#4938666 - 08/03/10 03:49 PM
how do you guys maintain motivation?
|
Prog
Post Master Supreme
Registered: 10/29/99
Posts: 14420
Loc: Alexandria, VA
|
Hey guys... im gonna be blunt.
im morbidly obese. 31 yrs old. 6'0. 390lbs. Ive been having issues with my weight since i was 10-12. In middle/ highschool I kinda kept it in check because we had mandatory phys ed. and later on went to the gym regularly because i had close friends that egged me on and id go with them. That all changed in college, since i lost touch with most of said friends. My current friends are all basically in shape naturally. Only a couple i know struggle to maintain. Ive tried many forms of dieting and eating right and the most ive been able to lose is about 50 lbs, so the lightest ive been since my early 20s has been about 350.
Because of all the struggle with weight, I am knowledgeable on nutrition. I am clear as to what I have to do. What to avoid, what to seek regularly. I can cook well (this is also a problem, since im a "foodie", i love cooking, restaurants, microbrews, etc.) my problem lies with the motivation and sometimes i feel that it is also part of a compulsion. I eat when im happy, when im sad, when im out with friends celebrating something, when we are in mourning.
I usually start well, watching portions, cutting out the junk, limiting the processed stuff as much as possible, adding more veggies. A short time later ill get the urge to indulge and overeat and that ends the "eating well" stint.
What do you guys use to keep yourselves motivated? Has anyone had this problem with the psychological aspect of eating correctly? Overcome it?
*sigh*
_________________________
-Carlos-
Holy shit, look at my fucking registration date.
|
|
Top
|
|
|
|
|
#4938731 - 08/03/10 04:02 PM
Re: how do you guys maintain motivation?
[Re: Prog]
|
RedACR
Post Master Sr
Registered: 05/12/00
Posts: 7708
Loc: Washingtonville, NY
|
being "morbidly" obese should do it, no?
damn dude get crackin
_________________________
2012 VW Jetta TDi
--------------------------------------
|
|
Top
|
|
|
|
|
#4938814 - 08/03/10 04:30 PM
Re: how do you guys maintain motivation?
[Re: Silock]
|
Serendipitous
Post Master Supreme
Registered: 04/30/01
Posts: 15300
Loc: Northern California
|
I think it's a tough question to solve and basically the difference between those who stay in shape and those who don't. You really have to want it to stay committed and I'm not sure where that drive comes from.
I think seeing a psychologist is a good start. I hope you can overcome this!
|
|
Top
|
|
|
|
|
#4938835 - 08/03/10 04:42 PM
Re: how do you guys maintain motivation?
[Re: RedACR]
|
mrnismo
Post Master
Registered: 12/08/01
Posts: 2747
Loc: PCB
|
In my opinion you are dealing with an addiction just like any drug addiction.
Just like with drugs or tobacco you don't need motivation --- if diabetes and heart disease aren't enough motivation then that's probably not a factor right?
You need to face your addiction and figure out how to battle it like an addiction. I went through the same thing with tobacco after a 15 year addiction where the risk of cancer just wasn't enough 'motivation' I finally started to battle it like an addiction and read up on whatever I could find about addictions.
I also joined a forum for tobacco cessation which helped me a lot. I'm sure there are plenty of 'obesity' forums you might try to find one that you like?
Good luck man, I wish you the best and would love to see you stick around and post some pics every few months so we can see your progress and help encourage you.
|
|
Top
|
|
|
|
|
#4938875 - 08/03/10 04:59 PM
Re: how do you guys maintain motivation?
[Re: Prog]
|
mrnismo
Post Master
Registered: 12/08/01
Posts: 2747
Loc: PCB
|
Yeah, that's funny you say that because my wife used to tell me it should be easier to quit tobacco than to quick eating bad. I don't think one is any easier than the other it all comes down to learning to live without your 'drug' of choice whatever that may be -- in your case maybe eating the wrong kids of food or just flat out too much. Start tracking your calories for a few weeks on any of the numerous online sites.
Start with little changes like learning to make your own salads since you love to cook. You can make some killer salads that are very nutrient dense and calorie sparse which on top of being good for you will also keep you full longer.
Krys and Slowpoke will be in shortly I'm sure and they've both lost a shit ton of weight over the last year or so and should be a great help for you as well.
|
|
Top
|
|
|
|
|
#4939316 - 08/03/10 08:40 PM
Re: how do you guys maintain motivation?
