yottabit's weight loss log

[yottabit]

I'm in the middle of a pretty aggressive diet and figured I would post progress on here to motivate myself and hopefully others

I was in really good shape a few years ago but unfortunately let it slip and ended up being about 255 lbs

At my peak I was about ~175 lbs and the plan is to get back there

I'm trying to get down to <200 lbs quickly and then will probably slow my diet down from there and start including more lifting.

Currently I set a calorie target of 2250 cals/day for myself. This is pretty low considering the amount of exercise I'm doing (30-60 min a day of cardio) but I'm consuming as much protein as I can to hopefully minimize muscle loss.

Here are my weigh in's so far. I weigh myself once a week around the same time Fri morning.

8/16: 247.0 <--- Baseline before diet/exercise started
8/23: 242.0
8/30: 238.2

My original goal was to hit 227 lbs by Nov. 1st which was based on ~2 lbs/week weight loss. I seem to be closer to 4lbs/week so far and I'm not sure if that's sustainable or just short-term gains I'm getting from starting out, and also if I'm going to be losing a large portion of my muscle this way (I'm ok with losing a couple lbs) I never feel starved or malnourished and I've actually had a lot of energy. I don't so much limit my calories as my choice of food and portion size.

Things I've been eating:

Breakfast menu:
Eggs (Usually 1-2 yolk + 1 white) and 3-4x small Turkey Sausage ~300 calories
"Oatmeal Squares" whole grain cereal w/ skim milk ~250 calories
1 scoop whey protein with skim milk ~ 200 calories
bowl of plain oatmeal with a hint of maple syrup, raisins ~250 calories

Lunch menu:
Whole wheat wrap with lean lunchmeat, 1 slice skim cheese, 1/2 slice tomato, romaine lettuce ~250 cal
1/2 iceberg 1/2 leafy green salad with cucumber or tomato, sometimes tuna or cottage cheese on top ~varies calories
Leftover small dinner portions ~varies
1 serving non-fat greek yogurt with sprinkle of raisins or blueberries, tsp of honey ~200 calories

Dinner menu:
A meat (steak, chicken, or fish) medium size portion with small portion of whole grain rice, large portion of vegetables (broccoli, carrots, asparagus typically) ~500 calories

Forgot to mention as a portable "emergency" food I usually keep a Clif bar with me when I go out (the soft kind) they have about ~270 cals

As far as cardio I got a really nice exercise bike for cheap on craigslist and have been doing either 30 min high intensity, or 45-60 min of a medium intensity. Last night the bike said I did about 1200 calories, there's no way I think that is accurate but it was funny because the calorie display rolled over.

I actually have no access to any gym or other gym equipment right now. I'm doing pushups and situps a few times a week as the only thing I'm doing strength wise. Will try to see if I can grab a dumbell set on craigslist.

Looking forward to your feedback/questions

 

[highland145]

Keep at it.

 

[yottabit]

Disappointing weigh-in today but knew it was coming. Weighed the exact same (238.2) as weigh in last week. I may have actually lost a little bit though as this weigh in was later in the day than usual.

Regardless I only exercised about 3 days this week (though they were long workouts) and ate too much of dinner-type food, hardly had any salad, etc.

I'm going to try to focus more on getting on the exercise bike every single day (even if it's for a shorter workout) and eating salads as fillers in between meals.

It can be hard because I usually cook pretty big portions and save the leftovers. After having say steak/veggies/rice it's tempting to go back for seconds instead of making an extra salad if I'm still hungry.

I guess the biggest difficulty this week was laziness. Say I'm hungry at 3PM and instead of making a salad or wrap or something healthy to snack on I say "I'll just wait until dinner" and then eat a larger portion of the calorie-dense dinner food. Same goes with the morning too- having extra oatmeal instead of cooking eggs and a small portion of carbs. It's counter-intuitive but not eating often enough can definitely put you off track on a diet if it results in you eating more of calorie-dense foods. Energy levels were a little lower this week as a result of my diet as well.

 

[shadow9d9]

Keep in mind that you need to weigh in at the exact same time every day(I suggest when you wake up) in order to get comparable weights. Additionally, diet is 99% of weight loss. Exercise is nice, but you may eat more in compensation.

