Our Physical Fitness

[Zardnaar]

What we are doing is calorie counting. My daily goal is 1900, wife's is 1200.

Allowed 1 bad meal a week. That's a dine out breakfast. No fast food takeaways or pizza.

Cut most suger out already 2016. Unsweetened coffee, tea, water is it.

Mostly stopped bad food kind of allow one small item every two days.

Breakfast is usually oatmeal, yogurt. Snacks are fruit, lunch is light meal eg bot of toast or more cereal. Two light breakfasts eg under
300 calories.

Potato chips are off the menu.

Last week went for 10km walk, daily 1 hour walks up to two hours in weekends with occasional bigger ones.

 

[Zardnaar]

Potato chips. They tend to have a bit more sugar than corn chips. At least among the brands I like.

Cut both.

We ate a 150 gram bag of chips over 3 days. Gifted two bags just stopped buying them.

 

[Zardnaar]

Oh! That’s a nice walk! Jealous!

There's 100 odd walks around my city plus small mountain range 20-30 minutes away for overnight hikes.

 

[Mannahnin]

I lost about 5 pounds last year, mainly by cutting back on sugar by putting a hard limit on sugary drinks, switching to corn chips, and no more candy bar/cupcake snacks. I'm not sure I needed to, since I'm on the low end of healthy weight anyway, but the size of my gut was starting to disturb me. And I couldn't fit in pants that fit a couple years ago, and I hadn't even worn them out.

Not that I'm eating that healthy, but food is closely tied to my chronic depression. I am doing 30 minutes on the elliptical three times a week to try and make up for it.

Good stuff! Adding a bit of light resistance training (cables or free weights or calisthenics/body weight) would also help reconstitute some of the weight into muscle.

You can't spot-reduce fat, so sadly (especially once we're older) it's often hard to make a gut go away completely, but you can simultaneously shrink it by dieting while making it LOOK smaller and more proportionate by growing your shoulders, arms, chest and legs a little.

 

[darjr]

Good stuff! Adding a bit of light resistance training (cables or free weights or calisthenics/body weight) would also help reconstitute some of the weight into muscle.

You can't spot-reduce fat, so sadly (especially once we're older) it's often hard to make a gut go away completely, but you can simultaneously shrink it by dieting while making it LOOK smaller and more proportionate by growing your shoulders, arms, chest and legs a little.

A little shoulder resistance training goes a long way. Especially side delts.

 

[ichabod]

Good stuff! Adding a bit of light resistance training (cables or free weights or calisthenics/body weight) would also help reconstitute some of the weight into muscle.

I would like to, but I screwed up something in my upper back, and everything I have tried in terms of upper body work gives me serious pain.

 

[Mannahnin]

I would like to, but I screwed up something in my upper back, and everything I have tried in terms of upper body work gives me serious pain.

I hope time and circumstances permit you to see a physical therapist (either now or at some point in the future) and that your back gets better!

 

[Evaniel]

I've lifted on an off again for decades at this point. I first got into it a bit before my 30s, and went from 135 lbs (5'7") to 180 at my heaviest. After grad school and kids derailed me, I started taking it seriously again after the pandemic in my 40s. I spent the first year or so simply getting used to lifting and trying to cut all the fat I had put on. This past year saw some of my bests and worsts in that I went through a bulking phase that got me heavier than I'd like but about as strong as I'd ever been. Just as the school year started and my cut began, however...

...I got COVID, and it has derailed me all semester. I've been able to maintain some strength, but my body composition has been a mess. The plan for now is to just keep hitting the gym and trying to not mess up too badly during the holiday. Once we're back in session, it'll be a 1700 calorie/day diet, 150g protein/day, and lifting 5 days/week on a minimalist program. That'll go about 12 weeks, and then it'll probably be a 2300ish "gaintain" phase on a push-pull-legs 6 days/week for about another 12 weeks.

One thing I'm finding as I get older is that the movements and weight ranges that tend to get me strongest the most efficiently also wreak havoc on my joints. My poor, poor knees and elbows.

 

[Zardnaar]

5.7 km Bushwalk this morning started just before 9.


They added a viewing platform. Lost 5kg last month or two. 8 or 9 last year.

Started off local park got up to lower slopes of hill.

Kinda want to do a 12km one across the city and up a 700 metres hill. It's only another 2km to go just takes longer kinda steep then another kilometer or two along the Ridgeline.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Last April, I got a just-shy-of-calling-an-ambulance blood pressure reading (well, several in a row) and finally went to talk to my doctor about it. I've already been walking a lot since pandemic lockdown (although down from the peak of that period, when it was a good excuse to not be cooped up in the apartment), so the other options were medication (which I'm now on) and, more importantly, losing weight.

About a decade ago, I went on a crash diet and lost about 60 pounds, which crept back up over the next 10 years.

So, this time, I'm doing it a bit better. Instead of spending six months eating an unhealthy low level of calories (I think I was down to 1,200 at one point), I'm just going with the daily maintenance calories for my target weight and stepping up the intensity of my exercise modestly.

I've lost about 40 pounds since April, although Halloween through Christmas means I've almost plateaued, as there are so many treats around to slow my descent down. I had hoped to drop 60 pounds by next April, but even if the weight loss resumes more seriously in January, I probably won't quite make it.

Still, I look and feel better than I have in years and my blood pressure is right at the upper boundary of normal, which was the main point, after all. A few more pounds and my doctor may be able to dial back the meds.