pain is temporary - losing is forever

Posts tagged "80 day weight loss challenge"

12
Mar

Day 16: Changing my body

16) Which part of your body do you wish to change the most and why?

In one way I’d like to have my whole body replaced with a healthy one. But then again, if that could be done I wouldn’t be me anymore. And I don’t want to change me. But if I could at least change it from the waist down so that I could walk - and maybe even run - again I would be thrilled! That’s not going to happen either, so not much point in wishing for what cannot be.

I guess, realistically speaking, that of the areas of my body that can be changed, my tummy and those flabby bits under the arms are the two I’d focus on. I realise that getting rid of all this extra weight will leave me with a lot of excess skin. Even if I can keep the wight shedding at a slow and steady pace there is no way my skin will be able to adapt completely. But maybe if I start some toning exercises later this year I can at least do some damage control. I don’t think surgery will ever be possible for me, so I’ll just have to do what I can and hope for the best. I suppose extra skin is still a million times better than carrying the weight of another person around…
11
Mar

Day 15: My current weight

15) Write your current weight. Have you lost anything in the past week? If not, what are your plans for this week?

My current weight is 277.8lbs (126.0kg). Today’s result was 3.3lbs (1.5kg) down from last week. My total is -26.7lbs (-12.1kg) in 10 weeks. My BMI is 39.86 today which means I’ve reached my first mini goal: a BMI under 40.

Yesterday, I launched my newest challenge which entails getting a regular exercise programme going. My first goal is to get 10 hours per month in. This means I will celebrate this week’s weigh-in result by dragging my wheels and my backside out for another dose of cardio. Roll on week 11! :)
10
Mar

Day 14: My least favourite strength exercise

14) What is your least favorite type of strength exercise?

I don’t think I have one! My biggest problem is that I can’t exercise and there is nothing I dream of more than being able to jump, run, go swimming, pop down to the gym every morning etc. I used to start my days rolling out of bed, putting my gym gear on and walk/jog over to the gym. I’d come out 60 - 90 minutes later freshly showered and dressed for work feeling on top of the world! One way or the other I will reclaim that lifestyle…
9
Mar

Day 13: My favourite strength exercise

13) What is your favorite type of strength exercise?

Weights! I just love being in a gym lifting weights, pulling weights and pushing weights. I find it immensely satisfying when I can see from week to week how many lbs I can add, how many extra reps I can do etc. Unfortunately, not many gyms will allow me to use their facilities so I haven’t been in one for nearly two years. But I’m thinking of buying some dumbbells and exercise machines with some of the extra money I’m making on my eBay listings. I’m hoping to have a proper gym and mini spa in my house one day. That would be a very sound investment in my future health!
8
Mar

My 80-Day Weight Loss Challenge: Day 9-12

Hmmm… Seems my daily updates have gone missing, so without further ado I present my day 9, 10, 11 and 12 responses here together:

9) What is your favorite type of cardio?

Being disabled, there’s only so much cardio I can do. My favourite is cycling and I am still toying with the idea of getting a real bicycle just to see whether I could at least do a lap around the park on the lowest gear. The cardio I get the most of, however, is working my arms by propelling myself around in my wheelchair. Something I intend to do a lot more of as soon as the temperature hits spring mode. Which should be in the next week or two!

10) Do you count calories? If so, what is your daily limit?

Yes, at the moment I am counting calories and slavishly writing everything I eat into my fitday.com food diary. I have gone from eating one meal a day to having no three meals and 2-3 snacks each day. I have set my daily intake limit to 1400 – 1600 kcals and I seem to clock in at just about 1500 a day, so it seems I’m getting it just about right without too much effort. I guess the real challenge comes when I need to start cutting down on the calories, but I’ll deal with that as and when. For now, I’m more than happy with my results.

11) Today you will be cooking for your whole family. Find a healthy recipe online that they will also enjoy and show them how tasty healthy food can be!

Actually, today I won’t be cooking for the whole family! I hardly ever do as I can’t get around my own kitchen very well (and have been know to set fire to myself on the gas cooker on occasion). But my family already loves, and prefers, healthy food, so this is not a problem in our house. We do try out new healthy recipes every so often, but over all I would say we eat a nice variety of home cooked meals. Last week, I tried a new recipe which was a version of a Moroccan chick pea soup that we all loved. I will take a pic and post the recipe when I cook it again later this week! The other day I also made the vegan ice cream with bananas and nutella and they all loved it.

12) What is your least favorite type of cardio?

I don’t think I have one, really. I’ve always loved sports and physical activity, so can’t say there’s any type of cardio I don’t like. But there are ways of doing the cardio I dislike. Spinning, for instance, is something I can’t see the point of. It’s neither team work nor competition, but rather some kind of fantasy bicycle trip with a poor sound track. No thanks!
6
Mar

Day 8: My current weight

8.Write your current weight. Have you lost anything in the past week? If not, what are your plans for this week?

My current weight is 281.1lbs (127.5kg). I shed 1.4lbs (0.6kg) over the last week and I am very pleased with that result. Since I started this journey in January, I’ve shed a total of 23.4lbs (10.6kg) and what I’m the most proud about is that I’ve managed to stay focussed every single week for nine consecutive weeks! Even this weekend when I went away for four days I made positive choices each step of the way.

On the train to Brighton I had a box of strawberries instead of chocolates. At the restaurant on Friday night I had one glass of white wine and and a healthy starter instead of a bottle of red and a three-course meal. And I didn’t feel like I was missing out! Saturday and Sunday my sweets consisted of fresh raspberries, blueberries and blackberries and for Sunday dessert I made ice cream of one banana and a spoon of nutella. Yesterday, before heading back home, I had sushi for lunch. With soda water and a cup of green tea.

