Days 80 and 79

Both days 80 and 79 were rest days. Not much more to say about them other than they were most welcomed - and I ate too much on both days.

Get the Gut Gone - or 3G.

Once again, here we are. Me, feeling too fat for my own good, and resolving to do something about it.

June 1st has come and gone, and I meant to post something like this yesterday, but we're here now, so we post now.

6 weeks from now (the 1st, that is) is July 13. I expect to be travelling back to C-town around then. I'd like to be weighing in at significantly less than I do right now. Right now, I weigh in at about 202 pounds.

My goal is to weigh 180 pounds, but my low goal is 190. 12 pounds in 6 weeks? Totally possible. 22 pounds in 6 weeks? If I put in the effort required, I can do it.

Because stating a desire to lose weight actually seems to make my body lose some weight, I'm putting the desire out here to the public. But, since stating the process I'll employ makes me feel like not doing it, I'll leave the how part out.

To give me some serious motivation, I'll be tracking a couple measurements and making a few public declarations:

Weight - tracked daily, recorded on fitday.com, and posted here on the blog. Once a week, I'll post up a number on Facebook.

Belly - I've got a ruler in cm, which means a lot more precision overall. Rounding up to the nearest cm. Tracking it weekly, since changes here aren't likely to happen on a day to day basis. Maybe twice a week, but I'd expect it to be roughly weekly. This number will get attached to the picture.

Photo - Again, weekly, when I take my measurement. It'll go on FB, under a new photo album I will call something like 3G.

Feelings - How I'm feeling about everything. Blog posts mostly, but potentially also some FB posts. What I eat may end up in here as well. Done as a sort of "helping", "not helping" kind of thing.

Workouts - I'll record anything done as a workout here as well. Just to let me track what I'm doing.

There's 42 days. To make my goal, I need to lose somewhere between 0.29 and 0.52 pounds per day. My scale isn't that accurate, so it's 2 to 3.67 pounds per week (I'll settle for 3.6). I can do this, I just need to focus on it. Make it the priority.

Right. It's go time.

I've said it before, and I say it again. It is time to get things happening. Time to get started, again.

In one of my recent posts, I asked myself, what's different this time? What will make this a success? I said I wouldn't start again until I had an answer. And I think I may.

What's different this time is that I will be doing both things. Diet and fitness together. I've done diet alone, and diet with half-ass fitness. It's done me some good, but nothing that lasted. I've done fitness alone, and fitness with half-ass diet. And I've done half-ass diet with half-ass fitness. That one didn't do much at all.

This time, I'm gonna do them both. Fitness I can do. I have a gym membership. I have a bike. Getting outside shouldn't be a problem.

Diet is always the bigger issue. I get a bit too concerned about things when I count calories. So that option is out. And I'm over generous with simple portion control. Likely, I will be using fitday.com to do some rough calorie estimations for me. Something to keep me both honest, and also to give me a grounding of where and what I am eating.

I like keeping records, so I'll be tracking weight and calories on a day to day basis on fitday.com. At least until I feel that is undermining my efforts. Since I will be trying to build up riding distance, I will be tracking rides on mapmyride.com as well. Hopefully will do a bit of light running as well, though I do not know if I have good shoes for that here. I will have to check.

Right now, I'm keeping the goal simple. Weigh less. Specifically, down to 185. Timeframe, 14 weeks, starting immediate. Aggressive schedule, but I think it is still possible.

Athalos: I know you read this now and then. Permission granted to kick my ass into gear.

Advantages of living alone

One advantage that struck me today about the prospect of having my own apartment, is that I will be the only person in charge of the food there. Groceries in any form will be entirely based on what I choose to purchase.

This is a good thing.

I have moved before, and at each move there's been some ability to set what food goes into the house. But it has never really been my own choices before (except Ohio). There's always been other people to consider.

In Ohio, I had full choice as well, and that worked fine for the first week or so, after which I no longer cooked and bought nothing as food aside from drinks and ice cream. So, bad on me there.

This time, I am hoping to stick to a much healthier food selection. I will have some drawbacks with certain kinds of food preparation, as I will not have an oven. Hopefully I can get a toaster oven or something similar to do any kind of baking/broiling.

I am considering living a less meat-centered diet. This would probably be a good thing for me, as meat is generally more expensive than vegetables and fruit.

A bit of here and there

I haven't been following any of my plans for fitness.

Months ago (nearly 4 months at this point). I signed up for the gym. I went for a while. Then stopped. Then went again, then took 3 months off. I suck.

Since then, I've gone from around 193# to my present weight of about 212#. Yes, that's 20 pounds in just about 4 months. FUCK.

I've said to myself that I wouldn't mind being heavier - if I was fit. But I don't feel fit. In fact, I feel really unfit and flabby.

I haven't even been biking. At least then I was doing something. At least then I was getting some serious mileage laid down. I mean, a month or so ago I was polishing off the 450th kilometer in a 30 day period. That's pretty good mileage for a guy that doesn't do anything. Now? 0. Nothing. Not even a little bit.

What is it about me that keeps me in this stupid cycle? I really don't know.

I do know that I don't like the weight I'm at now. Few of the clothes I have now fit me. They're too small. Know why? 'Cause I got down to 185# and told myself that I would never again crack 200. Fuck me. I'm pushing towards 215 at this point. Honestly. How can I do this to myself?

I don't want to set any lofty goals. Anything I put down here will be like a mouthful of sand to me. Still, I can't get by without some kind of goal - some form of direction.

Thus: By the end of October, I want to weigh in at under 200#. That's 10# in 6 weeks.

Yes, that is pushing it. But it is totally possible. Only one way to do it, though. And that is to get off my ass and start working out. Hard. And lots. And also, I must stop eating so much junk.

I hereby put forth my standard diet and exercise plans:

The Stop Eating So Damn Much Diet, and the Get Off Your Fat Ass and Do Something workout plan.

I commit myself to doing this, starting today. I'm gonna need some help.

Nothing...

Ok... so after my overnight ride, I haven't touched the bike at all. Dunno quite why. Think I psyched myself out there somehow.

I haven't hit the gym either.

And I eat terribly. Vegetables? What?

So, yeah. I'm a bit over 205# right now, which isn't into the range of unacceptable... but it's really close. I'm not happy with it. But I'm not really doing anything about it either.

I've got to do something to change the way I interact with food.

Calorie counting

I've been thinking I should be tracking my daily foods lately. Track what I eat, their total calories, and the relative macronutrients (protein, carb, fat) in everything.

On the one hand, this would do a good job of keeping me on track for weight loss, but it would also do a good job of informing me of what I am eating too much and what I am not getting enough.

The downside is that I'd need to write all this stuff down, and that I'd need to reconcile it all at some point in the day. Still, I think I may go down this route this week.

Tracking for Goals

There's 6 weeks and a day until the end of June. I have set a goal for myself of 185#. I am currently 196#. That's 11 pounds in 6 weeks.

Just under 2# a week.

It's totally possible to do, yet, my current rate of progress has been just 1.2# per week. Not nearly the 2# per week goal rate.

Why? I am exercising, but little if any of it is cardio.

I am eating marginally better, but I haven't been giving my diet any real thought or planning. I've just been going about things in pretty much the same way as always.

I need to shake things up. Make a change for the better.