5k (Semi) Challenge

So I never planned on running fast again. I mean, sure I'd hoped to run my next marathon quicker. I'd hoped to bring in a more respectable time during the next Run for the Roses (5k). But I'd never thought I'd be contemplating running 7 minute miles or even trying to get back to times I ran in high school.

All it took was some friendly goading from my best friend to put me back into the mood for speed.

So last night, after a small tweet back-and-forth, I decided to try a 5k at 7:30 minute miles. I was actually able to complete it. On a treadmill, but that was the best way to ensure I maintained pace. Also, there was a huge thunder and lightning storm all evening yesterday. No way to run outside.

As cool is it is to have done a 5k in 23:15, I think I'm going to wait awhile - get in a bit better shape (a month of working out and 30 pounds overweight is still not quite prime condition) - before I try the speed thing again.

I do have hope that I can bring my marathon pace down to 9:00 minute miles...that would get me done in just under 4 hours. I'd really like that.

Progress Report LIV - June 26

Current Weight: 196.8 lbs.
Last Week's Weight: 201.4 lbs
Loss/Gain: - 4.6 lbs.
Weekly Percentage of Weight Gain: 2.3%

27.8 lbs. to Goal (169 lbs.)

This sure has become one roller coaster ride of a weight loss journey. Up and down and up...and now down again. I've said this many, many times before, but this time it - my weight - stays down.

I've been back at the diet since May 10th and the exercise since the start of June. It's done wonders. I've taken off 23.4 pounds in 47 days. That's essentially a half a pound a day!

Looking back a few posts, it was Christmas time again that sent me back up. I burned myself out with the diet and exercise. Add to that the temptation of the food at that time of year, and it was all shot again.

The cool thing this time around is that I've started back on the path BEFORE the summer. Typically I wait until August or September. I was laziest during the easiest months to workout. And that just packed on the pounds. This time around I'm taking full advantage of the weather and longer days. I'm getting the most out of this summer. Also, I'm eating more. That's helped with maintaining the diet. I'm not being so strict with the calories. I'm enjoying meals when I want. I'm just being responsible when I can.

Right now it's been a lot of biking and running. Fast running. For me. Which is an awesome thing. I love seeing those quick miles fly by. It's all building up to the Goofy Challenge at Walt Disney World in January. It should be a nice cap to the whole weight loss journey.

Here's a couple of graphs and charts because you KNOW how much I like seeing these. (Especially when they look like this.)

Back for the Thousandth Time

With 2.8 pounds lost over the past 6 days, I'm back on track. For like the thousandth time. My weight loss journey would be some badass roller coaster. Huge ups and downs and seems to go on forever and ever.

I'm going to stay positive and believe that this will be the last big drop. Then it'll be just years of level - healthy - going.

There are no excuses other than the choices I made, but the past has past. I'm trying to be more Zen and living in the moment. I'll do what I can day by day.

The weight loss over the past 6 days came strictly by diet. I counted calories and was extremely strict in what I ate. Small portions in all the food groups daily along with 8 cups of water.

This week I'll get out and exercise in addition to the diet. It was a combination that worked so well for me last fall/early winter. It was manageable and not too unrealistic. It will help not having the two jobs this summer. It'll free up time so that the exercise doesn't eat up the time I would use for sleep. Being fully rested and unstressed helps with any weight loss program.

So, I'm back to it. Here we go again.

It Happened Again

I did it again, just what I worried I might do. I fell off the weight loss train. Got mangled in the tracks, my plan all torn to shreds.

However, I am not going to let that stop me this time. Sure, I've spent the last two weeks eating like a pig and doing nothing for a workout other than shoveling heavier and heavier plates of snacks into my mouth. The guilt was ENORMOUS. And the pounds packed themselves back on. On the 2nd I was 204.4 pounds. Today I'm up one more at 205.4. I was all the way down at 193! That's 12.4 pounds in 2 weeks. That's an even worse gain than the last time I fell from the train.

*sigh*

There, that's out of my system. I'm done with the failure. The guilt is gone (or going). Today, I'm back. It's going to be difficult. I mean, I was standing in my kitchen this morning staring at all the tempting snacks sitting on the counter, some I purchased just yesterday. I was asking myself: "What's the worst that could happen if it's just one more day of snacking?" I knew the answer before asking the question. The worst is what has happened the past two times I went one day, then another, and another until I was back to the overweight wreck I've all too frequently become.

