End of week odds & ends

Down a 1.2 pounds between Thursday and today. That puts me at 224.4. So far a total of 9.2 pounds over 13 days. I bet I hit the 10 mark tomorrow. That'll make an average of 5 pounds per week. Conventional wisdom says 1 to 2 pounds per week loss is healthy. Any more is unhealthy. But, going by CW's past track record I am not at all worried about it. In fact, by not adhering to CW I feel I am on the right track.

Beer is slowing down my progress I think. In the past 7 days I have consumed 19 beers (1 was at least gluten free). The weight loss speed is fine by me, but it is the cigarette cravings when having a beer that is the real problem. I drink, I smoke. Not good. Not sure if I am hard core enough to give up Mountain Dew, cigarettes (when not drinking at least) and beer.

If it were not for the 6 pack of Sam Adam's Summer Ale last night on the patio my calorie count for the day was astronomically low. Barely above 500 for the entire day. I did not feel hungry at all, but when I added up what I had eaten for the entire day I was shocked at how low it was. Even with the 6 pack, I did not even come close the 2400 calorie CW says man should consume per day. Maybe I am missing something when calculating calorie count. So, today I am writing down and doing a running total through out the day.

With the enormous deficit in caloric intake per day that I seem to be comfortable with, I should be hitting between 3000 and 4000 difference on intake and burned. That should be 1 pound per day. I am not getting that. Have to look into this more.

Routine

Day 11 or 12, can't remember off hand. I am beginning to feel a normal routine take hold. The half hour Power 90 is done 5 out the 7 days of the week, with Wednesdays and Sundays off. It goes like this; get home do the daily Power 90 circuit 1 & 2. Throw on the feet gloves and go clean the dog poo for the day in the backyard including filling the dog water bowls with cool water. Leash the dogs and head out for a 1/2 hour to 45 minute walk. Head inside while the dogs cool off and grab a shower. Then eat. This week I've thrown in a run/walk at lunch of a total of 3.4 miles. That is twice around the block at work. First day I did roughly 1.25 mile jog, yesterday a 1.75 mile jog. The rest was walking. All in the feet gloves.

This past weekend I did have 9 beers and finished off the 12 pack on Tuesday night. Of course the nicotine craving kicked in right away. Had to two packs of smokes from Friday night to Tuesday. Not good, but in relation to the 1 1/2 pack a day before not that bad either. Still, it might be better to cut out the beer for about 2 months til I break the cig habit completely.

Weight loss is slowing down this week. In fact I gained a pound between Tuesday and today. I know the cause. We went and used our $20 food coupons at the Canary last night. I ordered the taco salad minus the sour cream and refried beans. Also had the tortilla soup minus the chips. Somewhere in the meal there must have been some flour or wheat. That is the only thing I can think of to explain the 1 pound gain is a day. Lesson learned. Only Primal food cooked at home from now on (except August 14th when Famous Dave's is doing the Daves eat free again).

Current weight is at 226.6.

Right now I am eating the last of the spinach bread I made on Sunday. It seems to be a great fuel for my lunch jogs in 100+ heat. I can not remember when I was able to jog over a mile at once. I will be sticking with this fuel source every weekday at 11 a.m.

Fasting Lesson Learned

Okay, I did roughly a 20 hour fast yesterday. It felt good, no real hunger pains until hour 19. Then I had to eat something and quick. I ended up having sauerkraut and two brats (minus the bun of course) with some brown spicy mustard (not made with sugar). It was by far one of the best tasting meals all week! Hunger really is the best spice.

But, my exercise routine paid the price. I had no energy to do cardio, abs or even take the dogs for a walk before eating. After the meal I felt too stuffed to do much moving. I should have taken the dogs for a walk but even skipped that. To stay on track with the P90 routine I'll jam the missed day into Sunday which was suppose to be the rest day.

Fasting might be out for a while. At least until I am used to being active again. There was a time when I could comfortably eat only every other day. Those days are past for now. They might reappear in the future.

Either way, I just weighed in again. Another 1.9 pounds since Wednesday! This losing weight so far is easy! Sure hope it continues.

I do have to rat myself out. 3 mountain dews over the last two days. One was a 16 ouncer. Oops. Still, not 100% but getting closer. I have a feeling I'll be picking up a 12 pack of Samuel Adam's Summer Ale for the weekend. It is going to be a battle of will not to. The backyard and sun is calling me. It would be strange to do backyard work and not have a Summer Ale sitting on the table. Of course, after the first delicious beer the nicotine craving will begin. This will be a true test of my commitment. I'll update the beer or no beer status on Monday.

Day 4 Update

Everything is nearly on track. I did break down and purchase a pack of smokes yesterday. Had one and passed the entire pack off to a coworker to hold and ration out one a day at lunch. I am not going to sweat the fact I am having trouble quiting cold turkey. 1 a day compared to 20 to 25 a day is a huge improvement.

Jogged a bit yesterday during the longest dog walk yet. Felt good and I pushed myself to go as far as I could.

