Week 3: Humbling & Empowering

How I feel (and probably look) running. 

 Again, this week was humbling in some aspects and empowering in others. Running is still really humbling. It just flat out hurts. I can feel the extra weight on my feet and it's painful. For some reason I signed up for a 5k next week, so we'll see how that goes. The empowering part of my week has been my cravings for junk or processed foods. They're non-existent. I keep on waiting for cravings to show up, but they never do. Even Easter was really easy. I didn't crave the sweet stuff or bread at all. There are two mantras that really make sense to me right now:

1. Eating a restrictive diet means eating foods that restrict me from feeling my best and achieving my goals.
2. It's not about what you eat, it's about what you DON'T eat.

I'm having a decent amount of carbs now, but they're all in the form of non-processed foods: potatoes, fruit, cashew butter and vegetables. I strongly believe that by not eating processed foods, my body has stopped wanting processed foods. The other reason I believe this is because I'm having to force myself to eat some nights. I'll get home from work having only eaten around 1,300 calories and feel perfectly content. This is not the norm. When I was eating processed food, even before this experiment, I'd be hungry a lot more often. I still eat every 2-3 hours, but it's because I need to get in enough food to not lose a lot of muscle during this transformation. I thought I'd be eating 2,500 calories a day, but I'm only eating around 2,000.

My heartburn and acid re-flux are gone now. I haven't had symptoms in a week now (maybe longer) and it feels magnificent. Also, my night sweats have lessened considerably which is nice.

Exercise went well this week. I'm continuing with the theme of starting off slow (for me). I keep on thinking about exercising every day vigorously, but that just doesn't make sense right now. I'm still big enough to have an increased risk for injury and I don't want to get injured during this transformation. Also, I need to have progression be a big part of my program. The first four weeks can start off slow, then build up each four weeks after that with more quantity and intensity of exercise.    

I thought it would be fun to capture a pic after my circuit. Megan is on my right, Jodi on my left and Andy behind me.

Exercise Log:

Wednesday - Full body circuit (same as last week's) for 60 minutes.

Thursday - Two mile walk at the gym. I wouldn't consider this a workout as much as just trying not to be incredibly sedentary.

Friday - Boot camp class at IAC for 60 minutes. It was so hard! I haven't worked out that hard since putting on the weight and oh my goodness I felt every bit of it. Again, I have a lot of respect for overweight or obese people who decide to start exercising vigorously because it hurts. A lot.

Saturday - I did 20 minutes of running and hard intervals at the park. I ran for 7 minutes straight to start off the workout and then did 30 second run (9 minute pace) and 2 minute walk intervals for the rest. It was difficult for sure, but felt good. Also, I cleaned the living room and kitchen. You might not think it, but that does burn calories.

Sunday - Recreational basketball with my nieces. I really like basketball and it was great getting outside in the sun. 20 minutes

Monday - A new workout broken into two circuits. First circuit: weighted step ups, weighted lateral hops, single leg dead lifts, 14 pound wall balls, 30 second elliptical to failure. Second circuit: one arm overheard tricep extensions, rope pull downs, barbell curls, reverse curls and 30 seconds of hard work on the rowing machine. I ended with body weight back extensions on a bench with Megan sitting on my legs. 60 minutes Great workout!

Tuesday - Day off

Approximate Total Exercise Time:  220 minutes

I tracked 5 days out of the week again. Why is tracking food for 7 days so difficult?

3 weeks down, 49 to go!

Week 2: Seeing/feeling changes and the magic of coconut butter

Before I get into the specifics of this week, I want to talk about the epiphany I had a few days ago. A thought about losing weight a decade ago came up to me again this week that I had forgotten. When I first started losing weight, my mindset was this: Think the opposite of what you've always thought of food. One of the things I used to think, and we all tend to think, is that real nutritional changes are restrictive. I want to have my cake and eat it too. What's damaging for me with that mindset is that the healthy foods aren't the ones restricting me, the junk foods are. I'm not free whenever I eat crappy foods, I'm bound in a cycle of addiction. I recall back then that a typical week would go like this: eat well for three days, get a craving for chemically and sugar laden food, eat said food and a bunch more like it for the next few days, then start over again. To me, restriction isn't eating the foods I'm eating now, but it's eating all of those other foods because those are the foods restricting me from looking and feeling my best. I hope this analogy will help my current and future clients... I weighed at the first of the week and I've lost three pounds! As I stated in the first blog, I'm not concerned with the number on the scale, but I also know that being this big isn't healthy. For the first few weeks, any positive changes (no matter how small) should result in changes on the scale. The reason for this is because I was eating so much and not exercising before and now I’m eating normal amounts and exercising.

