Hunger Games and other such sport

So, I have just finished reading The Hunger Games.  Not a bad novel, but not great.

The physical aspects of the novel were pretty interesting, and with my desire to get in some more conditioning work, I'm finding that a reasonable motivator.

There are a couple of actual intense sport things that someone like me could take part in.  Tough Mudder, the Spartan run and Zombie runs (and other such events) are scheduled at multiple times and places over the year.

Entry is usually cheaper the earlier you book, and generally represents a commitment to participating.  I'd not want to put in the cost to participate without being sure I'd be able to handle the bulk of the event.  I don't need to expect it to be easy - just possible.

Preparation for an event like the Tough Mudder requires me to have a couple areas of fitness where I am very lacking.  Running, for one.  While not mandatory in any of the events I've seen so far, it does give you a bit of an advantage if you are doing something like a survival or zombie run.  Being faster than the average enemy helps.

Climbing is another area where I'm pretty weak.  I don't really have much in the way of upper body strength, especially if it comes to hauling the rest of my body up off the ground.  Then there the general conditioning.  The ability to keep going after running, jumping, crawling, climbing and whatever else for an hour or two or more.

Conditioning work helps with this, since building up a tolerance to the lactose in the muscles, and learning how to just keep pushing through, even if you want to stop is really where the benefits start to stack up.

I've been thinking for some time that I really should start putting some goals ahead of me for conditioning and strength training in general.  Whether that's entering a lifting competition or working towards running one of these obstacle events, or simply overcoming a challenge of my own making, I really do feel like having a concrete timeline and goal would help.

I don't want to schedule in too many goals, as they start to plague my thinking and distract from focusing on the workouts.  It's better for me to focus on doing one thing, than thinking about how many things I should be doing.

Still, the concept is a useful one, and I'm going to give a bit more time to thinking about how I can include it.  Until then, I will probably just step up the conditioning work a little at a time.  I'm still not doing much of it, but I am doing some.

End of September Stats

Stats:

Weight: 175 (0; -10)
BF%: 20.2% (0%; -1.6%)
Waist: 99 (-1; -5)
Hips: 99 (-1; -3)
Chest: 105 (0; -6)
Thigh: 58 (-1; -3)
Calf: 35 (0; 0)
Arm: 33 (1; -1)

So, the August to September cycle is done, and here's the final point and start point for the next cycle.

The totals are pretty good all around. Down 10 pounds, and at 0 or lower for all of the measurements.

I'm wearing size 34 (and maybe could fit into smaller) jeans. About half of my work shirts are too big on me now, which means I need new ones, and also means I look pretty bad in them.

While I made the first goal, I never made any progress towards the second goal. But that's fine. I made the first goal I wanted. Admittedly, my weight loss was lower than desired, but about the range I expected.

I am still tooling up the October to December plan, so there's nothing I can say on it yet. While I'm tooling up, I'm taking on the default goal of "lose 5 pounds."

I figure that's a reasonable starting point while I figure out what else I want to do.

Week 8 Stats

Here:

Weight: 175 (0; -10)
BF%: 20.2% (0%; -1.6%)
Waist: 100 (0; -4)
Hips: 100 (1; -2)
Chest: 105 (1; -6)
Thigh: 59 (1; -2)
Calf: 35 (-1; 0)
Arm: 32 (-0.5; -2)

No progress this week. I've fallen off the program entirely. Spinning wheels, and haven't learned how to eat yet.

Gonna get myself sorted and fix this thing.

Just 1 week to go. Got to stick it at 175 if I can.

Looking back; looking ahead

With less than 2 weeks on the dockets for this cycle, I'm starting to take a look back at the things I've managed to accomplish.

I started August at 186#, and last week weighed in at 175#.  That's 11 pounds down in 7 weeks, which is not quite the pace I was hoping for at the start, but does meet the first milestone.

With 2 weeks to go, there's a good chance of hitting the second milestone, provided I push myself towards it.  Reaching 170# is possible, it just takes some refocusing and dedication to make it there.

After September is over, I will be starting a 3 month cycle.  Oct-Dec.  The goals for that cycle are settling in now, but are still changeable.  I will probably make a post on it closer to the start.

