Week 1 - already stunning results.

Hamoth · 11-06-2008

Hi all,

I'm posting this as a reference for anyone who might be interested in problems like mine or who may have similar challenges to the ones I'm facing in getting back in shape. Here's my current vitals:

Week 1, initial stats:
---------------------------------
Age : 33 or so ( I don't keep track)
Height: I'm just under 5'6" tall.
Built: Extremely wide build (50" shoulders, can't join fingers around wrist bones, described by my physician as an extreme endomorph)
Weight: 226 lbs
Body Fat %: Estimated at 37% by repeated measurements from Tanita body-fat scale. (I know those aren't 100% accurate, but this is an average from measurements over several days, the scale ranged from 35 - 38 %)
BMI: 36.5 (Severely Obese)
Activity level: Daily walks 1+ miles, occasional gym.
Diet: Pescitarian And somewhat of an amateur chef. I love inventing healthy new recipes and indulge fantasies of opening a healthy fast-food chain some day. My dietary flaws are that I do sometimes break for tater tots, beer, fish n chips, and other high-fat foods. Yet acid reflux has taken care of that indulgence for me.

Healthy weight: I have big, thick bones, on a very wide frame so BMI is not always a good guide for me to follow. I naturally carry a lot of muscle so the lightest I have ever gotten as an adult was 150 - at that weight my temples looked caved in, my face was sallow, and people were worried about me - I would be very happy to get to 165 lbs, or a mega-buff 180. Either way, I need to drop around 50 lbs of fat. My goals are set realistically on on dropping 30 - 40 lbs of fat.

Brief story:
I have always struggles to keep off fat since puberty. Before that I was always a slender and energetic kid. I've never been a big eater but I've also never been a regular eater.

I gain and lose weight at extreme rates. Nurses and practitioners have often expressed alarm this. I have been known to gain 40 lbs in a few weeks, or to lose as much in a few weeks. No doctor has ever found a significant cause of this, so I'm left to conclude it must be mental changes that make such a big difference in my physical outlook.

The last time I got "in the health zone" mentally was around eight years ago. I was about 230 lbs and miserable about it. I had tried jogging, but my shins burned too badly whenever I did and it was brutal on my knees - worse of all my blood was pudding with triglycerides around 960 - putting some serious strain on my heart when got active. Doctors were concerned that at 25 I was developing the arteries of an old man. I was told this was genetic, and that there was little they could do. They put me on a vegetarian diet which was disastrous and caused me to gain 20 lbs in a month besides leaving me hungry and unsatisfied.

I decided to take matters into my own hands and find out just what genetic problem I had. There had to be something about me specifically that was different - but not diseased. I had a lot of different ideas. One tangent of research lead me to an article where there seemed to be a common vector of obesity and coronary arterial disease with Norwegians and Japanese people. The article explained that both of these populations were traditionally fish-eaters who had recently introduced more and more red meat into their diet. The article explained that immigrants to the US from both of the countries face increased risks of obesity and heart disease - after studies were performed the conclusion was that there was something in fish that these populations needed. I shuddered. I HATED fish.

I was living in a new apartment building that had a gym downstairs and I had been down there a few times before - I felt ridiculous and fat and out of place. I saw this one fat guy there every day - sweating buckets and pounding his knees on a treadmill. I pondered Sisyphus as I watched him.

A nagging voice inside told me to try this last crazy theory...that my Norwegian genes needed fish. At this point I was so angry at food that I didn't mind the revolting texture of sardine bones crunching with the mushy mealy flavor of mud and sea muck. I grimaced through meal after meal of fish. I ate a tuna sandwich every day for lunch. I had sardines for dinner. I learned to eat sushi. In one week I lost 25 lbs and felt amazing.

It was the fish + exercise that did it.

It wasn't until I moved into an apartment building that had a gym and also I started eating fish that everything came together for me. Once I started eating tiny portions of fish a few times a day and hitting the gym ever few days, I lost about 40 lbs in two weeks. The fish - this may sound crazy - thinned my blood or something, and I was able to exercise at more effective levels - I felt a huge difference and started my personal program of "living energetically". I took the stairs, did everything with more gusto and believed I had cracked it.

My wife was on a trip at the time, and when she came back she was so surprised that she made me go to the doctor to get checked for metabolic problems (again), and again there was nothing wrong with my metabolism. Indeed, my cholesterol was reduced from very high to borderline in those two weeks. Months later it was normal. I have never had a cholesterol or triglyceride problem since. I just needed the fish in my diet to get all the machinery properly lubed.

