New Pictures

Thought I would post some new pictures of myself 10 pounds lighter. To be honest, I can't tell any difference in the pictures, although I feel thinner and stronger. They're mainly for motivation and posterity, so here we go.





































































































Also, here's a picture of what I look like with clothes, so you guys don't only know me as shirtless fat guy.

December goal: Accomplished

Today's Weigh-In: 219.2 lbs.
5-Day Average: 219.28 lbs.

Well, my average is finally under 220, which means I've now officially lost all the weight I gained this year. Cutting out the alcohol seems to really be helping, and I've been eating pretty well. I got back in the gym yesterday and it felt good, so back to the old routine this week. My cold is getting better as well, a few more days and I'll be good as new.

I haven't decided what my goal weight-loss should be for January, since it took me almost 3 months to lose 11 lbs. (but most of the weight lost was in the past couple of weeks). I think 10 lbs. might be to extreme for me, but 5 lbs. might be too easy. I dunno, I'll think it through and update my goals by the first.

Awesome

Today's Weigh-In: 219.0 lbs. (new low!)
5-Day Average: 220.76 lbs.

Looks like I'm almost out of the 220s! It's weird, I have not worked out at all this week, and my eating has been okay but not great, but I keep losing weight. I guess my body just needed a rest. I do miss the soreness of a good workout, though.

My cold has moved into my lungs, so I'm coughing up some horrible stuff. I hope to still work out tomorrow, but I'll have to use my judgment. Hopefully I can stay on track for my Jan 1st goal and not gain any weight :-)

Woo-hoo

Today's Weigh-In: 219.4 lbs. (new low!)
5-day Average: 221.2 lbs.

Well, my weigh-in today has broken the 220 barrier, and my average is inching its way along as well. Actually, I weighed in this morning after I ate, so it's probably under 219. I really have no idea why it's so low, I haven't been doing anything special. I've actually been sick, and I haven't been to the gym since Saturday (taking the week off, since I've been at this for about 3 months now, body needs a break). My eating hasn't been great (had some leftover Christmas candy yesterday). I'm not dehydrated though, so I don't think it's that. I weighed 218 in October of last year. So I'm on my way to losing all the weight I gained this year. It's kind of sad to think where I was headed if I continued gaining weight in such a fasion (13 lbs. in a year, and 25 lbs. the year before). I would've been 300 by the time I turned 30 at that rate. No thank you. Never again.

All the candy is gone so I'm eating 100% clean again. I tried to get in a small bodyweight workout last night but my lungs practically exploded. I'll give it a few more days. Hope everyone else is doing well!

Post Christmas Update

Today's Weigh-In: 220.8 lbs. (new low)
5-day Average: 222.3 lbs.

Well, Christmas was fun. Busy as heck, but fun. My eating was pretty good, but not 100%. I knew it wouldn't be, so no surprises there. The real food that I ate was good, it was the candy that was not so good. I'm surprised I weighed in at a new low today, but I'm not going to complain. I'm taking the week off from weight lifting, since I've been doing it for about 3 months now total, and I want to give my body a rest before I start a new program.

In the new year I plan on joining my local CrossFit affiliate to get in some awesome exercises. My whole goal here isn't just to lose weight, but to get really fit. I've never been particularly fit; I was strong because of weightlifting in high school, but I could hardly run a mile, and my flexibility is terrible. I want the all-around fitness that CrossFit provides.

I'm still sick, unfortunately, but I am getting better. I think I should be fine by the weekend, so I can probably get back to some good cardio workouts. That's it for today.

That's more like it

Today's Weigh-In: 221.2 lbs. (new low!)
5-day Average: 223.5 lbs.

Well, the weight seems to be going in the right direction again. I ate really well this weekend, so I think I've earned it. My brother and I have made a small pact: I will not drink any alcohol through December 31st, and he won't bite his nails (a bad habit he's trying to kick). He really wants to see me be successful at this, and alcohol can be pretty limiting when it comes to weight loss, so I think it's a good idea.

