35 Years old 5'8" 18st - Bugger!

Irjudge1

I am 35 years old married with two kids. I am over 18st and only 5'8". I will lose 2 stone over the next 4 months.

I want to lose weight because
(a) I want to be around fro my kids in 10,20,30 and 40 years time.
(b) I want to improve the quality of my day to day life.
(c) I want to look and feel better about myself.
(d) I want to able to go into a shop and choose jeans that I like as opposed to what stock is available in 40" waist 29" leg. (Not usually much to chose from).

This is not my first attempt at getting my weight under control but I am confident that I can do it this time. I am going to log my progress here on a weekly basis.

My plan is to attack my diet first of all.

My big problem is the crap I eat and the portions of food I eat.

Breakfast is generally good with a bowl of porridge in the morning with Orange juice. Lunch is a problem in that I generally miss it due to working through lunch. I will set aside a half hour each day as a minimum to sit down and eat.
Dinners need to change a bit but portion size is just way too big. I have a smaller dinner plate which I will start to use and will review the weekly shopping list to plan out dinners for the week.

My big problem is the crap I eat in the evening, biscuits, chocolate, crisps etc. I plan to substitute this with fruit but also to get up off my ass and do something other than sitting in front of the TV most evenings.

Exercise is the second part of my grand plan. I am a member of a gym but have been using it too infrequently and with no regular training schedule. I will go to the gym at least 3 times a week. I plan to use a mixture of cardio 1/2 hour/session and light weights. I am not sure yet how to build in the weights i.e. exercises or reps, the time it will take is key for me to be able to stick to this. I guess about 40mins will be all I will have available at each session.

I will also build more exercise into my daily routine. I have a bike for trips to the shops etc.

So here's to a new year and a new start:D

DublinWriter

Good for you.

Forget all the gym stuff. Go speed-walking and swimming. It really speeds up your metabolic rate.

Snacking is the devil. Also try and cut down on the carbs - white bread and chips are my worst enemies.

Mr. Skeffington

Fair play to you, its difficult but it can be done, im trying to get back in shape myself. Found this chaps site interesting:

http://blog.mattmecham.com/category/health-fitness/

Well keep us posted on how its going!

eclectichoney

WTG Irjudge Fair play to you for getting started. The first few weeks might be difficult but after that I find it just becomes a habit and is part of your lifestyle, so stick with it

The mix of weights and cardio looks good, as weights will probably help you lose weight the fastest.

Good luck

Pj!

Good luck mate. Yeah I think the first few weeks are always going to be the toughest.
The main thing I have always found is don't think it's all over if you slip up for a day or two. Your goal will still be there.

21stone

fair play man , im in a worse boat 21 stone but im starting a fresh and not like the old habit of a month after xmas , sticking to it

Racing Flat

Good on you and the best of luck. Stick at it. Went through similar myself 4 years ago, so it can be done. I left home to go to college at 18 weighing 10stone. When I finished 3 years later a friend asked me what I weighed. I told him 10stone - living with lads, not having a scales what did I know? He burst out laughing put me on the scales and I was 13stone. Shocked - it just snuck up on me. I thyought that playing soccer competetively 3 times a week would be enough, but my diet was too bad - eating too much and snacking bad food...So tried to lose it by going to gym, playing football, running but my problem was lack of consistency. The plan was to run or go to the gym 3 times a week, as well as soccer 2-3 times a week. While I did something every Monday, more often than not on the Wednesday session I'd lazily tell myself I'd do it Thursday instead and once Thursday came I'd think that it was nearly the weekend now, might as well start next week. This went on for years. When I hit 14stone I thought enoughs enough, I was getting a bit disgusted with myself and worried about where it might end (I was about 27, 5'9/10). So I thought the only way to get rid of the excess 3 stone would be to run regularly, and the only way I would do this would be by signing up for the marathon, telling people I was going to do it so I couldn't get out of it. Having done this (about a year before the marathon) I started running more regularly. I was motivated as I had a target but also by the fear that I may not do it after telling everyone but also that it might be unbelievably painful if I didn't get the training done. So I was just doing 2 or 3 runs a week initially, I'd have to stop and walk a lot, but stuck at it. I was gradually able to go further and further without stopping and with that I started to enjoy it more, so started to go more times every week and even gave up football so I could run more. The weight fell off at this stage and after about 6 months I was down to 11stone which is fine for me. Foodwise I naturally started to crave healthier foods so my diet improved probably due to the exercise.
Did the marathon and joined a running club, 3 years on I've never looked back. So, it can be done. Best of luck. Post regularly here for support...
PS - I gave up the drink for 6 months at the start as well - makes it easier to exercise at weekends and diet is probably better also as it cuts out 3am takeaways and greasy fry-ups!

