Day 29

GOALS

• Goal date:  2/26/11
• Weight goal: 217.8 pounds
• Total Inches Goals: 124-1/4

I have decided to put my short-term goals in the front of every post - to help keep my focus, although I am finding this routine very easy - no struggle at all.

32 hours after my last cheat meal, and 20 hours since my last weigh-in, I was at 229 pounds. Again. I am above my pre-cheat weight, but, for the second day in a row, right at goal weight. I have read that it takes 48 hours for the cheat weight to come off, so I am not worried.

I think I would have had better results today if I had 1) drank more water (I estimate I drank 2-1/2L, less than my typical 3+ Liters), and B) had three meals, instead of two. Skipping a meal, even when it means consuming less calories (as was the case yesterday), has, in my last 4 weeks' experience, always hurt my progress.

Have I mentioned that I give little creedence to the calories in/calories out theory of weight loss? That is the idea that if you consume less calories than you expend through metabolism and work, you cannot help but lose weight. Of course, in the short run, this is definitely the case (I have used Nutrisystem, and friends have been successful on Weight Watchers, both based largely on this idea), but studies have shown that, long-term, most people gain back more weight than they lost using this method. It has also been shown that, when consumption of extreme excess calories is done on an irregular basis (like my cheat day), the effect on weight loss, if any, is enhancement, not the stall that calories in/calories out would predict.

Today, I drank more than 3L of water, had about 32 oz of coffee, and ate on plan.

No pictures today - I was without my cellphone (which I use to take all my blog pictures).

This is what I ate:

For Breakfast: Coconut oil-sauteed baby spinach, black beans, one large organic egg and a 1/3C of egg whites.

For  Lunch: Rotisserie chicken slices, black beans marinated in balsamic vinaigrette, over mixed romaine.

For Dinner: Sauerkraut appetizer, then chili made with grass-fed organic ground beef, black beans, tomatoes and chili spices, eaten with steamed cauliflower.

As always, please leave a comment if you visit my blog. Thank you.

Day 28

Today starts my second 4-week cycle. At the end of this cycle, I hope to weigh less than 218 pounds, measure less than 124-1/4 inches and be at less than 28% body fat on February 26th - 4 weeks from now. Since today is the first day of the new cycle, my post-cheat weight of 229 pounds has not generated a trend line. That will come tomorrow.

Weird day today - I am curious to see how it affects my weight in the morning. I ate breakfast very close to lunchtime, and made an unusual and very filling dish. Then I wasn't hungry until dinner. So, two meals.

Brunch

Does this look terrible? Yeah, I thought so. But it was actually very good: Sauteed baby spinach, refried beans, and scrambled eggs (made with 1/3C egg whites and 1 whole large organic egg). Not shown, but eaten: Salsa. 

Dinner

Scallops, and black beans with mixed vegetables

Day 27 - G-O-O-O-A-A-A-A-L!!!

First goal met: Weight this morning was 227.8, handily beating my goal of 229. Here's the chart:

Here are all the measurements:

            Last Week      Today       Difference

Weight        229.0        227.8        -1.2 lbs

Chest         43.75         43.0        -0.75"

Waist         42.75         42.5        -0.25"   

Hips          41.25         40.75        -0.5"   

Total Inches 127.75        126.25        -1.5"

Not just a loss of 1.2 pounds, but a loss of 1-1/2 inches!  I am very happy with those results!

Now, my next goal: 217.8 lbs. and 124.25 total inches on 2/26/11 - 10 pounds in 4 weeks. We shall see. I know I'm starting out by putting on a few pounds with today's cheat day. I wasn't good about taking pictures of everything I ate, so there's going to be some text...

I had a great birthday, and here's what I ate:

Breakfast

One half of a Ruby grapefruit shown. Two halves eaten (1 with, 1 without a little stevia).

Peppers and onions and eggs (2 large) with salsa and a buttered multigrain flaxseed bagel. And, of course, black Pacific Rim organic coffee.

After Breakfast

Exactly 12 Oreo cookies, washed down with more black coffee.

"Lunch"

Really, no lunch to speak of. After stuffing myself with Oreos, I wasn't hungry for hours.

Dinner

I went to a birthday party, and dinner was from this table (and a side table not pictured). From this table, I ate some tortilla chips and guacamole, pasta-ham salad, fish bites, veggies and ranch dressing, mini-quiche, pasta salad, and quesadillas. From the other table, I ate chocolate-covered grahams and pretzels, and a chocolate, respberry-filled birthday cake.