I've come down with a nasty head cold, so that's a bummer. Also no workout today as the gym has limited hours and I can't make it. Tomorrow I'm going to attempt to get in a workout on my home weight set, but I don't know if time will permit it (I have to go to my parents' house in the morning, my grandparents' in the early afternoon, then pick up my girlfriend from her grandma's house and go back to my parents' house for dinner).

On a brighter note, my brother and I recorded our one-rep maxes for bench press. I beat my high-school record of 215 lbs. and lifted 222 lbs. I could probably get 5-10 lbs. more, but my shoulder was bugging me and my back was cramped (I did deadlifts and squats earlier in the day). So I can bench my body weight once, which is a heck of a lot better than what I could do 2 months ago. I find it odd that I haven't lost any strength since high school, even though I haven't done much lifting in the years since, but I'm not going to complain.

Frustrating numbers

Today's Weigh-In: 224.6 lbs.
5-day Average: 223.48 lbs.

Stupid weigh in. Somewhat expected, but I'm still angry. I went to the gym on Tuesday and felt like crap, was really sore, had shin-splint pain, and bagged my workout after 15 minutes. Then I went home and ate a crappy dinner, followed by crappy drinks.

Ate well yesterday (well, maybe a bit too much salt, not enough veggies) and I'm eating well today, so I'm hoping I can stop my average from going up any more. It seems like if I slip up even a tiny bit the weight comes right back with a vengeance. I'm just wondering how the crap I'm supposed to keep it off if it does that... I can't eat this little food forever. Ah well, hopefully it's just a fluke and I'll be back down under 222 within the next few days. My body feels better today so I'm gonna get a good workout in to make up for the lack on Tuesday.

Food is not a good gift

Today's Weigh-In: 223.2 lbs.
5-day Average: 222.96 lbs.

Hey everybody. Not too much to report. I can't wait for the holiday season to be over, too much stress, too much food. Who's great idea was it to start the tradition of giving food as gifts? Mondo popcorn tubs, chocolate covered cherries, almond roca. Whoever it was I want to punch them in the nuts. Now I have to find someone else to give this stuff to, since I can't even have it around the house. Not a good gift, if you ask me.

I'm going to change my end of year goal to 220 lbs., since I'm losing weight more slowly than I had expected. 215 lbs. will now be my end of January goal since I only seem to be able to lose 5 lbs. a month. Not that I mind, since the slower I lose the weight the less likely I am to damage my metabolism or burn muscle, it just takes longer. I'll get there.

Stupid alarm clock

Today's Weigh-In: 223.2 lbs.
5-day Average: 223.64 lbs.

I've been pretty lazy these past two weeks. A while ago I decided to start going to the gym in the morning, so I could get my workouts out of the way, and because it's actually much nicer in the morning: less crowded, natural light coming in, less stress throughout the day. The only problem is I *hate* waking up. I don't even have to wake up that early to get to the gym. But when my alarm clock goes off at 7:30 (even if I went to bed by 11 the night before) I am just in a world of hate. And lately I've just been resetting the clock and going back to bed. I mean, I'm still getting in my workouts (after work) but I know I'm shortchanging myself by doing this. Does anybody have any tips for actually getting up early? I don't know how some of you wake up before 6:00, that's insane to me.

I guess another reason I don't like to get up is that I don't seem to get restful sleep, so I'm tired and sore when I wake up. I toss and turn all night, and I always wake up stiff and my neck hurts. I'm starting to think it's time for a new bed and pillows, but that'll have to wait until after the holidays, since beds aren't cheap.

On the diet front, everything has been good. I've been eating much less starchy carbs and more protein and fats (good fats, mostly). I also bought a whole bunch of frozen vegetables yesterday, so I have no excuse not to eat veggies with every meal.

So long to too-much-carbs

Today's Weigh-In: 222.8 lbs.
5-day Average: 223.7 lbs.

Down a pound from yesterday, and almost 2 pounds from Monday. I won't be surprised if my weight goes up tomorrow (unless I was retaining water or something weird on Monday).

