So here we are Good Foods Phase III. We have talked about
Phase I. Water
Phase II. The Food
And here we go.
Phase III. The Calories
Now as I have said I am not a nutritionist. I am working on being certified as a Personal Trainer. This is going to be a difficult chapter because this will really fluctuate from person to person.
To be able to burn the right amount of calories and take those in we will to know some information. We will need to know what our RMR or Resting Metabolic Rate. RMR is the amount of energy expended while at rest. It can decreases with age and with the loss of lean body mass. Increased muscle mass and cardiovascular exercise can increase RMR. Illness, previously consumed food and beverages, environmental temperature, and stress levels can affect one's overall energy expenditure.
Let’s go back to the car and fuel analogy. When you cut calories BELOW your RMR, your body fights back. Restricting calories below your RMR is like asking your car's engine to run on too little gas. If your car is sitting in the driveway with the engine on, it is burning gas as it sits there. If you put the car in drive and step on the gas, it burns gas at a faster rate. What happens if you cut off the supply of gas to your engine? It sputters and eventually stalls. The same is true for your metabolism. We touched on this a little last time about cutting to much food, many people restrict their caloric intake too severely when trying to shed unwanted fat pounds. This causes an adverse affect, the metabolism slows down and the body goes into energy conservation mode, also known as starvation mode. . This is why we so often see individuals not losing fat weight while they are consuming a low calorie diet. The price of following this type of regimen is eventual weight gain in is often the case more weight than when you started the diet.
So why is this all important? So if we know what are resting rate is then we can figure out what our Caloric Burn is and then we can adjust our calories accordingly. So how do we find this out.
This little calculation should help:
RMR = 9.99(WEIGHT in Kilograms) +6.25(HEIGHT in centimeters) - 4.92(AGE in years) + 166(GENDER)-161
Weight in Kilograms-Take your WEIGHT in pounds and divide it by 2.2 to get your weight in kilograms.
Height In Centimeters- Measure your height in inches. Once you have your height in inches, multiply that number by 2.54.
Age in Years-Exactly what it says.
Gender- Add a number for your gender into the GENDER. If you are a FEMALE, you will enter a 0, if you are a MALE, you will enter a 1.
Then we do the calculations. We would multiply those in Parentheses against their numbers first. So in this equation RMR = 9.99(79.545) + 6.25(182.88) - 4.92(28) + 166(1)-161. We would first multiply 9.99 x 79.545. We would then go to the next number and do all those till we are ready at the end to do basic addition and subtraction.
You will then have a basic number for your RMR. Why is this important? Your RMR is generally 60-75% of your total daily caloric expenditure; rest of this should be burned through physical exertion. This number is now your baseline and whether you want to gain weight, maintain or lose weight; this is your base and you can modify it to help achieve those results!
Calorie wise we then have an idea on what we should be eating to lose weight. But how can we be sure were doing it all right. I would suggest for a while to keep a calories Diary. Everyday right down exactly what you ate. Every calorie. Anything that touches your mouth! Then you can get an idea of how things are going and were you might be struggling. Another good idea if you can afford it is some sort of Body Calorie Expenditure device. Bodybug© or Exespy© are two great systems that you wear on you and it gives you a daily number of expended calories. Then you know what you need to be taking in to drop the weight!
Another thing I definitely suggest is the getting a Metabolic Test done! This is a pretty accurate break down of your metabolism. The calculation I gave you earlier is close but its not going to be exact! A Metabolic Test can help you hit that target for sure! When It comes to food remember that we can EAT ourselves out of ANY workout we do! This is a great mindset to get ourselves into! When we go to eat and buy food look at that and say is this going to make the workout I do this week useless! FOOD IS FUEL!
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Food For Thought-Bad Habits!
So Phase III takes a little longer to put together so I will put some thoughts up. This last week I realized that even though I thought I broke some bad habits they crept up and I saw them finally for what they were. Especially around the holidays its even worse. We were out shopping and kept seeing lots of fudge and candy and bad food choices on sale and I kept saying hey we should get that! That looks great! Where the hell did that come from lol. So I did some deep looking in myself and a look back. This isn’t just me that is the issue. Thought don’t doubt for one second that I haven’t taken accountability for all my actions! The Stores need to be held accountable for the options and selling that they do to us. Why don’t I see apples and bananas in the front isles greeting me, why candy. What they don’t think about is the fact that if we keep eating this way we will die early and then they won’t have anyone to buy there crap! But that doesn’t click in their brains. So its up to use to simply make the concision choices an say “NO”. Now that I have shed light on this issue I can work on replacing the bad habit with a better choice. Think about that this week when you going shopping with all the Christmas sales. Food for thought!
Monday, December 28, 2009
Good Food: Phase II. The Food
Keep in mind I’m not a Nutritionist, I am your average Joe. This stuff is so simple though and not complex that who needs a nutritionist to tell you these fundamentals!
