The Great Disappearing Baralis

Baralis1

I've just being reading this thread (http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056700188) and have decided to give the auld weight loss/fitness another go.

I'm 6ft tall and currently weigh 21st 4lbs. My BMI is 40.4. I have had great difficulty getting motivated to shift the weight and keep a weight loss program going. I give in all too easily to temptation. I did have success once with a very restrictive program and lost 5 stone in 6 months but dramatically fell off the wagon and put all the weight and more back on in a year or so. I have tried lots of different weight loss programs and while obviously none of them work, some had limited success.

I need some sort of structure when it comes to diet and watching what I eat, and while I only had limited success with it before, I have rejoined weight watchers (I know some here may advise against it) as it is easy to follow and gives me a structure to measure what I eat plus I may gain some good tips at the meetings. On my own, I find it very tough to stick to a healthy eating plan.

Exercise wise, I am going to start with just walking and build that into a habit if possible. I hope to walk about 30 mins a day to start with the odd longer walk.

I hope to get fit and eventually reach normal BMI.

My immediate weight goal is to get under 21st and my immediate fitness goal is to walk 30 mins for 5 days a week.

Baralis1

Ok, so Day 1.

I walked for 41min today. Not sure on distance, it may have been around 2.5 miles. I enjoyed walking and feel good after it. It wasn't too hard and I should be able to build up a habit of doing this every day.

I'm having a healthy dinner now, roast beef, mixed veg, 300g boiled baby potatoes and instant gravy. I had no breakfast which is not good but I'll work on that. I'm hoping to keep the diet healthy for the rest of the evening with no junk food.

gymtime

Baralis1 wrote: »

Ok, so Day 1.

I walked for 41min today. Not sure on distance, it may have been around 2.5 miles. I enjoyed walking and feel good after it. It wasn't too hard and I should be able to build up a habit of doing this every day.

when you say it wasn't too hard are u sure u pushed yourself hard enough? if you wanna see a difference you gotta push yourself as hard as you can.

I'd recommend that you go out in your car and actually measure the distance accurately, then time your self but walk as fast as you can every time you walk. Your fitness levels will increase. A good pair of running shoes should be worn also, Asics are good and alot of shops will analyse your foot position now so you get the most approriate shoe.

Baralis1

gymtime wrote: »

Baralis1 wrote: »

Ok, so Day 1.

I walked for 41min today. Not sure on distance, it may have been around 2.5 miles. I enjoyed walking and feel good after it. It wasn't too hard and I should be able to build up a habit of doing this every day.

when you say it wasn't too hard are u sure u pushed yourself hard enough? if you wanna see a difference you gotta push yourself as hard as you can.

I'd recommend that you go out in your car and actually measure the distance accurately, then time your self but walk as fast as you can every time you walk. Your fitness levels will increase. A good pair of running shoes should be worn also, Asics are good and alot of shops will analyse your foot position now so you get the most approriate shoe.

I didn't push myself as hard as I could. I could have walked faster or twice as far. I suppose I'm afraid that if I make it too hard, I'll give up again and not develop it into a habit. I'll take what you said on board though, I'll measure out an exact distance and try and reduce the time it takes me to walk it. Thanks

lenorehao

Good job on the walk man...

Was talking to my fiance earlier about his weight loss and he has the following tips which i hope will help ya:

Dont be too hard on yourself, if ya have a bad day and eat crap or not exercise, do not dwell on it, you will fail alot at the start so you need to let your body adjust to the changes (esp with a change in diet) and just keep trying. Its ok if you slip up as long as you keep trying, eventually the slip ups will be less.

Dont push yourself too hard with exercise at the start, best to ease yourself into it, gradually reduce the time it takes to walk a certain distance. If you push too hard your body will push back.

Dont rely on the weighing scales to know how much weight your loosing because muscles weight more so you could be loosing fat but gaining muscle which is good. Instead use a tape measure as this will often show more progress than scales.

Thats all he could think of so I hope you find them somewhat helpful. But if you have any questions or that for him, pm me and ill ask him. He's lost just under 6 stone in the last 8 months all through exercise and diet changes so it definitely can be done.

Best of luck with it

Baralis1

I had a bad week again over the last week, haven't exercised since my last walk posted here and haven't modified my diet.
Weighed myself this morning. 21st 4.5lb so I have actually gained 0.5 of a pound.
This has motivated me to give this another go.

Today
Walk 5K (measured distance previously with car so it is accurate)
58min 55sec
I pushed myself a bit to walk briskly. I was never out of breath and didn't prespire much until after 35 min so I probably could have pushed myself more. I don't know if I can walk that much faster without jogging, I've no idea how those powerwalkers walk so fast without jogging. I am going to try and build up a habit of walking daily and then maybe try and factor in jogging intervals every second day along the lines of couch to 5K.

