50extra - My weight loss journey with all the embarrassing details
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Hey I'm back for a bit!
It's been a rough go diet and fitness wise these last few months, and the scale sure shows it. I have been having a crazy good time, tons of fun with friends, a couple nice getaways to the States but the result is a nice 20 pound gain since February. I'm not one of the people that says that I don't know how it happened, I know that eating like a king, drinking too much beer and not exercising is the culprit.
My summer holidays start around July 10th and that means boating with no shirt for the majority of the days. Wishing I didn't stop working out and eating healthy over the last few months but what's done is done and at least I had fun doing it.
I am back in Russia for a few more weeks and and am working hard as I can to reverse some of the damage I have caused. I am here until July 3rd so I am hoping to get rid of a few pounds before summer starts.
So here is what I have done so far.
Yesterday I woke up at 5am and went outside for my first run/walk outside in a long time. I managed to get 3.8km done in 30 minutes. I was able to run for about a km before i needed my first walk break. Later that day while watching tv i decided to take a light spin on my bike and lasted almost 40minutes. I am clearly no where near where I was fitness wise but a start is a start.
This morning I woke up and my legs are pretty jacked up. Still I was outside by about 5:45am and made it 4.12km in 32 minutes. I forced myself to run a bit longer today and didn't take my first walk until the one mile mark. Now I am REALLY sore so tomorrow I will get outside and just take a walk instead of running.
I will continue to run the same 4.12km loop. My next running goals will be to run for 2km without stopping, and to complete the loop in under 30 minutes. I imagine running for 2km straight will come first.
I am going to have to try and do two workouts a day for a while to get the weight loss started. My timeline to make some changes is very short. It's also clear that I am no where near ready to move away from MFP and tracking. I was getting pretty cocky because the weight was falling off quickly before, going to have to re-educate myself.
Well, I'm back to daily updates for at least the next three weeks.
Oh yeah, food yesterday was on point too. It's pretty easy to stay within my calorie allotment when fitbit gives me 2700 to eat!0 -
Welcome back !
Great commitment and determination for a first day back - even if your fitness has dropped.
How many pounds per week are you hoping to lose ?0 -
@totaldetermination Hoping to lose 3lbs a week. Shouldn't be too hard the first two weeks because I will be packing around a bunch of water weight right now, but the third week will prove much more difficult. If i can get down around 10lbs by the end of my shift here I would be more than happy. I refuse to do this by cutting calories back so it will have to come from working out enough. I am happy eating 2000 calories a day so I need burn 3500 calories a day to make it work, its easy to say, much more difficult to do.
Doing a workout tonight is going to prove difficult. I am hobbling around pretty good as both the front and back of both legs are suffering pretty bad from DOMS. I would like to get in some steps today while at work but its tough to find the motivation when each step hurts. I might try and go for a walk tonight then do some easy riding on my stationary just to try and loosen up my legs for tomorrow morning. As of right now I can't see any possible way to run in the morning.
Literally as I wrote this the power went off at our base. Looks like I am going home early today so there is absolutely no reason not to at least go for a nice walk tonight. I will check in tomorrow with my progress.1 -
Well yesterday didn't turn out like I was expecting it to. My day was looking like it was going to be a 8 hour work day but after I sent the last message I went outside and helped the mechanics. The work day ended up being 14 hours instead. By the time I got home I was pretty wiped and didn't end up exercising. Between the sore legs and just being plain wiped I couldn't muster up the energy to do much.
According to my fitbit I burned 3131 calories yesterday and ate 1889 giving me a deficit of 1242.
This morning I slept in a little bit. I had a hard time falling asleep last night knowing that I fell a few hundred calories short of where I need to be and ended up sleeping through my 5am alarm. I crawled out of bed at 5:45 and went for a 45 minute walk before I came to work. I didn't track my walk on GPS so I am not to sure how far it was but I am assuming it was right around the 4km mark. My legs are still too sore to run but its always nice to get out and walk before the city starts to wake up.
