Blogging Weight Loss Challenge: Day 14
April 23, 2009 Posted by Tyler CruzIt’s hard to believe that my Blogging Weight Loss Challenge: Cruz vs Volk has already hit its 2 week mark. That’s 2 weeks down and 8 more to go, or 56 days.
I will need to keep a close eye on things or before I know it I’ll only have a week or two left.
Fortunately, I’ve been doing great so far at keeping up with my 6KM walk/jog around Westwood Lake, going roughly every 4 days on average. I’ve also been keeping up with my “daily lists” and have been playing badminton twice a week. Yet, even with all this, I still wasn’t seeing any change in my weight, so I decided to add something else to the mix.
More Badminton
I decided to add a 3rd night of badminton to my schedule as I really enjoy playing. In contrast, the only thing I like about jogging Westwood Lake is trying to beat my record.
Since the group I’ve been playing with for over a decade only meets twice a week, I decided to check out a new group that started playing at the high school I used to go to. They play on Sunday nights so it’s well spaced out from my other two badminton nights (Tuesday and Thursday).
There are a lot of really good players there, including the woman who runs it who was apparently once ranked sixth place in Canada. The courts there are do different from the other gym I play at. It’s so much more open with more room to play which feels so freeing, but the lines are very difficult to see and are confusing the way they painted them so close to the volleyball lines. The lights are absolutely horrible though and I actually had to sit out for a good 30-minutes to let my eyes adjust as I basically blinded myself after looking right into them from getting some really high birds come at me.
I’ll definitely be getting a better workout from the new Sunday night badminton group than my old one due to the higher calibre players, so hopefully that will help shed some pounds.
Oh, So Close…
I was very disappointed on my Westwood Lake “run” today. I ended up finishing at 1:00:45 which is exactly 1 minute over my previous time and all-time record.
It’s really strange because I thought I was doing awesome. I finished the first huge incline feeling great (relatively) and went down the steep slope following it with (again, relative) ease as well. I felt so good, in fact, that I decided to do a short jog after getting back to the flat trail. After a short walk break, I did another jog or two.
I continued on at a good pace and I was really excited as the surroundings made me feel like I was doing awesome, and I felt good too. I hit the halfway 3KM mark with excitement, thinking that I was going to see 25:00 when I checked my stopwatch, but dread stole the show when I saw that it was actually 30:00 – exactly what it was when I made my record 5 days prior.
That was a huge motivational blow, but I thought I could still set a new record since I was feeling pretty good.
In the end I did come close to my record, but I’m still surprised I didn’t set a new one. I guess I need to jog more stretches. But it’s really difficult, as I’m really pushing myself hard every time I go. This time, my lower shins really hurt bad and prevented me from doing some jogs when my cardio could have done them. That’s a bad feeling to have as you know you can do it cardio-wise but have to walk because your shins say otherwise.
The good news is that my feet don’t seem to hurt anymore, nor my calves. In fact, my feet and calves were pretty much pain-free when I finished. On a pain scale from 1-10 I’d rate them a 1 maybe. But my shins… man… annoying. I’d rate them at about a 7, or 9 in some areas (after jogging).
It does seem, though, that I can jog slightly longer stretches. Nothing major, but perhaps 5-7 seconds longer.
The other good news out of this latest “run” is that several readers commented during my previous run when I broke my record, that I probably run faster because it was dark out and I was scared or wanted to finish faster. Since this time was only a minute slower, I think that should dispel that myth.
So, I was really disappointed, but maybe I’ll beat my record time next run. If my lower shins improve I know I can. And maybe they’ll improve and feel better like my feet and calves have. That’d be cool.
Regarding the food in the video – for those curious, that will last me 2.5-3 meals… I didn’t eat it all at once.
And for those angry or frustrated that I’ve remained stubborn and haven’t made any changes to my diet – I’m sorry but I just don’t want to make that sacrifice yet if I don’t have to. I want to focus first on just getting more exercise, and if I don’t see any results by week 4 then I’ll start making some improved food choices as well.
Westwood Lake Time
| Date | Time | Comments |
| My 2007 Best Time | 1:00:34 | My previous record… |
| April 8, 2009 | 1:06:00 | Feet and calves absolutely painful |
| April 12, 2009 | 1:05:33 | Feet, shins, and calves still absolutely painful |
| April 15, 2009 | 59:45 | New Record! Jogged a couple extra stretches |
| April 20, 2009 | 1:00:45 | Off my record by a minute 🙁 Shins killed me |
Weight Loss Status
| Date | Weight | Total Pounds Lost | Days Left |
| April 11, 2009 | 205 | 0 | 68 |
| April 14, 2009 | 205 | 0 | 65 |
| April 19, 2009 | 205 | 0 | 60 |
| April 23, 2009 | 204 | 1 | 56 |
This looks bad, I know… lol. But I think I’ll start seeing some results soon as I push myself more.
Don’t Forget to Participate to Win up to $250
Remember, all you need to do is blog about my Weight Loss Challenge with Jonathan Volk and predict who you think might not make the challenge to be eligible to win a possible $100-$250. Full details can be found in the original post.
19 Responses to “Blogging Weight Loss Challenge: Day 14”
Tyler, as I’ve said before you are seriously going about this the wrong. If you want to lose weight like you do, then you need to run every 2nd day MINIMUM and also change your eating habits. Only then will you see the results you are after. Doing the walk/run every 4 days isn’t going to do a thing. Are you trying to lose weight or cut down your time? The two don’t correlate like you think they do.
