<mythbusters> Well, there's your problem </mythbusters>
If you don't eat, you don't gain. I've known a couple of skinny guys who would train themselves into the ground and not gain a pound because of their nutrition. Listening to some scrawny dude complain that his genetics just won't let him gain muscle when his entire dinner consists of a 6" sandwich from Subway is one of my more memorably frustrating coaching experiences.
Eat more often, with calorically dense choices. If you can swap whole milk in for 2%, do it. If you can top something with cheese, do it. If you can pound down a cup of cottage cheese immediately before bed, do it. It's better to add bulk cleanly, but if you can't manage a high volume of food, you've no other option but high calorie alternatives.
And dear sweet Jesus, how I wish I had that problem. 35 years old, bleh metabolism, stressful desk job = I see a pizza commercial and gain two pounds.
I never said that I tried to gain weight, only that I was interested in doing so.
@Ravenslayer - Ya, I actually dropped 50lbs last year. Started at 293, dropped to 243, but now im back up to 278. I need to figure a way to keep myself going. I was hoping this thread would help, but apparently not. But im definitely glad I started it, seeing all the progress of everyone else.
With how active this thread is, and how life changing it can be, I honestly think we should have it stickied... The minecraft thread was stickied, this should be too!
I have been losing weight on and off for almost 3 years now. I think depending on willpower is a surefire way to fail. I would focus on tiny things that you can force yourself to do every day to build lasting habits. One habit I would start on would be to keep a log of how many calories you eat and what you weigh every single day. It takes me 5 seconds at the end of the day to add up what I ate and put it in my spreadsheet, but damn, it is hard to even do that every day. After I pig out I really don't want to put down those numbers.
I think the reality for me is that even if I lose all my weight and get totally ripped, I will still be fat. Whatever the fundimental thing that got me to where I am is never going to change. One thing you can change is your circumstances. If you were in a wheelchair, would you rent an apartment up 4 flights of stairs? That would be pretty dumb, and it is almost as dumb for a fundimentally fat person to rent an apartment with an elevator and no gym access. If you live in a place where you can get by without a car, I would seriously consider getting rid of it. That's what I did.
I read this recently and thought it really reflected what weightloss is about:
"It took months of deprogramming to get to the point where I could drive up with intentions of getting a side salad and leave with a side salad."
I also pay very close attention to how every bite of food tastes.
Maybe this seems stupid and trivial to some people, but when you are not in control of what you eat, it is damned near impossible to find ways to get in control. A lot of the stuff you can do is counter-productive, like making extreme changes (e.g. I'm going to go to the gym every day! I'm only going to eat 500 calories!). Extreme changes can work for some people, but almost always there are extreme outside circumstances powering that level of motivation.
It is good to post, and you are still tracking your weight, which is great. This thread is awesome, and as a person who has personally gained back 100 pounds, I know it sucks. Good habits start slow and take months to develop, but if you start going through the motions, then you can start on it. The thing I like about developing habits like going to the gym, is that it's not about being some commando badass, which is impossible. It's just about walking to the gym, and doing some half-assed exercises today. Maybe next time you go you will try harder, but today, you only have to show up.
"Eighty percent of success is showing up."
-Woody Allen
Thanks all! I'm just eating a lot better and I try to be as active as I can. Ultimate Frisbee 3 times a week, Trail running 3 days a week and a little Basketball.
I did two 10 km runs this week with 2 smaller 5 km ones in between and i thought to myself would i be able to do a 20 km run.
Well yesterday evening i ran 20km (12.42 miles) in 2 hours . It's pretty fun to not have it all be about losing the weight but also kind of having fun doing the workouts itself and testing your own limits.
And it's only week 7 so i'm wondering at what point i'll be running a marathon ^^
5k is great try to strive for that distance in your next runs and before you know it you'll run it with ease. But do make sure that discomfort doesn't turn in actual pain because you wouldn't want to be out of it due to a strained muscles or something.
Were to start, well right when I meet my girlfriend about 5 years ago I was 180 pounds or so, and today I weight about 248. If I may quote How I met your mother I have some relationship gut. So I want to not just lose weight but change my lifestyle so I can keep it off, if that means less Chinese takeout...so be it. I want to get to 200 pounds and stay around there. I have already cut out pop and counting my calories, and as soon as this heat wave is over I am going to start jogging!
when i started my workout 2 months ago i was able to run a mile in 12 minutes. give or take. today i ran a mile in just under 7.5 minutes. total 2.67 miles in 20 minutes.
thanks. im generally starting to feel like im approaching the best shape of my life. when i was in high school doing sports (swimming/water polo), i would run about 2 laps around my track at school, about half a mile, and then start to get tired. today i ran 3.8 miles in 30 minutes at a constant speed. not once did i get anywhere near out of breath.
well, figured taking baby steps is better than nothing, so I'm going to start tracking what I eat and see if I can make some changes. Here's my dailyburn profile: link
I was kind of surprised to see that I didn't eat that many calories today - it looks like it's the fat intake and inactivity that's doing me in.
