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Yes, but the numbers are a lot lower than I want.

Glad you met your goal.

As sorry and thanks. I thought maybe it wasn't displaying correctly on the machine, lol.

Ugh, I disappoint myself.

Haven’t signed up for the gym yet. Mostly because I’ve a busy few weeks ahead. Pet sitting next week, weekend after off to Cardiff for Bac-Con (tickets still available!), weekend after that off to Scotland to do Dad’s ashes. And of course work, work, work.

I’m not normally that busy, but I’ve held off as it would only run interference on getting a new routine going.

Good news is once that’s done and dusted? I’ve nowt much on my slate until late April, when I holiday in New York. So a decent window to get disciplined and do three half hour stints a week.

My issue is that my weight hasn't really changed. But people are telling me I look better... I just can't see it yet.

But on the plus side my waist line is shrinking, and I need to buy a smaller belt.

 Lathe Biosas wrote:
My issue is that my weight hasn't really changed. But people are telling me I look better... I just can't see it yet.

But on the plus side my waist line is shrinking, and I need to buy a smaller belt.

In general losing fat through exercise can leave you with less weight "loss" as a number because you're gaining muscle.


That said swapping one for the other is much healthier and a great move - and yeah you'll see your body shape change and tone up whilst others will see it improve your outer look .

Removed -ingtaer.

I’m 47 and after many years running for myself 2 and a half years ago took up ultramarathon trail running.

My next race is a 100 mile (163km) with 6.8km elevation (both up and down) in mid May.

I destroyed my left achilles tendon in training a week and a half after my last 100km race in late July last year.
Absolutely devastated me and I missed 2 100km races because of it.
My last 6 major injuries have all been muscle or tendon, and all in light training sessions.

Many months later of rehab and still with residual nerve damage, last week was my first 120km weekly total run distance since July last year.
I'm back to 30km training runs, and my last 2 have both been new PBs.
Feeling great but have already started dialing back the intensity/speed to try and avoid burn out and injury.

I hit Personal best for an Australian Parkrun (5km) a few weeks ago with 18:06 and am only 2 seconds off my PB at my local, regular parkrun,

Best ever was September 2024 at Bushy Parkrun (the home of Parkrun) in London where I ran 17:39.

Have a 10km race this weekend, which I last ran 3 years ago.

10km (6.21 miles) Fun Run today (yearly event in my home town with a concurrent 4km race) through the suburban streets.
Pretty much all the top runners in the region pulling in 5km runners to ultra-marathon runners and triathletes.

36:04

Cannot work out how I run 10km at a faster pace than I do on a 5km flat paved course for Parkrun.


Decided after last week to pull back from the 120km distance, I just cannot fit a rest day in and my feet just hurt too much at rest, running is fine.
So 80-100km per week running with increasing trail long runs, and replace each missed 10km with an hour of riding my exercise bike to get me to an equivalent 120km per week.

Really impressive.

I'm just trying to avoid the "pregnant man" look that so many guys at the FLGS seem to be rocking lately.

My inspiration for eating better and exercising is every single person who complains if tiredness, back pain, and poor quality of life... because I noticed a huge change in my life when I stopped the all carb, no exercising lifestyle.

I might not be up to marathons, but I no longer feel overextended after a good bike ride.

I am currently 62 days into doing 50 push ups and 60 squats every morning. Aiming to get to 84 consecutive days (12 weeks.) I can definitely feel the difference in my chest and legs, and today noticed that my upper arms are looking fuller. Once I get to 12 weeks I'll be adding rest days and reducing fats and sugars so that the increased muscle from the first 12 weeks can help clear a bit off the middle. That's the plan, anyway.

What does everyone's meal plans look like?

 Lathe Biosas wrote:
What does everyone's meal plans look like?

Minimise processed foods to essentially nil.

Did that at the start of last year and went completely over the top with it where in that time I had a teaspoon of nutella, 2 pieces of chocolate, 1 teaspoon of ice-cream in 12 weeks. No chips, no store bought burgers, no biscuits, no cake. Processed or excess sugar added it did not get eaten.

Lost 12kg or 26 pounds in 12 weeks and made no other changes in my life.

My diet was pretty rubbish and everything tasted blands.