Breakfast today was 180 calories (Fiber One cereal and milk with a glass of V8). I drank 2 glasses of water. I faced my shame and updated my weight and restarted my tracking on The Daily Plate. I'm back.

This time until the end.

I'm going all Spartan on the calories again for a few weeks, just until I get under 200 pounds - 5.5 pounds to lose to reach that goal. I'll then start building the calories back up to a normal person's level, shooting to consume a net of 1,800 - 2,000 calories a day while maintaining my new healthy weight of approximately 165 pounds.

The exercise will have to decrease in hours because I simply don't have the time to workout as much as I did during November and December. I want to do more (write, draw, read, start to date...yeah, I need to get on that - that's what she said - if I want to have a family anytime soon). So the weight loss will be slow going. Once under 200 pounds I'll shoot for an average of 1.5 - 2 pounds loss a week. I'm hoping to be at my 165 pounds by the end of June. Just in time for RAGBRAI and the start of training for the Walt Disney World "Goofy" (half-marathon AND full marathon, back-to-back) next January.

Onward, Pirate! You've got some work to do.

My Charts - Dec. 26

*sniff sniff* My graph, it's ruined. My poor slope.


Check out that final day!

Progress Report LIII - December 26

Last Week's Weight: 193 lbs
Current Weight: 194.6 lbs.
Loss/Gain: + 1.6 lbs.
Weekly Percentage of Weight Gain: 0.83%

4.4 lbs. Past Year-End Goal (199 lbs.)
4.7 lbs. to NEW Year-End Goal (189.9 lbs.)
25.6 lbs. to Goal (169 lbs.)

Exercise Hours: 16:11:55 hours

Exercise Distance: 100.97 miles (9.00 running; 27.64 walking; 64.33 biking)

Calories Burned: 7,360 (1,051 avg. daily)

Weekly Calories Consumed: 15,289* (2,184 avg. daily)

Net Weekly Calories: 7,929 (1,113 avg. daily)

*On Friday and Saturday, a large portion of calories consumed needed to be estimated due to eating foods and recipes not easily tracked via the Daily Plate website. On Friday, 1,160 calories were estimated consumed, and on Saturday, 4,480 calories were estimated consumed.

BALLS! My first weight gain of the new weight loss run attempt. I sort of knew it might happen, what with the holiday and all. Still, it is disappointing because it ruins my graphs and crushes a bit of my spirit. And it was all the result of just TWO days (Christmas Eve and Christmas Day).

However, I'm not going to let it stop me. I decided Christmas Eve that these few days of holiday celebration only come ONCE a year, and that if I didn't ENJOY them then I'd be kicking myself for a year. Because in the end, does it really - TRULY - matter if I put on a few pounds? I can take them right back off, probably as quickly as I've been taking the pounds off up until this week. I decided to enjoy the days, taking care to not enjoy them TOO much. I didn't need to almost DIE like last year on Christmas.

Still, it is really frustrating when you look at the numbers of my superheroic workout week:

• 100 miles covered!
• 16 hours working out!
• 7,000 calories burned!

This was 6 more hours of exercise from last week, 50! more miles of working out, 1,00 more calories burned (but also 7,800! more calories consumed than last week - over DOUBLE).

The only thing I can think is that all the extra calories came in the last two days of the week when I was also getting the sickest. The overload and the weak body probably didn't help the weight burning process.

I am sick now. Sore throat, cough, congestion. I'm not going to stop working out, but I'm not going to push it to the extremes I did last week. I need to take the recovery time this week to let my body heal and get better.

The plan for this week is to still eat fully today (celebrating Christmas with mom today and more family at grandma's tonight). I'll then get myself back on schedule with strictly enforced caloric intake - not at a level to lose 4.7 pounds to meet the New Year-End goal (that's out, barring a miracle) - and 2 hour workouts following the new, more manageable schedule I created (more on that later). I'm going to pass on eating "fully" during New Year's; these few days around Christmas were enough.

We'll see where that puts me. I'm fully prepared (sort of) to see a gain again this week (sickness, off days, new workout schedule, some extra eating), but after the new year there are no good reasons to see any sort of gain. It's back on schedule, hitting it hard to lose the final 25 or so pounds to reach my goal.

My Charts - Dec. 19

Calorie Update

I decided - after bringing home three baggies of cookies from mom's, holding out against the onslaught of foods at grandma's, and wandering the aisles of the grocery store - that it was time to adjust my weekly weight loss goal, and thus my allowable calories per day. It was set at 3.1 pounds weight loss per week, but that would have given me only 993 calories per day this week. Just not enough by any means.