I'm going to see about joining a gym with a pool and have swimming be my regular exercise - hopefully I can get some lessons because I'm a terrible swimmer.
9 minute mile is pretty fucking hard, especially if you are carrying extra pounds. Nice work!
At this point I think my best chance to seriously improve my lap times is going to be just losing weight. I would like to run an 8 or 7 minute mile eventually, but for me that is still a fantasy.
Ok. I'm in. Signed up at the gym about 2 weeks ago (bout bloody time).
I play the occational game of 5-a-side and up until last year I played squash (hope to get back into that). I bought a friggin awesome mountain bike as well, but that seems to like staying in the spare room most of the year round. I've had it out once!!...shame on me. I used to be uber fit about 10 years ago but desk surfing is a killer. Anyway. Time to change that.
I dont have any strict goals yet. I do know that I'd like to do The Great North Run next year (half marathon). After a few goes on the treadmill I've realised i'm pretty unfit so my short term goal is to run 3k in 18 mins. Current best is 20 mins 4 secs
Eventually I'll create a proper fitness regime and make fix goals but for now its all about cardio.
In 2 weeks I've lost about 11kilo (from 89.9 down to 88.8 ), I'm a 35 yr old male. So I think the average is 65-80 ish (need to check that)
EDIT: just done a BMI check thing. I'm 27.35. Average is 18.5 to 25. So theres another goal. Get BMI below 25.
Closing in on the end of my second round of P90x (about three weeks left) and I just recently cracked about 178 lbs. First time I've been down that low in about 7 years. If everything holds up weight loss wise, I should be able to claim 10-11 lbs lost during my second round. I started using FitDay recently to track my calories as well as the ratios of proteins/carbs/fats that I am eating and I've found that that is making a big difference this go round. I've gotten strong enough to do unassisted pull-ups for the first time in...well, ever ! Pretty good feeling.
Going to start round 3 pretty soon after finishing, but we have a baby on the way, so it'll be a good test to see if I can keep my schedule :P
today however, I had heard that interval running (jogging at a low speed with short bursts of fast running) is better for cardio training so I set the treadmill to interval to see how I'd do.
Smash my PB and ran 3K in 18.39
Still needed to pause a couple of times. Hopefully if I can cut out the pauses I'll be able to do sub 18 mins quite easily.
so today i started my cardio workout. i ran 4 miles in 30 minutes. then 5 miles in 15 minutes on the bike, and a walking cooldown of 10 mintues. never felt better.
in regards to weight ive been keeping at a stable 193 for the past 2 weeks or so. ill probably diet a bit more to drop some weight throughout this workout, which should go for the next month or so.
Gonna resurrect this thread. About a month and a half since my last update.
Still going to the gym. Totally smashed my target of 3k in 18 mins. Did 17.21 on Tuesday and today did 16.48. So my new goal is 15 mins. Also doing a few K's on bikes now as well. So, definite improvement.
slipsius. i know the feeling but just keep at it , it's mainly that feeling you need to overcome if you want your weight to stay of.
small bump:
I think i'm about 18-19 weeks in now. Weightlosswise i'm down 27 kg (59.5 pounds)
Last weekend i ran 20 km on friday and the same on sunday. It's amazing how you can just keep jogging after a while. Tommorrow i'll be trying to run 30 km since it's my 100th run since i started this weightloss/jogging thing.
TheWildHunt start doing squats and drink a gallon of milk a day, plus eating a lot. I went fro 140, to 215 lean in a little over a year of proper eating and exercise. Since getting beyond that desire to be bigger, I'm down to 170 now.
Wesley: Thanks for posting that. I have just started getting back into the gym, having just finished school, and would like to shed the pounds I gained in the last 2 years, and then keep going from there. I was planning on doing mostly interval training, what with HIIT being all the rage these days... So the workout you posted looks quite perfect for me. Can't wait to start it tonight
This thread has definitely made me want to hit the gym tonight, seems like some awesome weight loss going around!
