Diet Blogathon
I figured since it's been almost 2 years since I've posted in here, I would use it to log my diet timeline. Mostly to figure out what's been working best and what's not been working. June 22, 2010 is the start date of the diet, and I set my goal to be 86 pounds by my birthday (April 19, 2011). I've concluded at this point that I will not reach my goal by that date, but probably sometime in the summer. I'm not really fretting over this because late is better than never, but my frustration lies in the several plateaus I've endured during the process. Due to lack of insurance, I'm currently unable to check with a doctor to see if it's a thyroid issue due to my previous growth hormone injections (possible side effect of the treatment.) It does seem that any adjustment in my diet doesn't break the plateaus, only the intensity of my workout.
June 22, 2010 - September 2010: Looked at pictures of myself, decided it was time to start this diet (3rd diet, both other diets proved relatively successful, the obvious problem being that I gained the weight back both times. First diet was in high school - 55 pounds in 6.5 months. Second one was in college - 35 pounds in probably a few months.)
I weighed myself - Shit, 266 pounds, I need to get back down to 180. Went to Gamestop, bought a Wiifit.
During this start time, I decided to use what worked for me in the past - Weight Watcher's. I don't actually pay for meetings or their point-specific meals. I used their point equivalents for measuring out portions. This is free in practice and all the information is available online.
My exercise routine was essentially 30 minutes of Wiifit-related exercises everyday and a brisk walk around the lake every other day or so (lake distance is 2 miles). This was working at a steady pace and I think after 2.5 months I lost about 20 pounds
September 2010 - October 2010: Weight stopped moving completely. This is the longest plateau of my diet so far and it lasted 1.5 months. During this time, my weight didn't stay at its lowest, but rather fluctuated in a 3-4 pound bracket above my lowest weight.
During this time I tried lowering my point intake, adding diet supplements, increasing my distance and frequency of walking, and doing the more intensive exercises on my Wiifit, all to absolutely no avail.
October 2010 - December 2010: At this point I completely dropped both my diet and exercise routines for new ones. Instead of using the points system, I switched over to strict calorie counting (1800 calories). The reason I did this is because I felt I was cheating myself with the fiber portion of Weight Watcher's (the more fiber you eat, the more food you can eat). This probably caused me to eat a few hundred more calories than what was okay. I stopped using Wiifit completely and traded walking in for jogging 5 times a week at a total of 10 miles a week. This kickstarted my weight loss again and I felt dumb for not thinking about it earlier.
Occasionally during this time my weight didn't move for a week or so. I tried the occasional cheat day which never worked, but it occasionally fixed itself.
December 2010 - January 2011: Too cold to jog outside, so I had to start doing indoor exercising again. As I am not employed and dislike the gym, I started using the elliptical that my parents bought me. This machine was so poor in design though that I could feel deterioration the moment I started using it, and after one week of use, I could see the wheel component already starting to tear out from the metal bar that it was attached to. I decided that it would be much safer on my balls if I cut my losses and set the machine aside. At this point I also started taking a multivitamin and a fiber supplement.
I decided to run in place while simultaneously lifting weights. I did this for the duration of an X-Files episode per night, 5 nights a week. I lifted 10 pound weights for a set of 16 in each arm and took a 2 minute break. This resulted in about 320 reps for each arm per night, in addition to the constant running. This worked for a few weeks, and then it stopped. This could be due to possible muscle weight increase because of the lifting, or again, the intensity was not high enough.
January 2011 - Present: After 2 weeks of my weight not moving (and sometimes gaining) I increased the intensity again. Instead of running in place, I tried doing a massive amount of jumping jacks. During an episode's length, I did 50 jumping jacks, rested for 1-2 minutes, and repeated. This probably results in about 1000 jumping jacks per night. Additionally I lowered my calorie intake from 1800 to 1600. This showed immediate results and I lost another 3-4 pounds in a week or so.
