I'm a couple days behind but I did weigh in on Monday and came in at 272.6. I was hoping to get down to 272.5 but I'll take it. Despite my couple weeks of little loss, I am still just ahead of my goal which is an average of 2.5 lbs per week. I'm already off to a good start this week. I'm really excited to weigh in next Monday.
I also realize that I'm behind on my measurements. I planned to measure myself at the beginning of the month. I will get on that and post those new measurements soon. I'm excited to see how things have changed already. I do know my clothes are a little looser and my belt is almost out of holes. I'm definitely moving in the right direction.
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
Monday, April 2, 2012
A Little Disappointed, But Not Discouraged
So I weighed in this morning at 275 lbs. While I'm still a little ahead of my goal of 2.5 lbs per week on average, I have averaged less than that for the past two weeks. I think the big disappointment is that I weighed myself yesterday and came in a pound less.
However, I'm not discouraged. I've lost these 13 lbs so far without really increasing my exercise. And today, I plan to start another program. So far, I'm two weeks in to the hundred pushups challenge. Today, I'll start the couch to 5k program. That will get me walking and jogging at least 3 times a week. I'm actually really excited to keep this up. Julie told me yesterday that she is starting to be able to see a difference. I'm planning to take measurements tonight so we'll see if there has been any improvement.
However, I'm not discouraged. I've lost these 13 lbs so far without really increasing my exercise. And today, I plan to start another program. So far, I'm two weeks in to the hundred pushups challenge. Today, I'll start the couch to 5k program. That will get me walking and jogging at least 3 times a week. I'm actually really excited to keep this up. Julie told me yesterday that she is starting to be able to see a difference. I'm planning to take measurements tonight so we'll see if there has been any improvement.
Thursday, March 22, 2012
Treats at Work
Yesterday, at work, we celebrated the retirement of a coworker. Along with that celebration there were some great treats. We had a cake, some fruit, a meat and cheese tray and soda. I'll admit, I had a piece of cake. But that was ok. You see, I logged it into my daily calories and was able to adjust my dinner last night to the point that I didn't go over my calorie limit for the day. I stayed within my goal range. I had also forgotten my lunch which worked out perfectly, so I had some fruit and some meats and cheeses. I honestly felt like I succeeded yesterday because I stayed within my calories.
Today, we celebrated another coworker who will be leaving to go on to new things. There was fruit and there were donuts. I had some fruit. I avoided the donuts completely because I knew they would put me over my calories today. I'll be honest, it was a bit of a let down at the time. But when I look at my page on Sparkpeople and see the calories that I'm eating today and the weight I've lost it picks me right back up and I feel excited about where I'm going.
I know the road is long and it's not easy. In fact it's really easy to give in "just this once" but unfortunately that usually turns into, "oh well, I'll start again next week". The real trick is to stick to the diet every time and not let "just this once" ever happen. And then, if it does, you have to pick yourself back up and not wait til next week to start again. Life is full of things that knock us down. Picking ourselves back up, dusting ourselved off, and moving forward is the key. And doing that now rather than letting ourselves sit on the ground for a few days first is what gets us to our goals.
Today, we celebrated another coworker who will be leaving to go on to new things. There was fruit and there were donuts. I had some fruit. I avoided the donuts completely because I knew they would put me over my calories today. I'll be honest, it was a bit of a let down at the time. But when I look at my page on Sparkpeople and see the calories that I'm eating today and the weight I've lost it picks me right back up and I feel excited about where I'm going.
I know the road is long and it's not easy. In fact it's really easy to give in "just this once" but unfortunately that usually turns into, "oh well, I'll start again next week". The real trick is to stick to the diet every time and not let "just this once" ever happen. And then, if it does, you have to pick yourself back up and not wait til next week to start again. Life is full of things that knock us down. Picking ourselves back up, dusting ourselved off, and moving forward is the key. And doing that now rather than letting ourselves sit on the ground for a few days first is what gets us to our goals.
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
A Hundred Pushups
I've decided that dieting alone isn't going to be enough for me. While I know I'm losing weight at a good pace, that's not all I want to do. I want to look and feel great and in order to do that I need to exercise. So I've looked at a few programs that I think can help me get there.
First, on the Sparkpeople website there are numerous exercise suggestions, not to mention a number of groups for several other exercise programs. That's where I heard about the Hundred Pushups. Actually, it was a post that my sister made on Sparkpeople. She had started the Hundred Pushups challenge and posted about it on her page. So I decided to check it out. You can find it at http://hundredpushups.com/. This site has a routine that you do 3 times a week where you increase how many pushups you do each day. The idea is that in 6 weeks you will be able to do 100 consecutive pushups. The workouts are based on how you do on the test every two weeks. It might take some people longer and some people shorter but in the end, you'll get to 100.