So I backed the weight loss down to 2 pounds per week, and that boosted my calories per day to 1,543. With the exercise I do, the foods I want to eat, and the holiday temptations, I think this is a much more reasonable expectation. It'll be a huge difference from the past 9 weeks, but hopefully it doesn't impact the weight loss too much. Granted, I don't expect to see my average of 5 pounds loss this week, but I don't want to see a gain. That's my biggest worry. If I see a gain I might give up and the past 9 weeks will have been all for nothing.

I was going to have to increase the calories at some point, why not now? I'm just worried. Worried, worried, worried.

Progress Report LII - December 19

Last Week's Weight: 197.8 lbs
Current Weight: 193 lbs.
Loss/Gain: - 4.8 lbs.
Weekly Percentage of Weight Loss: 2.43%

6 lbs. Past Year-End Goal (199 lbs.)
3.1 lbs. to NEW Year-End Goal (189.9 lbs.)
24 lbs. to Goal (169 lbs.)

Exercise Hours: 10:43:01 hours

Exercise Distance: 50.92 miles (8.25 running; 17.95 walking; 24.72 biking)

Calories Burned: 6,127 (875 avg. daily)

Weekly Calories Consumed: 7,416 (1,059 avg. daily)

Net Weekly Calories: 1,289 (184 avg. daily)

Still killing it, week after week. I'm down a total of 46.4 pounds (an average of 5.16 lbs. per week) after only 9 weeks.

I tried something a little different this week. I ate more calories (68) on the days that I worked out to give myself a few extra calories on those days I knew I'd be cranking out negative numbers. Didn't seem to hurt the weight loss total. I'll continue the trend this week and next. After the start of the new year, I'll be backing down the weight loss, but for two more weeks I'll continue to be militant about it all.

This week holds the toughest day of the entire year: Christmas. Last year I ate so much I was crippled, curled up on the flow aching to throw up because my body went into calorie shock (too many calories of a type I was not used to - straight up sugar and processed food). I vowed I'd not put myself through that kind of pain again. However, there are so MANY temptations. And it's on Saturday, right before I weigh in. This is going to be a tough week.

Going to try my best to make it to the gym 5 times this week. I had good intentions last week, but by Friday I crapped out and skipped my workout. Still, I did manage 4 fantastic workouts, and I was able to log more hours at the gym than last week, going farther, doing more...killing it.

The Plan for Tonight--UPDATED

The plan for tonight's workout:

3 hours and 10 minutes
[3:18:15]
1994 calories burned
[1937 - just short; damn]

Needs to include:

My missing run from yesterday (2.75 miles, with the last .25 mile sprint at 7.6 mph)
[Check]
A total walk/run/walk of 90 minutes
[Check]
A bike of 40 minutes
[Check]
Abs [Check]
Weights [Check]
Pushups [Check]
Stretching [Check]

[PLUS: Pushups!]

Since I consumed a level of calories yesterday based on putting in a workout, I've got to flip-flop my consumed calories today with those (shorting me 68 calories today). I'll still be over in my total calories for the week - when compared to last week - but this was a new plan, and the flip today will allow me to stick with the plan I made for the week.

There, all planned. Now hopefully the tickle of a cough doesn't explode into something worse throughout the day. I don't want anything keeping me from the gym tonight. (Can't believe I was so lazy yesterday.)

My Dilemma / My Good Night

I Wish

I have all these food cravings. The problem is, I see something wonderful


and so I make a low calorie, smaller serving of something along the same lines, and it's not nearly as good. (The pasta I cooked for dinners this week is just a simple rotini, sauce, and cheese.)

That's been the toughest part of the whole diet - satisfying, rather subverting, the cravings.

My Charts - Dec. 12

How I Track

This is how I keep track - in addition to filling out my page on The Daily Plate - of what I've done throughout the week. Just an extra insight into my disciplined, healthy lifestyle.

FrontBack

Progress Report LI - December 12

Last Week's Weight: 202.8 lbs
Current Weight: 197.8 lbs.
Loss/Gain: - 5 lbs.
Weekly Percentage of Weight Loss: 2.47%

1.2 lbs. Past Year-End Goal (199 lbs.)
28.8 lbs. to Goal (169 lbs.)

