Week 2 Daily Exercise, Weekly Challenge, Chat, and Discussion
burly_man308
Posts: 93 Member
New discussion thread for the week. Keep up the discipline, the focus, the determination, the grind... keep moving forward friends. Learn from our mistakes, plan for the future, and execute when the time comes. I love being here with each and everyone one of you, and look forward to our progress.
We have a new fitness warrior member, so be attentive, receptive, and encouraging as we all continue to improve ourselves together.
We have a new fitness warrior member, so be attentive, receptive, and encouraging as we all continue to improve ourselves together.
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Sunday night checkin... on point for food, limited walking (4000 steps today) for exercise. Diary closed.
Have a 7 hour drive tomorrow tobget back home, Dad's reunion was a success and he is looking forward to the next one. I am looking forward to my wife, daughter and my own bed!
Target for the week is to hit the gym each day (weights/cardio) and stay on point with my eating.
Keep up the good work folks!3 -
Sunday night check-in:
What a day. Had a nice nap (kinda needed one after waking up at 4:00 in the morning) then took the boyfriend out to go shopping. Had to pick up a car battery for my father, so I got a little bit of an extra workout lugging that thing around - also got some clothes to modify into costumes for an event we're doing in January, and a few extra plain white shirts for the Color Run next month and the Blacklight Run in December, both of which my boyfriend and I will be doing together. Those ones, I will not have time goals; my only goal is to get him to the finish line by any means necessary. They're definitely going to be more walking than running due to his chronic illness. They may include a bit of carrying him. But we're bent on doing it. He really wants the unicorn medal from the Color Run especially so I'm going to make sure he gets it.
But, the big reason I mention this is that this shopping trip came with...kind of a shocking moment, when I realized upon looking at the size chart on the shirt packages that he and I wear the same size shirt in several brands and it's caused me yet another cognitive crisis about my frame shape. Not a painful one, just a...shocked and confused one.
See, my boyfriend is...tiny. As in 6 inches shorter than me and staying in the 110-120 pound range, which puts him on the softer end of healthy body fat percentage. Contrast with me - nearly a full 100 pounds heavier, scale said I was 26.8% body fat this morning and I definitely look it, and yet somehow we both wear the same size T-shirt with only a slight difference in fit. How? How big or small am I really, and exactly how noodle-y does my body actually want to be? My frame is apparently very, very bizarre and I am very, very confused.
In other health and fitness updates, I realized that I forgot to mention this due to the other crisis, but I ordered myself a fitness tracker the yesterday, partially as a "retail therapy"/comfort purchase - I've been wanting the Misfit Shine since the original was fairly new (because of all the trackers with similar features, aesthetically it's my favorite that I've seen, which will encourage me to be consistent about wearing and using it), and yesterday while I was trying to distract myself I found out I could get the Shine 2 in the color I wanted for under $50 so I grabbed it. Looking forward to it getting here and getting a more accurate picture of my activity than just my phone will give me. Already mentally compiling a wishlist of wristbands and necklace settings I want for it and planning ones I can make for it.
Still in disbelief over the standings this morning. I'm having a hard time believing I didn't just dream the whole experience, but I've got all the souvenirs to prove it so obviously it happened.
As for tomorrow, it's back to school. I'm both dreading and looking forward to it. As usual, it's probably going to be a rest day from dedicated workouts...because on Mondays, when all goes according to plan, I don't really have time for it to be anything else.1 -
I really love having a fitness tracker. Personally I find it ever so helpful. Probably not terribly accurate. But if nothing else they are consistent and thus allow you to measure your own performance against your own benchmark.
Anyway, this is my Monday night check in. My Sunday night one turned into that little rant over in last weeks thread lol.
So for clarity. Exercise done for both days. Sun was a walk and a ride. And the calories were all within ideal range.
Monday marks a routine change for me. Having established that my treadmill can't take 1/2 an hour of me at a time, I'm going back to two walking cardio sessions, but I've raised the bar to 2x20min. And I've decided to lock in 3 weight sessions per week on Mon/Wed/Fri. So today I got my first 20min session done, push mowed a decently large lawn for 1/2 an hour which I'm counting as my 2nd session since I do have a ride on mower if I choose lol. And got my weights done. About to have dinner and will lock down the diary within range.