I am down a couple pounds from my last update, but I hurt my foot and have been having trouble hitting the cardio and some of my exercises like I have been.
Over the summer I lost about 15 pounds getting addicting to jogging, hovering around 190 lbs now. Running up and down streets around my job for lunch break, either 50 minutes then a few core workouts or leg machine sets at the gym or going for an hour plus, got a pretty good pace going and start noticing how quickly I can run from one side of town to the other, ended up jogging to work instead of driving a few times even! Feels great getting your stamina to where you can jog pretty fast for an hour, yet not feel completely destroyed when you're done.
Now trying to maintain that as the Seattle area is getting really gray, cold and rainy...will need shoes with better traction, treadmilling just feels lame in comparison.
Haven't been to the Gym much over the past few weeks due to a slight illness which didnt effect how much I was eating. In fact i'm eating more. But, because of that illness I have changed my diet. I am know eating alot more fibre and fruit.
My (quite obviously poor) daily diet used to consist of:
Little or no breakfast, maybe a coffee and biscuits in the morning.
A sandwich at lunch
then a main meal at night.
Now i'm eating:
Porridge in the morning. To which I add Flax (fibre) and mixed nuts and raisins.
A Sandwich (brown bread) and a portion of fruit.
A banana in the afternoon.
A main meal with a big glass of pure fruit juice.
Lots of water through out the day
I started back at the gym last night and found that I was a bit out of shape because of the break so I took it easy. However, I did find that my weight is now down from 88.4kg to 87.7kg
Fuck, you guys motivated me to get started on this as well. I have a pretty bad history of trying to maintain weight with fluctuating kilos over the past 8 years. So let's get that fixed! Also, I want to bulk up and loose loads of fat on my torso because I want a tattoo on my back in the distant future.
Time to start hitting ze gym then, haven't been in one of those for ages. But I'm kinda looking forward to that.
My diet's pretty healthy to begin with, 100% veggie with loads of fibres, nuts and as little processed foods as possible. But I just need to exercise some more.
What can you guys recommend for an allround weight loss workout?
Cholden: Shake looks good! Gonna have to try that!
I've personally been doing kettlebell work the past few weeks, typically 20 minutes a day when I get home from work. Lost a bit of weight despite more eating binges than planned. You get an intense workout that incorporates cardio and resistance.
According to a study by the University of Wisconsin:
"The study tested men and women between the ages of 29-46 years old and was led by John Porcari, Ph.D., and Chad Schnettler, M.S., both research experts at the University of Wisconsin, La Crosse Exercise and Health Program. After establishing a baseline, the subjects continuously performed kettlebell snatches, quick lifts over the head, to a certain rhythm during a 20-minute period.
After carefully measuring oxygen consumption and blood lactate, this study confirmed the average study participant burned approximately 20 calories per minute during a typical kettlebell workout. This equates to an astounding 400 calories during a 20-minute workout. In terms of calorie burning, these results are equivalent to running a six-minute mile pace, or cross-country skiing uphill at a fast pace.
Researchers credit the brisk calorie burning to the fact that the kettlebell snatch workout is a total-body movement performed in an interval-training fashion. Study participants were observed to achieve exercise heart rate that ranged from approximately 86 to 99 percent of maximum heart rate and 67 to 91 percent of maximum oxygen uptake, suggesting that the use of kettlebells provides a much higher-intensity workout than standard weightlifting."
I've found it to be quite a 'fun' workout, relatively speaking, as the moves are explosive and require most of your body, which has been a nice change from the mire typical weight training I'd been doing before. Though I plan on doing more of that again once I move.
I was made to do this exercise.. total bitch had me whining like a pansy after like 6 reps with a 12 kg kettle bell.. shoulda kept my mouth shut too because I was taking the piss that it looked easy when they guy was showing me..
Replies
Thanks man, appreciate it.
I never said that I tried to gain weight, only that I was interested in doing so.
With how active this thread is, and how life changing it can be, I honestly think we should have it stickied... The minecraft thread was stickied, this should be too!
cheers.. looking forward to it.. I thought I was going to die in the first two weeks
I think the reality for me is that even if I lose all my weight and get totally ripped, I will still be fat. Whatever the fundimental thing that got me to where I am is never going to change. One thing you can change is your circumstances. If you were in a wheelchair, would you rent an apartment up 4 flights of stairs? That would be pretty dumb, and it is almost as dumb for a fundimentally fat person to rent an apartment with an elevator and no gym access. If you live in a place where you can get by without a car, I would seriously consider getting rid of it. That's what I did.
