MEN Only -- A.I.M Challenge: Labor Day Challenge OPEN

This is a Motivation/Challenge designed for Men.  This is a continuation of the April Fool's Challenge and the July 4th Challenge for men started by pinksalmon.

Pick your personal goal: Weight Loss, Increased Fitness, or Fat Burn.  Post it and commit to it.  This forum is here to challenge you to meet your goal.  The Purpose of the AIM Challenge is to provide:

1.  Accountability:  Weekly check in to update your progress.  Weigh in each Wednesday Morning. 
2.  Information:  We will share our experiences, what is working to get into shape, nutritional suggestions, fitness advice, and best practices for results.
3.  Motivation:  Encouragement to make and continue life changes that lead to burning fat, increased fitness, and overall health.

Challenges follow a quarterly time frame and are open to any men willing to commit.  Do you want it?  We are getting it DONE!

AFC Result:  277.5 lbs and 971,250 calories burned off
J4C Result:  172.6 lbs and 604,100 calories burned off
2008 combined total: 450.1 lbs and 1,575,350 calories burned off

Check out our previous challenges here:
http://caloriecount.about.com/forums/post/716 05.html

Want your current BMR?  check out Phord's BMR page 

Check out our results:  AIM Challenge Results

I am in!  I hope to restart my program from the AFC.

Well Done ... I am in for:

1. Loss of 10 lbs (start: 185  Goal: 175)

2. Complete 10 Mile and 1/2 Marathon Races.

 

I am in.  Need to have this to challenge and motivate myself.  Seem to be stuck at 246 - 247.  Goal weight of 237.  Will work on strengthening my core muscles to help increasing my metabolisim.

Great three on board so far.  Who else?

My goals are fairly straight forward.  First, I want to drop 10 lbs.  Moving from 199 to 189.  My goal weight is 175.  Second, Labor Day is race day for me for my first half marathon so ongoing goal is fitness and race training building to a marathon run in November.

I will be out of town for tomorrow's weigh-in.  So early posting:

Today's LDC weigh-in: 199 lbs.

Goal Weight by end of LDC: 189 Lbs.

WW

 

I'm in now that I found the link! I can't weigh in tomorrow tho because I am out of town and will use Thur morning weight after returning home tomorrow afternoon. Could be higher due to fluid retention from flying. Am also looking at fluid retention possibilities once I get this frequent night time urination problem licked. But will still try to make the goals I set for labor day. I want to lose at least another 6-10 lbs by labor day, barring all the darn medical problems.

You guys got me working on walk/jog/running again. I did my first shot at a 5 k walk/jog this morning. Wound up with a 5.4k walk in just under 60 minutes. did a few jogging intervals, but heart rate gets into a range my cardiologist doesn't want it in. At the end of the intervals I did feel in an anaerobic range. That could limit my jogging/running goals.

Question: When you guys run any distance is how much of it is in anaerobic range?

I'm in.

Have gone from 195 to 171 during AFC and J4C. The LDC being a shorter period, I'm aiming for a minimum of 6 pounds to get down to 165 by labor day.

I'm hoping to get to 155-160 by the end of the year for permanent maintenance.

Today 223

Goal   209

14 lb loss goal

Good luck to everyone.

SRQ

I want to lose 5 to 7 pounds. I haven't lost a single pound in the last 3 weeks. Hopefully I can get back on track.

Current: about 183

Goal: 175 or  so.

 

Weighed the same this morning after 8 days on vacation. Feel good about that, especially being able to add walking to my routine while traveling. Got in more exercise than I thought I would be able to which I think helped my maintain my weight.

Current: 169 (7/10)
Labor Day Goal: 165 by

(.5 lb/wk. Would love 1 lb/wk but I just don't burn calories like I used to when I was younger. Not much room for calorie deficit with a 1500 cal mens min)

Longer Term Goal: 150-155 - HS, Military, Marriage until 1979!

Fitness Goal: being able to jog w/o exceeding cardiologists heart rate limits. Would like to run 5/10K in the near future. My son thinks if I add aggressive cardio to my routine my heart rate may not go up as high as it has been when jogging during my walks.

Good luck to everyone! Lets keep at it!

My goal is to see get below 180 pounds for the first time in a decade.

Great Goals everyone.  So far it looks like we are eight men strong between now and Labor Day.  The Challenge is still open to join.

I had a great few days away.  I was at a conference with colleagues I have not seen for a while, some almost two years when I was at my highest weight.  I had to re-introduce myself to more than one person.  That was pretty cool.  The conference was in the mountains which afforded me the opportunity to do some "hill" running.  It is quite a difference from the flat land coastal running I have become accustomed to. 

bobev: I have no idea how to answer your aerobic/anaerobic question.  For my money any activity is a good place to start.  You are an inspiration to keep going for it. 

mortalmonkey:  Welcome to the dreaded plateau.  Do not lose heart or give up.  Your body is adjusting to it's new size, your metabolism is changing to fit your new weight and activity level, and overall efficiency is increasing.  You are likely getting close to a maintenance level.  Even though you have more to go to reach your target weight, you will find that the pounds will not fly off like they have. 

strikez: Is your goal for 180 over the next seven weeks or by the end of the year?

rk1:  We seem to be sharing the same goals.  You have got me by about 10 lbs. right now.  When are your races scheduled? 

jo50: Are you looking to drop the 10lbs. by Labor Day?  Press on man!  You can break through this plateau for sure.

sarasota: You are the MAN!  An additional 14lbs. your BMI and BF% are going to be on the low end of the scale soon.

