Journey from 250 to 200 lbs before 2017 (log)

[MrPentatonic]

Creating a log to document my journey back to being healthy again

Started this year fatter then I have ever been imo, I had to man up chose to step up out of the depression hole and take my life back like a real G. Started really getting healthy & active again roughly 3 months ago. Dropped 22 lbs so far now I'm @ 250 lbs, height being 6"1 (weighed in as of the 4th July).


For the first initial 22lbs+ I lost:
1700 Calories avg. a week. I had a day or two a week where I was more relaxed about it. I think that's depends on how I felt. I could count on one hand the days that I pigged out.

Diet mostly consisted of rice, yam, plantain etc with meat and chicken stews (High calorie but relatively healthy food). Daily bowl of oatmeal in the morning. I didn't feel a need to change my diet too tough as I didn't eat junk a lot. I learnt about portion control and literally my meals were basically halved. I had a small cereal bowl that I ate my evening meals from to ensure this.
Any leftover calories I had fruit or a chocolate snack. Started to introduce portions of veggies from a month ago, need to be more consistent on that front. I sometimes go out and buy fried chicken wings. No more than 2 or 3 lol. Absolutely no fries or dips. I cut out all fizzy drinks so I drink water daily. I counted calories religiously so they fit in my calorie budget.

Exercise wise, I jump roped for an hour 3-6 x a week. One hour sessions. 15 x 3:30 rounds with 40 seconds rest in between. I have now moved the rest time to 30 seconds to make it harder. (Buddy Lee put a brother on this lol, YouTube him).
Make sure I also go to walk around for an 1 hour a day. Black people need sun-ray on our skin to maintain our powers


For the next 50 lbs I plan to lose:
1800 Calories a week max. I've increased it slightly as I have introduced weightlifting into my weekly schedule.

A/B 3 Day Split:
A / B / A on Mon/Wed/Fri
Then
B / A / B on Mon/Wed/Fri

Mostly based on compound lifts with a lil extra bits added for fun. I will record and detail my weight progressions.




Getting down to around 200 lbs is gonna be light-work. I've done it before so I know how dedicated I need to be.

I will document this thread every f̶r̶i̶d̶a̶y̶ Sunday after the week for a summary of my workouts and food I ate (with pics) and I will weigh in every 1st Sunday of the month until the 1st Sunday of 2017.

 

[The ADD]

 

[Wildin]

To be real with you, everything is well thought out. If you fail to plan then plan to fail as I say. I think you'll reach your goal. The only thing I might suggest would be an H7 heart rate monitor from polar. You can cop one for 40-50 on eBay. If you cop that then download polar beat you can track and monitor how many calories you burn while working out. If you discover you basal metabolic rate (how many calories you burn naturally) then factor in what you're eating plus how much you re burning when you work out you're pretty much going to be spot on knowing how to get to your goal.

Creating a log to document my journey back to being healthy again

Started this year fatter then I have ever been imo, I had to man up chose to step up out of the depression hole and take my life back like a real G. Started really getting healthy & active again roughly 3 months ago. Dropped 22 lbs so far now I'm @ 250 lbs, height being 6"1 (weighed in as of the 4th July).


For the first initial 22lbs+ I lost:
1700 Calories avg. a week. I had a day or two a week where I was more relaxed about it. I think that's depends on how I felt. I could count on one hand the days that I pigged out.

Diet mostly consisted of rice, yam, plantain etc with meat and chicken stews (High calorie but relatively healthy food). Daily bowl of oatmeal in the morning. I didn't feel a need to change my diet too tough as I didn't eat junk a lot. I learnt about portion control and literally my meals were basically halved. I had a small cereal bowl that I ate my evening meals from to ensure this.
Any leftover calories I had fruit or a chocolate snack. Started to introduce portions of veggies from a month ago, need to be more consistent on that front. I sometimes go out and buy fried chicken wings. No more than 2 or 3 lol. Absolutely no fries or dips. I cut out all fizzy drinks so I drink water daily. I counted calories religiously so they fit in my calorie budget.

Exercise wise, I jump roped for an hour 3-6 x a week. One hour sessions. 15 x 3:30 rounds with 40 seconds rest in between. I have now moved the rest time to 30 seconds to make it harder. (Buddy Lee put a brother on this lol, YouTube him).
Make sure I also go to walk around for an 1 hour a day. Black people need sun-ray on our skin to maintain our powers


For the next 50 lbs I plan to lose:
1800 Calories a week max. I've increased it slightly as I have introduced weightlifting into my weekly schedule.

