Healthy Habits

Weighed myself today and I currently sit at 288.8. That is 31.2 lbs down since 2/25. I know this amount of loss in this period of time is unsustainable, but it's really gratifying to know that my hard work is showing results. Sunday will be our first "cheat day" and I feel like I have truly earned it. Before, I would have some beers at night while just hanging out and it became a nightly thing. Now, I have busted my ass everyday and totally changed my lifestyle and I get to enjoy celebrating some of that. I saw my mom and dad for the first time since we started this journey and they both commented that I'm looking good. That was really good to hear. My wife is down over 20 lbs as well and I couldn't be prouder of her. She has really taken charge on our diet and constantly comes up with low carb meals that are really good. She's even made a few desserts that have been awesome. I have a few guys at work that are working to lose weight as well so we all try and keep each other accountable. That makes a big difference when you are held accountable.
 
clevelandisthecity said:
Weighed myself today and I currently sit at 288.8. That is 31.2 lbs down since 2/25. I know this amount of loss in this period of time is unsustainable, but it's really gratifying to know that my hard work is showing results. Sunday will be our first "cheat day" and I feel like I have truly earned it. Before, I would have some beers at night while just hanging out and it became a nightly thing. Now, I have busted my ass everyday and totally changed my lifestyle and I get to enjoy celebrating some of that. I saw my mom and dad for the first time since we started this journey and they both commented that I'm looking good. That was really good to hear. My wife is down over 20 lbs as well and I couldn't be prouder of her. She has really taken charge on our diet and constantly comes up with low carb meals that are really good. She's even made a few desserts that have been awesome. I have a few guys at work that are working to lose weight as well so we all try and keep each other accountable. That makes a big difference when you are held accountable.
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If you’re doing strict low-carb, oftentimes once your body adjusts you’ll dump a large amount of water weight. You’re right that it’s not typical or sustainable, but thinking of it as free motivation the way you’re doing is the way to go.

Nicely done!
 
it's more about changing the bad habits of eating too much, eating when bored, drinking empty calories... mix in a little exercise and you'll be good.

no need to stay with some radical diet (not saying yours is radical) that's long-term unsustainable. that can be discouraging. it's more about "do i really need that third pork chop?" and saying "no" instead of "fuck it, it tastes good. i'm eating it".

your stomach & brain will slowly start to demand less and less. what feels like "i'm still going to be hungry if i don't eat that whole thing" becomes "i'm satisfied with what i've had. leftovers sound great" and you're not forcing it.


get to a place where you can eat whatever you want... but maybe not a triple portion (which was my problem).
 
ChicagoGuy said:
If you’re doing strict low-carb, oftentimes once your body adjusts you’ll dump a large amount of water weight. You’re right that it’s not typical or sustainable, but thinking of it as free motivation the way you’re doing is the way to go.

Nicely done!
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Absolutely agree. We're just really watching what we eat and making a big effort to cut out a lot of carbs, but not all. It's definitely a good motivator to know that we can do it and have success with it.

furley said:
it's more about changing the bad habits of eating too much, eating when bored, drinking empty calories... mix in a little exercise and you'll be good.

no need to stay with some radical diet (not saying yours is radical) that's long-term unsustainable. that can be discouraging. it's more about "do i really need that third pork chop?" and saying "no" instead of "fuck it, it tastes good. i'm eating it".

your stomach & brain will slowly start to demand less and less. what feels like "i'm still going to be hungry if i don't eat that whole thing" becomes "i'm satisfied with what i've had. leftovers sound great" and you're not forcing it.


get to a place where you can eat whatever you want... but maybe not a triple portion (which was my problem).
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This is what we're working toward. My goal is to get to 250 to start. I'd like to lose a little more but that's the first big goal. Ultimately I want to be able to enjoy some beers on the weekend and eat whatever I want. For right now, I need to get my weight down and keep on a good regimen so that I can achieve what I want.
 
clevelandisthecity said:
Absolutely agree. We're just really watching what we eat and making a big effort to cut out a lot of carbs, but not all. It's definitely a good motivator to know that we can do it and have success with it.


This is what we're working toward. My goal is to get to 250 to start. I'd like to lose a little more but that's the first big goal. Ultimately I want to be able to enjoy some beers on the weekend and eat whatever I want. For right now, I need to get my weight down and keep on a good regimen so that I can achieve what I want.
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The exercise portion of this equation can really help with this. Building muscle means you burn more calories just sitting on your ass than you did prior and recovery from physical exertion also burns calories. That stair machine session that burned 300 calories will pay dividends beyond those initial 300. Your body will burn calories repairing your muscles and then those larger muscles will burn calories just existing.

