$600 Weight Loss Challenge: Day 50 of 70

May 1, 2010 Posted by Tyler Cruz

It’s now day 50 out of 70 in my blogging weight loss challenge versus Paul Piotrowski.

I checked the calendar a few minutes ago and discovered that I was actually saying that wrong day in my past post and video titles – it is actually 1 day more, so that’s fixed in this title now.

I’d like to remind you that this competition between Paul Piotrowski and myself is not just any ordinary friendly weight loss challenge. If one of us doesn’t meet and maintain our weight loss quota on May 21st, 2010 at 10PM Pacific Time, we will have to pay the other person $600 out of our own fat pocket.

As a reminder, the competition states that I must lose 12 pounds within 10 weeks and Paul must lose 13 pounds within 10 weeks. This works out to 6% for each of our body weight, in order to make it fair.

As I write this very sentence, there are only 20 days, 5 hours, 53 minutes, 10 seconds left in the challenge, which means that both Paul and I have to really focus and make things happen before it’s too late.

Paul’s Weight Loss Status

Since it has only been 2 days since I last posted an update on this challenge, there isn’t much to report on Paul other than his weight.

As of this morning, Paul has lost a total of 6.2 pounds. That means he lost 2.4 pounds in the last 24 hours! Shit!

I’m pretty sure it’s because he started running at night, whereas before he was only dieting.

With only 20 days left in the challenge, Paul still has to lose 6.8 pounds. That means that Paul needs to lose at least an average of 0.34 pounds every day for the next 20 days straight.

My Weight Loss Status

Weight loss can often be mysterious, surprising you by shedding off weight when you didn’t expect it, and tacking on more weight when you expected the opposite.

Unfortunately for me, the weight loss gods decided upon the latter in my case over the past couple days as I weighed in at 196, a gain of 1 pound. What makes this so surprising to me is that it happened after my very long trek around Westwood Lake yesterday (see below).

It’s very discouraging and is actually starting to give me serious doubts on whether I can make this weight loss challenge in time. It’s certainly not the first time that I’ve regained weight during the challenge, but to not have lost any weight after yesterday is just so disheartening.

I think that I need to focus on my “diet” again… I’m going to try to make sure I eat breakfast everyday again and really try to eat more times per day, Filipino style.

I think I’m doing more than enough exercise-wise, so maybe it’s the eating I need to concentrate on at the moment.

New Distance Record: 15KM! (9.3 Miles)

Yesterday morning I woke up and checked Paul’s weight loss status (as he updates every morning on his blog) and saw that he had lost 6 pounds… that’s a loss of 2.2 pounds in one day!

That really annoyed the hell out of me for some reason… and so even though I didn’t get a good night’s sleep and wasn’t feeling all that energetic, I decided to go out to Westwood Lake for another run.

Unfortunately, it was a miserable day out yesterday, with strong wind and rain which is a bad mix. The lake is situated at the bottom of a heavily forested mountain, and so all the huge trees amplified the wind into strong gusts at certain open points of the trail. In fact, they were so strong in some areas that I felt like I was taking two steps forward and one step back.

However, the majority of the trail was protected by being inside the forest which kept me mostly dry and blocked the wind. But the wind and rain certainly slowed me down.

As a result, I finished the first 6KM in 58:53 which is not a new record for me, but isn’t too bad so I was satisfied with it. But the 6 pound weight loss of Paul kept re-entering my mind and so I decided to continue on to set a new personal distance record.

My previous record was 14KM which I set on the final run of last year’s weight loss challenge, so I wanted to do 15KM.

I actually managed to do the second lap without too much difficulty, and even jogged a couple stretches. However, the final 3KM really started to take their toll on my feet; they felt like cement. My cardio wasn’t hit too hard (mainly because I only jog very small portions of the trail) and my legs were perfect, my feet were just tired of getting stepped on, heh. I also had a growing blister growing with every step on my right heel.