First weigh in is Wednesday!  Looking forward to the continuing our journey.

ww

 

I am hoping to get to 179 by Labor Day.

Well I will join in and Labor Day is almost when I started Calorie Count. One year ago.  My goal weight will be 269 for that day.

Start of Calorie Count 331lbs

J4C weight  279lbs

People are really starting to notice that I have lost a fair amount of weight. 

Slow and steady as she goes.

im in.

Thank you wiliwigi for keeping me in your sights.

Things have gone south for me these last couple of months. I am in constant pain, had epidural done for the neck and im on multiple pain killers. its hard getting thru the day. I tend to eat to comfort my pain. That how I hit the 270 mark. the only bright spot out of all this is the people like you who have been with me through the weight loss and don't want to see me fail.

I cant work out right now, but I can fight like hell to eat right.

I have not weight my self in a very long time. fear of seeing the numbers.

This Wednesday will be the first time in a very long time, and I promise to continue my weight ins. I am looking forward to getting back to my normal routine.

since I work outdoors, its not easy for me to respond on a timely basis and at time I don't get to see any questions asked of me. if you do ask me a question it would be easier for me if you not only post it but send me an email. 

I will never forget. I will never surrender.

I am not on a diet, I am changing my life style.

That other thread got way to long.. cumbersome @ best.

I'm down 50 pounds since 1/2/2008 - which is good.  Only 50 more to go!

The fun news is that in just 10 pounds, I will just be fat, not overweight!  In recent news... I ran the Peachtree Road Race.  Didn't break the hour I wanted to, but I finished.  Hard effort!

Scott

1/2/2008 - 280

Last week: 229.8

Currently - 231ish... will drop.  Weekends are rough!

 

Count me in for the AIM challenge. My personal goal is to increase fitness, specifically as I continue to train for the Chicago Marathon (October 12). And if I can get down to anywhere between 160-163 pounds, that would be a bonus. But given the calories that I will be consuming for weeks where I'll be running 65-85 miles, I don't see myself easily losing more without sacrificing my workouts.

To try to answer your question, bobev, you are probably best to keep your cardio workouts completely within the aerobic zone, or no greater than 80 percent of your maximum heart rate. If you don't know for certain what your max HR is, a rough estimate is to subtract your age from 220. So unless you have been advised differently from your doctor, keep your HR at about 65-80% of (220-age) for aerobic benefits. I hope that answers your question (at least somewhat).

alpman, abner, scottpatton, and wrm2105 it is good to see you all checking in!  We are 12 so far.  Anyone considering joining in, this is still open to you.  Everyone seems to have realistic goals for an eight week challenge. 

I would like to add some kind of fitness challenge tracking.  Just watching the weight on the scale has become tedious and does not reflect our overall purpose.  I am open to suggestions.  We could track caloric burn due to exercise, miles run (rk1 and wrm) or cycled (er..scottpatton), minutes (hours) of exercise.  What are you committed to?  What is your goal?  How are you going to be accountable to that goal?

 

Minutes per month is a good one that puts everyone on a level playing field, because a minute is, well, a minute...

Distances are harder to compare, cycling goes further than running, and running goes further than walking/jogging, and some folks could be limited to which they can choose - but as an individual goal, distance works well.

Calorie's burned is also an individual thing, as I've discovered the hard way by getting older! Us old farts just don't burn as many calories as the youngen's do! I've lost weight (>50 lbs in 4 months) rapidly in the past (distant past! ~20 years ago!) and without exercise. That said it could also work as an individual goal and to boast how many calories we've lost as a team.

Question: Does CC provide or are tools available to simplify capturing and publishing the results?

thanks wrm2105, my max HR is 137 based on stress test 2 1/2 weeks after the heart attack. None of the algorithims work for my situation because of the medications I am on. The cardiologist said to use an exertion scale and ignore HR because its not accurate for me, but then when I told him I was peaking/hitting the high 120's he said, no don't let it get that high!

I'm hoping that as I continue to add jogging intervals my HR will stay low enough for me to go the distance for a 5k (or more eventually) without having to start walking. Time will tell.

6:35 am

210 lbs not bad at all.

I was terrified going on the scale, a kin to lining up before the firing squad.

I was hovering between 202 and 206 when my neck pain started. and I stopped all work outs and eating habits. so gaining only 4 to 8 lbs in several long pain full months is not bad at all.

Once again thank you wiliwigi, I needed this push, now I need to Tailor something to slowly lose the fat. may not be able to hit the iron but I can try something. 

I will be seeing the DOC today, still in a lot of pain. but I am in for the challenge of my life.

I started at close to 270 lbs I'm not going back with out a fight.

Never surrender. Never quit. Not going to fail.