Fat Camp – Part 1

A Weight-Loss Contest

Many of you know that I had a couple minor strokes a few years back.  As a result I gave up working out.  That meant no weightlifting and no running.  The longer I waited to try to get back in shape, the worse shape I got into.

Yeah, duh.

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Within the past few months I set my sights on the beginning of 2022 as the kick-off for one more attempt to get back in shape, or at least trim off a lot of my “accumulated wealth”.  Then something happened that redoubled my enthusiasm for the endeavor.

Just before the New Year holiday, Annie and I got together with a few of our boys and their families to celebrate Christmas.  During that celebration, I overheard some of the boys talking about the weight they had gained in recent years.  One suggested that they have a weight-loss contest to motivate them to lighten-up. 

Since I had planned to start such an endeavor at that time anyway, I offered to join their contest.  They seemed to like that idea.

On January 1, second son, J.B. sent out a text to clarify the parameters of the competition.  He said, “Travis mentioned y’all were all interested in a weight loss challenge starting today and going until Easter Sunday.  $50 to get in the challenge, second place gets the buy in back, 1^st place gets the rest of the winnings.  Weight loss will be determined by percentage of weight lost from start to finish.  Weekly progress reports should be texted out with current weight on Monday mornings and I’ll get them in a spreadsheet from there.”

Does that make sense?  Participants would be me (Dad on the progress reports), Annie (Mom), J.B., Travis, Danielle (Travis’s better half), and Andy.  January 1 fell on a Saturday, so everyone had the last supper…I mean, everyone had a good meal, then checked their weight and submitted it using the group text.

Name              Starting Weight

Dad                 255.4

Mom                168.6

J.B.                  193.8

Travis              234.2

Danielle           165.2

Andy               242.8  

My natural competitiveness made me want to win the approximately 15 week contest.  Of course, Annie is a natural competitor too, and the boys inherited that trait from both parents.

From the start I knew that my much higher fat percentage at the beginning would give me a big advantage over those with less to lose.  Yeah, that’s everyone.  For example, I weighed 255.4 pounds, Travis was 234.2 and Andy was 242.8.  So we three were within 21.2 pounds of each other.  The percentage problem is that they are both about 6’2” compared to my 5’7” (if I stand up straight and tall…and exaggerate a bit).  On the other hand, for much of my life, I have had a significantly higher percentage of muscle than they, even though they are both pretty muscular.

My original goal, even before the weight-loss competition started, was to lose fat, while rebuilding some of the muscle and strength that I’ve lost since the strokes.  So, to try to level the playing field for the other competitors, I started lifting weights again.

Lifting is kind of a two-pronged sword.  Gaining muscle means gaining some weight, while everybody else, as far as I know, is only trying to lose.  But muscle also requires the human body to burn more calories just to live, so I’m hoping my weight lifting will have a net-zero impact for me…or maybe even a positive one.  In other words, the extra muscle could cause me to lose fat faster despite gaining some weight as muscle.  It may be that I’ll end up sabotaging myself but hey, this is all about health for me, and not just winning the competition, although that would be nice too.

My number one goal is to live to spoil my grandkids longer.

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Travis and Danielle wanted to kick-start their weight-loss by doing a colon cleanse.  It worked quite well.  The pounds absolutely fell off both of them that first week.

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As you may have noted in J.B.’s text, we were supposed to weigh on Mondays, but Sundays was just too convenient and quickly became the de facto weigh-in day, with Monday an acceptable alternative.

The first week’s weigh-in was on January 9.

1/09/2022 – first week of contest

Name              Starting Weight           Current Wt      Tot. Lost         Tot. % Loss    

Dad                 255.4                           244.2               11.2                 4.39%             

Mom                168.6                           165.2               3.4                   2.02%             

J.B.                  193.8                           180.6               13.2                 6.81%             

Travis              234.2                           224.8               9.4                   4.01%             

Danielle           165.2                           154.6               10.6                 6.42%             

Andy               242.8                           238.4               4.4                   1.81%             

Total lbs. Lost                                     52.2

Holy cow!  Six people lost a total of 52.2 pounds in only one week!  On average, that’s 8.7 pounds each!

