Leveling Off

Today's Weight: 290.4
Last Week's Weight: 293.8

Total Weight Lost: 17.4

Pounds to Goal: 40.4

Weeks to Goal: 17

Pounds Per Week Needed: 2.37

Well, my body is leveling back off just a bit. Still not sure what the problem is or was, but at least I'm back down three pounds...though I'm still three pounds from my lowest weight. I'll just eat clean again today, keep my sodium down, drink a lot of water, and see how it goes.

But not tomorrow. I think I'm going to go back to weekly weigh-ins, at least for a little while. I like weighing daily, as it gives me a better look at how my body reacts to the types of foods I eat, and my activities. But the flip side of that coin is that, when I see my weight jump like it did yesterday, it drives me crazy. 

In that spirit, I've also changed up my tracker at the top of every post. My pounds per week needed to hit 250 on time is a little high, so it's getting the red font treatment today. As I (hopefully) bring that number down, it'll progress from red, to yellow, and finally to green, as we get it to about 1.5 PPW needed.

Today's lunch will be some chicken breast and hardboiled eggs that we pre-prepared. I'll take 'em to work with me, and save money and calories. That should help, too. 

Progress

Still annoyed at the weight today, but this takes a little of the edge off.

SIX Pounds Up

Yesterday's Weight: 287.6
Today's Weight: 293.2

I'm at a loss for words. I have no idea what's going on, here. Here's a look at my Diet yesterday, including a few possible red flags:

1,840 calories (vs. 2,260 suggested)
263g of carbs (vs. a suggested 311g) <
38g of fat (vs. a suggested 75g)
132g of protein (vs. a suggested 85g)
5,800mg of sodium (vs. a suggested 2,500) <
19g of fiber (vs. a suggested 30g) <

Some things to note, here.

CARBS:  I'd been eating about 150g of carbs daily last week. So, even though I was still well under the 311 I'm trying to avoid, I was over 100g above what my body had been taking in. Maybe it's rebelling against the carbs by holding them in?

SODIUM:  No way to sugarcoat this one. That's way too much salt for one day. But even so, is it enough to bring my weight up six pounds overnight?

FIBER:  All the online calculators say I should be eating 30-35g a day. Looking at my food intake last week, I see that I haven't had over 20g once. Is it possible I'm just not processing my foods because I'm not providing my body with enough fiber?

I don't know what the answer is. My body is known for it's odd fluctuations, but normally in the amount of 2-3 unexplained pounds. Nothing like this. It's put me in a bad mood, as seeing that 293 on the scale was something I'd put behind me after dealing with it for days on end last week. I had to fight hard to get my weight to drop, and now I'm right back there fighting again.

And I didn't even get to enjoy a dish of Sesame Chicken, or four slices of Meat Lover's pizza to get me there.

New Low, Baby!

Weight: 287.6 (New Low)
Days to San Juan: 119
Weight to lose: 37.6 pounds
Average daily weight loss needed: .31 pounds (New Low)
Today's Loss: -2.0


Now, THAT is what I call good news.

We ate a cheat meal last night, which sounds bad...but here's what I had during our visit to Red Robin:

One grilled turkey burger on a whole grain bun.
One side of steak fries.

It was a meal of just under 1,000 calories, but I only at about 800 going into it, so I was still 380 calories under my goal of 2,200 and change. My reward for keeping my burger craving in check was a new low on my quest to hit 150, lowering my pounds-per-day needed to hit that goal, and a little bit of pride in myself for doing the right thing. 

Stay Calm, and Take a Deep Breath...

Days to San Juan: 120
Weight to lose: 39.6 pounds
Average daily weight loss needed: .33 pounds
Today's Loss: +.4

Up another .4 pounds, today. Yeah, I know I said I "figured out the formula," and then have failed to follow said formula for the last two days, but I ate so little, and did so much, I feel like I should have seen a drop.

It's tough to eat more, even when you feel like you're full. I was almost 600 calories shy of my 2300 yesterday, and just could not get myself to eat something at 7pm just to get my calories up. I didn't want food, and couldn't make myself eat any.

It's a mental game, at this point. I have to remember that my first 5-7 pounds (I started this weighing 315 pounds), were the only ones that were going to come off easy. After that, it's a mind over body challenge. 

Pictures!

