Week 6 of my Weight Loss Journey - Work Got in the Way

Week 6: It's hard to Make Progress When Work Keeps Getting in the Way

Well, honestly, it wasn't the worst week. I just didn't make any progress and I did take a tiny step backwards but I'm not too worried. Actually, I just double checked and I only went from 194.4 to 200 this week, which is pretty darn good considering I didn't work out until today. 

I didn't do anything Monday and on Tuesday, I had to go out of town for work for 3 days which was unexpected. I found out Tuesday around noon, and I was on the road at 5 p.m.  

The hotel mentioned a fitness center but I couldn't find it anywhere. I'm actually going back this week so I'll figure it out. I could have done in-room body weight exercises, but I was honestly pretty beat. Work, combined with 95 degree heat - and really hot heat if you know what I mean - was not conducive to exercise. In fact, the last few weeks, it has either been unbearably hot and humid or it's been pouring rain!

On the trip, I knew I'd end up eating fast food given my travel budget but I had a workound of sorts. Breakfast was served at the hotel and I just had eggs and sausage. For lunch on the two days I was away, I just had those little "lunch on the go" chicken salad and Tuna salad kits. They come with a cookie, fruit cup, tuna or chicken salad and crackers. They are somewhere around 300-400 calories. 

Dinner however, was another thing. Chipotle the night I got there. Burger King one night, and Dairy Queen the night I left to come back home. Where I also "treated" myself and got a cookie dough blizzard. Supposedly, it was over 1,000 calories for a medium according to the Google Health fitness app. I found that hard to believe, but I guess it is what it is. So that was my "Cheat Day" since the other days were more in-line with calories even though I was way over on carbs all the days. 

I got home late Thursday and Friday was another travel day for me and I let the day get away without any exercise. But today - Saturday - was much better. I did my ankle exercises, I worked out with my weights and kettlebell and I hiked around 3.75 miles. 

Since I have to travel again on Monday and be gone Tuesday & Wednesday, I will be better prepared. I plan on taking my resistance bands with the handles and if it turns out that there isn't a gym, I will have something more than just body weight exercises I can do. And I will do them. I am comitted. I think I'll even make a video of my "Hotel Room Workout". 

Progress Photos at the End of 6 Weeks

I did want to show my progress at the end of 6 weeks though. This is what I look like going from 212 to 199. I'm pretty excited actually. Hard to believe my gut is that much flatter. Sorry about the underwear shot. I took it for my own benefit. It was to shock me into action with how gross I felt and I gross I thought I looked. But it was then the only picture I had once I started losing weight. Again, that was at 212lbs and my heaviest was actually 213 although I don't think a pound would look any different. As I mentioned above, this after pic is me at 199lbs although today I did weigh in at 200 with going away for work. But the after pick was technically at the end of week 5, but again, I don't think a single pound is going to look to drastically different. I was just so excited to get below 200, that I took this picture on that day. 

 

Weeks 4 & 5 of my Weight Loss Journey. I've Lost 14lbs So Far

Week 4: July 5th - 11th

I finished my 4th week but not much had changed. Despite little change, I'm super happy about it. Why you ask? Well, this past week was my 11 year anniversary which also coincided with a week of vacation. Typically, people gain 10lbs when they go on vacation. I only gained 1.2!! 

Only gaining 1.2lbs includes eating and drinking on my anniversary. I didn't track anything. I just enjoyed the day. It also includes me missing my Thursday workout. Well...I could have worked out, but again, I focused on my anniversary which was amazing. 

Once vacation was over, I was ready to get back on track. Three workouts per week, watching my carbs and tracking my food same as before. 

Week 5: July 12th - 18th 

Keeping to my macros but honestly getting a little closer to my TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure), I lost 1.8lbs this week. There was one small difference. After 4 weeks of using the same weights for the upper body part of my workout, just 10lbs, I increased the weight to 15lbs. I know it doesn't sound like to alot to most people, but with no rest between exercises, the arms fatigue very quickly. I tried to go up to 20lbs just to see, but my form was breaking down too much so I was smart and went with 15lbs. 

I only did one run this week and no track workout. However, the 1.47 miles I ran was a hard effort and with the hills, I still eeked out a 12:30 pace. Slower than my mile time, but again, a half-mile farther and with hills. 

