Dan's Fitness Goal Log

[TwiceOver]

{Update: 09/17/2012)

I purchased my ticket for Tough Mudder MN July 20th. Have a team together. My only goal is to finish.

Literally 10 seconds after buying that ticket, Warrior Dash MN1 tickets went on sale for $35 June 29th. So I bought that ticket as well. I hope for a finish under 28 minutes.

Should be a fun summer!

(Update: 09/10/2012)

Well last Saturday I completed Warrior Dash MN2! Not the greatest time, that's for sure. 36:57.05 2124/7076. I don't really think it's that bad considering I really just started running about a month and a half ago. I'm sure there's a bunch of net badasses around here that will say it's so easy a pussy could do it, but hey, I set it as a goal and completed it. I'm pumped that's for sure. It was a blast and if I had it my way I would have ran out the finish and back into the start line. I'll hit it again next year with a goal to be under 28 minutes.

Tough Mudder next year, that's for sure.

(Update: 06/22/2012)

Yesterday I signed up for Warrior Dash which is on Sept. 8th in Hugo MN. It is a 3.1 mile run/obstacle course. This will be my stepping stone to hopefully be doing Tough Mudder next year. My knee isn't in the greatest shape, but I found a Chiropractor that is so far already working miracles.

I know some of the hardcore out there say that Warrior Dash is a piece of cake and all, but you need to consider I haven't run a single mile outside since I was in Jr. High about 18+ years ago.

Can't wait, I don't care if I have to crawl across that finish line, I'm going to finish.


(Original Post: 06/12/2012)
I'm not a very active member of H&F, spend most of my time in FSFT and OT, I did spend some time lurking around here, a little scared to open my mouth sometimes. But thought I'd drop in and thank all the posters in here that contribute and leave good information for people like myself to read.

Today I hit my initial goal weight of 177. This is down from 257 (80 pounds lost). I started Nov. 14th, so a little under 7 months. It's been a hard learning experience, but I can't believe how much better I feel.

Anyway, keep up the good advice. I'll probably drop in again when I have some pictures of my progress as I build muscle.

My next goal is Warrior Dash in Minneapolis in just under 3 months. Unfortunately my knee is wrecked so I'm not sure it is going to be possible, but damnit if I'm not going to at least try. Tough Mudder next year if I can get my knee completely under control.

Update (06/15/12): Decided to add my before and after collage. I'll let you figure out which is which. Note that in the before images the first image was taken July 2010 the next two were taken the next year July 2011. These were during my Son's birthday hence the reason there was any pics of me before at all.

 

[KidNiki1]

wow, this is awesome! congrats on seeing your hard work pay off and best of luck in getting that next goal under your belt.

 

[Megatomic]

Way to go TwiceOver. This forum (H&F) is pretty much the only forum I visit at AnandTech anymore, there is real community here. Come by more often, you should now do some mentoring for others looking for support and advice. You know, pay it forward kind of thing.

 

[amdhunter]

Congratulations. You did exactly what I want to do! Can I ask you a question? Did you have a big stomach? How long did it take for it to disappear? Is there loose skin???

 

[TwiceOver]

Congratulations. You did exactly what I want to do! Can I ask you a question? Did you have a big stomach? How long did it take for it to disappear? Is there loose skin???

My comfortable shirt size was XXXLT. I needed the tall size to get over my stomach. A 2XLT was doable but I felt a little subconscious in it because it was too tight. I now wear a standard large and could probably feel like a badass in a tight fitting medium.

I basically watched it melt away over the course of my journey. There's still room for improvement but that's what toning is for.

I do have some loose skin but I feel comfortable with my shirt off, so it isn't excessive in my opinion. Really working my core right now to tighten that area, but from what I have read it can take two or more years to really tighten up the skin.

I read your thread. I don't know if I agree with the people that think you will starve. I think you were talking 1700 calories with working out. This is nearly exactly what I ran at. I kept a 1000 calorie deficit sometimes up to 1200. But I did end up really slowing down the closer I got to my goal. Eating more actually increased my weight loss when I got closer to my goal.

What I did was set my deficit and then eat accordingly. So no matter what I would eat xxxx calories. If I worked out then I got to eat those calories too.

But I wouldn't call myself the authority on weight loss. This is just what worked for me.

 

[IHateMyJob2004]

80 pounds in 30 weeks. That is both awesome, amazing and insane. How did you pull it off. That's almost 3 pounds a week. Tell us more! Exercise + diet? What for diet? What for exercise?

