7th Monday weigh in a 1st mini goal update.
251 (-19# to date)
45% body water.
I'm going to stop measuring body fat% for now until I loose some more weight. What I want to do is get down a bit and go to a Dr. and have them measure it. Actually I want a full blood panel done as well but I'm going to hold off until I think I've made enough improvements to make it worth checking.
I could have went in and done it 7 weeks ago but it's probably better that I don't know what my blood levels were... :(
My first mini goal date is tomorrow and the goal was to loose 10# on 04/01/08. I am at -19 now so by tomorrow I should be somewhere between -19 and -20 doubling my goal. Sweet! My first instinct was to increase my goal for next month but that does not seem like the right thing to do.
I am averaging weight loss of 2.7# 's per week. It's too close to the well established 2# per week for me to get carried away and make myself a goal that might not work out. I'm going to go conservative (normal) for my next goal and stay with 2#'s per week and shoot for this.
2nd mini gaol:
Get down to 240# on 05/01/08
Continuing my exercise program and keeping my body water at 44-45% or more.
This way I ensure weight loss is fat loss and not water/muscle.
Progress! Pretty cool.
Things are going good and I think to celebrate my 20# weight loss I'm going to buy a chin up bar. My old brain might say losing 20 should be cause to celebrate with a "cheat day". This day I want a chin up bar a lot more than a cheat day to get an idea of what my mindset is like right now.
Monday, March 31, 2008
Sunday, March 30, 2008
1st healthy BBQ
I had my first crack at doing something a little healthier on the grill today.
What would have been bad ass burgers and fries last year was kick ass chicken burgers and steamed broccoli today. :)
I was wondering if the ground chicken was going to hold up because it was a lot different consistency than beef but it held on and kept together long enough to make the flip and get on to the fresh wheat buns from Whole Foods. I made them like any other burgers (with my secret spices) only thing I did different was use some Sriracha on the cooked burger along with mustard...nix on the mayo and catchup. These chicken burgers turned out better than I expected and I'll have no problem making them again as the BBQ season gets into full swing.
I think there will be more of these burgers, grilled salmon, chicken, and who knows what else but we do a lot of grilling so more healthy options are going to be tested soon.
But back to the sriracha...man do I ever love this stuff! I had never tried it until a month ago but not that I've tried it I find that it seems to make everything taste better. From eggs to chicken burgers to pasta....delicious. I wish back in the day when I believed you had to eat diet industry gimmick foods to be healthy that I know about this stuff. I bet it would make the blandest plastic tray "meal" taste pretty good. It is really good stuff.
My left calf is dead from my jump rope experiment and forcing me to do more recovery that I wish I was doing. It's sad but pacing myself is VERY difficult because I want to do more... now not take it slow and steady. I am going to try and do core and some upper body work on my TRX knock off the JHF. :) in order to give the leg another day.
The TRX (and JHF) are suspension training devices that you anchor in a doorway and then use the handles to perform some pretty serious bodyweight exercises. I'll post a picture of my homemade version as well as a link to the official TRX website.
My version:
The real deal:
http://www.fitnessanywhere.com/index.php
It is an awesome piece of equipment!
7th Monday weigh in will be in about 12 hours.......
What would have been bad ass burgers and fries last year was kick ass chicken burgers and steamed broccoli today. :)
I was wondering if the ground chicken was going to hold up because it was a lot different consistency than beef but it held on and kept together long enough to make the flip and get on to the fresh wheat buns from Whole Foods. I made them like any other burgers (with my secret spices) only thing I did different was use some Sriracha on the cooked burger along with mustard...nix on the mayo and catchup. These chicken burgers turned out better than I expected and I'll have no problem making them again as the BBQ season gets into full swing.
I think there will be more of these burgers, grilled salmon, chicken, and who knows what else but we do a lot of grilling so more healthy options are going to be tested soon.
But back to the sriracha...man do I ever love this stuff! I had never tried it until a month ago but not that I've tried it I find that it seems to make everything taste better. From eggs to chicken burgers to pasta....delicious. I wish back in the day when I believed you had to eat diet industry gimmick foods to be healthy that I know about this stuff. I bet it would make the blandest plastic tray "meal" taste pretty good. It is really good stuff.
My left calf is dead from my jump rope experiment and forcing me to do more recovery that I wish I was doing. It's sad but pacing myself is VERY difficult because I want to do more... now not take it slow and steady. I am going to try and do core and some upper body work on my TRX knock off the JHF. :) in order to give the leg another day.
The TRX (and JHF) are suspension training devices that you anchor in a doorway and then use the handles to perform some pretty serious bodyweight exercises. I'll post a picture of my homemade version as well as a link to the official TRX website.
My version:
The real deal:
http://www.fitnessanywhere.com/index.php
It is an awesome piece of equipment!
