Sunday yet again and time for the weekly weigh-in.
This week I've been eating a lot differently than I was the last month and I can feel the difference. Other than that life is settling down and looking up and I'm feeling good about it.
So, last week I talked about what eating Primal is all about, a little about why you'd want to do it, and mentioned that I had. This week, in a shorter post, I'll talk about the results that I got eating this way during January, and what impact it's likely to have on my eating going forward.
So, firstly some of the more "intangible" benefits I found eating primal last month. At no point, except once on a cheat day, did I ever get a bloated feeling of being too full that I had gotten rather often on similar amounts of food before. Likewise, I noticed that I had fewer intestinal disturbances during this month than I had in previous months, not that the other months are really that high but still, none is better than even a small number. I felt full without being bloated, had no trouble later on, more energy with fewer crashes in my energy level, and felt more rested on the same or in some cases less sleep per day. Now maybe not all of that comes from diet, but those are all benefits I like and I feel confident that I can track at least some of them to the change in diet.
Now the numerical things I can report. I will admit these cannot be entirely tied to the shift in diet, January was also when I switched from running as my primary exercise to resistance training to fill the same niche which will impact these numbers somewhat. Also beginning the middle of the month I was experimenting with some other things that may have improved my results slightly. Regardless of either of these other factors, diet is the cornerstone of any sort of body recomposition, you can't outrun, or in this case out-lift, a bad diet, and you for sure can't ice it away.
So, numbers. At the first of January I weighed 206.8, at the end of January I weighed 199.5, which is a decrease of 7.3 pounds in total weight. Start of the month my body fat percentage was around 18.6, end of the month it was 14.3, a decrease of 4.3%. So using those numbers and some easy multiplication my lean mass went from 168.3 to 171.0, and my fat mass went from 38.5 to 28.5, which for those of you keeping up at home means that in January I lost 10 pounds of fat, and gained 2.7 pounds of muscle.
Looking at graphs of the values I track over time I can say that this didn't start showing up on the graphs until probably 10 days into the month. Now part of that is because the way I do my tracking smooths out local fluctuation intentionally so any small changes take a while to accumulate while big changes show up faster. Looking at the day to day instead of the trends which I graph I can say that it looks like there were noticeable improvements almost immediately, but I can't stand as confidently behind their accuracy as I can the trend numbers quoted above and of which I reference the graphs.
Would I recommend this dietary plan to others? Absolutely, if you are at all curious try it out and see what happens, you might feel better, you might not. Worst case it will at least give you a different appreciation for your food than you have now. What am I planning to do with these results in the future? Well, I can't say that I will commit to going fully primal from now on, that would be too difficult to do in practice and I don't like any solution that causes me to feel deprived if I can avoid it. So what I will probably do is a complicated split of meals which are Primal, meals which are "cheat" meals, meals on which I just plain fast, and meals which meet my adapted psuedo-Primal plan.
What is that plan and what does it look like? As little gluten as possible, I will still let myself have it on my cheat meals but for my pseudo meals I want to try to keep it out entirely, related to that minimal grains glutenous or not. I don't have any open reactions to corn so I'm going to allow it at least in moderation, but in continuation of my reduction/elimination of processed sugars I will be avoiding corn syrup and especially HFCS. I like rice and will be allowing that in my adapted plan, though with a preference for wild rice, and behind that brown rice. I'm going to continue to avoid peanuts in favor of healthier and tastier nuts, and reduce and ideally eliminate potatoes from the pseudo meals as most applications of potatoes tend to be rather bland or merely nutritionally devoid. Soy will be allowed, though the less processed from it's natural form the better.
Well, that should about do it for this week. Next week, barring any other things coming up, I will have some stuff to say about the other experiment I mentioned.
So what does the scale have to say for my return to a "normal" diet? 199.6, up .2 from last week. Moving in the wrong direction sure, but only barely, and my body fat is still moving in the right direction so I'm not at all concerned. The future holds many wonderful things in both the long and the short term, stay tuned to see what some of them are. Until next week, be the you you want to be.
Sunday, February 6, 2011
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Weekly Weigh-in (Week 54)
Sunday yet again and time for the weekly weigh-in.
Been doing alright the past week. Getting some things straightened out, plans put in place, and visiting with some friends I haven't gotten to see in a while. All told, a pretty good deal.
It's the end of January now and my recent dietary experiment is drawing to a close. So today I'm going to discuss said experiment, and let you know a bit about how it went for me.
For the month of January, partly as a challenge to myself to see if I could do it, partly with a friend to see if it would increase her energy levels, and partly because I was looking for a way to start the year off differently, I decided to try and eat Primal for an entire month. Now, I'll admit it wasn't strict primal the whole time, Monday was our designated cheat day to eat whatever we felt like eating primal or not, though for the most part I found that even on these cheat days I still ate differently than I would have before the month had started.
For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about the Primal plan is based around the idea that humans are adapted to what we were eating in the late Paleolithic time period, ie pre-agriculture. As such things which do not occur naturally in the wild are avoided, grains (and gluten in particular), legumes, rice, corn, and potatoes and various other starchy carbs are cut from the diet leaving you with meat, vegetables, fruit, nuts, and seeds. At first blush that sounds like it would be incredibly limiting but I found that, despite the fact that I did often eat the same basic things out of convenience, I wasn't any more limited in my food variety than I had been before when I could eat anything I wanted. I just ate slightly different things.
Over the course of the month I can honestly say that I never felt strong cravings for carbs like some people experience, though truthfully I find I don't really eat all that much in the way of grains/carbs anymore even before this experiment. I feel great, I've been dropping fat consistently through the month and putting on muscle, and I've tried some foods I never would have otherwise (spaghetti squash may not be that full of flavor on it's own, but neither is pasta). I've developed a love for spinach I never knew I had, and discovered that I really enjoy cashews.
