From fit to fat?

Triathlon Forum
1

I was looking at the IM before and after thread and saw one guy who had a signoff - from fit to fat. And that’s totally how I’ve been.

After 6 years of tri getting better and better, Ironman in 2005 and several high placings in 2006, I was training for a December 2006 marathon, and then stuff started to happen in my personal life. I started partying all the time (having a ton of fun with it too) - but the problem is it sinks your training motivation.

Here I am July 10th, about 10 pounds heavier, thank God that’s all it is, but far worse, I am starting to look a little jelly-like. I hate it! But every time I try to get going and fixing it, it doesn’t happen. Inertia is a powerful force.

Some of you will say to stop whining and get over it. I’d really love to hear from some of you who have actually been there, and come back from it! I’ve got an Ironman to get to in 2008!

2

Read your own signature line. Your life is your endurance event. What is it you really want to do?

3

i’ve been fit to fat, and while not fully arrived at my goal now (working towards fit again), I am finally well on my way of achieving it.

deciding to do an IM has really motivated me, as the distance allows no opportunity to slack and still do well (doing well being whatever the personal goal is; mine is to respectably finish and have an awesome time in my journey–i’m working my ass off, and it’s been great.).

my best advice to you is to get off your butt now before you’re really far gone. it is very hard physically, and requires an emotional toll, to get back into good shape, loose weight, change bad habits, develop healthy habits, etc.

the farther gone you are from fitness the harder it is on you to “get back” what you had. knowing what i know now, and having what i’ve been through to get back into shape, i can tell you this is the last time i allow myself to get overweight and physically (which equates to emotionally) “unfit”.

i remember when i gained 10 pounds–many people said i looked perfect. i grew some boobs all of a sudden, and wasn’t such a stick (having been in long distance running). but then the 10 turned into 15 and that turned into 30. think it won’t happen? lol…that’s what i thought too.

the time is now to turn it around.

also, partying sucks. i blew threw so much money and time doing it myself. i don’t regret it (as i can’t take it back anyway), but man, i’m glad that time in my life is over. it will only wear you out. there is just a ton more interesting things to do in life besides party, and i’m not kidding! once i gave that up i was finally able to make some real improvements in my health, fitness, and outlook. i feel like my life is much more full and exciting now; even though i never would have thought this possible without the partying lifestyle.

lastly, being a fat ass is no fun, and as i mentioned already, it’s even less fun to come out of it. some people have to hit rock bottom and see the reality of what shape they’re in, how bad their health is, etc, before they make changes. other people can turn it around with a 5 pound increase. everybody is different, so you have to think about where you are and get honest with yourself about how you feel about it. (then act accordingly).

sorry if this is a downer, but i’m just telling you that it’s been no easy journey for me. and i was someone who never ever thought i’d be in this situation!!
but, shit happens…it’s really best to just deal with it.
if you deal with it, then you can make great strides towards improvement; and that’s what it’s all about. :slight_smile:

4

i remember when i was 10 pounds overweight–many people said i looked perfect. i grew some boobs all of a sudden and wasn’t such a stick. but then the 10 turned into 15 and that turned into 30.

Pics or it didn’t happen. Feel free to zoom into the target area.

5

It’s ALL about momentum. Getting going again, and feeling good doing it, is like starting uphill in a 53-12 combo.

I’ve been ill for a few days, totally sofa-locked. Even getting up and walking around is work. It blows my mind to think of the workouts I did last week and planned for this week. I know my first workouts back will be awful. And that will make me want to quit, which will never break the lethargy cycle. But once the cycle is broken and the positive momentum returns…

Same for you. Momentum. It’s based on investment. Once you’re rolling, you don’t want to give up the gains from hard work. Momentum…

6

you know what boobs are? fat. i got them because of weight gain. at first i was happy, but as i kept gaining weight, it was pretty apparent my entire body was becoming one big fat boob. and you know what? that’s just not cool, and it’s certainly not sexy.