As I learned to love fish I was able to do more with my body than I had since I was a kid. It's a miracle food and the mercury problem is way over hyped. I have my blood mercury checked once a year. No problems yet.

I eventually got my weight all the way down to 175 lbs. I was alternating weights with cardio - and my cardio was a mixed bag that had grown from 20 minute bike sessions to 15 minutes on a bike, 15 on a stair climber, and 15 running.

So how did I get back to 240 lbs 5 years later?

At this point I was becoming a regular health nut and I was trying all kinds of things. I was having fun exploring different classes - pilates, ab-lab, aerobics - anything that could get me past my plateau and into the magic land of six-pack (a land I have never seen even at the best of shape).

Until that one aerobics class.

Five minutes in, I knew it was going to be hard...but I saw old women, very fat people, and everyone else, doing just fine and keeping up. I was just being a wimp. So I stepped and raised and stepped and raised, and jogged in place. No pain, no gain...right?

At 15 minutes, I could no longer stand and the pain was enough that I was no longer able to hide it. My body was forcing exclamations that came unbidden from my mouth and nose. I started to stumble and I found a pillar and collapsed behind it in shame while old women and over-weight smokers danced. The pain didn't stop, in fact, it just kept getting worse and worse as I sat there. I started crying and clawing at the ground as the throbbing pain mounted and I watched a nodule appear in each of my shins. I was sure my muscles had cramped up and torn.

My doctor said it was nothing - maybe a mineral problem or a small muscle tear and advised I take it easy.

One doctor had commented that my tibialis anterior was the most ridiculously over-developed muscle he had ever seen. He rapped it several times with a fist while I beamed. I had always been proud of my legs which even without exercise have been like those of a pro body builder. I can leg press the max on any machine I've ever seen and sported perfectly toned fat-free physic from the waist down. I had to buy special sock and boots to accommodate my calves. I thought this was why I was cramping. More muscle meant more intense cramps.

At this point, I began a long period of decline where exercise was just causing too much pain to be worth it and I started making compromises. I didn't need to be muscled...just not fat. I didn't need to be perfectly slim, just not too fat. It's ok to have a gut. And after a few years I wasn't working out at all. Every time I tried to do anything more than walking, the cramps came on so strong that I would be crippled by them.

It wasn't until I found a doctor who was versed in sports medicine that I found out what my deal was. I had been walking around with a very serious case of exertional compartment syndrome in all four compartments of my legs for the last ten years at least. I had dealt with these "leg cramps" since I was a teenager, and I was told that this was genetic - especially in Nordic people - and was sent for testing. I've written out the details of the test and can post that some time...I have a lot to say about ECS. I had a very serious case and was scheduled for surgery. A fasciotomy was performed on the anterior and posterior compartments.

The recovery has not been as swift as expected. I have had a lot of problems healing, and it could be because of the amount of time I spent with the condition. The docs aren't sure...Not a lot is understood about ECS. I've been in and out of physical therapy, wear custom orthotic shoes, and take Tai Chi for the whole Qi Gong element of healing.

It's slowly working.

Over the last year I have gently upped my body's threshold for exertion while maintaining healing by combining physical therapy, tai chi, daily walks, and occasional gym visit. I went from 246 lbs in April to 226 lbs on Monday.

I have decided it's time to step it up. I bought the body for life book after looking into different systems for designing a long term health program. I consulted with my doctor who has authorized me to undertake this program and is curious to see how I will do.

TheHappyFamily · 11-06-2008

Welcome to the forum!

We on day #4 ... and I'm actually enjoying it immensely. The exercise schedule is pretty sweet and we look forward to it for some funny reason.

Food is great. I have a few questions yet, that I'll be posting soon, but overall, I really like the message from this program.

Good luck with your progress! Sounds like you can definitely make it happen!

Hamoth · 11-06-2008

I'm also on Day 4. So far so good!

I'm looking forward to getting the challenges hammered out.

Do your triceps still hurt? As of yesterday, I still felt like my arms weighted a million pounds! Now today I think I actually WILL be ready to lift again in the morning.

Funny eh?

TheHappyFamily · 11-07-2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hamoth

I'm also on Day 4. So far so good!

I'm looking forward to getting the challenges hammered out.

Do your triceps still hurt? As of yesterday, I still felt like my arms weighted a million pounds! Now today I think I actually WILL be ready to lift again in the morning.