A/B 3 Day Split:
A / B / A on Mon/Wed/Fri
Then
B / A / B on Mon/Wed/Fri

Mostly based on compound lifts with a lil extra bits added for fun. I will record and detail my weight progressions.




Getting down to around 200 lbs is gonna be light-work. I've done it before so I know how dedicated I need to be.

I will document this thread every Friday after the week for a summary of my workouts and food I ate (with pics) and I will weigh in every 1st Friday of the month until the 1st Friday of 2017.

 

[The ADD]

To be real with you, everything is well thought out. If you fail to plan then plan to fail as I say. I think you'll reach your goal. The only thing I did suggest would be an H7 heart rate monitor from polar. You can cop one for 40-50 on eBay. If you cop that then download polar beat you can track and monitor how many calories you burn while working out. If you discover you basal metabolic rate (how many calories you burn naturally) then factor in what you're eating plus how much you re burning when you work out you're pretty much going to be spot on knowing how to get to your goal.

Do those monitors work for lifting?

 

[Wildin]

Do those monitors work for lifting?

Yes. They track how many calories you are burning. And if you have any goals that have to do with monitoring calories, whether gaining, or losing weight or maintaining this will let you know where you're at.

I use mine to track my heart rate, ie. my maximum heart rate. You can use it to make sure your heart rate doesnt drop. Resting it should be about 70ish, when I get up and about like moving through my house going to get laundry from the basement, im anywhere between 90-100bpm which isn't high at all, im not out of breath or breathing hard, just moving and not laying or sitting on the couch. When im working out I like to stay at 130 minimum if I drop lower I feel like im getting ready to go back to chill mode, and thats what people do at the gym (generally) they use their rest to talk and drink their heart rate will go back down to 90-100bpm then they'll go do more reps. The purpose of a warm up is to get your heart rate up, get the blood flowing, the rest is for when you exert yourself and your heart is going crazy 140+ bpm, you get a break it goes down and you go again.

A heart rate monitor helps you monitor in real time whats going on.

I did one of the p90x workouts with my heart rate monitor on and it was legit, obviously its a well put together set of exercises, but with the recommended rest times and such my heart rate didn't drop and i burned a decent amount of calories.

 

[Astroslik]

To be real with you, everything is well thought out. If you fail to plan then plan to fail as I say. I think you'll reach your goal. The only thing I might suggest would be an H7 heart rate monitor from polar. You can cop one for 40-50 on eBay. If you cop that then download polar beat you can track and monitor how many calories you burn while working out. If you discover you basal metabolic rate (how many calories you burn naturally) then factor in what you're eating plus how much you re burning when you work out you're pretty much going to be spot on knowing how to get to your goal.

I wonder if Apple Watch has this feature

 

[TLR Is Mental Poison]

Bruh u have prior experience losing weight and a plan... that's pretty much 95% of it

Only thing I would add... don't be afraid to take a break every now and then when you feel the need.

 

[Wildin]

I wonder if Apple Watch has this feature

I think they do I saw some shyt when I was looking to upgrade my older polar, I figured id had mine for about a decade and there has to be some newer better technology out there, right? I was wrong, polar still has the heart rate game on lock. sure there is fitbit, but fit bit isn't a heart rate monitor, its a fitness tracker. while fitbit focuses on many aspects, like comfort, style, apps, and other people have entered the game like garmin- polar has stayed true to the reason they got in the game in the first place and now they are doing the secondary shyt, i.e fitness trackers (separate from heart rate monitors-- a fitness tracker and heart rate monitor arent the same), gps, and they have 2 great apps.

 

[BobbyBooshay]

Keep it up man, seems like you have everything on point.

Dont be down any time the number on scales dont move, just keep at it, make the mirror your friend.

 

[MrPentatonic]

Week 01 Report.

Diet:
I was pretty relaxed about what I ate this week since I had a 1-2 week chill after hitting the 22lbs/10kg loss milestone.
Every morning I had a bowl of oatmeal with a spoon of honey or raspberry with semi-skimmed milk. Since I only really eat twice a day, that leaves me with enough calorie budget to eat pretty much whatever I want in the evening as long as I portion it correctly. It varied from self-made chicken fried rice, pasta and shrimp stir fry and some other stuff. Did buy some snacks this week too. I slacked out this week abit but next week I aim to correctly document everything.

