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General Discussion => Throw Down the Gauntlet => Topic started by: lexde on March 26, 2019, 08:10:36 AM

Title: ☆ April 2019 ☆ Transformation Challenge (Health + Fitness)
Post by: lexde on March 26, 2019, 08:10:36 AM
☆ April 2019 ☆ Transformation Challenge

My gym has a biannual transformation challenge to push its members to eat better, exercise harder, and be the best version of themselves that they can be. Regrettably, I missed the sign up date in January due to illness, but I'd like to throw down the gauntlet for a transformation challenge right here at MMM.

This will be an 8-week challenge, self-directed, where your only goal is to optimize your health and fitness. Whether that means weight loss, more consistent workouts, more veggies, or just staying hydrated, is all up to YOU.

Start Date: Monday, April 1, 2019
Mid-Point: Monday, April 29, 2019
End Date: Monday, May 27, 2019


Recommended Timeline of Events:

March 26 - April 1, 2019: Initial weigh ins/assessments, introduction/goal posts, "before" photos (shared or private!)
April 1, 2019: Transformation Challenge Begins!
April 29, 2019: Mid-point weigh ins/assessments, "during" photos (shared or private!), goal update posts
May 27, 2019: Final weigh-ins/assessments, "after" photos (shared or private!), review/recap post

Please also feel free to post as often as you would like in this thread to stay accountable! Whether it's daily log posts, recipe sharing, commiserating or celebrating those victories on or off the scale - let us know what your plan is for the next 8 weeks and what you hope to gain, and then use this thread for accountability and partnership.
Title: Re: ☆ April 2019 ☆ Transformation Challenge (Health + Fitness)
Post by: ItsALongStory on March 26, 2019, 09:07:00 AM
I go to that same gym and missed out on the challenge, I just got the unlimited membership and have some clear goals for the next few months so count me in.

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk

Title: Re: ☆ April 2019 ☆ Transformation Challenge (Health + Fitness)
Post by: lexde on March 26, 2019, 09:11:10 AM
I go to that same gym and missed out on the challenge, I just got the unlimited membership and have some clear goals for the next few months so count me in.

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk
Awesome! I used to go 5x/wk but I recover much better at 4x (unlimited). Let's do this! :-)
Title: Re: ☆ April 2019 ☆ Transformation Challenge (Health + Fitness)
Post by: lexde on March 26, 2019, 09:11:30 AM
Introduction

I'm lex, 29F in the Southeast. I've been working toward financial independence for about three years now and in that time have come a long way! In "the grind" I started to lose focus on my health and wellness, so I've started to re-balance my priorities to take care of my health and nutrition. I don't want to retire early only to find that I've lost my ability to go on adventures!

Current Stats:
Goals for Challenge:
I will be doing HIIT workouts (60 min each) 4x per week with additional accessory weightlifting 2x per week and a full rest day on Saturdays. I'll be focusing more on meal prepping for the week on Sundays and having a protein-heavy breakfast in the AM, balanced lunch, and no snacking after dinner. The only things I will be restricting out of my diet are: sodas/diet soda, refined sugars, and bread/pasta. I don't eat much of those items anyway, and have some bean-flour pasta I can sub instead.

*subject to change before first official weigh in date!

"Before" photos coming soon!
Title: Re: ☆ April 2019 ☆ Transformation Challenge (Health + Fitness)
Post by: Bird In Hand on March 26, 2019, 10:00:36 AM
I don't have any major transformation to undergo, but threads like this help keep me focused on things I need to do to stay as healthy as I can: eat well, sleep well, and stay active.  It looks so simple on paper!  :D

I don't want to retire early only to find that I've lost my ability to go on adventures!

That hits close to home.  Watching my own aches, pains, and other ailments add up as I get older, achieving FIRE takes on a new urgency.

Best of luck over the next 8 weeks.  Hey, it's only 2x longer than a W30 -- you can do it!
Title: Re: ☆ April 2019 ☆ Transformation Challenge (Health + Fitness)
Post by: philli14 on March 26, 2019, 01:21:30 PM
I'll bite. Thanks for setting this up. I have some health/fitness goals that I set at the beginning of the year. I'll use this challenge as an 8-week injection of motivation as I start to approach the end of the honeymoon phase of goal setting for the year.

Brief Intro
25M, ~3mo into taking FI seriously. 6'2", 181#. Multi-sport athlete growing up, have always been active, though with some up and down periods due to school. Active job as DPT in outpatient orthopedic clinic. Have always been able to get away with eating as I please, have had the fortune of remaining at a steady weight. Have since started to think forward and trying to stay ahead of my health, especially considering I preach it daily at my job.

Nutrition Overview
No strict diet, but have been avoiding added sugars (none YTD) and polyunsaturated oils, especially canola/vegetable. Not strict keto, but try to limit carbohydrates in general. However, I have been upping my carb intake the last month as I had been behind on my weight goal (see below) this far into the year. In summary, lots of fat, lots of meat, "enough" produce/veggies and fewer carbohydrates than previously in my life. Supplementation consists of daily BCAA and creatine intake, pre-workout beta-alanine and caffeine.

Exercise Overview
Lift heavy, 5x weekly. Free weight, compound movements. Sufficient intensity to get heart and respiratory rate going. No cardio, except what I get when I commute using bicycle. Also participate in the occasional indoor or outdoor soccer game, which always ends with me saying I should do more focused cardio. Each gym day also involves a brief mobility/dynamic warm-up.

Current split:
MON - OFF
TUE - PULL/PUSH (Pull-ups, DB Bench, BB Rows, BB Rack Push)
WED - LEGS (BB Deadlift, KB Lunges, KB SLDL)
THU - OFF
FRI - PULL (Pull-ups, BB Rows, Delt work, Lat work, Biceps, Core)
SAT - PUSH (BB Bench, DB Bench, Plyo push-ups, Core)
SUN - LEGS (Box Jumps, BB Deadlift, Pistol Squat work, Core)

Goals
At the beginning of the year, I set a lot of goals, 5 of which were related to health/fitness:

1. Increase weight to 190# (Start: 178#)
2. Lifting goals: Bench 335, Deadlift 465, Pull-ups 30 (Start: Bench 295, HexDL 385, Pull-ups 18)
3. Perform a muscle-up (Start: not able to do)
4. >6mo of the year 100% added sugar free (Start: try to generally avoid)
5. Zero sick days at work in 2019 (Start: 0 sick days in 2018)

I will set some goals for April 1st, that will help me gauge my progress to these bigger goals:

1. Reach 185# (Current: 181#)
2. Lifting goals: Bench 285 5x5, Deadlift 415 5x3, Pull-ups 22 (Current: Bench 265 5x5, Deadlift 375 5x3, Pull-ups ?)
3. Perform a muscle-up (Current: haven't tried)
4. Remain added-sugar free (Current: no added sugar in 2019)
5. Zero sick days at work (Current: no sick days in 2019)

Looking forward to seeing everyone work hard towards their goals!
Title: Re: ☆ April 2019 ☆ Transformation Challenge (Health + Fitness)
Post by: Matthew82 on March 26, 2019, 06:24:08 PM
Let's see if accountability from random people on the internet is helpful.

I'm Matthew, 36yo male delivery driver from Wyoming, weighing about 215 and getting winded on 3rd floor deliveries.  I'm going to keep it super simple with no gym membership.

Height:  6'
Starting Weight:  TBD on Apr 1
Starting Photo:  TBD on Apr 1

Plan:
100 pushups a day (hopefully at once by the end)
100 situps a day (hopefully at once by the end)
100 bodyweight squats a day (hopefully at once by the end)
100 35lbs kettlebell swings a day (hopefully at once by the end)
Daily 5k run/walk (hopefully run by the end)
Nightly 12 hour fasts
Coffee and water only for beverages

Goal:
Weigh 190 lbs or less
All goals listed in plan
Clear two flights of stairs with a load without getting winded.
Title: Re: ☆ April 2019 ☆ Transformation Challenge (Health + Fitness)
Post by: Tuskalusa on March 26, 2019, 06:56:02 PM
I’m in. My gym is doing a challenge in April, so I’m going for double challenge!

49Y Female. 165 (ugh).  Goal is to lose 20 and set up a “new normal” for my diet and exercise. As someone who didn’t have to worry about her weight until recently, this has been a rude awakening. Looking forward to figuring out a new plan!
Title: Re: ☆ April 2019 ☆ Transformation Challenge (Health + Fitness)
Post by: ItsALongStory on March 26, 2019, 08:16:43 PM
Introduction

I'm itsalongstory, 37M in the Southwest. I discovered this community last fall and have been educating myself through this forum and various podcasts. Also started to do some travel hacking with the goal of joining my retired wife on some more trips. Currently at about 4-5x expenses saved so I have a long way to go. I have been overweight for probably 17 years and just want to reduce stress on my heart etc. I started around 240# back in January following a trip to Europe.

Current Stats:
Goals for Challenge:
I will also be doing HIIT workouts (45-60 min each) 4x per week with additional exercise such as running, volleyball or skiing throughout the week.

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk

Title: Re: ☆ April 2019 ☆ Transformation Challenge (Health + Fitness)
Post by: Anette on March 27, 2019, 05:12:51 AM
I'll join!
48 f
Two mentally ill teenagers ( schizophrenia, depression)  living at home right now, which is very emotionally draining and unfortunately I seem to be helping myself by eating when drained / frustrated. So now I got myself to 80kg ( 160+ pounds) and I am only 164 cm.
Also our oldest daughter would be 27 years old today, but she died in an accident in 2011.
It feels like my husband and I are barely surviving between work schedules, therapeutic appointments for the daughters... Which seems an excuse for bad eating and overeating habits and not enough exercise.
We will give trying to break the cycle a go, as this life style only weakens us.
We have planned to go without wheat, milk(products) and added sugars starting on the 1 of April, one of the daughters wants to join us, the other I am not certain about.
I am excited about this and this thread will be a great help keeping me going. Thanks!
Title: Re: ☆ April 2019 ☆ Transformation Challenge (Health + Fitness)
Post by: 2Birds1Stone on March 27, 2019, 05:55:18 AM
I'm down like Charlie Brown.

31 Years old
6'0"
216.4 lbs this morning

Currently lifting weights 3-4x a week, as well as running 2x a week, and riding my MTB 1x a week.

Biggest hurdle for me has always been my diet. If I can control my calories my weight tends to cooperate. I feel/perform my best right under the 200 lb mark.

16 lbs in 8 weeks is very reasonable, I'm going to start today though.

In the past I've had great success with adherence through intermittent fasting. The hardest part is always the first 7 days, and I already fucked it up with some cookies w/ morning coffee today......so I'll start that tomorrow.
Title: Re: ☆ April 2019 ☆ Transformation Challenge (Health + Fitness)
Post by: lexde on March 27, 2019, 10:35:02 AM
I'll join!
48 f
Two mentally ill teenagers ( schizophrenia, depression)  living at home right now, which is very emotionally draining and unfortunately I seem to be helping myself by eating when drained / frustrated. So now I got myself to 80kg ( 160+ pounds) and I am only 164 cm.
Also our oldest daughter would be 27 years old today, but she died in an accident in 2011.
It feels like my husband and I are barely surviving between work schedules, therapeutic appointments for the daughters... Which seems an excuse for bad eating and overeating habits and not enough exercise.
We will give trying to break the cycle a go, as this life style only weakens us.
We have planned to go without wheat, milk(products) and added sugars starting on the 1 of April, one of the daughters wants to join us, the other I am not certain about.
I am excited about this and this thread will be a great help keeping me going. Thanks!
I'm so sorry to hear about your trials at home. Mental illness is incredibly difficult, not just for those suffering but for those who caregive and/or are just around those regularly. On top of your loss... I can't even imagine. I hope that we can help you and your husband, and feel free to DM me for additional accountability/buddy if you need to. <3 We are all here for you!
Title: Re: ☆ April 2019 ☆ Transformation Challenge (Health + Fitness)
Post by: paperclip on March 28, 2019, 06:06:44 AM
100 pushups a day (hopefully at once by the end)
100 situps a day (hopefully at once by the end)
100 bodyweight squats a day (hopefully at once by the end)

One Punch Man???

(if you have no idea what I'm talking about: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7rBDKrWprU )
Title: Re: ☆ April 2019 ☆ Transformation Challenge (Health + Fitness)
Post by: 2Birds1Stone on March 28, 2019, 06:22:39 AM
Things are going swimmingly already. I'm actually up .6 lb today and getting sick!
Title: Re: ☆ April 2019 ☆ Transformation Challenge (Health + Fitness)
Post by: lexde on March 28, 2019, 07:19:48 AM
Things are going swimmingly already. I'm actually up .6 lb today and getting sick!
Hey, this is a marathon, not a sprint! You'll have time to kick your cold's butt (and the scale's butt, too!) no problem. In the meantime, take care of yourself! :-)
Title: Re: ☆ April 2019 ☆ Transformation Challenge (Health + Fitness)
Post by: lexde on March 28, 2019, 07:57:46 AM
T-Minus 4 Days

I'm getting a bit of a head start just by getting myself together, planning some meals ahead of time, and trying to build a decent foundation. So... here goes! I'm going to try to post daily, or if not, several times per week. I think it will help reinforce the habit. I also strongly encourage everyone to respond to others' posts for encouragement, support, and general commiseration. :-)

Exercise
Nutrition
Total: 1,470 cal, 98g protein
Title: Re: ☆ April 2019 ☆ Transformation Challenge (Health + Fitness)
Post by: Anette on March 28, 2019, 09:05:09 AM
Thank you for the encouragement!
All of you have these great workout plans already, I have to admit I am starting slowly here.
Yesterday ( as well as the three days before that) I managed to go for a full hour walk in our nearby woods. Felt really good, especially with spring slowly getting here. That's sort of a "couch to the woods" move :)
I have a rebounder, that I regularly used ( just 15 min/day) throughout the winter but couldn't find any motivation to get on for the past three weeks. I am hoping to use it again soon. I find that I develop a routine while I am off work and then my nightshift starts and it does not seem sustainable through that. It's usually 7 nights in a row and I have a hard time getting started again when off( working 66% part time). Last night was working and I am not certain I will have/make time for my walk today.
Anyway, you are a great inspiration to me!
During the next days I will follow your  idea lease and meal plan for next week!

Title: Re: ☆ April 2019 ☆ Transformation Challenge (Health + Fitness)
Post by: Matthew82 on March 28, 2019, 12:39:48 PM
One Punch Man???