My arms never really bothered me too much, but they were hurting Mr. Happy a bit yesterday as well. I'm very very conscious of being careful with the exercises, and while I push really hard, if it's anywhere close to questionable, I stop and go back down a level. I've hurt myself before with weights and now I'm double cautious. I figure slow and steady will do me fine.

We also play a lot of golf and I don't want to hurt my swing.

However, having said all that.... I'm am very sore tonight. We bowl on Thursday nights, and we did our cardio before we went... and my legs are screaming. I'm so glad we're back to the upper body tomorrow!

Hamoth · 11-10-2008

Arms were fine on Friday! Had a very satisfying lifting session, but since I'm still not sore from that, I don't think it was enough. Stabilizers are still too weak, I think.

Finally got around to taking my before pic. I'll post it when I have the heart to look at it again.

TheHappyFamily · 11-10-2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hamoth

Arms were fine on Friday! Had a very satisfying lifting session, but since I'm still not sore from that, I don't think it was enough. Stabilizers are still too weak, I think.

Finally got around to taking my before pic. I'll post it when I have the heart to look at it again.

Awesome! How did you think your whole week went?

I think ours was awesome. And here's something funny, I really am not enjoying my "free" day. I mean, yeah, I had Bailey's and coffee this morning, and cheese and crackers this afternoon. Steak and a couple glasses of wine this evening...

But I missed the other food. I really like the schedule, and the exactness of it all. I felt way too decadent today and it made me feel like we were taking 3 steps back to move forward again.

How exactly does the free day benefit you?

Is it mostly a mental thing, or does overloading on some calories really help the metabolism and set you up for the following week?

Hamoth · 11-10-2008

Honestly, I took my "before" pic today and got all mad at food. I ended up eating fairly healthy food all day - though I did have some fired Calamari, a beer, and two rum n cokes.

I'm not very good at taking time off or relaxing about things...I'll have to make a greater effort to make less effort next Sunday.

So far, week 1 has been a pretty good week. I was stuck in a 36 hour work shift, so I missed some workouts. I'm not letting it derail me, and I'm not embarrassed about it. As soon as I was able, I was back at the gym giving it my all.

I'm really looking forward to this week.

Right now my weight (after having yo-yo'ed all over the place) has settled at a lb lower than when I started, and I'm sure to have gained a lot of muscle. That means I must be losing fat (no matter what my terrible electronic body fat scale is saying).

I expect week 2 to be nice and stable as I adapt to the rythm.
I should see some greater results soon. When my body adapts, it does so in a big way.

