Braindrop's Quest to Lose 100#

[Braindrop]

So, I turned 40 this past year, and was 5' 10", 269# on my birthday. While cleaning out some stuff, I found my workout journals from the late 80s and early 90s. Somehow elves added 100 pounds of fat to me while I was sleeping over the past 13 years. F***in elves!

There are a lot of good health reasons to get rid of this weight -- heart disease runs in my family -- but truthfully I'm more motivated by the fact that I really dislike the way I look and feel now.

I started working out again on 12-6-05. Got two good weeks in, and dropped from 269 to 259, then my father-in-law had a heart attack and an emergency triple bypass (he's fine now, home and walking around), so I missed the next 10 days on the road for his surgery and then xmas.

We got back home Tuesday and I started back at the gym yesterday. Fortunately, I only gained back 5 pounds living at my grandmother-in-law's house (and if you have a southern grandmother, you know how hard that is!).

My goal is 170# by 12-9-06. I commute 1 week/month from Texas to California, so I'm going to have to find a gym that has day rates, but my initial google search indicates that shouldn't be a problem.

My workout is as follows:

Monday: Biceps/Back, Cardio
Tuesday: Intense Cardio, Abs
Wednesday: Shoulders/Legs, Cardio
Thursday: Intense Cardio, Abs
Friday: Chest/Triceps, Cardio

Right now the normal cardio days are 24 minutes of Stairmaster. As I get in better shape, my goal is to increase that up to 48 minutes (which is where it was in 1992 when I stopped working out). On the intense cardio days, I currently do a 6-minute stairmaster sprint workout on as high a level as I can stand, do abs, then do my normal 24-minute stairmaster workout. I want to increase that to three sets of 6 minutes, then abs, then a 48 minute finish.

I'm not trying to bulk out very much -- I'm fortunate that I've never lost the broad shoulders/chest and decent arms that were developed with football back in high school and kept up during my 20s. But I need a solid core strength and a lot better muscle tone/definition.

Other than working out, I'm also trying to make serious changes in my diet. I *love* to cook, and was taught classical french cooking, which uses butter and cream *way* more than I should be eating. I'm changing over to way more vegetables, and trying light versions of sauces, etc.

Anyway, that's me, and I hope to keep this updated throughout the year.

Peace,
Brain

[DrivenToTransform]

"QUEST" I love that word.. its def a "quest" I think the first time I learned that word I was about 4 yrs old & it was while playing The Legend Of Zelda for Nintendo

[Braindrop]

Chest/Triceps Day

Universal Bench 3 sets of 10x115
Dumbell Incline Bench 3 sets of 10x25
Dumbell Flys 3 sets of 10x15
Tricep Pushdowns 3 sets of 10x60
Standing Dumbell Tris 3 sets of 10x12
Bench Tri Kickbacks 3 sets of 10x12

24 minutes of stairmaster, lvl 8 hill, 353 cals burned.

I'm in a tiny, tiny bedroom community just outside of Austin. My gym probably has 50 members, of which 5-10 work out on any given day, so I'm usually alone in there. It sucks from a spotting perspective, and also means that I'm pretty much it for motiviation. I was really happy to get through the cardio -- by the end of the week, my legs are really burned from 5 days of it (although it was only 3 this week), but I managed to psyche myself through it.

Two days to recover until Monday. Whee!

[DrivenToTransform]

i used to work at a small gym and i liked it... anyone who works there should know how to spot.. and maybe you can ask them... i used to spot huge guys when i worked at the gym...

CARDIO + GOOD GOOD MUSIC IN HEADPHONES = THE KEY!!!

[Braindrop]

Nobody works there. It's located in a metal building on the ranch of the owner. She teaches a couple of aerobics classes there, but almost never when I work out. I show up, let myself in and work out. I've never actually seen another person lifting (though there are rumored to be some who do the 5 AM shift). I do early to mid-morning, and maybe once a week there will be a housewife on a treadmill when I'm there.

On the up side, I never have to wait for a station!

brain

[Loser (X)]

Good luck to you pal we are pretty much in the same boat, by the way you might want to move your thread over to the over 35 section to get more feedback from people your own age..

[Braindrop]

Originally Posted by Loser (X)

Good luck to you pal we are pretty much in the same boat, by the way you might want to move your thread over to the over 35 section to get more feedback from people your own age..

