Weigh-in Day # 8 : 1 down, 4 to go

Official weight for Monday 10/26/09 : 219
Change from last week : -1

Complete surprise. I expected after this weekend's dietary hedonism to either gain a pound or stay the same, but I must be doing something right....next up in the "how I did it" series is tomorrow hopefully, discussing vitamins/supplements.

Only interesting thing that happened today was I got up, tried to make the train and missed, forcing me to come back home to work. Oh darn.

Diet for 10/26/09:
Breakfast

• Fiber One original w/fat-free milk
• 4 oz orange juice w/vitamins

Lunch

• Subway foot-long chicken breast on wheat
• Baked Lays potato chips
• 1 chocolate chip cookie as a reward :)

Dinner

• The Big Chicken Caesar Salad
• 1 glass red wine

Dessert

• fat-free chocolate frozen yogurt w/Hershey's Lite syrup

Exercise for 10/26/09:

• took a rest day, my legs were a little sore from yesterday

Sleep for 10/26/09:

• 5 hours + a 3 hour nap after I missed the train

Sunday catch-up

Wednesday - went to Oakland for work, not much else to report.

Diet for Wed 10/21/09:
Breakfast

• Cheerios w/fat-free milk
• 4 oz orange juice w/vitamins

Breakfast (work)

• Poppy seed bagel w/butter
• Work mug of coffee

Mid-morning

• 2nd cup of coffee

Lunch

• Turkey sandwich from Ratto's
• Sun Chips Harvest Cheddar

Dinner

• Turkey sandwich on wheat
• 3 large carrots, raw, peeled

Dessert

• fat-free chocolate frozen yogurt

Exercise for Wed 10/21/09:

• 30 min walking around Oakland

Sleep for Wed 10/21/09:

• 5 hours

Thursday - acted as asst coach at soccer practice for Happy Feet, began fast for blood work Friday morning.

Diet for Thurs 10/22/09:
Breakfast

• Fiber One original w/fat-free milk
• 4 oz orange juice w/vitamins
• Big cup of coffee
• 2 pieces wheat toast w/yogurt spread

Lunch

• Tuna sandwich on wheat
• 3 large carrots, raw, peeled

Dinner

• Subway foot-long roasted chicken breast on wheat
• 1 red apple

Dessert

• 100 calorie cup of Jello chocolate pudding

Exercise for Thurs 10/22/09:

• 30-45 min of running with Happy Feet (that sounds funny)

Sleep for Thurs 10/22/09:

• 7 hours

Friday - dropped kids off at school, got blood work done, came home and ate a huge breakfast. Fasting for 12 hours sucks and made me really tired. Went and hung out with friends for a birthday party at night anyway, had a few beers.

Diet for Fri 10/23/09:
Breakfast

• scrambled eggs (4 egg whites, 1 egg)
• 4 strips bacon
• 2 pieces wheat toast w/yogurt butter
• 4 oz orange juice w/vitamins
• Big cup of coffee

Lunch

• Turkey sandwich on wheat
• 3 large carrots, raw, peeled

Snack

• 1 cup fat-free mini pretzels

Dinner

• The Big Chicken Caesar Salad

After-dinner

• 4 light beers (and yeah, it matters, and yeah, you should be counting these)

Exercise for Fri 10/23/09:

• Took the day off, fasting and blood work plus not enough sleep took me out

Sleep for Fri 10/23/09:

• 5.5 hours

Saturday - soccer game for Happy Feet, they won 3-2. Spent most of the rest of the day in bed recovering from Thurs/Fri, though I did take time out to clean up the outside grill (gotta be done every few months or the grease build-up is out of control).

Diet for Sat 10/24/09:
Breakfast

• Cheerios w/fat-free milk
• 4 oz orange juice w/vitamins
• Big cup of coffee
• 2 pieces wheat toast w/yogurt butter

Snack after game

• 1 scrambled egg w/fat-free cheese on whole wheat muffin (thanks Ness)
• 2nd big cup of coffee

Lunch

• Turkey sandwich on wheat
• 1 cup Baked Lays potato chips

Dinner

• Spicy Chicken Salad from Daphne's Greek Cafe w/some pita bread

Exercise for Sat 10/24/09:

• cleaning the grill outside, took about 30-45 minutes

Sunday - went back to Oakland to watch the Raiders drop the worst home loss in team history, depressing. About the only high point was that JaMarcus Russell finally got benched, though from what I hear it's only temporary. Sigh..so we're not done backing this loser then, huh...I didn't have the greatest diet in the world today but I made up for it by doing my 3.2 mi street loop after dinner.

Diet for Sun 10/25/09:

Breakfast

• Fiber One original w/fat-free milk
• 4 oz orange juice w/vitamins
• Big cup of coffee
• 2 pieces wheat toast w/yogurt spread

Lunch

• Chicken super burrito from Ramiro's in Alameda, my favorite taqueria of all time

At the game

• 2 beers
• 1 soft pretzel

After the game on the way home

• 1 Dreyer's Nestle Sundae cone from 7-11

Dinner

• Turkey sandwich on wheat

Dessert

• 100 calorie cup of Jello chocolate pudding

Exercise for Sun 10/25/09:

• 5 min warmup @ 3.5 mph
• 10 min stretching
• 3.2 mile street loop, run in 27:10 (avg speed 7.1 mph, 8.5 min miles)

Sleep for Sun 10/25/09:

• 6 hours

How I did it # 2 : Making substitutions

First a really quick review of The Biggest Loser from last night - man these people are fat. That's it. Kidding :) The black team got sent home for a week by the blue team and as a result lost the weigh-in, even though Danny Large put in a huge 15 pound loss. I thought it was ironic seeing how pissed off a couple of the women were at their husbands for continuing their poor eating habits, I can forsee the ends of their marriages right now. Really found it touching to see Dina's son sitting by the treadmill marveling at how fast she was running and saying "Wow, my mommy can do ANYTHING..." In the end Dina went home tho, leaving me another week to be completely pissed off listening to Chucky...I mean Tracey whine and fake crying fits. No clear winner pulling out in front yet, though with the losses Danny is certainly killing it.

