guitardude's weight loss adventure - Page 4

guitardude · 07-19-2007, 03:50 AM

Thank you all for the encouraging words! Yes, this time around I have a made up mind that no matter what, I'm going to work out and I am not letting anything stop me. The vision of the person I want to ultimately look like is getting clearer and clearer and these little successes along the way just fuel the fire to see this thing through.

But I gotta see about getting some better fitting pool shoes or something. Those water exercises were good; they worked some muscles I hadn't got to doing the regular thing.

guitardude · 07-22-2007, 08:16 AM

Hey guys,

Sorry for not posting for a few days but I've been busy and haven't had time to come here and bring everyone up to date. The last two workouts for this week went really good in spite of having to deal with the sore toe. What I did Thursday was to increase the incline on the elliptical machine by one and proceeded to do a mile in 14:25 and 2.05 miles in 30 minutes. I then did 35 push-ups and did 15 crunches and then stretched out. For Friday, I increased the elliptical incline yet again by 1 and did a mile in 14:05 and 2.08 miles in 30 minutes. I did the same amount of push-ups and did 16 crunches before stretching out.

I'm learning that sometimes progress is just maintaining what you've gained rather than pushing for a little more every session. This is most evident in doing the push-ups because I'm really having to focus and push to get them in. And when I finally do get them in, I'm pretty much exhausted for a minute. Seems to me wisdom would say to stay there at 35 until it is relatively easy to do the 35 whether that is 3 days, a week, or two weeks then push for more reps.

Next week, I'm going to start alternating between doing the aquatic exercises and the regular workout and see how that goes. I believe more and more each week this is for real and that I am actually going to make my goals this time around and it's not going to be just another failed attempt. And it's based in large part on what 10 said about me proving it to myself but it is also due in part to the wonderful support from all of you here at Betterman. Don't think for a minute that I take this for granted because I don't. And for anyone who may be reading this, Betterman member or not, you CAN change things you don't like in your life if you will accept the reality of your situation and then make a quality decision that no matter what (or how long) it takes, you ARE going to work to change the thing or things in your life that you aren't satisfied with. And this group of folks at Betterman are as good a support group as you will find anywhere.

Regards,
-guitardude

guitardude · 07-23-2007, 01:49 PM

Just when I thought I couldn't do any better on the elliptical machine, I did. I just got back for my workout this morning and not only did I break 15 minutes for a mile on the machine, I even broke 14 minutes! I did a mile this morning in 13:59 and did 2.10 miles in 30:07. I actually had 2.09 at 30 minutes but I wanted to get that last 100th of a mile in before calling it quits for the day

I cooled down with a lap around the track, maintained 35 push-ups, did 17 crunches then stretched out. Next time I do a "regular" workout, I'm going to work more on balance while on the elliptical machine so I'm sure the distances and times won't be as good but as long as I get a good workout, that's all that matters. I couldn't find any water shoes before today so that's why I did a regular workout. But I am going this morning to look further in hopes of doing 3 sessions of aquatic exercises this week.

To say that I am jazzed about this workout is a serious understatement

It's just adding fuel to the motivation that's already going.

-guitardude

10 · 07-23-2007, 02:21 PM

Dude.................you're awesome! Keep rockin' brother............

JonPop · 07-23-2007, 04:06 PM

Way to go dude. You were inspired and now, you have become an inspiration. You are what BetterMan is all about.

jennifer · 07-24-2007, 01:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JonPop

Way to go dude. You were inspired and now, you have become an inspiration. You are what BetterMan is all about.

Yes, you are an inspiration! If only some of these guys had your determination in the PE contest!!

10 · 07-24-2007, 03:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jennifer

Yes, you are an inspiration! If only some of these guys had your determination in the PE contest!!

And how do you know they don't?

guitardude · 07-24-2007, 06:26 PM

Thank you all for your support in this; it is always appreciated.

Can't remember if I posted this or not, but I found some water shoes yesterday at T.J. Maxx for 7.99 so I did an aquatic exercise session today. It went pretty good for the most part. I did have some problems doing the paddling using the "barbell", though. For those that don't know, the barbell is basically a plastic rod with styrofoam looking material on the end shaped like weights so it always floats.

I'm supposed to hold the barbell in front of me in the pool and paddle with my feet only. I'm not supposed to let the feet touch bottom, even when turning around to go back to the end of the pool from midway. That was by far the most difficult thing to do in the workout because of a couple of things. 1) forward progress doing that exercise was very slow; almost not moving at all and 2) when I was moving, I was always drifting to the left. Also, I couldn't help my legs drifting down as I paddled so yes, my feet did touch bottom doing that exercise. Several times. Right now, I don't have a clue why that happened. I'm guessing maybe a combination of weak muscles on my left side and maybe I was not working hard enough. But I do know this. I'm going to keep screwing it up until I get it right, then I'm going to keep doing it right.