After Dinner

Walnuts and Starbucks Java Chip Frappuccino ice cream.

We'll see tomorrow how much damage eating this stuff did...

If you visit here, please leave a comment. Thank you.

Day 26 - Tomorrow's the day!

One day to go. Tomorrow is my birthday, my goal day, and my cheat day.

This morning's weight: 229.4 -  the same as yesterday's and still above last Saturday's weight. My takeaway? I can't simply disregard the quantity of food (except cheat day) to get the best results. I will probably go back to 1/3 C of egg whites, and keep my meals to a rational portion of protein and beans, with nothing extra (except for veggies).

Today's foods:

Breakfast

No change: Baby Spinach sauteed in coconut oil, with lentils, 1/2C egg whites, and 1 whole large organic egg.

Lunch

Remember the turkey burgers I couldn't eat two of? Here's the other one, on a bed of spring mix greens with lentils, and balsamic vinaigrette.

Dinner

Wild-caught salmon burger,  steamed broccoli and lentils. Eaten but not shown: Some sauerkraut. 

OK - back tomorrow with results. Please comment if you visit this blog.

Day 25

Short and sweet: New weight: 229.4.
Also, today I had less than my usual 3L+ of water.I did, however have much more coffee (about 44 oz) than is typical.

Breakfast

Sauteed Spinach (coconut oil), lentils, 1/2C egg whites, 1 large organic egg.

Lunch

Roast turkey, lentils, spring salad mix, baby spinach, balsamic vinaigrette.

Dinner

One whole avocado with salsa.

Grass-fed beef, black beans, tomatoes, peas and chili spices.

Day 24 Getting close...

Today's weight: 130.4 pounds. Three days to my weigh-in to meet my goal of 229 pounds. Achievable. I reworked my chart from yesterday, and updated the data with today's weight. Now it looks like this:

The chart shows me on course to meet my goal on January 29. But I expect to be lighter than 229 pounds, by about 2 pounds. Will I? I'm looking forward to my weigh-in on Saturday.

I have set my next goal: to drop another 11 pounds by February 26: Goal weight: 218 pounds. Goal total inches: 124. This go-round, I didn't have an inches goal, but now I have a basis for comparison.

This is what I ate today:

Breakfast

Red kidney beans, sauteed spinach, 1/2 C egg whites, and 1 whose egg.

Lunch

Roast turkey, red beans, spring salad, and balsamic vinaigrette.

Dinner

Chili made with organic grass-fed beef, black beans, diced tomatoes and spices, on top of cauliflower. Eaten, but not pictured: 1 large hard-boiled organic egg.

As always, I appreciate any comments you have.

Day 23

With today's weight of 231.2 pounds, I am back! After Saturday's spike of (I'm guessing) around 6 pounds, I am sitting on the trend-line of my weight loss, and only .25 pound above goal weight. That means tomorrow I expect be below both trend and goal weight. I am also on track to meet my initial, short-term goal weight of 229 pounds on my birthday this Saturday.
Most importantly, I'm developing new understanding and confidence in the process. I now understand the cycle better, where I lose weight for 6 days, have a large gain the 7th, then repeat the process, making lower lows before each cheat-day spike. It looks like this:

I also have a better idea of the consequences of going off-plan on the 6 non-cheat days (reduced weight loss, or even a little gain). I also know now that I cannot skip a meal and eat it later without gaining weight.

Today's food:

Breakfast

The usual - sauteed baby spinach, lentils, egg whites, and a whole  egg.

Lunch

Roast beef, lentils, Spring salad, balsamic vinaigrette.

Dinner

Turkey burgers, string beans, refried beans. I only ate one turkey burger.

Day 22 - Learn from my mistakes

Today, I have to correct some mistakes. What mistakes?

• Taking my weekly measurements to judge my progress on Mondays. This is wrong for two reasons. One, I have to rush to do this and get to work on time. However long it takes to do this, it is one more thing to do before work. Secondly, I am still holding extra weight from my cheat day (Monday morning is less than 36 hours since my last and usually biggest cheat meal), which means (since I start accellerating weight loss beginning about 48 hours after that. So, I am, as of today, moving my official weight day to Saturdays (cheat day!). Another reason: this puts my next official weigh-in day on my birthday, which is also my next goal date (I have a 3-month goal, but won't set my next short-term goal until I assess the current one).
• I have been measuring the wrong things for inches. I was not measuring my chest, and I was measuring thighs and biceps. The latter I don't care about, the former I do. As of today, that is fixed. I will only be taking 3 measurements: Chest, Waist, Hips.