Ok back to MY show. When you're modifying your diet, there are a number of little things you can do to cut calories and fat and generally improve your situation. Since the bullet point thing worked so well yesterday, let's continue on with that format...

How I changed my diet, and what you can do too:

• Don't be afraid of carbs. So much noise gets made by the Zone/Atkins/South Beach people about carbohydrates being evil and wrong that they neglect to mention the benefits that they provide - energy for physical activity, proper organ function, a good source of fiber, etc. You NEED carbs in your diet, just make sure they're the "good carbs" that don't include large amounts of sugar. Allow me to translate this from dietician to English - the reason the fad diets work on a temporary basis is because if you tell FAT people to stop eating the bulk of their calories (in white bread, pizza, sodas, candy, etc), they lose weight. However, when they get off the diet and go back to eating what they were before, BAM it all comes back.


• Continuing with the first point - I'll treat you like an adult and explain that the simplest substitution you can make for carbs is by eating wheat/whole grain products instead of their "white" counterparts which contain loads of sugar. Instead of Wonder bread, eat whole grain bread instead. You can still have spaghetti, just use wheat noodles. I make a homemade pizza using the whole wheat Boboli shells that the kids totally love. Just make sure when you're examining the ingredients for whatever it is that the FIRST ingredient is "whole wheat flour" or "100% whole wheat" or "entire wheat flour" - see here for more possible references to whole grain. If the word "enriched" shows up at all, then you're still eating the wrong thing. Just because it says "wheat" on it doesn't make it good, and if it says "butter top" well...come on, what do YOU think...


• Take the soda you have in your hand and pour it the hell out. I don't care if it's diet or zero or whatever. If you're just starting out, you don't get to have that right now. Not until your body learns how to deal with the sugar withdrawals you're about to experience. I would recommend quitting soda entirely for the first 2-3 months at least, I did. If you're worried about not having any caffeine, stop - 1-2 cups of coffee per day is fine, so long as you're not overloading it with sugar and full-fat milk


• Get the fat out - yes I know you need 15-30% of your diet to come from fat. The thing is, you have to get the right KIND of fat - you want to mostly eat unsaturated fats, and avoid the trans/saturated variety. Getting your fat in mayonnaise, sour cream, milk, cheese, butter, or any other dairy is not what you're after, you may as well be loading up on cheeseburgers and refried beans. This is not to say that you can't have dairy - just aim for the fat-free or non-fat variety. Instead of ice cream, eat frozen yogurt, I do it almost every day. There are usually low-fat or fat-free varieties of cheese, milk, mayo, sour cream, salad dressing, etc at your average grocery store. After a while your taste buds won't even notice the difference, I swear (and in fact, the whole-fat stuff starts to taste funky and heavy). Better to get your fats from lean meats (poultry and fish), nuts (like almonds or plain unsalted peanuts - not peanut butter, sorry), and fruits like avocado and banana. If you do eat trans/saturated fat, keep it to a minimum, but honestly if you can avoid it as much as possible you'll be far better off.


• Don't drown your food in anything really - but particularly not oils or dressings. If you can't stand the taste of it without the junk poured on top, then find something else to eat. This is particularly important when ordering a sandwich - most people with weight problems load up on the mayo, cheese and oil. You'll want to avoid at the very least the mayo and the oil (a slice of cheese won't kill you). Pickles are also not a very good thing to have routinely - they're cucumbers loaded with sugar - I avoid putting those on my sandwiches as well. So when I go to a place like Subway I get: wheat bread, no mayo, mustard, provolone cheese (not processed cheese like American, I eat enough of that at home), lettuce, tomato, olives, cucumbers, bell peppers, salt/pepper (because they mix them together), vinegar, and no oil (say "and JUST vinegar"). You can get onions, jalapenos, pepperoncinis, avocado or spinach if you want, I just don't do that because I think they suck on sandwiches.


• Butter, margarine, bad. Butter substitute good. I'm partial to Brummel & Brown's Natural Yogurt Spread which honestly looks tastes and smells enough like butter that it's good enough for me. Any time a recipe I have calls for butter I use this stuff. It's natural at least, and not loaded with a bunch of crazy chemicals to make you believe it's not butter.


• Salt - getting too much salt is a bad idea, so don't do it. Avoid adding salt to things, use it sparingly, or better yet - my preference - substitute garlic salt which is basically table salt diluted with ground garlic so you automatically get less sodium.


• Eggs - I get asked this one a lot, actually. Eggs are an incredible source of protein and tasty on top of it but they're loaded with cholesterol. The solution most give you is to strain out the yolks and eat only the egg whites. That does work, but it tastes and smells like grilled farts. Since it's ok to have one egg here and there (IF you are eating an otherwise-balanced diet) so what I usually do is strain out about 4-5 eggs worth of egg whites, and then crack one whole egg in it for taste. And eat em scrambled for chrissakes unless you're really TRYING to get salmonella poisoning (can the Rocky impersonations now).


• Veggies are a free-for-all. Load up on them. You should see the size of the salad I make on a routine basis, it takes up a 2-3 quart bowl. The key is to load up with lettuce/veggies and leave out the croutons and salad dressing (unless they're fat-free). If you need more crunch in your salad, try walnuts, they're awesome with a little fat-free caesar italian over them

Further resources can be found at (I've used this extensively) :
Eat This, Not That
That should be good for now.

Diet for Tuesday 10/20/09:
Breakfast

• Fiber one original w/fat-free milk
• 4 oz orange juice w/vitamins
• Big cup of coffee
• 2 pieces wheat toast w/yogurt spread

Lunch

• Tuna sandwich on wheat
• 3 large carrots, raw, peeled

Dinner

• Turkey sandwich on wheat
• 1 red apple
• 1 cup Baked Lay's potato chips

Post-dinner

• one glass red wine

Dessert

• fat-free frozen yogurt w/Hershey's lite chocolate syrup

Exercise for Tuesday 10/20/09:

• 5 min @ 3.5 mph on treadmill
• 10 min stretching
• one set of 20 reps of the Tar Heels Medicine Ball workout

Sleep for Tuesday 10/20/09:

• 8 hours

Speaking of sleep, I know this is backdated, I'll post a summary for Wed - Sun tomorrow.

