Prospect84 - A Public Diary of Sorts...
 

I guess I'll start off by introducing myself. My name is Dustin. I'm a father of 2, husband to a wonderful wife, and I'm fat. Please don't take offense to me saying so, I just admitted it to myself a week ago, and I really am.

I was always a "bigger" boy growing up, however was always into sports and maintained a pretty healthy body and lots of exercise. Up until I was about 19 that is. If I recall, at 19, I was about 185-190, in the best shape of my life, worked out, ate right (or at least the right sized portions) and had a physically demanding job. At 19, I was in a severe ATV accident that nearly claimed my life, and left me with a completely busted Femur. Since that accident, I used my "bad leg" as an excuse to be lazy, have poor eating habits, put on a LOT of weight, and try to not be accountable for any of it.

I'm done making excuses! I have been afraid to step on a scale for a couple years now, as I knew I was pushing up towards 300 lbs. Every now and then I'd step on a bathroom scale and be like, (eh, I'm under 300 so I'm doing ok)... Well let me tell you, for a man that is 5'10" I was lying to myself! Last summer I found myself coaching a softball team that my 10yr old daughter plays on, and having to let the other coaches, or experienced kids, show the younger ones how to do things like running bases or sliding. Again I blamed this on my "bad leg"... "I can't run because of my bad leg" No... I couldn't run because of my huge belly and the extra fat I'm carrying around!

On Dec. 14th I made a decision. A decision to change how I am living. Not a decision to go on a diet, or to start exercising... A decision to BE healthy, not just ACT healthy.

So that brings me to "Day 1" where my transformation begins. I have been putting journal entries in my fitday diary entries when I update moods, but I have decided that, since I am making the decision to be healthy, there is no reason to be ashamed of what I was before. So I'm going to copy and paste my journal entries from the first day, up until today. And I'm going to make this thread, my public journal. Everything that I learned and things that do or don't work for me I want to share with everyone else, because hopefully my decision to change my life, may also help motivate someone else to change theirs. Diary posts after this original post are going to be as replies to this thread, the first few will be copy/pasted here (5 days in so got a little catching up to do) and I will try to update this daily/weekly as I learn more and travel down my new path.

One more thing, I set my first goal somewhat short term, I want to lose 30 lbs in 90 days. which would take me down to 270lbs.

Thanks for taking the time to read and/or share.

(First Diary Entry) 12/14/13

I realized, and had to admit to myself that I was not a healthy person, and that it wasn't fair to me or my family to not take care of my health. I have 2 kids that are both very healthy and active and it's my blessing as a parent to interact with them and be active with them.

Day 1: I started drinking tons of water, and cut out junk food like eating fast food, which had become a regular part of my daily routine at work for lunch. Not only will cutting this out and replacing it with healthy food be good for my health, but it'll benefit my wallet as well. I also went to the garage and brought the elliptical running maching back to the house. I got on it, and was exhausted and soaked with sweat after just 20 minutes of low-moderate exercise, but hey... we all have to start somewhere right?

Yes we do and I think you are off to a fantastic start!

Welcome to FitDay! :)

Thanks for the kind words. Another update, as I'm kinda backdated a few days. Like I mentioned in the original post, these first few entries were in the private diary section where you enter your mood on fitday.com dashboard. So kinda just catching everyone up on how my week has been:


Day 2: I felt better about myself today. Mostly because I decided to change my life yesterday. A little soreness in my hamstrings from the little bit of running I did yesterday evening.

I am over 300lbs. @ 5' 10". I bought a new scale on Sunday, Dec. 15, 2013 and when I stepped on it, was ashamed to see I was 300.4 lbs. This is the highest weight I've ever been (as far as I have seen while on the scales anyways) and the highest I plan on ever being.


Ran for another 25 minutes tonight, it was torture for the first 5 minutes. Tried to splash in a little HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) and so while listening to music as I jogged, when the "hook" or chorus of the song was on, I would go to more of a sprint/high speed. Then I would slow down to about 30% until the next hook. Going to take a rest day tomorrow and let my body rebuild as I do more research.

