Journal de williamso

[williamso]

Pictures first, then I'll tell you about myself. I hope this works.

[williamso]

I feel like I've been offering advice and encouragment a bunch, and not letting you all know much about me. So, I thought I'd start a journal. Even if no one ever looks at it, it will probably be helpful for me.

STARTING STATS:
November 2004, 210 pounds, 5ft. 10.5in., no pics, I'm sad about that.

These pictures (in the first post) were taken about a week ago, February 26, 2005. I was 199.5 pounds. I'm losing weight slowly, but I'm putting on muscle, I think. I've only checked my bf% twice, but it's going down, and I feel and look much more muscular. I've been consistantly adding weights to my lifting routine.

MY GOAL:
170 pounds or less, with 12% bf or less. Then I'll start bulking, I think.

[williamso]

NUTRITION
I've been recording everything I eat in an Excel file. I've been getting about 2000 calories each day, 40% carbs, 40% protein, 20% fat. That's been more inconsistant recently though.

Typically, my meals look like this:
7am .. 1 cup Go Lean Kashi Cereal, dry, 1 cup of oatmeal, 1 scoop whey powder
11am .. 6 oz tuna, 4 pieces of whole wheat bread
2pm .. 6 oz tuna, 4 pieces of whole wheat bread
6pm .. 1 cup oatmeal, 1 scoop whey powder
8pm .. 1 apple, 14 oz green beans, 1 cup yogurt
9pm .. 1 oz almonds

Also, I drink about one gallon of water each day. Usually, about 16 oz of coffee throughout the day, too.

I'm not real consistant. I wish I was, but this is a typical day.

[williamso]

EXERCISE

Cardio -- I started doing cardio only. Started in November with 10 minutes on the treadmill. Increased everyday by 30 seconds until I got up to 20 minutes straight. That was hard for me. Then I went to 25 minutes, then to 30, then to 40 minutes and a couple times at 50 minutes. I got concerned about my heart rate and purchased a Polar monitor. Now, I usually do 35 or 40 minutes averaging about 75% mhr.
I do this about 3 or 4 times each week.

I've gotta sign off now, but more to come . . . stay tuned . . .

[williamso]

EXERCISE cont'd

Weight Lifting -- I lift 2 times each week, focusing on arms, chest, shoulders, back and abs. For each excercise, I do three sets, trying to get up to 18 reps for each set. When I hit 3 sets of 18, I move on higher weight the next session. During each session, I have little rest time, and try to keep my heart rate high. I've been pleased with my progress so far.

About 10 or 12 days ago, my left knee started to hurt during squats. It feels like a kind of tendonitis, or bursitis, maybe. I've stopped my cardio (treadmill), and have seen the pain go down slowly. I sure don't want a major injury!

[williamso]

I hope to post here at least weekly updates about how my week went, with sections on Nutrition, Cardio, and Weight Lifting. I'd also like to respond to any feedback I get from the JSF community. Any comments, questions, criticisms, queries, corrections, coorelations, etc. are gladly received.

I plan to enter a 5k road race in May. In high school, I did 5ks a bunch, for fun. My personal best is 25:01 -- I was 14 years old. Now, I'm in the 30:xx range. I have not run a road race since high school, but I'd like to get down to 28:xx by May. I think I can do it if my knee stops acting up.

[williamso]

[slush_puppy]

Hey williamso, that's great that you started a journal. The first time I posted my pics was during my challenge and I learned that there's no better motivation than knowing that other people are watching your progress. Posting pics, especially your first pics, is really hard to do. You'll be amazed when you can look back at those pics in 6 months and see the progression, it's pretty amazing. Anyway, congratulations on going public!

Also, congratulations on seeing the other side of 200! That has to be a huge milestone for you. Your progress looks nice and steady from your graph, I'm sure you'll be at your goals before you know it.

I also have had problems recently with my knee when I do squats, deads or anything that requires bending at the knee and standing back up with a lot of weight. It feels like there's some pain under my kneecap. It's not sharp pain, just really uncomfortable pain like my knee has to "click" and can't. Just for kicks, I pulled out some of my boxing hand wraps and wrapped my knee up (I know I've seen power lifters do this). It pretty much made the problem go away, so I got some of those neoprene knee wrap things and it totally fixed the problem. I try not to go really overboard heavy with my squats either, I try to keep them in the 15-20 rep range.

Best of luck, can't wait to see your future progess!

[williamso]

Originally Posted by slush_puppy

Also, congratulations on seeing the other side of 200! That has to be a huge milestone for you. Your progress looks nice and steady from your graph, I'm sure you'll be at your goals before you know it.

Thanks so much, slush_puppy. You bet! Getting below 200 is a huge milestone for me. I love it. I can say to myself, "I'm really doing it!"

Thanks for the encouragement.

[Cziffra]

Hey, williamso, I'm very glad you started a journal here. I use to read your post with lot of interest. Your progress is great, keep up the good work.

If you like 5K's you might wanna have a look to this training program(s).

I've never been much into 5K's. They are very short for my taste. I'm aiming more for something from 80 to 100 K

Good luck, fellow!!

[williamso]

Originally Posted by Cziffra

Hey, williamso, I'm very glad you started a journal here. I use to read your post with lot of interest. Your progress is great, keep up the good work.

If you like 5K's you might wanna have a look to this training program(s).

I've never been much into 5K's. They are very short for my taste. I'm aiming more for something from 80 to 100 K

Good luck, fellow!!

