Jeff's Profile
http://jwest62.traineo.com
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Joined: 18th Sep
Water Bottles: 0
From Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States
Hi! I'm a 44 year-old slightly overweight male looking to loose 30lbs by the end of year. For me, weight loss is just one part of an overall plan for living a healthier lifestyle (as healthy a lifestyle as possible!) In addition to diet and exercise, other elements of my healthy way of life include good sleep, proper hydration, kicking the (smoking) habit, meditation, and disease management (I have rheumatoid arthritis).

I signed up at Traineo because maintaining routines has always been difficult for me. 3 years ago however, after many tries, I was finally able to maintain an exercise routine for a period of 6 months with outstanding results. I then stopped working out so I'd have more time for other things and 3 months later the RA got worse. Since then I've been unable to motivate myself back into the gym.

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Jeff's Weight Loss Progress
Start weight: 227 lb
Goal weight: 190 lb
Current weight: 219 lb
Weight lost to date: 8 lb
Days logged this week: 0
Last logged weight: 8th October
Goal met!
Jeff's Graphs
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Diet
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Weight Change
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Recent Comments
Minu ~
5th Mar '08 11:45:49
Where ya been, Meeeeester Jeff?

Hope all is grooooooooooovin', on all the afternoons.

Now, quit lyin' so LOW already!

; )

M.
Fred Cadena
30th Dec '07 17:28:57
Ok! I admit it…. I have been a bad motivator!

Hell, the last month or so I haven’t had enough motivation for me. A lot has changed in my life – I am single, I moved to the city (from the burbs), and of course the Holidays and Holiday parties. About the only thing that hasn’t changed in the last couple of months is my weight, I have been in the 213-227 range. Truth be told I should be lucky not to have tipped over 227.

Well, let the fun begin. I can see 185, and I see it by February.

I hope you are up for some accountability, cause I sure am!

Good luck!

Fred
Amy S
7th Nov '07 20:13:36
Yay for cyber-cookies, I bet they're pretty low-cal! Everyone likes to eat, so everyone SHOULD know how to cook. Ahhh, I can taste em now!
Jeff West
7th Nov '07 18:16:39
Funny, I use to work as a cook in a pizzeria, maybe that exposure got me interested in my own kitchen? I make wicked TollHouse cookies, I'll whip up a cyber batch for ya!
Amy S
6th Nov '07 20:40:19
I don't have an answer to your FP question, I can't help but realize...wow, there are a number of men here who actually COOK. I've never actually met one in my real life. I guess this is real life, you know what I mean. The kitchen talent I've seen seems to stop after frozen pizza...
Amy S
5th Nov '07 15:06:08
Ok, NOT Amazon, I see. How's the reading going? Will you share a few main points when you get through it?
Amy S
4th Nov '07 16:48:01
Whoa, I had to jump in on the "demonizing..." thread. I accept this may make me the next H. victim. I'm ready.

I'm going to take a look on Amazon for the BFFM book.
Minu ~
3rd Nov '07 11:55:17
A BFFM group? AYE! Nobody told ME about this???

I fine read, indeeeed...

:)
Jeff West
2nd Nov '07 16:48:02
Hey Amy, It'll probably take me about a week to get that group up and running at full speed. I'm still reading through the eBook, and so far I like what I see. I haven't checked yet, I hope you join.

Feeling the vibes Minu, mucho gracias!
Amy S
2nd Nov '07 13:35:45
Jeff, you've got me very curious. Can't wait to see some topics starting up in that BFFM group!
Minu ~
31st Oct '07 19:45:37
Well, consider yourself positively-vibed from France, Jeff.

I'll be sure to share with you the next healthy, (and of course tastey) dish I come up with.

Happy HALLOWEENERS!

