Let it all slip away.....time to win it back

[driscool]

Twenty months ago I was in the best shape of my life. Over the previous three years I had gone from 110 kilos to 85-ish. I had run a half-marathon in under two hours, a 10k in 48 minutes, and a handful of trail races. I had started doing bodyweight training. I had got down below my initial target weight and kept it that way for two years. And then I moved to America.

 

Obviously it's not all America's fault. However. The move, which was for a three-year work placement for my wife, was more stressful, and more expensive than I anticipated. It turns out I deal with stress, especially financial stress, by eating and drinking. I tried to get back into running. The first time, I went out too hard, too fast, too far, and inevitably got injured (nothing serious- I hope. Calf pulls and sore achilles). This has now happened three times. I started going to the gym last .... September? I started doing random dumbbell work from stuff I'd seen online, and some dreadmill running because winter. Also I have been cycling to work 90% of the time since September (3 miles each way). The result? I weigh 102 kilos this morning.  

 

Now I have been working on 5x5 stronglifts for a month. I've started running again, but this time I'm going to accept that I am slow and will be slow for some time. I have to cut out the sugar and carbs that are the staple diet here (any social occasion = ice cream, bagels, cookies, pizza). My plan is to do what I've done before, which is to maintain discipline Sunday night through Friday morning- Friday night, Saturday, and Sunday lunch are for socialising, and I'm not going to be that guy. It's tough- in Spain, where I lived before I usually worked evenings, but here I'm dining with my wife and kids. My wife has a tendency to cook too much (she is also quite overweight) and seeing food thrown away drives me crazy, especially in times of financial worry (which seems to be all the time here- the US, or Boston at least, is a tough place to live in on teacher's incomes). However, I am not going to hoover up the leftovers. They would go to our dogs in Spain, but here they'll go into landfill, dammit. My wife also likes to wind down with a beer or glass of wine in the evening. And so do I. But where she literally has a beer, my 'a beer' too often changes into 3, or a quick scotch before bed... in itself it's not necessarily a problem, but even the smallest amount of booze seems to do away with whatever willpower I had as far as not eating, and I find myself making the trip from couch to fridge again, and again, and again. 

 

Diagnosis is easy eh?

 

So the plan: Stronglifts 5x5, 10x per month. Run, 30 minutes 2x week, Run long (40 minutes, adding 5 minutes each week) 1x week. Cycle to work 4x week until school ends in June, also make any local journey under two miles by bike. Avoid sugar. Refuse dessert. No booze, no bread (inc. pasta), minimum rice, potatoes Sunday night- Friday morning. I did it once, so I hope I can do it again. I read all the stuff about how everyone who loses weight bounces bacck, but I thought it wouldn't happen to me. But under stress, it did. I stopped tracking, arguing that I'd start again soon, once I was in the right place. I think I've learned that this can't be short term, and that even three years is short term in the long term. I've got 14 months before I go back to Spain, and I want to get there and dive in the pool in July 2018 looking good and feeling good. I want to be able to run the hills and bike the mountains like I was doing in 2015. I did it before and I can do it again.

[Xena]

On 5/5/2017 at 10:44 AM, driscool said:

I did it before and I can do it again.

Absolutely! You've got this!

[Wobbegong]

Good luck and let us know how it goes!

 

It sounds like you know what to do and how to get there. Mentally, backsliding can be a big setback, but just keep in mind that you already KNOW you can do it because you've done it! 

 

On 5/5/2017 at 7:44 AM, driscool said:

My wife has a tendency to cook too much (she is also quite overweight) and seeing food thrown away drives me crazy, especially in times of financial worry (which seems to be all the time here- the US, or Boston at least, is a tough place to live in on teacher's incomes). However, I am not going to hoover up the leftovers. They would go to our dogs in Spain, but here they'll go into landfill, dammit.

 

Excuse me if I'm being presumptuous (and of course living on a teachers salary in the US is painful, so ignore me if what I'm about to suggest is not an option financially) but it sounds to me like you're missing a dog in your life. 

 

A dog is a big commitment and will stay with you for longer than it sounds like you're going to be in the States, but maybe consider fostering? Animal shelters are often looking for volunteers to keep pets in their homes temporarily until a forever owner can be found. 

[driscool]

Thats an idea....

[Wobbegong]

Just thought I'd put it out there. You get the added benefit of feeling like you're doing something good/charitable as well when you foster, and having lived both with and without dogs I can say the difference is significant (at least for me). 

[Sloth the Enduring]

It sounds like you have a good plan for getting back on track.

 

We foster dogs and like it a lot. It really varies by rescue, but we usually have them for 2-4 weeks. One caveat, they're never as potty trained as they claim.

[driscool]

Yeah I think the dog things a nono. We rent an apartment. 

 

But on the plus side I have rediscovered the joy of running in the rain. 45 minutes srraight last night. Slowwwwwwwwww though. Ive also been keeping ro the strength training program.

 

Best of all the scales said 100.09 kg (220.2lb) this morning for my Friday weighin. 

[Wobbegong]

21 hours ago, driscool said:

But on the plus side I have rediscovered the joy of running in the rain. 45 minutes srraight last night. Slowwwwwwwwww though. Ive also been keeping ro the strength training program.

 

That's awesome! I love running in the rain, I don't understand why so many people are against it. (I guess knowing you have a safe place to go dry off after helps, but still! That accounts for most of the people I know!)

[driscool]

So to update- I'm down to 98kg, 216lb.  I haven't been that good about the exercise over the summer, but it's coming along bit by bit.

 

I have a Battle Log thread I'm trying to keep up to date for the stuff I am doing.

[Roamer]

15 hours ago, driscool said:

So to update- I'm down to 98kg, 216lb.  I haven't been that good about the exercise over the summer, but it's coming along bit by bit.

 

I have a Battle Log thread I'm trying to keep up to date for the stuff I am doing.

 

Good to see you're keeping at it. You're about at the weight range I'm in. I weighed in at 225lbs this morning. lol Keep at it friend! Only way it gets done is if you're doing it.