JeepN3rd

Ok, so on the fitness side I am 100% totally lazy. Well, I sorta take that back, I am getting inclined pushups in just about every day now so is one positive habit that has been established. I did a set of 40 this morning before my shower and I will often do a lower incline (closer to ground) set or two in the evenings when I walk the dogs. I just have not run in forever, though I do walk more often at lunch when I am out and about and still plan on making this a year of backpacking! I was thinking this morning that I am looking forward to my next run to see if I can "feel" the difference in the weight loss on my running! Where I am succeeding is on my diet! I was 215 on November 18th and I am 185 today. Basically low calories(1200ish), leaning mostly keto / paleo / less carby carbs and more fats and proteins. I track everything in MFP most days, weekends I get slack but I pretty much know at this point what I am eating and how often. I also decided to do the IF thing, so my breakfast is just good coffee, cream and sweetner(s). I eat from 1130ish to 730ish each day, so a 16:8 IF window. My Fitbit Aria scale is pretty awesome, reports my weight in and allows me to datalog all the stuff, so I can see my daily weight, and body fat percentage. Being a good accountant I have a Excel spreadsheet for this entire time! According to it I have lost 30 pounds now and about 13 of that is "Lean". I suspect about 5-10 of that lean was just pure water as I dropped 11 pounds in the first two weeks and my new "Lean" number dropped quickly from 147 to 138 in those same two weeks. From that 138 number, I have only dropped to 135 and my weight dropped from 204 to 185. See, bean counter... what that tells me is I dropped a good 15 pounds or more of fat after the initial water weight drop from 215 to 204. So how is that for an update!? I did re-join my local Planet Fitness last weekend, decided to be a big spender at $20 instead of $10, because those massage chairs are awesome. Plus my wife or friends can come with me too, free guest every time which is nice! Sam

Ok, "strength" training so far has been daily incline pushups which is better than nothing, but not as much as I want to accomplish! Diet is rocking, got to a new low over the weekend, managed to resist eating at the co-workers birthday party / sweet treat this morning at the office! Had a P3 protein pack instead and still celebrated with everyone. Had a co-worker mention she could really tell I was losing, down now 25 pounds since week of Thanksgiving! (215 to 190) On the hiking side, got some gift cards and bought another hiking guide for NC, lining up my backpacking plans for 2017!! Sam

Ok, so we officially started yesterday I believe! I got my challenge off and "running" (heh) by playing Elder Scrolls Online, all freakn day long. In my defense had 7+ inches of snow on Saturday whichthen froze over Sunday morning to ice where anything had melted, but mostly I was just lazy and have to work on Saturdays so I binged! This morning, brought the dog to work with me, already got in a quick walk around the office complex with her, I always seem to get in 10,000 steps or more on the days she comes to work with me between the various walks! Diet is still rocking, started at 215 in November, hit a new low over this weekend of 194.x, keeping the carbs low, and calories low still! Actually finding my carb count is closer to 50, so my macro is out of whack but since total calories is still in my goal range I am happy. Hoping the sun will dry out the roads in my neighborhood, sidewalks will take a bit, but maybe I can get in a couple miles tonight or tomorrow! (Mentally telling myself to do my bodyweight workout tonight since it is frozen out there) FYI, North Carolina, 7" of snow is a LOT... I realize in other parts of the great white north that is just Tuesday... Sam

Mostly just planning on long weekends hiking after 4/15. Between now and then I have to work every Saturday and sunset is pretty early too so no real opportunity to hike except on Sundays. In the spring / summer / fall, I am hoping to sneak out of here early, get to the trailhead mid afternoon on Fridays and backpack through Sunday morning, home at lunch time. I bought a Hennessy Hammock for my 'tent' and loving it so far, will see if I have to upgrade my backpack for 2 night trips but I should be in decent shape with what I have. Collecting more camping gear / cooking stuff now, hoping to make this my new thing as opposed to the old days when I just loaded up the Jeep for a weekend. When you are carrying the whole load on your back, the giant sized cooler of frosty diet mountain dew is no longer along with the propane 2 burner stove, camping chairs, laptops and all the other "essentials" needed to go outdoors! The running is really just my method of getting more miles in, adding endurance in my legs, I figure that will translate somewhat to backpacking!!??? The strength training to help carry the loads and overall health and fitness. BUCKET LIST goal is to do a freaking pull up in my life, was always the fat kid that could not do them.