(if you have no idea what I'm talking about: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7rBDKrWprU )

I wasn't familiar with it, but I guess I came by my strategy the same way.  I just saw a bunch of "100" challenges and decided to combine them.
Title: Re: ☆ April 2019 ☆ Transformation Challenge (Health + Fitness)
Post by: Money Beets on March 29, 2019, 07:16:35 PM
I am in.  32F 5'7" 130.4lbs.  My goal isn't necessarily weight loss, but I need to strength and tone what I have.  I have access to a small gym in my office, which is helpful since winter refuses to be over.  I also need to stick with healthier eating.  I have a hard time avoiding sweets at work, but I have gotten much better at home.  I am trying to focus on getting more veggies and protein in my diet.  Spring is typically a hard time to maintain diet and exercise for me due to busier work schedules for me and my spouse, but my sister in law is getting married in early June, so I am using that as extra motivation.
Title: Re: ☆ April 2019 ☆ Transformation Challenge (Health + Fitness)
Post by: lexde on April 01, 2019, 05:25:19 AM

Day 1

Good morning and happy April, everyone! Let’s get this challenge underway!

HERE (https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20190401/0529e2f427d71feb9063ad66f1c28e6e.jpg) is my “before” photo.

Starting Stats
Exercise
Nutrition
Total: 1,340 cal, 82g protein*
*math may be off as I’m brain dead from the gym.
Title: Re: ☆ April 2019 ☆ Transformation Challenge (Health + Fitness)
Post by: 2Birds1Stone on April 01, 2019, 06:07:26 AM
Looking jacked Lex!!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk

Title: Re: ☆ April 2019 ☆ Transformation Challenge (Health + Fitness)
Post by: lexde on April 01, 2019, 07:49:43 AM
Looking jacked Lex!!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk
Still need to cut some weight. Ideally ~128 at the end of all of this, but we’ll see! :-)
Title: Re: ☆ April 2019 ☆ Transformation Challenge (Health + Fitness)
Post by: JanetJackson on April 01, 2019, 08:25:34 AM
I'm in!

My goals are fairly straightforward and perhaps even a little odd, but here we goooooo!


Goals

1. Gym 3x/wk minimum I've been maintaining this for a good while, but my goal is no slip ups for this 8 week challenge.

2. DO NOT COMPLAIN while I am at the gym.  Extended sighs count as complaining.  I'll allow myself to complain before or after, but not during class or anywhere near my coach.  I go to a crossfit gym, and sometimes part of our social language is complaining together, and I am a solid participator in that complain-train... but not for April and May!! :)

3. 300lb Deadlift.  I'm in a Deadlift fundraiser in June, so this times out perfectly.  My goal is to be in the 300 range.  My max is very inconsistent these days, but floats around 260-270.

4. Use my stovetop ONCE per week minimum.  I just got a gas stove for the first time and am terrified of it and don't know how to cook on it.  I've used the oven, but the stove, now almost a MONTH after moving in, goes unused.  This is causing me to microwave everything, skip meals, overeat other weird things, and just generally eat less optimally.  But I am legitimately scared of it.  Ha.  I'm ridiculous- but I am what I am. 
Title: Re: ☆ April 2019 ☆ Transformation Challenge (Health + Fitness)
Post by: Matthew82 on April 01, 2019, 02:14:55 PM
Day 1
Height: 6'
Weight: 215.8
Photo:  I'll hold on to that for now.

Plan:
Woke up with a major set-back before I even started.  A tendon injury that I thought was healed up is giving me trouble.  Brightside, I listened to a podcast last night  on the topic of fasting, so I'm going to try starting with that while I can't work out and spend more time with casual movements.  The longest I've ever lasted on a fast was 25 hours, but I'm hoping to measure this one in days.
Title: Re: ☆ April 2019 ☆ Transformation Challenge (Health + Fitness)
Post by: lexde on April 01, 2019, 02:51:20 PM
Day 1
Height: 6'
Weight: 215.8
Photo:  I'll hold on to that for now.

Plan:
Woke up with a major set-back before I even started.  A tendon injury that I thought was healed up is giving me trouble.  Brightside, I listened to a podcast last night  on the topic of fasting, so I'm going to try starting with that while I can't work out and spend more time with casual movements.  The longest I've ever lasted on a fast was 25 hours, but I'm hoping to measure this one in days.
I’ve never fasted that long - please keep us posted!
Title: Re: ☆ April 2019 ☆ Transformation Challenge (Health + Fitness)
Post by: Percolate on April 01, 2019, 11:43:43 PM
I'm gonna give this a shot! Accomplished a lot of my health goals in 2018, but have been backsliding the first quarter of this year, aiming to get back on track.

Starting stats

- Weight: 162.4 lb
- Body Fat: 19.7%
- Fat Mass: 32.1 lb
- Waist: 34.75 in
- Before photo: https://imgur.com/FA1EgAf (https://imgur.com/FA1EgAf)

Goals

- Daily mindfulness meditation and/or yoga - needed for mental health purposes, but when I'm good about this, I tend to be better about other goals too. At times consistent meditation has allowed to me to wake up with 5-6 hours of sleep while feeling totally rested. Having that again would be awesome, but isn't the type of thing you're supposed to hope for with this practice.
- Lose 10 lb (8 lb fat mass)
- Lose 2% body fat
- Lose 1.5 inches off waist
- Whole food plant based diet (with whey protein shakes as an exception) - Did this for a month last year, and it worked wonders on my bloodwork. Daily tracking through MyFitnessPal, with the additional mustachian goal of a $150 food budget per month, so $300 for this challenge.
- 10K steps daily, and a workout of some kind every day, either weightlifting, playing basketball, HIIT, or trying something new through ClassPass
- Sleep before 11 PM (already messed this one up today...)

Title: Re: ☆ April 2019 ☆ Transformation Challenge (Health + Fitness)
Post by: philli14 on April 02, 2019, 09:19:15 AM
Day 1 (4/1):

Not much to report, as it was my day off. Felt like I ate a decent amount, biked into work (5.1 miles roundtrip). 9 hours of sleep.

Day 2 (4/2):

Early morning lift (4:30AM). 7.5 hours of sleep.

Push/Pull day. Quick pre-workout, biked to the gym. 5-10 minute dynamic warmup then got into the lift.

Pull-ups (13 sets, 30sec rest between sets). Rep scheme: 1/2/3/4/5/6/7/6/5/4/3/2/1
Dumbbell Chest press (5 sets, 3min rest between sets). Rep scheme: 5x7, 110# dumbbells for 7/7/7/5/4
Seated machine row (4 sets, 1.5min rest between sets). Rep scheme: 4x8, 245# for 8/8/8/8
Rack pushes (3 sets, 3min rest between sets). Rep scheme: 3x8, 295#/305#/315# for 8/8/6

Felt pretty good about this lift. Pull-ups went well, finished the sets in under 7 minutes. The 110# dumbbells are the highest that my gym has, so instead of staying at 5x5 and going higher weight I'm forced to increase weight. Near-future goal with this one is 5x10 with 110#s. Rows went well, I cheat pretty heavily in that it is a full body row, so I get legs and lower back involved. Rack pushes are my triceps finisher, I take a relatively narrow grip. Also helps with lockout for bench press.

Quick shower, thiccc protein shake, then back onto the bike to work. Weigh-in at 181#.
Title: Re: ☆ April 2019 ☆ Transformation Challenge (Health + Fitness)
Post by: lexde on April 02, 2019, 09:53:45 AM
Day 2

I’m glad to see so many people joining in! Day 2 is here — let’s do our best!

Weigh-In
Exercise
Nutrition

*Just as a quick disclaimer - I am using a short fast as a chance to mentally and physically reset, and am not viewing it as restrictive or unhealthy or a way to lose weight faster.
Title: Re: ☆ April 2019 ☆ Transformation Challenge (Health + Fitness)
Post by: brandon1827 on April 02, 2019, 11:00:14 AM
Unfortunately for me, I didn't stumble upon this thread until today (4/2) so I'll be a little behind the curve.

I'm Brandon, 43 y/o male in Tennessee. I've been an athlete since grade school, but let myself go a bit in college. Through a combination of lots of beer drinking and late night food runs I managed to get up to around 250 pounds. Fast forward to the news that I was going to be a father; which was a great motivator to get myself into shape. I picked up running and started to control my diet better and eventually got down to 185 pounds. My son is now 9 and I've managed to keep my weight under 210 pounds, but I fluctuate. I'm going to run home and weigh myself on my lunch break to get a starting weight for this challenge. I've also recently signed up for my second Tough Mudder (scheduled for October), so this will just be a good kick start and some added motivation for me.

My goals are: To get down to at least 190-195 pounds, workout at least 4 times per week, continue a 16-8 intermittent fasting plan (recently started), & get to bed before 10:00 p.m. every night.

I'll report back in a little while with my starting weight. Thanks for posting this and I look forward to following everyone's progress in the coming weeks!

Edit: Starting weight is 209.8

Not sure if 190 is achievable in 8 weeks, but I'm gonna give it a go!
Title: Re: ☆ April 2019 ☆ Transformation Challenge (Health + Fitness)
Post by: mm1970 on April 02, 2019, 12:07:22 PM
I like this!  I think I will visit this thread for motivation, but can I just be lazy and not join?

I'm 48F.
I have no idea what I weigh.  Our bathroom scale broke a few months ago, and we never replaced it.  Probably should, if for no other reason than to keep track of how our boys (13 and 6) are growing!
Mostly, my pants fit?  Before the scale broke, I was prob around 132 lbs.  I seem to stay between 131 and 136. 

I am currently training for a half marathon that is in early May, so my workout schedule involves 3 days/ week running, 1 day/ week weight training (which is new-ish, and one reason why I don't really care about the scale), 1 day/ week hip+core workout for running (which is also weight training). 

The only thing I want to "transform" is to cut back on the chocolate.  I built up a bit of a habit over spring break.  I've also been eating a lot more carbs lately, but with the increased running, I'm finding it necessary.
Title: Re: ☆ April 2019 ☆ Transformation Challenge (Health + Fitness)
Post by: Jim Fiction on April 02, 2019, 12:19:23 PM
Excellent idea and perfect timing - my wife, SIL and myself decided this past weekend to commit to low-carb/Keto for the month (and perhaps beyond).

About Me:

Jim!
34 yr old male
6 ft
205.5 lbs (as of 4/1)

General Goals:

Stick to Low-carb/Ketoish diet
Eliminate snacking at work
Better portion control
Limit beer intake (my Achilles for sure!)
Workout 3x per week (including at least one home workout)
Get under 200 lbs by end of April

When I was 25 I met the woman who would eventually become my wife. At the time I weighed 145 lbs, so the intervening 9 years I have managed to pack on 60 lbs(!!!). For years I've talked about needing to do something, but this year I broke the 200 pound threshold and reality is sinking in that I need to actually take action and make some serious changes in order to ensure my long-term health.

I can stick to the diet - I've done whole 30 months a few times before. Eliminating snacking should be relatively easy, as well. I used to rarely ever snack at work, but since changing jobs this past summer I got in the bad habit of snacking along with the rest of my team. Portion control should also be relatively easy - we cook for the week on Sunday and pre-portion everything. Limiting beer will be tougher, I LOVE beer. It also doubles as a hobby/social life for me. I take great pleasure not just in drinking beer but in seeking out and trying new stuff, visiting breweries, talking about it with friends and trading/sharing beers. Working out will also be tough - I have a gym membership but its not convenient to get to during the week. I've done some home work outs as recently as a few months ago but the sleep patterns/tendencies of my almost 1 year old daughter shifted so it has made it difficult to do it regularly. Still, I know I can be better, it is simply a matter of adapting and that is also why I am starting off with one at home work out during the week in conjunction with going to the gym on the weekends. Hopefully all of these changes will allow me to start shedding the weight and reconfigure my body.

I am looking forward to reading about everyone's strategies and tracking progress. I plan to check in weekly (weigh-ins every Monday), at the end of the month I will re-assess my plans and adjust accordingly for the remaining leg of the challenge. Best of luck to all!
Title: Re: ☆ April 2019 ☆ Transformation Challenge (Health + Fitness)
Post by: JanetJackson on April 02, 2019, 12:22:23 PM
Day Two!

Goals

1. Gym 3x/wk minimum I've been maintaining this for a good while, but my goal is no slip ups for this 8 week challenge.
Day two of the gym this week.  I'll certainly get my 3x/wk in this week.  Plus I don't typically go on Tuesday, so that was a win.  The workout was AWFUL, but I did better than expected.

2. DO NOT COMPLAIN while I am at the gym.  Extended sighs count as complaining.  I'll allow myself to complain before or after, but not during class or anywhere near my coach.  I go to a crossfit gym, and sometimes part of our social language is complaining together, and I am a solid participator in that complain-train... but not for April and May!! :)
Succeed in this today.

3. 300lb Deadlift.  I'm in a Deadlift fundraiser in June, so this times out perfectly.  My goal is to be in the 300 range.  My max is very inconsistent these days, but floats around 260-270.
Did not work on this today.

4. Use my stovetop ONCE per week minimum.  I just got a gas stove for the first time and am terrified of it and don't know how to cook on it.  I've used the oven, but the stove, now almost a MONTH after moving in, goes unused.  This is causing me to microwave everything, skip meals, overeat other weird things, and just generally eat less optimally.  But I am legitimately scared of it.  Ha.  I'm ridiculous- but I am what I am.
Used my stovetop last night! Made soybean noodles with garlic roasted broccoli.  This was a big win.
Title: Re: ☆ April 2019 ☆ Transformation Challenge (Health + Fitness)
Post by: use2betrix on April 02, 2019, 03:05:18 PM
Current Stats
5’9”
30 years old
181.9lbs
Bench Press 255x6
Squat 355x5 (Threw my back out hard 3-4 weeks ago, have been dealing with pain since, have been to chiro twice, this likely will take more time to recover)
Current Run PR’s: 2 miles in 13:42 and 7 miles in 57:52
I started running over 1-2 miles for the first time in my life last summer. Starting to get more serious

Goals for the Challenge
-  I have my first 5k in early May. My main goal is sub 22 minutes, I would be content with under 23     minutes.
-  I would ideally be able to drop down to 175 lbs, but definitely below 180. I also want to maintain my strength along with the speed.
-  I plan to continue with 2 weight lifting sessions per week and 4 runs. Each weightlifting session is 65-80 minutes. Each week will have 1 long run (6-8 miles) 2 recovery runs (3-5 miles) and one track/speed workout (3-5 miles)
-  My diet has been 90% of perfect for years. Every meal is measured, balanced, and planned. I have one mild cheat meal each dinner (sushi, Thai, burger/fries, etc.) and usually a few glasses of wine each week. I usually also have some ice cream. I may need to clean it up overall just a tad to drop those few lbs, but maintaining my strength is as important as increasing run times. It’s a very tricky balance.
-  My biggest hurdle right now is this back injury I have been nursing 3-4 weeks. Fortunately it doesn’t impact my running, but it does impact my heavy squats. I can still do front squats, and most all other exercises, just primarily pain when I bend over. I’ve been to the chiro twice, will continue another month or two before seeing a doctor.

