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germaldish
Posts: 3 Member
I have always had a hard time with sticking to my weight loss goals, but part of that has always been that my life and sleep patterns were so chaotic and I was working too much, night and day. I'm almost a year settled into a new job and have much healthier work and sleep habits, but have had terrible eating habits (eating out for lunch almost every day)! I also got lazy with exercise and gained even more weight after starting this job.
I'm 5' 11", and I was 175 pounds when I got married 11 years ago. By the time we had our first child, I had ballooned to 215. I participated in a weight loss study and went back down to 195 in 3 months of just changing my diet (subtracting 300 calories per day). I stayed around there for a long time, then after two more kids as I approached the end of my PhD studies, the stress of taking care of my family, finishing my studies, starting a consulting business, and everything else in life just took priority over taking care of myself. During my last year of school, I slowly creeped back up to 215. I graduated, took a new job, and suddenly with some of the financial and time pressures off, I had new freedom to eat out, enjoy life, and relax. But I became progressively more lazy! I topped out at 228!
I've been wanting to lose the weight for a while now, but hadn't fully committed to it. A week ago, something within me just woke up and I feel like I have more motivation to lose weight now than I have had... ever! I made a number of new commitments to taking care of myself better, one of which is to lose 30 pounds by my 34th birthday (in August), meaning I have 30 weeks to lose 30 pounds. Today I weighed in at 220, so that would put me at 190 on my birthday. I would love to keep going from there, but I really feel like this is a realistic goal for me, especially because for the first time ever I have started talking about my goals, not just with my wife but with my coworkers and friends. I know how to get there and have been doing it for the last week, and lost two pounds in the process so far.
My exercise plan is the following:
Mondays & Wednesdays, jog for 3.6 miles during lunch
Tuesdays & Thursdays, gym workout-- 30 minutes cardio (bike/rowing), 30 minutes weights
Friday - off or walking
Saturday - family activities outdoors (will vary by season)
Sunday - off
For my diet, I have the advantage of knowing my exact metabolic rate due to this 3 month study I participated in at UC Davis (they controlled all my caloric intake exactly, had me maintain my sedentary lifestyle at the time, and took blood draws in intervals as I ate to measure my metabolic rate. So I know that for me (at least 5 years ago), even without exercise, I can lose approximately 1.5 pounds per week by reducing my caloric intake below 2300 calories per day, at least until I'm down to 195. My goal is to stick with a more aggressive 2000 calories per day or less, which between that and my exercise, should allow me to lose my goal of greater than 1 pound per week as long as I stick to it.
On my normal workdays, this will consist of a not so glamorous, but practical diet of the following:
1 bowl (2 servings) of some type of lower-sugar cereal with a half cup of milk (special-K, cheerios, etc.). I could do better, but I never allocate more than 2.5 minutes of my day to "preparing" and eating breakfast, so this will probably have to do.
For lunch, because I am working out on my lunch break, it has to again be something very quick. Going back to my grad school days, I always default to the same quick lunch: A PB&J sandwich with regular peanut butter but sugar-free raspberry preserves instead of regular jam. Also, a high-protein 100% whole wheat bread. Along with my sandwich, I'll have a piece of fruit and/or some carrots. This typically takes me roughly 6 minutes to prepare and eat, which fits into my schedule well enough. I had grown accustomed to eating 1500 calorie Chipotle bowls for lunch, lying to myself about how healthy they seem to be
For dinner, my wife is helping me out on this one. We are going to eat cleaner meals including more grilled chicken, broccoli, and a pretty large variety. She is a great cook, it's just a matter of prioritizing meal planning, shopping, and preparation so that we aren't hitting against the kids' bedtimes by the time we start thinking about what we are eating for dinner (hmm... frozen pizza anyone?). Anyways, I plan to keep my dinners below 1,000 calories and cut out midnight snacking (and most other snacking) throughout the day and night. Sweets, dinners heavy on bread or other carbs, and any kind of sodas or caffeinated drinks (diet or otherwise) will be cut out. I already don't drink any alcohol, coffee, or tea, so that is no change for me.
So that's it. I have a schedule set up and I'll try and check in regularly, but I could use encouragement, and welcome any comments. If anybody else has ideas for ultrafast breakfasts and lunches that are easy to pack and bring to work, I'm all ears. For now, I'm just keeping that part simple.
I'm 5' 11", and I was 175 pounds when I got married 11 years ago. By the time we had our first child, I had ballooned to 215. I participated in a weight loss study and went back down to 195 in 3 months of just changing my diet (subtracting 300 calories per day). I stayed around there for a long time, then after two more kids as I approached the end of my PhD studies, the stress of taking care of my family, finishing my studies, starting a consulting business, and everything else in life just took priority over taking care of myself. During my last year of school, I slowly creeped back up to 215. I graduated, took a new job, and suddenly with some of the financial and time pressures off, I had new freedom to eat out, enjoy life, and relax. But I became progressively more lazy! I topped out at 228!
