LowCel's weight loss thread.
 

Once again it's time to try to lose some weight. I figure if I have a thread where I have to be held accountable for my food intake and exercise then just maybe I can be successful this time. My goal weight is 180 pounds, I would love to see that by July of this year. I started the year at approximately 225, I weighed myself this morning and I came in at 218.

Last week I had a little over 9 hours on the bike. Starting the "log" with the new week (for this purpose weeks are Monday - Sunday).

When I first started losing weight a couple of years ago I started at 265. I made it as low as 205 and then life interfered and I managed to gain some of the weight back. I would love to get back down to where I could do a few races this season.


Tentative plan for this year. More to be added.


4/12 - 4/13 - Redbud ride - London, KY
5/5 - Time Trial (Huntington, WV)
5/9 - 5/12 - - - Cycling getaway at Snowshoe, WV with some friends.
5/19 - Time Trial (Deerfield, OH)
6/16 - Time Trial (Deerfield, OH)
7/21 - Time Trial (Deerfield, OH)
8/18 - Time Trial (Deerfield, OH)
9/14 - Time Trial (WV State Championship)
9/15 - Time Trial (Deerfield, OH)

Yesterday, 2/4/13.

Food:
Breakfast - Oatmeal, raisins, spoon full of reduced fat peanut butter.
Snack - Banana
Snack - Cutie
Lunch - Bowl of Campbell's GO soup with Ritz crackers.
Snack - Cutie
Snack - 6 crackers with pb
Dinner - Burrito from Qdoba. Oops.

Exercise:
Two one mile walks while at work during my "smoke breaks".
90 minute trainer session, Sweet Spot workout, 1,258 calories (1,128 kj's). Link to workout.

2/5/13

Food:
Breakfast - Oatmeal, raisins, low fat pb.
Snack - Banana
Campbells GO Soup, Morrocan Style Chicken w/ Chickpeas with 8 Ritz Crackers. This soup is awesome!
Wendy's Chili, one small one large. 520 calories not including crackers.

Activities:
Physical Therapy on my ankle. Not much but I'll count anything. :D
One mile walk during my smoke break.
75 minute trainer session, 4x6 minute over unders, 1,020 calories (915 kj's). Link to workout.

Good Luck! I lost 80 pounds in the last 7 months. Its tough work but its all about calories in and calories out. My usual meal plan is oatmeal, Low sodium turkey breast sandwich on sara lee multigrain 45 calorie delight bread, and a good dinner choice is salmon flank!

Thank you and congratulations on your weight loss. I started out at 265 but hit a big platteau at 220 - 225 and have been fighting it for over a year now. At one point I got down to around 205 but that didn't last.

You might want to rethink the peanut butter, even if low/reduced fat.

I cut peanut butter -which had been one of my favorite food forever- totally out of my diet (albeit the regular chunky peanut butter), and ten pounds just disappeared. Nothing else in my diet, activities or exercise routine changed.

Good luck on the weight-loss journey!

Thank you. I know that I really should give up the peanut butter, I'm just having a tough time. I really don't know if I can eat Oatmeal without it. I would say that I have less than one serving (190 calories) per day (4 days per week) including breakfast and the afternoon snack.

Conversely I have always eaten peanut butter during my 70lb weight loss.

Peanut butter is a good source of protein, too.

I would suggest cutting the "reduced fat" version and looking at "real" peanut butter. Total calories is the same, but the real stuff is just mashed up peanuts - no saturated or trans fats, no added sugar, no added sodium, etc. More fat, sure, but also more fibre. Also, probably less delicious to your adapted taste buds, which could be good or bad.

Try eating the Quakers Strawberry and cream oatmeal. One packet is 130 calories. I think it tastes great, might help you eliminate some of your peanut butter intake

2/6/13

This evening is going to be difficult. I'm going to a buddies 50th bday party at one of my favorite Mexican restaurants. I'll try to be good but no promises. :o

Food

Breakfast - Apple / Cinnamon oatmeal with pb.
1/4 of a cinnamon roll. I am weak. :(
Campbells GO soup, Chicken & Quinoaa with Poblano Chilies. 320 calories plus Ritz Crackers.
2 cuties


Activity
3 x 1 mile walk.