So I started. Two days ago I did the test and got 17 good pushups. Then yesterday, I did the first workout based on that test. It went well. It didn't take long and I just did it while watching TV. But I did it and that's what matters.
Since I found the Hundred Pushups challenge I started looking around and found another cool site. It's called 7 Weeks to Fitness and can be found at http://www.7weekstofitness.com/. It's got several workout programs for pushups, situps, pullups, getting ripped, etc. Next week, I'm going to start the jump rope routine. Between pushups and the jump rope routine I think I'll have a good start. Then, later in April, I'm going to start the Couch to 5K program. I started this once before and I can't remember now why I stopped... But this is another program that starts at a beginner level of jogging/walking and gets to you where you can go 5 kilometers without stopping in 9 weeks. That one is at http://www.coolrunning.com/. The nice thing about each of these routines is that they take you from a beginner level up to a more advanced level. After all, how many people do you know that can do 100 pushups without a break?
First, on the Sparkpeople website there are numerous exercise suggestions, not to mention a number of groups for several other exercise programs. That's where I heard about the Hundred Pushups. Actually, it was a post that my sister made on Sparkpeople. She had started the Hundred Pushups challenge and posted about it on her page. So I decided to check it out. You can find it at http://hundredpushups.com/. This site has a routine that you do 3 times a week where you increase how many pushups you do each day. The idea is that in 6 weeks you will be able to do 100 consecutive pushups. The workouts are based on how you do on the test every two weeks. It might take some people longer and some people shorter but in the end, you'll get to 100.
So I started. Two days ago I did the test and got 17 good pushups. Then yesterday, I did the first workout based on that test. It went well. It didn't take long and I just did it while watching TV. But I did it and that's what matters.
Since I found the Hundred Pushups challenge I started looking around and found another cool site. It's called 7 Weeks to Fitness and can be found at http://www.7weekstofitness.com/. It's got several workout programs for pushups, situps, pullups, getting ripped, etc. Next week, I'm going to start the jump rope routine. Between pushups and the jump rope routine I think I'll have a good start. Then, later in April, I'm going to start the Couch to 5K program. I started this once before and I can't remember now why I stopped... But this is another program that starts at a beginner level of jogging/walking and gets to you where you can go 5 kilometers without stopping in 9 weeks. That one is at http://www.coolrunning.com/. The nice thing about each of these routines is that they take you from a beginner level up to a more advanced level. After all, how many people do you know that can do 100 pushups without a break?
Monday, March 19, 2012
Two Weeks Later
It's been almost two weeks since my last post. Today, I weighed in at 277.2 and that makes me pretty happy. After about 3 weeks of dieting I've lost almost 11 pounds. But I've still got a long ways to go.
Let me tell you about my experience this last Saturday. I got up in the morning and had a yogurt and an apple before leaving home to run a paintball event. For lunch, I brough a Fiber One bar, an apple and an orange. So far, it's looking pretty low calorie (much less than normal). But, when the event ended, I had a dinner activity to go to an no computer to look up how many calories were in what I was eating. I was going in blind (as we usually do when we eat at events). So I ate a reasonable dinner, but the dessert looked too good to pass up.
In the end, when I calculated my daily calories for Saturday, I had eaten over 3000 calories. This would be pretty good compared to my normal eating habits. But for the last 3 weeks I've been eating around 2000 - 2200 calories per day. I was afraid this would set me back a little. Fortunately, I had played a lot of paintball that day and I had been really good during the rest of the week. So in the end I still lost around 4 pounds this week.
This little story is a perfect example of what usually happens when I eat out. The only way I have to make sure I don't go overboard is to track everything, even if I know I went over. It's best to track it beforehand in order to only eat what fits within my goals, but even if I can't do that, I still need to track it all. Eating too much on Saturday helped me have greater resolve to eat right on Sunday which I did.
3 weeks and 11 pounds later I'm feeling pretty good about where this is going. My energy level is up (a little) and my pants are a looser (again, just a little) and I'm heading in the right direction.
Let me tell you about my experience this last Saturday. I got up in the morning and had a yogurt and an apple before leaving home to run a paintball event. For lunch, I brough a Fiber One bar, an apple and an orange. So far, it's looking pretty low calorie (much less than normal). But, when the event ended, I had a dinner activity to go to an no computer to look up how many calories were in what I was eating. I was going in blind (as we usually do when we eat at events). So I ate a reasonable dinner, but the dessert looked too good to pass up.
In the end, when I calculated my daily calories for Saturday, I had eaten over 3000 calories. This would be pretty good compared to my normal eating habits. But for the last 3 weeks I've been eating around 2000 - 2200 calories per day. I was afraid this would set me back a little. Fortunately, I had played a lot of paintball that day and I had been really good during the rest of the week. So in the end I still lost around 4 pounds this week.
