50extra - My weight loss journey with all the embarrassing details
Options
Replies
-
Last night was my best ride to date and I was able to hit exactly what I was working towards, that was 10 intervals. I think the reason that I was able to be more successful is I took a full 10 minutes to warm up and then later on in my ride I took a little bit extra break in between my high intervals. Regardless, out of my 60 minute ride I rode for 10 minutes at 100% effort. I almost quit after my ninth interval but mustered up the courage to put in one more sprint near the end.
Today is my last day at work and tonight will be my last workout while in Russia for the shift. I am very confident that I will meet my weight loss goal for this shift and with any luck be at a new all time low since I started this journey in January of this year. I was at a new low this morning but I was very dehydrated and don't count it. Tomorrow morning I will weigh in at 3am when I get up to go to the airport and will make sure that I drink the appropriate amount of water tonight so that my weigh in is accurate tomorrow.
I have many plans for working out this time home but I have spoke about it time and again, typically when I get home I turn into a lazy *kitten* and fall off the exercise wagon. This time I don't have any trips or holidays planned, and other than Christmas dinners there is no reason to not stay healthy. I am really hoping that I can get some good use out of my new bike because I need to start getting my heart stronger. I am not satisfied with how long it is taking my heart rate to recover even though I am well within the normal range. My ultimate goal is to be able to complete a full round of true Tabata on my bike, that's 8 rounds of 20 seconds max effort followed by 10 seconds of rest. I know that I am not at a level where I can successfully complete this and it would be dangerous running my heart rate that high for that long.
So anyways, provided I don't go on some crazy binge eat tonight I should meet my goal for the shift and that makes me a happy man. Hopefully I can carry that success into my days off!1 -
After all the talk of making it to 208.9 I didn't make it. This morning I weighed in at 209 but had I been able to get my 7 hours of sleep instead of 45 minutes I would have hit it. Either way it was a successful trip. Now just to make it through two days in airports, an overnight in Frankfurt and 16 hours of flying and I'm home free!1
-
I'd still call that a success, safe travels!0
-
So back in the land of the civilized and god damn does it feel good. My daughters got the flu so I'm at home with her on daddy duty, the only good part about her being sick is that she's such a suck and loves cuddles.
When I got home I stepped on the scale and saw an extremely scary number and wondered what was going on, turns out that it is possible to gain 12 pounds of water weight in two days of travelling. Thankfully they are all gone now. The scale that I have here shows considerably lower than the one at work so no more official weigh ins until I get back.
I set up my new assault bike and it is everthing I hoped for and more most likely. It is on a new level of hardness for cardio. I was riding my stationary bike riding for 100% over and over for one minute intervals. The assault bike, I start to blackout before 30 seconds are up and recovery is much slower. I found myself laying on my gym floor unable to sit up for a good 20 minutes yesterday after my 20 minute workout. I can't wait to continue using it. My shoulders and upper back is so sore today, it's a feeling I haven't had for a long time.
I was finally going to start my weight lifting routine last night once my wife got home from work but the jet lag won and I fell asleep at 9. With any luck I will be able to start tonight.
I'm going to head downstairs now and get in a few steps before my child wakes up. Hope everyone has a great week.1 -
Finished my third workout on the assault bike today and I am pretty sure that it's getting harder each time. It feels like 18 minutes is the point where I fall flat each time. It doesn't seem to matter if i got slow and steady or do HIIT I am just gassed before 20 minutes.
So anyways after that workout I fired up the treadmill and went for a brisk 20 minute uphill walk. I am not recording the treadmill work in MFP I am just going to let my Fitbit keep track of that.
I have found out that seeing a negative calorie adjustment being sent over from Fitbit to MFP is extremely motivating and is probably the only reason I got on the tread. I changed my activity level to slightly active and to only lose 1 pound a week so in order for me to get the full calories I actually have to be slightly active! No fooling an activity tracker.
Oh and yesterday I ate like an Olympic weight lifter during training, or at least it felt like that. I simply can't believe how many calories maintenance is going to be, feels like a ton after eating at a deficit off and on for the last year. It really makes me wonder how I ate enough to get 50 pounds over weight. 2800 calories felt like I was stuffing my face! Going to try and keep calories at the 2200-2400 when I can for this trip home.
Oh a0 -
glad to hear from you while you are home, and extra glad you are sticking with the exercise0
-
Did it cut off your post? There's a random "Oh a" at the bottom?
So glad you've still been checking in! It sounds like you're off to a good start while home! Keep it up!
0 -
I can't remember if my post got cut off or not, must not have been very important.
So we still haven't started lifting weights yet even though we had good intentions. We were going to do it last night but then decided that we are going to have a party tonight and we had to get started prepping. Doing a huge rib cook so I'm pretty pumped for that.
This morning my wife and I dragged our butts out of bed before baby woke up and hit our gym for some quality couples bonding. I rode my assault bike and she ran on the treadmill, then we switched and I went for a walk and she rode. It felt really good to work out together even if it was for only 40 minutes or so. I'm hoping that we can do it more often. I'm also hoping that I can keep up with the hard work I've been putting in.