I am a bit worried about my eating today. Its only 9am and I am already pretty hungry, I fear that I didn't pack enough food and I am worried that I will go over on calories. Will have to wait and see. Hopefully I can muster up the enthusiasm tonight to go for a ride on my stationary because I have a bag of buttery popcorn that started calling my name last night and didn't stop today.
The scale has already starting to drop as I imagined it would. I believe it will go down again today as my body sheds the remaining excess water weight. After that point the hard work starts. I may as well be honest on here. When I got in my scale was showing 232lbs. As of this morning it was down to 228 and I would like to see it in the high teens by the time this shift ends. I need to stress it again, the first few pounds are not a real loss, its strictly water weight.
Just need to stay committed for another few weeks.0 -
you've only got a few weeks - go for it !!!0
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All in all yesterday was a huge success! I managed to keep the eating in check even though I seemed to be extra hungry. I ended up eating 2105 calories and the calorie burn on my fitbit was 3612. That's a 1507 calorie deficit which is exactly what I need to keep up a 3lb a week loss. The large burn was the fact that I hit almost 12000 steps, over half of those were trudging through the sand in coveralls and work boots so I sure it helped get my heart rate up a little bit too. When I got home I started watching netflix and hopped on my bike for an easy 40 minute ride too, it allowed me to have a bed snack of buttery popcorn!
Today is going to look very different than yesterday. I woke up this morning like a good boy at 5:15, got out of bed and looked out the window and it is pouring rain. Now I'm committed to this exercise thing, but I'm not so committed that I was willing to go outside for 45 minutes in the freezing rain without proper gear. I don't have an umbrella and I don't have a rain jacket here. Plus I didn't feel like being cold to the bone that early in the morning. I could have hopped on the bike and went for a ride but my three excuses were my butt is still sore from riding last night, I didn't want to have another shower, and that I must have slept wrong and tweaked something in my neck last night.
Now sitting in my office at work I know my steps are going to be severely lacking if it doesn't stop raining. I have logged in the food that I know I will be eating and I'm already at 1500 calories. I can't see me getting a 1500 calorie deficit today but I will still be shooting for around a 1000.
The scale is trending down still as of this morning. I believe it said I am 226.8. My last official weigh in was on February 13th at 211.6 on this same scale so I am up a touch over 15 pounds.
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@50extra Sounds like you've got the determination to success and meet your goals! Keep it up!0
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It's nice to read how you're doing again. Your process gives me that little spark of friendly competition.0
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Thats good @jilliancreates that's good, use any and all motivation you can find on MFP.
Well good news and bad news to report today.
Yesterday had all of the markings of being a very unsuccessful day. The rain in the morning stopping my walk, rain through the day, and an extremely busy day at work where I literally didn't get off of my computer for many hours. At 4pm yesterday I was only showing 300-400 steps. That was enough for me to walk out of my apartment to the truck, and from the truck to my office. At the end of the work day I was only at 2000 steps.
Luckily when I got home I had enough smarts to immediately put on my shoes and head out for a walk. Initially I was only going for a 20 minute, then a 30 minute, then a 40 minute. At the 45 minute mark I finally turned around and headed home. The total walk time ended up being 89 minutes and 9244 steps. Also I went up to a church and recorded 27 flights of stairs doing it.
In no way can sitting at a desk for 12 hours be healthy, and I know a walk after work doesn't remedy it, but I can take some relief in knowing that I could have went home and laid on the bed doing nothing all night.
My total calorie intake yesterday was 2189 and my fitbit calorie burn was 3289 giving me an even 1100 calorie deficit. I am still off of the 1500 one that I am working towards but I will take the success anyways.
This morning was the first morning that the scale didn't move lower. I am pretty sure that I have gotten rid of the last of the excess water weight I have been carrying around from a poor diet. My shirts are already fitting looser and I am back to the same belt hole that I was using before I put on the 20lbs again.
