Must get fit before the Mayan Apocalypse

[dejavued]

"tough few years" sounds like a serious understatement. you've been through a LOT...... best of luck turning your fitness level around.

[FetteredApe]

Thanks for the good wishes Dejavued!

Hit my nutritional macros yesterday and did my lower body workout. I hired a trainer to show me the ropes for my first few trips to the gym, I wanted to be sure I was doing the exercises right and not get injured. My leg workout did not go well. Apparently my tendons and ligaments are very tight in my hips and legs and the trainer was concerned that I would injure myself if I did some of my leg workouts. He said that due to the range of motion issues and tightness that my back muscles would take over work that my leg muscles should be doing and that it could likely become a problem. I have to agree with him on the range of motion and tightness, I could really feel it in my hips when I was doing the workouts. On the plus side he told me that my joints are in great shape and that he could work with me to correct the range of motion and tightness issues I have in a few weeks. I'm glad I was so cautious!

Another good note was he told me that my body fat % was lower that he normally sees in a person that is overweight as I am. My lean mass is around 195 lbs and he told me that I am naturally quite strong. More incentive more me to eat properly and not squander the muscle that I already have!

Scale weight this morning was up .8 lbs at 300.4 lbs, today is a rest day.

[Seltzer]

Sounds as if you have a well informed trainer.

[jbivens]

I'm sure Aram will steer you in the right direction to avoid injury based on what the trainer told you and the discomfort you felt. He is the master of changing on the fly to get results for his clients.

Good job so far man. Keep it up!

[FetteredApe]

Upper body workout today was tough, still had DOMS from Monday. I'm sure that will ease up in a few weeks. The trainer worked with me on loosening up and getting more range of motion. Eating has been spot on today, I am all set up for dinner tonight, and I've already had more than 100oz of water, so I will count this as a perfect day!

[scohen158]

Originally Posted by FetteredApe

Upper body workout today was tough, still had DOMS from Monday. I'm sure that will ease up in a few weeks. The trainer worked with me on loosening up and getting more range of motion. Eating has been spot on today, I am all set up for dinner tonight, and I've already had more than 100oz of water, so I will count this as a perfect day!

Yeah they will get better next week even just be sure to get like 7-8 hours sleep each night. Keep it up.

[FetteredApe]

Originally Posted by scohen158

Yeah they will get better next week even just be sure to get like 7-8 hours sleep each night. Keep it up.

Thanks. I've been shooting for 8-9 hours each night actually, and have been mostly sucessful so far. (I even slept 13 hours on Tuesday - probably recovering from being sick).

My scale weight was 299.2 this morning. My trainer couldn't meet me today so I did 40 minutes of elliptical cardio, the machine said I burned 421 calories. Eating is perfectly on track today (I am just eating the same thing every day that exactly hits my macros and calories to make it easier). Meeting the trainer tomorrow morning at 9am to make up the lifting missed today. Will post my weekly measurements tomorrow.

My Iranian neighbors invited my wife and I to a Persian luncheon tomorrow, not sure what to expect, but I think it is kind of an open house thing since 40+ people are on the invite. Although I'm sure I would love the food I am going to stick to my guns and to my diet. Hopefully I don't offend them, but honestly I care more about my transformation than I care about offending them.... Hmm that sounds mean....

[FetteredApe]

Stats this morning:

Weight: 298.0 (-8.0 lbs)
Body Fat (Omron meter): 36.1% (+1.2%)
Calf: 17.5" (-.25")
Thigh: 26.75"(+.25")
Hips: 46.0" (-.75")
Waist: 53.25" (-.25")
Chest: 50.25" (-1.0")
Shoulders: 56.25" (-1.25"))
Neck: 18.75" (no change)
Wrist: 8.0" (no change)
Forearm: 14.0" (-.25")
Bicep Relaxed: 15.5" (-.25")
Bicep Flexed: 16.25" (-.25")

I don't know why my body fat went up. Accuracy of the Omron meter? Fallout from being sick? I guess I haven't been doing this long enough to draw any conclusions yet.

