fit log My Fat Loss Journey

[Harsh World]

I was around 18% body fat, eyeballing it, and yet to have a test to determine where I am now. Per my phone's photo gallery, I began tracking my fat loss journey on July 24, 2024, by taking pictures of the final exercise result screens on the various fitness machines.

I'll post what I did on those days regarding the treadmill and other cardio machines to show that progress can be made. However, everyone needs to understand that progress is slow at first, it's just a matter of whether you want to start that journey or not.

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Since some machines show different statistics, I will try to keep one easy-to-read formatted table for all my logs that includes all possible data, and an explanation if a lot is missing if I can recall why.

My target is a goal of anywhere between 6-8%, with 8% being more ideal so that I can enjoy some foods. I will get tested the next time I visit the gym and see where I am so this can be even more open, honest, and transparent.

It might complete a few days to complete my log as there are many sessions from then to now. Though, I'll continue to add to the log, even after I catch up, until I reach my target.

 

[Aufscherin]

I was around 18% body fat, eyeballing it, and yet to have a test to determine where I am now. Per my phone's photo gallery, I began tracking my fat loss journey on July 24, 2024, by taking pictures of the final exercise result screens on the various fitness machines.

Is that you in the photo? I somehow got the impression that you were in your 60's. Good luck with all of this and do keep us posted. I don't think that I need to do much, as when I walk into a store heads turn and I get 'friendly' smiles...both male and female.

 

[Harsh World]

July 24, 2024 was the first day that I hit the treadmill. I wanted to get my daughter into exercising and working out, so I wanted to set the example. I am almost too embarrassed to post this, coming from an easy 20 minute 3 mile when I was in my late teens/early 20s, even being hungover at the time while running it. This is nearly 15 minutes more than that, a mile less, and I had to do intervals of walking and jogging to make it!

Time 34:51	Total (Mi) 2.00 Climbed (Ft) 122	Cal. Burned 213 Cal./Hour 366
Avg. Pace (Min/Mi) 17:20 Avg. Speed (MPH) 3.4	Avg. HR (BPM) 142 MAX (BPM) 179	METS 4.6 WATTS 77

I don't have the photo on my phone, but I am just elated that my 13 year old daughter was able to make it to 2 miles before me. She ended up taking a selfie with us two in it as she stood next to me while I was still struggling to reach my 2 miles.

Don't get me wrong here, and I'm not making excuses for it, but I am a meathead over a cardio enthusiast. I have muscle, and am strong with definition, but taking a run just wasn't it, especially this first one!

I guarantee it, that if it's your first time running, you can beat my 17:20 mile. And, I will salute you for that!

I am more into fast-paced walking inclines and stair steppers now for better fat burn, but always start my workouts with a 0.25-0.5 mile warmup run (or 5 laps around a full 3 court gym) to get the juices flowing, which I will post to motivate me to get to a sub-2 minute quarter mile (which should be closer to a 1:45 as it takes time for the treadmill to spin up to that speed up in the beginning).

Sorry to the rest of the world. I can't be bothered to convert to metric for each post. Just know 1 mile is about 1.6 km and quick math it yourself!

 

[Harsh World]

Is that you in the photo? I somehow got the impression that you were in your 60's. Good luck with all of this and do keep us posted. I don't think that I need to do much, as when I walk into a store heads turn and I get 'friendly' smiles...both male and female.

Oh, no. That photo is just a little motivation for everyone thinking that a mile is too long. Yeah, distance wise. However, you get there quicker the more you push it.

I'm in my mid-30s, so I have no excuse for being that out of shape, cardiovascular wise.

I shouldn't be able to bench 100kg/225lbs 10 times (42 reps was the maximum I ever hit, which is more than most NFL combine attempts, but they're on the field running and I'm not) and not be able to run a sub-14 minute 2 mile without breaking a sweat.

 

[Harsh World]

August 7, 2024​

I was determined to do better than the first time.

Time 34:51	Total (Mi) 2.29 Climbed (Ft) 0	Cal. Burned 262 Cal./Hour 451
Avg. Pace (Min/Mi) 15:12 Avg. Speed (MPH) 3.9	Avg. HR (BPM) 174 MAX (BPM) 195	METS 5.9 WATTS 104

And, I did.

I shaved nearly 2 minutes off each mile (and went almost 1/3rd mile more). However, if you notice the feet climbed, it was at 0. This means that I was at an incline (unsure what percentage) the first time, but not here.

