Confession time: I'm fat and I need your help.
Yes it's true. Now on the elevator at work I look pretty normal like everyone else, but I know I'm fat. I want to drop 40 lbs in 20 weeks before the Austin 70.3 I need the help of EN loyal to encourage me, cheer me on, and berate me as needed. I know how to do it already, but haven't gotten there yet. In my 3 year triathlon journey I had gone from over 250 (I didn't weight myself because I didn't want to know) to 205 by April last year (Galveston 2013). Well since then I've had a new kiddo, had back issues (wrong running shoes for me) and a 2 month thing with my knee (still resolving). I also confess I'm a stress eater. When things go bad, I turn to foods none of which are good for me. So as of this morning I'm sitting on 222. Now 2 is my lucky number, but I'd be much happier at 182. My goal is to be under 175 for IM TX next year. I know I won't ever drop under 163. At 163 when I was 25, I looked like I was on the POW diet.
Here are all of my food problems.
1) My mother in law is a professional chef. She trained at the CIA in New York. She is a culinary instructor now. The problem isn't her per se. She can cook incredibly healthy meals or bad ones, but we get invited to all kinds of chef and culinary events. Lots of bad and over abundant calories for all! And so many to try!
2) My office at work is the office by "the kitchen" as it's called. It's a conference room, fridge and serving tables. Someone brings in donuts, kolaches, cake, we have clients.... all the food goes on a table less than 5 steps from my office. I have to smell it even if I can't eat it. The chance of me moving offices are close to nil due to the way our offices are arranged, my job, etc.
3) I am a stress eater. If I get ticked at work or family problems arise, I turn to food, rarely good food.
4) My father-in-law only eats at Zagat rated restaurants and drinks too much incredibly good vino. The wine on the wine.... it's so good and I can't affford it. Thankfully he only comes to town or we see him about 6 times a year.
So my plan to combat these problems.
1) Post my updated weight here every Monday for 20 weeks and take my praise or deserved ridicule like a man.
2) Use my Polar V800 to track my calories burned and use MyFitnessPal to track calories in. I've done this before and it works.
3) Avoid "the kitchen." For the monthly birthday cake and ice cream celebrations or retirement festivities, or donut days, I'm just going to have to disappear in 30 to 60 minute stretches until these bad calorie times are over.
4) Desert once a week usually on Saturday or Sunday after a long ride to keep the calories balanced right (negative).
5) Any workout 1 hour or less is a water only affair.
6) This one is going to hurt like a mother F er.... only one soda per week. My go to comfort beverage is a Mexican Coke made with real cane sugar. And if it's been a really awful day you can add some lime juice and a shot of 10 cane rum...... damn it's good. Don't get me started making Cuba Libre's for you, or you are in trouble. I have many different grades of run depending on how good a friends we are. Did I mention my boss love's a Cuba Libre?
7) Alcohol, oh gosh, this could really be hard depending on business trips. If I get sent to Russia I'm screwed. They hate sobriety. I'm going to limit myself to one drink per week typically a glass of really really good red wine. Again the quality of the wine depends on how good a friend we are, or if my father-in-law buys. His wine budget is probably bigger than my entire budget.
So I'm going all in, plugging in to EN and trying to make some friends and get some help. If you are a fellow guy or gal that is much bigger than you should be, I will be happy to help keep you on track too. Accountability does work.
So what say you, can I do it? Well if you all are encouraging enough and mean enough when needed, I think so.
I already know my first plateau weight. 214...... I'm going to need help getting over that hump. Then I imagine I will plateau again near 200..... and somewhere again below 190.... The first two pounds should be easy, after that it gets harder.
Oh and for anyone curious about the 3 seconds/mile per pound lost running metric. I can vouch for it 100%. Having gone from over 250 down to 205, tons of free speed. Just tons. I need to get to <185 to meet my goals for Austin. I also need to get to <175 to be able to be comfortable at IM TX next year. I did my first ever half at 220 (Austin 2012), and I don't ever want to do that again.</p>
And sadly being fat is one of the reasons I haven't been in a hurry to order my EN kit. No sense in getting a fatboy kit. I'm tempted to order a smaller size as motivation. It would give me something to shoot for, racing in it in October.
Comments
In my busy house, cooking is pretty basic so it's easier to control what goes into the meal. I use some of the recipes in Allen Lim's Feed Zone. But, most of the things I prepare are very much a low prep kind of meal.
