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About this blog

So, I've always been on the heavy side. I am certainly not as heavy as I use to be. I was in the 275-300 range when I got out of college. It's my goal to get down to 190 lbs by the start of the next golf season. Which in Ohio is April-ish. I plan on using this blog to track my progress. I plan on updated with workouts, food logs, recipes, and measurement updates.  

Current Measurements
Height: 72.5 inches
Waist: 39 inches
Weight: 230 lbs, my previous low was 198 lbs about 2 years ago. So I've been fluctuating a bit over the past two years. It's about time I really get my weight under control. 

Goal: Lose 40 lbs by April 1st, 2016

When I first lost the weight I went on a crazy 1500 calorie diet for about 6 months. It worked out to really get me started on losing most of the extreme obese weight I was carrying. Then I started just being more active, with golf and working out. I really got down in weight when I went on a paleo lifestyle for a year. My new plan is to try to get back to eating minimally processed foods and cutting back on the carbs. Luckily I like to cook. So part of this blog will probably be some recipes I come up with. I also enjoy working out. So I never really worry about my activity level. What I have a hard time doing is controlling my eating habits.

Method
Losing weight is pretty much burning more calories than you take in give or take a few things like hormones and the way processed foods can have an effect on your body. I plan on eating more healthier foods so this gets a bit easy. Luckily I do not drink pop, soda, or coke (depending on where you live).

Leptin is a pretty tough hormone to beat. It's a hormone in the body that basically keeps us from starving. It stores information like how much fat we have and the hormone can cause to eat more if we lose too much fat too quickly. This is why people plateau when they try to lose weight or tend to always fall back to a typical weight range the body has become accustomed to. The goal is to get down to 190 and then re-establish a baseline there. First to get there I need to figure out my daily energy requirements. This is a good article I found about 3 years ago on how to do that. It gives a very easy way to give a person a starting point in how many calories it takes to maintain their weight and activity. 

http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/how-to-estimate-maintenance-caloric-intake.html/

To start out with the human body basically burns 11 calories per lb of weight a day resting for a male (it's 9-10 for a woman). If you are younger and have that lucky high metabolism then it might be higher like 12-13. If you are older then it might be lower like 9 or 10. Another aspect of this is actually the calories used to break down food. If you have a higher protein diet, it actually takes more energy to break down protein than it does carbs. This can typically range from 5-15%. 10% is a good number. The biggest impact is your overall activity level. This can increase that value from as little as 10-20% (sedentary lifestyle) to as much as 100% (heavily active). Another factor is just your overall body and hit's metabolic rate. This is nearly impossible to actually estimate and just should be considered in the fine tuning. If you are not losing enough weight, or you are losing too much too fast then adjust the calories as you go along. 

What I like to do is find out what my sedentary calorie intake is and then adjust that and bring in exercise. The goal is to never eat food to cover what I did exercising. This is a bad habit to form and can curb your weight loss gains. 

I found a good video last year. A interesting story on this is. The guy in this video went to highschool with me and was in my class. It's just strange how the internet can work like that. In his video he starts off with the same baseline as I found on that article I linked above. He breaks down how to find out how many macros you should be eating. By macros I mean Carbs, Protein, Fat. 

https://youtu.be/7cc18wLJW3k

My Estimated Calorie Limit & Macros
Weight: 230 lbs
Resting Calorie Rate: 11 cal/lb
Adjusted Calorie Rate: 11 x 1.10 x 1.15 = 14 cal/lb per day for a sedentary lifestyle. 
Calories per day = 14 x 230 lbs = 3,220 calories (this value has matched similar values in the past when I've actually used a daily activity calculator and put in every minute of activity I did in a day. This method is a lot easier)

Now since I want to lose about 2 lbs per week. To lose 1 lb of fat you need to burn 3500 calories. Given that muscle gain and loss. As well as water loss or gain in the body can cause weight ins to not show the true nature of fat loss. If you stick to a good program than in the end you should see the fat loss over a longer period of time.  To lose 2 lbs per week I will need to burn 7000 calories per week in deficit, or 1000 calories per day.  

Calories per day = 3220 - 1000 = 2220 calories per day limit.

Of that 2220 calories per day I am going to try to hit these macros. 