I hate this part, honestly. But to really track this all, I figured I'd better get some pics on record. This is me in a couple of snug shirts, weighing 289.2 pounds. I'll take the exact same pics every month between now and San Juan. Ugh...pics after the jump.

The Good News...

Days to San Juan: 121
Weight to lose: 39.2 pounds
Average daily weight loss needed: .32 pounds
Average lost per day since 1-22: 1.25 pounds
Today's Loss: +.4

So, it appears as though my 288.8 weigh-in was, in fact, an accurate weigh-in. This, of course, thrills me. I popped back up a little today, but my body almost always does that after a big loss. Today I sit at 289.2, just 39.2 pounds away from my goal of 250. 

I really think I've gotten this eating plan mastered. The day I dropped over 3 pounds I took in almost 2,300 calories. I'd been trying to stay at around 1,900, and I was seeing no movement. My eating looked like this on my big drop day:

Hmmm

Days to San Juan: 122
Weight to lose: 38.8 pounds*
Average daily weight loss needed: .32 pounds
Average lost per day since 1-22: 1.33 pounds*
Today's Loss: -3.6*


You'll notice a couple of things above. 


First, a HUGE drop yesterday of 3.6 pounds. If I found the magic formula, it's that I ate a little more (2,300 calories vs my normal 1,900), and that I ate carbs, but only took in half of my recommended amount (147 vs 300). At 6pm last night, I stepped on the scale just to see, and I was only .6 pounds up from where I was in the morning. That tells me that my body was planning on dropping a good chunk of weight, and that my 288.8 on the scale this morning could very well be legit. 


But what you'll also notice is a few asterisks. Now, I had a couple of "beverages" last night as night-caps. Based on my headache this morning, it's possible I should have had two, as opposed to my three. If I am, in fact, a tad dehydrated, then my weight probably isn't accurate this morning. Hence, the asterisks. 


So today, I eat clean again, aim for about 2,300 calories, keep the carbs low, and drink my 100 ounces of water. And tomorrow, we see what the real weight is. 


If the weight holds, I can officially say that this is the lowest I've weighed in over three years. 

Finally Dropping

Days to San Juan: 123
Weight to lose: 42.4 pounds
Average daily weight loss needed: .34 pounds
Today's Loss: -1.4


Well, I think my issue is carbs. I didn't count them yesterday, but I can estimate that I took in less than 100g of them. The result? My first sub-293 since I started this. So, while I don't have a ton of time today to look into it, my plan is to research the least amount of carbs you can eat and still be healthy, and aim for that every day. 


It'll be a challenge, as I LOVE potatoes, breads, and pastas, but it'll be worth it. 


KA 

Runnin' and Walkin' and Saladin'

Becky here.  It's time to kick this weight loss into gear.  After a month of hovering around the same weight, it's time to take more drastic measures to drop the fat.  The only thing that worked for me the first time around was running.  I loathe running, but it works.

So in an effort to get back into the swing of things, I'm doing a walk/run dealio similar to Couch to 5K to ease myself back into consistent running. Since I used to run, I don't need to start from the beginning, so I started today with a 3-minute run followed by a 2-minute walk.  I did this six times, and it ended up being a 30-minute workout.

Then I followed that up with a romaine/spinach salad with cheddar, turkey and almonds because salads are awesome.

San Juan body, here I come!

Sunnofa...

Days to San Juan: 124
Weight to lose: 43.8 pounds
Average daily weight loss needed: .35 pounds
Today's Loss: +1.0


Well, I'm about to get annoyed.

I lost a total of .4 pounds in week one in this quest. I ate about 95% clean (some extra salad toppings, and a naked burrito were my only issues this week), I ran sprints twice, I played high-intensity frisbee (just trust me), and I did push-ups to failure yesterday. I'm not going to say how few I did, as it's a bit sad, but I did them.

My $19 Running Shoes

Clearance deals are great. Allow me to introduce you to the newest member of Operation: San Juan...a pair of size 14 Saucony Propel Plus running shoes.

Uncool

Well, the good news is that I have created the perfect diet if you want to maintain your current weight.

The bad news is, that sucks.

I have dropped .8 pounds since Monday morning. My eating has been 96% perfect, with a naked grilled chicken burrito from Qdoba as my only slip-up this week. At this pace, I'll drop just a hair over 15 pounds by the time we leave for San Juan. That's not gonna cut it.