Thanks, cziffra. The link looks interesting. I think I need to add interval training into my routine, I've never done that before, but I think I might enjoy it. I need to find a quarter mile track, though. It would help.

80 to 100 K? Holy cow! I'll stick with 5k's for now, thanks.

I appreciate the encouragement.

[williamso]

Monday, March 14, 2005

This past week was ok. I ate very clean through the week. I was feeling a bit sick, so I didn't work out on Friday. Also, my knee was still bothering me, so I skipped all the cardio. Basically, I did very little exercise last week, but my nutrition was pretty good. But Saturday night had too much sugar. I went to a fundraiser and tried Stone Crabs -- not bad, but not great either. Then on Sunday, lots of sugar and salt. Today, I'll go lift weights after work, I don't know what my weight will be. I'm almost scared to step up to the scale. I'll post tomorrow what the scale tells me to post.

[webwide]

not seeing any pics here.........

[never2old]

Williamso, I hope your knee gets better. I have read many of your posts, and it's always a lift to read a journal about progress. Seems like you're doing great, from the chart. Your March 7 pix sorta resemble how I look now - at 6'-2" and somewhere under 230 lbs. Good luck on your training for the 5k! -Martin

[williamso]

Originally Posted by webwide

not seeing any pics here.........

I'm not really sure why . . . I see the pics, I'm not real computer literate, so I'm sorry that I can't help.

[williamso]

Originally Posted by never2old

Williamso, I hope your knee gets better. I have read many of your posts, and it's always a lift to read a journal about progress. Seems like you're doing great, from the chart. Your March 7 pix sorta resemble how I look now - at 6'-2" and somewhere under 230 lbs. Good luck on your training for the 5k! -Martin

Thanks for the encouragement, Martin. I'm a little discouraged. Yesterday when I weighed in, I was 201 pounds, 20.4% BF. I ate terrible on Sunday, so I probably had a bunch of water retention, plus a little extra fat. Nonetheless, the lack of cardio is really taking its toll, I think.

On the good side, yesterday I lifted weights with the trainer at my little corporate gym. He's great, but not always available. I'm sore all over my body today. I always push myself much harder when he's spotting me.

[williamso]

Tuesday, March 22, 2005

Yesterday, I weighed in at 200 pounds. :d_frown: This past week, I ate pretty well, except for Sunday, but I didn't do any cardio, and only lifted once, last Monday.

I usually weigh myself about 5:00 or 6:00 in the early evening when I exercise, but I think I'm going to switch that to the mornings. This morning I weighed in at 196.5. This 3.5 pound loss in about 12 hours is probably due mainly to the normal changes a body goes through in a day. That being said, here are Monday afternoon scale readings for recent weeks:

Monday, Mar. 21 200 lb
Monday, Mar. 14 201 lb
Monday, Mar. 7 199 lb
Monday, Feb. 28 198 lb
Monday, Feb. 21 198 lb
Monday, Feb. 14 201 lb
Monday, Feb. 7 201 lb
Monday, Jan. 31 202 lb
Monday, Jan. 24 202 lb
Monday, Jan. 17 204 lb
Monday, Jan. 10 202 lb
Monday, Jan. 3 203 lb
Monday, Dec. 27 204 lb
Monday, Dec. 20 205 lb
Monday, Dec. 13 205 lb
Monday, Dec. 6 207 lb

[Bluestreak]

You're doing fine. You're 8~10 lbs. lighter than you were three months ago. That's an accomplishment, take pride in it.

Furthermore, attitude goes a long way towards success. The glass is not half-empty, it's half-full - but you have to realize that. Don't be so down on yourself if you let things slide a bit. You're human. So am I. If I told you what I ate from last Thursday until Sunday night, you'd wonder about my commitment to making single-digit body fat. Hell, I wonder about it, but I'll get there. It's that belief that I think is the key; believe in your goal and you've done half the work already. With so many things haunting our daily lives and so many seemingly daunting tasks ahead, realize that you're vulnerable and giving in from time to time isn't weakness.

Keep it up and know that we're watching and pulling for you.

-R

[williamso]

Originally Posted by Bluestreak

Keep it up and know that we're watching and pulling for you.

-R

thanks Bluestreak. That's great encouragement. It really helps. I can't decide which is more helpful in this community, the education or the personal encouragement. Neither, by themselves, would help me -- but both together are helping me transform myself into a more healthy, active, progressive, influential, helpful, productive person. I'm no John Stone (yet), but neither am I your average fat, lazy American.

I was feeling down about my progress recently -- I went shopping for some new clothes yesterday evening (which helped me feel better), and I noticed all the fat asses and blubber guts. At Target, I saw people too fat to walk, riding in little carts, loading up their carts with Mountain Dew and Doritos. Those were my favorite foods. Not any more. I felt much better about myself.

[williamso]

Monday, March 28, 2005

Starting tomorrow, I'm on vacation for the rest of the week. My wife and I will be going to South Beach, Key Biscayne, and other places around our fair city of Miami. My wife is a pilot, and she'll be flying us in a tiny little plane to Key West. Never been to the southernmost city in the USA before. We have some good friends flying in from St. Louis, MO to spend the week with us. So, my diet will be "less than clean" but hopefully not a week of cheat meals -- no, I don't think it will be that. I won't be exercising like normal, either, but snorkeling, climbing, bicycling, swimming in the ocean, these are not exactly sedentary activities. Who knows? Maybe this will increase my metabolism since my body is only used to heavy activity for less than one hour per day.