Diet wise, well good so far today but there are a lot of weak moments to come between now and bedtime.

Baralis1

lenorehao wrote: »

Good job on the walk man...

Was talking to my fiance earlier about his weight loss and he has the following tips which i hope will help ya:

Dont be too hard on yourself, if ya have a bad day and eat crap or not exercise, do not dwell on it, you will fail alot at the start so you need to let your body adjust to the changes (esp with a change in diet) and just keep trying. Its ok if you slip up as long as you keep trying, eventually the slip ups will be less.

Dont push yourself too hard with exercise at the start, best to ease yourself into it, gradually reduce the time it takes to walk a certain distance. If you push too hard your body will push back.

Dont rely on the weighing scales to know how much weight your loosing because muscles weight more so you could be loosing fat but gaining muscle which is good. Instead use a tape measure as this will often show more progress than scales.

Thats all he could think of so I hope you find them somewhat helpful. But if you have any questions or that for him, pm me and ill ask him. He's lost just under 6 stone in the last 8 months all through exercise and diet changes so it definitely can be done.

Best of luck with it

Thanks for the advice Lenorehao, thanks to your fiance too!
He's had an amazing weight loss, with 6 stone in 8 months. He must be a new man altogether.
That makes a lot of sense. I normally start off very severe and then last no length. I'm going keep trying this time even if I have a bad day or week aim to at least string a few days together of clean living and build on that.

I will use a tape measure too but I suppose the scales moves more quickly than the tape measure at my weight.

lenorehao

Hey Baralis, Its been a month since your last post. Just wondering how your getting on? Hope your still trying

Baralis1

Hi Lenorehao, Thanks for following up on this thread. Unfortunately I'm still trying to get my act together. I've lost count of the amount of false starts I've had in the last month. I rarely last a full day of healthy eating without giving in to junk food but I'm still trying to get started. I haven't lost any weight yet and have done very little exercise.

I'm going to give it a go again tomorrow and hopefully I can build some sort of momentum. If I got a few days down at all I might start building a habit.

Thanks for your interest anyway, I'll post how I get on in the next few days on this thread.

Baralis1

Ok, I want to start keeping this updated to hopefully keep myself motivated. Not a lot had changed in the past month but I've been trying to change the last two weeks and have made a real go of it so far this week. I've also following a weight loss programme.

28Sep2012 Weight 21st 5lb
05Oct2012 Weight 21st 2lb (-3lb) I am quite happy with this as a start, hopefully I'll be able to build some momentum.

08Oct2012 Walked 5K in 55min
09Oct2012 Walked 5K in 55min 25 seconds This is only my second walk in a row in quite a while. I don't know if it was my imagination but I felt slightly fitter and able to walk today compared to yesterday which felt like more of a struggle.

I've been working hard this week to clean up my lifestyle and when I weigh myself this weekend, fingers crossed there will be good news on the scales!

Baralis1

12Oct2012 Weight 20st 9lb (-7lb)

Total weight loss now of 10 lbs so far so I'm very happy with the start I've made this time.

13Oct2012 Manual labour 3 hours. Not organized exercise but probably just as good as a good 5K walk. I'm going to try and get back into the walking again this week. I feel very positive about the whole thing.

Goal: I hope to build up a regular habit of walking and then try and incorporate some jogging. My goal is to be able hopefully to jog 5K by Christmas.

Baralis1

14Oct2012 Went on a late walk tonight.
5K in 59min 17sec. This is a bit slower than my usual pace but it was late and quite cold. Still got the kilometers under my belt though.

Distance walked this week: 15 kilometers

Baralis1

19Oct2012
Weight 20st 6lb
Loss this week 3lb
Total weight lost 13lb
Just a pound off having a stone lost.
I thought I'd have lost a little more given the effort I've put in with diet but I suppose 3 lbs is good in the week and exercise has being lacking in the last 5 days.

20Oct2012
Walk
Distance 5K
Time 55min 33sec
Total this week 5K.
My first walk since last Sunday night for one reason or another. I have a full list of excuses! I hope to get another one in tomorrow and try and walk most days in the coming week.

Baralis1

21Oct2012
Walk
Distance: at least 6K, hilly ground.
Time: 61min
Total Distance this week: 11K

This walk was quite tough. It's all well and good walking on nice level footpaths in suburbia but this was on a series of country lanes with some quite challenging hills. It was a beautiful morning however and I really enjoyed the walk. I could feel a slight stiffness in the muscles I used when I walked yesterday so I suppose that shows it's working. I'm going to keep the walking up next week and possibly the week after I might try slipping in 30 seconds of jogging every 5 mins.

