Losing Weight with Starscream

[forgop]

199.0 this morning, down 4.6 this week and 35 lbs for the year despite being off my diet more often than not. 24 more until I hit my goal. The real discouraging thing is even at my goal, my BMI is still 26.6 and considered overweight and a size 32 waist at that point. When I get back to taking out a new life insurance policy next summer, a doctor will have to provide a letter to state that I'm not overweight.

Our thanksgiving was mild in comparison to years past. My mashed potatoes had 1/3 the amount of butter compared to how I normally make them. We didn't have chicken and noodles or stuffing out either. I splurged on one piece of pie.

[Chainsaw13]

Don't get me started on the BMI system. What a farce if you ask me.

Keep up the good work though Duane.

[Chainsaw13]

Holy crap, what workout. It's starting to get nasty outside, and by the time I get home from work it's usually too dark out to go running. So this evening I decided to get back into the P90 workout. Figured since I'm in better shape, I can step it up to the 2nd DVD, workouts 3-4. I guess I"m not in as good of shape as I thought.

It's a continuation of the first disc, but all of the cardio routines are tripled, and you do each one back-back-back. One "set" is 3 minutes long, 1 minute of front kicks, 1 minute of high knee blocks and 1 minute of side kicks. No break, repeat two more times. My legs were jello by the end of that. And once you've completed all of it, there's the Ab Ripper 200. 20 reps of 10 different ab crunches. I got about 150 in. Tomorrow is weight day. Should prove interesting.

[shilala]

I'm done to 197.0 today. Finally headed the right direction again.
We've been eating almost zero meat around here, and I've got salad coming out my ears. We're been trying to eat lots of whole foods and pasta and pretty much anything that avoids meat protein. It's to a point, mostly my health.
Tonight I'm making a roast with homemade noodles and gravy. That'll be a nice change of pace.

[backwoods357]

Originally Posted by shilala

We've been eating almost zero meat around here, and I've got salad coming out my ears.

I haven't lost a pound lately, I keep yoyo-ing between 198-204. Mostly because we eat anything and everything, I just finished off a rack of baby back ribs and a big bowl of Brunswick stew.

[forgop]

So, I ordered 3 new sets of scrubs for my new job coming up in 3 weeks. I order the usual-XL top and L pants and they're both too big. Waiting for M pants and L tops to come in. Never thought I'd see that happen.

[hotreds]

Boy, Thanksgiving week in the land of BBQ was not friendly! Six pounds gained- I really didn't eat THAT much! Depressing when you think of how hard it is to lose, and how easy it is to gain it back. Oh, well, back to the circular treadmill!

[goalie204]

They say 1 lb is 3500 Calories. If that's true, to gain 7LBS you'd have to have eaten an extra 24,500 Calories. I think some of its probably water weight, but who knows

[Chainsaw13]

Still hanging around the 190lb mark. Haven't been able to get as many workouts in lately as I'd like. Thinking about joining a gym so I can have someplace to go use a treadmill to keep the running going.

[Chainsaw13]

189.6 this morning. Stuck at the 190lb mark, which I'm ok with. I'm starting to like the way I look. Still losing fat and gaining muscle. Went for a 2.66mi run this morning. Sun was shining, little to no breeze, and 18degF weather. My lungs are still burning. Next time i'm throwing on a cheap snowmobiling balaclava.

[Chainsaw13]

188.6 after a 5 mile run this morning.

[forgop]

I'm going to mix things up a bit. I've been very lax on my diet and working out lately and heard about the 17 day diet. I'm going to give that a try and see if it'll help me get over this plateau I've been at. It's largely been a bit of laziness to being strict on my diet. This diet is pretty much summed up with lean meats, lots of good veggies, and 2 servings of probiotics/fruit per day (I'll accomplish this with 6 oz of fat free yogurt and 1 c berries twice/day). They also push getting healthy fats, elimination of real and artificial sugars, and drinking plain coffee or green tea and lots of water.

My diet for day 1 will be:
Breakfast:
2 eggs
6 oz greek fat free yogurt w/ 1 cup mixed berries
1 cup green tea

Snack
6 oz greek fat free yogurt w/ 1 cup mixed berries

Lunch
Large romaine/spinach salad w/ 4.5oz salmon
Includes orange/red pepper, mushrooms, red onion, tomatoes, and olive oil/balsamic vinegar for dressing

Dinner
6 oz salmon
3 cups steamed broccoli

I can do this for 17 days. They claim 10-15 lbs is possible in this period. Hell, if it's recommended by Dr. Phil, it's gotta be good, right?

