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I REALLY need to get my a$$ in better shape and drop some weight and hopefully get more energy. Hope this thread can inspire me!
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imw8n4u and VolNExile
Friday weigh in thread
- Thread starter Orangeslice13
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So that’s your scales. But what are your CLOTHES doing?
Depending on the nature of your workout, and how much muscle you started with, you may be building some new real muscle while also losing fat. That new muscle isn’t weightless, so even though your scales show “only” a 16-lb loss in nine weeks (hey, I’d take it!), it it might be more like 20 lbs of fat burned off and 4 lbs of muscle put on. (Those numbers pulled completely out of the air.)
If your clothes are looser where you usually carry your weight (belly, for instance), if you’re not as wiped out at the end of a workout, if your breathing and heart rate are improving, then you’re doing it right. 👍🏻 Lots of moving parts involved in weight loss + improving fitness.
Make sure you’ve got some walks or runs or swims that are long enough and brisk enough to get your heart rate up. That trains your heart muscle and burns up some calories. Not just lifting weights or whatever.
Depending on the nature of your workout, and how much muscle you started with, you may be building some new real muscle while also losing fat. That new muscle isn’t weightless, so even though your scales show “only” a 16-lb loss in nine weeks (hey, I’d take it!), it it might be more like 20 lbs of fat burned off and 4 lbs of muscle put on. (Those numbers pulled completely out of the air.)
If your clothes are looser where you usually carry your weight (belly, for instance), if you’re not as wiped out at the end of a workout, if your breathing and heart rate are improving, then you’re doing it right. 👍🏻 Lots of moving parts involved in weight loss + improving fitness.
Make sure you’ve got some walks or runs or swims that are long enough and brisk enough to get your heart rate up. That trains your heart muscle and burns up some calories. Not just lifting weights or whatever.
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So you have lost 16 pounds in 9 weeks. That is 1.7 pounds per week, which is right at the the healthiest rate to lose weight. You are on an excellent pace. Are you feeling discouraged? I understand if you are. We want immediate results. I went from 227 pounds to 150 pounds over the course of 8 months, and at times I was discouraged because I felt I wasn't losing weight fast enough. But I wasn't losing weight too slowly. I was at an appropriate pace and getting healthier every day. Here's the mindset I gradually came to over the course of those 8 months:
First of all, you really need to compare your current weight to your weight from 1 month ago. DO NOT compare your current weight to your weigh-in yesterday or last week. Weight fluctuates so much (about +/- 4 pounds throughout the day), that you cannot determine your rate of weight loss by comparing one day to the next. So if daily weigh-ins discourage you, I would advise you not to weigh yourself daily. Instead, weigh yourself once every two weeks. Or, if you like weighing yourself daily, over the course of a week, take the median weight of your daily weigh-ins, and compare that number to your weight the previous month to check your progress. You will not get an accurate rate of your pace by comparing Monday's weigh-in to Sunday's weigh-in.
Next, I believe it is NOT important to have a long term goal. I view my physical fitness as a journey, not a destination. It is a lifestyle change, not a means to an end. I want something sustainable that I enjoy, not a burden that I can get rid of when I finally reach the finish line. So instead of long term goals, I have many short term goals. I try to live in the moment. Yesterday, I benched 9 reps. Well, tomorrow, I want to bench 10 reps at the same weight. And if I didn't reach that goal? Oh well. Win some, lose some. Let's try harder next time. I make it a game - a competition with myself. I think it's fun, and I'm always looking forward to my next workout.
When I first started trying to lose weight, I set a long term goal with a deadline, and that was extremely stressful. I did get discouraged when I thought I wouldn't reach the target within the time frame. But now I see that is trivial. It's much more important for your physical and mental health to create sustainable habits that you enjoy while also challenging yourself at the same time.
I hope this helps, and I hope you are able to make enjoyable, healthy habits for yourself. Let us know how it's going. I find this thread encouraging, and I love reading about other people's exercise habits and progress.