Protein: 1.0 grams per lb = 230 grams = 920 calories
Fat: 0.35 grams per lb = 80 grams = 720 calories
Calories remaining = 580 = 145 grams of Carbs

Before I go into what I am going to identify as the type of food I want to eat. My philosophy on fat intake is that saturated fats are not bad as people think they are. You heard me right. There are plenty of threads on the forum that go on a lengthy debate on this subject. For those who have argued with me on this subject, do not start the argument here. In the end, I will probably eat a good amount of red meat. I will probably eat butter, bacon, avocados,and lots of eggs. I do eat a lot of lean meats as well.  

Like I said before I had success under the paleo diet. I plan on getting close to that again. Here is a list of things I am limiting myself on in terms of carbs allowed. This might expand as I do more research on recipes I want to try. 

Carbs Allowed: All vegetables, Steel Cut Oats, Brown Rice, Quinoa
Carbs Not Allowed: Any sort of sugar unless on a rare special treat. Processed breads or products with flour. 
Meats minimally allowed: Processed meats like hot dogs

Activity Plan
I am not a big fan of running. I never could get use to running outside. If I do run I tend to do HIIT training on a treadmill. I prefer to do complex weight lifting and circuit training. How much can I push myself in 30-45 minutes. By the end I want to make it very hard for me to want to get off the ground.

I find it fun because you can really mix it up. It also brings in weightlifting and cardio together. I plan to post my workouts. I don't know if I want to keep track of how much I can lift. I really don't do progressions. I am not really looking to increase how much I can lift, though I will increase the weight if it becomes too easy. 

My typical exercises have been around using Yoga, Circuit Training, Pilates, and typical weight lifting. I like to really focus on my core and hip area. I really work on my glutes, hip flexors & adductors, quads, and abdominals. For me golf is a full body action so I tend to do full body workout routines. This typically lends towards complex movements which also tend to push the heart rate as well and burn more calories than isolation exercises. 

I am hoping to work out 4-5 times a week, mostly during my lunch breaks at work. I also have a Planet Fitness membership where I can go on the weekends or after work if I wasn't able to work out during lunch. I might start working out before work as well as a change of pace. 

So that is about it. I hope I can make my goal in 5 months time. It's ambitious but it's something I need to do to better my life and to make me a better golfer. 

 

Entries in this blog

Back at It!

After working out today I remembered this blog and decided to post an update.    My goal remains the same, get down to 190.    Today was the first time in months that I did a proper workout. I took it easy because injury will just delay progress. Right now I’m building up my stamina and strength again.    Today’s workout - Ran / Walked for 30 minutes to warm up. Did two circuits of  squats, pushups, shoulder raises, and planks.  Thoughts - I’m glad I pushed through for

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Looking at Game Golf Stats

It has been a while since I've looked at my Game Golf stats. Here is a run down.  Strokes Gained versus Scratch (Future Goal) and versus 5-handicap (current) The major area of concern is my Short Game and Putting. I will say the downfall of Game Golf's strokes gained is that it doesn't take into account if you are behind a tree or in a difficult approach shot situation. I would suspect the "Off The Tee" stat is a tad higher, and the Approach is a tad lower. I had a situation the other eve

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Not too bad

Just checking in. It's been a while.  I weighed myself this morning and I'm at 227. Which might be considered a victory over the Holidays. 😏 Time to get back into working towards my goal. I'm going to push for it even though it's now a pretty aggressive goal. 

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Down to 224

Just a quick update, good news, I am down to 224 lbs. That is about 8 lbs of weight loss from when I started at 232. I got 34 lbs to go. Time to step it up a bit. I want to make it through the holidays unscathed ;)  I think it's a good time to set up an intermediate goal. I am going to go 2 weeks without have bad food when I go out to eat. I also want to work out at least 4 times a week. 

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Slipping a Bit

The last 4 days have not been the best. Just looking at the calories per day, not near where I want it to be. I need to get back on track eating less food.   

saevel25

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It's Not a Diet it's a Lifestyle Change

It's Not a Diet it's a Life Change I think this is a big key. I am not saying upend your whole life about this. Though in some cases people need to do that if they want to get away from morbid obesity. To lose weight and keep it off you need to not consider it a diet, but a lifestyle change. The primary reason being that diets are temporary. No one goes on a lifelong diet. This sort of thinking gives what you are doing meaning and staying power.  Primarily why diets typically fail is because th

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Update October 28th

Just an update on my neck first. It's getting better. There's less pain now. Really it's mostly just infrequent discomfort.  Typically I like to update on Tuesdays. Here is my last 7 days calories consumed.  I haven't done much exercising since I've been at an Engineering Conference the past two days. I at least was able to walk around for 30-40 minutes a few times during the conference when we had breaks to go look at the sponsor booths.  I need to cut out about 300 calories from my daily