Today is the day I joined fitday.

12/18/13:

Feeling pretty good about my new lifestyle today! I can see results on the scales down to 293.4, but more important than that I can feel results in my body. I'm not going to say I feel slimmer by any means yet, the results aren't visually noticable, but I'm less than a week in.

Stopped and picked up some "Nitro Tech" by MuscleTech yesterday (Protein shake suppliment). I'm not a HUGE fan of chocolate, but for being a chocolate shake it doesn't taste bad at all. I mixed it with water yesterday and milk today. It's definitely smoother with nice cold milk but it's not terrible with water either if that's all you have available. It gives you a very "full" feeling in your stomach, I mixed 2 scoops into about 12 ounces of water and it made me almost feel bloated, but I drank it all pretty quick yesterday (kinda slammed in down in a few drinks to be honest). So today I made it with 16oz. of milk and I'm going to kinda baby it through the day and spread it out a little. I'm hoping this will not only not make me feel bloated but will also spread out the workload on my digestive system instead of 60g of protein all at once.

The tired feeling I used to have (and used to think maybe I had sleep apnia [spelling?] ) is pretty much entirely gone. I feel energetic at work, and I feel like I'm performing better at my job. I also put some cardio time in on the elliptical again last night, did 30 minutes of moderate to vigorious (for me) runnning. Must be because of all the extra protein intake but I expected my legs to be sore today and there is no soreness at all! In fact, when I got on the elliptical, it was on setting 3 from last time, and I even bumped it up to 5 to make myself work a little harder.

Doubled up on breakfast cereal this morning, trying to move more of my calorie intake to earlier in the day instead of eating a larger dinner in the evening. I hope this was the right move, as I look at my pie chart from yesterday I had an awesome balance in my diet. 35% carbs / 33% protein / 32% fat. Compared to my "old" diet which I entered a "typical" day on fitday for Dec. 14th, and my old diet was over 1000 calories higher, and was also not balanced. My protein intake was pathetic and I didn't even realize it. It looked like 3700 calories (this is not counting little stuff like candy bars and stuff that I would often snack on) and broke down to 53% carbs (and not good carbs) / 37% fat / 10% protein. Yep, only 10% of my old diet, or maybe less on certain days, was calories from protein. Looking back at how unhealthy I was living is that much more motivation to keep this new lifestyle pumping. Feel great, more energy, and I don't always have that lingering "hungry" feeling that I used to have even though I'm taking in less calories.... What's not to like?

Wrote this in another thread but wanted to add it to this so i don't lose it, and it's easy to find for copy/paste purposes:

Setting a Diet:

Calculate calories burned per day (fitday does this automatically) using the BMR calculation.

Men: 66 + (6.3 x weight) + (12.9 x Height in Inches) - (6.8 x age) = Basal Metobolic Rate

Women: 655 + (9.6 x weight) + (1.8 x height) - (4.7 x age) = Basal Metobolic rate

Use this final number and then there is a multiplier introduced to estimate it based on your daily activities (stuff you do nearly EVERY DAY) I don't count workouts in this factor because I track those calories with fitday counter)

So take above number and multiply accordingly:
Sedentary (Desk job, Very low daily activity: x 1.2
Light Activity (Office type job but with moderate moving): x 1.375
Moderate Activity: x 1.55
Very Active (Very physical job, or daily athletes): x 1.725
EXTREME (Speaks for itself): x 1.9

So let's take "Joe" and say he is 250lbs. 6'0" is 30 yrs old, and works in the office, or is a truck driver that is always on the road, lots of sitting.

66 + (6.3 x 250 = 1575) + (12.9 x 72" = 928.8) - (6.8 x 30 = 204)
66 + (1575) + (928.8) - (204) = BMR of 2299.8 easily rounded to 2300

So take this 2300 and apply the multiplier (sedentary = 1.2) So 2300 x 1.2 = 2760 calories / day as his BMR, or I like to call this the "maintain" number.

The fitday calculator uses a different method which is slightly lower than this method I believe, but this is a tried and true method you can compare with.

