sliding

Weight: 155.9
Yesterday Cardio: 1000 Calories
Yesterday Food: 1190 Calories

last night was very strange. I went to the gym and worked out for a long time, and did good on my diet, but yet I gained a half pound. My guess is that I may have been slightly dehydrated earlier in the week which is why my weight was so low, but it is very discouraging to do everything right and still gain weight.

I am having a bad eating day. I went to bed last night extremely hungry and wanted to wake up and make an egg sandwich. Well it was a huge letdown. It wasn't very good and definitely did not hit the spot. I am already 1000 in on the day, so most likely my dinner is going to have to be very small to stick to around 1300 calories.

Autopilot

Weight: 155.4
Yesterday Cardio: 700 Calories
Yesterday Food: 1140 Calories

I am starting to feel like I am on autopilot now. I went to the gym last night and wanted to stay and extra half hour, but I was just so tired after I burned the first 700 calories, hopefully I can burn 1000 tonight. I am not sure if I want to start eating the bigger breakfast since I will get the majority of my calories early in the day, I will have more time to burn them throughout the day. As far as I can tell, hitting the gym at night AND limiting calorie intake seems like a winning formula.

I definitely think my stomach has gotten smaller, I am less hungry now and just eating smaller meals. In the future, if I can just start every meal out with a salad, it should be no problem sticking to this diet for the rest of my life. My plan is to do the diet Monday, Wednesday and Friday and eat whatever I want Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday. I am hoping that if I mix that with some moderate exercise, I should be able to maintain any weight possible.

My target weight all along was 155 lbs but I am definitely not satisfied. I am not sure how much muscle mass I lost, but I think I am around 11% body fat and I want to be closer to 8. I think I will have to drop into the 145ish range and then work on building muscle in the future. I actually don't want to build a lot of muscle, but it would be cool to be really strong but not over muscular. That is phase two starting in march. Diet but add some lifting along with the cardio.

I said no cheese

Weight: 157.1
Yesterday Cardio: 0 Calories
Yesterday Food: 1060 Calories

Well I didn't eat very much yesterday because I had some broccoli salad for lunch and it made my stomach hurt all day. I even skipped the gym last night, even though I could have gone for an hour. I have been going 6 days a week, so last night was a good night to take off since it was so cold.

This morning for breakfast I had a omlette. It is very hard to calculate the calories so I just aimed high. it had tomatoes, green onions, white onions, red bell peppers, ham and mushrooms. I told the guy no cheese and he added it anyway. It was 3 handfuls of cheese there so I am estimating the thing at 600 calories. The good news is that it was very large and filling and will probably be my breakfast and lunch because I don't see myself eating again in an hour or so. I will probably snack a bit around 2 or so.

So the diet is going good, but I really need to pick up the cardio. It was 2 degrees below zero this morning and it is really hard to want to go to the gym when it is that cold, but I need to get rid of at least 1000 calories tonight, so I can hit my goal of 155 pounds for the super bowl this weekend. I am rooting for the Cardinals by the way.

eating machine

Weight: 158.0
Yesterday Cardio: 1000 Calories
Yesterday Food: ???????

well I managed to weigh exactly 158 for 3 straight days. I was very surprised this morning because I ate a lot of food yesterday but I think I really needed it. I was able to go to the gym both Sat and Sun nights so that also helped a lot. I am thinking with some good dieting, I should be able to hit the 155-156 range by this weekend, which should be helpful with superbowl sunday coming up. I am having some pretty bad cravings now, so I may just blow off the diet completely and eat nachos, which I am really craving for some reason add a couple of beers and it can wreck a diet easy. I'll have to work extra hard to be able to take the day off and will probably include a 2 hour workout the morning of the super bowl.

The night workout is great so far, but I definitely prefer the morning and will go back to a morning workout once this contest is complete.