Have a great week everyone.2 -
I am happy that I was able to work out again last night. Thursday and Friday of last week were a bust, and Saturday I went swimming with my son for a couple of hours. It was mostly chasing him around, and although I was ready for a break after those hours, I didn't feel like I did a big workout. Still, I decided to log it, and MFP said I burned 1300+ calories. I don't think that is accurate. I only logged one hour of activity, which still came in at 600+ calories burned.
I love my fitness tracker. I bought a cheap one on Amazon. I only wish that it would allow me to export the data. But it's great at reminding to get up and move. My job is mostly sedentary, so I need to make sure I get up and move from time to time. I usually lap my building. I walk about 500 steps each time.
Another thing I bought recently are some glove weights. Unlike wrist weights that go around your wrists, these are actual gloves that put the weight on the back of your hands. I thought this would be better than the wrist wraps so that I could still wear my tracker while working out, and even though they are only supposed to be 1.5 lbs each, it felt like a lot more. I only last 20 mins before I had to take them off. Bit by bit, i'll work my way up to wearing them longer.2 -
Huh, glove weights sound interesting, I've never seen those before. (Off to google glove weights)
I had a late night catastrophe. It was pretty bad. Sometime near 1am, still not sleepy, the snack fairy came and twisted my arm. Just one slice of leftover pizza I thought. It's only 189cal I told myself.. I'll just put it on Tuesdays snack section of my diary.. 5 pieces and 943calories later I'm sitting here asking myself dude wtf have you done. And went to bed full of pizza and deep, deep remorse.
Anyway, so yeah today's challenge is only consume 600calories lol. I think I'd better get that cover off the pool quick smart.1 -
Daily check in for Tuesday.
Well I made it all day without eating anything lol. Had the first cup of tea in ages. 50ml of trim milk only 18cal.. I think I'll be doing that more often. Just had a 544 calorie dinner and I'm going to bed early to avoid any more early morning incidents lol.
Got my exercise done and had my first swim for the season.
Side note, Hey @corinasue1143 I only just noticed a comment you left on my progress wall thingy last week about the vegemite.
It might be the hardest flavor I can think of to describe. The predominant initial sensation is salty, But it's followed by a richness that I can't think of anything to compare it with. Unlike some of the other yeast extract spreads like Marmite & promite{yuck}, it doesn't have any sweetness at all.
I've seen youtube vids of American talk show hosts trying it, and they always spread it on thick like it's nutella or peanut butter, and it's very funny watching them gag and splutter.. It's definitely an aquired taste. A bit like Indians and hot curry, most Aussies could eat vegemite with a spoon. But it's a very strong flavor that just the merest hint spread on toast would meet most peoples preference. It plays very nicely with grilled cheese, and works with some surprisingly sweet things, like cinnamon fruit toast. I hope you get to try it one day.
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Checking in with everyone. Its been a whirlwind of a weekend, and I've been busy to say the least. I've been trying to check in here and stay active with the thread and conversation, but that had slipped quite a lot. I am so happy, excited, proud, and encouraged to see everyone on here making progress, staying connected, and interactive, and focusing on their goals and meeting them one at a time. Progress is slow, and worth it in the end. Everyone is doing great in my opinion. Keep the faith my friends, and before you know it, our lives will have changed for the better with better life habits in place and better routines to keep our changes about us. Great work everyone. Stay strong.1
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Tuesday check-in... Didn't check in yesterday, spent the day driving from Wichita to Dallas, returning home from Dad's HS reunion and then catching up with family from having been gone for 5 days. I did manage to complete my diary everyday last week and stayed under for calories the entire week.
Fyreside - *kitten* happens, just acknowledge it and move on - don't beat yourself up for slipping, we have all done it once or twice (or more, why else would we be here?!?!).
Weighed myself this morning and was 4.3 lbs down for the week, so it was a great week food wise, even if I didn't get much exercise in the process. I will do better on that front this week.
