Day 30!

Morning Weight: 252
Weight lost: 20 pounds

I did it!  Exactly 20 pounds lost on day 30.

My plan from here is to take it easy for a week - I'm going to keep it reasonable, but not tracking what I eat.  After that I will try to find an in between area and slowly work towards strict paleo most of the time...

Day 29

Morning weight = 252.2
Weight lost = 19.8


.2 pounds away! So close.  I've got my fingers crossed for tomorrow...

Day 28

Morning weight = 253.6
Weight lost = 18.4


I'm not sure how I gained a pound, I still think the scale is inaccurate though and that yesterdays loss was maybe not as large as I thought it was.  I have 2 days to lose 3.6 pounds...

Day 27

Morning weight = 252.6
Weight lost = 19.4


I lost 3 pounds!  That makes up for the 2 slow days in a row I just had.  I'm .6 pounds away from my ok goal and 2.6 away from the big goal, which now looks to be within reach.


For supper I sauted some Italian sausage, shrimp, onions, and tomato then stuffed it into green peppers and baked them. It was delicious.

Day 26

Morning weight = 255.6
Weight lost = 16.4


I forgot to post last night.  No change in weight...


I did make a delicious paleo pork verde last night though.

Day 25

Morning weight = 255.6
Weight lost = 16.4


Still truckin'.

Day 24

Morning weight = 255.8
Weight lost = 16.2


Doubling down worked!  I lost 2.2 pounds.  Either that, or the scale is messed up like I suspect and yesterday was artificially high...


I worked out again today and kept my calories low with low carbs.  I have 6 pounds to lose in 6 days to make my goal...  As long as I make it to 20 pounds lost I will be happy - I think 6 more pounds in 6 days is not terribly realistic at this point.

Day 23

Morning weight = 258.0
Weight lost = 14.0


How did I gain half a pound!?


I'm now at the same weight I was at on day 14...  I almost wanted to give up this morning.  It seems like I'm doing a lot of work and not getting much in results in the past 9 days.


Instead of giving up I decided to double down.  I'm going from 3 workouts a week to 5-6 and going to try cutting a few more calories and putting more time between eating (intermittent fasting I guess).  I just ate one large meal today and felt fine so I might try that every other day.  I made beef jerky today though, so I will be snacking tomorrow...

Day 22

Morning weight = 257.4
Weight lost = 14.6


No loss today - however, I think my scale might be broken.  It gives fairly varied results sometimes so I think sometimes it might show too much loss on a day and then the next day looks low.


I kept the calories and the carbs low today and also worked out and went for a 30 minute walk - I'm hoping for some good results tomorrow.

Day 21

Morning weight = 257.4
Weight lost = 14.6


It feels like I'm definitely back on track!  I might actually be able to make it to 22 pounds in 30 days, or at least get damn close.


I've really been missing other food.  I'm not particularly craving anything like wheat or sugar, but I think I miss processed food more than anything.  I've already started a list of what I want to eat when the 30 days is up!  I will stick with paleo, but lenient paleo...at least for a while.

Day 20

Morning weight = 258.6
Weight lost = 13.4


Up 2/5 of a pounds again!  What's going on here...?  I know I ate a bit more calories yesterday than normal, but I didn't expect to gain.  I looked at what I ate the day before on each of the 3 times I have gained weight since the 1st.  On all 3 days I ate more than 1,500 calories, but not enough more to make that much of a difference.  The other commonality is that I ate noticeably extra carbs on those days.  I think the added carbs messed with my body.


I think I've also been eating extra salt.  So I'm going to work on cutting back on salt and keeping the carbs lower.  We'll see if that does anything...

Day 19

Morning weight = 258.2
Weight lost = 13.8


I'm back to within half a pound of where I was 5 days ago.  That was a rough lesson...


My calories were a little high today, but should be ok.  

Day 18

Morning weight = 259.2
Weight lost = 12.8


I feel like I'm back in the groove for losing weight.  


Today for supper we had chicken fajitas with lettuce leaves for wraps.  They were great but I really missed the cheese and sour cream.  While cooking the chicken I cut a few pieces into cubes and then wrapped them in bacon and put a toothpick through them and fried them up.  They were fantastic.