Success

Weight: 159.6
Yesterday Cardio: 1000 Calories
Yesterday Food: 1100 Calories

well my plan worked and I am back on my way to 158 by the weekend. I was able to do a two mile run and then 75 minutes of cardio after that. I don't know if I will get burnt out with these longs workouts, but I am going to do it for at least the next two weeks. I went home last night and ate some more chicken pasta, and then about a cup and a half of frozen green beans. For some reason I was really full after that meal, but it was only about 300 calories. I also ate about 3 cups of lettuce, so I know I am doing reasonably well with getting my fruit and veggie servings.

I bought a lot of fruit lately and am regretting that decision. I never realized how much sugar is in fruit until I started looking at the calories. Here is some of the common fruit I eat and the calories in each.

1 cup apples (65 calories)
1 cup oranges (85 calories)
1 cup cherries (74 calories)
1 cup grapes (104 calories)
1 cup grapefruit (74 calories)
1 cup pineapple (74 calories)
1 cup cantaloupe (53 calories)

now most of those calories aren't bad until you look at the sugar content:

1 cup apples (13 grams)
1 cup oranges (16.8 grams)
1 cup cherries (18.6 grams)
1 cup grapes (23.4 grams)
1 cup grapefruit (16.1 grams)
1 cup pineapple (14.4 grams)
1 cup cantaloupe (12.3 grams)


so what is my conclusion? if you want to lose weight, double the servings of veggies that you eat and keep fruit to a maximum of two to three servings per day. Even better would be to stagger the three servings throughout the day and use it as a snack or energy boost. I would start the day with a cup of fruit. Have another cup about two hours after lunch and then more about two hours before dinner. Here is what your body does with the fructose(sugars in fruit)

Our bodies can only absorb monosaccharides (glucose, galactose, or fructose), the single units of sugars and starches. Once absorbed through the small intestines into the portal vein, and then circulated into the bloodstream through the liver as blood glucose, our bodies can put glucose to work in three ways.

The Three Ways Our Bodies Put Glucose To Work:

• It can burn the glucose immediately for energy if blood glucose levels are not at a stable level of 20 grams blood borne glucose circulating per hour.
• If it is not needed for energy immediately, then it is converted into glycogen in the liver or muscles. The liver has the capacity to store 100 grams of glycogen. The muscles have the capacity to store between 250-400 grams of glycogen, depending on muscle mass and physical condition. Liver glycogen supplies energy for the entire body. Muscle glycogen only supplies energy to muscles.
• If the body has an excess of glucose, and all of the glycogen stores are full, the surplus glucose is converted to fat by the liver and stored as adipose tissue (bodyfat) around the body. If needed, fatty acids can be burned as fuel (BUT the fat cannot be converted back to glucose).

So as you can see, you want to limit the portions so you body either uses it immediately or stores it in your liver

changes

Weight: 160.6
Yesterday Cardio: 600 Calories
Yesterday Food: 1714 Calories

I am so disappointed in myself. I came home from work and weighed 160.1 and was up to 164 by the time I went to sleep. I ate 4 pounds of food and water for dinner and consumed over 900 calories for dinner. this is what I ate:

lettuce
endamame salad
grapefruit
chicken pasta
hummus with crackers
1 cup grapes
1 cup cherries

I just kept eating last night. For the next two weeks or so, I am going to go in the gym during the evenings. Instead of sitting at home doing nothing and eating, I'll be at the gym, so hopefully this will reduce the amount of food that I am eating. I need to get to 158 by the end of the weekend to stay on track. Plus I can do a little extra cardio at nights and get closer to 1000 calories burned per day.

barrier

Weight: 160.6
Yesterday Cardio: 600 Calories
Yesterday Food: 1480 Calories

for some reason I can't get under the 160 lb barrier. I thought I would do it this morning, but I was 1/2 pound short. I need to cut my eating a bit as I am getting about 200 or 300 to many calories to cut weight and am at a slight weight loss mode right now. I found some really good diet foods to eat that are very filling and very low calorie:

cucumbers: 16 calories per cup
mushrooms: 21 calories per cup
tomatoes: 31 calories per cup
carrots: 52 calories per cup
celery: 20 calories per cup

Now none of these food are really high in minerals, but they are great to add to any meal to fill you up so you can reduce the calories that you eat. I am going to try and add at least one of these to every lunch and dinner that I eat.

going backwards

Weight: 161.5
Yesterday Cardio: 220 Calories
Yesterday Food: 1391 Calories

well for the first time in the past 2 weeks my weight has gone up. Now this should be a cause for alarm because I knew this was going to happen eventually, but I still wasn't happy. I went for a run yesterday evening. I only did two miles, but it was good to be outside exercising for a change instead of inside in the gym. I have also varied my gym routine and added the stair stepper and incline treadmill to the mix.

