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Weekly Update - Week 3
*Note this week includes an extra 2 days, weigh in on Monday 12/28. Updated weight 240 This week -5 lbs Overall -20 lbs Hard to not be really pleased with losing 5 in a week that included Christmas Eve, Christmas, and my wife's birthday. Also great to hit my first 20 lbs which is 1/3rd of the way back to 200! Glad to hit 240 before the new year. This was the first week where I felt some noticeable difference in clothes, my "fat shorts" - the ones I was comfortable in at peak weight, I actually have to wear a belt now to keep them on. Also before everything in my body was tight (not in a good way) where it felt like my skin was taut from all the fat (which it was) and now it kind of feels a lot more loose in some areas. I think really being good M-W last week and then not losing all control over the holiday weekend was huge. Although now I'm in for some tough challenges ahead which I'll detail below. Food observations Sat - 1458 cals Sun - 1467 cals Mon - 1790 cals Tue - 1624 cals Wed - 1542 cals Thu - 2235 cals Fri - 3106 cals (Christmas) Sat - 1670 cals Sun - 1490 cals Only real negative I can point to food wise this week is that I'm not eating quite as many fresh veggies as I probably should, other than that really good. I put a huge mental focus this week on not allowing Christmas to turn into a week long binge fest and it really paid off. Realizing that there's a HUGE difference between a nice full plate of whatever Christmas dinner you want vs. 2 platefuls and 4 desserts over 3 hours. I tried to extend that principle to ever day this week except for Christmas. And to be honest it's probably not horrible for me to hit 3k calories every once in a while to keep my body a bit confused. Also doing a good job with protein vs. fat. I track everything on TheDailyPlate, and every day I was at 200-300% of my protein goals (100-150 grams average) while keeping fat typically below 60g. I'm really into sunflower seeds at the moment. I've always liked them (in shell) and they are really useful to me as a snack because they take a long time to eat when you get the kind in shell and so the calorie vs. satisfaction (and keeping my mouth busy) ratio is great. I ate out several times this week also and did pretty good there, either making a very healthy choice, or if it was unhealthy, having 1/2ish of my normal portions. Exercise Observations Can't say it was an overall great week exercise-wise due to the holiday. My gym was closed Thu - Sunday so didn't do the gym any of those days. Did some light exercising at home, but I'm not yet good at doing great workouts at home. I did kill it at the gym M-W, and while I wish I didn't have 4 days off from the gym, it did give me a chance to recoup my body a bit and when I went today (Monday) I felt like I had boundless energy and had an amazing workout. Still having some pain in my knees and ankles, preventing me from solid running for cardio. I hope those issues lessen as the weight goes down, because some of those activities that impact knees/ankles more I really want to work in (basketball, running, etc.) Still doing a good job of varying things, started to do some exercises with the large weighted balls this week to mix up my weights, and varying cardio intensity, type, and duration every day I'm at the gym. I need to get better at home workouts. TBH I kind of feel dumb doing videos at home because I feel really uncoordinated and can't do the same pace as the videos. I'm trying to tell myself it's not girlie, but it kind of feels girlie to do a workout DVD at home for me (and anything "manly" is over my head at this point). This is mental I know... Preparing for Next Week Next week in all likelihood is going to be worse than Christmas, because we have family in town. When that happens my wife cooks good food, we go out to eat more, and probably can't hit the gym as much. It's going to be tough for 4 days, just need to take the same approach as Christmas week and tell myself that just because I can't be perfect doesn't give me license to totally blow it either. 2 Big Problems Going Forward 1. "Failure without punishment" - This refers to days where I am not "on-plan" to the extent I want to and I don't see scale punishment (or even worse, continue to lose at the same rate). This happened over Christmas as I didn't work out and ate worse for 4 days and my weight loss progressed almost exactly as it has when I've been on plan (I weigh every day). This was the big contributor to me failing to maintain the only other time I lost weight 2 years ago. What happens is that in my head I start to think that I can eat 3k calories and not exercise and it's no different from 1.5k calories and a hard gym workout. Then it leads to little behavior slips (I can skip the gym today, or order that extra burrito) which cycles and then it comes pouring on. Plan This is mostly mental. I must look at things from a macro perspective (i.e. week and multi week) and not a micro perspective (day and multi-day). Realize that there is not an immediate reaction between behavior and weight necessarily. KEEP IT SIMPLE - If I do the things that are right I will lose, If I do the things that are wrong I will gain....DONE 2. Slower Results I was hoping to see good results the first month and I have (20 lbs in 3.5 weeks). The problem now is that I have to work just as hard or harder to see even less results. While this is a sign that things are going well, it also sucks from a motivation perspective. I don't know when I will stop losing at a ~5 lb a week rate, could be this week, or not for another several, but I will get to the point where I will be luck to pull 2 each week and I have to prepare myself for that. Plan Again mental...try not to look at the big losses as normal, and view them as extra gifts or rewards for getting started on the journey. Continue to focus on behavior (reasonable calorie deficit with good nutrition coupled with a good exercise regime) and not focus too much on weight... Question in my head today Have I gained any muscle? I hear mixed information on whether you can actually build muscle while losing weight. I am eating a lot of protein and can now lift 20-30% more across the board than I could a month ago. But I'm not sure if that's just making existing muscle more "alive" or actually gaining more muscle. I'm still way below what I was capable of when I got to 200 several years ago. I don't know that the answer really matters, but I was thinking about it today. |
Exercise/weight Observation
I've been frustrated with my knees and ankles not being able to take running well so I've been having to walk more than I might want to. This is frustrating because it is not as intense as I would like. To help a little I picked up a couple of 2.5lb(each) wrist weights to make my arms work a bit more while walking. It's amazing to me just how my 5 lbs feels like on my arms and how much I "notice" the extra weight. This made me think about the 50ish lbs I still have to lose. I'm surprised sometimes that my body can lift me up at all, I think about how much more athletic I would feel 50lbs lighter just due to not carrying extra weight. When I was a teenager and in good shape I would go on a lot of long camping trips where I would often carry a 40-50lb pack. I remember how strenuous that was and how burdened that felt and to think that I essentially lug one of those around all the time is a crazy thought. |
I know what you mean! I recently got some 50-lb. bags of sand for a project... and was amazed at how heavy they were. To think I walked around with that much on me every day... Or, think of it as two 25-pound bags of dog chow, one under each arm. No wonder trying to exercise hurt! That's why it's better to take it easier to begin with... Use the low impact machines...