-  I don’t mind posting a photo, but in previous threads fitness related pics don’t typically seem very welcomed lol.






Title: Re: ☆ April 2019 ☆ Transformation Challenge (Health + Fitness)
Post by: lexde on April 02, 2019, 03:07:41 PM
Current Stats
5’9”
30 years old
181.9lbs
Bench Press 255x6
Squat 355x5 (Threw my back out hard 3-4 weeks ago, have been dealing with pain since, have been to chiro twice, this likely will take more time to recover)
Current Run PR’s: 2 miles in 13:42 and 7 miles in 57:52
I started running over 1-2 miles for the first time in my life last summer. Starting to get more serious

Goals for the Challenge
-  I have my first 5k in early May. My main goal is sub 22 minutes, I would be content with under 23     minutes.
-  I would ideally be able to drop down to 175 lbs, but definitely below 180. I also want to maintain my strength along with the speed.
-  I plan to continue with 2 weight lifting sessions per week and 4 runs. Each weightlifting session is 65-80 minutes. Each week will have 1 long run (6-8 miles) 2 recovery runs (3-5 miles) and one track/speed workout (3-5 miles)
-  My diet has been 90% of perfect for years. Every meal is measured, balanced, and planned. I have one mild cheat meal each dinner (sushi, Thai, burger/fries, etc.) and usually a few glasses of wine each week. I usually also have some ice cream. I may need to clean it up overall just a tad to drop those few lbs, but maintaining my strength is as important as increasing run times. It’s a very trick balance.
-  My biggest hurdle right now is this back injury I have been nursing 3-4 weeks. Fortunately it doesn’t impact my running, but it does impact my heavy squats. I can still do front squats, and most all other exercises, just primarily pain when I bend over. I’ve been to the chiro twice, will continue another month or two before seeing a doctor.

-  I don’t mind posting a photo, but in previous threads fitness related pics don’t typically seem very welcomed lol.
Welcome! Feel free to post pics here. I did. This is a health and fitness specific thread so you are free to post as you’d like. :-)
Title: Re: ☆ April 2019 ☆ Transformation Challenge (Health + Fitness)
Post by: use2betrix on April 02, 2019, 07:13:18 PM
Ok so I couldn’t totally figure out the whole hyperlink thing, but I think I at least got this link to work so it doesn’t show up as a thumbnail.

Here’s a before pic as of this evening:
https://m.imgur.com/a/uSupGRv

Definitely feel a bit off and notice a big difference between where I’m at now and the 3 lbs lower where I like to be (it doesn’t sound like much but 3 lbs of fat is actually a decent amount to lose, especially where it comes off me). I’d love to get down 6-7 lbs though.

Hopefully the next 5 weeks up to my 5K will get me where I want to be. After that I may pick back up on the lifting a bit more for the summer but we’ll see.

Great thread idea, love working harder to hold myself accountable!
Title: Re: ☆ April 2019 ☆ Transformation Challenge (Health + Fitness)
Post by: lexde on April 03, 2019, 07:06:27 AM
Day 3

What are you guys doing to further your goals today? :-)

Weigh-In
Exercise
Nutrition

Overall things are going well. Thursday and Friday I will be doing HIIT and then Saturday is a rest day. I’m trying to drink more regular water and to wean a bit off of LaCroix. I still haven’t had any diet soda since I quit cold turkey 2 months ago, so I’m happy about that! :-)
Title: Re: ☆ April 2019 ☆ Transformation Challenge (Health + Fitness)
Post by: coffeefueled on April 03, 2019, 08:34:44 AM
Joining late, but so glad this thread exists. I think it's great to see everyone's varied fitness goals and ways of working out. Looking forward to sharing the motivation and excited to see some other people who like to pick up heavy objects.

I'm getting married in June and want to be back to feeling crazy good. Husband-to-be is a dedicated powerlifter. I had a pretty good routine going for a year or so then completely fell off the wagon over the last 6-9 month in the craziness of new house/new job/winter etc. Insert all the excuses here. My biggest hurdle will be overcoming the inertia to get out of my cube and go to the gym.

36F (birthday this month woo)
~120lbs

Long-term:
I'd like to be back to deadlifting 5x5 in the 115-125lb range and to break my previous 140lb max.
Get my flexibility back.
Hold a handstand

Weekly Goals:
 - deadlift and squats each week
 - eat enough protein
 - yoga or other flexibility work



Title: Re: ☆ April 2019 ☆ Transformation Challenge (Health + Fitness)
Post by: brandon1827 on April 03, 2019, 10:14:49 AM
Work toward my goals today:
- Will complete a 16-hour fast at 12:00 noon
- 60-minute HIIT workout after work
- Plan to stay under 2,000 calories for the day
Title: Re: ☆ April 2019 ☆ Transformation Challenge (Health + Fitness)
Post by: philli14 on April 03, 2019, 10:30:55 AM
Day 3

Solid 9 hours of sleep. Biked into work. After work will bike straight to gym for leg day. No weigh-in today.

Update:
Leg day went... ok. I don't like lifting after work, my energy levels are typically down after a 11h work-day, and I don't like to drink pre-workout this close to bedtime. Still managed to hit 5x5 deadlift at 355, then called an audible and did some kettlebell bulgarian split squats, as I've been thinking about reintroducing these for some time. Typically I do them with the barbell, but racks were full so I went with kettlebells. Felt good. Think I'll add these to leg day permanently.

Been battling some weird L hip flexor pain and some bilateral posterior tibialis discomfort, but I had a coworker mob my hip at lunch and I taped myself up before the lift so felt pretty good. Low back a little tense after the lift but not too bad.

Hope everyone has great success re: their goals today. If you don't, at least you're more conscious about it than you would otherwise be, and hopefully that serves as motivation for tomorrow to be better.
Title: Re: ☆ April 2019 ☆ Transformation Challenge (Health + Fitness)
Post by: use2betrix on April 03, 2019, 11:47:09 AM
Today:

Apple for 9 a.m. snack
11 a.m. chicken and green beans
2:30 p.m. - rice, beef, beans, salsa
4:30 p.m. - oatmeal
6 p.m. - track workout (1 mile warm up then either three - 1 mile runs, or six 800m runs, then 1 mile cool down) Hoping for weather to hold out, show’s 50% rain which could impact plans
After run - either just a whey shake or if I really need recovery, i’ll have 2 scoops protein, 2 cups milk, 1 banana, glutamine
8:30 p.m. - Omlette or some other low-no carb dinner


This morning I stepped on the scale at 180.0. Down 1.8 lbs this week, but I have a feeling I was higher early this week from having more salt (retaining water) with the chicken pad Thai I had Saturday night. I’d love to be able to drop a lb a week until my race, but I also need to make sure I have enough food to fuel my workouts and recovery.
Title: Re: ☆ April 2019 ☆ Transformation Challenge (Health + Fitness)
Post by: mm1970 on April 03, 2019, 03:02:03 PM
Today:
- 8.5 hours of sleep
- 30 min hip/core workout at the gym.  It was HARD today, yo.  I'm sure I'm going to have a hard time moving tomorrow.
- 30 min walk at lunch (I call it "walking off the crazies")
Title: Re: ☆ April 2019 ☆ Transformation Challenge (Health + Fitness)
Post by: philli14 on April 03, 2019, 03:15:29 PM
- 30 min hip/core workout at the gym.  It was HARD today, yo.  I'm sure I'm going to have a hard time moving tomorrow.

Curious as to what this entails. Mind sharing details when you get a chance?
Title: Re: ☆ April 2019 ☆ Transformation Challenge (Health + Fitness)
Post by: Exflyboy on April 03, 2019, 05:51:07 PM
Day Two!

Goals

1. Gym 3x/wk minimum I've been maintaining this for a good while, but my goal is no slip ups for this 8 week challenge.
Day two of the gym this week.  I'll certainly get my 3x/wk in this week.  Plus I don't typically go on Tuesday, so that was a win.  The workout was AWFUL, but I did better than expected.

2. DO NOT COMPLAIN while I am at the gym.  Extended sighs count as complaining.  I'll allow myself to complain before or after, but not during class or anywhere near my coach.  I go to a crossfit gym, and sometimes part of our social language is complaining together, and I am a solid participator in that complain-train... but not for April and May!! :)
Succeed in this today.

3. 300lb Deadlift.  I'm in a Deadlift fundraiser in June, so this times out perfectly.  My goal is to be in the 300 range.  My max is very inconsistent these days, but floats around 260-270.
Did not work on this today.

4. Use my stovetop ONCE per week minimum.  I just got a gas stove for the first time and am terrified of it and don't know how to cook on it.  I've used the oven, but the stove, now almost a MONTH after moving in, goes unused.  This is causing me to microwave everything, skip meals, overeat other weird things, and just generally eat less optimally.  But I am legitimately scared of it.  Ha.  I'm ridiculous- but I am what I am.
Used my stovetop last night! Made soybean noodles with garlic roasted broccoli.  This was a big win.

Can you elaborate on why you are scared of your stovetop?

I'm an experienced mechanical engineer so I'm hoping that maybe some technical facts might help you a little?

Is the stovetop powered by natural gas (i.e from the utility supplied gas supply to your house) or by propane?
Title: Re: ☆ April 2019 ☆ Transformation Challenge (Health + Fitness)
Post by: Serendip on April 03, 2019, 06:56:21 PM
Joining in--

Just renewed my gym pass today and am eager to increase activity as I feel the last 3 months were waylaid by injuries/illness/travel

Starting
39 y F
155 lbs
general good health, would like to increase consistency of activity and lose 6-8lbs in 8 weeks
-will aim for going to the gym 3-4 times/week
-home yoga 3 times/week
-walks with friends 1-2 week

Today I spent time at the gym doing cardio & leg/hip strength & just completed Day 1 of Yoga with Adriene's 30 day challenge 2019

Good work everyone! Looking forward to hearing about your progress :)
Title: Re: ☆ April 2019 ☆ Transformation Challenge (Health + Fitness)
Post by: JanetJackson on April 03, 2019, 07:37:06 PM
Day Three!

Goals

1. Gym 3x/wk minimum I've been maintaining this for a good while, but my goal is no slip ups for this 8 week challenge.
Day three was today.  Went well.  I'll also go on Friday.

2. DO NOT COMPLAIN while I am at the gym.  Extended sighs count as complaining.  I'll allow myself to complain before or after, but not during class or anywhere near my coach.  I go to a crossfit gym, and sometimes part of our social language is complaining together, and I am a solid participator in that complain-train... but not for April and May!! :)
I let myself slip for one complaint today, but otherwise succeed in this today.

3. 300lb Deadlift.  I'm in a Deadlift fundraiser in June, so this times out perfectly.  My goal is to be in the 300 range.  My max is very inconsistent these days, but floats around 260-270.
Worked on DLs today and they went well.  I used the appropriate rep scheme to work toward 300 soon.

4. Use my stovetop ONCE per week minimum.  I just got a gas stove for the first time and am terrified of it and don't know how to cook on it.  I've used the oven, but the stove, now almost a MONTH after moving in, goes unused.  This is causing me to microwave everything, skip meals, overeat other weird things, and just generally eat less optimally.  But I am legitimately scared of it.  Ha.  I'm ridiculous- but I am what I am.
I've already met this quota.  Have not used it again this week, but have eaten well.

--------------------------------------------------------------

@Exflyboy
Can you elaborate on why you are scared of your stovetop?

I'm an experienced mechanical engineer so I'm hoping that maybe some technical facts might help you a little?

Is the stovetop powered by natural gas (i.e from the utility supplied gas supply to your house) or by propane?


Sure.  I had a firefighter over the other night (a friends spouse, I was hosting a small bonfire), and she assured me that it looks great and is very safe.  It's a natural gas stove with gas utility service to the house.  I've never had a gas stove before and the open flame scares the crap out of me.  The natural gas in general kind of does too, but I'm getting used to it. 
I have gas heat, a gas water heater, and a gas stove.  I'm ok with the heat if I don't think about it too much, I'm ok with the water heater since it's brand new, but for some reason because I can SEE the flame on the stove it makes me exceptionally nervous.  It's anxiety, it's not a 'real' issue with the stove, fyi.

Thanks for offering to help! :) I want to use it more so that I can make more/different/perhaps healthier meals, but I find myself not wanting to.  Time will help, I think.
Title: Re: ☆ April 2019 ☆ Transformation Challenge (Health + Fitness)
Post by: Exflyboy on April 03, 2019, 08:18:02 PM
Day Three!

Goals

1. Gym 3x/wk minimum I've been maintaining this for a good while, but my goal is no slip ups for this 8 week challenge.
Day three was today.  Went well.  I'll also go on Friday.

2. DO NOT COMPLAIN while I am at the gym.  Extended sighs count as complaining.  I'll allow myself to complain before or after, but not during class or anywhere near my coach.  I go to a crossfit gym, and sometimes part of our social language is complaining together, and I am a solid participator in that complain-train... but not for April and May!! :)
I let myself slip for one complaint today, but otherwise succeed in this today.

3. 300lb Deadlift.  I'm in a Deadlift fundraiser in June, so this times out perfectly.  My goal is to be in the 300 range.  My max is very inconsistent these days, but floats around 260-270.
Worked on DLs today and they went well.  I used the appropriate rep scheme to work toward 300 soon.

4. Use my stovetop ONCE per week minimum.  I just got a gas stove for the first time and am terrified of it and don't know how to cook on it.  I've used the oven, but the stove, now almost a MONTH after moving in, goes unused.  This is causing me to microwave everything, skip meals, overeat other weird things, and just generally eat less optimally.  But I am legitimately scared of it.  Ha.  I'm ridiculous- but I am what I am.
I've already met this quota.  Have not used it again this week, but have eaten well.

