I actually took a day off today...

....from work that is. I need to use up a couple of days of
vacation still carried over from last year or I will lose
them and today was the first. I couldn't really afford to
be away from work but needed a break nonetheless.

I went with my wife and two youngest children to one of the
local large waterparks. It was very nice to be able to walk
around all day long wearing only a bathing suit and not feel
self conscious about being overweight. Of course, all the
teenie boppers in bikinis still made me look fat. Sigh.
Still, as would be expected, there were many many folks
there, from young children on up, who would benefit from a
bit of dietary control. I wish them all well.

There is a feature in this park where a cargo net is strung
across a pool for about 25 feet, where the goal is to hang
from the net and cross the pool hand over hand, stepping on
these floating foam objects along the way. All very
unstable and unpredictable. The object, of course, is to do
the crossing without dropping into the water. My kids
headed for this and told me that there was no way that I
could do it. So, predictably, I now had to try. I made it
maybe two feet across before I slipped off the first
floating pad, lost my grip on my left hand and found myself
hanging over the water on my right arm...with my youngest
now squealing with delight that I was going to fall into the
water. Nobody was more surprised than was I when I was able
to pull myself up with one arm, grab the net again fully
with two hands, then was able to cross the rest of the way
without any problem. There is no way that I could have done
this 10 months ago (I wouldn't have even tried) and I can't
tell you how good it felt to be able to do it today. Is it
because I am stronger now, or is it that I am no longer
carrying an extra 100 pounds around? Probably a little of
both, but who really cares. I got to spend the day outdoors
with my kids at a waterpark and I loved it.

I'm still working out with as much diligence as I can
muster; at least 3 1 hour weight sessions per week and at
least 3 1 hour cardio sessions beyond that. A couple days I
have doubled up the cardio with the weights...I'm not
certain that this is a good idea but I have been able to get
through them both without issue and have felt good
afterwards.

I am clearly adding strength now and using a tape measure
can state that I have added about 1" to my arms...both the
forearms and biceps/triceps. My chest is starting to shape
up but still needs much work. My legs, which I would have
sworn had no fat on them, have lost about 2" in the thighs.
That wasn't anticipated, but then neither was losing another
2" on my waist.

I'm still carefully low-carbing and keeping my calories
under control with about 70 g carbs/day and 1800-2000
calories/day at this point, which appears to be above my
CCLL but also appears to be below my CCLM. Kind of hard to
tell what is really going on at this point, my weight tends
to fluctuate 3-5 pounds on a whim, but always returns to my
low weight, and sometimes a bit lower. I appear to still be
losing fat and I appear to be adding a bit of muscle as was
my goal (if I can trust the tape.) I think it is now time
to start tracking this objectively via body fat percentage.
I'll check at the gym in the morning and see if there is
anybody around who is handy with calipers.

I have nothing else to share, I just wanted to check in and
let folks know where I stand this week. I am happy with my
progress and feel quite good. It is still not easy but this
is definitely working.

Have a great weekend folks.

--
JJ.
275/179/175 - as of June 10, 2004
Atkins since Sep 1, 2003
http://f2.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/jjsmythe/my_photos
1, 2, 3...92, 93, 94, 95, 96...almost there

JJ, glad you took the day off, and had a blast!

"JJ"

writes:

snipNobody was more surprised than was I when I was able
to pull myself up with one arm, grab the net again fully
with two hands, then was able to cross the rest of the way
without any problem. There is no way that I could have done
this 10 months ago (I wouldn't have even tried) and I can't
tell you how good it felt to be able to do it today. Is it
because I am stronger now, or is it that I am no longer
carrying an extra 100 pounds around?

JJ, your pictures are astonishing, so the fact that you could do this just fits
into that context. The 100 pounds would have dragged you down, you are
probably also stronger, and you are probably also more confident. Would you
have tried to continue had you fallen a year ago? Or would you have blamed
your weight, laughed, and quit?

I am clearly adding strength now and using a tape measure
can state that I have added about 1" to my arms...both the
forearms and biceps/triceps. My chest is starting to shape
up but still needs much work. My legs, which I would have
sworn had no fat on them, have lost about 2" in the thighs.
That wasn't anticipated, but then neither was losing another
2" on my waist.