Glad to see that everybody is keeping up the good work - great losses for the week btw, burly-man and mamabear (and anyone else that I am leaving out here)!4 -
Hey everyone, checking in. Kinda stressed. I have been averaging about 1.5-2 lbs loss a week, up until 2 weeks ago. I've stalled, and it's stressing me out like no other. I have 26 days left until my surgery and I was really hoping to get another 5 lbs down. I don't know if it's stress that is keeping my weight up or what. My family and I are taking a mini vacation to California next week - a get away before surgery, and although I know I'll be more active and getting more steps in, there will also be more food temptations.
Also I haven't weighed myself at home since Saturday. The damn battery ran out and when we went to change them last night they are the round lithium ones (like watch batteries) which of course we didn't have on had. I've been weighing myself here at work, but I weigh 3 lbs more here than I usually do at home.
Going to literally take it one day at a time. I need to make the best choices today and worry about tomorrow, tomorrow.
Question: And I'm pretty sure I know the answer, but I'll ask the experts: So MFP says I should be eating 1650 calories a day. With my surgery coming up, and the need to see some real weight loss in the next few weeks, should I aim more for 1200 or will that stall me even more?
Desperate...4 -
@cnavarro002 I am by no means any sort of expert, but I've done a heck of a lot of reading in the last 18months since I started calorie counting and I can't see any reason why 1200 would be either unhealthy or unhelpful. MFP will actually warn you if it thinks you have not logged enough calories in a day. The main downside with such an agressive strategy is it's hard to keep going. I was doing 1200 days last year when I started, and the weight was falling off me. But I burned out on the whole thing emotionally and dropped the ball. Whatever you do, stay cool.. Stress doesn't burn enough calories
@ccrdragon Thanks dragon. I reckon my face might have looked like a naughty Labrador puppy being scolded lol. But got it sorted. Great job on the loss.1 -
Hey everyone! I'm checking in. Pretty good day - food wise and exercise wise. Got 16k steps. One of my goals was to eat more mindfully and stop eating in the car. So far so good. Never realized how much I was eating until I slowed down. Still have trouble snacking, but it's better..
Weight wise I'm pretty consistent. Haven't lost a lot (this month), but measured my BF % and have gone down 3% since the beginning of September. No loss of muscle either. I'll take that any day.
Hopefully tomorrow will be good too. Work is a bit stressful and I'm always rewarded with food. They also ridicule me for how I eat. "You eat like a gerbil." "I bet you want some cake right now." "Eat something with some sustenance - cornbread." Lmao it's ridiculous, but I still stuck with it. Overall a good day! I hope everyone else is sticking with it too!2 -
Wednesday check-in...
Closed the diary yesterday and I was under on calories, no exercise to speak of, but as long as I stay within my calorie goals the weight should be under control. Hopefully today won't be such a beat-down at work (the only problem with taking time off is going back and cleaning up from having been gone) and I will get some time to myself to get a workout in.
Hi @orlybayu - welcome aboard!Hopefully tomorrow will be good too. Work is a bit stressful and I'm always rewarded with food. They also ridicule me for how I eat. "You eat like a gerbil." "I bet you want some cake right now." "Eat something with some sustenance - cornbread."
I used to get this crap from the people at work, but I have no enough times now that people don't even bother offering me snacks and goodies any more. Hopefully you will reach this point with your coworkers as well.