Irjudge1

Guys thanks for the advice and the support.

Luckily I have been better at sticking with my plan than I have been at updating this log.

At the start of the year Jan 1st I was 18st 4lbs. Now 17st 10lbs.

The main success so far has been the food. My good wife has given me great support by changing our dinners with far more veg. we are also eating chicken twice a week, fish twice a week and meat three times a week, including a roast on Sundays. My smaller plate is making the difference.

The one blip I've had was last Saturday. I went to the gym and left with the feeling that I should reward my hard work. I over rewarded myself. However back into the saddle on Monday.

I am sticking to my lunch plan. I've missed lunch once in three weeks. Most days it has been a turkey / ham sandwich with some tomato and a small piece of coleslaw.

My visits to the gym have gone well. I'm starting simple.

I do 10mins warm up on the treadmill followed by the following circuit.

Assisted Dips 2 x 10 @ 60kg (counterbalance)
Leg Curls 2 x 10 x 35Kg
Rear Deltoid Flys 2 x 10 x 25Kg
Chest Flys 2 x 10 x 30Kg
Leg Press 2 x 10 x 100Kg
Chest Press 2 x 10 x 50Kg
Leg Extensions 2 x 10 x 15Kg
Lateral pull Downs 2 x 10 x 40Kg
Ab Crunches 2 x 15
Diagonal Crunchy thingys 1 x 15 each direction

20 Minute on Treadmill set at random gradient.

I'll review the routine at the end of the month. Although it probably wont change more than increasing sets from 2 to 3 and increasing speed on the treadmill. I welcome any comments and thanks again for your support.

Racing Flat

Irjudge1 wrote: »

Luckily I have been better at sticking with my plan than I have been at updating this log."

Better to exercise than talk about it!

"My smaller plate is making the difference. "

I think this is so much more important than what you actually eat.

"The one blip I've had was last Saturday. I went to the gym and left with the feeling that I should reward my hard work. I over rewarded myself. However back into the saddle on Monday. "

Well if you can't ever overindulge what's the point? Don't punish yourself for the odd bad day - just don't do it too often.
Exercise sounds great.


quote]

BossArky

Irjudge1 wrote: »

Guys thanks for the advice and the support.

Luckily I have been better at sticking with my plan than I have been at updating this log.

At the start of the year Jan 1st I was 18st 4lbs. Now 17st 10lbs

Well done! Keep it up.

Irjudge1

Well thats the first month over.:D

Since my last post I have lost another pound . Down to 17st 9lbs. This is where I planned to be 1/2 stone a month.

Since my last post I lost it last weekend and went out drinking eating and all that sort of stuff. It took its toll I gained about 3-4 pounds over the weekend. I think this weight was a mixture of actual weight gain and lack of waste disposal if you know what I mean.:o

So anyway I dropped back pretty quickly to where I was before the weekend. Weekends have always been trouble so I am taking racing flats advice and giving the beer a miss for a few weeks until I get myself below the 17 st mark.

The training regime has settled down nicely. I'm making the gym Monday Wednesday and Friday with an extra session of plain treadmill on a gradient on Sat. I'm packin the jogging in until I get below 17st as well. My knees hurt like buggery so I'll stick with the quick walking on a gradient for the moment.

Foods going pretty well but I'm still snacking in the evening to a lesser extent. I know it will become gradually harder to lose the weight so I will have to crack down on this.

Overall I'm pretty damn happy. People have already commented about my weight loss so that's really encouraging.