How I did it # 1 - General guidelines

Today was my annual physical at my doctor's office in Rocklin. I know in my age group I don't necessarily need a full physical and blood work every year, but my health plan gives me a discount for doing it - and this year was a very rewarding visit. I got to see someplace other than my own records how much weight I've lost and exactly how well I'm doing. Bear in mind I've been with this doctor for about five years now so he has even more data than I do. So here are some fun stats :

Peak weight : 275 pounds (Feb 2006 - holy crap!!)
Last recorded weight : 266 pounds (Oct 2008)
Today's weight : 220 pounds (ok so my scale is accurate after all)
Total weight loss from peak: 55 pounds!!!!
Last recorded blood pressure: 130/85 (Oct 2008)
Today's blood pressure: 110/70
Last recorded resting pulse rate: 84 (Oct 2008)
Today's resting pulse rate: 60

He also handed me a lab slip for a fasting blood test which I intend to go take care of Friday morning. All in all a VERY rewarding visit, proof positive that what I've been doing is absolutely benefiting my health. He actually asked ME all sorts of questions like what worked, what was different, ok here's how you can keep it off, etc. I told him about this blog and some of the things I've been writing and researching and he commended me on being correct - especially about fad diets (see below). I'm still reserving judgment on what my lab results will look like, but the doctor certainly seems to expect really good numbers, so we'll see. Couldn't have had a better afternoon.

So that said I felt it was a good place to start the "How I did it" series I've been promising, we'll start by laying some ground rules that I enforce on myself, and my apologies if I've repeated this information before, but here goes...

Some general do's and don'ts for your new life:

• DO eat breakfast, and preferably a large one. Not only will this keep you from being hungry before lunch, it will also allow your body more time to burn off the calories with your base metabolic rate


• DON'T eat like a snake - snakes take in one big meal and then they don't eat again until they're hungry (sometimes this is a period of days). Your body is designed to store fat when food is not present, so it will not be at peak efficiency unless you are spacing your calorie intake out at a constant rate throughout the day - you want a minimum of three meals a day, as evenly spaced as possible, with no longer than 4-5 hours in between meals. For even better results, you can try splitting the same amount of food into 5-6 small meals every 2-4 hours, but honestly that does take a lot of time and effort and it's not a schedule I'm personally able to maintain over a long period - perhaps it could help you in the short term but I wouldn't recommend relying on it


• DO plan ahead for both meals and exercise AND integrate it with your schedule for the day - as a general rule, you should give yourself 60 minutes after eating before performing low-to-moderate exercise, and 2 hours before intense exercise (basic rule of thumb on intensity - if you can sing, that's low intensity; if you can't sing but can still talk somewhat, it's medium; and if you can barely talk at all, that's "intense"). Knowing that plus what you have to get accomplished for the day (three meals plus exercise plus work/kids/whatever), make a mental picture of how to fit it all in and then execute it.


• DON'T wait until you are hungry to eat - make your daily plan in the morning while you're eating breakfast and stick to it. If you wait until you're hungry, you won't be making good decisions about food, you'll be making convenient decisions because you'll want to satisfy the hunger...and 99% of the time what is convenient is going out and buying fast food. Planning ahead will cut this down to a bare minimum. Having a plan also lowers your stress level which can contribute to your body's fat-storage potential.


• DO aim for foods that are (a) natural, (b) high in fiber, and/or (c) low in fat (particularly saturated fat and trans fat). I'll cover specific substitutions tomorrow, but if the large majority of your diet follows those three rules as much as possible you'll be doing much better


• DON'T start some stupid fad diet, drink some disgusting drink or down some useless supplement you saw on TV expecting it to "save" you - I have tried: Atkins, Zone, SlimFast, South Beach, Creatine pills, Ephedra (back when it was legal), Acai berries, Dexatrim, Hoodia, Whey Protein powder, etc. etc. etc. (more listed at http://www.faddiet.com). NONE OF THESE THINGS WORK!!!!!! Almost ALL of them are marketed to show that you can get these incredible weight-loss results with no change in diet and minimal exercise. Bullshit. I know you're desperate, and I know as a FAT person that you are by design lazy and looking for something easy to help you out of your misery JUST like I was, but there is no magic pill, sorry. You may lose a few pounds temporarily with one of these witch-doctor remedies, but I guarantee you will put back on every single ounce you lose, PLUS more...AND you'll have less muscle mass at the end of it. The only way out is improving your diet and getting more exercise, period. Do not believe the hype, none of these diets are sustainable or healthy in the long-term, which is what you need to keep the weight off for good.


• DO try to get some form of exercise every day - I hate to tell you this, but losing weight is basically a zero-sum game of calories consumed vs calories burned. While it IS true that you will burn calories even at rest if you space out your meals properly and improve the quality of your diet, it probably won't be enough to lose the weight you want. In order to lose weight, you need to create a caloric deficit - that is, you need to burn more calories than you take in, and you need to do it over an extended period of time in order to see any results - preferably every day, and you WILL NOT GET THERE WITHOUT GETTING YOUR ASS OFF THE COUCH. Some recent studies promoting exercise will tell you to get 30 minutes of exercise 3-5 times a week, such as taking a walk or 5000 steps or whatever the current catch-phrase is for the day. That's not specific enough, and if taken at face value, it's not enough to get anything done either (my doctor agrees). You need at least 3-4 days per week of INTENSE exercise lasting a minimum of 30 minutes, and then as many days of the rest of the week as you can with low- to moderate-level activity. Walking is good, don't get me wrong, but doing that 3-5 times a week will only help you MAINTAIN your weight. If you want to lose weight, you have to push yourself, plain and simple. I will help you with some exercise tips later in this series.


• DON'T overdo it - ok I know that sounds oxymoronic given the last bullet point, but even when you're doing the intense exercise you want to keep it within what your body is going to be capable of handling. You do want to push yourself, but you don't want to get sick or injured either, so set your goals accordingly


• DO keep track of everything you eat and the exercise you perform. Your computer is your friend here, there's plenty of software programs out there that track calories/points/whatever. As I've mentioned frequently, I use Weight Watchers but sparkpeople.com or fitday.com would work just as well. Even writing it in a notebook is preferable to doing nothing, just be sure that you're calculating calories burned vs calories eaten. If you're writing it down, it not only allows you to plan ahead, but it makes you confront the choices you're making so that you can keep attempting to make better ones.