So, as of the end of this 5th week, I'm down 6lbs since I started this blog, 14 pounts since I said "No More!!" when I hit 213lbs. It's nice to know that all that knowledge I had came back to help me. I guess I just had to reach a breaking point where my "should" became a "must". 

Weight Loss Journey - Week 3

It's the 3rd week of documenting my weight loss journey and things are going good. I woke up and got on the scale and weighed in at an even 200! I've very happy because I'm making progess. I'm not feeling hungry. And I've lost 5 pounds since starting this blog. It is said that 1-2 pounds per week is a good range for weight loss because it typically means you're losing fat and not muscle. So, what have I been doing?

I've been doing a simple resitance training at home with my dumbells and kettlebells. It only takes me about 10 minutes so it's something that I can do even if it gets late and I just want to go upstairs to bed. With the dumbells, I do 10 x arm curls, hammer curls, tricep kickbacks, overhead press, side raises and front raises. I take no rest in between. I go from exercise to exercise. Once I'm done with those, I switch to the kettlebell and do the following. 15 x Goblet Squats, kettlebell swings, deadlift. On my last workout I did add 15 x single leg RDL (Romanian Deadlift) switching legs of course to work both sides. I really felt this one and could tell there was some weakness there. This exercise will become a regular as I know it'll help my running.

Speaking of which; I ran this morning at the track above McCormick Field. It's a really nice track and not crowded on a Saturday morning. At least not this Saturday morning. I did one of my favorite track workouts: Sprint the straightaways and jog (or in my case today, walk) the curves. It's basically a HIIT workout on the track.  

As far as eating goes. I am tracking as best I can. Some things just aren't in the database but I can add somethings if it has a nutrition label. For other things, I'll take a picture and ask AI to estimate the calories and macros and then manually add it based on those numbers. It must be fairly accurate becuase it's working for me. If I happen to have a sweet, which has happened, I will focus really hard on no or very little carbs the rest of the day. This has been working too as I haven't felt deprived of eating what I like. It just requires more planning for the rest of the day. 

In fact, just yesterday, I planned for ice cream at the end of the day. I left myself enough calories and carbs in reserve to have two scoops of ice cream (vanilla and chocolate) with chocolate chips. 

April 9th I was 213 and started losing weight just trying to move a little more but I ate pretty much the same. From April 9th until June1 I just focused on moving more and that got me to hover around 208-210 the whole time. Since I've cut back on the carbs, I've noticed that the old adage is true - Weight loss is done in the kitchen. Obviously, moving helps too, but the carbs are what as moved the needle the most for me. At least so far. 

My Weight Loss Journey: 2 Week Progress Report

It's Been To Weeks: Progress Report

Well, it's been an interesting two weeks. I was really doing great. Low carbs, resistance training twice per week but then I got off track after Father's Day. 

I had lost 4 pounds in the first week which was mainly water weight due to eating fewer carbs. But I was still happy. Going back to April 9th, when I was 213, being at 201 was so great!

But lately, I keep going over on carbs and the water weight is coming back. However, I do feel like I look better. I see little areas that definitely look better. I can't really say what it is, but my clothes fit better. The other day I took my belt in a notch was really motivational, so even though the scaled has crept back up, my clothes are fitting different. Another way I can tell is that my gut is much smaller. I no longer have to suck in my gut to see the numbers on the scale. 

It's amazing what a difference just a few pounds can make. 

In addition, I found a mile road race in August that I have signed up for, so I now have another layer of motivation to get back in shape and lose weight. While not a hard and scientific number, it is a rule of thumb that for every pound a runner loses, they speed up 1-2 seconds per mile. So if I can drop 10lbs by August 22nd, I should be 10-20 seconds faster than I am now. On top of that, with working out and doing speed work, I should get faster as well. 

I did a time trial today and ran a 12:18 mile. 8 weeks from today is the mile race. My goal is to run it sub-10. My Oh Shiz Goal is to run it sub-8 but that is going to be REALLY tough. But then again, like I said, that's my "Holy Shiz" goal. 

I may not get there in 8 weeks, but I will get there.

 Video Walkthrough of My Macro Calculator

I wanted to show you how my spreadsheet works for calculating my macros. If you like this tool I made, let me know and I'll be happy to share it with you.

Unfortunately, there is a size limit to videos I can post, so I had to give up the sound to get it to fit.

Basically, I walk you through entering your information in the green fields. At times, you may need to enter a result from a yellow field but most of the time, the cell that needs it, will pick it up automatically. 

