Mayday, mayday, mayday

[ceejay]

Well, at least I know what lead me here. Inactivity, over eating, kidding myself that I'm eating "well" and in the process, having a flagrant disregard for my own wellbeing.

Deep down, I firmly believe I am meant to be an active person. I enjoy my desk job, but I yearn to do something physical. And yet I've spent the last year doing odd bouts of a couple of months' exercise before getting lazy again. And I do love food...And beer. Anyway, I've recently had a period of poor sleep, terrible mood, lack of concentration, tiredness and my liver function isn't what it's supposed to be. It's time to do something. It's time to turn this Spruce Goose around and send it skyward once again.

 

Me: Chris, 38 years old, 6ft 0 and 228 lbs, been pretty lazy of late.

 

Mission objective#1: lose 52 lbs of fat in 52 weeks, gain muscle for bonus pts

Mission objective #2:  Be able to do pull ups, muscle ups and press ups. 

Mission objective #3: Start riding to work again once it gets lighter (24 mile round trip)

 

Methods:

 

Eating: Eat real food. No bread, no pasta and make mostly good choices - organic meat, veg and fruit with a few nuts and some dairy thrown in. I'm a decent cook and this should be easy. Limit alcohol and no Friday night blowouts. 

Strength training. 4 days per week at my new (and excellent) gym. Usually fasted, first thing in the morning. Take steps not to get bored and distracted.

Walking: 2 days per week, 5km walk, fasted, first thing in the morning. I love walking.

 

Why this is going to work this time: Building routine. Building discipline for exercise and diet. Steve K says it's not about motivation, its about discipline. I need to get up every day and go to the gym or go for a walk, simple as that. Same as brushing my teeth every day. Motivation isn't a factor any more. To start with this isn't about wanting to exercise, it's about having to exercise. It's about building a better human being, capable of so much more than what I'm currently limiting myself to.

 

The stupid thing is, I love how it feels to be doing exercise and eating properly. A week into this new regime and I feel a huge amount better and really positive about it. I can't really pinpoint why in the past I've "given up" but I'm really going to try hard to recognise the signs and keep it in check whilst I continue on my mission. 

 

Week 1 results:

 

4 gyms sessions, including 1 with a good friend

Calories logged in MFP every day, made mostly good decisions.

Had 2 beers and 1 glass of wine last week. A huge reduction; feel much better for it

Lost 3 lbs in weight

 

Tower, this is Ghost Rider requesting a flyby.

 

 

 

[Lee Jun-fan]

Hows it tracking CeeJay? 

[Xena]

Don't know if you ever do the 4-week challenges, but a lot of people find them helpful for sticking to goals/programs.

[ceejay]

Thanks for the interest guys! I haven't signed up to any challenges but I definitely think it would be fun to do. Change it up a bit and all that. Well, I'm about 6 week into my mission and some remarkable things have happened. 

 

1. I've lost 12 lbs in total so far

2. I feel amazing in comparison to how I did before Christmas. Any tiredness is down to waking up 0550 each morning and getting it done in the gym or going for a walk

3. I'm still boozing and eating bad on the weekend. Whilst not ideal, I'm still getting results and it still gives me something to improve on, which is what i'll be working on for the next few weeks.

 

 

[Raincloak]

Organic food is overrated, but if your budget allows it, feel free.

 

Maybe try to reduce your boozing/crap eating days to one per week, instead of two per week.  You don't need to binge the whole weekend, right?

[ceejay]

2 hours ago, Raincloak said:

Organic food is overrated, but if your budget allows it, feel free.

 

Maybe try to reduce your boozing/crap eating days to one per week, instead of two per week.  You don't need to binge the whole weekend, right?

 

Luckily I work for a great Organic food producer and online retailer here in the UK and get a decent discount. I won't comment on "overrated" here, but I definitely appreciate the advice on cutting down the booze and crap. You're right, there's no need for 2 out of 7 days of it. There's a balance to be had there. I love craft beer and spirits and all that kind of thing but it's too easy to over indulge (for me, anyway). Knock on effects are I rarely feel properly rested when I get up on Monday morning. I think a more "restorative" approach to the weekend is in order.

 

 

 

 

[TGP]

so...

your more active then you were but not as much as you want?

...

and what specifically do you yearn to do?

 

[TGP]

anyways, 4 solid gym workouts/week seems really earnest to me

 

regarding.. Wanting to be physical.  thats TOO vague.

 

if you have VAGUE goals then your already there!

...

and lastly if this is MORE about eating and less drinking (alcohol) that has not been my passion.  I've been concentrating on training for a trio of big inspiring cool summer events; and IMHO, it has gone well.

 

I'm in the best shape of my life really!  and I haven't obsessed on eating much at all.  

....

if your big goal is to lose weight; 90% of that is Definitely eating.

 

I myself have only lost about 15#.

[ceejay]

TGP, I get what you're saying. My goal isn't really to be more "physical". I think I may have written that in an ambiguous way. What I meant was that I don't feel a sedentary lifestyle is "my thing". I have a desk job, but deep down I'd probably rather be more physically active in my job.

 

Anyways, for now my goals are to lose the fat (primary goal) and get stronger and more resilient. Still vague, I know, but I do have some specific goals too. I'm working towards chin ups & trying to improve press ups.

 

At the moment I'm hitting the weights 3 times a week, mostly big compound moves and walking for an hour at least twice a week. 

 

Well done on your success. 15 lbs is a pretty awesome loss!

[ceejay]

Just checking in today. 

 

15 lbs lost in total, so far but no actual weight loss in the last 2 weeks. Having said that, I really feel like I'm making progress now. So what's changed?

 

Energy levels at their highest for years

Down 1 belt loop and jeans are starting to get too big

Lifting heavier. 80kg deadlift s (3x6) compared to 50kg a few weeks ago.

Getting some encouraging comments

 

Still hitting the weights 3x a week with 2x1 hr walks plus now a bit of HIIT, jogging and bike rides thrown in and I'm loving it so far.

 

I've gone "Primal" as per Mark Sisson and am currently enjoying picking up and using the knowledge from The Primal Blueprint. I still have the odd beer or cocktail on the weekend but less than before.