11-06-2008	#1 (permalink)
Hamoth Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Seattle Posts: 208 Blog Entries: 33	Week 1 - already stunning results. Hi all, I'm posting this as a reference for anyone who might be interested in problems like mine or who may have similar challenges to the ones I'm facing in getting back in shape. Here's my current vitals: Week 1, initial stats: --------------------------------- Age : 33 or so ( I don't keep track) Height: I'm just under 5'6" tall. Built: Extremely wide build (50" shoulders, can't join fingers around wrist bones, described by my physician as an extreme endomorph) Weight: 226 lbs Body Fat %: Estimated at 37% by repeated measurements from Tanita body-fat scale. (I know those aren't 100% accurate, but this is an average from measurements over several days, the scale ranged from 35 - 38 %) BMI: 36.5 (Severely Obese) Activity level: Daily walks 1+ miles, occasional gym. Diet: Pescitarian And somewhat of an amateur chef. I love inventing healthy new recipes and indulge fantasies of opening a healthy fast-food chain some day. My dietary flaws are that I do sometimes break for tater tots, beer, fish n chips, and other high-fat foods. Yet acid reflux has taken care of that indulgence for me. Healthy weight: I have big, thick bones, on a very wide frame so BMI is not always a good guide for me to follow. I naturally carry a lot of muscle so the lightest I have ever gotten as an adult was 150 - at that weight my temples looked caved in, my face was sallow, and people were worried about me - I would be very happy to get to 165 lbs, or a mega-buff 180. Either way, I need to drop around 50 lbs of fat. My goals are set realistically on on dropping 30 - 40 lbs of fat. Brief story: I have always struggles to keep off fat since puberty. Before that I was always a slender and energetic kid. I've never been a big eater but I've also never been a regular eater. I gain and lose weight at extreme rates. Nurses and practitioners have often expressed alarm this. I have been known to gain 40 lbs in a few weeks, or to lose as much in a few weeks. No doctor has ever found a significant cause of this, so I'm left to conclude it must be mental changes that make such a big difference in my physical outlook. The last time I got "in the health zone" mentally was around eight years ago. I was about 230 lbs and miserable about it. I had tried jogging, but my shins burned too badly whenever I did and it was brutal on my knees - worse of all my blood was pudding with triglycerides around 960 - putting some serious strain on my heart when got active. Doctors were concerned that at 25 I was developing the arteries of an old man. I was told this was genetic, and that there was little they could do. They put me on a vegetarian diet which was disastrous and caused me to gain 20 lbs in a month besides leaving me hungry and unsatisfied. I decided to take matters into my own hands and find out just what genetic problem I had. There had to be something about me specifically that was different - but not diseased. I had a lot of different ideas. One tangent of research lead me to an article where there seemed to be a common vector of obesity and coronary arterial disease with Norwegians and Japanese people. The article explained that both of these populations were traditionally fish-eaters who had recently introduced more and more red meat into their diet. The article explained that immigrants to the US from both of the countries face increased risks of obesity and heart disease - after studies were performed the conclusion was that there was something in fish that these populations needed. I shuddered. I HATED fish. I was living in a new apartment building that had a gym downstairs and I had been down there a few times before - I felt ridiculous and fat and out of place. I saw this one fat guy there every day - sweating buckets and pounding his knees on a treadmill. I pondered Sisyphus as I watched him. A nagging voice inside told me to try this last crazy theory...that my Norwegian genes needed fish. At this point I was so angry at food that I didn't mind the revolting texture of sardine bones crunching with the mushy mealy flavor of mud and sea muck. I grimaced through meal after meal of fish. I ate a tuna sandwich every day for lunch. I had sardines for dinner. I learned to eat sushi. In one week I lost 25 lbs and felt amazing. It was the fish + exercise that did it. It wasn't until I moved into an apartment building that had a gym and also I started eating fish that everything came together for me. Once I started eating tiny portions of fish a few times a day and hitting the gym ever few days, I lost about 40 lbs in two weeks. The fish - this may sound crazy - thinned my blood or something, and I was able to exercise at more effective levels - I felt a huge difference and started my personal program of "living energetically". I took the stairs, did everything with more gusto and believed I had cracked it. My wife was on a trip at the time, and when she came back she was so surprised that she made me go to the doctor to get checked for metabolic problems (again), and again there was nothing wrong with my metabolism. Indeed, my cholesterol was reduced from very high to borderline in those two weeks. Months later it was normal. I have never had a cholesterol or triglyceride problem since. I just needed the fish in my diet to get all the machinery properly lubed. As I learned to love fish I was able to do more with my body than I had since I was a kid. It's a miracle food and the mercury problem is way over hyped. I have my blood mercury checked once a year. No problems yet. I eventually got my weight all the way down to 175 lbs. I was alternating weights with cardio - and my cardio was a mixed bag that had grown from 20 minute bike sessions to 15 minutes on a bike, 15 on a stair climber, and 15 running. So how did I get back to 240 lbs 5 years later? At this point I was becoming a regular health nut and I was trying all kinds of things. I was having fun exploring different classes - pilates, ab-lab, aerobics - anything that could get me past my plateau and into the magic land of six-pack (a land I have never seen even at the best of shape). Until that one aerobics class. Five minutes in, I knew it was going to be hard...but I saw old women, very fat people, and everyone else, doing just fine and keeping up. I was just being a wimp. So I stepped and raised and stepped and raised, and jogged in place. No pain, no gain...right? At 15 minutes, I could no longer stand and the pain was enough that I was no longer able to hide it. My body was forcing exclamations that came unbidden from my mouth and nose. I started to stumble and I found a pillar and collapsed behind it in shame while old women and over-weight smokers danced. The pain didn't stop, in fact, it just kept getting worse and worse as I sat there. I started crying and clawing at the ground as the throbbing pain mounted and I watched a nodule appear in each of my shins. I was sure my muscles had cramped up and torn. My doctor said it was nothing - maybe a mineral problem or a small muscle tear and advised I take it easy. One doctor had commented that my tibialis anterior was the most ridiculously over-developed muscle he had ever seen. He rapped it several times with a fist while I beamed. I had always been proud of my legs which even without exercise have been like those of a pro body builder. I can leg press the max on any machine I've ever seen and sported perfectly toned fat-free physic from the waist down. I had to buy special sock and boots to accommodate my calves. I thought this was why I was cramping. More muscle meant more intense cramps. At this point, I began a long period of decline where exercise was just causing too much pain to be worth it and I started making compromises. I didn't need to be muscled...just not fat. I didn't need to be perfectly slim, just not too fat. It's ok to have a gut. And after a few years I wasn't working out at all. Every time I tried to do anything more than walking, the cramps came on so strong that I would be crippled by them. It wasn't until I found a doctor who was versed in sports medicine that I found out what my deal was. I had been walking around with a very serious case of exertional compartment syndrome in all four compartments of my legs for the last ten years at least. I had dealt with these "leg cramps" since I was a teenager, and I was told that this was genetic - especially in Nordic people - and was sent for testing. I've written out the details of the test and can post that some time...I have a lot to say about ECS. I had a very serious case and was scheduled for surgery. A fasciotomy was performed on the anterior and posterior compartments. The recovery has not been as swift as expected. I have had a lot of problems healing, and it could be because of the amount of time I spent with the condition. The docs aren't sure...Not a lot is understood about ECS. I've been in and out of physical therapy, wear custom orthotic shoes, and take Tai Chi for the whole Qi Gong element of healing. It's slowly working. Over the last year I have gently upped my body's threshold for exertion while maintaining healing by combining physical therapy, tai chi, daily walks, and occasional gym visit. I went from 246 lbs in April to 226 lbs on Monday. I have decided it's time to step it up. I bought the body for life book after looking into different systems for designing a long term health program. I consulted with my doctor who has authorized me to undertake this program and is curious to see how I will do.