Thanks for the post and word of caution! I will not be getting in any "serious" miles until after April 15th (tax season, accountant here) and hope to be at my "new low" by then and working into maintenance calories. My understanding is the thru hikers burn about 6000 calories a day, but I am a long way from there! For those interested, I am looking at essentially doing the NC Mountain to Sea trail system in section hikes, may take me several years, but close by and something I can knock out on weekends. Lifetime bucket list would be App Trail but that would be years from now after retirement, in my 60s and I hope to be physically in good enough shape to make that happen! (And yelling at young thru hiker 20 something year old whipper snappers will just be a bonus...) Final thoughts, -1000 calories a day is a personal choice, I am HUNGRY, but able to do this because of a short term outlook, this really is a "diet" and not a lifestyle, but leads to a lifestyle but at a healthier base weight. I am doing 16:8 intermittent fasting as well and keto adapted so my body has learned to burn fat for fuel instead of carbs. Some pretty good research on this now for marathoners and such that are keto adapted and performing VERY well, that is my long term goal as well but for hiking. But I am NOT planning on hiking long distance AND trying to do -1000 TDEE at the same time! I am also "physically modified" in a way that many of you are not so PLEASE do not use me as something to compare to! My tummy is literally only able to fit about 4 ounces of food in at a time. I don't feel hunger as much as others do so I have an advantage that is literally 'mechanical' and I say all of this in full disclosure. 400-500 calories deficit is a MUCH safer and better approach, I am just stubborn and being VERY VERY VERY aggressive! So YMMV... Sam

Ok, so in my "old life" I used to buy big Jeeps, put BIGGER tires on them, which looked awesome, and then would go out with a bunch of other off-roaders and go wheeling and camping for the weekend. I loved this because I got outdoors, in the woods, good companionship and camping! One of the reasons I like this was the fact I was deep in the woods and drove there and when you weigh 355 pounds that is not easy to accomplish by walking in! For those just getting to know me, I had gastric bypass surgery in 2011, lost weight down to 195 when I was training for a full marathon. I was able to complete that race in 2013, got the tattoo, and settled into life "after" the marathon. My weight has ranged from 195-225 during the last three years, when it gets higher I would diet a bit and get down again but that "low" kept creeping up, 200, 205, then 210, then 215! Decided November 2016 that I needed to get off my "maintenance" diet and full on keto for "100 days" to reset everything and go for a new low point again! This was documented in the prior challenge, diet is going fantastic, exercise is hit or miss, running is still my go to, I can knock out a 5k to 5 miles pretty much any time I get off my butt and go running. THIS CHALLENGE period, I am wanting to be MORE consistent on my running (cardio) and add the body weight fitness recommended routine (BWRR) (reddit) as well. Ideally that is running 3x per week (10 miles a week) and strength (BWRR) training 3x per week. That would be an A+ for this challenge, which technically starts this coming weekend. Diet, the goal is an average of 1200 calories per day, 7 days a week, 8400 calories all told. My TDEE is about 2200 calories right now, so that would put me on track to be 1000 calories per day under TDEE and in theory would lead to 2 pounds per week of fat loss! This matches what I have been doing since 11/18/2016, where I have dropped from 215.4 to my current 197.1. Let's get rollin Sam

Ok, final thoughts, continued to stick to the plan even over the Holidays!! One of the toughest periods but I made it without even eating my FAVORITE snacks of all time. Managed to lose another pound while on vacation this weekend, back at the office now and on to the next challenge! Sam