In my last blog we started out with the beginning of the Good Food Phases
Phase I. Water
Next is the hard stuff. Good Food
Phase II. The Food
So were drinking all this good water and we probably have lost a little weight already but now the food stuff. The stuff we’re truly dreading! Really we shouldn’t though. This is all about eating healthy and eating right. The problem seems to be as a culture we take all this beautiful bountiful food and ruin it by deep frying it, covering it with ketchup etc. We really don’t need it and its adding tons of extra salt, sodium and calories. The idea is simple. Great food equal great fuel!
1. Fast Food- I can’t take credit for this quote but my trainer Michelle Evans got it stuck into my head and its great “If it has a drive thru….DRIVE BY!” Makes complete sense right. The only exception to this rule is Subway. The idea being that any restaurant with a drive-thru isn’t going to provide healthy food for you! Think of all the drive-thru’s you know. Which ones offer you that low call fat free meal not deep fried or off a greasy grill? Even those that offer salads are horrible. Though that’s a better solution than the cheeseburger their dressings are fat free usually and all the stuff on top are just as bad, tons of cheese etc. Just avoid it.
2. What’s In There- Another great habit I got into is that if I didn’t cook it, I didn’t eat it! This was great for me in the beginning. Early on in all this there is either going to be success or failure! Until all of it gets engrained into you its just easier to avoid the temptations for now. KNOW WHAT’S IN YOUR FOOD! Basic isn’t it. If you cook it you know exactly what you put in it. If you go to a restaurant or fast food then your guess is as good as mine!
3. Food As Fuel- We talked about the importance of fueling your body with the right gas. But why? Most people think, ok I’ll just cut back on my calories, maybe workout and boom I’ll lose weight and be fine! If it was that simple then we wouldn’t have tons of these magic pills, and magic diets! It is simple but we have to break some bad habits we have gotten into. Once we get into the exercise Sections you will begin to see that we are doing so much great exercise we need more fuel. The idea is that we are building muscle and losing fat. Muscle burns calories 21 times more efficiently then fat does and to make sure we have enough energy to build these muscles we need good food! Carbohydrates as much as they have been represented as the evil of weight over the years it just not sensible! How can you live a healthy LIFESTYLE on a low carb diet! You could never run a long race or do anything exerting a lot of energy for a good period of time. Now that said there are 2 types of Carbs, Complex Carbs and Simple Carbs. The names give them away. Complex Carbohydrates are basically those in wholegrain form such as wholegrain breads, oats, muesli, brown rice and most vegetables. Complex carbs are broken down into glucose more slowly than Simple Carbohydrate and thus provide a gradual steady stream of energy throughout the day. The problem with Most Complex Carbs is that they are so high in starch that its very hard to lose weight! Switching to things like Whole Wheat Pasta and getting most of your carbs from Vegetables (except Corn and Potatoes). Simple Carbohydrates which are found in fruits and dairy products are more easily digested by the body. They are also often found in processed, refined foods such as white sugar, pastas, and white bread. Because they break down more easily they don’t provide very effective energy sources for the body. Food For Fuel!
4. Great Foods- So we know now what we’re talking about carb wise but what about the other stuff. We will need to get more protein for muscle growth which will talk about next. We need to be sure we are eating less fatty foods. Also a lot of this is learning again what a good food is. Learning to read labels is a huge deal! Looks at what you are buying label wise. What are the calories per serving and the serving sizes as well at calories of fat etc. Soon I will be posting some great new recipes that I have lived by and they are not only easy to make but great tasting. We will talk in the next Phase about calories.
5. What’s This Thing Called Protein- Protein is going to be essential when building all this muscle. Increase protein does 2 great things for us. 1. There is tons of research to show that an intake of Protein before and after a workout helps in muscle grow and recovery of the stressed muscles happens much faster than without! And since were in the business of building muscle verse fat that’s awesome. 2. It also helps to curb our appetite. I truly didn’t believe this till I had cut my protein shakes out and was forced to start cutting back on my servings. I started back on my protein shakes and bam I noticed a dramatic loss of craving and hunger after I drank it!
Another great way of getting protein is Ground Turkey. Though I am against almost all processed meat this is one that gets the A+. Though the sodium levels can be kind of high you get some much protein out it verses ground beef (which is linked to colon cancer) you would be foolish to not eat it. It is extremely versatile.
So now we are drinking tons of water and have a great idea on what we should be eating! Think about your meals and how you prepare them. How can adjust this and make it better. Bake more of the foods you eat. Use a 0 calorie Spray Butter. There are tons of ways. Think about it and see how you are doing! Next blog I’ll talk about Calories! YAY!
