Guess what? I’m not down to 180 as I had once planned. How much do I weigh? Who knows, we haven’t had our scale in the house since we moved. If I had to guess, after the holidays and all the eating involved, I’d say I’m around 210. Still. So, here’s why I did not lose weight: I did not exercise enough and I did not reduce my caloric intake enough. Fairly straightforward really. Read the rest of this entry »

If you steal the title of this post for your domain name, I will hunt you down and… be very disappointed with you.

This is the decision I’m faced with every week night. I’ve worked all day, consumed enough caffeine to make a small woman or child have convulsions, picked up the kids, and it’s about 7pm. If I want a meal, I have to cook it, and clean up after myself (novel idea), but I’m already cooking for the kids, so maybe a little extra work would be worth it? Or maybe I’ve got plenty of reserves (yes, I mean fat) stored up in my body already to tide me over until the next time I eat?

Usually, I decide to just make food for the kids. I try to drink some water to fool myself into feeling more full. And if I’ve just gotten back from the gym? Forget it, I’m definitely not eating. So here is the $64,000 question- is this helpful or hurtful for my “diet”?

I’ve heard that skipping meals has a negative impact because it teaches your body to go unexectedly without food, making the body try to store up energy (yes, in the form of fat.) That logically makes a lot of sense to me. But it’s a little bit counter intuitive because how could I gain weight by not eating? Maybe I’m just gaining fat, not necessarily weight. That sounds right - in the long run, skipping meals makes my body less healthy, but it doesn’t necessarily cause weight gain.

So here we are - meal or no meal? I can tell you that what I’m doing (skipping the meal most of the time) is not really working. I’m not losing any weight compared to when I was eating dinner everyday. So, I believe it is better to bite the bullet and make at least something half-way nutritional to eat, whether it’s a full-on meal or not.

Well, not getting any lighter I should say. Not at all. Still hovering around 205. I’ve been working out religiously, but my diet is butt-trifling (or, atrocious as most would say.) And I don’t really care. I feel healthy. My size 36 pants are fitting looser. And I’m smoke free for over a month now. I know I’m healthier than I was 1 month, 3 months, 6 months, and 12 months ago. Actually, this is the best shape I’ve been in for years. So I’m just going to be happy with it for now. Without making changes to my diet, I’m not going to start to weigh less. I had lofty goals of losing 30 pounds in about 5 months, and here half way through it I’ve lost about 10 pounds, but I’ve hit a plateau. My outlook now is- so what? That will probably change eventually, and I’ll move on to the next mental state that presents itself to me.

As we’ve established, I am doing 1 hour of cardio exercise at the gym 3-4 times per week. I got a new (well, used, but new to me) iPod Nano to make the workouts more tolerable. This week I worked out Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday. And it feels awesome. I changed up the routine a little bit, I am running on the treadmill first, then comes the elliptical machine, then the bike. My legs are actually sore, so I know I’m working hard. My quads and calves are tender, and I’m happy about that.
Read the rest of this entry »

Well, another week came and went and I’m no closer to my goal weight of 185lbs. Weighed in at 204.4 because I still eat too much. My pants do fit looser, so I feel like at least the shape of my weight is changing from fat belly to leaner muscle mass. That’s the theory anyway.

Good news about my foray into longer cardio sessions though. My wife, a physical trainer, suggested that fewer sets while lifting weights while probably not adversely effect my strength building. It turns out a study has shown that people who do 1 set of 12 reps for each exercise are getting the same results as people doing 3 sets of eight per exercise. I do not believe that this means only one set per exercise is going to turn me into a professional body builder, but I do believe this means I can achieve my weight loss goals while building some strength. So that will free up the extra 15 minutes I need to devote to cardio at each trip to the gym. Excellent news.

Last night was my first experience with the 20/20/20 (described here) cardio routine. And it kicked my ass. The first 20 minutes on the elliptical machine was fine, didn’t feel much different than 15 minutes. Then came the tread mill. 20 minutes running on that thing, for me, is enough time for my mood to change 4 or 5 times. I went from feeling really good to feeling like I might pass out, to feeling numb (mentally), to being angry for being so out of shape. I had to force myself to keep moving, every step was a challenge for the last 4-6 minutes or so. Then came the 20 minutes on the bike. I was just in a zone, my body was just moving. I didn’t think, didn’t notice the time I spent on it, just pushed the pedals around and around. But I made it, and I was very proud of that.

Today is an off day for the gym, my oldest son turns 4. Spending q.t. with the family tonight!

Well, the goal for Sunday was 202. And I didn’t make it. Came in at 204. Why? Well, it’s a diet, not rocket science. The problem is that I eat too much junk food. And I eat portions that are too large. I eat until I feel full, and too often that means eating more than I should. Am I pissed? Yep, especially since I’ve been working my ass off at the gym. I’ve increased my cardio form 30 minutes 3 times a week to 45 minutes 3-4 times a week. I go to the gym on a very regular basis. And I do make some effort to eat less.

I have decided that after this week’s exercise routine, I am going to try to push myself to do 60 minutes of cardio with each visit to the gym starting next week. It’s a marathon not a sprint, right? I should be physically capable of doing it, I’ll just have to slow down a little bit, pace myself. My main concern is that I’m working on a limited “time budget”. With two kids, it’s not all about me doing whatever I want until whatever time I finish; I need to get the kids home at a decent time to get them fed, bathed, and put to sleep. So here’s the compromise- I’ll have to do less weight lifting at the gym to get the extra 15 minutes I need for more cardio. My goal is to lose weight until the end of 2007, then start working on gaining strength. The weight lifting shouldn’t be my primary focus at this stage in the game, but it should remain part of the whole process.

So the ‘old’ regiment was like this: 3 exercises per muscle group. Each exercise came in 3 sets of 8 reps, and I would work two main muscle groups per visit. To squeeze in my extra cardio, I’m going to have to cut something out. I was doing back and chest one day, biceps and triceps one day,and legs one day. Here’s the new plan: chest one day, back one day, and legs one day. For legs I was doing 4-5 exercises, I’ll cut that back to just three. Indeed, this program removes specific arm exercises altogether, but the thought here is that working my back and chest works major muscles in my arms at the same time. Hopefully this new plan will give me the time I need to focus on my weight loss.

And, Gabe, do you think you could stop eating so much? Yes. I am drinking much more water now, so the full feeling comes faster. I am going to limit my sugar intake to 2-3 treats a week rather than 1 to 2 a day. No more carbs at lunch (I had been eating carbs at lunch but not dinner.) That’s the plan. Now instead of needing to lose 6 pounds in October to be on pace for 185 by January, I have to lose 8. That’s two pounds a week. I can do it. I’m not scurred.

Of course not. There are people who are kinda fat, really fat, barely fat. But that’s not the fat I’m talking about here. I mean literally fat. I found this great article while stumbling, it’s about healthy fat. Certainly worth a read.

I had definitely heard this theory before. My favorite two lines of the article are:

1. Monounsaturated fats will remain liquid at room temperature
2. Saturated fats are solid at room temperature

Even a dummy like me can remember that. “Good” fats don’t solidify and look all fatty, if it’s solid and looks fatty, it’s bad fat!