My weight loss tracking thread

[highland145]

For me, that was the key: get engaged with my kids while doing this so they see me participating in healthy activities and also to make time fly by for me.

Awesome. Keep up the good work. Feel free to post here if you backslide....I imagine most of us have but we'll be happy to bust your balls about it.

Do we get pics of the wife or is that just OT?

 

[MrDudeMan]

3.5 year update

I got down to 225 or so and then I moved a few times, so it wasn't easy to keep the weight off, but I managed to do so for the most part. I was 246 recently and I decided it was pissing me off, so I started running again. I'm at 240 and I will probably flatten out around 225 again. 225-230 is a good long term weight for me.

 

[mike8675309]

What makes it hard to keep the weight off for you?

3.5 year update

I got down to 225 or so and then I moved a few times, so it wasn't easy to keep the weight off, but I managed to do so for the most part. I was 246 recently and I decided it was pissing me off, so I started running again. I'm at 240 and I will probably flatten out around 225 again. 225-230 is a good long term weight for me.

Did you ever hit your goals (see below) beyond weight? What about moving has been the largest problem for you? Sustainable lifestyle changes to maintain a specific weight can be tough so I'm curious if you have thoughts on what in your lifestyle is making it hardest to maintain weight.

The metrics I care about the most:

• Blood sugar (mg/dL): 99 to 79
• Cholesterol (LDL): 79 to 76
• Cholesterol (HDL): 30 to 35
• Cholesterol (Total in mg/dL): 160 to 137
• Triglycerides (mg/dL): 234 to 132
• Blood Pressure (mm Hg): 135/88 to 128/76
• Body Fat (%): 33.2 to 25.1

Misc. metrics:

• One rep max bench press (lbs): 225 to 280
• Max pushups in one minute: 23 to 49
• Max pullups without stopping: 0 to 12
• 1 mile time (min): 12:10 to 7:01
• 5k time (min): 48:20 to 23:50
• 10k time (min): 1:40:01 to 52:30

 

[MrDudeMan]

What makes it hard to keep the weight off for you?

Did you ever hit your goals (see below) beyond weight? What about moving has been the largest problem for you? Sustainable lifestyle changes to maintain a specific weight can be tough so I'm curious if you have thoughts on what in your lifestyle is making it hardest to maintain weight.

Keeping the weight off, for me at least, is a function of stress. When I get stressed out, I tend to eat more and feel less ambitious when it comes to exercise. Really the answer is laziness, but I think the stress thing is legitimate to some degree. I really dislike how I look and feel when I'm overweight, but I guess that isn't quite enough to keep me on track. It takes an external push for me to want to keep at it with a lot of dedication for longer than 6-8 months at a time. Unfortunately, my wife isn't supportive of this at all and she continually buys bad food every week. I struggle a lot with eating the right quantity of food, so when bad stuff is in the house I can really easily undo several weeks of hard work, or at least it feels that way. I'm not blaming her - it's obviously my fault - but she's not making it any easier.

Regarding my other goals, I did end up achieving most of them, but I haven't kept up with any metrics in a while. My focus right now is just being healthy and trying to find a way to make that lifestyle stick. Some people make it look so easy even though I'm sure they're putting in a lot of effort. I think I may have finally figured it out this time, but it's too soon to know. I'll see how things are going in 6 months.

 

[Carson Dyle]

Keeping the weight off, for me at least, is a function of stress. When I get stressed out, I tend to eat more and feel less ambitious when it comes to exercise. Really the answer is laziness, but I think the stress thing is legitimate to some degree.

It's very real.

I think the exercise thing is a matter of your brain prioritizing things, and could well even be an ingrained survival thing that goes way back in our evolution. If you get stressed with some aspect of your life, you have a tough time (subconsciously) going off and doing something that doesn't immediately address the stressful situation. Going to a gym and working out, or going out for a long bike ride isn't going to get that pressing work project done. And it's not going to help pay the overdue mortgage. Exercise just didn't have a corollary in the days when survival meant going out and killing a buffalo or finding wood for a fire to keep your family alive.

 

[mike8675309]

It takes an external push for me to want to keep at it with a lot of dedication for longer than 6-8 months at a time. Unfortunately, my wife isn't supportive of this at all and she continually buys bad food every week. I struggle a lot with eating the right quantity of food, so when bad stuff is in the house I can really easily undo several weeks of hard work, or at least it feels that way. I'm not blaming her - it's obviously my fault - but she's not making it any easier.

Start asking for more whole foods. Pick a meal and make sure that meal is always whole foods with no processed stuff. Overeating is probably your biggest issue. You need to adjust what you eat based on your exercise level and when you don't have time for exercise you need to reduce your caloric intake. Hardest way to do that is if you are eating lots of high fat high calorie or processed meals (fast food, frozen food, most of what comes off a sysco truck). Easiest way to fix that is replace one or more of those meals with primarily whole plant foods and limiting your intake of animal products. Animal products are calorically dense compared to plant foods and eating them makes it easier to go over your caloric goals.