It's go time.

[Cgilbert23]

Hey all,

Just signed up here, been lurking for a couple days, seems like a lot of good people. A bit about myself, I'm currently 28 years old, working a desk job in automobile finance for a Ford dealership. Throughout life I've been in great shape, was always athletic in high school, and through to college...after second year of college I joined up with the army and got sent to Iraq immediately after basic training. After 1.5 years overseas I came back and thought that I'd be able to go back to old eating habits, even though activity level had dropped significantly, it's a pretty common tale. Anyways before I knew it I had gone from lean and 180 lbs to obese and 250 lbs...sad. I signed up for a second deployment a couple years back and lost most of that weight again, going from 250 to around 200, I promised myself that I would never allow that to happen to me again...

Promises schmromises,
I (for some reason I cannot fathom) fell right back into old ways again, and gained ALL of that fat back.

Fast forward to today,
I'm married, good job, house, cars, dog...still not enjoying life because I'm fat. I started AGAIN a couple weeks ago, weight two weeks ago was 159.3, today I am at 143.6, so progress is going quickly so far. wife is a skinny little shit (the type that always complains how fat she is) so we got on this program at the YMCA which is a biggest loser type contest, I don't really care about the contest but it's good to be held accountable by weekly weigh ins. I smoke cigarettes also, which I know is awful for me, and I'm planning on quitting once I hit goal weight, don't want to overload body with too much stress at the time being.

How am I doing it?
First off this is much easier than previous attempts at losing weight because wife is doing it with me, it's much easier when you have a common goal.
Exercise - We are doing interval training for an hour each night, M-W-F, we go 2 minutes walking, followed by 1 minute of 6-8 mph running.
We also do strength training on Tuesday and Thursday, which covers arms/chest/back/legs...we do this mostly to preserve muscle mass while in caloric deficit.
Diet - We've become very strict with our diets, I bought a rice cooker which is a great investment for anyone looking to eat better, we eat lots of chicken, fish, rice (brown and white), and veggies, asparagus being favorite. I also make sure to eat breakfast each and every day, a whole wheat English muffin with peanut butter on it.

So far so good, the weight is coming off quickly, I know that will slow down eventually but every time you see that scale go down it gives you motivation

Cheers!

[Bonnie]

I find it hard to believe the YMCA would not inform you that interval training should only be done 2 x per week, due to its toll on the central nervous system.As for the weight loss, 16 lbs in two weeks doesn't sound appropriate, perhaps post a list of foods & time of consumption, for us please, thanks.

[Cgilbert23]

I find it hard to believe the YMCA would not inform you that interval training should only be done 2 x per week, due to its toll on the central nervous system.As for the weight loss, 16 lbs in two weeks doesn't sound appropriate, perhaps post a list of foods & time of consumption, for us please, thanks.

Im not doing HIIT really, as it is relatively low intensity, 2 minutes off one minute 1 minute on isn't terribly hard on me. It does keep heart rate somewhere between 170-190 for the whole hour, which is the appeal. 16 lbs in two weeks is a lot I agree, but I've found in the past that when grossly overweight, which I am, the initial weight loss flux is pretty big...just experience.

[Bonnie]

that is HIIT no matter how you slice it.With a heart rate such as that, I'd say your above 80 %.The time ratio is that of " longer anaerobic intervals " however unless your above 85 % it would be aerobic.

As for the smoking, I agree with Les.I quit smoking dove into fitness & never looked back, never gained one pound from quitting either, which is most peoples fears.

[Cgilbert23]

Thanks les!

You're certainly right about it being better to quit now, I just make excuses when it comes to that.

[Cgilbert23]

that is HIIT no matter how you slice it.With a heart rate such as that, I'd say your above 80 %.The time ratio is that of " longer anaerobic intervals " however unless your above 85 % it would be aerobic.

As for the smoking, I agree with Les.I quit smoking dove into fitness & never looked back, never gained one pound from quitting either, which is most peoples fears.

What is the shock on the central nervous system? Does it manifest itself physically or is it something that I cannot tell that it is happening? I don't feel like the interval training is hurting me, but I'd like to be on the lookout of anything that will hinder training.

[Cgilbert23]

If you aren't ready to quit, you just aren't ready. Trying to do something when you are not ready to make the change will often result in failure, which can cause you to give up altogether on changing your behavior patterns. Maybe try cutting back a bit and see how that sits (:

Yea, good idea, I don't smoke that often, maybe a pack a week, and I never smoke at home...just at work, of course co-workers smoke otherwise I think this would be pretty easy...I'll cut it back at .5 a pack a week and see where that takes me.

