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I am very close to you in weight and caloric intake. I will confess to not knowing exactly how many calories as I have not been tracking them lately. I am still losing about a pound a week. Right now I am at 276 lbs and have very little left to lose in the way of fat. I am not stalled yet, but it is slower now than since surgery, which was October 2016.
I would suspect carbs as the main villain. Taste great, less filling, right? So you get hungrier faster, plus, your body is busy converting them to fat. I stick to protein, some fruit, and a piece of raisin toast (80 calories, 15 carbs) in the morning with my eggs and cheese.
Oh yeah, beans. I eat lots of beans. We will make up a huge pot of chili with ground turkey, kidney beans, garbanzo beans, black beans, and a little bit of corn for color. Tomato sauce and onions provide some vegetables. It is great for fast meals during the week, full of protein, and the fiber in the beans is good for us as well.
I wrote the above late last night. Halfway asleep I thought of another thing that happens quite often. Athletes will be at a high calorie count since they are burning so many (weights, exercise). An injury occurs or they stop exercising so they don't workout. But, they are still use to their same amount of calorie intake...Since it's been a pattern for months. It becomes really hard to drop the calories and they have a major regain. I'm a SF Giants fan...We saw this in San Francisco and Boston had to deal with this with Pablo Sandoval (Kung Fu Panda)...Brian
This is how I managed to put on my excess weight. I was always chubby, but as a younger adult, I had several very demanding jobs from a physical point of view. As long as I worked hard, I was fat, but not too. But then life got easier. And I had well established eating patterns.
I am like a reformed smoker these days. The protein list is pretty much what I follow. I am adding more fruits to that. Since most of the vegetables I like are starchy, I stay away from them.
Does the answer contain "Eureka!?!" We got rid of our tub years ago in favor of a large shower stall. We're some of those underprivileged types who only have one bathroom in the house. We have an outhouse, but my wife won't let me count that as a half bath. But anyway, I've been thinking about putting a tub back in. I can fit now.
I wrote the above late last night. Halfway asleep I thought of another thing that happens quite often. Athletes will be at a high calorie count since they are burning so many (weights, exercise). An injury occurs or they stop exercising so they don't workout. But, they are still use to their same amount of calorie intake...Since it's been a pattern for months. It becomes really hard to drop the calories and they have a major regain. I'm a SF Giants fan...We saw this in San Francisco and Boston had to deal with this with Pablo Sandoval (Kung Fu Panda)...Brian
Thanks so much for the response. I am definitely currently guilty of the workout and weight loss justifying some bad carbs creeping in. I am going to adopt a more strict 900-1000 calorie, protein focused diet to try to get myself moving again. My doctor told me that where people are at after their first year is about their range and I was hoping to be much closer to my 240 goal than I am currently.
-Dwayne
As you know, muscle weighs more than fat. I'm sure your waistline is doing better with the workouts. That being said, over the long term, the reason for your surgery was because of health. Since you probably won't be competing for Olympic medals or going after a multi million dollar sports contract, you might want to consider working on toning rather than bulking at this time. There is a time for bulking (at or near goal). But getting to goal is more important than gaining muscle. Yes, gaining muscle is great...No problems with that. I would just like to see a swimmers body type near goal, before you consider going for the bulk.
Here is where the problem lies. As you bulk up, you can justify the extra calories...Especially the simple carbs..."Well, I'll be burning them off anyways." If your weigh loss stall has lasted more than a month, I would say you might be trying to justify those carbs.
Proteins that would be good for weight loss and muscle growth; Whey protein isolate (be careful to not use too much...Bad for the kidneys), milk, plain Greek yogurt, Plain nuts (walnuts, almonds, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, roasted pistachios, dry roasted peanuts, pecans), beef jerky, beans, peas, lean meats, Wendy's Chili, roasted soy nuts.
You may want to add more vegetables and a small amount of fruit. But the biggest issue you need to take a hard look at is the simple carbs; candy, cookies, pastries, breads, soft drinks, ice cream. These things stop your weigh loss in their tracks...You need to limit them.
I want to be supportive here...You are doing good with the weigh loss and the bulking up. But, now is the time for the golden opportunity to work on the weigh loss. The simple carb are addicting. I know. I was at about 300 pounds. I got down to 187 (RNY)...So I started to reward myself (Hey Brian, You're doing pretty good...Relax, don't take this food issue so seriously). Over the next 3-4 years I had regained to about 235...Pepsi being my carb of choice. It took me getting a second heart attack to wake me up to try and drop down below 200. I'm at 197 today (over 11 years out). Stay with the program...You'll be happier in the end.
Good problems to have... My family had about 8-10 8N and 9N Ford Tractors. We harvested grapes and peaches with them. We were a cheap family...All the batteries were dead in the tractors. We would jump start one tractor...Then have someone on one of the tractors pulling another tractor to (pop the clutch) to start the others. Fun days!! Bill, wanted to share with you my best FART (WOW on other forums) moment. After dropping over 100 pounds I got into the tub...The same tub I had used for over 15 years. So the water is running...And it's taking longer and longer for the bath to full up. I'm wondering "what's going on here...It never took this long for the tub to fill up before"?? I think you know the answer...
I went and found a picture of my big machine, the ?63 Super Dexta. We had to put new rims and tires on this year. The original rims finally rusted through after 54 years of sal****er inside. Whoever put it in got his money's worth. The "new" tires and rims, salvaged off an old Ford 8N don?t have calcium in them. But it may be an option for the little John Deere, which is sitting right next to it, and the one which has the snowblower.
Don, no worries at al! I understood and appreciated your humor completely! I laughed out loud, to tell you the truth.
I talked to my wife about putting "calcium" in the tires. Calcium is shorthand for calcium chloride solution, which many farmers used back in the day. My old '63 Super Dexta had calcium filled tires. They must have weighed close to 500 lbs each. It is a possibility, but would make them very hard to handle, as I remove them to install or remove the chains. I also have to flip a couple of tabs on the mower to prevent the all wheel steer from hitting its max with the chains on or it will damage the body.
As for scrap metal, I have lots of lead lying around in the form of wheel weights or ingots. I cast my own bullets for my reloading hobby. I've been working on a couple of ideas to use that, sort of like your idea with the railroad rail. The trick there is to keep it as close to the wheels as possible. The further out back it gets, the more it raises the blower on the front, and I don't want that. I like the idea of a railroad rail though. I could weld a pin on it that would fit into the hitch hole on the back and that would keep the weight close.
Upfront if you felt slighted at my finding humor at your situation I apologize profoundly and profusely because that was not my intentions. I just had never heard that situation being mentioned! So please forgive me if I did.
Yes, I am in Texas and on fairly flat ground but we do have some ups and downs in the topography. Remember too when it comes to snow and ice 1/16" of "frozen precipitation" shuts us down! Everything. Business, schools, churches etc. TxDOT, our state highway agency, and a lot of the counties and municipalities start spreading salt and grit on the bridges etc. We don't have snow tires - we have mud grips and four wheel drives and still get stuck! Both on the snow and ice and in the mud!
After seeing your reply I got to thinking about your issues with the lesser weight. Check the local metal scrap yards, and it may take going to a business that sells iron and steel to check theirs too, and ideally find a 3' piece of rail road iron, 35lbs/ft, or some 2.5-3" cold roll the same legenth and some way or another attached it to the mower.
Thinking out load again do you have a freeze proof solution in your tires? I keep water and antifreeze in back tires on our "big" tractor. At 8 lbs to the gallon might be able to add another 40-50 pounds depending on size of the tires.
Hope it helps.
