Weighed myself and am up to 314 (+10 lbs). However, it’s a healthy 314 and gains feel (and look) like muscle. Have moved up 20 lbs in dumbells over last 3 mos and am now focusing more on strength in training, with partial cadio component (relatively high reps in an hour).
Took an a1c blood test yesterday and have gone from 11% A1c in February (excessive blood sugar) to 6.5% yesterday (normal) due to minor meds and exercise and some minor diet changes. Got a short email from Dr, who was quite pleased. Strength training is also a low key approach to control diabetes as muscle gives excess blood sugar a place to go and hormonal changes promote use of energy. The “normal” environment to which the human body is adapted includes physical stress and strain, not just keyboard and desk.
If there were no covid I would do 3x cardio and 2x weights per week. In this world it’s 3x weights and 2x walks per week.
Yeah, without going into details it’s been something of a 5 year process, thanks (among other things) to Obamacare, so i could get insurance for under $1500/mo. Diabetes has some pretty generalized negative impacts if not controlled and fairly limited impact if it is.
There’s a million things to be distracted by in the modern world, but i think minimal fitness and controlling easily controllable things like diabetes should be top 5 priorities for everyone. Falling out of a minimally healthy lifestyle for a decade was a massive life leak. There are few “successes” in life and few things that can be bought that are better than being reasonably healthy.
Same for me. Now I’m generally as fit as I’ve been since my 20s. My orthodontist asked me how old I was yesterday and didn’t believe me. I don’t know how sincere he was being because there are mirrors, but he already has my money. As long as I can avoid corona and getting hit by a truck I’m good rn and hope to get stronger.
As pointed out in the home workout thread, the Starting Strength method seems to be very solid. They have tons of content available for free on youtube and their “bible” (mainly going over form and approach to the 5 main “basic” lifts) is like $20. As they say, all else being equal the stronger man/woman is happier than a weaker man/woman.
However, you need an actual gym or like a $1200-1500 in equipment for the required gear (squat rack, bench, bar, and weights). I’m now about $750 into my dumbell setup, mainly because it was $360 for 2 50lb and 2 40lb dumbbells (flooring $40, bench $120, dumbbells $500, dumbbell rack $100). That’s about a month of health insurance for me and is a lot more useful for promoting well-being.
Diet during the week has been spot on. I am still not limiting my cheat day to one sleep cycle. Usually started at lunch on Saturday and goes through Sunday. I think if I can narrow it down to Saturday only I would see more gains. (Or losses)
Dang. So close. That’s the 8 weeks I signed on for but I didn’t quite meet my goal(s). I’m going to continue but I’ll adjust my goal and take a slightly more moderate approach.
In theory, this ends August 30, but (at least for me) it’s more a long-term lifestyle change thing and not just 8 weeks. However, congrats for those that have gone hard (or hardish) for 8 weeks and can now switch to something more “normal.”
I’m personally continuing to modify my approach some to put more focus on strength, while also trying to maintain a healthy diet and do some cardio. I have lost a total of -6 lbs in the last eight weeks but am stronger and healthier than when I started.
I’m glad that you’re feeling good about you’re progress, but you’ve got to really get over this mindset.
Unless you’re 7 ft tall and quite muscular, there is no such thing as a “healthy 314”. Thinking like that might make you complacent and you don’t want that.
With current muscle and body shape I would be “fit” at 250 and “skinny” at 225. I’m 6"2’ and have about a 55" chest. I have been working out consistently for 10 months, with 2 months off in March. The “mindset” you describe is nowhere evident in any of my posts. The “healthy” is relative to an “unhealthy” 314 as of about 10 months ago, where my current BP/cholesterol/blood sugar are all normal and general strength and stamina are solid.
I do not need to “get over this mindset”. As noted in a recent posts, I hope to reach my baseline goal with about 8 months of continued effort (around 260 lbs). However, even though I’m not losing weight atm, I’m ok with that as I’m continuing to progress along all relevant metics of health and fitness except weight.
This is 1.5 mos ago vs current (+5 lbs). As indicated, the goal is to lose about 50 lbs. Insted, have moved up in strength over the last 8 weeks. Am fine with increasing strength for now until I can hit cardio fairly hard.
I guess this is the last week, so I made my goals of 5 lb. loss in current and 5-week average weight. It seems small, but it’s definitely a visible difference. I will continue to track calories for a while, especially since my wife just started tracking. We’re doing yoga twice a week on a schedule, and that will help with the abs/core. I’m continuing the cardio 3x/strength 2x/yoga 2x schedule indefinitely.
Food-wise, we have really cut down on meat over the past year or three, and our new blender is great for packing massive nutrients into not many calories. The one we got is a Nutribullet. It’s way better than our previous Cuisinart, which we had forever, but was a expensive piece of shit from the start. Good riddance. I ordered a couple of plant-based protein powders to add in or replace protein bars. I’m feeling good about maintaining and recomping going forward. I’ll move over to the workout thread after this is over.
Current weight: 248.4 (-0.4)
10-day weighted average: 248.9 (-1.6)
Once I got rid of that weird spike from last week, the weighted average plummeted nicely.
I managed to get close enough to my goal of 248 to be satisfied. I was under it right before my crash, but slid back a bit thanks to my injuries and an associated mild bout of depression.
I think I’m going to track more measurements starting in September. More positive feedback will hopefully keep me in a good mindset on those days when the scale does weird things.
Thanks for the heads up. I saw the warning about not using it with hot ingredients, which makes total sense. My unit has an on/off switch and an extract button that runs a fixed program to mix a smoothie. It also has a regular blender carafe with the typical top with a hole in it, which can be used for hot ingredients.
I stopped posting updates here bc my weight kept going up, but I need the shame to motivate me. I’ve eaten like garbage and been mostly sedentary over the past 6 weeks, and its shown on the scale. I’m up to 215.2 from 200 (but still off my all time high of 225) and I figure now is the time to reverse that trend. Getting my ass in gear starting today.