As far as portion control. I think about satiety a lot in how I eat too. Protein, fat, and fiber all make you feel fuller longer, so try eating the porch chop and broccoli first and slowly. You'll find you're ok with fewer potatoes after.
 
JoeLikesBeer said:
As far as portion control. I think about satiety a lot in how I eat too. Protein, fat, and fiber all make you feel fuller longer, so try eating the porch chop and broccoli first and slowly. You'll find you're ok with fewer potatoes after.
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Hells yea to this right here.

I think I mentioned it before but my fam demands a “pizza night” almost weekly. Before I would wreck an entire pizza myself. Now, ill eat a chicken breast, can of tuna or a steak before allowing myself any pizza and im usually pretty content with just a slice or 2 as opposed to 6-8.

I kick the shit out of myself nearly every time I workout so the temptation to allow food rewards is ever present. Making protein a priority every time I consume anything has helped a lot with that.
 
took my 20+ year old bike in for a tune up today and it made me think i should just buy a new one instead.

bike shop has bikes mostly 600 and up. had to pop over to Walmart and browsed their bikes. they have Schwinn's that look reasonable for more like 300. anyone have experience with these things for a guy who might ride 15-20 times a year, casually?
 
furley said:
took my 20+ year old bike in for a tune up today and it made me think i should just buy a new one instead.

bike shop has bikes mostly 600 and up. had to pop over to Walmart and browsed their bikes. they have Schwinn's that look reasonable for more like 300. anyone have experience with these things for a guy who might ride 15-20 times a year, casually?
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I don't know much about bikes at all - however, when we were buying a bike for the kid most recently, we were debating one from a bike shop vs. one from Target, etc.

I can't recall who told us this but - I think someone (can't remember if it was a friend, or a guy at a bike shop) said that those big box store bikes are not really designed to be maintained (or repaired) - just ride till you can't no more...so I think it might come down to whether you're OK freelancing some repair on your own, or if it comes down to it, buying another $300 bike in a couple of years if this one goes belly up.

I know biking took off again during the pandemic, but around here, there used to be tons of reasonable used bikes, nonprofits that took bike donations and restored them, etc. - not sure if that's the case anymore. Also, I just noticed that the bike shop right by my house offers a year of free maintenance with any purchase. I think (assume) that the comfort on the nicer bike will be significantly better than the big box bike - which may influence your healthy habits (e.g., do I really want to bruise my taint today, or should I just stay here?).
 
GhostOfGaspar said:
Thought I'd share publicly so that if nothing else, I'd have a record to look back on.
Started this year out at 207lbs. I found an old post that said in January 2018 I was at 226lbs, so that was nice to see, I suppose. My target weight for about a decade has been 180lbs, which is the weight I was at when I was about 29-30 years old. I'll be 40 next month.
In addition to a pretty extreme reduction/elimination of alcohol consumption, I'm going to keep sticking to my diet of about 1/2 meals being vegetarian. When I was diagnosed with gout about 16 months back, I weighed in at 223lbs, and I think the dietary changes, along with increased general mobility from not being in excruciating pain about 20% of the time, has really helped. A few habits I need to changed and dial in, like snacking on the couch at night (though usually something like pretzels or popcorn), but I'm optimistic.
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Late last week I touched 199.8 on the scale; first time under 200 in about 5 years (and that was only very brief). I visited the in-laws for the weekend, but tried really hard not to over-indulge and weighed in today at 200.8, which I feel ok about. This coming weekend we're spending with some other family in S FL for the "dedication" of my new godson, so I'm going to try very hard to maintain the same type of self control as I did over easter. After that, I should be back on the normal routine and steadily shooting for about a half pound a week.
So 4 months, about 6 pounds? I'll take it. If that rounds out to 15 pounds for a year, I'll take that too. I'm now 40, so I better set myself up now.
 
