crash and burn

I am mainly doing this and updating this to keep me motivated. I am at 228lbs and 6ft tall. I am tired of being over weight and feeling like this. I actually started 3 days ago. I am using www.fitday.com and watching what I eat and what I burn. I am fortunate enough to have a workout room here at work so I can workout during my lunch. Eating mostly fruits, vegetables, (although theres not many I like) and chicken and fish. I am trying to get in as much exercise as possible. I leave for work at 6:30am and dont get home until around 6:30pm. So I will be using a trainer except the weekends that I can actually get out to ride. Will also be using weights and a treadmill here at work M-F. I will be reporting back every week or so. Any thoughts or other ideas are welcomed!

01/02/2008 228lbs

JohnKScott

Good luck & go get 'em!

adrien

any way you can commute to work on the bike? Given that you have a gym there, it's worth considering (showers etc.)

crash and burn

Yeah we have showers here, but its a 51 mile one way trip. I would be doing a century everyday. LOL

If I can relocate closer to home I was planning on doing that. Thats been in the works for 2 years now. Gotta love the phone company.

mgmoore7

IMHO, I suggest easing into the diet and exersize routine. You don't want this to be just another yoyo diet or to get hurt. Make yourself some small goals. Such as 222 by 1/31 and make it there. Then set a new goal.

Go for it. I started at 237 in July, down to 213 now and have a goal of 209 by the end of the month. My longer term (several months) is 200, then i will go from there.

MnD

Good advise...lifestyle change is a gradual thing if it is to last. I'm similar to both of you...6' (47 yo male), started at 244 about 4~5 months ago, 227 this morning. Eating small portions several times per day of healthy stuff (breakfast is key) and getting in as much exercise and riding as possible...good luck.

cattrails

Hi There,

I was totally curious what your plan is to get the weight off. I am a habitual mtn biker and plan my diet around the rides for proper body fuel and muscle function. I'm not overweight myself but have a biking buddy who was, and the combo of biking and a high protien/low carb diet worked really well for her last summer.

When you ride your muscles need more protein for better blod flow and self repair work. Try adding a can of tuna to your diet at least an hour or two before your ride, or a protein shake, both are good for you and will help you keep the energy up without a fast burnout, low glycemic foods mean longer energy time. As for carbs, you can get a lot of them from broccoli, rather than bread, be very light on adding things such as butter or salt.

One more tip, if you don't already have one, get a camelbak hydration backpack for water, one bottle is NOT enough! Don't forget lots of sweating means loss of salts in your system, if you have major salt cravings after riding go for low-sodium and stay away from potato chips (high fats). Hope this will help you out, good luck and stick to the biking !!! You CAN do it!

cattrails

Hi it's Cattrails again...

I forgot to mention two other diet tips, healthy stuff of course. The best source of protien is actually made by nature, eggs! If you boil lots of eggs each week the whites are practically pure protein, just be sure to pop out the yolks, those are really high in fat. I often munch two eggs whites after riding to prepare for the little energy crash I get after a hard ride. They are not as filling as tuna or a shake so you need more to compensate before a ride, say 3-4 egg whites plus a carb food to fill you up. Those eggs make awesome midnight snacks too, without adding calories.

The other note I forgot to mention was don't overdo it on fruit, they are excessively high in sugar, the best to munch for weight loss are apples and water based fruits; watermellons, cantelope, strawberries... and also blueberries are high in antioxidants, they help get the bad stuff out of your system.

Okay, I just realized I've pretty much given you the basics of my own eating habits! Just try... some of this may work for you

Happy, healthy and worked out right!

DnvrFox

Drive part way, ride part way! Still save gas and get the exercise. Start small with a 10 mile ride one-way. I used to do that when it was 28 miles to my work. I would drive to a shopping center, park the car, and ride the rest of the way (18 miles one-way).

The only problem was once I left the wife's bike in the car, and I got a broken rear window from someone trying to steal the bike ($600). That ended it, but it WAS a great idea.

mgmoore7

I so wish I could do this and still may try but I have not yet found a route that I would be willing to try. I would love to get in 20 miles every day though and this would be a good way to do it. My other probem is that a route might work if I could ride from home to a stopping point and then drive the rest of the way but the possible routes are just the opposite and I don't want to leave my car in a parking lot overnight.

Jynx

very nice keep us updated. I am surprised not many people post up logs and have a thread about their progress. On another forum I go to a bunch of people have a thread where they track what they eat, weigh and any other things. Its really nice to see the progress.

crash and burn

thanks for the info and encouragement everyone. My brother-in-law reads this forum all the time (prob reading this now) but is too much of a chicken to post anything. LOL......Come on Bro-n-law.......POST!

I will be passing him soon, I think he is scared!

Not that its that much but heres an update

01/04/2008 223lbs
-5lbs in 3 days......

crash and burn

Well its been 7 days and I am down to 221lbs. 7lbs so far.

Havent got to hit the trainer the past 3 days though. In the finishing stages of completely remodeling our master bathroom. Not to mention Monday I hurt my lower back somehow. It hurts to even cough. So hopefully tomorrow or Friday I can get back on it. Slowly but surely I am getting there. Trying to get back in the 180s.