Good luck on loosing weight and keeping it off this time :).
Most important thing is to realize you need to be making changes for the rest of your life, not just for this period of weight loss. In that light the Mexican restaurant shouldn't be a big deal, just try to cut your "losses" a little while enjoying the meal. It is even advisable to take a planned diet break during 1 or 2 meals every week. That means for those 2 meals you allow yourself to eat without counting calories (but also without making yourself sick by eating too much).

How is that sweet spot training by the way? I thought the sweet spot was around 85%-95% of FTP and you would maintain it for maybe an hour or longer without resting. What you did seems more like 10 minute intervals at perhaps something above 100% FTP?

Thank you for the post.

Here is the description of the workout and a LINK to it. For the time being I have my ftp set a bit low, it is only set at 280 (actual threshold is a bit closer to 300). I'm taking it a little easy for now. For the sweet spot intervals it had me at 245, 251, 262, 257, and 251. So, approximately 88% - 93% of ftp.

DESCRIPTION
5x10-minute Sweet Spot intervals where riders spend incrementally longer periods of time in an aerodynamic position; 5 minutes of recovery between intervals.

GOALS
To further my aerobic efficiency via Sweet Spot efforts by improving my glycogen storage capacity, fat utilization, and my capacity for more intense workouts later on while increasing my power output at moderate intensities; to improve my ability to sustain power in an aerodynamic position en route to finding the optimal balance between power production & aerodynamic body positioning.

For what it's worth, here is my workout from yesterday, over unders, on TrainerRoad.

Ok, so what surprises me is that doing 10 minute intervals at 90% FTP would hurt. How did you measure an FTP of close to 300W?

For example my morning training rides are about 1.5 hrs around 90% FTP non-stop. It feels like a hard ride but not even close to hurting and suffering.

Note that FTP is the maximum you can do for 1 hour non-stop. So being at 90% for 1 hour non-stop should not hurt too much and doing 10 minute intervals at 90% should be even easier.

I got that number from my 20 minute being 318 watts x .95 which comes up with a ftp of 302. Unfortunately I had to take a month off of the bike due to injury so I realize that my ftp has dropped therefore I went ahead and lowered my ftp for the time being to 280.

Unfortunately being at 95ish % of ftp does hurt me even when just doing it for ten minutes at a time. Luckily for me I'm good at suffering and can do so for quite some time. I believe I developed this skill shortly after saying "I do".

I'm trying to decide if I should go ahead and purchase my license for this year. If I did it would give me more of a reason to drop the weight. Plus, I am going to be racing tt's even if I don't get all the way to my goal weight. I already petitioned for a downgrade, I'm no longer a cat 3, I'm now a cat 4. :(

It's amazing how much slower you get after gaining a bunch of weight. I'm sure the four knee surgeries didn't help much either.

Ah maybe the surgeries have set you back more than you think?
On the bright side, from what I have read it should be much faster for you to recover the lost power than for somebody trying to gain it for the first time.

Maybe so. Surgeries were performed about three and four years ago. After the first round I was told that I would never ride again. This is from one of my time trials this summer. Unfortunately I can't put out quite as much power on the tt bike as I can on the roadie.

Why is that, because of bike geometry?

+1 with Jed19 on the peanut butter "de-recommendation";

Soup n' chili -- probably more sodium than you need, especially from the chili. One large Wendy's chili is already near the recommended daily amount for the average person, and you've doubled it with the small portion and soup.

This should be an interesting thread. :thumb:

For what it's worth, -1 on the peanut butter recommendation. At least if you take a brand that makes peanut butter out of.. peanuts, without adding sugar and all sorts of unpronounceable stuff. Then limit the intake to something like 200 Cal and it will be a good nutritious addition to your diet. Of course since it is so calorie dense it is very easy to eat 400 or 500 Cal if you just scoop it in without thinking, and that you should not do...

I have been eating terrible and no exercise since last Wednesday. I have been home for a total of less than an hour since Wednesday as well. I have been sleeping on a hospital floor since then as well. My dad had a major acute subdural hemorrhage Wednesday afternoon. They performed a caraniotomy immediately but he is still in a coma. It isn't looking good.

Diet and exercise are temporarily suspended.

Correct. You have to make compromises Aero vs power output.