Finally broke the 200 barrier!

Azdak

Today was the day--and a surprise at that. 199.8!

I had actually planned on getting to 190 by my birthday (Monday), but I suffered some setbacks in August that slowed my progress way down. First, I fell outside while running and injured my hip which led to a hamstring injury that curtailed my running (and which persists to this day). I could still do the stairmaster and cross trainer, but they are not nearly as effective (for me). My avg exercise calories per week went from 6,000 to 3,000.

I also went to see a dietitian in August for some advice on the next stage of my program. She recommended increasing my calories from about 1700-1800 a day to 2200-2300 per day. It's weird, but I found it a lot easier to *decrease* my calories than to increase them. It's like I had a certain amount of food for the day "calibrated" in my head. When I tried to increase, I just started overeating. I also got a little lazy about counting my calories and measuring food.

And lastly--and we have talked about this before--after having lost 53 pounds, I was getting so many compliments--"oh, you look great, you don't need to do any more"--I have to admit I lost a little motivation. I stopped weighing myself and started to fall back into some late snacking habits.

So I stayed in a range of 203 (my low weight) to 206 for the past 8 weeks. I did push the weights a little more during that time and I think it helped because, although my weight did not change, I did lose another inch from my waist.

A couple of weeks ago I just became remotivated. Part of it was breaking some snacking habits, partly it was going to a doctor's office where they not only weighed me with clothes at 206, but measured my waist and discovered that I had actaully lost another inch since August. I realized I had not slipped back like I had thought and that was enough.

I haven't gone back to being as regimented as before, but I did tighten up the routine. A big test came on my birthday when I avoided going out to dinner, getting a cake, etc (actually, that was very depressing, but I like the results).

I do think that the farther along you get in your program and closer to your goal, the more important strength training and focused workouts become to helping achieve success.

zebras

Congratulations, jumping over 200 is a huge mental hurdle for all of us. One of these days I will be on the other side with you!

ittybittybadonkadonk

congrats :flowerforyou: and happy bday .......i will be there with you next week ..... i am only 1 pound away from being out of the 200's YAYYYYYYYYYYYY

lulabellewoowoo

Thank you. This past week has been horrible for me (stress/emotional eating). But you have just given me some great inspiration and tips to get my butt back in gear. Thank you for posting your progress and motivation. Much appreciated!

vdpal

YEAH!!! Congrats to you!! Keep up the good work.

Lisa0711

Congratulations! I'm not too far from 200 myself (about 7 pounds) and it's very inspirational to see when others have gotten below 200. Good job on your major accomplishment, be proud!

bethany_jurries

That 200 mark seems so daunting but you did it good job! I only have 11lbs to go and I am so excited to get past that and work my way through the 100's!!! GREAT JOB!

drewdizzle

I just got over the 200 barrier a few weeks ago. It was a huge feat and feeling of success. Stay motivated! It is hard for me to stay motivated sometimes too. I just keep reminding myself that if I have a minor setback, there is always tomorrow and if I stay diligent I can keep pushing myself past that point of where I feel weakness. Congrats!

jmilf1

WOW!! After reading that you went from 6000 exercise calories to 3000 exercise calories, I realized how little I actually have been exercising. I thought I was doing good at walking 45 minutes a day but obviously that is not quite enough. THANK YOU FOR INSPIRING ME AND MOTIVATING ME TO EXERCISE EVEN MORE!!! I really need to start looking at my exercise calories as much as my food calories.

barbarella

BRAVO on breaking that 200 mark! :flowerforyou: :flowerforyou:

It's very inspiring to read other people's stories! :drinker:

I've been stuck for a few months... trying to bust out of the 160s.
I hope to do it before Halloween..... we'll see! :bigsmile:

Azdak

WOW!! After reading that you went from 6000 exercise calories to 3000 exercise calories, I realized how little I actually have been exercising. I thought I was doing good at walking 45 minutes a day but obviously that is not quite enough. THANK YOU FOR INSPIRING ME AND MOTIVATING ME TO EXERCISE EVEN MORE!!! I really need to start looking at my exercise calories as much as my food calories.

Two cautions: 1) as is obvious from the title, I am at 200 pounds, which means I have a head start on burning calories. 2) Even at my heavier weights, I am in pretty good shape aerobically for a 56 year old guy (VO2 max is still probably pushing 50 ml/kg/min). So, my normal exercise rate is 1000+ Cal/hour. So, a 6,000 calorie week is only 6 hours of cardio exercise, which is good, but not extraordinary.

Lastly, pushing it to 7,000/wk put me into an overtraining syndrome. I did it on purpose because I was feeling really good and wanted to see what my limits were--and I found that probably 5,000-5,500 with at least one day off was probably better. More is not always better.

Still, explore your abilities--you might find you can do more than you think. Good luck.

clheide

That is awesome! Thanks for the motivation...I'm hoping to be able to say the same thing in another week or two!!!

Mamakatspokane

Congratulations:flowerforyou:

And thank you for talking about losing motivation the lower you get I needed to hear I'm not alone!:embarassed:

Keep up the great work!:bigsmile:

Innerglow

I had also lost my motivation for a good, long while. I hit the gym for the first time in oh 3 months and it felt GREAT! I was staying between 211-215 for the past couple of months.

I saw the scale today and I know my scale will be going down and fast. I'm giving myself a month to be just at or below 200. I can't wait to meet you there!!

LivinTheLife

Congratulations!! :glasses:

epoeraven

Woo hoo for you!!!!!

Georg

That's great! Good for you!
:flowerforyou: :flowerforyou: :flowerforyou:
I appreciate you sharing your experiences & explaining what worked for you. The rest of us need to hear from those who are so successful so we can get a handle on what we might need to try.
Thanks & congrats!