7th Monday weigh in will be in about 12 hours.......
Friday, March 28, 2008
Child's play
So I just skipped rope for the first time in a few decades.
I thought I would do 100 loops, 3 sets for 300 loops total.
Hahahahaha!
It went like this:
1st set 75 loops.
2nd set 25
Fine 200 more loops to go right? Hahahahaha!
3rd set 42 loops (oops this is way hard)
4th set 33 loops (oh boy, cardio is dead) :(
5th set 25 loops
How about stopping at 200 loops for now?
Yeah that seems like the right thing to do.
Jump ropes are evil tools.....to be continued....
I thought I would do 100 loops, 3 sets for 300 loops total.
Hahahahaha!
It went like this:
1st set 75 loops.
2nd set 25
Fine 200 more loops to go right? Hahahahaha!
3rd set 42 loops (oops this is way hard)
4th set 33 loops (oh boy, cardio is dead) :(
5th set 25 loops
How about stopping at 200 loops for now?
Yeah that seems like the right thing to do.
Jump ropes are evil tools.....to be continued....
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Bumped the conditioning
I already bumped up the conditioning routine I posted Monday.
I'm doing the same thing but 6 sets.
It gives me 18 min. active and 5 min rest but it isn't really "rest". I do the min. drills with a LOT of intensity and need to rest periods just to survive. :)
It's a freaking hard workout!
I'll do 6 sets like this for a few weeks and them I'm going to change up exercises. I think I'll add one exercise at that time and drop back down to 5 sets.
The exercise is really doing a lot for my energy I can say for sure. There have been a few times now in mid day when my food has been particularly good I am feeling really strong. It's pretty strange to just be walking and feeling a lot stronger when you are not even doing anything but that is what's going on.
For the record I think this is a marker I'd like to make:
6 weeks into eating healthy and exercising and I am sure that I feel a difference. I felt the first rush of something 2-3 weeks in of just eating clean food, I think this was like detox of the junk and a new influx of good food/fuel. About 4 weeks in and I could tell I was getting stronger...but 6 weeks seems to be a mile marker to me as a point where I can say for sure everything is starting to work. I am closing in on 20#'s and that is going to be great but I can't know yet if this improved feeling is going to double when I get to 40 or what is going to happen.
Still the hardest thing for me to deal with is the time...waiting.
This is a slow paced situation and there is mental effort involved in keeping it together.I'm not interested in eating unhealthy or stopping exercise it's just really hard to loose weight slowly over months like this and most likely over a year.
One way to look at is would be that I am on target.... Loosing weight steadily, diet is good, exercise is on track so just set the cruise control and enjoy the ride to the end goal sometime in 2009.
That would be good if I could override the part of my brain that is screaming for faster results but I can't. It's just a continuous effort to keep reminding myself by using logic that "everything is as it should be".
It's tough, but it should be.
I'm doing the same thing but 6 sets.
It gives me 18 min. active and 5 min rest but it isn't really "rest". I do the min. drills with a LOT of intensity and need to rest periods just to survive. :)
It's a freaking hard workout!
I'll do 6 sets like this for a few weeks and them I'm going to change up exercises. I think I'll add one exercise at that time and drop back down to 5 sets.
The exercise is really doing a lot for my energy I can say for sure. There have been a few times now in mid day when my food has been particularly good I am feeling really strong. It's pretty strange to just be walking and feeling a lot stronger when you are not even doing anything but that is what's going on.
For the record I think this is a marker I'd like to make:
6 weeks into eating healthy and exercising and I am sure that I feel a difference. I felt the first rush of something 2-3 weeks in of just eating clean food, I think this was like detox of the junk and a new influx of good food/fuel. About 4 weeks in and I could tell I was getting stronger...but 6 weeks seems to be a mile marker to me as a point where I can say for sure everything is starting to work. I am closing in on 20#'s and that is going to be great but I can't know yet if this improved feeling is going to double when I get to 40 or what is going to happen.
Still the hardest thing for me to deal with is the time...waiting.
This is a slow paced situation and there is mental effort involved in keeping it together.I'm not interested in eating unhealthy or stopping exercise it's just really hard to loose weight slowly over months like this and most likely over a year.
One way to look at is would be that I am on target.... Loosing weight steadily, diet is good, exercise is on track so just set the cruise control and enjoy the ride to the end goal sometime in 2009.
That would be good if I could override the part of my brain that is screaming for faster results but I can't. It's just a continuous effort to keep reminding myself by using logic that "everything is as it should be".
It's tough, but it should be.
Monday, March 24, 2008
Monday #5
Monday weigh in #5.
254 (-16#'s to date wonder when I'll hit 20?)
43% body fat (this # is bound to start dropping any day now....)
44% body water (closing in on my 45% goal)
Holiday eating went fine and the one meal "off" did not have any effect on the scale.
