Day 35 (425-9) How Am I Doing Vs My Plan?

When I started this blog back in 2010 I developed an 8 point plan as a guide to help me on my journey.  These 8 items still hold true for me today and I wanted to go through them to see what kind of job I'm doing following them..

1. Monitor caloric and nutritional intake. Eat three meals a day along with healthy snacks within my daily calorie plan and protein, carb and fat ratio (PCF Ratio).
2. No diet soda or processed foods.
3. Drink lots of water.
4. Exercise 15 minutes per day. Be more active overall.
5. Weigh in weekly (with spot checks throughout the week).
6. Report progress, thoughts, etc on this blog.
7. Seek out tools to help me reach my goal weight of 220 lbs.
8. Reach for support from family, friends and bloggers before I reach for a doughnut

I have to say that for the past 35 days I've been doing great on all of them... except for #4.   I have not turned in a good effort on #4 at all.  Every few days I take a short walk but I definitely have not exercised for 15 minutes daily.

My plan was to buy a recumbent bike but I haven't been able to find one that is rated for my weight capacity.  A sad but true fact.   Really the only main exercise I can do at this point is walking.  It's not easy because usually after about 5 minutes of walking my lower back starts to hurt.  I grind through it but it's certainly not a pleasant experience.

When I go to the store or to a ball game I park my car further away to force more walking time to and from.  I found a great iPhone app that is a GPS Pedometer which tracks your steps, distance and walk time... Pretty cool.

The difficulty is avoiding the rationalizations that cause me to sit on the couch or at my desk rather than walk and move. Its so easy not to do things.  What I mean is.. it's easy to not go for a walk or to not update my blog daily.  I can't be lazy about this anymore.  I have to come up with a reason every day to walk.  I'll have to take #4 a day at a time and as I shed the pounds it will become easier to exercise.  But.. I have to put in the time now to get there.

Good choice, Self honesty

ETL

Day 25 (428-6) What Worked Then Should Work Now

Honestly, I've been weighing myself each morning and I've noticed that my weight is stuck at 428.   I went back to 2010 posts in this blog and re-read a few posts. I found this one along with a comment from a fellow life style changer...  I think Seth had it right and what he wrote goes along with with Derek has been trying to get across to me.   1900 per day and a good calorie burn in  exercise/movement is what it's going to take to burn fat... no mucle.   It takes the combination of the two.  I'm very glad I have this blog...

ETL

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March 13, 2010 Weigh In: 411 lbs, Lost 1 lbs

I often tell my boys that baseball is a thinking man's game. Well losing weight is a thinking person's game as well. For the past two weeks I subjected myself to a little experiment with the goal of figuring out just what my metabolic rate really is.

MyNetDiary's software computes my BMR at 3180. WebMD and other web based calculators confirm this number to be about right for my age, height, weight and level of daily activity. I've been very meticulous in recording EVERTHING I eat since I started this journey on 1/6/10. My average per day for the past two weeks has been 1945 calories which means I should be burning 1235 per day, 1 pound every 3 days...RIGHT? So I should have lost about 4 pounds, RIGHT? Well, during the past 14 days I've lost only 1 pound. Why are the numbers off? I've come up with two reasons:

First, I have not been exercising. If I move my ass I will burn calories. It's that simple and I take total responsibility for not following through on this goal. The weather is getting warmer. I will be coaching two baseball teams soon. My activiy level will increase. All good things. But I also need to get into a routine of daily activity. I will work on this.

Second, the BMR calculators are wrong in my case. I have a slower metabolic rate than the average 411 pound, 49 year old, 6 foot man. I have to believe that based on my two week experiment my actual BMR is more like 2000. To prove this I went back in the records (thanks MyNetDiary) and looked at my caloric intake for those weeks when I was shedding pounds a month or so ago. My average intake was 1500 calories per day. Hmmm.. Well numbers don't lie!

Conclusions:

BMR calculation software may not be right for everyone as a measuring stick. My BMR is actually around 2000. A 1500 calories intake per day should allow me to burn around 500 calories each day (with activity, more). Which is about 1 pound a week. If I have a day where I go 1600 or even 1700 that will be just fine. But 1700 is the absolute ceiling for me.

I need to get myself in the habit of being active. I will burn more calories and lose more weight when I do this.

The big positive is that I am eating good foods and have not gained any weight back. Trust me, I don't take these two accomplishments for granted. However, I now understand the rate my body burns calories and I will do my best to use this knowledge to achieve my goal.

COMMENT FROM SETH:

SethMarch 13, 2010 10:47 PM

In my studying...and we've all done our own form of studying...for a male, cutting your calories that low at a long period of time would only put your body into starvation. In starvation mode - calories are burned mainly from muscle and not fat. Before you cut it that low this is what I would do:

1. Keep it between 1900-2000 cal/day.

2. Hit a calorie burn of 400-500 each day.

3. Up the water intake to 90 ounces +

4. Get your fiber from fruits and vegetables -- lots of these. suggested amount is 25-35g per day. The more fiber you take in -- the more *stuff* you are putting out. It will clean you out.

5. cut sodium.

These are just a few things I would do before I cut so drastically. You have to have teh calories coming in to keep that metabolism.

Also, use the online tools only as tools to benefit your weight loss and not the primary decision maker.

Keep up the good work. A one pound loss is a loss - even if we don't like the amount...it's one hard fought pound

Day 24 (428-6) Monday Status

I have no problem with 1900 calories.  It's plenty of food for me.  I spend about 45 minutes working around the yard yesterday and feeling a bit sore today.  I'm beginning to work more regular movement into my life.   I want to try to keep my body moving at least 30 minutes per day in some fashion as a start.  My ultimate goal is to have a daily workout but I'm just not there yet physically.   I know this will help accelerate the fat loss.  I want to move this along anyway that I can.

