143 today. Keeping the exercise up, staying off the beer still, not snacking.
Still don’t know wtf I did to my knee though. Can run fine, can’t kneel down without excruciating pain. Handmaid’s knee?
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Down a pound! Not sure whether I should credit part of that to Wednesday night’s food poisoning incident… 
In any case, I’ll take it. And I’ll take the illness as a reminder to be mindful of what’s going in my gullet.
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Oh, well shit, that would do it! Real sorry to hear you got jumped like that.
Like I said, genetic lottery. Unfortunate for Duane that he was drawn to the pool that’s more susceptible to brain damage.[quote=“miasm, post:76, topic:71475”]
Do you notice Nate Diaz is speaking much more lucidly and deliberately since his time off? Before that he was slurring and barely pronouncing ‘209’ properly in his last run at the title. So maybe there’s an argument for plasticity with enough recovery time…
[/quote]
Of course there is. Are there parts of the fight community where this isn’t seen as a given? It’s why B-Hop has been able to fight so long. He takes plenty of R&R in between his fights and makes sure he’s always drinking a lot of water.
I don’t know what kind of sparring you’ve encountered but if you’re taking any hard shots to the head at all, your school is doing it very, very hard. That’s an extremely old school mindset that’s been phased out in every gym I’ve visited. Not even the poorest Thai gyms train that way anymore.
In my own gym, we don’t even wear headgear for sparring because that’s how controlled the sparring is. There’s no need to have it on. The purpose of sparring is to teach and practice, not to fight.
[quote=“miasm, post:76, topic:71475”]
I see the new treatments coming out of the military hospitals, the protein replacement stuff and the stem cell stuff but man, I don’t want to roll those dice. Sucks though, I really love the thrill. 
[/quote]Unfortunately, this is not a sentiment that’s caught on with a lot of western boxing gyms.
To this day, I have yet to meet a Thai prizefighter with any signs of brain damage, even though they have hundreds of pro fights under their belts. Not even Saenchai goes hard in his sparring, ever. No one I know training in Thailand has ever seen a fighter or ex-fighter suffering from brain damage either. This is for a variety of factors of course (they don’t weight drain, the use of eight limbs and clinch fighting means headshots are a lot harder to land than in western boxing, difference in training techniques, etc) but suffice to say, it’s not just rare. It’s unheard of.
Considering that I’ll never have hundreds of professional fights, I think I’m pretty safe on the brain damage front.
I tried it once with zero training against a girl that was 50 pounds lighter than me but with a decade of training in Gracie jiu-jitsu. Got my ass completely handed to me and reminded me of the first time I was in a fight. The shock of being in a completely unfamiliar combat situation had me gassed out in less than a minute.
Good stuff indeed!
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My uncles always told me that men should take cold showers. I always figured it was some Korean old wives’ tale but I tried it for a month one hot summer and it actually did wonders for me. I don’t know if it was placebo but my skin felt great and I was much more energetic and mentally alert throughout the day.
Apparently there’s some scientific backing to this but nothing conclusive.
But I eventually stopped because hot showers feel amazing. Maybe when it gets sweltering again I’ll make the switch.
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Have you tried Scottish showers (alternating between hot and cold)? Or you could start hot and switch to cold toward the end, then you’re more awake when you leave the shower.
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How about Golden Showers?
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Holding more or less steady at 1lb a week, which as I understand it, is a good rate to keep the weight off after losing it.
Making it to the gym less often than I had wanted, maybe 2-3 times a week. I’ve been doing 20-30 minutes on the bike, the 30 minute intensive, and 10 minutes (walk, not run) on the treadmill to cool down.
The 30 minute workout at Planet Fitness is pretty cool- there are 10 assorted weight machines and 10 steps. You do 60 seconds on a step, 30 seconds to get to the next machine, as many reps as you can do in 60 seconds, 30 seconds to get to the next step, and repeat all the way through. So, the whole time is cardio/weights/cardio/weights: keeps your heart rate up for the duration.
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I did those to ease into full-on cold showers actually. It was such a strange sensation. You can literally feel the hot water getting “washed” off from the cold water.
That’s great! If your main goal is weight loss, bursts of intensive workouts is the way to go.
Down to 198 from 205 on 12/15. Happy with that. What’s helping this time is that if I miss a couple days I just continue the next day picking up where I left off. Been dilgent about tracking calories consumed (overestimate when unsure) and underestimating calories expending (knock 25% off what treadmill reads and swimming calculators say). What’s not working … I hurt right big toe somehow :(.
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I discovered that caffeine itself is what triggers my migraines, not the withdrawal. This was after years and years of being a heavy soda drinker - also a Doctor Pepper fan actually - with headaches all the time, because it was hard to make that connection since it’s common knowledge that the withdrawal gives most people headaches. Just thought I’d put that out there. I don’t touch caffeine anymore, for more than a year now, and I have reduced the headaches I get by easily 80-90%. The caffeine in normal chocolate is actually enough to do it, sometimes, but at least full-blown migraines are rare for me now and minor headaches are treatable with OTC painkillers (basic aspirin, actually) which was never the case before.
That said, cutting out caffeine does not necessarily mean an easy way to cut sugar intake via soda. The problem is that I’m a big ginger ale fan too… and since cutting caffeine I’ve come to really, really appreciate Sprite. At university I actually used to think sodas without caffeine were a silly waste of money… but I get a lot of pleasure from it still.