Food wise it was not healthy to begin with..ham, potato salad, baked beans, I tried to add a little more salad just to take up plate real estate and get reasonable portions. My old ways would have given me big ass portions of potato salad and ham for sure and probably a second trip as well.
So meal wise it was manageable but I also had 1.5 beers and some cake. The cake was angel food cake (fine) with berries (cool) and a pudding filling (ooooh so close). :)
Anyway, I'm glad I made that choice to just eat with everybody, have a beer, play some Wii, and have a family get together day. It was good.
Exercise is going well for me however Shaun let me borrow his TRX body weight workout system and it was so much fun testing out all the things I could do with it I over did it and now I'm toast for the day. I am also really happy with the Never Gymless book I picked up and am still experimenting with the workouts. I developed a conditioning interval workout that is doing a good job of working me over it goes like this:
60 seconds of speed punching hooks and jabs with the surgical tubing resistance bands.
60 seconds of mui thai clinch/knees I alternate and try to bring the knees up high.
60 seconds of sandbag fun I do random lifts and carries with the 50# sandbag
60 seconds rest
X 5 sets
It's 15 min active but those 4 min rest do not offer enough recovery time to = "at rest".
I plan on adding sets and additional exercises as soon as I can.
That's conditioning day and it's 3 days per week with core, 3 days strength, and one day off.
So there is nothing very exciting to report right now it's just about doing the deal.
I'm interested to see where I wind up at on the first goal date April 1 but with my 10# goal knocked out early there has been no pressure to make it and yet I started working harder anyway. I did it because I got strong enough to do it nothing else so I'm encouraged by that.
More later...
254 (-16#'s to date wonder when I'll hit 20?)
43% body fat (this # is bound to start dropping any day now....)
44% body water (closing in on my 45% goal)
Holiday eating went fine and the one meal "off" did not have any effect on the scale.
Food wise it was not healthy to begin with..ham, potato salad, baked beans, I tried to add a little more salad just to take up plate real estate and get reasonable portions. My old ways would have given me big ass portions of potato salad and ham for sure and probably a second trip as well.
So meal wise it was manageable but I also had 1.5 beers and some cake. The cake was angel food cake (fine) with berries (cool) and a pudding filling (ooooh so close). :)
Anyway, I'm glad I made that choice to just eat with everybody, have a beer, play some Wii, and have a family get together day. It was good.
Exercise is going well for me however Shaun let me borrow his TRX body weight workout system and it was so much fun testing out all the things I could do with it I over did it and now I'm toast for the day. I am also really happy with the Never Gymless book I picked up and am still experimenting with the workouts. I developed a conditioning interval workout that is doing a good job of working me over it goes like this:
60 seconds of speed punching hooks and jabs with the surgical tubing resistance bands.
60 seconds of mui thai clinch/knees I alternate and try to bring the knees up high.
60 seconds of sandbag fun I do random lifts and carries with the 50# sandbag
60 seconds rest
X 5 sets
It's 15 min active but those 4 min rest do not offer enough recovery time to = "at rest".
I plan on adding sets and additional exercises as soon as I can.
That's conditioning day and it's 3 days per week with core, 3 days strength, and one day off.
So there is nothing very exciting to report right now it's just about doing the deal.
I'm interested to see where I wind up at on the first goal date April 1 but with my 10# goal knocked out early there has been no pressure to make it and yet I started working harder anyway. I did it because I got strong enough to do it nothing else so I'm encouraged by that.
More later...
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Some decisions to make.
In 3 days we will have a normal family Easter/B day get together.
In addition to the opportunities to eat more food than I need and plenty of foods that are not that high on my list of choices right now there will also be cake...at least cake if not other goodies as well.
I'm undecided and confused about how I'm going to handle this situation.
I could call it a one meal event and just eat like everybody else.
I could eat before I go and say no thanks to the cake.
I could try to manage the choices the best I can and just eat a small portion of cake.
Man, I'm at a loss......
I am at the point where I will be able to have 15#'s or potentially more weight loss on my next Monday weigh in. If I power down a huge calorie load on Sunday that might not happen.
If I pass on B- Day cake and festivities it will be less that social.
I wish I had another month or so before having to face this situation.
I need to figure it out soon.....
In addition to the opportunities to eat more food than I need and plenty of foods that are not that high on my list of choices right now there will also be cake...at least cake if not other goodies as well.
I'm undecided and confused about how I'm going to handle this situation.
I could call it a one meal event and just eat like everybody else.
I could eat before I go and say no thanks to the cake.
I could try to manage the choices the best I can and just eat a small portion of cake.
Man, I'm at a loss......
I am at the point where I will be able to have 15#'s or potentially more weight loss on my next Monday weigh in. If I power down a huge calorie load on Sunday that might not happen.
If I pass on B- Day cake and festivities it will be less that social.