[Re: Prog]
|
mrbeefhead
mrbeefhead
Unregistered
|
if you try really hard to cut back on calories and introduce some cardio into your life (just go for a 30 minute walk once a day, 7 days a week) you will see some dramatic results in 2-3 weeks. That should be motivation enough to keep going. It sounds like you're just not sticking with the plan for long enough, or you're not changing your activity level at the same time as your diet.
and in all seriousness you should consider joining a group like a local weight-watchers or something similar. that would help a lot knowing that week after week you need to show up and see the same folks over and over.
I am by no means the picture of fitness, but I have seen results/changes in myself (going from 240 down to 202, then back to 225) and I know without a doubt that the reason I rebounded wasn't solely because I stopped running, but because I stopped running AND I lost control of eating wisely.
you need to do both.
|
|
Top
|
|
|
|
|
#4939375 - 08/03/10 09:04 PM
Re: how do you guys maintain motivation?
[Re: ]
|
slowpoke
Post Master Supreme
Registered: 11/23/99
Posts: 27266
Loc: Tx
|
Desperation was my motivation.
I hated myself and I didn't care what happened to me, and so I ate and ate killing myself slowly. I don't know exactly why the light bulb went off but one day I just broke down and I decided I could not live this way another day. I literally set out to change everything.
I stay motivated by looking in the mirror everyday. Everyday I see changes in the mirror. Those changes are enough for me to keep going and to keep trying as hard as I can.
Ive lost 105ish lbs and I have at least another 30Lbs to go. My wife and my team of trainers, my coworkers also keep me on track and help me stay motivated.
You have to decide when enough is enough, conquer your demons and get busy living. Your going to have to stop being a foodie, and stop drinking. Become a health freak. Focus on your bad habits and turn them into good habits. Challenge yourself to become a better, healthier, happier person.
|
|
Top
|
|
|
|
|
#4939383 - 08/03/10 09:09 PM
Re: how do you guys maintain motivation?
[Re: slowpoke]
|
slowpoke
Post Master Supreme
Registered: 11/23/99
Posts: 27266
Loc: Tx
|
You might want to consider getting a bodybugg. Its a device that will show you your daily calorie burn, and you log your food and it will show you your daily deficits.
It will also give you a daily meal plan based on your goals. You can either choose to follow it or do your own thing but if you are 100% serious about weightloss it is a great tool to know exactly what you are doing and where you could do more. Its a bit pricey but it is a great way to hold yourself accountable for the decisions you make on a daily basis.
I'm still using mine or i'd consider giving it away.
|
|
Top
|
|
|
|
|
#4939430 - 08/03/10 09:29 PM
Re: how do you guys maintain motivation?
[Re: slowpoke]
|
Krys
Post Master Supreme
Registered: 10/01/00
Posts: 11342
Loc: texas
|
Fuck. I wrote this big ass long post, and the browser fucking shut down. ARGH!!!!
Well..Slowpoke already chimed in. But I'll go ahead and type back some of what I was saying before.
I think we realized we had both really hit rock bottom, were depressed, etc. I was used to being active and working on my feet. Shortly after meeting Slowpoke and moving in together, I got a desk job which was my kiss of death. That's when things really spiraled out of control, but I was ALWAYS overweight since I was a child.
We both decided at the end of October, we needed to make some LIFE changes. This isn't a diet. This wasn't to lose weight. This was to be HEALTHY and change our lives for the better. At that point, I had already lost some weight, but put most of it back on. I was able to keep about 15 of it off. At my heaviest, I was 260lbs. I was OBESE. BMI of 39...borderline morbid obesity. No way around it. I started our new lifestyle at 245lbs. I had tried many methods in the past to control my weight, but was never successful. I decided to give low carb a try. This was what finally worked for me.
We cleaned out the house, and threw away everything that would be "off plan". We started at the best, yet worst possible time. Days before Halloween, and at the onset of the flippin holiday season. I told myself that if I could make it through this, I could make it through anything. And we did. By the end of the year, I dropped 46lbs, and was under 200 for the first time in about 7 years. By Valentine's day, I met my goal to lose 65lbs, or put me at 180 - this was the weight I was in high school and felt really good at. I'm tall, 5'9, and carry my weight fairly well (although it was obvious and clear I was LARGE - not using this as an excuse). When I got there, I knew I could do more.
