Tracking and Holding Myself Accountable – 32 M | SW 397 | GW 225 | 6’2”

[ndakneck]

Introduction:
I tell myself I don’t know how I got here, but the reality is, I know exactly how I got here. Being lazy, too much drinking, eating like **** and just in general not taking care of myself. I have put on 175 lbs over the past 10 years, 84 of them over the past five or so years. If I don’t correct this now, I am going to live a miserable life and die way too young.

This is a thought I had to myself not too long ago. I need to change something and I need to change it now. My girlfriend of five year (soon to be fiancé) has also gained weight and she will be going through this transformation with me. I have been reading both here and many other places online. I have successfully lost weight before, but for some reason, this time it feels more real. Not the desire to lose, or the decision to change, but the consequences if don’t change seem more real.

About Me:
• 33 Year old Male
• 6’2
• Sedentary Desk Job
• SW: 397
• GW: 225

I started tracking my weight on Friday, 11.20.15. I stepped on the scale and it said Err…I freaked out. I panicked. I had gotten too fat for my fat man scale. Holy ****…that’s a reality check. I have always been a bigger guy, but never to this extreme. I played Midget AAA Hockey late in my high school years. I was 225 then, but I was a rock solid 225. Now I am a doughy 400 lbs with a solid core somewhere inside. My legs are wicked strong, but my knees are shot. My knees are the reason I stopped playing hockey and have been unable to run or do any serious lower body exercises that are heavy stress on my knees. I can walk 18 holes of golf (carrying) and do so from time to time.

I have nieces and nephews that I absolutely adore and my girlfriend and I often talk about children of our own. Whether we have them or adopt them, if we decide to go that route, I want to be there for them. I want to be there for my girlfriend. I am making a commitment to her to share the rest of my life with her and I need to be healthy to do that. Not to sound cliché, but you often hear the phrase ‘get busy living or get busy dying’. I have been well on my way to dying and it stops now. Well, actually it has already stopped, but I am just putting pen to paper.

What I Have Done:
I cleaned out my fridge. I threw everything away. No more junk in the house to tempt me. I went grocery shopping and did meal prep for this week. I downloaded MFP and am tracking everything I eat/do. I am dusting off that gym membership key fob that has been on my keys and not scanned for 4+months (the last time I gave a half ass attempt at doing something healthy).

Yesterday, I started the cooking/prep process. I actually love cooking and am pretty good at. I like to find ways to create healthy meals that taste good.
For Brunch yesterday (and breakfast most days this week) I made a Sweet Potato Hash. The hash consists of

Sweet Potato Hash Ingredients:
• onion
• diced sweet potato
• ground turkey sausage
• green onion
• olive Oil
• garlic
• rosemary
• S&P
Combine all ingredients on a cookie sheet and drizzle lightly with olive oil and seasonings. Roast at 450 for 45-50 minutes.

I then cook 2 eggs and heat up the hash in the same pan. Serve with 2 pieces of Whole Wheat toast with a little bit of smart balance omega 3 butter spread. Whole meal is about 550 cals. This is a new recipe I came up with. I like it, but I need to look into adding some celery or new potatoes or red potatoes to give me a little more ‘crunch’ on the consistency. Any ideas what I could use here?

I had a mid-day snack of low fat cheese stick and a banana. Dinner was a beef and broccoli dish I came up with that was pretty damn good. I won’t list everything out here as I am still working on the recipe a bit more. I will post once I have it figured out. I thought I had brown rice at home, but did not so ended up eating some jasmine rice, which I like the taste of better, but not as healthy. Dinner ended up being about 825 cals. Also had some Almond Milk throughout the day as well as evening snack of 2 pieces of whole what toast with natural peanut butter.

Day 1 results:
2,195 calories:
• 111g protein
• 242g carbs
• 29g fiber
• 71g sugar
• 65g fat
Macros:
• 48% Carb
• 29% Fat
• 23% protein

Line tells me I am eating too much carb and not enough protein. Picked up some Isopure Zero Carb and PB2 to pack in some more protein with as little carb as possible.
That bring us to today. I woke up around 6:45 and made my breakfast hash again, with a little more sweet potato. This resulted in 660 cals for breakfast. I just finished my mid-morning snack of my protein shake which with a cheese stick resulted in 255 cals.

What Now:
I feel great. I know it has only been 2 days, but I am feeling good, energy levels are good. I am not hungry and I am excited to get back in the gym. As you can probably tell, I enjoy writing. This is for me to hold myself accountable, track how I am feeling, track progress and overall just get some thoughts out as I go through this. I want to share and document, but I also want to learn. I will post pics soon as the physical transformation is something I want to visualize.

This not a journey with an end in sight, it is my transformation so that end is further away.

[ndakneck]

I ran into a wall about 3:30-4pm yesterday. Talking with a co-worker who is licensed and certified personal trainer, he let me know that I should expect this. Going from a ****ty 4K cal diet to 2K cals and healthy, my body is in a little shock. I took it easy last night and felt well rested this morning.

Had the breakfast hash again today. For lunch, I had a grilled chicken salad with some roasted corn and peppers with guacamole and somelight ranch dressing. I need to try and enter it into MFP later to track where I am at WRT Macros. Today, energy level is up. Building a frame and impact screen tonight for a golf simulator so activity should help me rest well tonight.

