Blogging Weight Loss Challenge: Day 2
April 11, 2009 Posted by Tyler CruzTwo days ago, my Blogging Weight Loss Challenge with Jonathan Volk officially started. After finishing working out all the rules with Jonathan, I was motivated and eager to get started so I went to Westwood Lake with Lisa.
Westwood Lake has a 6KM (3.72 Miles) trail loop that encircles the lake which is arguably one of the best trails on the island. It is mostly flat except for some small hills here and there and the beginning which is a long steep incline. If you want to try other sports that can help with your fitness journey, you may try archery. You’ll just need to invest in equipment and gear like an arrow quiver.
Lisa and I used to go around Westwood Lake a number of times in the past, but that was 2-3 years ago. My best time, 2 years ago, was around 1:00:34. So when I went to Westwood Lake a couple days ago, I knew that I probably wouldn’t come close to my record since I hadn’t done any walking for 2 years:
I ended up finishing it in 1:06:00, which I’m actually pretty happy with considering it was my first time back in a couple years.
Fortunately, my cardio wasn’t too bad since I play badminton twice a week for a couple hours, but the soles of my feet started to really hurt about 1KM in. At 3KM they were absolutely killing me but I still tried to get the best time possible. By the time I got home, after a 15-minute rest during the car ride, I literally had trouble getting up the stairs. I had to hold the handrail and do the steps one at a time.
It felt good though, and an endorphin rush was making me laugh. I’m not sure if my feet hurt so bad because they were just so unused to walking or if it was my shoes. I don’t like to blame other things such as shoes, but my feet were just killing me so bad. It was probably a combination of the two – old shoes and unexercised feed. Then again, my calves are still stiff as I write this so it had to be partly from lack of use.
My Plan of Attack
My goal is to finish Westwood Lake in 55:00, taking 5-minutes off my best time and 11-minutes off my current time. To do this, I plan on preparing a bit better for my next run by:
- Buying new shoes, like perhaps one of those adidas new releases
- Taking some supplements or vitamins(see this here)
- Stretching beforehand. I don’t know how much you can really stretch your feet though…
- Grabbing some inspirational/motivating music to listen to
- Letting my feet and calves rest fully before attempting it again
I walk 97% of the trail. I definitely can’t run it and I can only jog in very short increments. When I was 13 or 14 I was diagnosed with a mitral valve prolapse which basically makes my heart beat a lot faster (my max was 225 or something, which is supposed to kill me), so I was never really able to run, however I should be able to jog if I go slow and pace myself I think.
Fortunately, I naturally walk very fast, almost like a power walk, so it’s not much slower than a jog. But I’ll need to jog more stretches of the trail if I hope to meet my 55:00 goal – that’s a given.
Other Weight Loss Activities
Right now I plan to do Westwood Lake once a week for the first 2-3 weeks until my feet and calves start to get used to it, at which point I hope to start going twice a week.
In addition to Westwood, I play badminton twice a week. There has recently been a bunch of new badminton groups start up in my city so I might attend a new one on Sunday to make it 3 times per week.
Everyday (almost), I also do 10 nose push-ups (where my nose touches the floor), 28 sit-ups, drink 3 glasses of water, eat 2 fruits/veggies, and walk for 5 minutes. They’re really weird numbers because I incrementally increase them every 2 weeks or so (an OCD thing).
What I don’t plan to do is go on a diet. I love food with a passion (which is partly what got me in this situation in the first place) and don’t want to give up my palette. I hope to achieve the 10 pound weight loss through added exercise rather than diet. However, if I start to near the challenge deadline and haven’t made much progress then I’ll be forced to.
I don’t know if all this will be enough to lose 10 pounds in 10 weeks, so it will be interesting to see what happens.
Current Status
Starting Weight: 206
Current Weight: 205
Goal Weight: 195
Days Left: 68
19 Responses to “Blogging Weight Loss Challenge: Day 2”
The music added a touch to the video that made it fun lol.
I noticed there was a very nice Mercedes parked next to your car 🙂
haha I should have pretended to get into that one!
good luck with the challenge, you should make it pretty easy. I wonder how you can do badminton but not go running, always though it’s a pretty fast paced sport.
Without a proper diet you are seriously hindering yourself. Firstly a well balanced diet will help you lose weight, gain muscle and feel a lot better all round. Secondly after you have reached a lower weight it will be much easier to maintain if you stick to a healthy diet.
Nutrition is definitely as important as exercise.
Seriously.. A person like you could cut 10 in a week by watching your calories with a little exercise. Then you just set a new “maintenance” calorie limit and your pretty good.
Good luck with the weight loss competition and I hope you will win the challenge. You’re only 10 pounds away from it.
if your going to run, hydrate and take a multi-vitamin. I agree with Danny that a good diet is also essential but if your really a hardcore foodie, perhaps cutting out a soft-drink/day (150+ calories) can excel your weight loss and help maintain it.
10lbs is easy. You will drop a lot of water weight quickly. I remember once running in a garbage bag (ghetto sweat suit) and just sweating off the weight – it was all water that my body lost but gained back in the next two days. *note, not healthy or safe for the heart*
Best of luck!
Delete and ban the user above, complete jerk!
Tyler, id highly recommend (with a brother as a personal trainer):
1) Cutting out snacks in the day, stop with the crisps/chocolate
2) Eat three quality meals a day – breakfast, lunch and a main meal
3) Start off by walking and then get into jogging longer distances. Start off slow then work your way up.
Should lose the weight in no time if you keep an eye on your eating and your energy levels. Good luck.
What?
he is talking about 10lbs in 10weeks. Please elaborate how how I am being a jerk in my post you illiterate fool.
you said cut out snacks, I said even cutting out a can of pop will speed up weight loss.
you said eat 3 meals a day, I said hydrate – helps in digestion, and metabolic processes
Aman, Aaron was actually referring to another comment which I deleted… that’s why it’s good to refer to the person’s name instead of saying “the user above”… 🙂
ahh…thanks for clearing that up….
I feel like a fool! I apologize for any misunderstand and reaction on my part.
how tall are you
5’11
good luck fat ass
Delete and ban thin and rich guy, his link redirects to a porn video.
good luck on your journey Tyler. Check out this site.
http://www.muscleandstrength.com/forum/
I’m a member of the forum, also they have great information.
Good luck,
Zach
I’m also on my fitness jig but I’m a soccer player so I’m focusing on getting more muscle since I have probably lss than 7% fat.
But I’m glad you’re making this step honestly – people need to start taking care of themselves thank god you didn’t let it get out of control before you started to curtail it.
AIM higher everytime you go out. Stretching is important my calves tightened up on my last night on my jog 🙁
Good luck on the challenge, it’s hard to make a drastic lifestyle change, but I think you can do it.
I’m glad you made it into a competition, it will make the results posts a bit more entertaining. Glad you like the shirt!
I am all for working out and losing weight as a blogger tyler, I did the same thing 3 months back.
However 10lbs in 10 weeks is not much of a goal…
I lost 30lbs in 45 days… I am younger which helps but 10lbs isnt much, im sure you can do it quicker then you think.
Great posts, really inspirational 🙂 Anyway best of luck!