UCF FINatic's Weight Loss Diary

Cocaine is a helluva drug, is all I'm saying.

May be a good idea to add what supplements you are using and whether you can see them working or not.

LOTS of quackery in the supplement field.

AM cardio on an empty stomach 4-5 x a week and do not eat anything past 630pm. Watch it shred away.

UCF, have you discovered what body type you have?

Simple check is wrist diameter, if your thumb and middle finger can wrap around your wrist, you are an ectomorph, if they almost or barely touch, you are a mesomorph, if they cannot touch you are and endomorph.

This and look into blood type diets..interesting stuff, won't replace doing the work of course, but maybe can give you some direction without trial and error.

"padre31 wrote:

UCF, have you discovered what body type you have?

Simple check is wrist diameter, if your thumb and middle finger can wrap around your wrist, you are an ectomorph, if they almost or barely touch, you are a mesomorph, if they cannot touch you are and endomorph.

This and look into blood type diets..interesting stuff, won't replace doing the work of course, but maybe can give you some direction without trial and error.

I am either an ectomorph or mesomorph. I can touch my thumb to my middle finger around the wrist, but I have to squeeze. All in all, I would say I am mesomorph. I never knew they had diets based on this type of stuff. I'll have to look into it.

EDIT: After researching more about body time and what each one entails I feel like I am more of a mesomorph and maybe a little endomorph. I am what you would call "big-boned" especially in the thighs. I luckily get away with looking like I weigh less than I actually do because most of my weight is in my big thighs.

There is a sort of duel meso/endomorph, but my wrist diameter is about the same as yours.

What I've found is I can muscle rapidly, but when losing weight I hit sticking points and pretty much have to take calorie restricted/lots of cardio approach to make it past them.

I've hovered between 202-208 for a couple of weeks now and only rafting for 6 hours yesterday with no food brought it down to 201 but I could tell I was exhausted when literally having a single beer and relaxing listening to a band led to me darn near crashing/falling asleep right then and there...then there was the 2 mile trip home on the bike up the mtn side!

All that and I lost one pound!

Another thing I do is track my weight every morning and then put the daily results in a spread sheet and graph it to see which way the trend is going compared to working out and what I've been eating..keeps me from letting a bad trend from continuing and lets me know where I'm at in my goals.

"padre31 wrote:

There is a sort of duel meso/endomorph, but my wrist diameter is about the same as yours.

What I've found is I can muscle rapidly, but when losing weight I hit sticking points and pretty much have to take calorie restricted/lots of cardio approach to make it past them.

I've hovered between 202-208 for a couple of weeks now and only rafting for 6 hours yesterday with no food brought it down to 201 but I could tell I was exhausted when literally having a single beer and relaxing listening to a band led to me darn near crashing/falling asleep right then and there...then there was the 2 mile trip home on the bike up the mtn side!

All that and I lost one pound!

Another thing I do is track my weight every morning and then put the daily results in a spread sheet and graph it to see which way the trend is going compared to working out and what I've been eating..keeps me from letting a bad trend from continuing and lets me know where I'm at in my goals.

It sounds like we have the same body type. In the past, I always used to hover around the 180 pound mark. No matter what I seemed to do nothing would work to get below that weight, even playing lacrosse in high school (a ton of running) didn't help me that much. That being said, when I have "dieted" in the past by mostly working as many hours as possible as a Publix stock clerk and eating very healthy otherwise I was able to shed weight fast. I hope that I experience the same thing now, especially since I am 23 and I know my metabolism is about to slow down.

That's a good point about logging your weight every day. I used to have a scale but lent it to someone and never got it back. Next time I go to Orlando I am going to hunt it down like a blood hound. That being said, I think right now since I am just starting out I might be more motivated by only weighing myself once a week so I see bigger results. Once I get down to a lower weight I might incorporate your strategy.

Thank you so much everyone! I love all the support from my fellow Dolphin fans. And while the team may suck every once in a while (or for quite some time), the fans never do! :knucks:

"padre31 wrote:

UCF, have you discovered what body type you have?

Somatotypes (Endomorph, Ectomorph, and Mesomorph) are pseudoscience. It was invented by William Herbert Sheldon. He took a bunch of nude pictures of Ivy League students and came up with a bunch of physiological and personality types to match. His theory's have since been discredited.

padre31 wrote:

This and look into blood type diets..interesting stuff, won't replace doing the work of course, but maybe can give you some direction without trial and error.

Blood Type diet is garbage brah.

Medical experts universally agree that the theory is nonsense, and say there is absolutely no link between our blood group and the diet we eat. Consequently you won’t find qualified nutritionists or dietitians recommending this diet.

There are not many positive things to say about this diet, which is clearly based on science fiction rather than science fact.

"UCF FINatic wrote:

It sounds like we have the same body type. In the past, I always used to hover around the 180 pound mark. No matter what I seemed to do nothing would work to get below that weight, even playing lacrosse in high school (a ton of running) didn't help me that much. That being said, when I have "dieted" in the past by mostly working as many hours as possible as a Publix stock clerk and eating very healthy otherwise I was able to shed weight fast. I hope that I experience the same thing now, especially since I am 23 and I know my metabolism is about to slow down.

