An ACEr that lost weight?

[Dailey Enterprizes]

Three years ago I peaked at 240lbs... once I saw that I officially declared that I would never reach 250lbs. In doing so I began to work out. Running became my ultimate workout program and I can thank it all to the Elliptical where I would be on it for about an hour a day and loose around 1200 calories. At the same time I'd given up soda or any carbonated beverage because I was drinking nothing else at the time.

 

I dropped my weight down to about 200lbs last year looked the best that I have ever looked. Now that I'm in college, I've gained some of my weight back, but I do find time to go work out at the tiny weight room that's on campus and my weight varies between 228 and 230lbs. That might sound like a lot of weight, but remember that I'm 6' 3", so in a way I'm in pretty good shape for being college, but I'm still overweight, so I have to keep working out if I want to keep it down.

 

Here, I'll post some pics...

last xmas, I'm on the right...

lake erie last summer

at my graduation last year

[snuggles]

I need to drop the 20lbs that I gained over the winter. What would 5 miles a day on a bike do for me?

[bgwfreak]

^Are you talking stationary or a road bike?

 

Stationary...that would be a good workout, road it would be ok as well but that would only be about 30 minutes of exercise but still not bad.

 

Stationary bikes, except for the ones that actually simulate hills just don't give me enough of a workout compared to actually having to ride up and down hills and such. Charlotte is very hilly, despite what a lot of people think.

 

Just to get out of my neighborhood, I have to pedal up this big hill...about the worst one on my route I take. lol But it gets the blood flowing, especially when it's cooler and I've got tights and more clothes on.

 

I don't think I said in my last post my weight. My current weight is 255. Which sounds huge to me still because at one time around 9 years ago I was 180. But it's a big improvement from 300!

 

Plus I used to squat 300lbs at one time, so I've still got a lot of muscle under that fat. My legs and arms are almost completly free of fat now though!

[snuggles]

I'm talking about a road bike. Parts of it are uphill, most is flat, but i'm trying to avoid downhill riding.

[snuggles]

I dropped about 1 pound today.. That was 5 miles riding uphill. It only took about 30 minutes too. If I can keep this up for another month or so, I'll be back to wacky worm riding weight

[bgwfreak]

^ LOL. I actually never had any problems with Wacky Worms.

 

It's usually flat rides I have issues with.

 

Of course I haven't been on an Intamin (excluding Volcano) in about 4 years, so this summer will be the test to see what I can fit back in again.

[snuggles]

I was joking about the wacky worm. I haven't ever had a problem with fitting in rides (except kiddie rides) and I'm trying to keep it that way!

[DenDen]

Here's my update!

 

I'm pretty much done with trying to lose weight, but I have been sticking to a new way of eating. My "best friend" (who is a weightlifter) wants to start training me. I kinda want to at this point, this diet was so worth it!

45 pounds, GONE!

[Masked_Maverick]

I dropped about 1 pound today.. That was 5 miles riding uphill. It only took about 30 minutes too. If I can keep this up for another month or so, I'll be back to wacky worm riding weight

 

Credit Whore j/k

[socalRCfan]

Hello fellow TPR members.

 

I just wanted to add my experience to this thread because I think it is very supportive. I just weighed myself this morning and I came in at 277 lbs. at 5'11''. Yikes!!

 

The problem is I am going on a Mid-West/Southeast coaster trip in a few weeks. I know I won't be able to go on basically any Intamin ride (not going to CP just for that reason), but I want to lose as much as possible in order not to miss anything else.

 

I recently got my MAXX Pass at Great America (Santa Clara, CA) and almost didn't fit on Top Gun. There isn't anything more upsetting on a park visit than to be denied to ride. The only ride I have been rejected on was V2 at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom. Yet, I was prepared for that since we all know Intamin restraints aren't very forgiving.

[bgwfreak]

^ Yeah Intamin is a bunch of Nazis.

 

Since losing my weight I've only been denied a few rides.

 

One was SFStl's Superman drop tower. I HATED that too because it looked freaking awesome!

 

I don't understand it either, it had the same seats as Drop Zone at Carowinds, yet their seat belts were like half the length! Yes, I was about 20lbs heavier then than now but come on.

