Mightynute

With the long weekend, I was able to get in more regular exercise than usual - boredom has its advantages when you have a nice gym in the apartment complex. With the exception of some rice (hey, better than sodium-soaked stuffing!) I stuck to the diet as well over Thanksgiving. So this morning's weigh-in came and I expected some horrible backsliding... WEIGHT: 228.4 lbs. Holy cow, we've passed the 10 pounds mark! Now I just need to keep this up. Talk about snatching motivation from the jaws of seemingly-imminent disappointment!

At the end of week 3: EXERCISE: Sticking to it. Now that I have access to a good set of free weights, changing the exercise plan to two days body weight resistance, two days free weights. DIET: After a stumbling start with my caloric intake actually being too low, I've balanced it out. Skirt steak and spinach makes a great dinner after a workout. Cutting out soda and replacing it with drinking a lot of water is a part of the daily routine now. Even allowing a beer or two on the weekend feels permissible, so it's a success here too. NON-FITNESS: The novel wound up grinding to a halt, what with the chaos of moving into a new apartment, just fell too far behind. It'll wind up being a longer-term project, though. The Mo'vember 'stache, however, is getting close to Peter Wyngarde levels of retro-awesome. MONDAY MORNING WEIGH-IN: **drumroll** - 229.8 pounds. Holy cow, nine pounds down in three weeks. The goal now is improve-and-maintain.

DAY 17: DIET: 16/42. Sticking to the diet is getting easier as time goes by. Finding that cravings for soda and snacks have decreased greatly after two weeks. EXERCISE: 8/24. Back on the Tues/Thurs/Sat/Sun rotation. Increasing pushups and upright rows from 10 to 15. NON-FITNESS: The novel has petered out, so that's likely to be my failure goal. Nadgers. In better news, the tacky Mo'vember 'stache is awesome.

You know, there's something I noticed - and I know the whole "correlation does not imply causation" thing - but since cutting out soda, processed sugar, and switching to a simpler diet I haven't had a single incident of acid reflux. Which used to be a major issue for me, and I know the weight loss is helping with that as well, just from an engineering standpoint (less abdominal fat pressing on the stomach means less acid getting squeezed up into the esophagus) - but I no longer have the morning routine of "Wake up and immediately gargle with sodium bicarbonate". The body weight routine is rougher than anticipated initially, but I'm adapting pretty well to it. I've increased the upright rows and the pushups from 10 to 15 per rep since those are easier exercises for me, and started really concentrating on form for the squats and lunges.

Second week was a bit more problematic for me due to moving, but I did my best to stick to the dietary restrictions I'd set out. Not full-on paleo (I'm not sold on the concept just yet, but ditching processed sugars and eating simply does make sense to me and I've been doing fine with that) but I've noticed that with a combination of getting decent exercise plus remembering to drink enough water, the weight loss is proceeding well. This morning's weigh-in put me at 233.0 lbs, which makes 6.8 pounds dropped in 2 weeks. I expect the body weight workout to be a little tougher this week, after banging my leg up pretty stupidly on Friday night. Squats and lunges were hell over the weekend, but today's a rest day so hopefully some proper hydration and protein intake should fix that up.

DAY 14: DIET: 13/42. Went out with friends this weekend, imbibed a bit too much. EXERCISE: 7/24. Got workouts in yesterday and today, plus moving on Saturday. Lots of exercise in. NON-FITNESS: Unfortunately, absolutely no writing got done this weekend. The Mo'vember 'stache, however, is doing well.

DAY 12: DIET: 12/42 - eating healthy so far has made me feel a lot better. Remembering to keep up calories has helped a lot with the initial feelings of tiredness, right now I'm at about 1500-1600 a day, and Monday's weigh-in should reflect some improvement. EXERCISE: 5.5/24 - missed doing the body weight resistance workout yesterday, was moving stuff into new apartment. I figure that carting around electronic equipment and walking up and down stairs counts as half a workout. NON-FITNESS: NaNoWriMo novel (7510/50000 - on target), Mo'Vember 'stache: 4 days and going!

So, twelve days in, I have managed to stick to the diet and get some good exercise in. Tomorrow there's going to be some (allowed) variance - moving into my new apartment and having a housewarming party so I may have a beer or two. But that won't set me back, I think. After all, the purpose of the challenge is to help enjoy life more when all's said and done, right? As for non-fitness goals, I'm proceeding well on the novel and the Mo'vember 'stache is beginning to hit the stage of "Oh wow, that's tacky". So, success on all fronts!

After one week, this morning's weigh-in has me nicely on the way to the weight loss goal - 2.4 of the 10 pounds down! It's been a while since I actually looked at a scale and did a fist-pump of happiness. Definitely need to keep up the exercise and continue sticking to the diet.

Three days in a row of sticking to the diet - albeit allowing myself one beer and a Reese's cup at a Halloween party. Plus a double-day workout this weekend. Next week adds moving and lifting lots of boxes to the workout, so yay for practicality. DIET: 7/42. Week 1 goal, met! EXERCISE: 4/42. Week 1 goal, met! Starting Tuesday, the NaNoWriMo goal goes live, with 1700 words daily as the goal. Plus, a second non-fitness goal has been added to the challenge: CHALLENGE GOAL: Grow a totally awesome Mo'vember 'stache.

Four days in, I'm managing to stick to the diet goals. No longer having soda cravings, which is a good thing. Body weight resistance exercises are kicking my butt, but worth it. Hopefully Monday's morning weigh-in will show some advancement.

