Health and Fitness Thread (2020)

[Mudcat]

This is probably long overdue for this year seeing as we are nearly 7 months in but worthwhile none the less.

I didn’t follow previous years threads (which will be obvious here shortly) so I apologize in advance if am not following the established format.

Sorry if this starts off on a long story from me.

Where to start? I guess with having to take a trip to the dr’s office in April, thankfully it was nothing major. However I did have to step on the scale, I was feeling confident because in the previous month and a half life led to me really change the way I ate for the better. So I had lost a decent amount of weight, but was shocked to find out that the scale said 283 lbs. While, I can’t confirm anything I think it’s safe to say I was probably hovering around 300 lbs a few months earlier.

I needed to do something more, first step was getting a scale and along with continuing to eat better, finally add in some more consistent exercise. Started small with just taking the kids on a real short walks with me in the neighborhood, overall we’re talking less than a mile.

Nearly a month later in May the scale finally arrives… 268.8 lbs. Still not great, I’m a hair under 6’, but 15lbs in a month is a start. Opted for the fancy Fitbit scale, mostly for convince of tracking everything in one place, found the Fitbit and it was on.

The plan for exercise was and has been pretty simple, no need to go overboard, slow and steady improvements and resist the temptation to try and loose a big chunk of weight at a time. I even went to occasionally do an old workout to assist in the mid-section reduction, don’t laugh but it worked for me in like '92 and was from this guy

YOU CAN DO IT!!!

Anyway, so far this has been the result

44 lbs down that I can confirm and realistically at least 60 lbs lost. I was guessing I could probably make it down to 230 before I really needed to add some more strenuous work outs, but hit the plateau a bit this week so had to finally jog someone. First day I thought I’d just do a straight through light jog, boy was I wrong, didn’t last long, but kept up with the walking. Mixing in some real light jogging every now and then.

Yesterday I was a lot more consistent and managed to alternate so that I was roughly combined jogging half of a mile and walking half of each mile, alternating each tenth-quarter mile.

My normal walking pace up till this point had been just a leisurely 20’ 30" -ish

Today though, my heels were all tore up and could feel a lot of pressure on the outside of my legs, so not wanting to blow an ACL by jogging some again. The good news, I magically was able to walk a heck of a lot faster today.

Strange enough nearly the same pace as when I added in jogging. Anyway, I’ve probably bored you all by now, but I’ve been hoping someone else would start the 2020 thread for a bit now because I have an odd aversion to starting too many threads. Hopefully this is a start and maybe a little inspiration/motivation if anyone needed a kick.

[BeachAV8R]

That is great progress. I’m at 230 lbs. and I keep telling myself I need to be at 210 before I could really start jogging and biking again. I wear my extra all over…fortunately I guess…but I feel miserable at this weight. About 190 is ideal for me. When I think of carting 40 extra pounds around on hikes and just in day to day life it amazes me that I’m basically carrying around a full backpack with me at all times.

Definitely need to step it up.

[Mudcat]

I occasionally throw in some time on the bike trainer, half an hour at a time tops. tbh it has less to do with being on the trainer and more to do with the fact we both live in a state where 99% of the roads are barely wide enough for 2 cars and no shoulder. I sold the mountain bike a few years back, well the good one anyway and really I flat out refuse to ride a road bike anywhere around here. 100% because I wouldn’t feel even remotely safe, even in a big group of bikers.

[sobek]

I’ve been rather consistent this spring with running, since my other endurance training (floorballish indoor sport) is off the table for obvious reasons. Had a setback in March when i ramped up training too quickly and hurt my foot, which took more than a month to cure. Since then it’s been pretty much smooth sailing. Barefoot running has been an absolute blast, since i always used to have knee issues with other styles of running, one does need to be careful not to overstrain though, as injuries happen very quickly when you’re tired.

[Aginor]

I did nothing all year.
In fact I even ramped up the snacks since I am frickin’ tired all day. And honestly a bit depressed, too. Eating helps.

When I stepped onto the scales and noticed that I am back up to 103kg (227lbs) I was not surprised. All the progress of the last three years gone. Now that I think of it: I probably never wasn’t heavier than that.

Might finally use that rowing machine I bought last year, as soon as I find the energy to get all the crap off it that my kids piled onto it.
The irony: I put it into the living room so we see it every day and don’t just have it in the basement or so. So both my wife and I can use it and still keep an eye on the kids and so on. Blocking a part of the living room was a small price for finally increasing fitness for us both.
Ha. Ha. Ha.

[Fridge]

I have been trying to get some consistent biking in over the past 2 months and having some decent success. My weight tends to stay exactly where it is, however, which is somewhat frustrating. It’s like my body just wants to stay at ~177 no matter what I do - and I want to get it down to 165 if I can.

But! Weight aside the pandemic was making me more … I don’t know the right word for it. I have some level of depression and my personality type tends toward the Schoizoid side - so being isolated has not affected me as much as my friends and co-workers, but getting out on a bike, or even using one indoors with one of them back wheel spinner things, was a huge improvement in my mood.

[PaulRix]

Don’t feel bad… I got a treadmill late last year, which my wife and I decided to put in the bedroom ‘so we would see it every day’. It really doesn’t get much use.