I’m going to start changing some of my eating habits soon.
Hey Tyler,
I want to vote for you I really do but I have to agree with matt. Cutting down your time doesn’t mean anything if you aren’t healthier and you are still the same weight.
Losing weight requires a change of lifestyle and as you said eating habits.
Good luck, but if something doesn’t change you will end up the same weight again.
Ryan
Good luck, I know how hard it can bee and I think this is a great way to get other people involved and maybe they will think of doing something similar on their blogs.
Hi tyler,
few comments,
1)you definitely do not have shin splints as a rower i know what they are like and if you had them you would barely be able to walk let alone run.
2) Each run is only burning off around 400-500 calories to put that in perspective thats around 2 caburies cream eggs! thats nothing! Imagin if you cut out 1 small piece of toast a day which is 100 calories! That would be 400 calories every 4 days which would be the same ammount of calories as you cut out during your 5/6k run! You say you dont want to change your eating habbits but what you are doing it the hard way. I could map you out a very nice eating plan that wouldnt be too hard to keep for 4 weeks!
3) The most important thing is to keep going and your doing well! I just think you need to make a few adjustments to your workout and you will be a fat burning machine!
-James
Hi Tyler,
I know what you are going through. I was running 3 times a week to kick start my weight loss and just like you my shins started bothering me. Recently I have been using the elliptical and the treadmill, now my shins do not bother me any more. My total time spent using the 2 machines is about 45 minutes. I eat 5-6 small meals a day and have managed to loose an average of 2-3lbs a week.
Good Luck!
Never actually played badminton. I’m a tennis fiend – but never badminton. I might just need to try it soon!
keep up the good work buddy!
Tyler,
Good luck with the weight loss goals. This is a great idea to keep you motivated. The best weight loss tip that I have is to get you wisdom teeth out, you will lose 10 lbs in 2 weeks!
Hi,
I have some tips for you.
The pain in your shins is because you’ve increased your training on hard surfaces to fast. To get rid of the pain in your shin you should try to run on softer surfaces. Small forest trails are best. You could also try to put some ice on them after your exercise.
Good luck with your project.
The asphalt you see in the video is actually only the parking lot at the end of the trail. I conclude my run once I touch my car. The actual ‘circuit’ is all trail.
Good luck with your weight loss. A great tip for me was to use the power of small. Dont think of how much weight you want to lose that gets overwhelming. Just take it one meal at a time- and when you walk into the kitchen make a conscious decision to eat well.
Good to see you are trying to lose weight. Don’t think I need to repeat that you are going about it backwards by not changing you eating habits, but I will anyway. Talk about doing it the hard way.
Also, running every 4 days will do almost nothing, you need lean muscle to burn more calories per day. I started a 20 minute strength/cardio DVD 3 weeks ago, coupled with not eating junk food. I’ve done it 14 times and lost 13 pounds so far. The workout is hard, and I feel like dying everytime but it is working fantastic. It is the 30 Day Shread by Jillian Micheal’s. Highly recommended.
Also, with the pain you are feeling, if possible run in bare feet, or a shoe with no cushioning like a cheap $20 walmart trainer. Human feet were not designed to be ‘Helped’ by expensive cushioning shoes. The way you run in bare feet is way different. You don’t come down hard on the balls of your feet. Every since I started working out in bare feet, no leg pain afterward. Anyway, just a suggestion…worked for me.
Please don’t follow the advice of running bare feet or in bad shoes. Your feet DO need good support for distance running if you are to minimise the risk of impact injuries.
No, actually they don’t. Who always wins distance marathons? People from places that never wear any shoes. They never get any injuries from running. Thats because they are running how we were intended to run. Nature did not design our feet to need shoes and the only reason we get ‘impact injuries is because of these un-natural shoes we wear.
Your feet will adjust when you run barefeet and you will notice a diffence. Just jog around a few minutes on the grass in your barefeet and pay attention to how your feet move and react to each step.
Then do the same thing with your shoes on and see the difference. You will stomp down harder with shoes on because of all the ‘support’ you have. People think 1/2 inch of rubber will make a huge difference to a 200 pound man? Really? Just think about it.
By rights you could have safely lost around 2 – 3 pound by now. You really aren’t going about this the right way and aren’t nearly motivated enough. If you want to have the slightest hope of winning I would try eating better and incorporating some weight lifting sessions into your “plan”
I second the recommendation to switch to a strength training workout and also the need to do something at least 4 days a week.
Strength training has many benefits over cardio. 1 – You will build muscle and look better
2 – You will build muscle and that new muscle will increase the # of calories u burn per day
3 – You end up elevating your fat burning for a few hours after your workout, which cardio doesn’t do.
If you really want, you can add 15 minutes of cardio to the end of the strength workouts, but wouldn’t do much more than that.
Good luck with the weight loss project! Badminton is a great way to have some physical workout, and adding a third badminton night is a great idea! You could also add more cardio activities to increase your stamina and endurance.
You didn’t mention the little surprise you sent along to your competitor…but I thought that was very clever. Have you tried replacing foods that you love with healthy alternatives? I love junk food, and Morning Star makes items like buffalo wings that are all veggies. You can’t tell the difference- might be something to consider.