Forums >Health and Nutrition>Past half way point of diet, and feeling inspired!
Me: 5.9, 48yr, male, non-smoker, loves food and eats too much, currently down to 192 lbs. Goal weight is 165.
Back in June I was 225. Had reached the point of realizing I was growing older and getting fatter, and was no longer able to run much more than once across the yard without the next time getting me tired. My 8 yr old would run back the other way with the soccer ball and I knew I couldn't catch him. Bend over, breath, gasp, score is young punks 1, old fat men 0. Do it again. Oh man, good thing we only played games up to 5 goals for the win.
What got me to that point of unfitness was simply eating too much, and unwisely seeking energy from diet soda. I bet I was headed toward 250 and a heart attack if I had kept in that direction. I'm sure diabetes would have been developed with me too. I would have had to again buy fatter clothes. I would have felt like doing less. Things would have become even harder, and then I'd avoid doing them altogether. Would have been too much of a hassle to go skiing in the winter, or do anything fun. Stress at work would have kept me reaching for more candy bars and more diet soda. After 250 lbs, I'm sure I would have kept eating too much and not exercising enough, and probably would have gained eventually up to 300 lbs. There's really no difference between me and people of average height who go over 300 pounds. Ever see the movie, "Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead"? The truck driver Phil is example of where the average man can head to in obesity. That got to me because he felt he was too fat to play a game of catch with his own young son.
But back in June at 225, my all time high weight, after having my son run around me, I decided to do something about it. Didn't really know what yet. First thing was quit soda. Whatever else, just quit that. Took a month of withdrawal pain, but I quit it. Another month to feel more confident that I had quit soda. A 3rd month to know that I was never going back to soda again. I haven't had a soda now in over 5 months!
September came and some dad's aked if I wanted to play on a soccer team. OMG! The pain of that 1st game (in decades). Felt like I was going to die, almost. I could only play for 2 minutes at a time. The day after, and the day after that, I was sore. I was 212 lbs that first game. Quitting soda had helped, but it was not enough.
Ok, now time for a diet. My wife had been starting to run, and she did a couple 5k's and wanted to lose weight, too. So we started a paleo-ish diet. The particular kind of diet isn't so much the point. The important thing is I started to eat less, and eat more veggies and fruits. And stopped eating junk food.
Then by mid-September, I told my wife I would run a 5k with her. That race is coming up in December. So I started to run. Slow. At first, I don't think I could run more than a mile non-stop. Now I'm up to 4 miles. My next long run I'm planning to try 5 miles, probably this coming weekend. I'm only running every other day, as I slowly lose weight, and I want to be careful about not over doing it too much too soon Some of the days are just walking or calisthenics.
Here I am 192 lbs mid-November. Had a soccer game last night, and was able to run more. Felt lighter on my feet. Felt better. The difference between my running in that game and struggling with getting tired in the first game back in September is like night and day. So, the whole point of this is I can see a tangible real improvement!
I know this is a running forum, so we talk about run times. I haven't run my first 5k yet. Back in June, I could walk a mile in 18 minutes. I didn't even try to walk 3 miles back then, and know I could not have run it, but my guess is that it would have been 55 minutes. Now I can run 1 mile in 9:40, and run 3 miles 35 minutes.
But for me, what really sticks out is my improvement in being able to play a soccer game. We all have certain activities other than running. Times are great to see go down, but it is especially rewarding to see the differences in other activities that being able to run helps us with.
I wan't to run today. I want to run right now as I type this. But the day after my weekly soccer game is always a rest day in my routine, so no running today. I'll stay with the diet, and sleep good tonight, and then tomorrow after work I'll go out and run in the dark! 180s, here I come
Hill Slug
Great Job! Thanks for sharing. I needed some inspiration today.
All time PR: 1:20 HM. 2:49 M
2013 goal: Master's PR HM Recover from illness/finish the year strong
Rage, rage against the dying of the light
Latent Runner
Hey OldFatSlow,
As I've mentioned on occasion, you and I have a lot in common; I'm a half of an inch shorter than you, currently the same weight (down from 250+ this last April), and eight years older. I also would love to see 165 pop up on the scale, but I kind of suspect that regardless of how much I run, I won't get down that far until I'm rotting in my grave. At the moment I've plateaued between 190 and 195 for the last six or seven weeks, even though I continue to get smaller; I'm starting to wonder if I'll even be able to break 180. Kind of annoying given that I'm on pace for my fifth consecutive 200+ mile month.
Keep us posted.
Fat old man PRs:
Shipo,
I believe I can get to 165. Got to believe
If I burn more calories than I eat, my body will burn fat. I believe that, too. How to keep my body burning more than I eat? Running is one way. Eating less food is another. Eating healthy seems to help. Eating a more paleo, and less grain, diet seems to help me to keep my humger down, which helps me eat less.
Not sure how you are getting smaller but not lighter. Guess you could be building muscle and bone density. Do you recall a fit weight from your youth? I was 145 at the end of my HS years. I was active in a lot of chores then, as well as soccer and running, I doubt I'll ever get more muscle than I had then (aside from if I were to purposely start body building or something like that). So, in my mind, the weight I have now has to come off. I weight more now because I am fat, not because I have more muscle. My goal of 165 gives me a 20 pound cushion for error in math as well as in judgement.