I wish I had another month or so before having to face this situation.
I need to figure it out soon.....
Monday, March 17, 2008
4th Monday
Here are the #'s for my 4th Monday weigh in:
257 (-13# to date)
44% fat
43% water
I seriously have no idea why the fat% isn't moving yet but I think it will by next Monday...it has to. I am adding muscle and water so the fat% has to be getting smaller it's just not showing up yet.
A month in and I am very happy with where I'm at. I do get aggravated that I can't go faster or do more but logically I realize it's a gradual process and things are going good.
I got a bit nervous a few days ago just because I was never hungry that day. I thought about not being hungry most days and how un-diet like that is. I'm not feeling deprived of junk foods and I spend zero time starving because "I'm on a diet". I guess I'm not on a diet but my food choices have changed so dramatically that my body and food are having to get to know each other again.
It's just very strange to be loosing weight without going hungry and feeling deprived 24x7. Add to that getting exercise, getting stronger, healthier overall. All of that without the typical "diet"...it is sort of strange getting used to for people that have been conditioned to believe the standard diet system(s). It takes some getting used to and time to mentally accept that we don't have to suffer to eat healthy.
Even loosing this weight last time I had to suffer hundreds of meals I hated and spent every day from 8pm or so until I fell asleep starving. Hunger pains with growling stomach because I believed you should never eat carbs after 5pm or anything really but carbs for sure. So I got to where being really hungry at 9pm or so equated to me doing a good job on my diet. If I wasn't hungry than I would have too much food to burn at night instead of fat. I believed all sorts of things. :(
Now I believe we should just eat the healthiest cleanest foods we can.
In a nutshell that is my food plan right now, I guess I could add to eat 4-5 meals a day every 3-4 hours making sure you eat breakfast but that is as far as I'm willing to define it at the moment. Eventually I will structure more details into my new food belief system (as I come to believe them based on trial and error) but I'm going to intentionally keep it as simple as possible.
My food belief system
#1) Eat healthy foods several times per day and drink plenty of water.
#2) to be continued....
257 (-13# to date)
44% fat
43% water
I seriously have no idea why the fat% isn't moving yet but I think it will by next Monday...it has to. I am adding muscle and water so the fat% has to be getting smaller it's just not showing up yet.
A month in and I am very happy with where I'm at. I do get aggravated that I can't go faster or do more but logically I realize it's a gradual process and things are going good.
I got a bit nervous a few days ago just because I was never hungry that day. I thought about not being hungry most days and how un-diet like that is. I'm not feeling deprived of junk foods and I spend zero time starving because "I'm on a diet". I guess I'm not on a diet but my food choices have changed so dramatically that my body and food are having to get to know each other again.
It's just very strange to be loosing weight without going hungry and feeling deprived 24x7. Add to that getting exercise, getting stronger, healthier overall. All of that without the typical "diet"...it is sort of strange getting used to for people that have been conditioned to believe the standard diet system(s). It takes some getting used to and time to mentally accept that we don't have to suffer to eat healthy.
Even loosing this weight last time I had to suffer hundreds of meals I hated and spent every day from 8pm or so until I fell asleep starving. Hunger pains with growling stomach because I believed you should never eat carbs after 5pm or anything really but carbs for sure. So I got to where being really hungry at 9pm or so equated to me doing a good job on my diet. If I wasn't hungry than I would have too much food to burn at night instead of fat. I believed all sorts of things. :(
Now I believe we should just eat the healthiest cleanest foods we can.
In a nutshell that is my food plan right now, I guess I could add to eat 4-5 meals a day every 3-4 hours making sure you eat breakfast but that is as far as I'm willing to define it at the moment. Eventually I will structure more details into my new food belief system (as I come to believe them based on trial and error) but I'm going to intentionally keep it as simple as possible.
My food belief system
#1) Eat healthy foods several times per day and drink plenty of water.
#2) to be continued....
Friday, March 14, 2008
Back on strike
My back got tweaked a few days ago lifting a case of water out of the shopping cart....
It's slowing me down but not stopping me. I think as long as I continue to be sensible it should recover in a few more days and things will be beck to normal. For now I have been going at about 70% with my workouts and that feels like the best compromise I can make right now.
It sucks too because I picked up a copy of never gymless..
Ross training Never Gymless
..and there is so much in here I want to get started on. I had to cut the beginners workout in half on reps and only did 2/3 the sets but I really wanted to get started on this material and the old back is slowing me down. Truth is I'm going to need to start with 50% reps anyway because even the beginners workout is more advanced than I can start with. No problem, I'll start here and work my way into the full beg workout and work up from there...the road is just a little longer. ;)
I've been reading a lot of nutritional info and tons of before and after success stories and it is amazing what people can do just with determination. For strictly weight loss I'm starting to believe almost any "diet" will work. I'm really happy with the choice of (eating healthy foods) as my primary nutrition plan. I could have easily chosen a system where you weight out x grams of this and drink packet b every 6 hours...or an all oatmeal and grapefruit diet. I could have chosen those things and if my resolve was set it might have worked specifically for weight loss but not for the best health.