 

[amdhunter]

My comfortable shirt size was XXXLT. I needed the tall size to get over my stomach. A 2XLT was doable but I felt a little subconscious in it because it was too tight. I now wear a standard large and could probably feel like a badass in a tight fitting medium.

I basically watched it melt away over the course of my journey. There's still room for improvement but that's what toning is for.

I do have some loose skin but I feel comfortable with my shirt off, so it isn't excessive in my opinion. Really working my core right now to tighten that area, but from what I have read it can take two or more years to really tighten up the skin.

I read your thread. I don't know if I agree with the people that think you will starve. I think you were talking 1700 calories with working out. This is nearly exactly what I ran at. I kept a 1000 calorie deficit sometimes up to 1200. But I did end up really slowing down the closer I got to my goal. Eating more actually increased my weight loss when I got closer to my goal.

What I did was set my deficit and then eat accordingly. So no matter what I would eat xxxx calories. If I worked out then I got to eat those calories too.

But I wouldn't call myself the authority on weight loss. This is just what worked for me.

Thanks for the info. I am really trying and I am amazing myself every time I get on a scale. I know it's going to slow down soon, but I am enjoying every moment of it.

Hopefully I can make a similar thread soon.

 

[TwiceOver]

80 pounds in 30 weeks. That is both awesome, amazing and insane. How did you pull it off. That's almost 3 pounds a week. Tell us more! Exercise + diet? What for diet? What for exercise?

I guess I didn't see it to be that insane. I will say it took over a month to get that last 5 pounds. I didn't really consult anyone, I read various sources and came up with a plan that I thought was right for me.

First thing was to figure my TDEE and BMR. I then used myfitnesspal.com to set a 1000 calorie daily deficit. I set my goals to be 155g protein and 150g carbs max. Man those are hard goals and I went over on carbs a lot and under on protein. I think if I could have held those numbers I'd be more muscular than where I am now. But I'm happy with my outcome. AND EAT BACK YOUR CALORIES. The deficit is the deficit of your TDEE, so if you exercise you need to eat those calories back or risk going into starvation.

My diet was fairly strict. I didn't eff around with it. I didn't eat the occasional donut at work, I didn't eat fast food because "I didn't have time". I packed my lunches and ate what I brought to work. Fruits, salads, sandwiches, soups during the day. Mornings I alternated between eggs/toast and cereal. Sometimes I would get sausage or bacon on a special occasion. Dinner almost always consisted of a protein source and a vegetable. Then a couple hours after dinner, desert. No alcohol. in fact, other than Almond milk, I only drink water. Around 70oz per day.

"Cheat" days... Ohh what a bunch of horse puckey that is. I allowed myself to cheat for one evening every 2 months. That's basically an evening of wreckless abandon. These actually taught me a lot about myself. Because of this, I also no longer drink, at all. So I got 3 cheat days during my journey, all three were worth it and were seriously special occasions.

So as I keep rambling on and on...

I had no idea what I was doing at the gym. You know, you watch other people and try to replicate what they do, but I'm a moron. I would have done much better with a trainer. Eventually I did use my free training sessions to learn a few things... but just a few. My regular training was basically as follows. Note that on my first week I could only do a half mile on the treadmill before heading home so this was more of working up to...

Elliptical 1.5 miles (13 minutes)
Alternating upper/lower body machines (precor)
Elliptical/AMT 1.5 Miles
Even Days: Kettlebell swings
Odd Days: TRX
Elliptical/AMT 1.5 Miles
Kettlebell swings

About a 2 hour workout and I would go 6 days a week. Sometimes 7 and probably 1 week per every 2 months I would do "two-a-days" and double up my daily workout each day.

Note that other than kettlebells I never used free weights. I didn't know what I was doing with them and didn't want to get hurt. That'll change soon.

Hrm. I know there's more, maybe I'll wait for more questions.

 

[TwiceOver]

Just a little more on diet...

When you have a working deficit and you are tracking your foods, you start to find every possible way to maximize your calories. Normally I would scoff at low-cal no sugar blah blah, but damn if it saves a couple calories so you can eat more, or something else. You'll learn to love that crap.

Desert. I mentioned desert above. I was working such a good diet that I would literally need to shove more food in myself before the end of the night in order to make it up to my deficit. You find some pretty inventive deserts. While I type this I am eating one of my favorites. Low cal greek yogurt, mixed with protein powder, frozen solid covered in frozen berries and covered in sugar free whip cream. Awesome and around 300 cals. Another favorite is chocolate shakes made with protein powder, cottage cheese, ice, sugar free chocolate syrup. Ohh god i could go on.