I've been tracking my calories for a while now, and I took a look at the amount of each macronutrient I have been eating. It seems that I am consistently over my goals in carbs, and consistently under my goals for protein. But no more. I am shifting to a 40% carb, 30% protein, 30% fat macronutrient split (by calories, not weight). Before I was at probably 55% carbs, 25% protein, 20% fat split, and I think the carbs are causing my slow weight loss. This means I gotta eat more meat, more (healthy) fat, and less starch, bread, pasta, rice, and cereals. I thought about going on a full-blown ketogenic diet, where you cut out all carbs except for green vegetables, but that's too restrictive for my lifestyle. It seems to work for a lot of people, but I don't think I could do it. Plus, if you slip up on a keto diet, you kick your body right out of ketosis and it starts releasing insulin, and I just don't think I can be quite that rigorous with it.

I also realized that I haven't been eating nearly as much fruits and vegetables as I did when I first started, and I want to change that as well. Instead of having a chicken breast and rice, I'll have a chicken breast, some salad, and some broccoli. That should provide the right amount of fiber, nutrients, and vitamins that I need, as well as healthy carbs and protein. Gotta eat your veggies :)

Hmm...

Today's Weigh-In: 223.8 lbs.
5-day Average: 223.93 lbs.


So, I went ahead and bought on of those electronic body fat analyzers. I bought the same one that I used in the gym when I first measured my body fat. My original reading was 27.3% and yesterday's reading was 24.5% (an average of a few readings), so I've lost almost 3% body fat thus far. I did some calculations based on my weight and the percentage, and it looks like instead of losing lean mass, I've actually gained 2 pounds of muscle. The problem (if you can call it that) is that if this reading is accurate I have almost 170 lbs. of lean mass. If I were at 10% body fat that would mean I would need to weigh 189 lbs. Seems a little high for my height (5' 10") but I am really stocky, so maybe I have less to lose than I thought. Or maybe as I continue to shed fat I'll lose some muscle and need to be lower. To be honest, I don't really care how much I weigh, as long as I'm muscular and have a body fat percentage < 12%. This doesn't change anything, but I may have to reevaluate my goal weight as I approach it and make reasonable adjustments. One day, when I get closer to my goal, I'll get hydrostatic weighing done and find a more accurate measurement of my body fat percentage, and use that to adjust my goal.

As far as everything goes, my weight is going down steadily, my diet's been spot-on, and I hit the gym yesterday. I had to skip out on my cardio, though, since I began feeling nauseous. That tends to happen when I do heavy squats and deadlifts, I guess I should do the cardio beforehand on days when I do heavy compounds. Lesson learned.

Ah, the weekend, a fat dude's worst enemy

Today's Weigh-In: 224.6 lbs.
5-day Average: 224.0 lbs. (this is not really a 5-day average, as I forgot to weigh myself Saturday and Sunday)

Friday was my company's Christmas party. The food they had was pretty decent, not too unhealthy. I had some salmon and some chicken, along with some rice pilaf and red potatoes. I knew I was going to eat a larger portion than normally, so I didn't eat too much earlier in the day. The only problem is that they had free drinks, of which I had about 4. I'm a sucker for free drinks. Then I went and had a couple of beers with my buddies afterwards, so that pretty much ruined my discipline up to that point.

This is something I've noticed that happens pretty often to me: I will do really well all day, be right on track with diet and exercise, and then I'll blow it at the end of the day by drinking a few beers. I really need to be more disciplined when it comes to that. I still have the goal of not drinking during the week, so that should keep me on track, just gotta watch those weekend days.

Saturday and Sunday I ate really well, I didn't count my calories but I believe I was under on both days. I did not work out on Saturday due to my throat infection (my body was in such need of rest that I slept until 3:00 in the afternoon on Saturday). So I haven't really been to the gym since last Tuesday. I think it's okay though, as my back and abs were still hurting, so giving them the rest will help me to be stronger in the end. I'll be back in the gym tonight, though, as my throat is feeling much better and I'm not all weak and tired like I was previously.

I would rate my weekend a 7/10 in the weight loss department. Not 100%, with definite room for improvement. But today begins a new week, and I'm gonna give it my best.