In my last blog we started out with the beginning of the Good Food Phases
Phase I. Water
Next is the hard stuff. Good Food
Phase II. The Food
So were drinking all this good water and we probably have lost a little weight already but now the food stuff. The stuff we’re truly dreading! Really we shouldn’t though. This is all about eating healthy and eating right. The problem seems to be as a culture we take all this beautiful bountiful food and ruin it by deep frying it, covering it with ketchup etc. We really don’t need it and its adding tons of extra salt, sodium and calories. The idea is simple. Great food equal great fuel!
1. Fast Food- I can’t take credit for this quote but my trainer Michelle Evans got it stuck into my head and its great “If it has a drive thru….DRIVE BY!” Makes complete sense right. The only exception to this rule is Subway. The idea being that any restaurant with a drive-thru isn’t going to provide healthy food for you! Think of all the drive-thru’s you know. Which ones offer you that low call fat free meal not deep fried or off a greasy grill? Even those that offer salads are horrible. Though that’s a better solution than the cheeseburger their dressings are fat free usually and all the stuff on top are just as bad, tons of cheese etc. Just avoid it.
2. What’s In There- Another great habit I got into is that if I didn’t cook it, I didn’t eat it! This was great for me in the beginning. Early on in all this there is either going to be success or failure! Until all of it gets engrained into you its just easier to avoid the temptations for now. KNOW WHAT’S IN YOUR FOOD! Basic isn’t it. If you cook it you know exactly what you put in it. If you go to a restaurant or fast food then your guess is as good as mine!
3. Food As Fuel- We talked about the importance of fueling your body with the right gas. But why? Most people think, ok I’ll just cut back on my calories, maybe workout and boom I’ll lose weight and be fine! If it was that simple then we wouldn’t have tons of these magic pills, and magic diets! It is simple but we have to break some bad habits we have gotten into. Once we get into the exercise Sections you will begin to see that we are doing so much great exercise we need more fuel. The idea is that we are building muscle and losing fat. Muscle burns calories 21 times more efficiently then fat does and to make sure we have enough energy to build these muscles we need good food! Carbohydrates as much as they have been represented as the evil of weight over the years it just not sensible! How can you live a healthy LIFESTYLE on a low carb diet! You could never run a long race or do anything exerting a lot of energy for a good period of time. Now that said there are 2 types of Carbs, Complex Carbs and Simple Carbs. The names give them away. Complex Carbohydrates are basically those in wholegrain form such as wholegrain breads, oats, muesli, brown rice and most vegetables. Complex carbs are broken down into glucose more slowly than Simple Carbohydrate and thus provide a gradual steady stream of energy throughout the day. The problem with Most Complex Carbs is that they are so high in starch that its very hard to lose weight! Switching to things like Whole Wheat Pasta and getting most of your carbs from Vegetables (except Corn and Potatoes). Simple Carbohydrates which are found in fruits and dairy products are more easily digested by the body. They are also often found in processed, refined foods such as white sugar, pastas, and white bread. Because they break down more easily they don’t provide very effective energy sources for the body. Food For Fuel!
4. Great Foods- So we know now what we’re talking about carb wise but what about the other stuff. We will need to get more protein for muscle growth which will talk about next. We need to be sure we are eating less fatty foods. Also a lot of this is learning again what a good food is. Learning to read labels is a huge deal! Looks at what you are buying label wise. What are the calories per serving and the serving sizes as well at calories of fat etc. Soon I will be posting some great new recipes that I have lived by and they are not only easy to make but great tasting. We will talk in the next Phase about calories.
5. What’s This Thing Called Protein- Protein is going to be essential when building all this muscle. Increase protein does 2 great things for us. 1. There is tons of research to show that an intake of Protein before and after a workout helps in muscle grow and recovery of the stressed muscles happens much faster than without! And since were in the business of building muscle verse fat that’s awesome. 2. It also helps to curb our appetite. I truly didn’t believe this till I had cut my protein shakes out and was forced to start cutting back on my servings. I started back on my protein shakes and bam I noticed a dramatic loss of craving and hunger after I drank it!
Another great way of getting protein is Ground Turkey. Though I am against almost all processed meat this is one that gets the A+. Though the sodium levels can be kind of high you get some much protein out it verses ground beef (which is linked to colon cancer) you would be foolish to not eat it. It is extremely versatile.
So now we are drinking tons of water and have a great idea on what we should be eating! Think about your meals and how you prepare them. How can adjust this and make it better. Bake more of the foods you eat. Use a 0 calorie Spray Butter. There are tons of ways. Think about it and see how you are doing! Next blog I’ll talk about Calories! YAY!
Sunday, December 27, 2009
Good Food: Phase I.
So at this point you’re wondering, “What is this The 3 Goods thing.” Well it’s pretty simple. Good Food, Good Exercise and Good Soul. But how do we accomplish this. The first step is Good Food. The food issue is the largest part of the whole overweight thing. If you think about your body in sense of it being a car, the better the gas you put in, the better performance you get out. Same with your body. For your body to be efficient we need good gas! That’s the start of all this. We are teaching out body’s again how to use calories effectively.
