(NEW) Drop a Ton Challenge

[Robot Monkey]

Okay, we're still tallying the results of our LCVG Drop 8 Tons Contest, but that won't stop us from starting a new challenge.

 

This will run until April Fool's Day in order to give us three full months to meet our goals. Speaking of which, I'll be more reasonable this time around and say I'm in for 10 pounds.

 

Post your goals and I'll update this first post.

 

The Participants:

 

10 Robot Monkey

09 Merlot

20 Chris the Rock

15 cane corso

30 Zathras

15 Carlucci

10 Ryan FB

20 shine5555

--------------------

119 POUNDS TOTAL

[cane corso]

Put me in for 15.

[Zathras]

Yeah count me in for 15 myself.

[Carlucci]

I had a monstrous setback. Back over 200.

 

They changed our Rx plan last year, so now my arthritis meds (Enbrel) cost about $200 a month. (which actually is a "bargain" because it really costs $2000 a month, i'm paying 10%) So, on my own, I stretched out the dosage last year, and it was working fine. When I finally ran out (this was about the time of my Mexico vacation), I still felt fine. I confessed everything to the doc, and said that my results were definitely atypical and that my arthritis might be in remission.

 

Then came work stress with Katrina and Rita hurricanes. Then came my dad's heart attack. Then the arthritis came back with a fury. I couldn't even walk some days last month. Got back to the doc, and he said well, I guess it just took the meds a really long time to wear off.

 

Long story short, I'm a stress eater, and all the events in the last quarter caused me to allow myself to balloon up again.

 

But now I'm back on my meds, knees are feeling good but not great yet. I'm going to give it another few more weeks to kick in, and then I'll resume my physical workout regimen. I'll post some before/after pics of my knees later and you guys will freak.

 

Put me down for 15.

 

Carlos.

[Robot Monkey]

Carlos, does it help to have snacks nearby that won't be as damaging as Taco Bell, potato chips or whatever?

 

I'm a big fan of Pop Secret "100 Calorie Pop" snack-size microwave popcorn. You get 5 1/2 cups for, well, 100 calories. Sometimes I use some ranch-flavored popcorn seasoning that is 2 calories per 1/4 teaspoon.

 

I decided to take time off from my work-outs and to relax my diet a little bit over the holidays. I found that by continuing to eat frequently (5 meals a day) and keeping good stuff nearby, I only put on -- well, I didn't put on anything. I might've even lost a pound.

[Ryan FB]

Put me down for 10. Official starting weigh-in from this morning was 219.8.

[Robot Monkey]

Hey, if only seven of us are playing, I'll unpin this tomorrow.

[Zathras]

Well I've been really changing my lifestyle to get in shape and it is going well. I'm actually going to double my goal here to 30lbs since I'm almost at my goal already (I'm down 12).

 

I started doing "Body for Life" which is basically daily exercise and eating 6 smaller very low fat meals a day.

 

I did that for about a week and while I liked the exercise the book was a little unclear on a lot of the portions of the diet and it was a little strict to stay with forever. I want this to be a permanent change so I'm doing the exercise and just eating smaller healthier meals and snacking on fruit halfway between meals.

[shine5555]

Put me down for 20

 

I am now Travel for work and have found free food, to be evil. Neeed to start working out in the Hotel Workout rooms

[Chris The Rock]

I started the year at 218, down to 212 as of Saturday. Hopefully down one or two more today.

[Chris The Rock]

Any updates from anyone?

I was down to 209.6, ~9-10 pounds away from my official goal, though I'm going to press on and lose another 10 to 15 pounds, finishing somewhere between 180 and 185, depending on what size my waist ends up and if I'm able to do it all by April.

 

To help myself lose this last bit, I've decided to do the 2 day 'take-off' program that LA Weight Loss offers, where you eat very little, drink a ton of water, and 4 glasses of this Colon-Blow cocktail to flush out your system. (It's not that bad, just concentrated fruit juice). My weight loss slowed way down in January, but I expected it, and I'm pretty sure I replaced fat with muscle since I've been working out and my waist continues to shrink (my wife actually said 'wow' when I tried on a pair of size 36 pants).

 

The bad part is that my clothes are almost all officially Too Big, and I want to lose even more, so I don't want to stock up on clothes quite yet.

 

Any recommendations on places to shop? I got a couple things at the Nordstrom Rack (like a Ross or TJ Maxx, except with higher-end stuff), but I want to shop around. One thing's for sure, I can't replace my whole wardrobe paying full retail price.

[Bruce B]

Any updates from anyone?