Exercise Hours: 10:06:01 hours

Exercise Distance: 43.43 miles (7.5 running; 16.32 walking; 18.33 biking; 1.28 elliptical)

Calories Burned: 5,967 (852 avg. daily)

Weekly Calories Consumed: 7,222 (1,037 avg. daily)

Net Weekly Calories: 1,255 (179 avg. daily)

I. Did. It.

I passed over the 200 pound barrier. And not just barely. This week I lost another 5 pounds, putting myself safely below the 200 pound mark. It was a tough week to get to this point. I worked hard to ensure I met my year-end goal a full THREE weeks early. Since I started this journey again 8 weeks ago, I've lost 41.6 pounds (an average of 5.2 pounds per week!). I'm now under 30 pounds from my goal weight. It just blows my mind to think that I've come so far so fast.

The hard work I mentioned? This week I exercised 3 more hours than last week, nearly doubled my total mileage covered, consumed fewer calories daily (barely), and burned about 2,000 more calories than I did last week. All of this in just 4 days of working out. I averaged a net of only 179 calories a day. That's a strict week.

In reviewing my data (which I do obsessively), I've noticed that I don't consume nearly enough fat. There's a huge discrepancy. When The Daily Plate calculates its percentages of the different nutrients and such, it does so based on the number of calories it suggests you eat daily to meet your weekly weight loss goal. For example, suppose I want to lose 3.1 pounds a week, it factors in my weight and gives me the total grams of fat I should consume, scaled down from a 2,000 calorie diet. I'm eating maybe 50% of the scaled down recommendation. So that's essentially a tiny amount of fat daily. I'm sure that isn't super great, but the low calories foods and small portion sizes I eat just don't contain much fat. I've always chosen foods with little fat, only now it shows more visibly with this low-calorie approach to weight loss. I need to do some research and find out just how important that fat consumption is. I may have to adjust some of the foods I eat.

Now that I've met my year-end goal, I need to think about the next three weeks, and plan for the new year. While I was sitting out in my hut, huddled next to the space heater at work, I did some planning:

I'm creating a NEW year-end goal of 190 lbs. I am 7.8 pounds away from that goal, leaving me an average of 2.6 pounds to lose per week over the next three weeks. That seems possible based on the progress I've made so far over the past 8 weeks. I gave some thought to the excessive (yeah, I see that) exercise and calorie deficit, and I came up with the following plan. I'm going to eat 1,100 calories on the days I exercise (an attempt to start building back up the consumable calories), while following the weight loss recommendation of total calories on the days I don't exercise (1,032). If all goes according to plan, that will give me a weekly total of 7,564 calories (avg. of 1,080 daily). This will allow me to eat a bit more on the days I need the extra calories.

That will leave me with just 21 pounds to lose in the new year. I'm going to slow down the weekly weight loss in the new year; that has always been the plan. I'm going to shoot for an average weekly weight loss of 1.5 pounds, allowing me to build back up the number of calories consumed daily to a more sustainable level. On this plan, it will take me approximately 14 weeks to reach my goal, sometime around mid-March. This is still well before my original projection of May. Fantastic.

To the Point of Exhaustion

Workout Summary - 3:06:54 hours; avg. HR 123; Walk 1, Run 2.5, Walk 6.19; Stretching; Abs; Weights; Pushups.

Burned 1,877 calories, for a net -841 calories today.

I didn't go to the gym with the plan of a 3 hour workout. In fact, I had planned to workout 2 hours, maybe 2 hours 19 minutes to help round out my total weekly workout minutes. While I was walking and running the idea popped in my mind to try put in 3 hours. So I kept at the walking after my 65 minutes were up. I figured another 45 minutes would be a good addition. That 45 became 60, and before I knew it, my workout was already over the 2 hour mark.

I knocked out my stretching and ab routines (with the exception of one ab exercise due to the strain I was feeling on my already sore left lower ab), followed by my pushups. All that was left were my weights, and I could see that I'd be crossing that 3 hour barrier with them.

I outlasted everyone who was there when I arrive, and all but one of the people who arrived after me. The only guy left in the gym was a man who came when I had only 10 minutes left of my workout.

I was hoping that when I checked my burned calories I'd have crossed over the 2,000 mark, but I fell short. It was the lower heart rate during weight lifting that slowed the rate of burn. If I'd have had the strength of body (and mind) to get on the bike for 15 more minutes, I could have crossed that threshold. But I just couldn't. It took the last of my energy to get through the final 2 weight machines.

Even typing this after icing my left knee, I'm finding myself wanting to close my eyes and drift to sleep. I'm wiped out.