So you might be wondering, what does your meal list look like on a plan like this. Well, here's a couple sample meals from my month of primal dining.
Breakfast: Homemade Protein bar (made from almonds, pecans, eggs, and blueberries); or some fresh blueberries, cheese, beef jerky, and a handful or two of either pumpkin seeds or mixed nuts (but without any peanuts as those are a legume not a nut); eggs and bacon; omelet with mushrooms, cheese, bacon, and sausage
Lunch: Salad from Subway or Paradise Bakery (I prefer Subway with spinach instead of lettuce), Fajita Burrito bowl from Chipotle, Protein Style burgers from In-n-Out, chicken and wild rice soup, leftovers
Dinner: Steak and Asparagus with a Cesar Salad; Spaghetti Squash Carbonara with mushrooms, asparagus, and sausage; Chicken Soup, Pulled Pork and steamed spinach, roast chicken with mixed veggies
Snacks: Pumpkin Seeds; mixed nuts (again, no peanuts); cheese; salami; fresh fruit (blueberries and nectarines came up a few times); Trader Joe's Thai Chili Lime Cashews; Trader Joe's Jerky (I had both beef and buffalo at various points in time)
As you can see, there's a decent amount of selection up there provided you aren't a vegetarian (sorry). The most limited meal is probably lunch and that's mostly because of my schedule being a pain for eating of lunches that require any preparation. Dinner was often prepared by a trip to the store on the way home from work to figure out what meat was in the mark-down section that day, and then combine it with a veggie that was on sale and a salad kit. The protein bars I was using for breakfasts all came from a batch I made at the start of the month and have been eating off of since. All told, it's a pretty varied plan in practice even if the theory makes it sound restrictive. Well, that's about all the space I plan to dedicate to this post so come back next week for the rest of my primal wrap-up and some info on what I plan to do with the observations from the experiment.
So, what does the scale have to tell me today? 199.4 up a bit from last week, 3.2 to be specific, but not enough that I'm particularly concerned based on my behavior toward the end of the week. We'll see where it goes going forward. Even still, my fat mass is decreasing so I'm not concerned.
Been doing alright the past week. Getting some things straightened out, plans put in place, and visiting with some friends I haven't gotten to see in a while. All told, a pretty good deal.
It's the end of January now and my recent dietary experiment is drawing to a close. So today I'm going to discuss said experiment, and let you know a bit about how it went for me.
For the month of January, partly as a challenge to myself to see if I could do it, partly with a friend to see if it would increase her energy levels, and partly because I was looking for a way to start the year off differently, I decided to try and eat Primal for an entire month. Now, I'll admit it wasn't strict primal the whole time, Monday was our designated cheat day to eat whatever we felt like eating primal or not, though for the most part I found that even on these cheat days I still ate differently than I would have before the month had started.
For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about the Primal plan is based around the idea that humans are adapted to what we were eating in the late Paleolithic time period, ie pre-agriculture. As such things which do not occur naturally in the wild are avoided, grains (and gluten in particular), legumes, rice, corn, and potatoes and various other starchy carbs are cut from the diet leaving you with meat, vegetables, fruit, nuts, and seeds. At first blush that sounds like it would be incredibly limiting but I found that, despite the fact that I did often eat the same basic things out of convenience, I wasn't any more limited in my food variety than I had been before when I could eat anything I wanted. I just ate slightly different things.
Over the course of the month I can honestly say that I never felt strong cravings for carbs like some people experience, though truthfully I find I don't really eat all that much in the way of grains/carbs anymore even before this experiment. I feel great, I've been dropping fat consistently through the month and putting on muscle, and I've tried some foods I never would have otherwise (spaghetti squash may not be that full of flavor on it's own, but neither is pasta). I've developed a love for spinach I never knew I had, and discovered that I really enjoy cashews.
So you might be wondering, what does your meal list look like on a plan like this. Well, here's a couple sample meals from my month of primal dining.
Breakfast: Homemade Protein bar (made from almonds, pecans, eggs, and blueberries); or some fresh blueberries, cheese, beef jerky, and a handful or two of either pumpkin seeds or mixed nuts (but without any peanuts as those are a legume not a nut); eggs and bacon; omelet with mushrooms, cheese, bacon, and sausage
Lunch: Salad from Subway or Paradise Bakery (I prefer Subway with spinach instead of lettuce), Fajita Burrito bowl from Chipotle, Protein Style burgers from In-n-Out, chicken and wild rice soup, leftovers
Dinner: Steak and Asparagus with a Cesar Salad; Spaghetti Squash Carbonara with mushrooms, asparagus, and sausage; Chicken Soup, Pulled Pork and steamed spinach, roast chicken with mixed veggies
Snacks: Pumpkin Seeds; mixed nuts (again, no peanuts); cheese; salami; fresh fruit (blueberries and nectarines came up a few times); Trader Joe's Thai Chili Lime Cashews; Trader Joe's Jerky (I had both beef and buffalo at various points in time)
As you can see, there's a decent amount of selection up there provided you aren't a vegetarian (sorry). The most limited meal is probably lunch and that's mostly because of my schedule being a pain for eating of lunches that require any preparation. Dinner was often prepared by a trip to the store on the way home from work to figure out what meat was in the mark-down section that day, and then combine it with a veggie that was on sale and a salad kit. The protein bars I was using for breakfasts all came from a batch I made at the start of the month and have been eating off of since. All told, it's a pretty varied plan in practice even if the theory makes it sound restrictive. Well, that's about all the space I plan to dedicate to this post so come back next week for the rest of my primal wrap-up and some info on what I plan to do with the observations from the experiment.
