Every super hero needs an origin story...

[Sardoni]

Sunday.  I splurged on breakfast with 4 pieces of bacon, two hard boiled eggs and orange juice.  They were small pieces but who are we kidding

 

For dinner I had a tenderloin steak with lots of asparagus.  So good.  No condiments.  My mom loves her A7 sauce but I think that's a tragedy on any steak myself.

 

Did 1.2 miles (two laps) around the block.

 

Monday I had two pieces of bacon, two hard boiled eggs, and a fruit smoothie thing.  I then crashed hard (had an interview early and stayed up all night instead of sleeping like a normal person ).

 

I woke up and was starving so I had 3 small bowls of homemade Italian sausage soup.  The only "non-paleo" thing in it I think was white beans but overall it was nummy vegetable delight.

 

Now I'm off to do my body-weight exercises and then a brisk walk around the block.  I'm going to try and make it through all three circuits again last I did on Friday.  I'm not going to kill myself trying to top it just yet.

 

A friend of mine introduced me to trip-hop music recently and then threw a giant youtube play list my way.  So I think I'm going to find a way to make it portable.  I've just been walking around without music, but we'll see how that goes.

 

It's great to see your slow but steady progress from the beginning of the thread. Do you remember when you could barely even do one lap around the neighborhood? Now you're finishing the recruit circuit and taking double laps on most days. That's so awesome!

 

I haven't looked back all that much just yet, but I do acknowledge that progress is being made.  I had to throw out one pair of sweats because they were falling off me (which is a good sign) but to be fair they were already a bit lose before I started this process.  I shouldn't balk at any form of progress but I keep looking forward.  Once some of these other sweats start falling off THEN I might be more convinced . 

 

I have more energy overall that's for sure.  I used to be at the mercy of sugar crashes/caffeine crashes and now I just really drink water and the fruit drinks are my only sugar source.  I'll probably stop buying orange juice, but we'll see how it all pans out.

 

Hey there! Awesome start and progress to your fitness journey! I enjoyed reading through your posts, you've made some awesome life adjustments

 

 

Also, it has also been my experience that as I revamped my diet I started to replace things like sweets with healthier alternatives that I started to crave instead of ice cream/nutella/boxes of wheat thins (bananas and quest bars are my go to desserts now!) I'd love to see fruit smoothie recipes if you'd like to share your thoughts on which combos you've tried tasted the best, I keep telling myself I'm going to make them but then end up eating all my ingredients by themselves instead of making a smoothie

 

Keep up the good work, I'm excited to read your next update

 

Personally I'm terrible at smoothie recipes.  To be fair I've been picking up the ones at the grocery store that just have real ingredients on the label.  I think Odwalla is the brand.  I want to get to that point to where I'm stockpiling fruit and making my own but I'm also dragging the rest of the household along with me (sometimes kicking and screaming) and they're not big fruit eaters . 

 

Right now those replace any soda/sweet craving I might get but they are still empty calories overall.  Since I'm trying to lose weight I need to leave them alone.

 

that's a lot of progress in just three weeks, wow. Do you feel some difference in your clothes already? Or a difference/improvement when doing everyday activities?

 

I like that "wow, your looks so much better" part veggie snacks that work for me are raw carrots (what's up, Doc?) and kohlrabi (tasty, but I don't eat that at work because it stinks).

 

och, and I started to plan ahead. I still have my downs (damn you, chocolate!) but sometimes I manage to replace it with fruit tea or tea with honey and lemon. I don't know why tea works. I visualized my chocolate craving and imagined I had some tea insted. And it actually worked, I'm amazed

 

Awesome job on the tea replacement!  I feel like I have more energy but I won't say that I feel like I've lost weight.  That's fine though.  I just keep moving forward.  As long as I keep the momentum before long I should see the results I want.  At most I'm spending an hour doing a workout routine of some sort (either prepping for it or what you).  There's 23 other hours in the day for me to do other things.  I can't really fault that math lol.