Jay |
Monday 12/28 and Tuesday 12/29
Very similar to last week in that I have the beginning of this week to get ready for a really difficult end of the week plan-wise. Both Monday and Tuesday were solid. If anything I might have undereaten a bit both days, which is probably ok considering last weekend and this upcoming weekend. Made it to the gym both days and had good long solid workouts. Really feeling the additional energy, it is easier and more pleasant to get up and do things around the house and with the toddler which helps with family and marriage life. Before I would look at getting up and taking out a bunch of trash as a chore, or bringing in groceries. Now I try to do curls as I'm moving the goods and think of it as burning a couple of calories:) TOMORROW THE REAL CHALLENGE BEGINS We will have 4 houseguests from Wed - Sun. This will be way tougher than Christmas where we went somewhere else for a meal. My wife went grocery shopping, and while it wasn't like she brought home 20 cheesecakes, it was definately "normal people food" for entertaining. A few things I really struggle to have in the house, especially chips. I will not be able to be as selective about what I eat over the next 4 days so instead I will have to be spot on with portion control. I am better at being selective than I am at portion control so this will be a big challenge. I'm going to try to hit the gym again tomorrow before family arrives, and then hopefully I can go again on Saturday. Wish me luck! |
New Years Mid Day Alert
Uh oh, I'm at my calorie limit for the day and am about to head to a 6 hour NYE party with pizza and liquor. On top of that my calories for today have been pretty unhealthy, no make that very unhealthy. Including too large of a portion of 7 layer taco dip and chips. Trying to reset and not chunk out the whole night just because I've been very weak so far today. Need to be very careful with food and drink tonight to try to stay under 3k calories. |
Let us know how it goes!
Jay |
Failure:(
Well, bombed pretty good last night. 7 hour party, 4 slices of pizza and 8 peanut butter cup cookies and a margarita. Blew calories pretty bad yesterday at around 3.8K I think:mad: What I would have probably done is eaten a large meal before hand or like a filling protein smoothie or something before going to help. But with family here that was kind of embarrassing. That's kind of an excuse, but it's kind of embarrassing to not be able to live life normally on a day like everybody else. I also learned why I need to just stay away from sweets. I ate a couple of reeses peanut butter cup cookies, a favorite of mine, and before I knew it I had more in my hands while chewing the ones in my mouth. I'm worse at portion control than I should be with desserts so since I don't really crave them it's better to just stay away. My calories have been VERY swingy this week. I was pretty good Monday, and pretty far under on Tue/Wed and way over yesterday. We will see the impact that has... |
Well, randomcards, you are not alone. Plus you've had a chance to see just how easy it is to slip up from time to time, especially on holidays.
You just know something is wrong when you have more cookies in your hands while you're still chewing the last one. :yikes: Planning is the key here, and even the best plans sometimes don't get followed. For example, you could have decided in advance that you would eat 3 slices of pizza and 2 peanut butter cookies. Of course, maybe you didn't know that's what would be served, in which case you would have needed another strategy. Also, sometimes alcohol loosens inhibitions up... control goes out the window... Well, it's all water under the bridge! So, drink plenty of water today, try to get some light exercise, and eat reasonably. Don't try to offset last night by working out like a fiend and starving all day--that just sets up a bad pattern. Good luck! Jay |
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1/1 New Year's Day
After my biggest failure on plan yet on New Year's Eve I was pretty nervous about today. New Year's Day is normally a bingefest of snack foods and football bowl games, but I knew I couldn't have two terrible days in a row. Turns out I had a really really good day! Ate really well, good portions and avoided any bad foods despite having a houseful of guests. Biggest success was avoiding this crockpot chocolate concoction my wife made for the houseguests with ice cream. I really really wanted a large bowl which would have been like 600-800 calories, but I avoided the temptation entirely. |
Saturday 1/2
Sorry for the short posts recently, have not had time for much with family in town. All family is leaving early in the morning, and while that is always a bummer it will be nice to get back on normal plan... Haven't been to the gym since Wednesday, but today while the kiddo took a nap I did about 40 minutes of the new EA Sports More Workouts which is a good workout, had me sweating really hard. So got in a reasonable exercise today despite the guests. I was able to hit the top end of my calorie range today. This last week has seen huge variations in the calories intake, so not sure how much that will punish me come weigh-in. |
Mini Success!
