Just a thought for today since I have something later this evening after work, I went to the gym early and did a simple lifting routine. I used to feel like I couldn’t since I have to eat when I wake up (and I like to eat my normal breakfast so I don’t lose blood sugar and energy levels later in the day) but I can’t do much cardio with a full belly, but I was surprised at how well the lifting went. I’ll probably try to fit it into my regular schedule for some mornings now!
Hey y’all. Frakkintalos here.
In December 2012, I dusted off my bicycle. It had been sitting idle in my garage for the past 15 years. I wasn’t happy with the alarming rate I was gaining weight.
So, I made a decision. I was going to start biking to work. It was the winter and it was cold. But if you know me, you know I’m unconventional. I was determined to start exercising and get back in shape. Some of it was based in fear but most of it was anger.
Anyway, long story short, since December I’ve lost 25 lbs. I’ve got 10 lbs to go to reach my goal weight. I thought it would take a year and I’ve almost reached it in half that time.
WOLVERINES!!!
Congratulations Talos. Well done.
I used to mountain bike frequently for several years, then a knee problem made me have to stop.
Now, after 3 years of not biking my knee is recovered enough to get back on the trails.
So this spring I’m getting my gear together to get back in the daily habit.
That plus, using the LoseIt app seriously, I have a goal of losing a certain amount of weight by August.
Wish me luck. You’ve inspired me.
'Talos,
Congrats on the 25 lbs! That’s awesome. Aerobic exercise seems to be the ultimate way to go for weight loss/stability.
I, too, am back on the bike after an extended absence. So far I’m pleased with my progress. My utilmate plan is to start commuting to work as well but have to wait until their finish the bike trail connector into base in June. I’ve been training for the distance in the meantime and have been enjoying it. Since it is all trail riding and not street riding I can use the time to get caught up on podcasts and enjoy the wildlife. I’ve been gearing up as well.
Since you were commuting in the winter months do you care to share any lessons learned over in the thread I started to discuss bike commuting, Commuting/Daily Cycling Gear? I’d be interested to hear them. I know we are a ways off from cold weather but I’d like to get a feel for what I’m into. Right now I’ve learned I’m not outfitted to ride below 50 degrees. It’s mostly my hands, feet, face and legs that are the issue. Any pearls of wisdom would be appreciated!
Thos mentioned he uses LoseIt. I use a combination of MyFitnessPal for calorie counting and RunKeeper to ties all my workouts into (including my bike rides). Are you using anything to monitor your food?
Congrats again on the 25 lbs! I’ll bet you feel like a whole new person!
~Shooter Out
Thank you and good luck.
Thanks.
I will share my experience over in that thread.
I am also using MyFitnessPal and RunKeeper. I’m not weighing food but making best guess estimates. It’s been working. I love (and hate) how MyFitnessPal adjusts your calorie allowance as you lose weight. It’s a great feeling when you get home from a 90 minute bike ride and you can put in those 1000 calories burned.
While I don’t cycle in the traditional fashion due to a combination of balance issues and the frankly lunatic drivers in my wee little town, I do two spin classes a week, this morning, despite it being my day off, I still got up at 7am and went down to the gym. This week, however won’t be good for gym attendance, tomorrow is my last day before I head up to Dublin on Thursday morning and fly over to new hampshire on Friday, heading across to phoenix comic con the following weekend.
Spin this morning seemed too easy, I kept turning the resistance higher and higher but it wasn’t until about 30 minutes in Ir eally started to seat, I figure (hopefully) this indicates I’m getting fitter? one can but hope.
I am bringing my programme to the USA with me and my friend Jeffrey has gotten me a guest pass at his gym, I intend going at least three times sat - wed (cannot go Thursday, got a 7:40 AM flight, ungh).
As I said to my PT this morning, just because I’m on holidays is no excuse to skimp on my exercise routine.
Well done 'talos on the weight loss, my weight seems to be hodling around 98 kilos, but I’m being naughty with the food, additionally, returning to work on May 1st has screwed a bit with my exercise routine, my gym, aside form the mornings I do spin, doesn’t open too early so I don’t get the opportunity to do a workout before work mon-fri. it closes at 7pm on a friday and it can be tricky to get out of work before 6, ergo I’ve had to cut my exercise back to twice a week for PT sessions (usually mon or wed and saturday) and two spin sessions.
I’m debating whether or not to go tomorrow evening, it’s my last day before holidays and I’m aiming to get out at 4:30, however seems more like an aspiration than an actually probable event.