M.
Jeff West
31st Oct '07 16:51:36
Hey Minu, boy do I wish I could treat RA the same way as other non-autoimmune forms of arthritis and osteoarthritis. But no, I've been stricken with the arthritis grand-daddy of them all. At this point all my efforts are really going into building my muscle back up and maintaining a reasonable diet. Supplements are less attractive to me now then they were a year ago, but I believe they have value for maintaining general health, and helping with less complex conditions. Cheers!
Minu ~
31st Oct '07 11:35:23
Mmmm, cammmpinnnnng... I'd love to get out for some hiking and natural communing. I'll have to settle for the trail along side the town's river instead. Glad you had a swell time, Jeff.

And "good shot of your hand"? So, you're a "hand guy", are ya?

Regarding your RA, do you take Glucosamine and Calcium-Magnesium mixes?

; )

M.
Amy S
26th Oct '07 13:23:27
Hi Jeff, How've you been feeling? How are those cherry smoothies?
Jeff West
17th Oct '07 13:14:20
Ha, that was a silly picture moment. The person who took the picture found a rock as a bunch of us were hiking a beach. He immediately saw a face in it and wanted someone to hold it up so he could take a picture. Oddly, the reason I use the picture is because it's a good shot of my hand, the only one I have. Strange, eh?
Jocelyn Coutant
17th Oct '07 01:13:47
what exactly is it that you're holding?
Cindy N
9th Oct '07 23:16:09
That sounds like so much fun! I really miss camping.

Good luck with your weightlifting and changing up your cardio! I think you'll do well changing things up a bit. I'll send my best RA snuffing thoughts.
Jeff West
9th Oct '07 16:54:38
Thanks! everyone for your wonderful support and encouragement - it's been a big help and a needed source of motivation.

I'm happy to report that while my exercise has waxed and waned over the last week, the food I ate was excellent. Not perfect because I indulged in a few brats while camping, but otherwise a major change in direction from what I was eating. Oddly, I was most concerned about my diet, more specifically the foods I would eat, but had no sweets of any kind and kept refined foods to a minimum. And no fast food! My H2O consumption was also excellent this last week.

Camping was a blast and I got a great workout on during Saturday's hike, 2½ hours long burning 1364 cals! We scaled a short bluff, near vertical in some places. Here's the view from atop.



And here are my HR stats.



Toys do make exercising more fun, and I love my Polar. The top line is our altitude and the bottom line is my HR. The sharp incline near the left is the bluff we climbed.

I seem to feel better after shorter bike rides, so for the time being I'm going to change things up a little. Instead 1 or 2 one hour bike rides per day I'm going to ride 2 to 4 times a day for 20 to 30 minutes instead.

I'm easing into the weight lifting, it's been a few years since I've been in gym and my RA has me concerned I may tweak something out of shape, but feel comfortable with most of the exercises so far. In a week or so I should be able do nearly all my exercises with the last rep being very challenging.

I still have minor aches and stiffness from my RA, but I hope changing my cardio routine and upping the weights will alleviate this. Stay tuned...
Sent to their motivators on 15th October '07
Kristina Brooke
8th Oct '07 13:51:38
It look like you are doing well. Keep up the good work.
Jeff West
5th Oct '07 11:55:56
Gone Camping... Back on Sunday.
Dave Nicholson
4th Oct '07 17:00:46
Jeff - awesome idea! mind if I steal it? I got involved with traineo just a few weeks ago with a group of friends, all different goals. I think this would be a great "road trip" for us :)
Amy S
1st Oct '07 14:07:52
Good, specific goals, Jeff. A bicycling camping trip, I never even thought of that-now that's my kind of goal!
Jeff West
30th Sep '07 14:52:46
Well, I've been at Traineo 11 days now, and quite frankly not much has changed. I'm not at all proud that I've taken so long to really get started, but I have taken to heart many of the suggestions in the forums, namely Do It Now, using an X calendar and setting goals. I printed out my own calendars, one for each month, and have them posted on the wall - today is the starting day - and I set this whole day aside to dedicate to really starting my plan. So, today is my kick start day. Communication with other Traineo members has kept my interest high, so I thank all of you.

14 Day Goal
Get rid of daily aches and pains from arthritis, which at this point are minor, but a major nuisance.

90 Day Goals
1. be able to squat and stand up effortlessly
2. be able to get down on the ground and stand up effortlessly
3. have noticeable, increased strength overall
4. walk five flights of stairs without getting winded
5. loose 30 lbs.