Other info: 1 lbs. = 3500 calories
Example: If I want to cut 1lb. / week I need cut 3500 calories per week from my BMR (the number you just got above) which per day that is 3500/7 or 500 calories/day below my BMR to lose weight. If I want to gain a pound a week, I need to be over my BMR by 500 calories.

Now, these numbers are before specific workout calorie burns. So use fitday to track your activity too, say for instance: "Joe's" BMR is 2760 calories / day. He wants to lose 1lb. / week. So he tracks his Calories, he takes in 2400 calories per day for a week, without any change to his exercise routine. So he is cutting 360 calories a day, which isn't cutting enough to meet his 1lb. / week goal. But if he adds a 20 minute cardio that cuts an extra 300 calories per day (you can easily burn this much walking / light jogging) now he is cutting 660 calories a day which means he will overshoot his goal of 1lb. per week. Which is great.... right?

Well, the trick that I see is, the BMR is constantly going to change because it's calculated from your weight. This is why people platue when on "diets" where they are eating a set amount or a scheduled diet. As they lose weight, their body doesn't naturally burn as many calories, it's starting to say "ok I can slow down i have to save some of these calories in case there is a drought in intake!) So you have to constantly adjust your diet to meet the goals of your weight loss. This is also why diets start out with awesome results, but quickly decline in results as the fat starts to melt, people "maintain" the same or similar calorie intake and they aren't cutting as much per week. I have set my personal goals to lose 2lbs. / week, and if I make it through the day and find that I have extra calories left to spend, I just tell myself hey, that's extra weight coming off!

One last note that I have learned: you CAN cut calories in general and lose weight, hell you can still eat at McDonalds every day so long as you don't go over your calorie limit. I am not suggesting it cuz it's unhealthy in a lot of the other toxins you put in your body, but a calorie is a calorie when it comes to losing weight. However, the body will not differentiate between muscle/fat as it starts to break down your body to make up that difference between intake and burned calories. This is why you want to make sure a significant portion of your calories are coming from Protein intake. Protein will build lean muscle, while almost forcing your body to target the fat cells instead of musle cells to break down. It is suggested that you break it down to at least 1/3 protein, 1/3 carbs, 1/3 fats (NOT trans fat, but that's another topic) You can adjust this accordingly, as I'm pushing to lose weight and build lean muscle, I am pushing for more like 40% protein, 40% carbs, 20% fats.

I like being able to tailor my own diet for how I feel that day, and just make sure it hits my marks to see results =-) Also good to note, that when you update your weight, fitday auto updates your new BMR and adjusts that in your calorie budget. Making it very handy to update your weight daily (recommended to weigh in first thing in the morning after urination, as this is when your weight is most consistant)

;)

When I read this it was like I wrote it, but had no ideea I did! I started on the 14th too so Good Luck to us both!

You really can eat anything you want, as long as you stay under your calorie limit. I'm shocked how easily I can to right to my calorie limit with one restaurant meal. But at least I know I'm there!

I have to eat low carb/high protein to lose/maintain weight. Probably because I have a thyroid issue. At least that's what I have experienced since playing around with my macros.

I am a vegetarian but I never really ate a lot of pasta, potato's, etc., because they make me feel kind of sick and sluggish. Like I have rocks in my stomach.

I don't eat breakfast either. When I have it has made me feel too sluggish and tired. I normally just drink coffee and do my daily run before I eat anything.

Everyone is different so there is no one works for all diet/lifestyle. I tried different cal amounts/macros/times to eat/etc. and realized that eating two times a day, most of my calories late at night worked for me.

I tally my average cals/macros by the week anyways. The -500 cals a day/lose a pound a week doesn't work for me either. I would have to eat less than 800 cals a day even though I run and lift. I know because I did it for almost a year when I started gaining weight. Ended up I had a thyroid issue but even now I burn a minimum of 1800-1900 cals a day because of my activity level but I still have to stick with 1100-1200 daily cals just to maintain my current weight.

