Bo the Golfer's Golf Journey

[Bo the Golfer]

Time for some updates. 

Fitness/Health- This has been going great. Been to the gym 15 times this month and continue to make gains in terms of higher weights and how I feel. I switch my workouts every 8 weeks so I'll be changing up on 1/21. Quit day was 12/23 and so far so good. I'm not saying it's easy but it feels awesome. 

Golf- Really have just been keeping up with the 5 minutes daily. I haven't been to the dome as I've had a slight muscle strain in my side. I've worked out through it but didn't think full swings made sense. It is feeling better so I'm hoping to hit soon and will get some video to throw on here for you guys to disect. 

Happy New Years to all of you on The Sand Trap. Hoping 2024 is a great year!

[Bo the Golfer]

I figured since it is a new year that I should throw some goals on here. The HC I have is not official (from SwingU) but I plan to use that app this year as well so that goal will be relevant. 

1. Weight to 230 (roughly 255 right now).

2. Handicap to 15 (22.4 right now).

3. Continue with 5 minute daily practice with at least one range session weekly. 

4. Use My Fitness Pal consistently to better track what I am putting into my body. 

5. Remember that I love this game and to always have fun through it all. 

Hope you all had a Happy New Years. 

[Bo the Golfer]

Spoiler

 No offense intended

[Bo the Golfer]

So this nagging muscle strain in my back has been keeping me out of the gym since Monday. I tried to workout through it but that wasn't helping. I've been able to keep up with my 5 minutes daily practice but wanted to be hitiing the gym and going to the dome to hit balls. I'll give it to Saturday as far as the gym goes but will hold off on hitting balls. On the plus side my new Takomo irons are on the way. Can't wait. 

[phan52]

Watch your weight with the quitting smoking. Your metabolism will slow significantly. I am not a big man and I gained 30 lbs (over 2 years) when I quit smoking. Took another year to work it off. Good luck and good health. 

[Bo the Golfer]

Just now, phan52 said:

Watch your weight with the quitting smoking. Your metabolism will slow significantly. I am not a big man and I gained 30 lbs (over 2 years) when I quit smoking. Took another year to work it off. Good luck and good health. 

Thank you for the heads up. Certainly don't want to lose one unhealthy habit and replace it with another. 

[phan52]

1 minute ago, Bo the Golfer said:

Thank you for the heads up. Certainly don't want to lose one unhealthy habit and replace it with another. 

I had to change my eating habits and work on cardio a little harder. I cut out 90% of my fast food intake. That became a life change for the better.  I do cheat with the occasional Whopper though. 😎

[StuM]

18 hours ago, phan52 said:

I cut out 90% of my fast food intake. That became a life change for the better.

That is huge.  My problem with FF is that once I start eating it I get carried away and eat it way too often and since it does not satisfy long-term I then begin to eat way too much of it.  For me it has to be None or I will quickly fall back into the FF trap.

[Bo the Golfer]

12 minutes ago, StuM said:

That is huge.  My problem with FF is that once I start eating it I get carried away and eat it way too often and since it does not satisfy long-term I then begin to eat way too much of it.  For me it has to be None or I will quickly fall back into the FF trap.

I don't eat FF very often. If anything it would be a breakfast sandwich at Chik Fil A. My issue was eating everything in front of me. Eating less and working out got me from 320 to 255 so now to get the next 30 lbs. or so I need to tighten up further. 

[StuM]

1 minute ago, Bo the Golfer said:

My issue was eating everything in front of me

My problem as well.  I call it the "Sea Food Diet".  If I were to "See" food than I would eat it.  

 

2 minutes ago, Bo the Golfer said:

Eating less and working out got me from 320 to 255 so now to get the next 30 lbs. or so I need to tighten up further. 

I need to get the last 20-30 off as well.  IMO there are a few "Phases" to weight loss.