First of all, you really need to compare your current weight to your weight from 1 month ago. DO NOT compare your current weight to your weigh-in yesterday or last week. Weight fluctuates so much (about +/- 4 pounds throughout the day), that you cannot determine your rate of weight loss by comparing one day to the next. So if daily weigh-ins discourage you, I would advise you not to weigh yourself daily. Instead, weigh yourself once every two weeks. Or, if you like weighing yourself daily, over the course of a week, take the median weight of your daily weigh-ins, and compare that number to your weight the previous month to check your progress. You will not get an accurate rate of your pace by comparing Monday's weigh-in to Sunday's weigh-in.
Next, I believe it is NOT important to have a long term goal. I view my physical fitness as a journey, not a destination. It is a lifestyle change, not a means to an end. I want something sustainable that I enjoy, not a burden that I can get rid of when I finally reach the finish line. So instead of long term goals, I have many short term goals. I try to live in the moment. Yesterday, I benched 9 reps. Well, tomorrow, I want to bench 10 reps at the same weight. And if I didn't reach that goal? Oh well. Win some, lose some. Let's try harder next time. I make it a game - a competition with myself. I think it's fun, and I'm always looking forward to my next workout.
When I first started trying to lose weight, I set a long term goal with a deadline, and that was extremely stressful. I did get discouraged when I thought I wouldn't reach the target within the time frame. But now I see that is trivial. It's much more important for your physical and mental health to create sustainable habits that you enjoy while also challenging yourself at the same time.
I hope this helps, and I hope you are able to make enjoyable, healthy habits for yourself. Let us know how it's going. I find this thread encouraging, and I love reading about other people's exercise habits and progress.
For me its about never worrying about what the scale reads this week. Its about overall trends and understanding my body. Its about being honest and knowing/understanding the process that works for me. I know when I don't work out, eat poorly, get stressed/travel/holiday I will gain weight. I accept that, and keep at it. Its a process.
I would also look at mile stones. 300lb may not be your target weight, but think about it as in another 9 weeks and you should be around 300lb based on your AVERAGE loss. Also know that you will continually have to challenge yourself. You more than likely won't get to whatever your target is doing exactly what you are doing now.
For me I also set non-weight based goals. It bothered me that I couldn't do some simple things, so now even though the scale goes up, that I can do some of my goals despite gaining weight means I don't focus too much on the numbers.
After 10 years of trying I still can't do a pull up. But I have accomplished the other 2 goals. I can run a mile without dying. And I can get below 200lbs. I got bad over the holidays but I am seeing progress. I focus on the progress not on the end goal.
I would also look at mile stones. 300lb may not be your target weight, but think about it as in another 9 weeks and you should be around 300lb based on your AVERAGE loss. Also know that you will continually have to challenge yourself. You more than likely won't get to whatever your target is doing exactly what you are doing now.
For me I also set non-weight based goals. It bothered me that I couldn't do some simple things, so now even though the scale goes up, that I can do some of my goals despite gaining weight means I don't focus too much on the numbers.
After 10 years of trying I still can't do a pull up. But I have accomplished the other 2 goals. I can run a mile without dying. And I can get below 200lbs. I got bad over the holidays but I am seeing progress. I focus on the progress not on the end goal.
Thanks for the responses. I guess I'm like everyone else I want the results instantly. I'm working with a personal trainer, we do two weight lifting sessions a week and I'm supposed to do cardio on my own. Lately I've been slacking on the cardio. Going to the workouts with my trainer is easy since I have someone there with me. its finding the motivation to go on my own is the hard part. There are days when I just want to quit. Tonight we're doing shoulders/abs and my arms are still sore from back/biceps day we did Sunday.
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LouderVol and VolFaninFla
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What kind of cardio do you do? Make sure it’s something you enjoy. I only do walking and sometimes swimming for cardio. I hate running/cycling, and my old body cannot handle HiiT training. I walk for an hour everyday, broken up into 3 or 4 walks throughout the day. It always comes out to 10-12k steps per day. I enjoy walking in the evenings, listening to podcasts or music. It was especially fun around the holidays, seeing everyone’s house decorations.