Used to make me mad but I decided I just needed to deal with it because honestly, I like feeling and looking healthy. If I go off track for a day or two I feel so sick and gross. I don't even bother going down those middle aisles in the food store because I know how crappy that prepackaged boxed crap makes me feel. Kind of like the finger food served before all the Holiday parties going on this time of year. I choose to NOT eat it because I know how badly my body (and mind) will react to the junk it's not used to eating!

Ok... didn't mean to sound like I was on a "soap box" but I just don't think bad food is worth it if it makes my body react badly and makes me feel bad that I ate it when I didn't need to.

Every single one of us has a choice. I choose to eat healthy the majority of the time because it makes me feel good and I am so much happier when I feel good about myself. ;)

VAbeachgirl

While I know every person is different in terms of no one diet fits all. Honestly that's why I like the idea of calorie tracking and really pumping up my protein for me! I hated the idea of "here is a planned out diet for you, you have to eat x food on y day and so on... Fit day, in the less than 7 days I have used it has already proved an outstanding tool for my eating habits. I'm also aware that the BMR isn't EXACT for each person, and people's metabolism may be above or below what is estimated to be burned in a days time. Also, that calories burned during activity might be different than what is estimated. Tracking it, and paying attention to the calorie breakdown, I feel like one should be able to adjust his or her own diet to get the results they are looking for.

I may find that I personally have to go 700 calories under my estimated calories burned to keep losing towards my goal, but so long as I keep track of what I'm eating and adjust it according to results I'm seeing on the scale, then I am confident I can get to where I want to be.

As far as eating fast food or restaraunt food... I think that it would be "possible" to eat that stuff, and still lose so long as you don't go over your calorie limit, But I realized how "calorie expensive" that stuff is, and it really doesn't give me that satisfied feeling in my stomach. I found it harder to stay "full" when I was taking in 4000+ calories worth of crap food, whereas now, I'm taking in about 2400 calories worth of clean food a day and I feel absolutely satisfied and that "hungry" feeling is almost completely non existant!

Also update: weigh in this morning 292.4, still coming off :D I know a lot of it is probably water weight but my energy levels are way up and I have to think that some of that weight has to be shredded fat cells :cool:

Prospect84 - Welcome! I would wish you luck, but that almost seems negative in a way....like what you're doing isn't achievable so 'good luck'. Instead, I want to say congratulations! Congratulations on taking this step forward in your life and ditching the excuses! Only good can come from this decision! Looking forward to reading you're posts. :)

Congrats! I use to tell myself that, when I started sweating during my workouts, it was my fat sweating out. Kind of gross but always made me push myself even harder. Ok, I still think about it that way, lol.:D

Lol! Glad I'm not the only one who uses that visual!! I do the same thing! :D :p

I read an article yesterday that was absolutely amazing. It talks about how people can be overweight while eating low calories, I think many people that diet the wrong way, and simply think that cutting calories hardcore enough will make them drop weight. I've read other posts about this being a "yo-yo" diet, but this article will really open your eyes about it. Really good read, check it out!

Edit (oops wrong link!) Link removed
^^ that's the right one!

Also, related to myself, my weight was slightly higher today than yesterday (+0.4 lbs.), but I'm keeping my diet in check, eating lots of protein, and after reading that article I'm going to keep faith that I'm on the right path. I still feel great today, ate very clean yesterday so my confidence is high! This is the first time I've been on a "diet" that actually made me FEEL stronger and more energetic. Every other time I dieted pretty much blindly and just cut back portions instead of actually changing WHAT I ate and tracking it, and every time I felt lacking, and sapped of energy... That article opens up my eyes as to why I felt like that~ Hope you enjoy it!

It's truely amazing that we have the power to control what our metabolism does. The realization that my body doesn't give a rat's behind about what I WANT to look like in the mirror, and that it's only goal is survival was pretty cool. Understanding how my body reacts to low calories, and/or calories from the wrong sources, and adjusts my metabolism is pretty fascinating. Also to note, this completely destroys another excuse that I used to use... "I have a slower metabolism than most people" Well... I probably did but it wasn't just because I was born with it, it was because I wasn't telling my body that it's ok to kick my metabolism into high gear and burn fat off. In a sense, my body wasn't confident enough that I would keep feeding it the RIGHT calories, so it turned the calories I did take in, into fat on my body, so that it had a backup plan to survive! Really amazing stuff...