[Sardoni]

Monday I managed to move onto the Bodyweight Level 1 routine.  I thought it was going to be easier than the Recruit workout, but boy was I wrong.  I managed to complete all the circuit but I was more wiped than the recruit workout.  So... yay!  I also did a walk around the block (15-20 mins) for 0.6 miles.  I had a light dinner with two pieces of bacon, banana, and a piece of ham.  Only drank water all day, but only 1.5 L

 

Tuesday I at the remainder of the sausage vegetable medley for breakfast.  For lunch I did some more of the Italian sausage soup.  For dinner I did the rest of the tenderloin cooked with some onions, red peppers, cauliflower, and celery.  So good.  It was 80 degrees with 80% humidity, so I only managed to walk once around the block pretty briskly to get out of the heat.  Only drank water all day. about 2L

 

Wednesday I woke up late and skipped breakfast.  Only drank water so far today.  Did the body-weight 1 workout again.  I accidentally clicked on the body-weight level 4 workout and my jaw dropped at the stuff I couldn't do yet.  Then I went.. oh wait... this isn't level 1 lol.  I went for another walk around the block after (0.6 miles).  Then I came home and grilled up some hamburger meat with celery, onions, bell pepper, cauliflower and had that for dinner.  A small bowl's worth.  Also had about 2L of water so far today (almost up to 3) but the night isn't over yet!

 

I also noticed the neighborhood dogs are getting used to me.  They don't bark as much.  I also realized that nearly a third of my neighbors seem to own dogs that they keep outside a majority of the time (at least all this time I've been walking ).  I only notice because of the Lady and the Tramp style barks that transcend me walking.  At long as the first dog doesn't bark none of them do.  So I always hope for some peace and quiet but rarely get it.  I've learned to tune them out.  Also there's a man in a wheelchair I always see and salute as I walk by.  I've started to notice trends in the neighborhood.

 

Oh and a good news milestone-ish.  Remember how I said I couldn't close the top velcro thing on my new shoes?  As of yesterday I could.  So at least I seem to be losing foot fat at the very least.  Still not stepping onto the scale until I can zip up the hoodie!

[Jett]

Paul! It's been a few days. Busy with Easter stuff??

 

Let us know how you're doing.

[Noname123]

I'm echoing JMitch  

 

Also if you're interested challenge threads are now up and open for an April 13 start!   

[Sardoni]

Thursday I managed to walk around the block three times for 1.8 miles.  Yay!  I made a sausage/egg/broccoli/cauliflower medley and had that for late lunch/dinner.  Late night snack I had a pickle spear and a piece of ham lunch meat.

 

So Friday.  I had the sausage/egg/broccoli/cauliflower medley for breakfast.  I was doing the body-weight 1 exercises and my knee twisted/popped out of joint when transitioning from planking to jumping jacks on the second circuit.  It got a bit swollen, but it didn't feel sprained.  I stopped right there.  I did force myself to go walk around the block once (probably to my own detriment).  I've sprained this knee before a while ago when I was in high school.  That took about 3 weeks to recover from.  This doesn't feel the same as it did back then.  For lunch I had this prepackaged salad that my dad brought me.  It had blue cheese crumbles in it that I did my best to pick out.  I didn't put any dressing on it.  I think I managed to ingest some of the blue cheese crumbles though because my body responded violently about an hour later.  Compounded with the knee out of join it was a lovely day! lol

 

So Saturday and Sunday I just kept my leg elevated and just rested (not because it was Holy Saturday and Easter Sunday ).  I did put an ice pack on it on Friday, but didn't feel the need for the ice pack on Saturday or Sunday.  I did keep stretching that leg to keep it flexible.  I've kept to the new style of eating.  On Saturday we actually had one lean cuisine meatloaf and red potato thing left in the freezer, so I did have that for dinner while having the remainder of the sausage/egg/broccoli/cauliflower medley for lunch.  I've tried to avoid those frozen meals but I was trying to keep my leg elevated.  On Sunday I avoided much of the Easter foods.  I did manage to grab some turkey and ham.  Most of the vegetables were covered in creams or cheeses or bread crumbles so I avoided them.  Really all I had yesterday (Sunday) was two hard boiled eggs and two pieces of bacon for lunch.  Then turkey and ham for lunch and dinner lol.  I didn't get enough veggies yesterday for sure.  Should've steamed some broccoli.