Right now, I am at a total of 50 pounds lost in about 7.25 months. I would wager that 2-3 of those months were spent with stagnant or fluctuating weights. I've learned a lot about the nuances of my body while doing this so far, but obviously not enough to get an affirmative read on how I function. In order to hit my goal, I would need to lose 36 more pounds in 2.5 months, which I know is both unobtainable and unhealthy, so I will attempt to get this done by mid June, which would result in 86 pounds lost in one year. Hopefully soon it will be nice enough for me to go jogging again and possibly biking (I tried biking back in September but the seat was too small and my ass was too big, making it extremely unpleasant.)
June 22, 2010 - September 2010: Looked at pictures of myself, decided it was time to start this diet (3rd diet, both other diets proved relatively successful, the obvious problem being that I gained the weight back both times. First diet was in high school - 55 pounds in 6.5 months. Second one was in college - 35 pounds in probably a few months.)
I weighed myself - Shit, 266 pounds, I need to get back down to 180. Went to Gamestop, bought a Wiifit.
During this start time, I decided to use what worked for me in the past - Weight Watcher's. I don't actually pay for meetings or their point-specific meals. I used their point equivalents for measuring out portions. This is free in practice and all the information is available online.
My exercise routine was essentially 30 minutes of Wiifit-related exercises everyday and a brisk walk around the lake every other day or so (lake distance is 2 miles). This was working at a steady pace and I think after 2.5 months I lost about 20 pounds
September 2010 - October 2010: Weight stopped moving completely. This is the longest plateau of my diet so far and it lasted 1.5 months. During this time, my weight didn't stay at its lowest, but rather fluctuated in a 3-4 pound bracket above my lowest weight.
During this time I tried lowering my point intake, adding diet supplements, increasing my distance and frequency of walking, and doing the more intensive exercises on my Wiifit, all to absolutely no avail.
October 2010 - December 2010: At this point I completely dropped both my diet and exercise routines for new ones. Instead of using the points system, I switched over to strict calorie counting (1800 calories). The reason I did this is because I felt I was cheating myself with the fiber portion of Weight Watcher's (the more fiber you eat, the more food you can eat). This probably caused me to eat a few hundred more calories than what was okay. I stopped using Wiifit completely and traded walking in for jogging 5 times a week at a total of 10 miles a week. This kickstarted my weight loss again and I felt dumb for not thinking about it earlier.
Occasionally during this time my weight didn't move for a week or so. I tried the occasional cheat day which never worked, but it occasionally fixed itself.
December 2010 - January 2011: Too cold to jog outside, so I had to start doing indoor exercising again. As I am not employed and dislike the gym, I started using the elliptical that my parents bought me. This machine was so poor in design though that I could feel deterioration the moment I started using it, and after one week of use, I could see the wheel component already starting to tear out from the metal bar that it was attached to. I decided that it would be much safer on my balls if I cut my losses and set the machine aside. At this point I also started taking a multivitamin and a fiber supplement.
I decided to run in place while simultaneously lifting weights. I did this for the duration of an X-Files episode per night, 5 nights a week. I lifted 10 pound weights for a set of 16 in each arm and took a 2 minute break. This resulted in about 320 reps for each arm per night, in addition to the constant running. This worked for a few weeks, and then it stopped. This could be due to possible muscle weight increase because of the lifting, or again, the intensity was not high enough.
January 2011 - Present: After 2 weeks of my weight not moving (and sometimes gaining) I increased the intensity again. Instead of running in place, I tried doing a massive amount of jumping jacks. During an episode's length, I did 50 jumping jacks, rested for 1-2 minutes, and repeated. This probably results in about 1000 jumping jacks per night. Additionally I lowered my calorie intake from 1800 to 1600. This showed immediate results and I lost another 3-4 pounds in a week or so.
Right now, I am at a total of 50 pounds lost in about 7.25 months. I would wager that 2-3 of those months were spent with stagnant or fluctuating weights. I've learned a lot about the nuances of my body while doing this so far, but obviously not enough to get an affirmative read on how I function. In order to hit my goal, I would need to lose 36 more pounds in 2.5 months, which I know is both unobtainable and unhealthy, so I will attempt to get this done by mid June, which would result in 86 pounds lost in one year. Hopefully soon it will be nice enough for me to go jogging again and possibly biking (I tried biking back in September but the seat was too small and my ass was too big, making it extremely unpleasant.)