So, what does the scale have to tell me today? 199.4 up a bit from last week, 3.2 to be specific, but not enough that I'm particularly concerned based on my behavior toward the end of the week. We'll see where it goes going forward. Even still, my fat mass is decreasing so I'm not concerned.
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Weekly Weigh-in (Week 53)
Sunday morning yet again and time for my weekly weigh-in.
It's been a rather interesting month for me, trying out this primal blueprint stuff (which I've found to be a lot easier than I expected it to be), and a few other smaller experiments on myself.
One thing I'm in the middle of is a trial of whether or not, so far it's looking like a yes to this part, and by how much localized application of cold temperatures can increase fat loss. That's a long winded way of saying that for 10 days this month I put an ice pack on my neck and trapezius muscles for 30 minutes in the evening. I'm gonna compare that to the first ten days of the month, and the last 10 days of the month, during both sets of which I am not applying said ice pack. This is the first "controlled" experiment I'm running on myself, but it won't be the last. I'll let you guys know how things turn out.
Short post this week, expect something a bit longer next week as a wrap-up for my month of primal eating.
So, what does the scale have to say this week? 196.2, down 1.8 since last week. That's not too bad. I'll see you all next week, until then be the you you've always wanted.
It's been a rather interesting month for me, trying out this primal blueprint stuff (which I've found to be a lot easier than I expected it to be), and a few other smaller experiments on myself.
One thing I'm in the middle of is a trial of whether or not, so far it's looking like a yes to this part, and by how much localized application of cold temperatures can increase fat loss. That's a long winded way of saying that for 10 days this month I put an ice pack on my neck and trapezius muscles for 30 minutes in the evening. I'm gonna compare that to the first ten days of the month, and the last 10 days of the month, during both sets of which I am not applying said ice pack. This is the first "controlled" experiment I'm running on myself, but it won't be the last. I'll let you guys know how things turn out.
Short post this week, expect something a bit longer next week as a wrap-up for my month of primal eating.
So, what does the scale have to say this week? 196.2, down 1.8 since last week. That's not too bad. I'll see you all next week, until then be the you you've always wanted.
Sunday, January 16, 2011
Weekly Weigh-in (Week 52)
Sunday yet again and time for the weekly weigh-in.
Well, this is week 52, which means it's now been a year since I started actively trying to better manage my weight. What do I have to show for that year? This time last year I was just starting my final semester of college, starting in on the planning of my wedding, unsure of what the summer held in store for me let alone anything past that. I was also 283 pounds and in generally terrible shape. This first photo is of me giving a toast at my friend Ross's wedding, you can see him sitting next to the bride in that shot.
That was a me I knew for a while I was unhappy with, but had for too long decided to just sit around and not do anything to fix. It was shortly after that wedding that I had the epiphany, wanting something to be different and actually having it be different are entirely not the same thing. That was when I decided to stop wanting to be in better shape, and wanting to weigh less, and to start doing something about it. That decision has led me to where I am no in terms of my physical well-being, and it has also helped change how I interact with the world. I feel like I spend less time as a passive observer of my world and more time making it into what I want it to be. Frankly, I wouldn't have it any other way.
Based on the numbers from last week I've lost about 85 pounds from my starting weight, around 30% of my starting weight. For comparison that's the approximate weight of an 11.5 year old child, two five year olds, 8 babies, 19 bricks, 301 1" steel cubes, this much cocaine (apparently), or any of a number of other things I found on google trying to find answers to this question. I feel amazing compared to last year. I feel much better about myself, I can sustain physical activity for much longer than I could have dreamed of last year. I haven't timed myself but I'm fairly sure I can run a mile faster than I did in high school, and otherwise outperform my high school self in any meaningful metric. I have grown as a person through the challenge of losing that much of myself, I have found more of myself than there ever was to lose. Compare the previous picture of me to this picture of me and it's easy to see the difference.
So sure there have been a lot of changes for me in the last year, but what about the next year? Well first I'm going to be trying to drop my body-fat, something I seem to be having decent luck with so far. Secondly I'm going to try and add some muscle mass, to get a more balanced look going on instead of the slightly strangely shaped appearance I have going on right now. Going to put some effort into increasing my strength and endurance through my exercise routine, and if I can find the time and money to do so I'm hoping to get back to doing martial arts at some point this year.
I'd like to thank all of you who have given me such encouragement this past year. I relaally appreciate all the kind things you've had to say, the personal experiences shared and all the advice I've picked up. I plan to keep posting these logs, but I expect the numbers are going to stop going down before too much longer and start staying pretty much the same. Hopefully even with that being the case the picture I have to put here next year will look even better than the one I had to show you this year.
So, what does the scale have to tell me today? 198 even, down .2 from last week. Just about what I expected, and around what I'm shooting for going forward, small losses until I hit my eventual target. Small because I'm trying to make sure that the losses are mostly fat and that I'm also increasing my lean over time. Until next time, take whatever you don't like about yourself and your surroundings, and change it for the better. Because if you don't nobody else will either.
That was a me I knew for a while I was unhappy with, but had for too long decided to just sit around and not do anything to fix. It was shortly after that wedding that I had the epiphany, wanting something to be different and actually having it be different are entirely not the same thing. That was when I decided to stop wanting to be in better shape, and wanting to weigh less, and to start doing something about it. That decision has led me to where I am no in terms of my physical well-being, and it has also helped change how I interact with the world. I feel like I spend less time as a passive observer of my world and more time making it into what I want it to be. Frankly, I wouldn't have it any other way.