I have two thoughts here. First, I think for someone on a really good
weight-loss program, it probably takes longer to add muscle than to lose fat.
It's just an impression; I'm sure someone will come in with some actual facts.
And as for losing weight on your thighs, I didn't have that much to lose, but I
lost weight on the tops of my feet, of all places! So I'm not surprised you
lost weight there. You're probably going to lose it everywhere except your
eyeballs.

Great work on the weight loss, and your day with your kids shows what kind of
payoff low-carb gives beyond just the better health and better body. You can
do things you didn't do before, and you're more confident.

Daria
166/under 145/under 145
sugar-free since 2/1/04
low-carb since 2/17/04

DG511 wrote:

JJ, your pictures are astonishing, so the fact that you
could do this
just fits into that context. The 100 pounds would have
dragged you
down, you are probably also stronger, and you are probably
also more
confident. Would you have tried to continue had you
fallen a year
ago? Or would you have blamed your weight, laughed, and
quit?


Thank you. Honestly, I don't think I would have even tried
to begin with and there are lots of reasons for that: I
probably wouldn't have gone to the park to begin with a year
ago but, if I had, I wouldn't have tried this more for
concern of injury than for fear of failure. Would I have
been able to hold on with one arm, and pull myself back up
with one arm after a partial fall is not even a guess...no
way could I have done that. I'm paying the piper today for
this little feat of exercise...mighty sore, my triceps are
killing me.

I have two thoughts here. First, I think for someone on a
really good
weight-loss program, it probably takes longer to add
muscle than to
lose fat. It's just an impression; I'm sure someone will
come in with
some actual facts. And as for losing weight on your
thighs, I didn't
have that much to lose, but I lost weight on the tops of
my feet, of
all places! So I'm not surprised you lost weight there.
You're
probably going to lose it everywhere except your eyeballs.

I don't believe in the slightest that any muscle gain I
might have to this point is on par with the amount of weight
lost in fat. I've only been back after the weight training
for about 2 full months now and I don't expect overnight
success. Still, the visible difference is reassuring,
though it remains subjective. Even the tape measure is
subject to error, as would be calipers should I have
somebody measure with those to do a body fat calculation. I
may spend the money to do a water immersion BF test as this
appears to be the most reliable method, but I am trying to
determine if there would be any real value to doing this. I
suspect that doing this at intervals of say 3-4 months would
be beneficial in terms of knowing what is working and what
is not.

Great work on the weight loss, and your day with your kids
shows what
kind of payoff low-carb gives beyond just the better
health and
better body. You can do things you didn't do before, and
you're more
confident.

Thanks again. If you were to read my original postings to
this group, you would see that being able to do things with
my kids again was high on my list of primary motivations.
I've never lost track of my original set of goals, though I
have had to make adjustments along the way to achieve them,
or correct when I found myself on a wrong track.

--
JJ.
275/179/175 - as of June 10, 2004
Atkins since Sep 1, 2003
http://f2.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/jjsmythe/my_photos
1, 2, 3...92, 93, 94, 95, 96...almost there

This is a repost due to a user-error on my part.

In article 8nKAc.70899$0y.56983@attbi_s03, says...
There is a feature in this park where a cargo net is strung
across a pool for about 25 feet, where the goal is to hang
from the net and cross the pool hand over hand, stepping on
these floating foam objects along the way. All very
unstable and unpredictable. The object, of course, is to do
the crossing without dropping into the water. My kids
headed for this and told me that there was no way that I
could do it. So, predictably, I now had to try. I made it
maybe two feet across before I slipped off the first
floating pad, lost my grip on my left hand and found myself
hanging over the water on my right arm...with my youngest
now squealing with delight that I was going to fall into the
water. Nobody was more surprised than was I when I was able
to pull myself up with one arm, grab the net again fully
with two hands, then was able to cross the rest of the way
without any problem. There is no way that I could have done
this 10 months ago (I wouldn't have even tried) and I can't
tell you how good it felt to be able to do it today. Is it
because I am stronger now, or is it that I am no longer
carrying an extra 100 pounds around? Probably a little of
both, but who really cares. I got to spend the day outdoors
with my kids at a waterpark and I loved it.

GREAT job, JJ! Of course, now I keep picturing you swinging there by one hand,
looking HOT, and then pulling yourself up fanning myself :-)

--
Saffire
205/154/125 - 5'1.5"
Atkins since 6/14/03
Progress photo: http://photos.yahoo.com/saffire333