In February, before I hit goal, I had to have major spinal surgery. I thought this would derail me something fierce, but it didn't. I stayed right on plan and kept going. Up until this point, I still hadn't even begun to exercise because I phsycially couldn't. There were days that I could barely walk due to my spinal issues. 2 weeks in, I started PT. 2nd session, my terapist tore my hamstring. Now I'm down for even longer.
Once *mostly* recovered, I began working out a bit. Not a lot, but a bit. Weight training with a trainer. It helped tone up a bit. Between February and now, I have lost another 23lbs and am still losing (although slowly now..). I'm down to 163lbs. Smaller than I've been in my adult life, smaller than I was as a FRESHMAN in high school. At my smallest size that I can every remember being. I wore larger sizes in middle school than I do now. It's been a DRAMATIC change, and I know I'm not done yet.
My focus now is working on continuing to tone and build muscle, and continue to lower my body fat percentage. It's going to be a long road, but I've got the worst of it behind me. I'm NEVER letting myself go back there. I've worked too hard, and lost so much time by being too embarassed to do the things I wanted to do. I went 10 YEARS without seeing my best friends back home because I was too embarassed to let them see me.
It comes down to this - YOU have to be ready to make a change in your life. Until you are, nothing is going to make you sucessful, and you'll continue to yoyo back and forth. Realize that whatever changes you make have to be lifestyle changes, and not something to just lose the weight. If you do something to just drop the pounds, you'll likely fall back into your old ways, and end up back where you started or worse.
If you want more information on what we did, I'm more than happy to help you. If you want to try something else, great - you need to find what works for you. There's no magic bullet or single way that works for everyone. If there was, everyone would be skinny and fit. You need to find what you can make into a lifestyle and be able to maintain long term.
May 2008, about my heaviest:
Last month, about 5lbs heavier than I am now:
Is that embarassing? Yes and no. I HATE seeing that photo, but that's the reality of the situation. At the same time, that's not me anymore, so to hell with it. I have gone from a size 20W to a size 8. XXL or 18/20 in tops to a small or medium (the girls only went down 1 size, so there's only so much I can force them into). Some of my 8s are big now, but I probably need to drop another 8-10 before I'm ready to commit to buying 6s. I've had to spend WAY too much money on throw away clothes that only last me a few weeks and these will do for now.
You CAN do it. You CAN change. Start NOW, and don't let yourself make excuses for why you can't.
|
|
Top
|
|
|
|
|
#4939792 - 08/04/10 01:11 AM
Re: how do you guys maintain motivation?
[Re: Joeyballs]
|
Damnit, Laverty
Post Master Supreme
Registered: 04/27/00
Posts: 12564
Loc: Bellevue, WA
|
For me, y'all are going to laugh but it was a combination of four things.
1: I finally wanted it.
2: I realized that i sounded like Johnso in real life. A little self abuse is a powerful thing, but I was the most judgemental person towards fat people, and fat myself. I didn't wear 2xl shirts, I wore double-fatass. I wouldn't eat in my car, 'cause looking at other fat people cramming food in their mouth disgusted me.
3: Another CSi'er. Pat made a comment after he lost a bunch of weight about how it was okay to be shallow now that he was skinny. I know it's not, but I started to accept that it's just how the world works. People are inherently shallow. The judgements I made on myself and other people... people made towards me. They were usually polite enough to not say them to my face, but usually because I beat them to the punch.
4: Realizing that fat people are non-entities to most people. We are there to be judged, and pitied. We're not there to get the girl. We're there to wallow in our weakness and since water finds it's own level, apparently find a fat chick and lower expectations. I got tired of being a non-entity to the people around me.
so 2, 3 and 4 are all minor things... but they rolled up to number 1.
Prog, you gotta want it. Not think it's what you need to do. Not think it's what people want you to do. You have to want it for you. I've never been skinny. I discovered one day that I couldn't imagine what I looked like skinny, but i hated the fact I couldn't smile and have my eyes look open in a picture. I hated the fact that I abhorred pictures being taken of me, but i loved taking them.
Until you do, you're going to fail. I haven't succeeded yet, but I'm hoping I do. I'm down in the 230s now from 270 at the beginning of the year. I just had to buy new gym clothes today because my old ones don't fit. I got to rescue about 10 shirts out of my closet that I recieved years ago, but didn't feel like giving away when they didn't fit. I'm in a single fatass tshirt for the first time since fucking MIDDLE SCHOOL.