As far as the weight training goes, communicate with your trainer about what your body feels. I talked with my trainer today about some pain I’ve been feeling in my inner quad and hip flexor the past few days. He gave me 4 different stretches that helped relieve that pain. It was fantastic. Communicate and listen to your body. If it hurts, STOP. Take a rest for a few days. You’ll be much happier in the long run. I had a bad injury from pushing myself too hard, and I’m still getting over it. Wish I slowed down back then.
As far as the weight training goes, communicate with your trainer about what your body feels. I talked with my trainer today about some pain I’ve been feeling in my inner quad and hip flexor the past few days. He gave me 4 different stretches that helped relieve that pain. It was fantastic. Communicate and listen to your body. If it hurts, STOP. Take a rest for a few days. You’ll be much happier in the long run. I had a bad injury from pushing myself too hard, and I’m still getting over it. Wish I slowed down back then.
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Amen! This is a big part of “My new life will include [this] as part of my daily routine.” Getting outside for a daily walk or similar is important in staying mentally sharp as well as physically healthy.
Be very wary of exercise routines that are endless misery. You want to develop new habits and routines that you can continue forever at some level. Being miserable all the time is just going to make it way too easy to give up.
Talk to your trainer! If he doesn’t get this or just gives you some stupid rah-rah speech, get another trainer. No one can care more about how your body is doing than you.
Keep hanging around here!
Be very wary of exercise routines that are endless misery. You want to develop new habits and routines that you can continue forever at some level. Being miserable all the time is just going to make it way too easy to give up.
Talk to your trainer! If he doesn’t get this or just gives you some stupid rah-rah speech, get another trainer. No one can care more about how your body is doing than you.
Keep hanging around here!
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If the elliptical gets boring or unpleasant, change it up. Maybe try the cardio row machine. That’s one I like because it’s low impact and also gets your arms engaged too. Or maybe the stairmaster. That thing will certainly hit your glutes and quads, and since those muscles are so big, you burn lots of calories in a shorter amount of time.
Or find a nice park to go walking. A 30 minute walk is about the same as 15 minutes on the elliptical. Because of my injury, from May 2022 to October 2022, the only exercise I did was walking outside for an hour every day. I broke it up into a couple of walks per day, and I was able to maintain my weight of 150 pounds only doing that type of exercise. Of course I was watching what I ate closely as well.
The main thing is don’t make it too complicated for yourself. Focus on calories in/calories out. It’s simple, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy. You should be proud to be challenging yourself and making such progress.
Or find a nice park to go walking. A 30 minute walk is about the same as 15 minutes on the elliptical. Because of my injury, from May 2022 to October 2022, the only exercise I did was walking outside for an hour every day. I broke it up into a couple of walks per day, and I was able to maintain my weight of 150 pounds only doing that type of exercise. Of course I was watching what I ate closely as well.
The main thing is don’t make it too complicated for yourself. Focus on calories in/calories out. It’s simple, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy. You should be proud to be challenging yourself and making such progress.
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VolFaninFla and VolNExile
I agree with others. Going on a walk is a great start. Back when I was over 300 I tried running, and I could never make progress. And I like running, it gets me out of my head with how much I feel like I am going to die sometimes, but thats still better than doing nothing. I ran every other day for 3 months, made absolutely zero progress. I had to stop running, it hurt too much. and I started walking. the key is to walk fast and long enough to get your heart rate going. Not even like true cardio, just an elevated, sustained heart rate. I did that for a good long while, maybe 6 months of so. and eventually started running, and it worked that time.
I only have my personal experience to go from but the reason I think the walking helped while running didnt was just scale. When you are starting any serious cardio, when you haven't done any there are a lot of systems that are being hit. Heart, lungs, muscles, skeleton, joints. All of those things are being put to work for the first time, and they all have to catch up. with walking you get to gradually build them instead of pushing them hard all at once. gives your body a chance to adjust. And you will also likely lose weight in the process while building up the systems to do whatever cardio it is you want to do.