I see movement on the scale so my next Monday weigh in should be good news.
For food I've been eating good clean foods 90% of the time. My breakfasts have been things like Kashi cereal, Kashi waffles, eggs with whole grain toast, muscle milk, and yogurt with blueberries. My lunches have been a cup of healthy soup with a seed/grain roll or tuna/chicken salad. Dinners have been including steamed vegetables, brown rice, spinach, chicken, wild salmon, grass fed beef. Tea in the evening and my snack at night has been 1/4 c yogurt with 1/4 cup Ezekiel cereal in it. Drinking only water, tea, and coffee. Drinking as much raw milk as possible and organic choices where possible.
The other 10% is still good foods just not as good...like Thai food or Luby's where the green beans taste a little to good not to have pork in the cooking process somewhere or the Salmon has a slight sheen to it that you wonder what it is...(probably not a light spritz of olive oil)... I have not gone down the road of junk foods yet so even my 10% off is still better than 99% of what I used to eat. Frightening to think about what I used to eat really. Eeesh!
That and exercise has been working so far.
It's slowing me down but not stopping me. I think as long as I continue to be sensible it should recover in a few more days and things will be beck to normal. For now I have been going at about 70% with my workouts and that feels like the best compromise I can make right now.
It sucks too because I picked up a copy of never gymless..
Ross training Never Gymless
..and there is so much in here I want to get started on. I had to cut the beginners workout in half on reps and only did 2/3 the sets but I really wanted to get started on this material and the old back is slowing me down. Truth is I'm going to need to start with 50% reps anyway because even the beginners workout is more advanced than I can start with. No problem, I'll start here and work my way into the full beg workout and work up from there...the road is just a little longer. ;)
I've been reading a lot of nutritional info and tons of before and after success stories and it is amazing what people can do just with determination. For strictly weight loss I'm starting to believe almost any "diet" will work. I'm really happy with the choice of (eating healthy foods) as my primary nutrition plan. I could have easily chosen a system where you weight out x grams of this and drink packet b every 6 hours...or an all oatmeal and grapefruit diet. I could have chosen those things and if my resolve was set it might have worked specifically for weight loss but not for the best health.
I see movement on the scale so my next Monday weigh in should be good news.
For food I've been eating good clean foods 90% of the time. My breakfasts have been things like Kashi cereal, Kashi waffles, eggs with whole grain toast, muscle milk, and yogurt with blueberries. My lunches have been a cup of healthy soup with a seed/grain roll or tuna/chicken salad. Dinners have been including steamed vegetables, brown rice, spinach, chicken, wild salmon, grass fed beef. Tea in the evening and my snack at night has been 1/4 c yogurt with 1/4 cup Ezekiel cereal in it. Drinking only water, tea, and coffee. Drinking as much raw milk as possible and organic choices where possible.
The other 10% is still good foods just not as good...like Thai food or Luby's where the green beans taste a little to good not to have pork in the cooking process somewhere or the Salmon has a slight sheen to it that you wonder what it is...(probably not a light spritz of olive oil)... I have not gone down the road of junk foods yet so even my 10% off is still better than 99% of what I used to eat. Frightening to think about what I used to eat really. Eeesh!
That and exercise has been working so far.
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Gaining srenght
I can tell I'm starting to gain strength.
The actual numbers are embarrassing so I'll put it this way:
A couple of my workouts call for some sort of push ups like standard, wide grip, feet elevated, and I have some pick up exercises like Dive bomber and Hindu push ups. My core workout calls for some reg push ups and yesterday was the firs time I have been able to bang them out straight away. I have been doing as many as possible but having to take a few seconds break and then finishing up. With my Sat Workout I've had to take more than one break... :( But I do get them all done!
So this is a really encouraging development to see some measurable strength gains and in addition to the scale have something to show early on for the work that I'm putting in. I should say for anybody that ever might read this that I have 3 weeks in and some fairly decent workouts. No fluffy stuff and I should expand on what they are soon but just to say it took 3 weeks of good work before I noticed a "for sure" gain. It's not like you do 3 sets of 10 and the next day you are stronger..... It takes time and work, it aint easy.
I plan on upping my core work a lot in the weeks ahead and there are several other things in the works that I think are going to be big improvements in my work outs.....
Things are looking good today.
The actual numbers are embarrassing so I'll put it this way:
A couple of my workouts call for some sort of push ups like standard, wide grip, feet elevated, and I have some pick up exercises like Dive bomber and Hindu push ups. My core workout calls for some reg push ups and yesterday was the firs time I have been able to bang them out straight away. I have been doing as many as possible but having to take a few seconds break and then finishing up. With my Sat Workout I've had to take more than one break... :( But I do get them all done!
