Time to get ready for 2013! And time to get real. Let's face it. A beach body is great... but overall health and wellness should be a goal as well.

Feel free to share pictures, progress, goals, inspiration and knowledge. And be supportive of one another. Constructive feedback is encouraged.

Here's to having a healthy body, mind and spirit in 2013.

12/31/2012 4:59:08 PM

Also, I guess I'll make the first post with goals for 2013.

2013 Goal: To maintain general wellness while running faster. I have a marathon planned for February. Would love to run it in under 4 hours. And have a half-marathon in November. Would like to finish in under 1:50. Am happy with weight, but could probably stand to tone certain areas. Goal is to do more cross training to supplement running.

12/31/2012 5:03:39 PM

In 2013, I am thinking about going dairy free for the first time ever. A few studies have found milk products, including whey, to cause various skin issues.

I've always had slight back acne, it was really bad in high school. Now, its not too bad but I'd definitely want it gone! Another nagging skin irritation is a very slight dry skin patch that seems to be very minor eczema on my hips. Nothing seems to fix it, and I've always consumed dairy and whey protein supplements.

I am unsure about it because I love dairy products. And, it's a relatively cheap and easy source of high quality protein which is critical for training.

I think I'll kick it off when my cut beings in March, as this will be an easy way to cut calories.

12/31/2012 5:06:36 PM

^ I went dairy-free about 4 years ago due to digestive issues. When I did that, my skin problems cleared up. If I eat dairy now, I break out in hives.

It can definitely help with skin and digestive issues.



Matt, are you paleo otherwise?

[Edited on December 31, 2012 at 5:10 PM. Reason : l]

12/31/2012 5:10:21 PM

No, I'm not going to lie, my nutrition is pretty horrible if you look at it beyond getting enough macronutrients to facilitate recovery from training. I do IF, usually eating a very high calorie meal + milk/whey shake after I train to break my fast most days. Doing paleo and trying to get enough calories in would be pretty challenging.

My GF loves to bake cookies and brownies and prepare dessert sundaes...

I do go practically paleo when I lean out right before summer though.

[Edited on December 31, 2012 at 5:32 PM. Reason : stressed desserts]

12/31/2012 5:27:25 PM

Is this where I post my alcoholism goals, or is there another thread for that?

Anyway, I'm probably going to drink 27 beers tonight. I'll post ab shots tomorrow.

12/31/2012 5:38:21 PM

^^ good GF! Though I'm sure when you have sweets, it's still in moderation, to some extent. It's not like you sit down in front of the tv and eat half a package of oreos.

^ ha! Picking up from the 2012 thread, I see.

12/31/2012 5:41:41 PM

I'll probably pick up P90 (not P90x) and Paleo again this year. Never done both of them at the same time, so we'll see how that goes.

12/31/2012 6:19:36 PM

Thread title not in caps = bad juju

12/31/2012 8:02:56 PM

Quote :

" It's not like you sit down in front of the tv and eat half a package of oreos."

lol you'd be shocked

12/31/2012 8:43:47 PM

I'm not in too bad shape but if I could drop about 15-20lbs of fat this year I'd be right at 200lbs and my abs might start showing. (They were last spring when I was around 200)

Currently I'm biking in the neighborhood to keep my cardio up, can't run b/c I'm still recovering from ankle injury. Will be doing a mixture of crossfit + weight lifting for strength training shizzle and running (once cleared) to work up to half marathon distance. (or at least 7 min miles for 10K)

Oh, and the GF & I are doing Paleo.

[Edited on December 31, 2012 at 9:44 PM. Reason : holla]

12/31/2012 9:43:53 PM

My goals for this year:
I'm right at ~225 now. I'd like to hit 199 before the end of 2013 at least once

I also want to maintain strength/muscle mass, so the challenge is going to be losing 25 pounds of fat without losing muscle. I know I can do it, but I'm going to have to work at it.

