JCC 2018 Fitness Goals

Checking in after a week. Pretty good first week. Hit 5x30 on exercise last week. Zero deviation from my nutritional lifestyle. Zero soda. Tracked the mood everyday on Daylio - 2 bad, 2 meh, 2 rad, and 1 good. The two days rated as "rad" both had reading and extended time with my children, so ... you tell me if that's correlation or causation.

At my annual physical in October, I weighed in at 230 lbs, a significant gain from my "adult best" of 207. This morning, on my Aria, I weighed in at 214.5. Getting there.

 

I've got to get back into keeping clear of the sugary stuff and excess carbs as past experience has shown my body really doesn't handle them very well. Get back to eating less processed stuff, keep away from soda in favor for more water, and get back to the gym. Now that the gym would be no pressure (no weekly trainer trying to kill me), I'll more readily hang out there and do my thing.

I've done it before, which reversed my course when I was on the edge of going T2 diabetic, dropped weight, and allowed me to get off of 1.5 meds. Got lazy and regained some of the weight, so fixing that will be the first goal. Keep it up (healthy lifestyle change) and hopefully I'll be able to someday get off of one more medication, if not both.

 

Having finished 2017 on a high note I feel like some baby steps are appropriate for '18:

- run at least twice a week with the shiba pup. Not trying to kill myself with long distances, but just keeping the engine from getting rusty.
- conscious effort to include more fruits/vegetables in my diet

 

As a secondary effort to help my fitness goals, I'm also striving to make and eat more - and new, different - soups this year. Because a) it's easy to get plenty of good nutritional value in a soup b) it's typically a lighter meal calorically and c) it typically helps stretch the food budget, too.

My previous go-to soups have been a white-bean minestrone with Collard Greens and a Spinach Florentine.

So far this year, we've tried two new soups, both coming off fantastic. The first was a Sweet Potato and Chickpea soup that I randomly found a recipe for on the back of a carton of Vegetable Broth. The second was a recommendation from a friend - Spinach and White Bean Soup.

Anyone got some killer soup recipes? Especially Vegetarian ones (or if not vegetarian, that avoid red meat?)

 

I've eaten like crap since Thanksgiving, hello stress! I gotta get it under control.

 

I have been going to the gym fairly regularly since August or so, mainly focusing on my shoulder rehab. Now that there is little to no pain on most shoulder routines, I started a guided 12 week plan through an app called BodySpace yesterday. And boy did I find muscles I didn't know existed.

 

Well, I timed this juice cleanse real well (two appointments tomorrow and Saturday where I have to eat before or during) - looks like I'll get 36 hours out of it instead of 3 days, and just drink the rest over Saturday p.m. or so.

 

My cold has my health plans on hold to I get over this. Seems like half our school has it. Blah!

Hope to start back slowly at the gym this weekend. Having Monday off will help. *fingers crossed*

 

Take your time and listen to your body. While your brain might insist you can do more, over doing it can delay your progress quite a bit. Hope you get to feeling better soon.

Focusing mainly on the eating habits right now, myself. Get myself back to a point where I know I can more readily ignore bad food choices and get enough water each day. Water weight is starting to come off, so yay! Once that's stabilized (the food bit), then I want to start reincorporating going regularly to the gym.

Mmmm....soup sounds really good right now. I sometimes cook up cabbage and throw a bunch of stuff in with it. In the end, it turns out more like a soup than a plain side dish. Usually I'll add sausage and chicken as the protein, but have also done pulled pork as well.

 

First business trip of the year starts today. It's a challenge to eat well on the road - to both pick good options, and contain myself with massive portion sizes. Plus, finding a way to be motivated to go to the hotel fitness center after slogging through meetings can be an additional challenge.

Wish me luck!

 

Good luck!

You're gonna need it...

 

Started my fruit diet and veggies cleanse this morning. Typically I wait for Lent to start but I am not working out at all due to still being under the weather so I figure it be a good time to start this now and get a head start on it. I might do a shorter cleanse diet starting Ash Wednesday as well. The Super bowl and particularly Fat Tuesday usually kicks my butt. Paczkis are like the most amazing thing ever and I cannot help but eat a couple....or more!

@Maulfly

Yeah thanks typically I am able to shake stuff pretty easily but this thing is just lingering. Last night I fell asleep right after The Bachelor (my wife likes it so I watch it just to be a good sport!) which was 9 PM and didn’t wake up until pass 6 AM (I am typically up at 4:40 AM to be at the gym by 5 AM or 5:40 AM) so I got in about nine hours of sleep and quite frankly could slept a lot longer then that. I think my body really needs just to sleep in but between work and the kids, it is just not possible right now. I might tell my wife if this still lingering come Saturday then I staying the day in bed and trying to sleep it off.

One good thing to come out of this is I started drinking hot water now instead of coffee and it’s really helped me not drinking coffee. I heard its supposed to help with weight loss but I think that is not really true other then you are drinking water all day which tends to help you lose weight since you don’t get as hungry.

 

Good luck!
Whatever type of diet you do, try to keep things simple while you're on the trip. If possible, pre-pack some allowable snacks that you like as a go-to if you find yourself tempted. Go ahead and plan out in your head how you'll stick to smaller portion sizes. Will you base it on the size of the plate you use and be sure that at least 1/3 of the plate is veggies? Will you eat pre-packaged foods and only eat one package/serving?

Does the hotel have a pool or is in a nice area? If the gym doesn't strike your fancy, what about a swim or an exploratory walk on your way back from all the meetings?

What you eat is a big part of weight management, so getting a jump on it shouldn't be anything but helpful (as long as you're not over restricting while your body is trying to essentially heal itself).
Sleep is when the body repairs itself. It's important for children and babies to get their rest as that's when a lot of the growth and development occur. I'd imagine it would be similar for anyone when they're fighting off a bug. Hope you feel better soon.

 

No recovery day for your legs?

 

How long are your regular runs? Four miles?

 

I was jus curious because my calves become very tender to the touch if I run more than 5 days in a row. But I do have some bone issues, and I do drink more alcohol than I should. You are obviously holding up better than I am.

 

Mmm... Planks... The bane of my existence when I had a trainer. And lunging steps.... Ok, pretty much anything that pits me against gravity.

 

That's actually exactly what I did. Today, while my peers snacked on cookies, I ate baby carrots.

Got to the fitness center last night, but couldn't get out of bed on time this morning. Controlled portions just fine. one trip down ...

 

There you go!

It's all one step at a time, one day at a time...sometimes one minute at a time. You got to the fitness center more than you might've thought you would, so that's a victory. Even better, you had a strategy to fight temptations to stay on track AND you controlled your portions! That's no small thing, even if it seems it.

Just keep building on your victories.

 

3 years ago I made a commitment that I was going to get in better shape and drop some weight, with the end goal of doing something stupid and running the Dopey Challenge at Disneyworld in 2016. That year I ran my first 10k, first half marathon, and lost 30 pounds. I ran and finished(!) the Dopey Challenge and over the next 2 years put all the weight back on because I didnt stick with it. Now I'm itching to get back to it, but have to wait until my appointment with a pain specialist this Wednesday to see what the issue is with the constant pain in my lower back.

Plan right now is do what I can (at least I can walk and maybe a little run/walk) until that gets figured out, then push to do a local 5k, 10k, and the Star Wars Virtual Half Marathon in the next 2 months. Plus, get back to the gym and work on my core, if approved by the doctor.

Need to lose the 30 I gained back, plus another 20-30.

I use a Garmin GPS watch, and the website it loads to, but I can also connect it to Strava. If there is enough interest, perhaps I could start a JC group for the runners/walkers to join?