--------------------------------------------------------------

@Exflyboy
Can you elaborate on why you are scared of your stovetop?

I'm an experienced mechanical engineer so I'm hoping that maybe some technical facts might help you a little?

Is the stovetop powered by natural gas (i.e from the utility supplied gas supply to your house) or by propane?


Sure.  I had a firefighter over the other night (a friends spouse, I was hosting a small bonfire), and she assured me that it looks great and is very safe.  It's a natural gas stove with gas utility service to the house.  I've never had a gas stove before and the open flame scares the crap out of me.  The natural gas in general kind of does too, but I'm getting used to it. 
I have gas heat, a gas water heater, and a gas stove.  I'm ok with the heat if I don't think about it too much, I'm ok with the water heater since it's brand new, but for some reason because I can SEE the flame on the stove it makes me exceptionally nervous.  It's anxiety, it's not a 'real' issue with the stove, fyi.

Thanks for offering to help! :) I want to use it more so that I can make more/different/perhaps healthier meals, but I find myself not wanting to.  Time will help, I think.

OK well you're right its not a real issue..:).

Natural gas is about the safest gas you can use because its extremely difficult (admittedly not impossible) to cause an explosion. Natural gas is almost all methane (CH4). Methane has 1 carbon atom and 4 hydrogen atoms. This is a very low energy density of fuel, which means you need a heck of a lot of it to leak into a room to get to the lower explosive limit.

Whats more they put this artificial gas smell into the natural gas (called mercaptan) so you can smell it very easily. Basically the smell would be completely over powering before you got to the point where it could explode from a spark. NG is also slightly lighter than air so it DOESN'T sit in a pool on the floor waiting for a spark!

Propane is much more dangerous by comparison (even that is quite safe if handled properly). Its heavier than air, sits on the floor so you can't necessarily smell it.. spark from a light switch and Kaboom..:).. This DOES NOT happen with NG..:)

As long as the flame is blue (meaning its completely burned) then there is no danger of Carbon monoxide poisoning (as there would be with a dirty yellow flame).

Of course you should always ensure any naked flame is extinguished before you leave, it is by comparison a very safe fuel source.

Incidently, candles are banned in our house.. far to easy to knock over or set fire to curtains!.. I would throw all those out before you need to worry about your stove top.

I don't know if this helped but as your firefighter friend has given the unit the all clear then you really have nothing to worry about.

If you live somewhere that is subject to Earthquakes you might consider installing a seismic shutoff valve on the gas line coming into your house. I believe they are code required now on new construction in California.
Title: Re: ☆ April 2019 ☆ Transformation Challenge (Health + Fitness)
Post by: gerardc on April 03, 2019, 08:40:08 PM
fitness threads are pretty useless without pics everyone ...

in the last 6 months I went down from 18% bf to ~11%. I look almost decent now. A few more lbs to go, just in time for FIRE

Here’s a before pic as of this evening:
https://m.imgur.com/a/uSupGRv

u natty brah? your skin looks pretty tight, might just be a pump

MOD EDIT: No.
Title: Re: ☆ April 2019 ☆ Transformation Challenge (Health + Fitness)
Post by: philli14 on April 03, 2019, 09:23:31 PM
Also, a couple words of advice from your friendly mustachian PT..

1. Be careful about the rate at which you are increasing your volume (how much you do)/intensity (how intense it is.. weight, speed, etc.) of exercise. Most of the overtraining/overuse injuries that I see on a daily basis can be attributed to an increase in load that exceeded the body's capacity to accomodate to that load. These short challenges can be great from a motivational standpoint, but going from "0 to 100", especially with exercises that involve a lot of repetition, jumping, landing, etc. may be setting yourself up for an injury that could sideline you.

2. A good habit to get into is to journal. It is important to track reps/sets/time, but also make note of how your body feels. Felt a weird tweak in the knee? Jot it down. Notice that pinky finger tingles after doing X exercise? Jot it down. Low back always tense after a consistent amount of time on the treadmill? Jot it down. This information can go a long way in helping to diagnose any future injuries, as we typically can make our diagnosis ~80% of the time based on subjective information alone (before even putting our hands on you). It also helps you to notice patterns in your training and can modify as necessary.

That's all for now :) Keep up the good work!
Title: Re: ☆ April 2019 ☆ Transformation Challenge (Health + Fitness)
Post by: JanetJackson on April 04, 2019, 06:15:53 AM
fitness threads are pretty useless without pics everyone ...


Here’s a before pic as of this evening:
https://m.imgur.com/a/uSupGRv


What if your fitness goal is not aesthetic?  Why is a fitness thread useless without body photos?  Explain.
Title: Re: ☆ April 2019 ☆ Transformation Challenge (Health + Fitness)
Post by: lexde on April 04, 2019, 06:29:53 AM
fitness threads are pretty useless without pics everyone ...


Here’s a before pic as of this evening:
https://m.imgur.com/a/uSupGRv


What if your fitness goal is not aesthetic?  Why is a fitness thread useless without body photos?  Explain.
Don’t feed the troll. He’s obviously being a jackass.
Title: Re: ☆ April 2019 ☆ Transformation Challenge (Health + Fitness)
Post by: brandon1827 on April 04, 2019, 08:48:34 AM
Yeah, no pics needed. It's about each of us striving toward our respective goals and getting inspiration from each other.

Did an interesting workout at the gym yesterday. 4 stations, start with 5 seconds at station 1, run to station 2 and 5 seconds there, run to station 3 and 5 seconds there, etc. We worked from 5 seconds at each station up to 50 seconds at each station, increasing in 5 second increments in each round. The stations each had 3 exercises to choose from. Station 1 was overhead med-ball throws, runners crunches, or around the world slams. Station 2 was box jumps, burpees, or bear crawls, Station 3 was sprints, long jump/monster walk, or power skips, and Station 4 was fast feet (in/outs), floor climbers, or TRX curls w/ knee drives. Before we started I thought "this is going to be cake" but by the 25 second round I was gassed and counting how many rounds we had left, lol. Good workout and lots of fun.

Today I'm fasting until noon, eating only paleo, doing a 60-minute HIIT workout, and drinking at least a gallon of water.
Title: Re: ☆ April 2019 ☆ Transformation Challenge (Health + Fitness)
Post by: lexde on April 04, 2019, 08:55:29 AM
Day 4

Hope everyone is still pushing through! We are almost through this week. What's one of your go-to healthy meals? For me, I like to throw half a banana, 1c of strawberries, 1c of almond milk, and 1 scoop of vanilla whey in the blender. Easy smoothie for breakfast or dinner. About 30g protein, 320 calories, and delicious!

Weigh-In
Exercise
Nutrition

I was/am really low energy today. This could be a combination of eating "protein ice cream" last night with artificial sweeteners, my neighbor literally playing drums and bass until late last night keeping me up, and/or not hydrating enough. Barely made it through my workout, lowest burn in quite a while. I'm going to try to eat an early dinner and get lots of sleep tonight.
Title: Re: ☆ April 2019 ☆ Transformation Challenge (Health + Fitness)
Post by: philli14 on April 04, 2019, 09:03:18 AM
Did an interesting workout at the gym yesterday.

That sounds brutal.. nice work

What's one of your go-to healthy meals?

Super simple salad. Spinach, diced roma tomato, diced green onion, pumpkin seeds. Tossed with lemon juice and olive oil and some salt and pepper.


04/04

8.5h sleep. Rest day from gym. Biked into work, only real form of exercise today. Biking was tough after last nights leg workout!

Hope everyone has a good day
Title: Re: ☆ April 2019 ☆ Transformation Challenge (Health + Fitness)
Post by: gerardc on April 04, 2019, 10:01:25 AM
60-minute HIIT class - 450kcal burnt (not my best performance)

https://youtu.be/USPdqShb_bM?t=215

MOD EDIT: Rude, not helpful.
Title: Re: ☆ April 2019 ☆ Transformation Challenge (Health + Fitness)
Post by: lexde on April 04, 2019, 10:16:20 AM
60-minute HIIT class - 450kcal burnt (not my best performance)

https://youtu.be/USPdqShb_bM?t=215
Please leave, your "input" isn't helpful in this thread.
Title: Re: ☆ April 2019 ☆ Transformation Challenge (Health + Fitness)
Post by: use2betrix on April 04, 2019, 05:42:22 PM
fitness threads are pretty useless without pics everyone ...

in the last 6 months I went down from 18% bf to ~11%. I look almost decent now. A few more lbs to go, just in time for FIRE

Here’s a before pic as of this evening:
https://m.imgur.com/a/uSupGRv

u natty brah? your skin looks pretty tight, might just be a pump

Picture was taken after a full upper body workout in the evening. I actually hesitated to even take a pic then because I usually look better fasted in the morning. Oh well.

I’m 30, aside from around an 18 month hiatus at 21, I’ve been lifting weights consistently since 14. My diet and training has been near impeccable the last 7-8 years. I also now run 15-20 pretty hard miles a week. I’ve slowly tapered back my time in the gym the better I get to know my body. The last 3-4 years were 3 days a week (and I’d miss maybe a handful of days a year) and this year I just cut back to two days lifting, 4 days running. My lifting workouts are all out, soul crushing events.

I’ve lost a tad bit of muscle going from 3 days to 2, but by increasing the running I’m enjoying the differences. I’ve spent so much consistent time in the gym over the years that I knew a change of pace in terms of more cardiovascular exercise would eventually happen. Prior to last summer I had never done any consistent cardio of any form in my life. I just lifted hard and kept my diet in check.

*Edit - I should also add, that unlike 95% of gym goers, the last 7-8 years I have hit my lower body harder than my upper body. I don’t mean just some squats, I mean week after week I consistently destroyed my legs with a far more intense workout than I did my upper body. The vast vast majority of guys don’t even look like they train their legs at all (and most you never do see them train legs). I think that has been a huge addition to building a well balanced physique.
Title: Re: ☆ April 2019 ☆ Transformation Challenge (Health + Fitness)
Post by: gerardc on April 04, 2019, 10:08:05 PM
fitness threads are pretty useless without pics everyone ...

in the last 6 months I went down from 18% bf to ~11%. I look almost decent now. A few more lbs to go, just in time for FIRE

Here’s a before pic as of this evening:
https://m.imgur.com/a/uSupGRv

u natty brah? your skin looks pretty tight, might just be a pump

Picture was taken after a full upper body workout in the evening. I actually hesitated to even take a pic then because I usually look better fasted in the morning. Oh well.

I’m 30, aside from around an 18 month hiatus at 21, I’ve been lifting weights consistently since 14. My diet and training has been near impeccable the last 7-8 years. I also now run 15-20 pretty hard miles a week. I’ve slowly tapered back my time in the gym the better I get to know my body. The last 3-4 years were 3 days a week (and I’d miss maybe a handful of days a year) and this year I just cut back to two days lifting, 4 days running. My lifting workouts are all out, soul crushing events.

I’ve lost a tad bit of muscle going from 3 days to 2, but by increasing the running I’m enjoying the differences. I’ve spent so much consistent time in the gym over the years that I knew a change of pace in terms of more cardiovascular exercise would eventually happen. Prior to last summer I had never done any consistent cardio of any form in my life. I just lifted hard and kept my diet in check.

*Edit - I should also add, that unlike 95% of gym goers, the last 7-8 years I have hit my lower body harder than my upper body. I don’t mean just some squats, I mean week after week I consistently destroyed my legs with a far more intense workout than I did my upper body. The vast vast majority of guys don’t even look like they train their legs at all (and most you never do see them train legs). I think that has been a huge addition to building a well balanced physique.

Looking good man. I actually look pretty similar to you, except a tad fatter (working on that) and less veiny especially the legs (I can tell they are a strong point of yours) and smaller from your stats. Doable but probably close to the natty limit, at least for my genetics.

I'm 35 and also have been working out since 19-20. I used to do 5-6x/week but in the last 2 years I had some nagging injuries and went down to 3x/week with weights (basically maintaining my strength barely), plus 1x/week of Crossfit-style cardio/circuit with dumbbells and bodyweight functional movements. Crossfit has a bad rap but is a great way to do cardio if you do it safely. You should definitely check it out as an addition to weight training. Otherwise I like biking outdoors for longer durations or doing some bike HIIT workouts.
Title: Re: ☆ April 2019 ☆ Transformation Challenge (Health + Fitness)
Post by: JanetJackson on April 05, 2019, 06:07:02 AM
Forgot to check in Yesterday:

Day Four!

Goals

1. Gym 3x/wk minimum I've been maintaining this for a good while, but my goal is no slip ups for this 8 week challenge.
Day four was a rest day.  Foam rolled a little bit and took a long walk.

2. DO NOT COMPLAIN while I am at the gym.  Extended sighs count as complaining.  I'll allow myself to complain before or after, but not during class or anywhere near my coach.  I go to a crossfit gym, and sometimes part of our social language is complaining together, and I am a solid participator in that complain-train... but not for April and May!! :)
N/A yesterday.

3. 300lb Deadlift.  I'm in a Deadlift fundraiser in June, so this times out perfectly.  My goal is to be in the 300 range.  My max is very inconsistent these days, but floats around 260-270.
Rest day

4. Use my stovetop ONCE per week minimum.  I just got a gas stove for the first time and am terrified of it and don't know how to cook on it.  I've used the oven, but the stove, now almost a MONTH after moving in, goes unused.  This is causing me to microwave everything, skip meals, overeat other weird things, and just generally eat less optimally.  But I am legitimately scared of it.  Ha.
Did not use stove yesterday, already met this quota.

Thx, it helps me to check in.  Will check in later today for Day 5.
Title: Re: ☆ April 2019 ☆ Transformation Challenge (Health + Fitness)
Post by: Serendip on April 05, 2019, 01:35:02 PM
Yesterday's success= another gym/sauna session

Today=Yoga day 2/30  (Yoga with Adriene 30 day home challenge)
Title: Re: ☆ April 2019 ☆ Transformation Challenge (Health + Fitness)
Post by: JanetJackson on April 05, 2019, 02:00:46 PM
Day Five!

Goals

1. Gym 3x/wk minimum I've been maintaining this for a good while, but my goal is no slip ups for this 8 week challenge.
Went to gym today for fourth time this week.  I got an extra day in because I was craving the social interaction and endorphins.  Had a fun time.