My calories are starting to creep up so I am going to have to be mindful and keep the intake low. I brought a lot of veggies to work with me today and that will be the majority of my food this week. I need to end this week under 160 lbs or else my goal will be in major jeopardy.

rough weekend

Weight: 160.9


I am not adding any calories or cardio info because I don't count calories over the weekend. Lets just say I ate a lot of food over the weekend, but I did a decent amount of exercising as well, so as long as I don't gain more than a pound over the weekend, then I am okay with it.

So far everything is on track. I really wanted to be 160 even this morning so I can focus on 2 pounds per week. I have 8 weeks left, so I am looking at something like 16 pounds total, but I am guessing that as I get closer to 150, it will be really hard to lose any weight. I am planning on going for a run today for my cardio.

1.6 ounces

Weight: 162.5
Yesterday Cardio: 600 Calories
Yesterday Food: 1421 Calories

I new the day would come where I would stop losing weight easily and it would be a much slower, steady loss. I was hoping to get to 160 by Friday, but that is obviously not going to happen. My goal from here until the weigh in, is to lose 2 pounds per week. It sounds easy, but it gets harder the closer you get to your ideal weight.

I talked to someone yesterday about weight loss and they said new fat is easier to lose than old fat. What they are saying is say you usually weight 160 pounds and then balloon up to 170. Well the first 10 are easy to lose, but the second 10 might be hard, because you have carried that weight on you for a long time. I did a lot of research and found this to be totally untrue. What I did find is the fat cell don't disappear, they just shrink. They are like balloons, you let all the air out, but they are just waiting to be blown up again. I am hoping to maintain a lower weight if I can since my metabolism is starting to slow down.

Yesterday, I ate quite a few calories and I almost regretted it. I am going to try and keep it down to 1200 a day, which will put me in a deficiency and cause my body to burn fat to stay alive. That should give me a 1 pounds loss per week. The second pound I plan to lose via exercise. I read that a person loses a pound by burning 3500 calories, I figure if I have a 3500 calories shortage and burn 3500 calories via exercise (only 500 per day), then it will be pretty easy to lose the weight.

habit

Weight: 162.6
Yesterday Cardio: 600 Calories
Yesterday Food: 1256 Calories

Well I think I am finally getting to the habit stage of my routine. I am probably only going to keep burning the 600 calories each morning, but try to triple that every weekend with a super long workout. My goal is to get to 160 pounds by the weekend so I can lax and go into maintenance mode for a few days, where I can eat a bit more as long as I exercise so I can keep steady instead of dropping weight. I am starting to get used to eating smaller portions and I really think that my stomach has shrunk quite a bit. I need to work on eating slowly so I will feel full much faster.

Last night Jen and I went to the grocery store and spent 63 dollars. This might not seem like a large amount, but we spent around $12 on meat, which is the majority of most purchases. I think it is crazy that we bought $50 of fruits and veggies, but hopefully it will last at least a week or so. I am planning on making some brown rice and beans this weekend and just doing small portions because I don't want my body to start storing any fat.

back to the grind

Weight: 163.8
Yesterday Cardio: 0 Calories
Yesterday Food: 1230 Calories

Well back from my vacation and I really blew my diet, but it didn't set me back that far. I didn't count any calories or hold back that much, but we did cut back on the amount of desert we usually eat. I had a lot of pasta and some beers so I know that neither of those helped in any way. I weighed 165 yesterday morning, so it didn't take me that long to get back to my routine.