@cnavarro002 - 1200 is pretty aggressive, but it will not cause a stall (eating 'too few' calories DOES NOT cause your body to hang on to calories). Stress will definitely cause problems - stress triggers cortisol which can mess with other hormones which can trigger lots of things...2 -
Hi all, checking in for Wednesday. Calories are under control. Really wasn't feeling the exercise today, but I didn't want to break the pattern so I got into the gym anyway. Felt ok by the end of the session too.2
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Thanks @Fyreside & @ccrdragon for your input. It was definitely helpful. 1200ish isn't something I would want to do long term, only for the next little bit. I will work on controlling my stress. You guys are awesome!0
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Hey everyone - sorry for not checking in yesterday; it was a very...VERY off day. I stayed up way too late Monday night (lost track of time playing video games with the boyfriend, whoops) and then forgot to take my ADHD meds...the result was not fun. I was fatigued and felt hollow-headed all day - in my last class of the day, we had a practice test for our first exam next week and I fell asleep in the middle of it. The teacher noticed I looked tired but had no idea I was asleep because I was still writing the whole time. That's not really relevant to anything here beyond just being an illustration of how out of it I was...but it's one of the most humorous illustrations of being unmedicated on a bad day that I've ever ended up with. So, I was way too wiped out to do any deliberate workouts outside of the yoga session in my stress management class. At least I managed to get that one in, though - and it was pretty intense; it was mostly hips and core and balance and other stuff that I really need to work on (whether because its a weakness, because it's important to something I love doing, or both). But then after that, the blerch visited me, because of course it did - it had a golden opportunity, after all; my meds not only improve my executive functions (such as SELF-CONTROL), but they reduce my appetite. Without them it was easy to fall for the little voice going "hey, I know you closed out your diary, but listen. Listen. Have some chips. And take that last brownie your boyfriend couldn't finish; you don't want it to go to waste, do you? It doesn't matter, it's not that much~!" But I'm pretty sure it actually wiped out most of my deficit for the day.
I'm trying not to beat myself up for it. I'll just try to stay on the low end of my target calorie range for today and tomorrow, get my workouts in today, all that good stuff...and possibly find myself a good weekly pill case. When I get home I'm also going to separate all the big bags of snacks into single-serving bags so it's harder to lose track of quantities, and when payday rolls around I'll be getting a snack safe so I can't listen to the blerch no matter how badly weakened I am against it.
Speaking of buying stuff, there's a delay on getting my fitness tracker and I am frustrated. Boyfriend put it on his card because the sale was going to expire before I got paid next, as we do for each other pretty often, and...it got flagged into verification limbo. Ah well...this kind of thing is to be expected, but it's still annoying.
And, in additional frustrating news, I had to drop one of my classes because the teacher, as nice as he is, is not very good at actually...teaching. He pretty much just reads from the book, and the book was chosen because it was cheap rather than because it was good. I thought I'd be able to keep up okay by using outside materials, but two quizzes and one exam have proven me wrong about that - because even though I usually get the material, I can't always tell what he's asking for. But I can turn this one partially into a positive, at least - it was my middle of three classes on those days; using that time to go home would just be a waste of gas, but my gym has a location right next to my first campus...the solution for what to do with that time is obvious.
And, I'm getting antsy waiting for my next race. It's at the end of this month, its my first obstacle race, and I'm anxious about the possibility of missing the start time again - on top of the fact that I don't want to wait that long! I'm gonna need to find ways to keep myself busy before I get too stir-crazy.
So, long update, and not that much to it despite that, but it is kind of for two days.1 -
Wednesday check in. Haven't been able to get to the gym this week because I had a gout flare up... super painful, super disappointing, and super stupid. My ankle is better though and should be back on track tomorrow or Friday. Revised goal for the week is log healthy food and keep posting and interacting here. Keep up the great work everyone, should have more time during the day tomorrow to check in and get the points spreadsheet posted for everyone to see where they stand as of now. Great job friends.1
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Yesterday was a good day but over did it, and had to take things slower today. I feel like I’m making progress though. I’m learning some new moves from Daily Burn 365, the app I use. I can almost do a decent lunge and squat now. (almost).
Last week I did something huge for me. I gave up my morning coffee.
Not that you have to give up your morning joe - I would never ever be that cruel. I absolutely adore coffee and spend a lot of time in coffee houses with my family, it’s the social hang out here on the coast ... but it upset my stomach and I was on Prilosec, I have kidney disease and prilosec is linked to making kidney disease worse. I would probably have continued to ignore it anyway but I broke out in an itchy rash and started retaining a lot of water and not feeling well which is usually a very bad sign for kidneys.
Well, so far I’ve done it. Had a bit of decaf here and there but no espresso shots, no cup after cup in the a.m.