I was down to 209.6' date=' ~9-10 pounds away from my official goal, though I'm going to press on and lose another 10 to 15 pounds, finishing somewhere between 180 and 185, depending on what size my waist ends up and if I'm able to do it all by April.

 

To help myself lose this last bit, I've decided to do the 2 day 'take-off' program that LA Weight Loss offers, where you eat very little, drink a ton of water, and 4 glasses of this Colon-Blow cocktail to flush out your system. (It's not that bad, just concentrated fruit juice). My weight loss slowed way down in January, but I expected it, and I'm pretty sure I replaced fat with muscle since I've been working out and my waist continues to shrink (my wife actually said 'wow' when I tried on a pair of size 36 pants).

 

The bad part is that my clothes are almost all officially Too Big, and I want to lose even more, so I don't want to stock up on clothes quite yet.

 

Any recommendations on places to shop? I got a couple things at the Nordstrom Rack (like a Ross or TJ Maxx, except with higher-end stuff), but I want to shop around. One thing's for sure, I can't replace my whole wardrobe paying full retail price.[/quote']

 

 

Great job Chris! As I've mentioned before, for one throw away or give away your old clothes. Do NOT keep them in your closet because if you start to put the weight back on its too easy to just go in your closet and grab the "fat" pants.

Another thing I've learned, seeing that I lost 90 lbs about 9 years ago, and this may sound silly, but when you have dinner, dont eat in sweatpants or anything elasticized. It gives you a false sense of security. If you wear more restrictive clothing, it helps to stop you from overeating.

Good luck with the rest of your diet. I think also what helps me is when I lost all my weight I got so many compliments and I vowed to never be that guy who people say after you walk by" he was looking so good, but he put all the weight back on".

[Carlucci]

Ok, I'm back in again. Finally. I've already lost 16 pounds, back down to 200 from the heaviest I ever was at 216. I've been at it for 1 month now, but I wanted to make sure I had the beginnings of good habits before I bragged here.

 

I went ahead and purchased the e-book from http://www.burnthefat.com/, as someone (wish I could find the thread so I could thank him) recommended in another thread. It has lots of common-sense and no-nonsense advice, which is just what I needed to read. I bought the cheapy calipers he recommends from ebay for $9, and I've just started using them.

 

I quit french-fries (and all other fried foods) cold turkey. Ironically, I eat a lot of cold turkey.

 

I'm burning at least 350 calories per day on cardio, and doing some weight training each day too. I actually look forward to both. I want to get a heart-rate monitor, so I can know that I'm hitting my target heart-rate each day. If anyone has recommendations for a good heart-rate monitor, I'd love to hear. I've got my eye on this one.

 

I'm eating the six meals a day as recommended. Although I still feel I"m putting too much into dinnertime (still old-fashioned and like the family sit-down meals). I also haven't got the ratio of lean proteins and carbs just right yet, but I'm tweaking the menu to get right.

 

I've gone 3 weeks without any alcohol at all. Tom V, in the ebook, scared me straight on that, plus I was looking forward to my next drink a little too much, so I wanted to prove it to myself.

 

The hardest part of it all is counting calories, which is tough but my wife is helping with. The good news is on the plan from BTFFTM, he "lets" you have a lot more calories than many other diets seem to.

 

I'll keep you posted as I go. No vacation scheduled this year to knock me off track, so I have that going for me, which is nice.

 

 

Carlos.

[Bassmasa]

Ok, I'm back in again. Finally. I've already lost 16 pounds, back down to 200 from the heaviest I ever was at 216. I've been at it for 1 month now, but I wanted to make sure I had the beginnings of good habits before I bragged here.

 

That's awesome. Compared to the obstacles you have to overcome, I'm simply just a lazy moron.

 

I missed this thread back in January, but I would have joined. Jan. 1, at my peak (or is it a valley), I was 215, now I'm at 180-185. I realized that if I couldn't keep up with my 10 month old son now, there's no way I could really be a fun Dad in a few years when I really want to be active with him.

 

I dieted pretty hard from Jan - April. No real plan, just quit snacking and ate two really large meals for lunch and dinner. After 8:00 pm is my prime snacking time, so it was tough, but I got used to it after a while. I haven't been watching my diet since then. Hardest part--giving up Cokes. Don't get me started...

 

The real benefit for me has been running. I HATE lifting weights, but always forced myself to when I'd try to get back in shape in the past. I would inevitably dread going to gym and quit. So, this time, I figured that I would do what I enjoy and screw everything else. It has worked fantastically. I started just walking, now I'm running up to 4 miles per run 3-4 times per week. Amazing how exercising becomes enjoyable so fast, I'd do more if it wasn't for my shin splints.