Based on the numbers from last week I've lost about 85 pounds from my starting weight, around 30% of my starting weight. For comparison that's the approximate weight of an 11.5 year old child, two five year olds, 8 babies, 19 bricks, 301 1" steel cubes, this much cocaine (apparently), or any of a number of other things I found on google trying to find answers to this question. I feel amazing compared to last year. I feel much better about myself, I can sustain physical activity for much longer than I could have dreamed of last year. I haven't timed myself but I'm fairly sure I can run a mile faster than I did in high school, and otherwise outperform my high school self in any meaningful metric. I have grown as a person through the challenge of losing that much of myself, I have found more of myself than there ever was to lose. Compare the previous picture of me to this picture of me and it's easy to see the difference.So sure there have been a lot of changes for me in the last year, but what about the next year? Well first I'm going to be trying to drop my body-fat, something I seem to be having decent luck with so far. Secondly I'm going to try and add some muscle mass, to get a more balanced look going on instead of the slightly strangely shaped appearance I have going on right now. Going to put some effort into increasing my strength and endurance through my exercise routine, and if I can find the time and money to do so I'm hoping to get back to doing martial arts at some point this year.
I'd like to thank all of you who have given me such encouragement this past year. I relaally appreciate all the kind things you've had to say, the personal experiences shared and all the advice I've picked up. I plan to keep posting these logs, but I expect the numbers are going to stop going down before too much longer and start staying pretty much the same. Hopefully even with that being the case the picture I have to put here next year will look even better than the one I had to show you this year.
So, what does the scale have to tell me today? 198 even, down .2 from last week. Just about what I expected, and around what I'm shooting for going forward, small losses until I hit my eventual target. Small because I'm trying to make sure that the losses are mostly fat and that I'm also increasing my lean over time. Until next time, take whatever you don't like about yourself and your surroundings, and change it for the better. Because if you don't nobody else will either.
Sunday, January 9, 2011
Weekly Weigh-in (Week 51)
Sunday yet again and time for the weekly weigh-in.
This has been a rather fun week for me. Been trying some new things with my diet that so far seem to be working out alright for me, I'll go into greater detail about that in a couple weeks. For now let's just say, I've been enjoying the changes to my eating habits for the most part.
Well, as some of you commented after my last post, it's gonna take more than running to look like the picture I posted here last week. So this week I'm going to talk about what I've started doing recently that isn't running in terms of exercise, and to ramble for a while in relation to the blog from which I got the workout.
Firstly, the workout. The past couple weeks I've replaced my running, don't worry I'll be coming back to that before too much longer, with some resistance training. Specifically I've been doing the Beginner Bodyweight Workout from Nerd Fitness. It's a fairly simple workout overall, bodyweight squats and lunges working the lower body, pushups and dumbbell rows working the upper body, plank and jumping jacks to round things out with some core work. Since I spend most of my time on the second floor I usually replace the jumping jacks with flights of stairs, but other than that, I've been doing variations on that workout for the past couple weeks. So far I've been doing abbreviated versions to work my way up in terms of ability, last week it was 1 half set, 1 whole set, and 1 half set; next week it'll be 1/.5/1 instead and working up from there. I've already been noticing improvement in my skill, and am already looking at ways to make the exercises work for me in the longterm as well.
Now, a little rambling about Nerd Fitness. Nerd Fitness is a blog written by a guy named Steve Kamb. Like myself he's a self-professed nerd and it shows in much of his writing. He's also a big fitness buff. While I don't always agree with everything he posts most of the stuff I see on the site is top notch. Like with everything, don't take all that you read on the internet at face value, but do your own research and see what you figure out. Most of what I see at his site resonates with my own research into the subjects and thus I put a lot of it to use. I expect I'll end up using a lot more of his tips as time goes on, but we'll have to wait and see. For now, I will say with certainty if you are a nerd, and you are interested in being in better shape, or even just keeping yourself in the good shape you are already in, Nerd Fitness is a blog that you should check out. But you don't have to take my word for it.
Now, on to the numbers. What do I have to show for my dietary changes and nearly a year of weight loss? 198.2, down 2.6 pounds since last week. Down 84.9 overall, a full 30% of my starting weight. Nearing where I plan to try and hold my weight in the long term, so hooray for continued good news. Until next week, be whatever you want to be, but make it awesome.
This has been a rather fun week for me. Been trying some new things with my diet that so far seem to be working out alright for me, I'll go into greater detail about that in a couple weeks. For now let's just say, I've been enjoying the changes to my eating habits for the most part.
Well, as some of you commented after my last post, it's gonna take more than running to look like the picture I posted here last week. So this week I'm going to talk about what I've started doing recently that isn't running in terms of exercise, and to ramble for a while in relation to the blog from which I got the workout.
Firstly, the workout. The past couple weeks I've replaced my running, don't worry I'll be coming back to that before too much longer, with some resistance training. Specifically I've been doing the Beginner Bodyweight Workout from Nerd Fitness. It's a fairly simple workout overall, bodyweight squats and lunges working the lower body, pushups and dumbbell rows working the upper body, plank and jumping jacks to round things out with some core work. Since I spend most of my time on the second floor I usually replace the jumping jacks with flights of stairs, but other than that, I've been doing variations on that workout for the past couple weeks. So far I've been doing abbreviated versions to work my way up in terms of ability, last week it was 1 half set, 1 whole set, and 1 half set; next week it'll be 1/.5/1 instead and working up from there. I've already been noticing improvement in my skill, and am already looking at ways to make the exercises work for me in the longterm as well.