Though, if you look at my average heart rate and max heart rate here, you can see that even at at average speed of 3.9 mph, my heart wanted to beat out of my chest.

But, the important lesson here is that I got back on the treadmill 14 days after I first stepped on it and I was able to accomplish a goal of beating my previous "run".

 

[ActionAce]

I want to say a big congratulations to you on your fat loss journey. To be honest with you, it takes courage to start and not procrastinate like my female friend. She keeps blowing up.

 

[Cpvr]

I want to say a big congratulations to you on your fat loss journey. To be honest with you, it takes courage to start and not procrastinate like my female friend. She keeps blowing up.

You gotta stop feeding her so much

 

[Harsh World]

August 9, 2024​

It seemed to be everyone's chest day in the gym, so I had to cut my cardio short because it took so long to get through my chest routine.

Time 20:00	Total (Mi) 1.32 Climbed (Ft) 0	Cal. Burned 146 Cal./Hour 438
Avg. Pace (Min/Mi) 15:07 Avg. Speed (MPH) 3.9	Avg. HR (BPM) 167 MAX (BPM) 190	METS 5.7 WATTS 101

However, I was proud that I kept the same pace as on August 7th, albeit a mile short, and, my maximum heart rate seemed to drop. I don't know if that's a signal of cardiovascular improvement, or what.

I only burned 146 calories, but I also didn't intake as much that day either. At least, it burned off the calories in my post-workout protein drink.

One day at a time!

 

[ActionAce]

You gotta stop feeding her so much

She never listen to simple instructions and she complained men aren't looking her direction. How will they? @Harsh World would you approach a 550 pounds lady? Tell me honestly

 

[Harsh World]

August 12, 2024​

This was done on another machine so it won't show the feet climbed, but I was at a constant 3.0 mph at an incline of 12%. Also, there was no heart rate sensor, but I could probably guess that it was beating out of my chest. It also doesn't display METS and WATTS, which I honestly don't know what that means; my best guess for WATTS is how many watts of power I could have generated to power something?

Time 20:42	Total (Mi) 1.00 Climbed (Ft) 0	Cal. Burned 142 Cal./Hour 412
Avg. Pace (Min/Mi) 20.42 Avg. Speed (MPH) 3.0	Avg. HR (BPM) - MAX (BPM) -	METS - WATTS -

 

[Unvarnished]

I don't have fat buildup in my body because I'm fit. But I don't neglect exercise either. It's been a routine and part of my daily activities. Keeping fit needs consistency. I think the best thing is to have a weight loss goal, say, down with 30 pounds in 2 months or so. It could start with walking just for 30 minutes each day and cutting down on sugary drinks. I believe there would be positive results with consistency and dedication.

 

[Harsh World]

I don't have fat buildup in my body because I'm fit. But I don't neglect exercise either. It's been a routine and part of my daily activities. Keeping fit needs consistency. I think the best thing is to have a weight loss goal, say, down with 30 pounds in 2 months or so. It could start with walking just for 30 minutes each day and cutting down on sugary drinks. I believe there would be positive results with consistency and dedication.

I've never been fat, but average.

During my bulking bodybuilding days to 100kg, I remained at 10-14% body fat.

My ultimate goal here is to once and for all push my physical limits and see how much fat I can lose. I want to be able to see muscle striations and fibers in my chest and shoulders. This will be very hard as I'll have to approach near 6% body fat or lower.

 

[Harsh World]

August 12, 2024​

I don't know why I cut it so short this day, but I used the machine that doesn't give all the stats. So, they are roughly calculated based on the time and speed that I captured in my photo. It's important to note that I was also at an incline of 9%, as looking at a 20+ minute 1.18 mile looks pretty bad until you factor that in.

Time 20:42	Total (Mi) 1.18 Climbed (Ft) 0	Cal. Burned 163 Cal./Hour 471
Avg. Pace (Min/Mi) 2.75 Avg. Speed (MPH) 2.75	Avg. HR (BPM) - MAX (BPM) -	METS - WATTS -

 

[Harsh World]

August 16, 2024​

I believe this is when I started to go hard. I would get on the treadmill for 1-hour stretches and 5-minute cooldowns.

Time 65:00	Total (Mi) 2.8 Climbed (Ft) 1523	Cal. Burned 562 Cal./Hour 198
Avg. Pace (Min/Mi) 23:12 Avg. Speed (MPH) 2.6	Avg. HR (BPM) 151 MAX (BPM) 170	METS 6.6 WATTS 120

From here on out, I try to beat distance, height climbed, or calories burned within the 65 minutes, even adding some uphill jogging sessions of 0.1-0.25 miles to make the distance if necessary as I want to try to surpass 3 miles per session.