Weighed myself yesterday. Last weigh in was July 8th and I was at 233.6. The full week in between weighings I ate the standard American diet (SAD) with plenty of mountain dews. But the scale read 228.1 yesterday! 5 1/2 pounds, most of which I bet I lost from Sunday to Wednesday. That got me really excited and is a great motivator.

I am fasting today. I've decided every pay day (every two weeks), I will fast through out the day until evening when I will have a large steak to eat. It is lunch now and so far no stomach rumblings. It really is true, when one's diet consists of meat, vegetables and fat one does not feel hungry like when eating glue (bread and pastas). Although, since this is my first week back at Primal I suspect I will be getting hunger pains around 4 this afternoon. It should also be interesting to see how much energy I have for the workouts tonight and the dog walk with no new fuel added today.

Day 2

Yesterday went great. On Sunday, I printed daily checklists for the entire week excluding Sunday. For each day, I write down the items I want to get done for the day. Yesterday it was;

1. Finish last pack of cigs. Check
2. Eat Primal for Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner. Check
3. Start P90. Check
4. Walk the dogs. Check

Number 4 ended up being an hour walk. Not sure how many miles, but I was moving at a rather slow pace.

Today and the rest of the week will mostly be the same list minus number one. Or with number one changing to "Do not smoke even one cig!". So far so good. It has been 24 hours since my hopefully last cig. Nasty and expensive habit. Be glad to no longer be controlled by it. I even feel lighter with out the pack of smokes in my front shirt pocket. It is like being off a leash.

I will start adding things to the checklist like;

5. Get an hour of sun each day.
6. Walk at lunch (still too hot and I don't want to come back to work all sweaty)
7. Sprint on Fridays.
8. Find some way to incorporate play. I have no clue what this will be. I am rather anti social and not the easiest person to get along with. Maybe learn to dance with Annabell. Who knows.

100% Compliance on 90%

Today I start shooting for 100% compliance on 90% of the 10 Primal Rules. Still missing out on the Play Rule. The plan is walking each night with dogs, no matter the weather. It is hot now, so I will wait til dark to save the dog's paws. All food will be prepared by me out straight out of the Primal cookbook. No fudging, as in no Mountain Dew as a treat at the end of the week. Cigarettes are out again too. Good. Nasty and expensive habit. Snus will be used as long as I think I need it as bridge to being nicotine free. Also, for the first couple of months I am going to cut out altogether the fruits to purge my system of all sugars and to promote rapid weight loss.

Today I grabbed 2 hard boiled eggs (organic of course) and smallish slice of the Egg Bake to take to work with me. The Egg Bake is out of the Primal Cookbook with a few modifications on my part. It is easy to pre-prepare on Sundays and have ready to go for the week. I get about 5 meals out one dish. It includes, 2 medium zucchini, 3 eggs, 5 strips of thick cut crispy bacon, 1 pound ground bison, 1 sweet onion and bacon fat for the oil. Sea salt and peppered to taste. It is delicious and good fuel. No garbage in it.

Tonight, I will do the weight program from the P90 DVDs. This is P90, not P90X. It should be safer for me. Hopefully no injuries along the way as was the case with the P90X program. I tried out the weight program last week which includes several rounds of push ups. I was able to do them but it will take some time to get the elbow back to normal. The push ups were very lopsided. It is my plan to do all 90 days of the P90 program and then reassess by abilities and physical strength/endurance. If it has improved dramatically I will move to the P90 Master series. One step below P90X. If not there yet I will do another round of P90. This will continue with a reassessment every 90 days until I finish the Insanity Series (one, maybe 2, steps above P90X). From there I will back off and maintain using what ever DVD works best for maintaining. Chronic Cardio will be something to watch for at that point. That problem seems a long way off but am looking forward to the day I have it.

Back in Business

Well, it has been roughly 2 months since my bicycle accident that claimed my elbow. I did get a cool scar on my forehead though. And chicks dig scars. So, that is a plus.

But, the accident did knock me off the game for a bit. I used it as an excuse to slack off during the recovery time. Well, that time is over. I am back in business.

Mountain Dew stopped. Check.

No pastas. Check. Been doing that anyways (more below).

Walking. Check.

All grains and sugars cut. Sorta check. Most, but not 100% yet.

Exercise. Check.

Play. No Check. Need to do something about this.

Cutting out all pastas has actually made me lose weight during the recovery time. Even with drinking all that sugar in Mountain Dew.

Here is my new inspiration. This dude started at roughly my starting point and did amazing is a short time.

I wont be shaving my chest for my after picture. This guy did great in a mere 8 months! His name is Dean Dwyer and his full story can be read here: http://www.marksdailyapple.com/when-eating-healthy-is-making-you-fat/#more-22032 Primal living really does promote a fast transformation.

Dean's after picture is what I believe is what all of our natural appearance to be if it were not for the Standard American Diet and the lack of movement in our daily lives. I will soon find out in the next couple of months. Barring any more accidents.