GhostOfGaspar said:
Late last week I touched 199.8 on the scale; first time under 200 in about 5 years (and that was only very brief). I visited the in-laws for the weekend, but tried really hard not to over-indulge and weighed in today at 200.8, which I feel ok about. This coming weekend we're spending with some other family in S FL for the "dedication" of my new godson, so I'm going to try very hard to maintain the same type of self control as I did over easter. After that, I should be back on the normal routine and steadily shooting for about a half pound a week.
So 4 months, about 6 pounds? I'll take it. If that rounds out to 15 pounds for a year, I'll take that too. I'm now 40, so I better set myself up now.
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What do you dedicate him to?
 
shadowane said:
What do you dedicate him to?
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god? I don't know. I don't do religion. But the parents are well aware of my atheism, so they're cool that I'm not whatever a traditional godparent is I guess? I think I just have to be a good friend to the kid and take him in if something happens.
My unencumbered wife and I are actually in this role for 8 children under 7.

I find that comforting and horrifying at the same time.
 
Update: obviously my weight loss slowed down after I lost the initial water weight. However, my wife and I have totally changed our daily lifestyle. Even if we drank all night with friends, we still get up and the first thing we do is workout. We've had some ups and downs, but as of today I am 1 pound away from my first goal of 40 pounds down. We continue to eat well, have stuck with the intermittent fasting, and there has only been one day that I personally haven't worked out (I had covid again but even then I did 30 minutes on the treadmill each day I had it). We're to the point that no matter what, we make sure to get our exercise in. This has helped both physically as well as mentally. I started at 320 lbs and this morning was at 281. My next goal is to hit 250. Between exercise and all of the yard work that needs done, I'm hopeful I can hit that by the fall.
 
clevelandisthecity said:
Update: obviously my weight loss slowed down after I lost the initial water weight. However, my wife and I have totally changed our daily lifestyle. Even if we drank all night with friends, we still get up and the first thing we do is workout. We've had some ups and downs, but as of today I am 1 pound away from my first goal of 40 pounds down. We continue to eat well, have stuck with the intermittent fasting, and there has only been one day that I personally haven't worked out (I had covid again but even then I did 30 minutes on the treadmill each day I had it). We're to the point that no matter what, we make sure to get our exercise in. This has helped both physically as well as mentally. I started at 320 lbs and this morning was at 281. My next goal is to hit 250. Between exercise and all of the yard work that needs done, I'm hopeful I can hit that by the fall.
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Killen it man, awesome work and congratulations!
 
clevelandisthecity said:
It's embarrassing as hell to throw those numbers out there
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Nahdog, not in this space. You're putting in the work and that's something to be proud of.

I've been on a mountaineering workout plan with my wife since February and heading into climbing season I'm excited to start putting it to the test. I was supposed to be on a Mt. Hood climb literally right now but the PNW heat wave and some thunderstorm risk caused us to scratch last minute. It's ok, the mountain will still be there. But the mountaineering plan we're on involves a LOT of longer duration lower HR workouts to work on increasing your aerobic threshold. When your objective is 8-16 hour days in the mountains with 30-40 lbs on your back the idea is to move more efficiently (even if it's more slowly) and not just blow your blood glycogen store out of the gate. The program starts with an aerobic threshold test to establish that heart rate and then use it as a limit for the 8 week program. I recently retook the test to see where my aerobic threshold is and I was psyched to see it jump about 6 BPM, indicating that I can now move faster while still being efficient. The workouts have been fun but are definitely time consuming, like a weekday after work 2 hour uphill (the 2 hrs includes ascent + descent) 15% Bodyweight Carry while trying not to exceed the Zone 2 HR. But it's been paying off.

In the midst of this I've also been trying to focus on some weight loss since it's not lost on me that the easiest way to not carry more weight uphill is to not have it on my frame. For the past
couple years I've frequently hovered around 290, sometimes exceeding 300 after the winter holidays. This year was no exception. I came into January at 302 and after making some diet and drinking habit changes I'm currently flirting with the 270s for the first time since I was running the weight loss BIFs over on TalkBeer. Feelsgoodman.
 
mborden said:
Nahdog, not in this space. You're putting in the work and that's something to be proud of.

I've been on a mountaineering workout plan with my wife since February and heading into climbing season I'm excited to start putting it to the test. I was supposed to be on a Mt. Hood climb literally right now but the PNW heat wave and some thunderstorm risk caused us to scratch last minute. It's ok, the mountain will still be there. But the mountaineering plan we're on involves a LOT of longer duration lower HR workouts to work on increasing your aerobic threshold. When your objective is 8-16 hour days in the mountains with 30-40 lbs on your back the idea is to move more efficiently (even if it's more slowly) and not just blow your blood glycogen store out of the gate. The program starts with an aerobic threshold test to establish that heart rate and then use it as a limit for the 8 week program. I recently retook the test to see where my aerobic threshold is and I was psyched to see it jump about 6 BPM, indicating that I can now move faster while still being efficient. The workouts have been fun but are definitely time consuming, like a weekday after work 2 hour uphill (the 2 hrs includes ascent + descent) 15% Bodyweight Carry while trying not to exceed the Zone 2 HR. But it's been paying off.