I read this recently and thought it really reflected what weightloss is about:
"It took months of deprogramming to get to the point where I could drive up with intentions of getting a side salad and leave with a side salad."
(http://www.startingat500pounds.com/2011/07/top-10-ways-to-get-fat.html)
I also pay very close attention to how every bite of food tastes.
Maybe this seems stupid and trivial to some people, but when you are not in control of what you eat, it is damned near impossible to find ways to get in control. A lot of the stuff you can do is counter-productive, like making extreme changes (e.g. I'm going to go to the gym every day! I'm only going to eat 500 calories!). Extreme changes can work for some people, but almost always there are extreme outside circumstances powering that level of motivation.
It is good to post, and you are still tracking your weight, which is great. This thread is awesome, and as a person who has personally gained back 100 pounds, I know it sucks. Good habits start slow and take months to develop, but if you start going through the motions, then you can start on it. The thing I like about developing habits like going to the gym, is that it's not about being some commando badass, which is impossible. It's just about walking to the gym, and doing some half-assed exercises today. Maybe next time you go you will try harder, but today, you only have to show up.
"Eighty percent of success is showing up."
-Woody Allen
Errr... okay. And my reply described, in general, how a person who doesn't eat much but is interested gaining weight needs to go about it.
Oh and I won $100 Amazon Gift Card.
- BoBo
Week 7: 33pounds (15kg down)
I did two 10 km runs this week with 2 smaller 5 km ones in between and i thought to myself would i be able to do a 20 km run.
Well yesterday evening i ran 20km (12.42 miles) in 2 hours
And it's only week 7 so i'm wondering at what point i'll be running a marathon ^^
Dang, 20K is a lot. Nice work!
I ran my first 5K this week, and it felt pretty good, although a little hard on my feet. I think I can get used to it though.
I am only down a couple pounds for the last week and a half, but I think I should be able to lose a pretty decent amount this week.
5k is great
I was kind of surprised to see that I didn't eat that many calories today - it looks like it's the fat intake and inactivity that's doing me in.
I'm going to see about joining a gym with a pool and have swimming be my regular exercise - hopefully I can get some lessons because I'm a terrible swimmer.
keep with it Ninjas :thumbup: Been tired coming back from work so havent been doing much
At this point I think my best chance to seriously improve my lap times is going to be just losing weight. I would like to run an 8 or 7 minute mile eventually, but for me that is still a fantasy.
I play the occational game of 5-a-side and up until last year I played squash (hope to get back into that). I bought a friggin awesome mountain bike as well, but that seems to like staying in the spare room most of the year round. I've had it out once!!...shame on me. I used to be uber fit about 10 years ago but desk surfing is a killer. Anyway. Time to change that.
I dont have any strict goals yet. I do know that I'd like to do The Great North Run next year (half marathon). After a few goes on the treadmill I've realised i'm pretty unfit so my short term goal is to run 3k in 18 mins. Current best is 20 mins 4 secs
Eventually I'll create a proper fitness regime and make fix goals but for now its all about cardio.
In 2 weeks I've lost about 11kilo (from 89.9 down to 88.8 ), I'm a 35 yr old male. So I think the average is 65-80 ish (need to check that)
EDIT: just done a BMI check thing. I'm 27.35. Average is 18.5 to 25. So theres another goal. Get BMI below 25.
LETS DO THIS!!!
Going to start round 3 pretty soon after finishing, but we have a baby on the way, so it'll be a good test to see if I can keep my schedule :P
Down 4kilo from 89.9 to 89.5
Monday I ran 3k in 19.53 beating my PB of 20.04
today however, I had heard that interval running (jogging at a low speed with short bursts of fast running) is better for cardio training so I set the treadmill to interval to see how I'd do.
Smash my PB and ran 3K in 18.39
Still needed to pause a couple of times. Hopefully if I can cut out the pauses I'll be able to do sub 18 mins quite easily.
Still pretty sore from all that walking around Seattle, but I'm going to hit the gym tonight anyway, since I was missing it a bit.
so 12 weeks in and 21kg (46 pounds) down over here, still running 5-6 days a week 6-7km a time and usually one day with +10km.
props ! fucking wicked effort dude. well done !
in regards to weight ive been keeping at a stable 193 for the past 2 weeks or so. ill probably diet a bit more to drop some weight throughout this workout, which should go for the next month or so.
rolin rolin rolin...
