Althanas Fitness Thread, Redux Edition

[Shinsou Vaan Osiris]

Sponsored by Shin and Breaker!

One of my major goals in the next year is to lose 59 (yes, 59) pounds in order to make weight for my sister's wedding in October next year. Currently, though I might not look it, I weigh a f*cking ridiclous 254.1 lbs. Before my daughter was born, in 2015, I weighed 198 lbs and was regularly attending Jeet Kune Do sessions, which kept me very fit. Then, due to no time, I gave it up, and this morning (after reading Storm's Ketosis adventure) I finally got sick of being 4 stone overweight.

After talking with my wingman Breaker, we decided to bring back this thread. I know he has wanted to get back into MMA and commit himself to getting fit for a while, so a sacred bond was struck and now we are going to build a goal orientated thread not just for us but for anyone else who fancies a community driven support network.

My first real challenge is starting. I am carrying an injury at the moment, a small muscle tear in my knee, so I need to find exercises to do that don't place stress on it. But I am looking forward to it very much!

[Breaker]

Let's do this!

My main goal is to get back to practicing jiu-jitsu and MMA. I'd like to become the best student of martial arts I can, so that I can eventually become a teacher and a coach. My biggest barrier to this is my overall fitness. I am easily in the worst shape of my life, to the point where I wouldn't last through a warmup at my old gym. I'm not too concerned with my weight, but my body composition could definitely do with some changes and my endurance is virtually non-existent. I have a number of old injuries that I need to contend with, and be extra careful when working around. A lot of experts seem to agree that the best diet and exercise routines are the ones you can do consistently, so I'm planning on starting extremely slow and progressing even slower.

In keeping with that, I'm going to be setting myself a lot of easily attainable short term goals that will trend toward the long term goals mentioned above. If I do it right, it'll be pretty underwhelming.

Fitness Goals for This Weekend
-Go for a short walk (minimum 10 minutes) at least once a day after a meal
-Do at least one hill run prior to a meal
-Perform some resistance exercises prior to a meal

Diet Goals for this Weekend
-Stop eating refined sugar of any kind
-Only eat between 12pm and 10pm

The hardest part of my goals for this weekend will undoubtedly be cutting out sugar. I've been severely addicted to it recently. But I think mixing in a little more exercise will probably encourage me to eat a bit healthier.

Shin and I plan on helping each other stay true to our goals and pushing each other when the going gets tough. Anyone else who wants in on this, feel free to post your goals!

[Storm Veritas]

Well, I'm already keeping a diary on track, although I think I'm about to slow down the rollout of updates because weighing myself every day makes me want to commit seppuku. Either way, I'm going to stay on the Ketosis diet (although from what I've read, I'd probably be better served to stay on for a few months at the very least, rather than 1 month as originally planned). I've already captured one belt buckle back, I've got one more to claim in the way of fitness before I'm feeling good.

Supplementarily, I want to take advantage of something eating like an animal brings: POWER. I noticed yesterday I was able to knock out fifteen pull-ups; that's a few more than I'm ever able to do. I'll also be working quite a bit to try to continue doing 100 pushups a day and work in some squats, sit-ups, and whenever possible some actual weight lifting. This will slow weight loss, but not fat burn, which is the actual priority here.

[Breaker]

Well, I achieved all of my fitness goals for today. I'm so out of shape that a few hill runs and some resistance and isomteric exercises before dinner nearly killed me, but I somehow survived and did a little yoga to boot. I also went for about a half hour walk after lunch, so thus far I'm crushing it :P

[Shinsou Vaan Osiris]

Day 1

Starting weight: 253.2 lbs
Weight: 251.2 lbs
Weigh in time: 7:02am
Total loss: 2 lbs.

I'm quite surprised that i'm coming in at 2lbs lighter than yesterday given the food I ate, but whatever. 252 lbs is a red line for me so anything under that is good news. I'm going to try and weigh myself at the same time for consistancy.

My goal today is to exercise whilst preserving my injured knee. I am actually part of a working party who are spending the morning demolishing my old concrete garage with sledgehammers, so hopefully that will help burn off some calories without the need for heavy lifting.

I'll try not to eat 2kg of jelly beans today.

Meal plan

Breakfast: 2 x Weetabix with semi skimmed milk

Lunch: Mushroom omelette

Dinner: Chicken with cajun seasoning and mixed peppers

Drinks: Trying to stick to sugar free flavoured water. I have some friends round tonight so there is the possibility of a cheeky beer, but hopefully the work and diet I stick to today will negate that and A beer doesn't become SIX beers.

[Storm Veritas]

6.5 miles on my run today. Ate really healthy with my only snack being a home made yogurt (crush a few blueberries in greek yogurt with a stevia). Feeling very strong.

[Chelley]

Maybe this time I'll actually manage to stick to something. I've been clear for normal activities for a few weeks now (had to take the first 6 weeks after delivering my daughter easy, per normal delivery recovery orders). I've been trying to stick to the healthier eating I had to do while pregnant. I developed gestational diabetes (again) and thus had to severely cut back my carbs. I love them a little too much to be able to stand cutting them out entirely, but I'm gonna try to get back to cutting back more than what I've been eating recently.

I have managed to keep from getting all the way back to my pre-pregnancy weight of 172lbs. I'm a short person, so according to BMI charts I'm quite overweight (yes, I know not to fuss about them, tis just a point of reference). My end goal is 125-130lbs.

Starting weight: 166lbs
Planning to get an exercise program going. I have the 21 day fix program, just gotta find the DVD. In the meantime, I'm gonna use my dance games for a cardio (it doesn't take much to get my cardio going lol) and walks through the neighborhood pushing the stroller now that the weather is warm again and the streets are clear.

[Shinsou Vaan Osiris]

Day 2

Weight: 252.6 lbs
Weigh in time: 8:13am
Total loss: 1 lbs

After five hours of upper body manual labour and good weather, I was hoping for a loss but it seems I actually gained a pound for some reason. Actually, if I take into consideration I was 253 lbs before Day 1, you could argue I actually have still lost a pound but that's not the point of the exercise. Could be something simple like water retention (I drank a lot yesterday as it was really hot) so not too worried at this point but quite annoying for day 2.

[Breaker]

How to Program Your Mind for Fitness - The Power of Creating Momentum

I found this video completely in line with my goals and very helpful and inspirational, so I thought I'd share it with y'all. Firas Zahabi is a world-renowned MMA trainer and from everything I've seen in his videos, a very wise person. There's also a part 2 of this video which you can easily find on youtube if you like part 1.

[Storm Veritas]

Weight was back down to about 184 this morning, which was a little relief. MUCH MORE IMPORTANTLY, I was thrilled with my running ability. Knocked out 7 miles in beautiful weather with relative ease, which made me feel fantastic. Probably could have done ten today!