So once upon a time (10 years ago) I was a lean, mean, jump out of planes, shoot em in the face, ruck a dozen miles before the sun comes up, eat nails for breakfast, rough, tough, dude.

Now I am a computer programmer with 6 kids, a wife, a dog, a house, ten acres of land to care for, and too much stuff going on in any given day (at least that is what I have told myself) to exercise regularly. Result: I am way overweight.

Right now I am at 325 lbs. I'm 6'6" so I don't look horribly obese but I am. Two months ago I was 350.

In the past two months we bought our dream home (the aforementioned ten acre plot) and because I now live a bit out of town I find myself eating out way less and just having more to do around the property to keep me somewhat active. This accounts for the 25 pound weight loss.

I always talk about getting in shape and loosing this weight so that I can be more healthy, but I never get around to it. It is always some distant goal that I am going to do eventually.

Well, no more...

Today I got off my ass and started exercising. I have a pretty good knowledge base of what to do, both exercise and eating, so my main problem has always been motivation and discipline. A few years ago I dropped about 20 pound ands was steady working out for about two months because I wanted to start running Spartan Races. I never got around to it. Then I ballooned p to the 350 after that. I am determined not to let that happen this time, so I am writing this thread as a way to help me track my progress, but also as a way to have a little bit of a place to brag (hopefully). It is always nice to work hard and be able to tell people about it.

So I hope all you will help me stay on track...

Good for you.  What was your weight 10 years ago?

I was pretty skinny in my Army days. When I joined 15 years ago I was barely 200. I "bulked" up to about 220. I think I left the service at about 225 after shaming out of all PT my last two months in.

My goal weight is to be in the 235ish range with a low teens body fat %. For a guy my height 220-225 just looks and feels too skinny. I want to have some decent muscle mass but not look like "Ahnald"

Mainly, from a practical standpoint, I want to be able to lead a fairly active lifestyle with my kids and wife. That may mean throwing on a 45 pound ruck for a weeklong backpacking trip at 8000' elevation, a day spent kayaking one of the many beautiful lakes around here, biking 20-30 miles on one of the trails, snowshoeing in the winter, or being able to haul (in multiple trips) a quartered elk of ridge a few miles back to the car. These are all things that I should be able to handle, but right now it is difficult. My 4 boys are all in their first year of Scouts (they were cubs but that was a cake walk physically for me) so they are doing things that are harder now and I want to be there to experience it with them.

Good deal!  

How old are you?

Be 32 this year.

Good luck

All things being equal, 32 is very doable.

You don't want to head into the 40s out of shape if you can avoid it... harder to turn the ship at that point.

Eh, plenty of time. I'm going to be 33 this year and almost the best shape of my life.

Six kids, it is going to be hard to be consistent.  Home gym and just stick with it for two months.  By then it should be an ingrained habit.

I know right. part of the problem is we'd go through the day, then get the kids in bed (after feeding them healthy) then be sitting around at night and want some snack food. We'd go out and buy some unhealthy crap late at night. Finally moving out of the suburbs and into the country has dramatically cut this down so it has helped a ton in the last two months.

Isn't that what school is for?  

Ha, school is for chumps. My wife homeschools them and I work out of my home office. I am around them 24/7. It's great but it doesn't always feel that way.

You sir are insane.  

So day one is mostly under my belt.

I started the day with 40 mins of swimming. Ate healthy throughout the day. Took the whole family to the gym/rec center where I did 40 mins of upper body lifting. Then I got the kids up and climbing on the rock wall for a bit.

Overall a good day, though right now I feel dead energy wise. According to my fitness tracking app, I still need about 400 more calories right now even though I've already had 5 meals.

I'll probably finish the night off with a veggie shake to ensure I top off my fruit/veggie requirement  for the day.

Best of luck to you.  What part of Idaho?

North Idaho. In the vicinity of CDA.

Day two was a failure.

I woke up feeling a bit crappy. But thought it was just fatigue from day 1. Figured I take it easy in the morning and hit the gym that afternoon.

Nope.

By afternoon I realized it was not fatigue but a fever.

I've been drinking a crap ton of water to try and combat it, but I still feel a bit like crap today. Hopefully I'll feel good enough to pull my ass out of bed this afternoon and do something to get my body going.

So long as you don't lose your motivation, nothing is lost.  Use these sick days to research information on starting new into a fitness program.  Joints and tendons build slower than muscle and you should find a routine to strenghten them before moving onto heavier things, in order to avoid injuries down the road.

A good exercise routine is great to have, but good eating habits will produce far better results as far as weight loss is concerned.

Come on 13r, get with the program!

So for an update on how day 3 has gone see my thread in GD

http://www.ar15.com/forums/t_1_5/1650965_Ask_a_guy_sitting_in_the_emergency_room_any_thing.html

I went to the doc because I thought I had a hernia. Turns out I had a swollen thyroid which can be caused by similar situations. Antibiotics for 10 days fixed me right up. Hope you feel better and stay on track!


On another note, good luck with everything. I almost hit 320 one time. Told myself to knock it off. I sit at about 6'3"  240 and have a blue belt in BJJ.  I want to get down to 225, but my motivation has left me for the time being, damn craft beer.