Baralis1

23Oct2012
Walk
Distance: 5K
Time: 59min 47sec
Total Distance so far this week: 5K

My feet have been a bit sore since the two walks I did at the weekend. I'm not sure if this is normal for an overweight person getting into walking. Once I got out walking tonight though, they weren't too bad. I enjoyed the walk overall. Maybe I could have pushed the pace a little more but I'd prefer to build up a habit first of walking regularly and not overdo it.

Baralis1

24Oct2012
Walk
Distance: 5K
Time: 55 min 47 sec
Average kph: 5.37kph
Total Distance so far this week: 10K

I managed to pick up the pace for this walk and felt very good both during and after it. I feel I could possibly get used to this. If I can get a few more walks in this week, I might consider doing short jogging bursts with long walking intervals from Monday onwards.

Baralis1

25 Oct 2012
Walk
Distance 5K
Time: 53 min 58 sec
Average speed: 5.55 kph
Total distance so far this week: 15K

I'm quite happy with my progress now. I feel good after my walks and my feet aren't hurting me now so maybe I'm getting used to it. I've also upped the pace a bit more and getting a good amount of kilometers under my belf this week. If I could do two more walks this week and get 25K done, I'd be delighted.

Baralis1

26Oct2012
Weight: 20st 1lb
Weight lost this week: 5 lbs
Total weight lost: 18 lbs

I'm very happy with this weight loss. The diet was good overall although I had a bad day and a half. I also walked 26K over 5 days since I weighed myself last week so I'm delighted that the effort paid off. Heres to next week!

Baralis1

27Oct2012
Walk
Distance: approx 6K hilly ground
Time: 60min 56sec
Total so far this week: 6K (I've decided to start measuring the weekly distances from Fridays)

Feeling very motivated after my most recent weight loss with which walking played a big part in my opinion, I hit off again this morning for a walk in the same rural setting as last weekend. It was a beautiful morning and I must say I really enjoyed this walk. While still challenging with all the hills, I think it felt a bit easier to do than last week. I definately think that my fitness as improved in the last week and a half. Imagine if I put this effort in every week! :):)

Baralis1

29Oct2012
Walk/Jog: 30 sec jogging out of every 5 mins
Distance 5K
Time: 49min 12sec
Average Speed: 6.09 kph
Total Distance so far this week: 11K

I had only gone for one walk in the last three days and actually found myself wanting to get out there and go for a walk today. I decided to up the pace a little bit as planned and I jogged for 30 seconds out of every 5 mins. I quite enjoyed being out and am hoping that I can keep it going.

This is my own version of the couch to 5 K. I hope to jog 1 min out of five mins next week, 1.5 min out of 5 min the week after and so on until I am actually jogging for 5 K.

Goal: To be able to jog 5 K by Christmas.

I don't think this is completely out of the question to be able to do this and if I could do this, it would be the fittest I've ever been in my entire life!

Baralis1

30Oct2012
Walk/Jog: 30 sec jogging out of every 5 mins
Distance 5K
Time: 49min 0 sec
Average Speed: 6.12 kph
Total Distance so far this week: 16K

Continued with my walk/jog routine. I was delighted that I was motivated to go out and do it again a second night in a row. I felt good after this and had no problem jogging the 30 seconds in every 5 mins. The temptation is there to try and jog for longer but I think I'll hold off lengthing the jogging time until next Monday and try and establish a habit of jogging for these intervals.

Baralis1

13Nov2012
Weight: 19st 11lb
Weight lost in last two weeks: 4 lbs
Total Weight lost so far: 1st 8 lbs (22 lbs)

I've neglected my exercise of late. I had a cold with sore throat for almost 10 days and I've also had a hectic 2 weeks so the exercise unfortunately took a back seat. I'm delighted however that I have continued to lose weight ever though my diet hasn't always been perfect. I plan to get out tomorrow again to restart my walking/jogging routine.

Baralis1

14Nov2012
Walk/jog 30secs jogging out of every 5 mins first half, 45 secs jogging out of every 5 mins second half.
Distance: 5K
Time: 47 min 54 sec
Average Speed:6.26 kph
Total distance so far this week: 5K

First time exercising in a fortnight. It took a lot of self motivation to get out there but I was glad I did it. Felt ok after the slightly longer jogging intervals, just felt a slight stitch in my side after 45 seconds jogging. My diet has been quite bad today but I hope to rectify that tomorrow.