RFKFREAK's Journal About Golf Past, Present, and Future

[RFKFREAK]

Hey, all.

I know I've been MIA but I just wanted to check in and wish everyone a happy new year.

My schedule should slow down some now that I'll be going to school part time this semester.

I'm happy to report that my body transformation continues.  I ended up losing 80 pounds in 2016 and got down to 196 pounds.  Hoping to slim down a bit more before working on putting some muscle on.

I'll be posting progress in this thread for those that are interested!

[Ernest Jones]

8 hours ago, RFKFREAK said:

Hey, all.

I know I've been MIA but I just wanted to check in and wish everyone a happy new year.

My schedule should slow down some now that I'll be going to school part time this semester.

I'm happy to report that my body transformation continues.  I ended up losing 80 pounds in 2016 and got down to 196 pounds.  Hoping to slim down a bit more before working on putting some muscle on.

I'll be posting progress in this thread for those that are interested!

That's funny, I just checked your profile yesterday when realized I hadn't seen a post from you in ages. Glad to see you back, Slim. 

[bkuehn1952]

I am not that familiar with your thread and history here. I apologize in advance if the following suggestion comes across as a pushy newcomer trying to change things he knows nothing about.

Consider moving future journal entries to the "Blog" section of this site. The story of your personal journey would fit nicely in that format. You could post a link to the thread for readers interested in the past entries.

[CarlSpackler]

Hey @RFKFREAK! Glad to hear progress is still moving forward. Happy 2017 to ya!

[iacas]

4 hours ago, bkuehn1952 said:

I am not that familiar with your thread and history here. I apologize in advance if the following suggestion comes across as a pushy newcomer trying to change things he knows nothing about.

Consider moving future journal entries to the "Blog" section of this site. The story of your personal journey would fit nicely in that format. You could post a link to the thread for readers interested in the past entries.

He started it in 2014 when we had no such thing as a user "blog." That was when we were on Huddler.

@RFKFREAK can either continue (the likely choice) here or start a new blog, yeah.

[RandallT]

Thanks for checking in, @RFKFREAK!! Congrats on all the hard work.

Made me wanna look up Laura Kueny, to see if she is still plugging away. Seems like she got an injury to her wrist and had to stop playing totally by June of last season:

http://www.mlive.com/sports/muskegon/index.ssf/2016/06/muskegon_golf_notes_wrist_woes.html

Quote

"This year has been very frustrating. I've played in five events out of 13 and 14 and I've made two out of the five cuts," she said. "I wish I had more news to tell you, happier news. If anyone is wondering why they haven't heard about me, that's why."

The Big Ten's Player of the Year as a senior in 2010, Kueny first hurt her wrist getting ready for the U.S. Women's Open that year. She was warming up and remembers hitting a 5-wood that left her with a jolt of pain. She played in the tournament, but the injury required surgery later that summer.

On the Symetra site, it shows just 5 events played last year.  We shall see.

Anyway, good luck getting things together on the golf front. I'd be very interested to see how your fitness regimen and new body shape impacts your overall game. 

[RFKFREAK]

Hey, all.

So, I just finished my first year of grad school and am looking forward to dedicating some to posting here and golfing again.

I'm still in the 190's weight wise as I never did get down to the mid to high 180's like I wanted.  Too many delicious food eating days led to a yo-yo cycle that kept me pretty much between the mid 190's to mid 200's.  At 6'2" tall, that's not a bad weight at all, but I'm going to try and redouble my efforts now.

Anyway, look forward to virtually "hanging out" with folks from the forum again!

[RFKFREAK]

On 8/24/2016 at 10:28 AM, RFKFREAK said:

So, it took a little longer than I would have liked, and it took since the beginning of June to drop the last 10 pounds, and the last three weeks to drop the last 5 pounds, but by fully committing myself the last week and change, I finally got to the 225 mark!

To say I'm happy is an understatement.

Last year when I dropped the weight, I didn't really have the right mindset to keep it off and allowed myself to balloon back up because I over-indulged.  This time around, though, and especially this summer, I've found a way to incorporate things I love like iced cream into my macros.  Most of the time, though, I'm incorporating frozen yogurt which is almost as good.

I will admit, there were numerous times in the last three months that I've been disheartened by getting so close to my weight goal and seeing it fluctuate and not reaching it.  And, to be honest, I felt I was going to reach it this week, but when I woke up this morning, I didn't think I'd reach it today, so that was a happy surprise.  What kept me motivated was seeing my body fat percentage decrease and my lean body mass increase so, whereas I wasn't losing weight at the rate I would have liked, the more important number, BF%, was decreasing. 

In other news, I start grad school on Monday.  I've been out of school for quite a few years so I'm a bit apprehensive about it but, overall, I think for where I want to go and what I want for the rest of my career, it's a good decision.  It'll be a challenging balancing at because I'm going to school full time and working 40 hours a week, but thankfully, from now until the end of the year, I expect work to be pretty slow.  Depending how I feel this semester goes, I may go part time in the Spring as that's when I put in a lot of hours.  Thankfully, though, my boss said he'll work with me on my schedule. 