But in the end, I made it! A new distance record! Sure, I walked most of it, but you’d think the distance would still help with weight loss, wouldn’t it?

Starting on my second lap, I started to text message Paul with my distance at every KM mark just to piss him off 🙂

Here’s a video of me on my final KM back to my car (which is why I’m walking very slow):

When I got home I actually lost 2 pounds, but regained it back fairly quickly after consuming a lot of liquid.

On the last day of my challenge I think I’m probably going to try for another record, trying to hit the the 16KM mark. The only downside is that the final weigh-in is at 10PM, meaning that I would have eaten dinner and drank a lot of fluids, meaning that the walk may not help at all.

Here’s an update on my charts:

Westwood Lake Time

Date Time Distance Comments
My 2009 Best Time 57:55 12 KM Jogged much more in the middle area
March 13, 2010 1:10:12 6 KM Feet and calves absolutely painful. Very dark out.
March 18, 2010 1:00:00 6 KM Stretched and used “ML” shoes
March 23, 2010 1:01:25 6 KM I tried, but in pain and out of breath
March 27, 2010 1:01:28 6 KM Gave good effort again but too slow
April 12, 2010 58:45 6 KM Great time, close to new record, only 50 seconds off
April 17, 2010 57:22 6 KM New Record! Really pushed hard final stretch
April 28, 2010 55:04 6 KM New Record! Felt really good and bunch of jogging
April 30, 2010 58:53 15 KM New distance record, but windy and rainy thus slow

(Note: Times are for first 6KM only)

Weight Loss Status

Date Weight Total Pounds Lost Pounds To Go Days Left
March 11, 2010 204 +3 15 70
March 19, 2010 203 +2 14 62
April 5, 2010 199 -2 10 46
April 20, 2010 196 -5 7 31
April 29, 2010 195 -6 6 22
May 1st, 2010 196 -5 7 20

I gained a pound during the past 48 hours. I’m not happy about that. But tomorrow is “Sunday” badminton which always gives me an insanely good workout, so I’m optimistic to see tomorrow’s results.

However, I still have to lose 7 more pounds during the next 20 days (and keep it off) or I’m out $625 (I made a side bet of $25 with one of my commenters). So that’s 6.8 more for Paul, and 7 more for me. Things aren’t looking too good for me at the moment…

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Posted: May 1st, 2010 under Contests  

44 Responses to “$600 Weight Loss Challenge: Day 50 of 70”

  1. Thought the end of the video was funny “okay time to eat” hehe pretty nice addition with the music too! 😀

  2. Jonathan says:

    Well no surprise that you gained the two pounds back as it’d be impossible to actually lose two pounds of fat in a single day, and actually fairly hard to lose it in a week. One-two pounds a week is all that most people can lose.

    • Jonathan, what if you are one of those intense people, such as an MMA fighter or boxer that do tremendous amount of physical exercise? I’d imagine you’d lose alot more than 2 a week.

    • Paulymath says:

      It’s not impossible. There is a difference between “burning” 2lbs of fat off through exercise, and losing fat.

      A lot of people think that the only way the body sheds fat is through burning it off. In fact, the body can get rid of fat in other ways.

      Actually, never mind, I shouldn’t be giving Tyler any hints. Yeah, Tyler it’s impossible!

      You should just quit now.

      🙂

      -Paul

  3. Wesley says:

    Looks like the competition is heating up a bit, which should be good for both of you as an extra motivator 🙂 The last stretch always seems to be where the most work is done so weight could come off pretty fast now.

    Still, I’m pretty confident that I’ll be $25 richer in a few weeks 😉

  4. Sunfrog says:

    Whoa! 15K is far! Your bum is gonna be sore today! The competition is heating up now. Oh yeah~

  5. Ryan says:

    Honestly, who cares? Let’s get back to some of your old posts a year ago Tyler.