• DON'T think you're going to lose it all at once - you don't want to do that anyway. A normal weight loss rate is 1-2 pounds per week, it gives your body more time to adjust, lessens the possibility that you're losing muscle mass, and allows your skin to snap back instead of leaving you looking like a burlap bag of bones. Remember, you are making a change for the rest of your life, and you'll hopefully have all the time you need to get down to the weight you want. I mean look at me, I've lost 47 pounds and I'm 5 pounds away from my goal weight, but that has taken me 7 months to accomplish. Be patient.


• DO keep your expectations in line - sure everybody wants a six-pack, or a nice butt, or arms that don't flap in the breeze, whatever. You should understand that might not be totally possible for you - even if you get all the way down to your goal weight you might not look 100% perfect like you thought you would. The important thing is what is happening inside your body, and the improvements you're making in your health. If you gave me the choice of seeing my abs for 5 years vs living to 99 years old, then I hope I never see them. Never have anyway, so I'm not losing jack. To see that sort of muscle definition for men you have to be in the 10-12% body fat percentage anyway, and that just might not be in the cards for me. Will I keep trying? Probably, but I'm not crying over it :)


• DON'T beat yourself up - so you had a late night binge at Taco Bell, so what. Get back on the diet the next day and stay on track. Everyone has a weak moment, your goal is to have as few of them as possible.

That's enough for now, I'll give you round # 2 and a review of tonight's Biggest Loser in tomorrow's blog.

Diet for Tuesday 10/20/09:
Breakfast

• Fiber One original w/fat-free milk
• 4 oz orange juice w/vitaims
• Big cup of coffee
• 2 pieces wheat toast w/yogurt spread

Lunch

• Tuna sandwich on wheat
• 3 large carrots, raw, peeled

Dinner

• Turkey sandwich on wheat
• 
  
• Baked Lay's potato chips
• 1 apple
• 1 glass red wine (ok yech will not make that mistake again)

Dessert

• fat-free chocolate frozen yogurt w/Hershey's lite chocolate syrup

Exercise for Tuesday 10/20/09:

• 5 min warmup @ 3.5 mph
• 10 min stretching
• 20 minutes of the Tar Heels medicine ball workout (20 reps each exercise)
• a few minutes playing with my daughters at soccer practice

Sleep for Tuesday 10/20/09:

• 7 hours

Weigh-in Day # 7 : HALFWAYYYY!!!!

Official weight for Monday 10/19/09 : 220
Change from last week : -1

I remember when I was a freshman at Rutgers I lived on a floor that save for one other room was entirely populated with Rutgers football players. Aside from the usual drunken debauchery and the hallway getting trashed with something new each week, I remember these guys walking around yelling out various things in imitation of their coach. One of them was HAAALF-WAAAAY!!! which apparently meant that whatever drill they were suffering through was only halfway over. Well anyway I'm at the halfway point through the 10 pounds, finally dropped one pound after four weeks of no changes.

What was the difference this week? My diet was not that spectacular, I ate and drank rather freely. I even got less exercise than I did the previous week, taking virtually the last three days off. The difference was very plain - SLEEP.

Now this week it was easy for me to get more sleep, I was off the whole week and only had the kids for the first half of it, so the two main downward pressures on my available Z-time were non-existant. But if we look at the average weekly sleep figures since I've been measuring them, you can see the difference :

Week ending	Average hours sleep
10/4/09	6.4 hours
10/11/09	6.5 hours
10/19/09	7.6 hours

So probably the magic number is probably something around 7-7.5 hours of sleep average in order to lose weight, I'll keep you posted as things go on. Went to a 2nd Ani DiFranco concert tonight (Ness is like her #1 Super Fan), much better show than on Friday I thought.

Diet for Monday 10/19/09:
Breakfast

• Fiber One original w/fat-free milk
• 4 oz orange juice w/vitamins
• Big cup of coffee
• two pieces wheat toast w/yogurt spread

Lunch

• Subway foot-long chicken breast on wheat
• 1 bag Baked Lay's potato chips

Bar after the concert

• Two pints (Ness drove home)

Dinner

• Turkey sandwich on wheat w/fat-free cheese

Dessert

• 100 calorie cup of Jello chocolate pudding

Exercise for Monday 10/19/09:

• 5 min warmup @ 3.5 mph
• 10 min stretching
• 30 minute hard run on treadmill
  • 15 min @ 8 mph
  • 10 min @ 7 mph
  • 5 min @ 6 mph
• 5 min cool down - 1 min each @ 5, 4.5, 4, 3.5 and 3 mph

Sleep for Monday 10/19/09:

• 7 hours

Sunday Sum-Up

Friday night was an Ani Di Franco concert in Berkeley, Saturday I watched my daughter play a team with assholes for parents (a loss, unfortunately), also spent two hours cleaning up storm debris on my lawn, then out to dinner (Olive Garden) and a movie (Capitalism - A Love Story - highly recommended for those currently drinking the Kool-Aid) with Ness...Sunday was a funeral for a very nice man that I had the absolute pleasure of meeting several times, wish I'd known him better, and thanks to his family for letting me sit there and share with them.