Having gone off Prilosec though I have wicked heartburn now kinda all the darn time. I’m in a lot of pain, if you know of any home remedies or help that would be great. I’m using Zantac help mitigate it but it’s not working as well as the Prilosec.
Feeling very tired tonight, would like to comment to everyone, really like reading all the posts. Will try to post in the morning when I have more oomph!
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I just looked up gout and it sounds awful. Hope it calms down for you real soon burly.
I've had a really wierd thing happen with my coffee intake. Prior to my current calorie counting, I was downing at least 6-8 instant coffees per day. But around about the time I started this current journey I finally replaced my much loved esspresso machine and started my day enjoying one flat white, a popular aussie brew which is much like a cappuccino with hardly any froth. And since then all the instant coffee's have just gone. I didn't think about quitting them.. or plan to get rid of them from my day. I just got into the groove of planning my daily intake and managed to leave them out.. I'm not going to question it.. just go with my one nice cuppa per day and leave it at that.
My suggestion is chewing gum. Apparently saliva neutralizes stomach acid. Chewing stimulates production and makes you swallow more often.1 -
@OregonRunner - some people swear by ACV (apple cider vinegar) - just a tablespoon in water to help with acid reflux and heartburn. Be warned tho, for some people the addition of ACV makes the problem worse, so YMMV.
@burly_man308 - gout sux, I used to work with a guy that would come in to the office about once a quarter limping and grimacing because he was having a flare-up. Take care of you and don't push it too fast or hard.
I closed my diary last night and was under for calories for the day - this is getting easier now that I am back in the swing of logging food and keeping up with what I actually eat. While on the subject, my coffee intake has stayed about the same. I do IF on weekdays with my first meal occurring after noon, so the coffee helps keeps me from feeling hunger in the morning.
I have been a lazy slug for the last 3-4 months and haven't been doing a lot of exercise, but today that changes. I am going to do push-ups and squats every hour as a break away from the computer. Today's challenge is to do 20 push-ups and 30 squats every hour that I work at the computer - I will reply to this thread tomorrow with the total number accomplished for the day.1 -
Checking in for Thursday. Good day, burned a pile of calories doing yard work and really nailed the calories. Probably smashed my blood sugars
but sweet happens lol. Not a lot else to add as I spent the rest of the day in the workshop rebuilding generator parts. 1 -
@ccdragon, wow 20 push ups and 30 squats ever hour?!? That's awesome!
I tried going off of coffee a few months ago, and I did it, but I found myself eating/drinking other things to take its place. I finally reverted back. I have one cup of coffee every morning on my way to work with sugar free flavored creamer, so it's about 30 calories. I wish I could do black coffee, or just milk, but I can't. I need the sweetner.
So yesterday was my first day attempting 1250 calories. MFP had me set at 1650. I went over the 1250, but came in at 1525 (I think) so it was still under 1650. Maybe this is how I trick myself. Maybe, because I have been known to fail, sabotage and have low will power, I need to tell myself that I need to stay under 1250, and when I fail, I still am under 1650. Rather than aiming at 1650, failing, and reaching 1800+. I know, I am only fooling myself, but I have to have a starting point. If losing weight was easy, I wouldn't be here.
Goals for today: stay between 1250-1650 calories, 5000+ steps, go to the gym, and drink a minimum of 80 oz of water.
Have a fantastic day everyone!2 -
@ccrdragon I really hope to do IF (intermittent fasting) in the future when / if I get my stomach straightened out. Last time it was a bit of a disaster because I drank way too much black coffee which upset my GI and also kept having hypoglycemic crashes. I don't think I was in a good health spot to give it a proper go, or I should have started out with a smaller go and worked my way up. I was also very grouchy! lol.
Well, someday I'll get back there. My husband does IF but will typically eat one entire pizza every single evening. Uh' I'm not sure I'm down with the frozen pizza diet. He swears by it, I'm sick of the smell of Red Barron frozen pizzas by now (but he has lost 40lbs...)
Today is kinda an easy day, trying to get my stomach and GI to heal up, really fatigued. I'll pick up some gum and more zantac tomorrow at the store. I have some Bragg's ACV so will give it a go. Will be eating carefully for my GI which is to say -- boring. I just have to get my body to square one so I can be more consistent with the fitness and have some energy.