Just a little update, since it's been a week or two. I've been doing well with my eating habits and drinking enough water. I've been lifting 3 days a week, and cardio 2 days each week. My weight was up and down a LOT the first two weeks, but this third week it seems to have leveled out and is more consistant. The good thing about that is, I can see that overall my average weight is going down steadily now! I feel stronger, and more energetic through the day, and I feel like I'm sleeping better at night.

I'm down almost 10 lbs so I still have a LONG ways to go, but honestly, I don't feel hungry all the time anymore, and I'm starting to enjoy the feeling of muscles burning through a workout again. I remember that feeling from high school when it wasn't a chore, but a welcomed feeling for those muscles to burn. The feeling of progress! It isn't getting easier, I'm just getting stronger!

Keep on keepin' on people! :D

Thanks for posting your updates. I wish you all the best. You never know how many others your journey will inspire on here :)

Weight going up and down is very normal, especially through the holidays...as I'm sure you already know ;) Glad to see your post and to read that you're still working towards your goal.

A little quote I that I once heard that sticks in my head "consistency is the key to success" ~Kathy Smith~

When we're first on a weight loss journey, we usually come out of the corner swinging with all the energy of a young boxer....only to peter out quickly. If we just do what we can on a consistent basis, we'll ultimately reach our goal! All those small consistent changes add up to bigger changes and bigger results!! You're doing great! Keep it up! :)

Well, a couple days late on the post but this past saturday was 4 weeks into my lifechange. I'm very happy with where I am at, both physically and mentally :D

So just to recap, starting weight 300.4 lbs... Today's weigh in, exactly 4 weeks later = 285.6! that's 14.8 lbs off in just 4 weeks. That puts me ahead of my short term 12 week goal of 270, but I don't plan on letting up at all :cool:

Overall I am feeling much better, I feel stronger, I have more energy through the day at work, and I don't suffer from that "always hungry" feeling I used to get before I understood blood sugar / insulin spikes from my old diet. I am still sticking to working out at least 3 days a week. This is not any "insanity" or similar type workouts. I started by running on an elliptical for 15 minutes, then started mixing run days with lifting days after a soon-to-be brother-in-law suggested I invest in some Power Block dumbells which by the way are an AWESOME purchase if you are looking to get healthy! A little expensive but this is a lifetime change so I decided it was worth it for a long term investment. I had considered joining a gym but used that money towards buying my own stuff that I could get a good workout in at home. So I try to lift 2 days a week now, and I'm up to 25-30 minutes cardio the other day or two.

Hope everyone else is having success with their goals as well! Thanks for stopping by :)

Keep up the good work!

Thanks for the posts. One of the nice surprises when eating right is the lack of hunger or for myself the fact that I came to recognize when I was actually hungry. Mary

7 weeks

So saturday, Feb. 1st was seven weeks. I weighed in saturday morning at 279.8 which is the first time I've weighed in below 280. To be honest, it's been a pretty long time since I've been under 280 period... Probably a couple years. So it felt pretty good to see a number below 280.

I don't know if I would call it a Plateau but it seems like I hit 285 really quick and the last 5 pounds have slowed down a lot. It's still coming down but I feel like I am going to have to ramp up my exercise routine some if I want to kick my weight loss in the butt. So this week and beyond I'm going to increase the aggressiveness of my weight training. I feel stronger from the weight training I have done and feel like I should be able to get a little more intensity out of my workouts. Friday I bought a bench to go with my Powerblock dumbells. Got a good lift in friday evening, and saturday morning I got in 45 minutes on the elliptical. Whole body was a little sore on Sunday but it was a relaxing day getting ready for a terrible Superbowl.

