I’m late posting this update, but I want to make sure it’s here so I can look back at my weight loss posts later. On May 26, 2009 I weighed-in at 258.4 pounds (see my all-time weight loss chart here).

I’m participating in a weight loss contest with some of my family and we weigh-in once a month, so the May 26th weigh-in was my ‘official’ weight for the month. That was good for a loss of 1.6 pounds in May. I lost 4.6 pounds in April, so I suppose it’s reasonable to expect a bit of a drop-off, but I feel like I should have lost more weight in May.

I was on vacation for the past week and a half and I know I ate a lot of food so I’m not going to be getting on the scale again any time soon. My next contest weigh-in date is June 30th, so I’ll probably wait until the week before that to weigh-in again.

I attribute most of my success over the past 2 months to playing basketball. But it’s been about 2 weeks since I last played, so I need to get back on that as soon as possible. Not only is the basketball great exercise, but I have the desire to do exercise apart from playing basketball to help improve my game so that’s an extra bonus. It seems that having a sport to focus on is incredibly helpful with weight loss motivation.

I’ve also bought a few exercise gadgets lately and I’m trying some different workouts, which I will write about in further detail in the coming weeks as I have a chance to evaluate them.

By Eden, Mon 15 Jun 2009, Categories: Weekly Weigh-in, Weight Loss

It’s too bad that I’ve had to start over many times with my weight loss, but I’m sure that’s how it goes for a lot of people as they try to get their weight under control after a long time of doing nothing. All I can do is act like it’s for real this time and try to make it stick.

About two weeks ago I woke up after a couple months of laziness and not paying attention to my weight. Since then, I’ve lost 3.2 pounds. I’m glad about that, but I know that I could have done a lot more exercise in that time. I only did some walking and have yet to start my 100 pushups plan restart.

What I have done well is cut back on my calories and I am replacing several meals with protein bars and drinks. I’m also experimenting with some weight loss supplements, probably not a good idea, but I did have success with these years ago and never noticed any bad side effects. If you’re interested, I’m using Ripped Fuel Extreme, by Twinlab.

I’m not recommending weight loss supplements for anyone, they can have dangerous side effects, but you can do some further research and decide for yourself if you think it might be right for you. I think the biggest benefit for me is that the caffeine in the pills allows me to skip coffee all day long and that is saving me some calories from milk and creme. These pills seem to reduce my appetite as well.

Other than that, I’m trying to be more active throughout the day and I have lots of yard and house work to do around here that should help me lose a little weight. We are entering the always dangerous Holiday eating season so I need to try to work extra hard to keep my weight moving down.

By the way, I have updated my weight and body fat charts. It’s always fun (and sad) to see the big picture of my weight struggles. Hopefully you can learn something from my many failures and few successes.

By Eden, Wed 19 Nov 2008, 1 Comment, Categories: Weekly Weigh-in

I decided to drop the weekly weight loss reports since it was hard to keep up with them and I don’t really think the weekly weight fluctuations are worth reporting anyway. From now on I’ll post my weight loss progress approximately once a month.

During my previous weigh-in on August 4th, I was 259.2 pounds (my heaviest weight of the year) and at my last weigh-in on August 26th I was 257 pounds.

Most of those 3 1/2 weeks were spent eating too much food and not doing much exercise. On a positive note, I gave up hydrogenated oils around the end of July so that has likely helped my weight move down a little bit.

Just this week we bought a Wii Fit and we’re really having a lot of fun with it. It is by no means a replacement for intense exercise like weightlifting or running, but it is perfect if you need help getting off the couch and simply adding more activity to your life (exactly where I’m at right now). I will write more about the Wii Fit in the future after I’ve had more time to evaluate it. My early impressions are very positive and if you can afford the rather high cost ($90) I think it is a worthwhile fitness investment.

I will continue to update my weight loss charts each week when I weigh in, so if you’re interested feel free to visit that page and see more details about my weight loss progress.

By Eden, Fri 29 Aug 2008, 1 Comment, Categories: Fat, Weekly Weigh-in

I had a great week last week. I did four days of cardio exercise for 30 minutes per day and I did two days of the 100 push-ups challenge. I did a pretty good job with food too. In fact, I gave up all hydrogenated oils and diet soda at the start of the week. Maybe that was too much healthy living for my body to respond to because when I stepped on the scale this morning I had gained 3 pounds!