1.  Stage 1 is making a change in life style.  Reduce portions, improve nutritional value & add exercise.  During this phase I feel "Hungry" because I am eating less than I am accustomed to and since I am not a "Full" I may feel some physical & mental urge to eat more and also may crave the "Comfort Foods" that may not be very healthy.  But if you stick with it you may lose some quick pounds of "Bloat" and hopefully that gives you encouragement to stick with it.  To me this was/is a very difficult stage. 
2. Stage 2 gets a little harder.  You may have beaten the hunger pains and your stomach is not longer stretched out and you may feel full with less food but the "Bloat" is gone and now you need to start working off some of the more stubborn fat.  But hopefully the motivation from losing in stage 1 motivates to continue, and if you do continue better nutrition, appropriate calories & exercise you should see pound drop off.
3. Stage 3 can frustrate.  It is the "Plateau" where you know you are doing what you should be doing but it just seems that your weight loss stalls.  Not sure exactly why this seems to happen but it could be the body has adjusted to lower calorie intake or you have built muscles to replace some fat and muscles are not light.  The key here is to keep going and not give up.  Maybe mix up the exercise a little or increase intensity.  If you are doing what needs to be done you will eventually bread through the plateau.
4. Stage 4 seems to me to be a longer and harder stage.  It is tying to lose those last few pounds to reach your goal.  By this time you may have lost a lot of weight and have also, hopefully, built up some muscle mass.  You have likely cut as many calories from your diet as if safe and are likely working out regularly so it is not easy to just "Do more/better"  I'm not here yet but suspect this will be a difficult stage for me.
5. Stage 5 is the "Maintenance Stage" where you need to keep things in balance to not let weight creep up.  You can't just go back to the old unhealthy things you enjoyed before and expect to stay at the lower goal weight.  You may be able to indulge a little but be careful not to fall into the old lifestyle habits.  I know some that celebrate the success of hitting the goal by some special treat they have limited to lose weight.  For me that may be Peanut Butter & Chocolate Ice Cream or Hot Dogs.  A little, occasionally, is fine but multiple times per week will not help maintain the goal weight.

 

[Bo the Golfer]

5 minutes ago, StuM said:

My problem as well.  I call it the "Sea Food Diet".  If I were to "See" food than I would eat it.  

 

I need to get the last 20-30 off as well.  IMO there are a few "Phases" to weight loss.

1.  Stage 1 is making a change in life style.  Reduce portions, improve nutritional value & add exercise.  During this phase I feel "Hungry" because I am eating less than I am accustomed to and since I am not a "Full" I may feel some physical & mental urge to eat more and also may crave the "Comfort Foods" that may not be very healthy.  But if you stick with it you may lose some quick pounds of "Bloat" and hopefully that gives you encouragement to stick with it.  To me this was/is a very difficult stage. 
2. Stage 2 gets a little harder.  You may have beaten the hunger pains and your stomach is not longer stretched out and you may feel full with less food but the "Bloat" is gone and now you need to start working off some of the more stubborn fat.  But hopefully the motivation from losing in stage 1 motivates to continue, and if you do continue better nutrition, appropriate calories & exercise you should see pound drop off.
3. Stage 3 can frustrate.  It is the "Plateau" where you know you are doing what you should be doing but it just seems that your weight loss stalls.  Not sure exactly why this seems to happen but it could be the body has adjusted to lower calorie intake or you have built muscles to replace some fat and muscles are not light.  The key here is to keep going and not give up.  Maybe mix up the exercise a little or increase intensity.  If you are doing what needs to be done you will eventually bread through the plateau.
4. Stage 4 seems to me to be a longer and harder stage.  It is tying to lose those last few pounds to reach your goal.  By this time you may have lost a lot of weight and have also, hopefully, built up some muscle mass.  You have likely cut as many calories from your diet as if safe and are likely working out regularly so it is not easy to just "Do more/better"  I'm not here yet but suspect this will be a difficult stage for me.
5. Stage 5 is the "Maintenance Stage" where you need to keep things in balance to not let weight creep up.  You can't just go back to the old unhealthy things you enjoyed before and expect to stay at the lower goal weight.  You may be able to indulge a little but be careful not to fall into the old lifestyle habits.  I know some that celebrate the success of hitting the goal by some special treat they have limited to lose weight.  For me that may be Peanut Butter & Chocolate Ice Cream or Hot Dogs.  A little, occasionally, is fine but multiple times per week will not help maintain the goal weight.

