5 years later

190 lbs. this morning

Been consistently running 3x per week (5km) and weight training 3x per week. I've been allowing myself quite a bit of leniency on the diet too. Cookies, ice cream, chips and lots of restaurant food. I think as long as I keep up the exercise and I eat well during the day I'll be able to maintain this weight. I usually eat whatever I want in the evening now.

Still 189 lbs.

I've been in a sort of maintenance mode the last 3-4 weeks. Eating well during the day on weekdays (9-5) then eating whatever I want for dinner and on weekends. I've also been doing 3 weight training sessions per week and jogging 5km 3 times per week. Seems to be working pretty well. I haven't put on any weight and I actually feel fitter so I've probably put on a bit of muscle. My body fat is consistently below 20% now. It was 20.3% when I finished my weight loss phase 5 weeks ago.

Ran another 10K today in 63 minutes

Not the greatest time but at least I finished, that's my main goal for now.

Here's my route: http://www.mapmyrun.com/run/united-states/on/surrey/341838811

Vancouver Sun Run 10K

I ran the Sun Run on Sunday, April 15th. It was my first 10K race and the first time I've ran more than 5K in at least 10 years. My time was 61:40. I wanted to do better than 60:00 but I'm still happy with the result.

When I signed up for the run I had no idea how long it would take me. I signed up in the 70-90 minute category. That was a big mistake. There soooo many slow runners at the start of the race that I had to zigzag my way back and forth across the street to get around them for the first 3K. The next 5K I jogged at too slow of a pace (although I was going faster than everyone else since I was in such a slow category). When I reached 8K I realized that I had way too much left in the tanks so I sped up considerably. I probably should have done this much earlier.

Next race my goal is to break 60:00 but I'm going to shoot for 55:00. No idea when that race will be yet.

Week 13 - 189 lbs. today

I'm heading to Edmonton this weekend. No exercise and a lot of food that's not on my diet so we'll see what happens...

Week 11 - 189.6 pounds today!

I'm less than a pound from my goal. I've started running this past week (instead of using my stationary bike) and it's really sped up my weight loss.

I ran pretty regularly last year (2-3 times a week) and it was really tough for me to get past 5km. Now it's a breeze. I ran about 5km in 27 minutes yesterday. This has motivated me to to do the 10km Vancouver Sun Run on April 15th (the day after my 35th birthday). I'll post the results here afterward. I've only ran 10km a few times in my life. The last time was when I was about 20 years old. Should be interesting.

New pics will probably be posted tomorrow.

Week 8 - Less than 5 pounds to go

I broke below 194 lbs. this week for the first time. I haven't had time to update the pics or spreadsheet yet. My appetite has really increased but I haven't been cheating. I'm going to visit the in-laws on Easter weekend so I'll definitely be cheating a bit. I want to reach 189 lbs. before then.

Week 7 - Lots of progress. Only 8 pounds to go!

It's Monday morning and I was under 197 pounds this morning. Only 8 pounds to my goal of 189 pounds.

Week 6 - Starting Weekly Updates

It's been a few days since my last update. I'm going to start doing weekly updates every Friday (instead of daily updates). Friday morning is usually when I weigh the least for the entire week since I usually have sushi on Friday night.

Day 42 - Phase 2 Diet and Stuck Above 200 pounds

The weight loss definitely isn't coming easy anymore. The diet is easier to maintain now but the exercise is still painful. 11 x 30 minutes of cardio per week is having a toll on my legs. They always feel tired when I start, probably also a result of the low carbs. It doesn't matter. I'm going to keep at it until I break 190 lbs.

For the maintenance phase I'm going to set a hard upper limit on my weight (probably somewhere between 195 - 200 pounds). If I cross this level then I'll go back onto the weight loss program again until I'm below 190 pounds. I think that I need to be really strict about staying at this weight level for about 6 months so my body can completely adjust to it.

Day 41 - Phase 1 Diet

I stopped taking RIPPED supplements yesterday. I had done two 3 week cycles in a row so it's time for a break, and I think I can lost the rest of the weight without it. We'll see. If I start having trouble I'll go back on it. I'm still maintaining the diet and the exercise, just not the supplements.

Day 40 - Phase 1 Diet and Near 200 lbs.!

I was 200.8 lbs. this morning. I haven't been under 200 lbs. in about 5 years and I haven't been under 190 lbs. since the early 90s (when I was a teenager). I feel great. It's amazing how you can forget how great it feels to be in better shape.

Day 39 - Phase 1 Diet

I had sushi again last night (with minimal soy sauce / salt) and I still lost a little weight overnight. This is great. If you've been following my blog you'll know that the first time I had sushi I gained 5 lbs. the next day. This was obviously just water retention but it was still pretty deflating. When I have sushi now I have exactly 8 pieces of nigiri tuna, a bit of soy sauce and a lot of wasabi. I usually have some sort of salad with it too (no dressing). I used to have a *lot* more soy sauce with my sushi and soy sauce is very high in sodium.

Day 38 - Phase 2 Diet

Nothing much to report today. I'm at a new low in my weight. Even though the scale doesn't show too much progress in the last week I really "feel" like I've made progress. I feel like my fat has really gone down in the last week or so.

