The Biggest LOOSER -- running weight loss thread

Mrs. W has been doing the Paleo diet -- she really likes it but it has been a pain to food shop and certainly to go out to eat.

I've been trudging along with my sort of South Beach diet -- down 26 pounds in just under 4 months. I've also been walking about 4-5 miles a day and doing cardio 5-6 days a week

 

That's impressive. Keep it up. Girlfriend bought me a nautilus stationary bike for xmas. Is great. because of the resistance levels, I can burn like 120 calories in like 8 minutes. nothing like breaking a sweat that fast. Can neutralize even the worst hangovers.

 

So I've paleo dieted my way into ketosis for about 90 percent of the days since Jan. 14.

I started at 288. Today I reached my second goal of 249.2. First time I have been under 250 since I blew out my ACL in March 2010.

My loss has been fairly consistent, with a few plateaus/splurges during that timeframe. I suspect I have had to lose the same 15 pounds, twice.

 

Good work TV -- keep it up.

Mrs. W is almost at her wedding weight with the paleo -- 15 years and 2 kids later.

I've kind of plateaued with my diet. I'm anywhere from 206-210 depending on the day, which is OK with me. The size 36 pants not only fit, but some are slightly loose and the size 38s are in a box in the basement.

 

January of 2013 I was 340. By the end of 2013 I was down to 275.
And then it ballooned. And dropped.
This January I was 325 and not happy about riding this rollercoaster. I'm down to 297 and with a month and a half left of work, hoping I can sweat off another 15 pounds before the season ends. The goal this winter is to not eat like an asshole, avoid beer, and get to the gym 3-4 times a week instead of just hoping the weight doesn't come back.

 

Remember: The weight always wants to come back. That's not meant to discourage you, but to help you remember to be disciplined about your choices.

 

Agree with DW on this one -- just keep on reminding yourself to be disciplined. It's no fun, but it works.

I have little will power, so I take the choice out of my hands and have the same breakfast basically every day and a salad for lunch at least 6 days a week.

 

Even though I walked 4-6 kilometers (yeah, I set my tracker to kms to feel like I accomplished something) a time several times a week for most of the last year, I still weigh 264 lbs. as of Monday. That's just not good enough.I finally got my Y membership on Monday since it's gonna get mighty cold around here soon and I need to find something that's more effective. I can start to feel the wear and tear of carrying this weight and it scares me.

Monday and Tuesday, I ran/walked 2-plus pretend miles on a treadmill, waved some smallish barbells around and pretend-rowed 1000 pretend meters. A couple weeks ago, I was talked into my first 5K. I finished the Gobble Gallop in 42:57. I ran about a third of it - the first half-K, the third half-K, threw in a couple short sprints on the way and then gave 'er on the home stretch. Today I got back in the Y and did 30 minutes of ellipticaling (ellipticating?), and the weights and the rowing. Gonna try to get back there on Sunday, maybe do the treadmill while watching football or something. On Monday, a Y person is going to show me the other machines too.

I kind of like the local Y here. They validate parking, so it's easy to get in and out and it's easy to get from there to the office in time to start my desk shift. I hope I can meet more folks there, too. I moved here about 16 months ago and it's just hard to make non-work friends. At the end of the week, I normally go to my local watering hole and nurse two pints for two hours in hopes I'll run into someone I recognize or someone worth chatting up and it rarely works.

I had a boss a couple years ago who had a health scare who said something kind of profound to me: "I worked out some, but only to justify eating what I wanted." Found that convicting. Still do. And since cooking is one of my favorite hobbies (because it makes me feel civilized and I don't have to know other people to do it), I'm concerned that all of the above isn't going to matter much unless I drastically trim portions and start eating that same project two, three, four times.

Sorry for the stream of consciousness. I'd like to be around 200 in 12-18 months from now but I've got a long way to go.

 

Hey, it was a Turkey Trot. Forty-three minutes was probably in the top half of the field!

The diet is really important, especially at your exercise level. No offense intended - at least you're doing something - but walking a 5K several times a week won't cut it. In fact, your body is probably already used to it. I'm not great at it, either, the diet part. I run 50-60 miles a week and still have a little gut that I have to get rid of if I am ever to reach my dream of crossing the finish line at Boston in under three hours. Keep cutting back the calories, as much as it might suck. And keep setting intermittent workout goals. If you stick with it, you will break through barriers you never thought possible. First, you have to learn to accept and embrace the suffering and discomfort. I always think. "Ninety-nine percent of men your age are not willing to put themselves through half of what you do."

 

Just had my annual physical and that was extremely discouraging. After a life of hovering between 215-225 (I'm 6'4"), I tipped the scales at 239. Like year I was 231 and that was alarming.

For the past 18 months, I've been working mornings and I know the four meals a day has added up.

Now walking an average of 15,000 steps to try and up the calories burned while trying to regain the discipline. In my mid-40s, it doesn't come off quickly. (Ten years ago, I went from 229 to 204 in three months just by running/HIIT inside at a gym every day).

Damn it sucked to see that 239.2 on the scale. Good part is that everything else checked out and I played full court basketball last week for 90 minutes and never needed water because I can still run all day -- just once a week on my knee, like Walton with the Clippers.

 

27 days later...

The 239.2 is down to 227.0. I feel spectacular -- the tight suits fit great again. 13 more to go to get to 214 (my goal as I'm 6'4")

Walking and diet with a little bit of running. Averaging 24,000 steps a day in January - walk a lot around the newsroom during commercials over four hours of airtime. Walk 50 flights of stairs most workdays. The steps add up fast.

Find places to walk. Today, I'll walk during both NFL games. At 7500 steps an hour, I'll be at 30,000 by the time McCarthy realizes he's out of challenges.

I'll do a short run every three days - three miles but with 8-10 :30 bursts of all out sprinting.

Diet has been the biggest change. No more or very limited added sugar and I won't eat anything after 3 pm (I get up at 2 am). So meals are 2 am, 8 am and 1 pm.

Find a friend to hold you accountable. My best friend lives 250 miles away and we haven't seen each other in seven years. He's trying to lose 60, I'm going for 25. The constant harping has reconnected us via text. He's down 19. I'm down 12. Yesterday, we decided to each walk 40,000 steps. And we each did it.

 

There's an article in the new Scientific American that says that people essentially. Urn the same number of calories no matter how much they exercise, so it's close to 100 percent about diet.