Either way, I’ve blathered on long enough for one evening… WOLVERINES :d
Alan
After an absence of nearly two years I am back. And with a vengeance… I have been going to the gym for four weeks now, the first week was rough; of course. Not only was I out of shape, and crushingly weak. But I pushed myself too hard, and was not eating enough for someone going from an inactive lifestyle to an active one. I hit a wall, and hard. Fortunately I did not injure myself, or pass out while hiking in the heat. whew
I adjusted my diet and schedule, and things went better on the second week. But I was sore as Hell and tired all the time, but almost too sore to even sleep at night. I did some research and realized what was happening, my body was going catabolic… This is very bad. So I had to adjust my intake once again. The one ‘muscle milk’ after a workout was not enough.
So now I am up to three protein shakes a day (on gym days), and a slew of supplements. I am very careful about my carbs though, i know I need them for fuel but I cannot load up on them like I used to in my youth. Since I am diabetic that is not an option, I need to carefully slip them in throughout the day. No more glycogen loading for this old boy anymore. Since this latest tweak I have been seeing great gains, not just in strength. But in mass gain, vascular health, endurance and lung capacity. I am not sore all the time anymore, and I do not feel weak or tired at work, if anything I feel powerful.
My body is slowly looking more like the one I used to be so proud of, and the weights I am lifting are slowly creeping back into familiar territory. In fact they are getting high enough I will need to start wearing gloves again, I am getting callouses on my hands. The gains have me excited, which is good, it helps keep me motivated. But I am trying not to get carried away and injure myself. My first goal is to look like my old self in 90 days, I don’t think that is too unreasonable. And by the next meet-up in Dallas to be unrecognizable to those who saw me at the last one LOL.
But another route I would like to explore is martial arts. Both for fitness and balance, and I think it might be good for spirituality and mental control as well… It would fit in with my three main goals in life right now-
- get physically fit.
- get mentally and spiritually fit.
- get back to my writing and art.
OOOH-RAAH Wolverines!
That’s great that you are back!
When you say that you are going to the gym goes that just mean resistance training? I also noted you mentioned hiking. Is hiking your aerobic exercise?
I do 15 minutes on a stationary bike for my warm up. Then roughly an hour and a half of resistance training, sometimes more (this also includes stretching and hydration between exercises); it depends on how crowded the gym is and the availability of the machines or free weights I want to use… Then I end with 10 minutes of stairmaster/Nordictrack, and 20 to 30 minutes of either more bike or treadmill. Hiking I like to do on my days off every now and then to break up the routine, it is nice to get outdoors and actually move around; running in place makes me feel like a frakking hamster on one of those wheels… 
Something I forgot to mention earlier, which is uber important. Water, I am weaning myself off of diet drinks and adding more and more water to my regimen. Hydration is vitally important.
…slinks back into Wolverine lair…
Hey buds. Been a while. I’ve been embarressed to come back in as two years ago I took off the 30 and over the last year I put 20 back on slowly but rather effectively. No one to blame but myself. I’ve been unable to go to the gym as worked has significantly picked up and it is nearly impossible to go before or after work as I have my nearly 1 1/2 commute. I also a few bad habits knowingly and reincorporated old favorites of drinking too much and making piss poor eating choices (think carving station instead of salad bar). Low point came in grabbing a slice of pizza as there is a pizzaria right in the train station, would then go home and have dinner on top of that and then a beer or two.
I’m baring all here. I’m embarressed and disspointed in myself. As far as back at the meetup my inner warning signs were going off. I looked at pictures of me and didn’t like them. This is a flag for me. Shirt necks getting tighter, which would make me depressed and sorry for myself, to which I would go ahead and continue my bad habits to make myself feel better which of course would make the situation worse.
But I am here to say yesterday I fired up the old Loseit! app and quickly traded it in for myfitnesspal which I have heard great things about. I almost instantly agree myfitnesspal is superior, but will always have a fondness for Loseit. I got to the end of yesterday and clocked in 1,200 calories with exercise of 465 calroies by making it a point to take a 10-20 minute walk every few hours and simply walking up stairs in my building (ultimately that was a mistake, flop sweat ensued).
As is my way the pendulum swung too far in one direction, now it is swinging back. My next goal is to go to bed earlier as to wake up earlier and jump on the bike in my basement for half an hour or ultimately go for a run outside.
Can’t do the gym for work / life reasons, but I can sneak in more cardio here and there by just being aware. I once again turn to you guys for support. The good news is that all the tools are in place for me. I don’t need to learn this, I know how it works. Monitor calories, increase cardio. It is that simple.
Wolverines. Frakking-A.
Good to see you back here Solai!
MyFitnessPal: I really enjoy MyFitnessPal to keep track of calorie intake but I’d like more accuracy and precison in my workout logs so I opt to use Runkeeper as a consolidation point for that. In any event I did extremely well in the month of April for weight loss but May was a bit slower. June has seen maybe a pound or two in the wrong direction despite a crazy packed workout schedule. So - go figure - I turned back to logging in my calories better. As Chuck calls it “hyper-actively logging” in food. It’s a pain to weigh everything but it certainly helps the accuracy. And with the knowledge of how much I am eating and how much I am exercising the weight gain/loss shouldn’t be too much of a mystery. Hopefully I’ll be down another 5 pounds or so by the 4th of July so I won’t look as bad in pictures.