1/1/2013 10:42:56 AM

Last year I lost 30 pounds and definitely built a small amount of muscle. I gave up a majority of my dairy at the end of the year, aside from a bit of cheese and Greek yogurt, which made me drop 5 pounds in a week. My diet has been (about 2/3 of time) preservative free and artificial dyes and flavors free. That improved my skin 10 fold. I only drink about 1 alcoholic beverage a month on average.

My goal for the year is to increase my outdoor activity, increase my clean eating to at least 75 if not 90%, and improve lung function. It wouldn't hurt to tone up my mid section, butt, and thighs, either. We started eating a lot of fast food after the wedding and that has got to stop.

1/1/2013 11:06:33 AM

I'm done blaming my kids for me being out of shape.

I'm starting today. My current goals are:

1)Adjust my sleep schedule to wake up at 5:30.
2)Do at least 30 minutes of fitness training a day, including bodyweight exercises.
3)Be able to do 50 pushups. (in a row)
4)Be able to run/jog a 5.5 mile circuit in Cary including a stretch of stupid hilly Chatham Rd.
5)Generally increase my muscle and decrease my fat. I don't know enough about gauging these to set any concrete goals.
6)Set new goals when these are complete.

Early morning will probably be the only time I can get any work in (since I want to give my wife the evenings for the same). I need to seriously adjust my diet, but going from a night owl to a morning person is going to be torture. If I can get through this, then I'll be pretty confident about the rest happening too.

1/1/2013 11:29:40 AM

1/1/2013 1:18:36 PM

Quote :

"3)Be able to do 50 pushups. (in a row)"

http://hundredpushups.com/#sthash.kU2tWX4B.dpbs

1/1/2013 1:50:03 PM

iop1

1/1/2013 2:21:56 PM

^^thanks for the idea, just downloaded a similar app from the Windows store. Also just did 45 minutes of Your Shape on my 360, holy fuck am I out of shape.

1/1/2013 2:53:03 PM

I pop into these threads occasionally to check how y'all do (does that make me a creeper ?)

My fitness goals for 2013 are:

1) return to a mainly gluten free, plant based diet. I want to stay the hell away from anything white for a good month to lose the holiday poundage and get back to ~140-anything lower and I train and race like crap and what's left of my boobs disappears . I only want to drink wine and stay away from beer.

2) run the New River Marathon up in the mountains come May, shooting for sub-4.

3) finish the B2B Full Ironman in Wilmington.

4) add some yoga and strength training. I'll only be doing an Olympic tri come April, so I'll have some more time to work on overall conditioning.

1/1/2013 3:03:41 PM

My goal is the drop the holiday weight and another ten pounds or so (total approx. 15 pounds). No reason I can't do this by April, if not sooner.

1/1/2013 3:05:24 PM

iop1

While the short term is to lose this holiday weight, I really would love to have a body fat percentage around 15% this time next year. I know it's totally possible too. I just need to be dedicated to it.

1/1/2013 3:57:14 PM

My fitness goal is to not sweat when i eat. That, and be able to total 7 times my bodyweight in powerlifting.

1/1/2013 4:18:54 PM

[Edited on January 1, 2013 at 4:19 PM. Reason : it CAN be done]

1/1/2013 4:19:12 PM

outstanding!

1/1/2013 4:25:40 PM

Anyone wanna race me to lose 15 lbs? I need competition and none of my friends are interested in losing weight.

I'm going to be trying to preserve muscle mass, so you're not really doing it correctly if you don't lift weights too, but that's ok.

Starting at 177, 22.3% bodyfat according to scale.

1/1/2013 5:27:01 PM

You could just challenge yourself to consistently lose 2lbs/week for 6-8 weeks.

That averages out to a ~1,000 calorie deficit every day. I recommend cycling carbs/fat based on if you trained that day, having more carbs, minimal fat on training days.

If you eat whole foods, and a lot of meat, it's really not that bad.