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Hurt Neck/Back

I was working out today and I started to feel my upper back, more towards the center of the upper back, just inside my upper right shoulder blade get tight. Now it's very tight. I didn't hear a pop or felt a pop. So it isn't a tendon, ligament or muscle tear. I wasn't doing any heavy lifting. I think its more of a pinched nerve.  The pain is more associated with the movement of my head. If I turn to the left I get no pain. I have limited movement and some pain (level 4-5) turning my head to the

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October 19th Update

I probably still could lower my calorie intake a bit, but it's still a deficit.  Here is my activity level for the week. I try to get at least 4-5 days of working out or going out to golf. I'm still trying to get back into the swing of working out. I am able to run much better now. Also my muscles don't want to kill me after lifting weights. I think it's time to start putting together a weight lifting routine to add to this blog.

saevel25

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Update October 12th

Just wanted to give this weekly update. Here are some numbers from MyFitnessPal My Average Net Calories is 2250.  My average Calorie intake was 2400 I like the Carb intake level. I think I can lower the fat and increase the protein. I could probably lower some of the calorie intake as well by a few hundred. My activity level will be increasing now that I don't feel pain in my legs. #RECOVERY!!  Overall a good first week. Going to look to improve on these. I want to get the calorie

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Legs are Still Gone

Yep, legs are still sore. I figured as much. Today I just went down during lunch and stretched in the workout room. About 30 minutes. I plan on doing another round of stretching this evening. I plan on getting back to working out tomorrow. At least I can get on the treadmill for some incline HIIT even it's light jogging.  Today's Food Still could eat a tad less, but not bad.  Today's Workout Stretching = 90 calories burned  

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Legs Are Destroyed

Food Totals for the day To those who don't know this website, MyFitnessPal.com is an amazing tool for those who want to keep track of what they eat. The database it has is very extensive and you can add stuff in. You can also add in recipes you might use a lot so you don't have to keep trying to add everything again. Maybe you eat the same breakfast 4 days a week. Just create that as it's own recipe.  Today I did well. I am thinking of dumping the bagel in the morning. My main goal is to keep

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Cupcake Temptation

It's Monday, start of a new week and start of me losing my weight. So I'm pumped to get started. Fate decides to play its tricks on me today as I walk into work there are cupcakes in the kitchenette area.  That is just cruel. I am proud of myself, I resisted the cupcakes. Here is a summary of my day.  Food Breakfast 3 eggs scrambled = 286 (22 fat, 20 protein) 3 slices turkey bacon = 90 calories (5 fat, 18 protein) 1 bagel w/ cream cheese = 330 (47 carbs, 9 fat, 10 protein) Medium Coffee =

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    • FINALLY hit some balls this weekend. I did a short range session Saturday.  Hit only 20 balls.  10 with 8 Iron & 10 with Driver.  Overall the foot felt good during the session but I did notice I was not fully turning and was rather flat footed on the last couple of shots.  In the past that usually happened as the pain in my ankle kicked up but this time I did not feel pain...AT THAT TIME.  About 30 minutes after the range session pain clearly kicked in and I had to ice that evening.  I
    • While both of these are true, of the two I'd peg beer as the greater of two evils. It turns out the problem, maybe the greater problem with alcohol isn't just the empty calories, but alcohol also raises your cortisol level. Increased cortisol encourages your body to save/add fat. Chocolate, conversely, particularly dark chocolate, can actually help lower cortisol. I've all but given up alcoholic beverages. This coming from a man with an enviable stock in spirits (particularly Bourbon,
    • I agree with all comments 100%.  I did speak about it with PT today and they felt I should be able to swing and asked if my not doing it was due to pain or due to lack of confidence.  Right notwI would say maybe both.  I've not even tried a normal speed swing.  Just now I finished a short walk after lunch and the foot is hurting so I am thinking a true swing could cause some pain, or at a minimum discomfort.  Either way, discomfort or pain would inhibit a successful Stack session. The frust
    • Yes, this. Stack is not rehab. And you don't want to train yourself to swing slowly.
    • Make sure you are really confident with swinging fast before you start Stack. Stack is going to ask you to swing as hard as you can 20+ times during a session. If you're still a little tentative, I would be worried about injuring yourself and not getting as much out of it as you could.  And repeating what others have said, don't beat yourself up about having chocolate and beer. If your diet is to eliminate those things entirely, it's going to be harder to be successful with it. Much better
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