 

Last Saturday (week ago) I was out at Carowinds and I got 3 CLICKS on Top Gun for the first time in YEARS!!! I was more excited about that than riding Top Gun!!!

 

I also have tons of slack on Drop Zone now and before they had to stapple me in and pull the seatbelt all the way to the end of the belt to get it to lock.

 

The most recent ride I was denied was the Lumberjack Lifts at Dollywood on April 13. The restraints are only for very thin adults and kids apparantly because I couldn't get the thing to lock and they aren't allowed to push on it.

 

And my most painful stappling story was also at Six Flags St Louis on Mr. Freeze. In order to lock me in with their stupid short belts, they pushed so hard that it jammed...my...well...manhood, ok my balls. It hurt like the dickens for a while. But the ride was really great. Just stupid that their belts are so short and KD and KI have the same restraints and yet their belts are much longer.

 

I've lost 46lbs to date if anyones counting. I've been busting it this past week. I'd better lose some this week!

 

I was looking at myself working out last night and was liking what I was seeing. I'm starting to look like I did about 3 years ago again.

[socalRCfan]

Does anyone have a personal experience on V2 at Six Flags Great America? How are the belts on that ride?

[thrillrideseeker]

OMG! Congrats! I am like so happy for you! 46 pounds is amazing! Great Job! Keep up the great work and in no time you will be able to ride any ride you want. Oh and sorry to hear about your ummm... squishing... on Mr. Freeze. I would have died. Again great job with the weight loss!

~Matthew

[bgwfreak]

This isn't really a weightloss update, but just kinda a cool thing I did over the weekend.

 

I hiked up and down the Tullulah Gorge in Georgia Thursday. The thing is something like 1099 steps up and down!

 

I was very proud of myself for doing the entire thing and not giving up. But after about 300 steps, the only option is to turn around and go up that many steps, so you're pretty much stuck with doing the whole thing after a while.

 

I know two years ago I would have never survived that climb. And my back didn't even hurt at all either!

[Goliath513]

With all this talk about trying to loose weight, I'm tying to gain weight. My body mass index is dangerously low according to my doctor. At 5'11 and 135 pounds, I look like I got out of a concentration camp (well, maybe not that extreme). I eat alot, but my metabolism is just too fast.

[bgwfreak]

Try the muscle mass shakes. Those will make you gain, or at least they did for me.

[ParkTrips]

I think I'm still in ACE and I lost about 30 pounds in the past 6 months without really trying much, so go me!

[mcjaco]

Does anyone have a personal experience on V2 at Six Flags Great America? How are the belts on that ride?

 

Erotic.

 

Seriously, they're fine. The seats are a bit narrow, but comfy, as well as, the OTSRs.

[socalRCfan]

^ I mean are the belts short/restrictive?

 

I weighed myself this morning and came in at 264. It feels great to be closer to 250 than 300. Hopefully I will get down into the 250s before my trip.

[AznShortBoi8021]

I used to be overweight 2 years ago. My workout routine back then was jog 3 miles every day. Today, my workout routine is this:

 

Monday - Speed work

Jog 1 mile

Stretch

Run 1 mile as fast as I can, also known as sprinting

10 minute rest

Repeat the 1 mile sprint 4 more times

Jog 1 mile

Stretch

 

Tuesday - Intervals

Jog 1 mile

Stretch

Start jogging. Every 3 minutes, I sprint for 2 minutes. I do this for 45 minutes. This is called "intervals"

Stretch

 

Wednesday - Weight training

I lift weights and do lots of crunches and push ups.

 

Thursday - Speed work

See Monday

 

Friday - Endurance work

Jog 1 mile

Stretch

Run 10 miles at more than jogging pace but less than my running pace.

Stretch

 

 

People ask me how I do this crap every week. I tell them "I love running. I love water. I love pasta." My diet consists of complex carbs, complex carbs, complex carbs, protein, protein, complex carbs, and lots of veggies and fruits. Well, there's a lot more that goes into it, but I won't go into detail.

 

When you run to lose weight, all you think about is losing weight. Once you get closer to your goal, your goal starts to change. You start thinking "I want to lose weight and be able to run longer distances." Then it becomes "All I want to do is run a 6 minute mile for 26 miles."

 

Obviously, my work out plan is for people already in shape. For the "eXtreme weight loss" plan:

On Mondays and Thursdays, do quarter mile sprints instead of 1 mile sprints.