Still going to the gym. Totally smashed my target of 3k in 18 mins. Did 17.21 on Tuesday and today did 16.48. So my new goal is 15 mins. Also doing a few K's on bikes now as well. So, definite improvement.
weight down from 89.5kg to 88.4kg
Also will be starting Body pump classes next week. Bring it on
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BodyPump
gj rolfness, stinger,oniram.
slipsius. i know the feeling but just keep at it , it's mainly that feeling you need to overcome if you want your weight to stay of.
small bump:
I think i'm about 18-19 weeks in now. Weightlosswise i'm down 27 kg (59.5 pounds)
Last weekend i ran 20 km on friday and the same on sunday. It's amazing how you can just keep jogging after a while. Tommorrow i'll be trying to run 30 km since it's my 100th run since i started this weightloss/jogging thing.
Hoping to follow this:
I'm pretty sure I can jump in at week 4, even though it was a month since my last gym's membership ended. Quite excited.
Wesley: Thanks for posting that. I have just started getting back into the gym, having just finished school, and would like to shed the pounds I gained in the last 2 years, and then keep going from there. I was planning on doing mostly interval training, what with HIIT being all the rage these days... So the workout you posted looks quite perfect for me. Can't wait to start it tonight
This thread has definitely made me want to hit the gym tonight, seems like some awesome weight loss going around!
Now trying to maintain that as the Seattle area is getting really gray, cold and rainy...will need shoes with better traction, treadmilling just feels lame in comparison.
Im down to 99kg now, got so much energy I find it hard to sit still..
[ame="
so I did
also. I think your video probably needs a "dont ever put your fingers into the blender while its blending" warning ;P
@Wesley: Nice chart, will give that a try.
core exercise.. kettlebells !!! I use them .. feel like he man without the dodgy outfit..
cholden.. err yeahh.. ;P
Haven't been to the Gym much over the past few weeks due to a slight illness which didnt effect how much I was eating. In fact i'm eating more. But, because of that illness I have changed my diet. I am know eating alot more fibre and fruit.
My (quite obviously poor) daily diet used to consist of:
Little or no breakfast, maybe a coffee and biscuits in the morning.
A sandwich at lunch
then a main meal at night.
Now i'm eating:
Porridge in the morning. To which I add Flax (fibre) and mixed nuts and raisins.
A Sandwich (brown bread) and a portion of fruit.
A banana in the afternoon.
A main meal with a big glass of pure fruit juice.
Lots of water through out the day
I started back at the gym last night and found that I was a bit out of shape because of the break so I took it easy. However, I did find that my weight is now down from 88.4kg to 87.7kg
Time to start hitting ze gym then, haven't been in one of those for ages. But I'm kinda looking forward to that.
My diet's pretty healthy to begin with, 100% veggie with loads of fibres, nuts and as little processed foods as possible. But I just need to exercise some more.
What can you guys recommend for an allround weight loss workout?
Cholden: Shake looks good! Gonna have to try that!
According to a study by the University of Wisconsin:
"The study tested men and women between the ages of 29-46 years old and was led by John Porcari, Ph.D., and Chad Schnettler, M.S., both research experts at the University of Wisconsin, La Crosse Exercise and Health Program. After establishing a baseline, the subjects continuously performed kettlebell snatches, quick lifts over the head, to a certain rhythm during a 20-minute period.
After carefully measuring oxygen consumption and blood lactate, this study confirmed the average study participant burned approximately 20 calories per minute during a typical kettlebell workout. This equates to an astounding 400 calories during a 20-minute workout. In terms of calorie burning, these results are equivalent to running a six-minute mile pace, or cross-country skiing uphill at a fast pace.
Researchers credit the brisk calorie burning to the fact that the kettlebell snatch workout is a total-body movement performed in an interval-training fashion. Study participants were observed to achieve exercise heart rate that ranged from approximately 86 to 99 percent of maximum heart rate and 67 to 91 percent of maximum oxygen uptake, suggesting that the use of kettlebells provides a much higher-intensity workout than standard weightlifting."
http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/american-council-on-exercise-ace-study-reveals-kettlebells-provide-powerful-workout-in-short-amount-of-time-83876187.html
I've found it to be quite a 'fun' workout, relatively speaking, as the moves are explosive and require most of your body, which has been a nice change from the mire typical weight training I'd been doing before. Though I plan on doing more of that again once I move.
[ame="
I bought a set of kettle bells ( 8,12,16kg)about a month ago theyre small and the exercises are compact.