About 2 weeks in and massive improvement in taste in everything.
Not as millitant now and after a big race I can have anything I want (cream buns are my post race favorite), but my wt is exactly the same as when I lost the weight last year.
Feel great, better mood, more energy.

Currently:
Morning shake of 1 weet-bix cereal brick, 1 banana, 1 cup milk, 30+ ice cubes, cacao powder and coffee.
Morning tea - Fruit
2nd Morning tea - Fruit
Lunch - normally leftovers from dinner night before or a spag bog concoction I will have made up on the weekend for days at work where we have no leftovers. To that I add chopped carrot or lettuce to add texture and fill me up more.
Dinner - Whatever my wife makes
Supper - 1/3 cup of fruit and nut trail mix at about 8pm.

Main meals - eat until I start feeling full and stop and over time my volume dropped by about 30% naturally.

About 1L pepsi max scattered through the day as well.

A few questions if you don't mind?


What type of tea? (I have a strange addiction.to green tea since I had to drop caffeine dense teas like English Breakfast from my diet).

Also, what is a wheet-bix cereal brick?

 Lathe Biosas wrote:
A few questions if you don't mind?


What type of tea? (I have a strange addiction.to green tea since I had to drop caffeine dense teas like English Breakfast from my diet).

Also, what is a wheet-bix cereal brick?

Unless you are buying decaffeinated green-tea, it has exactly the same amount of caffeine as black teas. It's a very common misconception about green tea that it is caffeine free, it isn't at all.

 JamesY wrote:

 Lathe Biosas wrote:
A few questions if you don't mind?


What type of tea? (I have a strange addiction.to green tea since I had to drop caffeine dense teas like English Breakfast from my diet).

Also, what is a wheet-bix cereal brick?

Unless you are buying decaffeinated green-tea, it has exactly the same amount of caffeine as black teas. It's a very common misconception about green tea that it is caffeine free, it isn't at all.

Yeah it's the decaf version. I swear it tastes different, but I'm told it doesnt.

(Bigelow Decaffeinated Green Tea Bags)

 Lathe Biosas wrote:
A few questions if you don't mind?


What type of tea? (I have a strange addiction.to green tea since I had to drop caffeine dense teas like English Breakfast from my diet).

Also, what is a wheet-bix cereal brick?

Just do a google image search for weet-bix. There are pics to show you.
It is essentially a wheat based breakfast cereal compressed into bricks so you can have them solid or break them up when preparing your breakfast.

I used to have 4 for a standard breakfast, but when I did triathlons in High School would have 10 for breakfast.

I've never put too much emphasis on meal planning or dieting, just drink plenty of wate and it tends to work out. But once I got past 40, the metabolism slowed down and I started having to work to keep my weight down. I found the best thing for me was intermittent fasting. Just going 12 hours without eating once a week or so makes you very mindful of the foods you are eating, so your overall diet tends to improve as well. It isn't too difficult to start off with either, just have a big dinner at 5 PM, go to sleep and wake up at 6 and have a good breakfast.

 Lathe Biosas wrote:
What does everyone's meal plans look like?

Plan? Ain't no plan! - Pig killer.

I eat a good breakfast, 3 to 4 eggs scrambled with cheese some meat because I like it but not too much. A little bacon, sausage or spam. Even a few hot dogs every now and then. I'll add any of that except the bacon to my scrambled eggs. Peppers and Onions added every now and then. And maybe some toast or Pancakes. I've broken down the recipe for instant pancakes so it makes only 2 or 3 smallish pancakes. When it's colder out side I like those. The toast can be one or two slices but one is fine. *

Other than that I've added protein shakes a few times a day. First thing in the morning with creatine added made with whole milk, in my case fresh goat milk, or just coffee and a little milk + powers. Or milk and Expresso just a splash. I make a quart and leave it in the fridge.

The rest is just what ever we're eating that day and if it's not a lot then maybe I add a Sandwich. Cheese and meat on bread of choice light "mayo"

I've cut out most of the booze from my life. every now and then I'll have a drink but it's very infrequent. Almost no beer now days as well. If I have one I have one but it's less than monthly. More of a treat.
I drink Ginger ale but not daily. Lots of water. I take a 64oz bottle with me to the gym with one scoop of Gatorade and one scoop Karolyn which will last about a week, 3 gym sessions. Plenty of energy there. The rest of the day is mostly water.