[Bonnie]

Yes you definitely do need to commit to it first.I always used to be worried about how stressful quitting smoking would be, then I quit with a group ( called butt out ).I also used the patch & gum simultaneously ...there were a cpl of rough days spent in front of the tv..I swear to GOD everyone in the movie was smoking ?...after those cpl days I decided to start walking. I walked an hour to get a coffee, then took the train home etc.The energy in the first two weeks after quitting is unbelievable, I was BOUNDING up flights of stairs.I was seeing a dietary person at the hospital too so getting eating corrected.It is well worth quitting,when your ready

[Cgilbert23]

I guess it's helpful knowing what I look like when I do lose weight, I should be thankful for that, most people are left wondering what they're going to look like the whole time they're working out. Here's a couple of pics.

About 240 here I'd wager, maybe a few lbs lighter.


This is me right before we came home from the last tour, I'm right at 198-200 here.


I'm posting this more as motivation for myself but feel free to comment if you like

[fitoverforty]

Cute!!

wife is a skinny little shit (the type that always complains how fat she is) so we got on this program at the YMCA which is a biggest loser type contest

lol! husband is the same way...eats whatever, and still stays the same.

Good luck to you!

[Cgilbert23]

lol! husband is the same way...eats whatever, and still stays the same.

Good luck to you!

Thanks! She doesn't stay exactly the same, she bounce between 125-130, lmao..what a fat girl jeez!

[feelin-great]

When I finally quit smoking it was definitely a mental decision. I had tried time and time again. Finally one day I just knew I was going to do it. I started using the patch for the first two days but then I decided if I couldn't do it on sheer willpower alone I wouldn't be able to do it (that's a personal choice, it's different for everyone). I did it one day at a time, and man, did it suck! But each day got easier. I was a 1 or 2 pack a day smoker when I quit. So good luck with quitting, you will do it in your own time and in your own way The thing that made it hardest for me each time I failed at quitting was friends and family who pestered me constantly - really, it doesn't help, it is a personal decision and they made me want to smoke just to piss them off

Great pics I used to be the same as your wife when I was at 130 for the first time - I thought I was fat (looking back I have to laugh because I wasn't even close to being fat) but I didn't do anything about it so I just kind of kept gaining weight! It sounds like she has it more under control if she is working out now - good luck to both of you!

[Athene]

I have a theory that quitting smoking is more about replacing the daily ritual of smoking than the chemicals, though don't get me wrong, I know chemicals are a huge part of it.
I quit smoking as a teenager and replaced it with walking outside during breaks. I highly recommend replacing your smoking habit with a "fitness habit" or health related habit, like at work when your co-workers go out to smoke, go get a cup of coffee, brew a green tea, or go for a short walk. Think about how what you do every day either contributes to you being healthier and happier or not, and smoking is definitely not contributing to either of those things. There are studies being published all the time about how abstaining from smoking even for a matter of hours has a positive impact on your physiology - improved oxygenation of your blood within 12 hours, etc. I will try to find the chart for you.

Best of luck on your journey - I wish you all the best : )

[Cgilbert23]

yea, biggest problem is definitely the physical habit of doing it, not the chemical part, I only say that because I don't even want to smoke when I'm at home after work, I never smoke on the weekends (unless I'm at work) or of course if we got out drinking or something. Another issue as far as the smoking goes is that a lot of business gets done while we're out there, that's our meeting room for the most part, sad but true. So even if I quit, I'd still need to be out there alot...sucks.

Anyways,

Last night we had another weigh in at the Y, I was at 243.3 in clothes, we played basketball for a bit cause the weight room was PACKED (all the people with their new years resolutions). After a couple rousing games of HORSE we did a pretty decent chest workout:

Barbell Bench
3x10 - 135/135/135 (still working out the cob webs, planning on upping this weight soon)
Lat Pulldown
3x10 - 80/90/100
Incline Dumbell Press
3x10 - 90/100/110
Machine Row
3x10 - 90/100/100
Machine Assisted Pull-ups
3x8 - appx: 70% of body weight (can't wait till I can do regular pull up sets)
Machine flys
3x10 - 110/120/130

We were moving pretty fast last night, got done in about 45 minutes and went home and had a nice dinner of 8oz sirloin with steamed broccoli.

This morning I got up early and made breakfast, which consisted of egg whites, and turkey bacon, on a whole wheat english muffin. I also had an omega 3 squeeze which is 20 calories, wife doesn't like fish so i've resorted to taking these once a day.

[Cgilbert23]

Just got back from lunch, I scored some 1/4 inch thick boneless pork chops at the grocery store on sale, seared one with greek seasoning and then cut all of the lean parts into thin strips and put that in a pita with some feta cheese...damn good