GO COWBOYS!!!!!!!!!!

just a side note.....I havent had a beer in 11 days! I think the beer has been the major factor to my wieght problem. I would drink between 6 tall boys to 10 beers a night. NOT GOOD for the mid section (and overall health) Although I dont plan to quit completely, I do plan on cutting way way back!

tj90

Awesome. Keep up the work!

tpelle

Thanks for that fitday.com site - that's really cool! I started an account today.

The only problem I see is that it tells me, at 6' - 2", I should weigh a max of 200 lbs. I admit I'm overweight, but if I went down to 200 lbs I'd look like a concentration camp victim! I have 24" wide shoulders, a 54" chest, and a 38" waist, and am built like an NFL linebacker! 200 lbs - forget it! I might be able to get to, say, 240.

JosephPaul86

Hey, seems we are in the same boat. i have a fitday.com account, started it last year but its a booger to really keep loging your foods and what not. I've gone down 7 steady lbs in the last month, I've learned it netter when you see a slow descent of weight than shedding it off. but counting calories helps ALOT. And eating smaller meal, spread out until about 6pm works well also.

Heres a trick i did...remove your bike computer. Then you won't see that you logged 10 miles in a ride when you could really do more on had not the mental idea of being "tired".

troutbreath

Good luck! I have never checked out that site before. I have been logging my information in Excel -- gives me some good spreadsheet practice for work, too. Keep up with minutes, miles, weight, other exercise and then whatever data I can accumulate during my day.

It's a little cumbersome, and was actually curious what other people do to track their "work." I usually don't even worry about logging my diet, just try to behave when I can.

cattrails

Hi there, I'm checking up on you Crash & Burn Great job so far, the beers too! No reason to cut them totally out, everybody needs a reward system.

Those notes on logging your workouts are great advice. I log my info in MS Word, 3 tables to fill; Date / Type of Workout / Food eaten that day. Logging your food does work, you are accountable for all you eat and hopefully when you start to go over past days you will see that you have made an attempt to better your food choices. As for calories don't bother logging them, too tedious. The more you add natural foods the better your training should go. From my own experience if I start slacking on the logging of foods, my self discipline starts to disappear! Sometimes I forget to log in, just start over every time.

Keep it up and don't forget stretching is a major part of working out too, backaches are caused by many things, especially cold turkey workouts, they can have a domino effect on other body parts too. I bought a great (and easy to follow) book on Amazon.com called "Stretching" by Bob Anderson (20th Anniversary, revised edition). It's fantastic! Lots of general stretches and sports specific, a totally visual book with lots of diagrams, you can see inside it at Amazon,com. It was so worth the $13.00.

Keep up the great work!

Spartan112

Axtually food is a bad reward, I especially hate drinking calories anymore. I have maybe a beer a week now (Sunday will be different, GO PATS!).

I use calorieking.com, similar to fit day I think. I've found it very helpful, the key is getting a sense of real portions...you might want to weigh/measure stuff for a little while just to be safe and spread your food out over the day if possible. I've dropped 92# since april, you can do it!

cattrails

The "reward system" I suggested was just a figure of speech. Of course it is always best to keep the unhealthy stuff to a minimum. I was just trying to be positive. Liquors can be loaded with lots of calories, many are high in sugar too, so moderation is definetely key. Beers have yeast in them, that's why the bloating comes into effect. Anyhow, happy biking everybody

crash and burn

OK....update

Not bad news but not good either


Jan 24th
Still at 221lbs.

Drank beer over the weekend (long story) and also didnt eat very good and just got on the bike since my last update last night (45minutes)

Good news is 30 minutes was tough for me, last nights 45 wasnt so bad. I work in a 16 story building do I have been doing the stairs alot and been lifting some weights in the gym here at work. I feel stronger, just havent lost anything. I just had some motivational issues last week. I will get there. Thanks for checking up on me. Makes me want to try harder knowing I am somewhat being monitored.

JohnKScott

Good job! That happened to me too. I was biking a lot at first and not losing weight. I think two factors were at play.

1. I was adding muscle mass in my legs pretty noticibly

2. I was eating more because I didn't do adequate "recovery" meals or drinks right after the ride. I would get ravenously hungry after hour or longer bike rides.

I started eating something after longer workouts and counting my calories and it has netted me about a pound a week average.

Good luck & keep on truckin'

cattrails

I lift weights too and the weight loss can possibly come to a standstill if you're building muscle for a while, but it's still good to crosstrain, don't quit the weights. A good way to work at it is 2 to 1, thats 2 cardio workouts to every 1 weight lifting workout. In the long run the muscle building will improve your strength for riding.

Just keep at it, the year is still early and the cardio can be upped more when the weather gets warmer in a couple of months. Chip, chip, chip away... it WILL be worth the effort.

crash and burn

OK where heres a late update. Been eating right I guess cause I havent hit the bike in over a week. Plan on ridding tonight (trainer....sigh)

Feb 12th
218lbs

crash and burn

Feb 15th 217 (after eating out for Valentines Big ole steak and potatoe and about 6 beers! Maybe I found the perfect diet meal? LOL