That's a good point about logging your weight every day. I used to have a scale but lent it to someone and never got it back. Next time I go to Orlando I am going to hunt it down like a blood hound. That being said, I think right now since I am just starting out I might be more motivated by only weighing myself once a week so I see bigger results. Once I get down to a lower weight I might incorporate your strategy.

Thank you so much everyone! I love all the support from my fellow Dolphin fans. And while the team may suck every once in a while (or for quite some time), the fans never do! :knucks:

You are probably better off weighing yourself everyday when you first start out so you can get a feel for what works and what does not work for you, as you learn that you know what you can avoid and what is effective.

The problem with once a week is you will not then be certain what is working and what is causing problems.

"padre31 wrote:

You are probably better off weighing yourself everyday when you first start out so you can get a feel for what works and what does not work for you, as you learn that you know what you can avoid and what is effective.

The problem with once a week is you will not then be certain what is working and what is causing problems.

Agreed. More numbers are better. Glycogen and water can fluctuate from 1-15lbs depending on various factors like carb intake, sodium intake, etc... In fact, one of the best ways to know whether your diet is working properly is the lack of bowel movements. If you're in a deficit, they will be cut down quite a bit. That means it's storing inside for a while and keeping the scale up when you're really losing fat.

When you get a gym membership, you'll have access to a scale, so track often.

"Clark Kent wrote:

Agreed. More numbers are better. Glycogen and water can fluctuate from 1-15lbs depending on various factors like carb intake, sodium intake, etc... In fact, one of the best ways to know whether your diet is working properly is the lack of bowel movements. If you're in a deficit, they will be cut down quite a bit. That means it's storing inside for a while and keeping the scale up when you're really losing fat.

When you get a gym membership, you'll have access to a scale, so track often.

I am curious about sodium intake. Yesterday I was way over my sodium limit and I am curious how this would impact my "diet." I know sodium makes you retain water, but if everything else is in check could I still lose fat? Later down the line after I have lost a good amount of fat could I then just cut out a lot of my sodium in order to lose a lot of "water weight" caused by excess sodium? I am curious to see how sodium plays a role in dieting and if its something I need to monitor closely. If I lose fat and gain water weight (due to more sodium) I am fine with this as I should be able to shed water weight later by restricting sodium intact later down the line. Any imput on this would be greatly appreciated.

"Clark Kent wrote:

Agreed. More numbers are better. Glycogen and water can fluctuate from 1-15lbs depending on various factors like carb intake, sodium intake, etc... In fact, one of the best ways to know whether your diet is working properly is the lack of bowel movements. If you're in a deficit, they will be cut down quite a bit. That means it's storing inside for a while and keeping the scale up when you're really losing fat.

When you get a gym membership, you'll have access to a scale, so track often.

Yessir, bought a scale and check every morning before breakfast.

As for carbs, imo it is better to mix them with a fiber source like raw veggies or legumes. And unlike in your case what works well for me is actually reducing what I call low quality protein and going more with nuts as the fat=protein ratio of the low quality stuff tends to pack weight onto my frame.

Do agree 100% on sauces on your food, but I'd toss mayo into the sauce category, it has a poor quality=calorie relationship.

As for supplements, the ones I've found that work:

-Chromium picolinate
-Vitamin D
-Cayenne
-St John's Wort

Since ma-huang has been banned I generally do not fool with weight loss supplements as they are just not very effective.

"UCF FINatic wrote:

I am curious about sodium intake. Yesterday I was way over my sodium limit and I am curious how this would impact my "diet." I know sodium makes you retain water, but if everything else is in check could I still lose fat? Later down the line after I have lost a good amount of fat could I then just cut out a lot of my sodium in order to lose a lot of "water weight" caused by excess sodium? I am curious to see how sodium plays a role in dieting and if its something I need to monitor closely. If I lose fat and gain water weight (due to more sodium) I am fine with this as I should be able to shed water weight later by restricting sodium intact later down the line. Any imput on this would be greatly appreciated.

Sodium has no effect on body composition. Eat as much as you want. It will make your retain some water though.

"Clark Kent wrote:

Sodium has no effect on body composition. Eat as much as you want. It will make your retain some water though.

One caution with that is eating a large amount of protein and sodium the body will require additional water to process those substances...or I'd suspect constipation would result.

"Clark Kent wrote:

Sodium has no effect on body composition. Eat as much as you want. It will make your retain some water though.

Sodium will retain water like you say. It means he will retain "water weight" meaning the scales may not tell you the whole truth. Water is great for your body and helps clean you but you don't want to retain it when trying to lose weight. As padre said...drink lots of it to prevent cramping and constipation as a high protein diet pretty much requires it. A normal diet should have two gallons of water a day...try for more then that. It gives you that full feeling especially on days when you want to go outside your diets restrictions. Don't eliminate sodium but do try and limit it to a degree. Go for the lightly salted chips or peanuts where possible.