We actually worked out twice for 45 minutes each time in Boston. This is the first time I have ever worked out when on a vacation, but it is much less than I intended to work out. I really didn't want to work out the last day, but since I hauled gym shoes, shorts and shirts to work out in, it actually motivated me to go. The gym was not too bad there and have quite a bit of equipment, but I generally just focused on doing cardio.

So as far as I can tell I am winning the weight loss competition. I have lost 5.7% of my body weight and the next closest person is only at 4.5%. I am banking on the fact that most people won't be able to do this for the full 10 weeks and will be happy when they lose 10% of their body weight and move on the maintenance.

I didn't go to the gym yesterday because I was so tired from traveling. We left Boston around 6:30 EST and didn't land in colorado until 1:30 AM EST, so it was a very long trip back. We had a one hour layover through New York City and where very excited to go because they opened a new Jet Blue terminal at JFK. The terminal had a restaurant called Pommes Frittes, which is a place that sells great french fries in the village in manhattan. Well we got to the airport and the place had the same name but not the same fries so that was a big disappointment and a huge waste of calories.

burning fat

Since I had some trouble sleeping last night I did a little research and found this out:

burning fat results in the production of substances called ketones as your body enters a state called ketosis. This can result in bad breath, tiredness, weakness, dizziness, insomnia and nausea.


notice the insomnia there. I can say that I don't think I have had bad breath, but have been tired, weak and had some insomnia

on track

Weight: 165.4
Yesterday Cardio: 950 Calories
Yesterday Food: 1216 Calories

I did an hour at the gym in the morning, then went down to the work gym and rode the bike for an hour while reading my book. My legs got really tired during my bike ride, but I finished the hour. The gym is in the basement and I work on the fourth floor. I usually take the stairs whenever I can. I almost had to stop on the third floor my heart was pounding so hard. I walk 4 flights in the morning, but whenever I do it after riding the bike my legs feel like they weigh a ton each.

So I was pleased to drop another pound as I was expecting the weight loss to slow down considerably. I am skipping the gym completely today. I woke up at 3 and could not fall asleep again until around 4:30. I was way to exhausted from the week of exercise and dieting to hit the gym all day. I am planning on having a double long workout tomorrow. Our flight is at one, so my plan is to hit the gym from 7:30 to 9:30 and then run some errands and pack.

Here is a protein shake I made last night that was awesome, but I will probably never make again, here are the ingredients in case anyone wants to try it:

12 oz light vanilla soy milk
1 cup frozen cherries
2 scoops chocolate EAS protein powder
1 medium banana

just blend and serve. I just looked at the carb content and it is very high, I would skip this in the future and probably make some fresh fruit smoothie instead.

headache

Weight: 166.5
Yesterday Cardio: 1100 Calories
Yesterday Food: 1341 Calories

I had a headache for most of the afternoon yesterday. I think that is very strange because I rarely get headaches. I tallied up my calories from yesterday and found something interesting...

for lunch and breakfast I had 431 calories. My breakfast was 2 grapefruit and my lunch was a cup of broccoli and a cup of chicken. For dinner I consumed 910 calories, 550 came from a meatball and 3/4 of a piece of sausage. I can see why dieters eat more chicken. If you bake chicken it has around 47 calories per ounce, 80% lean ground beef has 70 calories per ounce. I wasn't exactly sure what fat% of ground beef I ate yesterday, but I calculated out my calories assuming it was 80%. I would rather err on the high side of calories and low side of exercise calories.

I feel like I am getting to the hard part of my diet where you spend a lot of work and get very few results. I am still hoping to be under 165 before I get on the plane on friday and under 167 the morning that I get back. That would not set me back to far.

I went to the gym yesterday morning for an hour and again yesterday night and I don't want to do that again. I feel like I am spending my life in the gym and really dreading going there this morning. I am definitely going to take tonight off so I can go the next two mornings and feel eager to do so.

I am going to try a new lunch tomorrow instead of the chicken and broccoli. I am going to get sliced turkey fill each slice with lettuce, tomatoes and cucumbers. each one should be around 50 calories and should be quite filling and hit the spot. I'll shoot for around 4 or so. I post back and let everyone know how it tastes.

diet is already working

Weight: 167.9
Yesterday Cardio: 950 Calories
Yesterday Food: 936 Calories

I usually weigh between 160 and 165 pounds, but I was able to get up to 173 pounds for my weigh in by drinking a ton of water. By this morning I was back down to 167 pounds so most of that left fairly quickly. I was planning on hitting the gym last night, but Jen didn't want to go so I just stayed home.