[The6ixGod]

Hey man. Good luck on your journey. I started a month ago yesterday and it's been tough but I can see changes already. As long as you keep up eating a healthy diet and working out you should see results in no time. They will motivate you to keep on going. I've learned that the scale isn't always fun. Water weight will think you gain weight even if you lost. If you see you gain weight, just look at your body to see if you notice differences. Try to weigh yourself only once a week. It's hard but daily fluctuations might de-motivate you. Keeping a log every day helps me keep on track every day and gives me something to look forward to to show that I've "helped" myself for the day.

Good luck once again!

[ndakneck]

Thank 6ix.

So I struggled over the holiday weekend. Which I half expected going into it, but I know I did much better than I would have without my current mindset.

Weight stayed the same over the weekend, which is good. Started tracking daily again yesterday with MFP and hitting the gym tonight.

MFP Stats from Yesterday:
Cals: 2,546
237 g Protein
154 g Carbs
106 g Fat
20 g Fiber
18 g Sugar

Macros are 24% Carb, 38% fat and 38% Protein


I would like to see the carb number lower, but I felt great with energy levels. Lack of focus, but energy was pretty good.

Today, I feel better with:
1,371 Cals
134 g Protein
100 g Carb
48 g Fat
18 g fiber
31 g sugar

Macros 39p/29c/32f

I will be adding another isopure zero carb protein shake after the gym tonight and if I get really hungry, maybe some steak or egg whites.

Any feedback on macros/nutrients is appreciated.

I can post more detailed info on foods, but can say majority of carbs are 100% whole wheat or sweet potato. Protein is a mixture of eggs, cheese, ground turkey (93% lean drained), chicken or steak.

I am thinking about ordering some C4 Ripped to get the pre workout with the burn.

[ndakneck]

Past couple days have been crazy. I forgot to track yesterday with MFP and I feel like I overdid it. Not happy with myself today. Today I have eaten 2 Ezekiel bread cin/rais english muffins with some natural peanut butter. I am making myself pay for yesterday.

Great news is I stepped on scale yesterday AM and wieghed in 390.4 lbs. Just the week before Thanksgiving, I was over 400. I am thinking 13-14 lbs total lost since that point.

CW 390.4
Weekly Weight Loss 6.6lbs
Total Weight loss 6.6lbs

[ndakneck]

I have not been as good as I want to be with tracking my macros on MFP so that has been a focus this week. I have not put anything in me that has not been tracked on here.

Monday

Cals: 1657 | Pro: 145 | Carb: 112 | Fat: 71 | Fiber: 19
27% Carb, 38% Fat, 35% Protein

Tuesday
Cals: 1808 | Pro: 172 | Carb: 143 | Fat: 65 | Fiber: 13
31% Carb, 32% Fat, 31% Protein


Feeling better in the gym and getting about 15-20 minutes of cardio (6.0 incline at 3.5 speed for 15-20 minutes is a lot for a 390lb guy.) I follow that up with weights. Usually a split of back/bi and chest/tri with legs every day. As I have bad knees, I am focusing on building up strength around my knees so that I can do more.

Feeling good and looking forward to tomorrow morning's weigh in.

[ndakneck]

Last night ended up quite different than I expected. I had an interview that I feel went pretty well and ended up going out with some friends for drinks afterwards. I ended up having more than I had planned. Had 8 Bacardi and Diet Cokes, which I am not at all proud of. I also ran out of protein due to poor planning on my part so was not able to get that extra 50g of protein with no carbs I am getting from Isopure.

Not happy with myself at all as I feel I overdid it and ultimately set myself back a good bit by drinking.

Cals: 2115 | Pro: 73 | Carb: 157 | Fat: 39 | Fiber 21
50% Carb, 27% Fat, 23% Protein

So today was weigh in day. I knew that I screwed up last night by drinking, but was able to resist the urge to binge eat when drinking. My goal after last week was to break into the 380's. I did it, but just barely. 389.5 this morning. I am sure there is a decent bit of water weight there so I am confident I actually had a loss of 2-3 more lbs and just screwed myself by drinking last night. Goal for next Thursday is 385

CW 389.5
Weekly Weight Loss .9lbs
Total Weight loss 7.5lbs

[ndakneck]

Yesterday I went to Smoothie King for breakfast as I was not feeling well after the night of drinking before.

I ordered a slim-n-trim and when I got to the office did the nutrition checking...Holy **** was I wrong on my choice. It put my macros out all day. I didnt bring lunch so ordered a grilled chicken wrap on a whole wheat wrap and a fruit cup from McAlisters. I went home and went to sleep after work.

Ended the day with
Cals: 1365 | Protein: 119 | Carb: 162 | Fat 27 | Fiber: 11
35% Protein, 47% Carb, 18% fat

Not happy with the day, but glad I did the research. This morning had a medium chocolate Shredder from Smoothie King. 467 cals, 54 carbs, 43.5 g protein and 4.5 g fat is much much better than yesterday.

Going out tonight and carrolling to raise money for a local kids charity. Is generally a booze fest, but will try to keep it under control. Will be drinking a lot of water and eating a lighter lunch today.

Have some pain in my hip flexor that has kept me out of the gym yesterday and today. If I feel better tomorrow, I will be back. Still have a goal to be sub 385 by Thursday of next week. Will try my best to track over the weekend...usually is my hardest time to remember.