Get on it Sar, and good luck, the more you work the human body, the more beautiful it becomes.

 

I agree, and right now it needs a lot of work. A lot!

I wish I didn't have the chest pains when I run.
However not running, and stopping the exercise,
I let myself go from fit to fat.

Doctor's don't know what is causing the chest pain, but
all agree it is not normal. I just don't want that to be
my excuse for losing the discipline to be in better
shape.

No amount of letting it bother me will fix it however,
I just gotta suck it up, focus on what I can do and push.

 

Past two days have been slightly under calorie budget. Eating in a small deficit. Goal is 2 pounds per week. That range has a calorie budget of 1700, without exercise.

Yesterday:

5 sets of 5 knee pushups / 10 sit ups.

Doing knee push ups cause I really want to do slow controlled, nose touching ground pushups.

Tomorrow will be doing 5 sets of 7 knee pushups / 15 sit ups

Goal is to get to 100 knee push ups, then reset to 25 full controlled, good form push ups. Eventually building up to 100 without rest. Goal for sit ups is 200 without rest.

Running is sucktastic, still experiencing localized pain in left upper sternum area.
I push until it hurts, it has not been something that has improved in the past two years, even when I was 215lb's and fit I had this issue and it stopped me from running, then I got fat.

No medical cause determined yet... waiting game, on when I will have more spare cash for more test.

 

First I just wanted to say it takes balls to post your pics, and I respect that. It will be pretty sweet when you post up and compare once you have made a good deal of progress...That's going to be a good feeling for you.

I feel what your saying, man I hate to run, and the last month or so I have really let myself go...bad food (I'm usually pretty good) lower intensity and overall less total training days, right now I'm looking pretty bad.

Its crazy how fast you can slide down hill and its a fight to get back up to where there's a view!

I've let myself have excuses lately, and as long as I get back to it, so what, I've made more work for myself, but once I get back to consistent work, and a cleaner diet, i'll see some pretty fast improvement. But i need to be careful, the last few yrs have been generally down hill, and I could fall down completely if I'm not careful.

Is running the only type of cardio you are doing? If it hurts, your probably should find a substitute. For a while I was walking with a weighted pack, and overall that was nice, sadly it didn't take much weight to feel it some days, and the crazy part was adding ankle weights, even light ones (I think they were 2.5 lbs each...,maybe 5?, I can't remember) anyway, adding the ankle wts, and not increasing the pack weight (~25#) was harder than adding an extra 16 lbs or more to the pack alone.

I have also had pretty good luck with jumping rope, and in the past while having a gym membership, the rower was a pretty good tool for days I didn't want to run.

I'd just try and avoid what hurts.
Good luck and I'll be paying attention to your progress.

 

You might try to supplement magnesium, copper and 2 -4 drops Lugol's iodine to see if that helps the chest pain.

Just a thought.

 

Good Luck SAR-IL. You can do it! Yeah it sucks but when the results start coming through it's awesome.

I've back slid too and tomorrow I'm starting a 10 day juice fast to kick start my motivation. Sounds fun right!? Lol




My daughter and I have been taking the magnesium and Lugol's for awhile now. I just upped the Lugol's to two drops daily since reading your thread last. We just added Medi Copper about a week ago. We'll see how that works out.



My daughter and my health both emotional and physical is my TOP priority right now. Gotta get on track and stay there.

We do a lot of hiking and that's good but as much as I hate weights, I need to add some strength training.

Anyway, good luck to you too Belnik and thanks for all the mineral information Justme11! That's a really great thread. :thumb:

 

Legs. Muscle burns calories. And legs are your biggest ones.

Squats,burpees,lunges. Good form will clean up some back issues if you have them.

 

SAR have you cut soda, and bread, and pasta from your diet? It will have a huge impact.

 

Jump rope! That sounds like torture.


I completely agree with cutting out soda (which we never touch), breads and pasta. I've read Americans are on a diet of desserts because all those breads and pastas just turn into sugar.

 

Op, our weight pretty much mirrors each other. However I only got up to about 285lbs and I'm 6'5 and was a stick in high school. I HATE working out, running, etc. I need to find some alternative working out to get back in shape. It's tough as my job is inside my home all day everyday and then when I go out on sales calls It's really tough to eat right when traveling and staying in a hotel. Good on you for getting back at it.