 

My goal is 170 and I could get there quickly if I started to really watch my food intake again, which I plan to do in August.

 

If anyone is considering taking the plunge or wavering on their committment, don't. I feel so much better and it's great to get comments from people on something other than my stunning good looks My cholesterol dropped from 215 to 130 and that wasn't even one of my goals, it just happened. It's well worth the effort.

[Ryan FB]

I got lazy and stopped paying attention and exercising, and went back up to 224. I decided to start doing something about it three weeks ago and have been walking 2.5-3.5 miles every other day, stepped up to every day in the last week. I'm tempted to shop around for an elliptical for home, since I'd be able to do more running instead without the high-impact side effects and there's no way I can get to the gym every day.

[ChrisBardon]

Saw this thread earlier in the year, but never really wanted to commit to anything. I keep waffling between wanting to drop some weight and not really caring about it all that much. Started doing the gym 3x a week 2 years ago, and no matter what I still haven't really dropped much weight. I'm at around 245 now, and that seems to be about the limit. I'm still doing 3 trips to the gym a week (3 day split on weights plus 45 mins of cardio afterwards), and not seing much improvement. I was diagnosed with moderate sleep apnea a couple months ago though, and one of the suggestions from the doctor was top drop some weight.

 

Hardest part--giving up Cokes. Don't get me started...

 

I hear you there-people have been trying to get me to quit coke for years. I'm down to 2 or 3 a day though, which is definitely a start...

[Carlucci]

I hear you there-people have been trying to get me to quit coke for years. I'm down to 2 or 3 a day though, which is definitely a start...

 

Dudes, If you haven't given Coke Zero a chance, do so now. I can't stand Diet Coke, and could never bring myself to drink it. But once Coke Zero came out, I liked it immediately. Zero Aftertaste, Zero Calories. I have been drinking a whole bunch of water, but I still have 1 or 2 coke zeroes a day. That's 300 less (empty) calories right there. The main drawback for me is that it's not available at restaurants, so I have to choose just plain old water when dining out.

 

Plus it's "Scientifically formulated for chilling". Whatever that means. But it just sounds cool.

 

 

I went ahead and bought a heart-rate monitor yesterday. I splurged, transferring some funds out of my HDTV savings. I figured it's better to buy something that promotes better health BEFORE I buy something that promotes couch-potato-itis. Anyway, I bought a Polar F-11. It's got great features and will calculate calories burned, track your progress, and can even upload to their website for long-term charting. It's really cool, for $150.

 

 

Carlos.

[Josh]

Carlos makes some excellent points, and I think it's important to reiterate his usage of the term "empty calories" - those things are your enemies. Coke, beer, white rice, white bread - they all have alternatives that at the very least get you something out of the deal.

 

Also, a body fat caliper is a fun, more useful way to judge where you're at. Body weight alone tells very little about your lean body mass.

[ChrisBardon]

Dudes, If you haven't given Coke Zero a chance, do so now.

 

Thanks for the recommendation-I picked up a case last night on the way home to give it a shot. I have to say that I'm pretty impressed-this is the closest appriximation to real coke that I've tasted. I think that zero aftertaste is a little unfair though-there is still an aspartame aftertaste as with any diet drink, but it's not near as strong as with any of the diet coke varieties. I'm going to try switching though-it may not be perfect, but given that it's zero calories instead of 160, there are certainly some benefits.

[Robot Monkey]

Here are some quick observations:

 

1. I have a Polar F11. Thetracking features are pretty awesome. But if I had to do it again, I'd get a cheaper, more basic model. Once I learned to identify my heart rate (using the F11 for a while), the other stuff became too time consuming to use.

 

2. I shake up my training routine every couple of months.

 

3. I stopped doing splits. When I lift 3 times a week, doing splits means that upper or lower body only gets worked out once a week. Doing the full body gets it done 3 times a week.

 

4. For someone completely ignorant of modern, empirical weight-lifting (and in my case ignorant of lifting at all), I strongly recommend "The New Rules of Lifting" by Schuler and Cosgrove.

 

5. Weigh youself EVERY DAY.

 

6. Supplements: Besides a multivitamin, I take an Omega-3 fish oil capsule and two green tea extract capsules (in the afternoon). I also take a greens supplement on days that I didn't get enough fruits & veggies.

 

7. I make sure that I have about 2 servings of dietary calcium a day, in the form of yogurt, cottage cheese and/or low-fat cheese sticks.