11-06-2008	#2 (permalink)
TheHappyFamily Member Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Georgia Posts: 47	Welcome to the forum! We on day #4 ... and I'm actually enjoying it immensely. The exercise schedule is pretty sweet and we look forward to it for some funny reason. Food is great. I have a few questions yet, that I'll be posting soon, but overall, I really like the message from this program. Good luck with your progress! Sounds like you can definitely make it happen! __________________ Happy Happy Joy Joy "... the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves, too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one's favor all manner of unforeseen incidents & meetings & material assistance which no man could have dreamed would have come his way. Whatever you do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. Begin it now." Goethe

11-06-2008	#3 (permalink)
Hamoth Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Seattle Posts: 208 Blog Entries: 33	That's great! I'm also on Day 4. So far so good! I'm looking forward to getting the challenges hammered out. Do your triceps still hurt? As of yesterday, I still felt like my arms weighted a million pounds! Now today I think I actually WILL be ready to lift again in the morning. Funny eh?

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
Week 4 Results	djfatneck	Before and After	10	09-24-2008 04:44 PM
Week 12 Results	Rhone	Before and After	10	09-04-2008 07:23 PM
My Week 2 Results	BryanHchi	Before and After	3	04-28-2008 12:04 AM
Week One Results	BryanHchi	General Health	1	04-09-2008 06:00 PM
Week 4 results	liezlek	Before and After	5	03-11-2008 01:55 PM

11-10-2008	#5 (permalink)
Hamoth Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Seattle Posts: 208 Blog Entries: 33	Arms were fine on Friday! Had a very satisfying lifting session, but since I'm still not sore from that, I don't think it was enough. Stabilizers are still too weak, I think. Finally got around to taking my before pic. I'll post it when I have the heart to look at it again.

11-10-2008	#7 (permalink)
Hamoth Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Seattle Posts: 208 Blog Entries: 33	Honestly, I took my "before" pic today and got all mad at food. I ended up eating fairly healthy food all day - though I did have some fired Calamari, a beer, and two rum n cokes. I'm not very good at taking time off or relaxing about things...I'll have to make a greater effort to make less effort next Sunday. So far, week 1 has been a pretty good week. I was stuck in a 36 hour work shift, so I missed some workouts. I'm not letting it derail me, and I'm not embarrassed about it. As soon as I was able, I was back at the gym giving it my all. I'm really looking forward to this week. Right now my weight (after having yo-yo'ed all over the place) has settled at a lb lower than when I started, and I'm sure to have gained a lot of muscle. That means I must be losing fat (no matter what my terrible electronic body fat scale is saying). I expect week 2 to be nice and stable as I adapt to the rythm. I should see some greater results soon. When my body adapts, it does so in a big way.

Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)