Also UCF, if you had no soreness after your workout you aren't trying hard enough :)

You're on the right track. I've recently simply been counting my calories and using the myfitnesspal app on Iphone to track it and I lost nearly 20lbs in a matter of weeks. Calories in and calories out. Add some excercise and it flies off.

Hint: Don't eat your excercise calories for quicker / more consistent results.

"Boik14 wrote:

Sodium will retain water like you say. It means he will retain "water weight" meaning the scales may not tell you the whole truth. Water is great for your body and helps clean you but you don't want to retain it when trying to lose weight. As padre said...drink lots of it to prevent cramping and constipation as a high protein diet pretty much requires it. A normal diet should have two gallons of water a day...try for more then that. It gives you that full feeling especially on days when you want to go outside your diets restrictions. Don't eliminate sodium but do try and limit it to a degree. Go for the lightly salted chips or peanuts where possible.

Also UCF, if you had no soreness after your workout you aren't trying hard enough :)

Only part I disagree with. Soreness should be expected at first (fight through it the first month) but it should not be used as an indicator long-term. One reason is

Lyle McDonald wrote:

First, the easier of the two which is soreness. Simply, this doesn’t matter. Soreness appears to mainly be an issue of connective tissue damage more than anything muscularly (despite still being called Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness or DOMS) and there is no problem training through it. Most find that by the time they finish their warm-ups (see Warming Up for the Weight Room Part 1 and Warming Up for the Weight Room Part 2 for detailed information on this), the majority of the soreness is gone and even more find that as they get used to a higher training frequency soreness becomes much less anyhow. They also usually start growing better.

However, if soreness persists for a prolonged period (even after a month of steady and consistent training) then dialing it back might be for the best as you're overdoing it. In a calorie deficit, muscles don't repair themselves quickly enough (which is why a seasoned lifter can't put on muscle at this time).

MonstBlitz wrote:

You're on the right track. I've recently simply been counting my calories and using the myfitnesspal app on Iphone to track it and I lost nearly 20lbs in a matter of weeks. Calories in and calories out. Add some excercise and it flies off.

Hint: Don't eat your excercise calories for quicker / more consistent results.

Exactly. Also I would add, the only way to truly know how many calories you've burned during exercise is through trial and error and that's a pain in the ass because so many different variables could be at play. Especially with MFP calculating "exercise calories". Those numbers are trash. Hit your goals and do what you do and the weight will come off.

"Clark Kent wrote:

Only part I disagree with. Soreness should be expected at first (fight through it the first month) but it should not be used as an indicator long-term. One reason is

However, if soreness persists for a prolonged period (even after a month of steady and consistent training) then dialing it back might be for the best as you're overdoing it. In a calorie deficit, muscles don't repair themselves quickly enough (which is why a seasoned lifter can't put on muscle at this time).

Exactly. Also I would add, the only way to truly know how many calories you've burned during exercise is through trial and error and that's a pain in the ass because so many different variables could be at play. Especially with MFP calculating "exercise calories". Those numbers are trash. Hit your goals and do what you do and the weight will come off.

The same muscles should not be sore every time and if that happens theres something wrong but if youre not somewhat sore the next morning you probably didnt push yourself hard enough. I am familiar with DOMS but soreness can also result from nothing more then a good intense workout. And the reason pushing yourself would be important is obviously to burn calories, push your body to different limits and to keep yourself interested in working out otherwise it becomes boring and mundane. In short, soreness is a good thing as long as soreness doesnt = pain.

This is also why you take the protein shake AFTER you lift, especially in a calorie deficit, to speed muscle repair. Potassium based foods such as bananas and other fruits also aid this but too much potassium isnt good either.

If you're having soreness continually I would probably try using creatine. Used to help me a lot.

"Stringer Bell wrote:

If you're having soreness continually I would probably try using creatine. Used to help me a lot.

I will try that. I have been doing crossfit for about 4 months now, and I pretty spend my entire week sore.

"Dol-Fan Dupree wrote:

I will try that. I have been doing crossfit for about 4 months now, and I pretty spend my entire week sore.

be prepared to drink A LOT of water and feel bloated with creatine.

"Boik14 wrote:

be prepared to drink A LOT of water and feel bloated with creatine.

So it is either bloated or sore?

"Dol-Fan Dupree wrote:

So it is either bloated or sore?

Not enough creatine and you can have both... :)

How much will not having a gym membership set me back?

The reason I ask is because I am only going to be in Gainesville for the next six and a half weeks. In order to use a gym for that amount of time I would have to sign up, pay $50, and then cancel my membership. Right after I leave Gainesville, I will be going back to Orlando where I can use Gold's Gym for free (my brother has an account there). Then when I come back up to Gainesville towards the end of August I will be allowed to use the UF gym. All in all, I just don't think it is worth the hassle of going through with it up here since it would only be for a few weeks. Additionally, since I am just starting to diet and exercise I don't think getting a gym membership would make THAT much of a difference in my results. I will continue to push myself doing various workouts and activities I can find online, etc. This weekend I am actually planning on doing a 40 mile bike course.

What are your thoughts?