Diet for Friday 10/16/09:
Breakfast

• Fiber One original w/fat-free milk
• 4 oz orange juice w/vitamins
• Big cup of coffee
• two pieces wheat toast w/yogurt butter

Lunch

• Turkey sandwich on wheat w/fat-free cheese
• 3 large carrots, raw, peeled
• 2nd big cup of coffee (trying to stay awake for later)

Dinner

• Two slices thin-crust cheese pizza
• Diet coke

At the concert

• one bottle of Anchor Steam

Late-night on the way home

• 1 bag regular M&M's
• 20 oz Coke Zero

Exercise for Friday 10/16/09:

• Not enough time today

Sleep for Friday 10/16/09:

• 7 hours overnight + a 1.5 hour nap late morning

Diet for Saturday 10/17/09:
Breakfast

• Fiber One original w/fat-free milk
• 4 oz orange juice w/vitamins
• Big cup of coffee
• two pieces wheat toast w/yogurt butter

Post-game consolation snack

• 1 chocolate donut
• 6 oz fat-free milk

Lunch

• Turkey sandwich on wheat w/fat-free cheese
• 3 large carrots, raw, peeled

Dinner @ Olive Garden

• Chicken and Gnocchi Veronese
• tons of salad
• 3-4 breadsticks
two large beers

Movie theater

• 3-4 cups of popcorn with NO BUTTER (believe me I have seen it in its pre-served form, you do NOT want to eat it)

Exercise for Saturday 10/17/09:

• 2 hours raking, picking up sticks/leaves, weed whacking and mowing the lawn

Sleep for Saturday 10/17/09:

• 4.5 hours + 4 hour nap after the game

Diet for Sunday 10/18/09:
Breakfast

• Fiber One original w/fat-free milk
• 4 oz orange juice w/vitamins
• Big cup of coffee
• two pieces wheat toast w/yogurt butter

Lunch

• 3-4 oz boiled chicken breast
1-2 tbsp baked beans
• 1 dinner roll
• 3-4 very small brownies (about equivalent to one large one)
• 8 oz of super-hot homemade apple cider YUMMMM

Dinner

• Turkey sandwich on wheat
• 1 serving Baked Lay's potato chips

Dessert

• fat-free chocolate frozen yogurt

Exercise for Sunday 10/18/09:

• another day off

Sleep for Sunday 10/18/09:

• 7 hours

Catching up with Roger

Took the whole week off thinking I'd get tons done only to discover entirely new ways to screw off whole blocks of time and sleep weirder schedules than previously imagined. Had a great visit with mom though, so can't really complain. Also got in two straight days of interval training culminating with today's workout, which was a hybrid run/jog session inspired by something I've read about a very famous runner. No, not Usain Bolt, mon - dis be much furder back in ti-eem doncha know.

Ok enough bad Jamaican accents, I'm talking about Roger Bannister, who, for those of you under the age of ME, was the first human being to officially break the 4-minute-mile barrier in 1954. He did this against popular opinion that 4 minutes was a mark that the human body could not physically perform under (total crap now since the WR mile is about 3:43, and also since his own record only lasted about a month), and not only that the son of a bitch did it on a dirt track. Can't even picture how fast a young Roger would be now with super-light shoes, an aerodynamic uni and an all-weather track. Stupid fast, most likely.

At any rate, the reason why he's famous is not just for being first, but for the methodology he cooked up to get there (detailed in his book "The Four Minute Mile"). Basically, his philosophy was that if you want to hit a certain pace, that you should be training at that pace as much as possible. Now physically, it would be a bad idea (if not impossible) to continually run a mile at 100% race pace, the wear and tear on the body would be far too much - especially if you're pushing to break past a mark which you may or may not be capable of doing.

His solution was the forebear of today's interval training - he decided to break the distance down into smaller portions, each run as close to full pace as possible with a rest break in between. The idea was to do enough of these intervals that when combined, the total distance run at race pace during training would equal more than the eventual goal distance. In Roger's case, he wanted to run a mile in 4 minutes or less, so he broke that distance down to 440 yd (400 m) intervals run at 60 seconds or less each (4 x 440 = 1 mile). He ended up being able to do 10 of these intervals in a row with two minutes' rest in between, which if you've ever done a sub-60 400 is just...insane. I don't think I could rip off ONE now. But 10 of these together would be 2.5 miles at race pace, and indeed over time he was able to comfortably run a constant 3/4 mile in 3 minutes flat (comfort...it seems....is very relative). And obviously it worked.

Now...I harbor no illusions that I'm anywhere near Mr. Bannister's company as a runner, but this got me thinking about that attempt I made a couple weeks ago to run 1.5 miles in 10 minutes. To make that goal, I'd need to hold a 9 mph run for 10 minutes straight - and as it turns out I could only hang on to that for about 7 minutes before my body just began to shut down. So to apply Roger's method, I decided to break that 10 minutes into 4- and 2-minute pieces run at 9 mph with equal-sized rest breaks over a period of 30 minutes (to start - see the breakdown below). I did successfully make it through this workout once, but oh man did it SUCK. Not hyper to do that again this week, but we'll see if by repeating this over time if I see any benefits when I get around to attempting that 10-minute dash again.

In the meantime here's the recap from the past 3 days :

Diet for Tuesday 10/13/09:
Breakfast

• Fiber One original w/fat-free milk
• 4 oz orange juice w/vitamins
• Big cup of coffee
• 2 pieces wheat toast w/yogurt spread

Lunch

• Turkey sandwich on wheat w/fat-free cheese
• 3 large carrots, raw, peeled

Dinner (went out to Applebee's with mom, Ness and the kids)

• Chips w/spinach dip
• Grilled chicken breast w/two-cheese topping
• Garlic mashed potatoes
• Steamed vegetables
• Two pretty damn big beers (Sam Adams)

Dessert

• a slice of leftover birthday cake

Exercise for Tues 10/13/09:

• Rest day

Sleep for Tues 10/13/09:

• 6 hours

Diet for Wed 10/14/09:
Breakfast

• Cheerios w/fat-free milk
• Big cup of coffee
• 2 pieces wheat toast w/yogurt spread
• forgot to take my vitamins

Lunch

• Turkey sandwich on wheat w/fat-free cheese
• some Baked Lay's potato chips

Dinner

• leftover London Broil w/blue cheese sprinkled on top
• 2 cups of mashed potatoes

Dessert

• fat-free chocolate frozen yogurt w/Hershey's lite syrup

Exercise for Wed 10/14/09:

• 5 min warmup @ 3.5 mph
• 10 min stretching
• 20 minutes "pyramid" interval training on treadmill (1% grade)
  • 5 min @ 5 mph
  • 30 sec @ 10 mph
  • 1 min @ 4 mph
  • 45 sec @ 10 mph
  • 1 min @ 4 mph
  • 1 min @ 10 mph
  • 1 min @ 4 mph
  • 90 sec @ 10 mph
  • 1 min @ 4 mph
  • 1 min @ 10 mph
  • 1 min @ 4 mph
  • 45 sec @ 10 mph
  • 1 min @ 4 mph
  • 30 sec @ 10 mph
  2 min @ 5 mph
  • 1 min @ 10 mph
• 5 min cooldown : 1 min @ 5 mph, 1 min @ 4.5 mph, 1 min @ 4 mph, 1 min @ 3.5 mph, 1 min @ 3 mph