 

8. I don't do splits anymore. If you work out 3 times a week, doing splits mean that you only work out upper or lower body once a week. Full-body training lets me hit everything three times a week.

 

9. I shake up my routine every month or two.

 

All this means that even though I've been in a very non-aggressive training program lately, I haven't gained a pound. I'm still down 20 pounds since last year and I retained all the muscle I've packed on since then (although it's still buried under another 20 lbs of fat that I need to lose ). Keep in mind that I'm opening a restaurant soon, and my diet has been WA-A-AY less than ideal. That's a huge win in my book.

[Solitice]

I was diagnosed with moderate sleep apnea a couple months ago though

 

Yeah I have sleep apnea as well. Unfortunately one of the side effects is that your metabolism goes down the toilet and your blood pressure will go up. Makes it very difficult to loose that weight instead of gaining more, in my case I gained 40lbs before I started to treat my sleep apnea. If you don't have a CPAP machine yet I highly recommend getting one, they help a lot.

[Chris The Rock]

Congrats on all the progress, guys!

 

I finished my weight loss after reaching 198 (-52 pounds), and have decided that instead of trying to drive my weight down to 185, I'd amp up my weightlifting and try to stay in the 200 - 205 range. At some point, I'll probably decide to try to drop 10 more pounds or so, but I'm really enjoying where I'm at. I don't have to suck in my gut, my clothes all fit,

and I generally feel much healthier than ever before.

I love weight training and I've come to enjoy running. At first, I enjoyed "being done" with a run, but now, I actually enjoy doing it, mainly because it doesn't hurt so badly anymore. When I can't run because of ankle problems (I seem to sprain my ankles all the time while hiking), I use the stairmaster at the gym 30 minutes at a time.

[Josh]

I don't do splits anymore. If you work out 3 times a week, doing splits mean that you only work out upper or lower body once a week. Full-body training lets me hit everything three times a week.

 

You said this twice (along with shaking up your routine), so you clearly believe in it.

 

Curious, though - much evidence has been shown that for lifting, you only need to hit each once a week (as long as you're not totally dormant otherwise, obviously). I do a 3-day split: back/biceps, chest/triceps, legs/shoulders, and it works pretty well.

 

I have, however, been curious about a full-body routine for a while, especially since it has been tough with a very busy summer to be sure I get into the gym 3 days a week PLUS my 2 days-a-week martial arts (which I never miss, so the gym visits sometimes drop to 1 or 2 times a week). I end up with an unfinished cycle, leaving me to either finish it on Monday or start again.

 

Anyway, can you give me a rundown of what you're doing? Do you just do bench, squats, deadlifts? All compound?

[ChrisBardon]

If you don't have a CPAP machine yet I highly recommend getting one, they help a lot.

 

Actually, I decided to skip that and get the surgery instead. They're basically just going to cut some soft pallete tissue out to make more room in my airway (since the problem was airway constriction due to an overbite and excess tissue). They said it won't solve the problem forever, but that it'll be a good 15-20 year fix, and for now, I'd rather have that than have to sleep with a machine on every night... Besides, with the Canadian medical system, it's actually cheaper (since the surgery is 100% covered, and CPAP isn't).

 

I do a 3-day split: back/biceps, chest/triceps, legs/shoulders, and it works pretty well.

 

I actually had a trainer set me up, and he got me to move from full body to a 3 day split (Shoulders/arms, back/chest, and legs). Doesn't take near as long as the full body either, which is good, cause I hate spending time at the gym.

[Robot Monkey]

You said this twice (along with shaking up your routine), so you clearly believe in it.

 

Sorry, I'm pretty discombobulated these days.

 

What you say about the current research is my understanding as well. Once a week is fine. The only thing is, it's my understanding that once a week is all that's necessary for maintain your muscle, but building is more efficient more than once a week. Keep in mind, though, that what I know is from a lot of recent reading and talking with people; I definitely have no special knowledge, so I could be wrong. A lot of people I know have probably forgotten more about training than I'll ever know.

 

I'm absolutely sold on the need to shake up the routine periodically, though, and I'll fight any man that says otherwise. (I'm also in the mood to use smileys today, it seems).

 

Right now, I'm kinda in a light maintenance mode. And I'm not sure about the proper names, but I do squats, lunges, calf raises, overhead press, bent over rows (?), side dumbbell raises, sit ups and sometimes chest press and overhead tricep extension. I pair an upper body exercise with lower body and do both, alternating, as one big set (superset?). I wait one minute and then go on to the next pair.

 

I'm in New Orleans for a while, though, and I'm doing nothing right now except occassional light runs (no gym).