With 5 weeks to go to my short term goal of 270. It's right around 2lbs. a week which should not be an issue so long as I stay after it. I have been thinking about a more long term goal.... But I think rather than setting a goal weight, I'm going to set my next goal to be as healthy as possible by October when I turn 30... When I do get to 270, I want to start taking my cardio exercise outside and do some real running/jogging instead of just using the elliptical. 30lbs lighter it shouldn't be quite as hard on my joints. I want to be able to jog a mile under 10 minutes... That's not blazing fast but to reach that I will have to jog steady without many walking breaks...

Hope everyone else is achieving their goals!
Thanks for stopping in

Dustin.

Hi Dustin :) You've made some great progress!!! I just wanted to chime in on the elliptical vs. running. I am a runner and enjoy running outdoors in the warmer months. In the Winter, I take it indoors to the treadmill. This Winter however, I've been doing some pretty high intensity interval workouts, so I've ramped down the running so I don't over do it on my joints. So I've taken to the elliptical for extra cardio. I too always thought that running was far superior to the elliptical. Well to my dismay, I can burn the same if not more calories on the elliptical (according to my heart rate monitor) in the same amount of time. Also, I can sustain the elliptical for a longer period so overall I can actually burn more on the elliptical! Having said that, I still love running and won't give it up ;)

lildebbieg,

Thanks for the info on the calories. I did some research before and from what I've read the calories burned per time is pretty similar between elliptical and actual running. I'm not so much concerned about the calories I'm burning, I get a great burn on the elliptical and I sweat enough to know that it's working! The actual running is more of just a personal goal I want to accomplish. When I was in school and into wrestling/baseball through my youth, I always enjoyed running. I want to feel that "runners high" like I used to, but I knew that at my starting weight I wouldn't be able to jump straight into running. I broke my right leg twice (femur in one accident, tib/fib in a seperate one about 3 years later) and the impact of running is one of the things I used as an excuse to let my health slip away. So for me, getting back into running, getting my legs strong enough to get a good run in, is a mountain I need to climb.

Several times over the years, I made the mistake of going from "unhealthy" and trying to "get back in shape" but not taking time to build the strength and shed the weight like I am this time. I would try to jump back into running outdoors, and after a few times of not being able to walk the next day due to extreme knee pain, I would stop my journey all together and use it as an excuse.

It's one of the things I talk about early in this thread, about giving up the excuses. This time I will NOT let it be an excuse. I will build the strength of my knee and my legs, as well as shed the weight, and get back to the point of being able to run outdoors. ;) I've just learned that I have to take my time and build my body back up and regain my health to be able to climb those mountains!

I do appreciate the input though, I am still learning every day about ways to better maintain a healthy lifestyle. And although this thread is a journal of sorts, it is nice to get some replies every now and again. Nice to know I'm not just talking to myself all the time, hehe. So thanks!

Wow! Great job setting goals and achieving them! All the best to you as you get back into running :)

Ok so it's been a few weeks since my last update. I've been super busy involved in my daughters sports... Being the Coordinator for the local softball league, and just took over as President for the baseball/softball leagues board...

I've been sticking to my diet, but I haven't gotten the exercise that I wanted to the last couple weeks. I went about a week and a half without lifting/running, so over the weekend I got a chance to get 30 minutes in on the elliptical again, which felt great!

My short term goal has passed... I missed it by about 1.5lbs... But staying with my new lifestyle I did reach it. It was only one week later than I had hoped so still a success in my opinion! I am settled into my new eating habits pretty well, and I continue to try to make small changes to further improve. I have recently started cutting out breads which has helped. I have also done some thinking about a longer term goal and I think I'm going for "fit by 30" as my new goal. I feel like if I can keep improving myself and when coaching softball this spring/summer I'm going to run with the team through drills... I feel like if I can get another 50 lbs. off by the end of october I'll be the lightest weight that I have been since about 10 years ago... I know that my weight loss is probably going to slow down some as I continue to drop, but for me, 220 would put me in a very good place.

I hope everyone else is having success with their goals! Feel free to drop me a line or ask questions, it's more fun than talking to myself on here lol :D