[MigBuster]

Since lockdown have reverted to a diet of about 90% sugar and 10% cheese…I was in pretty good shape before COVID

I have to look back to Martial Arts competitions to when I last cared about my exact weight I think.

[Kinger]

Good on you guys trying to stay fit during these times. After getting my annual physical last year and seeing my blood work numbers I have REALLY been trying to eat better and drink less alcohol. Not sure how it’s working blood wise, but I have dropped almost 20lbs (200 to 180’ish) in the past 6 months. Some of that could be muscle though as I have not seen a gym since March Still trying to do cardio at the house as we have a treadmill and doing some walking around the neighborhood (3 miles or so each stint), but boy do I miss free weight training in a gym.

My biggest issue is I’m not a good vegetable eater and I know those are key to being healthy. I’m trying to drink more spinach and fruit smoothies just to get more nutrients in and honestly they are not all that bad. Also trying to pick whole grain breads instead of white where I can. As for alcohol…I’ve gone from drinking one or two beers per day to one or two per week. Quitting cold turkey is just zero fun, but if I can look forward to that one or two drinks a week with some pizza it’s all good.

[anon51893362]

I’ve been trying intermittent fasting for last month of 20 hours no food and 4 hours food while attempting to keep calorie intake of ~2000…progress would have been better if not for enjoying my adult beverages which come with snacks and undermine entire diet progress. At 25.8 BMI I’m not that out of shape, but I don’t like my phone app calling me overweight either. I just need 5-7 pounds to lose
to consider normal weight.

For exercise, 6,000 steps walk / 60 minutes early in the morning. Now slowly adding running and pushups. Then AbRipperX routine.

[Goblin]

I’ve been doing P90X, X2, or X3 consistently for the last 7 years; I started up X2 in March and Finished a couple of weeks ago. I’ve been giving my body a bit of a break – that it needs, but I still get out and walk 3 or 4 miles most days.

However, my diet is terrible. There is NO out training a bad diet.
So, I’ll be starting up X2 again on Monday the 29th. And I’m turning my diet around TODAY. NOW.

[Kinger]

I remember doing P90X about a decade or so ago and it was one heck of a workout.

[smokinhole]

I’ve been pretty good. Flying with a company that guarantees a suitable layover length helps. So I never skip exercise when I work. For about a year I’ve been struggling through tendinitis issues probably due to strain from barefoot and minimalist running. I now run once or twice a week, no more than 3 miles at a pop. I bike the rest of the week using a road bike on an indoor trainer with videos to keep the effort hard. I feel ok so far this year.

And I know that I am a broken record with this but skipping breakfast is the single most beneficial thing I do. A long fast between dinner and lunch sheds the weight and forces me to feel comfortable with mild hunger. Otherwise I tend to overeat, I suspect more out of fear of being hungry than hunger itself.

[Mudcat]

Daily walk complete

too bad my kids aren’t older, cause my lawn still won’t mow itself, grumble grumble

[Franze]

@Mudcat

too bad my kids aren’t older, cause my lawn still won’t mow itself, grumble grumble

Don’t get too excited about that. My father was on a fire call the other day because a kid tried to mow 5ft tall grass with a little riding mower and set the mower on fire. The yard, too.

[smokinhole]

@Mudcat

too bad my kids aren’t older

Come back in 12 years. This quote will hit you with just a tinge of guilt. I totally get it though!

[Mudcat]

They’re close enough that I don’t feel guilty about it

@Franze

Don’t get too excited about that. My father was on a fire call the other day because a kid tried to mow 5ft tall grass with a little riding mower and set the mower on fire. The yard, too.

Yes, and I got to hear about some kid chopping off his foot with a lawn mower and countless other wonderful tales each time from my grandmother each time I went to mow their lawn, even well into my mid-twenties. I’m not really looking forward to having one of them do it anyway.

I was always regularly active till I had them, was laid off back in '09 when the mrs was 6 months pregnant with the first one so it just sort of made sense that I’d stay home with kiddos, since she had a good job. Won’t complain too much, but doing that and doing all the typical man around the house stuff as well didn’t leave too much free time over the years.

Was kind of looking forward to this year too, the youngest is suppose to start kindergarten, finally some time to get stuff done. 2020 didn’t want to play ball though

[Franze]

@Mudcat

Yes, and I got to hear about some kid chopping off his foot with a lawn mower and countless other wonderful tales each time from my grandmother each time I went to mow their lawn, even well into my mid-twenties.

That’s only because shorts and flip flops are not acceptable yard maintenance wear!

Boots, jeans, shirt, boonie hat, and protective eyewear, kids!

[BeachAV8R]

@smokinhole

Flying with a company that guarantees a suitable layover length helps.

My problem with my schedule is making poor food decisions on our quick stops during our missions. We usually have about 90 minutes to 2 hours between each leg (sometimes as little as 30 minutes, sometimes as much as 6 or 8 hours for organs though). So we run out and grab something…and I should be eating salads and low carb stuff…but then I see that big juicy hamburger on the menu…sigh…

[BeachAV8R]

@Mudcat

Daily walk complete…

With my wife working from home now - we’ve been walking everyday about 3 miles during her lunch break. It is awesome…time for us to talk about stuff…take in the neighborhood…and get out and about.