My weight doesn't seem to be dropping so it might be possible that my Fitbit is overestimating daily burns. Five days is too short to tell so I am going to stick to the plan and keep up with the increased calories all of December.
So that's about it so far. I'm already doing better this time home then I have done any shift since about April. It's making my December outlook pretty positive.2 -
This weekend was a disaster both calorie wise and exercise wise, but I knew that going into it. Our party on Friday night was a huge hit and my ribs turned out amazing. It was really hard to stay on track after drinking almost 2000 calories of beer. Saturday was a lazy day and then my wife and I went out for a big fancy dinner and some drinks and Sunday was another lazy day hanging out with our daughter eating whatever felt right.
So today I'm back on track. I'm on daddy duty all night so I hope to hit the cardio once my daughter goes down for a nap. Let's hope this week goes as good as last week did!1 -
All of the extra food and beer did a wonder for my cardio session on Monday. I went for a half an hour ride on the assault bike and burned a ton of calories. It was my best ride to date. When the Mrs. got home from work we went down and finally started lifting with the Stronglifts 5x5 program. We started fairly light but my legs are still feeling it today. I am hoping that some of the DOMS goes away for tomorrow.
I haven't had any time to workout today but am going to try and get downstairs after baby goes to bed and get a sweat on.1 -
@50extra How are things going?0
-
@WifiresGettingFit things are going really good. Been hitting weights with the wife and doing some cardio a couple times a week. Eating pretty much at maintenance as it's easy and helps in muscle development when compared to eating in a deficit. I will go back a deficit in the new year when I get back into Russia. Until then I'll just enjoy the holidays and take it easy.0
-
@50extra I'm glad to hear things are going well! 0
-
Well Christmas is officially over so I guess it's time to get back on track. I regret nothing about my eating these last several days because Christmas is my favorite time of the year and there have been so many get togethers with friends and family. I do wish that I worked out more but once in a while is much better than nothing.
Tonight the wife and I did our Stronglifts workout. It's a shame I have to head back to Russia in a week because the weights have finally progressed to the point where it's getting challenging. After our lifting I hopped on the assault bike and she did the Insane abs workout DVD. 33 minutes is my new record for time on it.
I have flip flopped back and forth many times with how I should attack my month at home and it is becoming more and more clear that my best bet for continued success in this journey is to eat around maintenance while at home and work off the weight when I get back to work. I have had my calories set to a 1lb loss since I got home a month ago and have put on somewhere near 10lbs I think. (Again regret nothing about my eating) the problem with a small deficit is that when you have runaway days on the weekend it's very easy to blow up your weekly average and put you in a surplus situation. I think that if I wanted to lose weight while at home I would have to eat at a 2lb loss during the week and then the weekends would average me back up to maintenance ir a slight loss. Thankfully the losing phase of my journey is coming close to an end and all I'll have to worry about is maintenance calories and macros. That's something I will worry about in 2017.
I'm really looking forward to January 20th. This will be my one year mark on MFP. I hope to do a nice write up when I get there.
But it's now 3am and I'm going to try and get some sleep. I've been in bed for an hour and a half and couldn't sleep so I decided to do an update instead of just laying here thinking about it.0 -
I'm glad you've enjoyed your holiday and time home! 0
-
Okay wow did things go south shorty after I posted that last update... Been almost a month since I have posted so I guess I should update whats been going on in the last while.
I was doing pretty good in December, I was hitting the Assault bike, lifting weights at a decent interval but was eating like a pig during the holidays. As I mentioned it was going great, and the holiday season was a lot of fun. I was up maybe 10 pounds in the month but didn't really care as I planned on shedding the weight when I got back to work.
I was scheduled to come back into Russia on January 2nd and pick up where I left off and then new years hit.
Sometime during the night I slipped on an iced over deck beside a hot tub and landed directly on my back on the edge of the hot tub. I had enough momentum that I folded over backwards right into it, I am sure it looked hilarious and at the time I didn't even notice I was hurt. At 2am on new years eve I was feeling pretty bullet proof.
So on the morning of January 1st, I woke up and attempted to sit up. Probably the worst pain I have ever felt shot down my lower back. I couldn't sit up, I couldn't roll over and quite frankly couldn't really move. After 10 or 15 minutes I managed to get rolled over and slowly sat up. New years day was basically me being immobile, but being a typical male I figured I just tweaked something in my back. I've been hurt many many times and my back has been as well. I figured i just needed some rest and I would start feeling better in the morning.
January 2nd rolls around and its fly day. Again, I wake up and try to move and can't roll over or sit up in bed. Once I finally get up I made the call that I can't fly and decided to go to the urgent care center. The doctor looks me over and basically tells me that I need to take some Advil and rest. I wasn't happy with that so I finally got myself a family doctor which I haven't had for 10 years or so. Went to the doctor, he ran some tests and sent me for Xrays on my pelvis and spine. By this point I was pretty certain that I broke my back because the pain hadn't even started to subside over 5 days.