This little story is a perfect example of what usually happens when I eat out. The only way I have to make sure I don't go overboard is to track everything, even if I know I went over. It's best to track it beforehand in order to only eat what fits within my goals, but even if I can't do that, I still need to track it all. Eating too much on Saturday helped me have greater resolve to eat right on Sunday which I did.
3 weeks and 11 pounds later I'm feeling pretty good about where this is going. My energy level is up (a little) and my pants are a looser (again, just a little) and I'm heading in the right direction.
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
A Week In and Getting Better
Yesterday officially made a week since beginning my new resolve to lose weight and get into shape. Yesterday I weighed myself and I was at 284.8 lbs. That means I lost 3.2 lbs my first week. To be honest, I hoped for more. You see, I've done some dieting in the past and it'd not uncommon to lost more your first week and then to settle into the 2-2.5 lbs a week standard. But despite hoping for more, I'll be happy with it. It's a start. And as far as losing weight goes, slow and steady may not win the race, but it'll definitely get me to the finish line.
Last night, I decided to finally take some measurements as well. I'll just take these once a month so I can hopefully get soem change between measurements. Here they are right now.
Waist (1/2 inch above the belly button): 50.5
Hips: 51
Thigh: 30.5
Upper Arm: 16
Neck: 18
Calf: 19
Body Fat (according to my scale) : 37.4%
So there's my baseline. I'm hoping that a month from now I can see some noticeable difference on at least some of these numbers. The next step in my weight loss plan will be to continue counting calories (1,780 - 2,130 per day for me) and to start getting more active. Last week I played some soccer on wednesday and did some gardening and outdoor work on Thursday and Saturday. This week, I need to be a little more deliberate in my exercising and make sure I put in the time. 90 minutes of actual cardio exercise this week will be my goal. That's 30 minutes, 3 different days.
Last night, I decided to finally take some measurements as well. I'll just take these once a month so I can hopefully get soem change between measurements. Here they are right now.
Waist (1/2 inch above the belly button): 50.5
Hips: 51
Thigh: 30.5
Upper Arm: 16
Neck: 18
Calf: 19
Body Fat (according to my scale) : 37.4%
So there's my baseline. I'm hoping that a month from now I can see some noticeable difference on at least some of these numbers. The next step in my weight loss plan will be to continue counting calories (1,780 - 2,130 per day for me) and to start getting more active. Last week I played some soccer on wednesday and did some gardening and outdoor work on Thursday and Saturday. This week, I need to be a little more deliberate in my exercising and make sure I put in the time. 90 minutes of actual cardio exercise this week will be my goal. That's 30 minutes, 3 different days.
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
It's Begun
Over the last couple of days I have made an attempt to eat better. Basically, I've tried to cut the calories and eat more protein and less fat. I have been mostly successful. Not a lot of change so far but then again, it's only been a couple of days.
I have decided that I'm only going to weigh myself once a week. There's too much variability in daily weighing, and if I weight myself every day, then when I have a bad day it'll really get me down. It'll get me down even more if I have a good day and just don't see much of a change in my weight. So I think that spreading it out to a week will allow sufficient time between weighings to get a significant enough change. So there it is, every Monday morning I'll weigh myself first thing.
The next thing I need to consider is measurements. I think I'll measure myself monthly for the same reason that I'll weight myself weekly. I haven't decided yet which measurements to take but I'll get that worked out.
My sister just recommended a site to me called Sparkpeople. I went ahead and set up an account. It looks like that will help me track my progress as well as offer diet and exercise plans. I'll use it for a while and post what I think. One of my goals on Sparkpeople over the next two weeks is to keep a journal of my efforts. So here it is, I have committed again to keep this blog updated with my actions, plans, and progress.
I have decided that I'm only going to weigh myself once a week. There's too much variability in daily weighing, and if I weight myself every day, then when I have a bad day it'll really get me down. It'll get me down even more if I have a good day and just don't see much of a change in my weight. So I think that spreading it out to a week will allow sufficient time between weighings to get a significant enough change. So there it is, every Monday morning I'll weigh myself first thing.
The next thing I need to consider is measurements. I think I'll measure myself monthly for the same reason that I'll weight myself weekly. I haven't decided yet which measurements to take but I'll get that worked out.
My sister just recommended a site to me called Sparkpeople. I went ahead and set up an account. It looks like that will help me track my progress as well as offer diet and exercise plans. I'll use it for a while and post what I think. One of my goals on Sparkpeople over the next two weeks is to keep a journal of my efforts. So here it is, I have committed again to keep this blog updated with my actions, plans, and progress.
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