J.B. said he wasn’t sure how he lost so much the first week but thought he’d probably lose less the second week.  He used to be a competitive eater so I suspect he ate to raise his starting weight, just like I think everybody else did, but he was capable of eating more than the rest of us.  In other words, I’ll bet a lot of his first-week weight loss went straight down the toilet. 

I’ll resist the urge to say he was “full of it” to begin with.

Yeah.

Annie bragged that she won for losing the least and Andy said his weight just indicated that he really needed to go to the bathroom.  I suspect he’s full of it.  Oops.

Wait, I guess that’s what he said, isn’t it?

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The second week, Annie decided that she would start a colon cleanse, so she started cooking and mixing various fruits, vegetables, spices and herbs.  The smell alone made me want to throw up.  I guess that would still be a weight loss.

Everyone was running and/or walking. 

As the oldest contestant, and the one in the worst shape, I didn’t want to overdo it from the start and injure myself into submission, so I started by walking ¼ to ½ mile a day during the week.  I’d throw in 100 yards or so of easy run while watching for any little twinge in my feet that could indicate the start of plantar fasciitis.  PF has put a very painful end to the last several attempts I’ve made to get back into running.  Worse, it usually takes up to a year to recover from.  I re-e-e-e-eally want to avoid that if I can.

As for my run/walk, I truly don’t know the exact distance, as I’m doing it at work by walking and/or running around the facility.  At home I walk the gravel road in front of our place.  I can check that with one of our vehicles, or an app on my Iphone…someday.

My weight lifting got off to a disappointing start.  For most of my life, anytime I restarted lifting, I’d bench press one set of ten reps with two plates (2-45 lbs. plates on a 45 lbs bar) for 135 lbs the first week, then jump quickly to one set with 135, followed by another set with about 180 lbs, and finish with a set with four plates for 245 pounds by the third week.

That just ain’t happening this time.  Nope.  When I started, my left shoulder was catching and popping as I lifted.  The sound and feel alone are very distracting, but the discomfort is discombobulating.  So I’m taking it slow…very slow.  The first week it seemed that the shoulder was gaining stability, so I kept it light and took it slow and easy and kept going.

The second weigh-in was on Sunday, January 16.

1/16/2022 – second week of contest

Name              Strt Wt             Crnt Wt           Ttl Lbs Lost    Ttl % Loss      

Dad                 255.4               242.0               13.4                 5.25%

Mom                168.6              160.2               8.4                   4.98%

J.B.                  193.8               181.2               12.6                 6.50%

Travis              234.2               218.6               15.6                 6.66%

Danielle           165.2              155.8               9.4                   5.69%

Andy               242.8               238.4               4.8                   1.98%

Total lbs. Lost                                                 64.2

Obviously, speed of weight loss slowed in the second week.  Andy and Danielle had COVID, which explains some of it.  Still, no matter how you look at it, Travis is kicking butt, but look at Annie’s five pound loss that week.  Her cleanse really worked for her!

Travis took the opportunity to rename the text/conversation to Fat Camp.  Yeah, appropriate.

Next weigh-in took place on January 23.

1/23/2022 – third week of contest

Name              Strt Wt             Crnt Wt           Ttl Lbs Lost    Ttl % Loss

Dad                 255.4               238.6               16.8                 6.58%

Mom                168.6              158.0               10.6                 6.29%

J.B.                  193.8               183.0               10.8                 5.57%

Travis              234.2               213.6               20.6                 8.80%

Danielle           165.2               157.0               8.2                   4.96%

Andy               242.8               236.2               6.6                   2.72%

Total lbs. Lost                                                 73.6

Travis is still dominating although I’m not too awfully far behind.  This is when I start to doubt my weight gaining, muscle building, fat burning workouts.  With 12 weeks left in the contest, I really believe I have plenty of time for my strategy to work.  We shall see.

This week Annie had to put in a tough week at work, spending the nights in the dorm every night and helping the students as needed, and trying to keep them out of trouble…well, too much trouble.  That couldn’t have been easy.

January 30 would be the last weigh-in for the month of January and marks almost 1/3 of the contest behind us.