Cardio:
Took it easy this week with the cardio. I hit the jump rope on Wednesday, Friday & Sunday. I hit it for an hour and 5 minutes. 15 rounds x 3:30 secs with 30 seconds rests in between each round. My jump speed, rhythm and breathing control have improved greatly over the past 3 months, by the end of August or September, I want to move onto a speed rope so I can push myself harder. I've also found alternating skipping styles after 10 skips or so makes it a more challenging workout. I feel I should be doing cardio at minimum 4x a week tbf, I'll make sure I'm on that next week.

Strength Training:
Just got back into strength training this week after probably a 3 year hiatus of sloth and excess lol so i'm pretty much a beginner again. This is the novice program I've been following:

A/B 3 Day Split:
A / B / A = Mon/Wed/Fri
B / A / B = Mon/Wed/Fri

A Day
Barbell Squats: 3 Sets
Flat Barbell Bench Press: 3 Sets
T Bar Row: 3 Sets
V-Bar Push Down: 2 Sets
Barbell Calf Raise: 2 Sets

B Day
Dead-lift: 3 Sets
Lateral Pull-down: 3 Sets
Overhead Dumbbell Press: 3 Sets
Cable Crunch: 2 Sets
Dumbbell Curls: 3 Sets

I had a warm up A/B Week just to get me used to performing in the correct forms so I wont post starting weights and reps and general progression until next Sunday. I skipped calf raises and cable crunches last weeks, I shouldn't have but next week I will complete everything I set out to do. I may change the T Bar rows with normal barbell rows. I've never squatted before and squatting just the bar killed me on the first warm up week lol. Also had to learn to bail a failed rep properly as one time the bar pulled me to the floor as I missed the safety catch and I was on my ass with everybody watching lol. Aint a thing, just got right back to it .

Will try and do 10 reps for every exercise and will stick on the same weight each week until I can do 10 clean reps for each set. Only then will I increment the weight and do the same process with the new weight. I have started at low weights but since I pretty much hit the A/B workout every 2-3 days, progress wont be as slow as I thought it would be when first started the program.

Self Evaluation:
The Good: I stuck to my training mostly. Done the minimum cardio I set out to do. Stayed within general eating limits
The Bad: Could have ate cleaner. Didn't make note of foods eaten daily. Skipped calf and abs exercises.


What to improve next week:
+Do ALL exercises.
+Note food eaten daily
+Exercise minimum 4 days a week!

 

[Brofato]

I think they do I saw some shyt when I was looking to upgrade my older polar, I figured id had mine for about a decade and there has to be some newer better technology out there, right? I was wrong, polar still has the heart rate game on lock. sure there is fitbit, but fit bit isn't a heart rate monitor, its a fitness tracker. while fitbit focuses on many aspects, like comfort, style, apps, and other people have entered the game like garmin- polar has stayed true to the reason they got in the game in the first place and now they are doing the secondary shyt, i.e fitness trackers (separate from heart rate monitors-- a fitness tracker and heart rate monitor arent the same), gps, and they have 2 great apps.

Yeah, I bought my charge HR because I liked the look of it but the heart rate monitor is the least useful of the features for me. I doubt it's be even less helpful for people who take it wayyy more seriously than I do.

My first stop when I was researching the fitbit as well was the polar website because it came extra recommended everywhere I looked.

 

[Wildin]

Yeah, I bought my charge HR because I liked the look of it but the heart rate monitor is the least useful of the features for me. I doubt it's be even less helpful for people who take it wayyy more seriously than I do.

My first stop when I was researching the fitbit as well was the polar website because it came extra recommended everywhere I looked.

'What are the features you use it for? I guess what else does it have?

Honestly, the shyt can get real deep to the point where it doesnt even matter. Theres a cat I work with they monitor there fluid intake, like to a tee. They measure a sip of water. Of course people count every calorie and carb that goes into some foods, but at the end of the day its not that deep. Some of the things out there are overboard. Foot step counters, to me are worthless unless you generally dont get enough exercise or movement in your regular day. For a cat that works out 6 days a week and am always on the go, foot steps are the last thing that need to be monitored. Monitoring my sleeps is pretty worthless, unless I die. I know im going to burn calories overnight, its cool that there are devices to monitor that but you can't do anything with it.

I wear my watch everyday and sleep with it on but when it comes down to it, I turn it on track my workouts and make sure im getting the work done but then again im an analytical person, I like stats, results, and data.

 

[Brofato]

'What are the features you use it for? I guess what else does it have?