So far the diet is no too bad. I am a little hungry and have some cravings, but I am determined to win. The grand prize is $540, so there is quite a bit of determination to win. That will buy a lot of wings, beer and pizza when I am done with this thing. I am hoping to be down to 163 by the time I hit Boston. I was able to get a hotel with a gym, so Jen and I will be working out to offset the huge amounts of pasta that I am going to be eating.

I went to the gym this morning and did 50 minutes of cardio and I am planning on doing an hour on the bike during lunch and then hit the gym again after dinner to do some more cardio and lift some weights. I am going to try and keep the weight high rep/low weight in order to maintain my muscle mass.

Today is the weigh in

I am hoping to put on about 3 to 4 pounds of water and food weight before the weigh in. I ate like a machine all weekend and hopefully filled every craving that I have. I actually ate so much last night that I thought I might be sick, but I was able to hold it together.

I started logging my food intake as well as my cardio output. I went to costco over the weekend and got a three pound bag of broccoli. I am probably going to eat that until I get sick. I ate three oranges for breakfast, which is more than I would ususally do since I am trying to pack on some cheap weight will eat a cup of broccoli and a cup of chicken for lunch and not sure on the dinner yet. Probably more broccoli and other fruits and veggies.

So far I have burned 600 calories today and will hit the gym one more time today and burn another 600 or so.

Filling the Craving

I am going to miss a lot of foods during the next 10 weeks. I brought some candy that Jen got for Christmas to work and left it on the table so people can eat it. My diet in the coming weeks will consist of fruit for breakfast, baked chicken breast with veggies for lunch and dinner. I am going to try and do as many raw foods as possible because they make you feel much fuller since they have more water in them, plus you get tired of unseasoned food and you tend to eat less.

My plan is to try and eat around 1200 calories per day and burn 1000 to 1500 calories per day in cardio alone. Hopefully I will burn closer to 2000 calories and this will make my body burn any stored fat. I'll post my weight every day if possible as well as my total calories burned and calories consumed. Why do I want to limit my calorie intake? To shrink my stomach (or trick my body into thinking I am fuller on smaller meals). It usually takes me around two weeks to accomplish this.

My goal is to not eat any sugar (except in fruits) and limit the amount of carbohydrates. Sugars and Carbohydrates raise the glucose level in the body. The body must in turn make more insulin to balance out the rising glucose levels. Insulin inhibits the production of fat-burning enzymes, preventing your body's fat cells from releasing their fat. It forces your body to use the glucose first before burning fat. This stops your body from burning your stored fat and makes it impossible for you to lose the weight you have put on.

I have been doing a good cardio routine the past few weeks so it won't be hard to achieve my cardio goals, so all I will really be changing is my diet, which should make it easy to lose the weight.

5 days until weigh in

So my work is hosting a biggest loser contest that I have decided to participate in. I am a very competitive person and will do almost anything to win, especially since there is cash involved.

The contest runs from January 5th to March 16th. My goal is to drop 21 pounds, which is 2 pounds per week. I did something similar last year and dropped 10 pounds so I am going to have to work twice as hard. I am going to do a little cheating as I want to pack on about 5 pounds or so before my initial weigh-in just to make it a little easier. I went to a New Years Eve party last night and pigged out, so I am off to a good start right now.

My plan for the coming weeks is to do two hours of cardio per day and have a very strict diet. The diet will be a modified atkins diet with the lone card exception to be brown rice and very limited quantities. I will be logging the cardio minutes I do as well as the food I am eating in case this proves to be very successful. The two biggest setbacks I see will be keeping negative foods out of the house to avoid temptation and a trip to Boston I have planned the first week that the contest starts. I always eat a lot of Italian food there as well as down a few beers and neither is good for any kind of diet.