Now, a little rambling about Nerd Fitness. Nerd Fitness is a blog written by a guy named Steve Kamb. Like myself he's a self-professed nerd and it shows in much of his writing. He's also a big fitness buff. While I don't always agree with everything he posts most of the stuff I see on the site is top notch. Like with everything, don't take all that you read on the internet at face value, but do your own research and see what you figure out. Most of what I see at his site resonates with my own research into the subjects and thus I put a lot of it to use. I expect I'll end up using a lot more of his tips as time goes on, but we'll have to wait and see. For now, I will say with certainty if you are a nerd, and you are interested in being in better shape, or even just keeping yourself in the good shape you are already in, Nerd Fitness is a blog that you should check out. But you don't have to take my word for it.
Now, on to the numbers. What do I have to show for my dietary changes and nearly a year of weight loss? 198.2, down 2.6 pounds since last week. Down 84.9 overall, a full 30% of my starting weight. Nearing where I plan to try and hold my weight in the long term, so hooray for continued good news. Until next week, be whatever you want to be, but make it awesome.
Sunday, January 2, 2011
Weekly Weigh-in (Week 50)
Sunday yet again and time for my weekly weigh-in.
The week between the holidays has been rather kind to me I feel. Interim weigh-ins have been promising, I feel great, I'm looking better than I recall looking in a long time. Tried out a new workout twice this week, and while I was incredibly stiff and sore after the first time I'm so far feeling much less so after the second time. So I'm hopeful that is a sign of at least some improvement.
Alright, so now to the meat of the post. This week I am going to indulge my slightly nerdier side, and for those of you who don't care for that, feel free to skip to the end if you don't find you are the kind who cares for my nerdier rantings. Those of you who have ever played any form of RPG with me, or heard the stories I am somewhat oft to tell about them, know that I am at heart a chronic min-maxer, a power gamer if you will. Once I have a good understanding of the rules, I find a sick sort of pleasure in finding the myriad ways to push a character to the limit of said rules and see what I can make it do. It has recently dawned upon me, that there is no real reason why I cannot apply some of that skill and drive to myself just as easily as I can to my RPG characters.
I have developed a reasonable level of knowledge of the functioning of the human body, and the ways in which it can be improved and hindered through the course of my weight loss goals and my education. Combining that plus my power gaming tendencies seems like it could lead to some very interesting avenues of expansion for me personally. I picked up a copy of a new book in this vein that I have seen good reviews of, and I'm excited to see what ideas I can glean from it. I will refrain from mentioning it now but save that for when I have either good or bad things to say of it. I have decided that in addition to the goals I listed last week for 2011, I'm going to be adding 2 things to the growing list. Firstly, for the month of January, in conjunction with a friend, I am going to be attempting to eat a 'diet' dubbed the Primal Blueprint. It's a grain-free, gluten-free diet based on the diet of our evolutionary history. Going to give it a shot for the month and see if it seems to help or hinder my progress toward my other goals. I'll keep you all posted. The other thing I decided this week is that I'm going to see what I can do over the course of the year to get myself to look more like this guy.
Well, all that taken care of, and much less geeky than I really expected. Long story short, I plan to level up my life and tweak everything I can about it until I am the me that I want to be. So let's do this thing.
So what does the scale have to tell me today? 200.8 down 7.2 since last week. Now some of that is likely to be water weight, I know I've not been drinking quite enough water the past few days, but still I'm making good progress. So it is with great pride that I report that my weight has finally made it below the threshold that allows me to state, my BMI calls me Normal and not Overweight now. Not as big of a difference mentally as there was when I dropped out of Obese, but it's a nice milestone regardless. I'm down 82.3 pounds which is 29% of my starting weight. It's been a good year for me, and it's gonna be an even more interesting one this year I suspect. So until next week, be the person you've always wanted to be.
The week between the holidays has been rather kind to me I feel. Interim weigh-ins have been promising, I feel great, I'm looking better than I recall looking in a long time. Tried out a new workout twice this week, and while I was incredibly stiff and sore after the first time I'm so far feeling much less so after the second time. So I'm hopeful that is a sign of at least some improvement.
Alright, so now to the meat of the post. This week I am going to indulge my slightly nerdier side, and for those of you who don't care for that, feel free to skip to the end if you don't find you are the kind who cares for my nerdier rantings. Those of you who have ever played any form of RPG with me, or heard the stories I am somewhat oft to tell about them, know that I am at heart a chronic min-maxer, a power gamer if you will. Once I have a good understanding of the rules, I find a sick sort of pleasure in finding the myriad ways to push a character to the limit of said rules and see what I can make it do. It has recently dawned upon me, that there is no real reason why I cannot apply some of that skill and drive to myself just as easily as I can to my RPG characters.
I have developed a reasonable level of knowledge of the functioning of the human body, and the ways in which it can be improved and hindered through the course of my weight loss goals and my education. Combining that plus my power gaming tendencies seems like it could lead to some very interesting avenues of expansion for me personally. I picked up a copy of a new book in this vein that I have seen good reviews of, and I'm excited to see what ideas I can glean from it. I will refrain from mentioning it now but save that for when I have either good or bad things to say of it. I have decided that in addition to the goals I listed last week for 2011, I'm going to be adding 2 things to the growing list. Firstly, for the month of January, in conjunction with a friend, I am going to be attempting to eat a 'diet' dubbed the Primal Blueprint. It's a grain-free, gluten-free diet based on the diet of our evolutionary history. Going to give it a shot for the month and see if it seems to help or hinder my progress toward my other goals. I'll keep you all posted. The other thing I decided this week is that I'm going to see what I can do over the course of the year to get myself to look more like this guy.