Phase I. Water
The country heck the world is a POP chugging nation. We pour tons of this black cancer in our systems a year and think that because It says 0 calories or sugar free it’s ok. Wrong. Most of the calories are gone but ALL if not more of the sodium is replaced. We then get to the point where our bodies are not getting enough water! Out kidneys get the message and starting storing anything that has water in it thinking it’s going to dehydrate. So we fix this by flooding out system with water. A good amount, say about a gallon a day. This does lots of good things. It tells our kidneys that it can stop going into overdrive and stop storing the water “Thanks, but we got plenty now!” You can lose a large portion of weight in the first couple weeks just from this stored water! Then for the body to get the water up to usable temperatures it has to user your metabolism to heat it up. This requires more fuel to be used. Colder water works better for this. Also by filling up with water we fill a litter bit fuller as well when it comes time to eat. Makes sense doesn’t it. So the First stage of the Good Food process is water! Drink it all up and see how that helps this week.Friday, December 25, 2009
The First 7 Weeks With The Trainer
To bring folks up to speed I am going to post what I saved and documented the first 7 or 8 weeks into this journey. At this point I was working with a personal trainer 5 days a week!
Week 1
Ok well I started on the Biggest Looser Training Routine at the YMCA. This will include Watching and controlling my Calorie intake, drinking right now 1 1/2 Gallons of Water a day, and working out 5 days a week with my personal trainer.
Well after day 1 i decided i have to quit smoking. After doing 5 circuits of exercising and feeling like i was going to have an asthma attack i figured this needs to happen anyway. So Smoking is done. 1 1/2 gallons water a day is a lot to drink. i keep a gallon jug around me so i can easily track it. Calories were decided to be no lower than 2600 and no higher than 3000. This is some days actually hard than i thought.
So we started and i have been drenched in sweat every day. i have never been so tired after a workout but she knows what she is doing. Food wise i know portion control is a big issue and i have done extremely well on this. My lungs feel better and i can now make it through a complete workout without a problem. We started to ad cardio stuff and biking. Saturday is going to be ALL CARDIO. I am excited about all of this. This is a huge opportunity for me and i think i have a huge chance to loose a lot of weight! I am being dedicated 110%. i push to failure every day. anyhow. this Monday is first weigh in since the start and i am very excited and nervous to see how we are doing. i will keep posting these every week.
Week 2
Well After our Weigh-in on Monday we found we I gained 4 pounds. This was VERY disheartening!! I am working out 5 days a week with cardio and weights! I am watching and counting my calories closely. I have quit smoking! I am drinking a gallon and 1/2 of water a day. I am pushing to failure every day. I am being dedicated to this. Just don’t know what’s going on though. Then Friday we decided that we would change the weigh in days to Friday. I gained ANOTHER 4 pounds. I have gained 8 pounds and it doesn't make sense. I am eating 100 times better than i ever did. I watch my portion control i count calories and fat i jog, walk, lift, burn and sweat 5 days a week!
Ok. I'll take it and push harder than. I am increasing my vegetable and fruits. Cutting out as much fat out of foods as i can! Cut back on the cheese. Those very upset about the weight i have noticed so much improvement. the no smoking has helped my lungs so much! We went to the track Saturday because i was so nice and walked and jogged around the track about 2 miles i think. We then ran stairs up and down in the bleachers, I think we did 4 or 5 of those. The big issue is my lower back. I strained it one day during working and it made the workout an issue. We will work around that though.
I got some new jogging shoes yesterday and a headband, sweat in my eye's etc. we set an exercise goal. i want to be able to do a 5k. for me that would be AMAZING and i am going to do all i can to reach that goal.
I will be honest here, I am heavy, I am weighing in at 368 now. I watch a special on tv the other day about the 700 pound man. at 31 he was 500lbs. i am 30 and lets be real, not far from that! i cant let that ever happen and will continue on with this full force so that i don’t reach that! I want to shop at regular clothing stores. I want to wear a nice shirt and tie! I can do this!!!!!!!
Week 3
Well finally after much hard work I saw some results. to lay it out the first 2 week i gained 4 pounds each. so total of 8 pounds. finally I weighed in Friday and lost 7 pounds in a week. So almost back to where we started. Seeing that I can lose 7 pounds in a week is awesome. The trick has been the food. We adjusted my food to include so many more vegetables at every meal. it paid off. we also added 2 more days of single cardio besides the normal workouts. I went from barely able to walk 5 min on a treadmill at 3.0 to doing 10 min @ 3.8 up and down inclines bikes, and my favorite the stair machine. i could barely do 35 stairs a min. now I’m doing 75 stair a min for at least a min a time. we are doing pushups sit jumping jacks and the worst of all was the Spinning session Saturday. For those who don’t know Spinning is like an intense Nike ride from hell. the world’s smallest seat. we did 45 min of spinning up and down. standing up and spinning etc. i was about dead by the end. my but hurts soooo much as well.