I want that medium tshirt in my closet.
I want the success I've seen in my professional life since I got motivated to continue.
I want to not be the object of people's pity.
I want to never hear "wow, you're doing surprisingly well at this considering your weight" ever again (like I heard in the middle of a 50 mile bike ride this weekend. That one stung.)
I want it.
Find reasons you want it.
Edited by ACR Racer (08/04/10 01:28 AM)
_________________________
-Matt
'95 M3 | '99 Garage Shelf
"Life before [CSi] wasn't looking good, I had a small cock, smaller wallet, and had a girl that was getting railed by 5 HUGE black guys." -AZSnake
"Ha... yeah if neon ownership teaches you one thing it's how to turn lemons into Country Time." -Spotch
"If the market demand for snarky comments is below my current supply of sassy wit I can only assume the market will adjust itself accordingly. Any minute now. Dick." -2000SiRacer
|
|
Top
|
|
|
|
|
#4939809 - 08/04/10 01:22 AM
Re: how do you guys maintain motivation?
[Re: Damnit, Laverty]
|
Damnit, Laverty
Post Master Supreme
Registered: 04/27/00
Posts: 12564
Loc: Bellevue, WA
|
As for the eating thing? I've managed to balance a social life that includes eating out and hanging out with friends with still being successful.
Here's the thing.
I graze pretty frequently. When I make brown rice and chicken for dinner, but my roommate makes chili? I don't feel bad for myself and think "why can't i have that", I have that. Just a taste. Half a tablespoon. I get the texture, the flavor, the sum of the whole. I pinch a couple strands of spaghetti when he makes pasta.
...but then I eat my normal meal.
When I go out with friends? I have a drink... but only one, or I get tasters of a few beers, and a single pint. If we eat out, I order a to-go box when i order my meal, and get half or more out of sight/grazing range immediately.
I manage temptation. If I had someone at home pushing for the same goals as me the way Krys and Poke can support each other? I might be able to run hardcore the way they do, but i've accepted that my life doesn't work like that, and I can take slower results with more work while maintaining a life. Make no mistake, I have to atone for any time I slip... and I do.
Today I went to the gym, then I went to a ball game. I had a hotdog, a beer and a slushie. Call it 1200cal, more'n likely. I was smart about what I allowed on the hotdog, and it was my 2nd meal of the day, so i wasn't over count, but make no mistake, I'll be back in the gym tomorrow with extra cardio to make up for it. Even if I don't make the numbers match (and I won't), it's important to realize every action has a reaction. Ate too much? Oops. Eat less later, and work harder.
I'm in the same boat as you with regards to being normal in doctor checks... except my BP, but oh well. My cholesterol is well within limits, my blood sugar was in the 80s last it was checked, everything is on point... but guess what? My body's working harder to support me and there's no denying that.
slowpoke's signature is dead on the money, no pun intended. Every day your body has to work harder to maintain "normal", is work it doesn't have the ability to do later.
So I graze to enjoy flavors. I don't beat myself up if I decide to have something good, but I do beat myself when I overindulge in it. I've built up a certain reaction at this point. "I'm working too hard, eating this or doing this is counterproductive to my goals". That statement stops me a lot of times, but when it doesn't, I push to get myself on track.
But yeah, that's just how I do it... because I want it.
Until you want it for you and your own goals, nothing I say means anything. You gotta want it so bad you can't imagine it any other way. You gotta want it 'cause even if nobody else noticed, you'd still know you were better off.
Find reasons you want it.
_________________________
-Matt
'95 M3 | '99 Garage Shelf
"Life before [CSi] wasn't looking good, I had a small cock, smaller wallet, and had a girl that was getting railed by 5 HUGE black guys." -AZSnake
"Ha... yeah if neon ownership teaches you one thing it's how to turn lemons into Country Time." -Spotch
"If the market demand for snarky comments is below my current supply of sassy wit I can only assume the market will adjust itself accordingly. Any minute now. Dick." -2000SiRacer
|
|
Top
|
|
|
|
|
#4939873 - 08/04/10 03:00 AM
Re: how do you guys maintain motivation?
[Re: Damnit, Laverty]
|
NOT spotch...