 

[Harsh World]

August 20, 2024​

Speed up! (But decrease the incline)

I sped this session up, cutting minutes off each mile and going about 1 mile farther. However, the incline wasn't as great, perhaps at 8-10% instead of 12-15%. I still beat my goal of distance and calories burned.

Time 65:00	Total (Mi) 3.78 Climbed (Ft) 1148	Cal. Burned 618 Cal./Hour 180
Avg. Pace (Min/Mi) 17:13 Avg. Speed (MPH) 3.5	Avg. HR (BPM) 161 MAX (BPM) 189	METS 7.3 WATTS 135

 

[Immortal]

I have watched a lot of videos where people document how they managed to cut their excess weight and got a proper shape. It is so inspiring to see these videos. Have you tried to document your weight loss journey through videos?

 

[Harsh World]

I'm not going to update from the last post (August 20) about my treadmill efforts, as I am certain I lost some endurance or stamina since my injury. Instead, I'm going to use August 20 as a reference point to pick up from. If I do much better, that will be great, but I'm setting the bar lower to compare now to then.

Since then, I did isolation exercises on my biceps, and let them heal up as they weren't used to the strain. Then, about 4 days later, I did triceps, followed by biceps the next day.

Today, I'm going to do isolation exercises on my shoulders. And, I'll end the session with light 30-pound standing shoulder presses, just to see if I feel comfortable enough to get back to the gym. If so, I will get back to my routine the next week.

 

[NatureFreak]

This is really an inspiring journey this far. You have shown a great level of determination and resilience, even in the face of setbacks.
Keep going . The goal is closer than you think.

 

[Harsh World]

Keep going . The goal is closer than you think.

Just finished the routine and I'm pretty confident that I can now pick off — somewhat — where I left off.

Cardio will be my challenge, but I'm setting the bar low to not be overwhelmed. My strength, in isolation movements, is still there. However, I start my workouts with compound movements (bench, shoulder press, etc.), so I will likely either drop weight or repetitions when I move into isolation work on specific muscles.

 

[Harsh World]

I've been getting back into it the past few weeks with home workouts. I'll have to start going to the gym again soon so I can lift a bit heavier. This is just to record a chest and tricep workout that is pretty effective for my body for endurance and growth and demonstrates that anyone can make time to do it from home.

I started with incline pushups, where my feet are about 30 inches off the ground, and a 1m45s second break between sets: For this workout, I did 36 repetitions, 16, 10, and finished it off at 8.

I usually rest for about the same duration as I do between sets before starting a new exercise, but not always. However, I took a 1m45s rest before continuing.

I moved to wall pushups with my feet out about 2' from the wall. I will start pushing with just my fingertips as I feel a bit of forearm engagement, an area that I lack. For this exercise, it's quick to pump as much blood and nutrients as possible into the chest, but I feel it a lot more in the front shoulder as I reach failure. I did 70 repetitions, rested for 1 minute, and then did 40 more.

I rested for 1 minute before moving into a wall pushup in the same stance except pushing with my hands forming a diamond in front of my chest. I did 30 repetitions, took a 1-minute rest, then did 20 more.

I wanted to move into the next exercise within 1 minute, but it took about a minute 45 to get into position as I didn't ready the dumbbells. I did floor dumbbell presses with 20-pound dumbells, taking a 1-minute rest between each set, and did 25 repetitions, 20, and then 16.

To push the triceps to failure, I used a new grip, similar to the hammer curl, except did laying tricep pullovers with my arms straight up and carefully moving the dumbbells in my hands down to my ear level before extending my arm back out. I typically use a 60 pound EZ-bar but don't have one at home, so this pushed the weight I could do down drastically because I'm not used to engaging my triceps that way. That said, I started with 15-pound dumbbells and did 15 repetitions, took a 1-minute rest and swapped out the 15s for 10s, and did 12 repetitions, 10 repetitions, and finished it off with much slower downward movement as that seemed to be my weakness with the first 3 sets, with 6 repetitions.

All together, I had about 18 minutes of resting between sets and I would guesstimate that each set took about 55 seconds, for about 14 minutes of actual physical work, making my workout just over 30 minutes, but it's guaranteed to give me that soreness throughout my chest, shoulders, and triceps tomorrow.

I plan on doing my 5k hump/hike with a 40-pound weight vest and a backpack with 30 pounds tomorrow if the weather is cool enough to do it.