I did my metabolic test on Friday. we were pretty darn close calorie wise. the cool thing was she said the my heart rate at rest is that of a runners. very low and controlled. I’m getting into the whole running and walking thing more and more! gives me plenty of time to think about things. Also no smoking going on week 4 so that’s a bonus. my breathing is so much better!
So if your following any of this, well I’m doing good i think. i did a blood pressure test and wow I’m am almost normal now! I’m pushing and going to reach my goal! Well its rest day so I need a nap and to soak my feet and butt ohhh so sore lol.
Week 4
Well here we are one week left and i will have been doing this for a month, as well as not smoking for same.
Weigh-in...no loss but no gain. It's been a little discouraging to see no actual dramatic weight loss. But with that said i have notice changes in my body..and no not puberty..jeeze. My waist line as gone down my stomach has gotten a little smaller. my biceps are starting to show more and my chest is getting much better. I have gotten a lot of positive reinforcements and i want to personally thank EVERYONE! this hasn't been easy and I think I’m at one of my first obstacles so time to go over the first hill and get moving. treadmill has gotten too easy. I am no at a 4.0 which is burning my legs more than anything else. My breathing is so much better though. i am at 85 stairs a min on the stair machine. I am doing Jumping Jacks without to much trouble and low and behold push-ups are getting easier! I won’t lie, i am sore and tired like 90% of the time. but I LOVE it! I am working toward a 5k in June! this will be the first 5k i will have ever done let alone thought about! My trainer has had a couple meetings and a training so i was left to complete it myself. I don’t push as hard as when she's in my ear pushing me, but i did better than i thought i could do! She has been doing so much for me and I don’t want to fail her because she puts a lot of effort into this for me, at least i can do the same! so i upped my cardio so roughly I’m at the gym 8 different times a week! that’s a lot, but i need it!
I believe that my calories are what are not letting me loose. I have had trouble meeting my calorie take so i got focused again and time to add spinach to my smoothies as she sugg and i pre-made healthy breakfast burritos that I can just heat and eat on the way to work or gym whatever. It's time for me to take this up a notch and get more focused.
Week 5
Ok well at this point I completely forgot what week I was in lol. Well I did hit sort of a Milestone for me. Couple things happened. 1. No smoking for a Month! This is the longest I have ever gone not smoking. I feel great though and wished I never started. Don’t get me wrong I am around smokers a fair amount of the time…but I hope they see that if I can do it, anyone can do it! 2. I broke 360lbs. Now I have done this before but this time was all diet and exercise. No pills or gimmicks.
I am sooooo tired though this week but I’m recovering faster then I think I did in beginning. I increased my treadmill to 4.0 which is bloody good as Chef Gordon Ramsey would say. Psychologically I am doing great. My mind is clear I can troubleshoot issues that are coming up much easier. The fine line for me here is trying to get my wife involved and not push her away. Hopefully she can see my success and get the same bug bite I have for it all. I noticed my clothes fit better and I am looking better in my face and my shoulders and my stomach. What a great feeling. Now I am not seeing HUGE weight losses but I know the weight will come. I am doing so much more exercise than I ever did before. I hurt a lot lol. Thursday night I sat in my recliner after my workout and had ice on my shoulder and ice on my knee. But really I thought “I FEEL GREAT” I feel alive and I love it.
For me I hate it when I’m doing it and it kills me sometimes but its all good at the end.
Saturday we did more spinning. And honestly it kills me I feel like my quads are going to snap! But its great. I’m not hurting as much afterwards! And I’m close to finishing a full class workout! Who would have thought that! Any how someone told me about a website called transformation.com. Believe its faith based so I will check that out!
Week 6
Ok well I have been a little late on this update. Let’s start with the Weight!! 2 pounds loss again. I’m from 364 to 357. That’s honestly really good! I know this and i try to keep telling myself at least I’m losing weight right! It was hard this week though. more than a month and very small amount of actual weight loss. I am a huge fan of the Biggest loser. I understand that is the OLYMPICS of weight loss. but still would be nice to see maybe one or two double digit losses come up for me.
After all this thought i had to look back at the whole perspective for a bit. When i did i thought...Wow i am doing amazing!
1. Quit smoking- after 15 yrs.cold turkey..BAM
2. Regained my lung strength
3. I’m freaking jogging on the treadmill for my warm-ups
4. I’m doing 90 steps a min on a stair master
5. I'm doing a freaking spinning class with my trainer
6. I’m eating great and never go to FAST FOOD
7. I am addicted to water. that’s all I drink now. Except for a cup of coffee now and then. I look like a little kid with my bottle always by my side!