 

Also Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday (and well today) I've also had nothing but water to drink.  Only up to 2L so trying to get to 3L for the "challenge to count."  I guess you could say I shifted my focus from exercise to diet for the time being until I feel confident to push my knee.  I hate not being able to jump up and go when I want to.

 

I am stretching my knee and making sure it's flexible.  It doesn't hurt today as much but I think I'm going to give it until tomorrow.

 

Today (Monday) is a strength day on the calendar.  I'll have to mark that one as not complete. 

 

As much as I want to lose this weight I don't want to do and lose a limb along the way.  I guess that would be a different way to lose the weight though.  I'm sticking with the water/paleo style of eating for sure until I feel steady on the knee.

 

Nerd news: since I've had to keep the knee elevated I started playing Secret World again with some friends over Friday/Saturday/Sunday.  I've always enjoyed that games puzzles even though most of the other content still feels a bit buggy after 3 years.   It took my mind off the knee.  Although as my character was sprinting around and jumping over fences it really made me want to go out and briskly walk.  Pace myself.  I guess I'm glad that I'm seeing that mindset shift in me more than anything.  I also gave him sweatpants and a workout look overall lol.  I think that's how I torture myself.

 

Paul! It's been a few days. Busy with Easter stuff??

 

Let us know how you're doing.

 

I'm echoing JMitch

 

Also if you're interested challenge threads are now up and open for an April 13 start!  

 

Yeah sorry I hit sort of a rut when I twisted my knee out of join on Friday.  I updated everything above

[cathereviews]

This is amazing, honestly if your book is as good as the first post then I'm buying it from you whether it's published or not! 

[Sardoni]

So I think I'm going to stop updating the food journal because by this point I'm pretty sure I've established proper eating habits.  If I come across any amazing recipes or anything like that I might update that.  I think I'll keep a liquid log though as I scare away the non-waters.

 

Tuesday: I went around the block twice at a brisker intensity for 1.2 miles.  2L of water no other liquid.

 

Wednesday: I didn't feel up to risking the strength training on my knee yet (even those this was a day I had scheduled).  I actually went around the block 4 times for 2.4 miles.  I stopped at the halfway mark to get more water at home, but then kept going.  The knee was behaving so I wasn't complaining.  2L of water today with 1 small glass of OJ.  I actually didn't have "dinner" but ended up having a banana, table spoon of peanut butter and the OJ.

 

Thursday: Usually not a strength training day but I wanted to do it today since I missed Monday and Wednesday.  I completed the full circuit of Body-weight 1 A.  I've been neglecting to do B because I don't have a table that could support me or a bar.  I figure at least continuing to do A is the right thing to do since I am exercising.  I might add in inverted rows in the future just to up the difficulty a little bit.  Still on inverted pushups but still challenging overall so don't see the need to advance too quickly.  2.5L of water only.

 

Friday: I did a brisk/sprint around the block once for .6 miles and was pretty wiped.  Since I did strength yesterday I was just going to wait until Monday to reset the week.  1.5L of water only.

 

Even though I'm not updating this daily as I used to I'm still maintaining the habits I wanted to distill.  4/10 is my one month anniversary of joining this site and getting going and the habits are still going strong!

 

This is amazing, honestly if your book is as good as the first post then I'm buying it from you whether it's published or not! 

 

Well hopefully I can make my fiction more interesting then my life

[Sardoni]

So even though I set myself a goal to not weigh myself until I could zip up my N7 Hoodie I realized that I wanted to see more how much progress (if any) I'd made in a month.

 

On 3/13/2015 I weighed myself and came in at 417 lbs.

On 4/12/2015 I weighted myself and came in at 400.2 lbs.

