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[Bernard Marx]

I did really well for a while.

 

I had reasonable goals, a quality diet, successful strength program, and I shed over fifty lbs.

 

Then I made a change to my plan, and the whole thing fell apart. I've been trying to get back on the wagon ever since.

 

Over a series of fits and starts, I at least did myself the favor of keeping copious notes on what I was doing. Now, looking back, I can see what worked, and what didn't.

 

When I first started trying to improve my health, I lost about 15 lbs just watching my diet carefully for a month. Then I added strength training, and I kept that up for about six months and dropped almost 40lbs more. Then I switched to a three day a week strength schedule, and I started missing more workouts. The temptation to hit the work cafeteria and socialize and of course buy more food to unnecessarily supplement the food that I brought started winning and I only lost about 5 lbs more during this stretch. Then I switched to riding my bike to work instead of strength training. My bike commute saves me money on gas and vehicle wear, and is about an hour each way, so I was too tired to keep lifting on top of it. I stopped being careful with my diet all together, and I maintained my weight for a few months. Then the amount of riding I was doing started to decrease and I still wasn't careful with my diet, and my weight crept back up by about 10 lbs. I caught this (because I've kept up with my notes and weigh ins at least) and said ok, get back on the wagon with my diet. Since then, I've been sort of careful with my diet (careful most days peppered with days I would seriously over-consume) with still very intermittent bike commutes, and I've neither gained or lost a thing. 

 

Well, looking over all that, I recognized my most successful time was when my diet was mostly vegetables, and my workouts were daily strength training (alternating muscle groups so I get sufficient recovery). So that's what I'm going back to. I've got my program written, my meal plan for the week written, and I even found a friend who's been debating getting into the gym himself to join me for the week. He's taking a cool vacation with his wife that's going to require lots of walking, so he committed to stroll away on the treadmill while I lift, so it's more moral support, but hey, maybe after he gets back I can talk him into lifting too.

 

My plan is just for the week. I haven't been able to string together seven days of winning, so that's where I start. I need to win for the next seven, and today is day one.

 

I'm going to resurrect my battle log and pick up tracking there. Starting with my win for today.

[Ripple]

It sounds like you never really fell off, you just hit some bumps figuring out what is best for you. Props for keeping up with record keeping during that time and keeping weight gain to a minimum - you're in a really good position to come back and crush it now! 

[BarbarianBassBro]

On ‎21‎.‎03‎.‎2016 at 1:34 AM, Ripple said:

It sounds like you never really fell off, you just hit some bumps figuring out what is best for you. Props for keeping up with record keeping during that time and keeping weight gain to a minimum - you're in a really good position to come back and crush it now! 

This! Just re-focus on the stuff you had success with and stick to it. I just switched a short time ago to my old workout-routine, because the new one was fun but hurt my recovery. Since I´m back to my old routine I´m improving great again