 

Agree with this100%. No instant gratification in this journey. 

[Bo the Golfer]

They finally came!

[Bo the Golfer]

So I was finally able to get back in the gym today. The strained muscle in my back feels much better. That being said I did not want to chance hitting balls as that motion might put me right back to where I was. That sucks for a couple of reasons. First, as my previous post shows I got my Takomo irons and are dying to hit them. Second, I was at 2nd Swing today here in MN as I've decided to trade in my previous irons, my hybrid, and current driver and use what they give me towards either a Ping G425 or Stealth 2 driver. Was dying to hit them but the wife was having none of that. Soon I hope. Being back in the gym was great so I'll take the win.

[Bo the Golfer]

Great workout today. Changed my routine to a 3x weekly full body that starts with a 5x5 Olympic lift then 4x10 for 4 exercises,  3x10 for another 3, then finish with 5x20 seconds plank. Seemed daunting but I think the work I've been putting in has really helped. Also continue tracking my eating on My Fitness Pal. Doing well with keeping my fat down and carbs where they should be but getting enough protein is still an issue. Haven't been to the dome to hit balls yet but my strained muscle is feeling better and better so maybe this weekend. 

[Bo the Golfer]

Another great workout today. Feeling stronger as this week I've had PB's in both squat and bench. Still have been keeping up with better eating and tracking all that goes in my pie hole. The last 2 days I've been 500 and 600 calories lower than what I'm allotted.

Golf wise all I've been doing is keeping up with my 5 Minutes Daily practice but plan to go to the dome this week to hit a bucket and get some videos on here. Question I have for anyone following. I plan on going to 2nd Swing on Monday to try out a few used drivers. I'll be looking at the Ping 425 Max, the Cobra LTDx, and the Cobra F9 Speedback. If anyone has feedback on any of these I'd appreciate it.

[Bo the Golfer]

Another good workout this morning. For some reason I was up at 530am this morning so I got to the gym nice and early. It's funny to me when I'm there seeing how many people seem to just sit on their phones. I'm there to workout so maybe I'm old school but don't get it. Feeling much stronger and I continue to stretch afterwards hoping that pays dividends for my golf swing and life in general. 

I have been keeping up with my 5 minutes daily practice but what I'm excited for is that I'll finally be hitting my new Takomo irons at the dome tomorrow. I'll make sure to film a few swings and get them on here. I've never shared my swing online so I look forward to the critiques. 

[Bo the Golfer]

Everything I've worked on fixing seems to be back. Lead arm bending,  arm overrun, and OTT all back in spades. Not sure how I ever scored well. 

[Bo the Golfer]

Just a couple of updates. On the fitness side things are going great. Good workout today where I had a PB for squats. Use to avoid squats since I do have osteoarthritis in both knees but since losing a good amount of weight I'm able to tolerate them much better. Getting enough protein continues to be an issue but being able to track everything on My Fitness Pal is a big help.

Golf wise obviously the swing is a complete mess. I have decided to go all in on a swing retool trying to get more Steve Stricker like so I don't have that issue with my lead arm and the arm overrun. I saw a great video on fixing OTT yesterday so I will be incorporating that move in my downswing. I will be doing swings nightly at the house as well as getting some on video when I can get to the dome. Also looking into lessons with a teacher that works out of the dome in the winter. This is more than I've done in the past but I'm tired of sucking