 

Even though it might be mostly water weight I am still pretty shocked to have dropped 17 lbs so far without really doing a whole lot.  I want to clarify that clearly I've changed a lot with my diet, starting up a walking routine every day, and doing body-weight exercises on M,W,F... but in my mind I feel like I could be doing so much more. 

 

I hit another milestone in my book yesterday.  I've never been huge on "portion control."  To clarify if I make a bag of steamed veggies even if it says "serving size per container 3.5"  Usually I've just been splitting that in half and putting away the rest for later or if I'm really hungry that bag serves 1.  So I was grilling up two hamburger patties, some sweet potato fries in the oven, and a drained can of peas.  Usually I'd be cutting up the hamburger patties and putting them into a salad or between a lettuce leaf to fake a bun.  This time however after cutting up the one patty and eating it with the peas and some fries I realized I didn't need to eat the other one.  So I took the other patty with the extra pees and put it in Tupperware for later.  When I realized I made too many fries in the past usually I would just scarf them down anyway.  Instead I gave them to my mom (who also had never had them) and she didn't mind them either.

 

So now I'm sort of more aware of serving size and my stomach seems to want less so yay!

 

Now I just have to look up what sort of calories a 400 lbs. 6 foot 3 inches (190.5 cm) male is support to ingest and figure out how to incorporate that into my weight loss routine.  Some friends have told me that counting calories helps with weight loss (or at least eating to my caloric deficit or something).  I doubt they are wrong; however focusing on the small changes up to this point have started to lead me in that direction rather than force myself down the path.  I think I'll keep listening to my body for now and only eating when I'm hungry while also only eating paleo centric.

 

Haven't had dairy, bread, pasta, corn, or refined sugars in a month!  Well the bread one might not be entirely accurate because my grandma's meatloaf was eaten and even though it's chock full of onions and bell peppers I think she uses bread crumbs.  So that's been the extent of my bread consumption this month lol.

 

Up to 2L of water a day consistently with no other liquid calories.  Really trying to force myself up to 3L for the quest.

[Noname123]

A quick note- with the change in lifestyle you're making....you ALWAYS feel like you could do something more. It's just the shift in thought. You'll work your way up to run 10 miles and the next thought in your head is "if I just ran 3.1 more miles it would have been a half marathon distance!"

 

This is a good thing, just remember you have your entire life to slowly tweak your habits to make yourself a superhero What you're doing now is working eating-wise. I wouldn't feel too panicked to jump into calorie counting until you notice a plateau- then you bring in the extra tools to help you keep dropping. 

 

Is the water working at keeping you full? 

 

 

Also- CONGRATSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS :D :D almost a whole 17 lbs in a month is AMAZING, keep doing what you're doing, fantastic job!

[Sardoni]

It was pouring down raining yesterday (still is a bit today as I write this) but I still went around the block twice briskly.  I came back drenched but I did it lol.  I'm not up to sprinting just yet, but I think I'm going to keep going for twice around the block and keep upping the intensity in which I walk.  Maybe this will help me walk further at a lower intensity.  It makes sense in my brain but my brain hasn't always gotten things correct.

 

I woke up this morning pretty early and I decided to make some breakfast.  I actually started to pay attention to serving sizes. So I took a small spoonful of coconut oil to grease the pan, scrambled one egg, put two sausage patties (jimmy dean) in the microwave while I was scrambling, and finally steamed some broccoli.  The broccoli bag said it was for four servings so I scrambled up another egg and two more sausage patties and put that in Tupperware for tomorrow's breakfast.  Also portioned the remaining broccoli into two separate containers for later meals.  I didn't even add seasonings or butter or anything that I might have used to do.  It was still appetizing and I'm surprised that one egg filled me up.  Usually I go for two or three.  Maybe that's just because of what I was in the habit of doing and not because of what I should have been doing.  And still I continue having only drank water for about a week now. 