So this is a really encouraging development to see some measurable strength gains and in addition to the scale have something to show early on for the work that I'm putting in. I should say for anybody that ever might read this that I have 3 weeks in and some fairly decent workouts. No fluffy stuff and I should expand on what they are soon but just to say it took 3 weeks of good work before I noticed a "for sure" gain. It's not like you do 3 sets of 10 and the next day you are stronger..... It takes time and work, it aint easy.
I plan on upping my core work a lot in the weeks ahead and there are several other things in the works that I think are going to be big improvements in my work outs.....
Things are looking good today.
Monday, March 10, 2008
3rd Monday
260 -10# to date (First goal met a little early)
44 -1% body fat
43 +3% body water
I made the first 10#'s but looking over the #'s they don't make sense yet.
They say most people loose the first 10 easily but it is mostly "water weight" however I had been pushing water from the start and trying to increase my body water%...and have by 3%.
I've also been gaining muscle.
So I have more water and muscle weight, have lost 10#'s and only lost 1% body fat.....? That should have only been 2.7 #'s. ???
So I don't understand the micro level of what is going on but I do understand that I am averaging 3.3 #'s a week weight loss right now and I think that is pretty good. They say you should loose 2#'s a week and I am doing everything I can right now to make sure I am eating healthy, plenty of food, trying to keep a pro/carb/fat profile working, drinking water, exercising.... just doing things "right" so if that 3.3 changes to 2#'s later on I don't know but I see no need to make adjustments right now.
I'm feeling ok. The kick from good nutrition going into my body is currently running counter to my stepping up the exercise so I feel normal these days...(normal is to say I feel like shit). :) I ran my body down into a state of unhealth so building back up is going to involve tons of sore muscle days....dragging my body around the day after a tough workout hurts. Yeah well who am I supposed to blame for that? This part is supposed to feel like this otherwise they never would have came up with "no pain no gain".
Not like I advocate working out at a dangerous pace or something but I can't see an exercise and fitness arc so slow and gradual as to be painless....I can't see that arc taking less than 20-30 years of meticulously planned exercise. There is going to be some sore muscles for anybody that is serious about getting themselves back in shape if they have become significantly out of shape. That is just the reality of it. These are the 2 harsh realties. It's going to take time and effort.. .effort in the way of exercise (among other things) and putting out effort has to be substantial enough to meet and overcome whatever the task at hand is or else you fail to get that job done. Well if you are like me and have a pretty big job in front of you it's going to take a bigger effort to do it. Simple I know but it's mind stuff and mindset is vital to this task VITAL!
So yeah no pain no gain but I'm also not interested in getting an injury and getting all pain and weight gain, because I can't progress. Example: I did my heavy workout Sat and walked around the zoo for 4 hours on Sun. I feel pretty sore almost everywhere today so I'm changing my scheduled Monday workout to my core routine and I'll add a bunch of stretching, and after that see how I feel about doing something more. Tue is already core so it might be lighter workouts for 2 days in a row but I am totally ok with that because I am feeling how my body is reacting and adapting to exercise and I am altering routines for effect not laziness. Big difference.
44 -1% body fat
43 +3% body water
I made the first 10#'s but looking over the #'s they don't make sense yet.
They say most people loose the first 10 easily but it is mostly "water weight" however I had been pushing water from the start and trying to increase my body water%...and have by 3%.
I've also been gaining muscle.
So I have more water and muscle weight, have lost 10#'s and only lost 1% body fat.....? That should have only been 2.7 #'s. ???
So I don't understand the micro level of what is going on but I do understand that I am averaging 3.3 #'s a week weight loss right now and I think that is pretty good. They say you should loose 2#'s a week and I am doing everything I can right now to make sure I am eating healthy, plenty of food, trying to keep a pro/carb/fat profile working, drinking water, exercising.... just doing things "right" so if that 3.3 changes to 2#'s later on I don't know but I see no need to make adjustments right now.
I'm feeling ok. The kick from good nutrition going into my body is currently running counter to my stepping up the exercise so I feel normal these days...(normal is to say I feel like shit). :) I ran my body down into a state of unhealth so building back up is going to involve tons of sore muscle days....dragging my body around the day after a tough workout hurts. Yeah well who am I supposed to blame for that? This part is supposed to feel like this otherwise they never would have came up with "no pain no gain".
