Fat Loss Status Monday May 23th.

I missed updating last week so I will recap quickly. I missed my goal (<248) but went to 249.5- which at least got me below 250, a nice milestone. I also made my performance of >20 miles walking/running for the week. I set a personal 3-mile time of <39 minutes that felt great. I traveled to Las Vegas which was awesome and I gained confidence that this diet can work while traveling.




I lost another 3 pounds this week and I now weight 246 as of this morning. Another big accomplishment since I have now lost 30 lbs total since I started my diet. Yup, I weighted 276 lbs my heaviest ever back in early late March. Part of what I love about blogging is I now have a definite record of my status. My first fat loss blog was on April 5 when I weighed 266 lbs (I had already lost ten pounds at that point). So using that data I lost 20 lbs in 49 days for an averaged weight loss of .4 lbs per day!



I actually did a diet where I lost 1.1 pounds per day over 30 days so I know it is actually possible to lose weight ever faster than I am right now. However, since I gained all the weight back and more I do not recommend that diet. In addition this is a functional diet and also life-long. Once my weight normalizes I must work to always monitor myself and prevent gaining weight back.



What I learned so far: gluten is deadly. I can tell because I feel better and my digestion is better (which is judged by my “bathroom performance”). This was one of things I didn’t realize was a big issue. As stated in “Why we get fat” there is no essential carb and I think a large part of my problem is insulin resistance and gluten. I have stopped eating bread, pasta, and drinking beer. I lose weight and feel a lot better.



It does actually help to weigh yourself everyday to see how much your weight can fluctuate daily. Now that I have made a major milestone



One of the problems is I am doing so many different things it is hard to judge the biggest factors and how much my improvement is because of individual changes. I can only give you my impressions.




I failed this week to make >20 miles so my streak ended at seven weeks. I only got to 16 using endomondo app. I am actually pretty sure I walk an additional 4 miles overall, but my streak was recorded using endomondo so those are the rules.  I am also feeling fatigued from switching to a standing desk so I know that affected my running performance

Current weight: <246
more than 20 miles per week walking/running

Weight loss for the week: 6 pounds

Weekly and midterm Goal for May 30th: 240

Performance Goal: >20 miles running. <36 minutes (updated from previous <40 goal since I beat that a week ago.)



Long term: July 7 (my 37th birthday, ouch)-- <220 lbs, 3 miles <30 minutes , percent body <18%



Comments always welcome.

Book Review: My exercise experiment

This book was an easy read; I finished it in about 4 hours. The author tries a bunch of different exercise programs for a month of the time. I really enjoyed the section on Jillian Michaels (of biggest loser). And I laughed out loud when reading in the High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) section about her and her friends experience with something called Zooming, Hilarious. (I chuckled again just typing that.) I was particular interested because her followed (tried to) a Paleo diet (primal living)but it stopped after two weeks. It was also interesting in the first chapter to find that her experience was in line with much of the current theory on over-training. She attempted a protocol involving double cardio and gained weight while losing muscle.

Overall an easy enjoyable read and the author’s candor came through.

My fat loss plan

I have being battling my weight most of my adult life now. When I was growing up I was always skinny kid. I started getting fat after college. I am 36 years old and it is only getting harder. It is a typical story; this is a fight that started when I was out of college working my first professional job. As the first few years went by my diet got worse and my exercise effort trailed off. Before working, I was actually in very good shape. In college I help organize a weight lifting club and maintain our small weight room. We would hold monthly presentations on different workouts and diet information. I have a huge library of diet and exercise books. Most of them I read but never implemented, at least long term. (The term analysis paralysis comes to mind)

You can look at the reference list of books I am taking from to see an example. These are books that I have taken some bit of knowledge from. I am not following any single book in its entirety. They all have parts that I like and don’t like. Some of them are not diet or exercise books and merely provide some useful insight.

Now I am ready and determined to get this right. My weight on my 6’ frame has peaked at 276 lbs. I have been following this morphed diet well for the 10 days. I am down 12 pounds. As I mentioned earlier, my goal for Sunday is 262, 2 pounds and 3 days to go.

Since a whole part of this is a learning experience and I am including facets from multiple sources, I figure I better get the details documented.

Problem statement: Obesity is a systematic problem (watchman’s rattle- this is an obvious point, but it needs to be repeated) and it is part of our nature and culture that is exacerbating the problem.

Principle Solution: The human body will adept to its environment and both diet and exercise are integral to healthly function. The goal is not simply weight loss, but a healthly lifestyle includes exercise, both cardio and resistance exercise, and a healthy whole food diet ( see references below).

Supplements: I am currently taking a high quality multivitamin and omega fat once a day in the morning with breakfast.

Diet principles:

1) no sugar

2) easy to prepare, repeatable meals

3) Lots of greens

4) High quality lean protein (mostly grilled chicken)

5) Plan your meals and have food ready

6) Avoid Dairy, Alcohol, Diet Soda

7) Cheat meal once per week where you eat what ever you want. (It makes following the meal plan easier the rest of the week- and better than a whole day)

8) Drink plenty of water- I shoot for four liters a day—usually don’t drink quite that much. But that is my goal.

I have seen this rule: W = M/2 + 2a + 5b where M is your weight in lbs, a is ounces of soda, diet soda, tea, alcohol and b are ounces of coffee which gives you ounces per day. I think this is way too much and you certainly should waste that much effort. Actually, the new evolution diet had the point it should be that much effort to drink adequate water- especially if it reduces your exercise ability. Avoid soda and beer and drink water.



Exercise: At the beginning I am doing whatever I can. I’ve gotten addicted to barefoot running so my exercise focus has been on running whenever I can. There is a lot of information out there that supports short variable workouts versus sustained repetitive training, but for right now I try to get out 3 miles four or more times a week.

Final principles: Set goals, short term, mid term and long term.

Leverage social support by doing something like blogging about them. Surround yourself with other people with similar goals and healthy habits. Focus not on weight, but fat loss and muscle and performance. Track your progress with measurable quantities (weight, percent body fat, 1-mile time, heart rate, etc.)

I am also using an app for my phone (endomondo.com) that using GPS to track my running performance in concert with a Bluetooth heart rate monitor.



Cold helps with weight loss. Right now in NY it is sufficient to be outside without a shirt. Not sure how I will continue with this as the weather gets warming.



References:

The Spark (The Spark: The 28-Day Breakthrough Plan for Losing Weight, Getting Fit, and Transforming Your Life

Why we get fat (Why We Get Fat: And What to Do About It)

The 4 hour body (The 4-Hour Body: An Uncommon Guide to Rapid Fat-Loss, Incredible Sex, and Becoming Superhuman)

The new evolution diet (The New Evolution Diet: What Our Paleolithic Ancestors Can Teach Us about Weight Loss, Fitness, and Aging)

In defense of food(In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto)

The omnivores’ dilemma (The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals_

The Paleo solution (The Paleo Solution: The Original Human Diet)

Born to run(Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen (Vintage))