The Diet Thread

Here's Matt losing 20 lbs and sh*t, while I'm here just getting fatter by the minute... dammit.

If I find time, I hope to start properly up again with a regular workout schedule. But I need to start slow but I suck at that. Anyways, I've been running a bit lately, during a few squats and push-ups as well. Oh, and I can still see my abs too. Guess I'm not completely out of shape.

Hopefully it will be an easy transition back to form for me!

I can see my abs, too. Oh wait, it's aps on my phone.

As promised, here's an update after I finally jumped back into a healthy routine again. Well, I'm pretty healthy overall, but now I'm more strict and precise as I was several weeks ago, before I had to take it easy and such for a while...

I started a workout programme, which is still higher intensity but not as crazy as I used to when I was at my best. I still don't know if I'll do 5-6 days a week or every other day, I'll see how it all goes. It was so nice to be back at it, I really love these types of workouts. I do high intensity cardio and strength training, which is aimed at only using your own body ad equipment. I love that raw and intense feel about just going at it without sitting still at some machines or statically moving weights up and down. I feel more pushed and into it when it's just my mind and my body.

When it comes to my diet, I'm not on a dead serious stricht plan, as in eating the same stuff and weighing my foods and all that. But I try to get what I need, eat varied and eat those 3 meals a day +healthy snacks. I will stay away from bad fat, but don't mind peanut butter in the mornings. If you use it right, especially when combined with intense workouts, it's a great meal to have. Fruit I eat daily too, mostly like snacks of course.

Anyways, I can't really say how things are going yet, since I just started, but I really look forward to the coming weeks.

Just a small update: I'm at about 188 now, though it took another two and a half months to lose these extra 10+ lbs. Partially because I've eased up a bit (I didn't eat worse, but I did start eating larger portions for awhile), and partially just because it obviously gets slower as you go.

I'm down almost 60 now, and I'm starting to think a lot about how far to take this. Another 15 lbs and I'm not even technically overweight according to BMI, so that seems like a nice goal (not that I think BMI is terribly realistic, and it definitely won't be if and when I put on more muscle).

This month I'm transitioning to a bi-monthly cheat day (one big one, one moderate one), and once softball ends it'll be more weightlifting, so I'm excited about that.

Your an inspiration Chris. Amazing job.

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Letterboxd

Thanks. Here's hoping I can keep things going in some kind of maintenance mode when this levels off in the next few months.

I'll re-up my offer to be a "weight loss buddy" with anyone who wants it. Just weighing yourself and/or checking in with someone or something on a regular basis has a huge effect. And losing weight has a really addictive quality if you've been overweight for awhile. Getting started is probably the hardest part.

I may take you up on this again. I have had a horrible start again stop again year but have actually lost 10lbs in the last couple of weeks. However I will be in the home of my favorite pizza and wings next week and haven't been there in four years. That means my chances of staying good are zilch. I am going to try and not go nuts though and will talk to you when I get back.

Any time, man. And yeah, I hear ya'. One thing I've had trouble with over the years is the idea of special circumstances. I realized that, even if I let myself go a little for a good reason (tough day at work, something to celebrate, in a hurry), that when treated as a group, special circumstances were actually pretty common. Getting over that was a big help, but it's easier said than done.

As silly as this sounds, it really does work the way they tell you to approach addiction: not to hate the act, but to find something it conflicts with that you love more.

Been almost three months since this, and I'm exactly the same weight. Obviously, it's the holidays, so there's been some movement: I was down to 184 or so just before Thanksgiving, and got back into the 190s thanks to a lot of Thanksgiving and Christmas food, but all in all I've been even for around three months. I think, long-term, I'll be able to eat whatever I want once a week and have the occasional indulgence here and there inbetween, but I'm going to keep it bi-monthly (if that) until softball starts up again.

I've been lifting weights about five times a week (a little ghetto basement setup and short 10-15 minute workouts, but it's a start) since sometime in middish November, so that's probably keeping the weight slightly higher than it would be otherwise, but obviously I'll trade the weight loss for some added muscle. It sure is harder than dieting, though, at least for me.

Shooting for a new low by mid-January, and I'd like to get into the 170s before the first softball practice. We shall see. I hear losing "the last 10 lbs" is especially hard and not always necessarily worth it, though, so if I hit a bit of a wall around the 180s, but I've added a bit more muscle, I can definitely live with just trying to maintain that.