1/30/2022 – fourth week of contest

Name              Strt Wt            Crnt Wt           Ttl Lbs Lost    Ttl % Loss

Dad                 255.4               237.2               18.2                 7.07%

Mom                168.6              159.0               9.6                   5.69%

J.B.                  193.8               182.0               11.8                 6.09%

Travis              234.2               212.4               21.8                 9.30%

Danielle           165.2              157.0               8.2                   4.96%

Andy               242.8               235.6               7.2                   2.97%

Total lbs. Lost                                                 76.8

This week was the first one when I lost more weight than anyone else.  Up until now Travis had been both the weekly champion and the total loss champion.  I lost only 1.4 pounds this week, but that was just enough to edge-out T.J.’s 1.2, so it was still very close.

As I knew at the start, weight loss would vary from week to week, generally slowing as time went on.  There would be weeks when one stumbling-block or another would cause competitors to have a bad week, not losing, or even gaining, weight.  Of course those like Danielle who had very little to lose in the first place, would hit that wall earlier than those of us (yes, me) who had significantly more body fat.

In part due to my age, my fitness goals were progressing slower than I would like.  However, this week also marked a milestone of sorts.  While lifting weights, on the bench press, I got ten reps with 135 lbs, followed by ten with 155, and another set of ten with 185.  So I got all of my reps at that weight for the first time since I started this contest.

Well, actually, it was even better than that.  When I added weight to the 155 lbs bar, I meant to take off a ten from each side and replace it with a 25.  The problem was, lifters at the facility constantly rearrange the plates on the rack and we have a lot of weights from different manufacturers.  Some plates of different weights look surprisingly similar.  The upshot is, I grabbed a 25 for one (the left) side of the bar, but accidentally put a 35 on the other (right) side.  So, instead of benching 185 for ten reps, I did 195 for a full set.  That disparity in weight from side to side should have handicapped my workout seriously but, oddly, it didn’t.  I don’t recommend doing that, but it definitely encouraged me that I have some easy advancements coming.

At least that’s what I thought.

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I added the following to this post the next night.

The same workout when I accidentally bench pressed with an extra 10 pounds on one side, I noticed a little twinge on the bottom of my left foot.  From my experience, there is a good chance that it is an indication I may be developing plantar fasciitis.  So I don’t plan to give up exercise completely, but I won’t run for now.  I’ll only walk until I don’t feel a twinge anymore.

Fingers crossed.

The next night I lifted, I felt pretty good.  The first set, ten repetitions with 135 pounds, was as easy as expected.  The second ten reps, with 155, was pretty easy too.  Then I got to the final set.  I planned to do that final set, with 185 pounds, for ten reps.  I was more controlled with the weight, which still feels heavy for me.  On the seventh rep I felt a very slight twinge in my right shoulder.  I monitored it as I hit the eighth, ninth, and tenth reps.

When I racked the weight, the pain hit.  The right shoulder hurt.  Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t unbearable, but it was definitely noticeable.  I was able to get two sets of ten reps on curls (to work the biceps) and tricep extensions (triceps or back of the upper arms), and even standing flies (shoulders), but I felt like I was not doing that shoulder any good, so I forgot about the third set and went outside to do my walk.

I’m sitting here, typing this post, and wondering if my weightlifting is over for a while.

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With weightlifting over, running over, and the potential for the early stages of plantar fasciitis to force me to even give up walking, I could be in trouble.  With those three options for weight loss out of the picture, pretty much the only method I would have to continue losing weight would be through diet.

I’m already dieting, and it is not pleasant.  Cutting my food input even more would NOT BE FUN AT ALL.  I’ve gutted my way through a three day fast before, but I remember how unpleasant it was and don’t want to do that again.  I also know that strict calorie restricted diets are, as I said above, unpleasant, but dieting too strictly can also end up being counter-productive.

So, whereas a few days ago I felt that it was only a matter of time before I took over the lead in our “Fat Camp” contest, this competition is still anybody’s to win.  So keep an eye on A Different Drummer if you are curious how things work out.

Until then…wish me luck and keep checking in.

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