PH Losers 2020 - Anyone want to join me?

[Funk]

It's weird how I can just know when I'm having a crap week; perhaps it's just that I'm more in tune with myself than at any point in my life so far and paying attention. I went into SW on Monday evening fully expecting a small gain and I was up 1lb, taking me to 20st 1.5lbs (127.7kg). I need to not let stress triggers cause me to slip into 'fk-it' mode.

PT session last night was pretty timely in that regard, I was reminded how much I do enjoy the training. Good results all round really; Cooper Run was up from 1310m to 1360m, plank up from 1m10s to 1m34s. Added barbell squat (96kg) and deadlift (130kg) to the tracking last night too so it'll be good to see how those improve.

Am going struggle to advance the Cooper Run on without breaking into a jog now - for the time being (and still at 20st) I don't want to put that sort of impact on my knees so I've historically stuck to non-impact stuff like the elliptical and rower. I'll chat with my PT about it next time.

Edited by Funk on Thursday 17th September 10:37

[Funk]

Sorry all, another lazy set of updates for me. Last week = good. This week = bad. Last week was another 1.5lbs off but this week has seen a whopping 4lbs on. I know why it is - I started properly training again last week - cardio on Tuesday, PT session Friday night (deadlifts, Romanian deadlifts, Sumo deadlifts & bentover row) and yesterday (bench press, incline dumbbell press, press-ups and pec flys) which has resulted in DOMS all over and the water retention that brings... Still a bit of a mental kicking seeing that jump in weight even though I know why it is.

I didn't stay for the Slimming World group tonight, just weighed and went - I don't think I really get that much from it any more and as I've mentioned previously I've had to look properly at macros and stuff as a result of the training which is somewhat the antithesis of what SW is all about. Perhaps it's served its purpose in my life and it's time to put diet fully in the hands of my PT - at the moment I'm pretty much just paying SW £5/wk to weigh myself and I can do that at home for free...

Anyway, weight today - 20st 4lbs or 128.8kg in new money. PT sessions Tuesday and Thursday evenings this week as well, looking forward to those.

Edited by Funk on Tuesday 29th September 00:09

[Funk]

Carl_Manchester said:

Funk, that’s for the updates and the inspiration. You are a machine bud. Your output in the gym and the results is some next level stuff.

Looking at your massive cardio numbers i went back to the drawing board and I have settled on 1 day gym, 1 day rest cycles. I have have about a kilo left to lose to hut my pre-lockdown weight so i have now dropped about 6 kg in total.

I am now using a near-realtime heart rate % counter which has taken me up a level as it’s allowing me to spike my HR more efficiently.

I am also taking a carb gel prior to starting my workout, as well as my pre-workout powder.

Usually i am doing 2000kcal burns but today my body felt good and i pushed on to 2200kcal.



thanks for the updates and keep posting as it’s certainly helping my motivation to get back to where i was.

Cheers, it doesn't always feel like it and I've been lurking around the same weight for some time now which is a little frustrating. Really feeling Tuesday's session in my legs today, was all about squats - barbell squats front and rear, good mornings and just to really throw some fks into my quads, a load of Bulgarian split squats to round out the hour. I'm walking like I've st my pants at the moment...

Good call on the HRM - I use a Polar chest strap which gives me real-time readings on my phone, this was Tuesday:



I tacked on 20-odd mins on the bike afterward as a cool down as well, mainly to keep the blood moving through the legs..!

I'm also doing 1 day gym, 1 day rest at the moment but really ought to chuck some more cardio in there really. I'd been thinking about getting a smart turbo trainer and getting on Zwift, however I'm limited on space at home, a trainer will be several hundred quid and I already have access to static & spin bikes at the gym in my membership...

What's the benefit of the carb gel out of interest? I usually have a protein shake and amino acids before I go to the gym.

giblet said:

Keep up the great work folks, especially you Funk!

Down to 70KG now, doing a few HIIT sessions a week at home which incorporate some weights. Plan is to continue that for a few more months to shrink the gut a bit more and then start on weights. Need a bench with stands for a bar, Argos seem to be oos all the time and second hand prices are still silly.

I’ve been researching 5/3/1 and Starting Strength to work out which one to do once I have the gear

Thanks giblet, sounds like you're making great progress - that's 8kg down! I thought a lot of the gym gear dropped in price since the lockdown eased off - if I had room I'd have a bench and barbells/dumbbells for ad-hoc training too.