I like bacon.

Day 17

Morning weight = 260.0
Weight lost = 12


I didn't get very hungry today and ended up eating less than 700 calories.  Hopefully this will get me back on track with losing weight.  

Day 16

Morning weight = 260.8
Weight lost = 11.2


I'm still recovering from the "big day" of eating...

Day 15 - Celebration regret...

Morning weight = 260.0
Weight lost = 12


I expected to not lose any weight this morning, but I did not expect a 2.2 pound gain!  I think it's mostly not "real" weight.  I had a lot of salt yesterday.  I kept my calories to about 1,500 today, so tomorrow should be a bit better.  I think I'll have a couple of big days over the next 3-4 and will quickly re-lose what I gained!

Day 14 - Record Low!

Morning weight = 257.8
Weight lost = 14.4


Record!  So this is the lightest I've been in 7ish years.  A nice accomplishment!


I've eaten very few calories the past couple of days so I decided to switch it up a bit and eat extra today - almost 2,100 calories.  This will slow my loss down for a couple of days, but I should still be down a point or two tomorrow.

Day 13

Morning weight = 259.2
Weight lost = 12.8


I'm still on track for a pound a day.  Since I cut back on the protein (and calories) my weight loss has really kicked in again.  I'm only a day or two away from my 7 year low weight!  Probably tomorrow since I only ate about 1,100 calories today.


I was gone most of the day after lunch so I had to pack a supper I could eat on the go - the supper was good, but I didn't have any snacks and I got home after 8.  I'm a little hungry but not terribly.  

Day 12

Morning weight = 260.8
Weight lost = 11.2 pounds


Blogger was down last night so I couldn't post an update.  Here it is, just for record keeping...

Day 11

Morning weight = 261.8
Weight lost = 10.2 pounds


Did I eat an 855 calorie salad today?  Yes I did...

Day 10

Morning weight = 262.2
Weight lost = 9.8 pounds


10 pounds in 10 days!  


My weight loss is back on track, so I'm definitely cutting back on the meat and adding more veggies.  The lowest weight I've seen in probably...6-7 years is 259, so I'm very close to a record low for me.  I was looking at the numbers today and I think if I stuck with this through the end of July or end of August at the latest I could reach my target weight of 220.


More importantly than the weight loss, I've had to tighten my belt by 2 notches since I started!  I'm now on the last notch...so I will need a new belt soon (which is good).


I also tried to make some mayonnaise today...it didn't work.  The oil didn't thicken up to a cream and it tasted terrible anyway.  I kind of miss condiments.

  

Day 9

Morning weight = 263.6
Weight lost = 8.4 pounds


My weight loss is definitely slowing down more than I want - I've only lost 1 pound in 3 days.  Today I worked on working more veggies into my diet and less meat.  I think that's a large part of where I was going wrong.  I also cut back a bit on the calories.  We'll see what happens tomorrow!

Day 8

Morning weight = 263.8
Weight lost = 8.2 pounds


The large amount of protein I ate yesterday definitely had an effect!  I only lost .2 pounds.  I also ate too many calories today, so I expect tomorrow to be 0 loss and maybe even gain a small bit...


Tomorrow I definitely have to get back to more how I was eating at the beginning - I think I'm eating too much meat now.  I need to mix in more nuts and more veggies.

Beef Jerky

I've been making beef jerky off and on for about a year now and have done a lot of experimenting to find what works.  It's still not perfect, but it's getting pretty good!  Here is what I've learned so far.  If you've made jerky a few times some of these are probably obvious.

1) Don't over marinade.  I started out marinading overnight, but the flavor was always way too strong.  I've been lowering the time each time that I use marinade and this last time I only marinaded for 1 hour.  I think this is just right.  You can definitely taste the marinade flavors, but it's not overpowering.

2) Don't over dry.  5 - 6 hours seems to be just about right for me.  Any longer and it starts to get crispy.  When you take it out it will seem like it might not be done, but when you let it sit overnight it will firm up and finish drying out.

3) Cut against the grain.  when you're cutting up the meat make sure you cut against the grain instead of with the grain.  That way when you take a bite it will break off instead of tearing long ways.  This makes a huge difference in your enjoyment in the jerky.