Sleep for Wed 10/14/09:

• 6 hours

Diet for Thurs 10/15/09:
Breakfast

• Cheerios w/fat-free milk
• 4 oz orange juice w/vitamins
• Big cup of coffee
• 2 pieces wheat toast w/yogurt spread

Lunch

• Tuna sandwich on wheat w/fat-free cheese, fat-free mayo and mustard

Dinner

• Subway foot-long roasted chicken breast on wheat
• about 1 cup of Baked Lays potato chips

After-dinner

• one glass red wine

Dessert

• one 100-calorie cup of Jello chocolate pudding
• a few red vines

Exercise for Thurs 10/15/09:

• 5 min warmup @ 3.5 mph
• 10 min stretching
• Hybrid intervals for 30 min ala Roger
  • 4 min @ 9 mph
  • 4 min @ 4 mph
  • 4 min @ 9 mph
  • 4 min @ 4 mph
  • 4 min @ 9 mph
  • 4 min @ 4 mph
  • 2 min @ 9 mph
  • 2 min @ 4 mph
  • 2 min @ 9 mph
• 5 min cooldown - 1 min @ 5 mph, 1 min @ 4.5 mph, 1 min @ 4 mph, 1 min @ 3.5 mph, 1 min @ 3 mph

Sleep for Thurs 10/15/09:

• 10 hours YEEEHAW gotta love days off

Weigh-in Day # 6 : the more things change the more they stay the same

Official weight for Monday 10/12/09 : 221
Change from last week : 0 (hey at least I'm not gaining anything)

Took a week off to catch up on stuff before my mom got here on vacation (and to have a few days with her and the kids). I'm on vacation all this week so I have a bit of extra time to sleep and do updates and stuff. Some quick hits from the past week I've been away :

Tuesday - saw Biggest Loser, not surprised that Julio went home even though he was one of the bigger guys on campus, he just wasn't striking me as a hard worker. One quick note to Shay - if it takes you three jobs to pay for your food, then STOP FRICKIN EATING SO MUCH. I mean, dang, no wonder you were 450 pounds.

Wednesday - spent the whole day alternately working and cleaning, plus had a second band practice for the new project (yes the comeback has started, quietly). Broke down and got fast-food Mexican for the first time in months, regretted it the next day as did anyone downwind.

Thursday - picked up mom from the airport, still working, picked up the kids, did dinner and soccer practice and then still had to work when I got back home.

Friday - my final day of work before vacation, totally sucks trying to fit in everything before you take off for a week.

Saturday - Macy's soccer team wins 2-0, she notches an assist on the first goal. I am attempting to raise Kristine Lilly Jr. slowly and surely - she has a hell of a boot, just has to learn how to use it. We also hosted Ness' mom's birthday party.

Sunday - went to a friend's kid's birthday party and then out for dinner to make mom try sushi for the first time ever, thus totally ignoring my "no dinners out on Sunday nights" rule. I'm pretty sure between Saturday and Sunday I blew any losses I'd made during the week.

Monday - marked out three solid days of birthday parties by celebrating MJ's birthday a few days early (since she'll be with her mom).

Sleep - I obviously didn't get much and it shows, although...this not being the Biggest Loser I pretty much step on the scale any time I feel like it, so I'm able to monitor my weight and the effects of eating certain things, getting varying amounts of sleep, etc. The truth is my weight has not always 100% been at 221 pounds for the past 4 weeks, there's a huge swing depending on the circumstances. Like if I eat a lot, I'll gain 3-5 pounds through the day. If I sleep a lot (meaning 7 hours or more), I'll lose 4 pounds from the night before pretty solidly. If I get around 6 hours of sleep, that goes down to 3 pounds. Less than that, the floor is generally 2 pounds lost overnight. The end result is that my weight has been swinging back and forth between 218 (low) and 223 (high), and it just so happens that on Mondays it's been clocking at that steady 221. I suppose this week if I watch my diet a little better and get some more sleep, I'll get the breakthrough I'm looking for. So from personal experience, sleep matters and if you want to lose weight, then regular overnight sleep is a must.

Recaps from the past week :

Diet for Tuesday 10/6/09:
Breakfast

• Cheerios w/fat-free milk
• 4 oz orange juice w/vitamins
• Big cup of coffee
• 2 pieces wheat toast w/yogurt spread

Lunch

• Leftover fettucine alfredo
• 3-4 oz chicken breast

Snack

• one red apple

Dinner

• Subway foot-long roasted chicken breast on wheat
• small bag of Baked Lays
• 20 oz Diet Coke

Dessert

• fat-free chocolate frozen yogurt

Exercise for Tuesday 10/6/09:

• 5 min warmup on treadmill @ 3.5 mph
• 10 min stretching
• 30 min running on the treadmill:
  • 15 min @ 8 mph
  • 10 min @ 7.5 mph
  • 5 min @ 7 mph
• 5 min cooldown : 1 min @ 5 mph, 1 min @ 4.5 mph, 1 min @ 4 mph, 1 min @ 3.5 mph, 1 min @ 3 mph
• helping out with Macy's soccer practice for about 10-15 minutes

Sleep for Tuesday 10/6/09:

• 8.5 hours

Diet for Wednesday 10/7/09:
Breakfast

• Cheerios w/fat-free milk
• 4 oz orange juice w/vitamins
• Big cup of coffee
• 2 pieces wheat toast w/yogurt spread

Lunch

• Tuna sandwich w/fat-free cheese, fat-free mayo & mustard
• 1 red apple

Dinner (from Carolina's)

• Chicken super burrito
• Cheese quesadilla
• 1 can Coke Zero

Exercise for Wednesday 10/7/09:

• over 2 hours of cleaning

Sleep for Wednesday 10/7/09:

• 8 hours

Diet for Thursday 10/8/09:
Breakfast

• Fiber One Original w/fat-free milk
• 4 oz orange juice w/vitamins
• Big cup of coffee
• 2 pieces wheat toast w/yogurt spread