My weight was up, but my body fat was down by 0.8% (a 2% decrease). I’m going to chalk the weight gain up to one of those strange weight fluctuations that happen from time to time. Honestly, the weight gain is a bit discouraging. It’s easy to think why should I bother with the exercise if I’m going to gain weight anyway, but I’m not going to fall into that trap. I feel much better after last week and I need to trust that continuing with the exercise and improved diet will bring the results I am looking for.

As far as the 100 push-ups challenge goes I was going to give up on it after day 1 because I was having a lot or wrist pain. Saving a long story, I had an accident years ago that required surgical repair of 3 tendons in my right hand. I still get some pain and stiffness from those repaired tendons and the normal push-ups were putting a lot of stress on them. Later in the week I decided to try doing push-ups with my hands closed instead of open and that relieved all of the stress on my tendons and I was able to do the full set of day 2 push-ups. I decided I will re-do week 1 (again) this week using this new push-up form. I think that was the change I needed to get through the program.

Below is the weight chart for this week, also see my updated weight loss graphs page with all of the latest numbers. These weren’t the results I was hoping for, but I’m not going to let the weight gain slow me down. I just need to make sure I work even harder this week. I can’t wait to get on the scale next week!

*Note about this weight loss chart. When I started this blog I weighed 266 pounds and I was only tracking my pounds lost each week. On November 28, 2007 I started using a new scale that tracks body fat and more (the numbers you see above). I report the figures from that scale in these weekly posts and I still track my total pounds lost in the Weight Loss Goals section in the sidebar on my site.

By Eden, Mon 28 Jul 2008, 4 Comments, Categories: Fat, Weekly Weigh-in

I created a new page with charts tracking my weight, BMI, and body fat percentage. The charts make a nice way to track my progress over the long term and I actually find the chart view to be a little extra inspiration- it feels really good to see the lines trend down (and it hurts more to see them climb). Visit the page to see how I’m doing and maybe find a little inspiration for your own health and fitness efforts.

I also added comments at certain points on the charts where significant events occurred that may affect my fitness progress. For example, my weight seemed to start trending down nicely when I quit playing World of Warcraft in October ‘07.  Sadly, my fitness seemed to level off and start moving in the other direction after I started playing again in January ‘08 (I knew that would be a mistake).

Of course I’m (mostly) joking about World of Warcraft being evil. It is entirely possible to play the game and still make time for fitness. The only problem is, the game demands huge amounts of time to make any decent progress and it can be highly addictive. Quitting again would likely be a wise move. I have a pre-paid subscription until October, so I’ll have the game on my computer, but I need to do my best to avoid it and make sure I never play before I have done some exercise.

Anyway, take a look at the charts and let me know what you think. At the very least, I think this will be a nice long term view of my fitness progress and the comments will make for some interesting analysis as I look back at how I’m doing.

By Eden, Mon 21 Jul 2008, 2 Comments, Categories: Fat, Weekly Weigh-in

It has been two weeks since I hit the scale and I’m happy to see I have lost 1.2 pounds, though I know I could have worked much harder…so I can’t get too excited about the weight lost.

The week before my vacation was a good one, I met my goal of 3 days of 30 minutes of cardio exercise and I started day 1 of the 100 push ups challenge. However, the week after my vacation turned into a lazy one as I didn’t do any more exercise. I had some good excuses and some lame ones, but that is in the past now and I need to focus on working harder this week.

This week’s exercise goals: 4 days of 30 minutes of cardio exercise; 3 days of the 100 push ups challenge week 1.

*Note about this weight loss chart. When I started this blog I weighed 266 pounds and I was only tracking my pounds lost each week. On November 28, 2007 I started using a new scale that tracks body fat and more (the numbers you see above). I report the figures from that scale in these weekly posts and I still track my total pounds lost in the Weight Loss Goals section in the sidebar on my site.

By Eden, Mon 21 Jul 2008, 2 Comments, Categories: Weekly Weigh-in

I’m skipping the scale this week because my wife and I took a long weekend vacation to Northern Arizona.  Here is a picture from the center of town in Sedona.

Sedona is probably best known for its ‘red rocks’ but I didn’t get any good pictures of those. I guess we’ve been there too many times to take notice.    You can see some more pictures at the Visit Sedona website.

Last week was a good one for me and my exercise goals. I did 3 days of cardio, 30 minutes per day and I started day 1 of the 100 pushups challenge. I didn’t make the best food choices on vacation, but I did do a decent amount of walking so I hope that made up for it. I need to get back on track now and get some cardio and pushups done with only about half a week left, but I think I can make it. I will be back on the scale next Monday.

By Eden, Wed 16 Jul 2008, Categories: Fat, Weekly Weigh-in