Saturday, I will make complete measurements. Here are the measurements I got today:


          Last Week      Today       Difference

Weight      233.8        234.8        +1.0 lbs

Chest                    43.75

Waist       43.75        42.75        -1.0"   

Hips         41.5        41.25        -0.25"

How about those waist and hip comparisons? Down an inch of waist, down a quarter inch on hips. Don't have a chest comparison, though. Given that my weight is way up on today's measurement, I can only draw these conclusions: I am retaining water and building some muscle. I don't know how I'm doing that, because there is little-to-no exercise component of this weight-loss experiment. But I'm getting meaasurably thinner.

Today's food:

Breakfast

Sauteed baby spinach and lentils, 1/2C egg whites, 1 large egg. Never gets old.

Lunch

Spring mix salad with sliced roast turkey, lentils and balsamic vinaigrette.

Dinner

Wild-caught salmon burgers, steamed broccoli with steamed lentils with some of my balsamic vinaigrette and the old reliable sauerkraut.

Day 21

Day after cheat day - almost perfect. A small amount of off-plan food in my lunch (sour cream, shredded cheese).

Breakfast

Scrambled eggs, bacon, smoked salmon, prosciutto, onion, tomatoes, lettuce. I ate more of this (not the eggs, though) than is in the picture. A big, very delicious breakfast, everything on plan except the absence of beans. 

Lunch

On the road, stopped for lunch at 'Holy Guacamole!' for a burrito ensalada: mixed lettuce, chicken, black beans, salsa, sour cream, shredded cheese, salsa, guacamole. I didn't eat the shell. The sour cream and shredded cheese are way off plan. Sue me, it's hard to eat on the road. (We'll see the price at weigh-in tomorrow).

Dinner

Steamed peas, hard-boiled eggs, lentils in coconut oil and salted herbs. 

Day 20 - Cheat Day!

We start cheat day at the same weight as yesterday, 229 lbs. There will be no weigh-in tomorrow, but if I had to guess, it would be somewhere around 234. My dining plans are totally high-calorie, beginning with breakfast, where I consumed about a day's worth of calories at a single sitting.

Breakfast

24 ounces of grapefruit juice. All I said was, "Not small'"

The Big Anthony fritatta (eggs, potatoes, green and red peppers, sausage, pepperoni, onions, and broccoli).

Lunch

This is a Subway Turkey Bacon Ranch with swiss cheese foot-long. Not shown (but eaten) is the ranch dressing and 4 Reese's Peanut Butter Cups.

Dinner

The menu, with (l-r): A shot of Jamersons, sangria, white wine. Water is in the background. Until now, I didn't think there was such a thing as good sangria; I guess I never had Cuban sangria. Mmmmm.

Shrimp, Pork and Beef Empanadas.

Pernil asado (slow-roasted pork), yellow rice, with plantain chips (not shown: black beans).

Deep chocolate rum cake and Cuban cafe con leche (without the leche).

Invisible white rum wedding cake.

The food tonight was very well made and delicious. I was very happy with all my choices. But the food was secondary to the event. I had such a great time. (Thank you, Ann Marie for organizing). It was wonderful seeing my good, old friends (with the exception of a few spouses entering the group 'late,' I have known the 30-or-so people who attended for almost 50 years). One of them was my next door neighbor on 166th St. from 54 years ago! I am truly blessed to have had the ability to stay in touch with these people. who are so important to me. Thanks to a gift the bride gave me for my 50th birthday, that sits on my dresser, I can honestly say that she has been in my thoughts every single day for the last 11 years. I love you, guys!

Day 19

Weight this morning, down to 229! That is goal weight for 8 days away. I am feeling very confident. I am succeeding on this diet, and it has been pretty easy. I never get hungry on this plan, and have had no 'craving' attacks. In fact, I have to force myself a little on cheat day, to be as 'bad' as I need to be (cheat day is meant to be a huge calorie spike, and nothing is prohibited).

I have an amazing cheat day planned tomorrow: I will be going down to New York City in the afternoon. But first, I have a big breakfast planned: a half-size Big Anthony fritatta from Mama Nancy's (I think they only serve the whole one when 'Man v Food' is in town). Lunch will be on-the-road garbage (probably in Pennsylvania). Dinner is a feast at the Havana Club (which used to be one of my favorite bars back in the day - the West End). I am totally psyched to be ratcheting up the wonderful 'bad' food for my 3rd cheat day. Bonus: Since I can't weigh in on Sunday, I don't have to confront the immediate consequences of my off-plan splurge!