I only have my personal experience to go from but the reason I think the walking helped while running didnt was just scale. When you are starting any serious cardio, when you haven't done any there are a lot of systems that are being hit. Heart, lungs, muscles, skeleton, joints. All of those things are being put to work for the first time, and they all have to catch up. with walking you get to gradually build them instead of pushing them hard all at once. gives your body a chance to adjust. And you will also likely lose weight in the process while building up the systems to do whatever cardio it is you want to do.
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Jan 6 - 155.6
Jan 13 - 152.8
Jan 20 - 151.9
Jan 26 - 151.3
Feb 3 - 150.3
Feb 10 - 148.4
Feb 17 - 149.7
Feb 24 - 149.4
(Started bulking)
March 3 - 149.3
March 10 - 150.1
So after 2 weeks of attempting to bulk, I have gained 0.7 pounds (from 149.4 to 150.1). I am currently trying to eat about 2700 kcal per day in order to ideally gain 0.5 pounds per week, but I’d rather gain a little bit less than a little bit more, so I’m pleased with 0.7 pounds heavier after 2 weeks.
I’m quickly learning that a slow bulk is more difficult than losing weight. Don’t get me wrong, I love eating the extra food. That is not the problem. The problem is the pacing is so much more narrow. When losing weight, if I lost 2 pounds in a week, I was thrilled. However, if I gained 2 pounds in a week, I wouldn’t be happy. 0.5 pound change is much more difficult to control. However, I am enjoying the challenge along with my new workout program.
Jan 13 - 152.8
Jan 20 - 151.9
Jan 26 - 151.3
Feb 3 - 150.3
Feb 10 - 148.4
Feb 17 - 149.7
Feb 24 - 149.4
(Started bulking)
March 3 - 149.3
March 10 - 150.1
So after 2 weeks of attempting to bulk, I have gained 0.7 pounds (from 149.4 to 150.1). I am currently trying to eat about 2700 kcal per day in order to ideally gain 0.5 pounds per week, but I’d rather gain a little bit less than a little bit more, so I’m pleased with 0.7 pounds heavier after 2 weeks.
I’m quickly learning that a slow bulk is more difficult than losing weight. Don’t get me wrong, I love eating the extra food. That is not the problem. The problem is the pacing is so much more narrow. When losing weight, if I lost 2 pounds in a week, I was thrilled. However, if I gained 2 pounds in a week, I wouldn’t be happy. 0.5 pound change is much more difficult to control. However, I am enjoying the challenge along with my new workout program.
10 weeks in:
2-Jan 178 (started my plan)
8-Jan 170
14-Jan 169
21-Jan 166
28-Jan 165
4-Feb 163
11-Feb 160
18-Feb 157
25-Feb 159*
4-Mar 157
11-Mar 155.4
Pretty disappointed not to see 155 even, but I'm one good dump away lol. Going to try a few weeks of maintenance to make sure I can sustain my gains, but it will be nice to have the occasional indulgence.
2-Jan 178 (started my plan)
8-Jan 170
14-Jan 169
21-Jan 166
28-Jan 165
4-Feb 163
11-Feb 160
18-Feb 157
25-Feb 159*
4-Mar 157
11-Mar 155.4
Pretty disappointed not to see 155 even, but I'm one good dump away lol. Going to try a few weeks of maintenance to make sure I can sustain my gains, but it will be nice to have the occasional indulgence.
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I made the decision after losing my dad last February. I've always been a real negative, pessimistic, and cynical person and that all got worse after he died. I decided to finally try and stop being so miserable all the time. Decided to focus first on improving my physical health before trying to fix myself mentally.
It can go hand in hand. Focus on the little things. The big stuff will always look miles away. Both mentally and physically. Note and give credit for the small steps you make, they matter.
They become something you can track, and "fall back on". Yeah I didnt do X, but I was able to do Y and I couldnt do Y several months ago either.
They become something you can track, and "fall back on". Yeah I didnt do X, but I was able to do Y and I couldnt do Y several months ago either.
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