Post Master Supreme
Registered: 07/25/00
Posts: 57253
|
When I go out with friends? I have a drink... but only one, or I get tasters of a few beers, and a single pint. If we eat out, I order a to-go box when i order my meal, and get half or more out of sight/grazing range immediately.
That's a really fucking good idea.
_________________________
"On the street where there is no lap timer, feel is all that matters" - scootergeek
"A bunch of nerdy douchebags chasing a ghost." -Ob1 on bitcoin
|
|
Top
|
|
|
|
|
#4939874 - 08/04/10 03:00 AM
Re: how do you guys maintain motivation?
[Re: NOT spotch...]
|
NOT spotch...
Post Master Supreme
Registered: 07/25/00
Posts: 57253
|
Good luck, Carlos.
I feel you on the motivation... it's tough sometimes 
|
|
Top
|
|
|
|
|
#4939952 - 08/04/10 07:42 AM
Re: how do you guys maintain motivation?
[Re: Joeyballs]
|
ChittyChittyGangBang
Post Master
Registered: 12/19/02
Posts: 2379
Loc: St Louis, Mo
|
Progress is my only motivation
Exactly, to be better than I was.
|
|
Top
|
|
|
|
|
#4939992 - 08/04/10 08:17 AM
Re: how do you guys maintain motivation?
[Re: ChittyChittyGangBang]
|
slowpoke
Post Master Supreme
Registered: 11/23/99
Posts: 27266
Loc: Tx
|
So are you ready to commit to a life change? This place is like aa but for fit and fat people. Make a post and use it as your journal. Post pics, progress, whatever you feel like posting. When your feeling weak, post about it and let everyone give you a kick in the ass.
|
|
Top
|
|
|
|
|
#4940458 - 08/04/10 11:17 AM
Re: how do you guys maintain motivation?
[Re: Prog]
|
Krys
Post Master Supreme
Registered: 10/01/00
Posts: 11342
Loc: texas
|
Ok sorry - I meant to post earlier, but I had to go have a procedure at the hospital.
So what we did. We decided to go low carb. Doing this accomplished 2 things - got us out of the habit of eating crap, and for me, naturally limited calories without me having to even think about that. So it was a win win.
That said, we cut out the following: all grains (so no bread, pasta, rice or corn), sugar (both refined and most naturally occuring sugar things including a lot of fruit), legumes, and starchy veg. Now, before you ask what the hell did we eat, let me note that these things do eventually get added back in, just in limited amounts. So...with those basic guidelines of cutting, I kept my carbs under 20g a day for about 3 months to start. I ate a moderate amount of protein (.7-1g protein for each lb of lean mass I had) and a diet higher in good, natural fats (so those from meats, skin on chicken, olive and coconut oil, dairy, etc).
I tracked EVERYTHING I ate. I weighed or measured everything before cooking so I knew EXACTLY how much I was eating. Does it suck? Yup, it does. But, you get used to it very quickly, and then it just becomes routine. Eventually, you can eyeball things and have a pretty good idea of amounts, at least I can. I don't use fitday, but something very similar on another forum I'm on called My PLAN. It's esentially the same thing, but it's more versitle as far as adding custom foods and recipes and so forth. Any tracking will do as long as you enter everything in and do it daily. My macros were generally in the area of 5%of calories from carbs, 35% from protein, and 60% from fat.
I'm not a big breakfast eater, and didn't start having it regularly until a few months in. I'd either have a home made protein bar or a protein smoothie. I LOVE my smoothies. I'll use a cup of frozen berries, 1/4 cup of heavy cream, 1 scoop of protein powder, and water. Eggs with some bacon or something would be just fine. I don't have time for that in the morning, though.
Lunch would generally be a nice big salad. Usually 1 cup of read leaf lettuce, 1 cup of spinach, cucumber, tomato, black olives, red and green bell pepper, 1 grilled chicken breast (usually around 6-8 ounces) and a balsamic vinegarette dressing. If I didn't do salad, I would bring in grilled chicken and lettuce leaves with a little cheese and mayo or mustard and make little wraps with the lettuce. Every now and then I'd do this with lunch meat, but I do tend to stay away from it due to the high sodium and the nitrates. If not that, then I would get 1/2 roasted chicken (ala Boston Market) and have green beans on the side.
