Weekly Weight Loss: 6.1 lbs. Lost
Reflecting on the Week
Last week, on January 1st I weighed in at 327.4 lbs. That was a huge slap to my ego, but it woke me up. Just a few months ago I was at the lowest weight I had been in years. But then something snapped in me and I stopped watching what I ate. I still worked out but didn’t focus on the cardio like I should have. All I did was lift weights and EAT.
Fast forward to last week – I had a sort of epiphany, but I will get into that in another post. Let’s just say that that eureka moment helped me realize that I had to stop what I was doing and get back on track, and ASAP. So, I weighed myself on January 1st and had a starting goal. I mapped out a plan for the next 6 months. I think it is a very achievable plan, but I will need to stay dedicated.
So far so good. 1 week down and I have lost 6.1 lbs, of which I should never have gained back in the first place!!! So now I weigh 321.3 lbs. My goal for this week was to lose 5 lbs, that’s right in line with what I want to do for the month, which is 20 lbs.
Mentally I am on track and as rock-steady as ever. My wife is backing me, as well as you guys that read and shoot me emails of support. I need this blog to do this, without it I simply cannot succeed in my weight loss.
I went ahead and took a look at my weight loss chart since creating Fat Man Unleashed, and it looks pretty wack! Some parts of it look awesome, but then I lose my desire and gain back weight. That ends now! Seriously. The major ups and downs are gone. I know I’ll have a few ups and downs, I had one this week (although it wasn’t really that bad) and I still succeeded so I am confident that I can sustain what I am doing.
Reflecting on my Workouts and Nutrition
Exercise was great this week. I managed to get in 3 weight lifting sessions and 3 cardio sessions. Add to that some major walking down a new path I found near my home and I’d have to say that I felt good about getting in my workouts. I wake up each morning and crank out 25 push ups before I do anything else. Since I have decided to do lfiting, I get my workouts in and move on. Heavy is how I role, no baby weight on the olympic bars. I also have some bodyweight exercise circuits I am doing that really burn and work! I do those on the weekends along with my long walks with the family. I was extremely sore for about 5 out of the 7 days, with the soreness subsiding towards the end. I found myself feeling like I had a lot more in my tank for cardio then I was putting out, but I didn’t want to pull any muscle so I would stop after a while. I am going to start ramping things up if that continues to happen, but since I lost weight anyway it’s not that big a deal. I also forgot how much I liked running and how much endurance I have. For cardio I walked, biked, ran and started using my wife’s elliptical machine..which by the way kicks my ass after only 6 minutes. It’s the burning in my legs, specifically my quads, that gets me. I need to build up my time on there. Otherwise, I rock! I was unwavering in my exercise regimen. I made sure that I got my workouts in no matter what!!! With out the workouts I will not be able to get where I want to be. At the end of the day, I want to look and be healthy and to me working out is a part of that.
What did I eat? I ate a lot of stuff. Primarily fruits and veggies. This is something that I have decided to add to my life. I make sure to eat fruits and vegetables throughout the day, and with just about every meal. I had my whey protein shakes, supplements (which consist of amino acids, a multivitamin, glutamine, creatine, fiber, and fish oil), chicken, some steak, and carbs with small amounts of fat. I wouldn’t say I am on a low carb diet, since I am eating carbs through out the day, but I am making sure to get the majority of my carbs from fruits and veggies. I also ate some bread and pasta, but that’s mostly when I first wake up and right after a workout. Except for tonight when I had to eat before my workout since I had a really late cardio session. There will be very limited, if any processed foods, chips, fast food, etc going into my body for a very long time. I may, or may not have ice cream once a week, but to be honest I haven’t even craved any. I purposely bought some mint chocolate chip and put it in the fridge to taunt me and test my will. Ha, ha…I win ice cream! Israel 1, ice cream 0.
For the first time in forever, I weighed myself and didn’t really let the scale mess with my head…
Keep up the good work! Ice cream doesn’t taste as good as healthy feels.
thanks Todd, I think you are absolutely correct.
AWESOME work Israel, great to hear your back into it. I really HAVE to start asap! Nice Quote Todd
thanks Colin I’m just trying to be consistent.
Great Man..!! Your Nutrition Chart is good and effective too.
Over 6 pounds in just over a week! Phenomenal! Doing that while eating a variety of foods is the way it’s supposed to go. That’s inspiring.
Thanks. I had sausages, chicken Parmesan, sandwiches, and a lot more, and never once felt restricted.
Sounds like you’re on the right track. The thing I like the most about your post is that I didn’t see the word “diet” once. You seem to be making real changes in your habits for the long term. This is the only way to go if you want lasting success. Keep up the good work, and thanks for your blog 🙂
– Dave
David, I didn’t even realize that!
Awesomeness here! You sound inspired! That’s great!
I used to be a non-veggie person. They rule! (I can’t believe I just said that!) In fact, I won’t eat if I can’t have my broccoli.
Dunno if I could handle the ice cream thing though. Probably not! No, definitely not.
Thanks!! I feel inspired too.
It is pretty easy for us to lose sight in our weight loss journey sometimes. We just get back on track though. I lost 130, and during this holiday season I botched it up a little. I even found myself eating like 15 cookies in one sitting once. Oh well, we live, we learn, we lose. good job man
Jason, 15 cookieS? What kind?
My wife made some chocolate chip ones without the chocolate chips. I don’t like the chips to much. I was kind of down in the dumps that day and begged her. She pretty much always supports me so well and wanted to this time, but she gave in to the “peer pressure” 🙂
Oh, I’m a chip man. Well, looks like you have things under control. Once in a while its okay to succumb…
Congratulations on your renewed commitment!
However, I don’t believe that cardio is the answer. Israel, you said:
“I still worked out but didn’t focus on the cardio like I should have. All I did was lift weights and EAT.”
I successfully lost a lot of fat (130lb) and “all I did was lift weights and eat.” Seriously. The answer is in that sentence. But it’s HOW you lift weights and eat that can make all the difference. It’s quite possible that the cardio is doing more to hurt your fat loss program than help it.
Craig
I didnt do cardio during that time…I get what you mean. Cardio can be high intensity workouts, as long as I sweat, I consider it cardio. Then thing with me, mentally, I need to be able to go for runs, or play a game of pick up, or hop on a bike. It’s part of what I want to be able to do, be active.
When I mentioned that I ate, I mean I ate crap, and lots of it. But I still lifted, not with enough intensity, but I still lifted.
I left a comment on your site regarding what your training routine consisted of, I couldnt find your workout routine that you used to successfully drop 130 lbs with only strength training.
Thanks for leaving a a comment. I have posted my routine
Thanks Craig. I saw that and left a comment with even more questions. LOL. thanks for doing that.
No problem.
I have left a reply to your questions.
Questions are good. Ask away.
Craig
Thanks. Looking forward to the pics and more!
I am so very impressed with your tenacity.I have always had problems with my weight.I get easily get off track.You are an inspiration and I hope that I can persevere as you do.Jean
Its phenomenal! You sound inspired!
I am very impressed with your tenacity. Very interesting
Thanks.
You are great, man!
I know, I know. lol. Just kidding.