In our WLS support group (run by our local hospital, fantastic resource) they talk about doing a "reset" with the shakes, essentially the pre-surgery liver shrinking diet. That we have adjusted to our new normal, which is grazing all day long is "easy" since we have tiny tummy. So I encourage you to find your own "reset" whether that is shakes or what works for you! For me, I am going full keto / low carb AND intermittent fasting combo. So basically I have my coffee at breakfast time (milk and splenda) and then I only eat from Noon until say 8ish at night. So I am "fasting" 16 hours a day and eating during that 8 hour window. Nice part about that is I can enjoy my food then, I am eating protein first, "good carbs" (veggies) and snacks between of beef/cheese, pickles, sugar free jello, sugar free Popsicle, etc. I have been eating 1200ish calories a day and usually 30 or so carbs, some days as high as 50, others lower. But for me, this was a good reset, broke my habit of eating just a "little bit" of bad stuff (looking at you cookie jar) all day long! Best of luck to you, we WLS are a small population but have a literal mechanical advantage that others do not and when we DO get our diet 100% legit we can lose like no one else! I am clicking down very consistently 2 pounds right now, but I am a GUY, and eating about 1000 calories a day under my TDEE, to each their own, but it does work and maybe a little better for us, YEAH!!! Sam

Just a quick update, hitting my calories goals, but not the running goals! Walking more which is good but was TOTALLY lazy over the long weekend and chillaxed! Of course the good part about having my diet right is the weight is still coming off, would just be "faster" if I add more exercise. A WIN for me is finally ordering a set of gymnastic rings for doing incline pull ups and such at the house! I have had them on my "wish list" forever and finally made the plunge and they came in on Friday. So moving towards a couple days of "Lift Heavy Things: (ie my body!) to go along with the cardio. Sam

They told us early on we would lose about 70-80% of our "excess" weight, but that still leaves most of us Obese, but still in MUCH MUCH MUCH better shape! I have been 30-33% body fat since the surgery but started at over 50% and I went from size 50-52 pants to 36-38. Sweets, especially COOKIES are still my trigger, I cannot have "just one", so either I am in maint mode, which is usually a much smaller "yo-yo" (210-220 pounds) and have good days and bad days. Somehow it clicked this fall that it was time to see if I could lose more fat and get down to "normal" body fat! Low carbs (NO COOKIES) is working and feeling really optimistic! Glad to see another WLS patient, we are a unique crowd with our own issues and challenges. (Eating more than 4-6 ozs at a single sitting!) Sam

Ok, just a quick update, still not running much, did one night that was bitter cold on the elliptical (hated it) and a couple nights actually out on the road (LOVING IT!) Moved over to full KETO, planning on staying VERY strict until I see a major body fat percentage loss. I have dropped about 15-18ish pounds since mid November, the first 10 was water and the rest has been a slow and steady 2 pounds per week on average. That makes a lot of sense based on what I am eating in calories versus my TDEE! In theory if I ran 7 days a week I would get another 1 pound or so of fat loss but not stressing myself over that. Working on some bodyweight stuff, mostly incline pushups at this point, got a plan but just have not executed it! Overall, I am feeling pretty positive, TDEE (keto / low carbs) is working, and we all know this is 80% diet or more. Sam