You'll enter your age, weight and goal weight. If you know your height in inches, great! If not, and you're bad at math, I have a mini-calculator you can use. The next thing to enter is your gender and then your activity level. 

Once these are entered, you'll see your BMR or Base Metabolic Rate and your TDEE or Total Daily Energy Expenditure. If the "For Weight Loss" field is red, you are too low. Simply click in the formula bar and adjust the default -500 to something lower like -300 or -250 so that you get to where your "weight loss" calories are higher than your BMR figure. 

You'll see your macors below. Botht the calories from each macro as well as how many grams you can from each macro. 

The way I did this was simple. I took my goal body weight and multiplied it by 1 for protein. I then took 35% of my current body weight to calculate my fat needs. What remains is what I can allocate to Carbs. 

Nutrition Basics and How I'm Approaching my Weight Loss

My Weight Loss Strategy - Fuel vs Food

In my 50's, I've tried a lot of things but I just lose weight, gain weight, lose weight, gain weight in a never ending cycle. So now I'm trying a simpler, more sustainable approach. It may not sound simple at first but bear with me. 

They say that fat is lost and abs are made in the kitchen. So here is my approach to "dieting". I have created an excel spreadsheet that will take my age, height, weight, gender and activity level and calculate not only my Base Metabolic Rate (BMR), but also my Total Daily Expenditure (TDEE) and the suggested calories I should aim for to lose 1lb per week. With this tool I've made in Google Sheets, it's now super easy for me to enter my numbers and get an instant result for how I should eat...or should I say, how I should fuel my body. 

Some Quick Science

OK. So that's a lot of acronyms. "What the heck to those mean?" you might be asking. Here's a quick run down on nutrition and how I got to this idea. There's an equation that is commonly used called the Mifflin-St Jeor equation. This equation as mentioned above, gives you your BMR. When you muliply that by your activity level, you get your TDEE. 

BMR is your Base Metabolic Rate. This is the number of calories that your body needs just laying on the couch and breathing. Maybe you are even napping. This is just simply existing. 

TDEE is you Total Daily Energy Expenditure or how many calories you need walking around, going to work, exercising, etc. If you are Sedentary, lightly active, moderately active, active or very active, you multiply your BMR by a corresponding rate. 1.2, 1,375, 1.55, 1.725 or 1.9 respectively. 

If you look at the formula, at least when I looked at it and created this calculator, the first thing you'll notice is that if you want to eat more, move more. For example, because I have a desk job, I have mine set at sedentary. This gives me 2039 calories to maintain my weight. But if I start being super active and working out hard 6-7 days per week or I get a job doing construction and I'm lifting heavy stuff for 8 hours a day or more, all of the sudden I have to eat 3229 calories to maintain my weight. 

Notice in both of those I said to maintain my weight. If I eat more consistently, I'll gain weight. If I eat less consistenly, I'll lose weight. To lose 1 pound per week, I need to eat 3500 calories less which works out to cutting 500 calories per day. I could exercise more and that would help, but it takes a long time just to burn 100 calories, let alone 500. So as you can see, it's easier to do it in the kitchen. 

HOWEVER...You have to be careful. It's possible to be in a situation where reducing your calories by 500 can be too aggressive and it actually places you eating less than your BMR requires. In the short term, it's not really a problem. But if you do it for too long, your body can and likely will adapt. And here is the issue with that: When you go back to eating more like you used to, the weight comes back with a vengeance and you can end up weighing more than before because your BMR is now lower than before so anything above seems like excess. This is what is happening when you hear the term "yo-yo" dieting. I probably oversimplified it, but you get the point. If you body thinks there's not enough food, it will adapt, start using muscle tissue for fuel and it just creates a viscious cycle downward.

To make sure I don't do this, I have put in some conditional formating on my spreadsheet. If my TDEE minus 500 goes below my BMR, the cell will turn red so I know that's lower than I personally want to go. I have a choice. I can raise my activity level or I can change my calorie reduction to less than 500. This is not the end of the world. Let's say I set it at 250 calorie reduction. This means instead of losing a pound per week, it'll be a half pound. Again, not the end of the world, just a little slower progress. 

Nutrition & Macros! 

So, how does all this translate into eating? Well, now that I know how many calories I can have, I have to figure out how to get the most bang for my buck, so to speak. Let's say I have 1800 calories that I can eat. I need to figure out the best combination to fuel my body so I can do the exercises I want and lose the weight. 