 

Today I did 2 sets of 5 knee push ups & 5 sets of 10 situps at 0530 hours
Tonight I did 5 sets of 5 knee pushups & 5 sets of 10 situp us at 2100 hours

The best part was, I was sore, tired, it hurt all over, and I didn't want to do **** after
a 13 hour day. However because it hurt, and I was tired, was my primary reason to
shut up and push and do he damn things I committed to, for health & self discipline

@Belnik - Thank you, I won't lie I am embarrassed about my current state. I am an all or nothing type of guy. Not being able to run makes me feel like I'm broken. The biggest fear is what if it is a health issue that can't be fixed?

I got here through choices though, that said, I have choices to get out of it, if I hate how I look, no one else is gonna change that for me. I think it is extremely important to show people, this is where I am now, regardless of where I used to be, and when I get back to where I want to be, I will be able to say this is how bad it was, and I was able to get out of it.

I may not be able to run, but I have two legs, and two arms, and unlike some people I can get out of bed today, so there for I am gonna use it, I am gonna push.

@Justme11 - I have never really done supplements honestly.

@Mogli, Irish Pete, - Thank you

@Dontbuypotteryfromme - Only problem with burpees, and I love them by the way, being over weight, is impact on joints. Everything else you are spot on.

@BJJ_Grappler - I cut soda 6 months ago prepping for the exercise part, lost 30 lbs,
since January. Bread went last week, pasta won't be cut completely but is reduced.

I used to do fresh unprocessed, mostly unseasoned, veggies, limited rice, and a fist full of meat a day back before the chest issues, when I was doing krav,mma,and boxing all at the same time as recommended by the gym owner.

Not really gonna fly now though in a relationship. I can bland up my diet personally but I still want food to be fun together, luckily she doesn't mind healthy, I just don't want to go extreme nuts, hardcore on her.

@wpatter505 - I agree, one of the best things I did for myself was switching from my job at a computer 17 hours a day when things got rough to 13 hours on my feet a the correctional facility.

 

Also more smaller meals will speed up your metabolism. Try to eat small healthy meals 6-8x a day. Get with a nutritionist. Most weight gain is all in the diet.

 

Also more smaller meals will speed up your metabolism. Try to eat small healthy meals 6-8x a day.

That's not actually true. Frequency of meals doesn't really have any significant effect on metabolic rate. It's just a matter of finding an approach that best helps control hunger to maintain calorie targets. Many people do better with lots of small meals, some do best with 2 or 3 larger meals.

 

I've started doing graduated body weight exercises along with stretching & light yoga to reduce my weight. So far down 12.8 lbs & 1 pants size in just over 2 months. I cut out sodas & junk food almost 3 years ago. Now I eat fresh or frozen, with no processed foods. Used to run every other day, but unable to do so any more. Part of the weight gain has been due to some of the meds I take for a couple of medical conditions; talking with my dr. got those changed or dropped. Now I'm working hard to get back into decent shape to do what I need to do.

 

Current Weight: 250lbs
Height: 6'4"
Age: 30

Do you know your body fat percentage? (not BMI, don't get me started on that)
250 really isn't a bad weight for 6'4"... it's your body composition you have the problem with. I would think you're one of the people who should focus on your body fat percentage and pretty much ignore the scale.

I'm 6'1" and currently around 285# with 36% body fat. I would like to be around 220 at 15% body fat. By my calculations I'm currently carrying around 103 pounds in fat. At my target numbers I would have 33 pounds of fat... so I need to burn 70 pounds. But that would put me at 215 instead of 220, so at the same time I'm shedding fat I need to gain another 5 pounds of muscle.

Looking at your pictures, I'm guessing that simply dropping 35 pounds, even if it were all fat, would not get you quite to the look you want. Perhaps I shouldn't assume, but most of us guys want to look solid with some muscle definition, rather than just skinny.

 

Good on you....


I think it's important for individuals trying to increase their activity levels to find things they enjoy doing and do that. Try different forms of cardio, you might find something new you didn't realize you'd like. I like the elliptical with a mid level intensity because it doesn't beat up your joints.

If you're weight training, do exercises you actually like early on to help motivate you throughout your workout and mix it up.

I treat my entire workout regimen like meditation. Every rep, every set, is a thought process of clearing the mind, imagine the perfect form, set your breathing and feel your body surge with power that's going to help you complete your set.

The accomplishment is completing each step of every workout. String enough of them together, then enjoy the rewards.

Constantly challenge yourself, but within reason. Set realistic goals.