DAY 4: Rushed to get out the door, but had the presence of mind to grab two eggs and toss them in a tupperware container. Microwaved scrambled eggs at work - not going to retry THAT experiment again, ugh. Healthy lunch, steamed up some tilapia for dinner. Was feeling a bit low on energy at a few points during the day, should probably bring some carrots and peanut butter as a mid-afternoon pick-me up. DIET 4/42 Exercise: Made it through three reps of the Beginner's Body Weight Routine. My quads are screaming from the squats and lunges, but it felt easier than Tuesday's. Well, maybe not easier, but less "why are my muscles on fire?" ouch. EXERCISE: 2/24 So far, on track. Oddly, no cravings for soda pop today. Perhaps four days off is working to kick the habit. Also downed... wow, about 4 liters of water throughout the day. Having a small .5 liter water bottle makes it oddly easier to drink more, plus I have to walk down two flights of stairs to refill the bottle. Bonus exercise!

Day 3 - two scrambled eggs with two strips turkey bacon for breakfast. Two small bratwurst sausages for lunch. Baked chicken breast for dinner. About 3 liters of water through the day. DIET: 3/42 Looking forward to next exercise benchmark tomorrow.

Did my first shot at the Beginner's Body Weight Routine last night. First repetition I was feeling kind of cocky. Second was tiring. Third was ass-kicking. But I managed to make it through (although I had to split the last 30-second plank into two 15-second planks). Diet is becoming easier to stick to - Dailyburn tells me that I came in quite a bit under my expected calorie intake yesterday, so I don't feel bad helping myself to a small bratwurst (no bun) from the work potluck today.

Day 1 (10/24): Three eggs for breakfast, chicken/onion/bean stew for lunch, bacon/spinach/pepper frittata for dinner. DIET: 1/42 Day 2 - frittata for breakfast, stew in the bag for lunch. Beef/onions/peppers stir-fry on the agenda for dinner, plus the first run-through of the body weight routine tonight. Already starting to feel the "Man, you need to go grab a Dr Pepper" craving, but am sticking to water. Plus, dropping and doing 10 push-ups in my office every time I think I want to go grab a snack out of the vending machine makes for good conditioning. UPDATE: Day 2 - frittata for breakfast, stew for lunch, last bit of eggs and bacon for dinner. Handful of unsalted almonds as snack. LOTS of water consumed through the day. DIET: 2/42. Also completed the first run-through of the Beginner's Body Weight Routine. Oh man, talk about a measuring point. Iteration 1: "Hey, this isn't too hard! I'm still in good shape!" Iteration 2: "Whoo, okay, this is hitting me now. Just get through it." Iteration 3: "OH MY GOD I HATE YOU STEVE PLEASE DIE..." But I did make it through - with the caveat that on the last plank I had to break it into two 15-second planks, but I think that counts as a "Go" for the first time through. EXERCISE: 1/24.

I hear you about the plateau. Seems like every time I've found a weight loss plan that works, there's this wall at 235 that I always hit. Being able to report to other people on a regular basis should be motivating, though! It's easy to slack off when nobody's watching.

I am, and looking forward to getting started on it this afternoon!

HAHAHAH! Hiya, Roos.

Fitness Goals: 1: Lose 10 pounds, putting me at 229 lbs as of Dec 5th. 2: Stick close to the paleo diet (at the very least, cutting out grains/bread, processed sugars, simple carbs, and especially soda pop) with no more than 5 "cheat" meals in the six weeks. 3: Stay on the Beginner's Body Weight Routine at least 4 days a week and stick with it for at least 20/24 days. Non-Fitness Goal: 1: Complete my NaNoWriMo goal of 30,000 words from Nov 1 to Nov 30.

Introduction time! I'm Matt - mid-thirties white-collar guy out here in the Midwest looking to get in better shape and improve my fitness (in general) and develop more self-confidence and general quality of life (in specific). Backstory - I grew up as a not-very-athletic kid who nonetheless got quite a bit of outdoor exercise due to living in rural areas, and then went into the Army straight out of high school and found that the more I exercised, the more I started packing on muscle mass. As a result, I don't think I met the Army's height/weight standards at any point after Basic, but I never scored below a 240/300 on a PT test. Of course, once I got out, I got complacent and let my fitness slide. For various reasons, I didn't make it a priority to maintain that level of fitness, and it came to a head this past January when we did a Wellness Seminar at work and I hit nearly every red flag they had: overweight, waist measurement way too high, HDL too low and LDL too high, body fat percentage roughly equivalent to a Paula Deen dessert - and so I decided to take action about it. Mind you, I had no idea how to go about it, so I tried a number of seemingly random plans: Atkins (lasted about two weeks), full-on vegan (lasted about 2 days), every time I'd see any kind of backslide, I'd give up hope and relapse to old bad habits. I found NerdFitness.com through a link from another site, and figured "What the heck, this sounds legit and logical" - especially the emphasis on progress. My basic goal is to get down to 200 pounds and 17.5% body fat - and from there, start working on getting that latter number down even further. One of the motivational tricks I've been trying is to think of it as preparing for some big quest - fighting the Monster (my own term for the extra body fat I'm carrying around). Today the Monster's at 68.5, once it's down to 35 - then I'm ready to take it on in earnest. Hopefully this site will help that along. Looking forward to it.

Brand new as well - signing up for the challenge! Trying some simple goals to start with: - maintain a good body weight resistance exercise program for at least 4 days a week - start adapting to a healthier diet (no fast food, no processed sugars, no soda pop) - drop 10 pounds *Non-Fitness goal: Succeed at my 30,000 word NaNoWriMo goal. Looks like fun!