So lots of major changes the past few months and moving forward between starting school, working out, keeping my nutrition in order, and no longer being in a relationship.  I'm hoping to be able to get on the golf course once a week and hang out with friends on a Friday or Saturday night but if I have to make some sacrifices, so be it. 

Anyway, I'm continuing my fitness journey.  A couple week ago I weighed 230 pounds with my BF at 23.23%.  So, next week I plan on getting it checked again and adjust my macros and caloric intake accordingly.  I'm not sure if I'll be providing regular fitness updates but I'll still use this thread for my own meanderings. 

So, 53 weeks later and I'm no longer in weight loss mode as I got to a low of 187.8 pounds at 10% body fat back in the middle of July and have been adding 150 calories to my daily diet every week since then.  Had more than a few hiccups from January to July as I started the year at 204 (work events really can wreck your diet - so much good food!).  Now, I'm sitting in the low to mid 190's (except when I have an undisciplined day with my diet which I have to get a better hold of) and now I'm focused on training to building muscle.

Haven't played much golf because I took summer classes this year which meant I had class 4 days a week but I only have a year to go so I'm hoping to just keep plugging along.  So, with little time to play golf and even less time for the range, I've been shooting primarily in the 100's the 15-20 times I've played 18 (I'm not even sure I've shot in the 90's this year).  That said, I think I might be able to get in a few rounds before school really heats up.

I'm glad the weight loss journey stuck this time around and that overall I've been good at being disciplined with my diet.  I feel it's been showing at least distance wise as I'm pounding the ball when I hit it good and I have had a few lessons with my instructor at Evolvr which, although the scores don't show it, I feel has really helped improve my game this year.  One day it'll all come together (I hope ).   

[Lihu]

On 5/18/2017 at 1:42 PM, RFKFREAK said:

Hey, all.

So, I just finished my first year of grad school and am looking forward to dedicating some to posting here and golfing again.

I'm still in the 190's weight wise as I never did get down to the mid to high 180's like I wanted.  Too many delicious food eating days led to a yo-yo cycle that kept me pretty much between the mid 190's to mid 200's.  At 6'2" tall, that's not a bad weight at all, but I'm going to try and redouble my efforts now.

Anyway, look forward to virtually "hanging out" with folks from the forum again!

6'2" and 195? The girls are probably flocking around you!

Nice to hear from you again.

 

[RFKFREAK]

Just now, Lihu said:

6'2" and 195? The girls are probably flocking around you!

Nice to hear from you again.

 

Don't forget the awesome smile and the great head of hair. 

Thanks.  I'm hoping to find time to post more regularly. 

[mcanadiens]

Sadly my fitness levels have been trending in the opposite direction. 

I was sort of wondering what the effect of losing a lot of weight might have on a golf swing. So you really feel it added distance? Is it mostly a function of being able to make a fuller turn? Do you feel more balanced?

Either way. Great job.

 

 

 

[RFKFREAK]

13 minutes ago, mcanadiens said:

Sadly my fitness levels have been trending in the opposite direction. 

I was sort of wondering what the effect of losing a lot of weight might have on a golf swing. So you really feel it added distance? Is it mostly a function of being able to make a fuller turn? Do you feel more balanced?

Either way. Great job.

Thanks.

I feel I can rotate more and make a fuller turn.  Also, because I've added muscle, I'm stronger and feel more in control of the club and I haven't had this tested but I feel like I swing faster.  A good strike off the tee is now about 280-290 for me whereas before it was like 260-280.

[RFKFREAK]

So, I tried getting fit for an Edel putter yesterday and ran into some challenges which, if you'd like to read about it, can be found here ---> 

 

I'm thinking it may be wiser to purchase the new AP2's with the money instead.

 

[Lihu]

3 hours ago, RFKFREAK said:

So, I tried getting fit for an Edel putter yesterday and ran into some challenges which, if you'd like to read about it, can be found here ---> 

I'm thinking it may be wiser to purchase the new AP2's with the money instead.

Are your current clubs not working for you?

[RFKFREAK]

5 minutes ago, Lihu said:

Are your current clubs not working for you?

I'm using clubs from a box set I bought in 2006.

I think I can upgrade, haha

[Lihu]

1 minute ago, RFKFREAK said:

I'm using clubs from a box set I bought in 2006.

I think I can upgrade, haha

Yeah, you're probably due for some shiny new sticks.

[RFKFREAK]

On 9/1/2017 at 1:34 PM, Lihu said:

Yeah, you're probably due for some shiny new sticks.

Did this yesterday. 

[RFKFREAK]

On 9/29/2017 at 3:47 PM, RFKFREAK said:

Did this yesterday. 

And got my sticks!!!

Super excited and playing a round tomorrow so we'll see how I do!