 

I have low sodium V8, orange juice, and some Odwalla fruit smoothie things still in the fridge, but I may just give them away to my family because I don't find myself "wanting" those things anymore.  I could drink them because they are there (and probably out of boredom more than anything else)... or I could just drink water and keep losing weight.  I think I'm going for the weight loss.  I contemplated having some of that during a time where I might not feel hungry but still feel a sense of obligation to consume a meal... but then I realized I can just drink .5L+ of water and probably not be hungry... so I'm going with the water.

 

It is increasingly weird how all this is working out.  I'd hate to say that I expected it to be harder... but I really expected it to be harder.  There's still breads and pastas in the house.  There's still ice cream in the freezer.  There's still grits, oatmeal, cereal, and stuffs in the cupboards.  But lately any time I'm hungry I go for the fridge and get a meat and vegetables.  I think once last month I had a peanut butter craving (I think that might end up being my weakness ), so I had half a tablespoon of peanut butter with a banana and a pickle spear (not all combined together... ugh... that taste sticks in the mouth now lol).  And I did that in lieu of a meal so it wasn't something "extra" I had.

 

A friend of mine was telling me about this things called Peanut Butter burgers and at first I was horrified, but now I think I'm curious.  Not enough to ever make them on my own, but if I ever make a trip to New York (where he is) I may have to try one of those... without the bun of course!

 

Today is a strength training day, so I'll be off to do Body-weight 1-A again.  I think I'm going add in inverted rows and just make that my routine until I can up the difficulty.  I'll just be listening to my body.  And not in the way that my body might say "Don't do this" (which again hasn't happened yet... if anything my inner monologues are kicking my own butt harder lol).

 

A quick note- with the change in lifestyle you're making....you ALWAYS feel like you could do something more. It's just the shift in thought. You'll work your way up to run 10 miles and the next thought in your head is "if I just ran 3.1 more miles it would have been a half marathon distance!"

 

This is a good thing, just remember you have your entire life to slowly tweak your habits to make yourself a superhero What you're doing now is working eating-wise. I wouldn't feel too panicked to jump into calorie counting until you notice a plateau- then you bring in the extra tools to help you keep dropping. 

 

Is the water working at keeping you full? 

 

 

Also- CONGRATSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS :D :D almost a whole 17 lbs in a month is AMAZING, keep doing what you're doing, fantastic job!

 

Thanks for the words of encouragement.  I'm not going to steer too far out of the comfort zone, but like this morning for breakfast it only took me a few extra seconds to be mindful of the serving size.  I think that might be a stepping stone to calorie counting!

 

And surprisingly I do think the water is keeping me full.  My mom told me I should drink 1L before every meal, so I don't eat as much and just the thought of chugging water just to chug water doesn't sit well with me overall.  Even without doing that implicitly I still feel like I'm eating less overall.  Also I don't really eat "three meals a day" lately.  I only eat when I'm hungry and the past few weeks that's really only been two meals.

 

I keep a bottle of water next to me at pretty much all hours of the day.  Sometimes I look over and see that it's still relatively full and feel obligated to drink some of it so it doesn't feel bad.  Like my water bottle has feelings or something lol.  Whatever works eh?

 

And thanks on the congrats.    With all the stories I've heard from other people I actually expected to gain weight the first month (since I was also doing strength training etc).  Or that I would've lost water weight, but gained muscle weight so it would've shown no progress.  But hey I'm not going to look a gift horse in the mouth!

 

I think I'll just step onto the scale every month and see where I'm at.  Seems like a logical pattern.

[rabeck]

Hey there!  I just read through your whole thread (I may or may not be avoiding work), and I just want to say congrats!  You really are doing an awesome job!  I did join the NF Academy, which has been really helpful for me, I think, but it might not be necessary for everyone.  What I really like about it though, is that it starts with a "Mentality" module to make sure your head is in the right place, although your head seems to be in a fine place.  There is also a nutrition module as well.  I had been really scared of Paleo until I actually gave it a shot, and yeah... much easier than I expected (Paleo spaghetti is my new absolute favorite thing).  I guess what they say about carbs making you crave more carbs might have some truth to it... because I haven't wanted to eat the ice cream in the freezer either!  I also found Nom Nom Paleo to be a good recipe site... although I haven't made it yet, she has a recipe for cauliflower rice that I'm looking forward to giving a go sometime soon.