7

easy solution – give yourself a heavy dose of tough love. Enter the next available race you can get in to. go balls out. if you’re out of shape as you describe, you’ll suffer thru the day and have a lousy finish time to boot. be sure to purchase the race photos - especially the “fat” one that shows off those 12-pack abs and man-boobs. Tape the photo and your race result on your bathroom mirror so you can relive the day every morning - or better yet, make it your wallpaper on your PC. If competing at a high level and maintaining a healthy lifestyle is truly important to you, you’ll have all the motivation you need to be ready for your IM in 08.

now if you PR the damn race, I’d say keep doing what your doing.

8

Precisely why my friend got an IM tattoo in a prominent place, she figured that she didnt want to walk around with an IM tatto and 30 extra pounds. Most people dont know what IM is anyway, and yeah she did gain weight after she did one.
Look at the before and after thread, that is amazing. You do not want to be an Before / After/ Before.

9

Striver:

Ten pounds and that’s it? Shit, I gained 25 pounds the last 17 months without boozing at all until last week, which was the night my mother inlaw left. My life got super hectic with tons of stuff going on, which were good, bad, and some a real pain in the ass. I started training consistently 2 weeks ago in the pool and the scary thing is without a real goal other than to start racing again next year. But take baby steps. Start doing this some of this and some of that. You know, add slowly and start having fun with it. And why does it have to be an Ironman? Perhaps that’s what you are scared of. How about start with a 5K or TT and then see where it goes.

10

Man up and sign up for IMAZ, its still open and its still ten months away. THat should be plenty of time to get in shape. Dont sit around feeling sorry for yourself, not only will it bring you down, it will bring down those around you. If you feel like getting out of shape is negatively impacting your life, grab the controls because nobody is gonna get you in shape except YOU buddy!!! www.ironmanarizona.com

11

I dont see what the problem is. Its not inertia, its laziness. Get your ass to work and stop looking for inspiration in other places, it comes from within. I can go out and party any time and still be motivated to train the next day, its all in your head. You just simply need to look at yourself in the mirror and say this is not acceptable. Go run a 5k/10k/whatever and see how poorly you do, if you decide thats not acceptable then get your ass to work. People who work hard and diet right reap the benefits, theres no magic involved. Ive never been out of shape but i was 10 lbs heavier a few months ago. I went from semi lean to VERY lean, there was no use to have that extra mass(180 to 170). 10 lbs is 10 lbs though.

12

Everybody is different about what will set them off. Either to get fit or fat. A couple of years ago I broke my leg pretty aggressively. Three months in bed and another 4 in various casts and my fitness was gone and the jelly had arrived. Another two years went by before I had that moment.

So far I am down 30+lbs on the year and increasing the milage every week. My thought is you can do it any number of different ways, sign up now for a race a ways off or set immediate goals - only one night of drinking a week or a couple of hours of working out a week. Regardless, it all starts with a decision. Decide to do something about it. Or not.

Good luck.

13

Reminds me of my friend who did Mt.Washington in 1:22 (2 minutes from elite/pro status) and is 40yo, 6 feet tall and 250 with a tad of a gut (lol). Most laighed at him at the start line (roadies are usually even thinner than triathletes) and thought, will this dude even finish. At the top, they thought he was a hero for what he did. I think his Ironman PR is 10:24. Fat, thin, whatever, it’s your personal goal(s) that matter most, be it time, fitness, emotional, etc.

14

“you know what boobs are? fat. i got them because of weight gain. at first i was happy, but as i kept gaining weight, it was pretty apparent my entire body was becoming one big fat boob. and you know what? that’s just not cool, and it’s certainly not sexy.”

LOL…

Yeah… I know people who still talk about my former big breasts from nwhen I weighed much more… and how they ‘aren’t the same’ and how they are missed – now that I am lean (with smaller ‘girls’). Ha. These are the same people who like me lean, too. Somehow, they never made the same correlation you did :wink:

Skinny women with ‘augmentation’ certainly throw off the natural population curve for shape…

15

“…I started partying all the time (having a ton of fun with it too) - but the problem is it sinks your training motivation…Here I am July 10th, about 10 pounds heavier, thank God that’s all it is, but far worse, I am starting to look a little jelly-like. I hate it! But every time I try to get going and fixing it, it doesn’t happen. Inertia is a powerful force…Some of you will say to stop whining and get over it.”