Woke up this morning and didn't have any of my normal pants to wear so tried on an older pair that was a size smaller than my "fat" size that I was busting out of. And they fit! Only 4 more pants sizes to go lol;) Tomorrow's weigh-in day, will be interesting to wrap up the holidays. I'm hoping for a 3-4, but figure 1-2 is more realistic. |
Uh-Oh Alert
Just found out at 9am that I have to be on a 5pm flight to NYC.....:mad::mad::mad: These are the things that derail me and I have used as excuses before. Now I just need to recognize and do better. It's tough to deal with the stress and speed of a day like today. Now off to work... EDIT::: Just found out (after I bought a ticket) that my people told me wrong and I don't have to go until tomorrow. Nothing like killing 2 hours on the phone with a travel agent..... |
Weekly Update - Week 4
Starting Weight - 260 Current Weight - 237 Pounds Lost This Week - 3 Well I got a 3 this week which I guess is reasonable. I think I would have been surprised by a bigger number and a little disappointed with a smaller number. While my loss has slowed each week (9, 6, 5, 3) I think I can continue to lost in the 2-4 range each week for a while at least. This week marked the end of the holidays and had some good some bad. On the bad side I had by far my worst day on plan on NYE (like 4K calories:o), but other than that did really really good during 5 days with family houseguests. That was NOT easy... Now we move into 2010, and I think back to how happy I am that I started in early December instead of doing the classic excuse "I'll wait until after the holidays". Let's compare...if I was 260 in early December and continued old habits through December I could have easily been say 265 by today. But instead I am 237, which is almost a 30lb difference by starting in December. SO START TODAY! Diet Observations Calories for the week...this is actually a graph of my calorie intake since I started tracking on MyDailyPlate on Dec 9th... It is goes backwards from what you would expect... http://i516.photobucket.com/albums/u...rds/Month1.jpg So mixed bag, the huge NYE day, big failure. But made some really good choices and avoided big temptation with company. My wife (and her family) are known for doing really huge amazing country breakfasts which she did every day we had guests. And instead of doing my usual 2-3 biscuits smothered in gravy - 2 eggs, smothered in cheese with 4 pieces of bacon, I did about 1/3rd of that! Also avoided some really sinful desserts. It's a tough balance with company, because I understand my wife's desire to both support me yet be a good hostess and cook "good" favorites for family. It's a tough line, so I got to practice discipline! Other big observation that you can see from my graph is that I am not real consistent with calorie intake, i.e. the variations day to day are really large. I'm not sure what impact that has on my weight loss. Part of me thinks it might be good and part thinks it might be bad. I dipped too low several times this week which is a result of eating too little (I'm not skipping meals or snacks, just too low-calorie) before dinner. Then not wanting to binge and eat a oversized dinner just to get more calories in. Maybe I should? Still working out the kinks in this whole eating thing... Exercise Observations Monday - Gym Tuesday - Gym Wednesday - Gym Thu - Nothing Friday - Wii Saturday - Wii Sunday - Wii Another challenging week with the gym (I go to a small church gym with limited hours) being closed a fair amount and not being able to go as easily with guests in town. Going M-W really helped get the week off to a good start. I was starting to get pretty comfortable with the weights I did on the machines so decided to go up a level after the New Year. I went today and went up a bar on all the machines I use and was able to do all of them. This basically means I can already do about 30-35% more weight with the same reps that I could a month ago! Obviously this pace won't continue, but I do feel myself getting stronger. My ankles and knees are feeling a lot better, but I'm going to ease back into more high impact veeerrrrrry slowly. As you can see above I got a Wii over the holidays with some extra poker money. I purchased both Wii Fit Plus as well as EA Sports Active: More Workouts. I'll post a review of them here later, but found them to be useful over the weekend when I couldn't get to the gym. I have to avoid thinking the Wii will replace gym workouts because it's not the same, but it is a useful enhancement to my routine, especially since it's pretty different from what I do at the gym which should help keep my body guessing. I'm considering trying to do a shorter mini-workout in the evenings on the Wii even on days I go to the gym. I'm going to tread very carefully there, because I don't want to overtrain or burnout. So it will be an experiment with how I feel and how it impacts my normal workout the next day. Looking Forward to Next Week Pretty straightforward week. I do have to do a 2.5 day trip this week so need to be careful...pretty much all the same stuff I posted several weeks ago for my first trip. This is my second trip on plan so still have a lot of learning/practice to do for avoiding major pitfalls. Fortunately I think this trip will be pretty mild like the last one was. Nice to get some practice on trips where I don't have to work 14 hour days... While I am doing this tracker for myself, I hope anybody that glances at it can pick things up from my failures and successes. If you have any advice or tips, feel free to share! |
Wow
Amazing thanks for posting, congratulations u are my new sponsor!!!!!!!!!!!
Everything you have talked about is so true, i.e, eating fast, finishing off other's meals, over indulging!!!! B's and G's are my weakness as well as CHIPS!!! I have to start working out!!!!! Thanks again for the details in following you on your journey, really helps to have someone in my shoes!!!! Keep up the good work. Tucker |
Wow Random, you are such an analytical thinker and writer. I like the fact that you are sharing your highs and lows in this forum. It's holding you accountable. My husband and I just started our healthy lifestyle changes yesterday and I'm really enjoying reading the successes and setbacks that everyone experiences. It makes me feel more human and normal. This forum is so healthy for those of us who fail...because we can see that's it's possible to pick up the next day in a drive for success. I also sing and play for our worship team on Sundays...and of course, there are donuts in the kitchen for fellowship time. Eating one or two donuts between practice and the service didn't seem so awful before. Now, I take a bottled water and have a fiber one bar to hold me over until church is over. You're making great strides. I know it must be so difficult with your bride expecting your second child, and having some heavy duty cravings. I applaud you. You have so many obstacles to overcome, but you are doing it. Keep up the good work!
