City-Data Fitness Progress Thread (muscle, gym, biking, waist)

[El Rhino]

Ok folks, this thread is a place where you can drop in and post about your fitness achievements, big or small. Feel free to post about dropping a couple dress sizes, losing a few pounds, setting a new personal bench record, finally being able to run a couple miles without stopping, finally being able to see your feet, running in a 5k, winning Mr. Olympia, etc, etc or you just need me to recommend a good vet because you got some SICK PYTHONS, post it here. Before and after pics are cool too. I figure this might be an interesting way to encourage one another and see how everyone is doing from time to time. I also encourage folks to check out the daily fitness journal subforum if they would like to track their progress on a day to day (give or take) basis, there's some nice ladies over there.

[beowulf7]

Great idea. I finally ran my first race in my life. Not just 1, but 3 over the past couple months: 5km races. I dislike running, but managed to do it. (I'm much more into hitting the weights.) A byproduct of my training was I lost almost 10 pounds over a couple months. Unfortunately, I lost some muscle mass as well. Now that I'm done running, at least for the year, I'll try to put back about 5 lbs. I know I'll lose some definition and cut, but I want to get back some strength. Has anyone else had the seemingly mutually exclusive goals of getting lean/cut and adding muscle/strength?

[dxiweodwo]

Originally Posted by beowulf7

Great idea. I finally ran my first race in my life. Not just 1, but 3 over the past couple months: 5km races. I dislike running, but managed to do it. (I'm much more into hitting the weights.) A byproduct of my training was I lost almost 10 pounds over a couple months. Unfortunately, I lost some muscle mass as well. Now that I'm done running, at least for the year, I'll try to put back about 5 lbs. I know I'll lose some definition and cut, but I want to get back some strength. Has anyone else had the seemingly mutually exclusive goals of getting lean/cut and adding muscle/strength?

yea I did. for baseball tryouts this year we would hit the weight room first then run 3 miles on the track, I added TONS of muscle, and lost about 5 pounds, I can run much faster now, and am much stronger than I was a year ago. 5 pounds may not seem like a lot, but considering that muscle weighs more than fat, I though it was a lot

[beowulf7]

Originally Posted by dxiweodwo

yea I did. for baseball tryouts this year we would hit the weight room first then run 3 miles on the track, I added TONS of muscle, and lost about 5 pounds, I can run much faster now, and am much stronger than I was a year ago. 5 pounds may not seem like a lot, but considering that muscle weighs more than fat, I though it was a lot

Congrats, yes, that makes a very big diff., even if it's just several pounds. One of my friends at the gym said he plays softball and now he's got warning track power that he lacked before. If he keeps it up, he'll start hitting HRs, I told him.

In your case, did you measure your body fat last year and compare it to this year? I wouldn't be surprised if it dropped a few percentage points.

[MtnBikeNV]

I dropped 65 lbs when I started walking and riding a bike a couple of years ago. I'm 5'6", was 200, now I hang around 135ish, which seems to be my ideal weight. I became very active with road biking and mtn biking. I picked up running, I never could run, it killed my shins. I ran my first half marathon in SLC last spring, had a blast, I want to do a full marathon soon. I entered and won a mtn bike race awhile back. I went from a major out of shape couch potato to logging a couple hundred miles a week on my bikes and feeling fantastic.

That's my progress thus far. I am maintaining, and that can be a struggle too, it's no easier than losing. So I am always looking for motivation and that extra oomph to keep plugging along.

[beowulf7]

Originally Posted by MtnBikeNV

I dropped 65 lbs when I started walking and riding a bike a couple of years ago. I'm 5'6", was 200, now I hang around 135ish, which seems to be my ideal weight. I became very active with road biking and mtn biking. I picked up running, I never could run, it killed my shins. I ran my first half marathon in SLC last spring, had a blast, I want to do a full marathon soon. I entered and won a mtn bike race awhile back. I went from a major out of shape couch potato to logging a couple hundred miles a week on my bikes and feeling fantastic.

That's my progress thus far. I am maintaining, and that can be a struggle too, it's no easier than losing. So I am always looking for motivation and that extra oomph to keep plugging along.

Great job, keep it up! You remind me of a spinning instructor at my gym who didn't work out at all for his entire life. Then 2 years ago, he finally decided to work out b/c he was sick of being fat. 2 years later, he lost almost 100 lbs. (strictly through diet and exercise) and teaches a kick-butt spinning class.

[natalayjones]

Oh goody I love this

Here's my before picture. Taken 06/27/2008 weighing in at 260 and size 24 pants


I don't have an after picture at the moment but I've lost 13 pounds so far and almost 3 inches off my waist (as of June 21st anyway) Hopefully within a few months I'll post on of those pics where no one belives you're ths same person

[UW Badgers]

In 2002 I started dieting and exercising. I lost 150lbs. It took a little over 2 years. I have maintained my weight for the past 4 years or so. I was a size 30/32(yes, you read that right), I'm now a size 8.

For those in the process of losing weight, stay positive and don't give up. Having support is great as well. I would've been lost without my husband. He never told me I needed to lose weight. He loved me just as much when I was heavy as he does now. Infact when he looks at the before picture, he doesn't even remember me being that heavy. He even worked out with me(which he never worked out before). He lost 20lbs himself(wasn't that heavy)

The before picture was about a year before I started. I don't have one right before I started on my computer. The clothes I'm wearing in that picture didn't fit me the following year, too small. Subtract about 10 more pounds from the after picture as well.

[Vision-Quest]

Originally Posted by dxiweodwo

yea I did. for baseball tryouts this year we would hit the weight room first then run 3 miles on the track, I added TONS of muscle, and lost about 5 pounds, I can run much faster now, and am much stronger than I was a year ago. 5 pounds may not seem like a lot, but considering that muscle weighs more than fat, I though it was a lot

3 miles, wow, try 5 or 6!!

[beowulf7]

Kudos on the weight loss, and keep it up (down, LOL) natalay and Badgers.