Lunch

• Turkey sandwich w/fat-free cheese
• 1 red apple

Dinner

• 3-4 oz chicken breast
• 1 cup lima beans
• 1 serving Cheddar broccoli rice

Dessert

• fat-free chocolate frozen yogurt

Drinks

• 1.5 glasses of wine w/mom :)

Exercise for Thursday 10/8/09:

• played in scrimmage for Macy's soccer team, 20 minutes (and yeah I took it easy on em)

Sleep for Thursday 10/8/09:

• 6 hours

Diet for Friday 10/9/09:
Breakfast

• Cheerios w/fat-free milk
• 4 oz orange juice w/vitamins
• Big cup of coffee
• 2 pieces wheat toast w/yogurt spread

Lunch

• Subway foot-long roasted chicken breast on wheat
• one small bag Baked Lays
• 20 oz Diet Coke

Dinner

• 7 slices whole wheat Boboli pizza
• 2 glasses red wine (my mom is such a bad influence)

Exercise for Friday 10/9/09:

• took a day off

Sleep for Friday 10/9/09:

• 6 hours

Diet for Saturday 10/10/09:
Breakfast

• Fiber One Original w/fat-free milk
• 4 oz orange juice w/vitamins
• Big cup of coffee
• 2 pieces wheat toast w/yogurt spread

Lunch

• Turkey sandwich on white roll
• a bunch of Baked Lay's potato chips
• 1 slice angel food cake w/strawberries and cool whip

Dinner

• 3-4 London Broil steak
• one serving mashed potatoes
• one cup asparagus
• 1 glass red wine

Dessert

• smores over a fire pit (yeeeeaaaah)

Exercise for Saturday 10/10/09:

• 5 min warmup @ 3.5 mph
• 10 min stretching
• The Tar Heels medicine ball Workout (2 sets of 15, took about 40 minutes)

Sleep for Saturday 10/10/09:

• 4 hours (ouch)

Diet for Sunday 10/11/09:
Breakfast

• Cheerios w/fat-free milk
• 4 oz orange juice w/vitamins
• Big cup of coffee
• 2 pieces wheat toast w/yogurt spread

Lunch (at the kids' party)

• Hamburger w/cheese on white bun
• one scoop potato salad
• some chips/veggies and dip
• 20 oz coke classic (no diet in sight there)
• one piece of birthday cake - some sort of fruit/white cake thing, pretty good actually

Dinner

• 8-10 pieces of Maki sushi with enough wasabi to burn a hole in the seat
• Diet coke

Dessert

• fat-free chocolate frozen yogurt w/Hershey's chocolate

Exercise for Sunday 10/11/09:

• washing/vacuuming/detailing my car with help from Macy, took well over an hour

Sleep for Sunday 10/11/09:

• 7 hours

Diet for Monday 10/12/09:
Breakfast

• Fiber One Original w/fat-free milk
• 4 oz orange juice w/vitamins
• Big cup of coffee
• plain bagel w/yogurt spread

Lunch

• Turkey sandwich on white roll
• 3 carrots, raw, peeled

Dinner (MJ's choice)

• one hot dog on wheat bun w/ketchup
• 1 serving Bush's vegetarian baked beans
• some Baked Lay's potato chips
• 1-2 strawberry daquiri's (and hell yeah with rum, toldya mom's a bad influence

Dessert

• one slice of ice cream cake

Exercise for Monday 10/12/09:

• 5 min warmup @ 3.5 mph
• 10 min stretching
• 25 min on treadmill
  • 15 min @ 7 mph
  • 1 min @ 7.1 mph
  • 1 min @ 7.2 mph
  • 1 min @ 7.3 mph
  • 1 min @ 7.4 mph
  • 1 min @ 7.5 mph
  • 1 min @ 7.6 mph
  • 1 min @ 7.8 mph
  • 1 min @ 8 mph
  • 1 min @ 9 mph
• 5 min cooldown : 1 min @ 5 mph, 1 min @ 4.5 mph, 1 min @ 4 mph, 1 min @ 3.5 mph, 1 min @ 3 mph

Sleep for Monday 10/12/09:

• 6 hours

Weigh-in Day # 5 : Stuck Again and So What

Official weight for Monday 10/5/09 : 221
Change from last week : 0

I was gonna say something smartsy-sounding involving "Stuck in the Middle with You" by Steeler's Wheel by ever since Reservoir Dogs that song makes my ears itch.

Also I had planned to start the "how I did it" series this week, but decided to wait and see this morning's results first. Initially my gut reaction was "well..." as in how can I manage to say "hey I've done something great" when I haven't lost a single pound in three weeks. But I think I'm going to stick to my plan to start that series, and here's why : it is, in fact, part of how I did this.

If there's one thing that I've learned throughout various phases of my life, it's that positive thinking has a real power to it. Some of you are religious types and like to externalize this with God or prayer or whatever it is you do, and you know what, that's just fine by me because it serves the same ends through different means. The basic principle is that if you can keep reminding yourself of the things you've done right, and that you never doubt that you'll make it to your goals, then you're more likely to do it.

Perfect example - when I was lying in the hospital nearly dead from a burst appendix, I never once truly believed that I might die. Part of that was the indestructible nature of being 25 years old, but part of it was that in my base nature it just never occurred to me to be that negative. The end result was that I surprised my doctors by being able to walk out of treatment several days early due to a great recovery, and I continue to believe that my mindset played an important part in that.

Can you solve everything this way? No, of course not, otherwise we'd all be immortal nymphomaniac swimsuit models with a trust fund. But when things aren't going so well, it's good to look back on your successes, to learn from your failures, and to believe in your heart that you will succeed. So tomorrow I'll start that series with an eye on helping both you AND me out of our respective slumps, aight?

For now :
- things I've done right : lost 46 pounds in 6 months, changed my life
- things I've done wrong : this past week I really didn't get enough sleep at all. I averaged 6 hours a night (with two nights well below that) when I'm supposed to be averaging 7-8, hopefully I can improve on that this week.

