Week 12: Gorillas watch out.... I get to have 3 bananas this week.

Starting Weight: 320lbs

Last Week: 275lbs

This Week: 273.8lbs

Not a lot of weight lost this week. I was expecting as much as I kept getting on the scale and not seeing it budge. I’m not going to get too worried about it. I see what my average daily caloric intake is (1540 cals this week) and I’m still working out 5 days a week. The weight loss will catch happen. (At least this is what I keep telling myself.)

I had a couple of firsts on the program this last week. Azusena (my dietician) wanted me to try out some servings of potatoes to see how my body reacted. I decided to add a baked-potatoe to one of my dinners, topping it off with low-fat sour cream and some salsa. I didn’t find myself having any new cravings or anything afterwards, so I’m going to try it again this week. I should mention that everything we’ve added so far has failed to produce any strong reactions or cravings. I think this is because of the multi-tier approach we’re forced to take when eating. I’ve become religious about not eating any carbohydrates unless there is some accompanying protein and/or fats to go along with it. I think this is the real key to success on the program. Any blood-sugar or insulin spike that could occur because of the carb is muted by the protein and fats.

The other first is what we had for dinner on Sunday night. Sunday’s at our house use to be Italian night. We started this when we were heavily engaged in watching The Soprano’s. This last Sunday I decided to fix up a 20/20 friendly Italian dinner and much to my surprise it came out really well. Recipe below:

Start browning 1 lb of low-fat hamburger (or use ground turkey/chicken). Trader Joe’s has a great 4% fat ground hamburger that is only

Add in ½ of a diced onion

Add in 4 or 5 garlic cloves (diced)

Brown till done and drain the fat off.

In a separate sauce pan, add one jar of Low-Fat Marinara sauce (I use the Trader Joe’s Tomato Basil marinara) and everything from the frying pan above.

Add .5 cups of water and bring to a simmer.

Let the sauce simmer for about 30 mins.

In a boiling pan, bring several quarts of water to a rolling boil. Add Whole Wheat Spaghetti (I used the Trader Joe’s Whole Wheat). It’s 2 oz (uncooked) per serving.

Boil for 13 minutes. The package says 10 to 11, but add a couple to make sure it is well done. Al-dente whole wheat pasta can be gritty.

When fully cooked, drain and place a serving on a plate….. add sauce and enjoy.

Calories Per Serving: 440cals (assuming 4 oz of hamburger)

Fat Per Serving: 12g

Protein: 35

We added on the side some grilled asparagus and a tossed green salad.

In today’s work-out Emily decided I was ready to take it up a notch in our strength training. Previously we’d do one set of 20 repetitions on each machine. Today we changed to doing 2 sets of 15 reps, with a 20 sec ‘rest’ period between each rep. This was MUCH harder to do then I would have anticipated. I was sore and dragging ass by the time we were done. The leg presses were the toughest and at one point during the second set my heart-rate was at 170, which is the upper end of my cardio zone.

-daryl welsh