Psymonkee is getting thinner....

Soldato
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So I was at the doctors yesterday and still trying to get my head around some of the stuff that was said and done.

First up - sheer laziness! My leg still hurts with various stabbing pains, burning hot and odd rash spots appearing on it. It's still swollen and is now wider than my knee which definitely isn't right.

However my amazing superdoc can tell just by looking at it that there is no sign of infection! Incredible! Maybe she has a bionic eye or something? Who knows! Anyway she said she's going to refer me to the Dermotologist (at my insistence!) which might actually get things moving at long last!

Then we moved on to the logical problem of weight and weight management. I know I've not being well here and it shows. I'm a fat, ugly mess and it's embarrassing. Especially when children shout out in the supermarket 'Look at the fat man mummy!' - super confidence booster that!

Quick side story - a couple of years ago I made a decent effort into losing weight and results were noticed by others at work. The first day I was complimented I immediately went and bought a big bag of sweets and ate them! Not sure why but after that it was just a slippery slope again....

Anyway diet was discussed and she was horrified at the idea of having 3 eggs scrambled in butter on wholemeal bread for breakfast! Apparently this meal is too fatty and needs more carbs in it so I should switch to porridge instead!? (I don't even like porridge!)

Lunch was said to be acceptable being a pastrami sandwich made with wholemeal bread.

Again dinner was fine apparently as lean meat, potato and 2 or 3 veg is fine. Apparently though I should have less potato so it's less carbs as that's bad. Or at least that was the impression I got!?

Then came the laughable guide to exercise. Using a rowing machine is good but doing interval training is bad and I should just do 20 minutes gently steady state so I don't tire myself out.

I should also complement it with some light weight exercises for my arms as I need to work those too according to her. When I reeled off the list of exercises that makes up Stronglifts she had little idea what I was talking about but still suggested I keep the wait low to improve cardio fitness.

I practically gave up at that point and just nodded to everything she said to get out of there because everything seemed to be massive contradictory loop. I did remind her the only reason I was there was to get my leg fixed so I could get back to lifting weights but that fell on deaf ears from what I can tell.

Yeah I'm probably not being helpful by stubbornly wanting to do things my way (compound lifts, HIT cardio) but it works for me. I'm just struggling with my leg and hopefully once that's sorted I can get back to the gym!

Ugh

/braindump
 
Man of Honour
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Ah, the joys of doctors... Specialists in certain things and most certainly not others. ;)

At the risk of being brutal, your weight is what it currently is not because of your stated diet, but because of what you haven't listed, because that is not nearly enough calories to sustain an average human male, let alone fill them out.

Your problem is compounded by contradictory advice from your doctor that clearly does not understand exercise physiology.

The best advice I can give is to record an honest food diary. Nobody has to see it but you and you are only doing it for your own reference. Get your calories down to a reasonable level based around a basal metabolic rate (BMR) value and go from there. If you work with something like MyFitnessPal it does a lot of the brain work for you.

The flip side of this is - barring a freaky metabolic/genetic condition - you WILL lose weight. It might be slow, but you are only competing with yourself... In terms of honesty with yourself regarding your intake, and what you are happy about achieving.

We are here to help. We will encourage you and support your effort. But you have to start at some point. :)
 
Soldato
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I know the problem is what I haven't listed or the crap I eat when I 'snap' so to speak. No need to worry about being brutal either these are things I understand yet just don't act on seemingly.

As for the food diary thing I did do that at the start of the year (first 3 months or so of this thread) and it DID WORK! :D

I don't remember why I stopped but I do remember binging one night and then just giving up in some fashion.

You're quite right - I need to go back to basics and even more so since I can't properly exercise at the moment. The pain in the leg that I've mention has gone but something still feels wrong when I use it so I loathe to do too much in case I somehow make things worse.

Oh and thank you for keeping replying to me when no one else does. Even if it's not what I want to hear it's great to have a sounding board of sorts :)
 
Soldato
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Still not sorted any kinda of formalised diet tracking (bad I know) but this week has been holiday and tomorrow is my birthday and there will be cake!