Finally

Today's Weigh-In: 223.4 lbs.
5-day Average: 226.2 lbs.

My 5-day is pretty much the same as the last time I posted, but my weight finally seems to be going down since the creatine load I started last week. It's such a crappy feeling to see the same number 3 weeks apart, even though I know it's water weight. The psychological impact of the scale should not be underestimated.

I've contracted a pretty severe throat infection, which the doctor thinks might be strep (they're testing my throat culture at the lab), so I'm taking antibiotics, since recently there's been a lot of strep throat in my area and the doctor wanted to play it safe. I skipped my workout yesterday so I could go to the doctor, and I can't make it up today because I have my company's Christmas party to go to, so that sucks. So for now I'm just going to try to get as much sleep as I can tonight, and hopefully my throat will feel well enough tomorrow so that I can hit the gym.

It's weird, it used to be that I would have to drag myself to the gym, but yesterday I had to force myself not to go so I could see the doctor. Whereas I used to hate going, I now hate *not* going. I feel like a fat load if my muscles stop feeling sore. I guess that's a more healthy mindset, I just don't want to overdo it and become one of those people who is totally obsessed with exercising and how my body looks, as that probably isn't so healthy.

100 Percent

(Sorry for stealing your blog title, Rob)
Today's Weigh-In: 226.4 lbs.
5-day average: 226.28 lbs.

My average has gone up in the past two days, but I think it's because I began supplementing with creatine at the end of last week, so I'm probably retaining more water than normal. And my weigh-ins are starting to come down, so I'm hoping the creatine water-retention level has evened out.

After reading Rob's recent blogs, I've decided that I, too, need to go 100% if I'm going to do this effectively. I had been doing about 80-85%, and my slow weight-loss reflects that. Since Monday I have been going 100% on everything: diet, cardio, weight-lifting, sleep. I've decided to drop my calorie limit from 2200 to 2000, as I think my body can handle it without suffering any ill effects. If I start feeling tired or weak I'll bring it back up a bit.

My goals for this month are:
-no alcohol during the week, and only once during the weekend (in moderation).
-consume no more than 2000 calories a day
-hit the gym 4 times a week (same as last month)

I've already had to decline one offer to go to the bar to play pool, but I think it will be worth it. If I can be consistent with my calories and gym time, I know my weight loss will kick into high gear and I can lose more in this month than I have in the 2 months since starting all this. I want to win this month's challenge :)

Give a little bit, get a little bit

Today's Weigh-in: 227.4 lbs.
5-day Average: 225.2 lbs.

Today's weigh-in is a bit high. I don't know the reason for this jump in weight, but I hope it's just a fluctuation that won't stick. I'm ready to get away from the 220s.

So this weekend was a bit of a mixed bag. Saturday I went to dinner with some friends, but I made decent choices, I think. I had a sesame chicken salad and about 2 bites of pazookie (cookie with ice cream). But I also had 3 pints of beer, which probably wasn't the best idea when I'm watching my calorie intake.

Sunday I was home most of the day, and ate pretty well. I think I'm still having a problem with eating larger portions on the weekends than I would during the week, and that's something I need to work on. I guess it doesn't matter if the food is healthy, if you eat too much you're not going to lose any weight. So my goal for this week and weekend is to maintain portion control and not eat to total fullness.

I went to the gym yesterday. I love the gym on Sundays as there's hardly anybody there, and I can have free reign of the weights and machines. I went running for the first time in a while, and I think I did pretty well. I ran a mile, walked a quarter mile, ran another mile, and walked another quarter mile in 30 minutes. My legs are sore today, but it wasn't too bad. I definitely had to push myself to keep running, but it felt good. One thing I realized is that I need some new running shoes, so I hope to get some this weekend. For now, I'm going to alternate running on the track and using the elliptical, at least until I get some new shoes and my legs feel strong enough to run every day.

I'm going to attempt 100% clean eating this week. No more little indulgences, no more eating more than I should, and definitely no more eating because I feel like I've earned it. That's dangerous territory, and I need to stay away from that mentality.