Also this morning, I went out for a short walk. I was a little tight on time so I just went for 28 minutes. Something is better than nothing though.
I will need to get my steps in today at work somehow because I won't be working out tonight. I believe we are going out for the once a shift beers and dinner so my calories will be blown out of the water and most likely I wont be able to get my *kitten* out of bed tomorrow morning for a workout.
I will check in again tomorrow and see how it all works out.
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Well we didn't end up going out yesterday for dinner and beers, we got caught up at work for a 14 hour shift. Because of this calories were right where I wanted them as I consumed 1943.
Yesterday was another fairly sedentary day at the office and I knew that I needed to get some steps in after work. I decided to get my driver to stop when we got into the city where my apartment is and I walked the final 4.5kms home. Were it not for this I would have fallen short on my calorie burn. Luckily I ended the day with 3244 calories burned giving me a 1301 deficit. I now realize that getting my calories to a 1500 deficit will take more work then I am willing to put in right now but at least it gives me something to strive for. Regardless I will be happy with 1000 deficit and the 2lb a week loss.
When I woke up this morning I stepped on the scale and for the first time this shift it actually went up. I don't know why but I fully expect to see it stabilize and give me a small whoosh in the coming days.
This morning I had a hard time dragging myself out of bed again. Looking at my fitbit I am only averaging 5:45 of sleep each night and working a minimum of 12 hours a day plus trying to walk for well over an hour a day I am starting to get tired. If we don't go out for dinner tonight I will try and get a good night sleep and hopefully be recharged a bit for tomorrow. Its 8:25am now and I am still tired, bring on the coffee! I still have like 19 shifts to go so I have to do something or my exercise is going to start falling off.
Once I finally did get out of bed I went for another short walk, I made it 2.73km in 30 minutes but was pushing it for time so I had to stop then.
I have a ton of computer work to do again today but I will try and get out and about a few times to get some steps in.
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@50extra Do you have a step goal you try to reach each day?
Also, do you use a trending app/website for your weigh ins?
Keep working at it! It already sounds like you are well on your way to reaching your goals this shift!0 -
@WifiresGettingFit No I don't have a step goal that I need to hit. Just focused on calorie burns. If I do 11-12k steps a day my calories are right at the low end of where I would like them. The more I get outside and walk the more I can eat!1
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The rest of the day I was pretty inactive at work. There is simply too much work to do right now to get outside and walk around too much. We were lucky enough to leave work an hour early and decided to go out for a bite to eat.
Eating out definitely blew out my calories for the day but it was a good time and it was worth it. I have no idea how many calories i ate but I accounted 800 for the beer and then guessed at 1500 for food. Since I don't even know what half of the stuff was I was eating, it was really hard to guess how many calories it was.
Using these numbers I consumed 3978 and burned 3568 making me at a 410 calorie surplus for the day. Not great, but also not terrible given the circumstances.
The only reason my surplus wasn't much worse was the fact that I walked home from the restaurant. It turned out to be a 4km walk and gave me enough of a calorie burn to make everything look not too bad. That is the first time this shift that I haven't maintained my MFP calorie deficit.
I was able to 6:22 of sleep last night but I am still feeling a little bit groggy today. I might try to get that number up to 7 hours tonight.
This morning I woke up on time but made the conscious decision to skip my walk. I wanted to get that extra 45 minutes of sleep today. I am hoping that tonight I can go for one of the long walks, I may get dropped off somewhere outside of the city and walk home but I will plan that tonight.0 -
It's great that you are choosing to walk home, when it isn't necessary. That's an easy way to get in some movement without necessarily needing to have it be formal exercise.0
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Well I am starting to sound like a broken record over here. The rest of the day yesterday again involved sitting in front of my computer screen for hour upon hour. My step count was dismal by the end of the day so I got dropped off on the edge of the city on my way back to the apartment. I ended up taking a detoured route back to the apartment and walked almost 8km. The unfortunate part was because I barely moved all day at work my final steps were only around 11000.
