3G - Day 4

Weight: 200.8

Helping:

Went for a run today. Only 15 minutes, but it's a start.

Not Helping:

Meant to get in a bike ride, didn't happen.

Feelings:

Feeling ok, not great, but ok. Wanting to lose the gut for sure. Slight increase in weight from the previous day makes me worry a bit about being able to keep up the 0.52# per day decrease. It's a tough go. Any backslide just means that much more effort. By day 5, I need to be down a total of 2.6 pounds. It feels like a very big amount.

I still think I can do it without resorting to starvation tactics.

Update Note:

I have to re-think the math here. I've been using the day of 3G to think about how many pounds down I need to be. That's not quite right. I have to use the day minus 1, since day 1 is just me reporting my initial weight. So, I need to be down 2.08 pounds on day 5 to be on track. That means 199.7 or lower (and my scale only reads in 0.2# increments, so 199.6 would be best.)

3G - Day 3

Weight: 200.4#

Helping:

Didn't eat too much today.

Not Helping:

Mostly had cake to eat and other desserts.

I did a couple push ups, and meant to get on the bike or out for a run. Neither happened, so tomorrow, I get those done.

3G - Day 2

Weight: 203.0#

Helping things:

23km on the bike today, around 1 hour 15 minutes total.

Photos of self on FB.

Not snacking in the evening.

Not Helping:

My mom commenting that she doesn't mind how chubby I might look.

Feelings overall.... a bit down. Posted the startoff photos on FB, and got comments that pretty much said "wow, fat." Really stings to hear. But, that was part of the point. If I can just keep up with things. Get the workouts going. Get the diet going, then there will be progress. Progress they can see. That I can see.

3G - Day 1

Well, everything started with me being 201.8#, and 110 cm around the gut. I'm tempted to say "belly" but I feel that "gut" is going to give me more impetus to get it gone.

Helpful things from today are really limited. Rainy, so I wasn't out, and being in all day meant snacking on stuff. Ate a huge bowl of chocolate cereal, which isn't helping the cause any.

General feelings are hopeful that I can do this. 12 pounds in 6 weeks shouldn't be that difficult to do. Hard, of course, but not "difficult."

I have an image on one of my computers that says "Earn your body." I've been reading that as I earn the body I have. If I eat too much, I earn the fat I carry around. If I work out, I earn the muscles I gain. What I need to do is decide which body I want to earn, and then work towards that.

Here's the rambling part:

I have a desire to be fitter, and a desire to be less heavy. Desire has never been the issue.

I know how to be more fit, the necessary steps to take, the various modes of working out and applying stress to my body. I am familiar with a variety of routines and plans and workout styles. I know how to lose weight. The process is as simple as food energy in minus total energy out equals change in overall weight. Simple. I know which foods are good for me, and which aren't, and I know that anything in too great a quantity becomes bad. I have the necessary knowledge - or at least a firm enough grounding to start things off.

I have the ability to be fitter. My body works, there's no major injury preventing me from doing what needs to be done. I have the capability to do the work required. I have the funds needed to buy good food, and to make sure that I eat only good things. I have the space to do physical workouts, a bike to ride and shoes to run in.

I have done these things before. I have been consistent with workouts, so that I have gained strength and muscle. I have been diligent with my diet so that I have lost a significant amount of weight in a reasonable amount of time. I know it is possible to be less heavy - I've been there before. I know I can be more fit. I've done it before.

So I have to ask myself, again and again. Why am I not consistent with working out? Why am I not consistent with my diet? Why do I allow myself, again and again and again to get back to the weight and fitness levels I find myself now? I know the effort it takes to shift this mass of crap off of me. Why would I ever let myself put it back on?

Why should I need the input and support of others to convince me to get this gut gone? Again! It should be enough for me to just look at myself. To know that this isn't the body I want. This isn't the way I want to look and feel. And especially since I know that it doesn't have to be like this. That I can change it. I can make it different. And it's not going to be hard to do.

Just get started, get it done. Do the work, and tell about it when it's over. Decide, then act.

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.

May 5

A starter workout today. Really not much at all:

superset:

3x20 "air" shoulder press

3x20 lateral raise

3x5 push up, 60 seconds rest

3 attempts supported handstand (5, 8, 10 seconds)

3x5 dip

stretching

Thoughts, and such.

Ok. The diet thing has been off and on. More on than off, but this is about the point where I start to falter. Must remind myself of the good progress so far, and not fall into the habit of thinking that I'm doing great, so I can slack off. No. I can't. Now is when I must go harder.

I seem to have hit a first plateau, and the way to get through it is to change things up a bit. Stricter diet, or additional exercise. Given that my exercise numbers are practically at 0, I feel exercise is the better option right now.

I've got my gym membership, but that's limited, and soon to run out. Will be working through with bodyweight stuff. Been thinking of posting on BWC again, simply as a self-motivator, and also for ideas.

At present, things really are body weight only. I don't really have much access to weights or a bar (though there is a bar here, there's no place to use it).

With that in mind, I'm looking at the basics. Biking, walk/run, and simple at-home exercises.

I'm looking to put up a first challenge for myself. Push ups. I haven't done them in a while. So I want to set a simple goal, with a short timeframe. Something I can achieve without needing to push myself into injury.

My current timeframe is 6 weeks. Enough time for 3 consecutive, quick 2 week goals, 2 consecutive, quick 3 week goals. Plus a single 6 week goal.

2 Week Goal (May 5 - 19): Push Ups: 15 consecutive.

3 Week Goal (May 5 - 26): Yoga Headstand: 30 seconds.

6 Week Goal (May 5 - June 16): Burpees: 1..5..1