[shilala]

195.0 this morning.
I've got my low-potassium diet worked out to where I don't make hardly and critical mistakes. My biggie was cereal. Cereal is my go-to when I get hungry. I just discovered it has 3500 mg of potassium per serving, and I have to stay well under 3000 a day if I want to walk and keep the pain to a minimum. I had no idea it's what's been screwing me up.
So I found some organic cereal that tastes like peppered chow mein noodles and it doesn't have any potassium added. It's really not all that bad if I let it soak a bit.
I found I can eat an English muffin with butter and peanut butter and a clementine instead, and that's not bad potassium-wise. I found some other options, too. But no more Cinnamon Toast Crunch and Honey Bunches of Oats for old Dad here.

[Chainsaw13]

Wow, that must be hard to maintain such a low potassium intake, when like you've found out, it's in so much food.

Don't know what's clicked for me, but I've decided I"m going to keep running outside as much as I can this winter. We'll see once the snow flies, but so far I've been out 4 times this week, with my shortest run at 3.1 miles. Now if I could only get past that 189 mark.

[Chainsaw13]

Still stuck around the 190lb mark. 189.0 this morning. Hard to believe after all the running I've been doing. But I'm still seeing improvements in muscle tone, especially the legs. Imagine that.

A couple of suggestions: don't worry about weight. Determine what body fat percentage you want to be at instead of weight. Often times as people begin working out they'll build muscle while losing fat and their weight won't change or may even go up a bit. Muscle weighs more than fat. I recommend getting a small hand held electronic body fat monitor and use that instead of the scale. They can be found for as little as $20-$30 and are accurate if used correctly. I would also recommend taking a weekly photo of yourself in a pair of shorts or swim suit. Compare the picture you took this week to one from a couple of weeks ago and I'll bet you notice a difference if you're eating right and exercising. Maybe it's just a little less fat here or a bit more cut there but it'll show that there's progress being made. These are just a couple of techniques personal trainers use to keep their clients motivated and show that sometimes scales do indeed lie.

[forgop]

2 family dinners For Christmas and I stayed true to the 17 day diet. I'm modifying it to a 20 day plan to finish out the year to see what I can accomplish when I step on the scales Jan 1st. I'm rewarding myself for a couple of days and back at it.

I was 192.0 when I stepped on the scales this morning. I figure 7 lbs in 14 days on the new diet is pretty good. Definitely want to be under 190 in January 1st.

[Chainsaw13]

Originally Posted by goomer

A couple of suggestions: don't worry about weight. Determine what body fat percentage you want to be at instead of weight. Often times as people begin working out they'll build muscle while losing fat and their weight won't change or may even go up a bit. Muscle weighs more than fat. I recommend getting a small hand held electronic body fat monitor and use that instead of the scale. They can be found for as little as $20-$30 and are accurate if used correctly. I would also recommend taking a weekly photo of yourself in a pair of shorts or swim suit. Compare the picture you took this week to one from a couple of weeks ago and I'll bet you notice a difference if you're eating right and exercising. Maybe it's just a little less fat here or a bit more cut there but it'll show that there's progress being made. These are just a couple of techniques personal trainers use to keep their clients motivated and show that sometimes scales do indeed lie.

That is the shift I'm making now that I've hit my goal weight, or close to it. I'm still seeing improvements in my physique so I'm good with that.

[shilala]

Down to 193.0 this morning. That's after eating everything in sight yesterday and dinner at Red Lobster. I had one of those incessantly hungry days. When I get that, I eat. It's good because most days I hardly eat anything and I have to get carbs in me to move the crap out of my muscles (it's a low-potassium, high carb diet I have to maintain).
The lobster I had last night whipped my ass soundly. I had to get out of bed at 3:00am and eat a muscle relaxer to break up the head to toe spasms. Apparently rock lobster has a crazy amount of potassium. Either that or they spray something on the salad. Eating out is always a wild card because I don't know what they're going to throw on my food.
I'm super sore from the attack last night, but on the positive side I got a full eight hour workout courtesy of muscle spasms.

[shilala]

192.4 this morning.