It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. That’s about as far as I made it into A Tale of Two Cities, maybe I’ll pick up where I left off one day.
I workout: 4-6 PM on weekdays. On the weekends, I normally go at night around 8 or 9 PM; occasionally in the morning.
I weigh: Lately, every morning before breakfast. Depending on the amount of waste/water in my body, my weight fluctuates wildly day to day. The Wednesday weigh-ins are much more reliable.
I eat: 3 meals a day, normally around 7 AM, 12 PM, and 6PM. I also have a snack comprising of a banana, cup of apple sauce, or Cracker Jacks either in the morning or in the afternoon between meals, but not every day.
What The Experts Say
Best time to workout: Early morning or mid-afternoon. Most “experts” will tell you that it’s best to workout in the morning before breakfast, but a growing number of people are saying that working out between 2-4 is good as well because your body is at it’s peak energy levels for the day. This means you’ll be able to workout harder, longer, etc and make your workouts more productive.
Worst: No expert will go on record saying “don’t work out X time.” If they did, could you imagine the backlash? Anytime is a good time for physical activity.
Best time to weigh: Once a month or once every two weeks in the morning.
Worst: Every day. By weighing yourself every single day you’re setting yourself up to be discouraged. You may expect to lose a pound every time you step onto the scale and that’s just not practical. As a matter of fact, you might find that you have gained a pound or two overnight due to water weight, not using the restroom, etc. You also don’t want to weigh yourself at night.
In addition, it’s not all about what the scale reads. Your actual weight isn’t important — it’s how healthy you live. There are plenty of people there are classified as “overweight,” but really just have big bones, are muscular, etc.
Best time to eat: Virtually every expert suggests you eat several small, balanced meals throughout the day, roughly 2-3 hours apart. It keeps your metabolism going throughout the day and gives you energy.
Worst: Within a 3-4 hours before bedtime.
If you can try going to the gym in the morning before work, by all means, give it a shot and see if you get better results. Then again, if you like working out at an hour before bed, going home and eating a block of cheese while standing on the scale, feel free to stick with that as well. Both are still healthy lifestyles.
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I work from home and have a home gym, so I’ve tried working out at just about every time of day. Here’s my take:
1) Mornings – I have the most energy earlier in the day.
2) Noon / Afternoon – If I’ve had 45 minutes to digest, it’s a pretty good time to go.
3) Night – I always have less energy for a workout after a days work (even if I’m just sitting in front of a computer all day.)
With that said, lately, I’ve been working out with a buddy at 6-8 PM. I find a good workout partner (someone who pushes you competitively) more than makes up for the extra energy I have in the morning. Also, in the past, I’ve squeezed 3 mile runs in late at night (10-11 pm.) While running that late sucks, it’s 100% better than no run at all.
I weigh myself everyday, but I use the Google 15 widget on my Google homepage to track my weight. It keeps a moving average. I judge my weight by my moving average and not my weight each morning. I keep as much equal as possible (boxers and tshirt and I use the bathroom first to get rid of any excess water weight).
I’ve set myself a set of daily goals, including taking medications on time, eight glasses of water, logging my excercise and calories, etc etc.
One of them is to not weigh myself! I used to do it daily and it is, truly discouraging. It feeds you misinformation about how you are eating and is just bad, bad, bad. I do it once a week now and am always pleasantly surprised.
I work out before meals. I swim 4 days a week before lunch. I am at the mercy of when the pool is open. I do 45 minutes at roughly 12:00, and eat lunch afterwords.
I walk 3.4 Miles, 3-4 days a week (My wife and I trade days walking the dogs). I do this right after work and before dinner.
I’m sure there is someone out there to tell me that this is the wrong way to do it. But I like it. I get good and famished and then can eat.
I’m going through my own weight loss, and I weigh myself every single day. But like someone else said, I keep a 5-day running average that smooths out the day-to-day variation and that’s the number I pay attention to. If I’m aiming for a goal, I haven’t hit it until my 5-day average weight hits it.
Also, I don’t buy the “don’t eat before bedtime” argument. Calories in are calories in.
Weekdays, I go to the gym around 8pm and stick around til about 10 when it closes. It’s just too darn busy between 6 and 8 when the after-work crowd settle in. On weekends, I’m there in the afternoon.
Weekdays, I eat a fairly standard 3 square meals a day, although I try to mix it up every so often in order to keep my body guessing. Sometimes I’ll eat a big breakfast and a small dinner, and sometimes I’ll eat a small breakfast with a big dinner. I eat the same homemade vegetable soup with saltines for lunch every weekday. On weekends, my meal schedule varies depending on when I’m going to workout.
I weigh in every Saturday afternoon when I visit the gym, before I work out.
I just read your story on the consumerist, good going and good luck going forward!!!111one
Congratulations on your inspiring journey to a healthier, fitter you! As a dietitian I noticed some of your days are short on the veggies. As these are high in fibre and water content they help fill you up with few calories, and of course are packed with nutrition. Some ideas: a whole cup of spinach (less than 50 kcal) with strawberries, a mix of carrots/peppers/celery/grape tomatoes for munching, roast a bunch of veggies in the oven drizzled with a bit of balsamic vinegar and olive oil, etc