 

[Koing]

I would highly recommend you weigh yourself everyday in the morning and work out a 7 day average. Your 7 day average is a more accurate measure of weight loss than a weigh in once a week. Weighing yourself once a week is very susceptible to the previous days eating and if it is off it will skew your results off A LOT. Your 7 day average is less affected by this.

Initial weight loss will be much more rapid and the first 1-2-3kg will be more water weight loss and depleting of glycogen stores in your muscles.

Keep up the good eating and don't beat yourself up on the cardio. 3x a week is plenty. DIET DIET DIET is what will determine your weightloss.

Drink loads of water.

Koing

 

[yottabit]

Not a bad week this week, weighed in at 236.4 today.

Exercised about 3 or 4 days this week but stuck more carefully to the diet.

To meet my original goal of 227 lbs by Nov. 1st I'll have to lose less than 10 lbs in 7 weeks, which I feel pretty confident about right now.

I understand it would be more accurate to weigh daily and do an average but somehow I'm more motivated if I have on official weigh in a week. I do check occasionally though on different days to get a feel for where I'm at.

 

[festa_freak]

Keep at it man.

I was 240 last year in february and got down to maybe 215 and then packed it on in winter again. At the start of this spring I was 225 and am now at my post summer goal of 190! I haven't been below 200 since during high school more than 10 years ago!
Just yesterday I was able to surprise myself by doing a chin-up. I've never been able to do those!

I was doing proper eating and portions and a lot of cardio. When you lose a little more (if your joints can handle it) I found jogging was the single best exercise I could do for weight loss. I only did it a few times as I work early but running before breakfast is best for weight loss, but I've barely done that.
Now I have added in weights to make myself stronger. Even without working out I see muscles poking out a little more and it's nice to see them again

Anyways, I just wanted to let you know that there are good and bad weeks. Just keep at it and be very diligent in your diet. You don't want all that hard work to be sabatoged by eating poorly! 10 lbs in 7 weeks is very easy to do!

 

[yottabit]

Really low weigh in this week, 230.8 lbs. I think my weight in last week was quite high water weight wise.

Thanks for the encouragement Festa

 

[Koing]

Really low weigh in this week, 230.8 lbs. I think my weight in last week was quite high water weight wise.

Thanks for the encouragement Festa

Good job yottabit! Keep up the good work.

Koing

 

[yottabit]

228.0 today, 1 lb to go to reach my goal weight and still 5 weeks left on my original goal date!

I expect things to slow down quite a lot once I get to < 200 lbs.

 

[ctlasley]

Just logging in to say good work, man. Keep it up!

I have been working with my own fitness plan for 6 months now. Down about 6% body fat and making steady gains.

It's hard work, so good job, and good luck!

 

[yottabit]

Missed official weigh in yesterday because I was traveling, but weighed in this morning at 225.0 lbs

Not going to count that as an official weight though since it was off by a day.

Would really like to start lifting weights more again but don't have good access to a gym right now.

 

[yottabit]

Been really busy traveling, had time to weigh in yesterday in the morning though and was 225.0 lbs officially. I've also seen weigh ins as low as ~223 this week

Haven't had any time to exercise the past couple weeks but definitely staying on top of my eating habits

Still 2 weeks to go until the end of my goal period so hopefully I can hit ~220 by then. Whatever the number is I'm going to rebaseline come Nov. 1st and come up with a new goal, probably around ~190 lbs.

 

[yottabit]

Maintained at 225 for a while. Set a new goal/rebaselined back in January to hit 200 lbs by June. So far pretty well on track, weigh in was 216 lbs today. Down 30 lbs since last August!

This second phase has been mostly through diet this time around and a little bit of exercise. I think it was actually helpful to just maintain weight for a while to get a feel for how much I "should" be eating. Planning meals more carefully now and buying food in bulk, which also helps cut down on expenses too, an added benefit.

 

[Koing]

Maintained at 225 for a while. Set a new goal/rebaselined back in January to hit 200 lbs by June. So far pretty well on track, weigh in was 216 lbs today. Down 30 lbs since last August!

This second phase has been mostly through diet this time around and a little bit of exercise. I think it was actually helpful to just maintain weight for a while to get a feel for how much I "should" be eating. Planning meals more carefully now and buying food in bulk, which also helps cut down on expenses too, an added benefit.

Great job yottabit! Keep up the solid work and thanks for the update

:thumbsup;

Consistency over the long run PAYS OFF. Don't sweat small slip ups guys just keep plugging away.

Koing