#beforetogether

[rolypolywl]

Forgot to post this before: measurements can mean more than the scale. 🤔This is my six month plan and I’m holding myself accountable!

[rolypolywl]

First Weigh In

Welcome to roly-poly weight loss. I’m Roly Poly. And I’m inviting you to join me on my - our - weight loss journey.

To start with, we are going to get a “before” - Weight, measurements, photographic evidence, all that jazz. So I have been on the dreaded scale. And I’m going to announce my current weight to all of the internet.

Okay, so I am 273.6 pounds. And that’s my heaviest ever weight.

Now, I’m also going to do another very scary thing, which is show my “before” self.

So this is my requisite sad, roly-poly, unhappy, before photo. This is me, right now. And it is sad, and unhappy, and roly-poly.

But! There’s a more important word in that sentence. It’s “before”. And it's gonna change. I’m not gonna be this way anymore. And that’s scary, but it’s time. And that’s the part that I invite you to join me on.

In the vein of John Oliver’s #MutuallyAssuredHumiliation, to make the internet a safer place, I’m doing the same. As he put it,

“If we all put our worst photo into the world together, none of us will ever be in a position to judge anyone else, ever again.”

I believe in the same idea here. I am sharing my “before” with the hashtag “#BeforeTogether”.

Because I think that scarier than sharing what you look like right now is doing nothing and never having an “After” to compare it to. So like I said, submit your befores, and we’ll all get to an after.

So let’s do this! Take your own photos! Take your own videos! Share your scale shots. It’s scary, but I did it first! Use #BeforeTogether, and @ me!

[rolypolywl]

Welcome to day 12!

Now, since we are doing three days a week, day 12 is the last day of week 4! That means that, at the end of today, we will have been doing this for ONE MONTH!

Yes! One whole month! We have done it!

So I want you to think back to the first day you started exercising with me. How long ago does that seem? Has the time flown by? Are you completely blown away that the month has ended already? Or has it been a struggle every day and week?

Either way, share your story with the hashtag, #FirstMonth! Tell me how it went!

Now, on to today’s topic!

Speaking of hitting our one month point, let’s talk about progress.

So, I have talked before about the importance of weighing and how you should also have non-scale victories.

On bodybuilding.com, registered dietitian Paul Salter, said this “The thing about weight is that it's really just one piece of the progress puzzle; it's not the piece. Exercise performance, appearance, measurements, energy level, body-fat percentage—all of these things indicate important changes, but you can't measure them as readily as weight.”

He asks these questions: “Have you found a routine that works for you? Do you feel like you're in control of your situation? Is your nutrition humming along, or is it a raging tire fire? Are you pushing yourself adequately, but also recovering adequately? These things are far more important than a single number.”

Today we’re going to talk about some of those other metrics for assessing your progress.

So, here are things you can look at, instead of just weight:

Appearance (Videos/Photos)

Measurements

Energy Level/Stamina

Exercise performance

Routine

Feeling of control

Pushing yourself adequately

Recovering adequately

Nutrition status

Fit of clothes

Body Fat percentage

That is shockingly more than I anticipated.

Appearance (Videos/Photos)

So, back at the beginning, I took a video of myself, showing my chub. I have stills from that video, so I have pictures of myself that I can compare to.

I’m using this for appearance, but you all should take pictures or videos too. I know it is hard, because you don’t want to have a reminder of yourself at this weight, and especially one without your big baggy concealing clothes. But it can be a good way to track your changes.

You can always take a mirror selfie, but you can get a better shot with a helper or using a timer and your phone.

Measurements

Now measurements, I also shared, and I’ll show them here.

I intend to do these once a month, so I’m not obsessing, but hopefully I’ll see some progress by the six month mark. And I’ll actually post that update on the first, next week, because we are a month in! Yeah!

I don’t expect my measurements to change too much just yet, at my one month check in, because I’m not doing any actual strength training to tone my body, and my nutrition isn’t there yet, but again, by that six month mark I’m hoping for some smaller numbers.