2. DO NOT COMPLAIN while I am at the gym.  Extended sighs count as complaining.  I'll allow myself to complain before or after, but not during class or anywhere near my coach.  I go to a crossfit gym, and sometimes part of our social language is complaining together, and I am a solid participator in that complain-train... but not for April and May!! :)
Let one slip today, but no one heard me and I quickly course-corrected and ended up having a great time and being one of the "positive people" during a pretty hard workout for all of us.  Proud of myself.

3. 300lb Deadlift.  I'm in a Deadlift fundraiser in June, so this times out perfectly.  My goal is to be in the 300 range.  My max is very inconsistent these days, but floats around 260-270.
We did not work on DLs today, we worked on Front Squats.  It will all help my DL though, so I'm not too worried about it.  Will do some Good Mornings tonight and foam roll to prep for some work on Deadlifts over the weekend

4. Use my stovetop ONCE per week minimum.  I just got a gas stove for the first time and am terrified of it and don't know how to cook on it.  I've used the oven, but the stove, now almost a MONTH after moving in, goes unused.  This is causing me to microwave everything, skip meals, overeat other weird things, and just generally eat less optimally.  But I am legitimately scared of it.  Ha.
Did not use stove today, already met this quota.  I might use it later.  I bought a fire extinguisher today and a 2nd carbon monoxide detector.  I couldn't BE more prepared. LOL.  I hate that dang stove.  I'll master it eventually.
Title: Re: ☆ April 2019 ☆ Transformation Challenge (Health + Fitness)
Post by: philli14 on April 05, 2019, 05:51:58 PM
4/5

10h of sleep. Pull day. Didn't really have the usual energy and focus today.. not sure why. Hopefully an anomoly. Still churned out a decent workout

1. Pullups 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1, 30sec rest between
2. Seated rows 4x8 @240#, last set drop set (no rest between) 240#x8 -> 210#x8 -> 180#x8 -> 150#x8
3. Lateral delt raise 3x12 @15# superset with rear delt raise 3x12 @15# superset with straight arm pull down 3x10 @60#
4. Paloff deadbugs 2x20 superset with physioball planks 2x24
5. Band bicep curls AMRAP 60sec/20 rest/40sec/20 rest/20sec
6. Plate holds (2x10# plates pinched together in each hand), 60sec

Thicc shake (cookies n cream protein powder, heavy cream, banana, peanut butter) and 5 tacos (ground beef, bitchin sauce, sour cream, cilantro, cheese) post-workout
Title: Re: ☆ April 2019 ☆ Transformation Challenge (Health + Fitness)
Post by: use2betrix on April 06, 2019, 08:58:06 AM
Not a terrible week, but one of the worse one’s in a while. My diet stayed spot on all week and I woke up at 179.6 this morning. I had a fantastic 7 mile run Sunday, 4 mile recovery Monday, hard upper body workout Wednesday, 1 mile warm up followed by three, 1 mile repeats on Thursday at the track.

That being said - my back I messed up around a month ago continues to be a concern. Steady ibuprofen has helped a lot but is definitely only masking the problem. I’ve increased my stretching in the morning and night and trying new things. I’ve seen the chiro twice. I have a high deductible insurance and am putting the doctor off until I’ve given it time and exhausted other methods.

In addition, my shins/calves are starting to bother me some, so I put off my planned recovery run that was supposed to be Thursday/Friday before I get a stress related injury.

Leg day is planned for today. I’m making a goal to run a personal 10k in as many states as possible this year, and I have a meeting in another state I likely won’t visit again this year on Monday, so I’m hoping I can still make my long run on Monday morning. It’ll depend how the calves and shins feel. With my first 5k scheduled next month, not a good time to be cutting back, but also don’t want to jeopardize my long term goals.

While my “not on track” is still pretty good, hopefully I can get back on track better this coming week.
Title: Re: ☆ April 2019 ☆ Transformation Challenge (Health + Fitness)
Post by: Serendip on April 06, 2019, 01:04:41 PM
Good work everyone!

So far, so good here.

Weight 153.8 (-1.2lbs)

Yoga day 3/30 (30 day challenge)

Walked/jogged 2 miles...haven't run for ages so it was a lot of walking and took 27 minutes.
Will see how this changes over the next 7 weeks
Title: Re: ☆ April 2019 ☆ Transformation Challenge (Health + Fitness)
Post by: philli14 on April 06, 2019, 03:16:03 PM
4/6

9h sleep. Energy feeling a little off, not too sure why. Push day (no weigh-in)

1. Bench press 5x5 @275. First time trying 275 after hitting 265 5x5 last week. 5/4/4/4/3. Had to play it cautious as I didn't have a spotter. Still feels pretty good to hit 5 reps of 275.
2. Alternating DB chest press 3x10 @75s. DBs held in top position, perform chest press one at a time, alternating arms. Hit failure on 10th rep of third set, perfect.
3. Triple superset. Deadbug/paloff 3x20 with weighted V-ups 3x8 @25# with plyo push-up 3x10 onto 18" box

Pretty good, considering I'm feeling a little off. Must have a little bug or something.

Thicc shake post-workout!
Title: Re: ☆ April 2019 ☆ Transformation Challenge (Health + Fitness)
Post by: 2Birds1Stone on April 07, 2019, 09:58:12 AM
216.4 lbs this morning

Currently lifting weights 3-4x a week, as well as running 2x a week, and riding my MTB 1x a week.

Biggest hurdle for me has always been my diet. If I can control my calories my weight tends to cooperate. I feel/perform my best right under the 200 lb mark.

16 lbs in 8 weeks is very reasonable, I'm going to start today though.

In the past I've had great success with adherence through intermittent fasting. The hardest part is always the first 7 days, and I already fucked it up with some cookies w/ morning coffee today......so I'll start that tomorrow.

I started IF about 10 days ago. So far so good.

Morning Weight 214
7 Day Average - 210.3

I expect my average to drift up a bit before dropping to new lows. My 7 Day Average on 3/27 was 215.6, needing to drop 15.8 lbs to hit my goal of <200 @ 199.8 at the 8 week mark.

Right on track, but April will be tough with 2 weddings, 2 Passover celebrations, Easter, a few Bday parties, and work functions/travel.

Title: Re: ☆ April 2019 ☆ Transformation Challenge (Health + Fitness)
Post by: Money Beets on April 07, 2019, 10:17:26 AM
Week 1 went pretty well for me exercise wise, but my eating was not ideal.  I got in a good mix of HIIT, strength training, and a few longer runs (even though I really didn't want to) with Wednesday and Saturday as rest days.  This week, I am looking to continue what I have been doing re exercise and improve in the meal department.  Things really pick up for me at work this week, so I am trying to do a little extra planning to stay on track. 
Title: Re: ☆ April 2019 ☆ Transformation Challenge (Health + Fitness)
Post by: philli14 on April 07, 2019, 04:14:52 PM
4/7

7h sleep. Still feeling a little off. Leg day.

1. Standing box jumps 3x3 @52", x1 @55", x1 @56" (PR)
2. Deadlift 3x3 @400#
3. Tempo Depth Squats 5/4/3 @185/205/225 (5 seconds eccentric, 2 seconds concentric, ass to grass)
4. Single leg deadlift + pistol squat + med ball toss x6 @20#
5. Superset Kneeling med ball throws (twist) 2x8/8/8/8 with physioball planks 2x8/8/8

All in all a really good day. PR on standing box jumps, increased weight on deadlifts and depth squats. Legs pretty cooked. Thicc shake, now time to soak up some sun and do some reading.

Congrats on making it through the first week, y'all!
Title: Re: ☆ April 2019 ☆ Transformation Challenge (Health + Fitness)
Post by: philli14 on April 08, 2019, 09:30:08 AM
Day 8 (4/8):

Rest day. 8.5h of sleep, still don't feel like I'm sleeping well, and still waking up kinda sleepy. Body doesn't necessarily feel fatigued, but eyes are very sleepy. Not sure, as I've been averaging 9h over the last week.. Must be some low level bug that I'm fighting.

Yesterday was meal prep day, got all my meals sorted for the week. Menu includes (can you tell I'm bulking?):

- Rueben sandwiches (home made sauerkraut and corned beef)
- Chicken fried rice
- Tacos (ground beef, bitchin sauce, sour cream, cheddar cheese, onion, cilantro)
- Bolognese (ground beef, mire poix, tomato paste, red wine, heavy cream.. usually eat it over some pasta with cheddar cheese. It's like fancy hamburger helper)
- Breakfast sausage mix (crumbled sausage, onion, green pepper. Add some to a bowl with an egg and cheese in the AM and microwave. ready in 1min)
- Coconut curry lentils
- Turmeric maple syrup roasted nuts (pecans, walnuts, almonds tossed with maple syrup, turmeric, cayenne, chili powder and roasted in the oven) for snacks

Should last me for the week.
Title: Re: ☆ April 2019 ☆ Transformation Challenge (Health + Fitness)
Post by: Anette on April 08, 2019, 01:32:07 PM
Day 8!
I love the way I don't seem to fit very well with you very sporty, lean , trim and fit people but I will keep hanging out with you since the title of the post resonates with me :)
We had lots going on these past 8 days and so I am first off going to admit my only exercise was a 40 min walk in the woods on Sunday and I hope to do much better in the coming days. The whether has been great and I love being in the woods.
The without wheat, milk products and added sugars part is going great, even when we had guests with us on Sunday and served a big fruit salad over vanilla ice cream for dessert and DH and I only had fruit salad.
So I was able to loose 1.2 kg ( ~2.5pounds) during this past week and I am happy for this loss
Thank you all for helping my with accountability and with your great progress
Title: Re: ☆ April 2019 ☆ Transformation Challenge (Health + Fitness)
Post by: Serendip on April 08, 2019, 01:48:49 PM
Yesterday was a semi-rest day, as I was working (physical work)

Weight 153.6 (-1.4lbs from start)

Gym: Step Mill workout 20min & sauna 

Yoga 4/30 of the 30 day challenge
Title: Re: ☆ April 2019 ☆ Transformation Challenge (Health + Fitness)
Post by: Serendip on April 08, 2019, 01:50:19 PM
Day 8!
I love the way I don't seem to fit very well with you very sporty, lean , trim and fit people but I will keep hanging out with you since the title of the post resonates with me :)
We had lots going on these past 8 days and so I am first off going to admit my only exercise was a 40 min walk in the woods on Sunday and I hope to do much better in the coming days. The whether has been great and I love being in the woods.
The without wheat, milk products and added sugars part is going great, even when we had guests with us on Sunday and served a big fruit salad over vanilla ice cream for dessert and DH and I only had fruit salad.
So I was able to loose 1.2 kg ( ~2.5pounds) during this past week and I am happy for this loss
Thank you all for helping my with accountability and with your great progress

This is great and you fit here perfectly @Anette !   Going for a walk in the woods is pretty much my favorite thing ever, but we still have snow at most elevations so I need to wait a bit longer for that :)
Title: Re: ☆ April 2019 ☆ Transformation Challenge (Health + Fitness)
Post by: Percolate on April 08, 2019, 10:27:28 PM
Day 8 Check-in. 1 week down!

The good

- 8 straight days of yoga and meditation! That's a personal record for yoga and my longest streak for meditation since November of last year, or 5 months ago.
- 8 straight days of going to the gym. Varied in intensity and activity and it helps that even when my body is stupid sore I still enjoy playing basketball.
- My sleep hygiene was as good as it's been in some time. Normally I have trouble falling asleep, might lay awake for hours if I don't use a podcast / audiobook / video to distract me but this week towards the end I was falling asleep unaided and waking up before 7 AM without an alarm. I'm not feeling super rested each time but for weeks up to this point it had been near impossible to get up that early and I attribute a lot of it to meditation.
- Over the weekend I disabled my wifi and browser on my phone to force a low information diet. It was nice, a lot of things feel less addictive today.
- Total groceries/food spending for the month is $42.38 so far and shouldn't need to go shopping for another week
- Moving average weight down about 2-3 lbs
- 8 straight days of flossing

Room for improvement

- Stuck to mostly whole food plant based for 5/8 days. Retirement party at work meant free cake, chips, salsa, and leftover cake the next day and I did not resist indulging. I kept a caloric deficit but ideally would not be eating the simple carbs.
- Sleeping by 11 PM or even 12 AM has been a struggle. Things that keep me up are not doing some daily tasks till the end of the day or else just distractions / entertainment like internet browsing (including personal finance stuff) and video games.
- Haven't used ClassPass subscription and workouts could be a little more intense
Title: Re: ☆ April 2019 ☆ Transformation Challenge (Health + Fitness)
Post by: Jim Fiction on April 09, 2019, 07:53:07 AM
Weight Tracker:
205.5 lbs (as of 4/1)
200.0 lbs (as of 4/8)

General Goals:
Stick to Low-carb/Ketoish diet
Eliminate snacking at work
Better portion control
Limit beer intake (my Achilles for sure!)
Workout 3x per week (including at least one home workout)
Get under 200 lbs by end of April

Overall I am pleased with my progess this week. I kept to the diet, with the exception being a little bit of beer on Saturday. I avoided snacking almost entirely at work. Portion control was great since everything was portioned out in advance. This slacked a little bit for breakfast on the weekend as I probably had a few too many low-carb almond flour-based pancakes, but that's a small sin. The real negative for the week is I only worked out once, but I tweaked something in my wrist somehow so I was resting it a bit. This week I'll do cardio/bodyweight exercises that don't involve my wrists if it continues to bother me.

I managed to lose 5.5 lbs, so I am almost at my target - which I deliberately set low. I don't expect similar results week-to-week moving forward. In my experience I always see the biggest weight drop in the first week and progress slows after that.
Title: Re: ☆ April 2019 ☆ Transformation Challenge (Health + Fitness)
Post by: philli14 on April 09, 2019, 08:53:33 AM
Day 9 (4/29):

Early morning lift (4:30AM). 7.5 hours of sleep.

Push/Pull day. Quick pre-workout, biked to the gym. 5-10 minute dynamic warmup then got into the lift.