 

Anyway, if you ever decide you do want to join the academy, I know you had said finding a way to fit it into your budget might be difficult.  One of the great pieces of advice I've found on this site is to set up rewards for yourself that reward you back.  For some people food rewards absolutely work, and good for them!  But unfortunately for me, I'm not one of those people lol.  So, I was thinking... maybe you could work saving money into your fitness goals.  Like, every,time you don't buy orange juice (or something else you're looking to give up), you get to put that money towards your NFA fee.  Or, for every week that you do x y number of times, you get to put a few dollars away for it.  Just a thought.  Also, not sure if you've seen this information anywhere else yet, since this was from one of your earlier posts, but stretching before working out can actually make your muscles less capable, but stretching afterwards is vital!  And yeah, as long as you never feel like you're starving and you don't let your body go into starvation mode (where it thinks there is a famine and greedily holds on to every calorie it can), I think you're on the right track!  I can totally relate to you though, because I am also a cold turkey kind of person.  I know everyone suggests small changes, but... I like to jump in with both feet.

 

I'm pretty new to all of this stuff still (I just joined a week ago or so), but I love seeing other people having success!  It makes my journey seem that much more possible!  Good luck to you, and I wish you all the success!

 

Rachel

[Jett]

Paul, you're doing so great! You really are a superhero-in-the-making.

[Luciana Valerosa Culming]

How did your week go? Or did you start another thread now, that I missed?

[AerialTriceratops]

I think we all feel like our super hero book has a commercial break I'm not replying often, as writing takes me an awful lot of time (sometimes even an hour) because I'm double-checking and rewriting almost every sentence, but I'm reading everything on daily basis and I really miss your entries. Hopefully you'll find some time to make an update (...and some pictures I still remember you've promised us pictures )

[Sardoni]

Sorry for the delay in updating!  Usually I needed making these posts as a way to keep me accountable to a routine (think of it as my own self-motivating tactic).  I've neglected updating for a number of reasons (some illnesses struck my family), but I forgot that others might be inspired by my actions, so I'll be more diligent even if I don't "need" to do this as much for myself anymore.

 

So a week in review eh?  I've stuck to the M,W,F body-weight exercises!  Still doing Level 1, but I added in 10 inverted rows to up the difficulty for myself a bit.  I'm still not to a point where I can graduate from inclined pushups to even knee ups, but I'm continuing with the activities for now.  And it's not for want of trying.  I'm listening to my body and I don't want to twist my knee again.  I'm hoping to get more of this fat off my body so moving into different exercises puts lets stress on my joints.  Still focusing on the baby steps.  I've also regulated myself to doing two brisk laps around the block on my non-strength days (1.4 miles total).  I want to work in a speed up, slow down routine (can't remember the right word atm lol), but I find it hard to keep time in my head as I try to regulate that myself.  Treadmills force you to do it whether you like it or not.  I have a treadmill in storage but I need to lose more weight before I meet the minimum weight capacity to use it.  I think I also have an old exercise bike, but I remember being too tall for it.  I'll be shuffling around some rooms in the house later in the week-ish so maybe I'll dig that out in the meantime to see (at the very least get rid of it if it's no use to me).

 

I've also been making meals in advance (specifically breakfasts).  I actually got my mom to start making breakfasts in the morning too.  I made her three days worth of breakfasts (green peppers, onions, scrambled eggs, diced ham in coconut oil).  Didn't tell her about the coconut oil.  Didn't tell her each tupperware only had one egg (she thought they had two).  She reported back that it was delicious and filled her up for the through lunch.  Then I broke the news to her and she was surprised.