Day 37 - Phase 1 Diet and No Sushi Side Effects

I had sushi last night (Friday) with a bit of soy sauce and had no weight gain today. I also skipped my cardio workout yesterday (since it was a Phase 2 day that means I didn't do any exercise yesterday, the first time since I started the program).

I accidentally uploaded these pics without blacking out the face. Maybe I'll just keep doing it this way. I had originally blacked out the face because I just felt like such a lard-a**. I didn't want public evidence of my lardassedness on the internet. :)

Since I don't feel that way anymore why black out the face right?

Day 36 - Phase 2 Diet

I've started added Splenda to my oatmeal in the morning on Phase 2 days. I'm also replacing the blueberries with banana since it's really tough to get blueberries here at this time of year.

I lost 0.4 lbs. yesterday. It's obvious that the weight loss is really slowing down so I have to adjust my projections. The new graphs you see at the top of the blog have my new projections. You can see the adjustments best by looking at the "Weekly" charts. You'll see that the weekly weight loss and fat loss projections are now about 2.5 lbs. (before they were closer to 5 lbs.)

The slowing weight loss is a bit discouraging but nothing can get me down during breakfast on a Phase 2 day. The carbs feel great!

Day 35 - Phase 1 Diet and Weight Loss Slowing

I'm really having trouble getting past the "20 lbs. lost" plateau. I've been stuck here for a few days although my scale's telling me that my body fat's been dropping during this time. I guess that's really the most important thing. I tend to focus on "weight lost" since it's guaranteed to be accurate. The "fat lost" measurement really depends on the accuracy of the scale which depends on my hydration levels (and who knows what else).

Day 34 - Phase 2 Diet and Overall Weight Flatlining

A few days in a row of no overall weight loss but it looks like I'm still losing fat. It's probably just a water retention thing, we'll see.

Day 33 - Phase 1 Diet and Body Fat Tumbles

Wow, my body fat measurement really tumbled yesterday. I'm almost completely back on plan for total weight, total fat and total muscle.

Day 32 - Phase 2 Diet and 20 lbs. Lost!

As of today I've lost 20 lbs.! I'm a little frustrated with the body fat measurements on my scale. I really don't think I'm still 27.6% body fat. Today's Superbowl Sunday, the greatest junk food day of the year and I can't have any beer or chips or anything. Oh well I'll just eat walnuts I guess.

Day 31 - Phase 1 Diet and Sushi

I had sushi last night but I took it easy on the soy sauce and I didn't show any weight gain today. Great! I have sushi every Friday but the last two times I gained about 5 lbs. the next day. This time I only had straight tuna sushi. I think the soy sauce was causing me to retain water.

Day 30 - Phase 2 Diet

Not much new to report. I'm sticking to the diet, exercise and supplements and I'm making steady progress.

Day 29 - Phase 1 Diet and February Begins

This is the first day of the second half of my program.

Day 28 - Phase 2 Diet and Last Day of January

Not much to report today. I feel great, much better than I did before the 3 day vacation from supplements. This is the last day of January and I've lost 17.6 lbs of weight and 19 lbs of fat! I'm halfway to my goal.

Day 27 - Phase 1 Diet and Back from 3 day break

I took Friday, Saturday and Sunday off of supplementation. I took Friday off of the diet but I didn't take any time off of the exercise (I exercised normally during the 3 day period). On Friday I didn't really cheat that much. I hadtuna and salmon sushi with white rice and soy sauce. I'm allowed to eat white rice but I ate a lot more of it than I'm normally allowed. I also had a can of chicken soup on Friday. That's it, no pizza, french fries, apple pie etc. With this minor change in diet my weight spiked 8 lbs. on Saturday morning (215 lbs.). That's why I decided to go back on the strict diet for Saturday and Sunday. My weight's come back down to where it was last week now.

The Day 26 pics are from Friday morning. These pics are from Tuesday morning (today).

Day 26 - Phase 2 Diet and Taking a Break

I'm feeling like I need a break from the strict diet and the supplementation. I'm going to take this entire weekend (including today, Friday) off. I'm still going to do the exercise and I'm going to mostly follow the diet but I'm going to be in more a "maintenance" mode for the diet. I'm going to take no RIPPED supplements for 3 days.

Day 25 - Phase 1 Diet and Running on Empty

It's hard to explain how I'm feeling the last couple days. I'm not hungry in the normal sense. I'm eating more than I want actually. I just feel like my body's cleaned out but not in as good a way as that word implies. I feel like my tank's empty. My mood has definitely been really blah lately. I don't feel physically tired at all though. My workouts are great. My mood is just moderated, no peaks and valleys.

May's really been supporting me on this and I couldn't have done it without her.

Day 24 - Phase 2 Diet and Lost Muscle

I'm tired today. The two Phase 1 diet days at the beginning of the week always kick my butt. Today's a low exercise, high carb day. Just what I need.

This is the first day that my muscle "gain" has actually gone negative. So (according to my scale) I've lost muscle since I started. The trend is what counts so let's see what happens later in the week. I always seem to hit a low weight, high fat, low muscle period in the middle of the week (according to the scale).

Day 23 - Phase 1 Diet

Not much new to report today. Still on track and losing a lot of weight the last couple days.