[Edited on January 1, 2013 at 6:14 PM. Reason : ;]

1/1/2013 6:13:23 PM

^ yes, thats the exact speed/length of time I'm shooting for. 45-60 days. I'm just a competitive person, thought maybe someone else might try so it helps keep us motivated.

1/1/2013 6:20:35 PM

yo Matt, what if you train every day and just eat paleo with protein shake after workouts?

1/1/2013 6:40:51 PM

Is this some sort of crossfit thing?

1/1/2013 6:41:40 PM

looks overly dangerous.

1/1/2013 6:42:54 PM

^^ i've never seen anything like that at my xfit gym

and my goal is to live through my marathon in a week and a half then i'm going back to paleo.

pretty sure that i'm also gonna go for a half iron man in the fall.

i've made a resolution to be more accountable to myself and that's what i'm gonna do.

1/1/2013 6:46:06 PM

Actually, come to think of it, I saw a guy at my gym doing kettlebell squats on one of those skateboard-balance things.

1/1/2013 6:57:10 PM

Goal this year is to keep maintaining while continuing to build muscle and tone up. My biggest goal is to stick to the foods I can eat and try to consciously stay away from the foods I am not supposed to be eating. I will see bad for me food and go into this denial mode, totally psyching myself into thinking I won't react if I eat those bad foods. And then I get sick and I hate myself.

1/1/2013 8:43:11 PM

^This

I think, Yeah, I've been good all week. One serving of that is not gonna do anything. And then my rings don't fit and my face feels like it's on fire.

1/1/2013 8:52:42 PM

Quote :

"yo Matt, what if you train every day and just eat paleo with protein shake after workouts? "

Depends on what your goals are and what type of training you are doing.

1/1/2013 9:07:46 PM

Anyone else here on Fitocracy? It has some competitive aspects to it, you gain points as you exercise so its kinda like a game as you log workouts. There's also groups and challenges with participants and quests. I've only just started logging my workouts with it, it uploads from runkeeper so I like that.

I took most of December off from running and went out with some friends this morning for 4miles and my IT band issue completely screwed me over ugh. I'll be working on that.

1/1/2013 10:24:01 PM

With all of the free resources on the internet, I am still amazed by how ignorant (or maybe just out of laziness) the general public is on health and diet.

This isn't about any of you, just wanted to address something I think is a complete scam.

I know a woman ( not a close friend or anything, just a gym member I see all the time and chat with), who competes in figure shows. She does between 4 to 6 each year and does quite well- either places or wins the entire thing ( just one in 2012). So she has built a name and her "brand" all by herself. She doesn't have a degree just yet. She is studying to be a dietition.

Earlier this Fall, she started her own "company" where she sells her expertise in diet and excercise as well as contest preps to women who are interested in competing in figure shows. These women who are on board for the contest preps have done well so far too, but maybe that has to do with probability- if the particular show doesn't have stiff competition, I guess you'll likely do relatively well.

She charges 40-80 bucks a month for diet and excercise programming. Keep in mind she is not a licenses professional, so I am not sure how programming diet works for these different women. But they are probably pretty identifical and COMMON SENSE stuff!

Anyway, my point is. It's not that hard folks. And Matt has mentioned it before. If you eat whole foods, stay away from processed foods, go on a calorie deficit, you should not have to pay someone to hold your hand throughout this diet journey.

But I understand that's it. People want to be accountable, and if that means pay someone monthly to tell you to eat chicken and oatmeal, then I guess...it's something.

And maybe women are just more gullible.

1/2/2013 12:32:10 AM

It's really a time and value equation...

Yes, all the information is out there on the web and can be found with some dedicated research, attention, and focus. BUT, there is so much conflicting information, no definitive single resource, and people with money often have time constraints.