 

Right now I've got a savory chicken slow cooking following this recipe: http://www.lifewith4boys.com/2013/01/paleo-savory-cinnamon-slow-cooker.html

 

I was out of nutmeg so I substituted ginger.  I was also out of chicken broth so I used a cup of water with a tablespoon of soy sauce.  Should turn out well and something I can portion for the rest of the week.  I also added celery.  I'm tempted to throw a sweet potato in there, but I think there's enough veggie goodness packed in there.

 

As I look back to last month the only "cheat day" I had was when I didn't walk one Saturday and just took it as a day of rest.  I maintained the diet at all times thankfully!

 

Nerd news: Been watching the development of Crowfall closely and semi-excited to maybe finally have meaningful objective based open world PVP in my MMO again.  A bit jaded in the MMO industry lately so I'm tempered by the years of wasted spending.  Also binged watched all of Game of Thrones to catch up.  And also just binge watched Daredevil on Netflix.  It was surprisingly more dark and gritty then I expected, but I liked it.  Also just wrapped up Tokyo in Secret World.  I liked Tokyo, but I'm not a fan of their new "you can only damage this thing if you're wearing the right color thing" mechanic.  Seems tedious for the sake of tedium and leveling that system up doesn't help you in any other current area of the game.

 

Three cheers for a new week!

 

Hey there!  I just read through your whole thread (I may or may not be avoiding work), and I just want to say congrats!  You really are doing an awesome job!  I did join the NF Academy, which has been really helpful for me, I think, but it might not be necessary for everyone.  What I really like about it though, is that it starts with a "Mentality" module to make sure your head is in the right place, although your head seems to be in a fine place.  There is also a nutrition module as well.  I had been really scared of Paleo until I actually gave it a shot, and yeah... much easier than I expected (Paleo spaghetti is my new absolute favorite thing).  I guess what they say about carbs making you crave more carbs might have some truth to it... because I haven't wanted to eat the ice cream in the freezer either!  I also found Nom Nom Paleo to be a good recipe site... although I haven't made it yet, she has a recipe for cauliflower rice that I'm looking forward to giving a go sometime soon.

 

Anyway, if you ever decide you do want to join the academy, I know you had said finding a way to fit it into your budget might be difficult.  One of the great pieces of advice I've found on this site is to set up rewards for yourself that reward you back.  For some people food rewards absolutely work, and good for them!  But unfortunately for me, I'm not one of those people lol.  So, I was thinking... maybe you could work saving money into your fitness goals.  Like, every,time you don't buy orange juice (or something else you're looking to give up), you get to put that money towards your NFA fee.  Or, for every week that you do x y number of times, you get to put a few dollars away for it.  Just a thought.  Also, not sure if you've seen this information anywhere else yet, since this was from one of your earlier posts, but stretching before working out can actually make your muscles less capable, but stretching afterwards is vital!  And yeah, as long as you never feel like you're starving and you don't let your body go into starvation mode (where it thinks there is a famine and greedily holds on to every calorie it can), I think you're on the right track!  I can totally relate to you though, because I am also a cold turkey kind of person.  I know everyone suggests small changes, but... I like to jump in with both feet.

 

I'm pretty new to all of this stuff still (I just joined a week ago or so), but I love seeing other people having success!  It makes my journey seem that much more possible!  Good luck to you, and I wish you all the success!

 

Rachel

 

I actually did end up buying into the academy a little over a month ago and the videos and exercise plans have helped me out immensely.  Thanks for the goal setting tips I might incorporate some of those in other ways!

 

Paul, you're doing so great! You really are a superhero-in-the-making.

 

One day I'll even fit into the super-suit!

 

How did your week go? Or did you start another thread now, that I missed?

 

Sorry!  Just got busy with other things!  I'll remake this a priority!

 

I think we all feel like our super hero book has a commercial break I'm not replying often, as writing takes me an awful lot of time (sometimes even an hour) because I'm double-checking and rewriting almost every sentence, but I'm reading everything on daily basis and I really miss your entries. Hopefully you'll find some time to make an update (...and some pictures I still remember you've promised us pictures )

 

I still don't have a working camera, but I'll put that on my agenda for real.  Actually when I was cleaning out my closet I found my old 35mm, but what are we savages?  I know I should document some photos, but I prefer to just keep on keeping on.  I'd rather look into the mirror some day and not recognize myself in a positive manner rather than maintain a photo journey.  But I'll keep an eye out for a cheap digital camera when I go shopping.