This workout in some respects wasn't as good as previous workouts but it was good in that I saw stuff I really have to work on. But don't worry, friends. I'm not going to stop now just because the workout appears not to be as productive as others. As long as I keep on doing them, I'm still going to make my goals. My resolve is still strong.

10 · 07-24-2007, 08:59 PM

guitardude:

What ever you do don't get down on yourself if you don't feel your workout was up to par. Those of us that have lived at the gym for years have bad workouts now and again. I can't count how many times when I was disgusted with my performance. Just stay motivated and visualize us behind you and you'll make it through!! You have the resolve.............stay with it please!!

As for the water thing, don't sweat it. Whenever I have my kids in the pool they always like to show off. They'll float on their backs.............almost like leaves floating on a pond. They just float and go with the water current. Me, I try and float on my back and sink like lead...............don't know why, just do.

guitardude · 07-25-2007, 04:21 AM

I'm not down on myself, 10. I was just honestly assessing what I did on the workout and noticed I have a lot of work to do on the flutter paddling to get the exercise to where it needs to be in terms of form in execution. I know that eventually, I'll get that part right and be able to improve on the productivity of it. But like I said earlier, I still think it's a good workout because I saw things I needed to work on to make the water exercises more productive.

It's a growth thing and in that context, today's session was part of forward progress toward reaching my ultimate physical goals.

JonPop · 07-25-2007, 05:41 AM

Right on, dude. By the way, you exemplify the way a post should be written.

guitardude · 07-25-2007, 02:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JonPop

Right on, dude. By the way, you exemplify the way a post should be written.

Thank you JonPop; I appreciate the kind words. Now I know what those composition classes were good for!

10 · 07-25-2007, 03:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JonPop

Right on, dude. By the way, you exemplify the way a post should be written.

Boy, I'll second and third that. You're very articulate and well spoken guitardude.

guitardude · 07-25-2007, 03:19 PM

Just got back from working out this morning and I'm pleased with this session. The main reason is because when I did the flutter paddling with the barbell today, I didn't veer to the left nearly as bad as I did yesterday and I think I was moving forward in the water better overall. Also, I was able to keep my feet from touching bottom a lot less too. I still have a hard time getting turned around midway in the pool without getting off center of the lane but I'm sure that will work itself out in time.

The other exercises went well. I don't really have much of a problem doing them; however it seems the majority of water exercises I'm doing now have to do with improving balance. That's a good thing too because I need to have better balance. My ability to stay balanced now is not nearly as good as it could be. Another thing I'm realizing is that I may be misjudging the productivity of the water exercises because I don't feel as exhausted when compared to the sessions I do on the elliptical machine. The reason I say this is because when I woke up this morning to go work out, I noticed a bit of soreness in my body on deeper levels. I look at that as a good thing.

Before I went to work out this morning, in my mind I was thinking that getting the flutter paddle exercise down was going to be some difficult task because I struggled with it so much yesterday. Now, I see it as something that will be mastered pretty soon. I cannot stress enough the key thing in this that can be applied to PE or anything else in life for that matter. That key thing is a positive attitude. When you couple that with a dogged determination to stick with your plan no matter how you feel, you WILL get results. Guaranteed.

10 · 07-25-2007, 03:20 PM

Couldn't agree more buddy.

guitardude · 07-27-2007, 12:23 PM

Hey everybody,

I did a "regular" workout yesterday and it was pretty good. This time, I wasn't trying to go farther in the same length of time but rather started working on my balance on the elliptical machine. Let me tell you, that is not easy. It really works the quads, or at least it does mine.

I'm still trying to find the "sweet spot" in terms of time working on balance. Yesterday I alternated between a minute of hands on the machine then 30 seconds of hands off the machine. That may be what I end up doing but I'm going to need to do it for the whole 30 minutes before I can make a judgment.

I held 35 push-ups and 17 crunches then stretched out. The push-ups are still challenging me so I didn't see a need to add to them just yet.

I'll be doing an aquatic session today so I may go tomorrow and possibly Sunday to do a couple more sessions. I'll be on vacation next week so I don't know how often I'll post but rest assured I'm going to find some way to get some exercise in.

guitardude · 07-29-2007, 12:25 PM

I did a short "regular" workout yesterday; I say it was short in that I didn't spend the whole 30 minutes on the elliptical machine because I didn't have enough time to do that and get the other exercises in. However, I feel that it was a productive workout. I managed to get a mile on the machine in 13:28! This blew me away

I stayed on the Precor for just over 20 minutes; enough to get in the cardiovascular zone and that was the important thing.