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Take THAT life...
Life tried to throw me a curveball today...And I threw it back:D I had a super fast commute to the airport and got there like 45-60 minutes early for my flight. So since I live by a really really large airport I decided to get dropped an entire terminal away and walk all the way to my gate for a little bonus exercise and to pass the time in a healthy way. So I get through security, didn't even look at the boarding pass I just printed (I fly a lot) and after I get through I realize that they moved my gate not only to the Terminal I was at, but the gate I was flying out of was right across from where I just entered security...pretty amazing considering the airline takes up around 100 gates at this airport. I was kind of chuckling inside at the irony when I had a sudden impulse...So I decided to walk all the way to the old gate (in the other terminal) and BACK in the time I had... I even skipped the moving walkways. ~4,000 steps on my pedometer Also did great with food, planned ahead, ate a filling meal before heading to the airport, grabbed a healthy salad to take on the plane and ended up great for the day. Tomorrow will be tough with clients and what not... |
Take that Class!
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Wednesday Jan 6th
Pretty good day overall... Kind of nice to be in NYC even though it is cold as it is a fun place to just get out an walk. On the other hand I feel fatter here, since I'm pretty sure the average weight here is like 40 lbs less than my hometown. Food Breakfast in hotel, cup of fruit and a 60 cal yogurt...skipped a lot of bad stuff Lunch at a sushi place, ordered a seaweed salad and a single roll with some sashimi Dinner was a chicken pesto panini with about half the chips they put in the box (unbeknownst to me:mad:). Not the best but I think I was ok calorie wise overall today Exercise Gym early in the AM (see observation below) Walked to client location and back - total 1.6 miles Took a long walk after work - total 2.5 miles Observation 1 - Can success be a failure? I had a technical success today, but I'm not so sure it wasn't actually a failure. The success was getting up super early and going to the gym. Why could that be a failure??? Because I wasn't smart about it and it made me pretty miserable. -After a late flight and losing an hour to the time change I only slept for 5 hours, and was exhausted when I forced myself out of bed much earlier than I normally do - I went to work out before caffeine or breakfast, leaving me feeling a bit nauseated and sickly feeling - Only machine free was the treadmill so I did 25 minutes of alternating 2 minute walk with 1 minute fast run...I hate the treadmill, it doesn't feel good and it just wasn't pleasant So the net results afterwards wasn't the normal warm fuzzie energized feeling after the gym, it was a tired, miserable, I hope I never do that again feeling. I think that mental negative impact might well outweigh the physical gain of working out.... I'm torn because part of me says that doing what is easy is how I got to this point in the first place, and the other part of me says that if I do a lot of stuff that is miserable or I have to really force that it won't become habit and I'll just regress at a later date. I don't know I'm going back and forth here???? Observation 2 - Temptation Everywhere It is so hard to be good on the road, and NYC is even worse. Walking past so many pizza places, and other amazing food on every block is just really tough. And there are more things outside my control. I ordered a panini on the way home and didn't realize until I opened the box in my hotel room that it came with a ton of Ruffles...I haven't had chips in weeks.... I only ate half of them but it was about more than I could handle:dizzy: Also when I get to my hotel room last night at almost midnight there is a nice large bag of CrackerJacks sitting on my bedside table. What's up with that:mad:? Just bypassing my normal Venti Starbuckschino when on the road was a challenge today. I'm trying to realize that I can't live my life in a protected bubble in my house (especially with my job), but some days it feels as if life is trying to get me to mess up. |
Observation 3 - Calorie Counting...
is really hard when you eat out 3 meals a day. I mean do I go only with stuff from national chains (gag me after the 10,000th time) where I can look up calories? Do I approximate/overestimate from similar foods? Just try to pick something in the top 10% healthiest things on the menu and not worry about it. I don't know... |
We eat out a lot, too, some for work, some for fun, and I tend to look at the restaurant's menu online (when they have one) first and then try to approximate from that what I think I'll pick when I get there. One trick that I use is to include a glass of champagne or a couple glasses of wine in my calorie estimate for my meals out, and then if when I get to the resto I have a little leeway in case something more caloric than planned is calling to me. In terms of accuracy, I do the best I can -- all calorie counts are estimates and approximations anyway, and if I feel like something I've eaten _feels_ like it has more calories that I estimated, then I round up a little bit.
Don't know whether that helps any, but I know how difficult it can be to feel like you're on plan when you're eating in fine dining restos and don't always have total control over how/what you order (eg, the chef sends out a treat, your colleague buys another round...). |
You're still not very practiced with weighing and measuring, but as time goes on you'll get better. Then you can look at that food on your plate at a restaurant and decide how much to eat and how much to package for later--or just leave on the plate. But it takes practice.