8. I did a mile of partial walking and jogging by myself no trainer. would have done 2 if it didn't rain
9. Planning and looking for a 5k and going to complete it!
all this stuff...and i am looking so much better and feeling better. Clothes are falling off me...my wedding ring is really loose on me now which isn't a good thing but cool. My wife does the Hug Test which I love. She hugs me and judges how close her hands can lock around me. she can hug me fully now and that’s a nice feeling! anyhow. I am back to being motivated. I upped my jogging speed today to a 4.7 and close to a getting a 5.0 that’s huge since i hated running before and never did it. anyway. Hope some of this stuff helps someone out there. its tough but keep focused!
Week 7
So here I am Week…7? I forget. They all kind of bleed in together now! The weight loss keeps coming but still slow. 2 pounds each week! At least I can say my bodies consistent. So thought I would talk about a couple things about being a large man and exercising. Thighs! Ok when you’re a big guy and you start doing a lot of cardio and jogging you don’t think about the fact that they are rubbing up against each other to your body and that causes pain after a while. The first month or so I had to use Vaseline before each workout on my inner thighs. Cheep but affective. Luckily that all kind of went away after I lost some weight my body got use to it I guess. Food! Food isn’t he enemy as much as what the foods about. Cooking in a vat of grease or heavy oils…not so good. Colorful vegetables great for you. I have gotten my morning protein shake down now. I use one banana, 1 cup of milk, a handful of ice and 1 scoop of vanilla protein mix. Blend It in a blend it well and boom awesome…tasty and about 300 calories for breakfast! I have gotten to where I know what and how to eat and what I need each day so I don’t have to send my foods into my trainer. This is so much easier for me lol. It’s interesting how people DON’T eat well. The dept I work in the bring in so much Donuts and fatty foods. They brought in all this brisket and baked beans and potatoes salad and pop. Then they wonder why they have hypertension, high blood sugar and are tired all the time, as well as being overweight! Luckily I have stuck hard at this! This has to be a life style change and not just a for the time being change like so many people do. I thought the other day…Ok so say I lose weight, get strong and look good. Then what!??? What do I have to do after that! Well I thought maintaining that is all the hardest part. I’m not saying I’ll have a six pack, but I’m sure going to try. Ill stay on this for as long as it takes to get me to shop for regular sized clothes!!!! It feels good to hear folks say “Wow you are thinning down aren’t you” I joke but my pants sometimes fall off…that’s good and bad!
The Other thing I have to think about it the Trainer. Hard to believe but 1 month left in this Biggest Looser thing. Do I decide this is awesome (Which it is!) and pay to keep the training coming, or do I take what I have learned and try to go at it alone and just keep up keeping up? Tough decisions. I can tell you 100% I won’t be able to push as hard as she does! I guess we’ll see how my weight Is closer to the end and decide!
Week 1
Ok well I started on the Biggest Looser Training Routine at the YMCA. This will include Watching and controlling my Calorie intake, drinking right now 1 1/2 Gallons of Water a day, and working out 5 days a week with my personal trainer.
Well after day 1 i decided i have to quit smoking. After doing 5 circuits of exercising and feeling like i was going to have an asthma attack i figured this needs to happen anyway. So Smoking is done. 1 1/2 gallons water a day is a lot to drink. i keep a gallon jug around me so i can easily track it. Calories were decided to be no lower than 2600 and no higher than 3000. This is some days actually hard than i thought.
So we started and i have been drenched in sweat every day. i have never been so tired after a workout but she knows what she is doing. Food wise i know portion control is a big issue and i have done extremely well on this. My lungs feel better and i can now make it through a complete workout without a problem. We started to ad cardio stuff and biking. Saturday is going to be ALL CARDIO. I am excited about all of this. This is a huge opportunity for me and i think i have a huge chance to loose a lot of weight! I am being dedicated 110%. i push to failure every day. anyhow. this Monday is first weigh in since the start and i am very excited and nervous to see how we are doing. i will keep posting these every week.
Week 2
Well After our Weigh-in on Monday we found we I gained 4 pounds. This was VERY disheartening!! I am working out 5 days a week with cardio and weights! I am watching and counting my calories closely. I have quit smoking! I am drinking a gallon and 1/2 of water a day. I am pushing to failure every day. I am being dedicated to this. Just don’t know what’s going on though. Then Friday we decided that we would change the weigh in days to Friday. I gained ANOTHER 4 pounds. I have gained 8 pounds and it doesn't make sense. I am eating 100 times better than i ever did. I watch my portion control i count calories and fat i jog, walk, lift, burn and sweat 5 days a week!
Ok. I'll take it and push harder than. I am increasing my vegetable and fruits. Cutting out as much fat out of foods as i can! Cut back on the cheese. Those very upset about the weight i have noticed so much improvement. the no smoking has helped my lungs so much! We went to the track Saturday because i was so nice and walked and jogged around the track about 2 miles i think. We then ran stairs up and down in the bleachers, I think we did 4 or 5 of those. The big issue is my lower back. I strained it one day during working and it made the workout an issue. We will work around that though.