Not like I advocate working out at a dangerous pace or something but I can't see an exercise and fitness arc so slow and gradual as to be painless....I can't see that arc taking less than 20-30 years of meticulously planned exercise. There is going to be some sore muscles for anybody that is serious about getting themselves back in shape if they have become significantly out of shape. That is just the reality of it. These are the 2 harsh realties. It's going to take time and effort.. .effort in the way of exercise (among other things) and putting out effort has to be substantial enough to meet and overcome whatever the task at hand is or else you fail to get that job done. Well if you are like me and have a pretty big job in front of you it's going to take a bigger effort to do it. Simple I know but it's mind stuff and mindset is vital to this task VITAL!
So yeah no pain no gain but I'm also not interested in getting an injury and getting all pain and weight gain, because I can't progress. Example: I did my heavy workout Sat and walked around the zoo for 4 hours on Sun. I feel pretty sore almost everywhere today so I'm changing my scheduled Monday workout to my core routine and I'll add a bunch of stretching, and after that see how I feel about doing something more. Tue is already core so it might be lighter workouts for 2 days in a row but I am totally ok with that because I am feeling how my body is reacting and adapting to exercise and I am altering routines for effect not laziness. Big difference.
Friday, March 7, 2008
S L O W
Not much to report yet but I think my Monday weigh in in 3 days will be a big one.
Right now the newness of things is wearing away and the reality of the process is starting to try and bug me. There is just not a healthy way to speed this along and the simple fact is that it's going to take a long time to get to my target. Like most people I prefer instant gratification! Not going to happen this time. :(
I'm gradually increasing the reps in my core workouts and I think I'm going to switch up routines every month to keep my muscles guessing and hit different areas as well.
I have an email into a retired boxer trying to see if I can get a few lessons with him on proper form and to do some heavy bag work as well as some training pads. I'd like to do this really soon if I can and when I reach 200#'s I'm going to reward myself with a few private Brazilian Jiu jitsu lessons. These are rewards that will be fun for me and are exercise based instead of food based. To rewards myself for being healthy by being really unhealthy seems flawed but more important than that is I really don't want to eat unhealthy. This is something I have not figured out yet beyond the idea that it's ok to eat the occasional burger or pizza. I know it's acceptable to have those foods in your diet it's just that when you start to look at all food as what it represents to your body nutritionally the math on some things does not "add up" and they become less desirable.
I'm not even going to look at the nutritional value of something like 4-5 Nantucket cookies or a pint of Ben and Jerry's ice cream to know that I could eat 2-3, 4? plates of healthier food (entire meals) for the equivalent fat/calorie count and can not come close to getting the nutrients from the snacks that "real food" offers. I have yet to figure out how this is going to impact things like B-day parties, holidays, weddings, etc.. It's something I need to think about.
My body water % is slowly responding now and I am hovering around 43% and I still want to get over 45%.
I'm starting to feel results (beyond the pain results) but feeling stronger from my workouts. I'm really only feeling it in my arms and I'm not sure what a stronger core feels like....it's been a long ass time since I've had a strong core so I'm excited to see what 2-3 months of core work is going to do for me.
Enough for now, next time I'll talk about skydiving later in the year.
Right now the newness of things is wearing away and the reality of the process is starting to try and bug me. There is just not a healthy way to speed this along and the simple fact is that it's going to take a long time to get to my target. Like most people I prefer instant gratification! Not going to happen this time. :(
I'm gradually increasing the reps in my core workouts and I think I'm going to switch up routines every month to keep my muscles guessing and hit different areas as well.
I have an email into a retired boxer trying to see if I can get a few lessons with him on proper form and to do some heavy bag work as well as some training pads. I'd like to do this really soon if I can and when I reach 200#'s I'm going to reward myself with a few private Brazilian Jiu jitsu lessons. These are rewards that will be fun for me and are exercise based instead of food based. To rewards myself for being healthy by being really unhealthy seems flawed but more important than that is I really don't want to eat unhealthy. This is something I have not figured out yet beyond the idea that it's ok to eat the occasional burger or pizza. I know it's acceptable to have those foods in your diet it's just that when you start to look at all food as what it represents to your body nutritionally the math on some things does not "add up" and they become less desirable.
I'm not even going to look at the nutritional value of something like 4-5 Nantucket cookies or a pint of Ben and Jerry's ice cream to know that I could eat 2-3, 4? plates of healthier food (entire meals) for the equivalent fat/calorie count and can not come close to getting the nutrients from the snacks that "real food" offers. I have yet to figure out how this is going to impact things like B-day parties, holidays, weddings, etc.. It's something I need to think about.
My body water % is slowly responding now and I am hovering around 43% and I still want to get over 45%.
I'm starting to feel results (beyond the pain results) but feeling stronger from my workouts. I'm really only feeling it in my arms and I'm not sure what a stronger core feels like....it's been a long ass time since I've had a strong core so I'm excited to see what 2-3 months of core work is going to do for me.
Enough for now, next time I'll talk about skydiving later in the year.