And again, open offer to be a Diet/Workout Buddy with anyone who needs one. Having someone (or something, like a scale!) to be accountable to is the biggest thing. Very few people will keep eating bad stuff if they have to really think about it every time; it's when we do it habitually without it feeling like a decision each time that it really adds up, I think.

I'm in again Yoda. I have been the biggest yo-yo this year. Weighed myself yesterday and I am at 231. My birthday is Feb. 1, I would like to lose 10 pounds by then. That would be a nice start and then I will set some goals for my kids spring break. Thankfully I still have been running some. Not as much as I want but I won't have to start at square one in the cardio department. No weights till I am at 200. Strength has never been my issue and I have a pretty active job.

I think 10 lbs in a month is totally doable if you're starting out (I lost just under 15 the first month, though I started off heavier). The weight usually comes off quickest at first.

The #1 thing is going to be diet; exercise is great but it can just make you hungrier, too. I've heard that cardio isn't great for weight loss (though obviously it has lots of other benefits). We all have only so much willpower, too.

Anyway, you can do it! I would definitely recommend eating very well for the first few days just to see what's possible, and focus on the results (as opposed to thinking about whether or not you can necessarily eat like that forever right away). Glad to talk/check-in here, or via PM, or profile comment, or whatever.

Figured I'd post another update, since we're coming up on a big milestone. At the far right of this chart is one year:



As you can see, I was pretty much even from mid-October until early January, which I'm counting as a victory. Harder to lose weight at that stage, no longer playing softball, and lots of holiday food. February 6th is the day I'll have been dieting a year, so I figure I should be really good down the stretch towards that last big milestone, at least. I've been really strict for the last two weeks or so, and I'm down to about 185. The goal is to hit a new low just before the year marker, which means losing another pound a half. Doable.

Psychologically, I'd really like to get into the 170s, even if only temporarily. But lifting weights semi-regularly (two months now, though only moderate exertion, mostly to get in the habit) might make continued weight loss exceptionally hard. At some point I'll have to shift into measurements rather than weight.

I'm about due for another cheat day, but I can definitely hold out with that big year milestone in sight. Gonna be really good for the next two weeks, and after that, come up with a maintenance plan. Pretty excited about that. I've been going at this so hard that even the prospect of eating the exact same stuff in larger portions is exciting.

I'm trying a juicing diet but am easing into it. Any tips?

Don't know much about juicing diets (sounds hard!), but hopefully somebody else here does.

Good all-purpose advice, though, is the old saw that "the best diet is the one you'll actually stick to." A flawed diet you'll actually see through is better than an ideal one you won't.

Without knowing what type (detox/weigh-loss/etc.), not much to say.

Diets don't work. Changing your diet is key.

Then you have to decide what you want more:

1. Food enjoyment

or

2. Health goal

I'm a sugar fiend. If I don't taste it, I don't want moar.

I bought a 12 pack of glazed doughnuts yesterday.

Too bad you don't live in NC or SC...

Well, it's been a year. 364 days ago I posted this:

I weighed myself the morning of February 6th last year, and was 246.8 pounds. This morning, I was 180.6, a difference of -66.2. And I'm pretty sure my peak weight was higher.

Here's how the whole thing looks:



When I got within sight of this milestone a month ago, I really ramped things up: I walked two miles or more virtually every day, lifted five times a week, and didn't have any cheat days. I probably only went over 2,000 calories a few times, and most days it was close to 1,600.

I've got a really busy few days in front of me (recording the Oscar podcast in about an hour), so I'll probably keep my head down a bit longer and try to dip below 180, just because. But I'll be celebrating a little today with some kielbasa, and tomorrow with some snacks during the Super Bowl. And then I get to enjoy myself a bit more over the summer, since I'll be more active and will mostly just be looking to maintain this weight. And in the long-run that'll be more important than what I've done so far.

Thanks for all the kind words and encouragement, guys. To anyone who's still on the fence about this stuff: do it. It can be hard, but you just need to start. You need to begin the process of laying the foundation for new habits that will become your default habits. It's cheesy (mmmm, cheese) to say that literally nothing is stopping you, but...well, literally nothing is stopping you.

It really is a choice, and it's the kind of choice that, when you make it, the only bad part is not knowing why you didn't do it sooner. All I keep thinking is "man, I could've felt this good the last five years, too?"