Guess I haven't posted an update in a month... oops. I hit a pretty hard plateau after my last update. Gained 1.6 one week, down 1.4 the next, down 0.2 the following to put me right back where I was a month ago. This week I lost 1.2 though, so I'm back on a downward slope again.
Marysia is finally doing couch to 5k. Today is her wk5d3. It's going to be rough for her. My treadmill pace is around 11:56/mi, though that includes my warm up and cool down periods because I'm too lazy to enter those into Endomondo separately (my warm up starts at 3.5mph and I bump it up over about 4 minutes until I hit 5mph, cool down is automatic, starts at 4.5mph and drops .5 every minute for 5 minutes). Unfortunately, the event that I was training for (Run for your Lives) has canceled their Michigan date this year for unspecified reasons! I'm quite bummed about that. I really wanted to run from zombies.
I hear tell of an app for the smarter phones that has zombies chase you during your run. Not sure if it's best when running outdoors or if it works for treadmill, but sounds like it might get you your zombie fix for a bit.
I hear tell of an app for the smarter phones that has zombies chase you during your run. Not sure if it's best when running outdoors or if it works for treadmill, but sounds like it might get you your zombie fix for a bit.
I think there's more than one... but the one I looked at had many complaints about the whole thing being scripted, i.e. you could stand still and get the same exact experience as if you were actually running, which I wouldn't find to be particularly entertaining. If there is one that actually tailors the experience to your run, it would certainly need to be done not on a treadmill as it would have to use GPS to tailor the experience (putting zombies and whatnot into the world randomly and using GPS to track your progress through the gamespace).
Also, Run for your Lives was the goal, not the method of getting to the goal. Seriously, it looks like about as much fun as you can have running a 5k.
Most weeks I barely have enough time to get my cardio routine in. Trying to shoehorn lifting into my regimen right now would be setting myself up for failure. Plus, I'm not trying to bulk up and add muscle right at the moment and I don't know that I ever will.
You can't add muscle when you're cutting calories to burn fat. What you can do is lift to sustain the muscle mass you have, which will give you an overall slimmer and more fit appearance when you're done cutting fat.
Figure out how I can get an extra hour or two into each day, and I'd look into starting a lifting regimen. Until then, the primary roadblock will still be that I simply don't have the time to add that on top of everything else.
I really wanted to get to my goal weight before my summer vacation this year. Sadly, that isn't going to happen. I still have about 25lbs to go and it's only 2 1/2 weeks before we leave for OBX. Oh well.
Been losing pretty steadily. My only hiccup was the long weekend when we went to Ithaca, NY for my future sister-in-law's commencement from Cornell's grad school. We did a wine tasting tour and hit a lot of amazeballs restaurants (I had the best filet mignon I've ever tasted, it was transcendent). Also, it was cold out the whole weekend and drizzly for part of it so most of our outdoorsy physical activities were canned. I gained 3.4lbs. I got tough on myself the next week and lost all of them though.
Stats: Total lost: 109lbs Weekly avg: 1.5lbs
I took before pics when I started this whole thing.... I think I'm getting to the point where I should post some before/current photos just to show off how far I've come.
FWIW, gaining 3.4 lbs in a long weekend is extremely unlikely. More likely salt/water/carb retention.
0
JBoogalooThis too shall pass...Alexandria, VAIcrontian
Dude, that's awesome! Pics or no pics (no partial nudes, please...all or nothing), you've dropped over a hundred fucking pounds, that's amazing! Congrats!
The long weekend was really almost a week. With all the traveling it was 5 1/2 days... but yeah, I don't doubt that a fair amount of that was salt/water/carb retention, especially since the trip back was the day before weigh-in and most of what we ate was salty carby goodness badness.
Leaving for vacation tomorrow. Didn't hit my goal weight (unsurprisingly), but I'm continuing to do well nonetheless. I've now lost a total of 115lbs. I'm down from 335 when I started this journey to 220 on my way to roughly 200 (I haven't decided on a final weight yet, still trying to judge it based on my body fat and how I look/feel). Unfortunately, I had a double hard drive failure in my home fileserver which wiped out a large chunk of my photos (back your data up kids!) including my "before" photos... so those won't be getting posted. Maybe I'll take some vacation photos and post those without embarrassment for the first time in my life.
4
JBoogalooThis too shall pass...Alexandria, VAIcrontian
That's fucking excellent to hear Ardi! Your progress = AWSOMEFUCKINGBADASSERYIDDOYA! Keep it up, dude ^5
Oh vacation, you are always so rough on my weight loss. Had a few too many Manhattans during the first half of vacation. Gained 7 lbs in a week. Oops. Dropped 5 of it the second half though, 3.4 the following week and 1.6 this week. Now down a total of 118 from my start weight.
Numbers are all well and good, but I suppose it's about time to post some progress photos. This is the best before photo I have:
And my almost current photo. This was actually taken when I was in Ithaca back in May, but I've only lost like 10 lbs since then.
It's been a tough few weeks. Got kind of stuck for a little while there. Only lost 3 lbs since my last update. As of today, I've lost a total of 121lbs and am under 20% body fat (according to my FitBit Aria) for the first time probably ever.
2
HumerusMegSomething, something medical professional, Fitness bitch, Sexy chefAustin Icrontian
Keep up the great work, you are making AMAZING progress!!!! <333
Oh wow, over a month since the last update? I'm slacking.