Can I move it myself, or do I need to get a mod to move it? Actually, I'd rather have it in the fat loss section, as that's what I'm really all about.

Thanks!

[Braindrop]

No workout last night, but agreeing to babysit for my sister & bro-in-law meant that I restricted myself to half of a Chimay at midnight, plus 3 of the little Jack Daniel's-filled chocolate bottles.

Given what I would have consumed at a party, it may be my best cardio night ever

[Braindrop]

Biceps/Back
~~~~~~~

Front Pulldowns 10x70x3
Back Pulldowns 10x70x3
Bent Dumbell Row 10x25x3
Seated Lat Raise 10x12x3
Dumbell Preacher Curls 10x20x3
Hammer Curls 10x20, 10x15x2

Stairmaster 24m LVL 8 379 cals

I've normally been working out on an empty stomach first thing in the morning, today I drank a slimfast 30 mins beforehand. I seemed to have a little more energy during cardio, but that might just be from the 2-day rest. We'll see.

[Braindrop]

Cardi + Abs today. I went with eating 45 mins before the workout again, and for sure had more energy. Maybe it impacts how fast I'll burn fat, but I think my workout is better for it, so I'm going to continue.

6 mins HIIT Stairmaster
3 sets of 10 incline crunches
3 sets of 10 ab machine w/ 5 plates
24 mins treamill, as fast as I can walk without actually jogging (my knees won't be happy with running until I drop another 40 pounds or so)
6 mins HIIT Stairmaster

[Braindrop]

Today marks the one-month point of when I started this quest (no, I didn't log the first 3 or so weeks here). I'm now down 11 pounds from when I started, and my body is used to the idea of lifting weights again, so I'm stepping up the workouts to:

Mon/Thu: Chest/Shoulders/Back, Cardio
Tue/Fri: Arms/Legs/Abs, Cardio
Wed: Cardio only
Sat/Sun: Off

Today
Machine Bench: 3x10 @115**
Dumbell Incline Bench: 3x10 @25**
Dumbell Flys: 3x10 @25**
Dumbell Milit. Press: 2x10 @25; 1x10 @30**
Dumbell Upright Row: 3x10 @30
Dumbell Front/Back Shrugs: 3x20 @35
Lat Pulldown Front/Back: 3x20 @80**
Bent Dumbell Rows: 3x10 @30**
Seated, Bent Lat Dumbell Flys: 3x10 @12
Stairmaster 24m LVL 8 379 cals

I started pretty light a month ago to avoid injury, and I'm happy to start moving the weight up on some of this stuff.



**Increase next session

[Braindrop]

They're putting a new AC & Furnace in at my tiny gym, I swear there was a fine haze of asbestos floating in the sunlight inside. I'll cardio/abs tomorrow.

Arms/Legs
~~~~~~
Dumbell Preacher Curls 3x10 @20**
Dumbell Hammer Curls 3x10 @20
Tricep Pushdowns 3x10 @50**
Standing Dumbell Tris 3x10 @15**
Bench Tri Kickbacks 3x10 @15
Leg Press 2x10 @220, 1x10 @240**
Leg Extensions 3x10 @70

** moving up next time

Probably the fastest workout I've done, breathing that **** was killing me.

[dads01dream]

Gee, usually the only "haze" in our gym comes from me!! My M.A.N. Scorch & Clout stack makes for some smelly emissions. hahahaa

Keep up the good work on your journal here, are you taking any supplements? How's your eating going? Just curious.... seems like 11 lbs. in 1 month is good progress.

[Braindrop]

Well, it's the first month, so you figure at least 5 pounds of it was water probably. I'm taking a multi, an amino acid multi, and 2 aspirin for heart therapy. I think the supplements industry in general is a scam.

I'm eating a pretty clean 6-7 meals/day, keeping my calorie count at 900 to 1500 below maint, depending on how hard I work out for the day. I've been really surprised at how hard it is to eat 2300 cals when you're eating good food. Right now I'm eating 40/40/20 -- I'll start tweaking that when I hit a plateau.

Peace!

[Braindrop]

A combined 11 hours in Airports and Airplanes. Freakin ugh. :P

It's been a whipsaw weekend. My wife did great on the GRE, so we went out and celebrated Saturday, then spent all day today sitting on my ass. At least the seafood is good here.