Foods are made up of three macronutrients: Protein, Fat and Carbs. I'm sure you've heard of those. But what are they and why do we need them? You've probably heard of Paleo, Atkins and other low carb diets. If you grew up in the 80's you probably remember the craze was low-fat diets. Basically, all diets are just elimination diets. You are either cutting down on a Macronutrient like fat or carbs, or you are cutting down on calories which is essentially cutting down on all macros. Oversimplified, but you get my point. 

Protein 

Protein helps build and repair muscle. You've probably heard of body builders talking about protein shakes and chicken, chicken and more chicken. That's why. They need lots of protein to build that kind of muscle. Me? I'm not trying to be a body builder so I will have a more normal diet and not 6 meals of nothing but chicken, rice and brocolli each day...LOL.  

Protein has 4 calories per gram and a great source is chicken. Of course, steak, beef, pork have protein, but they are higher in fat which may or may not fit your goals. 

The recommended amount is anywhere from .7grams up to 1.2 grams per pound of goal body weight. with my goal of 180lbs, that means I need to be hitting somewhere between 126 grams up to 216 grams. Until I'm running and lifting more, I'll probably stick to the lower end. 

Fats

Fats come in different types, and some are better than others. Olive oil, avocados, fish like Salmon, most nuts, are all good fats. Things like seed oils are thought to be less good for you. 

Fats have 9 calories per gram. This is some of the reason why some diets cut down on fat, because at 9 versus 4, it's an easy way to get fewer calories. However, your brain loves fat so you can't cut it out completely. 

The recommended amount of healthy fats in your diet is between 20% to 35%. I'll probably be around the higher end just because. I like steaks and hamburgers. I'm not here to suffer. I'm looking for sustainability.

Time Out - Let's Do Some Math

Alright, so I've decided I'll aiming for 1800 calories. My 126 grams of protein (x 4 calories per gram) will give me 504 calories. My fat intake at 35% (1800*.35) is 630 calories. When I add these together, I'm at 1,134 calories. That means that I have 666 calories left that I can assign to carbs. Uh...wait a minute. Let's call it 665. YIKES! Who said diets aren't evil? It's just been proven...LOL

Anyways, 665 calories divided by 4 (to give us the grams in that many carbs) is 166 (rounded) grams of carbs that I could have. However, I think that's too many as I have good luck losing weight when my carbs are limited to 120g per day. So...since I'm already at my limit for Fats, it looks like I will have to add in some more protein. Since I'm going to be eating (166-120) 46g fewer of carbs, and they account for the same number of calories per gram of protein, I can have 46 extra grams of protein. 

Carbohydrates

Carbs are interesting. Like Protein, Carbs have 4 calories per gram. Now, while Protein and Fat are required macronutrients, Carbs are not necessarily required. You need protein or you'll waste away with no muscle. You need fat or your brain will have problems. But nobody ever died because they didn't have bread or pasta - which, for argument sake, are the carbs I'm talking about. Fruits and veggies have carbs, but in my opinion, we need those. Fruits and veggies have micronutrients like vitamins and minerals, not to mention fiber! But I digress.

When you think of runners, you picture them at their spaghetti dinners and while the body does use carbs for energy, it's not 100% necessary. You'll also picture them as stick figures if you've ever watched an elite marathoner. Unless they eat enough protein, after the carbs burn off, the body can break down muscle tissue and convert parts of it to glucose for energy instead of getting it from carbs. 

In the past, I had a nutritionist and he set me on this 120g limit of carbs and I did lose weight. At that time, I was struggling with tracking and keeping up with the numbers so I gave up. 

One more thing I want to mention: When you cut carbs like this, you might see a big quick weight loss. What you're seeing is mostly water weight. Intially. At some point, you'll start to slow down but with fewer carbs for your body to pull from for energy, it will turn to fat as a fuel source and you'll continue to lose weight although it will be slower. than it intially was. But 1 to 2 lbs per week is considered a good weight loss goal. 

Enough Science! Tell Me What to Eat

Honestly, I'd say eat what you like, but use moderation and try to stay in your macros. As stated before, I'm not here to tell you what to do, but rather show you what I'm doing. 