    • I couldn’t agree more. It is annoying when suddenly all we can read about is Tyler walking around a lake. A least a little bit of a blog theme would be nice. With the way Tyler jumps from topic to topic I wonder if he has ADD.

      • @Laptop, Even if Tyler has ADD… That’s not necessarily a bad thing. I know I’ve read plenty of articles that stress that alot of successful entrepreneurs have one thing in common… they all have some form of ADD.

        • used tires says:

          I guess that’s true. I’ve seen this with some other successful bloggers too. Sometimes they get involved in something intense like this and spend a few days or weeks talking about it only. But it’s not a bad thing if it helps juice up creativity. 🙂

          Till then,

          Jean

      • Tyler Cruz says:

        Whenever I stick to a certain “theme”, people then hound me asking “When are you going to post another robotwarz update?”, “how is the weight loss coming?”, “how is movie-vault.com doing”, “how are your affiliate marketing campaigns doing”, etc…

        • Yeah, and on that Note Tyler, you really can’t please everyone, no business or person really does. And in the end… no matter what it is you do not everyone will be happy, so I say do what it is that you feel is right, and what works for you 😀

        • Maybe that has more to do with how you talk about something a lot for a while and then completely drop it for a month or two. It seems you get really into something for a bit and that takes over the blog. So for a while the blog’s niche is really weight loss or game design. Maybe more general updates about everything would help.

  6. Julius says:

    hmmm, “running at night”… sounds good. I think I’ll try that one out.

  7. Right on! Don’t worry about the weight gained it is probably muscle weight because you have been working out so hard. Stick to your diet and kick his butt. I know you got it in you. Keep it up! And whats with the side bet can anyone join in on that??? lol.

  8. Goodluck on your health endeavor.

  9. great, congratulations on your effords, i lost the weight i wanted to lose with inttermitent fasting, i recomend you to check it, by now is the easiest way i have found to diet and mantain my ideal weight

  10. Come on, bring home the gold!

  11. Hi guys,

    Don’t be so hard on yourself Tyler. Because you are doing an excellent job working out, which is very good. But I know that you are challenged, because you want to lose some weight. It’s so strange and funny that when we try to lose weight we have a hard time doing it. Good Luck!!!

    Kind regards,

    Sam
    X

  12. Lee Ka Hoong says:

    Don’t push yourself too hard Tyler, just try your best. I’m sure you’ve lost some weight after the badminton game. Looking forward to your result after the game. Paul just takes over you, keep it up and try your best Tyler!

    Regards,
    Lee

  13. Suresh Adams says:

    I think it is becoming more competitive. I loved the video though. keep up.

  14. Yasagun says:

    Wow… I see someone really notices to his health. I like it since we know that “HEALTH IS WEALTH”. Just keep it and stay healthy.
    Good post 😀

  15. Julius says:

    I tried running at night for a few nights now and so far I’m enjoying the feeling the next day.

    • used tires says:

      Running at night’s definitely more invigorating, especially by the beach if you live near a coast. Or even on streets. I find it more comfortable because the sun’s not bearing down on you and there’s fewer people on the road too.

      Till then,

      Jean

  16. Paulymath says:

    Your new plugin (standout comments) is busted. Everytime I leave a comment it wants me to register to your RSS feed, even I’m already registered and I already registered again with the plugin on the last comment.

    Even when I un-select all the checkboxes, it still wants me to sign up for stuff.

    -Paul

  17. Nomar says:

    I could lose a couple of pounds to! Nice vid you created again tyler 🙂

  18. Weight loss is never a easy task. I remember those days where I am trying to loss weight and I cut down my meal from 3 normal meals to 1 normal meal + 1 oat porridge. After the porridge meal which I find very tasteless, I ate 1 banana and I find myself 2 pounds heavier the next day.

  19. PHP Tutorial says:

    You’ll probably get more work done as well

  20. You need the eye of the tiger!

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