My basic recipe is about a half cup of apple cider vinegar, a few shots of worcestershire sauce, some soy sauce or just sea salt, a cup or so of water (enough liquid to cover the meat, and whatever spices you like - usually pepper, red pepper flakes, onion powder, and either garlic powder or minced garlic.

Although not paleo (unless you make your own), another great recipe is to marinade the mneat overnight in BBQ sauce.  The taste is amazing.

You can see the minced garlic on this one.  Also, it looks like I cut with the grain instead of against the grain...

Day 7 - Protein Overload!

Morning weight = 264.0
Weight lost = 8 pounds


One week complete!  I'm 25% done with the month and 36% done with my goal.  Looking great so far, although I know the weight loss will slow down (it already is).


I ate quite a bit more than normal today.  I was actually pretty close to 1,600 calories, but then the beef jerky I was making got done and I had to test it...More important than the calories is the huge amount of protein I ate today!  I'm not sure what effect it will have on me, but I ate about twice as much as I normally do in a day.  However, my carbs were incredibly low - only 9.  I think my weight loss for tomorrow won't be great because of the calories and protein, but the low carbs should help to counteract that somewhat.


I felt like I had plenty of energy today, unlike the past two days.  However, I also got very little exercise so that might be part of it.  I'm hoping that my body is starting to convert over to fat burning instead of carb burning and that my energy will pick up.

Paleo BLT (with egg)

Today for lunch we had BLTs, minus the bread.  Surprisingly you couldn't really tell that the bread was missing.  I also added an over-easy egg to it which kind of replaced the mayonnaise.

To make them I simply placed a couple of slices of bacon, tomato, and a fried egg in between two leaves of lettuce.  They were easy to make and were a great lunch!

Day 6

Morning weight = 264.6
Weight lost = 7.4 pounds


Once again I struggled to get 1,500 calories today - I feel it now though as it's 11PM and I'm hungry.  I really have to work on getting a good snack in at around 7PM.  I was really low on energy this afternoon, but I got a lot of exercise and I think I simply didn't eat enough calories to keep up.


This morning at work they asked some of us to help move our file room upstairs - so I spent 45 minutes calling boxes full of files upstairs and then helped move 3 large file cabinets upstairs as well.  It was quite a workout.  This evening I also took a 20 minute walk to the park.


This afternoon I faced my biggest challenge so far.  After moving the file room the boss offered to buy us all pizza and beer.  Two of my favorite things...  On top of which, it was my favorite beer - FREE beer!  I resisted temptation though.

Power Snack

It was almost 8 o'clock and I had only eaten 800 calories for the day and my fat was really low.  I wanted to make a quick snack that was high in calories and fat (not the normal dieting logic!).

I sauteed a half cup of walnuts in a tablespoon of butter with a sprinkle of cinnamon and then stirred that into 2 tablespoons of almond butter.  I didn't figure up the calorie content ahead of time and was kind of shocked that it was 700 calories!  It put me right on for 1,600 for the day with the cup of almond milk I had as well, but I would have been happier around 1,200 or 1,300.  Next time I'll go with a 1/4 cup of walnuts instead...

The taste wasn't fantastic, but it was good.  It would have been a lot better with a tablespoon or two of honey, but I'm trying to limit sweeteners.

Day 5

Morning weight = 266.0
Weight lost = 6 pounds


I only lost .4 pounds today.  I think this can be attributed to 2 factors.  1) I'm up to day 5 and the weight loss is starting to level off.  2) I broke my "no eating after 8PM" rule last night and had a snack at about 10 o'clock (the shrimp cocktail).  However, as long as I'm losing I'm happy.  I only have to lose 3/4 of a pound a day to make my goal and so far I'm averaging 1.2 pounds a day.


I've had no cravings at all and, in fact, my appetite has been so low that I seem to be having to make an effort to get to 1,500 calories a day.  The large amount of fat that I'm consuming is really working well to curb my appetite. 

Raw Paleo Shrimp Cocktail Sauce

I love shrimp cocktail.  I wanted some today but didn't want to eat pre-made cocktail sauce.  I started looking up recipes and realized how easy it is to make.  Basically just catsup and horseradish for simple sauce.  That didn't sound great though and I didn't want to eat or use catsup.  I looked up some paleo recipes and they suggested just using tomato paste.  That also doesn't sound very tasty to me...Then it occurred to me to make it out of fresh tomatoes.