If you want to take some measurements, you’ll need a flexible tape measure. These come in sewing kits, and you can almost always find them in the dollar store or in the grocery store in the, like, emergency sewing area, with the patches for pants and stuff.

You don’t want to use a construction tape measure, even though it has some flexibility, because it is not as flexible as you need. Now, this is easier with a helper - and not a kitty helper like my baby - but someone like Roly Mama. She helped with mine. You want to make sure that your helper isn’t cutting off your circulation trying to get smaller numbers. And you don’t want to be flexing. Just hold your arm out, or prop your leg up on a chair or step, and let it be natural.

So that’s measurements. You can see the list of ones I did: neck, bust or chest, waist, hips, thigh, biceps, and calf.

Energy Level/Stamina

So, I will be the first to admit, that I currently get winded going up the stairs too quickly. When I was working at my old job, I had much better stamina because I was more active. I was walking every day, and I lived on a third floor walkup, and my bedroom was upstairs within my apartment, so I was using the stairs a lot. I had much better stamina then, though I was too stressed out to lose any weight.

So when I can walk up three flights of stairs without getting winded, I’ll know that my stamina is back up to where it was. And it might even get better!

Exercise performance

So, when I had more stamina, I was also performing better at exercise. I was walking 5Ks somewhat regularly - you might have noticed my 5K shirts - and though I was only walking, I was able to do it in under an hour and a half without dying. I even walked a couple of 10Ks. So I had much better stamina.

When I’m able to walk a 5K or up 4 flights of stairs without collapsing, I’ll know that my stamina is getting better - back to where it was when I was more active. My goal is to eventually be able to actually run a 5K and then a 10K, so I will be able to track how that improves.

With stamina and activity level, it is easy to set personal goals for yourself. And you can break them down into small chunks. Like, one flight of stairs without being winded. Then two flights, then three. Or walk a 5K, then walk a 10K, then run a 5K, etc. Set those small goals for yourself and see what you can achieve.

Right now, I complete this short workout on this bike, or I do an easy 30 minute walk, and my thighs are doing that tingly popping thing after. I will know my performance has improved when it takes 45 minutes or an hour to get that same level of tingles.

Routine

So routine can be a lot of things, like we talked about sleep routines and bedtime routines. There’s also the exercise routine. I’m doing the 3 times a week, on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and I hope you’re doing it along with me on the days that work for you.

And I’m doing the No Zero Day May, walking every day. I’m establishing these routines, and as I keep them up, I’ll be able to keep track of my progress. A calendar or app is great for this!

Feeling of control

This, I think, ties more into nutrition and eating. When you have that out of control food feeling, which I’ve had before. Since I haven’t tackled my nutrition yet - that’s coming, but I don’t want to get overwhelmed by starting everything at once.

So, in that respect, I’m not feeling overwhelmed, so I’d say I’m feeling in control.

Pushing Yourself Adequately/Recovering Adequately

These kind of go together; are you pushing yourself enough to feel it, and are you not pushing so hard that you’re dead. And I’d say yes! I’m getting those tingles from working out, but I’m not dead every day. And I’ve only had to take a nap after our walk twice - both early days!

Nutrition Status

So, again, I’m not focused on this one yet, but I will be getting to it soon, and we’ll cover it then. But again, taking “before” assessments and then tracking it throughout!

Fit of Clothes

So, my lowest adult weight, I was pretty comfortably wearing medium tops and size 12 jeans. I’m currently in 2-3XL and 24W. That is scary to say out loud. But, again, I’m looking to change that. So I know that, when I can fit back into my 22W jeans, and when a 2X is baggy instead of comfortable, I will have made progress.

I have those goal clothes that I’m waiting for, but, I’m not setting myself up for failure by having only my size 12s and mediums as goals. I’m aiming for each next size of jeans and tops. I will throw a party when I hit 2XL, and 22W jeans. Because that is a huge step for me!

Don’t only pull out those clothes from five or eight years ago! Set yourself up for success with small increments! One size down at a time is the way to lose 12 sizes!