I got some new jogging shoes yesterday and a headband, sweat in my eye's etc. we set an exercise goal. i want to be able to do a 5k. for me that would be AMAZING and i am going to do all i can to reach that goal.
I will be honest here, I am heavy, I am weighing in at 368 now. I watch a special on tv the other day about the 700 pound man. at 31 he was 500lbs. i am 30 and lets be real, not far from that! i cant let that ever happen and will continue on with this full force so that i don’t reach that! I want to shop at regular clothing stores. I want to wear a nice shirt and tie! I can do this!!!!!!!
Week 3
Well finally after much hard work I saw some results. to lay it out the first 2 week i gained 4 pounds each. so total of 8 pounds. finally I weighed in Friday and lost 7 pounds in a week. So almost back to where we started. Seeing that I can lose 7 pounds in a week is awesome. The trick has been the food. We adjusted my food to include so many more vegetables at every meal. it paid off. we also added 2 more days of single cardio besides the normal workouts. I went from barely able to walk 5 min on a treadmill at 3.0 to doing 10 min @ 3.8 up and down inclines bikes, and my favorite the stair machine. i could barely do 35 stairs a min. now I’m doing 75 stair a min for at least a min a time. we are doing pushups sit jumping jacks and the worst of all was the Spinning session Saturday. For those who don’t know Spinning is like an intense Nike ride from hell. the world’s smallest seat. we did 45 min of spinning up and down. standing up and spinning etc. i was about dead by the end. my but hurts soooo much as well.
I did my metabolic test on Friday. we were pretty darn close calorie wise. the cool thing was she said the my heart rate at rest is that of a runners. very low and controlled. I’m getting into the whole running and walking thing more and more! gives me plenty of time to think about things. Also no smoking going on week 4 so that’s a bonus. my breathing is so much better!
So if your following any of this, well I’m doing good i think. i did a blood pressure test and wow I’m am almost normal now! I’m pushing and going to reach my goal! Well its rest day so I need a nap and to soak my feet and butt ohhh so sore lol.
Week 4
Well here we are one week left and i will have been doing this for a month, as well as not smoking for same.
Weigh-in...no loss but no gain. It's been a little discouraging to see no actual dramatic weight loss. But with that said i have notice changes in my body..and no not puberty..jeeze. My waist line as gone down my stomach has gotten a little smaller. my biceps are starting to show more and my chest is getting much better. I have gotten a lot of positive reinforcements and i want to personally thank EVERYONE! this hasn't been easy and I think I’m at one of my first obstacles so time to go over the first hill and get moving. treadmill has gotten too easy. I am no at a 4.0 which is burning my legs more than anything else. My breathing is so much better though. i am at 85 stairs a min on the stair machine. I am doing Jumping Jacks without to much trouble and low and behold push-ups are getting easier! I won’t lie, i am sore and tired like 90% of the time. but I LOVE it! I am working toward a 5k in June! this will be the first 5k i will have ever done let alone thought about! My trainer has had a couple meetings and a training so i was left to complete it myself. I don’t push as hard as when she's in my ear pushing me, but i did better than i thought i could do! She has been doing so much for me and I don’t want to fail her because she puts a lot of effort into this for me, at least i can do the same! so i upped my cardio so roughly I’m at the gym 8 different times a week! that’s a lot, but i need it!
I believe that my calories are what are not letting me loose. I have had trouble meeting my calorie take so i got focused again and time to add spinach to my smoothies as she sugg and i pre-made healthy breakfast burritos that I can just heat and eat on the way to work or gym whatever. It's time for me to take this up a notch and get more focused.
Week 5
Ok well at this point I completely forgot what week I was in lol. Well I did hit sort of a Milestone for me. Couple things happened. 1. No smoking for a Month! This is the longest I have ever gone not smoking. I feel great though and wished I never started. Don’t get me wrong I am around smokers a fair amount of the time…but I hope they see that if I can do it, anyone can do it! 2. I broke 360lbs. Now I have done this before but this time was all diet and exercise. No pills or gimmicks.
I am sooooo tired though this week but I’m recovering faster then I think I did in beginning. I increased my treadmill to 4.0 which is bloody good as Chef Gordon Ramsey would say. Psychologically I am doing great. My mind is clear I can troubleshoot issues that are coming up much easier. The fine line for me here is trying to get my wife involved and not push her away. Hopefully she can see my success and get the same bug bite I have for it all. I noticed my clothes fit better and I am looking better in my face and my shoulders and my stomach. What a great feeling. Now I am not seeing HUGE weight losses but I know the weight will come. I am doing so much more exercise than I ever did before. I hurt a lot lol. Thursday night I sat in my recliner after my workout and had ice on my shoulder and ice on my knee. But really I thought “I FEEL GREAT” I feel alive and I love it.
For me I hate it when I’m doing it and it kills me sometimes but its all good at the end.