If you've ordered a 12-ounce steak, then that's pretty easy unless there's a bone in it. Only eat half of the steak. If they pile garlic mashed potatoes on the plate, only eat one-third to one-half the potatoes. Even broccoli can be tricky because a restaurant often puts sauce with oil on their veggies--when tracking their calories, some people just add in a tablespoon of oil for every restaurant meal. Yes, you can choose the best items. Many restaurants have a salmon choice, or shrimp, or grilled chicken. Often these are big servings, so again, don't plan to eat the whole thing (although with shrimp or salmon, it's OK to eat all of that). Some people ask for a take-out box right away, and box up what they aren't going to eat as soon as the plate comes. That way they don't keep nibbling. Obviously, you don't eat desserts at such places. Certainly not if you're eating out that much. Sometimes the hardest part is when you have to just leave the food. If you were raised to be a "plate cleaner" and never "waste" food, it seems like almost a sin. But it isn't. Better to "waste" it than to "waist" it! Hang in there! Jay |
Thu Jan 8th and back home
So made it back home very late last night after another 2.5 day trip. Yesterday was hard as I knew the gym wasn't an option. Had meetings starting at 7:15am (6:15 to my body:o) and straight to airport after work, not getting home until almost midnight. But I think I did a good job counterbalancing with nutrition, I did another healthy hotel breakfast (that's 4/4 since on plan!). Across from my client was this amazing salad place called Just Salad, where they build you a very fresh good salad with whatever you want, zillions of toppings and dressings. The best part is that they will chop the whole thing up, for some reason I really prefer a chopped salad to a tossed salad. So I actually at an earlyish lunch there and got another one on my way to the airport. Stayed away from bad ingredients but had some great low fat dressings including this horseradish chive low fat dressing. After getting on there site, it looks like both the very different salads I had were in the 550-700 cal range each, they were huge and very filling and super good. Observations from second business trip on plan. I had another really good trip, very pleased with staying on plan. The most encouraging thing was I didn't have to think quite as much about everything as I did on my first business trip, it came a little more natural. I still think I am going to really really struggle with official gym workouts on the road. Early morning is just really bad for me (see earlier post) and I don't have the energy to hit it super hard after work. I have to figure out something that is workable here. I might experiment with trying to go bed several hours earlier than I usually do to get up early enough to eat breakfast and then go work out. That sounds miserable in my head though. The food thing is going pretty well on the road though. Although it is a lot harder to count calories at restaurants, doing the whole counting thing helps me think more along the lines of how much I need to eat instead of how much I can't eat if that makes sense. Mini Successes The new belt I bought (see this post) before my last trip clearly fit on the second notch (almost 3rd) whereas when I bought it was tight on the largest notch. My largest dress pants (which was all I could fit into) are right on the verge of being too large to actually wear. Also I could definitely tell that I was smaller in the airplane seat this time. It was a great feeling. With as much time as I spend in airline seats it is funny because unlike clothes you can't switch to a larger size;) |
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Right now if it makes it to my plate it is as good as gone. This is something I need to get a lot better at on the road. The nice thing about developing this "skill" is that it will allow me to not always have to choose the healthiest thing on the menu if I can eat a correct portion (and not the typical restaurant 2x-3x portion). |
Portion Control
I had portion control (a huge weakness of mine) at both lunch and dinner today! My wife had made spaghetti last night and there was a lot leftover so I felt obligated to eat some of it. I got a very small portion it wasn't the end of the world. For dinner we had this choir thing and here were my 5 food choices...cheese enchiladas, beef enchiladas, mexican rice, refried beans, and chips:( I got one enchilada, a bit of rice, a few chips and lots of salsa and it still wasn't the end of the world. I'm not sure I'm ready to conquer eating half of what is on my plate yet, but this was a step in the right direction. |
Today was the reward
This morning I went to a birthday party for my daughter's 2 y/o friend. It was at a warehouse where they have all of these giant inflatables. 1 month ago, I would have likely remained on the ground, sitting down, watching. Maybe I would have gone up the giant slide once if my daughter begged, but by the time I got up and back down, been tired, out of breath and sweaty. Instead today I played and rolled around with the kids the whole time, up and down many times and really didn't even feel it. I didn't sweat (which is amazing, because that's been a big problem over the last 4-6 months), and didn't even really feel worn out at all by the end. It allowed me to have fun with my baby and her friends and increased the quality of time I spent with her. Losing a pound is great, but that feeling was far better! |
Month 1 Recap/Evaluation
It seemed appropriate since it's been a little over a month since I started the "plan" that's not really a plan, to go back and evaluate my original post and post some evaluations/thoughts. Overall Official Weight Lost - 23 lbs I guess one of the things that has been most positive about the last month was that I managed to get a great start despite the holidays. I was helped by a lighter than usual work schedule and not a lot of horrible travel. So let me go back to the "Action Plan" I posted and see how I've done... Exercise 1. Gym M-F and most Saturdays B+: Seems pretty fair here. I have definitely missed a few gym days here and there, but I don't think I've had a day where I didn't go to the gym out of laziness. The only day's I've missed have been days it was closed due to holidays, or a couple of travel work days where I didn't really have an opportunity. 2. Don't overthink weights A+: I'm not weight training in the most ideal manner, but I'm making pretty significant progress. I'm doing about 30% more weight than I was doing a month ago and can already see some difference. More importantly I'm avoiding soreness to the point of not wanting to return the next day which is a huge motivational difference. 3. Vary cardio method/intensity A+: I've been nailing this one and I think it's making a big difference. I do something different almost every day (and even vary length/intensity/combinations of these, including elliptical, treadmill, intervals, treadclimber, stairs, basketball drills, soccer drills, walking, wii active.... 