CGC: The "Chubby Geek Club"

Weeks 2-3

2008-01-21T19:42:41Z

I have pretty much decided that the Zone Diet is not for me. My greatest complaint with it is the high fiber counts which have strongly affected my stomach. So, I am going to focus more on reducing overall intake without restricting myself to a specific dietary plan. As I typically eat low-fat, low-sugar, generally healthy food anyway, this shouldn't be a big deal.

On the up side, my workout goals have rebounded well from my Christmas lassitude, and I am having no trouble working out at least 5 days a week. This past week, I took Friday off, because I went skiing on Saturday and Sunday, which I count as at least one workout.

So far, there has been little progress on the scale or on body fat percentage, but I am in no real hurry. I am taking an Army Physical Fitness Test on Wednesday; I will post the results.

Week 2-3 (apologies!)

2008-01-19T23:35:55Z

So, how's it going? I'm continuing a very nice trend, down about 2.2 pounds each of the past 2 weeks, almost double what I was planning. I may actually add a little food if I keep losing at this rate, as I don't want to push myself too hard and wind up with hunger issues. Still haven't gotten into walking consistently, I've decided that I really want to get through january and make sure I'm stable on my diet before i gt overly ambitious. A couple of slips aside (1 each week), I've done pretty well on staying on my meal plan. So, how's everyone else?

Week 1

2008-01-19T23:29:11Z

I believe that unless one is a serious athlete - ie. one who is trained in an athletic discipline, regardless of amateur or professional status - it's extremely difficult to maintain a fitness routine day in and out.

Which is why, for the first few weeks of 2008, I haven't tried to do so. Rather than kill myself to try to walk, or go to the gym, I have allowed myself to see what will work (and what won't) so that I can ramp up to a consistent, maintainable routine of fitness and wellness.

The closest I can come to calling myself trained in an athletic discpline is having taken classical dance lessons as a child and teenager. At best, it's difficult to continue taking dance classes as an adult (even though I've found a teacher who's willing to take me, and eager to have a non-traditional student) - living the life of a full-time professional while commuting from the suburbs into the city does not leave a lot of personal time.

So, I'm fitting in one thing that anyone can do, anywhere:

I work in downtown Houston, for a company that subsidizes a gym membership. I plan to make it to the gym if I can, but I won't extend my workday (or skip lunch) to fit in a class or treadmill time at the gym (because it's not just exercise time, but also time showering, etc.) What I can do is get up from my desk and walk about, especially through Houston's downtown tunnel system. I can walk comfortably regardless of weather conditions (execpt perhaps another TS Allison), and at any time (the corporation I work for is keen on work/life balance, and promotes fitness and wellness in many tangible ways).

To measure my progress (and to hold myself to improving bit by bit, day by day), I plan to walk in various race/walks in the Houston area this spring, and again in the fall. I walked a couple of 5Ks in December and January, so I have a baseline of my performance. In the spring, I plan to walk various 5Ks and 10Ks.

It will be interesting to see if I can keep up the pace over the summer, and what my results will be for the fall 5Ks and 10Ks.

Looking forward to this, and to hearing everyone else's progress too.

Week 1: How are you doing?

2008-01-04T15:28:36Z

Hey all and happy friday! feel free to share your results and comments on the week.

This very short week 1 has gone pretty well for me, with little problem adapting to my new portions, a few snags with my workout, and a nice (if probably misleading) result on the scale. Here's the breakdown in depth:

Diet:
My new portions have been a transition, but are going well given I'm still in the week 1 glow. my typical breakfast is 1 serving of oatmeal, either some cottage cheese or a scrambled egg, a piece of fruit, and coffee w/ a little cream and sugar. Lunch and Dinner are both a serving of rice/pasta with 3 oz. meat and veggies and a bit of an appropriate sauce, a big salad with a tbsp of dressing, and either a piece of cheese (lunch) or glass of wine (dinner). my serving sizes (now that I'm measuring what I eat) are about 2/3 the size of what they once were, and seconds are a thing of the past. I'm clocking about 1600 calories a day, which is right where I want to be. Aside from some transition hunger pangs for the first couple of days, all is going well, and my tummy seems to be settling down into the new reality. I had a bit of a challenge yesterday, as I went out to lunch with a colleague, but I had advance warning and was able to talk them into Subway, where I was able to get one of the healthy subs that kept my calorie count in range for the day. If I can stay anal about measuring things (easy now, as I just bought a new bento box that has the perfect sized containers for my breakfast and lunch), I should be in pretty good shape. While I'm going to play with some other recipes on occasion to stave off a potential rut (I'm pondering knocking together a week's worth of chili or bean soup this weekend), right now it's good to be eating my usual things, just less of them and with a salad at every meal. I'm nervous about having my prescribed free meal this weekend, as I have so little good behavior under my belt, but I know if I don't make myself do these weekly "controlled burns", as it were, it's a recipe for disaster.

Exercise:
I wish I could say the same for my exercise. I have an apartment gym, as well as a health club where I have privileges as a member of the University staff. The problem is, using either one neccessitates getting up at ungodly-o-clock and dragging myself into gym clothes and onto a treadmill. That problem is going to be much easier once I move closer to work and into a neighborhood where I feel safe walking before sunup, and I decided that until then, an exercise video would be a reasonable choice. I got the Walk away the Pounds 30-minute workout, and it's a very nice little low-impact aerobic workout that gets my heart rate into the target zone. The bad news is I only accomplished it once so far this week. I need to start setting my alarm about 15 minutes earlier to make it practical, which was NOT going to happen the first week back at work after a 10-day vacation. I'm going to do the video both weekend days and/or walk if the weather cooperates, and try dialing back the alarm 15 minutes on monday.

Rewards:
I was perfect on food, even with an unexpected dine-out on day 3 of my diet. Exercise was a bit of a flop, but I wanted to get settled in with my food before I got too OCD about that part. overall I'm quite pleased with things, though I realize this is the honeymoon period and I'll be hitting the wall in a few weeks. in any case, I earned my treat for the week.

The Bottom Line:
Jan 1-4
raw weight change: -3.4 lbs (probably mostly water)
weight trend (calculated via weighted moving average): -0.5 lbs (goal -1.2 lbs for a full week)
est. Calorie shortfall: 511/Day (goal is 600/day)

So, how did you do this week?

Welcome to the Chubby Geek Club!

2007-12-26T19:33:02Z

Welcome! I'm Sarah, founder and current maintainer of the Chubby Geek Club. This is a small community of like-minded friends and acquaintances working together to build stronger bodies in 2008. I know most of the folks who will be joining us initially, but I wanted to put up this post as a guide for future reference and as an introduction for those who I may not know directly that may join us as we go along.

Your first post:
Please post a brief introduction to this thread for the benefit of those who may not know you directly, as well as:

1: your fitness or health related goal for 2008: this should be a specific, measurable goal, probably a number of pounds lost, a body fat percentage goal, or achieving a specific fitness goal (run a 30 minute 5-K, bench press my weight, etc.).

2: the 3 things you will change in your life to achieve this goal:
    2a: A Diet-related life change
    2b: An exercise-related life change
    2c: Your reward structure: Choose a non-food weekly and monthly reward for any week/month where you perform your diet and exercise plans at least 80% of the time, as well as a grand prize for achieving your goal for the year.

Community Logistics and guidelines:
Starting on Friday, January 4, I'll start progress threads every friday, where people can respond with a brief summary of that week's performance. In addition, every member of this community can start threads on any fitness or diet topic they'd like to discuss, or even off-topic stuff of mutual interest. Just keep in mind this is primarily a fitness and wellness community.

Also, this probably goes without saying, but I intend this community to be a safe place for people who may not have the healthiest self esteem or body image. That means no personal attacks on any member. The first infraction earns a warning. Strike 2 is a 14-day ban. Strike 3 is a permanent ban from the community. NO Exceptions. I don't expect any problems here as I ask members to think carefully before inviting friends to join us, but I want to be clear up front.

Thanks, and welcome to the CGC. Good Luck to everyone! :-)