Now you're a man, a man, a man, a man..

[Oneirogenesis]

Hey all!

I've just discovered this forum and am pretty excited about documenting my fitness journey here. I see that it's quite active and people seem to be very supportive and knowledgeable. I'll be keeping most of my goals, strategies and progress organized in this journal so that it's all open to comments and criticisms. And of course I want it to be available to potentially inspire others. Right now I am definitely interested in putting on muscle but am primarily concerned with dropping about 70 pounds and also getting my blood pressure down. I don't think I will be frequently taking my measurements, calculating BMI, or counting calories at this time, but probably in the future I will be. For now I'll mostly just be focusing on my lifestyle changes and keeping an eye on my weight and blood pressure. Once the initial, more rapid weight loss starts to slow down I'll probably start monitoring other numbers in order to really push my weight loss and muscle gain to the next level.

Every Monday I plan on posting my updated weight and blood pressure as well as a new photo of myself. In that post I also want to sum up the previous week's successes and failures related to my diet and exercise goals. I may begin a habit of posting my progress in this fitness journal everyday if that's what it takes to keep me on track, but for now I'm planning on once a week.

Right now I weigh about 270 pounds and my blood pressure is typically at about 145/90. My long term goals include getting down to 200 pounds or so (I'll have a better idea of what my ideal weight is once I'm closer to that number) as well as to get my blood pressure down to the magic 120/80. I am pretty concerned about my blood pressure so my attack plan as far as a diet goes is to more or less follow an Ornish diet, which appears to be quite beneficial to those with high blood pressure. I have tried calorie counting in the past while doing a 40/40/20 split but that always left me feeling pretty crappy. I've done short bursts of Ornish diets as well and find for me that it is much more energizing while being just as effective for weight loss. I am going to make a few changes to the diet though. First of all, I will be eating about a handful of nuts most days and don't plan on saying good bye to avocados anytime soon. Next, the only non-vegan food I will be permitting in my own diet is eggs. Lots and lots of eggs. Also, once a month I will be ignoring my diet restrictions and will be going out to a nice restaurant with my girlfriend, family, and/or friends.

Here is a list of my exercise goals:

- Lift at the gym 3 days a week.

- Walk at least an hour for at least 5 days a week. During my long walk on the days that I lifted I will be doing high interval training. I will run at least 3 times as hard and as fast as I can until I absolutely can't any longer.

- As for aerobic exercises, I would like to be doing things like plyometrics, kickboxing, dancing, and whatever else looks interesting and challenging. To begin with, I'm aiming for at least 2 days a week for no less than 30 minutes. By 05/01/12 I would like to be to be in the habit of doing these kinds of activities at least 5 days a week for no less than an hour.

- I also am going to be spending 20+ minutes stretching each day. I've had a problem with not doing stretching after activity in the past and am going to correct that. By 05/01/12 I would also like to be spending 30+ minutes each morning thoroughly stretching my entire body. Maybe yoga? This will be in addition to any stretches I'll be doing after aerobic and anaerobic exercises.

-----

Beginning me - 02/24/2012 - ~270 pounds

[LarssonCrew]

Hey, welcome to JSF!

I personally got really worried when no one replied to my story / blog in my first 8 posts, so now I'm breaking your virginity by posting a reply here.

Firstly, you're right, no one here will judge, no one will say you're stupid, idiot, use slang words to slate you or criticize, everyone will just be honest, give advice[you don't have to take it!] and generally be encouraging!

From what I've learned it can be really hard to achieve your protein intake if you don't eat meat, are you a vegan or vegetarian normally? Or are you changing just for this diet?

You are doing ALOT! Jesus, just like me, some days I'll do 45 minutes on the bike, then take my dog for a long walk, then play sports for 90 minutes then do some weights in the evening. Haha. It seems like 4-5 days a week you will be doing weights, cardio, walking AND trying 'something different.' Amazing, if you can keep that up without losing muscle you will drop weight like a stone!

Finally, I love your idea of trying something different, dancing, boxing, whatever. I am a fan of keeping things interesting, and some days I get SO bored doing my 45 minute bike ride that I stop, which is mental weakness, but then on the plus side if I'm engrossed in a game on my phone I don't feel tired even though I'm sweating like a camel.

Anyways, good luck!

[Oneirogenesis]

Hey man, thanks for the reply and welcoming me here. After looking at a few threads it seemed that people often waited to respond to new journals after a few posts. So I wasn't too worried about getting any responses right off the bat but am pleased to get one. Thanks

I do eat meat now, but go most of my meals without it. There are plenty of days I go without it completely, though I probably average eating it about once a day or so I imagine. I may be underestimating my meat consumption, but that seems about right. I eat a good amount of cheese now too, which will be harder to give up, but not much else in terms of dairy. I do eat a lot of eggs, and am currently somewhat regular with oatmeal, rice, various beans, quinona and nuts. Once I push up the amount of eggs, grains and beans I'm consuming I should be doing pretty well.

