'Ere, he says he's not dead.

[Harknes]

"Dead" Man: I think I'll go for a walk.

Large Man: You're not fooling anyone, you know. Isn't there anything you could do?  

 

I feel like I am play both parts in this skit.  I am going to get things on track.  I was doing wonderfully on fitness, mostly due to a few physical jobs in a row.  I worked as a lumberjack (they still exist!)  a farmer and lastly climbing cell phone towers.  I was in great shape!  I could run!  I could do pull ups!  I could repeatedly pull large rocks out of the ground, pick them up and put them in a truck, for hours!  Then I got laid off.   I sat around playing video games for six months without changing my eating habits.  I went from a muscly 180 to a flabby 230.  Not only did I gain weight but I lost all of my muscle.  I now have a good job working as a lab technician.  The downside?  Next to zero physical activity.  Those dopes pay me to think...    

 

Now I need to exercise again.  I am not happy with how I look.  My fiancee says she will always find me attractive but our bedroom activity says otherwise.  I want that look back in her eyes when she see's me take off my shirt.  I want to be comfortable at pools.  I want my clothes to fit right.  Most of all I want to not be disgusted when I look in the mirror.   I have gotten fat.  To that end, I am respawning.  Help me fight!  Let this be the hour when we draw swords together. Fell deeds awake. Now for wrath! Now for ruin! And a red dawn!

[JesterShay]

Welcome Harknes! Sounds like you certainly have the motivation. Do you have a plan that you are going to follow? Physical jobs just kind of make it happen, but with a desk job, you need a more concrete effort.

[Jett]

Congrats on the good job, but yeah... switching from being on your feet all day to being on your butt all day is a hard thing to wrap your head around. You'll either have to put in some serious workout time, or change what you eat... (or both)!

 

I'd also like to hear what your plan is, and I'm curious about what "type" of exercise you are interested in. Weightlifting? Body-weight exercises (like pullups, pushups, etc)? Running? Do you have goals other than "lose weight"?

[Harknes]

You are both right, I should explain.  

 

My eating plan is two fold.  I spoke to a dietitian and we worked out an eating plan to change from 3 large meals a day with substantial snacking to 5 or 6 small meals a day with the correct balance of nutrition.  In the short term I am counting calories to get myself used to thinking about healthy food choices.  My calorie goal is around 1900.  This is around 500 below my metabolic rate.  This leads to around a pound a week of fat loss.  Once I am down to an acceptable level my calories will go back up to support muscle.  This part is mostly about healthy eating and making a change to a healthier lifestyle.  One that still includes a small can of Dr.Pepper I am happy to say.  Six days of the week I count calories and worry and one day a week (I chose Saturday) I can relax a little.  This doesn't mean 2 liter bottles of Dr.Pepper and a giant bag of Doritos but does mean I can go to Chipolte if I split it into two meals.  The other part of my eating plan is harder.  I am getting out of the habit of rewarding myself with food.  I am not a dog.  I do not eat for reward.  I am a machine.  I eat for fuel.  I can enjoy my fuel but I am not  going to reward myself for exercising with a snickers bar.  This applies everyday.  I am looking for other ways to reward myself.  Any suggestions would be welcome.

 

The second part of the One-Two combo is exercise.  I am easing into exercising with a C25K and some body weight exercise that I can do.  Mostly push ups, sit ups and negative pull ups.  Once I loose some fat/gain some muscle I am going to add more into my routine.  Dips, squats and full pull ups. Others to work other parts of my body as needed.  

 

My goals overall for physical fitness are "Look sexy as fuck!"  I don't care about weight as long as I look good.  I know that sounds narcissistic but it motivates me.  I want to run a 5K with my future brother in law.(He is also doing a C25K)  I want to top 100 with most of my body weight exercises.  I want to do 25 pull ups.  

My life goals are to plan my wedding for October 2016, reduce my debt, learn to play the ukulele and buy a Jeep Wrangler 2 door, preferably orange.  

[Jett]

Hey, sounds like a good eating plan. :3 (The best eating plan is a plan you'll stick to!) This may be a bigger issue for ladies than men, but I do want to throw out a word of caution about the "3500 calories = 1 lb of fat, so 7 days a week at 500 deficit means you'll lose a pound a week" idea... this isn't always the case. There's a lot of factors that come into play. In my own experience, a 500/day deficit definitely didn't result in a pound per week! That doesn't mean your deficit won't eventually give you good results, though. Just don't get discouraged if you don't see the pounds dropping off in a regular pattern. On most people, it ends up looking like fits and starts, with plateaus in the middle.

 

Haha, if you want to look really sexy, then eventually you'll probably want to cut your body fat % wayyy down, to below double digits. You should be able to accomplish that in time for your wedding. I have heard that it is hard to keep it at that level, but 10-15% is pretty attractive, too.

 

You like video games, right? You could reward yourself for doing something (like your exercises) with a bit of video game time, rather than food.

 

What parts of your plan do you think will be the hardest to stick to?

[Harknes]

Getting out of bed to exercise will be the hardest. The second worst will be the no food rewards. I have to keep telling myself "I am not a dog." Video game time is fairly structured for me. I can't really squeeze more in. Perhaps I should start a tip jar for myself.

 

I care more about inches than pounds.  This weekend I am going to go get a soft tape measure and take me measurements.  I will measure in weekly or perhaps monthly.  Not sure.