Two words - Awesome Sauce.

I blended two ripe tomatoes in the blender, then added about 3-4 tablespoons of natural horseradish sauce, juice from half a lemon, salt, and pepper.  It wasn't as thick as store bought sauce, but it worked fine for dipping shrimp and tasted GREAT.

I forgot to take the fancy "after picture" with the shrimp surrounding the sauce and looking all tasty, but I did take a shot of the ingredients.

Linked on Primal Cave Friday #2

Day 4

Morning weight = 266.4
Weight lost = 5.6 pounds


At this rate I'll lose 22 pounds in 15 days...


I'm sure my weight loss will slow down soon though - the first few days are always the biggest losses.  However, it's encouraging to put up some big numbers right off the bat! 


I played basketball this morning with some of the 9th graders I work with.  I'm admittedly terrible at basketball and as it was 2 on 2 no one wanted to be on my team (I don't take offence to it - I'm easily the worst player there on most days and I make a joke out of it).  However, today I actually felt like I had the energy to really get out there and play.  I'm sure it's partly (maybe even mostly) just psychological, but I really played at a different level than usual.  I was chasing the ball, jumping to block, running in for layups, etc.  The most surprising part is that we won, 31 to 26.  The other team couldn't believe they lost - it was great!  We played for about 25 minutes and by the end I was out of breath and my shirt was soaked - I usually barely break a sweat.


It reminded of something I read from Mark Sisson on Marks's Daily Apple (I wish I could remember where exactly on the site I saw it so I could link to it directly).  Basically he said - the point of working out isn't the workout itself, but so that you can have fun and play later.  


Getting in shape and staying in shape allows you to do fun stuff, and that is a good motivation for being healthy.

Day 3

Morning weight = 268.6
Weight lost = 3.4 pounds

I only ate 1,130 calories today - which was not intentional.  I didn't have a chance to eat lunch and never managed to catch up with my meals later.  It was 8PM before I knew it so I ate some walnuts for a quick snack.  It's 9:45PM now though and I'm starting to feel hungry...

My supplements came in today, so with supper I took 60mg CoQ10, 500mg Quercetin, 500mg Carnitine, and 250mg of Alpho Lipoic Acid.  I was afraid they would make me feel jittery, but they didn't.  I felt like a I had a bit more energy a half hour or so after I took them, but not a lot.  I didn't get a stomach ache from them either.

Legumes

I decided to get a bit more strict and cut out legumes - All I've had so far is a tablespoon of peanut butter.  I like to eat peanut butter and celery and smoothies with peanut butter in them so I am making almond butter tonight to replace it.

Day 2

Morning weight = 270.6
Weight lost = 1.4 pounds

I was a little high on carbs today because my wife made some awesome gluten free muffins and they were too good to pass up.  However, I stayed within the range I am aiming for in all areas.  I started craving foods today as well.  It wasn't terrible - to be honest I think it's more just the thought that I can't have them that makes me want them.  I'm a little sore from the workout yesterday, mostly in the shoulders and chest from the push ups.  I feel a little sluggish today, I think my body is just adjusting to the change - other than feeling sluggish I feel great.  Very alert and "light".  The herbal stuff I ordered is supposed to be in tomorrow or the next day.

Paleo Snack Packs

I decided to make up some snack packs so I could make a quick meal if needed in the future.  I also pre-measured everything so I know the calorie/carbs/protein/fat and can enter it into sparkpeople quickly.

The chicken variety consists of 1/4 cup onion, 1/4 cup red and green pepper, half cup mushroom, and 2 oz of chicken.  They have 91 calories, 1 gram of fat, 6.4 carbs, and 14.4 grams of protein.  The sausage variety is 1/4 cup onion, 1/4 cup red and green pepper, half cup mushroom, and 3 sausage links.  They have 270 calories, 24 grams of fat, 6.4 carbs, and 7.3 grams of protein.

For a quick snack or a meal I can throw a pack in a pan with some butter and maybe some eggs.