The moments when you don't feel like doing a workout without a legitimate excuse, is exactly when you should drag yourself to the gym and suck it up. You'll thank yourself later for it.

Best of luck to all

 

Besides the counting calories, eating healthy foods, take the stairs instead of the elevator the magic to getting back in shape is:
1. Join a gym
2. Go to the gym.
This sounds funny but there's an important and subtle point here. No matter how crappy and tired you feel, throw your gear in the car and go to the gym. Tell yourself you'll just spend 5 mins on the bike and you'll leave. Oddly very rarely do you leave. You add some sit-ups, then bench press, some shoulder work, leg press and squats and whatever. Don't fret when there is one time out of 100 that you get off of the 5 minutes of bike and leave. It happens. Just chill and then go the next day. I have exactly one time in my life when I drove to the gym, got to the door and turned around and left. I felt like an ass but was back the next day.
The biggest psychological issue with getting back in to reasonable (separate from world class) shape is just showing up. The rest just gets done. You almost can't help yourself. And for some, a memorable psychological boost can help. I get in the Nautilus chest press, put by butt tight in the seat, pretend to tighten my chest straps, look down and left for the launch coordinator and bam I'm crushing it at 3G's. The mind is an amazing machine.
Oh, and keep a log. For each exercise, make sure you push yourself at least as hard as your last workout.
But again, just go. No big plans. By the time you leave, you'll have kicked some serious butt.
B

 

Congrats on getting back into shape.

I'm kinda in the same boat where I let myself go in a way. Too much junk food did it for me. It really affected my relationship w the wife so it had to change.

Started at 5-11, 248lbs, 26y.o. Quit drinking soda and fried food. The first month/1.5 mo I also took the dog on 1/2 -1 hr walks every day. Lost over 20 lbs just like that. Very low impact.

The past 7 weeks I haven't been walking the dog (not really doing cardio) but weightlifting 5-6 times a week. I'm getting to the point where I'm getting some muscle definition coming in. I love it! Makes me want to go twice a day!

Good luck on your journey. And for sure keep the thread updated as you progress.

 

I am 52 next month. I have lost more than half my goal and have 17 pounds to my ideal weight. I did it by watching what I eat. There was a news story on this am that said what I have found to be true. You cannot exercise your way to weight loss. Weight loss is 75% diet and 25% exercise, and that's hard exercise. 4 hours of bicycling is hard work but, only burns like 400 calories.

Over the years I have tried various weight loss methods. All worked to one degree or another. When I was young I could get by on low carb and keep eating like a horse. I suppose that I could still do that but, the constipation is an issue. For 12 weeks I have been using a portion control eating method. For long term health this is the one I really like the best. The first couple of weeks were moderately weird but, now it's a habit. We ate out last night and I had a big fat steak and brought half of the meal home in a to go box. That used to never happen. I don't eat till I hate myself and I sleep great every night.

I feel like, for a serious prepper quantity of food consumed is a mission critical issue. If times were to get real lean all of the sudden having an inefficient body would increase the suffering a lot and potentially use up valuable resources quicker than they actually need to be used. I once had the opportunity to work with Australian special forces and I learned a lot just by watching them. They were lean and efficient. During this exercise they lived like dogs out in the desert. But, that just made them better. Lean, mean fighting machines. I'm sure our guys were just as good but, I didn't spend much time around US SF.

What I learned is that our bodies can be tuned for what we want it to do. But, if we are thrown into a physical challenge without training it we will fail, or suffer a whole lot.

The biggest obstacle we in the West struggle with is food. Restaurants serve one person enough food for three. The grocery store is 90% junk. Fast food restaurants are everywhere and serve crap cheap. Our culture encourages really bad behavior. We are dying the death of a thousand cuts because of food abuse. Not to mention the negative impacts on the health system, our wallets and the environment.

I can tell you with certainty that as you get older what you eat will be the biggest impact on your health (supposing your not a smoker - heavy drinker).

 

Get a box and do box jumps, you're not hitting your legs hard enough. Your quads, glutes, and calves will consume calories WAY faster than "knee pushups."

I would stop doing 5x5 or whatever knee pushups. Do real pushups, 3x8 or something like that. If those are too hard, raise or lower your feet (which you should do anyways). The lower your feet are, the less strain they'll put on your chest.

Next, you're doing the basics, which is good, but if you have a couple chairs, you can do bench dips, which are really good for your chest and triceps also.