Essentially, change the way you think of food first. I love food. The smell, the taste, it's amazing! But I'm changing my way of looking at it. I'm seeing it now as fuel for my body rather than something for pure enjoyment. (although there is still enjoyment from it)

I'm avoiding sodas and sweets. My two favorite things. I am drinking the occassional Coke Zero, but honestly it's not the same. It does satisfy that craving though and it's zero calories. I don't like to drink a lot of them though. I am trying to eat things from the outer aisles of the grocery store. Fruit, veggies, meats, cheese. All the pre-packaged crap full of sugar, I'm trying to avoid or do in moderation. 

With that said, I do like frozen veggies. They are packed at peak freshness, and they don't go bad in the crisper when you forget about them. A bag in the freezer is always there for you. I also like frozen dinners. Hear me out. 

A lot of people meal prep, or they order meals from a provider or a place like Nutrisystem use to do. What's the difference? I can get a meal, with Carbs, proteins and fats and have it in my freezer for when I'm too tired to cook. It's also pre-portioned so I don't have to worry about over-eating. 

Now. With all of that, I will say that if you use an app (there's a million - or least a dozen) to track your meals and macros, it does help immensly. I will eat low carb for breakfast and lunch and save those carbs for dinner or for a sweet treat. Just tonight, I had consumed mostly protein and fat during the day and was able to have two scoops of ice cream. I know I said I was trying to cut down on sweets, but I like to treat myself because I see that as being more sustainable than saying I'll never eat ice cream again. 

There you have it. That was a lot longer post than I thought it would be. Sorry about that. Maybe it should have been spread out over several posts. But the point I hope you leave with is that you can eat better, lose weight, and still enjoy the foods you like. 

My Workout Equipment: What I'll be Using to Lose Fat

What I'm Using to Get Back in Shape and Lose Weight

It doesn't take a lot of equipment or even a gym membership to get back in shape. Would it help? Sure! But I don't have the time to go to a gym and would rather have one less frickin' subscription/monthly withdrawel every month. So, let's get into it.

Here's the equipment I'm using in my plan to lose fat and get down to 180lbs. 

Resistance Bands

This is a flat stretchy band used in physical therapy. I'm using it to help with my ankle issues. I'lll use it to place around my foot and then flex my foot like I'm pushing the gas pedal. I'll also loop it around my foot and turn my foot inwards toward the other foot, and then outward away from my body. These give me a pretty full range of motion and I always feel better after doing them. 

Adjustable Dumbbells

I have a set of dumbbells that can go from 5lbs up to 50lbs. All I do is turn the handle and the weights go up or down. It's super easy to use and adjust. So far, just starting out, I've been doing 1 set of arm curls, hammer curls, tricep kickbacks, overhead press, front raises and side raises.

Kettlebell

I have one kettlebell that weighs 20lbs. This is good for squats or hip hinge type movements. So far, like above, I've been doing just 1 set of kettlebell swings and goblet squats. 

Resistance Tubing

Resistance tubing are round surgical tubing with handles. They are great for mimicking just about every exercise. You can stand on the tubing, hold the handles and do arm curls, overhead presses, or use a door attachment and do rows or lat pulldowns depending on how you position the door attachment. 

I've not used these yet as I've just started back, but I do plan on utilizing them for things like a standing bench press, rows, lat pulldown and things like that. I'm still working on a plan. 

Walking Pad

My son bought me a walking pad for christmas. It actually goes up to 4 mph which is a little bit more than walking speed. It's somewhere between speed walking and a slow jog at that speed. I'll tipically walk at 3 or 3.5 mph. It folds up and slides under the couch when I'm not using it which is great. I don't have the space to leave it out all the time.

I try to walk outside and get at least 10,000 steps each day. On the weekends, my wife and I go hiking so it's no problem. But during the week, it can be tough with driving or sitting at a desk all day. So whatever I'm short on steps, I will try to make up on the walking pad before going to bed. For example, tonight I'm at 8,612 steps. As soon as I post this, I'll get on the walking pad and walk at least 1,388 steps which should take about 13 minutes or less. I've found that I can walk over 100 steps per minute and therefore walk approximately 1,000 steps every 10 minutes. I usually do better than this, but on average, I'd say it's pretty close. 

Bench

I do have a bench in the basement that I can use flat or in various states of incline. It needs a really good cleaning, but it should inspire me to do some additional exercises like dumbell bench press, incline bench, etc. 

My Body

Of course, the OG tool I was born with is my own bodyweight. Push ups, Jumping Jacks, Mountain Climbers are just some of the exercises I plan on implementing along the way. 

So that's my plan and my equipment. Wish me luck.