My session tonight will be all shoulders which is my weakest area so looking forward to hitting that tonight...

I've also decided that I think I'm definitely going to drop Slimming World now. After having done a year I think I've now got the ingrained discipline and understanding to go my own way with it.

[Funk]

The good thing is that you know where you are now and you also know you can do it fella! We're pretty much the same weight and with similar targets so let's keep each other motivated along the way...!

Still not quite bold enough to post my full ugly mug, however with the gym reboot it seems a good time to post a progress pic. This is what I've achieved in a little over 18 months:



172kg (March '19) > 128kg (October '20).

I've definitely decided to drop Slimming World now; it's been great in kickstarting things for me but I'm going beyond what it's really designed for now. I'll go to group on Monday to let them know in person and there's a few people I'd like to say "goodbye and good luck" to etc. Next phase beckons...!

[Funk]

Puck said:

Well done Funk - the photographic evidence is quite inspiring. I've had a few weeks treading water as I acquired a sugar craving (and packets of chocolate digestive disappearing in seconds) subsequent to stopping drinking; I didn't put any weight on due to increased daily exercise but I didn't lose any either. Anyway that sugar craving seems to have subsided and weight loss resumed. Onwards and downwards.

Cheers! I found I lost the sugar cravings after a while and now actually prefer savoury things for the most part. I have the odd bar of chocolate (things in moderation and all that) but I've found that without so much processed sugar things like fruit taste so much sweeter.

Bobberoo99 said:

Inspired after reading all this and meeting the legend, the myth, the man himself Funk on Saturday, i decided to get my act together and order some proper scales and change my diet/do more excise, i'm not going to add to the spreadsheet, mainly because a) i'll break it, b) i probably won't update it enough and c) i'm not committed to enough t justify adding myself, however my starting point is, 50 year old male, 18st 6lbs, 5' 7" short!!! Well done to everyone who is committed and has been sticking to it!!!

Hello matey! Good to see you here and it was great to meet you - thanks for the Technics bits and for letting me take up so much of your time fella! I'm sure you'll do great with getting back in shape - it'll be like riding a bike I'm sure.

Carl_Manchester said:

Funk said:

What's the benefit of the carb gel out of interest?

It’s allowing me to go through the 90 minute wall far more easier than without. it’s an 85kcal trade mind but i am now going through to the 2 hour mark easy and then only the last 30 minutes is a grind.

i can recommend if you are hitting a wall and want to keep going otherwise, i would skip it.

Thanks Carl, I don't usually train for quite that long but it's interesting to know about and keep in mind!

As per my previous post I've now dropped Slimming World - the lady that runs my group was lovely and completely understood. I don't know quite why but I felt it was important for her to know that I wasn't leaving due to it being a failure or me going backward in any way, in fact completely the opposite. My PT is right - that train got me to here but it simply isn't heading where I want to go so it's time to get off. It's taught me so much over the last year and I would wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone - it's absolutely worked for me to get me to where I am.

However since I resumed the training it's sent weekly readings a little haywire and I hadn't found it particularly helpful and the weight seems to be mainly water retention from DOMS - I've not changed my diet in the last few weeks:



I now have a new weight training programme from my PT and a nutrition plan to go with it. And as long as my weeks look mostly like this (or better!) from a calorie burn perspective I should start to see things happening:



Am hitting ~4400 calorie burns on the days I'm training which is ideal. Normal intake is between 2,500-3,000 cals/day currently.

I've also bought a proper tape measure so I'm going to start tracking changes in shape which may be more telling than tracking weight at this stage. I'll still be weighing in perhaps every month or two using the FitQuest machine because that will give me a body composition reading as well which will be far more useful for me than just tracking weight alone.

Edited by Funk on Monday 12th October 14:44

[Funk]

It looks like you burn more than I do in your gym sessions unless I've misunderstood your post from earlier? It shows you did ~2,200 calories which is more than me .

I typically average around 1,500 cals/gym session (my BMR is around 2,200 calories/day, sedentary is around 2,800 - therefore on days where I'm doing 1,500 in the gym I'm hitting a total daily burn of around 4,400 cals. Although your BMR is probably much lower (I'm still 128kg after all) if you're doing 2000-2200 cals/session in the gym that's more than I'm doing!