Please please do more legs, no one gives any credence to the legs and that costs them in the long run.

Never ever neglect leg day

 

Sounds like were in similar boats. Funny how a person thinks they're the only one going through something.
I'm 5-7, 304lbs, trying to get active again. When I was 17 I weighed 165lbs, worked out almost every day, ran every other day about 2-3 mi. Got out of high school, went into construction. Framing, concrete, painting, finish work, cabinetry...I can build a house from the ground up less plumbing and electrical. Had a guy tell me I was too smart to grunt it out all day, and if I had a brain in that head I'd work for a general then become one. Got married early, had nothing but grief for damn near 15 yrs of the 25. Had our daughter, things got more complicated, was about 220 at that time.
I was always in the mountains...hiking ,hunting, fishing, very active. That kept me between 210 and 220 for a long time. I consider myself the original "Fat Guy in the Woods". Me, my wife, and my daughter joke about it
Now I'm 44, out of construction, lost my business, a medic, and after EMT and Medic school, a lot of sitting in a rig or in a bunk studying, I'm at 304. Had a real rude awakening a while ago and even worse one last week. I went for a day hike with a small pack, maybe 20 lbs (was expecting a possible overnight) and huffed and puffed up that trail that I could have probably ran up in my 20's. Thank god no chest pain, but I was made painfully aware just how out of shape I've become. I've tried a lot of stuff, and what you're doing is the best approach, slow and easy. Always gets it done. Thank you for relating your experience. Keeps me wanting to keep pluggin on.
Be real careful about the chest pain. If the docs haven't found the cause, it don't mean you're out of the woods. I have a sup who was having arrhythmias and such, with CP from time to time. She even wore a monitor attached to a cell phone linked to the drs office, and nothing explained it. We had a real bad management situation at the time. A lot of stress on her. We got rid of them and she hasn't had symptoms since. Hopefully its pluretic and not cardiac. The pluretic, at least with me is getting better the more I push it. Chest pain doesn't mean a cardiac problem right off, but it should keep you cautious.
And whoever mentioned the multiple smaller meals is right. I work with a couple of guys who work out constantly, 2 are real serious body builders, one is actually going into BUDS in September, the other just loves to workout, and all of them eat multiple small meals, they say, as well as my doc, no bigger than what you can hold in the palm of your hand, and swear by that. Even blood sugar throughout the day, sustained energy throughout the day. I've been working on it. It helps if I take the day before I going on duty to prepare a bunch of small meals. Its easy for a 12 or a 24 hr shift, it can be challenging for a 36 to 48 hr shift, damn near impossible for a 72.

 

Day 3 juice fast. Sorry SAR-IL but I gotta be held accountable somewhere. Lol Hiking with lots of hills about 5-6 miles daily.

Plus, you're all going to be embarrassed if I do better this week than you all!

Exetermedic101, You can do it. Put something motivational into your brain everyday and that will help.

This video is awesome inspiration.

 

Day 3 juice fast. Sorry SAR-IL but I gotta be held accountable somewhere. Lol Hiking with lots of hills about 5-6 miles daily.

Plus, you're all going to be embarrassed if I do better this week than you all!

Exetermedic101, You can do it. Put something motivational into your brain everyday and that will help.

This video is awesome inspiration.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=JK6PogbLPjw

That video made a huge difference in how I think, and I'm not on any meds for blood pressure or anything. I'd like to keep it that way too. Got me into juicing, in a big way. My cousin is a nutritionist and an herbal healer, so she started me on this path a long time ago, as far as trying to eat good. I do like food, love it. But all in moderation. As far as motivational....I told my work partner that we needed to lose weight so that when the Wienershnitzal (however you spell it) opens we can raid it!!!

 

This morning I got caught up in the to do list way to early and didn't do morning PT. Therefore tonight I am did all 50 knee push ups and then all 100 sit ups within the same hour with a break to work on updating my thread in between.

Tonight I also added planks, will let you know how well I did on that next post.

@usmc0341 - Great advice, unfortunately not with budget, would rather save the money to find and fix the chest.

@greenman_ga - I look forward to hearing more about your progress. I have never had to deal with meds, but often see their effects on people at the facility. All sorts of great side effects, weight loss/gain included.

@Lord_Darwath - I am looking to cut the weight for two reasons. I dated an female olympic boxer / cheerleader for NY Giants. She told me that if you bulk up muscle before you lean up you will just push all the fat out, and will still lack muscle tone.