I should also note, that I'm no chef. Hell, if it weren't for the fact my wife can't cook at all, I shouldn't be behind a stove. Probably why I ended up at 257 to begin with. Learn to do some basic protein cooking. How to bake chicken breasts. How to pan fry fish. Inventive recipes with hamburger. Etc.

 

[TwiceOver]

Thanks for the info. I am really trying and I am amazing myself every time I get on a scale. I know it's going to slow down soon, but I am enjoying every moment of it.

Hopefully I can make a similar thread soon.

That's kinda the odd thing for me. While I did eventually slow down, it wasn't until the very end and it was very sudden. My weekly weight loss chart reads basically 2 or 3 pounds every week until the last month or month and a half then BAM, 0 loss. I ended up trying a few things until I realized that I just needed to eat more. I started eating more and the last 5-7 pounds melted away.

in fact I'm still losing, but that should change as I ease up on my diet and come back slowly to my full ~2000 calorie + expenses.

 

[rga]

Congratulations!! Hopefully all this didn't happen too fast for you, and you can maintain that weight loss. Take your own advice, and learn how to use free weights. You'll thank yourself every minute you're under the bar. All the best!

 

[Sixguns]

Grats! I know how good it feels to drop weight like that. Keep it up!

 

[TwiceOver]

Congratulations!! Hopefully all this didn't happen too fast for you, and you can maintain that weight loss. Take your own advice, and learn how to use free weights. You'll thank yourself every minute you're under the bar. All the best!

I think I should be OK with the weight loss portion. The whole journey made me realize that my eating habits were ridiculous. I mean, sitting down and eating a stack of 6-12 oreos and washing them down with 2+ cups of milk sounds delicious, but is upwards of 700+ calories! Wowzers. Not to mention half a pizza for dinner, fast food for lunch and a bowl of sugar covered turds for breakfast.

I was talking to someone about my weight loss the other day and they said "when you reach your goal, you gonna go out and hit up McD's?" I literally felt sick to my stomach and wanted to vomit at the thought of eating there.

I really can't wait to get into lifting. I see the guys there on a daily basis that are just beasts and would love to join them. I have already talked to the personal trainer and he seems to have been waiting to get his hands on me, so soon enough.

And since I brought it up, just a thought on "Personal Trainers". The guy at my local gym (Anytime Fitness) is a great guy, very knowledgeable. But the one thing that really makes me like the guy is that he used to be just like me. He has his before and after pics and he was a soda guzzling 270 pounder. This is important for me because I always used to look at these ripped guys and say to myself "yeah, that guy has been doing that since high school, I'll never be able to do that". Not true.

Anyway, as you can see I now have a lot of fun talking about this subject...

 

[spinejam]

Congrat's!

 

[blackdogdeek]

congrats, op! keep up the good work!

 

[IHateMyJob2004]

TwiceOver,

Thanks for the response to my questions.

When you do go to weights, get these two items:
http://www.amazon.com/Starting-Stren.../dp/0982522738
http://www.amazon.com/Starting-Stren...378376-7489226

Note that one of them is a DVD.

 

[TwiceOver]

TwiceOver,

Thanks for the response to my questions.

When you do go to weights, get these two items:
http://www.amazon.com/Starting-Stren.../dp/0982522738
http://www.amazon.com/Starting-Stren...378376-7489226

Note that one of them is a DVD.

Thanks for the info. I have a little healing to do so I've been taking it kinda easy, but I'll look into those.

Today I finally had my wife take some pics of the new me. I added my before and after into the OP.

 

[highland145]

Good job.

 

[Cookie]

Wow that's amazing! Congrats!

I'm always amazed at how much younger people look in their 'after' pics. Yours are no exception, you look great!

 

[KidNiki1]

your pics are awesome. you look amazing! great great job on your hard work and dedication.

:thumbsup::thumbsup:

 

[beach2nd]

Nice!

 

[MixMasterTang]

Good work mate! I am sure your posts and especially your pictures will help motivate a lot of people (me included)!

 

[RagingBITCH]

Amazing work dood...congrats!

 

[SociallyChallenged]

You look great, man. 80lbs in 7 mo is a little much, but as long as you're happy with it, awesome. Keep up the good work. And don't lurk so much; feel free to join in. Asking more questions always helps improve your knowledge.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Well done, good sir. Now, about the hair. You have an Adam Corolla thing going, you should roll with his hair cut too.