Re: Losing Weight with Starscream
 

I'm back on my proper diet and what's even better is that Lisa is right on board with me. She doesn't need to lose weight at all, but wants to eat healthier.
My "eat healthy" plan has more or less been an avoidance thing. I stay away from meat as much as possible and watch potassium like a hawk because of my condition. That doesn't leave much I can eat except grains and whole food, plant based stuff.
Fortunately I can tolerate a little of anything, I just can't eat steak 3 times a day and I can't eat chicken at all, it totally screws me up. The potassium in meat breaks down slower and keeps me screwed up longer than the potassium in fruit and vegiees and seafood. Except shrimp. Shrimp is like the chicken of the sea to me.
I haven't been on the scale, but I'm still hanging around 200. That should be dropping quickly as I'm feeling a lot better since I had my meds adjusted, and I'm putting in a good 12 hours a day on my feet now. That's freakin awesome. Thank You, Jesus. :tu

I've also resumed drinking tons of water. Since midnight last night I've put down half a gallon. I'm going for a refill right now. :D

Re: Losing Weight with Starscream
 

Howdy everyone! I know I'm blessed as far as weight goes, but like most people in the early 40's, metabolism has certainly slowed over the years. Early this spring I ended up in the hospital overnight for an AFib episode. I have none of the normal conditions that are seen as a trigger for AFib episodes. The doctors were at a lost for what triggered it, but they did say that is normal for someone with no pre existing conditions. Although they told me that I was clear to resume whatever exercise programs that I wanted, the mental affects of that episode stuck with me for a long time.
I had never been hospitalized in my life and when it comes to my heart, that was some scary sh1t for me!
I signed back up with a local academy that teaches Tae Kwon Do, I love it and the flexibility it provides as well as the workout is great for me. I've been doing that for about 2 years and my goal is to get my black belt, about another year and I should be at my goal.
My wife has started her weight loss journey and we are completely changing our diets. I started out at 207lbs and in 2 weeks I'm down to 199 without working out, that starts this week. We belong to our community center which is fairly new and is a really great facility with tons of workout equipment. We've been down this road before and always kind of regressed, but with her conditions that the doctors recently informed her of, I think we can make the life changes that we need. Being a good example for our kids is another major driver in this as well.

Re: Losing Weight with Starscream
 

Good luck Jeff with the new lifestyle, to you and your wife. Looks like you're already on your way, dropping the 8lbs in the first two weeks.

Back up to 193.6 this morning after a week on the road for work. Based on my scale, I dropped another .7% body fat, so I actually gained muscle this week. I"m not sure how accurate the scales can be, but I do see more development in my chest. All those pushups are working. Now to work on my rear shoulder development.

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Keep at it y'all. I lost less than a lb last week, so since I average I'm still at 304. Hope to be able to get under 300 b4 I leave for a week with the outlaws for Thanksgiving.

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Had to get back on track today. Been slipping just a little bit and not eating like I should. Just a few too many carbs causing my blood sugar to run a little higher than normal. Next best remedy after cutting back on the carbs, exercise. Did my usual 5 different sets of 15 pushups and 200 crunches. Got into Chicago and decided to get some more in before heading into work. Did 4.2 miles on the treadmill and a set of shoulder and bicep weights. Let's hope I can stay up the whole shift. I hate nights.
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Re: Losing Weight with Starscream
 

Finally stepped back on today after nearly a month away it seems. I hit a wall where I only lost like 1.5 lbs over a 2 week period after big time cardio and needed to give my body some rest as I was quite sore. I didn't follow my diet either and expected the worst, but I was only up 3 lbs. Started back at it this morning with spinning and back On the WW. Would definitely like to be down 15 more lbs before the year is up.

Re: Losing Weight with Starscream
 

Jumped on the scale this morning after returning from my odyssey. Drumroll please...... 189.9. Holy crap! I can't believe it. And per my scale, I'm at 18% body fat. Again, not sure how accurate those little feet pad things are for calculating that, but I'm not complaining.