As far as controlling what I get during the day, I try to really load up on veggies during the first half of the day to keep me 'full'. Nuts and cheese do the trick, too. Eat all day long to keep from getting to that starving mark.
But, I still come home sometimes to chaos and if there's a pizza on the counter, I can kill that quick. 8-10 pieces is not unheard of, in one sitting, too. Not proud of it, but it happens and I just move on. First key is the awareness of the stress eating. Second is the action to get away. Quick short jog or pushups or walk the dog or work on that home project. Just minimize time available to eat. Drink lots of water, too, during these moments.
This is stuff you know. But, I wanted you to hear that I know where you're coming from.
BUT!!!! 40lbs in 20wks for an active guy, athletic, is too much too fast. IMO. 2lbs per week? When you're upping your training and you need to stay fueled? Yeeeeshhhh. Be patient, stretch it out. 1/2lb to 1lb per week is disciplined, and realistic. Would probably help groove better habits for the long haul as opposed to desperate fasting that is intended to dump numbers on a scale.
If you're in this for the long haul, chip away at the pounds. Address the actions needed to reel in the stress eating and let the training do it's thing. You will lose 40 lbs. Don't let the timing of that (this year or next) decide success or fail for the year. Think long term.
Let's talk about the practical side of day to day eating and weight loss. For us food is Fuel. You have to fuel your engine or it doesn't work. You have a large amount of energy expenditure coming up to train for your ironman. Try and find the body composition challenge group that just stopped last week. There's some great information in there about calories and lean body mass. 1 pound per week is sustainable for most people. More than that and your setting yourself up for poor performance and injury. Weight loss is an on going, slow process. This is not the place for rabbit like behavior.
Next, you said there is a kitchen next to your office. Why aren't you using it? Store food you want to eat in there. i.e fruit, yogurt, chocolate milk etc. Ready to grab for your mid morning crash or when there's cake. I always bring my own food and eat only my own food. My co-workers understand the why. They don't take offence. In fact they are starting to enjoy rooting me on.
Eating with your family. There is nothing wrong with eating good food or wine. Make an educated mindful choice that today I will be having a large family meal. Once a week is not going to hurt your over all plan. It may help you enjoy the meal more because it's a treat and make you more disciplined the rest of the week.
My Fitness Pal is great. Just don't fall into the trap of " I have 1500 calories burned today so I can eat that cookie." Wrong. Go have a carrot.
When you report we would like your weight as well as your waist measurement please. Come up with a plan ahead food snacks for at work. Sounds like a good place to start. You can do this. We will help.
You got this....
Carla
Hey Anthony,
Ya gotta log your diet. See this blog post. This system works for me and others, but the key is to start it early enough so that you can progress along a sensible 1-1.5lb per week weight loss. 2lb is too much, my dog starts to look like a pork chop by around Wednesday. Mmmm...pork chops...
First, let me share one of my favorite sayings; you can't outrun your fork!
Second, I agree with Coach. At the end of the day, if weight's your concern, you're far better off spending time in your kitchen with a pen writing a log, than time pounding the pavement. It really does work! Truth be told, unless you make a living through exercise, for the average Joe or Jane, exercise is likely responsible for—at most—20 to 25 percent of their weight, leaving diet responsible for the lion's share.
Set yourself up for making the right choices, pack healthy snacks. More importantly, set a time on when you’re going to eat them. For example, breakfast at 7am, snack at 9:30, snack at 11:00 set the stage for a light lunch, snack at 3pm sets the stage for a light dinner. Your mantra should be - plan what to eat and eat before I’m hungry.
I also agree that 2 lbs a week is very aggressive. Let's say the majority is correct and I can only drop 1 to 1.5 lbs per week. Honestly, that is still a huge win. I would still be racing at my lightest weight ever on Oct 26th if that's the case. I will also be well on my way to my goal of <175 for IM TX next year. I know losses will be easier at first too and really slow down once I get my body composition to something more normal. <br /> <br /> I'm not going to report a waist size. I will report a +/- on my current size though, how is that? <br /> <br /> I'm wearing a belt right now and I'm up 2 holes from last year which ain't good. I have one hole to grow into or 3 holes to lose into. I'd like to reach the final hole on this belt and need a new one. <br /> <br /> I am logging my food. I will also avoid the "oh I have extra calories let's have XXXX sweet trap" too. I like that one actually. I think I may have actually rationalized something that silly once or twice in the past. <br /> <br /> I will report back next Monday with a new weight and a +/- on the weight. <br /> <br /> And I do keep healthy foods and my lunch in the fridge by my office. The problems are client luncheons, cake days, donut days (never know who or when those happen) and the holiday season. Any free foods go right outside my office door where I have to smell and or see them. I may take a photo and post it so you guys can see what I'm up against. It can be awful. <br /> <br />
I picked up "Racing Weight" by Matt Fitzgerald last week, and there seems to be some good stuff in there. The big takeaway for me so far was one simple rule--if you're not hungry at your current meal, you ate too much at the one preceding it. if you're not hungry at lunch, then you ate too much at breakfast. This is a big lifestyle change, and it's not easy. And there are no donuts in my office.