Breakfast

1/2C egg whites and 1 whole organic egg in this spinach and black bean omelette,  with salsa on top.

Lunch

Sliced roast turkey, black beans, baby spinach and spring mix salad with balsamic vinaigrette.

Dinner

Before dinner (not pictured): 1 hard-boiled egg. Bison burger with avocado and black bean and salsa; mixed vegetables topped with macadamia nut oil, and spices.

Day 18

Today will be short and sweet. Weighed in at 230.2 this morning. Great!

My breakfast picture didn't come out - it was exactly the same as yesterday's, but instead of salsa, I had a spray of Liquid Aminos soy sauce.

Breakfast

Baby spinach, lentils and 1/2 C egg whites plus a whole egg sauteed in coconut oil.

Lunch

Tuna, lentils, cauliflower, spring mix with balsamic vinaigrette.

Dinner

Bison with brown mustard, refried beans with salsa, mixed vegetables.

Day 17 - Real goals

Today's weigh-in weight of 230.8 is good for many reasons, even though I weighed in at a lower weight last Saturday. The reasons it is good: It is below the day's goal weight; it is below the trend-line; and it feels good, even though it is, by itself, irrelevant. The reasons it is not good: None, except that it is, as I just said, not very relevant to my real goal.

My goal is expressed in weight, because it is easy to measure, but a low weight is not really a good measure of achieving my goal. Body fat % would be a far better measure, but I don't have the tools to do that with any great accuracy (the best ways of measuring body fat % are too expensive and require too long a drive to get done). So I will have to take weight as a proxy for getting healthy, the real goal. Or do I? If I measured 15% body fat (or less!), I would be in fantastic shape. My current medical 'problems' and risks would be a thing of the past. Is that achievable? We'll see. At some point, it would be nice to see my inaccurate body-fat-measuring-scale come up with a number there (15%) or lower. Let me rephrase that (and make it a goal):


I am in the process of reducing my body fat % to 15% by my sister Joan's birthday, July 3. 

That would be reducing my BF% by more than half in exactly 7 months. I have already lost more than 2% in 16 days. This is do-able,

Here's what I ate on the 17th day of achieving that goal:

Breakfast

Baby spinach and lentils sauteed in coconut oil, with 1/3 cup of egg whites and a large organic egg and salsa.

Lunch

Sliced roasted turkey and lentils over spring mix salad with balsamic vinaigrette.

Dinner

1 avocado, mashed, with salsa.

Tilapia sauteed in coconut oil and butter, and steamed cauliflower over refried beans, and balsamic vinaigrette.

A good day. Tomorrow will be a bit challenging, as I am going to have to wake up early and will be spending the work day and more travelling (5-6 hours driving). But, forewarned is forearmed, right?

Day 16

My morning weight of 232.6 is a welcome sign that my weight is trending lower. Last week, my highest weight came on my Monday weigh-in. This week, I have nothing but weight loss since the expected Sunday morning post-cheat weight spike. I am feeling very positive.

Breakfast

Baby spinach and lentils sauteed in coconut oil with 2 eggs.

Lunch

Sliced roast turkey with lentils and balsamic vinaigrette over spring salad mix.

Dinner

Chili with black beans and beef over green beans.

I forgot my pre-lunch AGG. Other than that, a perfect day.

Day 15 - Two weeks in, with measurements

The first week, I measured my weight, body fat %, and BMI against estimates. This week's hard numbers, against actual week-ago measurements are in, and I must say, I am pretty happy with my progress. 

Here are the numbers:

                          Last Week                  Today                     Difference

Weight      235.8        233.8       -2.0 lbs

%BF          31.3%        28.8%      -2.5%

BMI          28.9         28.7       -0.2

Biceps      25.75         25.75

Waist       44.5          43.75

Hips        41.5          41.5

Thighs      43.0          43.0

Total      154.75        154.0       -0.75 in

I am most proud that I shrunk my waist (or what passes as a waist for me, these days) by 3/4 of an inch. I am also very satisfied with a 2-pound weight loss.

Now, here's the food:

Breakfast

Baby Spinach and black beans sauteed in coconut oil with 2 eggs on a bed of spring mix greens.

Lunch

Spring mix with walnuts and balsamic vinaigrette, black bean and beef chili with fresh-grated parmesan.

Dinner

Wild-caught salmon burger on a bed of  black beans and peas with macadamia nut oil and herbs.