Honestly, the shyt can get real deep to the point where it doesnt even matter. Theres a cat I work with they monitor there fluid intake, like to a tee. They measure a sip of water. Of course people count every calorie and carb that goes into some foods, but at the end of the day its not that deep. Some of the things out there are overboard. Foot step counters, to me are worthless unless you generally dont get enough exercise or movement in your regular day. For a cat that works out 6 days a week and am always on the go, foot steps are the last thing that need to be monitored. Monitoring my sleeps is pretty worthless, unless I die. I know im going to burn calories overnight, its cool that there are devices to monitor that but you can't do anything with it.

I wear my watch everyday and sleep with it on but when it comes down to it, I turn it on track my workouts and make sure im getting the work done but then again im an analytical person, I like stats, results, and data.

Oddly enough, the alarm was the selling part for me because I had trouble with my phone alarm. I found out that if I get less than 5 or 6 hours of sleep the alarm has no bearing on waking me up. And now I mostly use it as a watch that comes on only when I flick my wrist to my face.

Style is also part of the reason I bought it. It was the one I liked most style-wise. And I know at a certain point, stats just don't matter but I do enjoy having the data. I went from being extremely sedentary to somewhat active and before I bought it I used my phone to track my distance walked but I don't have my phone on me 24/7.

The distance tracker and step counter keeps me somewhat accountable on some days when I know I haven't moved. And I enjoy the sleep tracking mostly because I know I get terrible sleep. When I see at the end of the week that my average time slept is 4 and a half to 5 hours it kinda fukks me up.

So accountability is the biggest factor. But I'll be honest I'm a renowned bullshytter, procrastination-wise, and one of those people who thinks getting something new will help me with my willpower. It has not but the data is nice to have.

 

[Wildin]

Oddly enough, the alarm was the selling part for me because I had trouble with my phone alarm. I found out that if I get less than 5 or 6 hours of sleep the alarm has no bearing on waking me up. And now I mostly use it as a watch that comes on only when I flick my wrist to my face.

Style is also part of the reason I bought it. It was the one I liked most style-wise. And I know at a certain point, stats just don't matter but I do enjoy having the data. I went from being extremely sedentary to somewhat active and before I bought it I used my phone to track my distance walked but I don't have my phone on me 24/7.

The distance tracker and step counter keeps me somewhat accountable on some days when I know I haven't moved. And I enjoy the sleep tracking mostly because I know I get terrible sleep. When I see at the end of the week that my average time slept is 4 and a half to 5 hours it kinda fukks me up.

So accountability is the biggest factor. But I'll be honest I'm a renowned bullshytter, procrastination-wise, and one of those people who thinks getting something new will help me with my willpower. It has not but the data is nice to have.

Alarms are the biggest selling points. My old polar was the shyt, it had multiple alarms, countdown, timer, stop watch. and interval timers. and that was in like 07-09. some of these new ones are lacking. newer devices might not have an interval timer or stop watch but can vibrate and you can read your facebook messages and shyt on them......

 

[MrPentatonic]

Week 02 Report:

Diet:
Did slack off abit. Didn't help that I was out a lot so I ate out with friends. I calculated and I think i might have been over my calorie budget by a good couple hundred calories. Its not bad considering I burn it through cardio but Its a slackness I dont to get into the habit of continuing. Im gonna plan my meals in advanced this time.

Cardio:
Hit the ropes 3x this week. Should have hit 4 but was kind of busy this week and I have been waking up abit too late for my liking. I think im getting the limit of this normal jump rope, I can alternate all the jump rope styles with finesse, I show off when people pass by lol. I want to move to a speed rope in a couple months when I notice that my exertion levels start reducing. When I alternate my skipping styles and also run forward and backwards while skipping it makes it harder so I will stick with that for a piece. Also cutting my rest time to 30 secs has made it more challenging. I wanna hit them buddy lee breakneck speeds by next year lol.

Strength Training:
Went well, went up weights in every exercise exempt for my deadlift. Think I was tired or I didnt eat enough. Im gonna finesse that tomorrow anyway. On Friday doing T-Bar row I had to take a time out because I felt dizzy. Whats that about? I think I didnt eat enough before working out. I'm gonna separate my cardio and strength days if that happens again and see what happens. I skipped calves and abs again (sigh). I wont do it again.

Self Evaluation:
The Good: Hit the minimum cardio this week, went to all my gym days. Jump rope co-ordination is real good, just gotta keep pushing.
The Bad: Slack diet this week.

What to improve:
+Do all the exercises
+Plan meals
+Cardio 4x a week minimum
+Record all meals this week!