Anyways, the Xrays came back negative so we started thinking it was a wrecked disc. I ended up going to the physio therapist 8 or 9 times and we found out that it was just some of the muscles attached to my spine were messed up. So for an extra three weeks I sat at home eating whatever the hell I wanted, mostly chips and salsa or goldfish and cream cheese
and put on a couple extra pounds! My back is all healed up except for some tightness and I am ready to kick *kitten* this year again.
Anyways today is day one in Siberia. I am back on an eating plan and will step on the scale when I wake up tomorrow to see what the damage was. I had big plans on doing a nice one year write up about my journey but since this setback happened its not worth doing. I am going to hit the diet and the cardio real hard this shift and see if I can get back down to a reasonable weight and then will do a write up.
I know I am rambling but since its been so long that i posted I have a ton to say. Since I am just getting back into this I will leave it until tomorrow until I get my head wrapped around where I am now and where I want to be.
Thanks to anyone that is reading this. This wall used to be my biggest motivator and I am going to try and get back to that point this year.1 -
I hope you do get back to posting, I miss you when you are gone! Sorry you were injured, but glad you are recovering!0
-
Glad to see you back! I'm glad that the back injury wasn't too too serious and that you're recovering well! I look forward to reading you next update and I don't think any of us mind your ramblings! haha It's what your journal is for!0
-
I will for sure be here again daily, at least until the end of my shift which is on Feb 18th.
So the dreaded weigh in was this morning. After I took the battery out of my scale and warmed it up so it had enough juice I stepped on the scale and seen 218.6. Truthfully I am happy with this. It means that from November 29th until this morning I only gained 9.3lbs. Now that may sound like a lot but that is essentially two months of not moving and not recording what I ate. I was hoping for right around 10lb gain. I feel like taking the time off in December and then again for the first 2/3 of January from my injury has re-motivated me.
So yesterday was an interesting day, I traveled through the night to Siberia and like normal got to my apartment at around 4:45 unpacked and laid down for my hour of sleep or so before work. I decided to cut the day short and only worked 11 hours instead of the typical 13 or so. As soon as I got home I finished unpacking, set up my laptop and decided this trip was going to be all about T25 again. I would love to do Insanity but knowing what it did to my knees it's just not worth it. Thinking I was still as fit as I was in November I decided I was going to jump right into the BETA workouts. Put on Beta Cardio and realized when I ripped my DVDs to my computer I only ripped the commercials and not the actual workout. I didn't let it get to me and put on Alpha cardio and on my god... A few months ago the 25 minute workout was laughable at best. It would have been a real nice warmup and last night I had to completely stop three times and sit down. Today my quads and my *kitten* are so jacked up I can barely walk. (Truthfully having some DOMS again feels kind of nice) Anyways after the 25 minutes of T25 I sat and let my heart rate drop back down to a more normal state and hopped on my stationary bike. I was planning on going for a 45 minute ride but had to shut it down at 25 minutes.
The way I'm looking at it is 50 minutes of hard work my first night in was a real good way to start off the shift.
I have my calories set to lose 2lbs a week and am going to keep them there this shift. My goal is to get back down to 209.3 which is what I weighed on my final day here last shift. Will it be possible to lose 9.3 pounds in like 25 days? Probably not, but the big lofty goals worked good for me this time last year, I am going to bank on the fact that they will work for me this time around. My nutrition might not be there for a few days as I will be eating mostly packaged foods until I get to the grocery store. It's -30 today but in a few days is supposed to warm up to around -18. Until then, its canned tuna, oatmeal, protein bars, eggs, packaged rice and protein shakes.
I truly am re-motivated and it feels really good!1 -
@50extra Do you think it would make a difference in your progress if you continued to check in even while you're home? It kinda seems like you have the pattern of losing weight while working and then gaining it back while home and I completely get wanting to focus on your family time while home especially given how your work schedule is and the fact that you travel and are away for extended periods of time but isn't that basically just yo-yoing? Wouldn't it be better to start building sustainable habits you can continue at home or since that may not be possible with how things are set up there and the fact that it is a completely different environment then maybe coming up with a plan of action for when you get home for those things you may not be able to continue while home due to family obligations and time constraints to keep you moving forward?
Compared to what you were going through during that time with your back and everything, I don't think a 9 pound gain is that bad at all but let's put a different perspective on it just because I think it's important sometimes to look at the bigger picture. If you gained 9 pounds for every 2 months, you'd be 54 pounds heavier by this time the following year.
I think doing a 50 minute workout after not working out for 2 months is a lot to expect your body to do. Not saying you aren't capable and I know you're the type to push yourself and that's great but I don't think going from 0-60 is the best idea especially given the injuries/pain you've been dealing with. My suggestion is to start slow and work your way up.
Just my thoughts. I have no doubt that you will achieve what you set out to do and be successful and I'm glad to see you so motivated again! I look forward to your next update!
0