Re: Losing Weight with Starscream
 

I got back into 36's for the first time in awhile today. My ultimate goal is to get back into 32's I once wore. Plus I have to get another belt. This one is a bit too long.

Thinking about training for a mini marathon here in May. The longest distance I've ever run was 6 miles and that was just once. I did an hour on the treadmill yesterday at a whopping 5.12 miles (11m43s pace). I've never been a good runner-even after doing 6 months of army basic training/AIT. I will see if I can find a good plan train for it. My quads are sore as hell after yesterday's run. I have about 6 months to train, so I'm interested in figuring out a good number to start with each run/week and then how to go up from there.

Re: Losing Weight with Starscream
 

Congrats Duane on the new pants. I'm in the same boat. Hoping to just comfortably fit into 34's. Checkout Coolrunning.com for training programs for all types of races.

Re: Losing Weight with Starscream
 

Thanks-I'll check it out. I have a feeling that I should be only doing 1-2 miles at a time right now until I can improve my pace quite a bit. My legs are really sore from my run 2 days ago.

Re: Losing Weight with Starscream
 

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.

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

Keep up the good work though Duane. :tu

Re: Losing Weight with Starscream
 

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. :D

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.

Re: Losing Weight with Starscream
 

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. :tu

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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. :dr

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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.

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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!

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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

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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.

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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.

Re: Losing Weight with Starscream
 

188.6 after a 5 mile run this morning.

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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?

Re: Losing Weight with Starscream
 

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. :)

Re: Losing Weight with Starscream
 

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.

Re: Losing Weight with Starscream
 

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. :D

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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.

Re: Losing Weight with Starscream
 

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.

Re: Losing Weight with Starscream
 

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.

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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. :D

Re: Losing Weight with Starscream
 

192.4 this morning. :tu

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Nice job Scott. Keep it up.

I'm down to 188.6 this morning.

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I'm not really doing anything, Bob. I'm just matching my intake to my metabolism.
Yesterday's diet was 3 pieces of Amish Friendship bread for lunch, two cans of Spaghettios for dinner, and a pumpkin pop-tart before bed. That illustrates how "flexible" I am with my diet. :D
I don't normally eat junk all day, or at all, really. It just honestly doesn't matter what I eat as long as the net aggregate is healthy, and I actually levitate towards good food anymore.
The amount of food I stuff in my gob is tiny compared to what it used to be. That was a very difficult habit to break and it's an easy one to get back to. I had to do some serious rewiring and rethinking to make it stick, and I imagine it's still precarious at best.
One great thing that's happened that I never understood is desert. I never ordered coffee and desert at a restaurant because I'd be so stuffed and in pain that it wasn't even an option. Now I fill up fast, stop eating, sit for a bit, wait for Weeze to finish, and usually we share desert and have a cup of coffee. We carry TONS of leftovers home, too. It's cut down on having to cook dinner. :)

Re: Losing Weight with Starscream
 

Well, I'm jumping on board....the stories I have been reading on the Health and Fitness section of this forum are inspiring.

Heading back to the Caribbean in the Spring and figured that I better get in better beach shape than I was in last year. I weighed in at 222('bout what I was in the picture you are seeing) at the first of the year and would like to get back to 200(weight I was when I graduated HS 24 years ago) by the time I head South. Way I look at it, it is about a pound a year....:r

Though I have always tried to get to the gym in the colder months and I ride bikes a lot in the warmer months, I have never really watched what I eat. That is relative, I like to think I know what I am putting in my body...but portions have never meant a thing to me. I am not one to eat dessert, but I'll eat 3 plate loads of whatever is for dinner, if that makes sense.

Anyway, I have started to count calories and have been religious at the gym.....we'll see where we end up..... It is written down for all to see, with a pic as well.... Here's hoping that I look better than this in 2.5ish months.....:tu

http://i1091.photobucket.com/albums/...LoseWeight.jpg

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Good luck EJ. It's amazing to see how much you really eat when you start counting calories, huh? I was surprised to say the least.