[Noname123]

For speeding up/slowing down- interval training? 

 

I also, binge watched Daredevil, netflix is really stepping it up with their programs, I've loved almost every one they've released!

[Sardoni]

So I've maintained my routine.  I did miss a Wednesday in my M,W,F routine because my sleep schedule got messed up and I couldn't be bothered.

 

HOWEVER I'm pleased to announce that I've lost another 15.4 pounds.  I started this journey on March 10th and in two months I've lost 32 pounds.

 

To recap the major highlights.  I only drink water or orange juice.  Most days it's just water.  I've cut out milk, cheese, grains, bread, dairy, sugar all together (with a few exceptions).  Some of the frozen foods my family picked up to help me out have wheat.  The baked beans used maple syrup (which I guess is better than sugar all together), but all in all I've definitely changed my eating habits for the better.  We still have candy, ice cream, cereal, and all the old junk that used to dominate my eating habits in the house, but I have had no desire to eat any of those things.  If I feel the need to eat a snack I've been grabbing bacon or left over veggies.  It really isn't as hard as I thought it would be.

 

I'm still on body-weight training phase 1, but it continues to be a challenge.  I haven't graduated from inverted pushups to knee ups yet.  I did shift to prisoner squats from just regular squats.  My planking is still on my knees but I'm holding it for up to 30 seconds now (instead of 15).  I've decreased my time walking around the block to just doing once around the block.  It is just .6 miles all told, but I'm focusing on doing it faster each day.  Once I can do it without needing to drink water constantly (which water is good but I'm using that to gauge my level of winded-ness if that makes sense) then I'll add in a second lap.

 

All in all on M, W, F it takes me about 40 minutes to do the body-weight routine (this includes the warm up and the cooldown) and then I got for about a 15 minute walk around the block.  On Su, M, Tu, Th, Sa I do a 15-30 minute walk around the block.

 

I've also been eating about 2,000 calories a day (I'm 6 foot 3 inches (190.5 cm.)).  Most of the time less than that.  I don't plan on setting a hard calorie number until I hit a plateau.  Since I've lost 32 lbs so far I think I'm okay with what I've been doing.  I went from 417 lbs March 10th to 385 lbs on May 10th.  I see it in my face, and I see it sort of in my clothes, but I'm not going to argue with the scale.

 

I spoiled myself a little yesterday when I had a sweet tea and later a Gatorade.  I noticed there was more sugar than I was happy with so I only drank half of each of them. 

 

As we speak I have a flank steak slow cooking with green beans, sweet potatoes, onions, bell peppers, and celery.  All that in some beef both with garlic, a little ginger and lemon pepper seasonings.  That should be portioned out over the rest of the week (if it survives the rest of the household tonight lol).

 

Last week I had some hamburger meat so I tossed that in the slowcooker with some fresh brocolli, onions, and bell pepper.  It stayed in for too long, but it was still sooooo good.  It ended up being like a mashed up soupy liquid after storing it.  So I used that vegetable brothy mixture to add into my scrambled eggs in the morning.  I brought some to my mom and she ate the whole thing.  I told her it had sweet potatoes in it and she usually hates sweet potatoes lol.

 

I know I've been bad about updating, but that hasn't stopped me from maintaining my diet and at least a 15 minute walk around the block each day.  Originally I needed to post here daily to help develop my habit.  I've got it down without needing to hold myself accountable somewhere else.  I've even got my mom going "Damn!  32 lbs?  I gotta do whatever you're doing this summer!"  I think I'm proof positive that small changes can add up over time... even in just two months!

 

I with you luck with your own fitness goals!  I'll still be around!

[Jett]

Congrats on losing the 32 lbs. My husband has been doing some similar things to what you're doing, and he's seen similar weight loss. Keep up the good work!!