Pull-ups (13 sets, 30sec rest between sets). Rep scheme: 1/2/3/4/5/6/7/6/5/4/3/2/1 - felt decent
Dumbbell Chest press (5 sets, 3min rest between sets). Rep scheme: 5x7, 110# dumbbells for 7/7/7/7/4 - 2 more reps than last week. closing in on full 5/7
Seated machine row (4 sets, 1.5min rest between sets). Rep scheme: 4x8, 250# for 8/8/8/8 - up 5# from last week
Rack pushes (3 sets, 3min rest between sets). Rep scheme: 3x8, 275#/295#/315# for 8/8/8 - changed weight up a bit, but able to hit full 8 reps at 315

Decent lift despite not feeling great this AM. Have been feeling generally achy and sore, so was considering sleeping in and doing a deload this week, but got up and churned out a good lift.

Quick shower, thiccc protein shake, then back onto the bike to work. Weigh-in at 182# (Up 1# so far!)
Title: Re: ☆ April 2019 ☆ Transformation Challenge (Health + Fitness)
Post by: lexde on April 10, 2019, 08:42:05 AM
Day 10

Hi everyone! Sorry for falling off the map for a week. I have had a beyond-crazy workweek which resulted in working straight through the weekends. I haven't had time to cook or clean, but I am back and in the game. I was in the gym regularly and on Sunday I sprained my knee. It's a light sprain, had my sports medicine doctor take a look and I should be good to go on Friday again (with biking instead of running for a week).

I'll weigh in again in a few days.

Exercise
Nutrition
Title: Re: ☆ April 2019 ☆ Transformation Challenge (Health + Fitness)
Post by: philli14 on April 10, 2019, 08:58:10 AM
Day 10 (9/10):

Solid 9 hours of sleep. Biked into work. Taking today off the gym, need to give my body some rest time.
Title: Re: ☆ April 2019 ☆ Transformation Challenge (Health + Fitness)
Post by: Serendip on April 10, 2019, 10:09:08 AM
Have a friend visiting so no gym yesterday or today but we went for a few walks & I completed
Day 5/30 of my Yoga Challenge
Title: Re: ☆ April 2019 ☆ Transformation Challenge (Health + Fitness)
Post by: brandon1827 on April 10, 2019, 01:21:47 PM
Started the challenge at around 210-211 pounds. Weighed this morning and am down to 206. Little league is cutting into my gym time, so I've only been once so far this week. IF still going strong though and I hope to get a workout in today and Saturday (little league games Thursday and Friday). Hope everyone is doing well!
Title: Re: ☆ April 2019 ☆ Transformation Challenge (Health + Fitness)
Post by: philli14 on April 11, 2019, 08:56:26 AM
Still lingering above 200 lbs. And lingering. And lingering. Worked out last night and rode the bike to work. We’ll see tomorrow morning!

Woohoo!  The 200 lb threshold has been crossed! 198.8 this morning!

Awesome!!!

Day 11 (4/11)

Scheduled day off. Biked into work. Still feeling slightly under the weather, at this point I'm thinking allergies, which are BRUTAL this time of year in NorCal. Never had an issue before moving here....

Regardless, my big 3 favorite workouts are coming up in the next couple of days. Hoping for successfully increasing weight all around. Have a good day y'all
Title: Re: ☆ April 2019 ☆ Transformation Challenge (Health + Fitness)
Post by: lexde on April 11, 2019, 10:08:25 AM
Started the challenge at around 210-211 pounds. Weighed this morning and am down to 206. Little league is cutting into my gym time, so I've only been once so far this week. IF still going strong though and I hope to get a workout in today and Saturday (little league games Thursday and Friday). Hope everyone is doing well!
Nice progress, kudos! What's your end goal?

Still lingering above 200 lbs. And lingering. And lingering. Worked out last night and rode the bike to work. We’ll see tomorrow morning!

Woohoo!  The 200 lb threshold has been crossed! 198.8 this morning!
Awesome! Congratulations! Often the long plateaus come right before a big drop. :-) Keep being awesome!
Title: Re: ☆ April 2019 ☆ Transformation Challenge (Health + Fitness)
Post by: lexde on April 11, 2019, 10:12:21 AM
Day 10

Knee sprain is doing okay but I have to give it a few more days before I hit the gym again. I will, however, do a shoulder workout this evening after work to get some kind of burn in!

Planning to weigh in again on Monday. Also trying to drink a lot more water and a lot less La Croix. 1L down today, aiming for 3L by bedtime.

Exercise
Nutrition
Title: Re: ☆ April 2019 ☆ Transformation Challenge (Health + Fitness)
Post by: brandon1827 on April 12, 2019, 09:21:23 AM
Started the challenge at around 210-211 pounds. Weighed this morning and am down to 206. Little league is cutting into my gym time, so I've only been once so far this week. IF still going strong though and I hope to get a workout in today and Saturday (little league games Thursday and Friday). Hope everyone is doing well!
Nice progress, kudos! What's your end goal?

For this challenge, I just want to lose as much as I can in the time-frame allotted. Ultimately, I'm using the challenge as a springboard for Tough Mudder preparations. That race is in October, and I'd like to toe the line at around 185 lbs. I ran one a few years ago and while I was prepared for the cardio elements, I got my butt kicked on the strength parts. So I want to maintain my cardio but increase my strength as much as I can between now and then. I do HIIT workouts 3-5 times per week depending on my schedule...and it incorporates weight-lifting at least a couple of days, so I'm well on my way!

Hope your knee heals soon!
Title: Re: ☆ April 2019 ☆ Transformation Challenge (Health + Fitness)
Post by: Serendip on April 12, 2019, 05:20:59 PM
Felt sluggish today at the gym after missing four days or so...did a climbing workout and then sauna.
Will finish up the day with a lake loop walk this evening (around 2 hrs, easy terrain)
Title: Re: ☆ April 2019 ☆ Transformation Challenge (Health + Fitness)
Post by: philli14 on April 12, 2019, 05:59:51 PM
4/12

10h of sleep. Pull day. Still leaning towards allergies being the culprit. Did not have great energy during the workout, and a little distracted. Definitely looks better on paper than it felt during

1. Pullups 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1, 30sec rest between
2. Seated rows 4x8 @240#, last set drop set (no rest between) 240#x8 -> 210#x8 -> 180#x8 -> 150#x8
3. Lateral delt raise 3x12 @15# superset with rear delt raise 3x12 @15# superset with straight arm pull down 3x12 @60#
4. Paloff deadbugs 2x20 superset with physioball planks 2x24
5. Band bicep curls AMRAP 60sec/20 rest/40sec/20 rest/20sec
6. Plate holds (2x10# plates pinched together in each hand), 60sec

Thicc shake after. Now that I look at it, just about exactly the same as last week except a couple more reps on straight arm pull down.
Title: Re: ☆ April 2019 ☆ Transformation Challenge (Health + Fitness)
Post by: ItsALongStory on April 13, 2019, 08:19:18 AM
I joined but haven't posted yet at all. Had a week long work trip earlier this month that involved eating out every day but also a 5k middle of that week. I came back only about 2 lbs over my starting weight and have just hit a new low of 220lbs today.

Been working out at my HIIT gym with more workouts scheduled for tomorrow, Monday and Wednesday. Hoping to hit 216 by the end of the month although traveling for Easter will have a negative impact.

Been doing ok with food but could certainly clean that up a lot more.

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk

Title: Re: ☆ April 2019 ☆ Transformation Challenge (Health + Fitness)
Post by: philli14 on April 13, 2019, 03:16:42 PM
4/13

9h sleep. Energy a bit better today.

1. Bench press 5x5 @275. Second shot at 275, completed one more rep than last week. 5/5/4/4/3. R pec/anterior delt feeling a little strained so may deload next week depending on how I feel tomorrow.
2. Alternating DB chest press 3x10 @75s. Stayed here, still the appropriate weight. Will work up to 3x12
3. Triple superset. Deadbug/paloff 3x20 with weighted V-ups 3x8 @25# with plyo push-up 3x10 onto 18" box. Held plyo pushups out of precaution.

Pretty good day, happy with one extra rep compared to last week, steadily onwards. Thicc shake
Title: Re: ☆ April 2019 ☆ Transformation Challenge (Health + Fitness)
Post by: use2betrix on April 13, 2019, 04:29:06 PM
With my first 5k coming near, I have now succumbed to some of the worst workout related injuries in my 15+ years exercising (not including the hernia surgeries, but those were straightforward).

My back that I messed up on my last set of squats at 355 a month ago has taken far longer and been far worse than expected. I went to the chiro twice with no help.

Last week, doing bench press, I messed up my right shoulder in a way I never have before, and it’s really been a hindrance now. Usually just a little tweak, was worse this time.

I think I pushed myself too hard running (a few weeks ago I ran a 10k Wednesday, Friday, then 7 miles on that Sunday) and my right shin/calf have continued to hurt.

I have slowly been reeling everything back from where it was. I’m taking ibuprofen and tylenol which as helped a lot. I’ve cut my lifting back a lot, same with cardio.

I took it super easy this week, I did a 2 mile treadmill run, a 3 mile outdoor run, some stair master and a spin class. My lifting was very basic as well. I’ve been stretching 2-3x a day for a long time which has also helped. This coming week I plan to slowly pick the running back up again but take it even easier on the lifting. As much as I love lifting, I need to heal and get my body in gear for this 5k that I’ve had as a goal for 8-10 months.. I was hoping to hit 22 minutes, but I think now I should be happy if I can somehow make 23 minutes if these injuries don’t get worse.
Title: Re: ☆ April 2019 ☆ Transformation Challenge (Health + Fitness)
Post by: Money Beets on April 14, 2019, 08:55:38 AM
Week 2 felt really good and I improved my meal selection, but didn't get in any longer runs.  I was a bit bummed I had to scrap my workout plan yesterday due to a killer headache, so I just did some light upper body strength training.  I have 3 late nights at work this week that will make it harder to get in workouts, but I can work on drinking more water during the workday.
Title: Re: ☆ April 2019 ☆ Transformation Challenge (Health + Fitness)
Post by: Jim Fiction on April 15, 2019, 06:50:43 AM
Weight Tracker:
205.5 lbs (as of 4/1)
200.0 lbs (as of 4/8)
200.0 lbs (as of 4/15)

General Goals:
Stick to Low-carb/Ketoish diet
Eliminate snacking at work
Better portion control
Limit beer intake (my Achilles for sure!)
Workout 3x per week (including at least one home workout)
Get under 200 lbs by end of April


Disappointing week. I weighed myself on Thursday to see where I stood and I was down at 197.5. But the weekend brought some overeating and I had beer on both Saturday and Sunday. Also, in addition to my wrist bothering me my knee is acting up, so I am not working out at all.

It's a new week, though so I won't let last weeks lack of progress get me down. I just have to move forward and keep up what I am doing. The knee started feeling a lot better yesterday, so hopefully in a day or two it will be back to normal and I can resume some form of a workout regimen. 
Title: Re: ☆ April 2019 ☆ Transformation Challenge (Health + Fitness)
Post by: lexde on April 15, 2019, 07:58:33 AM
Day 15

I've been drinking a lot more water and have been less reliant on La Croix which is awesome. I have been adding Real Lime into my water bottle (it's just crystallized lime, nothing artificial or extra) to help encourage me to drink more. It's been working really well! I also did a monk fast from Friday at 8pm until 5pm on Sunday, and really like how it re-balances me mentally and physically. My knee sprain is healing but isn't back to 100% yet so I've been holding off on going back to the gym. :-(

Exercise
Nutrition
Title: Re: ☆ April 2019 ☆ Transformation Challenge (Health + Fitness)
Post by: lexde on April 15, 2019, 08:05:14 AM
@Jim Fiction - You're making awesome progress. Give your body a bit of time to recuperate and you'll be back at it in no time. It's much better to give yourself the time you need to recover rather than jumping back in too early and hurting yourself further. It's a new day, chug some water and keep being awesome. You're making great progress already just two weeks in, so do cut yourself some slack. :-) I'm dealing with a knee-sprain too, but we have PLENTY of time to rest, recuperate, and come back swinging!
Title: Re: ☆ April 2019 ☆ Transformation Challenge (Health + Fitness)
Post by: brandon1827 on April 15, 2019, 10:08:53 AM
With my first 5k coming near, I have now succumbed to some of the worst workout related injuries in my 15+ years exercising (not including the hernia surgeries, but those were straightforward).

My back that I messed up on my last set of squats at 355 a month ago has taken far longer and been far worse than expected. I went to the chiro twice with no help.

Last week, doing bench press, I messed up my right shoulder in a way I never have before, and it’s really been a hindrance now. Usually just a little tweak, was worse this time.

I think I pushed myself too hard running (a few weeks ago I ran a 10k Wednesday, Friday, then 7 miles on that Sunday) and my right shin/calf have continued to hurt.

I have slowly been reeling everything back from where it was. I’m taking ibuprofen and tylenol which as helped a lot. I’ve cut my lifting back a lot, same with cardio.

Please be careful continuing to workout with a back injury. I think those of us that workout all the time tend to try to work through injuries instead of taking needed time off to heal and rest. I think something that may seem like a minor injury can quickly snowball into something much worse if you don't take care of it. I've seen in myself and several athlete friends as we get older that we are hesitant to take time off because we don't want to lose gains we've made...or we just abhor the thought of not exercising regularly...but it can be huge for your overall health and well-being. I slipped a disc in my back doing a HIIT workout last October. It was bad enough that I just could not do much and ended up taking a full 4-5 weeks off and just letting my body heal. I then started back slowly and now I feel better than I have in years. I think lots of us tend to downplay minor aches and pains, but I learned through that time that rest and recovery can be just as important as routinely working out for your overall health. That's a really long-winded way for me to say...be careful with that back. If you're exercising with an injury, it will inevitably affect your form and could lead to injuries in other body parts and cost you much more time than if you just took the time off to let your body heal properly.
Title: Re: ☆ April 2019 ☆ Transformation Challenge (Health + Fitness)
Post by: Jim Fiction on April 15, 2019, 10:41:05 AM
Sun Hat and Lex - thank you both for the encouragement! The most frustrating thing for me is I have no idea where the injuries came from. With the wrist I simply woke up with it one morning - I initially thought I slept on it wrong - but it has endured. The knee was a similar thing - I came home from work and I felt a sharp pain walking up the stairs to my apartment. I never felt either injury happen, nor were they preceded by a workout so I don't really have anything to point to in order to ensure they don't happen again.
Title: Re: ☆ April 2019 ☆ Transformation Challenge (Health + Fitness)
Post by: ItsALongStory on April 15, 2019, 07:15:36 PM
Might be related to how long ago your date of birth was ;-) much longer ago than it used to be.