Well, all that taken care of, and much less geeky than I really expected. Long story short, I plan to level up my life and tweak everything I can about it until I am the me that I want to be. So let's do this thing.
So what does the scale have to tell me today? 200.8 down 7.2 since last week. Now some of that is likely to be water weight, I know I've not been drinking quite enough water the past few days, but still I'm making good progress. So it is with great pride that I report that my weight has finally made it below the threshold that allows me to state, my BMI calls me Normal and not Overweight now. Not as big of a difference mentally as there was when I dropped out of Obese, but it's a nice milestone regardless. I'm down 82.3 pounds which is 29% of my starting weight. It's been a good year for me, and it's gonna be an even more interesting one this year I suspect. So until next week, be the person you've always wanted to be.
Sunday, December 26, 2010
Weekly Weigh-in (Week 49)
Sunday yet again and time for another weekly weigh-in.
Well, this is it, the last weigh-in post of the calendar year. It's been a really long and involved year for me this year. Graduated from college, had the wedding, had to hunt around for a job there for a little while, the wife had to hunt around for a job for a while longer, and I lost around 27% of my body weight. All told it's been a pretty good year. Sure right here at the end the holidays give me some setbacks in my eating habits, but nothing that can't be ridden out and overcome.
So where do I go from here? What do I have left to do? Well, I've decided, in conjunction with a few friends along the way, on a number of things to do to challenge myself in the next calendar year. After all the running I've been doing, and because it's a cause that is important to me, I've decided that I want to enter both of the Susan G. Komen Races for the Cure that happen in Arizona each year. The Southern Arizona one in April and the Phoenix one in October. Each will be a 5K race, a distance I know I can run in one shot even if I'm unsure of how respectable my time would turn out to be, and most likely a decent time for a great cause. I'm also seriously considering a "fun run" called Warrior Dash going on in late April just because it seems like a good time.
On the less organized front I'm going to make an attempt at completing INSANITY and P90X during 2011, out of a combination of a desire to prove to myself I can and the desire to see what might happen to me if I do. After that, if I still have the time and motivation, I'll probably just try and up my run distance and my utility with bodyweight exercises and some relaxed running. So it looks like it should be a decent year for me whether I live up to all these challenges I've set for myself or not. Because either way, it will be a fun journey to places I've never pushed myself to go before, and really that's what life is about sometimes. Fun times with people you care about.
So, lots of hope for the future but what does the scale have to say about your relationship with the past? 208, up 2 pounds from last week. Not really that bad overall I guess. This was a tough week for me in terms of food, and that amount of fluctuation is actually fairly small, so I'm willing to live with that for now. Onward and downward to something a little more palatable for the long term I think.
Well, this is it, the last weigh-in post of the calendar year. It's been a really long and involved year for me this year. Graduated from college, had the wedding, had to hunt around for a job there for a little while, the wife had to hunt around for a job for a while longer, and I lost around 27% of my body weight. All told it's been a pretty good year. Sure right here at the end the holidays give me some setbacks in my eating habits, but nothing that can't be ridden out and overcome.
So where do I go from here? What do I have left to do? Well, I've decided, in conjunction with a few friends along the way, on a number of things to do to challenge myself in the next calendar year. After all the running I've been doing, and because it's a cause that is important to me, I've decided that I want to enter both of the Susan G. Komen Races for the Cure that happen in Arizona each year. The Southern Arizona one in April and the Phoenix one in October. Each will be a 5K race, a distance I know I can run in one shot even if I'm unsure of how respectable my time would turn out to be, and most likely a decent time for a great cause. I'm also seriously considering a "fun run" called Warrior Dash going on in late April just because it seems like a good time.
On the less organized front I'm going to make an attempt at completing INSANITY and P90X during 2011, out of a combination of a desire to prove to myself I can and the desire to see what might happen to me if I do. After that, if I still have the time and motivation, I'll probably just try and up my run distance and my utility with bodyweight exercises and some relaxed running. So it looks like it should be a decent year for me whether I live up to all these challenges I've set for myself or not. Because either way, it will be a fun journey to places I've never pushed myself to go before, and really that's what life is about sometimes. Fun times with people you care about.
So, lots of hope for the future but what does the scale have to say about your relationship with the past? 208, up 2 pounds from last week. Not really that bad overall I guess. This was a tough week for me in terms of food, and that amount of fluctuation is actually fairly small, so I'm willing to live with that for now. Onward and downward to something a little more palatable for the long term I think.
Sunday, December 19, 2010
Weekly Weigh-in (Week 48)
Sunday yet again and time for another weekly weigh-in.
This week was a fairly good week all around I think. Got some Christmas shopping taken care of, made up some salad dressing and packed salads for lunch for the latter half of the week, and finished week 9 of the Couch to 5K plan. All told, that's a pretty good week.
Speaking of said plan, I mentioned that there was some more information to my usage of my ipod while I run than just using it for Runkeeper, and so today I shall share that with you all. Some of you reading this may have thought to yourself in the past that running isn't for you because it's boring. To that I have two things to say, firstly that you should make sure you are running outside in the real world and not on a treadmill if boredom is something you want to counter. Secondly, you might want to consider adding some music into your runs, as it can be a rather interesting thing to help keep you aware of what's going on around you. That said, I will caution you that you should make sure that the music isn't getting in the way of your awareness of your surroundings. You need to make sure you are keeping track of any traffic, your form, the sound of your footfalls, your breathing, and so many other things. But, if you can keep track of all of those things music can be a nice addition to your runs. Especially if it's also functional.