Body Fat Percentage

So, this one is the hardest to do at home. In fact it might be impossible. You see on shows like the Biggest Loser - in the later seasons - they would do this thing where they dip you underwater to find your body fat percentage and all these crazy things.

Ain’t nobody got time for that!

But, there is an almost do-it-at-home yerself way!

So, I found this thing, actually, because they advertised at my old job, and I found it really helpful. The company is called Body-Comp, and you can go to their store, but also they have this big, mobile bus, which they take to places, and you can go there.

Like I said, they came to my work the first time, but they also go regularly to gyms and places like that. And you don’t have to be an employee or a member of the gym or whatever, because it is out in the parking lot in their bus.

So you can go at any time, and it only takes 15 minutes.

What you do, is you lay on this table, and this scanner just goes over your head, takes about 5-6 minutes for that part, and it does a full body scan. A DEXA scan.

Then you get this great doc emailed to you with your scan and all these breakdowns. And yes, I am going to do the scary thing and share mine with you.

So right at the top, it shows your body fat percentage, your mass (weight), and how much of you is fat tissue or lean tissue. Now, one of the big things is when you think about “oh, muscles weigh more than fat” - well this breaks it down for you. You know how much weight is muscle and how much is fat.

So you can see that, in March, when I did this, I weighed 272.7 that day, and my body fat was at 55.5%. So I had 151.4 pounds of fat tissue, and 115.4 pounds of lean tissue. And that fat tissue one is almost my weight loss goal. My goal for my height to be comfortable in my body is 150 pounds, assuming that I don’t really have muscles built up, though “officially” I should be 130 for my height. So from 270 to 150 is 120 pounds to lose, or, if I’m going for the 130, that would be 140 to lose.

And that’s basically - I have 150 pounds of fat, and I should lose basically all of that. 120-140 of that 150.

So, the other thing it does is give you this picture of your body.

So you can see the yellow is fat and gunk, and the orange is lean. So you can see, you gotta have something positive. And my calves are mostly muscle, not fat. I’m proud of that, darn it.

I think this is a remnant of when I was doing those 5Ks, but my calves are on fire! You have to be happy about something on your body, and for me that’s my calves!

As you scroll through your breakdown, you can also see where your fat and lean tissues are distributed, your arms, legs, trunk, etc. And you can see how much is Android or Gynoid fat and what those ratios are. And the ratio should be less than 1.0, and mine is 9.8. So I’m there! Barely, but I’m in the right ratio range! And people often tell me that they don’t believe that I weigh as much as I do, because I look very proportional.

So yeah, there it is in math.

So, there are more things on here, but I covered the important ones.

And like I said, you can go back every 6 or 12 months and see how you are improving. Now, going to one of their mobile busses is cheaper than their store, but it does still cost $49 a pop. But, you can buy a four-pack for only $175 and save yourself $20. And you use them later.

So you can get those incremental check ins to see how you’re doing.

Now, on a side note, Body Comp also offers allergy and food sensitivity testing; DNA testing, Metabolic tests, those tests where you run on the treadmill and breathe into the hose thingy…

They have a bunch of different things you can get a baseline on for yourself, and then check back in again.

So, if you can, check them out!

Now, small caveat, Body Comp is based in Southern California, so if you aren’t there, they won’t be convenient for you. There’s another company, DexaFit, which has more locations around the US and Canada, but I don’t have personal experience with them. But I assume that the process is similar.

But! I bring them up, because you can use their site to get an idea of what all these things are called, and what they do, and then you can then find a resource in your area.

So, that’s our last metric - body measurements.

In conclusion, there are a lot of ways to track your process, not just weigh ins. Check out all of these and make a plan for how to track the metrics that are important to you!

This has been Roly Poly Weight loss. As always, I am your host, Roly Poly. Remember that weight isn’t the only metric. Use the hashtags #Progress, #Measurements, and #BeforeTogether to share your different metrics!

And please join me next time!

