Willie's Fitness Journal

[Willie5566]

Hopefully this post is approptriatly placed. I see more posting specific workouts. My plan is to use this to share my goals accomplishments and set backs.

First some information me. This is my second time on this forum. The first time was last winter. Unfortunantly, I dropped out after about 4-5 weeks. Since then my weight has climbed to a point that I can no longer take. I have to do something so I have started to workout again. I have been doing it for about 2 weeks now. Already I find myself torn. I feel better about myself for working out, BUT I am deathly afraid of "the scale." I fear that if my weight is the same as it was 2 weeks ago, I will get discouraged and want to stop. I know that is not the right thing to do, but it is a reality. Part of me wants to avoid the scale all together and just keep training. The problem is how do I track my progress. This has led me to fall off the last couple of days. My eating has been worse as a result of this stress/frustration. Rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr....

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Stat's-I am 5'10 271lbs and 32 years old. I would like to be 190-200lbs.

I have read the Body For Life book and like the program they use. The program seems to have helped a lot of people. I am currently reading Fitness Made SImple. The two diets are remarkably similar. Watch what you eat 6 days a week, with one cheat day. I know the cheat day may not go over well with some you here, but it seems logical to allow yourself to give into cravings once a week. In fact both books claim it will get your metabolism fired up even more. During the diet days you are suppose to eat 4-6 smaller meals. You are supposed to eat good carbs (whole wheat bread, fruit) healthy fats (flax seed oil, natural peanut butter) and plenty of protein from whey, egg whites, etc. Calorie intake is supposed to be 10 cals x body weight. THe goal is to not make your metabolism go into hibernation mode and try to store fat. I have been shooting for 2,000 calories a day. Is this a mistake? I am afraid 2,700 is too much. The diets seem doable.

I want to workout 5-6 times a week. I have started to do it in the morning. It is soooooooo hard to get up somedays. I am very busy with work 45+ hours a week, taking night classes and being a married father of two. So mornings is my only option to make sure I stick to it. I generally do some kind of cardio every workout for a minimum of 10 minutes or a maximum of 20. I hope to increase my maximum. I also incorporate weights 3-4 days a week. I try to hit every body part, but currently do not have a set workout routine.

Obstacles I need to overcome-

1. Fear of the scale. I know I need to not worry about the scale. There are going to be plateus along the way. I need to fight through it.

2. Fixation on demanding that I exercise and diet. Here is an issue I have. For me diet and exercise go together. I know you are thing ofcourse they do. Here's my problem. I need to kick my own butt working out to make sure I eat right. For me exercising motivates me to eat well. I won't let myself cheat after I have worked so hard working out. The problem is if I skip a workout or two, I think all is lost and I eat like crap. I realise that dieting is 80% of the equation and that dieting alone could help me lose the weight. The problem is the workout is my motivation to eat right. It's all in my damn head.

3. Schedule. My schedule is nuts everyday. Sometimes I over extend myself and then the first thing I eliminate is working out.

4. Wife and kids. The wife is not at her breaking point yet. I have tried many times and many differant ways to get her to start up with me. I have had very little success. As for the kids, well their kids. I can not expect them to give up everything that is not good for them. It would not be fair to them. The combination of the two leads us to pizza nights or popcorn at the movies. This is where I think a cheat day would be most beneficial.

THese 4 things I believe make up my iggest obstacles. THey are all things I need to overcome and deal with if I am going to be successful.

So I am here to get help and support from all of the wise people that rome this forum. I am hoping that together I can learn to improve my health and fitness. I welcome any suggestion you may have. I really want to make this work this time. Off to class for now!

[gcs118]

Keep posting, we're all here to help you out with advice and suggestions. Don't lose your motivation!

[Willie5566]

Thanks GCS. I think I am back at it again. I have had a couple good days of training and eating. Last week sucked for me. I could not get out of the funk I was in.

I do have two questions:

Is 2000 calories too restrictive for me at this point? I want to avoid slowing my metabolism to a screeching halt.

How can I link my diet log? I use my-calorie-counter.com.

Thanks.

[gcs118]

Not sure how to link your diet, and 2000 calories is actually pretty low in my opinion. I'm taking in 2500-3000 calories a day just to maintain at 185 lbs. Track your diet for about a week and post up some numbers and what you do for training during that week also. Since you have a decent amount to lose, start by cutting out or limiting the crap in your diet for starters. Don't try to completely redo your entire eating habits at once or you will most likely fail...take small steps.