Day 1

Morning weight = 272

I made it through day 1!

Actually it went really well.  I wasn't hungry and stayed pretty close to my goal of 10/20/70 carbs/protein/fat.  I had a lot of energy throughout the day except for around 4PM when I dozed off for 15 or 20 minutes.  I also worked out for 25 minutes.

Introduction

My goal is to lose 22 pounds and get healthier in 1 month.  I’m starting at 272 pounds (yikes) and want to get to 250 by the end of May.  In this blog I will post updates and progress along the way.  Last summer I did this for a month and lost 20 pounds - since then I have slowly put 10 of the pounds back on.  I didn't really have a plan last time though, I just started working out and eating well for a month.  Then I had surgery and had to stop working out for a couple of weeks and kind of just lost my steam on the whole thing.

My ultimate goal is to be fit and healthy, not to lose weight.  However, there is no way to be fit and healthy when you are 50+ pounds overweight.  I’d like to be able to walk up a couple of flights of stairs without becoming winded.  I’d like to not worry about high blood pressure and not worry about dying from a heart attack when I’m 50.  I’d also ultimately like to weigh between 200 and 220 (I was 180 when I got married).

Plan:

Diet:

I will eat a semi-strict paleo/primal diet for the entire month (and hopefully after the month is up as well).  This means little or no processed foods and limited carbs.  I will be eating mostly meat, veggies, eggs, nuts, and berries with limited amounts of fruit, rice, peanut butter, potatoes, etc.  My goal is for around 90% of my diet to be meat, non-starchy veggies, eggs, nuts, and berries.  I am also eliminating all alcohol and soda (I only drink diet anyway, but getting rid of it to be healthy), and will be drinking only water and flavored water.  I think that I rarely drink enough water so staying well hydrated is also part of my diet plan.

My goal is:

Around 1,500 calories a day

70% from fat

20% from protein

10% from carbs

Here’s an idea of what that looks like (from last July)

Exercise:

I will work out at least 3 times a week doing a kind of modified p90x plan with free weights and some cardio.  As energy/motivation increases I will try to add in a couple of days of just cardio.  I’m also attempting to complete the 100 pushups challenge - http://hundredpushups.com/index.html (I can do 8 right now…)

Supplements:

I'm going to try adding in some supplements and see what happens. I’ve ordered them and they will be here in 2 or 3 days, so I won't be taking them from day 1.  I will be taking:

1,000mg Quercetin - supposedly helps you burn fat, increases stamina, reduce fatigue, and prevents illness.

500mg Acetyl L-carnitine and 250mg Alpha Lipoic Acid - supposedly gives you more energy, increases fat burning, improves memory, and improves learning ability,

60mg Coenzyme Q10 - supposedly reduces high blood pressure, improves energy, and improves immune system.

Additionally, all 4 of these are supposed to improve mitochondria health and production.  I've been reading about mitochondria health and its importance in staying healthy and having energy.  I'm not sure if it's all bullshit or not, but figured I'd give it a try.

I'll also be eating between 1 tsp and 3 tablespoons of coconut oil every morning which acts as an appetite suppressant, improves energy, and has other health benefits.

Psychology:

I like to eat.  Actually, that's a lie - I fucking love to eat.  Food is a reward, a comfort, and a relaxer for me.  Eating makes me feel happy.  This is why I weigh 272 pounds!  I’m sure there are some deep psychological reasons for my love of food, but the bottom line is that I have to train myself to control my eating.  To that end I have developed some strategies to help me:

1. No spontaneous eating.  If I think I’m hungry I’ll drink a glass of water and wait 5-10 minutes.  If I’m still hungry after that I’ll eat a snack.
2. Drink water to feel full.  In addition to drinking water when I want to snack I will drink a glass of water every morning and a few minutes before every meal to help avoid feeling “empty”.
3. No eating after 8PM.  I like to watch TV at night and snack – I have to break that habit.
4. No sunlight.  Wait, that’s gremlins…never mind.

I think the goal of losing 22 pounds in a month is ambitious, but realistic considering how much I have to lose. I'll really be satisfied with anything over 15, but it would be great to see 250 on the scale and know that I am half way to the goal to get to 220 that I set a year ago when I was at 280.