Was a bit surprised at the lack of other postings but figured I would put down my name on the list! I have started / stopped more challenges over the last few years than I care to admit, and my weight has stayed in the 215 pound range on average for most of that time. I actually hit a high of 224.x early in 2016 and have been working my way back down. I hit the magical 215ish and stayed there most of this year. For some reason I got it in my head that I can do ANYTHING for 100 days and super low carbs (20ish) would allow me to reset my diet / maint and hit a new weight loss goal. I started that late in the day on Thanksgiving and my 100 days will be over late February. I am already planning on stretching it to mid April but that is another story for another day. I was 215.4 on 10/28 and 212.9 on 11/21 when I started this challenge. I hit a major goal this morning, 199.1, first time under 200 since 2013 or so when I was training and running the full marathon!! I am one of those weigh every day guys, helps me stay on track, so it will move around 2-4 pounds every day but this feels like a good step! I was able to run every day the first week or so of this challenge, even before the low carbs really kicked in and then a chest / head cold hit and knocked me out from 11/27 until yesterday! Finally hit the road again last night and got in a 5k, which is my normal "daily" run. "My plan" is to eat 20ish carbs per day, and about 1000 calories under my TDEE of 2200-2300ish. This is a SHORT TERM PLAN... this is not maint, this is really a "diet" to hit a specific goal (15% body fat or less) I am in full keto, weight is coming down nicely and with the 100 days in mind it allows me to mentally be tough enough to make this all work. My exercise plan is to set a goal of a 5k per day on average, to become a "daily" runner instead of 2-3x per week on good weeks, 2-3x per month on "bad" months. Even if I only run 1 mile in a given day, that will be a checkmark. I prefer to run a 5k, and burn 500ish calories, which is another 3500 per week / 1 pound of fat! Looking back, food wise I am there, I think I had one day at 46 carbs, using MFP, but pretty consistent and those "bad" days are better than many of my best "good" days when I am not on this keto / low carb system. Exercise, had a couple week break as I could not run without breathing hard and thus coughing. But, cold air last night did not bother me, did my usual 38ish minutes for 5k, 12 minute miles on average. Final thought / more about me. I had Gastric Bypass surgery in 2011, coming down from 355 pounds to a low of 195 in 2013 when training and running the 26.2 marathon! Weight immediately went up to 205-210 range when I backed off running and have stayed in that 210-215 now for 2 or so years until the history kicks in above. Not really thinking about doing another full marathon, more interested in HALFs at most and doing "trail" running or just getting into backpacking / weekend trips.

Tell us about your last marathon and "how you ruined your body" by training and running it? I agree 100% in cross training, but would be good to know the context here and welcome!!

Nice workout! Just got two in so far myself, was a bit worried it was not a "whole body" workout but I can feel it! Your warm up numbers are my actual sets!! But with progression we will all get stronger.

Just a quick thumbs up, did my first GreySkull set today and was surfing here to see who else is starting their journey! Similar goals, I am at 33-34% body fat, would like to get under 15%. Sam

Trying to take Steve's advice here and add just ONE thing right now, succeed at that and go from there. Last challenge I wanted to start running, strength training, eating right... I continued to eat right part of the time, like crap part of the time (50/50) I did get my running program re-started but I am sporadic at the moment. I did a few pushups but fell off the bandwagon. I said all of that to say, let's try to run this marathon one mile at a time. My current pace is my same old pace, which is to say basically I run a 12 minute mile. I can run faster, heck I do run faster, oddly enough my third mile is almost always faster than the first. So with the ONE THING theme... I am going to run/lift ONE time per week as my goal. In theory I want to go 2x per week, but with only 1x on the goal list I can still make that up at the last second. My diet basically is pretty tight this time of year, I am working 55-65 hours per week (tax season!) and so as long as I avoid the cookie monster here at work I am pretty legit. At home, we are going to actually start watching our tv upstairs, away from the kitchen because I tend to snack all evening otherwise. Main, long term goal is to get under 20% body fat. Currently 33-34% at 221 lbs. Short term goal for the next 4 weeks, Run/Lift, 1x per week. That is it, fixing ONE thing at a time here for the next 4 weeks. I realize this is setting a low bar, but hitting goals is important physically and mentally. Sam (JeepN3rd)

Rough week, we are ramping up for a bazaar at my church, every night has been crushed. I am intermixing incline pushups during the day so I get some bodyweight training but the first week will likely only be 1x on "lift heavy things" outside of the fact I am lifting lots of semi-heavy things at church. On a positive note for paleo lifestyle, we cooked up 3 dehydrators worth of deer jerky last night! Should be interesting to see how they turn out, it is our first attempt. We wanted to do them ourselves, commercial jerky usually has a lot of sugar built in!