Last night's was a session focused around core exercises which was fun, I followed it up with 30 mins on the spin bike just to get my HR up a bit more, I did around 1,100 cals yesterday. Tonight is back to deadlifts, Romanian deadlifts, bent-over rows and sumo squats with some cardio tacked on as normal.

[Funk]

Was away over the weekend - short trip to see friends on the Isle of Wight - and decided not to worry too much about what I ate etc (although it's always either water or coffee for drinks!). Was nice to have a few 'days off' after a year of focusing so much on food - didn't track a single thing on MFP! I didn't go nuts but had a lovely Indian takeaway one evening, bacon rolls for breakfast and a couple of pub lunches here and there! Am straight back into the regular routine now though; PT session tonight and back to tracking today.

I feel far more like I'm really in control of things which is great. Whilst it was also nice, I really didn't feel like I was reminded of any 'missing out' at all which is also really good. Not weighing in weekly at the moment so no update from me on that front. Still hit my activity goal for the week though:

Edited by Funk on Thursday 22 October 20:04

[Funk]

jdw100 said:

Jordan210 said:

I appear to be stuck on a plateau for the last 3-4 weeks.

I just cant shift the last few pounds I need to hit my goal. Im eating the same calories I have been when I was losing weight and same amount of exercise.

But it just doesn't want to come off

Exercise harder.

I would also say 'mix the exercise up'. The human body is great at adapting to the most efficient way of doing something so give it something different to think about.

If anyone's interested, here's my current 7-day routine:

Day One - Compound	Sets	Reps
Squats	5	5
Front Squats	5	8
Good Mornings	3	8
Bulgarian Split Squats	3	8

Day Two - Arm Assistor if doing cardio	Sets	Reps
Tricep Bar Pulldowns	EDT - 10 min	10
Bicep Bar Curls	EDT - 10 min	10

or:

Day Two - Arm Assistor no cardio, escalating weights	Sets	Reps
Tricep Extensions	1	12/10/8/6
Hammer Curls	1	12/10/8/6
Reverse Pulldowns	1	12/10/8/6
Preacher Curls	1	12/10/8/6

Day Three - Compound	Sets	Reps
Shoulder Press	5	5
Push Press	5	8
Dumbbell Press	3	8
Lateral Raises	3	8

Day Four - Core	Sets	Reps
Leg Raises	2	12
Weighted Side Bends	1	12
Nautilus Crunches	2	12
Plank	1	-
Knee Bench Raises	2	12
Back Hypertension (Weighted)	2	12

Day Five - Compound	Sets	Reps
Deadlift	5	5
Romanian Deadlift	5	8
Bent-Over Row	3	8
Sumo Deadlift	3	8

Day Six - Shoulder Assistor if doing cardio	Sets	Reps
Front Raise	3	12, then to failure
Upward Row	3	12 then to failure
Rear Delt Fly	3	12 then to faliure

or

Day Six - Shoulder Assistor no cardio	Sets	Reps
Front Raise	10	10
Upward Row	10	10
Rear Delt Fly	10	10

Day Seven - Compound	Sets	Reps
Bench Press	5	5
Incline Dumbbell Press	5	8
Assisted Tricep Dips	3	8
Pec Deck Fly	3	8

Obviously the weights should progress upward but we'll change the programme after 8 weeks to keep it fresh. I'm impressed with what the PT's put together as it should provide a pretty complete workout but avoids putting compound days next to each other and rotates the groups of muscles exercised. He's also taken into account my desire to try and mitigate the loose skin on my upper arms, hence the dedicated shoulder and arm workouts mixed in with cardio days.

I'm doing rowing, cycling and elliptical for warm-up/cool-down and general cardio still as well as the weightlifting.

Edited by Funk on Friday 23 October 11:32

[Funk]

Seen it's gone a little quieter on here of late; understandable really as we're all back under the lockdown cosh. Frustrating for us all I'm sure.

I'd just gotten back into the groove with training at the gym and was seeing steady gains in endurance and strength. With it now closed, I've managed to source some dumbbells and a barbell (neither with any significant weight but better than nothing..). I did, stupidly, manage to tweak my back slightly on Weds doing my deadlifts on the final day they were open. A reminder that despite my brain thinking I'm still 25, I'm....very much not..! It was a daft lapse of form on the penultimate rep of the final set of 5x5 and shows just how easily you can fk it up if you're not being careful.