Resistance Training: After my sports physician cleared me to go back in the gym this spring I’ve been hitting it 3 times a week for about 90 minutes each time. I’m extrmely lucky because the gym is free at work and my employeer gives me 3 hours a week of paid worktime to go use it - not something everyone has available to them. My workouts consist of a short elliptical warm up followed by 12 machine-aided resistance exercises. I’ve been steadily increasing in the weight/resistance so PERHAPS a little of the weight gain was muscle but I doubt it. I’m really not lifting all that much. There’s no way to tell for sure because I never have done the “hyper-accurate” body tape measurements as Chuck has done. But what I can offer is that last summer/fall I was doing some pretty active resistance training at home. I had the benefit of a set of Bowflex Selecttech 552 dumbbells but I know there is a ton of weight-bearing exercises you can do. I’d highly recommend them. The more muscle you have and the more fit and toned it is the better burn you will get from your cardio. And from personal experience the easier chores around the house become as well as my chances of physical joint or muscle injury dramatically decrease.
Sleep: Oh the dreaded sleep! The missed-out GWC Hangouts. The missed geek TV shows. The late night beer. It sucks. Maybe I’m just getting older but I can tell you I have a target time an hour before my scheduled time that I attempt to start getting ready for bed. Bedtime is 8 hours before I’m scheduled to wake up at 5 AM (you can do the math for the rest of the times). It doesn’t always work but for the most part I’m better rested, able to function better at work and tend to sleep better while I am laying down. Another thing that I’m doing to help sleep is decaffinating. Caffiene does other nasty stuff to my body than just deprive me of sleep so I have my reasons. I started at 2-3 Venti Starbuck’s coffees and I’m down to 1 Tall Half-Caff per day. The slow reduction has prevented many (but not all) of the dreaded decaffinating symptoms that make life miserable for me. Coffee is not a bad thing in general. A good number of athletes will tell you how it helps their training and performance. But for me? The detriments outweight the good and I’m getting rid of it from my life.
Cardio: I’d love to be able to run a marathon or cycle across the country but I’m afraid either will cause exercise-halting injuries. This has happened to me 4 times since I left the military. All of those times were caused by training incorrectly or training too hard or a combination of both. This time around I refuse to be sidelined by an injury so I’m taking everything at a reasonable pace and injecting 1-2 rest days per week. I have been cycling quite a bit but it is preparation to commute to work via bike. Recently I took up running again but it is very slow and only a couple of miles. Regardless cardio is simply the best way to lose weight. The more I can reasonably do the better off I will be. I applaud your cardio exercises at work. Stairs are an EXCELLENT cardio choice, but stairs can be brutal and I’m guessing you have a lot of them available at work in town. Just be mindful of those knees and quads. The healthier they are the healtheir you will be.
Hopefully some of that made some sense for you. I wish you the best and look forward to your success!
*Note: Shooter is not a trained or certified trainer. All fitness and health recommendation are based soley on Shooter’s general (lack of) experience and are not meant to replace the expertise of your doctor, nutritionist, fitness trainer or musseuse.
Thanks Shooter, always good to hear how others accomplish your goals. Totally jealous of the work gym. That is a huge benefit!
I have a life long challenge with sleep. Mainly, I always equated it to being cool and being an adult. It is stupid and ridiculous and true. It doesn’t matter how hard I have worked in a day or how early I have to wake up the next day, if I am not staying up past 11 I feel like a loser. Literally. Like I have lost.
I am slowly getting over this. I am hoping to parlay this into the morning stationary bike ride. I forgot how easy it is for me to work in cardio tho. When I pay attention (15 minutes all in walking morning commute between parking, stations and building), sneak in a 20 minute brisk walk here and there during the day, walk to a local Whole Foods for lunch instead of doing the cafeteria and conservative estimate puts me at 450 calories burned for the day by adding just a little bit and paying attention which already puts me ahead of the total calories I have consumed today.
Like I used to say, it is simple math + awareness. I just chose to not be aware for a long time, regaining focus and awareness.
Anyway, long story short, since December I’ve lost 25 lbs. I’ve got 10 lbs to go to reach my goal weight. I thought it would take a year and I’ve almost reached it in half that time.
That is awesome frakkintalos!
I’ve been embarressed to come back in as two years ago I took off the 30 and over the last year I put 20 back on slowly but rather effectively. No one to blame but myself. I’ve been unable to go to the gym as worked has significantly picked up and it is nearly impossible to go before or after work as I have my nearly 1 1/2 commute . . . I’m baring all here. I’m embarressed and disspointed in myself. As far as back at the meetup my inner warning signs were going off.