4. While traveling, gym before eating B-: I've not done well with this, but not totally failed either. I've had two trips, both of which only had one full day on-site that wasn't a partial travel day. Both of those days I really didn't feel like working out in the gym, so opted for really long (1+ hrs) walks around the cities I was in. I think this is pretty reasonable, but not as intense as a gym workout. 5. Do mini-workouts throughout the day B: I'm doing ok on this, and adding several additional "non official exercising" to my day, but not doing it as often as I hoped. Sweating is still aproblem and I don't really like to do something with the intensity that gets me to that point too often. But I can and should do a little better here, especially something right after waking up to get the blood flowing. 6. Incorporate physical activity into toddler time A+: This has been going really well to the benefit of my daughter, myself, and my family overall. We do a lot more together, I don't hesitate to chase her laps around the house, always do "kiddo squats" or "kiddo kettlebells" several times and day and in general look at physical interactions with her as an opportunity for health/fun instead of a burden. Food 1. Total calories 1800-2000 A-: I've been doing really good overall in this area. Counting on TheDailyPlate has been huge for this and really opened my eyes to some things. I've only really had 2 days where I've gone much above 2k, and that was Christmas and NYE. This would be an A+ but I've dipped below 1500 calories more often than I probably should. 2. Portion Control B: I'll give myself an A for portion control before it gets onto my plate (better than I would have expected actually) and a C for portion control if it's already on my plate, which is still a struggle. 3. Use TheDailyPlate to track calories A+: I have done this faithfully every day since Dec 9th. 4. Don't "overchange" diet A: What I have done has been workable, I'm not constantly hungry or craving things all the time. I've not tried to go all crazy with whole foods or anything that's a bit too drastic for me at this point. I have clearly passed on a few things that I would like to not pass on when I get to maintenance, but I haven't really felt like I was on a diet more than a few times. 5. Eliminate Desserts A-: I haven't completely eliminated, but I would say that I've only had any dessert maybe 3 times in the last month and only one time (on NYE) did I have an inappropriate portion. 6. Focus on low fat/cals, high protein, avoid processed carbs A: Typically have kept my protein vastly above fat, and rarely have carbs by themselves (like bread/chips/etc.) That said I have not gone overboard and still have some carbs in things, etc. I've been averaging well over 100g of protein every day. 7. 6 feedings a day all <500 cals B: I was better at this the first week than I have been since. I do ok on this topic, I am definitely eating throughout the day, but if I look at my calories throughout the day, I'm still a little low in total before dinner and a little high at dinner. 8. Change eating on the road A: On the positive side I've pretty much nailed this thus far. On the negative side it's probably the part of the "plan" that I've felt the most restricted (read: will be hard to keep up) by. 9. Supplements A: Done fine here, been consistent 10. Always eat breakfast B: If you count protein shakes as breakfast (which I do) than I've been doing well here. Another positive is that I've eaten really healthy breakfasts at hotels on the road. Measurables 1. Increase energy level - avoid crashes, consistent and higher level of energy all day. Wow is all I have to say here. I would not have believed after a month how much better I feel. Forget pounds, inches, this alone is worth it. I used to get tired by daily activities, no more, and I rarely feel the need to veg out. 2. Increase energy level - be able to be more active with my toddler See note above, but this has drastically changed as well, again this is way more valuable than pounds and inches. 3. Increase fitness level - run 5k w/o stopping I'm still a ways from this one. Running is pretty tough for me to do for some reason, really hard on knees and ankles. I can now sprint at a 7-8 on the treadmill for 90 seconds at a time, but haven't really tried to jog say a mile as it just doesn't feel good. This is still a goal though. 4. Increase fitness level - be able to play anything and not be "dead" after 5 minutes I'm miles ahead of where I was and miles from where I want to be. Anything with bursts of high intensity is still tough for me after 10 minutes or so but I'm making large strides from where I was Day 1. 5. Change Gut to Upper Body Proportion On the one hand I can definitely tell a difference in the mirror, on the other hand I was large enough that even losing 23 pounds I feel like I am mostly evenly losing from everywhere so proportions haven't seen a huge different...yet. I think this will chance a lot from say 215 - 195 lb range. 6. Fit into 32 inch pants I started pretty much maxing out my 42's. Now I am definitely in 40's and close to 38's (keeping in mind that I don't wear "tight" clothes). So seeing some progress but not quite as much as I might have expected given other results... 7. Fit into medium shirts Still obv a ways away here. I can now go back to wearing many shirts that I've avoided wearing for a while, but still mostly XL's with a few L's here and there depending on fit. Well that was a lot, but I felt it worthwhile to look back to the beginning. I don't really see the need at this point for any significant adjustments, if I hit a big plateau or something I might, but I'm hoping that I'm varying both food/exercise enough to avoid that (fingers crossed). |
Sunday Jan 10th
Didn't do great today. It was my rest day so wasn't going to exercise anyway, but blew lunch pretty bad. Agreed to go to some lunch with friends and the two pregnant women were craving this pizza buffet place. On the positive side I ate a big salad first and ate probably half or less of the pizza I normally would have, but it was definitely off plan and put me a couple of hundred calories over my target. I'm more worried about it messing up my water or something prior to weigh in tomorrow, but that's not really a huge deal I guess. Next week will be interesting as I am not traveling, but work will be tons busier so will have to focus more on getting to the gym. |
Weekly Update - Week 5