Just a couple days in so far to the actual challenge and firing on all cylinders! My nutrition is legit, eating all the right things, walking the walk (steps) Monday, went to Panthers vs Colts game, 11,471 Tuesday, lots of steps at church moving stuff, ended at 10,421 So I am looking good for my 56k steps this week! I need to get the first of two "lift heavy things" part moving, that is the only thing I have not done yet so far this week. I did lift a bunch of heavy boxes last night at church, but not going to count that.

I started with a local USMC Mud Run, did it a couple years in a row, then the Spartan Sprint last year. The obstacles really do make the whole experience a lot more fun. I am trying to decide if I am doing the inflatable 5k here next month! Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Probably not a full marathon, but I could see running halfs! I did the Spartan Sprint in April this year, it was about 5 miles all told plus a bazillion burpees since my upper body strength is non-existent! Looking at doing more obstacle course races, love the variety. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Great post, loved the butterfly graphic! I remember having to do that in my lifeguard training as a teen and finally just had to hold my breathe for the length of the pool is the only way I could complete it! Big fan of coffee myself, my goto drink at Starbucks now is the Venti Latte with 3 pumps of Sugar Free Caramel, 2 of Sugar Free Vanilla and using Whole Milk! I am not nearly as concerned by the fat content of the milk, so really the only sugar is from the milk itself. Tastes fantastic without being high sugar, just something that might be worth trying.

So I am planning on evading the slower zombies, the whole 28 days later thing is just too scary to contemplate! Bit of backstory, in 2011 I decided to have gastric bypass surgery and have dropped from size 52 pants, at 355 pounds, down to size 36-38 pants and running 215ish for the last year or two. Part of that journey, I did my first ever 5k 7/21/12 in 35:44, I still have that completion certificate hung on my wall here at work. I kept running and the next fall, October 2013 I completed a full marathon in 6:30ish. After that I backed way off on running, it was a bucket list item, I was averaging about 195 pounds at the time and it quickly went up to 205 that winter. Since then, it has crept up to 215 over the last 18 months and 222 over my vacation! Main Quest is to get down to 20% body fat or lower. Currently 33-34% according to the Fitbit Aria scale. SMART quests for the challenge: 56,000 steps per week, which is 8000 a day. Getting 7500 right now, been increasing that 500 a day, going up each month for a while now, started at 6k per day. This is a bit of a challenge as I sit at a desk all day, trying to make myself take short walks all during the day to keep my activity levels up. 700 Carbs per week or lower, Paleo +Dairy. Lift Heavy things 2x per week. Bodyweight for the most part, just trying to integrate the habit again. Not really thought a lot about points yet, but looking to add to STR, CON for this challenge.

Just a side note, protein is a big deal for me as a Gastric bypass patient. We have access to some of the best dietitians in the biz, exercise support staff, etc. Anyway, the point is, they have told us the body can only process about 30g of protein at any given time (meal) so anything in excess of that will simply process through as waste. This comes up a lot in our support meetings because someone will find a handy dandy shake that is 40g of protein plus a 20g protein bar or something and think they just got 60g in during that meal. Another point I wanted to bring up, the gram per pound is probably based on your lean weight (muscle/bones, etc.) not your total weight. For example I started at 355 pounds, and after my surgery the goal as a guy was to get back to 80g or more of protein, preferably via food, not drink. It took a while to get there, and now there are no issues eating 120-150g in a given day. (Lean weight for me is maybe 145-155 as a guy, 5'9") Just my 2 cents

Thx! I am working on upper body stuff too, that is the burpee goal, the Spartan Sprint this weekend showed me how much work I need on that stuff. Some Mid to LONG term goals: Pass the Military Fitness (Army) test for my age bracket (45 this year) This is the minimums: Push ups - 30 (120 seconds) Sit Ups - 32 (120 seconds) 2 Mile Run - 18:42 ....super long term, MARINES fitness test!! ooora