I too would like to get fitter this year. I spent the past several years building up my ability to run - at my absolute peak I could make it through 10 k without feeling like death was imminent, but normally I max out at 5 or less. I haven’t really weighed myself in several years but at 5’11 (and a bit) I was around 205 at my best, down from maybe 230 at my worst before I started. I’ve only been nearly-thin once in my life, junior and senior year of high school when I did a diet where basically I just didn’t eat cheese and other dairy with saturated fats, which worked because I was a teenager I guess.
I think right now I’d estimate I’m at 215-220; because of changed circumstances I haven’t run in half a year or so - and when I tried after not doing it for as short as a month or so I was starting from square one which is rather discouraging. Now, changed circumstances again means I think I can probably do it once a week which is better than nothing but more importantly I have access to a world-class pool (at Stanford, where I got a job). Cory Doctorow, among others, is a big proponent of swimming for fitness - I met him at a book signing and he’s certainly fit. I’ve always enjoyed it (and held a lifeguard certification for a bit) but I’m not particularly good at it - probably need lessons.
Plus, going to the pool after work is such a hassle… one of the reasons walking, leading to running, is clearly the best for most people is the barrier of entry is so low, and you can do it in your own neighborhood in relative privacy and walk right into your own shower afterwards. I am pretty sure I’m never going to be comfortable in a locker room - especially at a place like stanford where it’s full of fit young guys (I’m not that much older but I’m much pudgier).
Diet is an issue but for me that’s not as difficult. My problem is that if there is food in front of or available to me, I will eat it… but at various points I’ve tried just not having food available and that works well enough. I’m eating with other people a lot more now, which means eating more than I would by myself, so my goal is going to be to e.g. order a smaller amount which shouldn’t be difficult because I do enjoy saving money too 
I didn’t need to write an essay I suppose but it’s helpful to myself to write it out! Good luck to everyone and I hope this thread becomes good encouragement to us all - comraderie for fitness is hugely helpful and I don’t get that from people in my real-world circles.
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Confirmed.
Keeping up the exercise and staying off the beer. Weight seems to have got stuck at 141. Which is disappointing, I thought I was starting at 140.
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I learned how to swim laps two years ago … At first I couldn’t swim 25 meters in a pool without stopping. Last year I did a 3000 meter open water swim. I enjoy it immensely. It really strengthens your core – freestyle is partially a long assisted plank. But do take lessons (local Y a good place for adult group lessons) and swim 3x a week till you can get the hang of it. I find it almost meditative – look forward to my swims and miss them when I can’t.
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I’ve lost maybe a pound in the last 11 days (since my last post here). I’ve been home the last week - and it’s much harder to get to the gym and keep to my diet when I’m at home. On top of that, it’s been too cold to walk the dog the 2-3 miles a day I had been doing. I haven’t gained, and I’m gaining strength. I’m repeating same 4 week cardio/strength program I did earlier in Dec/Jan and the strength parts are getting much easier – and in some cases are now possible. So all in all, I’m pleased but I need to do a better job at watching my caloric intake when I’m not on the road. Ironically most people find it’s harder to eat right when travelling – not me. I can control where I eat and what I eat – at home it’s easier to graze, and I have less control over meals put in front of me.
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Just cycled 35 minutes in the freezing cold. Lucky for me, because my job is manic and appetite suppressing, I’m about 75 kg. But my heart rate is all over the place, and I have to sort that out.
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What’s that in proper money? You’re a Brit, no? Kgs??
I’ve been converted.
8 shillings sixpence ha’penny.
errr … 165 pounds
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after avoiding the doctor for too long i am actually on drugs for that. i don’t drink a lot of caffeine or binge on salt.
it was 150/90 for my overdue checkup and i was quite relaxed at not nervous about being at the doctors for once and i had skipped the morning coffee as well so yeah drugs it is.
on the plus side it has me eating a little be better and getting what exercise i can at work. i have lost about 10ish lbs since then and don’t get winded going up the stairs to the 4th floor now.
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I went on my first run since 23 August last year. It’s actually the first time I’ve done any exercise or sport since then, apart from using my bike for transport. I was training all summer, took part in a 160 km cycle race, then just… stopped. I started taking medication the next day that brought my heart rate below 45, so that might be a factor (I waited until after the race to avoid any side effects). Today I started with a 5 km run, which took 25 minutes. I’ve lost about 5 minutes compared to my speed 5 months ago (and I got a stitch and had to stop running and walk briefly once), but overall I’m happy that I don’t have too big a mountain to climb to get back to normal fitness. I haven’t gained weight at least (mainly because a bowl of muesli in the morning keeps me going until 6pm, so I’ve gone from athletic to thin).
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Found this thread, immediately hit the daily likes limit.
That’s not the kind of lean-and-mean I want to be!
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Down to < 139 now, despite a couple of cheeky beers last week for various reasons, so about 8lbs down since the start of the year (although I suspect some of that was post-Christmas bloat).
Feeling pretty good about being able to keep this up, and it’s nice to have found a way to fit exercise back into my schedule a bit. Once it starts getting lighter in the mornings I’m hoping to get out for a few runs on the days I am able to start later.
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