Dinner would be pretty much a protein and veg or 2. We grill a LOT. I love a nice ribeye or NY strip steak. I'll grill that up, grill up some onions and serve that with some green beans. We'll have burgers (1/2lb or so). Some nights I grill up chicken, and sautee bell peppers and onions on the stove. Slice up the chicken like fajitas, top with the peppers and onions, and serve with some salsa and a little cheese or home made guacamole. I've made pork loin roast in the oven and had that with broccoli. You get the drif I'm sure...protein and veg, as long as it's not starchy and carb filled like potato.
As I got the bulk of the weight off, I started incorporating some other things back in. That's when the berries came back. I can have blackberries, raspberries and blueberries, but strawberries seem to really set of cravings and I can over eat on them pretty easily. I can do apples just fine, but honeydew melon is another thing that I can overeat, so I have to watch. Peaches are ok as well. I don't eat anything else as it's really high in sugar and I don't *need* it. No bananas, pineapple, grapes, cherries, etc. On occasion, I'll cook up some brown rice to go with dinner. I'll make chili with ground beef and pork, and add more veggies and will add some beans to it. I'll make yogurt (I get plain yogurt and strain the whey off so it's more like greek yogurt and blend frsh fruit into it myself).
I didn't snack. I cut that out after about the first 2 weeks while I was adjusting. When I did snack then, I would have some raw veggies or something like that. I don't like nuts much, but those make a great snack as long as you watch your portions. If you do nuts, you want to make sure you get something DRY ROASTED and without salt. If you must do salt, I'd say get the ones with sea salt.
As I've gone along, I've found a lot of different low carb recipes and way to make things to have an occasional treat. I make a great lemon cake that uses almond flour instead of traditional flour. I have a recipe for chocolate cake that is awesome that actually uses black beans (I know, it sounds crazy...but I served it at Thanksgiving and nobody had ANY idea it wasn't out of a box..even Brandon will testify to this). Sugar free jello is an easy go to thing to have on hand.
I found that when I didn't eat breakfast, my calories were pretty much between 1100 and 1300. If I have my smoothie or protein bar, they are usually around 15-1600. Like I said earlier, because I wasn't eating processed crap and stuff filled with sugar, this naturally limited my calories and I didn't have to think about them at all during the whole process.
I experimented with foods, learned what bothered me and what didn't, and adjusted my diet to include a more varried range of foods. I know what my limits are now, and I know what things are only a "sometimes" food. I don't plan to go back to eating the way I was before. I've had great success with this, feel fantastic, and most importantly, I don't *NEED* any of the things I cut out. If I want the occasional something, I have it, but that's very rare. I've had ice cream twice since November to give you an idea - it really is rare. I usually hve about 30g a day of carbs now. That's an easy amount for me to work with. I don't have to think about what I'm eating, I still track, but I don't go crazy with it. If I eat something carby, like beans for example, I make sure I drink extra water.
I guess that's another thing to mention - I cut out all sodas, juices, and other types of drinks. In the beginning, I was still having Diet Coke. As I went on, I found that the sweetner and caffine were slowind me down, so I cut them out. I've been water only since February. I do have an occasional iced coffee or something, but it's not often at all. One every few weeks at most. Ive had Diet Coke exactly 4 times since then. I did have a regular Mr. Pibb when we were at the movies the other day (and popcorn...ouch...first time since November!), but that's about it. Brandon still drinks (I was never a drinker), but he doesn't drink beer - usually Jack and Diet something or a margarita (I make a low carb mix).
So now that I've rambled...that's what we do. Is it the only way? Of course not. But it worked brilliantly for us, and truly is easy once you get past the first week. If you want a really detailed guide, I can email you something. Just PM me your email address. I've had a lot of people ask me what we're doing, and I put together a document because I got tired of typing it over and over again.
Diet was the easy part for me. Exercise is more difficult for me, but I'm getting there. It seems like I've had to deal with one thing after another for a while now, and I'm probably about to have surgery again for something else. It's all a process and replacing bad habits with good ones. The key is to realize you're making excuses, and then STOP making them and get moving. Watch the Biggest Loser. If those 500lb people can work out for 6-7 hours a day, you can exercise for 1. Do things that are a challenge for you. Push yourself. Results will keep you motivated. They do for me.
|
|
Top
|
|
|
|
|
#4940754 - 08/04/10 01:19 PM
Re: how do you guys maintain motivation?