Diet for Monday 10/5/09:
Breakfast Part 1 (home)

• Fiber One original w/fat-free milk
• 4 oz orange juice w/vitamins

Breakfast Part 2 (Oakland)

• poppy seed bagel w/butter
• work mug of coffee

Mid-morning

• 2nd cup of coffee

Lunch

• Turkey sandwich from Ratto's
• Sun chips harvest cheddar flavor
• 2 cans Coke Zero

Dinner

• Big Chicken Caesar Salad
• 1 glass red wine

Dessert

• fat-free chocolate frozen yogurt w/Hershey's lite chocolate syrup

Exercise for Monday 10/5/09:

• 30 min walking around Oakland

Sleep for Monday 10/5/09:

• 6 hours

Catch up Sunday

Spent most of the past two days on: soccer, auto repairs, fantasy football, naps, NFL, playing with kids, getting hit on by random teens at the park, pissed off by CA drivers, destroying the air quality in my house after the diet "break" on Saturday, the usual. Here's the catch-up :

Diet for Saturday 10/3/09:
Breakfast:

• Fiber One original w/fat-free milk
• 4 oz orange juice w/vitamins
• Big cup of coffee
• 2 pieces wheat toast w/yogurt spread

Lunch (at Carmelita's in Fair Oaks):

• Chicken chimichanga w/refried beans and rice
• some chips & salsa
• Two Diet Cokes

Dinner:

• whole wheat spaghetti w/marinara sauce
• small garden salad
• 2 pieces garlic bread
• one glass red wine

Dessert:

• chocolate fat-free frozen yogurt w/Hershey's lite chocolate syrup

Exercise for Saturday 10/3/09:

• 10-12 minutes of running from Starbuck's parking lot to the house to get my car after the battery in Ness' car died, so that Macy could get to her soccer game on time (she did)
• Replacing said battery after the game (tie 0-0)
• Walking around the park while the kids rode their bikes, getting MJ ready to ride on the American River Trail at some point

Sleep for Saturday 10/3/09:

• 5 hours
• 90 minutes of dozing on the couch in Sat afternoon

Diet for Sunday 10/4/09:
Breakfast:

• Fiber One original w/fat-free milk
• 4 oz orange juice w/vitamins
• Big cup of coffee
• 2 pieces wheat toast w/yogurt spread

Lunch:

• Turkey sandwich on whole wheat w/fat-free cheese

Dinner:

• 3 meatless tacos w/lettuce, tomato, avocado, cheese, lite sour cream and taco sauce

Dessert:

• chocolate fat-free frozen yogurt w/Hershey's lite chocolate syrup

Exercise for Sunday 10/4/09:

• "soccer practice" with the kids in the backyard, about an hour

Sleep for Sunday 10/4/09:

• 9 hours (aaahhhhh)

Flat-out Friday

Too busy today to do more than get in the diet and workout schedule, and after pulling off the ENTIRE "Total Exhaustion Workout" I was too floored to gather my thoughts enough for "how I did it" - we'll get to that this weekend I promise. And seriously by floored, I mean after the last 40 seconds of "hold the bottom of a pushup" I couldn't get off the floor for a couple minutes. That is why it's total exhaustion. So for now:

Diet for Friday 10/2/09:
Breakfast

• Cheerios w/fat-free milk
• 4 oz orange juice w/vitamins
• Big cup of coffee
• 2 pieces wheat toast w/yogurt spread

Mid-morning

• 2nd big cup of coffee (not enough sleep, too much work)

Lunch

• Tuna sandwich on wheat w/fat-free cheese, fat-free mayo and Gulden's brown mustard
• 2 large carrots, raw, peeled

Dinner

• 3-4 oz chicken breast
• 1 serving wheat fettucine w/alfredo sauce
• 1 small garden salad w/fat-free caesar italian dressing
• 1 glass red wine

Dessert

• 2 servings fat-free chocolate frozen yogurt

Exercise for Friday 10/2/09:

• 5 min warmup @ 3.5 mph on treadmill
• 10 min stretching
• All four circuits of the "Total Exhaustion Workout" cause yeh, that's how I roll

Sleep for Friday 10/2/09:

• 4.5 hours (yikes)

Thoisday

Another busy day. I think if I get some time tomorrow I'm going to start a series of entries called "How I did it" (the real title to O.J.'s book). Really there's a lot of topics I've only just briefly touched on that deserve more detailed attention if you're looking to build on my success...for now, though :

Diet for Thurs 10/1/09:
Breakfast

• Cheerios w/fat-free milk
• 4 oz orange juice w/vitamins
• Big cup of coffee
• 2 pieces wheat toast w/yogurt spread

Lunch

• Turkey sandwich on wheat w/fat-free cheese
• 3 large carrots, raw, peeled
• 1 can Coke Zero

Dinner

• Subway foot-long roasted chicken breast on wheat
• 1 small bag Baked Lay's potato chips
• 20 oz Diet Coke

Dessert

• about 1.5 servings of fat-free chocolate frozen yogurt
• 20 pieces of Snyder's fat-free mini pretzels

Exercise for Thurs 10/1/09:

• 5 min warmup @ 3.5 mph on treadmill
• 10 min stretching
• 20 min interval training on treadmill
  • 1 min @ 5 mph
  • 1 min @ 8 mph
  • 1 min @ 4 mph
  • 1 min @ 9 mph
  • 1 min @ 4 mph
  • 1 min @ 10 mph
  • 30 sec @ 4 mph
  • 1 min @ 8 mph
  • 1 min @ 4 mph
  • 1 min @ 9 mph
  • 1 min @ 4 mph
  • 1 min @ 10 mph
  • 30 sec @ 4 mph
  • 1 min @ 8 mph
  • 1 min @ 4 mph
  • 1 min @ 9 mph
  • 1 min @ 4 mph
  • 1 min @ 10 mph
  • 30 sec @ 4 mph
  • 30 sec @ 8 mph
  • 30 sec @ 4 mph
  • 30 sec @ 9 mph
  • 30 sec @ 4 mph
  • 30 sec @ 10 mph
• cooldown : 1 min @ 4 mph, 2 min @ 3.5 mph, 2 min @ 3 mph

Sleep for Thurs 10/1/09:

• 8 hours (woke up refreshed and able to work out before breakfast even)