Over all, last week was very successful. I proved to myself that I can stay on track even when going away. I proved that I can always make a better choice without feeling like I’m missing out. I had a very good time. And I lost weight! Yaaayyy!
3
Mar

Day 7: My Least Favourite Healthy Food

7) What is your least favorite healthy food?

Well, that has got to be lettuce! I find lettuce to be the most boring of all healthy foods as it either tastes very little or is quite bitter. I need to get better at eating lettuce, but it will have to wait until it’s warmer outside. It has to be warm outside for me to eat salads… :)
2
Mar

Day 6: My Favourite Unhealthy Food

6) What is your favorite unhealthy food?

Hmmm… Another tough choice there… Generally speaking, find it very hard to just isolate one thing as it all depends on the mood and the day and the time of year etc, etc, etc. I think my all time favourites are cheese burgers and italian pizza. And doughnuts. Especially Krispy Kreme! But all of those can also be done in a healthy way (although healthy dooghnuts don’t compare to KK’s) so they don’t need to be unhealthy. It’s just that some days a takeaway is sooooo convenient…
1
Mar

Day 5: My Favourite Healthy Food

5) What is your favorite healthy food?

Tough question! I love good food and there are so many options. Not to mention almost all food can be made healthy. At the moment I am very much into clean food and I seem to be craving fruit, berries, nuts, sushi and soup. (Who knew that was possible! lol)I am tired of processed food and I don’t particularly want to eat pasta or anything that comes out of a box or a tin.
1
Mar

So, I was supposed to have a vegetarian/vegan day today. Well, that went tits up before lunch time. Turns out it may be a good idea to do some planning and preparation if you’re going to have an alternative diet. Even if it’s just the one day.

Currently, my breakfast routine includes one 125g yogurt, 2 figs, a small glass of prune juice and 2 cups of coffee. I figured I could skip the yogurt and it would be fine. Snack time offered a little tangerine and a few nuts. But then it was lunch. And there was nothing in this house that could be turned into a vegetarian lunch just like that. So I ended up eating 2 scrambled eggs with cream cheese and oatmeal with blueberries. For dinner my son cooked a lovely chilli which I had with a small serving of rice; and the evening snack was a carrot cut in sticks and a dip made of quark blended with sundried tomatoes and peppers.

Still want to try to do have a proper veggie day, but will have to do that after I’ve planned it and done some shopping for it. I can’t really afford to mess with my motivation and I’m afraid a day of boring food would do that.
29
Feb

Day 4: A Vegan Day

4) Have a vegan day today. No meat, no eggs, no dairy, no animal products whatsoever. Give it a try!

Hmmm… I must admit that this doesn’t really appeal to me at all, but Project 2016 is all about challenge so why not. I’ve never tried being a vegetarian or a vegan, as to be honest I love fish and meat and wouldn’t want to live without them. Well, at least not fish and shellfish - I could probably live without meat. But yeah, I’ll give it a go today. And I’ll tell you all about it tomorrow… :)
28
Feb

Day 3: A Healthy UGW?

3) Is your UGW in an unhealthy range of BMI?

My UGW is, I think, somewhere in the region of 165lbs (75kg). The reason why I’m not sure is because it’s been so long since I was in that weight region, and when I was I’d look in the mirror and see myself the way I look now. The fact that I never liked myself or my body when I was fit and healthy, but love it dearly now that I’m fat and unwell fascinates me. I used to think that if I was slim I’d be happy. I’d be successful and have good relationships. I’d have more fun. The reality is I’ve been happy, successful and formed the best relationship I could ever have dreamed of whilst being morbidly obese. And now I want to shed my weight so that I can enjoy all that I have been blessed with for as long as possible.

According to fitday, my estimated UGW would be bordering on an overweight BMI so I may have to reconsider when I get there. We’ll see. At the moment I am more interested in reaching 25% of my total shedding. Or getting a BMI below 40. Or reaching a two digit weight in kilos. The 25% of my total and a BMI below 40 are both within my reach, so I think I will be focussing on them first of all and deal with my UGW when I’m closer to that than to my SW.
27
Feb

Day 2: My Goal Body

2) Describe your dream/goal body.

My dream, or should I say goal, body is a healthy body harbouring a healthy soul and mind. I am disabled and will never become an Olympic sprinter (luckily!) but that’s not what I am striving for anyway. I just want to do all I can to care for myself the way I have cared for others. I want to feed, nurture and protect my body the way I would for a baby or a puppy and give myself the love and respect I never really thought I deserved.

I want to take as much pressure as possible off my joints and my heart and do what I can to make sure I don’t have to check out from this life in advance. I have far too much to live and be grateful for! What this body will look like? I really don’t know. I have been fat for too long to be able to visualise what a non-fat version of me would look like. But toned would be nice.
26
Feb

Day 1: Current stats

1) Write your current stats: height, current weight and goal weight. Why are you losing weight?

Height: 5.10 (178cm)

CW: 282.5lbs (128.1kg)

UGW: 165.3 (75kg) I think.

I am not losing weight this time - I am shedding it. Every time I have lost weight I seem to have picked it back up again, so this time I am not on a diet. I am changing my life!

I’ve been going for eight weeks now, and today I reached my GW1! I’ve shed 22lbs (10kg) and although I am ecstatic, it scares me to look at how far I have yet to go. That’s why I thought I’d jump on this 80 day challenge band wagon. That should help me focus through the next 11+ weeks. And hopefully see me through the next 22lbs (10kg) to GW2.

Welcome to the paperclip files; a blog about inspiration, motivation and dedication. About changing your life and doing it for YOU.

Project 2016 is my five-year journey to realise some of my wildest dreams relating to health issues, money matters, home improvement, personal growth and professional achievements.

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