Starting Weight - 260 Current Weight - 233 Lbs Lost This week - 4 I'm very happy with a 4, at this point that I am now past the easy "low hanging fruit" I sort of have the number 3 in my head as a reasonable average so very excited with a 4. It also puts the 220's squarely in sight over the next week or two. Observation of the Week - Embracing Randomness as a Benefit, not a Curse I would describe my life as much less planned/scheduled/regular than most people. Due to my job, travel, and personal preferences, each day is very different. I don't wake up at the same time, go to bed at the same time, work the same hours, eat at the same time, or anything. In addition when I travel (2.5 days last week) it is obviously even more unscheduled/crazy. In the past I've used this as an excuse for poor behaviours in regards to eating/exercise. Instead I'm really trying to view this as a huge potential benefit to weight loss. I know that too much consistency, whether in diet or exercise, while vastly superiour to nothing, can also lead to plateauing and getting stuck. That should not be a problem I have. I work out differently every day and eat differently every day.......IF I COMMIT TO DOING IT. This *should* hopefully lead to my body not getting too stuck and actually helping with weight loss. So my mental goal for the next several weeks is to embrace the Randomness as a benefit instead of using it as an excuse. Food Observations Mon - 1907 cals Tues - 1467 cals Wed - 2243 cals (on the road 3 meals out) Thu - 1721 cals Fri - 1291 cals Sat - 1318 cals Sun - 2460 cals (really bad lunch) If I add up all the cals for the week I'm pretty happy. I'm also really happy with the quality of the calories, with really only 2 meals this week not being "on-plan". I'm still really on the fence as to whether the pretty significant variation in my daily calories helps or hurts in comparison with having say 1800 calories exactly every day. If anybody has any thoughts or knowledge on that topic I'd appreciate. Right now it's workable so that's the #1 criteria, but I'm still curious. I also discovered this week how much I love chopped salad over regular or tossed salads. I'm the person that will take all of Thanksgiving dinner and mix it up on my plate (to my wife's chagrin) so I guess it makes sense. I just wish there was some place around here that did good chopped salads. I also discovered a new sweet tooth snack that I did a couple of times an hour or two after dinner (which we eat pretty early). A 60 calorie chocolate pudding cup with 3/4 cup (110 cals) of peanut butter captain crunch! While not the greatest thing in the world, for 170 calories it is an awesome combination of smooth and crunchy and super delicious. I do have to be careful with the PB Captain Crunch in the house though to stay away at other times of the day... Exercise Observations Mon - Gym Tues - Gym Wed - Short Gym at hotel + 4 miles of random walking around NYC Thu - Nothing (left hotel at 7am and was booked until arrived home at midnight) Friday - Gym Saturday - Gym + 45 very active minutes at a bounce house Sunday - Nothing (rest day) Very good this week, a lot of quite varied workouts from the length to the time of day, etc. Most interesting observation came from Wednesday when I made an ill-advised early morning trip to the gym after getting very little sleep and tried to do too much and ended up feeling pretty miserable the whole time. I'm not going to give up on the gym before work on the road, but when travelling from west to east and not arriving until midnight is probably not a great time to "break it in" ;) I can also now do 20 consecutive "real" pushups, which is a huge improvement from 5 weeks ago. Looking forward to upcoming week I'm at home all week so should be able to have a good week. I think seeing the 220's is an achievable goal, but I'll be ok if I don't hit it. Biggest challenge this week will be getting to the gym since I like to go during the middle of the day and it will be a pretty busy work week. And Saturday we have 2 birthday parties to go to. Pretty short list so I need to get after it good this week. Since my wife is having kiddo 2 in a couple of months I'm trying to load up a ton of travel/work for the next 10ish weeks so I can have a lot of hometime when the new kid comes. Overworking and excessive travel is a huge challenge, hopefully these first 6 or so solid weeks will give me the motivation and habits to continue when it gets a lot harder. |
Monday Jan 11th - The "Sweat Suit" - Kinda gross
One thing I really miss about my previous larger/fancier gym was the dry sauna. I can sweat buckets, and it for some reason it really felt great to go have a nice sweat every once in a while. Not sure there's any truth to it, but I really always felt like I was sweating out random bad stuff and kind of cleansing. And regardless it just felt good afterwards. My new gym doesn't have a sauna, so I got a sauna suit to try out. I've used it about every 10 days (not something that I think is healthy to use very often) and today was my 3rd time. I only wear the top not the pants and do it while on the elliptical. The big thing is to make sure I am well hydrated before/during/and after the workout and don't push the workout to high intensity. It's unbelievable how well it works (or how much I sweat). Today I lost just under 3 pounds of water in 45 minutes at medium intensity, that's a lot of sweat. Gross...but refreshing! To be clear for anyone reading, the sweat suit has NOTHING to do with weight/fat loss, I drank much more than 2.4 pounds in water before and after this to compensate for the loss. I don't know why but it just makes me feel "cleaner", I don't really know how to describe it. I do look like a spaceman while wearing it though haha. The rest of today went pretty well, was too low on calories through dinner. I did a good job of portion control at dinner when my wife made one of my faves (beef stroganoff). |
Tuesday Jan 12th - Exercise Pain and Friends
Good overall day today, I'm starting to get to the point where I realize I don't have any excuses on days where I am at home. I can find a way to get to the gym and I can find a way to eat right. Travelling will still be a challenge, but week-days at home there just shouldn't be excuses. Only a couple of notable things from today. My lower legs and calfs really hurt today at the gym. I've been trying to do 90-120 second full run at 8 on the treadmill at the end of my 5 minute warm up walk to really get my heart rate up, but maybe that is a mistake. I'll back off of that for a day or two. For some reason I really want to be able to run, I feel like my lungs after a month are in good enough shape to run a mile straight, but my legs just aren't holding up well enough:mad:. I'm trying not to push it but am getting impatient. >>> We have dinner with 2 close couple friends once a week. This is always a challenge, tonight it was salad, crock-pot lasagna, and peach cobbler with ice cream. I did good, had a big salad, normal portion of lasagna (to me normal is between what I dieter would eat and what I used to eat;)) and skipped the cobbler. It was tempting to eat more, but less tempting than it was a month ago which I guess is a pretty good sign. I also felt pretty good about getting to eat the lasagna because I knew exactly where I was for the day calorie-wise so knew I could have a normal meal and be ok. It keeps coming back to the calorie counting being freeing instead of restricting which is great. |
I thought of you today while planning out my meals and such for a business trip next week...I'll be there 5 days, so you bet I'll be hitting up a grocery store first thing and in that hotel gym BEFORE I go to my meetings for the day.