I'm going to try making my own protein bars using vanilla whey, oat flour, honey, almond milk and maybe peanut butter.  My goal is to keep these at 150 calories each.  Store bought bars are fairly expensive ($2+ each) and the tend to have too many calories.    I'm going to experiment and will write about the outcome and post the recipe once I get it perfected.

Good Choices, Self-Honesty

ETL

Day 18 (427-7) Another Great Day

The scale was kind again to me this morning shedding 2 pounds from two days ago... 427, total weight loss 7 pounds.  I've changed the standard post title to reflect the ongoing tally of weight loss... the -7 being the total pounds lost since I began.

For the past few days I've been ingesting 2100 calories per day.  It's plenty of food.  If I space my calories out over three meals I don't seem to get the urge to eat in between them.  If I do feel hungry I have some carrots or I keep enough calories for a protein bar or whey shake in reserve.  This seems to do the trick.

I feel good about being in the groove for 18 days now.  It's becoming a habit and the urges to binge on high carb/high fat foods are diminishing, albeit slowly.  I still find myself thinking of eating when I'm feeling good or bad mentally about something important.   I keep thinking to myself "good choices and self honesty".   I don't just say these words.  I really think about what they mean and how important they are.  Not only as it applies to food, but how this simple phrase applies to nearly everything we encounter in life.  It's funny that I recall saying to my kids "make good choices and be true to yourself".  It's exactly the same philosophy I'm working hard to live by.  I guess we all are trying to do these two things throughout our lives.

Anyway... I'm going to stick with 2100 for a bit and see how it goes.  Working in more movement of my body is going to help.   For the past few days I've walked about 10 minutes each day.  I try to park the car about 5 minute walk away from where I'm going.   It's a start and it will get better as I have less mass on my frame.

That's all for today.

ETL

Day 15 (428) I think I'm Stuck

6 pounds in 15 days... I'm pretty happy with that.   However, this is my 6th day being around the 428 mark and I'm beginning to think that I need to reduce my normal daily caloric intake.  I'm going to do a 2900 calorie Refeed today but tomorrow I'm considering lowering my normal daily calories from 2300 to 2100 keeping it at 40% P, 30% C and 30% F.  It's not a drastic drop and I know I can be satisfied at that level.

Regarding hitting the scale every morning... I know it's the best habit to get into but psychologically it's really difficult when you have so far to go.  Day after day of seeing little or no change can be daunting at times.   I know that once per week is not enough but I'm thinking that maybe Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays might be a good schedule for weighing myself.  I'm going to mull that one over a bit before I change it.

The one thing I haven't worked into my life is exercise.   I plan to buy an exercise bike but I haven't yet.   Starting today I'm going to take a 10 minute walk each day around the yard, around the neighborhood or wherever I might be that day.  Any place where I can fit in a walk.   I have to start someplace and I need to start sooner rather than later.

ETL

Snow, Snow, Snow, Snow...

When I was a kid I loved snow. When it was on the ground I wanted to be out in it every waking moment. I looked forward to those January and February storms that piled up the snow. I remember listening to the radio with bated breath waiting to hear if my school was closed. As a 49 year old I still have a bit of that in me but for the most part snow is a pain in the ass. However, it is a good opportunity for exercise! I spent about 45 minutes snow blowing this morning and burned about 800 calories according to MyNetDiary. I still have some work to do outside so this will be a great activity day for me. I've done a good job this week staying under 1800 calories each day and I'm looking forward to a good weigh in on Saturday.

ETL

20 Days And Almost All Is Well

20 days have passed since I started my new life. I have been very true to the eating program with a few unauthorized nibbles here and there... all within daily calorie plan of course. I have been eating healthy foods and counting calories for every meal. I've had a few tests and have passed them with a good grades. I've lost 12 pounds so far and feel great about it.

The area I am lacking in is exercise. I have not lived up to my goals there at all. I need to kick myself in the ass and start moving it at least 3 times a week. I spent $60 on EA Active and have only used it three times in two weeks. Not acceptable. I have a nice treadmill and I've only used it a few times during the past 20 days. No good. I have a dog that I could take for a 15 minute walk a few times a week instead of relying on the electric fence system everyday.

I've change my approach to eating. I have to change my approach to activity.

ETL

Twitter: http://twitter.com/EatToLive2010

Picking Up EA Sports Active Today

In accordance with #5 and #8 of my plan (see my plan in the right column) I'll be purchasing EA Sports Active today. After some research it seems to be more flexible that Wii Fit and has a personal trainer. I hope you can program it to have the guy yell at you. Anyway, I'm looking forward to get it set up and hopefully start working out tomorrow. I'll keep it light at first and work my way up. It has to be more interesting that walking on the treadmill.

ETL

Great Day Sunday... Hit The Treadmill

Yesterday I made good on my promise to start being more active. I walked 10 minutes on the treadmill today. It was cool because my kids were exercising with me. It makes me feel good to do things like that with my family. I did really well with eating today sticking to about 1600 cals.

Invented a new "smoothie" with vanilla protein shack mix (Scivation), 1/2 a banana, frozen strawberries and skim milk. I figured it to be about 220 cals. with 28 grams of protein... tasted like a milk shake.

A light bulb went off that inventing new things to digest would make the journey more fun. I'll be doing more of that.

Thanks to all those who have commented on my posts the past few days. Your encouragement and support really helps.

ETL