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk

Title: Re: ☆ April 2019 ☆ Transformation Challenge (Health + Fitness)
Post by: lexde on April 16, 2019, 06:01:48 AM
Day 16

Currently down a bit, 131.8. Trying to keep the momentum going! With some of my time off from the gym because of the knee sprain my appetite has tanked and it’s been hard getting all of my protein in. :-/ But I will persist!

Exercise
Nutrition
Title: Re: ☆ April 2019 ☆ Transformation Challenge (Health + Fitness)
Post by: lexde on April 16, 2019, 06:03:05 AM
Sun Hat and Lex - thank you both for the encouragement! The most frustrating thing for me is I have no idea where the injuries came from. With the wrist I simply woke up with it one morning - I initially thought I slept on it wrong - but it has endured. The knee was a similar thing - I came home from work and I felt a sharp pain walking up the stairs to my apartment. I never felt either injury happen, nor were they preceded by a workout so I don't really have anything to point to in order to ensure they don't happen again.
Yeah, I threw out my neck to the point I had to go to the doctor because the referred pain in my shoulder was excruciating.

This happened in my sleep. I’m 29. Ugh.
Title: Re: ☆ April 2019 ☆ Transformation Challenge (Health + Fitness)
Post by: 2Birds1Stone on April 16, 2019, 07:13:18 AM
Down to 208.6, which is 6 lbs since I first posted here on 3/27.

198.0 is my end goal, and on pace to hit it in ~6-7 weeks.
Title: Re: ☆ April 2019 ☆ Transformation Challenge (Health + Fitness)
Post by: lexde on April 17, 2019, 07:52:45 AM
With some of my time off from the gym because of the knee sprain my appetite has tanked and it’s been hard getting all of my protein in.

I'm having the opposite issue at the moment. With the uptick in my exercise and controlling my calories, I'm ravenous. I know that protein is the answer, but I don't know how much to aim for. From what I've read online, I should be aiming for between 0.8 and 1.7 grams per kilo of body weight, but that's a huge range. Can I ask what you cats use as a guideline when you want to lose fat (priority #1) and gain strength (priority #2)?

I'm a "most of the time" vegetarian, so my usual sources of protein are things like quinoa, beans and lentils but they don't seem to be very calorie efficient vehicles for protein. I also eat plant protein powder, but it's unappetizing.

(Also, for those of you suffering from mystery injuries that arose in your sleep - I feel for you. I'll note that the only thing worse is injuries that occur while doing ridiculously easy things, because then the shame stays with you. For instance, I injured a disk while gardening a few  years ago, and sprained a toe while stretching. There's a good reason that the traditional gift for a 40th birthday is ibuprofen. Alas!)

I'm in the imperial system, but I always recommend the IIFYM calculator. IIFYM = if it fits your macros, which basically means you can eat whatever you want as long as it's within your macros (fat/protein/carbs).

https://iifym.com/iifym-calculator/

It calculates for both.

Honestly, if you're vegetarian but not vegan, I would highly recommend supplementing your protein with a shake. When working out, I like to do a protein shake with 1 scoop of optimum nutrition gold standard whey (vanilla ice cream & double rich chocolate are the best flavors), 1c almond milk, 1/2 banana, and then either a tbsp of PB2 for a chocolate-banana-pb shake or 1c of other frozen fruit for a vanilla-fruit shake (strawberry-banana or blueberries are usually my go-to). It's a pretty easy way to get in ~30g-35g of protein. If you don't like whey protein, you could go for casein/egg white protein, but it's more expensive.
Title: Re: ☆ April 2019 ☆ Transformation Challenge (Health + Fitness)
Post by: lexde on April 17, 2019, 08:05:09 AM
Thanks Lexde!
:-) Any time!
Title: Re: ☆ April 2019 ☆ Transformation Challenge (Health + Fitness)
Post by: use2betrix on April 17, 2019, 08:07:02 AM
Day 16

Currently down a bit, 131.8. Trying to keep the momentum going! With some of my time off from the gym because of the knee sprain my appetite has tanked and it’s been hard getting all of my protein in. :-/ But I will persist!

Exercise
  • Recovery
Nutrition
  • AM: Coffee + Nutpods creamer x2 (20cal, 0g protein)
  • Breakfast: --
  • Lunch: 1/2 Moe’s Bowl
  • Dinner: Big salad
  • Snack: Navel oranges, cherries

I’m battling the same issue having to take it easy. Unfortunately - I am pretty strongly against trying to diet hard (lose weight) if not able to lift heavy/regularly. If you’re already taking time off exercise, it’s important to get all the calories needed to maintain as much as muscle as possible. Once you hit a calorie deficit it’s already hard enough to maintain muscle, decrease exercise on top of it and it’s more likely to lose muscle along with the fat.

As such - until my lifting is back regular, which will be a couple weeks (if i’m Smart) my weight will remain mostly the same. I’m still doing the exercises I can at around 70% effort, and my running has gone from close to 20 miles/wk, to around 9-10 (with some extra elliptical). I have increased my stretching a ton, 3x a day, and adding in push ups and planks during stretch sessions.
Title: Re: ☆ April 2019 ☆ Transformation Challenge (Health + Fitness)
Post by: use2betrix on April 17, 2019, 10:36:42 AM
With my first 5k coming near, I have now succumbed to some of the worst workout related injuries in my 15+ years exercising (not including the hernia surgeries, but those were straightforward).

My back that I messed up on my last set of squats at 355 a month ago has taken far longer and been far worse than expected. I went to the chiro twice with no help.

Last week, doing bench press, I messed up my right shoulder in a way I never have before, and it’s really been a hindrance now. Usually just a little tweak, was worse this time.

I think I pushed myself too hard running (a few weeks ago I ran a 10k Wednesday, Friday, then 7 miles on that Sunday) and my right shin/calf have continued to hurt.

I have slowly been reeling everything back from where it was. I’m taking ibuprofen and tylenol which as helped a lot. I’ve cut my lifting back a lot, same with cardio.

Please be careful continuing to workout with a back injury. I think those of us that workout all the time tend to try to work through injuries instead of taking needed time off to heal and rest. I think something that may seem like a minor injury can quickly snowball into something much worse if you don't take care of it. I've seen in myself and several athlete friends as we get older that we are hesitant to take time off because we don't want to lose gains we've made...or we just abhor the thought of not exercising regularly...but it can be huge for your overall health and well-being. I slipped a disc in my back doing a HIIT workout last October. It was bad enough that I just could not do much and ended up taking a full 4-5 weeks off and just letting my body heal. I then started back slowly and now I feel better than I have in years. I think lots of us tend to downplay minor aches and pains, but I learned through that time that rest and recovery can be just as important as routinely working out for your overall health. That's a really long-winded way for me to say...be careful with that back. If you're exercising with an injury, it will inevitably affect your form and could lead to injuries in other body parts and cost you much more time than if you just took the time off to let your body heal properly.

Just saw this now - thank you for the input. I definitely agree with the post and am continuing to take it easier and easier and avoiding things that work, and now avoiding large things altogether. For a few weeks after injuring during backsquat I found I was able to do front squat fine (on the smith) but then even that started to hurt. My legs the last couple weeks and until at least after my 5K will mostly just be some various leg curls, DB lunges, and seated calf raises. I avoid leg extensions anymore as they can be hard on the knee’s.

When injuring different things over the year, I’ve always been pretty diligent to just “avoid what hurts” and it has served me well. Sunday, oddly, my easy 3 mile run started to hurt my back, which has never happened.

Along with the stretching, I’m making a special point to be mindful of my posture at work, driving, etc., which also helps. Looks like now I will also be mindful of my posture while I run as well.
Title: Re: ☆ April 2019 ☆ Transformation Challenge (Health + Fitness)
Post by: philli14 on April 19, 2019, 07:16:20 PM
4/19

First check in in a little while. Close to 12h of sleep. First day back in the gym after a mini deload/rest period. Pull day.

1. Pullups 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1, 30sec rest between - Best this has felt in a while, still really tough
2. Seated rows 4x8 @245#, last set drop set (no rest between) 245#x8 -> 215#x8 -> 185#x8 -> 155#x8 - Up 5# from last week
3. Lateral delt raise 3x12 @15# superset with rear delt raise 3x12 @15# superset with straight arm pull down 3x10 @65# - Upped weight on straight arm pulldowns, delt work still feels ok at 15#
4. Paloff deadbugs 2x20 superset with physioball planks 2x24
5. Band bicep curls AMRAP 60sec/20 rest/40sec/20 rest/20sec - not performed today
6. Plate holds (2x10# plates pinched together in each hand), 60sec

Felt terrible today energy wise. Just absolutely gassed, felt close to vomiting throughout. But got it done, and it was a better workout on paper than last week.
Title: Re: ☆ April 2019 ☆ Transformation Challenge (Health + Fitness)
Post by: Serendip on April 20, 2019, 09:54:53 AM
Was visiting family this week and had a slight re-injury of my back so will rest for the weekend and start up at the gym again next week! Good work everyone!
Title: Re: ☆ April 2019 ☆ Transformation Challenge (Health + Fitness)
Post by: philli14 on April 20, 2019, 07:48:08 PM
4/20

9h sleep. Feeling decent. Right pec feeling strained but giving it a go.

1. Bench press 5x5 @275. Absolute shit today, only managed 5/5/4/3/1. (Last week 5/5/4/4/3). Don't even think it was the pec, just didn't have the energy.
2. Alternating DB chest press 3x11 @75s. 11-11-6.. last set was just gassed. Frustrating.
3. Triple superset. Deadbug/paloff 3x20 with weighted V-ups 3x8 @25# with plyo push-up 3x10 onto 18" box. Held plyo pushups again.

Two days in a row, this time objectively and subjectively worse. Hoping it's just an anomoly and that I get back on track next week.
Title: Re: ☆ April 2019 ☆ Transformation Challenge (Health + Fitness)
Post by: 2Birds1Stone on April 21, 2019, 07:16:50 AM
Successfully Intermittent Fasting the past 3 weeks straight.

I utilize a 16-17 hour fast, followed by 7-8 hour feeding window.

Train fasted 90% of the time, regardless of weights, running, or MTB riding.

Down ~8 lbs in 24 days so far, but the next 8 will be slower to come off.

Happy Easter everyone! Make sure to Windex your food and "eat clean'.
Title: Re: ☆ April 2019 ☆ Transformation Challenge (Health + Fitness)
Post by: Jim Fiction on April 22, 2019, 08:39:27 AM
Weight Tracker:
205.5 lbs (as of 4/1)
200.0 lbs (as of 4/8)
200.0 lbs (as of 4/15)
200.0 lbs (as of 4/22)

General Goals:
Stick to Low-carb/Ketoish diet
Eliminate snacking at work
Better portion control
Limit beer intake (my Achilles for sure!)
Workout 3x per week (including at least one home workout)
Get under 200 lbs by end of April


Given that Saturday we celebrated my FIL's birthday and Sunday was Easter I am happy to be at the same weight as last week. I was pretty gluttonous, so I was expecting higher. For the second week in a row, I weighed myself midweek and was actually down a few pounds, so it is becoming apparent that weekends are a bit of a trap for me. Another issue is that my wife and SIL are losing motivation, and since we started this together and meal plan and cook together, it is complicating things a bit. Thankfully we did meal-prep for the week so I know I will stick to the plan which is clearly working. I just have to watch for the weekend lapse. I was thinking of incorporating some fasting elements during the weekend to help with this, but I want to do a little reading up on that first.

On the physical activity side of things - my knee and wrist continue to slowly improve, but not to the point of doing anything full-bore so I am going to try out a light jumping jack circuit tonight to see how that goes.
Title: Re: ☆ April 2019 ☆ Transformation Challenge (Health + Fitness)
Post by: Money Beets on April 23, 2019, 06:08:59 PM
This weekend was not great. I now have way too much sugar on hand. My workout yesterday was rough, but I got a good HIIT workout in today and should be able to get in a number of good workouts the rest of the week.
Title: Re: ☆ April 2019 ☆ Transformation Challenge (Health + Fitness)
Post by: brandon1827 on April 24, 2019, 01:45:39 PM
I indulged in momma's cooking when I went home for Easter dinner. I worked out 5 times last week and stayed on-plan for my diet as well, so I felt like I earned a little indulgence of food I only get to eat 3-4 times per year. Back at it this week with a pretty intense lift yesterday. Hope to get at least 2 more workouts in this week, but much will be dictated by the weather and my son's little league schedule
Title: Re: ☆ April 2019 ☆ Transformation Challenge (Health + Fitness)
Post by: Anette on April 24, 2019, 02:12:49 PM
Finally checking in again:
Last week wasn't very successful but since this Monday I am part of a three week prevention program from work. I am a nurse and have a lower back problem. Luckily I went to just the right orthopedic doc. He signed me up for this three week program in a beautiful place right by the sea. Everything is paid for by the employers insurance ( because the lower back problem is common in nurses) and I am enjoying 8 hours of all sorts of sports, massage and such each day. In the late afternoons I have gone for long walks to the beach.
I am starting to feel better and hope to get a lot stronger.
The only thing missing head is a good internet connection. I paid 30 € for access to Hotspots only and that seems to only work 50% of the time.
Again thanks for all the inspiration!
Title: Re: ☆ April 2019 ☆ Transformation Challenge (Health + Fitness)
Post by: Anette on April 25, 2019, 01:39:43 PM
@Sun Hat Thank you!
This program is really great and all day l had this excited grateful feeling to be here and everything is concentrated on my well-being ( at the back of my head there is this tiny voice telling me that all this is not being done for my personal well being but coined at keeping up my work abilities and keeping sick days down but I ignore this voice to be able to keep the grateful - and happiness😊)
I am feeling so much better already.
Title: Re: ☆ April 2019 ☆ Transformation Challenge (Health + Fitness)
Post by: Jim Fiction on April 29, 2019, 07:03:36 AM
Weight Tracker:
205.5 lbs (as of 4/1)
200.0 lbs (as of 4/8)
200.0 lbs (as of 4/15)
200.0 lbs (as of 4/22)
198.0 lbs (as of 4/29)
197.0 lbs (as of 5/1)

General Goals:
Stick to Low-carb/Ketoish diet
Eliminate snacking at work
Better portion control
Limit beer intake (my Achilles for sure!)
Workout 3x per week (including at least one home workout)
Get under 200 lbs by end of April
Get under 190 lbs by end of May


I ticked up 2 lbs from a low of 196.0 lbs on Friday, but I remained under 200 meaning I am on pace to hit my goal for the month of April. Yay!