Off to my 9am workout. Have a great day everyone!

[scohen158]

Originally Posted by FetteredApe

Stats this morning:

Weight: 298.0 (-8.0 lbs)
Body Fat (Omron meter): 36.1% (+1.2%)
Calf: 17.5" (-.25")
Thigh: 26.75"(+.25")
Hips: 46.0" (-.75")
Waist: 53.25" (-.25")
Chest: 50.25" (-1.0")
Shoulders: 56.25" (-1.25"))
Neck: 18.75" (no change)
Wrist: 8.0" (no change)
Forearm: 14.0" (-.25")
Bicep Relaxed: 15.5" (-.25")
Bicep Flexed: 16.25" (-.25")

I don't know why my body fat went up. Accuracy of the Omron meter? Fallout from being sick? I guess I haven't been doing this long enough to draw any conclusions yet.

Off to my 9am workout. Have a great day everyone!

Good job on getting under the 300 lb mark and staying under as for Bodyfat my guess is it's the meter depending on hydration levels etc overall they aren't regarded as the most accurate if it's similar technology to the Tanita scale with bodyfat measuring. I remember I could check multiple times throughout the day and get fluctuations of nearly 10% bodyfat. The calipers are a much better indicator especially if you have someone doing it that really knows how to. If I remember the best way to get as accurate as possible readings with a device like that is to have identical circumstances at each reading, test multiple times and don't eat or drink anything for awhile prior to testing which makes morning after going to the restroom prior to eating anything the best time.

[FetteredApe]

That must be it, the first time I tested bodyfat was the middle of the day, so I will stick to mornings from now on. Plus I won't sweat fluctuations of it since it is pretty inaccurate, just another metric to track. Thanks!

[FetteredApe]

Morning weigh in: 297.6 lbs, down .4 from yesterday, going in the right direction! Eating was spot on yesterday, restocked all my groceries yesterday so I'm on track for another perfect eating week.

Yesterday my trainer showed me a bunch of kickboxing stuff which was fun, I took to it really well. It turns out he is a retired Army Ranger, and does MMA competitions. He invited me to his upcoming bout at the DC Armory, I think I'll go check it out.

Today is cardio, gonna do approx 45 min (or whatever gets me to my trainer's goal of 450 cal) on the elliptical thing, it is not exactly an elliptical, it is like a cross between that and a stepper, hard to describe. It puts a lot of focus on your stride length, so it will help with my hips. Hopefully I will be loosened up to the point that I can safely start Aram's workout plan soon.

[FetteredApe]

That machine I was talking about is called a Precore machine. Did 500 cal in 37 minutes.

[FetteredApe]

Morning weigh in was 295.6 lbs, total of 10.4 lbs lost in 12 days!

[scohen158]

Originally Posted by FetteredApe

Morning weigh in was 295.6 lbs, total of 10.4 lbs lost in 12 days!

Nice work the first month is usually awesome for lbs lost.

[FetteredApe]

Yeah, I have to be prepared to see it slow down, I realize it is mostly water. I'll try to keep my main focus on measurements.

[paulo_drummer]

Congratulations, you’re doing it right!

Impedance body fat reading is quite inaccurate, but as long you can keep a similar environment every week it will guide you well enough until you get (or need) a caliper.
It’s almost impossible to resist the temptation to jump in the bathroom scale every morning, isn't? And if you keep in mind all the weight fluctuation we have in just one day and can handle the anxiety, you can enjoy everyday weight reading without fear.
If you stick with the body measurements, you won’t need to worry about weekly body fat fluctuation, because it’s inaccurate anyway. If the body fat reading go crazy one week but your measurements are solid and accurate, you have nothing to fear. Personally I decided to worry about my body fat reading only when I get down to 15% or so.