I've been wanting to lose the weight for a while now, but hadn't fully committed to it. A week ago, something within me just woke up and I feel like I have more motivation to lose weight now than I have had... ever! I made a number of new commitments to taking care of myself better, one of which is to lose 30 pounds by my 34th birthday (in August), meaning I have 30 weeks to lose 30 pounds. Today I weighed in at 220, so that would put me at 190 on my birthday. I would love to keep going from there, but I really feel like this is a realistic goal for me, especially because for the first time ever I have started talking about my goals, not just with my wife but with my coworkers and friends. I know how to get there and have been doing it for the last week, and lost two pounds in the process so far.
My exercise plan is the following:
Mondays & Wednesdays, jog for 3.6 miles during lunch
Tuesdays & Thursdays, gym workout-- 30 minutes cardio (bike/rowing), 30 minutes weights
Friday - off or walking
Saturday - family activities outdoors (will vary by season)
Sunday - off
For my diet, I have the advantage of knowing my exact metabolic rate due to this 3 month study I participated in at UC Davis (they controlled all my caloric intake exactly, had me maintain my sedentary lifestyle at the time, and took blood draws in intervals as I ate to measure my metabolic rate. So I know that for me (at least 5 years ago), even without exercise, I can lose approximately 1.5 pounds per week by reducing my caloric intake below 2300 calories per day, at least until I'm down to 195. My goal is to stick with a more aggressive 2000 calories per day or less, which between that and my exercise, should allow me to lose my goal of greater than 1 pound per week as long as I stick to it.
On my normal workdays, this will consist of a not so glamorous, but practical diet of the following:
1 bowl (2 servings) of some type of lower-sugar cereal with a half cup of milk (special-K, cheerios, etc.). I could do better, but I never allocate more than 2.5 minutes of my day to "preparing" and eating breakfast, so this will probably have to do.
For lunch, because I am working out on my lunch break, it has to again be something very quick. Going back to my grad school days, I always default to the same quick lunch: A PB&J sandwich with regular peanut butter but sugar-free raspberry preserves instead of regular jam. Also, a high-protein 100% whole wheat bread. Along with my sandwich, I'll have a piece of fruit and/or some carrots. This typically takes me roughly 6 minutes to prepare and eat, which fits into my schedule well enough. I had grown accustomed to eating 1500 calorie Chipotle bowls for lunch, lying to myself about how healthy they seem to be
For dinner, my wife is helping me out on this one. We are going to eat cleaner meals including more grilled chicken, broccoli, and a pretty large variety. She is a great cook, it's just a matter of prioritizing meal planning, shopping, and preparation so that we aren't hitting against the kids' bedtimes by the time we start thinking about what we are eating for dinner (hmm... frozen pizza anyone?). Anyways, I plan to keep my dinners below 1,000 calories and cut out midnight snacking (and most other snacking) throughout the day and night. Sweets, dinners heavy on bread or other carbs, and any kind of sodas or caffeinated drinks (diet or otherwise) will be cut out. I already don't drink any alcohol, coffee, or tea, so that is no change for me.
So that's it. I have a schedule set up and I'll try and check in regularly, but I could use encouragement, and welcome any comments. If anybody else has ideas for ultrafast breakfasts and lunches that are easy to pack and bring to work, I'm all ears. For now, I'm just keeping that part simple.
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Replies
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Ok, just giving a public update on my progress... I have been jogging 4 miles at lunch MWF (~9-10 minute miles), cycling 30 minutes T Th (~14-18 mph), and doing the Stronglifts 5x5 weightlifting routine on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. That, in addition to cutting my calories to a baseline of 1700 calories (adjusted upward depending on daily exercise level).
It's been working. I exceeded my goal of 1.5 pounds per week, and have consistently been losing close to 2 pounds per week now for the last 8 weeks, and more like 3 pounds per week in the very beginning. I still have a long way to go... I calculated that for me to reach a healthy BMI, my total weight loss needed will be 48 pounds. I'm on my way with 20 pounds lost so far, but still have a ways to go!0 -
Great job! I'm 46, 5'11" and just getting back into getting healthy. My high school weight was 175. Twenty years ago, I was 190-195 when I married my wife. Since then, my job has pretty much always involved lots of travel & eating out, which has caused me to get as heavy as 236, about 15 years ago. Back then, I committed to working out & eating better, which got me to 185.
As time went by, I slowly crept back up to about 220 & then worked my way back down to 199.
Just a few weeks ago, I was nearly at my all-time high at 235, after 3 straight weeks of travel. Prior to that, I had been maintaining 220 for a long time (maybe 2 years). I chose to pay more attention to my eating, which quickly got me to 230, which was when I finally decided to commit to adding cardio at least 3 times a week for 30 min., or more, burning no less that 495 cals. each time.
On 2/27, I was 230 and have been doing 30 min. on the elliptical 3x a week since then, with periodic weight lifting. I found this app at the start of March and have since added a heart rate monitor to track my workout effectiveness, and am tracking calories for the first time in my life. I set a goal to lose 2 lbs a week and consume 1,500 net calories to get under 200 lbs by June 1st. My long-term goal is to break 185 and then maintain. As of today (3/12/16), I am at 220.8, so I have lost 9.8 lbs in 2 weeks.
I know I can do it & I feel so much better already.
Congrats on your progress!0
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