Instead I dragged my lazy ass into the garage, cleaned up a bit and did every lift in the Stronglifts program in 1 session.

Warmup consisted of tidying the garage (bikes, tarps, jump leads) and getting the christmas decorations off the top shelf. Not exactly traditional but it worked up a sweat so along the right lines anyway!

Squats/OHP/BOR @ 20
Bench @ 30
Deadlift @ 40

I now have enjoyable post workout shakes in my hands and feel a ton better for it. Need to wait and see what the effect is on my leg but if everything is OK I'll try it again with heavier weights on Wednesday (next day off).

As for diet tracking - I'll leave that until the cake is finished! :)
 
Soldato
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Stay motivated! You know what your issues are and you've talked about solving them. NOW DO IT! Without meaning to sound insulting, have you considered joining a local slimming club? It sounds like the extra support might help.

The other advice you've had is good - track your intake and take regular exercise. At this stage you want to be seeing less of your doctor, not more... They don't specialise in exercise physiology, but they know one hell of a lot about type 2 diabetes!

Good luck for the new year!
 
Soldato
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Yeah that was my biggest concern. Not convinced yet that there isn't something wrong with it (stabbing pains ain't normal....) but I'm gonna try getting back to my routine.

Wonder if it's worth a new log thread though?
 
Soldato
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Gotta love the old Internet diagnoses! You'd be long gone if it were necrotising fasciitis! I won't offer a diagnosis over the Internet. There are a few chronic conditions associated with having big legs which are much more benign and are helped by movement and losing weight. Has your GP suggested taking painkillers and getting on with it?
 
Man of Honour
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Gotta love the old Internet diagnoses! You'd be long gone if it were necrotising fasciitis! I won't offer a diagnosis over the Internet. There are a few chronic conditions associated with having big legs which are much more benign and are helped by movement and losing weight. Has your GP suggested taking painkillers and getting on with it?

:)
 
Soldato
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I see a lot of myself in you, though I am not at a similar sort of weight range.

I have a tendency to over think things and try to be too scientific in my approach, reading various studies on which macro ratios are good/bad, how weight lifting could possibly be better than cardio, HIIT vs LISS when really for the initial part anyway you just really need to focus on getting into a calorie deficit that is sustainable, workable and progressive.

There is no use knowing millions about this kind of stuff if you are not applying it properly and for long periods, and frankly at your size, for the initial period at least you should be focusing on moving more and eating less (And Cleaner - helps with the eating less part)

Please keep us updated, it will do wonders for motivation - and believe me, people around here care about you making progress!

also - I know the site isn't loved for various reasons, but I at times find various subreddits on reddit to be motivating when I don't want to get off my ass for a run

/r/progresspics
/r/brogress
 
Soldato
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Don't worry I do plan to get on with it - struggling with energy as it seems I have a UTI (was at docs today, burning pee :()

Also I think blairw is probably right - I'll spend more time researching efficient/fancy forms of weightloss rather than just knuckling down and getting on with it.
 
Soldato
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Back on track with what I was doing 12 months ago...

Shooting for around 2000 calories a day and slowly introduce exercise and see what I can do :)

First day has gone just fine! Sitting at 2030 for today and lots of water :)
 
Soldato
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I've still got you as a friend on myfitnesspal so I can see your food diary... Your diet looks pretty awful to me :/

Are you just planning on consuming less calories, but not actually eat better and healthier?
 
Soldato
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Care to go ahead and point out what specifically I'm doing wrong per se?

Omlette for breakfast, ham sandwich for lunch, home made curry with brown rice for dinner.

Failing to see what's so bad about that?!

Also that is just 1 DAY! I'm not planning on eating the same things ALL the time!
 
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Soldato
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Sorry I was looking at your food diary for 5th Jan as well. Just seems like a lot of saturated fat in your diet.... Cheese and pepperami for example. I've calculated 51g of saturated fat excluding your curry. I think the recommended intake for an average man is no more than 30g a day or something.

Do you not like fruit and veg?
 
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