126.4 lost ~9 to go (give or take depending on body fat, still at about 19.3%)
It has been slow going of late. The impending wedding has been affecting things adversely. We've been eating out a lot more as we've been too busy to cook as much. Clearly we're getting better at eating out though as both of us have continued to lose weight, albeit at a slower rate. The real hurdle to weight loss is going to be the honeymoon. I hear these cruise ships have rather tempting buffets. I think I'm going to need to pencil in some early morning time in one of the workout areas each morning.
What's the worst thing ever for a diet? Having your wedding reception at a place that make amazingly delicious food... then going on a Cruise for the honeymoon. Came back from the honeymoon about 8 lbs up. Lost 5 of those 8 between Nov 10 and yesterday though.
Not much change here, back down to my pre-wedding weight. Really just posting to bother @Thrax, is there a specific skin fold caliper that you recommend? Any information you have handy for taking accurate body fat measurements with it?
0
JBoogalooThis too shall pass...Alexandria, VAIcrontian
A great caliper tool is the accu-measure. It's fairly accurate, but accuracy really comes down to the user. It's always recommended to take about three measurements as going with the first one at times could be misleading. Check it out here, but pretty accessible in most vitamin/health shops
Oh December, you are such a bitch. I dropped a couple more pounds before the holiday. Then we got an insane ice storm (Lansing got the worst of it, from what I've read) which knocked out power all over the place, including at my house. We had no power from Sunday Dec 22 through sometime on Christmas Day. That meant a very abrupt disruption of our typical routine, also a lot of eating out leading right into Christmas. I'm now back up to 210lbs as of today (from a low of 206.6 on Dec 17). Not the end of the world by any means, but still a little frustrating (though deep down I knew I was going to gain weight over Christmas, there's just too much good food not to). Oh well, today is the start of a new week, tomorrow is the start of a new year and I'm going to get back on routine and get these last 10 lbs off!
Oh, I'm approaching the 30 minute 5k mark on the treadmill. My last 5k trainer program time was 31:18. I pushed myself a little too hard at the very end and almost made myself sick. Apparently my body isn't quite ready to hit 7mph for any appreciable amount of time. I know that treadmill running isn't the same as actually running, but still, feels good man.
I hit a new low today, in a good way. My official weigh-in was 204.8lbs, which puts me at 130.2lbs lost since I started this journey. I need to start switching my focus at this point more toward cutting fat and less toward losing weight. I suppose first thing would be to get some calipers so I can get somewhat accurate fat measurements (while the FitBit Aria is nice, it fluctuates by about 1-2% on body fat measurements).
and now for the professional photographer, wedding eye candy:
Comments
Marysia is finally doing couch to 5k. Today is her wk5d3. It's going to be rough for her. My treadmill pace is around 11:56/mi, though that includes my warm up and cool down periods because I'm too lazy to enter those into Endomondo separately (my warm up starts at 3.5mph and I bump it up over about 4 minutes until I hit 5mph, cool down is automatic, starts at 4.5mph and drops .5 every minute for 5 minutes). Unfortunately, the event that I was training for (Run for your Lives) has canceled their Michigan date this year for unspecified reasons! I'm quite bummed about that. I really wanted to run from zombies.
Total lost: 102.6lbs
Weekly Avg: 1.5lbs
Seriously, congrats on the progress!
Also, Run for your Lives was the goal, not the method of getting to the goal. Seriously, it looks like about as much fun as you can have running a 5k.
Most weeks I barely have enough time to get my cardio routine in. Trying to shoehorn lifting into my regimen right now would be setting myself up for failure. Plus, I'm not trying to bulk up and add muscle right at the moment and I don't know that I ever will.
Been losing pretty steadily. My only hiccup was the long weekend when we went to Ithaca, NY for my future sister-in-law's commencement from Cornell's grad school. We did a wine tasting tour and hit a lot of amazeballs restaurants (I had the best filet mignon I've ever tasted, it was transcendent). Also, it was cold out the whole weekend and drizzly for part of it so most of our outdoorsy physical activities were canned. I gained 3.4lbs. I got tough on myself the next week and lost all of them though.
Stats:
Total lost: 109lbs
Weekly avg: 1.5lbs
I took before pics when I started this whole thing.... I think I'm getting to the point where I should post some before/current photos just to show off how far I've come.
goodnessbadness.Keep it up, dude ^5
Numbers are all well and good, but I suppose it's about time to post some progress photos. This is the best before photo I have:
And my almost current photo. This was actually taken when I was in Ithaca back in May, but I've only lost like 10 lbs since then.
126.4 lost
~9 to go (give or take depending on body fat, still at about 19.3%)
It has been slow going of late. The impending wedding has been affecting things adversely. We've been eating out a lot more as we've been too busy to cook as much. Clearly we're getting better at eating out though as both of us have continued to lose weight, albeit at a slower rate. The real hurdle to weight loss is going to be the honeymoon. I hear these cruise ships have rather tempting buffets. I think I'm going to need to pencil in some early morning time in one of the workout areas each morning.
Check it out here, but pretty accessible in most vitamin/health shops
Oh, I'm approaching the 30 minute 5k mark on the treadmill. My last 5k trainer program time was 31:18. I pushed myself a little too hard at the very end and almost made myself sick. Apparently my body isn't quite ready to hit 7mph for any appreciable amount of time. I know that treadmill running isn't the same as actually running, but still, feels good man.
and now for the professional photographer, wedding eye candy: