My Intro:

I'm new here. Not new to dieting/nutrition/exercise. 30 years old, 5'7", 201.6#, been on a nutrition and workout plan for a week. Lost 1 pound...! My goal is to weigh a healthy 156# and to do it in a healthy way. 45 pounds to go! Dang that's the same weight as one of those big stackable weights at the gym and those things are HEAVY! It'll be good to get that off my back.


WORKOUT PLAN
(doesn't incorporate weights yet)
Currently: Jog/Run on treadmill, 5x per week, 24 mins, 5.3 mph speed, 330 calories. This gets my heartrate to 185 before my final speed increase to the finish. (So it ain't easy)
Goals:
1) increase calories spent by 10% per week. (first workout was 287 calories, check)
2) increase speed by 5% per week. (ran at 5.0 mph speed last week)
3) run a 6 minute mile in 6 months.


NUTRITION
(currently)
Breakfast: 2 slices high fiber toast with peanut butter
Snack: Stony Field Yogurt, Orange
Lunch: 13 Almonds, Chicken Breast, High Fiber Tortilla
Snack: Stony Field Yogurt, Apple
Dinner: 1/2 Avocado, 10 oz. Spinach, Chicken Breast
Goals: around 1600 calories, vitamins and minerals, fiber, protein with each meal, fosters "gut bacteria" (yogurt).


WHY? Improve my health and energy. Be more athletic and attractive. I am dating now, and it wouldn't hurt to look good for the ladies.

Started nutrition and workouts on 12/03/07.

WEIGHT:
Starting weight 202.6# on the morning of 12/04/07.
12/11/07: 201.6
12/12/07: 200.4
12/13/07: 199.6
12/14/07: 199.0
12/15/07: 197.8 (wow!)
12/16/07: 197.6


WORKOUTS:
Running on treadmill until I reach my calorie goal for the workout. 5x per week. 10% caloric output increase per week (2% per workout). Keep HR under 190 at all times. If HR is less than 180 with five minutes to go, you can increase speed for next workout. Goal: Run 6 minute mile in 6 months (06/03/08)
12/03/07: 287 calories, run walk, ran at 5.0mph, did not record distance and time.
(...cut for brevity...)
12/10/07: 324 cal, 5.2 mph, 24 mins 00 secs. 2.05 miles.
12/11/07: 330 cal, 5.3 mph. 24 mins 02 secs. 2.11 miles.
12/12/07: 336 cal, 5.3 mph. 24 mins 08 secs. 2.15 miles.
12/13/07: OFF
12/14/07: 342 cal, 5.4 mph. 24 mins 25 secs. 2.19 miles. (did not sprint at end since HR was already 185+)
12/15/07: 348 cal, 5.4 mph. 24 mins 50 secs. 2.22 miles.
12/16/07: 356 cal, 5.5 mph. 24 mins 59 secs. 2.28 miles.

NOTES (12/16/07): need to back off of speed goal because my HR is 189 at the end of my last run. Need HR to be less than 180 at the end of a run if I am going to increase the speed the need day. Calorie goal seems fine though I do not want to run for more than 1 hour each day. Right now, I'm at 25 minutes, so I got plenty of room there. But as I go along, I'm going to weigh less and it will take more miles to reach the same calories.

NUTRITION:
12/3/07 - 12/10/07: Started out eating 1600 calories daily.
12/11/07 - present: Had a disappointing weigh in on 12/11/07, so I cut out the red wine to drop it down to 1420 calories daily. Also added more fiber starting 12/11/07 (currently at 39g per day, wow), if my body doesn't like all the fiber, I will likely reduce fiber down to 34g per day. I will also monitor to see how much I lose weeks 3 & 4 (I don't want to lose too fast).

I'm feeling pretty good today. My weigh-off (that's what I call them) this morning was very nice and I'm hoping that I hold onto most of that loss in the immediate future. This morning I switched from Wheaties cereal w/2% to 2 slices of high fiber bread w/natural peanut butter, so I'm getting more fiber, protein, and peanut fat in the morning.

It was easier for me to get up this morning. I generally have a hard time getting out of bed when I'm at a consistent calorie deficit. I'm glad that I was able to add more fiber and cut more calories. Yesterday night I didn't go to bed hungry, so my subtraction of the 8 oz red wine for dessert had no negative effect on hunger.

I'm keeping a daily journal and starting today I am keeping a spreadsheet to keep track of weight, workouts, eating, water intake. I give myself a score: 2 if I reach my goal, 1 if do an OK job, all the way to -2 (if I don't journal or eat bad). Recently, my daily score has been 5 out of 6: 2 for eating, 2 for workouts, 1 for water. I haven't yet met my water intake goal, so this should inspire me to do so.

In order for a commitment to work, our commitment needs to be higher than our expectations, AND we need to decide today that we will pay the prices. The reason that we decide to pay the prices in advance is twofold: we commit to pay the prices; it is an already decided event that we've paid the prices. So when obstacles hinder us, it's not a big surprise or a big deal because it's something that's already agreed upon. We decide in advance that we've already dealt with these circumstances.

Steps for Making a Commitment:
1) Current Assessment.
2) What is a new commitment that excites you?
3) What prices are you willing to pay?
4) Collect evidence of progress or completion.

1) Before I started 12/03/07, I was not committed at all to a weight-loss plan, I was hoping that by eating "reasonably" (without keeping a diary) that I would maintain my weight. I would occasionally have 1000 calorie meals and tell myself that I wouldn't have much else that day, but then forget about it in the evening. I was probably keeping my caloric intake around 2,000 calories and not exercising (too cold).

2) a) Lose weight down to 156 pounds in a healthy way (weight loss). b) Be able to run a 6 minute mile in 6 months (athleticism). I will make a new commitment when I reach each goal.

3) Prices willing to pay? Be hungry, pay more for food, have sore muscles, get injured, pay for gym membership, be consistent day-in and day-out, be criticized for not doing it "right", extra time and attention, be tired in the morning, journaling, need to be more prepared food-wise for each day, need to work around big meals with friends and family, digestive distress. I commit to paying these prices. The circumstances surrounding my commitment are handled. It has already been decided. So be it. Amen.

4) I've already lost 2.2 pounds in 8 days. I now fit into size 38 pants comfortably when before they would be very uncomfortable and I'd have to wear size 40 pants.

Declaration: I am a strong, courageous, responsible man!

great declaration and you're off to a great start iin your diary... and yourjourney - congrats

I had a perfect, on-plan day yesterday. 1400 cal eaten, 336 cal workout, and drank 96 oz of water. I had another good weigh-off this morning, so I'm feeling really good about that. Feeling a little anxious about how long the weight-loss will take. Been playing with the numbers and projecting my BMR at my goal weight and how much I will need to workout if I want to maintain 2#/week weight loss around that weight (while keeping eating at 1400 cal). I think when I get down toward that weight, I may need to scale back the weight loss to 1#/week unless I would be OK then with having workouts that burn 800 calories at a clip. I do need to think about the weight-loss less and focus on other things.



I'm liking how my body is already changing. My face is "hardening" a little bit, and my stomach is showing the faint outlines of some definition between my sides and my main abdominal muscles. I've only lost 3 pounds and already I feel more confident and look "better" in shirts.



Before today, I've worked out 4 days in a row. I kind of want to impress a girlfriend who is visiting tomorrow, so I pushed my consequetive days of workouts one extra day than usual (4 instead of 3). Today, I'm giving myself an off day though my body isn't in any pain. I will use the extra time to clean and organize around the house. Tomorrow, the girlfriend arrives yet I should workout so my cardio-capacity doesn't fade. So I either need to workout in the morning (very likely) or at night. Considering that we'll probably be up late, I'm gonna have to plan ahead and workout in the morning. I wonder how many folks will be at the new gym in the morning instead of at 6pm?

I just had diarrhea around lunch time, right after I had a high fiber tortilla. I am doubting that my body wants/needs as much fiber as I'm having so I'm going to switch out the tortilla (11g fiber) for 2 slices of high fiber bread (6g fiber, thereby reducing fiber by 5g per day) and then see how things go.