Exercise this week went great! The sun finally came out and acted like spring on Saturday so I went for a trail run. It hurt and my cardiovascular fitness is nothing to brag about at this point, but the important thing is that I got outside in the sunshine and burned some calories. The sun makes a big difference for me. I’m strongly affected by the cold and cloudy weather in a negative way. This is something that’s really helped me to understand overweight or obese clients that struggle with seasonal affective disorder. It’s hard enough to get outside when you’re 50 or more pounds overweight much less when it’s gloomy outside.

Exercise Log:

Wednesday – Arm circuits. Overhead extensions, rope pull downs and push-downs, then barbell curls, hammer curls and preacher curls. 60 minutes

Thursday – Off

Friday – Off

Saturday – 3.25 mile trail run/hike. I can’t run for a solid 3 miles now, so I’m hiking or walking all of the inclines or even some of the flats. 40 minutes

Sunday – 3.25 mile trail run/hike. I was so tired from Saturday but it felt good to get out again. 40 minutes

Monday – 1 hour of circuit training. Megan created a workout for me that was brutally specific to my desires. The first circuit consisted of walking lunges, lateral lunges, single leg deadlifts and a 1/10 mile sprint. I repeated this three times with a three minute break in between. My second circuit consisted of overhead slams, back extensions, 1 minute on the rowing machine and 1 minute of jump rope. IT WAS HARD. 60 minutes

Tuesday – Day off    

Approximate Total Exercise Time: 200 Minutes

We had a blast! I cannot tell you how much I look forward to getting rid of that double chin.

My food has been stellar this week. Megan and I adopted a paleo-ish approach to eating for 30 days as a way of ridding ourselves of cravings and just to see what it’s like. My food selections have consisted of about ten different things: bacon, eggs, egg whites, sweet potatoes, apples, cashew butter, coconut butter, grass-fed beef, organic chicken thighs, and kale, carrots and celery for smoothie purposes. Again, you can follow my nutrition habits on My Fitness Pal. My username is brandonfitwin.

Mmmmmmmmmmmm

Look at this beautiful smoothie. My usual apple, carrots, celery and kale.

Fat and protein at its finest. Three eggs and two slices of thick bacon.

My current lunch of choice. 200g of sweet potatoes and 1 serving (4oz raw) of grass fed beef.

I actually tracked five days in a row!

Let me sing the praises of coconut butter real quick. It is so good! I’ve never tasted something so naturally sweet that only has two grams sugar (per 2T), no artificial ingredients and contains almost all fat. It’s glorious! I’ve been eating two tablespoons right from the jar every day. 

Again, these changes are habitual. It’s not about the number on the scale, but instead it’s about doing things that help me to feel and look better. Restriction is not eating healthy foods, restriction is eating foods that restrict me from feeling my best.

Week 2 down, 50 to go!

Week 1: The Transition

I must say it's really difficult going from eating pretty much whatever and however much I want to having some nutritional structure. If you're following me on My Fitness Pal (brandonfitwin), you can see that. Actually  you can't because I didn't track every day. I ate too much this week. From a calorie and quality perspective, I was all over the map.

My smoothie pre-blender. Gorgeous, right?

My gym at work. :)

Exercise Log:

Wednesday: Stair running/walking intervals for 30 minutes

Thursday: Arms at the gym for 30 minutes

Friday: Stair running/walking intervals for 30 minutes

Saturday: Back at the gym for 30 minutes

Sunday: Squats for 30 minutes

Monday: Rest Day

Tuesday: Dead lifts for 30 minutes

Approximate Total Exercise Time: 180 minutes. I'll try to get more descriptive with the workouts themselves.

I didn't track all of the days when my calories were low so don't get a false impression.

Going forward, I do plan on eating in a more Paleo/Whole 30 style. I thought I could just focus on the calories and lose the weight, but I drastically underestimated the cravings. Taking in the excess sugars and simple carbs has given me a lot of cravings and that's not all right so changes need to be made.

All in all, it was a good transition week which I expected it to be. As I settle in with my job at FitWin and settle into a goal-focused routine, I know I'll continue to do better.

Because of a wager I'm a part of, I will be weighing myself next week. I won't take too much stock in it, but I know it will be at least a little lower because my heartburn and acid re flux have gone away. YAY!!!

1 Week down, 51 to go!

The Start: 222.9 pounds and 31.6% body fat

Some ten years ago, I found myself at age 23 and 240 pounds (approximately 40% body fat). I was unhappy with myself, unhappy in the relationship I was in and overall just unhappy. Through hard exercise and some sort of diet, I lost sixty to seventy pounds. Since then, I've stayed in about the 170 to 180 pound range for the most part and been physically active by lifting weights and running. I wish I remember what it felt like to lose that weight, but honestly I don't remember much of it at all. Binge eating was something I learned at a young age from my mother, but beyond that I currently find myself not being able to relate to many of my health coaching and personal training clients with their weight loss goals. I wonder if I could relate better if I intentionally gained fifty pounds and then documented losing it again? Well, that's exactly what I did. Well, I did the gaining part at least and now it's time to start the losing part. From last summer to today, I've gained fifty pounds (172 to 222). Here I am in a picture from last spring and a picture today:

It took me about eight months to put on the weight and I would've started the losing process about a month earlier, but my dad had emergency open heart surgery at the beginning of February and I went down to help him and my mom. Being around such a stressful health event really put my weight gain project into perspective. I want to do this for myself and I want to show others they can do it too.