Re: Losing Weight with Starscream
 

very!

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I finished down 48 for the year and took the past week to eat anything I wanted. I start up P90X on Monday and going to see how well that does for me after 90 days. Then I'll be on to P90X2 after that. :tu

Re: Losing Weight with Starscream
 

Awesome Duane. I really want to start the P90x program, but I'm so hooked in using my treadmill right now. Just did another 4.6 miles today, over 23 for the week.

Re: Losing Weight with Starscream
 

I'm actually going to start off with the P90X Lean option right now. I still have weight to lose and I'll have plenty of opportunity to do the more intensive weight training in the P90X classic.

I was up 6 lbs today after a 10 day diet "sabbatical" of sorts, but I'm full water compared to when I wasn't as fully hydrated on New Year's Day. I took measurements of my chest, waist, and biceps so we'll see how many inches I can shed over the next 12 weeks. I'm hoping by the end of the 12 weeks that I can easily be down to my goal weight of 170. Haven't seen that number on the scale in almost 20 years when I got out of the active duty basic training and AIT days.

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Been sick since Tuesday/Wednesday..... Still getting sneaking in 30 minutes of cardio all hopped up on DayQuil and eating right. No weights, think my head would explode. Not sure pushing through is helping me recover...:confused: Wednesday was the worst, thought I may pass out....:r

I have never worked out when ill....but I have this thing in my head that ANY waiver of commitment, is waiver of commitment...

Obviously I'm not so ill I cannot work out, puking ect...

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How's everyone doing this snowy morning? Haven't done an official weigh in for some time. Figured I'd give an update. Drumroll please...

187.4. That's approximately 112lbs I've lost, since I'm guessing I started around the 300lb mark. Had some good news earlier in the week concerning my blood sugar. My hemoglobin A1C this go around was a 4.9. Normal range is 4-6. I haven't taken a pill for either my blood sugar or blood pressure in months as my readings are all in the normal range. Amazing what exercise and good diet can do. :D

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Congratulations, Bob!!! :tu

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That is stinking AWESOME!!!!! CONGRATULATIONS:tu

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I'm down to 211( 210.9;) ) this morning.... Since this started January 1st, I'm down 11lbs in my journey to get to 200lbs by mid March. I am truly amazed the difference I can see with 11lbs....:)

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Thats awesome! Keep up the good work EJ.

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EJ, me and you are on the same path, Jan 1st I weighed 229...down to 223, want to get back to 200 Lbs. :tu

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191.0.
Not bad considering we just got back from vacation. I had a brief look at 189-something last week but I knew it wouldn't last.
These last few pounds are tough. I'd like to find 185 and stay right around there. Right now I've come down 59 pounds from where I started a couple years ago. I made it to 185 then shot back up to 223. This time it's been slow and steady because I've adjusted what and how I eat. I can't believe I'm not a skeleton because I really don't eat much of anything at all.

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Nice job Scott. You and I are right about the same. I was 187.8 this morning and that was after a 8.5 mile run last night. I"m hovering between that 187-192 mark, but can't seem to hit that 185.

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I was 185 and ripped when my daughter was born 15 years ago. Spent at least five days a week at the Y. We have a gym membership, I'm going to have to start using it.
I see my back doctor in a week or so, I'm going to ask if she can get me to PT to find some exercises for my back, then when I see my neurologist I'm going to see if he's got any ideas about how I can work out with having to be carried home on a stretcher.
I fear it's going to require more drugs and I'm not real keen on that. But I can't do any repetitive motions without my muscles staying stuck. If I can just get some good work in on my back, that should help dramatically. And it should take a few more pounds off and make me feel better, I figure. :tu

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We will walk a river, huck some flies, smoke a great cigar and celebrate our goal together this Summer! Maybe a trip to the Green......:tu

Re: Losing Weight with Starscream
 

189.8 this morning. Talk about just barely sneaking under the magical barrier. ;)