I drink black Coffee but that's a taste thing. When it's hot that's how I prefer it.
I don't skimp on vegetables at meals. I enjoy them. I love potatoes as well but try to not have them a lot. I hardly eat junk food or fast food. But when I do I don't care and eat as much as I want. When it's gone it's gone and I don't care when I'll have it again the next time. But then I'm a pig.

* I've found eating like this to be optimal for my "gym performance" typically this is at around 1030 and I'll be headed to the gym by about 1300. I may be there for an hour to two and a half hours some days. My "program" is basically a full body workout. Basically but not specifically. about 7 to 9 exercises in a weird rotation but I train by feel and if something doesn't feel good I look for a replacement or skip that until the next time.
2.5 hours?, you might be thinking. Yes. If I am angry I may loose track of time that day and have no idea how much time has passed. It's actually kinda embarrassing.
Listening to any single Soulfly song on repeat also doesn't help me keep up with the time. But it's part of the diet. Soulfly, not playing a single song on repeat.


And now... A new personal best. 6 reps at 400Lbs on the leg press. that was set 5 of 6. 3, 4 and 5 were the heavy part. set 6 was stripped down to 270 and 24 more reps to finish that day. I'm chasing 450 now but I'm not in a rush to get there. I'm happy about 400 because it took less than a year after more than 10 years away from the gym. My Bench press is very mediocre still I think I hit 180 for maybe 3 reps a few months ago. I've made no attempt to max out again. I am pressing with 60Lb dumbbells again though.
I'm shooting for more reps as much as I can. I need to not hurt myself. I'm not doing any real cardio yet this year. I'll be back on the elliptical sooner or later. One or two days a week.
I've just brought in my second 10Lb bag o protein powder last month and ma trying to decide if I want to go back on the whey Casein or not. That a two scoops before bed thing and I found it to be like drinking misery last year. Sadness in a cup. But it was working so I probably will. My goal is to be "jacked" by the time I'm 50 and I'll be 48 this year.


Maybe I should be eating more boiled eggs.....
I also don't have a working scale and neither does the gym,. So I have no idea how much I weigh. I'll find out early next month at my next Doctors appointment. I was around 195 this time last year and that was down from about 210. I'll have to remember to post again when I find out.

Hope this was helpful and or amusing.

Man, you are eating more in a day than I consume in three.

I'm thinking of using a weight loss technique I learned from an old Navy buddy. Whenever you're hungry, just take a nap. Repeat as necessary.

I am kidding. Don't do that. That's starvation, not dieting.

But cutting junk out has let me shed some serious weight, and I feel a lot better.

An associate of mine (who is anti-exercise) gave me a can of Mountain Dew Baha Blast. 88% of the daily allowance of sugar.
I felt ill holding the can.

He says Code Red has even more sugar in it.

Why do people drink these things?

To be fair, while I made sure and had the time to make sure I made additional sport while I served, now that my days as a blue collar are no longer about 1h sport in the morning then looking at the ceiling, I feel like my job IS fitness lol.

No joke, you're not really in the mood to go to the gym after lifting, hammering, pulling, drilling, welding etc all day.

Maybe I should give some time for exercise though as a way to not hurt myself at work, I've heard that doing exercises besides helps strengthen from the "bad" efforts (anatomy wise) you inflict on your body at work. I've no knowledge whatsoever so I can't say. All things considered, at my young age, that might spare me hardship later on if that is true?

 Lathe Biosas wrote:
Man, you are eating more in a day than I consume in three.

Interesting. I doubt I am really eating that much. Maybe more in one sitting at best.
The more active I am the higher my metabolism gets and it used to run hot when I was younger. I could not put on weight.
I wish I had been eating this much back between 2001 and 2005 when I was in the gym while going to collage. That would have been hugely helpful.

I started at almost this time last year. I'd started working out and added 100 grams of protein to my diet, on top of whatever else I was eating.
One thing I need to get back to is more protein and less carbs somehow. One thing I started eating last year, but fell off, was oatmeal. Plain oatmeal with a little salt and a little honey. I saw good results from that. I believe 1/2 cup of oatmeal, dry, is about 5 grams of protein. I was doing that twice a day at the end. It's not easy to eat blandish foods. But I do need to get back to that. I just buy a tube of the quick oats. It's dull.