Another trick that I used that really helped is to eat dinner off of a salad plate, not a "main course" plate. Even if I go back for seconds, it's still not as much as our regular dishes. I am getting back into this now, and it's a good means for portion control. According to Fitzgerald's formula, you calculate your "muscle and bone" weight (e.g. 0 percent fat) and then add on from there to arrive at your ideal race weight. Mine would be approximately 19 lbs from where I am now. I expect to get w/in 5 pounds of that before race day.
The greatest book I ever read about food was about the psychology of food and how humans perceive and eat food. It is called "Mindless Eating." It is the best book. It helped me a lot, but I still find I have to count calories and do the math. Or I can count points like Matt F. says in Racing Weight. I have to do the math if I really want to lose.
I've already lost a bit and am feeling less bloated counting calories for 3 days. I will post an official update on Monday, but so far things are going in the right direction. I haven't had to dodge any culinary bullets this week yet though. Saturday will be the toughest. We have tickets to the baseball game and we are meeting friends for dinner at a Mediterranean restaurant. At least there are lots of good choices at the restaurant. I will have to watch the pita bread though. I need to eat a good lunch before going to the ballpark or something bad will happen there too.
I also find myself having to eat out from time to time for a social/family gathering and I just do my best to make a healthy choice. I try to pick something that has protein, veggies, and simple carbs, but I don't sweat it too much if I can't find something perfect.
As for a weekly treat of having a coke or something I would advise against this. Having the treat in the house is a huge temptation and I think you will find yourself always thinking about it. If you just cut that stuff out cold turkey it will suck for the first few weeks but before long you won't crave it anymore.
We cut all the treats out of the house. When some wonderful event calls for a treat we go out for it. One it controls the portion size and it's more of an event for the rewardee. The only treat we have in the house is popsicles, i do have a kid, and popcorn.
This thread is nice and all, but pretty much useless without a pic of Anthony at the office, in a Speedo, double fisting a Krispy Kreme and a Ding Dong.
If not for me, do it for the Laydeez...
The Krispy Kreme challenge is on my bucket list: http://www.krispykremechallenge.com/
I think I could totally eat 12 of them no problem!
Anthony is refusing to pony up a waist measurement. Soooooo ......... a speedo pic. is definitely in order.
Krispy Kreme and PBR: two great tastes that taste great together
OMG OMG OMG LOL.
Where's the speedo? That's awesome coach!
@ rich -
What the hell? put a white helmet on and I'd swear you're a stormtrooper at happy hour.
I'm still stuck on ''I'm just not built to be that light."
you gotta drop that! you're goal now is not to become a little jackrabbit but to become a lean & strong bada$$. Think healthy and strong, not ''FAIL'' cuz I'll never be 155lbs.
Before Craig Alexander won his last Hawaii IM, he was heavier than he had been in previous years. When asked about it, he said he trained hard, ate appropriately, recovered well and let the numbers and the body shape just happen. Even though he was slightly heavier than what others would recommend, he was stronger and more durable than ever. I try to remember this when I'm feeling run down and, at the same time, aware that I've been under fueling, maybe in a calorie hole.
My point is... don't worry about the genetics and how you were built. Go beast mode.
(it'll be another topic for another thread, but using IM training off and on for a few years to lean up and then going back to Oly's as a stronger, wiser, soul crusher could be a lot of fun, too)
Okay, update. I took a lot of measurements on Thursday. I will update them eventually, but not weekly. I haven't taken any before photos, but may and will probably do an after photo.
Anyway as of this morning (I will always weigh on Monday morning on my Tanita scale), I was exactly 220.0. For a brief moment 219 flickered but it went away and stopped at 220.0. Today also starts week 1 of my HIM plan for Austin. I can't do all of the running yet thanks to my knee, but I will do what I can. I will also get an extra swim session every week as I am taking lessons from my master's coach. Counting calories is working again combined with exercise. I know I have to do both in order to lose weight.