Long Term Goals
1. By spring of 2008, as soon as the weather is warm enough, I want to take a bicycling camping trip, traveling at least 100 miles in each direction. I'll use a series of state trails to travel from the shore of Lake Michigan to Governor Dodge State Park where I'll spend a couple of nights camping. I've wanted to do this trip for many years now and am finally committing to it.

2. Starting in spring of 2008 do all of my grocery shopping using my bike to get there. I was doing this a few years back and loved it.
Sent to their motivators on 1st October '07
vdfgh j
25th Sep '07 17:48:46
Thanks for the info Jeff...Yes, for some reason sleep affects me strangely. On my profile whenever I get enough (!) sleep, I end up weighing less. Weird. But, possible that I am not looking at other factors too. I did get a nice massage the other day and ended up weighing less (laugh). Bummer. I'd get massages all the time then!
Amy did give me some good advice, throw out the scale! :)
Maybe that is the true trick...
Amy S
24th Sep '07 15:34:07
You've got a lot of knowledge and a great plan. You'll be feeling better and better in no time!
Cindy N
23rd Sep '07 15:33:58
Thanks for the comment, Jeff! It sounds like you're really geared to make some big changes. Good luck with your efforts! Just stick to it, and you'll be beating that 6 month record of exercise.
Jeff West
22nd Sep '07 15:37:10
O.K., I'm finally settling into Traineo mode. My current workout routine is as follows:

One sixty minute bike ride per day, rain or shine. In the next week or two I'm going to up this to two sixty minute bike rides per day. I prefer bicycling to all other forms of cardio because it gets me outdoors in the fresh air, and it's low impact, which is good news for my RA afflicted joints.

Two thirty minute at-home PT sessions every day for neck and shoulders. The RA is really hitting my shoulders hard right now and my PT, Jessica, has me on a great routine working mostly with those colored rubber stretchy things.

One 15 minute session in the gym, three days a week. I'm only working my mid and lower body in gym right now as my shoulders, and slightly weak wrists make it difficult (and risky) working most of the upper body. Fortunately I can do shoulder shrugs with the free weights, so I do those as well.

As soon as I can I'll be adding upper body weight lifting and getting in the gym 6 days a week. That will be 3 days upper/mid body and 3 days lower body, alternating.

I'm really digging this Traineo experience, and I'm excited about getting in shape! It's SOOOO great having my motivation back!
Sent to their motivators on 24th September '07
More About Jeff
Hi! I'm a 44 year-old slightly overweight male looking to loose 30lbs by the end of year. For me, weight loss is just one part of an overall plan for living a healthier lifestyle (as healthy a lifestyle as possible!) In addition to diet and exercise, other elements of my healthy way of life include good sleep, proper hydration, kicking the (smoking) habit, meditation, and disease management (I have rheumatoid arthritis).

I signed up at Traineo because maintaining routines has always been difficult for me. 3 years ago however, after many tries, I was finally able to maintain an exercise routine for a period of 6 months with outstanding results. I then stopped working out so I'd have more time for other things and 3 months later the RA got worse. Since then I've been unable to motivate myself back into the gym.

Well, my motivation is back, due in part to Traineo. I think having a few motivators will be a great help. Also, posting my efforts on the Internet, for the whole world to see, may help to keep me on my toes. I'm not entirely sure about that yet so I may change my profile so only Traineo members can see it.

I'm strong willed, but most of all I crave the results I achieved 3 years ago. So I'm determined, and thus far my spirits remain high. I sure am glad you stopped to read about me and great luck with your own efforts! Cheers!
Jeff's Contacts
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Kristina Brooke
Kristina
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Fred Cadena
Fred
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Dean Grimshawe
Dean
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David Morehead
David
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Cindy N
Cindy
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THE NEW ME
THE
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Dave Nicholson
Dave
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Amy S
Amy
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Tim Wilson
Tim
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Minu ~
Minu
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