Additionally I want to ensure I take weight stress off my joints and body before building up.

@sojurn87 - I love running, sick as it sounds, which is why I want to get patched back up and back out doing it. Nothing is more addictive to me than covering ground.

@BingoFuelUSN - Gym is fail, I live in Co Springs, and you got mil bros from Shriever and Carson **** heading around in them. No offense, military just like civilian world has it's good people and it's bad.

I had two different Gym memberships after my chest pain, I was still so depressed I went to both about month and quit.

@OliverR. - Nice, where is your thread? There is always merit to any sort of activity. Good to see you are doing something even if you drop something else for a bit.

@falconbrother - I would say it is 70% discipline to do what you say and 25% doing the work, and then 5% motivation. I gotta agree with you though, if you aren't in shape you won't last a real SHTF event. People like to think of all the romantic ideals they have of Wallywood survival. But wants the cold or heat, or bugs, or illness, or starvation, or dehydration etc, etc, etc kick in summer camp will end and reality will set in, most will die.

@Mogli - I don't believe in giving up the things I love, instead I would rather enjoy those things in moderation, or work hard enough to earn eating them.
Besides if I deprive myself, I am eventually going to want them again. Might as well learn to love them with discipline and moderation.

Gotta live a little

@no_fair_fights - You are right, I am not hitting my legs at all yet. I spent all of last year 17 hours a day 7 days a week at a computer trying to work for **** poor wages to not go homeless after the company I worked for closed down Christmas of the previous year.

That said, I do things progressively to build up. If I kill myself in the start without a reason then I won't stick with it. However if I build up, not only will I prevent injury, I will ensure I am keeping proper form, and will get more out of my work outs.

All things will come wit time, Rome wasn't built in a day.

Additionally I am catering my workouts to my current FATASS condition, which is really rough, and tonight I will be doing 50 knee pushups, which will be challenging. I am building up to doing proper full push ups but currently have a week core, thus why I am doing double the amount of sit ups that I am of knee push ups.

How many fools have you seen flopping in the gym. I want controlled, and disciplined work, not slop. I see people flopping arms out during sit ups to fling up, and then not controlling their way down and falling back, they are getting 25% of the work out I am.

This also counts for slopping pushups. A proper form knee pushup with holds and slow controlled motion is worth 10 **** slop full pushups, I can do 100 of those and they do me zero good.

@exetermedic101 - Hey bud if we are in the same boat, maybe we can encourage each other to plug the holes together. I truly understand the things you are going through, but have done this before and can tell you, the hardest part is keeping it up once you get there.

As far as the palm of the hand size meals is it prevents the body from spiking in nutrition and sugar. If a SEAL is demanded to push beyond what is expected for what could be a 72+ op then they can't be letting their vehicle(body) have shorts in the fuel lines.

Look forward to hearing about your progress, and success story.

@Mogli- if you want to post your progress here, go for it, plenty of lime light for anyone working hard. As far as inspiration, google image Noah Galloway, seeing a soldier missing an arm and a leg, and still he is a personal fitness trainer, that is balls. No excuses for me to sit sidelines.

 

I couldn't agree more, motivation is sometime a cloudy thing. You can loose sight easy. Its a slow process if you want it to last. I've been juicing off and on. If I'm consistent, usually every morning, I see results and feel great. Even when not being "good", if I juice at least a few times a week I feel better, both physically and upstairs, huge difference.

 

I'm not all that heavy, but could stand to lose some fat, pretty much always could with a few exceptions in my life. I have played with jumping rope, and different ballistic jumps, from burpees, to box jumps, jumping with weights etc. All the jumping is hard, and all the jumping has at one point hurt.
The fatter and more out of shape you are the more careful you need to be with jumping. Period.
I think jumping is great, but it has a high risk as well. At least from my own experience. Just thought I'd throw that out.

 

SAR-1L,

Did the doctors screen you for gallbladder trouble? The chest pains are similar from what I understand.

 

3 lbs down in the last 2 wks. Mostly intake control/diet. Slow and steady gets it done...eventually.

 

Day 5 of my juice fast and today is TORTURE but I'm determined to make it through this day. I saw a video and it said that day 4-8 were the worst. I'm hoping to do the full 10 day run. Down 5 lbs since the 14th.


Good on you exetermedic101.

Good on you too SAR-IL.