On the push-ups, I did 36 of them, then did 17 crunches and stretched out. If I have time tomorrow, I will probably do another session. However, I still have packing to do and getting all the paperwork together to go on vacation.

Folks, don't worry about me dropping out of working to achieve the weight loss goal just because I'm going on vacation. I plan to be at least getting some walking in every day or spending some time in a pool. It may not be as intense or the same as working out in the gym here at home, but at least I'll be physically active doing something. And if I have time next week, I'll try to update the thread as long as it is relevant to the subject matter. If not, I'll post a synopsis of my physical activity when I get back.

Nothing is going stop me from getting down to 180. NO-THING.

Best Regards,
-guitardude

JonPop · 07-29-2007, 02:58 PM

Good luck buddy, stay safe, enjoy your vacation. Stay focused and watch the diet. Update us when you can.

guitardude · 08-10-2007, 07:25 PM

I got back from vacation Monday evening and have been working all week and trying to get caught up on rest from vacation. Sounds odd, doesn't it?

Well, without going into a whole lot of detail on the vacation, I'll just say I had a great time, did a lot of driving, saw a lot of pretty country and took a lot of pictures. Now for the shocking part.

My plans were to do some exercise each day and try to eat halfway decent so I would continue losing weight. Well, that didn't happen. At least not like I planned it. Although I did do a good deal of walking and a lot of getting in and out of the rental car, I didn't spend like 30 minutes a day in a dedicated power walk. And a lot of the time, I was eating fast food such as Carl's Jr. and Jack In The Box. However, the one thing I did do right was to drink mainly water on the trip.

When I got back home, I just knew I had gained probably 4 to 6 pounds. I couldn't logically see how it would be right to expect a weight loss after a week of not doing things I know work at getting the weight off. But much to my surprise, not only did I not gain 4 to 6 pounds, I actually lost 8 pounds! As I write this, I am still totally shocked at that amount of weight loss.

I am starting third shift tonight and am off to the gym to do a workout. I plan to work out every day though next Thursday, when I will be off for two days. To say that I am a happy camper about this discovery is a serious understatement. Even though it doesn't make sense to me, I'm thankful that it did come off even beyond any expectations I would have had and that I'm not having to regain lost ground.

Cheers,
-guitardude

JonPop · 08-10-2007, 08:33 PM

Congrats, David. Glad you enjoyed your vacation and good to see you back. My theory about that 8 pounds.. Even though you were eating junk food, you weren't doing the night time snacking and had cut down on the soft drinks. You agree?

guitardude · 08-10-2007, 10:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JonPop

Congrats, David. Glad you enjoyed your vacation and good to see you back. My theory about that 8 pounds.. Even though you were eating junk food, you weren't doing the night time snacking and had cut down on the soft drinks. You agree?

Yes JonPop, I agree with that. I also think that because I was so preoccupied with driving and seeing the sights and taking pictures, that my actual food intake per day was probably less than before going on vacation.

On the soft drinks, I had maybe 3 or 4 total. I had a bottle of orange juice one morning but the rest of the time I was drinking water.

ThegoodDoctor · 08-11-2007, 08:42 PM

How much weight have you lost so far guitardude?? From my understanding, you are doing great!!!

guitardude · 08-11-2007, 10:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ThegoodDoctor

How much weight have you lost so far guitardude?? From my understanding, you are doing great!!!

Just off the top of my head, I think it's about 23 pounds since I started keeping track of it. But I've got a total of about 170 pounds to lose so I'm a long way from achieving the goal. However, it is very heartening to see good progress and also to have the support of the members of Betterman.

It's going to take time to lose the weight but the reality is that time is going by whether I like it or not. It's what I choose to do with the time that matters. And I'm going to start living the way I am supposed to live, not way below my potential any longer. I've let circumstances dictate the quality of my life for far too long and I've had enough.

Regards,
-guitardude

guitardude · 08-14-2007, 02:00 AM

I did a regular workout today because apparently while I was on vacation, I picked up a case of poison oak and am trying to get rid of it. It was a good workout, too. I did a mile in 13:50 and did 2.14 miles in 30 minutes. I then did 37 push-ups and 18 crunches before stretching.

Oh yeah; I'm down 4 inches in the waist at this point.

Loki · 08-14-2007, 05:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by guitardude

I did a regular workout today because apparently while I was on vacation, I picked up a case of poison oak and am trying to get rid of it. It was a good workout, too. I did a mile in 13:50 and did 2.14 miles in 30 minutes. I then did 37 push-ups and 18 crunches before stretching.

Oh yeah; I'm down 4 inches in the waist at this point.

4", Great Dude

, keep up the good work Buddy