Saturday we did more spinning. And honestly it kills me I feel like my quads are going to snap! But its great. I’m not hurting as much afterwards! And I’m close to finishing a full class workout! Who would have thought that! Any how someone told me about a website called transformation.com. Believe its faith based so I will check that out!
Week 6
Ok well I have been a little late on this update. Let’s start with the Weight!! 2 pounds loss again. I’m from 364 to 357. That’s honestly really good! I know this and i try to keep telling myself at least I’m losing weight right! It was hard this week though. more than a month and very small amount of actual weight loss. I am a huge fan of the Biggest loser. I understand that is the OLYMPICS of weight loss. but still would be nice to see maybe one or two double digit losses come up for me.
After all this thought i had to look back at the whole perspective for a bit. When i did i thought...Wow i am doing amazing!
1. Quit smoking- after 15 yrs.cold turkey..BAM
2. Regained my lung strength
3. I’m freaking jogging on the treadmill for my warm-ups
4. I’m doing 90 steps a min on a stair master
5. I'm doing a freaking spinning class with my trainer
6. I’m eating great and never go to FAST FOOD
7. I am addicted to water. that’s all I drink now. Except for a cup of coffee now and then. I look like a little kid with my bottle always by my side!
8. I did a mile of partial walking and jogging by myself no trainer. would have done 2 if it didn't rain
9. Planning and looking for a 5k and going to complete it!
all this stuff...and i am looking so much better and feeling better. Clothes are falling off me...my wedding ring is really loose on me now which isn't a good thing but cool. My wife does the Hug Test which I love. She hugs me and judges how close her hands can lock around me. she can hug me fully now and that’s a nice feeling! anyhow. I am back to being motivated. I upped my jogging speed today to a 4.7 and close to a getting a 5.0 that’s huge since i hated running before and never did it. anyway. Hope some of this stuff helps someone out there. its tough but keep focused!
Week 7
So here I am Week…7? I forget. They all kind of bleed in together now! The weight loss keeps coming but still slow. 2 pounds each week! At least I can say my bodies consistent. So thought I would talk about a couple things about being a large man and exercising. Thighs! Ok when you’re a big guy and you start doing a lot of cardio and jogging you don’t think about the fact that they are rubbing up against each other to your body and that causes pain after a while. The first month or so I had to use Vaseline before each workout on my inner thighs. Cheep but affective. Luckily that all kind of went away after I lost some weight my body got use to it I guess. Food! Food isn’t he enemy as much as what the foods about. Cooking in a vat of grease or heavy oils…not so good. Colorful vegetables great for you. I have gotten my morning protein shake down now. I use one banana, 1 cup of milk, a handful of ice and 1 scoop of vanilla protein mix. Blend It in a blend it well and boom awesome…tasty and about 300 calories for breakfast! I have gotten to where I know what and how to eat and what I need each day so I don’t have to send my foods into my trainer. This is so much easier for me lol. It’s interesting how people DON’T eat well. The dept I work in the bring in so much Donuts and fatty foods. They brought in all this brisket and baked beans and potatoes salad and pop. Then they wonder why they have hypertension, high blood sugar and are tired all the time, as well as being overweight! Luckily I have stuck hard at this! This has to be a life style change and not just a for the time being change like so many people do. I thought the other day…Ok so say I lose weight, get strong and look good. Then what!??? What do I have to do after that! Well I thought maintaining that is all the hardest part. I’m not saying I’ll have a six pack, but I’m sure going to try. Ill stay on this for as long as it takes to get me to shop for regular sized clothes!!!! It feels good to hear folks say “Wow you are thinning down aren’t you” I joke but my pants sometimes fall off…that’s good and bad!
The Other thing I have to think about it the Trainer. Hard to believe but 1 month left in this Biggest Looser thing. Do I decide this is awesome (Which it is!) and pay to keep the training coming, or do I take what I have learned and try to go at it alone and just keep up keeping up? Tough decisions. I can tell you 100% I won’t be able to push as hard as she does! I guess we’ll see how my weight Is closer to the end and decide!
About This Blogg
So I know your reading this think, just what I need is another weight loss plan! If that’s what your looking for then you should stop reading right now! I’m not kidding! This is not a weight loss plan and if your NOT going to be dedicated to this process then I suggest turning around and going back to the couch with you potato chips, ice cream and the TV.! Still reading, good! This is about a life style change. Diets by their very nature will do nothing but make you keep coming back to them. This is about changing your life FOREVER!
In January 2009 I started they journey that would change my life. A trainer from the local YMCA I was going to asked if I would be interested in working with her in a biggest looser contest. Reluctantly I decided I didn’t have much to lose. At that point I was 378 lbs, 32 years old, heavy smoker and addicted to fast food and pop. This was soon all to change.
The Idea is simple! Stop smoking! Get good food in and burn calories! Change my focus and my life around! There is a lot involved in that but that’s the basics! Its so very simple I am furious I didn’t catch this all sooner. Might have saved some rough times in my life!
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