That's where the value of a professional comes in. Save times, provides valid knowledge, and gives you moral and technical support. $40-80/month is not that expensive for the time of a professional. That probably equates to an hour or 2 of her time per client. If someone is a pro, their hourly rate shouldn't be less than $20-100/hour

[Edited on January 2, 2013 at 5:55 AM. Reason : $$]

1/2/2013 5:53:23 AM

^ If I had the money, I would pay someone (probably a triathlon coach) to plan my diet and my workouts. Imo,
$40-80/month isn't that much either for someone to do all that- you're talking upwards up to 9-10 workouts/week of endurance, speed, and lactate workouts; base, build and peak phases, and where to stick in strength and flexibility training. Also, there is the added fun of planning enough calories, carbs and macro/micronutrients into a mainly gluten free vegetarian diet.

1/2/2013 10:04:53 AM

^exactly

it's not really about what to eat as much as the planning of when to eat and when to work out, for me.

1/2/2013 10:11:22 AM

i'm in on this. i toned down pretty well for summer and was in good shape for a bachelor party cruise in September but after that I let myself go. I gained 13 lbs of fat since then. I still exercised regularly but i let my diet go to shit. Pretty much ate anything I wanted and would over eat. anyway I'm getting back to calorie counting. shooting for 1800 calories a day. currently I exercise by weight training 3 times a week and also play competitive racquetball 3 times a week for about an hour. i also plan to add running 3 miles, 3 times a week. I weighed in at 188 a couple days ago. Goal weight is 165 lbs and 12% body fat. the goal weight is more of a soft target but the body fat % is the hard target.

1/2/2013 10:16:00 AM

Welp, I totally didn't hear my alarm or even remember turning it off. This is going to be rough. Luckily I can squeeze a run in after work, before my UMVC3 tournament.

1/2/2013 10:22:23 AM

Quote :

"If I had the money, I would pay someone (probably a triathlon coach) to plan my diet and my workouts. "

This

And i would keep doing the xfit stuff that I'm really enjoying but alas, money doesn't grow on trees

1/2/2013 10:24:08 AM

Goals for the year 2013
Running and cycling 2013 miles
Keep up strength training (M/W/F)
I'd like to get my weight down into the 120s....


Are we posting pictures in this thread?

1/2/2013 10:29:43 AM

I'm really set on losing about 15 pounds and getting back to my high school weight. I'd also like to do a solo century ride and complete a marathon and/or half iron distance triathlon this year.

How realistic this is depends on getting off of the night shift soon. This shit is taking its toll on me physically.

1/2/2013 10:32:47 AM

^^ Go ahead and post pics. I think it's helpful for a thread like this.

1/2/2013 10:40:54 AM

I took a "before" picture, but I'm conflicted between being embarrassed to show it and wanting to be embarrassed to motivate me. I think I'll keep it for me and show it later when I have an "after" pic.

[Edited on January 2, 2013 at 10:42 AM. Reason : .]

1/2/2013 10:42:12 AM

177 and 23.2% to start the year. Will be instantly dropping 15 lbs of fat these first two months. Sticking with achievable short term goals for now.

Fasting my sac off today, I'm already twelve hours in. Feeling the flow doing the bull dance.


I have one suit in particular that I haven't been able to fit into the pants for years. Although I'm realizing now i may lose the ability to wear like five suits just to gain that one back lol.

1/2/2013 10:50:13 AM

-Run 1000 miles...haven't started yet
-No soda (have done this before, so not hard)
-Eat smaller portions of stuff and eat out less
-Continue weight lifting as I have been

I think that should be enough lose 15-20 lbs this year. Really would like to play in some adult sport leagues (especially basketball), but may have to put that off until March if I move back to Raleigh. May sign up for a few runs, perhaps the Cooper River Bridge Run 10k again. I would try to do a half marathon, but I can't see myself wanting to run for that long just yet. I think my longest run ever is about 7 miles.

1/2/2013 10:53:36 AM

this...

Quote :

"-Run 1000 miles...haven't started yet -No soda (have done this before, so not hard) -Eat smaller portions of stuff and eat out less -Continue weight lifting as I have been"

also plan to cut out alcohol during the week. only drinking Fri - Sun.

1/2/2013 1:42:02 PM