[Re: Krys]
|
mrbeefhead
mrbeefhead
Unregistered
|
nice info Krys, and congrats on an amazing life transformation! I had no idea!!
|
|
Top
|
|
|
|
|
#4942405 - 08/05/10 06:57 AM
Re: how do you guys maintain motivation?
[Re: Prog]
|
Stretch
BEEF starts here
Post Master Sr
Registered: 05/15/02
Posts: 6926
|
Honestly, fat people motivate me to not look like a fat slob.
It helps that my wife, kids, and I enjoy triathlons, running, ect.
|
|
Top
|
|
|
|
|
#4942591 - 08/05/10 09:39 AM
Re: how do you guys maintain motivation?
[Re: Stretch]
|
Cheesegoggles
Post Master Supreme
Registered: 07/10/08
Posts: 19073
Loc: Here
|
I was about 210 lbs at the beginning of this year and had hovered around that 210-215 range for a while. I'm 5'10 so I wasn't as big as some of you, but I definitely had a good deal of pounds to drop. I knew for a while I needed to drop it but struggled to stay on track with diet and exercise. I'd drop 5 or 10 lbs, feel like I was entitled to slack off, slacking off turned into blowing the whole thing off and my weight went back up again.
I had some motivation in the fact that my dad died at the age of 55 and had all sorts of health problems due in large part to being overweight. That should have been enough but I still dicked around. So what I finally did to kind of make myself get in shape was, in December, I decided I was going to start bike racing when the spring rolled around. I paid for my 2010 license, I signed up for a race that I would not be able to finish if I didn't drop some weight and improve my fitness, I told my friends I was doing it, and made plans to head to this out of town race with a friend who had been racing for a couple of years. I basically tried to create a situation where it would be monumentally embarrassing if I didn't get my ass into shape.
First thing to be fixed was diet. I had lost some weight in the past with reduced carbs so I knew that worked for me. I didn't do the hardcore Atkins style low carb. I reduced my carbs from sources other than green vegetables down to about 100 grams per day. And I tried to make healthier choices on those I did eat - cut out sugar, whole wheat bread, whole wheat pasta, etc. I also stuck to lean meats and good fats as well. I gave myself one cheat meal a week. The other six days I was probably at about 1800 calories per day.
The other thing I fixed was exercise and I think this played a significant role as well. I have been road cycling for several years but it was typically group rides or just get out and ride after work. No structure to it - sometimes hard, sometimes easy, just kind of whatever. But now instead of "riding" I was "training." Since it was winter when I started, I would get on my trainer at 5:00 in the morning and do various DVD workouts I had. I had my long steady days, my high intensity days, my rest and recovery days. Most of the workouts were on variation or another of interval training. The result was I greatly improved my fitness which allowed me to ride harder and this seemed to improve everything exponentially. And on top of it all, I was probably spending less time on the bike but was much more efficient with my workouts. I was also weight training about 2-3 times per week as well. And after about a month I incorporated some running.
I was most hardcore from January through March. By the end of March, when we took a vacation to Jamaica, I was down about 30 lbs. I've relaxed the diet since about May, but stuck with the training and racing. I now weigh 164 so I've lost 46 lbs since the beginning of the year. I'm probably done racing for the year due to an injury, but have a half marathon coming up in September so I've still got a goal I'm working towards. I plan to be down to 160 by then and think I have a reasonable shot at finishing in under 2 hours assuming I can return to running by Monday.
|
|
Top
|
|
|
|
|
#4942886 - 08/05/10 11:21 AM
Re: how do you guys maintain motivation?
[Re: RedACR]
|
Duc
Post Master Supreme
Registered: 06/20/03
Posts: 35386
Loc: MD
|
being "morbidly" obese should do it, no?
damn dude get crackin
_________________________
BigAl: there is a huge difference between working out to be healthy, and ingesting 10 protein shakes a day, creatine, roids, etc.
JoeyBalls: Yup. That's why I said I workout to look good. If i wanted to be healthy. I'd swim.
..you can NEVER out train a bad diet -- FitExcellence
|
|
Top
|
|
|
|
Moderator: Silock, The Mad Paki
|
Civic Type-R 2-Piece Rotors — $814 Front Pair! Made in England!
View EBC Rotors
ClubSi.com Shirts
|
|
|