For you, I wonder if you have become too efficient in your running. Do your 10 mile runs really tax you much? Or maybe your body just takes it in stride and all is good. You could either eat less, or tax your body more. I don't know if you want to eat less. If not, how about cross-training to get your body out of its comfort zone? These are just my ramblings, my opinions on this weightloss stuff.
When I play soccer, for example, I use a lot of different muscles than I do in straight running. Many say soccer is dangerous and too risky. Maybe true. But if I survive injury free, it is a good cross-training activity for me. I'm also doing as part of my calisthenics on the off days, sit-ups, push-ups, squats, that sort of stuff. I have a couple small weights to hold in my hands, and I have ankle weights. Neither of those are for running, but are for things like arm lifts and leg lifts. Simple made up stuff, like point my leg in a certain direction and lift it up and down 20 times, and then do the same with the other leg. And then do them in a different direction. I'm trying to build multi-directional strength. In my mind, it relates to soccer. I know when I play I'm moving in different ways, reaching with my legs. So I want to build up those muscles.
My point is, part of my plan is to work muscles for things other than running. I don't want bulky muscles, that's not my goal. I just want to be strong and fast, and have endurance. Swimming would probably be a better cross-training activity.
I'm probably not doing anything special a lot of runners don't already do. I probably do less, less optimal, but at least something to go along with the running goals. So maybe, by mixing it all up, keeping with my diet, as well as getting more efficient at running and running longer runs, hopefully I can keep losing weight., down to 165 pounds
Ah, dreams
Congrats. Sounds like you are right on track.
Age: 50 Weight: 224 Height: 6'3" (Goal weight 195)
Current PR's: Mara 3:14:36* (2017); HM 1:36:13 (2017); 10K 43:59 (2014); 5K 21:12 (2016)
Regarding why I'm getting smaller and not lighter: my working theory is that I'm still building more muscle, both in my legs and in my upper body (more on that in a bit); that said, nobody would ever mistake me for a body builder.
My weight in my senior year of high school fluctuated a bit; at the beginning of the school year I had just completed a 4,000+ mile bicycle trip in 35 days, my waist was the same size as each thigh, I was skin and bones from the rib cage up, and I weighted 142. That year following Cross Country season I managed to break my leg and missed the winter indoor track season, and I really didn't get fully back into running until the last few weeks of the track season. I don't remember for sure, but I was probably 150ish when I graduated. That said, in the intervening years, I've done triathlons and upon occasion, a few other upper body workouts for a year or two. Before I started triathloning I could literally wear a 38 Regular suit jacket off the shelf, now I'm more like a 42. This additional upper body mass (be it fat, muscle, or some combination thereof), is the primary reason why I suspect I'll never see 165 again.
Regarding my running, no, the 10-milers I run on most week days aren't very taxing, especially because it is now pitch dark on the trail when I start, and running while staring at a six foot by ten foot pool of light when you're on a rocky and leaf strewn trail doesn't make for a very fast pace. I don't typically time myself, but I think it usually takes me 1:45 to do the ten miles, which includes numerous bio-breaks and time to walk through four longish "tunnels" where the trail passes under multi-lane highways (I walk because one has a dangerously rocky floor and the other is only about five feet high). Weekends are a different matter entirely; this last weekend I did 12.5 trail miles each day, Saturday's pace was about 9:30 (on a new trail which was hilly and technical in spots) and Sunday's pace (run on my "normal" trail) was a bit under 9:00. Yeah, I was pretty whipped when I finished Sunday's run.
As for soccer, I was a "Keeper" in middle school, errr, before I managed to beat the school's top miler in an intramural race; needless to say, I really haven't played much since then. That said, my "other" form of exercise, cross training if you will, stems from the fact that last spring I signed up to be a part-time caretaker on a horse farm with eleven horses. Each week I pitch over a half ton of horse poop, I muscle the horses to and fro (working with one at a time is easy, but when you're moving three at once between barn and pasture, it always seems like at least two want to bite or kick each other, and usually I'm in the middle), and fetching and carrying countless grain bags and hay bales. Even after six months my arm muscles are still sore on an almost daily basis. Between work, running, and the horsies, I really don't have any extra time for classic cross training.
As for bulky muscles, from waist up, I'm far from that, however, my legs are a different story. Probably because of all the cycling I did as a kid and young adult (probably totalling some 50,000 miles), I have what my son calls "Diesel Legs; all torque, no speed". Yeah, they're bulky.
Good luck on hitting 165, when you do I'll be jealous.
Back in my youth when I was around that 145 ideal fit weight for me, I worked Summers on a horse farm and on a dairy farm. So I've pitched a few stalls and stacked a few hay bales in my time!
Brings back memories. Maybe I'll have to do that again once I get down to 165 LOL
Back in my youth when I was around that 145 ideal fit weight for me, I worked Summers on a horse farm and on a dairy farm. So I've pitched a few stalls and stacked a few hay bales in my time! Brings back memories. Maybe I'll have to do that again once I get down to 165 LOL
Funny thing, prior to this year the last time I pitched a stall was 1971; it's like riding a bike.
This is so inspiring! Thank you so much for sharing this--it's definitely motivated to stop procrastinating on my running this week!