ON EDIT: Added my weight as of this morning (5/1) - so I officially accomplished my weight loss goal for April. I added a new goal for May - hoping to get under 190 lbs come June 1st.
Title: Re: ☆ April 2019 ☆ Transformation Challenge (Health + Fitness)
Post by: 2Birds1Stone on May 01, 2019, 06:40:34 AM
216.4 lbs this morning

Currently lifting weights 3-4x a week, as well as running 2x a week, and riding my MTB 1x a week.

Was 212.0 yesterday with a 7 day average of 210.1 this morning. Down 6.3 lbs with another 10.3 to go!
Title: Re: ☆ April 2019 ☆ Transformation Challenge (Health + Fitness)
Post by: lexde on May 02, 2019, 05:22:53 AM
You guys, my life has been a bit hectic lately, to say the least.

I have still been working toward my goals and with intermittent fasting (generally 24-40h 1x/wk) I have lost some additional weight.

128.6 this morning, but fasted, so that number will be higher once I refeed. Still! I haven’t been in the 120s since around January-February 2016, and honestly I wasn’t sure that I’d make it there again. So I’m really happy with that!

Still working out 3-4x/week. Just burnt 529cal this morning at the gym.

KEEP GOING! We are halfway there!!!
Title: Re: ☆ April 2019 ☆ Transformation Challenge (Health + Fitness)
Post by: lexde on May 02, 2019, 05:23:40 AM
Weight Tracker:
205.5 lbs (as of 4/1)
200.0 lbs (as of 4/8)
200.0 lbs (as of 4/15)
200.0 lbs (as of 4/22)
198.0 lbs (as of 4/29)
197.0 lbs (as of 5/1)

General Goals:
Stick to Low-carb/Ketoish diet
Eliminate snacking at work
Better portion control
Limit beer intake (my Achilles for sure!)
Workout 3x per week (including at least one home workout)
Get under 200 lbs by end of April
Get under 190 lbs by end of May


I ticked up 2 lbs from a low of 196.0 lbs on Friday, but I remained under 200 meaning I am on pace to hit my goal for the month of April. Yay!

ON EDIT: Added my weight as of this morning (5/1) - so I officially accomplished my weight loss goal for April. I added a new goal for May - hoping to get under 190 lbs come June 1st.
Amazing!! Congratulations, that’s excellent! Let’s do our best to get you under your goal by the end of this month! :-)
Title: Re: ☆ April 2019 ☆ Transformation Challenge (Health + Fitness)
Post by: brandon1827 on May 02, 2019, 06:28:09 AM
I've continued IF as well and with a renewed focus on what I'm eating during my 6-8 hour eating window each day, I'm down a total of 10+ pounds in the past 30 days. Little league has taken away some of my gym time recently, but I'm still making it at least 3 times per week. My main focus this week has been increasing my water intake. Hope everyone is still going strong!
Title: Re: ☆ April 2019 ☆ Transformation Challenge (Health + Fitness)
Post by: lexde on May 02, 2019, 08:07:40 AM
I've continued IF as well and with a renewed focus on what I'm eating during my 6-8 hour eating window each day, I'm down a total of 10+ pounds in the past 30 days. Little league has taken away some of my gym time recently, but I'm still making it at least 3 times per week. My main focus this week has been increasing my water intake. Hope everyone is still going strong!
Nice! Hydration is super important. Thanks for the reminder - I’ll be focusing on that today too!
Title: Re: ☆ April 2019 ☆ Transformation Challenge (Health + Fitness)
Post by: lexde on May 05, 2019, 06:03:36 AM
I'm at 130.0 this morning, so down 3.6lbs total so far. That may not seem like much, but my starting weight was the lowest I had been in a while. 125lbs seems perfectly within reach now, and I'm excited!
Title: Re: ☆ April 2019 ☆ Transformation Challenge (Health + Fitness)
Post by: 2Birds1Stone on May 05, 2019, 07:58:29 AM
Morning Weight - 207.2
7 Day Average - 209.4

A LOT of work to do in May if I want to hit my goal by June 15th. (<200lbs)
Title: Re: ☆ April 2019 ☆ Transformation Challenge (Health + Fitness)
Post by: ItsALongStory on May 05, 2019, 10:31:50 PM
I joined but haven't posted yet at all. Had a week long work trip earlier this month that involved eating out every day but also a 5k middle of that week. I came back only about 2 lbs over my starting weight and have just hit a new low of 220lbs today.

Been working out at my HIIT gym with more workouts scheduled for tomorrow, Monday and Wednesday. Hoping to hit 216 by the end of the month although traveling for Easter will have a negative impact.

Been doing ok with food but could certainly clean that up a lot more.

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk
Failed on the 216 big time, still haven't even reached that and we are 5 days into may. Lowest weight was 218.4 so far, I will try but doubt I can still make meaningful progress by Thursday when we fly out. It'll be important to stick to a decent diet and to work out while on vacation so I don't fall back too much. Goal remains 208.

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk

Title: Re: ☆ April 2019 ☆ Transformation Challenge (Health + Fitness)
Post by: Jim Fiction on May 07, 2019, 07:11:30 AM
Weight Tracker:
205.5 lbs (as of 4/1)
200.0 lbs (as of 4/8)
200.0 lbs (as of 4/15)
200.0 lbs (as of 4/22)
198.0 lbs (as of 4/29)
197.0 lbs (as of 5/1)
197.0 lbs (as of 5/6)

General Goals:
Stick to Low-carb/Ketoish diet
Eliminate snacking at work
Better portion control
Limit beer intake (my Achilles for sure!)
Workout 3x per week (including at least one home workout)
Get under 200 lbs by end of April
Get under 190 lbs by end of May


This past weekend we had a party to celebrate DD's first birthday... it was carb-city. Fortunately I maintained my weight from last week. Looking ahead, we have a multi-day wedding to attend this weekend, though I should be able to control the carb intake a little better as there will be a broader range of food and we won't have leftovers that I will feel obliged to eat (I hate the idea of wasting food).
Title: Re: ☆ April 2019 ☆ Transformation Challenge (Health + Fitness)
Post by: Jim Fiction on May 07, 2019, 07:12:17 AM
Weight Tracker:
205.5 lbs (as of 4/1)
200.0 lbs (as of 4/8)
200.0 lbs (as of 4/15)
200.0 lbs (as of 4/22)
198.0 lbs (as of 4/29)
197.0 lbs (as of 5/1)

General Goals:
Stick to Low-carb/Ketoish diet
Eliminate snacking at work
Better portion control
Limit beer intake (my Achilles for sure!)
Workout 3x per week (including at least one home workout)
Get under 200 lbs by end of April
Get under 190 lbs by end of May


I ticked up 2 lbs from a low of 196.0 lbs on Friday, but I remained under 200 meaning I am on pace to hit my goal for the month of April. Yay!

ON EDIT: Added my weight as of this morning (5/1) - so I officially accomplished my weight loss goal for April. I added a new goal for May - hoping to get under 190 lbs come June 1st.
Amazing!! Congratulations, that’s excellent! Let’s do our best to get you under your goal by the end of this month! :-)

Thanks Lex! And congrats on your own progress!
Title: Re: ☆ April 2019 ☆ Transformation Challenge (Health + Fitness)
Post by: lexde on May 07, 2019, 08:08:34 AM
So I posted this in my journal, but will cross-post here since it's relevant, too.

With the exception of going out on dates, I am going to try to eat out of my pantry for the duration of this month.

What I will buy if I run out:
• Frozen Fruit
• Almond Milk

I have a ton of:
• Frozen Chicken (~10)
• Frozen Beef Patties (~8)
• Frozen Turkey Burgers (3)
• Black bean spaghetti, edamame spaghetti, and red lentil penne
• Regular Pasta
• Protein Powder
• Eggs
• Bacon
• Parmesan cheese
• Artichoke hearts (marinated)
• Palmini
• Riced cauliflower
• Frozen Spinach
• Potatoes

I have been intermittent fasting 24-40h per week. I’m also down about 10lbs this year so far (yay!).

I honestly think that this is plenty of food for me for a month, especially excluding date nights out. I’ve been eating a lot of smoothies for breakfast/dinner since it’s an easy way to get protein in.

I have been really bad about eating leftovers, so the focus will be to only make 1-2 meals at a time so the food is fresher and I’m more likely to eat it. This results in more cooking, but also less food/$ waste.

It's been going well so far. I've cooked a bunch of chicken-pesto black-bean spaghetti which I'm eating for lunches this week, I've been doing smoothies and/or coffee for breakfast, and a lot of chicken salad for dinner. It's nice to have something protein-packed ready to go, and it's also nice to not spend a ton of money on groceries. My instant pot helps a lot with this since I can cook chicken breast from frozen in about 35 minutes and then shred it up for salad.

On the exercise side of things, I've been really consistent. I've been going 4-5 times per week and have switched my cardio from treadmill to stationary bike. This is easier on my knees but I've noticed I can also consistently put forth more effort on the bike, which means more calories burnt and better results.

I haven't weighed myself in a few days so I'll make sure to do that soon, too. I feel like I'm holding pretty steady around 130, and I'll probably fast again for 24-36h at some point this week to try to break that plateau as well. For now I am trying to ensure that I'm hitting 100g protein per day, it's not as easy as I thought it'd be! But the smoothies have been helping to supplement (1/2 banana, 1-1.5c almond milk, 1 scoop protein = 240 cal/27g protein).


Hope everyone's having a good week so far! 3 weeks left to go!
Title: Re: ☆ April 2019 ☆ Transformation Challenge (Health + Fitness)
Post by: Serendip on May 10, 2019, 08:13:20 AM
Hi guys,

took a few weeks off due to a re-aggravated back injury and now my gym pass has run out. But the weather is lovely so two days ago I went for a bike ride and yesterday I went to the forest for a mellow walk/jog (mostly walk!) for 40 minutes and did some gardening.

Today, I will do another walk.

Won't be able to weight myself but am also doing time-restricted eating using the Zero app which is really helping.
Day 3 and going well so far!
Title: Re: ☆ April 2019 ☆ Transformation Challenge (Health + Fitness)
Post by: Money Beets on May 12, 2019, 04:23:39 PM
The last two weeks were crazy at work, so I didn't work out as consistently as I would have liked. I did make time to do a half hour stretch routine, which felt amazing after doing five straight 12 hour days of mostly desk work. Got back in the swing of things with two solid workouts this weekend. I have a good meal plan and should be able to workout four nights this week.
Title: Re: ☆ April 2019 ☆ Transformation Challenge (Health + Fitness)
Post by: brandon1827 on May 14, 2019, 06:50:40 AM
I've increased my gym time while maintaining focus on my diet. I'm down to 196 as of this morning, so in total, I've lost around 14 pounds since this started. My back feels great, my knees feel great, I'm noticing gains in the gym in my strength and endurance...so I'm happy with my progress and will continue working to get stronger for my October Spartan Race. Hope everyone is still going strong!
Title: Re: ☆ April 2019 ☆ Transformation Challenge (Health + Fitness)
Post by: Jim Fiction on May 14, 2019, 10:02:57 AM
Weight Tracker:
205.5 lbs (as of 4/1)
200.0 lbs (as of 4/8)
200.0 lbs (as of 4/15)
200.0 lbs (as of 4/22)
198.0 lbs (as of 4/29)
197.0 lbs (as of 5/1)
197.0 lbs (as of 5/6)
200.0 lbs (as of 5/13)

General Goals:
Stick to Low-carb/Ketoish diet
Eliminate snacking at work
Better portion control
Limit beer intake (my Achilles for sure!)
Workout 3x per week (including at least one home workout)
Get under 200 lbs by end of April
Get under 190 lbs by end of May


I definitely went overboard at the wedding this past weekend as my most recent weigh-in shows. It is a bummer to take a step back, but I'm back into routine now so progress should continue.
Title: Re: ☆ April 2019 ☆ Transformation Challenge (Health + Fitness)
Post by: Serendip on May 14, 2019, 12:18:43 PM
Had another run and walk, and have been doing 16/8 sessions of time-restricted eating pretty much daily.

 I find this SUPER helpful since I find myself snacking into the evening which is disruptive for sleep. Somehow using the app keeps me accountable..it doesn't always work that way but so far, so good!
Title: Re: ☆ April 2019 ☆ Transformation Challenge (Health + Fitness)
Post by: lexde on May 17, 2019, 09:54:37 AM
I’m still hovering around 128-129. I’m thrilled about it! I haven’t been in the 120s in years so I am excited to not only see progress, but to be so close to my end goal!

My eating hasn’t been perfect, but it’s getting better. I had to take a few days off from the gym but I’m starting up again tomorrow.

All is good!
Title: Re: ☆ April 2019 ☆ Transformation Challenge (Health + Fitness)
Post by: Money Beets on May 19, 2019, 08:27:13 AM
Good week overall for me.  Cheated a bit on food Friday night with pizza and cheesecake, but I have pretty much rid my house of sweets so they cannot even tempt me.  I did an upper body strength workout last night and then had to trim the yard this morning and now my arms are completely spent. 
Title: Re: ☆ April 2019 ☆ Transformation Challenge (Health + Fitness)
Post by: Jim Fiction on May 20, 2019, 07:07:42 AM
Weight Tracker:
205.5 lbs (as of 4/1)
200.0 lbs (as of 4/8)
200.0 lbs (as of 4/15)
200.0 lbs (as of 4/22)
198.0 lbs (as of 4/29)
197.0 lbs (as of 5/1)
197.0 lbs (as of 5/6)
200.0 lbs (as of 5/13)
199.0 lbs (as of 5/20)

General Goals:
Stick to Low-carb/Ketoish diet
Eliminate snacking at work
Better portion control
Limit beer intake (my Achilles for sure!)
Workout 3x per week (including at least one home workout)
Get under 200 lbs by end of April
Get under 190 lbs by end of May


I definitely went overboard at the wedding this past weekend as my most recent weigh-in shows. It is a bummer to take a step back, but I'm back into routine now so progress should continue.

Weekends continue to be a trap. Generally, I prep meals on Sunday for the week (Monday through Friday), this means Saturday and Sunday are unplanned, which leads to missteps. I either need to make more food in advance or at least have some things in the fridge or freezer that I can easily put together on the weekends.