For those worried this was water weight etc, worry but we will know next week. I know it's not because my pants fit a bit better and I'm feeling less bloat this week, which is also probably from eating better as much as anything.
To those wanting to scare off female members by seeing my partially nude photos eating ding dongs and Krispy Kremes, while funny, I don't think it's a good idea. My wife has to look at me, feel sorry for her and move on.
While this week was good, it's just a drop in a very large bucket and I have a long way to go still. Heck I have a long way to go to get back where I was in April of 2013. Passing that is going to feel great. Breaking through 200 is going to feel best. But being able to swim bike and run much closer to my utmost potential is going to be the best of all.
For anyone interested, I am using MyFitnessPal to count calories, but I am using the heartrate output from my Polar V800 to more accurately assess how many are burned during exercise. I need to update my gear post on the V800. I love it so far with one glaring issue that should be resolved by September.
How have you been the last two weeks? Any updates?
As of this morning, I am down to 218.2 lbs. This is 2 lbs short of my optimitic goal but in line with what the majority feel is reasonable and safe. I'm okay with it since I had a pretty good bike crash on the 11th, one day after my last post. I have a nice case of road rash on my left leg. Speaking of which, why isn't there a road rash treatment topic in the medical forum? I looked back about a dozen pages, and the search function didn't help at all.
I have photos of my leg on day 1, 2, 3, 5, 8 etc. I thought of posting a road rash thread of my own in the medical help forum. To add insult to injury the left knee and shin got banged up, which is the same leg I'm having knee cartilage issues with according to my ortho. So basically I haven't gotten in much training at all. Saturday was my first day back. I went on a nice 20 mile leisurely ride with my wife to test things out. Rain prevented a repeat yesterday. It's going to be a while before I'm back in the pool for sanitary reasons, and I haven't tried running with this yet. Besides my knee can probably use more running rest. I have been walking the dogs and kiddo every evening. I'm going to bike 4 times this week. I have a 100km ride on Saturday which I signed up for a long time ago. While not really ready for it, I'm going and will just keep the pace down. I'm going to ride the entire 100km without getting out of the saddle except to refill water bottles. I'm taking my own nutrition. So hopefully next Monday I will be around 216.
Again Jonathan, thank you very much for keeping me honest. I need it.
I will post my initial and intermediate measurements when I hit 200# or so. I will also update with final measurements early next year or right around the time of IMTX. Actually I will update with initial and intermediate measurements right before Austin 70.3, and I will update with final right before IMTX. I won't cheat and do post race weight and measurements
The trick -for me- is this:
You want to look/feel like an Athlete? Then you have to Act like an Athlete-FIRST.
So...during the week 'pretend' you eat for performance. Food as fuel. Vitamins and Macro nutrients....energy and repair. If it tastes good-Bonus. (that is now secondary consideration)
Do not underestimate the power of the “as if” principle.
Train As If you were hard core. Eat As If your livelihood depended on your performance. See yourself As If you were one of those lean & mean Pro/Age group leader Triathletes from magazines etc.
Once you ‘fake it” long enough….the thoughts and behaviors soon become natural. It becomes incongruent to eat those things you know you shouldn’t…not because you “know better” or “trying to eat healthy”….its just how you roll. (create a mental Avatar…a stereotyped role model persona….some mix of Hollywood and Ironman Icons…. When given a choice of behaviors….”what would (James) Bond do? What would Crowie do?”
I did this with smoking. Stopped being a ‘smoker trying to quit’ and “became” a non-smoker in AN INSTANT. Even to the point of saying to friends who I smoked with a day before, saying to them when they asked if they could bum a light…”sorry I don’t carry a lighter…why should I? I don’t smoke.”
You’ll get push back. A LOT. People do not like change. They want you to remain exactly where they have pegged you. Don’t acknowledge them. ….”I don’t eat doughnuts”…. (not IM on a diet). Big difference.
Oh, and an image of Self I still keep for special nights out with the wife….the adventurous foodie with a taste for fine wine and a good martini. –All things in moderation-especially moderation. Keeps my “darkside” satisfied. 90/10 rule
Good Luck!
So by reading your post, i have started (really just started) to think about what i am eating. Salads at lunch and a reasonable breakfast. Then maybe something a little bit healthier for dinner...
Oh and right now there are two boxes of donuts on the table right outside my office..... so far I've been a rock.