Dead tired.

Still, what a rush. What a workout.

Running Out of Clothes

I'm down to my skinniest pair of pants. I've dropped from a 44 waist to a 38 waist...in just 7 weeks! I'm also at the notch I had to create on my belt because it no longer would cinch tight enough. I didn't think I'd have to go buy new clothes so soon, but I might not even make it to Christmas before I need some new pants. Definitely can't go to work pantless.

Don't get me wrong, I'm NOT complaining. In fact, I'm downright impressed with my progress. It's nice (again) to be out of the giant boy pants.

The Week of Killer Workouts (and Rest)

I took Sunday off after a big workout Saturday...and because I can be lazy. I was talking with the Monkey about how tough it is to fit in a workout after my second job on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and we both decided it would be in my best interest to take those days as my rest days for the week. That means I'll have workouts on Sunday, Monday, Wednesday, Friday (if I don't skip this one due to laziness after a movie), and Saturday.

In theory, it seems like a good idea, even though I'm a little worried about two rest days a week. (Seems counterproductive.)

Doing this I have to do all that was I was doing over two days in one night's workout. That makes for an extra long time at the gym. I was splitting the ab work and weight work up over different nights. Now I'm doing all of it, plus some extra biking or work on the elliptical trainer. I'm shooting for a workout lasting around 2 hours, burning 1,200 calories. That would give me 6,000 calories burned in a week.

Just typing it I now recognize how ambitious it sounds. But wouldn't it be cool if I could manage it? I'd be in pretty decent shape after a few months.

I know I won't have perfect weeks - I'm busy as shit. But I'll do my best and catch the rest when I can. Any workout is better than no workout.

My Charts - Dec. 5

It was impressive to me, so I thought I'd share. Here are my weekly calories chart and total weight loss chart:

Progress Report L - December 5

50th week since starting this twice-restarted journey of loss!
Last Week's Weight: 209.2 lbs
Current Weight: 202.8 lbs.
Loss/Gain: - 6.4 lbs.
Weekly Percentage of Weight Loss: 3.06%

3.8 lbs. to Year-End Goal (199 lbs.)
33.8 lbs. to Goal (169 lbs.)

Exercise Hours: 6:31:56.4 hours

Exercise Distance: 24.9 miles (6.75 running; 11.98 walking; 6.17 biking)

Calories Burned: 3,913 (559 avg. daily)

Weekly Calories Consumed: 7,280 (1,040 avg. daily)

Net Weekly Calories: 3,367 (481 avg. daily)

Simply stunned. There's no other way to describe how I felt when I weighed in this morning. I lost 6.4 pounds this week! That's nearly double what I lost last week.

And I guess it makes since when you look at the numbers. I worked out 2 more hours, covered 10 more miles, burned 1,600 more calories, and ate 500 fewer calories. Still...shocking.

I only have 3.8 more pounds left to lose to meet my year-end goal of 199 pounds. I think I can manage that in the four weeks I have left. Heck, I might even do it this week.

I was curious how this stretch of weight loss compared to the similar run I made at it a year ago. I started about the same time in October at about the same weight and worked hard to meet a similar year-end goal. So I looked back. During this same week last year I only had a loss of 1.2 pounds and was still 8.6 pounds from the year-end goal. I only exercised 27 minutes that week. And the week before, Thanksgiving, I actually put on 0.8 pounds. At the time I was reminding myself to hit the cardio to boost the calorie burn. (Which I did over the next couple of weeks: 4.6 lbs. and 3 lbs.) I was then at 200 pounds, just above my goal of 199. I then noted that the last time I was at 200 pounds I immediately put back on 11 pounds in two weeks on my way to putting ALL the weight back on. So what happened? I got killed at Christmas - even with 5 hours of exercise I put on 1.6 pounds and didn't stop there. I put it all back on again.

So here I am now, at nearly the same point I've been twice before on this weight loss journey - that 200 pound barrier. And with Christmas right around the corner.

People have been on my case for not being healthy or smart in going about this weight loss, but I am just worried. If I change things now, what's going to happen? I don't feel that I've taken anything to such an excessive extreme. I started out obese. I needed to lose the weight and I did while eating healthy (tracking the calories in smaller portions has been the key) and exercising (and I'm not above taking days off - the past two weeks have seen 5 days of rest). I'll set new goals, building the calories back up once I reach my goal - my healthy - weight. It will just take a bit more time.