Since I've changed from the tortilla to the bread (-30 cal) and I'm also now having smaller chicken breasts (-30 cal each), I'm now going to have 90 calories of dark chocolate each day. The trick will be to limit myself to just that much and not go hogwild.

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Great diary you have going. I love how determined you are! You seem to be off to a great start, really taking your changes seriously. Good for you!

Best wishes on your journey - I'm sure the ladies will be suitably impressed

I got some pretty bad news yesterday and it almost drove me to eat extra chocolate and drink a bottle of wine... My dad has a recurrence of cancer in his tongue and he's getting surgery to remove it next week. I was upset and cried a lot and told a couple of friends and my brother about it. It was good to talk about it to friends. I ended up playing a computer game to idle my mind so when I went to bed it was rough for me because I thought about it all over again.

I was able to hold firm with my nutritional plan though I did not drink enough water yesterday (just 48/96 oz).

If any of you pray for other people (in whatever way), please pray for my Dad, Scott, who has cancer on the right side of his tongue. Pray that the surgery goes well, and if he has to do chemo/radiation that his health holds up in the process. Thanks.

best wishes to your dad for a speedy recovery...

sorry to hear about your dad, i hope he's gonna be fine.we will definitly pray for him...

Thanks folks.

Been feeling pretty good. I updated Post #2 with my most recent weight, workouts, and thoughts about working out. I hit the 5 pound mark this morning and my face looks really good half the time (heh), so I think it will be awesome when I've lost 45 pounds. I'm so excited! I don't expect to lose 5 pounds every 2 weeks. I am excited though.

I have high energy and am doing well with the workouts. I'm not sore and still get my heart rate above 170 for a vast majority of the workout (probably 20+ of the 25 minutes). I did have the goal of increasing my speed by 5% per week, but I don't think my cardiovascular system is gonna allow me. Not that my cardio system is bad, it just doesn't progress that quickly. My most recent workout ended at 190 HR (which is my max HR), so I need to maintain the speed until my workouts are ending below 180 HR so I do not push my heart too hard.

I had a big deal that I cooked on Friday and I took it easy on the calories beforehand so I was still able to keep the calories down, and still lost weight the next day. I think preparation, portion control, and healthy prep (not butter heavy, etc) led to it being good. I was actually shocked when I weighed myself since I thought a big meal at the end of the day would weigh me down. So I'm not sure why I dropped 1.2 pounds from the day before... Maybe everything is paying off. I'm expecting for the scale to read higher tomorrow, so if it is lower again, I will be very happy.

Feeling good today. Talking to a friend last night on the phone. They were shocked that I was 45 pounds overweight, and they've seen me recently. Their comment was that if I lost 45 pounds then I would be way too skinny.

I do have a target weight loss but I'm gonna play it "smart" once I get down toward the target. If I'm very lean at say 165 (36# weight loss), then I may revise my target. If the last 10 pounds would be muscle, I don't want to lose that last 10 pounds.

I DID look in the mirror this morning, and I'm pretty sure that I have at least 30 MORE pounds of fat to lose. Just going by the "stick of butter method" (a pound of fat being the volume of a stick of butter...?), my stomach has 10 pounds to lose, chest 4 pounds, back 10 pounds, love handles 2 pounds, thighs 4 pounds. So I'm going to get down to 166 without second guessing myself.

Maybe my reward for 166 will be to pony up and pay for a body composition test (I definitely don't trust those body fat scales or hand-helds). Then I can revise my weight goal to fit with my long-term health goals.

Anyway, "You look fine now..." aren't going to cause me to let up in my quest for healthy weight loss.

Good plan... never get too hung up on a specific number -just go by what you're seeing and how you're feeling -becaue the only person who will ever know that number is you and your doctor...

OMG. Had 3030 calories yesterday. Too much dark chocolate, then had 4 glasses of red wine, then had a double dose of pb on toast... Back on track today.