Archive for Diet
10.11.05
Posted in Diet at 9:15 am by Rob
When I started this little journey towards a lighter me, I set some goals. Several short term goals of a few pounds here and there and a long term goal to get down to 200 pounds from my then 252. The past few weeks I had been struggling with hovering around 205. Last week I moved from an apartment to a house and missed nine days from the gym.
This move was the biggest cluster I have been through. There are still issues with the house but that is another story. To make a long story short, I went back to the gym for the first time last night. I had two nice surprises. First, I noticed that I had the energy to complete my workout without being too tired and I was a bit stronger than my last visit. The second and better surprise?
I am now 196 pounds! I was sure with all the crap I had been eating due to no working stove, Taco Bell and chocolate, that I had put on some weight. I have met my long term goal and beat it. My next goal set is to take off about ten more pounds and then really start to try and put some mass on. I want to get to about 205 with around ten percent body fat before setting the long term goal of 215 or 220 with the same percent of fat.
Some things to consider when setting goals. You NEED long AND short term goals. Don’t just go and say I want to lose 50 pounds and do it in a certain time period. Set that goal and work some smaller goals in that cover five or ten pounds at a time. This way you can be making progress and still know that you are making the steps needed to get you to where you want to be.
So, have I noticed any benefits to my weight loss? Sure have. I have not been sick once, I used to get sick on a regular basis. I have a much greater balance than before and I can now go shirtless and not worry about wearing my manzier, or bro if you prefer.
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05.13.05
Posted in Diet at 1:49 pm by Rob
My diet is pretty simple. If you cant hunt it, fish it or farm it, don’t eat it. There are some minor exceptions that I allow such as whole wheat bread, but not many. Whole foods only while keeping the carbs AND fat in check. Quality of calories are important. No simple sugars, save whole friuts, good sources of protein and any veggie I care to eat. One might think that makes for an uninteresting menu but remember that herbs and spices are allowed, and often. I love peppers, not the mild ones either. Ground peppers and spices make much of the flavoring in my dishes.
I eat out fairly often and I can go almost anywhere and get something. Chicken Caesar Salad from Chili’s or most places with dressing on the side. Wendy’s Chili, just watch the sodium. Most places are fine to eat at and you don’t have to eat like a rabbit. Also, I get one day a week for almost anything I care to eat and not that I get full faster, I can’t eat too much of the bad stuff.
Cooking at home I either grill or stir fry most of my meats. I like using a wok because it heats and cooks fast. I do not use any oils in my wok or for marinades, just water. It works just as well and I think gives the real flavor of the food a chance to come out. That coupled with 45 minutes a day, 5 times a week of the exercise cycle at the gym has done it for me.
To keep track of my calories, the first month I recorded everything I ate in a spreadsheet and it calculated the totals for me. If there was no label with nutritional information I would go to Calorie-Count.Com and get the data from there. After the first month I have been able to gauge bout what I am taking in. Something you NEED that first month is a food scale as well. After a while I was able to eyeball it so I could tell about what it was I was eating.
The last thing for me is a good multi-vitamin. I don’t normally endorse taking supplements but when reducing caloric intake I want to be sure I am getting the vitamins I need.
That’s it, just quality whole foods, paying attention to how much I am eating and a bit of exercise has resulted in an average of three pounds a week. One does not want to push it much more than that for health reasons, 30 pounds in 30 days might be able to be done but at what cost?
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05.12.05
Posted in Diet at 6:22 pm by Rob
So, how did I get 30 pounds off in 10 weeks? Well, let’s start a little background first. Last August (’04) I went to my doctor for a regular checkup. While there she told me I was healthy but at 250 pounds I needed to drop some weight. I could see in the mirror that she was right. She said I should go Atkins and get a gym membership. Now, I used to work out all the time and was pretty fit at 210 pounds and 10% body fat.
Sounded like a good plan so I went out and bought a book on Atkins and got a membership at World Gym. I kind of like Atkins at first, you mean I can eat all this food and not worry? Well, eating and working out I hadn’t dropped a pound in two months. My pants were fitting a bit better but I hadn’t changed on the scale. Now, I know what you are saying, “You are losing fat and replacing the weight with muscle”. That is all well and good but I am a results oriented person.
What I mean is that I don’t think I am doing well if I don’t see that scale move. By this time I was starting to wane on the diet part as well. I don’t know if it was from eating a pound of bacon in a sitting or what but I wasn’t feeling well. I was also getting carb cravings and starting to give in. I gave up, I was done.
In November I went to a FarScape convention and had a photo with one of the stars. It wasn’t till February that I was going through some stuff and saw that photo again. Man, I was fat. I hadn’t gained any weight in that time fortunately so at least I was no worse off. I decided it was time to try again. This time it would be my way.
The first thing I did was try and determine the number of calories my body needed while at rest to maintain my current weight. Why? I have always believed that calories determined my weight. No matter how good for you it was, if you ate more calories than your body could use as fuel then it would be stored as fat. There are a number of places on the Internet that will help calculate your resting metabolic rate so you can use it as a guide.
Mine said I needed about 2700 calories, just at rest. I couldn’t believe it till I thought a bit. Most hamburgers in restaurants are about 1000 calories in themselves and I can eat a bag of Doritos in one setting. That’s 2000 calories right there! Just one bag. Now I could see how I could get that many calories in one day.
I decided that I would cut about 900 calories or so out of my diet each day and start working out again, cardio only. I know the benefits of adding mass as it requires more calories but after talking with the owner of the gym we decided to go cardio only. Once I hit a certain weight then we would start putting good weight back on. My goal is to get back to the weight I am as of this writing, 220 pounds of quality weight.
Next time, the specifics of my diet. Remember, I do not imply that what I do is good for you, talk to your doctor before altering any of your habits that will affect your health.
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