Right. First step, somewhat delayed, but taken. I’ve signed up to the Gym.

Gone with Puregym, as it offers a useful app, which sorts out an exercise schedule for you. I also benefit from their water station thing, and free classes.

Gonna do three half hour sessions a week to begin with, centring on cardio. Once I can do half an hour without wrenching my lungs up, I’ll move on to weight training.

As before, not looking to get hench, just looking to maintain heart health, and fight the middle aged spread.

Next stop? Gym clothes!

New trainers (wearing outside trainers to the gym feels rude), five pack shorts with zip pockets, five pack sleeveless tops.

1993, year 11 in my high school boarding house I did 3 chin ups. Never more than 2 since. Then last week I did 4, followed immediately by another 3. Then on the weekend I did 5.
So pumped…


Lost 1.5kg in the last 3 weeks with non processed food eating (1 teaspoon on Nutella and 1 square of chocolate from a block in the 3 weeks). So at race weight 9 weeks out.

Glutes medius strained and have almost sorted an ingrown toenail.

Looks like good weather this weekend so will be moving 20km to a single run on the escarpment trails of the mountain range my house is perched on,
Then each week increase that by 5-10km until a 50km escarpment run 3 weeks before the race mid May,
I have previously found any further than that and the time to recover just knocks out any gains, and I need to slow down to race pace (6-6:30 mins per km) with a race pack.
Due to mandatory gear at races in Australia my next 2 races start with me carrying 7kg or 13.5 pounds of gear, then anything extra I want on top of that. Not like the US where ultras seem to require clothes and a carry water bottle….

I don’t think I’ve ever done a pull up! I know I tried in my youth, but never succeeded. That may be down to technique though.

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
I don’t think I’ve ever done a pull up! I know I tried in my youth, but never succeeded. That may be down to technique though.

In the 5th grade we had this fitness test, some trend started by Arnold. One event was pullups. I recall doing over 20. Mostly because people were freaked out about how many I could do at the time. I was well under 100Lbs at the time so it checks out.

I use a weight assisted pullup machine now days. It's helpful. I set it anywhere from 70 to 90Lbs and shoot for 3 sets of 12. You might find a similar machine.

Unfortunately my physical education at school consisted of “go on pitch, let the lads the teacher favours do whatever they want”.

No attempt to explain the rules and tactics of the game, or form for exercise etc.

This is probably why I used to bunk off PE whenever I could. Bloody hated it.

Yeah I struggled similarly, having lived abroad for what are probably the real formative years of getting into sport - age 10-11ish. I came back to the UK suddenly having to play football, hockey and cricket with no prior experience and no-one especially making the effort to catch me up. It got better after that when I went to secondary school and started rowing - everyone was starting it from new at the same time as me.

The most fun I had at PE was when we got to use the gym. Because basically it was just you doing your thing; you get tired of one element you swap to another; you chose the weights and reps and so on all on your own.

Now it was almost entirely unstructured so there was no real gains being built into it or long term goals - mostly because we were the "D Team" so basically the non-sporting lot so often as not we didn't even have sports staff; just someone to make sure we exercised and didn't cause trouble.


But it generally reinforced my view that PE isn't really about physical education its about the head of sports getting teams that win prizes for the school because that looks impressive. The thing is it entirely leaves out those who are not naturally inclined to be sporty and a lot of the training for the games is lost on people who haven't got the physical ability built up and who have no interest in furthering it.

If it really were about PE then less focus on games and more on just basic exercise, personal targets, building up your own endurance and physical fitness and so on would be far better. Take the competing out

I have however enjoyed going to the gym though. And just need my new trainers to arrive and I’ll be able to crack on with that.

Also got a new phone and in-ear headphones for a less bulky exercise experience.

Well. I’m still bulky, but that’s the whole point of this, aha, exercise.

 Overread wrote:
But it generally reinforced my view that PE isn't really about physical education its about the head of sports getting teams that win prizes for the school because that looks impressive. The thing is it entirely leaves out those who are not naturally inclined to be sporty and a lot of the training for the games is lost on people who haven't got the physical ability built up and who have no interest in furthering it.

My prep school was tiny, only one class of about 25 per year, so I was in the 2nd XI for basically everything despite having no prior experience!