[Firehawk]

Body For Life is an EXCELLENT diet and exercise program to follow for beginners. You can expect 30-35lbs of fat loss in 12 weeks if you follow it to a T. I have done it, and my bodybuilder friend has had great success with it.

[Willie5566]

Nothing like posting every six months but I wanted to do an update. I have been working hard the past 2 months. I have seen improvements in overall well being and definition. I have only lost 12 lbs. which is a bit dissappointing. It sems like I lose weight everyother week, usually 5 lbs. at a time. Then every other week I lose 0.

I recently spent a week in California and was very good at working out and watching what I eat. I tried to stick to chicken breast sandwiches and or salads. I worked out 5-6 times. I was dissapointed to come home and see that I did not lose any weight.

This leads me to my current situation-The past 2 weeks since I have been home I have been in a rut. I think a big part of it has been from my dissapointment from my trip. My diet has not been good lately and have not been working out regularly.

I finally went running yesterday and fully plan to workout tonight. So I feel like my workouts are getting back on track.

That takes me to diet. I was trying to maintain a caloric intake of 1500-2000, while eating healthy foods. I tend to eat more fruit than veggies which I think leads me to having way too many carbs. I am debating cutting out carbs completly. It is too hard to calculate splits (IMO) and would almost rather quit them cold turkey for a while and see where I end up. I would slowly re-introduce them later.

I would love to hear thoughts on my diet plans. Any help is appreciated. I really want to get on track.

A quick comment to get the discussion going - I don't think you are eating enough. 1,500-2,000 calories doesn't seem like enough for someone who weighs over 250 lbs.

Consider starting a detailed food journal at www.fitday.com and maintain a more detailed training journal here so we can better understand your current training. You'll get great feedback and I believe you'll make better progress.

[Willie5566]

Originally Posted by pierini

A quick comment to get the discussion going - I don't think you are eating enough. 1,500-2,000 calories doesn't seem like enough for someone who weighs over 250 lbs.

Consider starting a detailed food journal at www.fitday.com and maintain a more detailed training journal here so we can better understand your current training. You'll get great feedback and I believe you'll make better progress.

Guilty as charged. I do use Fit Day. Is there anyway I can link my journal to my postings?

I will also start to detail my workouts here. I have been really bad at that. This whole journey is certainly been a lesson on discipline and consistancy. Unfortunantly I am a slow learner.

If you go to your User Control Panel in the settings & options area, you can edit your signature and include a link to your fitday journal, provided you choose to make your fitday journal public.

[Willie5566]

Test

[Willie5566]

That will work, I suppose. I forgot that I switched from Fit Day to my-calorie-counter.com. ISince I do not see a way to make my-calorie-counter.com public, I will switch to Fit Day again. Now I need to just figure out how to make it nice and neat like gcs did with his Fitness Journal.

Thanks pierini for your help.

[westside24]

Dont be dissapointed about your trip.... just because you didnt lose anyweight according to the scale doesnt mean you didnt lose BF% or gain muscle... you might have done both, which is why your weight doesnt decrease much, if youre replacing one for another (fat for muscle) than yea weight decreases will be much slower, but as long as you can see a physical change in appearance you are obviosly doing something right.

post up your workouts, we might be able to help you with that too.

[Willie5566]

Originally Posted by westside24

Dont be dissapointed about your trip.... just because you didnt lose anyweight according to the scale doesnt mean you didnt lose BF% or gain muscle... you might have done both, which is why your weight doesnt decrease much, if youre replacing one for another (fat for muscle) than yea weight decreases will be much slower, but as long as you can see a physical change in appearance you are obviosly doing something right.

post up your workouts, we might be able to help you with that too.

You are right. Shame on me for not thinking of it. I will definitely post my workouts beginning tomorrow as well as keep Fit Day updated. I also will weigh myself in the morning. I antcipate some weight gain after being off of the wagon for the past two weeks. I am not looking forward to my weigh in but I deserve what I get.

[Willie5566]

Quick update-

Weighed in this morning. I am back to 264, so I gave back three pounds. I am bummed about it but I realise this is my own doing. My workout will be tonight. I will post it once I am done.

[Willie5566]

Well not a great workout but it was a workout. I ran for 20 minutes about 1.75 miles and did 4 sets of push ups to failure.

I am wrapping up my Spring semester at school and I have a couple of projects due. THis is going to kill workouts. I am going to try and make sure I atleast do something every night.