I'm still not weighing at the moment, however I have had to go down another size to 42" jeans - that's now 14" off my waist since March '19.

My plan is to keep doing bodyweight exercises and high-rep stuff with the dumbbells and barbell as much as possible over the lockdown. I've also been for a couple of long walks along the coast over the last few days to get the cardio up a bit too - not perfect but better than nothing although I do find it a bit boring. Had a couple of days' blow-out food wise but plan to stick back to the regime that helped me lose weight through the original lockdown over the next 3-4 weeks too.

Hope everyone else is sticking with it and doing OK.

[Funk]

Honesty check-in from me this week. Despite some minor activity - walks during the day mainly - I've let things slip on the food side somewhat. Haven't picked up any weights at all since the start of the lockdown (although the first week I was still letting my back have a moment to recover which it now has so I can't really use that as an excuse now).

Need to remember that yesterday's lapse doesn't mean today has to as well. Am finding it tougher being under lockdown with dark mornings and evenings book-ending wet and rainy days. Can't wait to get back to the gym, have realised how important it is to me for mental well-being as much as physical.

I keep reminding myself that I'm not in any rush, there's not an event or some such that I need to be in shape for and we are in unusual circumstances. Only another fortnight to go then I can get back in the gym...

[Funk]

Bobberoo99 said:

Funk said:

Honesty check-in from me this week. Despite some minor activity - walks during the day mainly - I've let things slip on the food side somewhat. Haven't picked up any weights at all since the start of the lockdown (although the first week I was still letting my back have a moment to recover which it now has so I can't really use that as an excuse now).

Need to remember that yesterday's lapse doesn't mean today has to as well. Am finding it tougher being under lockdown with dark mornings and evenings book-ending wet and rainy days. Can't wait to get back to the gym, have realised how important it is to me for mental well-being as much as physical.

I keep reminding myself that I'm not in any rush, there's not an event or some such that I need to be in shape for and we are in unusual circumstances. Only another fortnight to go then I can get back in the gym...

A very pragmatic and honest assessment Funk, you've come so far and done so well that a small lapse like this insignificant in the scheme of things, the main thing is you are aware that for your own well being exercise is important to you!

Cheers Chris, it does show how much things have changed in my head...

I just wish I had the space here to have a proper workout - I don't, and I use it as an excuse not to do something at least - I need to get into the mindset of 'something is better than nothing' somehow!

[Funk]

Some idiot's managed to agree to an 08:30 PT session on a Saturday morning. Outside. In November.

What a tt.

[Funk]

Just checking in and keeping myself honest...

I found the last lockdown tougher than expected which is strange as it was technically less strict than the one earlier in the year as well as having a defined end-date. I think I'm just weary of this year and as I live alone I've also found it harder not having mates or family over or going to visit them; although I'm in a 'bubble' with my mum as she's on her own, she lives 90 mins away so I only get to see her once a week at best. I planned to be back in the gym over the weekend but took the opportunity to go and see her Saturday as well as a day out at a National Trust site Sunday so I could see my brother and his family. That's more important to me right now.

That said, I do seem to be permanently fatigued at the moment; I got in from work Monday night and was in bed by 8pm and slept through. Yesterday I had needed to get some shopping done and by the time I was home it was half-7 and I hadn't eaten. All excuses but all, in their own way, valid. Speaking of fatigue it's reminded me....that the morning PT session I did the weekend before? I was utterly trashed energy-wise by early afternoon and slept a lot of the day and evening. It's weird, I've not ever had that before - strange times. There's a lot of pressure work-wise too at the moment which is probably compounding things. I'm on top of the multivitamins including vit D3 etc.

Thing is I do love the training and I really want to get back to it but right now I'm struggling to get my mojo back. Diet hasn't been the greatest over the last month but equally it hasn't been dire either. I've booked annual leave from the 18th and won't be back in the office until the 4th so hopefully a chance for some r'n'r and get the training and diet rebooted into the new year as well.

I've come this far, I'm not giving up now. Normal service will be resumed shortly...

Edited by Funk on Wednesday 9th December 15:19