Sounds like you're doing well! |
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I'm going to be running all day small group meetings that run back to back so I need to think of a snack or something that I can eat while in a meeting that won't be too unprofessional to stave off the post work hunger....hmmm.... |
First Week Weigh in
Well after 8 days of the new lifestyle change, and tracking calories, I have lost 13 pounds, and most of that was without alot of exercise!! I have to get my big a$$ up and get to the gym, ASAP, but I am proud of the loss, just need to get the exercise in gear. I am stayin garound 1200- 1600 calories a day, but Sunday I had a little hiccup, with football and beer and chicken and fish free at the local club, I went to about 2600 calories, but got back on the horse the next day. My focus for the next week is to get a exercise program going, I am also working on getting a wii. Has anyone been working out with Wii fit and is it a good workout???
Thanks so much for you rblog, really an inspiration. Later and keep it up Tucker |
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I have a Wii Fit and the answer depends on how out of shape you are. Most of the activities in the Wii Fit I don't think are a good workout (at least for cardio). If you can go to the gym and workout for at least 30-60 minutes I don't think you'll find the Wii Fit to be that tough. Hula hoop, bicycling, step, and free run can get my HR going a bit. Being horribly inflexible and having poor posture I do appreciate the yoga and balance parts of it. And it's FUN! A lot of the games are really entertaining and certainly more physical than a couch. But I would not advocate using it place of the gym. On the other hand I also got EA Sports Active More Workouts for the Wii and that is TONS better. I get a great sweat even doing the 10 minute workout. All the activities are better at getting your HR up and keeping it up, and a lot are really fun. I like the cardio boxing, the obstacle course, and several others. I view the Wii Fit as a gateway for someone that say couldn't even walk a half mile, whereas if you can do a little more the gym is the best or EA Sports Active is a pretty darn good workout too! I try to force myself to only do the Wii for exercise when I absolutely cannot work out a time to go to the gym, I wouldn't make it my primary exercise if possible. Keep up the good work! I would also say that if you start exercising regularly that 1200 calories is too low for your size, I'd stay more in the 1700-2000 range. You will lose weight pretty quickly if you eat there and exercise but if you dip too low it might cause problems. Edit: I should make clear that I actually play Wii Fit a lot, b/c it's fun and better than sitting on the couch, I just don't count it as my daily exercise, more like a small bonus. |
Wed Jan 13 - Can you solve this nutrition problem?
Today's "plan" challenge. I ate constantly throughout the day, or at least felt like I did, but turns out I was WAY behind in my calories. I had an apple on my way out the door earlier this evening to bring me only to 1000 calories for the day (my goal is 1800-2000). Then I got stuck unexpectedly in a 3 hour music rehersal. So I get home at 9:15, starved and really behind on my calories (taking a snack wouldn't have been an option anyway). Ok So do you.... A) Tough it out till bedtime and not eat anything to avoid that whole late night eating thing... B) Knock back a large chunk of leftover lasagna and peach cobbler, I've got 800 calories to make up today... C) Eat 800 calories but eat "healthy" food, noting that 800 calories is a LOT of healthy food... D) Eat a smaller healthy meal of 400 calories to stave off the hunger but not totally make up today's calorie defecit... I chose D but considered all of the above, what do you choose? Also I don't really know if there is a right answer. |
D, most likely. I don't hold stock in that whole "don't eat late" thing...if you're eating junk, as most people do late at night, that's the issue, not the time. But I don't sleep well after a big meal, either, and not sleeping is one of my biggest overeating triggers.
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I'd also choose D - not so much to "stave off the hunger" because that'll pass, but to honor the commitment in my head that there's always another meal or snack coming soon, so eating off-plan isn't justified.
If I deprive myself, my neurons remember and the next time I feel some hunger, some desire, or some craving they will be harder to ward off. |
D as well
Good choice on D, I have been falling behond on calories as well, but I feel I am eating constantly, just good snacks, like nuts and fruits and yogart, what snacks are you all eating, maybe something to switch it up and or fav receipes. I made a low cal eggplant parm the other night and it was stellar, I also make a great chicken enchilada soup which is great, if anyone interested on receipes let me know. I also am a big fan of sweet potato chips baked with a lil ketchup, anyone else got a fav.
Thansk Tucker |
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