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Checking in for Thursday. I'm currently multitasking - at the gym, doing homework while sitting on a stationary bike. Got my tracker order issue straightened out just a few minutes ago. Couldn't get here yesterday because for some reason, somehow, I managed to get motion sickness on the way home from school. While driving myself. I ended up spending the whole night dizzy and nauseous. Decided to stay home and clean, because that's a productive way to stay moving that I can take breaks from when I get too dizzy.
As for today, I've got grocery shopping to do after class. Realized this morning that we're out of almond milk, which got my day started on a less than great note because I hate real milk, but I also hate dry cereal...so that wasn't great.
Been coming up with more costume ideas and...that's not really a good thing. The "I don't look good enough to pull this off, everyone else is going to be better than me and I'm just going to get posted all over the internet to be mocked again" terror is getting worse. And I'm afraid to tell any of my closer friends about that because I'm sure they're sick of hearing it - I've already lost one friend over it after all.
Sigh. I'm trying to be positive but it's not very easy.1 -
Eh, checking in for Wednesday/Thursday.
Wednesday was a mess. I had to go to work on 3 hours of sleep. I tried to binge on some almonds, but got full pretty quickly. Still over my daily intake (without the exercise). With exercise I was under. Upset I lost my control. Today was better - threw out the almonds and worked out. Going to start cutting snacks, I'm getting back into bad habits. Hopefully everyone else is doing good!2 -
Thanks Fyreside!! Today I work on my squats, arms, waist and legs. My body is so so sore! It hurts to sit on the toilet plus I walk like a snail!! lol I guess the more I work the easier it gonna get. I finished my food diary as well!3
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Friday morning checkin...
Closed my diary and was under for the day - so far so good!
Did ten sets of squats and push-ups yesterday - 300 squats and 200 push-ups total (wonder why I'm sore this morning... can't figure that one out )
Today I will do lunges and curls every hour - 10 lunges per side and 10 curls per arm.
@OregonRunner5 - it is easiest to ease into the IF, start with pushing breakfast back a couple of hours and then add 15 minutes per day until you have reached the window that you are looking for. I have been doing this for so long now, it's easy to go way past noon (I have waited as late as 2:00 before eating breakfast). Just remember - IF is not magic in terms of weight loss - you still have to watch calories. Also, you need to have a varied menu since you will be eating all of your calories/nutrients in a much smaller window.
@burly_man308 - how's the gout coming? Are you back on your feet yet?
@explodingmango - just remember to take it one day at a time, you are doing great!
@Fyreside - great loss for this week!!0 -
Thanks dragon. I've been pushing pretty hard, but only because I'm enjoying the challenge. Had another sub 1300cal day today, and ramped up the exercise. Hoping for a great weigh in this weekend. That's a heck of a lot of squats and pushups you are doing there. Are your pushups like... horizontal on the ground or inclined?
@meat513 I'm hoping it gets easier too. It's just got to right? lol. Seriously though, I know it's a long path back to fitness. But just today I realised, hey I'm on my way. I've even decided which mountain I want to climb when I feel like I'm ready to test my fitness.
Anyway, to wrap up with my Friday check in. 50 mins of cardio incl 20min on the treadmill and 30mins of other assorted machines. Did my strength workout as per the schedual and then went for my rained out Thursday swim as well.
And because my not very old Asics Gel-Cumulus runners are literally falling apart, I went and got a pair of Reebok Cloudride DMX's A shoe designed for walking with this neat air system built in that makes it feel super cushioned. Perfect for someone who just throws their foot out in front and lands on it lol.
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Those were horizontal push-ups.0
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I was working out (weights/cardio) for 5-6 days a week for almost 3 years before I got lazy last spring and stopped. The muscles/base are there, I just covered them up with fat in the last 5 months... that's why I joined this group - to have some accountability to get un-lazy and get back on the path again.
I was not going 'nose to the floor' on the push-ups because of shoulder issues, but I was close to touching the bill of my cap on each rep.0
I legit cannot do a pushup. This discussion has been closed.