Haha, yeah, I want to get in pretty decent shape. Plus I have the benefit of having quite a bit of spare time currently. I have plenty of days where I exceed my walking goals, as we have some fun spots around here to walk around. I've definitely struggled with going to the gym 3 times a week in the past though, so that will be a challenge.

Yeah, I've done the bikes too and have also tried going outside and jogging but I find both of those quite boring and difficult to endure too, so I can't say that I blame you. YouTube has a lot of straightforward instructional videos that make dancing, kickboxing or whatever into cardio workouts. Good stuff.

Thanks for your encouragement. Good luck to you too.

[Laneage]

Originally Posted by Oneirogenesis

Hey all!

I've just discovered this forum and am pretty excited about documenting my fitness journey here.

Welcome. It seems like you have a good plan. Time for the execution of it! We're all here to help ourselves along with each other so don't be bashful!

[Seltzer]

Welcome, you've come to a fine place to help you reach your goals. If you haven't already I suggest you read the various stickies as they contain a lot of information.

Best wishes for success.

[Whoracle]

Welcome and good luck to you. Hopefully you stick around and accomplish your goals.

[Oneirogenesis]

Thanks everybody for welcoming me here. I haven't had much time to actually browse a lot of journals or sticky threads yet but I will be doing so eventually.

I see that some of the journals do daily updates on their progress so I'm going to start doing that too. I'll still only be posting a comparison photo once a week though.

My weight as of today was 273. A little higher than I expected, but not by much.

My blood pressure was 154/82 which is quite high.

I stuck to my diet today without any discomfort. I took two long walks that totaled 2.5 hours and did some running, though only two bursts opposed to the 3 I want to be doing. I didn't make it to the gym and that is because I went to the gym for the first time in a couple of months at the end of last week and my arms in particular are still sore. I can't easily straighten my left arm out. I'll be going Wednesday and will just make it twice this week.

All in all I feel pretty good about my choices and activities today. I didn't accomplish everything but still was pretty active and ate well and feel great... and exhausted. So, good night everybody and thanks for the encouragement.

[Oneirogenesis]

I never made it on last night to journal my day so I'm going to take care of that now.

Diet: I stuck with my diet yesterday. Day 2 I did have a dream of eating a bunch of m&ms knowing I was supposed to be on my diet. They were very delicious and the dream was vivid. With any luck I'll be indulging the hell out of my sweet tooth every night while I dream..

Walking: I walked about 1.5 hours yesterday. My legs have been a little tight and I spent a large amount of time stretching them thoroughly in a variety of ways in the late evening. It wasn't my day for running, so I didn't.

Gym: Wasn't my day to go to the gym either.

Stretching: Didn't do this in the morning but I did end up doing it later in the evening, though I didn't try out any new stretches. I've been meaning to get to a set of back stretches.

Aerobic exercises: Still haven't gotten to any of these yet this week. But for now I'm only aiming to do this kind of thing twice a week so I still have plenty of time. Like I mentioned before my legs have been pretty tight and I'm trying to do more stretches to get them feeling better.

So again I feel pretty good about the day and this week so far.

[neonch]

Welcome! You and I have very similar builds and very similar starting points. I too hope to be around 200 as well when I am done. Good luck to you in your goals.

[Oneirogenesis]

I didn't make it on last night to journal my day so again the information I'm about to provide is for yesterday rather than today.


Day 3 - Week 1

Diet - 3/7 days for Week 1
I ate according to plan.

Weight lifting - 0/3 days for Week 1
I didn't make it to the gym again. I've been wanting to go MWF but I think I'll go tonight and Saturday so I can still at least get 2 days in this week.

Walking - 3/5 days for Week 1
I did 1.5 hours of walking. I didn't do any of the HIV but my legs have been pretty sore, especially my quads.

HIT - 1/3 days for Week 1
Technically the first day I only did 2 out 3 planned bursts. But since the second run was uphill I'll just count it. I didn't do any HIV training on Wednesday for reasons mentioned earlier.

Aerobic exercises - 0/2 days for Week 1
Still haven't gotten to any of these. Again, my legs have been pretty sore though and may need time to heal. I still may get to these this weekend though.

Stretching - 3/7 days for Week 1
I've changed this goal a little bit. I just want to make sure I get in 20 minutes of stretching in a day. I stretched throughout the day at various times. I only stretched my legs though and would like to get in the habit of stretching most major muscle groups even if they were not worked out that day.

Summary
All in all I think I'm going pretty good still. I may be slacking in some areas but I also think my body is adjusting both to the diet and the additional exercises. I've been sleeping really well lately, I think primarily from all the walking I've been doing. I'm also beginning to walk much more quickly without really intending to. I changed a few of my goals from my original post. For now I want to make sure I'm just getting in 20 minutes of stretching a day rather than the 30 minutes of stretching in the morning plus any stretching that follows other activities. Also, instead of giving myself until April to fit 5 days of 60 minute aerobic exercises I'm going to give myself until May.