you place? Not that it matters, it's a finish for this round.


Don't worry about the plateau, you lost a lot of weight in the last few months, it makes sense that you would stall for a while. Hell, take a break from everything for a few days, that kind of shock can get things moving (reference my business trip / meat-and-rice-and-alcohol-a-thon in Puerto Rico).


Keep up the good work, man, you're doing a helluva a job.
 
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