Rice and Wheat....week 8 ends

Starting Weight: 320lbs
Last Week: 290.8lbs
Current: 286.2lbs
Total Lost: 33.8lbs

I lost 4.6lbs during Christmas week! I really wasn't expecting this, especially since I did pork out a little on Christmas day. (Just over 2000 calories including a nice slice of pumpkin pie). I think the extra effort in the workouts this week helped. I'd really like to lose another 8 pounds before the end of my 10th week. That would ensure my 4lbs/week average keeps up.

I've also finished with my weekly group meetings this last week. Of all the parts of the 20/20 program I would say that the group meetings are the least useful. It's nice to know there are others going through similar issues, but for the most part you get very little pratical information that helps you suceed.

This last week I was given 1 serving of grains. For the most part it's one slice of whole wheat bread (whoo, whoo...a half a sandwich) or my favorite a couple of whole wheat tortillas. This week we added brown rice to the allowed foods. I hope to have some homemade Chicken Masala with rice this week.

End of Week 7

Week: 7

This was a slow week for weight loss. Only 1.4 lbs this week. This
brings me less then 1 lb from 30lbs in 7 weeks.

Barely losing a pound this last week is a pretty big bummer. I really
put a lot of effort into my exercise routine this last week, and my
diet was right in the middle of where it was suppose to be. I hope
I'm not at another set-point, where I have to wait while my body
figures out what it wants to do with itself.

Today I pushed really hard during my cardio with Emily. I stepped up
on the Stepmill to level 6 for the last 15 (of 30) mins. For that
time my heart rate was in the low 170's. We finished up with 10 mins
on the Elliptical, where Emily 'suggested' instead of 60 sec intervals
for the last 5 mins, that we do 90 sec intervals. (My training zone
is 132 to 162)

My heart rate during the intervals pushed up into the 180's. I think
it peaked at one point at 184. This was just 3 beats short of my
'theoretical maximum heart-rate'. You find that by taking 200 - (age,
in my case 33). I actually felt very energized at the end of the
intervals and while in the middle felt like I could've gone on for a
long time. Rationally I know I couldn't have, but it was a euphoric
feeling unlike any I've had so far in my training. Emily tried to get
me to take it easy for my own work-out on Tuesday, but I told her I
was doing a spinning class and I'd instead try to take it easy on
Thursday.

For the meal plan I was given access to ONE (yes just ONE) serving of
wheat bread per day. My dietician walked me through what a wheat
kernel really is and I understand it a lot better. Here's the 30-sec
recap:

Whole Wheat has three parts: The Bran, The Germ, and The Endosperm.

The Bran provides fiber and Vitamin-B
The Germ provides protein and Vitamin-E
The Endosperm provides carbs.

"Enriched" "Processed" flour means they strip out the Bran and Germ
and you get high-carb (high-sugar) flour. Tastes damn good, but
really not good for a guy like me.

Products made from "Whole Wheat" means they grind up all three parts
with nothing stripped out. <-- This is the ONLY type of wheat I
should be eating.


For this next week I'm going to eat my one slice of bread each day and
see how it goes.

Things you *almost* never hear your trainer say....

Week: 6

 

Yesterday while working out, I was approaching the 20 min mark on the Stepmill when I told Emily that I was going to step it up to level-6 for the last 10 mins.  My heart rate was already at the top of my training zone and going up to level 6 moved me into the low 170’s  (my range is 132 to 162).

 

Emily then said “when you workout tomorrow I want you to take it easy and stay at the low end of your training zone.”  Now this is almost unheard of. Trainers are usually pushing people to go harder, to do more, or go longer. Her reasoning seems sound.  This whole week I’ve been pushing very hard during my cardio’s with her, and on my own I did a Spinning class on Tuesday.  With our plan to do Spinning again on Friday she felt the need to make sure that I had some sort of recovery before we pushed hard on Friday together in the Spinning class.