Also, there are now just 103 days left in the year.  I tend to start thinking about what to do with the rest of the year once things get down to 100 days.  So I am doing some thinking already on what I can do and what I want to do in the time the year has left.  I'll post more on that later too.

Week 7 results

Stats:

Weight: 175 (-2; -10)
BF%: 20.2% (0%; -1.6%)
Waist: 100 (0; -4)
Hips: 99 (-1; -3)
Chest: 104 (0; -7)
Thigh: 58 (-1; -3)
Calf: 36 (0; +1)
Arm: 32.5 (0; -1.5)


Another flat week. Little change, but I did make the 2 pound shift in weight I wanted.

I ate really poorly over the weekend, and as of this morning, my weight is right back to 177#. I feel like this week will be a refocusing week, and I will need to work to get my eating, exercise and mindset back where they need to be.

I'm hopeful to reach 173 next week, and also hopeful to break through the 20% barrier and on to the next lowest branch.

Week 6 Stats

Stats:

Weight: 177 (-2; -8)
BF%: 20.2% (0%; -1.6%)
Waist: 100 (+1; -4)
Hips: 100 (0; -2)
Chest: 104 (+2; -7)
Thigh: 59 (+1; -2)
Calf: 36 (0; +1)
Arm: 32.5 (-0.5; -1.5)

Overall happy with the fact that my weight is coming down again. A bit bothered by everything seeming to go up in size, but I have no idea what's happening there. Most things are relatively stable, returning to where they were last week.

The lack of change in the BF% is expected, since estimates suggest it'll be another week before there's a chance of adjustment. I'm hopeful, but it does indicate there's no possibility of stopping at 175#. I'm gonna have to go lower.

Week 5 Stats

Week 5 is done:

Weight: 179 (-1; -6)
BF%: 20.2% (0%; -1.6%)
Waist: 99 (-2; -5)
Hips: 100 (0; -2)
Chest: 102 (-1; -9)
Thigh: 58 (-2; -3)
Calf: 36 (0; +1)
Arm: 33 (0; -1)

Weight is down, but less than the goal of 2 pounds per week. Not sure if this is adaptation to the lower food intake or what, but no matter, I nudge down the calories again. This nudge puts me at 1700/1350 per day.

There's still some movement in the Waist and Chest and Thigh areas, which should be a solid indicator of loss of fat. I don't know, though. Measuring in cm gives quicker measurement results than in inches, but the process is still slow.

Everything has moved down or stayed the same, which is encouraging to see. Means things are at least moving in the proper direction.

M suggested this weekend that I'm too concerned with the timeline of change rather than change itself. She seems to feel that pushing for changes at an expected pace misplaces the emphasis and focus.

I can agree with her on the one hand. I could do away with the timeline of changes and stick to a goal. Consistency with the diet and so forth would eventually bring me to be the same weight as my goal, though it would probably take me much longer to reach there.

Personally, putting goals to a deadline helps me stay on track. It keeps my attention and focus better than setting a "whenever" goal does. I have lots of "whenever" goals, and they don't keep progress nearly as well as the diet has today.

As usual, the scale showed a good drop today over yesterday. I feel like I should move the official weigh-in to Mondays - but then the scale changes would probably move to Tuesdays. Anyway, scale said I was 177 today, but it was close to 176. It'd be nice to hit 175 by the end of week 6, would be marginally ahead of schedule for the week, but right on time for the process as a whole.

M keeps bringing up the idea of me weighing very low numbers. Like 120 pounds and such. I know she's teasing and being silly when she's quoting something that low, but when she's quoting something closer to 155 that it's a bit more like pushing.

I know she just wants to see the roundness come off, and with the way the body fat has been steadfastly sticking about, it has got to be a little frustrating.

As for me, I could see me getting down maybe as far as 160, but I doubt I'd be aesthetic at that weight. The feeling from me is that aesthetics comes after I lose some of the weight and then put on some muscle weight in replacement. The body fat needs to come down.

That leads me into another bit. M and I had a chat about my motivations. Why am I trying to lose weight. To lose fat, is my answer. She didn't seem to think that was a good motivation if that was my only motivator. For me, it is. I know that once I lose fat, I'll be able to switch and start gaining muscle. But, until the fat is under control, the rest has to wait.

I think she was looking for something a bit more defined, or maybe something she could categorize better. I don't have any other answer, though.