On Tuesday, do 20 minute intervals instead of 45 minute intervals.

On Friday, do 4 miles at jogging pace instead of 10 miles at "more than jogging, but less than running" pace.

 

If you run to lose weight, the thing to remember is:

COMPLEX CARBS!!! Bread and pasta are your best friends. "What about my human best friends?" Screw them! It's all about bread and pasta. Heck, marry a loaf of bread! I extremely despise those no-carb diets. Carbs = Energy. You WILL NOT gain weight if avoid fats and sugar, unless it comes from fruit. Fruit is also a very good friend of yours. I eat about 3000 calories a day. Also, I drink 2 gallons of water a day. But 1 gallon is enough for the "eXtreme weight loss" plan.

 

AVOID THE SCALE! Weighing yourself should be a sin. Don't judge how fat you are by weight. Judge it by looks. If you look fat, then you're fat. Simple as that. However, if you follow my suggested routine, you'll lose weight for the first few weeks or so. Then you'll start gaining weight. That weight comes from muscle.

[terrancew_hod]

AVOID THE SCALE! Weighing yourself should be a sin. Don't judge how fat you are by weight. Judge it by looks. If you look fat, then you're fat. Simple as that. However, if you follow my suggested routine, you'll lose weight for the first few weeks or so. Then you'll start gaining weight. That weight comes from muscle.

 

Amen! I do look at it occasionally but it's just to see where i'm at in weight rather than gauge progress. I'm relatively the same weight-wise as last year but I have a lot less body fat and gained a lot more muscle... you tell by how clothes fit and your shape looks... and I see the beginning of the 6-pack coming in. The first time I noticed I was at the gym and I was doing my triceps and I saw some cute guy in the mirror out the corner of my eye... I thought to myself "he has a nice body"... then realized that was me! (the mirrors were angled where i thought the guy was behind me... but yeah I'm silly like that)

 

My focus now is getting my body more defined around the midsection and arms; so now i have up my aerobic activity to support that.

 

I'm not a real carb eater (I don't like to eat bread or pasta), so I have to get my carbs from weight gainers and supplements (the trunk of my car looks like a mini health food store). I also eat brown rice on occasion as well. I do eat a massive amount of protein through shakes, steaks, chicken, fish and eggs.

 

Which reminds me: I gotta eat breakfast now!

[bgwfreak]

Actually the scale is a very goo thing for me.

 

The reason I got up to 300lbs was because I was in denial and had no clue how big I had gotten. I just kept buying bigger pants.

 

I do agree though that you can be obsessed with it, but for peole like me that are still about 30-40lbs overweight, its a good idea to weigh at least once a week.

 

Also, commenting on two posts up, you have to remember that carbs react differently in people. We all have different metobilisms and body types. If I were to eat a ton of bread and pasta, I'd gain weight like mad.

[terrancew_hod]

^also it looks like AznShortBoi8021 is doing a lot of aerobic activity, so the carbs support the energy for type of activity. If you weren't doing interval running all those carbs would start turning to fat. I'm doing heavy lifting (to gain weight) so I need a fair amount of carbs as well, but not nearly that much, since I would have to up my cardio so the carbs won't turn into fat.

[bgwfreak]

Here's an updated pic of me...

 

You can really see a difference in my face now.

2 years ago (in the center obviously).

Me.

[AznShortBoi8021]

I think I should tell the story of how I went from a fat lazy mother bleeper to a lean, mean, sexy running machine. It all started 2 years ago. I weighed about 180 pounds. Is that alright? Not if you're 5 feet 4 inches! My doctor was all "You're going to die a very long and painful death." But I wasn't in the mood for a long, painful death. So I decided to work out the only way I knew how to: run. I started jogging 2 miles each day with my brother, who is an ultra fast marathon runner. At first, I also died a painful death from running, but I didn't. As I got used to the 2 miles, I started doing 3 miles. Then I thought "Gee, this is fun!" It turns out that running is my thing. You don't have to do something torturous to lose weight. Just find something that's fun for you and do it, a lot. I found running to be fun. Now I do it obsessively. For some people, it might be eXtreme DDR or cycling. But I think running is the simplest way to lose/gain weight. That's why I recommend it to everybody.