Now, I admit my activity wasn't great this week. Ran sprints a few times, but in those crappy shoes I have, they were crushing my feet. I'll hope to remedy that problem by picking up some running shoes today, but we will see.

As for the diet, I'm wondering if not eating enough is part of the problem. I've got my diet on such a lockdown, that maybe if I loosen it up, and get back to just a normal, healthy diet, my body will react better. But that's a slippery slope. If I stop analyzing every item I eat, it'll be easier to slip up.

I'll give it a shot today, see what happens tomorrow, and hope I'm a step closer to figuring this out. I need to crack the formula, or I'll be "that guy." You know, the dude swimming in a t-shirt? Yeah, him. I'd like to avoid that.

The Foods

Here's a look at the kinds of foods I'll be trying to incorporate into my eating.

1. Whole Eggs. Cheap & rich source of protein: 7g/egg. The yolk contains most nutrients: half the protein, vitamins A/D/E and cholesterol to naturally increase your testosterone levels.

Don't worry about cholesterol in eggs. Dietary cholesterol isn't bound to blood cholesterol. Read this, this, this & this. If you have bad cholesterol, lower your body fat rather than throwing the yolk away.

2. Fish Oil. Reduces inflammation (joints/skin), lowers body fat and increases testosterone levels. You need 9000mg EPA/DHA per day. Since you'll probably struggle to get that from eating fatty fish, consider a fish oil supplement.

Up We Go

Well, I was HOPING to see a drop, but that's not how it worked out.

In honesty, I did have a "cheat" mean at Chipotle' yesterday. This "cheat" consisted of rice, beans, cheese, grilled chicken, and some sour cream. That's it. No tortilla, either. While it likely wasn't going to get an A+ grade from a diet expert, it sure wasn't the worst thing in the world. And there's no way it was SO bad that it caused me to GAIN 1.4 pounds.

Yeah...GAIN 1.4. Not LOSE 1.4.

So, this morning I find myself feeling pissed, annoyed, upset, and confused. Sadly, I also feel hungry.

I'm not really sure what to do, now. My diet has been great, with yesterday's Chipotle adventure. Lower carbs, no carbs after 3 or 4, sprints a couple days a week...and now my weight is going up.

So today's goal is to focus. Just calm down, and focus. Oh, and eat a HUGE burger with some fries...

Weight Freeze

The whole point is to lose weight, slim down, and feel OK about taking my shirt off at the beach in May.

Here on day three of sprints and clean eating, I was hoping to see a nice weight drop. Instead, I added .4 pounds today, on a day when I traditionally see a that measurable drop.

Here's how my body has always worked when it comes to dropping weight: Eat great and get active, and my weight will barely move for 2-3 days. Then, out of nowhere, I'll drop 2-3 pounds on that third or fourth day. At the end of a week, I've normally lost anywhere from 2-4 pounds, which is a really great number.

But since I choose to weigh daily, and take a 5-day average, those days in between the drop can be horribly frustrating. Like, say, today for instance.

It's at this point where I just need to buckle down, be patient, and keep doing what I know I need to be doing. The rest will come. I just hope it happens tomorrow.

Eating!

Yeah, baby.

This is day two of Operation: San Juan. And it's day two of perfectly clean eating. The quest to be shirtless continues...with a chicken salad!

Weight is down a little over two pounds in two days, and I sit exactly 43 pounds from my goal of 250.

The 10-Year Anniversary

May 11, 2012 will mark 10 years since Becky and I were married.

Having never had a honeymoon, and with only having a handful of days of "vacation" in that span, I decided I wanted to do something special with Becky to celebrate a decade of marriage.

So, San Juan, it is.

Becky has a project coming up that will nearly pay for a 4-day, 3-night stay at a beachfront resort. The rest, we'll save up. That's the good news.

The bad news is that, last I heard, beach resorts were a place where bathing suits were the norm. Swimming with a t-shirt on is alright when you're 12 and at summer camp, but not for people in their mid-30's.

This blog, as often as it'll be updated, will focus on our quest to slim down for the beach, get ready to travel, and to discuss our adventure. Really, it's just an excuse to talk about how excited we'll be as we get closer to May.

That reminds me...anybody wanna watch a couple kids??