Anyway, you’re doing great, Matt! I’m going to follow your journal.

[FetteredApe]

Originally Posted by paulo_drummer

Congratulations, you’re doing it right!

Impedance body fat reading is quite inaccurate, but as long you can keep a similar environment every week it will guide you well enough until you get (or need) a caliper.
It’s almost impossible to resist the temptation to jump in the bathroom scale every morning, isn't? And if you keep in mind all the weight fluctuation we have in just one day and can handle the anxiety, you can enjoy everyday weight reading without fear.
If you stick with the body measurements, you won’t need to worry about weekly body fat fluctuation, because it’s inaccurate anyway. If the body fat reading go crazy one week but your measurements are solid and accurate, you have nothing to fear. Personally I decided to worry about my body fat reading only when I get down to 15% or so.

Anyway, you’re doing great, Matt! I’m going to follow your journal.

Thanks for the encouragement and advice! I'll follow your journal too. I've tried that impedence meter several times in a row and gotten varied results, so I'm just going to not worry about it. Maybe they work better when the person tested is not so overweight.... I have calipers, but I figured I would use them when I got lower in weight, like you suggest.

Workout went great yesteday. Eating was perfect. That is an eight day perfect streak for both (would have been longer but I had a stomach bug and couldn't eat or workout for a few days). Scale weight was 294.6 lbs this morning down 1.0 lbs from yesterday and 11.4 lbs in the 13 days since my official start. I have a workout scheduled at 1pm and my foods all prepared and ready for today.

[FetteredApe]

Workout was good yesterday, eating was perfect. My wife made enchiladas for the rest of the family. Felt my first craving, but it wasn't hard to squash it. Scale weight this morning was 194.0, down 12 lbs in 14 days. Today is cardio day, gonna burn 650 cal on the precor machine, can't say I am looking forward to that....

[scohen158]

Originally Posted by FetteredApe

Workout was good yesterday, eating was perfect. My wife made enchiladas for the rest of the family. Felt my first craving, but it wasn't hard to squash it. Scale weight this morning was 194.0, down 12 lbs in 14 days. Today is cardio day, gonna burn 650 cal on the precor machine, can't say I am looking forward to that....

Yeah cardio can get a little boring on the machines adding music or espn helps. I can handle 30 minutes fine more then that and the boredom really hits. I miss the Precor Elliptical I used it nearly everyday for 9 months back in 2005/2006.

Do you weigh yourself daily? I would suggest maybe doing it weekly same day and time each week so you can get "surprised" by the progress. Also a plus is it in my experience as long as sticking with a plan consistently diet and exercise wise I don't think it has ever gone up in a week to week comparison while I have been losing weight. So I know every Sunday is going to be a good day as I am not working and I get to see how much I lost from the previous one. Daily you can gain a pound drop a pound stay the same and I think the fluctuations could be a downer at times.

Anyways good job staying on track the cravings should almost completely disappear in a couple weeks only thing that grabs my attention is Pizza commercials damn you Papa Johns. I haven't had Pizza in 2 months. I will likely hold off on it until Football season and may make the Chiefs 1st game a cheat meal day. I try to have only 1 per month or less. April I am doing the 100 Challenge so trying to go perfect all month.

[FetteredApe]

Originally Posted by scohen158

Anyways good job staying on track the cravings should almost completely disappear in a couple weeks only thing that grabs my attention is Pizza commercials damn you Papa Johns. I haven't had Pizza in 2 months.

You bastard, you had to bring up pizza didn't you? Now I am craving pizza....

Seriously though, I think that is good advice about the daily weigh-ins. I'm getting a daily thrill from the fast initial losses, but that is unsustainable, so probably very soon it will slow down. At that point the daily weigh-ins could very well be a mixed bag. Since Saturday morning is my official weekly weigh in and measurment time, starting this Saturday I will only hit the scale once a week (man that is gonna be tough...). Thx for the advice!