[rolypolywl]

And this is day one exercising! Watch the video for a bit of musing on getting to day one, suggestions for getting started, and to get in your 15 minutes of exercise with me!

Day One

Day one is the hardest day. Because yesterday, wasn’t day one. Yesterday you were your normal, roly-poly self, living your normal life.

And day one means that something changed today. It is so easy to say “Tomorrow I’m going to start working out. Tomorrow I’m going to start eating better. Tomorrow I’m going to lose weight.”

And then tomorrow, it's so easy not to do any of those things. Actually making that change. Actually saying yes, I am going to start exercising today, and in fact, this is me exercising, that’s HARD!

So, actually making day one happen is huge. That’s your first step. That’s where you say, “yes, I’m tired of being roly-poly, and today I’m going to do something about it.”

Picking the Right Equipment

And for me, one of the struggles I faced with day one is this exercising stuff. It takes “stuff” to exercise. One common suggestion if you have no exercise equipment or gym membership is to just take a walk. It doesn’t cost anything, it doesn’t need any equipment, just go do it. And if you can, awesome! Go do it! Walking is great!

But for me, I have joint problems, and I’ve had a lot of problems with my knees and my ankles. Exercises like walking, jogging, running, all are impact exercises, and those hurt my knees and ankles. If I am coming from zero, I have to work my way up to those kinds of exercises. Because if I’m in pain, I’m less likely to have a day one.

What I recommend is this wonderful device called a pedal exerciser:

I got it on amazon, and I got it for under $30, and it was the best purchase I made. Get it here!

And I originally got it because I broke my toe and could no longer doing the walking or elliptical exercising that I had been doing. If you’ve got mobility problems or injuries that make walking hard, this can be a great alternative.

As you can see, it’s basically just a bike’s pedals on a little stand. You can use it with any chair as long as the height is about right. With a higher chair you can go with an “l” shape like a standard bike, but with a low chair you can also get into a position kind of like a recumbent exercise bike. You can go slow, you can go fast, you can go at a moderate pace.

I love it. It is cheap, it is small and light and easy to tuck away for the day. It is wonderful. If you only buy one thing to start this process, I recommend a pedal exerciser.

A cool feature is that you can use this with your hands. So if you can’t pedal with your legs right now, you can also put it on a table and do it with your arms, to get some exercise that way. Or do both, one after the other! This is a lower and upper body workout.

And another great feature is that you can do this under a desk or table, if the clearance is high enough that you don’t hit your knees. Unlike some other machines, this one tends to isolate your body halves. So if you’re pedaling with your legs, your upper body is more stationary, and you can read, play on your phone, work on your computer, whatever. Now, eventually, we’ll be working towards full body workouts, but right now, when you’re trying to fit the extra time into the day, being able to multitask is a great help.

One thing you have to be aware of, though, is that if you are on a slick surface, like this laminate, then the pedals will inch forward over time. Every so often you’ll need to gently tug them back into place. And you need to be aware of your posture when using this. Be careful not to create more problems for your body!

Time

Okay, last thing on the checklist, is time. How much time should you exercise? How often? Well there are two answers to that. In an ideal world, and today. And those numbers are different. Today, we are focused on just getting to day one. And getting through day one. This is not the day to go for a two hour hike, or spend three hours on the pedal exerciser.

This is a time for starting a habit. The point of today is to have a day one, to get past that hurdle, and to make it painless enough that you are actually able to have a day two.

We are not here to lose all this weight in a month. That just isn’t reasonable. It took years to put on this weight, and it isn’t coming off in days. There is no reason to push that hard.

The most important thing on day one, and to some extent week one and month one is to form the habit. To carve out that chunk of day when you can actually exercise, and to form that habit of doing it, and to get past the hurdle of day one.

The most important thing is to be able to say, “This is day one!”

I will post videos on Monday, Wednesday, Friday to start, but you pick the three days that work best for you in the week.

Remember to post your #BeforeTogether photos and videos, and join me next time!

[rolypolywl]

Let's get this show on the road!