So no gym in my hotel, I'm looking for a new place tomorrow. In the meantime, I'll be walking every night to keep some cardio going.

[Braindrop]

Ate clean today, ignored the 5516134616 donuts that people brought in to the office. Didn't get to eat as often as I wanted, but I made it to the store today and picked up a bunch of CC and fruit to eat during the day.

Found a Subway a 30 minute walk from my hotel, speed-walked down, got a sandwich for dinner to go, walked back to the hotel. I tried some running, but my knees bitched. Maybe in another 50 pounds.

5 more days on the road.

[Braindrop]

Man, 15 hour day yesterday, followed by having to give my boss a ride back to San Francisco. At least I got dinner out of it. Clean day, it was nice to have the fridge here stocked with CC, etc, but I'm not getting enough water, and I feel all lazy and bloated after not doing anything yesterday but pushing a keyboard.

[Braindrop]

Good walk last night, although my left knee and both shins are kind of tweaked this morning. I hate concrete. Also, another clean day eating-wise, with the exception of one glass of a really nice Mablec with dinner.

Two more days then home! Yay.

[BJW]

Wow, nice going, Brain.

Looks like you're making some really good progress. It's probably getting to the point where eating clean and working out are becoming habit, and therefore easier.

I wish you the best on your quest - and I'll try and check in on this thread every once in a while to see how its going - its always inspiring to see other people succeed in changing thier bodies/lifestyle.

Keep it up! You'll hit your goal before you know it.

[Braindrop]

Thanks!

Yesterday was mixed. No walk, but I did eat pretty clean, and managed to dodge the client dinner that would have involved way too much drinking and food. Went to Boston Market and had chicken instead. Go me.

I get home tomorrow, yay!

[DrivenToTransform]

A whole month! holy crap.. i want wait to hit a whole month.. so far ive got 2 weeks today into it good for you.. keep it up!!! you're doing great and it seems like you are making some good choices in avoiding temptation! i had to do that yesterday when the office at work got pizza.. i just told myself that it was garbage and that i dont need it and said no thank yoU !

[Braindrop]

Home again, yay! Another sucky day of airports & airplanes & getting up at 4 AM. I'm not even going to think about weighing in until Monday AM before I hit the gym.

Yesterday went good, I ended up walking instead of driving to both dinner and lunch, so I got about 4 miles in. The less said about the last 24 hours of eating, the better.

peace

[Wooderson316]

Congrats so far. You and I are in the same boat, so I empathize with you. I'm looking forward to seeing your progress.

What is your diet? Oh, and where in Texas are you? I'm in DFW.

[Braindrop]

I'm in Austin mostly. I'm doing a 40/40/20 split trying to eat around 900-1400 cals below maint+burned (usually means I'm eating around 2300 cals/day). I'm trying to do 5-6 smaller meals/day -- usually dinner is my only big meal at around 800-900 cals.

[Braindrop]

Got on the scale this morning and I managed to drop 2 pounds last week even with nothing but walking and marginally clean diet. I just knew I was going to put on 5 pounds, so I'm really psyched about this!

Peace.

[dads01dream]

Always a nice surprise... Congrats!

[DrivenToTransform]

wow thats great! don't you love it when your body surprises you in a good way... .

[Braindrop]

Ahhh. First day back in the gym since returning home. I moved up on almost everything, and added another 6 minutes to my cardio. I have a massage scheduled for this afternoon, maybe it will help me being able to move tomorrow

Chest/Shoulders/Back
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Today
Machine Bench: 3x10 @135
Dumbell Incline Bench: 3x10 @30
Dumbell Flys: 3x10 @20
Dumbell Milit. Press: 2x10 @30, 1x9 @30 (failure)
Dumbell Upright Row: 3x10 @30
Dumbell Front/Back Shrugs: 3x20 @35
Lat Pulldown Front: 1x10 @90; 2x10 @100
Bent Dumbell Rows: 3x10 @35
Seated, Bent Lat Dumbell Flys: 3x10 @12
Stairmaster 30m LVL 8 Random 445 cals

[dads01dream]

Nice! See, sometimes it's good to have a little break every now and again.

[DrivenToTransform]

Ahhhhhhhhhh massages.. they rock!! Hope you loved it