 

As I trudged through 60 mins on the elliptical today I found it tough to stay at the low end of my zone.  It was a constant battle to go slower, or reduce the resistance, but keep up enough of a rhythm to make it smooth.  I finished the workout and felt as if I could’ve gone on for another few hours.  I’m sure I actually couldn’t but it did feel like a really lite-workout.

 

 

The Beans have arrived....

Week: 6

Starting Weight: 320lbs
Weight Last Week: 296.4
Weight This Week: 292.2

Surprisingly I lost another 4 pounds this week. I say I was surprised because just a couple of days ago I had weighed myself in and hadn't moved from my last weigh-in.

I had a few down days as far as calories go this last week. I've only averaged 1 or 2 shakes a day and this has caused me to have to bulk up on other foods to still get in ~1650 cal/day. One day (Saturday) we had planned to go our for a nice dinner, and I ended up eating a lot less at the restaurant then I expected.

With my dietician check-in today, I was given legumes to add into the diet. This means BEANS. This will make the chili more bulky! Also a lot of restaurants offer black beans as a side which will help keep the blandness out.

Spinning....

Week: 6

 

Today I did my first Indoor Cycling class, also called Spinning. I still have the goal of doing the Seattle to Portland bike ride next July, so this is a good first step towards getting some ‘saddle’ time.  For those who haven’t done Spinning, I can highly recommend it! 

 

It was a blast.  The instructor was very motivating, and provided great imagery.  I was a bit concerned as the first thing she said was “…as promised last time we did speed work, so this session we are going to tackle the hills……”  This meant a lot of high-resistant training and lots of standing up and trying to power to the top of these imaginary hills.

 

A few other things:  make sure if you’ve got a wide butt you get one of the wide seats.  There are a few bikes that have extra-wide seats.  I was able to get one and this made the hour long session tolerable.    Also, error on the side of the handlebars being too high.  Mine were too low and it was painful in my hands to support my upper body.  Finally bring a couple of extra towels.  I probably doubled my ‘normal’ sweat output in this session. 

 

At the end I was very exhausted, but felt super satisfied.  My trainer said few people actually go through their whole first session.  By the way Emily went right along with me during the session on her own bike.  I think she pushed 2x or 3x what I did, which was evident by the level of sweat below her bike which could’ve been measured by the cup-load.

 

Emily and I are going to do this regularly on Fridays.  I had such a good time I may try to get some more of these classes in on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Changes in behaivor

Week: 6

 

I met again with Sara, my therapist this week.  I still think these are somewhat frustrating for her as I end up giving very simple answers to her questions.  “Everything is going good…. Thanksgiving was fine, we had a good plan, stuck to it, and even lost weight that week…… no real roadblock or challenges.” 

 

One thing we did talk about was this blog and how jotting down changes in behavior was a good idea.  1) to reinforce it and 2) to recognize the achievement for what it is.  So as I come across stuff I notice myself doing differently I’ll try and remember to note them in this blog.

 

Here are a few changes to date:

 

A cup of yogurt can be a satisfying after-dinner snack.  I use to be pretty heavily into ice cream, cookies, etc about 2 or 3 hours after dinner.  Now I’m finding a single cup of Cascade fresh yogurt ends the day on the right note.  Six months ago I would have laughed at the thought.

 

I don’t ‘have’ to eat the samples at stores.  Stores like Costco and especially William Sonoma this time of year, are bending over backwards to hand out samples of their product.  This weekend my kids thought they were in candy heaven inside WS.  While tempted a bit, I was able to say ‘no thank-you’ and shopped without adding on the extra fat and calories.

 

 

On a different note, I hit a new milestone on my arch-enemy the Stepmill.  Instead of waiting for Emily to push me up, I decided to take it from 20 mins to 30 mins on level 5.  This turned out to be a lot more work then I expected.  It was just under 500 cals in those 30 mins. My legs were like rubber afterwards, but I still managed to get through my strength training, including all the leg work. 