In the midst of this I've also been trying to focus on some weight loss since it's not lost on me that the easiest way to not carry more weight uphill is to not have it on my frame. For the past
couple years I've frequently hovered around 290, sometimes exceeding 300 after the winter holidays. This year was no exception. I came into January at 302 and after making some diet and drinking habit changes I'm currently flirting with the 270s for the first time since I was running the weight loss BIFs over on TalkBeer. Feelsgoodman.
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Have you shared your workouts? If not, can you? Trying to figure out what I can do in the city to get my body ready
 
clevelandisthecity said:
Update: obviously my weight loss slowed down after I lost the initial water weight. However, my wife and I have totally changed our daily lifestyle. Even if we drank all night with friends, we still get up and the first thing we do is workout. We've had some ups and downs, but as of today I am 1 pound away from my first goal of 40 pounds down. We continue to eat well, have stuck with the intermittent fasting, and there has only been one day that I personally haven't worked out (I had covid again but even then I did 30 minutes on the treadmill each day I had it). We're to the point that no matter what, we make sure to get our exercise in. This has helped both physically as well as mentally. I started at 320 lbs and this morning was at 281. My next goal is to hit 250. Between exercise and all of the yard work that needs done, I'm hopeful I can hit that by the fall.
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Nice work!

clapping-applause.gif


I had a 6-month follow up with my doctor this AM, and I'm only down about 5 lbs from November, but probably 10 lbs from January when I started exercising and cut out alcohol. Not much, but I'll take it.

Definitely need to increase the exercise a bit if I can. I am going to start adding some alcohol back in on the weekends.
 
BigFrank said:
Have you shared your workouts? If not, can you? Trying to figure out what I can do in the city to get my body ready
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I have not. A few years back we purchased the book Training for New Alpinism, which has a LOT of fantastic information in it and is intended to target anybody from a casual mountaineer to people trying to summit Everest.

uphillathlete.com

Training for the New Alpinism

By Steve House and Scott Johnston Training for the New Alpinism translates theory into application to allow you to coach yourself to any mountaineering goal. Steve House, one of the best, and his trainer Scott Johnston present training plans for weekend warriors as well as the world's best...
uphillathlete.com uphillathlete.com

They have a number of training programs you can buy and the break it down into a helpful decision tree depending on your obective:

Training Plans Decision Tree

Training Plans Decision Tree Follow the map below to find the best training plan for you. (view in fullscreen) ??Your
uphillathlete.com uphillathlete.com

We chose Mountaineering > Beginner Mountaineer > 8 Week Mountaineering Training Plan. It's a bit spendy at $50 for the plan and then the cost of a TrainingPeaks subscription (you need premium to do the Aerobic Threshold Test "easily" but you can also do it offline for free based on a video they have). I already had a TrainingPeaks subscription from the 80/20 running plan I was doing. Once you own the training program it's yours forever and you can reschedule it whenever you'd like. If you buy the book the training programs are in there in some form but through TrainingPeaks it can sync with my Garmin workouts which is why I got it. If I didn't have a smart watch doing that I might not have paid for the plan, I dunno.

Also if your objective is strictly backpacking or mountain climbing without a mountaineering bend, this may all be a bit overkill, or maybe not.
 
clevelandisthecity said:
Update: obviously my weight loss slowed down after I lost the initial water weight. However, my wife and I have totally changed our daily lifestyle. Even if we drank all night with friends, we still get up and the first thing we do is workout. We've had some ups and downs, but as of today I am 1 pound away from my first goal of 40 pounds down. We continue to eat well, have stuck with the intermittent fasting, and there has only been one day that I personally haven't worked out (I had covid again but even then I did 30 minutes on the treadmill each day I had it). We're to the point that no matter what, we make sure to get our exercise in. This has helped both physically as well as mentally. I started at 320 lbs and this morning was at 281. My next goal is to hit 250. Between exercise and all of the yard work that needs done, I'm hopeful I can hit that by the fall.
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I should have waited a day to post this. Got on the scale this morning and it showed 280.0 on the dot. What an amazing feeling to hit that goal. 30 more to the next one!
 
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