Monday, March 3, 2008
2nd Monday Weigh in
Here are the 2nd Monday stats:
262 #'s Loss to date -8 #
43 BF -2%
41 BW +1%
With weeks to go before I will beat my goal of 260 by 04/01/08 there is no real pressure to make that goal but the weekly weigh in keeps me aware of my "day to day".
The only significant thing to report right now is that I am becoming aware that my attitudes about food are changing. I am thinking about things differently and that is turning out to be a VERY good thing. On restrictive diets I always crave those things I can't have like Pizza and eating healthy is sometimes a chore...something I begrudgingly force myself to do in order to loose weight. Now that my focus is on being healthy things are different. Right now I don't feel deprived at all and I don't want any Pizza. I'm sure I will eat some sooner or later but right now it's not what I feel like doing because the timing is not right.
I'm not sure if I can properly describe this but my focus has shifted away from the food as (the thing I want to eat) to food as (the thing that can get me the protein, carbs, specific nutrients, etc) at the times I want them. It sounds really clinical that way but it's not once it gets on the plate and I'll keep posting food examples of what I'm eating because building a menu is pretty important.
I was reading a guys website..I think is name sounds something like Berandi and his big thing is that you must make your house a safe place for nutrition. The rest of the world has enough nutritional land mines waiting for you so stocking good food and having a bunch of options on how to use it is essential. At least that is my version of what the guy whos name I just butchered said.
My Body water % BTW is damn near impossible to bring up to 45% but I am having a floating good time trying to do it. :) I'm positive drinking this good clean water is healthy so it's all good but for now the +1% is all I can get.
EDIT: apologies to Dr. Berardi for calling him Berandi... :) Here is a link.
262 #'s Loss to date -8 #
43 BF -2%
41 BW +1%
With weeks to go before I will beat my goal of 260 by 04/01/08 there is no real pressure to make that goal but the weekly weigh in keeps me aware of my "day to day".
The only significant thing to report right now is that I am becoming aware that my attitudes about food are changing. I am thinking about things differently and that is turning out to be a VERY good thing. On restrictive diets I always crave those things I can't have like Pizza and eating healthy is sometimes a chore...something I begrudgingly force myself to do in order to loose weight. Now that my focus is on being healthy things are different. Right now I don't feel deprived at all and I don't want any Pizza. I'm sure I will eat some sooner or later but right now it's not what I feel like doing because the timing is not right.
I'm not sure if I can properly describe this but my focus has shifted away from the food as (the thing I want to eat) to food as (the thing that can get me the protein, carbs, specific nutrients, etc) at the times I want them. It sounds really clinical that way but it's not once it gets on the plate and I'll keep posting food examples of what I'm eating because building a menu is pretty important.
I was reading a guys website..I think is name sounds something like Berandi and his big thing is that you must make your house a safe place for nutrition. The rest of the world has enough nutritional land mines waiting for you so stocking good food and having a bunch of options on how to use it is essential. At least that is my version of what the guy whos name I just butchered said.
My Body water % BTW is damn near impossible to bring up to 45% but I am having a floating good time trying to do it. :) I'm positive drinking this good clean water is healthy so it's all good but for now the +1% is all I can get.
EDIT: apologies to Dr. Berardi for calling him Berandi... :) Here is a link.
Sunday, March 2, 2008
Progress....pain.
Continuing to improve the exercise portion of things I've been working on adding structure to my resistance training schedule. I built something I was happy with on Friday and it called for my heaviest day to be Sat. Great news because I've been felling really good, increased energy, I had an open schedule for the middle of the day yesterday so it was all systems go and I had a really good workout.
It was the most work I've done so far and It was nice to feel like I moved from sort of freewheeling it to a structured workout schedule. That was yesterday....
24 hours later and I am feeling the "progress"...todays workout consisted of beginning yoga from my Baptiste #1 dvd. I normally don't even do this workout because it's so beginner but today felt like a beginner day to me so I can stay on track with next weeks workouts. I bet I could inure myself easily today so I did the smart thing and went light.
I guess feeling great everyday is too much to expect but I have been so up lately that it's a drag to feel draggy today. Staying up until 5am and sleeping until 1pm probably didn't help but it was a UFC and Boxing double header last night so it was unavoidable. :)
It was the most work I've done so far and It was nice to feel like I moved from sort of freewheeling it to a structured workout schedule. That was yesterday....
24 hours later and I am feeling the "progress"...todays workout consisted of beginning yoga from my Baptiste #1 dvd. I normally don't even do this workout because it's so beginner but today felt like a beginner day to me so I can stay on track with next weeks workouts. I bet I could inure myself easily today so I did the smart thing and went light.
I guess feeling great everyday is too much to expect but I have been so up lately that it's a drag to feel draggy today. Staying up until 5am and sleeping until 1pm probably didn't help but it was a UFC and Boxing double header last night so it was unavoidable. :)
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