Oh, Solai, it’s like you’re strumming my pain with your fingers. That’s been my pattern, too. I do well for a while and then fall off. Then well for a while and then fall off. But don’t be embarrassed, not being at your ideal weight is not a personal failing. So many factors affect our health and since we have a lot in our lives sometimes we can’t make it a priority. Give yourself credit for still being in the fight.
I just very recently got back into my gym routine and it feels great to be productive again. Fortunately I have a lot of programs that I use for support and a good relationship with a physician who caught the the fact that I was anemic and had vitamin D deficiencies. Not sure if it’s the placebo effect but I feel much more energetic now that I’m taking iron. I feel like I’m close to putting the puzzle together, I’m working on the food thing and I’m exercising more, and having people to talk to and hold me accountable definitely helps.
Benchmarks for this week
Leg Press: 350 (+50 from last week) Leg Extensions: 130 Leg Curls: 130 Calf Raises: 180
Bench Press: 200 (seem to have plateaued, though my incline and decline press marginally improved) * this is on the Hammer Machine, my free weight press is nowhere near as impressive… :rolleyes:
Seated Dip: 155
Curls: 40 (dumbbell) 60 (barbell) 80 (cable) Tricep Downpulls: 95 (my tris are outrunning my biceps, I guess that is from the Bench Presses)
I can’t remember any of my back or shoulder stats…
To say I have only been back at this for 5 weeks, I am pretty proud of how far I have come. The slow but steady improvements are helping to keep me motivated, plus the visual results. I look better and feel better, and I think I have gained back perhaps 20% of the mass I lost over the two years I slacked off.
Talos: Congrats on your success.
Solai: It does not matter how many times you fall down, it only matters how many times you get back up again. Don’t give up on yourself… Visualize how much more photogenic you will be at next years meet-up!:groucho:
So say we all; Wolverines!
I have completed my first goal. Strength-wise I am right where I was two years ago. Which is interesting because I have yet to regain all the mass I lost due to my slacking off… And though I may not look as impressive as I did back then, I have come a long way. I am filling out my shirts nicely, I actually have a chest again. And my T Shirts are much harder to get on now, and are riding higher than they used to because of all the positive changes to my upper-body.:groucho:
On the down side… I have become a bit of a klutz. I feel like an awkward preteen again, because I have changed so much I am having to relearn how to do things again. snort And I keep bumping into things too… But hey; it could be worse, I could be this way for far less impressive reasons… I can really empathize with what Chris Evans went through for Captain America, it is rough trying to eat and drink enough to keep your caloric/protein intake high enough to fuel your body for these changes. It does kinda suck… But I ain’t giving up.
Hoo Raah! Wolverines!!
The Arizona Heat (100+) is forcing me to put my plans on hold. Not only has the temperature climbed to a life threatening level, but monsoon season has hit. Which means that the swamp coolers at work are rendered useless. Working in a kitchen even with cooling can be a sticky and stinky proposition, take it away and it becomes down right unpleasant… We put up some fans in the kitchen and it is helping a little, …a little. So after sweating in sweltering heat for 8 hours, it is rather hard to muster up any enthusiasm for going to another location and sweating some more (an 8 hour shift feels like a 12 hour one in this heat). It is all I can do to go on my days off and do some light cardio and lifting, just enough to try and maintain what I have worked so hard to retrieve. So it appears that until things cool down all I will be able to do is maintenance.
My weight’s been the same of late, but I’ve noticed my conditioning, speed and skill level has been shooting through the roof when I play hockey more and more…I’m now on the top line on my ice hockey team and I’m playing defense on foot (more running then I could have dreamed of handling last year on defense)…I can never look myself in a mirror and say holy crap what a difference, so I kinda forced myself today after playing two and a half hours of manning D on foot today…and I’m not really one to brag, but when I took a pic from Aug 2007, and put it next to a pic taken of me in Vermont last weekend…WOW…felt the need to share it here too
(hope this works!!)
Well done Scott! I would say that is quite a difference there… And you get to stay in shape by doing something you love, that is a win/win in my book.
Thanks!! It was only today when one of the better players was complimenting about my defensive efforts that I even thought and realized it…dug up the two pics and was like WOW
I also found it WORLDS easier to focus on being a better skater and player then worrying about calories and pounds…the breathing difference in my asthma too (no longer do I need an inhaler on every job with a pet) is also outstanding…and it’s always the best advise I can give someone who really wants to focus on getting healthy…find a sport your love and commit to it
I’m not there yet…but when I get under 200 I am gonna have a serious party I swear!
That is wonderful Scott, and it’s so great that you have a sport that you’re passionate about. The only thing I’ve done regularly is bowl, and that does not really help the pounds come off.