Calories burned yesterday were 3554 and calories in were 2118 for a deficit of 1436.
The scale hasn't moved in four days, in fact its up 2.5lbs from before. Other than the one day out for beers my calories have been in check so I am definitely waiting for that whoosh soon here.
This morning I got up and went for a 30 minute walk, I was lucky that I left the apartment as early as a did because it started pouring rain 10 minutes after I got back.
I am contemplating trying a change in my diet for a week or two just to see if I can get the scale going in the right direction. I know it eventually will if I just stick to the plan but I am impatient and want it to go down everyday
I will see... If I do, I will eat heavy protein for 5 days, then protein and carbs for two. Rinse and repeat. Many years ago I ate this way and lost fat at an unbelievable rate, so it might be worth trying again over here.
I'll check back in tomorrow with my decision.0 -
Short and sweet today.
Got dropped off even further outside of the city and walked home last night. Ended up walking about 7.5kms. It was a nice walk but my body is telling me I am an idiot now. My right calf muscle is all jacked up from getting a muscle cramp, my left Achilles tendon is strained and I got a blister about the side of a dime on my left foot. I am thinking it was from wearing work boots for 12 hours and then walking for over an hour after that with sweaty feet.
Because I was able to move quite a bit yesterday I had a good deficit. Calories in were 1859, calories out were 3830 giving me a 1971 deficit.
Today will not be the same as yesterday. I am thinking about taking a full rest day because of how my feet are. It's pouring rain here this morning but even if it were nice out I wouldn't have went outside. All I can see in my exercise plans today is possibly a short ride on the exercise bike.0 -
I use topical magnesium on my muscle cramps, it usually clears them right up, plus make sure you are eating plenty of salt since you are working out more!0
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Thanks for the tip, my problem is I would have to walk into a pharmacy with this printed off Местный магний. That is the google translation for topical magnesium. I might be scared with what I got from them!
Salt definitely can't be my problem, I am over on salt every single day because I eat a ton of salty chili while I am over here. I'm pretty sure that my problem is dehydration. Unfortunately this shift I have been drinking much more coffee than water. Yesterday was the first day that I focused on making water a priority but I fear it was too little too late. I almost got the calf cramp the other day when I was out for an hour and a half walk with no water... And it came back last night.
Going forward I am just going to have to pay more attention.
And I did decide that I am going to try switching up my diet a bit starting tomorrow. This will only work if I can hitch a ride to the grocery store tonight. I guess I could walk there but I don't feel like carrying heavy grocery bags 4kms home.2 -
Ended up going out for beers last night. I'm not sure how many I had, or if I ate something when I got home so its going to be hard to track calories.
Today is painful, definitely didn't exercise this morning, probably wont tonight either, I need some sleep.0 -
I guess to keep this page consistent I should throw some numbers into yesterdays update.
So after adding in the beers from the night and not exercising my calories in were 3222 and my fitbit calories out were 3043 giving a calorie surplus of 179. Not great, but it could have been worse had I eaten any crappy food.
Yesterday morning and last night I didn't work out. In the morning I was hurting from the night before and last night I did some cooking and went to bed. The good news is now I am meal prepped for the next four days.
Calories in yesterday were 1634, calories out were 2753 giving me a deficit of 1119. For the first time in several days the scale is starting to show me results from my calorie restriction. When I stepped on it today i weighed in at 225.6. I am hoping that tomorrow morning it will be down again.
You will notice that my enthusiasm for working out has dropped some. I'm to the point in the shift where I am tired all of the time and just want to get home. I've been on shift for a bit over two weeks now and as I have mentioned we work every day anywhere from about 10 hours to 15 hours. Normally the day is 13. It doesn't take long to get be plain worn out. The good news is I fly out of Siberia in two weeks today so at least I am on the backside of the shift now.0