A body in motion stays in motion, sayeth Newton.

That being said, whatever you were partying (alcohol, drugs, whatever), it changes your brain and body chemistry in so many ways; it replaces the real feel-good hormones with a simulation, and then has an after-effect of all the lingering toxins. Not just does your brain and body think it doesn’t want to exercise (because it’s having fun), it truly doesn’t want to exercise… the craving for the drug-of-choice replaces the body’s craving for endorphins.

As you know, not only do you gain weight so it looks unsightly, but you screw up the body functions also. Look at all those celebrities who look puffy and “old”… it’s usually not from being “old”, it’s from hard-living and hard partying, maybe hard-eating. I don’t see Tina Turner looking hard (http://www.officialtina.com/): she doesn’t drink or smoke and she’s a Buddhist, living in France - at like 65 years young.

I hope this helps you to see that it’s great to “have a ton of fun”, but it’s certainly possible to have a ton of fun while keeping your self-esteem and your girlish figure, too :wink: (…yes, I know you are a guy)

Get out there and train – and eat properly for your goals. You are “only” 10 pounds heavier. You don’t know if the 10 pounds is from bloated cells, or what. You look jelly-like because of your undernourished cells and muscles which are allowed to go lax. If you nourish yourself, flush the crap from your cells with water, and start training again, you’ll feel great in no time.

Your “inertia” doesn’t get going because you are EXPECTING it to occur spontaneously at first. It doesn’t: training/eating inertia comes from making a CONSCIOUS HABIT for at least 3 weeks (21 days or so), and in that way, you’ve ingrained the sub-routines to make the actions occur with the “inertia” you want. PLAN, and EXECUTE THE PLAN. There’s no inertia on that: there is only ‘will’. You have to counter’s your body’s desire for the partying ‘easy’ hormone rush — for the ‘difficult’ hormone rush of endorphins.

Get out there.

I’m going onto my trainer now :slight_smile:

Lauren

16

Have you considered putting off your IM ambitions for a few years? Going from one extreme (partying) to another (Ironman training) won’t help advance your life’s wisdom. My two cents.

17

first of all, how old are you?

If you are in your early to mid 20s, party and don’t look back if that’s what’s fun. Try to stay somewhat active but maybe think about Oly distance races or 5k and 10k races. I partied my ass off from the time I was 18 to 27, now I wouldn’t recommend going that long, but I don’t regret 1 minute of it. I met some of the best people and had the most memorable times. I didn’t do drugs (much), but was shit wasted a lot. My philosophy, if you have to stop living to live, what’s the point? Live without regret and do what feels good. Don’t force life if it doesn’t want to be forced. The desire to train will come back AND if your 10 lbs is already nagging at you, I am going to go out on a limb and say you won’t make it to 25-30 lbs overweight before that desire comes back.

Sorry, that’s not exactly the Type A personality advice that you were looking for, but its somewhat practical.

One final note, I assume you are partying because its just fun. I have seen too many friends “partying”, but they were actually compensating for some really shitty things going on in their life and that led to some chemical dependence. If this is the road you are traveling seek some professional help.

18

20 minutes, that’s all you need.

Am I kidding? no.

So right now you come home sit on the couch or whatever and the last thing you want to do is exercise. Here’s what you do. Put on your running shoes and go outside for 20 minutes. Who can’t spare 20 minutes, you’ll be back before that Seinfeld rerun is over.

So you go outside, now what, walk, run, skip whatever you like.

Do that 5 times this week.

What you are doing is resetting the inertia. Very quickly you’ll find yourself wanting to stay out a little longer and maybe running instead of walking, or running fast instead of jogging. Once that starts you’ll be back on your plan pretty darn quickly. It’s worked for me and a few friends who were in the same rut.

19

Kittycat, that was a great post. Thanks.

20

i totally know what you’re saying, but could we go a little easy on the boobs=fat idea? it’s my understanding that that very mindset is sometimes a trigger for teen girls & anorexia.