Gaining fifty pounds in eight months is actually quite painful. The majority of my weight gain came in the form of $2 Tony's pizzas (1300 calories each), Taco Bell, cereal, doughnuts (my biggest food vice) and generally eating much more than I should. Here are some things I've learned through gaining fifty pounds in eight months:

1. Heartburn is no fun. I've developed some chronic heartburn and acid reflux now that is truly horrible. Taking antacids has become a part of my nightly routine and I look forward to this being a thing of the past.

2. It's so much easier to eat a ton of carbs than a ton of protein (although, I did think I was giving myself diabetes for a bit). I've gained such a respect for a protein-rich diet. It's not for everyone, but I find I get fuller so much quicker by eating protein rich foods instead of carbohydrate rich foods.

3. I take so many things for granted about my health. The following things have become incredibly difficult, uncomfortable or impossible: tying my shoes, stretching, doing exercises in the prone position, walking up stairs, running (impossible now because it hurts too much and I'm at too high a risk of injury), feeling attractive, it's become impossible to NOT chafe (so annoying and embarrassing), I sweat all the time, and I'm sure I'm missing more that I can't think of. All of this to say, I have such a higher respect for obese and morbidly obese individuals who decide to make a change to their nutrition and exercise habits. It's not easy! Plus, I will no longer take my health/fitness for granted. I got to the point where I thought running three miles wasn't a big deal, but it is a huge deal because I can't do it now without it hurting a lot. Running a 5k is a big deal!

4. Fast food and junk food are ADDICTING. Over the last six to eight months I've found myself eating things like crackers and junk food without necessarily wanting them. It's like it magically finds its way into my hands and then into my mouth. Also, the combination of french fries and ketchup is a powerful force. For me, it's the perfect one-two punch. I know I'll crave this combination along with doughnuts as I start to lose weight.

5. When you tell people you're going to gain fifty pounds intentionally, they think you're crazy.

So today I weighed in at 222.9 (as seen above) and 31.6% body fat. In one year (March 9, 2017), I plan on being between 12-15% body fat. I'm doing a body fat percentage goal instead of a scale weight goal because I don't think the scale is that important and too much emphasis is placed on scale weight by others. My goal isn't as much a number as a look and feel. I want to be strong, lean and athletic which to me means having around 12-15% body fat. Also, I'm taking a year to lose the fat instead of eight months because it's more realistic. I could certainly get to an athletic body fat percentage in a little faster time, but I want to be able to enjoy birthdays, holidays and vacations along the way. It's important to be realistic when setting goals.

As far as nutrition goes, I don't eat vegetables. I don't like them, so I don't eat them. No, you don't have to eat vegetables in order to lose weight. I might have a smoothie with veggies in it from time to time, but that's it. When setting goals it's vitally important to be realistic with yourself. If you don't like chicken and broccoli, then don't follow a diet where that's all you eat because at some point you WILL get tired of it. Most of my bigger meals will be meat and pasta or potatoes while my snacks will consist of chicken, fruit, cheese and Greek yogurt. My nutrition goal is simple:

- Track and follow calories on MyFitnessPal (brandonfitwin). Based on my lab results, their calories are pretty accurate, so I'll just keep it simple and go with their recommendations. I believe their macros (fat, carb, protein) are a little off, so I won't pay as much attention to that.

I think it's important when starting a program like this to eat as much as you can while still losing body fat. As you can see by my MFP account, I'm starting with a caloric intake as high as 2,500 calories a day. Sure, I could lose body fat faster eating 2,000 calories a day, but I might lose muscle by dropping my calories too low and I want to limit as much muscle loss as I can since muscle burns so many more calories than fat does. When wanting to lose body fat and maintain a fit physique, muscle is your friend.

Next, my exercise plan is pretty simple as well. Here are my fitness goals for the next year:
1. Strength training at least twice a week.
2. Do at least 20 minutes of brisk cardio five times a week.
3. Have fun exercising.

Again, I think it's important to keep things simple. I like lifting weights, running stairs, doing the elliptical, walking incline on the treadmill and hiking, so that's what I'll do.

For the purpose of time management, I imagine my posts from here on out will be fairly short and to the point. After this one, I plan on posting once a week to talk about that week's struggles and triumphs.

Here I go!