 

On Friday I’m going to try doing a Spinning class instead of the normal cardio work we do.  I’ve heard good things about it.  Emily said she’d ride along as well, so hopefully she’ll share in the pain.

Start of Week 6

Week: 6

Start Weight: 320lbs
Last Week: 300.8lbs
This Week: 296.4lbs

Total Lost: 23.6lbs

I dropped 4.8 pounds even this week. I'm super excited. I've been keeping my calories 'up' to about 1620 to 1650 each day.

I'm having trouble getting in at least 3 shakes a day now. As I've started to take in my calories from other foods it is becoming very easy to just forget about the shake and to have a yogurt or pack of soy-nuts instead.

Emily has pushed me up to level FIVE on the Stairmaster and it again is kicking my ass. Today she thought we could go to level six but I had to say 'no-way'. We only went to level five three sessions ago.

My resting heartrate has dropped as well to 61 from 87. This cuts my training zone down to 135 to 162 (it was at 147 to 167). But even with a reduced zone, it didn't stop Emily from having me do intervals on the bike this morning. At the last interval I was pedaling at 130rpm and my heartrate was just above 180. That's only 7bpm short of 'theoretical maximum of 187bmp (220 - age).

I met with the doctor to formally go over the 5 week results. Surprisingly he had little to say. "keep up the good work." "Don't take the measurements too literally." (each person may put the tape measure in slightly different spots giving slightly different results.).

I got fruits added to the diet. I'll have to go out and get some Tangerines, Pineapples and grapes.

New measurements.....

Week: 5

At weeks 5, 10 and 15 while going through 20/20 they re-check some of the key measurements. I had mine done this morning and here are the results (first item is from Nov 1st, the second is today)

Weight: 320lbs 299lbs -21lbs
Body Fat: 38.5% 33.3% -5.2%
BMI: 49.3 44.8 -4.5
Waist: 52.75" 51" -1.75"

I'm pretty happy with these results. Almost 2" off the waist isn't all that noticeable, as I haven't had to pull in the belt any notches just yet. The thing I notice most is the muscles. Its hard to see them as they are still covered in layers of fat, but underneath there are much more defined and stronger muscles. On the top of my shoulders I also get some stretch marks after my strength training days. They tend to go away after the weekend, so for now I'm not going to worry about them.

On Monday I have a meeting with my Doctor to go over this information.

Start of Week 5.... CHEESE ME

Week: 5

Original Weight: 320lbs
Last Week: 302.2lbs
This Week: 300.6lbs
Total Weight Lost: 19.4lbs

I only lost 1.6lbs this week. This trend is very disturbing. I went over my concerns with my dietician, but she didn't seem concerned at all. She looked at it more of a ~20lbs in 4 weeks...that's a good trajectory.

I did realize that about 302/304 was a weight I was at for a long time. I hovered at this weight for about 18 months in the last two years. She thinks this might be a previous 'set-point' for my body and even though I'm excercising and my calories are at the right level, my body is 'fighting' to stay at the previous 'set-point.' My marching orders from her were to continue doing what I'm doing for the meals and excercise and the weight will start to fall off eventually. (I don't like that term "eventually.")

There is no denying that this is hard work at times, but when you see the scale coming down the efforts balance out against the reward. Waiting for the 'eventually' makes it hard to balance out.

I was able to add cheese to my diet starting this week. Only a couple of ounces a day but it has opened up new foods like Caesar Salads, Taco Salads (no shell of course) in addition to have a nice chunk of pepperjack melted on a grilled chicken breast to add some flavor and texture.

A few days ago I made some homemade Chili (no beans) and surpringly it turned out really well. I stole the recipe from Williams-Sonoma and modified it by using lean ground hamburger and no masa harina. Yesterday for lunch I had some leftovers with some grated cheddar (low-fat) and some sour-cream (low-fat). Damn! That was a great lunch.