The benefit of the Ct5K plan, is that it uses intervals to help you progressively increase your running time toward a full 5K. The downside, is that you need a way to track either the distances or the times that you are working on for your intervals. The free version of Runkeeper doesn't do that, so I needed another way to track that, enter Podrunner. Podrunner Intervals uses high energy music, timed to the intervals set out in the Ct5K plan, to help keep you moving at a good pace for the times you need to get yourself to where you want to be. They have sets for each week of the plan, and all 3 days in weeks 5 and 6. They also have sets past the 5K program for training your way to 8 or even 10K runs. I very much enjoy these podcasts, and reccomend them highly to anyone looking to try out the Ct5K plan, who wondered how they would manage the timing, or those who didn't as well.
Well, all of the small accomplishments piling up, where does that leave me with the scale? 206.0, down 3.6 pounds since last week. Making steady progress in the direction I want to be going for now. Finally nearing the end of my period of weight loss, and getting to a point where all I have left to do is manage my body fat. See you all next week.
This week was a fairly good week all around I think. Got some Christmas shopping taken care of, made up some salad dressing and packed salads for lunch for the latter half of the week, and finished week 9 of the Couch to 5K plan. All told, that's a pretty good week.
Speaking of said plan, I mentioned that there was some more information to my usage of my ipod while I run than just using it for Runkeeper, and so today I shall share that with you all. Some of you reading this may have thought to yourself in the past that running isn't for you because it's boring. To that I have two things to say, firstly that you should make sure you are running outside in the real world and not on a treadmill if boredom is something you want to counter. Secondly, you might want to consider adding some music into your runs, as it can be a rather interesting thing to help keep you aware of what's going on around you. That said, I will caution you that you should make sure that the music isn't getting in the way of your awareness of your surroundings. You need to make sure you are keeping track of any traffic, your form, the sound of your footfalls, your breathing, and so many other things. But, if you can keep track of all of those things music can be a nice addition to your runs. Especially if it's also functional.
The benefit of the Ct5K plan, is that it uses intervals to help you progressively increase your running time toward a full 5K. The downside, is that you need a way to track either the distances or the times that you are working on for your intervals. The free version of Runkeeper doesn't do that, so I needed another way to track that, enter Podrunner. Podrunner Intervals uses high energy music, timed to the intervals set out in the Ct5K plan, to help keep you moving at a good pace for the times you need to get yourself to where you want to be. They have sets for each week of the plan, and all 3 days in weeks 5 and 6. They also have sets past the 5K program for training your way to 8 or even 10K runs. I very much enjoy these podcasts, and reccomend them highly to anyone looking to try out the Ct5K plan, who wondered how they would manage the timing, or those who didn't as well.
Well, all of the small accomplishments piling up, where does that leave me with the scale? 206.0, down 3.6 pounds since last week. Making steady progress in the direction I want to be going for now. Finally nearing the end of my period of weight loss, and getting to a point where all I have left to do is manage my body fat. See you all next week.
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Weekly Weigh-in (Week 47)
Sunday yet again and time for another installment of the weekly weigh-in.
Been an interesting week this week. Running has been going rewardingly, starting in on the 9th week of the plan tomorrow, and I feel great for it. Been eating decently, when I've even felt like eating. Hoping to keep up the momentum I've had through the remainder of the year, but with Christmas and New Years both ahead, we'll have to see how things play out.
Today I am going to talk about another of the wonderful tools I use to make my life easier on the path to the new better me. Runkeeper is a free app for the iPhone that I have come to love since I started running. It uses the GPS on the phone to track your location while you run, and then uploads it to the Runkeeper website. They recommend against keeping your phone in your pocket while you run as it might interfere with the GPS readings, but I have found that if it does, it doesn't interfere to a degree that I have taken issue with, so it's not something I worry about.
I just fire up my music, more on that next week, start up the GPS tracking in Runkeeper, lock the phone, and then go on my run. When I get home I unlock the phone, tell it I'm done with my run, enter any notes, and then stop my music. It's as simple as that. It then uploads the information for my route, distance, and pacing to the website where I can access it later. Since my running right now is training for a 5K, I have it track my distance in kilometers, and because I prefer it that way I have it display not only my distance but also my pace. I don't pay any attention to the app while I'm out for my run, so I don't actually know what features it has while it's tracking an activity, but after the fact it gives you access to a map of your route, and a graph of your pace or speed each minute throughout the activity. It also displays overall pace, total distance, and calories burned based on what type of activity you told it you were launching when you started your tracking. It keeps all of the activities you've tracked using the app locally, and they are working on 2-way syncing for upcoming updates so that should allow tracking of activities using the phone for things you entered into the web interface manually.
That brings me to the website. Each activity is uploaded automatically to the website, which tracks your distance over time, the number of activities per month, and various other stats. You can enter things manually instead of through the GPS, or edit a GPS run. I don't yet have a heartrate monitor but if you do you can upload either an average heart rate for the entire activity, or a graph of heart rate over time provided by certain Polar heart rate monitors. The stats guy in me loves this website, because it has so many things for me to look over and play with. The runner in me loves it simply because it tracks what I do, and gives me feedback on how I've improved since the last time I was out. Either way, I enjoy the app and the website very much. Both have paid versions, I have tried neither at this time but I may try them in the future, if so I'll let you know if I find it to be worth the cost.
So, now that I've talked about some more of what I do when I run, let's see what it has done for me on the scale. 209.6, down 2.8 from last week. That leaves me down 73.5 pounds since I started, which is about 25% of my starting body weight. So far it looks like the momentum is working in my favor, just have to keep it that way.
Been an interesting week this week. Running has been going rewardingly, starting in on the 9th week of the plan tomorrow, and I feel great for it. Been eating decently, when I've even felt like eating. Hoping to keep up the momentum I've had through the remainder of the year, but with Christmas and New Years both ahead, we'll have to see how things play out.
Today I am going to talk about another of the wonderful tools I use to make my life easier on the path to the new better me. Runkeeper is a free app for the iPhone that I have come to love since I started running. It uses the GPS on the phone to track your location while you run, and then uploads it to the Runkeeper website. They recommend against keeping your phone in your pocket while you run as it might interfere with the GPS readings, but I have found that if it does, it doesn't interfere to a degree that I have taken issue with, so it's not something I worry about.
I just fire up my music, more on that next week, start up the GPS tracking in Runkeeper, lock the phone, and then go on my run. When I get home I unlock the phone, tell it I'm done with my run, enter any notes, and then stop my music. It's as simple as that. It then uploads the information for my route, distance, and pacing to the website where I can access it later. Since my running right now is training for a 5K, I have it track my distance in kilometers, and because I prefer it that way I have it display not only my distance but also my pace. I don't pay any attention to the app while I'm out for my run, so I don't actually know what features it has while it's tracking an activity, but after the fact it gives you access to a map of your route, and a graph of your pace or speed each minute throughout the activity. It also displays overall pace, total distance, and calories burned based on what type of activity you told it you were launching when you started your tracking. It keeps all of the activities you've tracked using the app locally, and they are working on 2-way syncing for upcoming updates so that should allow tracking of activities using the phone for things you entered into the web interface manually.
That brings me to the website. Each activity is uploaded automatically to the website, which tracks your distance over time, the number of activities per month, and various other stats. You can enter things manually instead of through the GPS, or edit a GPS run. I don't yet have a heartrate monitor but if you do you can upload either an average heart rate for the entire activity, or a graph of heart rate over time provided by certain Polar heart rate monitors. The stats guy in me loves this website, because it has so many things for me to look over and play with. The runner in me loves it simply because it tracks what I do, and gives me feedback on how I've improved since the last time I was out. Either way, I enjoy the app and the website very much. Both have paid versions, I have tried neither at this time but I may try them in the future, if so I'll let you know if I find it to be worth the cost.
So, now that I've talked about some more of what I do when I run, let's see what it has done for me on the scale. 209.6, down 2.8 from last week. That leaves me down 73.5 pounds since I started, which is about 25% of my starting body weight. So far it looks like the momentum is working in my favor, just have to keep it that way.
Sunday, December 5, 2010
Weekly Weigh-in (Week 46)
Sunday yet again and time for another installment of the weekly weigh-in.
This week has been a rather interesting week for me. Schedule got thrown into some disorder due to Lara's work schedule changing. Didn't get in the way of my food intake at all, but it's caused some adjustments in my sleep schedule and also my running to a degree. All told it was a good week.
Now, I think it's about time I actually spent a little time talking about my running. This week was week 7 out of 9 of the training program I've been doing. It's called the Couch to 5K running plan. It can be found here. It uses intervals to help you increase the duration for which you can run as opposed to walk. I know when I started I couldn't keep up a run for anywhere near as long as I can today. In the 7 weeks I've been using this plan my up intervals have gone from 1 minute to 25 minutes, and in the next two weeks to 30 minutes.
Intervals have always made sense to me as a workout strategy, and I can say with certainty that it works for increasing your capacity at least, though I can't speak at this time for it's calorie burning properties, the running seems to have done a decent job of that. Look in the next few weeks to see updates on where I am planning on going in my fitness efforts, plus at least one more app review and some thoughts on footwear. For now, suffice to say the Ct5K plan is one I recommend to anyone interested in running for fun, exercise, or competition.
So what does the scale have to say about my weight this week? 212.4 down 2.6 from last week. That pushes me over the 70 pound mark since I started this in January. Almost all of that was during a time I was doing nothing different despite eating less than I was when I started. I'm steadily approaching my initial goal for the one year mark, and it looks like I should be able to make it in the 6 weeks I have remaining. I'll be back next week with further updates, and more insight into my practices and future plans. Until next week.
This week has been a rather interesting week for me. Schedule got thrown into some disorder due to Lara's work schedule changing. Didn't get in the way of my food intake at all, but it's caused some adjustments in my sleep schedule and also my running to a degree. All told it was a good week.
Now, I think it's about time I actually spent a little time talking about my running. This week was week 7 out of 9 of the training program I've been doing. It's called the Couch to 5K running plan. It can be found here. It uses intervals to help you increase the duration for which you can run as opposed to walk. I know when I started I couldn't keep up a run for anywhere near as long as I can today. In the 7 weeks I've been using this plan my up intervals have gone from 1 minute to 25 minutes, and in the next two weeks to 30 minutes.
Intervals have always made sense to me as a workout strategy, and I can say with certainty that it works for increasing your capacity at least, though I can't speak at this time for it's calorie burning properties, the running seems to have done a decent job of that. Look in the next few weeks to see updates on where I am planning on going in my fitness efforts, plus at least one more app review and some thoughts on footwear. For now, suffice to say the Ct5K plan is one I recommend to anyone interested in running for fun, exercise, or competition.
So what does the scale have to say about my weight this week? 212.4 down 2.6 from last week. That pushes me over the 70 pound mark since I started this in January. Almost all of that was during a time I was doing nothing different despite eating less than I was when I started. I'm steadily approaching my initial goal for the one year mark, and it looks like I should be able to make it in the 6 weeks I have remaining. I'll be back next week with further updates, and more insight into my practices and future plans. Until next week.
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